New 5* review for Place of Many Birds

“Place of Many Birds” by Jan Merry is an exquisitely-written collection of short stories that takes place in a span of time from the late 1800s into the mid-20th century in Australia. The landscape of Australia becomes the primary “character” and common link among all of the short stories: the danger and struggle it imposes on its inhabitants as well as the vast beauty in which birds provide the soundtrack that become an integral part of the characters.
The core family plays a large part in many of the stories—“Before Winter Comes” is a particularly poignant tale of the delight an unexpected sponge cake brings to a sister and her two younger brothers whose mother has passed away. Loneliness is another theme found throughout: In “Killing Time,” Maurice piddles away his days, stretching out tasks, and taking long bike rides. He feels like he’s in the way of his son and daughter-in-law who live with him.
The title story, “Place of Many Birds,” reads almost like a stream of consciousness in which the narrator takes us through his family’s life out in the country, where he, his brother and mom stayed behind while their dad and older brother go to the city to prepare a life for the whole family there. His mother misses city life as she grew up in a quaint town in England with cobblestone paths and busy shops. The narrator becomes intricately tied to the land. As inconvenient as the dust, heat and flies can be, it’s something that will always stay with him. “All along the dusty edges of the road, we pass wattle trees, bottle brush and flowering gums where tiny creatures dressed in gamnut hats and ragged blossom clothes live.”
“Place of Many Birds” is an excellent collection of short stories. I highly recommend it for someone who wants to take his or her time and delve deeply into the characters’ thoughts as well as the vast landscape of Australia.
http://www.amazon.com/Place-Many-Birds-Australian-Stories-ebook/dp/B00BZ4O9MK/ref=cm_cr-mr-title#customerReviews

The Break Away an extract from Place of Many Birds short stories

     When writing about the past, about family, about true events, what does one leave in and what should be kept for posterity? The Break Away is based on a true event which resulted in the death of John Ickeringill in Australia, in 1891. I don't know about his personality, nor that of the others who witnessed the incident, so their characters are fictional.  What I could comment on truthfully was the 1838 Battle of Broken River which forms part of the narrative.

 
         “Eight men were slaughtered in the skirmish. In revenge, a hundred Aborigines were killed. There were many reprisal killings, a long time ago, nearly fifty years ago. It’s known as the Faithfull Massacre because the Faithfull brothers owned the sheep. Some call it the Battle of Broken River.”

Firelight flickers on the smooth trunks and writhing branches illuminating the ghostly whiteness of the trees in the moonlight. Long ribbons of shedding bark dangle in the soft wind coming off the river. Trees sway in a stealthy dance, like spirits from another world. How long does it take for ghosts to be laid to rest, I wonder. Is fifty years long enough?

“Their bodies are buried out here, but no one knows exactly where,” says Berry, the cool wind at our back and the warm glow of the fire in front.

“They didn’t attack because it was a hunting ground, but because it was ceremonial ground, a kangaroo ground.”

A coroner's inquest was held into the incident involving Ickeringill and his friends who set out one Saturday afternoon on a hunting expedition. 
 Place of Many Birds is available on Amazonhttp://www.amazon.com/Place-Many-Birds-Jan-Merry/dp/1500608947/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8 and http://www.amazon.com.au/Place-Many-Birds-Jan-Merry-ebook/dp/B00BZ4O9MK

Quiggan Brothers store Shepparton 1890s

Time for a Highland Fling

     Scotland and England are so different it is a wonder they have been joined together at all. Hadrian's Wall says a lot about the relationship and explains some of the resentment Scots hold towards England. The remains are not nearly as impressive as the original which was six meters high and three meters wide and stretched across the country for 117 kilometres. Designed to keep out the Picts (a kingdom of northern tribes occupying eastern and northern parts of Scotland) and built by the Romans, in many ways it defined the relationship. The wall was guarded and patrolled for almost 250 years and though the Romans upped and left, the wall remained; a dividing line reminding those in the north they didn't belong in the south unless they left their tartans and chiefs behind.

