By Tensi Sánchez from actitudesmgz.com

Lisbon is changing. In it´s streets you can smell art and culture wherever you go. The new generations want to show to the rest of the world the greatness of the capital and the economical situation won´t be able to make the ilusion flater. LX Factory is the best example of how in times of crisis the best and most creative ideas can appear.

Alcantara was an industrial area in the XIX century located under the 25of April bridge, but nowadays this zone represents the hotest cultural area in the city. The 23.000 square meters space was meant to be demolished thanks to the Alcantara XXI project to turn it into a multipurpose area. But recession delayed the regeneration and Mainside agency took advantage of the decadent and industrial atmosphere, to rent corner for 12 euro the square meter for young artists and entrepeneurs.

The result? A huge space in which almost 80 companies related with culture, literature, art, fashion and design gather, to offer the most underground and Berlin style experience. The prizes are affordable and anybody can enjoy the hipster atmosphere.

The must places are the Cantina: an old workers dining room which incluyes food for vegetarians and or the breathtaking three floor Ler Devagar bookstore. In the night going to Lollipop disco it is a good option as long as you are included in the guests list. But there is always a chance to go to La Sala de las Columnas where different kinas of deejays will play music for a memorable night.

The Open day is an event which is held twice a year and organizates different workshops and expositions.

A different and magical place, that speaks for itself about a new Lisbon that is rosing form it´s ashes. A city that albergates the most contemporanean culture without leaving appart tradition.

By Tensi Sánchez  from actitudesmgz.com

Photos by Ricardo Junqueira

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Finisterre means the end of the world and so was considered by different cultures in ancient times, still believed that the earth was flat. This point, where is located the well-known Cape Finisterre , is the most western one to where pilgrims on the Camino de Santiago can arrive. They burned their clothes on the cliff and throwt their ashes into the sea as a symbol of purification.

The drive journey to Costa da Morte is the most suitable way to enjoy the magnificent views of the area . Before arriving at Faro Finisterre is a turnoff to the right that leads to Mount Facho, which houses the chapel of San Guillermo , related to beliefs about fertility. On the outskirts of this city stands the Church of Santa María das Areas , Romanesque style. This parish church houses Cristo dos Barbas Douradas , by which professes great devotion. Between Finisterre and Cabo da Nave it is the wild beach Mar de Fora , and open to the Atlantic Ocean surrounded by sharp cliffs. It is one of the most beautiful beaches of the coast.

A bit more to the south of Finisterre, we find a fishing village in the municipality of Dumbría O Ézaro , which houses a waterfall which has the distinction of being the only one in Europe that flows directly into the sea . It is recommended go and see it in winter as its volume rises as a result of heavy rains that increase its power and beauty.

Can not help but mention the seafood cuisine that is abundant in this Galician coast’s area. Finisterre is the realm of seafood and fish: barnacles, lobsters, scallops, clams, razor clams, cockles, sea bass … are some of the endless list of marine products that may be tested in these lands. Beef product is also of extreme quality, hence the famous Galician beef.

Don’t you feel like going to this land? Some of the best scenery in Galicia make this trip a visual feast!

Imagen de ricardo

By Blanca Frontera

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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.

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Report by Scanner FM

Photograph by Kang-min Liu

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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