street art Archives - Page 2 of 6

Brazil South America

Museums and Murals in São Paulo

I woke up on my second day in São Paulo with a plan. (The first day’s post is here.) The thing that I most wanted to see in São Paulo was Batman Alley (Beco de Batman) and I wanted to get there early. I was staying in the centre, so I got on the subway at Luz station, and I took the train to Santuario Nossa Senhora de Fatima station. From there, it was a fairly short walk to the area I wanted to see. I used maps.me to navigate my way. Once one I was just a block or two away from Batman Alley there were some signs that pointed me in the right direction. It was early and there was almost no one else around.

Batman Alley is a long street (or now really a collection of streets) in one area that is famous for being covered in murals. Apparently in the ‘80s there was a mural painted of Batman which is how the street got its name. Now it covered in murals, like a winding outdoor art gallery and the area seems to be spreading. Murals of all different styles are painted and then painted over. It’s constantly changing. You could go and come back a few months later and the whole landscape of murals will be completely different. There are still paintings of Batman, however.

It was delightful, and going first thing in the morning was the best because there was really no one else around. By the time I left, there were some vendors setting up to sell jewelry and whatnot and a few other tourists had appeared, taking elaborately posed pictures in front of the murals, so I was glad that I went when I did. I love street art, so this was fantastic for me.

From there I meandered over to Coffee Lab, which is known for being one of the best coffee shops in São Paulo. I didn’t have much to compare it to having only been in São Paulo for less than 24 hours, but it did have excellent coffee and a nice atmosphere.

I hopped back on the nearest subway station and went to the Museum of São Paulo. An art museum. An excellent art museum. It wasn’t even really on my list of things that I had to do, but I’m so glad that I decided to go. The museum is in an interesting building, and it has a collection of regular exhibits and special exhibitions. The thing that was amazing about it was that one floor which seemed to be their permanent collection, was that the art wasn’t displayed on the walls. Art was displayed with each painting free standing above a heavy cement base and the paintings just sort of floating in midair. The thing that made it more interesting was that the title of the painting and the artist’s name and any description of the painting were on the back of the canvas; so you would walk around looking at these paintings unsure of who or what they were until you walked around to the backside of it. This is maybe the most creative and interesting way of looking at art, because you are not influenced by knowing what you’re looking at. You are looking at a painting and you have to judge it on its merits and how you really feel about it without being influenced by the fact that you know that it’s a Picasso or Modigliani. I also like that they displayed the art without segregating it into era or type of painting (so there might be a very modern South American painting hung right next to a classical European painting).

It was fascinating. They also had an excellent exhibit of Gauguin’s Tahitian work, which I enjoyed.

The museum is on Paulista Ave, which is supposed to be a very important major street in São Paulo, so I walked down it until I reached the next subway station, which was quite a ways, I was not impressed with the street; it was big and it had a lot of buildings but I thought most of them were quite unattractive and there wasn’t really much on the street that interested me, but I’m still glad that I saw it.

At the next subway station I again got on a train and hopped over to Ibirapuera Park, in the middle of which is the Sao Paulo Museum of Modern Art. The museum is really in the middle of the park and it was quite a walk to find it, but it was pleasant walking through the park, which has a body of water in the middle and everyone was out riding bikes and running, playing ball and having picnics. It was a nice atmosphere.

The museum was fine. I enjoyed the art, but it was relatively small given the effort it took to get there.

On the way out I found myself utterly lost trying to get out of the park I was trying to go back the way I came but I got turned around and every time I tried to exit the park, I found myself faced by a fence. I eventually found a gate out and then realized I was nowhere near a subway station. I got on a bus only to discover that they only take exact change and I only had paper money, which they would not accept and there was no way to pay by a card, so, frustratingly, I had to get off the bus and walk quite a distance to the next subway station. That was a bit annoying.

But I did make my way to the subway eventually and went back to the centre and visited the Metropolitan Cathedral of Our Lady Assumption and Saint Paul; a large cathedral from the 1950s which was which is pleasant to visit. (And even had its own cathedral traffic lights on the surrounding streets.)

Metropolitan Cathedral of Our Lady Assumption and Saint Paul

From there I walked around the central area. It was Sunday and the streets were filled with people. There was a market going on with vendors selling mostly clothes, trinkets, toys, and electronics. It was very lively. People were flying kites and selling food. It all felt a little bit rough around the edges but was lively and it was nice for a wander.

At this point it was late in the afternoon and I had to start thinking about getting back to the hotel because I had a flight heading out of Brazil, but I still made one more visit to the Mercado Municipal Paulistano, where I had been the day before for lunch. I had a quick meal and then went back to my hotel to pack up and take the train to the airport.

Mercado Municipal Paulistano

I really liked São Paulo. I wasn’t supposed to be there; I was supposed to be in Paraguay (you can read about that debacle here), and I don’t know if I would have had a better time in Paraguay, but São Paulo was good. I liked it better than Rio, and it was entirely different from Salvador. It made a nice end my trip to Brazil, despite all the hassles of getting there in the first place. Brazil was a place that I had never really been excited to see but now that I’ve been, I’m glad that I’ve gone, and I would go back to see more of the country. A country that big and diverse deserves more than one visit.

Brazil South America

Way Down Among Brazilians – Rio Day 1

Brazil, Finally

I don’t know why, but I had been resisting going to Brazil. Every year for about the past four years I’ve made myself a Brazil itinerary. Not every itinerary was the same but all of them involved me flying to Rio and visiting Salvador, which were the two places that I most wanted to visit. But I just couldn’t get excited about it; probably because most of the things that I know about Brazil involve beaches and parties and I just couldn’t care less about either of those things. But then again, I do like Bossa Nova music, cigars, and coffee, and Frank Sinatra sang two songs about Brazil, so I knew there must be something to it. The real reason that I finally booked the trip to Brazil, honestly, is that I think I really wanted to fill in a big hole in my South American map. I hadn’t been to South America since I went to Peru in 2014 and it just seemed like it was time.

