Godspeed to Olympos, Sat, 23 Sep 23
Simon
at a City, UNESCO site
in Croatia, Europe
The last place I visited in Montenegro is Herceg Novi – another town with a historic centre by the Kotor Bay. To be honest, by now it’s nothing special. Castle, fortress, city walls, same old, same old. Then, I braced …
Godspeed to Olympos, Fri, 22 Sep 23
Simon
at a City, Mountain, Sea, UNESCO site
in Europe, Montenegro
Well, don’t trust the weather forecast, is a moral of that story! I got up in the morning to find a fog so sick that I couldn’t see 20 metres ahead, save enjoy gorgeous views of the whole country. I …
Godspeed to Olympos, Sun, 17 Sep 23
Simon
at a City, Lake, Temple, UNESCO site
in Europe, North Macedonia
I spent two days by the Ohrid lake. On both, I spent the morning hanging out in or around the van, writing, catching up on things, and generally just taking things slow. I feel I’m running out of steam a …
Godspeed to Olympos, Thu, 14 Sep 23
Simon
at a Ruins/Excavation, Sea, UNESCO site
in Europe, Greece
Today was a slow day. I got up before sunrise and spent a lot of time in the van catching up on stuff and writing. After 11, Anti and Michał joined me for a road trip. First, we visited the …
Godspeed to Olympos, Sun, 10 Sep 23
Simon
with Antigone, Edward, Michał
at a Mountain, UNESCO site
in Europe, Greece
10/09/2023 Today we started the hike. We walked up to the Spilios Agapitos refuge at 2050m, hung up the for some time, then did another small hike up to a viewing point. The hike itself wasn’t too hard so far, …
Godspeed to Olympos, Tue, 05 Sep 23
Simon
at a Temple, UNESCO site
in Europe, Serbia
Today did not start the way I was hoping it to. I slept by the Resavska Pecina cave, planning to visit it as it opens at 9am. But it turned out that it’s closed and they won’t open until enough …
Short German trips, Sat, 08 Jul 23
Jemma and Simon
at a Sea, UNESCO site
in Europe, Germany
Christmas 2022, Tue, 20 Dec 22
Jemma and Simon
at a Temple, UNESCO site
in Europe, France
We woke up amidst rather heavy rain wondering how the hell are we going to manage to go to Mount St Michel in that weather. But hey, we are hardcore! We were quite lucky – the rain subsided a bit …
Christmas 2022, Mon, 19 Dec 22
Jemma and Simon
at a Museum, Temple, UNESCO site
in Europe, France
We arrived in Bayeux last night and found a parking spot in the town centre. Unfortunately it was raining heavily all night and in the morning – the weather hasn’t been very kind to us on this trip, but at …
Christmas 2022, Thu, 15 Dec 22
Jemma and Simon
at a City, Temple, UNESCO site
in Europe, Germany
First winter night in the Baron! We were scared as just before leaving the heating didn’t want to work, but then it started, so all is good. New record: -9. We started our journey to visit Jemma’s family for Christmas …
Short UK trips, Tue, 16 Aug 22
Jemma and Simon
at a City, Ruins/Excavation, Temple, UNESCO site
in Europe, UK
Parking around Bath is a pain – ended in a street parking by the university. We started the day in a drizzle checking out the fantastic aqueduct – not Roman but Victorian, allowing narrowboat travel with no locks. We wanted …
Short European Trips, Sun, 15 May 22
Jemma and Simon
at a Castle, City, Graveyard, Museum, Temple, UNESCO site
in Czechia, Europe
Prague turned out quite boring, perhaps even worse than I remember from the last visit. Loud stag and hen parties everywhere, the city centre is overrun by tourism’s lowest denominator. This crowd is served by an assortment of bullshit ‘museums’ …
The Land of no Top Floors, Thu, 10 Mar 22
Jemma and Simon
at a Graveyard, Ruins/Excavation, Temple, UNESCO site
in Africa, Egypt
Today was amazing! We started off with Maria again, doing another overpriced Ibis tour. First, Ramsess III temple at Medinet Habu. Really amazing, easily one of our favourites – it’s all about tha pharaoh’s wars and victories, there is a …
The Land of no Top Floors, Wed, 09 Mar 22
Jemma and Simon
at a Ruins/Excavation, Temple, UNESCO site
in Africa, Egypt
