Montenegro adventure day 1

As we arrived out of the airport, there was a person holding the sign "Hotel M" and he was our taxi driver. He took us out and to a mall where we bought a few things we needed. Then we went to a restaurant called Pod Volat. At the restaurant I took roasted liver while Tonio took meat mix. Then we went to our hotel. The owner gave us some cake and the local drink. It was great. After that we went into our room which we got a choice of. Either just one room with two beds, a TV and a bathroom or two rooms, two TVs and a bathroom. We chose the better room but at a price. Then, we settled into our room, watched some TV and then drifted to sleep...

Did you have fun? Well if you did, join us next time, on Montenegro Adventures.

(Note, this first day isn't so exciting).

Montenegro

We chose Montenegro for our February adventure because of its beauty and the affordable price, but we forgot to factor in the weather. A holiday in February in the northern hemisphere is always a risk, weather wise, and more so in a mountainous country. Having booked and paid for everything, we found out that it would be raining practically the whole week...

The most emblematic picture I took was this one, at the spot with, according to our guide Miko, the most spectacular view in the whole of Montenegro:

It was supposed to be the view of the bay of Kotor from the top of a mountain. The problem was that we were right in the middle of thick clouds, so we were only able to view the bay when we actually arrived there. We have to go view it another time. Hopefully, in summer, even though the place will be much more crowded, it won't be rainy and foggy the whole time...

Later that day, the sun did come out and we went for a stroll in Kotor old town before driving to Budva, the tourist mecca of Montenegro - many apartments, yacht marinas, night life and so on. Not much activity at this time of the year, but the old town was still there and even just a bit sunny too.

The world famous Sveti Stefan was also spared from the rain when we arrived there:

The second day we had a new guide, Radovan ("Rado"), who took us to Lake Skadar and the coastal town of Bar. Again, Lake Skadar was spectacular but very windy and rainy. At one point we stopped at a view point to have a look at a spectacular view of of destination. We went out of the car, only to be forced back in for shelter by strong winds and heavy rain. It was so frustrating. At the abandoned but still beautiful old fishing village of Rijeka Crnojevica, we had to admire the place from inside the car. And so it went on...

The coastal town of Bar, its name associated with the Italian city of Bari on the other side of the Adriatic, has a frequent ferry connection and strong trade links with that city. In fact, we could see at the port thousands of new Fiat Cinquecento cars manufactured in Serbia and waiting to be transported to Italy. There's an old town, Stari Bar (Old Bar), built on a hilltop 5 km inland, with fortified walls looking out for possible invaders. It suffered huge damage in an earthquake in 1979. Works are now under way on restoration of those parts that are still standing.

Very close to Old Bar stands the oldest tree in Europe, a 2000 year old olive tree that still produces olives. It was already there at the time of Jesus Christ.

We saw a bit of sun, lots of rain, strong winds, cloud from up above, no thunderstorms... on day three we experienced snow, lots of it.

We were on a tour of the mountainous part of Montenegro. The first highlight here was the Moraca canyon, said to be the second deepest in the world. We stopped at the bridge, which is where the first snowflakes started to fall.

Rado told us a sad story about the engineer who built this impressive bridge. Surely he must have been so proud of his handiwork. In World War II he had to place a bomb and destroy a section of his creation to prevent the Nazis' advance into Montenegro. Eventually, the Nazis still overcame Montenegro and the brave engineer was executed. Later, the bridge was restored to its former glory and a monument was erected in his honour.

Rather a poor effort, I have to say. Looks like a memorial to someone who died in an accident. It sort of highlights the pathos. I straightened up the small flower pot on the right, which had fallen over with the wind.

Our next stop: the highest town in all the Balkans: Zabljak. It lies at the edge of a large natural park, Durmitor. We walked along a snowbound road into the park, towards Crno Jezero, the Black Lake. Except that it was white.

Rado explained that in summer it's completely different, teeming with hikers, cyclists, day trippers, ice cream vendors and all sorts of recreation activities. Certainly not in February...

The last day was really a half day. We went to the Ostrog monastery, built high up, practically on the face of a cliff. On the way up we could appreciate the beauty of the valley leading towards the capital Podgorica. Luckily, the cloud cover wasn't complete this time so we could appreciate the magic effect of the valley below us swimming in patches of cloud (the picture at the top).

It's a LONG way up. I can't imagine how they managed to haul all the building materials up without the aid of modern machinery. Ostrog is considered as one of the most sacred places of the Orthodox religion and there are many rites, relics and legends associated with it. Pilgrims from all over ex Yugoslavia visit the place.

