Day trip to Albania – Visiting the neighbors

The story goes as follows… During the period when the communist regime ruled supreme over the country, the dictator commanded that after dark all lights should go off, so that the country would save on electricity supply. The people living opposite the tourist loaded island of Corfu, would stare at the bright lights of the nearby shore and wonder why on earth would their capitalist-plagued neighbors have electricity, while themselves, a proud socialist nation would live in darkness. After many letters to the ruling party committee – all without any response, the big guy himself, the Albanian dictator, decided to visit the area and make a public speech. The people had no choice but to listen to a couple of hours of propaganda about the benefits the regime bestowed its beloved subjects (The guy was Kim-Yong-Illing before it was cool) and all they could do was cheering the dictator, as their other option was imminent imprisonment. They were exhausted, as after long hours of hard work the last thing they would like to do would be listening to a madman raving about the happiness and prosperity he had brought to these sad and poor people, but their patience would be rewarded as the great ruler rewarded them with the answer to the issue that had troubled them for months:

“My children, check out the opposite shore, do you see these lights? Oh, my people you are indeed so lucky. For you my people, live in our blessed communist state. When it gets dark, you get to return home. Those poor souls that dwell under the iron foot of capitalism are forced to work all day and all night!”

Although the story may not be true, it depicts the state of affairs in pre-90’s Albania, which was one of the most politically isolated countries in Europe for a great part of the last century. That state is also reflected on the empty concrete carcasses of the tens of thousands of bunkers that are dispersed across the country, since the dictator was constantly afraid of an attack. As we were told the state has issued a company with the task of demolishing the bunkers and retrieve the iron within their shell (it’s estimated that each one contains 1000 to 1500 euros worth of iron).

 

On our way into the country we passed through Ksamil, the place where the country’s best beaches are to be found as we were told, but we wouldn’t pay a visit. I was impressed by the leaning carcass of a building I saw on top of a hill though and as I read many people are trying to build houses (or even hotels in that case) in order to take advantage of the rapid growth of tourism, but as they lack the necessary permit (or proper connections) receive a visit from the authorities that demolish a couple of pillars thus leaving the owner with the problem of funding the removal of the debris. I couldn’t be fast enough to get a shot, so here’s one I got from this guy. 

I couldn’t get a shot, so I found one here

Our first stop was the ancient city of Butrint, where we strolled through the Greek, Roman and Venetian ruins and the national park. For those of us that like ancient sites it’s definitely a great place to explore and the trees offer their shade generously sheltering of the sun. We had plenty of time to explore the site and the adjacent small museum, although we couldn’t admire the mosaics as they were covered by a protective layer of sand (They become accessible to your eyes only in August). The place was very quiet as Albania is not heavily ransacked by tourists (although the city of Saranda seemed to be a bit damaged by high hopes of future tourist income).

What impressed me was the cable ferry, as I hadn’t seen anything like it. It seemed like a rather popular method for crossing the Vivari channel and is situated just outside the entrance of the archaeological site. I even saw some cars and passengers taking the few minute ride across.

This Church reminded me of Lisbon’s Carmo Convent in a smaller scale

I also met an actor at Butrint theatre, I guess the play that was on, was The Frogs

Our next stop was the city of Saranda (the name stands for forty, derived from the monastery of the forty saints that can be found on a nearby hill). I had a coffee by the promenade enjoying the view of the Ionian sea (to tell you the truth I never get bored of that particular sea, although I get to see a lot of it as I live a hundred meters from it) and I was trying to figure out what to do with my time before we leave the place. There were many sites to see, but there was not much time and I was in a dire need for a coffee. Eventually, I decided to skip lunch for a while and decided to head to the ruins of the synagogue that can be found by the street that is parallel to the promenade.

The synagogue ruins and a mosque’s minaret in the background

I also bought a book and a couple of souvenirs before rushing to a small grill house for a quick bite as time was running out. I wasn’t really as impressed by the city as I was by Butrint, but I would definitely pay a visit to Ksamil beaches in the future. The promenade was the coolest part of the few places I could check out in that sort amount of time. After a while we left Saranda heading for Gjirokaster, crossing the mountainous road to Albanian inland.

The scenery was similar to northwestern Greece, so having taken such routes so many times in the past I wasn’t particularly impressed (I guess it’s more of a fuss than a joyride if you are forced to drive on such roads often, but it would be a beautiful scenery to eyes unaccustomed to snaky mountainous roadways and deep green forests). Eventually we reached the valley where a number of villages and the city of Gjirokaster are to be found (all situated on hilltops overlooking the valley).

 

According to the program issued by the tour office we were supposed to visit the castle and then spend 15-20 minutes visiting the city. As I wished to check out more of the city and feeling stuffed of large scale site-seeing for the day I decided to leave the group and explore the city on my own. The center’s architecture is familiar to Zagoria villages in nearby Greece and it was a great place to visit. Cobble-stoned streets that went up the castle didn’t prove much of a challenge but I guess it might be a problem to some travellers.

