Tunisia 25 April 2007

Wednesday - morning of tennis.

Took a taxi to Sousse for lunch. Visited 8th Century Ribat, a fortified Muslim monastery with views over the port, 9th Century Grande Mosque and Medina.

Plunged into the souk and haggled over a lamp, again walked away. Returned to Port El Kantaoui as the threatened drizzle materialised. Rain stopped play for the afternoon in the best Wimbledon tradition. At least Cliff didn't show up to lead a singalong.

Tunisia 24 April 2007

Cooler day - ideal for sight-seeing. Early start for trip to Tunis with an ambitious itenary.

First stop the Medina in Tunis. Visit 9th century Jemaa ez Zitouna mosque. Wander through the souq discovering the jewellers section, the household goods, the turkish secton, the perfumers, carpets and leather markets. Here we haggle over a leather bag for Jenny. Visions of the whole place going up in flames as each hawker proves the quality of the camel leather by demonstrating it is impervious to the flame of his Zippo cigarette lighter. We run out of time and walk away.


Next stop the Bardo Museum with a fascinating collection of mosaics from all around Tunisia including places we intend to visit such as Dougga. The mosaics are so lifelike - animated and with light and shade and perspective that won't be seen again in Europe till the Renaissance.

After lunch we stopped at Sidi Bou Said. A pretty village preserved in aspic at the behest of an Englishman so it is now a tourist trap in blue and white. Away from the shops it is possible to find peaceful corners. (Long wait for Italian couple to return to the bus!)

Finally stopped at Cathage. Looked around tremendous public Anthonine Baths complex and negotiated extra time (to compensate for the Italians) so we could also see the 2nd Century AD theatre of Hadrian.

Tunisia 22-23 April 2007

Set all the alarm clocks on arriving back from Winscombe badminton social (pub skittles - don't know why but badminton players seem to have an affinity for pub skittles) as we can only have an hour's nap before getting up again to pick up Steve just before 1am for the drive to Gatwick. Steve is ready when we arrive and we make good time, Jenny and Steve keeping me awake while I drive by arguing about gender differences.

Check in at North Terminal opens at 4am, then we queue through passport and security checks behind a very camp, Hollywood guy who chatters non-stop to cover his nerves.

Jenny and I have breakfast, anticipating correctly that food on the flight will be unappetising, while Steve buys duty free alcohol and tobacco to see him through the holiday. Jenny spots Debbie, also from David Lloyd Bristol, who, it transires, is also on the holiday. So now there are four of us - maybe Jenny and I won't look so odd as a couple on a Solo's Holiday.

Legroom on First Choice charter flight would cramp a five year old. We're so tightly wedged in that Jenny, who can normally cope by putting her knees up the back of the seat in front is unable to manage even that.

Short transfer to hotel El Kanta in Port El Kantaoui. Check in and bags taken to our separate rooms. Rooms practically identical so we opt to move my stuff into Jenny's room - shock, horror! (Will we be first people to go on a Solo's Holiday as a couple and come back single? Or wll we find ourselves featured in next year's brochure as "True Romance blossomed on Solo's Tennis Holiday"?)

Go for a wander and find restaurant in the marina serving freshly caught fish. After lunch play a couple of sets with Steve and Debbie.

Monday - Dawns hot and sunny for a full day of tennis. Maryette the tour leader organises us. The three women who've been before Pam (big, blonde ex-PE teacher), Jane and Vicky from Ireland. Barbara - good player, from Devon, who flew in separately from Bristol (wish we'd organised that!). Benta - probably the best player of the lot of us. Chris - a middle-aged left-hander who will end up looking like Rumpole of the Bailey (probably). Nick - a nice, but vague man who drifts serenely through life, oblivious to much that is going on around him. Andrew - a bit aggressive and, it turns out, a bit of a would-be Lothario. Doug - a nice guy who works in insurance and looks like he should have 2.4 kids etc. Harry - tries to be the life and soul but ends up being a bit of a bully to the staff - seems unhappy and drinks too much to avoid facing it. Asisa - not her real name, one she took on after travelling in Turkey. Kathryn - dark and slim, enjoys being the centre of attention from the men.

Good coaching session during the afternoon. Brought on my forehand though it's still nowhere near Jenny's standard.

Dartmouth 12 April 2007

Steam train from Paignton to Kingswear then ferry across to Dartmouth.

Benjamin learned "dinghy" as his word of the day. Mary wasn't late, much to Jenny's surprise. And no-one lost Colin's rucksack.

Picnic lunch in the park, ignoring signs to keep off the grass.

Krakow 7/8 April 2007

Restaurant for lunch didn't have Mark's choice of dessert (Apple Pie).

Evening concert in Krakow Historical Museum by Krzysztof and Szymon Klima (clarinets) and Jagielonian String Quartet (whose 1st violin forgot Brahms' Hungarian Dance No 5).

Sunday - walked through old town and Kazimierz, the old Jewish Quarter. Mark was given a skull cap to enter the Tempel Synagogue while a young man, who wasn't, then took off his baseball cap as a mark of respect.

Crossed Vistula River to wartime Jewish ghetto of Podgorze and walked through the former Deutsche Emailwaren Fabrik - the enamal factory run by Oskar Schindler, who saved over 1200 Jews there.

Mark turned away by Szara restaurant - unwilling to serve him lunch at all.

But apart from these minor epicurean problems the food was very good - not the expected staple fare of meat and stodgy vegetables but lots of different fish and variety of accompanying dishes.

Afternoon concert in Mirror Hall of the Grand Hotel - opera, operetta and musical numbers by Orpheus Ensemble and seriously scary diva Bozena Zawislak-Dolny.

Auschwitz-Birkenau 7 April 2007

The terrible thing is that the Nazis murdered 6 million Jews and others in a process that was industrialized and commercialised so that it became, in the end, mundane.

This is what Hannah Arendt called "The Banality of Evil".

For more information go to:

http://www.auschwitz-muzeum.oswiecim.pl/html/eng/start/index.php

Krakow 6 April 2007

Flew Easyjet and caught train into centre of Krakow. There were surprisingly few people about for Good Friday.

The city is small - everything is walking distance from our hotel - The Grand Hotel, in which Margaret Thatcher and Paderewsky stayed.

Started from Rynek Glowny - the medieval market square - and St Mary's Church and walked round the old town to Wawel Hill with the Castle and Wawel Cathedral.

Ate at restaurant which didn't have Mark's first choice main dish (pike-perch).