Topping my "to do list" and hopefully soon become a reality is a trip to Iceland. Based on friends experiences, and a good deal of research, I have my list of places to visit when the time comes, which I am happy to share with you. I am attracted to Icelands nature and powerful, and a muted respect to the people who are able to live in the end of the world. Tourism Natural Iceland * Namaskard Geothermal Area: a place where the energy of the center of the earth touches the surface. Splashes of water and mud mix at a hundred degrees. Solfaratas that permeate the air with their scent. Fumaroles that reveal the geothermal activity. A show. * The Godafoss (or waterfall of the Gods) waterfall is one of the most impressive jumps of water in Iceland. It is located in the north of the island, between the town of Akureyri and Lake Mí½vatn. * The Skógafoss waterfall is 25 meters wide and falls from 60 meters high in the middle of a cliff, the neighboring village of Skógar. * Skaftafell National Park is the country's and Europe's largest. The park, equivalent to more than 12% of the country, is a must see ... * ... The Vatnají¶kull glacier is the largest in Iceland and one of the largest in Europe. It has an area of 8,100 km2, and comes to have 1,000 meters thick. It is amazing to think that beneath the vast ice sheet, several volcanoes are hidden. This place is contained in the record books as it has been declared the most visible place in the world as can be seen from here the highest mountain in the Faroe Islands ... 550 km away! * Pingvellir, close to the capital and only site that was declared a World Heritage Humanidadpor UNESCO in 2004. Its scenic value is enormous, but it is also a very important geological point because here two tectonic plates (the American bind and Eurasian) that separate each year 1 mm and whose encounter can be seen with the naked eye.
Tourism Iceland * Reykjavik calls me to visit. I have read much of its colorful houses, its clear light, quiet streets, which I hope will soon walk it. I have pointed some things to learn about in the capital: the central cemetery (more public park than cemetery), the Catholic Church, its main street. I climb to the Hallgrímskirkja church and from there enjoy the panoramic views. I want to sit Tjí¶rn to see the lake and watch the birds in the center. I want to hang out in pools of natural hot springs at least once.
* And of course I want to experience the flavors of Iceland. The "gravlax € ?? (Raw salmon with fennel, mustard sauce, honey and cream), lamb raised outdoors and absolutely natural. I do not know if I will encourage the œhákarl € € ?? (Rotten shark meat usually remains buried up to six months before being consumed) or "hrútspungur € ?? (Made from ram's testicles pickled in whey). However, I would love to test the seal meat or whale, that's normal for these latitudes. And I would not leave the island without trying the Icelandic Pilsur: nothing more than a hot dog, but something you must have because its quite famous here.
Anyway, if I had a to-do list when traveling to Iceland it would be neverending. There's so much to see, and all so different. I'm probably leaving out many interesting things, but I hope that only leaves room for my discoveries when I finally set foot on that glacial space at the end of the world.
A few minutes ago I remembered the trip to the North Cape I had last year. When reviewing the images I had of that trip in my Flickr gallery, I stopped at a series of photos where there were fish drying outdoors. Leaving Honningsvåg, we hit the coast and one of the revolts of the route appeared one of the many triangular wooden structures that would set outside. Fish were hung there to dry in the air, straight out of the sea, and just gutted. They are cut in two and hung separately: the head in "clusters" and the body and tail individually. The fish remain three months drying in the sun and then the process is finished indoors. In those first months, the fish (mainly cod but also other species), loses 80% of water, nutrients and flavors are concentrated giving pieces of the highest quality. Once off the bus, we saw these extended "stairs" on a small hill near the water. In that corner some fishing boats, small pier, a reservoir for the final drying, a minimum clustered office. Quite a production unit for one of the most famous products of Norway stockfish or dried fish. We walked between the structures, we went down to see the fish well. No expected strong smell, we were just accompanied by the gentle breeze and the sound of birds in the sky. The pieces laid for drying are aimed at two distinct markets: the European and American.
