Road trips, mountain walks and holidays

Dalmatian city Split Split is the second largest city in Croatia and you can see it from far away as you approach the city. It is also the largest city in Dalmatia and the largest Croatian city on the Adriatic coast. The city has become popular with tourists, especially in recent years after episodes of the well-known TV series ‘Game of Thrones’ were filmed in the city. Split was founded by the Greeks several centuries before Christ, but a Roman imperial palace was built in the city already a few centuries AD. Around the middle of the first millennium AD, Split became the capital of the Roman province of Dalmatia. In the following period, the city passed from the Byzantines to Venetians, but also existed as an independent city-state, so its cultural heritage is impressive. Today, more than 160 thousand inhabitants live in Split, but together with the suburbs, the number of inhabitants reaches almost 350 thousand. Places to see Most of the sights are located in the old town near the se...

Primosten After spending almost two days in Grebastica, we went to our final destination in Croatia , Sevid, but on the way there was another stop – Primosten. Primosten is another picturesque town on the coast of the Adriatic Sea, right next to the D8 highway mentioned in the previous description, some 15 kilometres south of Grebastica. The town’s name is associated with a drawbridge that was once built for defence purposes, but is no longer there; part of the city is on an island now connected to the mainland. The city beach is considered one of the ten best beaches (depending on source) in Croatia and even has stationary sun umbrellas for holidaymakers (such thing is not very common in Croatia). The surrounding region is famous for its wine, and there is a vineyard right near the town. which is even included in the UNESCO world cultural heritage list. Just outside the city on the other side of the bay is another interesting sight, the statue of Our Lady of Loreto, which can be seen ...

Greece Greece is one of the countries I have been to many times, on business, leisure and in transit. However, I have never written about this country so far, so here not only about Athens, the capital of Greece, but also a little bit about Greece in general. To be honest, there isn’t much that can be said about Greece that is unknown to everyone, so at least a few figures and a little bit of history. Greece is located at the southern part of the Balkan Peninsula, covering an area of almost 132 thousand square kilometres. This is comparable to countries such as Bangladesh, Nepal, which are slightly larger than Greece and North Korea and Nicaragua, which are slightly smaller. Compared to the United States, Greece is two times smaller the size of the state of Colorado. Greece owns 227 islands, of which at least 166 are inhabited. The largest Greek islands are Crete, Evia, Lesbos, Rhodes and Chios. The area of Crete is just over 8,000 square kilometres, larger than Palestine and slightly ...

Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland Edinburgh definitely is one of the most special places, at least for me personally. Not only because we have been living there for several years. Although Edinburgh is the capital of Scotland, it is only the second largest city in Scotland, the largest being Glasgow. It is home to just over half a million people, although in summer the city’s population can even double during the touristic season. The city hosts many different festivals throughout the summer, so tourists from all over the world come there to see those and even participate. In addition, Edinburgh’s Old Town is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Getting there The Scots have done their best to make it easy to get to the city. At Edinburgh Airport, a variety of airlines live together in a friendly way. Prior to the pandemic, the airport handled almost 15 million passengers a year. For example, Riga, which is a city of similar size, accommodated only half of it (7.8 million passengers). Getting...

Glasgow is Scotland’s largest city, the fourth largest in the UK and the 27th largest in Europe. More than 600,000 people live in Glasgow today, even though the population was over 1.1 million before the middle of the 20th century. Since then, many people have moved to nearby towns and now in Grater Glasgow region live almost 1.8 million people, about a third of Scotland’s total population. What to see The city is well known for its university, founded in 1451. The university has 35,000 students from 140 countries, employs around 9,000 people and is one of the world’s top 100 universities. There are also a number of other highly ranked universities in Glasgow where young people from many parts of the world come to study. Although Glasgow has always been an industrial city, especially known for shipbuilding, it also has a very large cultural heritage. There are many museums, art galleries and exhibitions in the city, but the history can be felt simply by walking through its streets. Pop...

This is most likely be one of the last blogs about Croatia in the 2022 series. There is also something else to write about. I have written this year about such wonderful places in Dalmatia as Split, Omis, Grebastica, Sevid, Rogiznica and Primosten. Some time ago I also wrote about Dubrovnik and Dalmatia . We were in Zagreb quite a long time ago, but it is the place where our great interest in Croatia began, when we drove there with our car from Riga. So this is very good reason to end where it all began. In addition, the city has many places for tourists to see and exciting entertainment opportunities can also be found. Zagreb is the capital of Croatia with a population of less than 800 thousand people. Zagreb is the largest city in Croatia. City’s surroundings have been inhabited since the time of the Romans, but the city was founded in 1242, when the Tatars arrived in the region. The king took refuge in the city from the invaders and in gratitude allowed it to maintain its judicial...

