Krakow - Poland

Krakow – Poland

Post published:4 March 2017
Post category:Eastern Europe Europe Poland

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The Polish Athens, The Polish Mecca

Almost 8 years have passed since my first and only time in this beautiful city, yet my opinion and judgement has not changed but turned to even better. Now after this trip I can finally update one of my older travel guides here in my blog to a much more complete and descriptive one together with a refreshed photo album. To me this felt as visiting a new city from scratch not only for the long time not been, bur for the huge difference in the weather too!. If back in December 2009 it was super cold, grey and dark, rain and the first snow of that winter; this time in March 2017 it was a different story. A proper spring day, sunny and warm to the point of needing to remove our jackets. We could not have asked for more nor been any luckier.

Krakow is the most visited city in Poland, and the facts talk for itself: it’s been the Royal Capital city of Poland for many centuries until 1596 when it was moved to Warsaw. It has always been one of the wealthiest cities in the country, with some of the finest churches, palaces and mansions built. A very large castle growing with every king. An important merchant and trade city since the middle ages, and all this architecture and historic legacy thankfully spared from the destruction during WWII mainly because of Hitler having a special love for this city. You can expect a very large collection of historical buildings everywhere, retaining much of the Medieval urban core almost intact. No wonder why it was one of the first 12 privileged candidates to be inscribed as a World Heritage Site on the very first UNESCO list when this organisation was created in 1978.

In any case, even having so much to see, the city centre is not too big and can easily be visited in full in a day or over a weekend. Also with such a compact historical centre with most of the streets pedestrianised, following a perfect orthogonal urban grid, there is absolute no need for taking any public transportation when visiting the sights.

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Huelva - Spain

Huelva – Spain

Post published:5 February 2017
Post category:Europe Southern Europe Spain

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Roman: Onoba Aestuaria

An area of high interest I had pending for a long time now, the city of Huelva, the nearby sites of historical importance to the first voyage of Christopher Columbus to the “New World”, and the mines of Rio Tinto. All of which within a small distance to each other, yet hard to find a good flight deal before. After all, the nearest airports are either the very expensive Seville, or Faro in Portugal. The later was our option, and so the fastest. A year ago we’ve visited Faro and the entire Algarve region, so now was time to return and do the other side across the border in Spain.

It is only 115 kilometres from Faro to Huelva downtown, and we drove there the following day to our arrival, although we stayed overnight near the border at the Portuguese resort city of Monte Gordo. It’s always better to be rested from the night before as was already late when we landed at night, while also driving in the day light was part of this trip, enjoying the landscapes of the Rio Formosa Natural Park, River Guadiana (natural frontier between Portugal and Spain) and the marshes along the way.

Huelva as a city, is nothing really special. There are not many sights, nor is a touristy city; however, there is way much more in the nearby region, as for example the Columbine sites (one of the reasons why we came here on first instance); and for those interested in the industrial heritage the city is on the European Route of Industrial Heritage (ERIH) with its Riotinto Pier on the Odiel River, and the not so far incredible Rio Ttinto Mines (our second reason why we came here). It is just a few hours all you will need to visit the city of Huelva itself, for what you will have plenty of time to get to the historical sites of La Rabida Moanstery, Palos de la Frontera and Moguer all in the same day (later described in the next section).

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Fuerteventura - Spain

Fuerteventura – Spain

Post published:29 January 2017
Post category:Europe Southern Europe Spain

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Strong Wind

Keeping on with the trend of travelling to the Canary Islands during winter (low season months) works pretty well almost every time. Air fares are incredibly cheap to the point that it is almost impossible to resist the temptation for not coming back to the islands, and especially if this is one not being before then even better. The only downside is the flight time from London, over 4 hours each way, and the very short time this kind of weekend flights really leave you there itself. There are no flights Friday evenings, therefore the earliest you can get there is around noon Saturday (does not matter which one of the islands, flights tend to be the same for one or another); the problem is the return flight on Sunday, which in this case with Fuerteventura is just after noon and not later. So this is more a day out with a night, still, great enough to be able to enjoy such a good weather and a different place for a little cost.

