inspain

Signing out

2007-10-07T04:00:11Z

Well it is all over, finished, done, no more. It is a bit sad really. Coming back to Australia – I can marvel at the clear, blue sky, the colours of the earth and olive green vegetation. The roads are wide and the people friendly and they all have an accent! I am also reminded constantly how dry it is – water restrictions in force, a lot of dead or dying plants in the garden and a thick layer of dust on everything.

Life will get ‘back to normal’ whatever that is, with work, school and sport filling in the hours and giving direction instead of searching the internet for accommodation or flights, visiting museums, photography, drawing and eating out.

I would like to thank family and friends who followed our adventures from afar on this blog or in the newspaper articles. It has been very encouraging to find out people actually were interested in seeing what we were up to. I have enjoyed the writing and photography and because other people were reading it, I tried to get the information as accurate as possible.

The last thing I want to share with you are some of my drawings that I did in each location we visited.
Barcelona:

Granada:

England:

Scotland:

Prague:

Berlin:

Venice:

Over and out

Debbie

Signing out remains copyright of the author dworgan, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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An unplanned stopover in Frankfurt

2007-09-29T07:00:27Z

Well we were finally on our way back to Australia – not really looking forward to the 24 hours of flying time and about 36 hours traveling time, but resigned to it.
But things didn’t go as planned. Max had stacked a bicycle in Barcelona the day before. He grazed his arm and got a handlebar punch in the stomach but seemed to be OK, just the aches and pains we would have expected.
The problems started in Frankfurt after the first of our leg of the journey home the next day. We had to wait for about 4 hours in Frankfurt, and the stomach pain didn’t seem to be getting better so we thought we would just take him to the clinic at the airport – fill in a bit of time!!! They did some tests and were not happy with the colour of his urine. Apparently his kidney had been bleeding. They didn’t want him flying on for a few more long flights, so suddenly our plans of being back in Australia in the next 24 hours were put on hold.
Max was OK so long as he didn’t move too much and the wheelchair and airport buggy rides were a novelty. We then had to go to the Frankfurt University Hospital for more tests and an ultra sound. By about midnight when the doctor suggested that he was fit to we had really missed our connecting flight so had to find a hotel for the night. We did meet some very friendly people though at the airport and hospital, and got to have a day looking around in Frankfurt the next afternoon - not Max though – he spent the day not moving on the airport couches.
Doctors, tests, taxis, phone calls to rearrange flights to Australia and in Australia, additional fees, accommodation, and prescriptions – it turned into an expensive little operation but we had to do it.
After finally getting an all clear from 2 doctors we were able to continue our journey 24 hours later, now re-rerouted through Bangkok instead of Singapore.

An unplanned stopover in Frankfurt remains copyright of the author dworgan, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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Barcelona is a Festival

2007-09-26T09:49:47Z

We are back in Barcelona again on our way home after 6 months on the road. It has been quite a time. We have experienced every emotion from amazing and inspiring to annoying and frustrating. It hasn’t been easy all the way – arriving in a new place takes a lot of work and research to get a basis of information – town map, transport map, where to buy tickets, exchange rate, accommodation and not be ripped off, internet, ATM, food, opening and closing times and usually all the information you can find is in a foreign language. But it has been worth it.
Coming back to Barcelona was like getting home – we knew most of the information already and had the language too. We visited some old haunts – bars, restaurants, internet cafés and plazas.
True to form, Barcelona turned on its major 3 day festival of the year just as we arrived. That meant that there was a lot to do and events to see but also that all the shops and markets were shut for the whole time.
Part of the festival was the Giant Parade. Lots of different characters – dragons, kings, queens, jester etc dance around the street to pipe or drum bands. They are like enormous puppets, with a person walking inside them. They only come out once a year so we were lucky to catch them.
The best thing we saw was the ‘Casteller’ competition (human castles). It was fantastic to watch as about a hundred people all dressed in white pants, wide black sash belts and coloured shirts, work together to build a massive tower of people at least 7 levels high. They are well practiced and quick so the poor people on the bottom don’t have to hold everyone up longer than necessary. As the tower grows in height, the climbers get younger and smaller and the very top 2 people are just kids about 5 or 6 years old, climbing with crash helmets on. As they pull themselves up to the top, the crowd is focused on those little bodies climbing up so high. No one makes a sound, then as they reach the top a unified cheer of relief goes up from the crowd and the bands start to play. Everyone is happy and pleased for their success. Coming down also has to be done carefully and in strict order but they seem to just slide down everone’s backs. We saw 3 ‘castellers’ and each time was just as exciting and tense as the first.

