Europe
-
Lviv – love not from the first sight
I’m arriving at the bus station, what’s the time actually, it’s hard to say, because I haven’t woken up yet. I’m getting off the bus, it’s pouring out, I can see only the gray and gloomy, neglected bus station. I look around, and it doesn’t look any better, damaged buildings and bus stops. A quick glance at the tram tracks, crunched on the four sides of the world. Although I’m still unconscious after a night trip, my gut instinct tells me it’s better to get on the bus. While I’m watching the monotonous landscape of the city, I’m asking myself: is this really beautiful, antique Lviv, I’ve heard so much…
-
Ciechocinek – famous Polish spa
Personally, Ciechocinek, until recently, seemed to be the place straight from the famous film “Back to the future”, but with one exception, to the communist past. Specific architecture, old clinics, pools are the typical things from the past times. This famous spa is about 200 km from Warsaw, so I decided to take a short trip to confront my ideas with reality. The vast majority of tourists are patients who have come here for treatment. Ciechocinek has a large reservoir of brine used in the nervous, circulatory or respiratory diseases treatment. The origin of the brine dates back to the 13th century. When Poland was under the occupation and the…
-
Switzerland – fabulous Stein am Rhein
I was thinking of going to Switzerland for a long time. But when we landed on the so-called Euroairport Basel – Mulhouse – Freiburg and we stood in the arrivals hall with three exits to: Germany, Switzerland and France, we chose France. We wanted to see one special town called Colmar, which is located only 50 km from the airport. However, during the preparation of trip, it turned out that only 200 km from Colmar, there’s a similar charming town in Switzerland, ominously called Stein am Rhein. Long time before I saw photos of this place in the one of travel magazines and I fell in love from the first…
-
Bosnia and Herzegovina – Beware sniper!
The journey to Bosnia and Herzegovina has made an enormous impression on me. I’m sure a great influence on my reception of this country had the fact that I went there alone. Travelling alone has a lot of advantages, but I think the most important is that it’s a time to stop and think, especially when we don’t have time for this in the daily race. So far, I’ve only known BiH from the history class: as the hot spot, which led to World War I and the scene of the tragic events of the civil war, along with the famous song U2 “Miss Sarajevo”. When I got off the…
-
Corfu cuisine – kumquats, sofrito, stifado…
Corfu cuisine is based mainly on vegetables, grilled meat and cheese. The real treasure of the island are lemons and oranges, which are everywhere. But the king of the fruit is the only one – it’s kumquat, a citrus tree with little oranges. Fresh kumquats are bitter and not so tasty. They’re used in the production of marmalades or famous liqueurs. Surpsingly, fish and seafood aren’t so popular in Corfu and usually more expensive than meat. So which local dishes are worth a try? Starters: The winner in this category is Greek salad. This simple mix of tomato, lettuce, cucumber, onion, olives and feta cheese with local olive…
-
Hamburg – port of call
Calling at a port I like port cities very much, they’re so called the “Windows to the world”. Usually they’re very varied and unusual. So after Rotterdam and Antwerp, I decided to go for a trip to Hamburg. The port in Hamburg, just after Rotterdam, is the second largest in Europe and its history goes back to over 800 years. To see it you can buy a special cruise for € 20 or use public transport. The shuttle no. 62 goes from the Landugsbrucken to Finkenwerder. The ferry costs 3 € but welcome drink on board is excluded 😉 During the cruise, you can admire a large port with containers…
-
England – Bristol
It was the beginning of November, I looked out of the window, it was cold, grey and gloomy day, so I decided to go somewhere. I started visualizing palm trees, sun and warm sea. I had to get out of here even, just for the weekend. After desperate search for any escape route, I booked the tickets to… Bristol. I can’t say that it was a question of conscious choice, because who in their normal minds is going to England in the middle of winter?! I can call it a momentary impulse, caused by a low price of the tickets… a month later, laughing at myself, I went to the…
-
Warsaw – 1,2,3… bungee
Have yoy ever tried bungee jamping? I guess everyone has had a falling dream even once. I’m not superstitious and I don’t believe in dream interpretations but reportedly it connects with an anxiety of losing control over a particular aspect of life. Fortunately I’m unfamiliar with such dilemmas but on the other hand lack of control of situation makes our life diversified and fascinating. Once in a while I realize that I need something new, unusual which will stick in my mind forever. Although I don’t like such dreams I’ve decided to try it in practice. The main difference between bungee jumping and falling dream is that the anxiety transforms…
-
Malmö – very subjective narrative
We visited Malmö on the way from Copenhagen to Poland. We spent all day on sightseeing this city, and even we managed to go to Jakriborg (here is the post about this unique city). I’ve mixed feelings about this city. Usually, I try to assess objectively places which I visit and find differences which create a unique atmosphere. I do want to say that Malmö is an interesting city. Unfortunately, by and large it isn’t. Naturally I would be very unfair, presenting this city as a “tourist nightmare”. Generally you can find here some interesting, historic places, which I show you in this post. But overall impression is similar to…
