Category Archives: _Europe_

… and on to the Islands of Muhu and Saaremaa

Posted on by

Another drive of about an hour got us from Haapsalu to Virtsu. We made it straight to the ferry terminal, to get ready for the ferry over to the island of Muhu. Some did use the opportunity for a quick lunch in the cafeteria in the ferry terminal – others made use of the excellent canteen on the ferry (that had even had a delicious juniper beer by the Muhu craft beer brewery in stock).

After arrival on Muhu we continued straight for the Muhu Museum, an open air museum consisting of multiple farm buildings, including the one, that Juhan Smuul – a famous Estonian writer from the Soviet days – had grown up in.

From the museum it was across the Väinatamm on to Kuressaare on the neighboring island of Saaremaa – just in time for dinner (and a good portion of gull poo making a landing right on myself on the way to the restaurant).

Back to Hungary …

Posted on by

Business travel is back … and got me to Hungary. And outside meetings, there obviously was plenty of time to explore.

During my last trip here, my colleagues had recommended, to make the trip up to Szentendre, a small town about 20km North-West of Budapest. The town features a well preserved and renovated city center – showing off its Baroque history. The city sits nicely next to a branch of the Danube river with a nice (pebble) beach. Perfect for a nice, sunny and warm Saturday afternoon.

Below some photos from Szentendre, as well as some from Budapest.

In Budapest, I retraced some of my previous trips – just to realize (to my disappointment) that many of the city’s attractions are currently under renovation (incl. the chain bridge, the citadel, parts of the castle, the Nyugati train station and the key portion of the M3 metro line) – well, it seems, the city is preparing itself for a restart.

Back to Madeira

Posted on by

We left Porto Santo on the evening ferry, leaving shortly before sunset – with the arrival to Madeira obviously in the dark – and some good nighttime views of Funchal.

Tour around a rainy Island

Posted on by

Today the weather got us once more – it was raining and raining hard (supposedly the previous proper rain had been back in April – so, imagine our chances here).

We nevertheless were picked up for a morning tour of the island. First heading out for the Pico Castelo Viewpoint (with the visibility bad enough, that most did not even bother leaving the bus). From here we continued the trip around Pico do Facho to the Mirodouro da Portela. We were now in moderate rain – with OK views of town (the wind nevertheless killed my umbrella).

The next stop was in Vila Baleira – the island capital – itself, where we did proceed by foot – looking at the statues, hearing explorer stories, checking out the church (which was open for a church event some time later) – and culminating in a visit of the house of Christopher Columbus (well – his vacation home, he supposedly stayed in for some weeks – to use the island’s climate for the benefit of his sick wife).

We left town for a visit of a weird combination of bird zoo and park – the Quinta das Palmeiras. En-route we had a stop, to check out one of the traditional windmills on the islands – Moinho das Lombas.

A trip around the golf course and the Pico de Ana Ferreira got us to Ponta da Calheta (the South-Western most end of the island, I had already been to yesterday) – before making it back to the hotel.

The rest of the day was at leisure – without big activities for me – except for a quick bath in the Atlantic ocean (water temperature: ~21°C; air temperature: ~19°C).