Wintery smells of Joburg

Our Swiss Air flight touched down at 9am this morning with the thermometer reading a very breezy 6 degrees. It's been 10 years since I last experienced a Joburg winter. Stepping off the plane - we had to take a bus to the terminal - I got that distinctive a 'wood fire smell' of cold winter mornings on the highveld.

The arrivals terminal at Johannesburg International was still decked out in World Cup decorations and posters with signs pointing the way for ticket holders and football delegates. The highway on the way to my parent's house was lined with flags of the competing and now departed nations and a giant South African flag remains cut into the turf alongside the road. A lot of cars (including my dad's Toyota) have South African flags wrapped around their side mirrors like socks.

I weighed myself on the bathroom scale and found unbelievably, that I am about 15 kgs lighter than when we set off from Melbourne four months ago. Saying that, we'll have to get into some kind of exercise regime here, otherwise I'll struggle to keep the weight down. I've already tucked into a packet of biltong and being eyeing out the sweets and snacks in my mother's pantry.

Ah...It feels good to be back.

(I had a glance at the headlines on the Sydney Morning Herald website to see that Tony Abbott's coalition is leading in the polls. Yikes, an Australia ruled by the mad monk scares me!)

Madrid meander

We´re in Madrid for our last couple of days in Europe. It´s stinking hot over here, but whereas Rome seemed to have no shade and was overrun with tourists Madrid has a laid back, spacious, easy feel and there are plenty of lush green parks where you can throw down you backpack and have a nap - as we did yesterday.

Our train journey over here from Barcelona was the best we have been on in Europe, by a country mile. We travelled first class on one of the super fast trains. It topped 300km/hr at its fastest and it was like travelling on business class in an aeroplane with supercomfy seats and stewards and train hostesses serving drinks and a light lunch. Best of all was the scenery. I took heaps of pictures from the train, unfortunately I cannot upload them from this computer, but will do so from Joburg. We passed flat fields and rolling hills of ochre and red brown (very much the colour of the Australian outback) with jagged, quartz-like cliffs in the distance and little towns and stone houses popping up here and there. It almost looked like a Martian landscape at times. In between were enormous fields of sunflowers.

We had a brilliant few days in Barcelona. The city is simply one of the best in Europe. We stayed in a hotel just a few minutes from La Ramblas, the main boulevard. It was in an ¨interesting¨ location - the street outside was literally swarming with street prostitutes of every shape and size.

We visited all the Gaudi buildings. The Sangrada Familia was unfortunately covered in a lot of scaffolding and had almost as many cranes hovering above it as those amazing tapering towers on either end. We spent an afternoon in Parc Guell, the park with the twirling Gaudi houses, mosaic lizards and terrace with on curvy benches. It was packed with tourists but we managed to find some quiet bits further into the park.

So we have two more days in Europe...we´ve been away nearly four months. We´re looking forward to a good break in Joburg trip ¨before setting off on part two of our BEEG adventure -Turkey, Morocco, Egypt and India. Should be able to upload heaps of photos soon....

Exhausted,but loving arty Avignon

We're in Avignon, Provenance, spending our last two nights in France before heading off to Spain for six nights - Madrid and Barcelona.

As you can see by the photo, we are staying in tent city! It is a quite a nice camp site near to the centre of town and has a sort of Woodstock feel with a lot of the people who are performing at the local arts festival staying here. Yesterday there were at least three people juggling and a guy cycled past our tent with all the props from his show on the back of his bike.

The town is very busy with festival goers and people handing out brochures for their shows. It reminds me of the Edinbugh festival, though everything is in French. Despite this hecticness, the town has retained its medieval charm and is one of the most beautiful towns, French or otherwise we have been to. It is entirely surrounded by a castle wall and a winding river with green grassy banks. Because of the festival there are a lot of street performances and yesterday we watched a brilliant brass band and later a Celtic band.

African safari....

We are making a 'slight detour' after Europe. Next week Thursday, we are flying from Madrid to Zurich and then on to Johannesburg for a bit of homecooking and quality time with my folks. We are both exhausted and in need of a break, but we also need to sort out a bunch of visas, mainly due to my South African passport. Attempting to do this in a foreign country has proved fruitless and utterly soul destroying. So we will stay in Joburg as long as it takes to get visas for the US, Morocco, Egypt and India and then head off from there. We are both looking forward to some home cooking, quality family time and finally getting our clothes washed properly!

