Category Archives: city

Africa, city, history, travel

Alexandria

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After another fantastic early Christmas meal laid on by Trish, it was off across London on the rails dragging suitcases behind me to Heathrow.  A pleasant overnight flight (most of which I tried to sleep through) on Egyptair and the new Cairo airport confirmed my expectations that Egypt would be similar in affluence in Turkey; however, these were quickly dashed as we (four other Kiwis & I that were going on different tours with the same company) were driven across Cairo and Giza to our hotel.  There was much excitement in the van (sleep deprivation may have been a contributing factor) when we sighted the famous pyramids looming up behind the multitudes of unfinished multilevel houses (I can’t really go so far as to call them apartment blocks).

Wisely or otherwise, I had arrived in Egypt the day before I needed to and opted for a add-on day trip to Alexandria.  So under-rested and underfed I joined a few other day-trippers on the small bus to the coast at 7.30 am.  Climbing on the bus there was a smell of diesel pervading and the floor at the rear of the bus was very slippery – it turns out that on such a long trip (200 km) in Egypt it pays to carry a bit of extra fuel as in the recent climate one can never be guaranteed a supply and some of this had spilt.  From working in various industrial and chemical plants I have a reasonably high tolerance of such odours, so it wasn’t too bad; others didn’t feel the same way so we stopped along the Desert Road (much more appropriately named than the Desert Road in New Zealand as this one runs along the eastern edge of the Sahara) for hurried cleaning – I could get some much needed sustenance.

I’d heard a bit of Alexandria from Trish whose husband spent quite a few years growing up there and her father had also been stationed there during WWII – with fascinating photos to prove it [Trish, that statue that was uncaptioned in your Dad’s album was of Mohammed Ali (not the boxer)].  So I was interested to see some of the sights of the black and white photos in real-life colour. The chaos of the traffic became apparent as we approached the city – in many hours in traffic in a city of near five million I saw one set of traffic lights and no street signs.  First we had to pop down to the famous Corniche promenade to pick up a couple of South African guys that would be joining us for the day & trip back to Giza.  Eventually we made it to our first sight of the day, by which time we’d had plenty of time for Hesham (our guide for the day & also the guide on the week-long tour I was on) to explain a bit about Egypt and Alexandria.  The history of Alexander the Great’s brief rule and the extended rule of the Ptolemies and Cleopatras was fascinating – they’re still finding historical pieces from these eras in the Med.

Our first stop was the ancient catacombs, Kom al-Shaqafa, which were discovered believe it or not by a donkey in 1900 – it fell down the access shaft.  While not nearly as big as some catacombs I’ve been in, it was interesting as there was a merging of Egyptian, Roman and Greek art.  Excuse the poor quality of the surreptitiously taken photos.

A short distance from the catacombs is the well-known Pompey’s Pillar.  Set on top of the old Alexandria (I don’t know why I bother qualifying that with the word old, as most everything in this country is proper old – but then I come from a country that is not even two hundred years old) acropolis is the granite pillar (a single piece forms the twenty-seven metre tall shaft ) that used to be part of a Roman temple.  Here we started to see the first of many sphinxes.  The slight rise of the hill gave a good view of the surrounding neighbourhood.

Following lunch by the Mediterranean (where I was so hungry I forgot the rule of not eating salad that may have been washed in tap water – my digestive system survived, mercifully) we were off to the last sight of the day – the Modern Library.  On first hearing this, I was disappointed as I didn’t really come all this way to see a library.  It turns out that the ancient Royal Library of Alexandria (from around third century BC) was quite the library way back when (unfortunately it burned at various points).  The modern replacement was heaving with students (a university is just across the road) and despite the guide’s rather oddly accented English, the tour was interesting as the main area was an absolutely huge open-plan and tiered library.  The architecture is simply stunning inside & out.  It’s quite the facility and it was pleasing to see so many students spending so much time in the library – hopefully this bodes well for the country’s future.

