Hotels Booked. Itinerary written………

July 26, 2015July 26, 2015 / brisbanefrannie / Leave a comment

We are getting set to go and Steve has been busy adding to our written itinerary. For a brief glimpse here it is:

Paris: Thursday 30th July. I booked a Hotel near the Luxemburg Gardens. I have a few favourite areas in Paris – the Marais being one , but I also like areas of the Left Bank. Happy memories of staying in Rue de L’universite and as I adore Le Jardin du Luxembourg I have booked Hotel Elysa-Luxembourg. http://www.elysaluxembourghotel.com/ It’s 3* but is in a great position near a metro handy as we are only there one night. I tried to book a popular restaurant nearby but alas they are closed for July29 – August 29! So I’ll be looking for another.

Biarritz: Friday 31-2August. We are flying down in the morning to this ritzy seaside resort mainly to visit Mark and Lauren Chisholm and their 5 bambini. Mark plays rugby for nearby Bayonne.Staying at the Radisson Blu near the beach

Saint Emilion: Sunday 2- Tuesday 4: Staying outside of Borgeaux in a charming village . I hope . Found a very good place to stay Les Chambres d’Ovaline

Bayeux: Tuesday 4-Thursday 6 exploring the Normandy area – the beaches and the tapestry and staying at La Villa

St Malo: Thursday 6th Visiting Mount ST Michel and Dinan we stay at Ajoncs d’Or

Jersey: Channel Island Friday 7,8,9th . Its high summer in Jersey and accommodation was tight but I found the Hotel Savoy. Not on the water but not a problem as we’ll be out adventuring each day. Plan to visit Guernsey and Sark

Gatwick: Monday 10. Arrive from Jersey late and have a quick night here before our flight to Gibraltar the next day.

Tarifa: Tuesday 11 – Thursday 20 I looked long and hard to find good accommodation for ourselves, Rob and John, Jordan’s parents Lisa and John, and Rob’s friend Cameron. Not to mention the other 5 swimmers , friends coming from England, the USA and Vanuatu. I eventually book Riad Lolita for our group and the 5 guys are staying at the Hotel Mistral 5 minutes away.

Roof terrace at the Riad

Internal Courtyard

Our bedroom

LAST DAYS in ATHENS

October 3, 2014January 17, 2017 / brisbanefrannie / 1 Comment

Athens

Arrived back in the afternoon and met by our kind taxi driver Aristedes. He’s a big Greek man with a scraggly pony tail and a very kind attitude.

Checked in and I have a room with a view. THE view in Athens – of the Acropolis.

My perfect Athens view from my room

Magic view. Up to the roof top to drink – the view and the wine. Jill’s not feeling too good with her coughing so we didn’t stay too long. We headed out for a short walk and a very touristy type dinner. Early night

THURSDAY

Up at a reasonable time and down to breakfast to find Jill not good at all and has called the doctor to the hotel. So a slow start and then a little walk around the Plaka. She felt a bit better and we went along the streets towards Parliament to see the changing of the guards. Beautiful day.

View form our coffee shop

Sadly Jill didn’t want to continue and returned to the hotel with Chris, so I went
exploring on my own. I found the upmarket area with the expensive shops and I did
some people looking – not shopping!

Also found the local department store Aticca. It was a kind of upmarket department store spread over 6 floors. They put the men’s clothes on 1 & 2 and the ladies clothes on floors 4 & 5. So different in Australia where womens clothes are much more visible. Tried a few things on but didn’t buy! Then made my way, in a round about way, to the Acropolis area and wandered around, had a sandwich and got back to the hotel at 4 to check on Jill. She decided not to go out again. Sad news.

So up to the roof top I went to drink – both the view and the wine and was joined by Chris.

The perfect guard!

Chris and I went out for a last dinner together and had what was probably one of the better dinners – certainly in Athens.

Off to bed after packing.

Jill and Chris are leaving at 5.45 am!

I’ll be still asleep so we said are farewells tonight.

It’s been a wonderful holiday having the “Wandering Wilsons” along on the holiday adventure. Swimming and island hopping.

FRIDAY

Up and out and felt strange again by myself. Did more wandering and people watching and went to the jewellery museum. All of Athens is a jewellery museum from what I can see there are sooooo many shops! I had people making me all sort of offers and discounts. I kept saying – after trying things on. I really like it but I’ll have to bring my husband back to see it. He has the cash. That usually ensues a further discount. Pity it’s not going to happen!