After a a few years, we returned to Morocco again and this time our destination was Marrakesh again. Flight to Morocco Marrakech’s location in central Morocco is quite ideal for visiting other places outside the city, but of course staying in the city itself and visiting its market is always exciting. I mentioned the Marrakesh market because we are very keen on using Moroccan spices and take every opportunity to renew our stock with fresh ones. Although this time we flew from London Gatwick Airport and not from Glasgow as previously, we flew with EasyJet again. The reason is quite practical –  the flight times offered by EasyJet are much more convenient than those offered by Ryanair. If you search hard enough and find the best offers, the price differences between airlines are minimal. Another interesting observation – London Gatwick airport costs are lower, so even when flying from Riga to England, we first look to see if AirBaltic offers competitive prices. Unfortunately EasyJe...

Weekend in Rome Another title of this blog post might be ‘Back to Rome’ as we were there quite a few years ago. However, the last time we only spent part of our trip in Rome and enjoyed some time traveling outside the city. We also visited Grotte di Frasassi and Vesuvius volcano . This time, it was a trip with an aim to spend the whole weekend in Rome – we wanted to walk around the historic centre of the city and enjoy Roman food. We arrived at Termini station just before midday and the first thing to do was to have a late breakfast. There is another blog about our gastronomical experiences during this weekend. Eating was very important part of our trip and added significant value to our trip. Baths of Diocletian Just after the meal, we went to the Baths of Diocletian (Termas de Diocleciano) museum, which is a part of the larger Museo Nacional Romano . The Baths of Diocletian are a huge complex and were constructed three hundred years AD, they are located just in front of Rome Termin...

It’s so cool to wake up in the morning in the heart of Rome after a night’s sleep, when the delicious breakfast, which is included in the price of the accommodation, is already waiting in the restaurant on the rooftop terrace. Amazing feeling! All you have to do is get out of the huge bed and get dressed so that you can show up on the terrace. Colosseum On the first day in Rome, we visited a museum, so on the second day we wanted to enjoy the sunny day and fresh October day in Rome. The first thing we did right after breakfast was going to the Colosseum – after all, what would be Rome without the Colosseum? We had even been inside before, but to take a selfie in the background of the coliseum was a must. What made thing seven easier was that the Coliseum is located less than a ten-minute walk from  Monti Palace Hotel . We had a plan of going from the Coliseum subway station to our next activity – walking through the park on the other side of the city centre. However, we had t...

Central Scotland Stirling, known as the coronation place of the Scottish kings, is in central Scotland. It is often called the gateway to the Highlands because the famous region of the Scottish Highlands begins not that far from there. The city is one of the most popular tourist destinations and in the past has even been the capital of Scotland. Stirling was established as a royal city in 1130, although people have inhabited this area for about four thousand years. Stirling is around 25 miles north-east of Glasgow and less than 40 miles north-west of Edinburgh, forming a kind of a triangle on the map between these three Scottish cities; they are all well connected by modern motorways. Although Stirling has city status, it is only nineteenth of the 51 towns and cities in Scotland with a population of less than 38,000. Medieval Stirling castle and old town As the city is not too big, the old town is not large too, however, Stirling Castle , which is located at the top of a steep volcani...

Every respectful tourist destination offers travellers a wide variety of entertainment, from exhibitions, museums, and art galleries, to amusement parks and even shopping centres. After a while, something new has appeared in London and that place is worth visiting - Battersea Power Station. And this site is not even included in many tourist guides yet One of the well-known categories of these objects is landmarks. Along such famous landmarks as the Eiffel Tower in Paris, the Statue of Liberty in New York or the Colosseum in Rome the Battersea Power Station looks quite impressive. The methods of building and presenting these objects as well as their offerings to visitors can be very different, but they have one thing in common - they are all well known internationally and become symbols of those places they are located. From the second half of 2023, a new object in London has been opened for viewing and visiting. Battersea Power Station complements such existing attractions as the Londo...

The first thought that comes to mind when you hear the word Barcelona – it’s something special! It is one of Europe’s must-see cities. Like Prague, Paris, London and Rome. Straight away, I can’t even say many more similar cities in terms of the added value of the trip. The list can then be continued with Venice, Florence, Vienna, Amsterdam, Budapest and so on. This is, of course, my list and it may be different for everyone, but one thing is clear: Barcelona is a must-see place. About the city Barcelona is the capital of Catalonia, with a population of just over one and a half million people and, together with the surrounding areas (almost 5 million people), it is the second largest populated area in Spain. And of course – Barcelona is a seaside city on the Mediterranean coast. Catalonia is an autonomous region of Spain and differs from central Spain in many ways. Catalonia even has two official languages, Catalan and Spanish. The origins of Barcelona can be traced back to the beginnin...