Hey Hey Hay

Or - Timber and steam all the way to Germany. We are sure that Poland provides most of the world's hay. There is so much of the country around here being harvested at the moment - and the yield they are getting is amazing, so we see thousands and thousands of large rolled bales - some still drying throughout the fields and some stacked. Every couple of days when we speak with Gen, she begins with hey hey hey, so I couldn't resist the title today!!

The Poznań Tourist Bureau puts out a series of information guides that are based around trails or routes of the best things to do in the area. We followed one the other day when we went to Biskupin and today as we head away from Poznań for the last time we are going to follow another - 'The route of wooden churches and buildings' before we make one last stop in Poland at a town called Wolsztyn and then turn west to Germany and 'Western Europe' once again.

We have left Fancy House in Poznań and already miss it. A home away from home, which, when you are travelling for a long time is not always easy to find. Thanks to Gosia and Kris for such a wonderful time. You have some new long-term friends who will wait for you to visit Australia some time.

We are following the one tour of the 'Wooden Churches and Buildings' route that does not take us too far from the route that we must follow to get to Berlin from Poznań. Except that we are following it in reverse of the suggested direction. We start with the Church of St Martin in Granowo, arriving just after 10 am when the morning sky is still a rich deep blue. The timbered church stands out starkly, but in such wonderfully sharp relief against this background. And there is a rather fancy bell tower adjacent to it. At first we don't think that the church is opened - but we eventually find a door that will open. Inside, the body of the church is grated, but we can see in to a rather plain church, with some baroque fittings but not with walls painted like the one we saw recently.

And so on we push. Now, the towns on this route are typically 15 - 20 kms apart, so we are able to get to see a few in the few hours we have. Next in line was Grodzisk Wielkopolski. At first we can't find it and instead have a look at their old market square with the town hall at its centre and a much later baroque church with some wierd dude atop its rotund tower. Then, as we are about to leave town we realise that the car is facing into the street with the timber church. But even the gate into the yeard is heavily padlocked. A pity really - the Holy Spirit Church is very plain and angular outside, but is the oldest on our trip today - dating back to 1633! A timber chuch that is still standing after almost 400 years.

Ruchocice is our next stop. Just off the 'main' street, St Ursula's Church is very nicely kept and in a beautiful garden of trimmed fir trees - the healthiest I have ever seen. It is obvious that this church, built in 1730, is still in regular use, but again we find the doors firmly closed. Hmm, maybe the locals don't like to share! There is not anything else to see here apart from some old barn buildings. The settlement is quite small.

In Rakoneiwice it is not a church we have come to see. Well, it is not a church any more! Instead, it issues deliverence from a different sort of hell. Once an Evangelic Protestant church (boy, they weren't taking any chances!) built in 1763, this building is very different to the others we have seen this morning. It is of post and beam construction and inside boasted two storied balconies. But we will never know whether it was as plain as we find the interior or whether it had been richly decorated. For today, the building houses the Museum of Fire-fighting in Rakoniewice!

You know, sometimes the quirky and different hide lots of little gems. And this one is no different. We enter, unable to find anyone and just start to walk around. The architecture of this once church is quite stark. But now, it gleams with polished brass of a very different nature! In this building there are fire engines that date back to 1786 when terrified horses were used to get water to the seat of a fire. Can't help but imagine that there were not too many fires that they would have reached in time!! Banners from the brigades of past hang from the two balconies - never to flutter in the breeze again.

This unique museum is this quiet little Polish back town has also got equipment from states and cities far away including Germany, Denmark, The Netherlands, Lithuania, Belgium, Hungary, Ukraine and Russia. Wow - what a collection so far from anywhere. By now, I am back in the car (sorry, there is only so much fire fighting stuff a girl can take - I think its another of those bloke things) when finally a young man working for the museum comes in. I don't think that they get too many visitors, so he is keen to show Michael personally around their collection. Thank you Hubert Koler - your generosity was really appreciated.

The other thing that Rakoniewice has are four colonnaded houses that look into a large market square. In the late 1700s the market square was surrounded by wooden arcaded houses that were characterized by two-tier peaks with beam ceilings. The majority of them burned down is the 'dangerous fire' of 1927 and today only four remain. Guess they are safe now that the Museum of Fire Fighting is within spitting distance of all four!

