17 May 2010
Travelled from Brisbane to Sydney by Virgin. Beware of the great looking fake leather seats; one to two hours is about the maximum tolerance level as they must be unsprung and based with the best Australian hardwood.
Stayed overnight at the Sydney International Inn which is to be recommended for its closeness to the International Airport and also reasonably comfortable and priced (relatively speaking that is). Run by Hydro Majestic Hotels based in –wait for it – Kuala Lumpur.
18 May
Checked in for our flight to Seoul and proceeded through the security procedures. Travellers should be warned that Sydney Airport is still hung up on liquids whereas items with lethal applications such as ball point pens and electric toothbrushes are treated with disdain. Mary had a tube of body lotion confiscated because the contents stated as exceeding 250 mls. I was ordered to remove my toilet bag and reveal its contents. My tube of personal medication was put on full view to other passengers. I was allowed to keep it perhaps due to the compassion of the officer who may well have been similarly afflicted. For those puzzled you will have to remain so as this is by far enough information. I was just thankful I was had not packed anything even more personal!
Korean Air is an excellent airline. The seats were comfortable with ample leg room and the movie program was well coordinated with meal times. We were met and ‘processed’ at Incheon Airport with oriental efficiency and shipped off to the Hyatt Regency for our overnight stay. We were provided with dinner and breakfast vouchers and dinner was a presentable buffet style with plenty of choices. The breakfast was excellent, but I didn’t find the toaster! There was one because I saw someone eating toast, but by then it was too late for me to have some.
The hotel was classic Hyatt – two three quarter beds, soft doonas and marble like tiled bathroom with shower over the bath to meet the needs of all cultures i.e. those who like baths and those that don’t. It had a nice armchair and footstool, plus desk with expensive internet connections and a flat screen TV.
19 May
Another early rise (5.30) and early breakfast before being shuttled off to the airport for our flight to Madrid. We had the same type of plane (Boeing 777-200) so the comments above still apply except the choice of movies must have been made by James Valentine.(“Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief” plus “Dr Parnassus and the Imaginarium”). For some reason (probably fatigue) the flight to Amsterdam seemed an eternity. My backside became very sore with all the sitting, am thinking of getting an air cushion for the return flight. Amsterdam airport is very dated judging from the pokey transit lounge in which we were corralled for nearly two hours. Fortunately we will fly direct to Seoul from Madrid on our return trip.
I find these places really annoying. There must have been at least 100 women on the plane and there were only two toilets!
Cleared the immigration and customs with ease in Madrid and contacted the Citroen lease agents who collected us promptly and shuttled by Pablo to their nearby premises. There we signed a few more forms and were given a quick run down on our new vehicle.
It is the newest model and the colour is charcoal. Brian seems at home driving, but we have had words about him keeping me too close to the gutter!
Our hotel was only 3km away and Pablo set the navigation system to guide us there, which was just as well because we turned off the main avenue too early but “Sofia” (named by us after our very beautiful, friendly and helpful landlady in Cadiz back in 2006) skilfully retrieved the situation and got us to our hotel. Quick shower and were picked up by Brian’s ‘Intercambio’ Carlos and his wife Cristina to be taken for beer and tapas at a local restaurant. This was about 10 pm and we returned later at about 1am – yes we had definitely clocked into the Mediterranean time zone.
I kept my watch to Korean time which is one hour behind Australian time and by the time we got to bed in Madrid we had been up for 32 hours!
AC Coslada was the hotel we stayed in Madrid and it is very much Spanish modern style. The bathroom had a clear Perspex sink which was completely transparent. It seemed easy to clean, and it had been moulded as a complete unit with fancy taps and drain. Like the Hyatt, you needed to insert the key to turn on the lights – a bit hard to find in the dark, so Brian had to get his torch out to see where to put it. The public areas had a retro 70s feel with dark brown leather, and orange and red highlights in the form of ceramic bowls, and glass vases etc.
