This blog is to share with you some of my enjoyable times of my life. I talk about things I love to do and adventures I have gone through. I take the liberty to recommend places, activities and food that in my opinion are worth to try.
This is just a tool to help you to make your own decisions when you are ready to go to those places (obviously from my own point of view).
Spanish version: http://igotita-disfrutandodelavida.blogspot.com/
This picture was taken after doing minitreking in Perito Moreno. When you go back to the refuge, you walk in a forest that is amazing. Was a pity not to have more time (and more forces!)for walking there a bit more. The views to the glacier from the forest are priceless!!
After our unsuccessfull seeking of the phantom dog, P Chris showed us a charming little corner of Mallorca: the end of Carrer de la Torre. This is a small cliff overlooking the sea, obviously with a tower. From there you have great views of the beach, Cala Pi and Cabrera Island.
It seems that the tower of the cliff was built due pirate attacks at that area. Now the cove has a lot of visitors, no matter you have to climb a lot of steps to go out of there. The cliff has a lot of visitors as well, no wonder, you have great views and also the tower gives it a special touch. It´s also an area where most ships dock, so it's tempting to go and spend a while watching the creek, views, docked boats and tower.
After the great lunch we had at Ca N´Antuna, we went to walk in Fornalutx. It´s a very nice village with narrow streets and many steps… better you watch it by your own!:
Here a bit of info about Fornalutx, from the web Mallorcaweb:
“Situated in the heart of the Serra de Tramuntana, in a spectacular valley that starts from the Puig Major and descends towards Soller, Fornalutx can be found, considered to be one of the most singular villages on Mallorca. Because of its extraordinary beauty and enviable state of conservation, Fornalutx has received different prizes and recognition. In 1983 it was awarded by the the Mallorcan Tourism Board the Silver Plaque for the defence and maintenance of the village. The same year the General Secretary for Tourism gave it the Second National Price for Towns embellished and maintained in Spain. And in 1985 it received the Premi Alzina from the GOB.
The history of Fornalutx starts over 1000 years ago, when it was an Arab property. The population of the area started after the Catalan conquest and the present church was finished in 1639. Until 1813 it depended on the Parish of Soller and in 1837 it became an independent municipality.
The charms of Fornalutx are uncountable. The stone streets and steps of the old centre, carefully adorned with many pots and plants; the ancient stone houses and the doorways wide open; the lush vegetation on the mountain terraces and the orchards where the famous oranges are grown... The architectural group and the scenery are so interesting, that it is even difficult to appreciate it completely. It is important to take note of the eves of the houses to see the painted tiles, of "Arab tiles", an ancient tradition that is explained on the web "Teules de moro a la vall de Sóller i Fornalutx ".
… To cope with the numerous visits that Fornalutx receives regularly, the village has a varied and select offer for tourist accommodation and restaurants.”
The place is really pretty. I do recommend to visit it.
After walking we went to drink something to the Café de la Plaza, relaxed, that day the village was almost empty, so we were alone at the square, talking… till the wind came to worried us! The weather expectation for that day was cloudy and raining, so, we decided to better go back to Pochola´s home… that doesn´t meant it was for resting! But! That will be part of my next post! :D
As I mentioned, this time we went to Sóller in a car and we enjoyed a lot the views. Once I Sóller, we left the cars in a parking and walk in the streets. Sóller is a nice, warm and full of life village. It was Saturday morning and we headed to the square that was full of people walking or sitting in the various terraces. There we joined a Pochola´s friend, Johana and her daughter Nuria, who are from Soller and made us guides. Xisco also arrived, with his wife Eva and Marta, his older daughter.
Even when the road trip is nice, the best way to go to Sóller is by train This was the way we done with Sil in 2004. It is longer, but with spectacular views. The train itself is old and of wood, that gives a magical touch to the tour.
