Around the German-speaking part of Switzerland
Well I know I haven’t written anything in ages, but I’ve been quite busy the last months so I wasn’t traveling that much. I met my fellow Erasmus students in Vienna 2 times in the last half a year and that’s pretty much it :) I also decided to change the Theme of the blog – the old one was really nice, but a bit to dark for these nice sunny days :)
Friday 13 June 2008
Location: Maribor, Slovenia; Graz, Austria
The last trip I did was to Switzerland. I visited Mojca, because she was on exchange program in Switzerland for 3 and a half months. The first day I got on a night train in Graz and drove to Zurich until the next morning. I was on a train for about 11 hours and the ticket was only 29 € one-way with SparSchiene.
Saturday 14 June 2008
Location: Zurich, Switzerland; Baden, Switzerland; Wettingen, Switzerland; Dietikon, Switzerland
I went from Zurich to Baden by train and Mojca picked me up at the station. I settled down in the apartment and then we went back to Zurich to fix some stuff for Mojca, but we weren’t really successful, because all the banks were closed. Well, at least we did some quick shopping and then went back to her place in Wettingen to get ready for the out night. First we watched the football match in Biergarten in Baden. We met a guy that’s half Slovenian and half Croatian and works in Switzerland now :) What a coincidence! He was sitting right next to us. Also Tanja, another exchange student from Slovenia, joined us and after both games we moved to a club called LWB (entrance fee was 18 CHF which is about 11 €). I was really tired and the hip-hop music that I really don’t like didn’t help with a better party mood so we went home early and Mojca had to go with me, because I didn’t know the way home (I was on holidays and I left my sense of orientation at home).
Sunday 15 June 2008
Location: Wettingen, Switzerland; Baden, Switzerland
The weather was really lousy so we decided to stay at home and bake a traditional Swiss carrot cake (Rübli Torte). We didn’t have any almonds so we put some nutella and honey in the cake instead :) It’s not really a good substitute, but we found the cake quite good :) Mojca’s roommate Thomas hated it and said it couldn’t be worse :) After making a cake, we met with a couple that Mojca met a few weeks ago and we were just chilling. In the afternoon we watched some TV shows on the TV :)
Monday 16 June 2008
Location: Wettingen, Switzerland; Zurich, Switzerland; Brugg, Switzerland
We went to Zurich by car, because we paid less for the gas and parking in the center than we would pay for the public transport. The weather was just perfect for shopping – a bit rainy and cloudy. So we were shopping a bit and just walking around Zurich and then we shortly met with Tanja and Sigita (Lithuanian girl). In the evening we went to Sigita’s goodbye party in Brugg. 4 girls from Lithuania and 2 girls from Slovenia lived in one appartment just 2 minutes away from the school where they were on exchange program together with Mojca. We also stayed there over the night.
Tuesday 17 June 2008
Location: Brugg, Switzerland; Kilchberg, Switzerland; Baden, Switzerland; Wettingen, Switzerland
We check out Mojca’s school and then we went looking for the Lindt Shop near Zurich. We had driving instructions from ViaMichelin, but this time the instructions were really bad so we were just driving around all the time, but at the end we finally came to our destination. I bought a lot of present… Lindt chocolate… mmm :) Then we went back to Baden and checked out the stores in the railway station in Baden too. In the evening Tanja came to Mojca’s place and we were watching football at home. The match France-Italy was in Zurich stadium and we thought of going out in Zurich, but everything closed at 2AM so we just decided to stay home instead.
Wednesday 18 June 2008
Location: Wettingen, Switzerland; Luzern, Switzerland
Mojca, Tanja and me headed off to Luzern and visit to Minna. She is a Finnish girl that met a Swiss guy and then moved to Switzerland for a while. She was also studying with Mojca. The apartment where Minna lives in is just fantastic with the view over the whole Luzern. So we walked and shopped around Luzern and I must say Luzern is a much nicer city than Zurich. It has this cute bridges and cute little streets and just the whole atmosphere is totally different. We made dinner after the walk around the city and I brought Finnish Koskenkorva with me so you can just imagine how the evening went on :) Minna didn’t feel too good so she went to bed, but the other 3 Slovenian girls (so Mojca, Tanja and me) went out to some club nearby and had just the greatest time ever! But the Swiss have kind of similar habits like the Finns – they started kicking us out half an hour before the clubs official closing hour. I guess Finns and Swiss do have quite a lot in common :)
Thursday 19 June 2008
Location: Luzern, Switzerland; Katzensee, Switzerland; Wettingen, Switzerland; Brugg, Switzerland
I was sightseeing a bit when Mojca was still sleeping and the weather was extremely nice and sunny so I had a nice long walk around Luzern – I went up on the Musegg Wall and over both fantastic bridges that were built in the 14th century. When Mojca woke up, we went to her popular spot – some kind of a beach on Katzensee. We were just chilling and feeding the ducks and Mojca’s friend stopped by too. In the evening Tanja had her goodbye party in Brugg so we went there and spent the night there again.
