Welcome to the land of the ice and snow, with the midnight sun and the hot springs blow... Iceland is the old home to the vikings and, despite its long history, is an amazingly cool place. The Icelanders, although outnumbered by sheep in their homeland, are a chill and unique group of people, who can all date their family histories back to the original viking settlers. There are a number of interesting adventures to embark on in Iceland (although their tourism page displays a day trip to Greenland as the #3 top attraction) so let's explore the stunning country of elves and glaciers... |
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Gotland is a beautiful island in the Baltic Sea between Sweden and Finland. Amid rustic ruins and cobblestones of Visby lie quaint shops and restaurants. Along the water front is an ice cream parlor that boasts 290 flavors (all quite delicious and I am rather partial to the saffron) called Glassmagasinet. Enjoy a cone will gazing at the water and the docked boats. Further down the beach, we stayed at Tott Hotel, a modern hotel with made up of individual houses furnished with two bedrooms, two bathrooms, a spacious kitchen and living room area with a fold-out bed, and a patio with a beach shower, complete with a view of the sea. The room even had a laundry machine, a much needed utility that was an added bonus to our stay.
Stockholm looks like no other city in the world. The buildings, the people, and the very style of the bustle seems all its own. A modern lens in an old style city, this place is for everyone. As a swede, how can I not love such a beautiful city? Honestly impossible. I can go on and on about all to do and see in Stockholm, but I will restrain myself and save for another post. So, here are 7 things I love to do in the capital of Sweden...
Next, my adventure takes me to the national park Manuel Antonio on the west coast of Costa Rica. I stayed in the beautiful and luxurious Tulemar Resort in a bungalow with a view of the ocean. I did check one thing off my bucket list by touching two oceans--the Atlantic and the Pacific--within 24 hours of one another. Tulemar was simply beautiful. On the property there are several places to eat, trails to explore, many pools, many gorgeous villas to rent, a private beach, and hundreds of species of wild animals walking around the property! One of most amazing sights were all of the monkeys running around the everywhere. Sometimes you would wake up to the sounds of hundreds of feet pounding on your roof as a troop of monkeys passed overhead. The monkeys even went swimming in the pool! We spent most of our days at the gorgeous private beach, lounging and boogie boarding or body surfing the waves. A friendly man stood at a booth and handed out towels, boogie boards, and kayak equipment to whoever needed it.
In February, 2014, I had the privilege of visiting Costa Rica, one of the most beautiful countries in the world. I stayed my first night in the capitol, San José, which is captivating in its own way. I then traveled by tour bus to Tortuguero on the East Coast of the country (I never travel by tour bus, by the way, but taking a tour in Costa Rica is seriously the only way you are ever going to see anything. If you are like me and don't really like tour buses--or hate them with a burning passion--you should still stick it out because when you have a great guide like I did, you actually see things. I realized that if we didn't have a trained guide who knew what to look for, we wouldn't have see anything at all. Please remember, therefore, to keep an open mind). After the long bus ride through a cloud forest, which is a gorgeous foggy forest on a mountain, we arrived to the station to take a boat to Tortuguero (we also did see a very active sloth on our way and we drove through a banana plantation--which was very cool). Tortuguero houses one hotel--as far as I know--called Mawamba Lodge. I absolutely loved it there. It was so relaxing and beautiful, everyone was very friendly, and there were always interesting things to do.
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