The Vagabond Hiker

Hiking, trekking, and climbing the world

European town & country walks (and a few hikes)

In reviewing my photos from this past summer, I realized there were quite a few that had been excluded from the limited blog topics chosen. This miscellaneous blog post is meant to remedy that shortcoming, and highlights some of the wonderful cities’ Old Towns as well as a few interesting hikes that had slipped between the cracks.

The Town Walks

There is no better way to see the Old Town of nearly any European city than simply to walk around it. Rarely have I found that a morning perambulating has not yielded great rewards. . .

Sofia, Bulgaria City Garden, near the Grand Hotel Sofia where I stayed for 3 nights waiting for my luggage. . .
Church of St. George, Sofia, the oldest building in the city, began in the 4th century as Roman baths.
The iconic St. Alexander Nevsky Cathedral, Sofia
My favorite building in Sofia, the Church of St. Nicholas the Miracle-Maker
Krakow main square panorama from my breakfast table. Normally jammed, the square was nearly empty at 7:30 Sunday morning. Staying on the main square was wonderful – and quiet – since my hotel room was in the back.
Night view of St. Mary’s Basilica, Krakow, Poland
Vltava River view, Prague, with the cathedral and castle. Two mornings spent walking around Prague were very enjoyable, and being mid-week it was not as crowded as I had feared.
Astronomical clock, Prague, the oldest Astronomical clock in the world still functioning
Modern stained glass in the St. Vitus Cathedral, Prague
View from the upper part of Old Town, Tallinn, Estonia.
Town hall square, Tallinn. The city seemed almost empty.
Old town wall, Tallinn
Helsinki Cathedral, Finland. I took the 2 1/2 hour ferry from Tallinn across the Gulf of Finland to Helsinki. As the city was built in the 19th century from a fishing village, the town center is far more modern than most European cities.
Havis Amanda fountain, Helsinki

The Country Walks

My three days in southern Finland was for the most part spent away from Helsinki and makes a great starting point for the country walks. . .

Hotel Hanaholmen view from my window. About an hour walk from Helsinki center, but a world away.
Sculptures and the Baltic Sea, Porkkala Peninsula. I went on a guided walk in this nature reserve about 45 minutes west of Helsinki. This was part of a temporary mixed-media art exhibition.
Liesjärvi Lake, Liesjärvi National Park. Inland about 90 minutes from Helsinki I went on a second guided walk where we foraged for mushrooms.
Reindeer lichen (Cladonia rangiferina), Liesjärvi
Dutchman’s pipe (Monotropa hypopitys), Liesjärvi

In July, I took a weekend road trip from my Val d’Aosta base across the Col du Grand St Bernard to Switzerland to watch the men play tennis in Gstaad. I of course had some time for walking.

Chateau d’Oex, Switzerland. I stayed here rather than pricey, touristy Gstaad where the men’s tennis tournament was held.
Near Chateau d’Oex, a pedestrian bridge across La Sarine River
Another view of bucolic Chateau d’Oex, from my hike ascending to Pra-Perron

More Northern Italian Hikes

Apart from the Parco Nationale Gran Paradiso (PNGP) hikes (already described in an earlier blog) I returned twice to Italy between my other trekking and traveling adventures and managed to squeeze in a few more. . .

Derelict house on the south slopes of Monte Faie, near Lago Maggiore. I stayed near the southern end of the lake for 5 days between two trips.
View of Lago Maggiore from Monte Faie summit
Ragged (Seguier’s) Pink (Dianthus seguieri), seen on Monte Faie
View of Cima Sasso (1916m) view on the descent of Monte Faie
An Ibex above the Col du Grand St Bernard. While spending a week in Aosta in early September, I did a spectacular hike: 8 miles, 6 lakes, 4 passes, and 2 countries!
A zoom photo of this old male Ibex (Capra ibex)
View towards Mt Dolent (3823m, center-left and just free of clouds) from the Col des Chevaux. The tri-point border of France, Switzerland, and Italy is 100m NW of the summit.
The 3rd of the Lacs de Fenetre near the Col du Grand St Bernard
Lago Chamole, seen on the ascent of the Punta della Valletta.
View from Cresta Nera towards Mt Blanc (in clouds). My traverse of the Punta della Valletta near Aosta was another spectacular hike in early September. This point was a short diversion on the way to the summit.
View of La Grivola from Cresta Nera. The Punta Rossa della Grivola which I climbed (see earlier post) is the left-most visible peak here.
The village of Cogne from Punta della Valletta (3090m). Amazingly, from this point I could also see the city of Aosta in the main valley.
Selfie of The Vagabond Hiker on Punta della Valletta summit
View of the knife edge traverse of Punta della Valletta
A backward look at an assisted traverse, Punta della Valletta. Despite some initial misgivings, I did this without protection.

