Prague nearly did me in. Well, to be frank, an excess of beer and a heavy dose of stupidity nearly did me in. When we last left you, we were about to head off for a beer tour of the city. Of course, with a bit of time to kill, we cleverly decided a few warm up brews were necessary. Coincidently ending up in the same bar at which we'd swilled tequila and Bloody Maries the night prior, we got stuck into the steins and were already ticking over when we met the tour group at the Wenceslas Square statue. The tour took us to five pubs, of which I only really remember three. We had a meal at one, tried some scary schapps-like stuff at another, and my night effectively ended with a couple of shots of absynthe, reputedly 70% alcohol.
Needless to say, the next day I was poorly but we still had to see the sites. We made it to the Astronomical Clock for the great anti climax of it chiming, we crossed the Charles Bridge, which was beautiful despite teeming with tourists, and took a big walk around the Prague Castle. We rounded out the day with a traditional Czech lunch and some shopping for warmer clothes, then went out for dinner at a very pleasant pub-restaurant. Here we tried hot apple punch which, unfortunately, was loaded with rum and smelled like diesel with a splash of apple juice. We also discovered that there's a drink called 'grog' but were disappointed to learn that it is simply rum with hot water. Yuck.
Our train journey to Munchen was uneventful apart from a pile of drunken, lederhosen-wearing Germans piling into the first class cabin with us half an hour from our destination. Despite it being the end of the day, they put Australian drinking records to shame - a few girls passed around a few bottles between them and surely would have knocked over two bottles in that short journey.
Last night we had the mixed pleasure of our first beer garden experience, mixed because despite the food and beer being really good, the 8,000 or so seats in the beer garden itself were deserted due to inclement weather. Nevertheless, the meat-meat-meat spectacular I had was good, and, apart from a deceptively-named dunkel weiss bier (not a fan of wheat beer), the beer was cracking. The service was also good; the waiter had a good laugh at us struggling to read the all-Deutsch menu and eventually took pity, saying "why didn't you ask for an English menu?". Duh.
Today the weather is abject poo. On the way to writing this little diatribe we went to four venues seeking an umbrella, which we have now secured. However, the persistent rain is dampening many plans; a recommended free walking tour of Munich is looking unlikely, and beer gardens more so, especially given that I feel like my stomach has recently turned into a rusty spin dryer. Regardless we will go out again shortly and tackle the day, saving energy for the Oktoberfest (and maybe the AFL Grand Final) tomorrow.
28 September 2007
26 September 2007
Horses, beer and gothic towers
I'm going to begin by saying that I want a Lipizzaner...
The performance by the Lipizzaner stallions at the Spanish Riding School was absolutely awesome and worth every cent of the very expensive ticket prices. The venue itself was almost opera-esque - gallery seating on two levels looking down on the arena, and we had the perfect seats - on the lower level, about 3 metres above the ground and right in the centre of the long side of the arena.
Bear with me while I go through the highlights for me - they probably won't make a whole lot of sense to anyone who hasn't ridden horses for half their life, but I need to record them before they disappear from my memory. Unfortunately we weren't able to take any photos of the performance, and although everyone had cameras, they all obeyed the rule so I did too. I now regret that because all we have are several photos of the empty arena, but at least they are proof that we were actually there.
The first part of the performance was a group of eight young stallions still in training and performing fairly basic dressage movements. The mere fact that there were eight young stallions in the same confined space was interesting enough in itself, as some of them were absolutely exploding with hormones and a few 'mistakes' were made. It was then that the brilliance of the riders first became apparent - despite the antics of these very strong and exciteable young horses, the riders remained calm, quiet and with the softest hands you can imagine.
After this came a group of four of the mature stallions who performed more advanced movements that easily outstripped the abilities of the top international Grand Prix dressage horses, who are usually pushed beyond their abilities too quickly and eventually break down. These horses were almost perfectly calm and well behaved, supple and fit and performed all of the movements with no restraint or stiffness. This was followed by a team of two horses that performed similar movements in mirror image of each other, including some amazing feats such as simultaneous canter pirouettes around one another.
After this came the group of horses in ground training (all the horses are taught the movements from the ground first and then in the saddle with a rider), and this was where we saw the 'airs above the ground', the movements that most people come here for. These included the levade, a controlled rear which takes an enormous amount of strength from the horse, the capriole, which involves the horse rearing, then launching himself into the air and kicking out behind so that for a moment he is suspended horizontally in the air, and another movement that I can't remember the name of, where the horse rears and then leaps forward for two or three bounds on his hind legs.
This was followed by a single horse in long reins with the handler guiding the horse from the hindquarters. This was also cool because it was very difficult to tell how the handler was cueing the horse to perform each movement.
After this they brought out the big guns - the fully mature and trained horses performing the airs above the ground with riders, who incidentally do not use stirrups at all. This was amazing in itself, as the rider is sitting on a saddle almost completely vertical, with no stirrups while the horse leaps along, and the whole time his hands remained soft in the horse's mouth. I hate to think how many times these riders have bad falls before they master this.
The finale was my favourite - eight fully trained, mature stallions performing precision drill-style dressage literally nose to tail. It wasn't the most spectacular part of the performance but to see the happy, eager look on the horses' faces, their calm disposition and the effortless ease with which they performed was an absolute pleasure. On top of this, I saw the best riding I've ever seen in my life, particularly by the leading rider, who was an old guy in his 50s with a rather large paunch, but who had the softest hands I've ever seen. His horse was the calmest and most picture-perfect dressage horse you could image. I couldn't take my eyes off him for the whole performance.
Now I've got that out of my system I'll let George give you his interpretation of the performance from a non-horse person perspective, and he can also fill you in on our activities since we've been in Prague.
Hello, 'tis me. Not once did I think of the Spanish Riding School visit as "Bec's thing" as I was sure I'd find it interesting. In fact, I even quite enjoyed the Lipizzaner museum, particularly watching amazing video of these horses leaping in the air and kicking their hind legs out behind them, in an ancient battle technique called 'the capriole.' Seeing the capriole live is what I came to be excited about, but it turns out the whole show was more amazing than I could have imagined. The sheer control of both riders and horses - not necessarily one over the other, but in general - was staggering. To see, right in front of you, a guy of your size and weight, sitting on a horse as it jumps 3 to 5 steps on its hind legs, or leaping in the air and kicking out at an invisible opponent, is simply dazzling.
The 'slow' bit that Bec really enjoyed was as enjoyable to me; if you can imagine the Holden Precision Team driving independent, strong-willed animals within an inch of death, then you've got the idea. It's not necessarily as dangerous, but Bec is not joking when she says 'nose to tail.' It was beyond perfect. These horses and riders have obviously put in so much time and practice you cannot but be impressed. I literally had hairs standing up on the back of my neck.
Anyhoo, after the riding school we decided to wind down at a few Heurigen houses. Unfortunately it was a mission to get there and back as one section of the normally superb subway line was down, necessitating no less than four changes. We made it in the end and enjoyed sturm ('new' wine that is not entirely fermented, leaving it sweet, slightly effervescent and looking like cloudy apple juice) at one Heurigen house at which we were in danger of being hit by falling chestnuts. We moved to another that had sold out of sturm (it is a rare treat, available only in September of each year, making us very lucky) but we had a wine and a pretzel and watched a Wednesday-doppelganger cat eat and wash. Finally we settled at a place which turned out to have a great buffet and plenty of sturm. We sat outside and I ate until I literally felt sick, making the five trains home quite a debacle.
The train trek to Prague the next day started in a first-class cabin shared with Kiwis (one of whom looked strikingly familiar). We got kicked out of first as our ticket from Breclav to Prague technically didn't allow it, then spent our first hours in the Czech capital trying to resolve issues such as IPods left in Vienna, extremely bad hair and unsuitable shoes. Achieving some of these, we rewarded ourselves by meeting Tom again, as well as Sarah and Matt (Bec works with Sarah) and hitting the booze in a big way. Tom, in his inimitable style, had met a lovely young Mexican lass called Jennifer in Barcelona and brought her along as well, meaning we had a great team to celebrate his 30th birthday in this most magnificent of cities.
We celebrated with a butt-kicking dinner near the famed Astronomical Clock, which of course involved pant-loads of beer, and drinks at a little bar on the way back to respective hotels (tequila slammers and Bloody Maries with double vodka were involved).
With limited memories of last night, Bec and I met Tom again late this morning and climbed the Powder Tower which gave great views over Prague and a coming rain storm. Farewelling Tom, we scoffed some dodgy local vendor food and headed off to shop for clothes on the cheap. With some success, and the rain pelting down, we ducked into the first available bar, which by coincidence was the same as we'd indulged in various spirits the night prior. And that, two and a half litres of beer later, brings us to now.
Tonight we're copping out to the tour thing and seeing traditional beer halls and the like. I personally can't wait. Until next time.
Prost!
The performance by the Lipizzaner stallions at the Spanish Riding School was absolutely awesome and worth every cent of the very expensive ticket prices. The venue itself was almost opera-esque - gallery seating on two levels looking down on the arena, and we had the perfect seats - on the lower level, about 3 metres above the ground and right in the centre of the long side of the arena.
Bear with me while I go through the highlights for me - they probably won't make a whole lot of sense to anyone who hasn't ridden horses for half their life, but I need to record them before they disappear from my memory. Unfortunately we weren't able to take any photos of the performance, and although everyone had cameras, they all obeyed the rule so I did too. I now regret that because all we have are several photos of the empty arena, but at least they are proof that we were actually there.
The first part of the performance was a group of eight young stallions still in training and performing fairly basic dressage movements. The mere fact that there were eight young stallions in the same confined space was interesting enough in itself, as some of them were absolutely exploding with hormones and a few 'mistakes' were made. It was then that the brilliance of the riders first became apparent - despite the antics of these very strong and exciteable young horses, the riders remained calm, quiet and with the softest hands you can imagine.
After this came a group of four of the mature stallions who performed more advanced movements that easily outstripped the abilities of the top international Grand Prix dressage horses, who are usually pushed beyond their abilities too quickly and eventually break down. These horses were almost perfectly calm and well behaved, supple and fit and performed all of the movements with no restraint or stiffness. This was followed by a team of two horses that performed similar movements in mirror image of each other, including some amazing feats such as simultaneous canter pirouettes around one another.
After this came the group of horses in ground training (all the horses are taught the movements from the ground first and then in the saddle with a rider), and this was where we saw the 'airs above the ground', the movements that most people come here for. These included the levade, a controlled rear which takes an enormous amount of strength from the horse, the capriole, which involves the horse rearing, then launching himself into the air and kicking out behind so that for a moment he is suspended horizontally in the air, and another movement that I can't remember the name of, where the horse rears and then leaps forward for two or three bounds on his hind legs.
This was followed by a single horse in long reins with the handler guiding the horse from the hindquarters. This was also cool because it was very difficult to tell how the handler was cueing the horse to perform each movement.
After this they brought out the big guns - the fully mature and trained horses performing the airs above the ground with riders, who incidentally do not use stirrups at all. This was amazing in itself, as the rider is sitting on a saddle almost completely vertical, with no stirrups while the horse leaps along, and the whole time his hands remained soft in the horse's mouth. I hate to think how many times these riders have bad falls before they master this.
