1002 – a modern city

on the very first day we already found out that a regular walk in the 1002sth for Scheherazade’s fairy tales is something absolutely unheard of; so unheard of that there are no sidewalks… we tries though!

in order to acctually see Dubai and so that there are at least some pictures of it we had to hire a car from the hotel for a sight-seeing trip; no stopping – nowhere to stop, so all the pics are shot from the front seat while moving…

the following one would have been a very pleasing pic, if it was not shot by accident while we were driving through a complex road crossing on our way back from the Jumeira Palm:

the pic was carefully cut and processed in photoshop; in other words – too good to be true! in Dubai there are no such views; reality looks more like this:

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1002 – Burj Khalifa

Scheherazade of the 21sth century or the 1002th fairy tale…

the UAE abbreviation will probably make you stop and think – where the hell…? wasn’t it a petrol area? close your eyes and if there hasn’t been a specific reason to go through the world map in details in this particular hostile area – the probability to get a high mark in geography is very unlikely.

the middle of May,  6 in the morning, we venture outside the climatised volumes of Dubai airport and we are immediately overcome by 35C degrees and more then 90% humidity; one can hardly breathe and during the days to come it won’t become any easier.

Dubai is surreal; I find myself thinking about Scheherazade… with the specific lack of authenticity every fairy tale has, as if – yes, the story itself might be real, but the place is not; in a normal world, in the 21st century a place lake this cannot exist, unreal, criminal, fictional, unjustified, all in all – surreal, like a Dali painting, exaggerated and twisted reality.

a real estate and investment summit is the official reason we are here, but as we would never have come here by our own choice – we are determined to make the most of it and look around; the globe if full of amazing places… our first point of interest, on the very day of our arrival, is the tallest building in the world of course –

Burj Khalifa. 828 m.

It is also the most well advertised building as well – even if you have nothing to do with architecture, you surely have watched at least one of the Discovery movies or just the celebration party on some new year’s eve with the spectacular light and fountain show… you probably not only know the name of the building and where it stands but you also might have remembered the fact that it ventures almost a kilometer into the skies! and have you, by any chance, heard the name of the architect?!!!!????

I arrange our programme so that we are at the top at sunset precisely – meaning 7 in the evening; the terrace for tourists is located on the hundred and thirty-something floor, which unfortunately is just a little bit above the middle of its height; we buy ourselves VIP-tickets, proudly walk along the hundreds of people queue, security stops everyone else so that we can walk on and after a spectacularly short trip in one of the two designated elevators – we are out 500 meters above the flat horizon.

the sun has just set

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Lappi&Finmark – 1 – take-off

a trip to the northernmost point in Europe in the middle of winter is like parachute-jumping – come to think about it and you’ll never do it…

we do not; think, that is.

03.02.2012

Malev, who are supposed to fly us to Finland, announce bankrupt in the morning; 2 hours before due check-in at the counter of Lufthansa – we are still trying to avoid thinking

despite the siberian looks at Sofia airport, we land at Helsinki late the same evening, the last northern capital we are about to visit for the first time; airport situation is very much alike with minor differences – the temperature is below -20 C, noone is complaining, no blue-orange-red code and no cancelled or redirected flights; just another Finnish day/night.

04.02.2012

the Hilton at the airport is giving us a hint what lies ahead of us northwards

we jump into the rented Toyota RAV4 and make a quick trip around Helsinki

lakes are frozen; think snow covering whitens the view; the port is also frozen, with all the little ships in it; -19 С

we are soon on the way north, eager to reach to the arctic circle and Rovaniemi.

5,4 million Finns live sandwiched between 9.4 million Swedes and 142 million Russians; their homeland is almost as big as Germany; the Finns also have 77 billion trees, 187 888 lakes, 264 000 moose and 1 Santa Claus (who they claim is the genuine one); the Finns obviously are a minority.

the long road winds endlessly through pine forests and the view is windowed by the road itself

every now and then frozen lakes open sideways

the sun rests low at the southern horizon

only a dim glow is what’s left at 3 in the afternoon

temperatures drop even more

at the time we finally reach Rovaniemi, the ten steps between the car and hotel door make my breath freeze before I even manage to exhale it…

everything freezes, says the hotel driver with a smile on his face; and spends the next ten minutes in the open searching for the heating plug of our Toyota along with Nik; the Rav4 is probably the only car moving in Finland that doesn’t have a heating plug… fortunately the hotel has an underground garage; and smoking rooms; God bless Scandic! or Ukko, anyway…

and who the hell is Ukko…

the Finns are a very, very strange nation; different; at least different from most European nations, and especially of those surrounding them; their language does not belong to the Indo-European group but rather to the Finno-Ugric one (Finnish, Hungarian and Estonian, all the others are almost extinct); their facial features have nothing to do with the general Scandinavian looks; nor with the Russian;  the eyes are slightly asian, hair is dark; I cannot stop wandering which story is this from… Snowwhite! but please, let go of Disney now! keep back to the original narration of the Grimm brothers – as white as snow, as red as blood and as black as ebony wood… now add the eyes of Tarja Turunen – and there’s a real Snowwhite; a finn.

