The Christmas Swim

The Christmas swim is something I look forward to and something I dread about this time of the year, every year. It's mind over matter. 40 degree water. Some times lower! Screams. Shaking limbs. See your breath air. Shouts of encouragement. Camera stills and flashes. Mpeg recordings and avi files. Lounges, dives and panicking strokes. Pink, smacked skin faces and bright glowing smiles of satisfaction.

In Waterford, we have a very small beautiful cove off Tramore beach where hundreds of people go between 9.30am and 12.30pm every Christmas day to have their annual dip before they let themselves go for a day of gormandizing on meat, crisps, chocolate, wine, beer, Coca-Cola and the rest. It's great and fun and well worth a try?

Crepes and Cocktails in El Borne

One think I really love about Barcelona is the hallow cobblestoned streets of the El Borne district. I've been spending a lot of time there with my girlfriend and all the friends and relatives that have been visiting while I live here. There are two places I want to call out in El Borne for a quick bite and drink. The first is the amzing Taller de Tapas with their mouth watering fillet steak and perfectly cooked patata de bravas, at about 25 euros per head for very filling high quality meal you won't go wrong. But don't have desert there. Not that they don't have nice desert but just around the corner, beside the catheral and close to the eternal flame that lights up the entrance street into the square is a beautiful, quaint, but super-fly creperia called "Crepes and Cocktails". There are two waiters inside one Brazilian and the other Mexican and there is a charming French women. All love life and are full of chat when they are not crazy busy. The menu is a mixture of crepes, teas, beers and cocktails. For me the must have is the cinnimon crepe for most of my friends its the nutella. For 4.50 euros its great value and with a caipirinha going for 6.50 euro everyones a winner.

What a pity Ireland is stook in a time warp when it comes to embracing these type of small trendy niche eateries and bars. Are we doomed to be driven by a the super-pub culture or will this change in the future. In my opinon it will defintiely change of that I am convinced. My only wish is that in my life time I get to see it.

Also some more snaps of Barcelona life.

Garlic in Amsterdam

The last 3 days have been in Amsterdam attending a recruitment conference run by ERE exchange. The conference itself has been a bit of a let down with very little interesting content being presented so far. However, the city and the restaurents I've had a chance to visit have lived up to expectations as ever. This time I got to visit the highly interesting Ann Franks house again. The first time I visited it was in 1990 on my first ever trip outside Ireland with my primary school. It's changed a lot since then but I had some deja vu moments one in particular when I was climbing the stairs to the hidden loft. It's hard to believe its 17 years later.

Two tips I have from the gastronmical side of this trip has been the finding of two very cool eateries that I highly recommend: Five Flies and Garlic. The first a 5 star up-market posh dutch/french excellently decorated set of restored dutch canal houses the second an explosion of very interesting garlic based dishes targeted at the mid house range.

Hotel: Hilton hotel * - possibly the worst hotelling experience I have had. And for 350 euros a night with no internet or breakfast included I'd keep very much away.

Gaudi's Le Pedrera

There are many many many buildings to gaze at wonder at in stylish Barcelona. Gaudi's Le Pedrera off Passeig De Gracia is just one. A very unusual mansion with no straight lines symbolising Gaudi's belief that in nature there are very few straight lines but more sinuy bends and curves line the vain structure of a leaf. Inside the building is an interesting introduction to the architect's work but the best part is the roof where you get a wonderful vista including some of the cities most prominent land marks. Check out the video for an idea of what I mean. My wonderful apartment is 15 minutes walk from Le Segrada and 7 minutes walk from the Mapre tower and the amazing 4km of beach fronts.

The Vagabond and learnin' Spanish

Month 1 is down of 4 in Barcelona and I'm having very interesting times... part of which is getting the old brain around understanding the language. I'm at about the same level as this funny dude in the video!

More photos from BCN.

