We land in Portugal and head to our hotel. It’s all good. A venture out for something to eat and a bit of a wander and we luck upon a little restaurant that has roast chicken and all sorts of sides. I wash it down with lightly bubbled verde wine which is fresh and moorish. The whole meal was really nice and as we watched the queue form in front of us we realised how lucky we were.
The next day we head of to Sintra and Peña Palace with a driver “Jose”. It’s only about a 45 minute drive but traffic is busy. Jose can’t believe how busy Sintra is and it’s only April he says. We get dropped off and D&K walk up the hill whilst WH and I wait for the bus. We join yet another queue and await for our alloted 10.30 slot, along with a a few hundred others. Ready to join the hundreds already in from the previous time slots. We try to imagine it later on but can’t, as it’s a slow moving train already. It’s very pretty though and unusual and luckily worth the visit.
Peña Palace
We wander back down the hill through the gardens and pop out the other side to the waiting chaos of buses, tuk tuks, black Mercedes vans and all other manner of vehicles trying to drop off or pick people up.
The drive back down shows a grid lock traffic line which I cannot see how anyone can make there alloted time slot. We head of to a seafood restaurant for lunch and whilst Jose highly recommends it I cannot help but be disappointed. WH tried some Octopus salad to start, eeeeeekkk. D tried some seafood soup which had all manner of bits in it. We have such amazing seafood at home that I always feel let down by some other countries fish. The saving grace was how the waiter filleted it all at our table. But our fish is better end of story.
We visit Cascais on the way back to Lisbon followed by a few other stops and in the end its a long touristy day fill of new sights, long queues, gnarly traffic jams, beautiful vistas, average food, interesting people and a lot more.
‘Twas a big day out yesterday but we managed to stay awake until 9.30pm. The sleep angels were not with me so it was a restless night and awake at 0400. I sneaked to the bathroom and had quiet coms with J back home so as not to wake WH. By 5 he too was awake so it was time to start the day.
We are off to Lisbon today so it’s check out and airport day. We do not leave until 11 so there is lots of early morning time and no washing in sight. We head to the Pantheon where we have tickets booked for 9am. Double the 5 Euro ticket price for special skip the line ones to make sure we are back in time.
We walk that way and it is so lovely in the early morning light.
We reach the lonely Pantheon being harassed by a noisey street sweeping machine, washing away the remnants of yesterday. We keep walking and unlike yesterday stumble upon memorable moments around every corner.
Pantheon
We walk some more towards the river as it’s a part of the city we haven’t yet seen and it too does not disappoint.
I cannot help but think of my wasted washing morning yesterday as the city is so enjoyable at this time in the morning. Although for much of the lanes and alleys we wander through, where the street sweeper has not or does not do a pass, it very much feels like Wellington the dawn after the conclusion of the old sevens weekend.
We head back to another wonderful breakfast and then zip back down to the Pantheon with our double the price skip the line tickets, there is of course no skip the line so we queue 80m metres which actually looks worse than it is. Once inside its dome roof dominates the space and for the last time in Rome I am in awe at its marvels. Rome wasn’t built in a day and you certainly can’t see it all in 3 and a bit, but it was fun.
PS
H10 Hotel Palazzo Galla was brilliant. Staff lovely, location 10 /10. Rooftop bar looking across the domes, 10/10 breakfast.
If you can’t stay there then google it and stay somewhere close as its location was perfect.
Today we are off to do an underground tour of the Colosseum and then the Roman forum. It says it starts at 8.45 am and the small print says we should be there 30 mins prior. D&K are posting snaps from the Spanish steps at 6am and I decide that I want to do the washing at the laundromat we passed just down the road on the way to the Trevi fountain yesterday. I KNOW RIGHT.
But really you are never quite sure of when the next one, laundromat that is, might present itself. Another point being that I got pomodoro pasta sauce on my jersey and it’s quite cold so i need it. And another point is that we have a balcony at this hotel and it will be easy to dry them. Another point being that whilst the washing is washing we can walk to the Spanish steps, which are past the Trevi fountain, and also get beautiful crowdless photos.