to be continued…

Lappi&Finnmark – 6 – aurora

winter is right at our doorsteps and my evergrowing desire to let it in reminded me of a few pictures left from a trip that were never shown to anyone. special pictures. strange pictures.

long after this trip was over I started to realise what hell of a luck we did have there. three nights at Saariselka – three nights bathing in aurora. full moon, no clouds. unearthly nights.

07-08-09.02.2012

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Iceland, the Puffin – day 10 (2)

the following is all about a little birdy we’ve been chasing along the Iceland coast for almost a week 🙂 – The Puffin! or Lundi in Icelandic.

honestly, there is no such bird!

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Iceland, the birds’ realm – day 10 (1)

Iceland – day 10, 03.07.2011

late wake up and we are soon on the road towards the end of the peninsula; we hope to finally meet a very special little bird…

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Jewish traditions

The day of The Wedding; ironically, it is the 3rd of March (note: Bulgaria’s national holiday).

it is time to tell you a little bit about our kind hosts – Reuven and Ruthie Peleg.

wonderful people who created a wonderful family – they have 4 children, two girls and two boys; we are going to the wedding of their third child – Ilel, a 25 year-old proud, young man ; in fact, having 4 children is just a bit over the critical minimum for Israel; Ruthie, for example, has 6 brothers and a sister; this is how such a family looks:

so! time for some math; if everyone has 8 children (who already have several children of their own, headed for the cherished number) and you invite only the closest relatives of the two jolly families – what would the result be, eh?!! nooooo – the wedding will be a modest one – only some 400 people.

you cannot imagine receiving 400 people at home, right?! yep, you cannot even receive them at a restaurant! this is why some kibbutzes have developed a special business strategy – organizing parties, family events and company cocktail parties (perhaps I did not mention that kibbutzes always have some business of their own such as a sausage factory, shoes workshop, or a party center (in addition to the great deal of land that they cultivate around the kibbutz).

and the organization of such an event is by no means an easy task; the front part of the Hall before receiving the guests:

the dining area

the tables are numbered and there is a list at the entrance which has the names of the guests and their corresponding table number.

it is Spring in Israel and the temperatures after sunset are quite low for the wedding dresses of the ladies; if the wedding was held a month later, the atmosphere would have been something like this

a carefully prepared décor for the important event

the spot where the ceremony takes place:

and the necessary requisite

the family arrives at about 7 in the evening in order to make sure that everything is perfect; it is

there is a small house for the bride and groom which will be at their disposal in the evening; what did you think of now! noooooo, it is, actually, more of a storage room for the extra pair of shoes, handbags, coats, a makeup room for the ladies and a place to remain alone for a few minutes prior to the most important moments; slowly, the guests start to arrive; until the final assembly of all guests and the beginning of the ceremony, everybody is standing or sitting at the tables outside where they chat, take pictures and have a bite of the small portions of all sorts of dishes

there is no church marriage and civil marriage in Israel; you don’t even go to the synagogue; the actual wedding ceremony will be performed here in the upcoming 8-10 minutes by this man:

you guessed it – this is the rabbi; what follows is a short inspection with the father of the groom to check if everything is ready:

and we are ready to receive the young couple; last-minute preparations:

each one of them is taken to the hall with their relatives but they head towards the altar together

actually, the entire family goes under the baldachin and the women stand to the side of the bride while the men stand to the side of the groom

the ceremony is surprisingly short as it includes an admonishing speech by the rabbi, something like an exchange of vows by the bride and the groom, a ring, a glass of wine, a song that everyone sings along to and a noisy crushing of the glass by stepping on it

dinner is served

no Jewish meal is complete without hummus

the newlyweds did not try any of the above-mentioned meals, not because they were busy going around the table but because they did not leave the dance floor together with about half of the guests; which reminds me about the issue with the gifts – there are simply no gifts; there is something resembling a mailbox at the entrance and people simply drop envelopes in it; that’s it.

