Back to Pompeii, the city that found its way to be seen again

English:

Back to Pompeii, the city that found its way to be seen again.

When we think of Pompeii, the modern city that has grown up around those ruins covered by the lava of the Vesuvius volcano in the year 79 does not come to mind. Instead, we directly think about that city which, despite being buried for centuries, managed to find a way to resurface from those ashes and present itself again to the world. Majestic, magnanimous and imposing, this is how the ruins of Pompeii are presented to all those visitors who dare to walk on those stones which one day were its streets.

If you ever go on a cruise in the Mediterranean Sea, regardless of the harbour from which it departs, bear in mind the possibility of visiting Pompeii if the ship is moored in the harbour of Salerno. The harbour itself is a fairly commercial place and there is not much to see, so the best option is taking a taxi and spending the day in the ruins of Pompeii. And that was exactly what my students and I decided to do: we took some taxis that would leave us right in front of them, entered, and marvelled, once again, at their beauty.

Taormina: strolling the streets of one of Sicily's most beautiful cities

English:

Taormina: strolling the streets of one of Sicily's most beautiful cities.

Hello everyone and welcome back to my blog!

This week I'm coming back with a new post about the cruise I went on with my students back in 2015 and whose first stop was Valletta, in Malta. 

The post you are going to read today is about Taormina, on the Italian island of Sicily. Our stop was actually in Messina, but we decided to book several cabs and go to Taormina.

Taormina is like a balcony leading to the sea and facing Mount Etna - hence its consideration as one of the most important touristic areas in Sicily from the 19th century. Of course, Taormina has a lot to offer in terms of cultural visits, but, since we didn't spent too many hours there, we left so many things unseen. In fact, we only had time to savour its magical streets, devour a gelato and enjoy its magnificent panoramic view of the sea, with Mount Etna in the background. Needless to say, we would have enjoyed a visit to its famous theatre as well as its well-known Arab castle, but we like to think that there will be a next time.

Harrira

English:

Hello everybody and welcome to the inauguration of a new blog section!

As its name indicates, this section is going to contain vegan recipes... I know this is not purely related to travels, but a country's cuisine is part of its cultural background and it's therefore something you can learn from when travelling.

Valletta: baroque architecture in Malta's capital city

English:

Valletta: baroque architecture in Malta's capital city.

Hello everybody and welcome back to my blog!

This week I'm coming with a new series about a cruise that I went on with my students back in 2015. This was their end-of-year trip and, as their homeroom teacher, it was amazing to be part of it and go on this wonderful trip with them.

The upcoming posts are all going to briefly describe each and every stop of our cruise and they will mainly include pictures of the places we visited. As some of you may know, when you reach a harbour while going on a cruise, you have a very limited amount of time to see your destination, and so the amount of things you can see is also limited. However, I hope you can enjoy these short posts and the pictures they will include and you can get an idea about how wonderful this trip was and how recommendable it is to try to go on a cruise at least once in your life.

And [I] lived happily ever after

English:

And [I] lived happily ever after:

The concept of "happiness" has always been deeply anchored in the human mind... Even as kids, in the tales that our parents read to us, there was always the typical "...and they lived happily ever after" - a quote that, unfortunately, as we get older, becomes so difficult that we even consider it as something impossible.

From the proverbs of Chinese philosophy, Hindu mantras, yoga, meditation, exercise, slogans such as "mens sana in corpore sano", "carpe diem" or "you only live once" and arriving today in the form of a hashtag in social networks (remember the already mythical "hygge" taken from Danish), the concept of happiness has been represented by thousands and thousands of photos, quotes, articles and even books. But what is happiness? And, above all, how do we reach it?

Granada: the Alhambra, Moroccan food and a colourful bazaar

English:

Granada: the Alhambra, Moroccan food and a colourful bazaar.

Hello everybody,

How are you?

I am here again today in order to keep my weekly publication until I finish with all the remaining ones and I would like to talk about Granada, one of the most visited Spanish cities thanks to the Alhambra.

My trip to Granada took place in November 2014 with two of my best friends. We went to Granada one weekend in autumn, but the colors in our hearts were not only those of autumn leaves fallen from the trees, but also the Moroccan fabrics, decorative ornaments and jewellery that we found in a little street located in the city centre. All this, crowned by the aroma of the thousand and one flavors of tea that we were fortunate to buy in one of the squares of the city and, of course, the Alhambra and all its corners, made with different techniques, and in different materials and colors.

Violence? No, thank you.

English:

Violence? No, thank you.

I have wanted to write a post like this for a long time, a post in which I will express my opinion about a very popular subject but which, regardless of how popular it is, bothers me a lot. I am aware that this is a travel blog, but I guess that since it is my personal blog, there's room for my own thoughts.

