Going it alone ..part 2

24 Nov 2023 Leave a comment

by Carole Gardiner in Uncategorized Tags: , , , , , , , , ,

Fuelled by the success of my roman adventure I decided to go it alone again, this time to a city I’ve been wanting to visit for a very long time. For someone who loves ancient history as much as I do, there is only one place to go to get my fix, Athens.

I couldn’t think of a better place to go on my own, I would have the time to go wherever I want and spend as long as I needed. I am that person who reads every bit of information at every site, so I can spend hours in one place learning as much as possible. When travelling with others who aren’t quite as fanatical about history I’m always conscious of staying in one place for far too long. I can also go for ages without eating or even needing a wee and I can walk for hours, so I guess it can be a bit frustrating for my companions at times and equally so for me when it’s necessary to stop more often then I’d like to. So the best solution is a solo trip.

Athens is a very walkable city, with interesting sites galore. I got started right away after buying a week’s supply of tomatoes, cucumber and feta and despite a very early flight I felt compelled to march up the Philopappos Hill as it was a short walk from my apartment. I read that the summit afforded an amazing view the acropolis and the rest of the city. It most certainly did and it was well worth the effort.

The most recognisable place in Athens is the Acropolis, so the next day I couldn’t wait to get there. Imagine my joy to discover that I could buy a ticket not only to this magnificent site, but also included in the price entrance to the Roman and Ancient agora, Hadrian’s library, Kerameikos, Aristotle’s school and Olympieion.

So for the next few days I worked my way around the city making the most of this ticket. But also visiting many other amazing places such as the temples of Zeus and Hephaestus and Herod Atticus Odeon,

Not content with scaling one large hill I decided to tackle Mount Lycabettus, but after a morning of walking many steps and a stop off at the glorious marble Panathenaic stadium, the thought of climbing up the winding path of the 908 feet high hill was a little too much for my screaming muscles and throbbing feet. So I thought I’d make use of the funicular to get to the summit and enjoy the stunning views and beautiful sunset with a chilled glass of wine.

On day 3 treated myself to an organised trip out of the city and found myself in a small minibus with 12 strangers and a very informative guide heading down the coast to the Cape of Sounion to visit the Temple of Poseidon. After a pit stop at the Vouliagmeni lake, where it’s said the water has healing powers and can relieve ailments such as arthritis, we ended up at the peninsula with the breath-taking temple standing tall over looking the beautiful turquoise sea. We had plenty of time to look around the site and surrounding area before getting in position to get the best photos of the sunset behind the temple. This excursion is not to be missed and I highly recommend it if you love capturing beautiful sunsets in stunning places.

On my last day I made use of the hop on hop off bus ticket that was included in the price of the trip to the Temple of Poseidon. I hopped on after paying a visit to the tomb of the unknown soldier and watching the guards doing their thing with style. I managed to cross a few more sites off using my multi-site ticket and checked out the church of Agios Elftherios and Athens Cathedral right next door, before the rain set in and the pavements that were slippery when dry became treacherous when wet. Anyone who knows me, knows about my tendency to fall and break limbs, so I decided to go back to my apartment for my own safety. I hoped that the rain would go off so I could get back out as there were a few more places I wanted to see, but it was set in for the rest of the day.

Then the miracle happened, in the form of an email from Easyjet, my flight had been delayed by 2 days. Unfortunately there was someone booked to replace me in my apartment so I needed to find another temporary home for the next night, but that was swiftly done on a well known booking site. The next morning, after dumping my bag at my new lodgings, I was off again to make the most of my extra time.

I couldn’t resist another visit to the Acropolis before exploring the other side of Philopappus Hill, where I found the tomb Socrates was incarcerated in before his trial in 399 BCE and the hill of the Pynx where the great orators Aristotle, Demosthenes, Pericles and Themistocles addresses assemblies in the 5th century BCE. After a meander down the hill and a nose around some beautiful churches I had a well earned late lunch on the Yiasemi staircase, lined with brightly decorated cafes where if you can’t find a table you just pull up a cushion and sit on the stairs.

