Portugal: Day 1,2 and 3, to Coimbra and Duoro

Portugal: Day 1, 2 & 3, from Coimbra to the Duoro river and back.

Those familiar with the ‘Lonely Planet’ must know that the book divides the country into regions. I believe these regions are purely based on their geography and not so much the politics.  The first 3 days of my journey in Portugal drove me through the regions of Beira, and the Duoro river valley. Over the extent of these days it had dawned upon me, that a country as small as Portugal can be at times as diverse as India.

I reached Coimbra, the capital of the Beiras and what is aptly called the Oxford of Portugal. On my first night which happened to be a Friday night, I looked out for traces of students having a fun time on the road but found none. What I found was a restaurant, oh ya food again. Although I have no habit of noting down the events as they happen, I feel now I really should’ve noted the name of the restaurant where the menu is typed everyday on a typewriter, which is itself as old as its chef. With my little knowledge Spanish, and comparing the words with Portuguese, I was able to set my order right. It had an English menu but I simply chose to read from the typewritten one. It felt fresh to read the food items under a date. Soon I realized that the food was as fresh as the menu. I think it was fish on day one for me in Coimbra. Actually it was that more or less all through my journey.

Anyways so there I was, my eyes on the plate and the only sound to be heard of  was that of the people talking softly. Yes that is one thing about the Portuguese that I noticed immediately. They are softer than the Spanish. The words are much more rounded than their neighbors and so are their bodies. So, as I sat at my table all alone thinking about how to go about tomorrow, the long table next to me, which had the ‘reserved’ sign, started to fill. A few men in their late 50’s came, and drinks came with them. Then more men and more drinks, till I realized that this was some kind of a re union. There was one man whom I picked to ask at the end, ‘is this some kind of a birthday party or college reunion?’ and the man simply smiled and said ‘Its Christmas’

Well not only those men were soft with their party mood, although this was much before they got a little tipsy, I guess even their wives must be easy on them. This was my first rendezvous with the people, the men from Portugal and it looked like other than the grand old chef who insisted I have his best desert, there were a few in the group of men who didn’t mind me staying on till the end.

I had to get on the road early the next day and so I chose to leave. 

In the original plan about this region, I had 2 nights in Coimbra and to drive to Porto, the second biggest city in Portugal from where I would take the ‘tourist’ cruise with my people to Peso do regua, on the other side of the Duoro river. The cruises don’t operate in winter, so I thought to myself why don’t I simply drive to Peso do Regua rather than Porto.

The reason I chose to drive in this trip was that this is exactly how my people would travel. Public transport was fine and cheap but that would largely limit the places I travelled to. As I drove to the other side of the river, I learnt that the book spoke about a train station, further away from Peso and was a place not to be missed. So just to see the train station I went the 25 kms. Those 25 kms, my dear people were the best I had driven in the whole of Portugal(actually there were a lot more).

The river looked like a lake. The image of the surrounding mountains so clear that a vineyard dried up in the winter months could drink water from it.

The town of Pinhao .. population of 110. Imagine one wedding in this town and the whole town is empty, other than in mid-summer, when the tourists would account for multiples of at least 5.

Sometimes the journey is better than the destination is what I thought during those 25 kms. But here the destination Pinhao was as good as the journey itself. When I travelled with my dad in India and we would go to Hotels to negotiate the rates, I used to tell him, lets not, it looks expensive. He would then say, “lets see, they need us”. Well that’s what I thought when I went to see the rooms at the Vintage hotel in Pinhao. A hotel made out of an old warehouse for wine. It looked solid and when they said that they have special rates for the first week of may, that’s exactly when my people would come, I was happy. Not because of the rates but because this was the first time I had acted like a businessman on my trip and not just a traveler.

In the travel business, I have to deal with local travel agents who in turn deal with the hotels. But what if the local agents aren’t good enough, well yes then why will I work with them shall be your question. Well, good at arranging stuff, but not good at actually suggesting it. My job in this trip I had then learned was not only to get familiarized with the place I had decided to take my people to, but to question it first, and to see if there is anything that is better than that. After all I will come back for more, but my people will see Portugal only once.

And I want them to be as happy as I was with Portugal.

A stay in Pinhao, overlooking the river in the month of may, when the big hoards of tourists are still away will play a big role in letting Portugal talk for itself. That evening, when I drove back to Coimbra and ate at the same restaurant, I realized that I had not much of an appetite. I was already contended with Pinhao and finding it out for my tour.

On my way back from the restaurant that night, in a narrow lane in Coimbra I saw the students, then I saw more in subsequent lanes. It was as if the town had its arteries in the lanes. It was where it was alive. 

I had read about the traditional music of Portugal. It is known as Fado. The book spoke about Coimbra as a place where it was born and Lisbon was simply where it took off from. I usually don’t like sitting at places where the tourists sit and listen to music, or watch a dance specially set for them. But that night after the first 20 minutes of Fado I realized, that the singers who were in their late sixties were as enthusiastic about their singing that evening, as they would have been when they started. Who was I to think of this place as typical and the experience touristy.  When I got off from my chair, it was half past mid night!

Its true that Pinhao won over Coimbra in Natural beauty and the sheer appeal. But somewhere I felt that Coimbra was a place to feel and not to see. Much like the first night when all I did was saw the town and it felt empty. The second night I felt the pulse of the town, coming from its lanes from its students talking about their country or maybe their love life, from the music that played in that touristy café and later from the air that felt warm in +7 degrees. Or maybe it was just me who felt warm .. in Portugal!

Portugal - How it all began ?!

Spain Morocco and Portugal. Thats how my tour was planned in 2011. The itineary was purely on the basis of what people wanted from me and not what I knew about these countries. I was happy that the tour did not take off. Never once did I feel that i was right about the tour. 

