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Ian Stewart
Ian Stewart

Ian Stewart

traveled in 52 countries Read more
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  • Scandinavia Eurotrip 2023

    Italy: Bassano del Grappa

    September 21, 2023 in Italy ⋅ ☁️ 20 °C

    From Lake Bled, we drove through the mountains (named the 'PreAlps') of North-eastern Italy. Dominated by tiny, quaint little ski towns like Tarvisio, our initial impression of Italy was a good one! Both Emz and myself had been to Venice before so had decided to skip this and drive further inland. We stayed in a town called Bassano del Grappa just for a night. Unfortunately, due to our 2 sleepless nights in Slovenia, we were both absolutely exhausted and thus just wanted a quick meal and some much needed rest! So, much to my chef of a twin sister's disgust (who had coincidentally just done a culinary tour of Italy), our first meal in Italy was to be a Turkish Doner Kebab.😂 I'm not sure what food Italy is famous for, but is this not it?🤔😂
    The only other incident on our 1 night stay in this town is Olaf's battery was flat when we woke up the next morning. Now this wasn't his fault and it was entirely due to a failed experiment on my part. We've had a mini car fridge which we've travelled with from the very start, and at every stop we've been careful to take the fridge out of the car and connect it to the 240v mains of our accommodation rather than leave it running on the car battery. Now obviously this is a bit of a mission to do each time we stop and where we were staying in this town was up 2 flights of stairs. So I decided we should take a chance and leave it running on the car battery. I mean, how much power could it ultimately be using, right?💁🏻‍♂️ Well, it turns out enough to flatten the battery. 😔 As a silver lining though, we got to meet a nice Italian guy who decided to help us and I got to use the jumper leads I'd specifically bought for an incident such as this and it was good to know they worked!😁 Oli was back in action!😁    Read more

  • Scandinavia Eurotrip 2023

    Slovenia: Lake Bled

    September 21, 2023 in Slovenia ⋅ ⛅ 20 °C

    It was just a quick stop here to see probably the prettiest part of Slovenia and its major tourist attraction, Lake Bled. A beautiful alpine lake with an island in the centre on which there is a monastery. The area is very touristy and I guess for good reason as it's absolutely beautiful! When I did the student holiday exchange to Slovenia back in 2009, we swam out to the island and explored the monastery. Emz and myself took the more sensible approach and just walked around the lake for a bit rather than swimming in the freezing cold water🥶 a must visit place in Slovenia though!Read more

  • Scandinavia Eurotrip 2023
    Sunset on the farm
    The milking goatsTheir Maine Coon named YodaLjubljana old townEmz lining up her drinks😂 Borovnicevec in her right handA view of the city from up near the castleUs at the top of the hill overlooking the cityAnother view of the cityOur braai on the 2nd night at Ziva's house

    Slovenia: Ljubljana&visiting Ziva&Nejc

    September 19, 2023 in Slovenia ⋅ ☀️ 20 °C

    So it was off to the tiny country of Slovenia for 2 nights to visit an old vet friend of mine, Ziva and stay with her family. When I was at OP, we did a holiday exchange with Slovenia and Ziva is one of the vets that I've still stayed in touch with. She has moved from when I last saw her in 2018 when she used to stay in the capital city of Ljubljana. Now her and her family (her husband Nejc pronounced 'Nate' and her 3.5 y.o. son Lev, meaning 'lion' and pronounced 'L-ow' ) stay on a Sannen milking goat farm about 30min from the city. Her husband Nejc (pronounced 'Nate') is also a vet who now runs the goat milking farm. The scenery on the farm is absolutely beautiful and it felt so good to be back in a farming environment! Plus goats are one of my favourite domesticated animals, despite their strong aroma! Ziva and her family were super hospitable with ordering in pizzas for us on the first night and then us buying the food to have a lekker braai on the 2nd night. The only thing Emz and I would say though, is this ended up being our worst 2 nights sleep of the trip! With a culmination of an infestation of mozzies, goats bleating, cats scratching at the door, Lev crying and Nejc's alarm going off at 5am, we left their house feeling utterly exhausted!
    Given the beauty of the area, Emz and myself both decided to do a 5km through the forest near their house. This also ended up being rather interesting. Ziva pointed out a 5km run for us, but it was only after the run that she decided to mention that this area has the highest population of brown BEARS in Slovenia!😱 Thankfully we never came across one on our runs! We both however, did get 'attacked' by a really large +- Rottie sized dog which was quite scary. The dog thankfully didn't bite us, but it was quite difficult to determine the dog's intentions when a dog that size comes running at full tilt out of its garden and starts bearing down on you. Shame, since we were running separately, Emz got quite a fright from the dog and ended up turning back on herself and got completely lost! So her 5km run ended up being a 1.5hr run and had me quite worried especially after Ziva revealed the presence of bears in the area! Thankfully she was okay!
    Whilst staying with them, I took Emz into Ljubljana to see the pretty town centre where we had lunch. I also got Emz to try the famous local blueberry liqueur called Borovnicevec (pronounced 'borovneeshka') which was a local alcohol that she finally liked. Overall, a good stay in Slovenia despite being sleep deprived and having to avoid bears and large dogs!    Read more

