Travelog for: Haris

Haaarrrr harr Haris arrived in Porvoo! I arrived in time to join my host in the International Postcrossing meetup in Helsinki! She'll go there next Saturday! Wohoo! I have travelling friends here too and they will come to the meetup too. 

Wohoo! I attended The International Postcrossing meetup in Helsinki! First we met at the Aleksis Kivi statue next to the Central Railway Station. I met many lovely postcrossers who were willing to pose in a photo with me Those photos I will show to my imajica later... 10 am we then started to walk towards the ferry that would take us to the Suomenlinna Sea Fortress. Our guide, a postcrosser called pooca (who actually did all the work to make this meetup happen) told us about the history of Suomenlinna while we walked around. We took a group photo there too! And I found a spot that looked exactly like the Shire (from Lord of the rings)!

The russian postcrossers gave everyone a gift bag with cake, a matryoshka cell phone strap, a matryoshka pen and a small figurine. Paulo & Ana got a big matryoshka doll   Dandilion gave everyone a gift that included a postcard and a pair of ceramic dutch shoes (decoration). People went all "Awwww!" and "Thank you!" 

When we got off the ferry we had something to eat & drink. We had earned it! I shared Moomin lemonade and raspberry "doughnut" with Leonard, Banyo and Gary Boldie. Next I joined the people who went to look for postcards. Pooca knew some very interesting postcardshops! The first one was at the Market Square close to the ferry.

We also visited a Moomin Shop! It was full of postcards and books and dvd's (even in English!) and magnets and kitchen utensils and toys and... All about The Moomins!

After walking thru (and buying some postcards & stamps) the main Post Office we visited the last postcardshop which was under the railwaystation  There weren't many postcards but they cost only 10 eurocents/piece!

And then we joined the others at the Aleksis Kivi Statue again 

We took the metro to our restaurant. But before we got to eat we went to shop - for - some - postcards - again  The Hakaniemen Kauppahalli is an indoor market place and it was right next to our restaurant. The creator of Postcrossing sent the cards they had written & signed on Friday from the Kauppahalli as there was a mailbox where you would get special cancellation.

The cardshop owner was thrilled to get so many customers!

Finally! At last! I was starving! The kitchen of our  restaurant Sävel is usually closed on Saturdays but when they had heard there would be 40 people they gladly cancelled that talk  They had prepared us a buffet menu:

Salads
Pepper beef (bull)
Chicken BBQ
Rice / Potatoes
Water / Juice
Tea / Coffee
Bread
Tandor vegetable ragout

I shared rice & pepper beef & chicken bbg with the other toyvoyagers (Leonard didn't take the chicken for the obvious reason). We drank a lot of water as all the walking had made us almost dehydrated.

Some people passed around (like a really fast round robin!) a pile of postcards where everyone could take as many they liked. People started to sign postcards too. Soilian got birthdayflowers from us as it was her birthday!

After the meal we walked around the block to Cafe Java where we had the whole upstairs for ourselves. We continued to sign postcards which was quite a task... I can't tell you yet how many there were to be signed & sent as there might be a competition about it on the Postcrossing Forum 

My host had a rubber stamp with her username so she just stamped on the cards  She usually uses name stickers but those were almost finished so she had ordered a custom stamp online.

Huppu68 took photos of everyone (who hadn't been on the Friday meetup) with a crown on their heads and Manu the MeetupDuck in their hands. So my host wasn't the only one with toys 

More gifts were exchanged too! soilian gave everyone a small bag with postcards and stuff, dandilion gave us stickers, duffeli spread postcards, Lotty kept giving candy... 

It was all so much fun! I wish my host could join them tomorrow too - that way I could go too... We left about 19:30 (8:30 pm) to catch the metro to our car. I was exhausted but very very happy. I hope my imajica will ove these photos too!

Here's a photo of all the gifts that were distributed on the meetup yesterday. Very nice don't you think?

As I didn't have to leave immediately, my host showed me a bit around her hometown Porvoo. Porvoo is only 1h drive east from Helsinki. It has about 48 000 inhabitants in an area of 654 km2.

We walked by the river, from the newer part to the oldest. Those older, red shorehouses are Porvoo's most wellknown attraction. This is what the website tells about them: The shore houses are now red, but they got their colour only in the late 18th century. Red ochre paint was used to paint the shore houses in honour of King Gustav III's arrival from Sweden. All of the houses along his route were painted, in order to make them more beautiful. The red ochre also helped protect the logs from wind and sun damage. Exotic fruits, wines and spices were brought to Porvoo, and the shore houses also served as intermediate storehouses for coffee an tobacco. Today the shore houses are used as private living quarters and storage space.

