Road trips, mountain walks and holidays

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...

West of Scotland If you are in Glasgow and fancy to go somewhere else, you can reach an interesting place on one of the western peninsulas of the Argyll and Bute region in a few hours. The Argill and Bute region is the second largest (almost 7,000 square kilometres, larger are only the Scottish Highlands) in Scotland and borders the Stirling , Scottish Highlands and a few other regions. However, the region has low population density and, with less than 90,000 living there, it is the sixth from the bottom of the list. The region begins relatively close to Glasgow, just before Helensburg. Because of its lakes, region has two large peninsulas and three large western Scottish islands – the Isle of Islay, the Isle Jura and the Isle of Mull. There are two major roads in the region in the north-south direction and one in the east-west direction (in its northern part). The vast majority of roads are local and on many occasions those have single lane for driving in both directions. However, as...

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...

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...

This is about the second day in Cornwall. After the first day we went to the nearby local pub The Shire Inn for dinner before going to bed. It is about a 15-minute walk from the guest house we used for staying at night. The atmosphere and service were good, the food and the local Cornish beer were also delicious – just like in a gastropub. The bill surprised me a bit though – they know how to use supposedly normal prices in such a way that at the end you get a bill what is at least ten pounds more than expected. Minak Theatre In the morning, right after breakfast, we went to an interesting place – an amphitheatre built in the rocks, where real performances are held often. This place was a real surprise we got in Cornwall. The author and creator of the theatre idea was a local woman, Rowena Cade. The name Minak (meynek in the local language) means rocky place. The woman started creating theatre in the thirties of the last century. Minack Theatre is located in the very south of the pe...

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...

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...

Visiting Prague will provide you with huge positive experiences. Prague is the most visited touristic site of the Czech Republic. We have been there several times and never were bored. Visiting Prague and Czech Republic Czech Republic, also called Czechia, is a country in the Central Europe, although, due to its 20th century history it is classified here rather as belonging to Eastern Europe. Czechia has borders with Slovakia, Austria, Germany and Poland and its land territory is 77 thousand square kilometres (almost 30 thousand square miles). This is a very similar size to their neighbouring country Austria (slightly smaller) and central American country Panama (Czechia is slightly bigger). In Czechia live more than 1ten million people; majority of them are Czechs. Prague is the largest city in the Czech Republic and the 13th biggest city in the European Union; total number of the people living there is around 1.3 million (over 2.5 million in the metropolitan area). Getting there By c...