Lido di Ostia

Today is another beach day!  This time we decided to stay local.  The hotel was very generous in again giving us beach towels. The receptionist recommended the local free beach but we decided to go to a private one, where we could hire an umbrella and sunloungers. Today without a cabin the cost was €20 but yesterday it was €10. Walking the beach later in the evening, I was glad that we made that choice - the public beach looked unkempt with graffiti everywhere. 

The temperature was in the late 20s but a sea breeze made it very pleasant indeed. The sea here was less choppy than the the sea yesterday. Young people  were frolicking around in the water 

and nuns in habits were bathing their feet. 

We spent 7 very relaxing hours there. 

Having showered and dressed, we adjourned to the same bar on the Piazza that we had frequented the previous evening. 

Later we repaired to La Gnoccheria , the most highly recommended restaurant in Ostia, closed Sunday and Monday as we discovered on our first evening! 

The restaurant was worthy of its rave reviews. The waitress was passionate and knowledgeable about her food and wines. We chose one starter and two main courses - the starter was both generous and utterly delicious - it could have sufficed

but two more plates followed - their famous Gnocchi with pistachio 

and a red pasta coloured by tomatoes with most unusual cheese. 

We couldn’t finish them!! She recommended a wine 

which was truly delicious if a little warm for us - the Italians appear to serve their wines rather warm - a steal at €18 a bottle! 

We returned to the hotel - another great day!! 

Doha to Perth

That whiskey again!! We had to clear emigration and security before picking up the bottle. Having acquired it from Customs, we proceeded to the gate, where we were again put through security and guess what the bottle couldn’t go in hand baggage - the Australian Customs  will only allow Duty Free purchased at envarkation even though it was in a sealed bag! It had to be put in the hold! So readers beware of taking alcohol to Australia.!!

11.05 hours to Perth.!  It’s 01.55 and all passengers are aboard. We’re scheduled to take off at 02.05 and the engines are beginning to roll. The flight is only about 60% full. We’re surrounded by small children so I hope they sleep! 

As I had surprisingly slept for most of the trip, I didn’t notice the time passing. I finished watching The Lady in the Van, interrupted on arrival in Doha. Maggie Smith is a wonderful actor. 

On arrival, the automatic passport machines made emigration  painless, unlike Qatar, where the waiting was endless. We collected our bags and were out on the concourse awaiting the bus to the city - frequent service Aus $3.80. On arrival at the depot, there appeared to be a lack of taxis but we were soon directed to a rank and within minutes we arrived at Mantra on Hay Street.  

A snack and its off to bed. We’ll check out Perth tomorrow. ....

En route to Patras, Patra, the Peloponnese, Greece

Strike no! It appears there's a 48 hour strike st the Greek ports! It commenced at 00.01 hours this morning. We were advised of it as we checked in but it appears that we are being allowed to dock! 

The crossing was smooth. Our neighbours, the school group retired quietly or we didn't hear them as we were exhausted after a day of sightseeing in Bari. The cabin was very comfortable - very similar to a cabin on the Rosslare - Cherbourg crossing. I slept well. 

At breakfast, there were very few people about. Most of the truck drivers, who made up the majority of passengers, disembarked at Igoumenitsa at c.0530. It appears that the truck deck, full to capacity on departure, has been depleted - three trucks remain. CC tells me that there was a lot of banging and clanging at the port but I heard nothing!! This port is south of Corfu and would provide a more direct route for truckers to Albania, Macedonia, Bulgaria and Turkey. 

Later, as we approached Patras, I went outside to see the Rio-Andirio suspension bridge, an engineering feat that links the city with western continental Greece. It was difficult to photograph as it appeared to float on the sea and was so delicate in structure that it blended with the sky. 

 

It was cool and breezy. (Don't say we brought Irish weather to Greece as we did to New Zealand?? ). We docked at 13.00 hrs. and walked the 10 minutes to Hotel Astir. The weather was a little warmer than on board but I did not feel overheated in my jacket! 