Barcelona is a Festival remains copyright of the author dworgan, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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Venice by boat

2007-09-27T09:11:20Z

Venice is really a city on the water and the canals replace streets in all respects. There are passenger ferries, ambulance boats, police boats, private boats, water taxis, construction boats, gondolas and even the occasional hoon. Walking is the only other option to going by boat.
We bought an all day ticket to explore a few of the 117 islands that make up Venice.
Murano is famous for the production of Venetian glass. We saw a glass blowing demonstration and they make it look so easy. Of course there are glass shops and glass jewellery and all sorts of souveniers everywhere. But it is very nice. Next we motored over to Burano famous for lace making and restaurants. These islands are similar to Venice with canals and bridges but a bit less built up and some of the houses are painted in attractive, bright colours. It is all very tourist oriented though and felt like we were a commodity they had to deal with. Next was Torcello with an old monastry, but by this stage we were all a bit worn out from walking and tourist sites. The boat back took about 1 1/2 hours but we got to see Venice in the setting sun and it was great for photography. After some pasta for dinner we thought we would try one more boat trip down the Grand Canal through the centre of Venice. It was very pretty and stopped at the Piazza San Marco where we saw 3 classical groups battle it out for the crowds’ attention. The problem was the boats were slow and very crowded and we didn’t get back to the bus stop to go home until the last bus, so we had to end our day by getting a taxi home and taxis can demand any price they like at that time of night.

Venice by boat remains copyright of the author dworgan, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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Venice

2007-09-21T09:44:21Z

Venice really is different to any place we have seen. Yes, we knew it had canals, yes, we knew it was beautiful … but to see it, is really like a fantasy world.
Venice itself is a collection of 117 islands separated from the mainland and the only access is by a long causeway for cars and trains. Even from the distance the silhouette of the domes and towers is clearly visible.
I thought there were perhaps a few canals and those places were always on the tourist promotions and postcards – but in reality EVERY street is a canal. There are lane-width canals, street-width canals and highway-width canals. There are cute curved walking bridges 0ver the smaller canals and just 3 bridges or water transport over the larger Grand Canal. All the supplies, produce, and a lot of visitors arrive by boat. There are police boats, water ambulance, water taxis, gondolas and private boats … the canals are very busy … it is fascinating to watch. And there are no cars at all on the walkways through the canals. All the buildings are old and some a bit dilapidated, but that just adds to the appeal.
It is beautiful with picturesque scenes at every bridge. I have been drawing throughout my travels and there is no shortage of suitable scenes here. There are a few larger open piazzas (squares) where you can find bars, restaurants, pizza, gelato, spritzers and pasta.
Everyone told us Venice is expensive, but after Germany and especially England – things don’t seem too bad at all.
We had booked accommodation on the net, 25 minutes outside Venice. It is a nice B&B called Verde Venezia in the country outside Venice and the bonus is it is just near a big Casino that offers a free shuttle bus service to Venice every hour for its customers. So we just have to look like compulsive gamblers and can happily jump on the bus to get to and from Venice each day. I think the driver might catch on soon. (There is a regular bus service too.)
Venice is famous for Venetian glass, Vivaldi music (he was born here) and theatre masks. There are a lot of tourists but the canal area is large enough that we have been able to get away from the masses to less crowded areas.
I have found Venice to be one of the highlights of my travels and it is good to see it before it disappears.

Venice remains copyright of the author dworgan, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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Berlin impressions

2007-09-17T17:17:57Z

The longer we spend in Berlin the more I am in awe of the ease with which people swap back and forth between German and English. There might be some French and Spanish too. Kids in school have to learn English for about 9 years and also a second language for 5 years. It puts Australians, and English speakers in general, to shame.

Berlin is still a very political centre with political slogans on walls and demonstrations and although The Wall was removed in 1989, it still apparently exists in many people’s minds. It is hard to pinpoint but there is a difference between East and West Berlin. In my opinion, the East still has more older style, uniform, buildings and old apartments. The East still has trams and traditional traffic lights with very cute little red and green men. The West is newer and more modern with bigger, ‘fresher’ buildings.

The German people have a healthy lifestyle with a lot of bicycles, walking, muesli and lovely grainy dark breads. It is easy to almost get run down by the stream of cyclists on the cycle paths that look deceptively like footpaths. (I think Australia might be the only country in the world that has compulsory helmets.)

We visited a weekend market where you could identify certain Germanic traits. Everything was very attractive, well-made and good quality, with a lot of variety, and an emphasis on nature and health. This was equally true for the food, breads, fruit, clothes or jewellery.

Germany has such a long tradition of music and composers (Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Brahms) that we could not leave without going to a concert in Berlin. Also Berlin has several concert halls, three opera houses and lots of theatres all in constant use, so no shortage of things to see. The concert house, like many of the buildings, was rebuilt from the ruins after WWII in about the 1980s, and now although the same on the exterior is more modern inside. We had a great view of the orchestra as they played some Russian and French composers.

Berlin impressions remains copyright of the author dworgan, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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We are back in the EU

2007-09-13T10:06:21Z

From Prague we caught the train to Dresden over the German border. We were not absolutely sure we would be allowed into Germany … it's a long story but the guards were very friendly, hardly looked at out passports and happily stamped them. Phew!

It was pouring rain in Dresden so we decided to just keep traveling and bought tickets to Berlin. Each trip was only just over 2 hours. – it is all very close here compared to Australia. Rob and Andrea met us at the station and it was great to see some familiar faces and have someone local to show us around. After some creative manipulating we all manages to fit into the car along with all the luggage.

