Taormina & Sue arrives to meet us

Having been here before it was great to know a little of the lay of the land and also exactly how to find our hotel. I purposely booked one within easy walking distance from our arrival point, the bus terminal.

The hotel room we were given was good and bathroom actually a decent size. I also asked for one with a sea view and was pleased when I saw the view we had. This is a pic of Mark standing on our little terrace.

Once settled we made our way up to Corso Umberto. There is an arch at each end of this gorgeous street (which is about 2 km long) and the foundations for the arches were set 400BC. Now thats bloody old!!!

After strolling the length of the street I pointed out to Mark a cafe which I had been to with the girls a couple of years earlier for a drink. He figured it was still good for a stop, so a bottle of Prosecco, a glass of red, and some nibblies later we headed off for dinner. The bar has a great outlook over a gorgeous piazza with a fountain in it. It is a very popular point of photography which was proven again by seeing several brides being photographed there over the time of our stay.

The next day Sue arrived in the afternoon and we had prepared some drinks etc to have in our room as the main street was the busiest I had ever seen by far. It was a long weekend in Italy so the locals and tourists were out in hordes. We enjoyed a couple of hours in the room catching up on each others holiday stories and then headed out to show Sue the town once the day trippers had gone off the mountain.

The next morning we were up and out reasonably early to beat the possible crowds. (It turned out not to be great weather for most the day which meant it was quieter than expected). It was off to the Teatro Greco (Greek Theatre) to not only see this amazing theatre but for the fantastic views. We were all just sitting and contemplating the view from the upper seats and watching the groups of people come through when an unlikely young guy (approx 23 yrs old) drew our attention as he had walked to the front and started singing opera. The whole crowd went quiet and his voice just easily resonated right up to the top seats. The acoustics are still great. Anyway... his singing was so beautiful it gave me goose bumps and brought both Sue and I close to tears. Needless to say he received a big round of applause when he finished, with many wanting more. He was too shy to sing more and quickly dashed up and hugged his Mum. It was very moving.
This is a pic to show some of the restoration work. They have kept it to an absolute minimum.
View of the town from the theatre though it is hard to see just how high up we are.
This is an example of the shopping available in Taormina. Heaps of ceramics... not so easy to carry and costly to ship due to the weight. There are also lots of shoe shops and Mark could not resist these little Italian ones. Here he is (posing in front of Mt Etna) They are patent black and pewter coloured. I am seeing that really he has a bit of the 'wog boy' in him... must be why I like him.
This is someone's front door and surrounding decorations. Note the plate in the middle on the right. This head with the 3 legs around it is the symbols of Sicily. (?) It is in the middle of their flag and is seen in many variations.
Finally another photo of Mt Etna. We all continued to be on the look out for when we would see the cap of it as it is often under cloud. We have been fortunate to often see it smoking (a.k.a. huffing and puffing). Not something we see at home and reminds us that this land is still young and forever changing.

As in all places we have enjoyed fabulous food and have always looked for the local cuisine where possible. Fabulous proscuitto, swordfish ravioli, veal involtini with pine nuts and raisins, gelati (Mark loves the blood orange) and pastries. He is also fascinated with the idea of going into a cafe and standing with the locals at the bar to drink it. Its such fun and we pretend we are locals even though we stand out like sore toes as tourists. Mark likes to think his new shoes will help him blend in with the locals.

I loved Taormina on my previous visit and to go back has not been disappointing even though it has developed significantly more and there is a lot of building happening in the area. Both Sue & Mark have just loved Taormina as well and both at times have said "I just love this place". Mark was not happy to be leaving and truly felt like he wanted more time there. We were also sorry the kids will not get to see this part of Italy on their trip... but they will have other opportunities I am sure.

Catania pics and 'crazy' explained

Well I realised I did not actually say why we called Catania crazy. It was mostly based on the driving and the roads. My gosh... within the first 2 mins in the taxi from the airport he had overtaken another car crossing dbl lines, on a curve whilst also exceeding the speed limit by at least 40kph. This was the start of quite a hair raising ride... then during the following day as we strolled around there was constant weaving and driving on the wrong side of the road by the locals. Add to this the constant honking of horns... we just kept saying... they are crazy, then laughing... it all really added to the atmosphere of it. No one was really agro or anything.. it was just how they are.

