Siena - Italy

Siena – Italy

Post published:7 February 2016
Post category:Europe Italy Southern Europe

Share it with the world

In Legend: Founded by Senius and Aschius, sons of Remus

On the following day of this quick and very busy weekend after being to Cinque Terre, we decided to spend it for visiting Siena. For me this means returning to a city I’ve already visited back in the year 2001 as part of my end of school trip across France and Italy. All I could remember back then, and very briefly, were the beautiful Piazza del Campo with the iconic tower and the cathedral, both of which icons number one in the city. And even knowing this visit right now would also be extremely explicit; it was in fact perfect because it is of small size and for remembering what I’ve already seen so many years ago.

For centuries a rival city of Florence and Pisa, it managed to retain the entire Medieval core in perfect state, nowadays completely restored and imposing to any visitor. The over 7 kilometres encircling fortification walls are still immaculately standing, while the original water tunnels still provide water to the many fountains that embellish the squares and streets. Regretfully, Siena is just a stop-over along the route for majority of tourists, day-trippers, on the same way Pisa is, while Florence in the other hand benefits from the hordes of tourists that stay longer and make that city their preferred choice and base.

In any case, that is correct. A day is well more than enough to see everything, and unless you chose staying overnight in Siena, (or Pisa) rather than the over expensive Florence, then if cost saving is not the reason I cannot imagine any other reason why to stay here longer as you will run out of sights and things to do after the first day. (more…)

Share it with the world

Cinque Terre - Italy

Cinque Terre – Italy

Post published:6 February 2016
Post category:Europe Italy Southern Europe

Share it with the world

The Five Lands

Here we are at the first weekend trip of the year, after a long holiday through Central America, and without counting my quick visit to Madrid some days before as that was not for travelling but to be with my family and friends. And what a beautiful place to start the year, Cinque Terre, So now that it is getting extremely hard to find new appealing flight routes and destinations to go, it appears the weekend trips for 2016 will have to be planned differently; this is, flying somewhere we’ve already been, but to go to the nearby secondary cities and places where you cannot take a direct flight. And of course, there are hundreds of beautiful places still to discover across Europe, with many others always great to return; but from now on, this will have to be plan for most of our future weekend trips.

Starting this trend, a good priced flight to Pisa was then. Not for staying there and re-visit the city I’ve already been twice, but for spending the entire Saturday to visit Cinque Terre at merely 1 hour by train to the first of the villages, Riomaggiore, and the other 4 just a short train ride in between them. Visiting this beautiful region has been on the agenda for quite a while now but always forgotten on behalf of going somewhere else.

The 5 villages form part of the wider Cinque Terre National Park which is in turn, listed as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO under the name: Portovenere, Cinque Terre, and the Islands (Palmaria, Tino and Tinetto). It is definitely worth to come, see and enjoy the incredible nice landscapes, the rugged coastline and the multicolour ancient and historical villages against the deep blue of the Mediterranean Sea. (more…)

Share it with the world

Pisa - Italy

Pisa – Italy

Post published:6 February 2016
Post category:Europe Italy Southern Europe

Share it with the world

Colonia Iulia Obsequens

The third time in this city, and not the last for now so far. And the reason you might ask? Well, being a great base in the middle of plenty more notorious cities and sites to visit, and a perfect international airport next door to the city centre lowering the cost of the flights to sometimes peanuts. Although it’s now long gone such Ryanair deals where we did pay 1 pence per way per person back in 2009 when we came in a group of 7 friends. Crazy times were these too; and if that’s not enough, that year our plan was in fact visiting Pisa in the morning and Florence in the afternoon, returning at night to Pisa airport for the flight back to London. It was such a summery weather that we enjoyed every moment without feeling any lazy or tired. That’s just an example of possibly a 100 more that fall into the same circumstances during that past years.

With the time all changes of course, and returning to the cities we once saw that quick for a well deserved visit was the key focus on travelling, at the same time that enjoying new places. After all, visiting Pisa will not take you too long due to its reduced size, and reaching the amazing coastal villages of Cinque Terre, Florence, Siena, or San Gimignano are just minute’s away by frequent buses and trains, and so was the aim in the trip planned in February 2016: Cinque Terre and Siena. Now 2 years after and I return to complete what I did not see yet, the masterpiece of San Gimignano, and of course another visit to Florence, thus taking the chance to also properly update the travel guides for Pisa and Florence which I wrote some many years ago and were in much needed state of make-up. But hey! back then I was still new into blogging with just a dozen of guides, while as of today it’s 410 so far for anyone to enjoy and completely free.

