Hermanus & Wilderness

Hermanus is the whale capital of the Cape region. As the season unfortunately already ended, we didn’t get a chance to go looking for wales, but the town is still worth a visit. They have a beautiful cliff path where we went running and walking in the morning. And Dorin got to eat an excellent […]

Seal snorkelling

Bright and early the next morning we got up and got going, for the experience I looked most forward to: Seal Snorkeling with Animal Ocean. It’s a half-hour drive to Hout Bay, where Animal Ocean outfitted us with 3mm vests, 5mm wet suits, booties, gloves and hoods. It was still freaking cold! From Hout Bay […]

CapeTown day3

Late at night, we got the information that Switzerland with immediate effect stopped all airline traffic between Switzerland and South Africa. Without more information available, we spent a few tense hours thinking about what will happen next but decided that it was already too late to return to Switzerland anyway and that we would not […]

CapeTown day 2

Being on what feels the first trip this year (sorry, Greece, you just didn’t do it for us), we planned to enjoy every day to the maximum. First full Cape Town day: morning run, walking tour, high tea at the Belmond Mount Nelson Hotel, back to V&A Waterfront and drinks at the hotel. No dolphins […]

CapeTown – day 1

Finally back to travel, although with a lot of new safety measures in place. 48h before departure we did the PCR test and then had a nervous one day to wait for the (luckily) negative results. Not being sure until the last minute, we didn’t pack or did too much planning, booking only hotels with […]

Arnisee

we wanted to try snow-shoes for quite some time, we love this little activity, now we proudly own snow-shoes 😁

Zürich in autumn

Athens

this concluded our last day in the short greek holiday. seeing the Acropolis and Plaka without the typical crowds of tourists is really nice experience

Mykonos

definitely the “crowdiest” island of the Cyclades we got to visit, it has the best infrastructure and diversity in restaurants, easily to see why is the party island

Paros

we really enjoyed this island, especially riding the beach buggy. we wanted to rent a normal one but the orange bug was delivered. driving up the “mountain” was funny and the Lefkos (the mountain village) one of my new favourites

Naxos

rain is something we didn’t account for in Greece, didn’t even bother the check the weather prognosis, this is all I managed to photograph in a short walk in town, second day was planned for full island drive, rain disagreed..I think Naxos has the cutest old town from all the Cyclades

Santorini part 2

having some chilling days was nice, but after the second day we had to do something, else what is next, all inclusive holiday? so on the last day we took a boat cruise around the island. as beautiful as Santorini is too much tranquility is too much for us..

Santorini part 1

first real holiday of 2020; due to Corona we had to choose an European destination, the finalists were Greek islands and Tuscany, the seafood was declared a winner. There are plenty of tourists but not the typical croudy santorini. We’ll be off to Paros, Naxos, Mykonos and briefly in Athens. It was nice to return […]

Säntis

one of my favourite hikes in Swiss alps

Kyoto – part 4

Himeji-jo is about an hour by train from Kyoto, one of the few original castles left in Japan and what must be their most brilliant one. Very stunning! They recently finished comprehensive renovations, which they conduct every 50 years to be sure they pass on the required skills to the next generation. While the first […]

Kyoto – part 3

The next morning we were back in the tourist masses at Arashiyama bamboo grove. I can’t imagine how all of this has been two weeks ago, the main weeks to travel for cherry blossoms. In Himeji, our guide told us they had over 12k visitors in one day. The grove was beautiful though with endless […]

Kyoto – part 2

The town of Nara, 40km away from Kyoto, was Japan’s first permanent capital and is another Unesco World Heritage Site. The main sight is the great buddha (Daibutsu), 16m high and consisting of 437 tonnes of bronze and 130kg of gold. The Daibutsu-den (Great Buddha Hall) is a beautiful towering wooden building, one of the […]

Kyoto – part 1

After a disappointing ride in the Thunderbird train (it was fast but with that name, we expected more), we arrived mid-day at Kyoto, to another rainy afternoon. Tokyo is all the new, the bright lights, skyscrapers, cute food and colorful fashion. Kyoto is the old Japan, lots of temples and shrines, peaceful gardens, picturesque old […]

Kanazawa and the Japanese Alps April – part 2

The trip to Takayama was super smooth as overall traveling in Japan was. We booked the tickets online and with a three hours break in Ogimachi, to see the famous gasshō-zukuri farmhouses. They are steep reed-roofed wooden homes, made for harsh winters and meters of snow piling up on their roofs. It’s an Unesco world […]

Kanazawa and the Japanese Alps

Kanazawa and the Japanese Alps April 11-13 Kanazawa is one of the best preserved Edo-period cities in Japan, the 260 years period of the Tokugawa shogunate that united the country in 1603 and brought peace and prosperity. The town is famous forKenroku-en Garden – one of Japan’s top three gardens, the Nagamachi Samurai district and […]