So I made an itinerary that involved me flying to Rio, spending a couple of days there, flying to Salvador for a couple of days, then flying to Asunción, Paraguay for a couple of days, before returning to Brazil for a day. You can’t see all of Brazil in a week, but I thought I would pick some highlights and decide that if I wanted to go back to see more at a later date.

And so I flew to Rio.

Bom Dia, Rio!

The flight to Rio was long. Flying to Rio from Vancouver is not like flying to Europe or flying to Asia where the flight might be long, but you sort of make up the time when you fly back due to the time zone changes. Flying to South America is just really far and there’s not much of a time zone change, so it took me roughly a day and a half to get there and a day and a half to go back. I was determined to make the most of it.

I landed in Rio without any issue (Canadians don’t need visas) and went to my I accommodations: The OK Hotel. The OK Hotel was…OK. It was in the Centro District, right on the edge of the Lapa area, which is where I wanted to stay; very close to the subway and trolleys, it was walkable so many places that I wanted to see, and it was cheap. Beach people would probably want to stay closer to Copacabana or Ipanema, but I liked this neighbourhood better.

Rio Centro

*buildings and quiet streets in Centro Rio*

I hit the ground running in Rio. I started out by visiting Centro (the historic district). it was a Sunday, which was maybe not the best day to start out, as most things were closed.

The streets were pretty empty and it just seemed kind of dull. However, the architecture was beautiful and I did go to the excellent Museo de Arte do Rio (gallery of modern art) and popped in into some churches. But I wasn’t excited. It just didn’t feel lively.

*excellent pieces* *at the Museo de Arte do Rio*

*more great art* *at the Museo de Arte do Rio*

more sights of Centro

I did visit the excellent Cathedral of Rio, the Metropolitan Cathedral of Saint Sebastian. It was designed by Edgar de Oliveira da Fonseca to resemble a Mayan pyramid and was built in the 1960s/70s. It is excellent. Very unique and modern, but also beautiful inside and out. I loved the stained glass and airy interior.

Catedral Metropolitana de São Sebastião

I hopped on the train and decided to go check out some of Rio’s beach areas.

At the Copa. Copacabana.

Let me be clear: I am not a beach person. I like swimming well enough, but I don’t know how I’m supposed to swim at the beach when I’m traveling by myself. (Just leave my wallet and my phone and all my personal items unguarded on the beach while I swim in the ocean? That doesn’t make sense.) So I tend not to swim when I travel, and the idea of laying in the sun on the beach just sounds like a nightmare. I don’t want to sit in the sun, I get bored sitting around, I don’t care for sand or children, or any of the things that come along with a day at the beach. But in this case, I was in Rio; of course I was going to go to see Copacabana and Ipanema just to get the vibe.

I started in Copacabana. I took the train from Centro. The metro is not super expansive in Rio, but it’s extremely convenient for covering long distances it’s very cheap and easy to navigate.

Metro Scenes and Machines

I walked a few blocks from the subway station to the beach. On the way there was a pretty good food market and I stopped off and had some sort of fried bread cheese thing with hot sauce which was pretty decent, and I continued walking to the beach. This area was quite a bit different from Centro. It was packed. All the shops and restaurants were open and people were out; there was music; it was actually a pretty good scene.

Copacabana street scenes

The wide road that separated the apartment buildings from the beach was great. It was mostly shut down to cars and was filled with pedestrians and rollerbladers and bicyclists. Along the sand was a row of outdoor restaurants and food and beverage vendors, almost every one playing music. That was pretty nice too. The beach itself wasn’t packed, it was winter in Brazil, but there were people out swimming and playing volleyball and hanging out. I took a look. I still had no idea no desire to participate in the beach activities, but it was nice to see them. I walked around that area for a while before hopping back on the subway to go to Ipanema.

Copacabana streets

This Girl in Ipanema

Ipanema was similar to Copacabana. It was busy with appealing accommodations and eateries and the beach was also nice. I guess the more interesting thing about Ipanema was that it had a really great view of the mountains in the favela in the distance which was an interesting site. I walked around there for a little while but was already kind of done with the beach concept so I walked back to the subway.

Ipanena Scenes

Leblon

I got off the subway in Leblon, which is the most affluent neighbourhood in Rio. That’s a pretty nice neighbourhood. I wouldn’t want to stay there; it’s too fancy and a little bit too expensive and it feels a little more generic than other parts of the city that I was in, but it was very nice. My reason for going there was to go and check out a cigar lounge. There is a place called Café Esch, which has inside of it a La Casa Del Habano. You can have coffee, you can have cocktails, you can have a steak dinner if you want too, and you can purchase all the best Cuban cigars in the humidor. The cigars aren’t cheap, but there was a great selection and anytime I can smoke inside I’m delighted. So I bought a couple of cigars, ordered myself a coffee and a couple of cocktails (I had my first Caipirinha – wow is that great and potentially problematic; it is so easy to drink) and sat inside watching football (soccer) with a bunch of cigar smoking men inside. Nobody really talked to me, but it was a really nice place to hang out.

Cigars at Café Esch, Leblon

When twilight dims the sky above

I wanted to make it back to my hotel before it got dark, so I walked back to the subway. In Leblon it felt absolutely fine to walk around at night. But by the time I got back to my hotel, that was not the case.

