Michael Palin – Travels of a Lifetime (TV series).

As an unabashed follower of the great and good Sir Michael Palin I was overjoyed…..nay, absolutely brimming with bliss….I felt that my cup runneth over…’ on discovering that Sir Michael had revisited some of his early travels and created a new series.

His website says “Michael revisits five of his famous journeys – Around the World in 80 Days, Pole to Pole, Full Circle, Sahara and Himalaya. In intimate conversation, and using his personal archive, he reflects on how he got hooked on travel, and reveals the challenges he faced making the ground-breaking travel shows. In addition, celebrities including Simon Reeve and Joanna Lumley explain how Michael inspired them to go on adventures of their own“.

As I’ve already mentioned here and in earlier posts I am a huge fan of Michael Palin. I liked him immensely as a member of Monty Python, but my genuine admiration of him as a presenter and a writer came from watching his travel programmes and reading his travel books.

Both Michael and myself were born and raised in Sheffield and we’re both absolutely mad football supporters. Sadly though Michael supports the wrong team in Sheffield. I’m only half joking when I say that.

Although he now follows both of the Sheffield football clubs, his heart is with Sheffield United, whereas I for my sins follow Wednesday. The fans of both teams are absolute rivals of one another. Football in Sheffield is not about life and death…it’s bigger than that. When I was a boy my dad, a lifelong United supporter, took me to watch United at Bramall Lane, but a couple of weeks earlier our neighbour had taken me to watch Sheffield Wednesday play an exhibition game against Santos of Brazil and Pele was playing. I had taken that Tuesday afternoon off school to watch the game along with 37,000 other people – mostly men and schoolboys to see Pele lead Santos to a 2-0 win. Although Wednesday lost, by the time my dad took me to see United play, I was already a Wednesdayite. This pleased my mum immensely as she and her brother used to watch Wednesday in their younger days too. There was a serious rivalry between the clubs back then, and I suppose it still goes on today. But, these days just like Michael Palin, I like both Sheffield clubs to do well. Perhaps this is because of the distance I am away from Sheffield these days. The 12,000 or so miles make it more bearable to hear about United having a win now and then. Both clubs doing well at the same time sadly rarely happens, although as I write this both clubs are nearing the end of the 2022/23 season and promotion for both teams is possible (if not probable). United sit second in their league and have a good chance of promotion to the Premier league, whereas Wednesday (who from over 50 years of experience I have come to know as ‘the nearly team’ – they nearly do well….usually starting of with a roar, hitting the top of the table and then slowly self-destructing and missing out yet again) were doing amazingly well, top of the table with games in hand have, it seems, gone into self-destruct mode yet again and now sit 3rd on the table but the teams above and below now have a game in hand over them. It’s starting to feel and look like the same old story – I hope I’m proven wrong!

Anyway….back to Sir Michael.

When Palin’s first travel series Around the World in 80 Days was released – November 1989 – I had already backpacked half way around the world myself over a 10 month period, returned to the UK, married, started a family and then emigrated permanently to New Zealand with my New Zealand wife…who was formerly my pen-pal – back in the day when people used to write and mail letters to one another. I always say that via my letter writing I won more than any other literary prize around and after 35 years of marriage and 37 years together, I still believe that 100%.

I think that what I really loved about Around the World in 80 days, in particular, was how unscripted, seat of the pants it was. He’d arrive somewhere not knowing the language or much about the place and have to work out how to get from A to B (against the clock) with interesting and often amusing consequences. Even something as seemingly simple as buying a train ticket became a quest fit for Arthurian legend. It truly was groundbreaking TV.

As his expertise grew – his travel experience that is – the shows became a little more polished so by the time he had gone through Pole to Pole and Full Circle he had worn off most of the rough edges and had become a far more professional presenter. He never lost his sense of wonder though about the world and the people in it and this made all of his travel series’ so special.

