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Georgia – Gori, a short visit to Stalin’s hometown
The first time I heard about Gori, it was in History class a long, long… time ago, I didn’t even think I would ever be in Stalin’s hometown. Some time ago, the world remembered about Gori again. In August 2008, news and headlines were dominated by images of the city seized by Russians. During the short war between Georgia and Russia over two regions: Abkhazia and South Ossetia. Gori, which almost borders with South Ossetia, has become the main point of military actions. Initially, it was bombarded by Russian forces, resulting in the death of many civilians and then from 13th to 22nd of August fell under Russian occupation. Being…
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Bosnia and Herzegovina – Mostar, the city of hatred?
It’s 11.00 am, delighted with views on the way from Sarajevo, I look forward to getting out of the bus and seeing marvelous Mostar. The door of the bus opens and I feel like I’m going straight to hell. The temperature is 35 Celsius degrees, and it’s not a noon yet. I take my backpack and I move towards the hostel, expecting to see this picturesque city with a famous bridge. But what I see along the way in no way doesn’t look like images from a catalogue which I’d seen before. In addition to the beautiful panorama of the city from the Musal bridge, you can see the ruins…
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Girl on a Trail – one-day trip to Verona
I guess everyone knows that feeling when you want to go somewhere for a while, but you don’t want to spend a lot of money and take day off from work. In such a situation, you can go somewhere in your beautiful country or just take a plane and within 4 hours’ time you can sit in a cafe sipping aromatic Italian cappuccino in Piazza Bra in Verona 😉 A little organisation… How to go to Verona for just one day, saving on accommodation? On the way from Warsaw to Bergamo I used Wizzair which flies very early in the morning (plane lands in Bergamo at 8.30 am). On the…
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Georgia – Kutaisi
Kutaisi is getting more and more popular destinantion among travelers and backpackers, due to cheap flight connections and relatively low prices. Kutaisi is the second largest city in Georgia and in my opinion, like whole this country is full of contradictions. Special attention deserves Gerogian architecture. I won’t hide that I’m as green as grass in this topic, but I have to admit that Georgian fantasy in this subject was a great surprise to me. In 2012 President Saakashvili decided to transferred here the Georgian Parliament, which previously had been located in Tbilisi. It wouldn’t be surprising but for the fact that Parliament’s building is located on the outskirts of…
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Girl on a Trail – meet Lisboners!
After returning from Portugal, without hesitation I knew what would be the subject of the first post about this place. This time I won’t focus on the wonderful Lisbon’s architecture, beautiful viewpoints, yellow trams or sentimental rhythms of the Fado heared during the walk in Alfama. Of course, all these elements form the unique climate of the capital of Portugal, but mainly the people of this city will remain in my memory. In fact, they create this city and its specific atmosphere, without them Lisbon certainly wouldn’t be such a cheerful place. What are the people of Portugal like? It might seem that Portuguese, like Italians or the Spanish, have…
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Spain – the Basque Country
The Basque Country connotes with the separatist aspirations and ETA activity. As a matter of fact, ETA announced a definite ceasefire in 2011 but only recently, because in 2017, they surrendered an armed arsenal which was in their possession. In the memory of many people, there are still “spectacular” ETA actions, like the bombing of a car with Spanish Prime Minister Luis Carrero Blanco inside. The power of the explosion was so strong that the Prime Minister’s car flew over the roof of the nearby building and landed on the other side of it. Another terrorist attacks were in 2002 in Seville during the EU summit and in 2006 on…
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Bosnia and Herzegovina cuisine – what to eat and where?
Each country’s cuisine is characterised by specific local products, ingredients and methods of cooking. Then how could I describe in a few words the cuisine of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH)? Meat, meat and meat again! Certainly, BiH is not a country for vegetarians. Vegetables in Bosnian cusine are rather a decoration for dishes. Even a typical Shopska salad, known to me earlier from Bulgaria, in Bosnia looks much more modestly than its Bulgarian counterpart. It is known that tradition is inextricably linked to history, and it is worth adding that BiH has been under the rule of Ottoman for over 400 years. Turkish influence is visible at every step in…
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Czech Republic – Adrspach and Teplice Rocks
[huge_it_maps id=”7″] Adrspach and Teplice Rocks are ideal attractions for rock lovers. For a long time, both places had been unknown untill the fire that took place in 1824. It discovered numerous rock formations and mazes. Both places are located in Czech Republic in the Adrspassko – Teplicke Skaly National Nature Reserve. Why is it worth coming here? The main attraction of both places are numerous ineterstingly shaped rocks. They’re made of light sandstone which contrasts with lush vegetation. Long-term sandstone erosion due to the impact of water, frost and wind affected the unique appearance of these rocks. Many of them have their own names. We can see here:…
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Tip for a trip – weekend on the Lake Como!
What’s the best way to say good-bye to winter? Purchase a flight to Bergamo at a discounted price and in just 3 hours’ sip aromatic Italian cappuccino in a cosy cafe with a view of the famous lake Como. What can you visit there and how to organize this trip on budget? As a short introduction, there’s a lot to see, because Lake Como is the third largest lake in Italy, right after lake Garda and Maggiore. What’s more is one of the most deepest lakes in Europe, in some places its depth reaches over 400 m. One can say that size matters, but in my humble opinion the sights…