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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 Giving lecture in Vilnius
Sometimes the life surprises you. Can you imagine: today in front of the Vilnius university located in the heart of tge old town I met by strange coincidence Vilius - Lithuanian traveller. Some 5 years ago we met in Siwa Oasis in Egypt to travel toogether through Sahara Desert! Vilius took me to the interior of the university (normally they charge 1,50 euro entry fee) and ornate St John church - it still works like univerrsity church. Then we have a look of presidential palace - just nearby. What a nice and surprising meeting!
For centuries - until the second world war there was a strong union between Poland and Lithuania. Many Poles including Polish biggest poet Adam Mickiewicz lived and worked here. I found the monument of Mickiewicz in front of St Anna church. On the local cemeteries I saw many graves with Polish names. But now the friendly locals speak rather English then Polish.
I have been invited to give the lecture about the world and my traveling in Polish Institute in Vilnius, located just near the city hall. The biggest room of the institute was full and instead planed 60 minutes I was talking more than 2 hours... Many questions... Big satisfaction for the lecturer.
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Jan 01, 1970 12:00 AM Barcelona after 16 years...
Low-cost flight landed in BCN late in the evening. There is a bus stop right in front of terminal 2 but no ticket vending machine. To buy your cheap T-10 ticket for city transport (10 rides, 9,95 euro) you have to run via overground passage to the train station with all your stuff! I was afraid I will be late for the last bus PR1 at 22.50. Sweaty but lucky I finally boarded thebus and some 15 min later very helpful driver dropped me near my Hostal Cal Siles. Clean single with bath outside costs 20 euros and sybway starion is on the other side of the street. Very good choice for late arrival!
I the morning I took bus 165 to the center of Barcelona. Lovely sun, 25 deg Celsius... From Plaza Espania I climbed to the gardens of Montjuic. From the castle there is a lovely view of the port and old town.
Then Columbus monument, famous Rambla... Memories...
In the afternoon I visited quite new place: by sybway-funicular- minibus I went to the top of another mountain facing Barcelona from the north - Tibidabo. At the top there is nice church (lower church has ornate decoration, upper - the terrace with a view of the city). In the streets there are much more tourists then 16 years ago. But Barcelona still has a charm... Very busy, but great day!
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Jan 01, 1970 12:00 AM Cape Sounion
It was raining in the morning when it was the time to say goodbye to our ship. You paid, you go! You have to be out of your cabin before 8.30 and out of the ship before 9.30! Not very pleasant...
The well kept secret is a city bus X80 going from cruise terminal to Syntagma Square in the center of Athens. On the ship they will not tell you about this inexpensive option to leave the terminal, they prefere to offer you the coach for 20 dollars...
I have to spend the night in Piraeus before morning sailing. Adonis Hotel, 70 Filonos St is the good option for budget traveller. 20 eu per clean room with sink.
At 1 pm the rain dissappeared and Decided to go by public bus to Cape Sounion. No, no lighthouse there. But in the ancient times they biilt there on the cliff a temple of Poseidon. Already as a boy I was dreaming about this place watching black and white pictures in my textbook...
Bus cost 7 eu each way and departs every hour from Egypt Sq near Viktoria subway station. After almost 2 hours of driving (great coastal views on the way) I finally saw my dream. It has very nice location. After season only few tourists there. Blue sea around... The dream came true....
They charged me 4 eu entry (with a senior's discount)
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Jan 01, 1970 12:00 AM Chacabuco - 30 minutes too late...
I know that just today at 8 am from Puerto Chacabuco little catamaran goes with the tourists to remote Laguna San Rafael. I was planning justto go boat to boat.
At 6 am I was already ready for disembark. But all local fellows were still sleeping and the ship was still sailing long Chacabuco fiord. I was so brave to go to the bridge. The officer did not speak any English but my Spanish was good enough to understan that we have delay and we will reach the port at 8.30. And sorry, but he can do nothing.
Bad luck! At 8.20 am I saw the catamaran sailing opposite direction.
Well, as I always say: apert from good planning and experience the traveller need also a big portion of good luck!
A day tour to the lagoon was a side-trip - it dooes not harm my Carretera del Sur itinerary.
Puerto Chacabuco is just a sleepy little port with a great view of the snowcapped mountains. There was was waiting a bus to nearest township of Aysen but I decided to use a minibus directly to Coihaique on Carretera dreaming about the shower after hard time on the ferry. We were driving more than an houre in the pastures landscape, then along the thumbling river. Blue sky and strong sun. Time for thr little rest and laundry!
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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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