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Llywindatravels 2021

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Llywindatravels 2021

Tag Archives: Travel planning

Big Sur 2021

13 Tuesday Apr 2021

Posted by winifredcreamer in California, USA

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Coast, Travel planning

It’s been a tough year for Big Sur. The Dolan Fire burned almost 125,000 acres of the region between August and December 2020. After that it rained, and the rainfall on fresh fire scars was feared to cause mudslides, and it did. On Thurs. Jan. 28, 2020, a debris flow crossed Highway 1 and collapsed a section of the road into the ocean. Efforts to repair the highway have been underway since February, and the road is scheduled to be back in service by the end of April. Tourists have had to avoid most of the hiking trails, and since February, it has been impossible to make the famed Highway 1 drive along the coast from Morro Bay to the Golden Gate.

Pfeiffer Beach, Big Sur

With months of firefighting, precarious weather and road conditions as background, we took our time exploring this area. Initially we jumped from one place to another, looking for beaches, visiting Garrapata and Pfeiffer beaches. Pfeiffer Beach is a particularly beautiful spot. Rocks just offshore have a natural opening. The tide billows through, and at certain times, the sun sets right through this natural window. We met photographers setting up to catch views of the sunset on a calm afternoon. (The wind makes a big difference, as the second time we visited the wind was so strong we had to hide in the lee of the rocks, then leave.)

Once we realized that Big Sur is all about the views of the rocky coast, and has few beaches to walk on, we began working our way south from Carmel along Highway 1, stopping at the overlooks and taking any available walking trail along the the cliffs. Soberanes Point has a particularly nice series of trails along the rocks.

Weather and Covid have conspired to close some important stops in Big Sur. The Point Sur Lighthouse is a beautiful area, but has been closed for months. I just read that it is reopening for docent-guided tours. It sounds like there will be no wandering along the shore on one’s own.

On Soberanes Point, looking North
Point Sur can only be visited on a walking tour of the lighthouse or naval facilities. That beach in the foreground?–off limits.

There is a beautiful beach lying just north of the Point Sur lighthouse that I was looking forward to visiting when the grounds opened again, but I found that it is permanently closed to the public. This comes as a bit of a shock in California, where the right of pedestrians to walk on any beach up to the high tide mark is a law that has withstood years of attack by the rich (look up David Geffen and the California Coastal Commission…). About 15 miles of coastline, including this beach are fenced off and posted by the El Sur Ranch. Jonathan read up on it and the owner is seen as a great benefactor of the region, honorary member of the fire department, generous to local causes. I remain puzzled by why the ranch is allowed to keep long sections of coast land private in the face of laws to the contrary. The property goes back to a land grant in the mid-19th century, and I’m sure there are reasons, even if I don’t particularly like missing out on this stretch of the coast.

When I become discouraged that sections of the coast are not available to visit, I have to keep in mind that we have had great success in visiting most of the coast that can be reached on foot without overnight camping. One of our favorites is the Carmel River State Park, right down the road, open most of the time, a perfect place.

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In the Atlantic: Azores, Cape Verde, Madeira, Canary Islands

23 Tuesday Mar 2021

Posted by winifredcreamer in Travel General

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Travel planning

I am a big fan of islands, and looking toward Europe from Canada, I found several islands out in the Atlantic that I’d like to visit, including the Azores out in the center of the ocean, and three groups off the coast of Africa, the Republica of Cabo Verde, Madeira, and the Canary Islands. These were all identified by Europeans during the 1400s, when the explorers we learned out in grade school, including Prince Henry the Navigator, took voyages of exploration into the unknown Atlantic. Portugal dominated the seas and world exploration at that time, and today the Azores and Madeira are still overseas provinces of Portugal. The Republica de Cabo Verde was a Portuguese colony, but is now independent. The Canary Islands are a province of Spain.

What these islands have in common other than their Iberian ancestry, is delightful climate. Even the Azores, that appears to be out in the North Atlantic, has a range of mild annual temperatures that don’t fall below freezing and rarely reach 80oF. Distance is the issue for visitors to the Azores, since flights are long, though there are direct flights from Boston–Wait! We should not go there yet.

Needless to say, our beach combing would be interesting on any of these islands. Advice for people visiting the Azores is to pick one or two places to visit among the nine major islands, as transport between islands is costly. I’d like to visit one of the smaller islands by ferry, just for the experience. My choices would be shaped by which airport we landed at, as Ponta Delgada, one of the major cities, is on the eastern edge of the group, and the only island nearby is tiny Vila do Porto. There is a ferry that takes about five hours. If our plane landed on Lajes, in the central group of islands, there are nearby islands that could be visited easily by ferry. Festivals on the Azores tend to be related to religious holidays, with processions and flower bedecked displays. These largely take place between Easter and the end of August. Carnival is another event celebrated on all these islands. Folk dancing and colorful costumes are traditional, and embroidery is a widespread local craft. Visiting during Carnival, Easter, or Christmas might be more crowded, but there would be lots of good things to see.

