Travelling
Interesting Reddit thread on Berlin: “Cleaning up = gentrifying?”
Promenad i nordvästlig riktning – över Spree
Promenerade till muren och East Side Gallery via Waserstraße och Pannierstraße. Trevliga kvarter, mindre bra väder. Grått som stål, regn. Gick igenom Görlitzer Park, som Aspuddsparken med getter, små hästar och en åsna, fast med droghandel vid entrén. Korsade Spree.
Pratade med barnen om öst och väst men oklart hur mycket som fastnar. Tror snarare att vistelsen här nu kan ge något mer sedan.
Handlade mat på Markethall inne på Karstadt vid Hermannplatz på väg hem. Korta band i butiken. Ont om plats att packa. Förstår inte hur man ska få flyt på det. Pasta och plock, lite tysk öl. Snacks och läsk till barnen. Alla för trötta för att gå ut och leta ställe att äta på. Såg ett vietnames som jag tror på till senare i veckan.
Största sonen hängde kvar i lägenheten. Han hade fördjupat sig i Tysklands nya cannabislagstiftning. Den gäller dock inte turister.
Åker till Berlin några dagar
Tar med hela familjen. Har inte varit där sedan jag och AM hälsade på J för cirka 20 år sedan. Minns en kall lägenhet (tror den låg i Kreuzberg), en uteservering på natten, gatukonst och en butik med handtillverkade väskor av återvunnet material. Det var någon bekant till J som hade den. Vi var dåliga turister på grund av kärvt med pengar. Tog bussen dit och hem.
Last stop during this trip: Lagos.
We stayed for a short walk along the beach and some ice cream. And finally I could try a pastel de nata at a classic café.
Lagos is the largest city we’ve visited during this week. Around 18 000 people are living here and there’s a city centre with shops, restaurants, small squares and beautiful old stone houses.
It also has a more touristy vibe compared to the smaller places we’ve been to earlier.
The city beach is long and there’s a lot of excursions to buy.
We finished our snack and went along to the airport. 🇵🇹
Saw a very interesting water animal today at the beach called Praia da Amoreira. Looks like a flying dragon. Anyone recognise? 🇵🇹
According to other sources it’s a sea hare!
Checked out an old stable today.
Visited the beautiful small town Aljezur yesterday.
Around 5 000 people live here. The streets are so narrow and steep.
We strolled and checked out the old castle on the top of the mountain the town is built around. This barbecue place, a dream.
Had a great pizza with sourdough, squid and homemade mayonnaise.
This townhouse is for sale…
You see laundrymats here and there. A good thing for all surfers, bikers and RV folks around here.
New York City, Monday 19 November 2018, 7:11 pm
Found this clip when scrolling my photo album on the phone.
Damnation A.D. live
Throwback to my trip to New York City when I got to see the band Damnation A.D. play @ Kingsland in Brooklyn.
Where have I been
Inspired by @manton and this post I also made a list over the countries I’ve visited. Transfer stops at airports are not counted.
19 countries in the world:
• Norway
• Finland
• Denmark
• Iceland
• Estonia
• Croatia
• Greece
• Germany
• Luxembourg
• Belgium
• Netherlands
• Switzerland
• Spain
• France
• Italy
• USA
• China
• Tunisia
• Austria
• Portugal
Last summer my and my family went to Portugal. It was lovely.
Last Wednesday I was here. 🇮🇸
My trip to Iceland – ten take aways and some pics
• The landscape is beautiful and driving around is a great way of experiencing the countryside. If renting a car it’s a good idea not making it too small. Most roads are good, but here and there you find tougher gravel ones.
• Bring a bathing suit. There’s a lot of places where you can take a geothermal bath. We skipped The Blue Lagoon but found a much smaller and far less crowded place.
• Everything is pricey.
• There’s a lot of craft beer but I must say the ones we tried (and we tried quite many) where a bit of a disappointment. They seem to like their beer unfiltered and light in the taste, even the IPA’s.
• Driving the golden circle was nice. A three hour drive close to Reykjavík where a lot of beautiful places along the road. For example the big national park Þingvellir.
