Home to the indigenous Sami people. Home to the man who makes all our dreams and wishes come true every year. Santa Claus.
This is the land of the nightless night in the summer. In the winter it plays host to the most magical light show known to mankind. The Aurora Borealis. Also known as the Northern Lights.
Can you visit this land of fantasy …or is it just a travel myth, a wild figment of my imagination? Just like it is hard to separate the myth and the reality of its most famous resident, Lapland is a place whose existence I’ve often questioned.
Till now.
I dust off the atlas. It is there all right. The northernmost region of Finland. Lapland. A huge, sparsely populated wilderness bordering Sweden, Norway, Russia and the Baltic Sea.
It has been a place I’ve long wanted to visit. Ever since I heard about the magical phenomenon of the Midnight Sun and the Northern Lights. I was waiting for the right opportunity to present itself. This year I finally found a good excuse to visit.
As I was researching hostels to visit for the 2nd edition of my Luxury Hostels guide, one of the hostels that stood out for me was this beautiful hostel called the
So. One fine summers evening in July, I find myself in Tampere boarding a train that would take me to this mystical land called Lapland.
I had a wonderful few days in Tampere with my camera man Rui Dantas and Ville Virkki who runs the excellent Dream Hostel in Tampere. We picked wild berries in the forest. Ate Mustamakkara, a traditional local breakfast of blood sausage with cold milk. We escaped to the fringes of the city surrounded by forest land and beautiful lakes to the city’s best public sauna. We topped it all off with a visit to the highest restaurant of Finland.
So after the adrenaline gut busting ride in Tampere, I needed some chillout time in Lapland.
Chillout time started with that train journey. A very long train journey. 14 hours to be precise. Instead of taking the plane to the capital of Lapland, Rovaniemi, we instead take the overnight train that would take us to Kolari. From there we would hop on a bus and roughly 45 minutes later we would be dropped off at the gate of the hostel.
We were on the older blue sleeping-car which takes close to 14 hours. There is an express service . On the way back, we were on the express. These are brand new double decker sleeper trains with ensuite bathrooms and free Wi-Fi. With a quicker journey time of just 8 hours, the express train is definitely the more luxurious of the two and worth every penny.
So. The older trains are not everyone’s cup of tea. However if you are not pressed for time, it is a nice relaxed overnight journey. Plus it saves you one nights accommodation. In a world where instant gratification is the norm, there’s something to be said about taking things slowly right? We had a two bed sleeping berth with a washing basin built in. The cabins in the older blue sleeping cars are on the compact side. However, as a place to sleep in, they are quite comfortable. The whole orange brown retro look and feel of the interiors is like stepping into a time capsule to a different era of travel. After our tickets are checked we learn from the conductor that there is free Wi-Fi in the buffet car. Music to the ears of an almost millennial like me. An ice cold beer and Wi-Fi sounded like not a bad evening to both of us so we trudged off to the buffet car. However a pint of beer was not cheap at around 7 euros so we savoured this very slowly. However, given the Wi-Fi signal was hit and miss, we started focussing more on the drinking than our phones. Which was in many ways a godsend. This meant we bought a few more rounds. I remember vaguely lots of happy faces. Maybe some singing. At some point I think all the passengers on the train were crammed in before the bar closed much to the dismay of the passengers. We hadn’t had any dinner so back in our cabin we hungrily devoured the bread and cheese we had purchased wisely from the supermarket in Tampere train station before boarding. Then in a happy state of stupor, we passed out in the cabin. I woke up a few times throughout the night. Damn my weak bladder. I was also curious to see if I could observe the unique phenomenon of the midnight sun. I kept peeking out of the window of the toilet. However, given that we were a few hundred kilometres south of the Arctic Circle, we were still too south to see the midnight sun. I fell asleep slightly disappointed but excited for daylight to reveal the landscape around us. Exactly at 7am, I did finally wake up with a slightly sore forehead. I pulled the mini curtain in our cabin aside and pulled down the window. My nostrils were assailed by the sweet fragrant smell of pine. My eyes greeted by this unbroken limitless expanse of forests. I saw mainly pine, birch and fir trees. There is something indescribably beautiful about the soothing green colour of the forest. It is the place where the Finns are at their happiest. With 65% of Finland covered by forest, that’s a whole lot of happiness to drink in here.
We finally reached Kolari and then promptly found the coach waiting to take us to Äkäslompolo. It was a beautiful sunny day. The road wound its way through densely forested land just as I had seen from my train window. Just as when everything, dare I say, started feeling a little boring, there was an excited yelp from one of my co passengers as our driver hit the brakes and we shuddered to a sudden stop. I looked straight and there he was.
Rudolf the reindeer. Nose wasn’t very shiny. Eyes were startled. Guess he’s not too keen on humans during his well earned summer break. The reindeer scampered off, swallowed by the thick forest. Finally we reach our destination.
The main hostel reminds me of Alpine bunkhouses. Very sturdy. We walk into the rustic log cabin and it feels very cosy inside. All the furniture in the rooms is second hand, upcycled, which gives the rooms their own personal character. Nestled in the forest, there is a feeling of being at one with nature staying at the 7 Fells.
We walked into the grounds and discovered hundreds of juicy blueberries waiting to be plucked. Tinja the owner has a few bikes for us to use (free of charge). So we hop on them and go for a bike ride to a nearby cafe where we drink freshly squeezed blueberry juice. There’s hardly a car in sight so bike is the perfect form of transport here. After a long day of cycling, coming back to the hostel common area with its big ass sofas and warm fireplace is the perfect place for reflection and also catching up with the day’s news. It is the only place Tinja has Wi-Fi reception in the hostel. Our days are long and relaxed, filled with exploration thanks to Tinja. One day she introduces us to a local herbalist, Eveliina Nina who takes us for a ramble through the forest to pick wildflowers and wild herbs. Later she makes us a delicious wildflower tea. I remember having the deepest most peaceful sleep ever.
