Heart of Dixie

Having watched Hart of  Dixie tv series (yes, I'm not ashamed!), I've since wanted to feel those hot sub tropical Summer days with the casual thunderstorm and rainfall and that was exactly what I found in old Dixieland. Our first stop in Alabama was Montgomery, home of Rosa Parks (click the link to know more about her) <3 . To our surprise, and having arrived at dusk, the night was weirdly calm and the city rested in silence in the absence of people. We walked by the river for a while and I loved the Riverfront Tunnel with its psychedelic lights! <3The next day we visited Selma. Edmund Pettus Bridge is absolutely overwhelming, for all that it symbolises. I'm usually as tough as it gets, but I felt something that I really can't explain. This bridge staged two sequencial voting rights movements, the first one called 'Bloody Sunday', in which peaceful and unarmed protestants that were marching from Selma to Montgomery were massively attacked by state troopers, back in 1965. To think about how much african-americans had to fight for their basic civil rights and knowing that it wasn't that long ago gave me the chills!In the middle of Alabama River there's an island that was used as set for a Tim Burton movie called Big Fish (2003), which I've always been fond of. 'Town of Spectre" is located in Jackson Lake Island, Millbrook. This set portrayed a once prosperous town which fell into decay, being found by Edward Bloom (the main character) many years after he'd been there for the last time.We arrived at the entrance very late. The gate was closed and the sky was already dark. We decided to snuck in and because it is an island, we figured there would be a bridge to cross. Apart from that figuring we really didn't know what to expect. The darkness was so intense that we couldn't see 2 meters ahead of us. After walking for a while Luis asked me if I wasn't afraid and I said that of course I was! I didn't want to fall down a pit-hole or into the river or have an encounter with a witch! But then he reminded me of all the wild animals that we knew that exist in Alabama and could hungrily from nowhere to attack us, for example: black bears, coyotes, alligators, snakes... As soon as I remembered that we started our way back in a super fast pace, deciding to come back early in the morning, when we would be able to see everything that surrounds us.The next day, while visiting the place we were pleasantly surprised to see that the only animals that could be found during day hours in the island wore friendly goats!We spent the rest of that day driving around and crossing the State of Mississipi in order to arrive in New Orleans, Louisiana, in time to have dinner. As soon as we arrived, one thing that made me super happy was the street name sign tiles on the sidewalks (these kind of little things make my day!). We had some Pho and went to Café du Monde to have our first beignets. I could stay there forever eating those absolutely amazing fried pastries and sipping a cold coffee and orange juice! After that we hung around and decided to have some drinks at The Spotted Cat down at Frenchmen Street. I was told by my friend Paulinha that it was the cutest jazz bar, super fun and upbeat and she was utterly right! We had a blast! The ambience and the band that was playing were what I'd always imagined and the couples and friends dancing swing and picking up people from the crowd was the cherry on top of this delicious cake!NOLA has a pretty heavy party scene and there are people making all sorts of fun things! The group on the pic above was listening to super loud music while dancing and driving their rad bikes! There are loads of bars selling this weird super colourful alcoholic slushies. And there's people singing and playing music all around the French Quarter.I'm so in love with the beauty all around. In the city center it's hard to notice traces from hurricane Katrina's devastation. All the houses, the trees and vegetation that thrive in the beautiful cast iron balconies are absolutely exquisite, most of them scattered with mardi-gras necklaces.While in New Orleans, it is mandatory to try a Po-boy sandwich (they're absolutely amazing). I had mine with fresh catfish (and loads of Tabasco sauce) at Domilise's, a little place that has had its doors open for almost 100 years! You also can't miss Hansen's Sno-Bliz, which is open from spring till fall. A sno-bliz is made out of layers of fluffy shaved ice and home-made syrups poured in between. It is heaven on a cup! I would definitely encourage you to go to their website and check out all the flavours they have because the information laid around the shop is pretty confusing! Due to the whole messy communication I just told the girl to do whatever she wanted leaving out chocolate flavours, which I'm not very into. So the result were these two perfectly delightful and refreshing big cups, one with cream of coconut and spearmint and the other one with ginger and hibiscus (which was a limited time flavour). Waiting in line will definitely be worth it! <3At the end of our stay we went to visit the beautiful Laura Plantation, which is located right next to the Mississippi river. We're not very into guided visits, so we skipped that, driving around instead and seeing the magnificent Oak Alley. While hitting back the road we realised we hadn't seen no alligators yet! As the road we were driving on had a swamp running parallel to it, I focused my attention on it. I'm not sure if it was luck or fate, but I spotted one and we stopped the car ant then there was another one, just swimming calmly at sunset, coming from their hiding places in the shadows to protect themselves from the intense and hot summer sun. 

