Wednesday 18 October 2017

Holiday Souvenirs.


Both my immediate neighbours are off on their holidays; one lot to London, the others to Marrakech.

I've never bought a Straw Donkey from Spain, nor a foam Stetson from the US, but I have returned home from holidays with some quite interesting stuff.

I once returned from the US with a man in front of me on the 'plane wearing about 10 foam Stetsons piled one on top of the other! What a plonker.

We always used to buy strange, interesting looking, foods. I remember once buying small tins of Thrushes in sauce, which were not terribly nice (or PC), and I also remember my mother getting very excited over the purchase of a big, very decorative, 5 litre can of expensive Greek Olive Oil, which turned out to contain big fat green olives in brine. Her knowledge of Greek was zero; but the tin, and the olives were nice anyway!


These rustic dishes (above) come from the tiny Balearic Island of Formentera. I would have bought more but I didn't trust the baggage handlers. I've now had them for over 40 years, and we still use them daily.

                            

And these Olive wood stacking Egg Cups from the Italian Riviera seemed like a very good idea at the time, but don't get used too often. Even so, they haven't joined all those donkeys and stetsons at the tip, and remain prospectively useful. I wouldn't encourage people to buy tinned Thrushes, but there are plenty of other tinned delights awaiting you.

I've bought Argan and Patchouli Oils in Morocco, strange small 'stamped' metal depictions of ears, noses, and eyes, from Greece, and some wonderful 17th C wood carvings from Palma (which went directly to Sotheby's, and paid for the trip many times over).

Part of the fun of travel is what one brings back.

It's very nice to go trav'ling
to Paris London or Rome
Bla bla bla
But it's so much nicer to come home (with some half-decent souvenirs).


42 comments:

  1. Your little metal charms sound like Mexican Milagros.
    You use them by praying for health or protection from the Saint or for a certain body part. You pin the little charm on the Saints outfit.

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    1. I think in Greece they hang them in the churches or chapels to ask for healing magic. They're cute little objects.

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  2. My three sisters and I recently went on a short weekend trip. We went to several thrift stores and bagged vintage clothing and a set of the old Foxfire Homesteading books. Love those trinkets of travel!

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    1. Books and old clothing sounds great; much better that the Eiffel tower in a snowstorm.

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  3. Those metal charms are taken to church to blessed and hung around some miraculous icon. Hopefully your eye or nose or arm or leg will be miraculously cured....in Greece.
    Our souvenirs are usually some sort of local delicacy.
    I have some napkin rings which are very similar to your olive egg cups. They've never been used. But I've still got them in a rubbish drawer

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    1. I imagined that was what the ears noses and throats were for. A nice idea, I don't know why the C of E doesn't adopt it, and be of some practical use. Do they have ones of teeth?

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    2. Sure do, though you might want to try a dentist too!

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    3. Just the little tin picture will do, thanks.

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  4. The dishes are lovely, I would pass on the tinned thrushes... I like to buy cd's(remember them?) and t -shirts. Only this week I came in for some criticism for insisting on keeping a ragged old t-shirt, a souvenir of whale-watching out from Bar Harbor, Maine. There was not one whale sighted in the trip but they are on the t-shirt.

    Alphie

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    1. Better whales on a T shirt, than not at all. The Thrushes were OK, but were smothered in a thick bland sauce that took away any flavour they might have had. I don't expect such things are available any more; thank goodness.

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  5. Plastic gondolas, yuck!
    Greetings Maria x

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    1. I'm not keen on those Venetian masks either.

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  6. We always brought back food, for our first meal at home.

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    Replies
    1. Food is always a good idea; as long as they allow its import!

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  7. Many years ago we bought a CD of Andean pipes & drum music from a group playing in Carcasonne. The following month, we swear, we saw the same gang playing for the first time in York.

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    1. I have a feeling that every large town in the UK has a saturday Andean panpipe group. Brighton certainly has one; and they also sell the CD's.

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    2. Is it racist to say that they all look (and sound) alike?

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  8. I don't think I would eat a bird smaller than a small chicken. While not our style, I can still admire the dishes.

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    1. Wot; no Grouse, Pheasants, Quails, or Kookaburras?

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    2. I've never heard of anyone eating a kooka. I expect they would be very tough.

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  9. I have a little glazed and painted ashtray with 'ALFONSO' written on it. I don't know if it the name of a place or the ashtray is called Alfonso.

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    1. Didn't they have one with 'TOM' written on it?

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  10. I brought a husband back from a holiday once.

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    1. I'm not sure how to comment about this; I'm trying to imagine what Lady Magnon would have done in the same circumstance.

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  11. Those dishes are lovely.

    I always bring home souvenirs, but give them as gifts to others. I do have a small vase that I got from Greece though and I do treasure it, not for it’s value, but for the memories it evokes.

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    1. I think we ever brought back 'decorative' objects as such. More concerned by our stomachs I suppose.

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  12. I usually buy silver jewellery made by local artisans. Mt grandkids went mudlarking in the Thames. We brought back a bag of stones and broken pottery shards. They are still on display in their bedrooms.

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    1. I'd love to go mudlarking, and find a few 'Billy and Charlies'. I imagine the banks of the Thames are littered with treasure.

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    2. It was fun and free and something different in London. They still talk about that and the falcons at the Tate Modern.

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  13. This year I bought back a block of Carrara marble the size of a man's head and looked like one which I found on a beach in Tuscany. I gave it to a friend of mine who can do things with such.

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    1. That must be the most original souvenir ever!

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  14. I bought some Argan oil in Marrakesh to save myself from a "clinic" I had been taken to to meet the brother of someone in the souk. It is a long story but I willing bought far more Argan oil than I would ever use just to escape. I am still using it.

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    Replies
    1. I bought quite a large bottle from a producer, and eventually used it all.

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  15. I once bought three lovely deeply coloured plates in Marrakech - I love them

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    1. Their tiles would be wonderful to bring back, but they're far too heavy.

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  16. I am loving those plates the egg cups remind me of being a child so I hate them

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    1. I have my own special egg cup, so these one get left in the cupboard. There's not a lot going for them!

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  17. lovely dishes.
    I brought back a Maori woven bag ( made from Hakeke..NX Flax) beautiful and useful, from NZ.
    Like the dishes, supporting local makers

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    1. I often buy things from local potters, and also commission things. So much more rewarding than buying 'off the shelf'.

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  18. 'Prospectively useful' is how I would describe 2/3 of the contents of my house.

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