So that was my brief visit to Alexandria, most enjoyable even if I was rather tired from the flight and hungry from not quite enough/any food during the early part of the day.

bikes, city, Europe, event, family, friends, history, NZ, snow, travel, UK

2012 was certainly different

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For the first time in four years, I’ve managed to live in the same place all year and to be working for the same company at each end of those twelve months.  While this has given life a bit more stability this year, it hasn’t been without plenty of variety.  The event that influenced half of the year was having surgery on my shoulder to stop it dislocating.  Six weeks in a sling and six months before being fit to mountain-bike again was quite the upheaval – but it was all worth it as my shoulder is much more stable & predictable now.

Not being able to ride my bike did have the advantage of forcing me to find other things to do with my time & money.  Consequently, it turned out to be a bit of a travel year with twelve significant trips:

First up was an excellent week of skiing in the Alps with good friends

The day after the sling was banished, I finally crossed Rome off the top of my list – it had been there some time

The Pantheon was the highlight for me, followed closely by climbing St Peter’s Basilica

A week in Turkey was mostly spent in Istanbul, where the architecture continually impressed

Hot-air ballooning early morning in Cappadocia rates near the top of all I’ve done in the last three years away from NZ

Prague – with Te Puke school friend, Levi, a long way from Fairhaven Primary

The country was gripped by the Olympics late summer, great to be around for that

I was lucky enough to take a last-minute spare ticket & made it along to watch some of the mountain-biking – quality athletes & a great course to be a spectator

The highlight trip of the year was finally heading back to New Zealand for a whirlwind two weeks of thirtieth birthday parties (mine), a wedding (not mine), and tripping all around the country & spending time with dear family & friends (not to mention meeting quite a few additions that have arrived in the intervening three years).  There was also the added bonus of the physio declaring my shoulder fit for gentle exercise – so I managed a bit of mountain-biking and a ski too.

Treble Cone, near Wanaka, is a spectacularly beautiful ski field it turns out

These photos don’t come around as often as they should – excellent to have all the family together

Shortly after NZ, a work trip to Italy sprung out of nowhere – I managed to tack Venice on the end

Gorgeous city for a day – but I found the lack of trees, grass and bikes a little disconcerting

Pleased to finally make it back briefly to Edinburgh & even see the sun

I’d waited a long time to see Sagrada Familia, after hearing Dad’s stories – it didn’t disappoint and was, in a word, incredible

Watching football with eighty-odd thousand Spaniards at Camp Nou; Barcelona crossed off the top of the list

Still managing to explore England a fair bit, mainly the south – Leeds Castle (in Kent) was one of the most enjoyable visits

Fancy that, a summary of my year & no mountain-biking pictures, that should change next year – here’s hoping.  In the last few months I have been riding a fair bit (even though my bike-commute is short, the miles add up), but it’s pretty flat & wet (for now, or perhaps always) around here so the riding isn’t too exciting.  Work will be changing a bit next year too; I managed to be a process engineer of sorts for a year but am now moving into a different role scheduling the site’s production, amongst other things.

So that’s about it for this year – thanks to all who had me to stay, travelled with me, helped while my shoulder was out of action or simply kept in touch.  I’ll have to take this opportunity to wish all a merry Christmas and the best for the New Year, as I’ll be incommunicado then – Egypt will be off the list by the end of next week.

city, Europe, food, history

Dublin

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The drive to the airport was considerably shortened by choosing Southampton instead of Gatwick for a weekend away – however that was largely undone by an afternoon of fog cascading delays through the evening. Nevertheless, I made it into Dublin in good time to settle into my room & have a brief wander around Temple Bar & over and alongside the Liffey.  The slightly cooler air necessitated a winter coat & beanie/toque, but it was hardly uncomfortably cold.

My airbnb host had previously sent me a useful Google map with places to visit/eat/drink around the city.  Immediately catching my eye was small the eatery named Brendan’s close by that apparently served the best full Irish breakfast in the city – for those working at the adjacent produce market.  It was a good meal to get me fuelled for a day wandering – & I got to meet a fellow Brendan.  It was a little strange being in Ireland for the first time & seeing my first name plastered in all sorts of places (it’s an Irish name if you haven’t joined those dots yet).  Along with the coffee shop, there was St Brendan’s Hospital and then a minor character with the same name popped up in the book I was reading.

