We are taking it easy today – in the plans is the short trip to Sienna. Instead of the regular Autostrada we are taking the SR2 which is essentially a local secondary road that winds through the Tuscan country side. Slow and enjoyable, lazy morning drive, it’s perfection.
About 10 min drive from Sant’ Anna is Pienza. A small town that came to prosperity and prominence under one of the Popes. But we did not came here for religion, we came to experience something much more spectacular, something much greater than god – a stunning Tuscan sunset. We also scoped out some places we would […]
We are back. We love being back and it is easy to see why Sant’ Anna in Camprena is the best kept secret in Tuscany. Quiet and quaint, with amazing hosts, Stefano and Ornella and breathtaking views of the countryside. The food is amazing and the atmosphere second to none. We just love this palace […]
Today we are travelling to Sant’ Anna in Camprena. We stayed here last year in the spring and loved it so much we thought we would come back and bring some friends with us to enjoy. However, because the drive from Rome to Camprena is not long we are taking some detours. First on the […]
Today is our last day in Rome, tomorrow are going to pack up and head for the Tuscan Hills. Having said that though, there are still a lot of places to explore. This morning we started with Eataly and a lot of food sampling and a huge lunch – naturally. Then we wondered around through […]
Getting around Rome and seeing the sights is not for the faint of heart or bad shoes. Our agenda for today was pack, but it started slowly with a breakfast at the local coffee shop. 6 cappuccinos and an espresso later we set out to conquer Rome. Colosseum, Victor Emmanuel II Monument, Palatine Hill, Borghese […]
We are back in Rome. This is the start of our 12 day mini holiday. We will be here until Sunday and then head out to Sant’ Anna in Camprena. This trip was a long time coming and this time we are joined by Susan and later on by Chris and Tamara in Tuscany. The […]
This is the kind of trip it was – over 30,000 km both on the plane and in the car. I think we would do it again in a heartbeat, maybe even throw in a balloon flight for a good measure as well!
This morning we are setting off for Nairobi with our trusted driver Joseph. However, because we are in such a remote part of the park Manfred will drive us down the mountain in the Land Cruiser, we will cross the river and meet up with Joseph on a much more accessible road where his off […]
This is our final game drive – and once again it exceeds our expectations. You always hope or wish but certainly never expect that city slickers like us would happen upon some hyenas and vultures feeding on a small giraffe that a pride of lions has taken down a night before. This is some National […]
This morning we are mixing things up a bit. Up at 6am, quick coffee and a cookie and out in the car by 6:15am. We did not even get 20m into the drive when we spotted a couple of giraffes and then another 10m later a herd of elephants. They really are not kidding when […]
These are our two tents. Kids on the right and we are on the left. Same rules apply here as did at the Basecamp – no one is allowed outside on their own after dark which here is at 6:30pm. You get escorted by two Maasai guards, armed with spears and knives against lions, elephant and hippos. We have […]
After about a 90 min drive we arrived at the Eagle View Camp – literally in the middle of nowhere. Perched on the top of the hill is a little slice of paradise. From the lodge and the rooms you can sit back and enjoy amazing vistas below where animals come and go in all shapes […]
Eagle View Camp, where we are going to be spending the next two nights, is nicer than the Basecamp, or so the locals tell us because there are more animals there. We can’t possibly imagine there being more of what we have seen already, but it does not take long for us again to be sitting […]
This morning, for once, we were actually on time. We made a conscious effort to be in the Land Cruiser by 6:30am to catch the best view of the sunrise, and we almost did. Right by the car giraffes were grazing so we couldn’t just leave, it is so hard not to be impressed by […]
It is still quite early but we are signing off for the night – it’s been a long day. Good night.
