Saša gave an idea and Borut insisted with it, so here we are. We will spend our cold winter holidays in February, on the island of the Indian Ocean, Sri Lanka. This island country in Asia, where we will catch the first sun rays this year – is covered with tropical forests, tea-tree and surrounded with sandy beaches. Sounds like a paradise, doesn’t it? After all the pictures and reading, we expect a journey, where we will witness gravel roads, exotic animals, tea and curry.
Sašina ideja in Borutova vztrajnost sta pretehtali, da mrzle zimske počitnice v februarju raje kot doma, preživiva na otoku ob Indijskem oceanu, na Šrilanki. Šrilanka, otoška država v Aziji, kjer bova lovila prve sončne žarke v letu – je poraščena s tropskim gozdom, čajevcem in obdana z rajskimi peščenimi plažami. Po vsem prebranem in slikah sodeč naju čaka potovanje, na katerem ne bo manjkalo makadamskih cest, eksotičnih živali, čaja in curryja.
#1 – Djemma el Fna
Trg Djemma el Fna v Marakešu se čez dan dobesedno spremeni v pravo gledališče. Ulični umetniki, ki se ukvarjajo s plesom, improvizacijo, glasbo, vsak dan privabijo na tisoče radovednih turistov. Ne manjka niti raznovrstnih živali, kot so opice, kače, želve… Ob mraku pa trg zasije še v drugi luči, na plan se prikažejo stojnice, kjer domačini za ugodno ceno ponujajo njihovo tradicionalno hrano in pijačo (torej morske dobrote, piščanec na sto in en način ter obvezen metin čaj in svež pomarančni sok). Djemma el Fna se je pri nama brez konkurence uvrstil na 1 top atrakcijo Maroka.
#1 – Djemma el Fna
The biggest Djemma el Fna square in Marrakech during the day literally turns into a veritable theatre. Street artists who deals with dance, improvisation, music… every day attract thousands of curious tourists. Even different animals such as monkeys, snakes, turtles are the real attraction. While the dusk comes out, the market shines in a different light. Each minute, new stall appear, where locals at an affordable price offering the traditional food and drink (seafood, chicken in a hundred and one way, obligatory mint tea and fresh orange juice). Djemma el Fna is for us without competition ranked in the top 1 attraction in Morocco.
Bonjour Madame, Monsieur.. no english please. Pariz naju je popolnoma navdušil! Enormno število prehojenih kilometrov, žulji na nogah, bolečine v mišicah.. ampak vse je že skoraj pozabljeno, definitivno pa nama bo za vedno ostala v spominu še ena nora izkušnja. Pariz sicer ni ravno poceni, vendar pa se z malce prilagodljivosti izogneš tudi prekomernemu zapravljanju denarja. Priporočava prehranjevanje v fast foodih in nasploh nakupovanje hrane in pijače v supermarketih, kjer pa je vse popolnoma dostopno za naš žep. To sicer ni nasvet za zdrav način življenja, ampak nekaj dni malce “slabše hrane” že ne more škoditi. Res je, da je med glavnimi francoskimi stereotipi tudi čudovita kulinarika.. vendar pa lakota že samo ob pogledu na števila z evri, hitro mine (vsaj pri nama).
Ampak makroni so pa makroni.. mimo teh pač ne gre. Priljubljenost jim je najbolj poskočila v zadnjih dveh letih, vendar pa že stoletja veljajo za eno izmed najbolj prestižnih in najdražjih francoskih slaščic. Gre za majhne krhke beljakove penice, ki jih združuje raznovrsten nadev. Čisto slučajno sva si jih privoščila v eni izmed čokoladnic, v stopničasti ulici, ki se vzpenja proti soseski Montmatre, znane po legendarnih umetnikih, ki vodi do snežno belih kupol bazilike Sacre coeur.
Bonjour Madame, Monsieur… no English please. Paris totally impressed us! Enormous number of walked miles callouses on the feet, muscle pain… but everything is almost forgotten and definitely we will forever remain in our memory one another crazy experience. Paris is not exactly cheap, but with little flexibility you can avoid excessive waste of money. We recommended eating in fast food restaurants and or shopping in supermarkets for other food and drinks, where everything is completely accessible to our pocket. This is not advice for a healthy lifestyle, but a few days with a little “worse food” will not hurt. It is true that one of the main French stereotypes is a wonderful cuisine… but hunger just by looking at the prices, passes quickly (at least for us).
