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Author Archives: m0rd0r
Dublin pride, 2016
Malahide castle and gardens (5 June 2016)
Iveagh gardens (29 May 2016)
Iveagh gardensIt’s pronounced “Ivy gardens” if you are wondering. That’s so far my favorite walled garden in Dublin.
I am far from complete discovering Dublin, but so far – I am impressed with this small park. |
Айви гардънс(Както би трябвало да се произнася Iveagh gardens. Ирландският не е най-лесният език за учене.) До момента това ми е любимото паркче в Дъблин.
Съвсем не съм приключил разглеждането на Дъблин, но до момента, от тази градинка съм наистина впечатлен. |
2 days in Istanbul (30 October 2014)
It took me some time to finally visit Constantinople or whatever remained from the once proud capitol of the East Roman Empire.
Turks are trying to conserve what is left of Byzantine architecture. With mixed success.
So, until everything is conserved or while it is still standing – I paid a visit. It was raining, but this never stops me…
Arrival.
Whatever you hear me say – turks are excellent cooks.
In the morning, we had breakfast and decided to visit the blue mosque and the Topkapi Palace (The High Gate palace) The mosque was still closed in the morning, so we went inside the palace. Full visit costs around 80 TRY (Less than EUR 30). Includes all places inside the palace and the Harem.
As with most places like this – photos are forbidden, but not everywhere. In all rooms with glass cases, there is an angry guard yelling at you if you try to violate the rules, but I managed to sneak some photos while they were not watching.
Evening at Taxim square and Istiklal Cd.
Plenty of street musicians, plenty of interesting places to visit. I couldn’t shoot everything I liked, because I was overwhelmed and too tired from the travel via bus.
So we walked all the Istiklal and returned to the hotel to get some sleep and gather strength for
Day 2 😉 Kapali carsi (Closed-roof Grand bazaar)
More than you can buy in a life time. All shops are friendly and everyone expects from you to bargain the deal. Prices are never final. Thanks to Yana (a good friend of mine) – a TRY 50 grinder became final/total of 28 TRY. Me = happy ^_^
And apart from Istanbul architecture, we also visited the aquarium below one of the malls.
Turquazoo.
The place is awesome. Period.
And more:
Sorry about the smeared frames and general bad quality of the pictures inside Turquazoo.
I still have plenty to learn about photography and indoor photos without flash are not my strength.
10 days and 4 camping sites in Sithonia (Greece, Halkidiki)
Days 0-2 (Sofia – Thessaloniki – Metamorfosi)
After a long daily trip with the bus to Thessaloniki, we had to go with some city bus to another bus station in the end of the city to get another bus to Halkidiki. Not to be hateful about it, but bus station “Macedonia” does not have real Information desk. Most people don’t even speak proper English and you need to be asking tons of questions to busy people who seldom help.
If you stumble on the same issue (want to go to Sithonia peninsula in Halkidiki) do the following. Grab city bus 45/45A (EUR 1 per ride) and go to bus station KTEL Halkidiki. From there you can grab some of the intercity buses to Sithonia villages.
Enough rant for 1 day 🙂 here’s where I arrived:
Art camping “Sunny bay” is one very good place. The beach is not that good, but the owners are very friendly and will try to help you, regardless if you stay or not. Here’s their FB page.
I’ve made some additional photos with my phone camera in the surrounding of Metamorfosi and Nikiti town. Not enough to show everything, but the place is small and barely anything happens there. Especially off-season and/or at weekends.
Vodafone Greece is having one week vacation when I totally need buying additional SIM card for my phone.
My phone is only good for pictures without SIM card, so I made angry selfie 😛
Fruits 🙂 Not sure if edible. Did not risk.
Pink Russian tractor 😀
Pink Russian tractor 😀
No way to reach Vourvourou from here. KTEL is not going there off-season.
Greek group for boycotting coca cola 🙂
Days 3-4 (Camping Marmaras @ Neas Marmaras).
A lot of mosquitoes. The owner blamed the weather, but actually – there was a small swamp near the camping site, so that’s where mosquitoes came from.
I bought 2 repellents and everything went fine afterwards.
Camping is small and has own private beach with very clean and shallow water. Excellent for kids and beach volleyball.
Being plagued by mosquitoes and having explored most of Marmara’s surroundings, decided to move to the next big town of Sarti. 30-40 minutes by bus. Or so I thought.
The bus I was supposed to take to Sarti was supposed to arrive @ 11:35 🙂
Alas KTEL Halkidiki came almost 1 hour late @ Neas Marmaras.
