I never thought I would have to try and imagine an Amsterdam without the coffeeshop experience. It’s like trying to imagine the country of Ireland banning Guiness Beer to all tourists; or the city of London, allowing only those who grew up with pound sterling in their pocket, to enter the front door. The object of your desire will still be there to tempt you, but you won’t be able to obtain it. Not without consequences at least. By the end of this year, it will be illegal for tourists to visit Amsterdam coffeeshops. And, it will be illegal for Dutch citizens to visit the cannabis coffee shops unless they have acquired a yearly membership to the ‘private club.’

Or will it be illegal?

The news about the ‘Dutch coffeeshop ban’ first hit last week and even received some press in the mainstream media outlets. Besides the proposed ban and the implementation of a ‘Weed pass’ –  or yearly membership for Dutch locals – the details are few and unclear. I just chatted with a Dutch friend, Marco, who has lived his entire life in Amsterdam. He ‘finds it hard to believe the Dutch government would go as far as banning the coffeeshops to tourists.’ He also mentioned there is ‘another political party that may try and step in.’ But even he was unclear on the situation and seemed to be starving for more details.

I talked with another friend, Dave, an American who frequents Amsterdam about 3 times a year. He is currently on the ground in Amsterdam and has been there for almost 2 months now. He mentioned ‘he has no idea what’s up but no one here gives a ‘bleep.’ Amsterdam at its finest.

Without concrete information, rumors are running rampant. Some suggest the Mayor of Amsterdam may have the key to make the final decisions, overriding any desire by the far right wing government and some say more details will be revealed later this month. But until more details are revealed, we may not really know the extent of this ban.

Or, if it will really happen.

read more

Lake Como, Lago di Como in Italian, is Italy's most popular lake and also its deepest. Lake Como is shaped like an inverted Y giving it a long perimeter. The lake is surrounded by beautiful villas and resort villages as well as hiking paths and it's popular for boat trips and water activities.

Lake Como, a popular destination since Roman times, is a top romantic travel destination and a great spot for photography.

Location:

Lake Como is in the northern Italian Lakes District. Lake Como lies between Milan and the border of Switzerland. It's southern tip is about 40km north of Milan. It is surrounded by mountains and hills.

Transportation to and from Lake Como:

Lake Como lies on the Milan to Switzerland train line. The train stops in the town of Como, the main town on the lake, where there is a tourist office in Piazza Cavour. The Ferrovia Nord Milano, a small train line that leaves Como from via Manzoni, runs only between Como and Milan. Milan's Malpensa Airport is 40 miles away. To get to Como from the airport, take the Malpensa Express Train to Saronna and transfer to train LeNord to Como.

Lake Como Transportation - Getting Around the Lake:

Ferries link the major villages and towns of Lake Como, providing both a good form of public transportation and a good way to do some sightseeing from the lake. There is also a bus system to villages around the lake. There are several funiculars to take you into the hills. You can rent cars in Como (Auto Europe rentals in Como) if you want to explore other nearby areas on your own.

Lake Como - When to Go:

Lake Como is a popular weekend destination for people from Milan so the weekdays may be less crowded. July and August are the most crowded months. Spring and Fall are the best times to visit as it is less crowded and the weather is usually pleasant. During the winter, some services may be closed, but you can ski in the mountains nearby.

Como and Lake Como Average Temperatures and Precipitation

Lake Como Festivals:

The Sagra di San Giovanni is celebrated the last weekend of June in the town of Como with folk arts and fireworks and in Ossuccio with a festival, boat procession, and boat race. The Palio del Baradello, a historical re-enactment, is the first week of September. Also in September is a traditional rowing race, Palio Remiero del Lario. LakeComo Festival features summer music performances in venues around the lake and there are gastronomic festivals in fall and drama from January through April.

Lake Como - Where to Stay:

Lake Como has a variety of lodging options, from campgrounds to elegant villas. Here are theTop User Rated Lake Como Hotels on Venere, 1-5 stars, around the lake. The elegant 5-star Grand Hotel Villa Serbelloni read reviews and book direct in Bellagio is a top luxury hotel on the lake and one of the oldest.

