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 go Abroad – Ice Caves near Werfen Austria

This was to prove to be a very special day in many ways. We started early with the goal of doing the ice caves, Berchtesgaden salt mines and the Eagles Nest. I am glad we decided to do the ice caves first. The drive to the caves was exhilarating. We climbed to an enormous height way above Hohenwerfen castle which itself stood on a hill above the town, then after paying for our entry we walked up what must have been a 25 degree slope for 10 minutes then through a tunnel in the mountain for another 5 minutes then climbed again on a steep twisting trail for another 10 minutes to reach the cable car which took us up to 1500m. There we climbed again for another ½ hour on a twisting trail partly sheltered by concrete to protect against rock slides before we got to the mouth of the cave.

There were groups of school children as well as tourists so we had about a ½ hour wait (to catch our breath) before we were given our kerosene miners lamp and entered the cave with a mixed group of German and English speakers and our guide. No photos allowed inside so I have cheated bought a series of post cards photographed them and they appear below. However the thing you need to know is that the cave is cold – below freezing obviously and the trail is for the first ¾ of an hour made up of ladders climbing 700 steps up or the equivalent of 145m up through the caverns. After the climb to get there this can be quite a strain. Then of course you have to come down and walk back to your car. We thought we had earned a hot chocolate which we consumed before taking the cable car down to the last stage of our walk back to the car.

A breath taking experience!

The Retirees go Abroad – Salt Mines Berchtesgaden Austria

We lunched on Austrian baguettes (a bit tougher than the French ones) after climbing down from the Ice Caves looking at Hohenwerfen Castle and then travelled to Berchtesgaden. Kerry’s IPhone must have been playing a joke on us as we took the most circuitous route through villages to end up on a main road beside the tour buses at our destination, the salt mines. I was very surprised that we were standing in front of a glass and steel building with a train line poking out of it.

We encountered another Aussie Bea out for the day with her Austrian friend of 40 years. They joined us and we dressed in our overalls along with a tour bus of Chinese to head off on a tour in German with audio guides for those of us who did not understand German. No photos permitted of course but this did not stop the Chinese so I got a bit of the action half way through. The museum is an old salt mine and the tour went through its history and the mining process. The mine is still in use today and is likely to continue for many years yet and the stores of it are immense.

One of the photos shows Kerry me and Bea on one of the slides. I cannot tell a lie this was the highlight shushing down the slides. The tour included a boat ride on one of the lakes formed underground by the mining process of dissolving the salt and pumping it out and some of the photos are of the light show you watch from the boat. The picture of the church is just random – we saw this as we followed Tommy’s directions to the salt mines.

We had planned to visit the Eagles Nest. This is the resort built for Hitler on top of a mountain above Berchtesgaden which today is a restaurant and visited by many tourists but not us today as we are too late. Ah well we have done some amazing things today so I cannot be disappointed.

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The Retirees go Abroad – Old Town Salzburg Austria

You may remember a little movie called “the Sound of Music” and that most of the movie is set in Salzburg and that most of it was shot in Salzburg. Well even though there is no organised tour you can visit some of the sights where famous scenes were shot. Like the pavilion at Schloss Hellbrun, the fountain in Residenz Square, the cemetery at St Peters and a few other sights. Well I can give you the fountain and the Duomo of Salzburg, the cemetery at St Peters but not the Pavilion as we were too tired and wet for reasons I will explain. I have also included a shot of a large ball with a figure on top for which I can give no explanation.

St Peter’s Cemetery is where the Von Trapp family hid from the Brown Shirts after their performance. It is a beautiful cemetery with some unusual aspects like its gated tombs to the chapel built into the rock wall and the gardens in the graves themselves.

Hohensalzburg Castle sits directly above the city and was the place of power and protection for the Prince Bishops of Salzburg. Although it has the oldest working funicular (originally powered by horses) it is now used for delivery of goods whilst a modern funicular give visitors access to the castle.

After arriving in the castle grounds, we made our way to the courtyard via one of the well heads and via the keep passing a marionette theatre which included the Von Trapps.  The keep was made up of a square tower not much like the fortified keeps of English castles. In the courtyard was a quaint church and a display on the changes to the castle over time. We also saw the old funicular as it is today still used to cart goods in and out of the castle.

In the state rooms we did not see much of the life of the bishops but rather a military museum. However the doors and door jambs were remarkable with the jambs made in marble. There were a number of tiled stoves (apparently Salzburg was a leader in these when they were popular) and one section of wall where during recent remodelling they found that a much earlier wall had been bricked in and they have left it open for visitors to see the earlier construction.

