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[jbinbcn]

Mallorca caves

19-20.07.2019

As you know from Palma post, I visited Mallorca last summer (2019). It was short, only the weekend but very intensive and of course with some adventures. In this post I'd like to write about the caves we saw those days because as you could read, Palma - nothing interesting to be there more than 1 day, buuut Mallorca is known for the mountains and the beaches. Because of caravan we couldn't go to the mountain side (west part) so we decided to move a little bit to the south and to the east. 

Our first goal was - Cala del Moro

We left the caravan in the public parking (there were already so many cars!) and then we had to walk more or less 20 min, first on the street (there were signs) and later there was a wild route.

In Mallorca there are strange houses... 

The view was already amazing!

Look at the water! 

And here we are!

The cave is on the right. 

To go down coast me a lot but wow wow wow. WORTH! The worst was to cross with the people from the other direction... -.- 

And then...paradise!

To touch the water you have to survive. There is a steep descent and with sandals it’s quite difficult (recommendation: have some good shoes for walking, and then on the beach change to the water shoes - because of the rocks). 

And the beach wasn’t the true beach, it was just a hole between two hills, no sand, only sharp rocks, so not for sunbathing. And the place was full of people...omg, hate that crowd. 

How clear is the water....wooooow

I swam to the cave - a little bit, I respect my life. I swam there and there and took some photos but then... what can I do? Booooorriiiing. Especially that you can’t lay down to do siesta because there is no space and if there is, it’s not comfortable. So I decided to climb and check the rest of this place. 

It was a perfect idea! 😍

My blog my photos, sorry hehe xD

100% introvert house. 

And then I decided to walk more and I found this!

Wooow another house and those cute stairs to the sea…. 😍

I was in love!

And of course another cave. And less people! 

Raffa, look, it's not a yacht… buuuut ;)

Of course I had prepared my nails for this trip!

I went down, again I swam a little bit and then I climbed to see the other side. And I was admiring people jumping to the water from those rocks. #FearLevelHard

And then was time to come back. The plan was to go to the city, eat dinner and then find a perfect place to park to wake up with a beautiful sunrise. 

We went to Porto Cristo.

When people were taking shower, i didn't want to wait for my turn doing nothing so I went to see the city during the last hour of the sun. 

Souvenir from Mallorca? Choose the best one!

I think it could be a nice idea to have some small trip to see the island from the other side, all the coast - woow! Next time!

This is my retirement life. 

It looks red, but wasn’t painful, #morenita ;) 

There was some small festival, music, people dancing, etc. In one moment they said that they are dancing POLKA but wtf… Unfortunately I didn't have anyone (from Moszczenica) to show them how to dance true polka…

Tumblr hates my gifs sometimes so here you have the links:

https://gfycat.com/inbornshinyleafhopper

and mallorquín dance: 

https://gfycat.com/inbornshinyleafhopper

Then we went to eat. Mallorca is quite expensive but you can also survive with some “pizza”. 

Or be more fancy at least one night!

More or less the prices:

And then romantic walk with Fede and the ice cream. 

Finally I could see the stars in Spain!!!!! ❤

Then we took a car to go to one perfect sunrise spot -  Torre del Serral dels Falcons. The parking is free and quite big, there are also some tables and benches so perfect for barbecue. 

Wine, stars, moon on the coast... couldn’t be better! 

And this view from the window: 

IN LOOOOVE! Take me there again please! 

Maybe I’ve told you already but! Perfect moment of the sunrise is before the sunrise! 

So have it in mind to wake up 20 min before to enjoy those colors. 

Imagine to live here during the quarantine... please yes!

Then we had a loooong photo session ;) 

When you need 5 min to stop laughing. 

I was so tan...omg I miss it! 

And then the breakfast with those views! And let's go to discover more caves! 

We decided to go to Cala Varques. The problem was to arrive there. Recommendation, follow the street signs, Google sometimes doesn't have the information if the road is open for everyone. It's better to walk 15 min more than get a fine or be stuck in nowhere. And also there are people on the motorbikes showing the way to their parking xd paid one but wasn't that expensive. 

So yes, we had to walk like 20min on the road, but not a problem. Later was through the forest but no worries, there were many people walking with us. 

The place was a little bit less amazing but still woooow.

And again, swimming! That day the waves were so high and strong! Not for bambini hahaha but we enjoyed a lot, papallonas! But yeah, would be easier with special shoes because of the rocks. The sun was quite strong so we went to the forest to chill in the shadow and there we found many groups of travelers (tents, backpacks, wild life). I needed some siesta, so chilling omg. 

Well... my hair got crazy xD

Then we went to visit the coast, first to the right. At the end there were ruins of some house but the most incredible thing - the steps down to the sea… Woow! #respect 

And again photoshooting ;) 

Then we decided to find more caves! This time Fede wanted to go with me. She trusted me #hehe. 

And here we have THE BEST ADVENTURE. 

First we found reached the cave which we saw from the beach. There were only few people, mostly to take a photo and that's all, we also did that #ofCourse. 

But we were also observing people climbing on the other side. One of them was a girl in flip-flops (góralu czy Ci nie żal patrzeć na turystki w sandałkach?). And she did it without any problems so we were more convinced to do it as well. We asked also guys who came from there and they said that it's ok. So I just checked on the map if there is some other way, because I could climb but I didn't want to go back the same way #FearOfHeights. And there was! OK, decided, we go there! 

OMG. 

My whole life passed in front of my eyes. Wtf how this girl in flip-flops could have done it without problems. It was climbing 100%. #neverAgain

I was sure I would not come back the same way. 

And then we were on the top! So beautiful view! 

We started following some couples with a hope that they knew the way. But they was walking so fast in this dry grass and suddenly they disappeared. Great. There was some path in this stupid painful grass but sometimes was disappearing. Then we reached the end of the coast and as a map was saying, we should reach the other coast and then there should be a road. 

Ok. We went down, was quite easy, then up, more difficult but now like first time and then… No path xD Great. So we just moved along, more or less, the problem was high dry grass.

On the other side we realized that 30 min before we were standing on the cave. #fuckMyLife #stillScared

Suddenly in this grass, on small bush I saw a skull of some goat. I was thinking if I should say it to Fede (she was already so scared) but my mouth was faster xD and when I said it I saw that it's full body, I mean, full skeleton. Poor goat probably stuck in this bush and couldn't move…. We run away. And Fede started thinking about helicopters which would come to save us. She was terrified, I tried to keep calmness. She didn't want to talk to me… moments of silence. 

And then we found the road! The strange thing was that on the right side was a big closed gate… But, whatever, we had to go to the left so… Then we were walking and walking between 2 fences. On the right potatoes and goats, on the left looked like military area because of the spines. And then we found an info that it's private CAZA. I thought that it's in mallorquín - casa (house), but Fede had her theory. Later I checked on the internet - hunting place XDDD

And then... our road was blocked. Blocked by 3 m height gate. Impossible to jump. We are bambini! Come back? fuck no. So what now?  Think JB, think. Because od the fear we didn’t notice that before on the fence on the left was a hole. Let’s try. And then we walked on some path and at the end there was a wall like 1,5 m and a plastic garden chair! We are safe! We could use the chair to jump <3 

Fun fact: I said to Fede “put the chair on the other side of the wall because on this one we have a rock”. She did it, but the chair felt down xDD #goodJob Fortunately there was some man walking so we asked him to put the chair back, hahahaha imagine xD He did it <3 We jumped. and then we were on the right road to the caravan. 

INFO: later we read that this cave is private but people had made a whole and nobody cares. 

To help you imagine the adventure I’ve made a video, enjoy! (there are English subtitles ;) )

So yes. that’s all! We came back to Palma to spend the evening and night there (because of the flight at 5 am).

Soon I’ll put here the recommendations from mallorquín people about other caves and beaches! 

[jbinbcn]

Palma de Mallorca

18 & 21.07.2019

I’ve visited a little bit of Mallorca but here I’ll write only about the capital - Palma.

Well, the airport in Palma - I think the biggest in my life (ok, maybe Madrid) but I was so surprised. I didn’t expect that. So if you plan to fly to Palma have in mind that you need some time to get from place A to place B. And by night only taxi - it’s quite organized but at the same time expensive ~30euro to the center.

About the port - from Valencia for sure there are cruises and it’s during the night, around 7h, like Ibiza. And it’s not cheaper (depends), but if you have your moto it’s better option. Mallorca is perfect for a moto adventure.

I can not recommend any hostel because we slept in - CAMPER VAN! (we found it on airbnb, it’s perfect when you are a group of 4 and want to see more than Palma)

And to be honest wasn’t hard to park up. Outside of the city (to sleep better) - https://goo.gl/maps/uENTXNQai55qaRhE8 It was a huge parking with always free place.

And in the city we parked up on the Carrer Jaon Maragall.

And inside? It was cool! I was afraid that will be too hot during the day, and too cold during the night - nope! Was really nice, the bed quite comfortable (we had 2 double beds), the shower is bigger than those in some flats, just the warm water finished or something but it was last day so no drama. And the worst thing - toilet. I MEAN THE CLEANING. omg it was super disgusting to take it out xD From that shock I cleaned my hands in the sun cream by accident xD Not recommended...

(sorry, I’m speaking in polish, but maybe maybe you will get it xD)

So what to see in Palma de Mallorca? Well... not a lot 🙈

We spent few hours in total. Like this first day maybe 3-4h and then last night but more to drink and have fun.

But I recommend to enter Tourist Info and take a map with the spots. But seriously it’s 3-4h “con calma”.

The center is cute, the streets are very narrow and old.

Aaaaa and I would forget. Mallorca is German-English island.... Like everywhere you see and hear English/German...

The most important thing to see is Cathedral. It’s huuuuuge. They built it almost 400 years! Only 6.600 m2.... The aisle has 44m and it’s the second the highest in the world (first Beauvais in France). The most impressing thing are stained glasses - if you like those things - check in Google because there is something special about them. The entrance is 4 euro and the queue was like 2h standing - no gracias.

If you wanna take part in a mass. But better to check the hours online because it changes for sure.

So the visiting is focused to make a circle around the Cathedral xD And then you see everything.

But ok, there were more points to see. And you can be as well a lazy tourist.

Palma is very green city. And full of palms so kind of paradise for polish people ;) 

 very green as I said xD

Look at the ship! It was huuuge! And soooo close! The ships will always impress me.

OK, so that’s all what I saw there during the day. Then we went to see the best part of the island - caves! (There will be second post about it)

And then we came back here for the last night so a little bit about night life in Palma.

Sunday, July, night - so boring xD But I think we were just unlucky or lost in the wrong part of the city. First we tried very traditional food - kebab xD And then we went to look for the partyyyyyy. But we didn’t find it.

Generally - Santa Catalina quarter - bars, clubs, night life. We did a pub crawling, like walking and entering the bars which looked nice. The thing was - everything was full of “old” German and British tourists. WHERE ARE THE YOUNG ONES?!?! We didn’t find them... But then we found some salsa club and there we stayed till our brain and eyes had enough XD I mean, watching drunk +50 British women trying to repeat the movements of Latin young girls - like twerking etc - well... too much.

But the city is beautiful during the night. The lights, water and palms <3

So that’s all about Palma de Mallorca. There will be more about the caves!

[jbinbcn]

Venecia Pequeña - Port Sa Platja

Yes, we are in Spain, in Valencia.

