After our French sidetrack, it was time for the next big main event... our first trip to Italy. And once again, the efforts of border crossing seemed to be not so simple as they seemed. We trained from Avignon to Nice, and from Nice to Ventimiglia, just inside the Italian border... arriving by midday due to getting up at 5am in Avignon to make sure we made good time... and so, with five hours before our hostel closed for check in [at 5pm - somewhat ridiculous, but 'when in Rome'..] we had just 250km of rail track to go to our destination, Riomaggiore. At which point, we consulted the timetable, discovered that it was, in fact, a Saturday [who knew?] and that the fastest, most direct train we could get left just after 1pm and would deliver us to our destination some time after 7:00. Hmmph. So, after a quick re-plan, and a little more than a moment's panic, we changed route and headed for Genova for the night. And here is where we found out how our original planned journey would have failed... our train stopped, on average, over a four and a half hour journey... once every six minutes. Not cool. Seriously not cool.
But we arrived safely in Genova, and, determined not to let our first experience of Italy turn into a negative one, we hunted down the best available accommodation when arriving in a city sans booking, after 5pm on a Saturday night... and went exploring. Genova felt like a city of wealth, the buildings lit up with beautiful soft lighting, and groups of well-dressed people pouring in and out of theatres and hotels along the streets. Still, we did our best not to stick out too badly, wandering past the Piazza de Ferrari, the main square outside the opera house, with a very cool fountain, and down the main pedestrian street, Via Garibaldi, through the old town. This district is on the UNESCO world heritage list, and was quite different to much of what we had seen thus far. Most of the buildings were designed in the 16th century for the wealthy ruling families, and we were told that several of the houses facing each other across the street were built specifically in a show of 'one-upmanship' between feuding families. We didn't have the time to do the city justice, but what we did see was impressive, and saved the detour from being a complete disaster.
The next morning we planned to get up and get going early, then managed to do both an hour earlier than planned due to forgetting that daylight savings was ending... oops... but happily ended up in Riomaggiore by 9:30 in the morning. After checking in we strapped on our walking shoes, filled the bag with lunch and set off for the main reason we stopped in this part of Italy: the Cinque Terre walking track. And within five metres of the entrance, all the stress, the early starts, the long train journeys, the uncomfortable waits at stations.... it all disappeared from memory, because we were standing looking out over the Mediterranean Sea, pure, blue and shining in the sunlight, and it would take a hard person to fault that view.
The path is traversed by thousands of visitors every year, but our run of good luck continued and the track was pleasantly empty. As we were staying in Riomaggiore, the southernmost village, we took the track north, which starts out as easy as a stroll in the park, a nice wide, paved, gently winding path leading the way to the second village, Manarola. This stretch is known as the Via Dell'Amore, as you can imagine taking a leisurely romantic stroll between the two clifftop villages. Step two wasn't much tougher than the first, though the final ascent to Corniglia was a winding set of 368 stairs. That's when it really got interesting. The path to the next village, Vernazza, was a whole lot steeper, a whole lot narrower, and a whole lot more winding. And when, about an hour and a half later, we finally made it.. we found out that the path from there to Monterosso was the steepest and most challenging... Oh. The path went from standing by the sea in Vernazza to 150m above sealevel in the space of about 10 minutes walk.. then dropped another 40.. gained another 60.. you get the idea. On top of that, the path [two-way path] at times was no bigger than a foot wide, with a sheer cliff up on one side, and sheer cliff down on the other - no handrails. The path winds between olive groves and vineyards and at times felt quite like trekking in New Zealand bush.. But finally we emerged in Monterosso, after a spectacular descent into the bay, dipped our feet in the Mediterranean, and congratulated ourselves on a job well done :)
Thursday, November 27, 2008
A race against time and the French train system...
So, leaving San Sebastian, we attempted to cut across France to make our way to Italy, final destination of this mad month of travel... We made the border crossing into France very easily, then attempted to make our way across the country to Carcassonne. Looked like a fairly straight line to us... but from Hendaye [on the Spanish border] we got sent north to Bayonne, further north to Bordeaux, then across to Toulouse, and finally on to Carcassonne itself... all of which took about five hours and 350-ish extra kilometres than if we were allowed to plan our own, considerably more direct, route. But after a tiring day fighting the French train system, followed by an hour long walk into the industrial zone of the town [and here we were thinking it was all medieval and pretty, not just a French version of Albany!] we made it to our accommodation by 10pm, just in time to be told that there was nowhere in town open to sell us anything for dinner, unless we wanted to head to the McDonalds across the carpark.... not, exactly, what you would call the best introduction to the beauty, enchantment, history and cuisine that the south of France is world famous for...
