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Girl on a Trail: Luxembourg – Vianden
[huge_it_maps id=”1″] Luxembourg is the only grand duchy in the world. Grand duchy is a state which head is a monarch who bears the title of a great prince, who rules independently. Despite a rather small area, of just over 2500 sq. meters, there are numerous beautiful castles. Undoubtedly the most popular and the most beautiful is Vianden castle. It’s located in the north-eastern part of Luxembourg, close to the border with Germany. To get there you can take a train to the village Ettelbruck and then switch to bus 570 towards Vianden/ Breck. Vianden is located just 55 km away from the capital of Luxembourg and it takes less…
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The sky is not that far… Switzerland – Interlaken and the surroundings
Violet cows with bells, pastoral landscape of the mountain meadows with thoroughly mown grass and white peaks of the Alps in the background, that’s the picture of the commercial… no of Switzerland – Interlaken, maybe except the colorful cows. Exactly on the 3rd of January 2 years ago, I was bored waiting for delayed, by drifting snow, flight back from Riga to Warsaw. I was looking over the offers of airlines when suddenly I saw discount tickets to Basel. A better beginning of the year I couldn’t have imagined. Switzerland can be divided into the northern part which consists of beautiful and charming cities like: Basel, Stein am Rhein, Zurich…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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The Hague – informally
Hague called in Dutch Den Haag was formerly called des Graven hage or for short s-Gravenhage which means “the hedge of the count/earl”. That name dated back to the 13th century when Hague was a settlement with hunting castle which is now known as Binnehof. That little hamlet has developed into main administrative center in the Netherlands. There are the most important authorities including parliament and royal residence. The most surprising is the fact that Hague is only an administrative capital of the Netherlands. The constitutional capital is Amsterdam. Hague is also an internationally significant city. It’s main symbol is International Court of Justice. The initiative to establish this institution…
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Switzerland – driving on the edge!
Push yourself to the limits… Swiss roads can be described as the drivers’ wonderland. Apart from highly developed highway network, driving here isn’t monotonous. The travel is full of amazing landscapes, numerous tunnels (even 10 km length), sharp bends and black spots, which are marked with the signs informing about masses in nearby churches. Additionally, reasonable speed limits and the lack of police patrols make the drive very pleasant. In any case, speed controls seem to be unnecessary here because the list of penalties is a reading more thrilling than the best thriller. But it doesn’t mean that Swiss drivers observe road rules. From the driver point of view, who…
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Tivoli
Tivoli is a magical place which makes even the adrenaline rush lovers dizzy, surprises by its colors and interesting, oriental architecture, where the smell of the cotton candy/candyfloss brings back childhood times. Tivoli was built in 1834 and it’s one of the oldest amusement park in the world. Despite numerous modifications it remained its old – fashioned character. Just after the entrance one can see beautiful palace from the Tale of One Thousand and One Nights. It houses Nimb Hotel, one of the most expensive in Copenhagen. A lot of cultural events take place in the park. Classical music concerts are organized in the Concert Hall and rock concerts entertain…
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France – Colmar
Colmar has been going around my head since I stumbled upon the photos of this amazing town. Unfortunately, the quick glance at the map, brought me down to earth. Apart from the fact that Colmar is situated very close to the border with Switzerland and Germany, its location isn’t convenient in view of the lack of cheap flights. Nevertheless, the New Year brought me new possibilities. When I was bored waiting for the flight at the Riga airport I found budget tickets to Basel. As it turned out later the flight was the tip of the iceberg. Taking into account that Swiss franc exchange rate was directly proportional to the…