Category: Uncategorized
-
Retreating into the mountains
Crete has lovely beaches and it has serious mountains. If all you want to do is laze around from meal to meal, in nice surroundings, the deciding factors will be the availability of swimming, the quality of the food and the temperature. Mountains tend to be cooler and quieter, while the beaches are hotter and,…
-
South-western and western Crete – in a word, rocky.
Landing in Chania, we picked up a car and drove towards the far south-western edge of Crete. This part of Crete (the western edge of the Chania province) is less well-known (other than Elafonissos), and part of the reason for this is that the routes to the south coast are very compartmentalised – once you…
-
Service Resumed!
Austria remains unfinished: for some reason any creative impulses remain silenced for Vienna and Saltzburg. I have tried – promise – but I simply cannot bring myself to write about either. This despite the hotels being nice, the food being good (in Vienna) and the bier ‘kellar’ experience in Saltzburg being … well … an…
-
The Danube
The second longest river in Europe (the longest is the Volga), the Danube rises in Germany, flows south-eastward through central Europe and into the Black Sea. It has been frontier, barrier against invaders, transport highway and is now a power source (hydro-electricity) and an income generator (in the form of leisure and tourism). Remembering how…
-
Salt – or ‘Saltz’?
‘Salzburg’ apparently means ‘salt mountain’ (or ‘salt hill’), which seems a trifle hyperbolic until you visit Hallstatt. Which is, literally, a mountain of salt. Around 250 million years ago, the area that is now the Alps was a shallow sea called Tethys; as it dried out, a large deposit of salt was laid down. Formed…
-
Austria – why isn’t it better known?
When Austria was first mooted as a destination, my first thought was ‘but I don’t ski’ and my next thought was ‘mountains’. Subsequent thoughts included (in no particular order): the Waltz, The Sound of Music, Viennese coffee, the Spanish Riding School, not knowing any German whatsoever. But not much else. I was then reminded of…
-
And finally, Bilbao
Several members of my immediate family love Bilbao and they have encouraged me (sometimes quite vigorously) to visit. To be honest, it hasn’t really appealed probably because I am not a massive modern art fan and it seemed as if the most important thing there was the Guggenheim. It just doesn’t interest me – I…
-
On our way to Bilbao
We left La Rioja feeling well fed and well ‘wined’. One of the main things we have discovered this trip is that we prefer ‘Crianza’ wines rather than ‘Riserva’. Crianza wines are younger, spending less time in oak barrels and are generally fruitier and softer. Much more our ‘glass of wine’. This won’t surprise those…
-
La Rioja
Well, the northwest of it at any rate. Mention ‘La Rioja’ and everyone immediately thinks of the wine – and yes, it’s a region well known for its wines (some of which are eye-wateringly expensive). But there is a lot more to this region, small as it is. We both sort of expected that once…
-
Over the mountains to Burgos
We felt sad to leave the Picos area, particularly on such a lovely sunny morning but the move eastwards had to be done. Following the road north, back to Potes, we turned east up the valley formed by the river Bullon and as we moved away from the Picos, the landscape became less rocky, if…
Retired? What now? 