NAVACERRADA - visiting Madrid's snowy mountains

TERVETULOA ESPANJAAN. Pakatkaa sandaalit mukaan ja pitäkää huoli, ettei viinilasi pääse tyhjenemään. Ei kun, hetkinen...

WELCOME TO SPAIN. So, ladies and gentlemen, pack your sandals with you and make sure your wine glass doesn't get empty. Wait, what? 

Mäpä kerron teille hauskan jutun: näiden kuvien oton jälkeen, pari viikkoa eteenpäin, +26 lämpö iski Madridiin. Heh, kivat kontrastit. Okei, ja ehkä kerron sellaisenkin jutun, että korkeuseroa on sellainen kilometri verrattuna kaupunkiin, sillä vuorien korkein huippu kohoaa yli kahden kilometrin korkeuteen ja Madridin kaupunki itse on yli 600 metrissä. Ehkä sekin selittää jotain. Joka tapauksessa oli kiva päästä näkemään lunta pitkästä aikaa sekä todistaa muutamien latinojen ilonkiljahduksia ja -kyyneleitä bussissa, kun he näkivät ekan kerran elämässään lunta :D

Let me tell you a fun fact: there were only three weeks in between taking these photos and experiencing a +26C warmth. To be fair, the altitude isn't the same as the mountains soar up to one kilometre higher than the city, which is around 600 metres above sea level. (Could have something to do with the cold...) Anyway, it was nice to see snow again after a long time and witness some latinos' squeals and tears of joy when they saw this white substance for the first time in their lives. :D

Olihan se pulkka pakko vuokrata, vaikka en uskaltautunut kenenkään kanssa istuutumaan siihen.(musta tollaiset "koholla" olevat pulkat ja stiigat on niin pelottavia!) Venezuelalainen kaveri innostu niin paljon, että taisi vedellä muovipussilla mäkeä alas silloin, kun pulkka oli käytössä. Pari pientä lumiukkoa ja lumikuvaussessiot ja eväät - siinäpä meidän luminen päivä!

Of course, we had to rent a sleigh - I just wasn't brave enough to ride it with anyone else but by myself. (I find this kind of sleighs that have an upper part extremely frightening!) My Venezuelan friend was so intrigued by the snow that he kept going up and down with a plastic bag when the sleigh was occupied. A few small snowmen, snow photo shoot and snacks - that's what our snowy day was like!

Tuonne vuorille pääsee tosiaan helposti bussilla numero 691 Moncloasta (pysäkin nimi Puerto de Navacerrada) Mä tulin eilen meidän pikareissulta Toulousista, joten siitä lisää pian sitten. Hyvää viikonloppua kaikille <3 (torstaina ei ole yhtään liian aikaista toivottaa sitä;))

You can reach the mountains by the bus number 691 which leaves from Moncloa (the stop is called Puerto de Navacerrada) Yesterday, I came back from our weekend trip to Toulouse, so you'll get to hear about that very soon. Have a super nice weekend everybody <3 (it's not at all too early to wish it on a Thursday;))

DAY TRIP TO WICKLOW MOUNTAINS, IRELAND

Ah Irlanti - Se vihreä maa, josta haltijat ja keijut tulevat. Lähdin ulos tutkimaan, miltä heidän luonto näyttää!

Ireland - the green land of leprechauns and fairies. I went out there to discover what all their nature was about.

This is where our tour started - the archway leads to a graveyard and a former church 

Hearing about the Celts and pagan rituals 

So much GREEN!

I met Hiroki at our hostel's breakfast and he decided to join me on this journey!

The right time & right place

At this point I was freeeezing 

Mä olin siis varannut etukäteen (tai oikeastaan setäni varasi, tack tack!) päiväreissun Glendaloughiin ja Wicklown vuoristoon (sekä Kilkennyn kylään, josta kerron sitten toisessa postauksessa) Wild Rover Toursilla ja täytyy sanoa, että olen kyllä niin ilonen, että varasin tämän! Bussit ja opastetut kierrokset maksoivat opiskelijalta vain 28€ ja meidän opas kertoi kaikenlaisia tarinoita Irlannin kansanperinteistä. Ainut pieni huono puoli tässä reissussa oli se, että musta tuli taas 5-vuotias, kun kohtasin matkapahoinvoinnin bussissa. Ihan älytöntä; täytän ensi kuussa 20 ja vieläkin ilmeisesti tulee paha olo. Kannatti kuitenkin kärsiä vähän, koska noi näkymät oli ihan mielettömät!

