Road trips, mountain walks and holidays

Painted rocks near Tafraout One of the most exciting attractions near the Moroccan town of Tafraout are Painted rocks. Those are a series of mountain rocks in a large mountain valley painted in different contrasting colours. Initially, rocks were painted in 1984 by the Belgian artist Jean Vérame who also painted rocks in other countries, such as France, Egypt and Chad. Before visiting Painted Rocks, we read several negative reviews on the internet regarding this place. The reason for criticism was the fact that there was not much paint left on the rocks due to natural erosion and animals, especially goats, climbing on rocks. However, we were lucky; when we visited Painted Rocks in 2020, all the rocks were freshly painted without any signs of erosion. Getting there There are at least three options for how to get to the painted rocks depending on your preferences- hiking, cycling or by car. Directions below are given assuming that you would start your trip from the centre of Tafraout, ne...

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...

After spending a few days in Agadir we were ready to go to our next destination in the direction of Tizgui. We had booked accommodation in a small hotel in the mountains near Paradise Valley for a very good price – Hotel Restaurant Tifrit (coordinates: 30.599090, -9.497355 ). Honestly, we were very keen to move out from Agadir as it already was clear that Morocco was going into total lockdown because of COVID and we had a feeling that it would be easier to live in less populated areas rather than attract the attention of local authorities in the city. The hotel had quite a few other guests from France and the Netherlands, although those came to Morocco a while before we arrived and were already looking for ways to get back to their home countries; all regular flights from/to Morocco were stopped and people were hoping to board on one of the rescue flights. Before leaving Agadir we stocked up with some food and drinks just in case as we planned to hike in the nearby mountains and there ...

Visiting the Etna volcano was a part of our trip to southern Italy and Sicily. Location and basic facts Mount Etna is an active volcano located in the eastern part of the largest Italian island Sicily, near Catania city. Like many other active volcanos, it is located in the area between two large geological plates, the Eurasian Plate and the African Plate in this case. Etna is active almost all the time. The height of Mount Etna is 3350 metres (10,900 ft) above sea level, it covers an area of around 1190 square kilometres and is the biggest active volcano in Italy. Etna is a stratovolcano, which means it is a typical conical volcano with a caldera built up by many layers of hardened lava. Another Italian volcano, Vesuvius, is also a stratovolcano, although it is not as active as Etna and is only half of the size of Etna. Mount Etna is one of the most active volcanos in the world, it was added to the UNESCO World Heritage list in 2013. The last most serious eruption of Etna followed by ...

At the very end of April, we went for a quick trip to the Czech Republic. Perhaps, the most famous destination of the Czech Republic is its capital Prague, however Nord-Eastern part of the country, the region of Bohemia, is very exciting and attractive because of the mountains and local traditions. The whole Bohemian region covers about two-thirds of the Czech Republic. We had plans to visit a factory producing glass and crystal according to the old traditions, a local brewery (Czech beer has been always tasty and of high quality), spend some time hiking in the mountains near Adrspach and to find something else interesting in the area. Camping near Trutnov Before arrival, we found on the Internet and booked a camping Dolce Vita near the town of Trutnov (address: Dolce Vita, Oblanov 37, 54101 Trutnov, Czech Republic). Camping offers apartments in cottages located near a lake. Camping is located about two kilometres away from the main road, however, it is easy to find it. The cottage its...

French Alps and Provence Everybody has some opinion about France. We have been to France many times, however most exciting was our three weeks long trips around the country in August of 2007. The first part of it was visiting the French Alps and Provence, afterwards continuing a trip to the exceptionally nice town of Rocamadour. This part of the trip (especially before arrival to the French Alps and Provence), apart from the mountains, was mostly related to food and fermented grape juice. The second part of the trip (the Atlantic coast and Paris) was mostly relaxing. It included camping near the Atlantic Ocean, and Disneyland in Paris and ended with champagne tasting near Reims. Our trip around France started with tasting in the capital of Burgundy – Beaune . We stayed at a pretty good hotel Stars Beaune – comfortable enough for the price we paid for it. The hotel was located not far away from the main road and it was especially convenient as we arrived late in the evening. Chamonix Mo...

Driving to the west of Norway Soon after visiting a church in the south of Norway, we started to look for some camping (more on camping in Norway in my previous blog). Our plane arrived in Oslo in the afternoon and it was not possible to reach our next destination Lysefjord before midnight (there are about 400 kilometres between Oslo and our destination, and no highways are available). Generally speaking, Norway is like Scotland in terms of surrounding landscapes and nature (like in Scottish highlands you can even meet sheep on the road frequently), but Norway is a very large country. Many hours you can just drive in the middle of nowhere to reach your next destination. The good news – there are many places where you can stop, relax and enjoy fantastic landscapes and creations of nature. Norwegian fjords On the next day after arrival to Norway, we reached Lysefjord located in south-western Norway. Its rocky walls into water nearly vertically (over 1000 m), length of the fjord is about...

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...

In the middle of July, we went to Northern Italy to see the Italian Alps once again. To start our journey around the Dolomites, we arrived at Bergamo Orio Al Serio airport, picked up our Fiat (it was booked in advance, we used Economy Car Rentals as usual at that point in time) and started our journey to the mountains. Our temporary residence for about a week in the Italian Alps was supposed to be a small mountain village Canazei where we got a nice apartment for a very good price. Accommodation in the Italian Alps From Bergamo, we went to the East and then, after passing Garda Lake , turned to the North. With a few stops in some very beautiful places near a lake and further in the mountains, we reached Canazei ski resort village in the late afternoon. The landlady did not speak English at all, but with some additional help from the German language, we settled in the booked apartment, which was surprisingly large and located very centrally on the main street (we made the booking using...

Autumn trip to Switzerland This is one of the parts dedicated to our trip to Switzerland in early November. Almost immediately after crossing the German border towards Switzerland, we recognised the first mountains. It was while ago when we went to this trip and we enjoyed this beautiful landscape for the first time in our lives – that was so amazing! However, we still had a way to go and the next short stop was near Geneva Lake. It was even more impressive – a huge lake on one side and mountains all around. The Autumn colours of trees made this landscape even more beautiful and enjoyable. During the next few days there were planned two different trips – one to the capital of Switzerland Bern, and another trip to the mountains (3000 metres above sea level!) to get an even more extreme experience. As we had accommodation in the French-speaking part of Switzerland, it was interesting to visit Bern as it is located in the German-speaking part. The Old Town of Bern has been listed as a U...

 At the beginning of June, together with friends, we went to Montenegro (meaning Black Mountain) to visit Durmitor National Park and the Adriatic coast. It was exciting not only because we hadn’t been visiting this country before. On June 3rd, 2006 Montenegrin Parliament declared independence of the country (previously it was a part of Yugoslavia and various incarnations). It was interesting to find out what people think and to see how a small country starts its independent living. Montenegro has a territory of less than 14 thousand square kilometres and a population of less than one million. Arrival to Montenegro To reach our destination, we crossed Lithuania , Poland , Slovakia and Hungary, and arrived in Montenegro from Serbia, crossing those days very recently established border control points. The first stop we made was at a petrol station soon after crossing the border and were really surprised about the cleanliness and order prevailing around. Large rest area and surroundin...