Year ago we went to short trip to Austria. This post is about hike and visit of ice cave. I am a bit afraid to call it a hike, because time spent walking was similar to time spent waiting for 2 cable cars (plus way back down).
Beauty of Liptov
Added: August 06, 2016
It is long time since I blogged last. I have plenty of photos, but somehow I did not get to writing about them here.
These photos are from company event I have attended 2 years ago. We went to north of Slovakia, to Liptov. I know it well there, because I spent every summer there when I was kid. Still, we visited a few places I have never been before.Madeira - 2 wonderful levadas at Rabaçal
Added: October 04, 2014
When Zuzka planned details of Madeira trip, she made very good decision to go to Rabaçal. We were sure we want to do one or possibly 2 hikes there. We were nearly sure we will not manage 3rd one. That would be too much. Especially because we arrived quite late. Fortunately a parking lot is much bigger than at São Lourenço. There were more cars here, yet we managed to find a spot. It was a bit further away, but good enough.
We used small trick here, we actually disqualified ourselves as hikers, because we used shuttle bus to get to the starting point of hike. But we saved 1 hour by that, so what?
Our company event continued also on Saturday. According to plan, those of us with stamina and courage will hike some unmarked path to summit of some mountain with rescuer and mountain guide. But then it was decided we all will go together to hike like normal people do :-)
I guess that disappointed our guide Juraj Majer. But what he could expect from bunch of IT guys? On the other hand we were disappointed next morning, when he told us it is too windy for helicopter rescues. So our 1€ insurance will not turn out into helicopter ride. We should probably stick to hiking safely :-)
This blog is long overdue, but my free time is not what I was used to anymore.
Company I work for had a company event last October in High Tatras. I could not miss such an opportunity. And also our best customer from USA used it for getting to know us better, not to mention to see nicer part of Slovakia than Bratislava :-) Looking back at it, it was probably a bit irresponsible to "force" people giving you money to hike in the mountains but they fared well. And survived. All of them. :-)
Early autumn in High Tatras (Slovakia) is often the best time of year to visit. It is usually stable weather with nice blue sky and acceptable temperatures. It was valid last summer even more. It was unusually warm for October 1st and it was at least one month since last rain.
We decided to go particularly to Kvetnicové Pleso because there was some yoga meet-together and my in-laws practicing yoga were interested.
We spend whole day 15th of February in bus from Puno to Cuzco. It was very nice scenic road and that was also reason we decided to travel during day, compared to alternative night trip. That would save us some time and also money, but we would not see anything.
Kamisaraki - welcome to floating islands Uros
Added: July 11, 2010
I forgot what exactly Kamisaraki means, but it is some kind of greeting in Aymara, used at floating islands Uros, Lake Titicaca, Peru.
On 14th of February 2010 we boarded a bus from Copacabana, Bolivia to Puno, Peru. Driver gave us Peruvian customs declaration forms and asked to check NO everywhere, because he did not want to unload baggages unnecessarily. He collected the forms later, so that we could save time by processing them at once (if at all). He also suggested we should not exchange money at Bolivian side or in a buffet. He will tell us where is good money exchange office.
Trip to Isla Del Sol, important place in mythology of Incas, deserves whole day. Or two. We had only one, but it was enough to say this place is amazing. Rugged rocks, green terraced fields, cacti, dark blue water of Lake Titicaca, small settlements and most important of all pre-Inca and Inca ruins.
Day did not start with nice weather, but to our pleasure it changed quickly and stayed nice for rest of the day.Copacabana, Bolivia
Added: June 24, 2010
It's 12th of February and we are finally heading to Lake Titicaca! A pick up bus again arrives 30 minutes ahead of scheduled range, this time a driver is not willing to wait 5 minutes until I finish packing. We have to go to Vicuña Tours near main bus terminal to catch our bus. Fortunately receptionist is very helpful - he shows us the place on a map and catches a taxi for us.
The bus is packed, no wonder due to strike there are more travellers keen to get to Copacabana. It is really cloudy, clouds are quite low, because in El Alto they form fog.
The reason we decided to stay in La Paz for longer was we really wanted to go to Chacaltaya. It is probably the only place in the world where you can get so high by bus! You only need a few days of acclimatization and a few $. What could be the better birthday present for Zuzka anyway?
Chacaltaya was former highest ski centre in the world, but it does not operate any more. It misses one thing - snow. The remnants of glacier finally melted down in 2009 and it is not likely it will recover soon. Surprisingly it snows there only in summer due to wet air, but never in winter. We like mountains a lot so I could not resist showing many photos again. Sorry for that :-)
We visited Nelson Lakes only because we liked the photos done by my former colleague Ben Smith. He was huge inspiration for our trip year ago and his photos played huge role in our decision for going to South America during our trip.
Amazing scenic drive to Franz Josef
Added: April 18, 2010
Landscape we have seen on Tuesday 12th of January was as close to my dreams about New Zealand as it could get. Snowy mountains against nice blue sky are reflecting in deep blue lakes. Lot of greens in tropical vegetation around.
Our only reason to rush through this paradise was to be at Franz Josef at about 2pm to catch so long awaited helicopter ride to Mt Cook. And the only reason to have negative thoughts were occasional, but cumulating clouds ahead.
The same place can look completely differently when the weather changes. We could observe such a change in Wanaka. When we arrived it was cloudy and Wanaka did not look very nice. But next morning the sky was clean, sun was shining, birds were chirping and whole place seemed to be refurbished.
