Gellért Hill, Budapest

Posted on November 13, 2019 by Trudy

Day 80, Wednesday, November 13, 2019

Yesterday was a quiet stay at home day. I didn’t even take one photo!

Today we are going to the Citadella which is the fortification located upon the top of Gellért Hill in Budapest. On our way there many of the store windows have Christmas displays. I laugh watching these two guys. They are dressed the same, stand the same and both are smoking and looking at their cellphones. They even both take a drag on their cigarettes at the same time! Budapest has very pretty manhole covers. Bob tells me we are going to the top of that hill across the Danube River on the Buda side of the city. I am quite happy to hear there is a bus that will take us most of the way. The metro stations in Budapest are very deep underground. They were built so that they could be used as bomb shelters. I wonder what would happen if a bomb fell above a station full of people. How would they get out…would they be trapped by all the rubble? Then I decide that they could walk down the tracks and maybe get out at another spot. Bob says I think too much! We are on top of Gelléert Hill and it was only a short climb from the bus stop. There are great views of Budapest looking to the East… and the West.

The Statue of Liberty on Gellert Hill was a communist statue erected in 1947 to commemorate the liberation of Budapest and Hungary from the Nazi rule and to celebrate Hungary’s being part of the Soviet Union. Hungarians liked the statue enough not to remove it in 1989 when Hungary became a democratic country, so they added the inscription to read “To the memory of those all who sacrificed their lives for the independence, freedom, and prosperity of Hungary.” Bob called me over to watch an older man operating a shell game near here. He had a cardboard box and three shells, and people bet on which shell a pea was under after they were shuffled. We were astounded that he was able to convince people to bet 400 or 500 euros. Of course once they made such a large bet they always lost! 500 euros is $750! It was crazy! Once he made a couple big scores he got up and left. Not a bad day’s pay! I can’t believe how gullible and arrogant people are. Of course they neverstood a chance…they were going to lose their money. It is getting windy so we start down the hill. We are walking down…
through a park with lots of trees… and a couple playgrounds. This one takes advantage of the hillside. We tried this slide too. This cross is about halfway down the hillside and marks the location of the Cave Church directly below it. This statue of St. Stephen is near the entrance to the Cave Church. For more information and photos about this curious church check out this link. A bit further down the hill we peek inside the Gellért Hotel… which houses one of Budapest’s thermal bath houses. It looks very fancy. Here is a view of the cave entrance from the street below… and the Liberty Statue at the top of the hill. We walked back across the bridge to the Pest side of the river… and visit the Indoor market. I thought these kohlrabi were huge but the radishes were enormous, about the size of an egg! I’ve never seen radishes that big! We have supper here but unfortunately the food wasn’t really all that great. On our walk back home we pass through the Christmas Market and I notice these teapots. I would have loved to have bought one but worried about getting it home in one piece.
These necklaces are made with seed beads! Imagine how long it would take to make each one.

Punkva and St. Catherine’s Caves near Bruno, Czech Republic

Posted on August 29, 2019 by Trudy

Day 4, August 29, 2019

Bob is doing an excellent job researching where we should go and what we should see. He discovers the Punkva and St. Catherine’s Caves which are a 45 minute drive north of Bruno. We find out we should have reserved tickets weeks ago but we take a chance and drive up early in the morning hoping there might be some last minute tickets available. We are successful and we are soon on our 1.2 km tour of the Punkva Caves. Giant formations inside the cave. The Macocha Abyss is a surprise. Like an underground world with trees and a small lake. The first discoverers of this cave lowered themselves by rope 138 meters into this abyss. Next we are loaded into boats and travel along 440 meters of an underground river. The overhanging rocks are very low and we need to duck at times to avoid banging our heads. No photos were allowed on the boats. We stop and disembark to view this beautiful white cavern then back onto the boats to finish our tour. After sampling the local fare we go for a hike to the top of the Macocha Abyss that we saw from inside the cave. Lots and lots of stairs! This is a picture of a picture, but it shows looking up from the bottom of the abyss better than any of my photos.