Malaga, known as the "capital of the Costa del Sol", runs the risk of being typecast as a purely seaside resort. But Malaga is much more: it is history, nature, gastronomy and, of course, culture at the highest international level. More and more visitors are left captivated by the many attributes of this beautiful city. From the Citadel and its Arab remains, the Roman amphitheater at his feet, its museums, its tapas route, his contagious joy in the streets. There is sun and good weather throughout the year, so you can visit at any time. Much more if it is on special dates (Carnival, Easter, the fair in August, when it gets cold in Northern Europe). Hotel Ibis Malaga Avenida Velazquez Because I know the service of the Ibis hotels by having stayed in them in Girona, in The Hague and on a couple of occasions in one of those offered in Madrid, I decided this would be ideal for me. Also, I chose the one that is in the Avenida Velazquez, one of the entrances to the city and the closest to Malaga airport. This is the closest to the Heat , the Automobile Museum and the recently opened Russian Museum. It is also located within walking distance of Congress Center so it is ideal for those who come to participate in meetings; direct access to the shopping area for those who come to Malaga for leisure. And of course, because being 10 minutes from Pablo Picasso International Airport, it is the perfect alternative for those in connection or who have to take a very early flight or very late (in addition to a minimum fee you have the option of a late checkout until departure time of your flight). La Térmica
La Térmica is a center of contemporary cultural creation and production, a nursery of talent and a meeting point for artists. It's a great space gained to history where they work and expose all representations of art. A space for creation, learning and entertainment spaces featuring unique approach where the most varied art forms, enjoy live music, shows, conferences and a wide range of activities covering all areas of culture.
The building of la Termica construction began in 1906 in order to house the House of Mercy but even before opening its doors, it suffered many changes to its structure and purpose. They are over 100 years of history in a building that has managed to be recycled and given new life without losing the charm of its tiled corridors and high windows. Malaga Car Museum Automobile Museum With five years of existence this museum has gained an important place in the cultural offer of Málaga. There you can take a tour through the history of the various means of mechanized transport. With truly amazing painting copies from the beginning to current trends: great classic cars from the late nineteenth century to current examples of tuning of ancient specimens. In this space there is more, since there is also a collection that reflects the fashion at different times, meeting rooms, banquets and exhibitions. Russian museum malaga Russian Museum This building complex has a long history in Malaga and which hosted for decades the tobacco factory so it is popularly known as La Tabacalera. This museum has been possible thanks to an agreement with the prestigious Museum of St. Petersburg who gives part of his collection to be exhibited in Malaga, the first based in Western Europe of the Russian State Museum. The State Russian Museum in St. Petersburg, opened in 1895 by decree of the last Tsar Nicholas II and located in the city of the same name, is home to the largest collection of Russian art in the world. Driven by the czars from the s. XVIII, the collection includes over 400,000 works that illustrate each of the periods, trends and genres of Russian art. Malaga subsidiary has a permanent collection of Russian authors from different times and temporary exhibitions. Also it has 3 auditoriums, art workshops for adults and children and a broad agenda of cultural outreach activities. Information on the best time to visit the Russian Museum in Malaga. On Sunday afternoon, starting at 16:00, admission is free. Centre Pompidou next trip malaga Pompidou Centre Malaga Another major cultural spaces offered Malaga is the subsidiary of the Pompidou Centre. Located at the start of Pier One, leisure center located outdoors at the Port of Malaga and just 300 meters from the beginning of Calle Larios, this cultural center is set to become the scene of major events with art in the city. The "Cube" is the visible sign of the museum, below street level are 6,300 square meters of exhibition. The basic background starts with more than 80 works by artists such as Pablo Ruiz Picasso, Frida Kahlo, Rene Magritte and Alberto Giacometti. From May arrive temporary exhibitions including one on the work of Joan Miró and dance are announced. Information: Centre Pompidou Malaga. On Sunday afternoon, starting at 16:00, admission is free. These options, we must add many other spaces and museums internationally Malaga to visit. Among them, I want to highlight some that I have visited personally and consider essential to include a cultural visit to Malaga. * Carmen Thyssen Museum * Picasso Museum * Pablo Picasso's Birthplace * CAC - Center for Contemporary Art in Malaga * National Museum of Airports and Air Transport. There are also many other smaller museums that add to the heritage of the city: Music Museum, doll house, the Bullfighting Museum, Interpretation Centre Gibralfaro, etc. A wide offer worth considering to complete a visit to the most cultural side of Malaga.
