Earth 2010

Cuenca and the Enchanted City

46 days since selling up. David Jones recording.

We had a fabulous day and night in the wonderful city of Cuenca. The old town was perched on the top of the hill, and is most famous for its hanging houses!  The sun shone which was a delight.  Its other claim to fame, well in my mind anyway, is that it has the most scariest bridge I have ever tried to cross, well so far.  I am not even that scared of heights but this bridge was spooky!  The St. Paul bridge (Puente de San Pablo) was built from 1533 to 1589, to link the old town to the St Paul's Convent on the other side of the gorge.  The convent is now a Parador and the bridge was rebuilt in 1902.  

You can just make me out on the left handside holding onto the rail.

We then moved on from Cuenca to Madrid but before we left the area we went to visit the famous Enchanted City.  In Spanish it is Ciudad Encantada, which helped me understand the Spanish greeting that I have been learning on Rosetta Stone Spanish.  The greeting is encantada de conocerlo which means enchanted to meet you. How polite! Though as yet I have not put this greeting into use.  Though I am waiting to tell somebody my name and nearly asked the waitress in the restaurant in Cuenca her name just so I could tell her mine.

The Enchanted City is made of various rock formations which was originally the sea bed when the dinosaurs roamed the earth.

For all you Conan fans and lovers of Arnold Schwarzanegger here is a treat.

The Enchanted City was used as part of the set for Conan the Barbarian.  I am just full of interresting facts today.

We have now moved on to Madrid where it has done nothing but rain, rain, rain, but what would you expect when you are on the plain!

Anyhow I will fill you in on Madrid in my next post, but I wanted to leave you with a picture below for those of you who have known me for many years. It is taken in the Enchanted City in a place called the Sea of Stone.

Hasta Luego!

Valencia

43 days since selling up. David Jones recording.

 

I am writing this sitting in our room in Cuenca in central Spain. It’s an old Spanish town perched on a cliff and is famous for the hanging houses of Cuenca. I am looking out through the Juliette balcony across a quiet road to a babbling stream.

 

But enough about Cuenca I will tell more about its joys in the next blog.  This is to catch you up on our last few weeks.  Firstly we had a wonderful time on our mad dash weekend to the UK.  Special thanks to Graeme for cutting our hair for the second time in four weeks!

 

We attended the “perfick” Kentish wedding and I think a fab time was had by all.  I thought I would just show a quick pic of the happy couple.  Congratulations and thanks to Nikki and Lee.

 

We returned safely to Valencia and stayed for five nights in a hotel near the city of arts and sciences.  The opera house and science museum are designed like a set from Logan’s Run: a fab 1970’s sci-fi movie. I certainly think it should be used for the set of the remake, will the director please take note!

 

The hotel was the medium Valencia, good and clean, a/c and we had a fridge and balcony.  Unfortunately the pool was not open, which was a bit of a disappointment.  We made full use of the balcony having several G & T’s and a couple of light suppers there: bread and cheese! It’s strange, but when you are travelling you forget about the words cholesterol and liver disease.

 

 

The other highlight for me whenever we are in Valencia is the famous musical fountains that perform to music Saturday and Sunday 12- 2 and 8-10pm. If you’re lucky, on Sunday lunch time you may be treated to some Disney tunes.

The fountains are in the Turia Gardens and Park set in the old river bed that runs through the city.  It’s a wonderful place for a stroll, jog or bike ride through the palms and Moorish water gardens.  Perfect to sit in on a hot sunny day.

 

I have a confession and those of you that know me well will not be surprised.  I found a Starbucks and have had several frappaccinos.  I know I am supposed to be soaking up the Spanish culture, but it’s my one weakness!

 

I tried a bit of Spanish culture only the other evening, before dinner we had Agua de Valencia, now one of my faves: orange juice, cava and some other spirit which we have yet to identify.

