July 10 Lithuania

Ninth Fort Museum and Memorial

Every time we get to a new country there is a mixture of anxiety, a feeling of being overwhelmed, uncertainty but also excitement. It is very difficult to explain but we feel that there is always so much to see and we don't know where to start, and certainly don't want to miss a bit.

Our entry to the country was through the War memorial in Kaunas. A war memorial plus a deportation centre and museum of both the Nazis and the red army or the Russian occupation. Such a despair! It is incredible to think that there could be any survivors today of the horrible century that these people have lived.

We are coming back to Kaunas to visit the city which we didn't as the rain forced us to continue our travel to the cost.

Now we can finally experience Lithuania. First impressions: lots of greenery, bike paths, beautiful and cool women and petrol stations with wifi selling vodka!

12 July: Klaipeda is a port village that once was a centre of trade and commerce in the country and today is just a sleepy town, with cobblestone streets and a big working harbour. On the other side of the old town they built a big shopping centre. The highlight is the 50 km island, just a ferry across, that continue to Russia. We did a mega bike ride ( I said mega because we haven't done much physical activity since arriving from Fiji!) on the Neringa island, 23 km through the forest, dunes on one side and "lagoon" on the other. Crashed on the small holiday village of Juodkrante for coffee and cake but got distracted and instead walked on the "hill of witches", amazing wooden (scary!) sculptures all along the forest. Exhausted we took the bus back to the ferry terminal.

15 July we arrived at Palanga, another seaside village. This one has plenty of 5 stars hotels and the greenery around is just magnificent. It is a real pity that the weather is not helping. It is cloudy all the time, and cold and it rains here and there through the day and madly at night. We finish another bike run  on a spa and massage place....ahhhh!!! I love trying massages from different cultures!!!

July 7 to 9, Poland

We really rushed through Poland. It was horrendous weather, raining and so cold (summer!) and really we found the places ugly (sorry!).
There were some reminiscent places. Like the kermesse in the holidays town, circa 60', that found endearing... but other than that there is no much to report. We decided to keep driving across promising that we will be back to visit Warsaw and Lodz (places of my both grandparents).

July 4 to 6 Germany

Hambourg

Spending time with Rolf and Karina again in their beautiful home. We are spoiled by them! And we spent my birthday in the Baltic sea!

Karlshagen, Baltic coast near Poland

We say goodbye to our friends and we hit the road again. Germany is a very big country with lots and lots of people, so after 4 hours of driving we are still no where near Poland. But the hot weather even though is summer here is far in between it calls for a whole day on the beach!
What I love about the beaches in Germany is that clothes are "optional"! Nothing can beat the feeling of bathing naked on the sea. It is true that it takes a while to get used to see so many ugly and old bodies (sorry, but the truth!) laying around without clothes but the sheer normality of all is something to learn from them. Families, grandfathers, couples, singles....different shapes....it is a great lesson in life that this culture embrace aging of the bodies with such easiness. For us so hung up on "youth and beauty" this is certainly a challenge....!

July 2, Belgium

Bruges... exquisite, elegant, so pretty and clean. I know that I have said this many times: this must be one of the prettiest places I have ever been!! (and it is true!)

Is impossible for me to get tired of such incredible places, the old charm of these villages, cities. In the case of Bruges, we couldn't find the “other side”, that is the “not so pretty side”, the side of the “common people”. Bruges was all incredible perfect, a medieval city, and Hecti and I so much love the incredible bike ride system all across... which we couldn’t take part this time because it was so hot! It goes into our list of “must do” that we are keeping!!

June 18 to July 1

San Sebastian is the only place so far that we have visited twice! (apart of our "home" in Fontes"); and what a better way that to see this beautiful city with friends! Pincho, sangria and the happiness of a reunion.
We travelled with Karina and Rolf for 2 weeks through the French Atlantic Coast, Brittany and Normandy. We visited Plage de Moliets, Ile D'Oleron, Dunes du Pilat, Mont Saint Michel, Etretat and Fecamp

17 June

After 3 incredible weeks in Fiji, celebrating with family and friends such a magnificent wedding we are back on the road.

