The weather has not really got better, but at least it is not raining any more. There was still no blue sky over the Brandenburger Tor though :-( The Federal Chancellery and the Reichstag were on my itinerary today... but I must...

The whole day was rainy, so my guide - Olaf Gollnow - could only show me the distinctive sights of Berlin from the car. On the other hand, I could see a world city in a relaxed way, and process historical milestones in German...

Yesterday I set off for Berlin, and made a short stop in Erfurt. After spending the night in the Best Western Hotel, I gave myself the treat of a little walk through Erfurt before travelling on to Berlin. Sadly the Erfurter Dom...

The rich country Iceland, like the even richer Norway, wants to hunt whales again - for food. The island state has been committed to the Moratorium (International Whaling Commission) which sets the quota for commercial whaling to...

I can no longer understand the current developments on the worldwide financial markets. Dow Jones, FTSE, Dax etc. are reaching new record highs, despite the unsolved geopolitical problems still looming. The indicators that I know...

After my stay in Porto, today I continued to Braga and Guimarães. Braga proudly claims to be Portugal's religious capital. But at the same time, there are so many students living here that it calls itself Europe's youngest town...

After my time in the Azores, I am now visiting Porto and enjoying the last days of summer this year. The city in the north west of Portugal lies on the banks of the Douro near the Atlantic, and has around 350,000 inhabitants....

The last day at sea began very quietly - hardly any contact with animals. In early afternoon then small swarms of fish (probably mackerel) and loud bird calls in the vicinity. It did not take long for the first dolphins to swim...

After the eventful day yesterday, today it continued with schools of Atlantic spotted dolphins and bottlenose dolphins. The animals were in a very playful mood. I had a nice experience when my snorkel fell into the water and a...

In the last weeks there have seldom been sperm whales to be seen before Pico, but this morning the Vigía da Queimada sighted some. It did not take long before we saw our first sperm whale. It was a mother whale with her child. I...