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Seceda in the Dolomites Contents 13 July 2023 - Hike in the Dolomites (Alpe di Suisi) 14 July 2023 - Hike in the Dolomites (Sassolungo) 15 July 2023 - The Dolomites to Metz, France 16 July - Metz to Cornwall, England Links to my Other Blogs 13 July 2023 - Hike in the Dolomites (Alpe di Suisi) The forecast was for rain to start late morning. After yesterday's experience we decided to take the cable car from Ortisei to the nearby Alpe di Siusi at 08.30 and walk around the plateau for 2 to 3 hours whilst it was dry. It was a goods walk and it didn't rain. At midday we took the cable car back down to Ortisei and walked around the shops before returning to our apartment. The weather forecast was wrong and it didn't rain at all! I was frustrated as we could have done a longer walk. See my blog " Hiking in Val Gardena, Dolomites " for full details of our hikes. 14 July 2023 - Hike in the Dolomites (Sassolungo) I had intended to do today's hike in 2 sections over 2 days, but the weather prevented this. It looked like it might be feasible to do my intended route in 1 long hike. The usual routes taken are either a hard 6.5 hour hike around the entire Sassolungo massif or a shorter 3 to 4 hour circular hike around half of the mountain. The latter route involves taking a chairlift up to the Furcela de Sassolungo in the centre of the massif and then hiking down. We decided to try a variation of this latter option. Instead of doing a circular hike we would take the bus to St. Christina, take the chairlifts up to the base of Sassolungo, walk around Sassolungo to the chairlift up to the Furcella de Sassolungo, descend down to the other side of Sassolungo and then walk back to Ortisei using chairlifts where possible. We started early and at 08.30 we were the first on the chairlifts going from St Christina to the base of Sassolungo. It was a beautiful walk around to the chairlift to Furcella de Sassolungo, which is known as the "Coffin". Lani was apprehensive about the "coffin" as it was reported that it is difficult getting into the small 2 person gondolas. In reality it was a lot of fun as the attendants were very helpful and friendly. After admiring the great views from the top of Furcella de Sassolungo we started the long and steep descent down to the other side of the massif. Lani is a bit nervous descending steep slopes with loose stones so it was a bit slow going. Once down we walked along the base of Sassolongu and then took the "Florion" chairlift down to the Alpe di Suisi plateau that we were on yesterday. It was now 16.00 and it would take another 1.25 hours to hike up to the gondola that descends down to Ortisei. We were tired and weren't looking forward to that final hike up the hill. I then saw a crowd of people waiting at a bus stop and was told that it was going to the gondola station. That was wonderful news so we got on the bus. Unfortunately the bus went to a different gondola station on the other side of the plateau! A Norwegian couple had made the same mistake and together we found a bus that was just leaving that would take us down to the valley. We were shocked to find out that the fare was Eur 16 each but there was no better alternative. Once down in the valley we took one of the free buses back to Ortisei. We reached there after 18.00. It was a long and tiring day but an excellent hike with stunning views. 15 July 2023 - The Dolomites to Metz, France It was meant to be an 8 hour drive from Ortisei to Metz. This became a 10 hour drive as a section of highway had been closed. It was a hot day and in southern Germany the temperature reached 39 centigrade! I was shattered by the time we arrived in Metz. Our hotel was similar to an Ibis hotel and it was right in the centre. Metz is a very nice town and we walked around and had dinner. We had Chinese food for the first time on the trip. It made a nice change from the western food we had been eating for the last 3 months. 16 July - Metz to Cornwall, England It was going to be a long drive back to England so we got up early and left the hotel at 07.00. We were booked on the 14.00 ferry from Dunkirk. As we were getting close to Dunkirk we realised that we might make the earlier ferry at 12.00. We were fortunate as the 12.00 ferry was running half an hour late and we were allowed to board. Despite being on an earlier ferry we didn't get back home until 20.00. It was another very long day, but not as tiring as yesterday as we could relax on the ferry and Lani did some of the driving in the U.K. This was the end of a very enjoyable 3 month road trip. It went very well, but it took a lot of planning. We were concerned about driving through countries like Albania, but our fears were unfounded. We were also concerned about our 10 year old car, but there were only relatively minor problems like the broken spring and worn brake pads. The engine management warning light had been on for about 4,000 miles of the 8,000 mile trip. It turned out that the catalytic converter needed to be replaced. I am now planning our next road trips. In 2024 we would like to take the ferry to Spain and drive down to southern Morocco. If the car is still in good shape in 2025 we might drive through Turkey to Armenia and Georgia. That would be a long trip and we would need at least 4 months to do it. Links to my Other Blogs Cornwall to Venice - Week 1 Venice to Serbia - Week 2 Serbia to North Macedonia - Week 3 North Macedonia to Greece - Week 4 Nafplio, Greece to the Peloponnese - Week 5 Peloponnese to the Greek Islands - Week 6 The Greek Islands - Week 7 The Greek Islands to Albania - Week 8 Albania to Montenegro - Week 9 Montenegro to Croatia- Week 10 Brac to Rab, Croatia - Week 11 Rab to Dolomites, Italy - Week 12 UK to Greek Island Accommodation - Part 1 UK to Greek Island Accommodation - Part 2 Hiking in Val Gardena, Dolomites

Rialto Bridge in Venice Contents 1. Cornwall to Dover 2. Dover to Troyes, France 3. Troyes to Bern, Switzerland 4. Bern to Vicenza, Italy 5. Verona Day Trip 6. Vicenza and Padua Day Trips 7. Venice Day Trip - Day 1 8. Venice Day Trip - Day 2 9. Links to My Other Blogs 18 April 2023 - Cornwall to Dover Today is the start of our 3 month road trip to the Greek Islands. We are driving down to Greece through France, Switzerland, Italy, Slovenia, Serbia and Macedonia. Then we return to the UK on the coastal route through Albania, Montenegro, Croatia, Slovenia, Italy and northern Europe. We will be having a lot of stop offs on the way so that we can see some of the most interesting places in these countries. We will have just over one month in Greece and the rest of the time will be spent driving there and back. We wanted to do a road trip with our own car as flying is so much hassle and at the moment car rental costs are very high. It is also very convenient having everything in our car for the whole trip rather than lugging it on and off planes, trains, buses and rental cars. The other determining factor was that it seemed more exciting to do it this way. We have never been to Serbia, Macedonia, Albania and Montenegro before and driving down enables us to visit these countries. The drawback of this road trip is that our Ford Focus is almost 10 years old and I am not very mechanically minded. Two months ago our car broke down due to the clutch. Then when we had a major car service we were advised to change the cambelt and auxiliary belts. Altogether this work cost GBP 2,300 and hopefully it will mean that nothing goes wrong with the car during our trip! Today we drove from our home in Cornwall to Dover and it took about 6 hours. We are staying at the Premier Inn near the Eastern Ferry Terminal. The cost of the room was GBP 45, which is a good rate these days. See my blog " UK to Greek Islands Accommodation - Part 1 " for further details. Once we reached Dover we drove over to the nearby National Trust car park (GBP 5) for the white cliffs of Dover. We did a nice 1.5 hour walk along the top of the cliffs. The views of the cliffs weren't that great and I expect that we will see the cliffs better from the ferry tomorrow morning. For supper we had a takeaway from Tony's Fish and Chips on the London Road. Tony is quite a character. The portions were massive and the quality excellent. Hopefully the cliff walk will have burnt off a lot of calories! 19 April 2023 - Dover to Troyes, France The departure time of our ferry to Calais was 09.10, but we had to be there at 08.10. We got up at 06.30 and got to the docks at 07.50. It didn't take us long to get through French passport control. We were then surprised that our car was searched and we even had to open up the hood of the engine. We were pleased to discover that the passenger areas in the ferry were empty and it was therefore very peaceful. As the ferry pulled away we went out on the deck to see the white cliffs of Dover. Unfortunately it was a bit of a grey day and the white cliffs didn't look their best. It was only a 1.5 hour ferry journey and before we disembarked at Calais I turned on our new TomTom sat navigation device. I selected the route from Dover to Troyes in France that I had set up before leaving home. In the past we have used the inbuilt sat navigation system in our car, but this only covers the UK. Our inexperience with the TomTom soon caused problems! After a short while the TomTom directed us to a payment booth that we thought was for the motorway. We were very puzzled when the machine asked us for a reservation number and therefore decided to go to another machine instead. I suddenly realised that we were queuing up for the channel train back to Dover! I had to ask the driver behind us to reverse back so we could get out of the queue. We managed with a lot of difficulty to get back to the main road and then the TomTom kept directing us back to the channel tunnel! Our confidence in the TomTom was sinking. I decided to delete the route and just enter Troyes as a destination and it was to our great relief that it resolved things. My mistake was starting the route on the TomTom in Calais rather than Dover. I thought that the TomTom would realise we had already completed the Dover to Calais portion of the route. It hadn't and had been taking us back to Dover so we could start the pre-set route from there. We lost 35 minutes due to this issue. After that the journey went well on excellent toll autoroutes that cost us Euro 37.60. We could drive at 130 kilometres an hour most of the way and it took 6 hours to reach Troyes. Luckily we filled up with petrol at Dover as we later discovered that petrol is more expensive in France. At Troyes we are staying at a Kyriad Hotel for Euro 84 a night. It is very nice and hopefully it will stay quiet so we can have a good night's sleep. It is only a 10 minute walk to the old centre of the town. See my blog " UK to Greek Islands Accommodation - Part 1 " for further details. Troyes (pronounced like trois) doesn't seem to be a very well known tourist attraction. However, it has a fantastic, and sizeable, medieval centre of timbered houses. Better than anything I have seen in the UK. We spent a couple of hours wandering around and looking for cheap eating places at the same time. We found a popular small Thai restaurant called Koboon and our dinner cost Euro 26. I had my favourite Thai dish of Pad Thai and Lani had something a bit more adventurous. Tomorrow we are going to Bern in Switzerland for 1 night and it should be about a 5 to 6 hour drive there. 20 April 2023 - Troyes, France to Bern, Switzerland We both had a very good night's sleep as the hotel was very quiet and the bed extremely comfortable. I really dislike thick duvets and this hotel had a nice light one and the pillows were great. We could also open the window which is no longer possible at many hotels. We left Troyes at 09.00 in sunshine and were hoping to stop for lunch at one of the good service stations along the auto route. Unfortunately we had to leave the auto route before midday. A bit later we stopped at a large Intermarche supermarket and ate in their restaurant. It was really busy and we ordered the plat du jour of roast chicken for Euro 9. We could have had the 3 course set meal for Euro 13, but we didn't need the extra calories and thought it might take too long. The scenery had been mainly flat across France, but as we got close to the Swiss border it became hilly. As we got onto higher terrain the temperature dropped from about 15 centigrade to 3 centigrade and it lightly snowed. There was no one manning the French/Swiss border, but there was an unfriendly man selling the Vignettes for the Swiss motorways. They should cost CHF 40, but it cost a bit more as we paid in Euro and lost on the exchange rate. The motorways in Switzerland were so much busier than in France. Bern was the first city we had driven through since leaving the UK and it was also busy and congested. It didn't help that our TomTom sat nav took us to a factory rather than to our hotel! We had to use Google maps to find our hotel. We are staying at the new Los Lorentes Residences hotel on the outskirts of Bern. The rooms are very good and have small kitchenettes. I was a bit worried as there is a huge skate park behind the hotel. Luckily no one was using it which may have been due to the rain. See my blog " UK to Greek Islands Accommodation - Part 1 " for further details. There is an Aldi next door to the hotel so we bought some food for an early supper. It soon stopped raining and we took the nearby tram into Bern at 18.00. All hotels in Bern give their guests a Bern pass which allows free transport on the trams. I came to Bern on business in 1990, and really liked it, but Lani has never been to Bern before. I therefore thought it would be a good stop off on our way down to Greece. It wasn't as special as I remembered it but it could be because the weather wasn't great and I was tired. We spent 2 hours walking along the 4 main streets in the historical centre. Luckily it now stays light quite late and it was getting dark just as we returned to our hotel at 20.30. 21st April 2023 - Bern, Switzerland to Vicenza, Italy I had intended that on the way to Vicenza we would stop off for a few hours at Sirmione, which is a town on the southern shore of Lake Garda. Unfortunately the weather forecast for Lake Garda showed rain until 17.00 and we decided not to do a stop over there. The journey from Bern to Vicenza is meant to take less than 6 hours. As we weren't allowed to check in to our accommodation at Vicenza until after 17.30 we decided not to leave our hotel in Bern until 11.00. I therefore informed our host at our apartment at Vicenza that we would probably arrive between 17.30 and 18.30. That turned out to be widely optimistic and we didn't arrive at the apartment until 20.30. We had a 45 minute hold up at the Gothard tunnel and then another 45 minute delay at the Swiss/Italian border. We have no idea why we were held up at the border as we couldn't see any cars being stopped. Due to these delays in Switzerland we ended up on the motorway at Milan around the evening rush hour and the traffic was horrendous. After that we experienced some dangerous driving well above the 130 km speed limit. We therefore weren't too surprised when there was a serious accident near Verona which delayed us by at least another 30 minutes. We were exhausted by the time we reached the apartment in Vicenza. Luckily we found the apartment easily and the owner of the apartment was very pleasant. We went to a Pizzeria restaurant just a minute's walk away from the apartment. The pizza was very good and cheap (Euro 7 each) but I had a couple of beers to relieve the stress and they cost more than my pizza! As our car was parked on the street we unpacked it completely and only went to sleep at midnight. 