By Monia Savioli from ilTurista.info

Berlin: Young, lively, trendy but cheap, organized, linked to an important past which doesn’t forget and doesn’t want to. You can’t define the city of Berlin just listing a limited number of adjectives and characteristics. That would restrict its beauty and what the city can offer to people.

Vueling launched the route Florence-Berlin on March, the 22nd increasing its new offer from Florence with furthers routes to London Heathrow, Copenhagen and Hamburg providing 160.000 new seats in addition to the already available flights to Barcelona, Paris and Madrid. There is an efficient bus shuttle service that connects Florence train station to the airport. From the train station, you can reach the airport in 20 minutes and by an about 90 minutes flight you arrive at the Tegel International Airport of Berlin.

The only clashing point is that the German airport is not connected directly to the city by underground, although the net is constantly increasing. It’s possible to reach the nearest station by taking a bus from the airport. You can ask for more information about the bus within the airport, where people speak English if you don’t know German (bus and taxi drivers often speak only German). If you want, you can also take a taxi since rates are cheaper than the Italian’s ones. The bus that brings you to the city is the 128 and leads to the “Kurt-Shumacher-Platz” underground station and the course lasts about 15 minutes. Once arrived to the underground station, you can use the same ticket to reach Friedfrichstrasse, the core of Berlin and the shopping road par excellence. There, you can take a room at the Melia Hotel, just close to Spree river and to the Metropol Theatre. Friedrichstrasse is a strategic point to chance upon the famous “Unter den Linden” boulevard, going into the core of the city visiting the main Berlin places that you should see in a 2-days-trip.

If you prefer walking, you can also visit the city with your own feet or you just ride the several bikes for rent. There are also buses for scenic tour working up to 6 p.m. that let you get on and off to visit the main important places.

One of these places, is “Charlie”, at the Friedrichstrasse. It originally was a checkpoint between the Mitte and Kreuzber districts. Mitte belonged to the East Berlin, run by Soviets in the past and Kreuzber to the West side of Berlin, run by Americans. The name of the place, Charlie, is pronounced as the third letter of NATO phonetic alphabet after “Alfa” and “Bravo”. Nowadays Charlie checkpoint is a bar where you can taste delicious drinks or drinking beer sitting on beach chairs with you feet on the sand. The headquarter of the old Gestapo is on the Niederkirchnerstrasse where you can find few empty tiled buildings. It’s situated next to a portion of the Berlin’s wall that is ruined and constantly reduced because visitors often steal pieces of wall as souvenir. In that place now there is a permanent photography exhibition called“Topography of terror” about Nazism. So it’s evident how the old and the young Berlin are living together, to bearing in mind a past that no one can’t forget, fixing it through feelings felt due to the almost holy silence you can find in those places as a sign of respect.

These are the same feelings and sensations you can feel within the Holocaust Memoirs, in the Cora-Berliner Strasse, where there are 2.711 anonymous grey stones with an irregular shape that are arranged within a field characterized by several bumps that gives you the feeling of a dark choking and light-living feeling at the same time.

The East Side Gallery, an almost 2 kilometres of the Berlin’s Wall on the Mulenstrasse (ex East Berlin) is now the longest open-air art gallery in the world and show you several visions about the years of the split of Berlin. The murals realized by international artists offer alternative points of view by illustrating characters and symbolisms of that period as the Trabant, the famous old Berlin car, drawn as it would break down the wall.

For the aficionados, it’s also possible to rent a “Trabi” to drive around the city or take one of the odd vehicles situated along the Brandenburg Gate, the symbol of a reunified Germany and the access gate to the Tiergarten. This is a former shooting ground of the royal palace where you can find the Victory Column and the famous zoo.

There are also several nice flea markets along the boulevards where you can buy an endless quantity of stuff during the weekend, from jewelleries to art masterpieces or, for instance, mother-of-pearl-made spoon for enjoy your caviar. Is not all. Berlin is also the city of museums: from the biggest Hebraic museum in the world to the Egyptian museum, the National Art Gallery and several other ones.