  • Scandinavia Eurotrip 2023
    View from our lunch spot
    2nd view from our lunch spotThe castle courtyardMore cobbled streetsThe cobbled streets

    Slovenia: Ptuj

    September 19, 2023 in Slovenia ⋅ ⛅ 24 °C

    As a student, I'd done a holiday exchange with Slovenia so I'm quite familiar with the country (although, we were students at the time, so it was a bit of a (drunken) blur😬). However, I don't ever recall us going to this town which is also supposedly the oldest town in Slovenia and dates back to the stone age. The present town was built at the location of an old Roman fort from 69AD. I guess it is 'just another beautiful, historic town with a castle and cobbled streets' found throughout Europe. There are so many towns like this across Europe that one almost becomes immune to their beauty on a long road trip like this, but I guess we need to remember that they are all beautiful in their own right and that we are privileged to see such places. Anyways, this town offered great views and was the perfect place for a hotdog lunch.☺️Read more

  • Scandinavia Eurotrip 2023

    Hungary: Heviz

    September 18, 2023 in Hungary ⋅ ⛅ 28 °C

    Heviz: a small little town near the edge of Lake Balaton (the largest inland lake in central Europe). It was just a quick stopover so as to break up the driving on our way to Slovenia, so no photos were taken here. The only thing of note was that we finally met a friendly Hungarian at our Airbnb (although he might've been friendly, but their dog certainly wasn't with it had strong house guarding tendencies 😂). The only other thing to note here was that Emma thrashed me in Scrabble.😢 She did have the perfect storm in getting the Z, the Q, the J, 3 S's and both blanks though, but still, a thrashing nonetheless.😔 That means Emz has now won the last 3 games and I'm worried what the future holds for me against her in Scrabble.😔Read more

  • Scandinavia Eurotrip 2023
    1Photo on the train. Trying out some different photographic techniques.
    Emz standing with the child station master (Emz doesn't like this photo as she had just run 6km😬)Us in front of the steam trainThe train going through a tunnelSteam train in actionGoing through the beautiful forests surrounding BudapestView from Fisherman's BastionFisherman's BastionUs at Fisherman's Bastion overlooking PestThe bath housesUs at the bath housesEvening in PestThe synagogueGoulash

    Hungary: Budapest

    September 16, 2023 in Hungary ⋅ ⛅ 20 °C

    So after Slovakia, we headed for Budapest, Hungary. Emz might be sick of me using the country's name as a pun and jokingly saying,'Emz, are you Hungary?' I still don't think the joke gets old.😂 Anyways, Budapest! Probably one of the most beautiful cities (certainly large cities) that I've seen in Europe! Really picturesque! I didn't realise that Budapest is actually 2 cities (Buda and Pest) that are separated by the Danube River (one of the largest rivers in Europe). They're basically one large city now, but it was interesting to note. Buda is on the far more hilly side whereas Pest is on the flat plain next to the Danube, so running in Buda felt like running in Simons Town where everywhere you go is up! The first day we visited something that is truly a historic legacy. It is a stretch of railway that is run by CHILDREN aged 10-14 years old! It was a programme started by the Soviets in the 1950s apparently to try to get children more interested in the railway so that they might eventually start working in this field. That's the official reason anyway. To me, it sounded more like child labour and just a way to get more people to work! Anyways, I think now it is a prestigious thing for the kids to do and the train line is still running today! The kids do everything! They take your money, issue tickets, check the tickets, do the accounting and do the signalling on the train! This train runs 7 days a week so apparently only the academically strongest child applicants are accepted to do the work as they have to miss school for short periods during the week to do their transportation duties. What was also really cool was we were on the steam train line which added to the experience to be going on something so historic.
    That evening we walked down to the Fisherman's Bastion which gives great views of the city from the Buda side and it really was beautiful!
    The next day we went to a public bath house which Budapest is famous for! These large bath houses I'd honestly thought were a thing of the past but in Budapest, they're still thriving! A ticket to the bath house gives you access to these large outside pools as well as many smaller indoor pools plus saunas and steam baths, all at varying temperatures. It really was a must visit! We spent a couple hours there until all our fingers and toes looked like my late Nanna Molly's digits.🙈 After this, we walked around the Pest side of the city. This side was also really pretty with many street lined cafes and bars, old tram lines and we also went and saw the largest synagogue in Europe. One would think we finally saw something positive w.r.t. the European Jewish community's plight during WW2, but - even though the synagogue made it through the war- it was at this synagogue that the dead (from starvation) Jewish people of the ghetto were found when Budapest was liberated by the Soviets. Sadly most bodies were not even recognisable by the end of the war as the Jewish community were not allowed to bury the dead.
    That evening we then went and watched the Bokke thrash Romania and then went and had goulash for supper, a typical Hungarian meal. The food was okay, but nothing exceptional. Overall a great city though, but we would say the people in general were some of the unfriendliest we've met on our travels.    Read more

