Sao Miguel

Let me introduce Sao Miguel. Sao Miguel is one of the isles of the Azores, the volcanic islands in the middle of the Atlantic ocean that belong to Portugal. It is a varied and magnificent island.

There is an abundance of vegetation covering the entire island. You really can look past the countless hydrangea covering the sides of the roads and the hills or the ferns as big as a palm tree. Unless, the fog catches up on you, this happens quite often, then you can’t see anything.

Tip: While planning, make sure to take the fog in account. On Açorescameras you get a life-feed from the area and doing so you can avoid the foggy patches.

San Miguel has something for everyone from water sports, to walking or just to relax In one of its numerous hot-springs.

This is lagoa do Fogo and not much farther we find the nearest hot springs. This location is just magical due to the warmth provided by the hotsprings we found ourselves at a waterfall in the middle of tropical vegetation.

 

Pictoresque Bari: again a lot of transport troubles

After two days in Kerkyra we set of to Bari and of course we didn’t reach it without our usual amount of transport troubles. Having a three hour delay before boarding didn’t immediately strike us as a big problem, since after our previous mishaps we were already happy it wasn’t cancelled. However, waking up in the morning with only two hours to go before we should reach Bari, I looked out of the widow and only saw land on the wrong side of the ship. We were still in Corfu!!!

And after trying to figure out what was the problem at the main desk (unfortunately they only spoke Italian) I still didn’t have a clue. At the end it appeared that during the entire night we just hadn’t moved due to the bad weather, nice to know. So, instead of arriving at Bari at 10.30 we got to sit on the ship for a few more hours and finally arrived at 17.00, long live transport.

But all things well, we arrived in Bari. I immediately fell in love with its historic centre. Its small alleys, the locals sitting on benches talking to their neighbours and the tiny squares were so cute. For dinner we didn’t get far though, since our bed and breakfast was next to a restaurant by the same owners but we didn’t regret our choice at all. At the recommendation of the waiter we got the starters menu, a collection of all kinds of appetizers made from local specialties. The food was awesome and it took us two hours just to finish our appetizers., complletely full, we then decided on leaving the main dish for another day and make an evening walk before falling asleep completely exhausted.

Tip: The restaurant we ate was called la uascezze and is definitely worth a try. However, if you wanna be certain of having a table be sure to make reservations. The restaurant is pretty popular and from the opening hour till closing time all tables are taken, there are even people waiting for a table on the street.

So, all things considered, except for our many transport troubles, we couldn’t have had a better holiday. And yes, even those troubles will stay in our minds as a funny memory, something to look back too.

Corfu: Kerkyra

After leaving Kavos behind, we went back to Kerkyra, aka Corfu-city, the capital of Corfu. Kerkyra was wonderful with its promenade, small alleys and countless charming restaurants however the most striking monument was definitely the Achilleion.

The Archileon was empress Sissi’s home away from home fa, ascinating villa built in Greek style meant as an homage to the Greek hero Achilleion. Notorious for being depressed, I can totally get why empress Sissi chose this place to live, the view from the place is absolutely spectacular.

Kavos: the party town of Corfu

When we went to Corfu we didn’t know Kavos was a party town at all and we were just planning on relaxing on the beach. These plans however quickly changed and instead of visiting Paxos and chilling on the beach we ended up doing a booze cruise and a foam party. And in the evenings naturally went to the main strip.

Personally, Kavos was not my favourite place on Corfu. Yes the parties where a lot of fun, but I prefer the good food, relaxed sphere and nice reefs of Sidari and Paleokastritsa.

TIP: when going on a booze cruise, there are several companies and on most of them the drinks aren’t free at all (actually quite expensive). Therefore, ask around, be sure to have the best deal.

Corfu: Paleokastritsa

Though Paleokastritsa was only a one-day-trip organized by Alpha Kappa Travels, a local travel agency, I think this is actually the day we saw the most during our entire Corfu trip. We started our day at a Kumkwat distillery and moved on to Paleokastritsa.

To start off with the Kuwkwat liquor. This liquor is typical from Corfu and is, contrary to the actual fruit, very sweet due to the amount of syrup added in the production process.  Next we went to Paleokastritsa. Paleokastritsa is a picturesque village and was the first holiday resort in Corfu. There is a lot to see and do in this city and it is impossible to visit everything in only one day. You can visit the caves and see “The blue eye cave”, see the marine life in the submarine or by snorkelling along the cliffs, visit the monastery or the castle and take a look at the reptile house.

We started out with the sea caves, they were not exactly spectacular but the trip was a lot of fun and we also got to see the village from the sea. Afterwards we took some time to do some more snorkelling and in the afternoon we visited the monastery. The monastery on Paleokastritsa is one of the richest monasteries of the island and the exhibit room displays old bibles imbedded with gold.

We finished our Paleokastritsa trip by going to the Bella Vista. Here we ate a nice piece of pie while the fabulous view of the area from above.

 TIP: Alpha Kappa travel agencies is certainly a recommendation for making trips in Corfu. Their trips were well organised, their guides were great and we certainly felt it was worth the price.

