Madrid

/

 Madrid verkar inte vara det vanligaste resmålet när man ska åka på en längre weekend-tur. I alla fall inte om man ser till det låga antal flygbolag som tar dig från södra Skandinavien till Spaniens huvudstad. Priserna ligger dessutom något högre än t.ex populära Barcelona. Jag kanske heller inte hade valt just Madrid om det inte vore för möjligheten att hälsa på en nära vän. Att hälsa på en vän i ett annat land blir onekligen ett annat sätt att resa på. Man får smaka på hur det känns att bo i staden snarare än att bara besöka den.

Clicka på bilden för galleri: 

Vi vandrade på Madrids vackra gator bland torg och gamla hus, njöt av mars-värmen, solade fötterna på balkongen, drack kaffe, lunchade i en park, hittade oväntad konst på en toalett, åt på vegetariska restauranger, Mysore-yogade i en het shala, lyssnade på jazz på en liten klubb och drack rödvin.

 

Photo Credit: Magie

Photo Credit: Magie

Veggo buffé

Veggo buffé

Toalettkonst

Toalettkonst

Tapas

Tapas

Rödvin och jazz

Rödvin och jazz

 Vi var även på Mantrafestival för att lyssna på psykadelisk folkmusik från Indien.

M10.jpeg

Vi hängde i Lavapies där vi drack öl med mexikanare och spanjorer, dansade till reggaeton och övrig fräsch latinomusik. Natten inkluderade även långfärda promenader som resulterade i vilsenhet, en katedral och lång taxiresa tillbaka.

 

Vackra hörn

Huskonst

Människor från världens alla hörn

Människor från världens alla hörn

Salt Flats

/

 Läs min artikel Bilolyckan i Bolivias saltöken

Bolivian Salt Flats

Beautiful desert

Playing with illusions

Queen's Day in Amsterdam

/

Spring of 2009 felt like a good year to visit Amsterdam and Queen's day. This one night-and-day event is a fusion of street festival and carnival, held all over the country. People are gathered on the streets to enjoy Amsterdam's delicious beer, celebrate the Queen, dance to the various DJs and bands playing, eat traditional street food and maybe try out the carousels. All while dressed in orange. 

What differentiates Amsterdam's street fest is the relaxed atmosphere. Despite the huge crowd (meaning that getting from one street to another could actually take hours), people are friendly, calm and joyous.

Since I was visiting only for a few days, main focus was the festival, catching up with old traveling mates and enjoy a beautiful city. Thus, we stayed at a hostel close to the train station in central Amsterdam. Hostel prices are higher during happenings like Queen's Day when visitors come from all over Europe and despite booking ahead (like 2 months!) we paid around 30-40 euros (each) for a dorm bed.

I'm gonna have to go back, this buzzing capital has a lot to offer in terms of art, culture, history, food and hangouts.  We did get to see some of this in terms of buildings and parks for instance, as is seen in the pictures.

Orange Street Festival Amsterdam Queen's Day

Central Amsterdam's beautiful canals and parks

Vondelpark; situated in central Amsterdam

Hoegaarden with old traveling mates

Enjoying a HUGE strawberry daiquiri while waiting for veggie burgers at Hardrock Café.

What do you love about Amsterdam?

Share your story in the comments below!  

What to do in Hong Kong for 2 days

/

For our trip to Asia, me and Johan decided to buy "loose flights". That is to say, we bought tickets from A to B using cheap airlines. To get to Hong Kong I went with Norwegian Copenhagen - London, met up with Johan and caught a plane London - Hong Kong.

Due to flight changes made by the airline, our time in Hong Kong was shortened to only two days. With that short of a time in a big city you need a good plan and heaps of energy (and great shoes!) if you want to see as much as possible of what the city has to offer. Naturally, I tried to organize some kind of schedule and, naturally, me and Johan had our differences and we didn't get to do everything but it all turned out great in the end. 

I enjoy walking in a big city, it makes you get to know it better. Or at least I believe so. Even with a good map some cities are difficult to understand, but Hong Kong has informative signs everywhere and should you wanna catch the metro that's fairly straight forward too (heaps of people tho). Thus, first thing to do: grab a city map to be able to plan your route together with the traveling guide. 

After a lot of walking and searching for buses: Fika break and more map reading.

We started off with The Peak (view point) to make sure to get several perspectives of the city.  And, yes, what you see is smog.

View Point: The Peak

Hong Kong view

We continued walking to several parks. Here: watching the count down to the Olympics

Watching Kung Fu show in Kowloon Park

The Harbour by day

The Harbour by night. Pretty windy 

Avenue of Stars. The light show 

The light show at the harbor is spectacular when it lights up the buildings, the sky and the water- all accompanied with music. Definitely something I recommend doing!   

We didn't get to see the big Buddha statue- it would've taken too much time. But we saw a great deal of the city's centre, parks and shopping before getting on the plane to The Philippines.   

To sum up what to do in Hong Kong for two days:

  • Get a good map so you can walk around town
  • Visit the city's view point The Peak
  • Visit the big parks, e.g. Kowloon Park
  • See the light show "Avenue of stars" in the harbor

In addition, these things are free to visit! :)

 

Have you been to Hong Kong? What did you do? What do you recommend? Contribute in the comments below :)