Scandinavian tour - Part 4 (Norway)

Hi guys! :)

I've kind of been dreading and putting off writing this post since it's gonna be pretty LONG (I'll try to summarize, though!) Half of our trip was spent in the wonderful Norway.

We started visiting Oslo for a couple of days (we didn't catch the metro AT ALL, so that tells you how easy it is to walk around). We liked Oslo and the centre is particularly nice. However, it didn't have the same charm (in our opinion) that Stockholm does, although you can definitely see a bigger mix of cultures.

While I did like Oslo, I don't think it's even comparable with the rest of places we visited in Norway... 

Hemsedal was our next stop, although not by conscious choice since we needed to spend a night halfway between Oslo and Stranda (fjordland, basically)... and it was such an unexpected surprise, because we loved it! It was here when we started seeing the Norway we had heard so much about... Just looking at these landscape pictures I wanna go back.

After our night in Hemsedal, we finally got to Stranda (fjords) and we fell in love with the landscape! I mean... I know I'm a city girl through and through, but even I had my doubts when looking and experiencing being here. It got to a point where even my dad + brother couldn't resist going and taking a quick dip in the fjord (I was a bit of a coward... it looked so cold!) Norway is kind of like that: it makes you go a little crazy for nature, you end up wanting to buy a cabin up in the mountain and taking a dip in frozen water.

Our last stop (even if the rain ruined it a little bit for us) was Bergen. We only spent 24h in this wonderful city and we loved the dock area and the fishermen's houses (they're a UNESCO heritage site, btw!) We were also able to try some incredible shellfish in the dockside market (it wasn't cheap, but you're only in Bergen once). After that, we tried to avoid the rain as much as possible, as it was literally pouuuuring.

I would've loved spending a sunny day in Bergen as I would've enjoyed it far more, but we didn't have more time and we had to go back to Oslo to catch our flight home! But we loved you anyway, Bergen.

Norway, I'm head over heels for you! (and i will go back)

M.

Scandinavian tour - Part 3 (Stockholm)

Hej hej!

I'm back in Spain already and due to WiFi issues I wasn't able to write absolutely anything. But back to the story... 

We left Helsinki and caught a 5 am bus to Torku, where we caught the ferry to Stockholm at 9 am. It was a 11h trip (ferry only!) but it didn't feel that long as we had our own room with 4 beds (berths?) where we could catch some shut-eye. We also went up to the bar deck and played cards, ate and watched the beautiful views from the huge windows on the boat. 

We finally got there!

That first afternoon we went straight to our AirBnb apartment, which is located in the district of Rissne (15-20 mins away by metro from the centre) and it was the most amazing apartment ever! If any of you are ever interested to visit Stockholm, let me tell you that Linda is the most amazing host and even if it's not in the dead centre of the city, you get to see how Swedish people really live.

Anyhow, on our first day (I don't count the day we got there, because we crashed the minute we got to the apartment) we visited the infamous Skansen Museum. I think this is an ideal choice if you have kids, as you can see lots of animals that are typical of Scandinavia and still get to see how people used to live throughout the ages in Sweden.

Reindeeeeeeeeeeers <3

Wolves! Wolves! *read this in a child's excited voice*

After visiting Skansen, we walked around and just decided to chill and have something to eat by the sea.

Hi mum!

So our first day was getting to grips with Stockholm and walking around. Falling in love, basically.

Can we speak about how beautiful this place is? 

We checked this one out on our 2nd day, after visiting the Vasa Museum (just 5 mins walking from this restaurant). The Vasa Museum (or Vasamuseet in Swedish) is all about the Vasa galley, which sank in 1628 as it was being inaugurated, and everything surrounding the mystery of why it sank in the first place.

The galley in question. (Quite impossible to fit into one picture, sorry guys!)

We then decided to visit the Old City and the Palace (where the Swedish royals currently live), which was full of colourful + cute houses... my favourite part of Stockholm!

My brother, dad + I! 

Although our stay was too short, I can definitely say that I've fallen in love with Stockholm and I see myself coming back here... and maybe staying? 

Much love

<3 

Maria

P.S. Next/last part coming soon: Oslo + Norway! 

Scandinavian tour - Part 2 (Helsinki)

Hei!

Well, after our eventful and rainy 24h in St Petersburg, we finally got to Helsinki. We stayed at Citykoti Apartments, which I can recommend as for cleanliness and location, although price-wise, I still prefer good old AirBnb! (as you can see, they aren't paying me to say this)

Anyhow... we got there late midday and it had started raining (oh, that damn rain AGAIN), so we decided to catch a bite inside the train station and that's when we figured out the huge price difference between Russia and Finland (not that we were surprised, though!) Take into account that Finland has euros, which makes it easier for us europeans (eurozone, of course) to visit this country, in comparison to other scandinavian countries!