Floridada

In Portugal we've always consumed a lot of culture coming from USA. So we have various preconceptions of what to expect from the country and its people. I have to say that it was sooo much better than what I expected! I've had the most amazing time in the US and I want to show you how good it was and how welcome I felt!We arrived in Miami, Florida, and it was a great beginning for our journey. Our plan was to drive from Florida to California in 17 days. It actually felt more like a year! Miami is bubbling with art and design and it's so much more than what I expected. Our hotel was near Ocean Drive, with all the beautiful art deco buildings, so we walked along the beach and amidst the beautiful neighbourhoods in South Beach. There we stayed at Freehand Hotel and we loved its vibe, though we had to take a look at The Miami Beach EDITION, which is super cool, so we went there in the morning and we wanted to see its amazing bowling room and ice skate ring. Though they were closed at that time of the day, we met the nicest cleaning ladies to whom we spoke in Spanish and they let us check it all for ourselves!We went to Enriqueta's Sandwish Shop to have the best Cubano Sandwich in Miami and sashayed through the Wynwood District's street art scene, which is overflowing with cool graffitis and art galleries. Nearby you can find really curious shops that sell accessories, like huge necklaces full of rhinestones and clothes with vibrant prints and colours.While coming back, as we hopped on the bus we didn't have any quarters to put on the machine to buy the tickets, and a very nice old man, who actually looked quite poor wearing ragged clothes and holding tight to his rucksack, gave us a spare ticket and some money. He actually looked like he was living on the streets and he did it just to be nice. We felt so blessed by his goodness! <3After Miami we drove towards Tampa, making a pause in the "Shell Factory", near Fort Myers, which is a shop known for being the biggest shell shop in the world (or at least in the US 😛).We stopped in Sarasota, where we visited Marie Selby Botanical Gardens, and we had a delicious Amish potato salad that we bought in a very cute market in the curious Amish community of Pinecraft. Going forward, I would definitely suggest the Sunshine Skyway Bridge (I-275) to cross to St. Petersburg. When crossing it, it is possible to see the cutest little islands dominated by vegetation. We took some time to stroll around Ybor City, which is a historical district that once contained plenty of cigar manufactures with workers coming mostly from Cuba, Spain and Italy.The next day we rambled around the Suwannee River, and the swamps  near Salem. With our rental SUV we drove across those quiet lands,  feeling the blissful peace that lies in places unexplored. The swamps and its flora, so characteristic from this area make it all so whimsical and otherworldly, with the Spanish moss floating in the warm breeze.Our quest for alligators and knowing that they're all around this part of the US made us cautious but also super alert, always trying to find them. This way we learnt to be attentive and on the lookout for all kinds of animals during this trip. This time we saw no alligator but a huge black snake crossed our path and it was fascinating to see it rise from the ground like it was dancing to a charmer's pungi music.  Before Alabama we still got to visit St. Marks National Wildlife Refuge, which is so calm and full of birds and has beautiful views over the Apalachee Bay.To conclude this post I have to say that I'm sooooo in love with swamps and the exotic vegetation I found. Next state: Alabama. Stay tuned. <3         

