Scandinavia, May-Jun 2023

This section written about 25 May:

We have now completed phase one of our Scandinavian trip, having just spent three days in Copenhagen and three days in Oslo, taking the large overnight ferry to connect them. Although, of course, the time was far too short to have done any in depth exploration, here are some of our impressions. The weather has been absolutely ideal and here, in countries that are so far north that the winters are long, cold and dark, everyone seems to celebrate the coming of summer, getting out and about on foot, scooters and bicycles. Cycling is so much a part of life that here the concept of the 5-minute city has been easily achieved. There were very few private cars in the downtown core. We felt that the Danes and Norwegians are so far ahead of us in cutting down emissions – the cabs are all electric, many Teslas, huge wind farms, lots of public transport. Downtown was clean and safe with no evidence of homelessness, mental health issues or drug use. The schools teach English from first grade so the population is bilingual.

In Copenhagen we had an Airbnb very centrally located, across the road from a very high-end shopping centre, with three restaurants on the roof. The street was pedestrianized and full of young people. The city is an interesting combination of historical buildings, erected when Denmark was a very wealthy and very futuristic high rises. The high spot of our time here was  a 2-hour small canal boat tour round the city just for us and our friends. Our leader/pilot was a recent graduate in history and philosophy who gave us such an interesting commentary and answered all our questions. In Oslo, we stayed in a hotel just steps from the waterfront, a happening place, with cruise ship terminals, ferry docks and a wide variety of restaurants. We took a ferry to the Fram and Kon Tiki museums, which were fascinating and so well presented. We also visited the beautiful and very futuristic Opera House and the Munch Gallery. Probably the high spot was our meal with Don and Meg at a Michelin recommended fish restaurant on the Quay.

The train from Oslo to Bergen was very efficient (6 1/2 hrs) through spectacular scenery and going well above the snow line with lakes still frozen over. We are now on the ship and united with Don & Meg and Meg’s cousins Jan and Ronnie with Jan’s husband Dave. It seems a very nice ship with less than 500 passengers, excellent food and, so far, very usable weather.

The following part written about June 4th:

The second part of the blog is a description of our trip on the MS Richard With, one of a large fleet of boats run by Hurtigruten to supply all the little isolated towns along the Norwegian coast north of Bergen – a boat leaves Bergen almost every day for the 12-day voyage.  As luck would have it, we were on board to celebrate the company’s 130th anniversary. Richard With, its founder, dedicated his career to developing trade in the high Arctic and later went into politics to further his aims. Now this area can export its fish and LNG and has government support to attract more population to the area.

We boarded the ship in Bergen in bright sunshine and found our cabin on Deck 5, the promenade deck. It was compact, but had lots of storage and everything we needed. We met the rest of our party, Don, Robin’s brother and wife, Meg, her two cousins, Ronnie and Jan and Jan’s husband, Dave. Our group of seven had many Happy Hours together and Don organized a special dinner for us all to celebrate Meg’s 78th birthday. Meals aboard were buffet for breakfast and lunch and a three-course dinner at 7:30. The food was delicious and very Norwegian oriented with an emphasis on local produce and lots of fish, smoked, pickled, in soups, salads and main courses.

 

The ship was two thirds full and the majority of our fellow passengers were German, though we did find some Canadians, Australians and Scots. The ship had 33 ports of call on the way north (& again going south) but many of them were very short and during the night. During our first two days at sea, the sun shone and we had longer stops in Alesund and Trondheim, when we had time to leave the ship and explore these prosperous and interesting towns. Unfortunately, as we travelled North and crossed the Arctic Circle the weather changed and rain, hail, snow, sleet and high winds were the order of the day. Don, Meg and I signed up for a 2-hour seaside walk and were toasty warm in all our thermal gear. The wind, however, was so strong I had trouble staying on my feet and the hail felt like buckshot. Similarly, our next shore excursion was to the North Cape, the most northerly point in Europe. The bus took us to the tourist centre, which, fortunately had lots of indoor activities like a movie and exhibits. Going outside to the various points of interest was again a struggle not to be blown over and was barely visible through the mist and rain/sleet.  At Kirkenes, our most northerly stop, I was very interested in the excursion to the Russian border, which turned out to be a non-event as there was nothing happening, only a gateway that we were warned not to cross and a stretch of deserted no man’s land. What was extremely interesting was a stop at the large bomb shelter in Kirkenes. Our local 84-year-old guide took us through the town’s history during WW2 when it was the most bombed area, second only to Malta. The area had great strategic value as the nearest ice-free port to the strategically important town of Murmansk. The Kirkenes townspeople spent months in the bomb shelter and, when it was safe to emerge, there was nothing left of their town. The Norwegian government did nothing to help them but the Russians came to their aid to rebuild. The locals still have a great affinity for the Russians and distrust of the Norwegian government and this border crossing used to be an open border with no visa requirements.  The Ukraine war has changed things considerably and there is now very little trans-border crossing.