After leaving our stuff in the apartment, we decided to go for a walk around the port and see this amazing cloudy yet beautiful sunset. And since our lives basically revolve around food, we had a beer on a café that overlooked the sea. But then we decided that we could also have a pizza and a salad while we were at it, since it was such a cool place... and all those excuses we say just to keep eating!

The next day we decided to go visit a much recommended place: Suomennlina Fortress. (please forgive me if I write the name incorrectly! I have checked though, but one can never know...) It's such a great little island (very close to Helsinki by ferry) to spend the day at, especially in summer, when it's sunny and colourful, even if it was still windy as hell and quite cold anyway (I was OK with my short-sleeved T-shirt though!)

 

Yup, windy as hell!

When we caught our ferry on the way back to Helsinki, we ate lunch at the Market Square (at the market, obvs haha) and then we went to check out two things: 1) the Senate Square

 

Yikes! (still, it was the best photo of the 4 of us in this Square)

2) The views up in the Torni Hotel (the last floor is a café where you can go have something to eat, a coffee or -even if it sounds terrible- just go up to take a picture and come back down!)

 

Not a great great panorama photo, but whatever! It was free! FREE!

(I kind of feel guilty though haha)

 

 

All in all, Helsinki (and Finland in general) was a great surprise for me, even if it's a much calmer version of Stockholm, so if you like having a slow life, it's your perfect city. If you're more of a party, let's go on adventures everyday kind of person, I think you're going to love my Stockholm post (ST - Part 3, coming soon!)

 

Maria :)

 

 

 

Scandinavian tour - Part 1 (St Petersburg)

Hei! (Hello in finnish)

It's been 4 full days of adventure since we left Spain for greener (and cooler) pastures and I have to say, I'm in love with Scandinavia already.

We started off on a bad note, since we were supposed to leave on tuesday for St Petersburg but due to overbooking in our flight, we lost a full day and had to catch the next flight (24h later than expected). Therefore, we only had 24h in St Petersburg, when we initially expected to have 2 days, and we had to miss a couple of important things that we wanted to check out (like the Peter and Paul Fortress)

 

First of all, we checked out the Hermitage Museum. It's an extremely impressive building, and it's full of great art and very weird and cool objects (like the infamous golden bird clock). However, just for the building, it's worth it to go inside and check out the different royal rooms.

 

 Blog, meet my brother!

  

After that, we went to see the Church of the Savior on Blood, which just for the exterior is completely worth seeing. It's the church where the Tsar Alexander was taken after a bomb exploded just outside and he was mortally wounded. The inside is completely decorated with colourful mosaics depicting religious scenes, and it's way more impressive and beautiful than any fresco on other churches.

 

So basically, it was a whole 24h of adventure (take into account we arrived at 6am that same morning!) and rain :) just what I expected from a russian summer!

 

The next morning we caught a train to Helsinki (Finland), which lasts only 4h and was super comfortable. Thank the gods for our Airbnb hostess, who helped us call a taxi when we were running late!

 

On to Helsinki... (See you in part 2!)

 

Maria :)

 

P.S. If you want to check out my Instagram (@mdemaria), you will be a tad more updated!

 

 

Salzburg, Innsbruck + Hallstatt!

One of the biggest issues living in Austria is that you tend to visit EVERYTHING around it (Prague, Budapest, Krakow, Munich...) I mean... I can't be happier about it's location. But the thing is, Austria is so damn beautiful that not seeing it is the biggest sin of all! Thankfully, in the course of two weeks, I did two trips: Salzburg + Hallstatt (with my roommate on Halloween), and Salzburg + Innsbruck (with my bf). Double Salzburg is double the fun <3 ! 

Salzburg is a small city, where all of the attractions are really close to each other and you can see most of them in 6-7 hours if you really take your time.
When I went with Sofia (my roomie) we stayed at Yoho Hostel, but since we got a room for 2 instead of sharing a big room with 4-6 people we had to pay more (72€/person for 2 nights). I can definitely say the hostel was clean and comfortable, but when I visited with my boyfriend we decided to get an apartment through AirBnb, and that was even cheaper for two people (25€/person+night). So... if you're a big group going to a hostel may be a better option, but if you're not then definitely go for an apartment.

