Mahara's blog

 Two Cities, Two Countries:  Ireland, Amsterdam, Belgium and Berlin

Last Man Standing – by Ken

From our earlier Jordan tour we met some wonderful people, and five of us planned to get together for a weekend in Dublin and Amsterdam.  The night before our scheduled departure Mahara’s purse was stolen so she had to cancel and go to Rome for a new passport. So off I went to meet our dear friend Ronan, the lovely Keira and her wonderful partner John, with the Irish brogue which I can’t understand because he speaks so quickly.  But Keira was suddenly sick and spent two weeks in the hospital convalescing, which meant that she and John were unable to meet us in Dublin.   I arrived in Dublin, sans spouse. Ronan, God bless him, unfortunately missed his Friday evening flight.  There I was, our planned get together of the five of us in Dublin, the last man standing.

Ronan’s dad Dudley stepped into the breach. He bought me a wonderful lunch and invited me to stay at the family home until Ronan arrived. I was treated to homey evening and delicious dinner with Ronan’s parents and Ronan’s bed to sleep in.  The next morning, Dudley gave me an extensive walking tour of Dublin, including Dublin University. After seeing James Joyce statue in Trieste, it was great to visit the poet’s pub walk. The next stop was the cemetery, where Dudley showed his extensive knowledge of many of the permanent cemetery residents. He pointed along the way to this one that was hanged, and three more over there that were hanged and to the graves of some of the famous early Irish leaders. Dudley then drove us around Dublin Bay, showed me more neighbourhoods and explained the history of Dublin.  If Dudley ever wanted a change of career from law, he could be an excellent Dublin historian.  After this wonderfully enlightening journey through Dublin, Ronan finally arrived and shortly after we embarked on our driving tour of Ireland.

We made new arrangement to meet Keira and John at their home in Kilkenny. On our drive there we toured and saw many castles, gardens, cemeteries and ruins, all of great historic significance. The endless beautiful shades of green as we drove through the countryside were exceptional.  Each village that we traveled through was picture-postcard beautiful, with nary a rough area to be seen. We travelled through four counties and saw many villages along the way.

At last we reached Kilkenny – I’m not keen on the name - and met up with Keira and John. We enjoyed a fabulous meal and, of course, in the best Irish tradition, a night at the pub. It seems that the pub is the centre of social life in Ireland and consequently we enjoyed it until late in the morning when we stumbled off to bed. After a wonderful time in Kilkenny, Ronan and I headed back to Dublin where we picked up a flight to Amsterdam, where we met us with Mahara. In the end it worked out well, as four of the five of us met.

Amsterdam

I took a train from Rome to Paris to Amsterdam after I procured my new white-covered temporary passport. I saw much of the flat countryside on the ride up from Paris, including some windmills and lots of dykes.  Ronan and Ken greeted me and so our Dutch adventure began. We stayed for several days in Ronan’s years-old but newly renovated apartment.

Amsterdam is built in a horseshoe pattern with Central Station in the centre. Because of the 100 kilometers of canals throughout the city there are 200 kilometers of waterfront property, hundreds of small bridges and who knows how many small boats, including houseboats.  Instead of the two-day hop-on, hop-off bus we used in Rome and Berlin, we used the hop-on, hop-off canal boats. We plied various canals several times, and so did our sightseeing by boat as well as on foot. We walked through their lovely park and even spent an hour in the red light district.  Women stand in picture windows with red fluorescent lights when they are available and turn off the light and pull the blinds when they have a customer.

Because we stayed with Ronan we saw Amsterdam differently as we lived as he did, shopped at local markets, and explored the city from a residential neighbourhood base. The restaurants are excellent and I’m sure that if we were residents it would be possible to live here reasonably well. 

Ronan hosted by any account a very wild party that went on all night; filled with the tallest people I’ve ever met en-masse.   Many, many women are six feet or six-feet two and the men are often six-foot six. The Dutch speak English very well so our only problem was that we had to look up all the time.  Many of his friends were from other countries; Norway, South Africa, and America and along with the Dutch it was interesting to hear what they were doing and what brought them to Amsterdam. We also spent a lovely evening with Maarten and his American partner Amy in their small but very elegant home. We gained a sense of what it would be like to live with less space on a permanent basis.

What we loved about Amsterdam is the quiet sound of thousands of bicycles moving through the city; sure there are cars but there is much less noise pollution than in a comparably-sized city of one million people. It feels like a city of small neighbourhoods rather than a noisy metropolis. The canals and streets are lined with centuries- old tall Dutch buildings with different gables and huge hooks or hoists at the tops of buildings for lowering and raising furniture in and out. I’ve never seen such steep stairs.