I’m not generally worried about violence, but Rio did give me pause. Even many of the savviest travelers that I know have had issues with street violence in Rio after dark. So I had decided that I really would limit my nighttime activities. This was fine, because I was already tired from walking around all day so I went back to my hotel and just decided to just read a book, but then I got hungry… and curious, so I went out. I walked around the streets around my hotel. Some of them were empty and didn’t feel particularly safe; the areas that were closer to the train and subway stations at least had people out and about, so they felt a little safer. Most things were closed, but there was a little corner pizza and hamburger spot, nothing fancy, plastic chairs, basically a fast-food joint. I sat there at one of the outdoor tables and I had a pizza. (As an aside, this was the worst pizza I’ve ever had in my entire life. The bread was soft and all it had on it was gross cheese and some sort of sickly sweet tomato sauce and it was served with ketchup and mustard. Really awful.) I sat outside and I had this pizza and a bottle of water and was just kind of watching the activity on the sidewalk. There lot of homeless and drug addicted people walking around. They approached me constantly asking for money and standing and staring at me and getting a little bit too close. I didn’t feel threatened, but it certainly didn’t feel comfortable. At one point, one of the guys picked up a bottle a beer bottle from a table next to me and broke it over the side of a chair and sort of looked at me, holding onto the neck of the bottle. He didn’t really brandish it and I didn’t think he was going to hurt me, but it certainly didn’t make for a pleasant eating experience. A bit later I did give him the rest of my pizza, so I feel like we kind of had a moment.

Anyway, that was my first day in Rio. I had a good day and I was happy to be there, I wasn’t loving it. Some places you vibe with and some you don’t. That’s ok. But I but I was excited to see more of the city the next day, which I did.

Belarus/Dubai trip 2023 Europe United Kingdom

My Perfect London Layover

The Layover

I was flying home to Vancouver from Minsk via Dubai and I had an 11 hour layover in London. I had 8 hour layover in London on the way to Minsk and it was great (it had been Coronation Day). In fact, every long layover I’ve had in London is great, but somehow this managed to top them all. Every time I have a layover in London I try to pick a new area that I want to visit; a place that seems lovely to wander for a few hours (of course sometimes I just make my way over to Saint James Street and hole up in a cigar lounge). This time, it was a Sunday morning and I decided head to East London.

Breakfast in Hoxton

I started by taking the Heathrow Express to Paddington Station and then switching to the Tube where I made my way over to Old Street station in Hoxton with a plan to walk to Shoreditch. I hadn’t been over that part of east London and many many years, not since I lived in London, but I heard that it was kind of the cool neighborhood to check out so I thought I would.

The neighborhood was great. Most things were closed (it was early) but it already felt cool. The buildings were old, the parks were nice, there was there was public art of the mural and sculpture variety, and I was impressed.

quiet morning street art

I was more impressed when I found a restaurant that was open. The Breakfast Club. I would definitely go back. It was exactly what I wanted. Great music, comfy booths, vegan options, and mugfuls of strong, black coffee. I think the people in there thought I was crazy because I kept telling them how excited I was to find them open and with vegan breakfast.

The Breakfast Club

My stomach full of coffee and tofu, I carried on walking towards the Columbia Road flower market. On the way I stopped for an espresso.

more coffee!

Flower Market

I had never even heard of the Columbia Road flower market. I just started Googling things to do on a Sunday morning in London and I discovered it and it’s now one of the loveliest things that I’ve ever found to do on a Sunday morning. It’s just a stretch of street where every Sunday flower merchants come out to sell their flowers.

It sounds like something that might just be made-up for Instagram, but there are legitimately people there buying plants and flowers and then carting them away. Flower merchants are calling out in delightful accents the price and variety of their flowers. It is so charming – even better, many people there have cute dogs with them, and that’s great.

“The flower that smiles to-day, to-morrow dies…“

The thing that made it extra lovely is that while one side of the street is all flower merchants, the other side of the street are delightful shops painted in pretty colours and it reminded me a little bit of Victoria street in Edinburgh (except without the slope). There are antique shops, coffee shops, trinket shops, bakeries, a tea room, and a perfumer… it’s so charming. I browsed in all the shops, bought myself a little bit of perfume, ate a tiny treat, and carried on my way. It was absolutely perfect.

charming shopfronts

Spitalfields

From there I walked down to Spitalfields to the Old Spitalfields Market – like I hadn’t had enough to eat already, but I wanted it as a destination. It was a grand walk. The skies were blue it was warming up. I browsed around the Spitalfields market, a place I don’t know if I’d ever been to before.

I had an excellent coffee, and I really enjoyed the public art that they had there – the cute elephant statues (Our Herd of Hope) and the sculpture of Rabbitwoman and Dogman riding a motorbike with side car whilst drinking coffee (telling the tale of “two opposites coming together to become best friends and soul mates”).

Elephants, rabbit, and dog, oh my!

Walking south I found myself wandering through a blocks’ long thrift market.

Bypassing The Tower

I walked towards the Tower of London, not because I wanted to go to the Tower of London; it just seemed like a destination. The closer I got to the Tower of London, the livelier things got: the crowds of tourists picked up, church bells were ringing, more shops were open.

I got glimpses of the London skyline along the way. It was perfect. I wound my way past the tourists queuing up for the Tower of London and headed for London Bridge.

Borough Market & The Tate

Tower Bridge, the Thames, and the Shard

Crossing London Bridge, I got some lovely views and once on the other side, I was just steps from Borough Market (London’s best food market, dating back hundreds of years).

Approaching Borough Market

I walked through Borough Market, unfortunately at this point, having eaten the tofu and a couple of treats from the Columbia Street flower market, I couldn’t possibly eat any more, but I did get a lovely fresh carrot and ginger juice and another espresso and walked around the market, just ogling all of the treats. (Note to self: I must make a plan to come back when I am hungry.)

Exiting Borough Market, I then found myself near the Tate Modern gallery.

While some of the special exhibits are paid, to walk into the Tate and look at the regular collections is free, so I did that. I walked around, looked at some art (splendid), and then I left. I realized that I really ought to be moving on because I had a lunch date.

Lunch & Leaving London

I have a friend who lives in London, someone that I met in 2009 in the Ecuadorian rainforest and, while we sort of keep in touch, we haven’t really seen each other in years, so we made plans to have lunch. We met near Paddington Station, in Little Venice where we had an excellent lunch at a Lebanese restaurant and swapped travel stories.