The finale was my favourite - eight fully trained, mature stallions performing precision drill-style dressage literally nose to tail. It wasn't the most spectacular part of the performance but to see the happy, eager look on the horses' faces, their calm disposition and the effortless ease with which they performed was an absolute pleasure. On top of this, I saw the best riding I've ever seen in my life, particularly by the leading rider, who was an old guy in his 50s with a rather large paunch, but who had the softest hands I've ever seen. His horse was the calmest and most picture-perfect dressage horse you could image. I couldn't take my eyes off him for the whole performance.
Now I've got that out of my system I'll let George give you his interpretation of the performance from a non-horse person perspective, and he can also fill you in on our activities since we've been in Prague.
Hello, 'tis me. Not once did I think of the Spanish Riding School visit as "Bec's thing" as I was sure I'd find it interesting. In fact, I even quite enjoyed the Lipizzaner museum, particularly watching amazing video of these horses leaping in the air and kicking their hind legs out behind them, in an ancient battle technique called 'the capriole.' Seeing the capriole live is what I came to be excited about, but it turns out the whole show was more amazing than I could have imagined. The sheer control of both riders and horses - not necessarily one over the other, but in general - was staggering. To see, right in front of you, a guy of your size and weight, sitting on a horse as it jumps 3 to 5 steps on its hind legs, or leaping in the air and kicking out at an invisible opponent, is simply dazzling.
The 'slow' bit that Bec really enjoyed was as enjoyable to me; if you can imagine the Holden Precision Team driving independent, strong-willed animals within an inch of death, then you've got the idea. It's not necessarily as dangerous, but Bec is not joking when she says 'nose to tail.' It was beyond perfect. These horses and riders have obviously put in so much time and practice you cannot but be impressed. I literally had hairs standing up on the back of my neck.
Anyhoo, after the riding school we decided to wind down at a few Heurigen houses. Unfortunately it was a mission to get there and back as one section of the normally superb subway line was down, necessitating no less than four changes. We made it in the end and enjoyed sturm ('new' wine that is not entirely fermented, leaving it sweet, slightly effervescent and looking like cloudy apple juice) at one Heurigen house at which we were in danger of being hit by falling chestnuts. We moved to another that had sold out of sturm (it is a rare treat, available only in September of each year, making us very lucky) but we had a wine and a pretzel and watched a Wednesday-doppelganger cat eat and wash. Finally we settled at a place which turned out to have a great buffet and plenty of sturm. We sat outside and I ate until I literally felt sick, making the five trains home quite a debacle.
The train trek to Prague the next day started in a first-class cabin shared with Kiwis (one of whom looked strikingly familiar). We got kicked out of first as our ticket from Breclav to Prague technically didn't allow it, then spent our first hours in the Czech capital trying to resolve issues such as IPods left in Vienna, extremely bad hair and unsuitable shoes. Achieving some of these, we rewarded ourselves by meeting Tom again, as well as Sarah and Matt (Bec works with Sarah) and hitting the booze in a big way. Tom, in his inimitable style, had met a lovely young Mexican lass called Jennifer in Barcelona and brought her along as well, meaning we had a great team to celebrate his 30th birthday in this most magnificent of cities.
We celebrated with a butt-kicking dinner near the famed Astronomical Clock, which of course involved pant-loads of beer, and drinks at a little bar on the way back to respective hotels (tequila slammers and Bloody Maries with double vodka were involved).
With limited memories of last night, Bec and I met Tom again late this morning and climbed the Powder Tower which gave great views over Prague and a coming rain storm. Farewelling Tom, we scoffed some dodgy local vendor food and headed off to shop for clothes on the cheap. With some success, and the rain pelting down, we ducked into the first available bar, which by coincidence was the same as we'd indulged in various spirits the night prior. And that, two and a half litres of beer later, brings us to now.
Tonight we're copping out to the tour thing and seeing traditional beer halls and the like. I personally can't wait. Until next time.
Prost!
23 September 2007
Guten Tag from Vienna
Forgot to mention in our last post that one of the benefits of the super long and mostly drunken train ride here was that it was our first journey that we could actually see substantial changes in the landscape along the way. It was also by far the most scenic trip yet, going between mountains covered with pine trees and tipped with snow, and through valleys that looked as well tended as a golf course but were complete wilderness.
The contrast of what we´ve seen of this whole country thus far with dirty, disorganised Rome is amazing. Everything here is absolutely immaculate and clean, even the metro stations and public toilets! The traffic is sedate and polite, the drivers readily give way to pedestrians, and the whole pace of this place is slower and more relaxed. You´d hardly guess it was such a big city until you try to walk all over it, like we did.
After our last post we were surprised to discover (particularly after our experience in Spain and Italy with the siesta) that none of the restaurants nearby were open at quarter past nine. So we decided that we weren´t really hungry anyway and skipped dinner altogether in preference of an early night.
The following morning we availed ourselves of the very generous and excellent breakfast here - at last, no more overly sweet pastries and cake. There were some other bizzare additions, such as cold meats, brie and swiss cheese, bread rolls and savoury dips, as well as the usual bread, eggs, bacon, cereal, yoghurt, etc. Surprisingly the coffee here is quite good too, even from an automatic machine, and far better than anything we had in Italy. OK, I´ll stop talking about food now.
After breakfast we started our tour of the city, checking out some of the numerous churches and palaces. The highlight was a quick tour of the catacombs beneath St Stephen´s Place, which displayed old statues that had been removed from the outer of the church as well as some more grisly scenes, such as centuries old bones stacked like firewood in individual rooms.
We also went into the Lipizzaner Museum, which chronicles some of the history of the Spanish Riding School as well as the care and training of the Lipizzaner stallions that perform in the show we´ll be seeing tomorrow. Now I´m even more excited about going.
Other than that we just walked absolutely everywhere in our usual pattern, came back to the hotel for a too-short rest before heading out to a restaurant recommended in the Lonely Planet guide. It was called the "Gulaschmuseum", and suprisingly enough it served numerous different goulashes, including a chocolate dessert one, which we unfortunately couldn´t possible consider trying after our enormous main courses.
Today we mastered the metro system and did a little less walking. We went to the Hapsburg´s summer palace, a gargantuan palace with 1440 rooms and set on an enormous estate. We didn´t go inside but went for a big walk around the gardens, climbed a monument with a great view of the palace and grounds as well as a good bit of the city, then got ourselves lost in the maze. After this we had a tasty lunch at a cool jazz bar and were served by a grumpy cow of a waiter who wouldn´t even look at us when we spoke to her. She got no tip for her troubles.
Then we went to the House of Music, which was this bizarre interactive museum type thing where you could learn more about the theories of sound and music through a series of hands-on auditory experiments. It was weird.
Tonight we´re heading out to find an area of Heurigen, wine houses that serve their own wine fermented on the premises and are apparently very cool.
Not sure if I mentioned that tomorrow we´re going to the Spanish Riding School...?
Auf weidersehen.
The contrast of what we´ve seen of this whole country thus far with dirty, disorganised Rome is amazing. Everything here is absolutely immaculate and clean, even the metro stations and public toilets! The traffic is sedate and polite, the drivers readily give way to pedestrians, and the whole pace of this place is slower and more relaxed. You´d hardly guess it was such a big city until you try to walk all over it, like we did.
After our last post we were surprised to discover (particularly after our experience in Spain and Italy with the siesta) that none of the restaurants nearby were open at quarter past nine. So we decided that we weren´t really hungry anyway and skipped dinner altogether in preference of an early night.
The following morning we availed ourselves of the very generous and excellent breakfast here - at last, no more overly sweet pastries and cake. There were some other bizzare additions, such as cold meats, brie and swiss cheese, bread rolls and savoury dips, as well as the usual bread, eggs, bacon, cereal, yoghurt, etc. Surprisingly the coffee here is quite good too, even from an automatic machine, and far better than anything we had in Italy. OK, I´ll stop talking about food now.
After breakfast we started our tour of the city, checking out some of the numerous churches and palaces. The highlight was a quick tour of the catacombs beneath St Stephen´s Place, which displayed old statues that had been removed from the outer of the church as well as some more grisly scenes, such as centuries old bones stacked like firewood in individual rooms.
We also went into the Lipizzaner Museum, which chronicles some of the history of the Spanish Riding School as well as the care and training of the Lipizzaner stallions that perform in the show we´ll be seeing tomorrow. Now I´m even more excited about going.
Other than that we just walked absolutely everywhere in our usual pattern, came back to the hotel for a too-short rest before heading out to a restaurant recommended in the Lonely Planet guide. It was called the "Gulaschmuseum", and suprisingly enough it served numerous different goulashes, including a chocolate dessert one, which we unfortunately couldn´t possible consider trying after our enormous main courses.
Today we mastered the metro system and did a little less walking. We went to the Hapsburg´s summer palace, a gargantuan palace with 1440 rooms and set on an enormous estate. We didn´t go inside but went for a big walk around the gardens, climbed a monument with a great view of the palace and grounds as well as a good bit of the city, then got ourselves lost in the maze. After this we had a tasty lunch at a cool jazz bar and were served by a grumpy cow of a waiter who wouldn´t even look at us when we spoke to her. She got no tip for her troubles.
Then we went to the House of Music, which was this bizarre interactive museum type thing where you could learn more about the theories of sound and music through a series of hands-on auditory experiments. It was weird.
Tonight we´re heading out to find an area of Heurigen, wine houses that serve their own wine fermented on the premises and are apparently very cool.
Not sure if I mentioned that tomorrow we´re going to the Spanish Riding School...?
Auf weidersehen.
21 September 2007
An addition - kind of important
Bec´s post covered everthing we´ve done and the magnificence of Vienzia very well BUT...
I must add, after an unforeseen sunscreen leakage, my phone is - to use a highly technical term - stuffed. If you need to contact me, please message (or in an emergency phone) Bec on 0412 411 081.
Chairs.
The G Man (yes, I´m pissed).
I must add, after an unforeseen sunscreen leakage, my phone is - to use a highly technical term - stuffed. If you need to contact me, please message (or in an emergency phone) Bec on 0412 411 081.
Chairs.
The G Man (yes, I´m pissed).
Three days in Venice is nowhere near enough
You see it in movies, you read about it, you see photos, but still nothing prepares you for the wonders of Venezia (Venice). It is absolutely amazing. Part of you thinks that maybe it's not actually real, and actually I'm still not sure if it is.
There's something completely surreal about wandering around streets where there are no cars, no scooters, no bicycles, no ambulances, no police cars. The roads are canals and the emergency services, taxis, buses and general transport are all via boat. It's an amazing place - the most unique place we have ever seen, and probably ever will see, again.
The reason we haven't written sooner is twofold - firstly, we've been so enthralled with Venice that we haven't been able to stop long enough to bear going inside as opposed to roaming around endlessly, getting ourselves lost and finding where we are again, and secondly because internet cafes were 7 euros an hour as opposed to the 2 euros an hour we've become accustomed to.