Colour of Lake Wanaka changed from ugly grey to beautiful blue. And the similar change happened with surrounding hills and mountains of Mount Aspring National Park - they grew from 2 dimensions into 3. My impression of Wanaka changed and I would put into my list of places I would like to live if I had one.
Next day we woke up full of hopes to do helicopter flight to Mt. Cook. It was partially cloudy, but nearly half of sky was clear. We called to Tekapo Helicopter at 9am and they did not know when they will fly. I tried again at 10am with the same result. That's it, we could not wait longer.
According to original plan we wanted to do about 3h long hike in Hooker Valley under Mt. Cook. But due to bad weather we decided to skip it too. We had about 200km to go for today plus some stops and we lost some time by waiting for helicopter friendly weather.
We woke up to see terrible storm on 3rd of January. Great, it was wonderful weather yesterday and it is terrible today. We got completely soaked just after running to the other side of road and packing our luggage into car. That did not help with our mood.
And we had two attractions asking for fair weather planned today! We planned to go into Lake Tekapo and to have helicopter trip to Mt Cook. We can move that to next day or to next week when we get to Wanaka or Franz Josef. But we will not be able to move visit of St John observatory to any other day, so let's hope sun starts to shine.
We left Australia on 2nd of January. It was cloudy morning, we could not see panorama of city well. Thick layer of clouds was beneath us nearly during whole flight over Tasman Sea. But shortly before reaching New Zealand clouds scattered and we could see land. Wonderful mountains with some snow and big lakes. Our landing in Queenstown reminded me our landing in Lhasa last year. Sunny, blue sky, mountains at both sides.
Sunday, 12th of July. Our plan is to go to Drepung Monastery. It was optional program and only 4 people decided to go. Maybe because it is expected to be worse than Ganden Monastery yesterday and the price is only slightly lower than we paid for Ganden.
Original intention was to use taxi as it is cheaper than bus, but when Tenzin went to police to obtain permit he was told groups are not allowed to use 2 taxis, they need to go as a group by bus. "Don't you know the rules?!?". Strange...
Morning 7th of July starts with a wake up call. Twice. Either human factor or failure of technique. Or too eager receptionist. Or maybe I did not say Xie Xie (谢谢) the first time, because I thought it is an automatic call.
Rich has warned us during briefing yesterday breakfast in China is different from what we are used to. It is the same stuff you will get for dinner. So he usually does not bother with it. But not us! We came here to taste as much of Chinese meals as possible... at least I did (well I looked forward for Tibetan meals more, but that does not eliminate Chinese ones).
Sunday 9th November. We slept rather well, it was quiet place again even it looked like we found another place with festival yesterday. We woke up at 6:30 to see sunrise - it would be big mistake to miss sunrise in Jodhpur.
Our plan for that day was to see Mehrangarh Fort and nothing else as our flight to New Delhi was moved 3 hours sooner so we needed to finish at noon. It is pity, Jodhpur has many places to offer to visitors. But what could we expect if we had only one day for every place?
Saturday 8th November we woke up rather tired. We could hear life on streets for most of the night and it was really hot in our room because we closed windows as anti mosquito precaution (we had seen some in the evening). As I opened balcony a fresh cool air went inside. Well, we probably made mistake...
A group of tourists stopped in from of our hotel, directly below me and their guide explained something to them. After some time another bunch of tourists repeated the same ritual so it could not be coincidence. Mental note - I need to take photo from outside regardless of crammed space. Hotel owner asked when our train is running - at 16:00. "You can leave your luggage here and return at about 2pm. Then you can refresh yourself shortly in your room before you leave." Thank you very much, we really appreciate this possibility :-) This would never happen in normal hotel with normal hotel manager...Iceland Day 3 - Landmannalaugar
Added: July 05, 2008
Monday 16th of June we plan to go to Landmannalaugar. Later we are going to move to the Skógar.
Landmannalaugar is geothermal and volcanic area full of unbelievable colors. It was expected to be one of highlights of our holidays in Iceland and I looked forward to it for long time. Problem is that it is rather cloudy and rain is expected.
Two fantastic days in Highlands are behind us. The third day of our traveling is starting right now. Weather is still sunny, even forecasts from Friday said it will be raining today.
You can review our complete trip in Scotland here 3 sunny days with Lochs, Glens and Bens. Link to tour is here http://www.timberbush-tours.co.uk/glasgow_tours/one_day/loch_lomond.html.
Eilean Donan, Loch Ness & The North West Highlands - Day 2
Added: May 31, 2008
This is about Day 2 of our 2-day tour around Scotland. You can see details of first day here Eilean Donan, Loch Ness & The North West Highlands - Day 1. We will get back to the Glasgow at the end of day and then we go to another tour on Monday.
Eilean Donan, Loch Ness & The North West Highlands - Day 1
Added: May 30, 2008
As was mentioned in previous post 3 sunny days with Lochs, Glens and Bens we booked 3 days of sitting in the coach rambling around Scotland. This post is dedicated to Day 1 of 2-day tour Eilean Donan, Loch Ness & The North West Highlands.
For those wondering what title of previous post means, here is short explanation: loch - lake, glen - valley, ben - mountain, sun - scarce resource in Scotland :-)
If you did not read previous post, I will try shortly to summarize it: All three days were fantastic!
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