With this blog I finally conclude my Europe 2022 adventures! Planning for the summer of 2023 when I once again will return to Europe and perhaps even Central Asia has already begun. For now, though, I am busy preparing for a two week, three country trip to the Guianas on the northern coast of South America, leaving Tuesday. That last minute trip will be the focus of my next blog post.

The Vagabond Hiker

Sardinia Walking Week

Before you say – “oh, another post from Italy”, I should make it clear that Sardi consider themselves apart from “mainland Italians,” with their distinct culture, traditions, and language. While many tourists come to Sardinia to bask on sun-drenched beaches or to emulate the sybaritic lifestyles of the glitterati on the Costa Smeralda, there exists a completely different aspect to this island. As well as helping to preserve the traditional lifestyles of the locals, the dramatic mountains and gorges of central Sardinia make for some fantastic walking, and my KE Adventures trip highlighted some of the best easier day hikes on the island.

Our group of fourteen diverse clients included eight Americans, by far the most on any of the nearly 20 KE trips on which I’ve been. In addition to four Brits, our group also had a Belgian and a Pole to give it a bit of international flavor. This was a center-based holiday where we stayed at a charming, locally-owned hotel outside the town of Dorgali, located in the center of the island, between the east coast and the Supramonte mountains. One website’s summary I think accurately describes the latter:

The Supramonte is a vast limestone plateau that extends in the province of Nuoro within the towns of Orgosolo, Dorgali, Urzulei and Baunei. It is an immense rugged and wild massif, made up of caves, forests, canyons. . . one of the wildest areas of the island. Over 500 sq km of rocks and mountains that form vertical walls, sinkholes, caves, [and] underground rivers.

https://www.perfectsardinia.com/destination/central-sardinia/supramonte/

Below are some photos I took last month. Decide for yourself whether the central Sardinia coast and mountains live up to their billing!

View of the Laniattu Valley on the Day 1 ascent where we traversed Monte Tiscale, a rather modest peak.
A gnarled juniper
The Nuragic complex of Sa Sedda e Sos Carros, a bronze age village high in the mountains. Their ancient culture was interesting, but lacking a written language means much of our knowledge of them is simply speculation.
On Day 2 our walk went from our hotel in Dorgali to Cala Ganone on the coast. Here is a view west towards Monte Corrasi (left), which would be our objective for the final day.
View of Cala Ganone and the Mediterranean Sea on Day 2.
An Autumn Crocus (Colchicum lusitanum). It was too late in the season for many flowers, but I’ll share photos of a couple we saw.
One of our (innumerable) group photos. I often felt apart from them as not many were regular hikers, causing excessive stops each day due to a lack of fitness for about half of them.
A gorgeous old juniper (Juniperus phoenicia)
Red squill (Charybdis maritima), whose blooms signal the end of summer
Coastal view on Day 3, where we hiked from Cala Ganone south along the coast to Cala Luna.
An ammonite fossil. The limestone which predominates on this portion of the island is fossil rich, though most are found away from the well-trod paths.
Spiaggia di Cala Fuili. Along with Cala Luna, access is only by either foot or boat. I won’t share any photos of Cala Luna. While beautiful, even mid week in September it was absolutely rammed with boat people. Perhaps 8 AM on a rainy December morning would be an ideal time to visit?
Monte Bardia from my hotel room balcony in Dorgali. This would be my objective on our mid-week off day.
View from the Parco del Carmelo towards Dorgali at the beginning of my ascent of Monte Bardia on Day 4.
Some of the numerous domestic goats we saw on the ascent. One other hiker joined me on this hike.
Another view of Dorgali from our ascent route
View from near Passo Ghenna di Silana on our Day 5 descent to the gorge known as Gola di Gorropu
Holm Oak (Quercus ilex) on our misty descent
With some of our group descending into the gorge
A view of Gola di Gorropu as the mist begins to clear
Entering Gola di Gorropu. There was a ticket booth as this gorge has been monetized for tourists. It provided some fun scrambling for those of us so inclined.
Day 6 was the culmination of our hiking week: the summit of Monte Corrasi, high point of the Supramonte. Here is a view of the town of Oliena on our ascent.
European yew (Taxus baccata), now a protected species in Sardinia
Monte Corrasi summit view east towards Dorgali and Monte Bardia (center)
The Vagabond Hiker on Monte Corrasi, view west
A summit pano from Monte Corrasi, also towards the west

I’ll leave the reader at our high point as the rest of the trip was literally and figuratively down hill. I caught a rather bad cold from a client that persisted for nearly two weeks and from which I am only now recovered back in St George Utah.

I do have some “odds and ends” photos from the Alps this past summer that are interesting enough (to me at least) that I will share them next month as a final blog post for 2022. Until then, enjoy the wonderful autumnal weather wherever you happen to be.

