Toulouse and Auch

Monday, 15 August 2011

Toulouse and Auch

At the evening (13.08.) we arrived in Toulouse to meet with Maxime, our couchsurfing host. After a refreshing shower he took us on a tour through Toulouse. Showed us the best spots in town at sunset time... perfect ambience. Then we went to have Tapas for dinner before enjoying a cocktail in one of the plenty bars.
Toulouse is an awesome city... behind every corner awaits you the next city part which can be totally different from the one before. The city is filled with young people... and even tho Maxime told us the city is empty as it is holiday time, still the streets and bars were filled. Interesting topics to talk about... keywords: Muschipups, MILF :P
The next morning we discovered the city on our own again, but not much was left to be see. So we went on road towards Spain, as suddenly on the way we discovered the city Auch. Unmentioned by guidebooks it houses the most beautiful cathedral I have seen so far. After that stunning view we continued to San Sebastian.

Sunset time at the Garonne

Pon Neuf - the "new bridge" which is the oldest in town^^

huge and beautiful cathedral in Auch

What a scenery in Auch!

Montpellier and Carcasonne

Sunday, 14 August 2011

Montpellier and Carcasonne

A wake up at the beach followed by a breakfast before we visited lovely Montpellier.
First we stumbled through the new city part which is impressive... a whole city part in one style. But it looks boring and cheap compared to the stunning old city :D
The cathedral, an old monastery, is simply massive. The old city is filled with lovely buildings, charming streets... simply a great place :)

Afterwards we visited Carcasonne, one of the most famous castles in the world I guess^^ This is the place many films resemble, the symbolic medieval fortified city. The centre of Carcasonne had not much to offer, so after a coffee and a talk with a German expat we continued to the Castle. Unluckily it was very touristy, but bearable^^  Thus we had some walks through the narrow medieval streets before we continued to Toulouse where we were to meet our couchsurfing host.

Montpellier's newly build quarter

beautiful old city

massive cathedral

simply gorgeous :D

Carcasonne - as in the films^^

Castle within the fortified city of Carcasonne

Starting the roadtrip - Lyon and Avignon

Friday, 12 August 2011

Starting the roadtrip - Lyon and Avignon

Benjamin and I started our roadtrip towards Spain/Portugal on 10.08. and after starting at 4 am we arrived 3 pm in Lyon. Right away we took a walk through the city :D A really lovely old city centre.
At the evening we met our couchsurfing host Thomas who took us to a CS picnic to hang out with some more Lyon CSers. After the picnic we were a little tipsy and enjoyed a ride on city bikes through the city at night. A perfect first day on the trip^^ The next morning we went sightseeing through the city again, especially to see the Basilika and the great view over Lyon from there. Afterwards we enjoyed a 3 courses menu for lunch which was absolutely amazing and proved why French are famous for cooking.
At the later afternoon we drove towards Avignon and walked through the city centre during sunset time. Then enjoyed a picnic in front of the pope's palace before we continued to Montpellier, where we slept at the beach :D

Cathedral and Basilika

Awesome paintings all over the city

Cycling under the sun :D

View over Lyon centre

Pope's palace

holy mary and jesus overlooking our picnic

Prague - An awesome city and Couchsurfing rocks :D

Monday, 20 June 2011

Prague - An awesome city and Couchsurfing rocks :D

Friday afternoon (17.06.) Marlen and Eugenia, two fellow students of mine, and I went to Prague. Another trip enjoying the pleasure of couchsurfing. When we arrived in Prague Jake, one of our CS hosts, throw the keys down we needed to get into the flat. Then he excused himself and went for a sleep while we got to know Jon, a couchsurfer from Leeds, UK who was staying at this place as we did. After we got to know we went for a first walk through Prague. Damn is that a great city :D Our host was located near the TV tower and from there we walked to the river, passing the major shopping mile and after some light dinner we went back to our host before it got too late. As we returned home the other host, Clabbe, was there with an American girl, Alexia, who were both extremely friendly and welcoming. After some story telling it became clear that we were going to party at the Swedish embassy... I was like "are you serious?".. and hell he was :P Two tram rides later we arrived at the Swedish embassy next to the Prague castle, walked to the first floor and were welcomed by a couchsurfing party within a merely 120sqm flat, which was owned by the vice ambassador - a couchsurfer, before we were guided to a 50sqm balcony over viewing all of Prague - what a view! It took some time until we were able to bring our lower jaws back into position. What a first evening to this brilliant city :D
Next morning we took a tram to the castle as we were hit by rain. Overall the weather was cloudy but luckily not too rainy. After seeing the castle we went to the Charle's bridge towards the old town square. What an astonishing town. Awesome architecture wherever you look. I totally fall in love with that city^^ After some very late lunch (finally got my dumplings) we went back to our hosts where Jon was making a delicious dinner :) Fully strengthen we visited 2 clubs while Alexia and I had much fun about major stereotypes about Americans, females and males :P At 4am we saw the first parts of sunrise over the Charle's bridge and full sun when we arrived back home. After a nearly sleepless night we enjoyed Brunch at Café Louvre... one of the most stylish Cafés I have seen lately. A good finish before we drove back home. Definitely will come back to this city :D

