I could drive 500 miles, 500 miles .....

I am not sure how far I would get if I drove 800 kilometres From home I am pretty sure  I might think twice before even setting out. It turned out thats what we signed up for and so that's what we had to do.  Day 1 we covered 400 k approx and that took us 6 hours and day 2  we drove 600 k which also took 6 hours - no idea how it worked out like that but it did. On the whole the roads are empty and so straight we wondered if the Romans ever came here. We opted to folow the route  Google maps felt was the shortest both in length and time.
It was a long drive and tiring but , this is an anormous BUT and a terrificWOW factor ,  Avis had supplied us with this hire care that I suspect has ruined me for life. We had asked for a four wheel drive so that everyone would be able to see out. To be honest we expected that on the day we would be given something else completely different like a saloon car or hatchback, that is what tends to happen in Europe. We could not believe our eyes when  we were presented with a white ,three litre Toyota landcruiser! WOA ! only 6000 k on the clock. It took me a bit of practice  not to look like a complete midget getting in and out until I discovered I could grab a strategically placed handle just on the interior of the door frame and lift myself in, I now look like I have been doing this all my life.

Franshhoek.

Driving to Franshhoek was easy and only an hour from Cape Town. It is a dream driving here.The countryside is spotless , vast broad plains ringed by towering scraggy mountains . The are studd farms and cattle farms with huge amounts of cows. Impeccable gardens and of course the wineries. Yeah! "It's time for lunch , let's just pull into this one here , "Allee  Bleue Winery " a small restaurant in a lodge  , painted white and blue, Dutch style, it was to oneside of the entrance to a long wide driveway bordered with the talest eucalyptus trees . Lunch, Presentation A1 , service A1, 3 salads each one a picture in its own right. A bottle of Rose wine. We paid around £25 for 3!you know it makes sense.We walked around the estate and ended up in the shop. Franco asked which was their most expensive wine. Believe it or not it was a red wine called "True Love" . It was valentines day. He bought a bottle, the price? 167 Rand. About £10 , we cooked steaks at home and the between the three of us we finished the bottle, it was sooooo good.

Bye Bye Cape Town

We have had a wonderful time here. The whole place was an incredible surprise. It is difficult to say exactly what we expected but the overall impressions are of a very friendly , clean city, extremely warm people, we have been sensible and followed instructions regarding going out at night , we all agree we have never felt ill at ease or threatened in any way. We have eaten fantastic food in beautiful restaurants and the service is so good ( albeit sometimes on African time).
In 9 days we have done so many brilliant things. We have relived through the eyes of our guides, who themselves really did live through those terrible times and appalling events,the disgrace that was Apartheid, we have been unexpectedly moved close to tears on two occasions.
We started on the Hop on Hop off bus which I have already mentioned.
Day two we visited the District Six Museum. An enlightening and jarring initiation to the history of Apartheid . I disitnctly remember as a child discussions at home which arose from articles in the morning newspaper. I remember as clear as day when I was trying to get my Equity Card ( the Actors and Dancers Union ) I signed a section to say I would not perform in South Africa as long as Apartheid existed. Do "Google" District Six and read about it. Wikipedia also has an excellent section.Our Muslim guide ( who, by the by, used to sing on Sunday mornings at the Christian church) and his family who were driven out of their home back in 1965,have been given a new property in the District Six area which is supposed to be being returned to its former owners. However this area is in central Cape Town it is prime real estate. Need I say more. Nelson Mandela started the initiative to return the land to any previous resident who could prove with documents and land registration papers that they had owned property there, however ,since his death progress on this has slowed down,most of the area remains a barren scar on the landscape.
We went up Table Mountain, SPECTACULAR! The view, the silence, the space, it leaves you quite speechless.
We drove down to The Cape of Good Hope and watched the collision of two Oceans the Atlantic and the Indian, once again nature at her stunning powerful best.
We watched the penguins on Boulders beach. Watched the surfers in Musenburg and got stuck in horrendous traffic on the our return journey. "Yeah ! Tough " I can hear your thoughts.

Early days

Cape Town .

First feelings about this holiday? " Peter, we all wish you were with us" however your news is very encouraging and that you are getting released from the clutches of the NHS gives us a reason ( as if we needed one) to tryout the wonderful South African wine and raise our glasses to your continued recovery.

Yesterday after an overnight flight we were pretty bleary eyed and thick headed as we walked the mile from the plane to passport control, we did not have to wait and once through customs we met our driver "welcome to Cape Town.Please give me your cases" big beaming smile .

"Mrs Jones, do you have a case?"

