Old timers day out in Cambridge

Punters: Please note the new cap acquired in Cambridge

One fateful Saturday morning, each nursing a cold, we hauled ourselves out of bed and onto the train to Cambridge for a day trip we had been planning to do for ages - but had never got round to actually doing.

It was a fairly grey autumn day but that didn't stop us exploring the historic colleges of this famous university town. We visited Trinity college - which is the most wealthy of all the colleges (having added the O2 Arena in London to its immense property portfolio) and can claim greats such as Newton amongst its Alumni. We also visited the King's College Chapel - reputedly one of the finest examples of Gothic architecture in England.

The Trinity College library was highlight - with interesting snippets of history on display such as AA Milne's handwritten notes for a Winnie the Pooh story along side a first edition, a copy of the first bible translated into English (1 of 3 copies remaining in the world) and early works of Newton with his handwritten mark-ups on them.

We also like the 16th century gateway which features a statue of King Henry VIII. In his hand he holds a wooden chair leg - which replaced the golden sceptre which he held until a student prank many years ago

A day in Cambridge is not complete without the obligatory punt trip down the Cam. Having witnessed two punters take an unscheduled dip I was pleased with our decision to take a 'chauffeured' punt together with entertaining commentary. Very relaxing and nice to see the colleges from the water.

With a day of exploring under our belt we hopped back on train to London late in the afternoon with the Saturday paper to keep us entertained on the way home. A very nice day out of London.

Good times in Barcelona

With Dazza in town, we decided (along with Heron and Ben and Rachel and Jeremy) to join him for a weekend in Barcelona.

View from hotel back to city

It was our second trip to Barcelona and continuing the precedent set in Stockholm, Michelle and I took it fairly easy on the sightseeing side of things.

We were all scattered around the centre of Barcelona - our hotel was down on the harbour and provided the perfect base to catch-up with everyone when it came time for a meal or drinkie which seemed to be quite regularly.

On the eating front we managed to have lunch at Cal Pep - a famous tapas bar which we were unable to get to last time and it did not disappoint - fresh seasonal mushrooms, deep fried aubergine, tomato bread, calamari and sensational tuna tartare (to name a few...).

We had a fantastic weekend (again with stunning weather) and were reminded what great city Barcelona is!

Self portrait: Little piggies in Barcelona

Ambling in Stockholm

It's been a while since we've updated the blog... but we have had a few trips in the past month or so - starting with a weekend city break to Stockholm in September.

We've both been pretty busy at work and as a result felt like a very leisurely weekend. Although winter is almost upon us we were treated to a couple of stunning crisp sunny days.

Stockholm is of course the city of design - so a big part of the weekend was spent window shopping in the many designer stores - which ranged from exclusive homeware stores through to small quirky design shops filled with weird and wonderful gadgets - the perfect place to shop for that person who has everything!

The main 'tourist attraction' for us was visiting the 'Vasa'. This museum is built around a 70m 1620 warship which famously sunk about 1.3km into its maiden voyage (due to it being top heavy!). It sat buried in Stockholm harbour until 1961 when she was re floated and restored. 95% of the wood on the ship is original due to the fact that the Baltic Sea is not salty enough for wood worms to thrive. Seeing this immense ship is pretty amazing and it is hard to fathom that so much hard work and labour could be lost so easily!

Stockholm as a real cocktail culture (although drinks are notoriously expensive!) and we embraced this and enjoyed cocktails in all sorts of interesting places - notable were the Gondolen (great views from this bar at the top of a historic lift) and the Icebar - where everything is made of ice... the walls, the bar, the chairs.... even the shot glasses!

View from Gondolen bar

Our hotel (http://www.nordiclighthotel.se/en/) was very cool - labelled 'designer chic' in style. They employ a 'light manager' to control lighting in the rooms and hotel and the beds are the most comfortable beds ever - just what the doctor ordered!

Sightseaing in Gozo

The last few day of our leave for 2009 were spent with another summer holiday, this time in Gozo, Malta. Fortunately, the leave year starts again in October... so not long till we can start travelling again!

The view from our room

The plan - go diving. Gozo is said to have some of the best diving in Europe and after 4 days of diving there we can't disagree. We had a great based in Xlendi Bay with a beautiful view out over the bay and the dive shop and dive boat literally on our doorstep.