Lake Como Map and Pictures:

Our Lake Como map shows the major towns around the lake. For a look at the town of Como and the lake from there, see our Como Pictures or take a look at Bellagio, the Pearl of Lake Como, with our Bellagio Pictures.

Lake Como Shopping:

The town of Como has many silk factories so if you want to buy silk Como is a good place to go. Prices are low on designer fashion fabrics. Como also has a Silk Museum dating from 1900 where you can see the entire silk-making process.

Lake Como Attractions:

• Bellagio, known as the pearl of the lake, is in a beautiful setting where the three branches of Lake Como come together. It's easy to get to by ferry or bus from other cities on the lake. Read more in our Bellagio Travel Guide.
• The walled town of Como has a good historic center and lively squares with nice cafes. There are several walking paths near town. Como makes a good base if you're traveling by train. From Como you can take the funicular to the village of Brunate, 720m above Como, for hiking trails and beautiful views of the lake and the Alps.
• Villa d'Este, in the village of Cernobbio on the west coast, is the most famous of Lake Como's villas. The villa is now a luxury hotel on a wooded peninsula. Each of its 161 rooms is unique.
• Menaggio, against the mountains, is a lively resort with a lakeside promenade. Menaggio is popular with outdoor enthusiasts for walking or hiking, swimming, windsurfing, and rock climbing.
• Villa Carlotta, south of Menaggio, has beautiful gardens. You can tour the inside with its original 18th century furniture and art works.
• Villa del Balbianello, in the village of Lenno, is also worth a visit and has some unusual treasures. The villa was used as a set for one of the Star Wars movies.
• The fishing village of Varenna has picturesque narrow alleyways and streets below a castle and a lakeside walking path.
• Outdoor Activities - Biking, mountain biking, hiking, boating, paragliding and windsurfing. In the winter, you can ski in the nearby mountains.
• Cruises - there are some interesting cruises around the lake on commercial boats, mainly on weekends in the summer season.
• Camping - there are a number of campsites around the lake.

read more

Halloween is not an Italian holiday but it has been adopted to a limited extent in Venice and, because it involves a lot of elements that Italians like--ie, costumes, sweets, and kids on the loose--I suppose throughout most of the country. But here, trick-or-treaters don't go from house to house or apartment to apartment, but from shop to shop, as the kids will soon do for the upcoming Festa di San Martino on November 10.

Of course not everyone here is happy about Halloween's growing prominence. The Church of San Martino near the Arsenale posted a very stern notice--two actually, side by side--on the bulletin board in front of their door stating that they would have nothing at all to do with the holiday and its costumes and jack-o-lanterns and candy and other impious nonsense. On the evening of October 31 they would be saying a rosary for the souls of all the departed. 

And so they were, murmuring their way from bead to bead, when our sugared-up son and his school friend, fully-costumed and toting maniacally-grinning pumpkin bags filled with their hauls of candy, decided that the best place to stop and goof off and break into ear-splitting banshee screams was directly in front of the open church door.

It's almost as if they took the church notices as a challenge. But as neither of them is yet four years old, and neither can read, it must have just been instinctive primal hooliganism.

Of course we told them to keep it down and hurried them along, but I did so with a very rare sense that at least for a couple of minutes all was right in the world. The Church had done its part and announced what it considered appropriate activity on such a significant night and the pre-schoolers had done theirs and spontaneously flouted that same activitycon gusto.

For piety needs impiety to feel itself to the fullest, just as impiety needs piety to really have any fun. 

Now in this sense the ostensibly pious have it better these days than ever: they need only turn the computer or television or radio to buck themselves up. Their ancestors might have had to leave their house, or at least look out the window.

While the poor would-be impious of the Western world...! Their case is almost hopeless. When everything and everyone is relentlessly telling you to indulge your appetites and cravings it becomes hard to even recognize those appetites as your own, or as yourself. The only truly transgressive act is to become an ascetic.

