Bruneck (German pronouncing, in Italian Brunico) is the largest town in the Puster Valley near the Austrian border. We passed the town driving through Italy to get to Innsbruck, and had a stop at the Bruneck castle to enjoy the views over the old town and the castle itself.
Trier is a city with history dating back to the 4th century BC! The city is located on the banks of the river Moselle and is most famous for the Porta Nigra, a Roman gate that still stands to this day! Trier is worth a (half)day trip if you are wandering around the area, and is a perfect spot to relax while soaking up all the pretty old historical sights!
Salzkammergut is an area that lays East of the city of Salzburg. The name refers to the salt winning from that area (Salz is German for Salt) and is an addition on the UNESCO world heritage list for Austria. If you are visiting Austria this summer, be sure to drive through this nature filled roadtrip with a lot of lakes, ending all the way to Hallstat! These are our 7 favorite things to do while going on this route!
This one was unexpected. We were driving towards Neuschweinstein Castle from Austria and all of a sudden we drove under this bridge:
We had to check this out, not knowing we were going to enjoy the famous highline 179 and visit the Ehrenberg ruins!
Want to know what we saw before you read on? Check out the video below!
Can you ever imagine this picture clear without any crowded tourism that affects Hallstatt normally? We visited Hallstatt in June 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic just got a bit better here in Europe and international tourists from outside the continent are not welcome yet. That gave us the opportunity to enjoy this amazing place in peace! More about our adventures there soon!
Before you continue to read further on this blog, we did not get a ticket to enter the castle. For years we wanted to see this castle with our own eyes. So earlier last month when we decided to drive to Austria, we thought of picking half a day out for visiting Neuschwanstein Castle. To be honest, you do not need to spend a dime for enjoying the outside of the castle at all. We were a bit lazy/ in a rush so paid for a few things. At the end, glad we did it: but definitely not the prettiest or most impressive castle we ever visited :-). Got to be honest!
Day 37:
After waking up late in our comfy bed, we went for a look out to brunch before a beach day.
We found this buffet where you pay per 100 gram, they had a lot of locals eating there and local dishes, so we gave it a shot. Was good!
After that we went to the beach in front of our hotel, we have an hotel at Copacabana beach for a reason.
We rented two chairs and an umbrella (all 10 real per piece for the day) and drank a few Caipirinhas for 10 per piece. They sell everything on the beach, fresh shrimp, drinks, towels, massages, heck even barbecue in front of you or make you a fresh cocktail!
After a few hours we headed back because the sun was gone, to the 15th floor of our hotel. Roof top pool with amazing view over the beach!
After shower we went to another local food place to have a meal for 14 reals, which was tasty. We headed back to the boulevard. Sam braided her hair, and we found a beach bar with an amazing live act. Guy with a guitar singing all the classics. After that the music went similar to our latin playlist with three dancers getting everyone to move. Great vibe! Got the love the vibrant boulevard of Copacabana!
Day 38:
Last day of our trip sadly. But flight is at 10 pm so a whole day of relaxing is still on the tab. After a few hours of beach and swimming pool we took our flight back to Amsterdam :-(.
mde 
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cof 
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Waking up at the X-rated motel with our clothes getting dried everywhere in the room from the wash of yesterday, we quickly packed up got an Uber (legal in Brazil, different than the other latin countries we visited) and caught our flight to Rio de Janeiro at 8;35 AM in the morning.
During the flight we got the amazing view crossing the city of Rio, Christ the redeemer is standing tall over the city and all the landscapes looked from the sky!
Today, we planned a long day of travel and activities. Starting the day with waking up around 7:30 AM to get our stuff packed, quick breakfast at the hostel before our host Gustavo dropped us to the Argentinian border again around 8:45 AM to see the Argentinan side of Iguazu.
Gustavo brought us again, and around 10 am we arrived. We got lucky and straight away got boat ride ticket to go close to the falls. After purchasing the entrance tickets (850 pesos per person) we went to the jeep pick up, for an half hour ride towards the boat through the jungle of Iguazu. Above us a lot of big spiders while driving. If you do not like bugs, be prepare to endure them :-).
View from the jeep 
View from the jeep 
Jeep pick up spot 
Entrance to the park 
Entrance ticket
De Dijk in the Dutch city of Volendam is a tourist hotspot. Why? The amazing view over the lake called the IJsselmeer, the many tourists shops, fresh sea food and nice walking routes. During COVID-19 not a lot of tourism was going on. But, the empty streets make up for some nice pictures.
