La Sagrada Familia: Gaudi's Gift To the World.

 Ah, Barcelona, the very name evokes that beautiful city with its tree lined Las Ramblos, where you can stroll down that long wide street feasting on local foods, markets, ices and popping into every shop you can imagine, satisfying the senses and enjoying a vino or two! It is also here that Antoni Gaudi has gifted to the world his masterpiece: the Basilica de la Sagrada Familia which rises high above the city, superior even to the skyscrapers that dot the horizon. Gaudi began this church in 1882 and it is ongoing today, expected to be completed in another 50 years, but progress is slow and the architectural demands as immensely demanding as when it was begun! Only donations and entry tickets provide the money to complete this amazing structure.

The amazing "umbrella" of lights overhanging the altar area.

We had booked our tickets online through the services of our concierge at our apartment, just a short walk from Las Ramblos and an easy metro ride to the basilica. I will never forget coming up out of the metro and encountering the majesty of this enormous church with its grotesque towers and seemingly ill-fitting façade! It takes your breath away... and delivers it back with the most amazing vision of saints, geometrical patterns, animals, gargoyles and this is just the outside! As you enter the church, you can have an audio guide, which we took, or a local guided tour.

Looking upwards to the towers is amazing!

As it is visited by 3 million people a year, it is always crowded - but somehow, the sanctity and beauty of the interior overwhelms you and you feel at such peace. This is because of its vastness and an interior that stretches far up into the stained glass heaven created by the sky reaching windows. There is so much light, unusual in such a huge building. The choir stalls are curved and undulate around the second story above the main body of the church. Below there is the crypt area, where Gaudi's remains are kept. He died in 1926 from injuries received after being hit by a tram.

 Massive stained glass windows give a large amount of interior light.

Another overwhelming experience was ascending and descending the towers, we chose one as there are long lines and timed bookings given for both. You are whipped upwards at unnerving speed in a very confined lift. Next, you take the crossing between the tower section at great height and gaze downwards and out to the city views! "Vertigo not allowed," I told myself... only to face the steep downward spiral staircase; where we all cling on for dear life and reflect on the medieval notion of using never ending circular stairwells that are in many European castles.

View from the top over Barcelona.

From the outside, you can again marvel at the cranes and ongoing building that does not seem to detract from the massive high you experience from visiting this modern masterpiece! Lastly, we visited the small museum and wandered across the road to one of the many outdoor eating areas where you can continue to admire Gaudi's legacy.

My Tips: Forget your usual ideas of church architecture and embrace the incredible ideas of Gaudi! Also it's cheap, quick and easy to take the local metro or bus rather than taxis.
Do you have preconceived ideas about places like me? I expected ugliness and found only beauty.

Palace of Versailles: Over the Top Opulence!

No doubt, like me, you have heard of the grandeur of the great European palaces, but nothing could prepare me for the unsurpassed opulence of the Palace at Versailles! We had risen early to catch the train, which  delivers you to the township of Versailles about 16 km from Paris. In fact, we were so early, we were first in line for the ticket office. We happily munched on our standard Parisian breakfast of ham, cheese, and baguette while waiting for the hordes of visitors who arrive each day to view this amazing site!


Early morning........empty Palace forecourt usually packed with busloads of tourists!

The grandeur of one of the many hall areas complete with magnificent organ.

 

The first impression of this palace is so overwhelming, you can well imagine the peasantry rebelling against this excessive show of wealth. Any servant who worked  at this palace (and the smaller one belonging to Marie Antoinette) would not have basked in the glow of the Sun King, Louis XIV and his eccentricities, like his courtiers! The original palace was built by Louis XIV in 1631-34 and continued to house 2 more royals, King Louis XV and XVI. By the revolution in 1789, the little hamlet of Versailles had grown to 60,000 people!


Luxurious drawing room fittings including finest silk covered cushioned footstools.

Interior of the palace...... drawing room delight!

We marvelled at the paintings and sculptures, bedrooms and art galleries, but the highlight for me was the Hall of Mirrors. This immensely long hall is made to appear even bigger by the clever positioning of 100's of floor to ceiling mirrors. Tall candelabra line the walls with ornate ceilings reminiscent of the works of the famous European artists. This hall was used for the signing of the Treaty of Versailles in 1919, by Germany and the Allied countries after WW1.


Myself in the amazing Hall of Mirrors, getting up close to some amazing trappings of courtly life!

This palace was at first a royal hunting lodge with wild animals for the King to hunt. Louis XIV gradually added the north and south wings and formal gardens, adding pressurized fountains which today are still in working order and shoot water high into the air. The mile long canal is quite a distance from the main building and was used for naval demonstrations. The King kept gondolas from Venice on it, complete with gondoliers! While we were there, it was being used for rowing practice and competitive teams glided along its length. 


Classic fountain, looking back at the main palace. 

