Wandering Vignerons
Paul and Denise travel the world!

Spent the first day in London doing some research on Paul's family history at the British Library and the Guild Hall Library. We found out a couple of facts that we didn't know previously and we really enjoyed the special collections in the British library which include many significant documents such as THE Magna Carta but also a number of orginal Beatle hand written lyrics (including Yesterday and Hard Days Night). On our last day in London we visited the locations where Paul's great Grand parents lived and operated the Dennis Bros Coachbuilders business. Unfortunately the original buildings are no longer there and have been replaced. In the afternoon we went to Kew Gardens and spent 3+ hours wandering around the gardens and the glass houses. The collections of exotic plants in the Princess of Wales conservatory was most impressive. There was also an exhibition by an American artist of glass sculptures or objects. They were all over the gardens and were interesting and colourful. What started oout a simply filling in the time turned out to be really enjoyable. We are now very foot sore and looking forward to sitting on the plane for the next 10 hours to Bangkok!!

From Mikonos we travelled by the Hellenic Line fast cat which was similar to the Tasmanian ferries, via Naxos, Ios and several other islands. Unfortunately we couldnt get off and we had to view the islands through glass covered in salt spray so Paul couldnt do any photography.

Santorini is the highlight of our trip for spectacular natural beauty - it cant get any better than this!!! We had thought that it probably was overrated but now we feel it is underrated!! We are staying at Dana Villas which is built into the hillside on the caldera side and we look over the volcano in the centre of the bay. The sunset was breathtaking last night. The only down side is that there are over 150 steps down from our room to the breakfast area and pool! and about the same number up the hill to the town so we are definately getting lots of exercise. The first day we spent time getting oriented and doing a little very light shopping. As with Mikonos the place is not overcrowded with tourists as it is the end of the season and we have been able to get reasonable rates on top accomodation which is normally horrendously expensive.

We went on a boat trip on Sunday (16th) around the volcano stopping at various points of interest. It included time to walk up the volcano cone and later for a swim in the hot springs which had to be reached by swimming from the boat. We got off the boat at Ios and rode a donkey up the hill to watch another magnificent sunset and see the classic Santorini sights (white buildings, blue roofed churches etc). Took loads of photos but will not get another opportunity to upload any to the Blog until we get home.

On our last night we discovered an authenic local restuarant off the tourist track and had a wonderful meal with fresh seafood and local speciallities and wine produced by the restuarant owner. There was so much food we couldn't finish it all and the bill only came to 53 euro. for the four of us.

We travelled from Athens by Blue Star ferry via Spiros and Tinos which took about 5 hours. We stayed at the Princess of Mikonos Hotel at St Stefano Bay which is about 2km outside of Mikonos town. The hotel was really beautiful with fantastic views over the water and towards the town. The water below was a beautiful colour and although it was quite cool we really enjoyed a refreshing swim once the sun was fully up at the beach below us. We saw all the cruise ships coming in to anchor and are not jealous at all. The sunsets were really stunning (after the cruise ships had left). All the houses are brilliant white with blue shutters and it is even better than the postcards. The windmills were a feature on the horizon and the little churches were everywhere including just below our hotel. We spent a peaceful three days here, although we did do an excursion over to the island of Delos. This was an extraordinary experience and one of the real highlights of our trip. This tiny island was the mythical birthplace of Artemis and Apollo and the centre of the Greek world from the 600BC to 100AD.

We have really enjoyed seeing the sights of Athens - the Acropolis etc. We have even visited Corinth which was another truly great experience. Athens is another lovely city with so much antiquity that it is really difficult to fully appreciate in the short time we have. The plan is to take a ferry to Mykonos on 11th and then to Santorini on 14th and fly back to Athens and then on to London on 18th.

Arrived in Istanbul very tired and ready to crash at our hotel. We then spent several days exploring Istanbul which really amazed us. Far more modern than we had expected. Absolutely no problems with English - most people we had contact with understood us. We really enjoyed seeing the various palaces and mosques and especially the Sophia which was originally a Christian basilica and then later a mosque and now a museum. The other highlight of our stay was visiting the Egyptian spice bazaar which gave us an understanding of how people might develop agorophobia!! The spices etc were really a fantastic display as well as things such as caviar (at 500 euros a tin for the best quality).

