Roman Baths

                                 Still Working

     The city of Bath, England exists because of water. The city developed around the only hot springs in the country. The springs come from 10,000-feet below the ground and surface in several places. The springs located near the ancient Roman Road were discovered by the Romans in the first century. They established a town they called Aguae Sulis and drained the swampland  created by 125,000 gallons of water that bubbled up out of the ground each day.

     They built a temple to the goddess Minerva  and a sophisticated network of baths making full use of the mineral springs. Romans occupied the  area for 360 years, but in 410 suddenly abandoned it. As years passed water again overtook the area.

     The legend says that a Celtic chief with leprosy was forced to leave his people. During his travels he happened upon the hot springs. After bathing in them for some period of time he was cured and eventually returned to his people. He had a difficult time convincing his people who he really was.. When he did succeed he moved his people to the springs.

     In the 900s monks established the Bath Abbey. In the 1200s the City of Bath was built over the unknown  ruins of the  ancient Roman city, and the ancient ruins were not re-discovered until the 1800s.

    The old Roman lead lined pool is 5-feet deep and still water tight!  The original Roman drains, still in use,  drain excess water and carry it to the River Avon. However, no one uses the baths today, but the well-kept ruins are quite an attraction to visitors to the city.

    The water looked a bit murky and algae could be seen around the edges of the rocks. The lovely statuary around the pool was a delight. It was awesome to visit something so old and the inner workings were interesting.  Uneven footing  in places required a bit of caution when walking, but the baths were in remarkable condition after so many centuries!

Mud Bath

                                               Just like Kids

     I found the volcanic activity in Costa Rica of particular interest because of the hot springs. Arenal, dormant for 400 years, blew her top in 1968. The perfect cone shaped volcano is often hidden behind clouds, so it is quite common for visitors to actually not see it.

     On my first visit, our hotel was located directly across the street for a front-on-view of the volcano, and the weather was perfect. At night the fiery display of hot lava running down its side was spectacular as Arenal spit up her innards. It was like a fireworks display all night long. What a sight and were we lucky!

    At Tobacon Hot Springs, we went swimming in the pools, which ranged in size from small to large and with temperatures from temperate to quite hot. Several of the pools were hidden among tropical foliage. One pool even had a waterfall and the warm water felt so good on my shoulders and back.

    The day of our mud bath we started the day hiking through a lovely forest with howler monkeys  cheering us on. We wore bathing suits under our clothes. I don’t think howler monkeys are very cute like some monkeys are, and they can be  very noisy. In the forest I was fascinated watching a long line of leaf cutter ants march on to their nest. The ants are small and the leaf pieces are many times their size.

    Reaching a clearing we headed to  a sauna built over a natural steam vent. It was quite hot inside, but the guide kept telling us stories to occupy us while we stood and sweated. When we got so hot we couldn’t stand it any longer we left to get covered with warm mud. Standing spread eagle so the mud could dry, with our mud masks, we sure looked like a silly bunch of characters.

     It was a gorgeous warm day. As the mud dried you could feel your skin pulling. The dried mud was really hard to wash off under the showers, so we helped each other with our backs. After getting clean and the mud gone we relaxed in one of the hot pools.

    We were well relaxed, but eventually our stomachs told us it was lunch time.  After drying off we headed back to the hotel to dress before lunch. It had been a fun morning doing and seeing a few new things.

Glacier Express

                                        What a Train Ride!

     It’s pretty much an all-day train ride  on the Glacier Express from Davos, Switzerland to Interlaken. Knowing that, we all carried a book along to read for the  day. It was a surprise to see none of us even cracked the cover of a book, much less read it. The spectacular scenery absolutely captured all of our attention. It was the most awesome train ride I’ve ever taken. Our reserved coach  was most comfortable.

     Non of was was prepared for this spectacular day. In places the   train trestle literally overhung the side of the mountain or stretched over a gorge between two mountains. The train chugged along so slowly on one very steep climb that I thought it might actually stop or start running back downhill!  The slow ride down on the other side of the pass offered wonderful views of wild flowers in bloom all along the train tracks and down into the alpine meadows.

     At lunchtime the steward came to our car to inform us it was our turn in the dining car. We moved forward to the dining car where we were seated at our booth. Our delicious lunch was served on china plates with real silverware. There were no paper plates, plastic or short cuts here. Serving sizes were more than ample and seconds were allowed on anything but the meat (beef).  Wine even accompanied the meal served in an actual crystal wine glass. Lunch was leisurely with no feeling of being rushed. After dessert a funny thing happened. The dining steward appeared at the end of our table, standing erect he said, “Thank you, bye.”  We just listened and then he repeated, “Thank you bye. Thank you. Bye.”  Then we got the message: our time in the dining car was over!  Being careful not to pull the table cloth as we got up in the small quarters, we thanked the waiter and returned to our coach.

