photography – Page 2 – Travel Memories

Travel plans for 2022

A new year means new travel plans, and this year our plans are quite ambitious. Our motto this year is “Let’s Make Europe our PLAYGROUND Again”! Let’s have a closer look.

We will still be exploring Spain as well ; in some weeks we will be visiting Seville, to be more precisely, the ;ocations in the town where Lawrence of Arabia was filmed. Later this year, we willreturn to Murcia to visit Cartagena.

And Lars would like to celebrate his birthday in Cadiz!

Photo by Agustin Piu00f1ero on Pexels.com

Around May, we will embark on a Spring Odyssey, during which we will follow Spring to the North of Europe! We will start in the east of Spain, go to the east of Europe and then crisscross to the North, to the Baltic Sea, from Danzig to the West of Germany and then Denmark and take the ferryto Bornholm And then we will see!!

Upon our return, we will go to the Camargue and return home via the east of Spain.

Photo by Mathias P.R. Reding on Pexels.com

Laer this year we will probably go to Oporto!

We are ready for the adventure! Where are you heading this year?

Top 10 travel experiences of 2021

Let’s start with the bad news; our travel plans of last year mentioned a number of destinations, outside Spain. Although we got vaccinated pretty quickly, it was the growing list of extra safety measures that demotivated us. In other words: we stuck to Spain.

10. Booking an accommodation and upon arrival discovering that not only the pension, but basically the whole village is one movie location! Have a look here. 2021 has been a year of astonishing movie locations. Just look at this one!

9. Diving around in the Pyrenees. If you love majestic mountains, put this on your bucket list!

8. The most romantic location of 2021. It didn’t take us long to decide which one made our hearts beat faster; la Isleta del Moro.

7. TheMost Beautiful Monastery. The first trip of the year took us to the north of Spain, the land of El Cid This monastery was the highlight of this trip.

6. A plce of history: the Birthplace of El CID .

5.A Warm Welcome in Murcia. We spent midweek in Murcia, during which San Pedro del Pinatar was our home, not the most picturesque of Spanish towns, but with its beaches, bars and restaurant, it has a relaxing vibe

a yearly event we always look out for: the first snow in the Sierra Nevada

3.And even in our Sierra Arana, there are still places to discover

2. In the footsteps of Lawrence of Arabia; I still have to write this post, but since i have so many pictures to edit,Ihope you will be patient with me

Our meal in the pyrenees was the best travelmoment of the year!it’s another reminder that the Spanih can with humble ingredients create magic!

Returning from the Pyrenees – Ciudad Rodrigo

It was time to return home, This time we had a stop in Ciudad Rodrigo, where we stayed in hotel Yoanna. The big advantage of this hotel is not only that it’s cheap, it also comes with an Irish pub! When we arrived, we were not only tired, but also very hungry and thirsty! The Pub was therefore the first place we checked out! And we were not disappointed, because the pub sold Belgian beer!

Afterwards we had dinner, consisting of a German bratwurst and cake, a tasty multicultural meal.

Ciudad Rodrigo is a medieval town whose old center is walled, and that was our focus for sightseeing the day after.

In between all the festivities, we will publish the last post of the year with the best travel experiences of this year. Happy holidays!

To the Pyrenees-The gastronomical Adventure of the Year

During our day in the Pyrenees, we decided to follow a touristic route in the area, we basically drove from one village to another. In Valle de Villaverde we decided to take a lunch break, we had become hungry!

So we parked our car near the Santa Maria Church and made our way to the Posada Calera. As soon as we entered the dining room, we were welcomed by delicious smells coming from the kitchen and a very friendly woman presenting the menu del dia to us.

Lars chose chickpea soup with extra cabbage for the starter, and I had macaroni. Both dishes were incredibly delicious. The Posada has an excellent cook!

For the second course we both had French fries, eggs, and the best smoked ham we had ever eaten:

Dessert was Natillas (Vanilla custard), containing about a miliion calories! One of the best meals we ever had, we were in foodie paradise.

When we were back in the car, the explorers in us woke up, and we decided to go to Bakio (am small coastal town):

Bakio

Huge change of scenery, and what a scenery:

it was the end of the afternoon and lots of people were soaking up the last sun rays on the beach with their pooch.

