By Iñaki Makazaga from Piedra de Toque

The most visited figure in Denmark and the main tourist attraction in the city of Copenhagen sits totally oblivious to the world at the end of a pier in the port (Langelinie). The Little Mermaid avoids all eye contact as she looks out to sea, almost with her back turned to her visitors. Perhaps this is because only she knows the true price of her fame (decapitated twice, mutilated three times and thrown out to sea several times) and the real story behind her own history. We decided to get on our bikes in search of answers and found the true face of Copenhagen: a city with a barbaric past that has now become a haven for peace.

We began our journey on the banks of the Sankt Jorgens Canal overlooked by the mansions reflected in its waters as we ventured out among the families, people enjoying sport and ducks picking at the grass. We pedalled along on the bicycles we rented from one of the 110 locations dotted around the city – one of the measures aimed at obtaining the title of ‘capital city with the best environmental quality’ in 2015. Every turn of our wheels left behind yet another tree as we travelled along the green corridor created by the canal. We took in the sights and decided to turn right at the third bridge to eventually arrive at the Botanical Garden and Museum (Botanisk Have) at 128 Gothesgade.

More than 20,000 different species of plant life now thrive in the grounds of these old city fortifications. The walls contain spacious gardens and the moat is full of aquatic and wetland plants, each with its own little information sign stuck in the ground nearby. We parked up the bikes at the entrance and walked in. It was March and there was a hint of change about everything as the snowy season began to loosen its grip. The earth was all churned up, the trees were leafless and the sky was grey. An enormous three-story greenhouse with four glass pavilions appeared in the distance where 1,000 varieties of cactus, coffee plants, pineapples and even palm trees are incubated and studied. We were overcome by temptation and bought two bags of seeds from the shop on the way out: one of Asian bonsais and another of red orchids. Maybe we thought we could take away our own part of the peace that reigns in this park and whose roots still soak up the blood of the people who fought to defend the city from enemy invasion.

We returned to our trail. We left behind the garden and the botanical museum to pedal our way through the areas surrounding Roseborg Slot, the royal palace built by Christian IV in 1606 as a summer residence that now also serves as a large museum. It houses thousands of objects related to the oldest monarchy in Europe and is full of paintings, furniture, weapons and jewels. The traffic light turned from amber to green and so we pedalled on.

The peace of the botanical gardens now changes to the hustle and bustle of central Copenhagen. The cars give way to cyclists between the buildings from which emerge the strong>spires of the Marmorkirken, a church inspired by Saint Paul’s in Rome and which was originally planned to be built using Norwegian marble. They soon realised there was a far simpler way to celebrate the 300-year reign of the family of Frederik V and the Norwegian marble was switched for Danish marble a century later in order to get the place finished. However, no expense was spared on the steps: 260 to reach the bell tower. The views of the city make the exhausting climb well worth it. We took the opportunity to check our map. We felt the call of the thriving city centre, with the pedestrianised Strøget street full of shops and terraces filling the cobbled medieval squares of Kongens Nytorv and Radhuspladsen. We left those for nightfall and continued towards the port where the Little Mermaid sat waiting for our visit.

We dismounted and walked the bikes for a while. We were in Nyhavn, the New Port, which was opened by soldiers between 1671 and 1673 so that ships could unload their goods in the city centre. It became the darkest part of Copenhagen for years, inhabited by sailors and ladies of ill repute. Cheap rooms, dark taverns, tattoo parlours and brothels. Nyhavn has emerged from its murky past and now offers one of the most attractive faces of the capital along the 300-metre stretch of port-front properties with narrow, colourful houses and pavements full of terraces. No matter how cold the weather is, a blanket, a heater and a candle embrace all visitors. Around the edge of the port can be found evidence of that era in the form of wooden ships such as the 19th Century lighthouse ship that has been converted into a restaurant. An anchor that belonged to a Danish frigate also recalls the maritime past and pays tribute to all those who lost their lives during World War II. We took photos of the brightly-coloured houses. Maybe Hans Christian Andersen himself looked out from one of them to look at the sky while penning his tales. The truth is that even the walls whisper their stories in this part of town.

Now back on our bikes we pedalled along the canal towards the sea with the humid wind blowing in our faces. The tide greeted us at the shore, together with a number of new pavilions. We entered the Citadel (Kastellet), another great fortification to protect against attack from the Swedes. The five-pointed star-shaped fort has also witnessed great swathes of history in this country. Used by Nazi troops as a main headquarters during World War II, it now belongs to the Danish army although the gardens and walls are open to the public. In the 19th Century, it was also used as a prison and small sculptures now speak of the horrors of war. A museum depicts the activity and names of the people who led the resistance against the Nazis. And the Little Mermaid, nowhere to be seen.

