Skyfall or the Scottish Highlands

If you are a fan of James Bond you already know that on the last movie, Skyfall, they go to the Scottish Highlands. But what you may not know if that the Highlands are even prettier when you see them live. I mean, in the movie it looks nice, it is presented as a place where time doesn´t go by, where technology hasn´t really arrived (??) and where you can find beautiful old houses.

I personally love the Highlands. I can have some peace there, enjoying the surroundings, in a quiet and beautiful place. I like going there specially in spring and autumn (fall for my American friends!). And why is that, you might be thinking. Well, those are the two seasons when nature changes the most. In autumn the trees display amazing gold, red and brown colours, the sun is low, and the sunrise and sunset are incredible.

In spring the skies tend to be blue more often (c´mon, it is Scotland in the end...), the trees are jewel green, full of flowers, and everything around you seems to be waking up from a long sleep. I promise you, if I had the money I would buy a house there and spend weeks over there.

In this post I just want to show you some photos from my last trip to the Highlands, last October. We were lucky enough to have beautiful blue skies and it was even hot! In Skye people were just wearing t-shirts, I thought it was crazy Scottish people because, let´s tell the truth, they wear t-shirts in January when it is about to snow. But it was actually hot!

I hope you enjoy this selection and soon I will post more about the trip to the Scottish Highlands and the amazing B&B where we stayed, with views to the loch and the mountains.

I hope you liked today´s post and thank you very much for reading!

Bee

Barcelona has Gaudí, beat that!

That Barcelona is a beautiful city full of good restaurants, nice beaches, and amazing shopping we all know. But what makes Barcelona special is Gaudí. Without Gaudí Barcelona wouldn´t be Barcelona, no wonder why they are so proud of having his artwork in the city!

When you see his work it is difficult to imagine it came from a person who lived at the beginning of 1900. All his work looks so modern and current, it is mesmerising. The colours, the structures, the curves and the mosaics, every single piece is beautiful on its own and a masterpiece as a whole.

When you first arrive to Park Güell you know it is going to be special just by looking at the first buildings you see. Rooftops only seeing before on Disney films, peculiar materials and amazing shapes.

Park Güell has plenty of places to sit and enjoy even a whole day there. From time to time you can hear people playing music, from Spanish guitars to violins. If the weather is as beautiful as the day I took these photos, don´t worry, you can find benches on the shade!

But a great architecture is not all Park Güell has to offer. From here you can see some of the most amazing views of the city.

And from here it is possible to spot the Sagrada Familia, the most visited monument in Spain.

The construction of the Sagrada Familia started back in 1882 and it is not finished yet. It is considered a minor basilica as there is no bishop (Catholic church hierarchy, but for buildings!) and it is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

The queues to get in are awful, I am not going to lie. So if you want a piece of advice, buy the tickets online and pick them up from the office, much much faster! 

The basilica project keeps going thanks to donations from people from all around the world, and hopefully it will be finished by 2026 - 2030, so maybe we are lucky enough to see it complete! 

These two places are not all you can visit from Gaudí in Barcelona, but to me there are two of the most special ones. One of the good things with Gaudí is that you will recognise one of his buildings when walking along the street. The design and the style are impossible to miss.

Thank you very much for reading!

A Stroll in Sarajevo

Around five years ago I decided to change my life in quite a drastic way. Found a job, packed my stuff, and a month later I was in my new city: Sarajevo.

Did I really think much before taking the decision to move there? No. 

Did I know what I was going to find? No. 

Did I care? No.

For me it was the first time living in a country outside Western Europe, and I was 50% surprised in a good way, 50% surprised in a bad way to what I found there.

Living in a certain place is not the same as going on a quick holiday. When you live there you face reality, and for me reality in Sarajevo was not finding Danone yogurts, sliced bread, bacon and even certain medicines. You may think this is stupid, but when you try to go shopping and can´t recognise any of the products you buy, go back home and the next morning try to drink what you thought was liquid yogurt and head to work without any food in your stomach and with an awful taste in your mouth, in that precise moment is when you realise how much you are going to miss certain things.

I was shocked by the little amount of things supermarkets had, plus quite a few things out of date as well. 

That and going to the balcony on the first day of my new life and seeing the building on the right full of bullet holes. I mean, I knew there had been a war and that it was really bad, but I can say now, without a doubt, I wasn´t expecting it to be THAT bad.

