There wasn’t meant to be a day five here, but here we are! Today is our 31st Wedding Anniversary, I had planned to be celebrating with my dear husband on the beach but instead had breakfast and lunch by myself. On the positive side Anthony did feel well enough to take a walk along the esplanade in the early evening.
We decided to have an early dinner right in the grounds of Fort Cornwallis, at a restaurant called Kota, luckily there was a “healthy vegetable broth” on the menu for Anthony. Fort Cornwallis is now under construction and there are plans to rebuild it exactly as it was in 1786 complete with a surrounding moat.
Captain Francis Light
Captain Francis Light greeted us at the front of the restaurant.
Queen Victoria Clock
This clock was built to commemorate Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee in 1897 and stands sixty feet tall. One foot for every year of her reign.
Last photos of our trip below
This is Beach Street Fire Station built in 1908. A beautifully restored Edwardian style building.
Penang Town Hall
Another Edwardian style building built in 1903 by the British
A typical home of a rich Chinese family over a century ago. Many years ago we did take a tour inside. It has been kept in exquisite condition and over 1,000 antiques are on display inside.
Apart from the drama with my dear husband, we enjoyed being back in Penang. Staying at The Prestige Hotel was a real treat and the Malaysian people were just so kind through the whole stay.
Flying from Kuala Lumpur to Penang on Malaysian Airlines took just one hour. Our flight was at 2 pm and we arrived in plenty of time for a change! We printed our own boarding passes and luggage tags and while I attached the tags I asked Anthony to hold the boarding passes along with the peeled off labels. When all was done I asked him for the passes back but he had just promptly walked over to the security desk and handed everything over to be thrown away. Back he went to retrieve them. Just one job was all I said.
Almost there
For the next four days we were going to be exploring Penang and staying at The Prestige Hotel. Close to all the heritage buildings and many restaurants to indulge in delicious food.
Jigsaw puzzle toiletries
A luxuriously large room with great amenities with robes and slippers! No view to speak of though, oh well can’t have everything. I love the way the toiletries are displayed.
The Swimming Pool on the 4th floor rooftop – luckily not segregated!
Malayan Railway Building from the pool
After checking in and leaving our bags we had a quick wander around the neighbourhood. As I mentioned before it was a long holiday weekend here and this was in evidence as many places were closed and the streets were empty.
Penang is rich in history and culture and is such a wonderful place to wander around. It is a Unesco Heritage Listed Site. On 11 August 1786, Captain Francis Light of the British East India Company landed in Penang and renamed it Prince of Wales Island in honour of heir to the British throne. Source:Wikipedia. Francis Light is now credited as the founder of Penang. Many of the buildings are beyond repair now but there are a few that are still resplendent and have been restored and maintained. It seems on looking around that there are buildings under renovation now, even a few with steel girders propping them up.
The buildings below are ones we passed on our walk to dinner.
George Town Dispensary
Where is everyone?
Beautifully restored French colonial building
We decided on a French restaurant that night, I’m not one for spicy foods but I knew tomorrow that it would be Anthony’s turn. The restaurant we chose was called Two Frenchies. Their website states – “Two very good friends who happened to be French . . . and knew nothing about running a restaurant , decided one lazy afternoon that they were going to bring their culture of food to Penang”.
It was all delicious and the service was excellent. The wife of one of the chef’s kept popping by to see if we were enjoying everything.
French Onion SoupConfit de Canard Duck leg cooked in its own fat, mashed potatoes and a side salad.Cassoulet – Pork, duck and sausage stewed and baked on a bed of white beans.
After leaving Ribadesella we drove onto Santiago de Compestela, a city that many people end up in after walking the Camino de Santiago route. One of the images that is stuck in my head was the amount of people sitting on the steps of the cathedral with knee bandages! We were only staying for one night here as my hubby wanted to see the burial site of St. James.
St. James’ remains are reputedly buried within the grounds of the cathedral, which was consecrated in 1211.
The small town is easily seen in one day and very interesting. There are wonderful alleys to wander up and little shops to browse in. We always buy something from every place we visit, a t-shirt, tea towel or some useful kitchen utensil. We both bought t-shirts this time from a small boutique.
Above the door of a liquor shop
View through the arches
Monastery of San Martiño PinarioCathedral of Santiago de CompostelaLooking up at the cathedral ceiling
A holy door depicting biblical images
Ornate wall covering
Church of María Salomé, Santiago de Compostela, Built in honour of the Apostle St. James´ mother
That concludes our mini trip to Santiago de Compostela. It was great to spend some time here exploring and glad we made this part of our Spanish road trip.
Quang Nam Province is where the Unesco World Heritage town of Hoi An is situated. It is a mix of Vietnamese, Chinese and French style buildings. Hoi An sits on the banks of the Thu Bon River and there are many waterways around the area. We have stayed in Hoi An twice before and visited on a number of other occasions while staying in Da Nang. It gets busier with each year and there is hardly any room to move crossing over the little bridge.
The two hotels we stayed in were just outside of the small town, Hoi An Historic Hotel and Hoi An Beach Hotel. Early evening is the best time to go into Hoi An Ancient Town as it’s a bit cooler then, although not much!
Hoi An Beach Hotel
Hoi An Historic Hotel
Fishing for the daily catch, views from our balcony
An Bang Beach
The beds are so close, no social distancing here! Crawling from the bottom is the only way to lie on them! No secrets are safe here.
Restaurants and Bars in the walking area of Hoi An
Bikes and doors
Views of the other side of Hoi An
My nightly cocktail – Pina Colada
Hoi An is such a wonderful place to visit but so many places in Vietnam are. It is one of my favourite countries to visit.
Hanoi Hanoi, the capital of Vietnam, where we spent four days a few years ago. Hanoi was not a place that interested me as I had heard it was quite industrialised due to the influence of communism. However it was somewhere where Anthony wanted to visit, and I can’t always have my own way! After…
