12 July - Vienna

Me again – GillieB . We began the day in the hotel restaurant, mulling over the possibilities for the day – weather being warm and fine. With Austrian breakfast and Chris's laptop – Christopher has very kindly lent us his – we decided that attractive as the Monet to Picasso exhibition was we would need some time to do it justice and the countryside beckoned.  So we jumped into our car and headed into the Wachau valley – 40km long we were informed and a UNESCO designated 'pretty place'.  The drive was picturesque. Austria is patterned with cropping – extensive fields sown with wheat / sun flowers / maize and or corn . In the midst of these acres of crops are large stands of trees – in large clumps or rows or alongside the 'local roads” and autobahns. Countryside went from flat or gently undulating to small hills and valleys as we approached the Wachua.We drove beside the town of Melk, crossed the Danube ( Donau) and drove through the small settlement of Emmersdorf – up into much higher country via delicious windy roads with great surfaces ( unlike those of one of the motor ways to Prague we encountered the next day!) – going through a small settlement called Hain and thence St Georgen with delicious houses and farm yards all built in a quite typical style we were recognising as Austrian and came down to the Donau again via a tiny road the width of our car at about 45 degrees. Stephen got very excited and lots of 'Wows' were expleted!!. Entering Emmersdof again we then headed back up into the hilly stuff and drove revelling in the views and passing more flower bedecked villages and onion domed churches until reaching Maria Lach we we had to stop. So many features of which made us ooh and ahh! The information booth – sitting in the village centre had a wonderful, free, map for trampers of the local walks. Great! We seized that with alacrity and made of with it, GillieB telling Stephen what was what in the region for the rest of the drive. Our conversation went something like...”Oh Stephen , look at that tower over in that village!It's an onion tower that's had a baby – i.e. reproduced a smaller onion on top” “Where, what tower?” “ Oh, sorry, it's gone now!” ( He won't let me drive!!!”) 

Village pump in Hofamt

We meandered along the quiet road, up hills and down hills marvelling at the cropping. I am very impressed by the intelligence of the sunflower flower . They turn their faces, without exception, toward whence comes the sun! Sometimes that means we see their faces as we blast on by, burning diesel fumes for them to breathe. Other times they have their heads turned determinedly away in sun worshipping attitudes. Lovely! Oh – and the sun flowers we have seen in Austria / France and Cheska are much small versions of our NZ sunflowers . I conjecture this may be due to them being bred in more ancient soils and thence more knowledgeable about the expenditure of effort to grow the leafy greeny plant thing in ratio to the seeds produced in relation to bangs for your buck ratio or, dare I say it, genetic modification. Same for the wheat and maize plants.

Back to the journey. We carried on wandering along the small , narrow road until coming back to the Donau at Spitz. Stephen ground to a halt at this point – as he had spied a wine cellar with tasting. Lovely, light white and rose were acquired and on we went to Durnstein – also on the river. We parked and climbed up through narrow paths to this town – very old and atmospheric. 1193. That Richard Lion heart was up to his usual military antics and this time was caught, incarcerated by one Leopold I of the district. There he stayed until rescued by his besotted mother – Eleanor of Aquitaine (sp?) who ransomed this driven son of hers. Not much left of the ancient stuff but fascinating for GB and Stephen enjoyed the views, bless him!!! We had lunch in the modern area of the town, near the river. Stephen enjoyed his traditional Frankfurter with dark, solid brown bread. I am still reminiscing about my crème suppe – zucchini! Wow – I am sure I will never be able to replicate this dish. Light – creamy and with such a zucchini enhanced flavour. The French are wonderful cooks. The Italians just as amazing – the Austrian food – less press but truly amazing flavours – just a different style. I haven't managed to acquire an Austrian recipe book but google is a wonderful thing.

OK – back beside the Donau we travelled back to Vienna – more sites and things to think about en route and then Vienna at rush hour and with road works!!! Jut like NZ! More time to take in the buildings and people ( did a lot of that the night before in Vienna while we ate dinner. )

Interruption: Not sure if we have said but there a a lot of women – and I expect men also – of Muslim tradition in Vienna and Salzburg. Many fully burka-ed and others in long robes with head scarfs, Some with head scarves with very sexy tops, bottoms and shoes. All women whether burka–ed or otherwise were texting and talking on cell phones at all times.

