Bank holiday of October 12 in Floripa. Cloudy and cold, but always good to see the beach and visit Pousada do Santinho!
Bank holiday of October 12 in Floripa. Cloudy and cold, but always good to see the beach and visit Pousada do Santinho!
I’m flying out to Rio tonight!
The plan is head to Arraial do Cabo on friday morning and dive on saturday! I’ll post right after that!
I should’ve posted before but I allowed myself to be lazy!
Well, my summer holidays trip of 2010 was to Ilha Grande and Rio. Rio, to be honest, was just an accessory. Ilha Grande is great, even after those landslides that happened on new years eve. Actually, nothing changed, but I could notice that it wasn’t as busy as people were expecting, which was good for me, I admit, but disappointing for those who depend on tourism and I believe that’s a big part (not to say everybody) of the people living in the island.
Accomodation: We stayed at Pousada dos Meros in the Abraão Village. Very nice place. If one day I return to the island (and I intend to) I will book a room over there again. Very clean, good AC, marvellous breakfast and all you need. Plus, the bar they have in front of the hostel is very cool with an awesome pancake. R$ 120,00/night for a double room.
Dive: I went diving with Abudefduf. We went to the open sea side of the island, to a small island named Jorge Grego. Navigation was bad, 2 hours to get there! The dive itself was very good, lots of fishes and we ended up seeing dolphins! R$ 150,00 for two dives including all the equipment and snack (quite good) and there was also water and guaraná available in the boat.
Beach: Lopez Mendes = Best beach ever. The best places in the island, such as Lopez Mendes, are far away from the Abrão Vilage. For those who enjoy and can stand hours and hours of trekking, it is a good option. However, for most of the people, you’ll need a boat to get around. For Lopez Mendes, there is a boat ride of 40 minutes (R$15,00) and then a walk of another 40 minutes. We also enjoyed the Blue Lagoon, Green Lagoon and Aripeba with a boat trip that took us one day, but it was worth as we could enjoy these places very well and paid only R$35,00.
Nice one!
We drove 6,140.6 Km across the country. The starting point was Porto Alegre and the first stretch was a 823 Km drive to Foz do Iguaçu, Paraná, maybe a bit longer since the GPS took us to the wrong way and we ended up taking a longer route.
Foz do Iguaçu
We stayed in a very nice hostel which I promise to post the name if I remember it later. We visited the waterfalls, did the Macuco Safari and crossed the border to Paraguay. Next day, road again…
The second leg was a 769 Km drive to Bonito, Mato Grosso do Sul.
We had no trouble at this leg with the GPS since the charger burned down and with its battery dead we used the old paper map which turned up being very easy to use.
In Bonito, paradise! All the trips we did in there were as wonderful as we thought it would be.
We’ve done snorkelling in the Natural Aquarium, rapel and snorkelling at the Anhumas Abyss, snorkelling in the Sucuri River, scuba diving in the Formoso River, rafting in the Formosinho River and Bóia Cross as well. So much activity, great experience! We also visited the caves too.
The visibility on the water is just incredible! I never expected this for river waters.
If someone ask me a place that I would recommend to visit in Brazil, that place would be Bonito.
From Bonito we drove to Ourinhos and slept there for one night. Next day, road to Rio…
I won’t talk much about Rio since it is a very popular location. Our experience in Rio was nothing different from most of the people I guess. Visited the regular place and teh regular beaches.
From Rio we drove down the coast stoping by in many different beaches like Angra dos Reis, Prumirim, Juréia, Maresias, São Sebastião and Camburi. Overnight at São Sebastião and then down to Florianópolis and then ending in Porto Alegre.
Check the route map:
Road Trip Brazil 2009
Route: Cairo, Aswan by sleeping train, Luxor by felluca on the nile, Dahab by plane, back to Cairo by local bus (great experience!)
Climax: Dahab! The backpacker nirvana!
Click here for the photos!
Before going to Egypt we planned everything with lots of details. The lonely planet guide was our main source of information for almost everything. Well, we booked the King Tut hostel at Cairo and some other hostels for some other places in the country.
The hostel provided airport transfer and we got the first taste of the mad traffic of Cairo. Insane!
In the hostel, the hostel owner offered us a traditional tea and brought a book with statements from previous host. He was trying to sell a package for our entire trip in Egypt. At the end, it would end up being more expensive than what we’ve planned, but it was absolutely necessary!
Egypt is a very poor country and added this to a totally different culture that vary from the religion to the actual local tradition and the way the men treat the women, I believe we would end up having trouble at some point.
With that in mind, if you go to Egypt and stay at the King Tut hostel, my advice is to consider taking up the package offered to you.
We had guided tours to every single place in the country including transportation with air conditioning (THANK GOD!).
Ah, we also made some good friends during the trip (Casper & Anja)!
Snorkelling - Dahab, Red Sea
Since we were in the Sinai Peninsula (Egypt), it was a great opportunity to visit Israel.
From Dahab we took a van ride to the border (Egypt-Israel) and crossed the border walking. On the Israeli side, after a detailed search on our lugagges, we took a bus from Eilat to Jerusalem.
The hostel we stayed at was a terrible experience. However, the town itself was worth. We missed a guided tour, to be honest. There’s so much history in that place and we would have learned much more if we had a guide.
It was just a weekend and we managed to visit only a few places.
After that, we headed back to Dahab!
Route: London, Paris by Eurostar
We stayed for the weekend, since I’m posting almost 4 years after the trip, I do not remember the hostel we stayed at, I just remember it was close to Roland Garros.
In 2 days we managed to visit all the important places such as Eiffel tower, Louvre Museum, Notredame Cathedral, Champs Elysee, the Arch of Triumph and etc.
Honestly, I was not impressed and was expecting a bit more of Paris.
We enjoyed anyway!
Eiffel Tower
I visited Scotland twice, twice in Edinburgh and once in Glasgow. One by bus and the other one driving.
Edinburgh is a lovely place for those who enjoy that medieval look, that’s the impression I got. That castle is such a wonderful place!
We also visited the Rosslyn Chapel (Da Vinci’s Code movie)
I’m sorry not to provide more details about it, I’m posting almost 4 years after I actually been there, so you’ll have to forgive me!
Anyway, one of the cities in Europe I definitely recommend!
Edinburgh Castle
On my first trip to Europe I rented a car in Munich and drove all the way to Dusseldorf, visiting tows like Koln, Wursburg and Dusseldorf.
I went back in 2006 during the World Cup Finals to visit Berlim. We stayed for one night only (me and Gui) just to watch Brazil vs. Croatia (in a screen outside the stadium). It was good though!
I had a wonderful impression and would definitely return one day!
Berlim Wall
I flew from London to Bratislava. From Bratislava we took a creepy train to Liptovsky Mikulas (a LONG journey).
We stayed in a very nice, cosy family hostel where I could even borrow some ski equipment for my adventures in Jasna!
It was veeeery cheap and beautiful too!
When we got back in Bratislava we went out for sightseeing and my advice is, use your bloody ticket for the train properly. If you don’t, just don’t give your passport to anyone!
It was a good weekend afterall!
Jasna
"@RadarBlitzPOA borges na altura do praia de belas"
"@globoesporters daleinter"
"@RadarBlitzPOA blitz na 24, logo após a panvel do parcao"
"@RadarBlitzPOA blitz na goethe sentido 24 se outubro"
"Floripa!"
Find me at