Finally, after 2 hours at the bus stop, I am traveling to the next destination 🙂
Arrived @ Sarti. Unfortunately there was no transportation north from there, so I had to go on foot to Platanitsi camp.
It was closed. 5 kilometers in one direction and then 5 kilometers back to Sarti. With one Souvlaki in sandwitch while resting a bit. Only one, quite illegal camping was in my way (free camping is prohibited in Greece).
Illegal camping @ Sarti.
Illegal camping @ Sarti.
Illegal camping @ Sarti.
So I had to return to Sarti and go south, to the other working camping I saw from the bus. Was very disappointed for being unable to go North by bus and did not want to pay for a 20 km ride on a Taxi.
Days 5-7 @ Kalamitsi camping (Kalamitsi settlement).
Everything is cheap, clean and well maintained here. So far the best camping I found off season.
Plenty of Bulgarians, not many foreigners. Looks like it is a Bulgarian village in Greece. Actually – too many of them for my taste. I was trying to run away from Bulgaria.
Even some of the signs are in Bulgarian. Or stamped with Bulgarian. By our proud football fans. Boo!
After 3 days in Kalamitsi, I was pretty fed up with the place. There is excellent nude beach, but it is infested with greek fishermen, so it’s not entirely naturist.
Time to move north to the Sykia beach. KTEL. Pretty late. Again 🙂 but I got lucky.
Should you trust this table? No. Go on foot or hitchhike 🙂
Hitchhiked a small truck. The owner accepted EUR 2 for tsipuru or frape 🙂 tried to push my hand away. I insisted.
Days 8-10 @ Pitsoni camping (Sykia beach).
Sykia. Very nice small town. Very good architecture from older days and some pretty sights. Plenty of cats, some old machines that still work and very calm and nice citizens.
Mount Athos is visible from the beach and is quite impressive at night or when the air is very clean (e.g. after rain).
The camping is small, but it has everything you need. Free WiFi, small shop, plenty of hot water even off-season and is far from the main road.
The beach is 3 kilometers from town and is quite big. Very close to the camping sites, so I suggest you rent a caravan in the camp instead a room in the town. It’s EUR 20-30 for 2-4 people.
There are 5 more beaches close to the camping area and 3 more hidden (2 naturist and 1 mixed). The naturist beaches are Kriaritsi (close to the abandoned/unfinished village of Agios Pavlos) and one named “Agridia” (ask in camping Valti about directions).
My camera’s card got full and my battery went down, so that’s all I had from this town, enjoy:
The owner said “But I have Bulgarian menu!” when I asked him for English one 🙂
So he does 🙂
Sykia beach and mount Athos in the background.
Blooming cactus 🙂
The 7 thrones (Седемте престола) monastery. 29-June-2014
It was a good walk, about 10 kilometers per direction.
The walk itself was lot more rewarding and interesting than the monastery.
The monastery is way too commercial for my taste. They demanded 1 Lev (EUR 0.5) to allow me to have pictures inside the monastery. Otherwise – forbidden.
I refused to pay. Had plenty of shots from outside 😛
There is small open restaurant in front of the monastery with roasted meat, beer, salads and french fries. Prices were a bit steep (as high as a city center pub) so we bought just a small amount of food and went to the nearby creek to have lunch. Mainly pre-made sandwiches from home.
I managed to shoot plenty of pictures (that’s why I came here – I am not devoted to any religion) while walking towards the monastery.
Some are good, some are junk, some are funny 🙂 so have fun browsing.
 Potato plant in full bloom. |
 Crows were abundant around this cemetery. I managed to shoot just one, the others got away. |
 Someone decided to make a lock of … grass instead of hair. |
 A brick, attached to a power line. Your guess is as good as mine … |
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And here is ME, mooning to have a good shot on a snail crossing the road 🙂 After the picture, I immediately removed the critter from the road and put it on a big leaf nearby:
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This is supposedly a “Holy water source”. In Orthodox church, when near the temple is a water source, it is called “Ayasmo” (Аязмо) and is deemed Holy or Curing.
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Giant sequoia (red wood). 50 year old trees.
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 “Roses are red …” |
 Bloody red. |
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While walking around the creek I passed through this guy’s net. He is enormous, so I decided he is a boy. He was not afraid of me and walked a bit over my t-shirt. Unfortunately, I was not quick enough to capture him with my camera before he jumped:
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Me, myself and I lazying up with a bottle of fake Coca Cola. Still named Cola though 🙂
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So, anyway – if you decide to come and visit this place (either for the nature or for the monastery).
Get the train from Sofia.
Get off on station named “Prolet” and then walk straight south on the road parallel to the river.
The river and the first village near the train track are both named “Gabrovnitsa”.
