No Vampires in Transylvania

Usually my boyfriend's mom organizes an annual trip to get her three sons and their girlfriends/wives together. Oh, and there's also grandchildren that she can't live without! So this year we decided to go to Romania, more precisely to Transylvania. It's getting really hard to choose a place where none of us had ever been!Half of us arrived in Bucharest really early in the morning so we decided to meet in the center of the city for breakfast. We drove around to get to know the city and it is a real beauty: decadent and charming. After a very complete meal we went to Brașov, where we had a birthday lunch for Paulo, my brother-in-law, at La Ceaun. There we ate the most amazing romanian slowly cooked dishes and if you like polenta, you'll love theirs. It's a place for family and friends and the decor is really sweet!We traveled the whole afternoon and bought some groceries for later. The place we stayed at is very secluded and so incredible. We booked it through Airbnb and it's called Cabana Sapte. It was so incredibly cozy and in touch with nature, the huge window in the living room and the sheepskin all around made it just perfect!It was quiet rainy on the following day, so we drove around the hills and had lunch at this very quirky place, which we found by chance, called Albota Turistic Complex. It is actually a trout farm, so none of the things on the menu are very good besides the fried trout, which is indeed super tasty. The place was really peculiar, with places for foot treatment on the trout tanks and some other activities like fishing, which I figure mustn't be that hard, given the circumstances.At the end of the day the boys prepared a lovely barbecue for the family and we got to enjoy our last evening in our Cabana.On our third day we traveled around and got to visit the beautiful Mănăstirea Brâncoveanu, an orthodox monastery.Later that day we drove towards one of Romania's most turistic spots - the Bran Castle. After reading Bram Stoker's Dracula aloud to Luis last Summer, we still had a very present image of the writer's descriptions in our minds. Sure we thought it would be bigger and way more creepy but it's still worth visiting. It has very cool interiors and is oddly cute. Back in the street we ate some street food: Kürtőskalács, a sweet, crispy and huge roll, perfect for sharing, and Lángos, a fried bread with cheese (which made me think of Pizza Hut, my favourite fast food restaurant).The place where we stayed - The Cottage in the Carpathians -  that night and the following was absolutely amazing! It is located in Râu Alb de Sus and consists of a main house and two other little ones, which were formerly used as stables, and endless gardens with animals. It is decorated with a lot of typical  romanian embroideries and objects that were used many decades ago. The heating system is absolutely amazing, so old but still so efficient, the wood with which the houses were made is preserved as old as it gets, but so full of life! And, last but not least, the dogs that hang around saluting you with their amiable energy make you feel like you belong to this idyllic place.On our last day we went for a walk on the woods, that started on a little village. We walked for about two hours, breathing in the nature that surrounded us. It's all so beautiful and the weather was perfect. We ended up having lunch at Potcoava Mountain Hideaway, where we were so kindly received. We came back, this time not trying to shorten our way, through one of the main roads (I think we saw 3 cars in our 2 or 3 hour walk). We had our last barbecue and enjoyed our last evening together.I can't wait for our next trip together! And, as Joana, my sister-in-law said: "Thanks everyone for working so much (like driving and cooking and taking care of the kids), letting me and Teresa rest"! 😅<3

New Girl in Old Places Extremadura Part 2

Having arrived in Trujillo after sunset we kept the sightseeing for the next morning and had dinner at Los Hermanos Marcelo. There we had migas extremeñas, a dish that consists of crumbled fried and really crunchy bread mixed with chorizo, bacon and blended with a pepper - Pimentón de la Vera - that is typical in this zone of Spain (my mouth is watering already). We got up early to explore all the little streets with the sunbeams cast on the ancient city and castle walls.After Trujillo we hit the road towards Los Barruecos Natural Monument. On our way we stopped a few times: there was an abandoned farm with an aqueduct and a little brook and later on we found the intriguing entrance of something like a nun's monastery. As I said on a few posts before, we mainly drive on secondary roads because you never know what you'll find. It makes our trips more eventful and exciting. At Los Barruecos I felt so mesmerised. I guess I've never been in a place like that. It is full of rounded granite huge rocks that seemingly appeared from nowhere. It's like they fell from the sky.At Los Barruecos you can find serene lakes and places to chill or meditate. The view is endless, no wonder why the producers of Game of Thrones chose the place as a set for their footage. There is also a museum dedicated to the works of Wolf Vostell, a pioneer of video and installation art (follow this link to know more about this striking place).At around 4 pm we arrived at Cáceres. Its historical center was considered a world heritage site as it is one of the most complete examples of middle age and renaissance architecture . I've got to be totally honest: the city is certainly beautiful but it was really crowded with tourists and as you may have noticed that's not really my thing. We've had so many lovely moments alone and with locals during this trip that we felt a bit misplaced with so many people all around. Everything is so clean and polished that it seems a bit fake. Of course I agree that these kinds of historical complexes must be protected and preserved but I don't think that should mean that the places must be stripped out of their own character, which is granted by the passing of time.At the end of the day we drove back to Portugal and hanged around the beautiful Puente de Alcántara, a beautiful roman bridge made in the second century AD. We slept near Fundão and came across with Minas da Panasqueira, a mine that has been open for more than 120 years with workings uninterrupted. It is extremely rich in wolfram and in between there can be found almost all silicates that are known up to this day. I've always needed my glitter dose so I got to buy some mind blowing quartz mixed with pyrite, calcite, fluorite, dolomite and apatite from their really full shop. I can't stop starring at them.<3

Extremadura Blossoms

Spain has always been my favourite destination for small holidays. For us it's easy to get there by car and because the language is different we start feeling we're really on holidays from the moment we cross the border. This time we decided to explore a province called Extremadura, which is located next to the border with Portugal and is on the north of Andalucia.All the secondary roads are filled with amazing views. There's so much nature blooming all around at this time of year! The meadows are bursting with vibrant colours and there are animals wandering around, living their blissful lives. For me, as you may have noticed, it's not enough to enjoy the view from afar, I have to feel it and embrace it as close as I can, I have to explore. I like to get off the main road, jump a few fences, if needed, and absorve all the textures and the colours, all the feelings.We visited Merida, which is a lovely city with a lot of history. It has so many roman buildings. My favourite is the roman theatre, with all the columns, the statues and that warm terracota tone that is ever so ancient and mystical. There's also an aqueduct, which is very impressive too. The city itself is lovely and there are so many little shops with all the typical Spanish products. All villages in Spain (just like in Portugal) have their own fort or castle, so there's always a fairytale vibe all around.Every time I've been in Spain, since I was a little baby (and my family went to Spain at least once a year) I've seen these billboards but never had I ever taken a photograph next to them! These bulls are deeply routed in the Spanish culture since the 1950's. The brand Osborne created them to advertise their 'Brandy de Jerez'. In 1994 the EU decided upon the removal of all alcoholic beverage advertisement on roadsides but the 14m tall bulls already belonged to Spain's landscape and to the aesthetic and culture of the country and hence they were turned into public domain.At the end of this day we headed towards Trujillo. I'm not able to express how much fulfilling  it is to be in Spain during springtime. The weather is so warm and the days are huge in this part of the country because they have Spain's timezone but they are in the western side of the country, so the sun sets super late (like at 9:30pm).Next stop: Trujillo. <3