Let's do lunch in Capri!

Another glorious sunrise saw us setting out for Capri. After much internet searching for  the best way to reach the ferry terminal we headed out. Part of the metro trip was on an unknown line  and it was down in the bowels of the earth! The escalators were quite steep and rather unnerving as we went down 4 levels. The station was the start of the line and we were packed on like sardines - you tell your head not to think about worst case scenarios! Luckiy we got off at the second station!

We found our way to the ferry and we soon skimming across the water. An hour later we were docking in Capri.  It was like a quiet fishing harbour which closes down in the winter. The weathet was rather cool, although sunny, so we ducked into any type of shop just to get warm.

We found where the funicular was and took the trip up to the higher level of the town - the view was spectacular! It's actually a quaint place with narrow alleyways and tiny shops. It was so much cooler at the top and we decided it was time for our 'Lunch in Capri'! We found a lovely restaurant with an excellent view and spent a few hours with warmth, good food and company. We did smile about the seeming  extravagance of our lunch but it was certainly a treat!

Once more into the cold air it was a matter of walking to keep warm. The strange thing w as the number of outdoor cafés wuth no heating but as all good detectives do we 'sniffed' out the only one with heating and spent time people watching!

The ferry left Capri just after 6pm and the journey was quick - well I had a nanny nap so it seemed quick! Finally back to the apartment by 8 and another good day had been had by all!

For our last day Naples we took the Hop on/off bus.There are two routes - historic and scenic. The city was blocked with vehicles only the punctuated sounds of sirens moved anyone. The historic centre is dusty and dirty. Washing hanging from the balconies sometimes the only colour - I would be fearful of dropping the washing/pegs if I had to do this!

The views on the scenic tour were much better with houses cascading down the hillside to the sea. After the tour getting back to our apartment it was another of those sardine train trips only worse! There was no time for niceties, you were shoved into the carriage with nothing to hold onto. As the train lurched out of the station I  gave a 'sqeak' of shock, lurched and grabbed onto the nearest person. For some reason this train ballet - well I was balancing on one leg for most of the journey - gave me the giggles and I was unable to stop laughing. Perhaps it was the fear of falling over and being trampled that did it. Anyway my antics and uncontrolled goggling seemed to set quite a few others off - I'm sure ut was the most entertaining trip they'd had for a while!

Our last breakfast was once again overlooking the Bay of Naples  with another amazing sunrise before heading off to Rome. This time the train ran on time and after reaching speeds  of 299km we were there in 70 minutes.

A quick (joke) visit to the Rome police station did not end with my passports back! 

Finally we arrived at our home for the next 4 days and have a fine view of the Vatican.

Wishing everyone a great 2019

What a sunrise!

What an amazing sight to wake up to! It slowly got better as the day went on! By the afternoon the bay of Naples was sparkling, ferries and small boats could be seen everywhere.

Our first stop today was to go back to Napoli Termini and have a chat with the police! We did spot a supermarket as we tried to find our way to the Metro. Looked like they had a good selection so would go back later for supplies! As we were trying to find the station we passed a cafe advertising breakfast and as the 22+ hours of airline food was not cutting it we were straight inside! With a few hand signs and the odd smidgen of Spanish we were finally able to find the Metro station which would take us to the centre. We are only 4 stops away so it's an easy trip. 

Thank goodness for Google translate because verbally telling my story to a non English-speaking person was difficult! They finally got the gist and phoned Rome but no passport was handed in. I made a report and decided I had no alternative but to report the loss to the Australian and British consulates! I duly phoned and they were both quick and helpful. I now have an appointment in Rome (luckily that  is our next port of call) at 9am 2/1/19.   

The follow up for the British passport is a little more complex as i have to complete a form but cannot manage to download it properly on my little tablet - at the moment! Perhaps when I have a decent night's  sleep I might be able to sort it. 

Made our foray into the supermarket and w r e soon toastong the bay of Naples with a pleasant Prosseco.

27/12 Today we headed to Pompeii. We have really mastered the metro! The town of Pompeii, as it is today, seems quite pleasant but we were off to discover what had happened when Vesuvius blew its top. As we entered there was an exhibit of some of the casts of people who had been caught unaware. It must have been a truly horrific time! It is a very large site and from the buildings you could really imagine how life had been.

This is the remains of  bread found at the site. 

There was a lot of walking and the cobble stones were hard on your feet. The signage is not the best and we gave up with listening to the audio as nothing was connecting properly. I could not imagine being here in the summer!

We also wanted to see Herculaneum and this meant catching a very different train and being in very seedy railway stations. We managed to get to the correct spot although I think Valda might have thought tnat I had led her astray!