Ok – we ate at Martins again that night ( having gone in search unsuccessfully of other eating houses with appeal) – this time I was disappointed with the meat dish but Stephen in paradise with his pasta dish. No worries as I grazed with enthusiasm on my potato salad and green salad – I do have to suss out the ingredients for the dressing they use on sauerkraut and potato salad.

11 July 2012 – Vienna

Stephen back as author.  We're having a few technical issues so have lost use of our smart phone and a few delays to blog - my apologies if anyone cares...

Today we started with delving into the underground to head into town. I wish that Auckland could learn some basic lessons on how to run a public transport system. Buy a ticket, validate it once and after that just walk on and off all forms of transport. Loading is fast and the trams can stop in the middle of traffic flows without causing a major holdup. The underground took 8 minutes for 6 stops.

We walked around to the State Opera House and were immediately beseiged with hawkers trying to sell tickets to any one of a number of dubious concerts. In July in Vienna it is hot and so all sensible people leave the city and head out, including the opera companies and orchestras leaving a motley bunch of wanna bees – at least that is my impression. Even the Spanish Riding School takes the horses out of the city.

We found the guy handling the tickets for the city tour we had chosen and were loaded onto a “transit bus”. In fact this was turned into the tour bus when we arrived at the bus station with an endless stream of mini-buses dropping more people to load on our bus. I thought we were fairly full when we left the Opera House, but at least the same number managed to squeeze on at the station. The tour started with a tour around the city ring road – really the boundary of the old city which was turned into a triumphal boulevard by some emperor. This is impressive in its foresight providing a really good traffic flow around the centre which is largely pedestrian. Many of the cities important buildings have been positioned around the ring interspersed with large pleasant parks. Then it was off to the Schloss Schonbrunn, one of the Habsburg summer palaces around the city, built on a large park which is now well inside the city limits. The palace apparently has 1441 rooms, but I'm not sure who counted them. We had the quick run through of about 30 of them including the very impressive ballroom and the fake Empress's bedroom (she never actually slept there, but used it to receive state guests). The embroidery and gold leaf on the imperial bed were spectacular.

Once back on the bus after a 30 break we left without all the group – there was no sympathy from the guide towards those who had failed to find their way back at the correct time or couldn't recognise the bus (which returned to a different place). Back to the Opera House where we ambled into the centre of town past many cafes stuck in the middle of the pedestrian only streets to look at St Stephens Cathedral - an ornate but gloomy church undergoing serious cleaning work.

Pedestrian street in the middle of Vienna

We spent a time people watching while eating an unexciting apple strudel in a pavement cafe. Gillian remarked on the body shape contrast of the young women here compared to France and Italy – definitely a heavier build to go with the heavier style of food.

In the evening we went back into town to another pavement cafe for a light dinner.

10 July 2012 - Vienna

We left our comfy hotel in Salzburg and made a fairly quick trip to Vienna. On the way I suggested to Stephen that we leave the tree lined autobahn and detour into the surrounding countryside. With no idea of wheat was around us we did that and found ourselves in a small village called Rutzmoos!!! such a picturesque village – see photo – houses quite typical of what we expected to see with Swiss influence.

Another village ran into Rutzmooz, by the name of Alm. There we saw sites that our guide in Salzburg had described – parents build family home with attached upstairs barn for cattle fodder and downstairs barn for wintering animals . . around their home they build other such establishments for their children to live in with their family in turn – designed to cope with work load on the land – we saw old houses like this with new versions around them so this appears to be a tradition that continues today! 

Austrian farm

Suddenly Stephen had to throw out the anchor as I had spied 2 , two humped camels seated in a small field quietly ruminating and enjoying the view over pasture and woods! Thence followed spirited debate between the Berties senior re the purpose of these animals in this situation.

 Camels in Austria???

No answers made sense so on we went.

Having arrived, checked into our hotel, in the outskirts of Vienna, we spent time , between cold showers to combat high temperature with associated lassitude, working out what we would do next. Decision finally made we ventured forth to buy cheap travel pass for 48 hours at the underground station ( across the road! How convenient and how clever of Stephen to book us in to such a site)Thence on wards to Schonbrunn Palace – up the road quite a bit on tram 10. Maria Theresia, hubby and 16 kids ( one of whom was Marie Antoinette)lived there sometimes – spreading themselves around Austria in the many and various palaces they owned. We intended to stroll through the vast gardens but before we could do that we were drawn but the sound of a brass band playing beside the imposing staircase to the palace's front door. We trundled up staircase and hung over the railings to watch, listen to ,applauded and sing along as the band from the Netherlands played a large range of music – classical, a medley of folk music for children around the world and then – to our delight excerpts from Queen! How the audience ( and we) loved that! So many items evoked memories of a special time for our family. The musicians played and role played at the same time - The crowd would not let them stop – the Dutch conductor responded to the mood of the crowd. The encore was enthusiastically received then conductor bade us all farewell – go home please – so they could have their photos taken. 

