Today is our transfer home arriving in Brisbane at
about midnight.
Saturday, 20 July 2019
DAY 47 20 JULY Hong Kong
Today the weather seemed a little clearer but a lot
of clouds around with predicted heavy showers. We had a thirty minute ferry
ride with our tour group of seven people and local guide Diana to Lantau
Island, Hong Kong's largest island. Arriving at what used to be called
Silvermine Bay, on the southern side of the island, we drove through lush
forest and soaring mountains and spotted the occasional water buffalo.
First it was to Upper Cheung Sha Beach, one of Hong
Kong’s longest beaches at 3 km. It was high tide and they have a shark net but
we are not sure if it is to protect people or catch them and eat them. It’s
reassuring that there are surf life-savers but today they weren’t rushed off
their feet.
Next stop was a traditional and historic fishing
village, Tai O. What I thought was pork rinds were fish bladders and they came
in a lot in all different shapes and sizes – I think they have the game sewn
up. We saw the biggest puffer fish ever. There seemed to be a quota of sleeping
cats scattered around the community. The houses are built on stilts and is still
occupied by the Tanka boat people and it is certainly not a wealthy community.
This Buddhist temple is dedicated to a martial arts
god.
Next we visited the Giant Buddha, the largest,
bronze outdoor Buddha in the world. They have finger fragments of the Buddha
inside, although DNA testing really isn’t possible. With the fog it was very
atmospheric.
In fact I am not sure if the Buddha could see his hand in front of
his face. Later it did clear up to give us a better view..
The Buddhist temple was quite spectacular.
We had a traditional vegetarian lunch at the
Buddhist Monastery which was filling, I guess, Buddhists do not eat meat which
explains why the pork buns did not taste like pork.
Making our way towards our
rendezvous with a cable care we strolled through the adjacent Nyong Ping
Village which “harmonises the Buddhist themes of Ngong Ping flawlessly, linking
the main attractions, including the big Buddha and Po Lin Monastery, Nyong Ping
360 and Wisdom Path.” (Or so the tourist brochure says.)
After lunch the weather was closing in when we took
the Ngong Ping Cable Car to Tung Chung, so it was like a half-circle we did on
the island. We caught glimpses of waterfalls, the 55km long Macau Bridge (the
longest bridge in the world, except for the tunnel in the middle), and the Hong
Kong International Airport.
DAY 46 18-19 JULY Madrid – Hong Kong
Today we had a shuttle to the Madrid airport. Not
knowing what sort of vehicle to expect. I approached a shuttle van driver and
asked him but he was there to pick up the Delta Airline crew. A few minutes
later our Mercedes saloon appeared. The trip was good most of the way but then
it crawled to a standstill for quite a while and although we had some initial
language difficulties it all worked out.
To cut a long story short we only had to wait about
an hour, as it took us a while to check our luggage and go through customs and
immigration, and of course the train ride to get us to the terminal. They were
not inefficient, it was just a big place and lots of people. I did set off an
alarm and they swabbed me for drugs and or explosives but I have no idea which.
We managed to sleep most of the way on the
plane. Upon arrival in Hong Kong, another
train, Immigration and baggage retrieval, it was all quite efficient. We walked
to baggage claim and saw both of our suitcases and we were gone. It was easy to
find our shuttle collection and then to be guided to the bus. The highway was
good but once we hit the CBD it was very slow but it wasn’t a problem.
We slept in our room for a few hours, ventured out
for a coffee and met our tour guide for tonight. We saw Hong Kong as the sun
sets and experienced such a bustling metropolis of 7 million at night. Luckily
the weather had cleared, because this afternoon there was rain and thunder.
With our guide, we hopped on a Big Bus, an open top bus to see the sights of
the city.
We went along Nathan Road, the heart of Kowloon,
famous for its neon lights and shopping precinct. We visited Heritage 1881, a
cultural and shopping landmark of Kowloon that was built incorporating the
former Naval Police headquarters.
Our hotel looks at the back of possible the most prestigious hotel in Hong Kong, The Peninsula. They have fleet of green Rolls Royces, but only green.
