Cuba, Amazing trip around by Nika Čuk

My good friend Nika Čuk shared a great experience with us about her amazing trip to Cuba!
Thank you Nika :)

Don't forget to check her VLOG at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3qYd9FMT2l0


So...I went to Cuba for the first time in April/May 2014. And it was an amazing journey that i'll never forget.  Everything is different there, the streets, people, food, the music, the whole atmosphere is on another level and after we came home, we definitely needed some time to "recover" and to get used to our normal (boring) routine.  After we landed in Havana, we stayed there for three days with our friends/relatives who live there. Havana is a beautiful city with amazing architecture. Even at night, the city is alive. We saw so many people dancing and singing and the whole vibe was amazing, even though I got sick and felt so jet-lagged I couldn't really walk around as much for the first 2 days, I really loved it there.

Our next destination was Cayo Largo, which is an island that is a part of Cuba. This is paradise, it really is. White sand everywhere, palm trees and beautiful turquoise water ... It felt like a dream come true. We also went swimming with dolphins, which was an amazing experience and on my wish list for quite some time.

 

But soon, it was time to leave, so we went back to Havana and rented a car.  We drove through Trinidad, a very colourful city,  through Santa Clara, Las Tunas etc., until we arrived to Santiago De Cuba, where my step dad's parents live and we spent a few days there with the family and then continued our journey to Guantanamo and Baracoa where we stayed for two days.  We were sunbathing and swimming, eating their delicious cousin and basically just enjoying ourselves.

We only had three days left until our flight back home, so we went back to Santiago where the family organised a massive "Goodbye party" with lots and lots of food and good music.  I will definitely come back. In fact, we are already planning a trip to Cuba next year and i'm very excited.

I also vlogged our whole trip so you can check it out on youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3qYd9FMT2l0

 And make sure that you add a trip to Cuba to your bucket list! :)

Nika

J's Travel

Egypt, wonders of Kairo and Luxor

One of the most famous attractions in the world, are the Pyramids in Kairo. A spectacular view of architecture from the ancient times and one of the 7 wonders of the world.

pyramids are the main attraction of Egypt and are visited by thousands of people every day. When you come to the sight you are amazed by the height that humans built 2000 years b.c.

Pyramids are easy to visit with a car or a bus and are only half hour drive away from Kairo.

Almost every time you visit this beautiful place the wind is wild and you will be really lucky if you don?t get any sand in your eyes.

Lots of locals are willing to take you on a camel ride around the 3 pyramids for some ''bakšiš'' or to take photos with them on the camel. 

BEDOUINS VILLAGE IN EASTERN SAHARA

  

 From Kairo To Luxor it's a high danger of terorist attacks so all the cars drive with military escort vehicles in a convoy. 

 

A broken tire took us another hour so we arrived late to Luxor and the next day started to discover a temple there among with a banana orchard the same day.

Trip took as 5 days and it is amazing to see what people were able to built in the ancient times. when you travel around Egypt you will see poverty and weird behavior of people. It's just another lesson to the first world people that Europe and USA don't really know what more then half of world population is facing on daily bases.

 The famous obelix one of 2 in the world, the second is available to see in Paris.

J's Travel

Egypt, Sharm el Sheikh

Merhaba!

Sharm el Sheikh is not a tipical Arabic city. It is a turistic capital of Egypt. I have to say that it never gets boring. You have thousands of clubs, night bars and luxury hotels to visit there and by the day miles of sand beaches with coral reefs just around the corner.

Because I am not kind of a person who can stay still in one place for a more then one week, I had to try driving through Sahara on ATV. It was amazing! Sand everywhere and we visited Bedouins after a couple of hours long drive. People really are living different around the world, but they are special. Bedouins live in the middle of Sahara and are not having any contact with the outside world.

Sharm is providing you with lots of different water activites. One day I was kiteboarding and the other diving one the coral reefs. You can probably do everything there, from windsurfing to paragliding and driving a buggie one the beach. It's one of the greatest places on earth to learn how to windsurf or how to do any other sports on water.

When you come to Egypt almost in every bar they are smoking ''shisha'' their national and coltural water pipe with hundreds of different flavors. It's really cheap, One shisha costs from 2-5€ and it's enough for 3 people for 30min.

Hotel Sultan Beach resort, I was staying in had 5* and the service in it was really worth the money. Hotel is providing with a whole day program for children, all inclusive  food with European drinks and activites for adults. I really recommend it if you are planing to visit Sharm.

J's Travel

Turkey, Adana the birth place of kebab

Lovely city with great history in the eastern part of Turkey, the city of Adana.

It is well known as the birth place of famous Turkish dish ''kebab''. As a kebab lover I just had to go and try as many as possible. Just in one day I ate 5 of them. They were all just a different experience and made with love and care. For the people there it's more then just a food, it's a dish of happiness. They put so much work in every kebab they serve there it's just amazing to see how one kind of food connects all people in the city together.

City center is really beautiful. They have a great park.Park is situated next to Euphrat so it has a great view. It is very nice if you come there in the evening and watch the sunset.

Turkey is well known for their giant shopping malls and one of the biggest in Eastern Turkey is here! Just 300m away from the park, right after you cross the bridge on Euphrat, there is a shopping mall so big, they even have Ice skating ring inside. You can find everything from designer shoes to KFC.

When I was cruising through the city I saw that they are selling ''live kebabs''.I didn't have a clue what it is so I asked a guy working there and he explained me how it works… You come to the person who has a stand which is around 5m x 5m big and you pick your sheep or any animal you want. People pay for the animal and next day they recive a freshly made kebab meat they ordered last day.

Not so common in Western Europe or USA I think.

Funny thing worth visiting it's Turkish museum of Film and music. It is some kine of ''House of wax'' trying to be gallery, free to go in. I am not pretty sure what or who I saw there but it was fun. Probably first and the last time I've seen a Turkish made film without of subtitles. 

J's Travel