Category Archives: Photography

Day 22 – Getting into the Portuguese spirit

After breakfast at our pretty empty camp ground, Flo decided to give blue George a wash. He was already worse for wear after three weeks on the road before the dirt road to our previous camp.

Leg parade

Freshly washed, we took a gravel road to the local beach. 🙂 It was the one recommend to us yesterday and it was totally our jam. Lovely beach with a river estuary and now at low tide there were pools and rocks to explore. We spent a good hour doing just that and Number 3 really digged the puddles of seawater. After complaints about how hard it is to walk in deep sand, he was now of on his own, splishing and splashing…getting a very wet and sandy bum. The whole scenery reminded us of landscape photography calendars. So beautiful!

There were just two types of people at the beach: Surfers and families with small kids. And not many of each of them. It was overcast in the morning which made the beach exploration more enjoyable. I didn’t melt into a puddle of sweat walking through scorching sunshine for example.

Baby got a new, dry outfit and a non-sandy diaper…and was asleep pretty much the second we started the car. Completely knackered. Thus, we had a quiet drive to Odeceixe, our next beach destination for today. We arrived in the small town of Odeceixe at lunch time. So lunch seemed Odeceixe like a good idea before heading towards another beach. I looked up some places here and found a no-nonsense grilled meat and seafood place which seemed like just the place for Flo to have fresh fish in Portugal.

The restaurant turned out to be amazing. It had everything: fresh seafood, even a vegetarian dish, a baby chair for Number 3, waiters and customers entertaining the baby and last but not least delicious desserts. Lunch turned into a bit of a feast there while we made our way through the pickled carrots starter, the curry or grilled fish and the Alejento delight at the end. Number 3 tried everything and for once actually ate a good amount.

On a high note and in good spirits we went to Ocedeixe beach. It was definitely busier than the first one we’ve seen today. Again, it was a river estuary with the river coming in a wide bend, forming a big sandbank. Here, kids played in the fresh water while on the other side, the Atlantic Ocean came in with great waves. Flags were up, telling you it’s not fully safe to swim but putting your feet in is okay.

We stayed a bit shorter here as Number 3 was scared by the big waves coming in. The first one nearly knocked him off his feet and everybody was a bit more cautious after that. The wave was high enough to warrant another new outfit for the day. 😉

More hat games

For now, we said goodbye to the coastline. Our next camp ground was inland again, halfway to the next town we want to visit. Number 3 dutifully sleep again. Playing with the waves and the walking on sand clearly tires a baby. We had picked another Dutch run camp ground as our next night stop and took our time to get there. Flo had called ahead so we had a spot and the roads inland were lovely. Rolling hills with trees, all meadows full of flowers, stork nests everywhere. It reminded us a lot of “Home to Home”, the first time we felt like we experienced some of the country while driving through it. We even had enough time for a quick coffee/ tea stop with the obligatory custard tart.

The camp ground Serro da Bica is another one of those great places to spend a night. As most days though, we were in a rush after arriving. The tent had to be set up, dinner needed to be prepared and then we had another round of laundry to do. Afterwards, there was some time to get a drink with the owners and other campers. This time, the conversation was entirely in German as most people staying here at the moment are Germans. A pleasant chance form being the odd one out.

Day 8 – One day in Bangk….Barcelona!

We were really happy with our spot at the camp ground in El Masnou as it got super full in the evening. Which, in turn, meant that the bathrooms were really full in the morning. What felt like busloads of Italian tourists were getting ready and we picked up a new bit of cultural information…at least for us: Italians bring their super light, quite short bath robes to camp grounds; hairy, white maschio legs all around.

And then, we found out that the camera had been left on overnight and the battery was flat. Of course, today was the day I didn’t pack an extra battery. No fancy pictures of Barcelona, no selfie in front of the Sagrada Familia….I could have cried. To come up with a plan to save the day, Flo wanted to look at the map of Barcelona only to find that we had left it in the tent…back in El Masnou. Super sigh of annoyance!

Number 3 didn’t have the best of nights and I felt rather ill (Flo thinks it’s an allergic reaction to the gazillion of pollen flying around), but we managed to get ready to catch a train to Barcelona. That’s the beauty of El Masnou, you’re in the city center within half an hour. A bit of panic on my side and a train ride later, we popped up in Placa Catalunya, right in the middle of Barcelona.

Well, with no “pics or it didn’t happen” to feed this day, we started our walking tour with a stroll down la Rambla. Despite leaving the map, we still had the guide book to make the best of this day. La Rambla was very cool, even on an Easter Monday. It was cloudy, which was a bit of a pity, but just this hour or so walking down la Rambla made me want to come back for a 5 day city holiday sometime. Cool architecture, cozy cafes and great placas to get food…what’s not to love?

To calm down a bit and get over our early lunch hunger, we stopped in Le café de l’opera for a tea and croissant. Well, Flo decided to go more Spanish and got a xocamokka with churros. The churros were freshly made and delicious! Dipped in sugar, still warm…mhhhh! 🙂

Thus feeling better, at least in my case, we finished our stroll down la Rambla and went on to zigzag through Barri Gotik, the whole quarter. Little alleys with stately mansions opened up to placas with churches or governmental buildings, just to go back to winding alleys. I’m pretty sure you can spend days just in this one quarter.

