“Dead sea” on Lokrum Island

“Dubrovnik is great, but it is Lokrum Island that I want to bring with me everywhere!” – our host  said excitedly as we were discussing life, travel and important things to do in this part of Croatia.  And because we need no more reason to be going places, we caught a boat and wobbled away from the walled city of Dubrovnik, by that time filling up with the walking cargo the big cruise boats had delivered for the day.

Reaching the Island of Lokrum requires a 15 min boat ride. There is a monastery, castle tower and a botanic garden, but none alone will be worth the cost of the ride. People come here for the peace and quiet and to escape the insanity of the tourist site on the mainland.

And there are no cars.

And it has a lot of peafowls roaming around.

I wanted to spend the day sprawled somewhere, improving my trucker’s tan line.

Then as we arrived, it turns out that Mr.Blab wanted to climb to the tower. Fine, I thought in a fit of stupid generosity. An earthquake and the recent war have ensured that the way up consists of a struggle not to trip on the crumbling stones that have once been a path. It was warm. I was in flip flops. The kids were not excited either.

To the tunes of mumbles and grumples we arrived to discover that the view is not that special.

On the way down, one knee took a hit as Little B tripped. Tensions increased.

Then the path we were going to take was closed, so we took the long way around.

By the time we got back to the main part, we had hungry children chewing on our hands and a general gloom had taken over the excitement we carried with us on the boat.

We stuffed the kids with the cheapest sandwiches we could find from the limited options and dragged our feet around the island some more to discover that the only ‘beach’ is for nudists only; the rocky part of the island was windy, while the other side consists of big boulders, which soon would be in shade.  Any romantic ideas we had for the day had long drifted away.

Determined we ventured into the windy side and found a spot amongst the rocks.

With giggling kids in the slippery rock pool and sun beaming on me, I felt whole again.

And this is where things got weird. Real weird. Almost just right

Temporarily blinded by the solar rays, I was competing with my daughter on stand planking, and not doing too bad ;)

Out of nowhere a crazed nut showed up and started vadering us, thankfully Miss Fab swiftly took control of the situation.

For awhile.

I tried to help, but Dude Weirdo attacked just as I was about to nag him to death.

After a few blows and forces flying around (it was crazy!), Little B saved us all by vadering the enemy into oblivion. His body still lies somewhere on the island in the form of green slime. Ewwww

Think of Lokrum Island as a rough blank plate on which you have to make your own experience. It took as awhile to figure that out, but once we did we loved our time spent there.

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Few practical details:
Take the boat from the port in the South part of the old town of Dubrovnik (42.640967,18.111314)
Family return ticket for the boat – 140 kunas ( from the guy that sits behind a fold-out table on the pier)
There are 2-3 places to eat, but it is best to bring a picnic
If you want to climb up the hill, bring your non-flipflop shoes
Have the right expectations and you will have a great time

©Snaps & Blabs, 2013. | Permalink | 5 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Croatia Post tags: dubrovnik, island, lorkum

Snaps & Blabs

Half of the peacocks I have called as such are not. With this message I want to apologize to all female peafowls .

The collective term is peafowls.

The show off dudes are peacocks.

The caring and motherly females are peahens.

The babies are peachicks.

Get it?

Here is the juicy part.

The peacocks keep a harem of 2-5 peahens.

A bunch of peacocks is called a party.  (No doubt)

As you see, the humble peahen has a hard enough time without being completely ignored by us and called a dude.

You want to see whole bunch of them roaming freely, and very loudly, around? Go to Lokrum Island, just off Dubrovnik.

________

! Funnily enough I dont have any nice photographs of peahens, because they may be good mothers, but photogenic they are not. Sorry, sisters in plight, in exchange I will show a male butt.

©Snaps & Blabs, 2013. | Permalink | 5 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Croatia Post tags: dubrovnik, lokrum

Snaps & Blabs

It turns out the first place this particular bunch of travelers visits upon arriving in Rome is not the Colosseum or any of the other thousand and more world renowned attractions, but the beach. And you may think what is the big deal, beaches are fun and we all spend a lot of money getting to them and hours dreaming of getting to them. I accept that. But the reason that most folks  have not heard of the beaches that dot the coast a short train ride from Rome is that they receive on average 3.6 minutes of dreaming about annually – worldwide. In other words, they are nothing special.