I can talk for hours about my experience in Bosnia, the things I learnt from it, the things I rather forget but I can´t, the good, the bad, the really good, the really bad... I stopped counting the number of times that I asked myself if it was a good decision, and don´t take me wrong, everything that opens minds, teaches things and broadens horizons is great. But, and this is a big but, with the information I have now, I wouldn´t have gone on the first place.

To me, the number of bad experiences was bigger than the number of good ones, even nowadays when I try to recall only the good ones. By saying this I am not trying to convince you not to go. If you are looking for a weekend away I will totally recommend Sarajevo. If you are planning to live there... I wouldn´t.

Sarajevo has plenty of things to see, it is the city where the Archduke Franz Ferdinand was killed, and his dead led to WWI. It is the city of the three religions, muslim, catholic and orthodox. It is surrounded by mountains, from where you can get great views of the city. It is the city where West meets East.

And it is also the city of war. The war in Bosnia was one of the first to be on TV all the time, and the images we could see, and the information provided where so awful, Sarajevo will always be linked to it.

But it is a pretty city. When you learn to forget about its scars, you can see its traditions and modern ways mixing throughout the city. I loved having traditional Turkish coffees in some places, and cappuccinos in others. When I was there, MacDonald´s and Burger King where not there yet (I think there is a MacDonald´s there now), which made the city even more appealing. 

Ok, I stop now. I just wanted to show you guys some photos of Sarajevo before I write more in depth posts about it. I hope you enjoy the images!

The men in the last photo were always there, under the rain, the snow, the sun... always playing a never ending game of chest. Even today, this photo is one that warms my heart. I will never forget their eyes, their faces, their expressions...

Thank you for reading!

Oviedo, a Fairy tale city in the North of Spain

It wasn´t me who said Oviedo is a fairy tale city, but I totally agree with it and I will show you why. When somebody like Woody Allen says that about the city where you´ve lived for a while, and that you love, it makes you really proud. You know you are a lucky person for being able to see all this beauty often.

"Oviedo is a delicious city, exotic, beautiful: it´s as if it didn´t belong to this world, as if it didn´t exist at all... Oviedo is a fairy tale!"

Woody Allen 

Although these days I don´t go home as often as I would like to, when I go I always stop in Oviedo. Some of my friends live there, my hairdresser is there (I know, I may consider finding one in Scotland at some point...), and I know at least three places where you could spend a day just eating different pastries! 

What I love the most about Oviedo? The architecture, the Parque de San Francisco, the Cathedral with just one tower, the food, the cider... To sum up, I love everything! 

I think I already mention this in this post but, just to make it clear, in Asturias it rains a lot. That why it is so green and beautiful. The good thing is that when the sun is out, we are the happiest region in (probably and without any exaggeration) the world. 

The square where the City Hall is located is a perfect place to enjoy a refreshment, or you can also pop in the nearby market and buy any of the fresh products they sell. Just opposite the market, there is a little square where you can enjoy some cold cider (sidra) too. 

I just to lived just by the orange - red building that you see on the second photo, and it was great. It is perfectly located, close to everything, and surrounded by great bars and restaurants. Even a singer from Asturias mentions that street on one of his songs!

Oviedo is full of little treasures. In every street you can discover something hidden, something humble that with give you a nice surprise. That is the case with this small church, on the City Hall square.

This is the Iglesia de San Isidoro el Real. It was built in 1576 and it used to be attached to a school, but this was destroyed in order to build the market I mentioned before. It is a rated building, part of the collection of Spanish monuments. 

Another of my favourite places in Oviedo is the Parque de San Francisco. It is perfect to just go, relax and enjoy the day. There are some small kiosks where you can buy ice cream, or biscuits. When I was a kid I used to feed those to the ducks, swans and peacocks that live in the park. Be careful with the peacocks, they sometimes attack people! (Yes, really).

In this park one can find a bit of everything: areas for the kids to play, benches where to sit, sculptures by various artists, nearly 1,000 trees (some of them over 300 years old), and even a music kiosk from the end of 1800. 

As I said the food is great, very different from the one you get in the South, basically because the two climates are opposites. And the portions are great, well, they are huge! After the plate you see on the photo there was a second course and a dessert, all for around 10 Euros. 

This restaurant is located in Gascona, a street that has sidrerías (cider bars) on both sides. There is nothing better than when summer arrives going with some friends to enjoy a couple of sidras outside. The traditional way to pour the sidra is how you see on the photo, a straight arm up holding the bottle, and the other straight down holding the glass. 