Visitors aren’t allowed to take photos of this room, which is supposed to remain intact since the 17th century, so I bought this photo on my way out

After walking uphill through the old city’s main road, I rushed my steps to the other side of the hill descending into a forest of cobbled paths, crossing boulder built houses with roof tiles made of stone. Having made some research prior to my visit I decided to visit Skenduli house. It’s a typical Ottoman period mansion from the 17th century and it shares similar architecture to some Christian mansions of the period. I walked around the stone made house on my own for a while, dragging my steps on the wooden floor,  until a guide showed up and graciously agreed to brief me on the house and its owners.

I didn’t have much time so I urged her to be concise, so I was told that the building was taken from the owners after the Communists prevailed and a few years later it housed the city’s ethnographic museum. The house had two floors and many fireplaces (a sign of wealth towards envy neighbors I guess) and lots of them had a Turkish bath built behind them. I had never seen anything like it and I was amazed. Most of the rooms seemed to repeat each other, but the last one I checked on the last floor was amazing as it was fully decorated in 17th century style.

 

 

That was the main hall, where every important family occasion was held. A wooden wall separated a small area of the room serving as the place where women could watch whatever happened sheltered from men’s eyes. It was truly the best room in the house. While I was taking the tour a Japanese guy showed up, so we took the brief tour together but I have to say, I liked the guy, I’m extremely fond of Japan (I hope I will learn Japanese some day) but he did act like such a stereotypical figure. I was walking around the house and I would constantly hear the sound of the camera taking pics and exclaiming his amazement. It was hilarious! I tried to greet the guy on our way out but instead of saying goodbye I said thanks. Still I got another exclamation of amazement.

Having some more minutes at my disposal I walked around the center for a while, buying some more souvenirs and having small chat with the vendors. I met quite a few people speaking Greek since many Albanians migrated here in the past decades, while there are many people of Greek origin in the city. After a while I joined the rest of the group at our meeting point and prepared for the trip back home. I’d definitely pay another visit to Gjirokaster though.

 

 

 

Last views of Lisbon – Waving Tchau to a splendid city

The last day we were about to spend in Lisbon was bound to be the onset of a rough couple of days in our itinerary. For starters we should find a place to leave our baggage for the day, as we were leaving Lisbon in an evening train to Madrid. Once there, on the following morning, we should also try to find somewhere to place our belongings as we were boarding on the evening flight to Marrakesh. That meant that we would not be sleeping on a bed for these couple of days and we should really save on our stamina and good mood.

The day started a bit disappointingly, as our favorite bakery, Popolo cafe was closed since it was Sunday. We moved to the nearby Time out market, which was stuffed with choices for snacks and coffee and after a small stroll inside the building, where to our surprise we discovered a rather vibrant stamp collectors’ market (as vibrant as stamp collection can be that is), we started our day with a refreshing cold coffee.

Our goal for the day was to simply visit the Belem district and we got positioned on the back of a big line of people that waited to get a ticket from the vending machines. I kept cursing myself for not responding positive to Catherine’s suggestion to buy those damned tickets last evening, when we returned to the very same spot from Cascais. The train station seemed crowded with people that were about to take advantage of the proximity of Lisbon to some fine beaches that were easily approachable by public transport.

Our sort journey came to an end near the Padrão dos Descobrimentos, the monument of discoveries, a construction that commemorates the golden age of Portuguese explorations around the globe. It was built in the middle of the previous century and it stands on the river bank in front of the massive Jeronimo’s monastery. It resembles a ship and its sides are ornamented by several figures depicting warriors, priests, cartographers and so forth, while on its front side the figure of Prince Henry the Navigator, patron of Portuguese exploration, gazes at the endless horizon.

The place was much more crowded than we had expected, but we lingered around for a while, taking advantage of a food stand that served some delicious sandwiches, which we savored sited by the river bank, keeping an eye for the ever begging seagulls that roam these place.

We carried on with our walk towards Belem tower, a military structure built in the 16th century to guard the city. It was once situated in the middle of Rio Tejo, but it is said the great earthquake of Lisbon changed the river course and the tower found itself near the shore (not true though, the shoreline extended gradually towards the small island where the tower was built). A beautiful park adds much to the site’s charm and as every place we visited this one was also crowded. We bought some refreshments once more and sat on a bench watching some guys playing football. One of the things I always regret on these journeys is that it’s never a good time to join other people playing football whenever I find them, so I decided to try and take some pictures of the game that was taking place in front of a 16th century monument instead.

The tower itself is quite alluring and it was a joy to visit this site. The white limestone blends harmonically with the colors of the river contributing to a lovely sight. This was probably the last image of home for many sailors and settlers of Portuguese origin, as they were leaving Europe to make a fortune in lands unknown to them. We left this place not being very decisive on what to do during our last hours in the city. Our belongings would be carefully stored in our hostel for the next couple of hours and it was already lunch time. We walked back to the train station, after taking some time for souvenirs and we were back at Cais do sodre.

