Sestri Levante

Sestri Levante

This quite town located in Liguria between Genova and Riamaggiore deserves more credits for its beauty. This small fishing town has a quite big history lying at it’s hills and serenity at the sea side.

1) Bay of Silence: As you walk through the town first it’s T-shape structure surprises you but this shape helps to a hide the Bay of Silence. This small bay has a tiny sandy beach opposed to other beaches in Sestri Levante. Although it’s quite known by tourists as well the crystal clear waters and the surrounding colourful buildings gives a comfort and peace. You may find some local places of the classical Italian cuisine. 

2) Gelato and more Gelato: Although the town is quite small it has more gelateria shops and most of towns in Italy. I would recommend Tema Gelati e Molto di Piu. There are many different flavours to be tried!

3) Capuccini Monastery: This monastery dates back to 1688 and it is located in a fantastic location, a bit uphill on Baia del Silenzio, with stunning views on the bay. The convent is still active and there are a few monks "Cappuccini" living there, celebrating a public Mass every day.

View from the church

4) The Castle and San Nicolo Church: There is a small castle, whose foundations date to about 1089 AD overlooking Sestri Levante. During the ensuing decades, like other towns and villages along this coast, it was subjected to brutal raids by Saracens and pirates.  The Castel was extended and fortified in 1145.  The town itself was also encircled with walls containing four gates, cirtually none of which remain today.  Inside the walls, between 1151 AD and 1190 AD, the first major church, Chiesa San Nicola, was built.  It remains in sacred operation to this day.  Further fortifications, in the shape of two other castles were built, one in 1310 AD, and the other, the Castle of the Eagle, in 1440. 

San Nicolo Church

5) City Center: The city center is constituted by one main street which is “XXVI Aprile” which is full of shops, small cafes and ice cream shops. There are may tiny streets crossing the main street. As you walk in the city center remember to look up to colourful buildings surrounding you. 

View of Old Town

Top 7 things to do in Rimini

Rimini a big city lying at the west coast of Italy that have the border to Adriatic Sea. This city is famous for its 9km long beaches. Although beaches are beautiful they are all similar to each other and unfortunately the sea isn't as beautiful as the beaches.

1) Head to the beaches: Enjoy the combination of sea, sun and sand. There are many water activities available such as kayak, sea bike, kite surf and wind surf. There are many surf schools on the beaches as well.

2) 9km long beach is definitely something to enjoy and the most efficient way to enjoy it is to walk up&down along the beach while your feet are in the sea and afternoon sun is warming you. You can enjoy an afternoon drink at the beach bars.

3)Rimini eye:Although it's a little more expensive than it should be, the view from the top of it is just amazing and it's worth it.

4) Enjoy a historical tour at the historical center of the city. If you are willing to this I recommend you to skip summer months because it's super hot to move.

5) Enjoy fresh sea food  but there is one special one that you should definetly try: Rock Island. This place is situated at the en of the rock bay and the food is delicous, the space is super cute with an amazing of city and the service is good. I recommend a reservation to have a nice table with view.

One of the best octopus dishes I have tasted

6)Bar hopping: There are so many bars both in city center and along the seaside. They all serve delicious cocktails and good music.

Bars are alined across this amazing view

7) Eat piadina: Since Piacenza is famous for its piadina, this region is the best place to try it. I recommend Casina Del Bosco restaurant.

Barcelona : Top 10 To-Do's whether you are a tourist or local

This beautiful city never stops surprising tourists. It’s full of history and fun. It’s so big and there are always new things to do. Every season is good to visit Barcelona but of course if you are visiting during summer you can enjoy the long sandy beaches and refreshing water of Mediterranean Sea.

Of course if it’s the first time in Barcelona there are must see places:

   1)     Sagrada Familia: After Gaudi’s tragic death, this famous church is still uncompleted.  It was Gaudi’s will the church shall be completed by only public funding. The skeleton of the church and the design is so moving that it’s impossible for one to resist Gaudi’s talent. The construction is continuing according to his sketches.

 

Sagrada Familia

Inside peak 

   2)     Parc Guel: This parc build by Gaudi for Guel family. Guel family asked Gaudi to transform the areato one of the richest neighborhoods of Barcelona. Unfortunately it didn’t happen but there are 2 houses built by Gaudi in one of which he lived for some time.

