Home at last after 7 fantastic weeks of travel. Sorry, sorry, sorry that we haven't updated our blog for a couple of weeks. We have tried on several occasions and expected to have a week of wireless internet access while in Provence, but experienced endless technical difficulties - some probably of our own doing. So even though we are home, we thought we would update you on what we experienced during the last stages of our trip and give a sample of some of the many photos that we took.
Firstly, more on Sorrento. The day after our trip to Pompei, we took a very exciting thrill-ride of a bus trip to Positano on the Amalfi Coast - many narrow roads and tight corners and much tooting of horns. Some Italian drivers seem to have a death wish. Positano is a charming sea-side village built into a steep hill. The "sand" is very dark and coarse - not a typical Aussie beach. The next day we visited two more Amalfi Coast towns - Amalfi itself and Ravello. Amalfi is another seaside village similar to Positano, while Ravello is high in the hills above Amalfi. The trip up to Ravello was the most nail-biting drives of all, but it was a very picturesque town with fantastic views of the coast and a lovely town square. Here we enjoyed Italian hospitality at its best when we were welcomed into a very posh hotel just to have coffee on their balcony with breathtaking views. For a change of pace, we enjoyed a ferry trip home from Amalfi to Sorrento, calling in at Positano, enabling us to appreciate the views of these towns and the surrounding coastal area from the sea.
From Sorrento we bid our charming and amusing host Pasquale a fond farewell and headed for the Cinque Terre via a one night stop-over in Orvieto. Orvieto is a hill-top Medieval town just north of Rome. We stayed here simply to break the long journey from Amalfi to Cinque, but found it to be a very worthwhile experience and we surprised ourselves with how much we were able to pack in to our short stay. We had a very interesting tour of a small sample of the numerous man-made caves dug out under the town since Etruscan times. The Duomo is very spectacular and huge for such a small town. It was ordered to be built by one of the Popes who was staying there when he was informed of a supposed miracle that occurred nearby.
The Cinque Terre (five towns) is an area made up of five small fishing villages bulit into small inlets on a very rugged coast. Originally they could only be accessed on foot or by boat. They are now linked by train but there is limited vehicular access. Most of the visitors to the area come to walk the path between the towns, which is now a national park. The path from the southern town of Riomaggiore is a very easy walk on a well paved path accessible for wheelchairs and prams. Further on it becomes much more rugged, steep and slippery when wet - as it was for us after a night of rain. After a cup of the best hot chocolate ever (liquid chocolate) at Riomaggiore, we set out on the walk - half of us made it to the other end (Monterosso, where we were staying) in about 6 hours. The next day we went by train back to some of the villages to explore them a little more thoroughly. Most have steep, narrow streets leading down to the waterfront with fishing boats lining many of the streets - it must be interesting to see them launched from some of the precarious positions we saw. Monterosso has a less rugged coastline with a beach area (course sand again) and we managed to have a swim in the Mediteranean. Our host Andreas, was another interesting character who certainly didn't believe in dressing up - he often looked like he was still in his pyjama shorts in the middle of the day - but he was full of helpful advice and seemed to know the train timetable off by heart. We enjoyed exploring the 'old town' part of Monterosso with its narrow streets and quaint restaurants and shops, many selling brightly painted ceramics and limoncello (a lemon liqueur) in bottles of many different shapes and often painted.
From Monterosso we headed back to France, with an overnight stay in Nice. We travelled by train, with a short break in Genova for a change of trains. The trip from Genova to Nice was one of our most picturesque train journeys, with the train following the coastline. In our original planning, we only chose Nice for an overnight stay to break the long journey from Cinque to Avignon. We were not particularly interested in spending much time on the Riviera with all its glitz and glamour. But we were pleasantly surprised with our brief look around Nice and wouldn't mind seeing more of it if the chance to do so ever came.
