Our 'Home' in Narbonne

Welcome to Narbonne

On this trip, we are spending a month in the town of Narbonne in the south of France. The original plan was to do a canal boat trip on the Canal de Midi, and this town is on the Canal. We normally like to rent an apartment or house with a view of water, but discovered in Italy when we stayed in Lecce, that it was also nice to be in the centre of the old historic part of the town. We were unable to find an affordable spot with a view of the canal, so an apartment in the historic part of the town was our next choice. 

The Canal de Midi

Originally back in 2020 we had the Canal boat booked for a week and the apartment in Narbonne booked for a month, but then along came COVID and everything was put on hold. When we decided to try travelling again, we rebooked the boat, and then contacted the friendly woman who had the apartment we had originally booked. Unfortunately she had since sold that apartment but had two others we could rent. One was too far away, and the other was too big with three bedrooms on two floors. She was however anxious for us to rent one, so she offered us a good deal on the bigger but centrally located apartment which we decided to take. 

It really is a quite nice apartment although we only use the top floor. There is a bedroom with a walk in closet, toilet room and a shower room on the first floor along with a huge garage ( I could have brought my Alfa Spider with me . . .). On our floor there is a large living area, a nice “European” kitchen (Translation . . . small), two good sized bedrooms, a tiny toilet room and a nice shower room. Out back there is a huge private patio area with tables, chairs, and lounges, surrounded by stone walls and with two large shade screens. 

All in all, a very comfortable place to spend a month in France. Here are some photos of some of the interesting decorating features of the apartment. 

28 Doors

That's us on the Second Floor

We have been staying in four Portuguese cities and have had a apartment in each city. We thought the place in Cascais was pretty good, but it was small and not that well equipped, but had a swimming pool on the thirteenth floor which Regis enjoyed. In Braga we had a really cute little place with the emphasis on little, but it was modern, clean and well supplied. The apartment in Porto was a modern renovated place in an old building overlooking the river with spectacular views. It could only be reached by either descending 135 stairs down or climbing 154 stairs up! It was on three floors connected by a circular staircase, and had a lovely usable veranda looking out on the river.

Then we got to Lisbon. . . . this place is completely different. It is in an old building on the second

One of Twenty Eight Doors

floor (But you go up three flights to get to it because the ground floor is “0”). This place has been renovated but not modernized, so it retains the charm of an old building. There are nine rooms in total, including a kitchen, a formal dining room, living room, two bathrooms and four bedrooms. There are also three hallways connecting all these rooms as well as a large outdoor terrace. There are a total of 28 doors, most of which are old fashioned double doors. There are 10 windows not counting the transom windows over every inside door. The living room alone has six doors as does one bedroom. All of the windows except those in the kitchen are double opening windows with shutters and five along the front are floor to ceiling with balcony railings. Most of the furnishings are antiques and scattered throughout the apartment are all sorts of interesting items. All in all it is quite the place.

A Collection of Antiques

Very Interesting Bed

Dining Room Light

Ceiling Detail

Old Copper Plate/Tray

Portuguese Dishes from Host's Grandmother's Restaurant

Large Wooden Tray Hanging in Kitchen

None of the doors line up anymore

I did not count these as doors . . .

Real Funky Light

Chairs in Dining Room Windows

Dining Room Side Board

Old Brass Lamp in Dining Room

Welcome To Oban

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Loch Lubnaig on the way to Oban

When Regis suggested we spend a week in Oban after the narrowboat adventure, I did some internet research on the town and then I found an author, Peter May who wrote mystery novels about the area. After reading one, I had my concerns. His descriptions of the area was quite simple; COLD and RAINY. This did not significantly deter Regis however as she was focusing on the “Quaint” and the “Picturesque” aspect of the town, and said it can’t really be that bad. As well, we had both friends and relatives who had visited and loved the town.