In the last photo you can see ahill, called Castle Hill. There used to be a castle/fortress hundreds of years ago. Now there's only the hill and the castle moats left. The castle lives in the Swedish name of the town though. Porvoo is called Borgå in Swedish: borg = castle, å = river.

Today I had a look at the very center of Porvoo. I saw the busstation and the market place next to it - and many shops!

I have now packed myself and am heading towards Macedonia! I can hardly wait! Mumble is in the same mailbox waiting to go to another direction 

Well, finally, here I am...in Macedonia!! Who would have thought!! If several months ago someone told me I would come here, I wouldnt have believed it!! But there you go

Im not exactly sure when I arrived here, since Ana, my host, was out of town, so i had to wait for her to come back...but honestly, i dont mind it...it was nice to be able to idle a bit, after all that excitement in Helsinki...that was soooooooo fun but a bit tiring as well, since we were on the run all the time, going to places and hunting for postcards.....so taking some time off to get some rest and sort my impressions wasnt bad at all....and Ana is also rather lazy, so i think that the two of us would get along just fine

I know she is tired and has a bunch of things to do, so I guess we wont do much tonight...but I hope tomorrow she will take me out for a bit...I know nothing about Macedonia and where she lives, so im really impatient to take a glimpse of the surrounding here!

Soooo, this could officially be called my first day in Macedonia!

We woke up rather early, just to find some grey skies...which aint really promising =|
But Ana said she had some things to do out of the house, and she promised to take me with her...so i can hardly wait...but oh yeah, i need to wait for her to finish her coffee first...i cant believe it that i will have to put up with a coffee addict here!! Is it gonna be like this EVERY morning?? oh boy 

Finally we set off and headed to the city centre (pssst, dont tell her that i told you, but she actually went to buy postcards  )
But just as we left the house, a small drizzle started....but fortunately, while we were out, it remained as a drizzle only...otherwise we both would have been soaked to the bone.
They have a nice city centre, but Ana told me that due to the weather, it was rather empty, so thats why it was beautiful...otherwise it can get too crowded...well, we managed to take a few pics there....i had the urge to try all the benches on our way, but I think that Ana read my mind and gave me a fierce look since she had no intention to be running after me, taking pictures, while its drizzling....so i had to surrender.





She finished what she had to do rather quickly, and since the weather wasnt nice, we didnt walk around, but just headed straight back home.
Did I tell you? Ana has two cats, but I managed to see just one of them...and thats such a weird cat. He was taking a nap, and I came to him since i wanted to have a picture taken...but Kimi, as he is called, just took a look at me, and went back to sleep...he didnt even sniff me!!! Im offended!



But I must say that Ana has a really nice garden with loads of pot flowers on the terrace....and i would love to play here often!



Shortly after we came home, it started to rain heavily, so we didnt have much choice but to again spend the time indoors...hmmm, this is not how i imagined Macedonia...i really hope they dont have the English kind of weather, otherwise i would die out of boredom 

Ok, I hope tomorrow would be more promising...though from what Ive overheard about Ana's plans, i think i will have to be on my own again...or maybe befriend her cats and see if they wanna hang out with me....I guess ill have to wait until tomorrow....and go to sleep now....

Well, it was a lazy Sunday i must say...Ana had loads of work to do, so i tried to stay out of the way...ok, honestly, i had to stay out of the way, otherwise, i risked that she would have asked me to help her with the dishes and the dusting and the vacuum cleaning etc etc etc

we got up early again....i cant really figure out this habit of my host to get up early on weekends, even though she feels tired and sleepy...
as usual, the day started with a cup of coffee, and just today i discovered this huge collection of mugs Ana has....there are so many of them and such nice ones, that Ana promised to take a picture of me and a mug quite often And i took a sip while she wasnt watching....mmm, tasted nice i have to admit



Afterwards, as i already said, Ana was doing her stuff, and i decided to entertain myself...and today i had the honour to meet this other member of the family, who just like his older brother, didnt pay attention at me ((



you already met the brown guy...the yellow one is called Foxy...i dont know if its coz he is yellowish or coz he is crafty as a fox...i just wonder if these two cats do something else but sleep...

well....then some entertainment started since Ana went to watch the F1 race....and i had to watch it with her, since ive never seen something like this before...a bunch of cars going wwwwrrrrrrrrmmmmm, wrrrrm, wrrrrrrrrrmmmmm.....



