This day, in essence, was a journey. I have come to understand that I like roads, because sooner or later you reach the destination you have set and can set a new, next destination. But along the way new discoveries come, previously unexperienced situations, or unusual scenes open up to the eye. At a casual glance roads may seem static, unchanging, monotonous. But no - they are constantly transforming, changing, tracing the fates of people, even entire countries. I like to travel roads fast, because the mind races far ahead and irritation arises when the body cannot keep up. So we rented a car so that in our travels through Portugal, Spain, and Gibraltar we would not be tied to public transport schedules.
It was the last day in Lisbon, and we decided to spend it more or less aimlessly wandering the city streets and devoting time to anything that spoke to the eyes and heart. We began our walk in the direction of Praça do Comércio at a fairly early hour. The city was still lazily dozing, the window shutters still closed, the streets still holding yesterday's litter, and the owners of small shops and cafés were unhurriedly stirring, moving boxes of newly delivered goods. The narrow alleyways led lower and lower down from the hill.
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.
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."
In mid-July, from 13 July to 21 July, we made a trip by car to the Tatra Mountains on the Polish side. Despite the fact that the weather did not spoil us, we can now look back fondly on the time spent together away from everyday work. It looks like there will be several articles, as there are quite a few impressions and photographs. This time: about the drive, Polish roads, and accommodation.
