Thursday 25 July 2013

It is not raining in Santiago. Santiago is crying.


Santiago de Compostela is a city in the North-West of Spain, quite famous because of "the way of Santiago", throgh it, thousands of pilgrims come to Santiago every year, some of them for religious reasons and others just to live the experience. The most famous of the ways is the French way and even people who arrive to Santiago, decide to finish the way in Finisterre (which was supposed to be the "end of the world" in the Middle Ages).

Finisterre, by amaianos.
by Luis Miguel Bugallo Sánchez

Aall through the way there are those symbols of Santiago and you have to keep following them, when you arrive to Santiago, they give you "la compostelana", a certificate that shows you have done the way.

by Dietmar Giljohann
The Scallop shell is the symbol of several Ways of St. James.

I arrived to Santiago five years ago, when I started University, Santiago has a quite big University, and as it is a small city, during the course, it has a quite big culture and University life. This charming city has involved me, and has made me like it every year even more.

by Luis Miguel Bugallo Sánchez

The Cathedral of Santiago is the most famous monument, during the Middle Ages, Santiago was the main pligrimage destination for Christians, along with Rome and Mecca for the Muslims. Even during that period of time, so many people came that they only could stay there for a maximum of three days.



Santiago is quite small, but it has plenty of nice places to visit like the "alameda" a big tree-lined park in the centre, the Cathedral, the old town, with its narrow streets and its typical shops of traditional food (the cake of Santiago is very very tasty!).

by Luis Miguel Bugallo Sánchez

The University of Santiago has 2 campuses in the city, the South Campus, also called the Campus Vida ( Life Campus) and the North Campus (I ask myself if the South Campus is called Life-Campus, is the North-Campus the Dead-Campus?

by Ansoutvi


If I have chosen this city to study it is because it is the nearest to my home, and therefore, the cheapest. I am happy studying there. Some people, complain, that in Santiago it rains a lot in winter, but even that is an advantage for me...furthermore, the bad weather is good to keep concentrated and studying!.


There is a famous film, called "The Way" the main actor is Martin Sheen, and it is dedicated to his grandfather, who was born in Santiago. I recommend everybody who is interested in this issue to watch it! He has said that the way starts being a physical experience and ends being something spiritual.



Have you been to Santiago? Has anybody told you that the way changed their life? Would you do the Camino de Santiago?




25 of July is the big day of Santiago, and all the Area, Galicia, with several days of events and parties everywhere. However, this year, has been devastated because of a tragic accident, a train derailment has left at least 80 dead. I have no words to express how much sadness we all are feeling, when something is so close to you, it is a shock.








Monday 22 July 2013

Vancouver



Hello everybody! 
I am writing today about a city that is very special for me, that I had the opportunity of visiting when I was 18 for a month, and although it was not the most fun and enjoyable trip for me, I really think this was one of my top five beautiful places I've ever been, and will be, forever, and ever, it will be in a corner of my heart.





This is Vancouver... a seaside city in the west coast of Canada, with a quite soft weather in summer for my surprise. And I dare say, this is the city, by far, where I have seen so many many expensive cars... I never know when a car is expensive, but my friend who likes cars and those things, was all the time telling me about the price, he was delighted, so we took so many pictures with them...I don't know why, since, I have always loved more using public transport, I am such a cosmopolitan person... and I ask myself if those owners of the cars would astonish if they saw how  the Renault 18 of my parents at that time with a door which didn't open from inside, and the other door, from the outside...







Vancouver  is such a nice city to visit and I suppose, even more to live, its public transport is so good, Canadian people...what to say about Canadian people? they are so perfect people, so nice, so polite, so handsome, so blond and so tall... yummy, yummy.




I have been seeing in the last years that Vancouver is always in the top 2 or 3 cities with the best quality of life....and when I visited it, I even didn't know that those lists existed, and I thought it, every moment.




Vancouver is a beautiful, stunning, city where you can breathe quite fresh air, because it has a lot of nature around and in there, some big parks like Stanley park (absolutely relaxing and nice) or Pacific Spirit Regional Park. It is very common that you see many different animals there... what Canada has, which is impressive, it is its amount of nature... I am not a person who loves the country... but I just got astonished with that incredible mixture of city and nature...





As the majority of the most pleasant cities, it has some nice beaches, the most famous probably is English Bay.




In short, I think I am writing about a city which I would recommend everybody to visit not only for its beauty, but also for its nature, for its warm and peaceful atmosphere, for its people...

I felt so fortunate that I could have visited that city. I wish one day I'll  go back to Canada.

Nowadays, five years after that trip, I feel I didn't exploit as much as I should my time there... maybe because I was very young.
I didn't go out there, and I didn't visit the outskirts of that place, or the city well.








So, please, tell me, Have you ever been to Vancouver? Are there any discos and pubs to go out? Do you know if a car is cheap or expensive without looking at the driver's clothes?






