Countdown for the trip has started :) I have less than a month and so much is still open, mostly worried about visas and plane tickets, not so much about other arrangement (like housing or tours).
Overview of the initial plans go as follows:
30.08-5.09 ITALY ... few days in Venice, on to Padova, Bologna/Verona visits, wedding in Arqua' Petrarca, more of Venice
6.09-14.09 ZIMBABWE ... Bulawayo, Matopos, Hvange, Victoria Falls, Harare
15.09-24.09 TANZANIA ... Dar Es Salaam, Zanzibar, Arusha, Ngorongoro crater, Serengeti, Lake Manyara National Park ... and who knows what else :)
25.09-1.10 MOZAMBIQUE ... lots of beaches and islands, some national parks perhaps. this is still a bit open :)
Arriving to Tallinn on the 2nd of October!
As my vaccination passport is basically full of all sorts of shots and vaccines I only need one to be renewed + malaria pills (I'm a bit afraid of those, but gotta deal with it I guess).
Zimbabwe visa is being processed, Tanzania and Mozambique one will get from the border hopefully :) All the plane tickets between different countries have been purchased, local ones have been booked but not purchased yet. Zimbabwe plans are quite clear and confirmed. Zimbabwe is ongoing and Mozambique is quite open still.
Going to Italy with my friend Kelli, Africa trip will be together with Tiina. Tiina is doing a wonderful job contacting all the needed people and getting itineraries arranged - thank you :)
Monday, August 2, 2010
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
Long weekend in Portugal - late update
Wanted to post news about my upcoming trip and noticed that I still have not written anything about my wonderful Portugal trip! So here it goes:
First of all I want to thank Liisi's friend Helen and her partner Duarte - they were the most wonderful hosts. Taking their time over the weekend to take us all over the place and to show us all sorts of things - to introduce us Portuguese culture. Big-huge-enourmous thank you for that!
On the first day we headed to town with Liisi. Tried to see as much as possible - the castle, the shops, the main square and squares surrounding the main square, the train station and all sorts of streets between there. Lisbon is a beautiful town. All the up-and-downs on the streets were a bit tough on our feet, but all of it was secondary :) They got cute trams here! During the day we found was lots of wine and ice cream and scones and salads and snacks and chilling and fountains and many-many beautiful sights. It was a good day. In the evening Helen and Duarte took us to a big shopping mall a bit out of town, across the river, late night shopping + dinner. Arrived home half dead :)
On the second day we headed to Belem with Liisi - took one of the fancy new trams there, found our way to the monastery and then to Centro Cultural de Belém, there was a very nice exhibition with all sorts of practical materials/things turned into art. Since Belem is all about Vasco da Gama (famous Portuguese explorer) our next stop was at Padrão dos Descobrimentos (Monument to the Discoveries). It is this huuuge tower built by the river, tourists can climb to the top and there is a museum with cinema down-stairs. I highly suggest the cinema actually - I quite enjoyed it, although I was fighting sleep the whole time :D Oh and the sardines! I had the best sardines ever! On our first visit we missed Pasteis de Belem :( but we fixed it few days later with the help of Helen and Duarte.
Then came the weekend :) Close to Helen and Duarte's apartment there is a flee market couple of times a week in the mornings so we stopped by to check out Feira de Ladra. Amazing what they sell there - everything from spoons to candles to books to jewelry to clothes. It was a fun place. As Saturday was quite rainy our next stop was even closer to water - we visited the Oceanarium. That was a wonderful place - we must have been there for hours :D Again, highly suggested! Also stopped by the cakes place in Belem - Pasteis de Belem's were wonderful! Aaaah almost forgot, in Belem, at the electricity museum we also managed to visit the World Press Photo exhibition. Quick tour through Lisbon - few viewing platforms, few parks and drinks, few bars and a nice restaurant. What a perfect day!
Sunday, Duarte took us all around to Cascais, Cabo da Roca and Sintra. Now one at a time. Cascais is this wonderful seaside town about 45 minutes out of Lisbon. What a beautiful perfect little Portuguese town. It was simply too perfect :) Had the best ice cream there, walked around and headed on following the ocean side to Cabo da Roca - westernmost location in whole Europe. Location is breath taking - high cliff above dark blue-green ocean. Just gorgeous. Took quite many photos there :D On to Sintra we headed. Duarte took us around the town, showed us beautiful mansions and houses and introduced us to yet another type of delicious cakes. Visited his parent's house and a very large garden, met his brother with his wife and little cute daughter :) Evening was topped off with home delivery sushi and off to bed we went.
