Tuesday, 19 September 2006

The Costa Del Sol

Get comfy, this is a long one. =)

When one's company decides to whisk you away to a sunny resort for an extended training session, one takes full advantage of the situation. Which is how last weekend Stephen and I found ourselves on Spain's aptly named Costa del Sol. Specifically, we were in the little town of Fuengirola, which despite some not so nice rumours, turned out to be a delightful little town with surprisingly much to offer.

The hotel (Beatriz Palace) was absolutely gorgeous and situated right on the beach. As if sandy beaches weren't enough, it had a wonderful pool and full (though smallish) spa at our disposal as well. The massage I had was particularly nice, and had me completely relaxed for the weekend to come. As an added bonus, our room overlooked both the pool and the beach, facing East, so the morning sun came streaming in through our windows. I'm not typically a morning person, but it is difficult not to smile in the face of such a cheery waking.

Stephen flew in on Friday evening, and that night we took a little walk down into the town along the pier, stopping at one of the many little seafood resteraunts for a truly excellent shell-fishpaella accompanied by a local white wine.

Paella is a particularly wonderful Spanish dish that is much like Chinese fried rice, only with saffron, cumin red chilis and then whatever meat and veggies you care to add. Usually the meat is seafood in Andalucia, but it's not uncommon to get sausage either. A really yummy dish that I've never had a bad variation on.

Then we went to bed early as the next day was a full adventure - our first scuba diving lesson. It was with a local Padi centre, that Stephen booked in the next town over. They ended up taking us over to the Marina del Este. We have both really been wanting to try scuba for some time, and were quite excited. While Stephen seemed to take to it quite easily, I had a few difficulties.

A few of my thoughts on scuba:
- It is not nearly as easy as it looks. In fact I never fully squared with the idea that I was both underwater and able to breath easily. Not that it was actually physically difficult to breath, just that psychologically it doesn't seem quite right. That and taking "yoga breaths" is not the way to go nor is trying to "breathe normally". What worked best was actually using the lungs as a bellows and keeping air constantly moving.

- From what I gather from other seasoned divers (my mom and colleagues), is that our first dive was really quite deep (6-14 meters or 20 to 40 feet), which might explain why the surface of the water looked a bit more like sky than water. That was another thing that made it a bit difficult to adjust.

- The cincher for me was letting water into the mask. You see, I don't like having water around my eyes and when I then tried to clear the mask, I started to float off (the instructor had us kneeling on the seabed holding onto a rope) when the instructor grabbed me. So I had a mask full of water fighting the current and being held onto by who knows what. Nope, I was done. So I went back up to the top and after that wasn't really able to take the plunge to go back down. The panic reflex was much too strong. As as a result, I ended up missing the best part of the dive, which was swimming over to the reef and actually seeing fish and an octopus!

So, yes I chickened out, but I'd like to give it another try before completely deciding that it's not for me. Maybe something a bit more shallow (10-12 feet max) that lets us explore more without the focus on performing skills. As far as I see it the skills are a means to an end, the end being seeing stuff you wouldn't typically just snorkeling.

So that was pretty much the whole day, and since most of it was spent wet, the digital camera never made it out of our backpack, which was a real shame as the little bay was absolutely gorgeous. Oh well, getting an underwater disposable next time!

On Sunday, we decided to take some time and actually explore Fuengirola itself. Right next to the hotel was our first stop - Sohail Castle. A ruined castle from the Arab times that has now been converted into a concert space. It overlooks the bay and city (once a key fishing and trade post), providing the ideal defensive location for the region.

One of the things I always find fascinating about old buildings is how the various layers of construction is betrayed by the strata of stones.

From there we wondered through the town itself, taking any alley or street that took our fancy. Being a fairly traditional place, it was pretty quiet and people were sparse on this Sunday afternoon. I loved the architecture though, such a wonderful conglomoration of styles and periods.

We ambled past the main mosque, behind which we found a lovely little market with more people in a single street than we had yet seen all day. Fortunately, it was market for locals, which meant we got a to see a nice variety of goods and just enjoy the buzz of walking through a crowded space - stall keepers trying to attract shoppers, children talking their parents into buying sweets, people stopping and chatting with friends.

