Calis Beach and Fethiye Turkey Discussion Forum
Calis Beach Forum => Calis Beach Questions and Information => Topic started by: Old Daffodil on June 08, 2010, 20:53:06 PM
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We have driven back to Europe with our two dogs,no problems.
First we drove across from England with a British car after selling our Turkish vehicle.We first had to have the plastic fitted on the headlights to correct the beam.Good journey out through beautiful France then some sightseeing in Pisa;Florence and Rome.Hotel near Rome was interesting,Villa Vecchia,developed a taste for Frascati wine there.Caught ferry from Brindisi to Igoumenitsq in Greece and drove across Greece with one night stop at Kavala,very nice hotels there and a history of Ottoman residents.Cross into Turkey next day and drive to Fethiye.
Our vet in Ovacik has organised our export papers for the dogs,this has meant the necessary rabies injections and blood tests: Load the dogs in the car and leave early in morning while it is cool.Drive to the other side of Koycegiz and we all have a break.Drive up to Cannakkle past Izmir.We are catching the ferry from Cannakle and whilst on the harbour a school of dolphins is playing and fishing in the water,lovely sight.The dogs come and sit with us on the car ferry.It is sunset and the tribute to the soldiers which is on the hill is very moving.We drive to Gelibolu along the coast road and stay the night at the Marti hotel which allows pets.They cook us a lovely meal even though it is late:Our big dog is on the balcony sleeping:The hotel is ten kilometres past Gelibolu on the way to the border so it will be a good situation for the next day.
We start off for the border at seven the next day and go out through three check points from Turkey,lots of soldiers about.We cross over to the Greek check point and then stop at another check point where a few officials in the office ask about the dogs and look at the papers,then we are told we can drive through.We are driving along the roads of Greece at eight o!clock.
:D:D:D
We catch the Superfast ferry from Igoumenitsa to Ancona and the kennels are on the tenth deck,they trvel up in the lift as our big dog does not like stairs.Relax that night in cabin and have a meal in the restaurant.No other Brits mostly Germans,Greeks and Italians.The next morning we collect our dogs and are waiting for access to car decks by the lift.We reach the seventh floor and cannot go any further,this is the restaurant floor.Our big dog will not take the stairs and slips his lead.He then proceeds to dash into the rest and restaurant area,leaping from sofa to sofa whilst the Greeks,Italians and Germans,and collapse with laughter watching our efforts to catch him.He eventually calms down and puts his head on my knee completely bemused by the situation.We at last are allowed to the car deck and he skids across the metal floor which his paws cannot get a grip on.He leaps into the back of the car relieved to be safe.We are soon off and away to Italy,probably now never to be allowed on a Superfast ferry again.:(
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And into Uk? No quarantine?
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Where does it say the dogs came into the UK?
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I am typing this in France where I think we may have to stay for six months.We went to the local vet who speaks fair English and has issued us with dog passports after checking the chips with a scanner.She is going to check how long we need to stay in France for us.I will let you know what she says.
We are renting a cottage at the moment and I am enjoying exploring the local area which is very rural with plenty of places to take the dogs out.The owner of a local hotel which has a very good restaurant has kept a pack of wolves some years ago and loves our dogs thankfully.The cottage has outhouses so our big dog is very comfortable.There are good golf courses here and I hope to visit Paris if we do have to stay six months.
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I had a very interesting conversation with a Turkish vet (identity withheld) who told me a very interesting way to return to the UK with dogs/pets.
Basically drive from Turkey to France, find somewhere to stay, take your dogs to the local vet and say you found them (in France) by the motorway or something, and that you intend to keep them but you live in the UK. He can give them jabs as required for EU dogs entering the UK and off you go to Calais.
I have no idea if that is workable.
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It sounds like this may work.
Just in case the U.K authorities became suspicious, anyone doing this would have to be certain they also have destroyed any evidence they may have that the dogs had previously been in Turkey, without spending the appropriate quarantine time in an E.C country before being "imported" to the U.K.
Photos, any email photo attachments and so on. Dog passport issued in Turkey etc. You would also have to persuade your Ovacik Vet to destroy their records.
And be prepared to take the consequences if the U.K authorities found out you had lied to them.
The immediate and unavoidable first consequence of being "found out" would be that the dogs would be destroyed.
Then you would be prosecuted for a Criminal offence ( not a Civil offence ).
I am glad nobody actually suggested this method could be a viable method of circumventing U.K. law.
I am also sorry that the reported "interesting conversation" post followed by "I have no idea if that is workable" sentence did not include a comment on the possible consequences.
farmer
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I'm not a vet, lawyer or customs expert. I speak to a lot of people and sometimes see where sharing information might be of interest to others. The idea that someone unfortunate enough to have their dogs destroyed is somehow my fault is quite ludicrous. If I post that some people rob banks it isn't my fault if someone gets caught doing so.
The responsibility for knowing all the facts before doing something risky isn't mine...
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Hi Daffodil,
Was your dog chipped in England or Turkey? If it was in Turkey you definitely wouldn't get the dog into England without quarantine or a 6 months stay in France. If the dog was chipped in England then customs would wonder where the dog had stayed when you travelled to Turkey. Customs will check your passport too besides the dog's passport. It sounds like you've had a lovely tip anyway and France sounds brill.
Mark
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That was the problem when we tried to send Bonnie (a labrador my friend found, or should I say she found him) To leave Turkey it had to be chipped so there was a record of origin. The vet said it was illegal for him to 'delete' the records which are worldwide so the chip would have to have been removed and another put in. Again, illegal.
Anyway, Bonnie eventually ended up in Germany with a family and a couple of playmates so is very happy!
A couple who lived here in Didim have moved to Bulgaria and set up a 'transit home' home for people wanting to take their pets back. You can stay with the dogs/cat etc for 6 months or nip backwards and forwards to visit. Hope it is successful.
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Hallo again. We have just had the internet and telephone put in for our use at the cottage. In France you have to have a new number put in when you take over a telephone.
We are enjoying exploring the area which is part of the Loire Valley and there are endless walks in the countryside for dogs, horses and humans to enjoy. The cottage is actually two cottages knocked into one and has large woodburning stoves at either end of the building which is good as apparently it will be cold in the winter here. There is a front door which is the old stable door style where the bottom can be shut and the top left open.One of the cottages was the local bakery and the oven is still there. In the evening the sunset is beautiful.
The lady vet here speaks good English and has informed us that we will have to be here for some time ( I can handle that)!We did have all the rabies injections and tests done at a European approved lab in Turkey but that is not enough. We have had another rabies jab done on each dog and will have to have the blood test done a month after that by which time I would think they will be ultra rabies resistant!The results on the last test were very good but not recognised as they are not in Europe. We have had a passport issued to us and it looks fine for travelling to Britain. I think once it is all sorted out we will be able to cross backwards and forwards from Britain to Europe quite easily. I can understand why people try other ways of dealing with the situation if they want to go straight back but would be worried about any knock at the door if we did try anything not bona fide.
