Travels Part 3

I didn't mean for this to turn into a travel log.  If you're not interested tune back next week when there (might) be some weaving.

We took a bus trip from Split to Fort Klis which would have been even more interesting than it was if a film crew hadn't been preparing to shoot an episode of Game of Thrones the next day.  Just our luck.  Some parts we couldn't get to at all and others said No photographs.  If you're a fan and interested click on the pic below to see some of the props lying on the ground.  Not to be a spoiler but I did see a crate with "someone or other's wedding" written on the side.  (Obviously I don't follow the series.)

Fort Klis

Fort Klis

Split Archeological Museum

 On the left - sewing needles in ivory or bone, Roman Imperial

Centre - bone pins, Roman Imperial

Left - 14, spindle, bone Roman Imperial, Salona

Above centre and right - 16, 17, Spindle Whorls, bone, Roman Imperial, Split

Below right - 18, distaff, bone, Roman Imperial, Salona

Below centre - 19, buttons, bone, 1st-3rd century AD, Salona

Loom weights

The third week we stayed a couple of nights in Trogir, north of Split, then to the island Hvar for one night then caught a ferry to Korcula island which we loved.  Interesting that many Croatian families who settled in New Zealand early last century came from Korcula. 

Korcula harbour

After four nights in Dubrovnik and one in Mokarsha we were sadly saying farewell to Croatia and back on the overnight ferry to Italy.  

First stop was a city in the hills called Perugia where I had an appointment with Marta to see through her Laboratorio of weaving.  Lovely lady and enjoyable visit which I'll talk about in another post.  Despite it being cooler and wet and thundery we really enjoyed Perugia and the old buildings.

Perugia

Then we hit Rome.  What can I say, its lost its charm.  Too crowded, too many umbrella sellers, dirty, neglected.  But we walked the Appenine Way in the footsteps of the ancients,  we visited the Baths of Caracalla, awe inspiring.  I had a strange experience at the Colosseum in that when we climbed to the top and looked down on the auditorium I couldn't stop shaking and felt really nauseous - it cleared as soon as we walked down the stairs.  

Spanish Steps, Rome. Romantic? If you weren't tripping over people rose sellers were pushing flowers in your face.  There's one, bottom left corner.

We were disappointed that the Mausoleum of Augustus was not only neglected but not open.  

However, we did see through Augustus's house on top of Palatine Hill but, unfortunately, Livia's House nearby was closed.  A few years ago the frescos from Livia's House were removed and are now on

display at one of the many museums and it was the one we happened to visit. 

Livia

Final stage of the trip was a stopover in Singapore where we saw an exhibition of work of some of the world famous artists:  Botticelli, Rembrandt, Van Dyck, Monet, Renoir, Modigliani, Picasso and more.  A fitting end to a very full and exciting 5 weeks.  

Back from holiday ...

Part one.
Well, I said I'd be back mid October and sure enough the stats show a spike in blog views so I better tell you all what I've been doing.  In a word - travelling.  Our bi-yearly trip to Europe.  This time we took in Croatia and Rome with a few side excursions.

We started with two nights in Singapore to break the travel into two 10-11 hour stints per leg.  I found what was my favourite yarn store (Golden Dragon) and spent time browsing the shelves and book stands so I could plan for our return.  In the end there was no stash enhancement and the shop has gone down the list of favourites.

We visited Raffles Hotel and had a good wonder around but one little mooncake was $68 so no cup of tea but I can say I've had a pee at Raffles!

Raffles atrium

Flew on to Rome with a stop at Doha.  The air at Doha, even in the middle of the night was hot and thick, just like pea soup.  How they are going to hold the soccer world cup there I don't know.  In Rome we got straight on to a train to Orvieto, a small city in the hills of Umbria, to regroup before training on to the coast and taking a boat to Split, Croatia.  Orvieto has been populated since Eutruscan times and we enjoyed delving into its history.  The Duomo (cathedral) has a spectacular fascade which is much appreciated by the older residents.  They would come into the piazza at sunset and sit and look, natter and socialise.

