By Panenka www.panenka.org

Beyond the obvious attractions of the ‘City of Light‘, Paris hides large and small secrets for the travelling sports fan. Pioneering and revolutionary in all senses of the words, the banks of the Seine witnessed the first final of the Europa Cup competition, the first game of football at the Olympic Games and the creation of the Ballon d’Or. And as man does not live by football alone, every year, the eyes of the world turn towards the French capital to greet the king of Roland Garros, in the Bois de Boulogne, or the ‘Maillot amarillo’ of the Tour de France, with its victory run down the Champs Elysées. Apart from the ancient Stade de Colombes, where the final match in ‘Escape to Victory’ was filmed, there are important venues in Paris that must be visited including the hallowed ground of the Stade de France in Saint-Denis and for rugby fans, the unmissable Parc des Princes, home of Paris Saint-Germain. From these terraces, fans shouted at the tops of their voices: “Paris est magique!” And how right they are: all you have to do is take the step and discover the magic for yourself.

The eleven sporting venues

1 Yves-du-Manoir The stadium in old Colombes that featured in Escape to Victory.
2 Philippe-Chatrier Rafael Nadal’s back garden.
3 Parc des Princes Home of the PSG and Luis Arconada’s nightmare scenario.
4 Stade Bauer Last home of wandering club Red Star.
5 Stade Charléty Modest home of the decadent Paris FC.
6 Stade de France The Olympus of the heroes of 98 in Saint-Denis.
7 Paris-Bercy Hard to think of a sport that has not been played here.
8 Jacques-Anquetil Velodrome Hosted the first Olympic football contest.
9 Pershing Stadium Today it’s a baseball pitch but it was the heart of football in 1924.
10 Dominique-Duvauchelle Stadium The home of US Créteil-Lusitanos.
11 Stade Salvador Allende The Noisy-le-Sec reds stadium.

Eleven tourist spots

1 Versailles It was not by chance that Louis XIV was called the ‘Sun King’.
2 Ballon d’Or The golden sphere was born at the headquarters of France Football.
3 Trocadero at night, the best place to enjoy the Eiffel Tower.
4 Arc de Triomphe Napoleon’s caprice to celebrate Austerlitz.
5 Hotel Delaunay Named after the former president of UEFA and its trophy.
6 Café de Flore The second home of Sartre and Simone De Beauvoir.
7 Pigalle Like Amsterdam’s red light district but more glamorous.
8 Hotel Ambassador Bernabéu and Hanot met to create the Europa Cup.
9 Sacré Coeur The basilica of Montmartre commanding the best views.
10 Le baise The City Hall square and a photo by Doisneau.
11 Père-Lachaise Artists’ Cemetery, including Jim Morrison.

Ilustration by Pep Boatella / @pepboatella

A perfect idea for travelling with friends! Check out our flights and off you go!

By Panenka www.panenka.org
Ilustration by Pep Boatella / @pepboatella

Panenka, the football magazine you can read, leads us through its passion for the soccer to other countries, this time to the Russia's capital, Moscow. They show us their ideal eleven for places related to sport king as for the most touristis ones.

SPORTING ELEVEN

1 PFC CSKA Moscow: The new stadium for PFC CSKA was due to open in 2010. It still hasn’t, nor does it have an official name.
2 CSKA Ice Palace: Home base of the CSKA Ice Hockey team and a sports venue with lots on offer.
3 Megasport Arena Pavilion: With capacity for 14,500 spectators, this is where CSKA basketball games are thrashed out.
4 Dynamo Park: A statue of Lev Yashin, the only Russian goalkeeper to win a Ballon d' Or, is next to the future Dynamo Stadium.
5 Krylatskoe: This is where Dynamo's five a side team plays their matches. The team is trained by the Spaniard Tino Pérez.
6 Monument to the 'stadium deaths': Homage to victims of the tragedy that occurred in the Luzniki Stadium during a UEFA Spartak-Haarlem game.
7 Luzhniki Stadium: Home of Spartak and Torpedo. This was the main stage for the 1980 Olympic Games and has hosted a UEFA final and Champions League matches.
8 The House of the Unions: This is where Kaspárov and Kárpov played out he mythical World Chess Championships in the 1980s.
9 Olimpiysky: This venue hosted basketball and boxing events during the 1980 Olympic Games, as well as numerous finals of the Davis Cup.
10 Otkrytie Arena: This is the stadium of Spartek and one of the venues where the World Cup will be played in 2018.
11 Eduard Streltsov Stadium: Torpedo's home ground. It bares the name of one of the team's greatest players, also known as the 'Russian Pelé.

