Alanya, Safari Tour

Today I have booked a Jeep safari tour into the Taurus Mountains. They claim that we are going to reach 1000 meters height. The whole trip was accompanied by loud music and jokes from our light-hearted driver.

During our trip we have had several stops in some places, where they earned money on tourists by selling the goods and beverages. It was the most annoying part, but the excursion itself was good.

In general, it was funny, but exhausting at the end.

Our driver tried to make the journey extreme. And he succeeded in that venture. Luckily, nobody was hurt.

The most beautiful thing about our excursion was the 750 metres long Sapadere canyon with numerous waterfalls.

There were even brave people, who tried swimming in the ice cold water of a mountain river.

After visiting the canyon we headed for the cave Cuceler. I decided not to enter the cave, because the entrance fee (9 lira) was not included into the excursion. However, I made the excellent photos from the viewing platform. Absolutely for free!

Europe, The 1972 Munich Olympics

This is the final day in Munich, so I want to see as much of the city as possible. I woke up earlier and went to Lidl, which opens at 8:00, to buy something for my breakfast.

As usual, I start my excursion with visiting the city's centre. I have explored Max-Joseph-Platz with impressive buildings of Munich Residence and National Theatre, Odeonsplatz with the Hall of Generals and other sights.

I have also visited another magnificent church, The Theatine Church of St. Cajetan, which undoubtedly brings a taste of Italy to Munich. Actually, the church was built in Italian High Baroque style with stunning facade, 71 metre-high dome and twin towers.

Another must-see attraction in Munich is the modern museum. The museum includes many exhibitions, permanent and temporary ones, featuring graphics, applied art and architecture as well as paintings. So, I went there.

The museum has a large collection of industrial design, from simple furniture to the automobile.

However, the museum is especially strong in its collections of German artists including Klee, Schlemmer, Nolde, Baselitz and Kiefer. Among the large collection of modern and contemporary art there are works by Magritte, Kandinsky, Francis Bacon and Warhol. Personally, I became the worshiper of the works of Picasso here.

For lunch I stayed at Schneider Brauhaus, the great place with authentic Bavarian food, where many of the locals come to meet each other. It is the oldest wheat beer brewery in all Bavaria and since 1928 has been in the possession of the Schneider family. In fact, it had the name of Weise Brauhaus in former time. 

You can find this place right in the middle of Munich's old quarters, just a few steps away from famous Marienplatz, the Viktualienmarkt and the Heilig-Geist church.

So, I ordered roast pork with white bread dumpling and Schneider Weisse Original beer. The meat was juicy and very tender with delicious sauce. However, the most tasty thing about this dish was crispy crackling skin. Yet, it is extremely fat and unhealthy, but it is worth trying for sure. Moreover, my mood was greatly elevated by the enthusiastic and funny waitresses, which were dressed the traditional costumes.

Olympic park is my next point of destination. There is even the metro station with the consonant name Olympiazentrum, so you can easily get to this place.

The Olympic Park was constructed for the 1972 Summer Olympics. And today the Park continues to serve as a venue for cultural, social and religious events.

The unique futuristic tent-like architecture of the Olympic forms with their tensile structure looks really fascinating, even after almost 40 years of the completion.

The 290-meter high Olympic Tower (Olympiaturm) is another well known landmark of Munich. At a height of 190 metres there is an observation platform, which I have decided to visit.

The tower has two visitor lifts with a speed of 7 m/s. And the travel time from the ground to the viewing platform is about 30 seconds. When we reached the top my ears were completely loaded.

Nevertheless, if you find it too windy standing on the platform, you can also have a view on the city of Munich from the revolving restaurant in the tower. A full revolution of the restaurant takes 53 minutes.

Finally, if you turned out to be in the Olympic Centre don't miss the fascinating BMW Museum across the street from the park. The BMW Museum is partly housed in the futuristic-looking silver circular building – sometimes referred to as the salad bowl. You can find it next to the companies headquarters, which is constructed in the shape of a four-cylinder engine.

The BMW Museum is open Tuesday to Sunday from 10 am to 6 pm. Admission is a fairly pricey €12 for adults and €6 for children under 18. A family ticket is €24 for two adults and up to three children. Tickets are valid for five hours.

Unfortunately, I did not have enough time to visit the BMW Museum, but I have visited the BMW World exhibition, where admission is absolutely free.

First of all, the BMW Welt impresses with its unmistakable, futuristic architecture. Moreover, you will discover a wide range of exhibitions and events inside.
The latest BMW products, ranging from cars to motorbikes, are on display, and customers can also pick up their new car from this site.

You also can join the tour of the BMW factory on weekdays, and usually it lasts two and a half hours. However, for that tour you should make the reservation in advance.

Malta, The country of luxurious yachts

Today is the last day at the school for almost half students in my group. So, next week we are going to have another class and another teacher. Many people continue their vacation and move to another parts of Europe.

Today's task at class was holding any presentation we chose. And for this time I prepared a talk about celebrating of the most important holiday in Russia. New year celebration. People were surprised to know that we have such long holidays and there is also "old" new year together with "new" new year.

So, today I decided to walk along seashore from Sliema to Valletta. The beginning was rather brave, but unfortunately I was not able to finish this venture. Nevertheless, I could observe plenty of boats and luxurious yachts.

  

In Valletta I visited the restaurant which offers traditional Maltese food. For that time there was baked rabbit with stewed vegetables, olives and cappers. In one word it was exceptionally delicious.

I was lucky enough and I was just in the right time, because they were going to close soon. So, be aware that some places like this might have a break between 15:30 and 18:00. The other traditional food in Malta include pastizzi, small pies usually with cheese, green salad with cheese, and pastry with dates.

The evening I spent in Scotsman's pub with a new acquaintance from the school. We tried local beer Cisk, the lager, which is quite popular in Malta.

It was quite unusual to listen to British karaoke in pub. But that is how they relax here.