It was a lovely sunny day in Las Palmas today, and a great day for a dental crisis! Julie’s gold filling came off, after well over 40 years of excellent mastication service. Dental problems are never welcome, especially at a time when consuming food is an important part of the holiday.
After a brief flirtation with getting treated in Las Palmas, Julie spoke to the dentist at home and decided she would be alright for another few days until we are home. So no toffees, steaks, bubble gum or peanut brittle for a while, I don’t think she will starve.
Crisis averted, we met Jo and Dave and walked down to Vagueta to see the Cathedral of Santa Ana. Having seen cathedrals in Italy and Andalucia, it is considerably plainer. Las Plamas didn’t have the vast wealth of South American silver and gold like Seville, or the rich bankers and merchants of Tuscany. It is a lovely building, but is not covered in gold and marble.
Part of the deal in the Cathedral was to ascend the tower and enjoy the view over Vagueta and the sea. You can see that the city is squeezed between mountains and the sea.
There was some unusual stuff in the Cathedral. In a little case there was Jesus dressed in one of Barbie’s skirts, it doesn’t suit him. There was a dead Bishop who was mummified and had his face literally painted pink to give him a rosy glow. There was a collection box to pay for him to be made into a saint, sadly I had no change to contribute. My favourite picture is my good buddy Jo looking quite holy.
In the afternoon we visited Casa Colon. I know it sounds like an establishment for.. deep cleaning, but is in fact a museum to Christopher Columbus’s brief visit to Las Palmas. He wasn’t on holiday, he was on his way to destroy cultures and enrich himself in America. It is a lovely little museum, full of maps of his various journeys and a couple of squawking macaws. I especially liked the model of Las Palmas in the 18th century, when it was just Vaguetta and Triana. The Guineguada river is now covered over by a big road between the two barrios.
Here’s Julie looking fascinated by the many maps of Colonic journeys across the Atlantic. Lots of Canarians followed him to settle in South America, where the prospects were better than the Canaries.
In the evening we dined out at Gallo Negro, a Mexican restaurant in Calle Perdoma. I had Enchilladas washed down with an Aperol Spritz, proper holiday food.
The sun was shining this morning from the beginning of the day, so we got out of the flat early…ish. There were pants and socks to wash, so in the event we got out at 11, which is early for a holiday.
The Jehovahs were out on the street trying to convert people by just standing there with their leaflet stand. Quite honestly they could just as well have several cardboard cut-outs of varous versions of Doctor Who and achieve the same number of converts.
We walked for about 5 minutes to get to San Telmo Park, and decided we needed a coffee, its the only way to start the day in Spain. The park is opposite Puerto de la Luz, one of the biggest ports in Spain. They service floating drilling rigs at the port, and there were several lined up ready to get their spark plugs changed and timing belt adjusted.
The park is close to the sea, but is overlooked by hills not far away. In Google Maps I looked up Mirador (viewpoint) and found Mirador de Schamann about 20 minutes walk away, so we headed up there. On the way we passed this interesting looking old building, which is the Canarian Naval Headquarters. I expect they are ready to vigorously fend off any English or Dutch pirates. But quite honestly the Spanish Navy hasn’t had much success since the Battle of Trafalgar.
The view from the mirador was excellent, and the hike up the hill will hopefully negate the effects of the alcohol I will drink tonight. Notice all the drilling rigs in the port. Also you can see that the houses are all little boxes made of ticky tacky and they all look just the same.
We had lunch at the flat (bread/sardines/hummous/tomatoes/sangria) and in the afternoon had another explore of Triana. There are so many interesting streets and a plethora of restaurants.
Have I used the word plethora before? I don’t think so. Like Ithmus, it has a TH in the middle. My initials are TH, surely there is a mystical connection.
Anyway I digress, we mouched about looking at nice places and taking note of restaurants for this evening.
This is the Gabinete Literato, which is a cultural and scientific society a bit like our own Royal Society.
Inside it is equally lovely, and it has a restaurant that we might try out some time.
I took loads more pictures of pretty places, and have cleverly made them into a collage. Not only am I a master of unusual words with TH in them, but I also use collages in my work, I truly am a polymath (which also contains TH).
At 6.30 we met Dave and Jo in their hotel and walked them into Triana. We had a drink in one of the side streets running off Calle Triana, then went in search of a restaurant. They were either Inside Restaurants with no menu on the wall outside and linen table cloths (out of our league) or Outside Restaurants with affordable menus to peruse, but a bit drafty in the street.
Eventually our rumbling tummies overruled us and we found an Outside Restaurant near Plaza del Ranas (Frog Square). My chicken and wrinkled potatoes were very good, washed down with a hearty Rioja.
So far we have had an ‘amuse bouche’ of Gran Canaria, dipping into the old town in las Plamas and Canteras beach. Today we went for the Full Monty, a coach trip up to the mountainous centre of the island and south to Maspolomas. I booked the tour weeks ago, and was hoping that it would show us the interior without having to hire a car.
The bus picked us up at Plaza del Ranas, on the road that separates Triana from Vegueta. There were about 35 people on the bus, with an English speaking guide called Pavel, who is Czech, but has lived in Gran Canaria for a very long time. He was a ball of energy who barely stopped talking, but in a very good way.
It is an understatement to say that the road was windy, it was nothing but bends for hours on end. Luckily my stomach didn’t complain much. The first stop was at Bandama, to see a bloody great hole. Bandama crater is the remains of a volcano that exploded millions of years ago, and it takes an hour to walk around it. It was named after a Dutchman called Van Damme, who owned the land, and the locals mangled his name. At the bottom is a farm where a man called Augustin lived with his family during the Civil War. He never left the crater until he was 80, when he moved in with his sister in the next village. Pavel reckons he is still alive and in his mid 90’s!