We loved the Van Gogh Museum which has the world’s largest collection 200 or so of Vincent’s works, and the exhibition went through the various stages of his artistic life. Fabulous.  We’ve experienced lots of synchronicity now – we were in Arles where Van Gogh painted the countryside and two weeks later saw the paintings in the Amsterdam exhibit.

The Rijksmuseum is housed in a huge mansion; a lovely interior space with high ceilings and lots of natural light. This museum had lots of Rembrandts and a few paintings by Vermeer. It focused not only on art but the history of this seafaring and shipping nation during its Golden Age in the 17^th century.   A picture of the city of Olinda, Brazil which we visited last year clearly demonstrated how wide an area was controlled by the Dutch in past centuries.

Belgium

 We rented a car for our drive to Belgium and so began our three day trip through the Dutch and Belgium countryside.  The road system is excellent and the flat countryside pretty, with many people biking the famous dykes. Our first stop was Bruges and it is indeed a fabulous medieval city, with a wonderful Markt, or town centre, picturesque views around every turn and horse-drawn carriages everywhere. We wandered the winding streets by the canals, looked at the famous Belgium lace and tested the chocolates.  We had a lovely evening there.  Unfortunately we didn’t get to see our pictures as we downloaded them that morning to our computer and we were carjacked as we drove into Brussels from Bruges.  They are gone forever.

What happened is as we drove into the city, a guy on a motorbike motioned that we had a flat. This didn’t make sense as it was a new car and I hadn’t noticed a rough ride.  However, we pulled over and sure enough, our tire was going down.  What we didn’t suspect is that he had punctured it. Someone quickly came over and after a few seconds, left and came back with a spray can of foam which temporarily fills the tire. We opened the trunk for him to check about the spare tire, or so we thought, and unbeknownst to us while we were crouching and focusing on getting the nozzle into the tiny tire valve he and his motorbike partner lifted three of our knapsacks.

We realized it almost immediately but by then they were gone. The police took almost an hour to come. People laughed and pointed at the sight of four police officers changing our tire. The police checked the nearby buildings where we thought the crooks had gone. They said these were immigrant gangs who targeted tourists and gave us some insights into how these gangs operated. Instead of touring Brussels, we spent seven hours at the police station, giving our deposition, looking at mug shorts and on-screen footage of just-that-afternoon stolen bags, and using the dispatch-room phones (credit card auto insurance doesn’t cover belongings). Unlike our Italian Police experience, we were extremely well treated by the Belgium police, mainly Tonny and his gorgeous young partner, who showed us pictures of his Canadian honeymoon and grizzly bears. They led us to the car rental agency and negotiated a new vehicle for us. They also booked a hotel room and had us follow them there in our new vehicle. Although the police were most kind and helpful, it was an extremely stressful experience.  

Unfortunately, we lost a lot, including our computer, binoculars, camera and long lens, MP3 and earphones plus many other things. The one thing that saved us was that I had a back-up hard drive of all our pictures and music in another bag they didn’t get.  Otherwise we would have lost a year’s worth of pictures.

We were somewhat sobered for our next day’s visit of Brussels main area, where we replaced some essentials and toured their amazing Markt a bit.  Brussels is an art-deco hot-spot and I would have liked to have seen more of the town but by then we basically wanted to get out of there.  We also missed visiting Luxemburg as we lost a day. We high-tailed it back to Amsterdam and made it in about three hours, dropped off our car and bunked in again with Ronan, whose hospitality was much appreciated.

Berlin

We left the next day for Berlin by train. Rest assured that the Dutch-German train system is quick efficient and on time. We arrived at the exact time and checked into a sleek modern hotel. Berlin is fantastic.   It is situated on the well-used River Spree and is large geographically – an 800 square kilometer area.  The massive Tiergarten Park is within the city, and was originally a hunting ground for boar and deer in the 16^th century, and then redesigned in the 19^th century as a city park.

We had a fascinating five days there. I remember the euphoria I experienced when the wall came down twenty years ago. Because of its important role in the last century, Berlin is a part of many people’s consciousness. For example there are lots of organized walks available, such as 3rd Reich Berlin, or Cold War Berlin, showing the Stasi and KGB versus CIA and M16, which a spy-novel reader would find fascinating. We bought the two-day hop-on, hop-off open bus and initially just rode the two hour route through East and West Berlin.

Berlin is built on a grand scale, with wide boulevards, large streets and massive buildings.  Because it has been the capital city since 1991, there are many national government buildings as well.   While much of the city was bombed, there are still plenty of gracious old buildings in the western part and the old eastern part has experienced a building boom of modern world-class architectural gems. Alexanderplatz is the heart of East Berlin. We went past a small section that remains of the 160K long Berlin wall, where 125 people were killed trying to escape and the site of the now destroyed Nazi headquarters. We stopped at Checkpoint Charlie, the point of many tragic escape attempts and saw the Brandenburg Gates, where we saw photos of those who attempted escape.

