Being placed atop a small hill in northern Croatia, Trakošćan Castle looks like a fairytale castle, proudly peeking its spires. It dates back to the 13 century as pat of fortification system and small observation fortress for monitoring the road from Ptuj, Slovenia. According to a legend, Trakošćan was named after another fortification (arx Thacorum) that was built at the same spot back in antiquity. Another source claims … Continue reading Trakošćan castle, Croatia

Boč Boč, also called the Triglav of Slovene Styria is just a few kilometres away from Ptuj. It is 978 metres high and I climbed it in all its essence. 🙂 Boč, which is among the southernmost extensions of the Karawanks mountain range – the Southern Limestone Alps –  is covered with forest and protected as a natural park. I was particularly intrigued by the mountain house that … Continue reading Ptuj castle, I feel sLOVEnia

The very beautiful Macedonia (FYR of Macedonia, to be more exact) 🙂 after belonging to many empires over time, it is nowadays mostly shared by Christians and Muslims, who still come together at the fascinating Old Bazaar in Skopje, one of the Balkans’ largest markets. The territory of Skopje has been inhabited since the times of Neolithic and later Bronze ages. The most famous settlements have been … Continue reading Macedonia: Skopje & Mavrovo and Lake Ohrid

Keukenhof is Hollands most famous tulip garden in bloom. It is open for 7 weeks every year and has a variety of  more than 7 million bulbs in bloom with a total of 800 varieties of tulips. In 2017, you can visit the tulip gardens of Keukenhof from March 22 until May 21. I went there for a one day trip with my colleague and friend … Continue reading Keukenhof, the Tulip Garden in Holland

So much to discover about about Sicilian capital, and so less time… I had a day and a half and made my best of the days! I woke up early in the morning and crashed into the buzz of the Saturday’s streets. The city is such a mixture of Western, Islamic and Byzantine styles which is the reason many of the region’s churches have been … Continue reading Palermo, Sicily

The largest of italian islands, seeking for independence and great place of landscapes – it is a gift of God! My 8 days of discovering northern part of Sicily was just not enough! 🙂 So here is how it started! Prior landing to Palermo Airport, we flew over crater of Etna – 3,323 m high volcano that is still active. Apparently it has long and even mythological history: Aetna was … Continue reading The Landscapes of Sicily ☀

A very good friend of mine for some time was living in a small city close to Rotterdam. One Saturday morning I hoped on the train and 2 hours later ended up in this great completely modern architecture city. It is the second largest city in the Netherlands, and lies on both banks of the Nieuwe Maas, the tidal southern arm of the Rhine. As a … Continue reading Rotterdam, Netherlands

  During my weekend jaunt to western Germany, I made a day trip to Aachen, once the capital of Charlemagne’s short-lived empire and the final resting place of ”Charles the Great” himself. Aachen is the city in North Rhine-Westphalia of Germany known also as Aix-la-Chapelle in French. Its name derives from the Ach(e), meaning “river” or “stream” in Old High German. This city lives and breathes Europe as it is practically … Continue reading Chasing the traces of Charlemagne in Aachen, Germany

I digged into the city not expecting so much history well presented until today and offering so much. My discovery started at Via dell’ Indipendenza where I realised the portici (engl. archades) are dominating the city. The street is a shopping path as well 🙂 From there I came across to Piazza del Nettuno. Unfortunately, the statue was under construction and I did not manage … Continue reading Tutti portici di Bologna, Italia