Author: Glendon

Retired Australian Lawyer having worked representing the innocent and the not so innocent in Australia and some of the remote parts of the world and having travelled widely through Europe, Western Russia, Canada, USA, New Zealand, Thailand Malaysia Solomon Islands northern China, Hong Kong and the UAE So now that I have the time I am writing about my travels present and past. Hope you enjoy exploring off the beaten track.

The Retirees return to Nottingham – Fellow Travelers and Old Friends

Wednesday, we will travel by car to Manchester to meet Martin and Chris who we met on our river trip from Cologne along the Rhine in Germany. The trip to Manchester would normally mean heading for Stoke on Trent then onto the M6 and a dreary drive fighting the traffic and road works so we decided we would head out through Derby and follow the rim of the Peak District around to Leek and then across to Warrington and Newton where we would meet them.

As usual the Peak District was beautiful and green. We stopped for morning tea at Leek another historic market town. The town square had some market vendors and a lovely cake shop where we stopped for coffee and a lolly shop for something to suck on whilst driving to Newton. As we left I noticed the Police station although I suspect the building has a different use today.

We met at a Toby Carvery which is a franchised pub built in an early 19th century style with a carvery buffet. Nice food and lashings of it. It was wonderful to catch up again but Martin has been “in the wars” falling 18 feet off a ladder although you wouldn’t know it to see him now.

Thursday and our time in England has come to an end. Pack the suitcases and head for the M1 back to London Gatwick. The trick when travelling the motorways is to avoid major delays otherwise no matter how well prepared you maybe, delays can take hours to clear and planes will be missed. The M1 was free flowing until we stopped in Northamptonshire for morning tea. Unbeknown to us there had been a severe motor accident on the north bound lanes and when that occurs emergency vehicles will use the lanes on the opposite side of the highway to access the incident thereby stopping traffic in the opposite direction. We had planned for that eventuality and despite languishing somewhere between Northamptonshire and Hertfordshire on the M1 we made it to the dreaded M25. I say dreaded because delays will most often occur on the M25 just because of the volume of the traffic and as usual we had some minor delays. After all was said and done we arrived with time to spare to have lunch and prepare for the flight to Florence.

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The Retirees return to Nottingham – Old Neighbours

One of the things we wanted to do was catch up with our old Long Eaton neighbour, Pam Fowler. Pam and her husband John lived across the hall from our flat 41 and we regularly met and they shared their knowledge of the counties with us to help our explorations. Just before we departed Long Eaton we took John for his last walk around the lake at the University of Nottingham. John was determined despite his ill health to do the circuit and enjoyed the outing very much. We returned to Australia and learned that shortly after John had died. Now we wanted to catch up with Pam and see how she was getting on.

We walked from the Novotel to Oxford St (about an hour walk) past one of the many garden beds full of spring flowers and there was Pam waiting at the gate for us to arrive. Pam had planned that we have lunch at Bennett’s Hotel, a site which had been under redevelopment for the whole of the time we were living in Long Eaton. The hotel has been renovated internally in a modern style and it has a simple menu for seniors like us. Lunch was very pleasant. We returned to Pam’s flat, flat 40 a very familiar scene for us from the myriad of visits we made to John and Pam. Over coffee we reminisced about John and Pam spoke of life after John. It appears that Pam has come to terms with John’s passing and is now comfortable living on her own. We will continue to keep in touch.

Monday evening is Rotary at Nottingham. Still meeting at the Crowne Plaza Hotel, we turned up for their AGM and surprised many of them despite having given notice to the Club Secretary. It was a great reunion and reminded us how supportive they were when we lived at Long Eaton. A surprise visitor (apart from us) was Eve Conway the RIBI President (Britain is the only country in the world where Rotary is administered outside of Chicago as a result of war time communication between Chicago and the UK being difficult during WWI). We posed for a photo with the Club dignitaries Paul Jones the President Elect on the left and Chris Spencer on the right the current President and Eve and it is posted on our Rotary website.

Tuesday, we visited Nick Smith at Direct Trimmings our former associate in the Glitter and Dance experiment in the UK. Nick’s business is on the 4th floor of an old spinning mill in Leopold St and site of the first G&D shop. Kerry had always complained that the stairs were killing her without knowing that she had a “wart” inside her heart. This time having undergone open heart surgery to remove the wart she climbed the stairs grinning about the change the surgery had made. The chimney in the yard of the mill, (formerly served the steam boilers of the old factory both now heritage listed) was undergoing some repair whilst we are there and we stared in awe at the blokes climbing the various ladders tied to the chimney to do the repair.