At this point we had planned to turn west towards Berlin, but there is a hamlet called Śmigiel that we can detour through that will only cost us an extra 15 - 20 minutes. So, why go here? Well, the church here is a composite design - part timber and part post and beam. BUT, somewhere around here are timber windmills supposedly so characteristic of this landscape. Despite our best efforts though, we don't see any. In the 18th century there were 3,500 of these windmills, but today there are only a few hundred - and darn we can't even find one! There are supposedly two, but - where? The poet Boleslaw Leśmain described them perfectly enough for us to see them in our imagination:
Rising above a fallow plain
A windmill, opened to all the world around
Creaks its wooden hoopskirt in a dance,
And throws a devil-like horned shadow on the grass...

And so we turn for the west. Each small town we pass through is built around the market square - not a bad thing at all - as this is where the local population would congregate, trade and exchange their news. Some are lovely and shady while others have become more functional place - areas of hot tarmac that provide handy parking! There is one town we go through where the speed limit is 20 kph - we soon learn why though - they have not tarred over the cobblestones like most others have done and to drive over them faster would certainly mean the death of at the least, your car's suspension! And then we come around a corner and see the most amazing sight. Now, to put this in context, we are out in rural rural Poland - well off the beaten track. And right here in front of us is the remnants of a palatial mansion and all the surrounding glory of what must have once been a very impressive estate. This was all once a private estate of the Kurnatowscy family and is only 100 years old. Very definitely it has seen much better days. The local young woman walking with her children could not have been more pleasant as she offers first Michael and then me a warm Cześć (hello in Polish).

Wolsztyn is famous because this is the last town with scheduled rail services that are operated under steam locomotion. As we drive around looking for the station or the Round House (not a turntable as Michael corrects me), we see lots of other interesting things, but not what we seek. So we decide to go back into the one way cobblestoned and chicaned town centre to the Visitor Information Centre for - well, information. And as I turn the corner to head back that way, there they are (Michael almost wets himself). 12 steam locos all in a line - shunted end-to-end, from tender box to nose. AND there are more in the Round House. The smell of the piles of coal in huge boxed pits in the yard takes us back years and if we listen really hard, we can hear the echo of a steam whistle, once blowed.

And the information? Turns out that those scheduled services are only on weekends and special days. And it turns out that our visiting their town is not a special enough occasion!
Before we leave, we have ice creams that we are dubbing the Salisbury Spires - with 14 tight swirls high above the cone (and more to the base of the cone), there is none of this loose Mr Whippy stuff. And it lasts long enough for you to eat it, not slop up quickly melting drips!

Westward we go, travelling where we can on the back roads. We are so over the motorways with big sound barriers erected on both sides. We continue to travel through small towns, observing a slice of the history of this region, and of the lives of the people today. And it is not all easy. You don't want to be a roadworker anywhere here - you risk your life every day with the only protection being the bright orange clothing you wear. And there are a couple more of those working ladies who face even greater risks I fear!

As we near the border with Germany, we have to re-join the highway. This would be a remainder from the days of border controls through non-EU countries. So it is raining lightly. One car dashes out from a service station on the other side of the road, cutting it fine between trucks hurtling past him and into our lane. Almost loses it - heading into a tailspin. Everything seems to go into slow motion, giving him time to recover control over his vehicle before once again we all rush. Boy, it was close - very close. But that was not the last example of the aggressive driving of the Polish. We are on a two laned busy road. But there are very wide verges. We soon learn that if an impatient fellow wants to overtake you, you head into the verge lane, pulling as far to the right as possible. And if you think this photos is bad, there was a worse example when we have one car overtaking us, and in the other direction a car is passing a truck that is overtaking a car - and all racing towards us! Egad!!!

Before we know it we are over the border and back into Germany. All of a sudden, the architecture has changed. More substantial buildings, smaller farming plots. We are headed for a suburb of outer Berlin on the eastern side called Köpernick where we managed to get accommodation. The roads are an absolute mess and the traffic horrific as we get near about 6 pm. The hotel has changed (ungraded???) our booking without consultation or advice - not sure whether we are happy or not, the room sure doesn't present as an upgraded one! But we have to remember that this is a part of the former East Berlin, and so is likely to be of a lower standard. Dinner is OK, a Schnitzel Buffet - try to imagine that. A variety of schnitzels, pork breaded schnitzel and chicken schnitzel in a mushroom cream sauce served with späetzle noodles and mashed potato with a salad bar that had shredded cabbage salad, shredded carrot salad, sliced tomato and potato salad that the Germans do so well. Who cares - we are just glad we have arrived!