Why go?

The fences running around most of the beach at Ostia, preserving sandy goodness for the guests of the clubs that have stolen the usually public space certainly don’t look inviting. But these clubs are an Italian specialty and not endemic to this part of the coast.  We had to walk almost a kilometer from the central part of town to find a break in the blockade and reach the sand where people who refuse to pay for access to the beach go to.

Interestingly enough the whole beach reminded us of certain spots in Bali – somewhat shabby, dirty, although without the benefit of encountering chickens and dogs. When the hawkers started coming around, the memories of Asia really flooded in.

A beach is a beach though and there is always space for fun. Some can jump around and enjoy the random garbage left around.

While others can sip good coffee (thank you, Italy) nearby while watching them.

There are other beaches around. If you are smarter and more prepared than us, you will find out that just a short drive South of Lido di Ostia – direction Torviana – will take you to the dunes next to the national park, which I am sure will be a better choice.

But there is more! Just a few minutes inland from Ostia is Ostia Antica, the  little-known seaport of ancient Rome. It is surprisingly visited by very few of the drunk with the big city tourists. If you have plenty of time, Pompeii and Herculaneum are probably a better choice, but if you have just a day and don’t want to waste 5 hours just getting there to realize you need about 2-3 days to fully appreciate the areas, then Ostia Antica is a great alternative.

Once you are done with the beach and the cultural enlightenment, you could do like us and watch the always busy airport of Fiumicino – aka Leonardo da Vinci (just like another thousand businesses around Italy). It is the busiest airport in Italy and the sixth in Europe, so there is plenty of action. There is an airplane taking-off or landing every few minutes on each of the strips.

May I suggest grabbing some strawberries and just relaxing to the hum of the mighty engines. During the day at the river end of the airport there is even a panini sandwich truck. Convenient indeed.

Driving along the length of the airport there is a supermarket, where you can get supplies, as you change positions to get different views.

By the way, Italy has some of the most delicious tomatoes amongst the tasteless red fruits that have survived the boom of capitalism. Eat them!

You could – no should – end the day with a serving of gelato, topped with cream, if you want the Roman way.

And this is how one of our favorite days in Italy went. We dreamed about it for awhile afterwords…

Because, the magic of holidays and travel is rarely in the attractions. Most of us don’t daydream of visiting churches and sweating through ruins. We dream of a feeling, of the freedom of it all. And it seems that for us, aimlessly chasing airplanes, jumping in the sand and tasting local delights sometimes fits the bill perfectly.

Rome will be there tomorrow ;)

______________________

Extra bits and pieces:
Ostia Antica for archeologists and historians – great site if you want to visit the area
Plane spotting at Fiumicino - you want to be serious about it, this is a good guide

.

©Snaps & Blabs, 2013. | Permalink | 7 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Italy, The Big Trip Now Post tags: beach, maccarese, rome

Snaps & Blabs

Being poor in France does not equal to dinner of nuggets and coke ;)

©Snaps & Blabs, 2013. | Permalink | 6 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Food on the road, France Post tags: france, grase, snippet

Snaps & Blabs

Against my illogical desire not to, I am getting entangled in the charming and sticky(sometimes deliciously stinky) net of France.  It is ridiculously popular, it hosts the most visited city in the World and it takes a central spot in Europe. It is supposed to have high nosed funny speaking people all around and cuisine suitable for even more high-nosed untouchable folks. I should dislike it.

And yet…

Take for example Pierre-Paul Riquet.  In turbulent 17th century, he was a tax farmer, essentially a debt collector. Not only that, but he was practicing his job in a time when the poor of France were paying more than the nobility and were brutally burdened by the taxes. Plus! He was collecting one of the most hated and unequal of taxes – gabelle (salt tax). He was so good at his job that he was allowed by the king to collect his own taxes and became quite rich. Triple, quadruple yuck.

Then, at age 63, he took on the project that had scared many before him, including the Romans – constructing a shortcut canal from the Mediterranean to the Atlantic in order to avoid the pirates, greedily awaiting boats on their crossing around the Iberian peninsula.

