Tel Aviv – Old Jaffa

Where all began. Old Jaffa is the oldest part of the region and nowadays a main tourist attraction.

From far I can see the impressive silhouette of the old city and its strong wall towards the sea. I approach it along the beach. Suddenly i stood in front of these walls, on a square with little shops, bars, cafes, galleries and street musicians. Not only the tourists, but also the locals like this place to go out and enjoy the almost medieval atmosphere.

A board over a small entrance to steep staircase says ‚Welcome to Old Jaffa‘ and indicates an entrance to he small alleys of the old town. I tried to hide from the many trippers. Indeed i found some lonely, nice corners to enjoy some minutes of solitude.

Reached the top, there’s another square. A big fountain and the St Peter’s church on one side, more bars and souvenirs on the other. A small bridge leads to the Abrasha Park, with a beautiful view over the city and beaches. Time to go back there, i decided

visiting ticino – southern switzerland

It’s a day trip over the Swiss alps by motorbike to reach the region of Ticino, the southern part of Switzerland. With the early golden morning sun i picked up a good friend who gave me nice company for this trip. At a lake just before the ascend to the alps started we had a coffee. From there it’s a winding road up to the heights of the mountains. Small, narrow roads, old, stoney bridges -as the „devil’s bridge“- and even a Russian monuments from the war at 1799 shows how busy this route was the last 2000 years.

By motorbike it’s a pleasant journey to lakes surrounded with mountains and palm trees. After a refreshing swim and some original Italian ice cream just over the nearby border, there was a nice stroll trough ancient alleys of town and visiting the castle of Bellinzona. Just before the night fell in, we were already back on the way north, letting the palm trees behind us.