Since we had already experienced the place and found it to our liking, we made a stop there for a snack and something to drink. I was a bit reluctant to order any alcohol, but the vibe was so cheerful and we were having such a great time, I decided to get a beer. Later, some girls showed up, setting up some sort of hen party and that put more wood on the cheerful vibe fire. Therefor we stayed for a while longer, but it was about time to go and pick our stuff.

Our train would be leaving Lisbon in a couple of hours after we got to Oriente train station, so there was lots of time and a few things to do. We had something to eat at a subway, lingered around the place for a while, spend some time at a bookstore, shop some snacks and water from a supermarket to get by through the journey. The place is designed by Calatrava though and we could easily discern the resemblance to the Olympic stadium in Athens, a design by the same architect.

The wannabe gangsta crew

After enduring several blows of boredom, we walked up to our platform where we waited patiently, only to be informed a few minutes before departure, that our train was awaiting for us on another platform. I have never seen so many people running to catch a train, but eventually we boarded minutes before the train left the station and we tried to find our seats. That’s when the fun started.

Our seats were occupied by some guys that seemed like a caricature of a Ghetto gang. There were three of them. I’ll call them Leader, Pugnacious D and Fan boy slim. All three of them were listening to hip-hop and they were speaking a mixture of Portuguese and English. Leader seemed to be in a better mental state than the others, he asked us if we wanted them to leave our seats and they all politely got up and sat somewhere else. Leader sat in the front, trying to establish connection with a girl they were all talking about in a rather lewd manner but after a few flattering remarks towards her he got asleep! Fan boy slim was a simple follower, he didn’t do or say much, but Pugnacious D was a loud mouth. He kept making obscene remarks towards the other passengers in general (addressing girls mostly) and he occasionally enjoyed a sip from a whiskey bottle all three of them shared. An old lady tried to protest to all this annoyance but Pugnie D shushed her and she was quick to look the other way terrified.

After a while as he tried to say something to the Leader he accidentally annoyed the passenger seated in front of him, who protested furiously and Pugnacious D reacted by continuously annoying him, but avoiding touching the guy. Eventually the train conductor came to check everyone’s tickets and he found out that the “gang” was lacking both tickets and bravery. However, Leader woke up and pleaded with the conductor not to throw them out, as most of the passengers turned against the poor gangsta crew. The old lady in particular was furiously arguing with the conductor that he should get rid of them.

That put the crew in a defensive position for a while, but some time after the conductor left they started getting annoying again, shouting profanities and trying to dance to some sort of hip hop rhythm that could be barely heard through a small transistor’s speaker. All this dancing became more intense after a few moments. Soon we all understood the reason for this vivid display of their dancing moves. They had reached their destination, so no harm could be inflicted upon them. They hastily left the train and once outside they started shouting. We were amused but we were left inside a train that had its A/C set to North Pole mode and we were about 8 hours away from our destination.

First glimpse of splendid Lisbon

The Lisbon Oceanarium proved to be a perfect kickoff on our exploration of the Portuguese capital, but we were also eager to view the more characteristic sites of the city. Therefor, after a small break for snacks and refreshments, we reached the metro station once more and found ourselves at Rossio, one of the city’s central squares and one with a very elegant pavement, distinctive of Portuguese public art, that resembled ocean waves, typical of a seafaring nation.

Would you like to compare our experience in Lisbon with what we had originally planned for our stay? Then check our initial itinerary here.

Walking around the place for a while, we stumbled upon Mundo fantastico da sardinha Portuguesa, a shop strictly committed to the declaration of the glorious Portuguese canned sardine, as the name suggests. The shop was super fun, as it emulated the vibe of a circus, while its sole product is – you guessed it – canned sardines. They are placed in cans marked in dates ranging from the early 20th century to the present and each year has its own tonality, which creates a phantasmagoria of color, contributing to the final result along with the shop’s own soundtrack. The sardine can price is a bit salty though…

Later we run into Santa Justa lift, the only elevator still remaining on the city streets. As Lisbon is built on rather high hills, getting from the lower streets of the city to the higher ones was a somewhat bothersome task. So, in the beginning of the 20th century this elevator was constructed as part of a plan that would moderate the problem, which also included some funicular railways like elevador da Gloria and elevador da Bica. The top of the elevator allows some great views of the lower city and will get you behind the Carmo convent.

We opted to walk around the city for a bit more though and our stroll continued until we reached Bertrand bookstore, the world’s oldest one still active. Since I have made some small progress in Portuguese over the past months, I was able to comprehend book titles and reviews, so we spend some time there looking for books. Finally, I acquired a copy of the Lusiads, but our homage to Portuguese literature wasn’t over yet. A few steps away from Bertrand lies a very special Café.  It is called A Brasileira, it stands there from the 19th century and it has been a meeting place of many esteemed Portuguese intellectuals, including Fernando Pessoa, whose bronze statue sits patiently on the writer’s usual table, inviting tourists to sit down and take a picture with him. We joined the table next to the man (Oh, my God! Don’t look! Fernando Pessoa is enjoying his coffee right beside you!) and also had a shot taken before advancing higher on the city hills.

