Sicily - Palermo

Horse, man, wife (the latter mine!).

Our month-long adventure starts in Palermo. All we knew of it beforehand was that it is Mafia-central but now we know it as a large (population over 1m) and not particularly attractive city. A lot of the newer development has – allegedly – avoided inconvenient distractions like building permission and standards. The streets where we walked are poorly maintained, dirty and full of rubbish with dog poo everywhere. But as we were there for only two nights we can reclassify all this as “atmosphere” and move on to the good bits. And good bits there are plenty of.

Royal Palace

Palermo has a varied history that still shows having been under the control of the Moors, the Normans, the Spanish, the Bourbons … specifically under the Normans (King Roger I and II) it was tolerant of all religions and this shows in the architecture of some of the massive Norman buildings where there are Arab as well as Christian components. Our favourite would be the Royal Palace which dates from around 1100. The chapel (Cappella Palatina) inside is one of the best we’ve seen, with an Arab-style ceiling and Christian mosaics on the walls.

Cappella Palatina

 

Cappella Palatina mosaics

Ancient lay pipes

A real indication of history was walking up a back street and seeing a sign noting that the large crumbling building there was a 16thC water distribution plant. It dispersed water to all parts of the city through clay pipes, many of which you could still see hanging out the walls!

There are plenty of outdoor markets selling food (everything from butchers to fishmongers to fruit and veg - all locally produced), clothes and the usual bric-a-brac. Most of the fish and seafood sellers would have the head of a swordfish on display or the body of a tuna with huge steaks being cut off. Not so much for the tourists but I did splash out on a 6 euro Chinese-made shirt.

Longest ever zucchini, and live snails trying to escape their baskets

One thing we didn’t get a lot of in Palermo was sleep. We were in a small apartment with big windows opening on to a narrow balcony – and staring straight across the alley into the next door neighbour’s lounge. With everyone up and noisy until late, cars and scooters squeezing down the alley, the sound of TVs and fireworks. Yes, fireworks. At the corner the neighbours were having a BBQ on the street that ended in a party. And then there was a game of basketball somewhere nearby with a very vocal crowd, and a lot of whistle-blowing. All quite different to the utter peace we have in our little corner of the English countryside.

Having only walked around the historic area we don’t have a good impression of the city as a whole, but we’ll be back there for a night at the end of the holiday so we will see a little more.

A full-size carriage ready for the Ball

Due (two) gelati, and a happy woman.

Would this get an MOT/WOF?

The Dordogne

In May we enjoyed a week away with sister Gail and her husband Janos to the Dordogne region of France. This is relatively easy to get to - just a shortish flight to Bordeaux and then about 3 hours in a hire car due east. In some ways it isn’t too different from the area of England where we live: very rural, lots of woods, hamlets and lots of English – there are thousands of them lurking in this area. Luckily it was still too early for the main tourist season so everywhere was very quiet, including the well maintained and picturesque rural roads with barely a car to be seen. So unlike the very crowded south of England.

The area is incredibly scenic and clearly very popular in the summertime given the number of restaurants, camping grounds and accommodation signs all over the countryside. Few large towns, forests everywhere, and two big rivers snaking through gorges. This is the home of Foie Gras, walnut plantations and prehistoric cave dwellings. And lots of chateaux.

Need to improve my hedge-cutting ...

Let’s start with food. French fare ranges from the sublime to subpar. Except for the larger towns or tourist areas, getting a basic takeaway sandwich/filled baguette isn’t always that easy, and a dry baguette with a thin slice of ham isn’t that appealing. Luckily there are plenty of restaurants around if you don’t mind spending just a little more. But what is it about the French and their coffee? If you are not into an espresso then it is either a long black (a café américain) or similar with milk (café au lait), neither impressive. Don’t even think about a cappuccino (they have heard of them but can’t make them properly) or a latte, flat white etc. Luckily the compensation is the cheap wine. Our real find of the trip was when things were getting a little desperate for Janos’ birthday dinner. We headed out to a local restaurant that we had tried a few days earlier only to find it closed due to lack of reservations. We then covered quite some distance on back roads to where we had heard there was another, but that turned out to be a bit over our budget. Using the GPS to find us a another restaurant we spent more time on the tiny lanes before arriving at a lonely hotel in the middle of nowhere. But the restaurant was open, prices were good (23 euros for the 5-course menu) and we proceeded to stuff ourselves with soup, a variety of foie gras, duck, more duck and desserts. Stuffed full after the first two courses we struggled on politely so as not to cause any offence. Spectacular meal though quite a lot of groaning ensued later.

