Ujung Water Palace

Seems that the kings (or rather raja) of the time absolutely loved water palaces. This palace was the one that was actually lived in by the last raja (and his 20 some-odd children – quite crowded I’m sure). Unfortunately, the palace was almost completely destroyed when the volcano erupted in 1963 but the palace was rebuilt. It’s again in a gorgeous setting, sitting on a hill, overlooking a beautiful bay. The palace itself must have been gorgeous in its time. It’s interesting…for privacy they met out in the open. One of the constructions was a covered but completely open room, located in the middle of the “ponds”. There was only one narrow bridge out to it, and it was easily guarded at its entrance. It allowed the raja to meet with other, being secure that no one could overhear their discussions.

Rice Field Hike

The next day we took off on a 4 hour trek through the rice fields. Our guide picked us up at our bungalow and drove us up into the mountains where we would start our hike. Our guide was delightful with stories to tell and an amazing amount of knowledge of the area, rice farming and the people. We wove our way through the fields, walking between paddies and along the water ways. The people of the area used the same tracks and we often ran into women carting large loads on their heads. Why is it that the women always seem to be the ones that carry these loads?
The labor to keep these fields going is intense. It was amazing, watching the man wrestle with the ox to plow the field. It’s such a small field, the animals are huge, yet they move them from one plot to the next without destroying the dirt-made retaining walls.
Our trail took us through small communities. The family compounds were generally small with everyone working on something. Children helped the younger ones bathe, washed the clothing and were frequently found following small animals around. We stopped at one single home where the guide knew the people. They had a snack for us, drinks as well as some things to buy (of course). We did get a mat the woman had made. She worked on one while we were there and the man played one of their xylophone type instruments. A pleasant place to relax from the hike.

More on driving...

I realize I spend a lot of time talking about driving in all of these countries we visit. We honestly don’t realize how good we have it until we start seeing what other people live with all of their lives! It’s honestly unreal.
To begin with, they don’t have the tire-width ditches that are found in Japan…but they do have huge ones, usually covered with a walkway, sometimes not, and generally full of trash (I also take back what I said about being clean. It really depends on where you are.) Remember…we’re in the tropics…includes tropical rains… even more than the storms in Japan bring… now, they have great ditches designed for carrying away lots of water but... they don’t work because they’re full of... right, you’ve got it - Trash!!! The streets are always flooded when it rains (bad for driving AND walking). Let me tell you, it rains A LOT in the rainy season (might have something to do with the name, maybe they should rename the season). I sometimes thought that the car/boat thing would have worked well here.
The drivers are crazy. If you want to go somewhere, honk your horn and go. The laws are different in Bali. If someone pulls out in front of you, it’s YOUR job to stop. If you hit them, it’s your fault. If your gaijin, it’s your fault. If they hit you, it’s your fault. Thankfully the roads are so awful that everyone has to drive pretty slowly. I think about 50 km/hr (roughly 30mph) was about the fastest we ever got up to. Now, add some motorcycles/scooters to the mix. They go WHEREVER they want to. If you leave a 5 inch gap between you and the car in front or on the side, they go through it. At every intersection they all weave up to the front of the line then start out en-mass!!! It’s quite a sight to see. Add the water they’re dodging and you have quite a field of bikes to dodge.
They also have interesting roads. I don’t know why, but u-turns are built into the system all over the place. It’s one of those things about going when you want to – if you’re on the main road you wait forever for the cars doing the u-turns. You learn NOT to be in the middle lane unless you’re wanting to make a u-turn yourself.
Thankfully, once you’re out of the main towns, the driving becomes much easier and closer to normal. We took off to Candidasa, a delightful town, off the beaten track, away from the tons of tourists making the scene on the beaches of Bali. Granted, there weren’t as many shops to visit or bars to go to or people wanting to sell you something, anything, as you walked along the beach but somehow we managed to find plenty to keep us busy.
And the picture...it's a 2 lane street.....

And yet some more on driving...

Driving in town is absurd. We had a navi system with a very bad map of Bali. We ended up in strange places. Maggie (the navi system has a name) said to turn left. OK, it looked a little narrow but, hey, we live in Japan, narrow is normal. We went by some houses and small plots and the road narrowed and we drove on. The walls grew taller, the road grew narrower and still we drove on until we reached a T intersection. OK…intersection is too grandiose a word…try our car-wide path joining another car-wide path at a 90 degree angle. I got lots of practice putting the car in and out of gear while Jeff kept letting me know I had an inch to go. It was amazing that we honestly made the turn. Once we got past it, 50 feet further on, we were indeed on the street in front of our hotel. Maggie was right on – it was the most direct way to our hotel. We chose to ignore that route in the future.
The picture of the exit hardly does the experience justice. The car filled the entire space - there was no opening the door, let alone getting out.