The train leaves you at the midst of Sóller, which is small, so you can easly do the visit on foot. Then you can take a tram to the port. I was watching the train on the web and they have packages that include the train from Palma to Soller, the tram to the port and a boat trip, all for between 35 and 42 euros (depending on the hours when you take the train). I think it can be a very good idea for the next trip! : D
Continuing the story of our experience of 27 February, we really had a great time. Johana and Nuria were excellent guides. We spent a while walking along Carrer de Sa Lluna, a pedestrian street of shops, picturesque spot where Curro and I bought shoes, handmade, called porqueras. We were delighted them! : D
Here a video of part of our tour:
Again I was surprised about so many people leaving doors and windows open so that passersby can see the courtyards and in some places even the living room of their homes. Of course it shows that Soller is a very safe place! : D
Walking along the Carrer de Sa Lluna we found a lady who had the windows of his house open. It was a house at street level windows and fairly large, albeit with bars. We drew attention for a dog that was there, watching the street and we approached ... the lady came to talk to us ... a little better look at it in the video! : D
We met Topo in a terrace of a restaurant at Parc de la Mar, with views to the olimpic port and to the cathedral. We started the walking right there, we found an craft fair with a lot of interesting food.
We continued the walking at the most emblematic streets of Palma, with calm, giving us the time for discovering it by our own.
I started to enjoy the nice Mallorcan habit of opening their gates so that passersby can admire the wonders of the courtyards.
There are a lot of foreigners´ shops with, we´ll say… hem… curious concepts? An example was the place Matarraz that was very strange from outside, but inside it was surrealistic at all. Starting with the owner that can´t even reply our greeting when we entered. The place was so small and I´m not sure if it was a cafeteria? A bar? Well, something a bit strange at the way is always something to appreciate hehehe. ;P
On Sunday 14th. after breakfast, we did the check out and went back to Madrid. We had already reserved for lunch and we went out of the hotel soon just in case the traffic would be so heavy.
We were lucky, almost no traffic, so we were closet o the restaurant 2 hours before of the time we had scheduled the reserve, so we decided to go to visit the mall Xanadu. We still didn´t know it.
In fact I'm not the kind of person who likes to spend the day at the mall. Actually I´m not even a malls fan. But… I liked this one! You see, it has a lot of leisure places, is quite big, so, it has quite a lot of stores but also restaurants, cinemas and…
A bowling:
A karts track!
And its emblematic snow zone:
The prices are not low, but comparing with going to a real sky slope, seems to be better. A friend of mine told me this was great for people just starting skiing, due it´s a safer place.
What I didn´t like was how crowded it was. I know, the place is successful, especially on a carnival Sunday plus Saint Valentine. I should go again in a different day or date to check it.
We arrived to Avila, which was more quite of what we thought. It wasn´t our first time there, this is a place I like a lot, so I usually take there my visits from out of Spain.
We made a car ride around the wall, thought about doing it also walking, but it was a bit late for eating, we could have the risk of finding the kitchens already closed if we delay more thinking about where to go.
Here the video:
We had not a real idea of where to eat, but we did wanted a peaceful place, better if out of the city. Curro did a search with the iphone at the web 11870.com and we decided to go to a restaurant in Burgohondo.
We started the route in San Martín de Valdeiglesias. Actually we were searching a cashier, so we had to go out of the car and to ask to different people, everybody was so kind and nice.
By chance we found the castle, that is being repaired and is not possible to go inside, but what you can see is nice. Here some pics:
Burgos is a precious city at the north of Spain. Curro´s family lives there, so we go there time to time and spend some time during Xmas and/or New Year Eve as well.
This time we went for Xmas and had a walk at the old part of the city, which is my favorite one.
Here our walk with day light:
And here with the magic of the night lights:
Burgos is famous due it´s cathedral. I like the whole city, actually I don´t understand why it is not more promoted as touristic place. I invite you to visit it!
In Madrid, at the Spain Square (Plaza de España), is taking place a Handcrafts Fair.
Quite a lot of different so good quality things, you can find from silk ties hand painted to glass earrings, from wood aticles to candles... better you give a look to my favorite places!