Zaragoza is the perfect place then to start this leg in our long and unexpected adventure. We like this place so much. The sense of openness, the clean and so well kept streets, churches and bridges. The old city and the new park open in 2008 with a fluvial expo. There are many bicycle routes that we were unable to do given the huge jet lag of the day. The cathedral is one of the prettiest we have seen with colourful mosaics at the roof and paintings of Goya and Velazquez inside up in the domes. It is easy to think that we could live in Spain for a whole year just enjoying the little villages and cities such as Zaragoza with vibrants cafes, plenty of museums, tapas!


On route to San Sebastian to meet our friends Karina and Rolf . We have planned this moment for the last 8 months! The idea is to travel the french atlantic coast all the way back to Hamburg, where they live, and for us to continue our journey to the baltic countries.

May 25 to June 15, Fiji time!!!

An absolutely highlight of our lives!!! Family, friends, island, laughs, sand, warm ocean...and most of all seeing the complete happiness of our little girl... her wedding spectacular and fun... and she... a star!! Speechless

May 2015, Spain

To finishing up my foot healing we deviated a bit from the route and ended up in "Os Banios" which is a natural spring so hot that it is almost impossible to get in! After a few hours in and out of the natural swimming pool we were so tired and hungry!! we slept so well after that!! A great way to say hello again to Spain

Pontevedra Spain

Combarro was such a surprise little town. The houses had barns at their side looking at the ocean.... that looked like coffins!!! Drove to Praia Montalvo as the warm weather was asking us to go the beach! continuing  the day looking at the sunset in Ermida da Nosa señora Da Lanzada and finished the day at marina O Grove  to sleep. A full on day!

The next day we had a huge bike ride and in our way to Santiago de Compostela we took time in Cambados.

What I love about this bit of our trip, the 'Europe off season'  is the opportunity to just drive to yet another spectacular little old fisherman village and say: let's have lunch here!  parking our home looking at the ocean and cooking something fresh.....and time stands still!

Church made all with shells

Santiago de Compostela

It is this spiritual place that it ought to be. The cathedral is imposing and the amount of people of all ages and cultures that are meeting her is impressive. There is so much buzz and excitement around here but mostly there is an atmosphere of triumph as thousands of walkers climb the stairs of the cathedral for the "peregrino mass".
Inside we got the chance to see the cauldron being lifted and swung as a pendulum by 8 priests; such the heaviness of it and the height that it reached!
The smoke and the smell of incense very quickly fill the place. It was mesmerising. I can only image how it must felt for the people who did the big walk and for the truly believers.

May 8 to 15, Portugal

Sitting across the river the city looks spectacular. I do like Porto very much. It is probably one of the cutest cities we have been. With the tram, the super narrow houses with ceramics at their front, the river, all the bridges, the cycle way all around the river Douro that finishes in the ocean, the historical city.....they told us that Porto has become the 3rd most visited city in Europe and is easy to see why.

Porto's favorite: grilled sardines

The people are really nice and the whole atmosphere is very laid back. Still, there are plenty of houses in disarray, in extreme need of TLC. I do hope that these new wave of big tourism brings lots of money to this country so they can start doing all the restoration that is much needed. Still this city goes into my "3 months to live" list!

Back on the road and back to nature, which for us is always ocean....we arrived at Praia da Memoria and Hecti cooked a glorious BBQ to celebrate mother's day!! The next day we did a great walk at Praia de Angeiras Sul that ended in a bad note when something bite me so bad that ended the day after in hospital with fever, a huge swollen foot that was impossible to walk and an itchiness that killed me for 3 days!!

So at Guimaraes and parked on the castle's ground, Hecti spent a few hours visiting the village while I was in bed wrapped around  ice in my foot. From there we drive to Arcos de Valdevez, parked across the river and spent a few hours laughing while filming a video for Daiana's hens night (that we had to upload from our computer to send it to Marni which resulted in 4 hours at Mcdonalds!!!!).

Nature and recovered, just enough to do 2 great walks on the Peneda Geres national park. One of the walks, part of the Santiago de Compostela trail, is crossing through old stone houses, in the middle of the vineyards, up and down hills, and the goats with their bells....I feel so inspired by this view and this great sense of calmness that I declare that my next goal will be to do the peregrination in a few years time, for Hecti's 60!!!   So, cheers for our next adventure!!!

And with that note we say goodbye to Portugal, which has been so good to us!. So excited about going back to Spain and do our last week before flying to Fiji.