Narbonne at Night

Where is everyone?

Tonight we did something a bit different, and went for a walk after dark. From all we have heard, Narbonne is a quite safe town, and we have become very comfortable walking around the town even the tiny narrow back streets, but after dark we did not really know what to expect. Our idea was to walk down through some of the old streets to the central square and the palace and cathedral on the Canal. We figured they should be lit up and attractive after dark. 

We left the apartment around 8:00 PM, just as the sun was going down. Our first surprise was that literally nothing was open, even at 8:00 the shops were all closed and most restaurants were shuttered up tight. As well, the streets were pretty well deserted of people. We had most streets to ourselves on the way through the historical old town. 

The Archbishop's Palace

Finally when we arrived at the square a few bars and restaurants were open and there were some people about. As expected the Archbishop’s Palace and the Cathedral were nicely lit up and the tree-lined avenues along the canal was lit up and had most of the restaurants were open and busy. 

We wandered around a bit and finally settled on one of the restaurants for drinks and a pizza, to end an enjoyable evening walk.  

Another Cathedral

For someone who is not at all religious I seem to end up in a lot of churches and cathedrals on my travels. If there is some hidden significance in that I am not sure what it is.

Yup that makes me want to attend church

Here in Chester the Cathedral is a significant landmark, and it stands above the town center, visible from almost anywhere. After walking the City Walls, and visiting the Chester Rows (the downtown two storied shopping areas) the Cathedral was next on the list of things to see.

It is not hard to find or get to. Walk downtown and you arrive at the cathedral, like most cathedrals, it is pretty much in the center of the city. On first sight, this one looks like most other cathedrals, made of stone and partially covered with scaffolding for restoration. Entry to the cathedral is free, but once inside you are heavily encouraged to book the “Chester Cathedral Height” tour which takes you up the main tower of the cathedral.

Beautiful tiled floors

I started out by simply wandering through the vast open spaces inside the cathedral. Unlike some of the fancier cathedrals I saw in Europe, which are finished with plaster, paint and brightwork inside, this one is mostly unadorned stone, This makes it dark and the beautiful stained glass windows only allow so much light inside. Fortunately my camera does a great job in low light, and my pictures actually show more detail than you see in person. I love finding interesting details such as the Magistrates room, or the old doors and locks everywhere.

Amazing Wood Carvings

In the center of the cathedral is a beautiful separate area done in wood that was amazing. I am sure that this room has some special name and purpose, but I just enjoyed the amazing carved woodwork. The wooden seating surrounding the pulpit were all carved with dragons, birds, snakes and very odd people. Looking closely, some of these were a bit creepy and disturbing. A dragon eating a man’s head, birds fighting snakes, grotesque looking people. The religious significance escaped me, but the work involved drew me in. What was most appreciated about this area, was that although I was asked not to “touch”, the area was not roped off, and I was free to explore and examine the individual woodwork.

After exploring he main cathedral, we decided to pay for and take the Tower Tour. It is advertised as Climb 216 steps, 125 feet, through 1000 years of history to look out over two countries, and five counties. Although that is a good description, you also get a tour of the

Horsehair in the walls

bells and get the see the Pipe Organ from above. The Bell Tower was especially interesting. The bells have been moved to a modern building next door (the guide described it as “The Rocket Ship”), because the constant ringing of the massive bells was actually vibrating the masonry of the tower apart. To reinforce the stone, and solidify the masonry, horse hair was once added to the mortar, and as you climb the narrow circling stairs your hands brush this hair protruding from the walls. That could be a bit unsettling if you did not have the explanation. The now unused bell ringing area is now set up as a demonstration are to explain all about the bells.

I think that is Beeston Castle on the hill

Our tour guide was a friendly young girl who seemed to take pride in her job and her city. She was a wealth of information, and knew the answer to most questions from all three of her visiting tourists on the tour. Did you know that the Curfew bell was rung every evening warning any visitors (Meaning he Welsh) to leave the city or be shot. Apparently anyone conversing in Welsh was considered to be plotting revolt so was open to being shot on sight. My heritage is English and Irish . . . . wonder what they did to the Irish? 

Monday in Faro

Faro's Walled City

 When we flew to Portugal, Faro was where we landed, but we were picked up by a taxi arranged by Colin & Suzanne, and he was an efficient driver, but not exactly a tour guide, and his english was not really even good enough to ask simple questions. We therefore zoomed through Faro without seeing much. We were also too tired to really pay attention to much.

Today we went back to Faro on the train to actually have a look at the city.

Faro is the major transport hub on the Algarve. It has a rail hub where Linda and Pete arrive from Lisbon, and the airport in Faro has a constant stream of planes arriving from all over Europe. From the apartment, we see planes all day flying into Faro bringing people to the Algarve to enjoy a Portuguese holiday.

The train only takes about 20 minutes to go from Olhao to Faro, so it is a simple trip. Although the train station is bit out of way, the walk to the centre of Faro is a pleasant one along the waterfront through to the old city centre, and it is easy to find your way to the major attractions in Faro.

Do not however expect to find a Tourist Information Centre if you go on Monday like we did – it is not open. At least we were able to find the place following the signs, but as has been our general experience, we were not able to actually get any information.

Beautiful Pipe Organ filling Cathedral with sound

There is a walled fortress which the old city seems to revolve around, but it is not really an attraction. It seems that the actual city has taken over the fortress. You can see the walls from the outside, but if you enter through one of the gates, you find yourself just in the inner city with restaurants, shops, art galleries and a beautiful cathedral, but no actual fort or castle. This may actually have been a walled city rather than a military fortress, which would make sense. We might have been able to find out if we could have visited the Information centre. . . . . .

The visit to the Cathedral was nice. You could climb the bell tower for a view over the city, and we were told by another tourist couple there that you could have pressed a button to actually ring the bells but I had my doubts since the church bells tell the time in Olhao. I could imagine the poor citizens of Faro being constantly confused about what time it was. “Is it two o'clock, the bells chimed twice? Oh no, it's just those damned tourists ringing the cathedral bells again . . . .” we could visit the main cathedral , the gardens and the museum. The highlight was the actual church, because there was a beautiful old pipe organ, and someone was actually playing it. The museum was a bit disappointing, and I hope that some of our 3 E entry fee might be used to restore the paintings in the museum with holes in them – they could use some work.

The Bell Tower

Following our tour of the cathedral, we wandered down through the old city to find a place to stop for lunch. Here we discovered another advantage to living in Olhao. Food was generally at least 20% higher here than back in Olhao. For example the Cataplana Regis has wanted to try was 45 E compared to 29 E in Olhao. We decided to stick with the “Menu of the Day”.