It’s easy to take a day trip to the little islands on the other side of the Venetian lagoon – Torcello, Burano and Murano. The most picturesque is Burano, which is actually a little achipelago of four islands, known for its brightly coloured homes and beautiful lacework. We succumbed to the charm of both. Even the dish antenna is painted pink in one of the photos!
Spring is without doubt the best time to go to Venice. The wisteria is out everywhere in April and it’s quite splendid. The photos below capture the essence of my Venice. Since we were there for a week and had a vaporetto pass, we took the time to venture outside the main tourist areas. One thing I remember is the somewhat misty light that pervades most of my photos. I also loved the slightly decrepit look of many of the palaces. And I absolutely adored the masks.
We went to Blois on Friday to complete the sale of our new house Closerie Falaiseau. A perfect day and I was able to take photos of the city from the north bank of the river.
When we arrived at our home exchange flat in Madrid, the first thing we saw was an extremely realistic bronze lamp lighter. During our visit, we found four other bronze statues of the same kind plus a “fake” one in the form of a “living statue”. It was amusing to see how people would give them a friendly pat on the back as they went past.
Apart from the Prado, Madrid’s main attraction to me are all the unusual things you keep coming across that I’ve never seen anywhere else. These are just some of them.
You can just see a building on the left that’s a squat and has signs up that seem to indicate the people have been evicted. During the day, all their clothes and furniture are gathered together in the middle of the square (Santa Cruz) and at night, they line up their mattresses under the nearby arches.
How to keep warm in a terrace café!
We saw a lot of cartoon characters in various places throughout Madrid posing for photos and asking for money.
Particularly in front of the Palacio Real, various invisible men were to be seen. This was my favourite.
The “living statue” is a well-known attraction everywhere in Europe but we were not convinced that this “escapee from Vesusius” was really alive. I think he might just set up his plaster cast and collect the money at the end of the day!
There are many shops with this type of fashion. Always very colourful. Lots of fabric shops as well which have virtually disappeared in Paris outside the Quartier Saint Pierre.
We came across seemingly hundreds of these queues and couldn’t work out what they were all about until we eventually came to a church that was bursting with people already.
Another indication of how alive religion still is in Spain is this stall on the Sunday flea market.
And on the same flea market, just look at this sofa!
On the same market, the dummies are obviously having a whale of a time.
I don’t know whether the emergency medical service is a colourful in the rest of Spain!
Our Plaza Mayor turned into a very busy and eclectic collectors’ market on Sunday.
Anyone for crisps?
And you can follow them up with sweets …
And last, but not least, we have Cervantes with his famous Don Quixote and Sancho Panza with a typical skyscraper from the Franco era (1950s).
Like many people, I had been fascinated by Pompei since I was a child, but I had never heard of Herculaneum (Ercolano in Italian) which was also destroyed when Vesuvius erupted in AD 79. Pompeii was impressive, but it was Herculaneum I was really taken with. It was a smaller town but had a wealthier population than Pompeii and was not discovered until 1709, meaning that it is far better preserved and less pillaged. Like Pompeii, it’s very easy to get to from Naples on the Circumvesuviana train. It only takes 25 minutes and in another 15 minutes, you’re in Pompeii. I suggest Pompeii in the morning and Herculaneum in the afternoon if you only have a day.
The Villa d’Este, more often call the Tivoli Gardens, is an easy visit from Rome. It’s no surprise that it’s on the UNESCO world heritage list. It has the most impressive number of fountains, nymphs and grottoes you could possibly imagine. It really is sheer magic. I nearly didn’t put the last photo in, because I think it’s actually rather grotesque, but it’s so well known that I thought I couldn’t leave it out!
Blois is in the heart of the Loire Valley and built on the Loire River. These photos are all of Gabriel Bridge, except the last, which is a gabarre, a traditional sailing boat for transporting goods.
I had never seen colours like those in the Plitvice Lakes National Park before. Every view was more marvellous than the one before!