At Kirkenes we turned southward and, unfortunately, the weather did not improve and many of the excursions were cancelled. This was most unfortunate as we were travelling through the Lofoten Islands and accessing narrow fiords with rain and the clouds often down to less than 100m.. What we did manage to see rather surprised us. Due to the glaciers in the last ice age the mountains are very rounded and not very high so the scenery was not nearly as dramatic as, say,  sailing up Howe Sound or the Inside Passage.  a lot of the voyage was through waterways reminiscent of the the Gulf Islands.  There were lots of little villages and lots of activity at the ports we stopped at. There was a bonus in that the skies cleared on a couple of nights so that we did see the midnight sun.

Our final shore excursion was to see part of the Atlantic Road that the Norwegian government used some of the oil revenue to build. It connects a series of islands with bridges and tunnels and is reputed to be one of the world’s most beautiful drives and was featured in a recent James Bond Movie.

As soon as we crossed the Arctic Circle heading to Bergen the weather really improved and we docked in bright sunshine. We had had three nights in Bergen and the weather was superb, a real bonus as it has a reputation for being the wettest city in Norway. There was a music festival happening and the colourful and historic waterfront area has been thronged with people obviously relishing the warmth and sunshine after the long, dark winter and late spring.

We were both very impressed by Scandinavia and can quite see why the Danes are deemed the happiest people in the world.  There does not seem to be much crime in Norway and we were very interested to learn that the Norwegians leave their ski chalets in remote areas unlocked in case fellow travellers need shelter from the elements.  Norway can teach both Alberta and the UK a lesson on how best to profit long term from oil revenue as there is a legacy for future generations.  While we enjoyed spending the time with our friends and relatives on the boat in retrospect only going one way would have been a better option.  That would have given us the opportunity to add Sweden or Finland to our itinerary to enjoy even more of Scandinavia.

Antipodes part3 – Too Many Goodbyes

When we last wrote we were coming to the end of the camper van portion of the holiday with a wonderful three days at Seal Rocks on the coast north of Sydney.  We returned to Sydney to swap the van for a car for the final phase of our trip.  Robin could quite happily have continued camping but Alimay was ready for a bit more luxury and company.  Our first stop was Woonona to visit Ron and Julie, friends from Vancouver in the 60s.  Even though we see them rarely, being continents apart, we seem to reconnect effortlessly.  Julie and Alimay exchanged books as always and we spent our two days catching up with family news.

Then it was on to Broulee for 10 days around Christmas with the family.  Robin’s brother, Don, had rented a huge house which was two blocks from the beach and had playgrounds nearby.  It is a real holiday place and the people we met were very friendly and helpful in recommending good places to visit.  There were eight of us altogether:  Don, his wife Meg, their son, Matt and daughter Kirsty, with her son, Ned, 6 and daughter Isobel,4.  We were last all together in 2018 when Isobel was born and have been trying to return ever since!!  The kids absolutely loved the beach and on our first evening they just stripped off and headed for the water.  We spent quite a bit of time at the local beaches but there was a superb beach (Shelly Beach) in a national park about 40 minutes drive away.  It had everything – golden sand, gentle surf, warm sea and rock pools with abundant sea life.  We spent two idyllic days there and Don created his specialty, a helter skelter sand castle cone to roll a golf ball down.

We had two celebrations, the first being Isobel’s 4th birthday.  The guests were all adults but Kirsty provided all the necessities – sausages, fairy bread (white buttered bread with sprinkles!) and birthday cake.  We played Pass the Parcel and Pin the Tail on the Mermaid and even got goodie bags at the end.  A good time was had by all!  The second was, of course, Christmas.  Don had organized an amazing cold buffet seafood spread – lobster, prawns, salmon – cold barbecued turkey and assorted salads.  For dessert, of course, we had Pavlova.  It was a veritable feast, washed down by copious amounts of Australian  wine.

All too soon our time at the sea was over and we all repaired to the Kangaroo Valley, about 170 km north and a little inland, stopping at Molly Mook beach for lunch.   Our accommodation was a very elegant 5-bedroom mansion with high ceilings and very tasteful decor set in several acres of pasture .  The only livestock in evidence were some hens, which, obligingly, provided lots of eggs that the kids could collect.  It also had a swimming pool, which provided endless hours of enjoyment for both children who were very confident in the water.   Again, on Hogmanay, we had a wonderful seafood feast.   We celebrated New Year on New Zealand time which is 10pm Australian time!

All too soon, it was time to say goodbye which was SO hard.  We may see Don and Meg this summer but whether Kristy and the kids would be able to make it here is much more doubtful.