It’s colorful place, port next to Valencia - on the north. You can go there by foot, from the port in Valencia it’s like 2h of chilling walking on the beach - yeah some of you lazy asses will say that it’s too much, but please, the walk it’s relaxing with a beautiful view.

How you know that you arrived? You can’t pass the the “entrance” to the port.

Na ryby by się szło !

widzę buzię w tym tęczu

So the thing is to go right and walk, to pass to the other side you have to pass all the canals. It’s like a hand and you walk between the fingers xD

But it’s cool!

The place seems to be empty. No people, silence. But there are restaurants so you can eat, drink. Probably the houses mostly are “holidays houses” so July/August may be more crowded.

So you can end up at the beach finally. In April was empty - perfect! In June I was there with my mother and brother and we ended up at the beach before and there were more people but I prefer it still than in Valencia - too big, too crowded, dirty water.

You can go there by bus number 112 -> link

And come back as well ;p But check the last one because you can be surprised ;p 

And you can go/come back by taxi/cabify, we paid: 11,32€

But still I prefer to walk, you can take valenbici till the last stop in Patacona and then it’s like less than 40min of walking - slow beach walk, with your feet in the water - perfect :3

So If you have one day more in Valencia (or even half) - I recommend!

[jbinbcn]

San Juan in Valencia

23/24.06.2019

But it’s every year the same date so don’t be confused xD

San Juan - Noc Kupały - Noc Świętojańska - in Poland we also celebrate it. You can read about it here -> link. But this festival is known almost everywhere.

In Valencia all the people meet on the beaches to make campfires. It’s like a big reunion with some “rituals”. And there are also verbenas (open-air music, dancing, etc) like it’s during Las Fallas - but just 1 night.

24th June is a day off so you can party really hard :D

And of course my street had to do it louder. They started one week before. All Saturday the street was closed, bbq, siesta, fiesta, loud music and during the night louder music. It was like that in many streets in Cabanyal… ehhh Nobody could explain me why one week earlier.

What was really nice - the government was giving wooden, like there were spots on the beach where you could take some wooden to make a fire - nice! And also later there were people walking and giving bags for the trash.

We made a quite big group!

So it’s a magic night. And the rituals are:

jump 7 waves at 00:00 - to eliminate bad energy, the sea has some special power at 00:00, so you should be healthy the whole year. For women - to increase their fertility xDDD

jump 7 times the fire - protection during the year

at midnight go to the fields/forest and collect some herbs to put them next to your window - it’s like benediction of San Juan (he he kwiat paproci powiadasz? XD)

and much more but too much effort to do them XD

like we wrote 1 wish on the piece of paper and we threw it to the fire - but it was a lazy version of some complicated ritual - whatever xD

But we jumped. I didn’t jump the fire - I’m too short for that. But the waves at midnight - it was super super cool :D I Surprisingly I wasn’t sick and I came back to the flat around 9 still in my wet bikini xD

The history? There are many speculations, like in Poland. But for sure it’s a very old “festival” and it’s between pagan and religious thing.

Around 2:00 am our fire exploded!!! Suddenly a lot of water was going out from the ground. We destroyed some pipe xDD So the fire was gone ;( and water was still overflowing. The family next to us left so we took their spot with their fire.

Around 3:00 the group were small and we went to sleep xD

Around 4:00 the police came - I was impressed - because it was like a show xD But don’t worry, it was not because we were doing bad things (he he) but it’s always like that. People have to leave the beach at 4:00 am and then there is big cleaning and extinguishing fire. But our plan was till the sunrise (hasta amaneeeceeer). So we went to Fede’s plaza, we waited there for ~1h and then we came back to the beach - was almost clean and ready for a new day. 

And the sunrise - amazing !!!!

A was a little bit crazy that night - you know - I had my floooow. I went to the water because was sooo warm and I looked at my legs - and I started laughing so hard, 5min later I could speak again - “guys I have a dick” xDD One girl was collecting signatures on the flag (so erasmus thing) and I asked her if I can draw a dick because nobody had done it - she said yes of course. So I did but as well on my leg. Almost the whole night I was in my bikini only - pfff wasn’t hot but was too dark to notice it xD

I really like that! We were quite big group with our own campfire. We had some food to do bbq but hmm to be honest I missed the “eating time” I don’t know how and when they ate without me. But jumping at midnight was so funny xD

Recommended!

[jbinbcn]

Las Hogueras de San Juan in Alicante

22.06.2019

If you follow my posts you should know already about Las Fallas in Valencia -> link. 

So Las Hogueras it’s like almost the same but in Alicante and in June. I’ve been in Alicante already so here is the info -> link.

I went second time, just for like 15h to enjoy one night of Las Hogueras.

Alicante has one week in June to party hard. It finishes on San Juan (Noc Kupały bejbe). It is like Las Fallas in Valencia, they build the monuments, then last night they burn it. There is a lot of music on the streets, the city is not sleeping at all. I feel sorry for people there that time xD It’s really a copy so I won’t write here about the tradition. Ofrenda, Mascleta, Crema - find it in Las Fallas post.

The trip was organized. We took a bus in the morning, again we went to the pink lake - ehh it’s not worth it to be honest but ok.

Then we could enjoy Alicante. We were that lazy that we just walked around to see the monuments and the rest of the day on the beach XD

It will be more - stories than traditions ;D

But first some photos of the monuments:

This is the main one, on Plaza Ayuntamiento. All monuments there had the explanation and this year was a little bit year of feminism.

“It’s not a game, it’s a team work”

<333

That one was amazing!

To be honest I don’t understand why Alicante is famous, what has special etc. For me it’s a little bit boring, the castle - ok - but better one is in Peñiscola and to be honest - after visiting so many castles - all of them are similar here in Spain xD

And if you think about summer in Alicante - please no. The beach? Run away. It’s soooooo crowded!!! Like lol. Sardinas. OK, you can find a spot on the sand but your personal area will be way small, if any. 

Aa and Alicante is full of italianos, everywhere. Like maybe we are in Italy? 

Ok so we found some 1m², the spot was good to have a “nice view” (#iykwim) ;) Then some group of italians sat quite close to us, the evening was coming, people were leaving the beach (for party!!!) so finally we “had” some space around. “Had” because this group was still next to us and we looked like we are sitting all together. At one point their friend came, he did 2 kisses to everyone and he came as well to us xDDD Muah Muah que tal - bien bien XD

Raffa wore new shoes so of course she needed a lot of dressing (Pavarotti hai cerotti?). Omg, Raffa, some educational photo for you: 

Never get hurt next to Raffa or at least don’t let her to take care of your wound xD

We didn’t have any alco with us because all day in the sun - let’s just buy something cold. We ended up in some random shop without many options of alco and finally what? We bought some flavour vodka - fucking warm. Omg. It was warmer than you can imagine. But alco is alco, we bought we drink.

We lost totally the group but on whatsapp we saw that they have bottelón on the beach. So we went there but the beach was “closed”, only people without alco could go there so nope. We sat on the bench and we started drinking our hot cocktail. To make it funnier and faster I had downloaded some drinking games. 30 min and we were ready :D

And we found the group - or they found us. The “responsible guy” was ….. yyy… a little bit too drunk. Imagine: Brazilian guy, with some strange “big boobs” with too small top of some girl, walking and saying some shits, ehh xD

The worst was to find a toilet (toitosie na juwenaliach to naprawdę luksus), it’s like they have one toi toi for one falla (group who has own stage, food, party, like one street) and mostly it’s in the “private” zone so it means that only people who are in that falla can use it… so only some bars if they are overcrowded - because nobody notices that you are not a customer. So in Alicante I recommend 100 montaditos xD But there is only 1 so we walked a lot… just look xD

Main part of Alicante I know by heart already xD 

At 2 we had MP to come back - a little bit too early but on the other hand I could sleep a little bit more #iamold

So we were a little bit exhausted. When we sat I got the feeling that Raffa is “cold” xD I mean, like Finns in the bus - don’t sit next to me, don’t touch, don’t move. So I felt so lonely and my seat was so uncomfortable, I did the snake position - to be honest no idea how - I didn’t know that I’m that willowy (gibka/giętka) - like no bones. And I thought that I’m not able to spend more than 10min in that position - I woke up in Valencia. My neck was like a stone, I couldn’t move it, I took valenbisi and I did some stretching on my way. Don’t do it at home xD 

So here we are. It was funny night. Parties like that I like :D But the winner is still - Zaragoza fiesta del Pilar in 2015 (the old good times, Erasmus in Barcelona).

Sorry Valencianos, but monuments in Alicante - they are better, more beautiful, more colorful, more detailed - and the sense was more clear. But still is so sad that everything is burnt after 1 week… 

[jbinbcn]

Morella

09.06.2019

It was not on my list to see but when my mum and brother visited me (miracles happen!!!!) they had 1 week to visit Valencia - is too much, I mean, Valencia is like 3-4 days included min. one day on the beach. So we decided to go during the weekend to another place. The easiest way is to go with one of the companies, because you just pay for the ticket and that’s all, you can enjoy your holidays without thinking. That weekend there weren’t many options. We didn’t want to go to the mountains, we wanted something on the coast. The only option was Morella + Peñíscola. 2 cities at once. I’d visited Peñíscola already but it’s really beautiful there so why not second time. But about Peñíscola you can read here -> link so this post is only about Morella. 

Let’s start with the map, it’s like 2,5h from Valencia.

I slept almost the whole way. My mum was enjoying new for her landscape of Spain. It’s really different from Polish one, more empty, oranges, olives, different tones of green, different ground and mountains - rocks aaaand many castles (in Poland as well we have a lot of them but they are different). 

Morella is a small village on the hill and of course with the castle on the top. It’s like a hamlet around the castle.

There are only a little bit less than 3000 citizens (still more than Moszczenica ;p). The city is completely enclosed by ancient stone walls. There are 7 gates. The mountain has almost 1000 m of height and the highest point is the castle: 1074 m (troszkę niżej niż Przehyba). It’s crazy that they let the buses to go up. Spiral road, my mum - omg in winter impossible, aaa no, they don’t have winters - yes they have, in Morella it snows ;) So I don’t know how people go to this town.

We went to the tourist office to ask for the map and recommendations because we had only 3h to visit the city. So things worth to see (only to see xD) are:

La Puerta De San Miguel - we entered the city here, the bus stayed outside of the wall.

Museo Tiempos De Dinosaurios - Szymon wanted to go there but finally we didn’t have time for it

Calle Principal Y Ayuntamiento De Morella - street full of shops, cafes, bakeries. In the town hall we just were in the first hall where are statues representing Moors and Christians

Basílica De Santa María La Mayor  - you have to pay for the entrance so we saw only from the outside

Convento De San Francisco - it’s on the way to the castle, after the cashiers so you have to pay - 6 euros to see it and later the castle.

Castillo De Morella - and finally the castle. A lot of walking, stairs, higher and higher so be prepared. And you need like 1h. Inside there is one room with the exhibition of bones of dinosaurs. They have found some in Morella and they called the dinosaur: MORELLADON xDDD

And now the castle:

The view for me - naaah, nothing special. I prefer the castles on the coast.

Plaza de toros

We had to run… ehh, no time for nothing. On the way back we wanted to try some desserts because in Morella they have some local ones but no time. So you should try: 

flaons and pastissets. 

That’s all ! XD

The bus driver needed like 10min to turn… so dangerous.

And do I recommend? Yyyy if it’s on your way - ok, but only to go there - nope.

[jbinbcn]

Tabarca

02.06.2019

So I was in Alicante (you can read it here) but I didn’t go to the island there called - Tabarca. So here we are!

