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Our adventures in the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus continue....
Almost at the end of our Spanish break so Joan and I went back down to the beach at Las Alcazares to laze in the sun. We then went back to Mick and Pam's place to meet the dogs, a couple of real softies that are supposed to be guard dogs. I suppose that they bark when strangers are around so that is deterrent enough and the big guy is surely big enough to worry most. We went back to our apartment and then came down to Route 66 to sit with both Pam and Mick for a meal. It is difficult to pin them down together as all the restaurants are very busy and most nights it is 1 or 2 o'clock before they finish and can go home. I suppose that the tourist season is now coming to a close so things will ease off, but it is a lifestyle that I would not envy of them. This is now our last day in the area, so we drove over to La Manga to take a look and went UGH, who would want to live here. Then it was back to the beach for a swim and a lie in the sun. On the excuse that we needed to pack up and be ready for an early start tomorrow, we did manage to buy dinner for ourselves at a different restaurant and then having done a load of packing, come back down for a final drink with Mick and Pam. It has been a great holiday but has finally convinced us that Spain is definitely not for us. Maybe out in the country someplace but even there they have bars on the windows and we are sure as hell ain't no monkeys. I think the early start might be in doubt as it was once again 1 a.m. before we left them at their bar. We finally left the apartment around 10 a.m. and selected non paying route up to Barcelona were we had booked to stay overnight and to spend a day taking a look at Barcelona itself. We arrived at the hotel early evening so just stayed and had dinner there. We tend to use Ibis hotels when travelling, they are relatively cheap and available in most cities, plus we have a major advantage... a 10% discount card.
Five minutes walk from our hotel we were able to get a train that took us in to the centre of Barcelona. Well it would have done if we had got off at the right stop. We actually went too far and then had to get the metro back again. Should have bought that map before we set off. Once we had got back to the central bus station area we were able to get a tourist map to guide us and also to buy one day bus passes on the tourist bus. We decided to first walk around to one of the recommended pick up points. We started walking first near the Arc-de-Triumph and took a pic of Joan supporting the Arc-de-Triumph as it seemed to be the touristy thing to do. From here as we walked towards our first bus stop we came across all the Spanish parrots. which squawk everywhere, and nest at the top of the pine trees. The tourist bus system is good as you can get on and off as amny times as you wish, so we were able to get off and walk The Rambla which is a popular tourist street. Both sides of this wide boulevard has restaurants and tourist shops for you to browse and on the way down Joan pulled again, this time a man on a bike all painted green and carrying a skeleton. There were lots of these painted people for tourists aim their cameras at . A bit further down the boulevard we found a side street with market stalls and of particular interest were the stalls full of fresh fruit. This was all pre-prepared in plastic containers for you to enjoy at lunch. Also in the market there were stalls with a small sweet selection for those who would be tempted. After having eaten our fruit lunch we got back on the red route bus for a journey which took another two hours around some really interesting parts and to admire some of the very special buidlings which are all over Barcellona. There is a renowned Spanish architect, Gaudi who designed most of old Bracellona and this is one of many buildings that stand out as being very unusual. Another that was very impressive is now the National Museum of Art for Catalonya. The whole day wet our appetite for a return visit wehen we could really take advantage of spending more time at the many places to see. We ate at one of the street restaurants and enjoyed a seafood paella before going back on the train to our hotel, ready for the final part of our journey tomorrow, back to Ferrensac. OK folks, now it is really catch up time. We got back from our Spanish trip on Sunday evening and whilst we were there we found Internet connections almost impossible, so if you want to know what happened you will need to go back in to August. Suffice to say we are back and now actively spending time with some estate agents trying to find an alternative place to live. We called to see Barbara and Stewart today, on our way back from some agents in Duras and are very concious of the fact that we are taking up lots of thier garage space to store our stuff.