Today was a painful reminder that Egyptian infrastructure is in dire need of modernisation. I wonder how often do they need to change suspension in cars here. The temples of Abydos and Dandera are both awesome, but to be honest, …
The Land of no Top Floors, Sun, 06 Mar 22
Jemma and Simon
at a Desert, Graveyard, Ruins/Excavation, UNESCO site
in Africa, Egypt
We slept long and well, if you don’t count the annoying throat ache I developed last evening. I think it must be the dust, because it gets much worse when I’m in the desert. But we got up very late, …
The Land of no Top Floors, Sat, 05 Mar 22
Jemma and Simon
at a City, Ruins/Excavation, Temple, UNESCO site
in Africa, Egypt
We got up at 4:30 today to go to Abu Simbel and see it while the temperatures are still bearable. To be honest, I’m not sure this was necessary, but it seems that this is how things are done here. …
The Land of no Top Floors, Thu, 03 Mar 22
Jemma and Simon
at a City, River, Ruins/Excavation, Temple, UNESCO site
in Africa, Egypt
Today was quite frustrating. We have a ship ‘cruise’ booked until tomorrow, but we are just docked in Aswan by a noisy street, in between ships, with no view. We have a half-day of trips and a whole afternoon to …
The Land of no Top Floors, Wed, 02 Mar 22
Jemma and Simon
at a River, Ruins/Excavation, Temple, UNESCO site
in Africa, Egypt
It’s Jemma’s birthday!!! How awesome we her to celebrate it in this way! In the morning, I snuck out to tell the crew, so they can prepare a surprise cake for the evening. Tsss, don’t tell her! But despite the …
The Land of no Top Floors, Mon, 28 Feb 22
Jemma and Simon
at a Ruins/Excavation, Temple, UNESCO site
in Africa, Egypt
We got up early to get picked up by our guide Ahmed at 8:00. Initially he insisted that we go straight to Karnak, but we convinced him we want to go to the boat first. Which turned out potentially unnecessary, …
Short German trips, Tue, 28 Dec 21
Jemma and Simon
at a City, Museum, Temple, UNESCO site
in Europe, Germany
We woke up really early today to make the most of our day in Lübeck. We were in town so early that we had to walk around a bit waiting for the churches we wanted to see to open! We …
Short German trips, Mon, 27 Dec 21
Jemma and Simon
at a City, Temple, UNESCO site
in Europe, Germany
The next surprise location is Wismar. It’s one of the Hanzeatic ports between Lubeck and Rostock that kept changing hands between different rulers and was part of Sweden for some time. We read up on the history on the way …
Chasing the sun, Fri, 24 Sep 21
Jemma and Simon
at a Cave, Temple, UNESCO site
in Europe, Slovenia
Yesterday we drove up to Hrastovlje, a small village where Jemma found a medieval walled church with a famous Dance of Death frescos. It was closed as we arrived late, so we went to the village inn where we had …
Chasing the sun, Tue, 21 Sep 21
Jemma and Simon
at a Castle, City, Temple, UNESCO site
in Europe, Italy
Wine land. Arrived in he evening, drove up a very steep road to a parking spot. Walked down for some Prosecco, started raining, walked back up in the rain, soaked. Next day watched sunrise from the hill we were parked …
Chasing the sun, Mon, 20 Sep 21
Jemma and Simon
at a Castle, City, Temple, UNESCO site
in Europe, Italy
Waiting overnight to walk around the walls was totally worth it. Fantastic views of town, the mountains around, seeing the town change from every angle… Great stuff. Annoyingly, all the information plates that tell you about the town and the …
Chasing the sun, Sun, 19 Sep 21
Jemma and Simon
at a City, Museum, Temple, UNESCO site
in Europe, Italy
It was too much. More and more people were showing up and a couple cars were blasting music pretty loud, so around 11pm we bailed and found a lovely spot by the road a bit down the hill. In the …
Chasing the sun, Sat, 18 Sep 21
Jemma and Simon
at a Mountain, Temple, UNESCO site
in Europe, Italy
We started today slow. We didn’t get it of bed until 11, spending the time on sorting photos and just chilling. A much needed break from our typical chase after the next attraction! Throughout the morning, more and more cyclists …
Chasing the sun, Mon, 13 Sep 21
Jemma and Simon
with Ania, Michał
at a City, Museum, Temple, UNESCO site
in Europe, Italy