We are making the most of the situation by enjoying everything France has to offer which is a lot thankfully and I am gradually working my way through the Frascati we bought in Italy! I am trying not to speak Turkish to French people now and say Bonjour instead of Merhaba!There is a Turkish kebab shop here if we do feel nostalgic for a little Turkish food and conversation. :DBy the way the first thing the vet did was to use a machine which detected the chips in the dogs and verified them with the paperwork.
We have had a very enjoyable time travelling across Europe with the dogs thanks to staying in some lovely places on our trip.The Cascina Bella Vista in Italy was very good to us and our big dog slept happily in the garden there,it was a good dog walking area too.We stopped in a Chambre de Hautes in Vesovres France which is farm accommodation and that too catered for the dogs. Chambre de hautes are often a good option for pet owners.
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Just had the rabies blood test done on our dogs. Madame the vet is very good, although our large dog is very wary of her since she introduced him to the thermometer in a place he was not expecting her to approach him from!Madam shaved front leg for the test and he did not mind her doing that. Everyone made a fuss of him and he loved it!
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We have just had the results of the blood test from Madame vet and they show the dogs are ultra resistant to rabies,not surprised the amount of injections they have had!We will now have a 6 month wait from the date of the blood test,10th of July. This means we will have been in France about 7months by the time we actually leave.
Love France though, temperature in the mid twenties ,good food,lovely walks and historic villages. :DIt is really quiet and you can drive for miles without meeting another car,I found it very strange at first.
We have had to use the French health service and if you are over retirement age you are covered for 70per cent of your health care. Diabetics are treated for free if the illness is diabetes related.
They also have their pepper and salt in the opposite pots to the English, like in Turkey . :D
Sorry I never answered the question of the dogs nationality,one was chipped in England and one was a Turkish stray we adopted who was chipped in Turkey. Turkish chip may have caused problems if we had tried anything a bit iffy!
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Thanks for keeping us up to date with you and your dogs travels. I have thoroughly enjoyed reading your thread. Please keep us update!
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Our Kangal cross dog is enjoying his holiday in France as is our British border collie.
The Kangal has had a short stay in a kennel in Mallicornd sur Sarthe whilst we were away and was very well cared for.The kennels are situated on a farm and the accommodation was beautiful (slept on sheepskin rug and had the run of a paddock big enough for a few horses.)Some owners of other dogs in the kennel were familiar with the Kangal dog which surprised us, they must be more well known than we thought.
Yesterday whilst walking our Kangal decided to take of into one of the huge corn fields. He is the same colour as the corn and it was so hard to spot him,he did return eventually thank goodness!
Life in France is an eye opener for me.
Where we are living in the Loire Valley there are no collections of rubbish and everyone is responsible of disposing of their own litter. There are smart wooden cabins for recycled goods and a big bin which is below ground level with a lid on for general rubbish,which are found in each village somewhere easy to reach such as the village sports ground or a lay by at the edge of the village. It appears to work really well and it is not often you see any litter,even a cigarette but.
The villages also have flower gardens and tubs,pots or hanging baskets scattered around and no graffiti. I have the impression that anyone with a paint can would be chased out of town by french matrons wielding a big yard broom if they dared to desecrate so much as an inch of wall.
It is so quiet on the roads that it takes some getting used to.
Every town also flies the French flag at the local mayors office and the mayor really is a big influence in his area.
I am finding it very interesting learning about how things work here.
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Please keep this thread going Daffodil with all of your thoughts. I too am really enjoying reading them and wish you luck with this episode of your journey through life. I am sure the dogs are finding it interesting too !!!
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Glad you are enjoying it. Hope that the the posts helps anyone travelling back.We have used the Angloinfo forum for lots of information, it is a forum for expats in lots of countries.
We took the dogs for a walk yesterday in a park near a lake and there were lots of picnics going on. The local people play a game called Petanque which is played with a small plastic ball and some larger metal ones. They find an area of ground which is dry and hard and throw the small plastic ball then throw the bigger balls at it. There were quite a few games going on between mixed teams of men and women then everyone hit the cool boxes of cider and wine.Some villages even have a special petanque pitch.
Where we are living there are thousands of acres of maize growing and wheat fields. The farmers harvest 24 hours a day and are working all through the night. The corn is put into round bales that look like big rolls of carpet!As I look across the valley now there are hundreds of them sitting in the fields. The working men go into the cafes in the morning for cognac and coffee and it is a very man only type of thing to do here. We wandered in for breakfast one morning and they looked so surprised,we wandered out again.I find that there is nowhere to go for a breakfast. Lunch is eaten from about 12 o'clock and eating places are all required by law to have their menu and prices outside. The plat du jour means dish of the day. Everything stops for lunch and we were told even the police are hard to call out at lunch time. Farm machinery is abandoned at the roadside and everything closes! :)
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That sounds such an interesting experience, we've often talked about if we were to go back, dogs must be with us and we would think about going thro France as you are doing. So will keep up with your journal and learn things as we go. It's really hot sitting here on the balcony at the mo and the thought of cooler weather is really entising, but we all go thro that at this time of year here. Hope you enjoy the rest of your time there, it does sound a lovely place to be. Have you found it expensive living there, say as opposed to Turkey?
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We owned a house with a pool and paid somebody to maintain the pool and garden so it is hard to compare with a rented property.
Petrol here is about 1.32 or 1.33 euros which we have noticed is a big difference in prices. If you are of retirement age and you need medical treatment you do pay for it but then claim for the money.I do not know all the rules but I think you are reimbursed for about 70%of it and diabetes related illnesses are treated free of charge. We have been given all the veg,salad,fruit bushes in the garden as the people who own the place are back in England at the moment so have had that free.A lot of gardens here have vegetables and fruit in. I think that a lot of people grow their own pototoes,beans, salad,berries etc. Hubby does the shopping so I will ask him about food prices!There is a cider factory not far away over the Normandy border and we have had a crate or two of that for about 2eures a bottle.They are very strict that the apples in the cider are from Normandy and a British couple who we have met who own a farm say that they will not buy their apples as the farm is just over the Normandy border. This is France so wine is very cheap here!There are not many houses with pools, there are pools in lots of villages and hot tubs in the garden are very popular.
Of course we have no visa or residency to pay for.
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Happy to hear you had a good journey. Thanks for letting us know. I guess the only down side to living in France is all the French people.