It was with both joy and a little sadness that I watched him reminisce about his earlier adventures. Being reminded how he looked when he began his travels, in his mid 40’s, to how he is now at almost 80 made me realise that he is getting on in years and that sooner or later we all age. At times his eyes are clear and the younger vibrant man in him is still there, but other times his eyes look rheumy and tired and remind me of my father’s eyes toward the end of his life.

I sincerely hope that Sir Michael will be with us for many more years and that his adventuring is not yet all behind him.

If you haven’t yet seen his ‘Travels of a Lifetime’ series, it’s definitely worth watching whether you saw the original travel series’ or not.

As usual, if you’ve read this far Thank You. Please feel free to comment, like or share this post and we’ll be back with another post soon.

Michael Palin – still the intrepid traveller at the age of 79.

No excuses. I’m a huge fan of Michael Palin both during and after his Monty Python days. When he first set off “Around the World in 80 Days” in the 1980’s, for a BBC TV series, I wondered whether the show would be successful or not. The fact that he did several other travel adventures for the BBC and then for other TV companies, the latest being a Channel 5 series and book ‘Into Iraq’, shows how successful he has been. Indeed, how successful he still is, venturing into Iraq at the age of 79…..and he still moves easier than I do.

I came across the book whilst browsing in the Napier branch of Wardini Bookshop – a shop that I use frequently and incidentally one of my favourites – and decided that I had to add another Palin book to my collection.

I read through ‘Into Iraq’ in one sitting as I was spellbound, yet again, by Palin’s love of travel and his love of people. The blurb on the back of the book’s jacket demonstrates this clearly.

I walk a little further on, away from the film crew, and come across two children sitting at the doorstep of what is left of a house. The boy is seven or eight, the girl older. Eleven or twelve, I guess. They sit silently together, he with a shy smile, she impassively, showing no emotion. I ask if I can take their picture. The girl nods, solemnly. It’s then, as I frame the two of them, sitting amongst the debris of a roofless house, the wall behind then studded with bullet holes, that I find myself unable to contain my own emotion.

The copy of the book that I have is the hard cover version. No doubt there either already is, or will be, a paperback version. It’s a very nice book with numerous colour photos of his journey, but this book is a much smaller format than the earlier BBC books and the paper quality doesn’t really do the photography true justice. That aside, I still like the book very much and am happy that I bought it.

Palin’s family were not happy about him going ‘Into Iraq’ on this latest of his travel adventures because of political and military unrest there, despite him surviving quite nicely when he visited North Korea for an earlier book. Casting all concerns aside, he began his journey in March of 2022 and travelled the length of the Tigris River through Iraq, keeping a journal along the way, which became his notes for this book.

He mixes freely with the Iraqi people, contemplates the graffiti-strewn ruins of Sadam Husein’s former palaces, notes the constant presence of armed guards and the lurking threat of militias. But there are lighter moments throughout the book and at the same time, he describes how the river Tigris, which once gave birth the ancient cities such as Babylon and Ur is now a shadow of its former self. Water in Iraq is becoming a scarce commodity. He also discusses how Iraq’s other major natural resource – oil – affects both the wealth and stability of the nation.

In an interview on BBC TV’s ‘The One Show’ Palin had a bit of a dig at his former employer – the BBC – by saying that Channel 5 who funded his trip to Iraq were easier to work with and less restrictive – allowing him the freedom to climb up the outside of the 52 metre tall Great Mosque in Samarra. The climb of 650 steps with no guard rail on the outer edge, a place where Palin found he had to stand several times to allow people to pass by him on their way down. During the interview Palin quipped “If I was working for the Beeb they wouldn’t have let me out of the car, let alone climbing up there,” taking aim at the BBC. And yes, he did go all the way up to the top and down again unscathed.

One of his interviewers noted that had Palin fallen from the Mosque’s tower, Britain would have lost a national treasure. I echo that sentiment. Palin will be 80 next month (May 5th) and I have to wonder how many more years he can remain active enough to take part in other travel adventures. Not only that, but who from the younger generation is waiting in the wings of the right calibre to step into his well-worn shoes?