My first encounter with an Irish accent that completely bamboozled me was here

I found Dublin a great city to wander around and get glimpses of a long and varied history.  Unsurprisingly, a lot of this was to do with rebellions and struggles.  I spent a good hour or so at the National Museum at Collin’s Barracks where there was an intriguing exhibit detailing all the various places Irish have fought around the world.  It seemed to me that there were Irish fighting in most of the major conflicts around the world in the centuries before WWII, even when it seemingly had nothing to do with them.  Either they’re always spoiling for a fight, they liked to fight oppressors or were just looking to be somewhere else.  I was puzzled that the republic refrained from sticking it to one of the biggest oppressors in WWII, but by then I suppose they had their independence & didn’t fancy all the bombing.

Wishing I had a wider angle or could get a bit further from Collin’s Barracks

The most interesting place I found to visit during my stay was Kilmainham Gaol a little west of the city centre.  Entry was by guided tour, but it was only six euros & it would have still been good value at twice the price.  The building itself wasn’t particularly interesting, but the endless self-deprecating stories told of failed rebellion after failed rebellion were fascinating.  It was rather chilling, & not just from the mid-afternoon gloom & wind, standing in the windowless courtyard where the key figures from the 1916 Easter Rising were executed.  Obviously, that rebellion was also pretty rubbish & mass support for the independence movement only really got going after the harsh punishment handed out in that cheerless stone enclosure.

The Victorian addition to Kilmainham Gaol

General Post Office – one of the key buildings seized during the Easter Rising

It turns out that that famous stout does taste better in Dublin.  It may be accentuated by my only previous Guinnesses were consumed on the other side of the world, where all that shipping may have done something to it.  Still, it was good fun (somewhat surreal) sitting in a neighbourhood bar nursing a pint, reading Rebus and explaining the differences between Kindles & tablets to a guy setting up the karaoke whom I could hardly understand.  Dublin sure is not short of bars & pubs (I saw quite a few claiming to be the oldest around) – that is to be expected; but oddly, almost as plentiful as watering holes are convenience stores and, even more bizarrely, American diners.

Sunday was spent walking around a lot – two walking tours probably contributed to that.  The guides were excellent, with gentle ribbing of the hated English and yet more stories of disastrous attempts at overthrowing the rulers.  The intervening pub lunch was interesting – I quickly saw why a potato blight would lead to an awful famine.  I ordered Irish stew – the first guy behind the carvery put a healthy serving of mashed potato on my my plate & then covered it with stew.  The next guy then loaded more mash on & then thought I could do with four pieces of baked potato as well.  I don’t think I’ve ever had so much potato in my life, & I didn’t even finish it all.

The oldest part of Dublin Castle – the tower at the back

The filled in bit where the black pool (the literal meaning of Dublin) used to be beside the castle. The River Poddle still runs underneath – what a great name

The weird bit of Dublin Castle – it’s only a castle, why not use vivid primary & secondary colours? Bare stone is so last century

Of course, no visit to this city could be complete without visiting the Guinness factory.  Well, the Storehouse which is quite the behemoth of an old building surrounded by the still working factory.  With seven, or so, industrially-sized floors there’s plenty of space for all the necessary visitor experience bits & bobs.  There were quite a few old industrial artefacts – even older than some of the stuff we’ve got at work, hard to believe as it is.  Getting to pour, & then hastily consume, my own perfect pint I then had to dash off to walk across town, get my bag & head to the airport.  No time for dinner that night, just as well all that spud meant I wasn’t hungry or in need of a meal.

So a very good weekend in Dublin & I think I got a good overview of Irish history – I now look forward to visiting other counties, perhaps some of the southern ones.

city, Europe, travel

Barcelona

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A pesky little cold turned up the night before I was due to fly to Barcelona, but a curtailed day at work enabled sufficient midday napping to make the drive to Gatwick and subsequent flight possible (the fantastic wild boar at Jamie’s Italian at Gatwick deserves a mention – especially as I didn’t have that much of an appetite [OK, that last part is hardly ever true of me]).