But last night at San Martino with the barbarians--or pagans--running wild at the door of the church it all balanced out perfectly, as it so rarely does anymore. I hope at least one cranky churchgoer, or maybe the priest, caught sight of the costumed racket at the door and benefitted from its contrast to his or her own focus. And though neither my unlettered son nor his friend could appreciate the dynamic, I could and did. I considered it my very own Halloween treat.

read more

Just a funny thing we were going skiing yesterday, it was 20 degrees 0730 in the morning. unfortunately the ski lifts was not going due to too much wind. However we went to col du Lautaret we climbed a mounting (2h) and then sled down on the snow. Afterwards we went for a well deserved mountain meal in La Grave.

                           

So when travelling in France you soon come to realise the great diversity the country possesses. It it also very convenient, the distances are note very long and you can always find a stop that will be interesting and small cosy hostel are never far. Of course there exist some exceptions such as the French Riviera during the summer, it's really a mess. But some example of the diversity are the year around snowy mountains of the alps, lavender fields of Provence, old villages, hiking the grand canyon of Verdon, vineyard hopping, surfing the Atlantic waves and watching the sun set in the Atlantic ocean to cliff dives in the Mediterranean, driving along the Mediterranean coast with the windows down just enjoying the views and listening to your favourite music and all the buzzing medieval city centres most of this are within one day of driving.

Grenoble -> Lac du Sautet -> Digne Les Bains -> Castellane & the grand canyon of Verdon -> Grasse -> Cannes -> Sainte Auygulf -> Saint-Tropez -> Bandol & the island of Bender -> Marseille -> Aix en Provence -> Grand Motte -> Montpellier -> Banuyls-sur-Mer -> Andorra la Vella -> Biarritz -> Hossegor -> Saint-Girons-Plage -> Bassin d'Archachon & the great sand dunes of Pyla -> Bordeaux -> vineyards of Haute Médoc -> Lacanau -> Lascaux -> Grenoble

A great road trip!

The best meals was bouillabaisse in Marseille & beef with a perfect wine in Bordeaux

The best beaches are on the west coast, huge white sandy beached, in the Mediterranean the beaches close to the Hyeres area is the best.

Summer is turning into fall, and the first snow came on the mountain summits last weekend. It's feels great gazing up at the white snowy peaks, then you realise that ski season is not far away even if its still around 20 degrees in Grenoble, we are actually expecting 26 degrees this weekend.

Anyway since I'm not very synchronised with current events in this blog I intend to write some words about the events that took place in my life during august. It was vacation time.

To celebrate the vacation month we started the first of august by visiting Chamonix. Chamonix is very nice, I must say that it's one of few French alpine tourist villages that has kept its charms. I say tourist villages because there exist a lot of smaller not that famous villages that are very nice that not yet have been overexploited as many popular ski resort.

While in Chamonix we visited Aiguille the Midi looking down the vallée Blanche run you really looking forward to returning with your skis on. One of the few larger French ski resorts I didn't ski on last season. Of course you also have a decent panoramic view over the Mont Blanc massif. We were actually having dinner on the altitude of 3842m altitude, I must say I had some problem with the altitude feeling dizzy and nausea I was a bit surprised since I had been skiing on altitudes around 3300m before without any problems, but I guess I reached my threshold.

read more

The southern part of the old town, known as Lorenzer Seite, is separated from the north by the river Pegnitz and encircled to the south by the city walls.

Nuremberg Castle: three castles tower over the city, including the central burgraves' castle, with Free Reich's buildings to the east and the Imperial castle to the west. Heilig-Geist-Spital. In the center of the city, on the bank of the river Pegnitz, stands the Hospital of the Holy Spirit. Founded in 1332, this is one of the largest hospitals of the Middle Ages. Lepers were kept here at some distance from the other patients. It now houses elderly persons and a restaurant.

Hauptmarkt, which provides a picturesque setting and famous market for gingerbread. Nuremberg's star attraction is the Gothic Schöner Brunnen (Beautiful Fountain) which was erected around 1385 but subsequently replaced with a replica (the original fountain is kept in the Germanisches Nationalmuseum). The unchanged Renaissance bridge Fleischbrücke crosses the Pegnitz nearby.

