Delores E. Topliff
Taking a computer along saves travelers money. Buying train
and bus tickets online was 33-50% cheaper than standing in line at the depot.
Our hotel’s main desk printed tickets for us free with a smile. We made one
mistake by unwittingly buying a return trip from Venice for 8:06 (which turned out
to be a.m.), earlier than our departure--hard to do. But just as the train
office in Venice was closing, a clerk adjusted our tickets to the midnight
train for only seven more Euros each. The complication was Bologna’s city buses
don’t run after midnight, but three of us sharing a cab was worth it. One young
barefoot Italian woman got put off the midnight train for a repeat offense of
riding with no ticket. We all heard her loud screams of protest.
Venice and its gorgeous lagoon is a UNESCO World Heritage
Site. Its history began around 400 AD when people from prosperous Italian
mainland cities fled to lagoon islands for refuge when Barbarian invaders
overwhelmed the Roman Empire and precipitated its collapse. Today Venice is
associated with centuries of highly successful trade (Marco Polo for starters),
romance, singing gondoliers, and lovers (George Clooney). Sunset beautifully
highlights richly painted old buildings including majestic sites like St.
Mark’s Basilica Square, the Doge’s Palace, and other stately edifices where
splendor reaches galactic levels but you still find bargains. It’s tempting to
think about traveling more by starting an import/export business, including
travel writing.

Next, ancient Ravenna was capital of the Western Roman Empire from 402 until 476 AD when the Ostrogoths took over, and then the Lombards.
It originally bordered the Adriatic Sea but is now 11 km. away and is reached
by a major canal. The city has eight UNESCO World Heritage Sites displaying wonderful mosaics
and monuments from the 5th and 6th centuries. For me the most outstanding
was the splendid Basilica of San Vitale, an octagonal building in mid-Roman and
Byzantine style. The interior is filled with mosaics on the floor, walls, and
ceiling including lots of gold and Christian symbols.
July saw record-breaking temperatures soar above 40 C. (well
over 100 F) across Southern Europe, so it helped to travel early and carefully
plan where to be when. After returning to Madrid, the continuing great heat
made me more willing to say farewell to my two amigas knowing my next stops in
Ireland and Scotland would be vastly cooler. What I didn’t know was both of
those countries were so much cooler than the hot Sahara-drenched winds baking
Italy and Spain that I froze and borrowed heavier clothing and piled on
blankets.

Those fine days saw less travel exploration and more
quality visiting times spent with other friends, former students and families,
and connected church groups. The lovely home I stayed in in the Wicklow
Mountains 40 minutes from Dublin airport, is a Georgian Manor housing a
wonderful Christian community. I also enjoyed dear friends I hadn't seen for six
years in Northern Ireland where like the song says the Mountains of Mourne
sweep down to the sea.
Next I returned to a smaller equally wonderful group on
Scotland’s Mull of Kintyre who live in a manor whose original part once
sheltered Robert the Bruce for several days before eventual victories made
him Scotland’s king.
Even
during days with steady rain, a soft light sheen shines over everything showcasing the grays, moss greens, blues, browns and muted shades that appear in Scottish
tartans, especially the Harris tweeds displayed in a shop in Oban, beautifully
capturing their world in all seasons, weather phases, or times of day
or night.
And then finally many pictures were snapped, memories made,
and all of the allotted days had passed. As Dorothy says in The Wizard of Oz, “There’s no place like home,” but trips like this
filled with heart-warming experiences show me that home and family are also much
bigger and stretch further than I ever imagined.
What am I doing now? Dreaming about when circumstances might
permit me to go again, plus inviting my friends to visit here.
What about you. What is your best trip ever? Which trip would you like to take next, and why?
Such beautiful photos! I want to be you when I grow up! I spent a wonderful 7 days in Northern Minnesota this spring--the highlight of my year.
ReplyDelete