http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/mcfet/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from mcfet en-us Wed, 23 Dec 2009 12:25:10 +0000 Wed, 23 Dec 2009 12:25:10 +0000 Travelled through Slovenia on our way to see Hayley in Vienna where we are now. We only had time to stay in Bled and Ljubljana.Bled is very beautiful and we had a wonderful stay in Pension Berc. We managed to hike and bike which I enjoyed. Definitely a place to revisit. Ljubljana reminded us of Prague a smaller version of course. It was a shame that the weather has turned much cooler as I am sure http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Slovenia/Upper-Carniola/Bled/blog-328091.html We have been joined by our friends Sandy and John from Darwin. Spent one week in St Remy in Provence a very central and charming village. Provence is foodie heaven and we took great advantage of the excellent restaurants and wine. Of the many sights my highlights were Gordes Van Gogh trail in St Remy and The Pont Du Gard. I am sure each of us would have a different listFrom Provence we were re http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Italy/Liguria/Cinque-Terre/blog-324674.html Although Carcassonne is quite a stunning city perched hill on the hill and surrounded by its wall it was a disappointment to find out much of it has been rebuilt and not necessarily very authentically. Nearby however is the town of Lastours with 4 ruined castles to explore if one dares to takes the challenge of hiking up the hill. It was great http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/France/Languedoc-Roussillon/Carcassonne/blog-320176.html Spanish Beach sceneThe Costa Del Sol is a long strip of resorts of mixed appeal. We stayed in a small town called Nerja which is largely populated by British Tourists described as the land of ldquoSpam and Chipsrdquo. An apt description in some ways. We did however find great pleasure in renting beach lounges at one of the more sophisticated spots Marbella. An idea which could catch on in http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Spain/Catalonia/Barcelona/blog-318841.html We have travelled from Madrid to Cordoba and on to Seville. The weather is in the high 30s each day and this is probably mild for this part of the country. We try to take a siesta in the middle of the day largely to catch up on sleep after late nights.The most spectacular architecture is found in this area and strongly reflects the rich cultural influence of islam. We really enjoyed the Mesquite http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Spain/Andalusia/Seville/blog-315256.html Moved down into Spain and on the way stopped in the Pyrenees which was very like Barrington. In Spain our first stop was at Bilbao mostly for the Guggenheim museum. It is a fantastic building both inside and out. The photos do not do it justice. We spent one night out in the sticks at an old country 16th century house. The owner had done a great job restoring it and the views across the valley http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Spain/Castile-Leon/Salamanca/blog-313057.html After a couple of days in Paris we headed south to the Loire and then on to the Dordogne.If you like wine food beautiful countryside hot weather and charming villages then the Dordogne is for you. No wonder the Brits have invaded yet again This is a great place for a holiday particularly at this time of year when there is so much activity here.Days have been spent visiting villages and shoppi http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/France/Aquitaine/Dordogne/blog-309529.html Decided to use Navman for the first time. I found it unusual that Navman didnrsquot accept the destination but thought it was just the street number and so removed that and it seemed to accept it. The system worked perfectly well until we got to the final 200 metres. First Navaman instructed us to go down a One way street the wrong way. Roger didnrsquot mind doing this until we got to a Piazza http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Italy/Basilicata/Matera/blog-305880.html Now down on the heel of the boot in Italy. We have been in a region called Apuglia which is famous for these great conical shaped houses. The town of Alberabello is WH listed and has streets of them. We managed to find a trulli to stay in on the outskirts and it was great. The owners were very kind and took Roger and myself on a small tour of his property. We had to communicate in French which was http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Italy/Puglie/Lecce/blog-302471.html Just thought you might like to see a few images of this island. I am sure that you are already over reading my bits of news but perhaps the photos are worth sending.LoveHil http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Greece/South-Aegean/Naxos/blog-299488.html Walk to Oia at the end of SantoriniRoger had some stuff he needed to do so I headed off alone for this one.I left early 7.30 am to walk from Fira to Oia. It was a really good walk around the edge of the caldera and took about 3 and hours. It began climbing up to the highest point of the caldera winding through several other villages. Some of the little streets passed through absolutely fabulou http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Greece/South-Aegean/Ios/blog-299019.html We are now in Santorini. The flight from Australia went quite smoothly except for an extra delay by Qantas in Singapore making it a 5 hour stop. At least this allowed for a nap of about 1 hour on the floor. We spent our first night in Rome. It was hot and we didnrsquot have much energy but enjoyed a short walk around the city backstreets and a meal out at night. We were pleased to get our Skype http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Greece/South-Aegean/Santorini/blog-296884.html