Other displays included medieval weapons and armour, a chapel, a kitchen and musical instruments. The kitchen had a quaint exhaust system for fouled water. A purpose built hole in the wall.

We were also able to get a view of the monastery we had visited previously or at least a little part of the walls and watch towers.After the castle we visited the Bendictine Monastery where Mother Superior sang “Climb Every Mountain” but photo opportunities were limited.

Then off to catch the bus (that bus pass came in very handy) to Schloss Hellbrun and the Folk Museum. This is a palace without a bedroom. The Bishop for whom it was built only wanted a day residence and he wanted to have fun so it is filled with water traps for his guests and todays visitors. If you visit don’t expect to stay dry. There are many little water operated dioramas including one that ends with a fountain on its audience.

Our visit to the folk museum was a bit of an afterthought – after we had walked in the opposite direction. It turned out to be a short version of the trek to the Ice Caves without a cable car and perhaps not worth the effort. Here are the photos for you to decide.

As we were leaving Schloss Hellbrun I noticed this lovely line of flowers with the colours lined to create a dazzling display. After leaving the palace of trick fountains and long walks, we finished the day by visiting the Mozart Steg – the final place of residence for Mozart in Salzburg. Well talk about disappointing. There seemed to be more about things that were not Mozart and we found out when we visited Mozart’s home where he grew up that all the good stuff was over there. Anyway this is what the front door to his last home in Salzburg looks like.

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The Retirees go Abroad – the Devils Bridge and the village of Sillico

Today we set out to see some of the smaller villages around Lucca. First port of call was Borgo a Mozzano which is best known for Ponte della Maddalena also called “del Diavolo” (Devil’s Bridge). The Devil’s Bridge is located about one kilometre north of the town. According to the historical notices beside the bridge it was first built to provide the Lombards with safe passage through their territories avoiding conflict with other tribes of the area. Then the present day bridge with its extraordinary engineering was commissioned by Countess Mathilde di Canossa in or around 1500. The bridge’s majestic structure attracts thousands of tourists every year.

The legend/myth about the bridge is that when the bridge was being built the devil said to the people of the village that he would enable the bridge to be built if he could have the first soul to cross the bridge. This troubled the Mayor until an old farmer said go ahead with the bridge I will give up the first soul. The bridge was built and the farmer told everyone to stay clear while he coaxed his pig to cross the bridge. The devil was so irate he threw himself off the bridge and never returned.

After spending an idyllic hour eating a picnic lunch under the trees near the bridge we pushed on to find a hot water spring Pra del Lama shown on our map. We searched high and low to find this spring even to the point where we were confronted with a track along the spine of a hill which I think even the Romans rejected. But we lived to tell the tale. Instead we ended up in Sillico (I think we were silly co), a pretty village on the peak of a hill/mountain where we got some great photos.

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The Retirees go Abroad – Verona Overnight

David and Veronica are now on their way to Rome and we head north to Salzburg in Austria. We have broken the trip into two parts – Lucca to Verona and Verona to Salzburg. We are hoping that we will get away from the heat for a while.

Travelling north through the heart of Italy we saw much the same scenery that abounded in Tuscany and it did not get much cooler. As it was an overnight we stayed in the Best Western CTC Verona. Tommy got terribly confused and took us miles from our destination but eventually we arrived. Quickly we unpacked and drove into the old town of Verona principally to see the balcony from which Juliette received those immortal words “Juliette, Juliette wherefore art thou Juliette”.

We found the parking station and walked through the old gate and ran smack into a Roman Amphitheatre. Verona has managed to preserve this historic part of its Roman history and today uses it for less violent activities. Presently they are preparing the stage for an Egyptian themed production.

Kerry was indisposed when I heard drums chants and whistles outside the arena. Maybe they have caught a Christian or two for the lions I thought but no it was a protest of some sort – most boring. We then headed into the streets of old Verona in search of a Shakespearean experience. Past dress shops and shoe shops and bag shops – hard work I can tell you until we saw the sign. There in front of us was a Japanese bus tour – they had found Juliette’s balcony.