Kecak Dance

We had the chance to see some different kinds of Balinese dances and music. Out of all we saw, our favorite was the Kecak dance. It is considered to be one of the most stunning of all of their dances. I’ll start with a little background on this dance (at least the tiny bit I know about).
They have up to around one hundred men in this dance, men, young and old, who all live within the temple area. They wear only a sarong (a wrapped cloth like a skirt) and act as the living backdrop for the performance. The most amazing thing about it is the way they totally work in unison! They chant throughout the performance in a syncopated rhythm – it’s a kind of “chak-chak” sound they make (you’d really have to hear it). Now, add to this the choreography for the dance. They sit in a circle around the “stage” where the story is acted out. They move totally together, coordinating the movements of the upper body, heads, arms, position held, swaying back and forth. It’s amazing to watch…and even more so when you realize these men are volunteering to do it. They practice evenings to get the chant and movements down perfectly. They truly worked as one – as I watched I never saw the startled movement of someone catching up or realizing they turned the wrong way – they were in perfect synch! It was the most stunning part of the entire performance.
In the center of the circle, a fraction of the story of the Ramayana is acted out. It’s a Hindu story about Prince Ramayana and the endless struggle of good vs evil with many gods appearing to influence the humans in different ways. It’s well done and easy to follow but I honestly was most amazed at the men’s performance!

Trance Dance

Following the Kecak dance they hold a Trance Dance. They come out a light a large pile of coconut husks, allowing the husks to burn to coals. Then a man comes out on a hobby-horse made out of palm leaves and he tramples through the red hot coals, scattering them, snorting and neighing and not seeming to notice these hot coals he’s scattering about (the audience was also quick to scatter as we realized the coals were coming in our direction.)
I found a clip on YouTube that is of the Trance Dance…if you’re interested, click on the words "Trance Dance" in the title.
You’ll even get to hear some of the chanting, though the synchronized movements of the men isn’t included (they only chant during this dance).

Biking Bali Style

We did manage to find some days without rain – every once in a while the rain gods took pity on us and gave us a glorious day. We took advantage of it! They have Bali countryside cycling tours and we decided to take off on one. It was perfect. They picked us up at our hotel and took us up to a mountain top restaurant for breakfast. There was one catch…it was rather a later breakfast than we had anticipated – in other words, we should have eaten first.
Before we hit the mountaintop chalet, we enjoyed a tour of a coffee plantation, Bali style. The weather is so fabulous year-around, they can grow hundreds of different things. We visited a smaller plantation where coffee is harvested primarily by hand and the land supports many different crops. They had coffee, cocoa beans, vanilla, mango, pineapple and probably some more things I’ve forgotten, all growing in the area. They had samples of the various native fruits that we had a to sample. Some, like mango and pineapple, we’d had before but they also had some lychee, jack fruit, something with a pulpy mass inside…never did get the name of that one. Most were pretty good, some…I’ll let them keep.
Now…the picture shows the man roasting the coffee, along with the pole for grinding it. While I firmly believe that at one point all of the coffee was processed that way, I bet there’s a bit more of an automated operation going on somewhere behind the scenes. That said…you’d be amazed at the number of spread out plastic or canvas sheets with peanuts and rice and coffee beans drying out in the sun – in the middle of the road.

Mount Batur

From there we wound our way up the mountain to the restaurant overlooking Mount Batur. This is an active volcano that has devastated the surrounding area frequently, most recently in 1994. It is a sacred mountain to the Balinese yet it can be climbed. We settled for the scenic view of the mountain.
The best part of the journey was just beginning. We went over to a small, country road – well, it was all small country roads, this was just a smaller, more country road than some of the others. We all chose a bike and headed off downhill (yeah, just my style). We traveled through steamy jungles, hundreds of rice fields and many towns where the children ran out to high five the foreigners as we road by. We dodged potholes, dogs, kids, drying rice, coffee and peanuts as well as motorbikes and the occasional car. Kept you on your toes!
Our guide(s) stopped periodically to tell us about things we were seeing. We hiked through a rice field to learn about how they still harvest rice – by hand! It’s a reasonable source of living for many people, selling rice to the local hotels and stores for – we foreigners supporting them whenever we have a meal. They use nature whenever possible, bringing in ducks after harvest to eat off the bugs and to fertilize the fields, rotating crops (beans, peanuts, corn or chili) to keep the soil in good shape.

