Lemmonaid » Picture Gallery

To Spain – on the truck

Oliver Juhás — Thu, 12 Aug 2010 12:51:43 +0000

90 km/h Shakira in Spanish Caravans 24 hours break Movies Technical problems Toothpain Slushi souvenirs Sundried colors Nervous arogant spanish manager Spanish girls Turkish toilet “Rare” showers French girls Good german drivers Pinetrees Mountains and ocean Clean women toilet Transmitter Highway highway highway 10 km traffic jam Rain So little sleep Legs up Coffee and tea Sleeping czech policemen Beer Tipped truck Basque sunrise Shot holes in motel windows Mussels and pork elbow Cold nights Desert

Last Irish trip (for now)

Oliver Juhás — Mon, 12 Apr 2010 10:06:16 +0000

As I overslept 1 hour, I changed my plan. The trip to Athlone (Moydrum castle) would take at least 3 hours and during this period of moving back home from Ireland and sorting tons of things I cannot afford to loose a whole day for a trip. Decision was changed to Mizen Head, the south-westernmost point of Irish isle. Although I was there before, I remembered how it fascinated me and surely I wanted to feel the sea at last.

Took camera, video camera and found out I’ve already packed up all my Irish maps… So I needed to buy another one, again. I chose to go via Macroom and Bantry. Both are amazingly charming towns and the road between them was wonderful.

Surely, I lost the way a bit when I was trying to get to Toormore (which I visited on the first amazing trip with my girlfriend) from Bantry. But it was just minor flaw and I was basically heading the right direction, I just took the different road and prolonged the trip. ;)

Unfortunately, I came to Mizen Head just to find out the bridge is closed and tickets were sold just for visitor’s centre. Well, nothing for me, so I decided to stop at Barley Cove beach on the way back home. What a beautiful piece of land it is! I just love the sea, the ocean, although it was like walking in liquid ice cubes, where Irish were swimming. As usually. ;) The sand was wonderful and the summerish weather just underlined the great feeling of freedom I had there.

It’s about what you find when you get lost

Oliver Juhás — Sun, 21 Feb 2010 18:11:34 +0000

Finally I decided to go and search for “The Hill” where I got lost in August 2008. At that time I was on the trip with my girlfriend and my mother around Ireland, and as there was really narrow road, steep cliff, and even a fog at one place, I wasn’t allowed by my dead-scared companions to stop and make some pictures of the beauty I saw. Actually that was the most amazing piece of nature I have ever seen – mountains, valley and see, and adventure, all in one!

I knew the road up on “The Hill” was somewhere between Kenmare and Bantry, after passing Bonane (wasn’t sure where exactly – I used GPS then). I told to myself, alright, there is also Beara peninsula nearby, which I haven’t seen, so why not to do so now? Good decision.

After passing the Kenmare bridge I turned right to take Ring of Beara. What a fantastic trip! I’ve got rain, I’ve got snow, sun, got lost and got found… ;)

Beara peninsula trip map (click to enlarge). Green = trip there, blue = tip back.

First loosing of the way was just minor when I couldn’t get to Tousist and go along the coast. But second lost was a bit confusing as I really haven’t got a clue where I am. I was returning to Kenmare, still on Ring of Beara road and knew I was somewhere near Ardgroom. I tried to get my position by the direction signs along the way, but those of you who traveled Ireland probably know, how “strange” the way signature is… I wasn’t able to locate the places on my (fairly detailed) map! Finally I’ve found a way back to Eyeries. It wasn’t planned to visit this town, but fortunately I get there. What an amazing view on this colorful town I got!

And sometimes I felt like in Sweden or Norway, although I have never been there ;) Snow caps over mountains, gray ocean, ships in harbor, color houses and dark skies over Atlantic. Fascinating.

When I get back to Kenmare (see trip map) I was pretty tired and decided not to search for “The Hill”, as I’ve already experienced something similar on Beara (see the gallery), and not to go home the long way via Skibbereen, but head back to Macroom and finally Ballincollig.

Long trip, stressful for my Supercar, but one of the best I’ve taken!

Kraków and Wieliczka – January 2010

Oliver Juhás — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 11:20:25 +0000

Beautiful historical city of Kraków has magical atmosphere. Cafes and restaurants are everywhere you go, buildings impress with old architecture, you can visit museums and galleries, Jewish quarter (with “restaurant square” ;)), listen to the legend of the dragon in Wawel castle, and buy good souvenirs – in comparison to Prague. This is off topic, but westerners going to Prague, be aware what you buy. It is very difficult to find something original, Czech, because almost every shop is Russian (when you see Matrioska doll, you are in the wrong shop). You won’t have this problem in Kraków. There is great market at the main square – Rynek (= “market” in Polish) where you can buy pottery, wood carvings, jewelery or even traditional clothes. Snow was covering everything during our visit and it only underlined the beauty. Freezing made us going to cafes or restaurants or shops more often than planned, so it was very tourist friendly ;) (www.krakow-poland.com)

From Kraków we went to nearby UNESCO world heritage site Wieliczka salt mine. We thought it should be just 30 minutes visit as we were rushing home. But guide told us just inside, 324 stairs bellow the surface, that it would take 2 to 3 hours… At least it was much wormer than outside – with plus 16 degrees centigrade the difference was 24 degrees! Cathedral built underground in the mine is just unforgettable (very nice acoustics by the way). Definitely place to visit, and you will walk the same tunnels Copernicus, Goethe or Pope John Paul II walked. (www.wieliczkasaltmine.net)

I wish Slovak tourist attractions were such well presented as these two places…

Ships in Cobh

Oliver Juhás — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 22:55:01 +0000

Today I fulfilled my childhood dream! I walked on deck of real sailing ship. And it was actually the one that started my obsession about historic vessels since I saw the movie “The Bounty” (or as it was called in my country – “Mutiny on the Bounty”). This ship was built for a movie from 1962 and tries to be an exact replica of the original. Although through comparison on Bounty’s website you can see that this one is probably a bit bigger… What is great is that they offer some sailing trainings on this ship! Oh, I would love to do that! It would be like no more Lego, let’s get the real thing… :)

By the way, I think you have last chance to see the ship in Cobh tomorrow, Sunday 20th September. Admission is 7€ adults, sorry, don’t know about children.

Bounty had also pretty modern companion – Irish Coastal Patrol ship LÉ Ciara. Honestly, this ship wasn’t that interesting for me in comparison to classic. But anyway there was longer queue of people waiting to see the steel than the wood. Was wondering why. First thought there is lack of romanticism in this world already, but than found out that visiting Ciara was free of charge. So I queued up too ;) I spotted something “funny” though expectable – computers inside are running Bill’s Windows 2000…

OK, enough talking, lets see what I got for you.