I returned home on Monday, Liisi stayed one more day in Lisbon. Don't even wanna write too much about my trip back. Yes, my flight was delayed because of the ash :( I missed my connecting flight and ended up spending an extra night at Stockholm :( Oh that was a tough one. Was dead tired once I got back. BUT!! The trip was awesome and not even this little delay with my return could change that.
Again - thank you Helen and Duarte. Hope to see you soon!
First of all I want to thank Liisi's friend Helen and her partner Duarte - they were the most wonderful hosts. Taking their time over the weekend to take us all over the place and to show us all sorts of things - to introduce us Portuguese culture. Big-huge-enourmous thank you for that!
On the first day we headed to town with Liisi. Tried to see as much as possible - the castle, the shops, the main square and squares surrounding the main square, the train station and all sorts of streets between there. Lisbon is a beautiful town. All the up-and-downs on the streets were a bit tough on our feet, but all of it was secondary :) They got cute trams here! During the day we found was lots of wine and ice cream and scones and salads and snacks and chilling and fountains and many-many beautiful sights. It was a good day. In the evening Helen and Duarte took us to a big shopping mall a bit out of town, across the river, late night shopping + dinner. Arrived home half dead :)
On the second day we headed to Belem with Liisi - took one of the fancy new trams there, found our way to the monastery and then to Centro Cultural de Belém, there was a very nice exhibition with all sorts of practical materials/things turned into art. Since Belem is all about Vasco da Gama (famous Portuguese explorer) our next stop was at Padrão dos Descobrimentos (Monument to the Discoveries). It is this huuuge tower built by the river, tourists can climb to the top and there is a museum with cinema down-stairs. I highly suggest the cinema actually - I quite enjoyed it, although I was fighting sleep the whole time :D Oh and the sardines! I had the best sardines ever! On our first visit we missed Pasteis de Belem :( but we fixed it few days later with the help of Helen and Duarte.
Then came the weekend :) Close to Helen and Duarte's apartment there is a flee market couple of times a week in the mornings so we stopped by to check out Feira de Ladra. Amazing what they sell there - everything from spoons to candles to books to jewelry to clothes. It was a fun place. As Saturday was quite rainy our next stop was even closer to water - we visited the Oceanarium. That was a wonderful place - we must have been there for hours :D Again, highly suggested! Also stopped by the cakes place in Belem - Pasteis de Belem's were wonderful! Aaaah almost forgot, in Belem, at the electricity museum we also managed to visit the World Press Photo exhibition. Quick tour through Lisbon - few viewing platforms, few parks and drinks, few bars and a nice restaurant. What a perfect day!
Sunday, Duarte took us all around to Cascais, Cabo da Roca and Sintra. Now one at a time. Cascais is this wonderful seaside town about 45 minutes out of Lisbon. What a beautiful perfect little Portuguese town. It was simply too perfect :) Had the best ice cream there, walked around and headed on following the ocean side to Cabo da Roca - westernmost location in whole Europe. Location is breath taking - high cliff above dark blue-green ocean. Just gorgeous. Took quite many photos there :D On to Sintra we headed. Duarte took us around the town, showed us beautiful mansions and houses and introduced us to yet another type of delicious cakes. Visited his parent's house and a very large garden, met his brother with his wife and little cute daughter :) Evening was topped off with home delivery sushi and off to bed we went.
I returned home on Monday, Liisi stayed one more day in Lisbon. Don't even wanna write too much about my trip back. Yes, my flight was delayed because of the ash :( I missed my connecting flight and ended up spending an extra night at Stockholm :( Oh that was a tough one. Was dead tired once I got back. BUT!! The trip was awesome and not even this little delay with my return could change that.
Again - thank you Helen and Duarte. Hope to see you soon!
Thursday, May 6, 2010
In Portugal for few days
Forgot to update you all here :) Arrived in Lissabon last night, got through few obstacles with flights and all was good in the end :) Liisi, Helen and Duarte came to get me from the airport - was dead tired so straight to bed I went.
I don't know the plans, but all seems exciting and fancy over here. I also know for sure that I won't be sitting in the web a whole lot, so don't expect too many stories here this time - I'm on vacation you know ;)
Toodles!
I don't know the plans, but all seems exciting and fancy over here. I also know for sure that I won't be sitting in the web a whole lot, so don't expect too many stories here this time - I'm on vacation you know ;)
Toodles!
