Entries about history

Given the mountains, it's unsurprising the Alps don't have a decent airport. And with the nearest being in Milan, that's where we headed for the last leg of our trip through the Alps.

Having spent 5 days in Switzerland, we were now heading for a final 2 days in Italy, a much much cheaper country.

We took the train out of Lugano, once again crossing the Melide causeway that splits Lake Lugano into two, passing the road to Campione d'Italia and heading further south to the southernmost points of Switzerland.

Before long we arrived in the border town of Chiasso. Here the train stopped and border guards came to to check the passengers. Annoyingly they also wanted to go through our bags - which were by now full of dirty clothes. The smell was probably enough to believe us, and not long later the train began moving again as we arrived in the town of Como.

From the train we got glimpses of the eponymous lake, and then beyond here we had entered the remarkably flat Po Valley - a real change from the last 4 days of our trip.

Around an hour later we arrived in the second biggest city of Italy - Milan The central station was huge and very grand. We then left into the huge and very hot square fronting the station, before walking the 10 minutes around the corner to our hotel.

As it was still early afternoon we then headed back out to visit some of the sights in the city, starting with Sforza's Castle - a huge castle complex fronting Sempione Park.

We had a short look around the castle, before making our way on to somewhere much newer - San Siro, the largest stadium in Italy and home to both AC and Inter Milan.

Our final stop for today was Piazza Gae Aulenti, a modern complex next to Porta Garibaldi station.

After heading back to the hotel we then went for dinner in the restaurant right across the road. It was here that the differences in costs between Italy and Switzerland were the most stark - even in Lugano (which is far from being an Alpine village) meals were at least twice as expensive as they were here.

The following morning we headed back to the station to catch a train headed to Verona. After some confusion with local grannies unable to read their tickets properly, we arrived in the historic city.

Jumping on a bus we arrived in the centre of the city, outside the grand and well preserved Arena that built almost 2,000 years ago, and is still used to this day.

We then wandered through the fancy city streets, before arriving at the exceptionally busy courtyard outside the Juliet Balcony.

Despite Romeo & Juliet being fiction, and debate as to whether Shakespeare had ever even visited Verona, the balcony on this old house has been designated as the balcony from the story.

It took ages to get into the courtyard, but we did eventually manage to get inside and a have quick moment before the next Insta model had her photoshoot on the balcony and ruin everyone's photos.

We then headed to the Market Square before a walk past some beautiful buildings on the way to the river.

On the walk back we grabbed some Gelato, viewed some of the pretty bridges over the river, before jumping on a bus to take us back to the station.

At the station, we grabbed tickets for the next train back to Milan. The route took us close to Lake Garda, and we had lovely views of the fort at Peschiera del Garda.

The following day was our last on the trip. With our flight not until early evening, we had time for a few last sights - so after check out we headed right into the city centre, arriving outside the city's most famous sight, the Duomo.

We then headed right around the corner to the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II, a beautiful old fashioned shopping centre, before heading back to the cathedral and grabbing one last Gelato.

We had now seen everything on our trip, and so headed back to our hotel to grab our bags and make our way to the airport.

It had been a nice trip, just a real shame the weather had not been on our side and not allowed us to fully enjoy the north side of the Alps!

When it came to our summer holiday this year we were pretty open minded - all we wanted was somewhere warm, a nice hotel with good food, and not in Spain.

Nothing against Spain - they do what they do really well, but after going to Gran Canaria last year, and having been to Spain 11 times before, I really wanted to go somewhere new this year.

We looked around for a while and started to settle in on Greece. I had been to Athens 10 years ago, but that was all. Visiting one of the islands would be a different experience, and we started to settle in on Crete. Nevertheless, we didn't want to book anything too far in advance - all the Covid related cancellations and reschedulings had scarred us, so we waited until relatively close to the time.

Then just as we were ready to book at the hotel I had found, I had a thought - is Crete the island we wanted to visit? I started to think about Rhodes, and realised it had more to see. Last minute change of plan!

We looked at the flights and they were all pretty awful timings. Looked at hotels and last minute bookings meant a small choice that met our wants. In the end it worked out better to go on a package with Tui than to book everything independently. Going All-Inclusive with Tui was no more expensive than our usual Half Board independent trip, so we decided to make our lives easier and do that. Let's treat ourselves - after all, we had scrapped a holiday in August anyway!

The hotel we found looked pretty good - but there were some sketchy reviews - ants, dodgy WiFi, smelly nearby sewage works. But the reviews for other good places we'd stayed before had sketchy reviews, and did some of this matter anyway? We took a punt and decided just to go with it!

