Three months away - Italy & UK

[Antoallison]

Split was my base for a few days, but it is not a place I enjoyed because of the crowds. Game of Thrones and cruise ships !

I made a point of getting up at 6am to try and get some good photos and see the different area without the hordes and the heat.

Mid June was quite hot and humid however the beaches are pebbles or brown sand around the city of Split.

Great historical walking tour around the Dioletician Palace.

 

[Antoallison]

Sprawling Split is a good stopping off point to get to the islands though.

 

[Antoallison]

There are loads of great restaurants and bars in Split and on the islands but I also like having the option to be self catering for breakfast and some lunches.

i enjoy going to the fresh fruit markets and also browsing the small grocery stores for cheese, cold meat.

 

[Antoallison]

Serendipity ... during our stay in Florence we met up with a Doctor I worked with in RPH. She and her husband are enthusiastic birders and had booked a home exchange near Omis- Croatia booked for the end of June. They invited me to stay a few nights.

After my stay in Split I made my way from the dusty bus station there a local Promet bus and went further south down the coast, past the old pirate town of Omis which sits spectacularly in a gorge on the Cetina River.

My friend, her husband and their pal from the UK - an Anglican priest !!
[the thought crossed my mind that after looking for birds each day ..there would be little time left for drinking in the local konaba or dancing on tables) collected me from the bus stop by the side of the road.

The new build holiday home was like many I had seen (in a previous trip to Greece) all over Croatia... massive 2 or 3 storey buildings with fantastic tiling, but questionable electric fittings and all the buildings nearby had that nearly finished look.

A highlight was going birding in the Biokovo National Park... the bottom two photos are from their website...maybe I was too busy to take my own shots as I was trying not to be sick on the drive up the winding roads !

The mountain is the second highest in Croatia at 1,762 m and attracts a lot of hikers and cyclists. The views of the Adriatic and the islands from the summit are spectacular.

The nearest town is Makarska where we stopped for dinner on the journey home.

 

[Antoallison]

 

[Antoallison]

Eventually time to have a last G and T on the balcony of the holiday home watching dozens of ships take holidaymakers on the 1 week cruises along the coast from Dubrovnik.

I had to buy a new suitcase at a market as the wheels literally fell off my old suitcase after 7 weeks of being dragged over cobblestones !

A final pizza in the Konoba in Omis and a no fuss transfer to Split airport. What a bun fight that place is. In serious need of expansion and upgrade to F and B facilities.

I was booked on a BA flight Split to T5 Heathrow, very short transit and onto next BA flight same terminal to Edinburgh.

Sadly ...No Lounges, no showers, no salt and pepper squid or choices of champagne, no amenity packs etc were involved in these flights.

Just my own cash and M and S and a cheeky little bottle of bubbles !

 

[Antoallison]

 

[Antoallison]

Edinburgh Airport was easy to manage and had great transport links to the city.
I stepped off the flight and walked straight outside the terminal, bought a ticket on the new tram system for a smooth ride into the city.

I will try to keep the next groups of UK photos to a minimum (unless there is a place I thought very interesting) - as many AFF members will have been to the same towns in Scotland and England that I planned on visiting over the next 5 weeks.

I spent 4 nights in Edinburgh checking out the usual suspects. I pre-purchased a Senior Rail Card online which meant my rail fares were 1/3rd cheaper.

After Edinburgh I caught a train from Waverley Station to the small village of Cupar, in the Kingdom of Fife to stay with a friend.

 

[Antoallison]

 

[Antoallison]

Photos above are views of Firth of Forth on the Scotrail train..

Georgian House Museum was worth a couple of hours.

Walking back to my accomodation one evening in the lovely long twilight night, I cut through the graveyard at Greyfriars Bobby and saw a scene that reminded me of Picnic at Hanging Rock. The young girls running about the tombstones were in a 100 strong choir visiting from the USA and were about to perform in the church..so I stayed of course. Great impromptu night’s entertainment.

Last photo is in the ladies toilets at The Dome Hotel (once a bank building) where I took my friend for High Tea. Highly recommend it and The Balmoral Hotel too.

 

[Antoallison]

 

[Antoallison]

As luck would have it the small village of Ceres had their Highland Games while I was there. The games are held on a circuit of villages all over Scotland in the summer, so if you want to see one just google “ Highland Games” for the calendar.