Berlin is also the city of the big palaces, churches’ ruins as the Kaiser Wilhelm Gedachtniskirche, whose ruins keep the recollection of the Second World War bombing alive. At least, but not the last, Berlin is the city of the shopping centre as the Come KaDeWe, “Kaufhaus des Westens”: the most famous shopping mall in Germany and the biggest one in Europe with 60,000 cubic meters that are branched in 7 sector floors for products except the last one where you can eat at the self service restaurant. Other way, downstairs you can eat in several buffets as the one managed by one of the most famous international chef, Paul Bocuse. There is also a Lafayette store section. But the real fun, actually, is getting lost among the little shops and the street markets. Berlin offers also a lot of night bars, international top level restaurants, pubs, night clubs and alternative locals assuring fun to every kind of target of people.

Thrill-seeking people can even try bungee jumping from the top of the Hotels in Alexander Platz. In order to finish your trip, you can have a long and relaxing boat ride across the Spree river from where having a wide vision of the German capital to realize that Berlin is not just a touristic destination but a real city with its beautiful places and also its difficult realities as homeless people sleeping in sleeping bags along the streets of this great but cold city.

Por Monia Savioli de ilTurista.info

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Tuscany is a paradise for enthusiasts of cyclotourism as it boasts a good network of roads and paths and has little traffic, inviting cyclists to venture amid landscapes seemingly from yesteryear. The possibilities are endless and there are routes for all difficulty ratings. In this post we cover a route from Siena to Florence in two or three stages – depending on how fit you are – crossing a region where one of the world’s most famous red wines is produced – Chianti. With beginners in mind, we have chosen an easy itinerary stretching for 95 km. While it does include slopes, particularly in the area known as Colline del Chianti, you will find it is well worth the effort, as the route takes you through a stunning countryside, and inquiring travellers will be rewarded with amazing stories and local hosts eager to help and strike up conversation. There are exquisite culinary experiences awaiting you, too.

Jewels of Tuscany

As soon as you land at Florence’s international airport, head for the city’s historic centre. If you choose a morning flight, before going to pick up your bikes at the hire shop, you can walk around the monumental area of what is the cradle of the Renaissance.

Renaissance Tour

A quick but really spectacular walk starts at the Piazza del Duomo, which looks onto the Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore with its huge dome – the work of Brunelleschi – and its beautiful facade faced with Tuscan marble. Next up is the Piazza della Signoria with the stunning Palazzo Vecchio, the Neptune Fountain, a reproduction of Michelangelo’s David and a collection of statues of the Medicis, prominent among them being Perseus with the Head of the Medusa,by Cellini. The last stretch of our stroll involves crossing the emblematic Ponte Vecchio over the river Arno.

Ice-cream, Bicycles and Trains

We recommend you hire your bicycle at Florence by Bike and then head for the Firenze Santa Maria Novella railway station, less than 1 km from the bike shop.

If you fancy a genuinely artisan ice-cream, stop off at I Gelati del Bondi, at Via Nazionale 61R (on the corner of the Via Faenza), as you will pass by it on your way to the station. They sell ice-creams made by the master, Vetulio Bondi. Consider that people travel to Florence for a few hours solely to attend private classes by this artigiano gelatiere.The train ride to Siena takes 90 minutes (timetable at http://www.trenitalia.com). Only the regionali trains allow bikes on board – there’s an area set aside for them at a charge of 3.5 euros per bike.

Once in Siena, your best bet is to head straight for the hotel, park your bike and go out to enjoy the afternoon and evening in a city which is lively and picturesque throughout. Your way to the Piazza del Campo – where they hold the spectacular, hair-raising Palio di Siena horse race – is lined with many charming restaurants. When choosing a menu, remember that you’re going to be pedalling the next day.

