2002 tagged posts

In America, Bonito and Pantanal 2002, Hiking/Trekking On  13/12/2002  2 comments

After a 24h trip I got in Bonito really tired. I spent the afternoon in the pool sunbathing, something that becomes precious when you live in Europe.

On my second day I went to visit the “Gruta do Lago Azul”, 18km from town. I got Edson’s moto-taxi to get there. These taxi by motorcycle are very popular in Bonito. In the cave I met a group of students from Dourados, a city in Mato Grosso do Sul. I thought it was funny their curiosity towards me. I think all of them asked me where I came from. Some would get impressed.

The cave is beautiful. After going down about 400 meters we arrived at the “Blue Lake”. The clear water made possible to see the stones on the bottom. I liked to observe everybody wispering: “How beautiful!” or “It is really blue!”, “The water is so clear!”

The afternoon tour was Bonito Aventura, about 4 km from town. There I met the manager, Janaina, who explained me the tour. We tried on the wet suit and sandals...

In Asia, Europe, Turquia 2002 On  24/09/2002  No comments

Recommended by a German friend I decided to see Ephesus. The city near by is Selçuk. I only slept a night there and could notice that they are prepared to tourism. Every time I asked for information they answered with kindness. Many of them spoke English, a sign that they are used to foreign tourists.

I woke up early to visit the ruins. The day was cloudy, ugly… It would be a difficult day, how could I photograph rocks without shadow and volume? Gray days always make me sad.

I walk around the ruins without a guide. Once in a while I would stop and hear a guide from a tour group. Sometime I would have the explanations in Englih, then in French or Spanish, even a Portuguese group I met. Brazilians unfortunately not. Germans, there were many, since I don’t understand the language I would wait for the next group. For me this is the perfect way to visit the ruins, I can go by myself at my own pace...

In Asia, Europe, Turquia 2002 On  23/09/2002  No comments

Pamukkale is a visually interesting place, from far away it looks like a white tip mountain. There are white terraces that were formed by the thermal waters rich in calcium bicarbonate. The water as they go down they deposit carbon dioxide in the soil. This creates some incredible white shapes. Scientist say the terraces started to be formed about 14 thousands years ago. The name Pamukkale means “cotton castle” in Turkish. For them the mountains looks like a castle made with cotton, for mi looks like made of ice.

In the same area there are ruins from an ancient city. I visited the amphitheater that it is behind the thermal baths. The place looked abandoned, unpreserved. I seams a piece of history was being left behind, being forgotten. Unfortunately I didn’t find much information on the place.

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In Asia, Europe, Turquia 2002 On  20/09/2002  One comment

Once again I arrived in a new country with sore throat. Since I was really tired I decided to sleep the whole morning. In the afternoon I left the hostel to see the city. My lunch costed 7 millions, I realized it would be difficult to get used with the amount of zeros on the Turkish lira bills. The waiter told me to be careful in order to not be cheated. He said it is common to trick tourists that aren’t used with the money. I asked if I should be careful with him. He answered: “NO, not me. I’m talking about the others. I’m honest”.

I visited the Aya Sofia, a church constructed in 532 and during years it was the biggest in the world. There were times that its mosaics were covered because the Islamism prohibited the images. Today it works as a museum. The place is impressive…

After I went to see the Blue Mosque, a mosque constructed in the beginning of the seventeenth century. Its towers and domes made it the most famous one in Istanbul. The tourists enter through the side door...

In Asia, Europe, Turquia 2002 On  19/09/2002  One comment

I was invited by a travel agency to do a tour in Gallipoli (Gelibolu in Turkish), I would go with two more Australian girls. We left early in the morning since the place is far away. After two hours driving we stopped to have breakfast and continued to Gallipoli. We did a quick stop in the small city, we saw the port and continued to the war museum.

This area is known to be a good defense place in Turkey. It is a peninsula easy to regulate the ships going in and out. The most important historical event was during the World War I when many Australians and New Zealanders (Anzac – Australian and New Zealand Army Corps) died. They landed on the wrong place and were vanished by the Turkish army who was waiting on the top of the hill. For me what it is interesting here it is the amount of monuments, cemeteries and museum commemorative to the world war I. Every few kilometers there is a monument explaining the war. They even have trenches on exhibition...