This is a picture of a perennially cheerful Pavel telling us all about the ancient occupant of the crater.
We stopped briefly at Santa Brigida, a village named after Saint Brigid. There were at least two Saint Brigids, one was an Irish Virgin and the other was a Swedish do-gooder. Catholics love a nice virgin, and so does Sir Richard Branson, for completley different reasons.
The bus went up and up and twisty turny twisty turny until we reached the top of the island at Pico de las Nievas, the snowy peak. But not today fortunately, it was sunny and we had amazing views across lots of the island. Not far away was Roque Nublo, an eroded volcanic plug (like Arthurs Seat in Edinburgh) and the island’s most famous landmark. Behind it I could see Mount Teide on Tenerife, which I ascended a couple of years ago (by cable car).
This is me at the top. I seem to have aquired a giant hand, it must be the altitude of something.
It was all downhill after that, literally. Beyond the Pico we were in the rainshadow of the mountains, so the landscape changed from lush green to desert. The vegetation changed rapidly to cacti and agaves, and the landscape was like Arizona or Utah.
We stopped for lunch at an oasis village called Fagata, and ate at a restaurant that Pavel had phone ahead to give them our order. I had goat stew with fried potatoes and padron peppers, it was very tender and delicious. I washed it down with a glass of Tropical beer, the local brew made in Las Palmas.
This is what erosion does to a volcano after about 12 million years.
From Fagata it was only half an hour to Maspolomas, which is the main mass tourism resort in the sunnier southern half of the island. The weather is better, there are lots of sand dunes and bars, but no culture. When I travel I want to see authentic places with history and culture, not just hotels and beaches that could be anywhere.
We had 40 minutes wandering along the beach and admiring a fresh water lagoon which is a bird sanctuary. I think we will come down on the bus one day so we can visit it properly.
It took an hour to get back to Las Palmas on the motorway, so we celebrated our return with a glass of local wine in El Patio bar in Vagueta. It’s inside an old style courtyard, and definitly worth another visit.
It’s a big day tomorrow, our buddies Dave and Jo are joining us on our adventure!
We had a very languorous start to the day, mostly doing Sweet FA until about 11.30. We then ambled south along Calle Triana (Calle is pronounced Cayeh in Gran Canaria) and explored a few more of the side streets. There are some very beautiful old houses with wooden balconies, typical of the Canaries.
We crossed Calle Fuente to reach Vagueta, a major road that was once a river until the 20th century. The area we are staying in is called Triana which is 16th and 17th century, Vagueta is the original part of Las Palmas which was founded in 1473 by Castillian Juan Rejon. The Spanish fought the local people for five years before they were conquered by their better armed opponents. Guns, Germs and Steel win every time.
In Vaqueta we met Maria, a local guide who took us around the old town centre. She was an excellent guide and spoke ten to the dozen in a strong Spanish accent that I had to tune into. She loved the area and was enthused about the gorgeous old buildings. One of the first we saw was a little church where Christopher Columbus once prayed while one of his ships was being fixed on his first trip to China (that’s what he thought).
Next to the little church are some palm trees, not the original Las Palmas, but close to where they grew. Vagueta (which means a small piece of fertile ground) has several lovely museums and lots of cafes offering tempting pastries and cocktails (later in the day). Maria told us that Francis Drake had a go at Las Palmas in his usual piratical way, followed later by the Dutch having a pop. Gran Canaria is a very desirable location between Europe, Africa and America. The Canarians built narrow streets with tight corners, so they could pick off any invaders one by one.
The grandest building is the Cathedral of Santa Ana. Apparently Saint Anne was Jesus’s grandmother, and his grandfather was called Joaquin, like Phoenix. Who knew that?
This picture is the back of Santa Ana, with Maria in the corner.
There’s a fantastic market in Vagueta selling local food. Pushing the culinary boat out we invested in some Iberico ham. The pigs are fed only on acorns, and it costs 20 Euros for 100g, that’s 200 Euros a Kilo my friends. Fuck it, we’re on holiday! To go with it, we got some spelt bread, and ate it at lunch in the flat. Needless to say, it was bloody delicious.
After lunch we got the 17 bus to Canteras beach. Las Palmas is a very big city, and the north of is shaped like a lollipop. There is a big peninsular sticking out at the northern end, which is made up of old volcanoes. This area is called Isleta, and is connected to the rest of the city by an isthmus. Dear reader this is the first time I have ever used the word Isthmus, and I’m proud of it. On the western side of the isthmus is a beautiful beach called Canteras, allegedly the best urban beach in Europe.
Its very popular with surfers, most of whom are enthusiastic but crap at surfing. But its a lovely place to hang out in the afternoon sunshine.
Isleta is the lumpy bit at the end of the beach.
Las Palmas is a lovely place, and I’m looking forward to exploring it more. It’s wine time for me now.
I’m visiting Gran Canaria for the first time. I have developed a taste for the Canary archipeligo for several very good reasons.
They are the nearest warm place you can fly to in the Winter/early Spring which is in Europe (sort of). The islands all have their own character, and you can get culture if you want it, plus the booze is cheap and the food is good.
London is still damned chilly right now and the beer is a ridiculous price unless you go to Spoons, and as much as I love them, I don’t want to boost Tim Martin’s bank balance too much. I do appreciate that he is called Tim, there many talented Tims, such as Berners Lee, Vine and Peak. I’m the most popular Tim Harness, I asked my wife and she agreed with me.
Julie and I are staying in the capitol of Gran Canaria, Las Palmas, which is on the top right hand side of the roughly circular island. Its a big city, half an hour from the airport by bus.