Patra (Patras) is a shadow of its former self ! It is the largest city in the Peloponnese, named after King Patra who ruled Achaia c.1100BC. It was an important trade centre under Mycenaean and Roman rule. Although it boasts a university population of 20,000, it teems with derelict buildings which mar its spectacular coastal location. 

 

On arrival at the hotel, we are treated to an unusual fruit which appeared to have been soaked in syrup. It was a pleasant touch. The Greek Prime Ministers take a suite in this hotel when they visit Patra - so it must be good enough for us!!

 

The hotel, though 4 star, has an air of faded grandeur. The rooms are spacious and will adequately fill the bill! 

Our next port of call was to the bus station next door to enquire about busses (yes busses) to Olympia. We have decided to take the 0930 bus tomorrow -2 1/2 hours via Pyrgos. Two points to note if you pass this way. You must be at the station to buy your ticket 1/2 hour before as the bus might leave early!! In addition, there are two bus stations in Patras (population 168,000) so check your departure station - luckily our departure point is next to the hotel. 

It was now 1500hrs so lunch beckoned - our first Greek meal. Next to the hotel was Mareipeio restaurant where we shared an enormous portion of Mousakka together with bread and a jug of local wine - excellent!

 

We adjourned to the railway station across the road from the hotel. All our needs are thankfully compacted in a small area. 

 

The station only caters for suburban lines at present as they intend to convert the narrow gauge railway to the European norm. No trains today - there a 24 austerity strike! Are we Irish toocompliant?  

As I sit here in the station restaurant sipping an Americano (coffee is expensive here relative to water and wine  €2-4 a cup) - overlooking the tracks and the stupendous sea view, its good to be back in Greece after a long interval. 

 

Tonight, we are dining in  Labyrinthos - an 80 year old family run restaurant that serves classic Greek dishes for the adventurous epicurean - that's us!! 

Details to follow......

 

En route

Last night before dinner, we were entertained by the Welcome Aboard Show  It was  a spectacular show 

The finale was an excellent rendition of the songs of Neil Diamond. 

The show concluded at 20.30 hrs and we adjourned to the Britannia for dinner. Shared tables are allocated for dinner but one may have a table to one's self, if one wishes. We sat at a table for 6 and guess what - all Irish - one couple from Rathfarnham and the other couple from the north. 

The food was superb - 5 courses - lots of choice - forgot the camera again - sorry! There is even a low carb menu and I think I'll be on it in a day or two - what with full breakfast, lunch, afternoon tea and dinner in addition to food being available at King's Court all day together with tasty bites at the Carinthia, it is food overload!  

After dinner, we went to the Jazz Club for a post prandial and repaired to our room. 

There are 21 restaurants, bars and lounges of various types, including one exclusively serving Veuve Clicquot Champagne, Churchill's Cigar Lounge (pipe and cigar smokers only),  the Commodore Club, a night club, a real English pud  The Golden Lion and Sir Samuels with speciality coffee and Godiva 

chocolates - to name but a few. It is cashless on board and every effort is made to relieve one of one's $!! It is our intention to visit each and every one before we disembark at NYC. 

        Position and weather a.m. 

This morning we breakfasted at the Britannia  

A very small portion of the Brittania - it can seat in excess of 1,100 guests. 

Afterwards, we attended a lecture on The Multicoloured Universe  given by Dr. Alan Wilkins, a research fellow at Cambridge. It was most interesting. It is one of a series so I should be well versed  on astronomy by the series' end. 

A few rounds of the deck clocked up 5k steps - the aim 10,000 before day's end.  With so much space and numerous activities available (each day we are presented with a four page schedule of events to suit every taste. - from golf, needlework and dancing to bridge classes, from fitness to film, fashion shows and much much more), one can never be bored.  One would not be aware that the ship is running on full capacity with 2,700 guests in addition to the 1,200 crew as the ship Is so large and the diversity of entertainment so great. 

Lunch 1200 - 1330 - whereupon we are reminded not to forget afternoon tea at 15.30hrs. (I'll have to skip it - I'm fooded out at present) We shared a table with three Americans - one lady had sailed  from NYC to Hamburg, then up the Norwegian fjords and is now returning to NYC and thence to her home in Dallas, Texas. The first couple were from the USA but have lived in Britain for the last twenty years - he is a musician. The other couple were from Frankfurt. He is in the horse events business and was going to lecture in NYC, Boston and Chicago. 

