Izmir - Turkey

Izmir – Turkey

Post published:23 May 2015
Post category:Asia Europe Southern Europe Turkey Turkey

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Ancient Smyrna

With what is called in the UK the Spring Bank Holiday of May, what was best than using this chance for a long weekend trip abroad in Izmir without the need to take any extra holiday at work from the yearly allowance, which is already getting to an end almost entirely used spread across the whole of the year. It is quite incredible having to reach the point where I can only rely in the few weekends left this year where I have no trips booked yet to go anywhere abroad! This is the narrow barrier I am between being a “full time employee and part time traveller”, although my friends and colleagues at work prefer to joke in saying it’s the opposite way around, “full time traveller, part time job”.

This trip was anyway, planned a while ago in November last year, and the fact that the main flights were a return with BA to Istanbul was on purpose especially bearing in mind these were in Business Class. So what made the difference for us to get those flights and not any cheaper option?. Easy answer in this case: retaining the Silver membership status (Zephyr) with the One World Alliance. And the trick is this: there are still 3 destinations having sort of a loophole in the amount of tier points and air miles you would collect, being Helsinki, Athens and Istanbul. So a flight to Istanbul in Business Class will give you the same miles and tier points as if it would be a long haul flight, this is, double.

Since we’ve already been to Istanbul before, then we though this could be a great occasion to get to Izmir with the main idea of reaching the ancient city of Ephesus, and Pergamon too as our original plans changed and we managed to squeeze it in too. The good side of it, the internal flight between Istanbul and Izmir with Pegasus Airlines was really cheap, balancing the total cost for all flights after all. And with so many frequencies between both cities and many competitors, flying is one of the easiest and cheapest ways to reach Izmir, unless you are in an overland tour or other cities nearby while in Turkey.

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Carcassonne - France

Carcassonne – France

Post published:17 May 2015
Post category:Europe France Western Europe

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Roman: Colonia of Julia Carsaco

An incredible great surprise and totally unexpected and unplanned. We came this weekend to be only in Perpignan, but after seeing everything on Saturday and with not much more to be done for Sunday, was nice to find out that the impressive medieval city of Carcassonne was only 1 hour 15 minutes away by train from Perpignan. And what a city! It completely eclipsed our original plans and thoughts we got from Perpignan the day before.

The city after all, is not that big, and while we thought we would have plenty of spare time as we started visiting the area around the train station and the Cathedral that took us only 2 hours no more; once we reached the Cité, that feeling changed. Only with this city-fortress you could easily spend the entire day if you also visit the museums within. So plan ahead or schedule well your time, otherwise as in our case, simply enjoy the time as much as you can. We are quite a heavy travellers and we are used to run from a place to the other hence managed to see everything while having some time to rest, have a nice lunch and then enjoy a dessert with a coffee at a terrace.

Walking along the city and specially on a Sunday morning (and afternoon) was all for ourselves! All the shops were closed, no one in the streets and even was hard to find an opened coffee place. Oddly, tourists seem not to come to this area of the city but head straight away to the Cité instead, where it was thriving and full all people. In the other hand we managed to get pictures everywhere without anyone in the streets. (more…)

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Perpignan - France

Perpignan – France

Post published:17 May 2015
Post category:Europe France Western Europe

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Villa Perpiniano

Losing the track on how many trips we’ve done so far since January, not to mention absolutely nonstop week after week with some longer than just a weekend here and there. The “scary but exciting” side of this is to think ahead on the ones yet to come! This year has gone absolutely crazy, but on track to beat all records. I cannot even cope in creating these travel guides more or less at good time, not even on the smaller word doc “use-and-throw” guides I create to keep me in line knowing where to go and what to see to the places I travel, which I create prior of writing a final travel guide after the trip in my blog.

So here is for the first trip to France this year. A new destination that was in our viewpoint for a while and now finally we found a great deal with Ryanair; Perpignan. But as usual, the rule of thumbs works in here too, whenever is low season, get your hands quickly to grab some bargains in flights, those tend to go too quickly making no sense anymore to book such destinations for double and triple the price. Probably that’s why we kept postponing Perpignan until we found the right fare we would pay to come here.

The city is not “truly” French, in the sense of the word. In fact, it feels one of the less French cities in the whole of France. The reason for this is for Perpignan having acted as the capital of the newly formed Kingdom of Majorca by James I from 1276, back in the times when this region formed part of the Spanish Empire. It lasted until 1642 with the Treaty of the Pyrenees, and 17 years later in 1659, Spain ceded it to France.
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Brussels - Belgium

Brussels – Belgium

Post published:10 May 2015
Post category:Belgium Europe Western Europe

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The Capital of Europe

One more time planning a weekend in this vibrant and beautiful city full of surprises. Big and very cosmopolitan, yet small enough to enjoy almost in full in two days. Brussels is perhaps the destination I’ve been the most times other than Madrid and Barcelona of course. I might count easily 15 times if not more, but it’s the kind of city you do not get tired nor bored. Once a year is already a great aim why not.

It’s always so nice to be there, walk around the narrow streets in the old town, admiring the impressive architecture specially at the Grand Place or watch the life passing by from any of the hundreds of outdoor terraces enjoying some of the best beers in the world. And even if it’s not beer, then a waffle, crepe or the world famous Belgian chocolates. Only for those, the trip is already well worth it at any time.

