Crete, Santorini & back to Athens

Hello all, 

Life keeps intervening but at last I shall continue my narration. 

We stopped at Crete & I didn't feel like joining any of the optionals so went for a walk into the nearby city of Heraklion. Cretans have been growing grapes for about 4,000 years so definitely are great wine producers. I never had a drop! In my defence, it was morning & we sailed on about 12pm. I enjoyed my meander around the town though.
In the afternoon we cruised into Santorini, a beautiful island. I joined an optional tour by bus to the top of the island to the town of Oia & it's so close neighbours. Oia is lovely! Except for the tourists, lol. The white houses & churches with blue domes that are in all the pictures - they're real, they're v striking, & absolutely beautiful. The streets are just lanes really so it gets really crowded really quickly. Well worth the walking up, down & roundabout. Our descent was by funicular down to the Old Port, short but steep, & then by small boat to the cruise ship & then we were sailing again back to Pireaus Port & Athens.

Okay, this is short 'cos my iPad is running out of charge. The next post will finish the saga, all sighs of relief to be inaudible please.

Bye,

GailFrances

Grecian Islands - Rhodes, Crete, Santorini

Kalinichta,

Cruising on, we docked at Rhodes for the next day. I joined an optional tour of the historic Old City 'it's ramparts & palaces built by the Knights of St John during the Crusades'.  Some amazing buildings, mosaics, furnishings, all great to see & wander around. I was the only one from our group to do this tour to the Old City & Philerimos so it was a bit strange to be with other people. You get used to being with the same people each day. But all the others chose to do a tour of Lindos & the Temple of Athena. I chose the tour I did to have a look around a Byzantine church - I really like the Byzantine style. The church at Philerimos had the added attraction of a special Stations of the Cross, but it's not in the church. The Stations are set outside along a pathway, I'd guess about 300m, leading to  an extremely large Cross. I took a photo of each of the Stations & the Cross & will eventually do something with them, not sure what yet. I'm glad I went there. Even with all of us tourists, I found it quite peaceful there. There was a flock? of peacocks, peahens & various ages of chicks meandering around too.

A little story about meandering - when I was working in home furnishings in Christchurch there were distinct motifs for various regions, like the bird in a cage for French style. I sold quite a few pieces of furniture with the rectangular Mediterranean motif, also known as the Greek Key, & just took it for granted. In Greece it is known as the Meander design. While there I bought a silver ring with the motif & love it. Anyway the Meander design takes it's name from the river Meander, a river with many twists, mentioned by Homer in The Iliad apparently. Hence the term 'meandering' meaning wandering this way & that, etc. Interestingly when we went to Kusadasi in Turkey & did the tour at Ephesus, the guide kept talking about the Turkish river Meander, which I now know is an historical name for the Buyuk Menderes River in Turkey. That got my attention so I asked our Cosmos guide, not the Turkish guide, how come? She said the river in Turkey was named by the Greeks when they invaded & ruled Turkey many centuries ago. I don't know if the Turks would agree with that, lol.

Anyway, I enjoyed seeing Rhodes & after the tour went back into the town with a few of our regular group, just for a meander & a bit of window shopping. Then it was time to get on board again & cruise away.

Audio!

Meteora, Athens, CRUISE!

Kalee-spera,

I hope you've seen the photos of Meteora on fb. This was one of my must-sees & was everything I had read about & expected. Meteora is a collection of monastic buildings perched on a set of rising rock formations. The rocks were originally climbed & settled by individual hermits & monks, with all supplies being lifted by ropes & nets. Including people! Finally there was a concerted effort & steps were hacked out of the rock & eventually the monasteries were built. Again the building materials were lifted by ropes & nets with the added bonus now of mechanical assistance. These days most are accessible by road though some are quite narrow.  I loved seeing Meteora, a v beautiful area.

After that we had a long drive back to Athens & a free day to relax. Of course I went hiking! Oh, & I went to an apothecary for that so necessary seasickness remedy. Would you believe, the apothecary only sells chemical, pharmaceutical remedies. I asked for something herbal, maybe ginger. No, I needed to find a health shop for anything healthy. A definite demarcation there.  I bought tablets 'cos it was Sunday & nothing else was open.

