The zoo in Antwerpen is the oldest zoo of Belgium. For this winter, they are celebrating the holidays the Chinese way: with a light festival. We decided to check it out and didn’t regret it. A big part of the zoo is illuminated with all kinds of animals, making it a light festival both adults …
Antarctica (3): reaching the ice and Neumayer station
These blog posts on my Antarctic trip have encouraged me to read my travel diary from 2006-2007 again. It brings back a lot of nice memories. I indicated that Friday 1st of December 2006 was one of the most wonderful days of the expedition: “I went out at 9 a.m., and what a spectacle: everywhere …
Walls of Berlin (1): the Berlin wall.
One cannot simply visit Berlin without being confronted with its grim past. There are two different stories to be told here: one about the second world war and its horrors, and one about the separation of eastern and western Berlin by means of a large, concrete wall. A lot of places in Berlin testify to …
Antarctica (2): crossing the Antarctic Convergence
“After a few days on board, I wrote in my diary: “Finally some excitement. The weather has seriously deteriorated (now 8 Beaufort), and that leads to some hilarious situations! Washing yourself in the shower of your cabin has become very impractical and during lunch I almost fell down with my chair and everything after a …
The Pergamon museum: a wonder to behold!
In the final week of 2014, we went citytripping in Berlin. For me, personally, it certainly was one of the most memorable citytrips, and one I truly enjoyed from beginning to end. It was the combination of culture (e.g. the Museuminsel), history (Berlin Wall and WWII memorial sites, and a wide array of associated musea), …
Antarctica (1): getting there
“Here I am, at the Big Blue Backpackers Hotel, in my little room. Alone. But it’s quiet here and I’m relieved: the journey went smoothly except for the 1-hour customs delay at Cape Town International. Because I’m going to the South Pole for 2.5 months, I cannot afford to loose any luggage at this time!” …
Stumbling upon the Etruscan necropole of Tarquinia…
We visited the Italian island of Sardegna (Sardinia) in the summer of 2013, and we still regard this holiday as one of our favorites. It was the ideal mix of relaxation, culture, nature and excellent food. We did consider to fly to Sardinia, but after comparing the costs we decided to go by car. This …
The vast emptyness of deserts
An open door to the desert – by @SinbadsOPG It all started with this picture I saw on twitter yesterday. Deserts. I’ve always had a thing for them…I travelled ‘through’ a desert twice. The first time, I sailed the Nile from Luxor to Aswan and back. From the boat, you could see …
Jaffa
Today I saw a tweet from @Wanderingtradr about the city of Jaffa, near the centre of Tel Aviv in Israel. He mentioned the fact that it is thought to be one of the oldest cities in the world. As I mentioned on our website – it somewhat surprised me that the old city of Jaffa, …
Marrakesh highlights part 2
There have been several weeks between this blogpost and the former one. This is due to both of us working in education: the final month is a hectic one and there’s simply no time whatsoever to write. But hey, we’re back. Back to report about, and share memories of, our trip to Morocco in April …