Honeymoon Part II - Pompeii

We visited a brothel during our honeymoon. It was a great experience! There was a really long queue to get in, so must be a popular spot. This was one of the many interesting places to visit in the fascinating city of Pompeii. What was amusing was the sign on the road that pointed to where the brothel entrance was (see photo above). We were really amazed walking through the ancient ruins of Pompeii and understanding what life would have been like about 2000 years ago, before the city and its inhabitants were covered by volcanic rock spitting out of Mt Vesuvius when it erupted on August 24, 79A.D.

P.S. The 4th photo from the top is of a bakery.

Honeymoon - Part I - Sorrento Coast

We flew into Naples and headed straight to our hotel on the Sorrento Coast. It wasn't in Sorrento itself, but not far off, and we soon became accustomed to the fabulous buffet breakfasts (my favourite was the proscuitto crudo at brekky!). The hotel had a private beach, so usually after breakfast we would lie on the beach like a stranded whale (and let our tummies digest the seven rounds of breakfast that we had just eaten). From the beach, we had a picture perfect view of Mount Vesuvius. A few hours and ocean swims later, it was time to hit the swimming pool for several more hours of lying around and reading. Then in the late afternoon, we ventured to the hotel Wellness Centre for a spa, sauna and a massage bath (a jet powered massage bath with special salts). At night, we usually ate at the hotel, or caught the shuttle bus to Sorrento or Vico and found a restaurant in those cities. We spent 4 leisurely days at the Sorrento Coast where our hardest decision was 'beach or pool'?

Weekend with Ev

Ev came to visit us a few weekends ago from London...we had a lovely weekend together. Photo of our Saturday night dessert. I can't remember exactly what it was, but from memory, I think it was a platter with 3 different chocolate concoctions.

Baroque City of Eger

After 3 days of riding and a day trip to Budapest, my last visit was to the city of Eger. A picturesque city famous for its baroque architecture. Ellie (my roommate), Edina (our host) and I walked around the castle, and had a leisurely lunch at the town square, before we scooted back to the ranch where we were staying to watch our riding instructor perform in a traditional Hungarian horse show.

Day Trip to Budapest

Here are some snaps from my daytrip to Budapest. From top to bottom, 1. Buda Palace taken from a river cruise on the Danube; 2. Parliament Building in Pest; 3. Fisherman's Bastion in Buda - one of the best spots to view the city; 4. Fisherman's Bastion reflected through the bronze mirror facade of the Budapest Hilton Hotel; 5. Matyas Church in Buda (loved the colourful lego-like rooftop); and 6. Dohany Utca Synagogue in Pest. I will have to go back to Budapest in the future, as one day was really just a quick run around in the city. Was fortunate enough to catch the rehearsal of an Air Show/Race whilst I was there. Small planes were looping above the Danube, flying under bridges and criss-crossing through these markers on the river. The pilots were practising before the main event on August 20, St Stephens Day in Budapest.

Horsey Hungarian Adventure

After spending days on google searching for a holiday destination (a last opportunity to travel before I start working again in September) I came across a website about a horse riding holiday in Hungary. So last week I found myself in a village called Paradsasvar in the Matra Hills, about an hour and a half north east of Budapest. I stayed in a guesthouse in the middle of a forest clearing, and for the first three days of my trip, I had afternoon horseriding sessions organised by the the ranch (Fenyes Major Equestrian Centre) next to the guesthouse. We rode through the forest, fields and plains...no words can adequately describe the scenery, it really was special. Some guests described riding through the forest as scenery similar to Narnia, although I haven't seen the film myself. Personally, the forest riding scene in 'House of Flying Daggers' came to my mind. Anyway, when the late afternoon sun shone through the forest and the leaves started to glow with an almost magical translucent green, it was surreal. Riding through the plains with views of the Matra and Bukk Hills was great and cantering through fields was definitely exhilarating.

Of course, there's the harder stuff as well with horse riding, like the sore muscles afterward, huffing and puffing away (a sure sign of my lack of fitness) during the trotting sessions, holding on and keeping balance when the horse freaked out a bit and jumped around, and stinking like insect repellant to avoid the flies, mozzies and ticks.

The ranch itself is almost worthy of a separate blog posting. It was like a mini-farm with pigs, goats, horses, bulls, roosters and dogs in need of a good shampoo (their coats were so long and combined with all the dirt they had developed natural dreadlocks).

Unfortunately, the husband didn't come along on this trip. No, we're not having marital problems, the truth is that apart from work commitments, Mr Cessy is also allergic to horses and the last time I made him go riding with me, he sneezed the whole way!

Sorry, only have photos of the guesthouse and the view from the room balcony. Was too tricky riding and taking photos at the same time.

Spaceships have landed in Den Bosch