Sicily

Post category:Italy Southern Europe

Trapani, Sicily

These travel notes are related to our trip to southern Italy, eastern Sicily and Etna. About Sicily Sicily is one of Italy's regions and the largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. Its territory is almost 26 thousand square kilometres (ten thousand square miles) and is similar to the size of such countries as North Macedonia and Albania. Almost five million people live in Sicily, which is about 8% of all Italian population. Unlike nowadays, Sicily has been very rich and powerful…

East of Sicily

Post category:Italy Southern Europe

Noto, east Sicily

Visiting east of Sicily was a part of our trip to southern Italy and Etna. Arrival to Sicily We arrived to Sicilian town Messina on a ferry from Villa San Giovanny Imbrachi late in the evening. Messina id the third biggest city of Sicily. Crossing was pretty quick as there are only about ten kilometres between these towns by the sea. We might be very lucky as immediately after arrival at ferry port we got tickets and boarded the ferry…

Scottish highlands

Post category:Scotland United Kingdom

St Andrews, Scotland

Harry Potter After spending several days on the Isle of Skye, our next destination was the Scottish Highlands. On the way from Mallaig to Fort William we were observing exciting scenery of an old railway. Its track starts at Britain's highest mountain, Ben Nevis, passes through the westernmost railway station Arisaig, then passes the deepest freshwater lake Loch Morar, and finally stops near Loch Nevis, Europe's deepest seawater lake. The total length of the railway track is 135 kilometres (84…

Alps, Provence and Rocamadour

Post category:France Western Europe

French Alps and Provence Everybody has some opinion about France. We have been in France many times, however most exciting was our three weeks long trip around the country in August of 2007. The first part of it was visiting French Alps and Provence, afterwards continuing trip to exceptionally nice town of Rocamadour. You can find first half of our route on the map. This part of the trip (especially before arrival to French Alps and Provence), apart of mountains,…

A bit of Bulgaria

Post category:Eastern Europe

In the middle of March, 2007 we managed to go on a short about a week long trip to Bulgaria. We had to drive more than five and a half thousand kilometres in eight days (more than six hundred kilometres per day in an average). Idea about trip was born when I was returning from a business trip; I met young lady on a plane sitting next to me. She told a lot of interesting things about Bulgaria and we…

Paris and Versailles

Post category:France Western Europe

Basilica of Montmartre and the Palace of Versailles We reached Paris before midnight and luckily found our hotel in Montmartre with a little stumble. Many visitors of Paris choose this area because of its location. Although, after sunset the surrounding area does not look very safe and touristic. We had booked Hotel Montmartrois (6 Bis, Rue Du Chevalier-De-La-Barre) because it offered good price for double rooms (nothing special, but good enough to stay in convenient location). Nearest site of interest…

Western Estonia

Post category:Baltic countries Eastern Europe

Sightseeing tour to western part of Estonia This was a corporate trip by bus together with work colleagues to Estonian islands. It was a short weekend sightseeing tour to western part of Estonia just to relax, have some fun and look a bit around. Our destination was Saaremaa island, with a short stop in summer capital of Estonia - town Parnu. Border between Latvia and Estonia You may cross border between Latvia and Estonia using main road E67. However, there…

South of Norway

Post category:Western Europe

Visiting south of Norway To have a short break in June, we went to Norway for a few days. After landing at Oslo airport, we picked up our pre-booked car from airport car rental office and started our trip. We were lucky that instead of smaller car we were upgraded for free and got an excellent Volvo V40 - very nice welcome to Norway! We were thinking about visiting south of Norway a long time and finally did it. And,…