What was odd, is that in all our wanderings, we didn't see a single Catholic church. I can only assume that's because they were tucked into spaces we didn't happen to peer into or, like in Singapore, you really had to know what to look for to tell. Oh well. After a while we headed back to the water front for a cervesa and chat overlooking the beach and waves. The weather couldn't have been more perfect - brilliant sun, blue sky and water, white sand and a cool breeze that just hinted at autumn.

Unfortunately, from there it was time to collect our luggage and catch a taxi to the train to the airport, and the end to yet another adventure.

Wednesday, 13 September 2006

Scotland 2006 - Day 6 - A drive










Tuesday, 12 September 2006

Scotland 2006 - Day 5 - Hiking in the Highlands







Monday, 11 September 2006

Scotland 2006 - Day 4 - Iona

On Sunday, the decision was made to head towards Iona, a small island off the coast of Scotland, that is a well known pilgramige site.

In the middle of the 6th century, St. Columba (not to be confused with St. Columbus) arrived on Iona from Ireland after being banished, and set up a monastary on the island. It is thought that the Book of Kells was begun here, before being taken back to Ireland. (For those of you that remember, we saw The Book of Kells when we were in Dublin last year).

Needless to say, it was a good fit for a Sunday. =) Getting there, however proved to be a bit of a trip in and of itself, requiring no fewer than three ferries and hours of driving along one lane roads. yes, you read that correctly - one lane roads. But the scenery was beautiful. Unfortunately, due to the transit time, we only had but a few hours to spend on Iona itself, but we made the best of it.

First off, we headed straight for the Abbey, which is still home to the Iona Community. It's a beautifully peaceful place. Spending some time here in quiet contemplation would be a very welcome respite from the world indeed.

Then on the way back to the ferry terminal we explored the ruins of the 15th Century Benedictine Nunnery, that now serves as a lovely garden. Really beautiful.

On the the sea lion that accompanied our journey back to the Island of Mull, a sea lion decided to play in the wake of the ferry! Such a sweet face and a fantastic way to top off our day.

From Mull, we made our way back to Fort William and so ended another beautiful day in Scotland.

Sunday, 10 September 2006

Scotland 2006 - Day 3 - The Highlands

Saturday, we headed out of Edinbrugh to Fort William where Gib and Cherrie and their French friends had rented a house. Of course, one can't just go straight there, you have to take a few detours!

So on the way, we hit both the Falkirk Wheel and Sterling Castle.
The wheel is a rather ingenious structure devised to eliminate some 18 locks to connect two of the major river ways in Scotland, and is a huge feat of modern engineering. It basically lifts boats from the lower level up to the higher level of the Union Canal that goes into Edinburgh. Really neat to watch.

Needless to say Stephen and Gib were enthralled. They got to talking to one of hte river guides, who turns out used to be an engineer himself. So one thing lead to another and the guide (Stuart) took us up into the control room!

From there we had lunch and then headed over to Stirling Castle, located in the town of Stirling (surprise, surprise).

Picture credit: undiscoveredscotland.co.uk

The oldest stoneworks date from the 12th century, with the vast majority of the existing buidlings are from the 1500s. It's set up on a rocky bluff, much like Edinbrugh Castle, over looking the city of Stirling itself and much of the surrounding area.

Most "castles" aren't just a single building, rather a whole complex, including Great Hall, Kitchens, Chapel, Guards' quarters, stables, etc. A small fortified city really. While we were there the great hall was undergoing excavation & refurbishment. They had just finished with the chapel, and while we were there they had a small concert, which we stayed for.

Evidently the whole chapel used to be covered in frescoes, however few have survived. The reason these manged to was due to a false ceiling that was installed during the Victorian times.

For the last number in the concert, they asked for a percussionist volunteer. Cherie, Gib and I all pointed at Stephen, so he was handed this beautiful stringed instrument sort of like a struck dulcimer only smaller. After, it turns out that one of the performers had actually made the instrument himself! He didn't actually know what it was, but had based it out of a design in a manuscript he had seen.

Also in the chapel were two tapestries from a series that the Historians have been trying to duplicate. Turns out that they are being woven on the premises - and they had the area open so you could watch the weavers work! Needless to say, we headed over there next.