22 April 2023 - Day Trip to Verona We slept until 07.45, which is late for us, and after a relaxed breakfast we went to a small supermarket just a 5 minute walk from our apartment. As a result we didn't set out for our day trip to Verona until 10.30 a.m. We decided to drive to Verona as it was easier than taking a bus from our apartment to the train station in Vicenza and then taking a train to Verona. It was only a 40 minute drive to Verona and we parked in a large multi storey car park just outside the old city. Several travel blogs had recommended buying the Verona pass for Euro 20. So we went to buy them at the tourist office next to the Roman amphitheatre. It turned out not to be a good decision as the amphitheatre was closed for a few days and it would have been cheaper just to pay the entrance fees at the remaining attractions. We were surprised and disappointed there were so many tourists in Verona considering it was only April. The majority were Italians and it was probably a combination of nice sunny weather, a Saturday and the following Tuesday being a public holiday for Liberation day. We spent about 5 hours wandering around Verona, but we were feeling a bit tired and jaded from the previous days' long drive. We decided to climb the 368 steps up to the top of the Torre dei Lamberti to avoid the charge for the elevator. We were rewarded with good views of the city from the top of the tower. We also visited the Duomo Cathedral, Castelvecchio (castle) and the Basilica di Santa Anastasia. We skipped Juliet's balcony as it was just too crowded with tourists trying to get their Instagram or Facebook photo of it. Any way in reality it is only a 13th century inn! 23 April 2023 - Day Trip to Vicenza and Padua We both woke up feeling a lot better and well rested. We took a short bus ride into Vicenza and wandered around the historic centre for a couple of hours. Fortunately it was far less busy and less touristy than Verona . As it was a Sunday we didn't go inside any churches. Like yesterday the weather was sunny and a very pleasant 23 centigrade. I would have liked to have seen inside the Teatro Olimpico, which is Europe's oldest surviving indoor theatre, but tickets cost Euro 11. There were museums open, but we aren't very interested in visiting museums and it is also expensive. We enjoy just wandering around and admiring the architecture of the town from the outside. We bought some sandwiches for lunch and ate them at a park. Then we took a 20 minute train ride to Padua (Padova) on a very nice and modern train. Padua is another very historic town and is lively as it is a university town. I really liked Padua and although it was lively it wasn't overly touristy like Verona. The main attraction is the Cappella Degli Scrovegni chapel which is famous for its' art work. However, you have to book in advance and it is expensive. We spent a couple of hours wandering around Padua and then returned to our apartment by train and bus. 24 April 2023 - Day Trip to Venice After having had 2 very good days of weather we woke up to rain and it lasted until mid morning. As soon the rain stopped we drove to Venice and arrived there at 12.00 after a 50 minute drive. We parked at the Tronchetto multi storey car park which costs Euro 25 per day. We had thought about taking the train to Venice, but we would have had to first take a bus to the Vicenza train station and the train only runs once an hour. Going by car was therefore more convenient but more costly. It is possible to take a water taxi from the Tronchetto car park to St Mark's Square but it costs Euro 9. We decided instead to do the hour's walk there in order to save money, but also to see a bit of Venice on the way. The route was reasonably well marked and there were also many other people on the route. When we got to the Rialto Bridge it was really crowded and it continued like that to St Mark's Square. I dislike being in places with so many tourists but Venice is so special. We had brought sandwiches for lunch as we had been told that food was really expensive. I am sure the restaurants are expensive, but slices of pizza could be bought for Euro 2.50 which didn't seem bad. We had booked tickets online for the Doge's Palace in order to avoid queuing and the tickets cost Euro 15 each. Our reserved entrance time was 16.00 but they allowed us to enter at 15.30. I am not a big admirer of paintings after being dragged around Florence's art galleries as a teenager. However, I found the Doge's Palace to be very spectacular due to the opulence of the art work on the walls and ceilings of all the rooms. The prison cells were the exception! We took 2 hours to wander through the Doge's Palace. Afterwards we walked over to the ponte dell'accademia which has good views along the Grand Canal. We didn't feel like walking back to the car park so we bought 24 hour water bus passes for Euro 25 each. We can then use these passes when we come back to Venice tomorrow. It took us 45 minutes on the water bus to return to the car park. The views were great from the standing area at the front of the boat and it was easier than walking! 25 April 2023 - Day Trip to Venice We woke up to rain and thunder and the rain soon became very heavy. We therefore relaxed in our apartment until the rain stopped at 10.30. The weather forecast was for rain until mid afternoon but we decided to start driving to Venice and hope for the best. Unfortunately we soon drove into very heavy rain on the autoroute to Venice and unlike some other drivers we kept our speed well below the 130 km per hour speed limit. We reached Venice at about 11.30 and sheltered in the multi storey car park! We had an early lunch in the car and when the rain eased off at midday we walked to the nearby pier for the water bus. It was a 45 minute ride to the cathedral at San Giorgio Maggiore along the wide Guidecca Canal. Initially we sat inside the boat and sheltered from the wind and damp, but there were no views as all the windows were misted up. After a while we moved to the open area at the back of the boat to take advantage of the views. Luckily the weather was really improving. There was no entrance fee for the cathedral and we decided not to pay Euro 8 each to go up the tower. All these entrance fees really add up, particularly when you are on a 3 month trip! The interior was very impressive and from the outside there are excellent views across the lagoon to St Mark's Square. We took the short water bus ride over to St Marks Square and had another look around. It was just as busy as yesterday! Then another short water bus ride over to the church of Santa Maria della Salute. Entry to the church was free, but there would have been a charge to go up the bell tower if it had been open. We spent a couple of hours walking around the nearby area of Dorsoduru. The weather was now sunny and warm so we treated ourselves to gelato. Thankfully this area is far less busy than the areas around St Marks Square and the Rialto Bridge. At 16.00 we decided to call it a day and took a 30 minute water bus ride back to the car park. The water bus route back was along the very spectacular Grand Canal with ancient buildings on both sides. Links to My Other Blogs Venice to Serbia - Week 2 Serbia to North Macedonia - Week 3 North Macedonia to Greece - Week 4 Nafplio, Greece to the Peloponnese - Week 5 The Peloponnese to the Greek Islands - Week 6 The Greek Islands - Week 7 The Greek Islands to Albania - Week 8 Albania to Montenegro - Week 9 Montenegro to Croatia- Week 10 Brac to Rab, Croatia - Week 11 Rab to Dolomites, Italy - Week 12 Dolomites to Home - Week 13 UK to Greek Island Accommodation - Part 1 UK to Greek Island Accommodation - Part 2 Hiking in Val Gardena, Dolomites

The Julian Alps near the Vrsic pass in Slovenia Contents 1. Vicenza to Koper, Slovenia 2. Koper to Ljubljana, Slovenia 3. Ljubljana Day Trip 4. Ljubljana to Lake Bohinj, Slovenia 5. Lake Bohinj Day Trip 6. Day Trip from Lake Bohinj to Vrsic Pass 7. Lake Bohinj to Novi Sad, Serbia 8. Links to My Other Blogs 26 April 2023 - Vicenza, Italy to Koper, Slovenia We woke to sunshine for a change and the weather forecast is good for a few days. Today we drove 3 hours from Vicenza to the old coastal towns of Piran and Koper in Slovenia. We didn't leave Vicenza until midday so that we could arrive at our new accommodation just after the earliest check in time of 15.00. Our Tomtom satellite navigation had problems locating our new accommodation and tried to take us down some very narrow tracks. We were becoming very frustrated and tried Google maps instead and that did the trick. I was surprised to find that our apartment was one of seven apartments in a building. The owner was very friendly and the apartment was very clean and nicely furnished. However, I am concerned that there is a connecting door with another apartment. I dislike such doors as they let in noise. We will see what happens tonight! We drove about 20 minutes to Piran, parked outside the town and took the car park's free bus into Piran's old Venetian town. It is probably misleading to say free as the parking is about Euro 3 per hour! In summer Piran is jammed with tourists and parking is difficult. Luckily for us there were very few tourists and there were plenty of parking places. We walked around Piran for about 2 hours and then had supper on the seafront. It was warm enough to sit out and we had very good grilled calamari and sardines. I have done a blog on " 1 Week in Slovenia " that provides detailed information on the places that we visited in Serbia. 27 April 2023 - Koper to Ljubljana, Slovenia Last night we had our best night's sleep since leaving home and there was no noise from the adjoining room. We checked out at 10.30 and drove 5 kilometres to the port of Koper. Parking can be a real problem at Piran, and it is very expensive, but at Koper there are plenty of car parks near the city centre. We were about to pay at the machine when a man kindly informed us that it was a public holiday and parking was free. Not only is it a holiday today but also May 1st and 2nd! This does cause a problem with grocery shopping as no supermarkets are open on public holidays. It also seems they won't be open on 30th April. We will have to stock up tomorrow! We wandered around the historic buildings of Koper for a couple of hours in warm and sunny weather. We forked out Euro 4 each to climb up the Bell Tower for views of Koper. I don't think we will bother doing this in other towns as it is a lot of effort and cost for very little benefit. We had lunch at a very small eatery outside the market called Fritolin . It is recommended in the Lonely Planet guide book for cheap and fresh seafood. We both ordered grilled calamari and chips and with a soft drink it cost Euro 22. We ate it at one of the few basic tables outside and it was very good. Afterwards we walked an hour and 15 minutes along the coastal promenade from Koper to Izola. It was a very nice walk and was popular with the locals who were cycling, roller blading and walking. We had a quick walk around Izola and after buying some bread for tomorrow's breakfast, and gelato, we took a short bus ride back to Koper. It was then just an hour's drive from Koper to Ljubljana, the capital of Slovenia, where we had booked an apartment for 2 nights. See my blog " UK to Greek Islands Accommodation - Part 1 ". I knew that we would be sharing the garden with the owner's parents. However, we were shocked to see that there were 4 people moving a pile of soil, and sifting it, only about 3 metres away from our apartment's windows. They were all talking very loudly and it was like a construction site. The apartment was otherwise very nice and the parents were friendly. By 18.15 I had had enough of the noise and texted a complaint to their daughter. They stopped at 18.30 and agreed to only work the next day whilst we were looking around Ljubljana. It did take the edge off things though. 28 April 2023 - Day Trip to Ljubljana We drove to Lidl's in the morning to do some grocery shopping since all the supermarkets will be shut from Sunday to Tuesday. We didn't realise that it was in central Ljubljana, but luckily there was hardly any traffic and driving was easy. Parking was also easy and only cost Euro 1.50 for an hour. After unloading the shopping at the apartment we walked back into Ljubljana and it only took about 20 minutes. Initially it was exceptionally quiet for a capital city but after a while it got a bit busier. The guide books say there is nothing in particular to see in Ljubljana, but we found it to be a very pleasant city to walk around. We walked around Ljubljana for about 4 hours and it was very relaxing compared to the crowded towns of Verona and Venice. We had taken sandwiches for lunch, but there were a lot of outdoor stalls selling great smelling food. We walked up the hill to the Ljubljana Castle, although you can use a funicular for about Euro 4. It was expensive to enter (about Euro 12), but free to walk around the grounds and even to climb up onto the walls. In Italy we spent a fortune on public toilets as they charged from 70 cents to Euro 1.50 in Venice. In Slovenia there are plenty of clean toilets and they are all free! Great for old guys who need to pee often! 29 April 2023 - Ljubljana to Lake Bohinj, Slovenia We left Ljubljana at 09.30 to make our way to our next accommodation at Lake Bohinj. Going directly would take only about 70 minutes, but our plan was to visit Skofja Loka, Radovljica and Lake Bled on the way. It was very easy driving out of Ljubljana and once we had got off the motorway we drove on pretty, rural roads with the snow covered Julian Alps in the background. We reached the historic town of Skofja Loka after about 30 minutes. Skofja Loka has quite a large historic core and we spent about 2 hours wandering around. Then it was another short drive from Skofja Loka to the town of Radovljica. The historic centre of Radovljica mainly consists of one street of 16th and 17th century houses. It only took about half an hour to wander around. A 15 minute drive later and we were at Lake Bled. Slovenia is a very compact country! We experienced traffic congestion for the first time in Slovenia. Lake Bled is obviously very popular and it was a beautiful sunny and warm day on a holiday weekend. We turned off at the first parking sign we saw and the charge was Euro 15 for 4 hours or Euro 25 for the whole day! This is as expensive as Venice, but we decided to pay for 4 hours rather than have the hassle of driving around Bled trying to find somewhere cheaper. It was a very short walk to Lake Bled and it was very busy with many local tourists. I dread to think what it would be like in the summer. We walked the 6 kilometres around Lake Bled and it was only busy at the start and end. It should have only taken about 90 minutes, but it actually took 3 hours with a lot of stops, a lot of photos and congestion on the trail. Apart from the number of people it is a very nice path around Lake Bled with great views all the way. It is so photogenic with Bled Island, Bled Castle perched above the lake and the snow covered Julian alps in the distance. Some people were swimming in Lake Bled and the water didn't feel that cold. It took 30 minutes to drive from Lake Bled to the apartment we had booked at the village of Stara Fuzina, which is on the shore of Lake Bohinj. Our apartment is on the attic level of a "Swiss chalet" and the owners live on the 2 lower levels. I selected this Airbnb apartment as it had good reviews and I prefer not to have people clunking around above us. The woman running the apartment was very friendly and offered us some honey liqueur. I readily accepted and as it was too harsh and strong for Lani I forced myself to drink hers as well! We had a basic supper of bread, cheese and salad in the apartment and then a very good night's sleep. 30 April 2023 - Day Trip around Lake Bohinj Lake Bohinj's weather forecast was for rain today, but when we woke up it was misty and dry. The mist soon cleared and at 10.15 we started walking the 12 kilometres around Lake Bohinj. We decided to go along the southern side of Lake Bohinj first, but unfortunately the trail followed the road and trees often blocked the views. We got to the end of the lake at 11.45 and had our sandwiches at a picnic table overlooking Lake Bohinj. The weather was still dry and warm and there were some sunny spells. Clouds covered the tops of many of the snow covered mountains of the Julian alps. There is no road on the north side of Lake Bohinj and the trail is close to the lake. However, there are a lot of trees that partially obscure the views a lot of the time. We got back to our apartment after 3 hours. Lonely Planet states that Lake Bohinj is more beautiful than Lake Bled but I don't agree. However, Lake Bohinj is far less touristy. In the afternoon we rested on our apartment's balcony. The weather forecast tomorrow has now also improved and it should be dry. If so we will drive about 1.5 hours from Lake Bohinj to the top of the Vrsic Pass which is at 1,611 metres. Vrsic Pass is usually closed due to snow until the end of April or early May and it has just been opened for this year. 1 May 2023 - Day Trip from Lake Bohinj to Vrsic Pass A few days ago the weather forecast for Lake Bohinj was dismal and over 1 inch of rain had been forecast for today. Luckily weather in the mountains is difficult to predict. The weather forecast improved and we woke up to some sun and views of the snow covered mountains. We started driving to the Vrsic Pass at 09.20. When we reached Kranjska Gora, at the turn off to the pass, the view of the Julian Alps was superb. Unfortunately it wasn't possible to park quickly enough to take a photo and the mountains partially clouded over. There are numerous parking spots on the way up to Vrsic Pass and we used them to enjoy the views and take photos. After 46 miles of driving, and 26 hair pin bends up Vrsic Pass, we reached the top of the 1,611 metre high pass at 11.30. The road was a bit narrow around the hair pin bends, but otherwise it wasn't a difficult drive. We had originally planned to go back down Vrsic Pass the same way, but we decided to go down the 24 hair bin bends on the other side. The hair pin bends weren't as tight and the scenery wasn't as dramatic as on the way up. We looked out carefully for the site of the memorial Russian Chapel built by Russian prisoners of war in 1916. Unfortunately we missed it and decided not to drive back up Vrsic Pass to locate it. The fastest way back to our apartment would have been to go back up Vrsic pass and return the way we came. The alternative was to do a longer circular route, which we decided to do in order to see different scenery. The road was narrow at times and it was slow progress as we had to drive carefully. We reached our apartment at 15.00 after driving 130 miles. 