When Greece became a travel destination for me and the islands were discarded (I will eventually go back there to sail them), my fear was to start visiting too many ruins, which I might not find interesting. I seldom normally like archeological museums, and I kind of thought this might be similar… I was completely wrong. Seeing the ruins in the actual locations made a complete different experience for me.
Delphi was the first one of these ruins. We arrived the night before to the town which has emerged to accommodate services for the visitors of the ruins of Ancient Delphi, the main temple in the Ancient Greece. This was a pilgrimage destination for those who wanted to consult the oracle, in this sanctuary located in a wonderful place, on a hillside facing East, of course.
According to the Greek Mythology, Delphi is the center of the World, and home of the oracle. The oracle was consulted by many people in their decisions. From marriage or merchant decisions made by regular people, to wars or alliances consultancy made by emperors and kings. The oracle spoke through the sybil (a priestess), who entered in trance and communicated with the oracle who then translated it to the people. Delphi had a huge temple devoted to Apollo (the God for fortune teller among other “responsibilities”), and it received gifts from every Greek city and state, who wanted to please the Gods. These gifts had the shape of small temples which kept the treasures. Only some remains are still in place, but you can still imagine how impressive entering in that place was. Delphi still preserves part of its stadium and theatre, where the worshippers probably had some leisure before returning to their homes.
On our way out from Delphi, we also visited the Athena Pronae temple, devoted to Athena, which is the Goddess for fertility, health and wisdom. This was normally the first stop before reaching Delphi, and it also had plenty of small temples/treasures by the different cities, like the main temple.
Further South, we took a small detour to visit the Hosios Lukas monastery from the byzantine times, also a World Heritage Site. This monastery is still active, and the monks can be seen doing daily activities like watering the plants, in an very well preserved monastery in a calm and peaceful environment.
Before arriving to Nafplio, we had to cross the Corinth Canal, and as engineers, we spent a good time there. We observed the operations of the boats crossing from one side to the other, some without assistance (sailing boats, yachts), some with a tugboat (merchant ships). I had not seen before such a big canal, and I must admit I was impressed. Talking about Canals, this is not big neither in width (21 m) nor in length (6 km), although its depth is quite something (45 m). It made somehow sense that some of the former rulers in Greece came with the idea of this canal already in the 7th century BC, although it was not carried out till the late 19th century… because building a canal is not an easy job in any circumstance.
After our first experience with ruins and having had fun at the canal, our next stop was Nafplio, which was a major contrast from the earlier ruins. Nafplio is the ancient capital of Greece, and the first things that arises your attention is the Venetian influence in its architecture. When I started walking around, it reminded me to the ambiance in Ibiza (in the town) during summer, with the people just willing to enjoy, do shopping, and eat in the terraces of the restaurants, under the beautiful bougainvillea that bring color to the streets. The city is heavily fortified: it has two fortress on top of the nearby hill, and one at the entrance of the port. The port is not very busy in terms of boat traffic, and has not many services. I was surprised to see that the sailing boats used the anchor inside the port, as there was no buoy.
Nafplio would not have probably been part of our itinerary if it did not have nearby the Mykenes city remains. This city was much older (15th century BC) than the Delphi or any other temple built in the Golden Age of Greece, and the conservation status is also worse. Still, some advanced engineering features could be seen, like the cistern to collect water, which we could almost see in action, thanks to a sudden storm that caught us inside it.
After Nafplio, we went back towards Athens, surrounding it during the rush hour, as we headed East through the Apollo Coast. This is the holiday and weekend destination of the Athens people, as it is nearby, and the high standards can be seen. We saw many private beaches, lots of private marinas with huge boats, and the space became less busy and inexpensive as we got away from Athens.
The whole reason behind this tour was to reach the Temple of Poseidon, in Sounion. The sunset there must be amazing, but we were unlucky with the clouds. In any case, with or without sunset, the location of this temple was also breathtaking on top of a hill in a cave, with a gorgeous view of the seas, very appropriate for the God of the Seas. Perfect last sight before returning to Athens…
After many small towns and lots of driven kilometres, finally staying for a few days in a city felt like heaven. Unfortunately, I did not have enough time to feel the city vibe as I would have liked. I have the feeling I saw the main spots, but have not experienced the city enough, which seems to be also an interesting part of Athens.
