Dahab bomb attacks

Awful news this morning about the bombings in Dahab, Egypt. Dahab is in the Sinai area of Egypt and has been a meeting point for three religions, at the crossroads of Africa and Asia. 80,000 years at the heart of history. Recent history has scared it by bombs.
I visited Dahab last December and my thoughts are with those that were caught up it the attacks. Egypt and in particular Sinai are amazing places to experience and the stupidity of a few should not stop people from visiting and supporting Egypt and its people.
Let non violent communication prevail.

Image of a restaurant on Dahab beach with dove cote on roof.

China Town London 22 April 2006

During a dim sum lunch in London's China Town J and I witnessed a small demonstration by Falun Gong supporters. I first heard about this group last week. Protester Wenyi Wang, a devotee of the Falun Gong movement, heckled President Bush and Chinese President Hu Jintaothe. The U.S. attorney's office charged her with harassing, intimidating and threatening a foreign official for yelling at Hu that his "days are numbered." This federal charge can lead to six months in prison. Leaders of the Falun Gong movement claim that Hu's government has persecuted and harvested the organs of followers.

Falun Gong is a quasi-religious group originated in China about 1992. A few years after the organization started, it quickly grew to become one of the largest cults in China. It has been the focus of international controversy since the government of the People's Republic Of China began a nationwide suppression of Falun Gong on July 20, 1999 for its illegal activities. The number of Falun Gong practitioners in China was estimated by the government at 2.1 million in 1999. The membership claimed by the Falun Gong was much larger; it claimed to have 100 million followers worldwide with 70 million in China.

Dublin 5 April 2006

R our '‘tour guide' has spent years convincing American tourists that his job is to talk to visitors in pubs and promote Ireland. I was fascinated by his anti car theft device. No steering wheel Stop Lock for R but a length of heavy duty chain connected to his car seat and padlock to the steering wheel.

Deciding not to spend all day in the city R took us on a mini tour of County Wicklow also known as The Garden of Ireland. Both of us being fond of Kent The Garden of England it was an appropriate destination.

First stop was IMMA: Irish Museum of Modern Art Royal Hospital, Military Road, Kilmainham. Unfortunately the Magnum Ireland show had not started but it is on now until 18 June. There is a great shop at the museum and R had to drag us out of there before we bought any more books.

Next stop was Mount Usher Gardens Ashford Co. Wicklow (take the N11 south from Dublin). The garden runs along the bank of the River Vartry. Mount Usher has been designed in the Robinsonian style - after William Robinson (fl. c 1890) the influential Irish garden designer. Robinson believed in natural gardens, as opposed to the formal approach of those who preceded him.

Spring sunshine followed by hailstones found us diving for the car and we headed up into the mountains to the Sally Gap and the source of the River Liffey. Fantastic views on all sides and there was even snow along the edge of the road. As we headed towards Blessington we came across this amusing house. It had no name so I'’ve called it the Good Luck House despite all those horseshoes and clovers not having much effect.

We headed back to Dublin and had a quick look at Helen Dillon'’s front garden 45 Sandford Road, Ranelagh, Dublin www.dillongarden.com

A good place to have something to eat/drink and watch a decent film is the Irish Film Institute or IFI! The 17th Century Quaker Meeting House was converted through by architects OÂ'Donnell and Tuomey. Arranged around a glass-roofed courtyard, the complex includes two cinemas, a popular bar and restaurant. The IFI has some special screenings as part of this year's Beckett Centenary Festival.

Pick up a free copy of Totally Dublin for some good photography features and listings of what'’s on and where. Below is a piece of Dublin tagging and anti religious wall art.

Lanzarote 4 April 2006

Sad news on the BBC TV news channel about more people trying to reach the Canaries by boat from Africa. Four vessels carrying 164 people between them. The Canary Islands are the new ‘favourite’ destination for thousands of Africans hoping to make a new life in Europe. This year there has been a 200 per cent rise in the number of immigrants trying their luck in small boats from Mauritania. More than 3,500 have been detained, but who knows how many have perished at sea. Puts my sea sickness troubles in perspective.