Seriously, was this the perfect day? Throw a cigar and a visit to the theatre and I think it might have been. It’s amazing what you can do in a layover. I can’t believe some people just stay at the airport.

I flew back to Vancouver, and this concluded my trip to Minsk, which parenthetically also included two days in London and two days in Dubai. It was just an excellent trip maybe the best that I had in 2023 to date.

I would have a short hiatus from travel of a couple of months to enjoy the summer in Vancouver, and then I would be off to Brazil.

Belarus Belarus/Dubai trip 2023 Europe

Minsk’s Murals

One of the things that I love about any city is discovering street art. I like art, of course, but I like street art not just for the content of the art but for where it is found. I love a large piece on the side of a building, or a neighbourhood taken over by colorful murals. I even like collections of unrestrained graffiti. It’s a great way to see a city; to go off in search of murals in rougher or burgeoning neighbourhoods and to see places I might not have otherwise seen. And it’s free.

Minsk was not a place to see street art. For a long time, it was not a part of the landscape; either because there was a lack of street at culture or because the government didn’t allow it. Probably both. There is an excellent NY Times article about street art in Minsk; street art as political protest and the government’s aggressive tactics to shut it down and erase it. As I discussed in a previous post about Belarus, the government is … strict, so I didn’t discuss it much with anyone and I am not in a position to explain the history of street art as political protest, but it seems to be an issue.

That it is why it was such a big deal when in 2014 the areas around Oktyabrskaya Street (now officially Kastryčnickaja Street) became a veritable outdoor gallery after the Brazilian embassy in Minsky organized a street art festival (Vulica Brazil).

With art by artists from mostly Brazil and Belarus, this formerly industrial zone, is not covered with enormous, colorful murals. There is not one uniform style or theme, which makes it even better for discovery. And it is no longer just an industrial area; not there are cafes, restaurants, and bars. It is a properly, cool neighbourhood.

It is a short walk just off the main sights in central Minsk and is a great way to spend an afternoon or a couple of hours. None of the art seems political; it is fanciful and whimsical or paying homage to artists, writers, and thinkers. It’s an area that I did not even see listed in the guidebooks for Minsk and is something I found specifically by googling “street art” in Minsk. Definitely a cultural highlight in the city.

I saw these Murals on my first day in Minsk as part of an overall, self-directed walking exploration of the city

I know. It’s a short post, but I have So Many Pictures from Minsk that I had to break them up.

Around the World 2022 Asia Singapore

Singapore day 2: Mostly Museums

Singapore. Day two. I probably didn’t need to set my alarm for 5am, but I did. I wanted to make the most of the day. Leaving my hostel, I set out to get a coffee and a bite to eat. Singapore is not an early morning place; at least not where I was staying. Almost nothing was open except for Starbucks, and I wasn’t going to visit an American chain restaurant. I tried to go to a couple of hotel restaurants but was told they were only for guests. I am pretty sure this was not true.

Now is maybe the time to mention that I did not meet a friendly person in Singapore. The people were, at best, cold and polite; and, at worst, rude. I have hardly ever thought that. Vienna, I think, and Hong Kong. Mostly I think people are great. But not here. Not in my brief experience. Anyway, I got a coffee and a juice and went on with my day.

This was a day of walking and museums. I took the metro to the vicinity of Little India and walked from there.

The metro in Singapore is not expansive but suited my needs well enough. Now is the time to mention that the metro in Singapore is also not friendly. I have never seen so many signs admonishing people for possible behavioral transgressions. There were signs that said no eating, no drinking, no talking, no pets, no durian, no bags on your lap, no sitting if someone else needs the seat, no holding the door, no standing near the door…it was a bit much. I just stood still and tried not to make eye contact.

Little India was a nice place for a wander. It was not as picture perfect as downtown and has candy-colored temples, busy markets, and side streets with street art murals.

*Tan Teng Niah – A Chinese-style Colonial structure*

I popped into the hawker centre there – the Tekka Centre – and had a meal from Pakistan (Delhi Lahori). Excellent and cheap.

I wandered around some more, aimlessly, taking pictures of all the lovely buildings, street art, and scenes. It was hot though and starting to get to me.

I walked quite a way in the punishing heat and humidity to the Raffles Hotel. (There’s that name again – as noted in my first Singapore post, he founded the modern colonial Singapore.) The area around the hotel was not great. A big mall. Big buildings. Busy, wide streets. But the hotel is beautiful. A low rise, gleaming white colonial era building with palm treed courtyards and Sikh men in white suits and turbans at the door. It is definitely of another era.

*Raffles Hotel and my one and only Singapore Sling*

I was there, like so many tourists, to visit the Raffles bar to have a Singapore Sling, as this is the bar where it was invented. And what a bar! Dark wood panelling and wicker fans. Well-dressed bartenders. Jazz playing. You could imagine Humphrey Bogart or Ernest Hemingway there. Unfortunately, smoking was not allowed. I had the cocktail, which was excellent. This was the most expensive thing I did in Singapore. It was $37 cdn dollars for the standard version. Worth it for the experience, but one was enough.

I didn’t find Singapore that expensive for the things wanted to do. Meals were normal to inexpensive and most of the stuff I wanted to see was free – walking the streets and looking at art and architecture. Price-wise, Singapore was fine – but stick to one Sling.

From the bar I went to the National Museum of Singapore. It was excellent. I knew almost nothing about Singapore’s history and this was a great overview.

From there I planned to go to the Singapore Art Museum, but it was closed so instead I visited the National Gallery Singapore. Definitely worth a visit, but also had I skipped it my life wouldn’t be dramatically different.

Paintings at the National Gallery

After that I went to a fun mini museum: the MINT Museum of Toys. It’s a small space, several storeys high with just displays of toys. I really enjoyed it. So many things I remember seeing (or in the case of a couple of things: having) and an interesting look at things like horror toys or Beatles toys, or all the diverse modern Barbies. It was cool.

