We recently went on a week’s holiday to Norway. It all started when Paul had the opportunity to attend a really useful business conference in Drammen, near Oslo. He suggested that I may as well go with him, as it was in the middle of the school holidays; it also seemed more sensible to extend our stay, given that the conference was only for 2 days.
We went away with the full knowledge that this is an expensive country in terms of accommodation and eating out. Even if we had not known beforehand, it is generally the first point of interest that people will tell you about as soon as you say you are paying a trip to Norway! We watch quite a few Scandi dramas and enjoy the scenery as well as the tense drama; hopefully we would not come across any dead bodies, as murder is clearly as prolific in Norway as it is in Midsomer and Shetland.
Paul planned a whistle stop driving tour for after his conference, taking in some of the most significant cities with views of the fjords and mountains. Thus self-catering was not an option, as we typically had a day of driving and an over-night stop in a different location every evening. The idea is that we return for a longer holiday in the future with more self-catering possible. Our apartments were all of a really high standard and I was quite disappointed not to have the time to shop and cook. We just managed to make a couple of breakfasts, and one simple picnic lunch. I’ll describe the apartments in more detail in the next blog article, just telling you about the food we ate in this piece.
Mussels at a harbour-side restaurant in Oslo
This was a lunch I ate on my own, whilst Paul was busy at the conference in the Drammen hotel. I just adore mussels and usually find they are beautifully cooked in the average restaurant. I like to spend the time eating them slowly, using one mussel shell as my ‘fork’ for extracting the meat from the shells. It is also a treat to have them with chips; I sometimes splash out and do this at home, but chips deep fried are one treat which it is good to let restaurant staff do for you. You get the bonus at the end of a lovely bowl of fishy sauce or soup.
Chips on display with the mussels
I do like to have some idea of how much we are spending on a meal, even if we have accepted that this is going to be an expensive holiday. The average main course in Norway could set you back between 200 and 400 Kroner. You roughly divide by 12, not 10 as Paul first advised me. As we are talking about mid-range restaurants here, not really high class, that is much more than in the UK and all mounts up. Happily, all of the food was really good and not once did we feel that we had eaten a really disappointing meal.
I shall now show you a few more photos of the meals that we had, with brief descriptions. Just to add that I loved the style of the food, with a good choice of fish, meat and vegetable dishes. One feature which really impressed me was the integration of vegetables into your main course, rather than being half-hearted side dishes. In addition, the presentation was superb and very professional, as you should be able to see from the photos. If you think of the artistic presentation of the old style ‘Nouvelle Cuisine’ and just increase the size of the portion, that will give you a good idea of a typical Norwegian meal.
Our one frustration was the continuing and increasing tendency to put copious amounts of raw onion into salads. This happens everywhere, not just Norway. I have written a whole blog piece about it! We both dislike it intensely and have found that many people agree with us that it is unpleasant and unnecessary. We started to request food without raw onion; why did I never think of this before? Neither of us has allergies, so it is not being too fussy I think.
Parma Ham and Mozarella Salad with cheesy garlic bread -sadly the salad had too much raw onion in! My lunch in DrammenChicken and Mushroom Pasta in Notodden – excellent but some raw onion crept in despite our requesting for it to be left out!Pizza with mozarella and rocket in BergenBreakfast in Stavanger – I was feeling a need for fruit and it was quicker to do our own breakfastRaw onion extracted from a salad on our way to StavengerFish soup in Stavenger – this was superb and we both had the same dishes in this restaurantWhite fish (possibly cod) with gnocchi, peas and asparagus in a creamy sauce – just superb!
We also spoke to our waiter in this restaurant, who was so friendly, and from Maida Vale! I just had to tell him that this was my mother’s place of birth. The restaurant was truly international, with conversations taking place in English despite the diners not being from the UK.
A fairly standard pizza in Hemsedal, a ski resort. There really was not much open out of season, but it was a fun place to stay; we were in a typical ski chaletTypical Norwegian Restaurant in Tjuvholmen, Oslo; the food we ate in this restaurant is in the pictures belowPrawn shells left after I had devoured the prawns in the first photograph. There really were about 2 pints of them, but surprisingly I still had room for my main course afterwardsPaul’s Reindeer first courseGame Casserole with mash and jam similar to the type served with Swedish meatballs
Of course it goes without saying that we also drank quite a lot; wine for me and non alcoholic beer for Paul. Again the prices were much higher, at about 150 kroner for an average glass of wine. I show you below the menu for our last night dinner in Oslo, not including the drinks menu, but it gives you a little flavour of a typical restaurant in Oslo.
Helpful sign in cafe where we partook of breakfast one day
This sign actually filled me with much cheer. One of my moans (and do understand that I am not a moaner; I like to be very positive and see the best in people!) is that you cannot have a choice of a medium or large coffee. If there are only two sizes, then they have to be small and large! To have the option of medium, you would need 3 sizes. However, I am not exactly clear on what the customers might try to order in a typical cafe for someone to have been moved to put up the above sign.