This was Riquet’s baby and he worked relentlessly during the last years of his life committed to making it happen; spent his fortune and got in huge debts ensuring it does.  14 years after the start of work, the 240km long Canal du Midi was opened and is today the oldest working canal in the world and a Unesco World Heritage site.

Riquet died months before the official opening, maybe a small win for the poor he squeezed to make his riches.

But, how can you hate a person that built with passion and care such a feat?

Nowadays, the canal is not a working waterway, it is for those who seek the slow drip of pleasure that comes from nature, calm and simple beauty.

I want to do it one day. I want to get a boat and drive it through the first tunnel built for a canal.

I want to coast slowly over the Orb river, while sipping wine that was grown in the Languedoc – the prolific wine area of France that is home to most of the canal.

I want to make leisurely stops at the many quiet villages to break the monotony of the gorgeous natural scenery that is South of France.

And when I desire, I can just enjoy one of the bigger cities that come along, like Narbonne for example.

Then again, I can just take a few days or weeks, parked, reading a book, snacking on smelly cheese and just being.

It is impossible for me not to like France. On paper I should, but the reality is impossible to ignore.

A little bit like good ole Pierre-Paul Riquet.  I hate the way he made his fortune, but what he built with it is magnificent. It was revolutionary for its time, and today is one of the magical canal journeys that I hope to be able to accomplish one day.

Canal du Midi, until next time.

©Snaps & Blabs, 2013. | Permalink | 4 comments | Add to del.icio.us
France Post tags: beziers, le viala, narbonne

Snaps & Blabs

These sausages need to be cooked and end up with a much softer texture than the dried/smoked ones. In Spain and Portugal they are available just about everywhere.

This recipe is heavily based on the Spanish arroz al horno (baked rice), although I have skipped a few steps and ingredients – like fried potatoes, baking tomatoes, more meat and morcilla sausage, which I like, but the rest of the family do not.

Ingredients

chorizos (I prefer fresh, but it should work with cured)
2 cups rice (if you can get your hands on Bomba rice, do it)
onion
smoked paprika
3.5 cups meat stock
chickpeas (garbanzos cooked)
chopped tomatoes and parsley (optional)

____________

Now is the time to take a moment to present to you one of my all time favorite rices. Sticky/gluttonous rice in Asia was my one discovery in this department (remember the delicious sticky rice I made in Bali). This baby is another one.

Bomba rice is short grain and is grown in an area not far from here. Due to its more demanding cultivation it almost went instinct, but thankfully, this great injustice to food lovers like me, never happened. Why is it so good? It always cooks perfectly and ends up in beautifully separated grains, which are not dry, but soft and creamy at the same time. I trust it so much, that while making sushi for my daughter’s birthday and ruining yet another batch of sushi rice, I turned to my trusty Bomba and it saved me. Love it!

You most likely don’t have it, sorry, but from what I read, you can get similar effect with sushi/japanese rice which you wash well, dry and use as per this recipe. If you try this, let me know how it goes.

Next the stock. This is important, as the taste of the final result will be influenced by it. I use a meat home style fully natural one in a box. The main ingredients are: chicken, beef, potatoes, cabbage, chickpeas and celery. It has a nice creamy look and a very delicate flavour – not strong at all.

I think beef will be too strong, so pork or chicken might be a better choice. Unless of course you have special skills in stock making, which is the best option.

Another favorite ingredient of mine is the Pimenton de La Vera a wonderful paprika with a deep smokey flavour that has a D.O. protection and can only be made in La Vera.  I also add in the vinegary paprika paste I bought in Portugal, but it is not essential and I am not sure if it really adds anything.

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Enough with the blabbing, lets get cooking.

Brown the sausages a bit and toss them in your baking dish. I use a terracotta Spanish cazuela, which I also have a soft spot for.

Next, saute some onion in the same pan in the left over oil from the chorizos.

When the onion is softened and starts to brown add the paprika. When fragrant, add the rice. Saute and add a bit more oil if needed.

After 1-2 min, toss the rice mixture with the chorizo.

Add the chickpeas.

Here comes time for the stock.

Mix.

This will ensure that the rice is on the bottom, then the chickpeas and sausages on top. No crunchy uncooked rice, although I am sure that Bomba rice will stand up to that challenge too.

Slide into the preheated to 200 degrees C until the liquid is absorbed – for me that is about 20-30min.

