Vitoria - Spain

Vitoria Gasteiz – Spain

Post published:28 September 2014
Post category:Europe Southern Europe Spain

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The automobile capital of Spain

Vitoria is located in the province of Alava, which was never part of the Basque Country autonomous region until it was added on May 20, 1980, by decision of the Basque Parliament, naming the city of Vitoria-Gasteiz as the capital city of the Basque Country region due to its favourable transport connections to the surrounding major and important cities and due to its favourable rather flat location, something that Bilbao or San Sebastian for example differ from being in the middle of mountainous valleys.

Erroneously overlooked by tourists who only aim for Bilbao, San Sebastian and the coastal villages around, Vitoria has a great medieval old town with plenty of sights and museums, huge choice for food, shopping and a thriving nightlife. I cannot believe I did never come here before, especially that since part of my family is from Bilbao and the many years I’ve been going to Bilbao, but never made it here until now.

Not only the city will make a great day for visiting, but its location will also give you the chance to visit some of the nearby beautiful cities and villages, wineries, natural parks, landscapes and nature. To mention a few, you are near La Rioja where obviously if you are a wine person, will know how to even further appreciate the region yet still if not into wine, the chance to visit some of the wineries are a good idea specially for their incredible architecture of many of them, where world renown architects have created 21st century masterpieces blended with the ancient buildings. Then you have Burgos, San Sebastian, Bilbao or Biarritz, all at little over 100km away. (more…)

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Alicante - Spain

Alicante – Spain

Post published:21 September 2014
Post category:Europe Southern Europe Spain

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Roman Lucentum, Arab Medina Laqant

The city that saw me growing every summer for almost 20 years as my parents used to have a flat there; is always nice to return. Would not matter if I would return even every year as it is actually the current trend or even more than once; I do still enjoy it a lot, obviously for the beaches and for the memories that I have for so many years. To my personal opinion, the beaches here are by all means the best ones in Spain and even rank higher than many other beaches with a much more fancier name or location as Ipanema or Copacabana in Rio de Janeiro, which are almost one to one to those you see in Alicante, or Boracay in the Philippines and Belize. Only missing are more palms, as for buildings and architecture, it is the same.

Truth is that the city itself is not very pretty as most Spanish cities tend to be. Instead the architecture is severely influence by the holiday boom which started from the 1960’s and in fact, many monstrosities were built occupying the place of beautiful 19th and 20th century buildings that once stood. Fortunately not all was lost and yet small, the old town still retains the old flair and beautiful blend of Moorish with Spanish architecture. After all, Alicante was one of the major Moorish cities back in the invasion times.

But something that won’t change is the weather. Humid and hot during the long summer, mild during the short winter months. If heading more to the north direction to Catalonia, the sea water turns colder; heading southwards direction of Andalusia, and the weather gets warmer. Alicante lies just in the middle, and benefits from this. (more…)

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Beijing - China

Beijing and the Great Wall – China

Post published:6 September 2014
Post category:Asia China

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The Last of the Four Great Ancient Capitals of China

Reaching our last destination on this trip we arrived to the capital city of China. The heart of the country where the former emperor flair can still be felt in the air in the spectacular palatial constructions. Royal temples, palaces, gardens and broad avenues dating back to the Qing and Ming Dynasties, where the center of power of the vast empire, the Forbidden City, was (and is) located at the very heart, with the rest of the city following concentric rings on an ever expanding city.

Having been before in Shanghai which apparently is a larger city than Beijing, you do not get this feeling once in Beijing. You will come across a vast city where sights are so distant one to another as you surely did not really expect before when planning your trip. Have this really in consideration as the time you will spend commuting around is going to be really incredible long.

But having said quite a positive introduction, the unfortunate reality can change your mind rapidly. Yes, no one can argue about the impressive sights and history on them, but how about what is in the middle of the way between the sites; this is, the city itself? Well, that is the downside here. It is a complete disaster in architectural taste. Horrible apartment high-rises simply everywhere possible, ugly streets without any taste; huge avenues where pedestrians are the less considered. Only congestion, pollution, noise and traffic at any time of the day. (more…)

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Xian - China

Xian – China

Post published:2 September 2014
Post category:Asia China

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Starting Point of the Silk Road

Our next move within China and after our first impressions of what is like to be in mainland China, we took off from Shanghai to Xian in the heart of China. The starting point of the Silk Road. Impossible to argue it is one of the most historical cities in China and perhaps under rated by most of the tourist, which they just go (or are taken as part of a tour) to the Terracotta Warriors and leave the city without even see the impressive city walls or not a glimpse of what other attractions the city has to offer.

I knew Xi’An had way too many places to visit and lots to do, but unfortunately in our super busy agenda all we could spare were 2 days, from which almost a full one was gone for the Terracotta Warriors. Still, from the remaining time we had in the city we definitely saw the most we could, and yet again as the same note of what happened in Suzhou, unfortunately the rest of the city around the sights is really an eyesore.