  • Scandinavia Eurotrip 2023
    Spis castle from afar
    Spis castle entranceSpis castle3Nice photo of Emz at the castleSpis castleSpis castleSpis castleDuck pâté starterEmz and myself at supperPork roastSlovak potato dumplingsSasov castleSasov castleSasov castle

    Slovakia: Spis

    September 13, 2023 in Slovakia ⋅ ☁️ 26 °C

    Slovakia, the land of castles! It was just a quick 2 night stay in this smallish country, but what's fascinating about Slovakia is this little country has more castles per capita than any other country in the world! So the first day we spent exploring one of the better known castle ruins by the name of Spis Castle, which is a massive castle on a very dramatic hillside in the more eastern part of the country. In fact, it is one of the largest castles in Europe and was built in the 12th century (so almost 900 years ago!). The next day we were due to do some more exploring, but the weather was - for the first time in a while - miserable. So we ended up having a catch up day at the hostel instead. That evening, we went to a local restaurant to try some Slovakian food. Once again the starters were delicious with a homemade duck pâté that Emz and I shared. For mains, I had essentially a pork roast and Emz had some Slovakian potato dumplings. Both meals were delicious! The next day we visited another castle ruin by the name of Sasov castle on our way to Hungary. A far smaller 14th century castle but still quite impressive for how it was built on this steep hill on the edge of a cliff face. They'd also dug a tunnel into the mountain where they used to place large blocks of ice cut out from the river below to use as a sort of rustic fridge which was also interesting to note. Overall, Slovakia was a brief visit. The country is probably a little more run down that some of the other Eastern European countries, but interesting all the same!Read more

  • Scandinavia Eurotrip 2023
    A smoked sheeps cheese which is a delicacy of the regionThe town was littered with stores that looked like a factory in China had just vomited on them!

    Poland: Zakopane

    September 12, 2023 in Poland ⋅ ⛅ 21 °C

    So after a good victory by the Bokke, it was time to leave Krakow (with only a mild kopseer🤕) and head further south in Poland to their ski resort town called Zakopane. So yep, skiing in Winter, and HIKING in Summer.😁 Now we were warned that this town is the holiday centre of Polish tourism and that it can be quite busy, but we weren't prepared for just how busy it was to be! The town was heaving! Absolutely packed and on a Monday! We had been recommended to go on a hike to an alpine lake in the Tatra mountains called Morskie oko, but we were advised to leave at 4:30am (!😳) in the morning to avoid the crowds on the trail. Emz and myself decided we'd seen some really nice lakes in Scandinavia and it seemed unnecessary to go and elbow our way through hundreds of other tourists to see something similar. So we found our own trail in the mountains which was just as nice to us and had far fewer people. ☺️Read more

  • Scandinavia Eurotrip 2023
    Trying local Polish cherry schnapps!

    Poland: COME ON BOKKE!!😁🥳🇿🇦

    September 10, 2023 in Poland ⋅ 🌙 19 °C

    After a depressing morning at Auschwitz, our mood was thankfully improved when we went to watch the Springboks play at an Irish pub in Krakow. The pub was packed with almost exclusively SA expats! We ended up having such a lekker jol after meeting Christi and Piotr, 2 fellow Saffas who are currently living in Krakow. We might've won the rugby, but our heads the next day certainly felt like they were on the losing side. Come on Bokke!!!😁🇿🇦🇿🇦🇿🇦Read more

  • Scandinavia Eurotrip 2023
    The sadistic, taunting entrance to Auschwitz 1
    The train track that took over 1 million people to their deathsEntrance to one of the blocksUsed Zyklon B cannisters from the gas chambersShoes of the deceasedSuitcases of the deceasedFiring squad wall

    Poland: Auschwitz

    September 10, 2023 in Poland ⋅ ☀️ 19 °C

    This is probably one of the most sobering places that anyone could ever wish to go to. I've read many nonfiction and fiction books on this place as I've always tried to understand how human beings could do such things to one another. I think- since leaving here- I've been left with more questions than answers. It's an absolutely mortifying place. One would expect it to be so, but it was even more so than I imagined. The only way in which it is 'interesting', is to see how carefully the sadistic Nazis planned this, the macabre systems put in place to murder people on an en masse basis and the lengths they went to to hide their crimes. Everything was planned for from the start for their Final Solution to the 'Jewish Problem'. For example, all the death camps were built in Poland and not Germany for fear of reprisal from the German civilian population if they ever found out. Poland was also selected as it had the largest Jewish community in Europe at the time (over 3mil Jewish people). They chose Oswiecim (the town in Poland germanised to 'Auschwitz') for its excellent train transport links to the whole of Europe. They cleared a 10km radius around the camps so no one would know what was going on ie the only people intended to leave the camp were the SS officers. The list goes on. As tragic as this place is, I do think it is almost a place that everyone should visit. Empathy, integrity and respect were completely lacking in this place and visiting this foul place reinforces the fact that EVERYONE is deserving of these attributes. Sorry, some of the images are sadly quite disturbing, but people need to understand the horror of this place so as not to forget one of the worst events of history.Read more

