Chateaux and vineyards between Gien and Sancerre....

France is definitely the country of castles and the area around the river Loire is the best place to visit some of the most beautiful architectural gems from different centuries. South of Orleans this time I admired the Chateau de Gien, in the picturesque town Gien, famous also for its faience ware. Hidden a bit more in the countryside is the Chateau de Verrerie, first picture.

Around the town Sancerre one can find, taste and buy fruity white and rose wine. The vineyards are climbing up and down on small hills next to Loire and offer breathtaking landscapes.

Some more impressions from Sofia, Bulgaria

I would love to share some more pictures from Sofia with you today. With these shots I would like that you get a bit better impression of my home town. A lot of old buildings have been renovated lately, like the ones at Orlov Most (Eagle Bridge-first picture) or the one below.

The building of the Central Department Store (ZUM) is quiet an oldie, but still looks good:-)

In the middle of the President House one can find the ruins of an Roman village and a church, in front of it a beautiful fountain decorates it for some years now.

Santorini and its churches...

There is something about white-blue-colours churches in Santorini...There are just everywhere!!! Small, big, hidden, majestic - you can see one at every corner or just in the middle of the nowhere while driving on the island. I started to wonder, why so many. One travel guide was saying that each fisherman who has escaped a big storm made one as a Thank you to his protector...

 I also asked our Greek friend Klearchos who lives there the same question. His answer was a bit different. As Santorni is an active volcano, people do build a lot of churches in the hope that they will help them avoid a big eruption.

In any case those little gems do make the island even more beautiful. The most impressive church I had visited was the one to the small and cozy church Agios Nikolaos (Saint Nicholas-the 3 last shots). It is literally carved in the cliffs next to the sea and the village Megalochori. As a local said once, "Its even more beautiful than Notre-Dame de Paris"... I completely agree with him:-) and say a big thanks to Klearhos for showing it to us...Amazing sunset images from this church made by Klearchos can be admired on his blog.

Museum of Prehistorical Thira, Santorini

If you have to choose a museum in order to learn and see more from the history of Santorini then this will be the Museum of Prehistorical Thira... Colourful mosaics and incredibly well kept paintings on ceramics can be viewed in the museum located in the center of Fira.

One of the reasons these almost 4000 years old objects are so extremely well kept is that they were sealed under the volcano lavafor this period of time...

The golden ibix below is another archeological excavation find, which was discovered in december 1999 in Akrotiri. The figurine owes its good condition to the fact that it was well packed in two different boxes. It was found next to a pile of horns of goats.

Summer landscapes from Filstroff, Lorraine

Today I would love to share some shots from the French countyside in Lorraine, close to the "Dreiländereck" (the triangle of 3 countries): Germany, France, Luxembourg.

Golden wheat fields, colourful and workoholic insects and some curious foxes I met over there.

For the rest enjoy the colours, the blue sky and yeeeeeeeeeeeeees, the cherries were extremely yummy:-))

Niki de Saint Phalle in Chateau Malbrouck, Lorraine

If you would like to enjoy at the same time art and good mood, then visit the exposition of Niki de Saint Phalle in the amazing castle Chateau Malbrouck. Once your enter the court you can literally dive in colours. 3 big ladies in creative shapes and vivid colours bath in sunshine next to a line of majestic totems.

Inside of the castle some more masterpieces from the artist are exhibited: such as paintings,
images-letters and wall sculptures...I was very pleasantly surprised to discover this artist, who was the wife of the creator of the pieces of art in the fountain Stravinsky in Paris (the ones just in front of the Centre Pompidiou).

Seafood dishes and restaurants in Santorini

The yummy Santorini-cuisine will surprise you with some very yummy seafood dishes. My favourite was the specialty of the restaurant "The Nets" at Perivolos beach: sepia with wheat cooked in its own ink.

Another very cozy place for great Greek/ Santorini food is the family-run restaurant "Thalami" in Oia, north of Santorini. The name means the "hole where the octopus lives". Next to the small fried fish dont miss the mussels-plate...

Diving in Santorini, Greece

Another highlight in Santorini is the diving in/ next the crater of the volcano. Together with Diving Club Volcano we went from Kamari till the small island Aspronisi and had 2 amazing dives.

One of the dive master was opening sea urchins with his knife and like this attracting the fishes around him (above).

Plenty of colourful fishes as well as very wonderful stone and cooled lava formations welcomed us. At some places the lave has built up like stairs underwater.

Orange football fever 2010

Could you imagine how orange the low lands get during the WorldCup 2010. Stop thinking and have a look at the shots below! Orange flas and the Dutch glas together with orange lions singing:"Hup, hup HOlland" are just everywhere:)

There are even competitions for "the most orange street"...