Our apartment is in the old part of town called Triana, which is full of shops and restaurants. Julie cleverly chose a beautiful flat on Calle Triana, a pedestrianised shopping street which is very cool. The flat has a balcony about 30 cm wide, too narrow to sit on, but we can open the big windows and watch the passersby.
Since we arrived there has been a group of Jehovahs Witnesses with their little stand of leaflets doing nothing, just across the road. They don’t appear to talk to anyone, they just stand there looking hopeful that someone will approach them. I guess they think they are doing Gods Work, but it appears to me like a total waste of time when they could be in the pub or watching a Grand Prix on the telly.
We got settled in and walked around the locality to suss out where we can eat and drink. Like all touristy places in the Canaries there is an Ale Hop (ally op) which is a bit like Tiger and sells pretty things that you don’t really need but you buy anyway.
There is a Hyper Dino supermarket close to the flat, so we bought our essential supplies, including two bars of 70% chocolate, which I consider is one of life’s necessities.
Thus enriched with supplies we enjoyed an aperitivo by the balcony and made quiet rude comments about the innocent folk below. Jehovah would be very disappointed with me, but I’m sure he will forgive me.
Venturing out again (no more than 200 yards) we found Cafe Cristal and I had a pizza. It wasn’t just good, it was magnificent, with more topping than Bertram Mills Circus.
After loosening my belt, we walked down the Calle to San Telmo Park at the end, which is small but very very pretty. Take a look at this Art Deco cafe, isn’t it gorgeous?
This is what I found out during my Interrail trip in September – October 2023. You might find it useful, you might think it very tedious.
Wheelie Bag or Rucksack?
I know you are dying to know the answer to this big question.
We decided on small wheeled suitcases that we usually use as cabin luggage. They were perfectly good for our needs, which are modest
We packed carefully fitted most of our stuff in our wheelies. We both took small rucksacks to put out valuables (phone, passport, Chromebook) and food in so we could have them with us on the train. Its a well know fact foreigners will try and steal your bags if given the opportunity. Its best to sleep with one eye open.
Often we could put our wheelies above us on luggage racks, sometimes they went on racks at the end of the carriage. We secretly laughed at people with bags bigger than themselves that they could barely drag down the corridor. Ha ha ha you fools!
We never wished we had big rucksacks, they are heavy and needless. This isn’t Thailand in 1984, its Europe in 2023 where we have proper paving (mostly).
Wheelies are noisy on cobbled streets, and you have to be careful on kerbs. Julie lost a wheel from her wheelie and had to buy another one in Siena
What clothes to take?
Travelling in early Autumn in Europe I had clothes for 2 seasons, because I thought it would be cool in October. But it was hot all the time!
4 tee shirts – wore them all. The blue stripy one was my favourite
2 shorts – wore most of the time
4 pairs socks – wore occasionally with trainers
2 thin jumpers – wore very rarely
5 pants
1 jeans
1 hiking trousers – wore once in the rain
2 long sleeve shirts – for evenings out, wore rarely
I pair hiking sandals – wore constantly and they got stinky
2 pair trainers – wore occasionally
I pair swimming shorts
I microfiber towel – very good for the beach
Sun lotion
Bug repellent
Corkscrew – no screw caps on bottles in France
Earbuds
Hat/cap – i had to wash it after a month
Sunglasses
Battery pack for mobile – using Google maps uses lots of power
We stayed in small apartments, often (not always) with washing machines. Occasionally I would shower with my smalls on the floor and stomp them with shampoo.
This was enough because I could regularly wash stuff.
Food
We decide that we would rather have extra days on holiday rather than have lots of meals out. So we had occasional moderately priced meals out, but mostly cooked in our flat.
A baguette in France costs 1 Euro, which is a bargain.
Navigation
The Interrail app is fantastic for finding the train you want and getting the ticket as a QR code. It made planning our route quite straightforward.
The best source of advice is the website “The Man in Seat 61”. He has been everywhere in Europe and his train travel website is amazingly comprehensive.
The view Interrail app doesn’t show all the small regional stations in Italy when you look for stations between cities.
So I used the Trenitalia app (available in English) to find the trains I wanted.
Accomodation
We used Airbnb or Booking.com to find self catering flats. Paris (of course) was most expensive and Golfe Juan was the cheapest. Its a small beach town between Cannes and Antibes. We got a small flat with a swimming pool for £56 a night!
With an Interrail pass you can get cheaper accommodation by being close to a station away from the centre, which we did in Salzburg and Munich.
Eurostar Connection
With Interrail you are allowed one travel day from your home to Europe, so we booked a journey from Whitton ( our local station) to Paris (via St Pancras). To take Eurostar it a £30 surcharge each way and places are limited, so book early.
Sleeping
Take a sleep mask for accommodation with thin curtains.
New City
Find the Tourist Information office for free maps and finding out about places to see. It’s also useful to find where to buy bus/tram/metro tickets.
DON’T put Paris Metro tickets next to your phone, it wipes them out!
CityMapper is available in some big cities and is a useful alternative to Google Maps
Paying for stuff
I have my bank cards in Google Wallet on my Android phone that uses NFC. I used it all the time and it never failed.
We had some Euros to pay for toilets in stations and some small items.
We left our flat in Golfe Juan at 7.30 ish this morning and got to our hotel in Lyon at 3pm, changing trains twice on the way at Cannes and Marseilles.
The first leg along the south coast takes ages, then it was fast on the TGV from Marseilles to Lyon. Fortunately it all went smoothly and we settled into a proper hotel for the first time! It cost twice as much per night as we paid in our last place, but it’s delicious having some luxury.
We stayed the Hotel Charlemagne on Cours Charlemagne, which is close to the confluence of the Rhone and Soane rivers in central Lyon. I grabbed a map in the hotel reception and we walked along the banks of the Soane in the direction of the Old Town.