  • Scandinavia Eurotrip 2023
    1Underground club dance floor
    The main square in KrakowPart of the Jewish quarterThe photo gallery museumHotel David in the Jewish quarterSunset over the Vistula RiverMemorial in square of the old Jewish GhettoPart of the wall remaining from the Jewish Ghetto

    Poland: Krakow city and Jewish quarter

    September 8, 2023 in Poland ⋅ ☀️ 24 °C

    The next couple of days were spent exploring the city itself and the Jewish quarter. The old town was similar to many European cities with a massive square, horse drawn carriages and quaint buildings along cobbled streets. This was by the most touristy place we had been to though in a long while and it took some adjusting to the crowds of Krakow. But there's a reason it's touristy! Krakow is a renowned party city (hence the crowds) and I guess if you can't beat 'em, join 'em!😁 So we did go to one of the famous underground clubs on the 1st night to squeak a bit of tekkie which was fun!🥳On the 2nd day, we went to what once was a large Jewish quarter. Sadly, this community was decimated during WW2 and has never recovered. The Nazis had also set up a Jewish ghetto between 1941-1943 prior to sending the Jews to extermination camps and there is still a piece of this wall remaining. We then went to a photo gallery museum basically depicting what remains of the Jewish plight within Poland post WW2 which was very interesting but also quite a depressing sight to see. We never got a chance to go, but also in Krakow is Oskar Schindler's enamel factory where he saved 1200 Jewish lives at great risk to his own. He is one of if not the only member of the Nazi party to be honoured in Israel.Read more

  • Scandinavia Eurotrip 2023
    The Last Supper carved into the salt of the largest church
    Outside of the mineKing Casimir III The Great carved out of saltChandelier where the crystals are made of saltThe large church/cathedral carved into the salt undergroundAnother religious scene carved in the churchThe large caverns supported by the wooden beamsOne of the different types of saltA blue saltA dining hall carved into the salt for functions eg weddings!

    Poland: Krakow (Wieliczka Salt Mine)

    September 8, 2023 in Poland ⋅ ☀️ 17 °C

    On our first day in Krakow, I decided to indulge in Emma's love for geology and mining and head with her to an underground salt mine at the edge of Krakow. Wait, maybe it's my love for geology and mining🤔...who knows🤷🏻‍♂️ but we went there anyway. So now a salt mine might not sound like many people's idea of a fun day out, but this is no ordinary salt mine! Well, if anything, this place feels like you've just walked onto a Lord of the Rings fantasy set and I was almost surprised to NOT see little dwarves running around with their mining tools. Blocks of salt have been excavated here since the 13th century that they've now dug out 200km of tunnels underground! It was also due to this salt mine that Poland was relatively wealthy in the middle ages due to salt being such a highly valuable commodity in those days. So much so, that the mine used to pay the miners in salt and that's how the word 'salary' came about. What is interesting about this place, is that the miners would spend really long periods underground. So because of this, they essentially built a 'town' underground! All carved into the salt! This included a chapel, a bar, a dining hall and even horses! They also supported all these cavernous halls and passageways with wood which was interesting as one would expect the wood to decay with time. But, seemingly counterintuitively, this is not the case! The salt acts as an antibacterial preventing decay and the wood actually gets stronger with salt and its dehydrating properties, meaning that some of the wood is 100s of years old! Iron/steel is not used at all as it'll just rust away, thus, even after the age of industrialisation, they continued to use just horses/ropes and counter balances to get the salt to the surface as machinery wouldn't last long in the mine. The mine closed about 15 years ago as it's now too expensive to mine salt vs the surface dehydration methods used these days. Still an unbelievable place and it's amazing what has been carved just out of salt!Read more

  • Scandinavia Eurotrip 2023
    Sundowners on the Vistula
    The town squareThe old town wellAs African a sunset as one can get!Emz enjoying her conversion to beer😉Steak tartare dish!!🤤🤤🤤Duck and veggie soupPork schnitzel and cucumber saladCabbage and quinoa like spring rollsTown in the evening.

    Poland: Kazimierz Dolny

    September 6, 2023 in Poland ⋅ ☀️ 25 °C

    So this was another 'off the beaten track' recommendation and this one FINALLY paid off! This little medieval town, on the banks of the Vistula River - the river that snakes its way though the whole of Poland- charmed us in more ways than 1! By now we had seen many a medieval town, but this town now exposed us to the scintillating Polish cuisine! Once again, our expectations were not above the limbo stick but our supper in this little town ended up being one of our best suppers on the whole trip! Of particular delight was the 2 starters; a duck and vegetable soup with a hint of citrus and a steak tartare with egg yolk. Absolutely delicious!🤤 Emz's main was a vegetarian twist on a Polish dish (Golabki) where cabbage and quinoa were wrapped almost in like spring rolls and I had a more generic pork schnitzel with mash and a delicious cucumber salad which was also delicious despite its simplicity. We also had lovely sundowners on the bank of the Vistula and it honestly felt like it wouldn't be amiss if a hippo popped its head out of the water.😂 Another town to win us over to Poland as an excellent country to visit!Read more

