Was four weeks enough? The Hawaii Archipelago had 137 islands stretching over 2400km. At the southern end of the archipelago were eight main islands known the Main Hawaiian Islands. Six were habitable (visitable), one was a private island for farming…
Summary Big Island was the fourth and last Hawaiian island in our 4-week Hawaii DIY trip. Unlike the other three islands (Oahu, Kauai and Maui), Big Island was much bigger so it was only practical for us to stay in…
Summary Our best experience in Maui was on Mount Haleakala Summit. We were practically “standing” on clouds. The sunset experience above the clouds was also a lifetime wish came true. We also had our first encounter with Hawaiian green sea…
Summary We arrived in Kauai on the 4th of August just after 12 noon and left on the 11th of August very early in the morning. We had about 7.5 days to explore the island which was sufficient enough for…
Summary Week 1 in Hawaii was spent on Oahu Island. We had 7 full days to explore this lovely island. The island was not very big so 7 days was enough for us. Our accommodations were all located near Waikiki…
Road trip for 53 days How did we decide that it was a 53 day road trip to explore Spain and Portugal and not a 20 days or a 70 days? We started by looking at pictures of scenic destinations…
Summary We were on the final leg of our road trip. Wow! It was 53 days ago when we first picked up our Citroen car at Tolouse and soon it was about time to return the car to the same…
Summary Our last destination in Spain was Montserrat (saw tooth mountain) and the famous abbey that sat on it. It was a short drive from Barcelona to the mountain. We stayed for a night in a hotel next to the…
SUMMary We had three days in Barcelona. Barcelona was our last Spanish city and it seemed pretty big with many attractions so we gave ourselves three days instead of the usual two. We stayed in a hotel just outside the…
Summary We had two days to explore Valencia. It was a lovely place and one of the places in our itinerary we were looking forward to visit was the “grand old market”, which was not the typical modern supermarket. “The…
Summary We drove a long way to visit Monasterio de Piedra Natural Park. It was a tedious 3 hour 15 minute drive over 266 km. This Natural Park was so out of way and we were not sure how to…
Summary We drove from Madrid to San Lorenzo El Escorial and stopped there to visit its famous Monastery. It was a monastery that looked more like a fortress and a palace. After visiting the monastery we drove to Segovia where…
Summary We had two nights in Madrid and we stayed in an apartment in Madrid Centro. From Toledo to Madrid was an hour drive. We knew that Madrid Centro had restricted entry non-resident cars so we were very carefull not…
Summary We visited Toledo a beautiful ancient city just an hour drive from Consuegra. It was definitely a city that deserved a one night stay, staying a night gave us the opportunities to experience the old city in both daylight…
Summary We drove from Cordoba to Daimiel Tablas wetland, unfortunately the weather was horribly hot so we did not get out of our air-conditioned car to explore the wetland. We drove on to Consuegra to see the amazing windmills. The…
Summary We went from Granada to Cordoba. At Cordoba our main focus was Mezquita-Catedral de Cordoba (Mosque Cathedral of Cordoba), this building looked magnificent from the outside but it was its interior that took our breath away. It was so…
Summary We had one night in Granada. We started our journey from Colomares Castle and drove 187 km to Granada. Midway we stop at Frigiliana a beautiful white Spanish Village for coffee break. We reached Granada at about 3 pm…
Summary We drove north east to visit Caminito de Rey and then south east to Colomare Monument. At Caminito de Rey we joined a 8 km guided walk through an incredible beautiful gorge of the Desfiladero de los Gaitanes, where…
Summary We stayed for two nights in Ronda, a famous Spanish White Village with a awesome bridge, Puente Nuevo. On the first day we drove for about 130 km from Seville to Ronda, near the last part of the journey…
Summary We had two nights in Seville, on the first evening we went to a local tavern to see the “Flamenco” (spanish dance). After the dance we visited Las Setasvisited de Sevilla a magnificent modern architecture. The next day was…
