Rijeka

Dobar dan!

From Ljubljana I took a bus to Rijeka in Croatia. This time I did notice the border. While Croatia is in the European Union it's still outside the Schengen Area, so there's a good old-fashioned passport check at the border. Most of the passengers had EU passports that they simply waved at the border guard like Jedi knights but we did have to wait a while for the two Australians to have their passports properly inspected and stamped. Because you you can never be too careful when it comes to Australians... I of course hadn't bothered to bring my passport, I just hid under the seat.

When I got to Rijeka I immediately fell in love with the city. I mean just look at the above picture, that was the first sign I saw in Rijeka. How can you disagree with that? And just like Bologna they have their own leaning tower.

Rijeka of course just means river in Serbo-Croatian. Depending on what variety of the language you speak it can also be spelt Reka or Rika. Here's a picture of me on the main street.

On a side street I found the good ship "Dobro More 2". I'm still not quite sure what it was good for. Maybe it was an art installation of some kind. I don't know but it was rather rusty.

After a while I got tired of being the captain of a rusty head of metal that wasn't going anywhere. So I decided to climb a lot of stairs to get to the Trsat Castle where I met this guy.

He wasn't the only mythological creature I encountered there. You may remember from my Top 5 list of statues and sculptures that I met and defeated a basilisk all on my own.
The view from the castle was magnificent. You could see the whole city and more.

What you see in the background is the Istrian peninsula, which was my next stop. See you there!

Ljubljana

Dober dan!

From Trieste I took a bus to Ljubljana, the capital of Slovenia. A few minutes after leaving Trieste we were suddenly in Slovenia, I didn't even notice the border.

Ljubljana is a perfect holiday destination.

1. It's in the foothills of the Alps so the view is beautiful no matter which direction you turn. 
2. Location. You can take a day trips to Austria, Croatia or Italy.
3. It's cheap. Eastern European prices but Western European standards.
4. There isn't really anything to do there. No really, that's a good thing. It means that there's no pressure, you can just relax and enjoy the cafés by the river without feeling bad because you ought to be doing some proper touristing.

Me in Ljubljana Castle

The main landmark of the city is Ljubljana Castle. It sits on on a hill overlooking the city so you get a great view of the city from there.

The other main feature of the city is the Ljubljanica River. The river is lined with cafés, bars and restaurants. It's a great place to relax and enjoy life.

Me enjoying a glass of sparkling wine.

If you get bored with drinking and eating you can take a trip on one of the many boats cruising the river.

Me on a riverboat

As you may remember from my Top 5 list of statues and sculptures I met this dude on one of the bridges crossing the river. I'm still not quite sure what he is, but he seemed nice.

That'll do for today, next stop Rijeka in Croatia!

Trieste

Ciao!

From Venice I took the train to Trieste. Trieste is an interesting mix of Slovenian, Austrian and Italian. It was part of the Habsburg Empire for more that 500 years. After World War I it was annexed by Italy. And today It's only a few kilometres from the Slovenian border and in the surrounding villages people still speak Slovene despite the best efforts of the Fascists.

Taking a selfie during an evening stroll along the beach promenade in Trieste

From Trieste you can take a bus north, after about half an hour you'll get to the village of Prosek which you might know better by its Italian name Prosecco. Stay on the bus for another five minutes and you'll be in Briščiki which is the home of Grotta Gigante. It's the biggest cave in the world, or well, so they told us. Turns out what they meant was that it used to be in the Guinness Book of Records as the "world's largest tourist cave" (whatever that means) but it's not anymore. It was overtaken by a cave in the Pyrenees.

The white bands are two pendulums used for some sort of scientific measurements. They are a 100 metres long!

As you'd expect the cave was full of  stalactites  stalagmites.

I had just gotten a new camera and a hadn't quite figured out the flash and light settings yet which is rather important in a dark environment like a cave, so some of my photos from the cave look a little silly.

When I came back from the cave I took a walk along the coast. It was simply beautiful.

And the water was clear and warm, perfect for swimming.

After walking for a bit I got to the Miramare Castle. My initial though was that 'castle' was a bit of an overstatement. It was really rather small...

... but then I learned that it was built for the Austrian Archduke Ferdinand Maximilian who later became emperor of Mexico.

And it was in a very beautiful spot, you could see all the way to Croatia.

Me in a flowerpot outside the castle

That's all for today, my dear friends. Next stop Ljubljana!

Venice

Hello people!

Here's some more travel-blogging for you! This is going to be the first post in a series of posts about a trip I did last year from Venice to Croatia via Slovenia.

Me and one of my humans in Venice

Last year I spent my summer holiday travelling round the northern Adriatic. I started of in Venice and ended up in Pula in Croatia. You can see my route on the map below.