    After six hours on the train we arrived in Brig with a half-hour layover and  change of  trains. Shortly after pulling out of the train station we went through the longest train tunnel in the world; then it wasn’t too long before we arrived in Interlaken.

     It had been a wonderful gorgeous  ride. It was some sort of a Swiss holiday and we were able to watch fireworks from our hotel balcony—what a way to end  a great day!

HAUNTED HOTEL

                                               Haunted Hotel

     I had never been anywhere where there were supposed to be ghosts---until I stayed in a haunted hotel in Sydney, Australia.

    I found the story framed on the wall of my hotel room. It  explained that the second part of the building had been constructed of sandstone with Georgian flattened brick arches over the windows. Built as six terrace houses, they were known as Scarlett’s Cottages. Scarlett, a well-known lady of the night, lived and died in the area.

   The story continued that Scarlett was Eric’s one true love.  In a moment of thoughtlessness, she declared her love for him also, even though she did not mean it. However, Eric died before learning of Scarlett’s lie. It is said that to this day Eric wanders the halls and cottages of the hotel searching and calling for Scarlett, who also met a tragic and untimely death. On occasion Eric has appeared in front of the surprised hotel staff questioning of Scarlett’s whereabouts.

    I asked reception for a copy of the story/legend which she happily gave to me.

    The 170-year old building was built on the site of Sydney’s first hospital. After the hospital was moved, the terrace houses were added and the building was turned into a hotel.

    Each evening we kidded about Eric’s ghost, and each morning questioned each other to learn if anyone has seen or heard him. No one encountered Eric during our Sydney stay, and I doubt anyone lost any sleep  worrying about it. It was a fun stay and an interesting story.

FRENCH DINING

                                  Dining the French Way

     After biking all day dinnertime was a time to relax. The French dinner hour tends to be late, most often after 7:00 PM. For them dining is an event. We never had a dinner that lasted less than  two hours, and often it approached three hours at the table.

    Normally drinks, including water, are never included with  a meal overseas. If one asks for water chances are it will be a $3  bottle of water. So it was a pleasant surprise the first evening in Bordeaux to have wine served with our duck dinner.

    As it turned out we had plenty of wine every evening!  Of course we were in wine country where wines are extremely reasonable. But we also had the big boss along as our guide.  He came as a temporary sub for an injured guide, but after a couple of days the driver was emphatic that he must remain for the entire two weeks so as not to traumatize us—ha!  It turned out to be a great advantage. I guess the small boutique hotels we stayed in were just taking care of the boss  or were saying thank you for all the business he brought them. I’m guessing he never even saw the rather large bar bills.

    The service was generally slow in comparison to US standards. The food was generally good, and the company and conversation were most pleasant. Those evening meals were a great way to wind down after a busy and full day of biking and sight-seeing.

    A bottle of wine just about fills four glasses. The fellows on the trip were not a bit hesitant about holding up an empty bottle in the air  to be replaced. The wines were excellent and flowed freely the entire trip---without costing us bikers a single penny!

LAKE TITICACA

                                             A High Altitude City

  Puno, located on the Andean plateau is dominated by Lake Titicaca, sacred place of the Incas and home to natural and artificial islands. Titi means puma and caca means stone.   The Incas thought Lake Titicaca was shaped somewhat like a puma, but after looking at a map, I thought that took a lot of imagination. The highest navigable lake in the world is 100 miles long and covers 3200 square miles. The depth ranges from 15-20 to 900-feet deep with the northern end of the lake  the deepest. The altitude and hot sun cause a tremendous amount of evaporation.  Titicaca, located between Peru and Bolivia, is the largest lake in South America.

     Spanish founded Puno in 1668 because of its closeness to the colonial silver mine of Laykakota. The altitude is 12,565-feet above sea level and the greater  area population is 102,800. Its inhabitants are proud of their Quechua and Aymara past. Many inhabitants, especially women, daily wear colorful traditional dress

    Puno is a small port city where the main industry is tourism.  Agriculture and cattle raising are important and the area is well known for its herds of llamas and alpacas. The main crops are potato, quinoa  and other tubers, but limited access to fertilizers and seeds means low yields allowing only for subsistence farming.

    Smoke from unvented fires wafts through Puno’s streets, along with edgy waves of traffic with constant  honking horns including taxis and three-wheeled cycles that urge pedestrians to the narrow slivers of sidewalks. It is not a pedestrian friendly city.  Puno’s churches are characterized by their distinctive colonial architecture. Several plazas provide shops and restaurants.

    Rural population struggles with poverty where surviving is the main priority, illiteracy is high at 22% and higher among females than males. Health and malnutrition are related to extreme poverty, lack of clean water and sanitation infrastructure..

    The big attraction for tourists visiting Puno is the Eros people and their floating islands which were once their homes. More about them on another day