If you like independent travel, or you’re a fan of Michael Palin – buy the book and take a look for yourselves. I rate it at 4 out of 5 (A one point deduction for the reduced size and the paper quality).

Again, thank you for reading this and your comments etc. are most welcome.

Instagram – my photos there.

I’ve been promising to do a post featuring photography, so finally here it is. I’ve been a photography nut since childhood when given a simple point and click film camera. Eventually I saved enough for an SLR – it was a very basic Russian made camera and I added a few different lenses and shot on print film and on slide film. As I improved, so did my cameras and I upgraded to an Olympus OM10…as advertised by the photographer of the moment, David Bailey. Of course we’re now in the digital age so another upgrade was needed.

I’m a relative late comer to Instagram, but have posted over 80 photos there so far. I try to make them as diverse as possible – some in colour, some in black and white – travel, fashion, people and portraits, nature, transport, aircraft, architecture and more. Here are a few examples from my Instagram posts, which can be found at https://www.instagram.com/malcfrost/

Please call by and take a look. There are a lot more photos to see there. I mainly shoot photos using a couple of Nikon DSLR’s, but also occasionally fall back to my old trusty Fuji FinePix HS10

Full size photos can be viewed on Instagram. https://www.instagram.com/malcfrost/

Oh yes, he cheekily adds, I am available for commissions and am on the lookout for suitable models.

Thank you for reading. Comments, likes, shares are most welcome.

A belated happy new year….lets talk books.

Already we’re almost 2 weeks into 2020 and I’ve been very tardy about writing my first post of the year. I guess I am still in holiday mode as far as my blog is concerned….something I need to remedy rather smartly. First off though may I wish you all a happy, healthy and prosperous New Year – albeit a belated one.

When ever I commit myself to a rigid reading list for the year ahead, I always fail. So I decided to tackle my reading list month by month instead.

This month I’ll be dipping into Shaun Bythell’s second book about owning a bookshop – Confessions of a Bookseller. Just like his first book Diary of a Bookseller, it’s written in the form of a daily diary and includes some of the funny, or sometimes frustrating, events that occur each day while running his shop. The good thing about a book like this is that you can pick it up for a few minutes and read a day or two’s happenings and then get back to whatever task needs to be done. It’s an easy, humorous read and gives an insight into the life of a somewhat sarcastic book shop owner – the ups and the downs. I’m already a good way through the book…..maybe three quarters through. I’ve been dipping in and out of it for several weeks but don’t want it to end.

Book Review: Around the World in 80 Trains | Travelrat's ... — Left – The author climbing aboard one of the 80 trains and the book cover on the right.

My second book is one I bought myself for Christmas with the money left over on my Wardini Book Shop voucher I got for my birthday. By Monisha Rajesh, Around the World in 80 Trains is a book I am looking forward to getting started on. As regular readers of my blog will already know, I love to travel and my favourite way to travel is by train. So this 45,000 mile adventure by rail should be a good fit. Michael Palin (one of my favourite travel writers) writes on the cover of the book – “Never too fast, never too slow, Monisha Rajesh’s journey does what trains do best. Getting to the heart of things. Prepare for a very fine ride.” I can hardly wait to get started.

Scrublands - Chris Hammer :: The Book Tree Toowoomba

The next book is one that my sister-in-law leant to my daughter-in law, who then decided that there was no room in her suitcase to take it back to the States with her. A quick look at the blurb on the cover had me interested immediately and I am now about a third of the way through Chris Hammer’s Scrublands. The blurb reads…“In an isolated country town brought to its knees by drought, a charismatic and dedicated young priest calmly opens fire on his congregation, killing five parishioners before being shot dead himself. A year later, troubled journalist Martin Scarsden arrives in Riversend to write a feature on the anniversary of the tragedy. But the stories he hears from the locals about the priest and incidents leading up to the shooting don’t fit with the accepted version of events his own newspaper reported in an award-winning investigation. Martin can’t ignore his doubts, nor the urgings of some locals to unearth the real reason behind the priest’s deadly rampage.” It’s a wonderful yarn set in a very parched Australia and so many twists and turns are happening already. It’s going to be a great read.

