History
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Southwards: From Cairo To Luxor
There is a map of Egypt in a street in Old Cairo which displays all of the ancient historical and religious sites across the country. Amusingly, there is a big section coloured red which is labelled “A large area of desert with nothing in it”. As the plane starts to descend on the short flight from Cairo to Luxor, and we drop below the ever-present haze, the vast nothingness is there laid bare for us to see: the entire landscape is one single colour. Yes there are contours and elevation changes, but there is not a single break in the ochre blanket. That same map back in Cairo also had…
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Concluding Cairo: Time To Move On
Having visited parts of North Africa and the Middle East before, we know how common it is to see people spend a whole evening at an outdoor cafe table and only buy one mint tea all night, but here in Cairo there is another custom which has taken us by surprise: bringing your own food. Friends or families will occupy a cafe table all evening, order minimal coffee, tea or even just water, while tucking in to a bagful of food they’ve brought in from the bakers or from a takeaway, or even had delivered by courier to their table. How do these coffee houses make any money!? And as…
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Cairo, Saqqara And The Pyramids
It’s obvious as soon as we wake up that it’s quieter, Cairo’s volume levels have been ever so slightly reduced. It’s Friday morning, the working week here is Sunday to Thursday and today is of course the weekly day of prayer. Traffic is lighter and the streets are quieter, though as we were to discover later in the day, the respite is to be short lived. Absorbing ourselves into Cairo life has meant abstaining from alcohol – much as we enjoy bars, beers and nights out, we have been determined to do things the local way as much as possible. In truth, it’s pretty easy to do here, with the…
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First Days In Cairo
It’s somehow passed us by that BA are no longer providing meals on short haul flights, and it seems a 5-hour flight is classified as short haul. So there’s nothing, and by the time we make Cairo we are living up to our hungry travellers moniker. Cairo isn’t a traffic jam, it’s a complete gridlock, a gridlock of drivers who possess neither patience nor any lane sense and it takes well over an hour to inch and nudge our way from airport to downtown apartment. Dusk arrives on the way, and the air fills with the echoing and haunting call to prayer from the multitude of mosques around the city,…
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The Unique Village Of Clovelly
Venturing out of Cornwall and up to the north Devon coast, we take in the self-proclaimed “unique” village of Clovelly, knowing of its beautiful setting but knowing little else about it. We are in for a treat. The first thing which strikes us as “unique” is that we have to pay to get in to the village! At first we are a little baulked by having to fork out £8.25 each just to enter, but once we see Clovelly and learn about its status it all becomes clear and we don’t begrudge a penny of it. Clovelly is perched on a seemingly almost vertical slope, cascading from clifftop to shingle…
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Cornwall Revisited
Currently enjoying another spell in Cornwall, we are at the same time counting the days to our next overseas adventure, now only just over a week away. Here and now, on the cusp of the seasons, the Cornish Winter clings on while Spring struggles to make its entry. When we first made the arrangements for Michaela’s Mum to join us in Padstow for a few days, we really wanted to be able to show Norma all of the different reasons we love this place, show this place in all its guises, all of its different moods. In true Cornwall style, the first thing to play ball is the weather, and…
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Rock History & Me #4: Dunstable California
Just outside the nondescript Bedfordshire town of Dunstable lies a range of chalk hills known as the Dunstable Downs, home to some attractive countryside and the famous Whipsnade Zoo. In an unlikely setting just off the main road out across the Downs was the California Ballroom, a live music venue which in its day sat comfortably on every tour itinerary below the A-list. The California in the mid 1970s was the type of venue which would probably not get a licence these days, let alone be on a major gig circuit, without a major rethink. My first time was late ‘74/early ‘75, and my first impression on walking into that…
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Costa Rica Pura Vida
Rather like “hakuna matata” in certain African countries, “pura vida” can be heard, and seen, everywhere in Costa Rica, and really does have as many uses as the picture above suggests. It’s the motto of the national brewing company Imperial, it even appears on the national football team’s shirts. Above all, it conveys the contentment and happiness of the Costa Rican people. Costa Rica is a rather enlightened nation, one which receives envious glances from larger nations and greater powers across the globe, in terms of its environmentally friendly policies and its relationship with the natural world. It isn’t hidden and is most certainly not a role played by posturing…
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Hallelujahs In Alajuela
Including a break for lunch it takes about five hours to drive across country from the coast to Alajuela – it’s good advice when travelling Costa Rica’s roads to allow plenty of extra time, these roads are slow and there are regular delays. Alajuela, the country’s second city yet within easy reach of the capital, is our last port of call here, mostly for convenience as we are now close to both the airport and the COVID testing facility which is needed for entry in to the USA. Along with a fair pile of paperwork. A wander around Alajuela city centre takes in the cathedral, the adjoining green square and…
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Lakes & Mountains Of The Central Highlands
Two things which are a regular aspect of our travel but haven’t yet featured in Costa Rica, each come into play on our journey from Cartago to Atenas: a train journey, and a hire car. The rail service here is extremely limited, with just two short lines heading out of San Jose in different directions, one of which is, handily, to Cartago. Once the transport of fruit started to switch from rail to road, the railways steadily fell into disrepair and each time an earthquake wreaked havoc, another section was abandoned. Some modest investment has recently enabled purchase of old stock from Spain and new stock from China (not Derby,…