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I can only speak about my own experiences.The french people with whom I have had contact have been fine. The young girls who have been waitresses in the restaurants are sweet and they must learn English at school as it they speak it very well. We have a local baker who drives up here every few days with bread,he is very jovial and wears really flamboyat t-shirts and shorts,his two little daughters are beautiful.There is a lady postwoman who delivers dead on the dot of half past eleven every day,she also takes any post that I may have and she is very efficent. The local farmers and I are on waving terms as they are usually driving some massive peice of machinery. Madam the vet is under five feet tall and has very good English, she has been extremely good to our dog and polite and efficent with us.I take it all a day at a time. This area is very rural and even French people who are not locals would probably have to wait a few months to be accepted into the community.
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Sounds fantastic. I speak with jealously as I have to share a city with 15 million.
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Wow! That is a lot.
I would not like to live in an area as quiet as this all the time though. It is suitable for the moment because of the dogs. It is also summer and the winter may not be so pleasant. :)
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We are gradually training our big dog to come back to us at the end of a walk. We have found that the acres of forest in the area are full of tracks and very quiet so he can be let off the lead to romp about to his hearts content. There are no people or animals other than cows in the fields.He does go to drink at their drinking place though and comes back with legs smothered in mud!We carry a peice of ham and some biscuits in a shoulder bag and when we want him to go back on the lead at the end of a walk the ham is a good bribe!
I thought that it would be a good idea to do blackberry picking at the same time as exercising the dogs but that did not work very well as he runs off. There are blackberries growing wild all over the place so I go off with a bag and stick to pick them without the dogs.
Cycling is very popular here and some people,even whole families have cycled over to Turkey. They usually take the Austrian route.
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Thank you for sharing this with us, people do ask us [ANIMAL AID] how they go about returning to England with there pets so will keep reading your post with intrest.
Also so good to here of somebody actually caring about there dogs future.
We see so many dogs and cats left here by there owners it really is very very sad.
looking forward to next read.
regards Animal aid.
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We are glad that where we are living is in a rural area in France. There are laws about dogs barking .You are allowed a guard dog in the garden but if it barks between 10pm and 7am above 35 decibels you may be fined 450euros. Thankfully we are out in the country and have not had any trouble. Our dog has barked sometimes at cats I think. I wonder what 35 decibels sounds like!
You need to be vigilant about using Frontline every month in the spring and summer. Coypu are pretty common apparently here in France and they can spread disease so vaccinations are important.
There are some lovely areas about here and we may buy a plot of land for a little bungalow.I would like one of the lovely metal front doors that you can buy in Turkey. Wonder where I could buy one here!
Also the curtain track that is able to take three lots of curtains at a time. Has anyone found it available in England?
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Lennie, our half kangal, is finally settling down and losing some of the mannerisms that he had from his days of roaming the streets. He does not run away as much as he used to. For his safety and to ensure that he does not do any thing stupid we have him on a long chain. Every now and then he used to escape and be disappear for most of the day. Now if he gets off he tends to go for half an hour. He is usually up the lane or in the field across from us. We now let him off the lead in the forest and he is getting to know the routine. Initially when we used to let him off he would run away. Although always in view he would not come near us. Now he runs off and comes back every so often for a fuss and a play. He knows that at the end of the run he gets some treats so he is happy to come back and be put back on a lead.
We had been using the flea and tick collars but one that we bought in Turkey before we left was not working properly. Holly, our border collie got a bad infestation of fleas and this resulted in a serious allergy. She has been under the vets care for the past 2 weeks and it still is not fully gone. She hae to be washed with special shampoo every 2 days and cream applied to the infected area 3 times a day. She also is on a course of antibiotics. Every time I call her she shoots off because she knows that something else is going to be done to her.We now use frontline. The vets bill for sorting out her allergy was 200 Euros. In France it is cheaper to see a doctor than to see a vet.
We like it so much here that we are seriously considering coming to live here. We need to return to the UK for 18 months and then we will qualify through age for medical care in France. Parts of France are suffering badly from migration from the country areas to the city. In some towns the population has dropped by up to 50% since 1962. To encourage people to live in the areas the local Mayors offices are selling land at very cheap prices. We have been offered 1100 m2 for 7,000 Euros including all fees.
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"We need to return to the UK for 18 months and then we will qualify through age for medical care in France. Parts of France are suffering badly from migration from the country areas to the city. In some towns the population has dropped by up to 50% since 1962. To encourage people to live in the areas the local Mayors offices are selling land at very cheap prices. We have been offered 1100 m2 for 7,000 Euros including all fees."
Hi, Can you give more info on both these aspects? i.e. what age for medical care and what area of France are the 'offers' on land.
Thanks
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Eric I will email the details to you.
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For health care issues you have to really look into individual situations.
The Department of Work and Pensions number is 44 191218 1999.
The French Health Service is 33820904212.(English language)
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Thanks, got the e-mails
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By law dogs have to be chipped and registered by the age of four months in France. If a dog is not chipped and registered and found wandering wild it is immediately handed to a vet to be destroyed by injection. Anyone identified as abandoning an unregisteted dog is given six months prison sentence plus a stiff fine. The laws sound harsh but dogs are well accepted here if they are cared for pets and we have seen them allowed into restaurants with no query.
Last night we heard our dog barking in the garden and went to check what the problem was. A small plastic rubbish sack I had put out in the garden to take to the bin was bobbing across the lawn. On closer inspection we found a hedgehog pushing it along with its nose trying to get inside! :)
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There are a quite a few English horse lovers living in this area and I have been offered rides on some horses to help with their exercise. It is very pleasant riding and walking the dogs in the early morning. I have seen deer and apparently there are wild boar here but I have never come across them as yet,probably off the tracks deep in the forest. I have noticed a tinge of Autumn starting in the trees and ferns today. The temperatures have been between 18 to 32 through the summer but are a bit lower in the morning now. We have had a few showers on a couple of days too.
There are a lot of wind farms in the area. I can see across the valley for about ten miles from our cottage and at night I can see
the lights from six wind farms. The harvest of wheat etc has been done and a few days ago they covered the fields with chicken manure,phew!It is ok now and the seed machines are going around sowing the next crop.
We arrived in France in time for the Le Mans races and then the Tour de France race was won in Nantes by a Spaniard before they went up to Paris for the end. There are country festivals in some villages on quite a few weekends where people show off their livestock and there is music later in the day sometimes. A British style pub near here is called the Famous Knight.
I am starting to manage the language a little better and manage the bonjour,bonsoir,au revoir without thinking about it. I find that it is considered polite here to say bonjour if you go into somewhere like a waiting room full of strangers and not just walk in and say nothing as we do in England.
There is not much choice of clothes around here and they are expensive. A plain white t-shirt in the only supermarket in the area cost about ten euros. I am surprised that no one has nipped over the channel to the local markets here to sell some clothing.
