Europe – Page 6 – travellingzombie.com

Would you like my window seat?

We are 36,000ft in the air and the announcement comes over the tannoy:

“Ladies and Gentlemen, if you look out to the left side of the aircraft, there is a brilliant view of the Austrian Alps”.

I’m that person on a plane who is happy to give up their window seat. It’s not that I don’t want to see the views. I really do, but looking out of the airplane that high up as it’s tilting is guaranteed to do two things: make me panic and make me throw up.

Wandering Beeb is the opposite. He’s quite happy looking out of the window and taking photos, snapping away and telling me all about what he can see below.

I’m not the greatest on planes anyway – I tend to think that they only stay up in the air based on the power of wishful thinking, so anything that reminds me of how high up we are is a bit ‘no no’.

On this particular flight, however, I really want to see the Alps. I’ve looked out of the windows on purpose once before, as we headed into Vegas. It was night time and we were flying in over the strip. Instead of paying for a helicopter ride, we were able to see the whole of the strip as the plane made its approach to the runway. I was persuaded to take in the view after much discussion and whilst it made me feel quite sick, I was really glad for the experience.

This time, as the Alps passed below us, I took the decision to look out without any cajoling or discussion. It was beautiful. The line of the mountains and the colours of the sky were stunning. I manage to peek out long enough to see the snow-capped tips of the mountains against the horizon and to pass my phone to Wandering Beeb to take a couple of shots.

A big achievement for me, despite feeling a mixture of vertigo, sickness and fear. A beautiful site and a proud moment. Something to remember the next time I’m eager to pass up that window seat.

Plitvice Lakes: Where else can you walk over a waterfall?

Standing on a narrow wooden walkway, inches above a fast-flowing roar of water, my heart was pounding. There were no barriers and no safety rails. A small hand rail ran round some sections of the walkway, but disappeared at various points around the trail.

This was Plitvice Lakes. A national park in Croatia, around 3 hours journey from the town of Split. Known for its lakes and waterfalls, it was a stunning sight, but my heart was in my mouth the entire time.

Visiting the whole park in a day is a tough challenge. As we were only in Croatia for a couple of days, we planned to see as much of the park as possible in a day trip. Taking a coach to the top part of the park, we hiked around the top lakes and waterfalls, followed by a bus ride down to the bottom end of the park for the final hike around the waterfalls.

Croatia makes travelling easy. The names of the lakes and waterfalls are exactly how you would expect them to be: the biggest waterfall? Welcome to the ‘Big Splash’. A slightly smaller waterfall? It’s obviously ‘the Little Splash’! Follow the names of the waterfalls and the park is really easy to navigate.

The hike to the first set of waterfalls was the most impressive; walkways that hovered over the tops of the pouring water, deep lakes and the sounds of the water hitting the rock below.

We visited in October (luckily we avoided the rain!) and the paths were much clearer than they are in the height of summer. I don’t want to even think about navigating those walkways on a crowded day. It would have been very easy to step off the planks into the water below.

The colours in the park were amazing: deep blue and vivid aqua waters, green vegetation, grey rock and orange and brown autumn leaves. Everywhere we looked there was photo perfect scenery.

The final photo of the day was from the top trail, looking out over the cliff side at the waters below.

I’d love to visit the park again, perhaps spending a day or two to wander round and really take in the sights. Have you been to the park? What was your favourite site?

Don’t Underestimate Local Travel

I’m the opposite of most people. I get time off work and instead of feeling relaxed and chilled out, I get bored and angsty. If I don’t have a plan for the day, you can guarantee I won’t be happy! Wandering Beeb on the other hand is quite happy spending a day on the computer, pottering about the house or watching TV. Not me. I’ve got to be on the move, doing something, feeling like I’m taking down names and kicking ass. Basically, feeling like I’ve achieved something in the day. So you can see how a week off work with no plans felt incredibly stressful to me!

Getting sick of my pacing about and mutterings about dying of boredom, Wandering Beeb struck up a plan to visit Tatton Park, a nearby country park.

I’d never been before and hadn’t realised quite how large the park is. After driving down some very narrow country lanes, the park seemed huge.

One of the main reasons to visit Tatton Park is to see the herd of deer that live there. Initially they were quite far in the distance but later in our walk, we ended up with the herd running in our direction after being spooked by some thing. It’s one thing to observe quietly from a safe space and quite another to see huge antlers coming towards you at speed!

Butterfly’s were abundant throughout the park and I spent some time trying to get a good photo – it’s harder than you think! I certainly don’t have the reflexes or camera skills to do it justice. Most of my pictures were of a fuzzy blob, slightly different in tone to the rest of the blurry picture!

After spending a lot of time on winding (read narrow and nauseating) roads, it was relaxing to be near the water for a stroll around the lake. Aeroplanes overhead quickly brought me back to earth as I contemplated my next adventure, but for now, Tatton Park bridged the gap.

The Colosseum, Rome

The Colosseum is easily one of the most recognisable landmarks in Italy. Outlined against blue skies, it looms over Piazza del Colossel, imposing and inviting in equal measures. Home to gladiatorial games, the Colosseum’s history is steeped in blood.

The amphitheater is a huge structure, capable of holding around 50,000 – 87,000 people and widely known for displays of public combat and slaughter of gladiators and animals for public entertainment. It’s one of those places that you absolutely have to visit if you are in Rome and Wandering Beeb’s love of all things resembling Roman ruins meant that it was one of the first places on our hit list when we arrived in Italy.

We had booked on to the evening tour in advance and paid the extra fee to take a trip down to the bottom floors, which aren’t always included on the standard visit. It’s well worth booking ahead as you get to skip some of the line (which can be fairly long) and are guaranteed a place on the limited evening tour.

Inside, the structure feels bigger than its outside appearance and it’s much easier to make comparisons to more modern arenas, imagining crowds of people gathered to watch the latest entertainment.

From the bottom of the arena floor, looking up created a feeling of dizziness as each layer of the structure twisted away towards the sky. The layers underneath the main performance area were a warren of corridors, lined by the ruins of the cages where fighters and animals were held until their time on the arena floor. It was a very different view from the top of the arena, with huge arches creating a stunning silhouette.

We learned on the tour that they flooded the arena on occasion to stage boat shows and battles – something I wasn’t aware of. It must have been an incredible site to watch – imagine that happening in an arena in today’s time – it would take huge mechanics to make that happen!

The tour was well organised and gave us plenty of time to wander round the ruins. Standing on the top floor, we could see over to the ruins of the Roman fort, giving a helicopter view of the site.

Today, the arena is sometimes used for concerts and opera performances. Unfortunately, on the day we went, there were no performances taking place, although it’s something that we’d definitely go back to see.

Tickets into the Colosseum can be booked here. An entrance ticket and the underground tour usually cost around £25 per person.