A Taste of Travel

The Abandoned Village of Gairo Vecchio

Sardinia // June 13, 2013

We arrived in Sardinia thinking we would be spending time on some of their beautiful beaches but the weather across Europe has not been kind this summer so we decided to head inland and explore some of the small villages.

The scenery is beautiful. Roads wind around the tall granite mountains and you never know what you will see around the next corner. From a distance, towns appear dotted over the landscape.

As we were heading for the town of Gairo Sant’Elena we passed a small driveway on the right leading to a few buildings. I did not think anything of it and we continued up the hill.

It was only as we passed some beautiful abandoned buildings did my curiosity get the better of me. Stop I yelled as my poor husband had to yet again find a parking spot on a narrow winding road.

A quick u-turn, a parking spot found and we wandered down the road to investigate.

It was only then that I noticed that further down the hill lay the remains of a town, abandoned many years ago and left to the ravishes of time.

Gairo Vecchio has been uninhabited since 1963.

With my small understanding of Italian, it seems that flooding twice destroyed the city in the 1920′s and after a final bad flood of 1952, it was decided to abandon the village and build another, Gairo Sant’Elena, two kilometres up the hill.

The village layout can easily be seen. Some of the roads were cobblestoned whilst stairs have been built to reach higher levels. Lime was used in the houses and it is this that is now providing touches of colour in the buildings.

If you are heading this way, don’t miss the driveway on the right hand side of the road as you come up the hill. It’s far easier to turn off here than find a park on the hill!

If only the walls could talk, the stories they would tell!

This post is part of Travel Photo Thursday at Budget Travelers Sandbox. Don’t forget to pop over and see the other contributions.

2 people like this post.

Unlike

Pin It

Comments { 29 } // Add Yours

Spring Flowers at the Hotel George V in Paris

Paris // June 7, 2013

A trip to Paris is not complete with out popping into the Four Seasons Hotel George V to see their famous flower arrangements. In the last couple of years I have been in Paris in April so comparisons between the years are easy to make.

In 2011 the flowers were a mass of blue orchids, delphiniums and hydrangeas with a touch of red dahlias. Last year, the April flowers were a mass of blue orchids and yellow calla lilies.

This year, yellow canna lilies and green hydrangeas decorated the foyers.

I hope you enjoy the photos….

The courtyard does not change. It still looks as fabulous as ever!

Which year is your favourite flower display…2011, 2012 or this year?

1 person likes this post.

Unlike

Pin It

Comments { 15 } // Add Yours

We’re travelling….

Uncategorized // May 14, 2013

We’re on the road again….
After a busy month of packing up the house, we’ve started our travels.

We left Perth three weeks ago not knowing when we would return but last week we signed a lease on our house that means we are now homeless and won’t be returning to Perth until Christmas!

The first 6 weeks of our trip had been planned but as the news sinks in that we will be travelling for longer, ideas are still being finalised for the remainder of the year.

It’s not quite the perfect way to start a long holiday…no planning has been done, no long term bookings made but we’re pretty adept at going with the flow….it will be interesting to see where our adventure takes us!

First stop was Paris.

Paris is beautiful at any time of the year but I do love watching the leaves appear on the trees and seeing the blossom come into full bloom. The sunny days may have still had a chill about them but it was perfect walking weather. We ate at some fabulous restaurants, visited the markets and took some long walks.

The beautiful blossom trees infront of Notre Dame

The view from the Pont des Arts

Walking along the Viaduc in Paris

The beautiful Parc de Vincennes in Paris

The Marche d’Aligre in Bastille

Duck breasts and seared greens at Rino

Copenhagen was our next stop.

Lunch at Noma was the inspiration and we were not disappointed. Noma recently lost its crown as the number one restaurant in the world but in our eyes it was still number one…an amazing meal!

The cold and wet weather did not warm us to the city but thankfully the sun came out as we headed north to Louisiana for a visit to the Sculture Park and then south to spend a few days on the island of Fyn.