Friday 20 June 2008
Location: Brugg, Switzerland; Zurich, Switzerland
Mojca was still sleeping in the morning so I went by train to Zurich and locked my luggage there. Then I walked around Zurich and the Euro 2008 Fan zone and did the final shopping. Then I met with Mojca, Katja (Slovenian exchange student in Zurich) and Katja’s friend from Estonia. We went on a boat trip on the lake and then we were invited to Emre, Turkish guy. On the way to Emre we bought the food and drinks and then we took an elevator in one building to get to one higher street on the other side of the building. But unfortunatelly the elevator stopped and we were stuck in it for 40 minutes :) I’m not saying that it wasn’t fun, but everyone wanted to watch football and I had a train to catch. Well, we really had a lot of fun anyway :) I had my Lapin Kulta (Finnish beer) that I found in one store before with me so we were just chilling in the elevator on Friday evening. Emre already left to the Fan Zone to watch football (Croatia – Turkey) and we went there after we were “rescued” from the elevator too. I went back to the train station then, because I had to catch my night train back to Graz again.
photos by me, Mojca, PartyGuide.ch
I guess I should write the blog more often, otherwise I just write too much! :) Well, all in all the trip to Switzerland was really nice except for the weather which was horrible from Sunday til Tuesday. I sure hope I will see more of Switzerland in the next years! :) Thank you Mojca for having me there!!
Belgrade – easy-going city and a capital of Serbia
Finally I have some new material :) I visited Edith and Ursula in Vienna in December, but I don’t have any photos and I also haven’t had much time to write about the visit. I go to Vienna quite often so my trip was more about the visit, not sightseeing. Well enough about that – lets move to Belgrade :)
Tuesday 8 January 2008
Location: Maribor, Slovenia; Zagreb, Croatia; Zemun, Serbia
I met with my relative Robi in Zagreb and then we went to Belgrade by car (Zemun actually, which is close to the center of Belgrade). We arrived quite quick considering the conditions on the highway – it was really foggy.
Wednesday 9 January 2008
Location: Belgrade, Serbia
A co-worker of Robi came to pick us up in the hotel and they drove me to the center (to Temple of Saint Sava) where I met with Miloš. He is a guy that lived in our apartment building until 1991 and then he moved back to Serbia with his family. We were playing together with my brother when we were kids. Miloš was really kind and offered me a tour around Belgrade when we got in touch after all those years and let him know that I’m coming to Belgrade.
We walked around the center of Belgrade which is really nice. The thing which Balkan is quite famous for is that people are not so stressed as for example people from Central Europe. I could really notice that by the way people walked – there wasn’t any rush or nervousness in the people. Miloš showed me many squares, Kalemegdan fortress, Theatre, Parliament and practically everything there is to see in the center.
After sightseeing we went to his parents and his mother made a delicious Serbian lunch. His father still speaks fluently Slovenian after all those years. We were quite exhausted from everything so after visiting Miloš’s family we visited a new shopping mall Delta for a while and our final stop was in Monza Racing Café which seems to be really popular in Belgrade. This Café is actually located on the raft on river Sava. Belgrade is really famous for it’s nightlife among Slovenians – there were 50.000 Slovenians celebrating New Year’s Eve in Belgrade this year :)
All in all I really like the city Belgrade even though it still needs many more years to get to the level of European capitals, but it’s still a great city. This easy-going spirit makes the city different (in a good way).
photos by me
Thursday 10 January 2008
Location: Belgrade, Serbia; Banja Luka, BiH; Novo mesto, Slovenia
Robi had some more business to do so I saw also Slovenian shopping center Mercator which was really popular among Belgrade inhabitants before the new shopping center arrived. Personally I don’t like Mercator in Slovenia too much and the one in Belgrade was quite similar to the ones here so I didn’t find it anything special :)
After Belgrade we went to Banja Luka in Bosnia and Herzegovina where Robi had another business thing and then we went to his town near Novo mesto in Slovenia where I also spent the last night of my trip. He has a daughter Izabela – hyperactive and really cute girl. I really like to spend time with her.
