Wednesday, April 21, 2010

VICTORIA FALLS


Victoria Falls one of the 7 natural wonders of the world. A magical place that I had a opportunity to spend 4 days ones again, I have been there 2 times before and now I went there to meet my husband, who is still riding the bicycle from Cairo to Cape Town. I flu from Johannesburg to Victoria Falls airport, the town also is called Victoria Falls in Zimbabwean side. Zimbabwe and Zambia are sharing the Vic Falls, the falls are actually part of the border line between these two countries.

When the plane is landing you can notice a cloud on the ground level and that indicates the falls from the air...Zambezi river is a large and long river with full of wild and bird life...

In the afternoon when the sun shines from the right angle to the misty cloud lifted up by the power of the water running down on the falls, you can see a rainbow, at least during an hour just under the bridge, it really


We only hear sad stories of Zimbabwe on the news... But I must say that Zimbabwean are very nice people and you feel safe to walk around in the town of Victoria Falls, I walked from the hotel to the border to the passport control, (you need visas for both countries paid in cash US dollars) and then crossed the border on the bridge to Zambia...

Lots of traffic crossed this bridge, people on foot, cars, trucks and trains... Goods for Zambia from South Africa and minerals from mines from Zambia...

This area has lots of history Dr Livingstone discovered the Victoria Falls and he met Stanley who has been searching  for Livingstone for many years... The town just few kms after the border in Zambia,  actually was named after Livingstone

At the border on the bridge you can do bungee jumping or just carry on walking on the other side and look at the side of the falls and then on the other side you can see the Zambezi river gorge...This guy is Peter, he is Zambian and we walked with me on the bridge trying to sell me some souvenirs, Mosi-oa-Tunya is the name that the native people of this region calls the Victoria Falls, it means "the smoke that thunders"...So this Peter off course had a brother who was a taxi driver and I needed to catch a taxi after getting my Zambian visa to go and meet my husband who was busy arriving just 3-4 kms away from the border post. I was told that the taxi will cost about 5 US$, but his brother told me that no, it will be 15 dollars, so I told him that he is trying to rip me off and went to see the two European looking guys who where at the passport control behind me. They were just busy getting in to their pick-up car and I asked if they could give me a lift, because this taxi was ripping me of, so I had a nice short lift with a native white Zimbabwean gentlemen and we manage to find the arrival of the Cairo to Cape Town Race...


Tuesday, April 20, 2010

RECYCLE YOUR BICYCLE

I have been really busy during these few weeks and my postings has suffered from that, first 10 days of hectic renovation of my daughters flat in Aberdeen Scotland and no I finally get a better connection in South Africa that don't take the whole day to post photos...And I have been in Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe and you will see so stunning photos of a magical place....

First I want to show how we recycled my daughters old bicycle that she bought in Amsterdam almost two years ago and took it back to Scotland. It has been in her entrance for quite sometime and she really wanted to keep it so here what we did....
So the bike is standing on a Ikea furniture and the poppy print frame is also from Ikea

Sunday, April 4, 2010

SOUTH OF SPAIN, GO ON HOLIDAY

It has been quite a long time since my last posting but there is a good reason for that. I was in the 10 days seminar in Los Romanes a small village about 40min from the Malaga airport. It is an old rustic village that has been carefully restaured back to it's beauty. During year the owner has put lots of efford to these buildings with a help of some skilled people... We had the whole village for our groupe but you can rent a individual house for your family or friends and browse the Andalusian country side. The mountains offers you hot springs that I would one day like to experience in that natural beauty. The village is surrounded by olive farms and you are surrounded by nature even the small village or restaurants are not too far... An excellent get away for a week or even for a long weekend. Just enjoy all the photos I had taken while staying there...
Find on the side bar the address details to this beautiful place...

                                                 This is the view you get from the village

                                            The entering to the village by the parking area

                                                                     The view of the village

                                                             On the way down to the pool area

                                            The pool with a view surrounded by the garden

                  Last houses and the path way down to the olive farms...Nice walk down to the lake area...

                  And what a sun rise we had there the sky even changed the colour of the lake to the pink...

                                                      Olive trees and the nature walks...

                                                                      Cosy village feeling...

The flat where I stayed had a big kitchen and a dining area, with the fire place...

Each flat has their own name... The moon house...

A moment captured on the window...

One of the different windows...

So many different details in these buildings...

On the roof top...

A part of the broken pot used to decorate the surrounding garden wall...what a brilliant idea...

There are even some fruit tree growing in the garden...

One house had this beautiful stone wall inside...

Some of the houses still had the old ceilings that the owner could safe and restore them in their original
beauty...

     
In the lounge area we had a book shelve that was hidden behind these beautiful old doors...

A small plant pot on one of the windows ...enjoying the warm sun...

Birds in the early morning sun shine...

Spring time baby...

I was told that, years ago all the buildings looked like this, but you can see the owner has put lots of effort to this place but he has added plenty things from his soul too...