30-March 2008

Well, our most recent trip to Wales moved to a different rhythm than the rest. Leah found a group of about 70 people all travelling to Wales for the 4-day Easter break to do a little hiking along the Welsh coastlines in a place called Pembrokeshire. It was organized by a selfless family of Londoners who organize everything (meals, lodging, itinerary, etc) and are just after escaping the city and taking trips while meeting new and interesting people. They put together an excellent short holiday for the group, and I know I speak for Leah when I say that we had an excellent time. We mixed with people from all over the globe. The Italian guy who congratulated the Sopranos on behalf of the Italian people for being authentic. The Hungarian girls who got moderately offended for being called Romanian. And the Indian guy from Singapore who reminded everyone not to bring gum to his country.

We stayed at what looked like a youth activity center (but with hotel rooms...?). In between the meals and hikes, I mopped the table tennis competition (ping-pong ego showing through...), and Leah taught the crazy Aussie's how to correctly throw a football. They opt for the underhanded Rugby dish move that just looks awful with a football.

We set off in the morning of the second day for an 11 mile walk along the Western ocean coast to a site called Green Bridge. The weather was fierce - windy and freezing cold. We trekked across beaches, up across some amazing cliffs and gorges, and through countless piles of sheep crap. Piles everywhere...apparently they like the views as well. At one point, it started to hail. Coupled with the 900mph winds blowing laterally, Leah and I both got free skin exfoliations to the right side of our faces.

Continuing to the end of the walk, we passed a sign indicating that we should not pick up any "unexploded missiles" that we might find along the way. ...This was worth a few seconds to ponder... Nice ocean walk, sheep happily grazing, flutes playing, and missiles...? (ok, no flutes..) As we found out, we were walking near a military firing range...which admittedly killed some of the sense of purity of our surroundings...but the views were still amazing. Upon arriving to the Green Bridge, which is a rock formation (resembling a bridge) extending out into the ocean, we came to a barbed wire fence blocking the path. Beyond it, was an active firing range. Evidently Wales is expecting invasion...


The second day of hiking was along another ocean coastline farther South near the town of St. David's - home to a cathedral of the same name. The Pope once decreed that 3 pilgrimages to St. David's would equal 1 to Jerusalem. High hopes indeed.

The wind was horrible today. Our group had to walk single file down the narrow pathway which snaked its way above the coastline. The wind gusts were strong enough to make you 'think' about every step and concentrate on where your feet were landing. Had the wind been blowing out to the ocean instead of from the ocean, I think I would have crawled instead of walked.

We eventually made it to a cove and had lunch on the beach. The stones on the beach were various shades of pink, blue, and green...making them all look like Easter eggs...suitable for Easter Sunday. When we finally arrived at St. Davids, and turned the corner to the lookout over the cathedral, I could see why the Pope may have once thought highly of this place. It was a gorgeous site - very old, but very well maintained. We took a short stroll through the interior, rearranged some furniture, changed the label on a sarcophagus, and then left.

A good trip! Next is Italy. Hopefully I can post pics...

The Green Bridge

.....?

In the hail...

Random photo

01-Mar 2008

So this past week, Leah and I went to the Portuguese island of Madeira for a short escape. We stayed at a hotel high up in the mountains and away from the major city of Funchal. Although at a glance, you’d think this is a great formula for peaceful nights, but I haven’t yet mentioned the civil war going on across the valley between random dogs competing for supremacy nor the roosters who refused to be outdone by one another and thus collectively decided to start “Cock-a-Doodle-Do” recitals at 4AM instead of 7. A few nights we were happy to scrounge together 5 hours of sleep.


Madeira itself is an absolutely beautiful place. The island is sparsely populated, most of the terrain and natural features are very much preserved, and everything seemed very undisturbed. (if that makes any sense) The mountains were gorgeous. My command of the English language isn’t even close enough to a level that will do them justice with words. The indigenous folk grow grapes for wine (including a sweet variety that tasted like a port), bananas, and sugar. All the young adults drank something called Poncha, which basically tastes like Malibu albeit a little stronger. Not my favorite.


We only had three days to explore the island, so for our first day, we climbed up another 400m from our hotel and walked west along a gently upward sloping levada (water way) for what was probably a few miles. We had to stop when the levada stopped and we realized we were in some pretty raw terrain. We’re rookies, so we turned back. Although there are a few photos of our little walk, they do a poor job of capturing the awe and jaw-dropping scenery that surrounded us. There is nothing like looking up and seeing clouds misting about – only a stone’s throw from where you’re standing.


For day two, we took what was supposed to be a 30 minute bus ride (actual time was like 90 mins) to the central city of Funchal on the Southeast coast. I was again bothered (Malaga) with someone’s decision to trade beach coastline for a huge ugly shipping marina, but I’m sure there’s more convenience and profit in having the marina right there. Oh well… Funchal was a great city though. It seemed to be a very exciting, very relaxing, very livable place, and Leah definitely agreed. We got to see a few markets, a few landmarks, and soak in some of the scenery. Other than being a *bit* expensive, and the entire city crawling with tourists (us included I suppose), it was a perfect little city.


While we were in Funchal, we booked a Jeep Safari for the following day. We got picked up at our hotel in the morning of day three for a full day off-road excursion around the island. (thankfully, it was just us and the tour guide) We climbed to over 1800m up on several occasions, and actually were driving among the clouds – passing through a few of them on occasion. That was just amazing. Some of the other highlights included seeing cows grazing on the edges of 1200m cliffs, seeing the turbulent ocean from a ledge 1000m up, and manning the guns of an old Russian tank as we leveled trees driving through the woods whilst taking out several enemy command posts and bunkers. (can’t remember if tank story was dream or reality…)


By the way, all of the altitudes came from the tour guide (hence the meters), but for reference: 1800m ~6000ft.


The photo feature with blogspot is broken or something. I may have been flagged as a terrorist....I'll get some posted just as soon as its working again

Next we’re on to Wales and then the much anticipated trip to Italy in April. Take care!