SANTIAGO DE COMPOSTELA, SPAIN || La Catedral de Santiago and Other Works of Art

Apart from its most obvious atraction, La Catedral de Santiago, Santiago has preserved its old streets and buildings. If you visit this beautiful place soon, you will walk through streets surrounded by arcades and ancient pavements. You will admire impressive old buildings and churches. And you will definetely find millions of shells everywhere (even in the pavement!) and you will also see the red Santiago Cross all over the place. 

Thus, do not stick to this magnificent cathedral only, dare to discover the other treasures that Santigo carefully hides ;)

Enjoy

xx

CUENCA, SPAIN || Semana Santa 2015: Domingo de Resurrección

CUENCA, SPAIN || Semana Santa 2015: Viernes Santo

CUENCA, SPAIN || Semana Santa 2015: Jueves Santo

CUENCA, SPAIN || Semana Santa 2015: Miércoles Santo

CUENCA, SPAIN || Semana Santa 2015: Martes Santo

CUENCA, SPAIN || Semana Santa 2015: Domingo de Ramos

La Semana Santa de Cuenca is probably the most precious festivity that this beautiful town has. It was declared a Fiesta of International Tourist Interest in Spain in 1980, being one of the 22 most important Semana Santa festivities in the country. 

La Semana Santa de Cuenca is an incredibly beautiful tradition that is part of every single 'conquense', during a week, it doesn´t matter your religious beliefs, every 'conquense' will share the same thoights about our Semana Santa. For us, Semana Santa is TRADITION, is CULTURE, is the REUNION with our loved ones, is FESTIVITY, and of course is the representation of our BELIEFS (at a low or high level, of course). Our beloved Semana Santa is just part of our spirit and it is probably an innate feature that we, conquenses, were born with. 

 This year I really want to enjoy this week as ever since, as you know, I'm living far from my people and culture. So, I will only be able to share some photos every day (Maybe next year, I can do something bigger! Who knows!) not a whole report. Anyway, tomorrow I will write about our Semana Santa in detail so that you become familiar. But, for now, enjoy Domingo de Ramos!

VIGO & SANTIAGO, SPAIN || Postcards

As you saw in my last posts about Vigo (here and here) and Santiago, Galicia is a magical place due to its green landscape and mountains. Vigo, as well as Santiago, as part of Galicia, are magical too.

Enjoy some of my 'postcards'!

xx

SANTIAGO DE COMPOSTELA, SPAIN || At First Sight

 If you read my last posts about Vigo you already know that I spent some days in the North of Spain just a few weeks ago. Predictably, being in Galicia for a week I absolutely needed to go to Santiago de Compostela at least for a day. El Camino de Santiago is probably one of the best known Christian pilgrimage routes in the world and in Spain. If thousands of people  make a pilgrimage to Santiago´s Cathedral then, there must be something really special going on there... 

Santiago de Compostela is the capital city of Galicia (in the North West of Spain) and it belongs to the province of La Coruña. This place is far from Madrid and far from Barcelona, but still, you can take a direct railway service from central Spain or take a direct plane from other European cities to Santigo de Compostela´s airport.
The city is especially known by its Cathedral dedicated to Santiago the Apostol. It was in the 1st century when the rests of the apostol were presumbly found in the old Roman village. Since then, the figure of the apostol took great importance in the city and in the XVII century Santiago the Apostol became the patron saint of Spain. The city is also known by its old university, founded in 1495 by López Gómez de Marzoa.
What's more, the streets and buildings of Santiago are worthy of being one of the World Heritage places by the UNESCO since 1985. However, this is not the only recognition that Santiago has being awarded with; the Camino de Santiago is also part of the World Heritage routes appointed by the famous world organisation.

Enough reasons to recommend  this wonderful old town. Definetely. However, make sure they are not doing any works in the front entrance of the cathedral. Yes, it happened to me...you will the picture bellow, ups. Moral? I need to go again! Not that bad, right? ;)

For more info, click here

Now it's time to see a bit of this enchanting town.

Enjoy!

xx

THE SECRET LIES IN DETAILS || Winter in the UK

I don't know if winter is over in the UK by now, but, we have had two wonderful (and spring-like) weeks around here! To be sincere, I haven't felt that dreaded "English weather" in my 7 months here. In fact I will be honest if I say that I've felt more cold in central Spain (let's say Cuenca, Guadalajara and Madrid) and I have probably opened my umbrella more times there too! It may sound incredible but it is as true as it sounds. Maybe is just Birmingham: a singular city in all its sense!

I have a theory though. It rains when I'm sleeping and when I'm working! Because streets are always wet during winter but there aren't signs of rain, and I don't believe in magic so...

Anyway, to celebrate that winter seems to be over for now, I wanted to share some photos I've been taking during this dsiconcerting season. 

Don't expect heavy snow or rain, by the way! Just nude trees, ice, green landscapes and lots of sun. Lovely anyway.

Bye winter!

xx

VIGO, SPAIN || 3 Things To Love about Vigo

I'm back on track with my trips and my posts and my everything after several crazy weeks! 

Two weeks prior to feel the Spanish sun again, nothing feels better than evoke good memories from my last trip to Galicia.  

Having lived in a small city for entire life (want to discover more about it? Click here!) and having spent my four years of university in two fantastic and, again, small, cities, I am a "small-city" person. Peace is what we need to lead a happy life, and small cities are a source of this peacefullness without any doubt. 

Now, I can also add to my "small-but-incredibly-beautiful-cities" list Vigo (Pontevedra, Spain). Its coast, its harbour, its boats, its decimonomical and french inspired buildings, and its nature (and its clean streets, I was surprised by its impolute tideness!) made me falling in love with this city. 