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

Dreamy Turquoise

We arrived at Playa del Carmen late and stayed at a lovely renovated place just 2 streets away from the beach. After we explored a bit we came to the conclusion that most accesses to the beach are made through the hotels, so most of the beach area is "private". This bugged us a bit, but made us explore the coast on the following days.We visited the Mayan ruins in Tulum and it was freaking hot, so we had to hydrate and didn't miss the chance to have some natural fruit sorbets! After that we went to the beach in the surroundings and got to scuba dive in the Mesoamerican Reef. After it, we had dinner at Antojitos La Chiapaneca, an amazing traditional restaurant with great local food. I also got to buy a red dress with embroidered flowers and a blanket in pastel colours.We visited a pretty cool turtle sanctuary and hung around the beautiful turquoise water beaches that exist between the huge resorts. There are no people there because you can only go by car and also because people from the resorts don't bother to walk a lot to find their place in the sun! 🌞If you're into ethnical clothing, accessories and decor, you'll go nuts because there are so many beautiful things in the shops. I specially loved a shop called Rosalia. They have amazing clothing, tapestry and other cool things from all around Mexico and the concept is really cool. Can you spot the iguana in the picture below?With this post I close my first Mexican chapter, hoping to get back one day and explore the whole country. ❤️

Hola Mexico!

Luis and I arrived in Cancún at lunch time and as soon as we picked our super cheap rental car we started driving towards Valladolid. We didn't take the highway, so we got to drive in a road that connects little villages. And what a road! We drove through the wonderful jungle and met the people from those pueblos, who are actual Mayans (some of them don't even speak Spanish)! We saw the most amazing pink sunset and took our time absorbing little things that crossed our path, from Mexican red rump tarantulas to amazing birds (Altamira Oriole) and their hanging nests.Just a bit before we got to our destination we found a village that was having a traditional popular party. We had dinner there and that was where our gastronomic journey began! Maybe because we were the tallest ones over there, there were a few people staring at us. I guess they're not very used to having tourists attending their parties. Mayans speak really low, so apart from the music you could almost hear the crickets. Everybody was warm and beautiful in their own way. Women were all wearing the famous Yucatan traditional dresses, blouses and skirts embroidered with amazing flowers, which I'll forever be in love with.Valladolid is a very cute little city, with a stunning tiny park (La Mestiza) in front of the church (San Gervacio). It was late when we arrived so most things were already closed. We took a stroll around and came across Coqui Coqui's perfume shop and hat shop (they also have a restaurant and hotels, where I would stay if I go back, for sure). Both shops are amazingly decorated and made me want to live there without even knowing their products!The next morning we visited Chichen Itza, which is much more than a big Mayan pyramid! It is a city, a civilisation, there are so many thing to see and to feel over there. It's so mystical and beautiful. By the way, if you're thinking about buying cool souvenirs, don't miss the opportunity to bargain.One thing that amazes me is how Mexicans use colours! They are surely not afraid of them and they write on the walls to publicise a vast extent of things, from Coca-Cola to the next parties in town.  We stopped for lunch in a village and we ate a mix of amazing food! Don't be afraid with the looks of the Loncherias, the more simple and humble the place looks, the better the food will be. Everything is so fresh and tasty! Imagine how hysterical I got when I learnt that every meal should be accompanied by Agua de Jamaica or Horchata (two of my favourite beverages in the world).We decided to drive around and found these pink salines. They're the first pink ones I saw in real life, and what made them even more special were the flamingos in the lake nearby, in Dzemul. As if pink lakes and flamingos weren't enough, we were able to see some pretty cool pelicans in Progresso.After this we got in the car and started driving towards Merida, our next stop. <3

