Vitoria and Bilbao………

………On a recent visit we wandered through a park, adjacent to the Cathedral. The park is very pretty and laid out like a medieval village with mannequins going about their daily lives. We wandered along the paths, piped Christmas music played and it was crisp and cold. Now… I’m somewhat of a Christmas cynic but as we went into a natural cave, there was the nativity. I must admit I had a little ‘moment’.
Vitoria is the capital of the Basque Country in Spain and an affluent, beautiful city/town. Northern Spain doesn’t have a flamenco tradition but makes up for it visually. The thing about Spain though – mealtimes!! As visitors you have a slow start and breakfast, then you think – “ah… a late lunch would be nice” and then notice that all the shops and restaurants have closed and apart from drinks and tapas in a bar you can’t get a meal until 9 pm!! By that time you are ready to eat the table, the waiter and anything else that takes your fancy. I don’t know how we get into this trap time and time again…..slow learners I guess!!!!
Bilbao was different to Vitoria but equally visual. The Guggenheim is there and is the most astonishing building. One of the outdoor exhibits is an enormous dog, planted with annuals several times a year. We asked the concierge at our hotel “why”?
“Oh – that’s Pooopie” he said. We decided that “Pooopie” must have been someone’s famous dog rather like “Greyfriars Bobby”. So off we went feeling quite knowledgeable. We were rather miffed to discover that “Pooopie” actually meant “puppy” and then we noticed that for some inexplicable reason every second dog owner in Bilbao owned a West Highland Terrier…….hence “Pooopie”
Fortunately on our last day we came across a market that was happy to feed us at a time that suited us…….delicious ethnic food – (not the barbeque - although it smelled and looked great!)
We arrived back in the UK in the middle of the night to minus 5, but the thrill of being met by Rory and Katie warmed the cockles of our hearts and now we are looking forward to a “White Christmas” in the company of family. Now that makes sense…………..xxx

Hunting Ban………..

………what “Ban”????? We were invited to watch the local Hunt gathering for the first hunt of the season. Autumn is glorious time in the UK. The colours are unbelievably lovely and living in the country is a privilege. We wandered through the village to watch the ‘hunt’ prepare and depart. Part of the preparation included eating sausage rolls, roast potatoes and drinking large wine glasses filled with port or very generous tumblers of whiskey. I suppose ‘drink driving’ doesn’t apply to hurtling through the countryside, leaping over dry stone walls on the back of a huge hunting horse!!!!
The hounds were amazing………terribly excited……baying, sniffing, rolling and totally unfazed by the horses, onlookers and their dogs on leads and the general mayhem! Of course those that ‘hunt’ are the ‘gentry’ and when they speak it’s in terribly loud jolly tones contributing to the overall cacophony.
At a certain point the Master of the Hunt (him in the red coat), blew his horn, the dogs pulled themselves together, all pointing the same way, stood to attention and off they all went. Those of us remaining (the non-gentry….aka ‘villeins’) marvelled at the whole spectacle and went back to work humming “Do you ken John Peel” ………………wish you were here…………..xxxxx

Aswan…………

………we sailed from Luxor to Aswan passing through the Esna Lock. As the boat was waiting to go into the lock swarms of boatmen came alongside urging passengers to buy their wares. The traders throw their goods up onto the deck of the boat with demands to buy, shirts, scarves, galabeya etc and these were landing in the swimming pool, on tables, back in the water – it was chaos, the air was filled with hurtling merchandise. I retreated down to our cabin. As I unwittingly turned on the light, goods were hurled into the cabin through the open window! I hurriedly stuffed them back out of the window into the boats below and slammed the window shut. Shopping is not a pleasant experience in Egypt, there is no chance to “look”. You are hassled and pestered if you even so much as glance at something (and even if you don’).
The temples and ancient sites are a completely different experience. You do have to run a short gauntlet of sellers, but once inside the only thing you have to be aware of is Egyptian men lurking behind pillars waiting to step into your photograph and then demanding appearance money! However the magnificent and sense of ancient presence is over whelming (or maybe it’s the 45degree heat!).
The Aswan High Dam was built in the 1960’s, flooding ancient Nubian villages, but the resulting increases in agriculture production and hydroelectricity have saved Egypt from famine. Lake Nasser is approximately 200 meters deep, which is as high as the Auckland Sky Tower. We visited a Nubian village and were nearly run down by boys on camels racing down the road to check out the local football match, which they watched over the fence from their camels stand.
There is a timelessness about Egypt which is captivating, however the contrasts and contradictions of wealth and poverty, the clashing of ancient and modern, the invisibility of local women dressed head to toe in Purdah against the scantily clad tourists make it a very complex experience.