We could not leave it there we had to find Romeo’s pad. Back into the street armed with a tourism map marked with all the sights, we found the Palace, Palazzo della Ragione, the Palais of Justice, the old city well, a church with grand tombs around it and a Square dedicated to a famous French writer whose name I have forgotten. Almost at our wits end we found it – a most unimposing place and no Japanese tour thronging to photograph it. In fact to our surprise, the current resident suddenly appeared – no not Romeo but who knows maybe a Capulette?

Verona was a surprising city with its pretty building its markets and the mobile market stands, its three wheeled eco cleaning utilities, and it’s pretty women. Dinner was a shared pizza in the shadow of the Roman Arena before going home with the prettiest woman.

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The Retirees go Abroad – Salzburg, Hangar 7 and the Capuchin Monastery

It’s Sunday and the weather is deteriorating. Rain is forecast for the week and we can no longer see the top of the mountain that towers over Salzburg. The mountain remained clouded and on some days totally obscured by cloud and rain. But we had a plan. We would go to the central rail station and purchase tickets to Munich (photo of the façade below) for Monday then go over to Hangar 7 then visit the Capuchin Monastery built on a monolith in the centre of the city.

Kerry had discovered Hangar 7 on the internet. It is located at the Salzburg Airport and is in part a museum of racing cars and planes owned by Red Bull or the Red Bull Racing team. It is mind blowing. The museum building is a stunning piece of architecture and the contents are priceless. Many of the racing cars are former F1 cars driven by Sebastian Vittel.

The exhibits included the space ship and suit the French explorer who sky dived from space, jet trainers, helicopters, turbo prop planes used in the Red Bull races, the first Red Bull executive plane a DC 6, motor cross bikes, F1 cars, a jet pack suit and a reconstruction of Leonardo’s “Bird Wings”. Whilst we were there a white executive jet pulled up to the front of the hangar and out stepped Mark Webber (who now drives F2 endurance cars for Red Bull) and he paraded through the hangar and went to the restaurant on the 1st floor where he was interviewed. We went to the bar on floor 2 via an amazing lift to have a drink and observe. Even the toilets were something special – the men’s urinals featured this huge floral display. Kerry figured that there was going to be some presentation there and later that night on TV we watched a show broadcast live from Hangar 7 including Mark Webber.

As we departed we noticed the further hangar across the tarmac and took in the sculptures around the hangar.

To finish the day we thought we would visit a monastery. So in the centre of the city, we searched for the passage to take us up to the monastery, finally finding it. Some of the things we found as well as the gateway to the monastery are below.

We climbed up through the old gate (the gate keepers house is still occupied) past the Stations of the Cross (I photographed a few only), then to the church but we could not access the monastery. Then, I made the fateful mistake of talking Kerry into visiting the fortress just a little way beyond. It turned out to be two kilometres up some very steep roads and then it was closed when we got there. We consoled ourselves that it had been a lovely walk, we had seen some great views, seen Hohensalzburg and we had go to see some of the large snails and slugs brought out by the rain. Kerry particularly consoled herself that we had accidentally found the main shopping area of Salzburg.

By now we had bought our weekly pass for the bus (which we used to death) and we jumped a No 5 to go home.

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The Retirees go Abroad – Verona Onto Salzburg

We discovered that we did not have any maps in our GPS for Austria or Germany. Alarm bells! What were we to do, we were half way to Salzburg and our host was expecting us at 15.00. We also realised that we had not experienced a German speaking country before. We decided that in respect of the GPS we would do it the old fashioned way and buy a map, and in respect of the language we would play dumb (which we were) and hope to find English speakers.

The road to Austria and through Austria has some of the most spectacular scenery we had seen so far. High mountains followed us throughout the day. Large castles appeared among the villages springing up throughout the valleys and sometimes perched precariously on the mountains. The .weather was threatening rain most of the day but the scenery made up for it. We even passed through the Dolomites which are a mountain range located in north eastern Italy. They form a part of the Southern Limestone Alps. The name “Dolomites” is derived from the famous French mineralogist Déodat Gratet de Dolomieu who was the first to describe the rock, dolomite, a type of carbonate rock which is responsible for the characteristic shapes and colour of these mountains.

Before entering Austria we called in at a services area to get our map. By now we were satisfied that the cord for Kerry’s IPhone was broken as her phone was not charging so when we bought the book of maps we also bought a new cord. 45€ later we were walking out of the service station office when I notice a sign in Italian with the Austrian two headed eagle on it and other ominous looking words and so I thought I better enquire. It turns out Austria has a road tax and before entering the country you need to buy and display a vignette. Of course the servo sold them and a ten day pass cost 9€.

