The Holy Grail (Valencia Old Town)

And Hurricane Gabrielle has left the building, dear reader. The day dawned bright and beautiful with cracking blue skies. The perfect day to visit Old Town of Valencia. We had discussed this previously with the conçierge and he recommended the Metro as the walk could take around 50 minutes. On such a stunning day and still needing to work off the excesses of the Catalonia tour, we opted to walk. After breakfast of course.

The walk to the second gate of the Old Town took a little over 35 minutes but no doubt, more time would be required if we walked to the far end to work our way back home. The gates, like many of the buildings in Old Town, are difficult to frame in a photograph because of their size and the need to shoot long and wide. Clearly that is not always possible and it introduces the problem of too many people in my photos. Still, I did the best I could.

Shell marks are clearly visible.

The gates are all that remains of the old fortification. The city walls have come tumbling down but two of the original gates remain. The other is in better condition. This one bears the scars of warfare.

We went old school and used a paper map to navigate the precinct. First stop was the Silk Exchange. What a grand building to be conducting trade in. The garden was tranquil, well, it would have been if not for the multiple school groups and coach tours. 

The contract room.

The chapel and its stained glass window pale into insignificance next to the contract room. A space with vaulted ceilings and massive columns. Silk was obviously big business. The Consulate of the Sea, whatever that means, was upstairs and had an ornate carved ceiling.

The ceiling in the Consulate of the Sea.

Again, the building was on such a grand scale that it was impossible to capture in one photo.

The Silk Exchange.

From the exchange we explored the Central Mercado or Central Market, another huge building. It is, as the name suggests, a market for fresh produce. There were stalls selling fresh meats, seafood, nuts, sweets, fruit, vegetables, cheese, cured meats, bakery items, gelato, and premade rolls. I'm pretty sure if you can eat it, you will find it here.

The market.

The centre ceiling is a dome, of course, and is magnificent. It was reasonably crowded with tourists although there were plenty of locals shopping for their dinner.

The cupola in the centre of the market.

At this stage, it was necessary to pause momentarily for a lunchtime beer in the shade. As welcome as the sun was, it was getting quite warm. We found a less crowded café not far from the markets and settled in to regather our energy. Happily no one smoked. Unhappily a man arrived with a guitar and shattered the peace by serenading the tables. Rock Around the Clock and Love Me Tender, not quite our demographic. He departed after two songs. I'm not sure how successful he was, I didn't see anyone contribute to his waiting hat.

The Old Town is really quite grand and everywhere you looked was a photo opportunity. Many of the old buildings have been well preserved and are beautifully presented. There are parks and gardens and a rather statuesque Town Hall building, complete with the batman symbol. Not really, but the emblem for Valencia is a bat and it does look like the one used by Commissioner Gordon or on a bottle of Bacardi.

The Town Hall.

Beyond the Town Hall were the former bull fighting ring and Central Station North. They were on the very edge of the Old Town. Traffic, cars and people, had notably increased in this area.

The bullfighting arena.

Turning our backs on bullfighting as the Spanish did in the 1970s, we mapped our course for the Cathedral and came across more spectacular buildings. Mostly they were banks. That figures, plenty of cash to splash.

The Bank of Valencia.

There were a number of churches passed before we made it to the Cathedral. Well, we are in Spain. One, the church of San Juan De la Cruz had the usual domed ceilings, but had around 9 side altars. Five down one side and four on the other; one gave way to become a doorway. The church itself contained numerous ceramic tiles, one of the most important collections in Spain.

Ceramic tiles depicting a story.

We edged ever nearer to the Cathedral past the bell tower of another church. Finally we arrived to discover there was a €10 entry fee. That was general entry, if you wanted a guided tour the price doubled. That's about $36 for both of us to walk around inside a Cathedral. Yeah, nah.

The Cathedral.

We sat in the shade to reconsider our plans. I wandered away to snap a few more photos while Jayne eavesdropped on the English tour guide, speaking to the couple seated nearby. From memory, everyone is searching for the Holy Grail. Certainly Monty Python were, as was Indiana Jones and I believe Dan Brown in the Da Vinci Code - never read it or saw the movie. I have standards to maintain. Anyway, they should have looked here, it's in the Cathedral, the Holy Grail. Hence today's title by the Hunter's and Collectors.

I know you are sceptical, dear reader, but no, it is true. Google has verified it. And so has the Vatican, allegedly. I struggle with the concept of a golden chalice decorated with pearls in the time of Jesus. I mean, using something like that instead of stone or wood rather flies in the face of everything for which he stood. Just saying.

Roman ruins below?

From the Cathedral precinct we walked towards the other gate in the former wall in order to orient ourselves to find Plaça del Carmen, an area of street art and quaint shops. On the way we passed a viewing platform that was covered in water that protected the site of some Roman ruins. Well, that was the story, we couldn't see through the water so I'm not sure what was underneath.

The gate appeared beside one of the main thoroughfares and as I indicated, it had been restored to its former glory. It was getting late in the afternoon and we had decided not to eat dinner tonight so we went looking for El Tap, a restaurant that had been recommended by friends. It was found, but alas, it was not opening until 8pm, by which time we would be long home.

Gate number 1.

We did discover Plaça del Carmen but the street art? Well, there is a fine line between street art and graffiti. After a while, we did see murals that we would consider street art but the quaint shops eluded us. Either that or they weren't open.

