Cinqueterre, Italy

I got lucky and won the office-mate lottery; for the last year I’ve shared my office with a friendly Italian whose parents happen to have a summer home near Cinqueterre in north-west Italy which (in my opinion) is one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever been on my travels. The original “Cinqueterre” (or “five lands”) consists of five villages perched on steep terrain near the Mediterranean Sea The first time I was in Cinqueterre was over ten years ago on my first solo trip to Europe and I vowed to somehow make it back. One long weekend, a cramped 8 hour ride each way with five adults in a Panda, beautiful weather, delicious Italian cuisine, swimming in the sea every day and some hiking made it a successful return to the Italian province of Liguria.

Our own deserted black-sand beach within walking distance of the house.


House by the sea

The header picture is a view of the town of Vernazza from above. We hiked down into town and this is the view from ground level.

More Vernazza. The surrounding steep terrain means real estate is at a premium and the cemetery stacks coffins on top of one another:



Funny rocks on every rooftop. I never figured out if they were simply decorative or had an actual purpose.


Sign for the authentic restaurant we ate at one night.


Five people and four nationalities (although the two Italians claim Northern and Southern Italy might just as well count as two separate countries). In this photo we have Northern Italy, Turkey, South Korea and Canada represented. If you think this might have led to some cultural misunderstandings over the weekend you would be right…;)

A light lunch of delicious Italian foccacia

Enjoying the Italian espresso


Mermaid at Framura harbour

Berlin Mitte

Time for highlights from another ultimate tournament. This one is BUM – Berlin Ultimate Mitte, a cool beach tournament which takes place in the heart of Berlin. It’s a neat use of some real estate which was freed up after the fall of the Berlin wall (20 years ago this October). The S-bahn trains run right under the fields and shake the ground a bit, so I’m guessing that the area wasn’t approved for housing…. In the background is Berlin’s “Wahrzeichen” (claim to fame is best translation I can come up with), the famous television tower or Fernsehturm.

It’s so famous they even print discs with it:

A remaining piece of the wall; a constant reminder of Berlin’s history.

The fall of the wall is definitely a defining moment in the minds’ of Germans and it’s one of those things people talk about, as in “what were you doing at the moment you found out the wall fell?”, kind of like the way people talk about JFK’s assassination or the Apollo moon landing.

Another leftover section of the wall in all its ugliness.

A preserved portion of the “death strip” with search lights.

The tournament itself was fun and I played with a plucky pick-up team. We lost all of our games except the last one, which I guess was good to end on a high note!

Here are a bunch of us out on the town, sheltering from a thunderstorm that just broke out. Lots of smiles despite the rain. Our local-Berlin ultimate player and tour guide Nici is in the middle with the “I heart Kreuzberg” shirt, which is a funky area of Berlin.

Hard to believe it, but after the storm the sun came out and made this church glow a beautiful red:

Some people were a little bored and wanted to do posed "model" shots:

Uh, I think you’re missing your mouth Roman…

Not my team, but these guys are crazy wearing toques in the heat!

Thanks to Katja for most of the people pictures!