2 May 2023 - Lake Bohinj to Novi Sad, Serbia We woke up to the rain that they had been forecasting the last 2 days for Lake Bohinj. If it had to rain then today wasn't a bad day for it. We left Lake Bohinj at 09.00 and estimated it would take us 8 hours to reach Novi Sad. We had informed the owner of the next apartment that we would arrive between 17.00 and 18.00. One of the problems with booking apartments, rather than hotels, is arranging a time to collect the keys. We can estimate the driving time from Google maps but there are often delays. With this journey the border with Croatia and Serbia was the big unknown. Particularly since we couldn't buy car insurance for Serbia in the UK and had to buy it at the Serbian border. It was a fairly relaxing drive despite the rain and spray from other vehicles. The highways aren't congested in Slovenia and Croatia like they were in Switzerland and Italy and the drivers are less aggressive. The scenery was very unspectacular and it wasn't improved by the bad weather. Most of the time we drove at about 110 kms an hour, despite the speed limit being at 130 kms an hour. There were no border formalities at the border between Slovenia and Croatia as both countries are part of the Schengen area. It seemed that we would get to Novi Sad at about an hour earlier than expected, but then we reached the border between Croatia and Serbia! There was a huge queue of cars and despite us choosing the best lane it took one hour to enter Serbia. Then we had the issue of buying car insurance. We were relieved when a helpful policeman directed us to an office where we could buy the insurance. Unfortunately the person there didn't know how to issue the insurance and had to seek assistance over the phone. This man was becoming very frustrated with the process and as his English was poor we didn't know what was really happening. After 30 minutes the insurance was issued and we had to pay. Until then we didn't know the cost, but I thought it wouldn't be more than Euro 50 for the 4 days we would be in Slovenia. The amount was RSD 21,000, but we didn't know what this equated to in real money. We couldn't google it as our phones didn't have roaming for Serbia. We tried to pay by credit card but it was rejected. The man then said we could pay in Euro and it was Eur 230! I did query it, but in the end we had to pay, which left us feeling ripped off. Later that evening I researched it and discovered that it is virtually only UK car insurance policies that don't cover Serbia. There were a few comments on the internet about the prohibitively high cost of insurance at the Serbian border so we weren't cheated. However, if I had known what the cost would have been I wouldn't have chosen a route going through Serbia. When we left the Serbian border we texted the apartment owner that our ETA was 18.15. Unfortunately when we got to Novi Sad it was difficult to find the apartment and we didn't get there until 18.35. We booked the apartment through Booking.com and the apartment had excellent reviews. However, no review mentioned that the apartment block dated back to the communist era and didn't look nice on the outside or in the common areas of the building. The apartment itself was a very spacious apartment on the Danube with 2 bedrooms and 2 balconies. It costs only Euro 45 a night! Unfortunately they skimped on items like cooking utensils and there were a few other things that needed attention. See my blog Novi Sad, Serbia: Travel Guide for details about Novi Sad. Links to My Other Blogs Cornwall to Venice - Week 1 Serbia to North Macedonia - Week 3 North Macedonia to Greece - Week 4 Nafplio, Greece to the Peloponnese - Week 5 The Peloponnese to the Greek Islands - Week 6 The Greek Islands - Week 7 The Greek Islands to Albania - Week 8 Albania to Montenegro - Week 9 Montenegro to Croatia- Week 10 Brac to Rab, Croatia - Week 11 Rab to Dolomites, Italy - Week 12 Dolomites to Home - Week 13 UK to Greek Island Accommodation - Part 1 UK to Greek Island Accommodation - Part 2 Hiking in Val Gardena, Dolomites

The Green Market in Tetovo, North Macedonia Contents 3 May 2023 - Day Trips in Novi Sad, Serbia and Sremska Kamenica, Serbia 4 May 2023 - Rest Day in Novi Sad, Serbia 5 May 2023 - Novi Sad to Tetovo, North Macedonia 6 May 2023 - Tetovo, North Macedonia 7 May 2023 - Day Trip to Skopje 8 May 2023 - Tetovo to Lake Ohrid, North Macedonia 9 May 2023 - Sightseeing in Ohrid Links to My Other Blogs 3 May 2023 - Day Trips in Novi Sad, Serbia and Sremska Kamenica, Serbia We were both feeling tired last night from the stress of obtaining the car insurance at the Serbian border and locating the apartment in Novi Sad. I woke up late and felt like I was getting a cold and by the afternoon I knew I had one. As our apartment is very close to the centre of Novi Sad we decided to explore it today and set off at 11.00. We crossed over the Danube to see the imposing Petrovaradin Fortress which mostly dates back to the early 18th century. It is free to wander around Petrovaradin fortress, but there is a charge for the museum which we weren't interested in visiting. There were a lot of teenage school children there and the girls spent most of there time preening themselves and posing for photos! We spent about an hour at Petrovaradin fortress before walking back over the river to the centre of Novi Sad. Most of the buildings in Novi Sad date back to the mid to late 1800's. Some people say that you can spend a whole day exploring Novi Sad. However, by 14.00 we felt that we had seen all the major sites. See my blog " Novi Sad, Serbia: Travel Guide " for further information. It was too early to go back to the apartment so we took a 20 minute bus ride to Sremski Karlovci. It is a historic town 11 kilometres south east of Novi Sad. The Bradt guide book says Sremski Karlovci "is one of the most attractive in all of Serbia thanks to its unspoiled character and wealth of Habsburg period architecture". We spent about an hour looking around. Sremski Karlovci is a nice enough town, but I am surprised that the Bradt guide book rates it so highly. We got back to Novi Sad at around 16.00, bought some groceries and relaxed. 4 May 2023 - Rest Day in Novi Sad, Serbia We woke up to grey skies in rather dreary surroundings but luckily my cold wasn't any worse. I had planned to do a 1 hour drive north to the town of Subotica. However, as I read up about Subotica I realised that it probably wasn't as special as the Bradt guide book made out. Subotica is very Hungarian in terms of both its' buildings and population. Unfortunately the main buildings of interest only date back to the early 20th century. Since we have a long drive tomorrow to Tetovo in North Macedonia we decided to have a rest day in Novi Sad. Another option had been to take the train into Belgrade. We decided not to go as the Bradt guide book used phrases such as "dreary", "Eastern-bloc greyness" and "grim monoliths of high rises" when describing it! In the morning we walked south along the Danube in Novi Sad until we got to the Strand. The Strand is a park by the Danube that has a sandy beach and is apparently very popular in nice weather. It was deserted today as the weather is cloudy. In the afternoon we walked north along the Danube and then had another quick walk around Novi Sad. 5 May 2023 - Novi Sad to Tetovo, North Macedonia We set off for Tetovo in North Macedonia at 09.00 in sunny weather. After driving for about an hour we discovered that the printout of our Airbnb reservation for Tetovo didn't have the owner's phone number. As our cell phone package doesn't include internet outside the EU I was worried we would have problems meeting up with the owner. Luckily the next service station had free wifi and I messaged the apartment owner and he quickly sent his phone number. Now I could relax and enjoy the drive. The scenery was nicer than in northern Serbia and it became hilly and rural. It was a 2 lane toll motorway most of the way through Serbia. Unfortunately one of these lanes was closed because of road works for many sections. There wasn't much traffic, but every time they closed a lane they reduced the speed limit from 130 kms an hour to 60 kms an hour. No one did less than 80 kms an hour in these sections! If I had driven at the speed limit I would have been very unpopular. We were very pleasantly surprised when we arrived at the border of Serbia and North Macedonia as there was hardly any queue. We had feared that it would be like the border between Croatia and Serbia where it took us 1 hour to pass over the border. North Macedonia's immigration and police were very helpful and spoke English. As we didn't have car insurance for North Macedonia they held our passports until we had purchased the insurance at a nearby booth. It cost Euro 50 for a 15 day policy and it only took 5 minutes to purchase it. In comparison it took us 40 stressful minutes to buy the car insurance for Serbia and it cost Euro 230! As we got near to Tetovo we had very impressive views of snow covered mountains. We reached Tetovo at 16.30, but as usual our TomTom satellite navigation system took us to the wrong area. Google maps is much more accurate and got us to the apartment. Luckily I was able to make a roaming call to the apartment owner and he came out to meet us. Our apartment is on a road just off the main shopping street. It was very busy and all the parking spots were taken. We decided to pay Euro 20 for 3 days of parking below the apartment, but it wasn't an easy place to park. In the evening we decided to eat out. We had chicken burgers and chips and it was nice eating out for a change. 6 May 2023 - Tetovo, North Macedonia In the morning we drove 17 kilometres from Tetovo to the Popova Sapka ski resort, which is 1,000 metres above Tetovo. There was still a lot of snow on the hillsides, but not enough for skiing and all the chair lifts were closed. Both the road to Popova Sapka, and the ski resort, were very quiet. There are a number of hikes that can be done here in the summer time. We didn't come prepared to do a hike and there was probably too much snow anyway. As we couldn't get a good view of the mountains from the ski resort we walked half an hour to a nearby hill. In the afternoon we looked around the vibrant town of Tetovo. There are very few sights to see, but it was nice walking around and seeing the locals go about their daily routines. We went into the Green market and a very friendly man gave us some tea on a stalk. We have no idea how to use it though! The main site in Tetovo is a mosque called the Sarena Dzamija, which means coloured or painted mosque. It is small but very beautiful. Sarena Dzamija was built in the mid 15th century. See my blog " Tetovo & Skopje, Macedonia: Travel Guide " for information about visiting Tetovo. In the evening we bought a small rotisserie chicken for Euro 4 and ate it in the apartment. It was delicious. 7 May 2023 - Day Trip to Skopje The drive from Tetovo to Skopje only takes about 40 minutes as there is a highway most of the way there. There are tolls on North Macedonia highways but the rates are very low. There were 2 toll stations and each time we had to pay MKD 40 (Eur 0.63), or Eur 1 if we didn't have MKD. I had read about some cars being broken into at Skopje car parks so we emptied the car as much as possible and tried to choose a good parking lot. I always use Google reviews to select a car park before going somewhere as it saves a lot of hassle at the destination. We parked at a multi storey car park at the Vero Shopping Centre in Skopje and lucked out as parking is free at weekends. It was only a short walk into the centre of Skopje. I had planned to mainly visit the old Turkish area. The rest of Skopje is fairly modern due to earthquakes and the last big one rocked Skopje in 1963. To reach Skopje's old town we had to walk a while through the modern part. We walked along the north bank of the Vardar river for a few hundred metres until we reached Stone Bridge and it was very impressive with many statues. We could see that the modern Makedonija Square on the south side looked very nice and decided to visit it on the way back. A statue near the Stone Bridge in Skopje The old Turkish area of Skopje starts just north of Stone Bridge and there were plenty of signs of tourism and quite a few tourists. That was quite a surprise as in Tetovo we seemed to be the only tourists. However, Skopje is the capital city and there is a lot more to see than in Tetovo. It was a hot day and the temperature got up to 31C. It was a bit difficult finding some of the sights and we became a bit tired, hot and dehydrated. We visited the covered market, Church of Sveti Spas, Kale Fortress and the Mustafa Pasha Mosque. The only entrance fee was for the church and that cost Eur 2 for the two of us. On the way back we visited the Makedonija Square area and I ended up liking this modern part of Skopje more than the old part. See my blog " Tetovo & Skopje, Macedonia: Travel Guide " for further information about visiting Skopje. 8 May 2023 - Tetovo to Lake Ohrid, North Macedonia There are 2 roads going south from Tetovo and Skopje to Lake Ohrid. They both start on a 2 lane highway to a town called Gustiva. The main road continues straight down to Lake Ohrid, but a more scenic road branches off to the west and goes through Mavrovo National Park. The Bradt Guide book recommends taking the longer and more scenic route through the Mavrovo National Park and describes the Park as a little Switzerland. As it only involves an additional hour of driving we decided to take this scenic route. We set off at 09.30 in sunny, but hazy, weather. The Mavrovo National Park is very forested and in the distance there are views of snow capped mountains. There weren't many places to stop on the way and we continued past Mavrovo Dam until we reached the Monastery of Sv Jovan Bigorski. The current structure of the monastery dates back to the 18th century and is well known for the relic of St John the Baptist. It is an attractive monastery in a scenic and tranquil setting. There are about 30 monks who live at the monastery of Sv Jovan Bigorski and one of them kindly showed us around the ornate chapel. Unfortunately no pictures can be taken of the interior of the chapel. There is an Eur 2 entrance fee to enter the chapel, but it is free to walk around outside. The Bradt Guide Book mentioned that the village of Janche was amongst the prettiest ancient Mijak villages. We therefore entered it on our Tomtom sat nav system and found ourselves driving about 3 kilometres up a steep and narrow road with numerous hair pin bends. It was a bit hairy and luckily we only met 1 car coming down. The village at the end wasn't very special. I think the sat nav system took us to the wrong village as I later saw in the Bradt Guide that Janche is very accessible and the village we drove to certainly wasn't! Our next stop was at Lake Debar. We were shocked at how much plastic was both on the lake shore and floating in the lake. North Macedonia doesn't seem to have a good rubbish collection system and people throw their rubbish everywhere. View from Janche Our last stop offs on the way to Lake Ohrid were to the villages of Vevcani and Oktisi. The Bradt guide book says that Vevcani is "a truly beautiful village of old style houses" and that many of the inhabitants are in local dress. We only found a few old buildings and no one was in local dress.There were several very nice new houses built to a high standard. Bradt doesn't seem to have updated their guide book very well! We decided to skip the village of Oktisi as a result. We reached our apartment at Lake Ohrid at 15.30 and were very pleased with the quality of it. See my blog " UK to Greek Islands Accommodation - Part 1 ". After doing some shopping we walked along the esplanade to the old centre of Ohrid. The weather was still very nice and it was fairly busy. We were very impressed with Ohrid and looked forward to exploring it further tomorrow. 9 May 2023 - Sightseeing in Ohrid The forecast was for rain and unfortunately it was correct and we woke up to rain! By about 10.30 it stopped raining and we set off to explore the sights of Ohrid Town. See my blog " Ohrid Town, North Macedonia: Travel Guide " for useful information when visiting Ohrid Town. There are many churches in Ohrid and the first one we saw was the Church of St Sophia which was built in the early 11th century. We didn't pay the Eur 3 entrance fee to look inside but just admired it from outside. We walked a bit further north along the coast to the beautiful church of Sv Jovan Kaneo which was built in the 13th century. Our guide book says it is the most frequently visited church in Ohrid. There were lots of people there but luckily most of them were leaving. Again we didn't go inside and saved another Eur 6! There is a steep path from the Church of Sv Jovan Kaneo to Tsar Samoil's Fortress, which dates back to the 10th century. The entrance fee is Eur 2 and at the entrance there was a sign warning people to be careful. We soon found out that it is because the steps along the fortress walls were extremely slippery when wet. The views were good despite the poor weather. From Tsar Samoil's fortress it was a short walk to the 2,000 year old Roman theatre. It was free and it didn't take long to see it. A little bit higher up from the theatre is the Church of Holy Mary Perybleptos. We liked seeing it from the outside, but decided again that it wasn't worth forking our Eur 3 to go inside. We walked down to Ohrid's old town and stopped at a restaurant to look at the menu. While we were looking at it started to rain heavily so we decided to have lunch there! We both had a North Macedonian dish of stuffed peppers and enjoyed it. We spent the afternoon in our apartment as it continued to rain. In the evening we walked in light rain southwards along Ohrid's promenade in order to stretch our legs. The bad weather was very disappointing. Links to My Other Blogs Cornwall to Venice - Week 1 Venice to Serbia - Week 2 North Macedonia to Greece - Week 4 Nafplio, Greece to the Peloponnese - Week 5 The Peloponnese to the Greek Islands - Week 6 The Greek Islands - Week 7 The Greek Islands to Albania - Week 8 Albania to Montenegro - Week 9 Montenegro to Croatia- Week 10 Brac to Rab, Croatia - Week 11 Rab to Dolomites, Italy - Week 12 Dolomites to Home - Week 13 UK to Greek Island Accommodation - Part 1 UK to Greek Island Accommodation - Part 2 Ohrid Town, North Macedonia: Travel Guide Tetovo & Skopje, Macedonia: Travel Guide