The rest of the day was sort of vague. I wandered, drank coffee, smoked cigars, ate Thai food. I am really glad I got to visit Singapore. Two days was fun, but I’m content not to return.

I had a flight home very early in the morning, via Tokyo, back to Vancouver. Heading back to where I started out when I flew to from Vancouver to Saudi Arabia. All around the world, visiting Saudi Arabia, Bangladesh, and Singapore. A great trip.

Albania Europe Iraqi Kurdistan/Albania trip 2022

Museum Hopping in Tirana, Albania

Back from my long day trip to North Macedonia, I had about a day and a half left in Tirana.

I think that two days in Tirana is ok, but a bit tight if you want to go to museums and galleries, which I did. What this meant was that on my second day in Tirana, I didn’t have time to lose. My alarm went off early. (Yes, I set an alarm on vacation. I don’t travel half way around the world to sleep.)

I left the Tirana Backpackers Hostel and set off. First thing had to be first however, and I went to get the requisite covid PCR from a place that looked more like a cosmetic surgery office or a Kiehl’s store, with a gaggle of young looking, beautiful women in short dresses and white lab coats. I would get the results later. Negative.

I started off at a cafe. Fuelled by espresso I made a bunch of stops. I’m not going to recount all the museums I went to in detail and some of the ones I didn’t go to I missed because they were closed. Tirana has lots; I picked from what was available.

National Museum: interesting to get some insight into Albanian history. In poor repair and scruffy, but worth visiting. Educational and I felt like they needed the money.

Bunk Art 2: There are two Bunk Art museums. One in Tirana’s centre and one not. Bunk Art 2 is the further out one. I look an easy bus ride, which was fun in its own right. Bunk Art 2 is excellent. A great history lesson about the long reign of Enver Hoxha and his brutality and paranoia, the latter of which led him to build underground bunker tunnels all over the country – 173,371 to be precise, built obsessively and to Albania’s financial detriment. (Let that sink in: 173,371 underground bunkers in a country slightly smaller than the US state of Maryland.) Bunk Art 2 is a museum built into one of these huge bunkers, very far underground. It is super interesting and also an experience, given that it is a bit claustrophobic and creates atmosphere with music and sounds throughout its rooms and tunnels, but stops short of being too theatrical. Definitely worth a visit.

Bunk Art 1: Honestly, Bunk Art 1 was a bit anticlimactic after Bunk Art 2. It is more of the same, but smaller. You can’t beat the location though and if you buy a ticket for Bunk Art 2 No.1 is included.

*cold war bunker and a pretty pink building*

The House of Leaves: You think I would have been tired at this point by learning about Hoxha’s dictatorship and his tools of surveillance and torture, but I wasn’t. The House of Leaves is a former centre for surveillance and investigation turned museum. Really creepy and interesting. Lots of information and artifacts about secret bugs and cameras, prison and brutality. There is a list posted of favourite torture methods of the regime. I’m still thinking about that.

To cleanse myself of the historical horrors, I walked in the sunshine over to an outdoor food market area and sniffed my way around various treats.

I went for a long walk to nowhere in particular and went for dinner and a cigar at this small outdoor area of international restaurants and cafes.

I had planned to finish the day at Perla Tattoo & Bar for some live music but it was having some guy’s birthday party that night (as best as I understood). It was just as well. I was exhausted. I went back to the hostel and hung out in the chilly courtyard.

The Next Day

I was flying out the next afternoon, which gave me the morning. I decided to take a leisurely approach. I had breakfast at the at the café at the Opera house building on the square. I had this very tasty Albanian breakfast dish. A kind of a savory porridge made from a grain and topped with white cheese and crunchy bread.

I had a cigar and walked next door to the bookstore, where there is a good selection of English books. I bought a couple of novellas by celebrated Albanian author Ismail Kadare.

I visited Et`hem Bey Mosque (the mosque on the square), which is uncharacteristically painted with scenes of fruit, trees, and scenery.

*buskers (and a dancer!) outside the mosque.*

I then went walking in search of street art murals. Tirana has a lot, but they are scattered around. I found some information online and planned a walking route that would take me to some of them and down some different streets. I stopped for coffee.

It was a pleasant way to spend the first half of the day.

I left Tirana feeling like I had done it justice in the time I had. Had my itinerary played out as I planned, I would have spent another 24 hours there, but due to a change of an Albania Air flight, I was instead flying to Belgrade, Serbia.

Europe Ukraine

Kyiv, Ukraine

I liked Kyiv instantly. I don’t know if it is because I already have a fondness for former Soviet cities or because my maternal grandparents were from the Ukraine or if it is just because it is awesome. Probably a mix of those things. It had everything I wanted for my first international trip during COVID. It felt like Europe, but distinctly Eastern Europe with imposing architecture, a good bustle, ornate churches, nightlife, and a bit of a sense of order. Normally I prefer chaos, but in a time of such caution about travel, a bit of order seemed prudent.

As a Canadian I didn’t need a visa to enter the country, so I breezed in. My COVID test was checked, but only briefly. Soon I was in a taxi, with a new passport stamp, on my way to my hostel in Podil.

Podil is the oldest part of Kyiv and was a great place to stay. I could walk basically everywhere I wanted to go – to all the main churches and squares. And it is a great area of restaurants, cafes, and a bustling nightlife. It was also the location of a proper cigar lounge – a bonus for me.

I was staying at the Dream Hostel Kyiv. It was great. Easy to find and close to all sorts of things. It has a cafe and court yard, good wifi, hot water, a kitchen, laundry, and a proper hang out area, where people were actually hanging out. It would seem that even during COVID, hostels are still a thing, as they were before. When I originally booked this trip a year before, I was going to stay in a dorm, but I figure with the COVID hoopla (and I was only half vaccinated at this point) a private room would be better. It was. I still shared a bathroom, but that seemed ok. Technically masks were required inside, but they were generally not worn. I stayed there at both legs of the Kyiv part of my visit.