After chatting to Nick regarding business trends and changes around Long Eaton, we jump onto the tram at Toton and headed into the city for lunch with Geoff and Diana Bosworth from the Rotary Club. Diana is a Kiwi who lived in Australia after meeting Geoff and then in Canada with Geoff ultimately moving to Nottingham. Coming from the Antipodes we had a connection. Diana selected the restaurant in a part of Nottingham that is new to us just to show us that we have not been everywhere. Typical Kiwi always trying to out do an Aussie. Not really but we keep the rivalry going.

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The Retirees return to Nottingham – Lord Byron and Hucknall

After lunch we made our way into the village of Hucknall itself. Lord Bryon appears to be the only historically significant person to have come lived in the area as there are statues to his fame and the local Church of St Mary Magdalene holds his remains in its vault along with the rest of the family. The vault has now been finally sealed. The church holds a great deal of history about Byron and his only legitimate daughter as well as glorious plantings of spring flowers and little animals. In the former High St (now being turned into a mall) is one of the few remaining towers displaying the former name of the village and a statue in remembrance to the mining heritage that brought wealth to the village.

So, after returning to our hotel I had a look at the life of Byron. Although born in London, Lord George Byron the poet made nearby Newstead Abbey his home. The Byron family’s relationship with Newstead Abbey started with Sir John Byron of Colwick in Nottinghamshire who was granted Newstead Abbey by Henry VIII of England on 26 May 1540 and started its conversion into a country house. The 5th Lord died on 21 May 1798, and the title and Newstead Abbey was then left to his great-nephew, George Gordon, the famous poet, who became the 6th Baron Byron.

Despite the Abbey falling into disrepair, he was determined to stay at Newstead—”Newstead and I stand or fall together”. However, he was cash strapped and a buyer was found, who offered £140,000, which was accepted. By spring 1813, the buyer, had only paid £5,000 of the agreed down-payment and Byron was now without settled financial means. Involved at first in an affair with Lady Caroline Lamb and with other lovers and also pressed by debt, he began to seek a suitable marriage, considering – amongst others – Annabella Millbanke.

However, in 1813 he met for the first time in four years his half-sister, Augusta Leigh. Rumours of incest surrounded the pair; Augusta’s daughter Medora (b. 1814) was suspected to have been Byron’s. To escape from growing debt and rumour, Byron pressed his determination to marry Annabella, who was said to be the likely heiress of a rich uncle. They married on 2 January 1815, and their daughter, Ada, was born in December of that year. However, Byron’s continuing obsession with Augusta (and his continuing sexual escapades with actresses and others) made their marital life a misery. Annabella considered Byron insane, and in January 1816 she left him, taking their daughter, and began proceedings for a legal separation. The scandal of the separation, the rumours about Augusta, and ever-increasing debts forced him to leave England in April 1816, never to return. He died of a fever whilst fighting with the Greeks against the Ottomans for Greece’s independence.

Ada, became the Countess of Lovelace, whose work on Charles Babbage’s Analytical Engine is considered a founding document in the field of computer science.

Photos – statue of Byron, family vault and memorial

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The Retirees return to Nottingham.

We arrived at Gatwick Airport South and after resting our weary heads from trains and planes, we then set off in search of the Europcar office, which also proved to be difficult to find but we got there only to find the car we had reserved was not available. After one and a half hours we finally got away from Gatwick and headed off up the M23, the M25, and then the M1 to Nottingham. It really felt like we were going home with all the familiar features along the highway. Finally, 4 hours after leaving London Gatwick we pulled into Bostocks Lane off the M1 and arrived at the Novotel Nottingham Derbyshire; a hotel well known to us. When we left the UK in November 2015 the hotel was undergoing renovation, now in April 2017 we were given a comfortable room with a view of the bush leading to the canal path leading to the River Trent. Spring was coming and as usual flowers were blooming everywhere.

