After a great start in Sevilla I was more than ready to head on to my next destination, Cadiz, and explore this old city. I woke up before sunrise (yeah right! Well… early enough though ;)), packed my things and went searching for the train station – according to my map it was meant to be pretty straight forward getting there, so put my map aside and set off… Straight away I regretted taking a bag with me instead of a backpack (back at home it made sense to take a bag as it was much smaller than my backpack, but now with the city still asleep and hardly anyone on the streets and me making all this noise from dragging the wheels on the cobblestoned paths, somehow taking the bag instead of a backpack didn’t ... read more

Waking up to a grey sky wasn’t really a surprise, but watching how heavy it was raining while we were having breakfast was quite disappointing to say the least… It didn’t look too promising but the forecast for the next days was even worse, and we didn’t tick Morskie Oko (the most famous of the Polish lakes in Tatras called The Eye of The Sea) off our list yet (this time), so we decided to give it a try anyway. Full of hopes and armed with raincoats we drove to Łysa Polana. Not really trusting my jacket I bought a rain-poncho just in case also... Better to have too many layers on you than too few, right? Even though Łysa Polana is a bit away from Zakopane (on the border with Slovakia), it’s quite easy to ... read more

For some strange reason I woke up pretty thirsty that morning… Obviously it didn’t have anything to do with the previous evening… ;) Still after some good portion of scrambled eggs and a strong, BIG coffee for breakfast, I was ready for another day of hiking… We were aiming to reach Giewont (1894m high) that day. It’s probably the most famous mountain of the Polish Tatras – it comprises of three peaks Great Giewont, Long Giewont and Small Giewont. Its silhouette resembles that of a Sleeping Knight – the Long Giewont forming the knight’s torso and Great Giewont his face (the chin, the nose and the eyebrow). Almost from any point in Zakopane you can see a beautiful view of Giewont and easily make out the profile of the sleeping knight. According to a popular legend ... read more

I was really looking forward to spending a week in beautiful Tatras and couldn’t wait to see the familiar peaks overlooking Zakopane, but then I just couldn’t imagine landing in Kraków and not visiting the Old Town even for a while… So with just a few hours to spare, we headed to the centre of Kraków. Wawel Castle beautifully set on the hill along Wisła (Vistula River) is definitely a place worth a visit. Once a royal residence, its chambers are full of treasures – paintings, furniture and all sorts of memorabilia from Renaissance times. But then with little time on our hands, we had to skip a visit to the castle this time and just strolled along the Wisła, and then walking through Planty (best known park in Kraków) we reached Rynek Główny (the Main ... read more

Another Paddy’s day in Dublin… Hmmm... Having seen the parade a few years before, I wasn’t exactly too excited to be taking part in this event again this year. Especially that it didn't impress me at all the first time I saw it. All I remember from that parade was being cold and wet (surprise, surprise - it was raining!) and seeing a lot of loud and drunk teenagers everywhere trying to pick a fight. I didn't really see much of the parade itself either cause I wasn't anywhere close to the barriers - I've seen a lot of heads in front of me though ;) One thing I did enjoy about Paddy’s weekend that year was a visit to the Guinness Storehouse. We went there a day before Paddy’s day and it seemed that all ... read more