I had about an hour that Friday night after finding my airbnb accommodation to have a quick look around the local neighbourhood and grab a quick bite before crashing for the night.  The highlight of that was seeing a mob of Halloween costumed inline skaters – completely bizarre.

Saturday is mostly a bit of a cold-fighting induced daze as I walked around the central area, the harbourside, Las Ramblas and sat in the sun watching Catalonian life go by.

Christopher Columbus set off from this city for the Far East

Cold kicked & just leaving me an irritating cough for the rest of the week (“Would you call that moss green or forest green?”), I was well enough to wrap up too much for a mild evening at Camp Nou.  The home of FC Barcelona, it is the biggest stadium in Europe nudging one-hundred thousand capacity.  It’s not exactly new & I was up in the rafters (well I would have been if the section I sat in was roofed).  I was surprised at how good the view was from the top – it was easy to see the skill of the Barca passing as they relentlessly attacked the Celta Vigo goal in front of me during the first half.

While it was only a La Liga game (the Spanish football league), the stadium filled up to 83000 and it was excellent to get along to one of the great sport venues in the world and soak up the atmosphere – even if I didn’t understand much of what was being said; at least football is pretty easy to understand.

I must have been feeling better by then as over the dinner menu, convinced I wanted some lovely chanterelles I thought it would be a good time to try lamb brains for the first time.  Strangely, the brains were the highlight – not that the mushrooms were bad.  One just had to get past the whole zombie eating brains & texture thing.  The pitcher of sangria may have helped a little.

Not quite early & out on the metro early enough to avoid the regular large queue at Sagrada Familia, I climbed from the metro tunnel, turned around and was suddenly struck by a sight I’d waited twenty-odd years to see.  Of all Dad’s travel stories from when he was tripping around Europe in his late twenties, the story of Antoni Gaudi who started a huge church in Barcelona and was killed by a tram before it was close to completion & how it was now standing unfinished always did the most to capture my imagination.  I always knew I’d see it one day & I finally did; I was not disappointed – it’s a staggering project that is still some years off completion.

Nativity Facade

The intricately decorated Nativity Facade forms the largest & most spectacular part of what Gaudi managed to complete in his lifetime (it also forms part of the World Heritage Site, along with his crypt).  All through it are various parts of the nativity story along with an awful lot of nature – plants & animals abound.

Passion Facade

The more recently completed Passion Facade on the opposite side of the basilica is not just geometrically opposite – there is a lot of bare stone & it’s austere & somewhat chilling in its simplicity.

Only very recently has the church part of the complex been enclosed and I’m not sure what is the most impressive thing inside.  For me, it was probably the huge pillars of varying heights and width.  The pillars get more sides the further up you go, so they almost end up being completely round as they branch like trees near the roof.

I paid my extra three euros for the elevator up, walk across and down the towers of the Nativity Facade – well worth it to get a much closer look of the stonework.  The audioguide, for the record, is also worthy of the extra euros.  I’m not sure I’ll ever see anything quite like Sagrada Familia – & am already looking forward to seeing it after it’s completed (there is a huge tower still to go on top).

Spiral staircases abound – this one in the Nativity Facade

Back to the Nativity Facade

The towers on the Passion Facade

I had been told that Park Guell was also a Barca sight not to be missed.  Post lunch I strolled in that direction – it turned out to be quite a walk up a long hill that gradually increased in steepness.  But it was worth it to see more Gaudi work – the gingerbread-esque houses were quite something.  The park was very popular despite the hill and there were plenty of entertaining musicians around.  It was a little cloudy by then, but the views over the city were still good.

So that was Barcelona, a little less than I perhaps would normally do on a weekend break – but I saw all that I wanted to & loved it.  I hope it’s not twenty years again before I fulfil my desire to visit the city.