It is just a short walk to St. Catherine’s Cave, named after a shepherd girl who got lost and died in the cave looking for some lost sheep. This cave was inhabited by Palaeolithic man and many bones of cave bears were discovered here. This is the largest cave dome in the Czech Republic. It was impossible to get it all into one photo it is so huge. Cave bear remains are found in this pile of rocks and bones and there is an assembled cave bear skeleton on display. These were very big bears who lived 50,000 to 30,000 years ago! This is called the Bamboo Forest with its high, stick shaped stalagmites. These are unique and not found in any other caves in this country.
Crazy beautiful formations. We are allowed to touch this stalagmite. It is said that if you touch this formation with two fingers your wish will come true. Here’s hoping…The entrance to St. Catherine’s cave. The temperature inside these caves was about 8 °C and the humidity is 99%. We emerge into the 29° weather and our glasses and camera lens all fog up.

We stop for much needed groceries in a nearby town and it is almost dark when we get home. Time to pack up again. We leave tomorrow so we will not have a chance to see anything in the town of Bruno. We have decided that the next trip we take will have 3 night minimum stays, even when we are just stopping to get from one place to another. There is so much to see everywhere that a 2 night stopover with only one day to sightsee just doesn’t work. I also hate having to pack and unpack so often. Oh, and according ot my FitBit we walked 14,200 steps and climbed the equivalent of 39 floors! No wonder my legs and feet are so tired.

Plitvice Lakes National Park

Posted on September 26, 2017 by Trudy

Day 22, Tuesday, September 26, 2017

Plitvice Lakes were proclaimed a National Park in 1949 and they were added to the UNESCO World Heritage list in 1979. There are sixteen lakes in the park and an incredible number of waterfalls. Over thousands of years the water has eroded and dissolved limestone rocks and the dissolved calcium carbonate reforms as tufa, a porous stone that makes barriers between the lakes. This results in new falls and cascades being constantly created.

The Plitvice Lakes Park are amazing. We soon ran out of words to describe the wonder of so many waterfalls and cascades, and the beauty the we saw all around us. The weather report said it was to be a cloudy day, but it forgot to mention the rain and mist! It was drizzling and misty most of the morning but the rain eventually stopped later in the afternoon. We only saw the sun for about three minutes! In spite of this we had a fantastic day. I think it is best is to post some of the many photos I took and let you wander through the park along with us. The reflections in the water were beautiful and I kept wondering what all this would look like on a calm sunny day?

There is water rushing everywhere!These steps, all 212 of them lead to a huge sinkhole and the Supljara Cave .
Notice there are no hand rails on the boardwalks! I saw two people trip and almost go over the edge so I am sure it must sometimes happen.Here we were walking right on top of a waterfall, and it is one of the few places that had a handrail. Yes, we wore ugly plastic rain ponchos as did many other hikers. and thankfully they helped keep us warmer and drier.These are called the Big Falls.The water runs everywhere and somehow trees manage to grow in waterfalls and shallow lakes. We turn the corner and see this.
and this! These falls are 28 meters tall.

There are boardwalks everywhere, even right over top of waterfalls,
but as I said, no handrails .The reflections were stunning…
and the colours of the lakes were amazing.Every lake was different colour.We walked through areas with interesting trees…
and I really liked the roots on this tree.
The water everywhere is absolutely crystal clear.
There are bears, wolves, deer, wild boar, and wild cats in the park but the only animal we see is this busy little squirrel.
We walked for more than six hours, about 22,000 steps which is almost nine miles and we climbed the equivalent of 84 flights of stairs. We figured it out and that is more than 1400 stairs up and as many back down. No wonder we were both tired tonight.

Troglodytes!

Posted on December 13, 2015 by Trudy

Sunday, November 22

This was our Airbnb apartment near the village of Alhendin, about 20 minutes outside of Granada. It was very nice and quiet but it is time to hit the road again. We need to be in Los Alcázeres, a small coastal town in southeastern Spain by evening.

The drive is interesting as the scenery changes often. These are photos shot through the car window so they aren’t the best, but they give a pretty good idea of the countryside. This is on the outskirts of Granada. I find it so strange to see apartment buildings and then countryside right beside them. There are no suburbs around here, it is city and then it is country, nothing in-between.We are surprised to see snow on the mountaintops.

Before long there are fewer trees and the land is much more arid looking.It is hard to tell from the photo, but this area is much like Drumheller, Alberta, with fields suddenly giving way to steep, dry ravines.

Soon we are seeing weathered and eroded hills that have what look like caves or tunnel openings.

