My flight from Flores was so quick, it felt like it was over before it began. Less than an hour after take off I was on the ground in Guatemala City. After a quick lunch at the airport I was in a car on my way to my next stop, Antigua. Despite Guatemala City being the capitol and the most populous city in Guatemala, Antigua is the epicenter of the country, at least as far as tourism goes. With it’s…
This last post from Namibia is going to be a short one. My final stop was in the far south of the country, Fish River Canyon. It was a long six hour drive that also included one tire exploding. Seriously, it exploded! Scared the crap out of me! Changing a tire in 100° heat wasn’t fun either, but I arrived safely. First thing, I had to check into my campground at the Canyon Roadhouse. To say this establishment seems out…
The drive from Brandberg was, in short, about seven hours of sand. Haha! Luckily, though, my route took me back through Swakopmund, and at lunchtime. So I went back to Fork ‘n Nice for another helping of the best fish ‘n chips on the planet. After a couple of hundred miles the terrain finally started to become a little more interesting. Suddenly, there were hills and then mountains as I got closer to my next stop, Naukluft Mountain Zebra Park….
There really wasn’t much difference in the scenery driving inland from the Skeleton Coast. Lots and lots of remote desolation, sand, and very foggy, misty air. Eventually the air got drier and warmer and I was able to stop and wipe the coating of brine off the windows. I haven’t been able to see out the side windows or the mirrors in a few days. Yuck! Brandberg is actually a small mountain range in a part of Namibia known as…
I had about a five hour drive from Mashatu northwest to my next stop, the Khama Rhino Sanctuary. I checked into my little chalet and rested up for the next days activities. The Khama Rhino Sanctuary was started in the 1990’s in an attempt to save the near extinct rhino population. It’s been a pretty good success too. They currently have around 35 white rhinos (I’ve heard different numbers from different sources) and 4 black rhinos, all guarded by round…
For not being that far away, it took three trains and most of the day to get to my next stop, La Spezia, the jumping off point for a couple of days of hiking in Cinque Terre. But first, a first. Something happened to me that’s never happened to me on any of my trips before. I filled up the memory card on my camera. Holy crap I’ve taken a lot of pictures on this trip! I got a new…
Just a couple of short train rides, first north to Brindisi for a quick connection and now I’m in Matera, one of the oldest inhabited places on earth. One source I read claims that it’s the third longest inhabited place on earth. How they know that is beyond me, but in any case, civilization has been in this spot for around 7000 to 8000 years. A long long time! It was afternoon when I arrived, so I only had time…
It really doesn’t seem that far on the map, but it took nearly five hours on the train to get from Agrigento to Catania, on Sicily’s east coast. Catania, like most of Sicily’s cities was originally a Greek city, going all the way back to the 8th century BC. The first thing I noticed while walking to my hotel, however, was the remains of the 2nd century Roman theatre. Most of it is buried underneath the modern buildings, but this…
Strap in everyone, this is gonna be a long one. I left Spoleto in the wee dark hours of the morning and made my way down the narrow streets to the train station. Once the train started I promptly fell asleep and didn’t wake up until everyone had almost disembarked at Rome’s main terminal. I guess I was tired. I quickly got up and figured out where my connecting train was and about two hours later, I arrived in Naples…
Not too far from Orvieto is my next medieval town, Spoleto. Spoleto was also an important Roman town, but it’s real claim to fame is as the Lombard capital from the 6th century on. It has a lot of narrow medieval streets and it’s also very hilly. Walking around Spoleto involves plenty of up and downhill hiking. The restaurant in the pic below left is where I ate both nights here, Taverna dello Spagna. They had the best pasta noodles…