Walking. Gossip. Travel.

Author: admin

  • Malta (Northern Region) – Pilgrim Crosses (Xemxija)

    On my heritage trail walk, more on which later, I noticed these crosses scratched into the wall. The big board sign above them also alerted me to their presence though if I’m being fair, and not just claiming to be particularly noticeable.

    Pilgrims used to walk this route, along the old Roman road, to Old Lady’s Sanctuary in Mellieħa, towards the north of Malta. I assume that the pilgrims had no idea that they walked by a Punic tomb on their route up the hill. In any event, the crosses were thought to have been marked by pilgrims after resting from walking up the hill.

  • Malta (Northern Region) – Punic Tomb (Xemxija)

    Located in Xemxija, this rather dangerous looking hole in the ground is one of the most interesting ancient monuments in Malta. It’s a Punic tomb and dates to around 500BC and is over two metres deep, with a link to a separate and covered burial chamber at the base.

    I obviously didn’t get in to have a little look in the hole of the burial chamber, but inside it is almost two metres wide, there’s a flat ceiling and a smooth floor. I know this as helpfully a sign has been placed up nearby giving these useful details.

    It’s a wonderful piece of history, although I suspect that in the UK it would have been fenced off. Especially as around 15 years ago this site was vandalised with paint and stones thrown in to try and block access to it. Fortunately, the museums service corrected the damage quickly, and pleasingly access to the site hasn’t been limited.

  • Flights – London Gatwick South to Malta (British Airways)

    The British Airways aircraft at Malta Airport having just arrived in the morning sun.

    But, back to the start of the flight. The flight boarded early and the new group system was being enforced by the staff member at the desk, she sent someone back to the seating area who was none too pleased at that. But, if you’re going to have a group boarding system, it does need enforcing.

    The flight was around 70% full and everyone had boarded about 15 minutes before the expected take-off. There was then a delay when something went wrong with the aircraft that an engineer checked to examine, but that only took a few minutes extra.

    I was seated in 1A, so this was my view for the flight. As I understand seats 1A and 1C (there isn’t a 1B) have been created from where the wardrobe used to be. And as a reminder of that, a customer asked to put their coat up, a service which can no longer be offered. Seat 1C isn’t a great seat, as it’s exposed when boarded, so anyone sitting there is likely to get their knees banged by customers boarding the aircraft.

    The menu card.

    I’m not usually a tea drinker, but the peppermint tea seemed refreshing given the early morning start.

    The breakfast, which was perfect for my needs and is much better in my view than the cooked full English breakfast option they offer. Although, more people went for the cooked full English than for the plate of cured meats and cheeses, so it still seems a popular option.

    I looked out of the window and thought that the clouds looked like mountains. There was a reason for this, these are mountains poking up through the clouds.

    My first sight of Malta.

    The service on the flight was pro-active, indeed on the higher end of my BA experiences. The meal service was efficient and I got my first choice of food, although that was rather inevitable sitting in Row 1 as unlike long-haul, they just go straight to back in Club Europe.

    All in all, a rather lovely flight.

  • Gatwick Airport – Grain Store

    I think I’ll be here quite a few times in 2019, not for any other reason but this restaurant is included in the Priority Pass scheme. More common in the United States, this is ideal for people who have unlimited access cards, as it means Priority Pass will pay for the first £15 of any bill for cardholders. So, I might as well take advantage when at Gatwick Airport.

    Nice and comfortable surroundings, not very busy at 04:30 in the morning, although that’s to be expected. Most people tend to be in a hotel, rather than faffing around the airport during the early hours of the morning (and the late hours of the night). All clean and well presented, with quite an airy and open design.

    The bar area.

    The latte, well presented with some coffee art on top, flavour was fine and served at the appropriate hot temperature.

    I don’t usually do full English breakfasts, but decided to use this as a benchmark to judge the restaurant. I opted out of the mushrooms and they pro-actively offered me more tomato or more beans, so I went with the tomato. The presentation was quite clean, so it looked a reasonably well put together meal.

    The sausages were adequate, a decent depth of flavour, but they had a slightly watery texture. The bacon was streaky and this was fine for a couple of the rashers, but one was heavily under-cooked for my taste. I spent my usual couple of minutes cutting the fat off. The eggs weren’t good, the white had a strangely firm texture and was devoid of any taste, which the yolk was only just runny, so it was a little over-cooked. The tomatoes and baked beans were fine, there’s not a great deal that can go wrong there. For this to be described as a full English there probably needs to be another ingredient, whether that’s black pudding, hash browns or something else to add a little extra to the proceedings.

    The service was efficient and polite, with my Priority Pass payment method going through without any difficulties. They seem geared up to the whole Priority Pass process, as there’s a large sign at the entrance and some other customers seemed to be paying in the same way. I hope that this idea catches on in the UK, it’s a handy back-up for when the main Priority Pass lounges get too full.

  • Poznan – Fighting Goats

    The Poznan fighting goats are one of the big sights that visitors to the city should see, when they come out of the town hall at 12 to have a little fight. I’ll upload a video of that at some point (as well as an explanation of the legend), but for the moment, this photo is a sculpture of the goats, with some Christmas themed clothing added for them.