This interaction literally lasted about 10 seconds, too fast for the camera to focus and for us to do anything other than be frozen in amazement. The baby elephant, which is about the size of the Land Cruiser tire, got up, charged at the car, either wanting to play, or pretending to scare us. The mother trumpeted […]
Manfred really stepped it up today when out of nowhere in the middle of nowhere under some ordinary unassuming bush he found a band of brothers, well fed and sleeping. They did not even raised their heads when we pulled up. Having said that, I think the only thing that stopped the lions from eating […]
We had two requests this morning for Manfred, our guide and driver. We told him that we need to up our expectations and would like to see a pride of lions and a herd of elephants – half jokingly. Well he derived on the elephant this morning and in the afternoon and certainly in the […]
What is better than one solitary elephant minding his own business. Well a herd of 40 or so elephants with lots of babies. The tiny babies were hardly 3 feet tall, hardly sticking above the grass. So far I think this is the best and most memorable and mesmerizing experience for all of us. […]
One of the great sightings this morning was a mama and cub cheetah. The cub was nursing at first then grooming, then playing and stretching – playing nicely for all to see. Manfred spotted a wagging tale from about 300m. I honestly don’t know how these guys do it, I think the animal tracking is […]
Every time we go out for a game drive there is something new. This morning was the best one yet. We sit in the Land Cruiser in total amazement and astonishment as the Savannah life simply unfolds in front of our eyes. It seems that every 3 or 4km the landscape is totally different, from […]
Our days here at Basecamp Explorer are quite lazy. We get up at 6 am have a quick coffee and are out for the morning game drive by 6:30am. We are back to camp at around 9:30 am and inform the staff that we will be back in 10 or 15 minutes for breakfast, at […]
Our evening game drive was quite exciting. We got stuck trying to cross a bit of wet land and sat there for about 20 min smoking tires and rocking the Land Cruiser back and forth. Actually the driver did all the work since we are not allowed to leave the car. We were permitted to […]
We are up at 6:00 am. Quick coffee and at 6:30 we are out for the morning game drive. By 7:00 am it seems like it’s noon the sun is so high up and it is so hot we are happy to be moving in the car to catch a bit of a breeze. The […]
WOW! Simply WOW, that is the best way to describe this experience. It is simply surreal to be in a car drive around the Savannah and see all these animals. We were promised that we will see at least 4 of the big 5. Those being elephant, buffalo, lion, leopard and rhino. Rhino is the […]
After spending a night in Nairobi, we set off for the Basecamp Explorer in the Maasai Mara Reserve where we are going to be spending 6 days. The journey is about 260km but takes about 5 to 6 hours. We will make a few stops on the way to see East African Rift which is well […]
It is spring break and we are doing something we have not done before – ever. We are heading to Africa on a safari. We booked this trip three weeks ago on Wednesday evening, on Thursday Evelina broke her leg skiing. Crippled and undaunted we are excited for this great new adventure. […]
Ballenberg is an open museum with a 100 original, century-old buildings from all over Switzerland, original gardens and fields. It is a working museum where people are in period, bake break, make sausages, make cheese and pretend they live in the centuries past. There are also 250 domestic animals on display as well. This is […]
This is the last stop in Switzerland. Apparently I can’t count to 5 so I booked us in for 4 nights. Needless to say a day before check out we needed to find a room for one more night. Booking.com to the rescue and this is how we ended up in this village. Dating back […]
Doing something outdoorsy today – something right up Evelina’s alley. Seilpark in Gantrisch has the highest forest adventure platforms in Switzerland – 36m – it is freaky. There are 10 different courses to go through and 1.5km of paths suspended through the beautiful Längeney Forest. We did 9 of the 10, the second most difficult one […]
Thun is a small city of about 45,000 residents. The area of what is now Thun was inhabited since the Neolithic age mid 300 BC. Like most Europe and Switzerland it was conquered by Rome in 58BC. In 1819 a Military School was founded in the city, which later developed into the main military school in […]
It is going to be hard to leave these views behind. It is a good thing that the roads are twisty and narrow, at least by going slow you can enjoy them – not the driver though the roads are too darn twisty and narrow to look away.
When the sun is setting and we are lucky to be back home, the sky lights up with a thousand colours like it is on fire which is contrasted by the insanely green hills and reflected over the village homes – all 6 of them.
