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Tag: apriltsi

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Hiking in Bulgaria: Balkan Mountains in October

Published: November 12, 2017

How is hiking in Balkan Mountains in October? Our hike under Botev peak from Vidima, Apriltsi to Pleven hut, Vodopada waterfall and Vodnite Dupki Cave.

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Family Hotel Balkana: Charming residence with mountain views

Published: November 11, 2017

Family Hotel Balkana in Apriltsi offers quality, comfort and excellent food with mountain views. Great base for hiking in Balkan Mountains.

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Table Mountain is a fantastic destination for day Table Mountain is a fantastic destination for day hikes!🤩 There are so many trails with amazing views, and you can choose from easy and relatively flat trails on the foot of the mountain to challenging climbs all the way up on top.When staying in the Gardens area at the foot of the mountain, we hiked the India Venster trail, one of those routes that require some scrambling and using also your hands to climb in the steep parts. It's a super scenic and rewarding route, suitable for those who are reasonably fit and have no fear of heights.The trail begins just before the Lower Cable Station and leads up to the Contour Path and India Venster, a window-like rock formation. Further up, there are some short scrambling sections with bolted handles to help climbing over the rocks.Up on top of the mountain you can either head to the Upper Cable Station, or continue further along the trails that criss-cross on top of the Table Mountain. We chose the latter, and headed to the highest point of the mountain, the Maclear's Beacon, not much a peak actually, more a pile of rocks that marks the highest point. The views are beautiful though, as is the flora on the way.From the peak we circled back, and descended the mountain along one of the most popular routes, the Platteklip Gorge trail. This route doesn't require scrambling, but is more like a rocky staircase in a scenic gorge. It's a relatively short trail, but with strenuous ascent, and we saw a lot of rather tired hikers climbing up - please start early and take plenty of water if you do this hike on a sunny summer day! Descending is easier, but can be quite tough on the knees.Altogether this hike (starting from the lower cable station and ending in Vredehoek below the mountain) was 15,5 km long, with 880 meters of ascent and 1100 meters of descent, and it took roughly 5,5 hours to hike (with short breaks).#finnsaway #nomadlife #southafrica #visitcapetown #tablemountain
Throwbacks to Cape Town continue with a photo dump Throwbacks to Cape Town continue with a photo dump from around the City Bowl and V&A Waterfront, both wonderful areas to explore!🤩Pics 1-2 Greenmarket Square
Pic 3 Cape Town City Hall
Pic 4 At the President Nelson Mandela Statue
Pics 5-6 Castle of Good Hope
Pic 7 The Old Granary building
Pics 8-9 V&A Waterfront
Pic 10 Cape fur seals in the Waterfront#finnsaway #nomadlife #southafrica #visitcapetown
Cape Town color therapy to your Thursday!Bo-Kaap Cape Town color therapy to your Thursday!Bo-Kaap with it's colorful houses and cobbled streets is one of the most visited neighborhoods of Cape Town. It's not only known for its colors though, but for its vibrant, predominantly Muslim, Cape Malay community.Formerly known as the Malay Quarter, the Bo-Kaap’s origins date back to the 1760s when numerous rental houses were built and leased to slaves and political exiles brought from other Dutch colonies in the east, including Indonesia’s Batavia, Sumatra, Java and also East Africa. Most of these groups spoke some Malay, hence this new community becoming known as the Cape Malays.The bright colors of the houses in the are is said to attribute to the fact that while on lease, all the houses had to be white. When the tenants finally were allowed to buy the properties, all the houses were painted bright colors by their owners as an expression of their freedom.#finnsaway #nomadlife #southafrica #visitcapetown #bokaap
One reason to love road trips is the possibility t One reason to love road trips is the possibility to choose your own route and pick all the scenic routes! One of those during our first road trip in South Africa was the Clarence Drive, a stunning coastal road between Rooi-Els and Gordons Bay.Clarence Drive has been chosen among the most scenic routes not only in South Africa, but the whole world, and the views of the nature of Kogelberg, Cape Peninsula, False Bay and Table Mountain truly are fantastic 💚🩵💙This is not a mountain road per se, but there are all together 77 bends and corners, which makes the road exhilarating to drive.After arriving to Gordons Bay, we continued to Strand for the night. Sunset views on Strand Beach were stunning, what a great last stop it was before returning to Cape Town 🧡#finnsaway #nomadlife #southafrica #roadtrip #clarencedrive
Throwback to Betty's Bay and the Stony Point Pengu Throwback to Betty's Bay and the Stony Point Penguin Colony! We are already in Namibia, but 
before updates from this amazing country, we still have quite some posts to share from South Africa. So let's get started with the Stony Point, that it a great alternative for the super popular
Boulders Beach penguin colony.🐧❤️Pretty much everyone traveling to Cape Town seems to have Boulders Beach on their destination 
 list, and where as it is a wonderful place to watch penguins, it often gets very crowded. Betty's Bay is 
 further away from the city center, but at least for those who go for a road trip, it's a fantastic place to
