diff --git a/content/blog/7.2023-august.md b/content/blog/7.2023-august.md deleted file mode 100644 index e2cd78cf..00000000 --- a/content/blog/7.2023-august.md +++ /dev/null @@ -1,208 +0,0 @@ ---- -title: "August 2023: Türkiye, Bulgaria, North Macedonia and Albania" -description: "What I got up to in August in my open-source work and my travels." -publishedAt: '2023-09-01' -aside: false -ogImage: - component: Newsletter - props: - image: /august-theth.png -tags: - - newsletter -newsletter: true ---- - - -In August me and my girlfriend continued travelling, getting to 4 new countries: Türkiye, Bulgaria, North Macedonia and Albania. - -A typically morning was waking up and trying to piece together the details of where we even where, we were moving fast -after Greece. - -We did a quick detour in Türkiye, then the many cramped and sweaty bus getting around the Balkans. - -I was surprised to still manage to get 109 hours to work on open-source, but I was starting to feel the burnout of -managing work and travel. - -## Open-source - -::div{class="grid sm:grid-cols-2 gap-3 sm:gap-8 sm:my-15 my-5"} - -:ScoreCard{label="⭐ GitHub stars" :before="6295" :after="6543"} - -:ScoreCard{label="⌛ Hours Worked" :before="204" :after="109"} - -:ScoreCard{label="💸 MRR AUD" currency :before="1212" :after="1240"} - -:ScoreCard{label="💸 Per Hour AUD" currency :before="6.23" :after="11.76"} - -:: - -The highlight of the month was getting out [Unhead v1.3](https://github.com/unjs/unhead/releases/tag/v1.3.0) which included -some significant performance improvements. - -I continued work on Nuxt Scripts, trying to figure out the scope of the project and how it would work. - -The rest of my time went to maintenance of [Nuxt SEO](https://nuxtseo.com). - - -## 🇹🇷 Türkiye - -Our first day in İstanbul was massive, exploring all the stunning Mosque's. You can easily hit up 5 mosques and only walked -a few kms. - - -
-Fatih Mosque, İstanbul -The Blue Mosque, İstanbul -
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- - -We stayed in a locals neighbourhood and hit up the family-run restaurants. I didn't know at that point, but I'd be eating -some form of "kebab" and drinking Turkish coffee every day for the next month. - -Safe to say, I also took advantage of the Turkish sweets. - - -
-Kebab, Lahmacun, Pide -İstanbul sweet shop -
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- -After being thoroughly mosque'd out, we headed to the famous "balloon" town Göreme within the Cappadocia region. - -Göreme is stunningly scenic little town that is an Instagram tourist haven and in turn is a bit of a tourist trap. -But we still enjoyed it! - - -
-Well-endowed rock formations, Gorkundere Valley -Sunset at Göreme -
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- -We did a full-day hike through Rose valley, coming across - impressively well-endowed rock formations, historical abandoned cave churches and a friendly dog -who guided us. - -This was one of my favourite hikes, we had the trail almost entirely to ourselves, it was scenic and exploring the caves with -our new dog friend was fun. - - -
-Start of the Rose Valley hike -One of the many abandoned cave dwellings -Rope climb featuring a friendly dog -Walking around inside an abandoned Cave Church -
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- -The balloons were expensive, so I decided to skip. But I did hear good things and the ground view -itself was pretty impressive. - -Göreme Sunrise Balloons - -## 🇧🇬 Bulgaria - -Bulgaria was the start of -the Balkans for us, which meant I was in for a lot of cheese pies and more kebabs. - -We did a quick couple of days in Plovid, which had a nice old town and some interesting Roman ruins. Then we were -off to the capital city Sofia. It had some interesting architecture and a nice park. - - - -
-Government of Bulgaria, Sofia - -
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- -From Sofia, we went to do Seven Rila Lakes hike, which was one of our highlights. - -The hike is a chair lift, followed by a 3-hour ascent to the peek. Along the way you'll see 7 lakes, each at a different altitude. - - -
-Start of the Seven Rila Lake hike - -One of the lakes of the Sven Rila Lake Hike -
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- -It was a fun hike, everyone had brought their dogs along and had picnics at the lakes. - -You get to the peak, and it's a stunning view - if the clouds aren't blocking it. - - -
-Seven Rila Lake Hike Waterfall -Seven Rila Lake Hike Top Very Foggy -
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- - -## 🇲🇰 North Macedonia - -We spent a couple of days in Skopje, a city characterised by an excess of modern statues and monuments. Many of them -artificially made to look historical. - -Archaeological Museum, Skopje - -A nice day trip from Skopje is Matka Canyon, you can do some nice hiking, lake swims and kayaking. - -Matka Canyon Hike - -The rest of our time in North Macedonia was spent in Ohrid, a beautiful lake town. It seems to be the holiday destination -of choice for anyone in the Balkans who doesn't have easy access to the coast. - -Every night we were there, there was a festival on the lake, with fireworks, music and rides. - - - -## 🇦🇱 Albania - -We didn't know much about Albania beforehand, we had heard good things from other travellers though and we were excited. -They told us about the friendly locals, and it was beautiful nature. - -Our first stop was Gjirokastër, Albania. Gjirokastër is a UNESCO world heritage site, with a classic old town and castle. -We got a good workout climbing up to the castle, which had some nice views. - - - -We also did a day trip to the Blue Eye, which is a natural spring that is a stunning blue colour. You can jump from -a few metres up into the water, which was fun. - - - -From there, we hit the coastal town of Himarë. Himarë is one of the remaining chill beach towns in the Balkans, that -hasn't been completely overrun with tourism development. - - - -Our last stop for Albania was the Northern town of Shkodër. From Shkodër -you can go and stay in the Albanian Alp town of Theth. - - -
-Theth Mountains -Theth Mountains -Theth Mountains -Theth Mountains -
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- -We spent 4 days in Theth, doing the Volbona pass hike and chasing waterfalls. It was really cosy and relaxing to be surrounded by -the mountains, it was a good recovery from the fast pace of the Balkans. - - -
-Cow in Theth Mountains - -
-
- -## September Plan - -- 🚌 Montenegro, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Croatia, Slovenia, Hungary, Czechia