The construction of the Cathedral of Notre Dame of Lausanne began as early as 1170 by an original unknown master mason. Twenty years later another master mason restarted construction until 1215. Finally a third engineer, Jean Cotereel, completed the majority of the existing cathedral including a porch, and two towers, one of which is the current […]
The city is situated on the shores of Lake Geneva, 62 kilometres northeast of Geneva. Lausanne has a population of 146,372, making it the fourth largest city in Switzerland. Lausanne is a focus of international sport, hosting the International Olympic Committee, which recognizes the city as the “Olympic Capital”. Since 1994 the Court of Arbitration for Sport and some 55 international sport associations […]
Directly overlooking the Lake Schiffenen is a carved out cave measuring 120 meters which was chiseled out in the rock by two hermits around 1700. The floor, as it was recently discovered, is actually a fossilized sandstone dune from prehistoric times. The dwelling in the cliff was later expanded to its current size by the hermit Johann Dupré and his […]
The Gothic Cathedral of St. Nicholas in Fribourg dominates the centre of the medieval town. The main church was started in 1283 and completed by 1430. The tower was completed in 1490. It is 76 metres tall and houses 11 bells. Originally a parish church, in 1945 it became the cathedral of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Lausanne, Geneva […]
Fribourg is located on both sides of the river Saane, and is an important economic, administrative and educational centre on the cultural border between German and French Switzerland. Fribourg also has one of the most prestigious universities in Switzerland. Its Old City, is one of the best maintained in Switzerland. There is a very old funicular […]
We have arrived in Switzerland. Once you pass the tunnels and the trains the views open up – no matter where you look the vistas are spectacular. Interesting note, in Italy, the fastest drivers on the highway are either from Germany or Switzerland. The posted highway speed is 130km/h the Swiss will do 150 to 160km/h. The moment […]
Milan dates back to 400BC. Today Milan is the 2nd largest metropolitan city in Italy. The population of the city proper is 1.3 million, while its urban area with a population estimated to be about 5.5 million is the 5th-largest in the EU. Milan is the main industrial and financial centre of Italy, it has the 3rd-largest […]
The only thing on the agenda for today was to take it easy and relax and eat less. Failed on all three accounts. We stopped at Eataly, an old train station that has been converted to a 5 story Italian Shop with 18 or so restaurants. The store has pretty much everything you can imagine […]
Our schedule for today is very relaxed. A nice stroll through the Borghese gardens towards the Spanish Steps and a bit of shopping. The Borgheses were a wool merchant family from Sienna. The head of the family, Marcantonio, moved to Rome in 1541 and this Sienese family rapidly gained access to the upper echelons of Roman […]
After the morning museum trip and an extensive siesta from the unyielding and relentless heat, we set out for a lap around Rome. Last time we were here the Trevi Fountain was being renovated and cleaned, which apparently is done once every 50 years or so. There are over 2000 fountains in Rome but this one […]
MAXXI – National Museum of the 21st Century Arts, is a national museum of contemporary art and architecture in Rome and is about 5 min walk from the gorgeous apartment we are staying in. The museum was built on the old and decommissioned military compound site. This spectacular building was designed by Zaha Hadid who passed away this […]
Imagine owning the entire mountain top of a peninsula on the Amalfi coast. Small villa, pool and massive gardens. Originally built in the 11th century the villa was rebuilt and reconstructed over the years passing from one family to the next. The most extensive rebuilding and renovation was done at the start of the 20th […]
Today we ventured out on a drive from Agerola, where we are staying, to Ravello. Sine there is only one road that clings to the side of the mountain we had to drive through Amalfi. However, the drive is not as bad as everyone has said it would be. Would I drive it in my […]
Pompeii was an ancient Roman town-city near modern Naples. Pompeii, along with Herculaneum and many villas in the surrounding area, was mostly destroyed and buried under 4 to 6 of volcanic ash and pumice in the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in AD 79. The city was lost and forgotten for about 1500 years. It was […]
We set out for a short walk, from the village of Agerola to Priano – it turned out to be about 8.5km. Path of the Gods is one of the most famous and most spectacular trails in Italy with stunning view of the Amalfi coast and its towns, mainly Positano, Priano and Amalfi. There are […]
We visited both Positano and Amalfi as part of our boat trip today. Both of these small villages are perched on the cliff similar to Cinque Terre towns. We took a boat from Amalfi to Positano, hang around there for a bit then a boat back to Amalfi. From Amalfi we took, what can only […]
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