Finally, the CRUISE! We embarked in the morning & cruised through the afternoon. One thing I hadn't thought about. It's windy on deck when you're cruising. It took me a couple of days to feel warm enough to go for a swim.  We arrived at Mykonos, described as a granite island with cubic houses, windmills & chapels. We explored the town, stopped for an evening aperitif, a cup of tea for me, lol. Again I loved the place. As in Italy, I like the small towns & villages, prefer them to the cities. I did take one of the seasick tablets that night, the boat was rocking a bit, but went to sleep with no hassle.

Next day we cruised into Kusadasi in Turkey, & I went on the optional tour of Ephesus, with the excavations of the Greek, Roman, & Byzantine ruins. Photos are on fb.  It was fascinating & the Terrace Houses & the Library of Celsus were impressive. Did you see the photos of the mens marble latrines? Then we continued on to the island of Patmos, back to Grecian territory & visited the chapel where St John wrote Revelations. Interesting, eh.

More islands next instalment, lol.

Kalee-nikta.

Greece on a coach tour

Kalee-spera all,

Touring Greece, yay!

Day 1 consisted of meeting the tour guide & other travellers at 6pm for a short talk about the trip - I did an open top bus tour of Athens & quite a bit of solo sightseeing.
Day 2  was a free day or an optional day cruise - I decided to do my own thing & went on a continuation of yesterday's bus tour to Pireaus Port, had lunch there, took photos, then hopped on the bus back to Athens. Good value, €20= for both trips combined & I had time to walk as well.
Day 3, finally we did a highlights tour of Athens & visited the Acropolis with an excellent guide. Then at last we started travelling, first to the Corinth Canal which looked great. Would you believe, you can bungy jump there! Those Kiwis have a lot to answer for, eh. We stayed overnight in Nauplia.
Day 4 we stopped in Epidaurus to visit the open air theatre which still can seat 14,000 spectators, then travelled on for a guided visit to Mycenae. The description says, a city fortress cursed by the gods but rich in gold & warrior kings! In the afternoon we went into the Peloponnese to Sparta. We wandered around the ruins there, the Theatre of Ancient Sparta & the Spartan Acropolis, stayed in Sparta overnight.
Day 5 we drove to the medieval Byzantine citadel of Mystras, visited the ruins & did a fair amount of climbing, clambering up to the castle then wound our way down again. Lots to see there, enjoyed the hiking, enjoyed seeing the Byzantine style of architecture with the domes. In the arvo on to Olympia for a leisurely dinner & overnight, with pool!
Day 6 was an optional tour of Olympia, where the athletes of antiquity performed in honour of the king of deities, so the advertising said, lol. I chose not to do that & wandered around the town instead with a few of the others. Arvo was on the Patras Port, again interesting to look around. Followed the coast road through fishing villages, one was Nafpaktos which I liked so photos on fb. We crossed the 'spectacular Rionantirion Bridge' & stayed overnight in Delphi. Another pool!
Day 7 we had a guided tour of the archeological site of Delphi which was great. Also went through the Museum, photos on fb. After that it was a long day driving through Lamia, Trikala in Thessaly to overnight in Kalambaka, another pool but much too cold for me. Where it rained, stormed, thundered, & lighteninged just as some of us were going to go for a walk after dinner. So now I'm sitting in the lobby writing my blog. Aren't you all so lucky?

I am enjoying the tour & the varied company. Some nice people on this trip. Sadly not my room share but I'm mostly in the room just to sleep so that's okay. Tomorrow is Day 8, another instalment to come. Wifi has again been a bit dodgy at some of the hotels which is why I'm sitting in the lobby. It's still raining so I guess no walking tonight.

I hope you're all well & happy.

Andio!

Milano, Vienna, Athens

Hello again,

I need to write this more often, I think. By the time I do write atm I've forgotten where I got to last time & have to go back to see where I was.

Milano was great, the swim in the Lido was cooling, sightseeing is always great, & the Milano Expo was interesting. I've covered all that with the photos & comments on fb. Oh, plus on my last day in Italy I went on a canal cruise touted as Leonardo di Vinci territory. He apparently had a hand in the design of some of the canals around Milano, & certainly designed the particular lock system currently in use around Europe, so they say. Having seen a display of some of his inventions a few years ago that wouldn't surprise me.

