BLOG 3 – SPAIN AND FRANCE AND OUR FIRST EXPERIENCES OF AIRBNB

 

I flew to Madrid via Brussels on Tuesday 16 June, after a lovely two weeks in the UK. Arriving in Madrid, I found a taxi with a very rude driver – not impressed with my luggage! – It probably also didn’t help when I tried to get in on his side of the taxi! Dah! He grumbled and seemed to be swearing under his breath all the way to my hotel! The next morning, Jenny arrived having had a taxi driver who toured the neighbourhood before finding my hotel – very near the airport! We explored our area and then went to the airport to fly to Seville that evening!

ANDALUSIA – SOUTHERN SPAIN in a few words equals: beautiful tiles, lovely food, plenty of sunshine, lots of heat and wonderful churches. We spent a day exploring Seville, another in Cordoba where we visited the famous Mesquita – it started as a Roman temple, became a mosque in the 8^th century and in 1236, the Cordoba Cathedral.  In Granada, we went on a tour of the magnificent Alhambra Palaces and Gardens for nearly three hours – no sitting and temperatures in the high 30s! Then, we went on to gorgeous Malaga where we loved the sea and the beautiful old city and the rosada fish for lunch followed by smoked salmon for super.

We stayed in three different airbnb places – each time sharing a room in the home of a local -  and found them all excellent value for money! In Granada, we discovered that our room was on the fourth floor and that was more than a mission with our gigantic cases. In fact, our hostess greeted us with the words, “Madre Mia!” and hired a young girl across the hallway to cart our cases out of the building when we left! Thank goodness, because the thought of that mission scared us both!

There is very little English spoken in Andalusia and so we were very fortunate that two of our hosts spoke French.  Our lady from Granada  very cleverly spoke Spanish into her phone which then translated her message into very strange, literal, but understandable English! We were impressed with her nonetheless, especially as she was not so young! We got used to lovely Spanish omelettes (full of potato), tasty fish, beautiful huge juicy cherries and lots and lots of water for the heat! We learned how to jump onto trains, buses and taxis and how to communicate in some basic Spanish words! It would have been lovely to have my Natalie with us as a guide and translator!

From Malaga, we flew to Marseille via Lisbon – and then had such a lot of luck with transport. We arrived at Marseille airport in a tiny TAP (Portuguese Airlines) plane – one seat on the left of the aisle and two on the right so it felt a bit unbalanced! We got our luggage and found the shuttle bus waiting outside. As we got on, it took off for the train station! At the station, a lovely Frenchman helped us buy our tickets at a very complicated machine with a huge dial instead of buttons – we went up the stairs and saw a train approach and literally got on with 30 seconds to spare! And an hour later, we were in Avignon in the south of France!

AVIGNON AND AIX-EN-PROVENCE - Our host, Gilles, was at the train station to meet us – in a tiny two-door Corsa – again horrified by two big cases! We managed though and found our room on the first floor – what a Bohemian place! The host reminded me of a Grahamstown festival chap – a forty-something actor with a Grahamstown festival home to match! There were lots of candles, quirky touches, a downstairs loo and an upstairs shower. The location was great though and we could walk everywhere so easily. We visited the Palais des Papes – home to six popes in the 14^th century. We also went onto the Pont d’Avignon, which sadly no longer crosses the river because it has been broken by flood damage. The town is beautiful and we had a lovely time wandering all over. In fact, we have walked and walked and walked! Thanks goodness for all those early morning walks to the Nahoon Beach since January.

From Avignon, we lugged our cases to the bus station and made the fairly short journey to Aix-en-Provence, where I have been before, but which was new for Jenny. Our hosts were away and so we followed elaborate direction to their home and again… more suitcase lugging once we got off the local bus. We met a charming very elderly Frenchman who told us how he loved rugby and especially the South Africans playing in France – like RRRorrry (imagine the French accent) Kockott! And can you believe it, I found myself sitting next to the very same gentleman on our bus trip into town the next day? He reminded me a lot of the lovely old gentleman in “The Holiday”, the movie with Kate Winslett! Aix is gorgeous… very pretty with lots of alleyways and lots of pretty pavement restaurants. Luckily, Jenny and I like the same food and so we have eaten tons of salmon, salad, fruit and sandwiches and even had some sweet, cheap pink wine!