TOURIST ELEVEN

A Cosmonauts Memorial Museum: The ‘Monument to the Conquerors of Space’ – dedicated to launch of the Sputnik – sits outside.
B Museum of Vodka: Moscow is a very cold city, and at any given moment you are going to want to warm up. With a lack of beer, vodka will do.
C Bolshoi Theatre/National Theatre of Russia: One of the largest and most significant opera and ballet theatres in the world.
D Kazan Cathedral: An orthodox church reconstructed in 1993 after being destroyed in 1936 and substituted with public baths.
E State History Museum: The museum has 39 galleries spread over two floors, together telling the history of Russia.
F Red Square: The true heart of Moscow. From here, all the city's main streets depart.
G Saint Basil's Cathedral: Ivan 'the Terrible' ordered the construction of this cathedral in the 16th century. It is UNESCO classified.
H The Kremlin: Seat of the Russian government. It has been recently walled and includes four cathedrals, four palaces and a military museum.
I Cathedral of Christ the Savoir: Built in the 19th century, this is the highest Orthodox Church in the world.
J Novodevichy Convent: This architecturally significant monument has been a World Heritage site since 2004.
K Kiyevskaya Metro Station: This station forms part of the circular line and is one of the most famous in the world for its spectacular architecture.

We’ll be there. If you want to come too, check out our flights here.

One of the classic routes to discover Andalusia’s essence is the white villages one, which runs through about 20 locations in the provinces of Malaga and Cadiz.

Traditionally, Andalusian houses are painted white or whitewashed to avoid,as far as possible, the hot Andalusian summer. This way to relieve the heat, joined with the affection their inhabitants use to decorate streets, squares and balconies with flowers and plants, make these towns picturesque postcards.

The route of the white villages heads to special beauty and natural environment areas as the Parque Natural de la Sierra de Grazalema -Biosphere Reserve. The ideal is to try to visit all the beautiful villages, since each has its attractions and special characteristics. But if you only have two or three days, there are some stops that, in our opinion, are of main interest.

Arcos de la Frontera is one of the most common places to begin the route, as it is located near Cadiz and the Jerez airport, while the beautiful Ronda would be the natural endpoint. In Arcos de la Frontera you can admire the Basilica of Santa Maria from the Plaza del Cabildo and continue with a walk through the steep and narrow streets with baroque facades scattered through the town, up to the walls of the Castle of the Dukes.

Another town that should not be missed is El Bosque. It lies at the foot of the mountains, starting the stretch of the Sierra. It is a good place to gather information about the Grazalema Natural Park in the Tourist Center and an excellent area for trekking.

Although it requires a little detour, Ubrique is a worthwhile stop. It is the leather city, where you can buy a nice piece of tanned leather done as in the Arabic tradition.

Along the way, we find other locations that do not belong to the official route, but that are worth a visit. For example the strech to Benmahoma, that passes through forests of pine and eucalyptus and whose top rewards us with spectacular views. Before arriving in Ronda, we can not miss places like Zahara de la Sierra and Alcalá del Valleo or Setenil de las Bodegas, with their houses carved into the mountain and along the river.