We had one more stop to make in Orange in the interior of NSW, staying with Meg’s cousin Jan and her husband Dave with whom we have stayed and entertained here several times.  They gave us such a warm welcome and catered to our every whim.  It was such a satisfactory ending to a truly memorable holiday.

Now we are back in Victoria after about an 8-week adventure.  It’s nice to be home but bittersweet as that was probably our last trip Down Under where we have so many good friends and family.

Antipodes part 2

The flight to Australia (3.5 hrs) seemed so short in comparison with other trips with have taken and we stayed in a hotel for a night  before picking up our second van.  Again we were upgraded but this one does not have a backup camera nor blindspot alerts – again it is a Mercedes Sprinter van, but a little older we think.  There are interesting differences in the equipment but, basically it is very comfortable.  Here, too, the washrooms are spotless and there are kitchens, barbecues and communal outside eating areas.  We are sharing the sites mainly with couples with preschool  families, taking the opportunity for a holiday before the schools break for the holidays at the end of this week.  The weekend was very busy, but during the week the campsites tend to be pretty quiet

Our first task was to drive out of Sydney to the Northern Beaches but the GPS served us well, taking us around rather than through Sydney.  Even though the countryside is not nearly as lush as New Zealand – gum trees rather than tree ferns and parched grass on the verges – the jacarandas are in full bloom and there is an Oz Christmas tree with red flowers.  There are birds everywhere that are very colourful and raucous and lots of kookaburras.  We have passed through areas with warnings to watch out for roos and koalas but there were none to be seen.  It is  the beaches that are amazing with golden sand, blue sea and surf.

We did go a little inland to the Hunter valley for a couple of days and managed to get through some very interesting tastings and have a great tapas lunch.  One of the tastings was at a relatively new winery called The Vamp by Lisa McGuigan, a daughter of the original McGuigan wine-making family who is making wine from some uncommon grapes and in some unusual styles .  The valley is not typical of most wine areas we have seen as the wineries are quite spread out with large tracts of undeveloped land between vineyards- and coal mining probably brings in more money than the wine industry, although we saw no evidence of any mining.

We have taken the opportunity to visit old friends in Mona Vale and Port Stevens and right now we are in Seal Rock campsite in beautiful surroundings which is as far north as we will be going this time.  When we return to Sydney it will be all go, visiting old friends and then joining the family for two weeks over Christmas .

We have been a bit remiss in photo taking – probably due to mostly visiting old haunts.  Also some photos are on the phone and not transferable here to the iPad.

New Zealand a green and pleasant land

We are now two weeks into the NZ part of the trip and are thoroughly enjoying being campers again.  Our camper seems a big bugger even though it is only a metre longer than the one we owned.  Robin has found driving it easy as it is a Mercedes, the controls of which we are used to.  It has many driver assist features including a backup camera, blind spot warnings, but no “park assist!”  Internally it is very comfortable and quite well equipped and we sleep well.  The campsites here are so well organized, providing industrial type fully equipped kitchens with a covered dining area.  We have often been sharing them with trampers, young people the age of our grandchildren.  I met an Austrian kid in Hamilton who had plans to walk all the way to Invercargil!.

It’s been wonderful leaving grey, dark, cold Victoria and arriving here to warmth and colour.  The magnolias are in full bloom as are the jacarandas and the  pohutucawas, NZ Christmas trees, are just about to flower in all their scarlet glory.  The verges are a riot of colour with agapanthus, coltsfoot and ranga lilies.  The hillsides are a tapestry of tea trees, tree ferns and phormiums.  There seem to be way more cattle than sheep now and the dairy herds have three different breeds of cattle to provide the desired amount of butter fat in the milk.

This trip we are not breaking new ground, rather revisiting our favourite haunts.  After a couple of days in the Auckland area we headed East to the Coromandel Peninsula where we went to Paranui, where we have had two house exchanges.   After a quick detour south to Hamilton, we stayed three nights in the Bay of Islands, probably our very favourite destination.  We were first there in 1980 with Ian and Andrew en route to visiting family in Australia and again with Don and Meg joining them in celebrating their 40th wedding anniversary.  It did not disappoint as we took the ferry to Russell and then spent  a day in Kerikeri, visiting the historical sites and marvelling at how much it had morphed into a real foodie destination.  Waipu is another favourite as it was the final destination for a religious group from Scotland, who settled first in Nova Scotia.  The harsh climate eventually got to them and they set sail to New Zealand.  The benign climate must have seemed like Paradise and their descendants have settled the area.

We have not visited as many gardens as we had hoped being unlucky in the dates of the charity garden tours.  We did visit Ayrlies and were  lucky enough to meet Jaqueline, the daughter of the owner Bev McConnell, who we met on a previous visit and is now 92, and still living on the property.  The garden is  amazing, with the rock work and water features, but, we felt, in need of of a major overhaul.  Hamilton Gardens did not disappoint as three new theme gardens had  been added since our last visit.  We also  visited two private gardens, which were made all the more interesting as, in each case, we had a personally conducted tour lasting over an hour.