Lunch over, it was time for a classical concert in the Royal Court Theatre , 

with classical pianist Hiroaki Takenouchi. It was a brilliant concert - what sound he could extract from the piano! 

Our next instructive lesson was on how to become a Forensic Scientist in two easy steps at the Illuminations Theatre.   

It was excellent. I had to quit early  in favour of seeing pink- haired Fashion designer Dame Zandra Rhodes CBE. However, when I arrived there was queue and a lady emerging from the crowd said she wasn't showing any fashion - merely conversing with people, so I left and repaired to the Queen's Room for afternoon tea with the Sunset String Quartet. I know I said I wouldn't but the cakes were too tempting. and there's Black tie dinner at 2030 hrs tonight. It's a tough life! 

Chernourg, Caen, Le Mans, Tours, Bourges Moulins, Vichy

Last night, we checked into our hotel - Hotel la Louvre, which was 10 minutes drive from the port, and perfectly situated in the town centre with secure parking. 

It was a lovely 3 star , newly renovated (€ 59, perfect for an overnight.) We repaired to a nearby hostelry, which sported a micro brewery 

on the premises and then adjourned to Brasserie Commerce for dinner. It was a casual place with numerous people of all ages eating there. The fare was local and steak hace was the star attraction - mince beef to you and me, together with a sauce if one's choice - for me Gorgonzola cheese. It was delicious and obviously a local favourite , judging by the plates on adjacent tables. My starter was a local delicacy - a country pate - two courses €18!  We had a BOTTLE of wine but the French are more abstemious and appeared to drink only a glass each. 

Today, we left the hotel and after a short stop to buy a map, which we forgot to pack, we drove to Caen!!! It was to be a 6 hour journey to Vichy. Just south of Caen we joined the motorway to Le Mans, thence to Tours, Bourges, Moulin and Vichy. We stopped for a quick lunch and later fir a cup of tea. As there are aire (rest stops) every 20 km) , some with services,  others with picnic tables and toilets, it is worth taking lunch and a flask as there  are long queues for food at the service stations, should you require some. 

The journey took us through Normandy, the flat, rich agricultural  Paris Basin, the scenic Loire Valley and the Massif Central - very diverse scenery. The motorways were for the most part surprisingly quiet and with speed limits of 130 km or 110 in rain,  we made great progress. The only annoyance was the lady on the Sat Nav whose pronunciation of French place names was woeful!! We bought this Sat Nav in Chicago prior to our departure on our Route 66 trip from Chicago to Santa Monica, California (I wasn't blogging then, so you're spared!!), where the route ends. We included in the purchase not only the US maps but the European maps also. What an error ! The Americans have their own pronunciation of the French language; not one anyEuropean would recognise, not to speak of the French!!

A new road, which led from the motorway exit to Vichy, confused the Sat Nav., but eventually it brought us to hotel Logis Midland. It is very old worldly and the reviews illustrate how it delights its guests, who return year after year.  The Logis is a group of French hotels but standards vary hugely. 

The journey had taken 7 hours including, a half hour stop for lunch and. 15 minute tea break - the heavy lifting is done til we make the return trip to Cherburg in a week' s time, laden with wine!! Toll charges €50.

We're now off out to see what delights Viichy has in store .....more tomorrow......

Pretoria - Waterkloof

It's Day 3

We awoke very refreshed after a good night's sleep. 

Dinner at the hotel last night was indifferent. We had a main course choice of chicken or chicken - roasted or schnitzelled!! We opted for the roast chicken served with veg and coleslaw - it wouldn't excite your taste buds but washed down with a decent SA wine, it was tolerable. I don't think that SA, in general, is known for its culinary excellence? I only recall two memorable meals on my previous trips to SA - dinner on the Blue Train (1987) where James, being too young at 2 yrs of age to have dinner in the dining room, on being presented with dinner, served on a silver salver, in cabin, said to the waiter 'take that plant out of my dinner' much to my embarrassment as I have ALWAYS garnished his dinner with parsley! The other meal worthy of note was a most enjoyable lunch at the Spier Winery, where we sat outside the pavilion while James watched with fascination the washing of the vats- an excellent recommendation by a tourist information official in Capetown. When we returned to the winery in 2002, after apartheid had collapsed, it was unrecognisable - it was huge - a Walter Disney of wine. We could not locate our original luncheon venue, so transformed had it become and not for the better, in my opinion at any rate. 