Hadrian's Wall near Birdoswald

Ancestors of David Cameron, British Prime Minister, are descendants of Clan Cameron from the Western Highlands, a spectacular place for walking and getting away from it all. On Knoydart peninsula the Old Forge pub is the most remote in the British Isles. Expect to find lots of music and rowdy locals enjoying the long summer evening on Inverie Ho. Reached only on foot, or by boat you can't ask for a more special destination. If you are looking for somewhere to stay, The Old Byre is highly recommended. Once a dairy, and now described as a bunkhouse, it has very comfortable with stylish accommodation.

The Old Byre Inverie on the Knoydart peninsula

Wild and remote, Inverie is reached by boat from Mallaig or a two day walk from Kinlochhourn. 

Cats of Montenegro

Icelandic World of Ice and Fire

Witness the tectonic plates being slowly torn apart

     It’s easy to see why scenes from Game of Thrones were filmed in Iceland. The land is a spectacular backdrop for any film location and for any holiday adventure. Iceland is Europe without the dainty, without the Baroque, without the castles and without the touts and queues. What it does have is mind blowing scenery, big open spaces, empty roads and a fascinating history that is well documented and presented for your entertainment and information.

      Reykjavik serves as a perfect base from where to start your exploration of a land that lies on the tectonic plate, the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. You can actually see where the Eurasian Plate and the North American Plate are slowly separating at 2.5cm a year. How cool is that!

      Based in Reykjavic, you are nicely positioned to take day trips along the Golden Circle which takes in the national park of Pingvellir, Gullfloss waterfall and the sites of Geysir and Stokkur. Geysir must be where we learned the name of geyser which we have attributed to all sorts of water spouts. It comes from the Norse verb geysa, to gush. In fact, many of our words and customs stem from this Norse culture.

Geysir is not as strong a Stokkur which regularly bursts forth

Summer wildflowers brief appearance

      Did you know law is Norse as are the concepts of Commonwealth and Parliament. The site of the very first parliament or assembly, the Althing in Norse, established in 930, is in Pingvellir National Park and you too can stand on the rock where gatherings of lawmakers and clans set about keeping warring factions apart and ensuring all Icelanders had a share of the pie. The mediaeval Icelandic state had a unique judicial structure based on the principal of consensus, so way back then, they had a uniquely democratic structure of governance and law making.

      My visit is in summer, so I don’t see the Northern Lights, but the long, long days make up for that. During August it doesn’t really get dark at all, so you have extra time for sightseeing and road trips. Tour companies offer many pricey treats, but if you are a driver, it’s far better to hire your own car and do your own thing. Beware the speed limit though...just 90k. If you are caught speeding a hefty fine will arrive in the post a few weeks later. Highways tend to be single carriageways and there aren’t many freeways, but the bonus is, traffic is minimal.

Blue Lagoon bathing

      The Blue Lagoon thermal springs and spa are just about the most popular item on most tourist’s agenda. You won’t be alone in the warm bath of geothermal seawater, silica, algae and minerals but you will emerge feeling simultaneously calm and energized. There’s a mid-pool bar and plenty of silica to baste and exfoliate your skin. At 40 euros it’s not a cheap experience but it is a unique one for most.

Skogafoss wall of water

View Seljalandfoss from the road

Then there are the dozens of waterfalls across Iceland. From Reykjavic be sure to make the effort to reach Gullfoss, a spectacular force of nature and Skogafoss in the south, which is very easy to access. In fact you can walk right up to its thundering wall of water. Also in the south is Seljalandfoss which you can walk behind.

Gullfoss in winter

      If you visit in summer, you will understand why Game of Thrones took inspiration from such a unique environment and want to return in winter to enjoy the experience in a different season when glaciers grow every larger and rivers and falls are transformed into walls of ice. Or should that be Beyond the Wall.

Spectacular force of nature Gullfoss

Songs for the Road

     Music, an essential ingredient of any road trip, has the knack of crystallizing the mood of the moment and transporting us, even years later, to another time and place.

Open top driving in Hawaii accompanied by Tears for Fears

      While living the experience of your journey across the Nullarbor, to the back of Bourke, along the Birdsville Track or beyond the black stump, the car stereo pumps out the accompanying soundtrack. Whether going up the highway, along the coast, over the mountain pass or down through the valleys, the sing-along, the radio, the cassette and now the CD fills lulls in conversation, quiets the too talkative or acts as lyrical companion to the lone driver.