The Essence of Chianti

You cycle out of Siena along the SR222 secondary road, also known as the Via Chiantigiana, which starts at Siena’s central train station and crosses the whole region as far as Florence. After an initial climb, you take an early detour along a more solitary road, the SP102. It leads to Corsignano, Vagliagli and Radda in Chianti, the tarred stretches interspersed with sections of typical Tuscan strada bianca, a dazzling, bright, white compacted-earth surface.

Here, you cycle between hills carpeted with vineyards and olive groves, flanked by rows of cypress trees and past various wineries, notably Terra di Seta (1 km before Vagliagli) and Capannelle (on the outskirts of Gaiole in Chianti), where you can join guided tours and tastings of local wines and virgin olive oils.

The village of Radda in Chianti is a good spot for taking a breather and refuelling. From here, you could go for an optional, 17-km detour loop to visit Castello Vertine and Gaiole in Chianti. This small, tranquil village is a centre of pilgrimage for devotees of vintage cycling. The vintage bike festival known as L’Eroica is held every first Sunday in October here, an event which draws over 7,000 cyclists on vintage bikes. If you want to shorten the ride slightly and save yourself the odd climb, from Radda in Chianti head straight for Panzano. There, connoisseurs of quality meat should stop and sit down to a meal at the Officina de la Bistecca – the former Antica Macelleria Cecchini– where you will meet Dario Cecchini, a craft butcher who imbues his creations with passion and know-how. There are several menus – including a vegetarian one – for both lunch and dinner, but the undisputed star dish is Bistecca a la Fiorentina, still cooked and served on the bone. This experience is key to understanding Dario’s pure, contagious love of his trade, meat and land – he descends from eight generations of butchers. He is so enthralled by his craft that he offers guests the chance to be “a butcher for the day”.

Florence In Style

From Panzano, the road leads down to Greve in Chianti, and then continues on to Chiocchio and Strada in Chianti. Here, you leave the SR222 and head for Ferrone and Impruneta along local roads with the aim of entering Florence via its most spectacular, panoramic access – San Miniato Hill.

From Impruneta, the SP70 takes you to Cascine del Riccio where you have to climb a very steep, narrow street up to San Michele a Monteripaldi. Once on the top, you cycle past some stately villas in the direction of Piazzale Michelangelo, at which point the town lies at your feet. This undoubtedly provides the perfect end-of-route picture.

For the finishing touch to your cycling “escapade”, we recommend booking ahead to dine at Essenziale, chef Simone Cipriani’s new restaurant, which wows guests with a minimalist yet friendly and carefree ambience. Here, the traditional Tuscan recipes della nonna have been reworked and reappraised in subtle, delicate and amusing terms. The Conoscersi tasting menu (3 dishes for 35 euros) and La persistenza de la memoria (5 dishes for 55 euros) are a feast of flavours and sensations, as well as a journey into the culinary essence and history of the region. At Essenziale, you will also be taken aback by the lack of any barriers between the kitchen and dining area, while the chef personally serves and describes his creations and reveals his secrets.

Practical Guide

- Route Navigation: you can check out the 95 km itinerary we have just described at this Google Maps link. To plan other routes, the best paper map is Firenze, Siena, Chianti by Kompass.

- Duration: everyone can split up the route at will, depending on accommodations and the number of days available. To enjoy everything the region has to offer, you should ideally devote 3 or 4 days to the trip.

- Choosing Bikes: if you fly with Vueling, you can take your own bike on the plane, but, as the bike tour is only a two-day ride, it may be more convenient to hire one at your destination. At Florence by Bike they renew their fleet every year and have all kinds of bicycles. Touring bikes are the most suitable for the route we have laid out. If you’re worried about slopes, they also have electric bicycles (90 euros for 2 days), which will allow you to negotiate climbs effortlessly.

- Accommodation: available accommodation in Siena and Florence is in overwhelming supply, but be sure to book in advance to secure rooms in the historic centre. En route, your best bet is to look for small B&Bs or go for agritourism.