We went there with some organization - because it’s cheaper than on your own (only renting a car for 4 people is a better option).

So what is Tabarca?

It’s an island - the biggest in this small archipelago full of some small rocks - islands. But it’s small, it is only 1800m long and 380m wide. So like 15min to go from one side to another in the longest part. You can say that you run around the island - so much sport, but don’t say that is that small - hehe.

You can go there only by boat. So from Alicante it’s like 1h by boat, from San Pola 20min.

We went from San Pola - I have no idea about the city. But you can go like we by cheap version - normal small boat or if “I’m not rich but I live like a millionaire” you can take bigger boat with glass bottom - how to get the tourists.

//Story I took of course some food, bottle of water and 2 radlers to chill on the boat or somewhere. In the bus we were sleeping (Saturday night - party night). I put my “beach bag” on the shelf above me. Few times I heard that something felt down but I didn’t open my eyes, don’t care. But suddenly when I had my eyes opened already I saw that something is falling down soooo fast and then I heard the noise I turned and I saw my beer one the floor and people shook xD Thankfully the beer just felt down on the floor, not on someone’s face... Omg I was so ashamed xD I took it with a red face saying sorry, I sat, and then suddenly in front of me the bottle of water felt down reaching first sits, I was like omg omg omg I think it’s mine, omg I could have killed again, such a shame, people passed it to me...  xD So after that till the end I held all my stuffs in my hands.

We had to wait for the boat quite long time - there was some logistic problem, whatever, so with Raffa we decided to drink those beers while they are still cold. We expected an explosion from that one which felt down but surprisingly nothing like nooooothing happened.

The boat was crazy - so fast, up and down, 20min, better than any roller coaster. And I didn’t have “boat simulations” after ! Oh yeah 😎

Aaaa and in San Pola we borrowed things for snorkeling - glassed with the pipe and flippers - 10euro each pair.

So when we arrived first we had an “island tour” like 1h and then the girl (la chica blanca) told us where is the best spot for snorkeling.

Around the islands there are many yachts.. ahhh... one day ;)

Maybe let’s start with the map, this is the shape of the island:

The green part is a natural park full of opuntias and some grass. There are not any trees - why? The government tried to plant some but nothing survived, because of the wind and salty air. Why they wanted trees there? Because the island is a preserve of some birds and the trees for them is like a house. But no.

Did you notice how clear is the water? That’s why is so famous especially for snorkeling.

The widest part is a port and then is a “city”. In 2011 there were living 68 people - till now probably nothing has changed. They have money only from tourism and fishing. There is not any shop xD They didn’t have the electricity and many other “life stuffs”. Before there was for a short time a jail.

#tourists

Then we had free time. Remember - restaurants don’t have toilets. There are 2 public toilets on the island, one is in the middle next to the port, second no idea.

And because we went to the toilet we lost the group, and it was very hot so we just wanted to go into the water. We went to the natural part because there are not many people and even you can find your private beach.

But to have this private beach you have to go down on the rocks.

The beaches there don’t have sand, there are full of this dry something, like in Ibiza. Yes, it’s hot as f.ck

But to be honest, it’s a little bit disgusting. Like I was swimming, looking at these plants in the water and when I reached the point that they almost touched my body - bleeee. All the time I had a feeling that some strange animal kind of snake would jump out. But be brave. Raffa came up with the idea to swim till the small rock “island”. Ok, the view is amazing of this life under the water but I felt that I was disturbing this life... We reached the rock, but it was covered in some plants - ble. But it was possible to stand and rest. Those flippers were so uncomfortable! I had cramp in my feet. So I decided to take them out for a moment XDD Yeah good luck. We were three so Raffa helped me with the balance and the other random guy from the group was trying to take out the flipper. xD More or less like that:

Such a relief! The other foot wasn’t that bad...

After few min we decided to come back, waves were quite big so standing on this rock was a really good test for our body balance. Ok, but the flipper. ehe.. so try to put it on my foot xD The same action but in reverse. It was harder, wet foot, wet flipper, I lost it after first 10s of swimming so had to repeat the action.. ehh And waves, and I was dying and Raffa didn’t want to help me:

But ok, finally I was ok and we could come back to the beach. On my way I saw really strange fish - totally green - wow. And 2 times I swam into the shoal of fish - like in “where is Nemo” movie :D On the beach siesta time. Raffa and German came back to snorkeling, I came back to my dreams. With us was also a Mexican guy and he was so interested in a education system in other countries so I tried my best explaining polish one - lol xD

Out private beach, a little bit dangerous to reach but #yolo.

#tent #sun #morenita XD

And because again of some logistic problem we had to come back 1h earlier - so we were a little bit outraged. It was too good to come back. But ok. La chica blanca was late so we missed the boat - nice. We had to wait 20min for the next one - so we could stay on the beach - eh! “Organizer”.

But at least we had time for some ice cream (#somethingWet XDD).

We joined los italianos so I could learn more and practice xDD

GRAZIE MILLE !

Recommendation: buy in chinese shop own mask and flippers and share.

[jbinbcn]

Cala del Moraig

05.05.2019

Another WOWOW!!!

We went there with one company (it’s cheaper than individual and it’s easier....). But ehh, I’d like to come back there for sure and maybe by car. I was prepared for a walking day, so I didn’t have any “beach” stuffs with me, I realized that on the way xD We walked like 1,5h and then 4-5h on the beach xD So I recommend to take some bikini and the towel xD

The location of that place (sorry, the map is in polish xD)

Walencja -> Denia -> Javea -> Calp

Let’s come closer:

Javea -> Alcasar -> el Cim del Sol -> Cala Moraig

What I’ve heard is that this coast is full of beautiful caves so it sounds like a car trip ;)

First when we arrived we went for a walk (which I though will be a loooong excursion).

I was impressed how this coast looks, the horizon is ok, but the rock is not XDD

So our goal was to reach this hidden beach. 40min of walking. There are more routs but we did only that one. Yes, my fear of heights was with me. I survived but it was difficult, dizzy dizzy dizzy - if you ask girls, since Ibiza is my the most used word xD

And to go down was quite difficult.

Breakfast!

And then we came back to the first place to chill on the beach, I didn’t have my bikini :(

So I went for a walk.

Remember: there is nothing at the beginning of may. No toilets etc. In June there should be even a restaurant.

This is the famous cave.

There was one diver. I think it’s a good idea but because of the rocks also dangerous one.

And here you have the cave from inside. When there was sun it was much better view but someone had a photo session.

Water was a little bit cold for swimming, but some people did it. Maybe the end of may there are not so many people and water should be warmer. But still worth to visit even without swimming.

[jbinbcn]

Formentera

27.04.2019

Wow! It’s the smallest island which belongs to the Balearic Islands autonomous community (Spain). I hadn’t known about it until ESN took me there. Yes it was organized trip, yes with ESN, yes it was longer, Formentera was just 1 day trip from Ibiza. But I want to describe only Formentera ;)

So to get there, we took the boat from Ibiza (island Ibiza, city Ibiza). It’s like 45min.

Because Formentera is quite small you can visit it in 4 ways:

by foot - not that small, if you wanna see only 1 beach and walk a lot, ok

by bike - sounds good but it’s like up&down... nope

by car - the most expensive, but for 4-5 people quite ok, you need your driving license and you have to find a place to park the car

by scooter - the best! It’s not that expensive, you can go almost everywhere. This what we took.

I was a driver :D But the thing was, I slept only 1h and after 7h on the boat to Ibiza I felt soooo dizzy. But after some minutes of driving I felt better xD

If you reserve the scooter (or car/bike) before Formentera, on Ibiza island, it’s cheaper, at least it was for us - Erasmus, I don’t know if it’s a standard discount. And we asked those women for some advice “must see”. So the north of the island and the east.

We didn’t have a lot of time so finally we ended up on the north only. I think 2-3 days really chilling would be perfect. Of course 1 day could be enough but just going from place to place, taking photos. But to sit there and swim and enjoy that would be the best option :D

Ok, this will be photo post. Just to inspire you, to show how beautiful it is. Enjoy!

Water is soooo clear! Snorkeling there would be a cool idea!

That’s all! Amazing views! As you can see. So I recommend totally! And I think the end of April, beginning of May is nice because there are not so many tourists so even you may find some private beach ;) But if you wanna party in Ibiza as well, check opening days of the clubs because we were before the season, we had private clubs ;)

[jbinbcn]

Fallas

Celebration of Fire (Święto Ognia ziomeczki) or wiki says that is Celebration of Saint Joseph but this is the last day and I think more people are focus on partying than some saint.

15-19 March every year since… yeah no idea! I tried to find at least some century but I ended up reading more and more version why and when. But it’s old and was changing over time.

(Tell me the meaning of that falla xDD)

The version which I heard from people:

Origins:

Carpenters were celebrating their patron - Saint Joseph burning wooden stuffs which changed to beautiful sculptures which we have now.

It’s also way to say goodbye to winter and hello to spring (but for me spring was all the time xD).

In 2016 UNESCO recognized the fiesta, putting it on their list of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.

Ok, so this blog post will be more like dictionary with chronological accent. There are so many words which you should know to get the idea of fallas.

Vocabulary:

Buñuelos & churros con chocolate - like obligatory food during fallas. It’s impossible to not notice it, because suddenly the city is full of small trucks with these two snack.

I don’t have a photo of buñuelos but they look like polish oponki or donuts but the taste is not the same, buñuelos are much much much fatter, uff I thought that I’m drinking oil...

And churros I just love <3

Falla - the commission, only in Valencia city there are around 391 fallas. It’s like group of people who during the year organize some events, they meet and organize the monuments - fallas (yes it’s confusing, they are not original with names), decide about fallera mayor in their group. They meet like weekly to talk, organize Las Fallas, the monument, clothes, style, ect. But to join the group you have to pay the fee! Depends of the prestige the price can be really high. Like the cheapest is 35e per person per year, ok, but the most expensive ones are around 700e per person per year!!! LOL. 

Casal fallero - the place where the commission has meetings all their “fallas” stuffs. Like in front of my flat there is one so who follow me on Snapchat see how it looks from October. Like I saw there a lot of people every weekend, from early mornings (come one, once at 7am on Saturday they woke me up…) until night (screaming children when you want to chill).

Fallera - woman in traditional clothes - sooooo expensive, like 1000 euro and more more! The dress weight is like 3-5kg (imagine walk in this all day…)  And on the head special hairstyle. More about the style read here, because it doesn’t have sense to repeat something what is good.

Fallera Mayor - like a Miss, is one of the biggest honours. Every falla has own fallera mayor who represents her falla and then between them is chosen that one who is the main during fallas. So for girls and their families is like a big big proud and they spend so much money for that (craziness).

The election is quite complicated and has some steps. Here you can find all falleras mayor every year. That woman is like a celebrity, representing Valencia in many events, also international ones.

Fallera Mayor Infantil - the same but for young girls.

I wanted to be Fallera. And I could! For free! But why not finally? xDDDD That’s funny story. The university organizes own falla and every year they choose 10 girls (erasmus, from different countries) to dress and to represent the falla. When I got an email from ESN about the opportunity, that they are looking for the last fallera of course I applied. I went to the uni to try the costume on me. And the thing is, the skirt - perfect, heavy but it was so nice. And then the woman gave me the corset and….. I could NOT close it on the top 🙈🙈🙈 ehh who makes corsets for man breast… My dream was just ruined… :(

 After fallas there are so many dresses in “facebook market” to buy, if you are interested xD

Ninot - figure which represents in sarcastic way politicians, famous people, all about the satire. Are made of cardboard, wood, paper and for sure something strange that makes the smoke so black and disgusting. Ninot indultado is a ninot which is “the best” and will survive La Crema - they won’t burn it.

