mandb trips: 2015

Friday 30 October 2015

Venice

Not wishing to repeat myself but this trip to Venice for Margaret's 60th birthday (I know she doesn't look a day over 40), had a similar ring to it as our recent trip to SW Ireland. Coincidentally, I was returning to Venice for the first time in 35 years, and Margaret was visiting for the first time!
I'll even give you another quote from the journal I kept of my Europe trip in 1980:
"As we passed over the Ponte to the mainland, I whispered a goodbye to Venice, as I do to places I know I will return to"

Much like Venice, our out-of-date guidebook appeared unaffected by the passing of time, and wisely suggested that, with so much on offer, mixing up the sightseeing and pacing yourself was a good idea. "this is a city to be savoured like a rare cognac, not gulped."
Our plan to visit the islands of the lagoon, as well as the obvious sights in Venice, fitted well with this varied approach, aided by the simple fact that hurrying through crowds of people, dodging hotel porters transporting bags from nearby water bus stops, and travelling via these leisurely modes of travel, could not be rushed anyway.

Our seven days in 'The Floating City' -

Obvious Venice Picture: No.1 - 'Duck'

Venice is renowned for the beauty of its setting, architecture and artwork. The city in its entirety is listed as a World Heritage Site, along with its lagoon. Containing 450 bridges over 177 canals, much has been written about this unique place by more qualified and learned people, so what more can we add? Nothing really, except having had a fantastic time and taken lots of photos (some obvious snaps and a few captured opportune moments) we have a few thoughts and tips to share.

Bill attempting to look as learned as a TV presenter. Maybe the sandals were a mistake?

Venice doesn't reveal its treasures cheaply and some homework and research can allow you to make the most of your time and save you some money. With my 'trip advisor' hat firmly on (but not over my eyes and ears) see the veneziavero tips panels

The opposite to a water bus. The MSC Musica (a 2,500 passenger 'skyscraper' cruise ship) leaving Venice and completely masking the island of San Giorgio Maggiore, in the process.

With all this culture and history to absorb, at times it felt like a school educational (now pay attention at the back). As we learned about:

Trompe L’oeil - the art of creating an optical illusion that appears three dimensional.

Caffi - as in Ippolito Caffi (not some frothy venetian beverage). His highly detailed paintings are admired for their brilliant lighting. His ‘veduta’ style that of renowned/famous Venice scenes by Guardi and Cannaletto.

Venice, circa 1858-60, painting by Caffi

Venice today - not a painting by Cannaletto, but a photo by Bill.

Construction - Foundation blocks made from a stone called ‘kirmenjak’ (with extremely low water absorption) line the canals, their depth an indication of wealth at the time of construction. see: https://illumin.usc.edu/130/a-look-at-venice-past-and-present/

The MOSE project - mobile floodgates, distributed among the 3 entrances to the lagoon - Lido, Malamocco and Chioggia. Looked like a work in progress though should be completed by now. May not be fully operational until 2017, information was a bit vague.

Pronunciation - how to spell our name in Italian: that's "pay ohh chay ohh chay kapa".

Bridge reflection. Obvious Picture No.2

Go now before it sinks?
Venice has stopped sinking but due to rising sea-levels it still floods regularly, so bring your wellies or invest in a €10 pair of plastic pull up boots that you fit over your shoes (see picture below) which are not, we can tell you, entirely waterproof and hardly for the fashion conscious, but do help!

Friday 31 July 2015

Ireland 2015

Outlook: mostly cloudy with prolonged periods of Guinness later in the day and occasional musical intervals.

Margaret's mother was born in Ireland and many relatives still live there. Margaret hadn't seen them in 15 years and I'd never met them, so a visit was long overdue. I'd only ever been to Ireland once, for 6 days in 1980, 35 years ago. After that trip I'd written in a journal "Ireland - better than expected - can't wait to come again!" (Half a lifetime later, here I was)

We ‘Michael O'Leary’ed’ it (on Ryan Air), having been surprised at the cost of taking our own car and the ferry across the Irish Sea. With a nod to nostalgia I thought I'd dig out and use the maps from 1980 (figuring the towns will still be in the same place, even if their appearance may have changed).

As we drove our hire car away from Dublin Airport onto a three lane motorway, clearly not a part of my historic map, this idea appeared a daft one. This was the new 'iLand. Euro model' and we had to somehow find how to get to Edenderry and the relatives. Logic suggested we go west towards Galway and then Margaret recognised names and the sign posts did the rest in getting us there.

We planned to stay a few days, then have a few days away in the SW and to return again before leaving a week later.

There was a lot of catching up to do. There was plenty of talking, interspersed with cups of tea, making note of all the family members (26 first cousins at the last count!), hearing of their whereabouts (many still live right round the corner), all the news, stories and laughter and tea, bingo, refreshments in Larkin's pub, more talking and more donkeys minus their hind legs and finally photos* and farewells. It was lots of fun, and if personally I didn't always understand every word that was spoken, I understood the bond of families and fond memories. And we only met a small part of the family, there's lots more!
* see: http://mandbtales1.blogspot.co.uk/2015/08/family-photos.html

In between all this we spent the middle of the week in SW Ireland. Now this was for me a trip down memory lane, but for Margaret, a first. We lucked out by finding a great B&B in Kenmare, County Kerry, run by Maureen Harrington (famous Irish cross-country athlete from the Nineties) and still running all over the place. She had a beautiful house and couldn't do enough for us, even if she spoke so quickly she remained largely incomprehensible to me most of the time (and occasionally Margaret).