As I said – these incidental moments are truly highlights. 

We then wandered through gardens that were largely arboreal – cunningly laid out to trick those keen to explore. Flowers are laid out in lawns in fascinating patterns but not in beds as is common. Rather the flowers grow in the lawn – carefully tended so grass does not intrude amongst the flowers. Grass is kept low so the flowers stand higher. Does that make sense?

Schloss Schonbrunn from the gardens

Once our tummies stared to rumble at the same time as lightening began to do its thing so we found our number 10 tram again and whizzed back to hotel / restaurant Mataushenk – or something like that. And wouldn't you know it! The 3 nights we are here the restaurant is closed for a holiday!!!

So – with instructions from our host we ventured forth with brollies into rain – lovely and cooling as it was still very hot- to Martin's Bier Garten. Great Austrian food – always huge amounts. Completely stonkered – as my grand parents used to say – and with Stephen with somewhat soggy knickers as we ate outside under umbrellas and he insisted he was fine on the outer edge!!! - we tramped back to our beds. Finally had to shut double glazed windows as traffic noises were considerable. Ah! Peace at last. Double glazing over here is great sound proofing. Nonetheless it was a hot night and as there is no air conditioning in Austria yet ( again, info from our sound of music guide – she was great source of info sleep au naturale was in order. Oh dear – back to NZ temps will be a shock – never mind. Scotland will prepare us!

9 July 2012 - Salzburg

 The fortress over looking Salzburg

Salzburg old town streets

Gillian has decided that she would like to add her voice to the blog so I've handed over to her.

It's GillieB here – Stephen is tad tired so I am doing the bloggie thing . We spent yesterday in Salzburg – near the centre in quite a modern hotel. Staff all have excellent English – they told us it was necessary as Salzburg is a tourist town – and certainly we saw a wide range of ethnicities as we walked the streets. We did lots of the walking of the streets!! ( mostly after we arrived on the 8^th July) and saw all sorts of sights – many of which made more sense after the tour we did with the 'Sound of Music' today– don't cringe folks. It was a good decision as we were given lots of the local history of sites we passed . This was because of the exceptional guide for our trip – one Naomi, who had a well developed sense of humour and a fine sense of drama and knowledge of local history. I am continually aware of the need for schema -aka coat hangers – to make sense of what we see. The trip took in lots of Salzburg, important places and sites where the movie was shot and then we were taken out into the countryside. We enjoyed the anecdotes – cited by our guide, as offered by the caste ( many when they were the children in the movie) when they returned as adults and confessed to all sorts of naughtinesses during the filming. We stopped at many villages and lakes en route – with lake Mondsee – (moon) being the last. This happened to be the site of the church where Maria married her captain in the movie -what and amazing church. We are continually amazed by the artistry and opulence and skill of churches in Europe – this church had all this. 

 

The tour gave an excellent overview of Salzburg – we were interviewed by a German doctorate student en route for reasoning for going on the tour!!!!!

 Stephen in front of a palace that was used as a set in th eSound of Music

The ultimate tacky souvineer- a Yodelling Marmot

We ate at a restaurant called 'Die Alter Fuch'; ( The other Fox ) but would Stephen stop his conjecturing!!!! Lovely Austrian food – so yumm but so heavy in the tum. We staggered up the road back to our hotel.

Moment for reflection : As we travel I find moments magic and spiritual in the most unexpected places –an example of which being the church in Diano San Pietro. We were immersed in Ligurian countryside – wandering around, identifying the details of local life as described by Annie Hawes - when we happened on the local church, bonging and banging the hour and half hour to keep us on track. OK – we locate ( eventually) the access into the parish church ( each village has a church with a bell that chimes the hours and half hour – just as Annie recounted, each village has their own time keeping – never the same - so the bells ring for some time around the valley!! Wonderful!!)So – we wander into what we are expecting to be a dark, damp crumbling one time place of worship. How wrong could we have been – we gasp in awe and wonder as around and above us we are surrounded by a huge sanctuary and knave – embellished with the most exquisite artistry – the quality of the painting thereof can only have endured through the preservation and loving care and sacrifices made by the local parish and people .