The Soane is a big river, the size of the Seine or the Danube. The old town of Lyon is at the foot a a hill where the Roman settlement of Lugdunum was, and where its ruins remain. Lugdunum was the birth place of the Emperor Claudius. the Emperor who would conquer Britain.
It is a bloody great hill, and neither of us fancied the hike on a warm afternoon. Fortunately there is a funicular railway going up, which is integrated into the metro system. It was well worth the 2 euros to reach the Fourviere stop at the top. Fourviere is on the site of the old Roman town centre, and the name comes from Forum Vieux, old forum in English.
On leaving the station you are right next to the Fourviere Basilica, a magnificent white stone church completed in 1895. The interior is stunning, with huge mosaics highlighted in gold depicting biblical stories and the battle of Lepanto with the French fighting Turks in galleys.
I’m sure you are asking yourself what is a basilica? Well its a Catholic church given special privileges by the Pope. Often they are notable shrines and pilgrimage sites. They attract pilgrims and make more money for the church.
The view of the city from Fourviere is marvellous, it’s the third largest city in France and spreads out for many miles.
Not far from the basilica are the ruins of Roman amphitheatre. Part of the seating has been restored so it can be used as an auditorium. On the day we were there it was closed for filming, so I stole an image of the internet.
We walked down hill to the old town, which is very steep with lots of steps. Like all the old towns we have been to there were lots of restaurants, all competing for customers. Being a tight bastard someone who enjoys value for money I found a place offering 3 courses for 15.90 euros. So we sat down at Le Laurencin and had the best meal on our entire trip! I had pork terrine and salad, braised beef and daufinois potatoes followed by creme brûlée. Bloody hell it was good!
14 October 2023
It was our last day in Lyons, and I was not feeling great. My cold was starting to get the better of me. After coffee and a cake at a patisserie, I gained some energy and felt my waist expand. There are a ridiculous amount of patisseries and boulangeries in France, and it is very hard to resist them.
We walked to down Cours Charlemagne to the Confluence. This is where the Soane and Rhone join together. At the pointy end there was a man fishing, and he had just caught a large Chub, 55cm long. He measured it, photographed it and threw it back in the river.
The major attraction at the Confluence is the museum with the same name. It looks as if a space ship from a Ridley Scott film has landed on Lyon. Its a shame that some vandal had drawn a cock on the big Lyon sign, it spoiled it somewhat.
The website for the museum didn’t properly explain whet was in it, but it was actually a really good modern museum. It has themed rooms about living animals, prehistoric animals, technology and geology. The signs are in English as well as French which helped a lot. We spent a couple of hours looking around but could have spent a lot longer. There was an exhibition about a photographer called Marc Riboud who took photos in Africa and Asia in the 50’s and 60’s. this photo was taken in Dubrovnik.
Then we took the T1 tram and A metro to Place Bellecour an enormous square in the city centre. We discovered the Hotel Dieu, a huge 18th century building that used to be a hospital until 2010. It is now an Intercontinental Hotel, shops and restaurants. It is vast, the size of Les Invalides in Paris.
My cold was getting the better of me by then so we went back to the hotel for a rest. Our last evening out was at Tasty Pizza, a fast food place very close to the hotel. I’m very pleased to say it lived up to its name, but it wasn’t Claridges.
15 October 2023
Our last day of travels in Europe. We caught the 11.00 TGV to Lille, arriving at 14.30. After a quick coffee, we were soon queuing to go through Border Control and security for Eurostar. Our last 10 euros were invested in 2 small bottle of wine for the short trip to St Pancras. We got into London on time at 15.30 (London time is an hour ahead of France) and we were home about 16.45.
I was pleased to see that the apples in my garden had ripened nicely 🙂
The final statistics are:
5,135 KM (3,190 miles) of travel, on 50 trains to 38 places.
We spent 2 days 8 hours 8 minutes on the train over 40 days of travel
I ate 5 metres of baguettes (possibly)
Final Thoughts
Before you ask, yes I did have a good time. It only rained twice in Munich and when we changed trains at Innsbruck on the way from Salzburg to Verona.Other than that it was hot and sunny all the time!
Some of the journeys were long, 7.5 hours from Munich to Budapest though Germany, Austria, Slovakia and Hungary. But I had my phone and Kindle, som plenty to keep me occupied.
Yes I did drink alcohol every day. I was in holiday frame of mind and I know its not good for me. It would be no fun going to a beer festival in Salzburg and drinking a coke. I also ate a lot of croissants for breakfast, and every one was delicious.
How much did we spend? Well accommodation was between £50 and £100 a night, Paris was stupidly expensive, Budapest was very reasonable. Eating and drinking out is always expensive. You can get an Aperol Spritz for 6 euros in Italy, but its at least 8 in France. Food in supermarkets was generally more expensive than at home.
So we did spend a lot, but it was worth it.
Travelling by train is great, you arrive in the middle of the city, and generally don’t have to show any passports or go through security once you are in Europe.
Did we meet any interesting people? Not really, travelling as a couple we didn’t meet any other people.
Genoa was much more interesting than I anticipated, but it was time to head west towards France. Liguria, where Genoa is the biggest city, is squeezed between the mountains and the sea. The flat land is never more than a few miles wide, but is where the resorts of the Cinque Terre and Italian Riviera are.
The railway runs along the narrow corridor and is frequently either close to the sea or passing through a tunnel.
To get to France we had to take the train to Ventimiglia close to the border, and then change onto a French train. Just before the actual border two Border guards came down the carriage and spoke to the only black people. They asked for passports to get into France, but they didn’t have any with them, so they were told to leave the train. No white people were asked for their passports.