I flew to Vienna late on the Tuesday night so stayed in a hotel reasonably near the airport, went there by taxi as I didn't want to cope with arriving in a strange place late at night by public transport. The next day I caught a train to the city & met Christine. We stayed in a flat in the city & I talked Christine into going to a furniture museum. Not somewhere she had been before & probably never will again, lol. But we all know me & my liking for home furnishings. These were v sumptuous home furnishings - the collected furniture & furnishings of the Imperial palaces, the stuff not in use atm, stuff collected over the centuries. Some was ho hum, some was v eye catching, some was to drool over. I still have a strong liking for the Art Deco & Art Nouveau styles. The next day we had an enjoyable day lakeside, relaxing & swimming. All on fb now. Then I flew to Athens.

I had one night in the hotel by myself then I acquired another person to room with for the duration. I didn't want to pay that ubiquitous single supplement. This lady seems okay, talks a lot but I can deal with that if necessary. I went on an open top bus tour of Athens yesterday then continued today to Piraeus Port. I could have done it all in one day but I need to walk as well, not just sit on a bus. Photos on fb.

Tomorrow we start the tour of Greece. All is good. I'm looking forward to the experience.

Andio!

Menaggio & Milano

I really like this travelling solo life. You have the freedom to change your plans, talk to any people you meet, relax whenever you feel like it, & best of all, keep on being alive, alert & happy.

Anyway, Menaggio was fun. I even hiked as far as Lake Lugano on Tuesday & stood at the Italian end of the lake looking towards the Swiss end. I could have continued on into Switzerland, I had plenty of time, but I wasn't sure how I would be able to get back to the hostel. From Porlezza on the Italian end I could catch a direct bus to Menaggio.

Wednesday I joined up with a couple of others from the dorm & we travelled locally by various ferries, just sightseeing, a bit of hiking, & a little shopping. It was fun. Then I decided on another hike for Thursday. While I was at breakfast talking to some others I said where I was going & another woman at the table asked if she could come to. Of course I said yes & when I was ready to go she had another woman with her. So three of us went hiking, quite challenging in places & extremely scenic. The pictures are on fb. We were going to play/swim in a mountain stream under a waterfall I had been told about but the water was so cold we only went in to our knees, lol. Chicken, eh. After the hike the others went off to where I had been the day before while I went for lunch. I caught the tourist train complete with flashing lights for a lazy look along a few more towns/villages. The final town it stopped at was Nello which had a more accessible (to my feet!) beach so I hopped off the train & finally swam in Lake Como. Amazing thought, Lake Como, me swimming in it! Then I caught the little train back to Menaggio.

The hostel I stayed at was in a fantastic location & the staff were friendly & helpful. But - the cleaning & maintenance were abysmal, the plumbing leaked onto the floor, when you sat on the loo your knees nearly hit the wall. How the taller guys managed I don't know, but they do have to sit down sometimes, lol. I'm sure the floors were not cleaned the 6 days I was there. Wifi was constantly dropping out, when you could get it to connect at all. It was the worst hostel I have stayed in, & I've stayed at quite a few over the years.

I'm now in a hotel in Milano with a single room, a working bathroom, & wifi. All is good. I went sightseeing this morning, think Duomo, Galleria, & a few more, then found a couple of nice, green parks to wander around this arvo. I have bought a ticket to the Milano EXPO 2015 for Monday, but I'll miss Circ du Soliel as that's their day off, drat it. The Expo will be good, I hope. I'm interested to see if New Zealand & Australia have pavilions both being such agricultural exporters. Tomorrow, Sunday, I plan on catching the Big Red Bus. If I get the right one I can get off at the Lido, have a swim or two, then hop back on the bus to see the rest of the tour. So a fairly lazy day, eh. 

I haven't said much about the weather in Italy. That's because I'm loving it! It's hot & sunny every day, I think well over 30c, maybe up to 35c. I haven't actually looked it up, I'm just thoroughly enjoying it. This is my sort of weather.

Oh, my Italian SIM card runs out tomorrow so I'll be switching to my UK giffgaff SIM. My UK no is +44 7756 353 004 so use that if you need to contact me.

That's my news for now & all is good.