After admiring the view of Rio Tejo, as it could be seen through the narrow streets that would go all the way downhill to its shore, we finally reached the entrance of the majestic ruins of Carmo convent. The place was built in late 14th century and simply judging from its dimensions one can easily figure out what an important religious building it was. However during the 1755 earthquake it was heavily damaged and is now housing a museum. The disaster spawned a wave of controversy throughout the continent, as people would wander how God would allow nation, so devoted to Christianity suffer such a tragedy.

Walking around the ruined temple it becomes evident that the thought would have crossed any believer’s mind. There’s a very interesting museum on the site, housing artifacts from different periods of Portuguese history, among them some artifacts of Visigoth origin and some Royal burials, but the most astonishing relic in display were the couple of Incan mummies. I was surprised to see them in Lisbon, since Peru was colonized by Spain, but here they sat, a boy and a girl peacefully enduring as eons went by and tourists were astonished to come across them in a ruined convent so far from their home.

 

Leaving the convent we hanged around on the small square that laid in front of it and enjoyed a beer and a couple of pasteis de nata from a canteen. It was about time have a meal though and we left the convent to return near Rossio square, where we found a used books store, which I naturally had to visit. Five minutes and a couple of books later, we were back on the streets looking for a place to eat. Since we couldn’t decide what to eat we wasted some time walking from one street to another, but eventually, we found a place, where we enjoyed a decent meal, putting an end to this days sightseeing and getting ready for some fun.

Instead of staying near Rossio, we chose to return to Cais do Sodre, as Catherine had spotted some kiosks upon our arrival the night before. It turned out to be an exceptional choice, albeit a bit touristy, as this part of town has become a trendy neighborhood, where you can find many restaurants and night clubs. We marched to the kiosks by the riverside, where we took some shots of the statue of Christ the King, that stood on the opposite shore of Tejo and the magnificent 25th of April bridge that laid under its feet. After weighing our options for a while, we spotted a small place where cocktails were served, while some street musicians acted as the spot’s entertainers. It was a great way to have some fun after a rather tiresome day, that started with a long visit at the Oceanarium and an equally lengthy walk among the city’s historical sites. During the following day, we would take a break from Lisbon in order to visit Sintra and the Ocean, but although that would be a challenging affair to cope with, we didn’t feel in need of a rest.

 

We are back!

Hey there! What a great adventure that was! This year’s project turned out to be tremendous and we had lots of fun, having the opportunity to admire sites in three countries as we moved in airplanes, metro, buses, trains, taxis, even camels. Of course given the limited amount of time at our disposal and the rather large sum of places we wished to visit, some places were left out of our itinerary, but that was expected, albeit sadly. We also had some tough luck regarding our equipment, as Catherine’s phone got a screen crack, her tablet broke and her camera had a minor malfunction that we managed to overcome a few seconds ago and succeeded in moving our photos in a hard drive (MY hard drive, so I guess they are safe from what ever curse has befallen my beloved girl’s electronic devices- and I have to say, I’m very glad I am not a cyborg).

We encountered many people, hanged out with a few, chatted in some Portuguese in Lisbon, had some laughs with a wannabe gangsta crew on our way to Madrid, even got acquainted with the ambiguous tactics of strangers offering guiding instructions while in Marrakesh and also visited Barcelona after the tragedy on La Rampla, which added a bitter tone to our trip.

We’ll add detailed descriptions of this year’s journey on the following posts over the next weeks, so, stay tuned…

Planning the last leg of our trip – A day in Barcelona

Having hopefully been delighted of our first experience of Africa and possibly eager to return soon enough, we are going to leave Morocco and return back to Spain, arriving in Madrid Baraja airport where we’ll be in a rather tight schedule, as we’ll be having about two hours at our disposal to get to the Atocha train station, where we’ll catch a train to Barcelona. So, we’ll follow the metro Purple line to Nuevos Ministerios, then off to the blue line (towards Puerta de sur) and we get off at Tribunal. Another line change to the light blue one (towards Valdecaros) and we are finally off at Atocha Renfe.

Provided everything goes according to plan, we’ll be arriving at Barcelona Sants at about 23.00 (or else its the bus for us and a tiresome nine hour ride). There we are going to check the Metro station, Sants line 3 (the green line) towards Trinidad nova and get off at Liceu station, near our hostel. That will be all for this evidently transitional day of our trip and we are probably spending the night resting (no extravagant clubbing or anything on this one, just plain old-fashioned rest) in order to make the most of our extremely limited one day shot in Barcelona.

La Sagrada familia is first on our list (no need to describe Gaudi’s masterpiece) and from there we might move towards Picasso museum, a building that houses the painters work and is mostly concerned with his relation to the city. Then, we’ll further explore the city’s Gothic quarter, focusing on 14th century Santa Eulalia’s Cathedral, the Roman walls and temple and the four cats cafe, a place where many artists used to spend their time. Finally, we’ll move to the edge of the quarter and walk along La Rampla, the renown street of the city attempting to grasp its vibe, an effort that will be more complete later, as we’ll stroll over Passeig de gracia, one of the most expensive streets in Spain.

