Stopovers on our trip last year

It is about a year ago that we went for a visit to family and friends in the Netherlands. On the way back we planned a few stops as we thought that breaking up the trip a bit would make us less tired.
That really didn't work but we saw a lot of new beautiful places. Our first stopover was in Zurich.
An old wealthy city were we stayed a day. We than traveled to Zug by train were we stayed the nigh in someones flat we booked through Air BNB and returned to the airport the next day. We also had one night in Singapore were we wanted to avoid the shops so we went to a nice island not far from the airport. Underneath some impressions of our trip.

Blowing bubbles in Zurich

Oia on Santorini

Another place ticked off my bucket list. We went for 5 days to Oia, a town on the cliffs on Santorini, a Greek Island. It promised to be everything I imagined.

I think of Oia; of the robust raven-black and red caldera, resting in deep blue water
A white-washed garment is draped on its slopes, decorated with dots of cobalt blue,
At night-time a veil of orange and red lays down on the shadows
The warm glow calming the mind and engulfing you in exotic dreams

I think of Oia;  Impeccable views of masterly carved cubes appear around the corner when strolling the narrow, whimsically winding, stone step pathways. A breeze stirs the air while sunbathing on the terrace of a tavern. The taste of red wine, the sound of crispy bread, biting in the smooth, ripe tasty Greek olives while drinking in magical Oia   

Fun facts of Santorini

• The official name of Santorini is Thira
• Ancient Greek Oia used to be where Kamari is now and was one of the harbours of Thera
• The island sits on a caldera of a massive volcano
• In 1956 the island was destroyed by an earthquake 
• Santorini is named after a small chapel of Santa Irene. It was given by venetian crusaders in the 13th century 
• Because of the Vulcanic nature of the island there are white, red and black beaches.
• There are about 15000 people living on Santorini (census 2011) on about 73 km2
• Santorini has a prominent wine and tomato industry

Vanuatu

When it rains it pours. The last year wasn't great. The law of attraction does seem to exist in positive and negative ways. My lantern was empty so I needed new fuel to shine again. To start we went on holiday to Vanuatu. It was about 26 C and a cool sea breeze made it just about right. We stayed at Port Villa on the island of Efate. Vanuatu consist of 83 island. The official language is Bislama (a form of pidgin english) and is spoken next to English and French.
Bislama got some funny frases like Gat hed (got head) means to be intelligent.

The island is peaceful and beautiful. We stayed at a resort with self contained apartments and a gorgeous beach and pool. A place to relax and that's what we did.

We love to explore so we booked a few trips. We went on the Congoola day cruise. A bit above our budget but it was all worth it. We hang out with some Australians. I don't know why the kiwis and Australians dislike each other as we had a great time with them. OK one sheep joke but I killed it with my look and then everything was fine. We also had dinner with them at their resort at night.

After a bus drive from Port Villa we stepped aboard 23m yacht and sailed across to a turtle conservation project. I made friends with one of the turtles, who is going to be released when he is old enough. After that we went to Sun and Moon bay and I snorkelled for the first time in my life.
Loved it to see the beautiful coral reef and saw lots of Nimo's and other colourful tropical fish.
Unfortunately I had to get out as the salt water entered my goggles and sting my eyes.

We also went for a trip to the Secret Garden where we learned a lot about the history and culture
of Vanuatu. There was a lot of black magic on the islands and we learned that missionaries changed a lot. They stopped cannibalism and having more than one wife. It is only less than fifty years ago in 1969 that a men was put in the oven on Malekula island. So now you know where to send your mother in law when you can't get along ;)  Our guide also showed us a construction used for the bungee jump on one of the islands. That's where AJ Hacket got the idea from and than brought it to NZ.  My husband got to hold a life coconut crab and we really enjoyed holding the iguana's, who are quite tame.

Another trip brought us to Ekasup Village, a "kastum" village where we learnt about the local customs and culture. We were treated with a dance performance and fire walking. It was absolutely fantastic. Most villagers actually live in the village a bit further down the road in huts, where poverty is very visible. The excellent show brings in a bit of income so they can send some of their children to school.
The contrast between the rich and the poor is enormous. The prices of resorts, meals, supermarkets
trips etc are the same and sometimes higher than in New Zealand, so lots of money comes into the island. It doesn't rubs off on the people. Many don't have an education so can't get a job and the people who work often earn only about $300 per month. The money must disappears in the pockets of some and probably a lot goes to foreigners as well. Vanuatu is a tax paradise and there is money laundering and organised crime.

We also had a swim in the blue Lagoon on our around the island trip and a visit to a WW2 museum
where a local passionately showed us his findings from WW2. Vanuatu was overrun by Americans coordinating defenses against the Japanese in the Solomon Islands, Papua New Guinea, and beyond.

Oh love to come back one day. The Pacific and it's people are very healing.

