1. Bornholm. This is a tiny island off the coast of Sweden, which belongs to Denmark. To get there, we trained from Copenhagen, across the southern tip of Sweden to Ystad, and then caught the ferry to Rønne, the little capital of Bornholm. The island was amazing. There was always a really brisk cold wind coming off the North Sea, and it was always incredibly bright, with a big blue sky. A lot of big ferries come and go from the port of Rønne. When we got off the ferry, we walked up to the white church and behind that was a maze of narrow cobblestone streets, on one of which my friend lived. It was just so quiet there. You'd go out in the morning and there'd be a few people pedalling past on bicycles, and Danish flags flapping on practically every house, but mostly it was quiet, with distant sounds of the port. The rest of the island was beautiful too; really green, with a lot of little fishing towns and windswept beaches. But I liked Rønne the best.
2. Bremen IBC. I didn't enjoy Bremen itself that much, because it was the first place I ventured to by myself. But on the Sunday, I went to the International Baptist Church of Bremen, and that was really cool. I'd previously been observing how Atheist Bremen seemed to be, and even how cold and stand-offish the people were. So it was definitely one of the highlights of my trip to meet a bunch of lovely people at IBC. I was the only visitor there, so a couple of Australian expats were pretty happy to meet another Aussie! A few of us went for ice-cream after, and eventually a very cool person called Christian and I wound up chatting down by the Weser river until after dark. It was so refreshing to meet Christians in that place, and hear about what it's like for them in Atheist Germany, and see how joyful and passionate they are! Truly awesome people. And so welcoming.
3. Berlin. This is by far my favourite place. I spent 6 nights there earlier on in my trip, and then after doing Busabout, spent another 3 nights. That's a fair while to stay in one place when you're travelling around. But I wish I could've spent longer. It's hard to explain why I loved it so much. It just has a completely different vibe to any other place I been to. Because of its past, which is nothing short of ugly, it's had to rebuild itself and is clearly dealing with that past in some very interesting ways. It doesn't deny those things that happened, but seems to put them up on show, to mask that guilt that the country undoubtedly still has. I was constantly fascinated by the legacy of Berlin's past. How they treat the bombing of the Reichstag - they build a big glass dome on top, to represent transparency of government. They still publish that picture of a Russian soldier waving the Russian flag up on top of the bombed out dome.. And the Berlin Wall. It's there for all to see, with a huge exhibition of its history, detailing how people were still being shot as they fled across the wall, right up until the late '80s. Some of the buildings still have smatterings of bullet-holes in them, from WW2 street fighting. It's amazing.. and yet when we were there, there was a big street party to mark Labour Day. On this day, demonstrators of all sorts, including neo-Nazis, come out and riot. It's a bizarre mixture of suppressing the past and trying their absolute hardest NOT to suppress the past. They have all of these glaringly obvious symbols of the past - like the TV Tower, originally built in the East as a statement that Communism isn't backward or stuck in the past, and which happens to show a big symbol of a crucifix when the sun shines on it at the right angle (an accident of course, which the East tried desperately to cover up.. the West replied "what you're trying to deny is staring you right in the face"). See?? Interesting!! On my first visit to Berlin, I met a bunch of Canadians and we had a great time looking around and getting right into the Insider Tours of Berlin, which we went on three times.. and on my second visit, I went on the Insider Pub Crawl, which took us to a few good German bars. Most of all, I like the area around the Brandenburg Gate and the Reichstag - big, green, grassy, open spaces. Also the Alexander Platz area, Museum Island and Unter den Linden. It really is a beautiful city and I would happily live there.
4. Prague. Czech Republic is gorgeous. It is so unlike Germany. The language is madness, as are all of the Slavic languages, and you'd have a pretty hard time being an expat in Prague, particularly as the Czech people are extremely cold to anyone and everyone!! When I got to Prague, I'd been reading a book by a woman who did that - simply moved over there. And she was fascinated by everything Bohemian.. so I imagined tiny little underground bars selling absinthe, lots of miserable artists trying to make a living selling oil paintings to tourists, you know, that sort of things. Well it was a bit like that! Mostly though, it was a tourist city. It has a completely different feel to Germany though. Everything is just so Czech - and the pointy red rooves and spires are gorgeous from up above. I spent my time with three other Australians, getting lost at times and generally enjoying each other's company. The main area tourists stick to is from Wenceslas Square, across the Charles Bridge, and up to Prague Castle. I loved the Charles Bridge at night. On one night, we went out to the biggest dance club in Central Europe - Karlovy Lazne. This was brilliant!! Especially the retro floor! All in all, Prague is fantastic. It is beautiful, quirky, and a lot of fun.
5. Cesky Krumlov. This is a tiny Czech town south of Prague. It's a medieval town, with a river encircling the town and a castle standing up above it. It was nice to go into a little restaurant on one of the cobblestone streets and come out on the other side, where it backs onto the river, and sit at an outdoor table watching kayaks and rafts go by. We went rafting from a nearby town into Cesky, and conquered a few small rapids!
6. Vienna and Salzburg. Both Austrian cities were beautiful and seemingly relaxed. I like Vienna, and spent a lot of time walking around looking at the buildings, which were mostly white and quite beautiful. Salzburg was beautiful also, with a big fortress up above it and lots of snow-covered mountains nearby. The best views were just out of Salzburg where there was true Sound of Music countryside. It did make you want to sing.. it's true. ;o)
7. Bruges. This is in Belgium. It was a gorgeous town with lots of canals and cobblestone streets and chocolate shops. Most of all, I liked the chocolate.
8. Swiss Alps. I just caught the train from Luzern, Switzerland south to Milan, Italy. The train trip surprised me when it took me right through the breathtaking Swiss Alps. I'm talking huge mountains covered in snow, glaciers, rushing rivers, big blue lakes.. oh my gosh. The schoolkids on the train thought I was a brainless tourist probably, for taking so many photos out of a train window. But WOW!
9. Nice. The French Riviera. It was so lovely! Not really beautiful in the usual sense of the word.. but it had such a great atmosphere! The beach was only pebbles, and the cluttered French streets were quite dirty, but not as bad as Paris. But it was just so sunny and buzzing with people of all different kinds rollerblading along the Promenade, sunbaking on the beach, windsurfing... it was a lot of fun. It had such an energetic vibe, and definitely a lot of American influence. But it was nice. I really felt like I was on holiday!!
10. Santorini. I can't describe it!! Firstly, it was extremely HOT. I think it was around 36-38 degrees when I was there. You'd have a shower and walk outside and be sweating instantly. Nice. I stayed in Karterados, in the middle of the island and 30min walk from the main town, Fira. When I first walked to Fira, I walked up a steep street and came to an enormous view of the caldera. Aahhh! It was SO beautiful. The side of the island has dropped away when the volcano erupted, and they've built whitewashed buildings all down the steep sides, and those blue-domed churches. But most stunning is the enormous Aegean Ocean, which stretches for so far and is that amazing dark blue. While in Santorini for a week, I also caught the bus to the black volcanic-sand beaches of Kamari and Perissa (Perissa was my favourite) and also the red beach at Akrotiri. I also saw the famous unbroken sunset from Ia. This place was so photographable. I went crazy. I loved it there. I want to go back.
1 comment:
What Tassie didn't make it to the highlight package?!?
I still can't go past Cesky Krumlov for its name.
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