the general impression is that they are humble people who are genuinely having fun ☺

around 1 in the morning the hall began to get emptier and at about 2, we were already back; the next workday follows…

the Jewish workweek begins on Sunday and ends on Friday afternoon (do the math – these are five and a half days); Friday night is the time dedicated to the traditional family dinner Kiddush and on the next day is the holy – Sabath – Saturday; for a long time I wondered why the day set for the wedding was a Wednesday but it turns out that Friday night and Saturday are so “religiously” family holidays that there is no way to fit in an outside-family event; I was under the impression that the religious part of it was not as serious but I had not yet seen how it was on a Friday and a Saturday when there were just the closest family members (only about 40 people) and the celebration was going to be continued; I have to admit that for the entire duration of our stay with the Peleg family, there was a constant flow of people going in and out of the house – the brothers and the sisters of the parents, the friends of the groom, the levy guys from Gaza where he served for the duration of his obligatory military service, the older brother and sister who already live separately and have families of their own… Ruthie cooked for an entire army – I had not previously seen a cooker with four hot-plates working simultaneously; part of the family’s barbeque:

these “friendly dinners” left me under the impression that there is no generation gap in terms of either the conversations or the behavior, that parents and children enjoy sitting together around the table until late in the evening, talking and passing dishes here and there, smoking shisha… and NOT watching television; there is no TV at all! in our hosts’ living room as if the social environment is substituted by the family one – perhaps it cannot be any other way when you have eight children (which does not mean that they do not have a TV or Internet – as one of the youngsters put it – in Israel if you don’t have Facebook – you don’t exist).

the children, their number, giving birth and taking care of them is the most notable cultural difference with our contemporary Bulgarian society; although they tend to have a lot of children, women are still full members of Israel’s workforce as the maternity leave is only three months long; after that – crèches and kindergartens – and the woman goes back to work; the kindergartens are in excellent condition and they are being renovated completely every year with all expenses covered by the state; Jewish people believe it is detrimental not to send your child to a kindergarten since otherwise it could not develop communication and social skills; the state increases the payable family allowance for each additional child; and people’s attitude towards children is that they are a common wealth, no matter to whom they belong – maybe this is why Ilel’s friends behaved like they felt at home and participated eagerly in the dinner preparations, as if they were helping their own mothers; which is not to say that men help a lot with the domestic work (the patriarchy is a fact in the house) but the fathers are really engaged, taking care of the next generation; note who is holding the youngsters on the family photograph in the beginning.

these cultural specifics of the Jewish family have their religious roots which are clearly visible with orthodox Jewish families; as a whole, this phenomenon is really difficult to grasp, at least from my Euro-Bulgarian worldview; a little bit of décor before I begin my story – this is the town of Bene Baraq:

close to a quarter of Israel’s population is Orthodox Jewish – in other words – they live according to what their religion commands; everything seems ok up until now; the only problem is that they don’t work – the men read the Torah throughout the day (and sometimes throughout the night as well), while the women give birth; the state has organized separate towns for them where they can live without being disturbed by the outside world and it pays them a monthly allowance; the prices in these town are artificially lower (if you have decided to buy something – this is the right place), all of the restaurants are kosher and on Saturdays you cannot get there in any other way except on foot…

(driving a car is forbidden on Saturday as well as all kinds of other things related to work, electricity and whatever-else; when I asked what they WERE ALLOWED to do on a Sabbath, the answer was: to read the Torah, sleep, talk, walk and eat; they could not think of anything else; so immediately, I wondered how they could eat when they were not allowed to cook (haha!) but they have thought this through – everything is cooked on the previous day and it is kept in special containers that keep it warm for the Sabbath; they, actually, forbid all actions relevant to staring a fire and, interestingly enough, extinguishing a fire as well)

at first sight, these towns do not look any different from other Jewish towns except for the people, the specific way in which men dress and they keep their hair

the women cover their hair or wear wigs and the long locks take a lot of time to grow…

it turns out that the locks are not obligatory; there are many schools in Judaism and one’s belonging to a certain school is demonstrated in an array of different ways; this man, for instance, has some quite representative pants and socks:

the mundane Jewish population does not favor the development of these towns (and these people) not due to the financial aspect of it but due to the human one – being a child of an Orthodox Jew is almost the only excuse you may have for not being summoned for the army; military service is obligatory, inevitable and long – boys serve for 3 years and girls serve for 2 but they can be summoned again anytime; up until recently the country was almost at war and I am not taking into account all of the official and unofficial wars that Israel led against each of its neighboring countries during its quite short history (since 1948) in one period or another

we take a quick look at the current map of Israel

the bright orange territories are those inhabited by Palestinians, or, as they call them Phalestinians, and they are controversial to say the least; the entire southern part of the country is a desert; now look at the nothern part again and try to place 6 million Jews in it… the total territory of the state of Israel is 27 000 km. or a quarter of Bulgaria’s size…

and what did they do in order to change their lives for a few years? or, more precisely, to make the permanent military presence a memory and have just a few people here and there walking around with guns, just as I am walking around with my camera? or, at least, not to get up with the highway blown up in the morning…

they built themselves a wall; around the orange areas; or, the majority of it where most Palestinians live; the wall has checkpoint; with face control.