  • Scandinavia Eurotrip 2023
    Beautiful umbrellas lining the cobbled street
    Emz posing by the city signEmz showing off Poland and her interview skillsTreating Emz to a Stewart family staple Sunday meal. Emz is firmly converted😁

    Poland: Bialystok

    September 5, 2023 in Poland ⋅ ☀️ 21 °C

    Just a quick overnight stop and our first impressions of Poland were very different to what I was expecting! I had an image of Poland being just another cheap, run down Eastern European country. Well, yes, it is cheap, but quite the contrary otherwise! Poland has some incredible countryside from forests to farmlands and really had a SA feel to it (probably aided by the great weather we were experiencing here too!). The houses are all really well kept and the farms immaculate! On our way to this city, we passed again close to Belarus and went through parts of what remains of the oldest forest in Europe (The Bialowieza Forest). It was in this area that I saw an actual wild EURASIAN WOLF!!!!😁😁😁 Such a rare and lucky occurrence with almost no one I know being able to boast the same claim! It was however very fleeting (it ran across the road in front of me from 1 side of the forest to the other), so sadly Emz didn't get a chance to see it either.😔
    Bialystok was a nice, non touristy city with a small but nice old town and it was definitely worth staying the night. We were also shocked at how cheap everything was. Poland is by far the cheapest country we have stayed in up to this point. Things were definitely looking up in Poland!☺️    Read more

  • Scandinavia Eurotrip 2023
    Sunset from the fort
    Typical architecture of the town1Emz in one of the streetsBeetroot soup1Emz and her beetroot soupPotato dumplings with porkStacked herring saladA view across the city from the little fortThe 2 of us and the view!Remnants of communist russian occupation. An abandoned sports groundThe parliamentary building1Emz looking all cute1Engrossed in her book that finally isn't Harry PotterThe weather was so good there were hot air balloons!Very talented busker!The Vilnius Festival

    Lithuania: Vilnius

    September 3, 2023 in Lithuania ⋅ ☀️ 21 °C

    After a hair raising parking experience at the hostel where Olaf JUST squeezed through the gate into the hostel parking, it was time to explore the city. I think parking though almost gave Emz a heart attack. Vilnius quickly became one of our favourite cities! Loads of green spaces, super clean, the medieval architecture and cobbled streets once again and excellent food was all that awaited us. It also seemed we arrived on the wkd of the Vilnius Festival, so they had loads of stages with local bands playing...it created a very festive atmosphere despite us not knowing what they were singing about!😂
    We explored more of the city the next day and hiked up to this beautiful viewpoint that looked across the city. It was then time to head to one of the picturesque cafés and try the local cuisine which ended up being delicious! A cold beetroot soup for starters, potato and pork dumplings and a stacked herring salad similar to the old fashioned '7 later salad.' We were both very impressed! That evening we met some fellow travellers in the backpackers and it was interesting chatting to a French guy that had just been to St Petersburg, Russia to visit his girlfriend.😳 He says that the city carries on as before, but the place is littered with propaganda to sign up to the Russian military. Probably some more ominous signs of what is to come.😬 We also met a very interesting German guy who was in his 60s staying at the backpackers. This guy was truly fascinating! 1stly, he had just come from Minsk in Belarus which was interesting enough. But to add to this, he is completely fluent in English/German/Russian and French! He also had fascinating stories about the cold war and divided Germany and how things were like in those days. His knowledge of the local history and customs of Eastern Europe was unparalleled. His job was to assimilate Russian refugees with German heritage into Germany, but he did have a spy-like aura to him. Anyways, Vilnius is definitely a place to be recommended by us and the interesting people we met along the way was certainly a bonus!    Read more

  • Scandinavia Eurotrip 2023

    Lithuania: Driving to Vilnius

    September 3, 2023 in Lithuania ⋅ ☀️ 20 °C

    So once again - since I'm not writing these updates daily - I am fortunate to have the benefit of Joel Stransky's hindsight in some of these posts. So, with hindsight, we can now rank the Baltic countries on how they appeared and what the general feel was for them. Latvia was by far the most run down. Loads of abandoned, run down buildings in the countryside. Odd concrete blocks of flats randomly in the countryside that appeared to be very poorly maintained and overall, seemed to be the country with the weakest economy and national pride. Lithuania was by far the most affluent looking with all the buildings (no matter how rural) really well maintained. The cities were all neat and really clean and well maintained. Lithuania was also heavily forested and felt a lot more wild than Latvia. Estonia fell somewhere in the middle between these 2 in our assessment.