Grandi fotografe per il libro di Boris Friedewald: da ...

Of course I am never content with having bookshelves full of book awaiting reading here at home, Oh no not I. We have several wonderful libraries where I live in Hawke’s Bay, New Zealand. In town (Hastings) is the main library and just up the road at Havelock North we have another, smaller but very well set up, library. A recent visit saw me pick up two books to bring home. The first on yet another of my passions, photography. By Boris Friedewald it is simply called Women Photographers – from Julia Margaret Cameron to Cindy Sherman – and explores the lives, careers and works of the finest women photographers in the world. Eve Arnold, the first woman photographer to be admitted into the prestigious Magnum Agency once said “I didn’t want to be a woman photographer. That would limit me. I wanted to be a photographer who was a woman, with all the world open to my camera.” And as Gisele Freund said “It is the eye that takes the picture, not the camera.” And every picture the eye sees is directly linked to the person who made it.

Insider: Zoe Daniel A Correspondent and A Mother! - 89.3 ...

The second of my library books is the memoir of Foreign Correspondent Zoe Daniel – Storyteller tells the story of how Daniel found herself thrust into the dangerous world of reporting news from some of the most inhospitable places in the world. She is one of the few women to combine the most demanding job – motherhood, with one of the most dangerous jobs in the world. Storyteller is a timely reminder of the bravery and audacity of the men and women who bring us the news – the journalists, the local ‘fixers’, the cameramen (and women) – but above all it pays tribute to ordinary people who find them selves eyewitness to the extraordinary. I meant to read just the first page to give me an idea as to whether I’d enjoy reading this one or not. Suddenly I am 28 pages in and find my mouth is dry as I’ve been reading with my mouth open, completely agog!

So that’s my reading for January. I hope you’re reading something that has you spellbound. Back soon with another post. As always many thanks for reading and any comments, likes, follows and shares are greatly appreciated.

North Korea Journal – Michael Palin (Review).

As I may have mentioned once or twice on past posts on this blog, I enjoy reading travel books and one of my favourite authors (along with Bill Bryson) is Michael Palin. His travel books usually accompany a TV series of the same name as his books. Since 1989, starting with his first ever travel book and accompanying TV show, Around the World In 80 Days, he was connected, almost at the hip it would seem, to the BBC. Usually, his travel series have multiple episodes. This latest book however, is presented alongside a TV show in only 2 parts, which has already been shown on British TV Chanel Five / ITV productions.

The last time Palin was anywhere near North Korea was back in 1997 for yet another travel book and show Full Circle, but he only got a glimpse of North Korea from the South Korean side of the demilitarized zone. This time he gets a tour of the demilitarized zone from the other side and a frank discussion with the officer in charge. North Korea or we should call it the DPRK – Democratic People’s Republic of Korea – lays out the welcome mat and Palin, now in his 75th year, gets to see one of the most secret and mysterious countries on the planet.

Of course he doesn’t get free reign to go where he wants. He has two official guides who go everywhere with him plus other “ministry officials” who make sure that his guides don’t allow Palin to wander too far off the official track.

He gets to see pristine cities where the streets are almost empty of traffic, giant statues of past “Great Leaders”, and symbols and buildings commemorating the “Great Leaders”. He also visits a state of the art airport – with no planes and no flights, a street of tower blocks built within a year, that seem to house very few people and a massive, symbolic hotel with no guests what so ever. The DPRK seems to be as a country, much like a show home is to a yet to be built housing estate. Everything is there, it appears, as a front, but there is little substance and in some cases no actual function for the building/hotel/airport. As my grandmother used to say – “All fur coat and no knickers”. This was evident in the state of the roads. Within the capital city, the streets were first class, pristine if somewhat devoid of traffic. Once outside city limits though the highways were cracked and uneven – so that every journey felt like a ride inside a tumble dryer.