Friday 11 January 2008
Location: Novo mesto, Slovenia; Ljubljana, Slovenia; Ribnica, Slovenia; Maribor, Slovenia
After spending the morning with Izabela my mother and brother came to pick me up and we did some family visits in Ljubljana and Ribnica and then I finally came home.
From Dublin to Northern Ireland
Thursday 18 October 2007
Location: Dublin, Ireland
This was a day to meet the other Erasmus students. I took a bus from Killarney to Dublin in the morning and it took me 6 hours all together to get to the capital of Republic of Ireland. I met with Edith and Ursula (both Austria) in the hostel where we also found out that we have to move every day at 10 AM to another room. We went out searching for a place to eat and we ate at a Chinese restaurant near the hostel. Then we bought some expensive alcohol for starters and met with other Erasmus students in Temple Bar region – we went to Temple Bar and then to some sleazy club SIN. A pint of beer (0,47 liter) was around 5 €.
Friday 19 October 2007
Location: Dublin, Ireland
We were walking around Dublin in the morning and then Ursula and I went back to the hostel to rest a bit, because the previous night was quite exhausting and we didn’t sleep much. There were some new problems with the hostel reservation for Saturday and the “nice” Polish reception girls weren’t too helpful with our problems so Ursula and me decided to leave the hostel next day.
In the evening about 20 exchange students from Vaasa gathered in hostel kitchen so it brought up some nice memories from our half a year abroad.
Saturday 20 October 2007
Location: Belfast, UK
With Ursula we wanted to rent a car so we went to the airport where we found out that you have to be 25 to rent a car so all our hopes about going to Galway and Belfast were gone. Anyway we decided to go to Belfast by bus and stay there for one night because Dublin hostels were overbooked anyway.
It took us 2 hours to get to Belfast by bus and we found a hostel with free beds in the center of the city. Even though it didn’t had any hot water in the night or in the morning it was still better then the one in Dublin. In the afternoon we went shopping and booked Giant’s Causeway tour for the next day.
Sunday 21 October 2007
Location: Belfast, UK; North Antrim (Bushmills and the surrounding area), UK; Dublin, Ireland
The company we booked a tour with wants to somehow push the others from the market so the price for the trip was £5. Our guide wasn’t too friendly and he spoke with a really strong accent so he didn’t bother with some (especially Spanish) not understanding him at all – even the English tourists had problems :) First we visited Carric-a-rede Ropebridge where the landscape was really awesome. After that we took a photo brake at Dunluce Castle and had lunch in Bushmills. We also stopped in the shop of the oldest licensed distillery in the world – Old Bushmills Whiskey Distillery. Afterwards we visited the most important thing from the whole trip – the world heritage site Giant’s Causeway. It was really beautiful, but because a lot of people are visiting the sight it really takes out the charm of the wonderful landscape. All in all the entire trip was ok except for the guide and a few grumpy old ladies from the bus.
We thought we wouldn’t catch the bus to Dublin from Belfast at 7PM but I guess the luck started to get on our side as we were the last 2 passengers to get on that bus. The ride back to Dublin was quite interesting. First we had immigration check by two Irish garda guys and one of them told me that he was skiing in Slovenia and he really liked it. And the other thing on our way back was concerning the nature calls thing :) Because we didn’t had time to go to the toilet before going on the bus in Belfast I had to ask the driver if he could wait for me at the Dublin airport just for 3 mins before going on to Dublin center and of course he was so nice that he let the whole bus waiting on me to get over with my need. It was seriously urgent otherwise I wouldn’t have asked! :)
Dublin hostels were again more or less booked so we had no other choice but to stay at Mount Eccles Court hostel again even though we really hated it. Afterwards we met with other students in Temple Bar region, but they were tired from the previous night so they all went home at about 1AM. Ursula and me were looking for some open pub or club, but the entrance fee for every club was about 10 € so we decided to rather go for some fast food and back to the hostel.
Monday 22 October 2007
Location: Dublin, Ireland
We did the final shopping and went to Jameson distillery. The tour in the distillery was really good and we got to taste Jameson too. I was also a volunteer for tasting and comparing different whiskeys and then I got a certificate of being qualified Irish whiskey taster :) Afterwards we afforded some Irish food – I tried traditional Dublin Coddle in one pub and it was quite ok. Ursula, Edith and me spent the night at the airport and found some quite comfortable benches so we had a good night sleep considering the fact that we had to sleep at the airport.