#trashtag I think this is very clear meaning. 

I think you recognize the person.

Falla - the artistic monument of many ninots and usually with some the biggest figure in the middle. They are built during the year to be burnt during La Crema.

Of course they have meanings, but I’m not good at politic, etc. So I won’t write here what I think about each of them, the interpretations, it’s for you! Use your imagination and tell me :D 

Big brother is watching you!

Women power, etc

Falla infantil - small falla about children topics.

Both fallas take part in many competitions and can win prizes depend on the category. Here you can see how the process of creating looks like. There are many videos on YT so explore! I recommend to put the max speed xD 

205 000 euro cost la falla in Plaza del Ayuntamiento xDDD

But I like it the most, the meaning. Can you see it? It’s about destroying monuments, the art.

La exposición del Ninot - you can go to Ciudad de las Artes y las Ciencias during the period of fallas to see ninots who survived from La Crema.

Cabalgata del Ninot - commissions put they fallas outside (yes, they close the streets, a lot of streets) and jury walks and gives prizes.

La Crida - kind of opening ceremony last Sunday of February (so 2 weeks before!) in front of Torres de Serranos. All committees of fallas, all valencianos and visitors are called to start celebrate Fallas. Fallera mayor gets the key to the city from the mayor and screams: YA ESTAMOS EN FALLAS!

I like it. One day before Valencia organized first time the pyrotechnic show, “the biggest” in the port. But for me it was like:

And then I went to Crida and I really like it, it was like choreography of lights, sounds, the speeches of Falleras Mayores, it was awesome! I liked that a lot.

After that they started putting a lot of lights on the streets. Like it’s Christmas time but it’s just Las Fallas. The weird this is that for Christmas time there was almost nothing. I went once to the center to get the feeling of Christmas and I saw only few decorations mostly around the cathedral.

The best lights are in Ruzafa and Center I think, so you should go there when is dark to get the atmosphere. But be prepared that there will be a lot of people (impossible to ride a bike).

La mascleta - noise. In Feb it was every Sunday at 14:00, from 1 March - everyday till the end of Las Fallas! In Plaza del Ayuntamiento. So have in mind that those days if you want see the square in a beautiful way because the main part is just closed. And you watch mascleta from the streets around. El masclet - is type of firecracker (english… let’s call it: petard). For me it’s like a petard and firework at the same time. Like it flies but it makes terrible loud sound (like 120 dB) without the colors and this firework explosion. It’s like 5-10min show, finished with the loudest of the loudest.

It starts from the words of Fallera Mayor: “Senyor pirotècnic, pot començar la mascletà”.

They spend around 6000-9000 euro xDD And they are different companies responsible and also with kind of prestige. The weight of the last one is 100kg of gunpowder. Here you can watch how it looks from dron, and here are my versions as a visitor.

If you want to have a nice view, go 1h before, and during Las Fallas even 1,5h before. Because you will just get stuck in the crowd. Don’t close your ears, just open your month to survive it.

Once thanks to ESN we watched from the windows of Megastore Valencia C.F. Tienda Oficial.

 I can not put more video from YT xD but here you have the link: https://youtu.be/bbZ92IGDvxU

On Saturday of Fallas, with a friend we arrived to Valencia from Madrid at 13, we were like, ok, we are 10min from Plaza del Ayuntamiento, let’s wait for Mascleta. We moved during 30min just few meters… and we were still 1 street from the square. And then we wanted to go to metro, another 30min to pass like 20m xDD NOT RECOMMENDED.

And here I noticed one sad thing. They organize it every year, every year for sure is the same crowded, and what? Spanish people, some of them drunk, some not yet, are just getting crazy in a very negative way, instead of walking slowly, because there is not other possibility, be patient, they just scream, strongly push you, I would say the crowd is dangerous. Another thing, stupid parents with small children. COME ON! First of all who takes the baby when it’s that loud (good job), secondly who takes pushchairs to the crowd. You wanted (or not) child so enjoy your life far away from it or leave it with someone if you wanna “party”. It really drives me crazy. Pieprzone madki i tadki grrrr.

La musica - of course every party needs music. Every falla has own stage, own band and the music is played more or less till 4:00 depends I think of the zone. In mine fortunately till 4:00. I was too sick during fallas to stand it longer, one night I slept with this noise like dead so if you don’t like fallas and you have to survive it (without leaving Valencia) just get sick, have fever and sleep as dead xD

Here are obligatory songs durings fallas:

But my falla played reggaeton or just some club music.

La planta - the moment, the day when they put fallas (monuments) outside to present them, show them and wait for the jury. It happens 14-15 march. If falla is really big they can start earlier.

La despertà - if you are not involved in fallas you may hate it. Why? It’s waking up time! How? everyday los falleros y las falleras (in my case children) are playing with different kinds of petards at 8:00 AM !!!! And some fallas after that welcome the neighbors with hot chocolate. I remember, it was some Saturday morning, I woke up with the terrible noise of the war after 7:00 and I was like WTF let me sleep. And like after 2h I think, someone rang my doorbell, I was barely alive, I opened and there were some children/teenagers saying something to me, I was like wtf you want, like I was really not awake, I just said “no” and their faces were like: wtf is she xD I closed the door and I came back to my bed. I think I missed the invitation to chocolate xD But this time I didn’t know about it…

During Las Fallas I remember only one desperta but it was like: aaa ok la desperta, ok, it’s 8 am, let’s sleep more xD

La Ofrenda - it’s a celebration for la Virgen de los Desamparados (Our Lady of the Forsaken - Matka Boska Opuszczonych). She is the patron of Valencia and Community of Valencia. It happens 17-18 of march. In front of the cathedral they put some wooden construction. During those 2 days there are parades, every falla has own parade at scheduled time, all falleras have a small bouquet of cloves and roses and they give it to the Lady and special team puts them to the construction. In total 60 000 bouquets.

You can check online which falla is when so you can go to the Plaza de la Virgen to see how it looks, it’s not that crowded but have in mind that to get there you need time, like we walked after Mascleta in Plaza del Ayuntamiento to Plaza de la Virgen 45min xD normally is like 10min.

And here is another my though. Spanish people are not religious. From all young people who I’ve met I don’t know any who cares about religion, church, etc. Like 61% of all spaniards identify themselves as Catholics but only 14% goes to the mass regularly and only 3% says that religion is for them one of the three important life values. So I’m wonder how they see Ofrenda, how they take it personally. 

I asked the man next to me what happens later with the statue and he said that it will be here for few days, everyone can come and take the flower with him and then after few days they will take it out. So I thought to come on Saturday and I came and this what I saw:

so sad. I wanted to take the flower with me :( So have in mind, it’s available only 2-3 days after Las Fallas.

Castillos de fuegos artificiales - firework shows. Every night during fallas in Turia close to Alameda bridge. But check online where is the security zone and what time it is because each night is different, like from 00:00 till 1:30. I saw everytime from the Pont de la Mar, because there are benches, so you come earlier, you sit, and then when is the show you stand on it xD But I heard that the good view is also from the other side - Pont del Real. So next time (because almost all fireworks here are in Turia) I’ll check that spot. Be careful with the trees because there are so many and they may hide the down part of the show which is really beautiful. We were always there like 2h before XD but you know, you take the blanket, wine, some snacks and you can enjoy your botellon. 

So imagine, 4 times they do really big firework show, look how many materials just for 1:

The best one is the last one called La Nit del Foc. 20min, 2 500 kg!!! But it was amazing.

La Cabalgata del Fuego - it’s last day, 19th March, this day is also holiday in Valencia. This is like parade of the fire. I didn’t go, sorry not sorry. I saw something like that in Barcelona and I was disgusted by the crowd, like too much people has touched me during those long days so I just went to sleep with my fever. Here an example from last year:

La Crema - here we are. Last night, 19th March, during the night all fallas are burnt. I mean, the monuments, no people xD

So it’s like, ok we were building it the whole year, we has spent so much euros so let’s burn it now. At 22:00 in all the city they start burning fallas infantil, at 22:30 falla infantil which won the competition, at 23:00 falla infantil which is in Plaza del Ayuntamiento, at 00:00 fallas - big ones, 00:30 falla who won, 01:00 falla in Plaza del Ayuntamiento.

And because I had falla in front of my window I just stayed at home in my pijama and I went at 22:00 outside to see how it looks like with cup of tea. 

At the beginning a lot of photos, and finally fallera y fallero (children versions) start the fire and wow, fireworks, noise, and then it’s just burning. They put a lot of la gasolina to burn it faster. But the smell, ble. Aaa and both of the kids choose one ninot for them to take it to save it from the fire.

Daniela was the name of that young fallera.

They are choosing ninots to save them.

And here you have the video: https://youtu.be/ozlBaogWI9Y

Then I came back to the flat, And at 00:00 I went again (without tea this time) to see la crema of the big falla. Started raining.. I was like, shit, faster, my laundry is on the balcony. I heard that always during Fallas is raining, so here we have, last night. Again a lot of photos, and now adults - fallera and fallero put the fire and bum bum bum suddenly one ninot fell down and fireworks which were in this ninot started going to our directions and we had to run away xD I knew that it can not be perfect, it has to finally go something wrong xD But we survived. Nobody got hurt.

The video: https://youtu.be/B4XdrUScyZs

The smoke was soooo black, bleeee. Here you have the loong video from Plaza del Ayuntamiento, just find the moment of burning.

2 446 tones of ash in total. 

Hey valencianos! If you wanna some smog, take it from Kraków, we will share with you! You don’t have to burn so much money, pay us or event take that shit for free.

Jeśli w Krakowie byśmy spalili choćby jedną falle, albo zrobili choćby jedną mascletę to przecież ten dym z tego byśmy jeszcze czuli na święta w grudniu xD A tu wywiewa od razu…

Another thought, negative - sorry, but why small children, like 2 years old have petards in their hands and are throwing them everywhere! If you see a child with this box:

go away. Inside there are many petards. And they just don’t think, they just throw it next to you, to each other, stupid. Every 2s there was: bum...bum...bum...bum and all day all night. A! This year first time the government forbade petards between 2am and 7:30am. I don’t know if it helps in anything but ok. Step by step. I wanted to find some statistics how many small creatures lost their hands or something during “having fun” with petards, but I didn’t find anything interesting.

And one more thing - TRASH! OMG.

https://www.levante-emv.com/fallas/2019/03/21/basura-aumenta-3--cenizas/1851027.html

But the thing is, there are not additional bins, like even you want to be clean but you don’t have a choice :(

So cleaning and in the morning to work, yeah! And without any noises <3 Omg I’m so happy that is done. Las Fallas you can like or hate. I’m in the second group. I mean, I like the tradition, clothes are so beautiful, monuments amazing but I don’t like the idea of spending so much money for this, and I really don’t get it because tell me please, who knew about Las Fallas before my blog post or my snapchats or before Erasmus in Spain? I didn’t know till I went to Barcelona but till now I didn’t know how it looks like. And also, I think the young people even don’t understand the tradition, it’s just for them many days of drinking on the streets, some fires and that’s all. If I will have a second chance to be in Valencia during fallas, I’ll go for holidays somewhere else XD It’s too much, one day of fireworks would be really enough. But ENJOY! Maybe you like it or will like it :)

7,67 millones de euros en las Fallas - "only” €€€ were burnt this year...