Casa Batlio is one more Gaudi constructed architecture, which we are unlikely to enter (23 euro for a ticket is a high price to pay on our last day traveling, when our wallets will be on our last change and our enthusiasm for sightseeing will be running on its last fumes). It is supposed to depict St George, the patron saint of Catalonia (among other places), killing the dragon and we’ll appreciate it from a distance keeping our last savings away from the Saint’s lance.

Casa Mila or La pedrera is another building designed by Gaudi, but we’ll probably limit our eyes to outside views since we find the 20 euro fee rather salty. It’s a structure that influenced our beloved hundertwasserhaus in Vienna and we’d definetely like to catch a glimpse of it.

Park guell seems that will be one of Gaudi’s creations that we’ll visit though, as it is a park with a small entrance fee (7 euro) and lots of interesting attractions (Alfons X metro station, line 4 the orange one, will get us there).

Montjuic castle may probably be the last attraction we’ll visit on this trip, since it seems a relaxing place while, we are probably leaving out Miro foundation and the Palace of Catalan music. Finally, we’ll definitely try the local cuisine especially deserts like crema catalana and mel i mato, before waiving the city goodbye on the following day and return to Greece, having hopefully enjoyed this years trip.

Well, that’s it. Almost everything has been planned and all we can do for now is wait for our first flight on this itinerary. We’ll probably not post much else during August, but we’ll definitely be back on track in September, providing a review of our journey. Hope you enjoy a great summer everyone!

Focusing on our forthcoming journey to Morocco

…Stepping foot on Marrakesh will be a first one for us, since it will mark our initial footsteps on the African continent. Celebrations of this fact will have to be put on hold though, as we’ll have to find a way to our hotel near Jemaa el Fnaa square. Bus 19 is the cheapest option at a cost of 30 MAD per person (here’s a helpful map of the route, that someone uploaded), while a petit taxi that would probably cost 70 MAD (+50%) is the convenient alternative. Since we are arriving rather late, we won’t have much time at our disposal and our tendency to explore will have to be confined within the limits of the central plaza. Furthermore, we are leaving for a short excursion outside Marrakesh early in the morning, therefore we should definitely get some rest (Since these excursions are following a rather strict schedule, there is nothing to plan, so we’ll omit the details regarding that part of the trip. We’ll gladly share our thoughts and experience once we return though).

Once we are back to Marrakesh, we are having a full day in our hands, in order to do some exploration taking advantage of the fact that we are staying at such a central location. For this trip Morocco is Catherine’s eagerly anticipated destination (mine is Portugal if anyone cares) and we’ll try to make the best of it during the few days spent there. Our exploration of Marrakesh will be centered around Jemaa el Fna and the nearby souks, the city spot where everything takes place and we are bound to make a circular route centered on this plaza.

Our first visit will be on the El Badi palace ruins, which will cost a mere 20MAD entrance fee and will offer us the chance to maybe spend a couple of hours admiring the ruins of this 16th century Saadian palace. It seems that the place may be a bit deserted, while some storks are taking advantage of it, nesting and that might provide us with some decent photos.

 

Our next stop will be the nearby Saadian tombs (1 euro entrance fee) where we’ll try and enjoy a small visit (word has it that the place can get discouragingly crowdy), before carrying on our tour to Bab Agnaou, one of the nearly twenty gates to the city, which was built in the 12th century and getting a closer view at Koutoubia mosque (as close as non Muslims can approach that is).

Later, we are moving north of Jemaa el fna, towards Bahia palace (1euro fee), where we’ll have a look at the complex of gardens, courtyards and houses that a 19th century Grand Vizier had built. The compound seems that will provide us with a taste of a blend between Moroccan and Islamic architecture and possibly with some unforgettable memories, yet not so great as the ones we are expecting from the next site we intend to visit, which is …

…Majorelle garden, a villa and garden built by French painter Jacques Majorelle in the 20’s, who seems to have constructed quite a home for himself. He has produced such a great performance on this labor, that the predominant shade of cobalt blue that is dominant throughout the place is called after him. Anyways, Yves Saint-Laurent and Pierre Berge bought the place in the 80’s and Saint-Laurent’s ashes were scattered in the garden (I guess we’ll have to take care of our looks, no one wants the ghost of a fashion designer haunting him or her), while there are plans to establish a museum dedicated to the designer’s life and work on this spot in September. So, we’ll have a walk around the place (map) and keep up with our visit in the city returning to the central square, eager to experience everything we can get our minds onto during our stay in the city, before eventually getting back to Spain for the last leg of our trip.