The musts in Athens include of course the Parthenon, which is unfortunately always packed with tourists (even at early times), the nearby Roman Agora, and the most impressive Ancient Agora, which is the old Greek city.
If you have not been to Greece, go there. Take some time to explore the Ancient Greece sites. They will not deceive you.
Belgium was not in my list of next destinations, but as I had to go there for a Toastmasters meeting, I decided to extend my stay for a week and discover it. Belgium is a country, which is not known for their touristic interest (especially for a one-week long trip), but that would allow me to be more relaxed during that time, which is also nice. After checking with friends with some local expertise, I decided to establish my base in Brussels after the 3-day meeting in Leuven, and do day-trips from there, and then go to the Netherlands in the weekend.
Belgium is a quite complex country in spite of its small size. Nowadays, we see a clear language difference: the Northern people speak Flemish (Dutch), while the Southern ones speak French. The only officially bilingual city in the country is Brussels. This is the outcome of a very convulse history with many countries invading this area for centuries (for instance, French language in Belgium is the result of an invasion back in the 5th Century). Belgium has been under Spanish, Austrian, French and Dutch rule, before its final independence in 1830. 
Independence did not bring them peace, though. Belgium was also invaded in both World Wars. It was after the World War II, in 1948 that together with France, Germany, and the other countries in the Benelux, the first seeds of the European Union were planted. The goal was to avoid more wars in Europe, and the vehicle to do so was an agreement on one of the most important resources in Europe: the coal and the steel in Central Europe. It all began with a cooperation agreement on the coal and steel, led by Robert Schuman (French Foreign Affairs Minister), in 1950. Their idea was that, being the coal and the steel strategic assets, if they agreed on it, it would be impossible to enter again in a war. This first intention evolved into more aspects, like an economic union or the citizenship, as well as growing the number of countries, and the main institutions of the European Union were established in Brussels: the Parlament (although its official headquarter is Strasbourg), and the Commission, apart from several agencies.
Apart of Europe HQ, Belgium is worldwide known for one more thing: beer. They have hundreds of them, with a specific glass for every single beer to boost the characteristics of the beer. Everything has a beginning and beer history in Belgium is quite interesting. In the Middle Ages, water quality was not that good, and Saint Arnold (who happens to be the patron saint of the brewers) promoted that people drank beer instead of water, so that some diseases could be avoided. Beer was at that time brewed mainly in the Monasteries, and this production started to happen as well outside the religious circles. In the 19th century, the monasteries brewed again as a way to get funds, due to a bad financial situation provoked by the religious crisis. Nowadays, beer production, even if originally made by monks, has been outsourced, except six of them, the Trappist, which are still brewed in active abbeys: Chimay, Orval, Westmalle, Rocheforst, Achel, and Westvleteren.
Travelling in this area has several common items. One of them are the Béguinages/Beginjhofs, enclosed urban villages, which used to host beguines, single women, who although not making any formal religious vows, formed monastic-like communities where they could live as long as they remain unmarried, which normally meant the whole life. The Belfries are towers that seem to be part of churches, but they are not, as they were built to celebrate civic liberties and wealth in the Middle Ages. Food-wise, I discovered their love for the mussels, which are served with fries (they claim to have invented them too) in almost any place, and of course, waffles and chocolate are also known worldwide. 
Going back to the actual trip, I started it in Leuven (A), a small town East of Brussels, for a Toastmasters weekend. It is home of the first university in Belgium, and its Town Hall tried to compete with the Brussels’ one in size, although it would be better off in other categories, like its ornate Gothic facade. Its Béguinage belongs nowadays to the University, and is used to accomodate teachers and students. 
