31 October 2006
Spain
The Barcelona skyline from a nearby hilltop. Gaudi´s La Familia cathedral dominates.
Next stop was Madrid. We did the 640km drive between Barcelona and Madrid in in one day; once I have the bit in my mouth sometimes I just want to keep going! I had fond memories of Madrid from when I visited briefly in 2002 for work. Edda also lived there for a year when she was studying and she kept regaling us with stories of her favourite haunts and the mayhem she caused! Unfortunately we had pretty bad weather for some of the time, dampening our mood a bit. Plaza Mayor was largely deserted, but we all enjoyed the other major sights such as the Museo del Prado and the Palacio Real (Royal Palace). Madrid is as beautiful as Barcelona, especially the main street Grand Via. Completely lined with the most ornate and aesthetically pleasing buildings imaginable - any city could do well to hire a Spanish architect. It just declares, "I am the nation´s capital". The down side was that it was very difficult to get from our campsite into the city. Spanish eat and stay out very late (dinner starts about 10pm), but our buses stopped running at 9.30pm. Daft!
The relatively new cathedral in Madrid. Note the sky!
Next we moved onto Toledo, just 70km to the south. A magical hilltop town with narrow, windy, cobbled streets and the most sumptuous Cathedral you can imagine. We all enjoyed slowing down to the pace of this place. So much so Gail and I decided it was a good spot for one of our much-needed rest days, as we´ve been travelling and sightseeing hard for weeks. The campsite and weather was great too. Mum and Dad also enjoyed their lovely little boutique hotel in the middle of the old town.
Toledo from one of this ancient town´s chrch towers. The cathedral is to the right, with the Alcazar fort in the centre (under restoration unfortunately, so unlike me in 2002 we couldn´t visit)
La Mancha windmills south of Toledo, an area where Cervantes based his book Don Quixote
Now we are in Grenada, in the province of Andalucia in the south of Spain. The skys are sunny and we are loving the place. This large town is magical, full of the life and verve you would expect from Spain, with a mix of old arab history and culture mixed in. A massive ancient castle and palace complex dominates the town and is a place we spent an entire day exploring. Another was the old Arab quarter where Gail and I spent hours wandering the narrow cobbled streets, stumbling on architectural and cultural gems and hidden plazas with their bars and cafes.
The Alhambra fort and palace complex dominates over beautiful Granada
Tomorrow we move west to Seville where we farewell Mum and Dad who are on to their tour of Italy, while we head north through Portugal and to the north of Spain. Adios for now.
19 October 2006
Provence, etc
We headed off to France's Provence region to meet up with Johnny and Edda, first staying overnight near Lyon on the way. J&E were staying in the lovely, tiny Provence village of Sèguret, which is not in any English guide books. Our first real taste of this beautiful part of the world. We then all spent a couple of nights in the coastal town of Stes Marie de la Mer, in the Carmarge area of Provence, within the delta of the Rhone. Amazingly, pink flamingos abound in the plentiful marshes, as do mosquitoes. This area is famous for (apart from mozzies) black bulls bred for bull fighting (held in neighbouring Arles' 2000 year old coliseum) and white horses. Interesting! Next we moved east along the Côte D'Azur coast to La Ciotat, staying in a campsite right on the sea's edge. Nice - this coastal town is between Marseilles and St Tropez. We spent a couple of nights and a relaxing day there, swimming, chatting and catching up. Gail and I were a bit blue here, because we were missing my nephew Dane´s wedding to the lovely Jo while we were in La Ciotat. We really would have loved to be there.
Provence village of Sèguret where Johnny and Edda were staying in a tiny boutique hotel
¿Pink flamingos in France? What th´?
Johnny & Edda have also acquired a new dog since we were in Düsseldorf, a lovely Spanish Podenco named Sushi (first impressions were that she was like a whippet with HUGE ears), with a gorgeous temperament. This is interesting for us Aussies; unlike us, Europeans can easily take their dogs on holidays with them if they are camping. Almost all campsites allow dogs (they even have a standard charge for them), and you can even take them into most restaurants (at least the al fresco areas and often inside). Also, few male dogs seem to be neutered in Europe, which makes the frequent encounters between males. Interesting!
Sushi with Johnny and Edda, overlooking the valley near La Ciotat
Now we are on our own again, we had to bid poor J&E a sad farewell as they have to get back for work.
Gail and I moved on and stumbled on the extraordinary village of Gordes further north in Provence, which is every bit as awe inspiring as any in Itay's Tuscany, but with 1/100th the tourists (and we don't understand why), before spending time in lovely Avignon. More time was spent sloshing around the fab nearby compact wine area of Chateauneuf du Pape, which is literally littered with wineries. Fellow wine afficionados (Hi Colin) will be envious as they will know of this area's fame.