Ciao!

Manarola, Cinque Terre, & onwards

Okay, I hiked to Manarola my 2nd day in Cinque Terre, another challenging trail, v high up. But not as narrow as the 1st day, thankfully. The only section that narrowed was just for about a metre & there was incentive to stay balanced - a thorn bush on the downside! All was good & I reached Manarola for a late lunch. That was the best place of the towns for a swim to cool off, more accessible & secure. My time in Cinque Terre left me with slightly aching leg muscles though. Golly, I must be getting so fit, eh.

Moving on by bus, three trains, & another bus to Menaggio on Lake Como, I ended up in a lovely setting. I have wandered around the town this morning, photos on fb, just taking it easy today. I finally located the swimming pool which turned out to be where all the locals swim. I didn't hear any English conversations anyway. It is fine to swim in the lake but I find the stony shore too painful underfoot. I was happier in the pool, cooled down nicely.

I may go on a hike tomorrow but first I want to check with the Tourist Info people to find out how I can get to Lake Orta. Hopefully they'll be able to sort it for me. I have identified a possible day tour if I have time & will take a ferry ride to sightsee more of the area. I may not even go into Como, the little I did see from the bus seemed like just another city & I'm enjoying the smaller towns.

Wifi here is v unreliable. I have had to use my phone for a lot of the time. I'm glad I got the Italian SIM card, for sure. Anyway, I will write again when I can.

Ciao, ciao.

Perugia, Assisi, Corniglia

Perugia was great & I did a guided walking tour of the old centre, a bus tour to Bevagne & a winery, then another bus tour to Gubbio, a medieval town, on my last day there. An enjoyable stay.

Assisi was & is amazing for me. I do enjoy that town so much, just the way I remembered it. This time I visited & saw much more as I had days not just one afternoon & night. The photos are all up on fb so I hope you have enjoyed them. St Francis & St Clare have always been special to me & I have visited many sites now connected with them. Also I did a fair amount of hiking in the woodlands around Assisi & up Monte Subasio. Finally my stay was over & I had to leave.

Cinque Terre - five colourful towns with hilly & coastal walking paths between. I'm staying in Corniglia, the central of the five & today I hiked first to Vernazza, took about an hour & a quarter, then went straight on to Monterosso al Mare as I had realised that that section was the more challenging. Thought I'd better not stop, lol. So I did it, v slowly & carefully. In a few short sections the path was only about 50cms wide with a drop on one side & the hill on the other. Oh, my fear of falling kicked in a lot today! But I got to Monterosso in about two & a quarter hours which was a respectable time. I did not hike back to Corniglia, I happily caught the train & bus. Tomorrow I will hike in the other direction but apparently can only go to the nearest town as the path is closed further on. That may be an easy day - I'll let you know later.

Life is certainly interesting. One of the staff at the hostel here has been to Australia & has a couple of pictures of Streets Beach on his phone. He was quite chuffed when I said I worked at Southbank, he said 'I've been there'.

Ciao

Perugia & so helpful Italians

Perugia - I'm enjoying this maze/labyrinth of a town. It's a challenge getting to the right places at the right height. They do have this cute minimetro to go down to the newer parts of the town, no driver, lol. Tonight there's music coming in my window from 2 levels up. I was up there earlier, stopped to listen for a bit after a lovely tea in the centre.

Today I officially cast off my backpacker status. I purchased a cheap, wheeled suitcase, plonked my backpack & trekking pole in the base, & loaded my meagre belongings on top. I'll catch up with the rest of my things when I get to Assisi on Saturday arvo. I shall be pleased to have my little pacsafe backpack again. I've been burying my wallet at the bottom of my backpack & locking it up. I'm keeping my passport in my front pocket with my phone & carrying my iPad, keeping it close.

