Memories and hints of a travelling IT professional.
The Selva Negra Ecolodge is located close to Matagalpa, Nicaragua. Its name sounds well-known for a Germany if you translate it: selva negra means black forest or Schwarzwald. In the 19th century immigrants from Germany created a coffee plantation there and gave it a name from their former home. Today their descendants still own this place and run a wonderful business: sustainable farming and eco-tourism.
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The Finca Lindos Ojos is located at the Miraflor Natural Reserve northeast of Estelí, Nicaragua. That is up in the mountains with sometimes rather cold temperatures, but also with beautiful forests and amazing nature. Nearest village is La Cebollal and in this area different fincas exist that welcome tourists. Lindos Ojos is special, as the three houses have been built in the style of northern Germany. It is not only the horseheads on the roof and the style of half-timbered houses, also inside you’ll see pictures of different regions in Germany. Why is that?
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The Hotel Barca de Oro is a classic backpacker hotel in Las Peñitas, Nicaragua. The village surrounding it is a classic fishermen’s village and when you’re up early enough you can watch them going out in their boats and returning with the catch of the day in front of the hotel. Next to it the natural reserve San Juan Venado begins and you can observe the water of the Pacific ocean rise and sink during the day.
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The San Simian Eco Resort is located at the shore of the Laguna de Apoyo west of Granada, Nicaragua. It is run since 2011 by a Swiss expat and offers only five cabañas distributed throughout a wonderful garden. There you can go swimming in the clear and warm lake inside a volcano crater, take a canoe tour on the laguna, you can just relax inside a hammock or spend your day by watching birds, monkeys, squirrels or discovering all the fruits and trees around you.
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The Hotel El Arca de Noé is the perfect starting point for a trip to Nicaragua. Located in the city center of Granada it is situated in a former colonial house with a garden in its center. Once you’re overwhelmed by the hustle and bustle of the streets you can enter this oasis and relax in one of the many hammocks or rocking chairs. The rooms are all located around this patio and in the mornings they serve you breakfast there: either the traditional Gallo Pinto (beans and rice) or pancakes with bananas.
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Due to a change in the flight schedule of Aeroméxico we had 25 hours of layover in Ciudad de México. The perfect option to have a look on the capital city and to warm up with Latin America. But where to spend the night? There are two hotels inside the airport building, but staying there is costly and you probably can’t get out of the hotel easily. Fortunately, there is the Fiesta Inn close to terminal 1.
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If you’re going on a business trip to Frankfurt you can decide to do it the standard way and sleep in a shiny modern business hotel. Or you go for the crazy option and book the 25hours close to the main railway station. Yes, the red light district is not far and the atmosphere surrounding the hotel isn’t the best – but the hotel compensates that with lovely decorations, unusual facilities and great food.
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Germans have been very creative in the past on how they name their settlements. You can find many funny names and many international references on the map. In East Frisia you can walk from America (Amerika) to Russia (Russland). At the Baltic Sea you can enjoy Brazil (Brasilien) as well as California (Kalifornien). If you want to visit Canada (Kanada) you need to go to Thuringia; Norway (Norwegen) and Egypt (Ägypten) can be found in Lower Saxony. And there are different Cameroons (Kamerun) in this country, the one I like most can be found in the Wendland.
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I chose the Hotel Arthur mainly because it was a rather cheap hotel in contrast to others nearby and because of the fact that it is located close to the main railway station of Helsinki, Finland. When I arrived I was nevertheless quite surprised: it is rather old-fashioned, partially in a bad state and the elevator comes from a different century. And it is operated by the local Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA). If you need something more beautiful book somewhere else, if you just need a cheap bed for the night this is your place.
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When you’re travelling by train to Köln you might want to have a good hotel close to the railway station. I was struggling with that different times until I checked-in at the Savoy. It is located on the rear side of the main station and you need to exit towards the Breslauer Platz. From there it is only a short walk to the hotel entrance which makes life really easy.
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