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…
After a fairly quick train ride north, I arrived to calm and sedate Viterbo, a primarily medieval built city with lots of gothic architecture, still standing city walls, medieval gates, and amongst the narrow stone streets are the occasional peaceful piazza. After my super busy time in Rome, the slower change of pace was very welcome. Viterbo is mostly famous for it’s Papal palace and was the home of most of the popes during the 13th century. The Palazzo dei…
My flight back to Ulaanbaatar from Ulgii was, thankfully, uneventful. I spent one day getting myself in order, getting my trusty LandCruiser back (they gave me the same car again, but a different tent), getting supplies at the State Dept Store, and I was off again. This time I’m headed south to the Gobi Desert. I planned this for last thinking the weather would be warmer while the rest of Mongolia started to freeze. My first stop isn’t really that…
Ok, so the last couple of weeks have been unbelievably bonkers! There’s a lot to unpack here, so let’s just dive right in. The first few days were actually quite nice. After trying to recover from my wicked case of the flu in Ulaanbataar for a few days, I boarded a domestic flight for Ulgii, way out in western Mongolia. This area had traditionally been where Kazakh nomads grazed their herds in summer, but when new borders were drawn in…
From Orkhon Valley I backtracked up to Kharkhorin for some gas, then drove northwest until I reached Tsetserleg. Tsetserleg is a logical stopping point on my way further west, but it’s also known for the beautiful mountains bordering the north end of town. So I thought it was worth a day to get some more hiking in. I checked into Fairfield Guesthouse, run by a really nice Aussie dude named Murray, and took a much needed shower and did some…
After finishing up in the Khogno Khan Uul area, I continued on to Kharkhorin. I made a quick detour to visit the Shankh Monastery, first, though. This is one of two monasteries in this area that were spared the Stalinist purges. It was founded by Mongolias first Buddhist leader, Zanabazar in 1648. There’s really not much going on inside the temples. They appear to be decorating or redecorating, but it was nice to walk into a dusty old wooden monastery…
From Ikh Gazriin Chuluu I drove north back to Ulaanbaatar for one night. I’ve officially ended my loop of eastern Mongolia and now it’s time to start my loop of the north central region of Mongolia. I left Ulaanbaatar headed for the Khögnö Khan Uul Nature Reserve. On the way and due west about 130ish miles from Ulaanbaatar, I stopped at the ruins of Tsogt Taijiin Tsagaan Balgas (N 48.023346, E 104.351773). This was the home of the mother of…
The drive from Chinggis southwest to Sainshand was surprisingly easy. I had the wide open steppe with the usual animal herds in the first half. The second half of the trip was paved all the way. I did hit a pretty nasty thunder storm on the way, but I was happy about it since it cleaned a lot of the dust off the LandCruiser. I can actually see out the front window again, still not the back window, however. I…