Day 4 of the trip and I'm off to Zagreb Airport for a rather unique flight. It seems it will be a gorgeous day for flying judged by this sunrise.
I will fly with Trade Air on a PSO route (Public Service Obligation, similar to the EAS - Essential Air Service - in the US). It's a government sponsored route linking smaller but vital places which would otherwise not be viable. But that's not what is unique about this flight..
What is special is the plane that is operating the flight, a Czech-made Let L-410 Turbolet. And the fact that I'm the only passenger on this flight!
Off we go!
The fun thing of this kite is that there are no doors to the cockpit so you can look a bit with them. A flight crew of three for this flight, plus two flight attendants!
On board the Let L-410 Turbolet on our way from Zagreb to Osijek.
This is definitely good fun too!
Landing at the first intermediate stop: Osijek.
Tiny Osijek Airport. Besides Trade Air it only sees the odd seasonal Croatia Airlines flights and (currently suspended AFAIK) Ryanair flights.
One café, one tiny shop which seems mostly stacked with local wines, and one gate area - that's it at Osijek Airport. For the next leg to Pula there will be 5 other passengers. No more private plane experiences :(
Take-off from Osijek!
View from the plane..
Somewhere above a beautiful Croatian forest..
After a while the coastline comes in view. We fly just south of Rijeka, which can clearly be seen in the distance.
And we fly right over the island Krk on which Rijeka Airport is located. The runway is clearly visible. And what a gorgeous blue colours!
Flying over Istria on final approach to Pula Airport.
Landing at Pula Airport.
And also at Pula we have to wait inside the airport terminal for some 15-20 minutes. This time the plane is refuelled as well. After a short while we can follow the ground handling agent back to the aeroplane.
And take-off for the third and final flight from Pula to Split on this Let L-410 Turbolet.
What a pleasure it is to fly over beautiful Croatia on a day like this.
Croatia must be the best European country to fly over - together with Greece. Blink your eyes and for a moment you might even think these are Tahiti atolls!
That's the (lovely!) city of Zadar down below. Looking back you can also see the beach & the mud lagoon of Nin (another nice destination to visit). Hitchcock said Zadar's sunsets are the best in the world - and he was right. Need to go back once as I have some good friends there!
I need to look up where this is on a map but wow, those shades of blue!
Final approach to Split Airport with some fantastic views over Trogir from this cool little Czech turboprop.
Flying over Trogir..
And the landing at Split. What a fun, fantastic flight. I can really recommend Trade Air for anyone visiting Croatia. For these 3 flights I paid the fixed price of 69 euro. PSO route advantage is that no matter when you book, this is always the price you pay for this 🇭🇷 flight.
From Split Airport, Trogir is just a short ride away by city bus. I've visited Split before, but it's my first time here in town. Time for some delicious seafood risotto!
Last week I spent a couple of days in Ireland, visiting the sights of the fine cities of Cork, Cobh, and Dublin and enjoying a couple of pints of stout. Time for a little Twitter trip report about my time in Ireland 👇
I arrived in Ireland on the ferry from France. If you haven't yet caught up on my travels through France from Paris to Morlaix and Roscoff in Brittany, and my ferry crossing on Brittany Ferries' MV Armorique from Roscoff to Cork, check the thread below:
Cork's passenger port is actually located in Ringaskiddy, which is connected by an hourly bus to downtown Cork. Easily done as a foot passenger, provided you don't carry a lot of luggage with you.
Yesterday I returned home from a wonderful two-week trip through Georgia. So here we go with another Twitter travel thread, starting in the beautiful Georgian capital of Tbilisi.
Tbilisi is bisected by the Kura River. As this long but relatively narrow river valley is surrounded by mountains on three sides, Tbilisi's geography is a bit complex. In the south-west of the city you can find the old town on the right river bank..
Old Tbilisi is characterised by its sulphur baths, churches, and wonderful architecure of the old houses with their typical Georgian verandas..
Reggio di Calabria, Italy. A week ago I had the pleasure to make a short trip to this city in the toe of the Italian mainland. A little Twitter trip report 👇
In the heart of the city you'll find Piazza Duomo, which is home to Reggio's Cathedral. This church, dedicated to the Assumption of the Virgin Mary, was built in the early 20th century after the old one was destroyed in a big earthquake..
The centre of Reggio, a city with just under 200,000 inhabitants, isn't large. There are however plenty of shops, cafés, and restaurants along Corso Guiseppe Garibaldi, the pedestrianised main drag of Reggio.
Zdravo iz Sente (Hello from Senta)! Or should I use the Hungarian language and say 'Szia from Zenta', as this city in northern Serbia has a large Hungarian majority. For the next few days I'll be admiring some amazing Art Nouveau sights in this region.
In case you have missed it, check the thread below about my overland trip (mostly by train) from Romania to Serbia, my visits to the pleasant Serbian cities of Zrenjanin and Kikinda, as well as my journey into Senta..
In Putin's Russia, you don't travel to the border, but the Russian border travels to you. I'm on the Curonian Spit at the Lithuanian-Russian border, one of Europe's most geographically unusual and beautiful border regions, and I'll be exploring the Lithuanian half of the spit..
If you missed the previous updates detailing my overland trip by train from Romania to Lithuanian, as well as visits to Kaunas, Vilnius, Trakai, and Klaipeda, then check the thread below 👇
First a little map to actually show where I am. The Curonian Spit is a 98-kilometre (61 miles) long, thin sand-dune spit that separates the Curonian Lagoon from the Baltic Sea. The northern half is Lithuanian, the southern half is part of the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad..
High-speed trains, Saudi Arabia style! Today I'll be travelling on the Mecca-Jeddah-Medina Haraiman High Speed Railway, a 453-kilometre-long line linking the two holiest cities in Islam.
The railway is operated by a Saudi-Spanish consortium, which includes Spanish rail company Renfe and infrastructure company Adif. Unsurprisingly, Spanish Talgo trains are used on this high-speed line. In my Uber on the way to Jeddah's station I get my first glimpses of the line..
Jeddah Al-Sulaymaniyah Station, located quite a distance out of the city centre, looks impressive from the outside..