It has been lovely sharing this part of my journey with an old friend and now it is time for Jenny to continue her trip to Grenoble, Germany and then the UK, while I start my next phase in Greece and Turkey with Adrian Slaughter, a friend and colleague from Hudson Park High. There will be no more speaking French, which has been fun.... and I really wish my Greek was better. My poem about a bunny rabbit, the Lord’s Prayer and the alphabet as well as some basic greeting are all my Greek – and that won’t get me too far! Never mind, miming and greekifying words might help! At least, all the Greeks will pronounce my name properly and you know how happy that makes me!

 

Seville Collage

Seville balcony

Granada Collage - Alhambra Palaces

Granada cat

 

 

Malaga airbnb accommodation

Malaga cathedral

 

 

 

 

Malaga Beach

 

 

 

Signpost to the cocktails

Malaga Collage

Avignon pictures

Avignon in the morning

Rotonde Fountain in Aix-en-Provence

Aix-en-Provence collage

Magnets to make Jackie happy!

BLOG 2 - MY BIG FAT GREEK HOLIDAY or THE AMAZING RACE AROUND THE WORLD?

Now that my two weeks stay in England is nearly over, it is time for Blog number 2. I have had a good time relaxing, mostly in Ashstead with Janice Schultz, galavanting around visiting friends and family, site-seeing and planning the finer details of my trip. It was a good idea to stay put for a while after the exhaustion of packing away my life at home into boxes and spare cupboards!

Here are some highlights:

AN EMBARRASSING MOMENT … We left Johannesburg late, because some toilets were blocked. After two hours waiting on the tarmac, they were still blocked, so the pilot decided to leave anyway! We arrived late which wasn’t a problem – other than that we had been on the plane for nearly 13 hours. I took the coach to Victoria Station and that was also a long trip. When we stopped, I collected my luggage from the hold under the bus and then realised that I had left my laptop on the bus! When I managed to get back in, I found it was gone! SO… I ran into the building shouting that someone had stolen my laptop – really shouting! As I kept running, I became aware of something bumping my hip…yes, my laptop! I must have shrunk to the size of a hobbit and I turned and fled outside – to find my suitcases abandoned on the tarmac, but luckily still there!

THE BIG WALK   ….   This was scheduled for the first Friday I was in the UK. Fortunately, my friends persuaded me that it would have been very foolhardy to walk 50 kms at the start of such a big trip. I am very proud of Rosie Davies, the girl with whom I boarded in 2003, who made it, BUT the sight of her poor foot convinced me that I made the right decision. I’ll attach a pic of her poor foot! I am going to give the money I raised to CHOC in East London and I sincerely hope that my donors understand.

SOME LOVELY SITE-SEEING …. I spent some time in the wonderful British Museum…getting ready for Greece and Egypt… always fascinating and I haven’t been there since 2003. Janice and I spent some time admiring the World War One exhibition in the Imperial War Museum – also wonderfully full of information and detail and so well displayed. Yesterday, we spent the day at Hever Castle, childhood home of Anne Boleyn. What a beautiful castle and what spectacular grounds. In addition, it was a special ‘40s weekend and many visitors had dressed the part! They were even offering ‘40s dance lessons.

