Jetting off again – at last

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Image by Iain Purdie via Flickr

Nearing Egypt

Even at Glasgow Airport, I was making last-minute arrangements for our holiday in Sharm el-Sheikh. Finally the email came through from Emperor Divers to say that they had our details and I could pay for the courses and dives we had organised. Yay for mobile broadband and a smart phone!

This was my first “family” holiday with a family of my own, and the first trip abroad with my parents since I was 12. They’d decided to accompany us as they’ve never been to Egypt and they thought we might want someone around to help with the kids. Nice as it meant Gillian and I could spend a day diving together.

As usual, we had a meal in the Wetherspoons at the airport with its ridiculously malformed cutlery. Stocking up on drinks for the flight, we found out that it’s far cheaper to get your water and snacks from Boots than WHSmith. Noted for next time. I’m still gutted they closed the Greggs down a few months ago.

I was sat next to Little Mister for the flight, which was about six hours. Quite a long time for a 3 year old, but he coped really well. He conked out as the plane was accelerating down the runway and slept for the first hour or so. There were a few toilet issues as he filled his nappy and managed to get it all down his legs in the loo. Fortunately, he was fine afterwards apart from getting bored and deciding he needed the toilet every 30 minutes, which meant asking the very nice man at the end of our row to let us past far too often!

Little Miss had hijacked my headphones, so I watched Ong-Bak on the netbook as it’s subtitled.

We landed in Sharm el-Sheikh at around 10pm local time and I checked into FourSquare. I then got a text message from Three telling me that I had spent £3.50 and perhaps I’d consider a roaming package? Instead, I switched all data roaming off on my phone instantly. If it costs £3.50 to check into FourSquare via an app, what kind of cost would it be to check email? Ridiculous.

Our hotel, the Hauza Beach Resort, was only a ten minute ride down the road and we were soon there and unpacking.

Time enough for a quick drink by the pool (after Little Miss decided to go wading in it and didn’t see where it got deeper… *sploosh*) with the folks as we planned out the week. One hint, and I guess this holds for most all-inclusive resorts, is to bring your own large drinking vessel. A tumbler, plastic pint “glass” and so on. Otherwise you’ll find yourself traipsing back and forth a lot as the ones they provide are like thimbles.

Sunday was easy to plan – we were going to sit on our arses by the pool all day. Sorted.

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Coast of Cork

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Coast of Cork by Joleen Cronin

Coast of Cork by Joleen Cronin

Back in June 2008 I took a quick trip to “real” Ireland a.k.a Eire to visit the lovely Joleen Cronin who I first met in Phuket, Thailand. Details of the couple of weeks I spent there can be found elsewhere on this blog. Part of the trip was sponsored, after a fashion, by her employer as she was touring the coastline of Cork taking photographs for a book.

 

That book came out a short while after I left, but I never got the chance to get hold of a copy – until this week. Apparently it’s on its third print run having sold around 10,000 copies (figures approximate based on my understanding of what Joleen has told me!).

The book is entitled, simply, Coast of Cork – A fascinating journey along the Cork coastline and is published by Echo Publications (Cork) Ltd. The easiest way to get hold of a copy (and it’s follow-up Coast of Kerry… and some cheese while you’re at it) is from the Cronin’s Pub web page. Yes – Joleen is Irish, has red hair and her folks own a pub. Awesome.

Scroll down to the bottom of the page and prepare to fork out €30 + p&p. My copy arrived a couple of days after I ordered it and was signed by the author. I had to buy it – I’m on page 253 admiring the Ardnakinna Lighthouse on Bere Island!

I know Joleen’s a friend, but this really is a great book. It means a lot to me as, courtesy of Joleen herself, her family and her friends, I had an incredible stay on the Emerald Isle and the book brought so many of those memories rushing back.

If you’re not sold yet, check out the Evening Echo‘s Coast of Cork website which showcases all of the photos from the book which can be purchased individually. Have a look for the one with me in it!

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Last day then home

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Venice Holocaust Memorial

Venice Holocaust Memorial

We had our final hearty breakfast at the hotel with the idea being that we’d not need to eat again until we got our inclusive sandwiches on the flight to Amsterdam. That kind of didn’t work out.