stop for some penguin watching!"Stony Point Nature Reserve is home to one of the largest successful breeding colonies of African Penguin in the world. Located in the quaint coastal town of Betty’s Bay in the Overberg, the Stony Point Nature Reserve is home to a unique colony of African Penguins. Stony Point offers the public the chance to see these wonderful flightless birds up close, via the boardwalk through the colony, which allows the public to observe the penguins go about their daily activities in their natural habitat, without disturbing or disrupting them."We actually visited after the boardwalks were already closed for the day, but still saw a lot of penguins on the beach and coastal rocks.#finnsaway #nomadlife #southafrica #penguins
Addo Elephant National Park near Gqeberha (formerl Addo Elephant National Park near Gqeberha (formerly Port Elizabeth) South Africa's Eastern Cape, was the main destination of our first roar trip in South Africa. As the name implies, this national park is most famous for its elephants, and there are hundreds of them!🐘😍The park was established in 1931 in to save the last 11 elephants of the Addo area. The formerly huge elephant population had fallen down to near extinction due to hunting and farming. The establishment of the protected area enabled growing this small herd to over 600 elephants.In addition to elephants, Addo is home to a bunch of other wildlife, and it is in fact not only hosting the big five, but the big seven, as there are Southern right whales and Great white sharks in the marine environment of the park. During our game drive, we saw dozens of Burchell's zebras and warthogs, a lot of antelopes, including red hartebeests, bushbucks, elands and kudus, as well as tortoises, vervet monkeys, dung beetles and a bunch of birds including ostriches, black-headed herons, Cape batises, blacksmith lapwings and bokmakieries.A self-driven safari with a rental car was a great way to explore Addo. There are SO many elephants, that it's almost guaranteed to see them, no need to have a professional guide. But then again, should you be especially interested in seeing lions or leopards, that are way harder to spot, a knowledgeable guide, and the communication between the guides, can help.A warm recommendation to add this national park in your plans for South Africa!#finnsaway #nomadlife #southafrica #addoelephantpark
Throwback to December with moments along our road Throwback to December with moments along our road trip in South Africa!😍 We rented a small hatchback from Cape Town, and headed to explore the southern parts of Western Cape. During the first days we first drove to the Cape Winelands and mountainous Nature Reserves, and then to the famous Garden Route along the coast.Renting a car is super easy and cheap in South Africa, and the main roads are in very good condition. Driving is easy, though you should be aware that they do drive on the left side here. A 4x4 vehicle is only needed if you head to somewhere very remote, otherwise just a regular car is totally fine.1) Diaz Beach in Mossel Bay
2)Wilderness Beach near George
3) Brewery in a historical winery near Franschhoek
4) Nature's Valley Beach
5) One of the lovely guest houses we stayed in
6) Wilderness Beach
7) Diaz Beach
8) The Wreck Beach View Point, Plettenberg Bay
9) Mountain road near Tradouw Pass
10) Our rental, VW Polo Vivo#finnsaway #nomadlife #southafrica #roadtrips
Happy New Year!✨ Year 2025 was a wonderful travel Happy New Year!✨ Year 2025 was a wonderful travel year, with a bunch of new destinations and adventures on four continents!🌎A year ago we rang in the new year in the Caribbean, on the beautiful island of Virgin Gorda in the British Virgin Islands. In January we returned to the Dominican Republic, and made a 2-weeks trip to Jamaica.In February it was time to leave Caribbean islands behind and begin a four months tour in South America. We started by exploring Colombia, then traveled around Brazil from the Amazon to the Iguazu falls, and made a three-weeks tour in the northern part of Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay.In June we returned to Europe, and stayed for a while in Alsace in France before traveling around Europe with our camper van during the summer and autumn. No new countries in Europe, but still a lot of new destinations, and several wonderful house-sits.In November it was time for new adventures overseas, and we flew to Cape Town in South Africa. This beautiful city has been our base for the past few weeks, but we also made a great road trip along the and over the mountains, and to see elephants and penguins. Today we ring in the new year in Cape Town, wishing happiness, good health and amazing adventures for 2026!🤩In the pics a few highlights from along the year, and more thorough summary and statistics of the year will follow later. Wishing all the best for your new year!❤️#finnsaway #nomadlife #travelblog #travelbloggers #locationindependent #digitalnomads #digitalnomadlife #nomadiclife #travelforlife #travelphotography #travelinspiration #instatravel #happynewyear
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About FinnsAway

We are Anne & Toni, a Finnish nomad couple traveling the world since 2017. We left 9-to-5 life behind to be free to explore the world and work location independently.

We are adventurous backpackers and low-cost travelers, often following the road less traveled. We write detailed travel guides with quality photos, as well as short introduction posts about the destinations that we explore.

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