The Low Countries

 Visiting the land of windmills, clogs and tulips, makes one automatically think of the word Holland, the Dutch nation in the Northwestern part of Europe. But did you know that the official and correct name for the home of the Dutch is the Koninkrijk der Nederlanden, or the “Kingdom of the Netherlands”. This is usually shortened to “the Netherlands”.

The terms Nether or Neder are derived from Germanic words meaning “low”, which combine with lands or landen to mean “lowlands”. This corresponds to the geography of the area which is barely higher than sea level, if not below it!

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A Traveler's Diary- Final Port: Barcelona, Spain (part 5)

This post is going to be devoted two different/separate areas of the city. The first is located in the Ciutat Vella District of Barcelona, while the other is in the district of Gracia. Which to us, meant ridding the metro once again. 

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A Traveler's Diary- Final Port: Barcelona, Spain (part 4)

Getting around this city is one of the simplese things to do. The buses and metro are so easy to figure out and they run constantly.

In order to go to one of the biggest and one of the most awe inspiring structures in this country we chose the metro.

Ten minutes later we were in 'Eixample Barrio'. Eixample, which translates as "extension" in recognition of its status as the newer part of the city has several highlights of which three belong to Gaudi.

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A Traveler's Diary- Final Port: Barcelona, Spain (part 3)

 As mentioned in part 1 of my Barcelona posts, Las Ramblas, while not a very long pedestrainized road, has tons of "arteries" leading in and out. Hence, it's never a straight through shot of walking down the .8 mile street. According to my smart watch we walked approximately 8 miles the first time we stepped onto this iconic street. 

Our origianl goal was to walk a straight line from Plaça de Catalunya all the way to Port Vell. But if you have been following the posts, you know that did not happen.

Naturally you can understand why I have so many photos.

The first sign indicating that we were close to Port Vell was this tall statue.  

Column of Columbus, also known as the Barcelona Column was built in 1888 to honor the renowned explorer and discoverer of America. The monument is placed at the site where Christopher Columbus arrived in 1493 on his return from his discovery of America the year before. 

The monument is a single column that is 197 ft. (60 meters) tall with a statue of Christopher Columbus on top. The monument is located in the center of a traffic circle that is known as Placa de la Porta de Pau which means “Square of the Gate of Peace”.

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A Traveler's Diary- Final Port: Barcelona, Spain (part 2)

If you know me, you know that I love food!

I am not a picky eater although there are a couple of things I would rather not eat.

I love to experiment with food and try something new.

On top of that I love cooking food and trying out new recipes.

You could say I am a food enthusiast.

And because of that I enjoy, VERY MUCH, spending time in kitchen gadget stores as well as food markets.

That being said, when I saw the entrance to La Boqueria ........

..........while walking around Las Ramblas; You know I HAD to go in.

WARNING!!!! 

If you are not a foodie this post is not for you 😉

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A Traveler's Diary- First Port Stop: Katakolon, Greece (part 1)

 After saying goodbye to Civitavecchia....

And sailing for a full day. We arrived at the pretty port of Katakolon, Greece.

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A Traveler's Diary- Begining Venture: Civitavecchia, Italy

 This post and the next few that follow are just as the title indicates, a diary of the the places we visited while abroad.

Needless to say when you have been away for several weeks and when you are addicted to hearing the camera's shutter button going "click", inevitably there will be thousands of photos.

Most of the captures are basically snapshots. 

My eyes saw something.

My eyes liked what they saw.

My brain said: "You need to click".

And "click" it went.

I decided to post the photos as is...very minor editing, if any, and then transfering them from raw to jpeg. Some of the photos, in my view have great potential for making them more artistic, and probably in due time I will play with them. But for the time being and for the sake of keeping the memory of all the places visited alive and fresh, I am just going to add all the photos as is.

Flight from Chicago to Rome took us approximately nine hours with a short stop in Amsterdam.

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