 Interior of church - the outside was dreary and crumbling

The peace and presence in this place of worship is tangible and very precious. This is not something I expect or seek in all or every chapel / cathedral etc we explore. San Pietro came as a gift – and so I say thank you! A similar experience in the church outside Fontaine Bleu – in the Loire. After the stark spendour of the abbey we entered into the still quiet calm of a place for worship that has existred for hundreds of years.

As so often on our journey we find the unexpected where we we least expect it and it is of course the most exciting part of each day!

7 July 012 – Malbun, Liechenstein

Yesterday we spent on the road after a brief stop in Diano Marina to find a post card – the previous day all suitable shops appeared closed.

We were immediately on the motorway and only escaped briefly at Como for lunch. As we entered Como the heavens opened and there was a very heavy rainstorm which included hail so heavy that I thought we may lose some paint off the car. When we arrived at the centre of Como the rain had stopped, but we found a large area flooded with sewage, so took a quick look at the lake and ducked into McDonalds as the cafes that were clear of the residue of the storm were crowded and we ddn't feel like waiting. While the lake at Como was nice, the number of houses built up the hillsides above it reduced the appeal to us.

Back on the road we climbed up through Switzerland to the San Bernardino pass into heavy cloud and occasional rain. As we got higher the “motorway” reduced to a 2 lane road with no passing and steep grades, but we were lucky and had few holdups – the traffic in the other direction wasn't so free with queues of dozens of cars.

Once again we were struck by the orderliness and beauty of the Swiss countryside. Houses are compact and neat, roadsides are trim and everything looks freshly washed. The valleys with flat floors overhung by astoundingly steep mountains rising 1500m are picture postcard territory.

Heading into Liechenstein our GPS totally lost the plot believing that we were 50m south east of our real position, Endless demands to u-turn, turn left into non-existant roads and general confusion later we found a sign to Malbun and headed up the hill with demands to turn left over a cliff. We climbed 800m up the side of the valley, though a tunnel and finally the GPS was back on the road.

Malbun is a ski resort located close to the Austrian border at 1600m altitude. A bunch of 5 hotels, a collection of chalets in a magnificent bowl shaped valley and a lot of sheep (and a few cows) with bells clanking away.

Views from the hotel

Today we lazed around at Malbun. I walked up to the top of the village and then we took the chairlift up 400m to the top of the range above the village – elevation 2,000m. The ski slopes below this chairlift are not for the faint hearted! At the top there was a timber ramp leading out into space over the stunted pine trees. The trees had new cones starting while the old ones were still opening and dropping off. Over the other side of the valley there are 2 chairlifts on what look like easier slopes.

Malbun from the top of the chairlift

After lunch we walked past the church on a path marked as suitable for pushchairs – obviously Liechenstein parents are brawnier than NZers as the gradients were challenging at times. A wedding was in progress at the church, but we didn't make out the couple. Gillian was particularly taken with the wild flowers beside the path and the number of insects and butterflies. Many of the trees grew out horizontally, obviously pushed over by the weight of snow when young. Arriving back at the hotel we found a display of falconry in progress. 5 birds were shown and flown over the next hour including a peregrine falcon, golden eagle, raven and 2 other birds of prey. The eagle was huge and we gathered had a strong grip from the expressions of the people who were game to have him on their arms.

Golden Eagle on show

We have noticed the change in the style of food between the countries. Now we are getting large heavy meals compared to the lighter dished in France and Italy. Cooked vegetables have repplaced teh light saleads.

Tomorrow we head for Salzburg.

5 July 2012 - Diano San Pietro

A three day catch up.  On the 3rd we lazed around Bauduen, spending a good part of the day at a beach on a gravel road that heads out from the village around the side of the lake.  The beach was great, having trees growing at the top giving shade.  While the surface was sharp gravel rather than sand that is what is normal around the lake as all the beaches are artificial (created when the lake was filled in the 1970s) we made ourselves comfortable and enjoyed the peace and quiet of the lake.   The amazing thing (to me) was that for most of the time we had the beach to ourselves.

