The Holiday is Over...

I’ve had a lovely break from all social media while away, apart from checking emails now and then, but how quickly it draws me in again once I’m home! If anyone is still guessing where we went to on holiday from the photo of the castle and beach, I’ll now satisfy your curiosity.

We stayed at a lovely little coastal place in North Wales called Criccieth. We’ve been a few times before over the past thirty years and it’s like stepping back in time. Everything is just the same, from the castle and beach to the quaint little teashop, and a favourite restaurant on the high street. It’s somehow reassuring to know our way around and find everything as it should be.

Favourite Tea Shop

We returned to the very friendly guest house we had last stayed at five years ago. Julie at Glyn y Coed couldn’t be more welcoming and the guest house sits on the main road to Porthmadog, in easy walking distance from our favourite restaurant and a short walk down to the sea front. Criccieth also has the best fish and chip shop we’ve come across – fortunately we had a lovely sunny evening to sit on a bench overlooking that wide shingle shore and sea. It also has one of the famous Cadwaladers ice cream shops – what more we could we want on a summer’s evening!

As always, we took a ride on the steam train from Porthmadog. We’ve been on the famous Ffestiniog Railway so many times that we opted for the new section of the Welsh Highland Line up to one of the prettiest villages, Beddgelert in Snowdonia. Another day, we visited the Welsh Language Centre in a beautifully renovated forgotten Victorian quarry village in the middle of the hills, and on another we walked through the hilly streets at Harlech.

Beddgelert

Our final few days were spent at Bangor and surrounding area where we stayed with Simon’s sister and her husband. On a windy day, we walked along the wide promenade at Llandudno, on another we climbed up and down the old town walls at Conwy, interspersed with coffee and Bara Brith. That’s where we saw the smallest house in Britain – a tiny one up and down. It’s hard to believe the last owner was a fisherman over 6 feet tall!

Smallest House in Britain

Unfortunately, I've returned with a bad cold which I’m still trying to shake – no doubt partly due to fluctuating weather conditions, and I have some final dental treatment to face on Monday. But the restful holiday was well worth the driving distance and I have so many photos it’ll take me ages to sort them all.

One lovely piece of writing news is that my children’s story, Princess Poppy and the Little Dragon, is now published in the great collection of read-aloud Princess and Dragon stories for children, Spread your Wings, from US publisher Knowonder. Although the official release day is Monday 1^st July, it’s now available on Kindle UK and US.

Comprising 31 stories (one for each day of the month) by authors from various parts of the world, there’s a delightful illustration at the beginning of each story and some questions at the end of each. It works well on kindle if being read aloud, but the print book will be even better, as there’s a space for children to draw their own picture after the questions. The print version is available from the publisher, through Ingrams, and Createspace.

Now to catch up on everyone’s blog posts! It’s lovely to see some new followers on here while I was away – hello and a warm welcome to Reading and Writing.

Rosemary

Cruising the Mediterranean

Well, it’s back to reality now that our fabulous 12-day Mediterranean cruise has come to an end. What a journey through several countries, all aboard an excellent vessel that provided all we could imagine - and more.

We began in my favourite Venice and the overnight docking allowed us to see it in daylight and atmospheric evening glow – a wonderful introduction to our travels. Daughter Vikki and I were delighted to hear we were having a Venetian Masked Ball onboard and of course we bought a hand decorated mask each in Venice! Since my next book is called Midwinter Masquerade, I convinced hubby it was essential.

That was the beginning of a wonderful itinerary that took us to fascinating Dubrovnik where we walked round the city walls. Then we were off to the beautiful Greek islands of Corfu, then Kefalonia (setting of Captain Corelli’s Mandolin), where we saw turtles eating the fishermen’s excess catch of the day, and Santorini where we took the cable car up to the white-washed village on the ancient volcanic mountain top. On the sail between Greece and Italy, we watched flying fish leap from the sea as we ate a sumptuous dinner - many of us thought at first they were young dolphin.

On to Italy and our first stop was Catania, a busy port where we took a taxi driven by a colourful Italian Columbo-like driver to the beautiful hill-top village of Taormina with its ancient Greek theatre from where Mount Etna is sometime visible on a clear day. We melted in the heat and thought the taxi had no air conditioning until he suddenly switched it on about ten minutes before we returned to the ship, after noticing me trying to fan myself!

Next stop was Naples and we went straight for a hydrofoil to Capri. Island of the rich, famous and beautiful people, it was a hive of tourists and we took the funicular railway to the higher town where we enjoyed much needed drinks overlooking one of the most gorgeous views. I was delighted when a little lizard came to observe us on the nearby garden edge.

We knew the next day would be one of the busiest so had an early breakfast as we docked in Civitavecchia. This is the port for Rome and most passengers (if coming from far away) take the ship tours. We usually do our own thing, so we walked the 10 minutes along the attractive waterfront to the railway station and took the regional train right into Rome. To say it was hot and busy is an understatement! Walking until we dropped, we saw the Colosseum, Trevi Fountain, Spanish Steps, and various other fountains and ancient buildings. And we decided the only way to see it properly is to return off season.

Our last full day ashore was at Livorno. Many passengers chose to take tours to Florence or Pisa but we were relieved to stay in the attractive port town itself and just wander around the wide, slightly cooler streets. We found the Venetian Quarter which was much quieter and prettier, then marvelled at the wonderful indoor food market that made us wish we had even a tenth of their glorious fresh produce. An outdoor market provided plenty of touristy browsing.

We welcomed our final day at sea, as we were exhausted with the heat and walking by then, but the ship more than made up for it providing lots of cool public rooms, a deck pool, and copious drinks. We even went to the cinema to watch a film in the afternoon – and they provided popcorn!

We’ve cruised a lot and, overall, it was a great experience, enhanced by having the company of our daughter. No doubt some of the venues might feature in future stories, once I assimilate all the sights and sounds. It’s going to take a week to catch up on emails, all online activity and the washing!

On the writing front, I had an email to inform me my children’s story, Jeremy Jones and the Jungle is now published online by Knowonder (I had already been paid for it) and I believe it’s also available as an App. If anyone is kind enough to read and rate it, I’d be very grateful.

Hope everyone has been having a good summer!

Rosemary