An original solution to wear and tear

After a morning of routine domestic and office tasks, I took myself and my camera out to the port on my usual itinerary. Overnight there'd been a changeover of ships berthed, and the ferry to Melilla was busy being loaded with freight lorries bound for Morocco, or elsewhere in North Africa. I think it makes a couple of runs a week, but this is the first time I've seen it this year. 

Parked in the open area near the Pompidu Centre was a large mobile exhibition vehicle, branded with Google's name and colours, with a minimal hospitality suit and presentation area in front of it. A promotional road show is out and about visiting sites in different parts of the city, aimed at getting entrepreneurs to buy specialised Google digital services and training to use them. It didn't seem all that  busy, perhaps because it had only just arrived, or because few local people were out and about, but still enjoying a lunch break indoors, given the uncertain weather.

On my way back from a circuit of the old town, I used the route which passes through a pedestrian tunnel on the hillside above the road tunnel underneath the Alcabaza fortress at the base of the Gibralfaro mountain. Close to the entrance I noticed an open gate in the fence which forms the Old Town-side enclosure of this historic edifice. It opened on to a pathway around half of the base of the walls, driven through dense ground covering shrubs. What I found unusual was that the pathway was paved and lined on both sides with sheet iron, rather than a fence. From afar the path is an unusual rust-red gash through green shrubs covering the hillside. Once I started walking along it, I realised the ingenuity of the idea.

Visitors can walk along the hillside to the point where it overlooks the 1st century Roman theatre, and there are iron viewing platforms for those who want to take pictures of the Old Town from up at  rooftop level. With a potentially high volume of visitors, maintaining a path through such vigorous and thick shrubbery and enclosing it for safety's sake with low chain link fence would be costly to maintain. Vegetation would encroach on the path, and the pedestrian wear and tear would make a path, whether paved or unpaved, subject to erosion at the edges. 

Constructing a stylish iron trough as a hillside walkway provides safe access for abled and disabled visitors alike, and helps conserve the fortress grounds. Clever. I didn't notice this last summer, as the gate was always closed when I was passing this way, possibly something to do with the conversion of the theatre ruins into an open air auditorium for a summer season of world classic dramas, and not needing there to be a crowd of people overlooking the stage from a distance and watching for free. At least, that was my conclusion.

Quiet Montreux

After a late breakfast this morning, I received a call from the electrician to say that he would come by and fit the replacement boiler thermostat this afternoon. I was eating lunch when he arrived, so he and his apprentice must have eaten (and probably got up and started work) earlier than I. The job was done in ten minutes, and the boiler began to work normally straight away. I was then free to go into town and do some shopping. It's not because I don't have transport to enable me to do one big weekly supermarket trip, but rather prefer to walk and buy what I need a little and often, which is preferable when catering for oneself. This combines nourishment and exercise!

The streets of Montreux are fairly quiet at the moment and apart from weekends the flow of traffic is less dense. It's taken the best part of two weeks to dismantle the lumberjack village log cabin themed Christmas market buildings along the quayside. It's  low season along the Riviera, and only a shortage of skiable snow would lead to an increase of lakeside visitors. Alpine resorts with ample snow are very busy this month, so down here, some restaurants, small stores and gift shops close down and take a holiday.

This week there's an elevated risk of avalanches as temperatures are not as low as they need to be, so snow is somewhat less stable. Zermatt and some other high resorts had colossal amounts of snow dumped in a short time, cutting off roads and railways, making skiing impossible, until the resort machinery could get to grips with it.  

It's rained little this past few day, so the skies have been mostly cloudy with a few sunny breaks. It has meant some beautiful sunsets however, and this evening was no exception, as the lake reflected the orange glow of the clouds. I wonder what it's like up in resorts that are above the cloudbase?

