Bilbao, Madrid, Granada. From the North to the South of Spain
It’s not only because it is my hometown, either it is because my feet hold on to the ground every time I come back from a long journey, it is not either because the love I feel for this place is linked to my family, who is always waiting for me with their arms open whenever I need it…
It is because the diversity within Spain is so big that sometimes it takes you up and makes you wander its more visited places and seek and discover the most remote ones.
Each place of Spain hides a unique story, it is the mix of cultures brought from many different places living in perfect harmony.
No es solo porque sea mi país natal, ni porque mis pies se engarcen con fuerza a la tierra cada vez que vuelvo de un largo viaje, ni porque el amor que siento por este lugar esté vinculado a mi familia que siempre me espera con los brazos abiertos cada vez que lo necesito…
Es porque la diversidad que hay dentro de España es tan grande que a veces te absorbe y te hace entregarte plenamente a recorrer sus rincones más visitados y a perseguir y descubrir los más desconocidos.
Cada lugar de España esconde una historia única, la mezcla de culturas traídas de muchos lugares que viven en perfecta armonía.
PAÍS VASCO
MADRID
GRANADA
Light breeze of Mediterranean: The best Italian restaurants in Sydney
You don’t have to go to Italy to taste some of the best Italian dishes in the world. Just visit Sydney, the culinary capital of Australia which has a vast offer of unsurpassed Italian restaurants. Once you get tired from strolling along the vibrant city streets and after all those water activities, you will need to grab a bite of something, so make sure you go for something delicious. Go Italian!
Pizzas are the best at Voulez Vous
If you want to go to a place that is tiny yet so cosy go to 6 Hunt Street where the little restaurant all the locals love is – Voulez Vous. There are quirky chairs in Mediterranean style where you can unwind while you wait to be served. You can slouch in a quirky chair with your friends and forget about all of your troubles. Don’t let the French name fool you. This is the place to order the best Italian pizzas which come from wood-fired oven. If you’re vegan, you will be pleased to hear that there are delicious vegan bruschetta. Yummy!
State-of-the-art Lucio’s
Go to 47 Windsor Street where Lucio’s is. There are a lot of pieces of art which are bound to leave you amazed. Although the art is contemporary Australian, all the dishes are Italian. Check out their delicious duck dish anatra arrosto con radicchio alla griglia you can enjoy while drinking some quality red Italian wine. You will forget you are in the Land Down Under in no time.
Café Mint is great for seafood
579 Crown Street is where you can discover the restaurant called Café Mint. They serve Italian flavoured dishes and some originating from the Middle East. They have really large portions so you can bring a lot of friends to share those with. They also have a large offer of gluten-free meals. Check out their seafood tagine and wine offer.
Get spoiled at Bei Amici
Bei Amici at 2b Mona Rd, Darling Point is the suburban gem of fine dining. They use fresh produce and the chef himself has lived as a child in Italy, so he’s an expert at making some of the best traditional dishes. This restaurant serves a large selection of sweet dishes so you should not refuse tasting their house-made-ice-creams. The locals’ favourite dish is Monk´s Temptation. You will be amazed once you try the three Italian cheeses served with currants, fig jam, salami and Swiss fruit bread.
Discover Lumi Bar & Dining
There is a place with picture-perfect setting at 56 Pirrama Road and it is called Lumi Bar & Dining. Try oysters with rhubarb, lime kosho and red miso and see why everyone’s into it. The interior is really great and it will be perfect for casual dining out with a bunch of friends.
Try the delicacies of Otto Ristorante
Go to 6 Cowper Wharf Road where Otto Ristorante is. You’ll feel really comfortable because the staff are attentive and willing to change the way they prepare the food for you and even share the recipes. Try calamari with chilli aioli. If you are vegan or you just want something veggie based and delicious try roasted cauliflower with preserved truffles and hazelnuts.
If you’re willing to grab a bite of the greatest Italian food, you don’t have to visit Rome. Sydney is all you need! It is brimming with cosy restaurants which serve delicious food and some of the best wine there is. Enjoy yourself!
Book Review: “Desolation Angels” Finding one self to discover the world
Sometimes, when I doubt about a book, I open a random page and read a paragraph of it. If I like what I read I buy it.
I know this is not a proper book review, but if you like what you’ll read below, and I’m 99% sure you will, there’s nothing else I can say to you…
– Hold together, Jack, pass through everything, and everything is one dream, one appearance, one flash, one sad eye, one crystal lucid mystery, one word – Hold still, man, regain your love of life and go down from this mountain and simply be – be – be the infinite fertilities of the mind of infinity, make no comments, complaints, criticisms, appraisals, avowals, sayings, shooting stars of thought, just flow, flow, be you all, be you what it is, it is only what it always is – Hope is a word like a snow drift – This is the Great Knowing, this is the Awakening, this is the Voidness – So shut up, live, travel, adventure, bless and dont be sorry – Prunes, prune, eat your prunes – And you have been forever, and you will be forever, and all the worrisome smashings of your foot on innocent cupboard doors it was only the Void pretending to be a man pretending to know the Void-
Desolation Angels, Jack Kerouac
Time traveller, the work of an Archaelogist
Being an archaeologist is a way of living, thinking and perceiving the world. Since I started studying my degree in 2011, I have been changing my mind and the way I see the world.
One of the first things I learnt during my degree was that Archaeology is about people: people who lived somewhere and sometime; people who thought about their lives as we do nowadays; people who created a relationship with their environment… People, places and beliefs.
Now that I’ve finished my degree and I can travel anywhere, everything I see and feel, past and present, I try to connect in my mind. I cannot go, for example, to a medieval castle in Edinburgh without thinking why is it there today, who lived there, what did those people do, and how their lives developed in the way people are now there.
That last point is another important thing I have learnt since I am living in the United States of American. Actually it has been the first time I have gone out of Spain to live a whole year.
I have had a huge cultural shock, everything is different, everything follows other rules, others manners… What I did, as an Archaeologist was wondering why these American people are like this, how can they become something so different from european people? The answer was, obviously, in history. History of America can show you how they have become the biggest capitalist country in the Earth, how they still have a huge problem with racism (slavery is part of the recent American history)…
In this way, this experience, this travel to the U.S, made me realize not only how people were in the past, but how people today are, they are a product of history. Sometimes people do not give importance to Archaeology or History because they consider these things only like entertainment, but they do not know how this disciplines construct their identities, their culture, their beliefs and their traidtions.
Yes, I am an archaeologist, yes I like travelling, yes I am proud to be able to travel not only to different places but especially to different times.
Archaeology is the only way you have to travel across the time, come and join me in my trip from the beginning to our time.
21Steps&Beyond 