Summary We left Arrifana at about about noon driving towards the western tip of Algarve. We decided not to stop at Bordeira’s beach as it would be similar to Arrifana beach we drove ahead to the “Lighthouse of Cabo de…
Summary We had two and a half days for Algarve which was a southern most region of Portugal. The first day was focused on getting to Algarve. We drove about 250 km from Lisbon to a small town on the…
Summary We arrived at Ponta Delgada of São Miguel in the middle of the night. São Miguel was the largest and most populous island in the Azores group of islands. The group had nine volcanic islands located in the North…
Summary We stayed in Lisbon for two nights. We left Sintra and arrived in Lishon in the late afternoon. We drove directly to our first destination, Tower of Belem. After the tower, we were off to our “stay” located in…
Summary In the morning we drove to Peniche, a major fishing port on the west side of Portugal. From there we took a boat ride to Berlenga islands which was about 16 km west of Peniche. We spent the entire…
Summary Our next destinations for the rest of the day were Batalha Monastery and Obidos Town. We drove for about 173 km for close to 2 hour to reach Batalha Monastery. The Monastery were pretty large and grand and in…
Summary Our next destination in Portugal was Serra da Estrela Natural Park. On the first day we explored Necropole de Sao Gens, Cabeca do Velho and Senhora da bao Estrela and along the way we stopped at two reservoirs/dams. We…
Summary We did not travel far today. We visited two destinations, Costa Nova and Aveiro. Our stay for the night (one night) was at Aveiro. Both destinations were very scenic and unique in their own ways. Costa Nova It was…
Summary From Folgosa (Douro River) we drove east to Porto (old town) which was about 161 km away. On the way we made a detour to explore “Shrine of Our Lady of Remedies”. In many ways this cathedral was similar…
Summary We had two days at Douro River on the Portugal side. We stayed two nights at a BnB in Folgosa (parish) that was sited by the bank of the Douro River. On the first day, on our way to…
Summary Finally we drove into Portugal after already 15 days in Spain (northern). We had allocated 17 days for Portugal and would be travelling north to south and then would cross into Southern Spain before going north again via the…
Summary We visited Tower of Hercules and Cascada do Ezaro today. These two sightseeing destinations provided convenient stops as we moved from Spain to Portugal in a couple of days. Our destination in Portugal was Peneda-Gerês National Park and getting…
Summary We had two days in Taramundi which was one of the two main towns in Turia Valley that was partly in Asturias (county) and partly in Gailcia County. It was a lovely two days of slow living in gorgeous…
Summary In the morning after we left Covadonga we drove a long way (128 km) for about 2.5 – 3 hours to Someido Natural Park. On arrival we found that our car could not go all the way to our…
Summary Our next destination was Covadonga in Asturais (North West Spain) where a beautiful Basilica and a Holy Cave were located. We stayed two nights in a hotel practically next to the Basilica and Holy Cave and spent our days…
Summary We spent two days at Valles Pasiegos. Valles Pasiegos was a region formed by the three adjacent valleys crossed by three rivers, Pas River, Miera River and Pisueña River. It was all about green countryside, local traditions and customs…
Summary Our next destinations in Spain were Nervion Falls, Flysch cliffs and San Juan De Gaztelugatxe. To visit these three sights we stayed in Bilbao, an industrial port in Northern Spain, for two nights. From Bardenas Reales National Park to…
Summary Our next destination in Spain was Bardenas Reale National Park, a semi desert which had been eroded by water and wind creating a very stunning and unique landscape. Driving from Torla Ordesa to Bardenas Reales would take about 3…
Summary Our first destination in Spain was Parque Nacional Ordesa Y Monte Perdido (National Park Ordesa and Monte Perdido) which was famous for its great scenery. We stayed two days in Torla Ordesa, a town nearest to the National Park.…
Summary We flew into Toulouse from Singapore transiting at London. We reached Toulouse International airport after a 13.5 hour first-leg-flight between Singapore and London, 2 hour transit stop in London and another 2 hour (2nd leg) flight to Toulouse. At…