But we got up the next morning, refreshed and ready to go, and headed to the fortified city. Perched on a hill, this place is simply stunning even from a distance. It really looks like a true castle, but when you reach it, it's even better because it is actually the remains of an entire fortified city, with inner and outer walls and houses and alleyways and all that was necessary to run a town in...the middle ages.. or something. With turrets and high walls and arrow slits and towers all around, it's a quite spectacular experience. The city was technically struck off the list of official fortifications by Napoleon, but due to public outcry, demolition didn't get very far - thankfully! Otherwise, what would they have used as a set for that great work of art 'Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves'? ;)
Following on from Carcassonne we travelled to Avignon, a picturesque medieval city on the bank of the Rhône river, and former official Papal residence in the fourteenth century. The main sight here was obviously the Palais des Papes or Palace of the Popes, a great hulking gothic building built on a natural rock formation in the mid-fourteenth century, with 5.5m thick walls and taking up over 2.5 acres...
And, as those stats might imply, it was suitably impressive. Avignon was a town of no account prior to it's selection as the new home of the papacy due to unrest and threats facing the Pope in Rome. And ever since, it has been able to dine out on the seven Popes who made it their home, and the legacy they left behind... The palace is vast and imposing, the largest gothic palace in Europe, and contains several chapels with original wall paintings superbly preserved from the 1340s. We were able to walk up to some of the top ramparts and get a spectacular view over the city, including the almost-equally-famous Pont Saint-Bénezet.
This was originally a bridge which spanned the Rhône and provided a crossing between Avignon and Villeneuve-lès-Avignon on the left bank of the river, built in the twelfth century. Unfortunately, the river moved a bit fast for their twelfth century architechture, and the bridge kept collapsing.. and they kept rebuilding it.. again and again.. till a flood in 1668 really walloped it and swept most of the bridge away, at which point it was given up as a lost cause. So now there are only four of the original twenty two arches of the bridge standing, jutting out into the river, making it a real 'bridge to nowhere'.
We also went for an evening walk to watch the sun set and see the bridge, palace, and city walls in the evening light, and it finally became clear just why so many people talk about retiring to the south of France for a life of luxury and relaxation. Avignon is a perfect picture-postcard example of all things quintessentially laid back [in that special 'French' kind of way..] ...so maybe give us another 40 years [and some mysteriously large windfall]...
But we got up the next morning, refreshed and ready to go, and headed to the fortified city. Perched on a hill, this place is simply stunning even from a distance. It really looks like a true castle, but when you reach it, it's even better because it is actually the remains of an entire fortified city, with inner and outer walls and houses and alleyways and all that was necessary to run a town in...the middle ages.. or something. With turrets and high walls and arrow slits and towers all around, it's a quite spectacular experience. The city was technically struck off the list of official fortifications by Napoleon, but due to public outcry, demolition didn't get very far - thankfully! Otherwise, what would they have used as a set for that great work of art 'Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves'? ;)
Following on from Carcassonne we travelled to Avignon, a picturesque medieval city on the bank of the Rhône river, and former official Papal residence in the fourteenth century. The main sight here was obviously the Palais des Papes or Palace of the Popes, a great hulking gothic building built on a natural rock formation in the mid-fourteenth century, with 5.5m thick walls and taking up over 2.5 acres...
And, as those stats might imply, it was suitably impressive. Avignon was a town of no account prior to it's selection as the new home of the papacy due to unrest and threats facing the Pope in Rome. And ever since, it has been able to dine out on the seven Popes who made it their home, and the legacy they left behind... The palace is vast and imposing, the largest gothic palace in Europe, and contains several chapels with original wall paintings superbly preserved from the 1340s. We were able to walk up to some of the top ramparts and get a spectacular view over the city, including the almost-equally-famous Pont Saint-Bénezet.
This was originally a bridge which spanned the Rhône and provided a crossing between Avignon and Villeneuve-lès-Avignon on the left bank of the river, built in the twelfth century. Unfortunately, the river moved a bit fast for their twelfth century architechture, and the bridge kept collapsing.. and they kept rebuilding it.. again and again.. till a flood in 1668 really walloped it and swept most of the bridge away, at which point it was given up as a lost cause. So now there are only four of the original twenty two arches of the bridge standing, jutting out into the river, making it a real 'bridge to nowhere'.
We also went for an evening walk to watch the sun set and see the bridge, palace, and city walls in the evening light, and it finally became clear just why so many people talk about retiring to the south of France for a life of luxury and relaxation. Avignon is a perfect picture-postcard example of all things quintessentially laid back [in that special 'French' kind of way..] ...so maybe give us another 40 years [and some mysteriously large windfall]...