Have to say that taking this Alfa Romeo Diesel that we bought, up and down to Spain, as well as bringing it back from UK, has tested it well. It performed very well on both motorways and ordinary roads and has returned 40 m.p.g overall. With diesel being so much cheaper over here it is going to make a big difference to our motoring costs. We now have to take the Saab back to UK shortly and collect Joan's Peugeot convertible, guess we will do that within the next couple of weeks. Bob & Gitta arrived in Bergerac today for a short stay over here. As today was Gittas birthday and Joan and I celebrated our wedding anniversary last week, we had arranged to go to a well known restaurant in Bergerac and for Joan and I to stay overnight, in the same hotel, so that we could have a couple of bottles of wine and not worry about driving home. A super evening and a really lovely meal.
This morning, after a very leisurely breakfast, Bob & Gitta followed us home to have a look at the farmhouse and surrounding area. It was a lovely sunny day so we all sat out on the terrace and had a typical French salad lunch, with wine of course. They left late afternoon to go back to their hotel and we got on the phone to start making appointments to view some houses.
Managed to set up a number of viewings over the next few days next week so we sort of guess we will need to be critical of what we really want. There is so much property here on the market that you can spend hours just going through the books in your price bracket trying to select what looks possible. At the end of the day, Joan and I really wanted unfurnished rental and these are difficult to find, so we may just have to buy and tie our money up in bricks and mortar.
Yesterday was a quite glorious day so we just relaxed and made use of the pool. The farmers in the area are beginning to cut the sunflower crops so there are harvest flies about and they sure can bite, so that drove us indoors mid afternoon. When they, the farmers, had finished we were once again able to sit outside in the evening sun. I did spend some time watching this quite spectaculer munching machine but despite all my efforts couldn't persuade it to open its wings fully. All it wanted to do was to keep munching. Every Sunday, there is a traditional market in Issegeac Village, which is only about 5 miles from us. They call it a Tourist Market because there are many stalls selling traditional products and the village is quite glorious with many really old buildings and of course the local smitthy , but we go there because the Sunday market has some absolutely wonderful fruit and veg stalls and we can get enough really fresh stuff to last us all week. This week we also bought a chicken off the rotisserie man and enjoyed that as a late lunch. We are getting quite used to the tradition of eating mid afternoon rather than the English style of evening meals. We have selected three out of the many estate agents to work with. These come recommended which we feel is really important. We went over to Duras today and worked with Nicky from Clr Rouge. Out of the four properties that she and us had selected as being right for price and accommodation, we were able to cut it down to two good ones. The first was this old stone property which had been very tastefully restored and Joan found the kitchen to be really lovely. Just the way you would expect a traditional farmhouse kitchen to be. The place had about 3,000 sq meters of land a lovely big swimming pool and a real sun trap terrace. The second one we picked was more modern and much larger, in fact this is current favourite with a huge airy lounge and at the end of the building the conservatory. Note the fireplace in the conservatory with an electric hog roast spit. Boy could you have some super parties in this place. This had in fact 5,000 sq meters of land and a nice pool, a little green at the moment. There was also a massive barn on the land which could very easily be converted into a holiday rental.