Once in France, the train stopped at every station, so it was very slow. We eventually arrived at Golfe Juan – Vallauris station, half way between Cannes and Antibes. After getting a bit lost (Google Maps was wrong) we found Didier, our host, outside the gates of the apartments where we were staying. The flat is tiny, but has everything we need, plus a balcony overlooking attractive gardens and a swimming pool.
There is a Super U market close by, so we stocked up and had salmon, potatoes and green beans for dinner. It made a change from Italian food and was cooked to perfection. By me.
Thursday 5 October
Another day in paradise! It’s great to sit on the balcony for coffee in the sunshine and look at palm trees. I used to do that in my garden at home, but the palm tree was growing a foot a year so I had it cut down.
I have booked 6 nights here, so we can explore all the local towns along the Cote D’Azur and enjoy some seaside time.
The marina at Golfe Juan is huge, and full of ostentatious superyachts, one of them even had a helicopter on the back of it. Just beyond the marina is Pablo Picasso beach.
The man himself was a resident from 1946 to 1951. It is a lovely sandy beach with warm(ish) water. I did my usual bob around in the sea looking for fish, of course I couldn’t see any. It was fairly quiet since it is October, well out of season, but with summer weather:freaky.
We went back to the flat for lunch of smoked salmon on blinis, rillette on baguette and salad. Then we lounged around for the afternoon at “our” pool, it doesn’t come much better than that.
In the evening we walked into town and went for dinner in a little Asian cafe. It was great to have Pad Thai with a pichet of rose wine.
Friday 6 October
Time for a bit of glamour. The bus goes right past our flats, so we caught it into Cannes, a few miles west of here. It took us to the SNCF station,and we walked through the busy town centre to the sea front. There’s a big marina at the front, but not as many superyachts as in Golfe Juan, it’s probably too expensive to moor there. Just beyond the marina is the small “old town” called Suquet, more of a village really. There is a hill with the remains of a castle and a rather plain church, but great views over the centre of Cannes.
There are a few narrow streets with some lovely pastel coloured houses and pricey restaurants. Being British, we had brought some sandwiches with us, thus saving about 50 Euros. BTW our accommodation is about 70 euros a night, so it’s worthwhile being stingy with meals.
After our picnic lunch we walked along the Croisette (the promenade) past all the private beaches where you can pay 500 euros for a bottle of champagne if you wish. Beyond those are the public beaches where I went for a swim, and Julie read a book (on her phone).
I thought Cannes was beautiful, but a bit too, yer know, posh.
So we walked back to the station and caught the 16.08 train to Juan le Pins, which took a modest 8 minutes. It is a much smaller scale resort, but still quite upmarket with lots of private beaches. The public beach was fine and I took another dip with the other paupers. Once again, Julie sat under a tree and declined to dip.
Once I had dried off in the hot sun we walked west back to Golfe Juan to our flat for a well earned beer (Heineken) salad Nicoise and Vigonier wine, all from our fridge.
It is very nice here, I can see why it attracts all the super wealthy. But you can visit on the cheap, if you pick the right place to stay and don’t eat out much.
Saturday 7 October
The great thing about the Interrail pass is that we can get on the train anytime we fancy it. Just find it on the app, flick a digital switch and the ticket is generated.
Golfe Juan (pronounced Golfa Jzooan) is on the line along the Cote d’Azur that runs through all the seaside towns, so it’s easy to get along the coast
Today we got the train to Grasse, which is in the hills north of Canne. It is the home of the French perfume industry. They started off making (honestly) scented gloves for the court of Louis XIV, and then developed the perfume side of the business big time in the 18th century.
The old town is at the top of a hill, so it’s a 15 minute walk up steps to the little Romanesque cathedral. The old town is full of narrow streets with the houses painted in yellow, pink and orange. The main shopping streets are decorated with hanging pink umbrellas. It is very pretty, and there are great views down towards the sea at Cannes.
Growing flowers for perfume used to be a huge local industry. We visited the former Fragonard factory, which is a museum now full of perfume bottles and antique distilling equipment. Of course the perfume shop is huge, but I naturally smell delightful so I don’t need any perfume.
The narrow winding streets with old doors and shutters make Grasse look like a film set. It is not a big place but great to visit for half a day.
There was a marvellous artwork on the rendered end wall of a house. A pioneering photographer called Charles Negre came from Grasse and his image has been reproduced by hitting the render with a hammer to make marks on it.
The direct train from Golfe Juan to Grasse only takes 40 minutes, so it’s an easy place to visit.
For dinner we had homemade ratatouille with a can of Super U cassoulet, which was a winning combination.
Sunday 8 October
Last night we decided to stay another 3 nights in Golfe Juan, it’s a great place and costs us only £56 a night.
Today we took the train east a few stops to Nice. It is the ”le weekend”, the weather is hot, so it was very busy. I was feeling less than my perky self and had a runny nose, so I probably got a virus from someone French, the filthy beasts.
It was very hot at the station waiting for the train, Julie retired beneath her hat.
The charm has worn off a bit since we came last year, but the sea is still very blue.
The old town is full of restaurants, and none of them are cheap! Trouble is I am cheap and don’t want to pay more for a meal than I do for my accommodation.
But the views from the top of the old fortifications down the Promenade Anglais are quite wonderful.
Monday 9 October
I was still feeling a bit yukky this morning, so we made the very easy decision to do bugger-all.
We walked to the the big Super U on the main road to Antibes, and bought more supplies. The food is noticeably more expensive than at home, one big onion costs a Euro! Bloody hell in 1974 I could go out and get pissed on Courage Best for that much (15p a pint in the Students Union).
Exhausted from carrying beer and wine back to the flat, we had to lay by the swimming pool and read . We dined royally on our balcony (renamed by me the balconioni) and rehydrated with lager.