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
Sunny San Seb...?
After an intense time in Barcelona, we retreated north to the coast for some relaxation in San Sebastián. Unfortunately, the weather decided not to go along with our plan, and sunny San Sebastián was anything but...
Still, it was a lovely place to relax, and definitely worth a visit. We did a walk around the many churches in town, though unfortunately most of them were either closed to visits, or under reconstruction... but we did make it inside the city cathedral, which was an amazing gothic church, complete with dark imposing spires.. and some pretty impressive stained glass windows inside. We also went in the Iglesia San Vicente, which is the oldest remaining church in San Sebastián.
And of course, no matter what the weather, you can't take a trip to San Seb without a walk along the beach, which was, conveniently, a one minute walk from our hostel. We sat on the raised boardwalk along the side of the beach one night, listening to the quiet sounds of the waves on the shore and enjoying a fine sub-euro Spanish red.... and decided that relaxation could be defined, just like that.
Still, it was a lovely place to relax, and definitely worth a visit. We did a walk around the many churches in town, though unfortunately most of them were either closed to visits, or under reconstruction... but we did make it inside the city cathedral, which was an amazing gothic church, complete with dark imposing spires.. and some pretty impressive stained glass windows inside. We also went in the Iglesia San Vicente, which is the oldest remaining church in San Sebastián.
And of course, no matter what the weather, you can't take a trip to San Seb without a walk along the beach, which was, conveniently, a one minute walk from our hostel. We sat on the raised boardwalk along the side of the beach one night, listening to the quiet sounds of the waves on the shore and enjoying a fine sub-euro Spanish red.... and decided that relaxation could be defined, just like that.
Magnificent Barcelona
Barcelona was one of the most highly anticipated stops on this trip, and it really didn't disappoint.
We were staying in a hostel half way up a mountain on the outskirts of town, and got our first shock when we were told that it would be impossible to walk into the city centre because of the wild pigs, foxes, snakes and [!] farmers in the bush... interesting.....
But we quickly turned our attention away from the frightening wildlife [got to watch out for those Spanish farmers!], and on to the more exciting, though no less strange, local attractions. First stop was Parc Güell, designed 1900 to 1914 by Antoni Gaudi, Barcelona's most famous son. The park is simply mindblowing, with crazy Gaudi mosaics, buildings that could well be made of gingerbread, twisting tree-like columns... the whole place puts you in a good frame of mind to build up for Gaudi's most ambitious, and as yet unfinished, project, the epic Sagrada Familia.
Though construction started in 1882, even the most ambitious estimates predict that it will take nearly another 20 years to complete. The church is following Gaudi's designs, based on images from nature, and lots of crazy complex geometry... he had a ridiculously intense maths brain, and the designs look visionary and futuristic now... yet Gaudi started the drawings in the 1850s, and died in 1926... So, armed with all that knowledge, we headed for the spires sticking dauntingly up above the Barcelona skyline, ready to be blown away...
.. And it worked. Standing inside the main nave of the church, surrounded by massive towering pillars and columns, astounding vaulted ceilings, and the most intense stained glass windows ever.. it's impossible not to feel moved. The epic detailing on the facades, the amazing colours in the windows, the way Gaudi plays with shadows, with light, with darkness... you can understand how this masterpiece is 130 years in the making. Even though our little camera got a serious workout, it just doesn't feel possible to capture the essence of this place [evidence on facebook of our best attempts anyway...]
We took the lift up and wandered the awesome winding staircases and narrow paths which let you get a close up look at some of the towers, the windows and the detailing higher up.. and it would have been so easy to get lost up there, and spend a whole day [or more!] just being amazed...
But we had more to see and do so had to drag ourselves away. Still, it would be fantastic to make it back one day once construction is completed... put that on the list!
We walked down the Ramblas, Barcelona's main shopping/pedestrian street, and it was one of the more interesting main streets we have seen across Europe for street performers and street art.. so much so that we actually stopped and 'commissioned' a painting, which we then had to lug around France and Italy for the next few weeks... [it was worth it!]
At the end of the Ramblas there were some quite cool market stalls, the waterfront, and the Mirador de Colon - a great big tower with a statue of Christopher Columbus at the top, pointing out over the harbour.
Next on the list was the Barri Gòtic, or old quarter of town, including the church of Santa Maria del Mar, which is a fourteenth century church that was built on the seaside, now hemmed in with narrow streets and is a beautiful, imposing gothic building. The Barri Gòtic is full of tiny, labyrinthine streets, and enclosed alleys that could feel imposing or threatening if they weren't just so beautiful! We also stopped by Barcelona's Arc de Triomf, and had a look at Barcelona zoo, though we didn't have time to visit.