Well with Kerry’s phone recharging we realised that we could use it for directions so the book of maps was unnecessary. Then we realised that it was not Kerry’s cord but the power outlet in the car – the fuse had blown for our auxiliary outlets on which we ran the phone and the fridge. Just one of those days.

We also encountered an extraordinary number of tunnels and bridges; too many to count although I think I got up to 28 tunnels before losing count.

Well when we finally arrived we were dismayed. The house was surrounded by scaffold (my picture is of the back of the house which is more flattering). Petra the owner was quickly at the front door and showed us inside speaking very good English. She explained that she and her father were renovating whenever she had the money to do some more, but the flat we were renting was complete on the inside. It certainly was and had every comfort. She gave us a run down on the buses and other things and then showed us her part of the house inviting us to call if we needed anything. So we unpacked and headed for town. As we walked to the bus we noticed a huge castle on a nearby hill which turned out to be Hohensalzburg in the centre of Salzburg. We passed a red phone box which had been converted into a community borrowing library, passed over a canal and noted that Austrian houses had a distinct Swiss appearance or vice a versa.

Not much else happened that first day but as the photos show we were in Salzburg.

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The Retirees go Abroad – Day #4 the old city of Lucca

It was time that we spent some time looking at Lucca. So I prepared an itinerary and after breakfast lead the band down to the railway station parked the car and lead the band through a different gate into the old city. Once inside we visited Lucca’s grandest cathedral Duomo San Martino which boasts that it holds a cross according to the legend, was carved by Jesus’s contemporary Nicodemus, and miraculously conveyed to Lucca in 782, giving the world the only likeness of Jesus created by an eye witness and contemporary of Jesus as to his appearance. This cedar-wood crucifix and image of Christ called the Holy Face of Lucca (Volto Santo di Lucca) or Sacred Countenance, is in the nave in a small octagonal temple or chapel shrine.

Additionally the cathedral contains Domenico Ghirlandaio’s Madonna and Child with Saints Peter, Clement, Paul and Sebastian; Federico Zuccari’s Adoration of the Magi, Jacopo Tintoretto’s Last Supper, Fra Bartolomeo’s Madonna and Child (1509) and the tomb of Ilaria del Carretto by Jacopo della Quercia of Siena, commissioned by her husband, the lord of Lucca, Paolo Guinigi, in 1406.

By the way you will see the ladder above. This would be to change the lightbulbs in the aisles; there is no way it would reach the ceiling in the Nave.

Outside of the Duomo is a large square, in fact Lucca is full of churches and squares. We visited Piazza Napoleone which includes the Town Hall, then Chiesa di San Michele in Foro with it unusual confessional set into the walls of the church and its false front and the Basilica di San Frediano with its large fresco on the front of the church.

This brought us to the Amphitheatre, Piazza dell’Anfiteatro. The amphitheatre, built in the 1st century AD under the Emperor Claudius and concluded in the Flavian period as the centre of entertainment outside the Roman town. In the Middle Ages the Roman structure was transformed into fortification and when this use ceased terraced houses were built on the surviving ruined structures and this area became a unique elliptical-shaped plaza. It is today the centre of town life and the very symbol of Lucca. Now filled with restaurants and shops, the old arena is still used for less violent entertainments like music.

Next on the itinerary was the Torre Guinigi. The Torre Guinigi is one of the few remaining towers within the city walls. Its main characteristic is its hanging garden on the roof of the tower. The tower has been donated to the local government by the descendants of the Guinigi family former Lords of Lucca. There were over 200 hundred steps to climb to the roof top garden but the views of Lucca were spectacular.

On the way back to the walls of the city we encountered a little church dedicated to St. Egidio with unusual grotesques over the door of a lion pouncing on I presume St. Egidio. So I have included the photos and a little research.

From Wikipedia “The Community of Sant’Egidio (Italian: Comunità di Sant’Egidio) is a Christian community that is officially recognized by the Catholic Church as a “Church public lay association”. It claims 50,000 members in more than 70 countries. Its main activities are:

prayer, centred on a reading of the Bible

spreading the Gospel to help people who are looking for a sense to their life.

service to the poor, which is free and unpaid

commitment to ecumenism (the Community of Sant’Egidio is also ecumenical, though rooted in the Catholic Church)

dialogue with members of other religions and non-believers.”

There you go nothing to do with the lion.

