Jousting, as it is practised in Sete originates, so the records say, from ancient marine sport played by Mediterranean fisherman, and first reported in Egypt in some 2000 BC. It was recorded as being played in SETE in the C11th and the sport was given Royal Approval in 1664 when this current tournament commenced. It's a game that sort of makes a mockery of Rugby, which is, by comparison, a new comer on the block, and cricket which at best is some 240 years old. Rugby, though, is also a favourite sport of the province and its played with similar gusto. [View Full Entry]

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Canal Du Midi Carmen directed us to the Europcar office at the railway station in Montpellier and told us where to go, but it was a one way street. We could see where to drive to but couldn’t get across to it. Di finally got out and asked questions and we followed those directions which brought us back to the same place and then we saw the narrow entrance by some rocks. We finally got in, checked in the minibus, loaded up our luggage on the shuttle, farewelled the little minibus and were off to the station… hopeful that nothing was [View Full Entry]

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Antibes We left Cinque Terre from the car park up the hill, this time toward Monterosso and across to the Autostrasse following the coast line and seeing the villages tucked away on the range, the olive orchards that crowd the road with great orange nets strung beneath them to catch the olives when they are picked-shaken (?) from the trees and then once on the Autostrasse away at high speed to France. We were doing 130 kph and cars were flying past us! Again it was a highway of classical Italian proportion; carved through the mountains and strung above the [View Full Entry]

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We have already published these photos but now have the diary of our three davs in Cinque Terre to add to them. Venice to Cinque Terre It had rained last night and as we were having breakfast the morning we were to leave Venice, there was lighting and thunder and it really bucketed down. We waited and then, when the rain eased a little, we decided to take off to the Arsenale wharf. D, H and W took off their shoes and walked in the wet and the puddles across to the promenade, dragging their luggage behind them. There we bought [View Full Entry]

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Venice. Venice is Venice is Venice - aptly described by a historian in the C17th as a place where people tethered their boats to their houses where ordinary people would tether their animals. The city became a trading centre and it wealth expanded exponentially as it trade routes and influences grew. Because of the wealth, it was able to divert that wealth to explore music, architecture, the crafts and it must have been a most remarkable city in its heyday. From the time that Rodger and Jan and Helen and Di were here last, they all said it was now much [View Full Entry]

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We arrived in Ljubjana and Carmen directed us to a closed off area with steel bollards blocking the small cobble stone streets. Obviously, changes have been made to the city and the old part of the city has been closed off to traffic other than to cyclist, skaters and pedestrian traffic. We ended up trying to work our way around the traffic road under the castle by way of the tunnel and came out on the other side of the old city but still couldn't get into the restricted area because of the bollards. Di managed to ask at another hotel [View Full Entry]

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We missed the new highway to Zagreb and traveled on the A1, which was the old route. It took us through some gorgeous valleys and past the Purecko lakes, which the road follows for over 20 km and where we stopped for a quick morning tea. The weather was so calm that the lakes were like mirrors and the mountains were reflected in the surface of the lakes as we drove along. The valleys were sprinkled with small villages half hidden in the green of the trees; all red roofed, three story high Croatian houses with a Swiss/Austrian touch, and [View Full Entry]

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This is the wedding we saw in Omis. I have had to split the video to get it to stream on the blog. I hope those of you that know Croatia will delight in the tradition of the wedding... I like the singing and the horn blowing...but I'm a noisy person. The group came to the docks and sang songs where the groom's boat was moored. Then the groom turned up in a car, presumably with the best man and sang songs, out of the sky lite. And then the whole group drove down the road, rooster still attached to the [View Full Entry]

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As we arrived in Omis the mountain ranges were just behind the town and a single para-glider floated on the air currents along the range above the town. As we moored at the wharf alongside fishing boats, a wedding celebration was taking place for the captain of a fishing boat moored at the wharf, who was travelling in a stretched limo to the wharf. At the wharf, a group of family and guests marched in singing obviously raucous songs. Then in response to this series of songs, the bridegroom and his best man popped their heads out of the sunroof on [View Full Entry]

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Here are the notes Dalmatian Coast I bolted down the hill to the Internet in Dubrovnik in 13 minutes, loaded up the photos of Dubrovnik and bolted back to the house in 12.5 minutes as a surrogate for skating training. The bus arrived at 12:00 and we took off for the wharf and loaded our gear on board the MY Atlantica at 12.15, then walked up and down the wharfs looking at the other yachts and the cruisers until lunch was to be served on board at 2.00 pm. On Pirate boat looked as if it had flown in from Never-Never [View Full Entry]

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