Smooth sailing, thank goodness to Arrecife. F and I bolted off the ship and negotiated a taxi. The taxi driver insisted that he would take us on a 3 hour tour of the north of the island for 80 euros but I was able to explain in made up Spanish that we only had 2 hours before we had to be back on board for F’s next lecture on the history of garden design. We only wanted to go to El Jardin Cactus so he had to make do with 20 euro. Being a man of limited height he slide his car seat so close that he could just about turn the steering wheel. What he lacked in height he made up for with speed so that we got to the cactus garden 45 minutes before it opened. Please note fellow travellers it opens at 10am! There is a bus service but we did not see a single bus and the timetable was bleached by the sun. So all I can tell you is that there maybe a bus once an hour, once a day or month!

This panoramic image is of a field surrounding the cactus garden. Prickly pears are grown in vast quantitites on Lanzarote primarily for the encouragement of cochineal beetles which feast on the plant and produce red dye from their crushed bodies – yum.

Las Palmas de Gran Canaria 3 April

The area north of Parque Santa Catalina is a seedy version of Tottenham Court Road. The only reason we headed there was to find an internet cafe. In our search we came across a huge shop with everything careful laid out in highly polished chrome and glass cabinets like Selfridges. F had lost the battery for her obscure Aldi purchased digital camera and bizarrely they had a replacement battery. They ripped her off quite literally by tearing off the price ticket before handing it over to her and asking 30 euros. Guess they had to pay back the loan on the expensive display cabinets.

We headed west or it could have been south as the map supplied by El Corte Ingles did not have a compass printed on it. A neon light flashed from the outside of noisy amusement arcade to indicate Internet. We dived in to find the place full of kids playing pool. This was slot machine internet and it was a race against time to check our emails whilst avoiding the cockroaches that were running across the computer screen.
God we must have been desperate to check our mail.

As we walked towards the main shopping area we came across an interior shop called La Oca, Galicia 35. They had the obligatory Philippe Stark products but a few Spanish designers also. In the shop I picked up a free copy of a magazine called Via. It's a bilingual publication with articles about Canarian artists, architects and musicians. It also has a great listings section in the back for all art events primarily in Tenerife. There was also an interesting article about Europa Ciudades y musica / Europe Cities and Music. It talked about the Greek Rebetiko music and of course Fado sung by the fantastic Mariza.

Returning to the port we took a taxi to the old part of the town called Vegueta. (10 euro).















I'm still puzzling over this piece of graffiti . It says Islam vencera. The wall is for the cathedral which had lots of early Islamic decorative influences. Not sure if the writing was positive or negative. I'll have to ask my Spanish teacher.
















Strolling towards Triana you will find lot's of lovely independent boutiques selling jewellery and designer clothes. Cano Peregrina had the best shops. There are also several tabenas similar to tapas bars around here that looked rather good. Just wish my stomach had been up for it. It takes too long to get back to the main shopping street Avenida de Jose Mesa y Lopez, where El Corte Ingles is. So take the number 2 bus from Avenida Primero de Mayo and get off at the mercado/ market stop.

If you have not maxed out your credit cards after all that you can really go crazy in the Spanish version of Bluewater El Muelle. Situated on Muelle de Sta. Catalina this huge building houses, Zara, C&A, WomensSecret and lot's of other chain stores. There is a tapas bar on the ground floor outside one of the entrances if you'd rather not have Burger King.

Santa Cruz de Tenerife 2 April

This is the view from our cabin. I’ve decided to take one image every morning when we dock in a new port.

Being a Sunday and a Catholic country all of the shops were closed. In some ways this was quite nice as it meant that you had to find other things to distract you but I can’t go home without visiting a Spanish Zara.
From the port F and I walked down the Avienda de Jose Antonio Primo de Riveria, the walk was as long as the name, to the mercado/market off Calle de San Sebastian.
F and R went to find the only artificial beach on Tenerife. I took a stroll around the rest of the town. I really wanted to go to Parque Garcia Sanabria but like the shops that was also shut or rather completely closed off by 10 ft high corrugated metal fence.
The area around Plaza del Principe is surrounded by lots of historical buildings including the Museo Municipal de Bellas Artes which currently has an exhibition of graffiti. This might explain why there was some nice pieces around the town. There is a program of rebuilding and restoring some of these buildings involving lots of RSJ’s like in this picture.