And i was glad to see Ana was satisfied with the result in the end, since Kimi ended up on the podium (oooooh, this is why her cat is called Kimi!!!)

(its the guy in the red)





and Kimi gets his trophy



aaandddd champagne time!!






uhmmm...the afternoon was sportish again...but this time the mood was in the totally opposite direction...the guy Ana was cheering for, was losing big time....and Ana was immensly frustrated and annoyed.....i was hungry and needed to go to the bathroom, but i didnt want to interfere in such moments, so i decided to stay still and wait until it was all over...and it ended up bad of course 




yup, the result aint in Ana's favour as you can see





but the guy is cute i must say 

the last pic with hi, before Ana got really pissed off and turned off the TV



she thought that it would be smarter to do some other stuff as well as pack...*cough cough cough*...PACK??? Just then i found out she would go away for the week...and that she planned to leave me all alone here!! Oh no no no, thats not gonna happen!!

Me: Oh, where are you going?? Can you take me with you please?

Ana: No Haris, im sorry, you'll have to stay here

Me: But pleaaase, take me with you!! I cant stay alone here, i know nothing and no one!! And your cats arent really fond of me

Ana: Sorry Haris, but ill have loads of work to do, and you are just going to be bored, its better if you stay here

Me: But thats not fair! I came here in order to see places, and not stay home all day

Ana: Well, even if you come with me, i cant promise id be able to take you anywhere since ill be busy!

Me: *feeling how that evil grin comes to my face*  But if you dont take me with you i will tell imajica how bad you are and how you dont take me anywhere, and ill tell her not to write letters to you anymore or send you a postcard EVER AGAIN!!

Ana: *^$*&$#@))$#()%_%_+

Me: Sooo???

Ana: *thinking for a while* This is called blackmail!!...*thinking for a bit more*.....alright alright, jump in! But i dont want to hear a single word of complaint while we are there, got it?? And if you do, i will leave you there in the middle of nowhere and i wont care what happens to you!!

Me: *running towards the suitcase* woooohoo, lalalala lalala im gonna go on a trip, im gonna go on a trip!!! lalalalalalala!!! Uhmmm  I feel like i have heard Ana talk something, but i didnt understand anything!! Oh, it doesnt matter, what matters is that Im going on a trip!! Hehe hehe heheeee ))

14.09.2009-18.09.2009

Hmmm, i cant believe it how quickly the week had passed...even though i didnt do much since ana was busy most of the time, still somehow time flew!
We spent our week in Vinica, which is a small town in the eastern part of Macedonia...ok, actually our hotel was like 2 km before the city, but it belongs to it.



it was an older hotel, but a nice one.

Our room was nice as well, and i have to say the bed was comfy
And i could sleep as much as i wanted to, while Ana had to get up early, he he he he....*yaaaaawnnnn* 



So the first day i woke up, i was wondering how to fill in my time...and took a look from my terrace



not much could be seen from there, a rather vast empty space and I ha......uhmm, wait wait wait....didnt Ana mention something like in the middle of nowhere when we were leaving??!! whoops....she was serious! *gulp*  ....ok ok, i will be nice i promise, and i will listen to Ana and wont bother her and will try to entertain myself as much as possible, but i really dont feel like being left alone in the middle of here! 

So i took off to look around the hotel, and BINGO!!! I found a solution to my problems right away! I mean, they are having a swimming pool!!! Wohooohooo!!! Could i ask for anything more??!



and since the weather was nice, this is how i spent most of my time here, either swimming in the pool: 



or idling beside it and getting a tan.....i only needed a cocktail to have it all for a complete enjoyment! but they didnt serve those...



there is also a small so-called garden in the hotel..with lots of nice flowers...and uhmm, small frogs....so i didnt really like it here and decided to stick to the pool



One day, Ana and the others decided to go for some visits and we headed off to a monastery which is like an hour drive from where we were...but before we reached the monastery, we stopped at one place which i must say was extremely beautiful!! it offered an amazing view and i think that we could see half of Macedonia from there!! 







and there was a nice breeze to, so you can just imagine how lovely it felt!!

in the nearest vicinity there were also some caves



and we even got inside this one where we had to kneel down in order to go inside!