In the mid 2012, I realized I had to separate Morocco out of the other two so that I could concentrate on it more. Later I realized after some ‘lonely planetting’ that Portugal begged for more. And so the whole idea of spending close to 10 days in a country, driving through its roads immerged. I thought I would do my research before coming to the country but till the time my flight was 20 mins from touch down in Lisbon, I was lets say too much engrossed in my Scandinavian tour.  So much so that on my way to the B&B from the airport, I even doubted my coming to Portugal. Well that was the last time ever there was any ‘doubt’ about the country.

The Plan

Drive through the cities and towns picked by me for the tour itinerary

The Objective

To not end up with my people as a complete stranger to the road

The carrier

A small sized ‘economy’ car, that’s what the rent a car website said

The budget

Stay cheap eat modest and spend only on fuel

It all seemed to be well in view until my first unplanned stop in a small town called Santarem on the way to Coimbra in the central region of Portugal. The attendant at the counter of my guest house in Lisbon had told me to visit Fatima on the way and to eat there, but Santarem a few Kms before had a ‘lonely planet’ top choice restaurant. Well close to the end of my 3^rd course and somewhere before the desert, I realized .. modest is only an adjective assigned to the way the restaurant was. The food was something I had no control on. I was coming from Norway and Portugal gave me the entries, first course, second course, desert , coffee and drinks for the price of a single plate in Norway. I was hungry and the chef too keen to show my lonely planet around to his locals. ‘estou es muito bem’ translated to ‘this is very good’. The book he meant, the food I did. I felt like staying till evening and then to stay back till dinner. But I realized there was more to come and this was just the start.

Portugal had made its mark. A little bit of Goa I thought at first when in the morning I had stared right up to the Atlantic ocean from the terrace of my guest house. Eating in that small eatery I realized that if not anything, I am going to have a blast with the food.

Its true ,the culture, language, people and the sights all came in big .. but they came in later! FOOD knocked me down first and then it was very easy for the rest of them to come all over and to make me say at the end of it all.

Can I really also take out Spain and just do a tour of Portugal ??!!

I am going to write about the next few days in Portugal in parts. Something that I have tried to do with Siberia but only managed a little. Much like they do in the book we all adore and respect so much. The ‘Lonely Planet’.

Up North in Scandinavian Winter !

The Scandinavian winter is behind me. I love every part of travelling in the Scandinavian Arctic’s in the winter as much as I do in the summer. But somehow the winter is more larger than life. The snow and the white magic it creates, makes you forget everything. At times even that you are in Scandinavia. However when you touch more than just the white flakes you know its Norway, Sweden or Finland. The people up north in these countries are called Sami. They share a common culture with the Russian cousins.  However they are a few decades ahead of them in technology. But the Russian sami’s have their own reason of sticking to their traditions. They believe that they can zoom around in a snow mobile but what about the fuel? How will they afford that? So they continue riding the reindeer. Unlike in Norway where the Sami herdsman travels ahead of his reindeer family in a snow mobile, sets his tent and comes back for them in the months of winter migration.

The Sami trade in reindeers. Its their currency. So when a child is born in the family, he gets a reindeer and then on each birthday he receives one more. When he has 20, he reserves the option to trade them for money or to become an active herdsman. And If he does choose to trade them, then even in Norway he could afford a nice apartment and a good life. Such is the value of reindeers.

For us however all that matters is to take a ride on the sledge and to feel the warm fur over its skin. Then, to sit in a Sami tent made of reindeer skin and to listen to the tales of the Sami, about his family and their way of life, as the reindeer stew cooks slowly over the central fire and his kids run wild in the snow outside in – 20 deg.

My winter tour to Scandinavia is titled the ‘Northern Lights, Scandinavia’. However even if the northern lights do show their full color it feels more contended, when people say, “there is much more to the winter here, than just the lights”.  Its true the culture in a place, the people the food can even make the nature take a back seat at times. However when both of them come together, the combined effect is a winning combination.

I am flying now to Lisbon and to + 17 deg. I knew even when I was freezing in – 20 and absolutely hating it, that I would miss the negative double figures on the mercury scale. I am already doing that as I enter the Portuguese airspace.

Winter or summer in Scandinavia. The northern lights or the mid night sun. The story of the fisherman in summer or that of the Sami in winter.  Everything about Scandinavia is simply Scandinavian!

White Riga - Latvia

I first came here, not with the intention of coming but just to avoid flying from Helsinki to the Finnish north. Not because I dislike the capital of Finland but just because I spend a lot of time in summer there and winter called for something different.

Riga is different, it’s a mix of St Petersburg, Prague and any west European city. The feel is medieval, the touch is modern, the people are friendly and even though it doesn’t always matter, they all speak English.

In the first year itself, the ‘Riga plan’ was appreciated by my people who had almost all been to Helsinki. For them, Riga offered a different take on the winter and white Christmas. It just proved to be the ideal stay, before flying off to the North of Finland where Santa has his abode, Rovaniemi.

Latvia is one of the three Baltic countries that were formed when the USSR went out of work. Estonia and Lithuania are the other two. The LATS, local currency here is stronger than the EU, perhaps the only country in the EU to have such a status. Economics has never been my strong point, so when I came to know that the financial crisis has not affected this country so much, I thought that the stronger Lats has something to do with this. However my guide made it very clear,  “we know how much to spend”. “ We earn one third of what they give in Greece and look where it is today”

Its true, even in the priciest of streets here, the people display modesty. The women too, can you believe it! Even the Burberry store on the corner looked simple. 

The food has distinct traces of Russia, and why not when half of its population still speaks Russian. Vodka, however is not a strong seller. The Balsam is, which happens to be a concussion of herbs and fine tuned to the fermentation process. I however stick to beer when I am here.

I always stay for a night and somehow don’t feel incomplete when I leave.  I just feel happy to have come here again. Riga doesn’t shout, it doesn’t need to do that. It just keeps quiet and lets you look at it, till you feel it under your skin.