(It is evident that we do not own any of the photos on this post, they are all originating from wikipedia. We’ll post our own once we return from our trip)

Planning our second day in Portugal – Sintra and the Atlantic shore

image source

In order to get to Sintra, we’ll depart from Rossio train station (we’ll get there using the metro from Cais do Sodre to Rossio or Restaudores) and while there, we are definetely taking advantage of the 434 tourist bus, which will enable us to take a route from the train station, to the National Palace and then up to Pena Palace, the Moors castle and back to the train station. However, we are mostly interested in the Pena palace and Quinta do regaleira, while Monserrate palace and Queluz seem great as well. Furthermore, as we would like to spend some time on the beach and maybe also visit Cabo da Roca, visiting all these sites is truthfully an impossible task to accomplish. Let alone the tickets paid would be an important blow on our budget, while I know for sure that we cannot keep our interest constantly elevated after continuously visiting one site after the other.

So, we’ll opt for a qualitative approach instead of a quantitative one and that means we must make difficult choices. Pena palace and Quinta da Regaleira seem to be a must see and although we might regret it, we’ll probably draw the line there. Provided everything goes according to plan, we are getting up rather early and hopefully we’ll be done with our tour by noon. Then it’s bus 403 to Cabo da Roca, where we’ll probably spent an hour till the bus returns to take us all the way to Cascais. It seems that this bus runs every half an hour between 11.00 and 18.00 and its route starting from Sintra station, passes through six stops before reaching Azoia chafariz and Campo da Roca stops. After that, the bus continues its journey through Malveira da Sera station to Cascais (detailed schedule and route here). Once there, we may visit Boca do inferno and finally catch a bus back to Lisbon.

Or, we might as well skip Cabo da Roca, if we are too tired, and try to visit one of the beaches near the area. We’ve searched for a while and we have come to a small list to choose from and the way we see it, Rio Tejo divides the beaches near Lisbon to Southern and  Northern ones. Since we are visiting Sintra, the beaches up North seem to be the most convenient choice and that’s where we’ll enjoy the Portuguese sea and sun.
This photo of Praia da ursa is courtesy of TripAdvisor

Praia da Ursa and Praia da Aroeira seem to be some good options near Cabo da Roca. However, although Praia da Ursa seems great, it takes some effort to get there (even if you take the left path, as everyone suggests). Aroeira beach seems to be a challenge to get to as well.

This photo of Adraga Beach is courtesy of TripAdvisor

Praia da Adraga beach is another option further north, along with Praia das Maçãs – bus 441 gets you there from Sintra – which seems to be the most easily accessible of these beaches. My heart is set to Ursa though, but I can’t drag Catherine into this narrow, steep path.

Our last choice between Sintra and Cascais is Guinco beach, situated 6km north of Cascais, but it seems it is mostly addressed to surfers and we’ll probably skip this one. Our other options North of Rio Tejo, include Tamariz beach in Estoril, São Pedro beach and Praia do Carcavelos. All of them are too close to Lisbon, so they will probably be very crowded, but they are the most convenient to get to.

Tamariz seems to be a lovely choice,  as it includes a medieval styled building, constructed in the 19th century and I think it’s where Catherine might enjoy the sea more, as the place is easily accessible and may have warmer waters than the sea north of Cascais. There seem to be lots of places to go and enjoy a snack or a drink as well, so our stay around the place can be a boring comfortable affair.

image source

Carcavelos beach is a 20 minute train ride away from Lisbon and what applies to Tamariz, probably applies here as well. Many options for a snack or some coffee, lots of people (probably more than Tamariz) and some guaranteed quality time on the beach, under the bright sun (pretty much what we can do around home though). I am a bit concerned over the water quality, since this beach is so close to Lisbon, but we won’t let that worry us. Another option is plan B, which we won’t follow probably, since it involves hitting the praias south of Rio Tejo, but, since some research is done, I’ll post these options here:

Costa da Caparica seems to be a nice option across Lisbon, as it is a more than 30 km long sandy beach, easily accessible by bus or a combination of ferry and bus, while one can make use of a small mini train to reach the more distant sections of this beach.

 
This photo of Borda D’Agua is courtesy of TripAdvisor

Praia Morena is one of these distant sections and i guess you can find a useful guide to the place here, while another interesting place could be Da Cabana do Pescador (the fisherman’s hut). The thing about a 30km beach is that we do have one just in our backyard, (well, not literally, but still, it’s only a ten minute drive there), so we would rather experience something entirely different.

Praia do Meco is another beach, further south, near Sesimbra, 40 km away from Lisbon (some info can be found here), but the longer the distance, the least becomes the possibility we’ll visit places like this one or Praia do ouro.

Finally, Portinho da Arrabida seems to be the prettiest option south of Lisbon, at least according to our standards, but it seems as if it will be a real hassle to get to, since it seems that we’ll have to travel to Setubal first, before finding some means of transport there. I won’t even discuss the option of visiting Praia do Troia, besides, the last time Greeks visited Troia (Troy) things got out of hand and eventually both sides suffered greatly. We won’t go to Praia do Troia, but we’ll bear them a gift instead…

Our back yard, guess in Portuguese it would be called Praia do nosso patio posterior

In conclusion, I kind of feel that we are obliged to come to terms with the fact that our time is limited, while our desire to visit many places knows no boundaries. That means that we must lessen our desires and it obviously feels like a bitter defeat since reason suggests that in order to enjoy a country, you must divide the precious time at your disposal wisely. We know for sure that our bodies will be grateful if we don’t push them too hard, yet, our minds might hold a grudge. No matter where we go in Portugal though, we cannot have any regrets, as we’ll enjoy a country that seems to be stunning and is the place I mostly long to discover during this trip (Catherine eagerly anticipates to view Morocco). Still, we will also be having another day to spend in Lisbon, before departing on a night train to Madrid and we’ll make use of that time in order to relax and visit any place we missed during the previous days of our stay.