Returned the car to Lyon and had an uneventful Easyjet flight to London and now are waiting to board our British Airways flight to Turkey.

Our visit continues at a fantastic pace; visiting vineyards, wineries and tasting a large range of wines. Incredible. We have even visited DRC and met the winemaker, Bernard Noblet. For the unintiated that is DRC is Domaine Romanee Conti - who make some of the most expensive wines and possibly the best in the world. We have only had one day off during this period. On Sunday we had a 3 and half hour lunch at Lameloise. This is one of the top restuarants in France with 2 Michelin stars (formerly 3). It was a new and memorable experience for us. It was a set menu with 3 courses on the menu. However they deliver much more than the 3 courses we chose and we lost count at 8 dishes including a pre and post desert! not including the chocolates. (Thanks Gordon for the recommendations)

On our last day we had a long lunch which included a tasting of 14 wines from Olivier Leflaive, one of the best producers based in Puligny-Montrachet. It was simple traditional food but the wines included a Corton Charlemagne Grand Cru 2000 which was sensational. There were some local winemakes at lunch and we had a chance to taste an intensely flavoured 2003 1st Cru Pommard from Jacques Prieur. Lunch finished at 4.00pm and we retired for coffee at The Montrachet hotel where we met some Australians who were on a similar mission. We had one last rendezvous at 6.15 before we could go home. To be honest we were tired and hoped it would be a short visit. That's not quite how it turned out....we meet Frederic from Traransaud (one of our barrel markers) and he took us to visit winemaker, Jean-Claude Ramonit, in Chassagne-Montrachet. We started with some nice Saint-Aubin and Mersault village wines but we soon moved on to a range of Chassagne-Montrachet and Puligny-Montrachets of various vintages before trying a number of wonderful Grand-Crus. The absolute standout for me and the best white wine I have ever tasted was a 1990 Bienviues-Batard-Montrachet Grand Cru (Domaine Jean-Claude Ramonit). We then moved on to 3 very respectable Pinots. At the end of the visit we had tried 13 different bottles, most of which were opened especially for us. Dispite the fact that Jean-Claude did not speak english, we got on very well... the language of wine is universal.

Internet access has been really hard but we are hoping that the cruise ship will have reliable and easy access so we can again keep the Blog up to date and up-load some more photos. We have been very happy with our accomodation which has really suited the length of stay. Most nights we have eaten at home and have sampled some really good local produce. Soon we will be heading back to London where we will catch the plane to Istanbul.

Have spent a couple of days visiting some really interesting Wineries and learnt a lot about how things are done here compared to home. The wines we have tried have not been Grand Crus but have been very good with fine flavors and very aromatic. Interesting most of the wineries and caves (cellars doors are setup for tasting but, at least in the better ones, you can not buy their wine. Most of the wine is pre-sold to customers or to wine mechants and shops. You need appointments to get into the better winemakers. There are plenty of caves open in the small villages along the cote d'or and in Beaune but these are usually not very good quality. So far we have found neally all doors have opened for us even though they are busy with the tail end of vintage or the start of winemaking. They are very hospitable and answer all our questions and one was even kind enough to joke that she hoped we wouldn't learn to quickly!

We have managed to visit all the great names in Burgundy (The Grand Cru vineyards such as Corton Charlemagne, Clos Vougeot, Romanee Conti etc) and observe the picking, taste the ripeness of the grapes and the condition of the vines. We are hoping that before we leave we will get a chance to sample a few Grand Cru's!

We plan to continue over the next few days with more visits including to two barrel makers. We have also been enjoying the food and have over indulged but figure we wont get this opportunity again for a very long time. I am trying to work it off by walking.

We had to move out of our B&B for the weekend as they were fully booked. We had a trip preplanned to three of the great wine growing areas of France all in 3 days! We mananged to observe vintage and visit some fantastic producers in all three locations AND to sample a large number of wines. It was a very hard weekend!

Had a interesting day, exploring the famous vineyards of Pulligny-Montrachet and Meursault. They were picking in many vineyards but we had an opportune meeting with the vigneron and wine maker at Le Montrachet who we inspecting the vines. They will pick on Friday as the flavour ripeness is very close with the baume sitting at 13.3-13.4. We have taken copious notes.