Thanks to an evening flight the next day I was able to visit the presidential palace, the Byzantine museum and gardens, and the beautiful national botanic gardens. A visit to Aristotle’s school completed all of the sites on my acropolis ticket.

I’m so happy I decided to visit Athens for this fabulous trip and although I went on my own I was never far from familiar people. On my second day, in the chapel of Agios Giorgios on the top of Mount Lycabettus I met a couple wondering if they still held weddings there, I happened to know the answer to that question as I had read about it the previous day, so we had a bit of a chat. The following day they were also on the trip to the Temple of Poseidon, then the next day, while I was sat on the hop on hop off bus in a bit of a traffic jam, I saw them walking along the street so we had a catch up while the bus waited to move off.

Athens is the most amazing place to visit on a solo trip as I felt very safe at all times and there is so much to see and do that even if you stayed for a couple of months you wouldn’t see it all. So I will definitely return and maybe even bring a friend!

Going it alone – part one

12 Nov 2023 Leave a comment

by Carole Gardiner in Uncategorized Tags: , , , , , , ,

Much as I love travelling with family and friends, I really wanted to do some solo trips and thought that Europe was a good place to start.

For my first solo adventure I decided to go to Rome as I had visited many times before and knew my way around pretty well. That said I did make a conscious effort to visit places that I hadn’t seen before on previous trips, including the aqueduct park, the catacombs, Tiber Island, Trajan’s market and Circus Maximus. I went on a lovely boat trip and met the very cute resident coypu named Caterina. But also visited old favourites; the Pantheon, Piazza Navona, Castel D’Angelo and St. Peter’s Square.

On all my previous visits to Rome I have gotten out of the city, I’ve been to Pompeii and Ostia Antica twice. Anyone who knows me or has read this blog will know what a history nut I am. So I hopped on the train to Naples to catch the little circumvesuviana train to Sorrento with a little pit stop at Ercolana to visit the ancient city of Herculaneum. I’ve wanted to see this site for many years and it didn’t disappoint. Just a little walk from the station down the main street of the small town is the most compact and perfectly formed roman city. The streets, houses, shops and port are so amazingly well preserved, partly to do with it’s position in relation to Mount Vesuvius, so it faired a little better than it’s neighbour Pompeii. I loved wandering around and looking at the fabulous murals on the walls, the colours still quite vibrant even after all these years.

Onwards on the most scenic train journey for another couple of hours I made my way to beautiful Sorrento, another place on my hit list for quite some time. Due to my stop off at Herculaneum I only had a couple of hours at this lovely coastal resort, but long enough to enjoy a bit of a walk around and some gnocchi and a glass wine while watching the glorious sunset.

Originally I had only planned to go to Herculaneum and back to Naples for a look around, but when I got off the train from Rome and walked to the station to get the next train it smelt so strongly of urine that I decided to go further down south to Sorrento. I’m sure it was a one off and Naples is a lovely place to visit, I just didn’t fancy it that day!

A short time before my holiday I had already been informed by Easy jet that my flight was delayed and I had an extra day in Rome, luckily my Air BnB hosts were able to put me up for one more night. What I didn’t know though was my cousin Amelia and her family, Ged and Sophia, were also going to be arriving in Rome on my last but one day. I found out when I posted online while sat on the tarmac at Bristol Airport, Amelia saw it and messaged me. So after a morning of mooching around the site of Nero’s Golden Palace and the Roman Forum, I met them at their hotel on the Via Nationale. After sharing a pizza and trying to catch up on a lot of family gossip, we made our way to have a look at the mighty Coliseum. We enjoyed a lovely evening together reminiscing about the last time we met up in Rome, another totally unplanned event when we both decided to come to Italy as a birthday treat quite a few years ago, my birthday is the day before Amelia’s. She was staying outside of Rome that time with my Uncle and Aunty and we all met at the Spanish steps.

The next day I managed to fit in the Trevi fountain, the Spanish steps and one last coffee with Amelia and co before making my way to the airport for my flight home. We decided that Rome was some kind of special place for us and I believe that is true, I really feel comfortable there and felt safe all the time, even when I was returning to my apartment late at night.