So now that you made it to the city, say hi to the other thousands of tourists with the same idea. It’s literally crazy any time between April and October to be here. Absolutely everyone concentrates in the Piazza dei Miracoli where the famous monuments are. You can have a little rest towards the evening when the hordes of tourists on guided tours leave, but the city is more than just this square, and you have the chance to see it for yourself if not being rushed in a tour. The moment you continue to explore around, the streets become empty, just the locals around, and so the more traditional and real restaurants and bars appear.

(more…)

Share it with the world

Granada - Nicaragua

Granada – Nicaragua

Post published:8 January 2016
Post category:Central America Nicaragua

Share it with the world

The oldest colonial city in Nicaragua

Our next move while in Nicaragua took us to what ended up to be the most beautiful colonial city we were in this entire trip. I can also already say this because I am writing this travel guide after returning to London and after having been in Costa Rica which was the last country we visited in the journey. While Leon was fascinating, Granada took majority of protagonism. So well preserved! And so much to see and do. We did actually struggle with the time as we could have spent easily much longer.

After our experience I can definitely tell you that while a day is more than enough for visiting Granada, we came a bit too late from Managua. Aim to take a bus around 9.00am and you will be very well on track without any rush and enjoying more than we actually did. Remember that the days are too short in Central America with sunset by 18.00pm, time you should also make your way back when the last buses depart towards the capital.

Granada is the 3rd largest city in the country and has always been rival city with Leon since colonial times. The fact that is lies near, yet far enough from the active volcanoes, means earthquakes and volcanic eruptions rarely affect the city hence why it has survived to our days with the original colonial core almost intact and extremely well preserved. I question myself the odds on why it has not been included as an UNESCO World Heritage Site yet. I’m sure it will make it to the list anytime soon, specially after the many ongoing efforts and projects of restoration currently in place and the many others planned. (more…)

Share it with the world

Leon - Nicaragua

Leon – Nicaragua

Post published:7 January 2016
Post category:Central America Nicaragua

Share it with the world

Santiago de los Caballeros de Leon

Our first day excursion while in Nicaragua and after visiting its capital city Managua the previous day. The historical and colonial city of Leon, named after the city of the same name in northwestern Spain. It has the largest collection of colonial architecture in the country, yet only for its size being the second largest city in the country. For instance, once you visit Granada you will see that appears to be more colonial structures there than in Leon. Nevertheless, both cities are the masterpieces in Nicaragua, and both as impressive with their own character.

For churches and cathedrals Leon has no rival. It has the largest number of any city in Nicaragua, and majority of any other city across Central America excluding Guatemala. But the current location of Leon is not that of the first original settlement founded in 1524 by Francisco Hernández de Córdoba 30 kilometres to the northeast. The archaeological remains of Viejo Leon as it is known the original settlement are an UNESCO World Heritage Site for being the only Spanish colonial settlement that was never expanded, changed nor developed since its creation. After only 86 years since it was built, the nearby Momotombo volcano and earthquakes destroyed it. A rebuilt would have been not optimal for the proximity to the volcano and possible repeated catastrophe, hence the decision for building the new city farther to the west on a much secured location.

As you might know by now, Managua like any other Central American country lies in the Ring of Fire, with many active volcanoes and frequent earthquakes. And as I briefly described in the travel guide for Managua, the most recent and catastrophic earthquake flattened Managua in 1972. Thankfully the decision for the new emplacement of Leon has secured it through the centuries coming to our days almost intact and with more than 75% of its original colonial architecture. (more…)

Share it with the world

Joya de Ceren, San Andres & Tazumal - El Salvador

Joya de Ceren, San Andres, Tazumal – El Salvador

Post published:3 January 2016
Post category:Central America El Salvador

Share it with the world

Pompeii of the Americas

Continuing our tour in El Salvador, we spared today for doing what is known as the Maya Route. Although within the country there are many hundreds of known Maya places, the majority of them remain unexcavated, with only 8 sites out of 11 in total currently open to the public (as of January 2016). 3 of them are the ones offered in this route, which also are the best ones and unique not only to El Salvador but across the entire former Maya civilisation area. The good side is that all of them are within easy reach from the capital, hence another reason why to have your base in San Salvador would work perfectly as we did.