  • Poznan – Taj Mahal

    Indian restaurants in Poland can be of a variable quality, sometimes not being very authentic with their cuisine. Externally this restaurant didn’t look particularly exciting, but it was very well reviewed, so I felt that it deserved a visit.

    Menus with photos are often not a good sign of tasty food to come.

    Classic Pepsi styling, nice.

    The restaurant was much smaller than I had expected, with only around six tables in it, but it was also set up for takeaways. I still wasn’t particularly hopeful about the food at this stage.

    And then the food arrives, and it’s excellent. The butter chicken, with goodness knows how many calories, had tender pieces of meat which actually seemed to have picked up the flavour of the sauce. Some Indian restaurants seem to dump in the meat at the last moment, and it doesn’t work well at all, but that didn’t happen here.

    So, the curry itself was delicious, and the lemon rice also had a suitable amount of lemon flavour without being overpowering. The bread was moreish, and had a delicious and lingering taste. It was all a generously size portion and I struggled to finish everything, although I did manage to (as usual really). The cost was around £6, which I thought was very reasonable given the quality of the meal.

    The service was under-stated, but polite, and the only complaint that I could really make is that the restaurant wasn’t big enough and it didn’t have any toilets. Perhaps they’ll be able to find slightly larger premises in the future, or perhaps they’re quite happy here in their location near to the town’s main market square.

  • Gniezno – Statue of Adalbert of Prague

    This statue of Adalbert of Prague was erected to mark 1,000 years since the saint’s death. He was given the job of the Bishop of Gniezno, which I imagine was quite a privileged and comfortable role, but he was then sent out to go preaching to the people of Prussia. If he did this voluntarily, he was a very brave man, as missionaries didn’t always fare well at this time.

    Anyway, he went off to Prussia and he was killed by barbarians, or technically, pagans. The church was quite keen on relics back then and his bones were finally brought back, after some argument, to Gniezno Cathedral in around 1,000AD. All was well with this situation until Bohemian Duke Břetislav I stole the bones in 1039 and he excitedly moved them to Prague.

    Then the story gets more confusing, as it seems the Duke stole the wrong bones, he pinched the remains of Gaudentius of Brescia. Now, he was still a saint, but it wasn’t the saint that the Duke really wanted. In 1127, Gniezno Cathedral also got Adalbert’s head, although goodness knows where that went for over 125 years.

    So there’s now the situation that Prague thinks it has the bones of Adalbert, and so does Gniezno. They both managed to have the saint’s head, which is just a little confusing, but it was made more surreal when in 1923 someone pinched Adalbert’s head (assuming he is in Gniezno) and they’ve never recovered that.

    Anyway, it’s a nice statue.

  • Gniezno – Sculpture of Bolesław I the Brave

    It occurs to me that I wouldn’t mind a sculpture like this of Julian the Brave in a few decades, perhaps I might mention it to Dylan…. Anyway, it’s of Bolesław I the Brave who was the Duke of Poland from 992 until 1025 and also the first person to be titled as the King of Poland.

    Bolesław I the Brave, also known as Bolesław I the Great (which would also be satisfactory to me if Dylan wants to change it), is a little bit of a national hero and his coronation was also at Gniezno. He established the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Gniezno, and the city remains today as Poland’s ecclesiastical capital.

     

  • Gniezno – Cukiernia Sowa

    This was one of the better rated coffee shops in Gniezno and since Poland doesn’t have Greggs (yet), this was the lunch option for me. Located at ulica Rzeźnicka 1, this is part of a national chain which has around 150 shops in Poland.

    OK, so they’re not chicken bakes from Greggs, but the cakes do look rather lovely.

    Well how lovely, colourful and appetising.

    Incidentally, and entirely irrelevant to anything, I like when coffee shops and restaurants place the cutlery like that. It’s far more common in Poland than in the UK, but I think it looks tidier. Anyway, I went for an eclair and it was full of crème pâtissière and it occurred to me that Richard would have been impressed with it.

    I really wanted another eclair after finishing the first, but I didn’t want the staff to think that I was greedy, and anyway, if I’d had a second I’d have only wanted a third. Coffee was above average as well with a rich flavour. Total cost of the coffee and eclair was around £2.20, but this coffee shop did have a premium feel to it.

    And, as for the service, it was impeccable. The server prepared my order behind the counter and refused to let me carry it, she wanted to bring it over on a tray (she probably thought I was an idiot and would drop it on their clean floor). I didn’t want to cause any diplomatic incidents (although I suspect it wouldn’t have got that far) so I didn’t resist. Friendly and engaging service, with the environment being clean and comfortable. There seemed to be a  lot of ladies at lunch during my visit… All rather lovely.

  • Poznan – National Museum in Poznan (Leon Dołżycki)

    This artwork was painted in 1922 by Leon Dołżycki, a Polish painter who lived from 1888 until 1965. The English translation of the painting name is mourner, and as far as I can tell, it is a representation of the sadness after a funeral but with colour which suggests positivity and hope. Perhaps there’s also an element on now being alone in the aftermath which is indicated, but frankly, I have no idea what I’m writing about, so the artist probably intended something entirely different. But I still liked the painting, it seemed quite bold and intriguing.