Sunday, April 18, 2010
29.03 - Monday - to home :)
Kaspar took off first, his plane arrived exactly 2 hours before mine and is also departing 2 hours before mine. He had the joy of getting to the airport all by himself :) I had the honor to be accompanied by 2 guys :D So lovely :D Goodbyes are not very lovely though, but there is no way to get around them either :(
So sad the trip is over already. Got so much done and so many places visited during those few days. Had the best companions, very patient and not very demanding ones at all. They even all woke up at 10 without one complaint :) when needed. Thank you guys! The trip was wonderful.
My flights back home were luckily very quick and went without problems for all I can remember :) Managed to be productive at the long layover in Copenhagen and watch 2 movies in a row :D Arrival home was cold :( And I got sick the following day :( But that is nothing :) All better now :D
Next trip is planned to early May, but as of today I still have no plane tickets so will see how it goes. Trip of the year in September is getting clearer and clearer - more on the subject in a month or two!
So sad the trip is over already. Got so much done and so many places visited during those few days. Had the best companions, very patient and not very demanding ones at all. They even all woke up at 10 without one complaint :) when needed. Thank you guys! The trip was wonderful.
My flights back home were luckily very quick and went without problems for all I can remember :) Managed to be productive at the long layover in Copenhagen and watch 2 movies in a row :D Arrival home was cold :( And I got sick the following day :( But that is nothing :) All better now :D
Next trip is planned to early May, but as of today I still have no plane tickets so will see how it goes. Trip of the year in September is getting clearer and clearer - more on the subject in a month or two!
28.03 - Sunday - from Benidorm
As every year there was a huge mess on my part related to the time change. I had only my phone - which I did not trust to do the time change automatically (and then my computer confused me as well since had forgotten it to Estonian time so it differed from my phone time.. uh oh). Anyways - huge confusion, but all turned out for the best in the end. The plan was to stop by triathletes housing and head over to swim practice. Ended up having famous pancakes (famous rightly so) and then headed out to the practice just like planned. It was refreshing to swim :) More updated on the training camp and more check-ups :)
Goodbyes to triathletes, met up with my travel companions and back towards Barcelona we headed - me behind the wheel. Took us about 5 hours of driving and 1 hour of going around in circles and arguing about the usefulness of GPS devices :-S Best part of all was the wonderful discussions with my friend :), I've missed those! Really enjoyed the drive and the chat - one can never have too many friends with whom to discuss about the world matters for hours without once getting bored :D I'd come back for a visit just for the talks at anytime!
Arrived to Barcelona, one crankier than the other (except me of course :) ), one hungrier than the other (especially me of course ;) ). Dropped off the car, dropped of the packages at the apartment and headed to regular midnight dinner :D at the Japanese buffet place.
Now let's talk about food :) Local specialties I got to try out were:
Pa amb tomaquet - roasted white bread with olive oil and garlic rubbed with tomato. This is how the locals eat bread here, none of this buttery stuff.
Paella - those come in many different variations, the one I ate was 'paella valenciana', it is the original version with chicken and seafood.
Tapas - all kinds of little snacks like meat, sausages, bread, fish served with oils and herbs. One must have is 'patatas bravas' - potato chunks in spicy tomato sauce.
From deserts - Crema Catalana - Catalan version of creme brulee, it is a rich eggy custard with a caramelized sugar topping, YUM!
Then of course 'cava' - sparkling wine made the same way as French champagne and sangria. Sangria is everywhere and is served throughout the day like lemonade.
Another wonderful food experience was definitely the Japanese buffet place we visited in Barcelona - it was grand. You just picked whatever you liked from the menu and everything was served to the table nice and quick. That was really neat as the food was superb. Haven't eaten that much sushi total in my whole life :)
Goodbyes to triathletes, met up with my travel companions and back towards Barcelona we headed - me behind the wheel. Took us about 5 hours of driving and 1 hour of going around in circles and arguing about the usefulness of GPS devices :-S Best part of all was the wonderful discussions with my friend :), I've missed those! Really enjoyed the drive and the chat - one can never have too many friends with whom to discuss about the world matters for hours without once getting bored :D I'd come back for a visit just for the talks at anytime!
Arrived to Barcelona, one crankier than the other (except me of course :) ), one hungrier than the other (especially me of course ;) ). Dropped off the car, dropped of the packages at the apartment and headed to regular midnight dinner :D at the Japanese buffet place.
Now let's talk about food :) Local specialties I got to try out were:
Pa amb tomaquet - roasted white bread with olive oil and garlic rubbed with tomato. This is how the locals eat bread here, none of this buttery stuff.