on the other side of that wall, Arabs live in their Arabian ways but if they want to cross the wall… well, a thorough search is the least they can expect at a checkpoint; although they have some form of self-government, it does not exclude the military presence of Israel; the wall itself is not sufficient in some places, it seems, and they put a double line of barbed wire

to be continued…

Malta 03 – Etna

01.04.2010

we open our eyes and Etna is just as steadfast in front of us and the view from the hotel is just as mind-blowing

breakfast, bags back on the bikes, starter and – nothing… one of the bikes does not want to start! The guys run around trying to fix it

and in half an hour of unsuccessful trying the guy from the reception comes along in his costume with a plastic suitcase with starter cables that are perfectly arranged, labeled, strung through…

we take off

the road to the volcano passes by a local landmark – a narrow gorge from a quickly cooled-down lava; the brochures look promising plus Dobri’s pictures from Ireland make me expect extraordinary shapes…

the road leading there is closed and we manage to get a glimpse of this although we pay quite a lot to enter…

we head to our primary destination a bit angry; the road passes through several Sicilian villages

the road up after the last village looks like this

the U-turns are labeled, the asphalt is flawless, we are the only ones on the road and, luckily, we are riding on two wheels!

……

we arrive at the foot of the volcano and the road ends

Nikolay is showing how he got here

there is a lift from here to the crater but it is not working today… (maybe it has something to do with today’s date because it happens for the second time today…)

we head back on the perfect asphalt between the cooled-down streams of lava

a short direction check

a final look up

and off we go to Pozzallo because we have a ferry to catch; we get there an hour early, have coffee and we get loaded soon; the boat is great, fast, luxurious, managed by a British team (with British prices); there are special ramparts for the bikes

we arrive in Malta when it is already dark… uh, and everybody is driving on the WRONG SIDE OF THE ROAD! you get used to it (well, almost), but it is a great shock in the beginning, especially in the roundabouts which are abundant and go the opposite way just as well.

to be continued…

Malta 02 – Sicily

31/03/2010

we get up at sunrise, just like that; our room looks to the sea on the east and the sun is tickling us pleasantly in our beds

across the street

breakfast, blissful coffee on the terrace and back in the astronaut suits

our faithful horses

focused tying of the bags

our day begins with a stop at Catania’s port in order to buy tickets for the ferry to Malta

and we head for Etna; we stop by this smoky thing on the way

this is edible, in case you were wondering; I did not quite understand what it was, nor what it is called but before I managed to take put my camera, the guys had already eaten the part meant for eating anyway…

we reach the town of Castellmola which is sitting comfortably at the foot of the volcano

we stop for a bit after managing to get lost on its only street (a single street but with great turns…)

we group again

and continue climbing up; soon, we get to this site

and we give into photography immediately

after a short discussion, the suggestion to sleep somewhere around here was unanimously accepted (nobody wanted to leave this view!); we drive some more to the top and we find ourselves the right hotel; this is the view from our room and …well, it’s the same from everywhere:

it is a weird feeling – Etna is dominating the landscape with deceiving calmness and bliss; lava cannot reach here; this is our first thought although the place we are at right now has been evacuated several times due to the highly poisonous smoke and volcanic ash…

the bikes are parked, we have changed and we sit at a local tavern as the sun is trying to set above Etna

to be continued…

Malta 01

29/03/2010 – inappropriately early morning – the OMV on the ring road

the other two – Moni and Vlado – are already waiting for us

coffee, gasoline, a little bit of nicotine and the whole enthusiasm in the world – our blood is about to boil any minute now – we have been waiting all winter for this; the season is not open in Sofia yet, the temperatures are just 15-16 ˚C but the weather forecasts for where we are headed predict lots of sun

today’s route is Sofia – Sandanski – Thessaloniki – Igoumenitsa; 650 km. which are primarily freshly built Greek highways

up until now, both of us (Niki and I) have never ridden for more than 250 km in one day, not to mention the fact that our collective experience on two wheels is no more than 2,000 km.