It is still cold here but the sun comes out occasionally. We walked around central Berlin (the old East Berlin). Andrea grew up in East Berlin so she has first hand knowledge of what it was like before and after ‘The Wall’, and the views they held about the West – very interesting. We visited Berlin Dom Cathedral, State Opera House, other churches and concert houses. Yummy hot chocolates in a chocolate house with chocolate scultures in it, Checkpoint Charlie, Brandenburg Gate, the Reichstag … bratwurst lunch in the Tier Garden under the linden trees. We went to a dance hall to watch and do tango at night.

Max is happy – he has a piano to play and doesn’t have to tag along with us here. Arno is a few years older and at school during the day, but seems happy to keep Max company in the evenings, show him around or play soccer with friends.

We are back in the EU remains copyright of the author dworgan, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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A Bit of Culture

2007-09-10T09:13:59Z

Prague really promotes and lives it reputation of being a classical and artistic city – there are classical concerts every night in the main churches, opera, ballet, theatre and lots of classical music shops. Dvorak came from here and Mozart worked here a lot.

We went to the opera (The Kiss by Smetana - a local Czech). It was great - the best part being in the National Opera House. It was so beautiful with painted ceilings, huge chandeliers, galleries, live orchestra and red velvet everywhere. The tickets seemed very good value and the opera even had subtitles so we could understand.

Another night we sought out the local Jazz scene in the Bar Agharta – Rhythm Desperados were playing and they were very good, tight, entertaining and very well appreciated – more litres of beer … After that a late night walk along river to take in the night views of the castle and bridges and tram back to our apartment.

We had to decide between ballet, another opera and a guitar concert the next night. The guitar concert by a solo Czeck performer in one of the main churches won.

Eating out has also been one of our main occupations. There are hundreds, probably thousands of restaurants. The prices are very reasonable for all food and drink away from tourist areas. We usually look for a meal for about $A6-9 and beer is cheap. Fortunatley most places offer an English menu, because it is really hard to know between ‘s kfenem’, ‘se sunkou’ and ‘jablkovy zavim’ (one is horseradish, one is ham and one is apple strudel, I think). The language still hasn’t made much sense but it doesn’t sound like they are talking backwards anymore.

A Bit of Culture remains copyright of the author dworgan, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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Prague

2007-09-09T10:06:08Z

We have been in Prague for 3 days now and although it felt very foreign to start with it soon began to take on a feel of familiarity.

We landed in Prague from England to discover that Jeff’s guitar didn’t arrive … oh no! They assured him it would be traced and they would get it to us as soon as possible – 3 days, and numerous phone calls later, they have said it is Prague now and should have been delivered this morning – but it wasn't …

Prague is a beautiful old, ornate city that was saved from the bombings of WWII. It is like being in a fairy tale – castles, towers, wide staircases, fancy plaster decoration on everything, fine ironwork, detailed stained glass and cobble stones everywhere forming different patterns on each pavement. There are big central squares and boulevards, it feels very ‘European’. There are trams which are a bit of a novelty, plus lots of liquor shops (even selling absinthe), wine bars and pubs.

Our first hostel in the centre was in a good location but a bit on the edge … we moved to an apartment – even cheaper surprisingly – incase the hostel got noisy over the weekend. Our first meal was at a local Beer Hall. It was a sudden introduction to Czech traditions, food and drink. The place was like an old classroom complete with carved graffiti on the long tables and coat hooks on the walls, the food was hearty pork, with various sauces and potato, bread or bacon dumplings and the beer was in litre glasses followed by generous shot glasses of some potent herbal liquor. We are back in the lands where people smoke everywhere though and at precisely 11pm they closed up and asked us all to leave. For diner the next night we found a very cute restaurant with great food for very low prices and more litres of beer. Prague is famous for its beer – it is very nice and only about $1.50 / litre. Breakfast at the hostel consisted of the mysterious arrival of bread, jam and apples arriving in our common kitchen (which we had never seen anyone else use).

The Czech language is very strange though – it sounds like they are speaking backwards with odd groups of consonants like ‘vzechny’ ‘nski’ ‘tovna’ but there is usually someone who can help in English. In a book shop we visited they had done funny things to English words and names – Margaret Thatcherova and Jane Austinova to name a few. The sections in the shop were labeled Paperbacky, Thrillery and Detektivy!

The next day with marginally better weather so we went to explore the castle – it was very interesting with a high tower to the top of St Vitus Cathedral offering fantastic views over the city, big halls, lots of suits of amour (you could even buy one for only $360A), lessons in crossbow shooting, shields painted on the walls, an alleyway of tiny workmens’ cottages now selling souveniers blacksmith demonstrations and lots horrible implements of torture.

It was about at this moment that I somehow erased all my photos of the last 3 days … oh no.