Bicing in Barcelona

There is a very cool new environmental project in full swing in Barcelona that I like a lot which is helping people get healthy while helping the environment breath. It’s called Bicing. Residents of Barcelona can for €6 a year purchase a card which allows them rent a bike for no more than 30 minutes at a go. During this 30 minutes the individual pays 1 cent a minute for the amount of time they use the bike. The idea behind the program is you borrow the bike for no more than 30 minutes which should be enough time to get you from A to B on a short trip. The system is based on multiple ‘pick n drop’ sites where you take and leave your bike a little like a car park. The whole idea is to get people using bikes for short distance travel a lot more thus helping to alleviate the amount of traffic in the city. It works beautifully and the people in Barcelona love.

Let’s take an Irish example for illustration purposes. Let’s say all the Dunnes and Lidl stores in the Dublin are bike ‘pick n drop’ sites that can hold at least 50 bikes at any one time. Now let’s say there is a long rack at each site on which a bike can be hoisted onto and electronically locked or lifted from. Now put a device that looks like a car metre beside each rack that you can swipe an identity card in. That’s how it works! Cool isn’t it! The idea is short journeys. You can’t use the bikes for the day or for a 3 hour ride to Dun Laoighre for a swim. If you do that for every minute you go over 30 minutes your card gets a hefty fine and ultimately your credit card takes the hit.

The bike is the cross between a High Nelly and a cool Chopper. It has a beautiful red frame, with back pedal breaks, chrome handle bars, a very nice spacious space for a carrier bag and very cool white mudguards.

To find out more go to www.bicing.com

Golan Heights and Tiberius

Today started really badly and almost finished in the same way. It was one of those days that was easily two days in one. I arrived in Tel Aviv on a business class from Paris Charles De Gaulle after missing my flight from Dublin to Paris but fortunately had been able to get on another 3 hours later which allowed me catch my connection to Israel. The worst think about the whole thing was the fact that I had to dash for the gate and missed it which left me sweating with no change of clothes which meant a visit to the men’s room to try cool down. The flight itself was great in the sense that I read the whole way through the thoroughly enjoyable ‘Long Way Round’ featuring Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman and also partly due to the very nice Bordeaux wine and fillet of steak consumed on route! When I arrived in Ben Gurion airport it was 12.40am and that’s when the fun started. Surprisingly, this time, unlike the last I swept past the immigration very quickly. But 2 hours later I was still waiting for my bags – which never came. Eventually after watching the local airport staff running around like blue arse flies trying to troubleshoot a broken carousel and an angry mob of tired people hunting their bags I resigned myself to the fact that I had to go to ‘Lost and Found’ where I was given some paperwork to prove I lost my bags and was told I’d get my bag sent to my hotel at 4pm. Haifa were I was staying was 1 hour away. I fortunately got a decent taxi man who charged me face value at 465 shekils to get to the Meridian hotel (75 euros approx). On the way I asked some very direct questions about why the Palestine’s were treated so bad and how the Jews could prove they were the first people in these lands thousands of years ago. I received in a very nice way but very firml response the history of Abraham, Sole and David. I was told all about Sala Kaheem and his destroying of the temple of Jews and its replacement by the Rome of the Rock. I was also told about how the Palestine’s just sponge off the Israeli state and do very little for themselves and constantly plan war. While thankful for the contorted one-way diatribe and slushy history lesson by the time I got to the hotel I was very glad to get into bed.

6 hours later I was up and in the local shopping mall buying some clothes which I fully intend claiming back on my travel insurance. I got a pair of Nike runners, some flip flocks, a pair of shorts and a few t-shirts. The guy selling me the clothes was about 27 and asked me was I Irish because of my accent. I told him I was and we went on talking for about 20 minutes. He asked me about the North of Ireland I explained very quickly where we were with it and he explained that he hoped Israel and Palestine could be at peace some day but he feared it would never happen. He volunteered that he was in the army for 4 years and he said he had been fed hate everyday but he admitted he did not know the full-story and sympathised with the terrible conditions the Palestine’s lived in. I admired his objectively and the sincere way he told his opinion. As I left the shop I shook his hand and wondered to myself how many more were there of him in the country.