Cathedral

Another monument we explored was the Pozzo di S. Patrizio, a well built for the Popes at the time of the sack of Rome in 1527.  The central well shaft is surrounded by ramps in a double helix designed for one way traffic so that mules laden with water jars could pass down then up unobstructed.

Old buildings incorporating rock crops

Orvieto street

 

Views to the valley below Orvieto

More next time, I have a loom to thread.

Adventures while travelling

Most of our trips are well organised before we leave home and we travel local transport where possible so, for instance, we new there was a bus stop right outside the rail station at Merced.  Approached the first bus that came along but it wasn't going our way but the driver got on the radio telephone and every bus in Merced new there were two New Zealanders waiting for the No 3 bus.  Next bus and the driver says not his bus but it would be there soon (if we didn't melt in the heat waiting).  Sure enough No. 3 bus came and we got a wonderful ticky tour around the city seeing streets and sights we would never have seen in a taxi going straight to the motel.

Leaving San Francisco I asked if I could take my knitting on board and it was no problem but as we were leaving Frankfurt from the 4 hour stop over I was pulled aside and they nearly took my set of 4 double point steel that had belonged to my grandmother away.  I was told it was wrong and got my knuckles whacked but begging let me keep them.  Because of all the problems in Greece and the austerity measures the air traffic controllers were on a go slow so we had an extra hour on the ground in Frankfurt so I was real glad of the knitting.

Arriving in Athens for our nights stop we dragged our bags the half kilometre to the metro office to find one lonely man telling everyone the trains were on strike and we would have to bus.  That wasn't on our plan at all.  We had no idea where we were in the city but at one stage the bus was stopped at lights and so I suggested Pete ask the driver where the closest stop to our metro station would be.  "Last stop, get out now" so out we got into the traffic, looked over a harp of roads and saw our hotel neon lights.  Someone was looking after us.

The flight from Sitea to Rhodes was two hours but in that time we touched down at two small islands.  One leg was 5 minutes and in that time the hostess gave the safety discourse in two languages, Greek and English, and had time to give out birthday celebration chocolates to the passengers we had just picked up.

As I mentioned in the last post we struck a storm while on Symi island and the catamaran ferries can only run on flat seas.  One ferry stayed docked all day Saturday but left Sunday morning, the day we were to leave in the afternoon.  By mid day the weather had packed up again and we approached the ferry office to confirm if they would be running as we had two planes and a train to catch the next day.  They wouldn't tell us (but we found out later the boat had already been cancelled) and they closed the office for siesta.  Later in the afternoon we decided we better try to get on the cruise ship, the Aegean Glory, which was returning to Rhodes at 4pm.  Had to beg the captain who had to get permission from the harbour master but we made it in the nic of time.  Cruise ships are not supposed to take casual passengers so we were very grateful.

The day after Symi Rhodes we travelled by car to the airport, plane to Athens (more go slow hold ups), plane to Rome, train to Rome city, train to Naples, train to Castelamere di Stabia, most of these prepaid and booked so you see why we had to be off the island.

Before leaving Greece we caught a brief news clip mentioning NZ and I saw a picture of a boat aground and what looked like our beach, Waihi Beach.  It wasn't until 4 days later in Italy we were standing in a queue to get a bus down the Amalfi coast (more rain I might add) and I saw a man with New Zealand across his black shirt so approached him for news.  Sure enough the container ship had gone aground at Tauranga harbour and this man said Waihi was the first beach hit by oil and if I wanted to swim this summer I better hit the beach with a shovel.  We spent the next week believing this but turns out he was wrong and our beach is quite clear.  I feel desperately sorry for those hit by oil slick but quietly pleased we are clear so far.  The Rena still has 300 tonnes of oil remaining on board before the containers can be removed.

The start of our homeward trip had a rocky start when our train from Naples to Rome was delayed by 180 minutes.  We rebooked on the express (that travels at 320 k/h - what fun) and got to Rome no problem and walked underground to catch the train to Fumicino (near Rome airport).  It wasn't until we were on our plane the next day I read a news broadcast and it seems there were riots in Rome city and a bloodbath outside the Colluseum!

Next time some fibrey talk.  My loom is threaded and, after two months, I can't wait to throw the shuttle.