The Italian people I've met are v friendly & amazingly helpful. The first time I found that was when I got lost on the Cammino on my first day. All those people & the only one who had any English had to go soon after I arrived. They got me where I had to be marvellously.
The second time was on the bus coming to Perugia when the driver made an announcement & everyone started to get off the bus. The girl in front of me spoke English & told me the reason, all good, nothing wrong, & we talked a bit before we reached Perugia. She was a student studying Agricultural Science. She then said her parents were picking her up & would I like a lift to my hotel? Would I heck! So I travelled in style instead of walking there.
Then today I took a bus to a shopping centre about 50 minutes away to buy my new suitcase. I asked the shop assistant to explain where the bus stop back to Perugia was. While he was trying with even more limited English than my limited Italian, I felt a tap on my shoulder. A random girl in the shop had heard & asked if I wanted a lift as she was going up to the old town next! So once again a hassle free ride to my destination. Amazing! This girl was another student who had just come back to Perugia after an Erasmus exchange semester in Porto, Portugal. The very place I plan on going to next trip! She loved it there so that's a recommendation.

All is good, the temps are between 35-40c which I'm loving, people are friendly & I've found a restaurant called Merlin's that does a great chicken salad.

Ciao!

Perugia

Italia is an awesome, beautiful country, so green, so lovely & warm! The variety of trees & greenery is amazing. Today on the bus I watched the landscape the whole trip, also passed multiple, multiple fields of sunflowers, I guess for the sunflower oil. (They reminded me of Noel's sunflowers out at Amberley.) Last time I was in Europe the 'in' crop then was the brilliant yellow of rapeseed for canola oil.

It's been mid-30's most days, at a guess, absolutely my style of weather. We all know I don't complain about the summer heat!

Anyway, a little oddity about the Cammino that I'm not doing. Two Italians walked through to Premilcuore who started about three days after I did. Weirdly they were offered English instructions at Dovadola & had to ask for Italian. They couldn't figure why until they heard my tale. Someone was covering all bases, lol. Those two were really nice & I had the option of getting to La Verna a few days further on & then continuing with them when they came through the town. Still a challenge elevation wise but at least I would be walking in the right direction. I think I was right to decide not though. Next time I'll do it right! Though they did say the Camino in Spain was less arduous, just start after the Pyrenees, lol.

I'm now in Perugia, a hilly city about 30 kms from Assisi. I'll explore the city centre tomorrow, work those hill muscles I've gained, & then on Wednesday do a morning walking tour (home-made chocolate) & a wine tour in the arvo. I'll go looking for parks again, they're such useful, friendly places.

I did try to put up more photos on fb last night but when I checked this morning they hadn't posted so I cancelled them. I'll try again.

Ciao!

Premilcuore

Premilcuore is a lovely, picturesque little town in the Apennine Mountains where I stayed for 4 nights. The refuge there is run by Carla who speaks no English but empathises well, lol. When I decided to give up the Cammino her son Manuel persuaded me to stay a few nights before returning to Forli. He is about the age of Jan & Simon I think, married to Marika with a 5 months old son Guido. They took me sightseeing in the evenings & I went on walks during the day & explored the town. Manuel was keen to practice his English, lol. They made my stay extremely pleasant.

Here in Forli I have been sightseeing in the mornings, back to the hotel for siesta, then out walking in the evenings. It is amusing to watch at siesta time as every shop & business goes through all the paraphernalia of closing up only to reopen about 3 hours later! As always I have found a couple of parks to visit, walk around, & sit at the cafes to people watch. I still think Spain has the best parks though! This has been a most relaxing time for me.

If the wifi is still reliable tonight I will post photos on fb. Otherwise I'm off to Perugia tomorrow for 5 nights.

Thanks to everyone for your encouragement & support. Btw, you can make comments on my posts you know.

Ciao!

Cammino di Assisi

Well, the Camino di Assisi started slightly inauspiciously. I found Don Alfeo at the Dovadela Refuge & registered my presence etc, & was given the promised detailed maps & instructions for following the Cammino. In Italian! Apparently he had no English instructions. That was rather daunting to say the least but I decided to write out each day's instructions in a handy notebook (thanks Annalisa!) from an email I was sent by the Cammino some months ago.

The 1st day I was walking well until I became unsure of the way. The last Cammino sign I had seen was kilometres back. Then I hit a main road not in the instructions so stopped at a restaurant to ask the way. I was about 10km in the wrong direction! With the help of the people in the restaurant, 2 friendly bus drivers & a random man who gave me a lift I reached the 1st refuge. I had a good night there, nice family, good meal, & slept well. Optimistic me!

