Video Postcard From Vancouver, Canada

I am sending you a postcard from my new favorite city, Vancouver. What a wonderful trip! I feel a special connection with this city, I guess because it reminds me of my sweet home San Francisco with its cozy yet dynamic atmosphere. Like any relationship, romantic or otherwise, there are good days and bad days so Vancouver is sharing with me both its sides: a sunny perfect one as well as the rainy one. And you know, both sides are just incredibly beautiful in their own way. I was so completely charmed by its poetic views from the top of the mountain during a peach colored sunset. I am made speechless by the beauty of both the city and the country around it.

Postcard From Vancouver from Nadya's Side Of The Road on Vimeo.

Grand Canyon On A Cloudy Day

It was a very long drive. My hubby and I undertook this insane drive for one reason only, so we could see the Grand Canyon on our way to a family event in Albuquerque, N.M. Such a beautiful and breathtaking place on Earth I couldn’t imagine, and I certainly didn’t expect to see what I saw. For the first time I truly saw by myself that there is no limit to the Earth. It was one of the most calming and pleasant experiences of my life. At first I was almost disappointed by cloudy and rainy weather, but the view was even more dramatic and unique. 

The Cold Winter Streets of Old Riga City

During my long visit to Jurmala this year, I only spent couple of days in Riga so I didn't take my usual hundreds of pictures. I am going to mix what I did take with the pictures I shot during my last visit to Latvia two years ago. Riga doesn't change a lot. It just got a little bit more expensive and crowded with tourists but the Old Town remains incredibly beautiful and charming with its narrow streets, impressive churches, old-fashiond houses and art nouveau architecture. Winter makes it even more special with its invigorating spirit and the sweet aromas of tea and mulled wine with cinnamon. 

Visiting Jurmala In Winter

Frankly, I worried a little that I would miss San Francisco, but this one month in Jurmala was just not enough. And now, sadly, my winter holiday in Jurmala is over. The whole month, like an hourglass, poured away the minutes smoothly and uninterrupted. I was very happy to spend this precious time with my parents and sister. Jurmala, as usual, pleased me with fluffy snow and hard frosts. Every morning I was waking up in a new snow-white fairy tale, feasting my eyes on the rimed trees and dancing snowflakes. 

Video Postcard From Jurmala, Latvia

I'm sending you a postcard from my sweet home, Jurmala. Always such a treat to visit my parents and sister over here. I miss this place. It keeps much of me, many nice warm memories with my family and friends. This year I came back to Jurmala in winter when the town is so beautiful and shiny in its puffy coat of snow! All day long I am walking along the icy beach and then my favorite thing to do is to stop by a little cafe and have a cup of tea or mulled wine to warm my hands. It's melancholic and quiet... Just what I need after a long busy year. I wish you could see these snowflakes dancing in the air.

Postcard From Jurmala from Nadya's Side Of The Road on Vimeo.

Maui Film Festival at Wailea

Maui Film Festival is a special event for a variety of reasons, but one of those reasons towers above all the rest, The Celestial Cinema. Located on the justifiably famous Wailea Emerald Golf Course is basically a shallow grass amphitheater with a 50’ screen with a digital sound system. The amphitheater’s official capacity is 3,000 (although I suspect average attendance is around 1,500.) It is the main venue of the annual Maui Film Festival which draws over 1,000 submissions per year from around the world. Those are the facts.

Puerto Vallarta, A Town With The Charm of Old Mexico

It's time, finally, to tell you a bit about the town of Puerto Vallarta. It's impossible not to fall in love with this wonderful old town with cobbled streets and white houses covered with red tiles. This town completely reflects the romantic charm of old Mexico.

But back in 1963 no one knew anything about the place. Locals were mainly involved in fishing. But then one day the fishing village woke up famous when Hollywood director John Huston filmed "Night of the Iguana" with Richard Burton and Ava Gardner at a location close to the town.

Hacienda de Oro - Restaurant and Botanical Garden

In search of something genuine amongst the touristic chaos, we found a wonderful botanical garden in the middle of the jungle! Great place to start a Valentine's Day, isn't it? If paradise was decorated in a Mexican style, it would look exactly as Hacienda de Oro. Surrounded by a flourishing garden in the middle of lush jungles and spectacular mountains there is even a lovely river running through it. By the way, you can swim in the river, but the water was icy cold and I didn't have the desire! Hacienda itself is a Mexican restaurant. During our stay in Puerto Vallarta I enjoyed a lot of great Mexican food, but the Hacienda de Oro offers some seriously excellent local fare.

Escape from Puerto Vallarta to Yelapa

Let's face it, Puerto Vallarta is a tourist destination and nothing is going to change that. Despite the fact that the old city and the older part of the city known as the Romantic Zone still retain the charm of traditional old Mexico, many areas of the city do not. What used to be pristine and lonely beaches to the north are now buried under an endless stretch of hideous time shares and hotel 'resorts' where on a sunny day tourists roast like hotdogs packed onto a too small bar-b-que. Kind of disgusting. It's one thing when a hotel is built somewhere in a big city or artfully placed in a beautiful location, but when it is more about paving over an entire paradise...this is a monstrosity! 

Whale Watching In Puerto Vallarta

I really didn't expect that I'd be lucky enough to see these huge animals jumping out of the water so close to me. It was definitely my lucky perfect-picture day. One more childhood dream came true. It was actually our last day in Puerto Vallarta. The morning was quite overcast and cool. The color of the ocean was black as resin, nothing was visible in its murky depths. The boat was very small and it could accommodate only 12 people. We could only sit there. It didn't sound like fun at all and the weather was crap, but we decided to roll with it. 

