One month in North America

I’ve recently spent a whole month in North America, about half of it in friends' houses and the other half travelling around. I’ve made a lot of photos, some of which you can see in the latter part of the blog post, but first let me mention a few of my observations.

North America is becoming Europe and Europe is becoming North America

My first visit to USA was 16 years ago in 2006. I remember everything seemed bigger to me then: cars, meal portions or skyscrapers. Now it seems that cars are about the same size as in Europe and the same with meal portions. Regarding cars, it’s a a world-wide trend to make the same models bigger each year.

However, North America is also becoming more European, because cities are becoming more pedestrian- and bike-friendly. In 2006, I was overwhelmed by the crowds in New York. You couldn’t even stop at the sidewalk to look around, the crowd would push you. Now they have closed certain roads and made them into pedestrian zones. You can enjoy the city much more now, though there's still too much asphalt.

Parts of Brodway closed for pedestrians

And of course, then there is Burlington in Vermont, which seems to have had a pedestrian zone forever.

Burlington, the biggest surprise of the trip

Walking is more pleasant than 15 years ago, but what about cycling? Me and Aňa explored Montreal and New York on shared bikes. The bike infrastructure is good especially near water but in the inner city you have to stop about every 2 blocks (200 metres) on a red light. I saw a lot of progress but with this rate of progress, New York will be like Copenhagen in 30 years and like Amsterdam in 100. It seems Montreal will get there quicker.

Where North America is seriously lacking progress is public transport. It doesn’t seem to be getting better, they are building new projects at a very slow rate and they are expensive.

The above are only things you can observe as a tourist, so take it with a grain of salt.

Random observations from the trip

I don’t want to bore you with a retelling of the whole trip, so here’s a few more observations and then you can look at the photos.

• National/state parks: USA takes really good care of their national and state parks. As a result, the US has some really nice forests where you can see a lot of wild animals. In Slovakia in 2022, we finally passed a law to forbid human interventions in large parts of all our national parks.
• Burlington, Vermont: this city was the biggest surprise of the trip. It’s like Vermont’s Trnava: big pedestrian zone and a lot of great restaurants and coffee shops reachable by foot.
• Inflation: inflation seemed to me about 50% since I visited the last time, at least for the things that tourists need: rental cars, restaurants and hotels. I’m not sure by the number 50% but according to my friend who tracks his expenses, this seems about right. And the weakening euro made this worse.
• Maple syrup fudge: one of the most addictive things I know. Luckily, I can’t buy it where I live.
• Culture in New York: I've been to New York twice before and this was the first I've been to a stand-up a Broadway show. There's nothing like it in Europe and I should have gone sooner!

Photos

I’ve made two bigger trips. The first was a camping and hiking trip to Catskills with Kolo, Liz and little Filip. Then when Aňa arrived, we went on a road trip from Boston to New Hampshire, Montreal, Vermont and back to Boston. We also visited New York just before flying back to Europe.

Here's link to a full album from all travels, a small selection of photos is included in the rest of the post.

Eating at a lake

Campsite lake

Lake Champlain

Lake Champlain

Snakes and frogs

Rattlesnake

Snake (copperhead?)

Toad

More photos

Catskills

In Portsmouth

White Mountains

Exploring Montreal on a bike

Manhattan from Brooklyn

American breakfast with M&M (Martin&Mia)

Before Book of Mormon

Kayaking in Möjareservatet

After moving out of Sweden in 2015, I've missed the Stockholm archipelago a lot. There’s nothing quite like it in Europe outside of Scandinavia and British Isles.

Me and Chillu went to my favorite part around the island of Möja. In the beginning of June there were very few people out there, so it was very quiet. As usual, Stockholm archipelago offered the best accommodation for the lowest price of 0 SEK.

The best accommodation is often free

Sunset seen from my sleeping bag

After sunset, as seen from Chillu's sleeping bag

This was our route on the first day (the time and elevation shown by Strava are wrong though).


Slalom around the small islands avoids the open sea, which makes it less windy and more pleasant. Also, the small islands and channels between them are more beautiful than the open sea.

Calm waters in Bockösundet, a channel between two islands

Enough with the words, for more photos you can go to Flickr or Google Photos (a bigger album from two cameras).

Poľana – mať stará ohromných stínov

Poľana is an inactive stratovolcano in Slovakia not discovered by tourists. I’ve never been there, so I’ve decided to do a multi-day hike there with Ivan and Roman.

Friday

We got off the bus in Strelníky right at sunset. With our headlamps on, we hiked the steep slope to the shelter Partizán nad Mincou.

