|
|
Welcome to my travel log! You will find here a lot more than in the travel reports, stripped from political correctness. Enjoy! 
Oct 12, 2005 02:00 PM Round the World trip is complete
It was my second round the world trip in business class. This one was combined with a holiday. That was very convenient indeed. Since it was a round the world ticket with Star Alliance, it was much, much cheaper than it would have been if the tickets were all bought separately.
I flew with the following airlines: Lufthansa, Thai Airways International, Air Asiana, United Airlines, Austrian Airlines, Libyan Arab Airlines, LOT Polish Airlines, and bmi.
I have to say that I enjoyed travelling around the world in business class. I remember Air Asiana as the best of them all. The flight attendants actually knelt while serving and the wonderful Korean noodle soups were available with no limit at any time during the flight. 'Fantastic' does not even begin to express how great it was.
|
Oct 11, 2005 02:00 PM Krakow (PL) - the last day
It was really great to see Krakow again. It was a pity that the Main Square of the old town was dug up for the replacement of the cobble stones. I did not believe it required replacement actually. I thought it was fine before. I seemed a total waste of money to me. Anyway, it was very funny to realise that I no longer appeared to be fitting a description of a Pole. People in the streets would turn to me in English.
|
Oct 10, 2005 02:00 PM Krakow (PL) - the Royal Castle on the Wawel Hill
The second largest castle in Poland, and the most important one for the Poles. It was home to all hereditary royal dynasties of Poland and the chapel adjacent to the castle and royal chambers houses graves of all of them plus tombs of the most important Poles in the history of the nation. The castle is remarkable. It was originally erected in the Gothic style, but then rebuilt in the Renaissance style to match the grandest royal residencies in Europe.
Legend has it that in the cave below a castle, a dragon lived, which was hungry for virgin girls and sheep. It was eventually tricked to eat a sheep packed with sulfur mix, which made him drink so much water from the Vistula river that he blew up. There is a statue of the dragon, which blows flames every so often.
|
Oct 09, 2005 02:00 PM Krakow (PL) - a time to chill
The second day in Krakow after all those years was great. As I was there on business - an EMA Conference I organised, I managed to show some of my colleagues, how wonderful Krakow was. And could tell stories how miraculously it survived the WWII - a near escape of being totally blown to smithereens. Weather was a mishmash and in the evenings temperature kept dropping a little below comfortable levels. But I could finally go to the funky restaurants I always wanted to visit. Including one of the oldest continually operating restaurant in Poland.
|
Oct 08, 2005 02:00 PM Krakow (PL) - finally in Krakow after a long time
Having just come from Libya and landed in Krakow, it was a surreal feeling. The contrast could not have been greater. From the desert dunes and medieval sand villages all the way to the Gothic, Renaissance and Baroque edifices of Poland's most beautiful city, dotted with picturesque little streets and unrivaled social life. I was a little disappointed to find the most focal part of the old town, the Main Square, dug up. It was so disturbing. But the rest of the town had its lovely ambiance as always, and deserving its place of one of the very first 12 sites UNESCO inscribed on the World Heritage List ever.
|
Oct 07, 2005 02:00 PM Tripoli (LY) - on my way out.
Libya was a great experience. The ancient Roman, Byzantine and Greek sites and the medieval Berber towns at the Sahara oases threw me on my knees. I did not expect that.
The openness and genuine friendliness of the people impressed me immensely. Meeting Hussain and Malek and the other guys was a definite highlight of my entire trip. I was happy that I decided to go to Libya and I would strongly recommend everyone to check this country out for themselves. The cumbersomeness of getting the visa and making the way there is all worth the effort!
|
Oct 06, 2005 02:00 PM Tripoli (LY) - Ramadan in full
Since fasting lasts all day, from sunrise to sunset, people take it easy and most of them rest, trying not to move too much, otherwise they would get hungry, or equally risky, thirsty. The lethargy gets everywhere as many businesses do not open until sunset, and life only begins then. By 9 o’clock in the morning everyone is tired, they hide in the shade and breathe slowly.
The smokers struggle the most, because the rule is ‘nothing inside the body’, which includes smoke. Some of them complained to me that they develop headaches. Then, of course, when the sunset comes, they smoke much too many cigarettes at once. Eating and socialising are also moved to the hours of darkness, and since fasting is good for the body, most of the people spoil everything by eating too much too late in the night.