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Ovacikpeedoff - did you receive our e mail?
Thanks.
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No. If you wish please send it again.
Lennie has made me eat my words. We thought he was settling down and losing his wish to stray. Yesterday he knackered me. I spent over 2 hours in hot pursuit. I could get within 20 yards of him and then he would shoot off again. He had a fantastic time. Every village in this part of France has a lake or a pond and Lennie decided he fancied a swim so off he goes into the lake. He comes out and runs off to the next pond where he decides to have another swim. This chasing went for an hour and a half and he actually was going away from the house all the time. When he finally surrendered it took us an hour to get back.
Took him out this morning and he was very subdued. Now he is in his kennel fast asleep. The big bugger
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Somebody in the village where he ran to also had just laid cement!!! :o
Entente cordiale out the window do you think or cementing a friendship?
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There are excellent refuges in the area for dogs but today we visited a refuge at Chateau Gontier which is for many other types of animals. The refuge is used by many animal agencies such as WWF and houses anything from seagulls,parrots chickens to a bear,leopard,lions,tiger,camels and puma.There are islands on a lake to house baboon.I was amazed to see so many ponies. The name of the place is called Refuge de l'Arche and is very popular with families as it also has a playground and reasonably priced cafe. Chateau Gontier itself is a beautiful historic town on the river Sarthe. The animals are well cared for but I am sad that they needed rescuing in the first place,I believe animals should live in their natural habitat as much as is possible.
We are finding out more about life in France every day. I was surprised to find that you do not pay any car road tax on French cars unless they have emissions above 245 which means a larger car over 2 litres or a 4x 4 vehicle.I think it is about 160euros a year on a big car.The MOT is every 2 years.
There is only one large supermarket in this village and it carries a good stock of food. Bread is about on average 66cents for a french stick,eggs 6 large for an average of 1.15euros,butter 250g is about 1.15euros,potatoes 1.32 a kilo.3 large peices of fillet steak were 5 euros,5 chicken breast were 4.77,salmon steaks 16.85euros a kilo.So food is reasonably priced.The quality of food is very good too.
There are small shops along the high street which are specialist shops such as butchers,chocolate and pastries and there is a market on a Saturday which has a stall selling freshly cooked meats such as Pork,ham,chicken and partridge as well as huge round pans of paella. A man also sits at the edge of the market with a machine for sharpening knives or tools.
It is good trying out the French language when we shop but I am sure they don't understand our accent!:D
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One of the chateaux held a "Wag and Bone Weekend" here recently. This meant that dogs were invited to go on a walk with their owners around the grounds and there were activities such as "Doggy dock diving" into the lake (toys and sticks were allowed to be thrown in as encouragement). Also there was chariot pulling which meant one or more dogs pulling some sort of vehicle which ended up being anything from a team of huskies pulling a cart on wheels to wheelchair users and a blind man on a scooter each with their own dog pulling them!There were also plenty of doggy treats in the refreshment area. The second day owners were asked to leave their pets at home as it was a day for professional dogs to show their skills. Police dogs,agility training and guide dogs were some of them. Of course there was plenty of refreshment available!:D
I believe they raised quite a good amount of money for the dog refuge in the village.
Living in a farming community I have noticed how many different breeds of cattle are here in France.The herds are quite small usually. I have seen loads of Charolais which are white. There is a cow here called the Normandie which is brown and white but huge compared to a Fresian,apparently it produces a good quantity of milk which makes lovely cheese,veal and beef. Perhaps that is why filet steak is only 18euros a kilo. I have even seen a small herd of Aberdeen Angus.In the Limousin area the local cow is a reddish brown colour.Of course there are the Jersey and Fresians too.
The local forum here is nothing like CBF and usually has people offering chickens and looking for cattle feed.People often advertise offering lifts or asking for lifts to share the cost of travelling to Britain.
The nights are drawing in a little now. In the summer it stays daylight until gone eleven at night I noticed. The temperatures are about 23 c usually now, quite nice. :)
It seems to be the practice here to buy a piece of land and then employ one of the local building companies to build a house or bungalow which you can choose( and modify if you wish) from a catalogue. Prices start at about 50,000 euros.If you are building in a very rural area and not on the edge of a village then you may need to add the price of a fosse septique(septic tank). Builders do not seem to build them and then sell them. Off course lots of Brits have renovated barns but a good renovation can be 80,000 euros.
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A little info on the weather during your months there would be very interesting..we love reading your updates
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Hallo Firo,
The weather today is about 24 and sunny. We had a few days just over a week ago of rainy nights and mornings but it was not very heavy rain and cleared late in the morning. We have been here since June and it was in the low 30 c then. Local people are saying that it has been cold for August but it has not dropped below about 18 degrees in the morning and a little warmer in the afternoons and sunny. I have really noticed how long the hours of daylight are here. The sun has still been out at ten at night in June and the sunsets are glorious. We have not had any strong winds but the wind farms are turning up on the hills. We have been warned that February is a cold wet month and you need welly boots in the winter,we should be back in England by then. Local houses are all stocked up with wood for their wood burners. :)
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Hi,this is what ive been told by a bloke i know well he said he took his dog over to Rhodes from Marmaris had all the blood tests and Rabies jab done there and chipped in one day,then brought the dog back to Fethiye with him after that he went back to Rhodes for one last visit to see the Vet and get all the paperwork etc,he then kept the dog here in Fethiye for six months before leaving by car for France,when he arrived in Calais he then went to a local vet who checked whatever as to be checked but he told the vet he had been living in Rhodes with the dog for the quarantine period, so off they went across to England,ive phoned him before posting this to make sure i got it correct, if anyone wants to contact him let me know and i will give you his number by email.
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What he did in taking the dog back to England was illegal. Once a dog has left a pet passport country then it is required to be either returned to a pet passport country for 6 months or quarantined for 6 months in the UK.He was lucky because if they checked his passport they would have seen the entry and exit stamps from Turkey.
We love our dogs too much to take a chance and finish up getting caught.I am not saying that your friend does not love his animal. Being honest I really am a coward.
I do think that irresponsible behavior like that is the reason why the rules are so strict and it is those that abide by these rules who are penalized. Our dogs have been vaccinated against everything and anything and have been from the day we owned them and we have got to sit out 6 months here in France
Moving away from dogs, one thing that I am not sure of about France is that I cannot decide if it has the rip off the foreigner culture or not. I was reading an interesting article in the local English language paper about the Brits who turn up and buy barns to renovate. The French will not buy the barns because they are totally overpriced. They are blaming the Brits as they say the Brits are stupid and will pay anything for a wreck and are driving the prices way up. The big problem for the Brits is now that those who are trying to sell their renovated barns are lucky to get 75% of what they cost.So anyone fed up with Turkey there are some cheap renovated barns for sale. I hate the things as they are all sloping roofs and beams. I am sure I am suffering brain damage for the number of times that I have walked into the beams.