As I said bye to my guide today, she just said, “See you next winter”.

I don’t know how I will feel if I ever come here in summer. There is an image this city holds, a feeling. For me Riga will always be cold with a warm inside.

East from North to South in TURKEY

‘Sutlaj’ is a desert people eat in Turkey. But like any country in the world, the best food item is highly localized and then its versions are available elsewhere in the country. The best Sutlaj is from the north east of the country from the mountains of Kackar. Here the air is clean and the milk from which it is made, rich. I love this desert and sometimes even eat it as a meal replacement when in the region.  The region of the North East of Turkey, which is the star attraction of my tour to Turkey and an addition we made just this year. I always smile with content when people who after experiencing the North East express their happiness in coming to this remote area of Turkey.

However I have never been so proud of it as I was today, when my local Turkish guide proudly said to a restaurant owner in Istanbul who asked her to taste his sutlaj “oh .. Do you know where I’ve been two days back, Rize and Hamsikoy!” The owner knew what she meant, and exclaimed that she had been to the Mecca of sutlaJ. He then asked her how the hell did she land up there. All she did was to point at me. The owner then looked at me and smiled. I smiled back .. I smiled with more content than I ever had before.

To follow is one thing and to discover is an entire different madness. And when that discovery goes well with whom it is intended for, it is sheer content. The Black sea, North East coast of Turkey and travelling through it made me fall in love with the country all over again. I now crave for more, to go further to the east and then the south following the borders of Georgia, Armenia and Iran. Places that the people here in Istanbul are inquisitive about and sometimes even scared to go to, because of the Kurdish problem there. A region where if you ask a local where you can find a hotel to stay, he would happily say, “why do you need a hotel? ,my house is just 50 mtrs from here”.

A land of snow capped mountains and still lakes, where to reach a top of a mountain there is no cable car like in the west, and so the tourists are less and less is beautiful. Naturally this is all before I have even been there. When I go there and ultimately start a tour, it will be what I would finally get my kick from.

On this trip to Turkey, I feel I’ve grown. Well, not in terms of the number of people in my group, coz I am still struggling to convince the people back home to spend 10 days in turkey, but in terms of knowing the country. And this I know has not just happened. The language and learning to speak it, making a conversation which extends just a ‘good day’ and ‘how are you’ has been the key.  In 2010 from having one frustrating hour of silent drinking with my driver who couldn’t speak a word of English and me a word of Turkish to now where still the silence exists but only when sipping the drink, I feel, I have come a long way in Turkey and Turkish.

In April this year I remember telling my agent, “I hope I don’t need to come to Turkey again”. Well what I actually meant, was that I needed more time to concentrate on my other tours.  But here I am again and it seems that what I said to my agent did not make any sense and probably never will.

Turkey just calls and who am I not to ans

The guest HOUSE .. hotel Debate !

How do you decide where to stay when you travel. To stay in a star rated hotel is how the general requests from my tourists come. ‘I want a 4 star’ is the common expression. 4 stars, where you can press ‘0’ for operator and other combination of digits for Restaurant, Laundry, Reception etc. According to the service standard of the Hotel, the concerned people respond. And they better respond or your expression is, this ??  a 4 star ???!!

But what if, at the middle of the night when you are hungry, you need to go and make your own sandwich, or your bed needs to be made and you have to do it yourself ? Well, think about it ! We all want luxury or at least convenience when we travel and these things don’t really fit in, do they ?

Yes they do .. they fit perfectly when you fit in. When you feel uncomfortable in the tower blocks cooled by artificial air. When the sandwich that comes to your room is good, but the feeling is not good enough as to sit and eat in a kitchen with the scent, still lingering.

There is a huge demand of hotel rooms and the more they build them the more the city will need I am sure. Then there are hostels, which cater to backpackers and/or travelers on a tight budget.

Somewhere between these two is a guest house or a B & B (Bed and Breakfast).  Many of us end our travel endeavors without staying in one and believe me it’s a shame.

                                                              THE ENTRY !

The hotels are not personal, the hostels have a friendly atmosphere but the co travelers offer more than the owners. In a guesthouse, which is ideally not bigger than 8 – 10 rooms, the word ‘personal’ takes a new meaning all together. It has the friendliness of a hostel, but in which the owners contribute more. The convenience of a hotel, but not the artificial professional service that comes with it.  An omelet for breakfast is made in front of you and there is no line like that at a ticket window to claim it. The water in the room, when over, needs to be refilled by yourself from the kitchen. The bed is made but only once during the stay. The garbage has to be self disposed, and more than seldom a pet would play at your feet as you read a book in the verandah.

                                                              DINING FOR 15 !

In the night when dinner is served the owner and generally his wife or a friend will entertain you with their stories. The first glass of wine is taken into account but when the conversation becomes interesting, the wine flows ! The next morning during check out you realize that as much as you, the owners had the pleasure of drinking with you and so it was on the ‘guesthouse’

The ‘hope to see you again’ happens but it feels more like ‘even if we don’t see you again, we are happy you were here’

There are hotels, which have a mall, swimming pool, casino and a gym to keep their guests entertained. In a B&B you would be entertained.. oh yes you sure would be .. but with conversations .. With the owners, the co travelers, the pets, the birds, and yes when you are alone gazing at the open sea or a hill in front of you .. With yourself!

Note : The blog is inspired by the stay in the Naya Guesthouse in Buyukada, Istanbul ! To know more about them visit .. www.nayaistanbul.com

Croatian Blues ..

I was 12 when the Union of Soviet Socialist Republic disintegrated and as far as I can remember back then on the limited news channels in India there was not much about it.  Three years later cable television came in India in a big way and suddenly the world and the events happening in it were louder.  In 1993 the loudest were the explosions heard in then, Yugoslavia. Words like Bosnia, Kosovo; Siberia, Croatia etc were spoken a lot on the news.

