Have Bag, Will Travel
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Category Archives: Arts and Crafts
Through The Keyhole (2)
Posted in Age of Innocence, Arts and Crafts, El Cid, Greece, Greek islands, History, Literature, Portugal, Spain, Travel, Urban Art, World Heritage
Tagged Algarve, Blue Doors of Greece, Caceres, Door Lock, Keyhole, Spain
Thursday Doors – Blue
Posted in Arts and Crafts, backpacking, Beaches, Cathedrals, Europe, Greek islands, Greek Taverna, History, Hotels, Literature, Malta, Postcards, Travel, World Heritage
Tagged Blue Doors of Greece, Childhood, Greece, Malta, Memories, Turkey
Looking Back to the year 1962 – Sex , Space and a Symbol
I unexpectedly came across Marilyn once in Haugesund in Norway and I discovered that the reason she should surprisingly turn up here is that her father, Martin Mortenson, came from the village of Skjold, just fifteen miles away and lived in Haugesund before emigrating to America in about 1880. After abandoning his family after only six months of marriage, he was killed in a motorcycle crash without ever seeing his daughter – Norma Jean Mortenson.
Marilyn was a iconic sex symbol and this another that I came across in Tossa del Mar on the Costa Brava in Spain. Ava Gardner who had three husbands (including Frank Sinatra) and by some speculation over one thousand lovers…
And this is Catherine the Great of Russia who I came across in Saint Petersburg, another woman with a reputation…
Lies, Damned Lies and Statistics
I haven’t posted for a while, I apologise for that, I have been away for a long holiday in Australia and New Zealand and I will tell you about that later.
I have noticed previously that if I don’t post then interest in the blog quickly evaporates and the visitor stats starts to tumble down south as was the case this time in the first three weeks but in the final week the wind direction changed and visitor stats started to climb, climb and climb again. My visitor numbers have always been fairly steady so unless I had become an overnight internet sensation it simply wasn’t possible.
Turns out that I have been the victim (along with many others) of a web crawler or a spider crawler. Others had told me about this but until now I had not been inconvenienced.
It is not a virus, maybe not even dangerous (I don’t really know) and this is how Google explains it…
“A web crawler, also known as a spider, is an automated program or bot predominantly used by search engines like Google and Bing to explore and catalog web content across the Internet. Its primary functions are to gather content of nearly every webpage and to facilitate retrieval of that content in search results.”
Interestingly my posts with the most fake visits now appear high up in Google search results.
The Internet and the World-Wide-Web used to be a genuinely nice place to spend some time but now it has become a sinister black hole, Tim Berners-Lee must be spinning in his grave.
This is Tim Berners-Lee…
It seems that it is impossible to trust anything on here anymore. Take Facebook for example. The original concept was that it was a tool to keep in touch with family and friends and it worked well but now it is full of AI generated shit and fake news and any friend contact posts are almost impossible to find. I suspect that other social media posts are much the same.
I often say that I am so glad that I was born when I was born and there was none of these fake influencers to corrupt my childhood which was about playing outdoors, hours of sport and BBC ‘Children’s Hour’ on TV.
There has always been deception of course as with the Cottingham Fairies…
And then ‘April Fool’s Day’ (I wrote about that one time back in 2012) but what we have now is way more sinister.
Anyway to get back to the point of my story because before this explosion in numbers I was riding along comfortably at about one hundred visits a day which seemed just about right but now thanks to the spider they are over ten thousand and increasing by the day and my statistics are now completely worthless and that means the demise of my annual end of year statistical round-up.
Interestingly, yesterday (Feb 20th) WP recorded 11,955 views but I also use another counter called ‘flag counter’ and that reported 121, which seems to me to be about right so I wonder why WP cannot filter this annoying intrusion out. Are they bothered? Probably not.
I am beginning to question the whole point of even remaining on WP at all.
Looking Puzzled…
The quote “Lies, Damned Lies and Statistics” is attributed to British Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli by the American author Mark Twain. It may or may not be true.
This is Benjamin Disraeli…
An Unfortunate Collision
“Certainly there was no sailor who ever sailed salt water but who smiled – and still smiles – at the idea of the unsinkable ship” – Charles Lightoller (Surviving Officer) in ‘Titanic and Other Ships’
I have just finished watching a TV documentary drama about the sinking of the Titanic and it reminded of this post from five years ago…
Posted in Age of Innocence, Arts and Crafts, Cathedrals, Europe, Food, History, Iceland, Literature, Natural Environment, Travel, World Heritage
Tagged Belfast, Charles Lightholler, Discover Ireland, Harland and Wolff Titanic, Northern Ireland, Simon reeve, Titanic Belfast, Titanic Experience Belfast, Titanic Quarter Belfast, U.S. Presidents, White Star Line Titanic
Malta – The Silent City of Mdina
It had been some time since we last visited the city of Mdina in the centre of the island, mostly because getting there and back can be difficult in terms of transport when using the Malta bus system.