Ok... now to the photos
First up the hotel room ceiling.
Hotel from outside
The cathedral the taxi driver highlighted the night before
The wonderous first glimpse of Mt Etna
The men playing cards along with the audience
3 varieties of snails available at the market

How fresh is this garlic!... there was huge bunches available like this throughout the market

Finally, these ribbon fish. They were absolutely silver and looked like someone had polished them. Quite beautiful really.

Crazy Catania

We arrived in to our hotel after much rigmarole via the Italian airports system we headed from the plane to collect our luggage. While following the required path we could hear regular cheering ahead of us. As it was 10:30pm and we were at an airport we could not make out what was going on. When we got to the carousels we noticed there was a clear glass wall between us and the carousels (like international arrivals) and there were well over 1000 people waiting on the other side of the glass. Our plane as well as another recently arrived had a group of around 50 high school students each whom had obviously been away on a school trip. Those waiting behind the glass turned out to be the kids parent, aunts, uncles, grandparent, sisters, brothers etc etc and whenever one of the groups saw the person they had come to greet home they cheered. It was such an amazing display of community and family spirit. We soon appreciated the glass between us while we waited the 1/2 hr for our lauggage to appear on the carousel as it would have been complete mayhem if all those people and the passengers of 2 planes were to crowd around in the small space.



Anyway we were eventually away quickly in a taxi to our hotel. We arrived and were shown to our room which was so gorgeous. It was in an old Palazzo with 20 ft ceilings and a fresco painted on the ceiling. We also had 2 small wrought iron balconies and french doors going out to them. The doors themselves were about 10 ft high. Amazing.


We decided to spend alot of the day in Catania and then head to Taormina in the afternoon. There is a significant Centro Storico (old historical centre) and one particular place to note was a very large church which is still far from finishing renovation. It was built in the early 1200's. Inside we noted a very long strip of inlaid marbles on the floor. Up close we noted they had the dates and months as well as hrs, covering the whole year. This was explained by a very lovely Italian man (all in italian with me grasping some of it and translating to Mark) that the hole in the ceiling (which Mark had noted earlier) was showing a spot of sun on the floor absolutely in line with the date for that particular day. It was a meridian calender-line made over 800 yrs ago and was still precise to the day. He went on further to say the hrs are often not precise and this is due to the lunar calendar. We found it completely fascinating.


It was all so beautiful and Mark was so in awe that when I heard my name mentioned and Mark hyperventilating 'look look look', up past old buildings along a very long street he could see in the distance Mt Etna for the first time and was so excited that it was actually smoking as well, with no clouds around it at the time. It is something he has always wanted to see and he was so excited to have it appear so unexpectedly in the middle of the city centre. We did not think we would see it until we got out of the city.

At one stage we spotted a park through an old arch. We thought it would be a great place to sit in the sun a little and people watch. Once through the arch we saw there were many groups of older men sitting around chatting (not unusual here) and many were also standing tightly in a circle. Obviously something was going on... but if we got too close one would turn an look sternly at us so we stayed far enough away not to upset them but got close enough to see theere was a table of guys playing cards and then a whole group around them watching and cheering them on. There were many groups like this in the park and under an old bridge. They were so entertaining to watch!

Finally we found the local market. Now it was street after crowded street of vendors selling anything from fruit & veg, deli items, meat, seafood or packaged goods. Wow.. again so interesting to watch them and listen to them all trying to shout out their bargains over the top of the others. One to note which Ashleigh would have steered very clear of was the vendor selling 3 different varieties of snails. There were timber bins of them. 1000's of them... sliding all over each other. Quite gross but still fascinating as we dont see that every day...!!

Anyway thats it for now... this computer wont let me upload photos and I can that Sue has just arrived. Time to go catch up over a drink and snack.

xD&M

Final days Dubrovnik

While it may seem we are go.. go... go.. it has not really been the case. In all places we have been we felt like we have had enough time to see what we wanted as well as fit in some down time for relaxing. Mark has nearly finished his book he brought and I have read a couple of books already and have the next 2 lined up. Mark has his eye on one I bought here which is very interesting. It is by a Croatian journalist/ author and her insights to life in the Balkans after Communism. It explains so much of what we have seen and questioned and allowed us lots of discussion already.

