All posts tagged: traveling

Agrigento, Sicily – Day 4

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If you travel to Sicily and you are interested in history, Agrigento is a must-go. It’s one of oldest town in Sicily. For us, we really wanted to see the Valley of the Temples. We travelled from Ortigia to Agrigento with our rental car. I probably mentioned this in my previous posts. If you consider to drive in Sicily, it’s not a problem at all. The roads are fantastic. The most difficult part probably is driving in the little towns on their tiny narrow stone streets. 🙂 Anyway, the Valley of the Temples is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Of course, it has to be! The Archaeological park is big, full of Greek temples and ruins. It took us more than half a day to walk around it. They do have a shuttle bus you can take in the park if you don’t want to walk that much. Although it was such a hot day, we enjoyed every minute. Temple of Juno is the first temple we saw in the park. It’s the closest one to the entrance. It …

Syracuse, Sicily – Day 2

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After a good night sleep, we were ready to go and explore. Syracuse has plenty to offer, places to see, things to do, shops to shop, and yummy food to eat. Since we wanted to be based in Syracuse when we were in Sicily, it’s always a good idea to get familiar with the place.  🙂 After breakfast, we walked to Castello Maniace which was built in the 13th century by Frederick II. It is at the far end of the Ortygia. The castle was a royal residence initially.  After Frederick II, it was used as a prison for half century. Later on, it was turned to be a fortress and restructured for military use to defend the harbour. The castle was named after General George Maniakes who conquered Sicily from Arabs in 1038.  Unfortunately, some parts of the castle were under construction during our visit. We couldn’t see the whole thing. However, we still can see its marble portal entrance and baroque style architecture, and the beautiful view from the castle. If you stay at Syracuse, …

Good morning, Larnaca

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After a 14-hours flight and another three hours one, we finally arrived at Larnaca, Cyprus. After check-in and a quick dinner, we hit the pillows long and hard. Then, jet lag kicked in. However, Sometimes it’s a good thing. We woke up at 5am and decided to have an early morning walk on the beach. So quiet. The city was still sleeping. There were few people swimming in in the sea. Some were walking the dog or jogging alone the seaside. It’s probably the best time of the day to enjoy the city before the heat and heaps of tourists like ourselves wake up. We walked on the beach. The city is waking up. More and more people emerged on the street, jogging, cycling, fishing. “Kalimera!” They greeted each other. The water is crystal clear and calm. We sat down and waited for the sunrise. I admit I haven’t had a chance to watch sunrise in such a beautiful place for years. I had forgotten how beautiful it is. Apart from the time we spent …

Love at first sight, Bicheno, Tasmania

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We had a stopover in Bicheno, and I fell in love right away with this place. We arrived in the holiday house we booked in the afternoon. Wild rabbits jumped away to avoid my car. There was a pond and a lot of green area in front of our room, duck mother was taking a stroll with her little ducks. 🙂 Bicheno is a little town on the east coast of Tasmania, about 182km from Hobart. If you leave from Hobart, there are plenty to see on the way, Wineglass Bay, Berry Farm, Marine Farm, and so on. We didn’t go to Wineglass Bay because it requires a lot of hiking. We stopped at Coles Bay to have a quick look and enjoyed fresh seafood lunch at the Freycinet Marine Farm. Bicheno is really tiny. Its township was established in 1866. According to Wikipedia, it’s only about 151.1 km2 with population of 853. However, it has amazing wildlife, little/fairy penguins, kangaroos, Tasmanian devils and more. It also has some best diving spots in Australia. After settled in, we took the …

Hobart, Tasmania, Australia – 3

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On the last day in Hobart, we decided to see Port Arthur and a little town called Richmond. Richmond Richmond is about 25 minutes drive from Hobart CBD. No regrets to go there. It was such a little gem. When we arrived in the morning, it was still quite early. Most of the shops were not open yet. Although I was desperate for my second coffee dose, I wanted to wait to get a decent cup from a local cafe. Travel doesn’t mean we have to compromise, right? We took a walk to see this historic village full of heritage buildings and Georgian architecture. Most of the buildings are dated back early 19th century. Richmond was a military staging post and convict station linking between Hobart and Port Arthur. Left the car-park, we turned left on Bridge St. It led us to the most famous landmark of the village, Richmond Bridge. It was the oldest bridge still in use in Australia. Walking over the bridge and looking down the Coal River, there was a lot of …

Hobart, Tasmania, Australia – 2

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The first night at Hobart turned out to be a disaster. I booked three nights at a B&B in the city for us. I usually like to stay in B&B because most of them have style and characters. This one was no exception. However, in my opinion, it really needs some serious maintenance. We could see cracks everywhere, on the walls and ceilings. It was impossible to close the windows properly. We couldn’t get any sleep because the pedestrian crossing walk signal alert was beeping every five minutes outside of the window. We had to move out and find a new place to stay. Otherwise, we wouldn’t be able to get any rest at all. (Of course, the owner refused to refund us for the two nights we have paid!). Anyway, that changed our plan on the second day. Because I didn’t get much sleep, we decided that we should just go to some places close by without too much driving. We cancelled our trip to Mt Field National Park. After breakfast, we booked another place …