America, Countries, Culture, Europe, Ireland, Music, UK

Holiday Snaps – Remote Dubrovnik, sign me up

It used to take me an hour and a half from my home in Greystones, Co. Wicklow, to get me to work in Ballsbridge, Dublin 4.

But in these COVID days I’ve reduced the hike to my office to a second and a half which, of course, is sending me stir crazy.

The Pearl of the Adriatic

Thankfully the Digital Nomad Visa Scheme is at hand to offer us the chance to move our workplace to, say Dubrovnik.

Nor is it new… George Bernard Shaw did, calling Dubrovnik ‘the pearl of the Adriatic’.

And that ‘those who seek Paradise on Earth should come to Dubrovnik’.

So if you can swing it to take three weeks, say, then our friends at Adriatic Hotels will help out.

Sail of the century

Reckon it’ll be nicer than home… and warmer!

They recommend the Hotel Dubrovnik Palace and the https://www.adriaticluxuryhotels.com/hotel-excelsior-dubrovnik/.

Buffalo Bill, Denniston and us

Glasgow rides again

And Dennistoun in the East End of Glasgow, the birthplace of my Dear Old Dad and Buffalo Bill’s stomping ground, has won its rightful place in the world’s hearts.

Dennistoun is the unlikely inclusion in a top ten of a Time Out list of Coolest Neighbourhoods.

Eighth behind Esquerra De L’Eixanple, Barcelona Downtown LA and Bedford-Stuyvesant, New York.

Billtown, Glasgow… http://www.dennistounconservationsociety.org.uk/page.asp?Title=Buffalo+Bill&Section=11&Page=13

And ahead of Haut-Marais, Paris and Marickville, Sydney.

James Manning, Time Out’s International Editor congratulated Dennistoun on its response to the pandemic.

Murtytown, Glasgow

‘With independents pipping up and artists brightening the winding streets.’

But Buffalo Bill and his Wild West Riders, Chief Sitting Bull among them, knew that already, choosing Dennistoun as his sole Scottish venue on his first Euro tour.

Buffalo Bill’s Grave, Colorado

There’s a statue to Buffalo Bill on Whitehill Street and Dennistoun is written large in the scrolls of the Buffalo Bill Museum in Golden, Colorado, where he is laud to rest.

The mighty Aphrodite and Cyprus

And because I like to see a job through, I want to get to the beginning and end of the Aphrodite story.

Having checked in on Kythera where Aphrodite was born out of the swell of the waves I obviously have to see whete she passed onto the Great Beyond in Cyprus.

With Travel Department who are offering seven nights from €1039pp, including flights, transfers 4* half-board hotel

Plus excursions and tour guide. Depart April, September, October and November.

Not past her shell-life: Aphrodite and Cyprus

You’ll whizz around the Medieval town on a half-day tour, the capital city Nicosia.

And one I’ve been building up for years, one of the great joys of Travel, crossing the border of an island, into Northern Cyprus.

Of course back in the days of Aphrodite it wasn’t an issue.

Paphos is mighty for Aphrodite… and Omodos for the wine.

Party like a German

Good to see my old German friends from the German Travel Mart and hear that the Beethoven 250th celebrations are still on course.

With December seeing two major musical events from his birthtown Bonn.

Beethoven 2020 will now be Beethoven 2021 too.. a bit like an extra symphony.

So let us entertain you with this sample of how broad Beethoven can be.

While you’ll want to watch out for Robbie Williams’ take on Beethoven next year.

MEET YOU ON THE ROAD

Countries, Culture, Europe

Rainy Days And Songdays – Beethoven

Rainy Days And Songdays goes all classical this week.

With a nod to Ludwig Van Beethoven on the 250th anniversary of his birth.

Not growing up in a musical family we had limited exposure to Classical music with one accidental exception.

The Jewel

Fur Elise would play out a couple of times a week from my Mum and Dad’s bedroom.

Not because my Dad was a secret fan of Ludwig but because it was the music on my Mum’s jewellery box.

All of which allowed me to look all sophisticated.

When I drew my Travel companion Elise’s attention to the synergy of our staying in a hotel, the Beethoven Spa https://www.lazneteplice.cz/ in February.

I dare say The Great Man’s name proliferates on hotels, bars and cafes all over Central Europe.

Ring of truth

But our Hotel Beethoven in Lazne Teplice in the then Austro-Hungarian Empire but now Czech Republic has a ring of authenticity.

Because Ludwig actually stayed here and the good people of the Spa and medical town even helped him.

With that delicate problem of his… his hearing!

The Hotel Beethoven boasts a gallery of Beethoven artefacts on its walls on the way to its baths and saunas.

Including pictures of a number of ear horns and creepily the life mask he had made here.

Chocolate heaven

If you ask too you can be taken to the ornate door of the room where he stayed.

And I dare say you can work on a price with them.

And then there’s the Cafe Beethoven where they play his music (obvs) and you can sit at the piano and pretend to be him.

Did I mention they have a glass cabinet of home baking with a carousel of the most calorific chocolate cakes?

Go the full hog, you’re on holiday after all, and pair it with a Hot Chocolate.

Ludwig’s birthday coming in December means that there are possibilities that some of the events planned in his name may go ahead.

Check out www.czechtourism.com and Hope springs eternal.

And for where we are with Beethoven 2020, see https://www.bthvn2020.de/en/.