mercoledì 11 aprile 2018

Bandar Lampung












At the southern most tip of Sumatra island there is a nice place to visit, with cheap accommodation as well as easy and fast to get to from Jakarta. It was a pleasure to travel around with a very good backpack, easygoing, sweet and smart companion like Sofia.









Dodola island






While in Ternate I had several options about beautiful spots to visit but the only one connected by regular fight, in a reasonable time and famous to be beautiful was Morotai island.
Actually Morotai has very little, if nothing, to visit or do, do not search for good restaurant nor nightlife in Morotai island because the island is very small, the roads to the other side of the island very bad. Let's say I and my friend Francesco just enjoyed to meet very lovely and friendly college students and of course, Dodola island which is the only reason to come to Morotai, where it's possible to do decent dives with many II WW remains.
The beach of Dodola island is just amazing, stunning, emerald warm waters with white sands and a perfectly relaxing atmosphere.







lunedì 9 aprile 2018

Ternate: a pearl of beauty








It was long time since I had planned to visit this island but when I read an article about the ancient dutch colonization of these wonderful archipelago of Moluccas and the trade of cloves which was such a worth item in Europe.
As I landed in Ternate city I immediately felt a humid warm and scented hug which made me so excited to be there.
Maluku has a huge array of islands, even from Ternate it's possible to see the huge Halmahera but also the small Moti, Maitara, Makian and the twin island, almost the same sze, of Tidore that I visited in a day with its wonderful Fort Tahula with its steep ladderswhich lead you to a majestic view overlooking all the island, not to mention the lovely, well mantained garden and colourful flowers all around the old stone walls. Just great!
Muara Hotel is nothing special, apart for its strategic position near the nice Benteng Oranye (Dutch Fortress) and the city center of Ternate city center, but there I had the chance to meet Didi, the restaurant manager who was so nice, friendly and helpful to take me around the many island highlights by his motorbike as well as to give me plenty of tips about a possible island hopping future plan, considering that this is definitively not a touristic place thus islands connections are not easy nor frequent.
Ternate highliths, all visited in a daily motorbike tour, are: Sulamadaha beach, very popular among the locals who come here to enjoy the weekend, to eat something in the food stalls and swim in cristal water where most of corals are sadly dead or broke,  Jiko Malamo beach which is maybe less scenic, less crowded but even nicer since it's a small sandy beach and possible to see many corals and colourful fish with a very easy snorkeling, Danau Tolire Besar is a huge spectacular volcanic lake emerging from a green tropical forest, it's funny because little boys sell you small rock to throw there for a few rupias, Kastela Benteng is a fortress built in the 1950 by the Portugueses and then destroyed by the Spanish(the spices market was aspired by many) and discovered in the 1920, despite its mostly collapsed walls it retains a kind of ancient charm, Danau Ngade is another lake with a terrific view, from there Didi pushed his motorbike to a steep ascend and from there a 16min walk to a wonderful spot overlooking Ternate city. Finally we visited Benteng Kalamata anothe nice fortress next to the sea with a rusty shipwreck around which many lovely kids were jumping, swimming and enjoying a marvellous sunset.
In general I loved the friendly mood of locals so friendly and keen to meet this Italian guy able to communicate with a basic and primitive bahasa but also a local english teacher who asked me to chat with some of his pupils at the entrance of the mall.
Last but not least, around the fruit and fish market, in the bus station, in the night time there are a couple of big stalls who prepare the most delicious grilled fish so fresh and good, here too around these long tables it's possible to meet new friends from other Indonesian tourists or from locals who offer you to take a tour of the city.
I really loved Ternate.










domenica 17 settembre 2017

A new Birthday has gone

One more and one more birthday has passed...so what?? Well a mixed feeling of becoming more mature???or just older but no problem, as far as another heavy, shattering, tense tourist season is gonna finish in a positive way, as far as God gives us a good health we must be happy and grateful and enjoy every second and every breath of this wonderful life. So what better way to celebrate it if not having a birthday lunch to Caffè Roma where a perfect and professional host like Walter and his marvellous cook Ramona prepared for a delicious fish meal with Tagliolini allo scoglio, mixed salad, fried fish, good white wine, caffè and a strong and scented mirto flavoured grappa.
I received so many lovely presents(T-shirts, shorts, books, after shave, and so on) but the very best one was the presence of my friends and my family. Pity that my aunt, cousins and daddy were not there, anyway these are really those moments which makes life worth to be lived ;-)