And after all the fantastic events of that superb day, It was time to return to Santander.

To the Pyrenees – Arrival in Santander

With its more than 170.000inhabitants,Santander is one of the bigger towns in the north of Spain. During our stay, El Figon was our temporary home. The hostel is spread over two blocks, one contains the reception, restaurant, and bodega, the other block further away from the very busy street contains the rooms. Amongst the interesting sights are the beaches, cathedral, Old Town and a center for contemporary art. And it’s close to the Pyrenees! After checking in, we had dinner; our first course resembled paella, and the main course -fish-was to die for. Just look at the smile on the Viking’s face!

A very good meal indeed, but it didn’t prepare us for the gastronomical adventure that awaited us in the Pyrenees!

Anyway, you can easily find this hostel on booking.com. And the adventure continues!

To the Pyrenees – An Evening in Guadalajara

Lars had decided that during our explorations in the Pyrenees we would stay in Santander, but the drive from our hometown to Santander proved to be longer than expected, so we decided to stay in Guadalajara for one night. Via booking.com, we found hotel España, in general, we were very happy with the accommodations, except that there was no restaurant in the hotel. Moreover, there was a public holiday, and all nearby bars and restaurants were closed. Thanks to the GPS we found one: Puerta Gayola at the Plaza San Esteban. But our troubles weren’t over yet. The kitchen had just closed, and we would have to wait 4 hours before it opened again. And wait we did.

Finally, we could order some food! So far, our interactions with the waiters had been very limited, now we discovered that some of them were quite unfriendly. I was too hungry to pay attention to it, because I was so hungry. Finally, a big, juicy burger made its way to our table!

The morning afterwards, we went for a short walk, before leaving for Santander. Too bad we couldn’t spend some more time in Guadalajara, it looked like a really agreeable town.

Later this week, we will introduce Santander to you!

Skiing at the Brussels Christmas Market

This is from some years ago. If you want to know more about this year’s edition, you better check this website. The authorities have come up with a lot of security measures, so you can visit the event in all safety, pandemic or not.

Anyway, some years ago, you could indeed ski at the Christmas market, at the Kunstberg/Mont des Arts:

One of the reasons to visit the Christmas market is the food and drinks, like the jenever (a popular strong drink)!

The Ferris Wheel is one of the classics of every edition.

Later this week, we will publish pictures of our last big trip, which took us to the Spanish Pyrenees!

And this is what a Spanish Christmas market looks like!

Photo Essay: The cemetery losing its Battle against Time

About 10 years ago, on a cold and misty Saturday morning, Lara and I visited this cemetery.

Dieweg

This cemetery was built in the 19th century and is known as the resting place of Hergé, the man who gave us Tintin. He is actually one of the last people buried here. Another reason why the cemetery is wort a visit are the beautiful monuments and the rich fauna and flora. Have a look for yourself!

Address: Dieweg 95, Ukkel.

Meet Naja, Fiona and the Others in Fjord&Baelt!

Fjord&Baelt is a research institute and a museum dedicated to local marine wildlife. There are demonstrations with porpoises and seals – Naja and Fiona are two of the seals. Porpoises are related to dolphins.Fjord&Baelt is located in the north of the island of Funen.

Kerteminde Havn

Part of the institute consists of aquariums, where you can touch and pet crabs and small sharks.

Through the windows in this tunnel, where you can see the seals and porpoises swimming around, but you have to be very quick if you want to photograph them. The demonstration takes place outside, and there you can easily take as many pictures as you want.

We found the demonstration to be very informative and fun!

There is a gift shop, and you can buy something to eat and drink. Half a day should suffice for a visit. If you want to spend more time in cozy Kerteminde, have a look at this website. And here you can more practical information about Fjord&Baelt.

First Snow in the Sierra Nevada

There’s no denying it, winter is approaching. The weather is still sunny, but temperatures have gone down to 15-20 degrees Celsius, which is about half of what we enjoyed during summer. Lars and I both miss summer, but seeing the first snow in the magnificent Sierra Nevada is special. Since we both come from flat countries, a drive in the Sierra Nevada -or any other Sierra for that matter – is always a delight.