Author Archives: TJ

Eating gyros, watching the Giro and shifting gears, on the beautiful island of Corfu

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Porto Timoni
Porto Timoni

Friday – 20 May to Wednesday, 5 June 2019

It was Monday, the beginning of a brand-new week in Corfu. It was mostly overcast so our planned trip to the beach would not materialize. I asked Adri what she wanted to do to which she replied “I want to go to the airport”. I shot her a seriously questioning look to which she responded “I want to go somewhere where it’s flat, no perilous mountain roads today, please”. She does feel strongly about those pesky perilous mountain roads which we have been traversing since we arrived in Corfu.

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Exploring Corfu with its beautiful beaches and mountains… and dealing with the ugly old Beautiful

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Old Corfu Town
Old Corfu Town


Friday, 10 May to Sunday, 19 May 2019
Having arrived safely in Corfu we needed to start exploring and what better place than in old Corfu town. Not knowing the place yet we went in blind, found a parking spot, was told by the shop owner it was fine to park there, as long as you park on the right-hand side of the road… but only if you’re heading east, got it. The parking turned out to be perfect as it was only about 50m away from the start of the old town.

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Cape Town’s Day Zero arrived in Aspra; I nearly went coucou

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Cefalu

Cefalu

Sunday – 8 July 2018 to Tuesday 16 July 2018
You may recall from my previous post the dilemma I had experienced with the bad driving habits of the Sicilians… Well today, a week later, being Sunday and all, my faith and nerve reserve was sufficiently replenished to attempt a drive to Cefalu, some 60km east along the coast from Aspra. It was a gloriously sunny day, the town was packed, the beach was packed; we hit that beach with a vengeance. Continue reading →

Arriving in notorious Sicily scared the crap out of me…

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Francigena pilgram

Francigena pilgram

Sunday – 1 July 2018 to Saturday 7 July 2018
Sunday morning at 10:00, or last that was the plan, we tore ourselves way from Ponzano Superiore for our journey to Sicily. As we were packing our lives into the boot of our Clio a pilgrim came walking past and stopped right there to have a rest and some sustenance in the form of cold water from the village fountain. Continue reading →

Poppa Joe came to town and I was plakka happy

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Portofino

Portofino

Friday – 15 June 2018 to Sunday, 30 June 2018
The last two weeks of our stay in Ponzano Superiore would prove to be as wonderful as the first two, as per the post titled Living in a medieval Italian hilltop village is as idyllic as it sounds. We went about our lives as if we had always lived here.

Friday evening I was sipping the remnants of my birra Moretti while watching the remains of the day out on the terrace, I stared into the nothingness in front of me. There was no sound around other than the distant bark of a valley dog or the occasional braying of a far-off donkey somewhere. Continue reading →

Living in a medieval Italian hilltop village is as idyllic as it sounds

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Ponzano Superiore

Ponzano Superiore

Friday – 1 June 2018 to Friday, 15 June 2018
We left Sormano near Lake Como – which was home to us during the last two weeks of May (blog post to follow soon) – early in the morning and had a relatively stress-free drive with a lovely picnic lunch – with blanket and all – under the shade of an old tree at a rest station on the way. Ah, what bliss! But of course we could not linger too long; we still had some way to go to reach Ponzano Superiore, our new abode for the month of June. Continue reading →

How to do the Via Francigena… or how not to, depending on your politics

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The start of the 24th leg of the Via Francigena

The start of the 24th leg of the Via Francigena

Tuesday – 26 June 2018
If you were wondering about the name “Via Francigena”, I have to admit that even a few weeks back I had no inkling that it even existed. But let me explain…

When we moved into our apartment in Ponzano Superiore at the beginning of June we noticed a sign in the centre of the village that read “Via Francigena”. We started reading up about it and found that Continue reading →

How to do the Cinque Terre… or how not to… depending on your politics

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Leonard Cohen - The Best Of - Front Cover

Leonard Cohen – The Best Of – Front Cover

Tuesday – 19 June 2018
If you were wondering about the term used in the title – depending on your politics – please note that it has nothing whatsoever to do with politics… but let me explain. On December 31, 1974, Leonard Cohen (bless his soul) released an album, those days on vinyl, titled The Best Of.

On the back cover he gave a succinct background description to each song which I always found rather fascinating to read. Yes, I read it multiple times. He also gave an explanation of the album cover where he Continue reading →

Getting acquainted with Normandy and reacquainted with a friend from 30 years ago

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Cabanes at Gouville-sur-Mer

Cabanes at Gouville-sur-Mer

Sunday 11 March 2018 to Saturday 17 March 2018
Sunday popped in to say hallo and we greeted her with a smile, it was wonderful to wake up in Normandy. And just then there was an unexpected knock on the door, it was the landlady and her son who wanted to try something out. Now you may remember from my previous post that we arrived Saturday afternoon to bad wifi – or we-fee as it is pronounced here in France – and the landlady seemed to suggest that I surf from the comfort of the kitchen sink – which was closest to the router in their house next door – until the bad we-fee could be resolved on Tuesday. Continue reading →

We left Brittany for the battlefields of Normandy… and all that jazz

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Mont-Saint-Michel

Mont-Saint-Michel

Saturday, 3 March 2018 to Saturday, 10 March 2017
It was Saturday and Philippe and family had a surprise in store for us. We were treated to jazz at the Chez Constance Restaurant in a little village by the coast called Plougrescant. And all that jazz was accompanied by an excellent dinner of too many things to mention. What stood out though was the cabbage… now who would enthuse about cabbage you may ask. But, that red cabbage was simply delectable, and the owner did not get why we were so enthralled by it. “It’s just red cabbage boiled slowly for six hours, nothing added, nothing subtracted… “ was his response to our recipe request. Be as it may, that stuff was amazing! Continue reading →