Where to go to May abroad
MAY HOLIDAYS WE WAIT with no less impatience than the New Year, but unlike the winter, the spring weekend is traditionally divided into two short periods. This year we rest for four and three days, respectively, which means there are two chances to go on a short trip somewhere nearby. We have already told where to patriotically spend the May in Russia, and now we recommend options for those who are not averse to going abroad. About the merits of spring Berlin, Tel Aviv, Helsinki, Abkhazia and Serbia with Montenegro, we were told by people who know the area firsthand.
Helsinki
Those who have a Schengen, the easiest way to get to Helsinki. Residents of St. Petersburg, most likely, will do it without our advice: it is common for them to go to Finland for the weekend. You can take a bus, high-speed train "Allegro" or a ferry that takes you to the Finnish capital overnight. The easiest way to find accommodation is to book a place in a pleasant hostel like Erottajanpuisto Hostel or Eurohostel. In addition to shopping at COS (let's be honest, we all run to this store first thing when we go to Europe) there is something to do in Helsinki: there are many beautiful modernist buildings in the city, including the hands of Alvar Aalto - around them and you should plan your route. For example, on May 1, Finnish students arrange to wash the monument of the nymph Havis Amanda to Vappa, and then put a student cap on her. May Day in Finland is largely a student holiday. Be sure to drink in the bohemian Kallio, swim to the Suomenlinna area with the same name fortress and look at the Hietalahti flea market. Those who managed to escape more than three days, can again take the ferry and get to Tallinn.
Helsinki is an ideal city for a couple of days in May. Over the past three years, residents themselves have reworked it so much that sometimes you think about moving. I advise you to look for an apartment in Kallio - this is an area on a cliff. It is very moving, with small bars and coffee shops: my choice is Good Life Coffee and Sandro's. Fashionable brunch served in Siltanen - a sort of local "Solyanka", where on weekends there are parties. In Helsinki, you have to go for a walk and ride a bicycle, for example, to the old docks or to the supertourist harbor with ferries departing to Stockholm. By the way, from here, every 30 minutes, ships leave the Suomenlinna fortress, where you can safely spend half a day: climb through the old bastions, lie on the rocks and look at the city from the side. Next you need to go to the Teurastamo food cluster in the former maritime warehouses. This is a public grill in the yard, a lot of shops and democratic restaurants, the atmosphere and people for five. I advise you to try already become a legendary Rosburger. In general, in a small Helsinki 5 Michelin restaurants, if you really want something special. Most of them are in the Design District, where you can also take a walk around the local shops of affordable product design. So to say, made in Finland with a pride. You should also go to the public sauna Kulttuurisauna, which two years ago made and opened the architect Thomas and his wife. From here it’s convenient to sign right into the sea, the locals do it. And open the swimming season at the same time.
Tel Aviv
Tel Aviv is Israel’s main party place, and May is the ideal time to go here: you can swim in the Dead Sea all year round, but at the end of spring no droughts or heavy rains threaten. The pace of the day is quite leisurely: it is worthwhile to divide the time between old Jaffa, the port, the beach, walks past the bauhaus buildings and excellent hummus and falafel. Evenings are well spent on the waterfront - there the city appears in all its glory. Nightly bar-hopping can be practiced just as slowly as day walks: places in the Florentine area or the same Jaffa are open until the morning, so that those who still have strength by the end of the day will be able to meet the sunrise on the sea. From Tel Aviv you can go on a day trip to Jerusalem - not everyone can roam from bar to club.
The first thing to do in Tel Aviv, to feel the city, is to go through almost all of its central part along the sea: from southern Jaffa to the northern port of Namal. In Jaffa - the Arab quarter of Tel Aviv - be sure to try your favorite Middle Eastern dishes: Shawarma, hummus, babaganush and falafel. And also look at the Ha-Pishpishim flea market, where even if you don’t buy anything, be sure to take a couple of colorful photos. Take a walk through the narrow streets of the oldest part of Tel Aviv, where, according to legend, Noah's Ark went, make a wish on the alley of your zodiac sign (while running three times along this lane) and on the way look at a couple of local galleries - they are in Jaffa on each step. A walk along the embankment from Jaffa to Namal takes about an hour: take a breath of fresh air, admire the beautiful people walking their dogs and playing sports, and best of all, rent a city green Tel-O-Fun bike and take a ride with the wind. The old port of Tel Aviv (Namal) is remarkable for its beautiful wooden promenade, where it is nice to sit, relax and be sure to try the local frozen yogurt, which will replace the most hearty breakfast for you. Every Friday, from morning to afternoon, an eco-market runs near the hangars, where you can buy fresh Israeli-made products. On other days, there are always open various cafes and shops. If you move to the east from the port, you will find yourself in the largest park of the city - Ha-Yarkon.
