‘Someone who enjoys life’
German traveller, 72, seeks out adventure at every turn
Eberhard Rizakowitz gets around.
The 72-year-old bespectacled resident of Berlin with a toothy grin and grey/black grizzle of a beard estimates he has visited 50 or so countries, some several times.
He is not a typical tourist that hops on a bus to see the sites. The gregarious German gentleman, known simply as Hardy, likes his travel to have a strong physical and adventurous component.
So, a five or six hour hike is common.
Mountain climbing is a treat. River rafting in the Grand Canyon was a memorable splash.
Cross-country skiing in the North Pole in 1999, he recalls, was the most thrilling of his many adventures.
Sure, he considers himself an adventurer and world traveller. But the man with a passion for globetrotting has a more modest way of describing himself.
“Someone who enjoys life,’’ he says matter-of-factly.
He just likes to explore, he explains, to see “lovely things.’’ Rizakowitz, who taught French literature at a technical university in Berlin and wrote several books on social engagement, has long been fascinated with languages, dialects and communication.
He started with ham radio at age 16 and has used the popular hobby and service that brings people, electronics and communication together ever since. “It is very personal,’’ he says. He always carts his ham radio along on his travels as he has this month on his first visit to P.E.I.
Rizakowitz has his radio, complete with a collapsible 10metre antenna, set up on the deck of the Aloha Tourist Home in Charlottetown, where he is staying as a guest.
On Canada Day, he will hop aboard the Bark Europa, one of the nine tall ships sailing into Charlottetown.
His fourth time aboard the Europa will see Rizakowitz spend six weeks voyaging around northeast Canada for a very hands-on sailing trip.
He still has a number of travelling adventures to check off his bucket list, perhaps most notably a trip to Pukapuka, a coral atoll in the northern group of the Cook Islands in the Pacific Ocean.
“I want to go to Pukapuka – a very remote place.’’