(The pictures don't make it justice).

Saturday 13 July 2013

Jeju

Have you ever been to Jeju?
Jeju is an island of South Korea, quite famous in Asia.





It is a small island with many luxurious hotels and it is quite common that rich people go there in their honeymoon.

Who decides to go there, will keep in touch with nature and know the atmosphere of Korean life and its culture.




To get into Jeju, first you have to go to Seoul, and then to Jeju by plane. Taxis drivers... well...they don't know much English, and furthermore they don't know the place... and you have to keep holding well to the car... because they move quickly... but they have a mysterious and robotic voice which tells them how to get to the place and with a bit of luck, in the end, you arrive there.






Furthermore, they have a lot of oranges there, and they are very proud of their oranges.

In short, Jeju can be an interesting place if you like nature and not crowded places, a different and new destination to discover for many people, and it is in South Korea, which is always an advantage, with such advanced technology and furthermore, Korean women are very beautiful, and Korean people, like all Asian people, are very cute and polite...which is lovely. I feel quite identified with their personality... 





Would you like to visit Jeju? Have you tasted their oranges? Have you ever met a rude Asian person?






Monday 8 July 2013

The Riviera Maya




La Riviera Maya is the main holiday destination in these days for many people, and I can't understand why.


I often keep my mind thinking, once in a blue moon, and I ask myself, what the fuck are people doing there? Where the only thing they have is too many hotels and too many tourists.




People go there to "have fun in the beach" (that is surprising, and doesn't have any scientific explanation, since the majority who say that are Spaniards... as if they hadn't seen the sea in their life...), but they even can't enjoy the beaches at all, because the majority of these people go to a luxurious hotel complex, almost without being able to go out of it... or even without the "almost".




And furthermore, what makes me laugh the most, is that they wanna go there to RELAX hahahahaha, of course!!!! the best place to relax is without any doubt the trip which is chosen by all University students in their graduation trips, and so many couples in their honeymoon... students crazy for becoming drunk and sweet couples of recent marriages... so nice company... it must suit a lot.



But there is even more! Some greedy people who dare say they want to visit the Riviera Maya to know the authentic Mexico, the Profundo Mexico, because, of course, the culture and the Mexican costumes are clearly shown by those so many Mexicans who are in the Riviera...These people are those who want to go to Disneyland Paris to know la France, too...



It is clearly that I wouldn't like to go there, a place where you will only meet drunk young Spaniards... Spaniards who have so many beaches at hand, might need the necessity of enjoying artificial beaches or luxurious swimming pools in hotels... 




What do you think about La Riviera? Is it your dream to go on your honeymoon there? Did I become crazy for not going there for my graduation trip? 









Saturday 6 July 2013

Paris, the paradise.


Today I wanna show the world, the most visited city ever, Paris, ohh Paris, I dare say there is no words to express how much I loved this city when I visited it, seven years ago already. It is a city which made me feel as if I were the main actress of a South American soap opera.





My travel to this city started with this picture ("cancelado" is a Spanish word, obviously coming from English: "cancel" and "ado"). So I had to arrive at Paris in a very poor elegant way, travelling for 24 hours by bus, after knowing that my flight had been cancelled, smelling everybody's sweat... the first step I put in Paris's pavement I realised that it wasn't necessary to buy a expensive perfume to mask the smell, because I got in love with Paris since the first moment, and I was raptured by its fragrance.





Paris is lovely, it is delighting, beautiful, stunning, in every corner, it is a city which shines, In short, I recommend everybody to visit Paris, at least, once.





The Sena River is amazing, to go in a ship at night, seeing the city with so many lights... The Eiffel Tower (go up to the third floor, keeping an eye on your wallet of course, and watching all the city)... incredible... (as you should know, it is forbidden to commint suicide from there).  








The Notre Dame Cathedral, the Arc de Triomphe, going for a walk trough the latin quarter (which is, regardless, full of French people)... going to see where Amélie was recorded, Moulin Rouge. Going to visit the Sacre Coeur...










Other thing you can visit is the museums...even people who don't know how to appreciate the art, like me, are quite impressed.





Some free and funny stupid things you can do there are:

-Make a picture with the soldier which is patrolling the area, if he is not in a very bad mood.

-Sitting on a statue of Napoleon before a guard shouts at you to get out of there.

-Sing the name of the tube station after it is singed by the voice of the tube.

-Go up the escalator in the Louvre Museum which moves in the opposite direction to leave the Japanese and Chinese tourists with a poker face.

-Keeping an eye on your bag in every place (this is not a stupid advise) because maybe, this city is somewhat more insecure than other European capitals.