Maureen recommended seeing the Ring of Beara as opposed to the more famous Ring of Kerry.

Kenmare Bay, in the sunshine

So, waiting patiently for a sunny day, we set off early morning driving west in an anti-clockwise direction. Fairly soon the road narrowed and we had to carefully make our way past cyclists, but the absence of any coaches or buses (they really wouldn’t have been able to get down the road, simple as that) made for a quiet and less harrowing journey, though concentration was still on high alert. Twisting and winding through wooded and picturesque scenery, with sheep velcro’ed to impossibly steep grassy slopes the road climbed and then suddenly coastal vistas opened up ahead of us in breathtaking fashion. Despite the perfect day for it we were often the only car on the road, which added to the enjoyment. The day should also be remembered as possibly Eire’s ‘Summer’ 2015, Wednesday 15 July it was!!!

Very pretty (and tidy) towns - Eyeries and Allihies - were lovely stops along the way to the end of the peninsula where we had hoped to take the cable car to Dursey Island.

Pretty and tidy - Margaret and Eyeries

Unfortunately, due to our leisurely pace, so many people had got there before us and due to carrying capacity and the numbers of visitors already on the island it would have meant a very lengthy queue to come back later in the day.

More fuchsia, fern and rhododendron-lined narrow roads took us back to Castletownbere, the largest town we encountered, as the south part of Beara contrasted nicely with the earlier northern drive. The central mountains looked beautiful but we stuck to the ring and arrived in Glengarriff for dinner. We missed the Healey pass and concluded this would have to be experienced another time.

The final section of our fantastic day’s drive was the wider N71 through the Caha pass involving a number of rock tunnels before returning to Kenmare just as the sun set on an absolutely Grand Day Out.

Two things emerged on this day. The town of Glengarriff, that in 1980 I had specifically noted as being somewhere I'd love to spend more time in, looked nothing like I remembered it. And in Castletownbere we found the exact bar photographed on the cover Pete McCarthy's travel book "McCarthy's Bar" that Margaret had been reading before and during our trip. See our picture and http://www.roadjunky.com/657/pete-mccarthy-mccarthys-bar-ireland-travel/

MacCarthy's Grocery & Bar - before the graphic studio doctored the name - see link.

Most other days we enjoyed the empty backroads (avoiding the busier motorways with their tolls) and noticed the litter free towns we past, as the hypnotic swishing of the car window wiper blades accompanied warnings of severe bends, which were heeded as the ‘sea-mist’ (Irish for rain) continued. The Irish do have a way with words, often describing the weather as fierce and/or desperate. A tad extreme, but all part of the fun!

Retro mac and waterfall in the rain

Another Mac Bar. Slainte!

FINAL PLUG:

Not your traditional Irish music that plays in just about every shop and bar you enter, check out a band called 'Frantic Jack' - they're from Edenderry, and they're good. Lots of videos on YouTube.

Tuesday 28 April 2015

Cape Town in Panavision

Having bought our little flat in Cape Town over a year ago it seemed about time we went and stayed in it. This was always going to be more than just a holiday - after all there was work to be done: checking over the flat, odd jobs to attend to, updating furnishings and then there was the banking to sort out. I'm not going to bore you rigid with the details, safe to say though this occupied some of our time.

In between however we caught up with family and friends and enjoyed the warmer weather of Autumn as we explored Hout Bay and the immediate area near our flat. We also visited many wine estates and spent a lovely night in Pringle Bay at Yvonne and Anthony's place. The view from their deck was the first of many panorama photos I took, which will follow this copy, if I can do them justice... and without you having to scroll back and forth to see them.

The location of our flat is a lot more convenient than I'd imagined. Out the gate, turn right, walk 50 metres turn down a short alleyway (fine in daylight, caution at night!), brings you into the main road across from the pub! Also, right there, are the shops and restaurants of all shapes and variety. Turn left and walk for less than 5 minutes and you're on the beach, surrounded by mountains. I've a panorama of this too.

We would discover many places nearby and with a bus to take you all the way into Cape Town you could easily get by without needing a car for all of your holiday.

The possibility of 'Load-shedding' (http://loadshedding.eskom.co.za/loadshedding/description) in South Africa was something we'd heard about but during the first week we only experienced once. But the second week these power 'black-outs' occurred quite often and the near miss of an ATM cash machine, shutting down before my eyes, just seconds after I'd completed the transaction was a close call to close for comfort. Also driving through busy intersections with all the traffic lights out was equally harrowing.

But we avoided any collisions, to drive on and visit more panoramas… (coming right up, be patient).

We definitely weren't ready to come home and look forward to our next trip. Hopping the seasons - into Autumn that seemed more like Summer and now back to Spring that feels more like Winter !