More irresistible food was found at the local markets which included numerous foie gras sellers and everything possible you could make from walnuts, from oil to cakes. Janos usually managed to get through a meal’s worth of freebie samples from these stalls. Sadly most of our intake came courtesy of the major supermarkets as we were self-catering.

Due to the terrain and the rivers this area was popular with invaders, from the Romans to the Vikings to the Normans and those nasty English (the ones with the swords, not the credit cards). Hence there are many castles, forts and fortified chateaux.

Maison Forte de Reignac

The caves in the cliffs have made living quarters from prehistoric times to the present. You can see numerous houses built into the cliffs – not unlike the troglodyte dwellings we saw along the Loire in France. Many are open to the public and range from grand houses and churches to prehistoric dwellings. Our favourite would have been Maison Forte de Reignac as it was mainly a small chateau backing into many levels of cave. Inside rooms were furnished in various periods from its history: really, really interesting, though the torture equipment was somewhat depressing. For something completely different we saw La Roque Saint-Christophe which is several levels of cave dug along several hundreds of metres of limestone cliff. Once again inhabited from Neanderthal times until around the 16th C.

La Roque Saint-Christophe

The area is most famous for its prehistoric rock paintings though. Some of the caves have only been recently rediscovered (e.g. 100 years ago) and paintings have deteriorated remarkably in that short time mainly due to the warmth of the human bodies and the bacteria they carry. To prevent further damage the most famous, Lascaux, has been closed and an exact replica built nearby for the tourists. Have a look at some of the images on the website – they are truly amazing. While this replica cave may contain some of the best rock art anywhere, we decided that we wouldn’t actually be seeing the real thing, so we went to Le Font de Gaume instead. Here visitors are restricted to the first 72 that rock up, so we were dutifully there well before opening time sitting on the numbered seats. As they only take parties of 12 at a time there would have been a long wait till the only English-language tour, so we took the French version. It turned out to be fine as the guide spoke good English and was so full of enthusiasm it was infectious. It is interesting to note that many of the paintings take advantage of the natural contours of the rock to give a 3-D effect. But they are very hard to see without the guide pointing them out and waving a torch over them so that the shadows catch their features.

The Dordognne river

Duck-herding by ancient stone farm buildings

Happy on holiday!

Caught outside the chocolate shop!

So, a beautiful piece of peaceful countryside to see with a lot of interesting sites to visit and very friendly locals – advantages to being out-of-season. Favourite moment? Possibly sitting outside in the sun looking over the fields towards a fortress in the hills and eating the best salmon pizza ever, but don't tell the Italians!



There are more photos in the gallery.

Malta

The Maltese Cross

As we slowly climbed out of winter into a slightly warmer but wetter spring, it was time to take a cheap holiday somewhere warm. Mid-March nicely splits up the time between our last (very brief) holiday at New Year to our next big one in Sicily this June. When we saw a special deal to Malta for a week for £179 per person, inclusive of flights, accommodation and all food and drink except lunch, we knew we were on to a good thing. Malta is one of the warmest nearby destinations at this time of year, being not far north of the African coast, and full of interesting sites to explore.

Janos, Nigel and Gail

We went with my sister Gail and her husband Janos. With four people it helped further economise by sharing the costs of driving to Gatwick airport and parking for the week. We had looked at getting the hop on – hop off tourist bus around the island until we found we could rent a car for a week for the cost of the bus for one for a day, or a taxi ride to and from the airport! As it was the off-season a car was only £28 for the week! Even with all the extra insurances possible and an extra driver it was still under £60 – a bargain.

Having a car proved ideal as it allowed us to see as much as we wanted, when we wanted, and for as long as we wanted. Not hard on an island that is only 25km long and 14km wide! The roads were numerous (with a large population in a small area there are villages and towns everywhere) but of variable quality. The main roads between towns were good: wide and smooth and funded “jointly” with the EU, i.e. 85% EU, 15% local. All the other roads were in pretty poor shape - sealed but heavily pot-holed, and filled, and pot-holed and filled, and .... - quite a patch-work. The good: country roads are quiet at this time of year and British road rules rule, i.e. drive on the left. The bad: Mediterranean driving - chaotic, fast, passing on both sides, etc.