This post and the ideas included in it are my own thoughts, things that I have been considering after (1) the terrorist attack in Barcelona yesterday and (2) the accident in which visitors of the Vicente Ferrer Foundation, where I volunteered for twelve months, died and were injured a few weeks ago. In both cases, as I keep in touch with both Spanish and Indian people, I have received messages on Whatsapp and Facebook in which the facts were presented, pieces of news from the newspaper were included, and a lot of graphic images were spread: images of dead people lying on the street with ripped clothes, blood on their skin and visible broken parts of the body.

What to take and what not to take to India

English:

What to take and what not to take to India.

Dear all,

Having spent one year and a half living in India, I usually think about the advice that I would have liked to receive before going there, especially in order to make some room in my bag and bring some more souvenirs from the country of colours and spices.

That is why, in order to provide you all with some more valid information about what you should and should not pack before your trip to India, I will make a list of must-take and another one with items that people usually take but need not. If you have any doubts or wish to read about one specific topic, I would love to hear your queries and I will try to give you a proper answer. So, do not hesitate to leave a comment down below and I will do my best to provide you with a relevant, satisfactory answer. Of course, living in India for one year and a half does not make me an expert at Indian traditions, but I might be able to give you an insight into the needs that you might have there, as, not long ago, I was also inexperienced in terms of the dos and don'ts, the what-to-take and what-not-to-take.

Without further ado, let's talk about it!

Alleppey: a trip to the quiet area of Backwaters, in Kerala.

English:

Alleppey: a trip to the quiet area of Backwaters, in Kerala.

In July 2016, as many of you already know, I started working at an international school in India. That was, in fact, the job that, unfortunately, I had to resign from because of the family situation that I have so often talked about lately. That unfortunate situation was the one that pushed me to cancel my three weeks in Thailand and return to Mallorca, my birthplace.

However, during my time living in Bangalore (India) I went on some outstanding trips around the country of colors and spices and my destination in the first long holiday I had, in October 2016, was Kerala and I went with my friend Cristina, whom I met during my volunteer work in Anantapur and who you have also heard about in the publications of New Delhi, Jaipur and Agra. 

Agra: visiting one of the Seven Wonders of the World

English:

Agra: visiting one of the Seven Wonders of the World.

Hello friends and welcome back to my blog!

Today I am here to talk about the final spot of a trip through northern India, including Delhi and Jaipur, which was Agra. People have been asking for this post for a long time, so I hope you enjoy it!

Our goal when arriving there was none other than visiting the Taj Mahal, one of the Seven Wonders of the Modern World, and that was why, even before we started our trip, we did everything we could so as to be as close as we could to this gem, recognized as a World Heritage Site by Unesco in 1983.

Tips if you want to volunteer (abroad)

English:

Tips if you want to volunteer (abroad):

Hello everybody! Welcome back to my blog! I hope you're all having a great day so far.

Today I am going to write about why you should consider volunteering, as it is something that I did for one entire year of my life and an experience that I'll never forget.

The first question you should ask yourselves when you consider volunteering is... 'Why not?'. Volunteering is a great way to discover new countries, get immersed in new cultures, learn from other people and spend a very gratifying time doing something for other people. 

When people consider volunteering, they sometimes feel scared because they don't know what to expect from the country they are going to visit and they don't know how much money they are going to spend altogether. Also, people worry a lot about health issues - How probable is it to catch an illness? What if there are no cures for certain illnesses they might catch? Should they take many medicines or shouldn't they? What if they don't like the experience? Can they come back earlier?

To be honest, these are questions that I also asked myself before I went to India, but I chose to be brave and did it. I decided that I'd rather regret what I had done than what I hadn't done. I wanted to give myself the chance of at least knowing everything that trip would entail - and so I did. 

So, here are some tips that might be useful if you'd like to volunteer:

Bratislava: when the young meets the old and mixes it with life, history and culture.

English:

Bratislava: when the young meets the old and mixes it with life, history and culture.

Let's go back, once again, to 2014, when, after a long academic year working, I decided to travel by myself to Vienna, Bratislava and Budapest for ten days.

Bratislava was my second stop, for it is located only 65 km away from Vienna. Therefore, it took me no more than one hour by train to go to a different city, in a different country. To all those who ask me, I always describe Bratislava the same way: "The capital city of Slovakia is a contrast between the ancient and the new, the lively and the historical. What surprised me the most about it was its intense past and its combination with the animation and cultural life on its streets". I said that for the first time almost three years ago and, up to this day, I still feel the same way about it.

The first thing I did once I arrived there was to find a way to reach my hotel. Well, botel. A 'botel' is a ship which has been converted into a hotel and which is located in the Danube river. The one in which I slept - and in which I ate the delicious Indian food served in its restaurant -  was called Botel Marina and it was right opposite Bratislava Castle.

As Bratislava has no Metro, I had to take the bus. For those of you interested in that specific botel, you should get off at the stop called Zochova and, from there, cross the street, climb some stairs down and walk along the river shore until you find it. 

Back to blogging!

I find it quite complicated to find the appropriate time to write lately. I sometimes feel as if my life had come to an abrupt halt when I moved to India and, now that I am back to Spain, it had resumed exactly where it was - perhaps with some obvious changes. 