We stayed in an apartment, which was surprisingly cheaper than a hotel room, and it was so good to be able to cook real food again (especially considering Venice is the most expensive city in Italy). Our first day we walked around for a bit, found Piazza San Marco and the Rialto Bridge, then went to the supermarket and bought up big on beer, wine, and groceries. You can't imagine how good it is to cook again after eating out at least once a day for more than a month - all we made was pasta with tomato sauce, chilli and basil and it was one of our best meals of the holiday! That's probably an exaggeration, but it really was such a relief that we couldn't get enough of it.
The following morning, after three weeks of croissants and sweet crap for breakfast, we had scrambled eggs, proscuitto and toast, followed by yoghurt and all bran and it rocked. We also made our own coffee, which, sadly, was better than the majority of the coffee we've had all over Europe (another realisation - coffee in Australia is actually better than in Italy).
That day we pretty much wandered all day with our mouths hanging open in amazement. We started by booking our train to Vienna, then we went to the ghetto which was the place that the Venetian Jews were forced to live before they were herded to their deaths at concentration camps. It was just a square, but it was kind of moving as well - there were plaques and you could kind of picture what it would have been like to live in a trapped community. At some stage we went back to our apartment and had leftover pasta for lunch (yum), then we set out again with the intention of getting purposely lost. We tried to get to some public gardens and then there was a huge thunderstorm and it pissed down with rain. We sheltered under an awning for a while waiting for it to stop, then eventually gave up and tried to walk out anyway. Finding that the rain was much heavier than we'd thought, we stopped under a canopy until the sun came out and the rain almost stopped and we ventured out again. As if all this wasn't enough, we were then pelted by huge pellets of hail, at which time we were luckily in front of a cafe, so we went in for a beer. Here we stayed for an hour or more talking to a fellow Australian who was also stranded there until the rain cleared up. By then the rain seemed to be gone for good so we headed back to our apartment, stopping on the way to buy some fish for dinner. Predictably, while we were in the supermarket it again started pissing down, but knowing we were close to home we decided to brave it anyway. Bunches of locals were lining the streets under awnings and laughing at us as we ran up the street in the pouring rain getting completely drenched, but we made it to our apartment for nice hot showers and a fantastic dinner of roast potatoes, salmon with lemon butter sauce and rocket and cherry tomato salad. Sound good? It was fantastic and it cost us about 5 euros.
We had originally intended to hit the town that night, but the rain persisted and we were so comfortable that we just stayed in and had a quiet one.
The next day (yesterday) we got up early and rushed down to San Marco Square (the biggest tourist area in Venice - a huge square with beautiful architecture and a massive church surrounding it). I was dubious about the lack of tourists but there was hardly anyone there and the morning sun was so beautiful, so we took shitloads of photos and eventually headed very slowly back to our apartment for breakfast, photographing all the way. We had another great breakfast of friend eggs on toast and cereal, then spent hours on the water bus to go to Lido, an island off Venice. Unfortunately Lido was a bit poo, with the promised beaches being rather crap. We salvaged the trip by having relatively good pizzas for lunch (our first paid meal in Venice), then we got back on the boat and went back to the mainland, walked through the gardens we'd missed the day before, then went back to the apartment for a bit of a rest.
After our big lunch we skipped dinner and finally went out to catch a bit of the Venice nightlife. We went to a swanky bar first where we were conducted to a table by a blonde woman who looked more like a hooker than a waitress and bought overpriced drinks and waited for half an hour for the bill before we pissed off as quickly as possible in search of a jazz bar George had spied two days before. Not accustomed to seeing Venice at night, we got lost for a while before finally finding the bar, which turned out to be closed on Wednesdays, and then gave up and went back to the apartment. Unfortunately I'd somehow hurt my back so was not altogether displeased to end the night with an Averna (Italian liquer, $50 a bottle in Adelaide, €9.90 in Venice).
Today was to be our first long haul journey, 8 hours to Vienna, and it was surprisingly bearable, especially when you consider that we were sharing our 6 person cabin with 4 loud Americans. Apart from being a bit loud, they turned out to be totally decent people (amazing enough). We spend the first half of the journey comparing our various cultural practices, which was surprisingly interesting, and then they shared their junk food with us, and then we discovered the drinks trolley served beer, and then we shared our pre-purchased bottle of red with them, and by the time we pulled into Wien we were thoroughly jolly and well aquainted.
We then got a cab to our hotel, dumped our crap and here we are filling you in before we go our for a Viennese dinner. We're now staying here for four days rather than going to Salzburg for two and here for two, so from now we have a minimum of three days in each place, which is quite comforting. Sunday we go to the Spanish Riding School; I can't wait!
We've come to the conclusion that one month is quite long enough for travelling: homesickness has settled in - we're missing Jedi (our dog), our house, our friends and family and I'd just about kill to ride a horse right now. I know the rest of the holiday is going to disappear so fast and I don't want to wish it away, but we've realised how good Australia is, particularly Adelaide (yes, laugh at your will, but try to deny we have it good). We've had no food that is as good or better than good Adelaide food and we crave a bit of order after risking our lives on Italian streets for the last week or two. We may well find that in Vienna and Germany: we'll see.
On that note, we should probably find some dinner. This has become rather long, but I didn't want to leave anything of Venice out.
Conclusion on Italy: if you've got a week or two, skip Rome unless you have a hankering to see the ancient Roman stuff - it is fascinating, but you have a shitload of tourists to contend with, a lot of grime and filth, crazy drivers and quite rude serving staff. Florence is better, but still with the crazy tourist shit. A great base for seeing Tuscany, which is one of the most beautiful places in the world in our opinion. So do that too. And do a Tuscany bike tour, it rocks, even if you're afraid of riding bikes (you'll get over it) and riding through vineyards and olive groves is well worth the physical effort (which is kind of essential in Italy anyway with all the olive oil in everything). Also Venice is an absolute must. Yes, it's expensive, but staying in an apartment makes it worthwhile and you'll never see a more amazing place in your life. It's just incredible. We took more photos there than we've taken just about anywhere!
Speaking of which, we're in the process of uploading photos from Barcelona to Venice into individual albums, so check out the link in the last post. I hope it works - we've had issues finding places that allow it, but there are plenty to peruse if you're keen. I hope you enjoy - sorry about the extreme length of this post.
And from Vienna - prost!!
There's something completely surreal about wandering around streets where there are no cars, no scooters, no bicycles, no ambulances, no police cars. The roads are canals and the emergency services, taxis, buses and general transport are all via boat. It's an amazing place - the most unique place we have ever seen, and probably ever will see, again.
The reason we haven't written sooner is twofold - firstly, we've been so enthralled with Venice that we haven't been able to stop long enough to bear going inside as opposed to roaming around endlessly, getting ourselves lost and finding where we are again, and secondly because internet cafes were 7 euros an hour as opposed to the 2 euros an hour we've become accustomed to.
We stayed in an apartment, which was surprisingly cheaper than a hotel room, and it was so good to be able to cook real food again (especially considering Venice is the most expensive city in Italy). Our first day we walked around for a bit, found Piazza San Marco and the Rialto Bridge, then went to the supermarket and bought up big on beer, wine, and groceries. You can't imagine how good it is to cook again after eating out at least once a day for more than a month - all we made was pasta with tomato sauce, chilli and basil and it was one of our best meals of the holiday! That's probably an exaggeration, but it really was such a relief that we couldn't get enough of it.
The following morning, after three weeks of croissants and sweet crap for breakfast, we had scrambled eggs, proscuitto and toast, followed by yoghurt and all bran and it rocked. We also made our own coffee, which, sadly, was better than the majority of the coffee we've had all over Europe (another realisation - coffee in Australia is actually better than in Italy).
That day we pretty much wandered all day with our mouths hanging open in amazement. We started by booking our train to Vienna, then we went to the ghetto which was the place that the Venetian Jews were forced to live before they were herded to their deaths at concentration camps. It was just a square, but it was kind of moving as well - there were plaques and you could kind of picture what it would have been like to live in a trapped community. At some stage we went back to our apartment and had leftover pasta for lunch (yum), then we set out again with the intention of getting purposely lost. We tried to get to some public gardens and then there was a huge thunderstorm and it pissed down with rain. We sheltered under an awning for a while waiting for it to stop, then eventually gave up and tried to walk out anyway. Finding that the rain was much heavier than we'd thought, we stopped under a canopy until the sun came out and the rain almost stopped and we ventured out again. As if all this wasn't enough, we were then pelted by huge pellets of hail, at which time we were luckily in front of a cafe, so we went in for a beer. Here we stayed for an hour or more talking to a fellow Australian who was also stranded there until the rain cleared up. By then the rain seemed to be gone for good so we headed back to our apartment, stopping on the way to buy some fish for dinner. Predictably, while we were in the supermarket it again started pissing down, but knowing we were close to home we decided to brave it anyway. Bunches of locals were lining the streets under awnings and laughing at us as we ran up the street in the pouring rain getting completely drenched, but we made it to our apartment for nice hot showers and a fantastic dinner of roast potatoes, salmon with lemon butter sauce and rocket and cherry tomato salad. Sound good? It was fantastic and it cost us about 5 euros.
We had originally intended to hit the town that night, but the rain persisted and we were so comfortable that we just stayed in and had a quiet one.
The next day (yesterday) we got up early and rushed down to San Marco Square (the biggest tourist area in Venice - a huge square with beautiful architecture and a massive church surrounding it). I was dubious about the lack of tourists but there was hardly anyone there and the morning sun was so beautiful, so we took shitloads of photos and eventually headed very slowly back to our apartment for breakfast, photographing all the way. We had another great breakfast of friend eggs on toast and cereal, then spent hours on the water bus to go to Lido, an island off Venice. Unfortunately Lido was a bit poo, with the promised beaches being rather crap. We salvaged the trip by having relatively good pizzas for lunch (our first paid meal in Venice), then we got back on the boat and went back to the mainland, walked through the gardens we'd missed the day before, then went back to the apartment for a bit of a rest.
After our big lunch we skipped dinner and finally went out to catch a bit of the Venice nightlife. We went to a swanky bar first where we were conducted to a table by a blonde woman who looked more like a hooker than a waitress and bought overpriced drinks and waited for half an hour for the bill before we pissed off as quickly as possible in search of a jazz bar George had spied two days before. Not accustomed to seeing Venice at night, we got lost for a while before finally finding the bar, which turned out to be closed on Wednesdays, and then gave up and went back to the apartment. Unfortunately I'd somehow hurt my back so was not altogether displeased to end the night with an Averna (Italian liquer, $50 a bottle in Adelaide, €9.90 in Venice).
Today was to be our first long haul journey, 8 hours to Vienna, and it was surprisingly bearable, especially when you consider that we were sharing our 6 person cabin with 4 loud Americans. Apart from being a bit loud, they turned out to be totally decent people (amazing enough). We spend the first half of the journey comparing our various cultural practices, which was surprisingly interesting, and then they shared their junk food with us, and then we discovered the drinks trolley served beer, and then we shared our pre-purchased bottle of red with them, and by the time we pulled into Wien we were thoroughly jolly and well aquainted.