My feet are killing me, but my heart is singing

Another huge day here in Prague. After walking a total of 4.55 kms yesterday, we slept really well (and even with the fan on!) and rose a little earlier this morning. Breakfast is a repeat of yesterday, although much less busy - there is only one other couple and us eating. The lass serving breakfast could do with a very healthy dose of cheer - she is only happy when we say thank you and goodbye. Yes, the tourist season is busy, and yes some of them can be demanding, but gee, if you choose to work in the hospitality industry is it asking too much for you to be a little hospitable??

Prague is very definitely the City of Towers. While I put the finishing touches on the blog for yesterday (and agonize over which photos to add), Michael takes a walk over the bridge to go up the Old Town Tower and brings this photo amongst others - isn't it fab!
My feet are bearing up remarkably well and I can't believe how easy it is to put my shoes on again this morning! We head out and almost as soon as we reach the street, I spy a porcelain shop across the road. I have been keeping an eye out for something small to buy as a reminder of our time here in Prague and finally, a few shops further down, I spy it. There in amongst all the china plates and mugs and servers are some large ceramic buttons in my favourite colour of blue and white and once inside I also find some amazing small ceramic bells for our christmas tree. I buy a trinket or three and Michael takes them back to our room as we know it is going to be a long day.

We are headed the opposite direction to yesterday - through the Lesser Town up to the Castle and back. The Lesser Town has been least changed through recent history of any of the areas of Prague. We start by walking up to the Lesser Town Square and its dominant building the Church of St Nicholas with its stunning domed roofs. And like many of the churches we have seen recently, this is an ornate baroque church. Now, at the risk of offending some with a little history . . . On second thoughts, read how there came to be some many baroque buildings here! One of the artistic merits of the baroque era is the use of cheaper materials with elaborate decorations so that at first glance they appear to be something else. This includes stucco work, faux marble and trompe l'oeils. So these vast caverns of marble and gold are not quite what they seem! There are a lot of people in here and again I am hot, hot, hot. Thankfully I have my little Chinese folding fan with me.

Back out in the Square we turn to follow the advice of two locals. Karim, our waiter at dinner on Saturday and Tony, our guide on the boat cruise last night who both suggested that we get out of the city and up to the Petřín Gardens by taking the funicular train. And so we head south in the searing midday heat to catch it up the hill. And thank god we did - there was no way I was going to walk up that slope! Now not only are the gardens an oasis of peace and quiet and beauty in the city, they afford a remarkable view back over the whole of inner Prague. Ah yes, there is definitely merit in asking the locals for a non-tourist tip! There are a few tourists here, but many more locals enjoying this little haven. The rose garden (the youngest of the gardens) was established in 1932 and is truly beautiful for all the senses as these are fragrant roses. We sit in the shade enjoying an ice cream for a few moments and watching the butterlies dancing in pairs and the bees busily buzzing about their daily tasks.

And while I finish my ice cream, Michael goes around to the Observatory, also located in the Gardens. And another of the wonders here - to add to a maze, a mirror hall and led horse rides for the kids - is that it is home to an observation tower that resembles the Eiffel Tower! Up 299 steps for spectacular views. Hah, they are great (and free) down on the ground from up here!

From here we want to walk around to the Prague Castle and St Vitus Cathedral. IT IS ALL DOWNHILL - steep paths and steps, lots and lots of steps. Oh, my poor hip. Thank god for the drugs! The walk takes us through shaded wooded areas as well as sculptured gardens. Some of the paths are covered in a fine yellow powder - pollen and crushed petals from a stand of trees.

We get glimpses one minute of the city below us, and then the next of the castle around on the ridge to our left in the next minute. Truly a lovely place and it is easily understandable why the locals love it. So far today is the exact opposite of yesterday - calm and cooler (now we are in the gardens) and with much fewer people around. A nice contrast, but we know that all of that is about to change!

For now we have reached the last climb up to Pražský hrad (Prague Castle). There is a steep slope of 200 m where we are jostling with the elbow of many others - back to earth with a thud! There are followers with their leaders and their silly flowers, and families, and couples young and old and the backpacker groups. There are walkers, and bikers and prammers! And we are either headed up to, or down from a castle that looks so amazing from its city below.