My pre-conceptions about American culture and language:
I was expecting to be told frequently ‘I just love your accent.’
I was anticipating that there would be many differences in vocabulary.
Related to the above, I anticipated that it would be easy to confuse Americans by using an English word that they might not have come across.
I had ideas that Americans are very warm, welcoming and friendly to tourists.
I was expecting to confuse many waiters by asking for ‘water.’ This was one that I had been warned about in advance; apparently the way we pronounce this word is different enough to confuse the Americans quite easily!
Usually when travelling I speak the native language if I can; in fact French is the only foreign language I can speak competently, but I have a smattering of Spanish and am willing to have a go, particularly with foodie words; I come across these in my reading of cookery books and food magazines. In America though I was deliberately sticking to English vocabulary as a kind of test. We are very at home with American culture in the UK, but I know that UK culture is not as widely known in the USA. So would it not be interesting to stick to asking for ‘chips’ and seeing what would turn up? I could talk about visiting Boston in the ‘autumn’ rather than the ‘fall.’ Where does the queue start? Is there a lift in the apartment? Where are the loos? (this one can sound rather rude I have since discovered!) However, I am not interested in going for a lie down, so I don’t want a restroom; and I am not planning to have a bath. Does the house have a lovely garden? (after all, ‘yard’ does sound to be like something at a building site!) Paul thought that I was a real stickler to my English and happily asked for the check rather than the bill and suggested we should cross to the sidewalk.
However, interestingly enough I found that Americans are probably becoming much more international and have started to embrace UK culture, as I only managed to confuse a few people! There are really an awful lot of words which vary between the two countries. This is my list of the most common ones that you might come across, with the English words on the left:
Pavement – Sidewalk
Bill – Check
Rubbish – Trash
Boot – Trunk
Chips – Fries
Crisps – Chips
Expiry date – Expiration date
Garden – Yard
Hire – Rent
Accelerator – Gas
Manual car – Stick Shift
Lift – Elevator
Mobile phone – Cell phone
Toilet/Loo – Restroom/bathroom
Autumn – Fall
Tap – Faucet
Petrol – Gas
Jelly – Jello
Jam – Jelly
Queue – Line
Trousers – Pants
Handbag – Purse
Ground Floor – First Floor
First Floor – Second Floor
Take-away – Take-out
Roundabout – Traffic Circle
Wash hands – Wash up
Postcode – Zip Code
Helpful sign in the Everglades. I don’t think we get many vultures damaging vehicles in the UK! What is a windshield wiper?!
I genuinely had not come across the notion that there is no ground floor in American apartments (note here that I think we actually use apartment as much as flat in the English language). I did not have the opportunity to try to confuse anyone with this difference in vocabulary, but maybe on our next visit… The idea that the first floor is called the second floor in America is strangely worrying. I feel a bad poetry moment coming on….. The specific example I can remember of locals having to clarify what I meant was when I asked if the apartment had a lift. We were back in New York for our second visit and the apartment was poky, the hallways were smelly and it was difficult to get away from the smell because the instructions to find the key were extremely confusing! Actually there was no lift or elevator and what a good idea I did not clarify which floor we were heading for!
Some aspects of language and culture which are much more like back home
I love the fact that miles and fractions are alive and well in the USA. We had a lot of fun with our hire car sat nav. Not only were the instructions nice and familiar being in miles, but our female guide (it seems that sat navs are always female) was rather obsessed with fractions, as in: ‘In 9 tenths of a mile you will reach the Bee Ridge Road.’ Or ‘In about half a mile, turn left.’ (why, ‘about half a mile?!’ Can you not be a bit more specific?!) Thinking about it, I am sure that she concentrated on halves, quarters and tenths, not bothering with eighths very much.
I also like to use fahrenheit rather than celsisus, so it was good to hear of temperatures in the 80s and 90s and not having to do my usual conversions that I do in the UK. Also it was nice to be working in gallons of petrol. I cannot understand the logic in the UK of describing cars as doing for instance ’60 miles to the gallon’ and then selling petrol in litres!
Returning to my list of preconceptions above, we were told on many occasions ‘I love your accent.’ People would often ask us where we were from. Paul had suggested that maybe we would get mistaken for Australians, but that was not to be the case. In fact, our ‘Swimming with the Manatees’ guide guessed that we were from Oxford when I asked her to make a guess. Actually this was one place she had visited in the UK and is not far from where we live! The silly thing is that as soon as an American says to me ‘I love your accent’, I start to speak subconsciously in an even more RP way. Maybe that is just me?
