Old Great Yarmouth

Wednesday 21 August 2002. The day was a little bleak weatherwise and we decided not to go wandering in the car but to stay in Great Yarmouth, with somewhere to dash towards in case of rain.

On the positive side Great Yarmouth has a fairly rich history and was one of England's walled towns. King Henry III gave the town burgesses the right to build an enclosing wall and a moat in 1260, although he had given way to King Edward I by the time building commenced in 1284.

The walls were constructed of rubble with a facing of grey and red brick and knapped flint to provide some decoration. The walls enclosed 133 acres and were 2,200 yards (2012 metres) in length, 23 feet (7 metres) in height.

16 towers or turrets were built along the wall of which a few still exist. The South Tower, pictured here, has a chequered decoration to the upper storeys and at one time in its more recent past housed a pottery.

There is a 1 mile (1.6 kilometres) walk around part of the wall that also takes in the market and a few famous houses. One was that of Miles Corbett the last signatory on the Death Warrant of King Charles I. Another we shall see in a short while.

Blackfriars Tower is named for a nearby colony of monks at the time of building in 1340.

The port of Yarmouth is on the River Yare. Although leaflets describe it as the 'historic South Quay' (which it undoubtedly is) there is little to see on the quay itself. Few trawlers or herring boats can be found these days though you may see a few support ships for the offshore gas and oil rigs in the North Sea.

I loved this though. The odd building stands out, suggesting a bustling community, where hard work and sweat were the order of the day. Ivy's Trusty Tea Shop - it was voted for, you know! Whilst the area it was situated in was very quiet to the point of being almost eerie, a light inside showed that there was still a welcome and a good cup of tea to be had.

There was one historic ship - the Audrey tied up along the wharf. The Audrey was being repainted and was a yacht rigged sailing fishing boat. There was no one aboard. Perhaps they had nipped of to Ivy's for a good cup of tea.

Between the long stretch of wharves on the Yare and the town centre and market were once over a hundred narrow streets known as the Rows. They were incredibly narrow, so much so that a law was passed that house doors had to open inwards to avoid passers-by being knocked off their feet! At points it was possible to touch the walls of houses on either side.

They were first mentioned in 1198 and were further developed during the next 200 years until there were 145 rows. Unfortunately the houses and buildings of the rows were extensively bombed during World War II and now few remain.

The house in Row 111. Many rows were paved with pebbles from the beach - not easy on the feet. After the destruction of World War II, most rows were demolished as slum clearance and more modern housing estates replaced them.

The Seamens' hospital and cottages reserved for ex-seamen over the age of 60. It was built by the Corporation in 1702 as almshouses for 20 "decayed fishermen" and their wives. The cottages were one up - one down i.e. a single room with a huge fireplace and a bedroom on the first floor reached by either a spiral staircase or ladder. Privies were provided in the yard.

The black and white timber framed building was the home of Anna Sewell who wrote the childrens' book "Black Beauty", but who sadly died before it became a best seller.

Asl anyone over the age of 60 what shop they would love to see return to High Streets and they would likely say Woolworths. But there were other shops that graced most towns' high streets. This was Great Yarmouth's Co-op building. The Co-op was a movement that started in Rochdale, Lancashire and grew into a huge concern, aimed at sharing its profits with members (shoppers) by a stamp system similar to Green Shield stamps.

Co-op stamps were blue and were stuck into books which once full could be exchanged for a certain value. The Co-op department stores were all built to a similar design and this was a typical one with the upper storey's windows separated by columns.

Great Yarmouth 2002 Index

A Day in Rhodes

On 30 September we flew (on a brand new 787 no less!) to Marmaris, Turkey, to join the Thomson Celebration for a week on a cruise that had been re-jigged to avoid a planned two days in Egypt. I hope things soon settle down there.

Our cruise was now retitled Aegean and The Holy Land and we would visit Rhodes, Ashdod in Isreal, travelling to Jerusalem and then onto Bethlehem, Larnaca in Cyprus and Alanya in Turkey before returning to Marmaris at the end of the week. Or the beginning of this current week as I write...

It wasn't a particularly blazing hot day as we arrived in Rhodes and we had been warned that there could be rain during the afternoon. They were right as it turned out, but let's not jump too far ahead, we have a morning's exploration to do first. We have been to Rhodes twice before, both times being in 2010.

On both those occasions we walked off the ship and through the nearest gate into the old city, spending our time in the medieval city itself. Whilst this is undeniably an excellent way to spend a day, this time I wanted to do something a little different and we walked around the city walls on the outside, heading for a look at what would be our fourth site of one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, the Colossus of Rhodes. You'll have to wait until at least the next entry to see it because:

1. I haven't done that many photos yet - we only got back last night
2. There are other things of interest that we passed on our way to it
3. It's good to instil a bit of excitement for things still to come!

This is the Marine Gate, the main entrance to the town from the harbour. It has twin towers, the northern one (to the right) having been restored in modern times following bomb damage in World War II. The three figures over the gate represent the Virgin Mary and Saints John and Peter.

Traffic was relentless. I waited for a bit, but finally had to admit to myself that there would not be a chance to take a photo without cars partly obscuring the gate. It was built in 1478 by the Knights Hospitallers who had taken over the city, building on the existing Byzantium walls in order to strengthen the city against possible (and eventual) attacks by the Ottomans. Turkey can be seen from the city, it is only around 18 miles away.