     Some songs, seemingly disconnected but somehow integral to the trip, are able to reach into a past we think we’ve forgotten. In the 70s, the guitars of the Allman Brothers and Derek and the Dominoes filled the sandy campgrounds of the Greek Islands. Olive groves wavered to the clatter and splutter of Volkswagen combi vans and Layla’s entwining guitars. In Spain, the single lane country road between Barcelona and Sitges, now a six-lane highway, strummed and hummed with Cat Stevens and on Mediterranean shores, young people got drunk, fell in love and danced in the moon’s shadow.

     As our open topped convertible circumnavigated the Hawaiian island of Oahu in the 80s, the palm trees swayed, the surf rolled in and the sun shone to Everybody Wants to Rule the World by Tears for Fears who topped the charts and chimed out of every doorway on Waikiki.

     Not that all road trips have to be exotic. Elvis Costello accompanied my sons and me on our drives to school in the 90s. During that 15 or 20 minute trip, depending on traffic, I listened to his quirky lyrics, instead of adolescent bickering. The man who sang, What a good year for the roses, many blooms still linger there, made for a little more harmony and soothed fragile morning tempers. Whenever I hear that funny old voice, dispensing one of his ironic narratives, I still see two stroppy teenagers, all insolence and spots, arguing over whose turn it is to have the front seat.

     When I left London for the Continent recently, my son thrust an eclectic collection of CDs through the window. Here, he said, you’ll need these. He was right. By the outskirts of Calais, Europop made station-flipping tiresome. The CDs became travelling companions and over the following thousands of kilometres, we rotated through them, testing and getting to know them until the songs and voices became inextricably entwined with place and experience.

Elvis' baritone is a wonderful driving companion

     That other Elvis, boyish and exuberant in his first Sun sessions, rocked us around Amiens and the Somme battlefields. Raw and untrained, his youthful and vigorous, That’s all right, Mama, could have been the poignant cry of any soldier buried in the cemeteries dotting the landscape. Instead of evoking connections with a swivel- hipped love hound with bouffy quiff, his molasses-dripping baritone now suggests the rumble of war and poppy strewn French meadows.

     The southwest corner of France meets Spain where the long black ribbon of the 

Poppy fields of the Somme Northern France 

tollway penetrates the mountains in a series of tunnels. Australia’s, The Dirty Three fits the mood of the Pyrenees perfectly.  Indian Love Song, quietly intense as we enter the gaping mouth of the tunnel, builds with energetic passion as the mountain consumes us. The soaring violins start to race with the traffic…150kph…170kph. It’s adrenalin-pumping music to accompany a fierce contest of who will reach Spain first, you or the monstrous Mercedes throbbing at your bumper daring you to go faster. Cars race by, big, black and powerful. The violins play a rousing accompaniment to the startling pace. A BMW races into the rear vision mirror, braking at the last minute before swerving to the outside lane and sweeping past in a dramatic overtake.

Serge Gainsbourg accompanied us along the Riviera

     All the way through Spain and Portugal we played the collection. From Lisbon to the Algarve, Johnny Cash played dry and mean. Tom Waits’ growled all the way from Valencia to Avignon. Serge Gainsbourg rode with us along the Riviera to Nice, Cannes and Monte Carlo. Jane Birkin panting en duo avec Serge seems apt as we negotiate the cliffs leading to the playground of the decadent and infamous. Je t’aime, she gasps as Serge brings her skillfully to a breathless crescendo while below the fabulous yachts flaunt themselves on the azure sea.

     Ahhh…places in the heart made all the more memorable by the backbeat of songs. These are the road trips that live on in our memories. These are the places we remember all our lives.

The stepped streets and hidden undercurrents of Devon’s Clovelly

Bideford Bay, Devon

      The cobbled streets of Clovelly tumble into England’s Bristol Channel near Bideford Bay. Whitewashed cottages, piled one above the other, cling to the sheer Devon cliff face, forming a picture-postcard village so cloyingly perfect, you suspect you’re in an olde worlde re-creation purporting to show the life and times of a bygone era.