Yesterday, after a morning at home enjoying the view while reading on the terrace, we went for a walk along our road and back and then to the far side of the walled city and beyond. Further along our road is predominantly residential with lots of the houses have rooms to rent to tourists. It is obvious they have realised this can be a good way to support their income. There are also some old but lovely hotels built in the 30s. All of them are right on the waters edge. One thing we noted is though they are closer to the water they dont have the fab view we have! though... they do not have to deal with the steps we do. We have seen the old advertisments for these hotels and they are like pictures of Sophia Loren in her young days, laying on the beach with a child. The woman is in a bikini whereas the child is in traditional Croatian costume. Guess they were offering the beach as well as a cultural experience all in one ad.

Beyond the old city we found a great park (a bit like Burleigh Hill) hidden behind the main road of houses and up a narrow path and many steps again. We were the only ones there and spent an hour just watching the water and chatting. The weather over the past couple of days has been cool again, overcast and at times windy and wet.

We found another fabulous restaurant for lunch. We had planned on a good lunch with snack dinner at home. After an apperitif of fresh anchovies (on the house) Mussels (me), Beef Carpaccio (Mark) and our main course of Veal medallions with local smoked aged ham and fresh sage and the compulsory glass of wine, we rolled out the door and we were pleased we had a good walk back.

This is a picture of a door we just loved. through it is an old open courtyard. This building is now used for an art gallery as well they have one room designated to a memorial for the men who died in the Balkans war in the early 90s. It is really sad to see the damage done just to the old city let alone the rest of Dubrovnik. At least 70% of the buildings within the old city were damaged. 50% lost their rooves. Many were set on fire. There is also alot of bullet hole damage still evident in many walls. Today they are still working towards repairing the city. alot of work is going on, though in a fairly discreet way so as not to hinder the tourist flow through the city.

I have included another shot of some of the steps up to our place. Possibly by including another picture you too can feel the pain.

Once we have got through our gate we have steps from the gate to the first level then there are these steps for us up to our attic apartment.

I didnt mention that on our arrival when we first walked through the gate with Nika, I looked up to see bigger breasts than mine. He went on to explain their Cocker Spaniel (standing on a landing just above our heads) had had 11 puppies 3 days earlier. The poor girl was sure packing some milk for those puppies.

Yesterday when we got home one of the pups had escaped and Mark gently picked it up and put it back in their pen.

This morning we came down to find another was out, and this time he had to chase it a little to catch it and put it in the pen. Well some of the other puppies thought this looked like a good game and as quick as he could catch them and put them in another would escape. At one stage there were 5 pups he was chasing as they happily frolicked around the small garden. It was very funny to watch. I was no help, just laughed with him while taking photos. Here are a couple of photos (blurred, sorry) one of Mark pushing one through the bars and another of 3 escaping while his back was turned. We do not know what we will be coming back to today!!

This is our fabulous fridge we mentioned. Im not sure if you can see the glow on the ceiling above the green machine. Well we have to close our bedroom door because with this light as well as the fact that the door is glass and the light is always on inside, it lights up the whole apartment at night. Mark is wearing his beanie because we had been out on the terrace and the wind was ver chilly.

Note, the sloped ceiling. Great for bumping ones head. I am up to a count of 5 times and Mark only once.

At the bottom of the steps to the first road from our place there has always been a bus parked. Picture a one way, one lane road so the bus took up considerable space and was as close as possible to the building. Well this morning when we came down it was gone. Little did we know it had been parked at the "bus depot". Unfortunately they do not quite have the space and facilites that Koala does. Not sure if you can see the writing on the door saying "Bus Garage - No Parking". Possibly the grape vine on the awning above the doors means they also produce their own wine!! When will Koala get its act together and start producing wine?

Later today we are flying from Dubrovnik to Catania in Sicily. We will have one night there (as we fly in at 10:30pm tonight having gone via Rome) and will then head up to Taormina the following day. We will have one day there and then Sue will be joining us again for about 10 days during which time we will also visit Cefalu and then Positano. What fun we are having!!

We are also very excited as it is getting closer to when our kids arrive. We miss them lots and look forward to seeing them come off the plane in Rome.

Dubrovnik

As we approached on our Ferry into Dubrovnik harbour we had to skirt around 2 very big cruise ships. It was quite a sight in such a small harbour. We were however a little concerned as we could not see the walled city which is what all the pictures we had ever seen of Dubrovnik showed.

Undeterred we got straight into a taxi, showed the driver the address of the apartment we had rented, and off we went. He had then only driven about 500m when he asked if we had a phone number for someone at the place we were going to. He then called them to clarify was he to go to "upper" or "lower" of the street. He said it was a very long street. All was cleared up and we were dropped at our destination within 5 mins. The owner of the apartment said he would be waiting for us.