Once we are through the ornate gates, Michael goes to get tickets and manages to snap part of the changing of the Guard - with a cheeky young lady in tow! Our first stop once we have paused to take in the size of the first courtyard is St Vitus Cathedral. Entry into this gothic masterpiece is free attesting to the huge number of people wandering through it. Wow, it is amazing! Quite dark inside but probably because the stained glass windows are full of intense colours and they let little unfiltered natural light through. There is a Rose Window that is as nice as any of them we have seen anywhere. And then there are the amazing early artworks preserved on the walls. The pews are all roped off - presumably in an effort to keep people moving! We keep moving, trying to stay ahead of a group with a very loud Spanish guide.

Our ticket covers us for three restricted areas of the Castle grounds - the Old Royal Palace, St. George's Basilica, and the Golden Lane with Daliborka Tower. And while this doesn't sound all too much, please take note that the Cathedral is at one end of the complex and the Golden Lane at the other end with our other visit spots between the two. And this complex? Well, according to the Guinness Book of World Records, the Prague Castle is the largest coherent castle complex in the world, with an area of almost 70,000 m²!

And where the Cathedral was jam packed with people, the other areas are much much quieter - well, you do need to pay 250 CZK (€10) each to get in to them! I won't go on too much about them other than to give a brief description:
The Old Royal Palace was used for royal state ceremonies most recently and dates back to the 12th century. It has a fantastic view from its balcony right over the City and River.
St George's Basilica has an imposing facade because of the gorgeous red colour it is painted. Inside it is much calmer than the nearby Cathedral. It contains a wealth of history and its existence pre-dates the cathedral by a couple of hundred years. Today, only the foundations of this early church remain (still visible) with much of what is now there being also built in the 12th century.
The Golden Lane originated after the construction of the northern wall of the Castle. The area of the northern bailey was used for the building of modest dwellings, which are now the last remainder of the small-scale architecture of Prague Castle. They were inhabited by the castle servants, perhaps goldsmiths (the name "Golden Lane" is documented from the 16th century] and the castle marksmen.
And the tower was built and used as a prison and contains macabre instruments of medieval torture - I can only hope they were never used for real!

We are both pretty knackered by now and are both very hungry. So on our way out of the complex into the greater castle compound we see a sign for Lobkowicz Cafe that advertises a panoramic view terrace. Sure the view would be one of the best from the site - if it weren't for the trees! Still we do get glimpses. And lunch, though late, is very tasty. We just opt for something light - sandwiches - Tomato, Mozarella and Pesto for Michael and Prague ham, brie and spinach for me. Both toasted and we ended up sharing half each. Served with chips and salad - translated this means potato chips (crisps) and coleslaw! Tonic water - 2 bottles each finished it.

It is now after 6 pm. We head back down (yes, still more down, still more steep paths and steps) to the city below, walking through the Saint Wenceslas Vineyard and the classicist summer house Villa Richter. Its been a ripper of a day, although a long and arduous one for my hip. Am still surprised how well it is holding up! And no complaints from me!!

We walk back through the Lesser Town from near the Mánesův most (bridge) around to the Charles Bridge. The streets are a little quieter here, but then I guess most of the locals have headed home for the day. Of course, once we get back to the area around the bridge then we hit that people wall again!

About 8:30 pm Michael heads out to get some night pics and to take a walking tour - The Ghost Tour of Prague. He needs to head back across the bridge and in to the Old Town to the meeting point. Tour guide was good he says, but really, a little too corny for his taste - nothing like the fabulous one he did in Edinburgh! But a nice photo of Our Lady Before Týn by night as well as a few others.

So Prague comes to an end. We have managed to see heaps in a rushed two days, but have just scratched the surface. This is a city you could spend your life in and still not uncover all its secrets! And those towers, guess by now we might have seen maybe 10% of the official ones, but lots of unofficial ones as well. Tomorrow we head for Poland.

Yesterday: 4.55 kms walked, Today: 5.6 kms walked !

From drab to fab

Brno is a city of huge contrasts. There is the stunning old town with the Cathedral of Sts Peter and Paul, Špilberk Castle - the feared prison of the Habsburg dynasty, then in total contrast there is the modern architectural building - Tugendhat Villa. There is the busy commercial centre and the nearby old industrial area on the edge of which we stayed and where there is a surprising amount of residences. There is the antiquated tram system that, when we drove in to the City we could see was being replaced. There is the local supermarket - cheap by any western standard, and yet selling limited fresh fruit and vegetables (but packet biscuits are as cheap as) and then there are the designer boutiques in the City centre. Yes, the two extremes - the wealthy business class and the much poorer balance of the population.