We kept on pedalling. It started to snow and a hoard of tourists announced we had reached another point of interest. At the end of the pier, resting on a rock and with her back to the tourists we finally met the star of one of the most famous stories written by Hans Christian Andersen. The very one who fell in love with a prince and who now waits for him to return looking out to sea. The snow continued to fall. The grey sky opened as if in slow motion: rain, snow, more rain.

Walt Disney tells us of a happy mermaid surrounded by seafaring friends who struggles to make her dreams come true. The reality proved to be much different. The colour of copper, alone, her nakedness constantly illuminated by camera flashes from the tourists. Yet she doesn’t smile. The thing is, Hans Christian Andersen wrote a different ending. The prince she gave up being a mermaid for ended up marrying another. The Little Mermaid died alone, without breaking the spell that would let her return to the sea without killing the prince. She preferred to wait, convinced that another ending would find her sooner or later. Like the Little Mermaid, Copenhagen has preferred to keep every palace, every fortification that speaks of its Viking and Barbarian past in order to convert them into gardens and museums that grow a new history of peace and tolerance. We joined the Little Mermaid and gazed out at the horizon in silence.

COPENHAGEN BY BIKE:

Time: 2 hours

Route: Sankt Jorgens Canal in Norrebro, Botanical Museum, Roseborg Slot, Marmorkirken, Nyhavn, Kastellet, The Little Mermaid.

Recommendations:

- Visit the museums mentioned: open from 10:00 to 16:00.
- Get a Copenhagen Card.
- Explore the city by bike and have lunch in the New Port after finishing the tour.

By Iñaki Makazaga from Piedra de Toque

Picture by Henrik Jessen

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

By Ana Sánchez brom Gastronomistas

They literally do not stop. They are really aware of what a privilege it is to have long sunny days in summer and their agenda is full of events, all over the city. The best option if you go to Helsinki is to visit the tourist office and ask about the week's programme of activities. In our case, we couldn't miss out on Restaurant Day, the day on which ordinary Fins put their creativity to the test and play at being chefs, setting up street stalls all over the city.

This is one of the most important street food events on the planet, and although it started in Helsinki, where it is now best established, it is also international in scope and any city can decide to take part in it. It is held four times a year and if you are planning a trip to Helsinki in summer, take note, because the next Restaurant Day is 17 August. You'll find food stalls all over the city, but if you really want to go wild on a huge variety of home-made delicacies don't miss the Esplanadi, one of the city's main avenues.

Let yourself be wafted away by aromas on Restaurant Day. Remember that you won't have many such opportunities to enjoy really home-made food while on holiday. So get yourself ready, spoon in hand, to visit stalls to suit all tastes. You'll find not only traditional food, such as a variety of dumplings stuffed with rice, fish or red fruits, and the yummy cinnamon rolls; but also meat grills, and stalls with oriental and Indian food, cakes and cupcakes.

Four  essential routes around the city

It's impossible to do tourism on an empty stomach, so we suggest four routes around Helsinki with obligatory stops to replenish your strength.

Architecture:15 minutes from the centre, you can start on a route through the port to arrive at the Katajanokka peninsula, one of the most charming districts of Helsinki, and lose yourself in its streets, which preserve examples of modernist architecture from the early 20th century. If you are a collector of experiences and still haven't spent time behind bars, how about trying the most authentic accommodation on the peninsula, the Best Western Premier Hotel Katajanokka (Merikasarminkatu, 1), a former prison converted into a hotel in 2007? Skirting the peninsula you'll find Johan&Nyström (Hamringevägen, 1), where you can recharge your batteries with a great variety of ethnic and ecological coffees that they select themselves from around the world.

Opposite the café you'll see one of the city's highlights, a spectacular red brick building with a green dome. This is Uspenski Cathedral, the largest orthodox cathedral in Western Europe and the main legacy of the Russian invasion. Take Aleksanterinkatuy Street to reach Senate Square with its stunning white building of Saint Nicholas Lutheran Cathedral. Inside, you'll notice the great difference between its austere Nordic decoration and the golden, iconoclastic decoration of the Russian orthodox cathedral.