      If you hanker after ragged ranges and sweeping veldt, then Clovelly’s chocolate-box charm may not be your cup of tea. But there’s no denying, it is quaint, cute and oh so sweet.

      Listed in the Doomsday Book, circa 1100AD, this fishing village stands on the site of an ancient Saxon settlement. Now preserved and protected for future generations by the Clovelly Trust, the settlement is a living relic of a time when life was measured by the ebb and flow of tides, by sunrise and sunset.

      When I arrive, late on a summer afternoon, Clovelly exudes an air of tranquility. The stepped streets, staggering steeply down to the harbour, are virtually empty of the usual pedestrian hordes. A few red-faced and out-of-puff stragglers struggle up the main street, which climbs 150m in half a kilometer. My descent into the village, an official car-free zone, promises to be crush-free as the throngs of tourists have already retreated for the day.

      I mince gingerly down, taking dainty steps suitable for this cute little toy town. The cobblestones, hauled from the beach to pave the main thoroughfare, called Up-along or Down-along, depending on which direction you’re walking, can be precariously slippery.  I’m terrified the leather soles of my sandals will skid, sending me helter-skelter down Down-along. And it’s not even raining. In fact, it’s a scorching 26 degrees.

      Being Britain, summer rain is always on the cards. A smattering of drizzle or even a fine sea mist must turn the cobbles into skidpans for the unwary. Goodness knows how the daily busloads of pensioners escape uninjured. Rubber soles are a must but not rubber slip-slops, which make exploring side alleys arduous, as will tottering along in high-heels. A young Britney clone looks decidedly uncool crawling on all fours, mini skirt barely covering her rear, after a humiliating cobblestone tumble.

Clovelley's main street

      Taking it slowly, I reach the 17th century New Inn, its William Morris style decor sumptuously elegant for what was once a humble seafarer’s watering hole. I daren’t have one for the road. It’s too steep. The extreme incline renders Clovelly inaccessible to cart or carriage, so guests’ luggage is delivered to the Inn by sledge. Traditionally, all heavy deliveries - mail, groceries, furniture, beer - were slid down the cobbles. Donkeys bore the loads back up as recently as the 1990s, when animal welfare issues ended the practice. Today, donkeys are restricted to giving rides to children and posing for photographs, or left to roam freely in the top meadow.

      I continue down Down-along. Flower-decked cottages, some half-timbered or decorated with stones from the beach, line the road. Some residents show off chintzy interiors bursting with ornaments and book lined shelves, others hide behind filmy lace curtains.

      Although you could call the entire village a museum, two cottages are open to the public as museum exhibits depicting the past life of the village. The Fisherman’s Cottage recreates 1930s scenes from a typical fisherman’s family home. Next door, the Charles Kingsley exhibition shows the style in which the famous Victorian author and social reformer lived. The museum’s voice-over recites Kingsley’s 1851 poem, The Three Fishers, about three fishermen’s wives waiting through the night for their husbands to return.

‘Three corpses lay out on the shining sand,

In the morning gleam as the tide went down,

And the women are weeping and ringing their hands

For those who will never come home to the town.’

      As a child, Kingsley lived in Clovelly where his father was rector from 1830 to 1836. Charles Kingsley’s experiences there inspired his children’s classic, The Water Babies.

Kingsley later returned to Clovelly where he wrote his historical novel, Westward Ho! The town of that name, complete with exclamation mark, lies just along the coast.

      Reaching the Look-Out, a stone-walled plateau on the cliff’s edge where villagers watched for returning fishing boats, I’m reminded that Clovelly is not just a pretty face. It’s a place of underlying grief.

      At Temple Bar, the street passes under an archway containing a resident’s kitchen and dining room. I find a place to perch and gaze across the estuary. From here I can rest while admiring the scenery, but for Clovelly’s fisher families, it was another place to gather to scan the sea for homecoming boats.  

      The life of the ancient mariner envelopes Clovelly and wherever you scratch the surface, hidden undercurrents are revealed. The village’s delightful veneer hides the tragedy that often befell a community waiting in vain for the boats to come home. Such tragedies drew the villagers together and, today, that strong spirit continues. As a working fishing village, the danger of sea, storms and squalls are ever present. Yet these elements also unite a community where tenants must apply for residence and agree to contribute to village life. The result is tenants working towards common goals, keeping the village shipshape and themselves happy.