   3)     Gaudi Houses : a) Casa Batllo: its one of the masterpieces of Gaudi. Located at the heart of Passeig de Gracia. It’s an inspiring piece of architecture merging art nouveau and modernism. This incredible design is reflected in every aspect of the house, from the facade to the structure within and individual hand crafted door handles. You get given a hand held device which gives you a visual and audio tour as you visit each of the rooms. As you point the device in each room it shows you what it used to look like and the inspiration behind the architects design. You can go on the roof and enjoy the view. Also it’s possible to go events organized in the house and on the roof during summer

b) Casa Mila: Constructed by Gaudi in 1907-1911. The house is situated at the corner of Passeig de Garcia. Again this house reveals Gaudi’s geniality. It’s the merge of two buildings, which are structured around two courtyards that provide light to the nine levels: basement, ground floor, mezzanine, main floor, four upper floors and the attic.

   4)     Picasso museum:  This museum embeds some of the best drawings of Picasso as well as his work from the earlier times including many sketches. The curves holding the façade and the patios are amazing as well as the arcs at the roof. The roof and chimneys are just the marks of his creativity and intelligence.  The modernist furniture on the main floor shows the beauty in simplicity.

   5)     Cathedral in El Gothic: Built in Medieval era, this big cathedral has the most significant interior of Gothic architecture. The peaceful courtyard with the palm trees and gooses enhances the spirituality. The tomb of St.Eulalia (whose story is in the upcoming post) lays inside. 

Tomb of St.Eulalia

Courtyard of the cathedral

   

   

Barcelona writing made of iron

   

   6)     La Rambla: This long street starts from Placa Catalunya and end up at the sea side where there is the statue of Christoph Columbus. The street is full of shops cafes. However I recommend the side streets where the bars and shops are better and less touristic. Also beware of pickpocketing.

   7)     La bouquieria in La Ramblas: Everyone should stop in this colorful bazaar of fruits. The colors, the layouts of the stalls are so inviting you end up trying all the exotic fruits.

   8)     Santa Maria Del Mar Church: This church located in the heart of El Born has traces of gothic architecture. Next to the church there is the memorial monument where the fire never ceases. This statue has been made to remember all the martyrs from the Civil war. Around the church there are many cafes, shops and restaurants. The night life of this area is quite vivid as well.

Side view of the church

Street art in El Born

   9)     Placa Catalunya: This is the connecting plaza of Barcelona. Airport shuttles leave you here, take off from here. There are many metro lines passing by. This plaza is connected to Las Ramblas, Universitat and even 20min walking distance from El Born. There are many shops and cafes in the plaza.

   10)  Placa Espanya: This busy plaza is famous for its magic fountains. You can start by going up the old bullring lift to get 360-degree view before seeing the beautiful fountains and MNAC building. 

View at night

Lisbon: Capture the Positive Vibe & Sintra: To Live the Fairytale

As you land to the airport you start loving Lisbon. The positive vibes of the city captures you once you see the beautiful sunset through palm trees.  Just take the metro to city center. The metro system is developed and fast. Once you get a card for 0,50€ you can load as much as you want in order to use it in metro,bus or tram.

Alfama 

The city may seem small but actually it’s not. The downtown part Baixa didn’t wow me neither Baio Alto during day time. However Alfama is another thing. It’s the only neighbourhood that survived the 1755 earthquake and it’s just beautiful. Tiny little streets, with colorful buildings. It was the Moors who lived there and the name comes from “Alhama” which meant hot baths. As you wonder in the little streets getting lost is inevitable however this leads to good conclusions such as discoveries of local cafes, shops.
Alfama is the best neighbourhood to listen to Fado music.  I recommend you to make a reservation because Fado music is popular for both locals and tourists.

 I personally prefer when women sing . I had the chance to listen to Fado in different places and top three were A Tasco de Chic, Club de Fado and Sr Fado. I have listened good music and had tasty food there.