Thank you for being a friend

07 Nov 2023 Leave a comment

by Carole Gardiner in Uncategorized Tags: , , , , , ,

Friendship is very important to me and I’m very lucky to have core groups of fabulous friends. And what is better than fabulous friends? ….. Weekends away with those friends!!

In the past year I have been fortunate enough to partake in quite a few jollies with my gals.

The BMT drinking club is made up of 6 paediatric oncology/haematology nurses who became friends in the 90’s, working on the bone marrow transplant unit in Bristol Children’s Hospital. We had our annual weekend jaunt to New Quay in beautiful West Wales. We are lucky to have the use of a fabulous house overlooking the sea. I always feel both energised and rested by these weekends. We spent quality time walking, chatting and laughing so much, especially when playing Cards against humanity!

The Class of 83 are a group of friends who met at senior school at the age of 11. Our friendship group became stronger following a school reunion a few years ago and we have tried to meet up regularly ever since. We discovered a lovely cottage in Draycott, near Cheddar in Somerset in November last year and decided to return again in May. Whenever we get together we all laugh so much and this was especially so on our second visit to the cottage when we found the dressing up box! Very clearly provided for the children but that didn’t stop us trying to squeeze into the outfits and making it work!

The New year new challenge club is made up of 3 adrenaline junkies, well actually just me and 2 friends that get dragged along to stuff that terrifies them, like zip wiring! We are the 3 amigos namely Arrr Carole, Arrr Debb and Arrr Selena who met working in the paediatric oncology/haematology research team. When we are not doing death defying challenges, we go on weekends away. This year we took ourselves off to Liverpool to do all things Beatles, Cilla and Liver birds!

A weekend away in the Big Smoke was in order for 2 fabulous friends, Bev and Deb, who turned 60 this year. From our temporary home on Bankside, on the first night we had cocktails in the Shard with most amazing views. Then the following day, dressed in our 70’s chick best we headed to the O2 for the Mamma Mia party night. It was a fabulous weekend in old London town filled with laughs, dancing and singing all things Abba.

Last but definitely not least, not really a weekend away, but a lovely night’s stay in our own city of Bristol. My bestest bestie Jane and I went to see an outside performance of Much ado about nothing at the Orangery at Godley Hall in Hotwells. It is a very special place for Jane and her family as her daughter got married there a couple of years ago and we met up there with the happy couple, Holly and Jonny, to watch the play. As copious amounts of fizz was consumed we needed a hotel room in walking distance to stagger to, but we were bright eyed and bushy tailed the morning after for a spot of breakfast and a really good catch up and laughing till we cried session at the Clifton Lido.

Time with treasured friends is never wasted time, to maintain friendship takes effort and mutual respect, and should never be taken for granted. I value every minute I spend with all my close friends and really hope those relationships continue for many years to come.

Friends will be friends.

05 Nov 2023 Leave a comment

by Carole Gardiner in Uncategorized Tags: , , , , , ,

I have not written in my blog for 14 months. I have not long completed my module to be an independent nurse prescriber and that took up most of my time between January and July, the need to write clinically and critically would have been hampered by any kind of creative writing. I’m not exactly sure though what prevented me from writing posts for the first half of the blog writing freeze. But I haven’t been loitering around, I’ve been on lots of adventures so I have plenty to write about now I have the opportunity.

For this post I’m going to pick up where I left off 14 months ago. In a long queue, slowly snaking through London on the way to see a much loved queen lying in state, 7 strangers became friends and the 2 am club was born. 2 am was the time we predicted we would get into Westminster Palace when we formed our WhatsApp group. After we had paid our respects to her majesty we vowed to try and keep in touch and meet up whenever we could.

In September on the anniversary of that day, 3 of the members of the 2 am club were able to meet up. Sharon, Amy and myself met in a very sunny Covent Garden and had a lovely lunch in the Ivy, mooched around and generally catching up on a years worth of gossip and news. Then ended with cocktails in Piccadilly before Amy and Sharon headed home and I retired to my hotel for the night. It was such a fabulous afternoon and hopefully in the new year we’ll be able to get a date that we can all make.

Friends can be made in the most unexpected places, I’m sure many other friendship groups like ours were created in the queue during that week and I hope they are able to get together as well.