Travel Memories

Welcome to the country of the sweetest kitties

we are in Romania now, our favorite country in the east, after having passed the Hungarian border we found a hotel. The last time we were in Romania was in 2015 when we visited all places linked to Vlad Tepes. As soon as we arrived in the hotel, we drank some Romanian beer and ate something. Soon we got the company of a very sweet cat, to be honest, both of use are dog lovers, but it was hard to say no to our feline companion

The second day a family party kept our kitty outside, the next day she was back, but it was time to say goodbye. More far horizons were awaiting us.

The risotto incident

The day afterwards, we found ourselves at the shores of lake of Bled. This is the most picturesque place in Slovenia. The Viking quickly announced he was not going to have lunch, since he was not hungry at all. Luckily, the waiter thought otherwise and brought a big portion for both of us.

In the blink of an eye, Lars had devoured his portion. It was indeed a very delicious risotto (SEAFood risotto) Since I know how to make a risotto, I decided to make the same risotto when we were back home. That was a success too!

In the previous post , I forgot to mention the address oh the hotel?restaurant:

Vila Planinka

Zgornje Jezersko 67, Zgornje Jezersko, 4206 Slovenia

The experience of a lifetime

After our memorable lunch in Arles, we spent the rest of the afternoon, doing some sightseeing. Coincidence or not, we found ourselves in an area not far from the Gorges du verdon, a very beautiful but also expensive area. Lars decided it would be a good idea to cross the border with Italy and then head east to Slovenia. It was already past midnight when we crossed the aforementioned border, and we actually passed the night at an Italian gas station. WE had taken our bed linen with us, in case we couldn’t find a cheap hotel or camping place. Late in the afternoon the following day, we crossed yet another border, we had arrived in Slovenia! We drove to a small village where Lars knew several cheap places to stay. We started with high hopes, but that soon changed. All the places were completely booked or were closed. Finally, we stopped at a place called Vila Planinka; the price was quite high, but the owner luckily proposed a discount, which we accepted. Since it was late in the evening, .we decided to have dinner in the restaurant. Lars immediately discovered it was a one Michelin -star restaurant. I convinced him to give it a try, after all we were foodies, and we deserved this.

In general, this was the experience of a lifetime. The food was delicious, we tasted food combinations we were not used to, the service was impeccable. For Lars, it was the first time in a Michelin restaurant, and he was simply overwhelmed. And the adventure went on…

Heaven on Earth – Arles

The South of France was one of the destinations we were looking most forward to, and Arles and its amphitheater one of the places I wanted to see, and I was finally going to be able to visit the Camargue! For months, I had been dreaming about French food (salade niçoise, for example) and now it was going to be a reality!

as you can see on the pictures, the amphitheater is surrounded by cozy little restaurants. We decided to have lunch in one of them. As a starter, I had a quinoa salad with chicken and vegetables, our main dish was tuna and grilled vegetables.

Little did we know that tin a couple of days ‘time, we would be enjoying an even bigger delight, more about this in our next post!

HELL on Earth – Andorra

Elsewhere on the blog, I wrote that no 2 aspies are the same, but we have common traits. A place that is generally hated by most of us is a shopping center or as I call it “hell on earth”. So many things are a challenge for our senses: the number of people, the noises, lights that are too bright, … in general I try to avoid these places.

a visit to a shopping center can lead to a meltdown

BUT sometimes it’s unavoidable, like when you cross the border between Spain and Andorra. Basically, Andorra is like one big shopping center “hell on Earth”. It’s just a huge collection of shops and hotels, expensive hotels, and traffic, way too much traffic. By the time we arrived at the hotel, I think I was close to a nervous break-down.

The next day was even worse; the weather had completely changed. No more sun but thunderstorms and I am very much afraid of thunderstorms. It was raining incessantly. We had to take a decision. We decided to seek refuge in Arles. Away from this Hell!

The first Border crossing

Another another drivethis day brought us to the province of ZaragoZA tO the townof Zuera. Upon arrival we started looking for a pension, one street further away we founda nice place where we had dinner. We kept things yummy and simple.

The Beginning

Ever since we came to Spain, our way of traveling changed. The main reason was that we wanted to explore our new home country, the pandemic was the other reason. 2022 looked like the year we could change all that ; we were going to make Europe our playground again. We took our time to plan every detail of our trip; I quickly found out that I didn’t need to renew my passport. We canceled traveling to Moldova because of a certain war looming. On the other hand, we had to get the vaccination papers ready. We also took some financial decisions. Instead of booking everything beforehand, we decided about looking for rooms at the moment itself.

In general, it was like the pandemic had never happened;nowhere did people ask for our vaccination papers.

The first two days we were still in Spain. After a full day of driving, we first ended up at a camping to the north of Valencia.

The Best of the Spring Odyssey

10000km and we are back! With many happy memories, today we show you some highlights of our trip. Unfortunately, we also have one very bad memory. Lars and I have become the victims of phishing and have lost a great deal of money. We decided to make the best out of a bad situation. Enjoy!

Soon I will provide more pictures and text. What a ride it has been!

Photograpic essay:remembering the Dolomites

Right now, Lars and I are counting down the days for the start of our big spring trip. So far, we have spent a lot of time to the planning ;we will spend quite some time in Eastern Europe. We are really looking forward to the trip! It is very likely that we pay a visit to Italy again and Albania and Romania.

When we were in the Dolomites, we stayed on a farm in a small village.

Exploring Jaén – introducing Sierra Mágina

If you are a nature love, you will love this area! This sierra is surrounded by motorways, so accessibility should not be a problem: E 902 in the west, E315 and E326 in the east, A324 in the North and GR5100 in the south. We usually drive via the town of GUadahortuna, which we did that day too, and afterward ended up by coincidence in Cuadros, where we found road signs to a mirador.