A View of Kruje from the Hotel Panorama Contents Introduction   Hotel Panorama in Kruje   The Bazaar   The Castle   Links to My Other Blogs on Albania 1. Introduction We enjoyed our 1 night stay in Kruje, but that was mainly because we really liked the Hotel Panorama where we were staying. More about that in the next section. The small old section of Kruje is very attractive but it is also very touristy. There isn't that much to see in Kruje apart from a small, renovated and touristy bazaar and a very dilapidated castle. Unless you are going to visit the 2 museums Kruje can be seen in about 1 hour. We didn't visit the museums as we are only interested in visiting really good ones. The building of the Historical Museum is impressive. However, the focus on Skanderbeg didn't appeal to us and the Bradt guide book says that all the information is in Albanian. Apparently a free guide is provided to interpret and that also didn't appeal. The entrance fee is 500 Lek which again was unappealing! Kruje could be visited as a day trip from Tirana as it is an hour's drive from Tirana. It would probably take almost 2 hours by bus as the buses to Kruje depart from the regional bus station on the outskirts of Tirana. The Bradt guide book suggests staying in Kruje if you need an overnight stay when departing from, or arriving at, Tirana International Airport. This would seem to be a good option as it is a 45 minute drive between Kruje and the airport. 2. Hotel Panorama in Kruje We avoided staying in hotels during our 3 month road trip but we couldn't find any suitable apartments in Kruje. The Hotel Panorama had excellent reviews, free parking and cost less than Eur 70 for a double room with breakfast. What more could we want! We arrived at Hotel Panorama in the early afternoon and the friendly front desk clerk gave us a room facing the castle, bazaar and mosque. Some people don't like being so close to the mosque due to the early morning call to prayer, but for us it added to the atmosphere. The view from our room and balcony was fantastic. As I said in the introduction it doesn't take long to see Kruje and it was really nice just sitting on the balcony absorbing the view and atmosphere. We usually don't eat at hotels, but a couple of reviewers on Tripadvisor recommended eating at Hotel Panorama. We are glad that we had our dinner there as the restaurant is nice, the food is good and the cost is very reasonable. It is popular so a reservation is advisable. We were fortunate to be given a room with a view of Kruje. A couple who arrived shortly after us were disappointed not to have a view. On Booking.com it isn't possible to select a room with a castle view but on the hotel's website it is. As the price is the same I recommend booking directly with the hotel. The Panorama Hotel Night View from the Panorama Hotel The View from our Balcony 3. The Bazaar in Kruje Kruje's bazaar was restored in the 1960's and as they are wooden buildings I suspect there is little left of the original structures. The bazaar consists of one street with shops on either side and then another street with shops just on the one side. It isn't a huge area and many of the shops sell the same stuff. Unless you are a shopper the bazaar can be seen in 5 to 10 minutes. It is nice for photos but the bazaar solely exists for tourists! The Main Street of the Bazaar View of the Bazaar from the Castle View of the Bazaar from Hotel Panorama 4. The Castle in Kruje Kruje's castle is always open and there is no entrance fee. Unless you visit the History Museum the castle can easily be seen in half an hour. Kruje's castle is derelict and was also affected by an earthquake in November 2019. This badly damaged the clock tower and it is no longer open to the public. It also badly damaged the Tekke (Teqe) and it is in the process of being restored. We were allowed to look around, but it is in such a bad state it is no longer worth visiting. There is also a hammam in the castle grounds but entry isn't possible. Ruins of the Old Mosque in the Castle The Historical Museum in the Castle The Hamam in the Castle The Castle's Clock Tower The Dollma Tekke at the Castle The Dollma Tekke at the Castle 5. Links to My Other Blogs on Albania Himare, Albania: Travel Guide Berat, Albania: Travel Guide Gjirokaster, Albania: Nothing Special! Driving through Albania: From Greece to Montenegro The Greek Islands to Albania - Week 8 Albania to Montenegro - Week 9

Ano Syros and Ermoupolis from the Ferry Contents Introduction to Syros Ermoupolis Ano Syros Syros's Western Villages: Finikas, Galissas, Kini & Delphini A Hike to Komito Lighthouse Cape Dhiapori Hike Car Ferries to and from Syros Accommodation in Syros Links to My Other Blogs on Greece 1. Introduction to Syros 1.1. Our Itinerary for the Cyclades We wanted to visit 4 of the Cyclades islands during our 3 month European road trip. However, I found out that it was expensive to take cars on the ferries. I therefore looked into leaving our car in Athens and renting cars on each island. Unfortunately this worked out to be even more expensive so I reverted back to using our own car. By using our own car we were more restricted in our choice of islands as there aren't car ferries between all the islands. I used the Ferryhopper website to determine which islands had car ferries running between them. We didn't want to visit touristy islands like Mykonos and Santorini. I eventually devised a circular route to 4 Cyclades islands with only Naxos being touristy. Our itinerary was Athens (Piraeus) - Syros - Naxos - Tinos - Andros - Athens (Rafina). We stayed 4 or 5 nights on each island. I have done blogs on the other 3 islands that we visited: Naxos, Greece: Travel Guide , Tinos, Greece: Travel Guide and Andros, Greece: Travel Guide . 1.2. Why we chose to visit Syros The Rough Guide says " Syros is a living, working island with only a fleeting history of tourism, rendering it the most Greek of the Cyclades ". Ermoupolis and Ano Syros seemed to be very attractive and interesting Greek towns. There were convenient car ferries going to and from Syros. The Tripadvisor forum mentioned that the hiking trails on Syros were excellent. 1.3. Is Syros worth visiting? The Rough Guide states that "the villages on Syros don't sprawl widely with new developments". However, we found that there was a lot of sporadic development along many of the roads in the southern part of Syros. It spoiled the scenery and it was a bit scruffy. Ermoupolis was an interesting town and wasn't touristy. We didn't find Ano Syros very interesting but like Ermoupolis it looks very spectacular when viewed from a distance. There weren't any other interesting towns and villages apart from Ermoupolis. There were several nice beaches on the island but it wasn't beach weather while we were there. There are some good hikes with clear signposting. Like on other Cyclades islands the trails on Syros aren't always well maintained and can be overgrown. The Alltrails website and App show many of the trails and reviews by hikers will indicate if there are problems. We found our 4 night stay on Syros to be long enough. 2. Ermoupolis 2.1. Parking Parking can be difficult in Ermoupolis. The owner of our apartment recommended parking at the port and we had no problem finding a parking spot there. You take a ticket when entering and pay at a machine when leaving. It cost us Eur 2 for about 3 hours. You can locate the parking by entering " Ermoupolis Port Parking " in Google Maps. 2.2. What to See We spent 2 to 3 hours looking around Ermoupolis. It is a large and interesting town so you could spend more time exploring. Most of the shops and restaurants cater to locals rather than tourists. Unfortunately all the churches were closed. The Town Hall is the most impressive building on the main square Platia Miaouli. The main shopping area is between the waterfront and the square. The street running along the waterfront is packed with restaurants. From the square we walked north east up to the Appollon Theatre and then onto the Church of Ayos Nikolaos. Both were built in the mid 1800's. We continued walking up to the north east and entered the Vaporia district, which is where the wealthy used to live in Ermoupolis. We then walked to the top of the hill to see Anastasi Church which was built in 1870. It was closed but there are good views from it. Ano Syros and Ermoupolis from the Ferry Ano Syros on the Island of Syros The Town Hall of Ermoupolis in Platia Miaoulu Platia Miaouli in Ermoupolis The Apollon Theater in Ermoupolis Church of Agios Nikolaos in Ermoupolis An Alley in Ermoupolis Anastasi Church in Ermoupolis View of Ermoupolis' Port from the Anastasi Church 3. Ano Syros The main road northwards from Ermoupolis climbs up the hill, passing near the top of Ano Syros before continuing. We parked in a small free parking lot at the top. There is also parking along the road on the way up. It was a short walk to the Anastasi Church at the top of Ano Syros. The church was open but the terrace was closed. This was disappointing as there would have been good views from it. There wasn't much to see at the top of Ano Syros. We met a couple who had walked up. From the photos they showed us I am not sure if it is worth the walk up. It wasn't even worth driving up. A View of Ano Syros from the Anastasi Church The Catholic Church of Agios Georgios in Ano Syros The Interior of the Catholic Cathedral of Saint George in Ano Syros 4. The Western Villages: Finikas, Galissas, Kini & Delfini 4.1. Kini Kini is a pretty village with a harbour, several beachside tavernas and a free parking lot off the waterfront. There is a scenic walk along the coast from Kini to 1 kilometre north of the nudist beach at Delfini. After that the path ends and the terrain becomes rough. The walk there and back took us 1 hour and 15 minutes. Most of the route is shown on the AllTrails website . 4.2. Galissas The village is a bit scruffy. It is in a flat and not very scenic area but has a good sandy beach in a very sheltered bay. There is plenty of free parking. 4.3. Finikas We stayed near Finikas and liked it. It is a pretty village with beaches, several restaurants and a large free parking lot next to the supermarket. There is a pleasant walk southwards along the seafront. The Harbour at Kini The Seafront at Kini A Walk from Kini to Delfini 5. A Hike to Komito Lighthouse 5.1. About the Komito Lighthouse Hike We did a 1 hour 15 minute circular hike from Komito beach to Komito lighthouse which is on the most southerly point of Syros. It is a very scenic hike with open sea views all the way. If you wanted to extend the hike you could start from Finikas but this section is developed. There is parking at Komito Beach which is a pretty beach. There are umbrellas, which were free in May but there may be a charge in the main summer season. Komito beach would be a good place for a swim after the walk. 5.2. Route Details From Komito beach you can see 2 trails going up the hill: The first path starts at the south end of the beach and goes left up the hill. It is the most direct path to the lighthouse. We came back on this path. The AllTrails website and App shows this path and you can follow it on your phone. The 2nd path is a bit further on and it is the route we used to walk to Komito lighthouse. Walk 100 to 200 metres along the jeep track that follows the coast and then follow the trail to the left that climbs steeply up the hill. The jeep track ends shortly afterwards at a house so you will know if you have gone too far. The trail goes above and around this house. The trail is fairly high above the sea and follows the coast until you reach the lighthouse. After the lighthouse walk back a couple of hundred metres until you reach the left turn to the path you came up on. You can either turn left, and return the way you came, or continue straight on. Before doing either of these climb up the hill to the right for a good view. If you continue straight on at the junction you will eventually see the house at the end of the jeep track near Komito beach below. At this point look for a clear path to the left with red markings and follow it. It descends to Komito beach. Looking back to Komito Beach A View on the Walk to Komito Lighthouse Looking towards Komito Lighthouse Looking back to Finikas A View of the Southern Shore of Syros Almost back to Komito Beach 6. Cape Dhiapori Hike 6.1. About the Cape Dhiapori Hike The southern half of Syros is developed, whereas the northern barren and mountainous part has very few settlements. Cape Dhiapori is the most northerly part of Syros. There is a scenic circular 3 hour 15 minutes circular walk to the Cape from the end of the northern road. This walk is on the AllTrails website and app. It is useful to download the route onto your phone as there are a couple of places where the trail isn't clear. 6.2. Route Details You can park on the side of the road where it ends at the village of Kambos. There is a very clear trail continuing on from the end of the road. After 5 to 10 minutes there is a signpost in Greek. The path to the left leads to a couple of beaches. Continue straight on for Cape Dhiapori. You walk high above the east coast of Syros and have great coastal views. It takes about 1 hour 40 minutes to reach Cape Dhiapori. The trail is relatively easy to follow except in a couple of places. The path is marked by stones with red spots. The final section of the path became very rocky. There was no clear path around so we didn't do the circular traverse of Cape Dhiapori. On the way back we took the trail above the west coast. At one point the trail was not clear and we relied on the AllTrails app. We would have eventually found our way without the app but it made it easier. The 2nd half of the trail was also very scenic. There are 3 inviting beaches off the trail. We didn't descend to the beaches but they would be good for a swim at the end of the walk. At least one of them had umbrellas. Eventually there is a steep climb back up to the signpost at the start of the trail. The First Sign - Left to the beaches and right to Cape Dhiapori A View to the Beaches in the Northwest of Syros A View along the Northeast Coast of Syros to Cape Dhiapori Cape Dhiapori A View from Cape Dhiapori of the Western Side of Syros View down to Grammata Beach A View of the northwest of Syros The Path to the Southwest of Cape Dhiapori A View down to Marmari Beach 7. Car Ferries to and from Syros 7.1. From Athens to Syros At Piraeus we got to the port an hour and a half before departure. It was very confusing. The large Blue Star car ferry was already at the dock but there was no one around to tell us where to wait. Lani went to ask someone and they directed us to a small waiting area by the ferry. We waited there for an hour watching trailers being driven onto the ferry. Lots of cars arrived after us and many of them were directed to drive straight on to the ferry. We were wondering if they had forgotten about us. Finally we were told to drive onto the ferry. It was not a roll on roll off ferry. They wanted me to do a lot of manoeuvring and it was stressful as they didn't communicate clearly. When reversing they wanted me to only look at their hand signals and not where I was going. It is important to arrive at the stipulated time when boarding the large ferries at Piraeus. The ferries can be packed with vehicles. Vehicles going to the furthest islands will probably board first. I doubt that these vehicles would be allowed to board late as they would block vehicles getting off earlier islands. 7.2. From Syros The ferry tickets state you should arrive at the port at least one hour before departure. When we were departing from the islands very few cars arrived more than 30 minutes beforehand. It was often even less than that! At Syros there was a ferry official at the dock when we arrived an hour ahead of the departure time. On the other islands the officials would arrive much closer to the departure time. It was always worrying as we weren't sure if we were in the right area. 8. Accommodation in Syros We booked a 2 bedroom apartment through Booking.com for Eur 79 per night and we really enjoyed our 4 night stay. We took advantage of an off-season free upgrade to a 2 bedroom apartment. My review of this accommodation is on my blog " UK to Greek Islands Accommodation - Part 2 ". 9. Links to My Other Blogs on Greece Monemvasia, Greece: Travel Guide Mycenae, Greece: Travel Guide Tiryns, Greece: Travel Guide Epidaurus, Greece: Travel Guide Nafplio, Greece: Travel Guide Corinth, Greece: Travel Guide Delphi, Greece: Travel Guide The Monasteries of Meteora: Travel Guide Naxos, Greece: Travel Guide Mystras, Greece: Travel Guide Tinos, Greece: Travel Guide Andros, Greece: Travel Guide North Macedonia to Greece - Week 4 Nafplio, Greece to the Peloponnese - Week 5 Peloponnese to the Greek Islands - Week 6 The Greek Islands - Week 7 The Greek Islands to Albania - Week 8