We went to a modern exhibit, The Story of Berlin which traced its 800 year history, book burnings, and the construction of the Berlin Wall. It included a visit to an original 1970’s nuclear bomb shelter from the cold war; it’s situated beneath the Kurfurstendam, a main shopping area. Thirty-six hundred people could live there for two weeks, warehoused in rows, each with four narrow cots that reached to the ceiling. There was blue ultraviolet light and barely enough air circulation.

Berlin is definitely a tourist city in summer, with all the important sites crowded and outdoor cafés everywhere. One of our stops was at a weekend flea market in the park, but it felt more like an antique fair, with high quality china, silver, crystal, paintings and other goods for sale. Where a small 500 to 600 square foot apartment costs around 250,000 Euros in Amsterdam it costs less than 100,000 Euros in Berlin. We went also to an Erotica Museum, shopped and generally enjoyed the city. With the distinctive German palate, the food was truly phenomenal, starting with delicious breakfasts, right through to some wonderful dinners; they know how to cook. We found that most things we experienced were excellent; simple things such as having a meal; everything was done “properly” including good quality cutlery and tablecloths. We appreciated window shopping and the high-quality German goods.

We left Berlin on a sunny day and flew to Madrid, with a five hour stopover in Stuttgart. We will return to Europe and explore these countries further. Europe has so much to offer; history, beauty, amazing art, unique food and a great way of life.

Mahara

Morocco is a country of amazing contrasts, friendly people and fabulous design. We´ve done G.A.P. tours when we´ve felt the countries might be too “difficult” to navigate independently and our fourth one this year was in Morocco.
We arrived in Casablanca, the major commercial city of Morocco, a couple of days before the tour.We explored the Corniche or waterfront with its nightclubs,  a few higher-end restaurants and hotels, and their Medina, which is small and unmemorable. With the group we saw the huge newer-built Hassan II Mosque, exquisite in its design and workmanship. It holds 25,000 people inside and 80,000 people on the grounds. Unlike other countries, this is the only Moroccan mosque open to non-Muslims. We found Casa, as the locals call it, a great town, busy and noisy with friendly people, although it lacks major tourist attractions. We didn’t find Rick’s Cafe Amercain.
 
Our G.A.P. tour group included a variety of people from Australia, the U.S, Ireland and Canada. Six of us were educators, and the rest were the usual GAP profile – primarily highly educated professionals who loved traveling. One difference is that many in our group had been or were going to various parts of Africa, and we enjoyed learning more about that.
 
After Casablanca we drove north along the Atlantic Ocean to Rabat. Rabat is the administrative capital of Morocco and about 60% of the people are government employees. We toured the Royal Palace grounds and a Mohamed V mausoleum grounds where mosque foundations were laid several centuries ago, but not built. We walked with our guide through the blue and white walled Oudayas Kasbah or Casbah, which was built by the Andalusian Moors, expelled by Spain centuries before. After being in Spain and seeing where the Moors were expelled from, it was interesting to see where they went. The local beaches of both Reyat and Sale, pronounced Sal-lay, were full on people playing in the summer sun.
 
Our drive up the coast was through quite green countryside with wheat, barley, and grape crops and lots of sheep-grazing. Moroccan roads are generally good. We pushed on to Meknes for the night.
 
I´ll never forget the Meknes Medina, where sitting on the counter were decapitated cow heads with their tongues hanging out.There were mounds of orange and saffron spices, delicious looking sweets, unfortunately swarming with bees, Berber carpets, brightly coloured shoes, clothes and anything else you might imagine. The smells invaded our senses.
 
We moved on from Meknes to a tour of the Volubilis ruins, the southernmost Roman ruins in existence. Unfortunately, except for a few well-preserved mosaics, the site is not in good shape. However, our tour guide explained things well and injected some humour. We headed on to our five-star Fes hotel with two pools, which we appreciated, not knowing what lay ahead – the unforgiving Saharan sun.
 
Fes is another important Imperial city, this one the spiritual and cultural capital. Fes el-Jdid, the old Jewish quarters have balconies facing outwards and were built close to the palace grounds when these intellectuals were expelled from Spain after 1492. Apparently hundreds of thousands of Jewish people left when the Israel was created in 1949 with more leaving in 1956. We definitely needed our guide that day as the Medina is a massive UNESCO world heritage site. There may be tourists yet wandering forever in the maze of alleys. Through the maze of Fes el-Bali we stopped at beautiful mosques, elegant old palaces, and a medersa, a Muslim theological college.  Mostly though, we saw the hodgepodge that is Medina life: mostly humble homes, shops, donkeys, cats, all sorts of food, beads, bangles, clothes, leather goods and, of course, the people who live there.   Our guide took us also to some production shops.
 