On to Australia on the weekend!

 

 

 

 

 

Scotland 2022 – Second Half

Our first major trip since Covid has passed all too quickly and we’re very relieved  that everything has gone so smoothly.  We continued to be blessed with very usable weather, having only had one wet day in our visit – as one friend put it “you’ve had unseasonably good weather for Scotland!”

On leaving Inverness we headed along the Moray Firth through Nairn and Elgin, stopping in Peterhead.  The old prison there has been converted to a museum with the cells pretty much in their original condition.  We saw several different areas in a visit that took over an hour, accompanied by an excellent audio commentary.  It was amazing that the cat o’nine tails had been used as recently as the 1950s and that the focus of the prison was punishment, not rehabilitation.  We spent the night in Stonehaven, a small fishing town a little south of Aberdeen.  We were again somewhat surprised at the lushness of the countryside we drove through which looked as though it supported thriving agricultural businesses.

The next three nights were spent in Coupar Angus where Alimay’s sister Trisha’s partner owns a large mansion.  We had a warm welcome from Trish and David there and were able to visit several places of interest in Fife and Perthshire.  The latter is famous for its soft fruit and we were amazed at the flavour of the strawberries.   One of the highlights of our time there was a visit to Falkland Palace, the site of the oldest tennis court in Europe.

Next stop was Edinburgh – familiar stomping grounds for both of us and probably our favourite city in Europe.  We had an AirBnB next to the Meadows in Morningside, right in the heart of our old haunts within easy reach of shops and buses.  The accommodation was very pleasant – a small self-contained building with all amenities in the garden of a larger house .  We visited old friends Alastair and Rhona Chalmers who date back to University days in the early 60s and spent some time with Alimay’s cousin’s cousin, Liz Black who came up from the Lake District to see us.  We also saw Linda Bauld, whom we have known since her childhood in Victoria.  She is now a Professor in Edinburgh University and a senior advisor on health to the Scottish govt.

This time the focus of  our trip was not gardens but we could not resist  seeing as many as possible as June is prime.  Undoubtably the high spot was our revisit to Branklyn.  This time we were fortunate to meet the head gardener, who was happy to spend time with us and answer our questions.  He had visited  Victoria just prior to Covid and planned to return with his wife.  Another high spot was Kailzie Gardens, which had a huge walled garden, with a laburnum allee, which was in full bloom.  The huge property was maintained by one gardener who had been there for thirty years.  Unlike several other properties we had visited this one was very well maintained and the herbaceous borders were at their best.  In the grounds was an ancient larch, the oldest in Scotland.  We also visited Dawyck Garden, another offshoot of the Edinburgh Botanical Garden, one which featured trees and rhododendrons which had been sourced by the early plant hunters in  China.

Leaving Edinburgh to come back to Glasgow  we took the country roads and arrived in Glasgow  to a warm welcome from Maida.  she certainly kept us busy for the last 3 days with a visit with a personal shopper at John Lewis where we were greeted with a glass of Prosecco to enhance our experience, a dinner at the Buttery with the family and a personal guide for a tour of the famous Glasgow Necropolis.

It was really hard to say goodbye as we  had such a lovely time.

 

Scotland, June 2022

On the road again after an interval of three years.  We decided that we just had to learn to live with Covid and I really wanted to see my sister, Maida.  Then we decided that we both would like to see some more of Scotland and the gardens.  I had a week with Maida before Robin joined me.  When I arrived,  incidentally bringing lovely weather with me, all the news was of how grim next winter was going to be with power cuts, lack of food security and galloping inflation.  There was also the understandable dismay about asylum seekers being sent to Rwanda.  Then, quite suddenly, it all changed due to excitement about the platinum jubilee.  Pageantry is something the Brits do really well, and, even though the Queen had to curtail some of her activities, it was a very moving, spectacular event.  The video of the Queen having tea with Paddington Bear was brilliant.  I was very surprised at how much excitement there was in Glasgow, not generally known for its monarchist sympathies, but there was a Jubilee picnic in Maida’s local park attended by about 500 people with a band playing and lots of activities.

I had a lovely week with Maida, being feted by her and her friends – it was just as if I had never left.  Robin joined me and we set off for all points North.  Our first stop was Barra, a place we had always wanted to visit as it is the home of the McNeils and Castle Kisimuil features on R’s wine label.  We had glorious weather for our 5 hour ferry ride there, sighting dolphins and a whale on the way.  Our only disappointment was the castle has been closed for renovations for over three years.  We took the local bus, which circumnavigates the island, and saw the white shingle beaches and the turquoise sea.  To get back to Glasgow, we decided to fly – Barra is the only airport where the timetable states “tides permitting” as the runway is along the sandy beach.  It was a smooth journey.