We found on the whole that Americans were extremely friendly and welcoming. On the metro, travelling from JFK airport to our apartment for the first time, one member of staff was really kind and helpful at assisting us with buying tickets and heading off in the right direction. On our second trip to New York, we took a taxi to the apartment. This was the incident with not being able to find the keys and trying to get upstairs with no lift in a very smelly building! In the midst of all that, Paul discovered that he must have dropped his mobile (no, not his cell phone!) in the taxi. He tried ringing the phone, and 15 minutes later the taxi pulled up outside the apartment block as the driver wanted to return the phone to him!
I did ask for ‘water’ a few times but was disappointed, as on each occasion I was understood even with the English pronunciation! Times have moved on….
Beautiful vegetables in Eataly in New YorkWhy is this pudding so huge with too much cream?!
This is a belated piece about our food whilst on holiday in New York and Florida in April. We love to eat good food all the time and I was looking forward to America because, like the UK, it is very multi-cultural and has such a diverse range of restaurants. My daughter Jess is also quite conservative in her food tastes but embraces American culture, so it seemed that it would be an easy place to find food to her tastes too. This was my first trip to America and Jessica’s too. Paul has been many times before, although not for a long time. I have known him for 22 years and he has not been to the USA since I have known him!
Some of my pre-conceived ideas about eating out in America and were they confirmed as being true or not?
I try not to be closed minded and have lots of pre-conceptions about places and people. However, with American culture being so widely known and shown on our TV and film screens, it was difficult not to have a few expectations. Actually, I did not have that many ideas about what to expect, but I had heard that eating out can be relatively cheap and that it is quite common to dine out a lot. My other expectation was that in restaurants the portions would be large. I have a very healthy appetite and can pile up my plate, but some of the meals defeated me! Hence the caption on the photo above of a pudding I had one day. For this reason we very rarely indulged in a pudding. In New York we ate out all the time; we had two nights there on our outward journey and three nights on our way back. Our apartments were not big enough for catering comfortably and we really wanted to see the big city in all its glory, so sitting in a cramped apartment was not an option we went for! We also like to have 3 meals a day, so sometimes I was frustrated with the breakfast being so huge and being mindful that I would need space for lunch! On our first morning in New York we had bagels – sadly I did not take any photos. They were excellent; mine was the traditional smoked salmon and cream cheese and I had fresh orange juice and fresh coffee to drink. Eating out in America is fun, noisy and vibrant and it is true that a lot of people partake of the pleasure. In terms of the cost, I’d say that New York was really quite pricey and comparable to London, whereas Florida was much more reasonable and as I was expecting American prices to be.
Below you can see some pictures of a breakfast we had en route one day in Florida:
Because of the huge portions, I was particularly looking forward to reaching our holiday home in Florida and being able to cook our own meals. Some might say, why would you go on holiday and cook your own food?! I even invited my dear old friend Gillian round for lunch on Easter Sunday; she has lived in Florida for over 30 years and was the reason for our visit. Well I just love to cook and really it does not matter where in the world I am; I want to go to the shops and go back and cook in a different kitchen. In this case the kitchen was large and well equipped; this made a lovely change from some of the villas we have rented in European countries, which often have rather small and uninspiring kitchens.
However, there are sometimes unexpected items missing or not working even in a big kitchen. The filter coffee maker did not work, so our host sent a replacement very promptly for us. The ice function in the fridge stopped working on Easter Sunday, which was not good news! Also, I could not find a proper can opener. Hence my attempt to open a can with a bottle opener. Result below, with no injuries at all!
Pre-dinner nibbles at Gillian’s fabulous Florida home
Here are some of the meals I cooked in our lovely Florida kitchen:
Roast Pork for Easter SundayA melange of left-over pork, beans and tomatoes with some spice and topped with asparagusFree-form pizza made with a flour tortilla and some chilli mince cooked up by JessFree-form chocolate cheesecake topped with fresh fruit, for Easter Sunday
We did have some wonderfully memorable meals in Florida in particular, where the fruit and vegetables were fresh and tasty and there was plenty of fish. We also tried alligator a couple of times. I had hoped to have it unadorned and looking like an alligator, but it was served in batter or in a macaroni cheese. The latter was for a late lunch after a long afternoon swimming with the manatees – more about that in another blog piece.
Alligator Macaroni Cheese
We spent two nights away in the middle of our Florida break, travelling through the Everglades and finally arriving at Key West. Paul and Jessica did so much driving and I did my usual job of assisting or interpreting what the sat nav was trying to tell us!
