La bella Italia – Italian trip part 2

Hi there,

I’m back in the blog! (sorry that it took so long, but I’ve been so busy and I couldn’t find the time needed to write). I’m ready to show you the next destination of my italian trip: Trento and its surroundings 😀

We left Verona early in the morning, took our rented car (with no wifi, not what the renting car agency promised) and headed to Trento, where we spent 2 days. Trento is located in the northern region of Trentino-Alto Adige, on the border with Austria, where it once belonged.

We arrived at the apartment in the morning (pretty well situated, about 5 minutes walking from the city centre), we left the suitcases and went out to discover the new city. It’s relatively small but so beautiful. We were hungry and could not find any supermarket open (it was sunday) so we walked and walked until we found a nice restaurant, very similar to a typical austrian “heuriger“, where we ate pizza along with a refreshing beer (it was so hot that day).

Yum!

Once fed, we continued walking through the city. We ended up in the Piazza Duomo (the Cathedral square, plaza), where la Fontana di Nettuno is located. Is a small colorful square surrounded by old painted buildings and beautiful cafés, where to sit and enjoy the nice atmosphere. What a lovely place!

Piazza Duomo

Cathedral and Fontana di Nettuno.

The friend I went to Italy with had some italian friends, one of them was from Trento, so we met her. The lovely and adorable Giulia, she was our guide for the rest of the days we spent in this city. She took us on a tour of Trento, walking through the streets and beautiful corners.. she also showed us the Castello del Buonconsiglio, the most important and largest monument in the Trentino-Alto Adige region. We didn’t enter, just saw it from the outside, since we didn’t have enough time to spend there.

Painted facades in the city centre

Castello del Buonconsiglio

After visiting the city centre she took us to see the Lago di Garda (Lake Garda), the largest lake in Italy. I don’t really know which words I should use to describe that place, it was just amazing!! So wonderful, stunning place surrounded by mountains. It looks like the sea, like a beach but with fresh water instead. We also had a walk through the beautiful town of Riva del Garda, where one can enjoy of the amazing views to the lake. It was a lovely afternoon 🙂

Lago di Garda

Riva del Garda

A swan in the lake

Here ended our first day in Trento, but we had one more day to visit the surrounding towns of the Trentino province. On the next day we took again the car, picked up our “personal guide” (who did an amazing job, by the way) and headed towards the mountains, to the Parco Naturale Paneveggio – Pale di San Martino (Natural park), that is divided into different areas. We focused our visit in a part of it called Canal San Bovo, that belongs to the Valle del Vanoi (Vanoi valley), which at the same time is divided into different villages. The way up to the mountains was a little bit unsettling, we all know how the roads that surround the mountains are, don’t we? So many curves, very narrow roads, but well, I guess we had to suffer all that in order to arrive to the top and see the marvelous and fascinating views and towns from up there. So let’s say that it was worthwhile to go through that.

As I mentioned before, Canal San Bovo (link in italian) is divided into fractions: Canal San Bovo, Caoria, Prade, Cicona, Zortea, Gobbera and Ronco e Cainari. The first village we stopped in was Canal San Bovo, a small village, though the biggest in that region. There was an information office, where we went to get directions to go to Caoria and Zortea, but before we continued our journey up to the mountain, we stopped in a bar to have a delicious sandwich made with a typical cold meat called “soppressa“(oh my god, so tasty). Once our stomachs were full again, we carried on with the trip, being the next town visited Prade, a very cute town with an amazing view of the mountains.

Canal san Bovo

landscape in Canal san Bovo

Views from Prade

Prade

We had a walk around it and we continued with the next one, Zortea, an even smaller village with the name of my friend’s surname (that was the main reason why we visited it). I also want to have another town or city or whatever with my surname!. It was actually so exciting to be there after listening to many stories about this place. We didn’t stay for so long, because as I said, it’s a very small village, it counts about 160 inhabitants. And the last town, very close to Zortea, was Caoria. It’s a little bit bigger than this last one, as all the others was surrounded by mountains, and contains a museum of the world war I that it was closed at the moment we were there, so we could not visit it.