On arrival in Glasgow we hired a car and set off for Fort William.  It was a beautiful evening and Loch Lomond and the Trossachs were at their scenic best.  We had two nights there, driving to Mallaig, the road to the Isles, and seeing off the Harry Potter steam train.  What a gold mine that must be with a First Class seat costing £80 and a carriage £300.

Inverness was next and we had a beautiful AirB&B within minutes of downtown.  Although we must have visited this area in 1999 we had forgotten how pastoral much of the landscape is around the Black Isle – not at all rugged.  The weather let us down for our visit to Inverewe Gardens, but also gave us an insight into the kind of conditions  the gardens often experience – high winds and torrential rain.  The gardens, on the same latitude as Moscow, certainly lived up to expectations.  There were lots of succulents,  olearias in full bloom and masses of colour.  We visited a second private garden situated on the former estate of the chief of the clan McKenzie.  It was a huge walled garden, featuring a 2000 year old yew and a huge holly.  There were numerous garden rooms, a huge greenhouse for propagation and a vegetable garden.  There were also beautiful sculptures and a pool with a fountain.  I would have loved to have had a conducted tour but the only person there denied all knowledge of the garden and obviously thought we were nuts as the rain was pelting down.  It was well worth getting soaked to the skin for.  We visited Dunrobin Castle, the home of the Sutherlands.  It has a commanding situation high above the sea with the formal gardens, modelled on Versailles.  Unfortunately much of the garden had not been maintained and looked very sad, especially as the bones were all there.  The inside of the castle was truly magnificent and I especially admired the huge flower arrangements, with alliums, lupins, peonies and hosta leaves.

Today we visited Cawder Castle, expecting it to be the grim, forbidding place described by Shakespeare, only to discover that it was built 300+ years after Macbeth’s time!  Again, the inside of the castle was most interesting with two floors furnished to 18th century times with lots of original tapestries.  It is still owned by the Cawder family.  Nearby was the Culloden Battlefield which is now run by the Scottish National Trust – pretty sad stuff for the Scots!

 

 

Mexico 2019-20 Part 4 (revised Feb 6)

 

Continuing in San Miguel de Allende:

A visit to the Botanical Garden, situated right at the edge of town is highly recommended.  It covers 88 hectares and is also a wildlife and bird sanctuary.  We took the English language guided tour, given by their ornithologist.  It was obvious where his real passion lay as the appearance of any bird made him much more excited than the vast selection of cacti and native plants.  The garden was truly drought tolerant but, in summer, after the rains, the ferns and mosses all green up and there are wildflowers everywhere.  We did see colour and flowers on the cacti and succulents in the Conservatory of Mexican Plants.

Each Sunday there is a House and Garden Tour, organized as a fundraiser for the Library.  We have found these fascinating as they provide such an insight into the range of accommodation available here.  Our first house two weekends  ago was in a huge, gated subdivision right at the edge of town.  The Americans who owned it seemed to have indulged their fantasies.  There were umpteen bathrooms and a man cave, featuring a bar, a huge flat screen TV and a magnificent sound system.  The wife, a dancer, had greatly admired the hippo in Fantasia.  Consequently there were hippos everywhere in all shapes and sizes.  Chacun a son gout!  The second house was such a contrast, owned by a collector of artefacts from around the world.  This eclectic selection had been curated and beautifully displayed with such attention to detail.  He had even floated Gerbera flowers on the surface of his pool.

The tour we went on last weekend was of two town houses side  by side on one of the most historic streets called Canal.  They certainly did not have kerb appeal as there were huge stone walls with access by massive wooden doors.  Inside was like another world with Casa Abejas, definitely the nicer of the two, divided in two parts round a magnificent swimming pool.  Although it certainly had all mod cons and was very luxurious,  the interior could not have been described as cosy.  What both properties had was magnificent upper terraces with spectacular views of the city with the churches on the skyline.
We also had the opportunity to visit Beatriz and Dan, whose casita Liz and Ken rented.   They retired here from LA six years ago and built a home right downtown on a derelict pecan orchard.  We were impressed by how right it seemed for the setting.

Another fundraiser for the Library is the two hour historic walking tour, given by a retired American, possibly drama, teacher.  She was an excellent guide, obviously passionate about her subject but very entertaining too.  We took the tour on a national holiday with a parade featuring school groups, marching brass bands and gauchos on horseback.  That meant street closures and lots of noise.  Our guide was able to adapt the tour and provided a wealth of historical information.  She informed us that the courtyard settings of the fancy restaurants that I thought resembled the ones in Marrakesh were, in fact, the stables and the planters were horse troughs!