Highlights for us were:

• Michelle finishing her Padi Advanced Diver qualification - now certified to 30m! Yee ha!
  
  

Blue Hole

• Bluehole, the Chimney and Coral Cave - a beautiful dive into a deep hole with underwater arch/window just off the coast, up a small tunnel from 24m to around 7m, then over a wall back down to 24m and into a large cave filled with beautiful coral. Stunning dive (I was lucky enough to do it twice).
  
  

• San Dimitri Point - a boat dive where we swum out off a reef which ran out from the Point midwater in 24m in search of Barracuda. We were lucky and came upon a huge school of them - long sleek silver fish cutting through the water. Once they dissappearred we swum in closer - through a horizontal tunnel before surfacing at the boat. As with all our dives - the visibility was incredible - 30m+.
  
  


• The P31 wreck - 52m Maltese Patrol ship sunk about 4 days before we dived on it in 18ms on a sandy bottom (pic above is obviously before it was sunk!). Quite a novel dive - both being on a wreck where you could do what you like without damaging the wreck or sealife on it and also because it is shallower than most wrecks so we had tonnes of time. There were a lot divers on it - all of us playing the fool a bit. Good fun!
  
  

The boy wonder - this kid could handle a boat while eating an ice cream like no other!

• Living in Xlendi Bay - they say the pace of life on Gozo is much slower than on Malta and everyone in Xlendi was very chilled out - 'Island time' prevailed. There were lots of waterfront restaurants lining the bay and food and local wines were pretty good. The highlight for us was the prawn and squid risotto at Ic-Cima restaurant - so good we had to go back to have it a second time!
  
  


• Exploring Malta - having spent all of our time sightseeing underwater in Gozo, we decided we had better see some of the sights above the water. We had day exploring the main island guided by Godwin. We visited the war museum in Valletta, had a seafood lunch in Marsaxlokk (a fishing village on the south of the island), explored the historic city of Mdina and Mosta church - one of Malta's many huge Catholic churches famous partly because its huge dome survived a bombing raid during the WWII when Malta was a target of bombing more intensive than the Blitz in London due to its strategic importance (for which the inhabitants of Malta were collectively awarded the George Cross - Britain's highest award for civilian bravery).
  



• The colours - boats and buses were all brightly painted up - very cool.

• The weather - sunny everyday, temperatures in the early 30s and very balmy in the evening - perfect for a relaxing summer break!
  
  

Anchors aweigh! Dubrovnik and Croatia

Our first trip to Croatia under the careful watch of Willy back in our first year here was a real highlight. That trip was in the north of the country though and so we had always intended to return to Dubrovnik and the South - which was our latest trip away.

Dubrovnik

Arriving at a reasonable hour on Friday night, we have 2 full days to explore the old town of Dubrovnik. Highlights included:

Walls and Wars walking tour - we spent much of our first hot sunny morning on top of the large stone walls that surround the old town. From the walls we got a great sense of the old town and its key buildings/features. Our guide (a local student) shared the history of the wall (built to repel Venetian invaders) and some insights into life in Dubrovnik during the war of the early 90s. He spoke of the Serbian and Montenegrin solders positioned high on the hill overlooking the town to the south firing rockets with the prime aim of destroying the old town an iconic symbol of its independence and a key centre of tourism. For 9 months the city was completely cut off from the rest of Croatia without its own source of power or water and around 70% of buildings hit or destroyed by shells. The mixture of dull 'old' roof tiles and the 'new' brighter orange tiles testament to the extent of the damage.

Lokrum Island - a 20 minute ferry ride from the old port, Lokrum had been recommended as a great spot to enjoy some time in the sea and soak up some sun. Croatian 'beaches' can either be sandy, rocky/pebbles or low flat coastal rock. In this case our beach fell into the last category - a coastal beach with ladders providing access to the surging sea a short drop down. The water was beautiful and warm (much warmer than we had experienced in Greece a couple of weeks earlier) and our new stripy towels performed well - providing some comfort as we lay on the rocks.

Rocky coastal bars - it didn't take us long to discover the small bars dotted along the coast on the rocks outside the city walls. Their entrance is through small non-descript openings in the historic wall, but once you find them you are treated to incredible views of the sea, sunset, locals and tourist cliff diving and the slightly surreal feeling of being at a bar in such a novel location.