Tivoli, Lazio

I came across this panoramic image of the Tivoli gardens at Villa d'Este in Lazio about 30 km of Rome. I went there a bit more than a year ago with my mum and my son and a whole group of Dutch people. It was very hot, about 43 degrees Celsius. There was however lots of refreshing water and I forgot the heat when I saw this amazing garden and fountains.

   

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

"The fountain of content must spring up in the mind; and ... he, who has so little knowledge of human nature, as to seek happiness by changing any thing, but his own dispositions, will waste his life in fruitless efforts, and multiply the griefs which he purposes to remove."
Samual Johnson

Tonga The friendly islands

Malo e lelei all, we went a week to

Tonga the friendly islands

...and friendly it was. We arrived on Saturday late night. It is in the constitution that the Tongans are not allowed to do anything on a Sunday which is based on Christianity.There are no buses, no airplanes etc. Therefore we took a bike provided by our resort and it was fun. Everyone waved and smiled so I felt like a queen. The Tongans are also very helpful. One day we went with the local bus to the city to go from there to the island of Pangimoto. We asked the bus driver if he was going to the wharf and he nodded. He stopped at the central bus stop and a man hesitated to step on the bus as it headed in the wrong direction. The bus driver said" Come in I just drop of some papalangi (Europeans) at the wharf. He drove there especially for us :)

A photo book I made. As you see Heilala holiday lodge with its fales is gorgeous. At the start of the holiday I was a little stressed. I asked William "What if I end up in hospital. Because existing conditions are not covered by the travel insurance that would cost us a fortune". "Oh no worries" said William "I would just hide your passport, tell them I don't know you and run off" I laughed and

that was the end of it. I went to the beach, which was right on our backdoor, and enjoyed looking at the tropical fish in the coral reef as the water was crystal clear. Followed by reading my book in the hammock provided. No stress left.
To walk between the coral you have to wear water shoes as the coral can cut your feet. The water shoes were afterwards attacked by a thousand ants. It turned out that they love the jelly like soles of the shoes. We had to hang the shoes in a bag on the line so the ants couldn't get to them. The shoes fell apart however at the end of the week. Eaten I think. lol

  

One of the highlights were the blowholes and the magical blue waves, as you see on the pictures. Also on a day trip we went to a small cave where we dived in a fresh water pool at the bottom of the cave. Wonderful! It was also great to experience the culture of Tonga. To see the men sitting in a circle in their houses to share kava. To see the national clothing;  many men and women wearing a Ta'ovala which is the traditional woven mat on top of a wrap cloth skirt. If a close relative has died than the Tongans have to wear black clothing for up to a year.

People and food are important in Tonga. Time isn't. Therefore they speak of Tongan time. So life is slow paced. We tasted traditional delicious food at the cultural evening with food and dance which was fantastic. It was our lucky night as the queen was there as well. She sat only a few meters away from us.

The people are very religious. In every small town are a couple of churches. We heard the church bells a few times at 5.00 am in the morning. A couple had run out on the street, not expecting the bells, they thought it was a Tsunami warning. lol

We only stayed at the main island and visited a pretty tiny island. Tonga has however 174 islands of which 40 are inhabited. What we saw was beautiful but there is still so much more to discover. I hope you too can one day see this paradise for yourself.

Ofa (love) marja

Prague last part

Last pictures of Prague You could easily fill a whole Blog about Prague It breves history and art from every corner.

click to enlarge

Prague castle and St Vitus Cathedral. Charles IV started to build The Cathedral in 1344 It was finished in 1929. It has numerous beautiful side chapels. The Parler's Chapel of St Wenceslas houses the crown jewels and the tomb of King Wenceslas. The door towards the jewels has 7 locks. The 7 most important people in Prague have a key each. Prague castle is the largest castle in the world and build in the 9th century. It started with a wooden fortress The last face lift was in the 18th century. It always was and still is the seat of the Czech rulers.

The Czech already made marionettes since the 18th century. They are hand carved from wood or made from plaster. Some other typical souvenirs are Chech crystal and Becherovka Herbal Liquor

The powder Gate was build in the 11th century, when it was one of 13 entrances to the Old Town of Prague. Later it was used to store gunpowder.

The Municipal House, an Art Nouveau building which was completed in 1911. On 28Th October 1918, the historic proclamation of the independent state of Czechoslovakia took place here.

Look over the Moldau with the Charles Bridge in the background The bridge is protected by three bridge towers and is decorated with 30 statues.

A street in the Old Town

Two Czech people chatting in the park on Kampa Island. The building on the right with a golden crown on top is Prague national Theatre Opera

A beautiful house in Josefov (Old Jewish Town)

This statue of Jan Hus dominates the Old town square. Jan Hus was a Priest and lecturer at the Charles Univerity. He was one of the most important Czech reformers and nationalists. Because he criticised the Catholic church he was burned at the stake for heresy in 1415.

