Bermuda: guide for non-millionaires

What to do in Bermuda if you are not a millionaire? For, man, you have to be one to live here!

This is why for the simple tourists whose last name does not appear in Forbs list the best way to visit Bermuda is on a cruise ship. Of course, it still somewhat limits your time – the ship is only there for 2.5 days – but saves a lot on accommodation and food. It even comes with another big plus – not only food on ship is free, it also is better. Most local eateries will only offer a variety of pub fare, burgers and sandwiches. And if you are hoping for freshly caught seafood – well, then we are back to paragraph one: you have to be a millionaire. Local production is close to 0 and everything is imported. And this is the reason for unreasonably high prices. This does not explain however outrageous price for local seafood. But then again, why not to rip off tourists anyway?

Back to the Bermuda itself – it is THE most beautiful island (actually a group of 181 islands) in the Caribbean.

Well, strictly speaking, it is not in the Caribbean but in Sargasso Sea – but it has to be compared with something, right? And boy, do we have the right to compare as over the time we have been on almost all the islands in the Caribbean.  Bermuda offers THE best beaches…

…picturesque villages…

…and gorgeous little bays and harbors. So if you are a beach lover, an artist or a photographer – it is the place you want to be.

If your hobby is shopping, come to Bermuda if you really have nothing better to do with your money (I guess we are back to paragraph one again).

If you like party – be prepared that the life (at least in Dockyard) dies pretty much together with sunset.

So hurry up and be done (whatever way you are usually done with party) before the sun goes down. You might find some confused die-hard party people browsing local pubs in search of signs of life after sunset. But nothing much reliable can be found out here. It could be different in other parts of the island but after the public transportation closes for the night the taxi drivers feel free to ask for whatever number they saw in their dreams while waiting for the next victim. 

And of course – there is the fishing as my personal weakness, you can do it almost everywhere for free (on the beach, from the rocks, from the bridges)…

Or if you have extra money you can take a boat and catch some big ones on the reefs off shore. 

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Koguva village. Muhu island, Estonia.

We spent to fantastic days on Estonian Saaremaa island. On the way back there was one more place we wanted to visit: we heard that Koguva village has retained much of its ancient authentic flavor. Koguva is located on the Western side of Muhu, just a few kilometers from the causeway linking the island with Saaremaa so the detour will not be long and it for sure is worth it.

We left the car on the parking lot (the rest of the village is closed for motorized vehicles) and walked towards the sea. In the port we saw something reminding of carcass of an Indian wigwam or Saami skin tent. 

Soon we understood why this wigwam was here, in port: the wooden sticks are used to stretch and dry traditional fishing net called mõrd - fyke. 

Drying fyke

Mõrd represents a series of concentrating wooden circles with nets forming  cones inserted into each other. After a fish swims in through its wide side and then through the narrow tip it cannot swim out. It can only enter the wide side of the next cone and so forth. We were able to see how mõrd is is intended to work: there were two birds trapped in it and we helped them find their way out.

Traditional wooden boat - no plastic! - and still sails.

Another victim of  fyke - trapped dragonfly

Snacks for the long winter

At Koguva port

At Koguva port

Then we returned to village. It was evening and golden evening light was pouring over Koguva streets with traditional Saaremaan fences made of rocks collected on the fields.

On Koguva streets

The reason that this particular village has preserved its appearance, could be due to the fact that as early as 1532, while serfdom prevailed elsewhere as late as 19th century, in Koguva, lived yeomen  - free men, who were freed from serfdom. This could have made Koguva such a remarkable place.

This is not a museum of wooden architecture, nor it is a movie set: all the houses are alive.  Just look at the thatched roofs made of dried water reed and neatly stored firewood drying for the winter. 

In Koguva, there are many buildings that are centuries old, dating back to the times when the islands were under Swedish rule, and are still in use today.

Unlike the boat we saw at port, this one does not sail anymore and is only used for decoration. 

Even the moss seems to be centuries old

Koguva textures: thatched roofs, wooden walls, neatly piled firewood and mossy fences made of rocks.

This one is old, but not yet ancient

They say Muhu is an "island were time rests" - and rightfully so. Here, the time seems not to fly but rather to float.

In Koguva you can still see how the roofs were made back in the days.

Outside layer of moss and lichen growing on thatch.

Even though summer days are long in Estonia, two days were simply not enough to see everything Saaremaa and Muhu had to offer (Saaremaa and Muhu Tourism associations showcase more attractions on their sites). We had to hurry to the ferry and then drive back to Tallinn.

If you happen to spend a few days in Estonia, take your time to visit the islands. The best advise we can give is 'avoid weekends'. When driving from the port of Virtsu on Saturday there will barely be any passing cars, but a lot of oncoming traffic. If you are lucky to come here during the weekdays, you will be lucky to see Saaremaa and Muhu at their best - quiet, peaceful islands where the time sleeps.

Of course, if anyone if planning to visit Estonia, please, let us know, ask any questions, we are happy to help!

More on Estonia: Pirita Convent, Kadrioru Park, Communist monuments at Maarjamäe castle...

Câmara de Lobos

This small town has always intrigued us: located near Funchal, it was promised to be a typical fishermen's village that became popular thanks to Sir Winston Churchill.

As to typical fishermen's village, we were not exactly buying it as so many times "typical villages" – be it fishermen's, Bedouin, Indian – ended up looking more like a movie set with hired actors. The jeeps were parked behind "Bedouin huts", "kids playing in the mud" had brand clothes hidden under the bush and "tribal chief" was secretly peeking at his mobile phone. In other words we were skeptical about the authenticity of fishermen.

