From the Picos de Europa I headed back to the Bay of Biscay. Cantabria was the last section of Spains northern coast that I hadn’t visited yet. Santander I only spent a few hours in Cantabria’s capital Santander, because I had to return my rental car there. As ever so often, the most apparent landmarks …
Author Archives: michael
Iberia Impressions: Picos de Europa [en]
I hadn’t known about the Picos de Europa mountains before planing my trip to Iberia. But a Spanish colleague from work recommended them to me, when I asked for hiking recommendations in the Pyrenees. Pictures on the Internet looked promising and it was not far off my route along the coast. Since the swell forecast …
Iberia Impressions: Galicia & Asturias [en]
After two weeks of surfing in Portugal, I headed back north, to the Spanish region of Galicia. They must have great beaches and surf-spots, but I hear that many of them are pretty remote. Traveling by bus/train and not having infinite time left, I decided to leave Galician waves for some other time and to …
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Iberia Impressions: Portugal’s North [en]
After Madrid, I headed for the coast of northern Portugal. Less sight-seeing and photographing, more surfing and partying. Didn’t even make it nearby Porto. Well, I’ll get to see it some other time… Esposende/Ofir First stop was the Ofir peninsula near the town of Esposende (the proper Portuguese pronunciation of which I will never learn). …
Continue reading “Iberia Impressions: Portugal’s North [en]“
Iberia Impressions: Madrid Stopover [en]
I hadn’t been to Madrid before and the city has always been a mystery to me. How could one of the most notorious maritime empires have been governed from a landlocked place like this? The geographic location seemed unappealing — no harbor, no impressive mount-range serving as backdrop, not even a noteworthy river flowing through. …
Iberia Impressions: Euskal Herria (Basque Country) [en]
After visiting Biarritz on the French side of Basque Country, I finally arrived in Spain and on the Iberian peninsula. Donostia (San Sebastian) First stop was in Donostia, a city famous for it’s surf beaches, like Zurriola. It’s located by a river mouth and two bays. In the middle, there’s a small hill raising from …
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Iberia Impressions: In Transit through France [en]
I’ve already written way too much about my recent Interrail surf-trip to Spain and Portugal. So this time let my just dump some photos from the places that I came through. Let’s start with my journey through France… Paris Two days stop-over. Always liked La Defense and the modern stuff (we don’t have much of …
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The Gotchas of Railroad-Safety [en]
They say trains are one of the safest modes of transportation. And while I can think of several horrific train crashes in the past, I generally believe it’s true. But now I’m wondering about all the small things that could go wrong? How common are they? On my last surf-trip, I witnessed this small incident …
Interrail — was it worth it? [en]
I wanted to avoid flying during my surf-trip to Iberia, so I only used trains and buses instead. My trip took me from my home in Germany through France, Spain, Portugal, and back. Altogether this went really well. I was impressed by the punctuality and comfort of French TGVs and Spanish Renfe long-distance trains. In …
Iberia Surf Diary [en]
With a short stopover in France, I’ve been traveling through Spain and Portugal from mid-September to late October. Main objective was to get to know surf-spots along the Atlantic coast and surf as much as possible. Here I’ve collected my surfing experiences. Mostly to learn from it for future endeavors. E.g. what spots and what …
Notes on exiftool Usage [en]
Most of the image manipulation and media organization applications that I’m using do not have great support for meta data. Sure, they can display and edit relevant meta data. But they’re not great at filtering, bulk-editing, etc. So I’m using the exiftool CLI to get some of the basic image meta-data straight, before uploading images …
Totally Derailed [en]
I’ve been struggling with my sports endeavors recently. And it’s not just that I’m getting too old for this shit. I am definitely, but so far it’s not holding me back. It’s more like the conditions are stacked up against me all the time, e.g. when it comes to weather and equipment. Case in point: …
Hamburg dies, Hamburg das, Hamburg Fachjargon [de]
Auf meinem letzten Kite-Trip bin ich auch durch Hamburg durch gekommen. Ist jetzt schon ein Weilchen her, will aber trotzdem mal ein paar Eindrücke teilen. Shout-outs an meinen Gastgeber Arne! Hat mir gut gefallen insgesamt.
Mein neues Kite-Motto [de]
Nachdem mein letzter Kite-Trip ein ziemliches Desaster war, habe ich diese Woche einen neuen Anlauf gewagt. Bisher ist er diesem Motto treu geblieben: Besser als erwartet, schlechter als erhofft. Montag, SPO Recht weit im Norden, zwischen FKK- und Hundestrand. Viel zu kalter Wind für Ende Juni, obwohl ich erst mittags ans Meer komme. Aber immerhin …
The 80s called and want their communication tech back [en]
Well, they might as well. Because I just got my first fax machine today. No fax hardware though, just a virtual one. My e-mail provider is offering that as a service. Even got my own number (which I had to verify via snail mail) and I can send and receive faxes. It’s 2022 now, and …
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Zanzibar Kite & Surf [en]
The plan for the second half of my Tanzania trip was to go to Zanzibar and do some kite surfing and surfing. Or, let me be less ambiguous and use the more unwieldy term “wave surfing” for the latter. I had almost a month of time for getting as much as possible of both. In …
Zanzibar Pets [en]
No need for Safari, on Zanzibar the animals come visit you. Like the gangs of red colubuses, who made a big spectacle at Ebb & Flow Apartments in Paje several times: Or this blue monkey (or maybe Zanzibar Sykes’ monkey?) who came to Papaya Guesthouse in Nungwi to play with the local dog: The Sudan …
Zanzibar Sun Dhowner [en]
I’m on my way home to Munich now, currently sitting at DAR and waiting for my flight. I’ve spent the past month in Zanzibar (specifically Unguja), but I’ve been too lazy to post about it. Let’s fix that… And let’s start with the sunset trip to the mangroves of Chwaka Bay, which I joined with …
Tanzania Safari [en]
Ok, I’ve posted way too much about Climbing Kilimanjaro recently. My next tourist activity was a Safari, but let’s make this one shorter and focus on the photos. Fun facts: Being driven around in a vehicle all day and staring at things was not my favorite. That said, I still enjoyed our 4 day Safari …
Climbing Kilimanjaro – Pole Pole [en]
You’ll hear “pole pole” a lot on a Kilimanjaro climb – and frankly anywhere in Tanzania. It means “slowly, slowly” in Kiswahili, but could be more loosely translated as “take it easy”, “relax”, or “don’t rush”. The latter is key to a successful Kilimanjaro climb. Especially, if you’re not super athletic and/or accustomed to high …