Here will be (soon) all the videos from me: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B4XdrUScyZs&list=PLvGP4I8HoO6SzVenMkZcjAnfNrUQceBMT

//Żubrówka w podróży

[jbinbcn]

North Trip

06-09.12.2018

Pamplona - San Sebastian - Zumaya - Bilbao - Vitoria

Long weekend trip with ESN! I had never visited the North of Spain so when I saw the opportunity to go there with ESN, I bought the ticket :D And I needed to take a day off on Friday (6.12 is a holiday in Spain). SO GOOD SO GOOD!

4 days, 5 cities, more than 1300 km !

And I could see my lovely ocean after 2 years! <3 But for sure I’ll come back there! Still so many places to visit! Asturiuuunuuus are waiting XD So let’s start from the beginning.

06.12.2018 Valencia -> Pamplona

The meeting point was at 5 ! I slept 3h... and when I was walking to the bus I passed so many drunk people enjoying the night xD Why so early? Because it’s around 6h in the bus, we could leave Valencia even earlier to have more time for visiting. I slept like dead.. I got used to it, I just sit in the bus/train/car and I sleep. The bus stopped in the middle of nowhere for a break. There was a huge restaurant-shop to enjoy breakfast. I liked that place. Nice to have something like that, not only McDonalds and Orlen hot dogs.

At 8 I enjoyed from the bus the sunrise. It was really cool one, but yeah, photos through the window...

A few words about spanish landscapes. What I noticed, Spain is sooo empty. I mean, when you drive a car on the highway, there is nothing, no buildings, no forests, nothing. Just mountains in many parts, and windmills. I mean, for me is totally different from this what I see in Poland ;) Especially those mountains, but this in -> Chulilla.

We arrived around 12:00 to Pamplona. Our first city. ESN guys took us around the center doing their best city tour. 

---In the brackets I’ll write the name in BASQUE language!--- Probably you know about Cataluña, independence and catalán language. Spain is even more crazy. In the North of Spain there is a Basque Country (es: Pais Vasco, Euskadi) - yes, we are still in Spain. It’s an Autonomous Community (one of 17). But they have own language, spanish and basque are co-official languages there. You think, yeah sure language, probably it’s just dialect, he he, no xD Euskara It’s one of the languages which the etymologists can not find origins. For sure none of the European and is a language isolate to any other know ones. It’s like magic. My personal feelings (don’t take it serious): for me it’s a language of wildness, of woodsmen, of Vikings! Like big bearded guys xD sorry 🙈

Still don’t believe me?  So let’s have a look at the examples of the words, english - spanish - euskara

my favorite one: butterfly - mariposa - tximeleta  others: hello - hola - aupa  yes - si - bai no - no - ez kiss - beso - musua beach - playa - hondartza xDDD restaurant - restaurante - jatetxea father - padre - aita  I love you - te quiero - maite zaitut ❤

Sooo? Do you agree with me that is like viking? XD BASQUE MAN TRUE MAN!

If you still think that I chose only really different words, go to wikipedia, find some article (like famous one) and change the language to Euskara and enjoy ;)  BTW, The girl from Bilbao said that Eusakara is a difficult language to learn. There are 12 gramatical cases !!!! Ok hungarian still wins - 29...  For spanish speakers:

 For others, from 1:30:

----------

But let’s back to the trip. 

Pamplona (Iruña) 06.12.2018 In polish - Irunia - is a cute version of a name Irena ;)

It’s a capital city of Comunidad Foral de Navarra (Nafarroako Foru Komunitatea). So it’s not a “basque” city - I mean, autonomous community, but it’s in Basque Country as a region (Euskal Herria).

It’s really easy to notice when you passed the border of Spain and Basque region. Unfortunately we didn't stop to take some breathtaking photos, and from the window.. you know..

Mountains appearing in the fog...

For me it was amazing! But not on the photos. Sorry not sorry.

Do you know what Pamplona is famous for? ---Running of the bulls (encierro)--- During 9-day festival of Sanfermines (6-7 of July)  First run is on 7th, at 8 am. And then day by day till the end. It’s a good time to visit Pamplona second time ;) Then I can describe the whooooole tradition. Right now just some words. Origins: 14th century, men wanted to be faster and faster with transporting their bulls to the market square. They noticed that the best way is to make the bulls excited and frightened. After a while young boys and others started to making a competition between each other - who will be the fastest in the pens without being injured and overtaken. Because spanish people are crazy, the tradition expanded popularity and nowadays it’s preserved in many spanish cities. In Pamplona tradition is more touristic now, so maybe is better to go to another city to enjoy the old tradition. Enjoy - maybe it’s a wrong word, I don’t know if I would be strong enough to watch people running and getting injured and those poor bulls which will finish at the arena for a fight and dead at the end with a long way. In 1910 they began record-keeping and since then 15 people died. Last one in 2009. On wikipedia you can check exact data if you are interested. ----------

Step by step how we visited in few hours Pamplona (with many photos).

We started at the Plaza del Castillo, center of the city, social life, concerts, markets, events. The buildings around are really beautiful and reminded me Krakow ;)

The weather was like warm autumn.. ahh <3

El kiosko is a heart of the square.

Then we just followed ESN and enjoying the city. Of course we chose city tour in spanish, si si!

Around the cathedral there was a nice terrace to have a view of Pamplona from one side.

ESN guide tour we finished at Ayuntamiento. Baroque style, lions bearing coats of arms and a trumpet-blowing angel.

FREEEE TIME, means exactly food time.

---And now food story--- Vasco Pais is known as a land of pintxos. What’s that? Do you know tapas? Yes, the same “style”, just smaller. Pintxos - small “finger” foods. Like small sandwiches (takie kanapeczki koreczki). Slice of bread with a toothpick in the middle holding the rest together. They can be warm or cold. You enter the bar and in front of you there are all available pintxos, sometimes in the menu you can find more, which have to served warm. How to order? Depends, there are 2 ways. If the plate is on the counter and pintxos are easy to take, take the plate and put there whatever you want. If there are no plates or pintxos are behind the glass, just walk around, choose what you like and then ask a waiter to serve you them. In some bars they are all in the same price so you pay for how many toothpicks you have on the plate after all, or just you pay at the beginning when they are served. Funny fact: you enter the bar and you see it a little bit (or veeeery) dirty, like the floor is full of napkins. It means that the bar is good one, visited by many locals. Wtf?! It’s more hygienic to throw it than to keep it next to your food. In pintxos bars there are not places to sit. Pintxos are for standing socializing. You have a pintxo, you talk, you enjoy, you drink txacoli (sparkling, very dry white wine). You change the bar. It’s like pintxos crawling. Of course there are competitions which bars serve the best ones. ----------

So we knew what we want to eat - pintxos - claro que si. And the best for that is street called: Estafeta (on this street bulls run during the festival). But we found “the best ones” which won some prizes last year: Restaurante Baserriberri.

When we saw the prices there… 3e for a small pintxo xDDD

But then we saw that the waiters are serving something really interesting. In the menu we checked that this pintxo - bOOmveja -  won last year some prize. Look:

The form is not eatable. It’s printed in 3d printer. Inside I tasted some parkerhouse rolls (???? butter bread?) with (as we said) sheep cheese. It was amazing, so delicious, mmmm <3 

What I found about the ingredients? Read that xDDD But I can recommend. 3,5e, smaller than appetizer but was good XD

Then we went to the plaza de castillo to eat what we still had in our backpacks :D

Uncle Google recommended us to visit Ciudadela - 16-century fortress which from the top looks like an extraterrestrial star. In 18th century it was a prison, now it’s a park to chill. We took some stupid photos and it was time to come back to the bus. 

On our way we passed Baluarte Palacio de Congresos y Auditorio de Navarra - cultural center, modern art, art art art. And we stopped on Plaza de Toros next to Bullfighting Monument to take such an awesome video (I’m wondering how many people had the same idea).

So there was nobody! Finally some old people appeared so I asked them (I knew that it’s stupid idea) if some of them can take a short video of us (because I wanted to be in the video as well…). I prepared my phone, the old man, how to stand, what to click, we did our performance.

I checked what he had recorder... eh yes.. one more time please, again, preparing everything I even clicked the start… but he clicked the stop to early xD 

Well… at least he helped!

So bus time again. Pamplona - thank you and maybe see you in July. All day should be enough if you (like me) don’t visit all museums from inside. Next city!

San Sebastian (Donostia)

My favorite city in the northern Spain !! I’d live there just because of the view and location. The other aspects I don’t know ;)

We arrived to the “hostel”. Exactly we arrived to some place in the middle of something. And behind the hill we found our hostel. If you have a car or money for the taxi - is ok, they are able to reach the place. If not, like we, only big bus, we had to climb and then go down to find the hostel. It was already dark so even we didn’t know what we are doing, darkness. Of course, mess at the beginning who is with who in the room (sorryyyy Carlyne!). But finally we managed it to be together (5!) and 6th one scotch-italiano new friend ;)

Some free time and then all the group took a public bus to go to the center for a dinner, before party, party and after party depends on your strength.

So it was night sightseeing in San Sebastian.

Of course we went to eat pintxos. So much tourists. We entered to Senra Zaharrean.

Pintxos calientes ;)

It was a little bit crowded, but we waited like 5min to get a table. In this restaurant you take a plate, put what you want, pay. If you wanna beer, the waiter will bring you. Or if you’re going to the table you can pay later.

Next step we decided to buy some % and enjoy on the beach side. Of course hiding, drinking from the plastic bag.. 🙈

And then ESN and others came and we went to do BOTELLON ---------- I think I’ve never explained what is botellon. So it’s before party. Like we meet somewhere outside with a lot of alco etc, we enjoy, drink, have some social life before going to the clubs. Clubs in Spain are open mostly after midnight, people appear there more around 1-2 because during that time you don’t pay for the entrance, or you pay less. ----------

So our botellon was on the beach, under promenade. Good place, I recommend you to visit it during your stay in San Sebastian xD

And because I love the ocean so much I was in heaven. I haven’t seen it for 2,5 years! Ocean is the power, strength. It keeps me calm but gives me the energy at the same time. I’m in trance like I wrote once on fb ;)

I spend I think 1h looking at waves, were good/big enough. Satisfying ;) But because in Dec I didn’t have any winter clothes with me and north is quite cold during “winter” I started freezing so I came back to the Botellon. It was first and last time when I could see the ocean during the night. Hope to come back soon :D

To be honest I was so tired after this first day and night in the bus. Or I’m getting old too fast. :( But when ESN said that we have a free beer in the bar Bataplan, I went there to enjoy it xD #cebula

But it was one of the worst beers ever. Ble.. Carlyne took wine and it was even worse xD So it wasn’t worth but at least was warm. Erasmus had a karaoke party there and later they were supposed to go to the club to dance but no idea.

We decided to come back to the hostel. But because it was sooo f. away we had 2 options. Walk 3,5km oooor take a taxi. The problem was that we were 5 and nobody wanted to take us, and 2 taxis - too expensive come on xD So we walked xD 40min, up and down. I felt like in Porto od Gdynia, we go up, we go down, do it again again again, do it again again again. But it was ok, I did my steps. 

The hostel was ok, just the shower “perfect size”, like you enter and don’t move. And localization - terrible. For sure not for me, but for the big group works well.