The beautiful village of Gordes. The photos will never do it justice
Just one of the village squares in Avignon
One of the wineries (caveau) we bought wine from in Chateauneuf du Pape. Interesting how the bottles we selected got progressively more expensive as the afternoon progressed!
The secret of Chateauneuf du Pape´s success? Big, round river stoney ground
On Tuesday 17th we explored the utterly captivating 12-13th century walled city and castle (chateau) - La Cité - at Carscassonne. Yet another great recommendation from Arnaud back at Alcoa. Later on the way south we visited the famous Musée d'Art Moderne in the small town of Céret just north of the Spanish border, which has WAY more than its fair share of Picasso, Matisse, Dali, etc. We crossed the border and visited the Spanish town of Figueres to visit the Teatre-Musea Dali (Dali Museum-Gallery) with its huge, famous collection. What an extraordinary talent he was, amazingly varied mediums (pen & ink through to jewellery) and styles. Completely twisted mind, though.
The Chateau inside the walled town of Carscassonne
After a night on the Costa Brava in north-eastern Spain (where the weather turned on us for a day), we are now in Barcelona ready to meet Mum & Dad Lockley, who will share Spain with us over the next 12 days or so.
Gail and I will be spending more time in France after Spain and Portugal before we head back to Germany in December, then a further week in Paris at the end. So we have only had a small taste of a corner of France so far. Therefore it may be premature to judge this early and of course it is purely our personal opinions; but although we really enjoyed Italy, we utterly LOVE France!
09 October 2006
Update from Geneva, Switzerland
So, an update since Siena in Tuscany. We went via San Gimigniano up to Florence and ticked a few amazing boxes there. We camped at an amazing campsite in the hills above the old city centre of Florence, a 10 minute walk (see photo below). You can see a focus for us is campsites, how good they are and where are they.
Participant in a (harvest?) parade in Florence (above)
Our campsite in Tuscany
Two highlights in Florence amongst many were firstly Michaelangelo's "David". The queue of nearly 2 hours was worth it. It is heartbreakingly beautiful to be in the same hall as the real thing. You walk down a long passage towards it and you cannot take your eyes off it. The other good thing was the reason for the long queue was to limit the number of visitors. That meant it wasn't crowded inside.
Michaelangelo's "David" (I had to quickly take this, no photos alowed)
A second highlight was a tiny, local trattoria called Mario's, recommended by a guy we met in Oxford with Lily and Nick. It was a family run place of course, with the main waitress an older, jovial woman, who told you happily what you would have. They sat you at tiny tables on stools, jammed in with complete strangers, and they dumped a load of fresh bread on a napkin as you sat. Pasta dishes were 4-5 euro, meat dishes 8-10 euro. The food was absolutely extrordinary. There was a queue of people waiting to get in when we left, despite the 3 or 4 open places with tables to spare just around the corner.
Trattoria Mario in Tuscany
After Florence we decided we had had enough of central Italian historic towns and cities. Beautiful, but similar. So we crossed Volterra and even Pisa off our list and headed for the Cinque Terre, or "5 Towns" national park. In some ways similar to the Amalfi Coast, but the 5 small villages huddled on the edge of the cliffs above the sea are all accessible by foot via scenic paths along the seaside cliffs. Far fewer tourists than the Amalfi Coast too (they can't get tour buses there). It'll be interesting to see it in a few years.
Town of Vernazza in Cinqe Terre
Next we moved north to the Italian lakes area, to Lago Maggiorre, in a campsite near the town of Stresa. Weather was great, I even had a swim in this crystal clear lake. Our campsite was right on the water too.
Our campsite on Lago Maggiorre, note Bluey in the distance
Time to leave Italy, we crossed the Alps (actually through them, an 11km long tunnel under Mont Blanc, the tallest mountain in the Alps) and arrived in Chamonix in France. From there, there is an amazing cable car trip up the slopes of Mont Blanc you can do, to a jagged rocky peak called Aigulle du Midi, at an elevation of 3842m. This was a full 1km above the snow line. It was an incredibly exhilarating experience, especially as it was a nice clear day with a clear blue sky. We found ourselves grinning stupidly as we tramped around the various viewing spots in the snow, across the Alps and down to Chamonix deep in the valley far below. We even considered doing it all again the following day.
From Chamonix: That jagged peak is where we were heading by cable car, and from where the next few photos were taken
View down to Chamonix in the valley floor far below from the peak at 3842m
At the top
Now we are in Geneva for a few days, and will head south to meet Johnny and Edda (from Düsseldorf) in south eastern France. Till next time...