 

 

Dealing with our forthcoming first taste of Lisbon

This post is mostly focused on an attempt to make up for being so idle as bloggers over the past month or so. It is some sort of note regarding our trip next month and a way to put the things we plan to do in some sort of order. We are both working long hours, but since I do all of the writing, I’ve been trying desperately and – obviously – with inadequate success, to find some precious time to keep you informed.This photo of Lisbon Oceanarium is courtesy of TripAdvisor

 

Anyways, so far we have booked almost everything that was a necessity and our itinerary will start once we land on Lisbon. We do not own any of the pictures in this post, hopefully we’ll get plenty of our own pics, once we are back home, but for now these will have to suffice, don’t get me wrong, they are great, but I prefer the ones Catherine shoots. We’ll be arriving near midnight, so all we can do during our first day is get acquainted with the city’s metro and get all the way to Alameda station and then to Cais do Sodre, where we’ll catch a taxi to our hostel.

Image via lisboando.com

After a good (hopefully) night’s rest, we’ll hold onto our freshly started relations with the metro and begin our second day at the Lisbon Oceanarium (Cabo Ruivo or Oriente stations are pretty close) and probably have a closer look at Vasco da Gama bridge while there, before getting acquainted with the man himself, as we are going to pay a visit to Jeronimo’s monastery where he is buried along other prominent Portuguese people, like the poet Luís Vaz de Camões.

While in the area, we are going to visit Padrão dos descobrimentos and the Belem tower, the place that signified the dawn for many of the voyages undertaken by brave sailors of older times and also the place where many would set down their eyes on their homeland for a last time. We may also visit the nearby modern art exhibition of Berardo museum, since these places are all conveniently located cose to each other. That would bring our first leg of our exploration of the city to a break, before venturing forth to the next part, probably after some more rest while we’ll wait for the sun to abate its aggression.

For our second part of our first attempts to get familiar with Lisbon, we may climb to Sao Jorge castle and visit the Cathedral and the ruins of the Convento da ordem do Carmo. This church is a remainder of the 1755 earthquake that destroyed the city and the spark that ignited the creation of some philosophical and literary works, among them Voltaire’s Candide and DeSade’s Justine, a mockery of Leibnitz’s view that this is the best of all possible worlds.

image source

Next we will be visiting Bertrand, the oldest bookstore in Europe, where I intent to buy a couple of books in Portuguese (maybe Os Lusiadas or the anarchist banker or both, well… I certainly hope Catherine will be able to pull me out of my book infused state of trance once there). Afterwards, we’ll head to Sao Roque church and head to Miraduro Santa Catarina to enjoy the views of the city, before visiting a place to enjoy a beer or two.

We’ll also ride one of the elevadores, probably the one most convenient for our routes.  Elevador de Santa Justa seems to be the most prominent among them, connecting rua do ouro (gold street?) to largo do carmo (Carmelite square? Large Carmelite?) and would seemingly be a good choice to reach cafe A Brasileira, where we could enjoy some coffee in the company of Fernando Pessoa’s statue. On the other hand elevador da Bica runs between largo Calhariz and Convento de Sao Pedro de Alcantara, while Ascensor da Gloria, connectsR. São Pedro de Alcântara, near S.Roque church to Praça dos Restauradores.

Some things worth seeing are probably the two large bridges connecting both shores of Rio Tejo and the Christ the King statue, as well as the Calluste Gulbenkian museum, but we’ll have to see if time and stamina will be on our side during this effort, since we’ll leave this places on our bucket-list for our last day in Lisbon, alongside any other places we fail to visit during day 2,  since we are planning to spend day 3 near Sintra…

Gains and losses – An update on our summer plans

It has been quite a while since we last posted anything regarding our forthcoming trip. Last time we did, we declared our intention to visit Zaragoza. Well, cross that off! Surely, it is an interesting city but we mostly wished to visit in order to rest on our way to Barcelona, since our time will be limited. However, we opted to spend a bit of our budget on train tickets and we will reach Barcelona after a three hour trip. So, as we have taken care of every transport needs necessary here’s the final form of our itinerary.