I looked up a restaurant in the guide book which didn’t actually open on Easter Monday. Not too bad as everything is quite close together. We just walked to a different place, Ocaña this time, and sat down. Number 3 charmed customers and waiters alike while I devoured bravas and tempura-fried veggies. It was 2pm by the time we left the restaurant. I was already tired and quite done for today. However, we did not want to waste half a day that we could have spent in Barcelona. There were two things I really wanted to do: The Sagrada Familia and Park Guell. Both were a bit removed from the city center and tickets weren’t available any more for today. So I abandoned the idea of seeing Park Guell, or rather postponed it to the 5 day city trip that I already started planning, as well as knowing that I could only see Gaudi’s church from the outside. A city trip needs to be better planned with tickets obtained way before you arrive…nothing we can do on this trip.

Passion facade of the sagrada familia

Instead, we spent the afternoon in a museum to Flo’s liking: The history of Barcelona museum. Museums are a unique challenge with a baby, especially since we couldn’t take Number 3’s carrying backpack inside. We managed to do okay though and Flo and I enjoyed seeing and walking through the remains of Barcelona’s roman and early history…right underground its current historic buildings. We can highly recommend it if you’re interested in history at all.

After the museum Number 3 and I were completely knackered. Luckily, Flo had some drive left so we took the subway where he dragged us in and out at the correct stop to see the Sagrada Familia from the outside. I was close to falling asleep on my feet and Number 3 looked like hell but we made it and I am glad we did. With this highlight at the end of the visit, we took the train back to El Masnou.

A short, cold muesli dinner later, Baby and I collapsed into bed. It was a hell of a day. And definitely not the last one we’ll spend in Barcelona. Just the last one on this trip!

Day 159 – The Two Towers

ignore the hair, we are at work here ...

ignore the hair, we are at work here …

Our first “free” day; and we spent it catching up on blogging. Through the bike maintenance and the museum visit, we were now 6 days behind. This needed to be rectified. Writing my entry went okay, Flo needs more time for his. Lunch time came and went. Luckily, I had left-overs to share so no one needed to go hangry (also Sonja’s kitchen always has food).

While Flo was working on his workshop blog post, Sonja started fixing our hiking pants. Our North face hiking pants are a vital piece of equipment and while they are still good after 5 years of use (except for the hole I created when I fell in Dili), the seams were about to give up. I could have sewn it by hand in a couple of days and probably with finger pain but Sonja owns a sewing machine and offered to reinforce the seams. Continue reading

Day 154 – Action time! (5th Month-i-versary)

Carrying your own paddle

Carrying your own paddle

Two more days in Thailand. When we realized this, we actually got our lazy bums to do some of the activities that are offered here. Klaus and Silvia had already been kayaking and recommended it. Flo was very keen and I was persuaded to actually do some physical activity.

Because of the tide, we started at 2pm which is right in the afternoon heat. Our group consisted of four two-men kayaks and a guide. So in the end, it was a proper tour.

From the Discovery Resort, we walked the 50m to the pier where we all hopped onto our kayaks. The tour would be 6km long and take about 2 1/2 hours. Despite my initial reluctance, I enjoyed it very much and Flo started teasing me about being way too keen to paddle. :p

Passing through there was very cool

Passing through there was very cool

We moved along the limestone coast for a bit before turning into a small passageway which lead us thorough channels into the mangroves. Here, we realized why the tide was important as some of the spots we went through were so shallow that we scrapped over the ground.

On the way back to the pier, one had to move back out into the open on a wide river which has the most beautiful backdrop. One of the other couples was nice enough to take some pictures of us and send them. 🙂

Arriving back at the resort, we hopped into the pool to cool off. Since we still had Klaus’ waterproof camera with us, you also get some pool pictures.

 

Day 147 – walk to the pier

The bungalow for the first three nights

The bungalow for the first three nights

One more day that started like a real holiday. Good and long breakfast, chilling and lounging around and a cheap lunch that Flo went and bought at a roadside eatery while I was watching a movie.

In the afternoon, we were at a point where walking 50 meters to the pier to watch the monkeys didn’t sound outrageously exhausting anymore. We all got out our sunhats and off we went.

It might have still been a bit early and thus too hot for the whole gang of monkeys but looking out from the pier was lovely anyway. Enough monkeys showed up so that we managed to get some good shots while Flo even found someone with a motorbike to talk to.

In the late afternoon, we played two rounds of kniffel. Klaus won the first one with two totally undeserved kniffel while I won the last round…totally deserved that victory. :p

Day 143 – Selamat Hari Krimas!

Because we only arrived last night to book the flights to Thailand, there were none left until Boxing Day, giving us Christmas Eve and Day in Kuala Lumpur. To be honest, this was a long needed low key day for us.

They were not good, but totally feeling it!

They were not good, but totally feeling it!

We did some light catching up with regards to the blog and picked one big thing for tonight. Nina called her family at 5 pm, so early on Christmas Eve in Germany. After that, we took a taxi to take our one good chance to see “Star ‘The Force Awakens’ Wars” in English on the big screen. We were not expecting it at all, but Sonja’s decorated flat with the Christmas tree and the carol singers in the mall that housed the cinema really got us into a Christmas-y mood after all.

The movie was like Java for me. I loved it and I hated it. I think that is all I can say here. Oh, and having mandarin and Malay subtitles made us both realise how amazingly little dialogue it has. Need to find someone to talk about it …

Later that night at home we called my family and got our Christmas greetings all sorted. A good day!

Peter, if you may ...

Peter, if you may …