Back to Duras today, this time to work with Beatrice, a lovely French lady with the cutest ass I have seen in many a long day. Stop it Frank, you are getting too old. At the end of the day we had again picked out two possibles. The first was ultra modern and in really pristine condition. Two possible snags, firstly the lounge diner which was just one room and open to the kitchen area, but it was nice and big and light with a terrace just outside which looked out over the very well kept garden and the vineyards beyond. Then the bedrooms were very small, but plenty of land space to go out about 4 meters and extend them. Once again Beatrice had picked out another stone renovation with this the lovely lounge. Four big bedrooms, three of them en-suite. Probably one of the nicest stone restoration jobs I had seen. Another for the possibles listing. We stayed locally in the Eymet area, out with Cathy, the owner of Eleanor Estates. We had only picked out three properties in her books but even then we have another favourite. This one was right in the middle of a couple of farms who have a reputation for some of the best wines in the area. Now that could be a real advantage. There were three bedrooms in the main building and a separate building with another en-suite bedroomn It was the position of this and the lounge which attracted us most, we believed that it would be unbelievable quiet. It was a quick packing job and early to bed as tomorrow we are off to take the Saab back to UK. We left at 0500 hours and then had a nightmare journey around the Paris peripherique. There had been two accidents, one a multiple pile-up so we more or less sat still for an hour. In the end we missed our boat time so had to get the following one. Whilst on the docks, we called Les & Jill and offered to get fish and chips all round, on the way in to New Romney. That went down well, especially when washed down with some of Les's home brew. Joan and I set off early this morning in the Saab, to collect Joan's new one, car that is. She wanted a convertible always as she had not forgiven me for selling her Suzuki. Guess this will do nicely. Will post more pics when we get back to France next week. When we left the LHD Place in Basingstoke we went over to Bob & Gitta in Sonning for coffee before the trip back to New Romney. The sun came out a little so guess what, yep the roof came off. Les and I went off for the day to go to a motorcycle event in Hazelmere, which is North/West of Eastbourne. We stopped off at a bikers cafe for the full English breakfast on the way as the girls did not fancy cooking for us early in the morning. The event was organised, I think, by the advance motoring organisation and Les and I attended a talk by one of the motor cyclists who has been a long term member of this group. After he told all the attendees about road care etc and showed some videos about what can happen if you get it wrong, I asked Les what time the next bus home was! Actually he is a very careful rider and I always feel confident on the back. There were obviously many new bikes on display and also some that went from the sublime to the ridiculous. The whole event was very interesting and it made an enjoyable day out. After we got back we all four walked down to The Cinque Port Arms for a couple of beers and then collected a Chinese take away on the way back. Joan and I had spent a couple of days doing some shopping and in fact today we went in Jill's car as she wanted to start doing the rounds of the garages to look at the possibility of replacing their 7 year old Astra. It had just passed its MOT but with a few recommendations about things that were going to need attention. Shame really as it had only done 35,000 miles from new. The weather was still good so Les and Joan went off for a fish and chips evening over to Margate. They were accopmpanied by Russell and Paul on thier own bikes. Not to be outdone, Jill and I went to The Bell Inn at Ivychurch for dinner. Jill and I went off on our own today to do the rounds of the garages, to look at new cars again. Joan did not particularly want to know about cars so just met up with Less at lunchtime in the village. We managed to get test drives and guide prices for trade in etc with Honda, Kia and Suzuki and then an agreement for them both to have a test drive in a Renault Clio tomorrow. At the moment the Suzuki is coming up trumps. The weather has started to get cold and wet now so we have had a couple of quiet days in and apart from that we think that we have bought more than enough to get in to Joan;s little car on the way back. Les and Jill went over to Ashford this afternoon and collected their new Suzuki Swift , they seem highly delighted with it. I think that their decision was influenced by the fact that Jill's sister has had the same car since the beginning of the year and sings it's praises. This evening we all four went down to Greatstone, to the Greek restaurant we all know there. We have used this restaurant for many a year and the owners came originally from Northern Cyprus, but left some time in the 50s to come to England. Today is our last day in UK and as it is Sunday and a supposed day of rest, we all went on the Marsh to a pub known locally as Doris's. This place is a few hundred years old but is very famous for it's real ale. Loooooovley. Early to bed, as Joan and I want to be off at 0430 in the morning. We got down to Dover docks at exactly 5.30 a.m. and were the last car on to the boat. There is plenty of space at this time of the year. We spent the time having an English breakfast in the restaurant as we sort of figured this would set us up for the long drive home. We were off the boat at 8.30 local time and shared the driving back down to Ferrensac. A couple of stops on the way for a sandwich and coffee and we made it home by 6.30 p.m. Not bad really and Joan's new car is great to drive.
We are back to the house hunting bit again and are quite determined to find a good rental. We will keep you posted. In the meantime I am also, together with Arie in Holland, starting to work on the new website. It is starting to get a bit colder here now and we are still waiting for somebody to come and put the new chimney on to the new wood burning stove, so have to make use of the electric radiators in the meantime.
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