One of the evenings Tinja takes us for a bike ride at midnight around the lake. Its quite magical seeing this huge expanse of water bathed in this pink blue glow. We then pick cloudberries that are growing in an abundance around the lake. There is hardly a soul in sight. It sounds hippy but this was one of those almost perfect moments that you think the universe created just for you. You know what I mean? Or maybe this was the effect of Evelliina’s arctic herbal tea? I couldn’t tell.
On our last evening we go hiking up the fells. The views are pretty spectacular from the top. Limitless expanse of green trees with the peaks of the fells providing a point of focus in the landscape. After a long hike at 1am, I pop into the hostel’s communal sauna that Tinja has fired up for me. Meanwhile, Rui starts up a fire in the grounds and at 2am we’re roasting sausages from the excellent nearby supermarket and drinking beers. The light at this time of night is still good: a pale blue with a tinge of yellow.
It was very calming and sitting there. I don’t feel like leaving the day after. After what had been one of the most intense and craziest summers of my travelling life, I finally felt here my body and mind at complete peace.
I felt like I was not of this earth coming here. Midnight dreams in blue and yellow,wildflowers in my belly, sweet scent of pine on my skin, I fall asleep in your limitless green silent ocean. And never wake up.
Lapland. Land of nightless night. A wild fantasy where wishes do come true.
]]>I’ve been far from hibernating. Not yet. Been busy catching up with work at a pretty neat coworking space just off Canal St Martin called Cafe Craft. Besides answering emails and planning future trips, I’ve spent most of the last few days digging through pictures from my recent Street Art road trip to Germany. ( If you missed my earlier guide to the highlights of the Streetart in Germany tour, click here).
One of the key highlights of this trip for me was visiting Teufelsberg, an abandoned outpost of the cold war. So in time honoured tradition, I thought today I’d share with you 40 pictures from the visit and some of my thoughts about this place. I know from when I initially shared some pictures on Facebook and Instagram that many of you are yet to pay a visit to this place. Hopefully, this post will change your mind.
Abandoned and unloved. As I mentioned in my post earlier this week about Tampere’s abandoned matchstick factory, what is it about abandoned places that speaks to us so much?
With an uncertain future and disturbing past, Teufelsberg is a place like no other.
Hidden in a dense, leafy forest on the city’s outskirts near Grunewald, when you reach Teufelsberg, it feels like you have truly reached the edge of civilisation.
Stripped bare by thieves and vandals and every available surface covered with graffiti, the place has a very post-apocalyptic feel about it.
When we arrive late on a pretty miserable October afternoon, the place is drowning in an eerie silence. A thick, grey mist envelops the site. Peeking out of the mist from the top of the tower is the surreal view of these huge bulbous radomes (nicknamed by locals as ‘Berlin’s Balls’). Each of these domes contained massive 12 metre satellite antennas which at the time were the most sophisticated spying equipment .
Teufelsberg served as a former NSA listening station run by British and American intelligence officers during the Cold War.
The station was built on a hill of almost 12 million cubic metres of rubble gathered from post World War II Berlin. Standing 80 meters tall above the surroundings and 120 meters above sea level, Teufelsberg was at the time, the highest point of Berlin. Beneath the hill are buried, quite bizarrely, the ruins of a former Nazi military technical college that was never finished because of the war.
After the wall, Teufelsberg passed hands through a few different owners, before strangely enough, film director David Lynch came forward to buy the land to build a new university that he promised would focus on the concept of transcendental meditation. The university he claimed would provide “knowledge to students but also give them the chance to be enlightened.”
Lynch’s plans never materialised as plans were made to build a luxury hotel and spy museum.
However enlightenment in some form did come to the site later when a band of renowned international street artists came to paint on the walls of the building to breathe life back into the abandoned spy station. Many of the works you will see here were painted by over 70 artists who gathered here in March 2015 as part of the Berlin rising art event. Street artists whose work you can see here include PAOD, SAM crew, Ambush, JBAK and Mein Lieber Prost.
There’s a lot of artists I didn’t recognise here so if anyone can help me attribute the works to the pictures, please drop me a line below.
Till recently the site wasn’t open to the public. However, that didn’t deter the place becoming a popular haunt for locals and visitors, squeezing through the fences or scaling the rickety scaffolds. Now thanks to the efforts of volunteers the place is protected. Access is now regulated and for a fee of €7, guided tours are offered. While it may be strange to pay €7 for something you could technically access for free, I think it is a small donation to make to visit such a unique place. Despite it being ‘legal’, I personally feel the place still retains that element of wild beautiful eerieness. Visit soon, before this abandoned outpost of mankind crumbles. Enjoy the pictures.
Huge thanks to German National Tourism Bureau – Jan, Elif, Denise and Charlett for supporting this project and also my colleagues at iAmbassador for helping me put this project together.
Plus a big thank you to my #streetartgermany team: Sabina Trojanova from GirlVsGlobe, Peter Parkorr from Travel Unmasked, Mark Hofmeyr from Trademark Pictures and Gloria Atanmo from the Blog Abroad. Check out their blogs and please follow them.
]]>Still feels quite surreal that I went half way around the world and finally visited Australia. Finally! I’ve spent the week suffering from reverse jet lag. I am at times incoherent to my partner, speech blurry from lack of sleep and falling asleep , snoring my face off by the time it is 7pm. It is a bummer. Still, a very small price to pay to visit for what was for me, one of the most beautiful places in the world I’ve visited.
One week is definitely not enough time to visit Western Australia. My trip was mainly focussed on the South West , exploring the Margaret River region, dribs and drabs of Perth, Freemantle.
For the benefit of you, my reader , I’ve summarised below some of the key moments and photos which will give you a rough idea, flavour of what Western Australia is all about. Particularly South Western Australia.
This post is a photoessay of my time there but also acts as a guide of what kind of experiences you can expect when planning a week trip to South Western Australia. If you have any questions, feedback please comment below. Thanks for reading and your support.