Bourtzi Fort Contents Nafplio Town Akronafplia Fortress Palimidi Fortress Accommodation in Nafplio Excursions from Nafplio My Other Blogs on Greece 1. Nafplio Town Nafplio is an attractive upmarket destination with many designer shops. It is a popular weekend retreat for Athenians. It is very pleasant wandering through Nafplio's streets and along the waterfront. From Nafplio's harbour there is the iconic view of Bourtzi Castle which sits on a small island. It is particularly special at night time when it is lit up. It was recently renovated and was opened to the public in August 2023. It costs Eur 5 to enter Bourtzi Castle and the return boat ride costs another Eur 5. The boat only leaves when there are at least 4 people. It is only a 10 minute boat ride each way from the centre of Nafplio. Parking can be difficult in Nafplio. We used to park on the road called 25is Martiou . It's a wide street and in the off season we always found a place to park. The Waterfront at Nafplio The Waterfront at Nafplio Nafplio with Palimidi Fortress in the Background 2. Akronafplia Fortress Akronafplia fortress is the oldest part of Nafplio and until the 13th century it was a town. The Franks and Venetians made it part of the Nafplio's fortifications. There is a road to the fortress from the south side of central Nafplio. You can drive up and there is limited free parking. Most people walk and it is only a 10 minute walk along the road to the top of the 85 metre high castle. There is no entrance fee and it is always open. Akronafplia fortress hasn't been well maintained and there is very little to see apart from the fantastic views of Nafplio, Bourtzi Castle and Palamidi Fortress. A View of Palimidi Fortress from Akronafplia Fortress A View of Nafplio A View of Bourtzi Fort There is an Abundance of Prickly Pears 3. Palimidi Fortress 3.1. About Palimidi Fortress The Venetians completed the construction of Palimidi fortress in 1714. Just one year later the Ottomans captured it. They held it until the Greeks won the war for their independence in 1822. 3.2. What to See at Palimidi Fortress It is definitely worth visiting Palimidi Fortress and it took us 1 hour to explore it. You should visit early or late to avoid the heat and the tour buses. The main, and well preserved, part of Palimidi fortress is by the entrance gate. On the bell tower there is a plaque with the emblem of Venice, the winged lion of Saint Mark. You can enter the small cell where Theodoros Kolokotronis, a hero in the Greek war of independence, was imprisoned. There are excellent views from the large terrace. Tour groups mainly visit this main part of Palimidi fortress but there is a lot more to explore. The remainder of the site consists of fortified walls and ruins with superb sea views. The paths are a bit rough at times. Unfortunately there are very few signs at the site providing information about Palimidi fortress. 3.3. How to get to Palimidi Fortress The hard way is to climb 999 steps, and ascend 216 metres, from the centre of Nafplio. We took the easy option of driving up the good road to Palimidi fortress! Another option would be to take a taxi for the 10 minute drive up. There is a small free parking lot at the top and if it is full you can park along the road. 3.4. Entrance Fee, Opening Hours and Toilets In summer Palimidi fortress is open from 08.00 to 20.00 and the entrance fee is Eur 8. You can buy a ticket for Eur 20 that covers Palamidi, Mycenae, Tiryns, Asini and several museums. You can find more details of the hours and tickets on the odysseus.culture.gr website. There is a portable toilet in the parking lot and there are better toilets inside the fortress near the entrance. Night View of Palimidi Fortress from our Apartment View towards Nafplio from Palimidi Fortress The Main Part of Palimidi Fortress A plaque with the Emblem of Venice's Lion is below the Bell 4. Accommodation in Nafplio We booked a very spacious 1 bedroom apartment in Nafplio through Booking.com at a cost of Eur 77 per night for 3 nights. The apartment was on 2 levels and was fantastic. I reviewed it on my blog " UK to Greek Islands Accommodation - Part 1 " (number 14). 5. Excursions from Nafplio We used Nafplio as a base to see the famous archaeological sites in the vicinity: 5.1. Epidaurus It is only a 30 minute scenic drive from Nafplio to the archaeological site at Epidaurus. The highlight of Epidaurus is the theatre dating back to 340 BC. See my blog Epidaurus, Greece: Travel Guide for further information. The Ancient Theatre at Epidaurus 5.2. Corinth It's an hour drive from Nafplio to Corinth where there is a lot to see in the area. In the new town of Corinth the only worthwhile site is the spectacular Corinth Canal. Acrocorinth is located a few kilometres away from the new town and  is the ancient acropolis of Corinth dating back to the 7th century BC. Ancient Corinth is nearby and is the ruined old city of Corinth. See my blog Corinth, Greece: Travel Guide for further information. The Corinth Canal 5.3. Tiryns and Mycenae The little visited archaeological site of Tiryns is only a 7 minute drive from Nafplio. From there you can drive a further 20 minutes to the famous archaeological site of Mycenae. See my blogs Tiryns, Greece: Travel Guide  and Mycenae, Greece: Travel Guide for further information. The Lion's Gate at Mycenae 6. My Other Blogs on Greece Monemvasia, Greece: Travel Guide Mycenae, Greece: Travel Guide Tiryns, Greece: Travel Guide Epidaurus, Greece: Travel Guide Corinth, Greece: Travel Guide Delphi, Greece: Travel Guide The Monasteries of Meteora: Travel Guide Naxos, Greece: Travel Guide Mystras, Greece: Travel Guide Tinos, Greece: Travel Guide Syros, Greece: Travel Guide Andros, Greece: Travel Guide North Macedonia to Greece - Week 4 Nafplio, Greece to the Peloponnese - Week 5 Peloponnese to the Greek Islands - Week 6 The Greek Islands - Week 7 The Greek Islands to Albania - Week 8

The Harbour at Supetar We took a car ferry from Split to Supetar on Brac after staying 4 nights in Trogir (see my blogs Split, Croatia: Travel Guide and Trogir, Croatia: Travel Guide ). We then stayed 4 nights on Brac Island and during our stay took a passenger ferry over to Hvar Island for the day (see my blog Hvar Island, Croatia: Travel Guide ). Contents Supetar on Brac Island Day Trip to Sutivan, Lozisca, Vidova Gora and Skrip Bol and Zlatni Rat Beach Ferries from Brac to Split, Hvar & Dubrovnik Accommodation in Supetar My Other Blogs on Croatia 1. Supetar on Brac Island Supetar is the port and main town on Brac. Supetar has a small historic centre around the harbour with lots of restaurants on the waterfront. To the east of the harbour is the port and to the west there is a seafront promenade. When the seafront promenade ends a coastline path continues westwards to some hotels and beaches. The beaches aren't very special. On the hill above Supetar's port, and by the large roundabout, is a shopping centre with 2 good supermarkets (Lidls and Tommy). There are 2 small supermarkets in Supetar's historic centre but the selection is limited. Supetar's Harbour The Parish Church The Seafront Promenade 2. Day Trip to Sutivan, Lozisca, Vidova Gora and Skrip We drove the short distance from Supetar to Sutivan and parked at a free car park at the entrance to Sutivan. We really liked the small town of Sutivan as it is unspoilt and classy. It had reasonable beaches at each end of the small town, with toilets at the eastern beach. Sutivan Harbour The Western Beach at Sutivan The Eastern Beach at Sutivan Alley in Sutivan Sutivan There is limited parking at Lozica, just before the traffic light in the centre of the village when driving from Sutivan. There isn't much to see apart from a very fancy bell tower and that can be better appreciated from a distance. Village of Lozisca We drove on to the 778 metres high peak of Vidova Gora, which is the highest point on any Adriatic island. There is a free car park below the peak and there are good views. It is even better if you walk for 10 minutes from the car park to the peak of Vidova Gora. There are excellent views over to Hvar island and Zlatni Rat beach at Bol. View of Zlatni Rat beach from Vidova Gora View towards Hvar from Vidova Gora We drove back to Supetar via Skrip, which is the oldest continually inhabited settlement on Brac. The Rough Guide book describes Skrip as a " sleepy nest of stone houses with heavy stone roof tiles ". It sounded very nice but the reality was that Skrip wasn't very special! Skrip does have a few nice stone buildings but there aren't enough of them to make an impact. The village is also very spread out and there are newer buildings that spoil its appearance. Stone Houses in the Village of Skrip Stone Houses in the Village of Skrip The Village of Skrip 3. Bol and Zlatni Rat Beach I was concerned that parking at Bol would be very expensive as reviewers were complaining they were charged Eur 5 per hour or Eur 20 for the day. However, this charge is for the main car park for the Zlatni Rat beach on the west side of Bol. We parked in a wooded car park off the left of the main road just before reaching Bol's waterfront. Unfortunately it doesn't seem to be marked on Google maps. It is then a 10 minute walk to the eastern end of Bol's old town and a 15 minute walk to Zlatni Rat. We were charged Eur 2 per hour for parking. The centre of Bol is small and mainly consists of 2 streets running parallel to the seafront promenade and harbour. It is pleasant strolling around but it only takes about 30 minutes to see everything. Ferries to Hvar and Dubrovnik depart from Bol's eastern pier. From Bol it is a very pleasant walk along a wide and wooded seafront promenade to Zlatni Rat. The promenade is lined with hotels, restaurants and cafes. Zlatni Rat is Croatia's most famous beach, probably because of its shape as it juts out on a cape with fine shingle beaches on either side. It wasn't too crowded when we were there but that was in late June. A View of Bol from the Main Road The Seafront Promenade at Bol Church of St Anthony in Bol Bol Old Town Promenade to Zlatni Rat Beach View from the Promenade to Zlatni Rat Beach The Eastern Section of Zlatni Rat Beach The Western Section of Zlatni Rat Beach 4. Ferries from Brac to Split, Hvar & Dubrovnik Ferries between Brac and Split The only car ferry that goes from Brac is a Jadrolinija ferry that sails about every 1.5 hours between Split and Supetar on Brac island. Tickets for the ferry can be purchased on Jadrolinija's website . It cost us Eur 33 for our car and 2 passengers. The ticket is valid for the day selected and not for a specific sailing. There are several negative Tripadvisor reviews about the signage to Split's ferry terminal and also the signage to the piers at Split's ferry terminal. However, we found that the signs were very good. If you enter " Ferry Port of Split " on Google maps it will almost get you to the correct pier. Vehicles park in lanes at the pier when waiting for the Split to Supetar ferry. Vehicles board on a first come first served basis. We arrived 1.5 hours ahead of the departure time and were 12th in the queue. There are toilets in the nearby terminal building. We were directed to park our car on the main deck of the ferry and it was very straightforward driving on to the ferry at Split and driving off at Supetar. However, we saw cars driving down the ramp to the lower deck and it was extremely narrow. I was very pleased not to have to do it. The morning before we took the ferry from Supetar to Split there was terrible traffic congestion in Supetar. We were informed it was due to vehicles queuing to board the ferry and that it was even worse in the peak season. As a result we took an early ferry (07.45) the next day to avoid this issue. We arrived at Supetar's port at 07.15 and boarded the ferry without problems. The Ferry between Split and Supetar The Interior of the Ferry between Split and Supetar. The Boarding Area at Split for the Ferry between Split and Supetar Ferries between Milna, Brac and Hvar Town/Korcula/Dubrovnik There is a daily passenger catamaran that departs from Milna on Brac Island to Hvar Town, Korcula and Dubrovnik. It departs Milna at 09.50 each day and arrives back at 19.50. We took this catamaran from Milna to Hvar Town for a day trip and it arrived at Hvar Town at 10.30 and returned at 19.00. This gave us plenty of time to see both Hvar Town and Stari Grad. See my blog " Hvar Island, Croatia " for details. The tickets for the catamaran cost Eur 15 each way and can be purchased online from TP Line . Tickets can also be bought when boarding the ferry, if there is space. We parked our car at a large car park near the entrance to Milna. There is a ticket machine there and it costs Eur 1 per hour. There is a daily maximum charge but the machine didn't state what the maximum was so we paid for 11 hours. A local guy told us that no one checks for payment at the car park but we didn't want to risk it. It is then a 15 minute walk to where the ferry docks on the northern side of Milna's harbour. Enter " TP Line catamaran ferry terminal " on Google maps. The Catamaran that departs from Milna on Brac Island Other Ferries to and from Brac Island KL operates high speed ferries on 2 routes that stop on the island of Brac: Brač (Milna) – Hvar – Korčula – Mljet (Pomena) – Dubrovnik Brač (Bol) – Makarska – Korčula – Pomena(Mljet) – Dubrovnik 5. Accommodation in Supetar, Brac We stayed in a 1 bedroom apartment in Supetar for Eur 73 per night. There is also a 2 bedroom apartment available. Both apartments are in separate detached buildings and can be booked through Booking.com . I have reviewed them on my blog " UK to Greek Islands Accommodation - Part 2 " (number 12). 6. My Other Blogs on Croatia Hvar Island, Croatia: Travel Guide Rovinj & Pula, Croatia: Travel Guide Split, Croatia: Travel Guide Trogir, Croatia: Travel Guide Omis, Croatia: Travel Guide Krk Town, Croatia: Travel Guide Rab, Croatia: Travel Guide Montenegro to Croatia- Week 10 Brac to Rab, Croatia - Week 11 Rab to Dolomites, Italy - Week 12

