Andalusia

Preamble

How hard can it be to arrange flights to the south of Spain? Harder than I thought if you want to travel outside the main tourist season, which as far as the airlines are concerned ends on 31^st October! This trip needed to take place during the Autumn half-term break, which in 2012 included the first few days of November. In the end the best solution turned out to be to take a one-way flight into Malaga and another one-way flight out of Madrid. Actually it was to a little more complicated than that, while Lynn would indeed fly into Malaga and we would both fly out of Madrid, I would be arriving in Spain by surface transport from Morocco.

The plan was that we would meet at Hotel Las Americas, chosen for its location in the centre of Malaga very close to both the train and bus stations.

The plan for us to meet in Malaga works out perfectly, the journey from Morocco went fine with just a small wrinkle, I mistakenly got the ferry from Tangier to Tarifa instead of to Algeciras. I still managed to arrive in time to meet Lynn at the airport only for her plane to be an hour late. We didn't get to checkin at our Hotel until nearly midnight. Nick, my travel companion from Morocco, joined Lynn and I for a snack and a drink before we parted ways. Nick and I had left Chefchaouen before 07:00WET and the clocks in Malaga were changing as we drank so when you called it a night at about 02:00CET I had not the slightest idea how long we'd been on the go! Goodbye to Nick and back to our hotel.

We've joined up and it is now time to set off for the sights of Andalusia!

View Spain 2012 in a larger map

Afterword

We travelled ~350km (~220miles) by bus and about the same distance by train. The terrain and scenery was attractive and both forms of transport were comfortable, on time and resonably priced. I supect that one day we will return to Andalusia and visit Seville, Toledo and some other places that were not considered for this trip.

The Good

I found this trip to be very enjoyable. It was unhurried and the public transport meant that even the travelling was relaxing. I liked the city of Granada, not too many tourists and plenty of places to eat that were frequented by local people working and living in the city. I am glad that we opted for Cordoba in preference to Seville, the Mezquita de Cordoba exceeded my expectations.

The Bad

Nothing particularly bad comes to mind though the Alhambra and Generlife of Granada did not quite live up to expectations. Don't get me wrong, it was magnificent and I do not regret visiting but my expectations were high.

Customer Service - Good

My experience in recent years of customer service when dealing with product defects has been, at best, mediocre. The last memorable experience was in 2009 but I recently had cause to be delighted by another organisation, this time it was Kitchen Craft.

I phoned Kitchen Craft to ask if I could buy a small part for one of their products since it had come loose in the dishwasher and "disappeared". I was told that they had no items in stock at present but that they would send me the part when they had deliveries at the end of the month. So far, so good.

Two days later a package arrived with a part! Now it turned out to be the wrong part but I could see how my description had misled them as to the problem. I'm beginning to be pleased with them and when I phone them to explain that the part is not the one I wanted they reiterated that they would send me the part at the end of the month. A few weeks pass and I get a parcel delivery, it turns out to be a complete replacement product and a letter telling me that enclosed is the "replacement part"!

No fuss, no drama, just good customer service. You can be sure that I will look for their products in future.

Thanks Zoe!

Delhi to Kathmandu, the long way around...

Preamble

My trip plans for 2011 were thrown into disarray due to the Arab Spring. My original intent was to continue the Balkan trip by travelling across Turkey and then travel through Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Egypt, Libya ending up in Tunisia and then returning to Europe via ferry to Malta. While the situation in Tunisia and Egypt settled quite quickly the same could not be said for Libya and Syria. The tentative plan was quickly abandoned, and I urgently needed to create a new one!

I briefly considered South East Asia but decided here was an opportunity to travel in India. I decided to mix a trip with Dragoman with some time exploring alone. I found a trip starting early September from New Delhi and ending in Kathmandu, Nepal. I couldn't decide whether to go into Nepal or leave the tour before the border and return to New Delhi solo or continue the tour all the way to Kathmandu and return home from there. I decided to keep my options open which meant I needed a dual entry Indian Visa.

The Indian Visa process is in some respects a little simpler than when I applied for a business Visa in 2007. The online form completion was better but you can no longer get a visa on the day and the visa is effective from the day it is issued. I decided to get the application processed in person and after supplying all the details online I applied for an appointment, also online, and turned up at the Birmingham office only to be told that they couldn't process the form there and that I would have to go to London! Next day I spend travelling to London and after 5 minutes in the Indian visa centre I'm done. Most of the 5 minutes was paying the fee, which I had already paid online, this involved them refunding the amount and then charging it again! I was told I may not get the double entry visa. However, the rest of the process went smoothly with email and text message updates as the application proceeded and a few days later a dual entry visa arrived in the mail.

September 3 - 5 :: New Delhi

Warm feelings about New Delhi were not forthcoming, my flight from London has a scheduled arrival time at New Delhi of 23:15IST. Finding reliable transport, particularly at this time of day, is reported to be tricky.

The Dragoman trip starts from Hotel Good Times so I decide to book a room there and get them to collect me from the airport.

August 23-26 :: Croatia

The Adriatic Sea…,    from Balkans 2011

The final stage of our trip through the Balkans is not straight forward, we cross borders three times during the 150km drive from Mostar to the isolated enclave of Croatia that includes our destination, the city of Dubrovnik.
This part of Croatia was once the Republic of Ragusa before being conquered by Napoleon Bonaparte and goes some way towards explaining its isolation but, like everything political in the Balkans, the history is very complex. We did not stay in the old town but a short bus ride away at the Lapad peninsula.
The Old Town, Stari Grad, is by far the most significant attraction of Dubrovinik. We set off after lunch for the short bus ride to the Old Town to take a look for ourselves. The Old Town is not very large, perhaps 10hectares, surrounded by ~2km of city walls. On this tour we have visited several UNESCO World Heritage Sites and Dubrovnik Old Town is another one. That said it is not surprising that the Old Town is an architectural gem and that the damage inflicted during the 1991 siege has been repaired. However, for all its architectural charm and extensive history I was glad to leave the place. Why?