We then got a cab to our hotel, dumped our crap and here we are filling you in before we go our for a Viennese dinner. We're now staying here for four days rather than going to Salzburg for two and here for two, so from now we have a minimum of three days in each place, which is quite comforting. Sunday we go to the Spanish Riding School; I can't wait!
We've come to the conclusion that one month is quite long enough for travelling: homesickness has settled in - we're missing Jedi (our dog), our house, our friends and family and I'd just about kill to ride a horse right now. I know the rest of the holiday is going to disappear so fast and I don't want to wish it away, but we've realised how good Australia is, particularly Adelaide (yes, laugh at your will, but try to deny we have it good). We've had no food that is as good or better than good Adelaide food and we crave a bit of order after risking our lives on Italian streets for the last week or two. We may well find that in Vienna and Germany: we'll see.
On that note, we should probably find some dinner. This has become rather long, but I didn't want to leave anything of Venice out.
Conclusion on Italy: if you've got a week or two, skip Rome unless you have a hankering to see the ancient Roman stuff - it is fascinating, but you have a shitload of tourists to contend with, a lot of grime and filth, crazy drivers and quite rude serving staff. Florence is better, but still with the crazy tourist shit. A great base for seeing Tuscany, which is one of the most beautiful places in the world in our opinion. So do that too. And do a Tuscany bike tour, it rocks, even if you're afraid of riding bikes (you'll get over it) and riding through vineyards and olive groves is well worth the physical effort (which is kind of essential in Italy anyway with all the olive oil in everything). Also Venice is an absolute must. Yes, it's expensive, but staying in an apartment makes it worthwhile and you'll never see a more amazing place in your life. It's just incredible. We took more photos there than we've taken just about anywhere!
Speaking of which, we're in the process of uploading photos from Barcelona to Venice into individual albums, so check out the link in the last post. I hope it works - we've had issues finding places that allow it, but there are plenty to peruse if you're keen. I hope you enjoy - sorry about the extreme length of this post.
And from Vienna - prost!!
17 September 2007
To the next venue
Florence is done. Well, not quite, as we only yesterday discovered the beauty of regional Tuscany, less than an hour from the tourist-drenched streets of Florence.
Anyhoo, after we last left you (with the seemingly unrepeatable miracle of being able to upload photos) we found a cool-looking bar at which to cool our heels. A highlight for me was the local dark ale, the name of which escapes me, but the highlight overall was discovering Veuve Cliquot was available by the glass. I lashed out on one for Bec who can probably never again drink that Aussie muck...(tongue in cheek).
On Saturday we had it in our heads that we were going on our long-planned cycling tour of Tuscany however plans were once again thwarted in that our booking was for one reason or another one week out. However it turned out the tour was overbooked Saturday and underbooked Sunday so we got an easy exchange. We spent the day instead being typical tourists - we climbed the cupola (the inner dome) of the Duomo which really was worth the wait despite my various rants about tourists and line ups, we walked around the entirety of the city seemingly looking for uniquely Tuscan places to eat and drink and ended up settling in the Santo Spirito area where we knocked over a local spumante and then had dinner at the Lonely Planet recommended Trattoria Casalinga. The recommendation is highly advocated - the food as well as the service seems totally genuine e.g. no quarter is given for tourists, the place was packed with locals and was absolutely bloody fabulous. Bec had a seafood anti pasto and the famed cured ham with rockmelon and I enjoyed what was easily one of my top 5 favourite ever steaks, in Florentine style which I think just means 'with salt, pepper and oil and perfectly cooked.' We also had to put to rest many of our preconceptions (read prejudices and stereotypes) about American tourists during this dinner as we got talking to a guy from Boston who just so happened to speak fluent Italian and helped us out with the waitress who, albeit highly efficient, was not at all interested in parla Inglese. We had a drink with Tony after for his troubles.
Yesterday we finally got to savour the sights and flavours of the real Tuscany on our bike tour. Two Italian-speaking Britons picked us up from Florence and drove - very fast - to a castillo in the heart of a small Tuscan town. The family owners of the castillo also produce wine and olive oil (supposedly a world-beating oil) and we got a view of the winery and oil press and a taste of the product, which was pretty damn good. Also of interest was the view from the peak of the tower which would have been amazing if not somewhat marred by clouds of flying ants choking the area.
The bike tour kicked off marvellously; virtually all down hill, surrounded by stunning green, rolling hills and vineyards, and ending with a fantastic lunch at a very traditional little trattoria. However, after lunch and several reds (of course the ANZACs at the table, aided by an ally in a young Canadian girl, had to polish off any remaining booze), the remainder of the trip was somewhat tougher. It contained one mammoth climb that Bec and I did attempt but ended up pushing our bikes a few hundred metres in. Fortunately the tour lads were prepared for this and 5 of us ended up panting in the back of a van for the rest of the uphill leg. Overall I'd say the day was one of the single best we've had and I'd recommend the tour to anyone coming to Tuscany. On that note, if anyone likes the idea of hiring a villa in Tuscany for a month sometime, let me know...Another fact worth mentioning about the tour was that Bec hadn't ridden a bike for at least two decades before yesterday and acquitted herself well despite much initial trepidation. She is now over her fear and cycling around Amsterdam now seems a vague possibility...well done to her.
Last night we were utterly stuffed from our efforts of the day and had a quiet dinner and a few drinks, somewhat ironically, at an Irish pub (admittedly this was mostly because we got a drinks discount from eating next door). We got more gelati before crashing out.
We are very soon to head off to Venice, so our next report will be from there. Ciao!
Anyhoo, after we last left you (with the seemingly unrepeatable miracle of being able to upload photos) we found a cool-looking bar at which to cool our heels. A highlight for me was the local dark ale, the name of which escapes me, but the highlight overall was discovering Veuve Cliquot was available by the glass. I lashed out on one for Bec who can probably never again drink that Aussie muck...(tongue in cheek).
On Saturday we had it in our heads that we were going on our long-planned cycling tour of Tuscany however plans were once again thwarted in that our booking was for one reason or another one week out. However it turned out the tour was overbooked Saturday and underbooked Sunday so we got an easy exchange. We spent the day instead being typical tourists - we climbed the cupola (the inner dome) of the Duomo which really was worth the wait despite my various rants about tourists and line ups, we walked around the entirety of the city seemingly looking for uniquely Tuscan places to eat and drink and ended up settling in the Santo Spirito area where we knocked over a local spumante and then had dinner at the Lonely Planet recommended Trattoria Casalinga. The recommendation is highly advocated - the food as well as the service seems totally genuine e.g. no quarter is given for tourists, the place was packed with locals and was absolutely bloody fabulous. Bec had a seafood anti pasto and the famed cured ham with rockmelon and I enjoyed what was easily one of my top 5 favourite ever steaks, in Florentine style which I think just means 'with salt, pepper and oil and perfectly cooked.' We also had to put to rest many of our preconceptions (read prejudices and stereotypes) about American tourists during this dinner as we got talking to a guy from Boston who just so happened to speak fluent Italian and helped us out with the waitress who, albeit highly efficient, was not at all interested in parla Inglese. We had a drink with Tony after for his troubles.
Yesterday we finally got to savour the sights and flavours of the real Tuscany on our bike tour. Two Italian-speaking Britons picked us up from Florence and drove - very fast - to a castillo in the heart of a small Tuscan town. The family owners of the castillo also produce wine and olive oil (supposedly a world-beating oil) and we got a view of the winery and oil press and a taste of the product, which was pretty damn good. Also of interest was the view from the peak of the tower which would have been amazing if not somewhat marred by clouds of flying ants choking the area.
The bike tour kicked off marvellously; virtually all down hill, surrounded by stunning green, rolling hills and vineyards, and ending with a fantastic lunch at a very traditional little trattoria. However, after lunch and several reds (of course the ANZACs at the table, aided by an ally in a young Canadian girl, had to polish off any remaining booze), the remainder of the trip was somewhat tougher. It contained one mammoth climb that Bec and I did attempt but ended up pushing our bikes a few hundred metres in. Fortunately the tour lads were prepared for this and 5 of us ended up panting in the back of a van for the rest of the uphill leg. Overall I'd say the day was one of the single best we've had and I'd recommend the tour to anyone coming to Tuscany. On that note, if anyone likes the idea of hiring a villa in Tuscany for a month sometime, let me know...Another fact worth mentioning about the tour was that Bec hadn't ridden a bike for at least two decades before yesterday and acquitted herself well despite much initial trepidation. She is now over her fear and cycling around Amsterdam now seems a vague possibility...well done to her.
Last night we were utterly stuffed from our efforts of the day and had a quiet dinner and a few drinks, somewhat ironically, at an Irish pub (admittedly this was mostly because we got a drinks discount from eating next door). We got more gelati before crashing out.
We are very soon to head off to Venice, so our next report will be from there. Ciao!
15 September 2007
At last - pictures!
After much tribulation, we have the first rather large selection of images available for your edification. Using Picasa you can flick through yet untagged images from London, Edinburgh, Paris, Bordeaux, San Sebastian, Zaragoza and the very beginning of our time in Barcelona.
As a certain OB predicted, there is an abundance of photos featuring food and booze - staples of any Bec and George journey.
You can have a look at our 600 or so pics here:
http://picasaweb.google.com/georgebec
Enjoy!
As a certain OB predicted, there is an abundance of photos featuring food and booze - staples of any Bec and George journey.
You can have a look at our 600 or so pics here:
http://picasaweb.google.com/georgebec
Enjoy!
Buongiorno Florence
We've escaped the hustle and bustle of Rome for the relative quiet of Florence (I personally prefer the original 'Firenze'). We left Rome with a blast, having an all-day drinking session which included wines near the Pantheon, many beers and Bloody Maries at a Canadian-run bar in the backstreets and an overly big pizza at a reputed but overrated pizzeria. We've come to realise that us Adelaideans are very spoiled when it comes to food - only now in Florence have we discovered pizza that rivals some made at home. However, I must say my tomato and basil spaghetti for our late lunch was fantastic.
We have nothing planned for tonight but to walk off our lunch and possibly find some gelati and later some anti pasto for dinner. Tomorrow we're off on a bike tour around Tuscany, Chianti specifically. Despite what we commonly know as Chianti - based on experiences at the long-lost Don Giovanni's and adolescent experiences with Mateuse Rose - the wine from this region is fantastic.
We must make an apology - despite our best endeavours we haven't yet got our photos up online. Complexities continue to conspire and by the time we work it out we might well be home again.
I just have to get something off my chest: I will admit I have been somewhat of an intolerable travelling companion in recent days as our experience of Rome really demonstrated the worst effects of mass tourism. Although we're contributing to the problem by our mere presence, it is tragic to me to think that many of the world's beautiful sites are now ten thousand people deep at any time of day and wrapped in layers of security, bureaucratic control and gross tourist merchandise which, in my opinion, degrades most of these experiences. The Vatican, for example, was a marvel to view but to go inside would incur a penalty of half your day waiting in a line. I find it truly depressing that this is the way of the future, but I guess it also encourages me to think of ways to travel roads less trod. It also brings to mind yet again all the wonders we have in our backyard at home. Here endeth the rant.