Getting up early to leave Edinburgh prior to rush-hour traffic got us out of the big city and on our way to Oban. The first half of the trip was on “M” series highways, the “M” standing for “Motorway” which refers to their “Interstate” level highways which are divided and multi-lane with according to the big M/B and BMW passing me, seemingly no speed limit. Then about half way there we had to switch to an “A” level road. Now “A” level might lead you to think this was a pretty good highway. After all it is the main road into Oban from Glasgow and Edinburgh. Ok, think of the narrowest windiest road in Canada or the US . . . . this road was narrower. There were signs warning me that “Oncoming Vehicles may be in the middle of the road”, and when the big 18 wheelers met on some corners one of them had to come to a complete stop inches from the stone walls to allow the other to squeeze by.

The view from the apartment

On the plus side, the weather was lovely, with a day finally with no “Scotch Mist” and lots of bright sunshine and pleasant temperatures. We stopped at a couple of the Scottish famous lochs to take pictures. All together it turned out to be a pleasant drive with amazing scenery.

Looking out to sea from the window

Arriving at Oban we were greeted by exactly what was advertised; a quaint seaside town on the western coast of Scotland. No parking issues here, I found a spot right across from the apartment against the seawall to unpack the luggage, and then moved the car to a free spot a couple of blocks away. The apartment was everything advertised, large, airy, and right on the waterfront with amazing views out across the harbour to the islands beyond.

Then it started to rain, a gentle drizzle as we went for supper groceries, increasing to a steady rain walking back, and then working up to a windy, violent downpour that obliterated the view of the off-shore islands by evening. Welcome to Oban.

Living in Lecce

Living Area

Well I must admit that my “travel advisor” did a good job this time. This apartment in Lecce is without the doubt the nicest we have had, and we have had some good ones. 

Guest Room

It is huge and everywhere you look there is storage and shelves. It is decorated with an odd mix of antique furniture and modern touches. We have a foyer that is bigger than a Japanese hotel room and you do not use it. Our bedroom is huge, has a king size bed that is very comfortable, and has a large closet. There are two bedrooms and both have an on-suite. the guest room is actually down a half set of stairs, so it has a feeling of privacy. 

Master Bedroom

Foyer

The kitchen is a bit of a disappointment, as we intend to do a lot of our own cooking. It is small and not well equipped with little things although has a good stove, oven and fridge. It will work, but we have had to ask for simple things like a plug for the sink and pot-holders. They have promised to find things we need however. 

View from Roof

There is a very large private terrace right off the living area where we have already been able to eat breakfast there the first day. The sun is on it most of the day. We also have access to the hotel terrace which is the entire rooftop and has many little sitting areas and is covered with interesting plants.  So far I have never seen anyone up there; although it is lovely and warm for us Canadians, they Europeans are still wearing winter coats gloves and scarfs. 

The only thing really missing is a view. We can see all over the city from the roof, but it is just other rooftops as far as you can see. Our other apartments have had a view of the sea or a river. This is the first time we have not been able to look out to see water - must be the maritimer in us . . . .

Breakfast on the Terrace

Life In Budapest

The View out the Window

The River Cruise finished, we are settling into our two week stay in Budapest. The cruise was a great way to arrive in the city, because we had almost two days on the boat in Budapest, including a bus and walking tour of the city, and some casual exploring of our own. As a result we had a pretty good idea of what was here, and were not coming in cold.

Doing the Wash after the Cruise

The apartment was a 20-minute walk from the boat, even dragging our suitcases over cobbled streets, and the ‘agent’ for the apartment warmly greeted us. The apartment is absolutely everything we expected. It is a good size for the two of us, and even when guests from Egypt arrived for a couple of days we were not crowded, and the view out the window is amazing, especially at night. Fortunately the original windows have been replaced with actual thermal windows and in the old stone building, block out the noise of the city when we want – the Budapest Police seem to really love their sirens.   

Our Home in Budapest

The Central Market is only a ten minute walk in the other direction, and we can get anything we need there, lots of fresh vegetables and meat stalls. We have already started to overdose on dishes made with Hungarian Paprika, Chicken Paprika, Hungarian Goulash & Paprika Squash soup.

Hungarian Paprika Soup

As well we have discovered that the apartment is in the central core of the city and there are so many attractions nearby, that we will never be able to see everything even in two weeks. We have already gotten lost twice just meandering the neighborhood streets. Fortunately it is always easy to find the river so we have always been able to find our way home.