Balinese Families

Our next stop was in one of the community meeting halls. Every community has a leader who works to keep the community working together and running smoothly. There are many celebrations and festivals each year (the island is primarily Hindu) and the leader identifies who should do what so that everything is ready. We saw a number of communities getting ready for a holiday that was coming up – men and women were out decorating the gates, meeting halls and cleaning up everything.
Families are very close and live together in a single compound. The son will live there all his life, bringing his wife to live with his family. The compound is not very large, but will house 2 or 3 “houses” with outdoor verandahs, a cooking area, a garden area and the family shrine.
Naming your child is very important in Bali because it identifies the caste you are from as well as your birth order. Some of our guides on the trip were named Wayan, in fact, almost everyone was named Wayan. Turns out the first born is always named Wayan – doesn’t mater if it’s a boy or girl. Madi is the 2nd born (we also had 2 guides named Madi). There are other given names and nicknames but the order name is important here. It sure confuses the heck out of me.
We ended up at the home of Wayan, the owner of the business. There his family had created the most fabulous lunch – including delicious vegetarian options! We sat on the open verandahs of the various buildings, visiting with our riding buddies and enjoying the relaxing atmosphere and great food.
You do need to take a look at the shot that includes Jeff sitting at the table. It’s not a great picture but…I have to share a story about the people with us. The two men were both from Portland, OR, in fact, there were 2 others also from Portland. The woman is from Hokkaido, another teacher at an international school. The thing is…she is a good friend of one of our teachers at school as was supposed to meet us all in Nagoya when she was on her way to Bali….small world.

Living it up in Bali

Accommodations in Bali range from the 5 star HUGE hotels to small, or rather large, intimate bungalows. We had the exquisite hotel with vast verandahs and gorgeous views onto the ocean or pools or mountains. We had the small bungalow with the open verandah and a view of the trees and flowers. One even had the open verandahs overlooking a koi pond – the pond was immediately off the porch…if you stepped the wrong way, you were in the pond. The most amazing thing was that the prices were a mere pittance of what you would pay for a dive in the states. It’s so amazing to be wrapped in the lap of luxury…a feeling I’ll never be able to enjoy stateside.
I decided to include a variety of shots for the “Homes (or rather hotels here) of the Rich and Famous” to quote a famous filming crew from long ago, though I’m afraid I’ve left out the personal facilities. Check out these places and dream of your next trip! Just imagine…we were at some lovely places…and there were MANY even nicer! You may note that I have included quite a number of pictures of our pond and you might get the idea that I loved this place (it’s also where the four-poster bed is). Well…you’d be right!

Monkey Park

Ubud is a small town that draws a lot of the artsy crowd. Many of the local craftspeople have shops here so the place is full of paintings; many quite gorgeous, carvings; gigantic, gorgeous, practical, tiny, obscene or intricate, pottery; practical, decorative and everything in between. It’s also the source of those huge rock sculptures you see in many places. It really does have the most interesting shops.
It is also the home of the Monkey Forest, a small preserve that is the home for hundreds of macaque monkeys. Let me tell you, they’ve taken the place over. The humans, who think they own the place, actually are there to serve the monkeys. First, they’ve been directed to sell bananas to the unsuspecting tourists. The monkeys are extremely perceptive, quickly identifying which tourists succumbed to the sales pitch and which failed to recognize the need to have bananas. Immediately identifying the correct humans, they gathered around the person, waiting for the handout. Each used different techniques…there was the pathetic hang dog look that let you know it was certain that the animal was going to die at your feet if you didn’t feed it. They also used the sweet and adorable routine…worked very well for the young monkeys capering around. The overworked mother also appeared with the younger crew clinging to her fur - and she rarely shared her haul with them, guess she figured they needed to learn the cute routine.
Now some humans, not being well trained yet, thought they could tempt the monkeys into performing for them…stand up, sit, roll over, and beg. That didn’t go over well with these guys. Their response was a very firm, jump on the person, grab the banana and beat it out of there. The human was usually left in a state of total surprise. Some monkeys preferred a bit more terror, scrambling up the leg or landing on the head. Either move was sufficient for them to get the banana – and sometimes the entire bunch.
People were also warned that they should watch their purses and glasses, monkeys had been known to steal anything they could (particularly from those people who failed to bring them any food).
Once you made it past the entrance (believe me, no bananas survived in a human’s hand past about 50 feet into the park), the monkeys became much calmer and returned to more monkey activities, chasing each other, grooming, eating greens, and mating. There’s a large temple in the center of the preserve. While it is still used by people at certain times of the year, it is not open to visitors (most of the temples in the country are closed the same way and if you do get to go in, you need to wear a sarong and sash – provided by the temple for a fee). It is remarkable how much the style of the temples is repeated in hundreds of the buildings and gates around the country.