Brno makes it almost impossible to see the sights as a short stay tourist. The roads are a mess, and those which are driveable? (yep there is a good deal of question about that statement!) you need to share with trams and trolley buses. We try to get to the Cathedral of Sts Peter and Paul, the road up the long, steep hill is closed off - we try to come around from another area - the police stop me, and with no English (and us, no Czech) the young policewoman firmly but politely shows me a sign on her little rule book that says no cars or motorbikes - despite us following a line of traffic in, and the many parked cars around. So we give in - there ain't no way we can get close to the Cathedral and it will take me too long to crawl up! I ignore Kate's pleadings and just drive through the inner city for a look. It's tired and drab and dirty. And yet there are many buildings that in their hey day would have absolutely beautiful. We end up at the main rail /tram /bus terminus and there the true story of the city is told! The square is ringed with little kiosks that sell all sorts of food - takeaway from one window.

From here we program Kate for the Tugendhat Villa. At first she delivers us to the wrong end of the street, but after a little tap, directs us around another route, up the hill (which I knew was right as it sits on a hill overlooking the City) and into a residential area. Again, I thought she had it wrong, but wait, no. There it is. For an architectural masterpiece, this is a very sad building. Concrete cancer is eating chunks off and there are cracks very visible. Oh well, maybe the interior is in better condition. Ha ha - like that would be possible. Despite nothing on their website, or the local tourist information brochures, the young lass guarding the gate tells us that you can only visit with a tour - for which reservations must be made in advance! There are no vacancies for today and she has just turned away two other groups as we waited - hmmm.

As we leave Brno we see the answer to that age old question - where do old rockers go when they fade from glory? Why, they come to eastern Europe of course! This sign is near a fairly new suburban development on the fringes of Brno - apartment block after coloured apartment block that seem to stretch forever. And with separate packing garages all lined up in rows. Too bad if it is pouring with rain when you bring the groceries home here!

OK, so out of Brno into the countryside to see if we can find the Karst Caves. Only 14 kms, but no luck there either - there are no signposts for anything that looks like whats in our brochure. Once we get to Ochoz we know we have gone too far. And the car thinks so too as the highway through town is cobbled! Mind you there are a lot of renovations being done here in town - new money by the look of it. Maybe there are some people who are sick of Brno and are willing to commute! Something tells me that we should have just headed for Český Krumlov early this morning.

So off we go. The highway is amazingly bad. There are many times that we are actually driving in a rut between raised tar at the side of the road and where the centre line is - I mean, to cross it would be like driving up over a high gutter! And the corrugations in the outer lane are terrible - and it seems that they are deliberate, in the laying of the concrete (the inner lane is nowhere near as bad). Maybe it is to discourage trucks from speeding - unlike the one we travelled behind as we left Brno - a petrol tanker with a bogey on that was dancing all over the road as he sped away faster than the surrounding traffic. And we know where Citröen and Renault heaven is - in Slovakia and the Czech Republic (and Poland also I suspect!) In fact, there is obviously no car industry here - nor by the number of very old cars on the road, has the government instituted similar reforms as is Germany and the UK where a cash amount is paid as a deduction on the price of a new car if you trade a car more than 10 years old for crushing.

Over the last week we have been passing these giant chupa chups - large balls on very high columns that seem to serve no purpose than as advertising opportunities. We thought that they might have been water or even oil reservoirs, but when we saw a damaged one, it apears that they are hollow rather fagile structures. We first saw them in Slovakia where they were in every vista. You see them above buildings, above forests, above just about eveything. And today we saw the first couple here. They are not new and remind me of something very seventies.

We are now in the region of Bohemia, part of the area once known as Moravia. Kate, choosing the fastest route takes us cross country, down the back country roads, through open fields and through dark, cool forests. We pass people walking the family - right on the side of the highway! Babes in prams included! And every once in a while there is this amazing stench that hits you - and you know you are near to a poo-shooting farmer, spraying cow dung as fertilizer! And then there is the town named Dvorce!

