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Day 13 – 14: Ngor Island and Dakar (Senegal)
Our last couple of days in Dakar were fairly mellow and served as a nice way close out our trip. On day 13, we took a half-day trip to another island off Dakar’s northern coastline. Ile de Ngor was our destination and a motorized pirogue took us there (5 min ride – 400 meters off the mainland for 500CFA). The island’s main features are its Surf Camp and numerous restaurants.
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Day 10 – 12: Lompoul Dunes, Gandiol and Saint-Louis (Senegal)
Lompoul Dunes On Saturday morning we set out for a weekend long adventure planned by our friends Philippe and Charlotte. On the itinerary were Lompoul’s Sand Dunes, a pit stop on the water near Gandiol and the northernmost city of St Louis – which all sounded fascinating. We left fairly early due to traffic and made it to Lompoul about 4 hours later. Getting out of Dakar and its immediate suburbs was an adventure in it of itself. Once again the road was buzzing with commerce, all types of vehicles (overloaded buses, cars, motorbikes and street vendors). Bumper to bumper traffic for the first hour is putting it lightly.
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Day 9: Dakar & Île de Gorée (Senegal)
So we made it to Dakar (Senegal), on Day 8 via Madrid. Our friends Philippe and Charlotte picked us up at the airport and brought us back to their spacious apartment for our first yummy dinner. This morning we finally got our first glimpse of Dakar as we made our way to the port for a day trip to Ile de Gorée.
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Day 6: Lausanne (Switzerland)
Lausanne, now here’s a city that knows how to pack a punch full of character! We took a day trip to this wonderful Swiss town by taking the Ferry from Evian. It’s a 35 minute ride that would take your breath away on a sunny day. We were not as fortunate but decided to make the best of our day’s visit. Lausanne is Switzerland’s 4th largest city (pop 135,000), and it is located within the “French” part of the country.
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Day 5: Évian-les-Bains (France)
Evian, so much more than just a pretentious water brand. Today we finally tackled this old town via a historic tour and found it to be a gem nestled along Lake Geneva’s waterfront. This medieval town dates back to the 12th century and it’s also the birthplace of Evian natural mineral water which trickles down from the Alps. The wild thing is that the original source/well is still an open tourist site and anyone can just drink from it or fill up a few bottles.
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Days 3 – 4: Geneva & Evian (Switzerland & France)
It was exactly a week ago that we were hanging out in our friends’ backyard in Astoria having farewell drinks and appetizers. It’s hard to believe we’re now a few days into our journey with a couple more exciting days logged into the books. Yesterday we made our way into Geneva (capital of Switzerland, super financial center, pre-UN League of Nations, WTO, mega-retailer of Swiss chocolates, Rolex, Cartier, etc…); it’s a beautiful town situated on Lake Geneva – ultra clean and orderly.
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Day 2: Chamonix (France)
What a day! The sun finally surfaced and really made our day in Chamonix an awesome experience. Chamonix, home to the Mont Blanc – the top European peak at 4,800+ meters (and home to the 1924 Winter Olympics). Typically this town and its fierce mountains are an ideal winter play-land but summer here is not bad either. Our main attraction was the Mer de Glace, a 7 km long glacier that runs 200 meters deep (it’s the biggest one in France). In one word: sick!