My first day in Australia was spent in the idyllic island of Rottnest which is just 19 kms off the coast of Perth.
Honestly, it felt like a world away from everything.
The pristine beaches, turquoise blue waters, spectacular coastal scenery, picturesque lighthouses and relaxed pace of life really put me immediately at ease. After our long epic flight, spending a day soaking in the spring sunshine ( 23c) views, cycling around the island was the perfect day out. At 11 kms wide, the island is easy to navigate by bike.
One of the great reasons to visit Rottnest is to witness the island’s rich wildlife. The star of the show is the very cute marsupial , known as the Quokka. The quokkas we encountered were tame, friendly creatures, usually sniffing around our bags for food. Getting a photo aka #quokkaselfie alongside these native marsupials was definitely one my highlights of the trip.
When in Rottnest, definitely visit the local bakery were you can sample their delicious range of pies. I tried the ‘Rotto’, a steak and gravy pie which costs just $5.90.
If you need a caffeine fix, hop over to the Lane next door where the friendly team will sort you out with a fabulous cup of caffeine. At just $3.90, this was probably the best value cup of coffee I had in Australia.
Instead of Perth, we spent the night exploring Fremantle which is a relaxed, busy port town with a great nightlife scene , beautiful Victorian architecture and a surprising concentration of great cafes and restaurants.
Given that time was limited, I enlisted the help of Rusty Creighton from the popular Two Feet and a Heartbeat walking tours to navigate the local arts, food and drink scene. Rusty was a very friendly, passionate guide and showed us some of his favourite local haunts.
This included a visit to the quirky Elizabeth’s Secondhand bookshop. A nice mix of musty second hand books and new paperbacks, this is a place I would happily spend a few hours. Loved their concept of Blinddatewithabook.com
I then popped into Bread in Common which is one of Freo’s hippest restaurants. Housed in an old Fremantle warehouse space, this place has a wonderful vibe with the exposed brickwork, low lighting.
Service looked good. Food looked great. Definitely not budget but somewhere I would have loved to have visited if I was here with the girl.
Other highlights of the tour included a trip to the vibrant indoor market of Fremantle where locals have been shopping for their everyday vegetables, clothes and handicrafts since 1897.
Loved the Victorian era heritage building.
Opposite the market there is a fabulous 21 metre mural by one of my favourite street artists, ROA
There are some fantastic streetfood style eateries here in the market.
However I was keeping room in my stomach for the beer and stone baked pizzas at the hugely popular Little Creatures Brewery. Great atmosphere, good food and great craft beers. If I wasn’t so jet-lagged, I really would have spent a good few hours here.
Fremantle or Freo is really easy on the eye and definitely a city would have liked to spend more time in.
During the trip I discovered that breakfast well and truly is the most important dish of the day in Australia. They take it very seriously here.
Every morning, I woke up to a great breakfast. I was consistently surprised at the quality on offer and also the freshness of produce.
I have a few great places to recommend.
First morning in Freo, I had the first of my many amazing breakfasts in Western Australia at the Attic Cafe.
Their green chilli eggs with sliced bacon, spring onions on organic sourdough bread is a winner.
The following morning before zipping off to Margaret River , I popped into the quirky, atmospheric Moore and Moore cafe. It was early on a Sunday morning but the place was busy with locals tucking into their delicious range of breakfasts.
Gooey poached eggs, again the amazing sourdough bread that is a regular feature of breakfasts here and amazing coffee. Place has a wonderful vintage vibe. Reminds me a lot of some of my favourite luxury hostels in Europe like the Independente and Home Hostel in Lisbon. There is adjacent arts space and gallery. They also have a regular programme of live music here. If I lived in Fremantle, I would definitely spend a lot of time here.
It was a pleasant drive from Freo to Margaret River. Along the way we made some stops to soak in the scenery. Despite the inclement weather, we managed to capture some sun and a view of the historic Busselton Jetty. At length of over 2km, this heritage listed timber pier is the longest in the Southern Hemisphere.
Our next stop was the deserted white sandy beach of Meelup. With its beautiful turquoise blue waters, this place had a very dreamy vibe. I can imagine in summer this beach being packed but I loved the relaxed, peaceful spring vibe.
Meeting with the Aboriginal community of Western Australia was definitely a highlight of my trip to this beautiful part of the world.
My first encounter was with the very knowledgeable and passionate Josh Whitehead. Josh, a member of the Wardandi tribe leads Koomal Dreaming tours which are aimed at increasing an understanding of Aboriginal people and their culture. Josh Whitehead gave us a fascinating of the Aboriginal history in the Ngilgi Cave in Yallingup.
These underground caves, situated in Margaret River are famous for their fabulous display of limestone formations. Sean’s ancestors who were the first inhabitants of these lands, discovered these caves.Thanks to the warm temperatures, these limestone caves , dotted around the south west coast, were the perfect shelter during the winter months for the local aboriginal tribes. Sean had a wonderful intimate knowledge about the land we were standing in. Listening to him speak, you immediately felt connected to the people and place. Best storytellers do that. The highlight of our encounter with Sean in Ngilgi was him playing the Didgerdoo inside the Ngilgi cave! The acoustics in these grandest of ampitheatres, was something else. Here’s what Sean played for us.
Meet Elvis, resident rooster at the herb veggie garden of the vegan and vegetarian friendly Canteen Kitchen.
Fabulous breakfasts, muffins, homebaked goodness like their beetroot and hazelnut loaf, pastries and wonderful coffee-fab, fab, fab.
Chef Chris and his wonderful team of staff were a pleasure to meet.
With the onset of Spring, this part of the world sees the arrival of the whale season. Humpback, Southern Right, Minkie and the rare and endangered Blue Whale have been sighted in these waters. I went on a cruise with the local Naturaliste Charters. I was out of luck during my 3 hour cruise with 5 brief sightings of the Humpback whale.
