Keukenhof

...so in order to feel a little bit more Dutch we finally decided to visit Keukenhof, world´s second largest flower garden located in Lisse, which is open only from mid-March to mid-May. Every year, approximately 7 million flower bulbs are planted in the park filling the air with aromas from all kinds of flowers, but obviously mostly from the tipical Dutch tulip!

I have to admit that it was quite a struggle with all the tourists bumping into you, cutting lines and taking pictures where they were not supposed to... But it was still a very nice experience and we are glad that we went!

New Year in Stockholm

         After spending one week of Christmas with my family in the south of Germany, I decided to travel to Stockholm (Sweden) in order to spend there the beginning of the new year together with my friend Claudia from La Palma. She is doing Erasmus in the northern part of Sweden and because we haven´t seen each other for some time, we thought that it might be nice to spend some days doing a city trip together in Scandinavia. I actually believe this was the furthest to the north I have ever been, but it wasn´t my first time in Sweden... eighteen years ago (1996) I had already been there, obvioulsy I can´t remember, and that´s why I wanted to go back to Sweden so badly!
      It was good to have someone who would already be familiar with the local currency and some aspects of the swedish culture. Even though it was a little bit cold with some snow at the beginning, the warmth of the locals had us very welcome during our stay in Stockholm. I won´t forget this trip so easily, I am not sure if it´s because of the "unique hostel experience" we had or because of the good company I was lucky to enjoy! ...and there you go: another city crossed off my City Bucket List!!!
      Special thanks to my Dad who brought me my EOS 70D from La Palma on Christmas, good that I had it in Stockholm :)

Istanbul

     Last week I went with some students from our school (from different classes) on a trip to Istanbul, from the 14th to the 18th of November. Despite being only five students from our own Tourism Management class (year 1) we had a great time together. It was maybe a little bit short but we pretty much used  all the time we had to do as much stuff as we could possibly do in three and a half days, including nightly recreation, to call it in a different way.

     Here are a few pictures of some of the places we visited in Istanbul, including a ferry ride to Kadiköy in the Asian part of the city (our hotel was in the European part).

Blue Mosque:

Ayasofia:

Basilica Cisterna:

Grand Bazaar:

Spice Market:

Kadiköy 

(ferry ride over Bosphorus, and fish market):

Eminönü:

View across Golden Horn:

     It was a very nice trip, with a little culture shock, at least for me who has never been further east than Istanbul. I loved the city´s variety of smells, colours, textures, tastes... maybe I´ll go back some day, who knows...