The library also organizes tours to areas of interest outside town so we decided to visit Guanajuato, the state capital, an hour’s drive away.  It took us much longer as our driver routed  us through the mountains so that we could visit a ceramics workshop and a women’s cooperative, providing funds for families whose breadwinner had gone to find work in the States and never returned.  Guanajuato is also a very wealthy place due to the silver mines close by.  Although this was a huge source of revenue  in Spanish colonial times, the deposits are so rich that now the silver is being mined for the electronics industry.  It is a fascinating city with a totally pedestrianized core – the traffic being diverted through underground tunnels which originally were built to divert the river.  It is also a university town with the best law school in Mexico.  Our first stop was the Mummy Museum, a macabre place featuring corpses that had died during a cholera epidemic.  There were too many to bury individually, but the minerals in the soil naturally desiccated  the bodies and clothing and body hair were still evident almost 200 years later.  A visit to the Opera House was an example of town’s wealth as was the tour of the many churches .  Our last stop was Diego Rivera’s house, now an art gallery, featuring the evolution of his painting style throughout his lifetime starting at the age of 11.  Our guide recommended lunch in a very swanky restaurant on the main square.  Their specialty was tweaking traditional Mexican fare and we had tacos, the filling contained  within shaved jicama – delicious!

 

The tour we took yesterday, again through the Library, to Cañada de la Virgen, was really quite disappointing.  We are very interested in this area’s early history and have made a point of visiting ruins in Mexico and Guatemala.  We were a group of three and had our own guide, only to find that there was an “English” speaking guide provided by the site. His explanations were incomprehensible and he did not understand our attempts to achieve some clarity.  Too bad!  The site had been discovered in 1982 and parts of it are still being excavated.

Now we have only three days left under the blue skies and sunshine, having escaped what seems to have been such a sodden, stormy time in Victoria.  Mostly the weather has been sunny and warm although in San Miguel it felt pretty chilly after 4pm and before 10 am and we were glad of the gas fires in our accommodation.  There were a couple of days in the last week when Victoria was 3° warmer than here in the morning!  We have certainly enjoyed the contrasts between our three destination and were quite unprepared for the charm, beauty and affluence of San Miguel.  We can quite understand why so many people, particularly artists, have made it their winter home.  The Library, with its fundraising activities for the education of girls and women, provided a meeting place for the gringo community, who, for the most part, made us seem quite young and sprightly!  All in all, having visited the majority of the coastal resorts, we found this holiday offered so much more in terms of interest and culture and thoroughly appreciated the opportunity to sample so many new experiences.

Addendum…

In our last couple of days we visited one art gallery in town and a couple of places about a 20 minute drive out of SMA (120 peso by taxi each way or $8).  The art gallery was in the old nunnery and is called Bellas Artes with many exhibits and including some striking murals.  Out of town we visited the town of Atotonilco where there was a hot pool/spa complex rated highly by the Lonely Planet.  Maybe it was off season and too cold, but it looked rather run down and unappealing to us.  we had lunch but didn’t venture into the pools.  Nearby was the Sanctuario Atotonilco the ceiling of which has been described as the Sistine chapel of Mexico.  Not much competition with  the real thing!

So

Mexico 2019-20 Part 3

When we arrived back at the Casa Gonzales in Mexico City we were given the same room and, again met a most interesting group of guests at breakfast, a true League of Nations.  What we had not reckoned on is that all the museums in Mexico City close on Mondays.  On Tuesday we made up for that by taking the Metro to the historic district, first visiting the enormous Metropolitan  Cathedral and then the  ruins of the Templo Mayor, which are right in the heart of the city.  They could be easily seen from the sidewalk and some excavation was still being done.  Then came the high spot of the day, a visit to the Ministry of Education building, which has huge murals on almost every available surface painted by Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo. They were magnificent and depicted both the way of life and the history of the area.  Next morning we boarded the deluxe double-decker bus, reclining seats, foot rests and video screens for the four hour trip to San Miguel.  It certainly was not a scenic journey as there was so much urban sprawl, lots of factories and very little green space.

 


In San Miguel de Allende we have an Air B&B, which is self contained on the second floor of a house, whose owners are out of town.  Again Robin has come up trumps as it has an outdoor seating area with a barbecue, a heater and lots of plants.  We were met by the housekeeper, who comes in once a week to clean and do our laundry.  It has a very well equipped kitchen and everything we need.  We are very intrigued by the brickwork on the ceilings and Robin has spent lots of time trying to figure out how it’s done.

 

We had heard so much about San Miguel de Allende (SMA) over the years and have to say it’s the most charming of the colonial towns we have visited.  It is about 4 hours by bus NW of Mexico City and is quite high at  about 6,000 feet so the mornings and evenings tend to be cool and we are very glad of the gas heating in the house!  It’s easy to see why SMA has become an artists’ Mecca.  Originally it was the staging post between the silver mines and Mexico City and had very wealthy inhabitants.  Historically it is important as it was the first municipality declared independent of Spanish rule during the Mexican War of Independence.  The streets are cobblestones and are kept immaculate by women out scrubbing them each morning.  The skyline is dominated by beautiful churches, the most ornate one being the Parroquia, which looks rather like a Disney fairy tale castle at night.

