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You can lose everything, but nobody will take away what you saw and what you experienced...
............ 
Jan 01, 1970 12:00 AM Kolomyya - Ukraine
Finally I am in the big town! Kolomyya has about 60 thousands inhabitants and a rich history. I was walking about an hour from the bus station to my Oasis mini-hotel at the end of Tchekhov Street. Once the bacpack was stored I went to the picturesque center of the town to enjoy the charm of old, narrow streets and the real life of the local market, where dozens of babushkas sell home-made cream, egs and cheese. Kolomyya has city hall, new Greek Catholic Cathedral and two interesting museums. One of them is Pysanka Museum - pysanka, known also in Polish culture is an brightly painteg egg. They prepare it for the celebration of ghe Easter. In Pysanka museum (entry 25 hryvnia) the most beautiful eggs are on display - thousands of them!
And in front of the building there is probably the biggest pysanka of the world to be photographed by the tourists.
Second museum - also worth a visit is a museum of tgd Hutsul culture (entry costs 40 hryvnia). There are handicrafts, costumes, paintings and more. Enough for the full day!
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Jan 01, 1970 12:00 AM Red Square was empty at midnight, but....
Yesterday I arrived to central Moscow at 5.30 pm expecting that I will be able to enter Red Square before the access will be limited. No way! Four police cordons isolated the square from the rest if the city. The square were perfectly cleaned up from the people. I got the message from police officer: the entry will be open from 6 pm, but only by invitations!
Bad luck! How to get the invitation? My Russian helped me. Dima helped me. His friend did not arrive. He gave me this valuable envelope wishing me happy New Year! Long live Russian-Polish friendship! The ilumination of the square was just great. At 7.30 pm they started the show transmited by the first channel of Russian TV. Best Russian artists were singing one by one on the stage. There was also ballet an a lot of special effects... Fantastic!
But... They finished the show at 10.20. And surprisingly police started to push the people out of the square. They are very professional!
All crowd went around the government buildings to the new park on the hill -with a great view of the Kremlin and the river. There we were waiting till midnight to see the "salut" - that's how they call fireworks and to meet the new year. Happy New Year to Moscow and whole world!
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Jan 01, 1970 12:00 AM Piombino, Italian Etruscan Coast
Today we are docking in Piombino. Piombino - the big industrial city and port doesn't have the charm of Portovenere. After disembarking local authorities offered free transfer by bus from the dock to the city. Then you can visit the museum, two churches and the streets of the typical Italian town. A lot of people from the ship paid for the excursions to go to Siena, Florence an other well-known cities. But the pricesare high - 50-60 euro... So I have the day at leisure, using free internet offered by tourist office and walking in the sun along the coast. Tomorrow we will be in Portofino - another little jewel, but probably without the free internet... :)
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Jan 01, 1970 12:00 AM Mtskheta - former capital of Georgia
OK, you can take the organized tour to Mtskheta paying 40 lari or 15 dollars, but the budget travellers always try to find the less expensive solution. I took the metro to Didube station (0,5 lari) then in the bazaar there I found the marshrutka minibus to Mtskheta for 1 lari. They dropped me on the highway. From there it is 3 kms climb by paved road to Jvari monastery. It is worth! The monastery itself is a holy place for Georgians. But the absolute hit of today is a view from the walls. Below you will see the conjunction of 3 rivers framed by the mountains. Wow! Even just married couples are coming herecto be photographed...
Mcheta village - the first capital is also visible with its main attraction - Sveti Cshoveli cathedral. The problem for the hiker is how to get there, because you ca pass 2 bridges and they are quite far from tge junction. I started to walk down in the strong sun, but after some 2 kms local people gave me the lift. The cathedral is huge and impressive with the tombs of the kings and their families. Locals believe that the cloth of Jesus Chist is burried here. Surrounded by thick walls Sveti Cshoveli looks likeca litte castle. Entry to both places is free!
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Jan 01, 1970 12:00 AM 643 kms to Mendoza
Wow! Blue sky. strong sun. We are driving west through the mountains of Argentina. First two hours we were climbing up to the Parador of Condor enjoying great panoramic views of the rocks, high slopes and deep valleys. There were nice waterfall "The tear of the Indio" right above the road. Then from the La Posta pass there were nice descent to the Mina Valley. Much more green here on thecway to Dolores. In the afternoon we made a short stopover in the colonial city San Luis. The cathedral is under restauration , but Satto Domingo church is interesting and they two shady plazas with monuments and fountains.