At the tannery we looked down upon dozens of outdoor dye-vats of red, brown, blue and yellow. The leather skins dried in the sun as they would have in centuries past. We were handed mint sprigs for the smell. At the ceramic pottery and tile shop we observed how truckloads of grey earth were mixed with water and broken down into clay. We saw ancient, mind-numbing tile-making processes and other workers creating and painting complex designs on handmade plates and vases or breaking the pottery into tiles for mosaic tables.
 
Morocco also makes a type of “silk”, and at this shop several of us played “dress-up” with elegant caftans, which Moroccans wear regularly.   We visited a metal-making shop, selling brass, bronze and silver made into huge lamps, mirrors, as well as urns, frames etc. Much of their goods are drop-dead gorgeous.
 
 
Our eight hours at the medina as well as the heat left us slowly gliding through the rest of the evening. The usual G.A.P. tourist dinner and show was in a beautiful space, but noisy as we were no more than five feet from the band. The vegetarian main course was prunes! We saw some belly-dancing, other folkloric dances, swayed and clapped to the music and had a few laughs.
 
After Fes we started our all-day drive to the Middle Atlas mountains through the dry countryside to arrive finally at Merzouga in the Sahara Desert. Many of the small towns are a bit of a blur for me because they are so alike – clay square buildings along dusty roads, with few people walking around in the unbearable heat.
 
Our two-day stay at the Sahara Auberge seemed to be mainly in the swimming pool, which was crowded morning, noon and night. The small-windowed rooms were unbearable as the straw and mud walls exuded heat like an oven. It was probably over 50 degrees and our guide said it rose to 56 in August.   El Husiane recommended we sleep outdoors on thin mattresses on the roof. So, we did, and the other guests slept all over the place as well: by the pool, in the courtyard area – anywhere but inside. It was strange to see probably fifty people sleeping outside. We awoke at dawn for a magical experience of the sun slowly rising through the palm trees in the desert.
 
On the first evening we had a great time playing rhythm with metal “castanets” and drums. For the second night, most of us, except Ken, who said one camel ride in life is enough, headed into the Sahara desert for an overnight stay at a Berber nomad tent. We experienced a rain-storm on our camel ride there – cold and strong, but short-lived and it transformed the desert into bolder colours. However three of us, well, if truth be told, the oldest of the group, headed back at the halfway point. After two hours I was more-than-ready to stop; the next day others much younger said it was their first and final camel ride. We have ridden camels three times in the past six months, and this time was most difficult, primarily because the sand was soft and deep and each step flexed my mid-section.
 
After Merzouga we drove for most of the day. We visited Tineghir for a walk through a palm grove and some agricultural fields. Our guide explained that many of Tineghir's locals work overseas and send money home. In fact, I asked several of the local guides and all confirmed that Morocco's main income comes from tourism,  foreign remittances from workers abroad, and agriculture.
 
We stopped at the beautiful Todgha Gorges for the night. These fantastic sheer red cliffs and mountain streams make this a popular local rock-climbing and day-trip area. The next day we traveled for several hours through spectacular scenery through the Dades Gorges along the romantic-sounding Route of a 1000 Kasbahs to Ouarzazate. The UNESCO heritage Kasbah, a former Foreign Legion site, is pretty interesting and offers a panaramic view of the area. The word Kasbah mean fortification and most town had four or five kasbahs where people could go if needed. Some of us took a tajine cooking class and again we had tajine for dinner. I found the interior design of this little auberge quite lovely; ceilings painted red, rounded doors, and charmingly designed rooms.
 
We set off again this time to the High Atlas Mountains to a small and busy town, Imlil, and then on up to Arend where we stayed for the night – this time four in a room with about three to four inches between each bed, and shared washroom facilities. We walked the mountain area, enjoyed the very rustic surroundings, and had a fun night, with some of us playing scrabble and others smoking the sheesha. The people here are extremely hard-working and appeared to be very poor; we saw one women carrying a huge bundle of sticks on her back.  In contrast to the desert towns, these high mountain towns are busy with lots of people about.
 
Essaouira, a beach town, was a welcome change from the High Atlas Mountains and the desert. The sea winds cooled us down a bit and we our first seafood meal was probably the best meal of the trip. We saw the Portuguese Fortifications and Barcelona-made cannons. The medina was small enough that shopping was easy and getting lost not a problem. We didn’t swim although the beaches were full of vacationers. We enjoyed our group meals there and a chance to get laundry done and stay in one place for two nights. After our usual stop at the MarJane grocery store for lunch, liquor and other supplies we arrived at our final destination, Marakkesh.
 