From Nice to Avignon - another very pleasant train trip with beautiful scenery. The TGV station in Avignon is very modern - looks more like an airport terminal. When we stepped out of the station we found it was very windy and rather cool - the infamous Avignon mistral winds of Autumn had arrived, but by the next day all was calm and mild. We picked up a car in Avignon and drove the 40 minute trip to Caromb, a small hill-top country town. Our accommodation for a week was a house in the middle of the town. It was quite old but had been extensively renovated inside with a modern kitchen and three comfortable bedrooms, even if we did have to climb two flights of steep, narrow stairs to the top bedroom which took up the entire top floor along with its bathroom. From the top windows there were great views out over the town to the surrounding countryside and mountains in the distance. Shopping in Caromb was interesting. There are two small 'super'markets with odd hours, a butcher's shop which was closed the entire time we were there, but there were several boulangeries (bakeries) with one almost out our front door, which was great for fresh bread, croissants and brioche for breakfasts. Strangely, there were also at least three hairdressers that we know of - Chris and Denise both had their hair cut. We spent much of the week exploring some of the other small towns in the area, similar to Caromb in some ways but each with its own special character. Somehow the women managed to organise it so that for the first three days there just happened to be a market on in each town we visited. Just as each town had its own character, so each market was different - one very large and crowded, another smaller with a real village atmosphere, and another was all fresh produce, mainly fruit and veg. An unexpected treat was Mount Ventoux. We could see it from our house and it has a cap of light coloured rock that makes it look like it is snowcapped at all times. It is well known amongst serious cyclists around the world for being part of the Tour de France some years. It is used by some to prepare for the Tour and we saw many cyclists struggling to the top and to record their achievement at a special post at the summit. The views from the summit were amazing in all directions.
On the Wednesday in Caromb, we woke to a very rainy morning. We had planned to go to see the sights of Avignon and we weren't going to let the rain deter us. Upon arrival we were able to park in a covered parking station. Then we did a tour of the Palace of the Popes, mostly indoors - great so far. Then it was outdoors to the Pont d'Avignon - that partly collapsed bridge you see in many travel brochures of France. Of course, this was the time for the heaviest rain to fall. Fortunately, we had wet weather gear with us, so only our shoes and legs of pants got soaked. On the whole we were very fortunate with the weather for our whole trip with very few rainy days over 7 weeks - hardly ever for whole days. The Palace of the Popes was very interesting. The Popes made Avignon their home for about a century when there political troubles in Rome. The Palace would have been very ornate in the past, but now looks very rough and plain due to vandalism and changing uses over the years (e.g. a military fort). The Pont D'Avignon (really Pont St Benezet) was also very interesting and we were fortunate to be able to see it on a sunny afternoon on our way home from another car trip for better views and the all important photos. Among other interesting sites we visited while in Provence was the Roman amphitheatre in Orange and the deserted village of Bories made up of very small dome-shaped huts.
On to Paris for our last night in Europe. The train trip from Avignon to Paris was very picturesque with green fields and those chateaux with pointy conical roofs. After settling in to our hotel, we took a bus to Sacre Coeur, a white cathedral on a hill overlooking Paris. When we arrived we found the area around the cathedral was very busy due to a food and wine festival. The cathedral was closed early so we didn't get to see inside. The next morning we caught a bus to the Pantheon, which we had seen outside on our earlier visit, but this time we went inside. It is an immense space with huge sculptures and paintings honouring the heroes of France. Downstairs is a huge crypt with many corridors where many famous men and women of France are buried (e.g. Victor Hugo and Marie Curie). We then caught another bus to the Arc de Triomphe. We climbed up the many steps inside to the top for great views of Paris, although it was rather hazy. We then wandered down the Champs Elysees, had lunch in a cafe on the way and ended up at the other end - Place de la Concorde - basically a huge round-about with an obelisque in the middle. The walk down the Champs Elysees was probably more crowded than usual due to a display of aircraft celebrating 100 years of flight in France. It is amazing how many times our stay in a city or town coincided with a special event - often a good thing, sometimes a bit of a nuisance. Flew out early that evening for Singapore.
Three nights in Singapore on our way home. We stayed in a very comfortable hotel with a pool, which we appreciated late every afternoon after a day out in very hot, very humid weather. Things we experienced during this short stay, in no particular order, were the Night Safari at the zoo, a 90 minute bus tour around the city, amphibious duck tour of the harbour and some other parts of the city, the Botanical Gardens looking mainly at the orchid gardens, cable car over to Sentosa Island (a resort island), a ride on the Singapore Flyer (like the London Eye only bigger), a look around St Andrews Church (the oldest Anglican church in Singapore), a look around Raffles (the famous hotel), eating Indian food from a banana leaf with our fingers, and other 'interesting' food experiences.
We flew home on the new A380 Airbus. Not much different inside to a 747 in cattle-class. The seats may be very slightly wider, but no more leg room. It is much quieter and smoother on take-off in particular. Now we are home after 7 fabulous weeks of great experiences. Hopefully the thousands of photos and hours of video will help us to relive them over and over again and our memories of them will not fade too quickly. We hope you have enjoyed following our adventure - and again our apologies for not being able to keep as up to date as we had hoped.
Bye from John, Denise, Chris and Doug. |