    The photo depicted here is of a horse shoe bend in a river in Lithuania. This is the closest we came to Belarus with us being only 2.5km from the border at this point. Belarus, with its more than friendly ties with Russia and ties with the Wagner mercenary force, has been a country that we haven't even considered on our trip and probably rightly so. It was near to this point where we saw a train carrying probably about 20-30 tanks and we also passed multiple military vehicles in this region, which is possibly a foreboding sign of things to come!😳😬    Read more

  • Scandinavia Eurotrip 2023
    The Catholic Basilica from the side
    The inside of the church

    Latvia: A day of let downs

    September 2, 2023 in Latvia ⋅ ⛅ 18 °C

    We left Riga and embarked on what was to be our 7th day out of 7 weeks of no rain of the trip! (Incidentally, as I'm writing this a few days after, I can safely say we've now managed to put the umbrellas away for a week! The weather really has improved as we've gone further south). But that ended up being one of the only good things of this day. We decided to go more 'off the beaten track' and head into the Latvian countryside to see what that had to offer as for now we'd been sticking to the capital cities. Well, it seemed all the Latvian countryside had to serve us was what Brussel sprouts are to an 8 year old kid! We wanted to go to a bread museum, but they closed their door to us as we hadn't booked in advance (even though I had emailed them in advance to which they never replied). We went onto plan B which was to see an open air farm museum showing off buildings of what farmers typically had in the Latvian 1800s. Sadly they only accepted cash which we didn't have, so another door was unceremoniously closed in our faces. Thus we turned to plan C which was to go see the Catholic Basilica in the town Aglona. This apparently was the founding church of Catholicism and thus Christianity in Latvia, so it did hold some importance. The church was actually quite impressive and ended up being worth the visit. It was then onto our accommodation which was a bit of a train wreck in itself! The place had a sauna, but no kitchen facilities or shower/bath facilities! I think the thought of having a sauna, not having a place to shower and climbing straight into bed gave Emma the heebie-jeebies!😂 Thankfully we had cooking equipment, so supper wasn't a problem, but it was a no shower kind of night. Plus the place was plagued by mozzies and the room freezing 🥶. Definitely in our bottom 3 places of accommodation for the trip!Read more

  • Scandinavia Eurotrip 2023
    Emz and myself having our romantic supper☺️
    Grey Pea saladPickled herring and potato pancakesFried Herring, mash and saladEel and mashRye bread soup as a dessertFan park for basketball WCLatvia beating Spain at the fan park

    Latvia: Riga

    September 1, 2023 in Latvia ⋅ ⛅ 19 °C

    And so it was onto Riga we went...another beautiful capital city in the Baltics! More cobbled streets and great medieval architecture. 😍One thing we didn't know, is that it's actually the basketball world cup on at the moment. The 2nd thing we didn't know, is how big basketball is as a sport in these Baltic countries!🤯 The pubs are packed and they've even got fan parks for this! We've also been fortunate enough to see each team since Finland playing whilst in their home country. I've never really been into Basketball, but I must say, it is tough not to enjoy it when there's a whole crowd of people cheering! Anyways, we found one of these fan parks in Riga and it was very exciting when Latvia beat Spain to get through to the QFs which they are playing tomorrow.
    Our attention in Riga then turned to the food. We still felt like we hadn't had a proper engagement supper, so we managed to get a spot at a really quaint little restaurant serving traditional Latvian cuisine. This place ended up being great! Emz had potato pancakes with pickled herring as a starter and fried herring with mash as a main. I had a grey pea salad (peas which are only grown in Latvia which is quite cool) and EEL (yep, eel! 1st time over ever eaten it) and mash as a main. We both quite liked the eel despite Emz's initial trepidations. We then shared another interesting dish called a rye bread soup for dessert. Overall another good stay in a Baltic capital and it was now time to see what the Latvian countryside had to offer!    Read more

  • Scandinavia Eurotrip 2023
    Old door at the entrance gate to the cityThe Catholic church at the top of the old cityOld entrance gate to the cityA local treat. A vanilla flavoured cheese curdA missive by the KGB on 'how to interrogate correctly'The KGB, so polite and sweet. 'Faithfully yours'One of the KGB prison cellsHow the interrogation rooms lookedThe Olde Hansa. The medieval barBeer served in a clay potSolyanka, a delicious tangy soup with meat, gherkins and olivesMulgipuder, basically an Estonian mashed potatoVenison patties with salad. They LOVE beetroot here which is great!

    Estonia: Talinn

    August 29, 2023 in Estonia ⋅ ☁️ 20 °C

    This place definitely ended up being a hidden gem of our trip! A place filled with medieval architecture and not too touristy, it was definitely one of the best cities we have visited! The first day was spent just walking through the old town taking in the sights. The next day we went to the KGB prison museum where the KGB used to detain and 'interrogate ' anyone that was possibly an 'enemy of the people of Russia' during the USSR communist era. This place had some of the worst atrocities performed to people and many of the people that went through this place ended up dead or, worse, being sent to the gulags of Siberia. That afternoon we went to a medieval themed bar where all the waiters were in medieval costumes and where we tried some drinks based on medieval recipe eg spiced wine and honey beer. In the evening, we went to a local brewery and tried the local food which was really nice! We had also tried 'Valge Klaar', a Estonian soft drink and Karums curd snacks which are delicious! Overall, Talinn was great and worth a visit for anyone!Read more

  • Scandinavia Eurotrip 2023
    The varsity students all singing karaoke
    Emz about to have her Minttu 🥃Emma ironically smiling prior to the Salmiakki shot😬😂