Rested we awoke to a grey day without any real plans. After speaking with our eldest daughter in Australia, we decided to ride the tram to Hucknall. In 2015 the council had just finished constructing a new tram line from Toton (the next village beside Long Eaton) to Hucknall through Nottingham and although we were there for the opening we did not ride the rail all the way to the end. So that is what we decided to do – ride the tram to Hucknall. As we left to drive to the park and ride station I took photos of the beautiful road side flower beds proving that Spring was in the air but it did not feel like it at all.

Kerry had read about Bridlesmith St and its boutiques and as I was foolish enough to comment that it was just near the Lace District and the tram passed through it, our first stop was Bridlesmith Lane. Of course there were some shops that needed investigation but we finally made it to the old Market Square and picked up the tram once again to complete the journey to Hucknall just down the road from Newstead Abbey the former home of Lord Byron. We had lunch at the Station Hotel which had a curious games room which included a quote from Lord Byron on its wall “What’s drinking? A mere pause for thinking!”

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The Retirees return to Italy – Leaving the SS Costa Diadema for Nottingham.

We spent our day tying up loose ends and generally lazing around the ship. We attended the disembarkation lecture and tried to reconcile our on – board account with the deductions made from our cash card (that is another story). The following day we were unable to disembark until around 9.30 am and that was an hour earlier than our schedule time. We shared a cab to the Civitavecchia rail station and caught the train to Terminii but after enduring screaming children and ignorant Italian parents for an hour we left the train at what we thought at first to be the wrong station. However, when checking the station timetable we found that we could catch a train to the airport from that station without going into Terminii.

Our train trip to the airport was far less stressful but we had arrived hours too early. We had lunch and then waited and waited until the check in opened finally making our way to the plane and ultimately London Gatwick. A long day travelling. Just when we thought that our travelling was going to get easier, we encountered the case of the missing hotel. We had a reservation at the Hilton London Gatwick but could not find it until a kind gentleman in the carpark told us the sign directing us to the hotel meant go straight ahead then turn right not turn right. We soon located the hotel and ordered room service. It was now 10.00pm Italian time/9.00pm UK time. We had been travelling 12 hours and were dog tired.

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The Retirees return to Italy – On board the SS Costa Diadema – Mallorca

We rise early and breakfast in our cabin as the bus leaves at 8.30 am. We are going to Las Cuevas del Drach (Dragon’s Cave), a limestone cave about 1 hour drive from Las Palma the major city on the island. The bus ride has some interesting aspects particularly the large number of windmills in every state of decay – restored through to tumbled down. These windmills were used throughout history of Mallorca as pumps to drain the lowlands. Las Palma has over 400,000 people out of a population of 800,000. We passed through Manacor the second largest city having a population 40,000 people and Raphael Nadal’s tennis school as he is a native of the island.

Once we arrive and alight from the bus, guides take us into the below ground entrance. The caves have been known since the middle ages, but were not fully explored till 1880 by a German speleologist who drew up the first detailed plan of the caves and then by a French speleologist Martel who gave his name to the lake in the bottom of the cave system. We enter the system through the cave called Luis Salvador and follow a formed path with lighting highlighting the limestone features within. Stalactites and stalagmites abound. There is a large pond of clear but bluish water called Diana Baths and many of the other formations have been given names to reflect the image evoked by the formation. Our journey reaches a climax when we arrive at an amphitheater facing Lake Martel.

The amphitheatre has been modeled as a theatre. Once all the stragglers have arrived the lights are dimmed and the concert begins. A quartet made up of two violins cello and harmonium playing classical music sails forth upon the lake accompanied by two other boats each illuminated along the edge of each boat. At the end of the concert lasting about ten minutes the boat with the orchestra sails into the caves and some are lucky enough to get a trip on one of the other boats whilst others like us trail through the Cave of the French completing the 1200 metre journey through the cave system. Awaiting us there is the usual gift shop and cafe but not much more.

Once we all emerge and all of the group is on the bus we traveled literally 200 m to our next point of interest – a pearl shop. As we had been through the fresh water pearl factories in China this really did not hold much interest and like China was set up as a honey trap for tourists. And that was it the tour was over and we were headed back to the ship. We were left feeling a bit flat. The caves were interesting but we were left with not enough time to visit Las Palma and too much time to go back to the ship. The bus stopped across the road from the Cathedral tempting us to venture forth and explore some more but with the choice of rushing around the old town or relaxing on the ship – the ship won. Tomorrow we start the return trip to Civitavecchia.

