PLACE # 44 - Kincardine, ON, Canada
This gem located on the shores of lake Huron was introduced to me by my parents-in-law a few years ago when I was invited to join their annual cottage retreat. Ever since then, every summer I take a few days off work to make time for our annual summer "fam jam".
Many people reside in Kincardine all year, but some just come here during the summer to enjoy their cottage. My parents-in-law have been renting the same cottage for the last 8 years. And I can totally understand why - this tiny house is located right on the beach. The view from the cottage is simply spectacular.
Blue endless sky meets the surface of the lake somewhere in the distance, birds singing, waves crushing, warm sun on your skin - what an oasis!
Many people reside in Kincardine all year, but some just come here during the summer to enjoy their cottage. My parents-in-law have been renting the same cottage for the last 8 years. And I can totally understand why - this tiny house is located right on the beach. The view from the cottage is simply spectacular.
Blue endless sky meets the surface of the lake somewhere in the distance, birds singing, waves crushing, warm sun on your skin - what an oasis!
Kincardine is a small town with marina, sandy beaches and old Victorian style houses. Located on Lake Huron in Bruce County this charming town has been highly influenced by Scottish culture. Every Saturday during the summer, the whole town gathers in the main square to enjoy lovely Scottish Bag Piper band and to watch the Parade where most participants wear Highland dresses.
Scottish influence is also seen in the local folklore. One of the urban legends describes Phantom Piper who played his bag pipe to guide ships to the shore safely during one foggy night hundreds of years ago. It seems that everyone in Kincardine is very proud of their Scottish heritage.
Kincardine people are very friendly and polite. During the summer main square of Kincardine turns into a large flea market where many local antique shops display their merchandise along sides with Mennonite and local farmers who sell their produce from nearby Canadian farms.
I am truly happy to be invited to come along and enjoy a few sunny days on the shores of lake Huron with my hubby and his family. It's always a great mini vacation and I'm sure I'll be back again next year.
PLACE #43 - Barcelona, Spain
May 14, 2014 - May 18, 2014
In the spring of 2014 myself and my my travel companions (my other half and his sister) embarked on a two week trip to Europe. Barcelona was our official second stop of the trip.
Barcelona is very beautiful and quite large, unlike other cities in Europe. I liked Barcelona, but it fell short if my very high expectations. I heard a lot of great things about Barcelona prior to my arrival and I imagined this city to be out of this world. However, once I arrived I realized that there might be just a bit too much hype about it and not enough substance. This reminded me about my experiences in Paris.
Overall Barcelona is really beautiful, historical and therefore filled with tourists to the max. All tourist attractions are almost impossible to see in a 4 day period because of lengthy line ups and crowded places.
La Sagrada Familia Church build by Gaudi is a world famous landmark which I just had to see while I was there. This tourist attraction was number one on my list of things to see in Barcelona, and I'm sure that was the case with another 15000 people who came to see this Church that day. Ticket line extended for two blocks and lasted for 2.5 hours and these tickets were time stamped for a time slot about another 2 hours away from the purchase of the ticket. In short, one will need a full day to just see Gaudi's Church.
Once inside I realized what the hype was all about. This church is very beautiful and awe inspiring. But to be honest, it didn't feel like a church to me - it was just a complex architectural structure filled with tourists. Every detail seemed to be in it's right place and every line and curve has been carefully though of.
Barcelona is very large and it's impossible to just walk through the city and see all there is to see. For me Barcelona is a mix of Los Angeles, Paris and Moscow (I know it sounds odd!) It reminds of LA because it is large and everything seems to be spread out. Barcelona is similar to Paris because of tit's linear cityscape. And it reminded me of Moscow because it felt large and colourful, like Moscow. There were also a lot of Russian tourists in Barcelona.
On our last day in Barcelona, we rented vespas to drive around the city and what a great idea that was. it's so much fun to drive along the shore and through the streets of the city. It's also a great way to see more than one attraction a day because you can easily get around the city.
Overall, I liked Barcelona. But what made this experience special for me are my dear friends whom we met in Barcelona and had a pleasure to spend 2 days with while in Barcelona. Our friends arrived to the city a day after us and we spent most of our time together, which is always fun.
Our accommodations in Barcelona were also great. We rented an apartment located just a block away form the famous La Sagrada Familia Church. This apartment had a large terrace that overlooked unfinished structure of La Sagrada Familia where we spent many memorable evenings together with our friends drinking wine and playing cards. And nights like this made my Eurotrip 2014 very memorable and enjoyable.