Text by Sergio Fernández Tolosa & Amelia Herrero Becker

Images by Con un par de ruedas and Giovanni Rasoti

On 8 December 1991, Boris Yeltsin, Leonid Kravchuk and Stanislav Shushkevich signed the so-called Belavezha Accords. Established in 1922 after the February Revolution, the treaty was endorsed by the presidents of the Russian SFSR, the Ukrainian SSR and the Belarusian SSR, thereby marking the dissolution of the Soviet Union. Twenty-five years after the demise of the Communist utopia, the capital of the now extinguished “Red Empire”, of Bunker 42 in the Garden of Fallen Monuments, still hides corners evocative of its former proletarian grandeur.

Bunker 42

Bunker 42 still lies in the heart of Moscow, alongside the Taganskaya metro station, in building 11 at 5 Kotelnicheski Street, 65 metres underground. Once guarded and maintained by a contingent of over 600 soldiers and officials, Bunker 42 was an ultra-high-security shelter for top-level party members in the event of a nuclear war. It now forms part of the State Central Museum of the Armed Forces. Visitors can tour the endless secret tunnels and see for themselves what was then a sophisticated network of communications, and even venture into Stalin’s study.

The White House of Russia

A privileged witness to the end of the Soviet Union, the White House of Russia was the Communists’ answer to their American counterpart. Designed by Dmitry Chechulin and Pavel Shteller, building work got under way in 1965, but the edifice was not completed until 1981. It then became the seat of the legislative power of the Supreme Soviet of the Russian SFSR, effectively the Congress of People’s Deputies of the Russian Federation, until 1991. With his back to its entrance, Boris Yeltsin faced down the Soviet tanks that had rebelled against the then president of the USSR, Mikhail Gorbachev, an act which marked the beginning of the end of the Communist regime.

All-Russia Exhibition Centre

Presided over by a Vostok R-7 8K72 rocket, what is now a convention centre and amusement park was one of Moscow’s main tourist draws during the Communist era. Built in 1939 as an Agricultural Exhibition, it was gradually transformed into a huge park intended to exalt and glorify the economic, scientific and technological achievements of the various republics making up the Soviet Union.

Stolovaya 57

There are a number of restaurants that relive Soviet cuisine 25 years on. Two classics from that period have survived in the iconic GUM galleries – Festivalnioye Café and Stolovaya 57. Then there are hangouts like Detir Ayka (25 Nikitski Boulevard), featuring a Communist menu with such delicacies as stewed fruit, soups and semolina porridge, washed down with shots of vodka or GlavPivTorg. The locale is housed in the former Transport Ministry building which, apart from providing Communist-style cuisine, features a vast library with the complete works of such illustrious figures as Marx, Engels and Lenin.

The Seven Sisters

These high-rises plot one of the most characteristic flourishes on the Moscow skyline –

Moscow State University, Hotel Ukraina, Kotelnicheskaya Embankment Apartments, the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Kudrinskaya Square Building, the Hilton Moscow Leningradskaya Hotel, and the Red Gates Administrative Building. The seven buildings in Russian Baroque and Gothic style would have been eight, had the construction of the originally planned Palace of the Soviets come to fruition. The Seven Sisters were built in the 1940s and 1950s to commemorate the 8th centenary of the founding of Moscow.

Lenin’s Mausoleum

The embalmed body of Vladimir Lenin is kept in Red Square, the site of formidable, solemn Red Army parades. Built on the orders of the Soviet State in 1924 following the death of the father of the Revolution, his tomb was designed by the architect Alexey Shchusev, who was inspired by the Pyramid of Zoser and that of Cyrus the Great in Pasargad. Despite Boris Yeltsin’s attempt at having it closed down, Lenin’s Mausoleum is still open to the public free-of-charge on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Moscow Metro

It provides the best way of moving about the Russian capital on account of its exceptionally low price and high frequency of trains – one every 40 seconds at peak hours. Over and above its efficiency, the Moscow underground is an authentic, highly impressive work of art. Inaugurated in 1935, the first line linked the Sokolniki and Kievskaya stations. For its grandeur and its enduring aesthetic sublimation, it is a veritable palace of the proletariat.