After a little rest we walked for 5 minutes down to the little beach squeezed between the main line to Nice and the sea, it was heavenly. I made myself a backrest from a heap of sand and settled down to read The Martian again. It’s the second time I have read it, so I’m now a fully qualified astronaut, NASA I’m waiting for your call.
Monday 10 October 2023
If its Monday it must be Antibes, which is just 6 minutes away on the train. We could walk there in about an hour, but I’m feeling wishy washy again, and let the train take the strain.
Antibes was a border town between France and Italy, when Nice belonged to the Holy Roman Empire. Its a complicated story, but Nice became French only 150 years ago. Consequently there are some big walls and a huge fortress and port built by Vauban, who you may remember built a dam in Strasburg.
The old town is very pretty with narrow streets and colourful shutters like in Nice and Cannes. I think it is a better place to visit than both of them, it’s less busy and has some lovely beaches with benches in the shade. So I could go for a swim while Julie read in the shade.
Early this morning I went to the boulangerie 10 minutes away from our flat, so we could have baguettes for our lunch while sitting outside the Picasso Museum. Needless to say he spent a lot of time in Antibes as well, probably working his way through ladies of the town.
The old town had lots of arty shops selling pottery, prints, jewellery and tinned sardines. I think sardines must be in fashion, probably because of the colourful cans rather than the fish.
When we were sat on the beach I spotted a very big superyacht. I took a picture and used Google Lens to identify it, it was Symphony belonging to Bernard Arnault who is the wealthest man in Europe and paid for the museum we went to in Paris. Its 101.5 metres (333ft) long, and is designed to carry 20 passengers with 38 crew.
Luckliy I also got a photo of a man in flippers doing a hand stand!
October 11 2023
Go East, the great pop song the Pet Shop Boys never recorded, but the theme song for our trip today. We took the riviera train through Antibes, Nice and Monaco to Menton, very close to the Italian border.
Our destination was a botanic garden called Val Rahmeh which was founded by and Englishman called Lord Percy Radcliffe in 1905. It is small but stunning, with many species of tropical plants from all over the world growing outside. It is supremely relaxing and peaceful, all it needs is a National Trust tea shop with a good selection of hot beverages and baked goods.
After eating our packed lunch (saving money to buy a Spritz later) we walked down to the beach. As per usual, Julie listened to her audio book and I went for a dip in the briny and then stared out to sea.
The old town of Menton is on a hill overlooking the beach. Once again (like the other old towns) it had narrow steep streets and ochre coloured 5 and 6 story houses. IThey must have planning regulations which tell them to use only yellow, pink and orange muted colours. It is also very well maintained, a definite feeling of civic pride that I haven’t seen as much in other towns. There’s a lovely baroque basilica which is newly painted on the outside with Farrow and Ball colours.
At the top of the town is the old cemetery where William Webb Ellis is buried, and a statue to commemorate him. He has the ultimate accolade in Twickenham, a ‘Spoons named after him.
After enjoying the dead centre of Menton (geddit?) We walked towards the station. But a reasonably priced Aperol Spritz caught our eyes, so we stopped for a swifty.
The town centre is very pretty, with some colourful “Belle Epoque” grand hotels, and the only town hall I have seen with banana trees outside.
Menton is delightful, definitely a more classy resort than any of the others we have visited.
On the train back to Golfe Juan our tickets were checked twice by inspectores who had their own guards. There were also lots of beefy cops on the train, I suppose they are after illegal immigrants.
October 12
Our last full day on the Cote D’Azur, and we took another short train ride to Cagne Sur Mer. The original town is on top of a hill with the Chateau Grimaldi at the top. The Grimaldi family still rule Monaco, which is only about 10 miles east along the coast.
Our destination was the Renoir Museum, the home of Renoir in his later years. It is a former farm called Les Collettes, set amongst ancient olive trees, overlooking the sea and the old town. The setting is stunning, but the museum itself is a bit… sparse.
There are a few lovely paintings by Pierre-August Renoir, but more by artists of the same school and his assistants. He was able to take up sculpture with the assistance of a young artist called Richard Guino, who slapped around the clay under Renoir’s direction. There are some lovely paintings and some furniture, but you can see it all in about 45 minutes.
In one of the farm buildings there was a silent film running of Renoir and an assistant (his son possibly) sitting in his wheelchair painting. His assistant charges his brush, and he paints a canvas, while smoking like a chimney.
In the afternoon we returned to Golfe Juan and lazed on the beach for a few hours. The beach is sandy, the sea is warm (warm for me, icy to Julie) and there are lots of yachts to watch. The beach is populated mostly by retired people who are filly equiped with loungers, cool boxes and umbrellas that they trundle down to the beach on trolleys
I listened to my favourite podcast “the Rest is History” with Dominic Sandbrook and Tom Holland. They are a first class double act who are entertaining as well as knowledgeable. It was about the Ummyad and Abbasid dynasties that ruled the Islamic Caliphate in the 7th and 8th centuries.
I’ve lost you now haven’t I? All the brain space that most people devote to sport, I devote to science and history. That’s why I’m so fascinating 😉
I’m on the train to Salzburg whizzing through Austria. This train goes to Munich so there were a couple dressed in Bavarian outfits selling beer. Yes bloody please!
A bit out of focus, I was excited
We got to Salzburg at 3 ish and put our bags in a locker and sent to explore. It is a very neat, tidy and attractive city, as befits the home of Mozart and the Sound of Music. We passed a trio of nuns (honestly) and I wanted to ask “how do you solve a problem like Maria?” but Julie wouldn’t let me.
There’s a festival on at the moment called Rupertikirtag in honour of St Rupert. It’s like a mini Octoberfest with food and beer stalls and a funfair. Lots of people were dressed in lederhosen and dirndls, even the kids! It was very colourful and fun.