Several weeks later, it was almost time to head off. Then two days before we were due to leave, the Queen died. How annoying - all the drama, special TV programmes and general excitement of this generational event was taking place whilst we were heading out of the country. We had talked about going down to London - maybe to see the lying in state. Then there was the funeral - when would this take place and would be able to see it?

As our flight wasn't leaving until mid afternoon, we got to see the official proclamation of the new monarch on TV that morning. We had heard rumours that the funeral would take place on the Monday after we returned, which would give us time to head down to London the day before (the day after we got back) but this wasn't yet confirmed

It was soon time to head off. Once arriving at the airport there was no mistaking the country was in mourning. There were images of the Queen everywhere, as well as a Book of Condolence, which we had signed as we didn't have time to visit one at home.

By the time we would arrive in Greece, we would miss dinner so we grabbed food from the recently opened Burger King in the departure lounge, before boarding our plane.

It was a four hour flight, so we'd got some newspapers, puzzle books and music to keep us entertained. Some beautiful views en route over the Alps and Italy and then just after sunset we arrived at Rhodes Airport.

Frustratingly most of the UK flights were arriving at the same times, and so there was a lot of hanging about. Baggage reclaim took around an hour, and then we waited ages for our transfer coach to leave. It then decided to reverse the drop off route and so we were one of the last to get dropped off. By the time we arrived at the hotel it was just after midnight - even accounting for the loss of two hours, this still meant 10 hours end to end. Being late there was just one poor man on he reception dealing with all the new arrivals. Eventually we managed to get our key and head to the room.

The bar was still open for another half hour, so we decided to go and get a drink so we could at least do something on our first day!

The following morning we headed down to breakfast, had our fill and then headed to the nearby supermarket to get some supplies. We sussed out the local buses and headed back to the hotel. It was then finally time to start enjoying ourselves! We made our way to the top pool - just next to the hotel where there was a bar. Found ourselves some sun loungers and grabbed some drinks. All-inclusive meant free, so we started working our way through the cocktail list.

After having dinner we headed down to the bar and then sat and enjoyed some evening entertainment.

The following day we decided to head down to the lower pool, which we realised we didn't enjoy as much, despite being closer to the restaurant with the Souvlaki. We briefly went to the beach, where the pebbles hurt our feet, before heading back up to the top pool.

After two days in the hotel, on the Tuesday we had a day out - heading south to visit the ruins at Lindos. After breakfast, we headed to the bus stop and got on a direct bus to Lindos. It took around 90 minutes and picked up more and more people until there was no room left, but eventually we arrived at the very busy tourist town.

The buses stop on the outskirts of the town, and everyone then walks down the hill, passing numerous stray cats, towards the quaint, traditional Greek town.

Many winding streets made this very busy, but before long we arrived at the entrance to the ruins. We bought out tickets online so we didn't need to queue for ages and headed straight through.

To be honest, these ruins were no more special than any other set of Greek ruins, but nevertheless they were still pretty and had beautiful views over the nearby bays.

We had a nice look around, before we headed back down through the beautiful town and eventually back to the bus station.

Arriving back at the hotel earlier than expected, we had time to go into the main restaurant for lunch (normally the effort to get dressed meant we opted for the Souvlaki and Pizza at the outside restaurant). We then had some more sunbathing before dinner and a visit to the bar that night.

After a day out, Wednesday was spent chilling in the hotel. However we overdid it a bit on the alcohol today. Too many strong cocktails too quickly. I had aimed to beat my record of 7 earlier in the week - but with 5 before lunch I ended up feeling queasy all day and gave up! A lesson for the rest of the week...

That afternoon there was a big changeover at the hotel. Many of the nice courteous (and mostly German) guests headed home, to be replaced by bus loads of Israelis who can only be described as "pushy". They made their presence known instantly and it meant and end to the nice orderly queues in the restaurant and the peaceful relaxing by the pool for the rest of the holiday...

The following day we again headed out of the hotel - making our way up to Rhodes Town. There is a lot of history here and it was a beautiful place to visit.

We started around the harbour - heading past many of the old buildings before reaching the site where the Colossus stood before being destroyed in the earthquake in 226BC, and now graced by a pair of Does. Pretty, but not quite on par with one of the seven Wonders of the World.

We then headed around to the other side of the harbour, passing three beautiful traditional windmills.

Just past these was a man looking after numerous cats, and finally at the end of the harbour entrance is another doe statue, and from where the Turkish coast can be seen, just 12 miles away.

We then headed south, entering the Old City, to where many of the most important old buildings on this island are located.

We walked past numerous souvenir shops, cafés, defensive and religious buildings of different types, representing the history of the rule of this island by the Romans, Ottomans, Italians and Greeks.