20 May
The next morning we treated ourselves to a lie in and a late breakfast before loading up the car and setting up the navigation system to guide us to Alhama (or so we thought). After the second roundabout we realised our mistake because we were being guided back to our hotel. We thought we would stay with that and reset the system in the safety and comfort of the hotel car park. However, we took the ramp onto the motorway by mistake. Luckily I had a Google instruction sheet which we were able to follow until we pulled in to fill up with petrol and reset the system for Alhama de Granada. After that we were fine except after a lunch stop of about an hour we discovered later that the system had hibernated and so we had to pull over and resuscitate it. Travelling time to Alhama was about 7 hours and Lisa met us and showed us around the house. She had bought us some fresh bread and Elizabeth (the owner) had provided us with a welcoming bottle of wine together with milk, fruit juice and a fresh jar of strawberry jam for breakfast. An exploratory walk around town gave us the opportunity to find a security kit at the local ‘reject shop’. This is a reflective triangle and a yellow vest to be set up and worn in the event of a breakdown or puncture. Spanish law requires that this security kit be in the car at all times. Hopefully while we will be complying with the law, we will not have to use the kit – fingers crossed. Tried out one of the local bars for a draught beer and tapas (grilled prawns) before retiring for a relatively early night.
The house is like a tree. Its roots are the entrance, laundry and a bathroom. One of the roots has a dip which is the dining room, and then a hump which is the kitchen and back patio. Then up the trunk to the first branch which is a bedroom, then around the trunk to the main bathroom complete with shower over the bath – Elizabeth is English and we all know how they love their baths – then up the trunk again to another branch which is another bedroom, then to the crown which seems to go all over the place with two more bedrooms, a living room a small ante room with a sink to wash the glasses? Another two patios before you reach the roof top terrace which overlooks the Church tower. The church bell makes us jump every time it goes off, starts at 7.30 a.m. to about 10.00 pm, but I’m sure we will get used to it. The view from the roof is over rolling hills and pastures with olive trees etc. Parts of the Sierra Nevada which we drove through are still covered in snow, but none of the ones that are close to us have snow on them.
The house is really cool inside, especially down in the trunk – but most of the rooms are light and airy and the patios are very warm with sun on them from about noon until 4.00pm. Elizabeth has planted lots of geraniums which are very colourful.
The temperature seems to be what we left behind. i.e. cold at night and early morning, but by mid morning you have to start stripping off.
The street is very narrow and we had to park the car a fair way away. We have been exploring other possible parking spots, but it seems okay where we have left it for the past two days.
21 May
Still need to locate the Internet to see if I can download all these notes to the Blog. However, Friday is market day so we stocked up with fruit and veg and then a few of the essentials from the supermarket. We are pretty well at home except we haven’t found any hard liquor shops yet although we got beer from the supermarket but they did not have any gin – my God how can you be expected to survive in this heat without a G & T?
Success, we found Supermercado Micro that stocked gin. We bought a bottle of imported Beefeater and found later that it had a non tamper seal. I was nearly frantic trying to break into the damn thing and at one stage thought I was going to have to smash off the bottle neck! However, all was well and we enjoyed a cool G&T on the sun roof.
We found the Internet Café but were unable to plug in the laptop because the boss had left for the day and the woman on duty needed his permission to connect us. The place is closed all weekend so it will now have to wait until Monday. This is going to be a long post.
22 May
Took a stroll down the Gorge today –heaps of history here, some good some bad. Took a couple of pics – one from the top before we set off and one from the bottom looking up. The square towered church you can just see on the escarpment marks roughly where we are lodging. Will try and include the pics in this post or in our gallery or both. (No success because the Internet Cafe would not allow me to plug in my laptop). Will try to add them later from my Message Stick).
We bought some fish for our dinner but it was a bit tasteless. It was called rosada presumably because of its pink colour. We are not sure whether to fault the fish or the fishmonger but whatever we will change both the next time we choose to have fish.
23 May
The day of rest – everyone in their Sunday best on their way to or coming from church. We found an English newspaper and had a restful day ourselves reading that and our books.
After dinner we took another walk around town to continue our orientation process. Probably try the tourist thing tomorrow and go on a guided tour of the heritage area.