Ronda, the Dream City - like the poet Rilke called it-, is the usual destination to complete the route; an ancient city seated on a stone plateau.. Worth walking calmly to appreciate all its nooks and monumental works. It preserves traces of its Moorish past, being one of the last strongholds before the Reconquista, which are reflected in the so-called ancient Arab city or Arab Medina, along the Guadalevin shore.

It is divided by a gorge over 100 meters above El Tajo and crossed by three beautiful bridges. Dating from the eighteenth century, the main one is the most iconic landmark of the city.

Besides its cultural interest, this Andalusian architectural gem has many restaurants where you can enjoy delicious recipes and products from the Serrania.

Picture Zahara de la Sierra vy Grez | Olvera by Tomas Fano | Villaluenga by El Pantera

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

Genzano is a charming town built on one of Rome’s hills. Every year it hosts the Infiorata di Genzano, when its main street, the Via Italo Belardi, is carpeted by 2,000 square metres of enormous tapestries adorned with flowers. This artwork uses up nearly 500,000 petals, flowers and seeds meticulously placed to form intricate pictures inspired by religious themes. It is a collaborative venture involving many of Genzano’s inhabitants. Just as painters have their palette, for the Infiorata, different types of flowers are selected according to each colour – carnations are used for reds, broom for yellows.

For the three-day duration of the festival, the town’s shopkeepers set up their marquees from where they sell the region’s typical food products, such as olive oil or pane casereccio, a famous crunchy bread and one of the most emblematic of local gastronomic products. TheInfiorataremains on the streets until the so-called Spallamento, the moment when the music bands and the town’s children walk over the infiorata, until the whole carpet is trampled underfoot.

The Origin of the Flower Carpets

These colourful flower carpets are laid down in many other towns around the world. Notable examples are the Temps de Flors in Girona and the Alfombras de Sal in Lanzarote. Their origins go back to theCorpus Christicelebrations of the 13th century, when flowers were thrown during the Holy Week procession in Rome, a tradition that then spread to many other Catholic countries. Other towns in Italy also have their own infiorata, but the one in Genzano is the oldest and most famous, dating back to 1778.

The Historical Towns of Castelli Romani

Genzano is one of thirteen historical towns that make up the so-called Castelli Romani (Roman castles), which roughly correspond to the area of Colli Albani (Albanian hills) south-east of Rome. For centuries it has been a favourite spot for well-heeled Romans seeking a more temperate climate, to escape from the often suffocating heat of Rome and also to get away from the city bustle and dense traffic. The towns in the Castelli Romani Regional Park stand out for their medieval and Renaissance buildings and for their excellent wine, the so-called white Frascati. You can taste this wine, accompanied by olives, cheese andporchetta– a roast pork dish with herbs – at the local taverns or fraschette.

Genzano – A Charming Setting

Genzano, like other towns in the Castelli Romani, is set on the external slope of the Lake Nemicrater. Indeed, the volcanic origin of the soil is what endows the grapes used in the wine-making with their excellent quality. Its historic centre has a large number of historical and art vestiges for a town of its comparatively small size, including the Collegiata della Santissima Trinità (Collegiate Church of the Holy Trinity), the Annunziata, the Church of the Cappuccini, and the Sforza Cesarini and Villa degli Antonini palaces. Lake Nemi’s claim to fame is that two of the largest and most luxurious vessels from antiquity were found in the crater – both had belonged to Caligula. For 2,000 years they rested at the bottom of the lake before eventually being salvaged in perfect condition, on account of the mud found caked around them. You will delight in the natural surroundings of the Genzano area, which is ideal for cycling. A bike tour will take you along scenic routes featuring lakes, craters and forests.

If you don’t want to miss this year’s Infiorata di Genzano, prepare your trip to this picturesque Italian town for 13, 14 and 15 June 2015. You will enjoy a spectacular event that draws thousands of visitors. Check out our flights here.

Text by Scanner FM

Images by Fabio | Claudio Vaccaro | supermiagolator | supermiagolator | Malega | Deblu68 | Valerio_D