The following churches are located inside the city walls: St. Sebaldus Church, St. Lorenz, Frauenkirche (Our Lady's Church), Saint Klara, Saint Martha, Saint Jakob, Saint Egidien, and Saint Elisabeth. Gothic St Lorenz-Kirche (St. Lorenz church, St. Lorenz), one of the most important buildings in Nuremberg. The main body was built around 1270-1350.

The church of the former Katharinenkloster is preserved as a ruin, the Cartause is integrated into the building of the Germanisches Nationalmuseum and the choir of the former Franzikanerkirche is part of a modern building. The Walburga Chapel and the Romanesque Doppelkapelle (Chapel with two floors) are part of Nuremberg Castle.

The Johannisfriedhof is a medieval cemetery, containing many old graves (Albrecht Dürer, Willibald Pirckheimer, and others). The Rochusfriedhof or the Wöhrder Kirchhof are near the Old Town. The Tiergarten Nürnberg is a zoo stretching over more than 60 ha in the Nürnberger Reichswald. It is the home of Flocke, an orphan polar bear cub who in 2008 became a major attraction and a figure of a large publicity campaign for Nuremberg's metropolitan region.

There is also a medieval market just inside the city walls, selling handcrafted goods. The German National Railways Museum (an Anchor Point of ERIH, The European Route of Industrial Heritage) is located in Nuremberg. The Nuremberg Ring (now welded within an iron fence) is said to bring good luck to those that touch it.

read more

oh yeah .... lets get started in the Barcelona ... for some this is the best city ever ... for me this is the craziest city ever ... it have everything ... i mean everything ... whatever crazy ins you want to do, the answer is always yes ....

lets have a touristic look at barcelona ...

Barcelona is a city full of secrets, just waiting for you to discover. Would you like to find them? Put your travel guide aside and take a look at Secrets of Barcelona and you will find what you are looking for.

The most curious places in Barcelona are often not mentioned in typical travel guides, and thus, these treasures tend to be left unseen if not found by accident or simply when passing by. This is why we wanted to create Secrets of Barcelona, which is a place where new and exciting things can be discovered.

Secrets of Barcelona will let you look beyond the touristic part of the city and find the most unique places in Barcelona that really are worth visiting. Here you will find our best selection of hotels in Barcelona, restaurants in Barcelona and shops in Barcelona. All of these places are visited by our team beforehand and carefully selected. you can find some in this website

Secrets of Barcelona 

Here is a list of festivals in Barcelona

• Sónar: A annual three-day music festival. It is described officially as a festival of Advanced Music and Multimedia Art. Music is by far the main aspect of the festival. The festival runs for three days and nights, usually starting on a Thursday in the third week of June.
• Monegros Desert Festival: The most famous and biggest one day/night electronic music festivals in Spain is in desert of Fraga 200km from Barcelona. More than 40 000 people gather every July to celebrate the electronic music with the best DJs representing styles from house, electro, minimal, techno, to drum&bass, dubstep and hiphop. 20hours nonstop, unique desert experience.
• Festes de la Mercè: Barcelona's main annual festival around the 24th of September, encompassing many events such as which group of 'castellers' can form the highest human tower, live music events, firework displays and processions involving wooden giants. All of this is accompanied by a heavy consumption of Cava, the national drink of Catalonia.
• Festes de Gràcia: The Festes de Gracia is a Catalonian celebration, held around the 15th of August each year to commemorate the Assumption. During the week of festivities that mark one of Barcelona's most important fiestas, the city of Gracia explodes with fun, excitement, color and fireworks. Many streets are decorated by the neighbours, live music, food in the street, and the parties continue all night.
• Festes de Sants: Similar to Gracia's event, but smaller and later on in August. If you can't go to the Gracia's, try to go to this festival instead.
• Sant Jordi: 23rd of April. Considered to be like Valentine's Day. People give roses and books around the streets. Traditionally men give women roses and women give men books. It is one of the most popular and interesting celebrations in Catalonia