Any season is good to come here; either if it is spring when the trees are in bloom, summer with the many shows and activities everywhere in the city, autumn when the colors are turning brown and yellow or winter with the famous and huge Christmas Market being the highlight. Beautiful!

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Cagliari - Italy

Cagliari – Italy

Post published:4 May 2015
Post category:Europe Italy Select by Continent Southern Europe

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Sardinian: Casteddu

Taking advantage of the early May bank holiday and as such giving us a little bit more time at the destination than the usual weekend trips, we decided to book well ahead (and thankfully because this destination popped up at a great price with British Airways, much cheaper than with any other airline) the beautiful Italian island of Sardinia. A very large island in fact where my original plan was starting in Cagliari where our flight lands; then onto the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Su Nuraxi, and end the trip in Olbia in the northern side of the island. Unfortunately due to the long distances in the island and because you will need a bit longer than a day in Cagliari if you want to fully enjoy it, there was no time to drive all the way to Olbia. That will be then for another trip in the future.

Cagliari is the capital and largest city, and the most historical in the island. With traces of being inhabited for over 5000 years from the Neolithic till today, the amount of history can be felt in every corner and at the many sights all around the city.

The city in any case is of medium size and you could potentially visit in one day. Since we had to postpone for another trip the visit to Olbia, we decided to enjoy more time in the city and worked very good. You should therefore plan your stay accordingly and unless you want to just stay here (which is already good enough specially if mentioning the nice 8km long Poetto Beach), then consider visiting other places around the island. There are countless destinations to go to.

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Su Nuraxi di Barumini - Italy

Su Nuraxi and Tharros – Italy

Post published:3 May 2015
Post category:Europe Italy Southern Europe

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Nuragic and Punic Civilizations

Our second aim on this long weekend trip was to visit other locations up to a maximum of 100 kilometers or so from Cagliari. Obviously I did some research previously before to have a brief idea on what other nice places were near that could make a great day out. Of course counting with the Bronze Age settlement of Su Nuraxi as the highlight of the day. For the remaining locations to complete the day is the first time I made use of Instagram and searched for images using hashtags. I must admit the outcome has been very successful and will continue with this technique on trips that are similar to this.

Although you can take a tour from Cagliari or other larger cities in Sardinia that take you here and around other archaeological places, specially in what is called the Nuragic Route; the freedom of a rental car gives you a wider flexibility not to mention you will be able to visit way more places than on a tour. But that’s not all, if you are 2 people or more then is more cost-effective renting a car than getting onto a tour.

Driving towards Su Nuraxi was pretty quick and straight forward. Most of the way was on the highway, with the last few kilometer on a more local road. Altogether the distance is around 70 kilometers and since along the way there is nothing of importance to stop and visit, it will take you around 45 minutes from downtown Cagliari to reach here.
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Ring of Kerry - Ireland

Ring of Kerry – Ireland

Post published:26 April 2015
Post category:Europe Ireland Northern Europe

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Irish: Ciarraighe, Ciarrai

On our second day on this weekend trip we left Cork towards County Kerry, some 70 kilometers to the west. Initially we headed to Kerry Airport where we got a rental car to then drive all around this beautiful region in Ireland. You will find all over the internet there is a specific name for a route that passes all over the best places in the area, this is called the Ring of Kerry, and that’s right, this was our aim for today and the reason why we needed a rental car.

I cannot imagine anyone coming here without a car, but is this is the case, (not everyone drive nor want to drive in their holidays), you can take a tour from pretty much everywhere else in Ireland. Those offer this as a day tour, and are available even as far as from Dublin. Other than that, you can only go point to point using public transportation as Killarney, Tralee or Portmagee to name the “largest” cities. I emphasize in “largest” as quite ironic, the size of the cities are more to a villa, being Tralee the largest at around 25000 inhabitants.

But again, this is not a region you come as part of city sightseeing, but for nature and landscapes instead. It is without doubt regarded as the most picturesque region in Ireland and renowned for its scenery and landscapes. Combining the Ring of Kerry with a larger city to the likes of Cork as was our case this weekend; or Limerick and Galway which are at the same distance, is perfect and will work great on a weekend trip. (more…)

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Cork - Ireland

Cork – Ireland

Post published:25 April 2015
Post category:Europe Ireland Northern Europe

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The Rebel City

At quite a desperation for this weekend since we did have nothing booked until 5 days before travelling, we managed to get a super deal once again with Ryanair on a very last minute rush. It involved going to one airport to return from a different one since returning from the same airport would have set the costs to double and more. Furthermore, a route we had already planned last year but could not manage in time when we went to Limerick and Galway. So Cork would be on Saturday, and the Ring of Kerry on Sunday.

Cork is the 3rd largest city in Ireland, just a bit larger than Limerick. Located on the banks of the River Lee and at the mouth of one of the largest natural harbours in the world. Founded in the 6th century as a monastic settlement, was in the 915 when the Vikings created a trading port and the city developed from there. At one point it was entirely walled when it was an outpost of Old English culture among the predominant Gaelic countryside.

There is a rivalry between Cork and Dublin, similar to the rivalry between London and Manchester or Madrid and Barcelona. Both “competing” to each other in offering “better” than the other. This leads nonetheless in Cork having a great and huge choice of activities and entertainment as Dublin, much larger city and capital, has also too. (more…)

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