January in Israel

Starting the new year traveling came as a surprise. I've always traveled with Luis in Winter when I was in college because we had time then, but we got super bored of traveling to countries colder than Portugal. Traveling in Winter can be a struggle for me because first of all I hate cold weather and second because it never seems to cooperate with our plans. Anyhow, we kick-started the year with the decision to spend my birthday in Israel, as the weather is only mildly cold in January.We arrived in Tel Aviv late at night and rented a car, so the next day we headed up North. We downloaded Israel map from google maps and our drive went smoothly, this system helped us driving in other countries many times before. Anyway, most of the freeway signs are written in hebrew, arabic and english. We stopped at Tel Megiddo, a village that goes back as far as 7000BC!We decided to go East, skipping Haifa, which is on the coast, North of Tel Aviv, because it was going to rain all day over there. We opted to go to Nazareth where it rained a little as well, but we were able to hide from it under the market's roofs. I guess that the reason why many of the stands were closed is because it's low season. But I can assure you that it's still wonderful to walk around those maze like markets, in the Old City. We visited Basilica of the Annunciation, where they have a lot of mosaic and tile panels that were gifts from countries all over the world! It's really cool to see how Virgin Mary is  interpreted in so many different cultures.After Nazareth we headed to the Sea of Galilee. (Everything sounds so biblical!) When we were getting out of Nazareth, which is on a hill we saw a mind blowing rainbow and though there were clouds, the whole place was flooded with a beautiful golden light. It was miles away from a normal cloudy grey sky.Because Israel is a tiny country, we were able to arrive in Jerusalem by 9pm. We didn't go to a restaurant because we went to a supermarket and bought a lot of cheap and amazing Israeli food (such as hummus and pita bread). Our hotel stood a short walk away from the Old City of Jerusalem and the next day we made our entrance through Jaffa Gate.On many of the alleyways you'll be able to find amazing food and pomegranate juice. By accident we came upon Zalatimo, which has a rather controversial reputation. As we were already there, we decided to try the famous mutabak. We ordered 2 coffees and a mutabak with nuts. I have to say that the pastry was incredibly delicious but paying about 11€ for the three things sounds like a ripoff. Nevertheless, I would eat it again!Jerusalem is divided in 4 quarters: Jewish, Christian, Muslim and Armenian. And you can really see the difference when transitioning from one to the other. As I'm not muslim I couldn't enter the walls that lead to the Dome of the Rock (on the photo above), which was really disappointing as I would have loved to see that tile work closer.As a city that welcomes crowds of religious tourists and curious from all over the world, I was expecting to be crushed by excursion groups but that was not the case. We just walked around, sometimes entering some dark little passages that end up in patios. We never felt in danger and you can see a lot of police and military around.The Church of the Holy Sepulchre is a very peculiar place. It is said that Jesus was crucified there, as well as buried. It has a lot of chapels and the decor is super eccentric. There you can find people manifesting their faith in a lot of unusual ways. There was a lady that was rubbing each day of a daily appointment book on the Stone of Anointing (the place where Jesus's body was prepared to be buried). There were also people pouring oils and spreading their new souvenirs all over, in order to bless them (fake Michael Kors bags included!).After the Holy Sepulchre Church we visited the Western Wall. For us it was super odd, as there are not many jews in Portugal, and though I've lived in Antwerp for a while, which is a city with loads of them, it was truly enriching to see the way they worship god and their traditions.I guess that one day in Jerusalem is maybe too short to visit everything, but we actually ended our visit at around 4pm, with the beautiful sight of the Mount of Olives and still had time to get to the Mahane Yehuda Market. There we bought what would be our dinner later on: fresh bread, olives, some snacks and the most amazing Labneh with olive oil and Za'atar.As we only had 5 days to explore Israel and in between we also wanted to visit Petra, in Jordan, we had to plan our route in advance. One thing we had to consider was the weekend, which is actually on Fridays and Saturdays. During these days nothing happens and most places are closed or open only for a couple of hours.<3

Last days in Havana

So, on our last days in Havana, we walked around a lot and were able to find this amazing old theatre that is now a carpentry. Also in walks we couldn't help starring at the women practicing Santeria at Plaza de la Catedral, I just love their style! <3We really walked and walked and walked! From Habana Vieja to Centro Habana, we just rambled around. We actually started walking on the Malecón and only stopped after we walked for 14km. On our way we saw 2 women having a very dark Santeria ritual where they were killing a chicken right next to a bay. How bizarre!? Then we took a bus, which cost only a few cents to come back. That way it was possible to get to know Havana's surroundings, and we didn't meet any tourists on our way there and back.La Bodeguita del Medio and El Floridita are two of the most famous bars in Havana, where Ernest Hemingway used to hangout. Today they're crowded with tourists but the old environment is still striking. On the way between both bars we bumped into some people in the street selling puff pastry treats filled with guava paste. They're absolutely delicious!We went to La Guarida, to book an early dinner and we fell in love with the old building. The dinner was good and I would tell you to order as many starters and desserts as you're able to. When you're finished head to the rooftop terrace to enjoy the sunset and the view of nightlife starting to burst. After our dinner we proceeded to have a couple more drinks and soak in the culture one last time.<3