The hostel was on a long, historic and hilly street called Andriivs’kyi descent, the bottom of which is in Podil and the top connected with the centre of town, as marked by the stunning Saint Andrews Church, which was the first of many stunning churches that I visited.

Seriously, I went to so many churches, I am sure I have some sort of Orthodox Christian brownies points, notwithstanding a lifetime of dedicated sinning.

I won’t break it down day by day, as I was in Kyiv for about 4 days and I spent most of it wandering; not entirely aimlessly, but from church to park to monument to art gallery to market, making significant detours along the way, as interesting things popped up.

Kyiv is a serious cafe town and I drank an obscene amount of espressos whenever I wanted a break or some wifi.

I delighted in the architecture. Seldom was it quaint or charming, but it was often impressive, overwhelming, and ornate.

It really is a great city for walking. Relatively easy to navigate, with surprising hidden bits. I was looking, for example, for some gallery that I never found, but in what looked like a courtyard car park I found a charming bookstore/cafe. I stumbled upon street art and gardens.

*bird statues in a park I found by accident*

Make no mistake. This is a big city and I did a lot of walking, but it was always worthwhile, even when I did not find what I was looking for, I found things I didn’t know I wanted.

The public transportation was excellent. There is a vast subway system with stations that tout themselves as ornate. I qualify that statement not because they are not attractive (they are) but because once you have been to Moscow, all other subway stations have to be considered in their shadow.

Because Podil is at the bottom of a long hill, there is a handy little funicular to whisk one from the sea to the centre. The walk is also fine but I do love a funicular. I should mention that, like all things, transportation was very cheap in Kyiv. A ride on the subway or funicular was 8 hryvnia or about 35c Canadian.

One of the things I loved about about Kyiv is the smoking culture. This is a place where people smoke. You aren’t supposed to smoke inside, but outside it was totally fine and no one even gave me so much as a disapproving glance for lighting up a cigar over breakfast, for example, provided I was on a patio. It was great.

I really felt like I fit in, which is odd, as usually I’m in places where I stand out more as being from somewhere else. But in Kyiv, as a pale-faced, spiked leather jacket wearing woman with dyed black hair, I looked like a local. This was to the point where people were asking me for directions, which I took as a badge of pride. Hopefully I didn’t set too many people off in the wrong direction.

Most of my evenings were spent wandering around Podil, which each night seemed like a party, with buskers, streets teeming with people, and on many nights, a literal dance party just in the middle of the street.

And on one night it was an actual festival of sorts complete with a stage with live music and some traditional dancing.

At the beginning of my trip I spend just a day and a half in Kyiv before taking a day trip to Chernobyl and then a night train the following day to Lviv. Fresh posts for those places.

Just a note on spelling. It used to be Kiev, which is the Anglicized version of the Russian spelling, but after Ukraine became independent it switched to the Ukrainian spellings (or, for foreigners, the Anglicized versions of the Ukrainian spellings), so it is now Kyiv and not Kiev. People didn’t seem too bothered about it in Kyiv where Russian was the most prevalent language, but in Lviv, people very much wanted things to be spelled in the Ukrainian way. And rightly so.

Canada North America

Long weekend in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan

It was September 2020, still in the midst of the covid-19 pandemic, and I had been holding on to my vacation days, hoping that Canada would lift the travel restrictions and the quarantine rules so I could make up for lost time and take one of my cancelled international trips. I realized that things weren’t likely to change before the end of the year, so I may as well travel domestically. That is why I ended up in Saskatoon.

To clarify: I live in Vancouver, so I’ve seen BC. I’ve seen much of Alberta. I’ve been to Montreal. I had recently been to the Yukon. The Maritimes and NWT had quarantine rules. The flights to Ottawa and Quebec City were high. So I looked at Saskatchewan.

There is really no reason to visit Saskatchewan without a purpose, like family or work. It’s rural and flat and without much of note. (I’m sorry, but it’s true.) But doing a bit of googling (after finding a round trip flight for $119), I decided that Saskatoon looked pretty cute in parts and that it would make a good long weekend trip. And after all, I was dying to get away.

A small rant: When I told people I was going to Saskatoon, many of my friends mocked the choice, saying it was lame or boring. This irked me because people always seem to have something negative to say about anywhere I travel. I’m frequently told my destinations are too dangerous or misogynistic, that my holidays are too short, that I should visit more beaches, that I shouldn’t stay in hostels, etc. I suppose it should have come as no surprise that people would criticize even this choice, which was one of few open to me in a pandemic. Maybe they mean well, but it is annoying.

Anyway…

Saskatoon is a small city of about 250,000, next to a river and surrounded by miles of flat, prairie land. It’s not really known for anything, though locally it is known for having a good arts scene. I was determined to see what there was for myself.

I spent 4 days there, which was too long, but it was relaxing and I stayed at the excellent Alt Hotel. A bit splurgy, but it had a pretty view of the river and an excellent location. It was wonderful.

What I found, through a lot of walking, is that Saskatoon has a fairly nice, if a bit unremarkable downtown, but the area along the river is lovely. Lots of green space, walking and biking trails for miles, and pretty bridges. At the time I was there the weather was beautiful and the leaves were beginning to change, making for picturesque strolls. At night, even when it was chilly, people flocked to the river where buskers played music, people congregated, and people boated and water-skied up and down the river, blasting (mostly country) music. Maybe some of this was due to being unable to meet indoors, due to covid, but regardless, it felt festive and I had my evening cigars there, taking it all in.

Right across the street from my hotel was the Remai Modern art gallery, which is not very large but has an impressive collection – especially for a small city. Picasso lithographs, notably, and both Canadian and international artists. There is a theatre right next to that but it was closed due to the pandemic. There are lots of other museums there that are specific to local history and immigration, but this was the only one I visited. I tried to visit the Ukrainian Museum of Canada, but its hours had been reduced due to covid and I missed my opportunity.

