Lisbon and Porto
...the trip continues... (Part 1)
Saturday 17 January 2009
Location: Funchal, Portugal; Lisbon, Portugal
After settling down Simon and his Slovenian roommate Ceca took us to their Belgium friends house where we had delicious Belgium dinner. After the dinner we went to a fancy club called Lux. The party starts at about 2AM and lasts until 7 AM.
Sunday 18 January 2009
Location: Lisbon, Portugal
Me and Karmen went around Lisbon. Since it was raining we decided that there was nothing better then checking out the shopping mall. In the evening we went out to Bairro Alto.
Monday 19 January 2009
Location: Lisbon, Portugal
Simon took us sightseeing – first to the Castle of São Jorge and then to the Jerónimos Monastery, Padrão dos Descobrimentos, Belém Tower and Berardo Museum, Collection of Modern and Contemporary Art. Only the Castle and the Museum were open, because it was Monday. I guess Monday is not the day to go sightseeing in Lisbon. After a long sightseeing day we tasted the famous Pastéis de Belém. Yummy!
In the evening we had dinner at home and went to Bairro Alto for the last time.
Tuesday 20 January 2009
Location: Lisbon, Portugal; Porto, Portugal
We found a hostel which was more like a hotel in Porto. Then we tried the Porto Francesinha which is a bit too greasy for our taste. We walked around beautiful Porto and Riviera District. In the evening we afforded a nice cake and tea in Cafe Majestic.
Wednesday 21 January 2009
Location: Porto, Portugal; Vila Nova de Gaia, Portugal
We went to Casa da Música, Vila Nova de Gaia over the river and to Calem Port House where we had a tour just for ourselves and some Port wine tasting at the end. We also checked Torre de Clérigos and Librería Lello & Irmão. In the end we had to check shopping capabilities of Porto :) Cannot leave the town without knowing how the shopping looks like!
Thursday 22 January 2009
Location: Porto, Portugal; Stanstead Airport, UK; Ljubljana, Slovenia; Maribor, Slovenia
We flew from Porto to London where everything was very cheap because of the low rate £ – €. We decided to go back to London for shopping, but there was still no time up to now! From London we flew to Ljubljana where my parents picked us up and took us home.
Here are some photos from Lisbon and Porto:
photos by me, Karmen,...
Madeira island
Sunday 11 January 2009
Location: Maribor, Slovenia; Vienna, Austria; Lisbon, Portugal
I flew with Sky Europe from Vienna to Lisbon and stayed at the Lisbon airport over night – waiting for my morning flight.
Monday 12 January 2009
Location: Funchal, Portugal
I was all nervous on the plane, because it’s supposed to be hard to land on Madeira since the path is really narrow, but in the end no one threw up like on my brother’s flight.
My brother Jani is on Madeira as an Erasmus student and he came to pick me up at the bus station in the capital city of Madeira – Funchal. I tried typical dish espetada – normally it’s beef on a spit.
Tuesday 13 January 2009
Location: Funchal, Portugal; Portella, Portugal
Me and some of Jani’s Erasmus friends went on a 3-hour levada walk to Portella. This one was a bit abandoned, but even more beautiful in a way. At the end we drank Poncha, typical drink for Madeira normally with fruit juice, aguardente and honey. Quite strong and yummy! After coming back I tried another typical thing – Bolo do caco.
Wednesday 14 January 2009
Location: Funchal, Portugal
I had a shopping day and in the evening Jani and his slovenian flatmate Katja made us a home meal – beef soup, Wiener Schnitzel, mashed potatoes, green salad and pancaces :)
Thursday 15 January 2009
Location: Funchal, Portugal; Cabo Girão; Ponta do Sol; Calheta; Jardim do Mar; Ponta do Pargo; Porto Moniz; São Vicente
We rented a car and got a really good price – 31 € with ensurance and extra driver. We drove around the west part of the island – Cabo Girão, Ponta do Sol, Calheta, Jardim do Mar, Ponta do Pargo, Porto Moniz, São Vicente and then we made a final stop to drink Poncha again. In the late evening we met with Jani’s Portugese friends and had dinner outside.
Friday 16 January 2009
Location: Funchal, Portugal; Ponta de São Lourenzo; Porto da Cruz; Santana
Two Portugese guys Fredy and Emanuel took us around East part of Madeira – first to the most eastern part of Madeira (Ponta de São Lourenzo), then to Porto da Cruz and finally to Santana where all the cute houses are.