Prague remains copyright of the author dworgan, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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Queue here please

2007-09-03T09:49:26Z

There is an art to queueing and a lot of unwritten rules we found out when we went the Prom Concerts at Royal Albert Hall. The tickets to gain access to the standing areas are only 5 pound and because of that you need to get there early and wait … and wait … and wait. But it is not so bad – everyone comes prepared – there were a group of high school students playing cards, several couples and larger groups with wine and nibbles, people sleeping or listening to music and we found it a good opportunity to meet people and chat with music or Proms officionados. It was a very relaxed and friendly atmosphere with a lot of people being long term queueing buddies.
Depending on which queue, you can gain access to either the Gallery right up high with a perfect view but a long way back or to the Arena – right at the stage but with potentially tall people standing in front of you. Still everyone is very polite and respectful of the spot you claim for yourself.
The concert we saw was only 1 1/2 hours so not a long concert to stand for and it was very good to be so close – I felt like I was in the orchestra too.
We are trying another of these standing cheap tickets tonight for Shakespeare’s Merchant of Venice at the Globe Theatre. People have said it is great to be a ‘groundling’ right at the feet of the actors and in the thick of it. (Mind you its is 3 hours standing this time!)
But it is certainly a good way to get to see some of London’s top quality performances for almost nothing and feel like we have done something that is very much part of the tradition and custom of the place.

Queue here please remains copyright of the author dworgan, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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London the second time around

2007-09-03T09:44:19Z

London this time around has been much more successful. We have been staying in Parson’s Green, right beside the tube station. We are literally the closest house to the station but in the house it is surprisingly quiet. The general plan is do galleries, museums, markets or other free activities in the day and help out with Paul and Renee’s house and go to events, music, theatre etc at night.
We have seen a few museums and galleries and all the national ones are free to get in so are great for us. We visited Abbey Road made famous by the Beatles, Camden markets and a few other landmarks.
In the evening we went to Stomp, a West End production, and it was great. Tap, body percussion and rhythm. Very tight, well choreographed and entertaining. We saw some open-air dance and a production of Helen of Troy. We are going to the Proms at Albert Hall and The Merchant of Venice. We have to make the most of all the theatre and music there is around.
Max has had a friend visit from Norwich where we spent the last month. He and Helena did their own sightseeing including the giant ferris wheel called the London Eye with great views over London and the markets. It is more interesting to do things with people his own age apparently.
Paul and Renee had a big birthday/house warming party here, so there were lots and lots of Kiwis and Aussies. There are Australians everywhere in London but we hadn’t met many at all before this. It is funny, the English can’t tell the two accents apart but it only takes a few words to know. We could almost sit back and look at the party as outsiders, notice the different accents and cultural differences the Australians and New Zealanders have compared to the English, and appreciate the friendly, relaxed and easy-going nature. You can only see it when you have been away from it for a while.

London the second time around remains copyright of the author dworgan, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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Dress Ups for Big People

2007-08-23T14:34:15Z

The UK is steeped in history – there are ruins of castles everywhere, everyday buildings date back hundreds of years before Australia was even settled. The oldest pub in Norwich where we have been staying was built in 1242! And the English really love their heritage. In particular they like to recreate the old days and during the summer there are medieval re-enactments all over the place. These include the clothes, food, tools, weapons, occupations and sometimes even the battles.

We went to a re-enactment day at Castle Rising Castle (yes that’s its name). It was great. A group of devoted followers of British history were all in costume, and playing the parts of various people in the village – the lord, the priest, the notary (writer), the archer, the cook, the musician. They were having lunch when we arrived – all authentic with wooden bowls and goblets, bone spoons, and some rather nice looking baked food. After that we could talk to each person about their part in the village etc. They stayed in character all the time and it was very interesting. As a highlight to the day they staged a battle – complete with knight in full armour (we watched him get dressed and that alone took 30 minutes) and 6 archers all firing rubber tipped arrows at each other. They were a bit short on numbers but we got the idea and it was very entertaining.

Wooden swords and bow and arrow set were on sale and every kid seemed to have one so at times it felt like you were in the middle of a battle too with arrows flying about. Those sorts of toys are not encouraged in Australia but they are all the go over here because it is history.

Dress Ups for Big People remains copyright of the author dworgan, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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Scottish Highlands

2007-08-20T12:28:56Z

I loved Scotland – the cities, the castles, the tall stone buildings, the hills, the lochs, the heather, the sheep and the accent.
Edinburgh was fascinating with its maze of overlapping streets and tall stone buildings, the turrets and towers on ordinary buildings and the masses of chimney pots. The place oozes history – battles, plague and witches. JK Rowling comes from there and we saw where she used to sit to write the first Harry Potter book. The view she took in and places she created are just what she could see and the inspiration for the Hogwarts School. Sean Connery, Ian Rankin and Muriel Spark the authors, and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle also come from there.

But further north through into the Highlands to the heart of Scotland you get to the untamed hills, moors and lochs. It is like stepping onto the set of Monarch of the Glen. It is very picturesque - every view is a pattern of purple heather, moss covered stone walls, lush green fields, blue lochs and dark green forests. It is wild, unchanged and beautiful. There are distilleries everywhere and unique Scottish ales in the pubs. I could stay there much longer. The villages are stone, small and quaint, and the people are friendly and just a little crazy which probably comes from living in such an out of the way and extreme place – who else would have national sports of caber tossing, hammer throwing, haggis tossing and wellie tossing – all wearing kilts!