I had reserved this day trip (actually was my uncle, thanks!) to Glendalough and Wicklow mountains (+Kilkenny village which I'll show you guys in another post) with Wild Rover Tours and was super pleased with it. The buses & guided tours only cost €28 as a student and the our tour guide told us lots of interesting bits and pieces of information about Irish folklore. The only bad thing was that I became my 5-year-old self because I felt travel sick. I don't understand; I'm gonna turn 20 next February and apparently I still get sick. Not cool. But it was worth suffering for these gorgeous views - just look at them!

Trip to Tallinn Day 2

Our first destination on the second day was Pirita. It's a neighbourhood 10 kilometres away from the centre of Tallinn so we had to take a bus to get to Pirita beach. The heat was unbearable, once again, so we bought some nice icecream, which, of course, started to melt straight away. It was awesome to walk around in the shallow sea since even after walking metres away from the shore, it was only up to my knees.

After that we walked through a nice little forest well, an area full of trees towards the toilets and shower. We then had to go to the TV tower, which is pretty near to the beach, but it said on our map that it's closed on Tuesdays. I still don't know whether that was true or not, but we decided to go back to the centre.When I rummaged in my wallet for bus money, I realized these 20 cent coins from six different countries. So cool, I just had to capture them! By the way, one student ticket cost 80 cents in Tallinn, which is one quarter of the ticket price in Kuopio. Wow. My Estonian friend told me that the bus is even free for the residents of Tallinn. How awesome is that?

Next we did a bit of shopping at the Rotermann, which has a nice mixture of modern and old buildings. It has to be my favourite shopping area in Tallinn! This time I left empty-handed but at least my wallet wasn't complaining. Haha. We had to check out this renowned pancake house called Kompressor in the Old Town. And I have to admit, those pancakes were delicious! I myself had the feta pancake with smoked chicken and it was such massive a portion I couldn't even finish it! I would've wanted to try the sweet pancakes, but they had to wait as my - just like no one else's - stomach is unbounded. It would be so cool if that weren't the case. I mean, at least when abroad it would be great to taste as many dishes as possible! Did I mention these babies only cost about four euros? Almost too good to be true.

After eating our pancakes, we headed full and satisfied to a tower museum Kiek in de Kök. It basically tells about the Second World War including bombing, plague, weapons and digging the secret tunnels under Tallinn, which still partly remain a mystery. We visited the tunnels on day three, so more of them in the next post.

This five-storey tower didn't have the easiest stairs to climb up.

Museums like this make you think of life today and how much of an impact history has on it. It's weird to think that only thirty years ago Estonia was part of Soviet Union with all the strict regulations... But never mind the past, after the museum it was time to eat (again) so we dined in a pizzeria called Pizza Grande situated in Old Town.

The pizza was the usual, but it was weird how this restaurant had run out of salads and pastas. They had absolutely none of the salads or pasta dishes, even though they had them written on the menu. Doesn't sound very professional... But the pizza was alright. Mine had ham, blue cheese, peach and pineapple in it. Anything with blue cheese is just a 'yes, please' for me! And this last photo is a weird car we came across walking around Old Town. This day was full of seeing new places, walking, eating and just a bit more walking. I had just realised my comfortable flats had officially turned into the shoes from hell. Oh wow. And still one more day to go...

A Heavenly Place in the French Riviera

This pretty place is called Gorges du Verdon. It's actually not on the coast but in the inland of  the section of Var in Côte d'Azur. I guess this must have been one of the cherries on the top during my trip. I mean... just look at the perfectly turquoise water! The sun was shining and no one was busy (unlike during our other trips to cities and beaches farther away) The funnest part was moving around with paddle boats, which turned out to be so much fun. You could also rent a canoe if you wanted to.

The atmosphere was a lot like in those movies where lovers go relaxing in some lagoon. People were paddling, canoeing, jumping off the cliffs and swimming. All you could see were gorges, waterfalls and trees. I could even say that I wasn't in this world at that moment, I was completely elsewhere.

A cliché holiday photo, but I love the vivid colour of the water! (and my tan, haha)

After paddling around we were glad to find a stall that sold food and water. Just what we needed after this exercise! We would have had a few more hours to sunbathe but it started to rain - yes, it does rain once in a while over there! - and we had to leave. A bit of shame really.

Have you been to beautiful places which aren't that well-known? I'd love to hear from them!