A quick bit of internet research revealed that many people in this area live in caves. We stop in a little town named Purullena, and visit the Museo Cueva Immaculada. This was quite the experience. As we entered the museum we realized that we were walking through a family home. There were footsteps painted on the floor and we were told to follow the footsteps and then we were left to explore their house! We passed what looked like the grandparents having something to eat with their grandchildren in the dining room. It was rather bizarre.

Curtains separate the rooms so that air can circulate, and there are also chimneys for air circulation. We climbed a flight of stairs to an area of their home that was set up as a museum, with old farm implements, photographs, kitchen utensils, and a whole lot of other assorted items. Here are some pictures of the cave houses in Purullena, and another little village we drove to nearby.The temperature in these homes stays between 17º and 21º C year round. The ceilings are dome-shaped so that the caves will not collapse and to distribute the weight of the hills above to the thick outer side of the walls. Thirty years ago everyone in the town lived in caves, and today about 1,100 of the towns population of 2,700 still live in caves. The soil here is called arcilla, which is a special type of clay that is compact but still very soft so it is easy to dig. It is also an impermeable soil which stops the rain from entering the cave.The cave homes are dug out of the mountains and there are no other construction materials used. The homes are painted with white chalk which breathes so the air can circulate, and this prevents humidity from building up in the caves.We saw this ‘troglodyte’ busily hanging up her laundry before she went back into her cave home. These cave dwellers call themselves Troglodytes, which is from two Greek words meaning hole, and dying to get into If you want to read a bit more about these unique houses check out http://www.spain-holiday.com/blog/cave-settlements-in-andalucia.php

We were quite surprised to discover that the public washrooms were also the family bathrooms, complete with the family laundry, showers, kids toys and other personal items! These were located just outside the cave home, sort of like modern outhouses. We thought it must be difficult to put plumbing inside the caves.

As we continued on our way to Los Alcázeres we passed lots of huge market gardens, many of which had these tunnel hothouses, field after field of them. It was quite the sight.

Gibraltar

Posted on November 30, 2015 by Trudy

Monday, November 16

There were more painters on our balcony this morning. It looks like they are going to do a lot of painting today so it is a good day for us to be away. We are going to visit Gibraltar so we drive near to the bus station and catch the ‘La Liena’ bus which takes us to the border between Gibraltar and Spain. Gibraltar is a British Overseas Territory so this will be the fourth country we visit this trip: Spain, Portugal, Morocco and now a territory of England. We walk across the border into Gibraltar and then spend some time trying to figure out the best way to see the sights. Although we did do internet research before we arrived it turns out it wasn’t really much help. We finally decide to take a taxi tour which includes the four main tourist sights. It is a bit expensive, 80€ for 1 1/2 hours but we realize we don’t have enough time or energy to take the cable car and then walk 7 km down the rock which is what we would have to do to see the sights. That wasn’t mentioned in any of our internet research! Yesterday we only paid 120€ which included our bus and ferry rides, lunch and the 6 hour guided tour of Tangier. We drive up the winding roads of the Rock of Gibraltar and stop at a viewpoint where we can see the Spanish coast and the city of Algeciras where we are staying.We then visit St. Michaels Cave, where we are treated to a sound and light show in a huge cavern with many smaller side chambers and great rock formations. I’m not sure if I like all the bright colours on the rocks as they are quite spectacular on their own. See this link for more information about the caves. They have a rather interesting history, http://www.gibraltar.com/sightseeing/st-michaels-cave-gibraltar.html

There is a stalactite that has been cut in half which was very interesting as it has growth rings much like a tree does.We drive to a high point on the rock and we have great views of the Sea of Gibraltar and the Atlantic Ocean as the rock is very narrow here, but even more interesting than the ocean views are the monkeys. The monkeys of Gibraltar are tailless Macaque Monkeys. No one knows how they got on the rock but they are now one of Gibraltar’s big tourist attractions. They are managed and taken care of and they are the only monkeys living outside of captivity anywhere in Europe. There is also a feeding station which has improved their health and helped to stop attacks on tourists for food, although nearby residents are still careful not to leave their windows open, or they will find monkeys in their kitchens looking for food! I love the mothers and their babies. They appear quite tame but they are still wild animals and they do have rather large teeth…

Next stop, the Great Seige Tunnels. This is the only part of the tour that was a bit rushed. The tunnels are quite extensive and we almost had to run to get to the end and back again in the time we had. Too bad, but at least we got to see them. Here is more info if you are interested.https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Siege_Tunnels

I took this photo of Gibraltar’s airport runway from one of the tunnel openings. Do you notice anything unusual about it?Our tour ends in the older part of town and we have tea and lunch before slowly making our way back to the border checking out the streets and shops along the way. Many of the buildings have balconies with plants but I thought these two were particularly pretty.In this picture of the rock you can quite clearly see the tunnel holes where the cannons were placed. There is also a flag right at the top that is at half mast in memory of those who died in the Paris attacks.