Morning we started with of course breakfast but then city tour in San Sebastian. We had to move out, take our things to the bus, leave them there and enjoy San Sebastian during the day - the weather was perfect <3

So now it’s time for photos ;)

At the beginning we had a city tour with ESN. We started next to the beach to go up for the view.

Parte Vieja - old town, just walking and enjoying. 

Rumbo! XD Better version of it. (Rumbo is a club in Valencia which I don’t like and I don’t recommend). Una mierda.

Can you see a heart?

I read on the internet about this basque dessert so we tried. Like sweet rice pudding - good one!

Ayuntamiento - It’s kind of masterpiece, no? Before it was casino, you know, politicians, businessmen, etc. 

And around:

Urgull Mendia is a hill by the ocean. It’s a perfect chilling spot for enoying the view. AMAZING!

The flag of Basque Country.

Mamma mia !

ahhh my stupid pink-eye-make-up... Sad story behind :(

Heheszki

Yes, I’m happy :))

Museo de San Telmo - the oldest and the biggest in Basque Country. From prehistory to modernity. The original part of the museum it was a Dominican convent (XVI) so it’s like mix of the styles. Yes, I haven’t visited it inside.

Unfortunately we didn’t have time for many things!!! But I’m pretty sure they are worth a visit. :(

Monte Igueldo - The view has to be amazing. You can reach it by the antique funicular railway. On the top there is amusement park and tower - El Torreón.

La Catedral del Buen Pastor - 10 000 whistles in the organ - one of the biggest in Europe.

Isla de Santa Clara - to be honest - I’ve NOT seen it !!! Writing this I’m reading some stuffs and then I see on the photos the island, I’m like wtf, there was not any island! I checked my photos, yes, on mines the island “doesn’t exist”, because I was on the other side and for me it was just one land, one coast. Eh :(  Another reason to come back! 

There is a small cafe and a lighthouse. But you can access it only between 1th June and 30th September via ferry.

Paseo Nuevo - fuck my life. Another thing which I haven’t seen! It’s a new promenade around the Urgull hill, starts in Kursaal, and finishes in the port. It’s famous for the photos with huge waves. Come on, it’s my element (no byłabym w swoim żywiole!). Who wants to join me?

Peine del Viento - one of the best-known works by sculptor Eduardo Chillida. If you wanna a postcard from Donostia, probably it will be with those sculptures. We were supposed to go there, it’s on the opposite side of the beach (Playa de Ondarreta) but we didn’t have enough time so we came back to the old town. AND if we had gone there, we would have seen also the island… so bad so bad JB. Those sculptures are so heavy and there is story behind them, but I’m not gonna write about it, not yet! I’ll go, I’ll explore, I’ll learn, I’ll take pictures, then I can tell you more - my version :D

So when we noticed that there is no time for the sculptures,  we went to eat pintxos, how it could be different. And to be honest we found finally cheap <more or less> and good ones! Oh yeah! So I recommend this place in San Sebastian - Bar Gorriti.

On the floor there were a lot of napkins so it had to be good! In this one you say what you want and the waiter will put it on the plate, what has to be served warm, he will give you in 2-3min. Here I tried txicoli, yeah, sparkling and sour. But the way how they serve it, look!

I took some bowl, it was warm pintxo and really good one! It was my favorite one I think. Inside there was kind of mixed meat, maybe some smashed potatoes and it was fried - recommend!

Next step was - to chill xD I could see so many things but what I did? I went to sleep on the beach xD It was really good siesta, I just lied down on the wall and I was enjoying my dreams. And from there we had a view on the surfers - this is surfing, not like in Valencia, minimal waves, no adrenaline, etc (but they do it in Valencia! lol).

When I wake up (15-20min, true afternoon siesta), I went to say goodbye to the ocean. Calm me baby.

Then the bus and let’s go to another city!

Zumaya

We went there only for like 45min. Why? There is an amazing view spot. Some scenes of Game of Thrones were recorded there (I don’t know which ones, I don’t watch it, sorry not sorry). But maybe you can guess from photos:

But it was the only place where was raining and was soooo f*ck… windy! Omg xD 

But it was worth it. You know, act like nothing is happening, just for photos, and then run away before you fall off. But amazing, amazing! Basque landscapes - wow!

zmokła kura.

Next city!

Bilbao 07.12.2018

We arrived when was dark already, so like always, just run away from the bus (because it stopped where it shouldn’t), take the luggage and enter the hostel. This time the hostel was more or less in the center so walking time (probably we would have walked even if it had been located somewhere outside xD). We had some time to prepare, do shopping, before leaving for botellon.

So we did. A good shopping. Just look xD We wanted to be prepared, not like in San Sebastian, just one beer. HE HE XDD

That night ESN prepared for us a dinner, like tortillas de patatas, chips chips chips, chorizos, jamones, etc.

After that we had some drinking games and then let’s go! Botellon spot was next to Guggenheim Museum - artistic botellon! And here will be the story of Bilbao xD

I left my phone in the hostel, because I’m with big group, we have a lot of vodka, just to be sure that I won’t lose it. The hostel had 3 doors to pass, entrance - code, room area - code, room - code. Better because we were 12 (!!!) in the room so impossible to share one key (like in San Sebastian). I hadn’t known that, and when receptionist saw me fighting with the “room area” door, he gave me a card with all codes and with the address of the hostel. I put it to the pocket with thinking - it will be useful. We (5 of us) started drinking during the way to botellon (you know, like there is no time). And yes, for 2 of us it was a little bit bad idea XD And when ESN said that we have to go to the club to enter before 2 (because for free), I decided to take a friend home, another 2 stayed, one left with ESN. So it was like 15min walking, more or less 2 big streets. To remind - I didn’t have my phone with me, and the other person phone didn’t work - wtf! Like just stopped, all apps from Google just stopped. We were left without a map… I just knew one street at the beginning and that’s all. So ok, we will ask on the streets. I even didn’t remember the hostel name xDDD Buuut yes, a had an address!!! <3 First person to ask - young dustman. When he showed me the map, I was like, fuck, we are lost already, after 10min we were somewhere else than we were supposed to be. Ok, he said, go straight and at the end ask someone else. But I really needed to use the toilet, like really. And then I saw some cafe in the middle of some park, it looked like private party, but the door was a little bit open, I entered like without touching, like I’m matching perfect to this open door hole. I said - HOLA, my instinct just knew were to go to find a bathroom, I used, I came back to that door, I said - ADIOS. Easy xD We asked again some people in this park about the way. Then we again asked some young guys, they look at the map and like - oooookeeeey, maybe we will take you there. They knew about crazy Erasmus life. They understood those feelings. We were walking walking walking, then they said that it’s at the end of the street. You even can’t imagine how happy we were. But then we were lost again xD My friend because of hiccup was hiding behind - glass lift xD when I was asking some group of old people (+60) about the hostel. They were like, it’s here… And then I look around, I noticed Carrefour (where we did our lovely shopping). I can not explain those positive emotions which I had that time… That happiness! When I entered the room, the rest of the group was sleeping already.. how?!?! We were walking for 1,5h hour… Love you Bilbao ;*

In the morning, breakfast, shower (we had 1 shower for 12 people, good luck), and let’s explore what we explored during the night. No idea how was our path. I tried my best, but yeah.. We went first to Guggenheim Museum. Ok, I was fascinated (I think first time) because I read a book of Dan Brown - Origin (Początek) last Christmas and there were some of the actions.

Solomon Guggenheim was crazy about abstract art, his flat started being to small for all his collection, so he set a foundation up and established museum - Museum of Non-Objective Painting. But the place was also too small. Frank Lloyd Wright designed a new building. When you think about museum, probably you think about old building, you know artistic, wow, photogenic, wow, art, wow, majestic! This one was different, was destroying all the well-known rules. The collection was growing and growing and in 80s the contemporary director Thomas Krens decided to set branches up. That time Bilbao was a dying city. There was an economic crisis, the big industrial companies crashed. The Basque government asked Krens to build of the branch in Bilbao, he asked Frank Gehr to construct it. It cost a lot of money, but was built on time and budget. Has it helped Bilbao? A lot! Maybe that’s why you know that city. ~9000 workplaces, during first 2 years more than 2 600 000 people visited the museum!

The building is made of titanium and glass. You can see there fish, flower or a sailing boat, depends from which side you are looking at (or how “creative” you are ;) ). Around the museum you can find:

Puppy - West Highland terrier, 13m, 16 tonnes, tens thousands of flowers.

Maman - “mummy”, spider, almost 10m, includes a sac with 32 eggs, meaning: mother’s protection - soft for children, dangerous for others - many interpretations.

Fire fountain - from time to time 5 fountains blast flames into the sky - I haven’t seen :/

Tulips - bunch of 7 large tulips (5m) like a baloons.

Tall Tree & The Eye - 73 reflective spheres, too deep to write.

Fog - it appears from time to time.

The entrance: 16e, 9e (students <26). Better to check the hours and if that day is open. 

We had a headphones with the guide (in english). You clicked the interesting number and you could hear the story. Take the map with you. 

It’s really big but accidentally I went first to the room with sculpture of THE MATTER OF TIME. For me it’s sooooo fascinating! It was in the book of Dan Brown and it’s not art which you should go deep in, like think why it looks like that, what the author thought, no! Richard Serra is known as an artist whose sculptures you can’t feel, you can’t get them with your eyes only, you can’t look at them and understand them. It’s all about physical feeling. When he started, people didn’t like his art, it was ugly for them. It’s impossible to show his sculptures on the photos, because they mean nothing then. You have to walk through them, they will work for you physically (no w sensie, że nie fizycznie odczujesz co ziomek chciał przedstawiać, zacznie Ci się kręcić, w głowie, albo jakieś inne takie efekty specjalne). Maybe you know those blocks in front of the Museum of Holocaust in Berlin? He designed them. On the photos - hmm you don’t know wtf, but when you walk through you should start feeling lonely, uneasy, lost. This art I appreciate :D So what about The matter of time? 8 sculptures, the lightest piece weights 44 tons and the heaviest 276 tons - wow - together - 1034 tons - wow! In the room next to it you can find everything explained and small version of it to have a better look at the construction.

After the previous night I was a little bit dizzy, but when I passed all those sculptures I wanted to die. It seriously works! It makes you dizzy, you feel like it’s closing you inside, you lose the orientation, you are lost in time. Maybe it’s better to visit this room at the end, to feel better during walking on the 2nd and 3rd floor.

One more room was quite interesting on the 1st floor. In the middle there were kind of bowels (flaki, wnętrzności, takie jelitka czy ciul wie co). In one corner just phone recording you and showing it on a big screen - lol. Kind of strange tent - no idea. Some flying big balloons, salt xD

And 3 figures of dogs. Here I listened to the record carefully but when the guide said that it’s Maria and Jesus.. well.. I changed the channel.

Next floors (2nd & 3rd) - omg so boring (sorry art lovers). Paintings, paintings… no sense, no feelings, no. Aaaaa and it was forbidden to take photos :/ I noticed it too late xD

But this painting... wtf ! Or there was one, totally black, with one white corner. No.

And then we went to eat! Pintxos, claro que si! We just were walking with ESN, but because the group was too big, we entered to the next bar. Also recommended! I liked it.

Plaza Albia

I saw that they also have those balls so I took one. Hmm it was different, not that delicious buuuuuut

The sauce was so so so f. spicy! But good at the same time, like you keep eating mmm it’s perfect, but when you stop... better to not stop XD

mniam mniam mniam!

Napkins on the floor!

Then we walked a little bit and decided to come back to the museum (there was our meeting point) and chill there.