We thought that it was time to make a return visit. I first visited in 1990 and it was wonderful, the streets were unpaved, the walls were peeling, it was sun stroked, wind weathered and frost bitten and it was as as though nothing had changed in over a hundred years or so. Maybe even five hundred years. In 2015 the first thing that struck me was that in twenty years there has been a lot of restoration in Mdina. The once crumbling walls have been repaired and the untidy concrete streets have all been repaved. I preferred it the old way because it seems to me that the Maltese have managed to transform this wonderful place into a sort of Disney World EPCOT interpretation of what it used to be like.
Nevertheless we thought we should go back and see what ten years had done so we took the ferry from Sliema to Malta and made our way to the busy bus terminal.
Travelling by bus in Malta is not a pleasant experience, they are overcrowded and you might be lucky and get a seat but most likely not which means standing and clinging onto something, anything for dear life and waiting along with everyone else for a seating opportunity. And it stops every hundred yards or so and five people get off and twenty-five get on and there is a suffocating smell of garlic and b.o. So it was not a great journey but on the positive side it was a lot cheaper than a taxi.
As it happened not much had changed so much in ten years since the last visit except that it was a little more commercialised but I guess that is to be expected and there were entry fees to the Cathedral when I am fairly certain that there didn’t use to be. I don’t like paying entry fees to a Cathedral because I think the Catholic Church is already wealthy enough already so we didn’t go inside but instead just walked the charming streets,
Looking for doors…
We didn’t stay long, I wished we hadn’t bothered at all if I am truthful, I worried about the bus ride home and queues of people because that happened to me the previous time so we had a drink and a very disappointing chicken wrap at the Fontanella Tea Rooms and then made a brisk return to the bus stop.
And then the day got a whole lot better. As we waited, first in line for the public transport bus a vintage Malta bus turned up and stopped and said that he had two seats left and did we want them? Did we want them? Of course we did! Of course we did!
Up until 2011 Malta had a wonderful bus service with a fleet of vehicles mostly imported from the UK, privately owned, lovingly maintained, customized and painted in a distinctive orange livery with gleaming chrome decoration that required sunglasses just to look at them.
Even in the late 1990s these old buses with their growling engines and banging gear boxes were, admittedly, beginning to creak with age and by 2011 the majority didn’t meet EU standards on carbon emissions and their fate was sealed a thousand miles away in Brussels and the upgrade could scarcely have been more undignified. They were removed from service, privatised and the island service put out to competitive tender.
It was wonderful, I am a sucker for nostalgia and I was sinking slowly in a memory swamp. I am certain that Kim enjoyed it too…
The vintage bus dropped us off on the seafront, we waved goodbye to the friendly driver and it continued to St Julians a mile or so to the north and we sauntered back to the apartment, opened a bottle of wine, sat in the sunny courtyard, played cards and swapped stories and just let the rest of the day slip carelessly through our fingers.
Later we returned to restaurant Ta’Kris and found it effortlessly this time and I was careful to order a smaller portion this time….
A Malta bus pre privatisation…
A Previous visit to Mdina, some time ago…
MALTA – I LOVE IT…
Posted in Arts and Crafts, Cathedrals, El Cid, Europe, Food, History, Knights of St John, Malta, Natural Environment, Postcards, Travel, World Heritage
Tagged Autobuses Urbanos de León, Buggiba Malta, EPCOT World Showcase, Fontanella Tea Room Mdina Malta, Malta Balconies, Malta Buses, Malta Postcards, Malta Public Transport, Mdina Malta
Review of the Year 2025
As we leave 2025 please excuse my annual self-indulgent post to begin the new year as I peer through the keyhole to look back over the last one.
The top ten most visited posts on my Travel Blog always surprise me but then I don’t pretend to understand how search engines work. I say visited pages rather than read because I am neither so conceited or sufficiently naive to claim that a visit equals a read. I know that a lot of people will arrive here by mistake and swiftly reverse back out via the escape button!
I have been posting my Review of the Year since 2009 ( I know – that is so sad) and mostly there has been little change year on year but in 2025 there has been a bit of movement…
No. 1
The Taste of India – The Vesta Ready Curry Meal
Straight in at number 1. First posted in December 2024 and recording the highest number of visits in 2025 at 2090.