• Reykjavík is small. There’s a lot of nice bars and restaurants and if you want to stay out late this is the place. I would rather spend more time outside of Reykjavík if I’m coming back another time. I think the public bath is good but we never tried it.
• The architecture was more rough and concrete based than I thought it would be.
• Based on our four days long trip: the service is superb and the people friendly.
• There’s a lot of tourists and waterfalls.
• We didn’t see any wild animals except for birds. But there’s a lot of horses.
Great time in Gränna
Me and my family have had a great weekend together with my wife’s brother and his family. We went to a small place town called Gränna, next to Sweden’s second biggest lake. Lots of good food and laughs.
A week in Kalamaki (quick summary)
We’ve had a very good time. Seven days in the sun of Crete with a lovely apartment in Kalamaki run by a friendly guy named Giannis as our base camp. We’ve had good meals together at different restaurants almost every night and the kids have gone to sleep tired and happy. One week was perfect, one more would have acquired more activities. And the heat, oh my, I’m not built for that. It’s making me tired. But the kids loved it.
Ok, now let’s break things down a bit.
Climbing to Red Beach.
Bunga Bunga.
Kalamaki village
Small and young. Around 450 people live here all year around. Most of it is built around tourism and the village started to be a village as late as in the 1970’s. But it still has got a sleepy feeling (in a good way), it’s not the place you chose to go to if you want to party all night. And even if it’s got a touristy vibe it’s nothing compared to the northern coastline of Crete where the big hotel compounds are lined up as a long bracelet. The beach is large but rocks are hidden underneath the water so you better be careful. There are to small but sufficient mini markets and a lot of restaurant with decent food and prices. Aristodimos being one of the pricier one but worth every penny.
Beaches
If you are up for a walk along the water go west for a couple of kilometres and you get to Kommo Beach. Here’s no rocks, just plain sand. Two restaurants are serving cool drinks and proper food (we only tried Bunga Bunga but that was so nice we went there twice), and if you get there early in the day (or hang around for some time) you could get hold of one of the sun beds for 8 euros. If not, be prepared with sunblock or a parasol of your own – and flip flops! The sand is burning!
Red Beach.
The beach in Kalamaki.
The terrace.
The “hidden” Red Beach is also nice but that’s in the village if Matala, a half hour drive from Kalamaki. To get to Red Beach you have to climb a mountain. Most guides says it’s a ten minute walk but I would correct that to being 40 minutes of climbing. It’s very steep and nothing for people with bad balance or bad shoes. My wife slipped and hit her coccyx (she’s alright now) and our kids thought the “walk” was tough and a bit scary even, but they liked the beach. And afterwards we all could talk about it like and adventure and something they wouldn’t do at home. Two small bars are serving drinks and snacks. One of them having a real bad reputation online..
Driving
We rented a car for the whole week through Hertz. It was worth paying for a bigger one. We got a Jeep Renegade. The roads are often bad and steep and the driving, well I’m not surprised there’s a lot if traffic deaths in Crete. My best advice: keep a distance and plan your longer drives so you can add an hour to the estimated time from Google maps.
Now I’m wrapping this up with a bunch of photos. When writing this I’m sitting on the floor at Chania international airport and soon it’s time to get on the plane bounding for Stockholm.
Söndag snödag i Sollentuna 🏂
Det blev brädåkning igen, andra gången på mindre än en vecka. Det är längesedan det varit så kul att vara utomhus. Jag tackar dottern för hennes intresse. Utan det hade jag aldrig kommit iväg och återupptäckt haschplankan (minns ni när det kallades så?).
Jag har aldrig varit mer än medelbra (och lär aldrig bli) men jag har faktiskt blivit bättre bara genom att jag åkt två vintrar i rad – trots min höga ålder. Det är glädjande. Allt är inte kört. Det finns tid kvar. Dagens övning var att åka regular, med vänster fot neråt backen, och jag kan skryta med att jag klarade ett helt åk på det sättet. Lätt pist visserligen men ändå. Det har jag aldrig gjort förr. Kämpa Jempa!