Every day when I’m travelling I see something cool. Sometimes it’s just the colour of the sky or the crispness of the snow, other days it’s a momument, a building or archeological remains.
This is our day off, all we have planned is lunch at Azurmendi. The weather at Aretxabaleta is still bad, so we drive to the coast and do some scenic driving. We see some cute fisher villages and impressive landscapes and then go to the restaurant. Food is great, the wines as well. Service is… Continue reading Azurmendi
After our bicycle adventures we feel it’s time for something else and plan a walk. Fernando recommends to do a part of the coastal walking path that goes to Compostella. At the B&B it’s raining and there’s a low cloud cover, so the local walks will not allow nice views. We prepare our sandwiches and… Continue reading to Compostella (for 13 km)
Today we do the planned bicycle trip on the Via Verde del FC. Vasco Navarro I and a part of II. We park the car in the suburbs of Vitoria-Gasteiz and start cycling. We find the start of the route by matching our position on Google Maps to the map of the Via Verde itself.… Continue reading Via Verde
we get up fashionably late and have breakfast from the buffet, with local cheese and of course smoked ham. after some advice from Fernando, we decide to take the bikes to the Embalso Ullibarri-Gamboa, which is a reservoir lake near Vitoria-Gasteiz. there’s supposed to be a bicycle path all around the lake of about 45… Continue reading Bike trip around Landa
we try to get up a bit later, to get into the Spanish time zone. breakfast is great, with homemade scones and marmalades. we pack up everything again and have some trouble fitting it into the car. we take off, first taking national roads to get to Bordeaux and then on the highway to Donostía.… Continue reading Etxebarri
This is our third time to Spain: we visited the northern Atlantic coast in 2008, Donostia and Bilbao in 2013 and now back for more. we love the nature, the food and the people and are actually repeating some of the visits we did before, though this time we will also cross to the western… Continue reading To Spain and back: day 1
Husn Suleyman Qal'at Masyaf famous waterwheels of Hama
Ugarit Qal'at Salah Adin Qal'at Marqab
Ebla is still being dug up Dead cities Epemea
Lost villages temple of Saint Simeon
We stay here for a couple of days to visit Aleppo and the area around it. We first visit the citadel in the centre of the city. It is built on a hill and the hillsides have been paved in a steep angle to make it more defensible. There is an arch across the moat… Continue reading Aleppo
After staying two nights in Palmyra and taking full day to visit the site, we leave in the morning to drive to Aleppo. Since we’ll be driving down the coast on the way back to Damascus later, we take the eastern road, bringing us close to the Iraqi border. We stop first at a desert… Continue reading Qasr Al-Hayr Al-Sharqi / Resafah
In Palmyra we sleep in the Cham hotel, which is located in the archaeological site, meaning you can see the monuments sticking out of the sand from the hotel and can walk straight in. There are a couple of buses here and a few groups of tourists. We get a guide via the hotel to visit… Continue reading Palmyra
the Maaloula monastery is located on top of the hills. In the village they still speak Aramaic, which is the language spoken in this area around 0 BC. The nearby monastery of Saint Thekla can be reached via a rocky defile created by a stream. Mar Mousa is a still working remote monastery, which can… Continue reading Maaloula / Mar Mousa
We had the greatest falafels ever just outside the ruins at Bosra. At the parking itself there were several restaurants catering to tourists, but we walked 100 m further to the main street of the village, bought falafels and sat down on the sidewalk to eat them. Aside from the giant amphitheatre, there is a… Continue reading Bosra
We knew there was lots to see, so we bought a couple of travel books and booked our tickets. Though at the time most tourists travelled in guided bus tours, the four of us decided to rent a car and strike out on our own. We did indeed encounter some tourist buses, especially around Palmyra… Continue reading a holiday in Syria
Febe writes 