CATCHING UP WITH “OLD” FRIENDS

It has been great spending time with Janice Schultz and she has kindly let me use her dining room table as my “office”! we are looking forward to a lovely trip to Egypt in November – a dream we have shared for over 30 years! Watch us barge down the Nile! I also spent time with Gill and Rosie Davies, back in my old room in Pyrford, Surrey – I stayed with them when I taught here in 2003. I travelled to Buxted to visit Trish Lavine, one of my best friends from school and university and we had a good catch-up and a lovely walk in the countryside. I took the coach to Bath to visit another special friend, also from the start of high school in 1971, Grace Cooper, and her husband, Howard. I stayed with them in their daughter and son-in-law’s Grade 2 listed coach-house conversion. I could just imagine Darcy (I wish!) coming along the road on his steed! We spent some time in beautiful Bath and went into the abbey too. It was great to catch up with Jackie Tuson, originally from Harare , and Zili Ziqubu, originally from Pietermaritzburg – both teaching friends at Woking High. It is amazing how some friendships truly do stand the test of time.

CATCHING UP WITH FAMILY … I spent a lovely day in Brighton catching up with my sister, Maria, just back from Riyadh, and her children, Patrick and Angela. Brighton is so pretty and we had a good time wandering through the lanes, eating good vegetarian food and walking on the pier! That is until a greedy seagull dive-bombed my head, stole the flake out of my ice cream cone and pushed my face into my ice cream! Patrick had his camera out to capture my shock! I'll try to get the pic from Whatsapp. No – I wasn’t eating with my face, as my daughters like to say!

WHAT NEXT?... Now I have to re-pack neatly and tomorrow morning I shall go to Heathrow airport and fly to Madrid via Brussels where I shall spend the night and await the arrival of my friend, Jenny Gillanders, so we can continue to Seville and spend five days in Spain followed by five days in the south of France. It is going to be exciting and challenging….especially finding our accommodation, which has mostly been booked through airbnb, a site I highly recommend. So, I shall sign off and continue from Spain.  Viva l’Espagna!

Thanks for reading my blog and to so many of you who, I know, are praying for our safety and peace.

 

Rosie's poor foot after the Big Walk

 

The Davies Home in Pyrford

 

The phrase "rubbing his nose in it" comes to mind!

 

Brighton Pavilion

 

With Maria in Hyde Park

 

Clever advert

 

Only in the UK!  Good sense of humour!

 

Grace and Howard at Poultney Bridge, Bath

 

 

 

Coopers' daughter's Grade 2 listed coach-house

 

I like these words!

 

with Jackie and Zili - Woking High teaching friends

 

Janice outside Hever Castle

 

Look where Bay 8 takes you....is Barnaby there?

 

Imperial War Museum

 

Lovely gardens at Hever

 

 

 

Scary WW1 gas masks

 

Seagull in Brighton - not my one!

 

 

Miller's cottage - Rode, near Bath... so pretty

 

my friend, Trish

 

and my friend, Grace

 

Thanks for having me to stay, Janice!

WHY I AM BLOGGING...JUNE 2015

Christalla Ferreira

 

HELLO! well, finally the time has come for me to see if I can blog! My daughters both tell me it is easy.. and I am learning as I go along!
First of all - why purple Ferrari? Well...I am rather a purpleholic, to put it mildly! I really do feel happiest in purple! And I tend to do things quickly, especially speaking! I think all of my poor students had to learn to listen very quickly in my classes! And also a Ferrari is fast, classy and expensive.....

 

Why have I decided to try blogging?  There are many reasons:

I am an English teacher and past examiner who has spent most of my life criticising and marking - so now it is time to see if I have any creativity! And I know any of my students reading this will be looking for missing commas, malapropisms, neologisms......!!! Have fun!

I resigned last year in order to pursue my dream - to travel right around the world and I am fortunate enough to be doing just that! I am writing in London right now! Panning this trip has taken lots of energy and involved lots of research and tracking down of friends around the world.

My main reason, however, is to prove that travelling to far-flung places is not only for young things with backpacks - a mature lady with a purple wheelie suitcase can also have adventures!  And I am going to have many, I know! I am grateful to friends who are joining me along the way...and to those of you who are hosting me later on.

And finally, I am grateful to God for my many opportunities and for being with me every step of the way - I know that I shall never be alone on this trip!

Please come with me and share my experiences - I promise not to be boring or self-indulgent (please tell me if I ever do become like that). So many of you, my dear friends, have given me such encouragement that I am determined not to let you down.