Paella - those come in many different variations, the one I ate was 'paella valenciana', it is the original version with chicken and seafood.
Tapas - all kinds of little snacks like meat, sausages, bread, fish served with oils and herbs. One must have is 'patatas bravas' - potato chunks in spicy tomato sauce.
From deserts - Crema Catalana - Catalan version of creme brulee, it is a rich eggy custard with a caramelized sugar topping, YUM!
Then of course 'cava' - sparkling wine made the same way as French champagne and sangria. Sangria is everywhere and is served throughout the day like lemonade.
Another wonderful food experience was definitely the Japanese buffet place we visited in Barcelona - it was grand. You just picked whatever you liked from the menu and everything was served to the table nice and quick. That was really neat as the food was superb. Haven't eaten that much sushi total in my whole life :)
27.03 - Saturday - to Benidorm
One of the purposes of my Spain trip was to visit my students and friends in Benidorm while they are in their spring training camp pushing their bodies to the limits by getting through unbelievable amount of training hours every day. As their practice was ending around 1pm anyways we weren't gonna hurry a whole lot. Ate breakfast - I had absolutely the best croissant in the world that morning and then headed out of town towards Benidorm. Took a bit over an hour, or was it 1.5 hours, either way not a whole lot.
Ended up spending the whole time in Benidorm with my students. Weather was nice and warm, the sun was out and life was just beautiful. Lots of information had to be exchanged, status updates told, training plans reviewed, future plans discussed, next training camp to be planned ;), experiences to be shared and so on and so on. One student had swimming so figured to go and check out the facilities here, perhaps should attend one swim practice myself :) Either way, club crowd took good care of me the whole time. Training camp is going as planned and even better than expected (or should I say fared?). In the evening the whole club crowd, and friends, got together and we went out to eat. It was truly wonderful, wonderful to spend time with students, with other club members and friends. Good times!
My travel companions had been resting the whole time so it was time for them to start the evening. Stopped by for half and hour, wished them the best time of their life and headed to the hostel. Heard the next morning that their evening went till 6am and apparently Benidorm is THE place for partying. I simply can't believe how they manage to party every single night :) I definitely needed to get my beauty sleep :)
Ended up spending the whole time in Benidorm with my students. Weather was nice and warm, the sun was out and life was just beautiful. Lots of information had to be exchanged, status updates told, training plans reviewed, future plans discussed, next training camp to be planned ;), experiences to be shared and so on and so on. One student had swimming so figured to go and check out the facilities here, perhaps should attend one swim practice myself :) Either way, club crowd took good care of me the whole time. Training camp is going as planned and even better than expected (or should I say fared?). In the evening the whole club crowd, and friends, got together and we went out to eat. It was truly wonderful, wonderful to spend time with students, with other club members and friends. Good times!
My travel companions had been resting the whole time so it was time for them to start the evening. Stopped by for half and hour, wished them the best time of their life and headed to the hostel. Heard the next morning that their evening went till 6am and apparently Benidorm is THE place for partying. I simply can't believe how they manage to party every single night :) I definitely needed to get my beauty sleep :)
26.03 - Friday - to Valencia
Uh oh.. let's continue with ancient Spain trip story now :) So Valencia!
Morning was kind of slow. Luckily the guys picked up the car already last night while I was switched off :) Goal was to head out around noon, which meant getting out around 11 to have a quick breakfast and then out the town we go.
First 1.5hrs was major horror on the road - traffic jams and cars barely moving at all. There were 5 of us jammed into a rather smallish 4-door vehicle :D In the end it turned out to be fine, the first hour I was getting bit claustrophobic (just being me). Rest of the ride went a bit smoother. We stopped here and there for food and gas - was quite chill. Got to see a bit of the nature outside the cities and managed to enjoy the views most of the time.
Arrived in Valencia around 6 I guess. It took us forever to navigate to our hostel in the city center and it took about hundred times forever to find a parking spot. After going around the block about 30 times I politely excused myself, stepped out of the car :) and waited on a parking bench. Finally the car got parked and we managed to check into the accommodation place. Hunger was the next most important topic - got taken care of quite quickly.
During dinner time inquired about local culture - we were all quite surprised when we heard that there is another Spanish dialect in Valencia, called Valencian. Catalan is the official language of autonomous region Catalonia - in Valencia the two official spoken languages are Valencian and Castilian (so Spanish I guess).