We then headed back towards the bus stop and eventually our hotel. Once again, being back at lunchtime we headed into the main restaurant for lunch. It was outside the entrance where we noticed one of the new guests, a young girl from Britain was hurriedly buying a T-shirt from the neighbouring gift shop, so she could enter for lunch - apparently dismayed that this 5* resort won't allow their guests to enter (barely) wearing a bikini...

The following day was our last full day. We again spent it around the pool, with cocktails and snacks before heading for dinner. Tonight the entertainment was "International Night", which basically meant getting out the bouzouki.

I decided to take a nice evening walk around the resort, taking a night time walk down to the beach and around the complex.

Our final day was now upon us, and thankfully our All inclusive wristbands weren't taken off us at check out, so we could again enjoy some drinks and snacks - particularly useful as our pick up was just before dinner time.

The airport was again full of faffing - lots of delays and extremely busy. A particular 'highlight' was the boarding of our flight at the exact same time as those at the gate next door. Everyone must get on an airport bus, and as there wasn't room to board both at the same time, we had to wait for all the stragglers heading to East Midlands before we could even start. In the end it meant boarding the flight 90 minutes later than departure was supposed to be - at around midnight - with estimated arrival back home at 2am (accounting for the time difference). Great...

This essentially made this a short haul overnight flight, and we eventually arrived home at around 3am (5am Greek time).

As planned, the following day we got up and headed into London to see the interesting, but busy and hectic funeral preparations - thank God for the extra bank holiday giving us chance to finally rest... even if my Out of Office was completely wrong...

Thankfully as the day we'd planned for our day out neared, the weather got good and it was going to be a lovely and warm! We had decided to head down to Sussex, and visit a few different locations we'd not been to before.

We headed down the western side of the M25, and made our way to Seaford for views of Seven Sisters, the beautiful chalk cliffs along the English Channel. These cliffs are 'cleaner' than the White Cliffs of Dover as these ones are allowed to erode and therefore prevent the build up of vegetation.

The best place to see them is from the Coastguard Cottages on the edge of Seaford, where the headland allows a beautiful side shot of the cliffs. After parking at the car park at Seaford Head, we took a short walk down the hill through the nature reserve towards the cottages. There were a lot of people here already, heading down to the beach for a swim or relax, but we headed back to the car as we had other places to go.

A short drive around the corner, and we made it to Beachy Head, the highest sea cliff in Britain. Consequently, it is the third most common suicide spot in the world, and as soon as we had parked we could see the signs reminding people to speak to the Samaritans instead.

There were however beautiful views over the nearby area and we took a short walk along the coast towards Seven Sisters.

On our return we stopped at the small museum before heading back into the car and driving through Eastbourne. We then headed inland to the village of Battle, where the eponymous Battle of Hastings that changed England forever took place.

We had booked our tickets in advance, and after parking up walked to the gatehouse, which is now the entrance and gift shop. We then wandered into the estate, and started our tour with a look inside the Exhibition Building, where some background history to the battle was explained, before we wandered around the corner to the battlefield.

As it was hot, we didn't walk around the field, instead looking from the hilltop. We then walked through the remains of the Abbey, which had been built by William the Conqueror on the spot of Harold's death spot.

Having done a loop of the complex, I then took a walk through the gatehouse itself, including visiting the roof for views down the High Street, which we then took a walk down.

By now it was already mid afternoon, and so we headed back towards home - but not before stopping by the Bluewater Shopping Centre outside Dartford, for dinner at a restaurant.

It had been a lovely day, seeing some new things in the glorious weather.

It had been a long time since we had had a relaxing getaway, and so we booked ourselves a lodge with a hot tub in Norfolk, and went up with my brother and sister.

We travelled up after work on Friday, getting dinner en route, before dropping our bits off at the lodge, located in the Fens in Norfolk. The Fens were historically marshy underwater land that was drained in the 1600s. Very much like the Netherlands they are incredibly flat, and contain lots of straight roads and drains, and arable crops.

After popping to the supermarket in Downham Market, we headed back to the lodge and made our first use of the hot tub, enjoying drinks and music in the soothing tub.

The following day we made use of being in this part of the world, by visiting the city of Ely. Ely was historically an island within the Fens, and although home to just 20,000 people is only of the most important places in the area.

After eventually finding a space to park we headed into the centre, walking down the High Street, before turning into the churchyard. Here the huge Ely Cathedral came into view. The cathedral has an iconic Octagonal tower, and dominates the skyline of the whole city.

Admission was £8, and so for the four of us this would have been £32 - but as the pay point was just inside the church we went inside took a quick look across the barrier, went inside the gift shop and then left.

