Read more about the article Parma – Italy
Parma - Italy

Parma – Italy

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Byzantine Chrysopolis: The Golden City

After a busy program the day before visiting the cities of Ravenna and Ferrara, today was more quiet for a smaller city, and mostly because we could not count with the entire day since we needed to return to Bologna airport in the afternoon to get the flight back to London. In any case, another weekend and another success with the plan we had in mind that worked very good and now we can cross another three cities in one go off the list.

While the city is known for its beautiful monuments across a nicely preserved medieval core, when we think of Parma, we have in mind something else of course. First, the indisputable Parma Ham, one of the top delicacies in the whole of Italy itself comes from this region; and the Parmigiano-Reggiano, the true Parmesan cheese. But it is not only about these 2 delicacies, it is for the large amount of restaurants serving some of the best dishes we’ve ever had in Italy, all of which non expensive, nor touristy places. only for its food and a relaxing sightseeing walk through the city it was a very worthy day what we planned.

To visit the city, half a day is more than enough. It is not big and the historical core is very compact with all the sights at walking distance from each other hence no need to plan longer. For us coming here after breakfast from Bologna, 100 kilometres east, and leaving back to Bologna after 15.00pm in good time to make it to the airport was well enough; otherwise any longer as an entire day and you will end up without places to visit. (more…)

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Read more about the article Ferrara – Italy
Ferrara - Italy

Ferrara – Italy

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City of the Renaissance

Continuing our tour for today after visiting the city of Ravenna and at only 70 kilometres to the north we arrived in Ferrara. Another jewel city in Italy, and UNESCO World Heritage Site listed as: “City of the Renaissance, and its Po Delta”. While Ravenna, although of the same size as Ferrara in population number it seemed smaller, and with the fact of having less to see bearing its 8 UNESCO buildings, here in Ferrara you will need to plan a bit more time to be able to visit all the sights since the city is more grand and with many more elegant streets and buildings all around.

Ferrara is also an important tourist centre, where majority of visitors are day-trippers from “nearby” touristy-on-mass Venice or Bologna with Modena and Parma. It is a very worthy city to visit and with the more and more trips we are continuously doing where we are “running out” of destinations it is great to see how many hundreds of secondary cities are all over across Europe still to visit; so this will still keep us going for some years.

The good side of smaller cities like Ferrara, yet packed with history and sights, is that you won’t need long time for visiting it as opposed to larger cities where you will need minimum the entire weekend. This was for us already the second city we visit today after Ravenna, and I can ensure you there was good time for both cities without rush; but what made the difference in saving us a lot of time commuting between the cities was having a rental car. It is anyway possible to do the same by train or bus Bologna to Ravenna, Ravenna to Ferrara, and back from Ferrara to Bologna in the night if your base is there as was our case and all in one day. (more…)

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Read more about the article Ravenna – Italy
Ravenna - Italy

Ravenna – Italy

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Seat of the former Byzantine government in Italy

Another weekend starting with a flight to Bologna, the nearest international airport to Ravenna, our first of the three cities planned this time, all of them UNESCO World Heritage sites. A bit exceptional in the case of Parma which we would visit the following day, since it is the first city in Italy to be awarded UNESCO’s Creative City for Gastronomy. From the beautiful city of Bologna it’s 84 kilometres to the east to Ravenna, right by the Adriatic coast of Italy; and it’s the perfect start of the day to later continue visiting the city of Ferrara, 78 kilometres northwest along the beautiful drive by the coast for the first section.

Ravenna is a very small city, and as such, easy to visit quick without hassle hence why it is worth to include other places nearby to complete the day. The main reason to visit this city are the eight early Christian monuments inscribed in the World Heritage List. And since the old city centre is very compact, half a day visit is good enough for seeing everything.

