Ah, to be sitting on a Spanish beach with a beer. When will it happen again?
Tag: Spain
Jellyfish
What is something completely fascinating and absolutely terrifying at the same time? For me it’s jellyfish. They will have me snapping pictures in awe of their insane forms while I am in an aquarium and running away screaming if I see them in the sea (and I don’t see much in the sea because I can’t wear my glasses there, so a plastic bag or a reflection that looks like a jellyfish will have me scrambling too).
But hey, let me know what is something fascinating and terrifying for you. Space? Spiders? The human mind?
Ciutat de les Arts i les Ciències
It seems that it might be some time until it’s safe to travel again and no one knows exactly how that travel will look like. And while there isn’t that much that I miss as an introvert stuck at home with someone I love, finally having the chance to work from home, I am nostalgic for the time I was free to take a cheap flight and spend the weekend in a different European country every now and again. A year ago, in May, I went to Valencia in what is one nicest trips I’ve ever taken and I can’t help but remember the palm trees and the architecture (and the food and the drinks).
Valencia does not only have a wonderful old town, but also some of the most modern and futuristic looking buildings I have ever seen. I am talking, of course, about the Ciutat de les Arts i les Ciències, or the City of Arts and Sciences. When I imagine an utopian future, where everyone is happy and healthy and provided for, this is what my brain thinks that it could look like. Big, bright, white and beautiful, the buildings in this architectural complex look like someone plucked them out of a futuristic film and put them in our reality by mistake.
High above Valencia (pt. 2)
Valencia is so beautiful, it’s not enough to get one bird’s eye view of the historic old town. Which is why I didn’t just climb the cathedral bell tower, when I was there, I also climbed up the old city gate.
High above Valencia
Valencia was one of the nicest trips I’ve taken. Our apartment was in the centre, the weather was nice, the food was delicious and we had enough time to see everything and to take it easy. And so when we went up the Cathedral at the end of our 4 day trip in May, we knew what we were looking at. We saw the terrace of our AirBnb where we had breakfast, we saw the City of Arts and Sciences in the background where we went to twice, we saw the Gate Tower we had just climbed and we looked at people’s terraces, longingly, as people who don’t have such a luxury at home. We saw the old town and the modern part. The palm trees and the brown buildings. The view was well worth the small entrance price to the tower of the Cathedral and the climbing of the winding steps that I so viscerally hate.
Climbing towers is the most exhausting and yet most rewarding thing a person can do in a new city. I’ve climbed towers in Pisa, Prague, Copenhagen and Edinburgh. And yet, if there is an option for an elevator, you can bet your ass you will find me on the queue for the elevator.
Harry Potter Exhibition
So there I was in Valencia last month, walking around being a tourist when a random Platform 9 3/4 appeared next to a subway station. This is weird, I thought and proceeded to take pictures with it.
Palma Aquarium
As a part of my birthday trip to Palma de Mallorca my boyfriend and I visited the Aquarium, which has the deepest shark tank in all of Europe!
It’s a different kind of aquarium than the Haus des Meeres in Vienna, but the blueish tanks full of the sea’s strange creations were just as fascinating and strangely relaxing.
Palma
I went to Palma de Mallorca for my 29th birthday. It was an impulsive decision made on account of the cheap plane tickets. But as soon as my boyfriend and I looked at hotel prices we understood that this 3 day trip was going to be anything other than cheap. As budget travellers we always try to find a balance between cheap and convenient (I am over hostels and shared bathrooms), but this wasn’t going to be possible in Palma in the middle of the tourist season. But hey, I can’t move my birthday. So we booked the hotel at 160 euro a night and we told ourselves this isn’t something you do every day.
Together with the cheap tickets came the fact that our flight was at 5:30 am, so there was no possible way to make it to the airport without an expensive taxi…which didn’t arrive…so we had to take another, more expensive taxi. Continue reading “Palma”
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