Praha

Prague

A train took us from Frankfurt to Nuremberg before a coach made the border crossing and deposited us in Prague. First impressions of Prague where a little shady; an improvised methodone clinic set up outside the train station left us a little wary, but upon taking the tram to our hostel, the fears where set aside. The hostel, located near to two Hiltons, a Marriot, and numerous other upmarket hotels, was in a nice part of the city only 5 minutes walk from the main square, and a multitude of sights.


The old town square itself has a large history and contains some impressive buildings, churches, and monuments. We took our usual free walking tour of the city, on which and the guide was fantastic, very informative and knowledgable. The history of Prague and the Czech republic is something to behold in itself, without even cosidering its wealth of architecture and culture. It is a a place whose identity has only become its own within the last 20 years,and its not surprising that the natives are reluctant to enter the euro, given that it would be its 9th currency in the last 90 years!

So what have we actually seen in Prague? The Old town square home to the worlds only astronomical clock, a statue of Huss, and Mary of the Tyn Church. Then there is the Charles Bridge, named after one of Pragues most important Kings; a wide foot bridge linking the Old Town to the Prague Castle, it's highly ornametal with lots of folks laws about each statue. The castle itself is like a town within the city, where previous Kings have added and added to it so now the castle is an array of buildings from multiple time frames. Prague also houses the only remaining concert hall in the world where Motzart conducted a concert. Finally Wenceslas square (named after 'good King Wenceslas' who was infact a prince), although more of a rectangle, this square has had many an important event happen like Jan Polaks, a young student, setting himself alight to voice his concerns prior to communism in Czechoslovakia. It is also the square in which the uprising occured leading to the fall of communism in Czech in 1989, it is said that this was the real end of world war 2 here! Another icon in the square is the national gallery that was used as the casino in casino royale. Apparently Prague has been the set for many a movie. On a somewhat ironic note the communism museum here in prague is housed between the anti-communsim that is a casino, and you guessed it, McDonalds!

Astronomical clock

Charles Bridge

Wenceslas Square

The Mozart Theatre

Germany Part 1

Germany Part 1

After leaving Bruges we caught a train to Cologne, via Brussels. Without any real must do sights in Cologne, we wandered aimlessly for the duration of our visit, catching glimpses of some glorious buildings, both old and new, and getting lost in streets of nothingness. This isn't to say there was nothing there to enjoy. A visit into the grand cathedral, a huge structure that amazingly avoided any large scale damage in the war when all around it fell. Trialing of the local brew Kolsch, and eating the ever famous bratwurst where features amongst the aimlessness. Also seeing a Top Gear style floating car, and some setups for a beach volleyball competition.

Cologne Cathedral

From Cologne we travelled the relatively short 3 hour train to Frankfurt. Not really knowing what to expect from the City we headed out to explore. Finding the integration of old and new town where a mish mash of glass fronted and old stone buildings stand side by side. Frankfurt is the second largest banking district in Europe behind and London, and the largest transport hub in Germany. There is a big city feel without the volume of people. Our main finds in the city where an italian market(free samples of all sorts of salamis and cheeses), a nice river side stroll, and generally enjoying the first few days of sun we have had since being away. Frankfurt appears to have a love for all things streetside; food, beer, and even watching the football!

Belgium

Belgium

After a really early start to catch the Eurostar, we headed to Belgium. More specifically Bruges. Here we spent three days exploring the landmarks of Bruges, and partaking in a walking tour with an over excitable American guide. He gave us a basic overview and some history of the town and pointed out some good eateries and things to do for free!

Brugge Zot

So after the tour we headed off on our own and visited the Brugge Zot brewery tour, including a free beer and you can go onto the roof for some scenes of Bruges. We also saw some real working windmills, lots of canals, and even more chocolatiers.

Windmills

Canals

Belgian waffles are the mutts!

One of the main sights we went to was the church of the holy blood, a church with a vessel containing the blood of Christ.

The Blood Church

Our personal favourite place to visit was "De Garre". A pub on the smallest road in Bruges, offering 130 differnt beers, of which we tried 12. This Included the house special brew; a 12% beer named after the bar, and each customer is limited to three 330ml glasses. I might add that the drinks sampled where over a number of nights!

UK

Uk

Taking the train from Chester to Newport, and then on to Bath; this was how the UK leg of our European adventure started. Once in Bath we took a slow stroll around the main centre, making an attempt to find some good real ale pubs, with some success! The day after our arrival we took a guided tour around the Roman city, seeing most of the main sites, including The Abbey, The Royal Crescent, Victoria Park, The Original Roman Baths, and Pulteney Bridge(One of only two bridges in Europe to have shops on either side of the road). For most part we went in search of nice pubs, finding the best right over the road from the hostel. Unfortunately this discovery was only made the night before we where due to leave.

After what we can now call a short bus ride, 3 hours, we found ourselves in London. After locating our hostel we went out and attacked some of the sights and sounds of London, starting on Oxford street. Here we saw some minor celebs! Well two of the models off Dirty, Sexy, Things. Following this, we ventured to Carnaby Street, Covent Garden, Trafalgar Square, and Leicester Square. All in our first afternoon/evening.