It had been another hot day so we sought the shady portions of the city walls and the free fountains that are found regularly in Italian cities. Under the shade of the trees we recovered our composure but Mother Nature was brewing a storm to relieve us of the heat so we head for home a cooling shower and hot meal.

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The Retirees go Abroad – Viareggio and a day at the beach

Florence had been such a hot day and we had enjoyed our swim at Monterosso al Mare so when Kerry learned of a beach at Viareggio from Robert’s sister in law Jane, we knew how we would be spending that day. Jane has been living in Lucca for a number of years and when we called upon her, her sister from the UK was visiting. Jane will be moving back to Australia and her sister was quite upset that distance would make their catch ups less frequent. We had a relatively peaceful drink at the Mercato Cafe of the dead chook except when any one squeezed the “dead chook” which then emitted a squealing sound. Kerry learned about Aperol, ginger ale and prosecco that afternoon.

Our drive to Viareggio was very pleasant. We avoided the toll roads and saw some of the villages on the way. There were pleasant river crossings, typical villages and reminders of the past along the most circuitous route imaginable. Nevertheless we got to the beach.

Along the road in front of the beach was an enormous market then a line of shops then the little kingdoms. Again the beach was divided into little kingdoms. The day was hot and getting hotter so we wasted no time in selecting Narcisa to set up camp. Narcisa is a family run business with lovely flower gardens to greet you and grandma on the front desk who “no speaka de English” but her son does. The son, grey haired and about our age, comes over in his DTs (dick togs) and gardening gloves and gives us the sales pitch and throws in some extras (two lounges instead of one) which was very nice. We agree to rent the umbrella and go to the designated change rooms (a store room most of the time) to change into our swimming gear.

We made our way to the designated umbrella and settled in. The beach was sandy and at least 100m wide with umbrellas as far as the eye could see. We were comforted to see the life guard at his post. We strolled into the water. It was a little warmer than Monterosso but not as clear and not as deep. We walked out about 20 m and the water was barely above my waist. Even so we were in the water for about 5 minutes and a fish jumped from the water. It looked about a kilo in size and the shape of a mullet. This was to happen at least half a dozen times whilst we were paddling and lolling in the water. Then I noticed that something in the water was bumping into us. Jellyfish! Blue with a small black fringe, they danced between our legs. Some the size of a twenty cent piece and others up to the size of a man’s fist. I managed to catch one or two for a closer look.

After swimming we went back to the office to get money for lunch at the café on the premises. We ran into the son again and told him of the sighting of the fish jumping and he looked at us in complete amazement and said “what out there – fishes jumping”. He then said “I don’t know nothing about fishes you ask my brother the life guard he knows about fishes”. Well I thought it hilarious. The astonishment that something lived in the water and the fact that the life guard was as old as us – not that there was much rough surf for him to contend with.

After lunch we thought we would go back to the markets and stroll through and eat an ice cream. No such luck. The markets had finished and the shops had closed for lunch time siesta. But we got to witness some pretty incredible technology in the way in which these stalls were set up. Most had vans with a large box on the roof. In this box was the awning and using just a remote control the stallholder opened and closed his shop. Oh and there was some other equipment caught my eye. See if you can find it in the photos.

We had heard that there was a free concert on in the amphitheatre in Lucca so that night we made our way into the amphitheatre by bus. Surprisingly the bus was free so a good start to the night. I made an error of judgment as to which stop to get off and we ended up walking through the city where we encountered a shop with a weaving loom in the front window and the weaver hard at work. No sale items though the price tags all had three digits.  We selected our restaurant Bistro Bar L’Emiliana and settled in for dinner and the show at 9.00pm. Well it was not much of a show – a jazz trio playing classical music (Puccini) – not to my taste.

We finished about 10.00pm and knowing that the last bus had long since gone we asked the waiter to organise a taxi. No problems. He told us to wait at our table and the cab would come into the amphitheatre to collect us. The amphitheatre was wall to wall restaurants, jazz band audience and kids playing on bikes etc. This I had to see. As I expected the cab was a no show. The waiter clearly embarrassed by the no show went in search of the taxi with us in tow. We found our cab with the driver trying to explain to an American with pins through his left leg that he could not just hail a cab when it had been booked. The driver made the Yank sit down and told him he would be back to get him.