From there we headed out to see the rest of the castle. We got there quite late so most of the exhibits in the other buildings had started to close. This was ok, as we enjoyed just walking around the grounds.

From here we went to Fort William, which would be our base for the next few days to explore the Highlands. It's situated right on the banks of Loch Linnhe (pronounced like the female name Lynne), which lead up from sea level to the highest point in Scotland, Ben Nevis. Really beautiful country.

Saturday, 9 September 2006

Scotland 2006 - Days 1 & 2 - Edinburgh Fringe!

This year as our annual big week long outing we joined Stephen's parents in Scotland for two days of what is perhaps the largest art festival on the planet, <a href="http://www.edfringe.com/">The Fringe</a>, and then 5 days of touring, mostly in the Highlands.

Fringe was intense - 7 shows in 2 days, none of it like anything else.  A quick run down:

Thursday mid-day was <i>Devil's Advocate</i> which was a play based around the events leading to the surrender of General Noriega, specifically focused on his relation with the Archbishop Jose Laboa (The Guardian's review can be found <a href="http://arts.guardian.co.uk/critic/review/0,,1641945,00.html">here</a>. if anyone is interested).  As for me, while I agree that it was a good play in that it really made people think (and was the root of some really good conversation for our group),  I didn't like it, though I did in principle agree with the gist of what they were trying to say.  2 hours without an intermission is quite intense anyway.  But in the end, glad that I saw it.

Thursday afternoon was <i>The Adventures of Bitter and Twisted</i>, a little bit of puppetry and music around a typically Gothic style story.  Cute and fun, which was exactly what we needed after the hefty piece of theatre earlier.

Thursday evening was the ever memorable <i>Havana Rumba</i> (good 3rd party review can be found <a href="http://www.edinburgh-festivals.com/reviews.cfm?id=1164512006">here</a>).  I was expecting something in more of a cabaret setting, but it turned out to be an absolutely amazing stage show.  There was a "narrator", for lack of a better term, who's job it was to try to turn the show into more of a story, but the real feature was the dancing.  And ladies and gents could they dance!!  Absolutely amazing and it really made you wonder if music flowed in their veins instead of blood.  A really good mix of solos and group numbers meant that the dancers stayed pretty energetic througout.  I don't remember the last time we had such a fun evening out.  No one in the audience could sit still.

Friday late morning was an adaptation (mainly through substantial cutting to get it down to one hour) of Marlowe's <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Tragical_History_of_Doctor_Faustus"><i>Doctor Faustus</i></a> which turned out to be pretty good.  The one particular part of this adaptation that I liked was how they split Mephistophilis into 2 people, a man and a woman.  Excellently done.

Friday afternoon was <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assassins_%28musical%29"><i>Assassins</i></a>, the Steven Sondheim musical.  Unfortunately, the music seemed to be above the abilities of most of the performers (including the pit), though they gave it their all, and there were still some really good moments.  In particular, the actors who played John 'Wilkes Booth and Leon Czolgosz were very good, and I wouldn't be surprised to see them in a major theatre at some point in the future.

Friday early evening was <i>One Set to Love</i>, a comedy about two very English gentlemen exploring their past and making up after their recent estrangement.  This was a two man setting, which they played extremely well.  Good stuff.  

Friday late evening was <i>Knots</i>, which was the best show of the festival for us (review can be found <a href=http://www.edinburgh-festivals.com/reviews.cfm?id=1158962006">here</a>).  It was based on a set of writings by RD Laing, it explored the theme of modern British dating and relationships through both movement and speech.  Just incredible both in terms of character development (3 pairs, the women all called Jill and the men all called Jack), dance, and variations on the themes.  Difficult to describe on paper, but stunning, just stunning.  

I didn't take any pictures during this time, mostly because, as you can see from above, we spent almost all of our time indoors.  But walking through the streets of Edinburgh  was absolutely electric, the air literally crackled with the energy.  The city during the rest of the year is fantastic, but during Fringe it's something altogether different.  During those four weeks, it is indeed the centre of the arts universe, and everyone there is just having a good time.  Amazing, and will definitely be something that Stephen and I turn into an annual event.