I’m looking forward to hearing R playing her harp on board. R is a professional Welsh harpist and produces the most amazing sounds from 47 strings!
I don’t know how she manages to keep playing when the boat hits the waves. Shame that the other guests would rather listen to Jim Bowen and his days on Bullseye than to R and her harp.

Santa Cruz de La Palma 1 April 2006

Sorry no pics of this tiny island as I was feeling rather fragile after another force 9 night sailing from Madeira. Here is a link to a good website for some pictures: www.islalapalma.com

Santa Cruz de La Palma is the capital. This seems to be the only place I have visited to date that has no McDonald's, Burger King or Kentucky Fried Chicken -– hurrah. Please nobody tell them. The city’ had a really nice family atmosphere with lots of Spanish children dressed up for festival. Many of the old buildings have wooden balconies a bit like the houses in Northern Greece. The main boulevard that runs along the sea front is the best place to see some traditional houses.

A walk down Calle O' Daly will bring you to an outdoor tapas bar (the only one along this road) which serves some yummy tuna croquettes.

Manolo Blahnik was born on the island in 1942. He studied law, literature and art in Paris but it was in London where he designed his first shoes. 'Being terribly frivolous is the only possible solution before such a horrible world.'’ Well I guess you have to justify the ridiculous cost of your shoes somehow darling ;)

Funchal, Madeira 31 March 2006

Well just like the Pope I kissed the ground in Funchal port. In the excitement of being on land and in such a beautiful place we managed to get ripped off by the taxi driver who whisked us up into the mountains to Monte Palace. www.montepalace.com

For a birds eye view of Funchal take the cable car (9.50 euro)

I was met by AS who lives in the garden and is the curator of the museum. How lucky he is to live in such a fantastic place.

I was asked to photograph the garden for a UK horticulture magazine but due to the bad weather delaying the ship I only had three hours at Monte Palace. This tropical botanical garden clings to the side of the mountain and has fantastic views of Funchal. The paths wind around and under huge tree ferns and cycads. Cycads are living fossils an endangered plant species that have existed since before the Jurassic Period, over 280 million years ago.

The owner of the garden Mr Berardo in addition to a huge collection of artworks has bought the right to use a colour of blue created by the artist Yves Klein. It is known as IKB International Klein Blue. www.tate.org.uk

A giant panel of IKB casts a deep hue across the garden when the sun hits it.

Many thanks to A for the quick version of the guided tour and for helping me with all my equipment. I shall be back to see the museum and to eat some more Portuguese custard tarts!

3 days at Sea

Second day into the journey and the captain announces that we are expecting some bad weather down to Madeira. Several hours later it escalates into Force 9. 12 is a hurricane.
Sick bags have become the latest fashion accessory on board. The tablets don’t work so I’m seeing how long I can survive without food and water before I succumb to an injection.
Lying horizontal in the cabin seems to be the only way to stop me from feeling very ill.
The doctor and his needle have visited but it only lasts 12 hours. I’m counting the hours until we arrive in Madeira.
Image below titled After Martin Parr - Hot Socks

Liverpool 27 March 2006

We set sail from Liverpool Docks – the real Liverpool Docks not the sanitised version you use to see on ITV This Morning. It takes us all of 5 minutes to completely explore the boat and the first thing I noticed was the carpets.
So if the sea does not make us sick the pattern on the carpets will!

Diary of an Atlantic Island Cruise

I prefer to call it the Wurther’s Original Cruise as 98% of the guests on board are retired.
This diary blog will be about where to shop and eat and places in particular gardens, to visit. There will also be some images of Spanish graffiti and random observations of Canarian and British society.