Bilbao’s architecture:

Then we had a city tour with guys from ESN Bilbao so we learnt more about the city from true basque people :)

Beautiful sunset!

We decided to eat for a dinner CAROLINA! It’s like another basque dessert. But on our way we found bubble wafer which I always wanted to try in Krakow so... (szału nie ma dupy nie urywa).

And we found carolinas! In Poland we have something similar for winters and we call it - warm ice creams - ciepłe lody. Mniam :D

On our way to the hostel... we passed the street to the right and we noticed 10min later when we were on the top of the hill... Bilbao <3

So this night was our! Like finally we wanted to end up in the basque club! Por favor xD But this time we needed to take metro and walk a little bit (~40min in total) and we had botellon just in front of the club. But what it was a club! xDDD When we were walking from the metro we were like in the worst part of the city, between some industrial buildings, garages etc. Like wtf. And then we stopped on the parking, and we were playing games and drinking (more careful than the day before). When I asked ESN where is the club they showed closed door to one of the garages XD And yes, it was this, around midnight the door opened and you could see that this can be a club. How it was? Typical spanish club, maybe not enough of reggaeton and music to dance, like to many songs of electro something, but at all - not bad. I was thinking to walk to the hostel but when I saw the area and everything, nope, metro. Even taxi doesn’t go there xD And when we were waiting for the club, spanish people started arriving and it was like “village need for speed shows” XDD You know chicos in the cars showing their best screech of tyres (no powiedziałabym sądeckie dresy popisujące się paleniem opon, no poczułam się jak w Nowym Sączu przez chwilę).

So party in the North - checked. At least once xD

In the morning, zombie packing and let’s go to the next city!

Vitoria (Gasteiz) 09.12.2018

It’s a capital city of Basque Country (nope, not Bilbao). It’s not big one but it’s cute. We started next to the new cathedral, again we had a city tour with a girl from ESN Vitoria. It was a good tour!

This place is like social life center. During the summer old people (like +60) meet here to dance. It has to be so cute :D When I pass my 60 I’ll go to Vitoria to dance the whole night :D

This is the new cathedral. Why? Where is the old one? The old one was damaging and the city needed a cathedral so they build new one. But as I heard they are not proud of it - it’s ugly.

We started a sightseeing from a new part. Look at the architecture.

Iglesia de San Miguel

Plaza Nueva It’s like Sunday spot for locals. In the past it was a market place and bull arena. Now it’s a place to meet, grab a drink, etc. Every Sunday children come here to exchange with some posters, stamps, coins etc (pamiętacie wymianę karteczkami? XD).  

Plaza de los fueros Before it was Plaza de Abastos - for selling fresh products. New one exist for >30 years. Fuero - forum, open spacec used as market.

In basque cities they have a cool way to put the names of the streets. I like it.

In the wall on the right (second photo on the left) there is a girl. She was walled up and people say that you can hear her sometimes, well.

El Portalon c. XV, traditional basque food, not cheap one.

In Vitoria you can find some nice graffiti.

We finished out tour. Free time for food and it’s time to go back to Valencia. This time I’ll surprise you, for the lunch we ate - kebab! XDDD Because it’s big enough for 6h in the bus and it costs like 2 pintxos so.. xD

Then we walked throught the city, enjoying it last time.

Locals call it - pussy.

In the Florida parkea - the park - there was a kind of Bethlehem. We were looking or a Jesus like 15min xD asking locals if they know, they didn’t, but we found it, it was so hidden!

Nice pig XD

Like in Barcelona.

Sooo that’s all from basque cities. We took a bus to Valencia.

Super trip! I’ll come back, for sure to San Sebastian! Thank you guys! :D

And you did it, you survived till the end XD CONGRATULATIONS!

//whatHappenedInTheNorthStaysInTheNorth

[jbinbcn]

Agua de Valencia

Let’s talk about alcohol!

Agua and alcohol?! Yes! Valencianos...

Origins?

The story started in the Cervecería Madrid in Valencia. To be sure you got it, the bar is called Madrid but is located in Valencia. Easy?

It was in 1959. Group of Basque travellers was tired of ordering always the same. They had been visiting this place so many times, always taking Agua de Bilbao. That time wind of change came. They asked Constante Gil (spanish painter) for something new. Challenge accepted! He asked if they want to try Agua de Valencia! Why not? So he prepared, they liked it and continued to drink it in later visits.

Only special clients knew about it. It started being popular in nightlife of Valencianos in 1970s.

Gil left the bar in 2000 and died in 2009.

#TrueStoryBro

So what is this Agua de Valencia? It’s mix of everything. Coś a’la znany nam Kociołek Panoramixa. Może słabszy. Zależy kto robi.

Ingredients:

cava or champagne (cava o champán)

orange juice (zumo de naranja)

vodka

gin (ginebra)

sugar (azucar)

All together and enjoy.

Impression?

Too sweet, definitely. But for me everything is too sweet or too salty. So maybe you will like it more.

You can make your own Agua de Valencia (thanks me, you know how) or in the souvenir shops you can buy the bottle orrrr you can drink it in the restaurant.

NA ZDROWIE!

[jbinbcn]

Paella

Let’s talk about food!

I took part in a paella course so I’d like to share with you what I learnt ;) Trust me and enjoy it :D 

So what is paella? (I’m afraid to write about it, valencianos are crazy... DON’T JUDGE ME PLEASE)

So origins of paella are from Albufera, it’s like typical dish from Valencia, but many people consider it with all Spain. So travelling around Spain you can try different types of paella. Even sometimes they have another names but still the dish is based on the rice cooked in paella ;) Yes, the name of the thing where you cook paella isssss, surprise - paella! A special pan, round, shallow, and made of polished steel with two handles.

What you know already is the rice cook in the paella. Let’s explore more! Yellow colour - because of saffron. But because saffron is sooooo f. expensive, they just put some colouring (the colour is really strong, better to not try to smell it, trust me ;)). And now for polish: Ej ziomki wgl to wiedzieliście, że szafran to krokus? Taki krokus. LOL Ja nie. Dowiedziałam się o tym pisząc ten wpis. Ej powiedzcie, że też się zdziwiliście. Wgl jak ktoś odkrył ze to przyprawa może być? Żeby mieć 1kg trzeba ogołocić 150tyś kwiatków. No nieźle. Let’s back to english ;)

Ingredients of paella Valenciana

chicken (pollo)

rabbit (conejo)

rice (arroz)

olive oil (aceite de oliva virgen)

sweet paprika (pimentón rojo dulce molido)

saffron (azafrán) or colouring (colorante alimentario)

grated tomato (tomate natural rallado)

green bean (judía verde)

lima bean (garrofón)

rosemary (romero)

water (agua)

salt (sal)

So let’s start step by step.

1. Prepare a place

True paella should be cooked on a fireplace, with wood.

2. Add olive oil and warm it up 

Remember, that the paella should be stable and flat.

3. Add chicken

4. When chicken is a little bit fried, add a rabbit

5. Add green bean and lima beam

When the meat is gold, add those vegetables and fry them for few minutes.

6. Add tomatoes

Put it in the middle of the paella.

7. Add paprika

8. Add water

How much? Till you almost fill the paella.

9. Add saffron or colouring thing

10. Add rosemary

And now add salt and cook it ~20min. If it’s needed, add more water.   Meat has to get the flavour. After 20 minutes, we must ensure that the paella broth reaches just half of the rivets of the handles. Try (and let others to try) if it’s salty enough.

11. Add rice

Make a highland (in spanish Caballón, in polish można fortecą nazwać, albo z hiszp. grządka, jakieś inne pomysły?) with the rice that protrudes a couple of centimetres above the broth. That is the exact measure of the rice that the paella needs.

Cook it for ~8min with big fire, and then make the minimum of fire for another 8min. If you notice that the rice took all the broth - it’s almost ready!

12. Give paella 10min to rest

After cooking paella, there is usually a layer of toasted rice at the bottom of the paella, called socarrat in Catalan. This is considered a delicacy among connoisseurs and is essential to a good paella. SOOO don’t think that is burnt, appreciate that! The paella must rest for about 10 min (covered with a tea-towel at this point) to absorb the remaining broth.

13. ENJOY!

mniam mniam mniam!!! 😋😋😋😋😋

Fun fact: Paella has own emoji 🥘

QUE APROVECHE!

Gracias Carlos por tu ayuda!

[jbinbcn]

Alicante & Torrevieja (pink lake)

28.10.2018

I spend money for trips like:

So November - Poorvember 🙈🙈🙈

But let’s come back to Alicante.

The trip was organized by one of the “erasmus companies” (Shaz is on my list #pdk). It was cheaper than take the train by yourself. But I’ll come back to Alicante to enjoy the beach and Tabarca island. For that I need +25C ;)

Andrea team in action - female part ;)

During the way there was such a nice view. Spanish mountains are so strange (for me). And you could see them in the post about Chulilla.

First we arrived to the Castle of Santa Barbara. Amazing view! It's like you are going up and and you are more and more impressed. It's just typical Spanish castle, typical view, typical blue sea but I'm just in love with this 😍 The road to the castle was sooooo spiral. For the bus driver - WOW! #respect

During sunrise and sunset for sure is even better! So if you have a chance to be there early morning or in the evening - do it!

After the castle, the bus took us to the port and from there we had just free time for a lunch and to visit the city.

We started from Explanada de España. It’s a promenade, very spanish - palmas! <3 It starts in the old-town and continues along the city’s seafront next to the marina.

I’ll come back for sure to see it during the night ;)

JB Papallona <3 

Next step was - FOOOOOOOD. Fede got recommendations from her friend so we went to the bar with montaditos - El Garaje Bar

Of course we had to get lost, google took us to the garages xD Fede and her sense of direction <3 She was showing the map, we were looking for the directions and streets #collab

The food was delicious, of course montadito is small so you have to eat few of them to be full.

Next to the bar there was a nice park with those strange trees which you can find also in Valencia in the centre.

The next point waaaaaas: Calle San Francisco known as Mushroom Street. I’d say hallucination street #ifYouKnowWhatIMean ;)

And later just lazy walking around. So just enjoy pictures.

Parabarap <3 (The cheapest bar in Valencia and as you see, in Alicante)

We didn’t enjoyed the beach - this for the summer :D But I know two crazy girls who swum XD

Next stop was Torrevieja - Pink Lake (Laguna Salada de Torrevieja or Laguna Rosa de Torrevieja)

Unfortunately there was cloudy so the water wasn’t that pink as it should be. But look: 

Pink no? ;P

The salt is mined from there. The pink colour is due to the pigments present in a very peculiar series of bacteria which live  in  very  extreme  environments -  halobacteria which have on their membrane a protein called bacteriorhodopsin. Magic ;) Swimming is forbidden. Why? The salt exploration is still active and to preserve the ecosystems and the unique characteristics of flora and fauna. Easy.

We were supposed to see the sunrise there. BUT! The sun was behind clouds and was sooooooo soooooo soooooo cold, the wind was killing us. After sunny Alicante - no. Let’s just come back to the bus. 

Peligrosa ;) xD

Snowy ;)

And then we just came back ;) Another chilling trip. Alicante - I’ll come back! :D

[jbinbcn]

Chulilla - Montanejos - Sagunt

21.10.2018

Another trip!  This time by car. Valencia -> Chulilla -> Montanejos -> Sagunt -> Valencia.  

Why there? Because it was during these stupid rainy days in Valencia and on Sunday was supposed to be sunny on the west part so that’s why there.

