The final days, the final installment

Gijon, an industrial coastal town on the north coast of Spain was our final port of call on the seeking summer mega holiday.  .

 Although there weren't too many signs of summer remaining there was just enough sunshine to enjoy a bit of time on the beach and some strolls around the town to find some good bars to enjoy the local speciality-cider. This speciality is all the more special because of the way it's poured-check out this YouTube clip to see what I mean.





After a short hop back to the UK (Yep, Spain one hour, London the next), we had some last minute family and farm time, soaking up the country atmosphere and enjoying the benefits of staying with family i.e. home cooked meals, unlimited access to a washing machine, amongst other things of course!

Taking a little stroll around the farm

We then spent our two final nights in the Motherland in London doing all last minute things needed to be done when moving countries including, but not limited to, drinks and shopping!

Lego!  (Except the small child)

Our final port of call before returning to Sydney was two nights in Hong Kong where we tired our fingers with constant use of chop sticks for tasty food and tired our legs with lots of exploring the streets, the markets and the islands.

 

 Here is the link to some more photos of our final days away

 

That's it for the Move to the Motherland-our year abroad has come and gone and we're now settling back into life in the land of Oz but watch this space for the next adventure...

Barcelona and the Basque Country

Barcelona 28^th-30^th August, 2012

We couldn’t visit Barcelona for a second time and not go to La Sagrada Familia.  Three years ago the queues were horrendous and the interior not complete but this time round we arrived early to avoid the queues (not entirely possible, we still waited for 30 minutes) but at least the interior had no scaffolding and at a glance, seemed complete.  Just to see the sheer enormity of Gaudi’s project close up was worth the wait.

A spot of shopping (Danielle empty handed, Julz, an entire new outfit) and some tasty tapas made for a well-rounded trip.

San Sebastian-Donosita 30th August-2^nd September 2012

We loved, loved, loved San Sebastian!  It rose above all expectations as a hectic tourist haven for English holiday makers and instead was a beautiful old city with a lovely, long promenade along a golden sandy beach, two great green headlands and countless little bars offering ‘pintxos’, the tapas like snacks for which the region is famous.

Not having perfect beach weather, we took the opportunity to hire some bikes and explore the area a bit more including one of the headlands.  We were a little too adventurous, choosing to ride up the hill of said headland rather than take the funicular-more than one rest break was necessary! 

We were also able to spend loads of time wandering the narrow lanes of the old town, crossing the river to admire the surf beach and enjoy gelato and explore the other headland and its castle ruins.

Vitoria-Gasteiz 2^nd-4^th September, 2012

Quaint, classy and quiet is how one might describe Vitoria-certainly our time here suited the description, especially arriving on a Sunday!

 We filled our days wandering the medieval town, admiring the restoration of the old city walls and of course, sampling more pintxos and local wines.

This turned out to be a great R & R spot with the relaxed pace of life in the provincial capital of the Basque country (not to mention European green capital 2012!)

Bilbao 4^th-6^th September, 2012

For the final stop in our Basque country tour we hit the big one, Bilbao.

Its prized possession, the Guggenheim Museum was at the top of our list and took up the bulk of our time in Bilbao.  The galleries and their contents were interesting but the structure itself was most impressive!

The obligatory wander of the old town provided some picture postcard moments as well as some more opportunities for pintxos and the trip up the funicular to a hilltop location gave us a chance to see just how big the city is.

 

Here are some more photos of these parts of Spain.

Some snippets of southern France

After three weeks in Italy we sadly said ‘ciao’, catching the train into France.  Changing trains at the border was easy; switching into yet another language was a bit trickier!

Nights in Nice

24th-26th August, 2012

Nice turned out to be nicer than expected; it had a cute little old town which we roamed a couple of times finding some great little cafes, a bustling market and some pretty squares.  There were also the ruins of a castle on hill set in some attractive gardens complete with waterfall and views down the entire Promenade de Anglais.

We just so happened to be in town on the night of the Prom’ Party where the whole promenade was closed to traffic and featured five or so stages, with bands playing a variety of music, spread along the length of the street entertaining the crowds.

 

A day In Marseille

26th-27th August, 2012

It was just a short stop in the second largest city in France.  On the to do list was the old port and a couple of churches and parks but we only made it as far as the old port where we proceeded to jump on a boat and head to Isle d’If, spending the morning wandering the small but famous island where the story of the Count of Monte Christo was set.  A quick hop over to Isle Frioul for lunch and then we were fare welling Marseille.

Atop the Chateau de'If

Looking back to Marseille
 

A moment in Montpellier
27th-28th August, 2012

An even shorter stay in Montpellier meant we regretfully had even less time to explore this quaint little city.  We managed dinner and a sunset stroll but the little time we had the next morning before leaving was hampered by rain L  Next time…

 

Here are some more photos of our short trip through France

The Cinque Terre



17th-23rd August, 2012

Looking down to Corniglia

Over the course of five or so days in this beautiful part of the Italian Riviera we managed to see all five villages which make up the Cinque Terre as well as a couple of the sanctuaries tucked up in the hills.








Looking along part of the Via del'Amore

Swim stop

The short walk from Riomaggiore to Manarola along the cliffside ‘Via Del’Amore’, was our easy introduction into walking the region. Although, doing it in the hot sun necessitated the dip in the lagoon like waters after wandering the village.