After a lengthy walk, we arrived at the estate area where Marie Antoinette kept her smaller Petit Trianon or palace, for her own amusement. She also had a working farm which provided the palace with fresh produce. There was a small theatre and Temple of Love nearby. This farm area was fascinating, it seemed to have a fantasy aspect with wooden staircases disappearing up into the upper floors of houses, a working water mill and  ducks on lakes, all of which were quite rustic. It was a peaceful spot to ponder the enormity of this vast estate!




By this stage, I was exhausted and only had enough energy to head back to the main palace and its cobbled courtyards and stagger down to the town area and the train home to Paris! Home sweet home to our local bar and provider of all things French. We sat and contemplated the glory of the French royal palaces in between drinks... and dinner... and more drinks! A fitting end to a fine day!
MY TIP: Good walking shoes and take the golf carts rent a bicycle or  catch the mini train! Paying a fee is the best alternative as otherwise, walking the entire estate of 2000 acres is a marathon event!



Splendid geometrically accurate gardens have been recreated outside the palace.

Top Tips For International Travel

I have been travelling overseas for more than 11 years now and my motto is "expect the unexpected"! Here are my top 10 tips for making international travel easier.

1. Firstly and most important: Be super organised!  Arrange your travel insurance - there are always surprises when you are travelling!  Write and distribute copies of your itinerary to your family or friends: it sometimes takes me a year to organise a full itinerary of places to stay and travel between. Also take copies of your travel documents: passport, itinerary and banking details for the inevitable phone home situation when you encounter difficulties with theft, breakages or mislaying items! We were robbed in Greece and broke a mobile phone in a backpack when it fell from a roofrack in a Portuguese bus!

2. Pack lightly, roll tightly. I go by the old ‘pile them on the bed’ method: sort your things, divide them in half, divide them in half again and that’s what you really need! Alright, I sometimes sneak a couple of things back in! I pack smallish items into shoes and wrap any souvenirs in clothing to prevent breakages. I carry a quantity of plastic sealing lunch bags useful for carry on items that have be in clear view for customs checks.

3. Always take a pashmina or scarf and long skirt or pants for those visits where modest dress is necessary. Some of the places I have needed these are the monasteries of Meteroa, the mosques in Arabian countries and temple visits in South East Asia.

4. Keep fit, you will need it for those days exploring through enticing and ancient cities with narrow byways, cobbled pavements and endless stairs to high viewpoints! I try and walk every day but housework or a busy schedule easily qualify!

5. Pack warm weather clothing and an umbrella. I always take a beanie, gloves and warm jacket for those unexpected cold weather changes and situations like we had on board an overnight ferry to Crete where we froze due to being unable to turn the air con down! I always take my hooded jacket on the flight to wear; it can fold up into a small bundle for using as a pillow in desperate situations!

6. Pack reading material for those terribly long waiting times, waiting for a connecting train or bus (5 hours in Greece once!) or waiting at airports with huge inter connecting times for flights. When travelling, I find there are usually second hand bookshops somewhere where I can buy books and donate them at the next hotel or hostel.

7. Organise your carry-on luggage! I take a backpack with my passport, toiletries, a change of clothes, notebook computer or iPad, my charging devices and power converters for the country I'm going to, mobile phone, pen, small pack of tissues, moisturiser and lip balm, a book or Kindle, pocket sized camera, water bottle, (though these sometimes have to be emptied out or abandoned altogether depending on regulations), puzzle book,  cloth bottle holder which fits across the body (I bought this in Myanmar and it’s so useful in hot countries for carrying while walking) and barley sugar (or the like) to chew when ascending and descending in the plane.

8. Make sure your baggage is easily identifiable by putting something colourful on it - I put a bright orange macramé cord on mine: this is guaranteed not to be on anyone else’s! There is always a mad dash for the baggage carousel, so make sure you have a trolley handy first thing.

9. Use wheeled luggage. When we started travelling they were not available! I now have a wheeled weekender sports type bag with an extendable handle. This will save you in big airports where you have to walk miles to the gates. Mine is also backpack convertible, although I haven’t needed to use it.

10. Arrive at your airport early – Virgin Australia is always happy to help you check in! I try to be first in line by arriving well before the regulation time and then you can roam the cafeterias, shopping and duty free area and have a relaxing beverage or two before the flight! Sometimes, you may even bag an exit aisle seat by being early- it doesn’t hurt to ask!

Now celebrate in style, you have earned it and after all, the enjoyment begins the minute you board that flight for destinations and experiences only imagined!

This post is an entry for the Virgin Australia Problogger Event travel tips competition.

Hot air ballooning: Up, up and away in Turkey and Myanmar!