 

While you are in Baio Alto area try café/bars

Park Cafe

especially for watching the sunset in these terraces is a unique experience and rather romantic. My favorite one was the “Park”.  It is named Park because it’s a at the terrace of a parking lot! To have access to the café you need to enter the parking lot and climb up the stairs and then you reach a heaven. So blissfully decorated place with lots of trees and wooden chairs. Another place to go is Noobai Café. This terrace also offers a breathtaking view and good cocktails.
Night life of Baio Alto is very vivid there are in total 64 little crossing streets with full of bars. What I suggest is bar hoping and wondering in the streets with your drink, don't stuck in one place!

Chapito

Another must go place is Chapito. Chapito is located close to castle so again imagine the view! It offers very tasty food and good quality of wine. At first glance the entrance of the place looks like a theater with huge lightbulbs and first you enter to a shop and then pass to the restaurant. According to locals the in night is Sunday. However I went on Saturday night and it was full.

Entrance of the elevator in Baixa

Plaça Commercial

I would definitely recommend a visit to St.George’s castle. It’s one of the best preserved castles in Europe and it survived really heavy bombardments. The castle was built solely for military purposes and inside there are ancient canons, tiny stairs to climb up to towers and a breathtaking view. Around the castle there are cute cafes and souvenir shops. Once you are outside the castle if you walk to left you can reach to Alfama if you take the right turn you can reach to city center. Since Lisbon has been constructed on seven hills, sometimes it can be tiring to climb up. However they have solutions for this as well: public elevators!! There is one close to castle which takes you to Baio Alto and another one to downtown to sea level. There is an arch in Plaça Commerciale where you can go up to have a view of the city, it’s the same view of the elevator that has been built by Gustave Eiffel’s apprentice to connect downtown to Baio Alto. But the view from the castle beats them all. Plaça Commerciale is also called white square because everything in the square is made by white marble. Also Lisbon is a very clean city, there is no garbage on the streets.

I strongly recommend you to take the bus towards Belem or tram 15 to see Jeronimos monastery, Belem Tower and statue. In the monastery there is the tomb of Vasco de Gama. Generally Lisbon is a city which is proud of the Discovery age and they have many monuments as a reminder.

Jeronimos Monastery

 Wooden Bridge & Belem Tower

Let’s not forget the beaches! Although they are packed especially during weekends they are worth going to try surfing, to watch the surfers and sunbathing. There are many options for the beaches depending on your taste. You can go to isolated beaches and be peace with the wild nature or you can be a bit more luxurious.

I really fell in love with the Lisbon. It’s a happy city with its colored buildings and decorated curbstones. I would recommend you to visit Lisbon during June because it’s the month when they welcome summer and celebrate St. Antonio month. Every street even the tiniest ones are decorated with colored flags and ornaments and there are public concerts in every placa. So every day passes like a carnival. Music is coming out of every corner, people are dancing on the streets, and they are very helpful and welcoming. I felt like as if I am in my hometown although I didn’t understand Portuguese. 

                                                                          SINTRA

Overview of Sintra from the bus heading to beach

If you are staying let’s say 4/5 days take the train to Sintra, which is an amazing town, and visit. To be honest I thought Sintra was a small town with its place and castle but it’s not! It’s so beautiful so no wonder it’s under Unesco protection.  It’s a big town built on a hill with many things to see. First of all Pena Place which was the summer palace for the monarchs is breathtaking both inside and outside. It’s park is also quite astonishing but generally in Sintra the nature captures you the most.  Then there is the Royal National Palace, Monserrate Palace and Moors Castle. You can visit them of course but I preferred to walk by them and then I took the bus to the beach. Before going to the beach you can chill at the nice cafes and respire the rustic and romantic atmosphere of the town. And I almost forgot don’t forget to taste “traveseirros” in patisseries of Sintra. I highly recommend Piriquita These long, sugar coded 'pillows' are best still warm, and they are freshly made all through the day. The outside is a flaky shell, inside filling is with egg yolk and sugar and almond.... Of course the recipe is a secret, under lock and key, patented and worth a fortune. There are a lot of imitation pastries around, but none as perfect a combination as the original of Piriquita. The main coffee-shop is right in the middle of the Historical Center, and it is closed on Wednesdays.

Pena Palace Entrance