TIP: Don’t go to the monastery in the morning, it only opens in the afternoon.

Corfu: Sidari the ideal place to relax

So, we are nearly a month later and I finally get to resume my travelling posts,. Starting where I left off, in Corfu.  After finally arriving in Corfu in the middle of the night we stumbled to our hotel for a short nap and carried on further to Sidari. Sidari is a quant “village”, that was actually a lot larger than we expected and filled with restaurants, bars, travel agencies and more English people than there are Greeks.

The food was great here and I especially liked the Lamb Kleftiko and the Mousakka definitely something I want to try to make at home. Oh, and the best beach?  Definitely the beach at Canal D’Amour. This beach is smaller than the main beach, not that crowded and the decor is splendid. The cliffs are amazing to see above water but try snorkelling there, you’ll get to see a great deal of fishes.

Naturally, we didn’t only lay on the beach but actually did some horseback riding along the area, some scuba diving and visited the beautiful town Paleokastritsa about which I will tell more soon.

 

Holidays a blogging disaster

The holidays have proven to be a true blogging disaster and I have quite quickly discovered that blogging while travelling is quite exhausting and not my cup of tea.

Arriving back into the apartment or hotel room totally exhausted even shifting through the pictures is not exactly easy let alone writing a post and soon you give up and crawl into bed thinking “I’ll do that tomorrow”. The next that you wake up and end your way with the same mindset. At to this phenomenon a lack of internet connection and the result was clear my posts failed to appear.

Therefore, congratulations to all the people able to write posts during an holiday. Knowing I utterly failed to do so and realizing I’ll probably never become proficient in blogging on a holiday.

Being backhome I am going to start blogging regularly again, so stay tuned for more book reviews and more pictures and stories from my holidays XD.

 

Cancelled boats ever so fun

After two days in Brindisi we got up early to catch out boat to Corfu. Our boat would leave at eleven ‘o clock and we had to be at the terminal at nine ‘o clock.

Arriving at the terminal however, we unfortunately were informed our boat was cancelled, without being informed in advance. The solution offered at the terminal was catching a boat to Igoumenitsa in the evening and thereafter continue our tour with a boat to Corfu. In accepting this option trouble didn’t end however. When we arrived in Igoumenitsa were we were supposed to immediately see the boat to Corfu since it would be the only one in the harbour and would have an hour to get on said boat.

Getting of the boat however there wasn’t a ship to be seen at all. Even more, that hour we were supposed to have appeared to be ten minutes, since going into Greece we had to adjust our clocks.

There we stood, no ship to be seen on an empty port with no one to ask for directions. When we finally encountered someone they just simply directed us out of the harbour.

Luckily we found or ship after walking 1 km in about 10 minutes only to be represented by the next problem. The people of the ship weren’t informed at all of our problem and wouldn’t let us on the boat unless we bought a ticket, which we didn’t want to do since we already bought tickets to Corfu.

In the end someone came and they decided to just let us on the ship. We don’t speak Greek but the impression we got is that the guy said “Just let them on the ship, they are desperate”.

About an hour later we finally arrived in Corfu, at five ‘o clock in the morning, ten hours behind on schedule and totally exhausted. Hoping this would be the last transport trouble to be had during our trip.

Next: The Azores

Although I am still a bit behind on my posts on my last trip. Tomorrow, we (my parents, my sister and I) leave for the Azores.

Posts about my trip will be appearing in two weeks though,  since I fully intend to have as much fun as possible and therefore time for posting will be limited.

Nevertheless, posts about Corfu will appear no matter how much time I can find XD

 

I don’t speak Italian: Brindisi

Due to some internet and computer problems, again I am late with my posts. And have decided on a different venue. From now on I will be posting when I get back from my holidays instead of trying to keep up while on holiday. Since writing a post takes up quite some time, better spend looking around. This having said, I can finally start rambling about Brindisi.

Our first day in Brindisi we immediately noticed that Brindisi isn’t touristic at all. It is an interesting city with several museums and sites but misses touristic organisation. There are only a few restaurants  and the nearest beach takes half an hour by bus. Our main problem in Brindisi however was a language problem. Since we don’t speak Italian and the locals do not speak English or any other languages communication proved to be hard.

Inquiring information about which bus to take or which monuments to visit proved quite a task but at least we managed and finally found an information point at the train station where we got a map with all the touristic sites.

Brindisi, although not very touristic, still has a few historical sites. The city’s significance dates back to the Roman Empire during which the city was connected to Rome by means of the Via Appia. Which remnants are still visible in Brindisi. Consequently, we also stumbled on a museum with quite some remains of this era, mainly discovered among the via Appia and through sea excavations. Save from Roman antiquities, you can discover quite some churches while roaming through the city.

As for some decent beaches. The best beach near Brindisi takes one hour by bus and the nearest still half an hour. The best venue would be to choose the furthest one, being the terminal of the busses. From there you can also wonder into the nature reserve, although we didn’t get there due to limited time, the locals claim that the beach there is better.