Traveling is coffee for the soul.
There are many astonishing and wonderful things in the world, and I like to travel and see them. I am a middle-ageish man and I live in Northeastern Europe. My wife often travels with me, voluntarily. All pictures are taken by me, unless otherwise indicated.
There hardly is a place in this world too remote for Man to wage war in. The tiny village Mehamn in the Finnmark province of Northern Norway, by the Arctic Ocean, is one of Europe's northernmost populated places. However, it's not remote enough to have been spared of war and destruction. Evidence of that can be found just outside of the village: ruins of a Second World War German artillery battery.
Ruins of fortifications.
In late 1944, as the German troops were withdrawing from Northern Norway, they blew up their own fortifications, laid countless landmines and burned Mehamn, as well as other villages and towns, to the ground. In addition, they forcibly took most of the civilian population with them. Some managed to escape to the mountains, but even those had no homes to return to. Generally, the German occupation during World War II is not fondly remembered in Norway, but in the Northern province of Finnmark the attitude in probably even more bitter and hostile. It is not difficult to see why.
Remains of a blown-up bunker.
After the war the citizens of Mehamn returned to rebuild their homes. They used the ruins of the fortifications as their garbage dump. It is easy to understand that they, more or less consciously, wanted to bury the stronghold of hated oppressors and destoryers of homes under waste, and forget it ever existed.
Rebuilt Mehamn seen from the ruins of the fortifications.
Today, what remains of the artillery post have been cleaned of the dumped garbage. There are information board on the history of the place, and a few tables and benches for picnics. The ruins make an excellent place to take in the incredibly beautiful scenery: the coastal artillery batteries were obviously constructed in places with good all-around visibility. It is, however, important to occasionally take a look down, too: one can easily fall in the trenches cut to the rock, or, less dangerously, step on reindeer droppings. From the Mehamn fortifications, one can see, for example, Kinnarodden, the northernmost point of continental Europe - Nordkapp gets a lot of hype, but ir is actually situated on the island of Magerøya and isn't even the northernmost tip of that island.
Sharp stones like these are typical for the Finnmark coast - they are natural formations, not remains of destroyed fortifications.
View to the north from Mehamn. Kinnarodden, the northernmost point of European continent, can be seen to the left.
In and around Mehamn there are many other places to enjoy the scenery, and like everywhere on the Norwegian coast, the scenery is great.
The rugged beauty of Nordkinn peninsula by the road to Mehamn: mountains...
...and sea.
We visited Mehamn in late June and early July 2020, about two weeks after Norway re-opened its borders to visitors from Finland and a number of other countries after closure caused by the Covid-19 epidemic. Northern Norway is a very good place to travel while maintaining some social distance. We stayed at The Blue House at the End of the World, which we warmly recommend. Mehamn can be reached by car - your own or rental - or Hurtigruten , which at the time of writing is resuming normal daily operations.
The walls of Acre provide great views over the Mediterranean Sea.
Acre is a relatively small city on the Galilean coast, in northern Israel. As far as we know, people have lived in the area since approximately 3000 BC. The city and its inhabitants have been cursed with a strategical location. Acre has been conquered, besieged and bombed:
by Alexander the Great, about 332 BC
by Caliph Umar's army in 636
by the Crusaders in 1104
by Sultan Saladin in 1187
by the Crusaders again in 1191
by the Mamluk sultan's troops in 1291
by Napoleon in 1799
by English, French and Austrian navies in 1840
and by many others
Acre is probably most famous for Crusaders, at least in the so-called Western World. The biggest attraction in the town is the Crusader Castle, known as the Citadel. To be precise, only the underground parts date from the Crusaders' time. The Ottoman Empire, who ruled Acre from the 16th Century until the First World War, had a more modern fortress constructed on the foundations of the crusader-built Citadel. The bloody, noisy and gunpowder-smelling history of the city is presented to the visitor by means of modern technology: a device and earphones are given to every visitor, and it automatically explains the history of the site on a chosen language. Films explaining life (and death) in Acre are projected to old walls, and sometimes floors.
The system works, but in my opinion it controlled the visitor's experience maybe too much, limiting curiosity and spontaneous interest. My device worked well, but it seemed that some others experienced malfunctions, which causes annoyance and frustration. That said, I'm sure the museum staff is happy to help and, if needed, exchange a non-functioning device to a working one. The audio clips themselves are well executed. A highlight for me was the story of Napoleon's siege of Acre, presented as a dialogue between a French and an Ottoman soldier.
The king of Jerusalem with his entourage.
.
The Crusaders' bathroom was known as the latrine.
There are many other historical sights in Acre, in addition to the Citadel. A Crusader-built tunnel runs under the city center, a small but charming local history museum is situated in the wall fortifications, and there's a restored hamam spa from Ottoman times. The visitors to the hamam are provided with similar guide devices as in the Citadel. In my opinion, here the application is not as good as in the castle: the deluge of stories and information may feel overwhelming, and the video screens divert attention from the beautiful building and interesting objects.
Bathers in the hamam.
