Marstrand

Marstrand is 30 minutes drive from Gothenburg.  A car-free island with unique wooden houses dating back from the 1800s.  Cobble stoned streets crawls around the island in a spiraling maze.  Nowadays Marstrand is a West Coast mecca for sailors.  The Carlsten´s fortress overlooks the island from a hilltop and has a magnificent view from the top.  The fortress itself has an interesting history.  Colourful shops and houses with proud Swedish flags waving in the wind, awaits visitors from the mainland - a 5 minute ferry ride away.  The restaurants and cafe´s serve local delicacies which can be enjoyed outside while overlooking the water and sailboats.  The Southern Bohuslän, which includes Marstrand and Tjörn, are worth exploring - a great getaway from the city.

Bicycle parade

Walking down the Avenue in Gothenburg on Saturday a group of extreme and interesting bicycles, with their owners, cycled by.  I managed to only get one picture. It was a fleeting moment of unexpected strangeness - some with big radios attached to their seats, some with big colourful designs and some just old Penny Farthing style.

  

Irish Luck

Last weekend Australia played Ireland in a Rugby World Cup match. We watched the game in an Irish Pub, Dubliners. I drank a Bulmers, an Irish drink (while Stephan had his Guinness). And with some Irish luck Ireland took the Aussies down under! 

A pink cloud

A pink (reddish) cloud floating by on Friday twilight.   A strange, but beautiful sight.

Punta Del Este, Uruguay

Punta del Este is a city and big tourist resort on the Atlantic Coast of southeastern Uruguay.
There are many beaches along the coastline.  We stayed in a nice location, 20 minutes from the noisy and crowded centre of Punta del Este,  in the middle of a green villa neighbourhood. The hostel was 400 metres from "Bikini Beach", the most famous surfing beach of Punta del Este and a 25 peso bus ticket outside of the Punta del Este city centre. "Bikini Beach" is a white sandy beach with strong waves, a surfers paradise.  This part of Punta del Este reminded me of South Africa´s Jeffrey's Bay. There are a couple of good and interesting restaurants from where you can view the sea and enjoy the beautiful sunsets of the Uruguayan coast. This wasn´t my most favorite stop-over in our trip, but had one of the better beaches I had seen so far in Uruguay.  A bit touristy for me, but overall a good place to visit.

Tip:  Rent a car and take a scenic coastal drive.









My first Swedish lesson

The first sentence I said to someone in Swedish (my first “conversation” if you will) was with an old lady in an elevator in the library in Gothenburg.  She said something (I have no idea what, as I was just starting out with the language).  And the first Swedish words that popped into my head were:  “Jag skulle vilja vill gå till toalett.” (Translated:  I would like to go to the toilet).  She looked at me with one eye only (the other one on the red number counting down the floors), murmured something under her breath and stopped the elevator at the first available floor.  The she “ran” out (well walked as fast as she could).  My eagerness to have a conversation in Swedish or just to let my voice be heard, to let the Swedish population know that I am here and I want to say something, taught me a valuable lesson that day:  Don´t speak (Swedish) to strangers.



Gotlib (Gothenburg library) on the right

  

Montevideo, Uruguay

Montevideo is the largest city, the capital, and the chief port of Uruguay.  As I remember correctly we only spent one night here.  Again we stayed at Hostelling International.  This hostel is centrally situated and our room overlooked Plaza Independencia and the Solís Theatre, which is is Uruguay's oldest theatre.

After a lot of travel, just lying on the beach was great:



Tip:  Exploring some museums and visiting old buildings could be interesting as Montevideo has a very rich architectural heritage and an impressive number of writers, artists, and musicians. And maybe seeing an Uruguayan tango show, which originated in the neighbourhoods of Montevideo towards the end of the 1800s.

Colonia del Sacramento, Uruguay

From Buenos Aires, a two hour long Ferry ride across the Rio de la Plata which is the main water thoroughfare for visitors from Argentina to access any part of Uruguay, you will reach Colonia.  Knowing nothing about this town, we arrived with no expectations.  Then we were blown away.  A quiet little town with cobblestoned streets and Portuguese styled built houses with bougainvilleas resting on the doorways.  Visiting in December, it felt like we were the only travelers around and as if we just found a town that was forgotten by mankind.  A gem.  The locals thrive on their siestas every afternoon and we followed their lead.  Buildings seemed to lean towards the trees´s shadows in the simmering heat.  Cobbledstoned streets shimmering  and sweating under the travelling scooters (which can be rented everywhere) and the afternoon sun.  And a local beer helps to cool things down.  Old, lonely but proud cars parked (forgotten?) on every available shadowy street corner.  Exploring one afternoon I found forgotten or closed down buildings, quiet streets, cracked walls, rusted locks and a lonely lighthouse (which all forms part of the historic quarter, Barrío Historico and was named a UNESCO heritage site in 1995).  We rented a "beach buggy" and drove alongside the small peninsula jutting out into the lazy river.  We found broken boardwalks, sunken (maybe willingly) in the water.  A restuarant overlooking the shimmering sand welcomed us with cold beers and big meals:  potatoe fried balls and their famous steak.   An artist paradise with art and craft shops, museums and new findings around every corner.  All in all this unique town is a muse in itself.  An inspiring place which I could easily have made my home.



Tip:  Hostelling International is, again, centrally situated.  Cold beers are offered the moment you arrive.  Great location.  Clean rooms, with airconditioning or fans, overlook a bougainvillea-filled courtyard.

Buenos Aires, Argentina

As I supported the Argentina rugby team this morning in their first world cup game in New Zealand, a wave of nostalgia came over me.  I went through our South American journey which started in Tango country,  with Evita and Buenos Aires.  

A tango show is a must



The Obelisk of Buenos Aires, a national historic monument



Casa Rosada (presidential palace) with a statue for Christopher Columbus

View from our hostel´s balcony

View of Buenos Aires from a ferry

Tip:  Buenos Aires Hostel Suites Obelisco (Hosteling International) is centrally located and a great place to meet people, find out about tango shows and other packages and they also have groups where you can learn some Spanish.