We have nothing planned for tonight but to walk off our lunch and possibly find some gelati and later some anti pasto for dinner. Tomorrow we're off on a bike tour around Tuscany, Chianti specifically. Despite what we commonly know as Chianti - based on experiences at the long-lost Don Giovanni's and adolescent experiences with Mateuse Rose - the wine from this region is fantastic.
We must make an apology - despite our best endeavours we haven't yet got our photos up online. Complexities continue to conspire and by the time we work it out we might well be home again.
I just have to get something off my chest: I will admit I have been somewhat of an intolerable travelling companion in recent days as our experience of Rome really demonstrated the worst effects of mass tourism. Although we're contributing to the problem by our mere presence, it is tragic to me to think that many of the world's beautiful sites are now ten thousand people deep at any time of day and wrapped in layers of security, bureaucratic control and gross tourist merchandise which, in my opinion, degrades most of these experiences. The Vatican, for example, was a marvel to view but to go inside would incur a penalty of half your day waiting in a line. I find it truly depressing that this is the way of the future, but I guess it also encourages me to think of ways to travel roads less trod. It also brings to mind yet again all the wonders we have in our backyard at home. Here endeth the rant.
13 September 2007
A day of thwarted plans
Yesterday was supposed to be our day trip in Amalfi, and we almost made it...and that sort of set the tone for the rest of the day.
We got the train to Salerno, which all went according to plan, walked out of the train station and found the bus stop for Amalfi right out the front of the station. Perfect. We double checked with information what time the bus came, and though we had to wait for 45 minutes for the next one, we were comforted by the presence of many other tourists all waiting for the same bus and assured ourselves we were in the right place. Finally the bus arrived and I asked the driver for two tickets to Amalfi. Negative: we were supposed to buy tickets from the ticket place (right behind us; the same people who had told us when the bus came but neglected to mention anything about having tickets first). I asked if he would wait 2 minutes for us to get our tickets. No, not possible, he said. By this time it was 11.30, at least half an hour to Amalfi, quite probably a lot more, and our train back to Rome was booked for 3.45. Realising that even if we waited for the next bus and did make it there we'd probably have to get straight on the bus back again to come back, we decided to spend the next four hours in Salerno and salvage something of the two and half hour trip there.
Salerno is not a huge tourist city - not a city at all, in fact, but it was quite pretty and was set on a beautiful cove, kind of like San Sebastian. We got a map from the tourist place and had a bit of a wander after a coffee to get our bearings. We found a really nice public park, went to a bar for a beer and then made the crazy decision to try to walk up this giant mountain to an old ruined castle that was 300 metres above sea level.
We found a crazy zig zaggy stairway that took us quite rapidly up the hill between apartments and kept us mostly off the roads. There were no signs anywhere to this castle; all we knew is that we needed to keep going up. At different points there was room to stop and look down over fantastic views of the Salerno gulf as we tried to work out which stairway to take next. Finally we reached the windy road leading up to the castle and after negotiating 100 metres of it while trying not to be knocked off the road by passing trucks, we were relieved to turn off on another road that actually had a sign. Here we found another stairway off the road, but our confidence began to wane as we walked up it and realised it was mostly overgrown and felt a bit like we were walking through private property. Nevertheless, we pushed onward until the pathway was finally blocked by what appeared to be a very messy and very smelly pig farm. After this we could find no further pathways there, and the road looked far too treacherous to risk walking on (plus it was very long, as it wound around the mountain). So we aborted that plan and began the walk back down. Nevertheless, we got fairly close to the castle and we saw some absolutely amazing views, so we weren't too worried about missing it.
On the way down we intended to visit this garden that was mentioned in the tourist brochure and sounded pretty cool. Unfortunately it had closed at 1.30 and we missed out on that too. Finally, we found a place to have lunch before getting the train back. George ordered the number 2 panini and I ordered a tuna salad, and mysteriously, two paninis with tuna and tomato came out for us... When things like this happen I wonder if it really was just a communication problem or the locals playing a joke on the dumb tourists to see if they'll say anything. They were tasty paninis though so we couldn't really complain!
Not wanting the pattern of missing out on things to continue, we made sure we got back to the station in plenty of time to get our train (and had a bit of stress when none of the info boards showed the platform we needed to be on - but after a bit of covert spying of other people's boarding passes and asking some other tourists we discovered we were in the right place, and the train was 15 minutes late anyway).
Last night we once again got a quiet dinner nearby to our hotel, which was OK, then returned to the hotel to down a bottle of sparkling lambrusco and play a few games of cards. Today is our last day here and we're determined to find some authentic pizza for dinner tonight rather than stay around the tourist trap here (hence the late start).
We're finally able to attempt to get our photos online today, so hopefully this will be followed by a link to them if I'm successful.
Arrivederci!
We got the train to Salerno, which all went according to plan, walked out of the train station and found the bus stop for Amalfi right out the front of the station. Perfect. We double checked with information what time the bus came, and though we had to wait for 45 minutes for the next one, we were comforted by the presence of many other tourists all waiting for the same bus and assured ourselves we were in the right place. Finally the bus arrived and I asked the driver for two tickets to Amalfi. Negative: we were supposed to buy tickets from the ticket place (right behind us; the same people who had told us when the bus came but neglected to mention anything about having tickets first). I asked if he would wait 2 minutes for us to get our tickets. No, not possible, he said. By this time it was 11.30, at least half an hour to Amalfi, quite probably a lot more, and our train back to Rome was booked for 3.45. Realising that even if we waited for the next bus and did make it there we'd probably have to get straight on the bus back again to come back, we decided to spend the next four hours in Salerno and salvage something of the two and half hour trip there.
Salerno is not a huge tourist city - not a city at all, in fact, but it was quite pretty and was set on a beautiful cove, kind of like San Sebastian. We got a map from the tourist place and had a bit of a wander after a coffee to get our bearings. We found a really nice public park, went to a bar for a beer and then made the crazy decision to try to walk up this giant mountain to an old ruined castle that was 300 metres above sea level.
We found a crazy zig zaggy stairway that took us quite rapidly up the hill between apartments and kept us mostly off the roads. There were no signs anywhere to this castle; all we knew is that we needed to keep going up. At different points there was room to stop and look down over fantastic views of the Salerno gulf as we tried to work out which stairway to take next. Finally we reached the windy road leading up to the castle and after negotiating 100 metres of it while trying not to be knocked off the road by passing trucks, we were relieved to turn off on another road that actually had a sign. Here we found another stairway off the road, but our confidence began to wane as we walked up it and realised it was mostly overgrown and felt a bit like we were walking through private property. Nevertheless, we pushed onward until the pathway was finally blocked by what appeared to be a very messy and very smelly pig farm. After this we could find no further pathways there, and the road looked far too treacherous to risk walking on (plus it was very long, as it wound around the mountain). So we aborted that plan and began the walk back down. Nevertheless, we got fairly close to the castle and we saw some absolutely amazing views, so we weren't too worried about missing it.
On the way down we intended to visit this garden that was mentioned in the tourist brochure and sounded pretty cool. Unfortunately it had closed at 1.30 and we missed out on that too. Finally, we found a place to have lunch before getting the train back. George ordered the number 2 panini and I ordered a tuna salad, and mysteriously, two paninis with tuna and tomato came out for us... When things like this happen I wonder if it really was just a communication problem or the locals playing a joke on the dumb tourists to see if they'll say anything. They were tasty paninis though so we couldn't really complain!
Not wanting the pattern of missing out on things to continue, we made sure we got back to the station in plenty of time to get our train (and had a bit of stress when none of the info boards showed the platform we needed to be on - but after a bit of covert spying of other people's boarding passes and asking some other tourists we discovered we were in the right place, and the train was 15 minutes late anyway).
Last night we once again got a quiet dinner nearby to our hotel, which was OK, then returned to the hotel to down a bottle of sparkling lambrusco and play a few games of cards. Today is our last day here and we're determined to find some authentic pizza for dinner tonight rather than stay around the tourist trap here (hence the late start).
We're finally able to attempt to get our photos online today, so hopefully this will be followed by a link to them if I'm successful.
Arrivederci!
12 September 2007
Musings on Rome
We will begin with the pros and cons of cheap flights in Europe:
Pros
Pros
- It's cheap
- The flight will be delayed (nothing unusual)
- The seats are smaller than Virgin/Jetstar planes
- A crazy woman will begin an argument with flight attendants that will last for at least 10 minutes. During this time the passengers will begin abusing her. She will abuse them in return and the person sitting next to you will jump up as if she is about to biff her (but she doesn't)
- That is eventually resolved and is immediately followed by an announcement that the plane will take off in approximately 20 minutes
- The plane takes off in approximately 30 minutes, after which you already have cramps
- Once the plane is in the air, it appears that the engine switches off and you are hanging in the air, at which time you truly believe you are about to die. Everyone looks at one another but no one says anything
- Engine then kicks in again and you continue.
- The plane lands and 50% of passengers break into spontaneous applause
- You get into the airport and go to the appropriate luggage belt, only to wait an hour and a half and two subsequent flights until your luggage finally comes out.
This was our introduction to Italy, and I'm happy to say things have become moderately better. For instance, when we arrived at our hotel, we were pleased to find that not only was it actually very close to the train station, but the staff lived up to the hotel's name, "Welcome Residences", and were pleasingly if not slightly cornily friendly and welcoming.
Our Lonely Planet guide warned us that Italy is not the most organised and streamlined of places, and this has proven to be true. The traffic is completely insane and the rules even less enforced than in France and Spain. There are very few pedestrian crossings, and those that exist are only observed by drivers if they feel like it. After hesitating and then running across the road in a panic for a while, we've quickly learned that the only way to survive is to look down and walk across in front of oncoming traffic.
Last night we had a quiet dinner at a pizza place around the corner and a lovely bottle of Chianti and had an early night after what ended up being 7 hours of travel (despite the 1 and a half hour flight). A big positive about this place is that literally everyone speaks English. I was getting all fired up about using my high school Italian and was even practising different phrases on the plane, but was a little disappointed to find that even when we greet someone in Italian, they will answer in English (probably due to my poor pronunciation).
Today begun with a decidedly poor breakfast at the hotel (stale croissants, fake "juice", a huge pile of bread but no toaster, and yoghurt with a higher percentage of sugar than yoghurt), did some laundry, sorted our train tickets for the next few weeks (a mission in itself) and then we headed straight to the Colosseum. The line was enormous, and after fending off hundreds of American people trying to talk us into taking the guided tour with them in return for an extra 10 euros and skipping the line, we soon remembered that we actually had no cash. After asking someone if we could use credit card and finding out we could not, we left and went to the Roman Forum, which was free and quite amazing, with architecture from pre BC.
We then took a massive hike to the Vatican, where we finally found an ATM, only to find that none of them were available for cash withdrawal (!?). There were heaps of police around and then we realised that today is 11 September. We walked up to the entrance and took a few photos, but had no wish to line up behind the hundreds of people waiting to go into the Basilica, so we left.