• Corpus. Late in May (Corpus Christi day). An egg is put over the fountains (most of them in the churches, and decorated with flowers), and "magically dances" over the water. Most of the churches are in the city center: Cathedral's cloister, Santa Anna, Casa de l'Ardiaca, Museu Frederic Marés, and over 10 more fountains.
• Fira de Santa Llúcia. From December 2nd/3rd to December 23rd, to commemorate Sta. Llúcia (December 13th). During this time, in front of the Cathedral, Christmas objects are sold. Some places sell Christmas trees, but most of them sell elements for making the pessebres (Nativity scenes). These include small sculptures, wooden pieces and moss used to simulate grass.
• December 13th is the feast day of Santa Llucia, patron saint of fashion designers and blind people, who gather at the Santa Llucia chapel in the cathedral to pay their respects.
• Revetlla de Sant Joan. This is the midsummer solstice celebration. It is celebrated on 23rd June every year and is signified by the fireworks (note that there are frequent and loud amateur fireworks all night long, which may make it hard to sleep) that are permanently on display during this time.
• Fira de Barcelona. There are trade events all year round [49] in Barcelona.
• La Mercè. (few days before Sept 24): Another day that is famous, but not that important. It is a holiday and the city offers a lot of activities to have fun. Enjoy a fountains and fireworks show at the base of the Montjuic hill.

During festivals and especially during mobile world congress[50] which is a major trade show at the Fira, accommodation in Barcelona and especially near the Fira is much more difficult to find and more expensive than usual.

read more

The celebrations bringing in the New Year in the centre of Bratislava have become a tradition in the past several years. Last year around one hundred thousand people welcomed in the New Year on the streets and squares of Bratislava, with around every fifth person from abroad.  The Bratislava New Year’s Eve celebration that go by the slogan “Welcome to Partyslava”! is now a mega-event, on a par with the celebrations of any other major European city.

The Main Square will again be at the epicentre of the festivities, together with the neighbouring Hviezdoslav Square in front of the opera house and the embankment along the River Danube between Nový Most and Starý Most bridges. Access to the fun zones in the city centre is through check points, which have a preventive function. For several hours on the last day of 2007 the Main Square will be alive with live concerts from the very best of the local rock and pop scene. The programme will culminate in the countdown of the last few seconds of the old year, during which the Mayor of Bratislava will give the order for a huge illuminated crown to be raised above the square. 

In the early evening the area in front of the national opera house will already become a large dance floor with DJs playing various genres of lively music, reaching a peak after midnight. In the half hour or so leading up to the arrival of the New Year, tens of thousands of locals and visitors will make their way to the Danube embankment to bring in the New Year 2008 together under a huge fireworks and lights display. In the past few years the fireworks have been launched directly from boats floating on the Danube, creating a truly magnificent spectacle.

So if you decide to celebrate the arrival of the New Year 2008 in Bratislava – or rather Partyslava, as the city was called a few years ago by some visitors from abroad – be prepared for some madness, but also a cheerful crowd of locals, where even the typical Central European cold will be warmed.

Here is video of this city to make you wanna go ....

read more

Missing out on the baths of Budapest is like not visiting the Eiffel tower while in Paris. The only difference is that while one usually visits the Eiffel tower only once, the spas and adventures in Budapest will probably keep you coming back for years to come. Budapest is one of the richest cities in the world in terms of thermal and spa waters. Parts of the hot springs of the Buda side can date back to the Celts and the Romans. The name Aquincum itself (Ak-Ink – rich in waters) refers to the springs: archeological digs have uncovered 14 spas…

Rudas bath's main pool

The waters

The hot waters of Budapest are of karstic origins. Because of the unique geological circumstances, thermal springs from the deeper layers of earth mix with the karst waters. INTERESTING FACT: in total there are 130 hot springs within the boundaries of the capital. The springs provide 30 million litres of warm, and 40 millions of hot water daily, with temperatures between 22 and 76 °C. According to their chemical classification, the Budapest springs belong to the group of hydrogen carbonate waters, which occasionally contain sulphuric compounds and absorbed radioactive materials.    