PLACE #42 - Lisbon, Portugal
May 11, 2014 - May 14, 2014
In the spring of 2014 myself and my my travel companions (my other half and his sister) embarked on a two week trip to Europe. Lisbon was our official first stop of the trip.
Lisbon is one of the most favourite cities I've visited so far. There are a few contributing factors to that:
One - the city is very beautiful and full of history.
Two - our accommodations were absolutely amazing! Hostel where we stayed was the best hostel I've ever stayed in.
Three - our close friends were traveling through Europe at the same time as us, so we met with them to spend one amazing day with our close friends in Lisbon, and that's a bonus point in my books.
Lisbon is relatively small, especially the old part of the city, so walking from one end of the city to another was very cool. I loved narrow cobblestone streets that would tangle more and more once you get closer to the center if the city. Almost every building is adorned with intricate ceramic tile mosaic which Portugal is famous for. Every street is very picturesque and unique in its own way.
It seems that economical situation in Portugal is a bit unstable and as a result the city is extremely affordable. Delicious food and wine are very inexpensive, especially if you are brave enough to dine at a "hole-in-a-wall" kinda place. Most places around tourist attractions are pricy and the food is not that good. The best thing to do is to find a small place full of locals and you will be able to enjoy an authentic Portuguese meal that is out of this world. Traditional Portuguese dish is bacalhau (salted cod, potatoes and onions topped with eggs). Which is very tasty. Assortment of wine is also spectacular and it's a lot cheaper than at the LCBO.
The economical struggle is noticeable on the streets of Lisbon as well. Many buildings are abandoned and left uninhabited. The city can not afford to repair some old structures and no one else wants to take on the burden of keeping up with the crumbling apartment buildings, so there they stand half ruined with chipping paint and missing windows, covered in graffiti. Lisbon was covered in graffiti everywhere and not the cool "street art" kind of graffiti, but in very plain and aggressive type - "Hey, I got a spay paint can, let's write some angry words on this building!" - that kind of thing. There seemed to be a juxtaposition here where the classical old seemed to collide with the rough new. I found that to be very interesting.
Lisbon is filled with tourists and most people speak English, so getting places and asking for directions is very easy. There are a lot of tourist attractions in Lisbon. I visited most of them and my favourites are - the tower of Belem, Castelo de S.jorge, and just walking through the city streets.
Belem is located just outside of Lisbon, a short train ride away. The defensive tower of Belem was build in the 15th century and is now know as one of the most recognizable landmarks of Portugal. There is an old monastery in Belem where many centuries ago monks invented Portuguese custard tart which is a world famous delicacy. Right beside that monastery is a small bakery where I tried the most delicious custard tart ever.
Castelo de S.jorge is a huge castle and a defensive port where many royal families resided many centuries ago. It's located on the top of a mountain with an unbelievable view of the whole city - a spectacular city scape of Lisbon.
Overall, I had a lot of fun in Lisbon and would love to come back again.
PLACE #41 - Porto, Portugal
In the spring of 2014 I embarked on a 2 week journey through Europe. Porto, Portugal was my first stop. Well, actually it was only a 10 hour layover on my way to Lisbon.
During my very short stay in Porto my travel companions and I walked through the curvy streets of the old parts of the city and enjoyed magnificent views of the Douro river from the famous King Louis the First bridge.
Most of the businesses seemed to be closed on Sunday. So we just wondered through the city, had some delicious Porto wine and carried on with our trip.
Porto is a small city and although we've been there only for a few hours I think I got a feel of what the city is like. Porto is very beautiful and full of history, but it's very small city. I also think it's very laid back where it's easy to relax while enjoying an espresso or a glass of delicious port.
PLACE #40 - San Francisco, CA, United States
San Francisco was one if the cities I was visiting as part of the surprise gift from my hubby for our 5 year anniversary. Los Angeles was part of this generous gift package and you can read about my LA experiences in this blog post.
To get to San Francisco we drove from Los Angeles along the west coast of California which was just spectacular. Once in San Francisco you unmistakably know that you are in the city of hills, fog and wind which is very different from sunny LA.
Most of San Francisco consists of low rises primarily built in early 1900. Every apartment building is very unique and has that Victorian vide. San Francisco is also very compact in comparison to spread out LA and most of the streets are narrow one way streets with busy sidewalks.
The city was build on 43 hills so needles to say walking up and down the streets takes a toll on you. Thankfully San Francisco has a very developed transit system - BART. Plus there are two cable car lines that run across the city that remained after a fire of 1906 that burned most of the city to the ground. Riding those cable cars brings you back in time and it definitely a fun experience.