but it was too dark on the inside for us to take pictures

after the "caving" adventures we headed towards the monastery which was also a lovely place!





its called Lesnovo Monastery and is said to have been built sometime in the 11th century!

just outside the monastery, there is a small forest, with lots of benches and places to sit down and rest and have something to eat! booy, this is sooooo relaxing!!



but it was getting late, so we couldnt stay there and we had to go back to the hotel for dinner, since we still had an entire hour to drive back.

then the other day, we again took a short trip, but this time in Vinica itself. first we visited a musem and then we climbed on to the so-called Vinica's Kale, where there is a fortress dating back from the early Christianity period and where people had excavated some Terracotta Icons which are said to be unique in the entire world....but they are still just at the beginning of exploring this whole place..and its another beautiful place from where you can see the town of Vinica



I hope you can spot the walls and ruins







well, the next day we already had to leave, so we didnt have time to go anywhere, just have lunch and some coffee at the hotel, and a chance for some final pictures on the terrace



but the weather was getting bad and there were clouds coming and the wind was blowing, and .....whops whops whops....this thing almost got me covered at one blow of the wind!!! 



ok....time to go home...i still cant believe how fast time flew! 

They say that the best things happen when you dont plan them, and they are definitely right about it!
Ana had to finish some errands in the morning, and took me with her to make her company...and since we ended up near the Old Bazaar, we decided to take a look around...and it was such a nice place! dating back from the Ottoman Empire you can indeed see the entire architecture reflected in it...the atmosphere as well...and i must say that unlike the urban part of Skopje, this Old City here was full of some charm! Just lovely! Too bad all those political turmoils prevent people from coming here as they used to some 15 years ago....

the entire Old Bazaar is full of little streets like this:









and all sorts of different shops, mainly with old crafts that are slowly dying out...

so we have this small shop which sells this special kind of shoes, that are worn like traditional clothes or in folklore related events...they are kind of sandals, but unfortunately we couldnt find a translation into English   



then there were some shops that sold carpets and tapestries...





wow!! soooo many bags!



a shop which sold this kind of vessels and other stuff made from sheet metal or of the similar sorts



a specialized hat shop!! It might be nice if i get one...but im just tooo picky and i need to check if they have some my size



an entire street with jewelery shops



shops for fur or skin products.....uhmm, for some reason i had the urge to run away from here...you never know 





shoeeesssss!! a bunch of shops for shoes only!!!



there are also a lots of cafe's to take a rest and enjoy yourself...and since there is no traffic, i think it would feel really nice to sit here



or in this Turkish restaurant!! yammie



but its when we came to this point that i started to droll!!
candies, lollipops, sweets, chocolates, peanuts, pistachios, walnuts, almonds, hazelnuts...i wanted to rob this shop!



and then came this one, selling especially Baklava!! which from what i found out is a desert people here are very fond of, and that the Muslims always make loads of it during their holidays, esp. for the one that is being celebrated right now, Eid Moubarak! Oh, Lyan dear...happy Eid Moubarak to you, and please eat some food for me as well! 



another small cafe at the end of this narrow street



they even have a children's theatre...too bad it was closed at the time we passed by



the Murat Pasha Mosque which is situated inside the Old Bazaar



the Čifte Hammam



and the Daut Paša Hammam



the second one is actually situated at the very exit or entrance of the Old Bazaar, depends how you look at it...and Hammam's were actually Turkish baths

well, right after the Old Bazaar there was this St. Dimitrija church, and we had to take a short stop here too 





and this is actually the church where Ana was Christened when she was just a few months old!

well, in order to get to our bus station, we had to cross this Stone Bridge! So finally i saw it...before this, i had only seen it on a postcard!



hmmm, and the water is awful i must say....and probably due to no rain periods, there was lack of water as well



the guarding tower:



and there is the bridge:



and once you step out from the bridge you actually step into the city square...so we had to stop there two for a few more pictures





wow!!! i must admit i had a really really great time! I loved the Old Bazaar, and Ana promised to take me there again since there are still places in and around it, we didnt manage to see! I cant wait!

and we are leaving on a trip again early in the morning...since i had behaved last time, Ana is taking me again with her  Of course, she still doesnt know if she'd be able to take me around, but im thankful to the fact that she is taking me with her in the first place! Its just great to be able to travel and go to different places! So ill see you next weekend I guess and tell you about my adventure and show you pictures if we manage to get some

Stay well!