Day 1 First day in Venice! We left the van at a carpark on the mainland and took the bus to Venice – this seemed to be the best option for us, as parking is really limited and expensibe on …
Short German trips, Sun, 07 Mar 21
Jemma and Simon
at a City, Forest, Lake, Ruins/Excavation, Temple, UNESCO site
in Europe, Germany
Welterbe Bauhaus Denkmal Bundesschule BernauWalls of BernauAskanierturmBridge by the AskanierturmSilkebucheCold cold March watersJoachimsthal KaiserbahnhofAd for the Großziethen Geopark by the Dorfkirche Golzow This has been a long, long winter. We were pretty well prepared – living on the outskirts of …
Short Spanish trips, Sun, 16 Aug 20
Jemma and Simon
at a City, Ruins/Excavation, Temple, UNESCO site
in Europe, Spain
Cenral MarketForumForumTheatreCircusCircusAmphitheatre The Baron is just small enough to fit into the underground car parks, but sometimes it is really ‘just’. This time, poor Baron got his back scratched a little, and was not happy. Parked, we moved to town …
Short Spanish trips, Sat, 15 Aug 20
Jemma and Simon
at a Temple, UNESCO site
in Europe, Spain
We started the trip quite late, following a Polish drinking party the previous night. Too much alcohol we brought from Poland, needed to go. So we only really left after noon. Luckily, the Poblet Monastery only opens at 3pm for …
The long return, Fri, 03 Jul 20
Jemma and Simon
at a Museum, UNESCO site
in Europe, France
Last night we drove as far as we could and ended up crossing the French border at dusk. Jemma played Edith Piaf as loud as possible, of course. We said goodbye to motorways, and soon found a nice quiet parking …
The long return, Mon, 29 Jun 20
Jemma and Simon
at a Lake, Park, UNESCO site
in Europe, Germany
At about 8pm, we walked back to the van and headed towards our next stop: Bautzen. Enroute, we decided to check out another UNESCO site: Biosphärenreservat Oberlausitzer Heide- und Teichlandschaft. This is a nature reserve, with beautiful lakes. We pulled …
The long return, Mon, 29 Jun 20
Jemma and Simon
at a Castle, Park, UNESCO site
in Europe, Germany, Poland
Muskauer Park is a really beautiful spot. It’s over 700 ha and is partly in Germany, partly in Poland. The palace was owned by Prince Hermann von Pückler-Muskau, who was a 19th c. dandy who travelled the world and got …
The long return, Sun, 07 Jun 20
Jemma and Simon
at a Temple, UNESCO site
in Europe, France
Randomly saw a sign for Le Corbusier’s Notre Dame du Haut on the way! Crazy lucky, we didn’t even think we’ll be stopping anywhere on the way, but this just had to be done! But alas, when we arrived, the …
Lived here!, Sat, 01 Feb 20
Jemma and Simon
at a City, Museum, Park, Sea, Temple, UNESCO site
in Europe, Spain
Got there – Never again!New Home!OK, really new homeSanta EulaliaFestival de Santa EulaliaFestival de Santa EulaliaScrap bookshelfCarnival!Carnival!The Last BirthdaySun in lockdownWork in lockdownShopping in lockdownPartying in lockdownPartying in lockdownFestivals in lockdownDining in lockdownCamping anniversary in lockdownFIRST DAY OUT!!!FIRST DAY OUT!!!FIRST …
Short UK trips, Sun, 12 Jan 20
Jemma and Simon
at a Ruins/Excavation, Sea, UNESCO site
in Europe, UK
Baron in Italy, Fri, 20 Dec 19
Jemma and Simon
at a City, Temple, UNESCO site
in Europe, Italy
We had a solid sleep this morning – the far corner of the bus station car park has been wonderfully quiet. We got our supplies packed, including the pad and headphones (so prepared!) for yet another work call. Despite the …
Baron in Italy, Thu, 19 Dec 19
Jemma and Simon
at a City, Museum, Temple, UNESCO site
in Europe, Italy
We had a slower start to this day with packing up our stuff from the Airbnb and a work phone call. I also lost one of my favourite earrings on the way to our first stop and we retraced our …
Baron in Italy, Wed, 18 Dec 19
Jemma and Simon
at a City, Museum, Temple, UNESCO site
in Europe, Italy
Early start this morning – lots to see! First stop was the Uffizi gallery. This place is so vast! We started off thoroughly looking at all the Roman sculptures at the beginning of the gallery, but after 4 hours there, …