In Europe, Eastern Europe 2002 On  07/08/2002  No comments

My visit to Bratislava was a little fast, I had just two days to get a sense of the place. I liked the city because there weren’t so many tourists as in Prague. The old town is full of restaurants and bars. I walked through the small streets. Since it was cloudy I couldn’t photograph that much. At the same time, I thought people was friendly. Many would speak with a smile, it looks like they were happy with tourists. There was a day I had no coin to pay the tram and a girl paid for me, she didn’t accepted my money back. That’s what I call hospitality…

The castle is by the Danube. It is more modest than the one in Prague but has a great overview of the city. There one can have an idea of the communist Slovakia. From the top I could see almost the whole city. It was good to “appreciate” the buildings, all similar on the other side of the river. There were a lot of them, lots of uniform rectangles. They looked like a toy by its symmetries.

I stayed only two days in town but I liked, I ...

In Europe, Eastern Europe 2002, Traveled places On  06/08/2002  No comments

I decided to go to Vienna to see a cousin, Lucia, who is there doing her post-doc. By my arrival she suggested me the next day program: to bike around the small villages near Vienna. I seams that she had read my thoughts, I was tired of cities, people, museums, monuments… It would be great to spend a day biking near nature.

From Vienna we got a train to Tulln where we met her workmates and got the bikes. We got a train to Melk. From there we biked to Spitz where we stopped to have lunch. Then we continued to Krems, passing through small villages, wineries, apple, plum and apricot trees… On our way we stopped at Dürstein to enjoy the landscape. We end up the tour in Hadersdorf, in a Heuriger, where we had the local wine. It was incredible to see how they are prepared to cycling. There are bike road all over Austria. One can go anywhere by bike, the special bike roads are by the freeway, or train rail, or the Danube, or through the woods… I loved it.

Following day we went back to...

In Europe, Eastern Europe 2002 On  03/08/2002  No comments

A minha visita a Praga foi um pouco decepcionante. Tinha ouvido muitas histórias de amigos que visitaram a cidade anos atrás. Já na chegada na estação de trem vi que a cidade tinha mudado, as placas estavam todas em checo e inglês: já estavam preparados para o turismo.

Nos três dias que passei na cidade me impressionou o número de turistas, eram ônibus e mais ônibus de turismo. Caminhando pela cidade todo o tempo encontrava com grupos enormes de japoneses, americanos, italianos, espanhóis e brasileiros. Havia horas que se via mais de duzentas pessoas na frente do relógio astronômico.

Quase todos os restaurantes tinha o cardápio em inglês e checo, alguns até em 4 ou 5 idiomas. Os preços também eram diferentes para turistas. Caminhar pelas ruas do castelo também estava claustrofóbico, grupos de turistas por toda a parte. Acho que é um dos lugares mais turísticos que visitei em minha vida, e já viajei por uns 30 países...

In Europe, Eastern Europe 2002 On  31/07/2002  No comments

The arrival in Berlin was great. The first day I met a friend, Pepe, and we went to the park. It was a Sunday picnic in the Tierganden park with his English, Australian, American, Bolivian friends… There was no Germans though.

Then we waked to the Reichstag to have a general view of the city. It impressed me the amount of cranes, sometimes I would count 5 or 8 cranes together. Yes, we can see that Berlin is a city on construction. I pointed to my friend all the cranes and construction sites, he wasn’t so impressed. I think when people live there they get so used to see construction that they get indifferent to the amount of it.

We walked on the Unter den Linben avenue to the Berliner Dom and the museums island. The city was quiet. It was Sunday and there wasn’t many people on the streets. A strange feeling, wide streets with large buildings: an emptiness.

Next day I walked around Mitte, a neighborhood in East Berlin...

In Europe, Eastern Europe 2002 On  27/07/2002  No comments

In Moscow I met a Spanish couple who told me they haven’t liked Warsaw. They said the city was too modern and the buildings weren’t attractive. I, on the contrary, liked the city. I think the reason for one to like or not depends a lot on his/her experience on the place. Even though the days were cloudy and I couldn’t photograph that much I had a good time in Warsaw. I thought people were very educated, many could speak English, I didn’t have communication problems and I found the old town really beautiful. For me there it was not modern, since I came from a city that it is a little more than one hundred years old. It was like a small town.

My first day I went to see the symphony from the Mozart Festival in the Royal Castle. It was worth it not only for the music but specially for the place, a room all decorated with golden motifs. It was like going back in time a few centuries. Another of my cultural programs was going to the movies...