Clock Tower, Luža Square…,    from Balkans 2011

(i)   Too many people! I was told that Dubrovnik is the busiest cruise ship destination in the World, while this turns out to be an exageration it is in the top 10. The port authority now try to limit the number of passengers allowed to 8,000 each day but admit that sometimes it is up to 10,000. They are pretty much all in the Old Town and I cannot stand crowds.

(ii)  There is no character in the place, every establishment seems to be geared to separating the tourists from the cruise ships from there money in the short time that they are there. As for the restaurants, bars, cafés… they were all pretty bland, not international chains but infected with the same attitude as the shops.

One afternoon in the Old Town was more than enough. It doesn't have to be like this, I really enjoyed our visit to Kotor, another walled town that even had a cruise ship visiting on the day that we were there. I am not the only one who feels this way about Dubrovnik, take a look at Dubrovnik Travel.
During the rest of our time in Dubrovnik we spent our time in Lapad, walking, swimming and generally lazing around and enjoying being in one place for a few days. Lapad is pretty much a tourist spot but unlike the Old Town it is not invaded by hordes from the cruise ships. The pace of life is slower and more relaxed. Lynn made the most of these days and swam every day while I wandered aimlessly enjoying the coastal paths with few people and no traffic.

---

Map of the route .

August 20-23 :: Bosnia and Herzegovina

Border crossing…,    from Balkans 2011

For much of the journey we follow the River Tara (Drina) as it wends its way through the spectacular Tara River Gorge, the second longest canyon in the world after the Grand Canyon. At the border crossing between Montenegro and Bosnia-Herzegovina there is no official road. On maps you will see that the road stops short of the border in both countries. Nevertheless, our vehicle crosses the bridge which forms part of the non-existent road. We continue to follow the river for a while and then take highway 18 all the way to Sarajevo, the capital city.

Bašcaršija square…,    from Balkans 2011

We stay at Hotel Lion, a small hotel with small rooms but very conveniently located close to Bašcaršija square, the historic, cultural center of Sarajevo. We arrive early afternoon so spend some time exploring the locality and sampling the local food and drink.

Sarajevo Rose…,    from Balkans 2011

On Sunday we take a couple of tours. In the morning we take a walking tour of the Old Town with a local guide. She was a native of Sarajevo and had been a child living in the city during the almost four year period of the Siege of Sarajevo (1992-04-05 to 1996-02-29). The tour covered the entire historical period of the Old Town but every part was also touched in some way by the siege. We visited Jewish, Christian and Muslim places of worship which were all in sight of each other. We saw lingering signs of the siege and also saw the site of an earlier episode for which Sarajevo is famous, the location where the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria took place in 1914. The tour cost 20KM and was well worth the price.

Part of the tunnel…,    from Balkans 2011

In the afternoon we take another tour, this time we visit some outlying points of interest which are mostly related to the Siege of Sarajevo. Our first point of interest is the Sarajevo Tunnel Museum, located on the south side of the airport. During the siege Sarajevo was completely encircled and supplies were hard to come by. During the second year of the siege a tunnel was built starting at the site of what is now the museum and ran for the best part of a kilometer under the airport. Only a short stretch of the tunnel remains but there is more to the museum than just the tunnel, it is well worth a visit.
We move on to Sniper Alley and the Jewish Cemetery on a hillside south of the city. From here we could look down on the city from the vantage point utilised by Serb snipers. The beseiged must have shot back since many of the tombstones in the cemetary were damaged by bullets. Our final port of call on this trip is the Sarajevo Citadel, one of the few high points held by Sarajevo. From this vantage point you can look down on the old town and the cemeteries full of white headstones. The tour cost 30KM, and once again is well worth the price considering that included transport.
We spent the late afternoon and evening revisiting some of the sites in the old town that we had seen on the morning tour and then ended the day with a very pleasant meal at Restoran Pod Lipom.
Next stop Mostar, we head southwest from Sarajevo along the E73 for about 50km until we reach Konjic and here we cross the Neretva River which we then follow to Mostar. We stayed at the very pleasant and well situated Hotel Kriva cuprija, just a short walk north, on either side of the river, to the old town and the Old Bridge (Stari Most). We cross the river via the nearby Lucki bridge and walk to the beach near the Old Bridge and take the opportunity to cool down with a paddle in the river. We recross the river via the Old Bridge and explore the area north of the bridge. We make time for a beer and a snack and partake in a little "people watching". There are a lot of tourists and plenty of shops aimed at separating them from their money.

The Old Bridge (Stari Most)…,    from Balkans 2011

Like Sarajevo, Mostar was subjected to a siege, this time of 18 months during 1992-1993. During the seige all the bridges were destroyed though they have now all been restored. The Old Bridge (Stari Most) is a UNESCO World Heritage site and was the subject of a careful reconstruction using the original technology and materials. Reconstruction took 3 years and was inaugurated on 23^rd July 2004, eleven years after its destruction.
That's it for Bosnia and Herzegovina, now we head for Croatia.

---

Map of the route.