      Since 1738, the Hamlyn family has owned Clovelly and they are responsible for renovation and restoration. If you balk at paying the entrance fee, bear in mind, maintaining a unique living and breathing village is a costly duty. Traditional craftsmanship and materials such as oak and slate aren’t cheap.

     Clovelly is steeped in brine and the smell of the sea saturates the air, pickling every stone and wooden beam. This is especially true of Clovelly’s oldest cottage, called Crazy Kate’s after a fisherman’s widow, who watched her husband drown as he fished in the bay. The sea literally laps at Kate’s doorstep, and one day in 1736, Kate Lyall, clothed in her wedding dress, walked out her door and into the sea to join her husband.

Clovelly harbour and Red Lion Inn

      The harbour, with its 14th century quay, is a rewarding conclusion to a precarious walk. I’ve glimpsed the coastline, notorious for shipwrecks, smuggling and piracy, throughout my descent, but when the harbour appears in all its glory, it’s a revelation. Small, compact, akin to a movie set waiting for a piratical Johnny Depp to swing into shot, the harbour is picture perfect. Actually, pictures don’t do it justice.

      Clovelly harbour is testament to the substantial fishing fleet, which once thrived on huge shoals of herring in winter and mackerel in summer. Today, dark patches of fish dart and dive in the deep green transparent sea. On this day, only one brave child, belly sucked in with trepidation, treads one-step-at-a-time into the icy water. A shrill squeal signals the plunge into deeper water. Sea birds wheeling overhead, though momentarily silenced by the intrusion, soon resume their eternal cries.

      The Red Lion Hotel, built on the quay during the 17th century as a beer house for fishermen and villagers, today provides respite for tourists in need of fortification to face the arduous climb back up UpAlong. A recent renovation, although architecturally sympathetic, inevitably means some of the inn’s original charm has been lost with the twelve new ensuite rooms. In the Snug bar, still with remnants of the original building, the barman, a local, recounts tales of storms and killer waves breaking over the quay, and the need for lifeboats, in service in Clovelly since 1870. Seduced by his West Country burr, I drink a pint of heady local cider.

      To my relief, I discover there is also an easy way back to the cliff top in the form of a summer Land Rover service. All too quickly, I’m whisked around the village outskirts. Along a narrow back lane, beneath dark canopies of oak and ash, we roar in first and second gears. I’m deposited near Clovelly Court, the estate manor house and gardens. The manor supplies locals with flowers, fruit and vegetables which flourish in the maritime microclimate caused by the warm Gulf Stream.

Wildflower meadow, Clovelley

      I clear my head in the salty air with a coastal walk through woodlands draping the cliff tops. Birds sing and butterflies flutter amongst the summer wild flowers. I take time to savour the impossibly pretty views of the bay, thankful I’m not scanning the horizon for a late returning boat.

TFL Please keep your rubbish with you at all times

     A few months ago, I wrote an open letter to Boris Johnson about litter in London, especially on the tubes which at times are a disgusting mess of food scraps, drink cans and newspapers. I didn’t have a response from Boris, so put my quest for cleaner trains aside until I noticed a post about trains in Mumbai. http://janmerryauthor.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/anti-litter%20campaign

     India is not known for being spick and span and their trains suffer over-crowding and harassment issues, but at least they're clean. I contacted the blogger and asked if all Indian trains were so clean.

Joe Brucker Taipei train

Spot the difference: London train

 Here is her response:

Its surprisingly clean on the trains - what you might see out of the window is a different thing entirely! You would never see all that paper like in your post - someone would have nabbed it to re-sell it within minutes. http://mumbaimag.com/train-spotting-mumbai-local/

India trains are clean but have other problems hindustantimes.com

     Doesn’t that tell you something about our throw-away society and how here in the ‘developed’ world we should and could do more about our waste. Perhaps Tranport for London could change those annoying announcements from Please keep your belongings with you at all times to Please keep your rubbish with you at all times and have consideration for other travellers by taking your rubbish home with you.