After checking out, we decided to wheel the suitcase around with us rather than leave it at the hotel. There’s a shuttle bus to the airport from Piazzale Roma, so there seemed little point in coming all the way back to Mestre just to grab a bag and walk to the railway station.

We picked up our shuttle ticket from the machine as soon as we reached the Piazzale Roma to save time later. A good job as the machine is very picky about how you insert notes! I think it only likes them fed in one way of the possible four you can insert them.

As usual with no plans we just ambled. Heading for the Jewish area, we found a little art shop where Gill bought a couple of paintings (I swear the new bathroom will be the best-decorated in all of Scotland) and I snapped some photos of the Holocaust memorial. Like so many others I’ve seen, it’s engraved with the names of all the locals who died after being taken away by the Nazis during WWII.

Venice Holocaust Memorial

Detail of the memorial

Time flew over the day. We were due at our bus around 14:45 and spent the intervening time locating little stops we’d not found before, and shopping. Well – Gill shopped, I stood outside guarding the suitcase and reading The Invisible Man on my phone.

Eventually, laden down with souvenirs, we capitulated and stopped for a quick snack. Of ice cream, tea, and strawberry/chocolate crepes. It wasn’t cheap, but it was nice and we left in good time to hop onto our bus for the airport.

The flights back were comfortable (though there was a one-hour delay between Schipol and Glasgow) and we were home a little after 22:00. Full marks to KLM for comfort, in-flight snacks and excellent cabin staff. Marks off for the rubbish “self-check-in” at Marco Polo airport, that confused the hell out of anyone over 40 and caused horrendous queues. It also placed Gill behind me on our final flight instead of next to me – something that likely wouldn’t have happened if a human being had checked us in.

As always, good to be home. Our next trip will likely be Egypt in the summer. I can’t see us being able to fork out for anything else before that!

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Valentine’s in Venice

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Gill and I in Venice

On a bridge. Somewhere.

Today there would be boats. The travel tickets sold by the hotel could be used on the buses or the vaporetti – the water-borne transport service that circles the islands of Venice. We wanted to head for Murano and see the glass museum, and hopefully some glasswork being made.

According to the map, we needed to catch the number 42 boat from near where our bus would drop us off. A slight confusion due to the piers being rebuilt meant that it took us a while to figure out where the 42 ran from but we got there a couple of minutes before the next one was due.

It didn’t show up. Today we discovered that there are lies, damned lies and Venetian Water Bus timetables.

The number 41 (same service, running in the opposite direction) went past. As did the next 41 when the following 42 failed to make an appearance.

Giving up, we walked 150m round to the stop for the 41. The next one was indicated on the digital board as being due in 9 minutes, and would take 56 more minutes of our time to get to Murano. The 42 would have taken nearer 20.

Balcony

A balcony in Venice. One of many!

Quarter of an hour later, the 42 we’d decided not to wait for drifted past as we stood tapping our feet wondering where the delayed 41 had got to.

I suppose in a way it’s comforting to know that regardless of where you are in Europe, whether you’re waiting for something on wheels or with a propellor, that public transport sucks and should never be trusted. Unfortunately in Venice, it’s not like you have the option of walking or driving to Murano due to it being somewhat wet.

At least the hour-long journey meant we got value for our ticket money and a chance to see a huge amount of the region from the coastline. A shame the weather was a little grey (and chillier than the previous day), but had it been blue skies I think we would have sweltered in the boat.

We finally arrived at Murano and had a quick look round the glass museum. It was a little bit of a let-down as Gill was really hoping to see a lot more on the history of how the material is made and crafted. It was more a display of the end products. Still, there’s some interesting stuff about the manugfacturing process and some incredibly delicate work dating back almost 2000 years which did impress. The museum’s entry fee is a fairly steep €8.30 per person, too.

Crowds in Venice

Crowds in St Marc's Square

Finding somewhere to watch glass being blown wasn’t very easy, surprisingly. Most of the places advertising “furnace” kept it away from prying eyes, but we did find one eventually. The two chaps working there were making what looked like decorations for chandeliers, or perhaps candle holders. Interesting to see, but obviously we couldn’t get too close.

The showroom there was also too tempting for Gill and she found several pieces that appealed. One was finally haggled over, purchased, engraved with our names and the date, and packed away to be lugged all the way home.