If you haven't had enough and you're still hungry for Finnish culture, top off the route by trying the traditional gastronomy in Savotta (Aleksanterinkatu, 22). This restaurant sticks to the centuries-old flavours of Lapp food, with it ties to the nature of Finland's woods and lakes. Here you can try traditional creamy Finnish fish soups (normally salmon), served with the country's typical black bread. Another star dish is the reindeer, served with vegetables and cranberry sauce. If you're curious and you don't have any qualms, in Savotta you can try bear meat. We went for fish, served in a variety of Finnish delicacies: smoked pike, rainbow trout roe mousse, rye bread filled with herring, and rye pie filled with potato and cranberry.

Alternative: I don't not know what you think of up and coming alternative neighbourhoods, but we love them. Helsinki's B-side is called Kallio, a workers' district that is rising fast thanks to students, full of boutiques, bars, record and second hand shops and rehearsal rooms. Don't be surprised if you go into a bar to find it full of Finns, beer in hand and dressed in black leather jackets. You haven't been beamed back to a bikers' bar on Route 66, it's just that the Finns are very into metal. They're probably watching a game of ice hockey.

We recommend you to stop at GalleriaKeidas (Fleminginkatu, 7), where, as well as serving great organic coffee, they display work by local artists. For lunch, don't miss the fashionable restaurant, Sandro (KolmasLinja, 17), which you'll love not only for its decoration but also for its sophisticated Moroccan food.

But if you really want to find a unique place that will satisfy the most alternative of palates, you'll have to go Teurastamo. Outside the Kallio district, to the north, on Työpajankatu Street, the old Teurastamo slaughterhouse has been fully refurbished as a space for gastronomy. Inside the old slaughterhouse there are a variety of activities, including the cooking and cocktail school, Flavour Studio, an urban agriculture garden in the courtyard and a barbecue free for all to use. At the restaurant, B-Smokery, decorated with old machinery from the slaughterhouse, you can eat the best grilled meat, ribs and hamburgers. And if you're still hungry, try a dessert in Jädelino, specialising in Italian gelato ice cream for all tastes (including varieties with soya milk, unsweetened and sweetened with stevia). The ones we asked for were with currants and coconut.

Cosmopolitan: We all know the reputation of Swedish design, but Nordic design doesn't begin and end on the Expedit bookshelf. In case you didn't know, Helsinki was chosen as World Design Capital in 2012 and is responsible for great interior design icons such as the curved iittala vase (designed by Alvar Aalto) and the puppy and ball chair by EeroAarino. If you like to pick up special souvenirs on your trips, we suggest you take a stroll in the DesignDistrict, an area close to the centre where most of the decoration, jewellery and Finnish fashion shops are concentrated. Our favourite is the DesignForum Shop (Erottajankatu, 7), where, in addition to finding real objects of desire, you can enjoy coffee and a wide selection of cakes in the café.

To put the finishing touch on an afternoon of shopping, nothing better than to relax watching the sunset from the place with the best views of the city: the Ateljee Bar (Yrjönkatu, 26) in Hotel Torni. From its cocktail selection, our favourite is the AAlto, a tribute to the Finland's greatest architect, made from cranberry vodka, Cointreau, soda and lemon juice with cranberry.

Sunday tripper: When the good weather starts, Finns love to spend their time outdoors and Helsinki is fortunate to have first-rate sea transport connecting it to the main nearby islands. So don't miss out: take a boat. We suggest a visit to the island-fortress of Suomenlinna. Boats leave every half hour from the port and you will enjoy one of the most incredible views of the city on the way over. The island, a former Swedish fortress that preserves its unique architecture, is today one of the city's main leisure spots and a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

There are restaurants on the island, but as we are good Sunday trippers we know you'll love to take a picnic, and we suggest you ask them to make it for you at Sunn (Aleksanterinkatu, 26). Ours consisted of several dishes: seared salmon, broccoli and potato salad, lamb's lettuce and buffalo mozzarella, chicken pie and a selection of fruit and pastries.

So you feel like visiting Helsinki, do you? Book your flights here!

By Mariana Calleja from TravelThirst

Florence made us happy. Yes. Florence made us go creative, free and overwhelmed about everything in life.

By Marco Fiocchi – RondoneR (Travelblog.it and Vistamondo.com)

When Francesco, my boss, called me, I was driving in a hot, chaotic, hectic late morning in the center of Rome.

