Road trips, mountain walks and holidays

Istrian Peninsula The Istrian peninsula is one of Croatia’s many peninsulas, but it differs from many others because it is located in the north of the country. It borders Slovenia and Italy. In general, the territory of the peninsula is shared by these three countries, but the majority (almost 90%) belongs to Croatia. Italians call the peninsula Istria. The Istrian peninsula is the largest peninsula on the Adriatic Sea. In order to understand more about its dimensions, I will just mention the distance from Pula to the Slovenian border is around 60 kilometres, and to the Italian border 80 kilometres in a straight line (it will definitely be much more when driving on the road). Istria is also known for the fact that truffles grow there – mushrooms that are used as an addition to food, especially pasta dishes. The largest city in the Croatian part is Pula, located in the very south of the peninsula, but the Slovenian city of Koper and the Italian city of Trieste are even larger. Pula has

I have already written quite a lot about traveling to Croatia , but here I will summarize how to get there by car from Latvia. Even though we have been flying everywhere for the last decade, we have mostly driven by our car to Croatia. We have also seen other cars with Baltic and Polish license plates in Croatia, so we are by no means the only ones and this information may be useful to someone else. The usual route is as follows: Riga – Warsaw (Poland) – Bratislava (Slovakia) – Graz (Austria) – Maribor (Slovenia) – Zagreb (Croatia). This is also the option offered by Google Maps. What happens after arrival to Zagreb is entirely up to you, depending on where else you have decided to go. There are people who prefer to drive through the Czech Republic, but staying overnight in the Czech Republic (not to mention Austria) can be quite expensive. If you are going to relax by the sea, then you should take into account that it is practically impossible to visit all the regions of Croatia at on

Sunny beaches in February It’s a fantastic feeling – after the darkest winter months, in February to enjoy the sun and ocean waves! In the second half of February, we went with friends to one of the islands of the Canary Archipelago – Tenerife. Tenerife – this holiday destination is chosen by more than 5 million tourists every year, so our choice was not accidental. Although the hot season in Tenerife does not start in February, it has its positive side – the island is not crowded with tourists. Although, some attractions, such as tastings and visiting banana fields are not open to visitors that early. The good news is that the Canary Islands are the European Union because they belong to Spain. Another benefit – in Tenerife, due to its mild climate, a lot of Brits spend winter months and you may be able to freely communicate in English, which makes holidays even more enjoyable. Arrival to Tenerife Just before we arrived in Tenerife, several Atlantic cyclones had blustered in northern T

When we were planning our trip to Tenerife, we already knew that around this time there was an annual Tenerife Carnival, which is the second largest in the world after the Rio de Janeiro Carnival. After visiting Loro Park, we went to the centre of Puerto de la Cruz to see what was going on there. And it was really impressive! The city streets were full of people in carnival costumes; fun, joy and music were all around. So, we also joined the crowd and enjoyed this fantastic atmosphere until midnight when we had to go back to the hotel. Sightseeing The next day, we went to the northwest of the island. When we found out that the attractions we were planning to visit were not open for tourists, we went to La Laguna (full name: San Cristobal de La Laguna); the historic centre of this city has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1999 and we decided it should be worth to visit it. La Laguna has long been the capital of the Canary Islands, but today it has merged with the recent capital o

This is the first post from the series about our trip to Morocco in 2020. It was planned as a ten-day long holiday, however, we ended up being under lockdown for almost three months due to COVID first-wave restrictions. We could have stayed there even longer but fortunately British Embassy in Morocco helped us to get back to the UK on one of their organised rescue flights early in June. Arrival to Morocco We arrived at Agadir Al-Massira International Airport just before midnight in the middle of March. Later on, it appeared to be the last international flight allowed to land there for quite a while, although nobody was expecting this at that time – we had booked a return flight with EasyJet, which never happened after at least five cancellations we had the patience to go for. Agadir airport is located about 15 miles (20 kilometres) away from the city centre; to get there we booked a private taxi service in advance. The flight was slightly delayed, so we had to get in touch with the co