A rental car is mandatory if you want to see what the island has to offer if you are coming for a short time or city/nature break. So unless you are coming for longer and/or a beach holiday where you have more time and can depend on taking public transport to go to other places or getting on an island tour, you are left with no other choice than renting a car and plan your tour ahead to save as much time as you can.

The good side on any of the Canary Islands is the easiness to drive through them. Roads are generally along their perimeter towards the coast, so you can circle them easily in a day. Some sights lie off the main roads and are well marked, most of them being natural parks, and here in Fuerteventura is no different. The main landmarks are at both north and southern ends, the large sand dunes areas and impressive beaches. (more…)

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Tenerife - Spain

Tenerife – Spain

Post published:15 January 2017
Post category:Europe Southern Europe Spain

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The Island of Eternal Spring

A second time in this beautiful island, or should I say “small continent”. While back in 2013 we came here for a little longer than this time, on this occasion we spent the time to see what we did not visit the last time, which was pretty much along the west coast of the island and the northern tip Anaga Natural Park. The weather could not be better, but you need to think before coming to Tenerife if what you want is sightseeing or relaxing at the resorts and beaches. If the first, then it’s totally OK to get here for just a weekend as you can tour the entire island within the time, but if the later, then consider getting a week minimum.

In our case and as you already know by now, the first option applies. And since the island is not so big (still, it is the largest in the Canary Islands), the best and most relaxing way to explore every corner is by renting a car. If you don’t want to drive or hold a driving license, don’t worry, frequent buses take tourists to the Teide National Park and Volcano base which is the most important sight and likely to be one of the main reasons why to came to the island other than for its great weather all year round.

Santa Cruz itself is not too impressive compared to neighbouring San Cristobal de la Laguna; still, you will find very beautiful and traditional streets, old churches or the main square, Plaza de Espana, with it’s large fountain pools. For such a small city it is surprising to find out how many projects have been carried out by top class architects, being the latest its new waterfront and the ongoing construction of new apartment towers. (more…)

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Cuenca - Spain

Cuenca – Spain

Post published:29 December 2016
Post category:Europe Southern Europe Spain

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Where the houses hang from the cliffs

For a long time now visiting the city of Cuenca was on the list, however because of every time I return to Madrid it tends to be for short time (weekends mostly), there has been never real time to manage the trip here even though it is only 2 hours by bus from Madrid, or merely 50 minutes by high-speed train. In this occasion in the other hand, with over 2 weeks holidays during the Christmas period where I did not go anywhere far this year as is usually the case, there was plenty of time and luckily for us, the weather could not be better. Cold we don’t mind, but was actually warm-ish and perfect blue sky. With no hesitation we booked the bus tickets and went the following day.

The city lies in between Madrid and Valencia and is the capital of the province of the same name within the autonomous region of Castilla la Mancha. It is the 3rd least populated area in Europe, yet linked to some of the most densely inhabited cities in Spain within an hour. Considering the small size of the city, the amount of historic sights is literally resumed to absolutely every construction within the old town, no wonder why it has been listed by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site.

While everyone knows Cuenca for its hanging houses on the cliff, (after all, this is what every tourist have in mind to visit), it is also home to the very first Gothic cathedral built in Spain, timeline for its construction almost in coincidence with the second Gothic cathedral in Spain, in the city of Avila.

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Tirana - Albania

Tirana – Albania

Post published:10 December 2016
Post category:Albania Europe Southern Europe

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Greek and Latin Theranda: the fallen material

Moving on our spontaneous very last minute mini break, after visiting the capital city of Montenegro, Podgorica, where our flight landed; we continued our journey south towards Albania where we would spend the next 2 days visiting the capital, Tirana, the Adriatic coast resort city of Durres, and the marvellous intact Ottoman city of Berat in the middle of the country. Not much time for that many places, but easily manageable since the size of the cities are small and you can do both Tirana and Durres in the same day as they compliment each other. Planning any longer for Tirana would be nonsense as there is not really much to do and visit there.