Joya de Ceren, nicknamed as the Mayan Pompeii or Pompeii of the Americas, is not for coincidence. The fate of this ancient city was the very same as that of the Roman city in Italy. The volcano next door once abruptly erupted and buried the city well deep in hot ash and pyroclastic flow, 10 layers to be precise, meaning the level of conservation is quite immaculate and to this date, the only one example of Maya city where one can see how the people really lived 1400 years ago, with their houses, their utensils, cultivated land and even food. That’s right, it was dinner time when the eruption occurred and while the people had enough time to flee for their lives, they left absolutely everything behind. A proper time capsule like no other that brought to live many of the unknown facts of the daily lives of the Maya. No corpse whatsoever have ever been found in the site, another indication that proves they could escape prior to the destruction.

Although it is known to be there at least 40 structures, only 10 have been entirely excavated and put on display at great care. The reason why they cannot continue excavations is that once open and exposed again to the air after that many hundreds of years, they cannot stop nor control them from deteriorating. Nevertheless, the ones you can see today are an amazing example to give you an idea. (more…)

Share it with the world

Copan Ruinas - Honduras

Copan Ruinas – Honduras

Post published:30 December 2015
Post category:Central America Honduras

Share it with the world

One of the four Maya capitals

At one of the highlights on this Central America trip without any doubt! The ancient Maya city of Copan in Honduras, which in fact was one of the four capitals of this ancient civilization, in this case the eastern capital. The others were Tikal to the north (in Guatemala), Palenque and Calakmul to the west (in Mexico). Having been already in Tikal before, now in Copan, the remaining 2 as of today are on the scope to be the next candidates, hopefully soon. The four capitals were also some of the largest Maya cities and as such, the incredible amount of structures to see is large, yet bearing in mind only a small portion is excavated on them. Did I also mentioned Honduras counts as of today as a new country that I have not been before? This means country visited number 74!.

While if Tikal was an easy trip from Flores in Guatemala, the nearest larger city, and the visit itself, even through right in the middle of the jungle, was quite easy to navigate; in the case of Copan this was way much more laid back, and reaching this place from Guatemala City was a lengthily but comfortable bus ride. Go and back in the same day. Exhausting and tiring but well worth it if you ask me.

Both Copan and the northern capital, Tikal, have a lot to share in common. While if architecture, structures and construction across the Maya civilization do not vary much (unless for the the northern region of Yucatan with the clear Puuc style), the location of the cities vary. In this case, both were created in the middle of the jungle hence why they were “lost” for so many centuries, buried deep beneath the overgrown nature. It is up to date that excavations are still ongoing, and you can guess the many small buried pyramids and other structures under the massive roots of the trees and vegetation. Only a small portion of the city has been uncovered. (more…)

Share it with the world

Tarragona - Spain

Tarragona – Spain

Post published:14 November 2015
Post category:Europe Southern Europe Spain

Share it with the world

Capital of Hispania Tarraconensis

Just a week after being in Barcelona and Girona, we returned but this time with the main objective of spending Saturday sightseeing another city we’ve not been before: Tarragona. This is one of the great advantages of flying to Barcelona, and it’s that the entire autonomous region of Catalonia is filled with history and sights everywhere, hence it’s a perfect place to keep returning year after year. Not only to be with my Catalan friends, but also for going together to the many places around. After all they are also great guides since they’ve been many times before in these cities.

Tarragona was in our agenda for a long time. It is one of the few Spanish cities where so many Roman remains can be visible and integrated in the new city that constantly grew since the fall of the Roman Empire. Nowadays the ruins of Tarraco are listed by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site. I can only recall the city of Merida, in Extremadura, as one of the best examples in the whole of Spain for the largest amount of monumental structures greatly preserved from the Roman times.

Once again as it was last weekend in Girona, the city is not too big and it is perfect for a day visit. Majority of tourist are day-trippers from Barcelona or the coastal resorts, and so we were coming for the day from Barcelona where we had our hotel. I cannot imagine however, any longer in the city should be your plan only stay here as you will end up with nothing else to do on your second day. (more…)

Share it with the world