In the 1970s we had Vesta Ready Meals, six of them to choose from, Chow Mein (China), Beef Curry (India), Chicken Supreme (France), Paella (Spain), Chicken Curry (India again) and Beef Risotto (Italy), one for everyday of the week except Sunday I guess when you could still do a traditional roast if you really wanted to.
After a holiday in India earlier in the year and enjoying the curry I set out to recreate the Vesta Ready Meal.
No. 2
I first posted this in March 2010 so this one has been around a while and with 876 hits and a sixteenth year in the Top Ten it is becoming a stubborn stayer. In 2025 it has only dropped one place to number 2. It is also No. 3 in all time page views with 22,690 recordings. It has been viewed every month since first posted.
No. 3
Sicily, Taormina – A Royal Scandal and an Exotic Garden
First posted in July 2023 after a holiday in Taormina in Sicily and a second showing in the top 10, up one place . In 2025 it had 756 visits and there seems no good reason for that except some people seem to enjoy a royal scandal.
No. 4
The Little Chef All Day Breakfast
A bit of a surprise this one, first posted February 2021 and popping up in the Top Ten for the first time four years later with 705 visits.
Little Chef was most famous for its all day breakfast which thanks to a standardised corporate menu was pretty much similar in all of the restaurants. If you went for a breakfast then you knew exactly what you were going to get.
In one of my rare food blogs I set out to recreate the famous breakfast.
No. 5
Entrance Tickets – Malta and the Mellieha WW2 Shelters
A third year in the Top 10 Top and retaining the number 5 position, this is a post from 2017. 550 visits in 2025 up by 100 from the previous year.
In Spring 2015 we spent a few days on the island of Malta. This was a bit of an experiment on my part because I wanted to see if Kim liked it there as much as I do. It is sometimes said that you either love Malta or you hate it, it is like Manchester United or Marmite, there are no half measures, there is no sitting on the fence.
Kim liked it and we have been back several times, this picture was taken just a couple of weeks back, it looks like Kim is reflecting over our previous visits…
No. 6
A real slow burner this one, first posted in July 2012 but staying in the Top Ten for a second year up 4 places and an extra 120 viewings,
Cameras and mobile phones are strictly forbidden because the authorities don’t want snapshots of Comrade Lenin turning up on the internet in Blogs or on Trip Advisor reviews so they have to be left in a locker room and if anyone tries to defy this and is caught by the thorough security checks then their punishment is to be sent to the back of the queue to start lining up all over again.
I didn’t take these pictures, I obeyed the rules but someone else must have sneaked a camera in…
No. 7
The Unlikely Story of Saint Lucy
First posted in January 2013 and entering the Top Tem in 2025 at number 7 with 460 visits.
St. Lucy was a martyr who was one of the earliest Christian saints to achieve popularity, having a widespread following before the 5th century. Because of various traditions associating her name with light (Latin – Lux) she came to be venerated as the patron of sight and the blind and was depicted by medieval artists carrying a dish containing her eyes.
No. 8
Taormina, Sicily – A Little Disappointing
Sometimes I like a place immediately and sometimes I don’t. Even within the first hour of arriving and sitting on the balcony with a fine view I knew straight away that I didn’t like Taormina. I couldn’t quite put my finger on it but it was there nagging away at me.
My immediate impression was that it was all rather like Sorrento or Positano, a place on bucket lists for no good reason other than it is on a bucket list. Personally I prefer Naples, Palermo and Bari, places with grit and grunge and character. I just instinctively knew that this place would not measure up.
Surprisingly staying in the Top Ten for a second year with 453 hits
No. 9
The Treasures of Spain – Antoni Gaudi
A newcomer this year but I can’t say for certain because it might have been here before and then dropped out, 390 visits.
No. 10
A genuine newcomer this one with 375 visits. In 2019 I went on a stag party weekend to the city of Berlin. When the youngsters went drinking my brother Richard and I went on a tour of the city.
Dropping out of the Top Ten this year
This post has been in the Top Ten every year but sadly drops out in 2025.
In total it has 25,000 visits which makes all time top of the list, this year overtaking my 2011 post about Norway, Haugesund and the Vikings at 24,800.
This one has been around for a long time and has always been popular especially around the Spring and Summer when invitations to the Royal Garden Party are going out and when people are wondering how to get one or what to wear if they have one.
Another post that has been visited every month since first published.