FSB Museum

Officially dubbed the FSB Museum (FSB stands for Federal Security Service), it has nevertheless been known locally as the KGB Museum ever since it opened in 1989. Located in the former seat of the Committee for State Security (KGB) in Lubyanka Square, the exhibition features gadgets associated with espionage that seem to have leaped out of the television series,The Americans,including explosive devices, cameras concealed in beer cans, etc. The FSB Museum transports visitors back to the days of the Cold War and the atmosphere of double agents infiltrated in enemy territory.

Museum of Soviet Arcade Machines

Soviet youths also spent their time playing with gaming machines, although they were of course all Soviet-made and extremely expensive, costing from 2,500 to 4,000 rubles. Espoused by three nostalgics for Communist arcade machines, the Museum of Soviet Arcade Machines brings together such gems from that era as mini-skittles, machines for killing aliens (with a capitalist ideology, I would imagine) and the popular shaibu-shaibu ice-hockey game. A whole journey back in time, before which you need to first change thirty rubles into three of the old Soviet kopeks. The collection keeps growing.

Sculpture Park in Krymsky Val

Colossal statues of the Communist leaders were one of the most characteristic sights in squares and parks in Soviet cities. These massive effigies gradually disappeared from the urban environment with the fall of the USSR in 1991. The endless collection of sculptures eventually found safe haven in the statue park of the Krymsky Val Museum. The catalogue runs into over 700 statues sculpted in stone or bronze, prominent being that of Felix Dzerzhinsky, a monument in honour of the revolutionary of the same name who was the first director of the Cheka. Needless to say, there are several imperial effigies of Lenin and Stalin, oblivious to the passage of time.

Come and discover the surviving vestiges of Communist Moscow – book your Vueling here.

Text by Oriol Rodríguez for Los Viajes de ISABELYLUIS

Images by Kirill Vinokurov, Dennis Jarvis, David Orban, Rob, Jason Eppink, Helena Volkova

Even the experts consider it an ‘antinovel’, there is no doubt that Rayuela influenced many generations since it was released and, because of it, Julio Cortázar became a literary benchmark whose centenary of his birth is celebrated this year. If Maga and this unparalleled adventure in Paris also fascinated you, our route through the French capital will help you remembering the most remarkable moments in Horacio Oliveira’s history.

"¿Will I find Maga? Many times I just had to look out coming by rue de Seine, the arch that takes you to Quai de Conti, and only the olive and ash light floating on the river let me distinguish the forms, its tiny shape by Pont des Arts, sometimes walking from side to side, sometimes stopped at the iron parapet, leaned against the water. And it was so natural to cross the street, ascend the steps on the bridge, get in the tiny waist and get closer to Maga smiling unsurprisingly, convinced like me that a chance encounter was the less casual in our life, and that people who arrange dates is the same that needs ruled paper to write each other or that pushes from the bottom the tooth paste”

Quai de Conti: The novel, like our route, starts at rue de Seine, Quai de Conti and Pont des Arts, places where Horacio y Maga met each other, with a special symbolism for the author considering the centric location of this part of the route that take us along the left side of Seine river. Our protagonist also mentions the library Mazarine, located at the other side of the arch and the most antique library in the country.

Pont des Arts: As a connection between Institut de France and Louvre (previously known as Arts Palace), you can find the centric iron bridge where Oliveira got drunk at the first part of the book. Now full of lockers promising everlasting love, the panoramic views over Cité island and all the bridges is one of the most beautiful pictures you can take of the city.

Louvre Museum: Even Rayuela is full of cultural references, when we are talking about visual arts Louvre museum is the only reference Cortázar gives us about this city on this field. The most visited arts museum in the world appears on our way after taking Pont des Arts. This place is a must to anyone because of its wide collection and masterpieces such as “La Gioconda” by Leonardo da Vinci and a stunning building including, since the 80s, a great glass pyramid that you should visit.