I set out on the 2nd day walking well, climbing well, a bit steep but I could do it, reached the summit, took some photos & then descended that mountain. I was a bit worried about the next as it was a much higher climb. Then I found that I was a lot too slow on the 1st one, arrived at the first stop about 2 hours late. I had got lost twice but just about .5km each time, not so bad. I decided it would take way too long to climb that next mountain at my speed so I cheated & got a ride to the next refuge! Which according to my instructions was near a statue of Padre Pio. Which it wasn't! Finally found the refuge with a lot of help, totally somewhere else, & with my confidence in the instructions shattered decided to stay an extra night.

I had found my backpack was way too heavy, about 11kg, totally my fault & main reason I was slow, so I posted about 5 kg off to Assisi to the hotel I'll be staying at there. Helpful lady at the Post Office rang the hotel to expect & hold the parcel.

Some pilgrims were to come the next day so I was hopeful I would be able to walk with them & not get lost. But they were Austrian women used to the high mountains & walking at about 5-6 km per hour. My speed is about 4-4.5 km on the flat. Not a chance. I was told I had to decide about continuing then as the next 4 days were harder, higher, longer, etc, with no way back except hiking. No buses, no taxis, etc. So I stayed in Premilcuore at the refuge till today, did some short walks & checked out the town. (More on my time in Premilcuore in my next post)

I have now returned to Forli to sightsee & slowly make my way to Assisi to resume my plans. So my slowness, probably too limited hill training, a too heavy pack, & possibly out-of-date instructions combined to undermine my confidence, drat it. We live & learn!

I am undaunted though. Next time I will do the easier option with luggage help & proper instructions!

Crossing borders, catching planes, trains, buses, or not!

All is good! I left Brisbane on Monday night, Queensland time & arrived in Abu Dhabi early Tuesday morning, UAE time. I had two days staying with Dan, went to a home furnishings show, typical me. (Jan, do you remember me dragging you around those when you were young?) We visited the gorgeous white Mosque there, dressed in appropriate clothing. The building is lovely indeed with some great details. The pictures on fb show the light fixture/hanging as you walk toward the entrance which is the better of two. The one inside the mosque is a bit garish, but the details on the walls are lovely. So a marvellously impressive building. We went swimming, yay, & sightseeing, an enjoyable visit.

(Who wants to go to Montego Bay in Jamaica next April?) Hint to family!

Thursday, I flew to Athens, Greece, & stayed one night in a hostel near the Acropolis. Wifi was unreliable & later in the evening there was a power cut, lol. So I didn't put much on fb or write in my blog. It was amazing being there in Athens, wandering around trying not to be a tourist 'cos I'll do that in August. I got talking to an American woman while having tea, she was nice, then went back to the hostel where I was talking with two of the others in the dorm, one Taiwanese, the other I'm not sure where from. Then the power cut out so that was that, went to sleep.

Friday, after a little adventure with a missing bus, I flew to Milano, Italy, & found my way to my hotel. I now have an Italian SIM card & my new no is +39 38840 90539, just for texts of course. I'll sightsee here also when I come back in early August. So I'm settled in, chores done, tea had, powering up the devices ready for tomorrow.

Tomorrow I travel by train & bus to Dovadola & the starting point of the Cammino di Assisi. Much trepidation!

My entries on fb, GCC, & this blog may be rather erratic due to the basic facilities on the pilgrimage but I'll do what I can.

As always I am loving Daylight Saving Time, such a good thing.

Countdown 1 day!

One day to go! I fly out tomorrow night at 9.35pm. Excitement, trepidation, excitement, it's all good. First stop is Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates & I'm staying with Dan for two nights. I shall be warm, maybe even toasted.

My search for togs has had some success - I have found the bottom of a two piece & a rash vest.  Now I just have to find a top piece & the togs will be complete. In the meantime I can wear a bra under the vest. Perfect!

I've been worrying about the minimal packing because of the weight limitations but have decided to get through the pilgrimage then buy a wheeled suitcase & put my pack in it. Then I can buy with freedom 'cos I won't have to carry it all on my back.

I'm watching The Voice tonight. A guy who regularly busks outside QPAC & the Conservatorium has been on & has gone through with Ricky Martin as coach. Yay! Tim is classically trained with a great voice, sings opera with passion. I've been listening to him for a couple of years around Southbank. Tim is in a wheelchair & doesn't let it limit his performances.