 

We also ventured out of the city and visited Sagunto, which has a partially reconstructed roman theatre and extensive ruins of a Moorish castle.  We enjoyed a fabulous Menu del Dia at a local venta in the medieval city. My Dad would be proud: lomo, huelvo y patatas or ham, egg and chips – Spanish style. It sounded exotic when I ordered it! But it did the trick along with a lovely flan for my postre. We had a wonderful day.

 

There are photos in the Valencia album. Hasta Luego!

 

 

Flying Back!

31 days since selling up, David Jones recording.

Don't worry, things haven't all gone terribly wrong.  Today is our last day in the villa in Benitatxell.  We are flying back to London for the bank holiday weekend to celebrate Paul's sisters wedding to his soon to be brother in law.  Congratulations Nikki and Lee!  After the wedding we are flying back to Spain and continuing our journey.

Over the last week we have again just generally lazed around the pool taking advantage of the sun.  I have been working hard studying Spanish, as you can see in the picture. I have fully complted level one and am on level two, yipeee!

Aparrently the first four chapters of the infamous novel are nearly complete and I believe are being read by a select few to check if it's a best seller.

 We have made a couple of trips down to Moraira, which a nice coastal town and port.  We had a wonder along the beach and had a couple of nice meals there. There's a lovely view of the Penon d'Ifach from Moraira (a spectacular rocky peninsular poking into the Mediterranean) and the skyscrapers of Calpe which are spectacular in their own way.

The only tragedy to report is that on this final day the washing blew into the pool. For those of you who know me well this is indeed a disaster!

All ended well after unceremoniously fishing out the offending articles and re-washing them.  For those of a nervous disposition I am pleased to report that all items are now washed and dried. We have a completely clean wardrobe.  I will leave you guessing has to how we managed that.

Our next adventure is fighting with the others in boarding group 2 and getting the last tube of Pringles from the EasyKiosk!

I will update the blog when we return on Tuesday to Valencia. Hasta luego!

Y Viva Espana!

Day 22 since selling up David Jones recording.

We left Zaragoza 5 days ago and drove to the coast hoping to get some sun!  It was very sunny but cool in the evening and the first night at the villa was a bit chilly.

Luckily we had a wonderful log burner to keep us toasty and a spectacular view of Mount Montgo.  Oh and I think we also had a glass of red wine or two.

The villa is near Benitatxell sandwiched between Javea and Moraira. We are a 3 mins drive from the beach.

After the first night the temperature has started to heat up and it all now feels very Mediterranean. We have not attempted to do much sight-seeing taking the time to enjoy the sun, relax around the pool and be on holiday.

There are pictures of the villa and some coastal views in the Y Viva Espana album.  So not much else to report.  We have not been very Spanish either because we are renting an English-owned villa. We have access to all UK TV and spent an enjoyable Saturday night watching Dr Who and Who could be Dorothy! But it kept us within budget so the tour can last longer.

Oh yes and for all you literary fans the next photo will be a treat.

I've discovered the next publishing phenomenon, or it could be Agatha Christie? Lurking on our naya every morning near the BBQ. So far he's written the first two chapters.

I believe it's a mystery with secrets and lies hidden in one family for the past hundred years.

Available in a good bookshop late 2011 early 2012.  Pre-order now!

I will leave with another view of the sunset, enjoy! Adios!

 

Zaragoza

Day 17 since selling up David Jones recording.

We are now coming to an end of our 4 days in Zaragoza.  We arrived arrived at our appartment to a wonderful view of the cathedral (pictured above).  Although it took us sometime to navigate the continuous one way streets, no entry signs and near misses before we found the apartments, but what a sight.  The apartment is in the perfect location on the main square.  The car is now safely parked in the car park 3 storeys below ground down a narrow spirral staircase of a road.  I don't think we will be able to ever get it out to take us on to the villa in Benitatxell, our next stop.

The centre of Zarrgoza is beautiful and it's claim to fame are various roman ruins (or foundations!) which can be seen across the city.  The most stunning is the theatre.  All the sites are well displyed, mostly underground and include an audio guide and multi media video presentation.