Some 10 years later ‘Lagaan’ an Indian film was nominated for the Oscar’s. Back home in India we all were vouching for it to win. But ‘No mans land’ a film made by a Bosnian director won the coveted best foreign language film award in 2002. 

Eight years later in 2010, I first came to Slovenia, and realized it had a past and was first to branch out of Ex Yugoslavia in a 10 day war with not much casualties.. The other country to do so was Croatia but for them however it was not that easy. It took 5 years and the lives of some twenty five thousand Croats before the war ended, and the borders of Croatia were recognized by the world.  My interest in this region I realized had grown enough to explore it.

The war is over and the tourism is booming. Places like Dubrovnik in Croatia attract close to 2 million visitors every year. But in my search of the real Croatia and the way it was before the war, I decided to move around this little Peninsula of Istria. The clear blue waters, lazy little towns with cafes on the sea front and a typical old town feel is what I had imagined every town of this Peninsula to be more or less. But, tourism, which supports the economy, also destroys the peace of a place. On my first evening I was very disappointed with Rabac which claimed to be smaller of the lot, but it left me wondering ‘if this is small, then !!’ It took me the next morning and a visit to a tiny family estate, which specializes in making a typical ham from this area to feel close to the real Croatia.

Fazana from the sea !

It was in these villages, where the impact of the war was only economic in nature. So the charm continues to live. The people smile but not like the front office manager in a 5 star hotel who when she smiles and says ‘its so nice to see you, have a nice day’ actually means ‘hey listen, fuck off I hate this job’. When I enter a restaurant and the menu doesn’t come to the table, not because the place is busy, but is at its own pace I know the food has more chances of being good. Just like the town itself, which lives at a similar pace.

This is where you should eat !

That’s what is going wrong in tourism. Places like Dubrovnik or any tourist town in Europe, which receives crazy amounts of tourists per day, have café’s, souvenir shops etc where the pace is like Mumbai, while the town has a pace 10 times slower. The result if you think deep and u should be lucky for it to occur to you, that you are only physically present in the place. Mentally it feels like the fast moving Tokyo.

I went today to a bookshop in Zagreb and asked for some movies by Croatian and Serbian directors. All of them had war scenes on their cover. I asked the salesman ‘all war movies?’. He said ‘offcourse’ .. it was more a statement about the war than the movies.  1995 is seventeen years old but no 17-year-old works in a book store. When you live through a war you don’t forget it.

Somehow it makes me think the war did change the people here for the good. I don’t know how and I can’t explain it. Maybe they were this friendly from the beginning.. Who knows!!

All I know is right now Croatia has just opened its window to me. The door I will knock in the time to come

The Soul of Slovenia

“The Euro Zone Crisis are for real. Greece was being talked about, now it’s the turn of Spain and soon it will be Italy, Slovenia and so on.  The Capitalists are taking on and till they completely turn Europe into Argentina of the 80’s .. enjoy a piece of it”.  My Slovenian friend told me this.

I don’t know what the future holds and I am a little worried but right now when I am at the most beautiful lake I’ve ever been to in Europe, the sound of the river coming out of it in the distance makes the  ‘sound of the crisis’ go away.

Slovenia, and I have written about it before so I will be stuck for words, especially after deleting an entire page written on Krakow.  But its true that Prague, Krakow and Budapest fall in one league of East European nations. Slovenia, Croatia are republics of  Ex Yugoslavia and feel different in everyway.  The more I travel to Slovenia the more I want to travel to its Interiors and I love that feeling. Turkey first gave me that feeling followed by Argentina and now its Slovenia. The reason, I don’t know. It just feels very personal. Like wanting to know a person more after you’ve meet him.. I am not saying Poland, Norway etc don’t give me the same. But there I don’t feel the hurry to know, here I feel it !

Usually I stay with my groups in the Lake Bled area. The high season and the tourists coaches flood the lunch hours and it feels a little lost, even the sheer beauty of the lake doesn’t sometime save the day. 18 kms inward and some beautiful Slovenian countryside scenery later is the lake of Bohinj. What can I say about it !! It takes a cable car to take you 1600 mtrs above to actually catch a complete glimpse of this beautiful stretch of water.  Its vast expanse is not merely in its length but the Triglav mountain range of the Julian Alps cast a spell on the blue waters and in its background lies the real glory of the lake.

They say the people in the town are rude. They don’t let any new hotels or restaurants come up and are anti tourists in their policy. I smile at them and ask them what could be more pro tourist than to not allow more resorts and plastic hotels spoil the place. I stuck onto just Bled for 18 months. I still love to sit at a traditional open air bar and have my beer in Bled. Eat good trout and a piece of the Bled cake. However when time is right to leave.. I would rather go home to Bohinj.

Beauty in its appearance is just for the initial pull .. the soul appeals to different people in different ways. I find the beauty of Slovenia in places like Bled, its soul I find in Bohinj.

This is a tour, and that means just 3 days is what I get to stay here for. Someday I will come here and stay longer and even then, I am sure it would still feel like just 3 days.

Slovenia !

"You are lucky to be in Kamchatka"

“You are lucky to be in Kamchatka” my trekking guide said. Who says that? Only someone who understands where he lives and what the place means and has meant to the few hundred foreign travelers that make it here every August, yes there is only one month that can be called as the right time to travel. As I write now a few minutes from boarding the flight back to civilization, I understand what the guide meant.

To photograph the Northern Lights in – 20 deg, I thought was difficult. As I transfer the pictures from my SD card now I realize and relive the moments on the volcano Mutnowsky. For many of my co travelers the trek though difficult wasn’t risky. For me with my city boots, made me realize how much of an importance good clothing and shoes can make when nature shows its form.  The rain, the fog and the climb in adverse weather conditions prevented even the avid photographers that day from taking any pictures of the Volcano. It was as if the volcano said, just leave and let me be.

