Up the river

Thank you to dear old BoB for this groaner!

bluebird of bitterness

An anthropologist wanted to study the members of a remote jungle tribe. He hired a native guide with a canoe to take him to his destination and serve as interpreter.

As they travelled up the river, they heard drums in the distance. The anthropologist asked his guide, “What do those drums mean?”

The guide replied, “Drums okay. Drums not bad. But very bad when they stop.”

As they traveled the drums grew louder. The anthropologist became nervous, but the guide repeated, “Drums okay. Drums not bad. But when drums stop, then very bad.”

On they travelled, the anthropologist growing more apprehensive by the minute. Then suddenly the drums stopped. Panic stricken, the anthropologist said to the guide, “The drums stopped! What now?”

The guide crouched down, covered his head with his hands and said, “Guitar solo.”

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Answer to travel photo #5

The photo was taken on the lovely island of Torcello which is in the lagoon north of Venice. Once heavily populated, it now has very few inhabitants. It does have an interesting history The forgotten Venice   and the  ancient Cathedral of Torcello among its attractions.

The photo shows the containers that are used twice a year to provide the soft shelled delicacy know as moeche. These containers, known as vieri, used to be made of wicker. Now they consist of wooden planks, spaced so the water can circulate to keep the little crabs alive when the containers are lowered into the  shallow waters of the lagoon. 

I have eaten them once. Then I found out how they are prepared, and never had them again. Poor moeche

 

Mystery travel photo #5

Where is this tranquil scene?

 

Travel photo #4

Let’s start the new year with a new photo.

Just a hint or two: this shows a Saint and an artist. The city where you would find it is noted for pizza. (Among many other things.)

An Italian lesson

My friends from Venice forwarded these shopping list written in that beautiful language: Italian. 

It will be your job to tell me what was on the lists. Don’t complain, it’s good for you to exercise your brains.

fragole

yogourt (this may be misspelt/misspelled – I am catering to both versions of the English language)

succo d’ananas

carta igienica

Rasoi (I have to confess I don’t know this one. I think it may be a brand name.)

una sorella più educata

I’ll bet you had no trouble with the first item

Something of interest about that second word, biscotti. Bis means twice or extra, the  word literally means twice cooked. You may also see it used in the Italian word for Great-grandmother: Bisnonna.

Thank you, Caroline and Phil, for sending them to me. 

Where and what was travel photo #3

The photo of the man with the vacuum cleaner was taken in Cannaregio, a sestiere (district) of Venice, at the beginning of Carnevale in 2014.

I, along with a throng of other onlookers, was waiting on the other side of the Cannaregio Canal to watch the parade of oar powered boats arriving to mark the opening weekend of the festivities. The dramatic finale of the parade was a larger than life pantegana (rat) whose rear end exploded, releasing a swarm of coloured balloons!

Later, we had the chance to try many typical Venetian foods and beverages from stalls set up on the fondamenta (canal side walkway), and listen to Venetian musical presentations. It was cold, but a lot of fun.

This couple were on an adjacent balcony. Their housework must have been done, so they could enjoy the passing parade.

Travel photo #3

A man’s gotta do what a man’s gotta  do, apparently.

I still haven’t found someone to nominate for the challenge who hasn’t already been tagged. But, I’m having fun nevertheless. 

Where was Travel photo #1 taken?

It didn’t take long for a few cluey people to offer good suggestions about yesterday’s photo.

It was indeed in Naples, in the Bourbon Tunnel. You can read about its history in the link below. And it was a sort of museum, John.

My vivid fragments from the tour included the two different offerings of toilet facilities when the tunnels were used as air-raid shelters during the Second World War. I would have been using the basic model, with nary a trace of privacy supplied, while the posh among us would have at least had the comfort of a wall between you and your neighbour. The other was the  many rusting automobiles which had been impounded for one reason or another!

https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/bourbon-tunnel

I’ll find another photo to post tomorrow, or the next day.

 

Travel photo challenge #1

I was nominated by my blogging friend John  to post one favourite travel picture a day for ten days without explanation, then to nominate someone else to participate. That’s 10 days, 10 travel pictures, and 10 nominations.

I may renege on the latter part, as many bloggers find it a PITA to do this sort of thing. But, it’ll give me an excuse to browse through photos of Travels and try to select only 10 of them over the next few days. 

So, photo #1. I’ll tell you tomorrow where this is.

 

A warm welcome, but it is forbidden to …

This is Take 2; the original post lost the image!

This is from Bert in England, who saw this sign when he was trudging along the Camino de Santiago.

He commented: “This is at the entrance to the friendly bar in Villamayor del Rio. If you would like to use it, please do. I left my stuff outside and went in. I was ignored for several minutes. The beer, when it came, was expensive.”

There do seem to be a fair number of “Do Nots” to overcome before ordering your beverage.

I did a little online search and found this comment: Best to avoid Villamayor del Rio. The smell of cow manure being transported in trucks was overwhelming all night and we stayed at a private albergue —not too friendly. But the highlight was dinner at Cafe Leon whose proprietor is a warm gentleman who is extremely knowledgeable about local history. In fact his restaurant contains a small museum of medieval artifacts. He went out of his way to give us a lovely non-pilgrim meal and gave us the grand tour—-most entertaining and a highly recommended stop. Mind you this was 2012, so things may have changed.