The proposal to join the blog tour challenge of Vueling, flying on one of the Baleares islands in search of unexplored places, strikes me as a lightning. I am thrilled: Vueling Loves Islands is a beautiful challenge. And I am proud of being chosen to represent travelblog.it for Blogo.

Lovely Elisa Casagrande informs me that my island shall be Menorca. She prepares everything. Flight and hotel. It ‘s great. The island I wanted more. The only one I’ve never seen and I longed to visit. I’ll have plenty of freedom. I’ll be alone. A dream comes true.

I landed in Menorca on Saturday night. The airport is located in the south, also very close to my hotel, which is in S’Algar, just above the most popular beaches and tourist interests.

I immediately decided to rent a car. Menorca is not small, but not even huge So if I wanted to see enough I should own a transport. A motorcycle was really good but I had different equipment. As for the bike I needed more time, and more lungs …

Sunday morning I ventured at once on the south side. As I mentioned, the beaches in this part are very beautiful, but also quite popular. And the tourist building has not always respected the natural setting of the place.

In my tour’s beginning thanks to the dawn, I could enjoy almost single Playa de Punta Prima (where I greeted the sun rising from the sea), Cala de Binibeca and Cala Biniancolla. The Poblat de Pescadors (Binibeca Vell) is particular for the style of the white village. A little artificial, but with a nice mini port.

Going on I met Cala d’Es Canutells, Cales Coves and the beautiful Cala’n Porter, probably the most fascinating bay of the coast. The colour of the water from the mirador, is incredible. It looks as if it’s fake. I do not have time to visit the great cave (Cova d’en Xoroi) that all I say unique.

I move again. Need to return inland to reach other beaches, so I have time to do a hike in one of the many prehistoric sites of the island. Torre d’en Galmés. Such as Sardinia (with Nuraghi) indeed, Menorca preserves several megalithic structures. Talayotic period, which derives from talayot​​, stone structures, which together with the taula and navetas make a great archaeological heritage.Only Thinking here lived our prehistoric ancestors rendered the earth a little ‘more mother. It ‘s strange. It is fascinating.

But it is time to return to the beaches, now I’m a beach blogger. I go down to San Bou, the longest coastline of the island. A spectacular stretch of white sand of 3 km, ruined by a horrible hotel in the east.

The water is turquoise and clear. Crystalline. Almost beside San Bou there is Sant Tomas, with a series of bays, one more beautiful than the other. Vegetation that reaches the coast, red rocks, white beaches, blue water. I can’t resist and give in to the first swim. Divine.

I went down on the camin de ronda which is starting from the first beach and runs along the coast. So I realize now that I’m surrounded by nudists. Actually everywhere on the island. Of all ages. Along with normal people wearing bath suits, many families and a host of children. No one stamps his feet, or be offended. If heaven exists, this placev really looks like.

After having dried, against my will, against the Spanish siren song singing to me to put up a tent inviting me to stay and live here, I left and reached my coche (now I understand why they call it here, the car, because when you let it under the sun, then it “cooks” …).

I have to discover even more places “unexplored”, I was not even Indiana Jones, but this is a race, definitely my rival bloggers have done the same. So arriving at Cala Santa Galdana. Pleasant turquoise baia raped by big hotels and factories.

Here I decide the best thing is to take a boat, one of the many tours who lets you spy on beaches and coves unreachable in a few hours, unless you are a Rambo hounded by vietkong. I go for a ride of three hours. The company is called “Amigo’s”. A “Glass Bottom Boat” who has only a small glass bottom next to the engine, so you can watch only the splash. Cost 15 euros. I can make it.

Very good choice. I can admire from the sea beautiful places, such as Fustam Cala, Cala Escorsxada, the natural arch with the legend of the pirate hidden ship, Cala Mitjana, the beautiful Cala’n Turqueta and the famous Cala Macarella and Maccarelleta, these ones too besieged by boats and yachts. Are they trendy for nudists? But in a boat aren’t you runningaround always naked?

We can swim round the lovely Cala Trebaluger, complete with water slide that shoots you do not know where. When we return the crew offer us an ignoble gin lemon into a lemonade bottle with a funny straw. I understand it’s a tradition, but is seasickness.

May be in the evening I will find out the cause for this tradition, arriving in Ciutadella, Menorca’s second city, not only geographically opposed to Maò, which is the capital, and I will visit the next day.

On 24 June, in fact, is St. John. And here’s a holiday in the country, for the patron saint San Juan de Ciutadella. I immediately understood it because I sensed many caballeros on horseback, all dressed up, including horses.