Tuesday 23 October 2007
Location: Dublin, Ireland; Stanstead, UK; Maribor, Slovenia
Trip back home was ok. It’s always nice to get back home from any trip :)
All in all Ireland is a country just like one would imagine it would be. Thousand shades of green and sheep, cows and horses all around the country. It’s a really nice country with many Irish pubs. The only big disappointment was that there are a lot of Polish working everywhere and I really didn’t like them working in Irish pubs. Otherwise the whole Irish island is really outstanding.
photos by me, Ursula, Edith
Southwest Ireland
I decided to go English since it’s kind of a trend among Slovenian blogs so why not go with the trend :)
This time I was backpacking through Ireland. The main reason was to meet my fellow Erasmus students that were with me in Finland and I had to take a break from everything that was going on (too much stress) so I took the opportunity and booked the flights to Ireland.
Sunday 14 October 2007
Location: Graz, Austria ; Stanstead, UK; Cork, Ireland
I took a flight from Graz to London and then from London to Cork – all with Ryanair. I realized how open and friendly Irish are already on a bus from Cork airport to the city when the driver explained stuff about Ireland and Cork to me. I stayed in Bru Bar & Hostel (recommended by Daša, thanks for that!). The hostel was totally fine and practically in the center of the city.
Monday 15 October 2007
Location: Cork, Ireland; Cashel, Ireland
I went to small village Cashel in country Tipperary. It’s famous for Rock of Cashel, a heritage site and cathedral with chapel, built from limestone.
When I returned back to Cork, I realized that the shops close at about 6 PM so it was a bit disappointing, but anyway it was a good thing, because I couldn’t spend much money on things I don’t need anyway. Cork as the city itself didn’t leave much of an impression on me, but other small villages certainly did.
Tuesday 16 October 2007
Location: Cork, Ireland; Blarney, Ireland; Killarney, Ireland
I visited famous Blarney castle and kissed the Stone of Eloquence at the top of the tower – you almost have to climb on the top because the stairs are really narrow and steep. Well, I guess it was worth to go up if I’ll really grow eloquent :) Afterwards I also walked around Rock Close and saw all these nicely or weirdly shaped stones and other magical stuff like witches kitchen.
Then I headed off to Killarney for next two nights where I slept in Paddy’s Palace which was a perfect hostel for the money I paid (10 € per night in 6-bed room dorm with breakfast). Killarney is a cute little tourist village and also an entry point for Ring of Kerry tours which I booked for the next day.
Wednesday 17 October 2007
Location: Killarney, Ireland; Ring of Kerry (Killorglin, Cahirciveen, Sneem,…), Ireland
I went on a Ring of Kerry tour and this park of Ireland was really nice, but unfortunately there was more sitting on the bus than anything else. We had a few short stops for taking pictures and having lunch. Anyway it was a really outstanding view especially by the seaside.
At night I had a 6-bed room all to myself so I had a really good night sleep without anyone snoring in my room :)
photos by me and one random girl
More about Ireland in the next post.
Rodos
Malce zaostajam z mojimi potovanji, tako da bom Dobrno in Bovec zaenkrat kar spustila :)
Lokacija: Rodos, Grčija
nedelja, 9.9.2007
Odpravili smo se na pot z agencijo Gullet – let iz Pučnika ob 5.20 zjutraj, tako da za spanje ni bilo časa. Bili smo v mestu Kolimbia (več različic imen tega mesta je, nahaja pa se na vzhodu otoka). S hotelom ***+ smo bili zadovoljni glede na grške razmere, imeli smo AI ponudbo. Prvi dan smo si sposodili dva 80 ccm skuterja za ceno 60 € za 6 dni – nenormalno poceni ;) Potem smo pa v Grškem vetru preizkusli naš prevoz in se zapeljali do ene plaže v bližini.
ponedeljek, 10.9.2007
Odpravili smo se do glavnega mesta Rodos na severu otoka – v starem mestu kr mrgoli majhnih trgovinic, ni pa manjkala tudi pijača za 28 € za štiri osebe – če te Grk nagovori s pozdravom “Dobar dan” še ne pomeni, da je vreden zaupanja :) No, vsaj zabavno je blo v premagovanju nastajanja zračnih mehurčkov, ki so nastali v škornju s pivom. Ogledali smo si tudi akvarij, ki je mel bolj klavstrofobičen efekt kot pa kaj za pokazat, v bližini akvarija pa smo obiskali še gostilno “Srečno kekec”, kjer so meli Union – lastnica je Ljubljančanka, Mythosa pa do takrat še nismo odkrili, tak da je tudi Union zadostoval. Na otoku nam je bil še hobi Geocaching, tako da smo videli še par zanimivih lokacij, ki jih drugače verjetno ne bi obiskali – ena izmed teh so bile antene na vrhu hribčka z lepim izgledom.