Okay - one day to fly! Fantastic.

Little steps progressing on

The countdown is on - 26 days to my flight! Everything is progressing well, I think. I will be swimming in the lovely, warm sea at Abu Dhabi on the 7th July. I'm really looking forward to that.

I've now booked the train trip from Assisi to Corniglia, yay. Still waiting to book the next leg to Menaggio on Lake Como. I'm not worried about booking from Como back to Milano. I gather it's about a half hour trip on a local train so that should be easy.

I've found out some more about the Expo I want to go to in Milan. It sounds really interesting, both content wise & architecturally. Each country has a pavilion or similar which represents their country & their nutritional achievements. I'm looking forward to seeing the Austrian pavilion. New Zealand & Australia are not represented at all which I think strange when agriculture is such a big part of our exports. There are about 140 countries at the Expo so I shall wander happily. The bonus is that Ciirque du Soliel are performing at night at the Expo. I've never seen one of their shows so I'm going to try to buy a ticket to that as well.

My papers for the Greek tour & cruise have been sent to Flight Centre so I'll pick them up at the weekend hopefully. Things are slowly coming together, eh. I do enjoy the planning

I am so looking forward to the high summer in Italy!

Ciao

Cinque Terre & onwards

Progress of a sort - I have booked accommodation now for Cinque Terre & Menaggio at Lake Como. Yay! What I haven't got is the train travel between Assisi, Cinque Terre & Lake Como. I'm not sure why but the connections don't seem to work. I'll leave it a few days then try again. Next I need to book accommodation in Milano for the last week of my Italian Odyssey & then book a flight back to Athens. I did consider taking an overnight ferry to Patras from Venice but decided to do it easy & have more time to sightsee in Milano, maybe take a day trip to Turin.

I'll also buy a ticket to the Milano Expo 2015 which should be interesting to wander around. It's a food/nutrition expo with exhibitions from about 140 countries. I've looked at a few of the pavilions online & the designs look good. As always I'm mostly interested in the building/architecture/design aspect though I do expect to taste test some foods I've never heard of or tried before.

This holiday is going to be fun!

Eurovision & planning

I have had fun the last few days. Eurovision! I enjoy Eurovision, have been watching it for many years. So I made my choice of which country I thought was best in the first semi-final, Montenegro, then threw that aside at the end of the second semi when I heard Italy's entry. Great voices, great song, three lovely men, so much to like. So I voted for Italy, first time I've been able to vote, yay! Sadly they didn't win but I think they got third which was great. The winner was Sweden. Again a great song, great voice & a lovely man, with the addition of novel animated graphics. A good choice, & it was fun watching the convoluted politics of the voting. Not unusually UK only got one vote. Golly, that happens so often. Puzzlingly I don't think Austria got any votes. For the host country that was strange. But I guess the oddities are part of the Eurovision charm. I enjoyed it all!

My overseas plans are progressing v slowly. Hiccups have been happening financially which have delayed my ability to make bookings therefore it's becoming difficult to book accomodations so late. The best options are gone, drat it. But I have to deal with that & continue anyway.

I'm making bookings chronologically so I'm all done for accomodation, plane, trains, etc up to & including four nights in Assisi after the pilgrimage. Next are the trains & accomodations for Cinque Terre. That area sounds really lovely & I'll be able to swim as it's coastal walking through the five towns.

Plans are afoot, albeit slowly. More to come.

Ciao!

Cammino di Assisi

It's official! I have registered for the Cammino di Assisi & the organisation has approved my start date of 12/7/15. I fly into Athens on 9/7/15, stay in a hostel near the Acropolis 1 night, then fly to Milano on 10/7/15.

Next I must book 1 night there, then the several trains to Forli & a bus to reach Dovadola on 11/7/15. I have registered 1 night in the refuge there where I'll meet Don Alfeo & receive my official Pilgrim's Credential & Guide Book. I'll commence the pilgrimage on the 12th. From there it's up to me to keep walking & climbing for two weeks.

What a massive challenge! I am excited & scared & so hopeful that I can do this. Everything else will follow after the pilgrimage.

