Travelling Simply

Travel recommendations, ideas and observations from two simple travellers

Tag: travelblog (Page 3 of 3)

Do you get tired of eating out when travelling?

28/11/2018 / / 0 Comments

One of the benefits of travelling independently is being able to choose where, when and what we are going to eat. No hotel buffet breakfasts, no dashing from the tour bus into the service station on the freeway for the obligatory 15-minute break to visit the bathroom and grab a quick lunch or themed dinners to attend. Instead, we take the many opportunities to sample local delicacies by visiting small cafes and restaurants that we come across during a day of wandering or eateries recommended by our apartment hosts.

Sometimes, when we are travelling for a long time, we tire of eating out. We crave for a simple meal without menus or waiters. Our solution is easy and always enjoyable and is easier when travelling in warmer climes.

Our favourite stops on our early morning walks are the vibrant daily markets found nearly everywhere we travel selling fresh fruit, vegetables, cheeses, poultry, meats and fish, freshly prepared meals.

  • Freshly prepared meals
    Freshly prepared meals in Nimes, France

In many countries, a visit to markets to purchase fresh ingredients for the days’ meals is an integral part of daily life. It’s lovely to see what the local people are buying and selling. The markets are more than that though. They play an important role in the community’s social life. Cast your eyes around any marketplace and you will see neighbours stopping to chat with each other, sitting down for a leisurely coffee together or simply sharing a joke with a stall holder.

  • markets
    The colourful morning market in Zagreb, Croatia

For us, visits to the markets are made more exciting when we decide that it is time to take a break from eating in restaurants. We can pretend for a short moment in time that we are part of this community. We are no longer bystanders or tourists taking snaps of mouth-watering food. We are on a mission like everyone else. What are we having for dinner tonight?

We’ll take a stroll around the stalls to decide (so much to choose from!) stopping at the various stalls to ask advice or taste test those local delicacies. When we’re ready, we take another turn around to make our purchases. We’ll select a good bottle of local wine, buy a selection of cheeses, olives, bread, fruits and other accompaniments.

  • Nimes markets

The next step is critical. Where are we going to enjoy our goodies?

Sometimes, our apartment will have a balcony where we can sit and enjoy an al fresco meal. However, the best meals are when we join the city dwellers who take their dinner out to the local park for a picnic.

  • Savouring French wine on a beautiful summer evening in Paris
  • palais-real
    Picnic in the park in front of the Palais Real in the centre of Madrid

Relaxing over our meal, often in front of a beautiful monument, listening to a small group of musicians or simply doing a little people watching is one most rewarding parts of our travels.

Travel’s a picnic! We recommend you try it on your next travel adventure.

On the way to the cemetery…

26/08/2018 / / 1 Comment

One of the things we love about travelling simply is meeting the people of the countries we visit. Travelling independently provides numerous opportunities to converse with locals, hear about their lives, their story, learn something new about their country and practice speaking their language.

An added benefit is arranging your own travel itinerary. We like to detour from mainstream tourist attractions to find our own small attractions and make the visit more memorable.

  • tiber river

We had taken a morning walk along the Tiber River in Rome, through the Rose Garden to take a peep through the keyhole on the Aventine Hill and decided to continue on to the Protestant Cemetery which is only a few kilometres from the Colosseum. We had found our way there on a previous visit and were keen to go back to the graveyard.

Wandering down the Hill, dazzled by the magnificent view through the keyhole (it was a clear, sunny morning and the view was magnificent), we became disorientated and wondered if we were going the right way. We are old hands in Rome and had come out without our map!

It is early and the streets are deserted. We stand at the fork of the road pondering on whether we need to turn left or right when we spot a man leisurely strolling down the hill puffing on his pipe, a beautiful golden retriever in tow.

We approach. He looks at us amusingly as we try our hand at asking him in Italian if we are going the right way. He stuns us with his reply. Not only is it in perfect English, but it is his accent which raises our curiosity!