Me at the Ritz

On the Saturday after an early rise, we headed out on the tube to Notting Hill Gate to stroll the markets of Portobello Road. After a morning there we headed to Camden market, in time for the vast array of food on offer, half of which we didnt find until we had eaten. This was my first experience of the bustling sounds, and sights of Camden. After Camden we made a quick stop off on Knightsbridge to visit a totally different world, Harrods! The money people where spending in there is slightly sickening £25 for a fondant with a few bits of fruit. Plus the staffs attitude is terrible! We finished Saturdays tour sat at The Diana memorial in Hyde Park. It was there we heard about Amy Winehouses death.

On Sunday we did the true tourist bits, starting at St Paul's (go on a Sunday it's free to go in), before crossing the Millenium Bridge, and entering the Tate Modern, this puts the Tate in Liverpool to shame, being about 4 times as big! We walked along the South Bank passing the London Eye, and getting a few shots of Parliament across the river. Whilest there we saw some crazy guy jump off Westminster Bridge into the river, and then jump off the boat that pulled him out of the water before the police came and took him. After a Tesco meal deal dinner in the grounds of Westminster Abbey we walked up Whitehall, past Downing street gates, through Horse Guards Parade (which is closed in preparation for a beach volleyball tournament), before finally heading through St James Park to Buckingham Palace, and seeing a small changing of the guards. From the Palace we walked up the Mall, to Trafalgar Square for a few photos before enjoying a bottle of wine, some beer, and cocktails!

St Paul's

St Paul's

Monday we caught the tube out to Greenwich to see the Meridian Line, and the London Planeterium, before heading back into town and going on the London Eye, this gave some good, alternative views and was worth the money, but i wont be heading back on it in the near future!

 

 

Meridian Line

 

Can I Get Some Coffee

A couple of things to report from Colombia, firstly the reports we see and hear at home, are dated by ten years or more. The current regime has cleaned up the countries act, with mass police enforcement, and a large military presence.

With that out of the way, we started off travelling through Colombia quite quickly breaking up the long journeys, with short stays in some of the smaller towns. First stop Pasto, a small town, with a nice big square, and a few little coffee shops. Next came Popayan, a traditonal town, with lots of white washed buildings, and again lots of little coffee shops, with a huge variety of coffee. From there we travelled to Cali, a notorious town throughout South America, where you can get the best contraband currency. Then came Solento (more in a moment). Then our first lengthy stay in Medellin, with its most famous son, Pablo Escobar, the streets of Medellin have been cleaned up, so to speak, but they are still far from perfect. Then came our one and only overnight bus, taking us to Cartagena, a town on the Caribbean coast. Which brings us to our current stopping place of Santa Marta, the final resting place of the revolutionary Simon Bolivar.


A Fernando Botero Sculpture



A wet Popayan



Get on the white bus!!





The Wax Palms



Solento Views

Coffee




Valley Cocora

Well back to Solento, hidden in the hills surrounding Valley Cocora, and home to some of the biggest producing coffee farms, a small town home to 8000 people, with many thousands of visitors, coming every year for the coffee. Firstly the hostel, in the middle of nowhere, part of a fully operational diary farm(our own little worthy). Amazing place to kick back and relax, away from the hustle bustle of big city life, surrounded by Colombia´s national tree, the Wax Palm. Then for the reason we came, a visit to a working coffee plantation, owned, worked, and ran by Don Elias, a guy well into his 70´s, all the plants are farmed, peeled, dried, roasted and ground by hand. The tour was done by the man himself, whilst wielding a machete, telling us all about the different plants, and flowers growing on his land. Then at the end the best cup of coffee you will ever taste, having ground the beans for yourself.

Don Elias himself

OMG it's Journey... a mitad del mundo

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The Fake Equator

We took a bus 22km north of quito, to Mitad del Mundo, quite literally meaning centre of the earth. At Mitad is the official equatorial line, placed by the French invaders, here they built a big monument and painted a yellow line on the floor. The locals refer to it as a theme park, it consists of a few museums and an observatory!

However 200m further north is the "real" equator,000 latitude on gps, to my mind a guesstimate by the French that was only 200m out is a decent bit of work! At inti nan(the real equator) they make a bit more of a show about the whole deal, showing water going straight down the drain on the equator, and clockwise or anti clockwise one side or the other of the equator! They also have a few displays about some of the different cultures in Ecuador!

Another trip in Quito was up the second highest cable car in the world, this gave us amazing views of the city, and allowed us to see the vastness of the city! From the top we had the opportunity to climb another volcano, however been there done that, and we didn't know how far we would need to walk!

Our last big outing in Quito was to the basilica, a monster of a church on the edge of old town, here we climbed numerous steps, spiral stair cases, and ladders. To scale the heights of two of the spires, and give shaky legs when looking straight down!

The Fake Equator



The Basilica



From the top of Teleferico