Rue du Jour: The latest partners of Horacio at the city, homeless people, feed themselves thanks to the soup dish that they receive here. By the church Saint Eustache, people in need receives food at this street, located at Les Halles, a gardened area right in the city centre where there are two more places we will pass by.

"Au chien qui fume" restaurant: Located at Rue du Pont Neuf, this is one of the cafés named at chapter 132 and is also a meeting point for Etienne and Horacio on the way to the hospital to visit Morelli. This is a typical French restaurant, with an elegant and traditional decoration and a careful cuisine selection. Following this street we find the next stop…

Pont Neuf: Even it name means new bridge, it’s completely the opposite, and it’s the oldest. Here we say goodbye to Horacio and Maga in this route. Made of arches, the bridge took almost 30 years on the making and during the 18th century it was the centre of crime and commerce in the city. Passing by the bridge we will go back to the left side of the Seine, where we will stay.

Rue Dauphine: Even it’s part of a dispensable chapter, Pola, Horacio’s French lover, lives in this street. The street starts after Pont Neuf, and it was named after France’s dauphine, Henri IV’s son.

Rue de la Huchette: This is another place where Horacio thinks his lover can be at. A must-visit pedestrian street with many famous places like the theatre Huchette and Caveau de la Huchette. We pass through from the boulevard Saint-Michel until we reach Rue du Petit-Pont, before we get to the Notre-Dame cathedral.

Notre Dame: Chance makes the protagonists meet again at this iconic landmark of the city, one of the most beautiful and most visited French gothic cathedrals, which was finished on 1345 and is located at the Cité island. Who hasn’t heard about Notre Dame and its famous hunchback? Either as the Quasimodo by Victor Hugo or by Disney, the gargoyles are part of the collective imaginary

Rue du Sommerard: The street where Horacio Oliveira lives and one of the oldest in the city, which during the Roman age took to the baths at Cluny. Next to the famous Saint-Germain Boulevard, Sommerand is nonetheless more relaxed and perfect to take a relaxed walk.

Rue Valette: This is a magic place for our protagonists, in one of the hotels here they consummate the relationship for the first time and here is also where Horacio took Pola. Rue Valette is at the quarter of Sorbonne University and follows the Rue de Carmes, the meeting point for students.

Rue Monge: One of the places where is believed Maga lived after separation and the death of his son Rocamadour. This is a important street located at the university area on the Paris district nº 5.

Rue Monsieur Le Prince: The incomprehensible chance also takes place at this street, which used to be a road and leads to the Edmond Rostand Square along the Saint-Michel Boulevard. Notice also that Polidor restaurant, where the story of Cortazar’s "62 A Model Kit" takes place, is also here. We pass by this place if we go to Odeon.

Rue l’Odéon: Remember here, with Horacio, parts of his relation with Maga, eating at Carrefour de l’Odeon and riding the bike by Montparnasse. The impressive Odeon theatre gives the name to this street and neighbourhood, full of life by night and day, where we can find all kinds of bars, cafés and restaurants. From here, take Saint-Sulpice Street to arrive to the next stop.

Rue de Tournon: This is the street where we walk back to Madame Trépat house, with Horacio. Even traditionally it was full of old bookstores, many luxury fashion shops moved here on the past few years. It’s one of the most prestigious streets, from the Senate and across Saint-Sulpice street, which lead us to the end of this route. Mario Vargas Llosa lived here too.

Montparnasse cemetery: The last stop in this route is also the location at the last chapter of Rayuela, where Horacio takes a little paper and also where Julio Cortázar was buried. At the hearth of Montparnasse neighbourhood, this was inaugurated on 1824 and is the second in the city, with many remarkable people resting here along with the author, such as Simone de Beauvoir, Samuel Beckett or Jean Paul Sartre.

Image from Henri Marion

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