You can’t miss the monastery. It’s like a small marketplace with a church in the center.
Lyulin mountain and “Bonsovi” meadows (14 June 2014)
Lyulin mountain and Bonsovi meadowsThis is one of the most underestimated mountains around Sofia. You simply need to see it. When you have good guide (like me) to show you the area at least once – you will fall in love. There are plenty of herbs laying around for gathering and many beautiful places to take photos. Rarely anyone is seen walking. Serenity and peace. Part of the day was rainy and foggy, but we managed to get the maximum from both weather and terrain. The friendly dog followed us and took some of the food scraps 🙂 we didn’t mind him at all. The meadow is accessible via car as well, but the walking there is much better and rewarding. |
Люлинска планина и бонсови поляни.Това е една много подценявана планина, която просто трябва да се види. Ако имате добър водач през пътеките (като мен, хехе) – елате и я вижте поне веднъж. Ще се влюбите. Има куп билки за събиране, ако това ви харесва. Множество интересни гледки за снимане към Перник, София, Витоша (копитото се вижда като на длан). Рядко срещате повече от двама души по цялата пътека. Мир и спокойствие. Част от деня беше мъглива и дъждовна, но това не ни отказа. Грабихме с шепи и от деня и от гледките. Дружелюбният пес на снимките ни изпрати през целият път и си хапна остатъци от сандвичи. Нямахме нищо против 🙂 Самата поляна около хижа “Бонсови поляни” е достъпна и с автомобил от Горна Баня, но препоръчвам да се доберете до нея пеш. Много по-добро усещане в края на деня, когато седнете на биричка с картофки. |
From Svogue town to Thompson station via Ceria peak (08 June 2014)
Even if it is the middle of June, the plateau above Svogue is still in the beginning of the Spring season.
I managed to shoot a lot of flora and fauna in this small 5-hour trip. Including Horse, stray Siamese cat, very brave Lizard sitting next to the train line, lonely Hawk, 2 resting goats, brave centipede who wanted to drink from my water and plenty of bugs.
Wild violas are currently still starting to bloom in the plateau and I got just 1-2 frames, but there was plenty of Thyme just laying around for the picking (excellent herbal tea) and many wild strawberries just laying near the roads.
I found also a dozen of Giant puffballs (mushroom named Calvatia gigantea) but only 1 of them was still edible, the others were already in a gestational phase (sporing out) so I discarded it (did not pick it up).
The water in the “Botev” memorial fountain was dry, there was only some left in the basin, so we poured water from the nearby village and left towards the peak.
20 minutes walk from the Ceria peak, there is excellent wooden gazebo for resting, so we opened a galon of beer and had a rest before we got down to Thompson train station, following the path of 2 enthusiast bikers.
Excellent 1-day mountain trip. Drop me a message if you want details how to do it yourself.
The 7 Rila lakes – 12 August 2012.
The Seven Rila lakes is undoubtedly one of the most impressive natural mountain lakes in the Balkans. A place of fable you should see at least once. Their beauty attract all Bulgarians and many foreigners who loved it just by seeing pictures.The seven lakes are huddled in the northwest slope of Rila mountain. They are formed by glacial melting of the circus. The lakes are filled by water siphoned from the peaks “Dry chal”, “Otovishki” and “Charamiya”.All lakes are named for their form. Their ordinary names are:
Most of the lakes are having small fishes. Trout and minnow. But they grow really tiny due to the lack of food and chilly winter. The Universal White Brotherhood (a New Age-oriented religious movement) are coming here each year on August 19 to celebrate their Paneurhythmy (new-year’s celebration according to them). They gather in huge human circles, everyone dressed in white and dance slowly while the sun raises. The legend about the 7 lakes tells the following story: “Thousands of years ago, when the earth was still not inhabited by humans, in the mountain of Rila – 2 giants lived. Man and woman. They were loving each-other without merits, without conditions. They loved their home. So sunny, warm and cozy – no being can remain uncharmed. Unfortunately, one day, the elements got jealous of their love and comfort and sent them dark clouds and strong winds. Strong quakes started to tremble below their abode. Male giant protected viciously each and every critter, each and every blade of grass, each and every stream of water. This only made the elements more determined to destroy the love of the giants. In the battle against the elements, the giant withered and eventually fell. Satisfied, the elements left the devastation and the mourning wife. She was so sad and shriven – her tears never stopped flowing. From her tears flowing on the mountain slopes, 7 lakes were formed with such purity that can strike even the dark hearted. There is a big rock before the “Kidney” lake with forms of the 2 giants. The mountain guides claim those are the giants, petrified in the stone to remain in silent vigil for their lost home. |