Italian food in Roma...

Italian food is an inseparable part of the travel experience....It is not only the pizzas and pasta that turns every visit to Italy into a real gourment-experience...Its is all around it: the fresh products, the simple but extremely delicious dishes, the way and the love with which they are prepared.

I entered for lunch a small family restaurant in Trastevere, and stayed like glued for 5 minutes on to so yummy-looking the antipasti-buffet. A paradise for all veggie-lovers: grilled eggplants, cooked broccoli, fresh mozzarella, fried courgettes, and, and...And of course dont forget the sweets for the end...

Trastevere...a hidden gem in Roma!

On the west bank of the river Tiber, south of Vatican city, one can enjoy the charming and cozy flair of the district Trastevere. The name means literally "beyond the Tiber". Here one may just take a breath from the busy city center of Rome and discover a Roman area, which eleoved from the workers quarter to the most international district of Rome through the years.

Yummy restaurants, old bakeries for sweets and pizzas, small shops turn the walk though the narrow streets and colourful buildings of Trastevereinto a great time....

Two of the most ancient churches in Rome, the Basilica di Santa Maria , and the Santa Cecilia, are located here:

Walk through bella Roma...

There is something magical about the Italian capital, Rome...And it is not the fact that it is for sure the biggest open-air museum in the world and may be one of the city with craziest traffic! This city grabs you, turn you around till your head starts spinning and then its cultural heritage takes you on an amazing trip to different ages and epoques...

The famous Coloseo, the breathtaking Foro Romano, the magnificent Fontana di Trevi, the beautiful Piazza Navona...Rome is crowded and cozy, crazy and peaceful, modern and old-fashioned at the same time...There is one of it and thats why may be all roads lead to it....Because one should have seen, tasted its sweetness and admired its uniqueness!

Marine mammals of Mayotte...

Mayotte is famous for being dolphins as well as humpback whales paradise(to be seen from August till October every year). While enjoying a day out in the ocean (one day for fishing, one day just for real sea sightseeing) we were lucky to encounter different dolphin species. Once you are in the water (and your ears too), the amazing dolphin language sounds like a melody in an unknown language! Some of the dolphins made their jumps just in front of the boat.

The whales were a bit lazier, not real show from them. Just one baby whale jumped out of the blue and we were so surprised that the record is just in our heads:)

I would like to present to you our (sea) guide Georges and (one of the four) fishes he got during the fishing day:

Next to the beautiful nature the only thing that disturbs here is the way the garbage is everywhere...Definitely a point to be improved!

Amazing clams in Mayotte...

I have never seen so impressive and different shells underwater as in Mayotte. Here I would like to share with you my best of selection. For sure one of the most interesting (and at the same time the most difficult to photographe) is the thorny oyster, on the first picture. It is big around 30 cm and close itself when you approach it.

A bit smaller but not at all less magnificent is the shell on the second picture. The colours of the coral oyster look almost surreal and they shine in the water and when the sunshine passes through the water too...

The giant clam (most of the time purple, brown or green) are the one on the fourth and fifth pictures. They can reach from 20 up to 100-150cm...

Fishes of Mayotte and more...

The underwater world of Mayotte is just breathtaking! Huge coral
gardens accommodate an enormous abundance of coral reef fishes...On
the pictures above you may admire:
- butterfly fishes
- an octopus
- a leaf fish
- an angel fish;

Karibu to Mayotte:-)

Mayotte is located in the Indian ocean (north of the Mosambique Channel), between the African continent and Madagaskar. This tiny island is the 5th oversea department of France, thus a French territory. A 1400 km2 lagoon with a double coral reef, paradise for turtles and dolphins, as well as exotic flora and fauna welcome the curious guests.

Now here it is still the dry season, so daily temperatures are above 30 degrees, while water is up to 26-27 degrees warm. For the moment we had the chance to meet the very friendly and smiling locals, the playful "maki" (lemurs), the colourful margouillat (greenish lizard), joyful dolphins, bunch of turtles, and, and....
For the moment please enjoy this small selection of pictures and bear with me being not such a frequent writer...Internet is very rare and slow here, so more pictures and stories in a while:-)
P.S. "Karibu" means welcome in the local language, "le mahorais"....

Best of ...Oktoberfest....

Of course there are plenty of annoying things connected with the yearly Beer Festival/ Oktoberfest in Munich....And i dont only think of the drunk toursits and locals all over the city...i could also add to the first argument the crowds and the full public transport, the non-stop increasing price of one "Mass Bier" (this year at 8, 50 EUR, compared to 0,83 EUR in 1950), and, and....

But of course there are some good side effects too...
1. There is no other time of the year one may see on the streets so many people dressed in the traditional "Dirndl" (for the ladies) and "Lederhosen" (for the guys)!
2. A nice thing to do at lunch time on a sunny September/ October day is just to walk and watch all the beer tents (ouside as well as inside) and enjoy the amount of crazy (or old-fashioned or both) attractions...

3. And last but not least.. the city seems to be covered with Lebkuchen (heart-shaped candy) with funny messages...