Horny men in leather shorts – normal for Austria
There was even a group of men doing the knee slapping dance I have only seen in The Two Ronnie’s
Our accommodation is in Hallein, a few stops down the line, Salzburg is too expensive. The Sommeraur Pensione cost us as much for 2 nights as we paid for 4 nights in Budapest. But the breakfast was enormous and the coffee excellent.
Thursday 21 September
This morning we got the 9.16 train from Hallein into Salzburg. Hallein had salt mines, which were the basis of Salzburg’s (salt town) great prosperity. The salt was shipped down the river into Italy and wine came back, a very good deal.
We walked up to the Hohensalzburg, the huge castle above the town on a crag. We could have taken the funicular, but I’m a Skiffer not a softie! Neither is Julie. The castle is honestly one of the best I have ever visited. It was founded in 1180, and improved all the way up to 1803 when Napoleon marched in.
The massive castle has amazing views over the city and nearby Alps. The weather was hot and sunny, so it was perfect. There are several museums inside about the castle and military history which are very modern and well laid out.
The funicular is free to go down and takes about a minute. Skiffers also enjoy a bargain.
In the square at the bottom Rupertikirtag is in full swing, with many stalls selling pretzels of various types, cream cakes and sweets. We went into a marquee with an oompah band and I had a beer, 6.2 Euro for half a litre. Expensive, but not outrageous.
🎶 I like lager und bratwurst und cabbage
The city centre is fairly small, but is all beautiful 17th and 18th century Baroque buildings, including several where Mozart lived. Mozart was the Harty Styles of his day, but wrote his own tunes.
The huge ancient abbey of St Peter was very impressive, with a highly decorated church and a restaurant that claims it was founded in 803. That’s 1220 years ago, before King Alfred beat the Vikings (for you history nerds out there).
Austrian cuisine is …limited in scope, but we thought we should try it. The Zipfer Bierhaus is a traditional pub on one of the central squares. I had sausage, potatoes and sauerkraut, Julie had schnitzel and potatoes. It was fine.
The Octoberbrau I had was really delicious, so I was a happy boy.
Saurkraut is ok, but baked beans is much better with sausages.
We didn’t decide to visit Budapest until last week, when we were in Strasbourg. It was on our itinerary back in August, then we took it off again. Our reluctance is due to it being 6.5 hours from Munich on the train. Then I started reading The Places In Between, which is about Rory Stewart’s walk across Afghanistan during the winter. That made me feel like a big softy, and a long journey on a comfy train isn’t too much of a hardship. I’m a big fan of Rory Stewart, an incredibly tough polymath and the only Tory politician I respect.
As I write I’m in a reserved seat on a packed train on our way through Hungary near Mosonmagyrovar on the Pannonian basin. It’s flat all the way to the Carpathian mountains, and is studded with windmills.
Well we are here now, in a small but perfectly formed studio flat in Pest, which is on the eastern bank of the Danube which is (so Google tells us) the cooler part of town.
Having spent 9 hours travelling from our flat in Munich, we were feeling a bit err… shit… when we arrived. so after struggling with 2 digital keypads to get in, we soon went out to the Danube river bank a few hundred metres away for a drink at sunset. The Viaduckt bar is a bar under the viaduct for the tram running down the river bank. We had great views of Buda and the Chain Bridge and chilled there for a bit with a beer.
Julie found the Parisi6 restaurant close by, which was fantastic, I had a slow cooked pork steak and Julie had beef neck, those animals did not die in vain. The waiter liked what we said about his food and gave us a free shot, Which was nice.
On the way home we found a Lidl to get emergancy rations of red wine and chocolate. Well it’s just common sense.
Sunday 17 September
I had very few preconceptions about Budapest before I arrived. I knew that it had Buda and Pest with the Danube in between, and a collection of castles and museums, the usual kind of European capital stuff. But I have been blown away by how beautiful it is. Some of it looks like Paris, some of it like Vienna and there are even parts that look like Disneyland! The architecture is amazing, there are some gorgeous late 19th century art deco buildings and Victorian neo-gothic with a touch of Ottoman thrown in.
The first 3 hours of the day were Interrail Admin (boring but vital) so it was past 11 before we got out of the flat in Pest. Beautiful sunshine after mixed weather in Munich.
We found the Tourist Info to get some paper maps and general orientation, then walked down to the Danube. There was a lovely Victorian building that looked like something cultural, so we went in. It was called Vigado, a concert hall and exhibition centre that is stunningly beautiful. Its interior is quite palatial, the equal of palaces we have visited in other capital cities. On the 6th floor there was a design exhibition of leatherware, glassware, sculptures and other superb local crafts. There was also a roof terrace with wonderful views over the Danube to the castle district.
It’s a well known fact that culture makes you hungry, and we found Vapiano, a fast Italian food chain recommended by our neighbour Ruth. I had fusili Bolognese and Julie had a Cesare salad, both very good.
To get to Buda we crossed the chain bridge, a 19th century suspension bridge that looks like Marlow Bridge but is much bigger. It has just (like yesterday) been reopened after
renovation, and is like new. They have banned traffic, so just pedestrians and cycles were going across.
On the Buda side we walked up the steep hill to the castle district. It isn’t a medieval castle, but a collection of impressive 18th and 19th century buildings constructed for the Hapsburg Emperors of Austria Hungary. The amazing fact is that some of the buildings that look old are in fact very new and were built to replace demolished buildings.
Short History Lesson
Hungary started off in WW2 on the German side. They were getting thrashed by the Allies, so started negotiations to change horse mid-race. The Nazis didnt like that so invaded and treated the country extremely badly (it’s a grim story you can read on Wikipedia). At the end of the war many of the buildings on castle hill were badly damaged, but still standing. In 1971 the Communist government demolished several of them.