Saskatoon has a cool neighbourhood called Riversdale with lots of great cafes, and restaurants (I’m not a foodie, but the Odd Couple was excellent), cool shops by local makers of things, and vintage shops. It was a great place for an afternoon.

Across the bridge was another cool neighbourhood along Broadway. More cafes and restaurants (Calories is great), shops, and pretty, leafy residential streets.

Broadway Theatre & Calories outdoor seating / me with a cupcake in front of a mural.

These neighbourhoods had a Portland vibe and were super pleasant to stroll through and stop for leisurely reading at cafes and maybe a cupcake.

Saskatoon also has a pretty robust street art scene, mostly downtown and around Broadway, which was a nice reward for all of my walking.

There are some other things outside of Saskatoon that would be worth visiting if one has a car (I do not), like Wanuskewin Heritage Park or this area with spooky, crooked trees and there are lots of outdoorsy areas for biking, canoeing, and whatnot. Lots to do for a few days.

So it was a pleasant, relaxing 4 days. Due to the pandemic, there wasn’t much opportunity for being social. Everything was distanced, many things were closed, and capacities reduced. Masks were worn indoors everywhere, though, thankfully, not outdoors. It didn’t hamper my experience too much, but it did keep the trip on the quieter side.

So, would I recommend Saskatoon for a holiday? Probably not. There are lots of places to go and I wouldn’t say that this tops any lists, but if you are on a road trip or going there for a purpose, it does have things to offer. Or, if you live in Canada and you are looking for an inexpensive weekend away or have vowed to travel domestically, I think it is a fine weekend away and far far better than my naysaying friends would have led me to believe.

Canada North America

Whitehorse Weekend

I had never thought much about the Yukon aside from having to learn its location and capital in elementary school, and I would not have gone if it wasn’t or a pandemic trapping me in Canada. While I can’t say that my long weekend trip to the Yukon (Whitehorse and Dawson City) was amazing, it was a pretty good short trip from Vancouver and I would recommend it, provided you like outdoorsy things.

View of Miles Canyon outside of Whitehorse, Yukon

Coronavirus & Travel

Covid. I have to say something about it because it is the only reason I decided to travel domestically (within Canada). It was March 2020 and I was 24 hours away from a weekend trip to New York when the pandemic was declared and the directive not to travel came down. I cancelled that trip and trips over the next few months to Denmark and Ukraine. I had trips for the rest of 2020 planned to Sudan, Iraq, et cetera, but none of that came to be. Obviously there are far worse things than not traveling (someone is always worse off than you and it is a bit of folly to compare suffering), but not being able to travel has been awful. It is the only thing I really want to do and without it, I live in a city I am a bit lukewarm about and all I do is work. Without travel to look forward to, life feels a bit pointless. That’s how I feel anyway.

By August 2020, I realized things weren’t going to open up any time soon and I decided to see something in Canada, so I picked the Yukon. It’s close to Vancouver and looked interesting. At the time, people from British Columbia were the only travelers allowed into the Yukon; everyone else was shut out due to coronavirus fears. It seemed like an easy choice and I decided to visit Whitehorse and Dawson City.

Whitehorse

I flew to Whitehorse. My first covid flight. Masks and lots of extra questions. I took a taxi from the airport to my accommodations: the Historical Guesthouse. If I returned I would definitely stay there again. It’s a log house built in 1907. It has a few rooms and shared facilities with a suite in the basement. It is simple and cozy with a great location. The best part though was that in the back is a colorful garden with sunflowers and raspberry canes. The owners live in a log cabin behind that. I quickly discovered that the husband of the couple is an avid cigar smoker. I was in heaven. I spent each of my two nights there with him (Bernie) sitting in the garden smoking cigars until late and swapping stories. He has a lot of good ones from his many years of living in the North.

Whitehorse the city itself isn’t anything that special. It’s small but not so small as to be quaint. There are some shops, but not much of interest. There is an arts scene, but it was shut down when I went because of the virus. You could easily see the town in a day (or less).

That said, I really enjoyed myself. I was so happy to be away. I walked the streets, photographed some street art and old buildings of character.

I was delighted by the foxes that seem to be everywhere in town if you get up early enough.

I was amused by the Yukon take on the covid social distancing signs that the government had erected. I now have a good sense of how big a caribou is compared to a loaf of sourdough bread.

Because of covid, many restaurants were just closed and many others were only doing takeout, so I didn’t get a sense of the restaurant scene, but I enjoyed a fancy grilled cheese from a cart and got coffee and soup to go from the Burnt Toast Café. And both evenings I had amazing vegan ramen from Wood Street Ramen.

The MacBride Museum of Yukon History was open and it worth a visit.

The thing that is best about Whitehorse, at least during my pandemic visit, was the outdoors. There is a nice riverfront with a path for walking and cycling and there are lots of bike rental places, as well as places to rent kayaks and canoes. Going canoeing seemed like fun, but I wasn’t about to just go out on my own. But I did walk and wander.

If one is so inclined there are tons of day canoe or kayak or hiking excursions around Whitehorse and if you don’t go in the middle of the summer, as I did, there are the Northern Lights. But I filled my two days easily without those things. If I had been there with other people or I had a car, there are quite a few day trips one could do to see a weird desert, pretty lakes, and quaint communities. I really wanted to visit Carcross (a tiny town with a vibrant First Nations community and lots of art) but you need a car. If I went back I would figure out a way to do that.

Day one I explored the town.

Day two I went on a hike that somehow took me eight hours when it should have taken four. The Miles Canyon Loop. It is walk-able from town and is far, but not difficult. Very scenic. Endless green trees cleaved by a jewel blue river with high, rock walls. It was the sort of scenery I wanted from my Canadian North excursion.

I had two full days and two nights of sight seeing in Whitehorse. On day three I flew to Dawson City, the old timey old west city in the Yukon, which was great: history, colorful old buildings, shipwrecks, and a human toe.

