South Africa : Trip to South Africa

Even though we've always wanted to visit South Africa, it's after a TV Show (Amazing Race) that we decide it was the good time to go. When we told people we would travel to South Africa their first reaction would be : "Pay attention to wild animals, they are dangerous" or "Don't get robbed because South Africa is an unsecured country". Well guess what, it didn't stop us.

We booked the plane and the car well in advance. We had to decide what we wanted to see and knowing we wanted to go to Kruger we knew we'd stay in the eastern part of the country. You'll see hereunder what we've come up to. Just waiting to be there...

Norway : Oslo

We had already travelled around the west coast of Norway in 2009 but didn't have the time to visit the capital. It's now a done deal.

We stayed at the Scandic Fornebu as we had some very good deal (http://www.scandichotels.com/Hotels/Norway/Oslo/Fornebu/#.UrINT2RDtiw). Well we really couldn't complain. It's a really nice design hotel with good food. Of course, Fornebu is a little bit outside of Oslo but it was interesting walking around. It's amazing how everything is made to have an healthy life over there. You can see bike paths everywhere in this economic neighbourhood and public transport are as punctual as a swiss watch. Another sight of Fornebu is the Statoil building which seems to be based on pick-up sticks.

We took the tramway to go in the center of Oslo. We first stopped at the Royal Palace and its parcs which are as big as two city blocks. Afterwards we went to the port where we saw the impressive Town hall and a little bit on the side the old fort. If you keep on following the water you finally arrive at the well know Opera house.

Beside these major touristic attraction, Oslo isn't the city that impressed us the most but as we wandered in the streets we just felt good and the sphere was friendly. We discovered some street art around a corner and a little further we went through the neatest little street of Oslo. This was a small pedestrian street where we found some old well decorated wooden houses with a lot of colours (Damstredet).

Belgium : Local heritage day

Every year, the first weekend of september, a lot of old monuments and buildings publicly and privately owned are open to everyone in Belgium. This allowed us to visit a restored forge. This is an opportunity to see what is hiding behind the walls of your neighbourhood. (http://www.belgium-tourism.net/informations/events_region_bruxelloise__journees_du_patrimoine___heritage_days/en/E/19329.html)

Luxembourg : Little Switzerland

We had a weekend free so we decided to go hike in the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg more specifically in the region called "Little Switzerland of Luxembourg". This region is well known of climbers as there are rocks and cracks everywhere. This and all the hills is of course what gave the name to this region. (http://www.mullerthal.lu/en)

This region isn't known of a lot of people although it's definitely worth a stop. During this last summer holiday weekend we decided to walk the Route 2 of the Mullerthal Trail (about 37km). We started at Scheidgen (where we parked the car) and walked to Echternach (about 11km). We spend the night at the Camping Freibad in Echternachbrücker (Germany http://www.echternacherbrueck.de/campingplatz/fr). This is a big camping ground but just what we needed to put our tent en rest for the next day. Note also that they allow dogs :-)

View from the camping ground

The next day we started by having a nice breakfast at the "Pâtisserie Thinnes Claude" (http://www.editus.lu/ed/fr/patisserie-thinnes-claude-echternach-2939.html) where we had local bakeries. We then started our route to Berdorf, Mullerthal (with the beautiful "Schiessentümpel") en then back to Scheidgen.

Our little piece of advice is as we only hiked 11km the first day, it's really hard to make the last 26km the day after if you want to be able to stop to contemplate the rocks and nature around you. We would advise you to split the walk more or less evenly.

Belgium : Walking between the twists and turns of the Semois

We had always said we would go hike in the valley of the Semois near the town of Bouillon. We finally did it. We parked our car in the village of Rochehaut which has also a beautiful view on the valley and a well-known restaurant "Auberge de la Ferme". We went from Rochehaut to Dohan through the woods and then started to follow back the river to Rochehaut.

Rochehaut

We had taken our tent with us so we stopped at a rest place about 5km from Bouillon near the river. Wild camping isn't allowed in Belgium but we minimized our impact on our environment and left at sunset. We started the next day with a breakfast in Bouillon. Next to the countryside Bouillon has a lot to offer. One of the main attraction is the castle build around the 10th century and where the well-known Godefroy de Bouillon has lived.

Bouillon

 Bouillon's castle

Narrow streets near the castle

After leaving Bouillon we followed the flow of the river to arrive at the next viewpoint : the Giant's Tomb.

 Giant's tomb ("Tombeau du Géant")

At the end we had hiked about 50kms in two days. Near Poupehan we found a small portion of another hike that we had to do, the "hike of the ladders". I would recommend it to anyone who isn't scared of heights. You have nice views over the valley.

France : Mountaineering in the Ecrins

I had the opportunity to go mountaineering  for the first time  with the Belgian Alpine Club. We went to the region of the Ecrins near Briançon in the small village of Vallouise. We stayed at the gite "Le Baouti" (http://www.gite-le-baouti.com/) for the week and I would recommend it as a base camp to explore the region.

After learning the basics we went on the first day to La Meije (La Grave) where we climbed the "Col of Ruillans" (3200m). We cheated a little bit though because we took a cable car for most part of the climb.

On the next day we went to the refuge of the "Glacier Blanc" (http://clubalpin.briancon.free.fr/glacierblanc.html) at 2500m and did some basics in working in group in the mountain. The day after we went on top of  "Pic du Glacier d'Arsine (3364m)" and went back down.

On Thursday we went a via ferrata just outside of Vallouise en went to visit the beautiful city of Briançon.

On the last days we went up to the refuge of the "Bans" to be able to leave early on the next morning to climb our last summit the "Point of Red Beefs (3516m)".

Italy : City trip in the city of canals

We had the opportunity to go to Venice with our wedding photographer (http://www.creative-light.be/uk/mariage/mariage.php) and next to running all around the place dressed in bride and groom we had time to visit :-).

First we checked in at our hotel, Hotel San Carlo in Mestre (http://www.sancarlovenice.com/en/index.html). We decided to go to Mestre as hotels in the city of Venice itself are really expensive. The hotel was alright, the rooms were clean and not to noisy. We didn't spent too much time in the hotel anyway. The hotel is a 5 minutes walk from the bus stop. The bus is a 20 mins ride to Venice. Quick and easy!

I must say that Venice is worth its reputation, it's just wonderful walking around to experience this unique atmosphere. Even though it was the first weekend of July we never felt oppressed by the crowd. You will like this city sitting in the shade with an ice-cream as much as during the night wandering in the narrow streets.

It's really easy to travel around the city. There are Vaporetto's stop along all major canals. However, even though the gondolas are beautiful and are part of the city's history I found it quite expensive as it's 100€ for about 45mins.

On our last day we decided to visit the small islands of Murano and Burano which are easily reachable with Vaporetto's. Both are worth a visit but my preference would go to the second one with it's narrow streets and beautiful painted houses. All these houses had a different color in order to help the fisherman's to recognize their house when coming from the sea.