The experience itself of chartering the turquoise green deep blue waters of Dunsborough bay on a beautiful spring morning was a great experience in itself.
I must admit I am a bit of a novice when it comes to wine. Thanks to living in Portugal for the last few years, I have begun to have some sort of education about wine. Western Australia has number of key wine producing regions and Margaret River area is one of its many rising stars.
With over 150 wineries to visit, the region offers a wide choice. I could have easily spent a week here. Hopping from one winery to another ,tasting wine. Sadly I had just the one day to navigate my way across some of the wineries.
Luckily, I was in the company of friendly local wine expert Jared Hambley from Margaret River Custom Tours who runs custom tours of the wineries and the Margaret River for groups.
Jared showed me around some of his favourite wineries starting with the small boutique, family-run winery, Cape Grace. Karen, the owner was a great host , very generously sharing samples of her wine and giving me the history behind each wine. It was a wonderful hour spent drinking, tasting wine and definitely one of my highlights of the trip.
Jared who has run tours in the past for other companies started running custom tours because he wanted to offer something flexible, based on the interests of his customers. This means that each day is different from the other and as a result much more enjoyable for him too compared to the run of the mill wine tours offered by other operators. I was keen to see a bit more the coastline which the region is famous for he drove me to Cape Leeuwin lighthouse, the most south westerly point of Australia.
It is a hauntingly beautiful place.
This is where the two oceans, the Indian and the Southern Ocean meet.
Later we climbed up the lighthouse where we felt the full brute force of the gusty winds skidding off the waves below. Apparently, this view was voted the 3rd best ocean view in the world and it is hard to not see why, standing on the top. You have to be there to believe it but I hope the pictures give you a feeling.
We stopped off later at the turquoise paradise that is Hamelin Bay , famous for its population of sting rays.
This is the sleepy Flinders Bay, also known to some locals as “The Whaling”.
This was an important whaling centre during the period.
In between drinking wine and exploring the coastline, Jared took me to a really cool Korean restaurant in Margaret’s River called Teddi’s big spoon.
The dim sums here are fabulous and really tasty. Chicken lunch box was also great value for just $13 AUD.
Jared really was great bloke to hangout with and he showed me around like a friend. Plus his passion for wine and the area is infectious.
I spent a day visiting all 5 of the breweries in the company of beer aficionado and local legend, Jules.
This is probably one of my favourite food and drink tours of all time, thanks to the charismatic and wonderful presence of Jules.
Great sense of humour fused with a tremendous passion for beer and life-this is one tour I won’t forget for many years to come.
Each brewery, we were served a 6 beer paddle that gives you a nice overview of the different range of beers on offer. Some of the breweries also offer cider so you can mix it up a little.
I loved how laid-back and relaxed the breweries were.
Very family friendly and staff were really helpful.
Being a Sunday also, each brewery had a festive atmosphere with almost all of them featuring live musicians. Hands down, one of my favourite moments of this trip. I think the pictures, tell the whole story.
For breakfast, I went to the White Elephant Beach Cafe. Cafe probably wins the award for the most scenic breakfast cafe in Western Australia thanks to a location on he Gnarabup Beach Boat Ramp, overlooking the beach.
The weather wasn’t in our favour in the mornings but I can imagine on a clear sunny day how beautiful this place must be. The cafe itself is fab. My pick over the two days was their wonderful poached eggs on sourdough toast accompanied by roasted butternut squash and feta cheese. So good. Great artisan coffee. Lovely staff. Place I’d love to come back to at some point in the future.
After breakfast, it was time to head back to Perth.
Enroute we stopped off at the fantastic Yallingup Woodfired Bread. While the bakery is not open to the public, baker, Tim was very generous with his time and showed us around. The bread here is made with biodynamic flour and fresh from preservatives. Visitors can buy the bread from the tables outside the bakery. Leave your money in the honesty box, pick up your choice of bread and go.
Our food odyssey continued at the Yallingup Cheese Company, a local artisan cheese maker that produces a selection of fresh curd and soft ripened cheeses from organic milk of the local Jersey cows.
A must visit when visiting Margaret River region is the Vasse Virgin Soap factory. Beside producing natural skincare products at reasonable prices they have a gourmet food tasting room where you can sample everything from macadamia pesto to their amazing sundried tomato chilli mustard. Loved this place.
After checking in the beautiful Alex Hotel ( Not the most budget friendly hotel you will find in Perth but with prices starting at $129 AUD in low season, this is pretty amazing value for the location and quality) I was taken on a roving dinner of Northbridge, the heart of Perth’s food and bar scene by local food blogger and bar expert, Laura Mosley.
My first taste of Perth was at the very cool Bivouac where we sampled their delicious goat chops , Lebanese spice rub, tomato kasundi in a fig and fennel chutney. Mouthwatering stuff.
My next stop was the hip Standard Bar Garden and Kitchen. Great selection of cocktails, fab wine list , wonderful atmopshere and nice staff-this place has all the ingredients for a great night out in Perth.
Our last stop was the Alex Hotel’s excellent Shadow wine bar but by this time, I was absolutely knackered which was a shame.
Next morning, refreshed after a decent nights sleep we headed to the iconic Toast Face Grillah.
Here I sampled their iconic Vegemite & Cheese Toastie. Not everyone’s cup of tea vegemite but I loved it.
After that it was a short stroll up the road to the vegan friendly Henry’s Saw.
Friendly baristas, great artisan coffee and delicious cakes. Lot to love about this place.
The cafe is also housed in the excellent (FREE!) Museum of Perth which chronicles the social, cultural, political and architectural history of Perth.
I then proceeded for an aimless wonder of the city. Here’s what I saw..