Zortea

Caoria

Cannon of the WWI

New church of Caoria

But this was not the end of the day. We travelled back to Trento and we had the last meal with Giulia, she took us to a typical trentino gastronomy’s restaurant. I had a dish called “Canederli”, which are bread balls served with butter, tomato sauce and sage. And as a dessert, “Strudel di mele” (apple strudel).

Canederli

Apple strudel

That was, definitely, a great day. A day to remember.

I absolutely recommend all of you to visit this part of Italy, don’t stay just in the “important”, “famous” cities that, yes, they can be charming but are always full of people and traffic. Go to the surrounding areas, to the small towns. You will find peace, wonderful food, lovely people  and amazing views.

And that’s all for today. I hope you enjoy this adventure and discover places that you might visit soon. And once again, thank you for reading!! 🙂

La bella Italia – Italian trip part 1

Hi again travellers!

This time I will show you my trip to one of the most beautiful countries in Europe, in my opinion: Italy.

On the last week of June I took a tour, with a friend of mine, through 4 different cities of this country: Verona, Trento, Padova and Venezia. We flew to Verona, where we rented a car to travel from one city to the other. The whole trip took 6 days. I saw so beautiful landscapes, ate wonderful food and met very nice, fun and interesting people.

So, as I said, the first stop was Verona. We landed there, we went to take the car, which by the way was so difficult to get, as we had problems with the rental company, and we started our way to the hotel. We could not lose time, as we were going to be in Verona only for 1 day and night. Verona, is most known by its amphitheatre and because in it it’s located Juliet’s house, from Shakespeare’s drama “Romeo and Juliet”.

It’s a city full of charm, considered a world heritage site by the UNESCO.

We walked for 1.5h from the hotel to the city centre. It was a pleasant walk, but we were starving and it was too hot (used to live in Oxford with its cold weather..). The outskirts of the city are not really nice, but once you cross the Portoni della Bra, the gate from where you enter to the city, everything changes. Then you travel back in time of the roman empire, when you meet the Arena di Verona, an amphitheatre built in the first century AC (not sure which year). It’s now used for operas and theatre performances. The entrance is 6€, a bit expensive in my opinion, but it’s a place you need to visit if you go to Verona.

Portoni della Bra

Arena

Panoramic view of the Arena

We met here a very nice Gladiator. And very funny. He wanted to take a picture with both of us, and he explained to us a little bit of his life alternating with some funny facts, which I can’t remember anymore. Here there’s a picture of me with him. Nice experience.

After the visit of this wonderful building we walked around the city. Oh, what a beautiful city. There was music everywhere, it was like being in an italian movie. It was full of people, but still not overwhelming. The streets with their old buildings and some of their corners are charming. The smell of pizza on the streets, oh…I’m getting hungry, just remembering it. Some other streets are magic. Restaurants with their terraces, gelato and antiques shops, their vespas…There is even a mini train that shows the city!

The famous italian Vespa

Touring mini train

Cute terrace of a restaurant

And to end the day, and the stay in Verona, we ended up in the crowded Casa di Giulietta, Juliet’s house. The entrance to get in the house is a tunnel full of signatures and hearts’ drawings. We didn’t enter inside of the house, just stayed in the patio, where there is a statue of Juliet and where you can see the balcony that identifies the famous story. I think the price is too expensive (6.50€) and not too worthy to spend.

The famous balcony

And here ends the first part of that journey to Italy. I could not imagine how long it was going to be speaking about Verona, as we only stayed 1 day, but it seems that we saw lots of things. We had been awake for about 20 hours when we went to sleep. That was a long long day, but we made the most of it.

Hope you enjoy the “walk” through this beautiful city!

Next post: Trento and its surroundings 🙂

 

“Un Buen Viaje” (post in Spanish)

Hay personas que te marcan en la vida. El autor de este blog es una de las que me ha marcado a mi. Lo conocí hace casi 2 años y desde entonces ha sido un gran apoyo. Ha estado en las buenas, en las malas y en las peores. Y, a pesar de que ya no estamos en la misma ciudad, sigue estando en mi vida. Y no se va a ir.