I loved the morning tour of Marakkesh, the Jardin Marjorelle is beautifully designed and peaceful and the Bahia Palace is very interesting. What I noticed about Moroccean design, is that, for example, in this palace all the interior decorations are painted in splendid colours, while in many of the other Arab countries the design is beautiful but the singular colour doesn´t make it as outstanding.
 
The Marakkesh market was overblown in my opinion. It was unbearably hot and the men kept calling to us as we walked by and if we stopped they often touched my arms. Men in Canada or other countries wouldn´t even consider doing that to an unknown woman. There were snake charmers, monkeys on chains and other shows on display, but we didn´t enjoy it much. The Essoairra medina was best for me because of its size and cooler temperatures.
We stayed at a lovely hotel with a wonderful pool and had a fun last night out on the town, and then rather suddenly, as it always seems, it was time to go. A few of us left a day before the actual tour ended, and we said our goodbyes and headed off to Marseille.
 
Our G.A.P. tour took us over 2,100 kilometres, up mountains and down to the sea. We visited the four imperial cities and passed by dozens of small towns. Some of the Morocco's scenery is spectacular especially the panoramic views from the High Atlas mountains with the lush valleys below dotted with date palms. Besides the imperial palaces however, and amazingly beautiful interior design sense, the exteriors of most buildings are non-descript and unmemorable.
 
The food was not great. Almost every lunch and dinner was the same - tajine – a vegetable and meat stew, but for the vegetarians, basically potatoes and carrots with a bit of onions. Couscous was only available on Friday. Our Moroccan family couscous meal was delicious, complete with Moroccan “whisky” Tea Minte, and we had a couple of good meals,but basically by the end almost all of us didn´t want to hear the word ¨tajine¨ again.
 
Morocco is a liberal Muslim country. Women are part of the parliament, are educated and choose their dress coverage, although it is quite selective freedom, e.g. women aren´t allowed at funerals because they scream too much and  a woman couldn´t be the ruling monarch. From what we saw Moroccans are poor, but not starving. We saw few beggars, but instead people actively engaged in making their livings. Liquor is available in supermarkets, although one glass of wine had me decide not to drink for the two weeks. Moroccans are very friendly people – eager to communicate with us and lots of fun. Moroccans speak Berber in three dialects, Arabic, French and Spanish. Ken was thrilled to buy a phrase book and refresh his high-school French. We’ve travelled so much that in every country it takes us a few days to switch from the last language – in this case Spanish, to French.
 
The blazing sun reminded us why it’s best to explore desert countries in the spring or fall. Unfortunately it was a challenge for many in the group; I think many of us had heat dehydration. We needed a thermometer that went over 120 F or 50 C.
 
We left Morocco with lots of wonderful memories, new friends and an great appreciation of this amazing North African country.

 

Hi

I'm writing this from Amsterdam, where we’ve been staying with our friend Ronan for the past five days.  I’m a bit behind on our stories, and will send our tales of Morocco, Spain and France soon. We are nearing the end of our journey and will be flying back to Ecuador on August 20^th and back to Vancouver September 15^th for a month.

We’ve had lots of offers of places to stay, but are still looking for a self contained place where we can do a bit of cooking, etc.  However we haven’t said no to anyone.  If anyone hears of a housesitting or sublet situation, please let us know.

Italy

We dipped in and out of Italy: to Rome before our cruise, Naples and Venice after the cruise, and then went by train to Ancona, Trieste, Verona, and Milan from three different directions, Nice, Verona and Rome. We also visited Monaco, not part of Italy, on our cruise.

Roma Our five days in Rome were full. Rome was overwhelming in many ways – from the wild traffic and winding streets to our first impressions of the sculptures and ruins as we inched by. Our two-day hop-on hop-off pass was excellent simply because there is so much to see.  On our first day we saw the coliseum, which seats 10,000, the Arch of Constantine, a Michelangelo statue within a church, the Spanish Steps, Medici Palace and several beautiful piazzas. There are hundreds of old buildings in Rome, beautifully built with style and elegance. That’s what made it impressive to me – not just a few beautiful buildings but a city built with grace. Rome is a lovely walking city and is surprisingly green. We spent a fair bit of time just strolling along the streets.

On our second day, labour disruptions spoiled our Vatican sight-seeing plans -this is Italy of course. The next day we started early and saw the impressive St. Peter’s Cathedral or Basilica with little hassle. Unfortunately, this meant the following stop, the Vatican Museums and the Sistine Chapel, had incredibly long lines. It was fascinating but unfortunately a bit of a cattle-herd experience. With probably one thousand people in the noisy and crowded Chapel, we had to keep moving. Apparently Rome is overrun with tourists at all times of the year and the summer becomes even more hectic. All-in-all, though, were happy to have seen Michelangelo’s famous fingers.

