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.