There he was waiting.. Nika, a very good looking young man of around 30 yrs old. He offered to take my bag and said... "we are just up here" pointing up some stairs. So up we headed. And up... and up.... we then asked how far to go... as all we could see were stairs going up and up the mountain above us. After what we now know is just over 100 steps up, Nika opened one of the gates leading off the path. (As there are many many gates off this pathway Mark noted it is "cactus 17" for the plant and hidden number). Mark on the stairs down the next morning.


We soon discovered our apartment was the attic of a 3 storey building that was Nika and his family living there as well as his 88 yr old grandmother (who walks the stairs easily). He showed us in and then out onto the terrace to get an idea of the lay of the land around us. Well to our absolute delight we have the most amazing, beautiful, stunning view of the Old City of Dubrovnik. As we cannot fit it all in one picture here are 3 to show how gorgeous it is.

This is one of Mark enjoying his morning coffee on the terrace. We have both the lounge and our bedroom with double glass doors onto the terrace. The kitchen and bathroom are ok but not as great as the rest of the place but the view more than makes up for the fact that the fridge is actually a small drinks fridge from a cafe, complete with FRUCTIS lit up on the front.

Once we got settled into the apt we were keen to get down into the old city to explore. WOW!!! is all we can say about this place. I literally had to stop Mark once and pick his jaw up for him... we have both been speechless on several occasions.

There are heaps of cafe´s and restaurants throughout the city. We took pot luck and ordered a much needed coffee. We chose this particular one as it is right down on the harbour and we would have a great view (there are no bad views here). Well well... being the coffee fusspot that I am.. damn if that wasn`t the best coffee we have had since we left home. Needless to say we have been back everyday for coffee and also had dinner there the first night.

Its so hard to describe this place. It is so lovely to see that there are still a very large population of locals living within the walls. As we stroll around we have come across such things as a high school complete with its own sports field, local fresh food market, tiny piazza with markings for the kids soccer field painted on the stone path and walls, many churches, we have heard dogs sniffing at doors from within a home on a narrow lane, tiny gardens that are about the size of 1 sqm. The extremely close confines that they live in is amazing. One of the great things we have noticed in Croatia (and have since seen a write up on) is that Croatia is fighting the influx of global "name" shops and food culture. So unlike Prague which was filled with McDonalds, Starbucks, KFC, Burger King, and endless designer label shops here there is still an element of local. It is so refreshing. What is caught and grow today is often what is available for dinner that night.
This is the view from the harbour looking up the hill to our apartment. Its hard to explain which is ours but basically we are smack bang in the middle of the photo.

A shot of the harbour from the timber drawbridge we have to cross to enter the city walls.
After a late lunch and a big walk up the hill last night we decided to stay in for dinner. A bottle of red and a few nibbles watching the sunset from our terrace.
There is a 2km walk you can do along the top of the wall of the city. It is a complete circuit and stunning is all I can say. In some places it is as narrow as 1.5 m and in others it opens up enough that they have set up little cafes you can stop for a drink. It was so hard to comprehend how they built such high walls on top of the existing rocks in the sea. Here are a few shots we took during our walk. You will note in one there is a cafe outside the wall. We sat there yesterday (25C) enjoying a beer listening to Dean Martin classics. It was very cruisy and relaxing.





That is it for now... this Internet cafe wants to close and is hassling us out....

xD

Budapest to Split

Early start on the next part of our travels..getting into a taxi at 5.00am to catch the 6.00am train to Zagreb which was about a 6 hour trip. Had my first experience of a border crossing, Dominique is an old hand at these now, train was stopped at Gyelenes (?) in CROATIA and we were paid a visit by the police, customs, immirgration checking passports, looking where we had travelled to before, opening our suitcases, etc.. and then the train conductor to check our tickets...they were all packing BIG guns to make me fell totally aware they meant business... only the train conductor was gun free although he looked like he should have had one. I remained very focused throughout these five minutes or so and I can honestly say they had my fullest attention!!!!!

We got off the train in Yagreb and from there were taking the bus to Split. Although we were only passing through Zagreb our first impressions were good and we were disappointed we were not staying in this city and explore it. Our bus to Split left in only an hour which was about another 5 hours away. So no free time to check out Zagreb. Eager as ever I enjoyed the bus trip. Here are a couple of pics to show you a little of the Croatian countryside. One taken from the bus as we were motoring along. The other Dominique took from a roadside cafe.
The country side was mountainous and rocky. Some mountains snow capped with valleys green and lush with plantings and lots of picture postcard little towns lined with man made stone walls which separeted the various fields.