Wandering through the streets revealed many of the important areas: the Pantheon, Via del Corso, many charming little piazzas, or squares, statues, and of course dozens of churches, or chiesas. At the Piazza Venezia, Campdoglio the white-marbled Venezia Palace with its dozens of statues and massive size is one of the most impressive areas I’ve seen. At the Capitolini Museums nearby we had excellent view of the Roman Forum, Trajan’s Column and Trajan’s Markets, Circo Massimo, and Piazzas Barberini and Republica, and the giant Theatre of Marcello. We also saw the crowded Trevi Fountain, made famous by ”Three Coins in the Fountain” and some Fellini movies. We became accustomed to dozens of priests and nuns going about their business.

We saw two art exhibits. Funnily enough, an excellent Hiroshige Wood Block Exhibition was in town, at the Fondazione Roma Museo, part of a 6,000 piece collection donated to the Honolulu Academy of Arts by the late James Michener. It was a peaceful experience with gentle Japanese music playing – such a contrast to the busy streets. We also saw a Giottio e il Trecento exhibition at Complesso del Vittoriano, which  holds important works from this early 14^th century Italian artist. It was worthwhile, although after seeing literally hundreds of painting of Christ and Mary and Jesus, I have diminishing interest in religious art. Most churches have statues, not pictures. We were in Rome for five days before we took the train to the Civitavecchia Port to begin our twelve day cruise.

Our next stop was Monaco is a sunny little Principality on the Mediterranean coast. This sovereign state is less than a square mile in size one and the playground of the rich. Because of the Grand Prix de Monaco, the city had temporarily blocked the waterfront roads with bleachers. Once we found our way in, we had a fascinating day. This was my introduction to the French Riviera. We toured the Royal Palace and saw the changing of the guards. The Grimaldi family has a long history as rulers, and of particular interest to many is the love-story romance of Prince Rainier and Princess Grace. We saw the palace room where they married and their tombs in the St. Nicholas Cathedral. It’s the first time I’ve seen a throne in a palace. The Grand Casino can only be described as grand, and on display an excellent Daphne du Barry sculpture exhibition. Monaco is impressive –fabulous views, elegant old buildings, charming small shops and restaurants along winding streets, and multi-million euro yachts in the harbour.  We saw most of the attractions in one day, before moving on to Naples.

Napoli Our day in Naples began by nearly getting arrested, because we didn’t know Naples busses require tickets, not Euros. We attempted to pay, but couldn’t, and while in the process of figuring out what to do, the badge-flashing Transit Police started writing us a 57Euros fine – each. Other passengers talked loudly and gestulated that we jump off at the next stop, so we did. We assumed we’d be pursued and walked very quickly into the crowd, but– ha-ha – we escaped.

What a start– but we loved Naples, in spite of its grittiness, edginess and noise.  Of course it has the reputation of being a tough, Mafia controlled city, but turistas don’t see that. The traffic is fast and erratic, and we adapted quickly. We got around by using our Lonely Planet guide and by simply noting the swarms of tourists on the cruise ships walking tours. We explored old Napoli –the tiny streets, the Largo Castello and Piazza Municipio, and the agoras started by the Greeks.  In contrast to Rome, only about 15% of the churches are open. Naples churches are large, but more sombre-looking and plainer than most Catholic churches we’ve seen. We found ourselves near Piazza Bellini, which has numerous music bookstores and instrument shops and where University music students filled the streets with music.

We toured the National Archaeological Museum, one of the best of dozens we’ve seen over the past few months, displaying several hundred statues representing the many gods and noble people of the time. Many statues were huge - twenty feet high and others told stories- gods wrestling animals for example. In the Pompeii exhibit were portions of decorated walls, frescos, painting and statues from their elegant homes, which model the sophistication and style of the day; a snapshot of how advanced this civilization was centuries ago. In retrospect we wish we did the day tour to Pompeii. Others on the cruise visited Capri, the Amalfi Coast, Positano, and Sorrento.

Venezia We cruised into Venice by sea and I must say the experience was memorable – sailing into the heart of this historic elegant city. We debarked the next morning and with the usual packing, collecting-the-luggaging, standing–in-lining, shuttle-bussing, and trudging, the morning was gone.  Our lovely very large bed-and-breakfast-without-the-breakfast accommodation room had a fold-up kitchen the size of a large wardrobe. The private garden was the prize – a large 200 square foot high-walled patio covered with in-bloom pink and red oleander trees and a massive white jasmine wall; pots of yellow pansies and yellow marigolds were everywhere. I kept my suitcases locked there, as the owner had towels and other goods swiped from various hotels around the world. Venice is wonderfully quiet because it has no cars, only Vaporettos, - small ferries, and boats.