Saturday 17 January 2009
Location: Funchal, Portugal; Lisbon, Portugal
Packing and flying to Lisbon…
...the trip continues... (Part 2)
Here are some photos from Madeira:
photos by me and Jani
Flemish part of Belgium
...the trip continues... (Part 1)
Sunday 2 November 2008
Location: Amsterdam, Netherlands; Antwerp, Belgium
So the second part of the trip started with a train to Antwerp. We found a great and cheap Hotel Postiljon next to the cathedral. If you go there, you should book it on some hostel page, because the rates are much lower :)
After searching for some food we found a Lebanese restaurant (the only one that was full) and they had great and delicious meals for about 5 €.
Monday 3 November 2008
Location: Antwerp, Belgium
Because of bad weather we visited a Diamond museum and Antwerp zoo – both quite worth a visit.
Tuesday 4 November 2008
Location: Antwerp, Belgium; Bruges, Belgium
The main reason of going to northern part of Belgium was actually the movie In Bruges and the town Bruges. So we went there, but the weather wasn’t all that we hoped for. Anyways we saw the main things – Michelangelo’s Madonna and Child, Dalí Museum, Chocolate museum. Of course we also wanted to go up on The Belfry tower, but it was closed that day and no one even noticed us about it! We also tried belgian fries and chocolate pancakes.
Wednesday 5 November 2008
Location: Antwerp, Belgium; Amsterdam, Netherlands
We went back to Amsterdam and looked around for the last time.
Thursday 6 November 2008
Location: Amsterdam, Netherlands; Vienna, Austria; Maribor, Slovenia
We flew back from Amsterdam to Vienna and that’s how a great trip ended.
photos by me and Gregor
Amsterdam and surroundings
Tuesday 28 October 2008
Location: Maribor, Slovenia; Vienna, Austria; Amsterdam, Netherlands
I’ve been really lazy and didn’t write anything on the blog for ages, but now I really have to catch up! So me and Gregor went to Netherlands and Belgium in the end of October. We flew with SkyEurope from Vienna to Amsterdam. In Amsterdam rain welcomed us while we were searching for an apartment of Lorraine and Attila where we slept. After finding them we went to the center and looked around a bit. Lorraine and Attila made us tasty traditional dutch food.
Wednesday 29 October 2008
Location: Amsterdam, Netherlands
After a canal tour we went to check out all the things Amsterdam is famous for – coffee shop, sex museum and the red light district.
Thursday 30 October 2008
Location: Amsterdam, Netherlands; Zaandam, Netherlands; Zaanse Schans, Netherlands
We went to look for the famous windmills, but because of some misunderstanding, we ended up walking for about 8 kilometers. First we came to a town called Zaandam by train where they told us we should go further by train to check out the windmills, but we just started walking instead of driving for two more train stops. After the exhausting walk we were really glad to see the touristic windmills place.
Friday 31 October 2008
Location: Amsterdam, Netherlands; Haarlem, Netherlands; Zandvoort, Netherlands
The locals advised us not to go to Anne Frank house because of big lines. So we went to a town called Harlem to a Corrie ten Boom museum where she hid Jews from Nazis. There is no entrance fee and we had the tour just for ourselves so I recommend everyone to visit this museum rather then the Anne Frank house. After the visit of a museum we went to another town Zandvoort which is situated by the sea.
Saturday 1 November 2008
Location: Amsterdam, Netherlands
We visited the Amsterdam arena and Amsterdam city center. In the evening Lorraine and Attila prepared another typical dutch dish and then we went out to a museum night. It happens only once a year so we were lucky to be there at that time. The idea is that all the museums are open from about 7 pm until 2 am and you pay only one ticket for all the museums (17 €). Amsterdam was alive and there were big lines in front of the biggest museums, but it was really fun driving around with bikes like locals :)
Below are some photos from Netherlands and I’ll write something about the second part of the trip next time.
photos by me and Gregor
...the trip continues... (Part 2)
Mountain week in Tyrol
Sunday 27 July 2008 – Sunday 3 August 2008
Location: Kleinitzalm, Austria and around
This time I’m going to make an exception and I won’t write about every single day, because we were in a cottage in Kleinitzalm (1770 m) in Defereggen Alps for a whole week. We hiked a bit around our cottage to peaks Plöß (2230 m) and Gagen (2463 m). Not too exhausting, but after all we came to Tyrolean mountains to get some rest and to spend some time together with friends from Vaasa. The nature in Tyrol is just wonderful and we had a great week with all those memories from Finland. The cottage didn’t had any electricity except the solar energy for the light bulbs and we used wood for heating the water and making meals. We got drinking water from a spring nearby. It was really great to live without internet and electricity for a week :) But I guess coming back to our lives has it’s advantages too (we could check out some facts on the internet that we were discussing about in the cottage:)).
All in all the week was unforgettable and I recommend it to everyone – just plug yourself out for a week :) And here are some photos:
photos by me etc.