Now I know what you're thinking!! Don't jump to any conclusions before you read the following: the reason we went to SA on 1987 was  to visit friends working in Lesotho (Lesotho , as you all know is landlocked by SA) We arrived in J'burg, met our friends. They put us on the Blue Train to Capetown, we then drove the Garden Route (spectacular) on to Port Elizabeth and flew across the homelands  

to Durban, where we met up with our friends again and drove to Lesotho - a very interesting country). 

In 1987, Dunnes Stores workers were on strike because they would not sell South African fruit. Correspondence  from SA embassy had to be sent in an unmarked envelope. A number of years later in a staff room, a young HDip student was pontificating on the ills of SA. I asked him if he'd ever visited the country and he replied in the negative. I recounted to him the following incident. 

We had been travelling along the Garden Route. Early one morning, we drove through a small town. We were searching out a coffee shop and finally saw people entering what we thought was a coffee shop. We sat down and ordered. When  the people around us heard the accent, they inquired as to our origin. They were delighted to meet us and were aware of anti SA sentiment in Ireland. They explained to us that they were concerned  as they were aware that apartheid was about to collapse and most had no passport other than an SA one if circumstances forced them out of the country. They said they were middle class people, who did not own a mansion with a pool and a fleet of servants !! They asked us to inform our friends in Ireland of this fact.They said that they did the best for their staff and paid for their education.  I believed them. The Irish media had a very ............( I won't  add the tasteless metaphor b/w ) view of the apartheid situation. Prior to my visit, I had assumed that black people did not hold positions of influence - that proved to be incorrect.  Not an apologist for the Apartheid regime but I believe in balanced reporting. As we were departing the 'coffee shop', we asked for the bill - they laughed no charge - and explained that it was an after church service cuppa -  Were we embarrassed ??

This morning the sun is shining as I sit on on the terrace, under a clear blue sky, looking down over central Pretoria.  The hotel is situated in Waterkloof, a safe area as it's dotted with embassies - the Irish Embassy is just down the road. Pretoria is the administrative capital. Gaye so far so good!! Our hotel manager is reluctant to allow us to explore alone. I suspect she is correct - the manager is to drive us to a safe shopping mall in Brooklyn (yes we're still in SA - we haven't jetted off to NYC ). I think this time, we will take a guide - much as I hate to be taken about - much more fun exploring one's self. 

Our car is ready to take us to the Mall.

As we leave the terrace and enter the dining room, we are greeted by two ladies sitting at a table, working on computers.  I suspect this is the Lithuanian Ambassador and her official. Last night, our hotel manager informed us that the Ambassador had  been staying with them for the last two months as the Lithuanians are about to open an embassy here and she is searching for a suitable property in the area. In the area too is the President's luxurious summer home which has caused a lot of controversy here. Does anything change in African controlled countries ? 

 

I am in the Brooklyn Mall at present having lunch. It is very upmarket though their couture would not 'pass muster' in Europe!  It gives us a flavour of the well to do SAs. Yesterday, outside station, we saw the otherside. 

CC wanted to purchase an Italian jacket in one of the upmarket shops. The price was very reasonable but when we got to the counter, they had neither a suit carrier or a bag sufficiently large to accommodate the jacket The sales assistant tried the shop next door to no avail. We had to abort the sale - we couldn't go about with a jacket over arm!! 

The hotel manager, who picked us up informed us that most SA s could not afford to shop there!! 

Tonight, an Italian restaurant, recommended by the hotel, is our last port of call for today. It is around the corner but the hotel will take us and collect us if we wish but it IS safe to walk back!! You MAY hear from me tomorrow!!