Islands as the amber necklace on the Baltic sea

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I want to ride my bicycle

Did you ever notice that the shape of the Baltic sea reminds a woman on her knees holding Finland on her stretched out hands? So the archipelago of Åland Islands, where we've spent a week on bicycles, are located at the level of the Baltic woman's chest just without the lace to keep them together :)

There were four of us and my little nephew John, who was at the age of 1 year and 2month at that time. He was safely sitting on the back seat behind his dad in a comfortable seat and sleeping most of time while cycling. The rain on the plastic raincoat was only interesting for him, the birds, ferrys, islands and other objects he knew were all entitled by two front letter syllables, sleeping in a tent was just another game, and water was the attraction #1 without possibility to take him out without at any cold. For the rest of the riders it was a really nice trip, another experience, and fun watching the kid putting his first steps ;)

And what about the islands? They are great! The ferries are free of charge for bicycle drivers (except the special bike ferries), the roads are red paved but of good quality, the bolders in the north of the main islands are full or problems and with some good magnesium whiten holds for tracking the routes, people are friendly, and islands are full of "Loppis" - yard sales so to say.. For sure worth a visit on a bike with a boldermat, climbing shoes and a bag of "chalk" ;)

Confesion

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What's behind the "all-included"

Most probably once in a lifetime everybody must try what is "all-included". This time we've got a trip to the most touristized and hotel occupied gulf of Antalia as a present. All family included too. To my mind - once is more than enough - I've managed to sit 2 days (out of 7) doing nothing as there was nothing to do but to read books (I've finished 2).

What was terrible - the seaside all covered by hotels for "all-included" tourists who do nothing and live moving from one table to another, catching skin cancer while roasting their lazy bodies under the sun, watching crazy 5th grade level entertainment shows, and wasting their time with a glass of cheap alko-drink.

What was nice - that even "all-included" hotels can perfectly fit into nature located in a natural tiny bay with rocks not suitable for climbing, small fishes that gather around the feeding place close to the diving center, cicadas that switch on at 5am and turn off just after the midnight, and all this is surrounded by trees that grow only in flower-pots in the warmest room in dark appartments in non-Mediterranean regions...

In conclusion, please accept my promise never to repeat the "all-included" trip again. Under any circumstances. And anybody who witness me doing so, please remind me, and stop until it's not too late :)

12 ice creams

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Latvian underwear

Few years ago in one of the blog entries I've introduced the Lithuanian law that increased the number of vacation with extra days. Now the law is changed, but from time to time we still have long weekends, which you can use as an advantage and significantly increase feeling of having more holidays. It just happened so that we had 2 long weekend in a row. One we've used for climbing in Frankenjura and another for a new pssion - cycling - in Latvia this time.

Eventhough, our plan was not to exceed more than 50km per day, in four days we made a circle of 300km. Now that was nice!!! Going by seaside and sometimes being washed by the waves, riding on paved and unpaved roads, pushing your new best friend through the free sand or dunes, sleeping on a sand and under the rolled stack of hay, watching the sun going down and red sky all night long, swimming in most of the water bodies, eating ice-creams at every stop and running away from mosquitos, which you can find even on the beach.

While traveling we were always followed by the idea that Latvian seaside till Kolka soon will be occupied by friendly Lithuanians having vacation. At the moment Lithuanian has bare 99km of the seaside, which goes for almost 34 Lithuanians in 1 meter of the seaside, while in Latvia this rate is only 4. So why not to "share" a narrow piece of Latvian costline with a friendly intentions from the brotherly love? :D


Picture (c) Dovile

klettern sie bitte

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go climbing

This time the blog will be simple and short.

We went climbing again. This time with a magic red transporter bus followed by SUBARU escort in case of smt "unexpected" to Frankenjura region #1. Smt "unexpected" happened and we changed the motor oil twice. Then the man with a golden hands attached some new tube and all went fine. We reached the rocks, we climbed, enjoyed the rain and thunder below the stone roof of Diebesloch, overnighted in the mysterious woods full of flying glow-warms (jonvabaliai), relished the meals with indian spices, and climbed, climbed, climbed again and again until skin went out on Harry Potter Wand leaving a different personal debt for everybody...

Frankenjura #1 is worth another visit maybe some other week this summer...


Picture (c) Pumputis

Corsica is on the other coast

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A week in Sardegna looking for some rocks

As the title says… We've spent a 7 days in a marvelous island going from a rock to a rock, climbing, looking for all kinds of natural wonders, sightseeing villages from the top and inside, enjoying low-season Sardegna with almost no tourists, morning cappuccino and evening pizzas.

We've started in Alghero, "a place where there is nothing to do and people come for no reason" (an opinion from a guy originally coming from Puglia, but currently living in the mentioned city, and holding an utopian plans for an eco-system field somewhere nearby), and finished in the local capital Cagliari – the only city in the island, I’d say ;) To go around we took a car, and rest of the nights we’ve spent sleeping in the light green Seicento with nice 360° views. Rock climbing guide was our guide while going around.

In the small island of the size around 270x150 km you can find everything: all types of rock climbing styles starting from traditional to deep water solo, all types of rock types starting from limestone to granite, all kinds of walls from slab to sheltered grottas with flutes, all kinds of views on the top from the blue sea distances to a narrow claustrophobic valleys, etc. When you think about it, we have traveled 3/4 of the island around, but there is still so many routes waiting for us.. Therefore we'll be back.. Maybe in spring, maybe in autumn.. :)