Baths in Budapest

The 150-year Ottoman rule left its mark in the bathing culture – with real Hamams being found in the pools of which Ottoman pashas and bashas (high-ranking leaders) used to bathe. From this period we have the Császár, the Király, the Rác and the Rudas baths (latter is open only for men on certain days). The number of baths increased again in the middle of the 19th century. In 1934 Budapest officially received the title of “Bathing City” and in 1937, the First International Bathing Management Congress was held there, officially declaring Budapest an international medicinal bathing area. During the second wave of bath constructions in Budapest, beautiful secessionist and romantic buildings such as the Gellért Bath, the Széchenyi, or the small, Bauhaus-styled jewel, the Dandár were built.

Many Budapest hotels have their own thermal baths. The most well-known is the aforementioned Gellért Hotel, but the list includes the renowned Grand Hotel on the island Margitsziget, Hotel Aquincum, or the only Pest-side health resort, the Helia. Lately, a number of complaints have been made about the rooms of hotel Gellért, however, the rest of the hotels offer true first class services.

In the medicinal baths we mostly find pools with different temperatures, hot air and steam chambers. Facilities include a large, quiet room with beds for resting, and a number of separate rooms for healthcare.  

Bathing, in all cases, is a ritual. Make sure you give it the time it needs. Relax your muscles, and immerse yourself in this century-long tradition.

Bathing time should be 20 minutes. It is best if the parts of the body above heart level do not go underwater. After bathing, wrap up in in a bathrobe or in a large towel without drying yourself, then get in a bed and stay covered up to the neck for 1 hour. If you choose to sit bathing, use up half the time as above, and make sure the kidney area gets underwater.

Steam baths are 35-40 °C chambers with high humidity levels. During steam bathing a comprehensive cleansing of the skin and sweat glands takes place, there is an increase in blood pressure, furthermore, steam also loosens secretions and can stimulate discharge of mucous from the lungs and throat.

In the steam bath, perspiration is increased very quickly, and because of the hot air, it can not evaporate, thus creating heat congestion. Since this is highly strenuous for the heart and the blood circulation, even the completely healthy visitors are allowed only 10-15 minutes inside, while people with health problems can visit only on doctor’s orders. After the steam bath, your body has to be cooled down gradually, first in warm, then in colder water, followed by at least 30 minutes of rest.

The temperature in the hot bath chamber is 60-80  °C, but its air is dry, less humid, so the perspiration can evaporate properly. It can be used to keep healthy people in shape, or to decrease the weight of sportsmen.

1. Shower
2. Relaxing in a warm pool
3. Cold pool
4. Steam bath
5. Ice cold pool
6. Steam bath
7. Ice cold pool
8. Pools with different water temperatures
9. Shower
10. Rest and relax wrapped up in a beach towel

Bathing ethics

- Keep your voice low.
- Only swim in designated pools (Swimming in warm water is unhealthy!)
- Don’t jump into the pool, no handstands in the pool either.
- Don’t bring any toys, balls, newspapers, food, or anything fragile to the bathing area.
- Give way to people coming out from the steam chamber.
- At the relaxing rooms, just be quiet and relax.
- In the Turkish baths (on single-sex days), you get a privacy cloth along with the beach towel, it might look strange, but it’s worth using it.

The medicinal waters are not only used for bathing, but also for water cure purposes. Springs at the Lukács or the Rudas bath are especially suitable for this purpose. The water cure is advised if you suffer from arthritis, spine diseases, disk problems, stenosis, circulation problems, asthma, or chronic bronchitis. The medicinal vapours of the water are inhaled leading to many health benefits.


