This Marseille’s quaint neighborhood is the oldest in the city and is located behind the old port, an area comprised between Castle of Sant Jean and Basilica of Sainte-Marie-Majeure . Its Provencal style streets and frontages have an maghreb atmosphere, due to the large Muslim settlement that has occurred in recent decades in this port enclave . Le Panier is characterized by a humble and even somewhat ramshackle appearance, because in ancient times had been a conflict zone, home of pirates and privateers.

Currently, this area has been converted and has nothing to do with what was once. Artisans and artists have reoccupied the streets and set up their workshops. A host of colorful houses, narrow streets with the most peculiar shops, upstairs and downstairs and typical food little bars and restaurants that gives so much charm to the district. The laundry hanging from the windows on the street gives this neighborhood an unusual authenticity. It is ideal for a walk, take pictures, go to lunch one delicious hot chocolate in one of the cafes or visit any of their famous Marseilles soap factories. Bakeries and pastries also charge a special role.

This traditional neighborhood contrasts with the rest of Marseille, more stately. There would still have one of the most emblematic points of the city attractions such as La Vielle Charité , museum and cultural center or Place des Moulins that is also noteworthy for it is on top of the old neighborhood, still retaining two former fifteen windmills, now rehabilitated as dwellings.

Image:  phgaillard2001

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Long queues have begun to form lately outside Nº 164 on Calle Girona in Barcelona with dozens of people, half of them Japanese, waiting patiently for Ramen-ya Hiro to open its doors. It’s the latest buzz on the streets of Barcelona: Hiro makes the best ramen in town.

‘Ramen’ is a type of soup that is served in a bowl with noodles. The dish, originally from China, has become one of the most popular in Japan and the small restaurant run by Hiroki Yoshiyuki has captured the very essence of Japan. To start with, they only serve one culinary speciality – as is the case in most restaurants in Japan. The focus here is on two varieties of ramen: one with miso stock and another with soy sauce stock, accompanied with vegetables, some meat and a naruto. Gyozas (small meat and vegetable pasties) are the perfect side dish for ramen and are served five at a time on a Japanese ceramic dish.

Among other things, the menu also includes edamame, onigiri, kimchi and chasu-don (a bowl of rice with strips of pork and onion). Also on the menu is a small selection of typically Japanese desserts, such as strawberry daifuku and green tea ice-cream.

So, what is the secret to the success of Ramen-ya Hiro? The excellent culinary skill and the tradition that goes into preparing the food. The noodles are prepared traditionally every day, as is the stock which is cooked for over ten hours. The flavour of the ramen at Ramen-ya Hiro is so good that just tasting it will transport your mind to Japan.

Ramen-ya Hiro
Address: 164 Calle Girona, Barcelona.
Opening times: Monday to Saturday from 13:30 to 15:30 and from 20:30 to 23:30. Closed Sundays and Wednesday lunch-times.
Price: basic ramen €7.50; plate of gyozas €4.50. They offer a set lunch menu for €10.50 with ramen and gyozas.
www.facebook.com/RamenYaHiro

By Isabel Romano from Diario de a bordo

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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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It takes 180 square meters of the south wall of the Chiesa di Sant’Antonio Abate-the convent of the Friar Servants of Mary of the Church of San Antonio in Pisa. The art of Keith Haring, the renowned artist from New York, left the imprint in this pisan wall with a work that wants to give out a message of peace and citizen participation.

Tuttomondo is the only mural painting of the artist thought to be a permanent work, unlike his early works he executed quickly with white chalk on the Subway’s commercials. Haring was identified from the beginning with the Street Art, avant-garde art of the 80s that rebelled against the traditional system of exhibition galleries. So was born a way of counterculture related to graffiti and hip hop . His art seeks graphic simplicity that can be understood by everyone at first sight; uses images as graphic symbols.

The large mural was created in 1989, a year before he died, and took a week to be finished. Tuttomondo thereby became the last public work of Keith Haring. Everything came after a casual meeting in New York with a student from Pisa who proposed the idea. Thus the idea of ​​ Tuttomondo was born, a word that sums up the idea that the artist had about interaction with his audience, and in it 30 figures are represented to symbolize peace and harmony in the world . Each figure has a role within its gear, in this way men with dolphin represent man’s relationship with nature, the figures “human scissors” are a symbol of solidarity to defeat the snake symbolizing evil-or the woman with the baby represents motherhood.

Colours are also very important, and that was his election, Haring chose the tones of Pisa’s buildings, to keep harmony with the environment.

Image: Cutiekatie

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