Another highlight of my morning in Perth was a memorable few hours in the company of Walter Maguire from Go Cultural Aboriginal Tours and Experience. Walter is a member of the Whadjuk people who have been calling Perth home pretty much from the beginning of time. In the beautiful setting of Elizabeth Quay, Walter took me on journey into Perth’ s Cultural past starting off with a traditional welcome and traditional indigenous blessing made from white clay smeared on my forehead. Walter shared with me stories of traditional way of life of the Whadjuk people, their spiritual connection to the country and how their life dramatically changed when the European settlers arrived in Western Australia. Our tour appropriately ends at ‘First Contact’ , a giant metallic sculpture of a bird in a boat. The sculpture reflects the Noongar people’s first visions of European settlers, whose distant sailing ships looking like floating birds bearing the white-faced spirits of their ancestors.
After Walter’s tour we headed to the iconic State Buildings. The former government buildings having previously served as a police court, treasury, public office and GPO over its 140 year history has been reincarnated and given a new lease of life as a Perth retail and dining hotspot.
One of the highlights of the space is Petition, a series of venues : the Petition Beer Corner , Petition Wine Bar and Merchant and the Petition Kitchen which together form probably Perth’s hottest foodie hotspot.
Before flying back to the UK, my last evening is spent in the beautiful city beach of Cottersloe.
Beautiful sunset marks the end of my day and my brief trip to Western Australia.
Looking back it is difficult to sum up the whole experience.
I close my eyes.
I think of all those wonderful breakfasts I enjoyed. The food in this part of the world is truly world class. I dream of all those picture postcard, pristine white sand beaches. The colour of the water.
I remember my encounter with nature. Meeting the quokka. Brief encounter with whales.
Most of all when I look back, I remember all the wonderful people I met. Images of Rusty, Jules, Jared, Tim the baker, chef Chris at the Canteen, Walter and Josh Whitehead flash through my head. I then close my eyes and smile.
Thank you Western Australia for the memories. I hope to be back again, very soon.
A big thank you to the team at Tourism Western Australia especially Elen and Michal for inviting me. Plus shoutout to Qatar Airways team for a great flight to and from Perth. Currently Qatar Airways are offering great value fares to Western Australia, starting at just of just £599 return from Edinburgh and £619 return from London.
Also thanks to my colleagues at iAmbassador for putting together this project.
For more pictures and stories, have a look at the hashtag #justanotherdayinWA
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It’s quite early in the morning. I’ve woken up in a cold sweat, having experienced a pretty nasty dream.
Recently, I’ve been having this recurring dream of missing my plane.
The joys of perpetual travel.
I sit up and slowly realise that I am nowhere near an airport terminal. A beautiful, mellow light is peeking into our hotel room.
We didn’t miss the plane and in fact arrived safely last night in Barcelona, despite flying with my least favourite airline.
The lady and the boys are a picture of perfection. Sound asleep like kittens.
I tiptoe out of the room and go for an aimless wonder around the hotel.
The views from the hotel are spectacular as this picture will testify.
This beautiful secluded beach was ours for the next week.
It’s almost too perfect. I can feel a tear of happiness crawling into my eyes.
I discover this pathway near our hotel in Platja d’Aro on my aimless wonder from the hotel.
A few steps later, it leads me to another completely hidden empty beach. No parasols on this one. Just soft, golden sand. I go for a dip in the sea and the water is pleasantly warm. Moment my toes get soaked, I am jolted back to a similar early morning jaunt to Portobello beach back in the days when I lived in Edinburgh. The sensation of dipping my toes into the ice cold North Sea never leaves you.
I lie down on the sand. I close my eyes. The sound of the waves lulls me into the most perfect deep sleep. I wake up probably an hour later, feeling very relaxed. No bad dreams of missing planes. I must try this sleeping on beach thing one day. The beach is still empty. A waft of bacon and freshly brewed coffee assails my senses. My stomach growls gleefully.
The thrill of anticipation. Of a cooked breakfast. Plus there’s no stress of washing the dishes after.
This is what it feels like.
It’s something I increasingly find hard to do in life. Maybe its the impending sign of a midlife crisis. I’ve been looking at a lot of Pinterest boards of building the perfect garden shed recently.
Europe is much smaller now thanks to the recent proliferation of low-cost airlines. The high streets in every European city look the same thanks to globalisation. Nothing is unfamiliar anymore. There are no more secrets in travel or life for that matter of fact.
We know it all.Other than the Facebook algorithm and the secret ingredient in Iron Bru.
The pathway I had discovered earlier near the hotel , I later discover is part of a much longer walkway called the Camino do Ronda. A 220km walkway , that stretches from Blanes to the city of Collioure right before the border of France. I’ve heard of the Camino do Santiago. Not the Camino do Ronda though. I am excited to explore more of the walkway.
I was recommend by the hotel staff to try a small section of the walkway from the idyllic Llafranc to the neighbouring fishing village of Calella de Palafrugell.
The following morning, while the kids play in the golden sands of Llafranc under the watchful eye of their grandparents, I escape with Sofia to the edge of Llafranc bay where the walkway starts.
Huffing and puffing our way up a hill, we suddenly discover a beautiful silence.
Scent of the Aleppo pine trees and salty sea air is an intoxicating combination.
A cool breeze drifts in from the sea
My pace slows down. A few tight knots in my stomach unfurl themselves.
We soon come into sight of another impossibly pretty fishing village.
This is Calella de Palafrugell.
The views of the turquoise blue sea, the fishing boats waiting in the harbour and the ring of white washed cottages is straight out of a Thomas Cook brochure.
Sofia lets out a sigh and then nudges me. Time to retrace our steps back to idyllic Llafranc.
All the sea-air has made us hungry and very thirsty. We find a pleasant restaurant just off the waterfront called La Llagosta. Everyone is guzzling white wine and feasting on plates of shrimps that are as red as their sunburnt skin.
Not the most appetising description. However, no trip to Costa Brava would be complete without a plate of what one might arguably claim to be the world’s finest prawns: the famous red prawns of Palamos. The palamós prawns feed on the plankton-rich waters of Costa Brava which give them this unique flavour.