Professionals like the guy in the photo don´t even need to look at the bottle or the glass, they know the liquid will end up inside the glass. Also a glass is usually share by a couple of three people, you have to leave a bit of liquid when you finish drinking. This way you can through it to the floor "cleaning" the glass before it goes to the next person.

Santa María del Naranco was going to be a royal palace, part of a bigger complex. It was built in 848 and it´s a clear example of pre Romanesque architecture. It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and the good news is that even for such an special monument, you don´t get many tourist around, so you can have the place to yourself most of the times. 

San Miguel de Lillo was a church and also part of the complex mentioned above. It is from the same date as Santa María del Naranco and it is also a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Pre Romanesque architecture is something pretty rare, and in Spain the only examples can be found in Asturias. The reason behind this is that the Arabs conquered all of Spain except for Asturias, therefore in Asturias we have no real Arab influence in the likes of art, culture or architecture.

These two churches are near the top of a mountain, which has some of the best views of the city. No need to say that these special architecture makes us really proud too. Well, anything about Asturias makes us proud...

What do you think of the views? Quite amazing, aren´t they? And the mountains behind?

As you can tell, I am really proud of my region and I love sharing more about it on the blog. I really hope you enjoy these posts, and if thanks to me you decide to go and discover the North of Spain, please let me know!

Thank you for being there!

5 Interesting Findings in Edinburgh´s West End

Edinburgh is a mysterious city, a bit ghostly at times. In winter, when the clouds are low and the fog gets in town, the sights are wonderful, you feel you are in a dark novel from the last century. In fact, I read Dr. Jekyll and Mr Hyde just before moving to Edinburgh for the first time (I moved there twice!) and when I got to the city, every single street in the West End and New Town reminded me of the novel.

The West End is one of my favourite places in the city. It is very expensive to live there, and when you see it you understand why. There are lots of things I find interesting and fascinating about the capital of Scotland, and here are 5 of these interesting findings in Edinburgh´s West End. I hope you enjoy them!

1. Old Stables turned into houses.

A friend of mine who lives in one of these told me the story. These houses used to be stables, and when you look at them it is pretty obvious. The ground floor was where the horses where kept, and the upper floor where the hay and the accessories for the horses and carriages where stored.

Nowadays they are used as houses, making a good apartment with a garage. My friends had two bedrooms and all the commodities you find in any house, although the shape was a bit funny. I just think it is great we keep things from the past making them useful in the present. And I can´t help but image the cobbled streets with people ridding horses, and carriages carrying wealthy families. Very first Downton Abbey season style!

2. Private Gardens

This is something that shocks some people, but Edinburgh´s West End and New Town are full of private gardens. This is residents get a key to them, and they can access the gardens and enjoy them. They also pay an amount of money every now and then to keep the garden in good shape, clean and tidy.

So if you are walking around the West End and feel like resting somewhere, be aware that no all gardens are ope to the public. You may need to walk more than you where expecting to find a place where to enjoy some peace surrounded by trees!

3. Robert Louis Stevenson

Yes, he was born and raised in Edinburgh, being this city witness to some of his greatest novels. He spent some of his life in the West End, where people can still see the house where he spent his childhood and the one where he was born.

He is one of the city´s heros, and no wonder. Edinburgh is the city of literature, and it is fairly easy to understand why when names like his are mentioned!

4. Upstairs, Downstairs

Do you remember the show Upstairs Downstairs? Or have you watched the above mentioned Downton Abbey? If so you might already know that wealthy people had big townhouses with three or more floors. And their servants lived right below them.

Edinburgh is a great place to see this. The whole of the West End if full of these houses (or flats) where you have a main front door and then stairs to go to the bottom floor. These days it is also cheaper to rent one of the low flats, as they are darker and less wanted than the top ones.

5. Dean Bridge and its Ghost

Edinburgh is full of ghosts. They are everywhere, in the Royal Mile, the Castle, quite a few pubs, some hotels, some private houses.... It is said Edinburgh is one of the cities with the highest number of paranormal activity! And the West End couldn´t be less, and Dean Bridge has its own ghost.

The story goes that a long time ago people witness a man jumping from the bridge. The police spent days searching for the body, as nobody could survive that fall, but they found nothing. It is said that every now and again, some people report seeing a man on top of the bridge, and then jumping. But there are never bodies to be found, and this figure keeps jumping from the bridge through the years.

Note: I used to live kind of "under" the bridge, and I have never seen the ghost :-( Maybe I was unlucky...

Do you have any other interesting findings in Edinburgh? Or anywhere in Scotland? What do you think of ghosts?

Thanks for reading!