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.

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. 

Tarn is dressed in autumn colors

 I didn't write for a long time (I was on holidays and, after that, I had no time...). Finally, I have found the time to look at the pictures from a day I spent in Tarn, at the end of October. Tarn is a region at the north of Toulouse that, in only one day, became one of my favourites in France. I'd like to go back, to see if it is always like this, or it was just the first sight. Or was it because the weather was so good? Or because the region was dressed in autumn colors?

Austrian Italy (or Italian Austria)

'You won't like it', told me a collegue from work. 'It's a pity that the first city you will see in Italy is Trieste, there's nothing to see', told me another. But I was very happy to go to Italy, even if it was not to one of the famous cities, even if it was a trip for work, and I wanted to enjoy it. And I was not disappointed. 

Digital art: Sweden

When I think about Sweden, I think about snow (lots of snow), but also about sunsets, little villages with white walls and red roof, small boats in the sea, squares with flowers and old tramways. 

This is the reason why, once, I wanted to prepare a present for a friend who I met in Sweden, and I couldn't chose a picture. How would it be to take this one? Oh, no, but this one would be nice as well... and that one? And what about two, ot three, or several pictures combined together...?

10 images around Dublin

I will always be fond of Ireland. It was the first place I visited alone, and Ireland welcomed me warmly. What I remember the best is the green color of grass and the kindness of people. That journey opened me the door to the world, and invited me to keep discovering places and cultures. 

Reading is like travelling and travelling is an art

Reading is like travelling, travelling is an art and this blog combines travel, art and literature. I want to write fictitious stories and tell real anecdotes, show photos and create digital compositions. Talk about distant places and close places. Combine graphic art and stories, real and imaginary, travel and creation. And other things which cross my mind, which are quite a lot and often unexpected. I'll let my imagination fly!