Shout out for the Goodnight Hostel.
Excellent in every way, especially the central location. I paid $16.23 / night for a dorm bed, pancake breakfast included, in October.
Staff is warmly welcoming, perhaps more than any other hostel I’ve seen. There’s been a flood of new hostels open in Lisbon, one of the must visit cities of Europe.
There are many small touches I like, including this reminder to keep the volume down while socializing.
Haevichi Resort on Jeju island is pretty posh. One of the finer hotels that’s ever allowed me to check in.
I’m an invited guest of the first World Trails Conference and Walking festival held over the next 3 days. I’ll stay another 6 days to do some hiking.
We’re sharing the resort with the ladies of the European Golf Masters Tournament this weekend.
I visited impressive and sprawling “Parque das Nações” (Park of the Nations), a city of the future built atop the Expo ’98 site.
It reminded me of all the “City of the Future” magazine articles (see more examples) I saw when I was a kid. This conception, for example, from 1964.
Thanks Paulo Barata, a new friend, gymnastics lecturer at the University here, for showing me this modern highlight of an ancient city. We had typical Portuguese lunch: cod, cod, wine, port, pastry, coffee.
(via Gymnastics Coaching)
Disappointed in the accommodation available in Porto, Portugal, I decided to hop on an overnight bus to Lisbon, as an alternative.
World Heritage listed Porto is gorgeous, though. My favourite locale (wandering the town waiting on the midnight bus) was the Douro river waterfront at night.
I slept a few hours on the bus, then got dumped at some distant depot. It was 2hrs before the Metro started running, so I ended up on my birthday morning sitting hidden in a construction site listening to a Johnny Cash biography on my iPod.
It had been raining since I got to Portugal. All my clothes wet and/or mildewed.
At this point you might guess I’d start quoting the Cash requiem Hurt, … but I’ve actually had a fantastic birthday. I’m elated.
The Portuguese sun finally arrived. Bright and white. I’m hanging out in the best hostel in town mostly with Calgarians. (Everyone here but me is an intense alternative music fanatic.)
I jet my carbon footprint to Korea on the 5th, my first junket. I’m there as a guest hiking expert.
Oh, … and I’m just about to buy myself a wonderful gift, an MBA.
Happy Birthday.
I was passing through, a ship in the night. In the rain and drizzle I wandered the canals and pleasing pedestrian cobbled streets.
It’s nearly unchanged since the last time I was here. The window girls now have mobile phones. But they are just as disingenuously pleased to see you ogle as they were in 1976.
… this beautiful city has found its old self – quirky, creative and open-minded. ….
Not long ago the Netherlands swung towards the right, with crackdowns on immigration, religious freedom and red-light districts. Even in freewheeling Amsterdam, people were asking themselves: is too much tolerance a bad thing?
You can breathe easy: the soul-searching is over. The core values of Dutch society that we knew and loved have emerged intact. Newcomers who integrate are welcome; practising a faith is OK, as is the right to turn away from it. …
What’s the result of all this permissiveness?
The Dutch, so far as I can see, are the nicest, most relaxed, nationality in Europe. I’ve never had a bad experience with anyone from the Netherlands.
Though I enjoy the local cuisine (Stropwafle McFlurry and Donairs) this climate sucks. It makes Vancouver seem a fun sun destination. Yet all the hostels are full. What are these dopey backpackers doing here?
I booked a flight to sunny Portugal.
Travel tip: In Amsterdam don’t enter a “coffee shop” for coffee.
Did I sample?
… I’m pleading Ribliatti.
And don’t enter a Starbucks for coffee. The Pikes that costs $2.10 in Canada will drain your fannypack by over $4 in Europe.
I spent almost 2 weeks in the port city. My first night I met a group of architecture students from Beijing. They come regularly to Netherlands to study the creative gambles here.
During World War II, the German army invaded the Netherlands on 10 May 1940. Adolf Hitler had hoped to conquer the country in just one day, but his forces met unexpectedly fierce resistance. The Dutch army was finally forced to capitulate on 14 May 1940, following Hitler’s bombing Rotterdam and threatening to bomb other Dutch cities.
The heart of Rotterdam was almost completely destroyed by the Luftwaffe …
Rotterdam was gradually rebuilt from the 1950s through the 1970s. …
I did a lot of walking. And gawking. Gawking at the extreme and unusual architecture.
This is a High School.
One night I stayed at a hostel in the Cube Houses.
The highlight for most of us was the Erasmusbrug bridge.
More interesting photos tagged Rotterdam.
My photos did not turn out very well. Again.
I like Rotterdam. But the ghastly weather made me want to guzzle a bottle of Absinthe. And slice off my own ear.
Did you know that many Dutch don’t appreciate Van Gough?
At the World Gymnastics Championships. I’m MEDIA.
Off to see the Cirque du Soleil show TOTEM in Amsterdam.
I spent a night in this seaport town, one of the main Italian military and commercial harbours.
Tourists tend to pass through as quickly as possible en route to the Cinque Terre.
… Yet on a Sunday afternoon, I found it an interesting and engaging town, with many pedestrian walkways.
Parents rented these weird bicycles devices for their young kids:
see a few more pics on flickr
Click through to besthike.com for my trip report and photos.
Somewhat disappointed with my attempted hike in Tuscany, I rented a hybrid next day.
Shout out for the best bike shop in Sienna, Biciclette Bianchi. Great bikes. Great service. Only 10EU full day, 5EU half day.
They recommended a tour on (relatively) quiet byways, mostly paved, through Chianti from Sienna to Gaiole.
Firewood drying:
It was like cycling through a postcard shop …
This is an ideal way to see this region. All day I was envisioning a multi-day wine tour by bike.
hmmm