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The Retirees return to Italy – On board the SS Costa Diadema – Marseilles and Barcelona

Sailing along the Gulf of Genoa and the Ligurian Coast, past the Principality of Monaco, Nice, Cannes and Sanry sur Mer, our next port of call is Marseilles. Daylight saving starts tonight so we find ourselves waking at 8.20am to see “Marseille” out the starboard window.  I spot an island with a fort and a church with a tower on a hill. But this is Sunday a day of rest for us too. So, we spend the day on ship in the spa having an ice cream and finishing with massages and a movie. We set sail with the next stop Barcelona.

Arriving at Barcelona, we find ourselves caught out by the time change for daylight saving. We rush to have breakfast to ensure we are on board the first coach to the city centre. The coach drops us near the World Trade Centre and we see the Red Bus nearby. We are not sure what we want to do in Barcelona and we decide that with grey skies and sprinkling rain we should catch the bus. One thing we have learned about Barcelona is that it is spread widely so the bus trip took a long time to get anywhere.

The first sight we see is the cable car tower at Port Voll which connects with Mont Juic. We board the Red Bus which climbs up Mont Juic past Anella Olimpica which is a renovated building converted into a stadium for the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona. Further along we encounter the Arenas de Barcelona (the former bull fight ring) now a shopping centre. It had to be raised to fit the new use. This was on the way to the stadium for FC Barcelona.

The bus returned to Port Voll with over 4,000 moorings and some rather decent boats. From there we visited La Barceloneta and the main beach of the town. Unfortunately, the day had not improved and wind and rain now swept the beach. My goal was to see Sagrada Familia the most popular of Barcelona’s works by the famous architect Gaudi. We changed from the red west line to the green east line to see the Familia but it was not to be. In fact, it is so popular that you have to purchase tickets to visit. By the time, we got there the tickets had sold out until the following day. So, we strolled around the Familia and I was able to take a few pictures even though it was still under renovation/repair.

We found a warm bar across the road and ordered a paella. We made the decision to abandon the bus and try our hand at the Metro to visit the old part of the town. After investigating the available lines at the nearby Metro, we decided on the purple line to Paral-el. Once we arrived at the station we found it is situated on the Avenue Paral-el and very close to the cable car tower where we started our trip. We were still not in the old town so we headed to the wharves and took a left-hand turn to Avenue la Rambla and into the heart of the old town. On the way, we passed a reminder of Barcelona’s industrial history, and a reminder of it is medieval past. The old town was drab and although it had its fair share of old churches, medieval bridges, and Roman relics, it did not capture our interest. The sky had lost its cloudiness and the warmth of the sun could be felt and appreciated but it did not last long. We stopped at a small bar and enjoyed a fruit smoothie each and decided to head back to the ship. Our excitement was so great that we left without paying which I remembered when we were halfway back to our collection point causing us to retrace our steps pay our bill and start again. Tomorrow is Mallorca and Palma de Mallorca.

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The Retirees return to Italy – On board the SS Costa Diadema – Savona

Our next port of call is Savona. During the night, the ship navigates around the Ligurian coast past Portofino and Genoa. Our plan is to travel by bus to Genoa and check out the old town. It is a bit overcast when we arrive in Genoa. It is an early start and an hour by autostrada to Genoa and we are dropped off at a square beside the aquarium and a fake galleon donated by Roman Polanski after he finished making a pirate movie.

Genoa is a much lively place with its ancient buildings having covered footpath hiding the retail premises beneath the residences above. For the naval historians reading this, you will know of Genoa’s maritime history, its long – time battle with Venice for dominance of the sea lanes and the wealth of the town but those who don’t need to see our photos of the city gates and how residences and shops have all but swallowed it up, the streets lined with shops, the continuous apartments and the piazzas, the public icons on buildings, the churches (including San Maria Madellane where an Italian playing bagpipes played a lament on the anniversary of a deceased husband for the grieving widow and San Pietro in Banchi) and banks that line even the smallest streets.