Although only 70,000 people live in Venice proper, our b-and-b agent Christian told us it receives a whopping 21 million visitors a year. He described St. Marks’s Square as “hell” -wall-to-wall people except at midnight or seven am. He warned us of the 2,000 Euros fine for counterfeit purses purchases from African street sellers. When the police give chase they pack up, run, and knock over tourists in their path.  Sure enough a Quebec woman from the cruise ship was arrested for buying a purse. As well, young Roma boys are notorious pickpockets and these under-aged kids, can’t be charged. Well-warned, we ventured out.

Venice was originally a delta and the Grand Canal was one of the larger streams. It sits below sea level and there are 188 islands and 400 little bridges, mostly walking paths. Venice is a food-lover’s paradise. We stopped at window after window to examine the lovely cheeses and meats, and bought groceries for simple breakfasts and snacks. At local shops, a bottle of vino from a large vat costs two Euros. Venice shops feature lots of Murano glass and delicate masks, which represent the past when people loved to mingle anonymously

We were at Piazza San Marco twice and never made it inside the Basilica – the lines were just too huge. Saint Mark’s Square was busy, but we had a drink and enjoyed some live music.  Unfortunately right now much of the square is cut off because of construction. The winged lion of St. Mark, the Evangelist graces the square and is a beautiful symbol of Venice.

The Doge’s Palace is most interesting for a couple of reasons. First it showed the Venetian government structure and the power the church and wealthy noblemen had over life and death. We toured the prison, led to by the Bridge of Sighs, so named because that’s what prisoners did as they were led off. Most unusual are the interior walls of the palace. Many had magnificent frescos and murals while others had amazingly intricate plaster decoration. Many of the pictures were “framed” by the specially-built plaster walls. The room sizes are apparently some of the largest in Europe. Our long hunt for the Peggy Guggenheim Museum was to no avail – it was shut due to “power outages”, and the nearby Musei Di Accademe was a bit boring – a few Bernini’s and besides that more religious art. Sorry to leave, we took a three-hour train ride the next day to Ancona, and the ferry to Croatia. We picked up Italy again from Slovenia, and arrived by train into Trieste.

Trieste We were a bit worried because Trieste wasn’t even mentioned in Lonely Planet’s Mediterranean Europe.  Mind you, the Southern Europe LP covers 14 countries so information is limited. Still we were pleasantly surprised as we walked along the Gran Canal and by the Adriatic Sea shore. Trieste’s orderly design is largely affected by the Austrian Empire that ruled back in the 1740’s. The Piazza Unita d’Italia rivals San Marco in Venice in its size and t because it faces the sea this huge square seems more impressive to us. It is surrounded by exquisite public buildings of Italian, neo-Gothic and Art Nouveau style. After Zagreb grungy buildings, Trieste was a jewel, with many restoration projects on the go. Unfortunately, we didn’t visit the Castello di Miramare, a famous destination. The Revoltella Modern Art Gallery was most impressive – beautifully curated, with a good representation of 19^th and 20^th century art. We entered a sun-lit modern building and exited through the Baron Revoltella magnificently furnished 19^th century house. The wood inlaid floors, and magnificent furnishings, as well as excellent examples of art made this an exciting visit.  Because we visit so many art galleries in any given month, we have opportunity to compare. This is an A-plus experience

We noticed two things immediately: the stylish dress of the locals, and the number of interesting dogs there: poodles, spaniels, shiatsus, yorkies, pitbulls, bulldogs, and a few others. James Joyce lived here for ten years. But Trieste is not a major tourist town, and we can’t figure out why except that perhaps there are no local beaches.  A nasty part of Trieste’s past is that it was used by the Nazi’s in WW II as an extermination camp – the only one in Italy. Our food was largely unmemorable, even though we ate at a few high end restaurants; our best meal was at Caffe delgi Specchi, which dates from 1839. Yugoslavia lost Trieste in 1954 and so the city has pockets of a variety of cultures. The food in the area is influenced by Slavic, Italian and Germanic styles.  After a couple of days, we took a train to Verona.

