My last blog entry was a very, very long time ago and I'd rather like to revive the art. Just to get things going, the following offering is something I wrote for our local magazine about two weeks ago. Maybe I'll be more original next time, but in any case, I hope you enjoy it!
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| Barcelona Port from the Cable car. - Note the roundabout! |
“This wasn’t quite what I had in mind on holiday” said Andy, a
touch mournfully as we sat six inches deep in stinking, sulphurous water with
the rain coming down. The “natural spa” recommended so highly by our
hotelier sounded irresistible as he described it, surrounded by woodland with
stunning views, etc., etc…
To be fair, we were, it has to be
admitted, surrounded, but by hundreds of Italians sort-of enjoying a lunchtime
barbecue, and the rain, now coming down harder, rather messed up any view
further than a few meters away. “Well, at least it’s warm”, I replied,
trying my hardest to find the elusive silver lining around the ever-darkening
clouds. My normally smiley husband just looked at me.
Holidays rarely go exactly according to plan, but you’d think
that ten days in Tuscany in June would be pretty safe. And you’d be
wrong. In fact, we’d both had that sinking feeling quite early on
when we reached the ferry port in Barcelona. It might
possibly had started even sooner, as simply managing to find the ferry port would
have caused even the three wise men- with a star to guide them- a moment or two
of doubt. There was one sign to the port. And I do mean just One sign from the road. So we turned off it and the road appeared to go
downwards, which is always a good sign when trying to find the
sea. Then we became aware there were no more signs at all to
anywhere. None.
To be sure, you can see the port, but Barcelona port is quite a
big place, and do you really think that all those containers with Maersk on
them are a clue as to where your Barcelona – Livorno ferry might be found? No,
nor did we, so we kept driving, and my, “Look, I think I can see a ship!”
comments were not going down too well with Normally Smiley Husband who was
suddenly faced with negotiating a six lane roundabout in the rush
hour. The Satnav, need I even mention such an obvious fact, was
useless; give me guiding stars any day, but then we saw
it: the name of the shipping company, very small, on a
signpost. “I think we might need to go round the roundabout again,”
I mentioned, helpfully.
With our early arrival in Barcelona because we wanted to allow
time for sightseeing getting later and later, we found ourselves, eventually,
at the Grimaldi Line (new offices) terminal. We handed the official
behind the counter our booking form in exchange for the travel documents he was
handing out like sweeties to everyone else in front of
us. “Cheapferries. Madre mía!” And he went off
grumbling to himself back to his computer to enter our booking
number. He frowned, Then he frowned again. Then he got up
and tried someone else’s computer, and come back to us still
frowning. “Why you use Cheapferries.com? They always
problems.” Somehow, I was not surprised. Tired, yes,
hungry, yes, but not surprised. “They were cheap?” I suggested. (One
hundred euros cheaper, in fact, than booking direct.) “There is
problem,” he stated, inevitably. “Come back in a
hour”. We did, and then in another hour, and another, until he
abandoned completely all communication with www.cheapferriesmadremía.com and
simply stamped our booking form. Result!
There are many more stories, but suffice to say we eventually
had the most fantastic time and would thoroughly recommend Tuscany and its
stunning jewels of Sienna and Florence. But if you decide to go
please think hard about how you get there, and do,I implore you, seriously consider flying to
Pisa.
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