From Kandy to the elephant orphanage in Pinnewala

The relatively short drive from Polonnaruwa to Kandy should last somewhere around three hours, but they flew one after another and we were not even close. After five hours that we spend driving on the steep, winding roads and breaking through the roadblock (work on the road, along the road and elsewhere), we finally get to Kandy, where we came across the real traffic chaos. People drive like maniacs here, they don’t obey the rules at all. Crazy. The owner of our guesthouse explained us that this kind of chaos last for at least two weeks, because of all kinds of roadblocks.

Kandy is a real transport hub for trains and buses, which is reflected in the number of tourists. Compared with Polonnaruwa, Kandy seems like a completely new world, a lot of people, bakeries, shops – they even have one true European shopping centre. For locals Kandy is the most holy place because of the temple, where is kept a tooth of the Buddha, which is considered for holy sacred relic of Buddhism. For the tourists are in addition to the temple with its surroundings, interesting also the Royal Botanical Garden and the elephant orphanage in the near Pinnewala.

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With bicycle through Polonnaruwa

What could be better than starting the day with Slovenian words from random Sri Lankan local guy in the middle of Polonnaruwa? This and that the same guy – as soon as you step out of the bus – show you a business card of our guesthouse, which we booked in advance. Well, in the end, we got even a free shuttle service. Great! 🙂

Polonnaruwa was the medieval capital city and the main commercial crossing of Sri Lanka, where were traded the rarest and most valuable goods. About this, testify the ruins and archaeological museum in the middle of the city. Ruins are located in a large fenced park, which extends over almost the entire old part of town.

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Temples and rocks in Dambulla and Sigiriya

In our heads still echoes the rhythm of Indian or Sri Lankan music, which was played for five hours from two large speakers above our heads, during the ride with local bus from Colombo to Dambulla. We were worried with this route, because everyone we asked about it, they recommend different one. Some say that it is better to go to Kandy by train and then to Dambulla by bus, while others would hire a car and driver (which is of course extremely expensive). Thankfully, we insist with our plan and soon found out that we chose the best way. Especially if we tell you, that we spend only 174 rupees (a little more than one euro) for 170 km long ride, which last more than 5 hours.

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Happy Independence day in Colombo

We can again confirm that every trip is unique. Even before we boarded on a plane in Ljubljana, we met a woman with Indian roots from Fiji, who is married to Slovenian man. Personified multiculturalism… she accompanied us all the way to Abu Dhabi and entrusted us her whole life story, where the things have almost turned upside down for us. Already at the Brnik airport, clerk at the counter failed to check us for a flight from Abu Dhabi to Colombo, but she didn’t told us why. However, when we want to check in at Abu Dhabi (where we were already abnormal late), we were informed that our flight is unfortunately full. Ok, now we know the reason why that clerk couldn’t check us in…

Now what…? We where lost, we didn’t know what to do. The airline immediately offered us accommodation and the flight the next day in the late afternoon, but things then changed in last moment. Five minutes before the end of boarding, we get tickets in our hands, for a famous business class, where is space for only a handful of people. Oh yeah, you should see look on four Slovenian tourists, when a young couple in sweatsuits sit on those luxurious seats 😀 of course we didn’t buy those by ourselves, we got those from a friendly employee at the airport…

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Hot winter holidays, Sri Lanka

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.

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Top 5 in Morocco

#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.

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Paris is always a good idea

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.

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Trip to the centre of France

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.

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Barcelona: City of genius, city of Gaudi

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.

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Spain? Ok, let’s go in Catalonia

Our Lonely Planet is ready to go… in search of sunshine and early summer temperatures, this time at the end of the March we are going on a short vacation in Spain, specifically in Barcelona. The capital city of Catalonia is certainly the most recognizable because of the football club which wears the same name, however it does not lack either architectural and other attractions, among which certainly dominated by the Basilica of the Sagrada Familia and Park Guell, designed by architect Antoni Gaudi.

Traveling on our own quickly became a habit, so we follow our habit once more. We really recommend you to do the same. Forget about the tourism agencies, they charges you at least hundred percent more, and become more adventurous. It is true that when you go on such trip you would face some more worries.

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