An hour later I was on the road with one of my work colleagues on the road to Tiberius with a taxi driver than had hardly any English and kept ringing his taxi office when we asked him questions and they duly translated for him. The journey consisted of taking in Tiberius, Capernam, a wine tasting treat and visited Badem Mountain and an old vacated watch tower looking out of the Golan Valley.
Tiberius is situated on the sea of Galilee and is in close proximity to a large number of sites were Jesus conducted his miracles. The walking on the water, the wedding in Caina, etc and was also the place he gave the ‘Blessed’ sermon on the mountain of Beatitudes. Nowadays it’s a little city which modern western life has consumed with pubs, McDonalds, cafes and shops. The first stop was Capernam which is where Jesus went to live after he left Nazareth and where he recruited Peter and some of the other disciplines. Luckily, when I was there I saw a local priest giving a sermon to a very well English spoken group of Japanese tourists. I learned all about Jesus curing Peter’s stepmother and all about Peter’s church and the old temple. The sun was beating down at 34 degrees as I listened to the beautiful positive words coming out of the priests heart and it filled me with joy. It was a very peaceful reflective experience and one I look forwarding to telling my Dad more about who I think would really have enjoyed it.

Next was a real brucy bonus and a visit to the Golan Heights Winery www.yardenwines.com. We got a chance to try three wines and by a bottle before we left. We tried a semi-dry Gewurztraminer white for starters, a Carbernet Sauvigon for dinner and my favourite a beautiful smelling floral, fruity, sweet Muscat dinner wine. I ended up buying a bottle for my cabinet back in my apartment it was so nice. I also bought a contraption for taking the air out of half wine bottle you haven’t finished so you can keep it in the fridge for 3 or 4 weeks without going off.
After this it was the amazing tower on the Golan Heights. For me it was a very educational visit, with amazingly beautiful scenery that looked like Tuscany meeting El Calafate in Patagonia. From the empty patrol bunker which was 1,100 metres above sea level I saw Lebanon, Syria and Jordan. To the left was Mount Hermon were the Israeli’s ski in winter. Also on our left but more in the foreground was a kabutz and The Valley of Tears where a raging tank war took place in 1973 during the Syrian invasion. In front of us was the UN town that protected the one entry point into Syria between the two countries and to the right and back was wide sweeping vineyards, a massive army control tower that has some serious antennas and satellite bubbles and dishes, some wind generators and a mountain in the distance which was a part of Jordan. What I like about it was the beauty. Golan is a very very beautiful one where the numbers of soldiers almost match the number of grapes. While surrounded by such beauty which was magnified by an extravagant sunset. The place screamed of pathetic fallacy.

The Golan Heights in a clear reminder that man is still very much at war and has a lot to learn before it can walk in the light of our Lord who preached in this beautiful land. It wil be very interesting to see the reaction of the Israeli people who love this land when they have to give it back to Syria which probably will happen sooner rather than later.

So my day started shitty, was great in the middle and then went to shitty again when I arrived back to my room at 10pm and there was no lost bag sitting beside my bed like i hoped. I went down to the reception in the hotel and tried to ring the airport to find out where my bag was but no response. I then drafted and sent a fax to Air France so they could get my disgruntled feedback the next day. At 11.30 I got a phone call and the bags had arrived!

A very interesting day indeed!

Co Clare

I love county Clare. It's where my grandmother was born and bread and it's the recent location on the vagabond's travels. It's famous for The Burren, The Cliffs of Mohar and surf at Lahinch but to say that's all it has to offer is doing it a gross injustice. The journey was spread in two. The first half was in Killaloe where I visited my good old Viking friend Morten from Norway and old Vordel work colleague,and, then Bunratty Castle and a visit to the Cliffs of Mohar with my family to celebrate my parents 40th wedding anniversary.