Looking at the real estate listings properties are incredibly cheap with a big villa on 4000m2 of land, with swimming pool, available for 300,000 Euro ($NZ 500,000).  The equivalent in NZ would be over the million mark.

The next day we cleaned up the house and put a couple of loads of washing through before heading off to Italy.  As we headed down to the coast the trees became more lush.  When we saw palm trees we knew that we'd reached the Riviera.  Amazingly we found a carpark at the top of the beach at St Raphael and found a pleasant sandy beach that wasn't overly crowded.  Heading towards Cannes we decided to avoid the motorway and ended up on a delightful twisty road through the woods away from the coast.  Beaches in Cannes looked good, but we didn't stop and then got caught in a traffic jam in Antibes, so jumped on the motorway and headed for Monaco, avoiding the chaos (we thought) that would be Nice.  Went to get off the motorway at Monaco and found that the toll both only accepted cards or coins and rejected all NZ cards and required 30c more than we had in coins.  An embarrassing 5 minutes later we managed to raise some assistance was able to change a 5 Euro note.  The queue behind us was amazingly patient.

We found Monaco simply beyond our expectations.  Plastered up the side of a steep rock it is clean, freshly decorated and has a relaxed atmosphere.  The sea front is not great, mainly being a harbour for exceedingly large yatchs, but the mass of hotels and stately buildings above is spectacular.  As we could easily find convenient parking spots we didn't linger and headed back on the road to Italy.

The motorway in this area is a succession of high viaducts and tunnels.  As you come out of each tunnel you get a view of a different part of the area - a glimpse of a town, then an agricultural area, then a rocky valley.  Never long enough to get the full impact before you are back in another tunnel.

The background to our stop in Liguria, Italy, is a series of books by Annie Hawes, an Engliswoman who bought a "rustico" in the hills in the 1980s and made it into a holiday home.  Gillian wanted to see the area described in the books, so we booked into a B&B in the village Diano San Pietro.

We found our way to the village, but the directions we had did not get us to the B&B, so a quick phone call lead us to continue 1 km up the valley to find an aged woman standing in the road to flag us down and direct us up an impossible turn to a parking area.  The B&B turned out to be a good size apartment with kitchen and large swimming pool - bliss.  There is another couple staying here in the upstairs apartment - an Italian and his German wife who work around Cologne.  We have had some interesting conversations with them from religious conflicts through to the ratio of possums to people in NZ.

Just down the road we found the local restaurant.  They have 2 small tables perched on the side of the road that are permanently occupied by the locals to swap gossip and drink apparently vile local liquor(my imagination no proven).  Inside the first room is the bar/wine shop with a couch and small table and racks of wine bottles.  Out the back is a very couth restaurant area with around 8 tables.  The host is also the barman and chef.  The menu is simple - 7 aperativs, 4 primo piattos and 4 secundo piattos.  The special tinight is rabbit.  When it arrives, the food is magic.

Today we headed up into the hills above Diano San Pietro to look at the area described in the books,  This involved a road 2m wide zig-zagging up the hill in a series of blind hairpin bends.  At one stage we met a large (for the size of the road) lorry heading in the opposite direction requiring us to reverse up the side of the hill to give him room.  We got completely lost and continued to climb through the olive groves on roads that our GPS said didn't exist.  Looking over into the next valley we saw more little villages nestled on the side of the hills among the olive groves.

Looking across the valey to Diano Costello

With the narrow rads around here the standard transport is the Ape (Italian for bee) which are small 3 wheeled trucks designed for 1 person, though you often see 2 people crammed into the cab. These are narrow enough to pas on the one lane roads.

An Ape

We decided at last we were not going to spend the rest of the day lost on top of the hills, so we turned around and headed down.  We found the local cemetery where some of the characters from the books are buried, or should I say stashed, as much of the cemetery consists of concrete pigeon-holes which are sealed with stone slabs when the coffin is slid in.  Most graves have photos of the people on them, often quite informal snaps - very evocative.  We found the niches for Domenico and his wife Antonino who featured in the book as great supporters and friends of Annie.

Cemetery at Diano San Pietro

After lunch we headed down to the coast to Diano Marina to wander around the shops (all closed as it was Wednesday) and find a public beach.  All the best spots are covered with "concessions" - fenced off with loungers and umbrellas - but found a corner near the harbour where we went in for a swim to say that we had been into the Med at least once.  After a spell on the beach to people watch and dry off we headed back the the B&B to jump in the pool to wash off the salt.