The Vagabond Hiker

Trekking the High Tatras of Poland and Slovakia

Hard on the heels (so to speak) of trekking in Bulgaria, I flew to Krakow, Poland to begin my next trekking adventure. The Tatra mountains represent the last high mountains in the Carpathians, and from a Polish perspective are divided into three parts: the Western Tatras, the High Tatras, and the White Tatras. Our week-long KE Adventures group focused on the most interesting of these, the High Tatras. We hiked for three days in Poland, after transferring by public bus to the mountain town of Zakopane, and afterwards transferred by private bus to Slovakia for three additional days hiking. The Slovakian trekking included an ascent of Mount Rysy, ironically the highest point in Poland. Enjoy the photos highlighting my week in the Tatras!

Willow Gentians (Gentiana asclepiadea). We saw these nearly everywhere in the forests. The weather was poor on the first day, so most of the few photos I took were of flowers!
Siklawica Waterfall in the mist on Day 1. Our trekking this day was in two distinct parts; this waterfall hike, a short transfer from Zakopane, was the first. As it was a Sunday, the trail was packed with tourists despite the bad weather.
The second portion of our first day trek was a path that from another valley headed towards Roztoka Hut, our lodging for the next two nights. The rains had swollen the streams we encountered.
On Day 2 we first hiked up to Morskie Oko (Fish Eye Lake), a popular tourist destination, from Roztoka Hut.
A view from above Morskie Oko on Day 2. The weather was slowly improving, but mountain vistas were nonexistent.
Siklawa Waterfall, the second highlight of Day 2
One of Nicole’s photos of Siklawa Waterfall. It is obvious which of the two of us is a professional photographer! More of her photos later on. . .
Stream Roztoka on our descent back to Roztoka Hut
A mountain church (left) seen on our descent route from Roztoka hut to the roadhead, in another valley from where we had ascended the prior day.
Sunrise on Poprodske Pleso, Day 4. We had transferred to Slovakia where we spent two nights at a basic hotel on this lake. I took this photo from my balcony.
Day 4 was our summit day of Mount Rysy. We started hiking through the forest and sub-alpine ecosystems. Here is a Monkshood (Aconitum napellus)
Delphinium verdunense, Day 4
Adenostyles alliariae, also Day 4. So much for the flowers, Now the climbing began. . .
Mount Rysy from Frog Lake. Rysy is the highest point, in the center of the photo. There are actually two summits, one in Slovakia and (the lower) one on the Slovak-Polish border.
Another view of Frog Lake, with Satan Peak in the background. We climbed to a col above the lake, with some cables to assist us in a couple of sections. Note the hikers in the extreme lower left for scale.
Rysy hut (2250m) the highest hut in Slovakia and in the Tatras. We stopped for a long break here before the final summit climb.
Clouds attempting to cross Polish-Slovak border near the summit of Rysy. Definitely this week Slovakia was the sunny side of the Tatras!
KE summit group photo on Mount Rysy’s Polish high point (2499m), with some extraneous people present as the summit was rammed on this relatively fine weather day in late summer. I and a few others next climbed Rysy’s true high point (2503m) in Slovakia, far less crowded and requiring a touch of scrambling.
The Popradske Pleso Hotel, seen as we walk back to the road-head on Day 5. In addition to large dorm rooms, there were a limited number of ensuite double rooms. I upgraded for privacy and to escape the snoring.
A stream as we headed back towards the road-head. Rysy in the morning light is in the background.
With Nicole on Velka Svitovska. The second part of our Day 5 hike included a train transfer and then a gondola lift before the second hike, to Green Lake. It proved another long day, but not nearly as arduous as the Rysy climb the previous day.
The Vagabond Hiker waiting in the shade for other KE clients on the hike to Green Lake (Zelene Pleso). Our group included several who were not regular hikers, and the overall pace was SLOW. Completely different from the week before in Bulgaria!
The Green Lake bowl where we stayed for our final night in the mountains. It was a long descent, tough on old knees.
Martin, seen on the descent to Green Lake. A part of this route had cables for assistance, though I avoided them altogether. Martin has been on nearly 50 KE trips, putting my 18 or so to shame!
Arriving at Green Lake and Hut
A photo of Green Lake photo taken by Nicole taken near sunset on Day 5.
View of the High Tatras from Green Lake in the early morning of Day 6, also courtesy of Nicole. Between earplugs and Aleve PM, I overslept the wonderful morning light. Fortunately, Nicole did not!
Triangle Lake, one of the White Lakes, on our last day’s descent in the White Tatras. We had left the High Tatras behind for something completely different.
Alpine Pasque flower (Anemone alpina). One usually only sees the seed pods this late in the year. Perhaps there is a cooler micro-climate here?
A typical White Tatras view, we descended this valley back to the roadhead.
A small gorge on the descent to Tatranska Javorina, the end point for our week’s trekking.

As this blog posts, I will be in Finland for a few days on the Baltic Sea near Helsinki. While I won’t post directly from my city break trip to Tallinn and Finland, I am planning as many as three more posts over the coming weeks before my return to the States. Stay tuned!

The Vagabond Hiker.

Categories

Subscribe for Updates