The first three days – which according to Palin felt like three weeks as it was such hard work to be able to achieve what they wanted and every step had to be negotiated – Palin, his director and film crew are under strict observation and are quickly shut down and moved to another location if anything occurs that may show the DPRK in a bad light. The people he gets to meet are, to begin with, all prearranged, preapproved and very much pro the ruling regime. After a while though, once Palin and company have proved themselves as willing to follow their minders guidelines, they are given a little more rope and get to interact with the general public – some of them rather the worse for drink – at a party in a park and also to enjoy the scenery of the hills and valleys on a hike in the countryside alone when their minders, not dressed suitably for the hike, leave them to it.

At one point they visit a farm – where the workers are in military uniform – and Palin “helps” a female farm worker with some weeding. The shoot couldn’t begin however until a tractor had been moved into the background – to prove that farms are not all manual labour in North Korea and that machinery is available (even if the tractor in question was around fifty years old). When Palin asked the female farm worker how he faired as a farmhand, she quite straight forwardly told him that he was “unnecessary”.

Even with the loosening of some of the rules, Palin only had to hint at a question critical of the regime or of the history of North Korea and he was pulled up short and sharp. He told one of his guides that in the UK “we are able to be quite rude about our political leaders”. But, not wanting to get drawn in to this sort of discussion she countered with “That’s what makes us so different. Our leaders are very great. They are not individuals, but represent the masses, so we cannot criticise ourselves, can we?” One wonders at what he and his guides discussed off camera that didn’t get put into the book – for the safety of the guides themselves.

There are a few extra pages at the end of the book, written by director Neil Fergusson, which covers his own earlier visit to North Korea to meet with officials and to discuss their filming schedule, rules and regulations. He had sent the North Koreans a wish list of places and people he would like to film, but on his arrival the “official schedule” looked absolutely nothing like what he’s asked for. Several days of negotiations followed before a schedule that was acceptable to both sides was reached. Despite promises and signed contracts it wasn’t until Palin and the film crew actually stepped on to North Korean soil that they realised that the shooting or the North Korea Journal was good to go.

In summarising the 15 day whirlwind trip, Palin says that although there are certainly some differences between how North Korea and for example Britain function as far as regulations and freedoms are concerned, there were far more similarities than he expected.

North Korea feels that it can’t let its guard down even slightly due to the ever present American military threat – no wonder it has the 4th largest army in the world. Almost a quarter of the entire North Korean population are members of the armed forces. These military personnel however also man the farms, the factories and the building sites, so you don’t see them all wandering around the towns and cities carrying weapons.

To directly quote a section of the final paragraph of the book, Palin says “…the trip has been an eye-opener, a chance to look behind the headlines and see this secretive country as few other westerners ever will. As Pyongyang recedes into the distance, we turn and exchange smiles. Of relief, but also of regret. One thing we all agreed on at our farewell meal last night is that none of us would mind coming back.”

All of the travel books by Michael Palin are of good quality and this one is no exception, except for being of smaller format than usual, as you can see from the photo below. It’s an easy and enjoyable read, witty and informative – filling in some of the unknowns about North Korea without being in any way controversial or overly critical. Palin is too nice a guy to stir things up just for viewing figures, or book sales. He was Knighted earlier this year (2019) for services to travel, culture and geography following his career as a writer and presenter of documentaries that have taken him all over the world. I do fear, having reached the age of 75, that this could be Palin’s last travel adventure. I hope not, but time will tell.

**Some of Michael Palin’s books on my shelves.**

As usual thank you for reading this blog…comments, questions, likes and follows are all very much appreciated.

Travel books – explore the world from your armchair.

I love books and I love to travel, so it’s no surprise that I have, over the years, acquired a good number of travel books.