Scottish Highlands remains copyright of the author dworgan, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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Edinburgh Fringe Festival

2007-08-18T11:51:01Z

Edinburgh would be an interesting place at any time of the year with its tall stone buildings and amazing castle perched on a rocky crag – but especially when they have their festival.
The FRINGE Festival alone is enormous and over-whelming. There are hundreds of performances covering music, theatre, dance, opera and lots and lots of comedy. There are some great permanent venues, and a lot of purpose made venues. Shows run from about 9.30am to 4.00am in some locations and 1000s of people come from all over the world to join in the fun. I have heard more Aussie accents here than anywhere in Europe. The performers also come from all over the world including Tripod (who Max saw), Adam Hills and Sammy J from Australia.
The city takes on a very theatrical atmosphere with actors doing their stuff, ghost tours, witch tours and performers on every street corner. There are fantastic buskers everwhere – wild Scottish clansmen playing bagpipes and drums, suit-wearing Korean wrap dancers, fire juggling tight rope walkers, people juggling chainsaws, clever magicians, a vacuum cleaner playing a sax, and acapella singers – and they are all free or just a donation.
Over 3 days we saw some fantastic shows. Terrific dance from Czech and England, excellent theatre comedy from Korean and England, great stand up comedians from Australian and England and some good Spsanish and Scottish music, as well as a few pretty terrible comedians (English!) - but on average we managed to see more good than bad.
But for anyone who is interested in going to the Edinburgh Festival don’t be tricked by the fact that it is held in summer – it has been freezing and wet. It didn’t dampen anyone’s sprits though.
We also found a great and cheap place to eat at the Mosque Kitchen, behind the mosque. Meat or veg curries and rice or nan bread for just 3 pound. So with breakfast provided at the hostel and a big curry each day, we managed pretty well.

Edinburgh Fringe Festival remains copyright of the author dworgan, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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This is not the way to see London.

2007-08-09T20:06:16Z

Make sure you book train tickets more than a week in advance to get discount fairs; make sure you have a good map or guide book; make sure you have spare camera batteries; make sure it is the right day for the Changing of the Guards at Buckingham Palace; make sure you buy tickets for the theatre early before either the ticket office closes or the tickets sell out or both, make sure that free events listed for a week are really going to happen everyday; make sure that the train tickets you have are transferable to later times without additional cost.

We didn’t.

So we had a very long, tiring and quite expensive day in London without getting to see or do much. We did see some of the mounted horse guards, the outside of a few landmarks like Buckingham Palace, Trafalgar Square, Westminster Cathedral and Big Ben. We walked across Tower Bridge, caught a tube or two, went to a pub and came home. Covent Gardens were good though with very entertaining buskers, even a very heavily tattooed one from Australia, and the Thai restaurant had nice food but very strange decor - and it didn’t rain.
It is hard work being a tourist especially with the exchange rate so bad for us at present. The information available on the net is not always accurate and without any local knowledge it is quite hard and frustrating getting around.

This is not the way to see London. remains copyright of the author dworgan, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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Cookies Crab Shop

2007-08-12T10:15:28Z

There is really not much to make you go to Salthouse, a tiny village on the Norfolk coast, except for the annual art exhibition at St Nicholas Church and Cookies Crab Shop of course. It is not the sort of place you just happen to be passing but with some local guides (Chris and Richard), with inside information and transport this was a very pleasant day. This week Cookies made it into the Guardian’s (newspaper) 100 Top Alfresco Venues in the UK but by the number of customers there last Sunday, people already know.

It is a tiny wooden shop with tightly packed outdoor tables under a canvas awning on gravel. The tables are booked all through the day allowing you 1 1/2 hours to eat and move on before the next occupants arrive. It is simple, unpretentious and very inviting. There is even and a fishing boat leaning by the small front gate that looks very much at home.

Inside the Cookie’s shack, the menu and rules are tacked on the walls: Please do not bring your own food or soft drinks, as we serve these here. Please bring your own wine glasses, there have been many breakages. We are not a tea room, we do not serve teas or coffee. Closest toilets are in the pub around the corner.

The only things on the menu are salads - Crab Salad, Crayfish Salad, Salmon Salad, Lobster Royal Salad, King Prawn Salad and on and on, all fresh and straight from the fishing boats. They were generous servings and quick - great big meaty servings of fish and shellfish surrounded by slices of tomato, cucumber and beetoot, and spoonfuls of coleslaw; and all the dishes came with faces on them. I noticed the pâté smiled with a tomato face. The salmon looked at us with olive eyes lined with pink shrimp eyebrows. There were sticky toffee puddings and icecream sundaes on the menu, I wonder if they had faces too.

Luckily we had parked the car at the top of the hill and walked down so we were able to walk off some of our lunch then The rest we walked off along the beach from Sheringham to West Runton and back along the cliffs with the precarious caravan parks gradually falling into the sea. It was a perfect, warm summer day, (one of the few we’ve had this summer)– we even swam!