We have arrived and our bed and breakfast is fantastic. It was picked from the internet so we were taking our chances. We have a large room and access to a lovely lounge, welcoming fireplace and a kitchen. We have met up with our friends Patty and Jud and are really enjoying our time in Burgundy. We will be staying here until 5 october with the exception of this coming weekend when the accommodation was fully booked. We will be visiting Sancerre and Epernay-Rheims on Friday and Saturday.

Wonderful day touring southern and northern Cote du Rhone visiting Caves or cellar doors, wine museums and vineyards. Learnt quite a deal as to why not to grow Rhone varieties and got some tips on marketing and packaging if not on viticulture. Tried a very good Cote Rotie.

A very long day on the motorway for 600 odd kilometres with some 15 toll collection points and a cost of 35 euros/50 dollars. We were also concerned about being stopped by the police over our missing number plate. Fortunately we had prebooked our accomodation and so we could go straight to our hotel and relax. We stayed in Orange in the Rhone valley. It is an old Roman town with a reasonably well preserved Amphitheatre which we enjoyed exploring before dinner. Our meal that night was the best we have had on the trip.

Left Barcelona full of anticipation looking forward to a drive down the coast and many quaint small fishing villages. However the first part of the trip the villages resembled a Spanish Gold Coast. We stopped for lunch at Salou to find as many English signs as Spanish and hordes of English tourists.

Moving on further down the coast we found the Spanish holiday town of Benicarlo which is mainly low rise apartments and hotels skirting the beach. The beach is beautiful, with azure water, and beautiful views down towards the headlands with castle in the south and the breakwater in the north. We managed to find a fairly new 4 star hotel at a rate of 84 euros a night including breakfast and dinner!

We have made good use of the beach and caught some sun but the highlight has been the visit to the castle of Peniscola which was the seat of Pope Benedict XIII at the time when there was a pope in Avignon and a pope here in Spain. The castle was built by the Knights Templar and was a stronghold for them for some time. As we were leaving the castle we happened upon a bullfight at the base of the castle. It was free and we were able to get access close enough to take some interesting photographs. We dont approve of the cruelty but we didnt stay long enough to see any bloodshed.

Today we took Paul and Carolyn to catch the train to Valencia and tomorrow we head back to France.

First day was spent quitely as we were exhausted after the drive the previous day and we needed to do some administation... clothes washing (denise), trying out the hotel pool (paul) and other bits and pieces. We had to sort out an issue as we had lost the rear number plate from our car on the motorway coming into Barcelona. It took many phone calls to Paris but we did manage to arrange a replacement and to understand what we need to do in the meantime. In the evening we meet Paul and Carolyn and walked along the water front and into Los Ramblos (very busy old area with many interesting small shops and restuarants). Second day we spent visiting the main sights such as the Gaudi architecture, Cathedral and the Picasso museum. The other highlight of our second day was visiting the Sagreda Familia, the church that Gaudi planned and was working on when he died. It really is amazing: all of the columns and ornaments are based on nature - trees, fruits etc. The scale is awesome. Work is proceeding on it as the city has made an undertaking to finish it. When Paul visited about ten years ago there was no roof and now it is fully roofed. Paul actually climbed the spiral staircase up to about the second level which is probably about 160 metres and his photos are awesome



We also managed to find a police station and fill out the appropriate forms to report the loss of the number plate from our car. At least now if we get pulled over we can flash some official papers explaining what happened and that the car isnīt stolen! We have one more full day in Barcelona before heading south along the coast of Spain for a couple of days. We will then part ways with Paul and Carolyn and head back to France.

Day 3: We have visited the Parc Guell which is a park that Gaudi designed and again it was really amazing and we have photos to prove it. Also there was the house that he lived in for the last twenty or so years of his life which was very interesting.

We have also visited the Miro Foundation where Paul really enjoyed seeing so much of his work. It is in a beautiful location in gardens on a hill above the city reached by furnicular railway.

We have been using the metro to get around in Barcelona. It is clean, runs like clockwork and is very cheap. A ticket costing about two dollars gives you access to as many lines and stations as you want in one journey. We bought a ten pass tickets which cost about eight dollars. It certainly saves our feet.