We headed back to the city centre area for a lunch that turned into dinner when we realised what time it was. Again, the food was good (though Gill has decided pasta is too salty for her in Venice), the service excellent, but in this case the price somewhat higher. While our previous place had been service and cover charge-free, this one had mark-ups (fairly advertised) and higher base prices.

Still, it was a pleasant meal and we walked off in the directon of the Rialto Bridge that we had so far failed to locate.

Leonardo da Vinci exhibition

Leo da Vinci's hang glider

The rest of the day into the early evening consisted of wandering randomly again. I was pleasantly surprised to find the Leonardo da Vinci exhibition that I’d thought had closed in December. It turns out it has been extended an extra year and, despite the €8 entry fee, was excellent. Great descriptions of the exhibits and very “hands on” with a lot of working examples based on his diagrams. The place could have done with a heater or two, though.

We then managed to “take the scenic route” back to the bus station via Dorsodura which we’d intended to visit earlier, but never got round to it. Well, we’ve now seen most of it.

Despite the huge meal earlier, we decided to have a snack in the hotel. The set Valentine’s menu appealed to Gill a little too much, though, and we ended up having a full meal instead. Bizarrely, the entire set menu – every option with the exception of the dessert – was seafood-based so I had the roast beef instead. Advertised as “English”, it came cold and very rare… and was delicious.

We demolished another bottle of wine, well we were in Italy – it would have been rude not to – and headed to bed to watch Bandslam. Which apparently was better than Bad Taste. I am dating a wonderful philistine.

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Venice – day 1

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Venice pics

Water, boats & buildings? Venice.

Today I broke my shoes. Well, kind of. The insole decided it didn’t like being anchored to the sole and thought it might be entertaining to make a break for freedom via the ankle. I’ll re-secure it when I get home.

The reason for the shoe destriction was a huge amount of walking. After the short bus journey from the hotel, over the bridge and into Venice City, we nominated “east” as the direction of travel and started off.

Venice isn’t really that big. It’s possible to walk from end to end of the majority of it in a couple of hours, if that, with the exception of a couple of outlying islands it takes a short boat trip to reach. We didn’t have any kind of plan, just wander around and soak the place up.

The first thing I noticed with Venice is that there are approximately six different shops which are replicated infinitely like some kind of 16th century kaleidoscope. As a result, it does get a little wearing walking past yet another papier-mache mask retailer, or someone else selling “genuine” Murano glasswork. Most of the stuff’s not bad, though obviously overpriced. If you do want to shop here – and most will – then compare merchandise and prices from area to area. Certain regions are far more expensive than others for the exact same goods. And don’t be afraid to haggle a little, either. Especially in the off-season you can find marked prices being dramatically chipped away with very little effort indeed.

Canal view

View from a bridge

Once away from the opening area near the Piazzale Roma, the streets start to converge, more bridges appear and little alleyways delight, confound, point at your sense of direction and burst into fits of giggling. This is the Venice I was looking for. Much like the tight, meandering streets of Jerusalem or Varanasi, but with a more modern architecture, they were fun to walk around and generally filled with flats rather than shops. Very occasionally a little bar would surprise us and be far more interesting than the expensive street corner ones near the major churches.

Up in the Cannaregio area we hopped into a little nondescript cafe for a cuppa and paid an incredibly reasonable €1 each. Not too long later we picked up lunch at a little café in the Armoury area for a handful of Euros. Staying away from the built up and hectic areas by no means reduces the quality of the food, but it does lighten the load on the purse-strings!

Albergo Malibran

Recommended for dinner!

As the day wore on and it got chillier, the sun went down and we picked a random restaurant (“Albergo Malibran”) for dinner. Despite its close proximity to one of the main shopping thoroughfares, the prices were incredibly reasonable. Pizza and pasta were consumed and we ambled home via a supermarket. 2 litres of local rosé wine for €4 was a chance we couldn’t pass up. Likewise, a bottle of Jagermeister for €10.79. Come on – that’s pushing it for half the price in the UK.

Venice closes fairly early. It’s no party city, but it’s bustling during the day. With bellies and shopping bags laden down, we caught the bus back to the hotel. That bottle of wine was demolished over a couple of classic Peter Jackson films on the netbook. It wasn’t bad, either. Mind you, alcohol always helps when you’re watching Bad Taste and Brain Dead.

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