A very good point in favour is the way the city developed. Meaning what is within the walls covers at least 75% of all the sights and must do’s, and it’s easily reachable even on foot around the central ones. Only some temples, monuments and museums are outside of the walls. (more…)

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Suzhou - China

Suzhou – China

Post published:31 August 2014
Post category:Asia China

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Venice of the East

At little over 100 km from Shanghai to the west is this “beautiful” canal-city of Suzhou. A glimpse of very traditional Chinese architecture, gardens, temples and all criss-crossed by many bridges over the countless canals. A must visit should you have enough time in Shanghai. It will truly make your trip to China an excellent addition merely to be able to really appreciate and feel the real ancient Chinese life. You might wonder why the quotations on the word beautiful, but will explain later below.

And at only 25 minutes by super frequent high speed trains from Shanghai, and only around £5 per way there is no excuse nor hassle why not to come and visit. Perhaps the only constrain will be having the time for it. Thankfully for us we planned 3 full days in Shanghai for which we could allow one of them for Suzhou since in 2 days you can more or less visit pretty much every sight in Shanghai. Still for you to know, 1 day in Suzhou is not enough to see everything. At least 2 would make things better.

Shockingly the city is rapidly growing and will soon have 10 million inhabitants! That’s just crazy growth and here comes the quotation on beautiful mentioned before. Sadly most of the old city centre is now gone for horrible constructions, meaning what is basically left are all the gardens, temples and monuments scattered around them, many of them listed on the UNESCO World Heritage Site. A sad truth of what China is really doing with its development.

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Shanghai - China

Shanghai – China

Post published:31 August 2014
Post category:Asia China

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Pearl of the Orient

Leaving behind South Korea, we moved into our next destination; China. A new country visited in our already busy list, currently occupying the 67th place (as of 2014). Knowing there are 196 official countries in the world then this is quite an achievement so far! Not an absolute “new” country let’s specify in this note as we’ve been to Hong Kong and Macau before which belong to China under special territories though surely first time in the mainland.

After visiting Seoul some days before now arriving to Shanghai, there’s not too much difference between them in the sense of architecture. This is after all, the financial heart of China. And that title comes with an obvious outcome: the already thousands of skyscrapers the city has. More shockingly to know that all you see today has been built pretty much over the past 25 years only. Unfortunately (or fortunately), depending which kind of person you are and what interests you have behind, most of the traditional old architecture is lost on behalf of this frenetic construction and development.

Still good to know and see that the waterfront, what is named “The Bund”, has been spared and retains almost in full and intact the heart of the colonial city that Shanghai once was, in this area, the British Concession. A massive and beautiful collection of buildings from the 19th and 20th centuries with special attention to the 1930s when the city bloomed and so the art-deco new architecture embellished the city with grand constructions, most of them financial institutions like the HSBC headquarters (also shared with the Hong Kong headquarters). (more…)

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Seoul - South Korea

Seoul – South Korea

Post published:28 August 2014
Post category:Asia South Korea

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Gyeongseong

After such impatient wait, the day finally has finally arrived! Our second time in Asia this year with a span in between trips of barely 4 months. Another two different countries, two well marked different cultures. Starting with the capital of South Korea then moving on to mainland China to cover the triangle cities of Shanghai, Xi’An and Beijing, and other secondary small ones in between.

This was not only the first time I would visit South Korea, but it was also the first time I would fly on such a long haul in business class. Although it was not one of those super offer tickets this time, it was at least one of these British Airways flights we could manage when they, from time to time, launch what they call “luxury sales” or “the world is on sale” where all their business and first class tickets have some sort of discount. I do strongly advice you to check around some flights whenever they have such a sales, you can grab some really great deals! Another purpose for us to have chosen business class was to boost our Executive Club membership to the next level, to become and retail the Silver status.

Now to what really matters here, the city of Seoul. It is the second largest metropolis in the world at over 25 million people, and has only became so rich and successfully over the past 30 years. It was not many years back, even poorer than their neighbour North Korea. This incredible unprecedented development is what is known as the “Miracle on the Han River” when it was transformed from the ashes of the Korean War after 1953 in what is today the 4th largest metropolitan economy in the world. (more…)

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Prague - Czech Republic

Prague – Czech Republic

Post published:27 July 2014
Post category:Czech Republic Eastern Europe Europe

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Caput Regni: Head of the Kingdom

Prague, one of the most impressive and beautiful cities in the world, is hard to even describe and say something towards it. Once you get there and be on the streets, is easy to understand why. And no matter the time of the year you come, every season is somewhat special here. What is becoming harder though is to find a quiet month with not that many tourists. My first trip was back in 2009 and that was still nice; the city was only starting to gentrify and prices were really competitive for everything. Now it’s the opposite, one of the most desired cities, heavily massified.

It’s good to now have a wider overview of the city, hence the good reason this guide is actually a combination of all these visits, plus another more recent where we would also take the chance to get to the enchanting city of Cesky Krumlov. It’s always great coming back to Prague, there’s always something new. Refreshing memories and also being able to provide with a proper travel guide entry for my blog as otherwise remembering all the details from these years back would have not been accurate with half of it missing.

The city is always included on any poll and listing of the most beautiful cities in the world, or places to visit before you die and similar lists. As such, you can imagine the incredible amount of history, sights, museums, entertainment and nightlife, therefore in a weekend it is absolutely impossible to visit everything. You will need at least a minimum of 4 days although I would personally recommend you more if you have the chance, or a me right now, coming for a second time and continue visiting new places.

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