We particularly enjoyed Key West, because it is a little bit different in terms of American suburbia. You get used to driving along main roads and passing shopping centres and restaurants without that town or city centre experience. It is true that it would be very difficult to walk anywhere in most locations, and those people you do see walking seem to be an oddity and it does not look very safe! Key West is more of a proper town with streets and shops. You can park your car and then stroll the streets to find somewhere to eat. Curiously though, most of the buildings are of a clapboard design so many of them look the same. We had a bit of difficulty finding the post office. Our main reason for visiting, apart from the wonderful coast (I have to swim everywhere we go!) was to see Ernest Hemingway’s House with the many 6-toed cats. More about this another time, but we had the most wonderful lunch at the Moon Dog Restaurant; it used to be called the 6 Toed Cat, but for some reason was renamed. I had the most divine steak salad, just cooked rare and to perfection.
Steak SaladStunning Artwork on the walls at the Moon DogAnother view of the Moon Dog
On some occasions we got round the huge portion dilemma by sharing a meal. This is really ideal with a pizza, and to be honest we sometimes do this in the UK anyway. At home I make one big pizza and cut it into portions; we would never have a whole pizza each, although my toppings tend to be more substantial than those you get in a restaurant.
Sharing Pizza
The fish in Florida was superb. Common varieties were grouper and mahi mahi. The latter is also known as dolphin fish, but don’t panic! It is not anything to do with dolphins as we know them. One restaurant we ate in offered a couple of different fish with a selection of sauces and side dishes. A lovely, simple way of offering choice to customers.
On our way back home, having had a rather hot and tiring journey, we ate in one of the airport restaurants at JFK airport; much nicer than sitting around in crowds waiting for the flight. On this occasion, even Jessica was a little defeated by the large ice-cream sundae.
In conclusion I would say that the food in America was enjoyable and rarely disappointed us. If you are not like me and can cope with fewer than 3 meals a day when you need to have every meal in a restaurant, then that is definitely a wise option to take on occasions.
I have had a Bucket List in my head for many years, but never actually written it down or analysed how many items on my list I have in fact ticked off. Now is the time to put that right and put together some sort of organised list. I give you below my more or less definitive list, with an indication of whether or not I have managed to achieve any of my ambitions. I shall then include a selection of items on friends’ bucket lists, once again using my Archers’ Appreciation facebook group as the sample of people surveyed. The picture above represents the nearest I have ever got to going on a cruise; the ferries we take from Portsmouth to Bilbao or Santander and from Barcelona to Sardinia, are like little cruise ships with not quite as many facilities, and you cannot stay at sea for longer than one or two nights.
To travel beyond Europe before the age of 40 – I managed this at the age of 39 and a half. I married Paul (second marriage for us both) and booked a honeymoon in Cuba! Yes, this holiday did live up to my dreams, and I do intend to return to the Caribbean one day!
To go to America before the age of 60 – I keep moving the goal post for this one, as I am 52 now and did not manage it before I was 50! We did have a holiday planned to Florida to see a dear old school-friend of mine next year, but this may not happen as I carelessly lost my job this year!
To go to America by boat – yes, this one is separate from the general one about seeing the USA. I love travelling on ships, and think that sailing into New York by ship would be so romantic. Paul and I also have a strong aversion to flying and airports in general!
To go on a world cruise including seeing Australia – yes, I am a bit obsessed by ship travel!
To go on a shorter cruise, maybe around the Caribbean.
To go on a long rail journey, maybe across India. I am forever drooling over the Jules Verne holiday brochures when they come through the letterbox. A trip on the Orient Express would be perfect.
To travel first class on a train, preferably to somewhere interesting with good scenery. Paul had the really helpful suggestion that we could go first class on the Marlow Donkey from Maidenhead to Marlow, but I am not sure that this would really hit the spot!
To run out into the middle of the road and shout ‘taxi!’ – I did this when with some friends in Cardiff. Of course you have to make sure that you only try this with licensed Hackney Carriages, not private hire taxis, as doing it with the latter is not legal!
To jump into a taxi and shout ‘follow that car!’ – this one is a bit of a flight of fantasy, as I am not planning on a life of crime or a new career as a private detective.
To jump off a moving vehicle film-star style and land gracefully on the pavement! In my early 20s as a student in London, I did jump off a routemaster bus, as the bus conductor told me to (we were not stopping at my requested stop). Unfortunately my landing was anything but graceful, and the bus stopped so that the conductor could check if I was okay!
To own a house and be able to design a new, huge kitchen of my own – not sure if this one is achievable or not really!
To use a talking telescope on a cliff-top tourist destination – Paul adamantly objects to my spending a pound or a euro to have this experience, so this one is a bit of a standing joke between us now!
To travel on a tourist open-topped bus or a tourist train – this is another one that Paul is not keen on, so I’ll have to find a way of doing this one (we do most of our travelling and sightseeing together).
To go the Edinburgh Festival – I have never quite managed this, and we have been in the habit of going on holiday in August to sunnier climes in the past few years. It would be a shame to never go though!