Bratislava to Vienna Without a Passport
Catalonia – In Search of Norman Lewis
Passage Through India – Travel and Arrival
Sicily – A Sunset and Trouble with a Mosquito
If you have read one of these posts or any of the 3,600 others on my site ‘Have Bag, Will Travel’, then thank you from the bottom of my heart!
I guess it proves that George Bailey (It’s A Wonderful Life) was right when he said: “The three most exciting sounds in the world are anchor chains, plane motors and train whistles.”
Total visits in 2024 – 59,760 (up almost 10% on 2024
Total visits all time – 1,306,400
Countries where most visitors come from – UK, USA and Spain. Same as last year.
Posted in Arts and Crafts, Asia, Beaches, Bratislava, Cathedrals, Europe, Food, Greece, History, Literature, Malta, Natural Environment, Portugal, Postcards, Travel, Wordpress, World Heritage
Tagged Antoni Gaudi, Berlin Wall, Bratislave, Farol Norman Lewis, Lenin, Lenin Mausoleum, Little Chef, Mellihea Malta, Mount Vesuvius, Passport, Saint Lucy, Sicily, Taormina, Vesta Ready Meal, Wonderful Life.
Malta – A Missing Restaurant
We stayed in Sliema the previous year and found this wonderful Maltese restaurant up a side street – very traditional and we dined there every evening because once we find somewhere we like and the food is good it seems pointless to waste time looking elsewhere.
After we had settled in and approved the accommodation and I had been to nearby Lidl for essential shopping…
… we set out to go there again. But, do you think we could find it, we (I) had collective brain fade, we were certain that we were on the right street but there was no sign of it whatsoever. It was all my fault of course.
So we followed Google maps which took us to a bistro of the same name but we didn’t believe it so we walked some more, asked Google maps again and it took us to the same place again and we still didn’t believe it so we walked some more.
I Googled again and as I scrolled down chanced upon an article from earlier in the year in the local news which said that our bistro had closed down and had relocated to exactly where Google maps had directed us. Turned out that Google maps was right all along. What a bloody clever dick site it is.
Once inside and reconciled to our (my) mistake we placed our order. Kim had a sticky chicken salad and I had rabbit pasta. I was determined to have rabbit something. We used to eat rabbit when I was a boy but it it is difficult to find and buy these days in the UK, they eat a lot of rabbit in Malta so I was eager to try some.
I don’t know why we don’t eat rabbit, it is so tasty, I guess it is the same reason that we don’t eat horse, it just doesn’t seem right to eat a pet. The French wouldn’t understand that of course.
When it arrived it was delicious but way more than I could possibly eat and when I get a plate of food like that I lose my appetite straight away, I know that I cannot possibly eat it all, feel guilty and eat too quickly to get through the food.
I have to say that it was absolutely delicious, really.really delicious but also very rich and I only managed about a third of it and had to explain and apologise profusely for sending so much of it back uneaten. Kim managed most of her large portion chicken salad but only just.
Meal over, apologies accepted, sweet rejected, we left and stumbled our way back to the excellent apartment.
The next day we planned to walk around the harbour to the city of Valletta…
So, if you got Sliema in Malta I recommend this bistro…
Posted in Arts and Crafts, Cathedrals, Food, Food and Drink, History, Knights of St John, Malta, Natural Environment, Postcards, Travel, World Heritage
Tagged Benjamin Disraeli Malta, Cathedral of St John Valletta, Grand Harbour Malta, Knights of St John, Malta Postcards, St John the Baptist, The Baptism of Christ, UNESCO Malta, Valletta
Stuff That Turns Up
My Mum is poorly and clearing her house down. A cleared down house throws up surprises and memories. She came up with this certificate of service that was presented to my granddad almost fifty years ago in 1967 for nearly forty years service on London Transport. She had kept it for a lot of years and now I am most likely its final custodian.
Posted in Age of Innocence, Arts and Crafts, Childhood, Europe, History, Literature, Postcards, World Heritage
Tagged Catford, Catford Garage, Life, London Bus, Robertsons Jam, Routemaster
The Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg
In my last post I raged about the prices in Istanbul, they were outrageous, they almost bankrupted me and I am still smarting from the experience.
Anyway, in my post I compared admission prices to other famous places and I mentioned the Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg in Russia. We visited in June 2012 just after the gangster Putin had seized power and I am so glad that I visited then because I know I never will again and I doubt that people from the west will be going anytime soon.
Posted in Arts and Crafts, Cathedrals, Europe, Food, History, Hotels, Russia, Travel, World Heritage
Tagged Culture, Hermitage Museum, Life, Photography, Russian Revolution, Saint-Petersburg, Travel
Have Bag, Will Travel 