Luxor........

…………was the beginning of the Nile Cruise for us and it is a perfect way to see Egypt. You are cocooned in the relative comfort of a floating hotel and can view the Nile as it’s been for thousands of years. Some hardy souls ‘do’ the Nile in ancient feluccas which look very romantic, but in temperatures of 45degrees, no loo’s and dodgy food, we decided prudence was the better part of valour. Our boat was very comfortable. The cabin staff did our room twice a day and each day folded our towels and extra blankets into hilarious ‘art works’.
Nobody was constantly asking us for money….. (tips were paid in a lump sum to be distributed at the end of the cruise……civilised!). We had trips each day to major sites along the way, accompanied by an Egyptologist, these were fantastic, but it was always good to come back to the air conditioned boat and a cold drink
Luxor depends on tourist trade and is rapidly resurrecting ancient sites – it is currently uncovering an 3 kilometre “Avenue of Sphinx” linking the temples of Luxor and Karnak. The avenue had been previously covered and subsequently built over. The down side of this is that the people living in the buildings along the site area were given no consultation and 2 days to clear out before the bulldozers demolished their homes with little or no compensation. The missing Sphinx in the Avenue have been commissioned to be rebuilt in China! ????????? What can you say………………

Cairo...............

………home of the Pyramids and the Sphinx……we rode camels (as you do!) into the desert and our guide took us the long way – (3 hours!). As we came over a sand dune the breathtaking sight of the ancient monuments made the discomfort and slightly terrifying experience worthwhile. A gang of Arabs drifted past on their camels and we could have been transported back thousands of years, except for the encroaching cityscape in the background. Cairo is home to 25 million people and growing. The Pyramids, once miles away from the city are now almost cheek with jowl to the sprawling slum.
We visited some Coptic churches carved into caves in the hills above the city rubbish dump. There we met a guy from California who had worked with the ‘rubbish dump’ people in the 1980’s. He was excited and thrilled that the inhabitants of this area were no longer living in cardboard boxes! We were shocked to see 5 million people living (albeit in ‘buildings’) on a rubbish dump, scavenging an existence from the refuse of 20 million fellow citizens.
All over the roads were chaotic – 6 lanes of traffic squeezed into 4 lane highways, cars weaving in and out with much horn blaring – we saw one rickety traffic light in 3 days and no traffic cops. Crossroads are very free form!
Pedestrians take their chances also - dodging through the traffic to get to the median barrier to leap over and dodge through to the other side. We made sure we never had to cross a road in three days!!!!!!
Egypt is definitely not like a gentle ramble around Europe, but it’s worth it.
To be continued……………..

Well it’s been a while………..

………….Our employer’s swamped us for two months with their needs, wants and general expectations– 8-9 weeks of them, family and friends doesn’t sound much, but when you are living it you would be amazed at how much someone who has everything wants!!!!! It’s unbelievably ‘full on’ when they are in residence, our days are about 17 hours long and it’s relentless. Their idea of our existence is to make theirs wonderful (which we do)! Still it enables us to do what we want - travel whenever we can. Egypt soon ……. can’t wait!!!!
We recently had a few days in magical Cornwall. One could imagine, in some places, that you are in NZ ……. but the temperature of the Atlantic is hardly the Pacific or even the Tasman. In Bude (where we stayed) anyone (who took to the water) wore a wetsuit and so people wander around the town wearing them …… at times it felt like we were encroaching on a seal colony.
Paris beckoned for my birthday ……. The Eurostar is so easy …… and Paris still enchants us, as it did on our first visit over four years ago!!! Four years have flown and while there is still heaps we want to see and do, our thoughts are starting to turn to NZ and we are studying (when our employers are absent) to set ourselves up for another phase of our lives when we return………….so maybe in the next year (or so!)………..we have had a little influx of visitors from NZ recently and it’s always fab………come while you can, we’d love to show you this environment and part of the world…………..much love xx

Summer in the UK (as a servant!!!)………..