Then finally we reached good highway no. y7 heading to Mendoza . Police and sanitarhy controls on the province border. They introduced highway fees - 80 plus 60 pesos on this segment. Hot day! We arrived to Mendoza only at 7 pm. In the evening the city is nicely illuminated - especially the main Plaza Independancia. With High Andes in the background city has many green avenidas and parks. I must confess I am tired. The bottle of regular wine cost around one dollar. Let's drink for the great day. We plan to drive even more tomorrow!
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Jan 01, 1970 12:00 AM At the bottom of the Andes...
Sunny morning in Mendoza. The liter of petrol costs here 55 pesos - we filled the car tank to full to avoid problems in the countryside. It was 9 am when we started to drive the famous RN40 road... It goes all over the way south - at the bottom of the Andes. Till Tunuyan there were vineyards around and snow visible on the peaks reaching 5 to 6 thousands m above sea level. Then we found ourselves in the semi- desert. The most impressive part of this segment were the canyons around Rio Diamante crossing. See the views on the picture. Then we stopover for the meal in the green township od Malargue. RN40 took us again through deserted hills to Bardas Blancas. We crossed the bridge and... what a challenge! More than 110 kms driving on the stoney/ gravel road. Nice views of the Rio Grande river but I was really afraid about our tyres - no settlements on thd way to repair! We were lucky: with reduced speed I reached after 2,5 hours the bridge on Rio Barranca - the border of the Neuquen province. No single control in such a remote point... Good asphalted road took us up and down the mountains 150 kms away on the RN40 - to the town of Chos Malal - this was the first possible overnight point. We did today 655 kms, but the gravel segment should be multipled by 3 :) Good night from the bottom of the snowy Andes
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Jan 01, 1970 12:00 AM The funeral and the baptism in Ethiopia
My expensive (50 USD) entry ticket to the churches of Lalibela has one value - it allows me to be there during four consecutive days. So today in the morning I called the church gate again and this was the great idea because the funeral ceremony was performed there under the big tree. Singing, lamenting, priests under colorful umbrellas and, first of all: crowd of several hundered people in the white shammas sitting quietly around the tree (ladies are separated from men). After an hour spent in such a environment I went again to the second group of the churches to discover the lower entrance to the Libanos church and underground corridor to Emanuel Church. The last was the hit of the day with nice facade resembling Petra and friendly priest inside, posing with the big metal cross.
Back in the main group I took a sit between the monks singing near Bete Mariam church. I was enjoying the atmosphere and writing my daily notes. After two hours in the backyard they started the baptism ceremony. What a wonderful chance to observe locals, priests in yellow and crying children!
What a day!
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Jan 01, 1970 12:00 AM Sailors and travellers in my dacha...
We have lovely, hot and sunny summer in Gdansk this year. Flowers are all around. I am receiving many friends, sailors and travellers, offering them fresh fruits and the travel stories. It is real paradise for me. See my good friend Ela on the picture...
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Jan 01, 1970 12:00 AM Ladies in Wojtkowka
Three ladies from different corners of Poland visited me in my Wojtkowka. They also travel (at the moment not so far) and they wanted to meet me and listen to my travel stories. Why not? It was short, but very pleasant visit. They bought my book with a special dedication and promised to be back next year! :)
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Jan 01, 1970 12:00 AM Widest waterfall of Europe, Versailles of Latvia
I started from Liepaja at 9.30, heading initially to the old town of Kuldiga. Roads are almost empty in this part of Curland so at 11 am I was alredy walking the streets of Kuldiga. Why I made a detour? Fellow Latvian from the hostel convinced me to visit this little known township. Kuldiga is proud to offer the longest brick bridge in Europe (164 m long) and widest waterfall in Europe (249 m wide) Well, the waterfall is less the 2 m high, but it is still something special!
From Kuldiga I was driving to the Jevel of Latvia - the Rundale Palace near Bauska. They call this palace Versailles of Latvia and they do not exaggerate... You have to pay 12 euro (no discounts) to visit the nicely restored palace and glorious garden. People are coming here for the marriage ceremonies (I attended one enjoying lovely live chamber music) roses in the rose garden were still in blossom. And inside the palace - thousands of paintings, sculptures to enjoy. Rundale is a must if you are in Latvia! It was already 7 pm when I reached the cottage near the Lithuanian border where I will spend the night...
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