Retirement

This blog is retired since 2008, I keep it here for record. Continuation is on blogs linked here at the right side under LINKS.

Tour d'Europe: Poland, Croatia and Greece, with taste of Austria and Slovenia

I went to Europe and mixed aero-backpack with bus, train and ships. Only U-boot and rocket have been missing. At the end even shinkansen came into game, see the end of the report here.
The backpack:

Together with it were such views (from ferry Rhodes-Crete)

Musical theme here, sure enough, Theodorakis and Maria Farantouri.
M. Theodorakis&M.Farantouri
For religious ones ,prayer from OLD small church in Ermou street in Athens:
molitva
Recepy for good holidays by mikidtaiwan: fly to Athens from Taipei, go to Monastiraki (view to Acropolis) for morning coffee when waiting for the plane to Warsaw. When you go out from th eairport bus in the centre of Athens, you are at Platea Syntagmatos, and can meet, at 9AM, some apparition of old philosophers:

I am curious if he went like this also to schurch (it was Sunday), or it was some pre-christian philosopher...
About Athens from my hand you can see at mikidhellas. This time my pictures are rather about Dodecanese islands, which until now were only geographical term for me.

My favorite exercise during flights is recognizing the places I fly above, and search in google maps. Here I had a rare pleasure of seeing the hotel to which I will come 2 weeks later. I did research for location of the hotel in google maps before flight.

My picture og the place, from 10 km height is (left bottom corner is location of my hotel, Ixia):

I saw even the ferry on line I was to use in 2 weeks, but it was too small to make pic. Next, even more recognizable feature was Renia, an island near ancient Delos:

My picture of it:

Receipt further goes: after coffee in Monastiraki and some giros, and with piece of good dark greek bread in the backpack, you have a beer with dear people in Warsaw, do some bureaucracy, and go on, via Austria and Slovenia. Then proceed to the Adriatic seaside, and my island of Pag.
Lika region, just before coming through the tunel St. Roko to the Adriatic coast:

Velebitski channel:

Here I enjoyed my deserved free time:

My favorite view when going to Sv. Duh beach:

Pag motifs are for me always the best remedy for soul:

Classical sunset:

After free time, time for some work. Direction: Rodos island, Greece. Flying to Athens via Vienna.
Northern part of Balaton lake in Hungary:

Known curve of the Danube river nearby the Hungarian-Croatian-Serbian border near Baja:

Zavojsko Lake in south Serbia, near Pirot:

Sofia, capital of Bulgaria:

Exiting from the Continent above Thassos island, in Aegean sea:

After leisure time, I went on, to Greece, flight to Athens and immediately a ferry to Rhodes island. Plan was to make big Aegean circle, to encircle Dodecanese on ship, Piraeus-Rodos-Crete-Piraeus. In the first version was also Santorini, but it will have to wait some other time, I had duty in Athens.
In Rhodes, I joined conference:

Free time was beach, food, sightseeing. When later back in Athens, I returned for a few days to my old first place in Athens, aparment under the dome at the Pysics department in Panestemiopolis on Zografou.

So, now Rhodes. Just for fun, I will put few pics, people do not go too often there, too far and too expensive. Rhodes is curious because of its medieval city walls still complete-sure, with a Venetian touch, as in all Mediterranean islands.

One of the squares, all in restaurants, even the terraces are full of tourists.

Clock tower with mikidtaiwan:

Beautiful streets...Escher was here>?

Original positioning of "Last supper", indeed:

Escher again:

Constantinople (let's not use its present name, when we have Greece in mind) would not be ashame of this street...

We managed to spot these landmarks of Rhodes in the evening...here presumably stand one leg of the Colossus of Rhodes...

Lawrence Durrell, my bard, spent some time here, running away from German occupation,from Athens to Crete...

Cat had intriguing look...the house, in the garden of old mosque, in fact nearby the turkish cemetery, is now the musem and place formeetings of Literary Association of Rhodes, appropriate.

Another intersting city is Lindos, some hour driving south,on the eastern coast. Here waves are much smaller and swimming more pleasant-also, there is few degerees warmer than on the western coast, interesting.
This city is preserved by making msueum/restaurant of all city. Probably the only way to preserve it. Streets are beautiful combination of stone and flowers:

Really pleasant look:

As a greek citry should, it has its own acropolis::

I am thinking...maybe in Kolan we could revitalise our Gradina above the village... ;-)

Beautiful view from the top:

(S)he watches me, also, and I think I know what (s)he is thinking...

Really as in fairy tale

A bit more of the sea

Garfield came here on holidays also...

After Rhodes, you can sit (lie) on the deck of something what was pride of Greek ferry fleet...30 years ago, and after some 15 hours come to Crete.

Around noon you will pass the island of Kassos, nice, classical Greek island-type town there:

Agios Nikolaos, Crete:

It is a beauty of the city, with Vouliasmeni, lake where Aphrodite took bath...they connected it with the sea in 19th ct. (it was called "Dirty lake" then...I suppose also stinky):

When higher instances-here, work-orders, you take a hiperfast ferry to Piraeus

and after less than 10 hours reach Athens.
Then few days of pleasant scientific discussions with evening strolls in Athens (funny, indeed, to be tourist there).
One of my tasks was also to take care that Mishka would not feel lonely:

Then return to Taiwan, hot and humid, via Bankgkok.
Promised high speed train when back to Taiwan, it was my 1st ride by it, when coming from airport:

Interesting is that they allow, with speeds up to 300km/h that people would stand...they sell places even without place reservation. And the train is permanently full.

From flickr:HSR Taiwan locomotive, from thenhbbushman flickr-a, see there for more, if interested.

Month in Europe...always pleasant. Time to go back, soon (to Europe). Will work on it. Please, some southern country... it would really be rape of my soul to go to some northern country after all these beautiful southern countries, my soul is of southern kind, this I know, now.