I think Paris is one of a few cities which is loved by everybody, another thing is French people... which is said to be rude, cubbish, ill-mannered, bad-mannered, ill-bred... however, I was very lucky because all French people I spoke with, were very polite and glamourous, and that made me think that maybe that is a cliché of people who would wish to be French.



Another thing that I love about Paris, it is that it is full of artists who know painting, drawing..., you can see then in every street, and they usually offer you to portrait you, or to do a caricature, I think they are a very good souvenir which will make you remember this magic city.






And this was, the last picture of the trip.



Have you visited Paris? Is there anyone who thinks that this city sucks? What do you recommend me to visit if one day I have the chance to go there again?




Wednesday 3 July 2013

Los Angeles is not an angelical city







Today I wanna write about a city which, from my point of view, has nothing, or almost nothing good to visit, let alone to live there.

This city, Los Angeles, I can't understand why it is so famous because it has several important disadvantages.




Who can like a city in which you can't move out of home without using a car? It is all roads, roads, and more roads, and high-roads, and high-ways. So, there is no place there, for people, like me, who love walking some time in our life, without having to take the car. So if you decide to go there, and walk around, it might be you are raped, or run over, I can imagine.




I am not surprised that people are worried about obesity and heart-attacks in that area, they just need sidewalks and get people used to use them.


Furthermore, one of the most touristic things that Los Angeles is supposed to have, it is Hollywood, ohhhhhhh Hollywod!!!! people can think. OMG, just have to see that typical picture of Hollywood, and realise that it is a dry hill, with some brave grass...which doesn't have any pastures for the cows... and with several electric poles, it seems like a deserted and abandoned place.




I am quite surprised that this city is quite famous... I have never been there... and I won't go, unless it is for free and I have nothing better to do because I am in passing...


It seems to be a city of no medium class, either very rich or very poor. And that sucks.


In short, if you were me, you wouldn't visit that city, however, there are many people, I think, that visited this city and liked it, so, I can't give you the advise that you don't visit it. Just say, that I wouldn't be looking forward to go...



Have you ever gone there? Do you think I am completely wrong? Are people from LA so posh and extreme... strange... as they seem? do you think it is a good place to visit for a young sweet girl like me?


These photos are taken from google images.

Monday 1 July 2013

Brighton exists.





When last summer I spent a few weeks in London, one friend of mine told me that I should visit Brighton, a small and charming village just 30 minutes by train from London.

The first thing I thought was, what the fuck is that unknown place? I had never heard about it so, a place I had never heard about it... how fuck was gonna be nice for me? And furthermore, I was looking in the Internet and no pictures were very delighting... I thought.





To be honest, I am not a very big fan of London, which is suppose to be one of the best beautiful? cities in Europe, or at least, one of the most important, but I think it sucks a little, it is so full of noise...and I dont know...well, about London I will write in another post. 





But Brighton is, another word, I just got delighted? When I got off the train there, in August, a sunday morning, it is a peaciful sea town, with privilegious sightseen. It is full of tourist, and it made me feel in a calm atmosphere which was full of bohemian shops, with a very interesting and own style. I think, it might be quite similar to Nice, although I've never been in Nice.





Furthermore, Brighton it is a city with a lot of life at night, a lot of clubs and pubs, with a big young atmosphere.





I recomend Brighton to visit in every season of the year or even to live there. In my case, I spent several weeks in London to improve a little my English, and visit twice Brighton, if the time went back, I would have spent all those weeks living in Brighton and I had visited London twice...




Finally, I wanna recomend you a good place to eat there, above all if you like or wanna know japanese food, it is not expensive (around 8-10 pounds). Its name is Wagamama and it is a chain of japanese restaurantes which is in several cities of UK.



All the walk around the seaside is so nice...and it has many places to see, as the Royal Pavillon, many alternative shops, Kemp Town, and Brighton Pier an amazing bridge which I think, a brilliant engineer must have built.






And one big advantage, is that there are many, many, trains between London-Brighton, almost every half an hour...they are a bit expensive...but they run very often. If you wanna save an amount of money, you should ask for a “return ticket”.



It is a pity that I didn't meet any Brightonese, I can imagine that the typical Brightenese is a tall blonde and handsome boy, not fat, with a bit face of bad, and with the skin suntuned... well, I 've been speaking with one old man, very polite, who told me that he had been a teacher of English and a diamond researcher ?? just for 10 minutes, it was my only moment with a person from there...






One thing I didn't like at all..is that they are all so red! Burned! Someone should advise them to buy a cream of 50 of level of protection...or just not to sunbuthe...in the end...they are not mediterranean.



Have you ever visited Brigthon? Did you put it in the map since I showed you, or did you know it yet? Do you agree with my opinion? What do you like and dislike more about it? Is it true that in summer all brigthonese are in Nice and all frog are in Brighton? Have you meet a brightonese which made you loose your mind? Which small place do you know in Brighton that I should visit if I go again? Do you like my pictures?