Es inteligente, divertido y un tanto poeta. Aqui teneis su blog, leedlo, aprendereis siempre algo con él.

Buen viaje a todos 😉

“Un Buen Viaje”

 

Vienna – Part 2

Hello hello!

I will continue now with the next post about Vienna. In the past post I spoke about music and food, today it will be about art venues and distinctive places of the city.

Let’s start with it’s city centre. You will find here the beautiful “Stephansdom”, the cathedral of St Stephan, located in Stephansplatz. As an interesting fact, the famous musician Antonio Vivaldi’s funeral was held here. It’s an amazing, beautiful building of gothic style. It was damaged, as many of other important buildings, during the World War II but the damages were inmediately repaired and was fully reopened in 1952.

Everytime I entered in it I felt in peace. I used to go there when I needed time to think about my life. Even though is always full of tourists, the atmosphere is relaxed and calm. You can also take a tour through the cathedral and the catacombs, and to visit the two towers, for 5€.

Stephansdom

Crossing the “Graben”, a beautiful street full of shops, cafés and bookshops, and walking through “Kohlmarkt”, where the famous café Demel is located, you arrive to the Hofburg. The Hofburg is a palace, currently serving as residence of the President of Austria, used by the Hasburgs as winter residence. It comprises different sections, one of them consists of 2 of the most important museums in Vienna: The Kunsthistorisches Museum and the Naturhistorisches Museum, the Art’s history and Nature’s history museums.

Another of the sections is the “Nationalbibliothek”, the National Library, the largest library in Austria. Inside of the library one can find different collections, like the Papyrus museum or the Globe museum.

Graben

Hofburg

Nationalbibliotek

Kunsthistorisches Museum

Another historic monument is Karlskirche, Charles’s church, located in Karlsplatz. The church is cared by a religious order called ‘the Knights of the Cross with the Red Star’. It was built on what was then the bank of the River Wien. The history says that in 1713 the Black Plague swept through Vienna. Emperor Charles VI made a vow: if the plague left the city, he would build a church dedicated to his namesake, St. Charles Borromeo.

Karlskirche

And to finish with Vienna, I will talk to you about one of the most beautiful and magic palaces in Austria, in my point of view: The Schloss Belvedere. That palace complex was built as a summer residence for Prince Eugene of Savoy. It was built during a period of extensive construction in Vienna, which was both the imperial capital and home to the Hasburg dynasty. It consists in 2 parts, the Upper and Lower Belvedere and it’s considered one of the best baroque buildings in Austria. The Upper Belvedere is currently showing an art collection of Gustav Klimt. The Lower Belvedere places the prince’s chambers and the stables.

Belvedere and its gardens

Definitely an indispensable place to visit.

My brain is not working anymore. I hope you enjoyed that virtual tour through Vienna. If you are thinking to visit Wien or want some tips about it, do not hesitate to let me know 😉

Good night everybody!!

 

Vienna – Part 1

Hello everybody!

It’s been so long since I wrote the last post. I’ve been so busy since then; going on holidays, working, going back home and moving out again.

But I’m back and a bit more settled so I hope I will be able to continue writing in this blog more often.

So let’s go back to the blog. I travelled in May to Vienna, to visit some friends of mine and to enjoy that wonderful and beautiful city I once lived in. It brought me memories from 4 years ago. I was happy living there, it was like everyday I travelled back in times of Empress Sissi. It is charming, has lots of culture and lots of things to do.

As you may know, Vienna is the capital and the largest city of Austria. It’s considered as the City of Music, as many famous musicians, such as Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert or Mahler, worked here. In Vienna you can find many theatres and opera houses such as the Volkstheatre or the Wiener Staatsoper.

Here you can see the Volkstheater, which was built by request of the citizens of Vienna

Musikverein, home of the Vienna Philarmonic Orchestra.