The treks usually all start in a group unless you want to do it on your own and take on the extremes. Petropavlosky is the chief town in the Kamchatka peninsula and the way people are glad when they arrive here by flight, they are even more so when they leave the town in a 6 x 6 and go off road. Kamchatka is only connected by air with main land Russia and although it is not an island and just a peninsula it is impossible to get here by road through the high Volcanic mountains. By sea from Japan or by Air from Russia is the only thing to do. The used right hand driven cars come from Japan so as a lot of other Japanese products, thankfully not China.  The trucks however are specially constructed in Kamchatka for the worst of mountain roads or lets call it paths. There are several Volcanoes near the town only if the distance is measured in kilometers. However to get to the base camp you go at general speeds of 15 km / hr and once there the camp has to be set. 

Each one pitches his own tent, I had to take the help of my fellow experienced campers. The first night I realized how less prepared I was, with no sleeping mat, no sleeping bag atleast I had bought the mosquito net for the head and the repellent. The briefing is made during dinner, which is wholesomely cooked and neatly arranged by the enthusiastic cooks.  The guide commonly only speaks Russian as he is not a tourist guide, just a guy who loves to spread his legs under the open sky and move them on volcanic grounds. So the interpreter is always taken along. Its like listening to one of those world forum speeches where the president of Russia speaks in his tongue and the interpreter follows in English.

Bears are always lurking around the corner, but since at least 2 – 3 camps of 10 tents each are in close vicinity, the wild stay away. Food therefore is not supposed to be kept open and the kitchen is away from the main camp. The first night happened to be my first night in a tent ever, not considering the Sahara where I had firm ground and an experience guide to pitch my tent. The breeze blowing over high grass makes a weird sound, and it feels that a bear is scratching on the tent, imagination goes wild and ensures sometime has gone before you sleep. The next morning when I woke up and stepped out of the tent, the morning sky was maddening ! The guys with tripods and pro cam’s were already up and shooting. I however simply chose to breathe and look. I will edit the toilet part and how everyone avoids the temporary toilets in the tent full of bees and goes in search of a high ground with a shovel. After breakfast the trek begins. The truck took us to a point from where the first Glacier of the Mutnowsky volcano was visible. I thought that our path wont cross it, but then I could see some reds and black figures walking on it from a distance. This is much before the rain came calling. Somewhere halfway through the trek across, glaciers, streams and loose mud we realized that the weather isn’t getting any better. The faces of people returning from the peak were like, we made it but good luck to you. The ascend is easy, but the fog can sometimes give no clear view of the crater as it happened with us. The descent is and for me was the most overwhelming experience. I can only say that when I reached the base I was glad that the whole thing was over. 

The days on the Volcano are a mix bag, the weather is all controlling and if it decides to be kind you will have treat, if not the climb will treat you to an experience which you wont forget in a good and a bad way.

There are trips that can be done with the helicopter and then there is trekking after that. Or simply blow the money on the helicopter and reach the place directly. But its not adventurous enough for many and so the only frequent air trips are to the valley of the geysers. To view the bears is the other exciting thing people do, and sometimes spend 3 – 4 days camping and searching for that best photo shot. The rafting and fishing trips also can last for a week or more to get your rush.  The ultimate rush is always when you are in nature all by yourself. Like the Norwegian couple I met at the Kamchatka Airport.  Their bags each weighed 40 kgs and I later learnt that they had spent 12 days on the river, rafting and another 12 days waiting for someone to come and pick them up. I never wanted to ask them how it was, I just chose to imagine.

I know now what is the peak of adventure in this, or any land routed deep in wild nature. Some day I wish I could reach atleast the base of that peak !

Kamchatka, changed the way I look at travel in general. I always loved travelling, now I respect it. 

Siberia and Beyond - The Valley of Geysers, Kamchatka

There are only four active geysers in the world. In the order of their discovery, Iceland ,U.S, New Zealand and Kamchatka, Russia. A geyser is a hot spring that spurts water out after every few hours. Now imagine 5 -6 of them and boiling water coming out every 30 mins or so. The air has a mild scent of sulphur and as you try to capture the oozing water in you’re picture frame its gone, you try again until you leave the camera in your backpack and enjoy the geo thermal activity with your eyes only.

I asked my guide is that mountain a volcano too. She said, every mountain that you see has been a volcano in some point of time. Well, I saw it later from air on my way to the valley of geysers, when every mountain that passed had a shade of black, the volcanic ash.  The only way to reach the most attractive places in this peninsula is by a helicopter. The price’s are not very pocket friendly and a flight can set you back by around $ 800 to $ 900, however what you see on the other side of the flight will be every cent taken care of. Thanks to high prices, you are mostly on your own, one with nature.

Its easy to write about food and the people I meet, but about nature, words simply don’t make the justice.

Having seen the Volcanoes from the sky, the real assent will start tommorow, when after a 5 hour trip on a roadless terrain we drive in a 6 x 6 truck till we reach the base of the Volcano, where our tents will be set. There we stay for 2 nights and climb 2 volcanoes over a period of 2 days.

The flip side of a business cum leisure trip is that the business always carries more weight and so here I am looking at my co travelers taking the trip ahead to a lake where 40 – 50 bears feed on salmon swimming up stream. Then they get on a river and raft for 3 days, fishing for trout and get another chance to see the bears and at the end they sleep with families from a village which is the oldest in this Peninsula but have their houses heated by the underground heaters through an age old system.  And as they do all this, I will be in Mumbai. The good news however is I will come here again, the next time with my people. 

The volcanoes are so huge that they even make the ocean look small. The Pacific ocean hugs the landscape and lets it dominate. Nature rules supreme here, and the government does every bit to protect it. Tourism is important for the economy, but by the way of things and the Russian mentality, commercialization will be hard to come in the next 20 years atleast.