None of us are in a hurry. We stand on the street corner as he takes pleasure in telling the story of his life. It is not extraordinary, an Italian, now retired who studied, lived and work in our home town, has children who live in our country which he visits every year but loves the life in Italy. It turns out that we have more in common than we thought.

Half an hour later he walks down the hill with us, tells us we are heading in the right direction as we part ways. The cemetery is less than five minutes away.

We spend an hour meandering through the cemetery stopping at the gravestones to read and reflect on the lives of the non-Catholic who lived and died here. The cemetery was established in the early 1700’s so there is a lot of history here on the life of the expatriate community in Italy. We only walk through a small section to ensure we come back again on a future visit.

Our visit is not complete without visiting a special part of the cemetery set a little aside in a tranquil garden, the final resting places of the British poets Keats and Shelley.

A lovely morning spent away from the chaos of Rome making new memories with a stranger.

  • keats tombstone
    Tombstone of John Keats

Footnote: You’ll find the Protestant Cemetery next to the Pyramid of Caius Cestius. The entrance is tucked away on Via Caio Cestio. Entrance is free, however, donations for the upkeep of the cemetery are accepted through a donation box at the entrance.

The long road to Oia

14/03/2018 / / 1 Comment

“You’ll have to get off and maybe even help push this thing up the hill”, he said. Had I put on that much weight?

We had decided to end our driving holiday around Portugal and the Spanish, French and Italian Riviera’s in Greece with a bit of time out on the islands of Santorini and Mykonos. The kind lady at the travel agent in Athens where we booked our ferry tickets recommended that we go to Paros or Naxos next time. “They are so much better”, she advised. It was too late to change our minds, our accommodation was already booked and we were keen to see why everyone raved about these two islands.

While I unpacked and settled into our unit He headed off the pick up the free scooter which came with our stay. It was the peak of summer, the island was busy with holidaymakers and day visitors from the cruise ships anchored off the coastline. We had decided to stay a little outside the town of Fira which was the reason the resort offered free scooters with their accommodation.

Have gotten ourselves and the scooter up the slight rise and puttered the short distance into town, we decided that we were going to need something with more power than this if we were going to venture further than Fira town to explore the island. We upgrade the scooter for one of those quad bikes we’d seen the youngsters whizzing around in.

  • quad biking on santorini

Nothing will stop us now. Our quad bike takes us comfortably up the hill to the Pyrgos to admire sweeping views across to the side of the island. It’s windy up on the hill but calm and idyllic when we reach Kamari, renowned for its black sand beach. A lovely resort town, we stroll along the promenade next to the beach, lined with small resorts and restaurants – cosy in comparison to Fira.

We have been told that the town of Oia at the northern tip of the island is the place to go to see the “perfect” sunset. We’d like to see it during the day too, so we follow the road. The road to Oia is bumpy although quiet and we don’t see much traffic or people for that matter all the way. Stunning scenery accompanies us, small fields of crops lumped in between small villages and vineyards with their vines growing on the ground in baskets rather than up trellises. We have all day, so we are not bothered by the long ride. Still, it is a long ride and Oia better live up to expectations!

We arrive at Oia tired from the long ride to find the place inundated with tourists. We look at each other and grimace. However, it is later in the afternoon and pretty soon the tour buses depart taking their passengers back to the cruise ship leaving us to ramble through the pretty laneways and craft shops. The scenery is magnificent. We had thought Fira was amazing, Oia is truly stunning, and not just at sunset. Make sure you plan your day to visit later in the afternoon once the crowds have disappeared when the town is left to the locals and the few remaining tourists who dare to wander about in the heat of the day.

  • oia-santorini-greece

We follow the more direct and shorter route back to our hotel arriving with sore bottoms from the bumpy ride but so happy that we dared to take the long road to Oia.

We do cram into a bus with other holidaymakers the next evening to make sure we see the famous sunset at Oia. The best locations are jam-packed with people poised with their cameras. We decide to watch the sunset from a rooftop restaurant sipping a glass of Santorini wine. Perfect!

  • oia-santorini-greece

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