Hiking towards the shelter

The shelter was empty, so we had a very luxurious stay. At 4AM, we were woken up by a dormouse climbing the walls above us. We managed to scare it off and went back to sleep.

Saturday

In the beginning of our hike we had good views of the surrounding areas. Then we entered the forest and didn’t have views, but the forest was beautiful on its own.

Poľana forest

We ate lunch at the top of Strunga, with excellent views of the whole caldera. When Ivan read Andrej Sládkovič’s poem Detvan, I had goosebumps.

Poľana caldera seen from Strunga

The title of this post is the second line of the poem: Poľana – old mother of great shadows. Once the goosebumps went away, we all concluded that the poem is basically about sex, just like 90% of literature.

In the late afternoon we finally met the first hikers around the highest peak of the mountain range – Poľana at 1458 m. We slept at útuľňa Javorinka, a recently renovated shelter with awesome views.

Útuľňa Javorinka

Sunset

Sunday

I woke everyone up at 4:30 AM to catch the sunrise. Unfortunately, it was too cloudy. However, the Sun rose at the 55-degree bearing over Kráľova hoľa 55 kilometers away. That was an impressive coincidence.

Sunrise over Kráľová hoľa

We went to bed again for 2 more hours and then descended to Hriňová.

Old shepherd's shelter

Small farms of Hriňová, Slovak Tuscany

We ran out of water and tried to get it from the 3 different water sources, but we either couldn’t find them or they were dry. Luckily, we were saved by the helpful people in Zánemecká. From here on, we continued on the bus or train.

The end

After this trip, I only had one question in my head: Why haven't I been to Poľana sooner? It’s not too busy, has a lot of well-preserved nature and awesome tourist shelters.

Small selection of my photos is on Flickr and a bigger album on Google Photos.

Loptoši™ 2017: Slovakia off the beaten path

The theme of Loptoši™ 2017 was discovering Slovakia off the beaten path, with a focus on the east and mid-south.

The trip started with a streak of bad luck. A few hours before the trip we’ve discovered that our car rental has been canceled. And half of our crew (Palo and Roman) suffered from stomach flu in the first days of the trip.

In the end it was a great trip, full of interesting places and experiences. Instead of covering it chronologically, let me describe the 3 most memorable places.

Stužica, primeval forest

Stužica is a primeval forest that hasn’t been touched for 100 years by humans. I’ve been to forests that looked like they have been vacuumed, but I prefer messy unmanaged forest with trees left to decompose. We’ve experienced Stužica during wet and foggy weather, which created just the right atmosphere. Stužica thus became the top experience of the trip for me.

Trees left to decompose

Hiking in the fog

Železník, former mining town

Železník lies deep in the forest high up on a mountain. The mountain used to be one of the largest sources of iron in the area. It was a prosperous lively small village/town, but now there’s very few people left. If you speak Slovak, you can watch a documentary about Železník.

When we arrived there, the Sun was about to set and Ivan was reading out loud an article about Železník from Čierne Diery. His captivating voice, the abandoned structures around us and the great view gave me goose bumps.

Old phone booth and post office

Sunset seen from Železník

Inside blast furnace near Železník

Čierny Váh, the biggest battery in the country

The Čierny Váh pumped-storage plant is a few tonnes of concrete in nature. A top of a hill has been replaced by a water reservoir.

View from the air. Photo by Achernar.sk.

People say that nature should be preserved, but this structure has enormous benefits. During the night, it takes the overflow electric power from power plants that are slow to turn off, like nuclear power plants, and uses it to pump water 400 meters higher. During the day, the water flows back down, generating energy. It’s basically a giant battery and the most powerful power plant in the country.

We could have preserved this particular piece of nature and instead built a plant that’s easier to turn off and start, like a coal plant, but the environmental consequences would have been much higher. Čierny Váh is still the least environmentally harmful solution.

Photos

A selection of my photos is on Flickr and an album merged from multiple people is on Google Photos.

Travelling by teleport to Tuscany

There exists a mode of transport that is as good as teleport: first you go to the teleport station and then you wake up at your destination. Sometimes you can even take your car with you. It’s called night train (overnight ferries also qualify).

In the last two years I've used night trains a lot, mostly because I find them more convenient and less stressful than flying. And they also emit fewer harmful gases.

Some night trains transport cars, which allows you to make a one-way road trip like this one:

Tuscany 2017

Me and Veronika had a great time in Tuscany, ate very tasty food, rested on the beach and loaded on vitamin D before the winter. Some places were crowded but you can avoid that if you go early in the morning.

I won't bore you with all the details, but feel free to look at the (few) photos below or read my captions in the complete photo album on Google Photos (to see the captions, press “i” on your keyboard). A smaller selection of my photos is also on Flickr.