Wiener Staatsoper

Another famous art of this country is the food, above all they are experts in confectionery. There’s nothing better than having a coffee and a piece of cake in one of the wonderful cafés around the city. One of this coffeeshops is the one called Café Central, in the city centre. It was opened in 1876 and it was a meeting place of intellectual people. It was closed at the end of the World Ward II and was reopened again in 1975. There is a big assortment of cakes, such as Sacher Torte or Apfel Strudel, and coffees. It’s a bit expensive, but absolutely worthy.

 

Different assortment of cakes.

Typical Sacher Torte, chocolate cake meringue based with a thin layer of apricot jam on top, coated in dark chocolate icing on the top and sides.

Speaking of food art, I can’t finish this post without showing you one of the most typical dishes of the viennese cuisine: the Wiener Schnitzel, a breaded and deep fried schnitzel made from veal usually served with potatoe salad. Delicious. And the best place where I’ve eaten one of those was in a restaurant called Zwölf Apostelkeller, an ancient cellar with an extensive wine list and candlelit dining room. Beautiful and warm.

Zwölf Apostelkeller

Wiener Schnitzel served with Potato salad

So here ends the first part of Vienna. We will see what I write about in the next post. I hope you enjoy this one anyway.

Have a wonderful day travellers!

 

Beauties of Oxford

Good afternoon everybody,

Today I’ll show you some of my favourite places in Oxford: streets and buildings..

Let’s start with one of the most emblematic places in the city: The Radcliffe Camera.

This building belongs to the University Of Oxford. Originally the library had both scientific and general books, but those collections were gradually moved to other University libraries, so that today the Camera functions as a reading room of the Bodleian Library. Just below there is an underground book-store, built in 1912, connected by a subway with the Old Library, which contains around 600,000 books.

As I mentioned in the text above, The Radcliffe Camera is connected to the Bodleian Library. Well, this is the main research library in Oxford and one of the oldest libraries in Europe. It has over 11 million writings, so imagine its extension. It’s an impressive building of beautiful architecture. The inside reminds me of the library from the movie “The Beauty and the Beast”.

The outside of the Bodleian Library

And to finish this post I will speak about the centric street called Cornmarket. Even though is always full of people, it’s one of the streets I like to walk the most. You can find almost anything: clothes, mobiles, soaps, movies and cd’s. But even full of shops and fast food restaurants is also full of art. You can listen to any kind of music, played by many kinds of people, as well as mime artists, one man dressed with a rabbit costume (a bit creepy in my opinion, but children love him) who makes soap bubbles, carol singers in Christmas.. Besides, in this street there is one of the entrances of the Covered Market, a beautiful old market where you can either buy food or enjoy having breakfast or lunch in one of their lovely restaurants inside. Or even try a Ben Cookie. But I will explain a bit more of it in further posts.

Here you can see the human bunny riding his bike

2 little artists

Although Oxford is a very small city, I could walk and walk thousand times through the same places, as all of them are charming, as the whole city is. I strongly recommend you all to come and visit this wonderful place full of magic and wisdom.

You’ll hear from me soon! Have a great day!

Oxford

So let’s start with this first post writing about the city I live in: Oxford.

I’ve lived here for 1 year and a half and I can say that this is one of the most beautiful cities I’ve ever been. Oxford is beauty, majesty and magic, from the city centre to the South Park or Cowley road.

As you all probably know, Oxford is recognised by its prestigious university. Just as interesting fact, 27 Nobel prizes studied there. The university is divided into 38 colleges, one of the most famous ones is the Christ Church college, which was served as the scene of the famous Harry Potter’s movies, being the inside of Hogwarts. From the meadows around you can have wonderful views like these:

Oxford is a city to walk, to get lost along its streets and parks, to enjoy the nature around it, to discover hidden places.

Well, this has been a very little introduction about this wonderful city. Besides colleges, Oxford has very nice coffee shops, where you can enjoy a nice cup of coffee or a hot chocolate. And parks and gardens, that I will show you in future posts, otherwise this one would never end.

Have a good day!