OMG

"Where 's my case?"

Yes indeed where is her case, it is back INSIDE the customs hall by the American Express desk.

Easy, just retrace your steps back through the EXIT of the customes hall.

Men in uniforms , forms to be signed, not just one Group4 man but several security men. Very nice gentlemen escort her backward through security and happily to find her case just where she had left it.

After a lovely lunch down on the Sea front we decided to take advice we had been given and take a ride on the Blue Hop on Hop off bus , a two and a half hour journey round the outskirts of Cape Town and behind Table Mountain an excellent way to get your bearings and the traffic jams allowed us to have a few naps en route which were much needed after the flight. It is a beautiful city so clean very modern.
In the evening we were running on low and very tired so at the suggestion of our B & B went to eat along the sea front to a restaurant called Theo's. If ever you come here give it a miss. Not terrible but by the standards of service and restaurants we have discovered since you can do soooo much better.

Our first surprise was a bread issue. We had "three" pieces supplied on our table for "three". Ok, we just ask for more. Ha ,ha ,ha,no, no, no. With a perfectly straight face our waitress actually told us that the bread was portioned to the amount of customer reservations. Therefore for no extra slice of bread. We couldn't belive it either. The meal was fine once it finally arrived, Franco had a Roebuck steak which was actually two huge portions of meat and our ribeyes were also man size. Another learning curve here , portions are extremely generous and "sharing " is good.
With the combination of wine and tiredness kicking in for all three of us Franco , thinking of our taxi driver and knowing how pleased he would be with the food, asked the waitress if we could have a " baggie dog for his reebok steak"

The taxi driver appreciated both the story and the gift.

photos

Photos of the Gambia

 The Beach

 Our local market

 TheSmokery

Could not resist it!

 Oxfam clothes on the beach

 Rubbish and goats

 Fishermen and boats

 fish

 Tame vulture

 Buba's compound

 Dinner at Buba's

 Flip Flop Shop

 Butchers

 Walking the goat

 Floating through the mangroves

 the mangrove

 It didnt last .......

 Slavery

 Banksey...

 It didnt last either..... at least I dont think so

 Apparently a relative of Kunte Kinte

 Intrepid travellers

 School kitchen

 The bread bath

 Saved chameleon crossing the road

 BBQ of Franco's fish

 Batik factory

 Beautiful girls

 more..

 Windy windy evening

 Buba and kids

 Buy one Get one

 Yep ! cows

 Fishermen landing

 Women dividing the catch

 Arguments

 A photo.?.... I think  that was a "No"

Home time.

2 day trip part 4 Phew!

After a while I got fed up with listening to the rustling in the thatched roof above me, folded the towel in 3 lengthwise and wrapped it around my head to block out the sound. Amazingly the next thing I knew was it was 7am and time to get up. I did a quick bed bug bite check and found nothing, big sigh of relief.
The shower worked in a fashion and the cold water was soooo good. I felt a ridiculous sense of achievement that I had survived the night. I stepped outside my wedge and discovered a small complex of white thatched round houses. Hence the wedge shaped room. On my, er, terrace outside my door was a very old broken sewing machine table, minus machine, just the hole where it would have been,the type with the wrought iron table legs and a foot peddle . Some broken scraps of metal, a broom, maybe I had slept in the workman's shed. I cannot work out the sewing machine bit maybe it had been there ever since the 1830's left behind by the British. Monkeys were scampering around , the birds song was full on. The birds in The Gambia are breathtaking in variety,colours and sizes, fortunately the Gambian tourist board have realised this asset and are preserving them and their territory, it will be great if it lasts, however this land, its coastline and climate is like Spain in the early 80's if the developers move in who knows if their current eco principles will hold.

2 day trip part III. " Lights out"

7pm and the dusk is starting to close in. I break yet another promise not to take any more sunset photos. Sunset is just so enticing the dark green black silhouettes of palm trees and forest outlined against the acidic golden yellow sky , turning to pale gold, the perfect sphere of the sun dropping without a sound lower and lower then disappearing altogether. We are in darkness. The crew light a halogen lamp , silently we slip over the water towards our overnight camp.

Day trip Part II "And the Hippo Yawned"

The ferry "Port" ( ha ha ha.) is on the river bank and there is the ever colourful range of food stalls , market traders, a man with two excessively long pythons. Incredibly beautiful women dressed up in sequins , satins , flounces and frills their heads stacked high with bales of immaculately folded cottons in every colour , I would have loved to have a look at some but I was scared of the stampede of women that would descend if I started the ball rolling. The scene resembles a packet of liquorice all sorts thrown on a burnt sienna canvas.