San Francisco has over 900 different attractions, that's twice as many as New York or even LA. As much as I wish I had experienced more of those wonderful attractions I'm happy that I visited Alcatraz, which was on my bucket list.
Check out some photos from Alcatraz.
Alcatraz is a sandstone island in the middle of the San Francisco bay that served as a military defence fort and then later a prison. I've already seen a few prisons (Philly prison link) and it was nice to see another one especially the one so famous. A short ferry ride down to the island and you are in one of the most interesting prisons in history. I spent the whole day wondering the abandoned hallways and cells of Alcatraz listening to the unsuccessful escape stories and history facts about this federal institution. A great way to spent the day.
The climate in San Francisco is very unpredictable. Going up one hilly street the temperature feels in the hight twenties. But once you turn the corner it feels that the temperature dropped down to 15 degrees and frozen gusts of wind surround your body. I visited San Francisco in the first week of September and was quite surprised by the variety of outfits people were wearing on the streets. Some people were wearing shorts and flip flips while others wore jeans, boots and fall jackets. As a person who is very sensitive to weather changes - I did not enjoy San Fran weather.
San Francisco has a very developed and busy port so the waterfront is filled with all sorts of marine attractions and boat docks. There is also a very diverse sea cuisine which I definitely enjoyed.
Home of the San Francisco Giants AT&T Park is one of the most beautiful stadiums I've been to. Located right at the waterfront the stadium is the perfect place to enjoy the game and to see the city's lights at night. This stadium reminded me of the PNC Park stadium in Pittsburgh because it was also located by the waterfront with a magnificent view of the city in the distance.
There are also many beaches and parks in and around the city. I spent my last day in San Francisco across the Golden Gate Bridge in the Marin county. I visited Stinson Beach and Muir woods National Park. What a breathtaking day. I did not get a chance to swim in the Atlantic Ocean. The water was quite cold. But this just means that I have to come back and make sure to take a dip in the icy waters.
Overall, San Francisco is a great city to visit and I will definitely be back to explore more amazing things this city has to offer.
PLACE #39 - Los Angeles, CA, United States
I did not know I was going to Los Angeles and San Francisco (see this post) up until 2 weeks before the actual trip. My hubby's gift for our 5 year anniversary was a one week trip to a secret location and I did not know what this secret location was until it was time to pack. What an amazing gift!
Going to LA and SanFran was something that I always talked about so I was extremely excited to visit both cities. See this blog post about my San Francisco experiences.
I can see why so many people come to Los Angeles to pursue their dreams, this city seems to be so lively, bright and full of life. My first impression of Los Angeles was that this is a very huge place. I mean this city is huge and it feels that you can't get anywhere without a car.
Hollywood and Beverly Hills are about an hour away from downtown and Santa Monica Pier is another hour and a half away. Although LA has a subway system, it seems that everyone is driving. So traffic here is quite bad.
While some parts of the city are very lavish and vibrant, other parts of Los Angeles are very shady and rough. Hollywood is filled with tourists, which is quite understandable. Downtown Los Angeles has a totally different vibe - it seems that it is mostly occupied by business people and high rises. There were no tourists or even pedestrians on the streets, maybe because it was the weekend. The Santa Monica Pier feels like a total beach resort with vast beaches and tan people lazily walking on the sand eating ice cream and walking their tiny dogs.
Los Angeles consists of lavish Art Deco buildings and 50s style diners and burger joints that appear on every corner with their old school signage and tacky names.
All houses and structures have a very diverse feel, they are all different and very interesting. No house is the same, each one tries to outdo the other. I loved that.
My hotel was located in the heart of Hollywood right beside Dolby and Chinese Theatres. It turned out to be the perfect location for someone who is in the city for just a few days. A step outside and you are on the famous walk of fame. To explore the rest of this gigantic place we (my hubby and I) took one of those city tours on a double decker bus. It turned out to be very informative and interesting - a great way to get a quick overview of the city.
After two eventful and fun days in Los Angeles it was time to move on to our next destination - San Francisco.
To get to the next city we rented a car and drive along the west coast of California. What a spectacular drive!
The drive took about 10 hours. We stopped frequently to enjoy local beaches and observation points. This route reminded me of the Cabbot Trail in Nova Scotia (read this blog post about ns). As we drive north along the coast wineries slowly turned into cattle fields and palm trees gradually became pine trees. Before we knew it the temperature dropped and we were in San Francisco.
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