The sweet allure of ancient Cadiz

“…Cadiz, sweet Cadiz! is the most delightful town I ever beheld…,” wrote Lord Byron to his mother in 1809.

   Byron was entranced by the town and “the most beautiful women in Spain”, whom he declared were charming and pretty and graceful. In fact, they were a voluptuous delight the staid English could barely imagine.

Narrow alleys lead to ancient squares

   Cadiz may no longer hold the allure of the exotic, after all, the Costa is just around the corner, but there is still plenty to be besotted with.

   Founded by the Phoenicians in 1100BC, Cadiz is a peninsular-island on the Atlantic Coast. Less than a day’s drive from Lisbon to the west or southeast across the Straits of Gibraltar to Morocco, Cadiz enjoys a location, which is simultaneously isolated and strategic. Seville, Cordoba, Ronda and Granada are hours away.  Jerez, the home of sherry, is a day return trip. Coto de Donana, the largest national park in Europe and the habitat of wildlife and numerous species of birds, lies to the west.  And to the east, the vast wild beaches of the Costa de la Luz are probably the most untouched in Europe.

   Once the launching point for ships sailing to the newly discovered lands of America, today Cadiz is a quiet, laid-back resort where Spanish holidaymakers enjoy the surf and wide sandy beaches.

Sun and surf in Cadiz

   Cadiz old town is a warren of narrow alleyways, once the salty haunt of sailors and vagabonds. Next door is new Cadiz, a strip of high rise hotels and apartments overlooking the sea. The two worlds collide when the promontory of the modern town meets the headland of the old town.

   The old town, preserved from development by its ocean fortifications, is a relic of the 18^th century when Cadiz was at its most prosperous. The plazas, both grand and intimate, the churches, public buildings, turreted houses and golden domed cathedral, were financed by the gold and silver trade. With loads of Spanish loot floating around, no wonder Cadiz developed a reputation for indulgence.

The old town's golden domed cathedral sparkles in the sun

   European merchants spent their wealth embellishing the city. All the routes from America converged here, so to keep an eye on the movement of ships in the port, the merchants finished off their mansions and palaces with watchtowers. Today, 126 of the original 160 watchtowers are still standing. The Torre Tavira, the tallest tower in the city, has a camera obscura, an idea of Leonardo Da Vinci’s, which reflects a panoramic view of the city.

   A leisurely stroll over a few hours is all you need to take in the entire old town. And wherever you walk, whether through the parks on the fringes of town or down back streets, a glimpse of the sea is just around the corner.

   Cadiz has endured its share of drama and violence, withstanding a siege by Napoleon’s troops and falling to the forces of Franco’s dictatorship. The decisive Battle of Trafalgar, waged off this coast in 1805, remains a wound in Spain’s side. The Anglo-Spanish Maritime War may be over, but the locals seem to be still smarting from the notorious raid and sacking of the town by Sir Francis Drake in 1587. In an audacious attempt to gain control of trade with the New World, El Draque (The Dragon, as the Spanish called Drake) destroyed up to thirty of the ships the Spanish were assembling against the English.

    The site of Drake’s attack is Playa de la Caleta, a pretty beach with seafood restaurants inside the old harbour wall. The beach is flanked by the fortresses of Santa Catalina on the western tip of the headland and San Sebastian, at the end of the protective arm of the wall. Jutting out to sea, San Sebastian Castle is home to the Faro (lighthouse) but is open to the public by appointment only.

    Given its century after century history of being fought over and occupied, it’s ironic the atmosphere today is so relaxed. The town feels safe to walk around and unlike so many towns in Spain, is not over run with pickpockets, bag-snatchers and car thieves. Perhaps its size means fewer places to hide or perhaps there are richer pickings in the pockets of English, American and northern European tourists elsewhere. For one thing you won’t find in Cadiz, is hordes of tourists. Yes, you will find people on holiday, but these are overwhelmingly Spanish, largely Andalusians escaping the excruciating inland summer heat. Unemployment in Andalusia is high and much of the available work tends to be seasonal whether as an agricultural labourer, a waiter or a concierge.  The overall effect is to lower prices, maintaining restaurants and hotels at a level affordable for the Spanish consumer.