It was getting uncomfortably close to flight departure time, but Rado insisted on taking us to another monastery on the way back to the hotel. It's called Zdrebaonik and it's for nuns. They have a church there, with lots of relics and stuff, quite impressive. Two young nuns invited us into their visitors' hall for a coffee and some cakes. In broken French and English we discussed our respective, wildly different, backgrounds. They then took us to their souvenir shop, gave us a gift and made us promise to visit if we go back to Montenegro. Back in the hotel, Miko complained that in many years he's been delivering supplies to them the nuns never, ever, invited him in. Must be my beard, or more likely Gianluca.

Time was really pressing but the kind people at Hotel M insisted on us having a farewell coffee. I've never felt so welcome in a hotel. They said there was still ample time to get to the airport and in any case there were no lengthy formalities. We arrived on time but much too close for comfort. 

Lovely people. Lovely country. Hopefully we'll go back, maybe even to the same hotel, but definitely not in winter!

Heverlee - 60 to 62

Today has been an adventure alright. We have started the 60's and we couldn't find any good passages to go from. We decided to go somewhere and back. In this case we went to 61 then 62 and back.

We found a tunnel and Tonio pretended that he was in a church and was saying things that the priest said. We came to a conclusion where we wanted to check out what there was at the river next to us. We decided to go from a path not from the map but it was too muddy. "We'd better go back," Tonio said. "Why should we?" I replied. "After all we do call them adventures," I said trying to convince him to say we can go walking on the mud. I like walking on the mud, we call it Moonwalking. "Alright, we can go," Tonio finally said. So we went, walking in the mud, squelching through.

"Private, please do not enter," I read out loud. But there was another way. "Can we continue please," I begged. "Alright," Tonio replied instantly. So we continued and finally we came to a dead end. "Should we try another way," Tonio asked. "My feet are getting tired," I replied which meant no.  When we were coming back Tonio did another few lines of the priest in church and we came back. "That was fun," Tonio said. It was very fun indeed. And join me on our next adventure. Bye ;)

GianlucaDeGringu

[Tonio]: Into the 60s, centred around Heverlee, close to Leuven. It was difficult to plan a loop from no. 60 that was not too long, so we decided to walk towards 61 and 62 and then back along the same path. It was a rather straightforward route, with two highlights along the way.

From 60 to 61 was a long gravel path into the forest. There we took another path straight towards the E40 autoroute. In fact, the swish of traffic could be heard throughout our walk today, except...

... underneath the road itself! Midway through the tunnel Gianluca remarked that the acoustics were exactly the same as inside a church. Which was true, so I improvised a sermon there and then, complete with the reverberation effect. Coming out of the tunnel at the other end we noticed that a couple of walkers had entered the tunnel during my speech, so they must have heard me being silly. We pretended not to notice them as they passed us.

Through the tunnel we saw the post with no. 62, which meant we had to walk back. On the map it showed there were some tiny paths that led to a lake, so we went a bit further looking for these. We did find the one leading off the main path, but it was so muddy that I said, "No way!"

Gianluca, however, relished the idea of using his Wellingtons. "This is an adventure, isn't it?" he pointed out. It was as difficult as it looked, but eventually we came onto dry terrain, except that we were stopped by a no entry sign: "PRIVAAT".

On the way back, we were able to admire a fine mansion in the distance...

... and Gianluca was much amused when I tried to take a picture of a duck floating in the winding stream on our right and the duck kept going behind the bend before I managed to get the camera ready.

As I remarked to Gianluca, as usual the adventure was unusual. Each walk is distinctly different from all the others, and interesting things happen even in apparently boring routes like today's.

Adventure from point 59 at Leefdaal

Today has been a cold day for us. We started at 59 but Tonio forgot his camera so we had to squelch back in the mud and get the phone. Then we took the picture.

We saw quite a few dogs on the way. Tonio isn't a big fan of dogs. We also met a few donkeys, three to be precise. Tonio called them and one of them came. Tonio stroked it and the other two came. I stroked one too. They were so cute.

Then we had to go on a road. There was no pavement so we had to walk on the street. I found a stick and started walking with it. Tonio thinks I look like Moses when I do that so I pointed out that I should be in front.

We came to 509 when there was a fork. we could either go the long route to 502 then 501 or go straight to 59. Tonio wanted to go the long route but I said I was tired and there wasn't anywhere to sit. Bad idea. The passage was so muddy and slippery. Tonio almost fell 4 times and I fell once. It was quite uncomfortable for the rest of the journey.