My favourite way to travel is by train. I only wish that I’d been able to travel more by steam train than by the modern electric or diesel trains. There’s so much more adventure or even romance on steam trains. As a passenger travelling by rail I can relax, let someone else take care of the driving, kick back and either watch the scenery flash past the window, chat to fellow travellers, or lose myself in a good book. I can take a walk if I get bored…or feel the need to exercise…or I can make use of the onboard buffet or bar. For me, the journey is just as enjoyable as the destination…sometimes, more so.

I have several books specifically about rail travel, a few of which are in the photo below, and will tell you a little about each of these 5 books pictured.

Just five of my books about train travel – there are more.

So as not to bore you all too much I’ll try to keep my summary of each book as brief as possible…just a few sentences.

Railway Stations – Charles Sheppard is a 1996 publication and looks at railway stations that are “Masterpieces of Architecture”. Some of the standout stations being New York’s Grand Central Station, Saint Louis’s Union Station, and Paris’s Gare du Nord is worthy of inclusion for its facade alone. All of which I am happy to say I have visited over my years of train travel. Moscow’s subway is also included, its passageways more ornate than many luxury hotel lobbies, and deserving of the title ‘Masterpiece’.

Amazing Train Journeys – a lonely planet publication (October 2018). Divided into neat sections – Africa, The Americas, Asia, Europe and Oceania. Experience 60 of the world’s greatest and most unforgettable train journeys, from classic long-distance trips like Western Canada’s Rocky Mountaineer and Darwin to Adelaide’s The Ghan, to little-known gems on regular commuting lines. Personally I’d probably choose some of the small privately run railways in the UK that have preserved and operate steam trains – such as the short 2 hour trip from Fort William to Mallaig in Scotland – this is the line that the Hogwarts Express chugs along in the Harry Potter movies.

Chris Tarrant’s Extreme Railway Journeys – (as seen on the UK’s Chanel 5) published in 2016. The text in this book is by Chris Tarrant, accompanying the many colour photos. The problem is that the majority of the photos feature Tarrant’s face mugging for the camera. There are a few pictures simply showing scenery or trains from a distance, but anything close up has the man himself blocking the view. I realise it’s HIS TV show and HIS name on the book….but really, how many photos of Chris smiling do we need to see? There are some helpful maps showing the routes of the 14 Extreme Rail Journeys covered. The text is informative and easy reading, mixed in with a lot of moaning by Tarrant about trains not running on time, being overcrowded and uncomfortable in the third world countries he visited – however he was overjoyed and waxing lyrical about the Japanese Bullet train. The efficiency, comfort and the fact that the staff bow to customers scored points with him. Tarrant, it seems, prefers his “Extreme Journeys” to be accompanied by a large dollop of comfort and luxury.

Great Railway Journeys published by the BBC in 1994 accompanying the TV series of the same name, is in my opinion a far more interesting and better presented book than the one by Chris Tarrant. What makes it so is firstly, that Tarrant is not involved at all, so we can enjoy the beautiful photographs in peace, and secondly that each of the 6 Great Railway Journeys covered is narrated by a different celebrity travellers, who barely make one complaint among them. Mark Tulley takes us through Pakistan from Karachi to the Khyber Pass. Lisa St Aubin de Teran travels in South America, from Santos in Brazil to Santa Cruz in Bolivia. Clive Anderson takes us from Hong Kong, via Shanghai through to Ulaan Baatar in Mongolia. Natalia Makarova is on the Bolshoi Express from St Petersburg in Russia via the various ‘Stans to finish in Tashkent. Seasoned traveller and former “Python”, Michael Palin has a shorter trip from Derry in Northern Ireland to Kerry in the Irish Republic, and finally it’s a South African rail trip for Rian Malan starting in Capetown and ending eventually in Bophuthatswana.

More Great Railway Journeys again published by the BBC, in 1996, is more of the same….This time the celebs are Benedict Allen, Chris Bonington, Henry Louis Gate Jr., Buck Henry, poet – Ben Okri, comedians – Alexei Sayle and Victoria Wood. They journey through the middle east, Africa, the UK, Canada, Argentina and the final journey is from London to Arkadia in Greece. As in it’s predecessor, great photos and informative and witty text make this book another winner. Each journey, each story, has its own unique character, written especially for people who love slow travel….who savour the experience of the journey….rather than rushing as fast as possible to the destination. The only negative thing that I could mention about this follow up book is that there were no maps showing the routes taken. But all in all another marvelous BBC publication.