Our first stop was the hotel we were booked into for the week.  Full of older English and Germans, and a few Americans. At least we had missed the 300-strong evangelical conference group staying there a few months earlier! First problem was the non-smoking rooms. Presumably instigated following an EU directive against smoking indoors, but implemented in a typically Mediterranean way ... smoking only allowed on the room balconies which, of course, meant people take their ashtrays back into the rooms and smoke there. Our room stank, next door's occupants were smoking heavily and the smoke was coming through the adjoining door, and people smoked in the hall. Staff insisted that it wasn’t a problem but after a couple of room changes we found one that was ok.

inland sea boat trip

look for the tiny people on the arch

The inland countryside isn’t very exciting. Agriculture is big given the warm climate, though getting tricky as they run out of water (decreasing rainfall, increasing population). Almost no farm animals to be seen but plenty of vegetables. Most of the countryside is gently rolling with small stone-walled terraced fields, well irrigated but few trees. But the coast makes up for it: on the east there are big harbours and the odd beach; everywhere else there are spectacular cliffs with just a few inlets to small fishing villages.  Everywhere along the coast there are watchtowers, this was a frequently invaded island. Along the coast, in several different places, the rock shelves out just above the water line. On these have been constructed salt pans: the water washes over them and gets trapped, then evaporates leaving the salt behind. Many of these date from Roman times and some are still maintained and used.

salt pans - still in use

 

typical inlet

an out-of-season tourist spot on Gozo

All the buildings are made of stone as there is a lot of limestone. It is, or was, a big export item so there are quarries, including the remains of a Roman one we stumbled across. It is hard to tell the age of most buildings as they are all of a similar style, excluding the newer high-rise apartment blocks in the coastal towns. The country was heavily bombed during WWII so many buildings are recent (though you can’t tell) or restored. One interesting feature is the first-floor street-side covered balconies made of stone or wood that adorn many of the houses.

ferry crossing to Valletta

We took a trip across the bay to the capital, Valletta, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. From all angles it still looks old as they have restricted modern buildings, apart from parliament, and you have to pretend the TV aerials don’t exist to get the real effect. The small city is surrounded by water on most sides and large stone walls and forts. There are plenty of historic buildings and churches but the biggest and best is St. John’s Co-Cathedral. Built by the Knights of St. John from 1572, it is very ornate and contains the most amazing marble floor. The floor is a set of tombs housing about 400 knights.

Marble tombs

 

ceiling and walls at St John's Co-Cathedral

Mnajdra Temple

Malta has numerous prehistoric sites, some also designated as World Heritage Sites. These are the remains of stone temples and standing stones, up to 3,500BC. Unfortunately the local stone erodes quickly. There are photos showing the sites as excavated 150 years ago and now – neatly cut and fitted stones are now crumbling away. A couple of the most important sites now have huge, 'permanent' tents  over them as protection.  Can you imagine Stonehenge with a roof?  Thank goodness most standing stones don't need cover - they certainly put a damper photographs!

cart tracks

Another fascinating site is the “cart tracks”. These appear as parallel grooves criss-crossing each other across rocky ground. No one knows what they are.

Just a half-hour ferry ride north of the main island of Malta is the smaller island of Gozo. More of the same but certainly a little nicer. It made for a great day-trip.

Our hotel deal included breakfast and dinner - huge buffets but somewhat disappointing as most dishes were fairly bland. And the wine watery. It might have something to do with the other residents, mainly older English and Germans. We did manage to consume huge quantities though! The food situation was rescued by lunches in little Maltese cafes. The local speciality is rabbit and we’d have to say eating 8-hour roasted rabbit while sitting outside staring across the road at a huge and ornate church was magical. The proprietors - and indeed all locals – were incredibly friendly. Everyone speaks English as well as Maltese, which is more closely related to north African languages. A few times we were asked if we needed help and locals would stop for a chat.

One thing that can’t be avoided here is religion. Around 99% are Catholic and you can tell – icons everywhere (little statues on many houses), and churches all over the place. Not surprising given the island’s history: St Paul, shipwrecked here on his way to Rome, spent his time converting everyone he could, including the Roman governor; Spanish conquerors handed the island over to the Knights of St John to rule for several hundred years; famous for the “Great Siege” where the Knights held off a huge invading Ottoman force and became the heroes of Christian Europe. Supposedly there are 365 major churches on the islands. And I mean major. Worldwide, the two biggest domes on churches are St Peters in Rome and St Sophia in Istanbul, the next two are both in Malta! Almost anywhere you stand on the island you can see the tops of churches in all directions. At the airport Janos and I counted 19 as we looked around. There are also many caves and catacombs. In certain areas there are the remains of where people used to live in caves – and were still living in some into modern times. The catacombs started as Roman cemeteries before becoming Christian churches, and finally bomb shelters during WWII.

We think that this is a good place for a week’s holiday – if you come at the right time of the year. It doesn’t get too cold in winter (supposedly they have never had a frost), but summer is best avoided as it gets very hot. Also, peak season will mean a lot of tourists and it is a small place to try and get away from them.

Popeye's Village (built for a film)
 - we declined the opportunity to visit!

This boat is over 100 years old!

 And don't forget to look in Gallery for more photos of Malta.