• Day 1 We arrive in Lisbon late at night, therefore, a nap will be our sole experience of Portugal for the day
• Day 2 sightseeing in Lisbon
• Day 3 A visit to nearby Sintra and one of the nearby Praias for a swim
• Day 4 We check out of our hotel and continue sightseeing in Lisbon, till we catch the night train to Madrid
• Day 5 Spend the day in Madrid until we board an evening flight to Marrakech
• Days 6 to 9 are spent in Morrocco
• Day 10 Returning to Madrid after noon, where we catch the evening train to Barcelona
• Day 11 Sightseeing in Barcelona
• Day 12 some more sightseeing, before departing in the evening

To sum up, we are done with the main structure of our trip. So far the cost comes to 100 euro flight from Greece to Lisbon, a 23 € train ticket to Madrid, a 50 € air fare to Morocco, the same amount for the return to Spain, a 40 € train ticket to Barcelona and a 35 € flight back home. Total amount of 298 euros each for our main transports (We haven’t included smaller fees, such as public transport or taxis in the cities and the train ticket to Sintra). As far as our accommodation is concerned, we’ve already booked our stay in Lisbon and a couple of days in Morocco, so, we need to reserve rooms for another couple of days in Marrakesh and a couple more in Barcelona.

We’ve also quite determined which places to visit during our stay in Lisbon, but we’ll present those once this list is conclusive.

Second part of our Tallinn tales

After a necessary break for lunch we carried on wandering around the city, bumping right into the happy chimney sweeper statue, which we hugged for good luck and took some shots of before leaving him be and get on with our exploration of the city. We realized we were in need of coffee and Catherine was in dire need of a sweet dessert as well, therefore, as we came across a pretty looking cafe, we entered the place, ordering our usual cold coffees – Estonian style on this one, and a dessert, which contributed to Catherine’s happiness.

check out the first part of our exploration of Tallinn here

Having that taken care of, it was Catherine’s turn to make a small stop for purchasing some accessories, before continuing our walk away from the town’s center and into an area called Kadriorg, where many attractions are to be found. That was a pleasant break from Tallin’s Medieval atmosphere as we found ourselves walking through more modern buildings and Kadriorg had more of a 19th early 20th century scent.

Our first impression of the place was pretty pleasant since the park emanated a much needed to us sense of relaxation. After walking around the busy Medieval center’s alleys for hours, it was imperative that we loosen up for a while. The site was ornamented with some impressive artwork and we liked the swan pond that was harmonically adorned with pieces of modern art that maintained the thin balance between old and new.

The main building was also impressive and we had fun as we thought the name stood for Catherine’s palace (it actually stands for Catherine’s valley). Then we had some more laughs since we came across the presidential residence and we conceived of a master heist, that was pretend to be the Italian prime minister and Italy’s first lady and crash into the place for a while eating and drinking. We laughed our hearts out speaking Greek in a comic Italian accent occasionally for the following days and we left the place still joyful and ever jubilant hanged around the park for some time before eventually dragging our steps back to our hotel, that stood midway through Kadriorg and the old city for a small break.

After this refreshing and brief stop, we returned to the city inside the walls and near Katarina kaik, we stumbled upon a small workshop, that was open to visitors and it seemed as if it was situated inside an ancient church building. I have to say that this was the best experience we had regarding Tallinn’s past. The artist seemed devoted to his craft and we were able to explore the candlelit basement admiring the paintings and the decoration. We felt obliged to buy a little something as a small token of supporting this work and – had our budget been a little more elevated, we would definitely purchase more.

We continued our walk for a while, until we decided to make another small stop for a bite and a beer and then we approached one of the carts that sold almonds in order to try that snack. We only regretted that we hadn’t made our move sooner. Those are probably the best almonds we’ve tasted and they seemed to be a mix of roasted almonds alongside sugar and cinnamon (?). We also hanged around a medieval store for a while, making some more purchases before venturing onto DM baar, which was empty at the time since it was too early in the evening.

All I ever wanted, all I ever needed…Precious and fragile things…

The place was established by a devoted fan of Depeche Mode and a couple of years after the opening, some members of the band visited the place to party, thus adding their some of their fame to the place. We liked the place, all the drinks are named after the band’s songs (Blue dress and Personal Jesus were the drinks we had), the decoration is about the band and the music is, yeah you guessed it – Depeche Mode’s greatest hits (which is all of them).

Well, that was fun but after a while we decided to leave. We walked around for a while and we felt the need to see some more places, but we felt as if we had run out of options. Everything seemed as if we had been seeing them since forever and we got bored. It looked as if that was all about Tallinn (although that is not the case) and our guess is that we got tired by the Medieval fair atmosphere of the old city and the drunk people that began to make their presence noticeable (one of them was even carrying a sign claiming he needed money for beer and although we thought it was a poor beggar’s trick, that was not the case). Still, we would gladly visit Tallinn once more, only this time we would focus mostly on places like the open air museum and Pirita convent and also on the pretty Estonian countryside. For the first time in days, we returned to our hotel refreshed and we were eager to carry on with our journey, exploring Riga and nearby Jurmala…

Catherine was happy to find this small and colorful shop, where she acquired some lovely accessories

On our way to Kadriorg we passed by some lovely houses

While enjoying the park, Catherine also encountered a couple of her beloved dogs

I was secretly hoping that we would make the rest of our trip on this rather vintage means of transport, but we boarded a modern day comfortable bus instead…