Lopud Island - our second day was spent on Lopud Island which was about an hour and half away by ferry from Dubrovnik. We had a very relaxed day here, crossing over the island on track by foot to a large sandy beach with deck chairs and beautiful swimming. Fresh fish on the grill washed down with some local white wine made for an even more relaxed afternoon.

Fireworks - our stay in Dubrovnik coincided with the opening of their summer festival. That night we noticed a sea of people heading for the old port and naturally we joined them to see what all the excitement was about. We were treated to a spectacular fireworks display against the beautiful backdrop of the Croatian coastline. Strangely we got chatting the the couple next to us, who it turned out were staying in the apartment next to us. The town really filled up for the opening as was evidenced by 'people-jam' at the main gate to the city as the post fireworks exodus ensued.

Korcula Island

After a brief stay in Dubrovnik we took another ferry to Korcula, around 2.5hrs north of Dubrovnik. Tony (our host) ensured that we had an amazing stay here.

Tony and babies - Our accommodation here was a small basic apartment close to Lumbarda and overlooked a beautiful clear inlet. The apartment was run by Tony, a Croatian chef who used to have a restaurant in Belgium. Tony was a fantastic host and went to great lengths to ensure we had a good time. His home cooked meals using local ingredients were sensational - prawn salad, young goats cheese salad, grilled garlic prawns and some fish/potato/tomato dish - Yum! He also took pride in his 'prohibition liqueurs', home made flavoured brandies dished up as a digestive - we tried the pear and rose flavours. While we were there, Tony also had 2 older ladies from England staying with him, visitors for 2-3 weeks every year. Tony referred to the ladies as his 'babies' and we had some hilarious conversations together on the terrace over meals. The 'babies' were very well travelled and seemed to love antipodeans and NZ and we enjoyed there company very much.

Anchors aweigh - a day out in Tony's boat

With diving ruled out due to it being Sunday (go figure?) we decided to take Tony's small boat, with an even smaller motor, out for the day. Equipped with a chilly bin of food and a bottle of wine (Tony wouldn't have it any other way) we set off and had a fantastic time exploring the nearby islands and beaches - stopping close to islands for a swim whenever we fancied it.

It was one of these stops that resulted in a bit of excitement.... We had ventured to the most distant island on the itinerary set by Tony and chucked the anchor over, intent on spending the rest of the day enjoying the sun and swimming. As I put the anchor over the rope suddenly felt very light - which years of anchoring boats told me was not a good sign..... Sure enough, I retrieved the rope and there was no sign of the anchor. Not keen to cut the day short and face Tony, we puttered over to a nearby larger boat - we had seen a guy snorkeling and thought we might borrow his gear. The guy turned out to be Croatian and having communicated the problem was happy for me to set off with his gear on a retrieval mission.

Meanwhile, Michelle tied up to the back of his boat and was treated to a meal of raw sea urchin (which he had just got from the sea) washed down with local red wine. Nice for some! After an hour or so, I finally found the anchor and my hard work was rewarded by a glass of our friendly Croatian's wine (the urchin having all been eaten already!?). This small interaction was typical of our many great experiences meeting friendly locals along the way.

With anchor safely reattached and enjoyed a beautiful day in the lee of the island before a slightly slow and wet putter home into a slightly blustery breeze - but that is a story for another day.

Coming hot on the heals of some great recent holidays, Croatia had big shoes to fill. We had a fantastic holiday here. Added to our earlier holiday - our experience in Croatia will be very memorable and, for us, it probably tops the Greek islands as a holiday destination.

A morning coffee - Willy styles

It's all Greek to us......

Hot on the heals of Portugal it was time to pack the bags again and head for warmer weather. This time the destination was Greece – Athens, Santorini and Naxos for 9 days.

Athens

After arriving late on Friday night we had the weekend to explore Athens. We took it pretty easy here (as we did everywhere actually) and with beautiful hot days you would not want to have been trying to squeeze too much in.



Of course we took the time to explore the Acropolis and the various ruins which can be found in the surrounding area. The Acropolis is quite spectacular – sitting on a craggy rock outcrop overlooking the city. Our hotel had a roof top garden bar which also offered spectacular views of the site which is lit up at night. We also really enjoyed exploring the grounds of the Ancient Agora (market) which sits on the flat below the Acropolis.



