Illustration by Pep Boatella pepboatella.com

Panenka, a soccer magazine anyone can read, transports us to other countries through their passion for the sport. This time they take us to the German capital where they show us their perfect eleven, both for those places related to the football game and for those touristic places.

SPORTING ELEVEN

1 Olympiastadion | Scenario where Jesse Owens gave four Olympic slapping to Adolf Hitler . It is worth just for this.
2 Alte Pumpe | A statue recalls here the old and charming Hertha stadium before the division of the city in August 1961.
3 Friedrich-Ludwig-Jahn-Sportpark |One ‘national’ stadium -that of the GDR, which was next to an international border- the Wall.
4 Alten Försterei | Fans of Union, Eastern rebel team, collectively and selflessly renewed this stadium of Bundesliga 2.
5 Dynamo | Miiss its past as a regime’s club. Instead of communist bureaucrats, now neo-Nazi fans support it at 9th Division.
6 Karl-Marx-Allee | On Good bye Lenin the reunified city celebrates 90′s Football World Championship in this avenue of Stalinist architecture.
7 Hanne am Zoo | Run by a Hertha and Bayern’s former central defender, this bar was here until it closed in 2010. One of the references for lots of football fans
8 Puerta de Brandeburgo | Every May hosts a massive party to mark the end of the German Cup (DFB Pokal).
9 Columna de la Victoria | The first thing that crossed the 40,000 participants in the Berlin Marathon, ideal for brand.
10 Germania 1888 | It proclaims the oldest football club in Germany. He has not done much in the past 125 years. Just survive.
11 Charlottenburg | Bourgeois neighborhood where Jerome Boateng grew.However, Kevin-Prince matured in Wedding, far more screwed.

TOURISTIC ELEVEN

A Potsdamer Platz |No Man’s Land during the Cold War, is now the city center. Houses the Berlinale in February.
B Unterwelt | World War II devastated 50% of the city. On this metro station you will visit one claustrophobic shelter.
C Alexanderplatz | The television tower, the tallest building in Berlin and fleeting vestige of the strength of the GDR in the 70s.
D Normanstrasse | Another memory of that country that no longer exists is the headquarters of the Stasi: it scares as much as Life of the others.
E Friedrichshain | Techno clubs at night and indie markets during the day. It is the youngest district in the youngest capital of Europe.
F Wansee | Who says that Berlin has no beach? In summer, the lake Wannsee are crammed, though green water no invite to swim.
G Carnaval de las Culturas | In May, the city explodes with the color and warmth of the multiethnic Carnival. Winter is over.
H Kreuzberg | A neighborhood that seems Istanbul, and holds a pretty cheap food market on Thursdays .
I Tempelhof | Old airport that nurtured Berliners during the 1948 air blockade decreed by Stalin.
J Club der Visionäre | Drink summer nights relaxed in this bar’s garden, in a bend of the Spree.
K PrenzlauerBerg | Frenchified streets full of small cafes and designer shops. More cool, impossible.Ilustración de Pep Boatella pepboatella.com

Makes you want to go, right? Do it! Check out our prices here! 

Alicante is a synonym for Mediterranean cuisine and is not in vain that one of the best chefs worldwide, Ferran Adrià, said Alicante is, without question, the Spanish province where you eat better.

We love Mediterranean cuisine and this is why we want to offer a selection of 5 products that you have to try in Alicante, and we also advice you where to try them. Some of the products and restaurants might be missing, but take this approach to the gastronomy from Alicante as a starter. In this situation, a local would tell you: “anem a fer una picaeta” (a tradition from the little town of Alcoi, based in a round of tapas, toasts and little sandwiches).

Rice: The rice grows in Valencia and cooks in Alicante, or so it goes in a popular saying. If we want to fully discover the cuisine from Alicante, we must try paella at Restaurante Casa Riquelme. In paellas you can find all kind of ingredients, from fish and seafood to fresh products grown in the fields of the country, accompanied by chicken, rabbit or even snails. Eating at Casa Riquelme (Vázquez de Mella, 17), any midday from Wednesday to Sunday, is a synonym for fine dining. Find more information in this link

Wines: With its own protected designation of origin since mid-20th century. In Alicante you can taste a wine that mixes two kind of grapes, original from the region: monastrell and moscatel. The mistelle wine is original from this land. At Bodega de Meyos (Avenida Condomina, 40) in Alicante we can taste wine by the glass and accompany it with good food, all for a very fair price. We can also buy wine bottles; in fact this was originally a wine shop. 