Herculaneum was very impressive and was much easier to visit.

The buildings were more intact and there were some impressive mosaics. The saddest part was a the very lowest level in what had been the boat houses. The skeletal remains of those who had huddled together definately made you pause with the hope that their deaths had been quick - a very sobering vist.

Today we plan to go to Capri for lunch - that sounds pretty swanky doesn't it! Another glorious sunrise is heralding another lovely day.

Home time!

We caught a local bus to Valletta – traffic here is as bad as Sydney! It’s another hot day which seems to be made worse by the fact that all the buildings are made of a light sandstone type of material which reflects the heat.
There were some very interesting sculptures at the city entrance gate. Valletta reminded me a Lisbon because the walk took use up and down very steep hills. It seems to be a city of churches. Sue had downloaded the walking tour on her phone so that we never made a wrong step and were told about all the main points of interest. We visited the main Cathedral and listened, via hand held devices, to the information about it. It is a very grand place – with so many sculptures and paintings. I’m not into the old style art works but there was a painting about the beheading of John the Baptist by Caravaggio which blew me away.
We have tried a couple of Maltese restaurants – tasty fish but I gave rabbit a miss! Food is reasonably priced here which is interesting as very little is produced here bar potatoes!
After debating whether we should have a day trip to the island of Gozo we gave it a miss. If we had wanted to spend the day with a boat load of drunken, sunburnt ‘youngies’ it would have been easy. But to spend a more peaceful day was going to be more complicated so we decided on a chill out day. I walked into the main area of Sliema and was semi amazed at the number of English stores there were.
Finally braved the very rocky terrain, no sand here, to have a swim. You had to search carefully for a safe place to enter the water.  Once in it was quite pleasant, the water was warm and the swell not too bad. It’s so salty that you  just floated. You could tell, by the rock formations that they were used to collect the salt as the water evaporated. How people just lay flat out on these rocks all day sunning themselves I don’t know!
Yesterday we all left to go in different directions. I headed to England. A 3.5 hour flight from Malta was made very exciting as just as we were about to land we shot back up into the air and made a big loop – another plane taking off aborted the landing according to the pilot! I then caught a bus to Heathrow as I’d landed at Luton. I spent the night in a hotel  at Heathrow and have a couple more hours until check-in.
I have enjoyed my trip and although happy to go home just hope it’s not too cold – I can hear my sister’s reaction to that comment 😆

Made it to Malta!

Leaving the farmhouse we only had a 90 minute drive to our overnight stop. We called into Direct Factory outlet to kill time. Wandering around these places I am still amazed at how people afford some of the prices. I did get myself a new pair of trainers as they were $70 cheaper than at home but nothing else.

We had an overnight hotel which had a pool, needed in this heat, and a pleasant restaurant. There are  now just 6 of us travelling together.

Sunday saw us driving to Marseille as this was where we were flying from to Malta. Found parking easily and got onto the ‘hop on/off’ bus to have a view of the city of Marseille. It was an interesting tour and not the sleazy city of the past. As we stopped for lunch the French football fans started to appear. They were draped in flags, blowing loud whistles and wearing weird and wonderful hats.

We had  lovely lunch of bouillabaisse – it was delicious! 

We dragged out our lunch as long as possible but had decided to head to the airport before the ‘big game’ started as we didn’t want to be in the middle if things didn’t go the French way!

Unfortunately our flight didn’t leave until 11:30 pm so we were at the airport way, way too early but there was nothing else we could do. As you can imaging every TV screen in the airport was surrounded by football fans- I was secretly going for Croatia! We always knew when France scored and the were a lot of groans and head holding when they didn’t! We were finally able to check in at 9:30 only to be told that the flight was delayed by 2.5 hours!!! We made our way through security and then stretched out on the seats – no way I could fall asleep!

We finally reached our apartment about 5am and promptly went to bed! Upon waking a few hours later we set off for the supermarket to stock up – never seen so many extraordinary English cheeses! The day was very low key and we all had a siesta that afternoon. We have a lovely view over the ocean but it’s rocky with no sand. It’s really  hot with a little humidity but pleasant enough to sit outside for our dinner.

Yesterday we took the ‘hop on/off’ bus. We thought we were on the southern tour but ended up on the northern one. Some areas look like the Gold Coast and just hotel after hotel. It is very dry inland but they do seem to grow extra large pumpkins. Much of the food etc is imported and there are many Italian restaurants probably because we are so close to Italy.

The day was hot and humid and the bus trip very long. We asked ourselves why we weren’t able to cope with the heat as it’s no different from what we experience in Oz – we had no answer! We left the bus to visit the Medina, an old walled town, which was quite interesting. We learnt a little about the history of Malta – it was the most bombed country during World War 2. There is a lot of building and renovation going on here.