A map showing the day hikes on the Langtang trek I did the Langtang trek in late November with a porter/guide. The best part of the trek for me were the excellent day hikes from Kyanjin Gompa. Click here to read my other blogs about the Langatang trek. Contents Introduction Langtang Lirung Base Camp Lirung Glacier Viewpoint Kyanjin Ri Yala Peak Base Camp Tserko Ri Numthang & Langshisha Ganja La Pass Other Langtang, Gosainkunda & Helambu Trek Blogs 1. Introduction to Day Hikes on the Langtang Trek The Langtang trek is very short. The first half of the trek is through forest at the bottom of a steep valley. Good mountain views are only to be found on the upper section of the hike between Thangsyap and Kyanjin Gompa. The trail is very popular with foreign and Nepali trekkers. As the Langtang trek isn't a circuit the same trail is used for ascent and descent thus effectively doubling the number of trekkers on the trail. You can probably gather that I am not that enthusiastic about the hike from Syabrubesi to Kyanjin Gompa! What I did like were the fantastic day hikes from Kyanjin Gompa. Many trekkers arrive in Kyanjin Gompa poorly acclimatised and struggle up Kyanjin Ri or Tserko Ri the following day. They then quickly hike back to Syabrubesi or onto Gosaikunda. As a result they miss out on most of the best parts of the Langtang trek. I recommend spending 4 full days at Kyanjin Gompa doing day hikes and enjoying the incredible scenery. Staying at Kyanjin Gompa isn't a hardship as there are good hotels with attached bathrooms. There are also several bakeries and a cheesery. I recommend the following at Kyanjin Gompa: Day of arrival - The short hike to the Lirung glacier viewpoint (4,161 metres). 1st day - The "flat" hike to Numthang (3,940 metres). If you are fit continue to Langshisha Kharka (4,125 metres). 2nd day - The hike to Langtang Lirung Base Camp (4,407 metres). 3rd day - Kyanjin Ri (4,596 metres). 4th day - Yala Peak Base Camp and/or Tserko Ri (4,984 metres). If you only go to Tserko Ri on the final day you could start the descent back down to Syabrubesi the same day. 2. Langtang Lirung Base Camp The hike to Lantang Lirung Base Camp is very scenic. The Langtang Lirung base camp is at an altitude of 4,407 metres which is almost 600 metres higher than Kyanjin Gompa. However, the ascent is gradual and the terrain is fairly easy. There is a sign in Kyanjin Gompa pointing the way to Langtang Lirung Base Camp. The trail is easy to follow but the actual location of the base camp isn't clear. You follow the lateral moraine as far as you can easily go and the last flat and grassy area is the base camp. The entire hike took 5.5 hours which included a stop for lunch and time spent enjoying the views at both the shrine and the base camp. Few trekkers doing the Langtang trek go to the Langtang Lirung base camp. They miss out on a fantastic hike. First section of the trek to Langtang Lirung Base Camp First section of the trek to Langtang Lirung Base Camp First section of the trek to Langtang Lirung Base Camp First section of the trek to Langtang Lirung Base Camp First section of the trek to Langtang Lirung Base Camp Shrine in the middle section of the trek View of the Langtang Lirung Glacier from above the Shrine View of the Langtang Lirung Glacier from above the Shrine. View from the Langtang Lirung Base Camp View from the Langtang Lirung Base Camp View of Kyanjin Gompa at the end of the trek 3. Lirung Glacier Viewpoint This is a short hike that I did on the day I arrived at Kyanjin Gompa. It took 1 hour to reach the viewpoint which is at an altitude of 4,161 metres, a 330 metre ascent from Kyanjin Gompa. I enjoyed the hike even though the scenery wasn't as spectacular as on the 3 other day hikes that I did during my Langtang trek ( see my trip report ). View of the Langtang Lirung glacier while walking to viewpoint Glacier Viewpoint View when walking back to Kyanjin Gompa 4. Kyanjin Ri The main summit of Kyanjin Ri is at an altitude of 4,596 metres but there is also a lower summit at an altitude of 4,324 metres. There are several posts on the internet incorrectly stating that the higher summit is at an altitude of 4,770 metres. My map identified the lower peak as Kyanjin Ri and the upper peak as Menchhyasma Ri. I haven't seen the name Menchhyasma Ri mentioned anywhere else. I was already acclimatised, having done the Kanchenjunga trek, which made a big difference. I passed all the other young, but unacclimatised, trekkers and reached the lower summit of Kyanjin Ri in about 1 hour. It took less than an hour to hike to the main summit. The views from the lower summit were fantastic, those from the upper summit were slightly better. Jiwan and I had both peaks to ourselves and I enjoyed the views and the tranquility. I wasn't looking forward to the descent as I thought we had to return the way that we had come up. It had been fine walking up but it looked steep and slippery for descending. I was therefore pleased when Jiwan told me that we could descend along a different route. It involved continuing along the summit ridge for a short while before gradually descending. It was an easy path and it took 1.5 hours to return to Kyanjin Gompa. View of Kyanjin Gompa on the way up View from the Lower Summit of Kyanjin Ri View from the Lower Summit of Kyanjin Ri View from the Lower Summit of Kyanjin Ri The Lower Summit of Kyanjin Ri View from the Lower Summit of Kyanjin Ri Upper Summit of Kyanjin Ri The start of the downward path from the upper summit of Kyanjin Ri 5. Yala Peak Base Camp Very few trekkers do this hike so my guide and I had the trail to ourselves. Usually only those intending to climb Yala Peak (5,500 metres) would go to Yala Peak Base Camp. Initially the route from Kyanjin Gompa follows the path to Tserko Ri. The path crosses a river and then steeply ascends towards Tserko Ri. After half an hour there is a fork in the path and the route to Yala Peak Base Camp goes to the right. There is a sign at the junction pointing to Yala Kharka which is on the way to the base camp. From the junction the trail traverses eastwards along the mountain side. It gradually ascends following the northern mountain side of the Langtang Khola. The path traverses open countryside and there are very good views all the way. It took us 2 hours 45 minutes to reach Yala Kharka where there are several stone shelters for yak herders. We had our packed lunches there as it was sheltered from the wind. There were excellent mountain views. From Yala Kharka it was another 45 minutes to Yala Peak Base Camp. We wouldn't have known it was the base camp but for 2 Thai climbers camping there. We could see Tserko Ri from the base camp and the climbers' guide said it would take about 40 minutes to walk there. My map shows that there is a path from the base camp to Tserko Ri but I cannot remember if there was actually a proper trail. However, the grassy terrain between the base camp and Tserko Ri looked very easy to traverse. We decided to walk a bit further up towards the north to enjoy the views. We slowly walked for another half an hour until we reached an altitude of 4,914 metres. There wasn't a path but the terrain was grassy and easy to cross. The scenery and solitude was fantastic. We then walked for 45 minutes over the grassy terrain to Tserko Ri. My Garmin Inreach Mini registered an altitude of 4,984 metres at the summit. The views were even better but there were about 20 other people. Photos of the summit views are in the next section on Tserko Ri . We reached the summit at 12.45 and were fortunate that there was little wind and the sky was clear. We stayed about an hour at the summit and by the time we left we were the last people there. There are 2 ways to descend. The route most people use for the ascent is on the western side of Tserko Ri. This is a steep route and can be slippery going down. There is a longer and less steep route on the southern side and a lot of trekkers descend that way. We took the longer southern route back to Kyanjin Gompa. After a while it joined the path that we had taken in the morning. It took 2 hours and 20 minutes to walk back. In hindsight I wish we had taken the more direct western path back to Kyanjin Gompa. It would have been quicker and the scenery would have been different. It was a long 8.5 hour day but an excellent hike. It is a more interesting way of getting to the top of Tserko Ri and the ascent is more gradual. It is also likely that there will be no other trekkers on this route whereas the usual route up Tserko Ri is popular. First section of the hike to Yala Kharka and Yala Base Camp First section of the hike to Yala Kharka and Yala Base Camp The first section of the hike to Yala Kharka and Yala Base Camp The middle section of the hike to Yala Kharka and Yala Base Camp The middle section of the hike to Yala Kharka and Yala Base Camp. Yala Kharka View from Yala Kharka View from Yala Kharka View from Yala Kharka Getting close to Yala Peak Base Camp Yala Peak Base Camp Views from the plateau above Yala Peak Base Camp Views from the plateau above Yala Peak Base Camp Views from the plateau above Yala Peak Base Camp Views from the plateau above Yala Peak Base Camp 6. Tserko Ri The summit of Tserko Ri (4,984 metres) is often the main objective of the Langtang trek. Unfortunately many trekkers aren't properly acclimatised and attempt it after only 1 night at Kyanjin Gompa. As a result trekkers often struggle with the altitude and the 1,150 metre ascent from Kyanjin Gompa. The internet states that the hike can take up to 8 hours. Most trekkers should be able to do it much faster than that unless there is snow on the ground. As mentioned in section 6 I hiked up the eastern side of Tserko Ri from Yala Base Camp. I haven't hiked on the normal route up which is on the western side of Tserko Ri. I hiked back down from Tserko Ri to Kyanjin Gompa on the easier, and longer, southern route. It wasn't shown on my map for the Langtang trek but was used for the descent by most of the trekkers when I was there. It took 2 hours and 20 minutes to descend on this southern route. It would be quicker to descend back down the western side but it would be steep and possibly slippery. It is definitely worth the effort to hike up Tserko Ri as the views are amazing. The views are different and more extensive than those from Kyanjin Ri. It is therefore worth hiking up both peaks. View from the top of Tserko Ri View from the top of Tserko Ri View from the top of Tserko Ri View from the top of Tserko Ri View from the top of Tserko Ri View from the top of Tserko Ri 7. Numthang & Langshisha Kharka The trail from Kyanjin Gompa to Langshisha Kharka (4,125 metres) follows the Langtang Khola eastwards. It is an easy trail as it only ascends 110 metres to Numthang and then ascends another 185 metres to Langshisha Kharka. Not many trekkers do this hike and those that do often turn back at Numthang (3,940 metres). Langisha Kharka is at least another hour further on and you have to cross a moraine. I believe the hike would take around 8 hours. It would be a very good acclimatisation hike for the first day at Kyanjin Gompa. When I hiked to Yala Peak Base Camp the trail was high above the trail to Namthang. It gave me the impression that the trail to Numthang wouldn't have good views as it was at the bottom of a steep valley. As I only had one day left in Kyanjin I hiked to Langtang Lirung Base Camp instead. I have since seen photos of the hike to Numthang and there are excellent mountain views. The valley may not receive much sun though. I now wish I had had an extra day for the Langtang trek so I could have done this hike. 8. Ganja La Pass This pass is to the south of Kyanjin Gompa and crosses over to Helambu. The pass is rarely used by trekkers as it can be dangerous and involves camping. It would be safe to walk towards the pass as a day trip. My guide had crossed the Ganja La and pointed out the route to me. The route went through forested areas and it appeared there wouldn't be good views for much of the route. The route can be difficult to follow and you would need a guide who knows the route. I didn't do this day hike as I only had 3 full days in Kyanjin Gompa and the other day hikes are much better in my opinion. 9. Other Langtang, Gosainkunda & Helambu Trek Blogs Planning the Langtang Trek Langtang Trek - Trip Report Planning the Gosainkunda & Helambu Trek Gosainkunda & Helambu Trip Report

Map of the Kanchenjunga Circuit Trek This blog provides information on 9 excellent day hikes that can be done when doing the Kanchenjunga Circuit trek. Click here to read my other blogs about the Kanchenjunga trek. Contents Introduction Ghunsa - Hike towards Nangola Pass Ghunsa Viewpoint Ghunsa - Hike towards Lumbasamba Kharka Khambachen - Hike to Jannu Viewpoint Khambachen - Hike to Nupchu Pokhari (Lake) Lhonak - Hike up the Side of the Lhonak Glacier Lhonak - Hike up "Lhonak Ri" Pangpema - Hike up Drohmo Ri East Tseram - Hike towards Lapsang Bhanjyang Pass Links to My Other Blogs on the Kanchenjunga Trek 1. Introduction to Day Hikes on the Kachenjunga Trek Trekkers usually focus on the main trail and don't take the time to enjoy the side trails. I have been guilty of that. The best scenery in Nepal is at the higher altitudes. It therefore makes sense to enjoy your time up there after all the effort and expense in getting there. I became aware of 2 high altitude day hikes only while I was actually on the Kanchenjunga trek ( see my Trip Report ). They are the day hikes from Khambachen to the Nupchu Pokhari (lake) and the hike up "Lhonak Ri", which is at an altitude of 5,700 metres. I didn't do these day hikes on the Kanchenjunga trek. They are both excellent but tiring. There are 3 possible day hikes at Ghunsa. I recommend that you only do one of them for acclimatisation unless you have plenty of time. The day hikes at Khambachen and Lhonak are a better option as the mountain views are superior. I have not included the hikes to North Base Camp and the Oktang viewpoint. I regard these hikes to be part of the main Kanchenjunga Circuit trek. Most trekkers do them. 2. Ghunsa - Day Hike towards Nangola Pass This day hike on the Kachenjunga trek goes westwards from Ghunsa to Olangchung Gola over the Nango La (4,795 metres). It takes 2 days to hike to Olangchung Gola. Initially you follow the very scenic trail back towards Phale. After passing the Tashi Choding Gompa there is a sign pointing the way to the pass. From there it is all up hill! Initially the trail is through the trees but eventually the scenery opens up and there are views of the mountains. I only hiked up to 3,810 metres. I wasn't fit as I twisted my ankle 2 months prior to the trek, my hip was hurting and I had a cold. In addition the weather was changing and on the way back down there was a brief shower. It is unlikely that you would be able to reach the pass and return to Ghunsa in 1 day. The turn off for the Nangola Pass is well marked The initial ascent on the Nangola Pass trail The trail going towards the Nangola pass View back down the Nangola pass trail View back down the Nangola pass trail View back down the Nangola pass trail 3. Ghunsa Viewpoint Day Hike The most popular acclimatisation hike on the Kanchenjunga trek is up the hill on the west side of Ghunsa. There are various viewpoints and the prayer flags can be seen from Ghunsa. It looked like a hard slog to the top viewpoint which is at an altitude of 3,990 metres. I have seen photos taken from the viewpoints and the views weren't amazing. 4. Ghunsa - Day Hike towards Lumbasamba Kharka This trail goes to Ramche over the Lapsang Bhanjyang pass (5,161 metres). The pass itself is difficult and can be dangerous. It is possible however to hike to Lumbasamba Kharka (4,210 metres) and back to Ghunsa. This section of the trail passes the Yamatarin Glacier. I believe the trail mainly goes through forest so the views would be restricted. My guide asked the owner of our tea house about the trail. Apparently there is a river that has to be crossed and it can sometimes be difficult. I therefore opted to do the Nangola Pass trail. 5. Khambachen - Day Hike to Jannu Viewpoint Many local trekking agencies have only 1 night at Khambachen in their itinerary for the Kanchenjunga trek. This is dangerous as it is essential to stay 2 nights in order to acclimatise. Even if you have already acclimatised it would be a shame not to spend at least 2 nights at Khambachen so you can hike up to the Jannu viewpoint. It is a reasonably easy 3 hour hike up to a viewpoint near an interesting Hindu shrine. It is 400 metres above Khambachen. There is a stone path most of the way but this is more of a hindrance as many of the stones are loose. The scenery is superb throughout the entire hike. Unfortunately the hike is directly into the sun in the early morning and it is blinding at times. I walked a further 20 minutes up to the top of the lateral moraine of the Jannu glacier and reached an altitude of 4,606 metres. The views were worth the extra effort. I have read that you can continue hiking on to Jannu base camp but it is an exhausting hike. When I stayed a Khambachen 2 Spaniards hiked towards Jannu base camp. They enjoyed it but didn't go all the way. A well marked trail Leaving Lhonak before the sun had risen over the mountains The stone path on the way up - looking back to Khambachen Looking west along the Jannu Glacier The Hindu Shrine under the Boulder The Hindu Shrine Temple near the Hindu Shrine Jannu is on the right View of the Jannu Glacier from the Lateral Moraine above the Hindu Shrine The highest altitude reached 6. Khambachen - Day Hike to Nupchu Pokhari (Lake) I met 3 trekkers from the Czech Republic who hiked to Nupchu Pokhari (4,952 metres) and they raved about the scenery. The map shows the trail which goes north west of Khambachen. It would take about 5 hours to reach Nupchu Pokhari and 3 hours to return. It is a long day's trek and it would be better to do it after the hike to the Jannu viewpoint so you are better acclimatised. It would be a good trek even if you didn't go the entire way. I recommend spending 3 nights at Khambachen and doing both the day hikes. Khambachen has at least 2 good tea houses and it is a nice place to stay. Spending 3 nights at Khambachen improves acclimatisation and would make it easier to hike up "Lhonak Ri" and Drohmo Ri East. 7. Lhonak - Day Hike up the Side of the Lhonak Glacier I did this hike to improve my acclimatisation for my planned hike up Drohmo Ri East from the North Base camp on the Kanchenjunga trek. The map shows the trail to be on the west side of the Lhonak glacier. I had read on another blog that there was a better trail on the east side of the Lhonak glacier. The owner of our tea house confirmed that the trail on the east side was better. He showed us the way as he was visiting a mountaineering camp further on but the trail is easy to find and follow. There was one slightly tricky section early on that goes across large boulders. After the boulders there is a river with a small bridge consisting of 3 logs. The logs are often icy and dangerous. My guide found a way across without using the bridge. If you can't cross the river I believe that you could hike eastwards along the Chhyatungdinga glacier instead. Our lodge owner said it could be done but I didn't see a trail. I walked for 3 hours up to an altitude of 5,124 metres. From the top of the lateral moraine I could see the confluence of the Lhonak, Chabuk and Chijima glaciers. There is little point in going further. The entire walk took 5 hours and 45 minutes and that included a stop to eat my packed lunch. I wasn't that impressed with the scenery on this hike even though I really like seeing glaciers. Unless you have plenty of time I recommend doing other day hikes whilst doing the Kanchenjunga trek. Icy Bridge River from the Chhyatungdinga Glacier We walked up to the ridge of the moraine and reached an altitude of 5,124 metres. I could see the confluence of the Chabuk and Chijima glaciers. I could also see the tents of the mountaineering expedition that were at this confluence.  