We piled into the cab, gave the driver the address and settled back but not for long for this fellow took off at enormous speed through the narrow streets filled with pedestrians and bikes and then raced a scooter and another car to be the first out the city gate. Even though I sat in the front with the driver, I could feel Kerry’s grip on the cab door growing ever tighter and nervous laughter coming from Kerry and Veronica in the backseat. The taxi driver explained that he hated “romantic drivers” – people casually driving because they did not have timing issues and a family to feed from driving a cab; he said he had already had 4 expressos and there would be many more before the night was through. Well we made it home but felt like we had just got off a ride at Disney World. So the night ended on a happy note – we were still alive and on holiday.

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The Retirees go Abroad – Cinque Terre

We had heard it reported that Cinque Terre was the place to go in Tuscany. So we did.

It all started with leaving our flat and taking the car to La Spezia where we parked under the train station. We then caught the train to Riomaggiore along with thousands of other tourists. Our arrival at Riomaggiore coincided with at least half of those tourists on the train – the others were going to the beach judging by the towels and sun screen.

The village is sitting on the edge of a rocky outcrop and each house seems to be either clinging on or dug in. Enquiries with the information office gave us two options – take the tunnel to the main square and the harbour or do a tour of the village by walking around the hill and down into the main square. When we stated that the stroll through the village sounded nice the assistant at the information office came to life and produced maps and information about “her village”.

Outside the day was starting to warm up. The sky was clear and there was very little breeze. A very tired mural on the wall outside of the office told the story of the hard work and life endured by the locals and set the scene for the village we were about to explore.

The walk started with a steep climb past some “high rise” and then higher up there were detached houses with gardens growing fruit and vegetables in all possible spots. We were about half way to the top and the sea came into view. The sea was a deep blue and dotted with ferries, and the vision affirmed our decision to travel to the next village by ferry. We could see the ocean path leading to Manarola (the next village) and we could also see the rock slides that had closed the path thank goodness. It meant our decision was between the ferry and the train. It was too hot to walk across the top of the hill.

We climbed further into the village following the stony paths that passed for roads and encountered picturesque views of the village and its houses with “altanas” – (Italian roof top patios) and its community church. After the church the main street ran from the top of the village down to its square. Busy with tourists, we quickly moved through to catch the ferry. From the harbour I was able to photograph some of the more beautiful sights in Riomaggiore. We lined up along with a few others (busloads of them) and caught the ferry for a five minute cruise to Manarola and a meeting with our own Italian Roberto the bus driver from Bribie.

The landing at Manorola was a little more harrowing than Riomaggiore due to the narrowness of the access but the village was just as enchanting as Riomaggiore. Roberto was waiting breathlessly with his travelling companion to greet us and to whisk us away from the tourist highlights of the village to a more traditional (or so he said) part of the village and his chosen restaurant for lunch- Nessun Dorma. I must say we did have what appeared to best the best vantage spot to view the village and the restaurant was quaint with its vegetable gardens growing throughout the restaurant.

After lunch he showed us the toughest way back to the village, but in the course of doing so I met this lovely iron maiden who insisted on wearing her birthday suit to the beach and a quaint place of rest overlooking the sea. In the shade of the umbrellas and with the sea breezes kissing our cheeks we had not realised how hot the day had become until arriving in the village main street. Enclosed by houses and protected against any breeze it was stifling. So we bid our farewells to our Italian Stallion and caught the train to Monterosso al Mare.

The northern most village of the five towns making up the Cinque Terre, Monterosso al Mare has beaches rather than rock walls. But the beaches are all segregated into little kingdoms of umbrellas and deck chairs. For a fee you get your own piece of the beach for the day with access to showers toilets and change rooms. We had a choice – walk to the old city and see the town or get our own piece of beach and go for a swim. The sun made up our minds – swim it is.

For 11€ we got two sun beds and an umbrella. For the four of us that was fine and relatively in expensive. A change into our swimmers and a dash across the sand we were pulled up short when entering the water. The sun decided to hide behind a cloud and the water was bloody freezing. I was delayed about a nano second before diving in “to exercise my injured tendon”. It took Kerry a bit longer but she got in pretty quickly for Kerry standards. So refreshing! There are no waves and no current and the beach drops away fairly quickly so that floating around in the water was the way to go as every time you dropped your legs into the deeper water a cold current “freshened” you up again. We spent the rest of the afternoon refreshing and forgot about the village and the other two villages – next time maybe.

Around 5.00pm we headed for the train and home. The crowds got the same idea. Even so we managed to get to the carpark and home by 7.00pm for dinner and a few hands of cards.

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