Have you ever been hot air ballooning? Despite the cost, the greatest thing I had to overcome was my fear of heights, the old vertigo I've suffered from forever! What a world was opened up to me when I finally realised my dreams and that first take off was so quiet and awe inspiring, that I was instantly an addict! If only it was a cheap pastime and not so outrageously expensive....but you only live once, or twice as they say in James Bond speak!

 My first encounter with the hot air ballooning specialist world was in Turkey where we and about 80 other balloons loaded with enthusiasts took off in the misty dawn of Cappadocia, from the small township of Goreme. This is a fascinating area as it has the elements of science fiction:  troglodyte caves which were dwelling places for Christian monks and unusual landforms called fairy chimneys that soar into the sky, providing the most unusual and photographic footage from the sky. All of these are easily and wonderfully noted from above but while on foot, take quite a long walk to admire!






Firing up!



Ballooning over Goreme's fantastic caves and landscape in Turkey!



Up, up and away in our beautiful balloon!

Enjoying our landing with champagne!

 Ballooning itself is totally a well run business as some pilots told us they spend six months of each year in some areas and then some return to their homelands like Britain and U.S.A. It is a booming industry if you are a trained pilot apparently, with the industrious companies running local team labour to launch and help recovery at landing and provide champagne, certificates and food for travellers on landing.

 But also, as we discovered in Myanmar, some companies have a tie in with local vendors who rush out into the paddock as they did at the Temples of Bagan, to sell us items of clothing, goods and food! Central Bagan was the capital of the mighty Pagan Empire around the 11th and 12th centuries, and has once again gained popularity with the thousands of tourists who visit each year.



Bagan temple view from the ground level in Myanmar!




View from above, some of the over 2000 temples remaining built between 1044 to 1287! A magnificent sight.

Shot taken from balloon camera, I am left of the pilot, hanging on tight!

Despite all this, it is interesting beyond the commercialism to meet up with fellow travellers and as these are isolated areas you usually end up seeing them again at outdoor restaurants and venues later on for a celebratory drink! The odd rough landing can be heart stopping for the adventurous like one we experienced, but nothing that we could not laugh about afterwards! MY TIP: Take your courage and your camera ( videos are excellent memory keepers when ballooning!) and enjoy the blissfully quiet flight over amazing vistas!

Illness and Luck in Vietnam!

Street scene Hanoi.

Getting sick overseas is never a good thing! I can attest to this as my other half got extremely ill in Hanoi, Vietnam many years ago.


Hanoi is a very busy city and the area we were in was typically busy by the Hoan Kiem Lake. There is the beautiful Ngoc Son Temple in the centre of this, with a much photographed bridge leading onto it. People gather there in the afternoons with their dogs and berets (from the French Influence), to mingle and have coffee. It was cooler and many people were wearing jackets though the weather was hot still by our standards!

Hoan Kiem Lake.

We were travelling by ourselves, having toured Cambodia with a small group tour and were in Hanoi for a few days prior to heading home via Thailand. What ensued was farcical but could have been disastrous as I contemplated NOT getting him on the plane! We had to find a doctor and quickly as it got to the stage where hubby was so ill he was not eating and was watching me eat and drink... it gets rather one-sided when a dreary look is thrust at you every mouthful!

One Pillar Pagoda.

Next, he was in bed with a fever and me downstairs in the huge unoccupied hotel dining room for tea on my own, with only a waiter who couldn't of course, speak very much English. The musical background of Frank Sinatra singing Moon River did nothing to help the situation! One thing, I managed to get in and out of a dining room in record time!

We eventually found a doctor, at the International Medical Centre, and by chance and good fortune he was from Brisbane of all places! As hubby chatted merrily on to him, I sat outside in the waiting room envisaging by the lengthy consultation that he had some terrible malarial virus and was going to need hospitalising! By the time he came out, after chatting about how varied his practice was compared to Brisbane, I was in a panic. However we found out it was a virus and curable with course of antibiotics which were happily obtained there as they had a dispensary and operating theatre in the same modern complex! (Just the shot if you need a quick appendectomy!)

The worst part was the bill...as it was in Vietnam dong, I had to traverse street corners with soldiers armed with attack guns to get to the ATM! (At this time there few of these in Vietnam and indeed none in Cambodia.) Imagine me; at the best of times pretty worried about getting cash out, as the amount was millions of dong, the exchange rate being a  huge amount to our dollar! Today 1 Australian dollar =  16,946 dong! After 3 lots of dispensing cash from the ATM, I finally made my way back through the streets, fearing robbery at every step. Gladly I handed it over at the surgery, vowing never to do that again!

The doctor was very sociable and harangued hubby with tales of flying everywhere to evacuate patients who got into trouble in remote areas of Vietnam, sort of a Flying Doctor of Asia! Full points to his resourcefulness in leaving a safe Aussie practice, as we would never have been able to continue without him! My Tip: Don't leave home without travel insurance that includes sickness as this was an expensive exercise for a one off!