Road trips, mountain walks and holidays

Sun, flowers, and spring The next morning, after the usual grey April day in Riga, we were awakened by the rays of the sun – our break in Germany had begun exceptionally well! From the window we had a fantastic view towards vineyards and all kinds of flowering shrubs and trees; we felt like on a real spring holiday! We planned to visit Baden–Baden and at the end of our trip visit Mainau Island. To enjoy these fantastic changes, immediately after breakfast we went for a walk around the town and without realizing it, reached the next town. The Easter morning service had just ended, the clock was approaching noon, and the local Germans were slowly gathering for family lunches at local pubs. Great tradition – in most cases, at least three generations of people gathered around the tables. Before moving on to Mainau Island in Germany, after visiting the thermal pools and sauna complex in Baden-Baden, we walked around the city, which has both its unique charm and something special, such as th...

There are so many places to visit in Dorset. This is another post about a day out near Bournemouth. One Sunday, we got plenty of sunshine and decided to go to the south-eastern part of the Isle of Purbeck – some 20 miles (30 kilometres) from Poole. It could have been less if we decided to use Sandbanks Ferry (it would only be about 12 miles away), however, we decided to drive by car. Durlston Country Park and National Nature Reserve We intended to have a little Sunday hike, so we went directly to Durlston Country Park parking. The only way to get there is to drive through Swanage because that is the only road to access the country park and when you reach it that also is the end of that road. The good news is that they have a nice parking lot and prices are reasonable. For example, if you only wish to visit the castle and the Great Globe, one hour would be enough and parking would cost you £2; parking is located next to the castle. If you wish to have a little walk along the coast and o...

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...

Many of you may know Morocco’s coastal city Agadir, however, there are many places in Morocco with the name agadir. In general, the name agadir in the Berber language means wall, enclosure, or fortified building. Those usually were used as granaries and storage of another different kind of goods. About Agadir Inoumar There are lots of these old buildings all around Morocco, although most of them are almost collapsed and forgotten. One of these buildings, Agadir Inoumar, was our destination during our trip to Morocco. We were told by people living in Morocco to go to visit Agadir Inoumar. At that time we did not have any idea about where are we going to see. We just got some guidance regarding the route to go. Have to mention that often Google Maps are useless in Morocco; I even contributed by drawing a new route after we returned from this trip, however, for some reason, it was not accepted by Google. After our visit we got excited about this topic and we found a good article about Ber...

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 ...

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...

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...

The ancient city of Dubrovnik While travelling around Dalmatia, we visited the city of Dubrovnik, called the pearl of the Adriatic. Dubrovnik is one of the most impressive cities in Europe. By that, I do not mean its size, but rather feelings. When you walk along the city walls and the ancient streets, you get a feeling that you returned to ancient times, because the surrounding architecture has practically not changed over the centuries. Dubrovnik’s Old Town has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1979. This city is one of the most visited destinations on the Adriatic coast, although the city has a population of less than 50 thousand. The city had its heyday in the 15th and 16th centuries when it was a strong city-state, but in 1991, when war broke out between Serbia and Croatia after the break-up of Yugoslavia, the city suffered quite severely from firing, although visitors no longer felt it. The only inconvenience if you drive your car may be finding a parking space; once you fi...

Visiting Abbotsbury Swannery in Dorset We have visited Abbotsbury Swannery twice; the first time at the end of March and the second time at the beginning of May when new swans and other birds just had the first new babies born. Either of the visits was nice and we would go there again even just to have a nice walk around and enjoy this peaceful relaxing place in the company of these amazing creatures. The Swannery was established by Benedictine Monks in the 11th century where they farmed the swans to produce food – how practical! They say that the Abbotsbury Swannery is home to the world’s only managed colony of nesting mute swans, although that is not the only thing you will find there. From the entrance gate, you will have to walk almost one kilometre (about 2,400 feet) to reach the colony of swans; free car parking is located in front of the entrance. On the way to Swannery, you will find other attractions such as a labyrinth and a small ricing arena where usage of pedal-driven mea...

West Dorset About an hour's drive from Bournemouth to the west there is a really beautiful small town West Bay . The trip itself is very nice because West Dorset has amazing scenery; on almost all routes you will drive up and down hills. Sometimes, from the top of the hills, you can see the English Channel and even the coastline. West Bay is a small resort town, located to the south of Bridport, about 15 miles from Weymouth, with its own pier, harbour, marina and tourist attractions for visitors of all ages. There are many guest houses, hotels, self-catering cottages, apartments and camping parks in and around West Bay. The area is part of the Jurassic Coast, a World Heritage Site; the whole length of the Jurassic Coast coastline is almost 100 miles (154 kilometres). The history of the town started when a railway was extended from Bridport to Bridport Harbour in 1884; the new harbour station was named West Bay. Soon after that, they started building villas and houses to attract tou...