A Surfers Photographic Travel Blog
Hi All,
Thank you very much for all of your comments, we love logging on and reading your words. It helps us feel connected to home.
We have just travelled today from Lake Como, Italy through to Switzerland and we are now staying in Austria tonight. Thats the latest on our location.
The Internet at our Hotel in Austria is fantastic so i have uploaded all of my photos right upto date, be sure to checkout Spain, Italy, Ireland and France.
Ciao and Love to All
Justin, Mark and Julie
Venice! Wow! It has to be seen to be believed! The sheer size of the city surprised me. I knew about the canals but so many weaving in and out over such a bit area, incredible and I had no idea. Continue reading ‘Venice Rocks the Boat’
Sadly we depart our ‘toscano retreat’ We travel today to Oriago, a 15 minute ride out of Venice. We travel mainly the ‘autostrada’ (motorways) all the way.
We pack a picnic lunch for our driving tour of Tuscany. I feel as though we are on a movie set as the country is that beautiful. The hills are rolling and green with grapevines and olive groves as far as the eye can see. The roads are narrow and full of hairpin bends though and so a lot of caution is needed negotiating the. Our destination point is Vinci, the home of Leonardo Da Vinci. It is an interesting ancient stone place where the wealthy Da Vinci family were major land owners. We visit a museum set up on the ground floor of the family castle and fll of amazing original drawings, mechanical devices and statures. Leonardo was an all round genius it seems. He drew detailed topographical maps of the whole of Tuscano without the benefit of aerial photos. He was a scientist, mechanical engineer, botanist, had an amazing knowledge of anatomy for his time and of course incredible artist! Continue reading ‘Wild Boars Run Amuck’
The tourist information in Pistoia has been incredibly helpful. Pistoia is a medieval town, complete with stone wall encasing the centre and full of narrow streets and large Italian piazza. WE arrange accommodation through the tourist information at an ‘agriturismo’ (tourist farm accommodation) stay. We have found the best place to stay in Tuscany, at a very reasonable price, we are sure of it! In the middle of an olive grove with the lights of Florence in the distance! We celebrate with a bottle of local wine, some local pesto and of course olives all experienced outside in the cool evening air.
Sorry all for the lack of information on where in the world we are. It has been hard to locate internet in Spain and France. We spent a week in Spain at a place on the coast called Miami Platja, it was great weather, the beach was fantastic aswell. We met the brothers and sisters there and were able to get the meetings in english and also spend some time in the ministy. Continue reading ‘Inexplicably unbelievable’
As we approach the breakfast room Elsa and Luke are sharing cappuccino and the day’s text. Ciao! After our breakfast we exchange gifts. Elsa insists we take two bottles of the gorgeous Umbrian wine she has chosen for us to have with her meals. With Luke translating (he speaks better English than we at first thought) we can express our appreciation for all they have done. More tears, more hugs, Oh dear! Our drive today will take us north to Tuscany. We have told Tom (sat nav) to direct us on the scenic route. We are not taking motorways through this beautiful country!
After breakfast we plan to catch the train to Rome, a one hour journey. At breakfast Elsa, translated by Paula, her pretty married daughter invites me to go in the field ministry with her. I am disappointed that this won’t work out today. The group for field service is meeting in the huge foyer of the hotel so we are able to meet some of the local brothers and sisters. Elsa hugs me and Justin and explains something to them about ‘Australie”, ‘speciale’, ‘Justino’, ministeriale’, ‘Sydney’. The sister tears up and so I follow, not sure why but their love is tangible. Continue reading ‘What Lions, What Christians?’
We have breakfast together with Guiglio, Lisa and Josh Campara before they leave to stay at Bethel in Rome. Its been wonderful catching up with them on the other side of the world! We intend to visit Marmore falls, an incredible waterfall switched on and off at certain times of the day but roadworks have blocked access to them so we take the detour to Terni for shopping. The detour takes us along narrow roads, so narrow in fact that a bus and van do get stuck together! There is a lot of edging back and forth and scraping before the two vehicles are freed from each other. There was also some very animated speech and at that time I was pleased that I didn’t understand Italian!
It’s a four hour drive to Terni in Umbria to the Hotel Fontegaia owned by a special sister, Elsa and her 4 beautiful adult children, two of whom are married, who all live there with their 94 year old grandmother. Continue reading ‘We Feel the Pain’
We wake early this morning for our exciting day exploring ‘Cinque Terre’, (five towns). The Mediterranean is glistening as we walk easily from Riomaggiore to Manarola (1k). A marvellous paved walkway lulls us into a false sense of security thinking the path between all 5 towns will be like this. Manarola to Corniglia is 1hr 10min (3ks) and a rougher path, steep in places and ending with a stair climb to the village high on the cliff (300+ stairs!). Continue reading ‘Did Someone Jack this Road Up’
Our destination today is Cique Terra. We travel the coast road via Monaco and Monte Carlo. Talk about your rich and famous!! There are yachts moored here bigger than our house! Continue reading ‘Calf Muscle Workout’
We leave our lovely villa (where did that week go???) with it’s majestic mountain views and all the comforts of home. The villa’s white rendered walls, wrought iron window bars, stone paved courtyard and two storey design made us feel we had really tasted Spain. We drive north leaving the Costa Daurada part the Costa Brava into the South of France along the French Riviera. Continue reading ‘French Fries Anyone?’
We took the train to Barcelona today, a very comfortable trip of 1 ½ hrs each way. We met up with Geoff and Piriot Ring (from Wauchope congregation and staying indefinitely in Barcelona) at the central train station. Continue reading ‘Gaudi or Gaudy?’
Justin has an arrangement for field service with a pioneer, Matt, who has moved here with his lively wife Elke from Norwich, England. Continue reading ‘Out on the Work’
The plan was to look at some of the local shops but they are very limited so it was a much better option to lie on the beach and swim in the Mediterranean. It was lovely, cool but crystal clear. It’s a warm day. We met the English congregation back in Constanti (Tarragona) at 5.00pm for field service. Their English speaking territory consists mainly of immigrants from Ghana and Nigeria. There is plenty of return visits and Bible studies. We were glad to know the pioneers we work with on this side of the world, have the sophisticated custom of stopping for a coffee too!
Before going to Tarragona yesterday we found the local Miami Platja Kingdom Hall via the information centre, a helpful lady in a shop and Justin’s handy Spanish. Continue reading ‘Spanglish Comes in Handy’
Today we take a trip to Tarragona, 35 minutes north of us towards Barcelona and the first
Roman settlement in Spain, built in 2 BC. The ancient walled city exists inside the sprawling, more modern city. Augustus lived and ruled from here. We walked around the remains of a Colosseum, temple and amphitheater. The Romans knew where to build too, location, location, location as they say. The ruins are right on the coast with magnificent views of the turquoise Mediterranean.
We have a day of R & R today after the days of driving.
It is approximately a 3 hour drive to our villa in Spain in Miami Platja (said playa) south of Barcelona. It amazes us that crossing an invisible line that is a border creates such changes in culture, architecture, language, landscape and unbelievable even weather it seems. France is old but maintained, quaint, pretty, green, made of stone. Continue reading ‘Under Construction’
We have a long drive today. We want to see the bridge in Millau, it’s a bit of a detour and more back roads but we’re sure seeing the country! This is real
It’s a very wet morning; however this clears by lunchtime to a sunny 25C day. We are heading west to
We leave our apartment at 7.30am. It’s a rather arduous trip to pick up our car on the northern outskirts of
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