We were now in the university sector and stopped at a Tapas bar for another beer, hydration purposes only, and a couple of plates, before we made the ill considered decision to walk back to the hotel. It was about 3km, but it was quite hot and while the Spanish sun doesn't burn, its heat bites deeply.

Street Art.

Anyway, we survived and recovered in our air conditioned room before venturing up to the rooftop bar to watch the sunset on Valencia and our time here.

Tomorrow is a transit day. Yay. On a positive note, I have rejigged the system in the car so it now speaks English and have synced my phone so we can use Waze for navigation on the big screen. 

Until next time.

 

When the river runs dry (Koolama Bay, King George Gorge Falls)

I'm on a roll, three great Australian rock bands in succession. This is one from Hunters and Collectors, their 1989 classic When The River Runs Dry. Yes, dear reader, just about everything runs dry once the wet season is over. Certainly, the King George Gorge Twin Falls are no exception as you shall see from the photos. The name is a bit of a mouthful though, don't try repeating it after few champagnes. I did. Unsuccessfully.

In the spirit of expedition and not cruising, my day commenced at 5:30am. Again. I had to be breakfasted, sunscreened and ready on deck, resplendent in my Zodiac life vest for a 6:30 departure. Jayne did not. My morning was a 6 hour zodiac tour which included a climb to the top of the falls. At the briefing, the description of the difficulty of the walk could have been referencing a climb up Everest sans oxygen. A 9/10 for difficulty. I had my doubts but the description was sufficient to ensure that Jayne and I sat there pondering - she wanting me to go, me wanting to stay with her and both of us knowing she would not be interested.

Thankfully, they supplied us with a solution. I could do the tour and come back, have lunch and join Jayne on an afternoon tour that didn't include a climb up a cliff face. Perfect.

My first view of the ship from the water

The water was choppy due to the wind, even at 6:30, as we set out to spot the bird life on a nearby beach and hopefully sight the elusive black and white stork. Those of us less ornithologically inclined might refer to it as a jabiru - it has been renamed because jabiru actually exist in South America. We didn't see one.

 Weather-wise the morning was not as magical as the Ord River experience. The wind blew up a choppy swell and we were regularly cooled down by waves splashing over the bow of the Zodiac. A small price to pay in order to see things that I may never see again. The rock walls have a sameness until you look closer. They are textured by erosion and coloured by different layers of sand, minerals, algae, plants and guano. The colours change as the light alters with the transition of the sun and encroaching or receding shade.

There was plenty of wild life too. George, our expedition leader, is into birds. Happy days for me. He demonstrated amazing knowledge of the area but birds were his specialty. We saw peregrine falcons, white bellied sea eagles, pied oyster catchers, terns, osprey ... the list goes on. Sadly, I made a poor choice of lens for this trip and only had the 135mm with me so many photos went begging for want of a larger lens. Nonetheless, the journey to the drop off point for the climb was amazing.

The water changed colour too depending on where we were, how the deep the water was, the surrounding vegetation and other factors. Some places looked delightfully enticing, particularly as the day warmed up. However, this is salt water and it harbours an abundance of sharks and crocodiles. A swim could end up with you becoming dinner, see below. He was totally disinterested in us as we watched him swim lazily bye.

Best not to go swimming

The climb to the plateau was as I thought it would be - a very steep scramble over rocks. It was nowhere near the difficulty described and I walked with my camera around my neck, meaning I never used more than one hand to climb or keep myself steady. It didn't even require a high level of fitness. From water to plateau in less than 30 minutes and I was near the tail of the group, so I was not making my own pace and I stopped for photos. That said, given the demographic on board, the warning was necessary. Perhaps there are some amongst us who still view their power, prowess, strength and flexibility through rose coloured glasses. The climb was not without casualties but, happily, I was not one of them. 

The view on the way up was magnificent and once on the plateau you were able to get a real sense of the size and grandeur of the falls and the gorge. Not to mention the power of nature. Water created this. Or the rainbow serpent. We spent about 45 minutes on the plateau. Usually there are remnant pools to swim/wade in, but the last wet was a poor season and there was very little water around. In fact, the falls weren't, they were merely cliffs. We were shown photos taken from a drone at the recap that night. The scale of the flood is not something easily captured in words.

The view from the main fall

The survivors

We boarded the Zodiac and headed around for a close up of the cliff face. Lurking in the shadows of one of the falls was a Zodiac containing Maxime, one of the bar tenders, with several cases of champagne. George manoeuvred the Zodiac into position and Maxime served us a well deserved glass of bubbles. We then headed back to the ship.

Looking back at both falls

The Zodiac arrived late, which was not really a problem because I walked gingerly direct to lunch. Jayne was waiting and already had a table and a glass of wine waiting for me. Sitting on the side of the inflatable Zodiac for nearly 4 hours had taken its toll, my legs were slow to move and I was very aware that I was more happy to stand for a while. All this in the knowledge that in another hour I was getting onto another Zodiac to sit for another 3 and a half hours.

A young osprey

At 2pm it was time to head out again. Our guide this time was Adrian, a young South African man of great self-confidence. Curiously, today at least, this confidence was well placed as we saw dugong, crocodile, black and white stork, humped back dolphins and a young osprey. The smoke haze that looked like it was going to spoil the afternoon disappeared with the breeze and so did the choppy water. It was a much more pleasant experience on board the Zodiac, although I had some issues maintaining a comfortable seat.

Dugong - never thought I'd see one

The black and white stork

It was just on dark as we returned to the ship. Adrian manoeuvred the Zodiac to ensure we could get a great silhouette shot of Le Lapérouse.

Until next time.