Walked around in the city center a bit and then headed out to find the City of Arts and Sciences (Ciutat de les Arts i les Ciences) - somebody had heard something good about it. To get there we walked in this strange park like thing that seemed like an old river bed with bridges going across every now and then. The strangest thing was that this whole area was made into a park with wonderful decorations, sports areas, biking and running roads, fountains and sculptures. Now I read from wiki that there really used to be river at some point but has been diverted now - riverbed area is called Turia gardens. After walking forever and ever in this beautiful park we finally made it to the Arts and Sciences center. OH WOW. It was dark outside by now and all was closed, but oh wow! The complex was amazing! The architecture - the surroundings - the lighting - the shapes - the materials - the combinations of water and stone. Just amazing. One of the coolest things I've seen for a long long time. If you ever get to visit Valencia - take the time to stop by there, you will love it.
Next problem was getting back to city center. Decided to take the metro - we were all half dead by now of the long walk, so we gathered our last strength and walked to the metro station that was about 25 minutes away. And what do you know, by the time we got there it was closed - we missed the last metro by 10 minutes!!! I wanted to cry. And the city center was so far away. After walking around and trying to figure out the bus system ended up taking a taxi still.
It was Kaspar's birthday today so of course we had to celebrate :) And what is the best way to celebrate than find a place where one can dance - and dance we did. As custom in Spain goes, it is totally ok to go to eat at 1 or 2am, so that is what we did. Found this wonderful little restaurant that seemed to be run by the owner. He was so generous and seemed to be doing everything there by himself. Food, beer and wine kept flowing. Got back to the hostel probably around 3 or so - after trying to navigate back and taking a wonderful night tour in the city :) This was probably the most walking I have done in a day for years :)
Morning was kind of slow. Luckily the guys picked up the car already last night while I was switched off :) Goal was to head out around noon, which meant getting out around 11 to have a quick breakfast and then out the town we go.
First 1.5hrs was major horror on the road - traffic jams and cars barely moving at all. There were 5 of us jammed into a rather smallish 4-door vehicle :D In the end it turned out to be fine, the first hour I was getting bit claustrophobic (just being me). Rest of the ride went a bit smoother. We stopped here and there for food and gas - was quite chill. Got to see a bit of the nature outside the cities and managed to enjoy the views most of the time.
Arrived in Valencia around 6 I guess. It took us forever to navigate to our hostel in the city center and it took about hundred times forever to find a parking spot. After going around the block about 30 times I politely excused myself, stepped out of the car :) and waited on a parking bench. Finally the car got parked and we managed to check into the accommodation place. Hunger was the next most important topic - got taken care of quite quickly.
During dinner time inquired about local culture - we were all quite surprised when we heard that there is another Spanish dialect in Valencia, called Valencian. Catalan is the official language of autonomous region Catalonia - in Valencia the two official spoken languages are Valencian and Castilian (so Spanish I guess).
Walked around in the city center a bit and then headed out to find the City of Arts and Sciences (Ciutat de les Arts i les Ciences) - somebody had heard something good about it. To get there we walked in this strange park like thing that seemed like an old river bed with bridges going across every now and then. The strangest thing was that this whole area was made into a park with wonderful decorations, sports areas, biking and running roads, fountains and sculptures. Now I read from wiki that there really used to be river at some point but has been diverted now - riverbed area is called Turia gardens. After walking forever and ever in this beautiful park we finally made it to the Arts and Sciences center. OH WOW. It was dark outside by now and all was closed, but oh wow! The complex was amazing! The architecture - the surroundings - the lighting - the shapes - the materials - the combinations of water and stone. Just amazing. One of the coolest things I've seen for a long long time. If you ever get to visit Valencia - take the time to stop by there, you will love it.
Next problem was getting back to city center. Decided to take the metro - we were all half dead by now of the long walk, so we gathered our last strength and walked to the metro station that was about 25 minutes away. And what do you know, by the time we got there it was closed - we missed the last metro by 10 minutes!!! I wanted to cry. And the city center was so far away. After walking around and trying to figure out the bus system ended up taking a taxi still.
It was Kaspar's birthday today so of course we had to celebrate :) And what is the best way to celebrate than find a place where one can dance - and dance we did. As custom in Spain goes, it is totally ok to go to eat at 1 or 2am, so that is what we did. Found this wonderful little restaurant that seemed to be run by the owner. He was so generous and seemed to be doing everything there by himself. Food, beer and wine kept flowing. Got back to the hostel probably around 3 or so - after trying to navigate back and taking a wonderful night tour in the city :) This was probably the most walking I have done in a day for years :)
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