When I was in India, I found it hard to write on this blog because of the vast amount of activities I had planned for every week, not to mention the fact that we, as volunteers, worked from Monday through to Saturday. Besides that, and as I have mentioned a couple of other times, the Internet connection was evidently not as good as it is in Spain, making it even harder for me to actually sit down and write. As a matter of fact, there were so many things in my mind, going on at the same time, that it was hardly impossible to focus on writing. The fact that my computer broke down some months before my volunteering programme was over did not make things easier at all - and nor did the fact that I was left without a laptop. So, I had to decide to stop writing for such a long time that I now have too many things to say to and share with whoever wants to read them - all of them being, of course, about travels. 

However, I do not want to start 'rambling' before I thank, once again, all the people who visit my blog regularly in search of some useful information to use when travelling to the destinations included (or maybe not yet) in this blog. I would also like to apologize to all of you, for I know - as a blog reader that I also am - that it is really annoying to open a blog and see that its proprietor has not written anything in the ridiculously exaggerated amount of time that seven months imply. To all of you, thank you and, above all, sorry. 

As I have said more often than is actually needed, I am currently in Spain. I had to come due to a family situation and I am going to be here for, at least, one more year. During this time, I hope to be able to find a job as a teacher (yeah, that's what I do, that's who I am) and combine it with some freelance translation tasks as well as more travelling. And, since I am a planner, I will also start planning some future adventures that I have in mind and which will allow me to work and travel at the same time. Being a professional blogger? Not yet, but I would like to keep this blog alive while travelling for the purpose of being a teacher somewhere else. I was thinking about Canada for one or two academic years, then maybe Ethiopia for one year, the Philippines for one more year and, finally, back to India for some more years. And, in between all that, volunteer in Tanzania and Peru, and travel to Bolivia and Thailand. Oh, and, of course, Mexico with my besties next year to celebrate our 30th birthday. All that besides some shorter trips to some other European countries, of course! Hahaha What do you think? Too optimistic, am I not? For now, I can only say that these are just ideas, something to think about. However, they are long-term goals that I intend to achieve - one way or another.

Before I move on to write about Bratislava, the following post that you are going to read, I will happily announce that I was interviewed by the local magazine about my experience in India (both the year that I spend volunteering and the other six months that I worked there) a couple of months ago. It was a brief explanation about some of my feelings and experiences and how those shaped me into being who I am today. 

Without further ado, let's blog! 

Have a wonderful day,

Xesca.

Vienna: a massive imperial city where dreams come true.

English:

Vienna: a massive imperial city where dreams come true.

From July 1st to 3rd and from July 9th to 10th 2014 I embarked on an adventure alone through three European capital cities: Vienna, Bratislava and Budapest. I had always intended to travel through these cities (with very clear objectives) and had never succeeded. So, without further ado, I decided to plan this trip and do it by myself. Given the large number of places I visited in ten days, I think it is better to cover these cities one by one, and in this post I am going to talk about Vienna.

Vienna is a monumental city, full of imperial palaces and Renaissance and Baroque buildings, in whose streets, avenues, cafés and gardens some of the intellectual movements that determined the art of the twentieth century were born. Starting from the Hofburg Palace and ending at the Schönbrunn, Vienna is a city to dream about. Here you have a walk through some of the most representative monuments of the Austrian capital.

My room at the Hotel Pension Suzanne, located right in the centre of the city, was right next to the famous Vienna Opera House and had the most important shopping street in Vienna on the other side, plus many restaurants, the cathedral, and was a few steps away from other palaces and Viennese buildings of interest.

The Vienna State Opera (or Wiener Staatsoper) is a Renaissance building built between 1861 and 1869. During World War II, the building was bombarded and burned, events that destroyed the decoration and about 150,000 pieces of clothing. Finally, after the war, it was rebuilt and restored. Its surroundings are filled with men dressed as characters from other centuries, with white curly wigs, making offers to anyone who looked like a tourist.

The cathedral of St. Stephen is the main church of Vienna. It is located on St. Stephen Square, right in the center of the city, at the end of the most important shopping street in Vienna, which was just a few steps away from my hotel. All the streets that reach this square are the most lively in the city, full of cafés and always with many people wanting to get lost in this capital of the Danube and imperial city.

Visiting the Ecology Project of the Vicente Ferrer Foundation

English:

Visiting the Ecology Project of the Vicente Ferrer Foundation:

After some time without writing in the blog and being already in Spain because of some family problems, I arrived with the desire to tell you some experiences that I had pending from when I was still living in India. India was my home for a year and a half of my life and, therefore, I have more memories and experiences than I could narrate in this blog. However, there are several experiences that, either due to lack of time or technical problems, have not been reflected here until now.

Let's go back in time, exactly until July 8th 2015, three days after arriving in India. As I said on other occasions, the purpose of this trip was to volunteer with the Vicente Ferrer Foundation for a year, although we spent the first three days visiting projects carried out by said NGO.