We arrive without getting lost and place our washing in said machine but then we can’t work out how to turn it on. It doesn’t want our money or our card and nothing works. We take it out and try another machine. Nothing. We try to translate on our phones but alas no signal. We are nearly ready to give up when I accidentally touch the screen and it beams to life with a sign to push if you want English version of instructions. Too easy. So now feeling like dumb and dumber we exit the laundry to make our way to the steps.
We chat over the fact that there are so many surveillance cameras in the laundry that they shall be able to keep themselves and their friends amused for days by our efforts to turn on the machine. We walk up the big hill and walk some more and then some more still. We eventually get the top of nowhere and realise we have walked in the opposite direction and are simply at the top of a very uninteresting hill. I KNOW RIGHT.
We walk back down. I have no lovely morning light photos to share nor stories of stumbling upon across something wonderful. Just a walk up the hill and then a walk back down. The washing is still washing even though it’s supposed to be finished and the kids text to ask if we are coming to breakfast before we leave. The last 2 minutes of the cycle take exactly 4minutes and 25 seconds. I KNOW RIGHT.
We go back to the hotel hang, or drape the washing and we are off. Quick breakfast and walk to the meeting place where the small group tour which clearly states it has no more than 15 people has 24. I KNOW RIGHT.
And we are off, follow the umbrella, up here, through here, down there, round there.
The Colosseum is interesting and it’s a real privilege to retrace the footsteps of people from thousands of years ago. It’s a privilege to visit one of the world’s most iconic monuments. Our booked skip the line tour is definitely worth it, despite the size nearly doubling as we walk past the crowds lining up for what we are told we be about 2 hours. for When in Rome you must go to the Colleseum
OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA
We leave the Colosseum and go across to the Roman forum but I am now past my use by date for umbrella following or at least listening. The skip the line queue is very long and by the time we are inside my feet ache so I sit on a wall. I chat to Pops and his lovely wife, who are not sitting on the wall, who inform me they have been married for 60 years and I am impressed by their stamina not in their long and lovely marriage but there ability to not have sore feet and be sitting on the wall.
With the tour at an end we walk to the Jewish quarter to have lunch at another of Marco’s recommendation. We try the speciality of fried Artichoke and carbonara. We drink Prosecco and Peroni. When in Rome.
We head back to our hotel and 17,000 steps later I sit here writing this with my washing nicely dried and my feet feeling the joy of having no shoes on and D&K sending snaps of yet another monument and no doubt having clocked up another 10,000 steps.
Today we are off to explore. The full moon over the rooftops just before sunrise is a lovely start to the day. As the sun comes up we head to Trevi fountain as its a ten minute walk from the hotel.
It’s a chilly morning and we are wrapped up well in the early morning chill. The fountain is lovely and there aren’t many people as its just after 6 in the morning. I am amazed at the people there in there instagram outfits looking like they are just about to head out for a night on the town. They pose and click and pose and click, over and over and over. Turns out the girls in the photo on the right below were in D&K photos that they took 20 minutes before us. Later that day we returned, or should I say tried to return, home past the fountain and the crowds were absurd.
2pm6.15 am
We have a highlights of Rome golf cart tour booked for ten so after a great hotel breakfast we are off. The trip is a lot of fun, as we bump our way over the cobblestones and through tiney tiny alleys to see the sights. Our guide Marco is great and the morning literally zooms by. We stop at a church, at fountains, at squares, at hill tops and even the circus, Maximus circus that is. It’s a great day out.
View from the orange gardenOur golf cart parked up
We finish up by asking Marco to drop us somewhere yummy for lunch and he doesn’t disappoint.
Reminding oneself that long haul travel is simply a necessity and that it is the exception to the rule of how it is not about the journey we arrive safe and sound to a major gridlock traffic jam buts what’s another hour or two added to the journey. We are here, safe and sound and soon to be able to wander in air that has not been recycled.