Looking back towards Lhonak Looking back towards Lhonak The Lhonak Glacier Looking towards the Confluence of the Lhonak, Chabuk and Chijima Glaciers There was little point in going further so we turned back. There was a cold wind on the way back. The entire hike took us almost 6 hours. On the way down near Lhonak 8. Lhonak - Day Hike up "Lhonak Ri" Three trekkers from the Czech Republic told me about this hike and raved about the views from the summit. They said the summit was at 5,700 metres and named it Lhonak Ri, although that isn't the official name. I later met 2 Spanish trekkers who had done this hike on the recommendation of the Czech trekkers. They also raved about the views. The main difficulty of the hike is the altitude. A bit of scrambling is involved at the very top. The peak is off the trail that goes to the North Base Camp on the Kanchenjunga trek. I am sure the owners of the tea houses at Lhonak could provide directions. 9. Pangpema - Day Hike up Drohmo Ri East I had planned to hike up Drohmo Ri East which is at an altitude of 5,965 metres. Unfortunately the Pangpema tea was closed because of the Tihar festival so I couldn't do it. That was a big disappointment. As I have stated in my blog on the Tea Houses on the Kanchenjunga Trek you cannot rely on this tea house being open. Also it is very small so it could be very crowded or full. I had brought a tent in case. Most trekkers who hike up Drohmo Ri East stay at the Pangpema tea house the night before. They start hiking up early the next morning and return to Lhonak the same day. It is a very tiring day. If there isn't snow on the ground the trek isn't too difficult apart from the altitude. Therefore it is better to spend 3 nights in Khambachen and 2 nights in Lhonak beforehand to acclimatise. It would make the hike both easier and more enjoyable. The terrain isn't difficult except for the last 200 metres when there are boulders and rocks on the ground. If they were covered by snow or ice it would be difficult. Depending on your acclimatisation and fitness it would take about 3 hours to ascend and 2 hours to descend. There is a viewpoint before the boulders and some trekkers turn around there. The trail starts behind the Pangpema tea house. Wikiloc shows the route up Drohmo Ri East and there are also some photos. 10. Tseram - Day Hike towards Lapsang Bhanjyang Pass Between Ramche and Tseram there is a sign pointing westwards that says Napsangla Pass. This is the alternative trail to Ghunsa and it crosses a difficult and dangerous pass. On my map the pass is named Lapsang Bhanjyang rather than Napsangla Pass. It should be safe to do a day hike towards the pass. The trail is closer to Ramche but it could also be hiked from Tseram. There are no trees on this eastern side of the pass so the views would be much better than from the trail on the forested western side. 11. Links to My Other Blogs on the Kanchenjunga Trek Kanchenjunga Trek - Trip Report Tea Houses on the Kanchenjunga Trek Planning your Kanchenjunga Trek

The Sarena Dzamija Mosque in Tetovo Contents 1. Introduction 2. Skopje Parking in Skopje The New City Centre Old Skopje 3. Tetovo 4. Excursion to Popova Sapka 5. Accommodation in Tetovo 6. Links to My Other Blogs on North Macedonia 1. Introduction We stopped for 3 nights in Tetovo during our road trip from the UK to Greece and visited Skopje as a day trip. See my blog Serbia to North Macedonia - Week 3 for our daily trip report . We stayed in Tetovo as we found a good apartment at a very reasonable price. With the benefit of hindsight I wish that we had stayed in Skopje instead. 2. Skopje 2.1. Parking in Skopje We parked at the Shopping Centre Vero on the south side of the river. It is a short walk along the riverside to the centre of Skopje. We visited Skopje on a Sunday and so the parking was free. You have to pay most days but the charges are reasonable. It is a large car park below the shopping centre and there was a security guard. There is a good supermarket on the upper floor of the shopping centre as well as free toilets. There is parking at Kale Fortress in Skopje but reviews mentioned that vehicles had been broken into. 2.2. Skopje's New City Centre I was very impressed with the new area of Skopje that runs along both banks of the River Vardar. It is a spacious area, with well designed buildings, and there are huge statues, monuments and fountains everywhere. This area was renovated by the Skopje 2014 project. Some critics believe that it is like Disneyland and want the monuments and statues removed. I must really like Disneyland! Makedonija's Square is the focal point of Skopje on the south side of the river. In the middle of the square there is a huge statue of a Warrior on a Horse. The warrior is Alexandra the Great. There are numerous restaurants and cafes around the square. To the north of Makedonija's Square the ancient Stone Bridge crosses the river to the historic centre of Skopje on the north bank. Just north of Stone Bridge is a plaza with an impressive monument to Philip II of Macedonia, Alexander the Great's father. In the plaza there is the Fountain of the Mothers of Macedonia and 3 other fountains. There is a beautiful water and light show at night. There is an esplanade to the west of Stone Bridge that runs 6 kilometres along the south bank of the river. It is a good place to walk and at night the path is lit. There is even a beach on the river at City Park. A Bridge over the Vardar River in Skopje A Statue near Stone Bridge in Skopje The Warrior on a Horse in Makedonija Square The Fountain of the Mothers of Macedonia Philip II of Macedonia Statue and Fountain Dame Gruev monument in Skopje Statue of Georgi Pulevski 2.3. Old Skopje We had difficulty locating several of the historic sites in old Skopje, despite the many signs. Eventually we found them but it was tiring and frustrating as it was hot. We wandered around the pedestrianised streets and alleys of Skopje's Old Bazaar area. It is atmospheric but most of the shops are geared for tourism. There were a lot of tourists, and some tour groups, despite it only being late April. A Street in the Old Bazaar We visited 4 main sites in old Skopje: The Cifte Amam National Art Gallery In my opinion it is the most impressive building in Skopje. It used to be a hamman (Turkish bath house) but is now an art gallery. We didn't go in but admired the exterior from the plaza on the south eastern side of the building. Cifte Amam Art Gallery The Church of Sveti Spas The exterior of this Ottoman era church is unimposing. It was built partly below ground level since the church's bell tower couldn't be taller than a mosque. It is famous for its intricately carved wooden iconostasis. This is a screen of icons and religious paintings separating the nave from the main part of the church. It was made in the early 1800's. There is an entry fee of Eur1. The Church of Sveti Spas in Skopje The Interior of the Church of Sveti Spas, Skopje Mustafa Pasha Mosque This is the largest mosque in Skopje and was built in 1492. We had a quick look inside just before prayers commenced. Mustafa Pasha Mosque in Skopje The Interior of Mustafa Pasha Mosque in Skopje The Kale Fortress Entrance to the Kale fortress is free as the 10th century fort is very neglected. You can walk along the walls which give good views over Skopje and the river. There is nothing else to see as only the fortress walls and towers are still standing. The entrance is at the north east side of the fortress. Kale Fortress, Skopje 3. Tetovo Tetovo is a lively town only a 45 minute drive from Skopje. It is worth visiting as it is unspoilt by tourism but there aren't a lot of sights. The main things to see are: 3.1. Tetovo's Central Shopping Area Tetovo's main street is Boulevard Illyria (also called Marshall Tito). It runs from Illyria Square to the Palma Shopping Mall which has a large supermarket. Boulevard Illyria is very vibrant, lined with shops and restaurants for locals rather than tourists. Northeast of the junction with Blagoja Toska street is the large indoor Green Market. Running south from Illyria Square is Ilindenska street, another major shopping street. The Serena Dzamija Mosque and the hamman are on this street. There are a couple of shops selling small barbequed chickens for Eur 5 which is something we enjoy! The Green Market in Tetovo The Green Market in Tetovo 3.2. The Sarena Dzamija Mosque This small and colourful 16th century mosque is the prettiest building in Tetovo. Both the interior and exterior are stunning. It is in the centre of Tetovo on the river Pena. The Sarena Dzamija Mosque The Interior of the Sarena Dzamija Mosque 3.3. The Hamman (Turkish Bathhouse) at Tetovo It is a beautiful 15th century building in a very scenic spot in the centre of Tetovo. It is across the river from the Sarena Dzamija mosque. It now houses an art gallery. The Bathhouse at Tetovo 3.4. Arabati Baba Bektasi Teke The Bradt guide book says this is " one of the prettiest sites in Tetovo " although it is " in considerable disrepair ". Their first statement is wrong and misleading! The place is a mess and there is nothing worthwhile to see. Don't waste your time going there. 4. An Excursion to Popova Sapka Popova Sapka is a ski resort a 20 kilometre drive from Tetovo. It is 1,800 metres above sea level. It is a scenic drive up on a good road but sadly the road side was strewn with litter. The Bradt guide mentions that " parking is at a premium ". We were the only visitors in late April so parking wasn't a problem. It must be a lot busier in the summer months as it makes a good day outing for locals from Tetovo and even Skopje. There are hotels at the ski resort. In the summer time a number of hikes are possible. There was a hiking signpost at the ski resort (see the photo) but we didn't see any route signage. Hiking maps for the area can only be bought in North Macedonia. It is therefore difficult to plan a hike from abroad. Besides we knew that there might be too much snow around in late April so we didn't come prepared to hike. As we couldn't get a good view of the mountains from the ski resort we walked half an hour up a nearby hill. Popova Sapka Ski Resort A View from a Hill above Popova Sapka Ski Resort Hiking Signpost at Popova Sapka 5. Accommodation in Tetovo We booked a spacious 1 bedroom apartment in the centre of Tetovo through Airbnb . It cost Euro 112 for 3 nights plus Euro 20 for underground parking. I reviewed this apartment on my blog " UK to Greek Islands Accommodation - Part 1 " (number 10). 6. Links to My Other Blogs on North Macedonia Ohrid Town, North Macedonia: Travel Guide Serbia to North Macedonia - Week 3 North Macedonia to Greece - Week 4

Map of the Kanchenjunga Base Camp trek I did the Kanchenjunga Base Camp trek in November 2023 with a porter/guide. This blog provides information to help plan your trek. I have also published blogs on the Tea Houses on the Kanchenjunga Trek and Day Hikes on the Kanchenjunga Trek . Contents When to do the Kanchenjunga Trek Getting to the Trailhead Clockwise or Anti-Clockwise on the Kanchenjunga Trek Itinerary up to Ghunsa when trekking clockwise Itinerary - Ghunsa to North and South Base Camp s Itinerary - South Base Camp down to Taplejung Permits and Guides for the Kanchenjunga Trek Cost of the Kanchenjunga Trek Hiking Times on the Kanchenjunga Circuit Trek Vlogs about the Kanchenjunga Trek Links to My Other Blogs on the Kanchenjunga Trek 1. When to do the Kanchenjunga Trek The 2 main factors to take into account when doing the Kanchenjunga trek are the weather and the number of trekkers. 1.1 The Number of Trekkers on the Kanchenjunga Trek The official statistics show that less than one thousand foreigners do the Kanchenjunga Base Camp trek every year. In addition to this there will be Nepalese trekkers, guides, porters and mountaineers. This would probably increase the number of people on the Kanchenjunga trek to about 2,000 a year. This number is low compared to most of the other trekking areas in Nepal. However, there are far fewer tea houses on the Kanchenjunga trek than in the more popular trekking areas. The trekking season is shorter as some of the tea houses at higher altitudes are likely to be closed from the end of November, or even earlier, to the end of February. A trekker reported on the Tripadvisor forum that in early December 2024 the tea houses at Selele and Ramche were closed. Only one tea house was open at Kambachen, Lhonak and Tseram The number of trekkers per month in 2018 for the Kanchenjunga trek were: January 9 February 13 March 72 April 153 May 17 June 2 July 4 August 5 September 143 October 442 November 101 December 9 These figures reflect when trekkers start the Kanchenjunga trek. Many of the 442 trekkers for October would still be on the Kanchenjunga trek in November. 1.2 The Weather The monsoon season is slightly longer in the Kanchenjunga region as the monsoon enters Nepal from the east. When the monsoon ends it withdraws west to east. This means that in the Kanchenjunga region the monsoon can commence about 5 days earlier than in Kathmandu and last 5 days longer. My blog on the Everest Base Camp trek details the monsoon start and finish dates from 2002 to 2023. Over the last couple of decades the monsoon has been starting around the 12th June and ending around the 15th October. I don't recommend trekking in the monsoon as you wouldn't have good mountain views. Every 2 or 3 years cyclones originate in the Bay of Bengal and impact Nepal. When this happens it can spoil a trek and be dangerous for trekkers. The cyclones mainly occur in May and October. In October there is very little risk of cyclones after October 20th. Until last year I mainly trekked during May and early June in Nepal. This was because I wanted to avoid the crowds and Lani didn't want to trek in very cold temperatures. The weather in May and early June isn't as dependable as in April, late October and November but it can be a good time to trek. In 2022 and 2023 I trekked in October, November and early December as Lani didn't join me. The sky is certainly much clearer at this time of year and the cold didn't bother me too much. The worst time for feeling the cold is in the early morning but it wasn't an issue the rest of the time. 1.3 Conclusion on the Best Time to do the Kanchenjunga Trek In my opinion the best time to start the Kanchenjunga trek is in very late October or early November. If you start before the 25th October you risk encountering large groups and the tea houses may be full or very busy. If you start too late in November you may find that some, or all, of the tea houses above Ghunsa and Tseram are closed. I recommend timing your trek so you aren't staying above these villages after 20th November. When trekking in November plan your trek so it doesn't coincide with The Mountain Company's annual camping trek around the Kanchenjunga Circuit. I read a blog where the porters were a problem as they were constantly going in and out of the dining rooms. They were also sleeping in some of the rooms and were very noisy. The Mountain Company's trek usually starts in early November and consists of 10 to 12 trekkers and about 30 Nepali support staff. Late March, April and May could be another good time to trek. There are fewer trekkers than in October but the weather isn't as dependable as in November 2. Getting to the Trailhead for the Kanchenjunga Trek The quickest way to reach the trailhead for the Kanchenjunga trek is to fly from Kathmandu to Suketar airport. There are 3 flights a week. This flight route has a reputation for being unreliable so I didn't use this route. I met 2 trekkers who flew into Suketar so it is possible. It's probably a good option during late October and November when the weather is fairly reliable. I flew from Kathmandu to Bhadrapur airport and I was on the first flight of the day. It was easy to obtain a taxi at Bhadrapur airport and the fixed price to Taplejung was R20,000 ($150). It was a long 8 to 9 hour drive over a paved mountain road to Taplejung. I started walking from Taplejung the following day. I could have booked the flight online but Enjoy Nepal Treks booked the flight for me. It didn't cost any extra. It helped having the trekking agency book my flight as when I wanted to return a day earlier they arranged it for me. 3. Clockwise or Anti-Clockwise on the Kanchenjunga Trek Most trekkers do the Kanchenjunga Circuit trek clockwise as it is better for acclimatising to the altitude. This entails going to the North Base Camp of Kanchenjunga first and then crossing over the Selele to visit the Oktang viewpoint near Kanchenjunga's South Base Camp. This is what I did. Some trekkers do the Kanchenjunga Circuit trek anti-clockwise. The only slight advantage of doing this is for trekkers who intend to hike up Drohmo Ri East (5,965 metres) from Kanchenjunga's North Base Camp. It means that when you reach Kanchenjunga's North Base Camp you have been at high altitude for longer. Some of the disadvantages of doing the Kanchenjunga trek anti-clockwise are: There is a huge and dangerous increase in altitude between Tortong (2,980 metres) and Tseram (3,868 metres). There is a very steep ascent from Tseram on the way to the Selele High Camp. You will be passing more trekkers coming the other way. The busy period on the east side of the Kanchenjunga circuit is a week later. I met 2 Australians going anti-clockwise and they said the lodges at Tortong had been full on the 7th November. When I stayed at Tortong at the end of my trek there were only 2 other trekkers there. 