Cities to visit again (2/2)

There are cities that I like due to architecture or natural environment, some others due to the atmosphere, because they are quiet or welcoming or dynamic, and some other because I got good memories. I realized that the fact that I like a city or not does not only depend on the city itself, but also on circumstances (Girona received me covered in flowers while Gent welcomed me with heavy rain), on myself, on my mood at the moment, and on the experiences I lived there. In the last post I started talking about the cities where I would like to go again: Stockholm, Rome, Viena and Rio de Janeiro. This is the second part of the list.  

Bruges

A small city in Belgium, a perfect place to go around by bike and get lost between small streets and channels. It will remain in my mind as the place where we forgot a photographic camera in a restaurant (a reflex that we had recently bought, of all things). We went back to the restaurant one day later, without any hope, but we found it. Thanks Bruges!

Channels...

Streets...

And a panoramic city view

Bergen

The second largest city of Norway is known for the Bryggen, the wooden houses which have been declared World Heritage Site. In addition to the colorful wooden building, we found an interesting market where you could find anything, and where we met a Spanish guy who worked in summer in Bergen and in winter in Madrid (cool plan!). The second time I was there I discovered the hidden side of Bergen, a small neighbourhood with white houses and lots of flowers.

Bryggen

It is a city next to the sea...

Seagulls dancing around a fountain

The hidden side of Bergen

The market, where you can buy wild salmon and whale

Barcelona

Barcelona is the city where I was born and where I will always go back. I grew up there and abandoned her when I was 20, like a rebel teenager that wanted to see the world. Some years later, and after having travelled a lot, I have realized something: a lot of relations get worse over time and distance, but instead of that, my relation with Barcelona has improved. Now I see her with different eyes, I miss her when I am not there and feel happy every time I go back.

My favorite place... the sea!

One of the hidden places I like the most... the cactus garden

Rambla

The evenings...

Gaudi and its colors

Smiles

Paris

I could not talk about cities without mentioning Paris. This is a city that woke up contradictory feelings in me: I did not like it but I would like to go back. I had heard so much about it, that I was surprised and upset about my disappointment. I must admit that it was December and it was cloudy and rainy all the time, so obviously it was not the best moment of the year. It was all grey and sad. Where was the city of light and love I was expecting? I promised that I would give it a second opportunity, and I feel the moment has arrived. Soon I will go back to Paris!

Eiffel Tour

Notre Dame

Grey sky...

In the fog...

Lafayette shopping center, ready for Christmas

By the way, at the end I did not tell which of these cities is a finalist to 7wonder cities. Can you guess which one is it? 

Cities to visit again (1/2)

A few years ago, the New7wonders foundation launched a voting all around the world through the internet. The objective was to chose the new 7 world wonders. The event had a great success, and in 2011 they repeated the process in order to select the 7 wonders of nature. Now it is the turn of the cities, and after a few rounds the 28 finalists have been selected. The other day I was looking at the list and realized that I have been in only one of them. That made me think about the cities I have visited and which ones I liked the most, why, and which ones I would like to visit again.

With a single smile (2/2)

Andrea and her two new friends, Bjørn and Martin, arrived to the hotel and left their luggage. They went then to the university organizing the conference to pick up the program and the small card with their names, identifying them as conference participants. Since there was still some light, they decided going around to explore the city. Bjørn, who was Norwegian and had been there before, guided them.

With a single smile (1/2)

Andrea could not do anything about it, she was not in a good mood. She was angry, scared, worried and nervous-stressed-hysteric, all at the same time. She was angry with her PhD thesis director. After one year and a half of intense work, she wanted to present her results in a recognized conference which was taking place in Hawai. He refused, saying that it was too expensive, and had sent her to Tromsö.

Life in the desert (or living without a watch)

- In Morocco, at which time do you usually eat?

     - When we’re hungry.

This is what I liked the most from the life in the desert: living without a watch. The population of the driest part of the country gets up at sunrise, eats when they are hungry and goes to sleep when they are sleepy. I did the same: I removed my watch, hid it in a pocket, and let the rhythm of the trip lead me.

Short introduction to the desert

Before travelling to Morocco, when thinking about the desert, only one image came to my mind: sand dunes, yellow and orange, a very blue sky and no sign of vegetation. Is it so due to the films? Do the films always show the same aspect of the desert? In any case, during the days I spent in the desert I discovered that there is much more than that. 

The 7 wonders of my trips

Writing this blog is getting me back a lot of memories. When I started, I looked again at all the pictures from my trips, and I started to understand the amount of places I had visited. I am a traveler easy to please: I have enjoyed most of the destinations, there are a lot where I would like to go back, and there are a few that really impressed me. Tomorrow is the last day of the year, and year end is a period of summaries and lists ‘the best of...’, so I have prepared a list with the places I have liked the most from my trips until 2013.