    Finland: Helsinki

    August 28, 2023 in Finland ⋅ 🌬 15 °C

    And off to the capital we went for just a night as by this time, we were keen to start getting into the Baltics. Helsinki, like mentioned previously about most of Finland, had some nice parts to it, but it was mostly blocks of flats with minimal awe-inspiring architecture. However, the city did seem to have its own charm to it.
    I'd messaged an acquaintance who lived in Helsinki and she gave us some useful tips and places to go to. The first place we visited was called Sompasauna - a public, mixed gender sauna that was of the old school wood burning variety saunas- on the edge of the Baltic. We were a bit nervous as to what we were getting ourselves into as you have to drive through a building site to get to the place. Once you arrive, it looks like 3 grafitti'd shacks with a mixed bunch of naked people and people in cozzies standing around. However, this ended up being one of our favourite experiences in Finland! We don't have any photos from the place as photography was not allowed, but basically it was a community run, public sauna. That means that anyone can use the sauna, the sauna was completely free to use, provided you helped keep the sauna running in some way or other eg chopping up wood or collecting water for the saunas. This definitely gave the place a very hippie, Afrikaburn feel to it. You could also sauna either in your cozzie or in the nude. The saunas ran hot, but there was no judgement on how long you stayed in, what your body type was, whether you were a man or a woman and whether you wore clothes or not. Due to the heat from the saunas, we thankfully had the option of cooling off in the Baltic Sea. Yep, I never thought I'd say it given my adversity to cold water, but we both swam in the Baltic Sea! Twice! A really good experience overall and one that both Emz and I really enjoyed!

    That evening, we walked to the Kallio district which is a sort of hip and trendy district. We managed to find a karaoke bar that was filled with Science and Biology undergrad students about to start their next year of varsity. They were all in their overalls, singing and dancing happily and it gave Emz and myself both a fair bit of nostalgia for our own university days. I decided that we should try the local Finnish liquor for the first time, so I ordered a shot of Salmiakki and a shot of Minttu for each of us. The former's flavour is salted liquorice and the latter is mint! 2 of Emma's favourite flavours!!😂 She was not impressed by what Finland had to offer in this department.😂 Still a good night overall though!    Read more

  • Scandinavia Eurotrip 2023
    The famous orange handled scissors!
    A water wheel to provide electricity for the forgeMathildedal iron forgeryFiskars: telephone boxFiskars: main clock tower building. Was a schoolFiskars: some of their other productsFiskars: a typical bachelor pad of the 1940s in the townFiskars: typical living room with 1 of the 1st TVs ever producedFiskars: the manor house where the head of the company used to stay

    Norway: Mathildedal and Fiskars

    August 28, 2023 in Finland ⋅ 🌧 16 °C

    Through an absolute deluge of rain, we stopped at these 2 towns on our way to Helsinki. Both towns started off as iron forgeries - Mathildedal in the 1850s and Fiskars in 1650s. Both towns were great historic examples of their eras and Fiskars was particularly interesting. The company 'Fiskars' which was the company that started the iron forgery all those years ago in the town of its namesake, is still running today! This makes it one of the oldest companies in the world! They're also listed on the Finnish SE. They had a lovely museum which we spent some time in. Now, we had never heard of the company Fiskars, but when we saw their most famous product, we realised that almost every family in South Africa that we know, would know this product and hence this company. They made the orange handled scissors that I think virtually every household had or still has today. We definitely had a pair! The company have sold about 1 billion of these scissors btwn 1967 and 2011. Very interesting!Read more

  • Scandinavia Eurotrip 2023

    Norway: Turku

    August 27, 2023 in Finland ⋅ ☁️ 19 °C

    This was just a quick stopover at this city in the West of Finland on the Aura River. As with most of the Finnish cities, we found that they had some really nice areas, but then some areas really reminiscent of communist Russia and not very picturesque at all. Turku fitted this mould exactly. Picturesque by the river and not so much elsewhere. We still enjoyed this city though.Read more

  • Scandinavia Eurotrip 2023
    A panoramic view of the tiny cabin. Note the old furniture/wood stove and wooden flooring
    Game of Molkky outside the cabinThe bedroomKokkola beach. Our lunch spot.

    Finland: Quaint cabin near Vaasa

    August 26, 2023 in Finland ⋅ 🌙 13 °C

    This day we drove down the Eastern side of the Gulf of Bothnia and visited some cute little towns on the sea like Raahe, Kalajoki, Kokkola and Jakobstad. Kalajoki had a beach area with large houses that would not be out of place at any of the SA popular coastal towns. This is where we had lunch. The other 3 places had nice old wooden styled town centres which made them worth passing through. We ended up staying in an Airbnb near Vaasa. This was a lovely, old cabin that had been tastefully modernised , situated in a slightly off of the beaten track farming community. The cabin was built in the 1800s and the landlord told us that the original owner had his wife and 7 kids living in the cabin! I must say, we were struggling to picture where they put them all in this tiny little cabin! But I guess in those days you just made do with what you had. This day was also probably our 6th day out of about 7 weeks where we did not have a single drop of rain! We celebrated this by playing a classic Finnish game called Molkky - an excellent lawn game which we were already well acquainted with.Read more