Photos

Car is loaded on the train, ready for a 1000-kilometer journey.

After sunset on our balcony in Castagneto Carducci

In Piombino. The highest mountain is Monte Capanne on Elba. The low mountains on the horizon is Corsica.

First row on the beach

Siena

San Gimignano full of tourists

Happy to be in Florence

Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore with a shade from The Baptistery of St. John.

Ponte Vecchio at night 

Inside a fancy perfume store (Farmaceutica di Santa Maria Novella)

Come join me in my bathtub

Florence gives you wings

We drove through a supercell storm and then saw another one in the distance. The top of the anvil and flanking line are clearly visible.

Shoes of Ljubljana

Loptoši™ 2016: Georgia

After a year hiatus, my favorite event Loptoši™ was back with its 6th edition. This time it was only me and my brother Palo in late September.

Itinerary

Approximate itinerary on Furkot:

Note: You should try Furkot when planning your next trip. It’s the best thing since sliced bread GPS navigation.

Monday

We planned to hike from Mestia to Mazeri via Guli pass and then go see the Shdugra waterfall on the second day.

The beginning was very steep, but we were very soon rewarded with great views of Caucasus. These were some of the highest peaks I’ve ever seen.

Tetnuldi (4858 m) & Gistola (4860 m)

We continued together with a big Czech group also going to Mazeri. The ground was covered with snow from about 2600 meters altitude.

The descent was very slippery and we had trouble keeping balance with huge backpacks, so we both fell multiple times. After finding a great spot for a tent, we cooked dinner and just stayed in the tent.

I got a text in Georgian on my Georgian SIM and thought it must have been something very important. I sent it to my friend Mike who said that they fixed the sewage system in Zugdidi. That was very useful to know, given that we were camping 100 kilometers from there!

Tuesday

I slept like a baby for about 12 hours. Palo wasn’t so lucky and got a bad night in an old sleeping bag. It was freezing outside and we had plenty of frost inside the tent.

Frost inside the tent

Great morning view of Svaneti Range

We descended to Mazeri, where we left half of our gear and then hiked to Shdugra waterfall.

Shdugra waterfall

Mazeri as seen from Shdugra waterfall

Wednesday

We drove from the mountains to the coast of the Black Sea. It was raining and cold, so there was not much to do. We went to sauna and checked out the local fortress.

Kvariati must be very pleasant when it's warm and sunny

Thursday

Google Maps shows two alternatives for the shortest route between Batumi and Akhaltsikhe: 160 km long and 320 km long, both taking about the same time. Feeling adventurous, I chose the shorter alternative through the mountains.

Goats occupying the road

Choose your side

The road was getting worse and worse until it was only mud and no asphalt

The last 60 km took us more than 3 hours and it was very tiring to drive. Too bad it was raining, driving on this bad road could have been compensated with great views of the nearby mountains and valleys. When the bad road ended and we left the mountains, the country suddenly became very dry.

The monastery in Vardzia was spectacular, a labyrinth inside a cliff.

Five monks still live in this mountain

We then drove to Akhaltsikhe. Thanks to an EU grant, the Rabati Castle in Akhaltsikhe was recently reconstructed. Unfortunately, they used concrete almost exclusively, trying to make it look like old stone. It looks nice from afar but fake from very close.

Brothers in Rabati Castle

Friday

In the morning, we went for a short hike in Borjomi-Kharagauli National Park. After one hour, the rain stopped and we actually saw a bit of the mountains.

We also visited the Stalin Museum in Gori. Unfortunately, the museum didn’t mention Holodomor in Ukraine or Russian gulags. On our way to Telavi, we passed through Gombori pass during sunset.

Saturday

We visited the wine museum at Twins Old Cellar. Georgians have a wine-making method that is completely different from the one we use at home (and anywhere else in Europe for that matter). As a result of a different technology, white wine tastes similar to red.

Wine is made in large vessels called kvevri. A person cleans them from the inside.

We arrived to Tbilisi and chilled in the botanical garden for a few hours. In the evening we met up with Achi, cousin of my friend Mike from Stockholm.

Tbilisi during the day

Tbilisi at night

It was great to have someone local show us around. When we asked Achi how to send postcards, we learned that it is very complicated, since the concept of post is fairly new to Georgia. They developed other means of delivering important information, like small ATM-like machines on every corner.

The end

Georgia has a lot to offer: apart from high mountains, beaches and historic sites mentioned in the post, we had a lot of great and cheap food. I will definitely come back.

A selection of my photos is on Flickr. An album merged from our cameras is on Google Photos (if you click on “(i)” in the upper right corner of a photo view, you get to see my captions).