   During July and August, the Gaditanos (Cadiz was named Gadir by the Phoenicians) get down to an abundance of consumption, especially in the fish restaurants specialising in Gaditian cuisine which dominate the town.  Stalls selling fried fish operate along the beach and it’s likely English seamen took the dish home to the East End of London from Cadiz, because this is where takeaway fried fish originated.

   Although Cadiz seems relatively wholesome and void of some of the tack associated with Malaga and the Costa del Sol, it covets its tradition of liberalism and tolerance. Certainly Lord Byron seemed to be looking forward to just that when he described his ride through Portugal and Spain to Cadiz. 

The first canto of Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage salivates at the delights awaiting:

“But Cadiz, rising on the distant coast,

Calls forth a sweeter, though ignoble praise.

Ah, Vice! How soft are thy voluptuous ways!

While boyish blood is mantling, who can ‘scape

The fascination of thy magic gaze?”

 

 Byron had a great time in Cadiz

I didn’t find too much vice in Cadiz, but there was a certain lust for life displayed in the thonged, well oiled bodies of the boys and girls frolicking in the surf of Playa de la Victoria, on the left of the peninsular as you approach the town.  Behind the hotels lining this strip of beach, a four-lane highway is less than inspiring, but along the beachfront, numerous restaurants and bars swing into action as the sun goes down. A night market selling African and Spanish crafts sets up at 9pm and operates until the customers run out. If staying in this modern part of town, the ingredients of sun, sand, sea and sangria make for a memorable vacation.

      The clean water sparkles in the sunlight, coarse golden sand, combed daily for rubbish, is spotless. Senoritas flirt cheekily with their amigos, while aging Don Juans and their senoras laze, languid and sensuous, on the banana lounges. Beach bars continue serving drinks and snacks throughout the afternoon and, as a place to while away the siesta hours when the rest of Cadiz is literally deserted, the lure of the beach is almost irresistible.

   Cadiz is definitely old Spain and in mid summer the siesta is adhered to with a vengeance. Between 2pm and 3pm locals go into a feeding frenzy. In packed restaurants waiters thrust giant platters of fresh and fried seafood upon tables crowded with families and friends. Crab legs are crushed ruthlessly and devoured without any false homage to etiquette. Squid, anchovies, plaice, red mullet and hake make up the traditional Cadiz platter while prawns, lobster, shellfish and shrimp parcels satisfy the more restrained.

   You soon realise the wisdom of partaking in this feast; otherwise you run the risk of siesta time starvation. Because once the shutters come down for the afternoon, you may have to wait until 9 or 10pm before they go back up again.

   What to do all afternoon with everything closed? Well, you could go to the beach. Or, you could spend the time engaged in that indoor activity which Lord Byron was so enamoured of. Byron seemed to set out on his travels intending to bonk his way around southern Europe and from several accounts, he succeeded. But it was the Girl of Cadiz who captured his imagination like no other. No English ice-maiden when it came to love, the Spanish girl, in Byron’s case an admiral’s daughter, flashed her fiery eyes and tossed her dark silken tresses in one big come-on.

   However you spend your time in this busy port, the sting of sea spray and salty air will linger in the senses and Cadiz’s easy-going, slightly seedy charm will seduce you.

Reading:  Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage and The Girl of Cadiz by Lord Byron

Place of Many Birds free fiction download this weekend

Place of Many Birds is short literary fiction set in Australia in the aftermath of the wars and in the shadow of the Great Depression through to the 1960s. Themes are family, love and growing up.

It's available for free download this weekend: Saturday 22 June and Sunday 23 June 2013.

If you don't have a kindle, you can easily download a kindle app for use on PCs.

Australian and USA readers:

http://www.amazon.com/Place-of-Many-Birds-ebook/dp/B00BZ4O9MK/ref=la_B007Y57CWI_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1371558496&sr=1-1

UK readers:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Place-of-Many-Birds-ebook/dp/B00BZ4O9MK/ref=sr_1_fkmr3_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1371559250&sr=8-1-fkmr3&keywords=books+jan+merry+place+of+many+birds