As we arrived in Split we were at the top of the mountain range and looked down into the city below passing ancient aquaducts along the way and stopping at the harbour area which is a very busy area for boating, trains and buses all converging in the one area. On our arrival it was arranged that the owner of our apartment was going to meet us and take us to were we were staying..and yes he was there holding his DOMINIK sign...he was a great guy and as it has turned out a wonderful host who was doing everything he could to make our stay pleasant. Recommending things to do, places to eat that the locals go to, etc.

One restaurant he recommended we went to first night...and we would never have found it on our own...even with directions it was almost lost to us...see pic below of the path from the back of a small square (and up some stairs and around a corner) we had to take ... but worth it wine and food great...how unusual for us!!!!!! It was great atmosphere and otherwise only locals there as the general tourist would not see it whithout being told it was there.

Split has a very old town walled area...approximately 1700 years old and I found the age of things very hard to comprehend with one church so old that the heavy marble engraving had all but been worn out by the foot traffic over its life. The museum inside the church had items that were quite extradorinary like hymn books created in the 800-900,s made on a very fine leather paper with beautiful penmanship and gold leaf paintings on the pages, statues of saints which contained a small part of them. I think they called them relics.

The old town area was covered in old Roman type architecture which again the few pics here dont do it justice but none the less we walked and walked for hours and I think at one stage my mouth was wide open in amazement and I was shaking my head in disbelief and as I turned around I am sure the other tourists thought I must have been a bit simple.
This one is part of the main water front promenade.

We decided that dinner tonight was going to be the other restaurant that our host had recommended and as it was raining heavly I went up to his apartment above ours to ask his help in arranging for a taxi to take us...well he wouldnt hear of a taxi...he drove us to the restaurant and luckly he had because if we had walked as originally planned ...we would never have found it...never. Even if the taxi dropped us at the address we would not have found it...

What a night we had, great atmosphere, band, tables of people everywhere some singing.. food was tops..to mention the black and white mussels in white wine...sorry to say Richard and Mitchell..D and I reckon they are the best we have ever had. I would rub it in with a photo we took but it is a bit too dark. Wine fab and have now found out the the best white wines are produced in the top of Croatia and the red ones from the south of the country...I will test this out and report another time I am sure. The waiter was very helpful and as they did not have the lamb I ordered (it was to be oredered ahead for at least 4 people) he suggested I had the lamb cutlets. Picturing a couple of the neat little chops we get at home, I agreed.

All was going very well until my meal arrived...having ordered lamb chops... my side of lamb on a plate arrived...well D and I laughed and laughed at the size of this meal. Well after one bite there was no way any of it was going back to the kitchen it was too good...I can report all was eaten between us...PS not quite a side of lamb on a plate but close!!!!!

The rain stopped long enough for us to walk back to our apartment after dinner. We needed the stroll to move the food a bit!

During the night the rain really set in and our next morning was meet with heavy rain. So this forced us to slow down a bit and catch up with washing and reading... but as soon as it cleared we were out the door to enjoy our last afternoon in Split and we took the earlier advise and made our way up to the lookout area...the views from up here were stunning and we took it very easy and at one stage I stood watching as layers of clothing were removed by D (she remain decent though...) ...we left our apartment wearing our thermals...purely precautionary...it was quite cool and we didnt want to get cold.... by the time we got home the thermals were gone. This area of Split turned out to be the most beautiful scenery to be had and we enjoyed it too.

Here is a photo from the lookout and one of me (overlooking the harbour) at a cafe we stopped at for a coffee.

The next morning was unfortunately another very early start. We had to be at the harbour for our ferry to Dubrovnik by 6am. Luckily it wasnt raining which we were worried about. Here is a photo of our ship the Marco Polo.

The weather was very threatening though and this ship coming towards us in the half light was very surreal looking.

We stopped at a couple of Islands on our way to Dubrovnik. Hvar and Kornicula (?). They are both wine growing islands and the whole coast was as beautiful as the Whitsunday area and would really be great to do another sailing trip, this time along the Croatian coast. This pic is Kornicula.

Well thats about for now.

Time to go eat (yes, again) then explore Dubrovnik.

Bye for now,

Mark