It will be open till January 5th. I do recommend to visit it! :D
And a view of the pond that is in front of Don Quijote, Sancho Panza and Cervantes statues. It´s almost freeze, something difficult to see in Madrid!
I had the chance of meeting the Xmas Market in Dortmund. It´s a different concept of the ones I knew before, because instead of being placed in one specific square or a determinate space for it, it is actually all over the city center, mixed with the normal stores, churches and pedestrian streets. So, it becomes in some kind of the whole city center market! :D
I was also hallucinating with the things they sell… a lot of wood handcrafts, ceramic, candles, interesting xma´s lights, glass bombs hand painted… And if we talk about food… mmmmm!!! Great healthy options with fruits and vegetables, a lot of great bread (I love German bread!) :D and also street places for drinking something… but all, and I mean ALL with quite great taste!
You can give a look to it here:
As far as youtube says it´s blocked in some countries, here the version with youtube music: (the other one was with Enya… btw: great versions for Xmas music!)
Here the second part, with the world´s biggest Xmas tree:
In some places the airport is the first tourist interesting place. What I like about Schiphol Airport is that you feel there like not being in an airport... but actually, I can´t tell the feeling is like being in a Comerical Center... maybe, in case I should compare with something, I would tell it is like a small city. There you have restaurants, shops sometimes with better sales than in the city even for Nederlanden products like cheese or souvenirs. Of course you have there a very comfortable internet place. A flower shop, art exhibitions... and even a Casino! :D
Enjoy some views here!
This is one of the airports I really don´t mind to have to stay hours there!
This is one of the forgotten places of China. Not many tourists here, but it´s an important place, first of all as a historical relic, but also due an incident occurred in 1937, when the war with Japan.
This time I´m sharing with you how the streets of Dortmund looked like on June 30th. before the match of Germany vrs. Argentina. This match wasn´t played in Dortmund, but there was a fan´s space in the center of Dortmund, with a big screen and beer stands for watching it.
They even prepared a place, very close to the train station, where you felt like going inside a football camp at the middle of a match. The entrance was like the one for the players… here you can see:
Yes, I know… I still have to write about the experience at Canaima, to finish the whole Venezuelan story and also the one about Argentina… but I´m with a lot of work till January and those stories need a lot of preparation (to take care of the pics, uploading videos…).
On the other hand, due work I have to be travelling to Toledo each week and yesterday I started to do something that I wish I would think about before: to take videos walking while doing normal working life in Toledo. That gave me the idea to do the same in other places, and I will… the pity is that during the last 2 months I had been travelling a lot and if I would think about that before, we already would have a lot of posts with videos! Well, at least I´m starting it now.
So, the idea of this new “section” is just that: to share with you videos of different places while walking / driving / going by bus there.
After our unsuccessfull seeking of the phantom dog, P Chris showed us a charming little corner of Mallorca: the end of Carrer de la Torre. This is a small cliff overlooking the sea, obviously with a tower. From there you have great views of the beach, Cala Pi and Cabrera Island. 
As I mentioned, this time we went to Sóller in a car and we enjoyed a lot the views. Once I Sóller, we left the cars in a parking and walk in the streets. Sóller is a nice, warm and full of life village. It was Saturday morning and we headed to the square that was full of people walking or sitting in the various terraces. There we joined a Pochola´s friend, Johana and her daughter Nuria, who are from Soller and made us guides. Xisco also arrived, with his wife Eva and Marta, his older daughter.
This was one of the first interesting places we saw walking in Palma de Mallorca, we liked what we saw in the window and went inside: 
We met Topo in a terrace of a restaurant at Parc de la Mar, with views to the olimpic port and to the cathedral. We started the walking right there, we found an craft fair with a lot of interesting food. 
This is one of the forgotten places of China. Not many tourists here, but it´s an important place, first of all as a historical relic, but also due an incident occurred in 1937, when the war with Japan. 
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