*Here are some options: I have cooked this in a wok on the stove top, covered with a metal serving plate (worked great); it is delicious if after you take it out of the oven you throw on it chopped up fresh tomatoes and plenty of parsley and fluff it through.

I have not had a chance to stock up on fresh herbs, so for me it was hot sauce, yoghurt and a long grind of white pepper.

We never have left overs
;)

©Snaps & Blabs, 2013. | Permalink | 3 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Food on the road, Food pleasures, Spain Post tags: aielo, chorizo, recipe

Snaps & Blabs

One of the benefits of being in Spain is in having constant, wide varied and uninterrupted access to  that delicious thing called chorizo. Porky goodness accompanied by the mouth tingling flavour of smoked paprika that I can find anywhere around. I like the fresh version, which needs to be cooked before eating and is especially wonderful from my favorite butcher down the road. But the dried ones are great for a quick snack or for making sauces like the one I am going to share with you now.

(Tomorrow I will post my current favorite way to use the fresh chorizos)

This recipe is what happens when I mixed our staple creamy chicken sauce with the local ingredients. It is delicious.

Ingredients:

green beans
chorizo
garlic
cream
fresh spinach
tomatoes
seasonings
(optional: mushrooms, parsley)

___________

Chop your green beans in bite sizes and quickly toast them in a pan. The point is to give them a bit of a char, but not to make them soft. It is better to leave them undercooked, than to overdo it.

When they are done, leave them aside for later.

Next in a deeper pan, put the chopped up chorizo on medium high heat. No need for oil, as they will release their own. Plus we will make sure this is not low fat in the next few steps.

When they are nicely fragrant and slightly fried, add chopped up garlic and toss for half-one minute.

Now add cream and stir. Add plenty of black/white pepper and salt. Stir and taste as you go. Turn the heat down and let it simmer for a few minutes.

Chop up spinach in small pieces and add to the sauce.

Simmer some more.

If by now you are still alone in the kitchen, you have done something wrong – start again. This should smell irresistible.

It doesn’t need much. I usually boil the water for the pasta as I am simmering the sauce.

This is good enough to eat, but it is not the end.

After turning the heat off and letting the sauce to calm down,
add the chopped tomatoes and the green beans (if you have parsley, add that too)

The tomatoes add freshness and sourness to the flavors, while the beans are your crunch that I think completes this perfectly.

Despite the various ingredients, this is deeply and clearly a chorizo flavored sauce.

Enjoy.

©Snaps & Blabs, 2013. | Permalink | 6 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Food on the road, Food pleasures, Spain Post tags: aielo, chorizo

Snaps & Blabs

Additionally to Schedule Busters, you can also call us the Masters of Budget Travel, because we have managed to fit those 2 years quite comfortably into the original budget with a bit to spare. No, forget that, a Magic Workers fits better.
Тraveling, looking at the map and pointing around, not having a home has all become part of life. What was a dream is now a reality, so even though on a logical level I know how amazing this all has been, on a day-to-day basis it is just normality.

To mark this anniversary with you, I dug through my folders and picked one photo for each country where we have visited. I didn’t have one ready for each, and my hard disc is back in Spain, but I could cover most of them with what I have in my trusty laptop.

A journey back in time…

 1. Bali

The black beaches of Bali. Both of us younger and cuter.

2. Singapore

The island that is in Asia, but is not Asia.

3. Malaysia

First steps on Cherating – still one of our favorite beaches in the World.

4. Thailand

The view from our cabin in the small village of Khao Kho.

5. Cambodia

Deep in the heart of Angkor.

6. Vietnam

Waterfalls next to Dalat.

7. China

The Bund at night – Shanghai.

8. Japan

The country where we want to go back the most.

9. South Korea

Our guesthouse in Gyeongju in pleasantly surprising South Korea.

10. India

Forget the colors of India, the skies as seen from the Himalayas are unbelievable.

11. Oman

Spending Christmas in Oman and sliding down the sand dunes.

12. United Arab Emirates

Dod looking way cool in his new golden shoes.

13. Egypt

As the crowds of Tahrir square were marking one year of the uprising, the pyramids were barely visited by scared tourists. Almost unheard of.

14. Turkey

First snow for the children..ever – Istanbul.

