Neapol Day 3: Hiking Castello di Arienzo

Previous day was for Wojtek, this day was for me 馃檪 Before we arrived to Neapol, I checked thoroughly the best hiking routes for families and this was one of them. And it was a real blast! Pretty close to our stay, just enough demanding, completely stranded… The weather was amazing, I didn’t expect such heat in April even in Italy. And the views were magnificent. See yourself.

I’m not going to lie – I know nothing about the castle we visited 馃檪 There was a table somewhere down the path but it was all in Italian so no help for me. But it really didn’t matter. I was truly exhilirated by the surroundings and by the charm of the moment. Even the kids were way more better behaving than the previous day.

On our way back we made a stop in the shadow of a tree since Kamila decided to take a nap 馃檪

But the day wasn’t over. As always, after coming back to the house we needed to go check out the running routes around. I thought it might be difficult to find a better circle than the last year (see here). But I was wrong. It was equally charming if not even better! I guess you’ll see more of the running photos in the next post, here is a teaser.

Neapol Day 2: Vesuvio and Herculanum

So how did it happen that we landed in Neapol? The story is simple, our 4-year-old son was fascinated with volcanos. He wanted to know everything about them, every day we had to read a book about volcanos, we would watch documentaries about volcanos etc. And when we sat down and thought where to go for holidays, we came up with a „volcano” idea pretty fast. There are two big ones in our vicinity – Etna and Vesuvio. There are no flight connections to Etna in May, so we didn’t have to think too long 馃檪 And so, the day after our arrival, we set on a path for volcano adventure 馃檪

Although it was not the best idea to start our stay with such a demanding day, we had no choice – Wojtek wouldn’t want to hear about any other options. In general, the road to Vesuvio crater is a hiking route. It can be longer or shorter (we chose the latter) but one needs to hike. On the way up we saw the remains of lava and recent fires that burst on the slopes – a truly interesting landscape. The day was very hot and children not so much cooperating but in the end we reached our destination – the heart of a volcano.

Wojtek was in heaven but for us it was also pretty cool. Only Kamila somehow decided not to cherish this longly awaited moment. Let’s forgive her, she’s not even two y.o. yet. From the top except for the great view inside the crater we had a nice sight on Neapol itself. Although… the smog over the city was impossible. I thought Poland was polluted but what I saw in Neapol was so far the greatest smog mist in my life 馃檨

When we finished our geology trip we headed to Herculanum which in the past was flooded by mud when Vesuvio erupted. Now it’s a renowned archeological sight definately worth visiting.

After a pretty action-packed day we were happy to return to our countryside to breathe in fresh air, delight in sunset over fields and oranges and to indulge ourselves in peace and quiet!

Neapol Day 1 Sant’Agata de Goti

We’re on the move again! Destination: Neapol and surroundings. We rented a lovely house on the suburbs of Sant’Agata de Goti – just like we like, in the countryside, with views on hills. We hope to breathe in some nature 馃檪

There is something very charming about Italy that keeps pulling us. Those narrow streets, cafes with espresso, stylish people, history in walls, sun, nature… Within just first 15 minutes on place we started feeling relaxed and joyful. And Sant’Agata de Goti greeted us so warmly that we stayed till late hours strolling around on its paved streets. It’s going to be fun vacation!

 

W艂贸czykij Trip Extreme 2018

W艂贸czykij is somehow special to us. I (Ania) have been wanting to do it for ages but always something came across my plans. Radek did it already twice (2016 and 2017) and this year it was high time for me to have a go too. I have to say, the fate didn’t spare me as the conditions this year were… fierce.

This is our group on the starting point. I don’t know if you can tell that from this photo but I was already freezing at that moment and the worse was yet to come. The week before the event was the coldest week in the year, the temperatures  going as low as -20 dg. C at night. Do I need to say that W艂贸czykij takes place at night? 馃檪 Anyway, the day of the event was slightly better and only because of that I decided to go. The temperature at night was -13 dg. C. I’m a chilly person, I’m always cold so you can imagine what such temperatures mean to me. Of course, I layered myself that day. But somehow, I put all layers and was already cold on the start. That didn’t give good predictions for the night.

My photo collection from the event is very scarce. I was literally freezing. Our snot would freeze, our sweat would freeze, our water would freeze. Booze didn’t freeze fortunately 馃檪 It’s an orienteering trip so the idea is to find the hidden points. We found them all 馃檪 50 km (for us it was 54 because we didn’t optimize the route at times) of a walk. We started in a group but somewhere near the end Radek and I parted and continued in a faster pace. I had remorse because of that, I was feeling like we should stick in the group but I was trembling all the time, I was feeling a physical pain from the cold and needed to find a way to elevate my body temperature. And so we detached from our friends and moved on in a very very fast march. It helped.
I was pretty surprised because to be honest, physically the whole trip was not that exhausting to me. But the cold was unbearable and I felt it long after the finish. But I’m sure I’ll repeat this the next year. I suppose the odds of having the same weather the next year are low. Let’s hope 馃檪

That’s us on the finish! Our official result was:
Place: 50/144
Time: 11h 09 min

RAZ love

Do you know that we’re celebrating 10th wedding anniversary this July? Let the celebrations begin. Although it’s only February, we’re feeling like this is a special year for us. We typically don’t celebrate the Valentine’s Day but we found this race to be just perfect to spend some time together. The idea is that it’s a couple race and the couple is tighed together with a string and the string cannot be torn during the race. It’s only 5 km, so nothing too long. And lots of people put on costumes. We did too 馃檪

Photo Credit: Dulny Photo and Borek

Getaway weekend in 艢winouj艣cie

This was my birthday present from Radek – a getaway weekend, without kids, with my sister, romantic seaside, a spa etc. I was super excited. I imagined myself night walks and beach running. Oh, well – it could have been so great. Instead I got sick like 5h after our arrival. So sick I actually didn’t leave the hotel room until the last day when we squeezed a walk on the beach and a movie on our way back home. Well, after all it wasn’t so bad.

That was arrival day and below the final hours 馃檪 I really like the seaside in autumn/winter time. Of season sea rocks!