We also spent some time on the coast in one of the marina areas which are dotted along it – Mikrolimano, took the cable car up Lykavittos Hill for an amazing view of the city and the surrounding region and enjoyed many beautiful meals. The stand out eating experience was probably at ‘To Steki tou llia’ a small local taverna in a residential street where we sat outside enjoying the balmy evening weather and a large serving of BBQ’d lamb chops and a nice red wine. Yum.

Santorini

After an early start we navigated our way to Piraeus – the main port for ferries which service the Greek Islands. The port was very busy – many huge ferries being loaded with hordes of travellers dragging bags, while cars and trucks were being loaded next to them.



After a 6 hour journey calling at various barren Greek islands along the way we arrived at Santorini. Santorini is reputedly the most spectacular of the islands, with its steep cliffs running down to crystal clear water - the result of massive eruption many years ago. After disembarking from the ferry we were driven slowly up the road which zigzags up the cliff to the island above.



As well as being spectacular geographically, Santorini is also a ‘picture postcard’ Greek Island, with its white terraced houses perched perilously on the cliff-top overlooking the sea below (of which our accommodation in Firostefani was one).

We wasted no time here and equipped with our trusty quad bike (25 euro for 24hrs) we set off exploring the island. First we headed the southern coast where the best beaches are located. We spent some time swimming and sunning on Perissa Beach – a nice beach lined with trendy cafes/bars and restaurants. After a beautiful fresh fish meal in a small port West of Perissa we made our way to Red Beach – a stunning beach a short walk around the rocky coastline. More sunning and swimming here in water which was crystal clear, although a bit nippy! Finally – after a wrong turn which took us to the highest point of the island (where it was just us and the goats) we raced to the far north of the island to try and catch the world famous sunset in Oia – which we did. It was great fun exploring the island – dotted with white churches, vineyards and rocky beaches it is undeniably a picturesque place.

The following day we went out to the islands in the bay off Santorini for a day of diving. We did two dives – one along a sheer wall which dropped from 12m to 300m, and other in a shallow bay where a small cruiser lay upright on the seabed after being accidentally sunk while moored here. The visibility on both dives was spectacular, and while not a spectacular as our Red Sea diving, it was nevertheless well worth doing.

Our accommodation was in Firostefani which was a very nice spot to be based. Firo (the main commercial centre) was a short walk away along a coastal path. Firo can however be a bit hectic during the day with cruise ships delivering 1000s of tourists daily – on a bad day there can be up to 15 cruise ships stopping at Santorini, so it was nice to be a bit out of the way of all of that activity but still in walking distance of lots of eating options. When we weren’t exploring, plenty of time was spent reading by the pool and looking out over the Mediterranean below.

Naxos

Before we knew it we were on the slow ferry to Naxos, a couple of hours north of Santorini. Naxos is a larger island than Santorini and while it is less well known to tourists, its fertile soil and abundance of white marble stone mean it has always been an important island for the Greeks.



Small cars (rather than quad bikes) seemed to be the vehicle of choice and we spent the next 2 days exploring the island in our Fun Car!



The first day was spent exploring inland areas and villages. Highlights were a pottery workshop off the main road were we had a bit of a spend up, Halki – a quaint village with some designer art/pottery stores, Panagia Drosiani – one of the oldest and most revered churches in Greece with small cavelike chapels, Dimitras Temple (where ancient Greeks once worships the Gods of Fertility) and the ‘kouros’ - huge half finished marble statues found abandoned in ancient marble quarries.

The next day we spent on Naxos’ beautiful beaches – firstly on a small secluded beach near Mikri Vigla and later on the larger more populated Plaka beach – where full nudity seemed to be the look of choice for most – however we went with a more conservative approach.



Special mention has to be made of our accommodation here – Hotel Grotta - where the staff where incredibly friendly and were never short of some good tips or eating recommendations, not to mention the breakfasts!


Naxos had a totally different feel to that of Santorini. It was far more laid back and didn’t suffer from the passengers brought by visiting cruise ships. While we don’t regret for a minute including Santorini on our itinerary, it was nice to have experienced Naxos, which felt a bit more like a ‘real’ Greek island experience.

All in all a nice holiday – the only thing which underwhelmed us was the wine!