To meet Nicholas Parsons – I adore Nicholas and Just a Minute is one of my all-time favourite radio programmes. I have been to a recording, but have not actually spoken to him. Now I really had better hurry up and organise this one, as he is in his 90s…… maybe a book signing session would be best for the chance to actually speak to him!
To speak on Radio 4 – for this to happen I shall have to make more of an effort with phone-in programmes I suppose, as I am not going to do this any other way! Related to this, I have been interviewed for local radio and I have had letters/e-mails read out on Radio 4!
To take part in a film or television programme – this one I have achieved by appearing in a Heston Blumenthal cookery programme on Channel 4! Okay, I did not speak live, but you can definitely see me, and we did all get to chat to Heston during the recording. I should like to make more appearances though, and to this end I have registered with an Extras agency – watch this space!
To learn Spanish and Italian enough to be able to converse with local people – I speak French, but am finding learning languages so much more difficult now that I am older….
To improve my piano-playing skills. I can read music and play to a very basic level, but it is one of my huge regrets that I did not start learning younger. I think that this one should be possible if I work at it.
To play another principal singing and acting role in the theatre – preferably one of each. I have appeared live on stage in principal roles and numerous times in the chorus, but I’d like to have another chance at playing some principal roles before I shuffle off this mortal coil…..
How does my list compare with that of my Archers’ Appreciation friends? Such a diverse range of ambitions that people have on their lists. Some people have questioned the point of having a bucket list at all, and some responses were to suggest I might like to buy some brightly-coloured buckets.
Many bucket lists include far-flung places to visit or dangerous sports to try out. Places people would like to visit include: New York, Canada Rockies, Australia, New Zealand (Andrew Gosling), Nambia (Jane Baker), the Giraffe Manor in Nairobi, where apparently you have the chance to eat breakfast with giraffes! (Jane Kirkham). Rachel Blanchard has a long list of places she has been planning to visit for a number of years and has so far only managed Japan from the list! The complete list is: Tibet, Taiwan, Japan, Chile, Terra del Feuago, Buenos Aires, South Pacific Islands, Myanmar, Sumatra, North Vietnam, Moscow, the Trans Siberian railway, Las Vegas, Alaska, Canada, Peru, Hawai and New Orleans! Good luck with that Rachel! The Northern Lights is popular (maybe I should add that to my list!) and is mentioned by Gary Cavie, Jon Mitchell, Joan Shoesmith and Berni Anderson.
Jane Walker has a list of pieces of music she would like to play in the orchestra pit, including most Mahler symphonies, Shostakovitch 5, Sibelius 7 and any opera. I might consider something like this for my list had I progressed a bit further with learning musical instruments.
I do like some of the more mundane items such as Cecilia Potten’s which is to ‘live to a ripe old age and become a rich widow.’ June Coles would like to visit all the piers in the UK. That is something that I think would definitely be worth achieving! Annette Harris would like to retire – okay not right now, but she rightly points out that many people are not lucky enough to have a long and happy retirement and do all the things that they don’t have time to do whilst working full-time. In the same vein Pam Pummell would like ‘to live at least 10 more years (to the age of 78) and not be doolally.’ I love the word ‘doolally!
There are a few people who have dangerous or possibly exciting things on their lists such as Penny McElhinney wanting to kayak up the Amazon, Sally Owen wanting to learn to surf, Melissa Seymour wanting to skydive and Jemima Green wanting to handle snakes and Ian Williams wanting to walk with mountain gorillas (he has ticked this one off his list already!)
Finally I love the honesty of Jude Platts who says, ‘I’d quite like to see my house tidy. Just once.’
Thanks for all the contributions. If you read this all the way through, it would lovely to have some more feedback or comments on what you think about my Bucket List!
Some Roman Bridge or other in Alghero with a bit missing
Whenever we drive right into the middle of a city along a cobbled street which looks as if it should not be accessible to cars I always say, ‘oh well we’re tourists!’ Not that anyone has ever challenged us. We once famously drove right under the aqueduct in Segovia, Spain, completely unintentionally. Although there seem to be fewer pedestrianised streets in Southern European cities than in the UK, driving under the aqueduct was not meant to be an option! We think that locals are so bemused by seeing a UK registered car in such unlikely places, that generally they take no notice and do not challenge us!
Anyway, back to my original question. I decided that my best place for research would be amongst my Archers Appreciation friends on Facebook. They are such a lovely, witty, intelligent and friendly bunch of people that I often turn to them for ideas. Okay, I am a librarian by profession and know about the value of reliable research and what a wide range of sources there are. However, this article, like most of those on my blog, is meant to be fun and light-hearted. I shall not be referencing using the Harvard system.
At the end of July, the beginning of our long summer holiday, I asked them: ‘What is the difference between a tourist and a traveller?’ I agreed that I would quote their comments and mention them by first name. These are some of the responses I had. I shall then decide whether on balance their responses can prove definitively whether Paul and I are indeed tourists or travellers!