And we buy fruit by the side of the road at Český Budějovice. Nectarines, grapes and apricots that are so tasteless and floury that we bin them as soon as we have eaten one. This is a much larger city than what we expected to see out here in a rural area. Gosh, who are we to expect anything?? LOL - obvious that we are not beer drinkers heh! The golden amber has been brewed here since the 13th century and the local Budweiser Bier (beer from Budweis) became, along with Plzeň's Pilsener, one of the best-known lagers. Then the yanks copied it and tried to stop them using the name - huh! They still have the rights to market the beer under it's original name in much of Europe. Of course, the yanks have tried to buy the rights to the name exclusively, but as a matter of national pride the Czech government told them where they could stick that! Good on them. And to today, beer brewing remains an important local industry.

OH. MY. GOD. You should see Český Krumlov! If we ever thought Prague was special, it was only because we had not seen here yet!!!! We drive in to the City from a hill above it. Straight away you get a special feeling about this town, set on the banks of the Vltava River and on an island trapped in a meandering bend in the river. It is a town of fascinating red roof tops, of a castle and chateau and a number of churches. And as we follow the advice of the hotel (and Kate's directions) up and over the highway and through the last remaining of ten former town gates, it is like being instantly transported back in time. The streets are cobbled and they dance under the car tyres.

Where do I start? Well, firstly we were struck by the number of pedestrians walking through the streets. Driving the car was almost like playing skittles! We couldn't see the hotel when Kate had told us "you have arrived at your destination", so I pulled in and Michael jumped out and got directions and a map at the information centre. The hotel had told us that we could drive in through the pedestrian area to them, get our permits for travel through, and then park the car. So, despite the looks we are getting from those on foot, we persevere. Turns out that if we had turned one more corner and crossed yet another bridge we would have been at the hotel. The Hotel Dvořák is amazing to say the least. Not only have they given us a ground floor room - alleluia, and we have not only amazing views of the painted castle chateau tower, we also have the lovliest room - large and airy and with a huge bathroom! And at an (just) affordable €90 including breakfast, it is cheaper than Melk!

I unpack. Michael parks the car and walks back. We leave the hotel to take a walk. We wander, dazed, almost bewildered at the sights we see. Many of the buildings date back to the early 16th century - a few even before this. There are those that are built in to the rock on which the castle sits, those with buttressed walls, those with sgraffiti on their facades, those that are tiny. There are tight little alleys and narrow cobbled streets. And then there is the large open Náměstí Svornosti (town square) with the impressive facades of the burgher houses facing it and the beautiful Column of the Holy Virgin. This is truly Bohemia Rhapsody at its very best!

Time for some dinner (given that we haven't had anything really since breakfast.) We amble up the street a bit and come to the Bolero Restaurant. The menu is large and impressive. The waiter takes our drinks order then come back, we send him away (not ready yet) and comes back again! By now we have decided on:
Entrees:
Jinočeská česnečka (South Bohemian Garlic Soup) Michael
Grilovaný hermelín, pečivo (Baked Camembert with Bread) Maria
Mains:
Táborská basta – veprová pečeně, uzená pečeně, a pečená klobása, haiskový a bramborový knedlik, zeli (Pork roast, smoked roast beef, sausae, dumplings, potato dumplings, sauerkraut) Michael
Pikantí hovězí nudličky “Bolero”s bramboráčky, obloha – novězi svíčková, klobása, paprika, česnek, chilli (Spicy beef filed slices “Bolero” with tiny potato cakes) Maria
Served with a fresh salad, the food was wonderful - nothing like the Slovakian food, this is much lighter with cleaner flavours - very very fresh and delicious!
A second round of drinks - but gee, we are too full to consider dessert. And all for €36!
That is of course until we are walking back, and just before the bridge there is this amazingly great smell. A queue tell us that they are worth waiting for! 'They' are hollow rolls of pastry - about 5 inches wide and 2 inches across. The pastry is rolled on to cylinders and then rolled over an open fire. Once cooked (about 3 mins) they are rolled in sugar with cinnamon. Standing on the bridge, listening to a live band play at one of the eateries (all the 60s and 70s favourites) under the statue of the crucified Jesus, I feel truly as if I am in heaven!

Then back to the hotel while Michael climbs up the path to the castle to take a look. Hels is online and we chat about our plans for when she is here - she has the flu - had better get rid of it before she gets here I warn!! Then I am off to update the blog - bugger that, I bring the laptop into the bar and have a champagne while I do it - a 375 ml bottle that is! So you will have to forgive me any mistakes today! (That and two coffees when Michael gets back sets us back €11.)

And so here is a sneak peak of the pics he got tonight - if there is space, I'll add another one or two tomorrow - but I'm not promising anything!