Fife has lots of small fishing villages and gentle countryside for drives and fish n chip suppers. Not keen on those mushy peas though !

I took the train further north to Aberdeen to meet up with some ladies for lunch. I went early so I could also go to the Maritime Museum there.
Aberdeen is compact and walkable and although there was a freezing cold wind blowing most of the time, it was sunny in early July.

I enjoyed the information about the trawling industry in the 1800’s when the men went to sea and the women worked just as hard baiting the lines and selling the catch.

The museum is housed in a building dating from 1593 in Shiprow. There are maritime paintings and models of ships and a big section on the modern day North Sea oil and gas exploration industry that brings this town it’s wealth.
The brass object is a stencil used on the herring barrels - Caller Herrin means Fresh herring and Matties is the standard size of the fish - 9 inches.

 

[Antoallison]

 

[Antoallison]

Next day it was onward to the Balmoral area despite coming down with a cold. I don’t normally take vitamins at home, but when I am travelling I have a multivitamin tablet a day....it didn’t help and I could not shake this cold for a couple of weeks which made sightseeing and being on the go all day a little harder.

I was impressed by the variety of thistles about and the quest to see some heather took us to Cairn o Mount, with fantastic views to the coast and the towns of Montrose, Stonehaven near Dunottar Castle and as far down the coast as Arbroath.

No salmon a leaping in the River Dee and no spotting of Prince Charles in the tiny town of Ballater but a great salmon lunch nearby and a wee dram to help with the er ... cold and congestion !

On the train journey back the next day I stopped off at Dundee for a quick look at the new V and A - imo a wonderful design but artworks not spectacular and restaurant just awful.

As I am from Perth, WA I felt I had to stop at Perth, Scotland ..my advice to any other sandgropers is don’t bother !

 

[Antoallison]

Back to finish off this TR.

From late June till early August I travelled around Scotland and England by train, stopping for a few days in towns that I had missed on previous shorter visits.

I stayed in a mix of small hotels, airbnb and marvellous Keble College in Oxford, as it was Summer break for University students.

Some of my stays were for 2 nights duration in the homes of other members of a group that I have been a member of for a few years, called Women Welcome Women World Wide or 5W. There are members listed all over the world who are happy to either host with accomodation or just meet up and show a tourist around their city.

I stayed in York, Harrogate, Todmorden to access Haworth, Liverpool, Frodsham near Chester, Ironbridge, Oxford and then a final 10 days with my niece/family in London and Kent. Also stayed in Leeds - but I don’t recommend it !

 

[Antoallison]

 

[Antoallison]

Final days in Scotland spent seeing the quaint village of Falkland and Falkland Palace c 1500. The village has been used for the filming of the “Outlander” series. The owner of the gift/craft shop was telling me that they paid him for a week while they used his shop to film what amounted (in the final cut) to a few minutes of content. It was during the off season, so he was happy enough with the compensation for the disruption.

The University town of St Andrews was a nice day out and afternoon tea overlooking the famous golf course was a treat.

I wanted to see Holyrood Palace before I left Edinburgh, but I picked the one week of the year that the Queen is in residence and the very day of the famous garden party. So no go - but I did get to see an interesting exhibition on their cousins the Romanovs and all the invitees to the garden party in their fascinators and floral frocks !

Edinburgh has some fascinating buildings, great art gallery, library and museums but being very hilly I found a 2 day pass on the Hop on and off bus tour useful for getting about. I thought the Royal Mile was just full of souvenier shops selling tourist tat, but a walking tour exploring the laneways and alleys nearby was fun.

 

[Antoallison]

Time to leave my people watching pursuit of the ladies and gentlemen who scored invites to Holyrood for the cucumber sandwiches, strawberry tartlets and cups of the special Royal blend of tea, and head to Waverley Station, Edinburgh, taking the coastal route to the iconic Railway station at York.

 

[Antoallison]

 

[Antoallison]

York .. time for some train cough at the Railway Museum just a short stroll from York Station.

A wonderful way for train enthusiasts to spend an afternoon.

Over the next few days I wandered around the city walls, took a walking tour .. as there is no need for one of those hop on and off bus tours here, the city is very walkable. Bettys Tearooms in York (there are two) is a must do, although the one in Harrogate is less crowded.

It rained often - that warm English summer rain ! ... so I enjoyed an hour in the Jorvik Centre learning about the Viking connection.

Whitby and Harrogate are easily accessible from York as day trips.