‘Travellers are nice people like us, tourists are other people.’ (Andrew)
‘A traveller is a pretentious tourist.’ (Jean)
‘Delusion.’ (Gina)
‘I travel, you are a tourist, he is a day-tripper.’ (Kate)
‘A traveller thinks they are better than tourists and thinks they are keeping it real! Travellers may wash less often – unless I am travelling! (Niki)
‘We like to think of ourselves as travellers – probably a bit pretentious I know – because we tend to travel for long periods and get close to the lives of real people as we go, rather than just going to see some attraction. I usually take the trouble to learn at least a little of the language if possible.'(Les)
‘A tourist is someone else, making the crowds bigger and the queues longer; a traveller is me, not part of the crowd or queue, just caught up in them.’ (Jamie)
‘A tourist pays for their holiday, a traveller has it paid for by their parents.’ (Dinsdale)
Reply from Helen: ‘Even in middle/old age?’
Reply from Jamie: ‘Oh god no, those yoof backpackers are decidedly tourists.’
‘A tourist takes a photo every 5 minutes, a traveller is content just to look.’ (Joan)
‘Travellers never stay at all-inclusive resorts, they are strictly for the tourists.’ (Louise)
‘I would say a tourist wants to look at places, and a traveller wants to experience places.’ (Sarah)
‘We are travellers; they are tourists. Probably working class. Or American.’ (John)
‘Tourists go where they are led. Travellers go where they will. Tourists seek comfortable situations. Travellers put up with whatever comes their way.’ (Di)
‘I spent 7 days in Petra and visited the site 5 times from different angles and loved talking to the Nabataean; they realised I wasn’t going to hire their donkey so used to just chat about life and drink mint tea.’ (Rachel)
‘Round here, travellers set up their caravans in the local park and leave mountains of rubbish and human poo behind when they depart several weeks later.’ (Deb) – As Les pointed out, this could be the wrong sort of traveller!
Thanks for all the helpful suggestions and contributions from my lovely Archers’ friends. In a way I think that Andrew, Kate, Jean, Gina and Niki have hit the nail on the head. I don’t like to think that we are better than other people. Paul and I talk about ourselves being ‘travellers’ in a jokey way. I do like to visit the attractions of the city, the places that everyone else wants to go to. For instance, when we arrived in Bilbao at the beginning of our journey, we spent several hours in the Guggenheim museum. According to Joan, I am definitely more of a tourist than Paul, as I do take a lot of photos. For our 4 week holiday this year, I have probably taken about 1000 photos, and it is going to take a long time to sort them out! I also like to do silly things, such as standing in the same pose as a statue and getting Paul to photograph me!
Flowery Dog outside the Guggenheim
Sarah with Garibaldi in Palau
We do like to plan our holidays, and always book accommodation in advance. We wash every day, and always eat in restaurants or I cook proper meals in our villa. We do not eat street food or walk around eating – something to do with my upbringing I daresay! I actually love the look of street food, but just want a table and chairs to complete the experience! The planning is partly because we like home comforts, and partly because we often travel at peak times – getting decent accommodation in August last minute is not easy! We also like self-catering, and this is really not practical or even possible to book last minute.
Louise points out that a traveller would never stay at an all-inclusive resort. Okay, at this point I had to make my confession to my friends that we did do this for our honeymoon in Cuba! (July 2004)To be honest, I think that most of the hotels in Cuba are all-inclusive, and it may have been difficult to do otherwise. We did love the holiday, but it is the only time we have ever stayed in a hotel for 2 weeks and not done any cooking at all! I am not sure we’ll ever do it again, although one of my ambitions is to go on a cruise; my dream holiday is a world cruise for several months! If Paul reads this, there is a great one advertised in the back of the Radio Times – 120 nights departing in January 2019. Passenger 1 pays from £15,999 and passenger 2 goes free!
Rachel’s comments about her experiences in Petra sound very much like our idea of making the most of a place. We often return to a favourite city, and sometimes just wander the streets, not visiting any museums or cathedrals. My favourite activity is to sit in cafes and restaurants and watch the world go by. When we went to the Alpujarras a few years back, we went to Granada several times at different times of the day; once we went early morning, and another time we went in the evening just for dinner. On another visit we did go to the Alhambra Palace, although the intense heat nearly defeated me!
However, when it comes down to it, I know that I am more of a tourist than Paul is. I adore tourist shops and buying souvenirs and gifts to take home. I send about a dozen postcards to friends and family whilst we are away. Paul is in his element when visiting archaeological sites, and has a particular passion for Visigothic sites (okay, my little joke! I believe there are not actually that many Visigothic sites world-wide!) I am convinced that an interest in the Visigoths is not common among tourists! This summer there were many interesting archaeological sites to visit in Sardinia, and I do enjoy these experiences, just not in the heat! Paul very kindly found places for me to rest and amuse myself whilst he went exploring. Luckily he was usually able to find me a beautiful beach with crystal clear sea, and my favourite activity on holiday in August (yes, it even comes above going to the shops!) is swimming. Now, would you consider swimming to be a tourist activity? Certainly on our travels, we came across very few UK visitors, and we did not see another GB registered car for many weeks (not until we reached Chamonix). However, there did seem to be a lot of local tourism.