Walk in the port

A second full night's sleep in a row for me! The neighbourhood and the apartment is remarkably quiet for the center of a city. I pottered around all morning, listening to UK election day news on the radio, wondering what the outcome will be, but I have no intention of staying up to hear the results tonight. The apartment has good broadband, although the solid construction of this sixties building does curb the reach of the signal at the far end, in the kitchen, where I often listen while I cook or eat at home. No two electronic devices have exactly the same capacity to fix on a weak signal, so I have to try them out in turn to see which gives the best results on wi-fi, to save using up data on a 4G phone account. 

A visit to the El Corte Ingles electronic gadget store to buy a wi-fi signal relay device is possible. Finding the right place to plug it in where it can best transmit and receive is another issue. As the first inhabitant of a newly purchased Fuengirola Chaplain's house three years ago, this was the solution to the same problem. Being a more modern house, however, it had a much better distribution of power sockets to make use of. Always best to make use of what's given, if you can.

After quite a late lunch, I went out for my first longish walk of my stay, starting on the Paseo de la Malagueta and making my way to the furthest extent of the eastern arm of the port. The sun was thinly veiled in mist, so I didn't suffer from over exposure. Once you leave the Paseo, there's almost no shade to be had until you reach the two huge Cruise ship terminal buildings. It's the first time I've seen these structures and their accompanying docking facilities. There are no cruise ships in port right now, only an assortment of container ships, bulk carriers and the odd goods vehicle ferry that transports stuff to and from North African ports.

At the town end of the harbour, there's a 300m double deck promenade. The quay level features restaurants and luxury designer retail outlets aimed at cruise clientele. The upper level has a few open air bars and some small gardens, but is mostly open for ship spotters to stand and stare and walkers to promenade in style. Towering over the promenade is 'El Farino' a substantial lighthouse which celebrates the 200th anniversary of its construction this year. 

At the town end is a stylishly constructed modern art gallery called the Pompidou Centre. I found it quite irritating that it was necessary to enquire on-line what the function of this building was, as no information was readily visible to indicate this externally, unless you went inside. I think it's pretentious to trade on having a universal public reputation. It's like meeting some grandee who states emphatically: "Surely you know who I am."

The top level promenade crosses over a bridge beside the art gallery. You can walk through this to access La Malagueta barrio. This has a history board relating to the coastal railway which once ran from Malaga to Velez Malaga. The bridge pays homage to the tunnel through which the train ran into the port. The line closed in the sixties. Most of its railway artifacts soon disappeared, except tunnels along the route, some of which are still in use as part of the coastal footpath running along the old track-bed. The great tourism development started in the same era as the railway disappeared. I imagine some developers and planners may look back with regret at losing such an asset for both mass tourism and local transport. Road traffic congestion however well managed, is a liability and a burden to bear for the foreseeable future. 

In the evening, I re-established my acquaintance with the main maritime traffic website, to see if would be possible to work out which ships I'd seen in dock - as ever, a fascinating exploration. Just as well too, there's no telly here, and it's impossible to watch UK TV channels on my devices, due to digital rights management controls. So much for freedom of information!

Castle concern

I walked to St John's Canton to celebrate their midweek Eucharist this morning. Then in the afternoon Clare and I walked together to town, on my part, with no particular aim in mind apart from exercise. When we reached the Castle, Clare proposed that we enter and have a cuppa in the restaurant there. It proved an opportune moment to renew my 'Castle Key' residents' free entrance pass. My original pass was issued free and expired over eighteen months ago. I simply never got around to renewing it. Now it costs a fiver to cover the cost of issuing a new card, which is forty percent of the price of a single visitor entrance ticket. Most reasonable. I was impressed that a fresh plastic photocard could be made for issue within minutes of proving one's residence rights, using a hand-held scanner to take a photo and etch it on a card with name and renewal date.

On our way out Clare chatted with one of the guides/welcomers who look after visitors, someone who had been on the team when she acted as a tour guide there. Recession has reduced the number of visitors, and Council budget cuts have led to a drastic limitation of the conservation budget, so that some of the most visited rooms are suffering from wear and tear and starting to look neglected. This is hardly likely to attract extra visitors. "It's slowly turning into one big function suite."  I heard said. Hiring the place out for receptions and social events helps balance the books. One of Cardiff's iconic tourist venues is in government speak 'Just About Managing'.