After our fourth attempt at withdrawing cash from different ATMS, we finally found one that would give us money, so we immediately purchased due bloody big birras and relaxed for half an hour. We then set out again, picked up another four beers from the supermercato and settled in front of the Fontana di Trevi and drank all of them while drinking in the view. It was beautiful, 500 thousand tourists aside.
We finally got back to our hotel and chilled out for a while before showering and heading out for another dinner close by, this time rigatoni carbonara and linguine alla vongole...yum. Plus a bottle of Chianti (inferior to last night's, but nevertheless drinkable).
Tomorrow we're going on a day trip to Amalfi, which I can't wait for, followed by one more day in Rome, then onto Florence.
10 September 2007
Bye bye Barcelona
We´re onto our final night in Barcelona, and this is a truly saddening fact. We cottoned onto the nightlife a little last night - after a delicious meal in a tiny side street restaunt called LÓlivia we had cocktails and shots at some bar we got conned into with the teaser of free shots and the best Mojito maker in Spain. The Mojito was awesome but the two Euro tip he took from us (by not giving change) compensated for the free tequilla slammer.
This morning I finally found churros - basically deep-fried donut batter twisted into a curl and served with sugar - but the meal was soured by the staff taking some mysterious dislike to us and refusing to bring the bill. But shaking off that annoyance we took a huge walk around the dock and beach areas of Barcelona. The beaches are pretty ordinary compared to ours - dirt rather than sand and very packed - but there´s no shortage of activity and the architecture around the boardwalk is amazing. It is all very modern and adventurous.
Returning to the Colom (a tribute to Columbus) we headed through Las Ramblas and got a train to Parc Guerell. This is one of Gaudi´s masterworks - a former farm turned into installation art en masse. It boasts massive halls, statues, view points, winding tracks and the works. It´s bloody amazing really. Getting there is half the fun - from the train we got we clambered up this madly steep hill which had about 5 escalators along the way to assist struggling tourists. On our return to Las Ramblas we got straight into the booze and food. Pretty much the first place we saw we settled in and got ´cervaza grande´which turned out to be a stein each, and a stupid amount of tapas for lunch. We´ve since had a bit of a siesta ourselves and will soon head out to meet my dad to farewell him - he´s off to Frankfurt tomorrow.
While I think of it, when we were on top of one particularly high and crowded view point at Part Guell we heard this massive explosion coming from somewhere in town. No idea what it was but everyone turned to look. Weird.
Anyhoo, that´s our day so far. Thank you for your attention.
PS. Things you MUST do if you come to Spain:
Spend as long as you can in San Sebastian before it turns into a tourist nightmare - it is unspoiled and completely beautiful.
Drink good sangria - we´ve had and we´ve had bad but the dryer it is the better it is.
Eat sole fish and as much ham as you can get. The Spanish have a love for their ham that rivals our love for Iced Coffee, but there´s so much more choice and it´s actually good. Really good.
Go to La Sacrada Familia and bring a bottle of wine if you´re allowed - if I could have I would have sat looking at it for hours.
Try the lemon beer - it sounds poo but it´s really nice, a good change down from litres of the local poison.
When you see fresh, tasty-looking tapàs, don´t hesitate, just eat it. Although tapas is everywhere, good tapas is hard to find.
Farewell. Next time we report will be from Italy.
This morning I finally found churros - basically deep-fried donut batter twisted into a curl and served with sugar - but the meal was soured by the staff taking some mysterious dislike to us and refusing to bring the bill. But shaking off that annoyance we took a huge walk around the dock and beach areas of Barcelona. The beaches are pretty ordinary compared to ours - dirt rather than sand and very packed - but there´s no shortage of activity and the architecture around the boardwalk is amazing. It is all very modern and adventurous.
Returning to the Colom (a tribute to Columbus) we headed through Las Ramblas and got a train to Parc Guerell. This is one of Gaudi´s masterworks - a former farm turned into installation art en masse. It boasts massive halls, statues, view points, winding tracks and the works. It´s bloody amazing really. Getting there is half the fun - from the train we got we clambered up this madly steep hill which had about 5 escalators along the way to assist struggling tourists. On our return to Las Ramblas we got straight into the booze and food. Pretty much the first place we saw we settled in and got ´cervaza grande´which turned out to be a stein each, and a stupid amount of tapas for lunch. We´ve since had a bit of a siesta ourselves and will soon head out to meet my dad to farewell him - he´s off to Frankfurt tomorrow.
While I think of it, when we were on top of one particularly high and crowded view point at Part Guell we heard this massive explosion coming from somewhere in town. No idea what it was but everyone turned to look. Weird.
Anyhoo, that´s our day so far. Thank you for your attention.
PS. Things you MUST do if you come to Spain:
Spend as long as you can in San Sebastian before it turns into a tourist nightmare - it is unspoiled and completely beautiful.
Drink good sangria - we´ve had and we´ve had bad but the dryer it is the better it is.
Eat sole fish and as much ham as you can get. The Spanish have a love for their ham that rivals our love for Iced Coffee, but there´s so much more choice and it´s actually good. Really good.
Go to La Sacrada Familia and bring a bottle of wine if you´re allowed - if I could have I would have sat looking at it for hours.
Try the lemon beer - it sounds poo but it´s really nice, a good change down from litres of the local poison.
When you see fresh, tasty-looking tapàs, don´t hesitate, just eat it. Although tapas is everywhere, good tapas is hard to find.
Farewell. Next time we report will be from Italy.
09 September 2007
Bloody brilliant Barcelona
Our first full day here has been sun-drenched fun, but to follow up on Bec´s entry of last night, I should also mention a highlight has, once again, been fresh food. We went to the main central market yesterday and the sights and smells were amazing. I´ve never seen so much glorious fish, bread, smallgoods - and to top it off they´ve got bars throughout the market too. One interesting aside is the ´no waste´culture when it comes to meat - we spotted on numerous occasions red and white offal sausage, pig noses and whole sheep heads. Another shock was that whole chooks are sold literally whole - feathers off but head on. Ugh.
We went back to Las Ramblas for dinner and got sucked in by bright pictures of the food - don´t do it, OK? If they have to show you pictures, it´s no good. I mean, it wasn´t terrible but it just wasn´t exciting. I got this enormous kebab that was served vertically and honestly towered over my head. It looked better than it tasted but it was OK. Bec and dad both had a somewhat disappointing seafood paella. On that note, there appears to be a chain of paella joints. Bizarre.
So to today. I had an awesome sleep in to nullify the effect of post-dinner wines at the myriad of bars around the place. We got a dodgy chocolate croissant for breakfast (I still haven´t got myself the famed chocolate con churros) then spent an age and a shipload of money finalising our burning of photos to CD. After that began the mission - we walked south through Barri Gotic, the old town if you like, then went to the Picasso gallery which was overwhelming in most senses of the term - there are more than 3000 pieces covering his long career and seeing his progression in style is a marvel even to an art ignoramus like me. We then got sidetracked into a litle bar for lunch and had an awesome snack of chicken croqettes, garlic mushrooms, tuna salad and tomato bread. Although cheap it was one of the best so far. The two pints of some Basque beer I had were OK too.
With satisfied tummies we marched off to a major park which apparently boasts a magnificent waterfall although thanks to a combination of terror, justified security concerns and out and out paranoia, most of the gardens - which incorporate the Catalunya parliament, I think - were closed to the public. Bollocks.
Despite the set back we took on the massive hike to La Sacrada Familia (sp). This gargantuan and long-coming church was kicked off by Gaudi in 1882 and it doesn´t seem at all likely that the interior will be complete before its bicentenary. But the superlatives I have for it cannot go near describing it as an architechtual masterpiece. After walking through the inside (to be frank, not much more than a building site with some fantastic roof and other appointments) the ´back´was a sight to behold. I honestly could have sat looking at it for hours. It towers above you and every inch is intricate and interrelated. It isn´t in the gothic or neo-gothic style you come to expect in Europe; instead it has this bizarre sense of surreal modernism. Its bulk is almost reminscent of Magic Mountain in its asymetery, yet it is absolutely beautiful. The irregularity of the surface, around which are dotted countless stunning statues and gargoyles, gives an almost organic feel to it. It was truly breathtaking and I can safely say that although far from complete, it takes a giant dump on the Eiffel Tower on most counts (with the exception that the queues for the lift to the top are ludicrous e.g. 1.5 hours. On that issue we narrowly avoided getting caught in the Barcelona Chapel lift today - we were waiting for it to arrive and it simply did not - soon after the operator closed it down).
OK, so that brings us pretty much to now. We have few plans but might stumble along Las Ramblas for a decent feed. I´ve been getting stuck into the beers and am currently enjoying Vol-Damm double malt - a mild 7.2% number. At least the beers here are a bit more forgiving than their French counterparts.
Buonas dias!
We went back to Las Ramblas for dinner and got sucked in by bright pictures of the food - don´t do it, OK? If they have to show you pictures, it´s no good. I mean, it wasn´t terrible but it just wasn´t exciting. I got this enormous kebab that was served vertically and honestly towered over my head. It looked better than it tasted but it was OK. Bec and dad both had a somewhat disappointing seafood paella. On that note, there appears to be a chain of paella joints. Bizarre.
So to today. I had an awesome sleep in to nullify the effect of post-dinner wines at the myriad of bars around the place. We got a dodgy chocolate croissant for breakfast (I still haven´t got myself the famed chocolate con churros) then spent an age and a shipload of money finalising our burning of photos to CD. After that began the mission - we walked south through Barri Gotic, the old town if you like, then went to the Picasso gallery which was overwhelming in most senses of the term - there are more than 3000 pieces covering his long career and seeing his progression in style is a marvel even to an art ignoramus like me. We then got sidetracked into a litle bar for lunch and had an awesome snack of chicken croqettes, garlic mushrooms, tuna salad and tomato bread. Although cheap it was one of the best so far. The two pints of some Basque beer I had were OK too.
With satisfied tummies we marched off to a major park which apparently boasts a magnificent waterfall although thanks to a combination of terror, justified security concerns and out and out paranoia, most of the gardens - which incorporate the Catalunya parliament, I think - were closed to the public. Bollocks.
Despite the set back we took on the massive hike to La Sacrada Familia (sp). This gargantuan and long-coming church was kicked off by Gaudi in 1882 and it doesn´t seem at all likely that the interior will be complete before its bicentenary. But the superlatives I have for it cannot go near describing it as an architechtual masterpiece. After walking through the inside (to be frank, not much more than a building site with some fantastic roof and other appointments) the ´back´was a sight to behold. I honestly could have sat looking at it for hours. It towers above you and every inch is intricate and interrelated. It isn´t in the gothic or neo-gothic style you come to expect in Europe; instead it has this bizarre sense of surreal modernism. Its bulk is almost reminscent of Magic Mountain in its asymetery, yet it is absolutely beautiful. The irregularity of the surface, around which are dotted countless stunning statues and gargoyles, gives an almost organic feel to it. It was truly breathtaking and I can safely say that although far from complete, it takes a giant dump on the Eiffel Tower on most counts (with the exception that the queues for the lift to the top are ludicrous e.g. 1.5 hours. On that issue we narrowly avoided getting caught in the Barcelona Chapel lift today - we were waiting for it to arrive and it simply did not - soon after the operator closed it down).