Les makes a really good point about learning the language. I do feel less of a tourist in France because I speak French (could be fluent if I made the effort!) In fact, I was very pleased to interview our host at our final hotel in France, conducting the entire conversation in French (watch out for my future blog post about Maison Ailleurs). Paul also speaks French (not as well as I do!) and has a smattering of Italian. We both speak a few words in Spanish and can just about manage menus in Italy and Spain. We picked up a bit of Portuguese too, last year. Sometimes I get utterly confused and have spoken short sentences partly in French, Italian and Spanish!
Our mode of travel is probably unusual to some. We very rarely fly (I cannot remember the last time we went on an aeroplane – maybe 7 years ago?) This year we went on 5 ferries – Portsmouth to Bilbao, Barcelona to Sardinia, Sardinia to Corsica, Corsica to Genoa and finally Caen to Portsmouth. On ferries 2, 3 and 4 we were the only UK travellers as far as we could make out! Ours was certainly the only GB, right-hand drive car on these ferries, something which did confuse some of the ferry staff! Now, I ask you this, would a tourist travel all that way by 5 ferries and hundreds of miles of driving?! My daughter came to join us in Sardinia for a week, taking the more conventional route from Heathrow to Olbia!
So, what do you think? Are we tourists or travellers? Does it really matter?!
Dinner provided by Ainsley on our first evening in El Nidito
Fun in the pool at El Nidito
I first found this villa four years ago when doing my usual internet search for interesting, out of the way properties to let in Europe. The first thing that struck me was the amazingingly good value rental cost; no difference between coming in April or August. However, the properties (there is a larger one called El Nido) are obviously so popular that the couple letting them get repeat business so you really have to plan ahead. So I found another villa in Spain and forgot about El Nidito. Last year soon before we were due to set off for our holiday in Southern France, for some reason I remembered the little villa in Orgiva and made enquiries. Because of the good price, we made a provisional booking for three weeks in August of this year. We have taken to travelling in Europe by land and sea, so the journey is all part of the holiday and we see much more of the country than we would if flying.
Anyway, back to El Nidito. It is in the Alpujarran town of Orgiva, and is the area of Spain made famous by Chris Stewart of ‘Driving over Lemons’ fame. Paul is much more travelled than I am and was enthusiastic at the prospect of visiting this part of Spain again. After travelling across Spain via Cherbourg, St Nazaire and Gijon (our two ferries, more of which I’ll tell you in another piece) we reached Orgiva on Saturday evening. We had left England early on Monday morning. There are three properties next to each other, and Clare and Ainsley live in the largest house and are on hand if guests have any problems or questions. The properties are reached up a steep, rough track just out of the town. It is a ten minute walk into the town with its wide selection of shops, banks and restaurants. If you are as unfit and vulnerable to the heat as I am, you might find the walk back really tough, and not to be attempted between 10:00 and midnight without a bottle of water!
Clare and Ainsley are an English couple who have lived in the area for over 20 years. They are very in tune with the needs of holiday makers, and as well as the usual welcome pack of wine, butter and yoghurt and a well-stocked cupboard with spices, olive oil and vinegar and local eggs from their neighbours’ chickens, we accepted their offer of a starter veg box. Also Ainsley cooked us a two-course dinner to make it a little easier for us arriving on a Saturday evening.
The kitchen cupboards are well stocked and there are plenty of saucepans and bowls as well as useful utensils such as a vegetable peeler, sharp knives and a corkscrew. I was also impressed by the inclusion of kitchen scales and a good lemon squeezer.
The layout of the house is all on one level; a single and double bedroom each with an ensuite, then one kitchen/dining room. Of course most of the living and, for us, dining, takes place outside in the summer and there is a lovely big table outside under a gazebo/awning construction. As the property sleeps only four and there are only three of us, the space is generous. I sometimes find that if properties are for small families or groups, tables can be very small and there are never extra chairs. Not so at El Nidito, which has plenty of dining chairs, and also extra small tables outside so that you can sit in different locations depending on where the sun is shining. The pool is small, but just right for a family of three as we are. Paul keeps saying he will go for a swim if it gets warmer! Jess and I swim several times a day which we consider necessary to our sanity and well-being.
There is a washing machine in the garden, which I use frequenntly. We have found that in smaller holiday properties there is either a dish-washer or washing machine, and I much prefer the latter given the choice. There is also an excellent charcoal barbecue which heats up really efficiently. Personally I can only barbecue later in the evening given the intense heat. Last night I lit it at about 7:45.