The Churchill legend however seemed way more probable: British presence on Madeira has been strong for the last couple hundred years. It started in the times when half of the world was shaded green (for some reason this was the color most cartographists picked for Great Britain). After having served their tour of duty in the Caribbean, India or Africa British functionaries from colonial administration were happy to return home. But happy they were only until the arrival of winter as they were not anymore resistant to cold. As the first cold winds started blowing they were on a search for a new home: in a warm place yet civilized and not too far from Britain.

Madeira with its mild climate (+15⁰C wintertime and +25⁰C summertime) was ideal.

British founded Monte – summer refuge in the mountains 800m above the sea level, took export of Madeira wine to a whole new level making it popular worldwide, so why not to believe that Sir Winston gave good exposure to this village?

First, as according to the map it was only a few kilometers away from Funchal (walking distance for us!) we decided to walk there. Not a good idea (well, unless you are not on a cruise ship and have more than a couple of hours and muscular legs). On the positive side, at least we learnt that "a couple kilometers" in Madeira is different from "a couple kilometers" elsewhere. Mountainous terrain makes distances shown on the map longer with winding roads, ups and downs, blind bends… Plus, if you are traveling by public bus you need to foresee time for the driver to exchange local news at every stop.

But that's a story for another day.

Eventually we walked till Lido – more modern part with spiffy hotels – gave up and took a cab. We were happy we did: 15€ each way seemed a fair price to pay for the ride that took us good 15 minutes (yep, that's "a couple kilometers" in Madeira!). Alternatively one of hop-on / hop-off buses (blue color) can take you there but if Câmara de Lobos is your only destination then taxi will be quicker, more efficient and not that much more expensive (hop on buses are 12€), especially, if there are more than 2 in your group. Of course, interurban buses can also take you there but we could not quite figure the way to read their timetables. However you are welcome to check out Madeira public transport site and let us know how it goes.

The driver suggested to pick us up but when told we did not know how much time we were going to spend there he got surprised that someone might wish to spend there more than an hour. This was not too encouraging but we decided to stick to the plan.

The taxi dropped us off near Churchill Pub that was at that time closed but we were optimistic it was going to open later in the afternoon. Next to it was Churchill's balcony – the vantage point that Sir Winston chose for his watercolor landscapes.

And I am sure you would agree – the man had a good eye for viewpoints:

From the balcony we could see colorful fishermen's boats with drying bacalao – salt cod – so at least, we thought, these actors knew what the fish looked like.

 The name of the town literally means  chamber of the wolves and its history deserves a mention too. The legend has it that the Portuguese discoverer João Gonçalves Zarco (who is credited with the discovery of the Madeira Islands) chose the location of the modern town for the very first disembarkation. He assessed the perfect natural conditions: a cliff forming and amphitheater shape that would protect ships from Atlantic storms. So Câmara de Lobos could very well be the very place where a human set his foot on Madeira.

Upon arrival Zarco and his men also found a large colony of marine animals – sea lions or lobos-marinhos (sea wolves in Portuguese). Apparently sea lions were either looking very important or were communicating so loudly, that they reminded seamen of the members of câmara – municipal chamber. So they baptized the city with this pejorative term: Câmara de Lobos - Municipal chamber of Sea-Lions.

I would like to illustrate this part of the story with some pictures of lobos. Alas, this species of monk seals now live only in a small colony on Ilhas Desertas – uninhabited islands that are a protected Nature Reserve and constitute a part of Madeira archipelago. This is right, contrary to the popular belief Madeira is not just an island but also a part of archipelago named after its biggest island.

So even though you cannot see monk seals in Câmara de Lobos anymore, fishermen, as we found out, are more than real.

It was midday so the morning part of their job was done: nets taken out, cleaned and hung to dry, fish delivered to the market – time for some social life. And there they were: sitting on the benches on cute little plazas, they were playing dominoes, commenting the game so loudly and emotionally that we had no doubt: these fishermen were real. The hired actors would have been fired for scaring tourists away with their loud exclamations. Good thing we could not understand what exactly they were screaming at each other!

Walk along the boardwalk to snap the views of the city with agricultural terraces in the background.

Make sure you take the stairs to the upper level of boardwalk leading farther along the coast. You will be rewarded with view of Cabo Girao, one of the highest cliffs in Europe with the village of Ribeira Brava bravely climbing up its slopes.

After walking up and down the narrow streets the idea of having a fresh seafood lunch seemed more and more appealing. To our disappointment, we could not find anything. There were a couple of bars where fishermen were gulping vital energy. There were a couple of sandwich places. There was a rather modern looking restaurant that had a couple of seafood dishes advertised on the menu – not the abundance we were hoping for, and anyway it was closed. There even was a churrascaria – Brazilian Steakhose – not something we were hoping to find at fishing village…

Losing hopes and growing appetite we headed back to Churchill's pub, but it was closed, too. According to local custom, there was no sign with opening times so it could be in a couple of minutes, couple of hours or even months – till the season starts. We had no way of knowing.

As the hunger was growing we decided to return to Funchal for lunch.

From the Churchill's balcony we gave the last look to the colorful boats, white houses and drying fish of Câmara de Lobos.

Located so close to Funchal and glamorous hotels of Lido, it has somehow kept its rough charm and was not turned into another manicured resort for rich and famous. But maybe this proximity was something that actually helped this village freeze in time.  Tourist buses only stop here for half hour, crowds of tourists snap colorful shots and disappear towards other attractions. Those with money opt for the glam of comfortable modern resorts… And fishermen of Câmara de Lobos keep drying bacalao on their colorful boats, playing dominoes, shouting and drinking poncha…