Road trips, mountain walks and holidays

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 ...

Late in May we went to relax for a weekend, the destination – SPA hotel in Buckinghamshire, England. Hotel name Crowne Plaza Marlow . For those who have been to SPA hotels in countries such as Latvia, Estonia , the Czech Republic or Hungary, a Spa hotel in England may seem different from what they use to imagine  about this kind of establishment, although overall things are not that bad. About Buckinghamshire Buckinghamshire is a county in the south-east of England, but to make it clearer, it is located to the west from London. It borders Greater London to the south-east, Oxfordshire to the west and a few other counties in other directions. Because London is relatively close by, many people who work in London live in Buckinghamshire, making the region quite expensive to live in. In total, the county is home to just over 800,000 people and covers an area of less than 2,000 square kilometres. Buckinghamshire is the 32nd largest of England’s 48 territorial units (the largest being No...

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...

In short, Devon is a county located in the Southwest of England and lies between Cornwall and Somerset; it also has a short border with Dorset in the southeast. Devon has an area of 6,707 square kilometres and has a population of a bit more than one million people. Interesting fact – Devon is slightly bigger than the State of Palestine and is more than 20 times bigger than the smallest EU member state Malta. The biggest city is Exeter, however, Devon is very well known because of its seaside towns located on the English Channel coast. During the summer, many holidaymakers go to such nice and popular places as Torquay and Dartmouth.  However, we decided to head even more to the south of Devon and visited Bigbury on Sea and Hope Cove during a weekend in September. Both Bigbury on Sea (located not far from Plymouth) and Hope Cove are located in the South Hams district. Getting there The fastest way to get there (assuming that you come from a place located more to the north) is to driv...

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...

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 Plymouth Plymouth is a coastal city located on the South coast of England between Devon (South Hams district) and Cornwall. It has a population of about 260 thousand people being a relatively small city; it got city status in 1928. We decided to visit Plymouth because of two major reasons – Plymouth Gin Distillery and National Marine Aquarium. I shall say straight away that as it appeared, Plymouth is even nicer than we could imagine – it looked very clean and cosy, people we met there were friendly and nice. Getting there One of the disadvantages of visiting Plymouth is its remote location. Plymouth is located about 200 miles (350 kilometres) from London and if you have a car may be reached in about four hours. If you go by public transport, it may take even less time from London Paddington station if you get a direct Great Western train. There are a lot of parking spaces around the city centre, although you are allowed to park for only up to two hours at some of them. We de...

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...