Other than the important monuments, the city itself is as of any Italian city, nice and beautiful, with plenty of cafes and restaurants serving great and inexpensive food. Finding a good place it not difficult at all; all of them are great, and none of them seemed to be any tourist trap. After all, the city is quite overseen by tourists, so do not expect to see here hordes nor groups as you would expect in other cities. (more…)

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Read more about the article Bilbao – Spain
Bilbao - Spain

Bilbao – Spain

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Very Noble, Very Loyal and Unbeaten

It’s been a long time since I did not return to Bilbao, the city I used to be at least once a year when I was a kid because part of my family used to live there. The last time was in 2009 already! True that a year ago we flew to Bilbao, but to go to Vitoria instead. It was really about time to be back at one of my favourite cities in Spain without any doubt, and see how much it has changed from the already better that was, to great that is now. Although this time the visit was quite explicit since the main reason for this weekend was getting to San Sebastian the day before, we actually had enough time to walk the entire city because I am very familiar with it and know how to move fast without the need to look for a map.

I do still remember many years ago how industrial the city once was. And I do still briefly recall in my memory the Euskalduna ship building complex in what is today the Guggenheim Museum and Euskalduna Concert Hall. It was all so grey and dark, smokey and run down, yet still back then I was only starting to appreciate architecture, and knew how beautiful the late 19th century extension was with the elegant buildings along the perfect orthogonal urbanism. Nowadays who could even imagine how a city can re-invent itself that dramatically to become a hot spot worldwide known for its architecture, cultural heritage and art!

Just a building changed it all. Almost 20 years old and still as striking as the first day. 1997, the Guggenheim Museum kicked off what is been described the best ever redevelopment of a city within budget and with clear views to the future. Ever since, almost every world renown architect have left a work in the city, with many more to come. Frank O’Gehry, Norman Foster, Santiago Calatrava, Arata Isozaki, Cesar Pelli, Alvaro Siza, Zaha Hadid, Juan Coll-Barreu and many more. Bilbao is known for its “signature architecture”, something few cities of its size can be proud of. (more…)

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Read more about the article San Sebastian – Spain
San Sebastian - Spain

San Sebastian – Spain

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Motto: Earnt by fidelity, nobility and loyalty

While travelling to Bilbao this weekend was not only for revisiting the city itself, the main reason was to come to San Sebastian, 100 kilometres east of Bilbao right by the coast. Considered as the most beautiful and elegant city in Spain, it is indeed hard to argue that fact. From the very far away memories I have of the only time I’ve come here many many years ago, I always kept in my mind the grand buildings and fine architectural taste and perfect urbanism. Back then I was not even so much into architecture as I am now, nor I did ever think I would ended up studying architecture in the university; but after this weekend’s visit I can finally say I’ve really explored this jewel of Spain in full.

If if almost any city in Spain you can find ancient constructions, churches and cathedrals over 1000 years old, medieval old towns and 15th century palaces to give some examples, here in San Sebastian it is the opposite. For many centuries it survived in one or other form until 1813 when British and Portuguese troops besieged San Sebastian assaulting the town and burning it completely down. That event opened the view to rebuilding from the ashes, this time following a proper urban plan. From this era comes the current “old town”, with the Constitution Square built in 1817 and neoclassical austere buildings. Later one, with the selection of this city as the summer residence of the Royal Family of Spain, it quickly gained fame among the bourgeoisie and rich who built their mansions and palaces, most of which which you can still admire today.

It was, however, almost 100 years later until the masterpiece extension urban plan took over. With the rapidly growing population, it was needed to torn down the old city walls and build farther away from the river. This plan followed greatly the orthogonal Parisian Haussmannian style, where not only the avenues and tree-lined streets were copied, but also in the architectural style of the buildings, very Parisian influenced with a blend of traditional Spanish elements. (more…)

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Read more about the article Palermo – Italy
Palermo - Italy

Palermo – Italy

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Greek Panormos

Finally making a first contact with the largest island in the Mediterranean, Sicily, and Palermo itself, its capital city. A long time desired destination where unfortunately it is rare to find good flight deals at more or less decent flying times. We knew this trip was going to be quite a busy non-stop from one place to another, but definitely well worth it. Furthermore, the more we could visit the better in order to leave plenty of time to reach some of the many other cities and sights in the island for the next trips to Sicily, such as Agrigento, Trapani, Catania, Syracuse, Cefalu, Messina, Taormina. There’s a lot in the island, good enough for 2 weeks travelling and visiting non stop.