‘Kamchatka’ the far east of Russia goes far beyond your wildest of imagination.  To be here is just a privilege.

The Trans Siberian Railway - Circum Baikal

The train makes one more of its scenic stops, and there is an announcement in Russian, on decoding it I realize it’s a 90 min break and as soon as I start questioning the length of it, the 200 people on the train start moving in all directions. I later realized that the break was not enough to explore all the directions. That’s Circum Baikal for you !

A 140 km track laid 120 yrs back perfectly parallel to the shore of the lake dotted now with small villages, normally in deep slumber but buzzing with activity just as the tri weekly train makes its stop. Villages, where old women are eager to serve you the local version of  vodka and smoked Omul, a cousin of Salmon.  A meal you cant say no to, even after having your appetite done with the wholesome train lunch. Wholesome and more tasty than any flight menu I’ve ever had. The Russian train journey is an experience of its own and I can only imagine the whole length of the Trans Siberian railway of more than 7500 kms across Russia. Where do you get the train canteen stepping out and laying its products neatly on a table arranged by the railway track, or a guide talking continuosly for 6 hours in a language which you cant understand. I wont beat about the language now as I am getting comfortable with using the sign language and yes not to mention feeling quiet good about the Russian's.

Sometimes a journey or a travel don’t instantly hit you, and takes its own sweet time. This travel I know is like that ..

With Lake Baikal behind me ,I am now in Kamchatka, the reason that I travelled here for. The changing time zones, the night journey’s are insuring that I don’t have a fix time to eat. I eat when I get hungry and I sleep better in air or the road than on my bed.  Well its not as bad as it seems when you give yourself the time this place deserves. In my line of work that is never possible.

On one of the stations I saw the Moscow – Beijing train come in,  I didn’t know how many hours it had been on track and how many more there were to go. I don’t respect China as a country and I don’t intend to go to Beijing in future. But for that brief moment as I saw the engine leave, even I felt like jumping on the train to China.

Such is the magic of the Trans Siberian !

Siberia and beyond - Irkutsk ,Port Baikal

“Moscow is far and China near”. That’s what they say here.  This might be a republic in Russia but Eastern Siberia’s main city Irkutsk feels like any other populated city from Asia. A mixture of left hand driven European made and right hand driven Japanese made vehicles storm the busy roads here and although the don’t honk, sometimes you wish they would.

The gateway to the Lake Baikal, Irkutsk will not impress unless you move out of it and onto places like Listvyanka and Port Baikal.  I know I am sounding like the guy from the lonely planet guide book, but that’s what should be near when the land is distant and the language strange. Add to that a bunch of non-smiling straight faces. Yes, they don’t like to smile here. I know I’ve been here just 48 hrs but unless they have a few vodka shots and are in the mood, an average Russian just won’t smile. Be it at a restaurant or on the road. The only smiles that you get are the trained ones, in business hotels. I was told this by a co traveler on my flight from Istanbul to Moscow,” we will help you at the most but wont smile” she said.  Maybe that’s playing on my mind ..

Lake Baikal is huge .. It has the worlds 20% of fresh water and at its deepest it is 1720 mtrs. The river Angara which originates from the Russian Arctic’s has its mouth here in the lake. Listvyanka and Port Baikal are two villages on  the opposite side of the river overlooking the lake. The best part of the last 48 hrs came today when my stroll in the village of port Baikal took me to a construction site of a small wooden hostel where the owner opened the door straight away looked at me and said ‘2000 roubles per night’ .. that’s all he knew to say. All my attempts to talk to him were futile and he simply closed the door. Well the best part was not the man obviously but the walk I had to take to find his place. The guide book recommended a hotel close to it which I found was closed, the book even said that it had a hookah salon. You could say that I waited 1 hr in rain to cross the river on a ramshackle ferry, only to find a place where I could smoke. However, a village without a single tourist or a person to ask directions. With traditional Siberian cottages ,built in wood and surrounded by nearly a 5 foot fence, with inviting colors on windows but  an uninviting dog’s bark on the other end and with water flowing in small streams from the surrounding hills into the lake, made for a very peaceful walk. If not for the gap of 4 hrs between two ferries I would’ve loved to just be ..

On reaching Irkutsk’s chaotic bus station I wondered how would it be to take the shirtless big belly, cigarette smoking owner’s offer, in Port Baikal. 2000 rbls per night would be just what I would like, the surrounding I mean were far more worth it. And who knows instead of writing now I would be having a few rounds of vodka with him and finally would’ve even managed to get a Russian smiling!

Siberia and Beyond .. To Moscow first

When does your travel dawn on you ?

 With my group trips it does when I announce the date. With a rare trip with my family it does when I leave my home, and the rarest of them all ;-) when I travel all alone ,it surely does in the airport departure area,  if not when leaving home.

 I was sure last night at the Mumbai airport it would come ,the feeling of going to a place for the first time. But it didn’t. It took its time and just as I thought it would only come when I read the Russian characters on arrival in Moscow, it came ! Well, the Russian characters did the trick after all, but not on the information signs at the Moscow airport but on my Laptop screen at Istanbul Airport.

All my travels have been to countries where the style of writing has been more or less Latin. Starting tonight Moscow time it will be different. And with all that one hears about Russia and the failure of its citizens to speak or understand English, this trip promises to have its own share of ‘language adventure’ other than the obvious Siberian one, as I dont intend on wasting time in the west. 

Moscow has three international airports! Well not surprising considering that Russia has nine time zones. Travelling from the Far East to the west is crazy, you leave at noon and arrive at noon. Well, that has some time to go. Today however I travel to Moscow and then overnight to Irkutsk in the east. The regions main city. The region of Siberia.

Siberia! What does it bring to your mind? Cold winters ,frozen rivers ,huge mass of barren land and the Trans Siberian railway passing through. This is summer ,and according to the last weather check the coldest inhabited city in the world with a population of above hundred thousand, which goes to 60 deg below the freezing point is still at 20 deg above it in summer.