On the second day in Tel Aviv, go deep into the city - to the old railway station Tahana, in the area of the first Israeli settlers Neve Tzedek, on Nahalat Binyamin Street (on Tuesdays and Fridays there is a hand-made fair) and the most lively and beautiful Rothschild Boulevard with his houses in the style of Bauhaus (by the way, in one of them signed the Declaration of Independence of Israel in 1948). The evening can be spent either in one of the noisy bars, they are literally at every step, or a good restaurant with large portions and delicious wine, and, for example, in Tel Aviv’s cinematheque where author’s and documentary films are shown. And you can go to one of the city theaters, for this Hebrew is not always necessary to know. In the center, Susan Dallal dances the world-famous troupe of modern Israeli ballet Batsheva Dance, in the small Cameri theater, performances are performed with subtitles in Russian, English and Arabic languages, and in order to experience the amazing atmosphere of the theater of the blind and deaf and dumb, you can go to Lagat.
Abkhazia
In Abkhazia, neither a visa nor advance planning is needed: you can easily cross the border even by car, and finding where to stay will not be a problem even now. Despite the fact that the summer madness on the beaches of Gagra has not started yet, be afraid to choose a place a little further away from the resort town - when you can still go on a semi-wild and completely deserted beach. You should not count on a 5-star holiday, the local "guest houses" and the old sanatoriums are quite austere, which is more than offset by the hospitality of the local, delicious fruit and wonderful nature. The consequences of military operations are still visible in Sukhum and Pitsunda, but despite the political difficulties, the situation is rather relaxed. In May, there are already quite comfortable conditions for a beach holiday, but do not linger in one place: the Caucasus is incredibly beautiful, and the standard tourist set of horseback rides to waterfalls and mountain lakes and excursions to New Athos is really not that bad.
The main thing is to abandon the idea of "Soviet recreation" in Pitsunda. Pitsunda is a place where in the first ten minutes of a walk you get tired of offers to take a picture with an owl and try a delicious melon. In addition, there are dirty, uncomfortable, and many Russian families. A beautiful fountain in the form of dolphins can be seen by dropping into Pitsunda on one of the lazy days when there is nothing more to do. The right place for dislocation of holidays is Sukhum, the capital of Abkhazia. This is a large and beautiful city with beautiful beaches at the former military sanatorium, with a magical botanical garden, which has a bamboo alley and a rather broken-down monkey nursery, which remained from Soviet times. Sukhum is located in the center of this incredibly picturesque country, so that it can be conveniently reached any other city. For example, in New Athos - see a beautiful monument to Soviet education in the form of an underground carriage leading to the Athos caves. In addition, Sukhum is an excellent intermediate point on the way from Russia to Georgia. Abkhazia as a whole is a giant museum of Soviet history, which is very interesting to explore. And at the same time - a memorial to the fallen during the war in the 90s: Abkhaz women still have not removed their mourning clothes, and the walls of buildings in the bullet holes. This is an important part of the story, read about it and be respectful.
Serbia
You can safely go to Serbia without a visa and on an empty stomach: you will be fed so tasty, plentifully and cheaply, that you will definitely want to come here again. In addition to gastronomic pleasures in Serbia there is where to go and what to see. There are many museums, parks and Orthodox churches in Belgrade, for example, the Church of Saint Sava is one of the largest in the world, so if you are close to Orthodoxy, the capital of Serbia will definitely like it. In addition to Belgrade, it is worth going to Novi Sad, where the most relaxed music festival in Europe is "Exit". Let the May festival itself not be, but it will be possible to properly study the Petrovaradin fortress, where it passes, and at the same time the Fruschka Gora national park.
It’s easiest to start exploring Serbia from the capital, Belgrade. The city is small and substantially losing to the main tourist centers. It does not have the grace of Prague, the palaces of Vienna, or the multicolor Barcelona. But I have not seen a single person who would leave Belgrade without falling in love with this city. His magic is dissolved somewhere between lanes, cafes and conversations in public transport. He is fascinating. And this is a fact.