The Little Mermaid

The simple and stylish interior of Noma Restaurant

The stunning view from the grounds of Louisiana Sculpture Park

This was the view from the steps of our room in Falsled

The marina at the end of the path from the hotel

I didn’t want to leave this part of the world but Berlin called….

The blossom in the flower in Berlin

Inside the Reichstag Dome

The Brandenburg Gate at night

From Berlin we head to Belgium, Rotterdam and Amsterdam.

I wonder where our journey will take us after that!

If you’d like to keep up with our travels, I’ll be posting photos on facebook and instagram so please follow our journey there. There’ll be stories on the blog as well though I can’t promise how often they will appear!

7 people like this post.

Unlike

Pin It

Comments { 35 } // Add Yours

A Foodie’s Tour in Istanbul

Turkey // May 7, 2013

What do you do when you arrive in a city? Some people like to take a walking tour or the hop on-hop off red bus while others just like to walk the streets and see what they find themselves.

Me…I like to take a food tour! There’s nothing better than being shown the secrets of a neighbourhood, a glimpse into the local way of life.

In Istanbul, Istanbul Eats offers four different walking tours all over the city. My timing was perfect to sign up for their culinary walk through and the surrounding areas. Tours last approximately six hours and with nine stops to taste the local dishes, I knew this would be a fabulous day

I met our Istanbul Eats tour guide, Jennifer and two other participants at a small local restaurant in the heart of Cihangir.

Our first stop was at Özkonak, the local pudding shop….for breakfast. The name of the shop means authentic food palace (Oz =authentic and Konak= mansion or food palace) and this shop loved up to its name.

My favourite turkish breakfast is menemen, a dish of eggs, tomatoes and peppers rather similar to scramble eggs that is served in a hot pan. Here the dish was every bit as good as I remembered.

Cay (tea) served with fresh bread, sweet strawberry jam and delicious kaymak followed. Jennifer was great with her explanations, describing how kaymak is turkish cream, very similar to clotted cream and is made from the cows milk cream and sometimes from water buffalo. It can even be a mixture of both! We also learnt that if you can’t hold the top of the tulip shaped glass that the tea is always served in, then it is too hot to drink!

As I mentioned Özkonak is best known for their desserts. The Kadiyf was just coming out of the oven.

Kadiyf is the name of the bird’s nest string pastry dough as well as the dessert that is made from it. Crushed pistachios or walnuts cover a layer of pastry. Another layer of pastry is placed over this, melted butter poured over and it is baked in the oven. Once it is out of the oven a sugar syrup is poured over…It is absolutely delicious and not at all fattening!

Keskül, an almond based custard dessert topped with crushed almonds looked delicious too but it was the famed ‘bottom of the cauldron’ milk pudding Kozandibi that we took with us to try at a later time.

Wandering through the backstreets of Cihangir was a pleasure especially having Jennifer to show us the way. Antique shops stand side by side with wonderfully displayed fruit and vegetable shops. We even passed a horse and cart going round from house to house.

After stopping at Datli Maya for the best pistachio biscuits in Istanbul and then at Asri Turşucu for a taste of the many different pickles that can be found in a local pickle shop, we found ourselves on Beyoglu’s main street, the long Istiklal Cadessi.

We were heading to Hayvore, a cafe specialising in food of the Black Sea. Dishes were being laid out ready for the lunch time rush. Home style food..stews, soups, beans, green vegetables and a fabulous looking hamsi (anchovy) pilaf look tempting but as we are only half way through the tour, we try the their delicious karalahana corbasi or kale soup.

Crossing back to the other side of Istiklal Cadessi, we headed to Balik Pazir, the fish market. I had been here on previous trips but this time it was different with Jennifer stopping at her favourite places and and explaining things that I had previously been missed.

Hayvore was our intoduction to hamsi, the small anchovy like fish from the black sea that start arriving in the markets in autumn. Hamsi were everywhere in the market. Bowls of these small shiny fish waiting to be taken home and turned into a delicious dish.