What's so sad is that the region boasts many institutions of higher and further education with staff and students undergoing various specialised aspects of training in conservation arts and crafts. There's no reason why a partnership between these institutions and the City Council couldn't help to guarantee a high standard of maintenance and provide a practical training ground at the same time. Admittedly a significant obstacle would be the surveillance CADW exercises on listed buildings and monuments in Wales. It's a quango which sets acceptably high standards, but is dauntingly slow and bureaucratic in exercising its regulatory powers, so getting a functional partnership between educational interests, Council and CADW, even with a shared aim, would not be easy to commend to politicians preferring the glamour of quick wins. 

Wales has so many ancient monuments, more than its fair share of ruins. Across the centuries few prestige building projects realized by wealthy or powerful people have survived the test of time in their intended condition. Sooner or later, places lose their significance as status symbols in the public eye. They become unaffordable to run, and end up in ruins. The hardest thing is to witness the decay of beautiful things and places through neglect, for whatever reason.

After walking around the shops for a while, my knee joint started to become painful. I may just have overdone the exercise lately. Anyway, I caught the bus home, tired and aching, conscious of my own wear and tear. After a short rest, I drove over to St German's for the evening's Lenten Stations of the Cross and eucharistic adoration. At the end, a man who arrived with a friend during the service asked with tears in his eyes, to talk to a priest about his troubles. 

He said his landlord had thrown him out, and that he'd been on the streets for two days and neither eaten nor slept. I'm not sure I believed the story he told, or maybe it wasn't the whole story, as he looked remarkably clean and tidy for someone who'd been out on the streets a couple of days with no support, but there was no way to corroborate his story, He was hungry, but there was no means to give him anything to eat and drink at that time of night with the church day centre closed. I sent him to the homelessness hub in Tresilian Terrace, and told him where he could contact the city centre detached social worker team, and the church gave him some money to buy a meal on his way. It was the best we could do. There are so many ways in which someone can be precipitated on to the streets unprepared and traumatized by the experience. Cardiff has many voluntary and professional people active in caring for the homeless, and the numbers continue to grow.

Tabarca trip

I woke up and got started early, Clare and Ann rose and breakfasted later, then we made our way to the port to take a ferry boat across to Tabarca Island. It's a 'must do' excursion for any Sta Pola holiday.

The ferry arrived at the modern jetty in a bay at the narrowest stretch of the island just after midday. The ancient point of arrival is on the foreshore beneath the town walls near the 17th century church of St Peter and St Paul. The mediaeval walls give access through three gates, one of which, dedicated to Archangel Michael, is above the mediaeval landing area on the island's north side.

Since our first visit from Geneva in 2000, I have observed the slow progress of restoring this the largest and most prominent building in the town, if not the whole island. It follows the Spanish tradition of fortifying church buildings - iconic in defence of the faith, I guess. The church job seems complete, although access to it wasn't possible.

The parish rooms and clergy quarters attached to the church east end are still a roofless ruin. But, a place with potential as a hospitality centre, much needed today. I hope something happens to complete the picture even if it takes another decade to find the funding. This is indeed a special place to visit for whatever reason. Like the foreshore of Sta Pola bay it was probably first colonised by the Pheonicians, then the Romans. It was conquered by the Moors, then reconquered for the Spanish monarchs and again conquered by the Kingdom of Morocco for a generation in the 18th century, before being liberated yet again.

It was too early to eat, so we walked the length and breadth of the island before settling for lunch at the Gloria restaurant on the south side of the island. After lunch, we spent another hour walking around discovering different places, then took a boat back to Sta Pola at five so that Ann and Clare could swim from the beach next to the port. 

We were fortunate to have such a beautiful day for our island excursion.