When you organize a trip to New York surely it includes a wide range of activities and visits. Because New York is has almost everything, or at least that's how it seems. What you learn just by walking down the street, is its cultural institutions. For New York is best at giving you a big dose of whatever you seek. Want a medieval monastery? You got it. Want breathtaking views? You got it, you want to relive a movie? You can. Want mythical visits? There are here. The most varied cuisine. Shopping for all budgets. Nature and architecture. Luxury and street art. Monuments and landscapes. And if art attracts you, New York is your place. Sometimes I wonder: What museum would I recommend? And while New York has many (many) large, medium and small museums, I have a special fondness for the Metropolitan Museum of Art. I have visited there many times and never get tired of it. From these visits, including break I did last October during a short trip to New York, I will leave these tips that I hope will help to organize your own experience. * ... Go early or late. The Museum is open from 10 to 17.30 hours (Friday and Saturday until 21.00 pm) its recommend being there when the doors open. The bulk of visitors come to mid-morning and early afternoon. Some days, especially in spring and summer, there are so many people it can be overwhelming. But go first thing you'll have more space and time to enjoy the art work. And, whether it's early morning, and the afternoon waiting for the sunset, you'll have two great moments . Visit the terrace. As you can see in the pictures from the gallery that accompanies this post, from the terrace you have the whole Central Park at your feet. And behind the green, the profiles of the buildings in Midtown are picture perfect. It is not easy: it crosses the halls of African art, modern art then, and eventually find an elevator that goes up to the 5th floor where access to the terrace (open from May to October). The terrace shaded small bar and seating area are great to enjoy the scenery. You can stay as long as you want and ... * Free or almost. The "official" cost of entry to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York is $ 25 per person. It is a value "suggested" by law as public museums may not necessarily charge a certain amount. What to do? Simply, when you walk through the imposing main hall and you approach the counter box office, you give your credit card and say, "five dollars" that's it. Nobody will ask for an explanations, nor pull a face. You are simply using your right to pay what you consider fair. They will give you the receipt and a sticker you with MET on the shirt and on. The entrance to the MET entitles you to also visit The Cloisters, a magnificent set up with several pieces of medieval European monasteries and cloisters, reconstructed in the heart of New York. You can read his story (and see some videos of the work).
Follow your taste. To see 'everything is virtually impossible. There will be so much that you could not see it all if you spent a whole week inside its walls. You will find an impressive collection of religious carvings. But, in my opinion, you should not miss: Egyptian Art galleries. You run out of words to describe it. The Mastaba of Perneb built 4300 years ago and bought the Egyptian government in 1913. The Temple of Dendur, gift from Egypt to the United States in 1968, for his collaboration to save the monuments of Abu Simbel. The room where it is located has a glass wall overlooking Central Park. It is the ideal place to sit, watch the Egyptian temple and reflect on the passage of time and the immortality of art. The Charles Engelhard Court not particularly impressed me for its collection (American classical sculpture), but for its monumentality and space. Another good place to kill time watching the people go by. Columbian Art rooms are essential. It really is an impressive collection that rarely able to see gathered in one place. The same could be said of going to see the African Art, but by its cultural relevance and hermetic meaning.
Of course you have the painting rooms where you will meet Goya, Rembrandt, El Greco and others. Of course worth a visit. And if you left a little bit, I recommend you stick your room to 165 and you'll hit a Roman house in Pompeii as it was up to a minute before the Vesuvius began to throw ashes in the year 79 BC. * Re walking. As a final tip, I recommend you walk back to Midtown. Remember that the Metropolitan's on Fifth Avenue, in one side of Central Park. You can return winding through the park or along the sidewalk to the south. A curious and slow walk where you will discover one of the most exclusive neighborhoods in the Big Apple, will pass in front of the Central Park Zoo (can spy on goats and poultry) and reach the end of the park to bump the Apple Store or play around in Fao Schwartz. From there, you will have a short walk to get to your hotel and end a nearly perfect day. You're left to organize the rest of your day in New York. Although perhaps later you in any other idea for this too. For now I suggest you take advantage when you find a cheap flight to New York and you launch to visit the Big Apple. You will not regret.
Today I want to add my little bit. I wanted to share this video of some of the artifacts that can be found in some of the rooms. It would be impossible to see the entire collection of the Museum, as it has over 120,000 pieces. This is a great heritage that is a privilege not only the Egyptians but of all mankind.
This is a question I get whenever I return from a trip and I'm never able to answer: "What did you like best?". I stumped. It's impossible to choose just one thing, one place, this has been a journey of so many facets. So they wait, baited breath, expecting me to say "ok here's the best thing about the trip" But for me, travel is not linear: when I travel I involve all the senses and means "the best bit" may not be a place itself the smile of a girl who greeted me from afar, or smell a meal that came through the open door of a house, or the cold wind hit me in the little part of my face that wasn't covered with clothing, or the expression of the girl who sat under that sign in that city that I never knew the name, or the feeling of happiness I felt when I got on the rickety bus and saw the asphalt moving under my feet. The best bit...as I said before, is often too numerous to pin down.