view over Prague from the castle

St. Vitus Cathedral within the castle

TV tower - babies crawling up and down^^

My charming travel companions :D

Charle's bridge and Prague castle

Tel Aviv and Jaffa - the most charming place in Israel

Tuesday, 14 June 2011

Tel Aviv and Jaffa - the most charming place in Israel

Sunday (12.06.) in the morning we drove to Tel Aviv, checked into our hotel and brought the car back to the airport. Back in the city we explored a way through Tel Aviv: the Dizengoff street towards south across the Dizengoff square (a fountain from the '70s).  We continued the King George street until the Karmel market. The first real market I saw in Israel and damn it was a great one. Fresh fruits and juices made from it, cheap clothes and souvenirs... I even liked the stinky fish when I finally saw a real market again :D Surely my first big highlight in Tel Aviv. But more to come^^ We continued to the coast along the promenade towards Jaffa - the old town. The beaches looked great and everyone we met seemed happy, they appeared to have real inner peace. Something I would have expected in Jerusalem. And muslims were having bbq with jews at the beach while laughing. What suddenly happened to the stubborn Israel? Omg we suddenly came back into modern living :D While my parents rested at the beach I continued along the promenade towards Jaffa and saw some nice street art on the way. From Jaffa I head a great view over the coast of Tel Aviv. In the upper park many children were around and made fun of bride and groom models :P The promenade spans from Jaffa towards the northern port of Tel Aviv... we walked with the sunset until the last beach... the beaches here appeared even better than in Netanya. Next time I definitely have to spent more time in Tel Aviv. Jerusalem is about seeing, Tel Aviv about being... while in Jerusalem all the ones who heavily practice religion only seem to care about their wealth in heaven while they forget that you should live with a religion and not practice for it. Probably thats why they fight so much for the holy places: everyone fears they lose some bonus points for not praying there. Come on you idiots! Now these places are only stones, what has happened there is gone, it is now living with each and everyone of us. God is not to be found in stones, but within humans who live by his intentions: peacefully. As G.E.Lessing said: "A single grateful thought towards heaven is the most perfect prayer". All you narrow-minded people who pray to God 5 times a day and wish the death towards his children at the same time... yea many might forget that Christians, Jews and Muslims do have the very same god, they only struggle about some Prophets and how to properly pray towards god. Religion is a way to bring humans together - all of them. A guidance to unity and peaceful life. A guidance which needs to be adapted to every time - so stop taking messages from 2000 years ago literally, but rather look for intentions. Most of these self announced most religious people lost lots of my respect - not that they need to care^^
While frustrated about Jerusalem I so much more am pleased about how great life can be in Tel Aviv, only 30 kilometers away. A great finish for a really interesting and eye opening holiday :)

entry to Karmel market

street art at the promenade

Tel Aviv coast

Jaffa

Akko - Netanya - Caesarea

Monday, 13 June 2011

Akko - Netanya - Caesarea

From Haifa we visited the crusader's port town Akko. A traffic jam trip along the coast made the few kilometers a trip of more than two hours :(
The old town still has a lot of old flair, especially the old tunnels under it, like the Templer's tunnels. From there we continued to the festival gardens and small but refreshingly green place before we continued to the prison museum. I didnt know before that the Jews under British hegemony were not much different to the Palestinian under Jewish hegemony - they used to have terror groups. Most famous the groups around Lehi and Etzel, bombing plenty British resources. Ok there is a big difference - Lehi and Etzel are declared as heroes while Palestinians are terrorists... but hey, the right of the winner to write history does not change the truth that lays behind it ;)
We then left Akko and went through the traffic jam to Netanya our beach holiday^^ Netanya is supposed to have the best beach in Israel. The first day we received a huge sun burn while only laying in the shadow, after several days in Israel that describes the intense sun here. So the next day we explored Caesarea, ruins of Herod's former great city. A counterpart to the great Alexandria it once was one of the most important port towns of the Mediterranean sea. But wars with the Arabs brought it down. Crusaders later rebuilt it before it was destroyed again. Forgotten for a long time the Rothschild family rebuilt a living area for wealthy people.
At the evening when we returned to Netanya huge waves awaited us. Some of the biggest I ever swam in^^ That was a lot of fun and a great finish to the short bathing holiday part.

Akko, the port is around the corner

clock tower

Caesarea

the coastline of Caesarea

Netanya's beach

Nazareth and Haifa

Friday, 10 June 2011

Nazareth and Haifa

Wednesday (08.06.) we continued from Safed passing the Sea of Galilee towards Mt Tavor next to Nazereth and enjoyed the view from a Franciscan monastery. Thick traffic then led us into Nazereth where we visited the Basilica of Annunciation, where Maria was told about being pregnant with Jesus. A new church built by donations from plenty nations over the remains of former churches at this place. Unluckily we didn't have time to discover more of Nazareth due to the time loss of the traffic. So we continued to the port town Haifa.
In Haifa we stayed in the German Colony which is by far the nicest stretch of the city, overlooked by Bahai Gardens. A charming place, unluckily the rest of Haifa was not as pleasant. It was a Jewish holiday, so when we walked through the city centre it appeared like a ghost town. Then suddenly we spotted a burning car next to a bank. Within 5 minutes a small fire within the car set the whole car on fire. A huge smoke column and then the wires exploded one after the other. Another 5 minutes later the fire brigade arrived.
The next morning we went up to the Bahai Gardens, which are absolutely beautiful and allow a superb view over Haifa. And the Bahai religion seems to be one of the wisest after seeing Jerusalem^^
At the afternoon we visited Akko.

Franciscan monastery at Mount Tavor

In the Church of Annunciation

Bahai Gardens and the Shrine of Bab

burning car in Haifa

View from the Shrine of Bab over Haifa

Up the hill, a great view over Haifa