Cookies Crab Shop remains copyright of the author dworgan, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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Terrace house living

2007-08-02T21:06:23Z

We are getting quite good at setting up houses now and have a taken a short lease on a terrace house in Norwich, about 3 hours north of London. We have been here for a couple of weeks already but house sitting and cat feeding which has been very comfortable. During that time I managed to get some casual English teaching so it seemed sensible to hang around. It seems funny that an Australian is teaching English to French, Italian, Spanish and Chinese teenagers in England. 3 hours/day for a month helps to ease the pain of the poor exchange rate ( 1 pound = $2.40 Australian!)

Max has made friends with a lot of English teenagers and is enjoying the chance to speak English and spend their summer holiday with them – visits to the beach, movies, parties etc.

So our new house is a 2 bedroom terrace – old, wooden floors, 2 bathrooms. The drawback is that it is not furnished but we have managed to beg and borrow enough to get by even though it still feels a bit like camping. It is pretty comfortable really and very nice to be in our own space for a while. The other feature is the backyard. Although it is only the width of the house – one room – it goes forever. We could easily fit several 50m single lane lap pools in if we wanted to. Most of this is wasteland or stinging nettles at the moment. The house is up for sale so someone will snap it up and see the potential in a backyard of that size or rather length. The location is good as we are directly opposite a Jasmine Palace Chinese Takeaway. Max and friends have already given it a try and gave it the thumbs up. There is also a pub on the corner.

We are newcomers and not in the garbage collection routine yet. Yesterday morning we were woken at about 7am to men talking at our backdoor. As we discovered later the garbos in this area go past each back door and collect any bags of rubbish they can identify. We happened to have some sitting there just by accident. Then we saw that there are garden gates in identical positions in each side fence so they can walk straight through each back yard. Pretty good service eh?

Terrace house living remains copyright of the author dworgan, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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A pub for every day of the year

2007-07-29T17:50:06Z

This old claim to fame probably still stands because there certainly seem to be a lot of pubs - one on every corner. And there is no shortage of churches especially in the old town, there are at least 6 significant, old, stone churches and cathedrals.

In the street we have just moved to (today) there are 4 pubs to choose from – The Fat Cat, The Nelson, another by the river (name unknown) and The Alexandra. We haven’t even looked down the side streets or cross streets yet. They all look like typical English pubs - low heavy wooden ceilings, lots of old pictures on the walls, jugs and pewter mugs hanging from the ceilings, dark wooden bars, dart boards, and of course a roast for Sunday lunch.

Just walking into our closest pub, The Nelson, at lunchtime on Sunday, the smell takes me back to those family dinners at my grandparents’ house, where we always had a roast. Today for 5.95 each we had a roast dinner large enough to fill even a growing and always hungry 15 year old. There was a steady flow of customers who must have also decided it was easier to go to the pub than to try to cook the same meal at home - choice of lamb or beef roast (or both), potatoes, carrots, peas, cabbage, swede (whatever that is) cauliflower, all drowned in gravy, horseradish or mint sauce. We had to reveal ourselves as inexperienced roast eaters though and ask what the strange bowl-like pastry things were and how you eat them – Yorkshire Pudding of course! A slightly amused chef said he like to put them on top of the plate of food and fill them with gravy. It was pretty good and for our first day in the neighbourhood we felt like locals. Pity about the warm ale though …

Folk music is alive and flourishing here and some pubs also provide a venue for music nights where anyone if they know the jigs and reels by heart and are brave enough, can join in. It is more entertaining for me to sit, listen and watch. Looks like we might be spending a fair bit of time at the pub down the road.

A pub for every day of the year remains copyright of the author dworgan, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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The Grand Old Duke of York

2007-07-23T17:00:36Z

There is a real sense of history as well as old world charm when you enter the city of York. The Normans invaders reached York in 11th century but the history of York goes back to the Romans, Saxons and Vikings before that.
The city centre is surrounded by great stone gates and medieval stone walls which you can walk around for a good introduction to the city and to appreciate just how long it has been there and the battles it must have faced. There still are many old and fascinating buildings in the old town. At the centre is York Minster, an enormous medieval cathedral which dates back to 1220 but has been extended rebuilt and repaired several times since. The Shambles – the original butchers markets – with its narrow street and leaning tudor style buildings is a wonderful step back in time. The Shambles leads into the market place just where it has been for hundreds of years., and still selling locally grown fruit, veg and smoked fish. You feel like you are living in history in York. There is Cliffords Tower from the 13th century which stands on the same mound as the original Norman’s tower to guard the city.
We now rate museums on their ability to keep 15 year olds interested and the Yorvic Viking Museum gets full marks. On the actual site where a Viking street was discovered and excavated they have recreated the street.
Using s system of suspended chairs you are shown around the old street to watch people at their trade – the leather worker, the blacksmith etc. Explanation in a language of your choice comes from the headrest in the chair. It gives you a very good impression of how daily life was carried out by the Vikings in about 800 AD. After that there are artifacts found at the actual site, bones and skeletons where the injuries sustained on the skeletons are explained and possible cause of death determined…. archeological forensic science.

The Grand Old Duke of York remains copyright of the author dworgan, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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Cheap air travel is a reality

2007-07-22T12:56:20Z

There are certainly some advantages to living in Europe – lots of nearby countries to visit and cheap flights. This is a whole new way to spending the weekend quite foreign to Australians.