A real paradise on earth This was a very short and exciting trip in June 2010. The trip to Sardinia island, the second-largest island in the Mediterranean, lasted only 4 days. However, considering that the sun is shining all day long in Sardinia, the sea is beautiful, and nature pampers everybody with warm evenings – even two weeks may be too short to enjoy all this beauty. Sardinia could be a place to return to again and again. Arrival to Sardinia We arrived at Alghero Airport on a Ryanair flight from Frankfurt. At the airport, we immediately picked up a pre-booked car to continue our journey to the opposite part of Sardinia Island. This time we hired the car from myCarHire.co.uk, which offered good prices (for a 3-day rental we had to pay £84). This company has a large network of partners throughout mainland Europe and on many islands, so there is a lot to choose from. Costa Smeralda Late in the afternoon, we arrived at Al Saraceno Residence, located in the famous Costa Smeralda reso

One of our most loved destinations – Iceland So far, we have only been in Iceland during the winter. And we love all about it – snow, ice, glaciers, wind, lava fields, geysers and especially sunny days and Northern Lights, which we have been lucky enough to enjoy. Along with Norway, Sweden, Finland, the Faroe Islands and Denmark, Iceland belongs to Europe’s Nordic region. Iceland is a volcanic island and lies on the border between Eurasian and North American Tectonic Plates; that makes Iceland a hotspot of many active volcanos. The total area of Iceland is 102,775 square kilometres (39,682 square miles) making it No. 106 on the list of world’s countries by territory. The population of Iceland is around 346 thousand people and it is 176th in the world with a very low density of population – only 3.5 people per square kilometre. Getting around If you travel to Iceland, you may recognise that many tourist attractions are located almost like bus stops on your route. Of course, getting ther

Visiting Southern Italy was one of the most psychologically difficult journeys. Why? Hard to even say. Perhaps, the approaching winter, the self-sufficiency of the Sicilians, the harsh climate of Sicily and the landscapes around with territories delimited. In any case, we had hoped for more than we experienced visiting several regions of the country. We decided to go to Sicily again to understand this and experience more olive oil, pasta, and pizza. And who knows what else. When I was reviewing these travel notes, our last trip was to Sicily again. Some things have not changed and some appear different. However, that’s not the story here. We started our first trip to Sicily in Puglia, and that’s exactly what this story is about. Puglia The trip started in the southeast of Italy at the end of September, when we landed at Brindisi Airport, in the province of Bari, Puglia region. If you have had a look at a map of Italy, then it’s the very heel of the Italian “boot”. Puglia is washed by t

Rome, Umbria and Vesuvius This was a short trip, together with friends, to Umbria and Vesuvius in the second part of November. We arrived in Rome by plane. In advance, we agreed to rent of apartment in the centre of the city. The apartment was located just a few hundred meters from Vatican City, river Tiber and very close to many other attractions. A few days after arrival, we rented a car to reach other points of interest outside of Rome – Vesuvius, caves of stalactites and to taste some Italian food in the countryside. Italian capital Rome We were lucky with the choice of accommodation – we found a bedroom flat offered for short-term rent in Rome . Communication with the landlord agent was effective, upon arrival, we were met exactly as agreed before and accommodation was as good as we expected in terms of comfort, location and cleanness. I’d use this service again for sure. Italian capital Rome, with its 2.7 million residents and history of more than two and a half thousand years, i

 After visiting Durmitor National Park , Tara River Bridge and some challenging off-road driving we arrived at our final destination in Montenegro – Adriatic coast. Bay of Kotor Town Kotor is located along one of the most beautiful bays of Montenegro. The old town of Kotor was built during the Middle Ages, between the 12th and 14th centuries and listed as a UNESCO World Natural and Historical Heritage Site since 1979 (to be more precise, UNESCO lists the whole complex – Bay of Kotor, City of Kotor and surrounding territory). In the Middle Ages Kotor was a natural harbour on the Adriatic coast but this place was inhabited already about two thousand years ago. Our accommodation was located in Dobrota village, about 3.5 kilometres from Kotor however in reality it is sometimes even not possible to determine when one town ends on the coast and another one begins. Dobrota looks straight onto Mt. Vrmas and the seaside promenade of the town runs for several kilometres along the shore. Numerou