OK, so that brings us pretty much to now. We have few plans but might stumble along Las Ramblas for a decent feed. I´ve been getting stuck into the beers and am currently enjoying Vol-Damm double malt - a mild 7.2% number. At least the beers here are a bit more forgiving than their French counterparts.
Buonas dias!
08 September 2007
Hola from Barcelona (Barthelona if you want to pronounce it correctly)
After very gladly seeing the back of Zaragoza this moring (hasta la vista, el dumpo), we sped on the train to Barcelona today and things are much better here... This city is amazing, so big and colourful and active and far better disposed towards us non Spanish speaking types. We spent the afternoon walking the streets, checked out Las Ramblas (or La Rambla depending on the signs or tourist information you look at). La Rambla is an enormous boulevard with countless cafes, bars, tapas and paella joints in the centre and is surrounded by buskers, human statues and the usual beggars. We sat at one bar and had una grande cerveza (1 litre of beer) and a big glass of sangria, followed by a jug of sangria cava, which is sangria with Basque sparkling white wine rather than the usual red wine...weird but nice, and quite potent too.
For the rest of the afternoon we wandered to various bars and drank beer (including a beer with lemon, which was unusual but nice), and finally went to a photo place to burn our current count of 600 photos onto CD. It was going to take so long that we´ll be going back tomorrow to pick it up! I really like it here, despite the paranoia about being pick pocketed (which is rife here). Luckily our hostel has a safe here so we've been able to lock up our important stuff, like passports and Eurail pass and extra cash. The city reminds me a bit of Paris, but a little grimier and with more colour and character. But it's certainly far easier to communicate than in Zaragoza, where the majority of people were intolerant and even hostile. I do not recommend visiting Zaragoza unless you have a good command of Spanish and/or are interested in Roman Catholic historical stuff.
One memorable moment that we keep forgetting to mention was in San Sebastian, where we were walking down the street in broad daylight when we were passed by a guy on a bicycle who was completely naked. He even gave us a big smile as he passed as if to acknowledge his insanity.
Another thing we've noticed in general since we've been in the UK and Europe is how over-legislated everything is in Australia. For instance, alcohol - you can buy it in every supermarket, and even in more unlikely places, such as internet cafes. In fact when we were writing yesterday's entry in Zaragoza we were swilling cans of beer. No, I'm serious. It's cool, although probably quite bad for our health.
Anyway, we're just having some down time at our hostel at the moment and will soon head out for dinner - still haven't gotten used to the whole siesta thing yet and eating at 9/10 pm. But we've started having lunch later in the day so it's getting easier.
Off now but we'll check in again in the next few days, hopefully with some photos once we have our CD sorted.
For the rest of the afternoon we wandered to various bars and drank beer (including a beer with lemon, which was unusual but nice), and finally went to a photo place to burn our current count of 600 photos onto CD. It was going to take so long that we´ll be going back tomorrow to pick it up! I really like it here, despite the paranoia about being pick pocketed (which is rife here). Luckily our hostel has a safe here so we've been able to lock up our important stuff, like passports and Eurail pass and extra cash. The city reminds me a bit of Paris, but a little grimier and with more colour and character. But it's certainly far easier to communicate than in Zaragoza, where the majority of people were intolerant and even hostile. I do not recommend visiting Zaragoza unless you have a good command of Spanish and/or are interested in Roman Catholic historical stuff.
One memorable moment that we keep forgetting to mention was in San Sebastian, where we were walking down the street in broad daylight when we were passed by a guy on a bicycle who was completely naked. He even gave us a big smile as he passed as if to acknowledge his insanity.
Another thing we've noticed in general since we've been in the UK and Europe is how over-legislated everything is in Australia. For instance, alcohol - you can buy it in every supermarket, and even in more unlikely places, such as internet cafes. In fact when we were writing yesterday's entry in Zaragoza we were swilling cans of beer. No, I'm serious. It's cool, although probably quite bad for our health.
Anyway, we're just having some down time at our hostel at the moment and will soon head out for dinner - still haven't gotten used to the whole siesta thing yet and eating at 9/10 pm. But we've started having lunch later in the day so it's getting easier.
Off now but we'll check in again in the next few days, hopefully with some photos once we have our CD sorted.
06 September 2007
Dazed and confused in Zaragoza
We left the loving, calming surrounds of beatiful San Sebastian and yesterday afternoon our train lobbed into Zaragoza in the country´s central northern region. For the first time, language became a real issue. But that´s for later.
Let me bring you up to speed...
Our final day evening in SS was a calm night of walking through beautiful streets, basking in wonderful weather and good vibes aplenty. Bec and I stumbled on a game of Jai Alai in the backstreets - a crazy handball crossed with squash type game where people bang this solid-looking ball against a wall with their bare hands. During the day we´d also developed a love for the local sangria - a very simple blend of light red and citrus. We found a few different sunny spots and knocked over two whole jugs of it. We later met up with my dad and had a basic dinner of entrees (smoked salmon, jamon, asparagus and salad) which was possibly the meal of the trip so far for its simplicity and delicious representation of the region. We hit a few bars including a very cool wine bar and crashed.
Bec was up and about early and took a run along the stunning SS boardwalk while the sun was rising before we stumbled on an awesome little patisserie for breakfast. The train trip to Zaragoza was uneventful (aside from us disgracing the carriage with our messy lunch of baguettes, cheese and jamon) but we were welcomed to Zaragoza with something less than the famous Spanish hospitality we´d come to expect. When trying to buy our next leg of train trips (to Barcelona) I was mercilessly mocked for my lack of Spanish despite my attempt to conduct the majority of the conversation in my pathetic version of the beautiful tongue. Instead of help I got rolled eyes and exaggerated groans of disapproval, making it patently clear that my attempts at the world´s biggest language weren´t appreciated. On top of this, not only did we get stung with a massive fee for booking seats (the norm in Spain, apparently), the evil wench also ballsed the process up entirely and only gave us two seats rather than the required three, apparently having not seen that our rail pass clearly was for two people. An accident? I think not, my friends, I think not.
Anyhoo, we made it to our hotel with some relief (despite only then discovering the balls up) and we took a constitutional around what is a very historic city. However we were walking during siesta and we were thinking the place was a bit of a dud. That all changed when, after a few 40c beers in our hotel, we went out to find a restaurant and ran into the usual problem of too much choice. We had a beer at Cerveciria D´Jorge (George´s Pub, basically) and at a few other places while waiting for more restaurant options to open up. Sadly this only complicated matters and we ended up with a near stalemate over where to eat which ended when I just piled into the first place that looked half decent. For better or worse it was an all you can eat tapas type bar with Charlies´Bistro style Spanish food. It was bearable though. After dinner we drank at a number of very cool bars including one with this great beer garden surrounded by ancient towering walls. Republica also had a lot of antique type stuff in it and that was cool too.
This morning we were off to a very slow start and have succeeded only really in walking to the train station to fix the ticket debacle (we found someone who could speak English) and drinking beer. We found this great little place off behind the main plaza which was loaded with locals in their siesta break and had a beer and some fried anchovies which, frankly, were the bomb. Tonight we´re going out for a decent sit-down dinner and hopefully find a pub we walked past last night called Mombassa. It had a giant rhino in it. I liked it but we didn´t stay. I don´t like our chances of finding it though, this place is a bit of a warren in some ways.
Let me bring you up to speed...
Our final day evening in SS was a calm night of walking through beautiful streets, basking in wonderful weather and good vibes aplenty. Bec and I stumbled on a game of Jai Alai in the backstreets - a crazy handball crossed with squash type game where people bang this solid-looking ball against a wall with their bare hands. During the day we´d also developed a love for the local sangria - a very simple blend of light red and citrus. We found a few different sunny spots and knocked over two whole jugs of it. We later met up with my dad and had a basic dinner of entrees (smoked salmon, jamon, asparagus and salad) which was possibly the meal of the trip so far for its simplicity and delicious representation of the region. We hit a few bars including a very cool wine bar and crashed.
Bec was up and about early and took a run along the stunning SS boardwalk while the sun was rising before we stumbled on an awesome little patisserie for breakfast. The train trip to Zaragoza was uneventful (aside from us disgracing the carriage with our messy lunch of baguettes, cheese and jamon) but we were welcomed to Zaragoza with something less than the famous Spanish hospitality we´d come to expect. When trying to buy our next leg of train trips (to Barcelona) I was mercilessly mocked for my lack of Spanish despite my attempt to conduct the majority of the conversation in my pathetic version of the beautiful tongue. Instead of help I got rolled eyes and exaggerated groans of disapproval, making it patently clear that my attempts at the world´s biggest language weren´t appreciated. On top of this, not only did we get stung with a massive fee for booking seats (the norm in Spain, apparently), the evil wench also ballsed the process up entirely and only gave us two seats rather than the required three, apparently having not seen that our rail pass clearly was for two people. An accident? I think not, my friends, I think not.
Anyhoo, we made it to our hotel with some relief (despite only then discovering the balls up) and we took a constitutional around what is a very historic city. However we were walking during siesta and we were thinking the place was a bit of a dud. That all changed when, after a few 40c beers in our hotel, we went out to find a restaurant and ran into the usual problem of too much choice. We had a beer at Cerveciria D´Jorge (George´s Pub, basically) and at a few other places while waiting for more restaurant options to open up. Sadly this only complicated matters and we ended up with a near stalemate over where to eat which ended when I just piled into the first place that looked half decent. For better or worse it was an all you can eat tapas type bar with Charlies´Bistro style Spanish food. It was bearable though. After dinner we drank at a number of very cool bars including one with this great beer garden surrounded by ancient towering walls. Republica also had a lot of antique type stuff in it and that was cool too.
This morning we were off to a very slow start and have succeeded only really in walking to the train station to fix the ticket debacle (we found someone who could speak English) and drinking beer. We found this great little place off behind the main plaza which was loaded with locals in their siesta break and had a beer and some fried anchovies which, frankly, were the bomb. Tonight we´re going out for a decent sit-down dinner and hopefully find a pub we walked past last night called Mombassa. It had a giant rhino in it. I liked it but we didn´t stay. I don´t like our chances of finding it though, this place is a bit of a warren in some ways.
04 September 2007
Hola from San Sebastian
I love love love this place - it's my favourite so far out of everywhere we've visited. The town surrounds a big bay cove thingy with beautiful beaches and is surrounded by mountain peaks. Yesterday we climbed up one big hill, Monte Urgull (about 250 thousand steep steps), to this big fort type building with a gigantic statue of Jesus on top. The views from there were absolutely amazing. And the best bit was when we were starting on the way down we discovered this tiny bar on the hillside where you could order a beer and look over the sea and the island in the harbour. Very cool.
The hotel we're staying in is awesome - it's 4 star because that was all we could get and it's two streets back from the beach and has a fantastic view of the sea. It's so good, in fact, that last night before going out we drank our leftover French booze in our room looking over the ocean.