Everything is so close – 2 hour from Spain to Britain, 2 hours from Germany to Italy. But the real surprise is the price. There are a few airlines that really take price wars to the maximum. We thought we were very lucky to find some tickets from Barcelona for 30 euros each and then from Granada to London for 15 euros each one way. We even bought a seat for the guitar because it was cheaper than paying excess luggage for it. Lily bought a ticket a week later with the same airline and paid 1 cent!! It seemed incredible. Unfortunately they don't fly to every airport and if it is not a popular travel time the prices are higher.

In some towns they use outlying airports if the runways or late night flights cost less, and there are airport taxes of course. Big penalities apply for changing flights etc. They cover a few costs by charging 6 euros for each item of luggage and manage to get a bit more back by lowering the luggage allowance. From Australia the allowance is 20 kgs/person but if you fly with Ryan Air - one of the main cheap airlines - it is only 15 kgs. And they charge 8 euros for every kilo overweight. This of course means everyone carries a lot more in their hand luggage and wears all their heaviest clothes

We saw them weigh some people’s hand luggage but luckily they didn’t weigh ours. (They would have made a fair bit of money).

The other price saving strategies they use are that the flight a strictly No Frills – that includes no food or drink provided - we saw quite a few passengers bring out their own packed lunch and cans of beer or soft drink. There are no seat allocations so you can sit wherever you like, the seats don't recline and they sell raffles tickets during the flight to win free travel!

All this still seems amazing that they are able to operate an airline with full staff and to safety regulations, where only a small percentage of the seats are sold at full price and the other tickets are sold progressively cheaper and cheaper.

It doesn’t stop with the airfares - some agencies can arrange package tours where the flight may only cost a few euros or pounds and hotels accommodation for a couple of pounds each per night. We have yet to explore this option. I have heard of a buck’s party going to Latvia for the weekend from Britain.

Air travel is a much harder, longer and more expensive option for Australians.

Cheap air travel is a reality remains copyright of the author dworgan, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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It’s ever so cute

2007-07-15T11:36:53Z

It feels like stepping back in time. Think pounds not dollars, miles not kilometers, inches not centimeters, pints not liters and pence not cents. The people are polite, genteel and friendly, The villages are small, the roads are narrow and the houses are ever so cute. This is what we have found in North Norfolk about three hours north of London.

It is like stepping onto a film set for a BBC production of Heartbeat or All Creatures Great and Small. The villages have narrow winding streets, sometimes not wide enough for a car. The houses open directly onto the streets. They have low doorways (one advantage to being short), low ceilings, attic windows and some still have thatched roofs. There are hand-made stonewalls and buildings from the local round flint rocks everywhere. Cottage gardens straight from the gardening books and almost impossible to achieve in Australia are in.

We are staying an 18th century cottage in a small village called Wells-next-the-Sea in a street called Knitting Needle Lane – how cute is that! The village and street names are quaint and very descriptive - Rose Lane, Oak Street Mill Road, Northfield Lane, Polka Road, Bolts Close, Chapel Yard, Mill Road, Marsh Lane and High Street.

Allotments are popular. People from the city and towns like to have their own place to plant potatoes, beans and gooseberries in a communal garden area. It is a nice way to grow your own and make up for limited garden space at home.

Some other great names we spotted in our travels in England so far include Upper Goat Lane followed by Lower Goat Lane, Great Snoring next to Little Snoring of course, Adam and Eve Lane, Unthank Road, Two Furlong Hill Road, Blackhorse Yard and Jolly Sailor Yard.

It’s ever so cute remains copyright of the author dworgan, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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Alhambra

2007-07-06T09:13:47Z

To give you a bit of background - the Alhambra has had a colourful and eventful past which is reflected in its architecture and gardens. It started out as a Moorish fortress in 9th century and converted into a palace in 13th century. Granada was the last Moorish stronghold until the Spanish regained control in the 15th century. The large sections that remain of the Moorish buildings and gardens are what make Alhambra the magical place that it is.

A lot has been written about the Alhambra in Granada and you wonder if such beautiful descriptions could be true – they are. A few words that come to mind are: beautifully proportioned, ornately decorated, intricately moulded, beautiful tiled, delicately carved ceilings, Arabic inscriptions – you get the idea. Even the bathouses have star-studded roofs. Each room, each garden, each view, each angle is picture perfect. The cameras were non-stop from the other 1000 or more visitors today (except mine which ran out of batteries!) It is such a big complex it is hard to take it all in and we were all suffering from ´Gallery Foot´ and over dosed on arches and carved wall patterns by the end of the morning.

One of the most pleasing aspects to the Alhamabra is the use of water – water is an art form. Water is the link between patios and gardens – it can be either seen or heard everywhere creating a soothing, cooling effect although it must be 38 degrees outside. There are pools in every courtyard, aqueducts transporting water beside or below the streets, fountains, ponds, trickling and splashing, even hand rails carrying water.