Will finish this in a while as I offered to go out and buy the croissants each morning  - yesterday they were still warm – yum! My stomach will get a shock when I get back home😯 Just had breakfast , croissants were warm, now planning a walking tour of Valletta.

Last days in France

We had an interesting tour of the vineyard. At 600m it is at the highest elevation possible to grow grapes and they even had snow this year! We had a walk through the vines and saw a great variety of vegies that they growth for their catering business – we’ve had few meals catered by them and they have been very good. After our walk we had some tastings and the walked up hill to where a wonderful picnic was waiting for us. We did need a siesta!
That evening we tuned into the football! The younger members of the party went into the village, about 2km from here, and had a great time. It appears that the street was closed off, there was a band and DJ and a big screen was set up so that everyone could see the match.
We did watch the England match the next night  - there was great excitement when the first goal was scored but we were all dismayed with the outcome. We are still in France on Sunday when the final is held but many of us are going for Croatia so will have to keep a hold on our enthusiasm if they are in the lead!
Our days are following a very nice pattern. We have our typically French breakfast, mooch around for a while and then head out to different hilltop villages. Once we have strolled around the village it’s then lunchtime, a little more strolling then back to the farmhouse and usually a siesta. Upon waking up a dip in the pool, a little reading of ones book, pre dinner drinks and then the evening meal. As you can imagine with17 people dinner is a rather raucous affair!
Yesterday as we headed out we came across a farm which advertised angora products. We had an interesting chat with the lady of the house (our limited French  her limited English) and met some of the cute and fluffy goats. We then went into a little stone shed, expecting very little, to be amazed by a large array of angora goods and bright jewel colours. I bought some gloves – always useful for those cold winter trips I do!
Yesterday evening we stumbled across a spa and sauna in the grounds. I was straight in the spa. It was lovely sitting there overlooking beautiful countryside whilst the powerful jets of water massaged the shoulders and back!
Our last day in this area saw us heading to a market. The smells of the cheese, spices and lavender was overwhelming at times. It was a huge market with an amazing variety of goods. The varieties of tomatoes was astonishing – why don’t  we see this in Oz? It was also extremely busy and hot but luckily the local cafe sold cold beer!
The temperature has been about 30C but it’s a dry heat so is very bearable.
We leave hear today, Saturday, and fly to Malta late Sunday night. The week has flown by!

After a lazy breakfast we headed out to visit a few little towns. The drive to them was down steep winding roads and we were searching for the perfect field of lavender to photograph. Passing many lavender fields that were not perfect we decided that we had all week to make the perfect shot when round the next corner there it was. The purple colour was stunning.

The first town was very tiny and we found a cheese shop where we bought a goat’s cheese which was wrapped in Chestnut leaves. Then onto the charcuterie where there was an amazing display of sausages. Pate joined the cheese. Next stop was to Sault a hill town where lavender abounds and the scent is hanging in the air.

Driving through these towns is challenging as they are so narrow – no I don’t put my hand up to drive!! There were a number of occasions where the French just throw their hands up in despair as we negotiate the tight corners.
The afternoon was lazy with a siesta and swims. The evening meal was catered for – all we had to do was heat it up!
Monday started as a disappointment as the baker’s are not open! We had to deal with toast which is not quite as appealing as the good old baguette! Life is tough!
We headed out to the Lavender museum art Apt. It was really interesting. We saw exactly how the lavender  is seeded and then all the other processes to make the essential oils. Some of the old copper stills were works of art.
We then travelled to Gordes, a hill top village – very spectacular.  You could understand why it was built here as the people would have been able to see the marauders coming across the plans. There is so much stone/rock here and it’s used for all the buildings.

In the evening we had a game of boules which became very competitive but was a good laugh.
Today, Tuesday, thankfully we were able to get our baguettes and croissants. The smelly cheese is also going down a treat! We are off for a wine tasting at 11 plus picnic – will definitely need a siesta this afternoon!