Bali Rain

If I were to sum up our trip to Bali, I’d have to say it was wet, rainy, humid, hot, sweltering and did I mention it rains a lot? I must admit that the rain made the country gorgeously green, but I think it also gives everyone webbed feet!! While it always rains this time of year, even the locals were noting that it was raining a bit more than usual. We had a very atypical run of 3 days worth of non-stop rain. Now I do indeed love reading books but even I found that it was getting to be a little bit much. We finally started to wander out whenever there was a bit of a lull just to move around. This worked well sometimes and sometimes got us totally drenched before we got home. The locals were ready for the rain, having lots of HUGE umbrellas – and even our bungalow had large ones for us to use.
Even though the rain was almost never ending, the thousands of shops were open for business at all times – with no end of “great deals” for us to explore. They wanted to sell us absolutely everything – carvings, pottery, weavings, you name it, they had it. Some things were wonderful, absolutely gorgeous, some were just very cheap. I must admit, it didn’t take long to get tired of roaming through the shops.

Hanabi in Japan

Here’s one I forgot all about writing until I came across the pictures. The Japanese love their fireworks – especially on those warm, summer evenings. The word for fireworks, hanabi, means “flowers of fire” and they have truly developed gorgeous displays; the colors, the patterns, the size are all spectacular and are well worth seeking out. They have huge displays that would rival anything I’ve ever seen on the 4th of July.
We had the opportunity to watch a small, local firework display and I have to admit, the process of “shooting off” the fireworks was worth watching! Let me see if I can describe it for you (the night pictures, of course, did not do the process justice).
First, you must recognize that this was the local version…the small stuff. Our small fireworks that we purchase and shoot off in our front yards (with prominent caution warnings attached to each sparkler) seem SO tame. 2nd…don’t do this at home….
OK…imagine a small park..roughly the size of a small block. Trees around, open spot in the middle, bathroom on one side. The fire department (I’m guessing that’s who they were – they looked official) sets out a “runway” of some material that doesn’t seem to catch fire. There’s also a small, movable “wall” of the same material that is nearby (men kinda hang out behind it but ya know, they also just wander around it too). OK…now….imagine a woven basket…maybe it’s like 3 feet tall...with a handle on it. Yes, woven out of some plant – most likely bamboo since it’s available everywhere here (oh, it’s flammable you say…just wait). The audience (being smarter) sits outside this cleared area, perched on the outer edge of the park. Meanwhile…a group of men (remember the ones hanging out around that movable wall?) well…one of the fire type people walk over with a burning torch, poke it in the basket until it catches fire and then they run back over to the wall…one of the young men (in, of course, the very tight fitting outfit) walks over and picks up said burning wicker basket, set themselves into a very nice back stance, and hold the basket close to their side while the basket is spewing sparks, burning brightly, the sparkling fire cascading into the sky, complete with a deafening roar but the jock just stands there until it burns out. (Once again, I repeat, don’t try this at home.) They didn’t do this once or twice, they spent over an hour doing it over and over again. I think there might have been some competition…who had the best stance or stood the stillest or became the deafest or got burned the most (or least). Who knows.

Matsumoto

One of the benefits of working in an International School is the fact that we get quite a few three day weekends. Another benefit is that we actually GO somewhere on those three day weekends. On the down side…when it coincides with a Japanese Holiday…so does everyone else. However, unlike in America, we can travel almost anywhere on public transportation, meaning that when you wait in the inevitable lines and traffic jams, someone else is driving and you can all talk, visit, sleep or read while you're getting there – all of which were used during the trip.

