-
Bosnia and Herzegovina – Sarajevo
There are places that may not stand out in particular way, but they are like a magnet and evoke imagination. Sometimes, it’s an inspirational photo or an article, and sometimes it’s just their name that causes strange, poignant chills. Sarajevo and I were connected by all these things together. For the first time, I heard about this city at the elementary school in History classes. I must admit, the moment I bought the tickets to Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), I felt a certain excitement that I would be at the places, let’s say where modern history began. The Latin Bridge – the place of the assasination of Austrian Archduke –…
-
Hawaii – Big Island is getting bigger and bigger…
When I landed at the Kailua Kona airport, located in Hawaiian Big Island, I felt like being a part of Apollo mission. I was surprised that after only 40-minute flight I saw totally different reality. Sandy beaches from O’ahu Island were replaced by rocks and black sand. Lushy, verdant Hawaiian vegetation gave place to the apocalyptic, volcanic landscape which seemed to have no end. The culprit of this is Kilauea – one of the most active volcanoes on earth. At first sight it looks inconspicuously because on the contrary to other volcanoes it has a flat, wide cone and its eruption isn’t vertical. Kilauea’s eruption goes through two rift valleys.…
-
Gril on a Trail – Antwerp, the diamond capital…
It’s really hard to say how many times I’ve been in Belgium and how many times I’ve slept at the Charleroi Airport. For a long time, I regularly used Ryanair’s cheap flights, combined with the discount tickets offered by Flibco (more information here). That’s why, I’ve visited many places in the so called Benelux countries and even in France. After visiting Dutch Rotterdam – the largest port in Europe, I thought it was time to see Belgian Antwerp. I have to admit that my knowledge of this city was limited to the information that I read from the book of Economic geography, when I was preparing for my final exams…
-
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…
-
Meat, gluten and wine – Georgian cuisine in a nutshell
Georgian cuisine is the kingdom of gluten and meat. The food here is very delicious and varied but certainly it’s not for people on diet. Vegetables are used here but usually they are only a decoration to the dishes. The popular snacks are also the perfect cheeses, and the meal it’s not the same without tetri – white wine. Grab a bite! Surely the most famous Georgian food is khinkali – dumplings with meat in a shape of pouches. Supposedly according to art, khinkali should be made up to 19 “folds”. But the true masterpiece is the stuffing of these dumplings, just imagine juicy, perfectly seasoned, slightly spicy meat, immersed…
-
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…
-
Girl on a Trail – Vietnam war, lost victory?
Vietnam War is the most brutal conflict since World War II. Sophisticated techniques of tortures and killing, chemical weapons like: agent orange, napalm or phosphorous bombs, and thousands of dead and wounded. So it isn’t surprising that in memory of the Vietnamese, the war is still alive. Just take a short walk along the streets of Hanoi and you’ll see the remnants of the war…. The first point in Hanoi – Long Bien bridge. Its story dates back when Vietnam was a French Colony. It was built at the beginning of the 20th century and was one of the longest bridges in Asia. Architect of this great achievement of…