Exploring Barcelona.

Last week was a "reading week" for me at University and so instead of doing all the reading I probably should have been doing, I went to Barcelona for a few days with my family instead!

It was an incredible trip and we did so much sightseeing, exploring many of Barcelona's top attractions:

- Flamenco at Palau Musica Catalana

- "Arena" shopping centre at the old bullfighting ring

- La Sagrada Familia

- Casa Mila

- Park Guell

- Picasso Museum

- Boadas Cocktail Bar

- Magic Fountains

- Santa Maria del Mar Cathedral

- Las Ramblas

- Barcelona Cathedral

I thought I would share a few of my photos with you all, showing some of my favourite places that we went to...

La Sagrada Familia was by far my favourite place that we visited in Barcelona. It was the most incredible Cathedral, and 100% the biggest I've ever seen. It was designed by Gaudi over 100 years ago and is still being built today! The main interior of the cathedral was breathtakingly big, with massively high ceilings and beautiful stain glass windows in different colours covering the walls.

We also visited Park Guell and Casa Mila which were both designed by Gaudi and had amazing architecture. The amount of detail and work that went into his designs was just incredible.

"Boadas" is the oldest cocktail bar in Barcelona, and definitely made the most impressive cocktails I've ever seen! They were as good as they looked...!

This was a view from just above where the Magic Fountains were... unfortunately we showed up with hundreds of other people to see them and they weren't actually on that night due to a change in times for the winter!

I had such a fun time in Barcelona with my family and I especially loved seeing all the amazing buildings with the crazy architecture! I hope everyone else who had a half term had a good one! xo

xo

Lake Maggiore - Italy.

Ciao Bella! I have just been on an amazing family holiday to Lake Maggiore in Italy. We stayed in probably the nicest hotel I've ever stayed at - we had rooms with beautiful views across the lake, the food was delicious and everyone was so friendly! There was a lovely swimming pool at the hotel as well, so we had a couple of afternoons/evenings sunbathing and swimming.

We went on several boat trips visiting different small islands on the lake and exploring other nearby towns. 

One of the days was a bit overcast and rainy, so we decided to take a trip up to Switzerland for the day (only a 45 minute drive!) and go to a hot springs pool which also had flumes and diving platforms. It was so much fun - there was even a vertical flume leading into a small loop the loop, which was the scariest, craziest, best thing ever! I don't think the picture below does it justice but it gives you an idea...

Whilst we were in Switzerland we also visited Madonna del Sasso, a church set in the hills above Locarno.

As well as eating waaaaay too much Italian food, we had a lot of evening cocktails at our hotel which were so yummy but very alcoholic! I don't know what it is but I always find that cocktails taste so much nicer when you're on holiday...

Ciao Italia... hopefully I'll be back soon! xo

 p.s. apologies for falling off the blogging wagon... hopefully I'll be posting more regularly and reliably now I'm going back to university and getting into a routine again!

French Adventures and Beautiful Beads.

Last week I went on holiday to France with my family. We went to a beautiful island to the west of France called Ile de Re. I really love going to France as it's so close and the food especially is amazing! On our way there we stopped off in La Rochelle for lunch and I couldn't help but take photos of the old buildings which were truly beautiful.

To get to Ile de Re you have to cross a massive bridge from mainland France to the island which was super exciting. Even though there are proper roads in Ile de Re there is a strong emphasis on cycling, with many different cycling tracks taking you all over the island. Now cycling really isn't my favourite thing to do but as it is 'what you do' over there and my family were keen we hired bicycles for the week. It turned out to be so much fun (and also very tiring!) and you could see much more of the island by bicycle than you could by car which was cool. They have lots of amazing salt flats - where unsurprisingly they make salt! 

When we weren't cycling madly around or playing tennis on the courts we found, we went to the beach or relaxed by the pool at our house we were staying in. The pool was amazingly lovely and warm, as was the temperature! One of the days we didn't go out properly as it was 30 degrees! It was almost too hot to sunbathe properly...

On our way home we stopped off in Dinan which is probably one of my favourite places in France. It is a medieval town with lots of amazing old buildings and such a lovely vibe/feel to it. It also has incredible creperies!

In Dinan my mum and I found a bead shop and just HAD to go in and have a look, much to my dads dismay! We spent a very long time looking at all the beautiful and colourful beads and picking our favourites. There were so many colours and styles to choose from! I have never seen so many beads in my life and I loved it.

In the end I went for a simple silver charm with a black thread but I also got a coin charm as I am obsessed with old coins! We also bought lots of beads and different colour threads for various necklaces we want to make for ourselves and other people.

Au revoir France...

xo

Cardiff Adventures.

This week I went to Cardiff for a couple of days to stay with one of my best friends. We always have so much fun when we get together and this time was no different!

I arrived on the Monday and after a quick pub dinner we went straight out to GLAM nightclub which was hysterical. For some reason we got given VIP wristbands and were let in for free and throughout the night they kept handing out cakes, sweets and CDs! We had such a great time dancing that we didn't want to leave...

After bacon sandwiches the next morning we set off into the city to do a spot of shopping (which I'll do a different blog post on) and then went out for a lovely lunch/dinner at Wagamamas!

We shared the chicken and prawn Pad Thai and the chicken Katsu Curry - both were delicious...

On my last day just before I got the train home we found a cute little restaurant called Cittas and had the most amazing Italian food! It was all freshly made to order and I would definitely recommend eating there if you are ever in Cardiff.

It really enjoyed going to Cardiff for the first time, despite the fact that after wondering why the train went through the longest tunnel I'd ever been in, I was informed that it was because the train was going under the sea!

 

xo

Italy Dreams.

My all time dream is to go to Italy.

I went to Venice with my parents and my sister when I was younger and it was so beautiful. However I don't know if I truly appreciated the beauty of it and recently I've been dreaming/wishing/wanting to  go again, along with visiting other places in Italy such as Florence, Verona and Rome.

Italy has a certain beauty about it and I feel drawn to it even through pictures and photos.

Hopefully I will be going next year with a family friend and perhaps our sisters too... if everything goes to plan! I think it would be so fun to interrail/travel around Italy with friends I've known since I was born. Our parents went to university together and so we often go on holidays with them anyway and we all get on really well.

But for now all I can do is lust over photographs and dream about it...

until next summer

xo