Margaritas and Sunsets in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico

One of my favorite things to do in Puerto Vallarta is to go to a locals beach bar, order a huge Margarita and watch the sunset with my man of my life. The beauty of this particular bar is that for some strange reason tourists seem to avoid this place. You pretty much only see locals there. I love being around locals. It was cool to watch how fishermen were preparing for another night out in the open ocean and watch local kids playing football. It looked so normal and cheerful to see children playing football on the beach. They do not have computers and iPads, they have the sand, a ball and the colored sky. These kids still know what real childhood fun is!

Casa Amorita, Puerto Vallarta, Mexico

Mexico was in my must-visit list for forever! After all, I always wanted to know what is Mexico, a country of tequila, love, mariachi with their guitars and sombreros? To my big surprise, we landed into a gray rainy day that is very uncharacteristic for Mexico in February. When I saw this gray picture 15 minutes before landing, a whole range of horror and panic displayed on my face. Do you know this painting "The Scream" by Edward Munch? This was my face! Yes, the gray ocean and the gray hills were a huge surprise to me! But we took our sour lemons, and we bought tequila and salt and tuned into a more positive mood! The truth is it is better to have rain in the paradise rather than sun in the city!

Pu'uhounua o Honaunau, The Big Island, Hawaii

Pu'uhounua o Honaunau is a National Historical Park. 

A beautiful and spiritual place surrounded by lava fields! A wonderful place for a walk in the early morning or late afternoon when the sun is not straight above your head. Anyway, have a hat or umbrella with you will help to enjoy this place. We were here for about an hour and a half exploring the area, ancient ruins and Hawaiian history. There were few people with us so basically we had the whole park to ourselves. It's hard to imagine that Hawaiian royalty had this amazing place just to themselves for several centuries. 

Must-Visit Beaches on The Big Island, Hawaii

A (sort of) Secret Beach 
Out of respect to the locals I won't reveal the name of this beach online, but I will say it's one of the most beautiful and private beaches on the island. We found this beach suddenly just because we had a feeling a quite rough road through a lava field must lead you somewhere nice. And as always we were right and very lucky. This beach became our own spot for the rest of our vacation. We loved it there so much. Basically we were alone on the beach all day every day. A couple of local families would spend some time on the beach during the afternoon and that's it. Well, we had few more friends swimming with us - adorable turtles! They basically were our hosts there. 

Video Postcard From The Big Island, Hawaii

During my trip to Hawaii, I also created few video moments. I hope you'll enjoy them.

Postcard from The Big Island, Hawaii from Nadya's Side Of The Road on Vimeo.

The Best Food on Hawaii, The Big Island

One of the best ways to eat on The Big Island is to cook for yourself. The Island offers wonderful farmers markets and fish markets at least on Kona side of the island. My husband was very excited to grill basically everything he could find: steaks, fish, lobsters, chickens, pineapple, mushrooms, papaya... And it was delicious. Every evening we would eat on our porch at Tara Cottage. We also would advise everyone to visit Costco which is located right next to the airport. Very convenient and you can save few dollors, especially on beer, wine, etc. You can also score on locally grown veggies and locally caught fresh fish, especially tuna, Mahi and lobster tails.

Tara Cottage, The Big Island, Hawaii

- "I want to go home to Tara!," Scarlett O'Hara pleads. And now in the same way I beg: "I also want to go home to Tara!"

Tara Cottage became our home for 9 nights in South Kona of the Big Island of Hawaii. And we want to go back there so badly!

Angel Island: A Perfect Weekend in San Francisco

Angel Island is a perfect day trip, where the journey to the trailhead rivals the hike for sheer relaxation and beauty. It's better to start this day as early as you can. A few Friday's ago my husband and I spent the whole day on the island (plus it's cool to take a special day off from work and escape!) We took the ferry to the angel Island from Tiburon for $13.50 per person which included admission to the island itself. Very short but gorrgeous boat trip. Angel Island is so beautiful! We had such an amazing time walking around and enjoying nature. It's a true heaven for hikers and bikers. Weather was fantastic... a little fog in the morning, then sun and blue sky in the afternoon. Definitely check out the immigration station. 

Pigeon Point Lighthouse

The Pigeon Point Lighthouse is a majestic one. Well, being the 2nd tallest on the American west coast, it should be majestic! A few years ago, when Robert and I were driving to Santa Cruz from San Francisco, we saw this lighthouse out of the blue. We didn’t expect to see this beauty on our road. It was a great surprise. Then a couple of weeks ago, we were back there because I decided to shoot a video about this place. But for the first time we found this lighthouse in the fog. Oh, well. So I started to shoot anyway. I love fog. The video and photos are a little bit melancholic, but I think it describes the exact character of the lighthouse. You almost can feel how many stories have been lived out there.

Point Of Light from Nadya's Side Of The Road on Vimeo.

Video Postcard from BELIZE | The Secret Island

With all respects to heaven, I like it here...

Sometimes there is nothing easier than to open a map, close your eyes and rub your finger ... This was a beginning of planning our memorable trip. At first it didn't seem possible. Despite the fact that the country Belize is a relatively poor country the costs of travel and accommodation are sometimes not cheap. But, as often happens to us, we were lucky! :)

Postcard from BELIZE | The Secret Island from Nadya's Side Of The Road on Vimeo.

June is the start of a mad heat and the rainy season in the tropics. All the weather sites were predicting rain every day, thunder and lightning! I was mentally preparing for the fact that all days I would spend in the room, listening to the rain ... But! Rain and thunderstorms were all around us, but not where we were! :) We hardly believed our luck! But from the beginning...