My Travel Adventures

A few days followed my last trip, during which the weather became obscenely hot and my search for apartments in Geneva became obscenely intense. As the heat subsided and I secured a place to stay, it was time to travel again. For our last trip around Crete, my mum, my sister, and I visited the city Heraklion. This sonorous name did not always belong to the city; rather, it was borrowed from the name of a nearby village as the Cretan Greeks went through a process of removing Arabic influences from their daily lives.

On our second full day in Crete, my mum, my sister, and I drove to Chania. The agenda for the day was to briefly walk around the town and then find a beach somewhere nearby. The former was the easier part of the plan. We parked the car in the south and, after figuring out the parking payment system, walked north into the centre of town.

I made my latest journey in the company of my mum and one of my sisters. For this reason – and because the daily temperatures have consistently risen into the high thirties – my trips have been much more leisurely than usual. We arrived in Crete on the evening of the 22 nd after an eventful journey. Our flight was delayed by almost two hours: first because a problem had to be fixed on our aircraft, and then because our plane missed our departure window and had to wait for another hour. In the meantime, a storm brewed up somewhere above southeastern Europe, and we flew straight into it for a bumpy flight.  

As I slowly clambered out of bed this morning, I realised that the weather forecast had been too pessimistic. The skies may have turned a little cloudy from yesterday, but there was no sign of rain, and the sun shone brightly. Nevertheless, when I left my backpack at the reception and set off with my camera and umbrella, I wore a long-sleeved shirt, which I began to regret as the morning lost its freshness. Since I had seen everything I had wanted to see in central Gdańsk, my plan for the morning was to take the tram to Oliwa, visit its park and cathedral, and head back. In the afternoon, I would see a museum or two in Central Gdańsk and then make my way over to the airport for my evening journey to Prague.

My dad says I trust the weather forecast too much, and he may very well be right. Because it is supposed to rain tomorrow, I decided that I would try to see all the items on my list today. The weather was supposed to be sunny and indeed it was – perhaps too much so. Record temperatures are being reported from across Europe, and even as northern a town as Gdańsk started feeling uncomfortably steamy by ten o’clock.

As Eli had an appointment, I spent the morning walking around the old town. 85% of the Warsaw was intentionally destroyed after the failed Warsaw Uprising of 1944 by Nazi Germany’s Verbrennungs und Vernichtungskommando (the Burning and Destruction Detachment), including some of its most important landmarks. The streets and walls teem with reminders of the Second World War: plaques to fallen heroes, boundary markers of the Warsaw Ghetto, and statues of great figures both real and imaginary. Standing at the northern side of Castle Square is a statue of Jan Zachwatowic, the architect who oversaw Warsaw’s rebuilding.

Not long after returning home, one of my sisters announced that she would make a weekend trip to the UK, while the other started spinning plans for a weekend out and about in Prague. I decided, therefore, to go on a trip of my own. My choice fell on Poland, as I have seen very little of the country outside of Krakow.

During my brief stay at home this summer – which I have informally dubbed my Eurosummer – my sister’s endless badgering led us to undertake exactly one domestic trip. Her desired destination was Loket Castle, a sight that lies about an hour and a half west of Prague. Situated on a peninsula within the bend of the Ohře River , Loket can only be approached by a series of narrow winding paths that lead to the centrally located Masaryk Square. Scarcity means that parking is limited to two hours, so we had to strategically plan lunch around feeding cash into the parking meter.  

I woke up on the last day of this intense trip feeling quite sluggish, but the weather was too nice to slack off. I packed up my bag one last time and went out, basically repeating yesterday’s circuit around central Copenhagen. This time, I spent longer checking out the spiralling roof of the Stock Exchange building: upon closer inspection, it is made of the intertwining tails of several dragons. I also briefly stopped by the Botanic Gardens, which were free to enter but were undergoing major reconstruction. The entire northeastern side was closed off to visitors, and what remained was a short loop between the Palm House and the lake.

I began my day as has become custom on this trip: with a juice from the supermarket and pastries from a local café. Since I had already seen the outer parts of Copenhagen, I decided that today would be the day when I would explore the centre. I first made my way to Rådhuspladsen, but I found the city hall undergoing major work to its main tower. Walking southeast, I took pictures of the Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek but did not go inside, as it was far too early and the museum was still closed. I also visited Slotsholmen, which houses Christiansborg Palace and the lovely Royal Library Garden.

It was cloudy and windy this morning due to the lingering storm, so I decided to wait out the bad weather on public transport. My strategy was a partial success: my journey to Helsingør did pass some time, but it was not until around ten o’clock when the weather really started to clear up. By then, I had already walked through the town centre and the harbour. With my arms fighting against the coastal wind, I took a few pictures of the remarkable Hercules and Hydra statue before walking towards the town’s castle.

On our last day in Oslo, we made a visit to the Museum of Cultural History (or the Folkemuseum for short). I had initially added it to my list of things to see because it has a beautiful stave church from around 1200 CE. I have been burning to visit a proper Norwegian stave church, as we had initially planned to call on May in her home in central Norway – not too far away from several very famous ones.

The more people travel together, the longer everything takes. Of the several items on my list, we only visited two today. Whether fortunately or unfortunately, however, my list has been shortened by many factors beyond my control. I had wanted to see Emanuel Vigeland’s Museum, but it is only open for four hours every Sunday and the tickets are booked far in advance. Unusually, the Royal Palace is also open for a few months, but all the tickets have been sold out too. To top it off, several other attractions, like the Nobel Peace Centre and the Viking Ship Museum, are temporarily closed (the latter until 2026).

We had a late start due to my late arrival yesterday. Johnny and I went to the Vigeland Park at around eleven, after which we visited May at her apartment. The Vigeland Park seemed to be very popular with tourists from across the globe, and it truly is a bizarre sight that merits a visit. Abounding in strangely positioned statues of naked human bodies, it is a puzzling, almost unsettling place.

Today’s travels were not, to put it mildly, a very inspiring financial success. We packed our luggage in the morning, consolidating our things into two suitcases and two bags. Due to our difficulties coordinating, Johnny and Zhongwei booked the six o’clock flight while I purchased tickets for the eight o’clock one. When buying their tickets, however, the two did not realise that their purchase only included one carry-on. Therefore, we decided to pack one backpack into a suitcase and have me carry it along with my own backpack.  

Technically, my day began when I went to sleep a little past midnight: I looked out of the window and saw the law orange sun burning amidst the trees. Once we woke up again, we drove eastwards from our accommodation, spending the day between Vestvågøya and Austvågøya. Having driven past the remarkable church in Borg a few times, we made a quick stop there to see it from up close. We spent the rest of the morning and early afternoon stopping at viewpoints around the two islands.