Its not my favourite Spanish city but that might have to do with the weather: although we have had sunshine it still remains cold, mostly around 15 degrees.  The highlight for me has been watching people in the square from our apartment, especially those getting on and off of their "Bizi" bikes: a city-wide network of bikes you can hop on and off at anytime for a small charge.  The Zaragozans love 'em!

I have downloaded some photos of our time in Zaragoza in the album.  I have decided to try and limit future albums to 10 photos mainly because it takes so long to upload them.  I am also worried that it might be a bit boring just looking at our holiday snaps?

Deciding not to use the "Bizi bikes", we have done quite a lot of walking around the city.  So to counteract that we have also been drinking alcohol and eating pastries, bread and cheese. It took us a couple of days to get into the routine of the city's long lunches, late suppers etc.

We have explored all that we wanted to do and are both ready to move on.  We also saw the "fish bridge" which was part of the 2006 expo site designed by British-based architect, Zaha Hadid: or is it stingray? You decide, 'Luego!

Soria and the Journey to Aragon

16 days since selling up David Jones recording.

It is a bright sunny morning and I am sitting in our apartment overlooking the main cathedral in Zaragoza.  We have been here for two days and have a further two before moving on to a villa near the coast.  I will tell your more about the ancient city of Zaragoza in the next blog.  Today I want to tell the story about our journey here and the battle of the bands.

We left the delights of the supermarket car park hotel on the outskirts of Legrono and started to drive higher into the mountains heading for Soria.  We had secured a cheap rate night in a Parador Hotel, some luxury after living above a supermarket.  On the journey we drove through amazing mountain landscapes and rock formations.

As we drove high into the mountains the weather become colder, the wind stronger and bands of rain came out of nowhere.

We continued up high in to the mountains.  Then we discovered the ancient ruined town of Numancia, a settlement dating back to the Iberian Celts and the Romans who invaded their lands.  We explored the ruins and saw recontructions of houses and how people would have lived in them.

All the time as we walked around the ruined town the wind and the rain continued to batter us. We took shelter in the iberian huts and when we got to the southern roman villas the most sheltered spot in the town the sun came out.  There are lots of photos in the Soria album.

We then ventured on towards Soria. Just outside the town we explored the ruined abbey of San Juan de Duero.  Here there was an amazing romanesque and  moorish design cloister.   Again there are many pictures in the Soria album.  Eventually we came to Soria and found our Parador which was high on the hill and had an amazing view. (see top photo). Whilst in our hotel room we kept hearing the sounds of different brass bands playing in various parts of the town.  Curious we walked down to the town from the top of the hill through the narrow streets and alley ways.  We then came across a square full of people chatting and drinking standing outside bars and there was a band playing in the corner.  All the players wore red T shirts; we thought we had discovered the source of the sound.  Then more bands appeared from different directions into the square some wearing green, some blue, others in orange, all playing different tunes with the crowds clapping and singing.  What a sight! Our first impromptu fiesta! Paul took some video.

  

Ok we are off to explore Zaragoza adios!
   

No room at the inn!

Day 12 since selling up David Jones recording.

Have spent a wonderful 2 days in Bilboa or for those of you from the basque region Bilbo.  We enjoyed wonderful lunches and riojan wine from the region at a cafe in the square close to our hotel. We enjoyed it so much we went there for both days.   Explored the Guggenhiem which was really interresting especially because you get an audio guide to help explain the art.  May be the tate should try it?

  Paul enjoying his lunch or is it the wine!

We have started to become like all the other ex- pats and have resorted to buying a travel kettle so we can have coffeee and tea in our room.  Because of our budget the rooms we stay in do not offer the facility.

It has been wonderful coming back to the room and having coffeee or tea in the morning.  Does this happen to every traveller that you suddenly become very british? Paul keeps listening to radio 4, but I think that was mainly because of the election.  It,s big news on the spanish tv too.

On our last night in Bilbo we saw felmenco dancers in one of the bars, it was packed we people who had just finished work at 8pm.  The dancers were very good.