The masseur at work.
Acre is not only about museums. It is fun to get lost on the bazaar alleys, and walk on the city walls, taking in the views of the Mediterranean and the city of Haifa over the bay. The historic center of Acre is surrounded by the sea from three sides, and the breeze often keeps it nicely cool - the Israeli climate is a bit too hot for our northern tastes.
The Blue Mediterranean.
Napoleon's army (if I remember correctly) left this cannon on the Acre walls.
In Israel, nothing is ever far away. It's easy to take a day trip to Acre from Tel Aviv or Haifa by local train. The city is completely different from modern Tel Aviv or sacred and chaotic Jerusalem. One of the fascinating things about Israel is that a different reality is always just around the corner, or not more than a 30-minute train ride away.
The Acre Railway Station is a short walk away from the Old Town. On the way there are, among other things, some eccentric artwork, like these disco deer and storks.
The warlike past of Acre is very visible in the town, as are the tensions of today - there's no escaping them in Israel. But, when sitting in a waterfront restaurant, looking at the turquoise water and an old man teach fishing to his grandchildren, it is easy to forget unpleasant things and, for a moment, to concentrate on the beautiful.
San Francisco is known as the focal point of the hippie movement, and I'm told one should wear flowers in the hair there. We didn't, and few residents seem to do so either. The hippies seem to have disappeared. They are not to be found even the symbolic center of the "Summer of Love" in 1967, Haight-Ashbury district, which was not our favourite place in the city. Fortunately, the City by the Bay is full of other interesting places. I've already blogged about some of them.
Golden Gate bridge
The 1300 meter (4200 ft) bridge, completed in 1937, spanning the Golden Gate Strait is probably the best known symbol of San Francisco. It is visible from many places around town - unless there is fog, which may be the second best known symbol of San Francisco. We recommend crossing the bridge by foot, the views of town, Alcatraz and other places are great. Biking the bridge seems to be popular too, but we didn't try that. There are numerous bicycle rental shops in the city, and they also provide maps and route suggestions.
The name Golden Gate refers not only to the bridge but also to the strait the bridge spans. When the bridge was built, the U.S. Navy demanded it should be painted in yellow and black instead of red, for better visibility.
There are telephones on the bridge, with direct access to crisis counseling. There is no doubt this is a good thing, but it is a shivering thought nevertheless.
Mission
Mission is one of the most interesting districts of San Francisco. The name refers to a mission the Spanish founded in 1776, Mission San Francisco de Asís, after which the whole city was named. Today many residents of the district are of Latin American descent. Spanish seems to be at least as widely spoken as English.
Mission is known for its murals.
Thia mural pays tribute to Salvadoran bishop Óscar Romero, who spoke out against poverty and injustice and was murdered while offering mass in 1980.
Mission San Francisco de Asís is also known as Mission Dolores. Its church is the oldest building standing in the city.
Mission is an excellent neighborhood for a meal. Like many others, we recommend the El Farolito on the corner of Mission and 24th, right next to a metro station. We ate there twice, the food was excellent and service speedy and friendly ("what kind of meat for you, bro?") even though the place was unbelievably crowded (which seems to be a permanent state of affairs).
Ferries
The fastest and most practical connection between San Francisco and Oakland, on the Eastern shore of San Francisco bay, is the BART suburban train. However, in good weather we recommend taking the ferry instead. Also Sausalito and Tiburon, to the North of the Golden Gate, are accessible by ferry from San Francisco.
The historical Ferry Building still serves as the ferry terminal ofFrancisco.
We recommend buying lunch and/or ice cream from one of the Ferry Building's many takeout joints and eating on one of the nearby piers (pay attention to seagulls, though).
Bisons were hiding from the heat in shade and I didn't get any proper photos of them.
Street climbing
San Francisco is famous from steep hillside streets.
Yes, steep.
Twin Peaks is not only a TV series, it is also a viewpoint in San Francisco.
Dark Side
San Francisco is no paradise. Every big city, and many small ones, have their problems. On the streets of San Francisco live an alarming number of homeless people, many of them clearly with severe substance abuse problems. The homeless are more numerous, or at least more visible, than in New York, London or Berlin, for example. One of the first San Franciscans we met was smoking pot in a park at 8 AM, having a lively conversation with someone visible only to him.
The slums of the underprivileged and the city's most prestigious properties are sometimes right next to each other. An example of this is the beautiful park in front of the City Hall, with pathways clean enough to serve a meal on. The grim, depressing district of Tenderloin literally begins one block away from the park. There the overfilled, unemptied trashcans spill their contents on the streets, the homeless are sleeping under bus top benches and a repulsive smell of urine hovers over everything. I have not witnessed such a steep contrast in wealth anywhere in the so-called Western World. The closest comparison that I can think of is Tbilisi.
Oakland, across the Bay and a 10-minute train ride away from San Francisco, is statistically the violent crime capital of California and one of the most dangerous cities in United States. However, there's statistically no reason to get hysterical. We stayed in the infamous West Oakland for a week, and not once did we feel threatened in any way.