Today, I wanted to share these impressions with you and also share some recommendations to take the most of this place. 

Enjoy!

xx

VIGO, SPAIN || At First Sight

Three weeks ago I had the opportunity to go back to Spain for a few days (incredibly wonderful days, by the way). I had the opportunity to stay and visit an unknown area of Spain (and I dare to say, one of the most beautiful): Galicia. 

Similarly to the UK, Galicia is known by its rain and green landscapes. What's more, being in the North Coast of Spain adds a magical atmosphere to this place. 

Vigo is a city located in Pontevedra, in Galicia, in the north-west of Spain. The city is located in the coast and it is located in the Rías Baixas of Galicia (name that receives the set of rías of the Southern coast of Galicia between Finisterre Cape and the Portuguese coast), and it is delimited by la Ría de Vigo. There is evidence of population in Vigo since the Palaeolithic Era. Stone Age, Neolithic, and Roman times let a rich legacy of Vigo. After these periods, Martin Corvez wrote the Cantigas de Amigo, which became the  most important legacy of vigo in Medieval times, piece that will become extremely important in the study of Spanish literature. From the XVth century on, Vigo's importance lies in its coast and its harbour, being a link to America, and an important economic tool. Finally, Vigo is also known for its Cíes Islands or islas de los dioses (national marine-terrestrial park, 

For more information, click here

For information about Cíes Islands, click here

Let's enjoy Vigo at first sight!

xx

OXFORD, UK || What to See in a Day

Being one of the most enchanting cities in the UK, Oxford has lots of  buildings worthy to see. Even though you'll be confused with the colleges after having seen thousands similarly built, you will discover that walking around this quiet city is a big pleasure. 

Oxford is not a big city, so it can visited in a day without missing anything. For that reason, it is a highly recomendable place to visit if you are spending some days in London since it is just 1hour from Paddington by train.

Without more ado, today I will show some of the must see buildings I saw during my last visit to the city.

Enjoy! 

xx

BIRMINGHAM, UK || University of Birmingham

One of the best things of living in Birmingham is to have the privilege of  having one the best universities in Britain. Or at least, one of the most beautiful due to its singular architecture. Its orange bricks and its representative tower gives Birmingham a special feling. And it is a pleasure to spend a whole friday taking pictures and having a great meal in the canteen. 

I'm not studing in this university but I am under the impression that this a good choice to start a course or a master's here. In fact, the University of Birmingham is included in the following rankings this year:

64 in the QS World Ranking 2014

17/123 Complete University Guide 2015

17/116 Guardian University Guide 2015

16/121 the Times and The Sunday Times University Guide 2015

If you're not interesed in Birmingham's uni from its academic point of view, I encourage you to spend one morning visiting its Edgbaston campus in the South of Birmingham. It is really easy to get there from the city centre, so well, sometimes Birmingham does has beautiful buildings to see! 

Bristol Road

Edgbaston, Birmingham, West Midlands B15 2TT

xx

JOURNAL 2 || All that Glitters is not Gold

The decision of spending a year abroad wasn’t difficult to take; in fact I didn’t even question any possible bad aspect it might have. Let’s go for it! I repeated to myself, excited, counting back the days to start this new and encouraging adventure. I was especially motivated by these people who, after having spent a year abroad, would speak grandiosely about their experiences. I hardly remembered a negative opinion about living abroad, and even if I did, Españoles por el mundo would tell me differently, so who cares? Apart from these encouraging friends and acquaintances I had always wanted to spend a period of my life abroad.  Speaking English 24/7 and getting amazed by the English culture were two of my dreams since I was little. For that reason, when this opportunity presented itself to me I didn’t think twice. However, and after being here for a while, I dare to say that 

this is not what I expected; this is not what people told me, this is not what Españoles por el mundo keeps telling us program after program…

EAST SUSSEX, UK || Rye

New Year and new discoveries! Although the place I'm just about to show today is not one of my travels this year. I took these photos probably three years ago but, as I always say, what's beautiful remains always beautiful, right? 

Rye is a small town in the South of England, in East Sussex. It is located almost in the coast (it is not entirely surrounded by sea but it partly is) and it is an absolutley enchanting town. Streets are traditionaly paved with rounded stones and embelished by lots of green grass everywhere. Amazing Tudor style houses and old buildings create the intriguing and enchanting atmosphere of this place. Rye is exactly the kind of place you imagine when you read classic novels and probably the first place you can imagine when you think of a traditional British town. 

Do you feel curious?

Discover Rye!

xx

JOURNAL 1 || Looking Back and Ahead

A new year is here and it's time to look back at 2014 and remember all the great moments that we lived and make sure we learnt something from the bad  moments.

2014

 Apart from graduating from university, 2014 was an incredibly good year for me professionally. Thanks to my current job I moved to England last September. Back then, I decided to create this blog to share all my trips and pictures with my family and friends (and anyone interested, of course) This new adventure that I'm living is both amazing and difficult at the same time. I try to enjoy the good things and take the best of everything.

2015

2015 will bring lots of good and new things to my life. This experience I'm living has an expiry date, but what comes next is even more exciting! As you can imagine, my trips around England have also an expiry date, but we have incredibly nice places in Spain too (places we don't always appreciate...) that I'm determined to discover too!! 

So, what to expect on the blog this 2015? I still have lots of pictures of Birmingham, London, Oxford, and Kent on my camera. Besides, new places and ideas are coming very soon.

As today's post is the first of the year I've decided to make a review of my trips so far. This is the opportunity to see those places you missed, and to enjoy the ones you liked the most.

Happy New Year everyone,

xx