Verona has about one-quarter million people, and is inland along a river. We followed a four-hour walking tour outline and were back to the characteristic winding streets and squares. This Northern city has impressive churches and a most imposing castle with a moat. The many Renaissance paintings reflected that artists were “allowed “to expand into non-religious subjects. Verona‘s Coliseum holds 20,000 people and, unlike most, is used for major productions.  We saw the opera Aida sets, and Placida Domingo advertisements. Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet play is set in Verona and Juliet’s balcony inside a small courtyard was filled with throngs of tourists. As our warm and generous hotel owner said, one day is enough to see Verona’s important sites. We moved on by train to Milan, arrived very late at night and with our shuttle bus and waits, pulled another overnighter in the Milan airport before flying on to Barcelona.

Our last leg was a train ride from Nice, France to Milan, and the Italian Riviera route meant we saw many of the small towns along the way.  The train from Venice to Ancona was along the opposite coast and revealed flat, green countryside planted with grapes, low houses with red-tiled roofs and wide horizons. The train ride from Trieste to Verona and Verona to Milan from the north was similar rolling hills, and of course from Milan to Rome is through Tuscan country.

Milano Milan’s Duomo or cathedral is the largest in the world. It is surprisingly delicate and pretty from the outside, but rather dark and unimpressive from the inside, save the magnificent stained glass windows. The steel and glass covered shopping centre just off the main square, 100’s of years old, is one of the most beautiful we’ve seen.  Indeed, Milan has some lovely old buildings in the city centre. We saw the La Scala Opera House which was w closed, and at the Museo Nazionale, a Leonardo da Vinci’s Atlantic Code exhibition, including a couple of originals housed for preservation in an all-black tunnel and some fun high-tech exhibits.

Unfortunately my purse was stolen from a high-end outdoor restaurant and so we spent our supposed last night in the police station for a couple of hours and then the rest of the night repacking our suitcase separately as Ken could go to Ireland. I couldn’t leave the country. As it was the weekend I stayed in Milan, took the600 km ride on the high-speed train to Rome on Sunday, and after much paperwork and more money received a new passport. My passport was replaced in one day – thank goodness I had a photocopy of my birth certificate.  I took an overnighter to Paris and then on to Amsterdam where Ken and Ronan were waiting.

In all we visited six cities. We’d like to spend a couple of weeks in the south, go through the Tuscany region and spend more time in Florence.  We have a bit of a love/hate relationship with Italy, especially after my purse-snatching incident in Milan. We found the food much better and less expensive in France and Spain; we simply don’t like pasta or pizza every day.  I think the Italians are just too used to millions of people visiting them. They make many restaurant bill mistakes (always in their favour) and the taxi-drivers are something else. Internet connections are ridiculous because of anti-porn and anti-terrorist legislation. Our hotel simply closed down the net at night, and shops of course aren’t open. That being said, Italy does have amazing buildings and history, stunning scenery, friendly people, and an inimitable sense of style.

Hi:

Well,Ljubljana is a lovely little city of 350,000.  It's gorgeous, actually, with a river running through it, old trees on either side, dozens of sidewalk cafes and beautiful buildings.  We rode up the new funicular to the Ljubljana Castle, which was unimpressive, but that was OK, as we've seen dozens of such buildings in the past few months.  The town more than makes up for it.  We strolled along the streets and checked out the old buildings and lovely fruit and veggie stalls.  Cherries and blueberries are in season here, about a month or so ahead of Canada. Tonight a cultural festival sponsored a free performance of the ballet Swan Lake.  Delightful.  the weather is sunny, warm, perfect. We're staying another day before setting off to Trieste.

 Mahara    

Hi:

Well, here we are in a small resort town called Budva, in Montenegro, about an hour or two below Croatia.  The surf is pounding, the sun is hot and people are lying about the beach, which is quite rocky.

Montenegro is very different.  The people are Serbian, but broke away in 2005 and formed there own small country of under one million people.  It is fairly backward, in my opinion.  Lots of bad haircuts, strange clothing and rough accommodation.  We aren't that fond of the food either, but this always helps with weight loss.  The people are very friendly and so we are enjoying ourselves, but the country has a long way to go.  For example, children run around nude on the beach; not just little kids but boys and girls  of ten or older - even some girls well into puberty. 

The Russians are here in force.  They have bought much of the better condominiums and apparently a 1,000 square foot apartment goes for around 350,000 Euros.  We were surprized when a Canadian grandmother walking her six-month-old Canadian grandchild described this to us.  Then we started looking at the cars - with Russian licence plates, Bentleys, full sized Mercedes and BMW's and Lamborghinni - I don't know how to spell this - to be sure.  We ate at one Russian-owned restaurant and the tough bleached-blonde owner is a man I'd not like to cross paths with.  Oh well, - always interesting. 

The scenery, on the other hand, is spectacular - huge mountains which fall almost straight down to the sea and leave only a tiny ribbon of land for beaches, homes etc. 

Off to Sarejevo tomorrow - we'll watch out for land-mines!

Mahara