The weather is not a worry ,actually nothing is when I travel alone without having the thought of my tourists in my mind.

This happened out of the internet, was inspired by www.toehold.in . These guys are based in Bangalore, India and are doing some good work with photography and nature being their foundation. I obviously didn’t want to join a group and wanted to rough it out myself.. So here it goes  .. The real trip begins tonight!

Siberia and beyond ! (the ‘beyond’ is where all the fun is) 

Back to Scandinavia - Summer is over .. Winter awaits !

The summer of 2009 was my first summer here in Scandinavia. It was new, the way they work here. New but as I soon realized very convenient. Everything had a proper time and the work happened in that pace. In the general scheme of things eventually I started to enjoy my work here. That was the first time I truly enjoyed working on tour because everything had to be done alone.  Egypt ,Srilanka had happened before and the guide managed everything. But here my day started from the confines of my cozy bed the night earlier. When the tiny detail’s such as the distance of the Indian restaurant from the hotel had to be calculated or calling up the individual city guide to change the meeting point if necessary. It was fun … and very adventurous! Well any mistake and, I would have the people staring at me and talking behind my back. “you can make out its his first Scandinavia trip ,he will take time to learn, etc”

  I had enjoyed tours, places and the people in my travels before.. but in the summer of 2009 I was actually enjoying my work. I call it the Scandinavia model of work. In the last three years there have been additions to the places I would eventually take my people to. I have loved all of them. There is the charm of Turkey, the openness of Poland and the friendliness of Peru. But with the fun I have at all these countries, there is work involved at every step. I know I always have Scandinavia to look up to.

My summer here ends tomorrow and I go back to Mumbai for a 10-day stay before heading to the most far fledged journey (imagination wise) I have ever undertaken. I will write more about that at a later stage, now is the time to thank a few people, and the institutions.

If you ever travel to Norway or Sweden and are willing to spend on your stay then do not stay anywhere else but the RICA group of hotels. The smile of the lady behind the counter is for real even if she is checking in 3 groups at a time. The chef in the kitchen will most probably come and talk to you if you aren’t contended with what lies in front of you. The owner, I heard started by cleaning dishes. He sure did a good job and taught everyone too.. On his way up !

To all my guides, especially you Cornelia in Helsinki who at the start of the tour gives my people a reason to smile with your ‘once upon a time in Finland’. To you Appolonia in the Rica Bodo, who by just talking to the diners gives them a feeling as if they are eating at her house ! To Hans my driver in Lofoten Islands who distributes cookies every time he feels like no matter if you are hungry or not. To my unknown receptionists who adjust the rooms at the last moment so that two friends can stay as neighbors.

To Scandinavia.. for everything that you have taught me and continue to teach. I will come back in winter. 

Back to Scandinavia - Swedish Grandma's cuisine

All things small have their own charm. I actually wanted to write this one a week back as the girl behind the reception in my Lofoten hotel closed the reception and went home. “Sir this is the last order, would you like anything else. The kitchen is closing” I am sure everyone has heard that. But the reception closing !! Well this in a hotel where the Internet did not work and every room was differently planned. Yes that was it for many people the feeling of a personal touch, the rooms had names which spoke more than their numbers. The internet wasn’t working but I worked in the kitchen that evening instead of my notebook. There was just one chef in the kitchen and when she realized that there is nothing vegetarian on the main course then help was needed starting from chopping the carrots and the celery. Help, which she did not request, but I had to so that my people got the food on time.

It was like I was the co-worker there coz after everyone ate we even shared the dinner together. I have enjoyed talking to the staff in the hotels on my travels but never did share a meal ! I don’t need to tell you how it felt that evening in Lofoten.

I would shift from Norway a week back to Stockholm, today. There is a small market here, which in India we refer to as the delicatessen, it sells local produce and organic stuff. In the past I have gone and taken a stroll in the market, which sells everything from wine to fish and from cheese to strawberries. There is one little kitchen that has been of interest to me over the past years. It doesn’t have products lined up inside the shelf with a life , I guess that’s what makes it so lively. I found a stool amongst the 6  there. The menu was on a black board ,and when the chef told me it was a typical Swedish place ,meat balls and potatoes came to my mind. Just like when I wrote about hurry curry and the whole Indian and chicken tikka thing. But, the guy in his early 30’s and food written all over him recommended me to have a hen.

For the first time ,I was equally engrossed in the food and the conversation and was finding it difficult to concentrate on either. Swedish food ,he said just as my Grandma makes.  When I asked him how do you decide the menu, he said it depends on my mood. I love it when someone says that. That simply means he is not doing it for anyone else .. he is doing it coz he simply loves it and on that particular day he wouldn’t want to cook anything else but to stew a rabbit or slow cook a hen stock. Even if he has people eating a particular dish out of his hands earlier, he wont repeat it today coz he doesn’t feel like. What is being more true to your work !! We spoke all through the meal, it certainly changed my perspective about Swedish cuisine The last thing he said as I left was “the only person I am nervous to cook for is my grandma, coz she understands everything”. I wished I could stay there for a little bit ..

But then there is always a new day ,a new journey and a new grand ma’s dish waiting to be had !

There are things big and they are beautiful, but not intimate enough! Try staying in Bed and Breakfast the next time you travel. If you like it, you wouldn’t want to dial 9 for reception and certainly wouldn’t want your door to be knocked and to hear ‘room service’ from the other side. Coz the dinner which you have that night would mostly be like my 'Swedish grandma’s meal' 

Time off in Tallinn

This is my second time in Tallinn, Estonia.  The old town square in my first visit was the first of its kind I had seen anywhere. In 2009 the old buildings and the medieval architecture attracted me instantly, and so I was roaming the streets of Tallinn taking pictures like everyone around me. I even had the customary beer in a restaurant overlooking the town square with hundred’s of tourists like me with a camera in one hand and a map in another.