Nevertheless, macrons are macrons. Without this amazing and delicious biscuits could not go. The popularity of them is most sharply in the last two years, but for centuries, they are stated as one of the most prestigious and most expensive French pastries. Macrons are small fragile whites’ warbler, which brings together a diverse stuffing. Quite accidentally we afford them in one of the chocolate store in a stepped street, which climbs to the Montmartre neighbourhood, known for its legendary artists, which leads to snow-white domes of Sacre Coeur.
Odločitev je padla, naslednja destinacija je še ena izmed svetovno znanih evropskih prestolnic – Pariz, mesto neskončne ljubezni, vrhunske kulinarike in neprecenljive umetnosti. Glavno mesto Francije, šteje kakšnih 100 tisoč prebivalcev več kot jih ima celotna Slovenija in se razteza na 105 km2. Znamenitosti, ki jih premore sploh nebi naštevala, saj meniva, da jih zaradi njihove svetovne prepoznavnosti pozna prav vsak od vas.
The decision was made, the next destination is one of the world-famous European capitals – Paris, the city of endless love, world-class cuisine and priceless art. The capital city of France, counts about 100 thousand inhabitants more than the entire Slovenia and stretches over 105 km2. Attractions that are there, we would not even listing, because we think that by virtue of their global visibility, are known to every one of you.
Barcelona here we are… we flew for the first time with less well-known Spanish low-cost carrier Vueling. Small, half-empty aircraft, a lot of comfort and a 15-minute short flight than planned. This was followed by – in comparison with other countries – very well organized transfer to the city centre. Bus carrier Aero bus drives to the main station Catalunya onto every 5 – 10 minutes, and from there we just switched to metro and practically already walked into our hotel, which was only a stone’s throw away from the station Lesseps. But here we faced a one minor problem. We reserved hotel from home, but since we reserved airline tickets as well we used up almost all the limit on our MasterCard and because of that our advance hotel reservation was not successful. After 5 minutes of silence, contemplation on the computer screen and the constant typing on the keyboard, receptor then finally give us one of the hotel room. Moral of the story: if you book hotel in advance, at least check whether the reservation was successful 🙂
Where to start? Of course, on the main promenade in Barcelona, on the main street called La Rambla, which takes you from one of the main squares, Plaça de Catalunya and all the way to the port. At every moment you feel the hustle formed by many tourist, shops and restaurants have various offers here.
Barcelona, here we are… Tokrat sva prvič letela z manj znanim španskim nizkocenovcem Vueling. Majhno, pol prazno letalo, a veliko udobja in 15 minut krajši let od načrtovanega. Sledil je – v primerjavi z drugimi državami – zelo dobro organiziran transfer do centra mesta. Avtobusi prevoznika Aerobus do glavne postaje Catalunya vozijo že na vsakih 5-10 minut, od tam pa sva le presedlala na metro in se tako rekoč že naslikala na recepciji hotela, ki je bil le streljaj oddaljen od postaje Lesseps. Tu pa naju je čakal manjši problem. Hotel sva namreč rezervirala že od doma, ker pa sva z nakupom letalskih kart na mastercardu unovčila skoraj ves limit, vnaprejšnja rezervacija ni bila uspešna. Po 5 minutni tišini, zrenju v računalniški ekran in neprestanem tipkanju po tipkovnici, pa nama receptor nato končno le nameni eno od praznih hotelskih sob. Nauk te zgodbe: če že prej rezerviraš hotel, vsaj preveri ali je bila rezervacija sploh uspešna 🙂
Kje začeti? Seveda na glavni promenadi v Barceloni, na glavni ulici La Rambli, ki te popelje od enega izmed glavnih trgov Plaça de Catalunya ter vse do pristanišča. V trenutku zaužiješ vrvež, ki ga tvorijo številni turisti, trgovine in restavracije z različnimi ponudbami.