The pool is filled up and cleaned every day, which is very pleasant. I am used to spending much time pool cleaning as we have an above-ground one at home.
Finally, the main bedroom has an air-conditioning unit, which is great if you are hot and weary during the day, as you can just sit and be blasted by cool air. It is far too noisy to use during the night, so we leave the doors and window open; there is a bead curtain and mosquito net to deter biting bugs. Happy to say that in this part of Spain there are fewer horrific insects and mosquitoes than for instance in Tuscany, where Paul acquired some truly ghastly bites.Also we could not eat outside in the evening as much there.
We have just over a week left here at El Nidito and can truly say that it was a good choice, whilst being a very economical option for a three-week break in August!
I am not a fan of Spaghetti Westerns, but Paul enjoys them. I tend to fall asleep with boredom but quite enjoy watching the inevitable scene in the Saloon Bar, which always ends with chairs being thrown around after a rowdy drinking session and game of poker. However, when he explained that they were filmed in Spain’s only desert in Almeria, within driving distance of where we were staying in the Alpujarras, I liked the sound of visiting one of the film sets as a day out.
There are three sites to visit, and we chose Fort Bravo, which is probably in between the other two in terms of size and variety of activities. Naturally in August anywhere in a desert is going to be hot, so we would have to leave early and pace ourselves. I was also attracted by the fact that there is a swimming pool on the site; nothing to do with Spaghetti Westerns but an excellent idea for a hot day out in the desert! The largest site, Oasys, we were put off from visiting as we read reviews on ‘Trip Adviser’ from visitors who were distressed by the large number of animals who seemed to be kept in hot cages with little shade or roaming space.
I was absolutely bowled over by the film set. Most of the films were made in the 60s and 70s; for instance ‘Once upon a time in the West’ was made here. Given then that the set is now at least 50 years old, it is in remarkably good shape. Most of the buildings I should imagine would be used just for the outside shots, and some of them you cannot go into, but there are many buildings which you can still enter and walk around. For instance the Saloon Bar is still used as a bar for visitors; it is also the scene for one of the re-enactment shows which run throughout the day. All of the bar maids were dressed in grisette-type costumes and after serving drinks to the public they also took part in the show. Their main role was to dance the can-can. We assume that actors were employed to take part in the show. Some of them, particularly the dancers, were not very good. They were out of time with the music, and one poor girl nearly fell into us as she tripped and we were standing at the side of the stage. However, given that Spaghetti Westerns are a spoof and not to be taken seriously, this all seemed in keeping with the general feel of the event. Most of the visitors were Spanish and enjoyed the bar scene, which included some shooting and I believe some minor chair-throwing (although we did go out for a breath of air and to wait for the restaurant to open and did not actually see the latter).
Later on there was a wonderful show outside, mainly with cowboys on horseback. This was superb, and we really did feel as if we were extras in a Spaghetti Western film. What I really liked about the whole experience was that it was almost a community event. When the shows were taking place, you could not buy lunch or get a drink at the bar; nearly all of the day’s visitors were standing around watching at the same time. laughing and clapping. It had a really good atmosphere and feeling that everyone was enjoying the show together. Despite our Spanish language skills being very limited, we could still enter into the spirit of it. There are some amusing touches on the set too, such as a building named ‘Sky Sports.’ You could also go and pretend to hang yourself on the noose and stand behind bars in the jail. I did consider dressing up in a costume and having a ‘Wanted’ poster made of myself, but in the end resisted, because of the cost and the thought of dressing up in temperatures of about 90 degrees!
The buffet lunch was not available until after the midday show was over, and that was perfectly acceptable, and as always in Spain, a very reasonable cost at 10 euros a head for three courses. After that I went for a swim in the very welcoming cool water of the pool. Next to the pool area are some bungalows which you can stay in over-night, if you are really keen to spend maximum time at the site. I’d say that the experience is really suitable for all ages. We went with a 16 year old, but it would be great for young children too. The only activity we did not take part in which I should have quite enjoyed, was having a ride around the site on a horse-drawn carriage. We were too late for an early afternoon ride, as the afternoon, outdoor show started at 2:30 and there would be no more rides until 3:00; of course we are talking Spanish time here, where everything is relaxed and ‘manana’ and it was getting exceedingly hot, so we headed off before the end of the show. It was a very impressive affair, with wonderfully evocative music and extremely skilled horsemen riding across the desert sand. In fact there was a lot of music played during the day and particularly for the shows; even as a non Western fan, I have to admit that the music is very atmospheric.
This is a place worth visiting if you are in Almeria in Southern Spain, and want a change from swimming, beaches and visiting the fantastic city of Granada and the beautiful mountain villages.