Today its different .I am staying away from the restaurants of the old town and eating at a place where the students of Tallinn eat. A beer here is for 2.50 and outside its 3.50 .but that’s really not the reason. Its good to go to a place where the locals go. Even though thanks to sites like Trip advisor ,even these places are coming on the tourist radar.

The not so touristy places are always a welcome respite from the crowded touristy sights. The restaurants displaying their menus in atleast 4 languages and one of their waiters standing out to call the tourists in. Just like the guys that in some markets stand outside their shops and invite you in to 'have a look'. 

 There is a difference between shopping and eating. Once you sit at a table you can window eat !! ,So the food is serious business ,once u enter a restaurant especially at lunch ,the food that u eat and the service that you get can make or break the rest of your tourist day. Good food and that too served at good prices can simply give your day a start up kick that your hotel breakfast couldn’t do.

Since 2009 I’ve been to many old town squares and still love being around them. The only thing that has changed however is that I eat out of them. I can understand the ambience and the fixation over sipping your drink and looking at people walk all around. But then that’s the advantage of travelling again and again to a place. You simply ask for more and attempt to get it. 

The Baltic countries of Lithuania ,Latvia and Estonia have always been of interest to me.  But unlike 2009 I am not only interested in their respective Capitals. I want something more out of them and one day I am sure I will be on the path of finding that !

I will be leaving Tallinn tommorow and starting with my last tour of this summer in Scandinavia from Helsinki ..
 I usually research on my travels mostly from the point of view of my 60 + yrs tourist. This time however I have no maps ,no schedule and certainly no one elses point of view ! 

Back to Scandinavia -- Hurry Curry in Stockholm - The Gangs of Wasseypur

Indian food out of India especially in Scandinavia is much like the Indian movies. The Indian Film Industry ,bollywood for many foreigners is still a lot to do with song and dance ,a lot of melo drama ,a super hero and a saree clad navel showing heroine. We in India know that our cinema is changing ,thank god for that but it will take time for the world to know it ! The world as they know our movies through its glitzy sets knows our food through the spicey chicken tikka masala. Well for all these years ,the only Indian food that you get out of India is the bloody heavy throat blocking north Indian ! I don’t mean to insult food but that’s how it is at most of the so called Indian restaurants around Scandinavia.

In Stockholm its funny .. Of all the ‘North Indian’ restaurants I have been to not a single one has a chef from India ,they are either from the west of India (Pakistan) or from the ex East Pakistan (Bangladesh) not that they make bad north Indian ,if only they knew what a good north Indian curry tastes like. But these restaurants have sprung up in all the corners of Stockholm each trying to spice it up for the customers. And just like our film makers add a scene or a dance for the people , the chef here makes his food more spicey coz that’s the way they love it here.

In all this north Indian food mess, there is a small little place called the ‘Hurry Curry’. I’ve been seeing it since 2009 right next to my hotel here in downtown Stockholm. It forms an extension of INDISKA ,that is Indian in Swedish, a retail clothes chain. The décor is charming ,the seating is rustic and the food ,well I never had an opportunity to taste the food until today.

My staple diet here in Scandinavia is Salmon. I usually have it for all my 3 meals. So I knew what I wanted when I saw the limited menu. By the way I really like the restaurants which have a limited menu. As the Salmon topped salad with a garlic mayo dip arrived ,my fork and knife went straight in. Half way through ,I realized that the salmon was a tandoori salmon. Can you imagine the spices were so subtle that the flavor only loosely reminded me of Indian food but did not over power my dish.

Guess who owns the place .. not an Indian and certainly not a Bangladeshi. This is owned by a Swede and the chefs ,well all of them are from India.

The crowd ,young hungry stomachs who after shopping are exhausted and are in a hurry to eat. Well the curry doesn’t disappoint them.

The Gangs of Wasseypur is a film that is currently running in Indian Cinemas ,Hurry Curry to Indian food in Stockholm is what Gangs of Wasseypur is to Indian Cinema in India.

A blessing !

Back to Scandinavia - Tram 3T in Helsinki !

What happens when you land at an airport in a foreign country for the first time ?  Well if your bags are in place on the belt and your pick up has been arranged (for the feeble hearted) or you know the bus / train / tram number that will take you to your hostel /hotel then you simply take the ride. Remember the first impression of the city ? The conversation that you have with yourself ? if you look at urself from a third persons point of view ,well I would say that you are excited ,a little nervous ,eager but mostly LOST !

Well guess what ?! ,its important to be lost !! Coz if you already know what to do how to do it and how much of it to do, then you rather sit at home .. Unless you are lost ,you cant find yourself in the city. The journey from Lost to found is what makes your travel worth it !

The reason I am saying this is because there are a number of ways you could find yourself in the city. You could just buy a one day ticket on a metro or a bus and move wild. Or take those boring hop on hop off busses , Or .. In cities like Helsinki take a tram 3T.

The 3T is a gift to Helsinki and all the eager travel minds that arrive here. A one hr ticket on the tram lets you loop Helsinki ,there is no running commentary like the one on a hop on hop off sightseeing bus ,and there is no need to run around like the metro in one day. Instead just find yourself a seat and watch the city ,its sights (that you don’t know yet) and the people, just go by.  

It’s a great way to get acquainted. Look at a passing market square ,a monument a charming café ,listen to them speak to you. If you hear them ,you better get down after an hour and head right there to extend the conversation. These little things will tell you more about the city ,and by sun down you wont be as lost as you were when you arrived. Talk to a local at a café ,chances are that he or she might be a tourist just like you. Talk to them about what to do next and where they had been in the city. For ,the people speak more than a guide book !

There must be a 3T in a lot of cities that you visit .. Find that 3T and board it without thinking. At the end of your trip ,you would come much closer to finding your place in the city !