I have been looking at some new builds here and building regulations are very strict.They do not build with cavity walls but with a single block wall. They then add about the same thickness in insulation and then plasterboard. The houses we have been in seem to retain the heat.If you own a house and use gas as a fuel it is compulsory that all the gas connections are checked annually. The mayors office will ask you for proof so you need to keep your receipt. If you cannot prove it then the mayor will instruct a local company and the owner will have to pay for the survey. Fosses are even more strict. Most houses over 30 years need to have new ones installed to meet new requirements.A new fosse is about 7000 Euros.
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Had our Border Collie's teeth cleaned by the vet today and she also gave her nails a trim 67euros and a happy dog. Madame vet's opinion about the quarantine situation is that if a dog has been vaccinated in Turkey and then has a blood test in France and it gives a satisfactory result the dog could then travel to England. That is not the law though.
The weather today is warmer about 28degrees and sunny, good for golf!Deisel here is between 1.11 and 1.15euro so not too bad for trips out.
There is a spa town near here called Bagnoles de lorne. Before the first world war about 1900 it was built up in the Belle Epoque style(which means beautiful) for the use of the super rich such as royal families and then after the war American film stars such as Charlie Chaplin visited and a Casino,race track and nine hole golf course built in the art deco style. It still is used by wealthy people for cures. There is a lovely lake and park in the town. The casino is next to the lake and still in action and owned by Americans. The Lido restaurant in the middle of town is still as it was originally built with all the original fittings and is very welcoming,even if you have a dog with you.Lovely food too.
There is a newsagents in our local village which has a small cafe attached which serves coffee,wine and beers. In the cafe you can put bets on or play a game called Rapido which is popular.There are various forms of gambling and it is all looked after by Madame who owns it and is a typical of a lot of newsagents in the villages. Really nice way to gamble if you fancy a flutter. :)
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I have been bought a WAHL dog grooming set and tried it out on our Border Collie.I put the grade 6 fitting on which is about one inch and found using it really easy. I did her tail and ears carefully and just trimmed the very ends of the hair and after a shower she looks really smart.I think she felt good too!
There is a manor house in the Loire Valley called Clos Luce where Leonardo da Vinci spent the last four years of his life after crossing the Alps on a mule with only three of his pictures,one of which was the Mona Lisa. The French King Francis 1 invited him to use the house and supplied him with a pension as Leonardo was old and frail. In the basement IBM have built models from Leonardo's designs and children can play in large models built from his plans in the garden.The entry is 12.50 euros in the high season for adults and 9 euros low season. There are some tourist facilities there and a picnic ground.
Francis 1 was a friend and ally to the Turkish Sultan of the time who had married a feisty harem girl from the Ukraine known as Roxelana.After having a punch up with the Sultan's current favourite and getting her banished from the harem Roxelana married the Sultan.
French law is quite strange. A local lady inherited her fathers farm and when she married it became her husband's. On his death it automatically becomes the property of all the children.The problem is if one of the children cannot be traced or is not able to make decisions because of illness the property is left in limbo regarding sale. The effect of this is that there are houses left in villages and towns which are just crumbling away. I think the law is changing soon though.
The weather here at the moment is lovely. Temperature about 22c and a light breeze. The blackberries that are growing in the hedgerows are really juicy and in the garden the raspberries and blackcurrants are doing well. There are also cabbages,lettuces and assorted vegetables growing well too. The potatoes here are lovely and there are lots of different types to choose from.
I shall find it a real culture shock to go back to England now. There are days when I never see a car and it is so quiet.
I walked into the nearest small town about 10 kilometres away the other day and there is a cave cellar there which sells a selection of wine and Taittinger Champagne. Need the car for the next visit.:D
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Choice of food here is really good.There is beef,lamb,pork,duck,rabbit and all sorts of fish. I have really enjoyed having scallops for a meal. In the fruit and veg dept there is a great choice,lots of different types of lettuce and tomatoes,not just one. I have tried some of the ready meals from a tin or freezer pack and they are good quality. Wine prices can be from as little as under a euros to the sky is the limit really depending on what you want. Le Mutant is a cheap supermarket here.
I have found that if you live here you can buy a regular traveller card for about 70pounds to cross on the ferry and this gives you discounts for travelling back to the UK. If you are going for over 10 days it can be as much as 30per cent discount and a free cabin and breakfast voucher. A lot of things in France are dearer than England so it is worth going across the channel for a big shop sometimes. A lot of goods are not available in France that we have in England.
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Keep the info coming, I love your updates and it is making France look more and more inviting.
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Really look forward to all your blogs, puts everyone,s mind at rest a little that there is a great way to be able to bring your animals back to England, without stressing them, hope this will mean that less people decide to not dump their animals at Uzumlu, or worse still just in the street. An animal is for life, not for just while you,re in Turkey
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I have heard that there are people who are living in Europe who will look after your pet for six months and enable them to have a passport. I don't know of any personally but maybe that is another way that you could avoid quarantine kennels.
We sometimes use a kennel here for our dogs if we are away on a trip and it is really excellent. An Essex lady and her family run the kennels and cattery on her small farm,she also has horses. The conditions are very clean and well organised and the French authorities are very strict on checking everything.
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Where we are living I can see a tower in the distance that is called the Belvedere and marks the highest place in Northern France. It is quite a remote spot in the middle of huge forests and no one was there when we climbed it. The view from the top is a panorama over the countryside and is very beautiful.The area has picnic seating and is popular with cyclists. Fishing lakes here are popular too with both men and women fisherfolk (mainly carp,some tench). The area near to it is called the Alpes Mancelles and in the winter it snows and looks like Switzerland as the houses are often similar to the Swiss chalets with wooden shutters.
I met a lovely old lady today in her eighties who had never left the local village and the high spot of her life was meeting American soldiers in the area in 1944. She has never even seen the sea. The farmer who is my neighbour has a field next to his house which has every car parked in it that he as owned since the age of 17!There are about 15 of them just sitting in a field!
In a few weeks the wine lorries will be in the area selling wine from tankers. You take your own containers along to the lorry which is parked somewhere and they sell you wine by the litre!!!!:DVive la France!
It is very easy to garden here, there are loads of sweet peas growing up the fences and also fruit bushes in the hedges. It us misty in the morning when I go out and then the sun starts shining on the spiders webs in the forest grasses and the day warms up and is very pleasant.http://www.normandie-chambres.co.uk/gardens_normandy.html
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So Cardinal Walter Casper says that landing at Heathrow is like landing in a third world country. Well I suggest he visits Rome train station and has a look at the state of the trains arriving there! Crossing Italy I was amazed how much the country is covered in graffiti.The scams pulled by the taxi drivers are legendary too!