This was followed by a stroll along the promenade to watch the Symphony
of Lights show; a multimedia show, which was very good.
We did enjoy a view of Victoria Harbour and the stunning skyline of Hong Kong Island from a popular Chinese restaurant for dinner and savoured various Chinese dishes including the popular Peking duck. There was far too much to eat and we did try the chopsticks. The jellyfish was just right!
Friday, 19 July 2019
DAY 45 17 JULY Madrid
Today it was the Madrid fashion museum. We overshot it in the bus but we eventually found our way there. Unfortunately
it was unfashionably closed, but we managed to see a temporary exhibition there on
traditional Spanish costumes.
This is some of what we missed. It's ranked 8th best fashion museum in the world.
We then walked back to the Royal Palace and Armoury, a couple of kilometres, which is quite near our hotel. The line looked long
to get inside but it only took about 12 minutes. Though it was quite
hot waiting outside in the sun. We did see the mounted guards at the palace. No
photography was allowed in most of the internal rooms. The rooms were quite
spectacular, not unlike the Palace at Versailles.
On the walk home, we visited Temple Debod, a Second Century
BC Egyptian temple to Amun that the Egyptian government had gifted to Spain. Apparently it was
in recognition of the Spanish company that was involved in the construction of
the Aswan Dam and saving Abu Simbel. Three other countries were given temples
as gifts.
DAY 44 16 JULY Madrid
Our adventures on the Madrid buses continued this morning and we did manage to get off at approximately the correct stop. This was a monument to the Spanish colonisation of the New World - Plaza de Colon - or at least we think it was.
Next we went to a small Model Ship Museum which was free and small, unlike most museums in Madrid.
Now it was on to possibly the second best museum - the Thyssen-Bornemisza museum (one of the best three museums in Madrid) and their
collection was quite extraordinary in quality. They had many of the big names, Holbein, Durer, Caravaggio, Canaletto, Rubens, Renoir, Monet, Rodin, Degas, van Gogh, Dali,
Oh yeah and here is one of Vincent van Gogh's pieces they had just lying around gathering dust.
On the way back to the hotel we visited a wargaming shop but I wasn’t able to buy anything in my scale.
Wednesday, 17 July 2019
DAY 43 15 JULY Madrid
Today we negotiated the Madrid bus system and it
was largely a successful experience. Our first museum was the Reina Sofia Museum and the highlight was
Picasso’s Guernica – a statement on the horror of war during the Spanish Civil
War. It is a very large work, stark and powerful.
We spent a long 4.5 hours at the Prado on our
second visit, not able to take photographs but it was quite amazing. To be honest, I was a
bit sick of religious paintings at the end (but they were very good).
Bosch's Garden of Earthly Delights.
Velazquez's most famous work Las Meninhas. The painting has the artist in it, the Royal children and the King and Queen in a mirror, watching the scene. Our tour guide from our first visit suggested looking at the painting through one eye and closing your hand like a telescope and with perspective it looked 3D.
Ruben's The Judgement of Paris
DAY 42 14 JULY Barcelona to Madrid
We left Barcelona today at 8 AM, dropping off some
of our tour buddies at the airport. There were just the two of us on the bus
and we travelled through some interesting scenery, including a huge field of
wind turbines.
DAY 41 13 JULY Barcelona – Montserrat - Barcelona
Today was truly a highlight, visiting the hilltop
monastery with the Black Madonna and its spectacular surrounding scenery.
We
returned to Barcelona for a bus tour that provided highlights of a vista over
the city, seeing the bullring, travelling past buildings that celebrated Spain
for two world expositions (1929 was an unfortunate year to have it) as well as
where the Barcelona 1992 Olympics were held.
Those of us old enough remember the torch being lit by a flaming arrow.
Then there was an amazing telecommunications tower.
Next it was on to the Eixample district to visit
inside Gaudi’s extraordinary masterpiece, the Sagrada Família. Its central nave
has giant, tree-like pillars, spectacular vaulting and the beautiful rainbows
flooding in through the intricate stained-glass windows. Fabulous.
One surprise was that the security to get in was of airport standard, including belts and watches. I was surprised that it wasn’t
as crowded as it could have been.
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