The AWP back in Portugal

I surf because…

… it's how my heart tells my to live.

I used this phrase from the Billabong advertisement because it’s an accurate description of this sport and lifestyle. This year on our Portugal Surf Trip we changed to Shortboards, began to catch the first better waves, had a couple of the worst wipeouts ever and on our adventure we were accompanied by our windsurf guru Kahuna Kiki, Irina, and in the other car Tamara and Trevoro.
This year we accomplished our surf trip to Portugal in our usual style, which includes a ton of suicidal wipeouts, waves from 2 to 4 meters, two broken boards in the first two days, with car burglaries and a robbery at the beach, lost luggage, bumps in the car door, purchase of a new board which in the end was broken in transport by AirFrance. Also, we were almost late for all planes, including that we missed the only plane for which we came on time and waited at the gate for 4 hours, the plane from Paris to Zagreb. The mystery remains. And it seems that a 100 people boarded the plane beside us and we did not even notice.
Yet despite all these situations, the important moments in the water remain, those breathtaking moments, the energy, the flow of the ocean, all the wonderful things that breathe and live in it and beyond. Because of that this is the king of all sports.

Karadeniz, along the Black Sea..

After a couple of weeks of terrible dry heat in central Turkey and the horrible humidity in the southwest, this area is a surprise and, finally, a little refreshment. The sky is often gray, the land is green and rich, it’s touristicly exploited only for locals, foreigners are rare, people are more conservative, the scenery is unbelievable, the coast is dramatic, full of cliffs and hidden coves.

Through the southwest..

The time has come for some bitches, ehm, I mean beaches and some nice Mediterranean climate. This place has beautiful blue water, idyllic hidden coves, long sandy beaches, tourist destinations, yachting tourism and old ruins from the time of ancient Lycia.
In the southwest, we visited the coastal part of Antalya to Fethiye and went a little inside and around the city of Denizli and Pamukkale, in the place of white cascades and shallow pools as one of the natural wonders of Turkey.

Cappadocia

This place is one of the best I've ever been in. Cappadocia is the name of a historical region in central Turkey, Central Anatolia. According to the information that I found, Cappadocia spans about 400 km east-west and 250 km north-south which makes it bigger than Croatia. The unrealistic view of this region resembles the lunar surface and is made by volcanic eruptions millions of years ago, formed by erosion and rain, and arranged as a warm home through years and years by countless nations. There simply isn’t enough time to get bored of Cappadocia, and there is no text or image, film or any other medium for you to describe this magical land.

Istanbul

The life story of this city that is historically known as Byzantium, Istanbul and Constantinople, and was the former capital of the Roman, Byzantine and Ottoman empires, gave him the title of a city made for everyone and the European Capital of Culture of year 2010. Istanbul is the largest city in Turkey, its cultural and economic center inhabited by about 10 million people which relates only to the area covered by tram, bus and subway. The city is huge, and sometimes a little dirty, but beside the history and culture there is “something” which creates a special sense of pure adventure and impression, and this makes you want to experience and soak up everything this place offers. It has rhythm.

Ireland, from the east to the southwest and west

If you are looking for a country full of clichés, a country which has such a rich, complicated and long history, a country which has gone through 800 years of occupation by neighbouring Britain, a country whose history is portrayed by conflicts with elements of ethnic, religious and civil strifes, a country with endless natural masterpieces, with a scenery so beautiful, breathtaking and difficult to describe, with a full range of all shades of emerald green, and an absolute perfection of a liquid elixir called Guinness, then this is definitely the right choice. Here, an usual combination of walking around natural landscape in any direction and a random afternoon pint of Guinness in a randomly selected pub is a perfect day where nothing can go wrong, an incredible sense of belonging which almost always ends up by hanging out with beautiful local talkatives, warm and kindhearted people. This is Ireland.

Portugal

After my first visit to Portugal I told myself that this is a country in which I want to come back. Now I consider it one of my standard destinations. Partly because of surfing, partly because of the beauty it contains, and partly because of the warm and good people of this region. Portugal is the pearl of the Pyrenean peninsula, were it's hard to find a small corner that is not overcrowded by tourists. Therefore, Portugal has an adventures and discovering charm, where except of urban centers, you can find medieval castles and places in the local style which exude the spirit of those colonial times. Just a short drive away one can retire to the beautiful and windy coast, where no one is anywhere, where the sun kisses the beach and the waves are living their routine all year round, where the cliffs are like those at the end of the world, and the beach and sand dunes are miles long.

Spain

A morning on the beach I read "The Sun Also Rises" by Ernest Hemingway. One of his most famous novels from the year of 1926, which earned him great fame. The youth these days apparently went insane, and the female audience began to dress in short skirts. At least they say so. Basically, it describes Hemingway’s hedonistic enjoyment in Spain and his perverted love for bullfighting. We passed the Pyrenees, across the Costa Brava, Barcelona to Portugal and the Atlantic coast of Spain to Donostia San Sebastian. The first day in Barcelona we have signed a petition against bullfighting as I believe that it is the most shameful cowardice allowed in the European Union.

Tour de France

I once read an article that described the French and their characteristics. One of the first "facts" was that they were described as grumpy or rude people. I would not call it a typical stereotype of the French, because I have met such friendly people and people who really want to help. Perhaps due to cultural difference or individual experiences this confusion appeared. France has been my already repeatedly assorted travel destination and has become my standard winter snowboarding destination. However, I must admit that it is always good to know an occasional word in French. Trying to use even the occasional word that you know is welcome. This is particularly true for smaller towns where English is not always the best known language. The third thing I remember is that France is a very expensive country. This is partly true, it is very easy to spend the last euro. However, the way of travel and accommodation can definitely help you save some money. We travelled through the heart of France, the capital of Paris, down to the Cote d'Azur, passed it along, and later pulled from the Atlantic to Biaritz, Arcachon, Bordeaux and back to Paris. On our way we cooked ourselves, drank cheap French wine, slept in camps and railway stations, saved a few euros, afforded some occasional luxury, learned some French, etc. Viva la France.

Hellas, Greece

After the unique experience of travelling European countries, I thought that also here the standard Train and Tourist Info operate flawlessly. However, the response from the Train Info Officer on a request for the train departure timetables for Athens, to which he replied, "Mister, call seven one one" and after the repeated request at the Tourist Info and the answer "Mister, call seven one one", after my decision to really call “Seven one one”, and after realizing that this just didn’t work out, we went to Athens on a horribly stinky train which looked more like a tram. Still, we managed to get a few affirmative responses that the train is really going to Athens, and we were sure that we managed to translate the Greek letters on our tickets into the word “Athens”. At one point the train stopped and everyone went out of the train. To our surprise we were not in Athens, but by the end of a parking lot, where we were directed to enter a bus. As everybody went into that bus, we went too. After a while, the bus stopped. Everybody went out of the bus and disappeared. After that the bus disappeared. We were in a village 15 kilometers from Athens.

Italy

"We must continue to go, and just continue, so long as the sky is blue."
The fact is that the Earth is like a book, and those who never travel read only one page. Fortunately, today the traveling has become so easy and often inexpensive, so there are solutions for every budget. In this case, we took advantage of our age and the relatively cheap price and went with InterRail. It is a good choice if you travel with trains. However, some links are resolved alternatively (eg ship Ancona (Italy) - Igumenitsa (Greece)). These are fragments from our neighbor, quite a bit distant, so intriguing, different, and culturally and historically rich country of Italy.