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As part of the plan for returning to the UK we bought a house in the UK about 15 months ago. We let it to a couple that were highly recommended by friends and we got very good references about them as well. It was a bad mistake as they have caused so much damage to the house. I terminated the tenancy at the end of August and they assured me that the house is clean and tidy. I went back 10 days ago thinking I will need to spend a couple of days just doing the odd little job. I opened the door and when i looked at the state of the place my jaw nearly hit the ground. Every where was filthy and the walls had big holes where they had banged nails in to put up pictures. They had more pictures in the house than there are hanging in the National Gallery. Dirt and grease all over the carpets and the oven had never been cleaned, it took me 8 hours of hard scrubbing and washing to get it into a fit state.
They smashed the sink in the bathroom. The garden was totally overgrown. The children were allowed to write on the walls with coloured pencils.They had 2 dogs and they were never exercised and they did their toilet on the covered driveway. 3 gallons of jeyes fluid cannot get rid of the whole smell.I am having a specialist company coming to sort it out.
I just cannot understand how people can show total disrespect for others property.
I wish I had just opened the door and let some squatters in as I am sure they would have kept it cleaner.
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Charlie Chaplin American?
Birth name: Charles Spencer Chaplin; Born: 16 April 1889, Walworth, London, England, UK ...
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Have just returned from a long walk with the dogs. The weather is still glorious but there has been a couple of cooler days recently and a little rain,today it is in the 20c area. There are holly trees growing in the woods and two of them are about forty foot high,one has berries and one doesn't. Heather is also growing everywhere and some very exotic looking fungi and toadstools.
We recently visited the coast of Brittany about ninety miles away and saw Carmen performed outdoors at Le Saint Mont Michel island,lovely night with the island lit up as a backdrop. There is a small medieval village on the island with shops,hotels,restaurants and it is good to stay there for a night. The tide rushes in over the sand when it comes in and is very dangerous to anyone walking on it.There are loads of really steep steps up to the Abbey but it is worth visiting. St Michaels Mount off Cornwall is linked with the Abbey. Sheep that graze on the local marshes are well known for the meat they produce and the distinctive flavour. Loads of tourist facilities are in the area which is a change from where we live.
Further along the Brittany coast a photograph was taken in 1989 by Jean Guichard of the lighthouse at La Jumet island being swamped by a wave and just missing the lighthouse keeper. The photographer was in a helicopter and the action is on google video too. http://www.alphapix.com/animvague.shtml
We are in a more rural location and the highlight this week will be a Marathon de Crepe or pancake race!
I have seen a lot of elderly retired people in the area who go for a walk in high vis vest and thought that maybe there is a law in France to wear them but I was told this week it is due to the vests being given away as a free gift with petrol!:DApparently on the spot fines are issued for non working lights in Europe so carry spares if you plan to drive over to Turkey. In Switzerland pedestrians often have right of way.
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We are seeing the first signs of autumn in that the trees are starting to lose their leaves and the evenings are cooler. The nights are starting to draw in and it is dark by 9.30pm. The autumn colours in the forests are fantastic. You have the classic of the sun shining through the branches and the trees in contrast casting dark shadows. This combined with the light reflecting on the spiders webs making them look like they are covered in silver.The brown leaves falling from the trees drifting slowly to the ground. I stand in the middle of the forest with only the sound of the birds for company watching these sights waiting for our dog, Lennie, to appear from the undergrowth. Even the ferns are now now turning a rustic colour. The farm animals just lazing around in the fields eating grass and seem perfectly at ease.It is the end of harvest time and many tractors and lorries are on the roads transporting the hay bales to the barns for winter feed.The fields that were golden a couple of months ago have been fertilized and are now green giving the landscape a totally different feel and look.
Most of the tourists have gone, not that there were many in the first place.This part of France has got the pace of life spot on.
It is really the first time that I have taken time to look at nature and what is around me.Most of our lives we spend rushing around and too busy to appreciate what nature gives us.
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How will you ever be able to leave there? It all sounds so perfect.
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We are enjoying living here in France but I would not say things are perfect. There is virtually no public transport and without a car I think things would be tough here. Social life is very much a family thing and the ex pat community which is in the area is small and scattered over a large area. Not everyone would like the quiet life.Farming is the main occupation here and that means early to bed for people except when they are working flat out 24 hours a day to harvest the crops. The expats we have met are here because they have a small farm raising sheep,growing apples and keeping horses or dogs.We have not found the French unfriendly,indeed I think the ladies I have met would love a good gossip but our French language skills are not that good,we are working on that though and do try to speak French. If you can master the language to a reasonable level I think the French are quite ready to chat with you about anything.Winter is on the way now and we are told that it is very likely to snow and be cold for a few months,indeed it is a bit like the Alps near here. If you like the rural lifestyle it is a good area for that lifestyle and anyone who wants to start a business connected to rural living would do well I think. We are retired and I think it would be hard to find work here. Maybe we will be back. Once you reach retirement age it means you qualify for health care here and only have to have a top up insurance which costs probably about 1200euros for a couple. Some long term illnesses are treated free of charge.
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Busy today outside the cottage. Trailers loaded with some sort of crops have been driving along the lane since early this morning leaving mud on the roads. French farm machines are huge and the drivers use their mobile phones as they steer just like the Turkish drivers !! :oApples are being picked to provide Calvados and cider.
There are crepes being sold in the village square today and we bought some to have with lemon and sugar. I enjoy cuisine des regions which is food from the local area. Vegetarians are not catered for in the restaurants here, the fruit and vegetables are great from the shops. If you are a fan of Jaffa Cakes a lovely version of them is called Pims.
In the forest there are holly trees,ivy and big clumps of mistletoe in the higher branches of the trees. There are 140 species of trees in France and a lot of them are here.Apart from pine there are oak,chestnut,silver birch,elm as well as others I do not know the name of.
This is the season to join local clubs. Activities such as quilting,amatuer dramatics,keep fit,painting, cycling etc are all on offer and you just go to the local Mairie office to find out about them. The french are fans of Mr.Bean,Benny Hill and Midsummer Murders on the telly.
The weather here is becoming more autumnal,we may be off south soon to stay with some friends. I am hoping to cross the Millau Viaduct on the way.I hope they have somewhere to walk the dogs!
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The Millau bridge is an amazing feat of engineering and well worth a stop.Travelling from north to south there is a small service area just at the start of the bridge to see the bridge in all it's glory.
Enjoy
Fi
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Did Ovacik and Daffodil, make it back to the UK with there dogs, anybody know, or heard any news[?]
