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I Am A Polar Bear

Travel, adventure & wellness with plenty of snow

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Category: Daycations

A Daycation at… The Nici, Bournemouth | iamapolarbear.com

A Daycation at… The Nici, Bournemouth

December 12, 2024

The “A Daycation in…” series is one I was planning to start in 2025, to showcase some of the best and most interesting places around Dorset and Hampshire, delving into what elevates something from a mere “day out” to a “daycation”. But I got started a bit earlier than planned, because Bournemouth hotel The Nici … More A Daycation at… The Nici, Bournemouth

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A Daycation at... Studland Beach | iamapolarbear.com

A Daycation at… Studland Beach

July 4, 2024

I was very excited about this – I was going for a sauna on a beach! There are now hundreds of small semi-rustic saunas on beaches and in woodlands around the country but Studland Sauna Hut was the first one I ever noticed. Back then, you either had to book it for a largeish group … More A Daycation at… Studland Beach

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Who am I?
I'm Julie, a travel, adventure and wellness blogger. I love Iceland, I love jumping into hot water and I do love a bit of snow.

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One last day in Bucharest. For a big sprawly city with some very heavy concrete architecture, Bucharest is very good at autumn. You can even hire a rowing boat. I wish this viewpoint had been a good viewpoint for looking over Braşov and the mountains and plains of the Carpathians. The trouble was that there was no viewpoint at the top of the mountain except the cable car itself and the embarkation platform, where you’re just in the way of people getting off and on the cable car. Ok, the panoramic restaurant probably has good views but only if you’re lucky enough to get one of the seats in the front window. So I stood on the platform in everyone’s way for a couple of minutes to enjoy the view I’d queued an hour to see. Two selfies from Braşov. The first is a pop-up wine bar called Stoker’s in the main square, one of the few references to Dracula in this Transylvanian town. The monstrous horse is pulling a carriage and supposed to be Dracula’s. My favourite thing about Dracula is that although he’d eaten all his servants, he still tried to give Jonathan the impression he was an ordinary rich count, so he disguised himself to pick Jonathan up from the pass and bring him to the castle and Jonathan “caught” him making beds and laying tables in a way that a man of his status just wouldn’t do himself if he hadn’t eaten all the servants. See Gothic church, go to Gothic church! I love Gothic churches and they’re a relatively rare sight in Romania, where the prevailing religion is Romanian Orthodox and the churches have a very different look to them. This one was originally built around the 14th century and took its name from the soot that was its main damage in a 17th century fire that swept through Braşov. In 2009, I set off from Bucharest in the direction of Brașov but I jumped off completely by accident 20-odd miles early and spent an unscheduled day in Predeal. In 2025, I made it all the way to Brașov but the mountains were so beautiful on the way up that I almost wanted to jump off the train early again, this time on purpose. #brasov #southerncarpathians The alleged grave of Vlad the Impaler is inside a tiny but perfect brick church on a tiny island on a lake. Nowadays there’s a bridge but when I did the reading, the done thing used to be hiring a boat from a local and rowing yourself across to the island. The reading did not mention that the second thing I’d see when I set food on the island was an ostrich. #snagovmonastery #snagov Did you know you can do a really easy half-day trip from Bucharest by public transport to the grave of Vlad the Impaler? Actually, he’s not under that slab but that’s the story. Snagov Monastery is the tiniest church on the tiniest island but it’s very beautiful and definitely something unusual and interesting to do while you’re in the area. #snagovmonastery #vladtheimpaler I see a lot of people going all the way to go to Therme București, Europe’s biggest spa. And it’s good, the Palms pool is beautiful and Elysium, the premium relaxation zone has 9 saunas. Galaxy, the family area, is too full of adventurous slides and shrieking children to spend too much time there but it’s also where they’re hiding three scented steam rooms that they call saunas, as well as the biggest restaurant. It kept me pretty busy for nearly 8 hours (buuut…. I think I’d rather go back to some of the thermes I went to in Germany at the beginning of the year than go all the way back to Bucharest just for a therme). #thermebucuresti #therme #bucharest

About Julie

I’m a blogger, adventurer, lover of hot water, amateur paddler and polar bear who wilts in hot weather.

Time (by day, I’m a researcher) and funds keep me within Europe and I make regular trips up to the north, especially to Iceland. I like the occasional adventure across Europe by train and I’m starting to make use of my weekends for 48-hour adventures.

This isn’t my only creative outlet – I’ve written two travelogues with a third and fourth being (not to much) written simultaneously right now.

Blog at WordPress.com.
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