Two day trip . Part 1 " apologies it is rather long.

This trip offered the best way to see the most of Gambia.
Day 1: Collection from our lodgings 8.20 am. Drive along the South bank of the Gambia crossing by ferry to the north bank driving a bit more to reach the stone circles at Wassu , then boarding a boat for lunch and a 4 hour trip up river . Arrive at our overnight destination camp Janjanbureh in time for an evening meal. At this point we were issued with specific instructions " you will change for dinner, nice clothes please" . There was a fleeting aside "this will not be like your hotel" , the Gambian accent is just rich and groily ( i know, thats not a word either but this place just requires new adjectives) it resonates somewhere deep inside them, the smiles convince you every time.

Day trip I.

The idea for this years holiday was a change of modus opperandi. Stay in one place instead of constantly moving on and take day trips out to view and absorb the surroundings. Keep it low key, a gentle itinerary more suitable for us all.

Hard work on the beach

Today we joined up with an amazing team of people who voluntarily help out at an orphanage and  a care home for handicapped children nearby . The owners of our compound contribute their time and use their contacts with tourists like us to support these ventures.

Fish supper

Our guide purchased the fish for us and sugested his wife would cook it "Gambian style" for us. We willingly excepted his generosity , to be honest we had been struggling to find out what Gambian cuisine was like. He drove us to his compound in Serracunda. This town has one of the largest Street markets in Africa we might be ready for it now. It is a hot dusty exhaust filled town a hive of straggled (there's that word again) industry and dusty recycled commerce .

Fishing

I do not know how to title this bit. Smoking herring? Fishing village? Oxford street on sea ?
I am quite glad I missed this bit about the fishing and wrote about some humor and light laughter at our own expense in the in between bit.
To be honest the first few days here were really upside down . I have always had a dream about coming to Africa. I was born on this continent. I have always felt the music in me comes from here. But what did I know? As it turns out , I knew nothing at all.

Day by day

The day here start at 5am.with an awakening of the Muslim call to prayer. Some days it is softer than others , sometimes quite loud. This bothers some members of the guests more than others. Personally I am going to have it out with the adorable little blue and brown pigeon , actually I think it is a Speckled Dove, who starts around the same time and makes a continuous call that resembles someone with a cushion over their face going "baw baw bababawa baw baw bababawa " which it repeats monotone over and over. Although there are several of these really attractive birds in the compound they do this call only one at a time. It is rather like small children going na na nana na . These birds really amuse themselves at our expense. When you are sitting by the pool not disturbing anyone they take off from the 7ft high wall and fly like a kamakzi pilot and whistle past your ear at top speed.
We are getting into the swing of things now. Yesterday we had a shopping trip to buy vegetables from the ladies at the Turntable street market and I think we did OK.they told us they gave us discount price , HUGE grin, flashing smile. You can only believe them. Beautiful veg and salad but at this time of year all the fruit is imported. We then did some supermarket shopping, we decided to forgo the out do date Tesco Stollen or the Christmas pudding . Weird .
All was going well , it was supposed to be home for a BBQ of fresh fish. (oops I haven't written about the fish markets. .... Tomorrow) HOWEVER..... ever since we arrived we have been on a mission to get postcards for small friends back home. Franco found the postcards shortly after we arrived,apparently against all odds,they are a rare commodity it seems. Last evening he decided we should get the stamps. We were in a taxi that was not one of our recommended drivers. The windscreen was cracked right in the centre near the bottom and the crack spidered out across pretty much the rest of the windscreen. The cracks were taped over with a rainbow striped Sellotape. The two passenger doors at the back had 4x 4 inch bolts sticking inwards at ankle height. Anyway, the driver said the Gambia Post was nearby. ( it was then 5.30) we drive in the opposit direction to our compound , the traffic is thickening up nicely, the black fumes from the lorry in front tasted horrible. Eventually we hit a big town, I have no idea where we were. The driver stops outside a formal looking building and asks for The Gambia Post. It is just around the corner. Sure enough there it was. (it is now 6pm.) the building is hidden behind a boundary of heavy trees overhanging wrought iron fencing in a grubby dusty once white wall. Franco and the driver leave the car and disappear.... 6.10.....6.20.....6.30 in the car we don't know whether to laugh or cry. A young tourist girl has gone in and come out. A large oldish Gambian lady with an upturned white ( sorry, white is rather optomistic description) plastic table on her head. Seats x 4. Has taken a shine to us and I don't remember now why we told her about the postcards or why we even got started on any type of conversation, but she went away passing from left to right. She then reappeared , from right to left, minus the table , and starts up again , laughing , " postcards, yes, Ha ha ha" I do not know how to write down their rich rolling accent but that's how she talked.Again we cry with laughter at what is becoming a surreal event. Have they been kidnaped? Do we care if they have been kidnapped? Finally , just as Elaine and I have hit the silly panic laughter syndrome they reappear.
Your going to love this.
The post office was closed. The manager who was still in the building was in the loo and took his time.They had waited for him to come out.I have no idea about how the conversation went on between them all whilst he was in the loo.When he did finnaly come out the manager asked Franco how much the postage was for postcards for Europe! They had to look it up . There had then been a discussion about his honesty and the fact that he would make sure the money went into the till.
You couldn't make it up.
It was then far too late by the time we got home to do the BBq so we ate out.
Those of you who receive postcards owe us a drink.those of you who don't , we did post them honestly.