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(http://i1095.photobucket.com/albums/i478/gloworm16/GloriasPics425.jpg)
Hi still in France, have been staying with friends and living some of the time on the French waterways, lovely scenery. (http://i1095.photobucket.com/albums/i478/gloworm16/GloriasPics420.jpg)
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(http://i1095.photobucket.com/albums/i478/gloworm16/GloriasPics397.jpg)
(http://i1095.photobucket.com/albums/i478/gloworm16/GloriasPics398.jpg) This is one of the village ponds that our big dog loves jumping in, we have to be careful that he does not upset any fishing areas!:D
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There are a lot of medievil towns along the sriver and they usually have a castle or other historic building to visit in the town somewhere as well as some interesting shops.This one was Mayenne and we visited the castle there.(http://i1095.photobucket.com/albums/i478/gloworm16/GloriasPics387.jpg)(http://i1095.photobucket.com/albums/i478/gloworm16/GloriasPics391.jpg)
Weather was better when I took this photo.
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Lovely piccys and nice to hear from you....
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Nice to see that you've finally cracked posting pictures on here. ;)
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Thank you, I hope that all is going well with you! :)Have a good Christmas!
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We were staying near to Lyons recently and it is a lovely city. The Soane and the Rhone rivers meet at Lyon.
This time of year people put cinnammon coated candles in their windows and at light the scent of cinnammon and the lights shining out make it very pleasant to walk around especially if you buy a vin chaud (mulled wine) from a stall and have a pastry!There are also roast chestnut stalls.
The festival of lights was on this week and there are many light shows against the buildings, the whole city is involved.I saw a telephone box that looked as if it was full of butterflies,just an illusion of lights of course! :) It is easy to walk around and see the shows or you can catch a metro or bus. The Lumiere brothers developed what became the modern cinema in Lyon and there is a museum here. They were working for their father who was a photographer and although others were developing moving pictures,they were the first to show them to a large audience and not just at home.
There are many restaurants to choose from and there are beautiful buildings and museums to visit. Silk used to be moved around the town under covered walkways and the walkways between the buildings are still there if you fancy a wander.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PurWSe9lklM&feature=channel
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5h8lS_Av5dw
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Mulled wine is good to drink outside on a cold day and I made some.
I bottle of fruity red wine
4 cinnammon sticks
orange zest, not the pith
4 tablespoons of granulated sugar
2 cardammon pods
5 whole cloves
To put separately in the glass cup third of a bottle of cognac.
Simmer all the ingredients apart from the cognac until the sugar dissolves(don't boil)and a steam appears when you lift a spoon out. Strain, and pour on top of 2teaspoons of cognac. This is served in a glass which has a metal holder in the street markets.
Yule log which is a sponge cake coated in chocolate icing is very popular and is often eaten as a dessert.Some of them are really elaborate designs and very realistic. Profiteroles are popular too.
There are about 400 cheeses to choose from and one I like is Beafort,it is creamy with a hint of honey, really good in a toasty or fondue.
We ate out at one restaurant and they gave us grapes to dip under a chocolate fountain, that was fun and tasted good.
I have not seen Christmas crackers for sale in France, perhaps they do not have them as we do in Britain.
The dogs are fine and having plenty of walks but have to be kept on a lead now we are not in the forests so much.
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A couple of weeks ago we visited the medieval village of Perouges which is not far out of Lyon heading towards the Alps. The village is built on a hilltop overlooking the Ain river plain and was famous once for producing cloth and there are hooks still in the walls where the cloth was hung. The streets are cobbled and the village is still very medieval in appearance so is used for a film set sometimes. Children play in the school playground which is about 500 years old. There are flower boxes about the houses and it is very pretty. As you can imagine it is very perfect looking and a big tourist attraction.
There were a group of singers performing what I think is called Polyphonic singing which is lovely, just singers no backing of any sort.I think the group were from Bulgaria but it is practiced in countries like Georgia and Macedonia as well.
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Earlier this year we stayed on a boat on the Canal du Midi over towards the Pyrenees and Spain. The canal was built so that boats were able to go from the Atlantic Ocean to the Meditteranean without sailing around the Spanish coast where Barbary pirates would attack and the Spanish demanded high taxes. Women were among the thousands of people employed to build it not just for labouring but engineering skills as well.
Along the towpaths thousand of trees are growing and it is a lovely place to go for a walk or bike ride. The trees provide shade and the leaves dropping into the canal sink and help prevent the water draining away.
I met a man whe went truffle hunting with his dog(truffles are a sort of underground mushroom)he showed me how his dog found the truffle and dug it up.They seem to like growing under oak trees. Apparently the smell is similar to an armpit!!!"These things can sell for a thousand euros a kilo. They must be mad!Black ones start about November and white ones are about June time.Black ones are cooked and white can be raw.A French lady told me to put the truffle in a screwtop jar with some eggs and make an omelette with the eggs and it would be flavoured with the truffle,but not to leave the truffle in for more than a day as they go off like mushrooms.It was lovely.You can eat them with pasta and lots of other dishes as well.
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Hope to see something of Paris for Christmas/New Year. Joyuex Noel to everyone.
http://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=eiffel+tower+at+++christmas+youtube&docid=303683208438&mid=00D6AC0A66316309613000D6AC0A663163096130&FORM=VIRE7#:D
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It is the time for skiing in the Alps and we met people who were heading off to Courcheval for a week on the slopes.Some of them had been to Palendoken in Turkey to ski and they said it was good there but had very little to do in the evening in the way of enterainment.
We have arranged to stay on a boat in Paris, this meant the dogs are able to be with us.The boat belongs to the daughter of our neighbours in England and they brought it across the channel and moored it up in the centre of Paris at the moment they are away though so we are using it. Luckily we are able to heat it and are very comfortable.
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Sounds ideal, Christmas on a boat in the heart of Paris. So jealous.
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All the best to you Eric and Fiona for Christmas.
I wish for peace in the world and my thoughts go out to anyone with loved ones away fighting this Christmas season.
There are a lot of different nationalities on the neighbouring boats and we have had a Christmas Lights competition with each boat doing something with lights. The prize a bottle of wine. We also managed an impromptu carol sing but what with the wine flowing and all the different languages it became hysterically funny:D
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It has been very cold and snowy, glad we were not driving much. There are plenty of Christmas lights in the shops and on a walk along the streets.
I have been trying out the French food out. pisaladiere is a similar to a pizza with onions,garlic and herbs,really good. I have cooked plenty of onion or butternut soup to warm us up too.Hot chocolate is really good with cream and marshmellows on top and in a big breakfast cup. Tartiflette is popular with skiers and is a potato recipe.
