Posts Tagged With: Tours

This is Slovenia? Part 2

Posted on July 6, 2012 by Travel with Jodi

Anyone going to the Gorge?

Alright so I am dying to share more of Slovenia with you I have been here for a few days now and I go to bed at the end of each one loving it more and more! I cannot explain how spectacular this place is. Again however, I will try. So I left off last time telling you about Vintgar gorge which was where I visited on my second day trip to Bled. It is part of the Triglav national park and its natural beauty is overwhelming and calming all at the same time.

Just beginning my trek through the gorge

Amazingly colored water everywhere

It took about 35 minutes to walk there from a friend’s hostel in Bled. Left up to my own devices I would have taken a taxi, but looking back I did appreciate the walk both there and back as it provided great views and additional photo ops. Once we arrived at the entrance there was a 4 euro charge and the narrow, wooden trails along the edges of the gorge were yours to explore. With every step an “Oooh or Ahhh” escaped me, I wanted to take a picture of everything. Every waterfall, every area of still transparent emerald and sapphire pool, every fish, every rock face, every everything. This was just a beautiful place and I was so happy I made it there. I kept wondering if the locals appreciated it as much as I did or if the novelty had worn off long ago.

Water rushing through

There is this surreal feeling of when you have looked up a place and seen photos online or in print and think how lovely it is and then to actually be there. I was thinking to myself that I couldn’t believe I was actually there, it is an awesome feeling. I felt that way too when I was at lake Bled rowing to the church on the island. This is a place I would for sure visit again if I ever returned to Slovenia, which I am pretty sure will happen.

Lovely views all around

Tempted to enter my birthstone (emerald) tinted pools

After making our way through the gorge we headed back to Bled, another hike. Europe has provided me with many of these, I just hope the end result of some amazing legs is birthed from all these hikes! When we finally hit the downhill approach we made a quick stop at a small, lone restaurant and had a bottle of Radler, a grapefruit flavoured beer that I haven’t gone a day without so far. I had plans of hitting another close by city Bohinj and going for a swim at the lake there but was so exhausted and sun drained that I took a bus back to Ljubljana (pronounced Loob-Lee-Yana) instead. The hostel was having a live jazz band perform so I figured I would rest up and then go listen, which I did after treating myself to a lovely little dinner at a nearby restaurant.

Another waterfall

Leaving the gorge headed back to Bled

Next time we will delve into the lovely Ljubljana, which I will continue to explore, until then love life!

Reminds me of Heidi for some reason

Views on the way back down

Categories: Slovenia | Tags: Europe, Nature, Outdoors, Photography, Slovenia, Solo Traveler, Tours, Travel, Vintgar Gorge, Waterfall | 21 Comments

A Palace and A Cemetery

Posted on June 30, 2012 by Travel with Jodi

At the Gardens in Schonbrunn

When I was coming to Austria there were 3 places I had on my list that I really wanted to see, here are 2 of those. One was Schonbrunn Palace and the Other was Central Cemetery (Zentralfriedhof).

Tombstone Sculpture

Angel Sculpture at a tombstone

First I went to central cemetery which was just lovely. It is 495 acres and has about two and a half million bodies laid to rest there. I mean that’s a lot! It was opened in 1874 I believe. Now this place is so vast I didn’t go through the entire thing but will definitely make another stop there whenever I return to Vienna. It was really beautiful and romantic, which sounds weird to say about a cemetery but it really was. Especially in the older section which was my favorite, it looked like something straight out of a movie or fairytale book. It was kind of magical really.

Tombstones at Central Cemetery

I could not stop taking pictures, I felt so calm and wanted to just wander forever. Except I started to get hungry, which is a far more frequent occurrence for me than seems normal. Before that however, I tried looking around to see what the oldest tomb was that I could find, which was 1885. Some of the tombs were so grand and ornate I couldn’t believe people spent so much on those things, when in the end they will all be forgotten eventually. I thought as I passed by each one how at some point there were families and friends weeping (maybe) at the loss of this person and now I, as thousands others have done before just pass by admiring them for their purely decorative properties. There were a few though that actually had a faded photo image of the person and those seems to create more of a connection with who and what had taken place there. Another area that was interesting was where they had a bunch of tombstones pile together, apparently these were one that had been destroyed during wars and they didn’t know where or to whom they belonged, but still keep them there to pay their respects.

Destroyed tombstones gathered together

Church belonging to the Cemetery

Now going in another direction (trying to keep you alert), there was Schonbrunn, meaning beautiful spring, which is a UNESCO world heritage site. This place and its palatial grounds had been used by monarchs in the past for different purposes, including boastful recreational hunting grounds and summer residences. Seems like there is a desire for grandeur in both life and death here. Also on site is Tiergarten the worlds oldest zoo, which is still in operation. This place was really gorgeous and the one thing that has me in awe in so many European countries is just the scale of things. The buildings are huge and Schonbrunn with its 1441 rooms and expansive grounds was not to disappoint.

View of Schonbrunn from the garden

View of Schonbrunn and Vienna

There is a magnificently and of course large, sculpted fountain on the premises at the foot of the hill that ascends to the gloriette, which was commissioned as a gift to Maria Theresa. What a hell of a gift! So I guess it turns out chivalry is dead after all. I’ve never even had a water cooler commissioned for me, or water bottle come to think of it, much less a humungous fountain! I digress. Once at the top of the hill by the gloriette there are amazing views of Vienna which I imagine changes dress into a glimmering wonder at night. I was really happy to have visited these places, there is so much beauty here and this was just the tip of the iceberg.

Me in front of the Fountain

View of Fountain and Gloriette at Schonbrunn Palace

Standing below a sculpture at the stairway of the gloriette

Categories: Austria | Tags: Austria, Cemetery, Europe, Nature, Palace, Solo Traveler, Tours, Travel, UNESCO, Vienna | 10 Comments

Leaving London

Posted on June 6, 2012 by Travel with Jodi

Now that I am wrapping up my time in London I just wanted to share some thoughts and pictures of my two weeks here. I must start of by saying the weather is so completely unpredictable, oh my goodness! I’ve experienced sizzling summer heat, monsoon like rainy days, suffocatingly thick, chilly fog and everything in between! Not what I expected in May/June. Nonetheless it has been a lovely time.

Always wanted to do that

My favorite thing about London so far has been the variety of social activities available from the chic to the quirky, to the well…I’ll let you decide. Here are a few that caught my attention. Rooftop film club, where you watch movies projected to a screen, with wireless headphones while seated on the roof of a building. Night time city tour on roller blades lol (I really wanted to try this), nude night clubs (not my thing, but hey) and of course the great theatre performances and shows, the innumerable pubs, clubs and bars with all different themes and on every corner. Of course my hip hop karaoke, and the list goes on and on!

Tours along River Thames

There are still some cities I haven’t had the chance to visit yet but hope to be able to when I return. For now, it’s time to move on, especially before I run out of money. I have easily spent the most on transportation here, unbelievable when you consider I have mostly been on trains and buses and only one taxi ride that was about a mile. So enjoy a few photos and to see more visit my Facebook page Travel With Jodi.