torek, 11.9.2007
Tokrat smo se odpravili proti jugu otoka – najprej smo se ustavili v znanem mestu Lindos, kjer je akropola. Žal je bilo toliko ljudi, da smo se raje odpravili kar dalje. Sicer nam je blo jasno, da bo gužva, ampak takega romanja na akropolo pa nismo pričakovali. Potem smo obiskali samostan na vrhu enega hriba, do katerega je bla pot s skuterjem zelo zanimiva :) Nato so si ribojedci privoščili še odlične ribe v gostilni čisto blizu vetrovne plaže. Za tem pa smo se odpravili še na južni rt otoka, raj za kajtanje in surfanje, in videli prekrasen sončni zahod. Pot nazaj je bila zanimiva in adrenalinska – je blo treba tekmovat z ostalimi skuteraši na poti pa še iskat bencinsko črpalko, preden nam zmanjka bencina sredi ničesar. Skuterji so meli 3,5 literski tank, pili so pa ko nori – 5 litrov na 100 km. Če so bli pa vključeni še kakšni hribi pa še več.
sreda, 12.9.2007
Kot veseli otroci smo se podali v Water park Faliraki, največji vodni park v Evropi. Dobili smo par modric, ampak vse za zabavo :) Sem uspela pri mojem nerodnem obračanju in kričanju na Sting Ray-u nasmejat body guarda, čeprav je že vsega hudega vajen :) Po parku smo se odpravili še v Rodini park v mestu Rodos – žal grozno neurejen park.
četrtek, 13.9.2007
Kopali smo se na plaži Tsambika nekaj kilometrov južneje od našega, a je bilo ravno takrat malo preveč vetrovno, kljub temu da je vzhodni del otoka dosti bolj miren kot zahodni. Zvečer smo se odpravili na še eno zanimivo “atrakcijo” – 150 m dolg tunel blizu sedmih izvirov vode, ki oskrbujejo cel otok. Tunel je ravno prav velik za enega človega, skozenj pa tečejo še vsi izviri mrzle vode, ki sežejo maksimalno do kolen. Sicer pa to govorim samo po opisih – bi bil kr praznik, če bi si jaz upala v črno luknjo, brez da bi se videl izhod na drugi strani. Zvečer smo šli v Faliraki na pijačo in koktejle, ki so še cenejši kot v Mariboru, tako da nas cene kot je bila tista pijača v starem Rodosu, niso presenetile.
petek, 14.9.2007
Tokrat smo obdelali sredinski pas otoka. Najprej smo se ustavili v dolini metuljev Kalopetra, kjer se sprehodiš po potki in opazuješ metulje na vseh straneh. Nato smo se zapeljali do starega ohranjenega mesta Kamiros, ki ni tako zasut s turisti kot na primer akropola v Lindosu. Potem smo se ustavili še na gradu Kritinia in še pri eni cerkvici, stari 11 let.
Kasneje smo pa neuspešno iskali alpsko vasico v mestu Ilias – Grega je namreč obupal z iskanjem 300 metrov pred vasico, ostali pa smo čakali ob drugem skuterju in močno upali, da bo še kje kakšna črpalka odprta, ker je bil bencin bolj al manj na nuli. Po neuspelem iskanju alpske vasice smo se odpravili nazaj proti vzhodu v mesto Platania, kjer je bila črpalka ob pol 8 zvečer že zaprta (no, odpiralni časi so nekaj, česar se Grki ne držijo preveč). Že čisto obupani smo dobili pomoč v mesnici nasproti črpalke, kjer so nam poklicali strica s črpalke in čez 5 minut je bil tam in samo za nas odprl. Tu dam 5 zvezdic za Grčijo in prijaznost :)
sobota, 15.9.2007
Tokrat smo še v dnevni svetlobi obiskali temen tunel in sedem izvirov in se še malo sprehodili naokoli. Potem je blo treba še nakupit stvari za pokušino doma in se še it zadnjič skopat v morju in v bazenu. Deda sta šla vrnit skuterje, ki smo jih dodobra izkoristili – 600 km v šestih dneh, tako da sta bla čisto zadovoljna, ko sta lahko zadnjih par kilometrov pred vračilom skuterjev vozila sama, brez kakih govorečih gosk na zadnjem sedežu :)
nedelja, 16.9.2007
Ob 7 zjutraj smo se že odpravili iz hotela proti letališču, pot domov je bila brez problemov.
Tokrat dodajam fotke malo drugače:
fotos by me, Grega, Maja, Beno