A ten dollar stamp from the Republica de Cabo Verde designed by the ecology-minded Austrian artist Hundertwasser.

Our next stop might be Republic of Cabo Verde, off the coast of Africa near Senegal. The best time to visit is in January and February, when the temperature mostly stays below 80oF and there is scant or no rainfall. Most of the annual rain falls during September, a month that might be better elsewhere. I first learned of Cabo Verde as a young stamp collector. Small countries used to issue beautiful commemorative stamps as a way to make money. Collectors all over the world would pay for unused individual stamps, blocks of stamps, or stamped envelopes (First day of issue covers). There are some gorgeous ones by well known artists.

Like many island groups, Cabo Verde has a number of endemic bird species (found only in this place) that would give us new challenges in our bird watching. As you can imagine, there is plenty of seafood, and even a small wine industry, which we would do our best to support. A good reason to support Cabo Verde by visiting is the fact that the country has made strides in decreasing poverty and building a strong economic foundation. About 30% of its electricity now comes from wind farms, and there is probably more to come.

Republica de Cabo Verde

Moving north, Madeira is a single large island and three much smaller islands off the coast of Morocco. There’s a choice to be made in visiting. The three warmest months are June, July, and August, when rainfall is lowest, with average high temperatures around 80oF. However, recent record high temperatures in these months reach 100oF, so you might want to accept more rainfall for a month with milder weather, perhaps during April or May when there is just over an inch of rain. The other months average three or more inches of rain, so take your umbrella.

I had no idea that Madeira was so popular with cruise ships. Madeira is the most-visited place in Portugal for cruise ships, more than Lisbon. Half a million visitors a year disembark from cruise ships. They go on walks that border an extensive series of canals, they taste Madeira wine, and eat a fusion of Portuguese and local cooking. There is even a colorful endemic bird to look for, the Madeira firecrest. I think that it must get crowded in Funchal, the main city and port, so I’d look for a rental house somewhere outside the city.

A namesake of the Canary Islands?

Last, but far from least, is the Spanish group of islands. The Canary Islands may be the best known of all these Atlantic destinations, as they are very close to the coast of Morocco and have been known for hundreds of years. The name for the islands comes from the Latin word “canis” for dog, as dogs were mentioned in connection by Pliny and other early writers. There is even a breed of dog from this region, the Presa Canario, a big dog formerly for fighting, not birdlike at all. Canary birds are named after the islands, not the other way around.

There are eight main islands in this group, many more smaller islands, and a number of unoccupied but mapped “rocks”. The population is over two million, mostly on two islands, Tenerife and Gran Canaria. Described as having “long, hot summers and mild winters,” there is almost no rainfall May through August. It’s no wonder that the Canary Islands are popular with European vacationers and retirees. This is another big cruise ship stop, and the cities may get crowded, but there are lots of places outside the two capital cities, Santa Cruz de Tenerife and Las Palmas de Gran Canaria. I’m sure we could find a wonderful spot for a month.

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Into the New Year, 2021

08 Friday Jan 2021

Posted by winifredcreamer in California

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Travel planning

There is a Christmas carol that will appeal to all travelers:

….bearing gifts, we traverse afar, field and fountain, moor and mountain, following yonder star….

Whether it’s Kazakhstan or the entrance to the mall, we all have our star, somewhere we’d like to go in 2021. Though we still have no sense of when local stay-at-home orders will be lifted, or when we’ll get vaccinated, making plans gives us hope. We need that hope right now to get through this particularly uncomfortable final stretch toward some of the life we left behind last March.

When we are not at the shore, planning a walk along the shore, or checking the tide tables, we’ve begun to talk about our plans for travel when we can once again get on a plane safely. Many people have traveled across the country or further on planes during the past months. We don’t have a pressing reason to travel any more before being vaccinated. Now is a good time to plan. Just like gardeners reading seed catalogues, we can begin to ogle Airbnb listings and think about destinations.

Athens, Greece (A. Savin)

At first, we thought we’d take up our itinerary where we left off, visiting Greece. Now, I’m thinking about that wandering star and where it might lead us. My latest idea is to consider all the islands we haven’t visited, from Malta to Newfoundland to most of the Caribbean. I could go from island to island for many months. We are even contemplating spending a couple of weeks at ….(gasp!)…. a resort. Jonathan has been cooking every night since March with only a few exceptions. We used to make a point of eating out once a week to try local restaurants, and to give him a break from cooking. That hasn’t happened much recently. If we could find a resort that has really good food he might enjoy a break from the kitchen. That’s a topic we can dream about, and also do some internet research. If you have been to an island resort that you enjoyed, please tell me about it in the comments.

No matter what happens next, or how long we have to wait to get vaccinated, we’ll have our plans ready when it’s time to pack up again.

L-R: Birds, Bali, by Rolandandika; US Virgin Islands, by J.T. Shortes; Prince Edward Island internet photo; Curacao, by M. Falbisoner

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