15. Bulgaria

2.5 months of my family falling in love with my home land.

16. Romania

Cooling off in Sibiu.

17. Serbia

Serbia is one seriously underrated country. An absolute delight.

18. Hungary

Our first and only (knock on wood) breakdown – Budapest.

19. Slovakia

20. Netherlands

A solo side trip for me to attend a conference.

21. Austria

Found lovely people and realized that Vienna is not that big of a deal ;)

22. Czech Republic

Where we met close friends from Australia and walked the hell out of Prague.

23. Poland

Walking through charming Kazimierz Dolny.

24. Lithuania

Where we first discover the amazing beaches of the Baltics.

25. Latvia

At the tail end of the Baltica International folklore festival in Riga.

26. Estonia

Eating copious amounts of salted salmon and doing sauna the traditional local way.

27. Finland

Playing in the woods of Finland.

28. Norway

Couch (our car) made it to Tromso! One of our greatest accomplishments for sure.

29. Sweden

Where we devour our first ‘not cooked by me’ meal in IKEA, after insanely expensive Norway.

30. Denmark

Copenhagen had us at hello.

31. Germany

Goofing off with a friend in Püttlingen.

32. Luxemburg

Lovely little place.

33. Belgium

Where Mr.Blab got to salivate for 3 days over the Spa circuit.

34. France

We discover that we actually like French people.

35. Spain

Our home for the European winter. Waiting for horchata and gazpacho order in Granada.

36. Gibraltar

37. Portugal

In the process of discovering that Portugal is not the same as Spain…

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It has been an experience of life altering proportions. And yet, so simple – moving one foot in front of the other.

If you have been with me for all of this, thank you. If not, welcome and stick around for 2 more years ;)

For the full route and the over 150 stops along the way, see the Map of our journey so far.

©Snaps & Blabs, 2013. | Permalink | 16 comments | Add to del.icio.us
General, The Big Trip Now Post tags: round up, travel, world

Snaps & Blabs

The Rock visible from a far

I knew of Gibraltar, but had little specific knowledge of it before the day when we were going for a visit. Embarrassing admission behind me, now those of you who are like me can read along and by the end be richer for it. I will drop all kinds of facts about this place, just watch.

In the South of Spain, almost kissing Africa, is the tiny peninsula of Gibraltar. And it is tiny. At mere 6.8 square kilometers, it is the 4th smallest self-governing territory in the World. Drop in the middle of it an upturned enormous rock and with what you are left, you get one of the most-densely populated areas as well.

Approaching the border

This puny dot on the map, has more surprises.

As an important British military spot, Gibraltar needed an airport of its own. But where do you put it, when you have almost no land to work with? You do this:

click to go to original page (external)

The tingling beauty of this for me was the fact that to enter the country, one has to literally walk through the airstrip. You can drive your car or take the bus, but we chose walking. So much more fun.

Yawning border patrols waved us through, we walked slowly the width of the strip and as we were reaching the end, they were closing the border, because a plane was taking off.  Indeed.

Gibraltar is a British territory. Red double decker buses zoom around, familiar telephone booths peak from the corners, as well as letter and litter boxes quietly claim the landscape for the Queen. Spain has tried to reverse this fact back in its favor, but the Gibraltarians have twice put their foot down and refused the offer.

Still, listening to llanito – the local dialect – you know Spain is not far. It is a fantastic mix of Spanish and English that boggles the mind in its swift switches between the two.

We had no money to take the cart up the rock and no time to walk up, so we took the bus to the end of the peninsula, where is the gift from King Fahd of Saudi Arabia – a mosque.

Quite beautifully, I thought, the mosque faces Morocco, peaking just across the strait.

And as the sun was setting, we walked back into Spain.

Yep, through the airport.

©Snaps & Blabs, 2013. | Permalink | 2 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Gibraltar Post tags: gibraltar

Snaps & Blabs

Is no longer a willing participant to my creative process.

I am not sure when exactly this twist of events happened, but it has been awhile. I miss his unassuming eyes staring back at me, so I take pictures of…

…trees.

Hey, spring is here and I was not even aware we did winter. Hm!

©Snaps & Blabs, 2013. | Permalink | Still a monologue | Add to del.icio.us
Spain Post tags: aielo, Dodman, spring

Snaps & Blabs