Now, doesn’t this look like I should be in England?

There were many big fancy shops but then there were also the smaller not so fancy ones.

Now, do you remember that picture of the runway? Well here I am walking across it! Yes, the road and sidewalks go right across the runway, and just after we begin to walk across the sirens start blaring and they close the road right behind us. We are the last pedestrians to cross, and as we stop to take this picture an announcement is made for all pedestrians to clear the runway! They meant us!As we wait for the plane to take off, the one you can see behind me in the picture above, we have a great view of the Rock of Gibraltar.

There goes the plane, right where we were standing just a short time before. It was quite something to see.

On the bus home we are treated to a pretty sunset.

Tangier, Morocco, Africa

Posted on November 29, 2015 by Trudy

Sunday, November 15

I am behind on my blog, as you already know. I really wanted to keep it current but it hasn’t been possible. I will just continue to post when I can and I will finish blogging about our holiday after we get home if need be.

We are still in shock over the terrorist attacks in Paris on Friday. I spent a month in Paris last fall and it holds a special place in my heart. ‘My’ neighbourhood was just north of where the Bataclan Theatre is located. Having a connection, even one as remote as this, makes these attacks seem a little bit closer than they may have been otherwise. It is scary and I can’t help but wonder where it will all end. We check the internet for updates and try to figure out the Spanish news on TV.

Today we have a day trip booked for Morocco so we catch a 10:00 bus to take us to the ferry at Tarifa on the southern corner of Spain. This is Tarifa looking out from the ferry.

Before long we are in Morocco! This is the third time we have been to Africa. We have traveled from the East to the West coast of South Africa on a train called the Shongololo Express and we have spent a couple weeks in Egypt. Bob really wanted to go to Morocco, I wasn’t so sure. Egypt was quite challenging and we had lots of difficulties and I wonder if Morocco will be a similar situation. This is our first glimpse of the city of Tangier, Morocco from the ferry.The tour we booked is excellent. There are only five of us in our group and we have a guide and a driver. We first drive through the city to get an idea of what Tangier is like and we are surprised by how beautiful the city is. It is clean and it has lots of trees and flowers planted along the roads. We are shown an area with palaces for Kings from Morocco and royalty from several other countries. Then we drive along the ocean to Cap Spartel, which is Africa’s most north westerly promontory, and see the place where the Atlantic and the Mediterranean Oceans meet. There are street vendors here but they are no where near as aggresive as the ones we had encountered in Egypt.

Our next stop was an unexpected surprise. For just 2€ we have a camel ride! When we were in Egypt I wanted to ride a camel but it never worked out. Today I get my camel ride!

Next stop, the Caves of Hercules. These were several really big caverns and if you look closely you can make out where round disks were cut from the rock to be used as mill stones. There is also an opening in one of the caves that is the shape of the continent of Africa in reverse.On the way back into town we were almost in a car accident. A car came within inches of crashing into the side of our van right where I was sitting. I think that the driver’s wife was in labour, she looked very pregnant and very scared and her husband was driving like a crazy man! We were very lucky that he managed to stop before hitting us. Once back in the town, we spend a couple hours on a walking tour through the medina in the old town of Tangier. The streets are narrow and twist and turn in all directions. Our guide also shows us a couple places that were used as sets in the Bourne Ultimatum movie and the new James Bond movie.

Without a guide we would have been hopelessly lost. One area’s buildings were all painted a bright blue colour.

We stop in a Spice shop where a young man, who tells us he is a trained massage therapist, convinces us to buy a special oil that is good for aches and pains. Bob gets a hand massage to try it out.

While we have our lunch at a local restaurant these musicians provide the background music.After our meal we check out the local veggie and fruit markets. The ladies in the interesting costumes and hats are from the hill towns outside Tangier. They dress in their traditional costumes to come to market twice a week. We buy the biggest pomegranate we have ever seen for 1€. I think it must be hard to make a living selling produce. Some farmers just have a small table, or a cloth on the ground with a few items for sale.