With so many sights and that much history everywhere on every corner, it is physically, and literately speaking, impossible to see everything not in just a day, but even a complete weekend will still be too short. You should calculate at least 3 days if you want to fully explore it. Just to give you an idea on how much heritage Palermo houses, many buildings have been listed UNESCO World Heritage sites as part of the “Arab-Norman Palermo and the Cathedral Churches of Cefalu and Monreale”. This means Italy has the largest number of listings compared to any other country in the world, with the region of Sicily itself topping with the most number of sites.

The Arab-Norman style is something unique in the world and only to be found in Palermo and its nearby metropolitan area cities. This style was born right after the Normans conquered Sicily from the Arabs, destroying the majority of palaces and mosques of the once considered jewel not only in the Mediterranean but Europe itself; and in replacement emerged the new style combining arabesque decorations, Romanesque architecture and Byzantine mosaics, becoming once again a beautiful jewel city proud of its history. (more…)

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Read more about the article Thessaloniki – Greece
Thessaloniki - Greece

Thessaloniki – Greece

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Thessalonike, half sister of Alexander the Great

Another weekend, and another city not been before. What else can I ask. This travelling bug is now reaching unthinkable levels to the case that since November last year, I’ve spent only one weekend in London without going anywhere, and the next time that will happen might be just the second weekend in April, unless I end up finding another good destination to go. Otherwise it seems it will be June for my next weekend without travelling. 7 months non stop yet I want much more!

Greece, I must admit is one of the greatest “unknown” in my travel bag. With so many hundreds of places to go, and so many beautiful islands, I’ve only been really few places to be honest, comparing to how many more I wish to go. But flying to Greece does not come cheap as other destinations. Well, it can certainly be cheap, but not when looking for precise days such as flying out there on a Friday evening or Saturday morning, returning on Sunday in order to avoid having to book holidays from work.

Thessaloniki is the second largest city in the country after Athens, but through history, it has been capital of many civilizations and empires, to the point of being a city larger in population than London by the 14th century when it was part of the Byzantine Empire. To give you an idea and brief knowledge, since its foundation in 315 BC by King Cassander of Macedon who named it in honor of his wife, Princess Thessalonike, half-sister of Alexander the Great; it has changed hands from Kingdom of Macedon to Rome, Byzantine Empire, Crusader Kingdom of Thessalonica, Despotate of Epirus (known as Empire of Thessalonica), Second Bulgarian Empire, Nicaeam Empire, Republic of Venice and for almost 500 years under Ottoman rule until 1913 with the annexation to Greece. (more…)

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Read more about the article Sintra – Portugal
Sintra - Portugal

Sintra – Portugal

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Medieval Suntria

Once more like for the past years three years on the row, we returned to the beautiful city of Lisbon to spend the weekend. This time with the intention of spending Saturday for touring the world famous palaces and castles of Sintra, listed by UNESCO World Heritage Site as “Cultural Landscape of Sintra”. And knowing us how special we are when talking about visiting UNESCO sites, this was a must we could not resist. After all, we’ve been to Lisbon before and visited everything so we need new places to go and still enjoy another time what is one of the most beautiful and historical capital cities in Europe.

The distance between Lisbon and Sintra is only 30 kilometres, making it extremely easy and convenient to reach by public transportation. Sintra is, anyway, one of the most visited attractions in the whole of Portugal, with hordes of tourists pretty much all year round, yet thankfully during the winter months you can save you from the rivers of people and enjoy the place more quietly than during high season months. Anyone visiting Portugal on a tour will surely come here as a day trip from Lisbon. But you do not need to be on a guided tour whatsoever, I strongly recommend you to come if you are visiting Lisbon for more than 3 days.

It takes a day to visit all the sites in Sintra, hence why it works great to include it whenever you plan to spend more than 3 days in Lisbon, or if you are a returning traveller to the capital as we are. You could, however, spend more time since the beautiful Atlantic beaches are only 12 kilometres from the centre of Sintra! And what is best, both the city and the beach are connected by a historical tram line that takes around 45 minutes to complete. While if during winter months you can easily take this in consideration, during summer months the vast number of people wanting to do this will turn in hours of queue for the rather infrequent trams. A bus instead, does the very same route, just in case.

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