In part three of our car tour of northern Norway, we stay in a traditional rorbu cabin, and we check out millions of cod drying on fish racks.
Car touring northern Norway: Svolvaer, Lofoten
Car touring northern Norway: Hinnøya, Lofoten
In part two of our car tour of northern Norway, we tour Hinnøya and Austvågøya, the innermost islands of the Lofoten island chain.
Car touring northern Norway: Tromsø
In part one of our car tour of northern Norway, we look around Tromsø’s harbour. We drive to Tjelsundbrua, where we camp out in a shipping container. We walk on a cold-water coral beach under the midnight sun.
Hiking a section of the Rota Vicentina, Portugal
Imagine a red-rock desert with vibrant spring wildflowers at the edge of a deep blue sea. We found just this along the Vicentine Coast of southern Portugal, a stretch of coastline spared from development. We stumbled upon this hike rather by accident.
Portuguese beaches: Vila Nova de Milfontes
We spent thee days in Vila Nova de Milfontes, a town on a sandy inlet on the west coast of Portugal, south of Lisbon. Diana had booked us into an airbnb apartment that was supposed to have a view. And it did. We most likely had one of the best views in town.
Staying in a windmill, Alentejo, Portugal
Diana found us one of the most unique accommodations we’ve ever stayed in: a historic Portuguese windmill on a hilltop in a rural part of the Alentejo Province. We stayed here for three nights. The airbnb host directed us to the small village of São Francisco da Serra, where her parents have a little coffee shop. With our limited Portuguese we were able to introduce ourselves, and we got the keys to the mill.
A visit to the Republic of Georgia
The Republic of Georgia (not to be confused with the US state) is a small country at the foot of the Caucasus Mountains. Georgia has been independent since the early 1990s. It has recently gained a reputation as being a very friendly and welcoming place with some nice sites to visit, and on top of that fantastic food and wine. All the travel magazines and websites had listed it for “places to go” in 2016. It got our attention, so we decided to go check it out.
Davit-Gareja, Georgia
When we traveled from Kakheti back to Tbilisi, we arranged for a sidetrip to Davit-Gareja. Davit-Gareja is a monastery on the Georgia-Azerbajan border. The landscape here looks somewhat like parts of Utah or New Mexico, and as such it is quite different than the areas visited before. Around Telavi and Tbilisi are wooded hills and agricultural lands with vineyards, but here there are extensive grasslands and exposures of reddish sandstone.
Doing the chacha in Kakheti, Georgia
We stayed at Neli and Zaal guesthouse. It was an absolutely wonderful place. Before traveling to Georgia we had heard about Georgians’ exceptional hospitality, and here is where we found it. We have traveled extensively over the years, and I can tell you that hospitality like this is rare. We had planned to stay for two nights, and ended up staying three. We’ll always remember our stay with Zaal and Neli.
The Caucasus Mountains: traveling to Kazbegi, Georgia
From Tbilisi we traveled to Kazbegi in the Caucasus Mountains. The route goes up the Georgian Military Highway, which is the main route north to Russia (Chechnya). It’s several hours of driving, and we hired a driver to take us there. There were some fruit stands along the highway, and we asked our driver Gaila to stop. We first stopped at a watermelon stand on the outskirts of Tbilisi.