The last few days in particurlar have been very long and tiring. Tuesday in particurlar was a nightmare. It involved about 9 hours of train rides from Bologna to Lyon. This would have been OK if we had not been dropped off at the Lyon airport at 10pm (instead of the centre of town) and then had to take another bus to the centre of town, followed by a metro journey and then a walk (the rude Italian man at the train station in Bologna never explained any of this to us - a word about Italy vs France at a later date...)

We ended up at our hotel at 11pm. The reception was shut and no one could let us in despite me banging on the door like a loon. Fortunately the locals came out to help (I have never encountered such friendly people as those in Lyon) and I eventually managed to get hold of the owner of the hotel who gave me the access code to get in. Not a great travel day in the annals of the Beeg adventure, but we survived!

Almost four months abroad!

Photos from Napoli

Napoli on a Sunday afternoon
The ruins of Pompeii

The harbourside in Napoli

Larna about to eat one of the famous pizzas at Da Michelle

A break from the heat in Bologna

We are now in tranquil and quiet Bologna where there is this rather bizarre statue in the main square featuring these mermaids with water sprouting out of their breasts.


It is thankfully a lot cooler here (about 30 degrees as opposed to 37 degrees in Rome) and there are heaps of shady vaulted (and in some cases beautifully painted) walkways. Bologna is meant to be the culinary capital of Italy, and tomorrow we will find out. It is Larna's birthday and we are going to try out one of the trattoria's in the city.


Last night we had a break from 'doing stuff'. We walked to the supermarket and bought some snacks. So we sat in our hotel room watching music videos and movies in Italian, (trying to figure out the plot) and eating chips and chocolates. I had my shirt off and was drinking a beer...




We have started taking siestas in the afternoon like the locals. It is just too hot to be out in the middle of the day. Last night on the news there was a big report on the heatwave, apparently it was about 45 degrees in Rome and Milan! Man, are we glad to be out of Rome.


Before coming to Bologna we spent two nights in Lucca (I kept on thinking of that line in the Godfather..."Lucca Brazzi is swimming with the fishes"). It is city entirely enclosed in a defensive wall dating back to the 16th century. It was a nice break from the frenzy of Rome, though it was quite busy with cyclists and people out shopping etc. We also got to listen to Seal, who was playing in the main square on Friday night and some free classical music in the botanical gardens.

Oh...and we took a train to see the famous leaning tower of Pisa! Will try and get some photos up soon.

No Roman holiday

Rome is too bloody hot, too overcrowded with tourists and we can't wait to leave. We have spent more time here waiting for the bus then anything else.

Yes, there are lots of old things to see and some amazing stuff, but we have had it with the crowds and heat! We are hoping for more sedate and relaxing times in Lucca and then Bologna. Got to go...no more internet time.

Napoli, where there are no rules

I have not been to any place quite like Napoli.

We just got back from watching the soccer final at a pizzeria in town (poor Holland!) and had to dodge mopeds, motorbikes and cars all driven by crazy locals through the narrow streets. Besides the traffic, which is chaotic (crossing the road is a life threatening activity here), this has to be one of the dirtiest cities I have ever been to, rivaling any in Asia. There is rubbish and litter everywhere and so much graffiti there is almost no place for new stuff. Today we went to see the ruins of the ancient Roman city of Pompeii and I said to Larna, on the way over in the train, that I would not be surprised to find the ruins covered in red and black spraypaint.

Saying that there is something appealing about the place among all the grubbiness. You have the washing hanging out all over the balconies and people chatting everywhere around makeshift outdoor patios. And then there is the great food. Larna and I ate at this pizzeria called "Da Michelle" which both of us read about in the book 'Eat, pray, love'. According to the author, it's meant to have the best pizza in Italy. They were indeed delicious, though calling them the best in the world is a bit over the top. They make only two kinds - marinara and margherita. We had one each and shared them. They have this amazing dough, just slightly undercooked in the middle and very simple toppings. And they're only 4 euros each for enormous pizzas!

As for Pompeii, its quite fascinating and enormous. You walk and walk and there are so many ruins to see because its an entire city. The most amazing thing is how advanced it was with bedrooms, dining rooms, atriums and vegetables gardens. And everything is about 2,000 years old. The thing is after a while, it all becomes a bit meaningless, the age of the place...we found ourselves saying..."Yes, this is very old and this is very, very old and this too is very, very, very old..."

Tomorrow we head up to Rome for three nights. Only a couple more weeks in Europe and then hopefully off to Morocco if I can sort out my visa. Damn South African passport!

Amongst the Umbrian hills

Greetings from Monte Gabbioni in Umbria. We are being made to feel very at home on the olive farm of Dagi and Nini Giauuo surrounded by gently rolling hills, olive groves, vineyards, farms and ochre wheat fields.