I had my first taste of these famous prawns 4 years ago in a 100 year old fisherman’s hut. We had sailed by boat from Palamos where these prawns are fished to the secluded white sand cove of Cala dels Lliris, situated in the dreamy village of Tamariu. Yup. Yet another, beautiful secluded fishing village. Beginning to get the picture?
Amidst a feast of the classic Catalan sausage Butifarra and traditional vegetables of the Empordà region – cauliflower, aubergine and sweet peppers , we were served a plate of grilled Palamos Prawns. After peeling back the hard shell of the prawns I savoured the meaty flesh of the prawns. I don’t think I’ve tasted prawns that have such a level of sweetness. I then discarded the head onto another plate and proceed to pick out more prawns before my host, chef Tony Izquierdo approaches with a big smile. He picks up one of the discarded heads of the prawn from the plate and sucks the life out it , before neatly depositing it back onto the plate. Prawn brain sucking might be up there with other bizarre food traditions like haggis but I had to try it. I have to tell that I was surprised. It has a slightly sweet taste, kind of like caviar , very rich in flavour.
From that day I am a prawn brain sucking convert. Which gets me weird looks across the world. It’s more than ok in Costa Brava. Because here, food means everything. There are no boundaries. The food on your plate is a reflection of the bountiful gifts this land possesses.
The region is blessed with wonderful food markets which are in itself a thing of joy to behold. Earlier in the morning we had spent some time wondering the market town of Palafruguell which is famous for a few things.
One of which is their enticing fish market. On the ice trays, a wealth of fresh silvery fish glistens, the catch having arrived fresh from the nearby fishing villages of Palamos and Calella Palafruguell. The air is thick with the smell of sea and salt and for me it is the most wonderful smell ever.
There is also a daily food market that absorbs the senses with a rich palette of colours.
The town itself is charming with age old cafes and patisseries that each tell their own story.
During our week in the bustling resort town of Platja D’Oro we developed a happy ritual of having ice-cream every day. Summer holidays should always be about sun, sand and ice-cream. We are not talking about just any kind of ice-cream.
Platja D’Oro can proudly claim to one of only 4 places to be home to what some may argue to be the world’s greatest ice-cream parlour. Rocambolesc is a project developed by Jordi Roca, pastry chef at what many regard to be the world’s best restaurant, El Cellar de can Roca. Last time I came to Costa Brava, I had the pleasure of dining at their restaurant. While it is far from being budget friendly , I consider their 15 course lunch to be one of the best things I have tasted and worth every penny. The other issue with dining here is that you have to make a reservation at least a year in advance. So while you can’t compare eating ice-cream to eating at El Cellar de Can Roca, in terms of an experience, Rocambolesc has to be up there with my favourite food memories. First of all, the place itself. If Willy Wonka had created his own ice-cream factory, it would look like this. The choice of ice-cream flavours is a limited but exciting mix, ranging from mango and lavender sorbet to vanilla and baked apple ice-cream. The twist comes with over 34 exotic toppings that range from crunchy candy to shredded coconut to star candy and chocolate cookies. The combinations and possibilities are endless. One week wasn’t enough to discover all the magical combinations and flavours possible. With prices starting from just €2.60, this has to be one of the best ‘luxury on a budget’ foodie experiences in the world.
Camino do Ronda. Rocambolesc.
No artist I feel inspires this spirit of freedom…. freedom of spirit and creativity more than the man Salvador Dali himself.
My previous trip to Costa Brava and the Dali Museum had inspired a curiosity in his life and works. A pilgrimage that has taken me across the world retracing his life and works.
Coming back to Costa Brava a visit to the Dali triangle was definitely something I wanted to revisit and share with my family.
Marta, our wonderful guide at the Dali Museum pointed out to the kids that just like them, Dali’s mind was pure and unadulterated. He saw the world with a playful eye.
Marta shared with us fun facts about Dali like the fact that he would put honey around his mouth and flowers on his moustache to attract flies to them.
If you look up at the ceiling of the museum, if you observe carefully, after awhile you realise it looks like the two eyes of flies. Dali’s art reminds you that you can amuse yourself with your imagination and most importantly, a sense of humour.
Other works of art in the museum that represents this sense of humour yet imagination is the painting of his wife, Gala, looking out of the window. Completed in 1976, the painting called “Gala Contemplating the Mediterranean Sea” when observed upclose, shows a naked Gala looking out the window. However, if observed from a distance the painting appears to be none other than the famous ex-American president Abraham Lincoln.
Another place where Dali’s spirit is very much alive is the picturesque seaside village of Port Lligat, a place he called home between the years of 1930, till 1982 when his wife died.
His house has now been converted into a museum.
The Portlligat Museum-House has lovingly preserved the spirit of Dali, leaving the house just the way it would have been when Dali lived there.
There is wonderful sense of calm and detachment about Port Lligat and neighbouring Cadaques.
The whitewashed narrow maze of Cadaques brimming over with brightly coloured geraniums and bougainvillea , invite you to get lost.
Wildly eccentric at times.
Yet very accessible.
A place where you feel that art is in everything you see, touch or feel.
A perfect place to escape.
A recurring dream you may never want to wake up from.
Disclaimer
I’d like to thank Costa Brava Tourism for bringing me back to Costa Brava and supporting this very special trip. Big thank you to Jaume, Gemma, Anna and Dunia. Plus a special thank you to Sofia for joining me on this special journey. If you want to read her account of the trip, checkout her wonderful post here
Factbox
We stayed at Silken Park Hotel San Jorge, Platja d’Aro .
-Avenida de Andorra, 28, 17250 Platja d’Aro, Spain
Rooms here starts at 50€/per room/per night in low season
Book it here.
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This was once such moment.
It was a mellow, cloudy morning in October. Quite early, around 9am. We had just arrived by car from Bilbao. The sea was silent as the hills in the distance. Waves were slowly rolling onto an empty pristine golden beach. On the left I can make out the the thickly forested Monte Urgull with its 12th century castle and English cemetery.
