Sunday walk to Lavender Farm

🇬🇧 🇬🇧 🇬🇧 This was my first meetup. We met at Clapham Junction and then took a train to Chipstead village in Surrey via Croydon.  We walked around 14 miles through lovely landscape of Surrey . The Lavender farm itself is in Banstead. It is a family run business named Mayfield Lavender. Weather was perfect and it was a very nice day out.  

Continue ReadingSunday walk to Lavender Farm

Portugal : Porto & Douro Valley

🇵🇹 🇵🇹 🇵🇹 Porto was the last stop in my itinerary. Porto is the second biggest city in Portugal.  This place was the origin of port wine. It is also famous for its iconic bridges. In fact it is the only city in Europe which has 6 bridges. I stayed in Porto for 2 days. Weather was not at its best but there were intermittent clear sky. There are few unique charm to this city, Lello Bookshop with its amazing neo-gothic interiors (Harry Potter shooting happened here, it was Hogwarts library) . Then there…

Continue ReadingPortugal : Porto & Douro Valley

Portugal : Lagos & Albufeira Region

🇵🇹 🇵🇹 🇵🇹 I landed in Faro airport at 12 PM. Faro is the capital of famous Algarve region of Portugal. I booked my transfer to Vilamoura from Airport. Vilamoura  is one of the finest resort towns in Porugal. However due to wet weather my boat tour was cancelled . I spend the day walking around town. Vilamoura is famous for its beach , resorts and million dollar yachts parked at the marina . Vilamoura Marina   My next destination was Lagos. The town is famous for its old town, cliffs and Atlantic beaches. Still sea…

Continue ReadingPortugal : Lagos & Albufeira Region

Spain : Andalusia region – Seville

🇪🇸 🇪🇸 🇪🇸 Seville - Granada - Ronda Day -1  Seville  Seville is the capital of Andalusia region. There are 17 autonomous communities in Spain, Andalusia is the most populous and 2nd largest by area. I missed my original flight to Barcelona so I had to knock off Barcelona and Madrid from my original itinerary and instead arrived Seville two days latter. First thing I noticed are orange trees, they are an integral part of the landscape. If you make the mistake (like I did ) of biting one of the oranges you will understand…

Continue ReadingSpain : Andalusia region – Seville

Gibraltar

🇬🇮 🇬🇮 🇬🇮 Day 1 I started early from Ronda. It was 9.18 train to Algeciras from Ronda. Weather was not good , it was raining incessantly from morning. At Algeciras I had to wait for sometime to catch a local bus to La - Linea. From La - Linea bus stop it was 10 min walk to the border checkpoint and then another 15 mins walk to my hotel in Gibraltar. Gibraltar is a tiny patch of land (less than 10 Sq Km) still part of British oversees territory. It has its own…

Continue ReadingGibraltar

Sisimiut : Driving a Snowmobile

🇬🇱 🇬🇱 🇬🇱 Snowmobiles have become the modern replacement of dog sled. This was roughly 4 hour excursion from the town. Snowmobiles are pretty easy to master because there is no gear ; its just brake and throttle. We first went to the top of Solbakken. This is a vantage point with a good view across the town. We also went to Aappilattorsuaq . Overall this was pretty cool experience.

Continue ReadingSisimiut : Driving a Snowmobile

Norway: Bergen

🇳🇴 🇳🇴 🇳🇴 The weekend gateaway started on a Friday night, around 2 hour flight from London Gateweek to Bergen. Bergen is city on Norways southwestern coast and 2nd largest city in Norway. The bergen airport is quite small and faraway from city but a direct bus from airport to city center takes us directly to Radisson Blue Norge. Next day was 30th April , incidentally Fjordkraft Bergen City Marathon (FBCM) was scheduled that day . The city was brimming with people with participants from all over the world. The day started taking a…

Continue ReadingNorway: Bergen

Ilulissat: Land of icebergs

🇬🇱 🇬🇱 🇬🇱 I was not originally planning to visit Ilulissat. There was no flight back from Sisimuit , so I decided to extend my stay  and visited Ilulissat, glad that I did. This town is located approximately 350 KM north of arctic circle. This place is famous for Icefjord. It's a massive collection of icebergs that have calved from the Sermeq Kujalleq glacier one by one. This is fastest moving glacier in the world (40 meters daily). This place is at its best during summer months, specially due to global warming glacier calving is a common phenomenon. We were…

Continue ReadingIlulissat: Land of icebergs

Epic Trans-Siberian : St. Petersburg to Vladivostok Part – 1

🇷🇺 🇷🇺 🇷🇺 St. Petersburg - Moscow - Kazan We checked in to our hotel in St. Petersburg after a four hour flight from London. This is one of the most beautiful cites in the world and also the 2nd largest city in Russia.

Continue ReadingEpic Trans-Siberian : St. Petersburg to Vladivostok Part – 1