The Alhambra is really an amazing place where every aspect has been considered and beautifully constructed to reflect the Islamic beliefs of God, the earth and beauty.

Alhambra remains copyright of the author dworgan, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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Granada

2007-07-06T09:03:42Z

We have just arrived in Granada and it is totally different t o Barcelona -climate, language, accommodation, people, city, landscape, bars, style and.

 It is hot (37 degrees yesterday) but a dry heat – much more like Australia.
 In Andalucia where Granada is they only speak Castellano – the official language so it is much easier to understand – in Barcelona they spoke the regional language first – Catalan – which we don’t know much of.
 Granada itself is very traditional style where we have been – terraced houses with geraniums in the flower boxes, narrow, steep winding laneways, whitewashed walls, cobblestones paths and streets, fountains and cool shaded parks. It isn't as busy or big either which is a nice change. They seem to have permanent lighting over the streets like Christmas lighting, featuring some of the traditional Arabic designs.
 The people we have met so far are friendly and helpful
 The landscape is and hot dry. Flying into Granada all you could see were hills covered in rows of olive trees.
 The hostel is an old style family run business directly in front of the Alahambra and views of the mountains. It is roomy, half the price of Barcelona and has a rooftop pool! It is like a mountain retreat.
 The bars themselves are the same but the difference is that with each drink you purchase here, you are given a free tapa of food –all very nice. Menu del dia was they way to eat in Barcelona but it seems to be less common here.
 There is much more of a Turkish or Arabic influence here with a lot of kebab shops, teahouses, Turkish style clothes, slippers, ceramics, cakes, tiles and glassware. There are still a couple of Turkish bath-houses operating too.

Granada remains copyright of the author dworgan, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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Friends from the North

2007-07-01T14:08:58Z

As well as this being our last week in Barcelona and all the usual winding up things that have to be done, cleaning, packing and people to say goodbye to, we have had 3 visitors from Australia via Sweden. The Agzarians from Wagga dropped in for 4 days. Our little apartment was stretched to accommodate 7 people, but it all worked out OK and it was fun to have people here to share our life with. The program was busy, but in true Spanish fashion, we found enough time for siestas and late starts in the morning, and late nights.
Barcelona in 4 days
Day 1: Arrive in the evening, go for Spanish tapas at a nearby bar. Max’s language skills were put to the test as Jeff and I were out at our last tango class and dinner. They made instant friends with the waiter and sounds like got very special attention.
Day 2: Flea market to search through the piles of junk, clothes, old photos, jewellery, old books, toys and find the occasional treasure.
Home-cooked fish lunch thanks to Michael, and siesta.
Walk to Las Ramblas to check out the shops and buskers, and visit our favourite Plaza Reial and bar followed by a Flamenco show at Tarantos. This is a very good find – every night, 30 minutes of stamping, clapping and wailing flamenco music. Bocadillo dinner - an easy meal of bread roll and various meat or cheese fillings and sauces from a tiny Frankfurt shop in Plaza Jaume. Metro or bike home.
Day 3: Park Guell – always worth a visit. On the way home Menu del Dia in a Palestinian restaurant in Gracia. Very good, authentic, cheap (8.50 euro) and far more than any of us could eat. In the afternoon more shopping or resting and then the Magic Fountain near Plaza Espanya. It runs every 30 minutes and is a very well choreographed display of lights, and water to classical music. Hundreds of people of course but it is so big you can easily see. Home for an omelette dinner.
Day 4: Check out Barcelona beaches – clear water and warm weather, then an afternoon visit to Sagrada Familia – the one place you have to put on your Barcelona itinerary.
In the evening we attended and opening of an Urban Dance Festival where local and international artists did their stuff. It runs for 4 days. The dances were a mixed lot but free and worth a look. Home at midnight but awake until 3.00am as there was a local fiesta happening in the lane beside our flat and the band and P.A were pumping on full volume until then. (This festival ended up going for the next 3 nights 11.00 to 2 am – only in Spain!)
Day 5: Early flight to Paris.

That is one way to see Barcelona – it was busy and fun, some new things and some things worth doing again for us. Not expensive, lots of walking and bike riding and talking, good food and good company.

Friends from the North remains copyright of the author dworgan, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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Adios a Metropol

2007-06-29T09:38:36Z

Three months has gone so quickly. Things are starting to draw to a close, including Max’s Spanish classes. Max has been learning Spanish for the whole time we have been here and all except for the first 2 weeks has been at the Metropol language school. He has gone from zero Spanish to intermediate level and has gained a lot of confidence.

Lately, he has often been in the position of showing visiting family and friends around Barcelona and having to be the local guide and translator. I think it has made him realise that he actually knows how to say things, get around by metro or buses and is familiar with the way things work here. It is just a shame that we have to go now.

The atmosphere at the school is friendly and he has now met people from all over the world - Germany, England, America, Italy, Canada, Hungary, Finland, Switzerland, Malaysia and China. This has opened his eyes a bit about other countries and he has enjoyed making friends with so many different people.

Thanks Raquel for your teaching and help. We will never forget ‘NI FU NI FA’.

Adios a Metropol remains copyright of the author dworgan, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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