Eventually we wander down to the restaurant and again are overwhelmed by the quality of the food.  Gillian has the special (Sardines in a cake) and I choose the Carpaccio de Vitello (thin slices of raw steak covered with a fresh salad doused in olive oil) - both absolutely gorgeous.  Gillian is enraptured by a "ladies version" of grappa (strawberry flavoured) and then more so by Lik Li (Liquore de Liguria) which is a rich dark brown syrupy liqueur.  I only let her buy the grappa on the basis that the flight to Scotland has strict weight limits.

Tomorrow we head off for a stopover in Leichenstein.

*** Photos will be added later ***

2 July 2012 - Bauduen

I don't think I explained much about the house we are staying in.  It is the 3rd house when entering the village (great as it is close to a parking area) and the front door opens directly onto the road in normal French style.  We were first faced with an wrought iron grille locked with a padlock.  The came solid wooden shutters, again locked, then french doors locked with a standard lock and a separate deadlock.  This just to get in the front door!  The first room is a small lounge leading through to the kitchen/dining room with a toilet tocked in beside the sink.  Stairs lead downstairs into a loung/rumpus room/office/overflow bedroom created out of a vaulted basment with a door leading into a small garden.  Upstairs from the entrance level are 2 bedrooms, a modern bathroom and toilet, then the attic above has been converted into a master bedroom and terrace overlooking the lake.  I have no idea how old the house is, but it could be 100 or 400 years - things haven't changed much over the years.  What strikes us is that the entire house is only one room wide and that is standard for most of the house around here.

The house from the lakefront - the one with light green shutters

View from the terrace

Yesterday we relaxed in the heat.  As it was Sunday there was a great village market.  At our end there were vegetable and produce stalls, then cheese and meats with the rest varying between trinkets, jewellry and clothes.  The guy at one of the cheese stalls sold us on one of his cheeses with a sample and then cup us a slice off the round.  The variety of cheeses here is immense and most of them are very good.  The cheese guy ahd a dog sitting in a pile of boxes behind him that took great interest in the deals.  The stalls would never meet NZ OSH standards with unrefigrerated cheese and sausages that were a target for flies.  Gillian was taken with a couple of tops that will be seen in future photos.

 Cheese seller with dog

 I took a walk up a road behind the village, then wandered through the back streets.  The village is obvious ancient with 4 layers up from the lake.  Some of the roads are 2m wide with steps jutting out into the passageway.  I can see the tracks where cars have passed, but I can't imagine having the accuracy required to drive a zigzag course between the steps.

 Street in Bauduen

 Gillian made a Quiche Lorraine from a local recipe for dinner - never believe that the French are cholesterol aware as the short pastry alone was 33% butter, let alone the bacon and cheese.

The village is proving very complete with a good general store, 3 restaraunts, a creperie and several other eating houses of varying descriptions.

Today we drove up to see the Canyon du Verdon.  10 minutes after leaving the house I discovered I'd left my camera - an excellent move as there is no way to capture the grandeur and scale of the scenery.  While the weather has been less than perfect (a few showers) the scenery is breathtaking and, according to Gillian, so are the roads and my driving.  The French do not believe in making roads that are wider than required for 2 goats to pass.  When you meet a tour bus on a blind corner and stop with 1" to spare and then have to squeeze through a gap between the bus and a rock wall with the mirrors scraping in a 90km/hr zone you understand that driving here requires PRECISION.

The scale of the canyon is difficult to convey - we were at 1200m up one wall looking down 600m to the river directly below with 300m cliffs above us.  The road on the opposite side on the canyon goes higher and looks even more scary than the one we were on.  Much of the canyon walls are vertical and are reminiscent of photos I've seen of the Grand Canyon in the US.  The canyon runs for some 40 km, but we chickened out after half that distance.

When we returned to Bauduen, I walked out past the yacht club to the end of the unsealed road passing several really nice beaches which we will laze on tomorrow.  The only issue with the beaches is that they have been created with sharp gravel and you do need reef shoes to swim comfortably.  The water has been a deep green most of the day due to the clouds, but about 5pm the sun shone through and the lake returned to its unbelieveably vibrant blue.

A pale rendition of the colour of the lake this evening