CUBA – Oct/Nov 2006

I thought Greece was the main holiday of the year for Katy and I, and Berlin was a little addition. But Katy still wanted her BIG holiday of the year and boy did we get it. Wow! Cuba is such a good country to visit. Again, my expectations were exceeded and again we went at a time when there were not many tourists, which was nice. We did so much and it’s hard to summarise into a blog, but here goes.

We started in Havana for a couple of days – a unique city, with no modern commercialism, buildings from colonial times, and American cars from the 1950’s. We visited the Museum of the Revolution; the Havana Rum Factory; The Capitolio; Hotel Nacional with its spectacular Cabaret Parisiene; and several bars and cafes with great Cuban music.

We then moved on to Pinar del Rio in the countryside, where our hotel had fantastic views. We went horse riding and met a local tobacco farmer who rolled a cigar from the leaf for me to smoke and gave us freshly grown bananas to eat. We explored the local caves and botanical gardens, and rested in the evenings with a massage and sipped our cocktails after a swim in the pool.

We then took a short boat ride to the romantic little island of Cayo Levisa. This became our paradise island; just a couple of kilometres wide, with stunning white sands and turquoise sea. With very few people staying on the island we could walk from one end of the island to the other without meeting a person. One day we went snorkelling on the coral reef and the rest of the time we chilled on the beach, explored the wildlife (hermit crabs, fish, and so many different birds), and relaxed in the bar in the evenings. The highlight of the holiday came at the end of our time on the island when I proposed to Katy on the beach and she kindly accepted!

We then returned to Havana for a night before our final destination – Trinidad (that is really a town in Cuba, not the country). This was a quaint little old colonial town on the coast which is now a World Heritage Site. Although we had been upgraded to a wonderful 5 star hotel, we still ventured out to eat and one evening went to a local house where they made us a real ‘5 star’ dinner, with Lobster and all the trimmings – delicious! We explored the little market streets, the museums, and went on a steam train to an old sugar cane plantation. In the evening I enjoyed sitting on the balcony of our hotel, overlooking the local square, chatting with my fiancée about our future together, whilst drinking Cuban rum and smoking a Cuban cigar.

BERLIN - July 2006

So, Katy decides going to Greece is not enough holiday for one year and we ponder on where to go for a short break to Europe. After much deliberation we agree on Berlin; neither of us had been there. I have to say that I was very pleasantly surprised. Berlin is very cool! Actually, it was quite hot in June.

Katy is getting a reputation for choosing cheap hotels that are very nice and well situated, and she did it again. In the centre of Berlin, in an area surrounded by ‘posh’ shops, we stayed in a little hotel, which looked like it was built in the 1930’s, particularly with the décor of that time. We explored Berlin, including the Brandenburg gate and adjacent room for reflection and prayer; the longest remaining part of the Berlin Wall, with some very cool paintings on it; Checkpoint Charlie and the very impressive museum there; a number of funky little ‘beach’ bars on the river, with sand, sun, and beer; and a very cool free cafe. It really was a free cafe and you just made a donation, but you had to get there early to get food. There are some funky, cheap café/bars in West Berlin if you go to the ‘arty’ areas.

One day we jumped on the train and ventured about 20 miles north of Berlin to one of the original Nazi concentration camps, which was a very moving experience – seeing where prisoners had been tortured, shot, and burnt.

Part of the reason we chose Berlin on that weekend was because Calling All Nations was on at the Olympic Stadium. This was a fantastic event where thousands of Christians from around Europe met together for a day of prayer and worship, with several good bands, like Delirious. There was space for more people in the stadium, but nonetheless, it was a great day – meeting with so many different Christians from many countries, all singing along to the praise of God.

Berlin - highly recommended for a short break.

GREECE - March 2006

I’m the type of person who prefers holidays to be well planned in advance. So it was a little out of character for me to be so laid back about the idea of having few arrangements made for a trip to Greece with my girlfriend, Katy, before stepping on to the plane. We had booked a hotel in Athens, for the first and last night of our holiday, and the rest was in God’s hands!

Katy had booked a very welcoming little hotel in the centre of the old part of the city, with fantastic views of the Acropolis from our bedroom window. The local tavernas served great food and the whole area had a very pleasant atmosphere in the evenings. Athens doesn’t seem to have a great reputation with people I’ve spoken to, but I thought it was a good city to explore, if you chose your places carefully. We visited most of the ancient sites, which were intriguing and spectacular, including the incredible Acropolis. There are also some good markets, restaurants and museums in the city if you have a good guide book to find them. The biggest downside was that there were some quite unhelpful locals and even those working in tourist areas were pretty grumpy but that didn’t deter us making the most of, and enjoying, Athens. Fortunately, it was not tourist season so outside of Athens we felt like real explorers, although we noticed that not many people spoke English.

We jumped on a bus to Delphi – the centre of the world according to the ancient Greeks! Ancient Delphi sits high up in a mountainous region dominating the hillside with ancient ruins, including an amphitheatre and an ancient sports stadium. The view from up there is magnificent and the fact that there is nothing around but hills made it feel quite surreal. One evening I ate rabbit – yummy!

