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This summer we finaly decided to visit Dugi otok island, which was on was on my wish list for a couple of years already. We heard Dugi otok was still quite untouristy and PEACEFUL compared to some other islands around and this was just what we needed this year. STUNNING BEACHES, which reminded us of the Caribbean, great SEAFOOD, nice weather, RELAXED ATMOSPHERE and lots of DAY TRIPS possibilities make the island another great Croatian summer holiday destination.
Since we were on holidays on DUGI OTOK Otok this year, we were very much looking forward to visit Kornati islands after a very long time again. And the best way to do it is to book a day boat trip and cruise around the islands. Unless you have your own boat of course ;).
Taking photos is a fun and easy thing to do and it´s the best way to KEEP MEMORIES ALIVE. In the recent years the technology has become more accessible and cheaper, so that many hobby photographers and even those who have little clue about photography can EASILY BUY A GOOD CAMERA. But even the best cam in the world will not do a good photo on its own. I´m not a professional, I´m far from being one, but still, I can say that in all the years taking photos I do know a little bit about how to make good ones. Or at least better ones. And I do know how to correct the not so good ones! Read more 😉
Since we have the awesome opportunity to enjoy a 3-day weekend every weekend for the next couple of weeks, we tend to make the best of it. And since summer is (or at least should be) coming, we thought of visiting the GERMAN NORTH COAST again. I was never in CUXHAVEN and so, we had our goal. And as I googled about what one can see around there, I found this WILD TINY ISLAND 70 km OFFSHORE. We booked a little wooden house with a terrace close to the beach in Sahlenburg (Cuxhaven) and hoped for good weather on Saturday so that we could do a day trip to Helgoland, GERMAN´S SMALLEST NATURE RESERVE. The whole weekend turned out to be just great and Helgoland blew me away. That´s also why it deserves its own post.
After the Easter holidays here in Germany, a whole series of holiday days start. 1st of May, then the “Christi Himmelfahrt”, followed by “Pfingsten” – so if you are smart and take some additional days off, you can have quite a few longer weekends. The past weekend was one of those, we had 4 days. And so we booked a bigger apartment in a house on GERMANY´S LARGEST ISLAND, Rügen together WITH FRIENDS. None of us was ever there so we were really looking forward to it and we also went really lucky with the weather – only 2 weeks ago it was snowing and now we had very pleasant 20-something °C and sunny skies! It was simply the perfect weekend to drive up to the coast and considering the heavy road traffic many had the same idea.
Between continental Europe and the North Sea´s FRISIAN ISLANDS, located in Netherlands, Germany and Denmark lies the so-called “WATTENMEER” (Wadden Sea). This intertidal zone is on the UNESCO´s World Heritage List and it´s a favourite spot for a unique experience – walking to an island! Yes, you heard it right – when the tide is low, one can walk several kilometres on muddy grounds until reaching the island. On the way back you have to take a boat. We tried it out last summer when we walked from Neßmersiel on the mainland to the island Baltrum.
Moving to Germany gave me the opportunity to use some of the weekends (especially those few longer ones) for short trips to different parts of the country where I have never been before. Especially the NORTHERN COASTAL PART is so different to anything I knew before and that´s why I always love to go there. Last year in the early spring we spend 4 days visiting HAMBURG, LÜBECK and a few BEACHES on the way to KIEL. Then it was already time to return home. Some of the places are well worth a stop even if you are just passing by on your way to Denmark or the Scandinavian countries.
Usually at this time of a year we would go some place warm, but not this year. This year we only got 11 days off and we decided to STAY IN EUROPE for a change. That would not have been enough for the other much WARMER DESTINATION we had in mind. So, I thought, why not do something completely different this time, why not go to the NORTH! Since this year´s winter was a really poor one, with not much snow, going to FINLAND seemed like a great idea.
Before we landed in Helsinki, I had no clue what is traditionally eaten in Finland, but I was imagining that there will be lots of salmon dishes and berries. And yes, I was right. Somehow we thought food will be nothing special really, but I can say now we were wrong. We tried many interesting and very tasty dishes and really cannot say anything was mediocre. We usually had a bigger lunch as the main meal of the day and it seemed as the locals did the same. Breakfasts always got us full and so did the supermarket-bought snacks in the evening. If I had to name 5 ingredients that always seemed to find a away to our plates they would be: SALMON, REINDEER, RYE BREAD, MASHED POTATOES and BERRIES.
We cannot say we visited Finland just to see the northern lights, but I have to admit, it was high up on our priority list of what we wanted to see & do there. We knew already before we left there is no guaranty of spotting them, but hope never dies. And in the end, we were lucky enough to see them! It really was one of those magical moments which are hard to describe. Enjoying the silence around us in the dark night somewhere near the Russian border, we were standing on a bridge and could hear salmon swimming in the river below us, sometime after breathing the extremely cold air for a couple of hours (okay I´m sure it was less than that, but we all lost track of time) – this incredible play of lights in the sky suddenly appeared and there is no doubt, this night was for sure a highlight of the whole trip.
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