We stopped at Vera Kuzu, a fish stand in Balik Pazir where fresh hamsi were deep fried and served hot with just a squeeze of lemon. Fried levek (sea bass) were also done the same way.

Husan, the usta (master) has been doing this since 1960. He was so cute, wanting to go and change his jacket before I took his photo!

Dürümzade, is a small kebab shop that I would never had found or probably have not gone into if it wasn’t for this tour. Home of the the best adana durum I have had, we are told the secret is in the lavas or flatbread. Here it has been rubbed with a mix of pepper and spices which adds that little extra to the filling of chicken, minced beef or as we had, a mixture of minced lamb and beef. Popped on the charcoal grill then topped with onions, tomato and parsely and rolled and popped back on the grill, it is hungrily devoured. Turkey’s delicious sweet yoghurt drink, ayran was the perfect accompaniment.
This will be my first stop when I return later in the year!

Our next stop was a local convenience store in the market. Who would have thought that this would be a food stop. A stand outside the store was selling ciğ köfte, a raw ‘meat’ patty made not of meat but of bulgur, lentils, walnuts and spices. You can eat them wrapped in bread but we had ours in a lettuce leaf.

Sakarya Tatlicsi has been in business of making sweets for 50 years and here you will taste some of the best.

I hadn’t realised how lucky I was to be in Istanbul in autumn. Not only is it hamsi season but it is the time quinces make their annual appearance. Ayva Tatlisi or quince dessert is not to be missed. The quinces are baked until they are soft and coated in a thick reddish glaze. Served with kaymak, this is incredibly delicious. They also make baklavas of every flavour…. We chose a selection and savoured every mouthful of each of them.

It was then coffee time! In a quiet alley off Istiklal Cadessi, Jennifer introduced us to Mandabatmaz. In this tiny shop you will enjoy one of the best coffees in town. Don’t forget to tell Cemil Pilik, the owner if you would like sugar before he makes your coffee. The coffee and sugar are mixed together, water is added from the large silver samovar in the corner and then it is boiled on the small two burner range ..thick, black, unfiltered coffee..”coffee so thick a water a buffalo wouldn’t sink in it”….hence the name of the shop…manda means water buffalo and batmaz means doesn’t sink.

I was thinking that goodbyes were in order but there was one more stop to make . Sahin Lokantasi is a tradesman’s restaurant (esnaf lokanta) where you can go for a cheap and hearty meal. Believe it or not we managed to try hakuru fasulye (stewed white beans), taze kasulye (stewed geeen beans) and my favourite, karniyarik (stuffed eggplant).

No dinner tonight!

Where have you taken a food tour that you enjoyed?

This was not a complimentary tour. I enjoyed it so much that I just wanted to let you all know about it!!

4 people like this post.

Unlike

Pin It

Comments { 37 } // Add Yours

Our Summer Hideaway: Rottnest Island on Instagram

Perth // April 10, 2013

Whilst everyone in the northern hemisphere is excited that warmer days are just around the corner, down under we should be saying goodbye to the lazy hazy days of summer. But summer’s lingering….todays’ temperature of 37C broke the record for the hottest April day this century, bringing hope that a few more days of Rottnest fun can be enjoyed.

Rottnest Island is our summer playground. Twelve kilometres off the coast of Perth lies this small island blessed with secluded bays of white sand and clear turquoise waters.

Houses are only found in a few bays close to the main settlement, cars are not allowed and bikes rule the day.

All around the island, boat moorings dot the bays. It is a boatie’s paradise.We head there on our old wooden boat and stay as long as we can.

Long early morning walks to different parts of the island start the day. Then there’s the trip in the dinghy out to check how lucky we’ve been with the craypots. Lunch depends on a couple of these little fellas crawling into the pots! Lazy afternoons spent reading inevitably ending with a drink or two with friends in the bay. It’s a complete holiday…..join me as I look through my iphone photos!