Merida, Yucatan state, Mexico

Goodbye Oaxaca and onto Merida.

We departed for Merida from Oaxaca to fly to Mexico City which took 50mins, then from Mexico City to Merida, 1 hr 35min later, we flew to avoid the 12 hrs bus trips, we arrived into Merida, the resort costal town of Yucatan State. After checking into our fabulous hotel De Fray Diego, we went for a short walk to the centre of town, to explore and discover what this town has to offer.

Our hotel in the historical district! I will say that the namesake of our hotel was responsible for destroying 95% of the Mayan history and Mayan buildings, he was Spanish!

Staying at this hotel which was originally a mission appeals to my fascination of religious icons.

The namesake!

Our room, I loved that they had marcel's for bed covers.

Merida is obviously designed for tourists, lots of shops and eating places, the population is 1,000,000.

The next day we did the city tour, covering a wide preiminater of the city in a very old bus.

This monument is a dedication to the early Mayans that settled in this area.

One of the entires into the park area, the park has four entries.

Another entry.

The main Cathederal in Merida, it has the largest cross that I have seen so far and not very ornate.

One of the oldest churches in the city.

Great rustic art.

We also visited the rich area of Merida, very interesting designs of houses, moorish, baroque and French provincial, the house sell for about 4,000,000 USD

This ended our city tour, we then walked around the square in town and visited a handicraft shop where, quilts, rugs, scarves and embroideries clothes are made. The quilts are Mayan and all handmade.

This is a collection of embroidered squares sewn together the overall effect is quite stunning,the price of one of these quilts are about 3,000pesos=$300 roughly.

These quilts are very rustic!

DH and I discovered a great little cafe just down from our hotel, all things Frida so I was very happy to just sit and have a meal and admire all the memoriabilla, of Frida and her life. 

I struck up a limited conversation with the owner to see if anything was for sale, in my limited Spanish and her limited English, and great hand gestures, the owner produced a card, where she got the table runner and fabric from. On return to our hotel where the concierge could speak English, a phone call was made and my long suffering husband was dragged into a taxi to find the place. 

On arrival we looked at the facade and thought what do we have here......inside we go and lol and behold it is a printing shop, where images are printed onto fabric the of your choice and no..... They could not have it ready in 2 days, after some persistence and limited English out comes a delightful teenager who can speak English and that is when the magic happened, out came a ready made table runner, other items as well, I picked some images and while we waited, they were printed. The young teenager organised us a taxi back to our hotel and we were on our way.

Some of the of my purchases!

Saturday we had a full day tour to Uxmal and Kabah, visiting more Mayan temples, a very hot day, but the wildlife was great.

Mayan temple in Uxmal, this is where De Fray Diego discovered and invaded.

Loved the iguanas

Another visit to a chocolate factory, Mexican  chocolate does not taste like Cadbury.

This ends our tour for Saturday, a very hot day 40 degrees, back to the hotel for a swim.

On Sunday we were on another tour to Celestun, This tour was on the coast and we got a boat ride to visit the flamingoes, had a seafood lunch on the beach and was quite a pleasant day with good company.

Our boat!

The flamingos were interesting to watch.

There was an opportunity to have a swim as well.

Interesting bird life.

After lunch we travelled to 1 1/2 hr back to Merida, for a swim and relax.

Sunday concludes  our time in Merida, Monday we leave to visit Chitken Itza, then onto Can Caun.

"ADIOS " amigo for now.

Quilt Guild conference: 20th Anniversary

On the Sunday 6th July and Monday 7 th July, I had the  pleasure of attending the 20th anniversary of the quilt study group of Australia. I might add this was my first time at a quilting conference after spending years attending nursing conferences it was quite a pleasant change.

The event was held at the Maritime Museum at Darling Harbour, a gorgeous location with ready access to the city. All the guests speakers were introduced by Karen Fail, who kept the audience entertained with her dry sense of humour.

The first guest speaker was none other than Di ford, who delighted the audience with her story of her remarkable quilting journey.