  • Scandinavia Eurotrip 2023
    Outside to Santa's village. Emz showing her appreciation☺️
    Cute reindeer toys

    Finland: Rovaniemi

    August 25, 2023 in Finland ⋅ ⛅ 16 °C

    Whilst camping in Tornio, Emz had read of this place in Finland called Rovaniemi, "the capital of Lapland and home to Father Christmas himself." I mean, it does sound like it'll be a cute and quaint city with cool architecture doesn't it? I'd also seen similar things on the internet, so it was decided that we'd do a day trip back up to the edge of the Arctic Circle to see this place. Well, I guess it was quaint and cute...if your definition of these terms is a concrete jungle stylised in that 'awe-inspiring' architecture of a communist Russia. But to us, this place felt like a wrong turn and a wasted trip. Thankfully, I was able to 'save the day' when I found that nearby to Rovaniemi, was a place called 'Santa Claus's Village', the home of Father Christmas himself. Now, if you ask Emz what she thought of this place, she'll say things like 'kitsch', 'tacky' and 'cringeworthy', but deep (deep deep) down, I think she really loved this place! I mean, as 30 something year olds, we got to sit on THE Father Christmas's lap! I mean, what's not to love?!😁Read more

  • Scandinavia Eurotrip 2023
    Our braai
    Watching rugby on my phone in the car

    Finland: Tornio Camping

    August 24, 2023 in Finland ⋅ ☁️ 17 °C

    It was a vast improvement on our previous night's accommodation when we arrived to an actual campsite in Finland. Running water, electricity and no mosquitoes! Bloody luxury! It was also at this campsite that we would dive straight into a very Finnish thing to do i.e. using a SAUNA at the end of the day. And one way using a sauna is very different in Finland to more western culture, is that in Finland, this is done entirely in the nude (at this campsite, they did have separate saunas for men and women). So off I trotted to the men's sauna after sending Emz on her merry way to the women's sauna. Thankfully, a lifetime of hockey and cricket locker-rooms had prepared me for this so it was really no big deal to do this. However, I did feel I was the scrawny wing, in a locker-room filled with the forwards of an unfit, overweight, middle aged rugby team when I entered the sauna. Later, after I told Emz my story, she told me of her sauna experience. By the sounds of it, if I had the back row forwards in my sauna, then Emz had the tight-head prop in her sauna. A poor lady that probably hadn't seen her foof in years by the sounds of it! Anyways, an interesting experience all round.

    Our last night at this camp was spent having a braai and sipping wine whilst watching probably a once in a lifetime demolition by the Springboks over the All Blacks! A truly incredible experience and for almost the first time, both Emz and myself were homesick to London as I think almost every expat Saffa we know was in attendance to that historic game! I just hope we haven't peaked too early! Come on Bokke!🇿🇦💪

    It's also important to note that Emz won her first game of Scrabble at this campsite! As revenge, she beat me on her final move when I was leading. Our games are anything but tight!    Read more

  • Scandinavia Eurotrip 2023
    The rubbish in the foreground and the tyre hanging in the tree.
    Reindeer crossingThe campsite😕

    Sweden: Wild Camping

    August 23, 2023 in Sweden ⋅ ☁️ 15 °C

    So what goes up, must come down and since we had reached our northward most point, it was time for us to start following the swallows and heading back South. But first, we had to drive East to scoot around the Gulf of Bothnia (the sea btwn Sweden and Finland). The highlight of this drive eastwards into Sweden is we saw our first ever REINDEER!!😁 Only our 2nd animal in these desolate landscapes.😁

    Now, if you didn't know this already, Norway is regularly rated from various sources as the most EXPENSIVE country in Europe! Up there with Switzerland and Iceland. I think it's safe to say that if our credit card were a dog, its tail would be firmly tucked between its legs as we departed this beautiful country. So in this regard, we were happy to be heading back into Sweden (which I think highlights the fact that Norway is pricey when you start looking at Sweden as a 'cheap' country). But to hit the ground running with cost saving, we decided to exercise our "Allemansrätten", the Swedish word meaning "every man's right", which basically means you can camp anywhere free of charge (provided it's not right next to someone's house of course). We had had such a good experience earlier on our trip with these free shelters in the Swedish wilderness, that we thought this might be a good option. Well, where the other wild camping was one of the highlights, this was certainly one of the lowlights! With the shelter being a bit dilapidated and the road to it miserable (Olaf - our car - almost got stuck), we decided to move onto greener pastures. Sadly, it would seem our 'greener pastures' had been victim to Lord Kitchener's 'scorched earth policy' and were no better than the crappy shelter. We drove to a dead end in the forest and decided it was here that we'd camp. On closer inspection though, this area seemed to be someone's fly tipping haven, but we were both too tired to head out again and look for another spot. So we set up camp in a mosquito infested rubbish dump where I thought the tyre hanging in the tree really completed the Feng Shui of the place. A place to remind us that it's not all roses travelling and that will be remembered but which we would really hope to forget!    Read more

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