And all the focus on COP26 just along the road in Glasgow has got us all thinking about water, the source of life… and prompting us to bring you Holidos and don’ts where to drink the water.
And particularly when we think back on how we were always warned against drinking the water when we were abroad (mostly in those days, Spain).
The fact though is that Spain is safe to drink from the tap and so there is no need to buy plastic bottled water from the supermercato.
Even better, of course, is to find yourself a stream in the country, and better still if you can stumble upon a Camino along the way and follow it through the Santiago.
Water of Rome
The same applies incidentally in Italy where you’ll find crystal clear streams on your Via Francigena into Rome.
La Citta Eterna, of course, prides itself on its water.
The fountains which are around every corner and in every piazza.
But also the beautifully adorned taps with carvings of Romulus and Remus and their wolf mother which proliferate around the city.
In the cloying humidity of a Rome heatwave you’ll be glad of a tap to fill up your flask.
And didn’t Silvio Berlusconi just know it when our guide told us that he wanted to start charging the locals for the water… something not even Benito Mussolini dared try.
Back to our friends at Globehunters and they reflect that the UK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Northern and Western Europe, the US and Japan have the best water.
All of which means that you need to take more care in south-eastern Europe, much of Asia, Africa, Central America and South America and it pains me to say the Caribbean (although ‘rum is mi only medicine’ there).
Holy water
There are, of course, parts of the world, those where Our Lady has visited, where the water is straight from Heaven.
And yes, I know, that all water comes from the heavens, although a politician in Ireland when I was living there didn’t.
When he railed against the idea of water charges by saying just that ‘that it was’t as if water fell from the heavens’.
The Maryest of Marian sites is, of course, Lourdes, where the Pyrenees water in Cauterets is among the purest and spirited of anywhere.
So be sure to sup from the streams and the waterfalls.
Your own water
It was always a matter of great pride that your own country had the best water.
And this has always been credited as the magic ingredient of Ireland’s famous Guinness stout.
And Scotch and Irish whisk(e)y.
So now we’re all back out on the road then look out for the taps in towns, and the streams and waterfalls in the country.
And fill up your flasks.
Ditch the plastic
It also tastes better when it’s not out of a plastic bottle.
And the fishies in the seas, my old pal Mother Turtle Vanessa in the Maldives, and our future generations will thank you.
Be warned too that now we’re all travelling again I’m hardly going to stop here with Holidos and don’ts where to drink the water.
And I’ll back with more Holidos and don’ts… in the blog that’s not all blah, blah, blah.
Well, at least, not the type of blah that will destroy our beautiful blue planet.
