As you can guess from the title, the third day of the trip was devoted to visiting the Lisbon Oceanarium. This attraction drew us not because it has Europe's largest aquarium, holding 5 million litres of sea water and simulating the ocean depths, and not because of its modern architecture or the vast and diverse grand exhibition of seabirds, fish, crabs, jellyfish, starfish, and other ocean inhabitants, but because of two species of flippered creatures - Magellanic penguins and Southern rockhopper penguins.
We woke up fairly early, so decided to devote this day to an excursion to a town approximately 30 km from Lisbon, recommended by acquaintances and beloved by tourists. If you Google the word "Sintra," the search results will show: palaces, palaces, palaces.
They say one can rest twice - the first time when planning a trip and in one's mind being already there, the second time during the trip itself. I, for my part, have decided to rest three times - planning, travelling, and telling about the journey. I thought for a long time about what would be the best format for this story, and settled on a diary, in which I shall describe each lovely day spent in three wonderful Southern European countries - Portugal, Spain, and Gibraltar.
A look back at four years in the referral marketing organisation BNI, in which I continue to operate and hold the seat for the personnel recruitment industry in the BNI Vivaldi chapter. In 2015 we started with a group of thirty people; currently the number of participants at each BNI early morning fluctuates between 50 and 70. Monthly turnover averages EUR 110,000 from deals arising as a result of referrals.
Time seems to have started moving relentlessly fast, work begets work and events for January are already being planned. But where to record it all? Yes, yes, some will say - keep it simple, open Google Calendar or some other app on your smartphone and just tap away. No, my dears, you lose one hedonistic moment that you can savour day after day at least 365 times a year when you open your paper planner with its visually and tactilely pleasing design.
This time the story will include real names of "characters" and organisations. On 28 September of this year, the Latvian Chamber of Commerce and Industry sent out a press release with the headline "LCCI Does Not Support Indicating Salaries in Job Advertisements" and almost all the leading media published it with relish.
Wieliczka is a fairly small town not far from Kraków, but tourist crowds flow there for the chance to descend 130 m below ground and breathe the salty air or touch the tip of one's tongue to a salt wall. Naturally, many are drawn by the opportunity to visit a chapel hewn out of salt underground.
Before telling you about the underground world of other countries, I think I should write about the underground world right here in Vidzeme. I imagine some of you may have already visited a few of these sandstone caves, while others mentioned in the article will be a pleasant discovery. In any case, I am happy to share impressions from a one-day excursion and nostalgia for the flexibility of youth, when crawling into any hole in the ground - and crawling back out, or turning around ten times on one's own axis - was not at all difficult.
Zakopane is a small town at the foot of the Tatra Mountains, in the far south of Poland, in the Lesser Poland Voivodeship. Popular with tourists both in winter and summer, as from there several mountain trails and ski runs begin. Hence the characteristic bustle, traffic jams on the small streets, and fantastic views of the mountain silhouettes just a short distance away.
One of the most popular walking trails in the Tatra Mountains leads to Lake Morskie Oko, or the Eye of the Sea. The trail length to the lake is slightly more than 9 km, leading higher and higher into the mountains. While walking one should account for a slight but steady upward incline. There is also the possibility of walking around the lake on a trail approximately 2.5 km long - I definitely recommend all walkers use this option, as the true beauty of the lake and the grandeur of the mountain ridges is best revealed when walking all the way around the "eye."