Horchata: In hot weather, is common to see locals tasting a horchata in any terrace. This precious beverage made of tigernuts (chufas) is one of the most exported products. Don’t forget to go to Horchatería Azul (Calderón de la Barca, 36) to drink this refreshment and accompany it of fartons or the delicious almond pastry (coca de almendras). It’s closed on winter, but is considered for many people the best horchatería in Alicante, a traditional place.

Nougats: Another product Alicante is well known for. This is one of the main products to eat on Christmas, in Spain, and is always in the dinning table with the own local varieties: Jijona nougat and Alicante nougat. If you are in Alicante, try them at Espí (Avenida Alfonso X el Sabio, 4) and, if you want to make a very good impression, buy some as a gift for the upcoming Christmas time.

Pastry: cocas de tonyina (a fine pie stuffed with tuna) are very typical food for the Hogueras de San Juan, on the summer solstice. We can eat them at La Ibense (Calle de Portugal, 38), not only on summer. In this place you can also try delicious pizza portions or the traditional pastry (coca de mollita) with chocolate.

We could continue with other typical products of the region, like the worldwide known stuffed olives from Alcoi o the chocolate Valor, but we can keep that for upcoming gastronomic visits.

For now, as locals in Alicante say: “que aprofite”!!!!

Image from Les Haines

Why not take a trip to Alicante? Have a look at our flights here!

With the setting sun as an idyllic backdrop, the beaches of Bajo de Guía, La Calzada and Las Piletas as unique race tracks, and swimming costumes as the main attire of the onlookers, the horse races of Sanlúcar de Barrameda are a must-see classic of summer in Cádiz. This horse-racing competition, designated an International Tourist Interest Event on account of its setting, with the Guadalquivir river mouth and the Doñana National Park in the background, is also one of the oldest competitions of any kind in the country, dating back to 1845. It now draws a crowd of around 30,000 visitors each year, eager to spend a lovely evening in which the horse races are the perfect excuse for soaking up the scenery, watching thoroughbreds in action and – needless to say – betting on the winning horses.

This year will see a total of 23 races, to be held from 3 to 19 August and divided into two cycles of three days each – the first, during the first half of August, on the 3rd, 4th and 5th, and the second, in the second half of the month, on the 17th, 18th and 19th. The races are run between six thirty in the evening and half past nine at night, a time when the low tides fall on weekends in August.

Manzanilla Sherry Cellars, Nature in the National Park and Much More

In addition to the spectacular summer horse races, Sanlúcar de Barrameda has a lot to offer visitors to the city, located on the mouth of the river Guadalquivir. This seafaring resort, a witness to Columbus as he embarked on his third voyage to the Americas, as well as Magellan and Juan Sebastián Elcano on their first circumnavigation of the world, still harbours signs of that period of splendour related to the discovery of the New World. Indeed, the city’s heyday accounts for much of its historical legacy, as attested by the 16th-century Church of Santo Domingo and the 17th-century Church of La Merced. There are also examples of earlier constructions, notably the Church  of Nuestra Señora de la O, with its spectacular Mudéjar coffered ceiling, and the 15th-century Ducal Palace of Los Medina Sidonia, the former residence of the nobility of Sanlúcar.

Sanlúcar’s importance is also enhanced by its proximity to the Doñana National Park, reached by boat from the city. This accounts for a large portion of the visitors who come here each year. The claim to fame of this priceless national park includes the fact it is one of the leading passage areas of migratory birds in Europe. Make a point of signing up for any of the host of excursions running from Sanlúcar to Doñana, which range from outings to observe the fauna and flora to bicycle tours of the area.

To offset so much nature, you always have the option to indulge in an enological tour of the manzanilla sherry cellars. Manzanilla is the wine par excellence of Sanlúcar de Barrameda, where the leading wine cellars are Barbadillo, Hidalgo, Argüeso, and La Guita. By chance, the dish that best pairs with this variety of sherry is another classic of the area, the “langostinos de Sanlúcar” (Sanlúcar prawn).

Book your Vueling to Jerez de la Frontera, hardly half an hour’s drive from Sanlúcar de Barrameda, and revel in these spectacular horse races.

Text by Los Viajes de ISABELYLUIS

Images by Guillén Pérez

Plenty of things to do with children, such as the Poble Espanyol, Parc de la Ciutadella, L’Aquàrium Barcelona… the list goes on and on. But it's also a city designed to be enjoyed as a family, with hundreds of restaurants to please the tastes of adults and children alike. Plus, the size of the city means that it's easy to get around, whether by public transport or even on foot.