Our hotel is lovely and as it’s nearing 4pm we decide to wander and try to stay awake. April 25th is a public holiday in Italy as it is at home. It is their liberation day and the city is very very busy. We walk with the crowds and step sideways into a pretty courtyard where a nice security guard who speaks English tells us it’s free to visit today and shows us where to go to enter. We wander around in this not very touristy tourist attraction which seems to be the lonely place that doesn’t have crowds but is interesting enough with its sculptured walls and alfresco ceilings with giant chandeliers.
Somewhere in Rome
Once outside we once again join the masses and make our way to the hotel. It’s 6pm so we sit on the rooftop bar and order some spaghetti and pizza and enjoy the view. It’s bitingly cold and reminds us of a southerly from home but the benefit being there are very few others enjoying the view.
We decide that its time to call it quits and hope that we can at least stay up another hour but we lie on the bed to watch a movie only to wake half an hour later switch it off and go to sleep a restless timezone sleep. The new day dawns and we start a new day with a full moon still hovering over the domes of the city. It’s good to be here.
I just reread Amsterdam and I love the memories it brings back. Time travelling backwards, reading my blog. I guess that is the point of it really, maybe one day when I am in my rocking chair and my biggest trip is now within a driving miss daisy distance, then I will pick up my printed blog book and time travel backwards and I will remember what I know now, that I am indeed a lucky girl.
As I time travelled through my blog I wondered why I didn’t finish the trip off. After Amsterdam we went to Paris and we watched the best game of rugby I have been too, the quarter final between Ireland and ALL Blacks. The atmosphere was amazing, the sea of green in the squishy singing train, the tense exciting game, the slow trip back to the hotel but that’s about it really. I must of been blogged out or maybe as happens had dumb internet, or maybe i was too busy. I shall never know because just like the forgotten eggs at the supermarket trip I didn’t write it down.
Anyway enough of the history and to the here and now. We are flying Emirates this time around and I sit here 11 hours down with nearly 6 hours to go, the flight to Dubai truly deserving the name long haul. WH is watching yet another movie as time ticks monotously on and I try to quell my restlessness by beginning to write.
I have been to Rome before. On our very first trip to Europe about 20 years ago. WH got accousted at the airport by a “secret police” with a gun. In terms of time travel backwards I remember every detail of that incident even though it wasn’t written down. It still remains firmly etched in my small brain bank of scary travel tales. On that trip we spent two days exploring the eternal city before joining the never to be repeated bus tour through Europe. I loved it, the city that is not the bus tour, and vowed to come back. We did go back in 2022 when travel finally opened up again and just before we arrived I managed to get Covid so spent the majority of the days and nights set aside to explore the city, inside my hotel room.
So here we are, or actually: another 6 hours, then 4 in Dubai then 7 hours on another plane, and then “here we are” third time lucky in Rome. Can’t wait to share it with you.
The weather gods are no longer smiling on us, the temperature has dropped significantly and the rain has begun. Being a tourist in the rain in a busy city is not ideal. If you aren’t getting run over by a cyclist you are getting poked in the eye by a short persons umbrella. We bought a two day transport pass but I lost mine on the 1st tram ride so had to buy another. Now I have to put up with WH saying “have you got your tram pass” every two minutes. YES I HAVE.
Morning reflections
Got a good shot of the reflection this morning on the canal outside of our hotel when we in search of coffee. Searching for a coffee shop here takes on a whole new meaning as all the ones on our corner would get me stoned if I just stood outside on the pavement. WE find a great little place that does a flat white and an avocado smash toast. Excellent.
We decide to do a canal cruise as the boat has a glass roof and it’s dry. It’s a nice way to tour the sites and not very busy at all, with only about a dozen people on the boat. We get off and then get on the tram and ride number 2 to the end and then back again. The rain is really heavy now and we have wet shoes, wet arms and wet legs. WH only has one pair of jeans so I offer to take him shopping for another but he declines safe in knowledge that he feels he will get 4 days and two rugby games out of them easy. The hotel has a heated towel rail for the purpose of drying them he declares. We will see.