The harbour contains a number of ships kitted out as market stalls selling souvenirs and marine goods like this one. Sponges were six euros each, loofahs a mere five euros and, dear reader, you can scratch your back more easily with a loofah than a sponge! I think maybe the stall holders were missing a trick... True enough though, they had many more sponges than loofahs, so maybe they were just out to clean up... Loofahs are the fibre of a cucumber-like fruit, they don't grow in the sea like sponges. There's a wealth of unbelievably naive articles about them on t'Internet - including articles on how to use them(???) Obviously written by Americans and yes I did mean to add the "s" on the end. No less than 12 people had had a go at editing the article I saw. The Americans must either need - or believe that others need their - careful instruction on how to clean themselves. You start with a circular motion on the decolletage according to the article. Handily, this area is described so that users can find it without having to ask others to point it out. There's also loofah-use instructional videos on YouTube for those who find the article hard going... By heck, I put some research into these entries you know...

Another gate into the city, this is St Paul's Gate from the Mandraki Harbour. This harbour is the one where the Colossus of Rhodes stood, but no, you'll just have to let the suspense build up for a bit because we won't get that far just yet. St Paul visited Rhodes during his third missionary journey. In the next entry we'll see the little fortress corner that the Gate gives access to and look at some of the stone cannonballs still lying on the ground outside that tried to knock it down. We'll be moving closer to the site of the Colossus of Rhodes. Whether we get there or not depends on me resisting being led along ridiculous tangents like loofahs and stuff... Come to think of it, I didn't say nearly enough about sponges in this article...

Just to clear up any final doubts you may have about loofahs, the instructional article mentioned that you should tap them dry with a towel to remove excess water before hanging them up to dry. For readers in the UK and elsewhere I suggest rinsing them in the soup left after your bath and tossing them on the bath rack will suffice. Loofahs that get too stinky should be discarded as soon as you can visit Rhodes to buy another... Other skin cleansing products are available.

Holy Land Cruise Index Page

The Wrong Song in Kotor, Montenegro

Saturday, 13 August 2011. Normally the first day of a cruise would be a day at sea. This allows passengers to get accustomed to any motion that there may be and also provides time for the lifeboat drill which is required by law within 24 hours of boarding a ship. All passengers are required to attend.

On the Adriatic Explorer however we have a port visit - Kotor in Montenegro - to look forward to. To accommodate the lifeboat drill we will arrive at lunchtime and sail away a bit later at 11:00pm. So a second day where we have a chance to see somewhere after dark! To approach Kotor we have to sail along what they call the deepest fjord in southern Europe. It is some 28 kilometres long and as I hadn't realised we weren't sailing until after dark, I stuck my nose in a book on the sun deck and ignored it entirely... Duh... The bits I did see - and we were in it a long time - were spectacular! It is our first visit to Montenegro. All day long the song Montego Bay is going through my head even though it's about a totally different country on the other side of the world and the word "Montenegro" does not fit into the same space as "Montego"...

The Thomson Spirit moors right outside the city walls. Just a short walk is all we need to be into the city.

Kotor is a medieval walled city with earlier roots. It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

At first we follow the walls around to our left, but very quickly we find we are heading for the modern part of town! So we retrace our steps along the wall towards the nearest gate into the city.

This is it. Literally a five minute walk from the ship by the direct route!

It brings us to the main square of Kotor. From here streets and alleys lead off in all directions.

You cannot ignore the mountains in Kotor. The city is literally squashed against the side of the fjord by them. To secure the medieval city, the inhabitants built the city walls to climb high up the mountainside from one side of the city, along the mountain's side and down another steep slope to the other side of the city.

Here and there are wall sculptures. They are dotted about the city. In fact, the right hand winged cherubim here seems to have been dotted with bullets...

Kotor is a delight of narrow alleyways, very worn marble paving and cobbled squares, surrounded by ancient palaces and churches. Scrawny cats stalk the alleyways that were made so that even two donkeys would have to be skinny to pass each other! We come out at one side of the city wall and at what seems to be a pond.

On closer examination though it is the water of the fjord. The roadway is bridged over it at this point. It no doubt allowed the city's folk to fish from the walls in times of siege.

The walls run up an almost sheer mountainside to a fortress far above us. The walls meld into the mountainside. Come dark we will see them far more easily so we'll have a look at them on the next page.

We head back into the city and spend some time exploring the alleys and narrow streets.

Back on the ship we head up to the Horizons Bar where the irrepressible Aiza is practicing the phrases taught to her by some Geordies last week: "Why-aye man! Cheeky booger...." Priceless!

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Wareham and The River Frome

Welcome to 2009 and a new layout for photos embedded in the blog.

The majority of new PCs and laptops these days seem to have widescreen monitors and for anything over a resolution of 1024x768 the old format tended to give you overlapped placing of the photographs so from now on I'm going to centre them and so I can have a bit more control over how the blog will look on your screen.

My New Year's Resolution this year was not to post an entry on the first of January. So many people make resolutions they have no chance of succeeding in so I always make mine that bit more simple. Last year's resolution for instance was to breathe...

Anyway this year's is over and done with and I can get on with life.

These photos were taken at Wareham in Dorset in 1997 whilst we were on holiday down there, using Sidmouth in Devon as our base for the week.

Wareham is one of England's walled towns, though in this case the remaining walls are earthworks only. This is because it is one of only two Saxon walled towns and therefore they were not stone-built but presumably had somewhat formidable chunks of wood on top. They were built as defences against the Vikings whose sense of fun displayed itself as a shout of "Smile!" just as their axe swung at your head...

Today there is very little head lopping in Wareham and instead it is a lovely spot on a hot summers day to relax with a pint in the pub or an ice cream by the river just watching life around you.

Have a very Happy New Year!

Large versions of the photos: Wareham Quay, River Frome