I wouldn’t say that one should travel from far flung parts of the globe to visit Whitehorse, but if you are already in the vicinity (like in Vancouver) it is an inexpensive, quick, and enjoyable place to do some outdoorsy stuff and see something a bit different. I would even consider going again once this stupid pandemic is over.

Bulgaria Europe

Sofia, Bulgaria

Ever since I did my first international long weekend trip (Mexico City, last year) I have been experimenting with these micro trips. Where is possible in four days? I’ve also done four-day to El Salvador, Havana, and Panama City, but when I saw a low cost flight to London the night before the Remembrance Day long weekend, I thought, why not Europe?

To clarify, I live in Vancouver, so Europe is pretty far, but if I can fly when I would otherwise be sleeping, I could manage at least 2 days and 3 nights in my destination. Not bad.

I’ll spare you the process by which I picked Sofia, Bulgaria (let’s just say it involved a spreadsheet), but I did pick Sofia, and that is how I came to spend my long weekend in Bulgaria. At present I am flying home and feeling pretty pleased with myself.

I landed in Sofia at 10:50pm on Friday, having flown from Vancouver to London to Sofia. No hassles at the airport, I exchanged some Euros into Bulgarian Levs and was at the metro station by 11:15. The metro is right at Terminal 2 and will take you right to the historical centre (starting from Serdica station) which is where you should be going if you’re traveling for pleasure. The train ends at the airport, so it is impossible to get on the wrong train, leaving the airport. What it is possible to do is foolishly pay for your 1.60 Lev ticket in the machine with a 20 Lev note, as I did, and get ALL your change in 10 cent coins, as I did. It was like a slot machine. I spent the rest of the next day paying for things with my sack of coins. (As I turned around from the machine, I saw a lady at a window from whom I could have bought a ticket.)

I arrived at Serdica station and walked to Hostel Mostel. I booked a private room, which was $30 cdn a night, in a great location,and included free breakfast and free dinner, and other added bonuses like free walking tours and pub crawls daily. The dorms are an even better bargain. It is kind of a legendary hostel and I can say it deserves its reputation.

Anyway, I went to bed, which was tough because walking from the metro, then almost midnight, the streets, bars, and restaurants were lively. But I had sightseeing planned for the next day.

Sofia is perfect for a weekend city break. It is beautiful, cheap, and all of its wonderful sites are clustered close together in the historic centre. I set out after breakfast a about 8 am and by 3 pm I had pretty much seen what I wanted to see and spent the rest of the day wandering a bit more aimlessly and leisurely.

*Krystal Garden monument to Stefan Stambolov*

Sofia has some truly stunning churches and they are all free to visit as they are not relics; they are active places of worship. I think all of the churches I visited were in the midst of a service, with prayer and singing swirling with the candle and incense smoke. I tried to pretend I was entering as a worshiper, crossing myself in the orthodox way, but I don’t think anyone was buying it.

Of course, the highlight was Alexander Nevsky Cathedral which I walked circles around, taking pictures – lots of pictures – trying to find just the right angles and taking several wholly unsuccessful selfies.

Some churches did not allow photos inside, but I was happy to be able to capture a few of the warm interiors, with their beautiful paintings. (The Alexander Nevsky Cathedral charges I think 7 Lev for a photo permit, but the kiosk to buy the permit was closed when I was there so I just snapped a few shots surreptitiously.)

And it wasn’t just churches; mosques and synagogues represented with equally compelling architecture.

The streets of central Sofia are lined with imposing and impressive buildings, which made just wandering around a delight.

Even the main street that passed through all these architectural riches was delightful. An actual yellow brick road.

I browsed at a small flea market, which had many icons and antiques. I found a few cigarette boxes that looked interesting at first, only to discover that they had swastikas on them. There was a lot of Nazi trinkets for sale there along side old trumpets, cameras, and opera glasses. I walked away empty handed.

The weather was perfect. In the mid high teens (Celsius) and sunny. I had to take my jacket off whilst sitting on a patio.

I hit a couple of eateries. A cafe and a proper restaurant. I tried a banista, the traditional cold yogurt soup (tarator), and berkova livtivka, a spread made mostly of local white cheese and super hot peppers. All pretty good. There are loads of inviting bakeries, cafes, food kiosks, and restaurants, but with only two days there is only so much eating I can do.

Everyone I encountered was friendly. Many people spoke no English, but usually there would be someone around who could assist where my phrasebook failed me. I did practice some Bulgarian phrases, which the security guard at the crypt museum was happy to help me with. Oh, yes, I went to the crypt museum at the Alexander Nevsky Cathedral, which was pleasant but in my opinion one could skip it, unless you have a bottomless appetite for 17th and 18th century icons. There are so many on display in the churches anyway.

I walked up to the “ladies market”, which is just an outdoor market selling fruits and vegetables, honey, nuts, and an assortment of household goods, like brooms and blankets. The market was thoroughly skippable, but I had some extra time, though the walk there was more interesting than the market itself.

I did see a little bit of street art en route.

Finally i strolled Vitoshka Boulevard, a pedestrian street link with busy restaurants and mediocre shops. As night it is a swell place to go for a bite and despite smoking being banned inside, smoking outside is fine, so I was happy to grab a table and people watch the next night

*Statue of Aleko Konstantinov, lawyer, writer, founder of tourism in Bulgaria*

On my first evening however, I opted to grab a cheap slice of pizza and head over to La Casa del Habano for a couple of cigars, including a regional Bulgarian edition Bolivar. If you smoke cigars, it’s pretty cool. Trust me.

And that was day one. The only thing I would have done differently knowing what I know now, is I would have skipped the market and the walk to the cultural centre and the stroll down Vitoshka (because I’d end up there anyway), and instead taken transit to the museum of communist art. But that is a small quibble. It was a perfect day; I saw the highlights of Sofia and was ready to venture outside of the city the next day.

Wandering North

Tag: street art