4. Itinerary up to Ghunsa when trekking clockwise The itineraries for the Kanchenjunga Circuit trek usually only vary at the beginning and end of the trek. For the middle section of the Kanchenjunga trek, from Ghunsa to Tortong, most trekkers follow the same route and stop at the same villages. At the start of the Kanchenjunga trek there are 2 rough roads from Taplejung to Chirwa. Most vehicles take the eastern road which goes via Lingkhim. The western road goes via Mitlung and there is very little traffic. From Chirwa there is a rough road to Sekathum and the road ends there at the moment. Some trekkers take private or shared jeeps from Taplejung to Chirwa or Sekathum. This saves about a day of walking. A private jeep to Sekathum would cost R15,000 to R17,000. There are very crowded shared jeeps to Chirwa and Sekathum but I don't know the cost. If you are starting the Kanchenjunga trek from Taplejung possible itineraries would be: Recommended Itinerary Taplejung to Sinwa (5 hour walk) Sinwa to Sekathum (6.75 hour walk) Sekathum to Thangyam (6.25 hour walk) Thangyam to Ghunsa (7 hour walk) Fast Itinerary Taplejung to Chirwa (7.75 hour walk) Chirwa to Amjilosa (8.25 hour walk) Amjilosa to Ghunsa (9 hour walk) 5. Itinerary - Ghunsa to Ramche via Kanchenjunga's North & South Base Camps My blogs on the Tea Houses on the Kanchenjunga Trek and Day Hikes on the Kanchenjunga Trek will help you plan your trek. 5.1 Ghunsa (2 nights) In autumn it is a very beautiful 1 to 1.5 hour hike from Phale to Ghunsa as the larch trees along the Ghunsa Khola have turned golden and there are snow covered peaks in the distance. Ghunsa is at an altitude of 3,415 metres and everyone stays 2 nights unless they are already acclimatised. Ghunsa has the best accommodation on the Kanchenjunga trek and it is a good place to stay. However, it is often cold as the sun doesn't reach Ghunsa until mid morning. There are 3 day hikes that can be done during the acclimatisation day. See my blog on Day Hikes on the Kanchenjunga Base Camp Trek . Trail between Phale and Ghunsa 5.2 Khambachen (2 nights) It is a 6 hour walk from Ghunsa to Khambachen (4,145 metres) and there is a tea shop on the way where you can have lunch. Trekkers should stay 2 nights at Khambachen to acclimatise to the 730 metre altitude gain. Khambachen is a beautiful location and there are 2 good tea houses. There are 2 good day hikes from Khambachen and if you have time it is worth staying a third night. Many Nepalese trekking agencies only have a 1 night stay at Khambachen for the Kanchenjunga trek. This is dangerous and also means missing out on the excellent day hike to the Jannu viewpoint. Jannu Viewpoint near Khambachen 5.3 Lhonak (2 nights) It's a 5.5 hour hike up to Lhonak (4,792 metres) and there is a tea shop on the way where you can have lunch. Lhonak is in a very pleasant setting and there are some reasonable tea houses. Most trekkers stay 2 nights and do a day hike to North Base Camp at Pangpema. Some trekkers spend the night at the small and basic tea house at Pangpema and hike up Drohmo Ri East (5,965 metres) the next day. However, you cannot rely on the tea house being open as I have explained in my blog Tea Houses on the Kanchenjunga Trek . It is possible to hike back to Lhonak after going up Drohmo Ri East but it would be a very tiring day. Another reason for spending the night at Pangpema is for photography. The sun isn't in a good position for photography at midday when day hikers are there. View from Kanchenjunga's North Base Camp 5.4 Ghunsa (1 night) It's a tiring 7 hour hike back down to Ghunsa via Khambachen and it entails a descent of 1,400 metres. Khambachen is a good place to stop for lunch. 5.5 Selele High Camp (1 night) It's a 4.75 hour hike from Ghunsa to Selele High Camp (4,200 metres). The trail climbs steeply from Ghunsa. It is mainly through forest until the View Point Tea shop is reached after a 3 hour and 600 metre ascent. The tea shop serves dal baht at a very reasonable price. From the tea shop it is a 1.75 hour hike, and a 200 metre ascent, over open terrain to Selele High Camp. There are 2 reasonable tea houses in a good setting A view of the valley between Ghunsa & Khambachen when hiking from Ghunsa to Selele 5.6 Tseram (1 night) It is a long and tiring 7 hour hike from Selele High Camp to Tseram (3,868 metres). At the end of the hike there is an 800 metre descent to Tseram. Take a packed lunch with you as the only tea shop on the route is too far from Selele High Camp. Also you can't rely on the tea shop being open. Tseram has 3 tea houses and 2 of them are reasonable. View of Jannu from the Mirgin La 5.7 Ramche (1 night) The walk from Tseram to Ramche is extremely scenic and is one of the best sections of the Kanchenjunga Circuit trek. It takes 3.5 hours to reach Ramche (4,610 metres) and there is an ascent of 750 metres. I would advise setting out as early as possible for 2 reasons: It is possible to walk to the Oktang viewpoint the same day but often the clouds obscure the views from midday. I was very fortunate and the sky was clear all afternoon. There are only 2 tea houses at Ramche and they can become full. One of the tea houses is very basic and it is preferable to have a room in the newer tea house. It takes 1 hour 20 minutes to hike to the Oktang viewpoint and from there you can walk a bit further along the lateral moraine. After that a landslide makes access to Kanchenjunga South Base Camp very difficult and dangerous. Trekkers rarely go there. View of Kabru when hiking between Tserang and Ramche 6. Itinerary - Kanchenjunga South Base Camp to Taplejung If you visit the Oktang viewpoint for Kanchenjunga South Base Camp on the day you arrive at Ramche it is possible to hike down to Tortong the next day. If the weather clouds over when you arrive at Ramche it is certainly worth waiting until the next morning to walk to the Oktang viewpoint. If you do that there would only be time to hike down to Tseram that day. The traditional end to the Kanchenjunga trek was to hike south down to Yamphudin and then walk for several days back to Taplejung. There is now a road at Yamphudin that goes southwards to Phidim. This road joins the main Taplejung to Bhadrapur road. It is therefore possible to take a jeep from Yamphudin to Phidim. Some trekkers still hike back to Taplejung from Yamphudin. The trail goes via Mamangkhe, Phumphe Danda, Kande Bhanjyanga and Lali Kharka. It is usually a 4 day hike but it could be done in 3 days. There is a little used road between Taplejung and Phumphe Danda. It would be possible to take a jeep to Taplejung from Phumphe Danda. There is a new trail from Tortong that follows the Simbuwa Khola westwards to Hellok and Ranipul. This new route avoids the large landslide between Tortong and Yamphudin. I took this trail. It is a very hard 5 hour hike from Tortong to Kengsra. There are 2 new tea houses at Kengsra. It is then an easy 2.5 to 3 hour hike to Hellok and Ranipul. From there it is a 3.5 to 4 hour jeep ride to Taplejung. Alternatively it takes 2 days to walk to Taplejung from Hellok or Ranipul. 7. Permits & Guides for the Kanchenjunga Trek Permits for the Kanchenjunga Trek The Kanchenjunga trek is in a restricted area and a trekking agency must obtain a permit on your behalf from the Department of Immigration. The permit costs $20 per week and trekkers would normally need a 3 week permit for the Kanchenjunga Circuit trek. The Department of Immigration is closed from 15.00 on Fridays to 10.00 on Sundays. So you must be in Kathmandu during one of the days that they are open before you head out on your trek. Sometimes the office is only open for 2 hours during public holidays. There are many public holidays during the October and November trekking season! Permits for the Kanchenjunga trek will only be issued if there are 2 foreigners trekking together. Some agencies can get around this by obtaining a ghost permit for a non-existent trekker. This is usually done with the help of an Immigration official. I obtained a ghost permit for an Indian woman who I never met and I had to pay $60 for her 3 week permit. I also paid $35 to Enjoy Nepal Treks for arranging the ghost permit. There aren't any checkpoints on the Kanchenjunga trek but if there had been I would have stated that she had become sick and had gone back down. A fee of R3,000 ($23) is payable for the Kanchenjunga Conservation Area Project. It used to be payable at Tapethok but the office there has been closed and it is now payable at Ghunsa. Guides You have to trek with a guide in the Kanchenjunga restricted area. I had a porter/guide from Enjoy Nepal Treks at a cost of $25 per day. The daily cost has now been increased to $30. 8. Cost of the Kanchenjunga Trek I paid $1,119 to Nepal Enjoy Treks for the following services for the Kanchenjunga trek: Porter/Guide (21 days @ $25 per day) $525 Insurance for the Guide $35 Restricted Area Permit ($120 for 2 people for 3 weeks) $120 Admin fee for the ghost permit $35 My flight to and from Bhadrapur $254 Guide's flight to and from Bhadrapur $150 TOTAL $1,119 The expenses that I paid myself are shown in the table below: Overnight Stop Total Cost Room Food Drink Transport Other Notes Taxi to airport 900 900 Taxi from Bhadrapur to Taplejung 20000 20000 Taplejung 1680 1000 500 180 Chirwa 1570 500 750 320 Itahari 2900 700 1500 700 Thangyam 1470 600 650 220 150 1 Phale 2030 500 1100 430 Ghunsa (2 nights) 8000 1600 2580 820 3000 2 Khambachen (2 nights) 6150 1400 3500 1250 Lhonak (3 nights) 10965 2400 5375 1940 1250 3 Ghunsa 2700 800 1250 500 150 1 Selele 4400 1000 1700 900 800 3 Tseram 2850 700 1350 500 300 1 & 3 Ramche 3500 500 2400 600 Tortong 2560 500 1700 360 Kengsra 3140 500 1500 440 700 4 Hellok & Ranipul 700 500 200 Jeep from Ranipul to Taplejung 15000 15000 Taplejung 1490 1000 350 140 Jeep from Taplejung to Bhadrapur 20000 20000 Bhadrapur 2500 1500 700 300 Taxi in Kathmandu 900 900 TOTAL NPR 115105 15200 27405 9350 56800 6350 TOTAL USD 880 116 210 71 434 49 Notes for the other expenses: 1 Toilet Paper 2 Kanchenjunga Conservation Project fee 3 Boiled water for my water bottles 4 Beer I have summarised the expenses under each overnight stop. The expenses include drinks and meals while at other locations that day. The total cost of my Kanchenjunga trek was $2,000 compared to a cost of around $3,000 for a group trek. Other advantages of doing the Kanchenjunga trek by myself meant that I could determine my itinerary, choose the tea houses, have a room to myself and have plenty of space in vehicles. Most nights I had the company of other trekkers and wasn't restricted to being with the other members of a group. I have been on 2 camping group treks in Nepal but I would never do a lodge trek with a group. I could have reduced my costs by not having so many hot drinks and not ordering boiled water for the cold mornings. I didn't bother as the cost wasn't that material and it improved my enjoyment of the Kanchenjunga trek. The biggest expense was for transport. I had wanted to take a shared taxi from Ranipul to Taplejung but couldn't as it was a public holiday. I would have saved a lot if I had used public transport between Kathmandu to Taplejung but I didn't fancy doing that. It is always difficult to determine how many Nepalese rupees should be taken on a trek. My chart above gives an idea of how much is needed. If necessary I use some of the Nepalese rupees that I have brought for the guide's tip and give the guide USD instead. 9. Hiking Times on the Kanchenjunga Circuit Trek These hiking times for the Kanchenjunga trek exclude stops at tea houses for drinks and lunch. The Australians' times were quite fast even though they were in their mid 60's. The Indians consisted of a small group. They were slower but I know the leader was a keen photographer. I have recorded these times mainly to assist trekkers with the planning of their Kanchenjunga trek. I certainly found information on trekking times very useful when planning my trek. It also helps when deciding whether to hike a bit further at the end of the day. Trekking isn't a race although I kept on meeting one French trekker who seemed to think so. He was always asking how long everyone had taken and was proud of his speed. Quite often you can only hike so far in the day on the Kanchenjunga trek due to altitude acclimatisation and the distance to the next tea house. By walking fast you just reach your destination quicker and end up spending more time at a tea house. I am not a particularly fast trekker but I could have walked faster than the times shown for me. I wasn't very fit due to spraining my ankle prior to the trek. I also followed my guide and sometimes he walked slower than I needed to. I wasn't in a rush and was happy to enjoy the fantastic scenery on the Kanchenjunga Circuit trek. If you want to do the Kanchenjunga trek quickly it is possible to do it in 8 days from Taplejung! A trekker posted details of this on the Tripadvisor forum . DAY FROM TO MY TIME AUSSIES' TIME INDIANS' TIME AVG TIME 1 Taplejung Mitlung 3 h 15 m 3 h 15 m 1 Mitlung Sinwa 1 h 45 m 1 h 45 m 1 h 45 m 1 Sinwa Chirwa 2 h 45 m 3 h 15 3 h 2 Chirwa Tapletok 1 h 15 m 1 h 15 m 2 Tapletok Ranipur 2 h 1 h 50 m 1 h 55 m 2 Ranipur Sukethum 1 h 55 m 1 h 2 Sukethum Itahari 30 m 35 m 30 m 3 Itahari Lama Tar 1 h 30 m 2 h 5 m 1 h 45 m 3 Lamar Tar Amjilosa 2 h 20 m 2 h 30 m 2 h 25 3 Amjilosa Thangyam 2 h 2 h 30 m 2 h 15 m 4 Thangyam Gyabla 1 h 50 m 2 h 20 m 2 h 5 m 4 Gyabla Phale 3 h 45 m 2 h 50 m 3 h 45 m 3 h 30 m 5 Phale Ghunsa 1 h 15 m 1 h 1 h 30 m 1 h 15 m 7 Ghunsa Khambachen 6 h 5 h 6 h 5 h 40 m 9 Khambachen Ramtang 3 h 3 h 30 m 3 h 15 m 9 Ramtang Lhonak 1 h 40 m 2 h 1 h 50 m  11 Lhonak Tea Shop 2 h 50 m 2 h 50 m  11 Tea Shop Pangpema 1 h 40 m 1 h 40 m  11 Pangpema Lhonak 3 h 15 m 2 h 40 m 3 h 30 m 3 h 10 m  12 Lhonak Ramtang 1 h 10 m 1 h 8 m 1 h 10 m  12 Ramtang Khambachen 2 h 15 m 2 h 15 m 2 h 15 m  12 Khambachen Ghunsa 3 h 30 m 3 h 30 m 3 h 30 m 3 h 30 m  13 Ghunsa Viewpoint Tea Shop 3 h 3 h  13 Viewpoint Tea Shop Selele High Camp 1 h 45 m 1 h 45 m  14 Selele High Camp Tseram 7 h 5 h 15m 6 h 10 m  15 Tseram Ramche 3 h 30 m 3 h 3 h 15 m  15 Ramche Oktang Viewpoint 1 h 20 m 1 h 30 m 1 h 25 m  15 Oktang Viewpoint Ramche 1 hr 1 h  16 Ramche Tseram 2 h 20 m 2 h 20 m  16 Tseram Tortong 3 h 30 m 3 h 3 h 15 m  17 Tortong Kengsra 4 h 50 m 4 h 50 m  18 Kengsra Hellok 2 h 35 m 2 h 35 m  18 Hellok Ranipur 30 m 30 m 10. Vlogs about the Kanchenjunga Trek When I did the Kanchenjunga trek in November 2023 there was a group of 8 trekkers with Project Himalaya 2 days behind me. One of these trekkers posted 3 videos of the trek: Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 In late March/April 2024 a German trekker, who posts a lot on the Tripadvisor forum, did the Kanchenjunga trek. The weather was terrible and his videos give a different perspective to the trek. It shows that the weather in late October and November is more reliable. Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 11. Links to My Other Blogs on the Kanchenjunga Trek Kanchenjunga Trek - Trip Report Tea Houses on the Kanchenjunga Trek Day Hikes on the Kanchenjunga Base Camp Trek