Tokyo April 7-10 – day 4

Our fourth day was meant to be another day trip, this one to visit the Toshogu shrine in Nikko. But with the prognosis of constant rain and a temperature of less than three degrees, we decided to go with a Tokyo indoor activity day. So leisurely breakfast at Starbucks, umbrella shopping in Lawson and a […]

Tokyo April 7-10 – day 3

Rushing out of the hotel at 5am after almost oversleeping, we hurried back to Chidorigafuchi Moat for early morning pictures. Because the light is best and blah blah blah… Cherry blossom season in Tokyo was coming to an end, the trees were already less lush with flowers and the floor covered in petals. But not […]

Tokyo April 7-10 – day 2

Early(ish) next day we went to the Meiji Shrine in Harajuku, built in 1920 and dedicated to the deified spirits of Emperor Meiji and Empress Shoken. Starting from a massive torii gate, it is a tranquil stroll through a forested area to the shrine. Lunch was a very tasty sushi bowl in a tiny restaurant […]

Tokyo April 7-10 – day 1

Day 1 – To close one of our main travel white spots (China will follow next year), we booked a two weeks trip to Japan early April, hoping to catch up with the cherry blossom season. We decided to mainly stay in Tokyo and Kyoto, with a short trip to Kanazawa and the Japanese Alps, […]

Atacama desert

Chile, June 7-18 Two more days of desert in Atacama, and we slowly started to be over it. The trips we did to the hot springs, Valle de la Luna and Tara Desert were beautiful but still windy and cold. We even got into the once a year snowstorm with our driver slowing down to […]

Altiplano part 2

The other 1.5 days we drove through the altiplano to Chile. We saw colorful mountains, sandy deserts, beautiful lakes, spotted vicuñas, viscachas, lamas, Andean foxes and flamingos, froze on 4500 meters at -10 degrees and icy winds, covered in bed in so many blankets we couldn‘t move, and had a totally amazing time. Instead of […]

Altiplano part 1

The other 1.5 days we drove through the altiplano to Chile. We saw colorful mountains, sandy deserts, beautiful lakes, spotted vicuñas, viscachas, lamas, Andean foxes and flamingos, froze on 4500 meters at -10 degrees and icy winds, covered in bed in so many blankets we couldn‘t move, and had a totally amazing time. Instead of […]

Salar de Uyuni part 3 – the sily post

si fueris Romae, Romano vivito more

Salar de Uyuni part 2

Bolivia, 50th country we visited, June 2-7 Salar de Uyuni We were very lucky that our Salar de Uyuni to San Pedro de Atacama tour with Ruta Verde only started on our third day as it was very cloudy for the first two days. So we relaxed in our nice salt hotel and hoped for […]

Salar de Uyuni part 1

Bolivia, 50th country we visited, June 2-7 We were very lucky that our Salar de Uyuni to San Pedro de Atacama tour with Ruta Verde only started on our third day as it was very cloudy for the first two days. So we relaxed in our nice salt hotel and hoped for better weather. We […]

Titicaca Lake

Lake Titicaca is the highest navigable lake and quite impressive with its size and high altitude (3800m). It’s also a very pretty sight with its dark blue water, surrounded by yellow hills and far away, glimpses of Andean peaks. Puno on the other hand was rather ugly. Though very busy. On day one we could […]

Nazca Lines

For our “backpacking” part of the trip we travelled by bus from Lima to Nazca (6h), overnight to Arequipa (10h) and with the last very comfy bus to Puno (7h). Final bus transfer from Puno via Copacabana to La Paz was no more shiny buses with wide leather seats reclining 180 degrees and personal entertainment […]

Santa Cruz hike – part 2

Initially we planned to do the four day Santa Cruz Trek trek on our own, renting trekking gear in Huaraz. Luckily we decided instead to take an organized group trek with Quechuandes. First, we met some great people to hike with, Erica & Maxine from Toronto, Debbi & Michael from Zurich and our crew, Héctor […]

Santa Cruz Hike – part 1

Initially we planned to do the four day Santa Cruz Trek trek on our own, renting trekking gear in Huaraz. Luckily we decided instead to take an organized group trek with Quechuandes. First, we met some great people to hike with, Erica & Maxine from Toronto, Debbi & Michael from Zurich and our crew, Héctor […]

Huaraz – acclimatization hikes

Peru, May 17-June 2 Back to Peru, back to Lima. The food here is great, the city itself is meh. We quickly moved on to Huaraz, the hiking capital of Peru. There was not a single person on that flight not wearing hiking boots and carrying hiking poles. The Cordillera Blanca is the highest mountain […]