A week ago I returned from South Africa. It was a short but intense journey. We saw and did so much that the nine days seemed one month. I almost didn't sleep. I barely had time to write. The good thing about slow travel, is that the information can be processed bit by bit. That works for me, that works for me just fine.
So this is the closet I can come to "the best parts of the holiday" more like "what I liked most of South Africa". Purely subjective sensations which reappeared days after I was back home in London. 1. Tickling feet
In Durban we met Nono, a local. As we talked I asked him to take me to walk through a township and was keen to meet people and talk with them. He made me a counterproposal: "If you're interested, I can take you to know the school that directed my mom 13 years ago." A schoolhouse full of South African children, a place that no "tour" could take? I accepted right away. The next day we met and went together. The school / dining room is located in the township of Chesterville, in a territory that belongs to the Church in the area, and gives education and food to nearly 100 children between 2 and 6 years, almost all of them children of unemployed or very young mothers. At the first sitting that we went to two years. Most of the kids were asleep, except two who looked at us with curiosity. I approached them, I sat on the floor and started to tickle one's feet. He laughed out loud.
2.The sea I never thought I'd be so eager to get to the sea when I was in Durban, but knowing it was around the corner made me a little giddy. We rented bikes and went for a walk along the promenade. I was unprepared, and without a swimsuit. So we arrived at the beach and decided to go down, and just touch the sand with our feet. We walked a little further and reached the coast: you can't be on the beach and do not put your feet in the sea - you just can't. The water was lovely, but I was in street clothes. So I only walked a little further out, stopping to admire the view. Many people were bathing, families, men, women, and all fully dressed. So after a few moments thought I submerged my whole body, and swam with the most uncomfortable clothes, but somehow it was still very enjoyable.
3.The Indian-African market
South Africa has a high number of people from India, and it shows. The market was full of spices and saris. At the same time, however, there were women who did the typical African braids and men selling giraffe carvings. A nice mix. The two women in the photo caught my attention. The first, by chance. I was taking a photo of the colorful decorations and she went and sat right there in the empty space of my picture. The second I saw her from afar, I loved the color forming composition to the back wall. I approached her, shyly at first (did not want to be a bother), and asked how long it took make that fabric. "One hour," he said. I asked if I could take a picture working. She smiled and nodded.
4. Bunny Chow Bunny chow has to one of the spiciest dishes I've encountered in my life. I was asked mushrooms and potatoes, but you can get it with all kinds of meat. At first glance, it just looks like stuffed bread. But the bunny chow origins have a story. They say the dish was born in a corner of Durban in the 40s during the apartheid Indians were not allowed to eat in certain restaurants and cafés, then the workers in the local resturants devised the dish to serve food to their compatriots without anyone noticing. They simply "emptied" bread, hiding food inside, then was handed through a back door or window.
5.The sound of the sea
I would often go to the Cape of Good Hope, the southernmost point of the South African continent, and listen to the sound of the sea for several minutes, without getting bored. I found that standing on over that huge chunk of Earth, was amazingly zen.
6. Mandela
Cell where Nelson Mandela was imprisoned
South Africa-aniko-Villalba-30 bus in which Robben Island, the "island prison" was used during apartheid.
Nando was imprisoned with Mandela and told us how was life in prison.
Though I never knew him personally, as I followed Mandela's life path, I felt the presence of his-story. I entered the house where he lived, and went to the cell where I was imprisoned nearly two decades of his life, I heard the story of the South Africans who felt as if they were imprisoned with him, and I heard people call him "papa" ("father") with a great deal of love. I also understood how important the word "reconciliation" is in South Africa. When I returned home and saw the movie Invictus (highly recommended) and I could not help but mourn the loss of a great man. I am relieved to have met and known others who also devote their lives to humanity.
These were the photos by Richie Thomassen, shot while he was there. Enjoy!
Wongolo-Creole wangol o' ou ale ki le ou a vini wem anko? ou ale wangol o' ou ale ki le ou a vini wem anko? ou ale ki le ou a vini wem anko? peyi-a chanje, ki le ou a viniwem anko? peyi-a chanje, ki le ou a vini (or pase) wem anko, ou ale. Wongolo - English Wangolo (could refer to Angola/Kongolese ancestor) Wangolo, you're leaving, when will you come and see me again. When will you come and see me again? The country is changing, (or our situation is changing) When will you come back and see me again ?