We were standing on the top of Monte Igueldo, just west of the city. What’s the view like?
You can judge for yourself from the photograph below.
I present to you probably the best view of San Sebastian’s beautiful scallop shaped bay: the Bahía de la Concha.
I would happily spend the whole day just sitting here admiring the view. However given that we had only the weekend to explore the city, there was a lot to see and do.
It was a short hop down on the historic funicular ( 3rd oldest in Spain) and straight into town.
The city is lively. Saturday morning and there is a steady flow of locals and tourists in town.
Lots of people watching opportunities, as this baby can testify.
Lots of dog watching opportunities
On the corner of the square in front of the market there is a picture of a weather beaten old lady with a table full of glistening anchovies. Apparently the lady, whose name I did not find out , used to sit here in the corner, ripping the heads off a pile of fresh anchovies and scraping out their guts with her fingernails. This is the story all along the Basque coast where the anchovies are canned, filleted by hand first, and then layered down into tins covering them in oil to seal them.
Forget eating tapas in San Sebastian. It is all about the ‘pintxos’ here: delicious but complex small bites that contain a variation of maybe some artisanal ham,or pickled peppers, salted anchovies, wild mushrooms, octopus or some scallops that are ultimately bound together in perfect harmony by a toothpick.
You can easily just spend your weekend here just eating ‘pintxos’ in San Sebastian and drinking the local wine and cider. To help navigate the maze of Pintxos bar we enlisted the help of Iñigo from Go Local San Sebastian to give us a little tour of the best places to eat Pintos in town. We went to the two best streets for pintxos: 31 de Agosto ( named after the fire that destroyed the city in 1813. This was the street that was untouched by the fire ) and Fermín Calbeton.
We start at A Fuego Negro
It is barely 11am but the bar is already busy with a nice mix of locals and tourists. They have excellent craft beer on tap here but I am dying to sample some of the famous local Txakoli wine: a slightly sparkling, dry white wine.
This is accompanied by a plate of the deliciously crunchy fried sea anemone and also the famous ‘gilda’ pintxos: a magical combination of pickled peppers, salt-cured anchovies and an olive on a toothpick.
Food, glorious food everywhere you go in this city. My heart , soul & tummy aches looking back at the photos now.
This is Gandarias btw. Probably the best Pintxo bar ( great value too) I visited in Donostia.
This is your old school, traditional pintxos bar. Lovely staff.
I’m standing at the bar and my eyes are swimming on wave after wave of the most colourful and delicious food you can ever imagine. I tried red peppers stuffed with crab , a plate of fried porcini with some delicious pieces of acorn fed jamon iberico on bread and some sirloin with green peppers. It all tastes heavenly. You must be thinking-wow, this looks delicious but very expensive. Well here’s the amazing thing. The pintxos here start at €1.65 going upto €4 tops. So this place is great value for money. You can also sample wine here from all parts of the world by the glass.
To give you more of an idea of the history and what to expect , here is an interview I recorded with the lovely Aitziber from the restaurant.
Another one of the many busy Pintxos bars on 31 de Agosto, La Cepa is known mainly for its delicious jamon and also dishes like hongos a la plancha. Plus the fried green peppers are excellent here too.
I am now in the medieval heart of the city and this square is called Plaza de la Constitución. This was the place where all the bullfights took place. It was originally built by Hércules Torrelli in 1723 but destroyed by the great fire of 1813. If you look carefully at the picture, you will notice that each balcony is numbered. These boxes were reserved for distinguished guests during festive occasions such as the bullfights.
2016 is a big year for San Sebastian as the joint European City of Culture alongside Wroclaw. The city will be building on the status as a global capital of gastronomy and its thriving reputation as a city of festivals ( dominated by the excellent San Sebastian Film Festival ) There is a whole programme of exciting events taking place throughout the year.
The recently opened San Telmo Museum is one of the hubs of this cultural renaissance.
Here’s a picture of me and the rest of the group doing a post lunch jumpstagram in front of the museum to shake off our food coma.
The museum , architecturally, is a stunning mix of old and new. Built into the hillside of Monte Urguell, the exterior of the building has a stark gray wall marked with holes through which greenery sprouts. This nicely contrasts with the adjoining building, a refurbished 16th century former Dominican convent.
The museum is an excellent introduction to Basque culture, people and art. There are over 26000 pieces of Basque art and historical artifacts on show. Plus the museum gives an insight into the current political strife and the fight for independence.
To help further shake off our food coma, Inigo took for us for a bike tour of the city. Organised twice a day, at 10am in the morning and 4pm in the afternoon, they are a great way to get a feel of the city. As someone who recently learnt how to ride a bicycle, I found San Sebastian a really easy paced and relaxed city to bike in with dedicated bike lanes. The other cool thing is that Go Local San Sebastian use the Orbea brand electric bikes which are fantastic to ride on. Cost of a typical tour is €25 and lasts 3 hours.
Highlight of our bike tour was a visit to the beach. It’s October but the sea was still warm enough to surf.
For some people, Playa de Concha is a place for contemplation and to spend time with loved ones.
Another highlight was a visit to the newly opened museum, the Tabakalera. From producing cigarettes to culture, the Tabakalera is a symbol of the cultural renaissance that San Sebastián has undergone in the last decade.Dating from 1913 and covering 12000 square metres this factory used to produce 250 million cigarettes a year. 25 years in the making, the space is now the beating heart of contemporary culture: from showcasing visual, audiovisual artists to a centre for performing arts and a residence for artists: this is a place definitely to checkout if you are visiting in 2016 when the city celebrates its status as European City of Culture.
The staircase at the Tabakalera Centre of Contemporary Culture.
The building has a beautiful glass prism top and roof terrace from where you get to enjoy the city’s lovely skyline.