Picked up again by Aristedes, this time accompany by his wife Maria who became my best friend by the time we had detoured around the city on a little side trip. They provided water and a pastry this time and I was out at the airport in very good time. Worth the money.

Went to the lounge, which involved practically walking back to Athens and waited for the boarding which was on time. Had a lovely flight with an air hostess who was so trim and beautiful I thought she might be an out of work actress.

Now sitting in Paris waiting for my flight to Singapore where I will meet up with Narelle , my Sydney school friend. Fun times ahead!

Naxos to Schinousa Island: Let the Trek begin!

September 22, 2014January 17, 2017 / brisbanefrannie / Leave a comment

Naxos to Schinousa

Naxos to Schinousa: Let the Trek begin!

We allowed ourselves a little sleep in today at the Hotel Grotta – and despite the name, is very lovely to rest a while. It is still busy with tourists but the family who own it have all the tourists worked out and deliver the best breakfast we have seen.

We had to wait for a table for five, but when we sat down our tour guide, Ricky, came over for a chat. Good chance to get to know him. He’s young, friendly and he looks like fun.

After packing up we headed down the rocky path to the main town. I discovered the memory card on my camera had locked and after Steve did a little panic blaming “you know who” we visited a camera shop where they simply unlocked the card. Greek Tragedy over!

We wandered the port front, bought towels and had some lunch before it was time to head to the ferry.

The ferry was a two hour trip along the side of Naxos across a small channel and then we were landing at Schinousa Isand.

We were met by the “Lady of the House” the manger of the Iliovasilema Hotel. She loaded our bags with the ease of a weightlifter and we packed into the van and two minutes later
were walking into the cool shade of the hotel.

We got room 3 and the Wilsons got a room two along . The rooms are basic, comfortable with a view from the bedroom.
We met the group and started to make our assumptions about the personalities!
There are two women from Cronulla. A lovely NZ couple a little younger than us, a single delightful young man from England, a hairdresser. Another single man from England an actuary from Brighton, and a woman from Hamburg.
We went to the first night dinner to the Deli Bar with Ricky and Emma and it started out well until the fish soup was not a hit with some of the group. Oh boy!

It turns out one of the group has particular tastes and isn’t afraid to share!

Arriving in Naxos.

September 19, 2014January 17, 2017 / brisbanefrannie / Leave a comment

Naxos
The swim trek is getting closer and I’m starting to get nervous. Hope I can keep up with my fellow swimmers. The weather will be so important as to how we enjoy each day so I’m praying to the weather Gods for a fine blue Greek sky.

The plane was late loading and then we were driven out to it and boy did it look little! A bit scary! We squished on and and I felt like I was in charge of the propellor. I was that close to it! We had a lovely attractive air hostess called Sophia who read the safety requirements in just passable English , so I’m hoping there is no emergency!

We hardly seemed to go up before we were flying over little islands then it was time to land. The baggage hall was a funny little room with a set of rollers coming out of a hole in the wall and if you didn’t pick your bag up quickly it crashed onto the floor!

Arrived at our lovely Hotel Grotta. So beautiful and neat and clean. Unlike many other buildings in the area, it is yellow. Our room looks over the sea and the green shutters frame the blue sea beautifully. The manageress greeting us with drinks, spinach pie and orange syrup cake. All very delicious as we hadn’t had lunch.

We met two others who are doing the swim trek and OH NO they are from Australia!They probably feel the same about us! But we would like some cultural difference. We met some people from the trek that had just finished and there were no Australians on that trek. Anyway I’m sure our group will be good together.

We headed down into the township and it’s just lovely. Lots of colourful restaurants and signs for tempting cocktails and, somehow, I overlooked the “sex on the beach”,” between the sheets”,”a loving couple” and decided on a strawberry daiquiri. The friendly green man in the yellow shirt promised me a fresh fruit cocktail – but sadly it was all show and no punch!

We moved onto to one of the many seafood restaurants and used a recommendation by the lady at the hotel. It’s probably her brother’s – but how do you decide? Probably could have gone to the one with the old many beating the octopus outside his place, or the one with the coal BBQ, or the one with chairs painted the colours of the rainbow. But in the end we were happy and shared a lovely BBQ dorado with grilled vegetables, salad and lots of local wine.