Travelling Thursday: My first trip to Ireland: Dublin and Newgrange!!!

Hello everyone!

After a faily busy 5 days of work and quite a few emotionals ups and downs and a lot of unhappiness with my own country over the way they're handling the economy, the country, the stupid backwards laws the new goverment wants to pass and the fact that they won't give Gaurav a tourist visa to come this year...

So, to cheer myself up today before working night shift, I want to share with you all some photos of my trip to Ireland in March! I didn't go for St Patrick's Day, if you remember I was at my Wilton 1 intensive course. But I managed to exchange a few days and went to visit the Emerald Island with Joel, my elder nephew!

I've always felt drawn to Ireland for no particular or apparent reason, and after being there... I just can't wait to go back! We stayed at a small B&B quite in the middle of Dublin & the Temple Bar area itself! We had everything walking distance, and we enjoyed having early bird dinners and then some pints at the pubs with live music. I dragged my nephew to see Newgrange (which he actually enjoyed) and marvelled at the amount of daffodils you can find all over the roads, and loved seeing all the black faced sheep everywhere! And of course, Newgrange itself is just amazing!

Funny fact, late March, Ireland... and not a drop of rain! We had the sunniest days ever, and I left my sunglasses back in Spain expecting it to be cloudy and rainy every day!

 The view of the river Liffey from the bridge right outside our B&B

 Let's have some Guinness!

Joel had his first taste of Guinness during this trip, and he loved it! We also learnt how to properly throw yourself a pint, and we even had our own tap the last night when we went for a dinner with live music and Riverdancing at the Arlington Hotel!

 The Half Penny Bridge over the Liffey

 Spring time in Ireland, with gorgeous cherry trees!

Visiting Newgrange (or Brú Na Bóinne) was an absolutely fantastic experience. And I'm really glad I could do the tour for this, since I couldn't visit Tara Hill. Obviously, another reason to go back!

There's a lot of debate about what was the actual function of Newgrange, a passage toomb or an ancient temple, that predates both the Piramids and Stonehenge? Check out their website for more info on this superbly remarkable place: Newgrange.

And to say goodbye, let's say good morning to sweet Molly Malone, selling cockles and mussels in the streets of old Dublin by day, and who knows what else by night...

I can't wait to go back to the green old Ireland, even more with Gaurav, and I wouldn't be adverse to moving there one day either...

Travelling Thursday: Agra and the Taj Mahal!

Hello there!

Finally, another blog entry. I seriously have been doing a crap job at updating blog, even though I've been back from India for 12 days already, and my laptop has been working perfectly fine (and I've made sure the coffee or any other berverages have been placed far, far way from it), my motivation to blog has been in historical lows... Truth be told, not just to blog, I haven't baked at all (though not having AC in the house, with nice sunny summer hot days makes you dread using the oven) and I have an INSANE backlog of photos to edit, since MARCH! 

Oh well, it seems that I am a wee bit more motivated today, so I've been thinking of what to blog, and after a  bit of look back on my blog, I don't I've properly shown you all the photos I took on my visit to Agra and the Taj Mahal, on my first visit to India, all the way back in 2007!

The Taj Mahal is one of those places everyone wants to see, and that every one has seen so many photos of it... you might even wonder on the way to see: will it live up to the hype or will it disappoint me in person? Well, rest assured... it is a sight worth all the heat, all the plane hours and car hours in crappy Indian roads and all the queueing you might have to do!

The first moment you go through the entrance door and see it standing there, shining white in the sun... it's just amazing! One of those feelings you can't just explain with words, you just have to feel it. I'm not talking about mystical stuff, but it is such a thing of beauty to behold!

No, I'm not frowning, it was just too damned sunny! Even if September is still moonsoon season, we got a very sunny day, which looks lovely for the photos, but was horrible for me, cause I was without sunglasses!

Up close, the white marble reflects the sun so much, I could barely open my eyes, cause they'd star watering like mad! I have brown eyes, so I can't imagine what it'd be for someone with the more sensitive, lighter coloured eyes!

The carvings all over it and the inlaid work was absolutely breathtaking... The Taj Mahal being one of the Wonders of the World is very much deserved!

Traveling Thursday: Cuenca, Spain!

Hello, hello, hello, hello, hello and welcome to Traveling Thursday!

I think I've just channeled Stephen Fry intro to QI... If only I could channel also some of his brain power! My brain has been completely scattered this week! So busy at work, and thinking of leaving this Sunday and also not sleeping too well is leaving my brain in a state of wonkiness... I think I'll go get a nice latte or something from my Dolce Gusto and continue to work on the entry in a wee bit, to help with the mental fog!

Aaaand back, sipping on a vanilla latte. Hopefully I'll kick the laziness enough to work a bit on rearranging the packing, take some shots for future blog entries, maybe even schedule a pair of them for next week, and bake some cupcakes to take to my bro's for my nephews!

