Anticipation

We're off again to avoid the late Rochester winter, this time to the south of France and to Malta.

 We leave Tuesday, February 20 for Nice, and will arrive at the height of the Carnival activity, which supposedly is quite a major affair in Nice.  From Wikipedia, "The Nice Carnival is one of the world's major carnival events, alongside the Brazilian Carnival and Venetian Carnival."  The web site devoted to Carnival in Nice is here:  http://en.nicecarnaval.com/ 

 After a few days on our own in Nice, we'll join up with a Road Scholar study group, and when that ends, we'll fly to Malta for another Road Scholar adventure there.

 We'll be home in mid-March; maybe spring will have arrived in Rochester then.

 More to follow.

Comments

  1. Ann Carol GoldbergFebruary 15, 2018 at 2:11 PM

    BON Voyage, and may your flights be on time and free from events. We look forward to your reports and may influence our free week between two tours to Spain and Portugal. that week we will drive, take trains of fly someplace special.
    LOVE, enjoy every second.
    Carol

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Cottonera; A Boat Ride

Image
Saturday, March 10, 2018 Our day began with an hour-long talk on the maritime history of Malta, with special attention to three towns across from Valletta, collectively known as Cottonera.   This story of the building of fortresses by the Knights, the attacks from the sea, the occupation by Napoleon’s forces, the blockade by the British, the whole story is complex and quite remarkable.   The lecturer was very good; he ended with the British controlling the entire Mediterranean with naval centers at Gibraltar, Malta and Cyprus.   We then traveled to Cottonera and walked through the beautiful streets: Some of the buildings date to the 13 th century; this Norman house has original windows: Again we saw many beautiful door knockers.   The dolphin is a traditional motif: We visited the Church of St. Lawrence in Vittoriosa, one of the three towns which make up Cottonera.   There are two statues of the Virgin Mary with a sword i...
Read more

Painters: Matisse and Chagall

Image
Monday, February 26, 2018   One reason we came to the south of France from Rochester is for the weather.   Well, it snowed on and off all day today, with temperatures in the high 30s and low 40s.   It hasn’t snowed in Nice since 1991 we were told. No matter; we had a great day.   We began with a 90-minute talk on the painters of southern France, with special attention to Matisse, Chagall and Picasso.   Our trip leader is wonderfully educated on the art history of this region, and his talk (with PowerPoints) was an extraordinary summation of an enormous amount of material.   We then went out into the cold and drove up to a place where there’s supposed to be a wonderful view of the city and the coast.   There was not.   But our visit to the Russian Orthodox Cathedral was fascinating.   It was built in 1912, a product of the melding of important families from all over Europe—it’s a long story. Nice has its share...
Read more

Marsaxlokk, Hypogeum

Image
Sunday, March 11, 2018 Joyce and I love markets, and we always try to visit them when traveling; we get a feel for a place from its markets.   Our day started with a visit to Marsaxlokk, a fishing village on a bay which has a widely known Sunday fish market.   It was jammed.   The fishermen (all men) go out overnight and bring in the catch early in the morning.   Many of the boats are painted in a traditional manner, and the bay is beautiful: Here’s a boat up on the shore: The path along the shore is jammed with merchants, almost all women, selling the catch and shouting out to the customers walking from one seller to another: Many of the merchants have signs to let you know the price and how and where the fish was caught: Here’s an eel being weighed: There were small sharks for sale: The tray of squid really was this color: There were a few stalls selling vegetables, fruit, an...
Read more