From Delphi we caught a bus down to the coast and over into Patras – the European Capital of Culture for 2006 apparently. We didn’t agree. As soon as we entered the city we wondered why we were there and thought it was a bit bland with nothing of particular interest, not even in the guidebook. So we spontaneously decided to jump on the next train out of the Patras and stayed in a little village further down the coast at the foot of a mountain. At 5:30am the next morning we took the little train up to the village at the top of the mountain. It was so high it was snowing, which was a contrast to the mild, sunny, spring weather on the coast.

From there we went to Nafplio on the South coast of Greece and this was our favourite place. It was a very quaint old town with narrow streets climbing the hillside, three forts, unique shops, lovely cafes, beautiful harbour walks, and a very relaxed atmosphere. Returning to Athens, we briefly stopped in Argos and Corinth.

A great adventure! It was so good, spontaneously jumping on trains and buses to unknown destinations, not sure if the single bus of the day would actually turn up! It was made even better by the fact that there were hardly any tourists around and the weather was sunny but mild.

SRI LANKA - March 2006

It was only eight months previously that I had been in Sri Lanka but this time it was for work. I was travelling with a delegation of government officials to Colombo for discussions on immigration. Being an official visit meant that most of the time was spent working.

Walking around in Colombo wearing a suit in the hot summer temperatures is not advisable but I didn’t have much choice. And anyway, it did feel pretty good jumping in a High Commission Land Rover and following the Deputy High Commissioner in her Jaguar as we sped off to negotiations.

Socially, the restaurants we visited were fantastic, including a beach restaurant just up the coast from Colombo (forgotten the name of the restaurant) which served a great fish platter, as we watched the moon shine on the sea. With Katy there it would have been romantic, with civil servants it was simply a beautiful evening.

ESTONIA / FINLAND - February 2006

The former Soviet country is probably known for few things, besides being cold! So it would probably be quite a silly idea to go in the middle of winter. Well, that’s exactly what we did. It wasn’t really my idea to go in February. The group of guys I had been working with in Pakistan were having a reunion and for some unknown reason chose Estonia as the venue. Although the capital, Tallinn, is getting a bit of a reputation for being a centre for stag parties, the winter meant there were few signs of this. In fact, there were hardly any tourists around. This is not surprising considering the temperatures were below freezing, but the constant blanket of snow was beautiful, as was the old city, where we were staying.

We were in a lovely little hotel, L’ermitage, that had a modern nordic feel to it. In fact, since the collapse of communism in Estonia in the 1990’s there has been a lot of reconstruction, not just politically, but also in terms of buildings – both residential and commercial. Entering the city felt like entering a Scandinavian capital. However, the little we saw outside Tallinn showed that tradition had remained in the majority of Estonia.

If going to Estonia in winter is odd, then going for a day trip to Finland, in the middle of winter, on a ferry, is crazy! But that’s what we did one day. It’s hard to imagine what minus 30C feels like, but, for the first time in my life, that’s what I experienced as we crossed the channel between Estonia and Finland – our ferry having to break through the sheets of ice en route – an amazing site of pure white as far as the eye could see. Helsinki was our destination and although it was interesting visiting the Cathedral, art gallery, and a tram trip around the city, we didn’t feel inclined to stay there for more than a day.

Back in Talinn, after walking around the picturesque old city and trying all the traditional eateries (I had wild boar for lunch one day), we spent our final evening in a pub with lots of great beer and some hardcore liquor called Vana Tallinn – that’ll put hairs on your chest! In conclusion, a beautiful little city, great views in the snow, lovely grub, and really good to hang out with the guys again and reminisce on the good old days.

From Canterbury to Ypres

Only about a month after returning from Pakistan I was off again, to foreign lands! The family (and my girlfriend, Katy) had met up in Canterbury for the weekend to celebrate my Mum’s birthday, where we stayed in wooden lodges in a beautiful countryside setting, a few miles outside of Canterbury.

Following this, my parents, Katy, and I went for a day trip to Belgium, via the channel tunnel and a pleasant drive through the sunny Belgian countryside. Ypres was our destination and it was an intriguing place to visit. This was the site where the front line of the first world war had been and the trenches were still there to mark this historical event. It was quite eery, being able to walk through the trenches. I even found an underground trench that linked up two main sets of trenches and ventured through the pitch black, wet tunnel. To think that men had walked, slept, lived, died, in those trenches was quite an emotional experience.

Carry on up the Khyber!

Last weekend I went on a great trip to Peshawar and the Khyber pass is north-west Pakistan. It has been said that in Peshawar everyone carries guns and it is not a very safe place for westerners. However, we found Peshawar a great buzzng city, full of life, and some of the nicest people we've met in Pakistan. As we walked through the husstle and busstle of the city centre markets, kids would ask where we were from and if we liked cricket, and the market traders would ask for their photos to be taken (see pic).
Beyond Peshawar the areas towards the Khyber pass and the Afghan border are generally controlled by local tribes and we had to have two armed guards from the Khyber Rifles accompanying us up the Khyber pass. Our guide was the same guy who had shown Michael Palin the Khyber pass and Peshawar in his latest TV series and he was eager to show us the pictures of himself with Mr Palin.
It was really amazing to be travelling up the famous Khyber pass (see pic) with all the history that had left its mark along the way - old forts, lavish houses of bygone drug barons, and the checkpoints and train tracks of the British empire. Finally, we were within minutes of the Afghan border as we stood on a hill overlooking the valley where we could see Afghanistan.
Another memorable weekend.

Pictures courtesy of me!