Of course, the wintery scenery was beautiful as usual. The trees with no leaves, the muddy ground, the clear fields, the wind blowing against us. Definitely wintery.

But, we had fun and took in some lovely views. And I'll see you on the next adventure.

GianlucaDeGringu

Making new friends on a bleak wintry afternoon

[Tonio]: When we arrived, these three chaps were standing next to the fence at the other end of the field. I called out, "Insellmilkom," the dark one looked up and started to walk slowly to our side. A few seconds later, his companions followed suit.

We chatted to them awhile and they let us us pat their foreheads. Nice chaps.

It was the beginning or our 'adventure' from Number 59. The ground was muddy, the air cold and the sky a wintry grey with a timid sun somehow making its way through the cloud cover.

Many people hate winter and complain incessantly about the weather. I choose to appreciate the special character of the season. The following pictures capture the mood of this afternoon, bleak and beautiful.

Trekking in Leefdaal

We've been rather lazy lately. Adventures have been few and far between. They were centred around a village called Leefdaal. Going through the photos stored in my phone, I thought it would be a pity to let them sort of go and be forgotten. So I decided to upload a few here.

Barcelona - July 2015

Barcelona adventure day 1:

Today we went hiking in the city of Barcelona.

First we decided to see what there was in Plaza Espana. Many people had told us there was a fountain show during weekends in the evening and we were ready to watch when we had the chance. Then we went to pl (plaza for short) Catalunya, which was the closest station to La Rambla which many people also told us about. On the way, there was a market full of stuff and people, it really is bustling. There was a fruit section a sweet section etc. In the fish section I was rather surprised to see the lobsters were still alive.

La Rambla led us all the way to the harbour of Barcelona. We found an ice cream shop and I decided to take an ice cream. After looking around we found a harbour cruise. We decided to go on it and just as we started somebody took a picture of us. We started the cruise and took a few pictures, but they weren't very good. After we finished we searched for a bit longer and found a restaurant (a snack place really). Tonio took some seafood salad and I took calamari.

Then we decided to go to Barceloneta. There weren't as many people there so we chose to sit down on a bench and play chess (the victory place). I actually beat him for the first time yaaaay!!! (*clap).

Towards the end of the day we ate dinner at our hotel and went to sleep. What a great first day.

Barcelona adventure day 2:

Today wasn't a very lucky day although the first bit was.

We went to Casa Bajo into a house made by Gaudi a famous architect and it was beautiful. There were very few straight lines in the house and we had some machine that shows what there was in the olden times and you get to look around with it and all kinds of other stuff.

Then it started to get bad. We went into the famous Park Güell everything was good in there except we went in from the wrong way. There was even a museum in the park.

It was getting dark and we decided to go to the Sagrada familya and look inside but when we went there there was a man who sold the tickets to go and he said that there was so much to look at that we wouldn't have enough time so that was a bit of a disappointment.

But we had a great time and I will see you later

Barcelona adventure day 3:

Today has been a spectacular day. We went to Montserrat and it took a long time to reach the mountains but eventually we made it but I tell you, it was worth it apart from the first bit. We went to an information place and we asked the lady for walking tours and all she did was give us a map. It was like asking someone how to swim and he/she just gave you a book of instructions.

Then we went to a restaurant and I took an energy drink and Tonio took some beer as usual.

After that we chose one of the five hiking tours and it was 5.2 km. We started off by going on a funicular up a steep way and ending up in a crossroad. We took the way of adventure and the first bit was uphill and wide. We came to a detour and there was the first beautiful view. We took so many pictures of the views that went across the city of Barcelona.

Then started the horrible downhill, yep you heard me, the horrible downhill. Once you go down a downhill for a long time you get fed up and somehow tired and the next day you get sore muscles. After going down a great big hill and seeing a few more awesome views we reached the holy cave a place where there was a mini church and other things with explanations explaining what the things were.

Then we saw an uphill and was relieved and I didn't think I was going to say this again in my life. Finally we reached the building that had a cable car that took us to another cable car to go to the train to go to the hotel. Whew that was a long way.

Then we decided to go to Pl Espana to get something to eat and then watch the fountain show. But when we went there we couldn't find any restaurants so we had to go all the way out of the square and into a back alley. Obviously in the last day we were supposed to go to some traditional Spanish restaurant but we ended up rushing to an Indian restaurant knowing there weren't any other restaurants around. They had some very good food that I can't pronounce. At last when we gobbled up our food, we ran as fast as we felt and came to see the last 20 minutes of the fountain show. It was beautiful. But that was the end of the last and probably the best day in Barcelona.