Location: Killaloe
Days: Friday, Saturday
Hotel: Hotel Morten 5*
Cost: Nada

I really enjoyed my visit to my good old friend Morten and his fiancee Ciara's Limerick get away palace. It was a no-brainer for Morten and Ciara to get out of the city life in Dublin and the wide rustic forest laden and river speckled landscape is perfect for them. The trip started with a hitch on the back of Morten's 650cc demon roadster and it finished on the same way. In between was brilliant hospitality, beautiful country walks (where I took the above photo of a horsing rolling in the mud)an encounter with two newly shaven lambas from Peru and a visit to the ancient nombstone in an old church in the centre of the village. An excellent time had by all with plenty of great food, conversation and fun. I really looking forward to going back.

Location: Bunratty Castle Hotel: 3*
Cost: 145 euros a night, in the executive suite

You know what? I love Ireland and no matter how much travelling the vagabond does he loves returning home. This trip was again bomb dropping opaque affirmation of all the reasons I love this country. There simply is no other place like it. What was very special about this trip was I was with my entire family to celebrate my parents 40th wedding anniversary. The last time I went on a holiday with my entire family was 1979 Kerry.

The first night we watched the Deise hurlers topple their great foe from Cork to reach the last 4 in the hurling and then we visited the excellent "Corn Barn" Bunratty Folk Night. This was all about watching traditional Irish music and dance while eating a good old plate full of Irish stew with gallons of free wine, meade (honey whiskey) and baileys. It cost a mere 45 euros per person, lasted 2 hours and had the greatest mountains of spuds served up by the tray load covered in melted butter bliss and fresh herbs from the local garden.

The next day we took in the small but impressive swimming and sauna facilities before we paid a visit to the Bunratty Folk Park. This is a theme park dedicated to what life in Ireland looked like 100 years ago. It consists of a visit to the castle itself and then a stroll past reconstructed farmhouses, cottages and shops,pubs, schools, post offices and bakeries. The best thing about the park is it is a living museum where you can see animals being tended to, apple tarts and bread being baked, milk being churned and live music being played with the instruments of the time. You can also if your lucky see a blacksmith at work, a weaving demonstration from an old spinster and a few scones being cooked in a hanging black pot by the side of turf fire. A really step back in time and while a little expensive at 14 euros entry an adult its was worth every cent for the images it evoked in my mind as a carefree child in the late 70s and early 80s.

In the evening my brother and his family relaxed in the hotel while my Mum, Dad, Camila and I tried out my brothers new GPS system to navigate us to the Cliffs of Mohar. On the way I encountered the worst downpour of rain i have ever seen anywhere in the world. For at least 3 seconds while driving on a motorway the drops of rain were so violently falling on the car visibility was zero. When we could see again all the cares ahead had the hazard lights on and were going at snails pace. Ironically, and kind of to be expected the sun was shining when we got there. What was nice about it was it was a rainy sun divided by heavy grey clouds on one side and azure blue and white with 2 rainbows on the other side. The cliffs were as magnanimous as ever however the abuse of tourists by having to pay a 4 euro entry cost was a little Irish for my liking. Board Failte need to get there act together and stop the rip of culture which seems to be pervading the country's touristic soul.

The next day before a trip back to Dublin on the Limerick train was a visit to Craggunowen theme park. This was another step back in time this time to the farmhouses, hunting sites and cranogs of the Iron Age. I wasn't sure what to expect from this visit but I was pleasantly surprised. I got to see how woollen taken off sheep is patiently transformed into wool reels, we got to visit a reconstructed cranog with underground food holds and had the opportunity to study some dolmens and a reconstructed version of the boat that St Brendan used to supposedly travel to the US 1,000 year before Columbus.

TIP: If you want to feel your Irishness flowing through your veins or if you are with some visitors and want to give them a real quickdraw emersion of Irish culture pay a visit to Bunratty castle and make sure you go to either the Mediveal Banquet or the Corn Barn night. It's well worth the effort of getting their and the dancing and singing are priceless.

The biggest slum in the world - Mumbai

I'm just back from a brillant week in India. My first of hopefully many visits. The first 2 days were business in Hyderabad. Next 4 days consists of pleasure. 3 in Goa and 1 in Mumbai. When I ge some spare time I'll write more about it. But for the moment here is one of the videos I shot in Mumbai outside the biggest slumb in the world!