Hardly anyone here speaks English so we've been communicating in a mixture of poorly pronounced Spanish and hand gestures, but it's been good for very quickly learning the basics of the language. George stressed out reserving our seats on the train to Zaragoza tomorrow in Spanish, but it was surprisingly easy in the end.
We´re now really regretting that we´re not staying here for longer. We´ve just had our first experience of tapas for lunch and have been getting stuck into the zurritos (small beers - the only reason we've been ordering small ones is because we couldn´t immediately work out how to order big ones).
This morning we went up the other massive mountain on this crazy cable car that goes up the hill on a 70 degree angle, and the views from the top of that one were even better - alas, no bar, but the weather was not so good this morning anyway. Plus, the main thing up there was a crappy children's amusement park, so not very exciting for us. We had grand plans of walking back down the hill, but couldn't find a path that wasn't a very narrow road with no verge on either side, so we had to get the crazy cable car back down again.
For the rest of the day we're going to hit the turps (how unusual) in the streets of San Sebastian preparing for a big night of more tapas and a jug or two of sangria.
Did I mention I love it here?
The hotel we're staying in is awesome - it's 4 star because that was all we could get and it's two streets back from the beach and has a fantastic view of the sea. It's so good, in fact, that last night before going out we drank our leftover French booze in our room looking over the ocean.
Hardly anyone here speaks English so we've been communicating in a mixture of poorly pronounced Spanish and hand gestures, but it's been good for very quickly learning the basics of the language. George stressed out reserving our seats on the train to Zaragoza tomorrow in Spanish, but it was surprisingly easy in the end.
We´re now really regretting that we´re not staying here for longer. We´ve just had our first experience of tapas for lunch and have been getting stuck into the zurritos (small beers - the only reason we've been ordering small ones is because we couldn´t immediately work out how to order big ones).
This morning we went up the other massive mountain on this crazy cable car that goes up the hill on a 70 degree angle, and the views from the top of that one were even better - alas, no bar, but the weather was not so good this morning anyway. Plus, the main thing up there was a crappy children's amusement park, so not very exciting for us. We had grand plans of walking back down the hill, but couldn't find a path that wasn't a very narrow road with no verge on either side, so we had to get the crazy cable car back down again.
For the rest of the day we're going to hit the turps (how unusual) in the streets of San Sebastian preparing for a big night of more tapas and a jug or two of sangria.
Did I mention I love it here?
03 September 2007
Un grande soir a Bordeaux
Well, not really, but we kicked on after our wine tasting and are a little weary rather than, to use Tom's term, wankered.
Anyhoo, our little bus tour took us to St Emillion about 45 mins out of Bordeaux. The vistas were stunning; STE is beautiful itself w rolling hills and pantaloons of greenery, vines and old, old, old buildings. We got shown around a vineyard about to drop - the bunches were bloody huge - and got talked through the wine making process. Finally we tried a few wines which were again excellent - a 2001 and a 2003. The bus then took us to STE proper and we mindlessly followed the tour guide to a seemingly boring as batsh&t church which opened up into this awesome village of steep cobblestone streets and endless cafes and boozers. We went into this crazy series of catacombs and an underground church which has these dirty great support pillars made of ancient limestone now supported with thumping great metal braces. Amazing stuff.
After a cleansing rosé we settled at some restaurant somewhere and had a three course deal which included salmon tartare, grilled eel and tons of spuds. We also knocked over two Bordeaux before heading back to the place we discovered Picon and slammed one of them down.
Well and truly going au coucher. Bonsoir.
Anyhoo, our little bus tour took us to St Emillion about 45 mins out of Bordeaux. The vistas were stunning; STE is beautiful itself w rolling hills and pantaloons of greenery, vines and old, old, old buildings. We got shown around a vineyard about to drop - the bunches were bloody huge - and got talked through the wine making process. Finally we tried a few wines which were again excellent - a 2001 and a 2003. The bus then took us to STE proper and we mindlessly followed the tour guide to a seemingly boring as batsh&t church which opened up into this awesome village of steep cobblestone streets and endless cafes and boozers. We went into this crazy series of catacombs and an underground church which has these dirty great support pillars made of ancient limestone now supported with thumping great metal braces. Amazing stuff.
After a cleansing rosé we settled at some restaurant somewhere and had a three course deal which included salmon tartare, grilled eel and tons of spuds. We also knocked over two Bordeaux before heading back to the place we discovered Picon and slammed one of them down.
Well and truly going au coucher. Bonsoir.
02 September 2007
Bordeaux continued
Bonjour or bonsoir depending on where you are in the world.
We have continued to pursue quintessentially French experiences while being typical tourists. We started the day yesterday at the Office de Tourisme (a delayed start due to some appallingly misleading street signage) and discovered that Bordeaux is very much marketed to a local French tourist than it is to external visitors i.e. everything is in French. We eventually settled on a tour for today (Sunday) that will take us to a few wineries in St Emillion. Just down from the ODT is this magnificent fountain dedicated to Les Girodines, apparently bad guys during the revolution whose good names have been seemingly restored post decapitation. We then strolled along the boardwalk along the river (the name escapes me) and happened upon a stunt bike and rollerblading competition that we watched for a bit before ambling about Les Jardins Publique (magnicifent public gardens near the centre of the city).
After chowing down our tasty self-made baguettes (roast pork, brie, baby spinach etc) we met my dad at La Bar au Vin, this wine bar that doubles as the town base for several maison 'wine houses); unfortunately there are no free tastings but the wines we tried blew my conceptions of French wine out of the water. I had expected weak, insipid and flabby stuff; instead most vins displayed great intensity balanced with savoury complexity - truly magnificent, and they weren't even expensive - the most pricey was five euro. Dad departed after one wine and soon after Tom joined us. We had a few moire then moved off toward our place, stopping at a tiny bar on the way and trying this great drink called Picon - simply put it is Stella with a dash of this Fleurs de Bier which adds this Chinotto-like quality to an otherwise bland beer (apologies to fans of the stuff, we've been spoiled here for good beer). Back at our place we hammered some beers I'd bought a la supermarché (an experience itself, one for later) including Pelforth Amber which I haven't seen in Oz but is ann absolute kicker - 6% and swillable.
We settled on a restaurant in the shadow of an awesome cathedral and Tom and I both got brave and had beef tartare - it wasn't really all that much to bang on about. We hit a few bars later in the night and Tom practised his French by getting himself invited to tables of young girls; we had some good conversations with some of these dames whose names now escape me. We had at least a bottle with this lot so hence my memory is somewhat sketchy after what had become a very big day.
Anyhow, must wrap up as Bec is making another sandwich for us to mangér dans les jardins before our wine tour. But a few quick reflections:
We have continued to pursue quintessentially French experiences while being typical tourists. We started the day yesterday at the Office de Tourisme (a delayed start due to some appallingly misleading street signage) and discovered that Bordeaux is very much marketed to a local French tourist than it is to external visitors i.e. everything is in French. We eventually settled on a tour for today (Sunday) that will take us to a few wineries in St Emillion. Just down from the ODT is this magnificent fountain dedicated to Les Girodines, apparently bad guys during the revolution whose good names have been seemingly restored post decapitation. We then strolled along the boardwalk along the river (the name escapes me) and happened upon a stunt bike and rollerblading competition that we watched for a bit before ambling about Les Jardins Publique (magnicifent public gardens near the centre of the city).
After chowing down our tasty self-made baguettes (roast pork, brie, baby spinach etc) we met my dad at La Bar au Vin, this wine bar that doubles as the town base for several maison 'wine houses); unfortunately there are no free tastings but the wines we tried blew my conceptions of French wine out of the water. I had expected weak, insipid and flabby stuff; instead most vins displayed great intensity balanced with savoury complexity - truly magnificent, and they weren't even expensive - the most pricey was five euro. Dad departed after one wine and soon after Tom joined us. We had a few moire then moved off toward our place, stopping at a tiny bar on the way and trying this great drink called Picon - simply put it is Stella with a dash of this Fleurs de Bier which adds this Chinotto-like quality to an otherwise bland beer (apologies to fans of the stuff, we've been spoiled here for good beer). Back at our place we hammered some beers I'd bought a la supermarché (an experience itself, one for later) including Pelforth Amber which I haven't seen in Oz but is ann absolute kicker - 6% and swillable.
We settled on a restaurant in the shadow of an awesome cathedral and Tom and I both got brave and had beef tartare - it wasn't really all that much to bang on about. We hit a few bars later in the night and Tom practised his French by getting himself invited to tables of young girls; we had some good conversations with some of these dames whose names now escape me. We had at least a bottle with this lot so hence my memory is somewhat sketchy after what had become a very big day.
Anyhow, must wrap up as Bec is making another sandwich for us to mangér dans les jardins before our wine tour. But a few quick reflections:
- Supermarkets here are truly super - the fresh food is magnificent, the F and V is great and the beer - mon dieu - the beer; cheap 'less than one euro for les big cans) and incredibly good.
- People seriously seem to live on baguettes here - they are on sale everywhere and at the end of each day virtually everyone is carrying at least one home. We even saw one guy with his baguette strapped to the back of his bike.
- Cycling is a massive thing - it's a very normal mode of transport. In Paris you can hire these public bikes for a euro a day or something and there are these bays you can leave them pretty much anywhere. Paris also has a series of dedicated bikeways running between the footpath and the road. It's a very good system.
We're off to San Sebastian tomorrow but hopefully we'll get in one more free blog before then.
Au revoir!
01 September 2007
First night in Bordeaux
This is an unusually quick addition, but it's pretty late and no one is around, plus we're pretty drunk so feeling a bit verbose...
We've just completed our first night in Bordeaux, which was relatively uneventful, except that there was some major cycling race thing happening...don't know what, but it seemed big. We had pizza for dinner, not particularly French but it was OK. Really that was it for the night, other than drinking the 1 litre bottle of sauvignon blanc we were given in Paris, as per previous entry.
Oh yeah, the bread and cheese here is sensational - we've eaten shitloads of it and it's so cheap too. So is the beer. For the first time our accommodation includes mini bar so we've been able to buy stuff for breakfast and lunch, and the beer is so cheap - less than 1 euro for a 500ml can. In the whole 7 hours we've been here we've taken full advantage.
OK, going now cos I'm stuffed and this wacky keyboard is freaking me out! Report back soon...
We've just completed our first night in Bordeaux, which was relatively uneventful, except that there was some major cycling race thing happening...don't know what, but it seemed big. We had pizza for dinner, not particularly French but it was OK. Really that was it for the night, other than drinking the 1 litre bottle of sauvignon blanc we were given in Paris, as per previous entry.
Oh yeah, the bread and cheese here is sensational - we've eaten shitloads of it and it's so cheap too. So is the beer. For the first time our accommodation includes mini bar so we've been able to buy stuff for breakfast and lunch, and the beer is so cheap - less than 1 euro for a 500ml can. In the whole 7 hours we've been here we've taken full advantage.
OK, going now cos I'm stuffed and this wacky keyboard is freaking me out! Report back soon...
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