We then headed across the Green, past the canon captured from the Crimean War, before arriving outside the family home of Oliver Cromwell, the leader of England during the Republic after the civil war. Inside, the building also functions as the Tourist Information Centre, where we bought some souvenirs, before heading along the circular walk around town.

This walk heads to the south of the cathedral through gardens dedicated to the Queen's Golden Jubilee, before arriving along the banks of the River Great Ouse.

After making it back round to the car, we headed to the lodge, where after a bit of lunch we spent the rest of the day in and out of the hot tub, mixing it up with games and chats.

The following day was our last. We had a pretty lazy day, in and out of the hot tub, and only leaving it to go for a wander around the edge of the campsite. At late afternoon we then packed up our stuff and headed back home, once again getting dinner en route.

It was a lovely weekend, just being able to relax in a nice environment and have fun and games with my siblings.

Now, with things slowly improving, and the possibilities for holidays returning, we decided that a break would do us good. Travelling abroad is still almost impossible, and so our attention tuned to where domestically we would like to go, and one of those options was the Highlands of Scotland.

As it would take almost 10 hours to drive to the Highlands, we decided to fly this distance instead and hire a car from Inverness Airport.

It was the first time we had been to the airport this decade, and the effects of Covid were immediately clear, it was pretty empty and face masks were everywhere. As we were on a domestic flight we did not need to take any tests prior to boarding the plane - whereas anyone going abroad was required to do so. Which all seemed pretty stupid as there is no separation between Domestic and International travellers in the airport. Someone with Covid could easily have turned up and spread it to those who were going abroad and there was nothing to stop that happening...

Luckily our outgoing flight was half empty, and so we had plenty of space to sit comfortably on the plane, even if face masks were still required for the entirety of the flight. Just over an hour later we landed in Scotland and after collecting our suitcase we joined the slow moving hire car queue to collect our vehicle for the next week.

Over an hour later we finally had the keys, and were able to make our way up the Caithness - the most northern part of Great Britain. It was still a two hour drive up to Wick, which after today's travel and waiting meant by the time we arrived it was already mid-afternoon. Therefore the only thing we managed to see today was Castle Sinclair Girnigoe, a ruined castle on the cliffs just north of Wick. It was a beautiful sunny day, which we did not expect at all. After grabbing dinner we settled in for the night as we had an early start the following day.

The next morning wasn't as nice as the previous day - quite overcast and a bit cooler - but still not terrible. We got up early and made our way up to John O'Groats, took a brief look at the famous Signpost, before boarding he ferry over to Orkney for our daytrip of the islands. Like at Land's End, although this is the furthest part of Great Britain, just beyond the coast there is even more to see!

It took around 45 minutes to cross the Firth, and en route we were treated to sights of a Minke Whale. We then arrived on South Ronaldsay where we boarded a coach for our day tour of the islands.

After crossing the Churchill Barriers, and passing multiple shipwrecks we arrived in Kirkwall, the capital of Orkney, where we went for a wander around the town, past the St. Magnus Cathedral, which was sadly closed due to redevelopment.

After taking a look at the Earl's Palace and Harbour we then boarded the coach an made our way over to Stromness, the second largest town and main ferry port from mainland Great Britain. Here we had lunch before we moved on to our first proper attraction - Skara Brae.

Skara Brae was a Neolithic settlement that was buried until a storm re-exposed it in 1850. Preserved like Pompeii in great condition, it is older than Stonehenge and the Pyramids, and has become the top tourist site in Orkney. Unsurprisingly it was relatively busy, by Covid standards.

We then walked around the corner to Skaill House on old preserved manor house, which overlooks Skara Brae, and contains amongst other possessions Captain Cook's crockery.

After this, we stopped at the Ring of Brodgar, a large stone circle on an isthmus between two lochs, and it's similar counterpart, the Stones of Stenness. Both of which are part of the UNESCO World Heritage site - the Heart of Neolithic Orkney, together with Skara Brae

After a comfort break in Kirkwall we then headed back towards the ferry port, via the Italian Chapel, built by Italian Prisoners of War at the end of World War II.

From here there were also views of Scapa Flow, a large body of water enclosed by the islands of Southern Orkney, in which the German WWI naval fleet was scuttled in 1919, and which currently serves as an ideal location of Oil Rig repairs.

After a return ferry trip back to John O'Groats, we headed back to Wick and grabbed dinner before visiting the Shortest Street in the world - Ebenezer Place, just over 2m long.

This was our last night in Wick, and tomorrow we would be setting off on a long coastal drive to Ullapool.