The shops are very tiny, sometimes just a few feet square and we see a couple shops that bake bread for the locals in wood fired ovens for a few cents a loaf.

We also visit a fabric shop and I buy a shawl. I am sure I paid too much for it as I am not a very good bargainer!

Finally, we visit the once grand Continental Hotel. Many famous people and movie stars have stayed here but it does not appear to be doing all that well now. We sit on the balcony just to the right of the red flag in the picture below, overlooking the Mediterranean sea and have mint tea and chat with our guide and one of the other fellows on the tour. He doesn’t speak English and I don’t speak Italian but we both managed to communicate in French and our guide speaks to us in English and to our new Italian friend in Spanish! We talk about life in Morocco and the recent terrorist attacks in Paris. Flags in Tangier are flying at half mast because of this.

It is a long day by the time we get back to Tafira and then we still have a bus ride back to our car in Algacires. We don’t get home until almost ten, but we were both quite impressed by Tangier and I think I would be willing to spend more time in Morocco some day.

Prehistoric Cave Drawings at El Castillo, Las Monedas, and Altamira

Posted on October 8, 2015 by Trudy

Thursday, October 1

The caves are not all that easy to find. There are not a lot of signs for some of these main tourist attractions on the roads in the towns or villages once you are off the highways. We actually made a ‘wrong’ turn that got us close, and then we asked directions from three local women who were sitting on an old stone bench on the side of the road, cracking and eating walnuts, while they visited. It is an uphill winding road to the caves and we arrive in time for the last tour of the day at 1:40. That is another thing that is taking some getting used to, the hours that attractions and businesses are open. More on that later.

We are not allowed any pictures inside the cave and there are only four of us on the tour, so no chance to ‘sneak’ a picture or two…however we are allowed to take a picture before we enter the cave from the waiting area.

The first cave we enter is El Castillo, or Castle Cave, named after the mountain where it is located. The cave is incredible in its own right. The following cave pictures are taken from information in the interpretive centre.Then there are the cave drawings! The oldest, the negative handprints are 35,000 years old! There are also many drawings of bison, horses, reindeer and abstract symbols, including lots of round red shapes whose meaning is unknown.Having a guide is essential, we never would have seen most of the drawings without her. Our guide only spoke a little English, but it was enough to explain a bit of what we were seeing and answer basic questions. We decide we need to wait until after lunch and see the Las Monedas Cave which is also open, so we have our picnic lunch in a nearby farmer’s field. We keep looking for bulls as we hear branches cracking but discover it is only the chestnuts falling from the trees. Las Monedas has even more spectacular rock formations than El Castillo. The stalactites and stalagmites are incredible, and form a multitude of differently shaped spires, pillars and other shapes. There is so much to see that my head is swivelling in all directions, which can be rather dangerous on uneven, slippery wet footing!Our guide for this cave, Rebecca is amazing. Her English is very good and she has an extensive knowledge of the cave but also of archeology and history as well. We are the only people on this tour and our scheduled 45 minute visit extends to an hour and a quarter. We are so glad we changed our plans and decided to see this cave as well. There are only a few charcoal drawings in this cave, near the entrance. I did some sketching in the caves, difficult without much light and not a lot of time, but it was an awesome feeling to think I was standing making art in the same spot as a prehistoric artist stood some 35,000 years ago!

We do a little exploring of our own after our tour.

Next stop the famous Altamira Caves. These caves are no longer open to the public due to the damage caused by thousands of daily visitors in the 70’s, but there is an accurate reproduction called the NeoCave that we can visit and a museum. I sit on the floor looking up and I try to draw, it is pretty hard on my neck. Here is a photo of my efforts.

These are two pictures I took of the NeoCave. We are amazed at the size, brightness and number of drawings. The NeoCave is better than not seeing them at all, but I can only imagine what it must feel like to have been able to see the actual drawings in their original setting. Hand drawings from the museum display.

We are the last people out of the museum at 8:00 and we need to drive home in the dark. This proves to be a bit of a challenge as we hit road construction, some detours and then we miss a few of the turns so made our own detours! Thank heavens for the iPad and its maps with GPS. I think we would have been driving around all night without it!

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