Our Previous Travels - 3

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February 2002

Venice, Italy

Venice is one of our favourite places and I think that stems from the time of year we went to visit. February sees the city much less crowded and shrouded in a soft mist which, coupled with the maze-like streets and canals, makes everything seem somewhat unreal. It really is like nowhere else I've been.

See our Top 5 places for more.

May 2002

Turkey

Our Turkish adventure saw us further develop our love affair with the sea (we have been on lots of ferries) as we went for a one week Gulet tour. There were about 14 of us aboard plus Jason the tourguide and the crew who sailed the boat and looked after us.

The format for the days was to start sailing at 6am, stop for breakfast at 8am and then sail on until about noon. At that point we would anchor and had the choice between that day's planned excursion or a bit of relaxing. The planned stuff was generally worth doing and usually revloved around visiting historic sites, notably Kekova Island, Arikanda, Olympus, Finike and Kas.

Just as good was relaxing on the boat, swimming in the deserted coves, chatting to fellow passengers and discussing the very best way to get a carpet for a bargain price.

August 2002

Poland

We were invited to Poland to attend the wedding of our friends Sandra and Pino. We arrived in Warsaw, got the bus to Rawa Mazowiecka where the wedding was and then realised we didn't know where we were staying as Sandra had arranged everything. We got to the centre of town, stood about a bit and waited for inspiration. We tried calling Sandra's mobile but got the voicemail. We tried to look like out-of-towners here for a wedding and then I finallly got inspired. I set off to find a police station to see if they could help (Rawa is pretty small town) and I'd got about 400 yards when it started to rain. Really rain. In fact, the main road was under 6 inches of water in about 10 minutes so I stayed put. Luckily, we were found and shown to our hotel - a fine example of communist architecture.

The wedding was good if hard to understand and the reception was fantastic. Lots of singing, dancing, vodka and hot meals every two hours. We bailed at 4 and I think I caught sight of roast beef being served as we were leaving.

After the wedding we spent a couple of days in Ruciane Nida, Poland's lake district and it was while cycling there that the first thoughts of a big trip were formed. This part of Poland is incredibly beautiful and we would love to spend more time exploring there in the future.

Our final excursion was to Malbork, a famous castle in the North before heading back to Warsaw.

September 2002

Greece

We always planned to get back to the Greek islands after our week on Paros in 1998 and this time we decided to start at Spetses and see where we ended up. As it turned out we ended up spending most of the week in Spetses (which was probably a couple of days too many) due to a combination of factors; the annual firework display in honour of a famous victory over their Turkish neighbours caused us to stay an extra day and a full ferry caused us to stay an extra extra day. Still, the island is lovely with good beaches and restaraunts and is small enough to cycle round in a day.

We also spent a day in Hydra, a rather swanky place that would like to think of itself as the yacht-setters' paradise. The island itself is car-free and has a decent museum and atmospheric canon-lined lookout post.

We arrived back in Athens quite late and with a couple of days to kill. Our search for accommodation was quite painful as everything the Rough Guide could suggest was fully booked. We ended up staying in a seedy looking place next door to a sex shop and an 'adult cinema' which actually turned out to be OK. The room was clean, handy for the centre of town and very nearly had a view of the Acropolis.

November 2002

Klagenfurt, Austria

Once again the lure of cheap air fares took us abroad. Klagenfurt is home to a Christmas market but looks like it would be nice place to explore in sunnier weather too.

The Christmas market is home to all sorts of festive handiwork for decorating trees and homes and can be seen in half a day. You could maybe spend a whole day there if you got stuck into the gluhwein or are small enough to go on the rides.

February 2003

Hopfgarten, Austria

Hopfgarten was an introduction to skiing for Victoria and I thanks to a couple of friends of ours, Annette and Ali.

We were lucky enough to arrive slightly out of sync with the other skiiers so we were in a ski school lull which freed up instructors for 3 days of private tuition. By end of it we could snow plough, parallel run and make our way down the intermediate slopes which felt pretty good as total novices.

In fact, the main problems we had surrounded the strange world of ski passes, chair lifts and T-bars which, if we're being honest, we never really got the hang of. Every time we used them we looked like disaster was about to strike with one memorable exception when disaster actually did strike. For some reason Ali and I got mixed up between 'leaving a T-bar' (disengage, break left and right, release bar) and 'leaving a chair lift' (raise bar, slide on skis until the chair guides you into a dip while it sails harmless overhead) and tried to break left and right from the chair lift. I got as far as a metal fence with my left leg while my right leg briefly stayed seated until gravity won the day and Ali made a graceful exit down a flight of steps. The locals looked impressed.

The rest of the time was spent on a day trip to Innsbruck, a reindeer sleighride into the countryside and eating, drinking and being merry close to town.

March 2003

Bologna, Italy

Another weekend away and an enjoyable one at that. Our accommodation was up in the hills and was a converted stable but one which the architect owner had turned into a wonderful apartment which maintained the original features to great effect.

In the city we discoverd a restaurant which, as we learnt from the photos which line the walls, has seen the likes of Oasis, Eric Clapton and various Italian celebrities dine there. Having tasted the food it's not surprising.

When we weren't eating we had the chance to soak in the atmosphere in the grand town square and borrowed bikes to head up into the hills with the hundreds of other cyclists.