While bathing, keep in mind:

- Don’t bathe on an empty stomach, nor with a full one, or immediately after consuming alcohol.
- After taking a hot bath,  a steam bath or using the sauna, don’t leave the place with a heated body, make sure your body cools down gradually.
- Bathing for more than 40 minutes in the hot water pools is not advised. In most baths, there is a warning sign with the suggested time spans.
- Bathing should be followed by a rest.
- The steam chamber strains the heart, so its usage is advised only to healthy visitors.
- In the sauna or the steam chamber you shold not spend more than 15 minutes. On one occasion, you should visit these 3 times, however, a round should not take more than 30 minutes.
- The sauna and the steam chamber should only be visited 2-3 times a week.
- Stepping out of the sauna or the steam chamber, as you get in the cool water pool, you can experience dizziness or nausea – after getting out of the pool, it is advised to take a short break before going back into the sauna.


You should not visit the bath if you have (or you are in):

- fever, cold or flu
- involuntary urination or defecation problems
- infectuous diseases
- menses, pregnancy
- heart and circulation problems, high blood pressure
- virulent phase of locomotor diseases
- reuma with inflammation symptoms
- virulent phase of certain diseases (tonsillitis, any kind of gastro enteritis)
- tumour diseases
- bad overall health condition
- certain muscular or cutaneous diseases

If you have some sort of illness, or you are just not sure whether you can visit the bath, make sure to consult your doctor.

read more

Straddling the romantic Danube River, with the Buda Hills to the west and the start of the Great Plain to the east, Budapest is the most beautiful city in central Europe. And the human legacy is just as remarkable as Mother Nature’s. Architecturally, Budapest is a gem, with enough baroque, neoclassical, Eclectic and art nouveau (or Secessionist) buildings to satisfy anyone’s appetite. With parks brimming with attractions, museums filled with treasures, pleasure boats sailing up and down the scenic Danube and Turkish-era thermal baths belching steam, the Hungarian capital is a delight both by day and by night. The food and wine are excellent, cheap and in abundance and the nightlife is hot. Indeed, in recent years, Budapest has taken on the role of the region’s party town, especially in the warmer months when outdoor entertainment areas called kertek(literally ‘gardens’) heave with party makers.

Budapest does have its scars, of course, with organised crime, pollution, international fast-food eateries at every corner and mindless graffiti covering much of that gorgeous architecture. But come a fine spring (or summer or brisk autumn) day and all that will go by the by. Stroll along the Duna korzó, the riverside embankment on the Pest side, or across any of the Danube bridges past young couples embracing passionately. It’s then that you’ll feel the romance that, despite all attempts from both within and without to destroy it, has never died.

On the trip to Budapest i had used couch surfing through which i met some amazing people who taught me that there is no boundaries of culture, live and friendship. I always wanted to travel in the east part of the Europe. After visiting the Budapest i want to go there even more. I do not have much picture of Budapest that i took with me but here you can see my couch surfing profile where there are comments of the people whom i met in Budapest 

http://www.couchsurfing.org/people/shihav407/

In Hungary, the old tradition of easter is people in folk costumes since it is considered a special occasions. There is a special custom as women will be sprinkle with cologne instead of water (as practice in the olden days). I found out that the reason for this very old sprinkling tradition is that it was believed to have a cleaning, healing & fertility effect of water.

As it is a public holiday in Hungary, boys and men visit all of their women relatives/friends/neighbours. They greet girls and women with little poems mostly ended with a question 'May I water you?' They will sprinkle them with cologne. Women will be busy with preparation prior to easter, because they treat men with dessert and beverages - and with hand-painted eggs. Women usually prepare in the previous days by cleaning up the house thoroughly, decorating, cooking and painting a couple dozen eggs.

read more

Here i want write about my last week in Girona. All the last five months i have a great great time with Ehsan, who made my life really easy and fun .. I was working, eating, travelling with him ... before he left we had few dinners together which was awesome awesome ... i really felt proud to be from Bangladesh as him.

let me show you some of our musical talents ;)

We always loved doing that

We always used to fight on our philosophy which is often very different but we always respect each other´s opinions. He is a poet inside, animated .. hard working .. and talented guy... Let me share you one picture of our last last night in girona .. I see my elder brother Shonchoy in him

A dinner at my place

The best time with him would be the night of Cricket in Barcelona on which i will have a separate post next.

Please write me comments to help me get better in my writing !!

read more