After Leuven, I moved to Brussels, which seemed to me an interesting city to spend some months or even years as an expat, but probably not the best place to settle down. From what I heard, you should keep your eyes open and safety is not one of their strengths (although I did not experience anything wrong myself). Brussels top sight is of course the Grande Place. It is an extremely nice spot, with the different guild houses competing one to each other in beauty, and a huge town hall.
In the city centre, the Galeries St.Hubert are also worth a visit, the mandatory Manekken Pis (really small one), and the nice atmosphere at the Place Sainte Catherine. The EU-Area is interesting from the point of view that most of the citizens in Brussels work in something related to the institutions, and it also hosts the Parlamentarium, a museum about the European Union which can make you spend a complete morning reading and watching all the info they have. Last but not least, a visit to the Atomium to see this original construction built in 1958 for the Expo is worth the long tram ride.
From Brussels, I did two day trips. The first one was to Brugge and Gent, which are the cities that attract most tourists, and there is a very good reason for that. Both of them keep a medieval atmosphere that makes its visit very entertaining, although most of them were destroyed after the wars, and were reconstructed thinking on the tourism. Brugge (1) was part of the Hanseatic League back in the 14th Century, as its harbour was one of the major ones in the North of Europe. The merchants at that time used to meet at the Inn of the Van der Buerse family to trade, and from those meetings comes the name “Bourse”, which is stock market in French. During the 15th century the Zwin, a big channel that arrived to Brugges, silted up and Brugge had no access to the sea, going through a deep economic crisis till the 20th Century brought the tourism back to the city. Brugge has a number of interesting buildings, and sights, but I would highlight the Gotische Zaal in the Stadhuis.
On the other hand, Gent (2) looks a bit more “normal”, with a nice combination of old reconstructed buildings with newer and more functional ones. Its importance in history is out of question, as it even was the third largest medieval city, only after Paris and Constatinople. Gent also went through some centuries of recession, till the Industrial Revolution brought a number of flax and cotton mills to the city. If you like fortresses, its Belfort is a really nice piece to visit; and the same applies with the Dulle Griet bar in the Vrijdagsmarkt if you like beer. 
The second day trip covered the East part: Liège and Namur. These are not extremely touristic and not a must in Belgium, I must admit. Liège (3) is today a modern city with a river, and I found it a probably nice place to live, but not to visit. Historically-wise, it was a historic religious center, governed by the Prince-Bishops until the end of the 18th Century, and it has always been a key place for industry: arms and gunpowder till the 17th Century, and home of steel and glass factories since the 19th Century. What I really liked was the way that the train took from Namur to Liege close to the river Mense and with really nice views, before arriving to Santiago Calatrava’s main train station. Namur (4) is a small town with just one interesting item: a fortress occupies a big rock in the middle of the city, which can be visited on your own, offering you nice views of the rest of the city, but nothing impressive either. 
After a week in Belgium, I still managed to pay a quick visit to the Netherlands. We established the base of operations in Leiden (C), a relaxed town, with an important university and full of nice channels. 
Our first visit was the Afsluitdijk (5), the Closure Dike, in the north of Amsterdam. Driving through it is quite spectacular, as it is a 32 km-long dike in the middle of two seas: North Sea and the Ijsselmeer. It is one of the main constructions that allowed a big portion of the current Netherlands to emerge. Being in a windy day, with waves at both sides of the dike, it is hard to imagine how they could built it in just 5 years, and almost a century ago… between 1927 and 1932. 
Saturday afternoon was the right moment for The Hague (6). The city is alive, and hosts the International Court. From a tourist point of view, its Begijnhof is worth a visit, but what really surprised me was the beach area. It has a number of restaurants and many other attractions for the spare time, while the sun sets behind the oil platforms in the North Sea. 
Haarlem (7) was the perfect closing for the week on Sunday: channels, the Great Church, mills and a well-preserved Beginjhof, before returning to the Charleroi airport.
There are several areas in the World quite interesting to look at nowadays. One of these places is Middle East. I found this video at TED which talks about Qatar. It is one of the Emirates in the Gulf area, which are using the money from the oil they are floating into designing attractive mini countries. These countries are becoming some of the centers of the World economy nowadays.
