by Mark | Aug 21, 2013 | All-Time Favorites, Deep In It
Say what you will. As slow travel veterans, we have come to appreciate this staple of city tourism. We arrive in a city determined to know it — to walk, live, eat, shop, and cultivate a deep understanding. These city bus tours offer the opportunity to do the once around and orient yourself to a place. Hear the historical overview and pinpoint places for future probing, while snapping pictures and visualizing the directions and locations of key places. City tours are generally reasonably priced, and we like that.
One of our first slow travel experiences and city bus tour was in Granada, Spain. That one gave you 48 hours to get on and off. We planned it so we could visit some out of the way places like the Science Center while we got our bearings in the city. The cost was 17 euros.
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by Mark | Aug 21, 2013 | All-Time Favorites
The most (possibly only) tiresome part of slow travel is finding apartments. Sure, if we had unlimited resources or even just lots of money, it might be one of the more fun aspects. But for us, it usually involves a lot of searching and then hoping. Funky apartments can be charming.
We have found some good ones in our slow travel journey. Our apartment in Cuenca, Ecuador, pops to mind. The people we rented from in Crucita, Eucador, knew the people in Cuenca, so as we were ready to leave the beach we had a nice three-bedroom, 6th floor, modern apartment, close to the centre, to rent for $850/month. Of course we had struggled to find the Crucita house. Finding good beach rentals in Ecuador is challenging.
Those gems pop up, and we’ve enjoyed our share. The funky apartments are memorable as well. For example, we were in Berlin for our son’s graduation and planned to slow travel to spend some time with him. We focused on the Neukölln neighborhood, at the time a Turkish area with a thriving weekly market. The neighborhood was in the process of gentrification with new bars and restaurants opening almost daily. Rents were low and the variety of value-priced restaurants amazing, which made it a cool place to live.
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by Mark | Aug 21, 2013 | Deep In It
Antigua, Guatemala – San Pedro Church & Hospital & Volcán de Agua
Slow travel demands flexibility. For example, earlier this year we had planned to stay in Oaxaca, Mexico, for a few months, get some work done and take Spanish lessons. For a decade or more we had heard about this beautiful city and after a few days there, we understood.
Street scene in Oaxaca, Mexico
As background, our arrival in Oaxaca was preceded by a month of travel, at the end of which we were tired, overspent and anxious to settle down and work. (more…)