Those buildings are now being rebuilt as perfect copies of the old ones, and they are stunning. It shows that the old crafts are not dead.
These 2 are new buildings
At the northern end of the castle hill is Fishermans Bastion, which was built at the end of the 19th century as a panoramic look-out spot. It rivals some of those castles in Bavaria for its fairy tale castle look.
The views across the Danube are stunning, especially as the Parliament building catches the setting sun.
Culture makes you thirsty as well, and we found a cafe half way down the hill for a glass of wine.
FACT
Hungarian wine tastes pretty much like any other wine, nice.
Interrail Admin
Interrail isn’t all site seeing and drinking wine you know. we also have to book rail trips and find accommodation. Having gazed at our Rail Map of Europe and deciding which city next, we find a train to get there. That is fairly easy using the Interrail app on our phones that also creates the QR code ticket. For long distance journeys we also make a separate Seat Reservation. For Germany, Austria and Hungary we use the Deutche Bahn website, which is quite good (but not perfect).
The most difficult job is finding accomodation on Booking.com and AirBnB which is in the right place and fits our budget. We prefer a kitchen and washing machine so we dont have to eat out and have clean undies.
All this took 3 hours and lots of swearing this morning. Then the knob-end we booked with in Salzburg said his flat was no longer available. Grrrrrrrr!!!
Monday 18 September
This morning we took a “free” walking tour of Pest with Matt. Free means you give what you think it’s worth at the end of the tour. Pest (pronounced Pesht) was undeveloped until the Chain Bridge was opened in 1849. It was designed by British engineer James Tierney Clark and is a scaled up version of his design for Marlow Bridge.
The nice bits of Pest are all late 19th century buildings when Buda had joined with Pest to make a single city. The Hapsburg Empress loved Budapest and influenced Emperor Franz Joseph to improve the capital. She was known as Sisi, and has a similar status to Princess Diana in Austria and Hungary. There have recently been a Netflix series and a film about her, she was quite a live wire compared to her rather conservative husband.
Sisi
Matt took us to St Stephen’s church, which is built in a Baroque style like St Pauls in London but wasn’t finished until 1905. Parts of it collapsed twice, killing two of the architects. Quite Darwinian really, it prevented them from designing any more terrible buildings,
Matt showed us the “Statue of Liberty”, an eagle (the Nazis) attacking an angelic figure (Hungary). It was put up over night under police protection. The memorial is controversial since it show Hungary as a victim of the Nazis. In fact they joined the war as Nazi partners, 80,000 died in a day in Stalingrad. They tried to change sides in 1943 and were then occupied by the Nazis, who sent 400,000 Jews and minorities to Ausweitz. In 1945 they were occupied by the Soviets who controlled Hungary until 1989, and they are still recovering from it.
The walk ended at the Parliament Building, which is “the third largest Parliament in the world”. Its very impressive, and looks better from the Fishermens Bastion.
In the afternoon we walked down to the huge Central Market, a huge cast iron shed, similar to those in Leeds and Newcastle. On the first floor are lots of stalls selling Hungarian food. I had Beef Goulash, with noodles. It was huge, very tasty and good value, about £9 for the best beef stew I have eaten. Possibly.
On the way back to the flat for a serious sit down, we bought a Chimney Cake. These are cyclindrical spirals of dough, cooked to golden brown. They taste like a Cinnamon Roll and are bloody gorgeous. Honestly, better than good.
I washed my smalls in the sink and hung them off the lighting to make a tasteful mobile called “Pants in Motion”.
It’s art, init?
In the evening we went to a Ruin Bar in the Jewish Quarter. We had a slightly overpriced drink in a trendy bar. It was alright, but honestly I’ve had better beer in a Spoons. Yes, I’m a pleb.
A ruin bar
Tuesday 19 September
We are now 2 weeks into our adventure in Europe. This is an “unpackaged” holiday, there is no charming courier to take us on a coach to our hotel and organise tours for us. So we spend hours each day planning the next leg of the trip, and the one after that. Our original plan was to go from Salzburg to Innsbruck, but it’s going to be raining in Innsbruck so we will go straight through to Verona.
It’s raining in Budapest this morning, so we are doing our admin. I went to Aldi nearby where they have bread that looks like dildos. I bought flat bread in a plastic bag, no chance of miss-use.
Ooh err missus…
Once it stopped raining we go the metro line M1 to City Park, a couple of miles away. The metro is the oldest in continental Europe, built in 1896. That’s more than 30 years after London, they took their time didn’t they ? It look like it has barely been modernised since.
The park is very lovely, with several Hapsburg era buildings and some strikingly modern ones.
The metro stops at Szechenyi baths, the grandest of the thermal baths in the city. I didn’t go in, I didn’t fancy sharing a hot bath with other people drinking beer. I know what people do when they drink beer.
The thermal baths
Nearby is a mock castle with an agricultural museum in it. Didn’t go in their either, I got museumed-out in Munich on the very rainy day.
A mock castle, a bit like in Cardiff
The House of Music is a very modern concert hall with a fantastic ceiling and staincase. Like most arty places it had excellent toilets, so I had a quality metropolitan elite piss.
The most interesting building is the Ethnographic Museum, which has a dish shaped roof that is also a garden. It looks better than I have described it. Inside it has a huge architectural model of Budapest showing all of the city city. The Ethnographic collection didn’t appeal, that’s a rainy day trip I think.
The sloping museum roof
It’s our last night here, so we went down to the Danube to enjoy the view of the castle and have a beer.
We had dinner in a Mexican cafe, a delicious Budapest Burrito.
timharnesstravels 