There is a very large expat community of mostly Americans whose centre is the Bibliotecha.  This large compound houses an extensive library, a school for women and girls, a language centre and the venue for all sorts of activities like bridge, mahjong, lectures and poetry readings. Last Sunday we joined their weekly House and Garden tour, which was very interesting.  The first house was owned by a realtor from Phoenix, very blonde and flamboyant.  Her house definitely reflected her personality being quite over the top and so staged you couldn’t imagine actually living there.  The second, Tres Cervezas, was absolutely gorgeous, having been extensively renovated over five years by owners with exquisite taste and deep pockets.  The best feature was the rooftop terrace with a pool and panoramic views of the town.

The Bibliotecha publishes its own newspaper, Que Pasa, outlining the slew of activities each day.  If that weren’t enough, SMA is a great place to walk as the streets are so pretty and the variety of doorways is a feature.  There are lots of very interesting shops with leatherwork, handicrafts and housewares.  We have been doing much of our own catering, shopping at the Mercado at prices that will make me weep when I return to Thriftys  but the meals we have had out have been so interesting and inventive.  At many of the restaurants you can dine in the courtyards which are quite magical, with flowering shrubs and fountains, very reminiscent of our experience in Marrakesh.

Needless to say, we are revelling in the blue skies, sunshine and warmth and feel very fortunate we have two more weeks to sample the wealth of experiences SMA has to offer.

 

 

Mexico 2019-20 part 2

The following gallery should have been in the last blog as we talked about the carpet factory in it.

The radish festival on December 23rd is a huge deal here, attracting hundreds of people to the Zocalo.  We decided to go early but, even then, it was mobbed with a long (2-hour) line up.  Someone took pity on us and directed us to a special entrance for the aged and infirm!  Swallowing our pride, off we went and got instant access and prime viewing.  Originally it began with farmers decorating their vegetable stalls to attract customers but now it has morphed into a competition with money prizes.  The radishes are different from our diminutive ones and all competitors had to source them from the government.  It was a one day event and the radishes had to be misted all the time to keep them looking white and fresh.


December 24th marks the Christmas celebration here and we were fortunate to be invited to Nora’s parents’ B&B for the festivities.  At six, a group of about thirty, guests, family and neighbours, gathered in the courtyard and, as darkness fell, were given lanterns and candles.  Half the group went out into the street to represent Mary and Joseph, while the inside group were the inn keepers.  We all had song sheets and sang alternate verses (in Spanish).  The seventh verse was sung in unison, celebrating Mary and Joseph having found room at the inn and the two groups were reunited inside.  We then all sang carols together.  After that, it was piñata time and first the kids and then some adults destroyed two piñatas and everyone gathered up the candy and money that spilled out.  Nora’s mom provided mulled wine , a buffet supper and a good time was had by all.  I really wished I had more fluent Spanish to express our appreciation for the generous hospitality.

On the 28th was my cooking class with Nora and I was totally impressed with its professionalism.  There were nine of us, a family of four and a gay male couple from Colorado, two young women, one from Dublin, the other from Belgium and me.    We started off with an explanation of the cuisine and how it had been a major factor in Oaxaca being made a UNESCO World heritage site.  Then we went to the Mercado, where R and I had been doing our shopping, without any real understanding of the range of produce available.  We found out about the wide range of peppers, the special cheeses, the organic vegetables and the herbs.  Then it was back to Nora’s kitchen where we all donned aprons as it was very hands on.  We produced guacamole on cactus leaves, chicken soup, tamales and chocolate dessert.  Everyone was happy to pitch in, chopping, grilling, stirring.  We individually assembled the tamales from the chicken mole we made as a group.  Then we all sat around the beautifully appointed dining room table to sample the results of our labours.  Robin got to eat with us.

Another highlight was our visit to the Oaxacan Museum of Culture, which houses just about all the treasures found in the major tomb at Monte Alban.   It was discovered in the 1930s by an American archeologist and the find was on a par with Tutankhamen, with gold, silver, jade and thousands of intricate beads, which the team had painstakingly restrung.

Another high spot was a visit to a very special garden, recommended by a volunteer at the library.  It was a thirty minute cab ride away and even the cab driver didn’t know where he was headed.  It was owned by the designer of the botanical garden and was a real secret garden hidden away behind high bamboo screens.  It was a true Mexican garden full of cacti and succulents, looking stunning under the hot sun.  The garden art ranged from tiny dragon flies perched on plants to huge sculptures – quirky but just right.  There was a water feature full of fish that was large enough to accommodate a dugout canoe full of succulents.

Now we are back in Mexico City for a couple of nights before departing by bus to San Miguel.