See you.

GianlucaDeGringu

Tonio's impressions:

Barcelona was crowded, noisy with much, too much, traffic and stifling hot. At one point, we went into a metro train that was bursting with people. You had to push your way inside. At Montserrat, an hour’s train ride away, the girl at the “information” kiosk was curt, bordering on rude: you ask her a question and she basically hurls a leaflet back at you in reply.

Ok. That’s gripes out of the way. At the end of our three day visit we didn’t want to leave. We were to wake up at 5 the following morning, but we were watching a spectacular display of music, dancing water fountains and coloured lights. Youngsters were also dancing at the edge of the water, thousands of people were milling about watching, sitting on wide staircases with a backdrop of lit waterfalls, leading up to the Palau Nacional de Montjuic. At a quarter past eleven Gianluca reminded me that we needed to catch a few hours’ sleep so we reluctantly dragged ourselves away from a magical setting, casting a last longing look back, and down into the metro station.

Inside the train, we had a deeply philosophical discussion on the nature of our individual identity, the possibility and desirability of a cure to ageing and death, whether replacing our bodies by artificial parts would turn us into robots, or if it would still be “us”. All this was sparked by my remark that he had a longer chance than me to revisit Barcelona, which upset Gianluca so I mentioned that I haven’t yet given up on living forever...

You need at least a week to take in all the main attractions of this beautiful city. We had only three days.

The first day we immersed ourselves in La Rambla, there to discover the true meaning of the peak of the summer tourist season. We entered the Mercat Sant Josep La Boqueria. Inside the market Gianluca was mostly impressed by the fact that lobsters and prawn-like creatures placed on ice were still alive. At the end of La Rambla at the edge of the port we went on a boat for a harbour cruise, to rest our legs more than anything else. This was a humdrum affair. There was no commentary at all. We saw a couple of cruise liners “lining” the quay, much industrial activity and containers and stuff, nothing of note at all except for an old man playing an accordion for a few minutes followed by a round of begging with a cap, and then a lady who take an excellent picture of Gianluca and me. It turned out so good that I paid her for it: €7.

La Rambla proceeds on top of the water as “La Rambla de Mar”. We had lunch and then headed to Barceloneta: the beach resort. In the evening we wandered around the old part of Barcelona, Ciutat Vella.  By this stage Gianluca was exhausted and we had to return to the hotel. No Barcelona evening for us. It was my fault: I was trying to do as much as possible because of the limited time available, but a child needs to rest!

Casa Battlò

The second day was dedicated to Barcelona’s most famous architect, Antoni Gaudì. We went to his Casa Battlò, a beautiful house in the centre of the city. Having a very expensive lunch at a street side cafeteria, the waiter serving us recognised our Maltese language: he turned out to be a Moroccan who had spent some years in Malta, where he was an active athlete with the Zurrieq Wolves running club! We climbed up to the Park Guell, again in scorching heat, only to find at the end of the visit that we had gone in from the wrong end. That was a bit of a disappointment. We were also informed later, while trying to get a ticket to go inside the Sagrada Familia, a world famous basilica designed by Gaudì, which is still under construction close to a century later, that there was not enough time left for a proper visit, so we had to give it a miss because the following day we had decided to go to...

Montserrat! I’m told there’s an interesting monastery there, but we proceeded straight up by funicular to the mountain for a hike back to Montserrat. We chose number 4, which was supposed to be the easiest. I wonder how the most difficult route was. Number 4 was hard enough, but the views were incredible. We arrived back at the monastery place at around 4, very thirsty, had a quick drink and took the cable car down for the train back to Barcelona.

After a rest and a wash it was time to have dinner and then go to the Font Màgica de Montjuic show in Placa Espanya. The problem was, we couldn’t find any restaurant at all! With the show already in progress, we needed to find something to eat, and eventually found a side street with a welcome sign indicating... an Indian restaurant! So much for having a typical Spanish tapas or paella washed down by sangria and so on.

The food in the Indian restaurant was great.

We rushed out to catch a bit of the water fountain show, and we were not disappointed. As mentioned earlier, we had to drag ourselves away to go catch some sleep before an early rise to catch the flight back home.

What a city. Maybe we’ll go back. Maybe, because there are also so many other places to discover...