There are plenty of shops to look around and one called Laduree sells macarons in loads of flavours the boxes that the macarons are sold in are a lovely pastel colour with a design on. Chocolate shops are interesting too, real works of art. I have seen them all over France.
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And the same to you Gloria and Gerry, have a good new year and keep the info coming.
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We have made it back to England now after crossing the channel on the ferry. We had the dogs checked at the vets for ticks and fleas not more than 48 hours and not less than 24 hours before we crossed. At the port in Calais we were handed a machine to give them the reading of the dogs chips and then allowed on the boat once they were checked. Our dogs had to stay in the car whilst we went upstairs but they appeared to have slept on the crossing and were asleep when we returned to the car,good to know they were not distressed!
After the wide open space of France and the quiet roads English roads seem so busy!
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Paris was fun. The weather was cold and snowy at times but there is so much to see and do.
I visited the Musee d'Orsay which was once a railway station terminal in Paris for south west France. The station has been converted into an art gallery for impressionist paintings,furniture and sculpture. The original giant station clock is still there and the building is really light and airy and very attractive. Good restaurant too!
The department stores of Galeries Lafayette, Printemps and Bon Marche are lovely.The art nouvea domed ceilings are works of art. Being Christmas there were decorations everywhere and the theme was Abba in one store with dancing teddies and dolls.
There is a small shop called E. Dehillerin which sells kitchen equipment to professionals and is really old fashioned. The sales assistants seem to train at the Basil Fawlty school of charm !If you like buying cooking tools it is a great place though.
We enjoyed listening to the gypsy jazz being played in some of the cafes and people seemed to just walk in and join in playing instruments which they had with them. There was quite a lot of latino dancing in some cafes too, tango dancing especially.
With the weather being cold I was glad to stay in the warm and read a book too, Emile Zola is surprisingly good to read.It is a bit like a french version of Upstairs Downstairs and Dickens mixed together.
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Well done Daffodil great ending to your travels, hope lenny's ok ;)
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Lenny is fine! He loves to be brushed and lies out on the floor stretching his legs out for me to brush them. He has been enjoying walking along parts of the Seine and appreciating the sculptures and gardens where he was allowed. :)
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No, I was asking about Lenny not Gerry ;):D:D
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:DI will let him know you said that!
Gerry is fine.We had a good time New Years Eve on a dinner cruise along the Seine near the sparkling Eiffel Tower dancing the tango!Happy New Year to you!
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You to take care:D ;)
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Thank you, found this clip on French cafe funny.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iskBfH6bv3c
:D
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The maximum number of pets you can take transport across Europe is five.
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The journey has finally ended and the dogs are safely and legally in England. There were times when I wished that we had taken some course of action to circumvent the Pet passport scheme. I am now glad that we did not and did everything by the book. This was brought home to me by an old episode of Heartbeat that was shown on ITV3 a couple of days ago.
The basis of the story was that a former army officer and his family brought a dog back illegally and hid it in a caravan. The dog had escaped and was running wild on the Yorkshire moors.A local garage attendant was in contact with the dog and the dog licked an open wound on his hand and through this he got rabies and died. This led to a panic in the area and resulted in every animal wild or not that had been found in the area being destroyed.It really brought it home to me that I had done the right thing. If an animal that I had brought into the country illegally had caused such devastation would probably drive me to thinking about suicide.
All I can say is that if you are thinking of returning to the UK with animals either put them in quarantine or do like we did have them vaccinated and live on mainland Europe for 7 months. Remember it can take up to 6 months for an animal to show signs of rabies
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Well done guy's. When you start your French experience you will have to let us all know. Good luck Gerry and Gloria.
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Thanks Eric, best wishes to you and Fiona. The next adventure will start in about 15 months.
You never know but maybe one day we will meet in France. Have a gastronomic feast and few bottles of good cheap plonk.
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Just a little update on our Turkish dog Lennie. He has settled in well in England but he has not lost the street dog mentality. He will jump our 6ft fences any chance he gets and goes off for a wander. A couple of weeks ago he caused a big traffic jam because he took it upon himself to sit in the middle of the road in the middle of the town.. He has got himself and me well known in the town. Most people do not know his name and call him the Turkish dog. In his travels he has finished up in the dog pound a couple of times.
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A dog with Turkish atttitude...so funny, lol
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Lenny and Holly our dogs have now ventured out to the west of Ireland and can go no further in Europe.
We crossed to Dublin on an Irish Ferries trip (Lithuanian ship and crew were excellent), we then called in at a beautiful services once out of Dublin and were served by Polish staff, on reaching our destination we became a little lost and asked the way from some very nice ladies, (Bolivian). There really is an international feel about the place.
Our cottage is deep in the countryside and the window boxes are in full bloom with flowers. The peat fire was soon burning and the two donkeys in the field at the back came over to see what was happening, also a couple of skewbald ponies. There are buttercups,daisies,clover and yellow iris growing in the fields and hedgerows. The dogs really enjoyed their walks. Everything is so green it really is the emerald isle.
We have bought some of the lovely fish for sale and tried Dillusk which is seaweed which you boil in milk. A man sells it from a van along with Carrageen Moss which you boil and drink the liquid as a cure for colds.
We visited lots of the west of Ireland and a couple of golf courses are links which are really lovely. Strandhill and Inishcrone.
The dogs have now travelled as far across Europe as they can go before swimming to America so that is their journey over!:D
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quote:
Originally posted by Daffodil
Lenny and Holly our dogs have now ventured out to the west of Ireland and can go no further in Europe.
We crossed to Dublin on an Irish Ferries trip (Lithuanian ship and crew were excellent), we then called in at a beautiful services once out of Dublin and were served by Polish staff, on reaching our destination we became a little lost and asked the way from some very nice ladies, (Bolivian). There really is an international feel about the place.
Our cottage is deep in the countryside and the window boxes are in full bloom with flowers. The peat fire was soon burning and the two donkeys in the field at the back came over to see what was happening, also a couple of skewbald ponies. There are buttercups,daisies,clover and yellow iris growing in the fields and hedgerows. The dogs really enjoyed their walks. Everything is so green it really is the emerald isle.
We have bought some of the lovely fish for sale and tried Dillusk which is seaweed which you boil in milk. A man sells it from a van along with Carrageen Moss which you boil and drink the liquid as a cure for colds.
We visited lots of the west of Ireland and a couple of golf courses are links which are really lovely. Strandhill and Inishcrone.
The dogs have now travelled as far across Europe as they can go before swimming to America so that is their journey over!:D
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This information is not up to date now. I am not sure if it is necessary to spend six months in Europe.Checking with defra and a vet to clarify the situation may be the best idea.
http://www.defra.gov.uk/news/2011/12/30/new-rules-will-make-it-easier-to-travel-with-pets/