Mexico 2019-20 Part I

Our winter holiday this year is almost 2 months in Mexico, but, for the first time, not on the beach.  Our itinerary is 4 days in Mexico City, 3 weeks in Oaxaca in the southern mountains, a couple of days back in Mexico City and the final 3 weeks in the more northern mountains at San Miguel d’Allende.  We have now been away for just over two weeks and the experiment is proving even more successful than we had hoped.  It is a totally different experience from being in the coastal resorts as there is so much more to see and do.

Our four days in Mexico City were quite overwhelming due to its  sheer size and the layout.  It seemed to take forever to access the various points of interest even though public transport was clean, accessible, efficient and very, very cheap.  There was a very visible police presence but we felt safe.  After Oak Bay we were so aware of the amount of young people, especially after dark.  We also managed to be there on December 12th, when literally millions of pilgrims, on foot, bicycles and in trucks pour in to visit the church dedicated the the black virgin of Guadeloupe.  Our hotel was charming, situated in the Embassy district and we met lots of interesting guests at breakfast.  

The high spot was our visit to the world class Museum of Anthropology, which gave us an appreciation and understanding of the ancient civilizations, which had inhabited Mexico since  500BC.  How Eurocentric our education has been and how history has been distorted by the Spanish depiction of a heathen society, which had to be converted to Christianity and the very lurid Hollywood versions.  We could have spent days there as there was also a floor dedicated to the dress, crafts and customs of each area of the country and Oaxaca was featured prominently.

We also took a day to visit the ruins of Teotihuacan, a huge site covering more than 20sq km, with two pyramids, one dedicated to the sun, the other the moon.  The scale was massive, with a wide, central avenue between.  It must have been an impressive sight back in the day as many of the high walls were plastered and decorated with huge, very colourful murals.

We flew here to Oaxaca just over a week ago and the town, although larger than we had anticipated, is a much more manageable size.  the City is a World Heritage site.  Again, our accommodation is quite charming with an upper terrasse sitting area surrounded by bougainvillea and pots of succulents.  The owners, Nora, local, and William, from the States, who live right beside us, also own a couple of large B&Bs quite near.  Nora is a real entrepreneur, has a tour company and has a cooking school in her home.  Their guests provide much of the clientele for her tours and classes.

As we are self catering we have visited the local mercado several times and cannot get over the prices.  You could eat avocado toast at every meal for next to nothing!  As you can imagine the meat counters are very daunting but there is an excellent fish shop and the bakery is very tempting.  We have enjoyed several good lunches out but so far have not found the perfect place for dinner. 

We feel we have crammed a lot into our first days here principally as we had the opportunity to join tours, which Nora had already arranged for her American B&B guests.  Friday was our first group tour to villages south of Oaxaca, the highlight of which was a visit to a wood carving collective.  We saw the entire process, beginning with the branches from a special tree, so a renewable resource, which were first roughly hewn, then were gradually refined and sanded to a very smooth finish.  These carvers were artists who took inspiration from the natural shape of the wood so no two carvings were the same.  The  pieces were then dried so they would endure and not crack.

Next they were painted with natural dyes and we had a demonstration of how they were achieved – very counter intuitive and all from plants like pomegranate, mixed with lime and lemon juice.  The finished products were highly glazed, and that came from honey.  At the showroom there was lots to buy but no sales pressure.  The pieces were true works of art and were priced accordingly

Our second tour was to villages to the east, the highlight of which was a visit to a carpet weaving company, which had been in the same family for ten generations.  Again we had a very comprehensive demo starting with the materials they use – alpaca, cashmere, angora and wool which has to be carded and spun, before being dyed with the same natural dyes.  Then the carpets were hand woven on huge looms.  The designs varied from Aztec to geometric to Art Deco in a range of gorgeous colours.  Even though there was no hard sell many of the group wanted to buy so the many family members were coopted into displaying the range of carpets available.  Again we are talking about serious money but if I had had a bare floor I would have been seriously tempted! 

On each excursion we ate as a group in the market and Nora selected a variety of local dishes for us to sample.  Our second trip ended up at a small family run mescal factory, where the whole process looked like something from the Middle Ages.  The spirit was made from an agave that I grow, but on sampling the finished product, R is going to stick to wine making.

Our third tour was a visit west , to the ruins at Monte Alban, named the white mountain after the abundance of Ipomea trees.  We had a personal tour given by one of Nora’s guides, who was absolutely excellent.  He certainly knew his stuff but tailored the information according to our prior knowledge and welcomed questions and comments.

There is still so much to see and do that three weeks may not do the area justice.

The following photos are approximately chronological, but there seems to be a glitch in WordPress that does not allow me to reorder the photos once loaded to the site.

Our next blog will start with the incredible Radish Festival ……….

 

Continue reading “Mexico 2019-20 Part I”