Getting back on track, today I'm gonna share with you all Cuenca, the capital city of a Spanish province of the same name, nearby Madrid. It's a small city, mediaeval and smack right in the middle (or confluence) of two rivers, the Jucar and the Huecar. It's built on a hill and you can see the canyons carved by both rivers. Absolutely stunning views! I've been there a few times, cause is the hometown of Alberto and Emilio, two friends of mine, and in Emilio's case, he's also the bf of one of my best friends!

Cuenca's cathedral, it's almost like a twin of Notre Dame de Paris!

One of the most famous sights fo Cuenca "las casas colgadas" translated roughly as "the hanging houses" built right at the border of the cliff.

View of the hanging houses from the middle of the bridge 

A view of all the city!

Another view of the top of the hill

Another view of the hills opposite the city

My friend Irene, Alberto, David and myself

Here you can see the "hanging houses" and the bridge

And another view of the cliff and the "hanging houses"

Traveling Thursday: Scotland part 3: Stirling and the William Wallace Monument!

Hello everyone!

Brrrr, it's getting cold here! We're supposed to be hit today with a Siberian cold wave, and even though here in my little corner of Spain it's a wee bit colder than previous days, we have no snow unlike other parts of Spain where they're covered white and at -14ºC!

Today's Traveling Thursday is the third and final part of my visit to Scotland! We took the train for a day visit to Stirling and the William Wallace Monument! I love the Braveheart movie and it made me take more of an interested for Scotland and its history, and once I was visiting Patri... I had to at least drop by to visit Stirling and the William Wallace Monument!

The photos are a bit out of order, cause Blogger uploaded them that way... but it was a fun day, with crazy weather! We visited Stirling first, the city and up the hill to the castle, we even had to be on short sleeves! Then we took a bus to the nearest bus station to the William Wallace monument, and the weather was getting colder, with more clouds and threatening some rain! The climb up to where the monument is quite a walk uphill again, and my knee ended up resenting it, but I wouldn't have miss it for the world! When we arrived it was closing up, so we barely got to see the gigantic sword that was frankly almost as big as me! As a result, I need to go back!

Gigantic tower it was the William Wallace Monument, my friend Patri is in the shot for scale!

View from Stirling Palace, it's called "The King's Knot"

Inside Stirling Castle walls, where the knights trained

Taking a photo with King Robert Bruce and a very nice old Dutch gentleman that wanted a pic with the Spanish tourist!

View of the garden of Stirling Castle

Walking around the Castle

View of the city from the Castle, Stirling

Resting area on the climb to the William Wallace Monument

Another side of the view from Stirling Castle, the site of the battle

View of the William Wallace Monument from Stirling Castle

Entry to the monument, closed, everything is on a big scale there!

Entrance road to the monument

Quite a huge tower!

Walking up to the monument

A statue of William Wallace as depiced in Braveheart, the movie

This was a map of the view from Stirling Castle with all the relevant historic sites, like the battle of Stirling and the battle of Bannockburn

Entrance to the castle!

So, who wants to come to Scotland with me next!?

Traveling Thursday: Scotland part 2: Rosslyn Chapel

Hiya there!

How's everyone doing? I've been a bit sick as of late, getting slightly better today, though I still have a bit of a cough and sniffles... my nose is a bit raw already, G called me Rudolphina today!

For today's Traveling Thursday is part 2 of my trip to Scotland! I'm sharing some photos of my trip to Rosslyn Chapel. If you've read the Da Vinci Code or seen the movie you will have heard about this place. It is really a remarkable building, worth of any and all praises, and of all the new visitors that the book and movie are bringing there. Full of carvings, and when I say full, I really mean full! From the ceiling to the floor all the walls are covered with carvings! I'm really thankful to Dan Brown for helping discover such an amazing place! You can think whatever of his books, but they do make you want to visit places, and some are less well known than others, and well worth the visit!

Rosslyn Chapel, proper name being Collegiate Chapel of St Matthew, is located at the village of Roslin, and nearby the ruins of Roslin Castle. It was a day trip for me and Patri, by bus, not too long a journey, and a totally worth one! The weather wasn't too bad, but cloudy and threatening some rain, which I guess it's not that rare for Scotland.

When we arrived, the chapel was undergoing some maintenance and rehabilitation work, so a giant structure was all over it, which meant no proper photos of the outside for me, but I took many many photos in the inside, and also a few ones of the corners that were free of the metal structure. And when I say many, I do really mean MANY! I'm so thankful for digital cameras!

Thanks to the rehab work you could go up and see the ruins of Roslin Castle

Pale is one thing, a ghost is more accurately describe me here!

The Apprentice column

The Master column

There are some unusual stained glass windows in the newest part of the chapel

Rosslyn Chapel is a wonderful place to visit, and I'd love to go back there, and also take some time to visit the ruins of Roslin Castle that we couldn't visit cause we were running out of time to catch the bus back to Edinburgh!