Today we tried to be adventurous and not book the next hotel and try to see if we could find a cheap hotel or pension in a quiet square.  We drove accoss the moutains into the rioja region of Spain.  Wwhen we get to the town of Haro we searched for a pension (a cheap hotel / b&b) but unfortunately there was no room.  We then drove on to a larger town and eventually using the iphone booked a hotel at a cheap rate just outside the town.  The hotel is nicemodern and clean and you get free wifi hence the blog, but is based at a hypermarket carpark not quit what we were looking for!   It is surronded by lovely moutain views though and was easy to by a cheap supper, bottle of rioja for £1.00 and bread and cheese.  Tommorrow we have a treat a cheap room in a parador in the town of Soria. 

I think our adventurous days have been short lived and have decided that we need to try and book a head so we don't spend all day looking for a room. Hasta Luego   

When it rains, rains, rains; it rains, rains, rains!

9 days since selling up David Jones recording

We Drank Bordeaux in Bordeaux!

We drove 300 miles from Angers to Bordeaux.  It was freezing cold but we found a lovely cafe in the place du parlement and had our first bottle of Bordeaux of the day.

We ate a lovely lunch, you can just see the fountain in the photo.  We were staying one night in Bordeaux which is like the Paris of the south.  Due to our budget restrictions we had our supper and another bottle of Bordeaux 1 euro 50, in our hotel room, as you can see by the pictures in the Bordeaux album.  What fun!

We spent a fun evening doing our laundry in the hotel laundry room in our flip flops! what a sight!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It's the pits in Biarritz !

Need I say any more.  On our drive from Bordeaux to San sebastian in Spain we went via the coastal route.  What happened to the sun?

In San Sebastian the rain continued to fall, but we bravely ventured out to explore the ole town which is very beautiful but needs the sun.  We walked up to the top of monte urgell which was like being in Cornwall in february with a storm coming off the atlantic.  Anyhoo we had fun and are now going off for some pintxos (tapas you fools, don't you know basque) and some vino tinto ( red wine philistines !). Pictures in the San Ssebastian album. That's All! (Fans of Devil wears prada will understand)

We have arrived in France

Yesterday we arrived at the beautiful Le Havre!  You can see by the picture is not much to look at.  Luckily just a few miles up the road from Le Havre is the beautiful port of Honfleur.  It retains lots of original medieval buildings.  Here we had a lovely lunch, Moules et frites no less.  I have posted lots of pics in the album arrival in france.  It's well worth a visit if you are passing or even a day trip to france.  The ferry took 3 and half hours from portsmouth.  You would need a car to get there from le Havre.

After lunch we then drove on to Angers about 300 KM.  Once we arrived we checked in to our small room at the All seasons hotel.  The hotel is clean and comfortable but the room is small for 2.  We quickly had a quick tour of Angers last night but as per normal it was Sunday everything's closed ending up with wine a crisps for supper.  But that was good because it kept us in budget.

Anger is a large town and has some pretty buildings.  It also has its own chateau which houses the apocalypse tapestry.  It was constructed in 1375 and took 7 years to make.  It was commissioned by the duke of Anjou.  Yes where the rose wine comes from ( I'ts very cheap here).

Picture in the Angers album.  We had a wonderfull drive today along the Loire river to see the Fontevraud Abbey. Which is a complete abbey established in 1101.  It is also the final resting place of Henry II his wife Eleanor of Aquaitaine and their son Richard the Lion heart.  It was a very pretty place unfortunately the weather was a bit cold but it did not rain. There are some of the photos in the Anger album.  Remember I am travelling with David Bailey so there are lots of photos.

Tonight we plan to have dinner in town "prix fix menu" and tomorrow off to Bordeaux. Au revoir!

  

It's all in the preparation

5 days since selling up - David Jones recording.

We have been buzzing around London to say a fond farewell (see the pics in the london farewell album)

Also getting our priorities right went to get a hair cut!    Don't I look pretty?

We are off to portsmouth today in preparation for catching the ferry to Le Havre on sunday morning an early 8.30am crossing.  The earliest I've been up for a long time.

In portsmouth we are hoping to see the Victory but first stop the launderette.  Isn't travel glamorous!