In France

Time passes quicker than you want it to and so it was soon parting of the ways for my sister, b-i-l and I to say goodbye. Our time, winding our way from Youlgreave to Macclesfield, was quicker than expected and I was able to catch an earlier train to London. The train was crowded but after a while I found a seat.
Arrival in London was a shock as it was so hot (30C) and muggy. After pretending that I knew where I was going I resorted to the phone to guide me! I eventually found the hotel and was directed to my shoe box sized room. If it hadn’t been so close to the station for the Eurostar train I wouldn’t have chosen it!
Once I’d dropped my bag I was off to the big smoke to have a visit to Marks and Sparks to try to buy another pair of shorts. On entering the store I was shocked- were there closing down I wondered – no it’s sale time I was told. So that’s why it looked like a jumble sale!! I did find ONE pair of shorts in my size. Grabbing some undies on sale I hastily retreated from the store seriously disappointed – I know pathetic.
I went back to my shoe box, which by now was a majorly hot shoe box, and relaxed my weary body – perhaps the two hours of cycling the day before was catching up! It was pure joy to jump (?) under a cold shower.
At 7pm I met up with Kitty & Roger and we headed to the local pub. We’d heard that France had won their match so the next game was on the pub TV, luckily we found seats in the beer garden! The pub grub was fine and by 9pm (still light) we were ready for another round in the shoe box! A very poor night’s sleep ensued what with the heat and noise!
05:30 saw us heading to the station where we bought a few supplies for the train journey (6hrs). All went smoothly and we are in spacious seats (Kitty had booked the equivalent of premium economy). We were all rather surprised to be given breakfast. Kitty mentioned that she should have read the small print on the ticket! It was lovely rushing through the English countryside eating breakfast .

Quick dash through the tunnel and it was time to move our watches on an hour. We are now belting through the French countryside! It was a bit disconcerting going to the loo as Mona Lisa is staring down at you!
Got another surprise at lunchtime.

The journey sped by and we arrived in Avignon at about 3pm and then had to queue for an hour to pick up hire car-it was chaos and you had to laugh at the way people react to these situations.
Finally we headed off to our final destination. We only got lost a couple of times!! It’s a really lovely spot. Dinner was a bbq with 17 people sitting down to dinner.
It was good to have a comfortable bed but unfortunately I had a  intruder which turned out to be a large toad! I soon shoved him out of the door! Finally sleep came to me and the sun was shining when I woke at 7. A quick swim and then breakfast of croissant

My intruder!!

Hot sunny days

Up hill morning walks, to get the paper, are the way we start the day. We have usually decided where our daily jaunt will be and on Wednesday we headed to a National Trust house called Hardwick House and learnt about who built it and why.

Bess, a farmers daughter, was married to a landowner's son at 15, he was 13. His father was dying and if his son wasn't married the property would have been claimed by the government. Unfortunately she was widowed by 16 but that gave her some wealth. The short version of the story is that she was married four times and widowed each time but each man was more wealthy than the last! She also became a lady-in-waiting to Queen Elizabeth 1 and was also involved in having Mary Queen of Scots at her place whilst Mary was under house arrest.

Bess eventually had Hardwick house built for herself.

 

  The house was very interesting and the grounds were made up of lovely gardens.

In the afternoon, on our return to the cottage, we walked along the river where it was shady and cool. The walk led us across fields with sheep and cattle who were also searching for shade.

Yesterday we decided to take another mode of transport and hired bikes. We had a couple of hours cycling along what was once a steam railway line. It was hot and dusty but riding through the tunnels dropped your temperature quickly. We passed cotton mills, lime kilns and lovely cottages. We had a great time apart from the pressure placed on our posterior!!

 It’s been great fun but my next stop is London and an early start tomorrow to catch the Eurostar to Avignon.

Travel to UK

Sydney to Bangkok was 9 hours of a child next to me screaming for most of the trip! Luckily Bangkok to London, although longer, was without the screams!! Quickly through formalities I was then on the way to central London. I had to get from one station to another and was told to go to platform 16 but none of the platforms had a numbef!! I did end up walking round in circles for a while but finally reached Euston station for a train to Macclesfield (up north).

I was met by my sis and b-i-l and we headed into the town. I actually spent my first two years of teaching here but after all these years I failed to recognise the
place! Had a quick shop in Marks & Sparks - the weather was so hot I needed shorts - before heading to Youlgrave a 45 minute drive up into the Peak district. The fields are yellow as, surprisingly, there's been no rain for a month!

We are staying in a lovely stone cottage and the main village is in the same stone.

Where we are staying.

We had a wander up the stream which is opposite this house and as my sister thought we should go wild swimming - I later called it iceberg swimming after trying to get into the water - so we were prepared.

lce cold swimming hole

In the evening we made the trek up hill to the pub for a meal luckily we could roll back down the hill after dinner.

On Tuesday we headed to Bakewell - famous for Bakewell pudding/tart. It is a cute country town.

 When we returned back to the cottage we had a long walk along the stream, through woods and  across fields. It was cool in the woods but blazing hot in tne open - even the cattle were trying to find shade. Cold beer and a Pimms rounded off the day.

I am enjoying being here in the summer. It must be 10 years since I was last here in summer - such a change from the winter!