We actually spent the first night in a moderate sized town called Matsumoto, located at the foot of the mountain leading to Kamikochi. Coincidentally, it is also the train stop closest to the bus to KamiKochi. It is a wonderful mix of the old nestled between the new...this book shop is a wonderful example.

Matsumoto Castle is one of the most complete "original" castles left in Japan – castles have a very short life expectancy here. It's called a hirijiro castle, one that is built out on a plain rather than up on the top of a hill or mountain – they like climbing hills here – all of the shrines are on top hills also. The castle has a wonderful open room for moon viewing – a very pleasurable place with wide opening windows overlooking both the garden and the moat. Now moats in Japan, at least these days, aren't the dank, murky things pictured in European picture books. These are wonderful, open, clean and full of koi (well….sometimes). This one even sports a floating garden!

Kamikochi

On to Kamikochi. After a delightful Japanese style breakfast – complete with breakfast fish, interesting vegetables (I love some of the pickled choices they have) , rice and tea, we took indulge in a Starbucks – yes, they've even made it to the train station in Matsumoto (McDonalds, not to be outdone, is across the street- and open 24hours - unheard of in Japan). A short train ride took us to the bus station for our trip up the mountain. It was at this point I was truly happy we were NOT driving our own car. First, the road is very windy and VERY narrow and EVERYONE is in a big hurry to get up the mountain. As we snaked around the severely meandering road we met hundreds of cars, all navigating the same path. There were also a large number of buses and trucks on the road, requiring very tight maneuvering every time they passed each other. To add to this, the Japanese realized much sooner than we ever did that certain places should be closed to cars because there are just too many of the required to get all the people up into the valley (it's similar to Yosemite – a smallish, closed area). So…roughly 20 minutes from where we started on the bus, all of these cars are sitting in lines on the road, attempting to enter the rather packed parking lots – also necessitating some more creative passing on the part of the buses (remember, this is the land of the tire wide, foot deep drainage ditches). At this point I was VERY happy to be merrily watching the scenery go by….

We took off for a hike around the lower area, hoping to spot changing leaves – they were indeed elusive but there were plenty of great things to see along the way. My favorite place was Myojin Pond – a relatively small pond with a meandering path that took you to scenic lookouts around the water. The paths were so convoluted you could even have moments when you were the only person in sight (though not many). We found our best shots of fall colors there – it would be wonderful to go up again in a few weeks…..

Kamikochi Ryokan

Our ryokan in Kamikochi was very modern and quite nice. Since it was a holiday for everyone, we were quite lucky to get this pretty expensive place up here in the valley – this is one of the first places in Japan that really had raised the prices. The 2 rooms were SO different – one western style, one Japanese. It really was interesting how the space was so totally different…the western style one was just the 2 beds with a small sitting area and no view to speak of out the window – you had to stand on the bed to see it. Right next door, it was Japanese style with the seating area right in the window - a delightful place to sit and enjoy a cup of tea and read a book!!!!

It included dinner in its rather steep price. It was, of course, completely Japanese surprise. We had NO idea of what we were eating and the young girl who was waiting on us spoke some English and tried to help us out. They have a bowl, filled with broth, vegetables and meat (which I quickly donated to Jeff). They light a sterno type thing under it and then you let it cook. I think we were supposed to stir it a bit more frequently than we did but, oh well…. They also had fish (of course), some sushi, and then bowls of various kinds of veggies – we tried guessing and identified, others are still in the surprise category. Breakfast in the morning was much the same – and still fun to explore (glad I had so many tasters to let me know what wasn't meat).

That night as we slept on our futons, we noticed a regular pitter patter coming from outside…very pleasant as you're snuggled up in bed, warm, cozy, comfy. Running water is just so pleasant…until you have to go out in it. Oh my gosh…it rained and rained and rained and rained. I had my rain jacket and my umbrella and I was soaked before we got to the plaza. It poured and poured while we tried to change our bus time. It poured while we went back to get our suitcases, it poured while we waited for the bus. We were drenched!!! Fortunately, the bus was warm and once again we could let someone else worry about the traffic, the weather, the rain, the passing etc.

Stay tuned…next week we're heading for another adventure -and if I knew where it was, I'd give you a preview but….it'll just have to be Japanese Surprise!!!