the beginning is filled with discoveries:

when we were preparing our bags the night before, we had to make adjustments thrice and ended up with a little less luggage each time, while, finally, we heard the bags zip with effort (well, the extra sweater has never been an issue for the Pajero! and there is certainly no room for snacks and water….);

you have to take off your helmet at the border (which did not occur to us);

paying toll fees from a bike on the highway is a skill which is acquired through a loooooooooot of practice
carrying a huge camera, taking it out of the bags and putting it back is super tiresome, so it is great that our colleagues have smaller cameras in their pockets

Greek gas stations are the most miserable ones in Europe and, even if they are part of a chain, there is a good chance their pumps and counters are modified on purpose…

this doesn’t cool our enthusiasm, plus, the last 200 kilometers before Igoumenitsa pass through a magnificent mountain with beautiful scenery; our noses freeze in the tunnels

the way down the highway to the Mediterranean Sea is amazing! (there are no pictures! – yep, my hands were busy controlling the two-wheeler and you cannot just stop for this and that… I promise myself to take pictures on the way back)

we get to Igoumenitsa 2 hours before the first ferry (one of them at 8 PM, the other one at 10:30 PM), we buy tickets and spend the time indulging in Mediterranean cuisine; yum, the octopus is worth it!

the ferry line is called Venturis; we had travelled with Superfast before and we think we have an idea how it is going to work; there is a brief scandal about tying the vehicles,

a quick check, taking of the bags, some fun pictures

and head for the deck; surpriiiiiiiise! the two above-mentioned ferry lines have nothing in common! …the common room (a maximum size of about 100 square meters) is already occupied by Turks, truck drivers and all sorts of gastarbeiters lying around wherever possible; there is the specific scent of smelly shoes and food so the next two days will be spent in a truck’s cabin, it seems; we try to relax at the thought of having paid for cabins with hatches…

the hatch overlooks a deck accessible for all passengers while the carpet is covered with layers of DNA material and your socks stich to it; I peek at the bathroom and I give up immediately since there was no room for slippers in our bags and going there barefoot is a medical suicide… at least the sheets are clean and they smell fresh (!???!!); we get some sleep.

Bari, Italy

oil, chains, baggage check; we are ready for the second round

today’s route (30/03/2010) is Bari – Taranto – the incredible Italian A3 through the Reggio di Calabria area – and a ferry to Messina, Sicily; some 600-650 km.

upon exiting Bari, the highway passes by the incredible Renzo Piano stadium; I had no idea it was there, but I’ve seen pictures of it and you cannot mistake it for anything else even from a distance! I do my best to keep my eyes on the road and, again, we do not stop and I promise myself to take pictures on the way back…
there are wild winds all the time that give us a hard time; the scenery is composed of hills; we pass by a beautiful valley with the sea on one side and a gorgeous mountain with white peaks on the other; we finally get to the A3 motorway by the early afternoon.

A3 is the main motorway of Southern Italy, connecting Palermo with Reggio di Calabria and it passes primarily along the western slopes of the mountain; the lower end of the foot of the boot – all the pay to the toes ☺;
the southernmost part of the mountain goes straight into the Mediterranean Sea and the motorway is a succession of tunnels and vast viaducts which offer mind-blowing views!

the road “flies” over the water, the sun is low over the sea and spills its rays to as far as one can see… there is one spot that has left an imprint in my mind – a long tunnel and a viaduct right after it which is pointed directly at the sea horizon, leaving the mountain far behind us, so high that the shore beneath cannot be seen… in a long, supple turn, hundreds of meters above the water, the road returns into the folds of the mountain slope; this is where I started breathing again.

we reach the port in the evening, we get lost, we get found, we miss the ferry and we wait for the next one as the mafia-wild wind blows from all sides and we finally get to Messina; the sun sets; it starts to drizzle; welcome to Sicily!

we decide not to sleep in Messina and continue to Catania; riding in the dark, especially a bike in the drizzling rain, is not my favorite thing! So the guys escort me with their headlights ☺ and about a hundred kilometers later, we are already looking for a hotel – we check in at the Sheraton, park the bikes at the garage; in just half an hour, we look human again (and not astronaut-like) and we start looking for a place that will satisfy the hunger which has been following us for the last few hours.

we come upon a local tavern which is full with noisy Italians; this is a good sign! We order pasta for like 10 people and quite soon we glow with bliss; we are not going to eat neither pizza, nor spaghetti in Bulgaria ever again…

we take a shower and go to bed because tomorrow we are going to conquer Etna

to be continued…