So, we took the car and we went to Chulilla. Most of the way is a highway so fast and easy, with reggaeton music on the radio ;)

Ok, ok. I didn’t write what kind of place it is! Be careful. Sit and believe me.

MOUNTAINS!

Yes. I went hiking. HIKING. Incredible, no? And I’m alive. Que bien! Probably I’ll never go there again, but for sure I recommend! It was amazing, but not my style of living ;) But for sure if you love mountains, hiking, climbing, you should go there! I’m not specialist but it looks good.

Chulilla is very small town, when we arrived and when we were done there were only few people on the streets. But there is a hostel, so if you would like to explore routes for more than one day, you will have a place to sleep. 

There is also a castle with looooong wall around.

The city has really crazy (dangerous), narrow, spiral streets. “At the end” of the city there is a car park, but you have to pay. On Sundays you can leave your car anywhere else (where is possible) for free. So we found another one of course. 

Just behind the parking you walk a little bit and then you enter the park.

It’s incredible! Better to not have any fear of heights, but if I survived - you can do it as well.

There is a river, if you didn’t notice. The water may be really blue, but it was after rainy days and the sun was gone :( But still it was awesome!

The plan was to make a round route. First La ruta de los Pantaneros and from the lake just following yellow sign. So here on the map it is: dark and light green. In total around 13km, 5h more or less.

So we were walking, walking, was nice, awesome view, chilling... And then, STAIRS! Just down, to the river, perfect.

Bridge was nothing compare to those stairs.. But yeah, easy, come on.

And then another bridge which was much better, with awesome view, perfect for a break :D

Perfect breakfast doesn’t exi...

And here you have some photos from down. “I’m just a little girl lost in the moment...”

And then just last minutes of this route, between some hight plants, close to the river.

Then finally we got first point - Pantano Loriguilla. This meant that now we can decide, come back the same way or just take the yellow route and make a circle. Unanimously circle. We came from the left side, from this jungle and we were supposed to go to the right, towards the hill.

Weather was crazy, was really light but cloudy at the same time. So pity that water wasn’t that blue as we saw in google :(

What’s that? It’s just a dam, you know, water, electricity, etc.

Yeah... it doesn’t look special but it was nice in real, seriously! Be careful there. It’s easy to loose the route. Always follow yellow sign. It means, don’t go through this gate, it’s a wrong way!

The correct one is on the left side, small, inconspicuous path.

And here started true hiking... Up, up, up. Never ending story.

akuku.

And then we saw a sign that we can go to see PINTURAS. You know, some drawings on the rocks, prehistoric. Sounds interesting, no? So we went towards those rocks to finds those pinturas. Yeah...

Imagine, the map shows you that you are just next to, but just next to is huge rock. So how?

We heard voices of some people, but we couldn’t find the path. Like we were in the corner of nothing. Then Żelek found “stairs”. You can’t even imagine those super cool stairs. Never, never, never again. Why the hell I went there, I don’t know, but I’m glad that I survived. Look. There are stairs.

Move your imagination.

Yeah... such a nice view...

You know why I went up? Because on the map there was like: you go up, see pinturas and take another path to come back. ANOTHER. But in real, you have to go down, come back the same way! Nice to know. And look at these pictures, so cool, no? No. Without a notification I’d not see them. How did someone notice them? And there were supposed to be 3, I saw only 2... #impossible. Hehe tell me what do you see? XDDDD tip: try to find “red strips” xDDDD

Climbing up was much easier compare to go down. In the middle I just sat and couldn’t move. The only motivation to move was, I don’t wanna stay there anymore. Step by step, like a monkey, I was moving cm by cm sitting. It’s really steep...

And then to come back to yellow path, we had to climb again, to the other side. Just perfect. But climbing up is much easier than going down, so it was ok. And then the view was really nice, a lot of green around.

The “yellow” point in the middle - pinturas.

Unforunately tumblr doesn’t want to upload panoramic photos :(

So again never ending walking, without climbing, again chilling time in my life. And then you see the city, HOPE! 

Crazy Chulilla, looks like is stuck to this mountain.

So here are more photos from the city, enjoy.

This building with yellow gate is a hostel.

We decided to go directly do Montanejos and eat there (we were super hungry but we thought that there we can find something interesting to eat). In the car I felt asleep like dead... Not only because I was tired ;) The roads were sooooo spiral! Headache appeared -.- So goodnight with salsa music on the radio. And this was wake-up-view:

Why Montanejos? Because it was on out way and we Karima said that it’s really nice. So why not. Montanejos is called by spanish - villa termal. There are dozen of springs so arabs chose that place to build thermal baths. And surroundings - so beautiful! I’m from the south of Poland also I’ve spent some holidays in slovakia thermal places so this for me wasn’t thermal xD Water was ok, But not 35 degrees... For me thermal is when is +30, when you can be there during the winter to warm up the body. This was more to refresh, when it’s too hot ;) Just next to the entrance there is a car park with a ticket machine. I asked 2 people, I man said - I didn’t buy, I don’t care, another - It’s better to buy, there is a man checking, but it was like 1euro I think so ok.

So we wanted finally food! I was dying. And you know what? Everything was closed! EVERYTHING. Spanish time... nosz kuźwa nie poje se człowiek. So there are no photos from the city because I though only about food. DAME LA COMIDA! So we went to Sagunt with hope! Guess who was the driver this time ;) YES! ME! First time abroad, (probably) first time on the highway. Yeah :D Well done JB! First find a car park, second find food. 30min of walking to finish finally in the only open “restaurant” in the city - kebab. At least something. There was some city fiesta and was sunday and was not “dinner time”.

Why Sagunt? Again, was on our way and there is a beautiful castle. It was closed already but from down looked incredible. No photos - was dark already. After lovely kebab we went to the port to chill on the beach. And guess what... there were so many open places to eat! Agrrr So remember - the beach part is better! And the moon was amazing :D Tired as fuck we came back to Valencia. So hiking people - read it and enjoy your trips in Spain. Here you have a list of places for hiking (around Valencia):

Forat De Bernia

el Parque Nacional de Ordesa

la Font Roja

La Creueta y el puntal de Mateo

Sierra de Espadán

Alcoi - Venta de Sant Jordi

etc

I can recommend to go there with an organized trip, for example by:

https://www.facebook.com/www.acsendeando.es/

https://www.facebook.com/senderismoyaventuravalencia

https://www.facebook.com/FitClubMarines

Have fun!

[jbinbcn]

Basketball - 17 & 30.10.2018

BASKETBALL Yes, I went to watch a game. TWO times! 

Football matches I saw in Barcelona, Camp Nou <3 Pique, Messi, Neymar, ayayay :D

Valencia Basket vs Partizan Nic Belgrade Valencia Basket vs. Dolomiti Energia Trento

How did it happen?

Just ESN created an event to go to watch a game and we bought tickets and we went ;) EASYYY And second time because of Italianos ;)

Just for 6 euro ! And we could went to the field to take photo. First which we took – only erasmus and then the players came to us to and now we are on their facebook → https://www.facebook.com/valenciabasket/photos/a.176711842255/10155709798607256/?type=3&theater Second time we also were on the field but they recorded a video →  https://www.facebook.com/valenciabasket/videos/328805711270004/

It was my first time on an international basketball game! And me gusta :3

Our seats were next to the serbian fans, they were TRUE SERBIANS XD Probably only around our sector there was a lot of police, but nothing happened (y). Second time was less ADVENTUROUS ;)

What else? I liked that, maybe I’ll go more times ;) But for sure I’ll go to watch a football here ;)

Stay tuned.

[jbinbcn]

Peñíscola

13.10.2018

Another trip, first organized by ourselves!

Why there? We heard that it’s worth to go to swim there so just to use the weather. Yes, days 10-13 were really warm. And on Friday 12th was another day off/fiesta -  Fiesta Nacional de España or Día de la Hispanidad, but nothing special was happening in the centre so we just met on the beach to enjoy the sun and the sea. But let’s back to the trip.

Awesome! (Probably I’ll use this word too many times)

I think finally the price was the same like with organized trip. But we lost more time for the transport. So renting the car is much better idea! (Next time ;) ).

First we read some blog about that place, especially how to go there and what to see. Next we booked train tickets. We didn’t know that this prices don’t change and also we could buy it just at the train station. So don’t worry, you can just buy it in the machine. Or you can show pdf from your phone. The regional train is not that often. 8 or 12 in the morning (10,5e).

The thing is that it doesn’t pass Peñíscola. In the blog was written that we have to take a train to Benicarló and then the bus. But. There are buses only in summer, but we have October. We checked that info – yes, true. So next option is to take the train to the next city and from there we can take a bus to Peñíscola. So it looks like that:

Valencia (Nord) → Vinaròs → Peñíscola. In total was around 3h.

Don’t oversleep for the train :D How to go to the Nord station? Metro, bus or Valenbisi. Valenbisi may be much faster than anything else if you are under the pressure xDDD

If you forget your breakfast there is a cafeteria open before 8 so don’t worry. Then you can take your train. The station is very simple.

So we left the train in Vinaròs. The bus stop is like 3min from the station. Just go straight through the wild road and there is a street and really small sign that this is a bus stop. Stay and wait.

Ticket was 1.5e. The way was really nice until in Benicarló spaaaanish families or spanish 40-50 years people entered the bus (like 20-30 of them) screaming, talking so loud. Me horroriza, madre mia. We left the bus on the rondo close to the port, because we though that the bus will take us up:

we didn’t want to walk that much, we wanted to chill ;)

But the bus finally is going more to the centre so don’t worry you can go further. The port is small, you can take a boat ride around the peninsula and see the coast from the sea side. Our main goal was the castle. I was already in love when I saw it from the port. But later wowowow.

The list of things to check: - the port - the house of seashells - the lantern - the castle - the garden - the beach

So let’s go. Port checked. To be honest we didn’t follow any map. We decided to walk (climb) through those streets just to get the castle and then we will see. But just at the beginning we found our place for the lunch :D

The buildings, the streets – amazing! I felt like in Santorini (but I’ve never been there xD).

In our way we just met the house of seashells, accidentally, NICE!

The sea was soooo blue <3

Then we got the top and the view was amazing! And the queue to buy tickets for the castle also… :/ And the lantern - checked.

But it’s really worth to wait, buy and visit! So many different rooms, stairs, up and down, but the view AMAZING! Looooook:

If you are crazy with photos (like we) commit for the castle 2-3h.

When you want to have an artistic photo but people.... #background

Some views from the castle:

Meet Andrea’s team

Why Andrea? XD No, none of us has that name, but could have ;)

The ticket is for the garden too. But we needed food. Fancy one ;) Paella was good, I haven’t eaten the best of the best so it’s hard to compare, but I enjoyed.

Next → Garden! But really fast because 17:00 was coming and we wanted to enjoy the sun at the beach.

In the garden we saw a lot of wild birds, like owls, eagles, etc tied to the ground! I was shocked. Then I read that they are sick so it’s kind of hospital for them but in my opinion is brutal way to cure them. Come on! Tied to the ground? In the touristic place? SO BAD! No me gusta.

OK let’s go to the beach, beach (sing it!)

Water was so clear! I was totally in the water and I could see my feet :D And still warm enough. Just the sun was going down.

This is the middle of nothing. Behind it there is the train station.

We had to take the bus before just after 18:00 to be on time for the train from Vinares. And this train stopped on Cabanyal <3 perfect!

Thank you for the first trip!

#Andrea’sTeam