Sandra: April 2008 Archives

First town Danube flows through is Tuttlingen, in Germany. The town is build around Honberg mountain were a ruined fort , build in Miidle Ages, still stands.

Danube flows through a very pretty medieval citty of Regensburg. What one can say from photos - it is very pictoresque. Large medioeval centre of the cityy is UNESCO heritage site.

The Stone Bridge in photo was build in 1135-1146. The knights of the 2nd and 3rd crusade used it to cross the Danube on their way to the Holy Land.

Regensburg has many sigts to offer - chatedral, many gothic churches and also historical buildings like Golden Cross Inn where Charles V made the acquaintance of Barbara Blomberg, the mother of Don John of Austria (born 1547). The house is also the place where Kepler died in 1630.

Near Regensburg a must see are two classical buidings, erected by Ludwig I of Bavaria. Walhalla is a reproduction of Partenon build as a Teutonic temple of fame on the hill rising from Danube. Second is the Befreiungshalle at Kelheim, 30 km above Regensburg, a large circular building which has for its aim the glorification of the heroes of the 1813 War of Liberation.

To be continued...

One of the most romantic rivers on the world, in my oppinion. Cruise down the Danube for sure would be wonderful.

Danube is a second longest river in the world. It flows through 10 countries: Germany, Austia, Hungary, Serbia,  Slovakia, Bulgaria, Croatia, Romania, Moldova, Ukraine. On the rivers banks are located 4 european capital cities: Vienna, Bratislava, Budapest and Belgrade. Danube's delta has been UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1991.

Danube starts in the Black Forest (Germany) from the two smaller rivers: Brigach and Breg. And it flows into Black Sea in Romania and Ukraine.

To be continued...

The most dangerous road on the earth, they call it carretera de la muerte - highway of death. This road is in Bolivia and its connect capital of Bolivia La Paz with Coroico, center of Yungas region. The road is very small and narrow dugged into montain.

Every two weeks, in general, some vehicle falls down the road. Only in period 1999-2003 has been registrated 98.728 accidents on this road.

Ha Long Bay is a beautiful bay with a number of small islands in Vietnam. It is a UNESCO world heritage site.

Local legends tell that long long time ago the gods send dragon family to help defending land from chinese invadors. Dragons were spitting jewels and jade forming the wall of islands to protect the land. So people could defend their land and later it become Vietnam. Dragons decided to live on earth and place where mother dragon flew down was calle Ha Long.

The bay consists of dense cluster of 1969 limestone islands covered with thick jungle vegetation. Most of them are inhabited and unaffected by human presence. The islands feature endless numbers of beaches, grottoes, and caves.


Ha Long Bay is perhaps the most popular tourist attraction in the country.

Visit Halong Bay official site for mor information and photos.

Bread is actually one of the oldest foods on Earth. Pizza could be already known by Greeks, Romans, Etruscians, even Persians. Greeks baked flat, round breads spicing them up with oil and erbs.

Also coffee like potatoes has conquisted all world.

According to legend first to discover coffee was goat herder Kaldi of Ethiopia, he noticed goots are eating berries from unknown shrub. He tried himself and was feeling happier.

The fisrt plantations of coffee trees were in Arabian penisola. And first coffee shop opened it's doors in Constantinople in 1475. In Europe coffee was introduced via Venice and first coffee house was opened in Italy in 1645.

In modern days, coffe in its wide varieties are used all around the world. The largest market of coffee is Unated States, following by Germany and Japan.

In many countries coffee drinking is connected with social rituals. In some countries of Northern Europe coffee parties are popular, where besides the coffee are being offered also pastries and snacks.

In Canada, a retail coffee chain - Tim Hortons - has become a Canadian cultural icon. The locations of the chain serve as community hubs, much as a pub would in the U.K.

Also in Latvia, Lithuania and Ukraina, Double Coffee chain has became very popular. You can get there several kinds of coffee, milk shakes, tea and not only, you can also have lunch.


Interesting fact is that first Double Coffee opened in Riga, Stabu street, the same street where I lived in Latvia.

This most incredible veggie that conquered the whole world. It is cultivated all around the world and for many nations is most used and most important vegetable on table.

There are many definitions and ways to determinate biggest cities of the world. Here I took numbers of biggest agglomerations from this site.  This list is based on population inside metro area of cities.

1. Tokyo - capital of Japan (population: 33,600,000). It is a destination for my dream travel, perhaps one day...

Which transportation to choose while traveling? This is the question for today. Each has upsides and also each has it downs.

By Car

• You are on your own and decide where to go and what road to choose, you are able to change your mind and direction any time you like - no precise timetables, no worrying about being late.
• You can always stop when something catches your attention while driving. Stop to take pictures of beautiful places you go through.
• Now problems with tons of luggage as far as it fits into your car. You do not need to carry it around.

• You need to drive and this means you also get tired.
• You can't travel far away and you spend a lot of time going by one place to other.
• You need to find your way arround, find in map the road, sometimes to ask a way from locals etc.
• Traffic blocks, road tickets to pay, risk of having accident, that all slows you down.
• Fuel - it is not a cheap thing.

• Comodity, depending of course from company and country, but in general it's quite comfortable and relaxing way of travel.
• Easy way to reach. In every city main station is easy accessible.

• Train is becaming more and more expensive, in nowdays with low cost flights - specially.
• Time consuming if you need to cover long distances.

• It's fast, you cover great distances in a short time.
• Comfortable while you are on plain

• Airports can be hard to access, in many cases you need to take taxi, especially if you take low cost airfare with late early departing times.
• Unless you take low cost fares; it's costly
• I faund also stressing, crowded airports, confusion - I, personally, do not like it.