Rafting on the Nagara River

White Water Rafting!!! YEAH!!! I had a great trip on the Nagara Gawa! There were a dozen of us who took off from school to head out to the Nagara River for the day. All would have gone well EXCEPT – the lead car was FAST! We arrived just fine at the toll booth to get on the toll-way. Well, the driver hadn’t ever used it so I had to tell her what to do. When we got through – he was GONE!! And to make it worse, we had NO idea which way, north or south. Naturally, we chose the wrong way! Now, in the states it’s no big deal, go to the next exit, turn around and head back. Well….not so easy here. The next exit was like 10 miles down the road. Plus, just getting off and back on again going the opposite direction is NOT so easy. We navigated our way BACK to where we started and tried again, this time heading south.
The Nagara Gaway has many uses – not just river-rafting. We were quite surprised at how many fishermen were lined up along its banks. Now these men take their fishing quite seriously. They have bamboo poles that are roughly 10 feet long – and cost thousands of dollars. They frequently have woven, conical hats though we noted quite a few in more modern attire. I don’t they truly appreciated the antics of the rafters, though we did work at being a bit more quiet as we passed the.
The rafting was a lot of fun. It’s actually more difficult earlier in the season when the run-off is at its height. Right now the water was lower (late September) – they actually stop running late October/early November. There were actually 4 boats in our group – 2 with all Japanese and 2 for our group. You’d never have believed these were all “serious” teachers in these boats….absolutely crazy people. Our guide was from Costa Rica so we had a great mixture of Spanish, English and Japanese as we headed down the river. Check-out the pictures – we had a terrific time!

Hearst Castle

Hearst Castle is one of the most incredible places I’ve ever visited. Believe it or not, it started out as a wilderness where the family with friends went to “rough it”. Believe me…it was nothing like we would call “roughing it”. They had elaborate plans, tents, pavilions, cooks…He finally decided he was tired of camping out in the open so he thought he’d “build a little something”. That “little something” became an unparalleled exotic showcase.
We only completed one tour – there are quite a few you can choose from. The “Casa Grande” is the main house – a spectacular Spanish inspired cathedral. It is spectacular – from it’s elaborate entrance through the extensive front room, exotic dining room (complete with a balcony for the nightly music) and the men’s pool room where they could retire after dinner.
I would absolutely have loved to have stayed in one of the guesthouses. The one we went through was a “Mediterranean revival” style – the plush furnishings and most spectacularly – the views!!! Everything was designed to take advantage of the breathtaking views that are available.
The gardens were exotic. You could move from one to the other and encounter an entirely different style with different flowers and ambiance. The sculptures were representative of styles and periods of history throughout the world. Glad I don’t have to keep it up!!!! There were any number of pools available, though the Greek inspired outdoor one was my favorite.

Taos

While I was in New Mexico for training, the college arranged a visit to local sites – shopping for the most part but fortunately, there were some other options. I took the trip out the Indian village of Taos. It is another World Heritage site (we seem to find these all over the place). It’s completely built out of adobe and has been continuously inhabited for over 1000 years! I didn’t think there was anything that old in the states.
The buildings are completely made of adobe (earth mixed with straw and water and made in sun-dried bricks). The walls are really thick – 3 or 4 feet!! They did use some wood in the construction, particularly for the support of and the building of the roof. Originally there were no doors or windows so you had to climb in from the roof. The homes now have doors and windows installed and people still live in them, many with the inevitable collection of tourist wares to sell. The silver jewelry made by the people was very nice.

Montezuma Castle

First stop this summer was a week-long training in Montezuma, New Mexico. Why Montezuma???? It is the home of a World College (International Baccalaureate), housed in the picturesque Montezuma Castle.
The Castle is a majestic structure, perched on top of the hill, overlooking a valley, currently home to the World College. It was once a hotel with a claim that a number of presidents and dignitaries slept there. It has been remodeled but they kept it basically true to the original structure. Well, let me clarify…the Hotel burned down a couple of times so it’s true to the last rendition of the famous hotel. They have wonderful spiral staircases, an ancient vault (so heavy it actually started sinking into the floor) and a fabulous veranda for attempting to catch the cooling breezes. The stained glass work is spectacular throughout the building.
You can hike up in the hills behind the castle, in fact you can stand on one of the original verandas…or what’s left of it. The weather was warm and pleasant – hiking was a great way to spend the afternoon especially after sitting all day long. The valley was a gorgeous green blanket of trees and grasses, though I imagine it dries out quite a bit once summer is around for a while.