We round off the day with a trip to Sidrería Petritegi, a traditional cider house. Visiting the cider house was definitely up there with one of the most entertaining and unusual food experience I’ve ever experienced on my travels. Instead of being served cider in the glass, guests visit the cider cellar where you drink it straight from these huge barrels. As expertly demonstrated by moi in the the picture.
The traditional menu served at these cider houses is a cod omelette or cod with peppers followed by a t-bone steak and dessert is the local Idiazabal cheese served with quince jelly and nuts. Not the biggest fan of steak but the dessert was tasty along with the fish. The total cost for this menu is €25 . This includes unlimited visits to the lower section of the sagardotegi where the barrels are located where you fill up your glass at various intervals with a txotx ( a taste) as it is called in these parts.
Following morning we explored more of the beautiful coastline that San Sebastian is famous for. This was the desolate beach of Zarautz.
Later we wind our way to the fishing village of Getaria.
The village is better known as the home of the iconic fashion designer Cristobal Balenciaga.
There is now a dedicated museum you can visit where you can see his amazing designs that have inspired other designers such as Oscar de la Renta, André Courrèges, Emanuel Ungaro, Mila Schön and Hubert de Givenchy.
Getaria is also home to the little known Juan Sebastian Elcano, the first person in the world to circumnavigate the globe. There was me thinking that it was Magellan…..
Here is his statue, overlooking the harbour.
Here is Juan’s view of the harbour: not a bad view to look for…..
If you’re looking for pintxos in Getaria, then pop into Politena. Great selection of pintxos, affordable,great vibe and very lively yet homey atmosphere.
We head back to the town in the evening. I decide to go for a wee sunset stroll by the harbour.
I will let the pictures do the talking.
The following morning I have time for a quick cup of coffee and a short walk through the city.
Highly recommend Kafe Botanika to all caffeine addicts.
One final picture : the majestic San Sebastian Cathedral.
Some moments, some places stay etched in your memory forever. San Sebastian is one of those places.
I hope you enjoyed my 40 pictures from San Sebastian and they have inspired you to visit this beautiful city.
If you have any questions or any comments, please leave them below.
My trip to San Sebastian was in partnership with iAmbassador, Spanish Tourism Board and San Sebastian
To find out what San Sebastian have planned as European City of Culture 2016, pop over to their website for the full programme. I would also highly recommend checking out Go Local San Sebastian for their variety of excellent tours led by the charismatic Inigo.
Also many thanks to Ana Bermudez from the Spanish Tourist Office in London , Inigo from Go Local San Sebastian , plus fellow blogger colleagues, Sarah Lee, Michael Turtle, Becki Enright , Abigail King and Niamh Shields for a wonderful few days.
If you have been inspired by the pictures from my trip, I highly recommend staying at the Hotel Zenit San Sebastián. Booking midweek you can get rates as little as €70 for a double ensuite room. Design hotel has outdoor hot tub, minimalist rooms & suites, great wifi and an affordable Basque restaurant.
Getting there and away
I flew with Vueling ( my least favourite airline which I would encourage you to avoid. Explanation here ) from London to Bilbao but thankfully you can also fly with easyJet or BA.
The other way to get to San Sebastian is by hopping on Brittany Ferries from Portsmouth to Bilbao. They currently have holiday offers to Spain that include a 5 night break to Bilbao ( Sunday-Thursday) from £164 per person, 2 people sharing with 2 nights stay in hotel of choice. Options are available to stay in San Sebastian.
The other brilliant value for money option if you have your flights booked, is booking directly via the San Sebastian tourism website where they offer a range of themed short breaks from as little as €74 per person which includes 2 nights stay in the Green Nest Hostel, a pintxos tour and the San Sebastian Tourism Card.
Please note that the views expressed here are entirely my own so as to give you the best possible idea of the destination. Thank you for reading and supporting my blog!
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I am happy to report that I came away pleasantly surprised. Despite the weight of economic uncertainty, Athenians were getting on with their day to day lives. People were pleasant, friendly and welcoming wherever we went in the city. Thanks to record tourist arrivals, the city seems to be coping well. I can’t remember seeing such a high concentration of cool chic bars, cafes and restaurants in one city. Athens has a thriving nightlife scene to rival Barcelona and Berlin. Thanks to the free this is my Athens greeters scheme, I met the fantastic Andreas and Magda who gave me a tour of the hip (non touristy) districts of Metaxourgiou and Koukaki. No tips. Just passionate locals who are keen to volunteer and show their city to visiting tourists. How cool is that?
On the recommendation of Andreas, I discovered that Athens has a beautiful stretch of beaches and sleepy seaside towns popularly known as the Athenian Riviera. Just 45 minutes away by tram, me and Sofia swam in clear, warm aquamarine blue waters at an almost empty beach in Piraiki. This was followed by a cracking, very affordable seafood lunch there. I will reveal the whole itinerary soon in a 72 hour guide of Athens but until then, I will leave you with a photoessay of our time in Athens which gives you an idea of what we discovered on the trip. 40 ( think maybe more!) of my best pictures from the trip. Hopefully, they will inspire you to visit this amazing city very soon. PS: Also checkout my guide on where to eat in Thessaloniki, the food capital of Greece and also my review of the best evening food tour of Athens.
Disclaimer
For more about Athens and the free local greeters scheme, visit the This is my Athens website. My trip was sponsored by the The City of Athens Convention & Visitors Bureau and the campaign was developed by the Destination Marketing Agency, Toposophy. I flew to Greece with Aegean Airlines. You can travel you from 100 destinations around Europe and Middle East to Greece, and then onwards to 34 Greek destinations. Fabulous airline. Also a big thank you to Best Western Pythagorion Hotel for hosting me and the wonderful (great value for money) innovative taxi app, Taxibeat for transporting us around Athens
All the views expressed here are 100% entirely my own. There are 7 more bloggers visiting Athens-to find out what they are upto, visit the campaign microsite
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