Page 15 of BMertens Travel Blog Posts


Europe » Montenegro » Pljevlja July 24th 2017

When we had finally arrived to Montenegro, the second part of our trip began and it would be a huge adventure, filled with mesmerizing sights, cold, rain, frustration and a lot of happiness. On our way to our first stop, Durmitor national park, we had to cross a huge bridge and when we saw 50 people standing on the bridge, we realized that we were at Tara River with a breathtaking view from the bridge. We stopped on the parking of a hotel and walked across this very high bridge, bewitched by the beautiful sight of the mountains, forests and the river. We continued to Zabljak, where we went to the tourist info and to the supermarket and the first thing we noticed was how unfriendly all people in this made-up village are. It seemed like ... read more
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Europe » Bosnia & Herzegovina » East » Sarajevo July 22nd 2017

After our fast departure from Ostrava, we had 5 hours to go to our first stop : Graz in Austria. The road was clear and we only had a little traffic jam but nothing too bad. On the road, Anne checked Graz for hostels but she couldn't find anything. In the end, we found a nice and cheap hotel near the city centre with parking (THE most important feature we wanted) and when we arrived, we saw that it was a wonderful hotel, much more worth than what we had paid. We were really happy, but a hot shower and a nice, comfortable bed were the only things that interested us after ice-cold showers at the camping in Ostrava. We went to the city centre and when we finally found a nice restaurant, we were so ... read more
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On July 16, my friend Anne and me left Belgium to go to the "Colours of Ostrava" festival in Czech republic. As always, our trip started as a mess : instead of leaving at 10 AM as planed, we left at 11 AM because Anne didn't have her passport and I did. Actually, first we agreed we wouldn't take it, but then we I decided it was better to take it and I hadn't told her, so she didn't bring hers and we had to go back and get it... This first day wasn't so good anyway. We wanted to get to Jena and spend our first night there, but we got into a lot of traffic jams and so we arrived pretty late at our hostel, then we couldn't find a nice restaurant and when ... read more
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South America » Peru July 1st 2016

Geo: -9.18997, -75.0152On Friday 1st of July, I arrived at 22h30 at Lima airport from where I had a shuttle to my hostel. I was really happy when I finally arrived at the hostel : people in Lima drive like crazy, really scary! In the hostel, I met my friend Anne who would travel for 2 weeks with me across Peru. We talked only for a few minutes and then went to bed, it was already quite late and the jetlag wasn't helping our conversation…On our first day in Lima, we did the free walking tour in the center of Lima. The tour started in a bar where we had our first beer at 11 AM. The guide was very good, really funny and interesting to listen to. We saw the historic center of Lima, had ... read more
Lima
Lima
Lima

South America » Brazil June 9th 2016

Geo: -14.0378, -47.6229 At 13:00 is was waiting at the meeting point my driver Eli had indicated me. He told me we would leave between 1 and 2PM, but in the end the showed up quite late, around 2:15 PM and then we still had to pick up 2 other people at their hotel. Since he didn't know where this exactly was, we were driving around for about 30 min before final finding them. In the end, I think we left Brasilia around 3 PM. The other 2 people turned out to be a couple, she from Minas and he from Brussels! Who would have thought that!? After 4 months in Brazil without meeting any Belgians, I meet one in a private transport from Brasilia to Chapada dos Veadeiros. The chances of that were really realm ... read more
Chapada dos Veadeiros
Chapada dos Veadeiros
Chapada dos Veadeiros

South America » Brazil June 8th 2016

Geo: -15.7909, -47.9258On Wednesday night (06/08/16), I took a plane from São Paulo to Brasilia and I arrived there at around 9:30PM, 30 min earlier than scheduled, which is seldom and great! I took an Uber - my new favorite transport - to my hostel. The hostel was very nice and modern. The only thing bothering me was this annoying guy from Rio who kept trying to make conversation while I just wanted to finish reading the Lonely Planet chapter about Brasilia. Planning my trip with the guy working in the hostel, we found out the Lonely Planet chapter about Brasilia and Chapada dos Veadeiros sucks. The bus hours indicated are completely wrong. In the end, I found out there exists private transport not too expensive and so the next morning I booked that for 70 ... read more
Brasilia
Brasilia
Brasilia

South America » Brazil » São Paulo February 15th 2016

Geo: -23.5475, -46.6361On February 15, I left Buenos Aires very early (6 AM) to go via Santiago to Sao Paulo. It was very hard for me to leave BA : in the 10 days I was there I got to know and to love this beautiful sunny city as well as the people in the hostel who had become family.At 3 PM at arrived at São Paulo where it was raining like hell... Great! I took a taxi to my hostel where I arrived very tired from not sleeping the night before and from a long flight. So I spent my first afternoon here at the hostel, reading and sleeping. The next morning, I was very happy to find my friend Clara whom I had met in BA and who would spent a few days in ... read more
São Paulo
São Paulo
São Paulo

South America » Argentina February 4th 2016

Geo: -34.6118, -58.4173On February 4, I left Ushuaia and took a plane to Buenos Aires. After drinking too much wine the night before, celebrating Kris's birthday, I was quite sick during this trip but when we landed at Buenos Aires I already felt better. I took a bus and then a taxi to my hotel ("Tango de Mayo Hotel"), because I had no idea where it was and had no map yet. The hotel was great and my room just amazing ! Finally a huge bed in a room just for me with a private, beautiful and clean bathroom : that felt like heaven after 8 weeks in dorms ! :-DI was quite hungry so I went to a nice Italian restaurant and had some really good pasta and fruit salad. I spent the afternoon on ... read more
Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires

South America » Argentina January 30th 2016

Geo: -54.79, -68.31On Saturday 30 of January, I took the 8:30 AM bus to Ushuaia. We were 5 from our hostel taking the same bus, 3 german guys, 1 austrian girl and me. It was a very long bus ride (12 hours) and there was nothing much to see since most of the way is pampa. It only became beautiful when we arrived at the border and the Lago Fagnano with is huge and very nice. At the border we had to wait half an hour - they are sooo slow at the border ... so good that we have no more border controls in Europe ! - but in this time the shepherds next to the border drove their sheep from one side of the street to the other and it was quite fun to ... read more
Parque Nacional Tierra del Fuego
Parque Nacional Tierra del Fuego
Parque Nacional Tierra del Fuego

South America » Chile January 28th 2016

Geo: -53.1479, -70.9303I arrived to Punta Arenas around 10:30 AM on Thursday morning. The first thing I did was to book my ticket to Ushuaia 2 days later. Then I went looking for my hostel. After wandering around without finding a tourist info, I took a collectivo to my hostel. The "Entre Vientos" hostel was quite far far the center (20 minutes walking) and a but dirty but otherwise it was very nice. The kitchen and the living room were very spacious and it was perfect to relax. I went to the center, reserved a tour to the king pinguins the next day and went shopping for food. I also went to the pharmacy where they gave me tape and pain killers/desinflamation for my foot and vitamines for my organism. I spent the rest of the ... read more
Punta Arenas
Punta Arenas
Punta Arenas




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