I have only been to the area once (apart from several connecting stops in Emirates’ Dubai airport), and it was in Winter… From what I know, summer is crazy, with temperature around 40-50 degrees as a constant. To give you an example, I was amazed when one of my colleagues there, refuelled the car without stopping the motor. At least in Europe, this is considered dangerous, as it can provoke an explosion… In Middle East, this is common practice, as refuelling without air conditioning can be even dangerous during summer. Back to the video, it does not have many components to learn from in a public speaking sense, but it does provide some good interesting data to look at:
I found these data very interesting, full of contradictions, changes and good looking plans… and also opportunities for my industry.
Conociendo las costumbres vacacionales de los habitantes de esta nuestra España, una buena parte de vosotros habréis oído alguna vez la expresión “la millor terreta del món” que, aunque valenciana, es fácilmente entendible por los castellanoparlantes. Hace unas cuantas semanas, a través de Facebook, llegué a la historia del origen de la expresión que se usa para referirse a Alicante, y qué mejor momento que este fin de semana, en el que yo mismo he venido a la “terreta”, para compartirla con vosotros.
La historia se remonta a mediados del siglo XIX, y su autor fue Mariano Roca de Togores y Carrasco, un noble de la época, de familia alicantina que, entre otras muchas cosas, fue Ministro en distintas ocasiones y Embajador en varias capitales europeas. Además, en su tiempo libre, era un escritor de todo tipo, desde historia, hasta poemas de amor.
Es en una carta en forma de poema que escribió a su amigo Manuel Bretón de los Herreros donde acuñó la expresión “la millor terra del món” hablando de Alicante:
Sepades, señor Bretón,
que de Poniente a Levante,
es sin disputa Alicante
la millor terra del món.
No tenía este poema un fin distinto que las fotos que hoy se cuelgan en Instagram: dar envidia… de lo bien que se vivía en Alicante, y de sus vistas, en comparación con Madrid. Además, envidia con conocimiento de causa, ya que el tal “señor Bretón” había pasado sus tiempos mozos en Alicante durante la Guerra de la Independencia, y Roca de Togores escribía desde su finca en Alicante, cerca de donde hoy se puede encontrar el Parque Municipal del Palmeral, en la zona sur de Alicante mirando al mar.
Me llaman la atención un par de cosas: primero el juego de idiomas que se gastaba, juntando el castellano con un par de palabras en valenciano. Y, segundo, siguiendo este mismo hilo, que el noble poeta era originario de Orihuela, tierra en la que hoy no se habla nada de valenciano, e incluso están exentos de su estudio por razones históricas.
Os dejo a continuación el poema completo. Recomiendo su lectura, ya que muchas estrofas son hoy en día más que aplicables.
“You haven’t been to Rome yet!?” I had heard this question for a long time, and I finally got a perfect excuse to visit it last month, counting with great “native” indications, which enhanced the experience in great manner.
I must admit that I was kind of skeptical regarding the “beauty” of Rome. For some reason, and in spite of the frequent recommendations, I was not expecting a big thing… but it did exceed my expectations. I confirmed that the often-heard sentence “Every corner you look at hosts either a ruin or a church” is not an exaggeration, but completely true.
It is so true, that one of the other frequent complaints, the traffic, is heavily affected by the ruins. They cannot build roads and buildings as they plan, because every meter they dig, they find something out, and must change the original project. The clearest case is how the Aqueducts force the street routes in the city.
Rome, as capital of Roman Empire, was in the “old good times” the biggest and most advanced city in the World, apart from the richest one, and you still feel it. This political power also led the Catholic Church to “set” their headquarters here. As Romans like to say (and I could agree with them) any regular Roman church could be a big cathedral in the rest of Europe.
If the historic perspective is not enough for you, add the excellent Italian food to the picture, and you get a great destination for a couple of free days. Have you been to Rome yet?
More pictures in this slideshow.