Their house is a 200 year old converted animal stable with the original vaulted ceiling and bundles of charm and character. Since we arrived yesterday we have eaten huge amounts of delicious pasta washed down with equally delicious Italian wine. And of course we have sampled their amazing olive oil. All the vegetables come from Dagi's garden (including zuchinni flowers, which we had as a starter last night) as did the sour cherries which she has preserved in liquer and went brilliantly with chocolate ice-cream for dessert.

This morning we went on a long walk down the gravel road taking in the surrounding countryside, with its bales of hay and little villages on hilltops. The wheat fields hardly stirred in the still air. Occasionally a car would pass us by throwing up a cloud of dirt, but apart from that, we had the place to ourselves. Anyway, enough of me pretending to be William Wordsworth, here are a couple of pics from Monte Gabbione, Verona and Venice...

Exploring Venice...and photos from Switzerland

We're now in Venice. Despite what some people may write about this city (that it is tacky, touristy and overpriced) I think it is still wonderful and incredibly beautiful. Yes, you have the crowds, hoards of them in St Marks Square and at the Rialto bridge, but you only have to make a detour here or there and you are suddenly in a quiet alleyway near a canal or in a passage way all on your own. It was another incredibly hot day, but once we had put our things down at our hotel (surprisingly nice for the 40 euros and in a great part of town overlooking rooftops) we set off exploring. There is so much to see, the beautiful faded buildings, canals with gondoliers passing through and old bridges to walk across. Just a wonderful, wonderful place to explore and get lost in.

We did a long walk today, almost as much walking as we did yesterday through the streets of Verona. We spent last night sleeping in a Franciscan abby at the top of a hill. It is actually a hostel, but they gave us our own room with a little kitchen, so we made a dinner and ate under the stars, though we were attacked by about a million mosquitos. Breakfast this morning was very bizarre. There were bread rolls and butter and jam and these big steel pots (the ones you usually use for baked beans and bacon) with dark hot liquid in two and white stuff in the other. These turned out to be tea and coffee and milk and there were these big bowls to make your tea or coffee. Clearly some monk's idea of breakfast!

Tomorrow at one pm we take a long train ride to Chiuso in Umbria to stay on the olive farm. We finally bought EUrail passes so we're travelling first class for the rest of our time in Europe!

Some photos from Switzerland...

Larna our friend Serafina and her mom Mila, wonderful hosts in Lausanne



The glacier express winding its way up the alps





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We're in Verona, Italy!

Buongornio! We are finally in Italy after a very long day yesterday making our way from Rueun in Switzerland. We stayed with a lovely lady called Rita and slept in her garden with the Swiss alps and sounds of the Rhine river in the background. She gave us tea, made us dinner and breakfast and walked with us to the station just to make sure we got on the train.

From there we took two trains, then a bus through the alps in Italy and then a train to Milan and another to Verona. We were meant to take the Alpine train (we did take a spectacular one yesterday) but it was closed due to a landslide. Anyway we arrived very late in Verona last night but did manage to do a walk around. It is indescribably beautiful in a uniquely Italian way with old classical buildings, very colourful and distressed (the paint seems to be perfectly peeling away), piazzas, gelaterias and restaurants and bars on every corner. It is also stinking hot and we have been struggling in the heat. The ice cream is great though.

Tomorrow we head off for Venice and then on to Umbria where we are staying on an Olive farm with another of Larna's friend's dad's contacts (if that makes sense). We are really excited about this....have to go internet costs a bomb!

Sleeping in the garden

Tomorrow we head off for Italy stopping en route in a little town called Rueun in the West of Switzerland where we will stay on Saturday night.

Here we will be pitching our tent in the garden of a lady who is a friend of the people we have stayed with in Lausanne. She (Rita) will be meeting us at the station (it is a tiny village) and the only description I have of her is that she uses a walking cane and is in her fifties. And she has no English...it should be an interesting day.

From there we head into Italy via the alps. On Sunday, we are taking a special panaromic train with a glass roof and I am very excited about seeing the famous mountains from the train. It should be a spectacular jouney. I would love to order a beer to really saviour the view, but can only imagine the price!

Thursday (yesterday) we did a wonderful drive around the region stopping for coffee in Berne (the historic capital), having lunch in the medieval town of Friebourg and visiting Gruyere at the foot of the pre-Alps where the famous Swiss cheese comes from. What a beautiful country!

Will write next from Italy! Arrivederci.

(PS. I cannot believe Ghana managed to miss the penalty in the last minute and then get knocked out on penalties! I will have to support the Dutch from now on!)