A final interesting landmark in Barcelona's city centre is the Torre Agbar, which anyone who has been to London will probably refer to as the Barcelona Gherkin as it is startlingly similar to the Swiss Re Tower in central London. The Torre Agbar though, is actually a lot prettier than the Gherkin, covered with 4,500 LED lights which are programmed to make some stunning visual effects, especially at night.
Barcelona has so much to offer, the city itself is big, bustling, a pumping big-city mechanism, but the unique sights give it an enchanting feel that few other cities of that size are able to produce. In our limited time we managed to wring a lot of fun out of the city, but it definitely goes on the re-visit list... so maybe if those in charge of Sagrada Familia ever manage to lay the last stone, we can manage to get ourselves back to Spain to see it...
We were staying in a hostel half way up a mountain on the outskirts of town, and got our first shock when we were told that it would be impossible to walk into the city centre because of the wild pigs, foxes, snakes and [!] farmers in the bush... interesting.....
But we quickly turned our attention away from the frightening wildlife [got to watch out for those Spanish farmers!], and on to the more exciting, though no less strange, local attractions. First stop was Parc Güell, designed 1900 to 1914 by Antoni Gaudi, Barcelona's most famous son. The park is simply mindblowing, with crazy Gaudi mosaics, buildings that could well be made of gingerbread, twisting tree-like columns... the whole place puts you in a good frame of mind to build up for Gaudi's most ambitious, and as yet unfinished, project, the epic Sagrada Familia.
Though construction started in 1882, even the most ambitious estimates predict that it will take nearly another 20 years to complete. The church is following Gaudi's designs, based on images from nature, and lots of crazy complex geometry... he had a ridiculously intense maths brain, and the designs look visionary and futuristic now... yet Gaudi started the drawings in the 1850s, and died in 1926... So, armed with all that knowledge, we headed for the spires sticking dauntingly up above the Barcelona skyline, ready to be blown away...
.. And it worked. Standing inside the main nave of the church, surrounded by massive towering pillars and columns, astounding vaulted ceilings, and the most intense stained glass windows ever.. it's impossible not to feel moved. The epic detailing on the facades, the amazing colours in the windows, the way Gaudi plays with shadows, with light, with darkness... you can understand how this masterpiece is 130 years in the making. Even though our little camera got a serious workout, it just doesn't feel possible to capture the essence of this place [evidence on facebook of our best attempts anyway...]
We took the lift up and wandered the awesome winding staircases and narrow paths which let you get a close up look at some of the towers, the windows and the detailing higher up.. and it would have been so easy to get lost up there, and spend a whole day [or more!] just being amazed...
But we had more to see and do so had to drag ourselves away. Still, it would be fantastic to make it back one day once construction is completed... put that on the list!
We walked down the Ramblas, Barcelona's main shopping/pedestrian street, and it was one of the more interesting main streets we have seen across Europe for street performers and street art.. so much so that we actually stopped and 'commissioned' a painting, which we then had to lug around France and Italy for the next few weeks... [it was worth it!]
At the end of the Ramblas there were some quite cool market stalls, the waterfront, and the Mirador de Colon - a great big tower with a statue of Christopher Columbus at the top, pointing out over the harbour.
Next on the list was the Barri Gòtic, or old quarter of town, including the church of Santa Maria del Mar, which is a fourteenth century church that was built on the seaside, now hemmed in with narrow streets and is a beautiful, imposing gothic building. The Barri Gòtic is full of tiny, labyrinthine streets, and enclosed alleys that could feel imposing or threatening if they weren't just so beautiful! We also stopped by Barcelona's Arc de Triomf, and had a look at Barcelona zoo, though we didn't have time to visit.
A final interesting landmark in Barcelona's city centre is the Torre Agbar, which anyone who has been to London will probably refer to as the Barcelona Gherkin as it is startlingly similar to the Swiss Re Tower in central London. The Torre Agbar though, is actually a lot prettier than the Gherkin, covered with 4,500 LED lights which are programmed to make some stunning visual effects, especially at night.
Barcelona has so much to offer, the city itself is big, bustling, a pumping big-city mechanism, but the unique sights give it an enchanting feel that few other cities of that size are able to produce. In our limited time we managed to wring a lot of fun out of the city, but it definitely goes on the re-visit list... so maybe if those in charge of Sagrada Familia ever manage to lay the last stone, we can manage to get ourselves back to Spain to see it...
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