Airport to Bijilo

The Gambia is one of the smallest countries in Africa.It runs along the length of the River Gambia and is surrounded on all sides by Senegal.There was a time a few years ago that the two countries were going to merge and be called Senagambia but it did  not work out. Somehow it feels like a link in my travel chain that a lot of the beach sellers who pester us on the beaches in Italy come from Senegal. I wonder where they get the better life? That is a genuine question. They are not welcomed in Italy and they do not integrate in anyway. The answer is not a good one is it? Either way these people were born on the tough side of the street. It would appear to be the same here for many Gambians.
Our first impressions of here?  It is too early to say.

Africa. The Gambia . First impressions.

Until our team leader , Mrs Jones, suggested that our next winter trip should be "The Gambia " .
I did not even know it existed as a holiday destination. However it passed the selection test on three counts , weather, price and we could stay in one place  and do our trips out from base camp . So to speak.
Since making that decision it has turned out  , as so often happens, we have met several people who have come here for their holidays and the feed back has been 100% positive.

Jo Bloggs Traveling :

Jo Bloggs Traveling :

Now for Italy

It was the wedding of some very special friends of ours that first bought us to this island. I remember  so clearly saying to my husband, as we walked along the seafront in the , oh so picturesque little port of Marciana Marina, "I am coming back here". At the time it did not look like it could be on the cards, but life has a strange way of going round corners and ending up in a completely different place to the destination you were expecting. It was one life's tidal waves that washed us up on this rock , a heavy rain cloud that had a silver lining.

We have been coming here now for eleven years.

So....... Go to Elba

Getting here , for a foreigner , may well be one of the reasons that this Island has kept its special retro feel. You must make the journey part of the holiday. For us Brits at least, we must dedicate a day to travelling. That  means after your flight from the UK a taxi to Pisa Central then a train from Pisa to Piombino, a journey that  takes you through some beautiful classic Tuscan  country side , tall cypresses in minimalistic lines leading up to elegant Etruscan Villas. I never, ever, get tired of looking at these views, you see them on every post card and calender of Tuscany , they have been reproduced by so many artists ,  amateur to the big names. David Hockney, forgive me but your Yorkshire didn't do it for me.

Anyway......... to the ferry. You leave the Italian mainland for the hour long trip from Piombino. My apologies here to any Welsh reading this but it is the Italian equivalent of Port Talbot . A very un charismatic setting. A Mittal owned rusty steel works and some red and white striped chimneys spewing stuff , bid you farewell as you leave the mainland.

I must just warn you of something here. In the UK if you are told to get in a line. You go in a line and you stay in a line. Ha, ha , ha . Here to travel on the ferry by car you park up in white parallel lines marked out on the Tarmac. There are officials to get you and your car waved on board. HOWEVER, once they start boarding it is every man, car bus, lorry for themselves. Survival of the fittest. Just grip your buttocks and join in . If you don't you just have to hope you have some Germans behind you. If you have Italians lock your doors cause your a dead man.

Soon you see the Island appearing . Elba is a whale shaped rock, still covered on the north side with thick carpets of green trees, the odd villa dotted on the higher levels of the hillsides. Ocre coloured houses with burnt sienna roofs that catch the sunlight like the hats of rice workers in chinese paddy fields  , the buildings hug the curved bay on the waters edge.
The colour of the water is just amazing, aqua marine blue/green, as clear as crystal, it is just the most wonderful water to swim in, very salty and buoyant . On some of the beaches the water has what looks like gold fairy dust in it, it is actually , quartz dust but magic when you see it for the first time.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPa

Location:The Island of ElbaGo to Elba