“Let’s fly to Amsterdam,” we decided. “It’s so quick.” Spoiler: It wasn’t. For maximal pleasure of reading, dear reader, I have divided my entry into Day 1 and Day 2. Usually I aim for more pictures and less text but this one, dear reader, IS PRIME MATERIAL AS TEXT. Mark my words. For anyone unfamiliar […]
TRAVEL
Bunkers are bonkers and other tidbits of Albanian history
Please note, we are now doing part 3 out of 5 on our trip to Albania in February. Comme d’hab, better late than never innit. <3 Albania is a land of fascinating history. What did I know in advance? Once upon a time there was a dodgy Communist dictator. That’s about it. So, after day […]
Dajti Ekspres, yet another cable car
Excerpt from my Albanian travel journal notebook: Mon 20/2 klo 13.25 Cold so won’t write for long, but just to share magical moments w/ you. Sat alone @ top of Mount Something, maybe begins with a Q (pronounced “ch”), maybe not. I LOVE THIS. Views are PHENOMENAL. Just had a nutritious lunch of yesterday’s peanut […]
Albania, land of…
I went to Albania roughly due to the same reasons I went to Kazakhstan – why not? Voldemort chose it as his random country to hide in, what more random place to choose? What I knew about Albania before going: So, I spent seven nights in Albania. I went alone, which I think is arguably […]
Cable Cars of the Dolomites
Disclaimer again: This is blog entry 3/3 from our Dolomites trip in June 2022. Better late than never tho innit! I love cable cars. Nikki doesn’t. Or at least didn’t. She has quite a fear of heights and really did not promise to join me in any cable car escapades during our trip to the […]
An Italian turquoise mountain lake
On our first full day at the Italian Dolomites we decided to head off to a hike to a mountain lake. We drove quite a while through the majestic scenery, stopping at the first shop we saw (shops are few and far between, as we learnt at our accommodation town) to buy savoury snacks and […]
Hello to the Dolomites, feat. Venice
What is Italy famous for? Well, many things, but one thing is its mountains. So, in true better-later-than-never-fashion (I don’t feel too bad though, as this was the month that the postcards from this trip finally arrived at their destinations), the next three entries will be dedicated to my early June trip to my most […]
A walk with a view and a view with a see-through floor
Pretty viewpoint with a glass floor? Say no more. The look-out point of Cabo Girao, mentioned on multiple websites as well as from the mouth of the extremely friendly 7m car rental place employee Bruno, was not too far from our hotel, so when J suggested we walk it, I accepted happily. Okay, “not too […]
Curral das Freiras – second to nun
One thing that seemed both intriguing and feasible without a car was a trip to the famous Curral das Freiras, Nun’s Valley. What was it? A village in a valley, basically, where once upon time a group of nuns fled to escape pirates (in 1566 to be precise). Today, it is nunless but nonetheless meant […]
Mad 4 Eira
Maybe the title is a bit misleading since Eira is a part of Helsinki. The place I’m writing about today is not in Finland, even though rumours say this place too had been visited by the Vikings. A little island in the Atlantic ocean, 520km west of Morocco, first inhabited by Portuguese settlers in the […]