Below are some of Di's quilts on display ( Permission for photos has been granted by Di Ford)

Next was Gail Chalker from Gatton QLD, who spoke about the Greenmount Cemetery and also showed us her Completed M Smith Baltimore quilt.

Nonie Fisher shared her personal quilting journey and showed us some of her quilts. ( permission was given by Nonie for photos to be used on this blog) happy retirement Nonie!

We all need instructions on how to care for our quilts and this was delivered nicely by Jennnifer Palmer.

In the afternoon we were all given a modern approach to quilting by Jessica Wheelahan, Jessica's quilts are just fun, arty and breaks all the rules of quilting, but what wonderful designs and creativity.

Permission has been granted by Jessica to post photos on this blog)

In the evening we had dinner at The Novatel, as well as a silent auction and sale of goods.

Monday was the uncovering of quilts, these quilts are in the private collection of Trish Bloomfield, Melinda Smith, Caroline Sullivan and Brigette Giblin, lots of eye candy and a fun couple of days was had by all.

I have dedicated the month of July to clear out all my unwanted fabrics and craft items, phew !!!! what a task, all items will be sold at a discount rate for maximum clearance. These items will be available in September at our community quilt Show " Quilts on the Downs"

Until next time!

Greek island's and wind down with some pampering

After saying goodbye to Turkey, we are on our way to Greece, the flight took 1 hr and 15 mins to fly from  Istanbul to Athens. We transferred to our hotel, and was delighted to have a wonderful view of  the Acropolis which is situated on top of a hill. This was my first view of the Acropolis, although still not sure and to be reassured that it was the Acropolis, had to ask the question" is that the Acropolis?... Yes was the curt reply. We are so close and within walking distance 1.2 KM's. After checking into our hotel, we had rain, lightning and thunder, so Athens exploration was delayed until after we return from our Greek cruise.

This is a close up shot of the Acropolis.

The view from our hotel.

Our hotel is centrally located to the tourist area and displays some nice art works.

Icons of Greece.

The next day saw us leave our hotel and board our cruise ship for some R & R, delighted to discover we were allocated our grand suite, which had a balcony and our own steward" Ferdinand" just what we needed after 2 hectic tours.

Our cabin in the Grand Suites.

DH on our balcony

A nice pool area.

I feel so spoilt!!!

 Our first port of call was the island of Mykonos.

Quite charming with its own beach, no sand, all pebble beach.

Could not resist any longer had to buy a smaller version of Mary icon.

More pic 's of Mykonos 

The white buildings with blue, came around in the last century when cholera was a plague and all the residents in Greece had to whitewash their houses! blue doors, domes! represent the Greece flag.

Note the old windmills, these are storage for grain.

DH...do I have to do these shops!!!!!

Small private Catholic Churches 

Small sailing vessel just near the beach.

After Mykonos we sailed to Kusadsi (Turkey) and Patmos, where we had to take a tender boat to shore.

Kusadsi is close to Ephesus and as we had already toured Ephesus we chose to explore the town.

Patmos in the afternoon.

View of Patmos from the ship.

Wednesday we docked in Rhodes, known as the Island of roses, " Citadel of Knights"

Rhodes is enclosed within these walls that circle to city.

Ruins within Rhodes 

Typical scene in Greece.

DH had to sample the local beer, Mythos! 1 litre!, my fault I ordered it for him! was asked large beer! reply.. yes and this is what you get.

Next stop Crete, not much in Crete, primarily an industrial port. Heraklion

In the afternoon we toured Santorini, access to Santorini was also by tender boats. Below a view from the Monastery of prophet Llias.

View overlooking the village "Oia"

Mamma Mia was not filmed in this village the filming took place in the village of Skiathos.

More windmills.

We visited the most gorgeous church in Santorini 

One of the many paintings on the ceiling.

Goodbye Santorini.

Hello Athens!

The audio arena in the Acropolis, still being used today, great acoustics.

Temple of Ifestos.

Parthenon 

Temple of Athinos

Restoration work of the Parthenon

Many small churches, this one is near the Plaka.

Some street art near the flea market.

Restoration work on the Parthenon.

Goodbye. Greece, hello Dubai.