Travelling in Europe

The tiny Fiat 500 is still all over the place in Sicily

Travelling in Sicily: part 2 – Museo Archeologico, Villa Romana del Casale & Morgantina

May 25, 2017 Hansonthebike 3

Reading Time: 5 minutes   Ragusa’s museum After five days in Sicily’s Ragusa, it was time to move on. But not before we checked out a tiny path running through a ravine near the old town. The path itself is not very well used but we found it on OpenStreetMaps. It also is not long and it passes some more caves and former graves. Youth was hanging out there and we had a little chat with some of the kids. While the path continues further we went up and emerged at the top near the Archeological museum. The museum is worth a visit, but very old fashioned [Read more…]

View on Old Ragusa, or Ragusa Ibla

Travelling in Sicily: part 1 – the south east World Heritage sites

May 23, 2017 Hansonthebike 4

Reading Time: 9 minutes Karen and I prefer to go on holidays outside the high season. Why not when nothing ties you to the school holidays? Our preferred month is April, when Ottawa tends to be pretty dreadful, with temperatures around the freezing point, rainy, windy, some wet snow and this year even flooding. But the choices are limited. Yes we could go to Chili or South Africa, but the less we can fly, the better. Plus, I’d like to see my family in the Netherlands once a year, so the options (I am not complaining) are limited to Southern Europe, particularly Southern Spain, [Read more…]

Guest Post: Kelly Roche's impressions on Frankfurt and Wiesbaden Transportation

July 29, 2013 Hansonthebike 0

Reading Time: 4 minutes Two years ago, I was interviewed by Ottawa Sun reporter Kelly Roche at the opening of the Laurier bike lane. At that time, the Ottawa Sun was fairly hostile towards cyclists,  (but not Kelly) complaining about the cost of bike infrastructure for ‘a handful of cyclists‘ (760,000 bike trips have been counted since the opening at the Metcalfe intersection counters alone). The total numbers are even higher as not everyone passes these particular counters. Not much of a wedge issue Over the last two years, The Ottawa Sun’s attitude appears to have changed. Of course, we know that newspapers like so [Read more…]

What if the Swedes Would Own Chaudière Island?

March 5, 2012 Hans on the Bike - Ottawa, Canada 4

Reading Time: 6 minutes As you already read in the previous post: Of Post-It Notes and Tapestries, many of the Ottawa residents saw the Chaudière Island as one of the key elements in meeting the ideas and expectations that Canadians have for developing the Nation’s Capital into a world class capital. I have biked around the place and it is really a gorgeous spot, waiting to be developed, now the pulp paper industry is retreating. What about Chaudière Island? For those who don’t live in Ottawa: Chaudière Island has a collection of buildings, some as old as 100 years and built with natural stone, [Read more…]