I must say coming to Albania is been quite difficult over the years hence why we kept postponing it. Flying into Tirana is not a cheap business at all! Perhaps the tax is very high, or there is no other choice from London than the only direct flight with British Airways so no competitive. The great news was to find out the new Ryanair route from London to Podgorica, a great location just 24 kilometres from the Albanian border. However do not even expect good overland transportation between both countries. There is only a bus per day between Podgorica and Tirana in each direction, but the next good news is that you can rent a car in Montenegro and drive it into Albania at a little extra cost for the insurance. With all this information on hand, it was clear this was our chance now.

Tirana is very easy to navigate, either on foot or by car. Most of the city centre was planned in the 1930s following a perfect orthogonal street grid, although this urbanism came at a cost, demolishing many older structures from the Ottoman period, and unfortunately many more were destroyed through the WWII period. What’s there today is not much and that’s the reason you should plan ahead your trip including other places/cities or you will actually face having nothing else to do. (more…)

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Berat - Albania

Berat – Albania

Post published:9 December 2016
Post category:Albania Europe Southern Europe

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The Town of a Thousand Windows

Coming to our highlight city in Albania, the UNESCO World Heritage Site listed city of Berat. A trip to the past to the Ottoman era with such incredible collection of buildings from the era, unchanged and beautifully restored to become what is a rare example in the whole of Europe of such architecture and style almost intact since its construction and in such an extent. The “Town of a thousand windows”; “one above another windows” or “the city of two thousand steps” are some of the nicknames, and they make a perfect judgement on their meaning! Although not sure if that is 1000 windows (or if more), the view from the Osum River towards the city will definitely leave you amazed at that countless amount of windows packed one on top of the other as the buildings raise one behind the other on the hill, and as such comes handy the other of the nicknames… 2000 steps. Be prepared and with comfortable shoes, especially if you’re planning on climbing to the top of the citadel on foot.

Without any doubt this is the most beautiful city in Albania, and also one of the most exceptional from the many I’ve been across 30 countries alone in this year, and unique so far when considering the 83 countries been until today.

A day is well enough to enjoy every sight without any rush, however, we came here by car so this saved us lots of time than if having to depend on public transport (buses). Also gave us full flexibility on when to leave back to Tirana as we were in full charge of our time. Having a rental car saved us also from a lenghly walk to the top of the Citadel, and believe me, it is a long and tiring way up. (more…)

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Podgorica - Montenegro

Podgorica – Montenegro

Post published:8 December 2016
Post category:Europe Montenegro Southern Europe

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Former Titogard under Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia

An extremely very last minute holiday booked just 2 weeks before the flight to one of the less expected destinations, if I ever even considered to visit. However, thanks to Ryanair’s new route to Podgorica from London at that great introductory offer it was hard to resist the temptation for something else in this trip: crossing the border and finally visit Albania, aiming for Tirana and Berat. Another country to tick off the list, meaning up to this date there are only 5 more countries remaining in Europe to complete the visit to them all, 50 no less.

It was over 4 years since our first and only time in Montenegro, back them of course at the historic and touristy coastal cities of Budva, Kotor, Sveti Stefan and Bar. If you check these guides please forgive me if they are not that complete and descriptive as the ones from the recent years. It’s been a long time since I created them right at the beginnings of my blog project. Now, if you need some notes to compare both visits, then let me tell you it is impossible to do so. Podgorica has really nothing to see and do because it was heavily destroyed during WWII. Majority of its former Ottoman old town disappeared forever, and the “new city” that raised was the typical East Europe Soviet style with huge communal blocks, ugly with no sense for architecture whatsoever, just functional.

The entire city was built under this terms, yet still the small old town was spared some streets and rebuilt in part. Then, what was the reason to come here if there is nothing to see? Easy, our flight was landing here so why not to give it a go, briefly do the sightseeing and enjoy some delicious and cheap food before starting our way into Albania. It worked great for us; after all, we only spent 4 hours here including the lunch time. (more…)

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