Cuenca

For our last few days in Ecuador we went to Cuenca, a laid-back colonial town in the south. From there it was only about an hour by bus to Cajas National Park. With an altitude of 3000-4000m, hiking here was a good exercise to get ready for the Cordillera Blanca in Peru. It was our […]

Galapagos – Isla San Cristóbal (video only)

On Isla San Cristóbal, we had an early morning snorkeling at Kicker Rock at 6am which was the perfect goodbye to the Galapagos. We had multiple sightings of hammerhead sharks – most impressive (and slightly scary) one that dove up towards us. There were lots of grey reef sharks forming a big circle, we counted […]

Galapagos – Isla Española

Isla Española was another excellent island for birds and sea lions. During our morning walk we got very close to sea lion colonies with their babies playing in the shallows, saw rocks covered with sea iguanas and watched the beautiful waved albatross, arriving to the island to start their breeding season. In the afternoon, we […]

Galapagos – Isla Floreana

After two calmer days, we were back to five activities a day on Isla Floreana, with two land trips and three snorkeling opportunities. At Post Office Bay, we could leave postcards behind for some other travelers to pick them up and hand deliver to their receivers (we shall see how long that takes for Constanta). […]

Galapagos – Isla Daphne, Isla Santa Fé & Isla Santa Cruz

Isla Daphne was a dinghy ride to the mangrove forest to spot sea turtles and golden rays, followed by a visit to Isla Santa Féto look for land iguana. And some of Darwin’s finches. In the evening, we arrived on Isla Santa Cruzand could go for drinks to the town. The island was all about […]

Data privacy, oh no…yet one more email

Data privacy & opting-out At some stage in the past, you chose to opt-in to receiving my newsletter (thank you!)  I hope you enjoyed the pictures I shared with you 🙂 As part of the General Data Protection Regulation new rules that come in to effect this 25 May, I need to advise you of […]

Galapagos – Isla Bartolomé

Isla Bartolomé had the best viewpoint and a very interesting hike through black lava fields. Also, the superb snorkeling at Pinnacle Rock. We saw eagle rays, whitetip reef sharks, tiny Galapagos penguins and sea lions. On our afternoon sailing to the next island, a big pot of bottlenose dolphins swam with out boat.  

Galapagos – Isla Genovesa

Galapagos, May 6-13 We had very high expectations for Galapagos with everyone having been there before raving about it. And it did not disappoint! We chose an eight day cruise on yacht Eden, where we would get to a different island every day. The boat was nice enough, although the cabins were rather small (our […]

Quito, Cotopaxi & Otovalo

Ecuador, April 30-May 17 We very much liked Quito, Ecuador’s capital. Arriving from Cuba, it offered all the luxury: access to money, fully stocked supermarkets, mobile data, clean roads 😊And a laundry next to our hotel that took care about our 15kg of dirty clothes, a few more days and we’d have had to walk […]

Bella Vista Cloud Forest

Ecuador, April 30-May 17 We spent a few days in the very relaxing Bella Vista Cloud Forest Lodge, with its beautiful rainforest, abundance of birds and great view of the cloud covered hills. Early morning was birdwatching, morning naturalist guided hikes through the forest and afternoon reading in our little bamboo hut, as it was […]

Trinidad

Cuba, April 20-30 Ten days in Cuba, to see the main highlights Sabine remembered from her trip 17 or so years ago. Havana, with its old American cars and some of the grandest palaces sugar money could buy that are now slowly turning into rubble, Viñales with its craggy mogotes (limestone monoliths), rusted red tobacco […]

Viñales

Cuba, April 20-30 Ten days in Cuba, to see the main highlights Sabine remembered from her trip 17 or so years ago. Havana, with its old American cars and some of the grandest palaces sugar money could buy that are now slowly turning into rubble, Viñales with its craggy mogotes (limestone monoliths), rusted red tobacco […]

Havana – part 2

Cuba, April 20-30 Ten days in Cuba, to see the main highlights Sabine remembered from her trip 17 or so years ago. Havana, with its old American cars and some of the grandest palaces sugar money could buy that are now slowly turning into rubble, Viñales with its craggy mogotes (limestone monoliths), rusted red tobacco […]

Havana – part 1

Cuba, April 20-30 Ten days in Cuba, to see the main highlights Sabine remembered from her trip 17 or so years ago. Havana, with its old American cars and some of the grandest palaces sugar money could buy that are now slowly turning into rubble, Viñales with its craggy mogotes (limestone monoliths), rusted red tobacco […]

Quetzales

Next, we spent two days in Trogon Lodge, San Gerardo de Dota, getting up very early to stare at trees. Sometimes with a hint of quetzal behind branches and leaves but mainly just trees. Quetzals are strikingly colored birds, with iridescent green wings, backs and heads and a red belly. The male birds have large […]