Canal cruise – bridge on bridge, on bridge, on bridge, on bridge, on bridge
The last afternoon of our cruise we stop at Kinderdijk to visit the windmills. Living below sea level and therefore the constant pumping out of water so they are not flooded is fascinating. The fact that people still live in many of them is surprising to me especially as when you are inside them they are very noisey when operating and full of low beams and ladders to get around. It was however a great change from cathedrals and castles and was a lovely afternoon.
WH and I ditch the tour group and walk further along the canals. The sun is shining which feels good as it’s the first time in a few days. Our weather luck has run out and looking forward it only gets worse, so I shan’t look.
I have enjoyed the cruise but am pleased to be getting off. I have found the ship too small, too loud, too hi de hi camper. On the cruise ship although it wasn’t big there were lots of places to eat, to escape to, to move away if you wanted to but on the river cruise its more difficult. There were some quite big groups made up of 8 or ten or one of 12 travelling together and they seemed to overpower the spaces and you couldn’t escape them.
We managed to be on there a week and only once eat in the restaurant, a breakfast. Every other days we ate in the less formal bistro which only seated 16. The food was always good and there we got to know some other diners who liked the same casualness of it and of course the staff. The staff are brilliant, incredibly efficient and always friendly. Only 5 nights until we leave for home, but who’s counting.
Three days pass and I cant say they are busy. They are entertaining in a travel sense of seeing new things and learning new stuff. They do however merge into each other as we walk through cobblestone streets to see the largest church spire in Europe, which i thought we saw in the last town in the town before.
There is an artist sitting painting the cathedral by the wall (middle picture) its a beautiful scene and I think of my point and shoot camera and his time, commitment and talents. I wonder what he does all his works as I hit the delete button to banish images that took moments to capture and less to erase. I think all this and then everybody is laughing and I realise I am once again lost in this walking tour group with white noise coming in my ears. I ask WH what’s funny and he asks if my earpiece is working. “Yep” I say. I just aren’t listening. He repeats what was funny and I feel you had to be there actively LISTENING as the moment had passed and I aim to do better.
Speyer cathedralSpeyer artist paintingSpeyer town
We are the only Kiwis on this cruise and people in general seem fascinated by us. They cannot believe we travelled so far and many say they would never go to NZ as the 7 or 8 or maybe 9 hour flight from the states to Basel was too long. Your loss I think but don’t say. We travel onto Koblenz and walk along its banks into town. Everyone is out and about on a Sunday afternoon and they line the banks in there deck chairs and trestle tables drinking beer and wine.
We cruise the river through castle territory. It’s really scenic as we pass through al the vineyards with castles dotted on the hilltops and pretty villages below. The weather has got cooler and things slightly duller and the scenery blends into the background and loses its crisp edge.
The older train tunnels are fascinating as they are made to look like castles or churches. Hitler did this in the Second World War to camouflage them during the war so they couldn’t be bombed.
Train tunnels
We visit an old castle, the only one on the Rhine that has not been destroyed and rebuilt. It is the one that they based the movie Frozen on (evidently). Again very interesting how they heated it and cooled it and dined, and went toilet.There was a big fire under the bedroom floor that heated the bricks for underfloor heating. In the winter when the Rhine froze they went down and cut out big blocks bought them back wrapped them in straw and kept them in the cellar to keep them frozen for summer so they then put them in the fridge. (The last time the Rhine froze was in the 1940’s). The toilet was straight off the dining room “evidently” so they didnt have to miss any important conversation if the need arose and was built out over the edge so it literally was a long drop. Check out the armour below. Definitely wouldn’t want a kick up the backside with these shoes.
Frozen castleFridgeToilet
We travel on to Cologne and I am underwhelmed. Of course it has the biggest cathedral and a fascinating history. The thing that is most notable is its awful architecture. We are told that 80% of it was destroyed and most of what was left they tore down as they wanted to build a modern city. They took note of the Americans and decided they wanted a car friendly city and made way for this. The cathedral which was built over 500 years and finally finished and paid for by donated pennies from all of the inhabitants, is blocked by a monstrosity of a building that has been closed for 6 years and expected to be for the next 6 years as it is renovated. We are told that after the war nobody wanted to look back and only wanted new and modern. There are interesting facets like the little bronze plaques in the pavements outside some houses. A artist decided that things were not to be forgotten and these little plaques represent Jews who lived there and were taken away to concentration camps and then died.