Do you enjoy the adventure of travelling via rail? What’s your favourite route? Please let me know in the comments section.

I saved the best to last. Cinque Terre. Part 3 – Vernazza. A photographic journey.

“Vernazza village – Cinque Terre’s crown
Pastel houses cling to cliff tops
Steep streets take us down
Into the winding narrows, of Vernazza’s heart
And from this place of beauty
You will never want to part.“

Vernazza is a sight to behold. It’s a photographer’s dream and also a photographer’s nightmare. It’s such a lovely place, scenic, colourful – that it’s almost a sin if, as a photographer, you take a bad picture of it. Not even a bad picture….just a picture that doesn’t reflect the full beauty of the place. It’s so difficult to capture…my photos don’t do it justice (in reality the colours are so bright they “ping”)…you must go and visit yourself.

Sure it’s a little shabby in places. Some of the buildings have paint peeling from their facades but it’s a kind of shabby beauty….beauty with age maybe. I loved it here. I spent so long wandering the streets, in and out of alleys and buildings, that I missed out on the final 2 of the Cinque Terre’s villages. But it was worth it.

From the train station you can either wander straight down to the little harbour – the heart and soul of Vernazza – from which everything else radiates, OR do as we did and climb upwards instead. Up the steep stone stairways and narrow paths that bring you out on the hilltop above the village, with spectacular views over the church steeple and down to the harbour of this gorgeous little fishing village. It was exhausting but well worth the climb to the top. Only after drinking in the beauty of the place from this vantage point did we venture down into Vernazza proper.

When in a catholic country like Italy you can’t help but notice the churches and religious icons – especially in these small villages – dotted here and there in quiet corners. A chance to pass on your thanks to the powers that be…..if that’s what your beliefs are….or just enjoy the moments solitude away from the tourist throngs.

Of all 5 villages of Cinque Terre, Vernazza is the only one with a natural port. It has no car traffic either which, if you can get there early and beat the other eager tourists, adds a special tranquility to the place.

Cinque Terre part 2 – Riomaggiore village – a photographic journey.

Riomaggiore is the first of the villages you’ll meet if you approach Cinque Terre from La Spezia. It isn’t, in my opinion, the most beautiful of the villages but is still very pretty and very much worth visiting.

From the railway station you can either, follow the coastal path around a headland to get to the village, or take a short cut through a pedestrian tunnel that takes you directly into the heart of the village. Although the coastal path is picturesque and rugged, on a hot day like it was when we visited, the cool of the tunnel is the preferred route.

The villages of Cinque Terra. Part 1. Manarola – A photographic journey.

Since my last post – a black and white photographic journey through Paris – was so well supported I thought I’d try you all with some colour photos of the villages of Italy’s Cinque Terre. The villages are such a riot of colour that it would not do justice to their beauty if I presented photos in black and white.

The villages of Cinque Terre cling to the rocky cliff face along the north west coast of Italy. The can be accessed either by rail – from the nearby city of La Spezia – just 10 minutes by train to the south, or by following the pathway cut into the cliff face. The railway and the pathway link all five villages that make up the Cinque Terre. I thought that I’d be able to get some spectacular photos from the train as we made our way along the rugged coastline…..BUT – there’s always a BUT – because of the physical limitations of the geography here, the railway cuts through many, many tunnels so glimpses of the ocean are few and far between. However, the villages, as we discovered on departing the train, more than made up for the disappointment of the journey.

The buildings are close together due to the physical limits of the geography of the area and are painted in beautiful pastel colours. We spent a day exploring just 3 of the 5 villages. Here is a look in pictures at the second smallest of the five villages – Manarola.