The problem is that often half a day is spent on preparing the food for after sunset, and during that time, many get very hungry,
watching and smelling the food. There are exceptions for travellers like me and my guides. If one travels more than eighty kilometres, then one may take some water and something simple to eat. In my case it meant that I could easily do it because I was easily exceeding one hundred kilometres a day. However, this rule is rarely applied, because it became slightly outdated. Islam introduced the rule, when travelling happened mostly by foot or a camel, which was more tiring than today’s movement by
car or plane.
At 7pm on Ramadan days, it is time for breakfast, which is immediately followed by dinner. This breakfast usually contains milk, orange juice, dates, bread, and some sweet cake. Dinner then is a traditional soup, bread with humus, liver with rice or couscous and sauce and raw vegetable salad. Sometimes, instead of liver there are lamb chops.
|
Oct 05, 2005 02:00 PM Tripoli (LY) - Nightlife
Malek and Hussain, whom I met in Nalut, took me out on a Thursday night, which is the first night of the weekend, since Friday is always off in Libya. The guys took me to what has been the best night out I had in months! On the way to the main venue, Malek told me that going out in Libya sometimes means
taking a car and drive around the town. Petrol almost does not cost anything in Libya and cruising is in style.
At about 9:30 pm, we went to Hussain’s farm (a decent size garden about 25 km outside town) to hang around with Hussain’s
friends. I immediately met Ahmed, and another guy and it appeared that all of them played guitar very well, and banged the
drums. Hussain had the equipment set up in one of the rooms in the farmhouse, and Ahmed brought some additional parts plus an
electric guitar. So, there was enough stuff for the entire band – a complete set of drums, two electric guitars, a microphone
and even a bongo.
The party kicked off with some great samples of rock music. We had all the classics from Led Zeppelin, to Nirvana, Metallica, Guns ‘n’ Roses, Red Hot Chilly Peppers, the tune from the legendary The
Pink Panther… Ahmed took the lead on singing, and something tells me that the microphone immediately fell in love with him.
Hussain set up a shisha and made green tea with mint, so I was in heaven. There were traditional Libyan snacks and, as Libyans
turn nocturnal during Ramadan, more people trickled in.
We were chatting, playing, singing, smoking shisha that never ended (Hussain had an entire bag of charcoal in the garage) and
drinking hectolitres of tea. I have not been in such a genuine party in years! It felt like I was in the University again…
That night was truly a great fun, and an excellent example what nightlife in Libya looks like.
|
Oct 05, 2005 02:00 PM Zanzur (LY) - a lovely beach resort
Just 20 kilometres west of Tripoli, there is a different seafront world. Zanzur or, I guess it could be spelled Janzur, is a small, very civilised village right at a great beach. The sea is full of surprisingly tropical colours of turquoise, sea green and sea blue, dark blue and navy blue.
The residential complex of Zanzur offers studios for rent, which can be taken for as little as two days, a weekend for example. It
is well organised, and, what extremely important and so unusual for Libya, clean. There is also a small hotel there as well.
The village stretched for about two kilometres along the coast and in the middle of it, directly on the beach there is a large swimming pool. However, when I visited, it was dry. Although I did not check the quality of the apartments or the hotel, I would highly recommend Zanzur as the place to stay in Libya around Tripoli. Already from the outside they look decent enough and the
surroundings are incomparably more pleasant that the smelly and noisy Tripoli. And one can go for swim on a decent beach right before or after breakfast.
I cannot believe that I did not make enough investigation myself before I came to Libya, so I could make it damn clear to my travel
agent where I wanted to stay other than letting him choose for me. Having own transportation it makes an ideal base around
Tripolitania.
|
Oct 04, 2005 02:00 PM Sharyan and Raynah (LY) - pottery place & mystery
I made an unexpected stop in this town on the way towards Tripoli. It is renowned for its manufactures of colourfully decorated pottery, and many derelict underground Berber houses. Otherwise, there is
absolutely nothing to do there.
Between Qasr al-Hajj and Bir Ayyad, there is a stretch of a road leading to Raynah, that pulls cars in a single direction against the
forces of gravity. It is not known why this happens. It could be electromagnetic or geomagnetic. The road is a very gentle slope and cars when left on neutral gear, just go uphill. Apparently, there is another stretch of road exactly like that near Benghazi.
|
Page:
81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91
|
|
|