Building next to cathedralCouncil officesBronze plaques
We do a loop around the bridges with one covered in lovelocks as far as you can see. We joke about the combination locks, or the ones with three locks on a lock, perhaps hedging their bets.
Love locks, Cathedral in background.
We stop on the way back to the ship to indulge in the Kosch beer culture whereby you get a small beer glass of about 200ml, as you drink it they replace it, by putting one beside it, each time they do this they put another mark on the coaster beside you until you eventually when you have had enough you put the coaster on the top of your glass and they come along and tally up the cost and you pay and move on. For those who know me well I still do not like beer so drank wine whilst WH collected his marks. Each brew house has its own beer and served this way it stays cold and fresh.
We wander slowly back to the ship and my watch beeps me to tell me I have done 12000 steps. I look down on the top deck of the ship and see the Lycra ladies and a Lululemon couple walking around the walking circuit. “Why would you” I say to WH. There is a bridge walk and esplanade walk, an old town (not much old) walk, a cathedral walk where you can even climb to the tower. We are in a new place everyday, why would you just walk in circles like a caged mouse round and round. If you need more steps you just go for another walk in a different direction and see something new. It’s how discoveries are made. I can definitely see the point at sea on an oceangoing voyage where land is not in sight but here in this space I cannot remotely understand.
In fact truth be told I am a bit of “:why would you” over a few things and probably best I get off tomorrow after visiting the windmills. Why would you put your phone on speaker and talk to your daughter, grandchild, colleague in the middle of the bar? Why would you talk so loudly in the casual diner that four tables away from you I can hear every word you are saying, AND ITS LOUD. Why would you order food and then decide you are not hungry and leave a full plate sitting? (Unless of course you have an emergency stomach thing happening). Why would you complain about the scrambled eggs and not eat them, then I kid you not order them again the next two mornings and do the same thing. Ahhhhh tis an interesting onboard ship life so time to get off and look at some windmills.
What a terrible sleep. Sleep when it doesn’t come is a whole blog in itself. Everyone has been there so I shall only say, I empathise. It’s shitty.
Misty river
We are berthed in Kiel and in the morning we bus to Strasbourg. I think i will get one of those power naps and nearly fall asleep on the bus but my head keeps doing that dropping off your neck thing and jolting me up. I wish I was short so my head could just rest back on the head rest but alas the head rest sits across my shoulders. The tour guide goes on and on and on and I am amazed at how she doesn’t even seem to draw breath.
Some fun facts, although so many are not fun. The stork is the emblem for the area of Aldeche where we are and souvenirs are adorned with it everywhere. They migrate to Africa every autumn and come back in Spring. They mate for life and in the Second World War there were only 12 couples and n ow there are 1000. A successful story. This part of France was annexed in the treaty with Germany and when it got tough for Germany they sent them all to war to fight for Germany. They couldn’t send them to fight against the French so they sent them to fight against the Russians. At the end of the war those remaining were sent to labour camps by the Russians. It’s sad. We will remember them. I learnt heaps of other stuff in the blah, blah, blah, and it is interesting but I am not going to regurgitate it in case you had to be here.
Strasbourg is pretty.
Of course it has a big, big, big, church. In fact this was the tallest (man’s made) structure in the world for quite a while. Even though my cathedral viewing is at its maximum limit I am impressed.
Big cathedralBig organModern stained glass windowBig inside
We ditch the tour and find a boat that sails the canals. It’s nice and we go up a lock and then down a lock. I love the locks they and there centuries’ old technology that still works today.
We disembark and have some lunch then keep on, keeping on. Walking. Looking. Seeing. Walking. I don’t find it has “Hansel and Gretel” as Colmar. It doesn’t have quite the same appeal but maybe that is the sleep thing.