……… is a really busy time for us. Our employers (and their friends and family!) have a 2 month British summer holiday in this house. As their expectation is 5 star service our day starts around 7am and finishes around 10pm (on a good day)! Three – 3 course meals with silver service a day plus anything and everything else that is required.
For the first week or two we think we are going to die of fatigue but now with a mere four weeks to go we are in the zone and are no longer feeling our exhaustion is terminal.
It is 9.30am as I write this and breakfast was requested for 9am and nobody has appeared in the dinning room. This is fairly typical, meals prepared for an agreed time but actually ready for serving anything up to an hour later means the stress of putting gourmet food on the table is huge. One becomes nothing if not flexible!
It is interesting to note that our approach is considerably more “facile à vivre” than this time last year! I’m not sure if that is a good or bad thing ……..but we seem to be very secure in our jobs, so it must be good!! The question we are asking ourselves is….……how secure should they feel as our employers!!!!!!! We will have to make decisions about our future after this summer gig is over.
Meanwhile the summer migratory birds are wonderful and the House Martins as I write this are whistling and swooping around the courtyard. The days and twilight extend until after 10.30pm and dawn is about 4am, if we weren’t so zonked we might take advantage of the extended daylight hours!
I daresay as we begin to plan another assault on Europe for 5 weeks before the end of the year, the price paid now will be worth it. Meanwhile must go a dish up 3 courses of breakfast for Rod to serve………….you wouldn’t want to be here, but wish you were part of the 9 staff on hand………much love xxxxxxxx

Northern Cyprus...........

……..the more we travel the less we know and we are constantly amazed at the incongruity that we encounter……..for example ‘traffic signs’…….sure we understand that cars may travel at 80 km, trucks and trailers 75 km, BUT if your car catches on fire do you HAVE to do 65??????????
The other thing I find bewildering is that women in a Muslim country have to cover up completely BUT yesterday as we sat outside a church that is now converted to a mosque, a beautiful young women with long blond hair one would die for, a glorious tanned figure one would die again for, dressed in very short shorts and tank top was ushered into the mosque by the blokes as if she was the Queen Mother….now I can’t afford to be ageist, sexist or green eyed….but…………
Today we visited the ruins of an ancient Persian Palace set high on a hill overlooking the village of Vouni. Although all that remains is basically the floor plan, it is not hard to imagine how it was. The astonishing thing is all of the bedrooms had ensuite’s with running water and loo’s – this was built in 500 BC!!!
I wonder what our ancestor’s toilet arrangements where at that time?????
We stopped at the newly opened Fragata Fish restaurant just out of Kayalar and we were most impressed by the garden adjacent to the restaurant. It was explained to us that they serve fish caught locally with vegetables from their garden. The gardener became our ‘new best friend’ and after our delicious meal gave us a guided tour of his garden and talked to us non-stop for half an hour in Turkish……..the weird thing is we ‘got’ most of it. We really wish you were here..xxxxxx

Northern Cyprus...........

We're currently in Northern Cyprus and while it’s been very full on…the food, the people and the general ambience of the place has rendered us so relaxed I’m not sure we’ll make it to the airport to go back to Britain!!!!

The day before yesterday we climbed to the peak of an old crusader castle perched on a mountain top looking as though it had been glued there. The castle of St Hilarion. Apparently, this particular castle was the inspiration for Walt Disney’s - Snow White castle. It was an amazing climb, it just kept going up and up and up and each step of the way the views were amazing.

Yesterday we drove for about 9 hours up the peninsula to Zafir Bumu and back. The villages are like mazes and once in, it’s a mission to get out! Rod has a passion for Turkish coffee and so it’s always an excuse to partake and ask for directions. However, this is mainly a Muslim country and so I sneak around trying to look inconspicuous! The roads are being reconstructed to the point that you need to guess whether or not the part you're on is the old road, the new road under construction or just a piece of what looks like road but in fact is just that. a piece that looks like road! A really good technique in that situation is following a truck. At least he's going somewhere that probably has a name. Therein lies another problem, everywhere has at least two names, one Turkish, one Greek and one they put on a map. Not the same name on every map!. We didn't really get lost a great deal, it was more that occasionally we got found!
We saw wild donkeys, drank from the spring of the Apostle Andreas (St Andrew) and ate swordfish and salad beside the Mediterranean which is outrageously, unbelievably blue.

The people are funny, warm, superbly helpful and friendly until they get behind the wheel of a car. Then they become pathological. Exaggerating slightly but, in general they aren’t nice drivers and aren’t that helpful about allowing you to merge or change lanes.

Another factor of life here is the military. They are everywhere, especially in the colossal monuments to themselves which probably took half the national economy to build. The last conflict here was in 1974 resulting in the Turks annexing the North and the Greeks the South. The UN army also has a presence as there are onging land ownership dispute. As a result all building work has ceased.
There are incomplete shells of buildings everywhere and a very poor economy.
Historically the island has seen so many invasions and empires come and go along with renowned leaders, teachers, philosophers, kings and emperors, it's hard to get your head around the fact that it's not a massive land. It's something approximately the size of the North Island. What has been important is the strategic value of Cyprus' situation ….location …. location….location…………..really wish you were here xxxxxx