Terezin concentration camp

When I was in Holland I became aware that the tolerance, once a character trait of the Dutch, is slowly disappearing. I saw more and more signs of intolerance, xenophobia and racism and people voted for the party of Geert Wilders and his hate speeches against Islam. I noticed that this is not only going on in the Netherlands but that a wave is going through many countries. It made me sad and I find it also scary as we have seen in the past where hatred could lead to.
On our Prague holiday we went for one morning to Terezin, one and a half hour drive from Prague. Terezin is an example of what can happen because of racism. Many buses with schoolchildren went there. Hopefully they learned a lesson from it and these things won’t happen again. In the 18th century Terezin was build as a fortress to protect Prague and got the name of Keizerin Maria Theresia Terezin. Terezin or Theresianstadt consisted of the large Fortress which was turned into Theresianstadt Ghetto and small fortress which was turned into a Gestapo prison from 1940. Although executions took place at Terezin, most jews who arrived at Terezin, were sent to extermination camps like Auschwitch were 88.ooo died. Because of disease caused by overcrowding and poor health conditions 33.000 died at Terezin. At the end of the war 17.247 of the 144.000 who entered Terizin had survived We went to visit the small fortress which left a huge impression on all of us. It was quiet on the way back in the bus

The slogan "Arbeit macht frei" was placed at the entrances to a number of Nazi concentration camps

 

Vell blocks A and B consisted of 17 group cells and 20 solitairi confinement cell. 1500 people shared these blocks

In these cells 60 to 100 people lived together

About 15.000 children passed through Terezin. Most of them died They found some poetry of the children and made a book of them called "I never saw another butterfly" You can find .poetry from the children in the camp here 

The Butterfly

The Butterfly 

The last, the very last,
So richly, brightly, dazzlingly yellow.
Perhaps if the sun's tears would sing
against a white stone...

Such, such a yellow
Is carried lightly ‘way up high.
It went away I'm sure because it wished
to kiss the world goodbye.

For seven weeks I've lived in here,
Penned up inside this ghetto
But I have found my people here.
The dandelions call to me
And the white chestnut candles in the court.
Only I never saw another butterfly.

That butterfly was the last one.
Butterflies don't live in here,
In the ghetto.

by Pavel Friedman, 1942

Pavel Friedmann was born in Prague on in January 7, 1921. He was deported to Terezin on April 26, 1942 and later to Auschwitz where he died on September 29 1944

Contemporary Art in Prague

Prague is full of historical art but also contemporary art. The next three artworks are from the Czech sculptor David Cerny

The hanging man by David Cerny is a statue of Sigmund Freud hanging from a building in the old town. Sigmund Freud was born in Moravia in the Chech Republic

Two bronze sculptures in front of the Franz Kafka museum. The men pee on the map of Chech republic The water stream writes quotes in the water of famous Prague people

Miminka, local for Baby, by David Cerny. This is one of the giant babies on Kampa island. The baby has a barcode on his face as an imprint of the modern child. Many of these babies crawl up the Prague TV Tower

At the right you see a glimpse of the Dancing House, also called Fred and Ginger by the people of Prague.You can actually see see a couple dancing together It is an example of deconstuctivist architecture It is designed by Chech architect Vlado Milunic together with Canadian architect Frank Gehry.

Prague

Mayke, me and my mum went to Prague by bus and spent there 3 days. Prague the capital of Czech Republic is the most beautiful city I've seen sofar. It is as if you are in the Middle Ages when walking through the old City with its small streets paved with cobble stones. It is like walking through a huge museum with the most beautiful buildings in every possible style and with so much detail. Everywhere you look there is so much to see that you don't have enough time to take it all in. In two posts I'll give you a glimpse of this place I hope to go back here one day.

A ride starting on the old town square, going through the old town

A crowd is gathering to watch the astronomical clock

photo by mayke

Every hour the 12 apostles appear to bless the city. The clock shows the most important astronomical events like the movement of the sun and phases of the moon. Anything except the time.

We were not standing in the crowd but watching the clock through the window while eating one of these. Mmmm

On the left bank of the Moldau river and separated by the devil's stream from the lesser Town is Kampa Island where this beautiful street is

Mayke at the end of Charles bridge in front of the bridge tower. There are many artists on the bridge who sell their work.

Prague florished under the reign of Charles IV (1316-1378) He inhereted Luxembourg and the Kingdom of Bohemia. He was elected King of Romans and crowned King of Italy and the Holy Roman Empire. Some of the monuments by Charles include the Saint Vitus Cathedral, The Charles University and the Charles bridge.

The Vtlava (Moldau) river looks peaceful. There are many bridges connecting the centres at both banks of the river. The historical centre has 6 districts which were once independent cities. On this picture you look at the old city close to the Charles bridge