 We thought we should explore the surrounding national park a little so we trekked up many steps and along windy terraces to complete a number of walks to sanctuaries; religious retreats, high up above the villages.  Each sanctuary walk was generally a hefty 2.5-3km solid, up hill trek.

 

We couldn’t stay in the Cinque Terre and not attempt the Sentiero Azzurro-the walk which links all five villages.  The fact that a landslide had wiped out a big chunk of path between Manarola and Corniglia wasn’t a deterrent-we just took the 2 hour detour up into the hinterland!  With just a few quick stops we managed to complete the walk in just less than 6 hours.

Pausing to enjoy the view and catch our breath-we were almost at our destination!

 

For a few more photos of this beautiful part of Italy, click here

 

 

 

 

 

Tales from the cities of Romance

David & the Dome-Florence 9^th-12^th August

A bit of art, a bit of architecture, some markets, shops, cafes and wine bars, hilltop views and high up vistas-in our few days here we sampled it all.

The tourists and the heat made daytime in this old city a challenge but there’s nothing like an early start to beat the rush and enjoy the sights.  We did just this to avoid the long queues for the Galleria dell’Accademia and managed to get an unobstructed view of Michelangelo’s David (although it is so massive it would be hard to obstruct!)

Again, the early-bird-ness in us meant we didn’t have to line up too long before being able to trudge the 400-odd steps up to the top of the dome in the immense Duomo for some great views of the city.

 

The most magical of views though, was from the Piazzale Michalangelo at sunset.  Seeing the gorgeous colouring spread over Tuscany and Florence itself was a brilliant reward for the trek up the steep hill!

Venice-12^th-15^th August

By day or by night, Venice was impressive.  The labyrinth of canals and laneways, the leaning buildings, piazzas and churches round every corner and fact that the Venice was built up out of the waters was just extraordinary!

We did our fair share of wandering, making it to the Basilica di San Marco and joining the long queue for, surprisingly, not such a long wait to stare in awe at the gold mosaics covering the interior.

Palazzo Ducale was also crossed off the list.  We were able to mosey through many of the old palace rooms and most notably across the Bridge of Sighs and into the old prisons.

Our time was spent with a little island hopping too, making it to Lido for some beach time, the island of San Giorgio Maggiore for some vistas atop the bell tower and Murano for some pretty glass goods.

To add in a little refinement to our Summer trip we spent our last evening in a church listening to a small string octet play some Vivaldi and glorious bits of classical music

Fair Verona 15^th – 17^th August

This was probably our favourite of the trio of romantic Italian cities-easy to get about, not half the amount of tourists, some great sights to see and a lovely small town feel.

We got our money’s worth from the Verona Card, squeezing in six monuments and two churches over the space of a day and a half!

View from Castelvecchio

Roman themed monuments:

The Roman Theatre

The Roman Arena

Tower themed monuments:

Juliet's balcony

At the top of Torre dei Lamberti

Churches:

For some more photos of each of these romantic Italian cities follow the links:



Florence

Venice

Verona

 

Glorious Positano

It was with fond memories of romance and unforgettable scenery that we returned to the Amalfi coast three years after our honeymoon.  This time we weren’t trekking from village to village along overgrown cliffside goat tracks on scorching hot summer days, but rather, lazing about and filling in the gaps with things we had missed or not had time for the first time round.

The trip down held less surprises than the first.  We knew to expect the tedious 30 plus stops on the non-air-conditioned Circumversuviana train from Naples to Sorrento as well as the mostly frightening bus ride from Sorrento along the tight curves of the coast road where you find yourself looking either into oncoming traffic, rocky cliff faces or an endless drop to the ocean!  So it was still a relief to have the journey done with and safely settled into our hotel in Positano, our home for five nights.

We had two active days, venturing out of Positano and two more gloriously lazy days just lying on the beach.

A diddy little bus took us up the narrow, windy roads above Positano to a hamlet village by the name of Montepertuso.  A place well known for a hole in the rock above the village believed to have been created when Mary cast the devil away from the area.  We were lulled into a false sense of security by a sign board saying it was only a 400m/15min walk to reach the hole and decided that that was an easy, manageable walk.  Hot, sweaty and thoroughly out of breath we should have twigged that it was an uphill, steps only climb, to reach the point of interest!  None the less, we were glad we did it as it was the only walk we didn’t do on the walking tour three years ago.

Looking down to Positano from Montepertuso

The Villa Rufolo, a 13^thCentury home to a few important people with its magnificent gardens was our other ‘active’ excursion.  We braved the buses once again to head to Ravello where this Villa is situated.  It was easy to see why this is the star attraction of the town, the gardens were immaculate and the views were breath-taking!

To avoid the crowded main beach in Positano we made the small walk along the cliff side path to Spiaggia del Fornillo, where we enjoyed a day of dips in the sea alternating with lounging on the sunbeds (under an umbrella of course!).

On our second beach day we took the boat with the red fish, as recommended by a number of fellow travellers, to an even smaller and less crowded beach (Spiaggia Laurito) to do much of the same!  

There are some more photos of Positano if you follow this link