In terms of what to visit, I think that the best route to visit Salzburg is the following: 

1. Mirabell Palace + Gardens
2. Mozarts Wohnhaus
3. River Salzach (walk on the peatonal bridge -very close to Mozart's Wohnhaus-, it's great for picture-taking!)
4. Getreidegasse (take your time here, it's the cutest shopping street ever - Diagon Alley much?)
5. Mozarts Geburthaus (it's a bright yellow house on Getreidegasse)
6. Dom > Residenz > Domplatz > Kapitelplatz > Cemetery of St. Peter
7. Festung Hohensazlburg (the fortress, where you should definitely spend at least an hour looking at the views, taking pictures and eating Sacher Torte -Viennese chocolate cake-.) 

This is a route that I perfected on my second visit to Salzburg since I only had one day to show everything to my bf and I had had two days to walk around during my first visit. 

                      

Hallstatt was definitely breath-taking and all sorts of amazing. I would definitely recommend renting a car if you're visiting with more than 3 people, but if not, get the bus from Salzburg like we did (more cost-effective  in that case although not cheap!) It's really worth the money though, and we were able to spend the whole day there. 

We visited the whole town (it's really small so 30-50 minutes of wandering and taking lottttts of pictures in piers would be more than enough) and then we hiked up the mountain. I almost died twice during that hike, it was soooo long and we weren't equipped for hiking. 

But we finally got to the top, where a restaurant awaited us and we had the best spaghetti ever... although I'm sure they only tasted that great because we were famished! After that, we took some pictures on the skywalk and then went back down with the funicular (which felt like a really steep roller-coaster track). Last but not least, we walked a little bit around the river area before catching our bus back to Salzburg.

Innsbruck was another thing entirely. Cute is the only word to describe this beautiful city. The old part of the city is even smaller and more concentrated than in Salzburg, which ensures that an hour or 2 (tops) walking around will help you see the most beautiful things.




We saw the Goldenes Dachl, the Hofburg, Domplatz, and walked around the small and cobbled streets. After that, we walked around the Inn River and tried to get the funicular to go up the mountain (it was closed for repairs for the the whole month of November -bummer!-, but it should be open by now), we caught a bus and soon we started hiking around the beautiful woods in the mountain. We were lucky and had a beautiful sunny day to enjoy the walk and the views. We spent around 3-4 hours walking around and after reaching the highest point that our legs permitted us to, we started walking back down because the sun goes down faster than we do and we didn't want to be lost in the woods by night... plus, we were soooo hungry by then! After having lunch, we drank some hot mulled wine (Glühwein in German, in case you need it) and walked around some more... and finally caught the train back to Vienna!

Ever visited any of these cities? Would you?

<3

M.

Turkey Travel Diary - Part 3: Pamukkale, Bodrum and Ephesus

After visiting the Cappadocia, our next stop was Pamukkale. Pamukkale is a small town famous for its lime pools (nature made!) Bathing in these pools is a one-of-a-kind experience, and if you get the chance to visit, definitely do! The pools are jam-packed with people during the day so I advise you to go around 6pm or later.

Sadly, the natural pools have been closed off due to people damaging them so we weren't able to swim in those. However, the artificially created pools are quite nice too (not the same as the originals, but I'll take 'em!)

We also got to see the dervish dance! It felt a bit touristy and not that traditional as it might've been in Konya (our stop between Cappadocia and Pamukkale). In Konya it's traditionally performed every other day in caves, which makes the whole experience more authentic. 

However, it was great seeing what it was like!

After spending two nights in Pamukkale, we took off for Bodrum. Let me tell you something about Bodrum: it's awesome for partying (which I wasn't there to do) but too crowded for my taste. It's a beautiful touristy town but I definitely recommend to check out Göltürkbükü (difficult name to remember) if you want to spend a whole day under the sun.

The beaches are made of rock, which I prefer since the water is way more clear than if you go to sandy beaches.  We were able to rent a deck chair literally two steps from the sea for 30 turkish liras (=10€ approx.) which included food, drinks and the rent of the chair itself! (sweet deal, right?)

Our last destination (before going back to Istanbul for our return flight) was Ephesus! Ephesus is the ruins of an ancient Greek city which has so much history you will be fascinated. There's a site that was supposed to be Mary's last home (The House of Virgin Mary), as well as what I loved the most: The Library of Celsus (of which now only remains the façade).

We spent the night in Selçuk, in an adorable and charming hotel called Boomerang Guesthouse, which I strongly recommend if you're going to visit Ephesus. The family that owns the hotel also owns the restaurant beside it and they are extremely lovely!

And this is the end of our trip :)

Let me know what you think about Turkey, these 3-post series or what you had for lunch!

<3

M.