A rainy Easter weekend

I'm going to enjoy a long, 5-day Easter weekend even though it's rainy. I have five books to read, some handy work to do, some house cleaning to do & I still need to do hill training. I am not going to walk in the rain though. I have a stepper which I will make use of & I have two sets of stairs. Most uninspiring but I'll do something fit, lol.

My travel plans are going well. I've just booked a hostel in Athens for one night then a flight to Milan the next morning. Next I have to settle a start date for the official pilgrimage with the Cammino Di Assisi & sort out trains & bus from Milan to Dovadola, the start of the pilgrimage. This is going to be a huge challenge for me. One I lately realised I was trying to wriggle out of. Not any more! 

Pilgrimage = challenge! Hopefully a challenge I can achieve. So basically I've mentally tossed my Italy plans out of the window & started again with the pilgrimage at the forefront, as it should have been.

More to come!

Being a handywoman.

It's Downton Abbey time again, not to be missed, eh.

A rainy weekend, so I've been repairing three 2nd hand chairs I picked up locally. They are small, wooden armchairs with purple faux suede covering on the seats & back. The backs had become insecure because the screws had stripped their threads. In fact, one back was unattached. Last night I glued matches into all the holes, they dried overnight, & today I repaired the worst one adding a jute wrapping to the arms.  Now it feels strong & secure, & looks great. Two more to fix, then I'll have extra seating for visitors. Nice to be doing something handy again.

I wish the sun would come back though, lol.

Oh, I do love to be beside the seaside!

Okay, I'm all set. A new season of Downton Abbey on TV, a cup of tea beside me, stretched out in my recliner chair, ready to write a new post.

I now live, as per the title of this post, at the seaside! I've moved to a small seaside city north of Brisbane. It's a long commute to work by bus & train, a minimum of one & a half hours, but it's worth it to live here. I am five minutes walk from the beach which also has a man-made lagoon on the foreshore, & I'm surrounded by numerous hotels, restaurants & cafes. There's a small cultural centre, a play theatre, a movie theatre & numerous shops around the area. In the winter I will walk five minutes in the opposite direction to the local heated swimming pool. The flat I've rented is only a year old & nicely modern with three levels, three bedrooms, two bathrooms, balcony & a teeny, tiny courtyard. I am thoroughly enjoying living here. The city is on a small peninsula & I found, shortly after moving here, that the circumference is approximately a half marathon. That makes a good training walk, now all I need is somewhere for hill training. There are fifteen kilometres of lovely beaches with good walking paths & great scenery & seascapes. All in all, this is a great place to live. If I get fed up with it, I can move, but I don't expect I will yet! 

Anyway, nicely timed. Downton Abbey is finishing now. Next post will be my travel plans which are progressing nicely.

Oh, I do love to be beside the seaside!

Ciao!

Yay! Work got better!

It's 31st January. I'm hoping to write at least one post a month this year. Just made it for January, eh!

Amazingly, after my disappointment in my last post about my part-time hours, I was offered a permanent full-time position at the Uni. At last! Since 1st January I have been working full-time. Fantastic! Now I can get on with my travel plans.

So, my flights are booked from Brisbane to Abu Dhabi, stay 2 nights with Dan, then on to Athens, hopefully for another 2 nights to sightsee. Then I'll get an overnight ferry to Italy & start wandering around. I have places I want to go in Italy, Lake Orta & Assisi for sure. I'll travel by train & local buses most of the time & stay in hostels. I might take a side trip, not sure yet. I eventually head back to Athens in time for a 10 day coach tour of Greece continuing with a 5 day cruise around some of the Greek Islands including a brief stop in Kusadasi in Turkey. It all sounds marvellous. I've paid my flight & I've 2/3 paid on the Grecian tours. Nearly there!

Half the fun is in the planning, lol.

I'm missing all my entertainment though. No concerts, shows, outings, so sad. But it's the only way to save. I will go to one concert though. One of our students is performing in 'Spring Romance' & he suggested I go to hear him, so I will. He is a baritone & has recently realised he can also sing tenor., gives him a much greater range. This will be his first tenor role. I'm looking forward to that.

So all is sounding good, looking promising, & I'm optimistic. Oh, I also found a great place to live but I'll relate that next post. Ciao!