Following the back streets led us to the mall in Via San Lorenzo. Here the more extravagant monuments could be found in Piazzas San Lorenzo (Cathedrale San Lorenzo) Matteotti (Chiesa del Gesu) and Ferrari. Outside the Chiesa del Gesu a protest to abuse of children. After the fountain in Piazza Ferrari we followed into Via Dante and the house of Christopher Columbus, that famous mariner who discovered and claimed for the King of Spain the Americas and all the time he was Genoese not Italian or Spanish. Remember Genoa was a city state with its own government, and naval force and Italy would not be unified until 1861 under Garibaldi.

Columbus’s house

After the house of Columbus, we passed into Piazza Dante and there stood two towers and another town gate. So, we sat in the sun with our stolen rolls from the ship and had our morning tea looking at a Roman ruin and the city gate connected to the remnant of the city wall. Following the city wall, we passed little trattorias, doorways in the wall, and the Piazza di Sarzano. After calling into a ship’s chandelier to pick up a thingo, we made our way back to the bus in Piazza Caricamento and return to the Diadema.

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The Retirees return to Italy – On board the SS Costa Diadema – La Spezia.

After sailing all night passing the lights of the islands of Giannutri and Giglo, we arrive at La Spezia. This huge ship reverses into the berth by the wharf. We can see all the tour buses lined up waiting for us and the town is awaking to another visit by tourists.

After breakfast and before our tour, we stroll the ship and find the basketball court, the adventure castle and Peppa Pig water park.

We have some free time in La Spezia. This is very close to Cinque Terra which is to the north so there are some aspects that seem familiar such as the colours of the buildings along the shore. In the town, there is a strange church on Piazza Europa and the buildings are very grand. An adjoining square has these simple but effective sculptures highlighting the unitary colours of the buildings around. Mandarin trees laden with fruit line the streets. Not a lot to see or do but the stroll through the town and along the waterfront is very enjoyable. It gives us a chance to see our ship at berth and take a portrait.

After we have lunch, I am a little ashamed to say, we went to a shopping village by bus. Even so it allowed us to see some of the rural areas outside of La Spezia and like most of Italy there were always hilltop villages in view. But I have withheld the shopping photos through embarrassment. We visited one of those villages, Sarzana which of course had a Roman heritage and was one of the towns controlled by the Medici family in the middle ages. The bus dropped us off outside of the town walls so that we entered through the Town Gate and then proceeded to the top of the wall for a view down the main street. Crossing to the other side we came across a Medici fortress with its clone on the hilltop behind the town. It was here we lost the rest of the tour and made our own investigations.

Kerry and I followed the streets through typical Italian village squares (Piazzas), past remnant pieces of history such as the village well now water fountain, workshops (this one being the workshop of a motorbike restorer), the memorial to lives lost in conflict beside a children’s merry-go-round, houses built on remnant parts of the old wall, and a building that appeared to be something to do with injured servicemen. The village is very much alive and a place still in use but having its roots in Roman times. Times up and we fight the evening traffic to return to Diadema, dinner and bed.

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The Retirees return to Italy – Farewell Cesi hello Civitavecchia

Our day starts, as usual, with a manic trip to Terni by bus this time with suitcases which run a muck in the bus leading to a collision between my head and the overhead luggage racks. Kerry found this most humorous. We board the train remembering to validate our tickets and bid Roberto farewell. The trip to Rome was going smoothly until we reached Orta when there was a delay of some 30 minutes throwing out our timing to catch the train to Civitavecchia and the departure point for our ship.

Of course, we arrive at Platform 1 EST the furthest point from the station. We then walked with suitcases to the station, where we try to purchase tickets but due to a misspelling of the name of the port Kerry is having difficulty when a “helpful” local intervenes then begs for financial assistance for his services. Fair enough I think he helped except that we got tickets for the next train to Civitavecchia from Platform 28 which is the equivalent of Platform 1 EST only on the opposite side of the station. Panic ensues as we charge up the platform. My suitcase has suddenly got very heavy. Finally, I drag it onto the train much relieved that we made it. I then examined my suitcase to find one of the wheels to be frozen. The ride to Civitavecchia went smoothly and we resolved to get a cab to the ship – it proved a great decision with the cab delivering us and luggage to the door for €10.

We were finally able to relax. From our cabin window, we see the other ships at anchor and the land disappearing in our wake. Our room is large and comfortable, the ship luxurious in its fitout and we look forward to our trip to La Spezia through the Tyrrhenian Sea.

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