To get started, go to the old fortress Kalemegdan, it leaves the pedestrian zone - the street of Prince Michael with restaurants, galleries, bookstores and boutiques. Further, it is impossible to go past Skadarliya - the bohemian-restaurant artery of the city, concealing many wonders. Here houses are painted with views of non-existent streets. In the twilight, this parallel reality becomes so obvious that more than once people turned into painted alleys and got on the nose from the stone wall. The pain of frustration is beautifully dulled in a beerhouse in the same house. Fortunately, beer, atmosphere, people - everything is real. The restaurants on Skadarlija are expensive, but there the most authentic food and the Hungarian-Balkan ensembles sing and play especially for you. However, to eat in Balkan, without exception, delicious, you can in almost any restaurant in the city center. National food is cooked in every institution and they don’t know how to do it badly here. So wherever it says "restaurant" in strict letters and there is no "Italian" or "Chinese" addition, you will find huge portions of meat dishes, a sharp ear, homemade hot bread and raki. Of the latter, dunya, stitch or casia is especially recommended - it is a quince, plum and peach moonshine. A distinctive feature - it is drunk as spring water, the head does not hurt the next morning. Girls recommend any local wine. Those who prefer to stay in hostels in Belgrade will not be offended. Nice and cozy are in the houses framing the area of the main station. This is the case when you can get more than just a bed. You will see how beautiful in these houses are the ancient entrances with internal balconies and wells. Moreover, in almost any apartment you are happy to be invited for a cup of coffee.
Serbia is a plain with cozy towns in the Austro-Hungarian style in the north, forests and mineral water resorts are in the center of the country and mountains in the south. In those mountains, he founded his settlement Emir Kusturica. The famous director bought the land and built several houses, which eventually turned into a cultural center, where Johnny Depp and Jim Jarmusch come to the festivals. The rest of the time, peasants live and work here who were filmed by the master in the films as models. This tiny town in the town of Mokra Gora for Kusturica became the embodiment of his dream of a primitive Eden. In an interview, he repeatedly complained that on tour, where he spends ⅔ of life, he is settled in the best skyscrapers of hotels, and he absolutely does not want to sleep when there are 48 floors of iron and concrete under it. He managed to escape from the dictatorship of metal and transnational corporations to his village, where he happily receives guests. Here everything is proportionate to man. Instead of frilly choir - simple village houses. It does not sell Coca-Cola, instead of it - the juice of blueberries and strawberries, collected on a nearby hill. Here the streets bear the names of Fellini and Nikola Tesla, here goes the steam locomotive that was shot in the film. And here you are always happy to take and tasty-tasty feed. As, however, and everywhere in Serbia.
Berlin
It's nice to go to Berlin at any time of the year, even in the autumn slush, and even in the spring and even more so, provided that you have a valid Schengen visa. In May there is a great chance to run into compatriots in the Reichstag area and the Jewish Museum - keep this in mind if you have come to take a break from your homeland, and not to make a military pilgrimage. It’s even embarrassing to talk about obvious things in Berlin, so take it as an axiom: if you have never been there, you need to go there. In addition to the non-stop parties in the Friedrichshain quarter, relentless techno and the best doner in your life in May, you can get to the exhibition of Ay Weiwei at the Martin-Gropius-Bau exhibition center.
The disadvantages of Berlin are its advantages: it is a poor city, and therefore cheap and free. Destroyed during the war, thirty years divided into two independent parts - and therefore terribly diverse. Love modern architecture? Walk on Mitte. Want an adventure? Rent a bike and go see the squats in Kreuzberg or Prenzlauer Berg. Come shopping? Everything is on Kudamm or Alexanderplatz. In extreme cases, you can dance the whole night under old school techno in an abandoned industrial workshop, and then take the train, go somewhere to the western outskirts of the city and quite accidentally discover Le Corbusier's “Residential Unit” there. In my opinion, the only thing that should not be done in Berlin is eating terrible German food. Better to try kyufta in Charlottenburg.
Montenegro
Since the separation of Yugoslavia and Serbia did not get the sea, it is better to go to Montenegro for bathing - here, unlike Croatia, a visa is not needed. In general, the beach season on the Adriatic Sea begins rather in the middle of May, but at the beginning of the month the beaches are still completely deserted. You can rent a car and go on your own to explore the country, having traveled to the ancient city of Kotor, the old Budva, the Ostrog monastery and Skadar Lake. By the way, the water communication is well established between cities, and if you order a tour from home, you can sail to Venice without a visa.
Freedom and lightness are, perhaps, the main feelings that Montenegro causes when you come there for the first time, and which make you go there again and again. In May in Montenegro, the buzz is: it is already very warm, but there are no countless crowds of tourists. Take the car and arrange yourself a mini trip. Enjoy the sunny squares of Herceg Novi and tune in to the serene mood. Get lost in the labyrinths of the streets of Kotor, try to count all the local cats and be sure to eat cake in the cafe to the left of the main entrance to the old town. Ride along the Adriatic coast in search of a better beach. Budva, Petrovac, Sveti Stefan, Bar - everywhere you should spend at least half a day, eat seafood and drink wine. For nature and gorgeous views, climb the mountains, for example, to the Lovcen National Park, and go to Skadar Lake. The main thing - do not hurry. Learn from the Montenegrins, they know how.
Photo: Masha Kushnir, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, via Flickr