By Eddy Lara Brito from www.DestinosActuales.com

The place where Barcelona embraces the sea and vice-versa

The great thing about living in Barcelona is the ability to be in a city of just the right size – big enough to be a grand European metropolis yet small enough to offer unbeatable quality of life, as well as proximity to the sea. Just right.

Since the early 1990s, when it became an Olympic city, Barcelona has experienced perhaps its most important transformation after a century of growth with the Ildefons Cerdà city expansion. This change has basically involved putting the focus firmly back on the Mediterranean. 20 years have passed now and the Barcelona coastline is undoubtedly the hub of the city, especially during the summer.

They say that Barcelona is a city that lacks anywhere new to be discovered but, when you live in this city, you realise that part of its personality lies precisely in that many hidden corners and places emerge, die and are reborn again. One of my favourite places in Barcelona is the Moll de Xaloc in the Port Olímpic.

Here you can enjoy all the splendour of Barcelona in peace and quiet. There is nothing better than an autumn evening for observing the sun draw the city skyline on the horizon: the Tibidabo, Montjuic, the Sagrada Familia, the statue of Columbus… with the Mediterranean on the other side, closer than ever and intensely blue. This is precisely where Barcelona embraces the sea and vice-versa.

By Eddy Lara Brito from www.DestinosActuales.com

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The Church of the Saviour on Spilled Blood, or the Cathedral of the Resurrection of Christ, was commissioned by Tsar Alexander III between 1883 and 1907 on the exact spot where his father, Tsar Alexander II, was fatally wounded.

Located next to the Griboedov Canal and visible from Nevski Prospekt, the building was constructed according to the traditional Russian style and inspired by Saint Basil’s Cathedral in Moscow. It therefore stands as one of the most striking Baroque and Neoclassical buildings to be found in Saint Petersburg. The structure includes three semi-circular apses and is crowned by five domes. It is one of the churches housing the largest number of mosaics in Europe, which bring together both Byzantine and Art-Nouveau styles.

In the past, the church was only available for private use but was opened to the public following the revolution. The building was used for various purposes throughout the communist era and eventually fell into complete disrepair. In 1970, responsibility was passed to Saint Isaac’s Cathedral and a series of restoration projects began that were to last for 27 years.

It is currently open as a museum and entry costs 250 roubles (350 if you visit during the White Nights Festival). We recommend that you rent an audio guide (200 roubles) so as not to miss any of the interior details or alternatively join one of the guided tours offered on the website of Saint Isaac’s Cathedral.

By Isabel Romano from DiariodeaBordo

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Windmills, wooden shoes, dykes, bicycles, canals, Gouda cheese –all of these symbolise the Netherlands, but the tulip has an even greater claim to emblematic status, and, along with other flowers, is one of the country’s main exports.

The tulip’s name is derived fromdulband, an old Persian word for “turban”, and the flower was originally cultivated in the region comprising today’s Turkey, Pakistan, and Afghanistan, where it had religious connotations and adorned the tents and palaces of sultans.

The Flemish scholar and pioneering horticulturalist Carolus Clusius (1526-1609) was the first person to manage to cultivate tulips in Europe, and is regarded as the founder of the Dutch tulip industry.

The tulip was initially a luxury item for which large sums were paid, and in the 17^th C. a speculative “tulip bubble” expanded to gigantic proportions –a sale of 40 bulbs for 100,000 florins was recorded in a year when a Dutch workman earned about 150 florins a year. But the bubble soon burst.

Today, entire fields carpeted with the colourful flowers adorn the Netherlands, especially in the northeast, the Kop van Noord-Holland region, and Bollenstreek with its famous Keukenhof, the world’s largest floral park, with as many as seven million tulip bulbs sprouting every spring.

This year’s National Tulip Day falls on Saturday, 17^th January. It is regarded at the start of the tulip season, which finishes when late tulips are picked and the end of April. It is celebrated throughout the Netherlands, but Amsterdam’s Damm square is the place to be.

Tulip growers show their best early flowers there, turning the square into a mosaic of colours and textures, to the delight of tulip fanciers, including many foreign visitors, who are regaled with bouquets to take home.

In the course of the tulip season Dutch growers will sell more than 1,700 million flowers. Most of them to export markets.

Serious tulip fans should also visit Amsterdam’s Tulip Museum, which tells the story of the tulip in its historical context. The museum is in the Jordaan neighbourhood, just across the bridge from the Anne Frank house.

Check out or flights here!

Report by Scanner FM

Photograph by Kang-min Liu

Santiago’s zone of influence stretches through a score of municipalities, ranging from A Coruña to Pontevedra, all articulated around the river Ulla, while various branches of the Road to Santiago run nearby, too.

Hardly 10 km from the city lies a magical spot – Pico Sacro, a legendary hill as far as Galician culture and the Jacobean tradition are concerned. Located south-east of the city, its unusual outline rises sharply to a height of 533 metres. Santiago and the skyline of its Cathedral towers are visible in the distance from its summit.

Galicia is green, and the city of Santiago is also surrounded by green. Nature lovers can go on outings from the city to such amazing spots as the Fervenzas do Toxa, or to Insua; to unique forests like the Fraga de Catasós, with chestnut trees towering over thirty metres, or to mountain ranges like O Candán, with its ancient landscapes and great open spaces.

In a radius of just fifty kilometres you can discover the monumental wealth of such historic towns as Padrón or Melide, both directly related to the Road to Santiago; pazos (country homes) like the Pazo de Santa Cruz de Ribadulla, noteworthy for its camellias and centuries-old olives trees, and even places of quiet and repose like the Carboeiro Monastery, surrounded by splendid natural scenery.

Needless to say, being Galicia, it is also worth planning outings to try the delicious and abundant cuisine in Santiago’s environs, characterised by the use of fresh produce in season. Be sure to try the Padrón peppers, trout and lamprey, cocido (stew), beef, cheeses, melindres (honey fritters), filloa crêpes, almendrados (macaroons) and rosquillas (a ring-shaped pastry), and to end your trip by toasting with a local spirit.

Come and discover all these gems for yourself! Check out our flights here.

For further information on Santiago: www.santiagoturismo.com

For further information on the environs of Santiago: www.areasantiago.es