Thursday, November 9, 2017

Mountains and Fruit Paradise. Summer is Back

Hola,

When 3 months ago Dom suggested to surprise my mom while she was going on holidays to Madeira it sounded like a great plan. I haven't been in Lithuania for a while but, no offence, a week in a sunny mountainous island sounded so much better than probable rain and grey clouds back in a homeland.
So tickets were booked and a careful plan was prepared to get all the information needed without my mom even having a tiny clue that I might be travelling that way.

And then I did a mistake booking tickets with Monarch Airlines. Now some of you will probably know that a month or so ago 5th largest UK's airline went bankrupt. No tickets no money back. Plan B?

Luckily because of moving so much I tend to have great friends all around. Manchester guys hosted poor travellers and few days later we were smiling while sitting in the plane going to Madeira.

Plan worked, my mom was shocked and happy to see her wanderer daughter right in front of her. How, why, when all these questions were asked, well, no wonder why sometimes I am called the fox. Sneaky girl!

Madeira is beautiful. Lush mountains with fertile land giving bananas, passionfruits and all sort of other exotic fruits. No trashy tourists, not even a brittish (sorry, I still love you guys) puking on a corner. Humble and sweet locals with delicious cuisine and warm like tea ocean. Hiking is amazing and the island never heats up more than 30 degrees giving you this warm perfect air temperature all year round. I must say, I did say to Dom that I wanna move there.

If you know any job going there, please let me know. I wanna come back to the paradise.. :)

To slowly adapt to chilly and grey North Europe we stopped for few weeks in mainland Portugal. Great times again, seeing family and friends, getting to know central and north Portugal. Now this time I was like crazy japanese taking pictures of so many portuguese tiles. I am in love with patterns and if I would have a permanent house I would tile every inch of it.

Volunteering not far from an area most affected with recent fires made me quite sad. I never realized how many fires Portugal gets every year. How much wildlife dies, not mentioning flora or even people..

Summer is over once more again. I am back in a colourful autumn. Bristol is my new home. Yes, from a countryside girl I am turning into an urban city dweller. Just to see why so many people love this place. I'll let you know.

I am easily to reach now, so dear close friends no excuses for not visiting.

P.S. If you know some nice place to work, give me a shout. I am actively hunting for one.

with much urban love,

Ligita

Scarborough

North Bay in Scarborough

beautiful Scarborough

Cayton Bay



somewhere in the outskirts of Manchester


so green!


Dom and his cactus friends

banana land

beautiful Madeira


I love this one with my mom

how many types of passionfruit they have, complete paradise

450m sheer drop. ouch!

bananas in Madeira



one of the famous levada walks

happy daughter and mom


beautiful Lisbon

my portuguese love- Pastel de Nata



how can you not fall in love?

cool cafe in Lisbon

with cousin and her boyfriend Marcio


Portuguese beaches are amazing



hikers...




it's not easy to be short... :)

animal love

Binu. Available for adoptions, sweet and gentle dog who occasionally loves lamb on his menu :)

Milky cat! 


hello handsome ;)


after fires...


countryside

our favourite doggy!

Ully, Woolly, Woody



our work( the roof !)


daily dog walking

Coimbra



Aveiro

United with the van aka Petruska :)

rainbow in Glastonbury

amazing paintwork

love this one, credits to Dom

Wells

stunning Wells cathedral



Friday, September 29, 2017

It's Been a Pleasure, Cornwall

Hello,

And here comes the end of my summer adventure. I don't even know from where to start really. It's been wonderful, it's been more than I expected (and my expectations are normally quite high).
I lived just 4-5 months in this beautiful England's region and it's been enough for me to see why so many people go here. It's Cornwall. The land of pasties, amazing beaches and the sea that sometimes can fool you to feel like you are out of Europe.

I can see now why local people are so proud of it. I don't blame them, I would be too. The miners land turned into this last bit of UK where sunshine comes more than once a year.
I must say I did not believe it in the beginning. It's still UK, right? What sunshine? But hey, I think I discovered the sunny corner of England.

May was great. Full of new smells, new places, new discoveries. I love that feeling of being a foreigner. Everybody stops you to ask where you're from, what you do and how come you've heard about Cornwall. Everything seems new and different. Everybody seems so happy and friendly. Like being a child again where mind gets fascinated about everything. Routine doesn't exist yet. You start creating your space in this new world. You start making friends. You learn shortcuts. You observe like never before.

June was my favourite. 10 days heat wave. I know, I am animals lover and I did feel quite sad to see sheep in their big coats hiding in the shades, I felt sad to see so many dead bees on the road (sunstroke, hey :)) but being a selfish human being I just loved the heat. We are not talking spanish heat here, let's make it clear. Nice heat, probably no more than 30 degrees in the shade. The days long and warm. I have never seen so many happy people everywhere around me. The sun just never stopped warming us. I think I spent more time in the sea than on the land. For sure. It was beautiful, it was perfect. If I would have died on one of those days, I would have died as a happy girl. Ok, no jokes about dying.

July was wonderful too. Sunny. No heat waves but pleasant and warm. I still could not believe that I was in England. July was full of running days. My love for running came back to me and it seemed my legs just couldn't stop moving. It was my holidays time too. Holidays while, really, my work was already like holidays. Double win. Norway trip, seeing my special guy.

August went quickly. The weather changed. Look at me all I do is talk about weather, ha. Brittish trained me well, I'm blending in with locals. Another holiday. Can life even get better? Sark was magical. Dom, friends and dolphins. How lucky I am! And on top of that we got beautiful weather in the end of August so everybody were happy bunnies once again. Beaches, sunshine, swimming.

September took a while to accept. Because the autumn came very quickly. The smell in the air changed, the wind breeze was different and we lost long bright evenings. Like a child returning to school I was quite sad. Took me a week or two to accept it. And then it came joy. Of falling leaves, the change of colours, and my favourite-harvest. Free food everywhere. Making blackberry jam, sloe gin, picking apples, trying some hazelnuts. Oh, what a joy to live in the countryside. The rhythm of life changed too. Energy became different and there was this little breeze in the air of new adventures. That feeling of excitement mixed with sadness of leaving this beautiful place.

And here I am now. Nearly ready to leave. Physically and psychologically.

I must say I could have not picked better place to be. I know, it's not the surfers side of Cornwall and it's not the sunset beaches too but hey, it's stunning here. And remote. Beaches in the middle of the summer with heat waves nearly all for yourself. Just few screaming kids and definitely no stag dos (sorry guys!). Off beaten Cornwall. The walkers paradise.

It's been a pleasure, Cornwall. I shall be back one day.

Ligita


Reminds me of Sark!

Took this photo without realizing the message on the rock, ha! Penzance

too curious...

traffic


beautiful Mevagissey, never got bored at staring  at the fishing boats

beautiful yurts at Cotna Retreat. Check them out, beautiful accommodation to stay in the summer!


Cotna Fest and their cute pond stage

gathering flowers for mandala card

exploring windy Boscastle with Vanessa, what a day!

admiring Boscastle

my little jungle garden <3

Birthday cake for Rachel

Charlestown



in love with Polruan, I think it's my favourite cornish village

between Fowey and Polruan



Falmouth

love it!. little cafe in Falmouth!

after so much talking I finally had my kimchi sushi...

Constantine Bay

Treyarnon Bay

in love with Treayrnon

beautiful autumn day at Porthluney Cove


my favourite- Vault Beach


St Ives

look at the sand colour, what a place- St Ives

St Ives again, ha