Rivers of that Anglo-Saxon drink mixed with the local lemon, rain over the picturesque village with the elegant buildings that becomes a sort of big arena for the passage of horses. I’m too tired to attend the various shows, I just go against the crowd, and then I sit down at the restaurant. The most famous one: S’Amarador. I want to taste the dish: caldereta de llagosta.

A soup of lobster stew with bread to eat. I’m sorry for the poor animal that comes alive proudly displayed. But the flavour is exceptional. In the night I run away from the port now besieged by people from the passage of the knights. Above me even a shooting star, but a quilted starry sky. One sees clearly the Milky Way. I almost stop here, I get lost in silence and peace.

The morning after is harder to get up early. A new day in Menorca. The hunt continues. This time I promise to search really the most unexplored places. So after scouring the southern side of the island, probably the most touristic, I headed to north. Crossing diagonally Menorca I notice that the vegetation changes going north. The island is still very green, but here above all. And it’s funny to see white farmhouses, amid bales of hay, grazing cows and lush palm trees.

In a short time I’m at Fornells, the village of the central north coast, in which gulf sailing and mini racing colouring the sea. The village is nice and peaceful, suitable for tourists in search of quiteness. I find a wi-fi hot spot (it’s not so easy in whole island) and I send some pictures around for # MyVuelingCity or to Facebook for Travelblog.it. But it’s already time to leave. Towards Cap de Cavalleria. The northern most point of Menorca.

While ascending, the coast becomes barren, rocky. Red sands and green fields which look like mountain. The sea is always blue. I wish to be Gauguin to paint these horizons. I try with my camera. But I’m not so good…

When I’m close to the lighthouse of Es Cobròmbol, I see on my left a small creek. I left the road and go down a road of orange stones. I do very well. There is a small bay looks like a natural pool. Three beaches in the midst of dark rocks. The smallest one is finally my very private corner of paradise. I can not help it, I’m totally bare. Nudist to the goal. So do I. Now I understand why Menorca iis devoid of any social superstructure.

The only poor witnesses of this naturist epiphany are very nice locals. There are many goats with me! Free and not in difficulty on the sharp rocks. They look tolerant even though I think I’m Colombo kissing the shoreline. What a great place, I want to stay here..

Instead, the duty (is there one more pleasant?) calls me. I reach the lighthouse. Watch Fornells from the promontory. There is a strong wind. On the way back I stop, however, in the most famous beach of the area. Platja de Cavalleria (notice I always use the Catalan language, here it’s like the Holy Bible). A road descends to a fiery red terrace overlooking this tropical half moon. Amazing. But there is “too many” people for me, now I’m used to the wilderness..

On the right of the playa there is a cala even more beautiful. Cala Torta. It seems the Reef. From above I have the feeling of being in Hawaii, but without 24 hours’ jet lag on my shoulders.

I place myself in the car, I still have 3,4 hours before going to catch my return flight that leaves in the evening by Maò to Barcelona. So I decide to point north east. I’m sorry for what I cannot see to my left, the islanders advised me about Cala del Pilar and Cala Algairen, before reaching the famous Cala Morell. But I would never have time to walk so much. Too bad. I’ve lost too much wooing the goats…

Going down clockwise from the south, there are still points delicious, as Cova des Vell Mari or Arsenal Son Saura. But I go to another lighthouse, like in a trip with Virginia Woolf. I am so arrived to Fevarritx Cap. Unusual and moon scenarios. Dark rocks, flat, on a spit of rock bursting from the sea. Cala Presili is the most beautiful, but the whole area is very wild and picturesque.

Now unfortunately my tour ended. There’s only Maò to visit in a hurry after an iced cervesa. Pretty, clean but honestly Ciutadella, despite that funny chaos, it seemed best.

I can return the car. 40 euros for day is not the greatest savings. But if you stay for a week is more convenient. Embarked me on the fly. Vueling wants to surprise me, always on time, even ahead of time. In the same place. The great window 4A. Even during the fly Barcelona to Rome, I admit it without marketing blackmailing. Check those flights if you don’t believe me.

What can I say? It was an amazing experience. I found an island I fell madly in love with, and where I shall return soon. Vueling Thanks! Thanks MyVuelingCity!

By Marco Fiocchi – RondoneR (Travelblog.it and Vistamondo.com)

A place well worth discovering! Check out our flights here.