Slowly more signs of appearing autumn are noticeable, even at Lake Ohrid, with heavy rain showers, which already have increased the level of the lake quite a lot, the now multicolored forests seem to disappear in the clouds.

Serbia only is about five times the size of the German state of Schleswig-Holstein, but different vegetation zones, animal worlds and cultures meet in this country. Many Serbs still live in a deeply connected relationship with their own nature.

Everyone knows about their biological association, as well might remember about a special experience with the huge birds to report about which others will not describe as unusual.

When visiting Turkey don’t be surprised by the large number of cats and dogs you will notice in the streets of the cities. If you find a kind of earring in their ear means they have been checked by official professionals so they are in good health condition and have been vaccinated against rabies.

Swallows live, apart from Antarctica, on every continent, like these ones from Lake Skutari / Albania, so they are really nothing special one would like to say.

In the eyes of ordinary people, our garden may look unusual - you will find neither lawn nor rosebushes nor garden gnomes. Instead, sparrows land on the table begging for crumbs. A wren once got lost and landed on my shoulder taking time to rest.

To find and photograph some of the ancient ruins along the road from Manavgat to Side was our aim, when we notice a Chameleon trying to pass the road. Thanks to their typical movement of walking, which does not really show too much of effect of reaching other side of the road, we quickly stopped for help.

Chocolate – One of the first things we think about when choosing a destination during our tours is always to point out, explain, and photograph the special features of the place. Of course, because what could be more important in the spirit of the travel and culture portal alaturka?

Marienbader Wafers - During our visit to Cheb's pedestrian zone, formerly known as Eger, we also met the small shop of the so-called Kolonada Oblaten, the traditionally baked round wafers with chocolate filling.

Our days in Marseille were coming to an end and we still hadn't been able to try the bouillabaisse that is so famous in Marseille.

Our walks or rather hikes in the region around Lake Garder had already brought us a little closer to the giant parasol mushrooms, a type of mushroom that we had not previously had on our radar.

Honey is considered a healthy, aromatic sweetener that is used in many recipes around the world, not least because it is much healthier than beet sugar or even sweetener.

We were on our way to the Turkish metropolis of Izmir by bike, and our starting point was once again the small campsite in Güzelbahçe, where there is already an impressive infrastructure for cyclists along the coast that we hadn't expected beforehand.

We arrived in the south of Germany in time for Easter, where on Good Friday we had already informed ourselves extensively about the custom in Franconia of decorating the village wells with pine greens and blown out and then hand-painted eggs.

You probably don't necessarily have to be a wine drinker to enjoy wine as a grape. Whatever the reason, there are things that are not so easy or even impossible to explain.

Hardly any national cuisine is free of influences from the neighbourhood or even from far away. Dutch cuisine also has strong overlaps with the cuisines of neighbouring regions.

In almost every international cuisine there are similar recipes, sometimes with completely foreign names, sometimes just the form is completely different than previously known.

After our extensive and sweaty mountain hiking tour, Rino invited us for a refreshing drink in a mountain village during the descent.

Our friend Silverio invited us to dinner over the weekend because he wanted to show us his city and especially his cooking skills. For years he has been dealing with local cooking customs, some of which can be traced back to the ancient Romans in their recipes, and even partly reflect their recipes and eating habits.

In our article "Almost a national dish - Hamsi Kizartma" we reported on the fish dish of fried anchovies, which is particularly popular on the Black Sea and the Aegean coast and was served to us by the Senyer family during our stay in Istanbul.