As you know I love Italy. (How could you not love the country of pizza and gelato?) So one day l decided to hop on a flight to Venice.

I like Venice. There are of course way too many tourists but when you get tired of elbowing your way through the masses you can always just take a detour somewhere and wander round the less-crowded alleys for a while. There's always something pretty or interesting to look at. 

You may even run into something completely unexpected like in the photo below. What on earth is going on there? I really don't know.

I really wanted to steer a gondola but they wouldn't let me. grumble, grumble. Apparently you need to be a member of the gondoliers' guild and have licence, which requires you to pass a difficult exam. So unnecessary, I'm sure I would have been good at it.

Did you know that word ciao originally comes from Venice? It literally means slave, so when when you say ciao to people you're really saying I'm your slave i.e. I'm at your service. Think about that the next time feel like using the word ciao.

The one place you have to go in Venice is of course St. Mark's square. Brace yourself before you go there, though. During peak season there will way too many people.

Me in front of St. Mark's clocktower

Of course when in  Rome  Venice you have to get a real handmade Venetian carnival mask.

The next post will be about Trieste. See you soon!

Vanja's Guide to Autumn

Hello!

Autumn is here and I have an urge to travel to faraway places. By the way, did you know the Germans have a word for that; Wanderlust. Where are you going to spend your autumn? Don't know yet? Here is Vanja's list of nice places to visit in the autumn.

1. Vilnius, Lithuania

I've been to Lithuania twice. Last time was a year ago and it was wonderful. Beautiful Vilnius is well worth a visit in the autumn. I spent so much time swimming and diving in the colourful piles of leaves. I felt like Scrooge McDuck in his Money Bin.

Vilnius is a cheap holiday destination with cosy cafés and fat cats. 

And lots and lots of churches...

2. London

We went to London last autumn in November. The weather was cloudy and grey but warm compared to Finland, and besides you don't go to London for the weather anyway. Autumn is a good time to visit museums. As you may remember from my Top 5 list of statues and sculptures we went to the Natural History Museum where I met Charles Darwin. But we also saw some impressive animals. This dude must be at least 100 000 times bigger than me.

Julius liked Tower of London. (And just between you and me, I wouldn't have minded if he'd spent a few weeks there.)

And then of course there are the double-decker buses. In the words of William Gladstone: “the best way to see London is from the top of a bus.” I managed to get a front row seat.

We also went to see the Lion King musical and ate fish and chips. Perfect activities for the autumn.

3. Helsinki, of course! (no, really)

Helsinki is quite rainy now and it's getting darker by the day, but autumn offers up lots of pretty colours and delicious mushrooms. So I'll finish this post with some pictures I took last autumn in a park close to where we live.

Have a wonderful autumn, everybody, and don't forget to drink lots of hot chocolate!

New Hair

Hello friends! How's life?

I'm thinking about dying my hair. Here's what I want to look like...

What do you think, should I do it?

Winter is coming

Terve!

It's been a fantastic summer here in Finland but now autumn is here and before you know there'll be ice and snow everywhere. So it's time to put on some warmer clothes.

Autumn is the only reliable season here in southern Finland. You never know what the other seasons are going to be like. Summer might be hot and sunny or it might be cold and rainy. Winter might be icy cold and clear or it might be dark and wet. Spring might be dry and dusty or it might be moist and chilly. But autumn you can count on; In the beginning it's beautiful with all the colourful leaves but then the leaves disappear and the wind and rain combine with the encroaching darkness to make life miserable.

Stay warm!

Malta part 3

Merħba!

Yesterday I promised you beaches, fish and grapes, so that's what you'll get plus a little more.

While most of the coastline is rocky, Malta does have some nice beaches. When we there it was a little too cold to go swimming. It was after all in February. But it was nice just to sit on the beach and enjoy the sunshine.

When we'd had enough if the beach we went the the national aquarium.

It was interesting. They had some pretty scary sharks, but I was so nervous that I forgot to take a selfie with them. I did get a picture of this guy, though:

They also had an exhibition about all the special birds that live on the islands. Julius quickly made a new friend.

We also took a trip to the capital Valletta. It's a very interesting city built by the Knights Hospitaller. But as you can see from the picture walking around Valletta is hard work. Most of the street are very steep and I have tiny legs, so I just didn't have the energy to take any good selfies in Valletta.

Even though Malta is very dry it's still a very fertile place. Look at these grapes we bought in a local supermarket. I know it's hard to tell from the picture but they are the size of pingpong balls!

Here's another Maltese produce. The cactus fruits are called prickly pears and you can use them to make a liqeuer.

Now I think you know everything there is to know about Malta.

Ċaw ċaw!