Photo By: khowaga

Malaga

Climb aboard the Refre railway to experience the laid-back atmosphere of this coastal Spanish town while enjoying beautiful scenery along the way. The journey takes two and a half hours and winds through the some spectacular landscapes. Once in Malaga, you can tour historic sites like the Alcazaba, a Moorish castle built in the 11th century, or learn more about Picasso by touring his birthplace at the Picasso Museum.

Photo By: Tab59

Sitges

Catch some rays on the beaches of Sitges, refered to as the Saint-Tropez of Spain, on a three hour ride aboard the FGC (Generalitat de Catalunya) railways. This artsy town has year-round attractions but really gets hopping during Carnival that begins on Fat Tuesday or the Sitges Film Festival in the summer. Known for its tolerant attitude, it is a popular destination for gay and lesbian travelers and has an abundance of fine dining establishments.

Cordoba

Depart from the Madrid Atocha station on Rail Europe for a one hour and 44 minute ride to this charming sun-drenched area that was one of the largest cities of the ancient world. Explore Old Town where you can still see the Roman walls standing and visit the Fernandina churches like Santa Marina which houses work by local artist Antonio del Castillo y Saavedra.

Photo By: Cruccone

Figueres

Travel through the Catalan countryside from Madrid to the birthplace of Salvador Dali aboard the sleek double-deck French TGV high-speed trail that passes through Madrid. Relax in their state-of-the-art cars that whisk you to sites like the Dali Theatre and Museum where you’ll find the largest collection of his work in the world.

Paris

Be in Paris in just two hours aboard the daily high-speed TGV Eurostar that whisks you to the City of Lights in record time. If you’d like an overnight adventure, the Elipsos train hotel departs Barcelona each evening for a 12 -hour trip with a la carte dinners and 4-bed sleeper cars. Embark refreshed and spend the day exploring the Louvre and dining on Paris delicacies before taking the high-speed train back to Madrid.

Photo By:  ComunicaTI

Zaragosa

In just an hour and a half, the high-speed AVE can deliver you to Zaragosa (also known as Saragossa) so you can spend the day exploring this charming city. Try out the tapas bars or their famous regional dish, Bacalao al Ajoarriero (cod-fish with garlic and eggs) in between visits to the romantic castles and monasteries scattered throughout this picturesque city.

You’ll find the rail services also offer package deals that include hotel accommodations, public transportation or rental car deals, dining coupons and comprehensive passes to museums and attractions.

Lifecruiser Love Spain Train Travel
 

The Turning Torso is, with it’s 190 meters (623 feet) and 54 stories, the tallest building in Sweden when created, but also one of the most spectacular with it’s crazy 90 degrees twisting of the 9 cubes in the tower from top to bottom and irregular pentagonal shaped floors rotating around the vertical core.

A true artwork in structural expressionism by Santiago Calatrava (follow the link to read more about this fantastic engineers work!) from 2005, inspired by his own sculpture called the Turning Torso which the Swedish contractor saw and asked him to copy his design as a building.

Featured in Discovery channel’s TV program, Extreme Engineering – always so incredible fascinating – where they did show how a floor of this twisted tower was constructed. It’s also built with sustainability and an environmentally friendly way of life in mind and the building is supplied only with locally produced and renewable energy.

Santiago Calatrava (from Valencia in Spain) is considered to be one of the worlds elite designers who has won gold medal’s. A truly gifted structural engineer with an unusually artistic approach in his creations! I’m totally blown-away by several of his other architectural wonders too.

He also contributed (but did not won) in the architectural competition for the Swedish Öresund Bridge in the nearby area, which we had to pass over to get from Sweden to Denmark on our next leg of Lifecruiser Europe trip…

©Lifecruiser Love Unusual Architecture
 

Image produced by: Javier

The first part of the trip started from La Coruña, a busy harbor city occupying a small peninsula that protrudes out into the Atlantic. La Coruña was established thousands of years ago and is very famous for the ‘Tower of Hercules’, a Roman lighthouse from the 2nd century which has been operating for over 2000 years. To avoid the unpleasant walk along the main city roads they took a bus to the Alcampo hypermarket, from here on out the initial leg of their journey would bring them to Hospital de Bruma. Into their first hour of the trek the team of three began to recognize the unreasonably hot heat therefore slowed down the pace, and hydrated often while winding along the ancient path. The slower speed gave them the opportunity to appreciate their surroundings and to take in the never-ending country side with its spiritually unique history.

Image produced by: Christine

After a restful night’s sleep in rustic little hotel in Meson do Vento (a neighboring village to Bruma) they refueled their bodies, laced their shoes and headed back out to the pilgrimage trail. For thirty kilometers they cantered on along a trail that passed by various small farms, basic villages and wooded areas until they reached the small Spanish town of Sigüeiro. This night they stayed in a basic cottage rental were they cooked some warm food, shared a few laughs and had a long nights rest. The following morning, they persevered on to their final destination Santiago de Compostela. During this last 16 km of this journey they were engulfed by a remarkably noticeable spiritual feeling as they took in the beautiful surroundings. This was their concluding destination, so they had booked a local apartment rental through wimdu.com and spent the following days exploring the cathedral and well-preserved historic city center. The remains of Apostle James are what make this city so famous within religious circles and attract spiritual seekers from all corners of the world take part in such a pilgrimage that finalizes in this remarkable destination.

Image produced by: year of the dragon

For many this expedition is done as an opportunity to seek religious connections, however for this group it was only curiosity and adventure that drove them here, enabling them to partake in an unforgettable experience!

Lifecruiser Love Spain
 

If you have been following our travel blog for a while, you know that we already have announced that we are making preparations for a future move – and that we in that preparations phase were forced (lol) to drink a 31 years old Napoleon Mandarine Liquor… (We sold the emptied bottle later!)

We have been living in an already small apartment (50 sqm) for years now, just to be able to save for our travel, to afford going on as many trips as possible, but now we are moving to an even smaller apartment (43 sqm) higher up on the same street, believe it or not!

We will save an extra 600 SEK/month, move up one floor (not so cold apartment when not on ground floor), plus getting the extra bonus effect of not having our nagging, annoying neighbor who literally are stalking us with her negativity all the time.

The saved money will go to a future move, together with whatever other amounts we succeed to save up. Our future move will most certainly be to Spain if nothing unexpected happens – thinking of the economic crises in Spain which can affect our decision in many ways. Why Spain? Because of the ease for us and our family to get there, plus the excellent climate for our aching bodies.

When having a goal like travel or moving abroad, living a compact life style is not any problem at all. The adjustment to this compact living is going so easy that you wonder why the heck you have bothered with all the other stuff earlier in your life, which only complicates your life.

We have sold plenty of stuff by now, getting quite a bit of extra money to both cover the cost of the move and to buy new smaller, cheaper furniture which is easy to move or to get rid off later if we’re moving abroad next time. If we do, we will not take anything with us.

If not moving abroad, we will most certainly try to stay during the winters abroad, because the Swedish winters are killing us both slowly. We will start this winter, by going to Costa Blanca in Spain around February-March to do a research of which area there would be best for us.

Our nearest moving day though is set to the 3rd of December, so as you can imagine – if you know our efficiency since earlier – we have already started the packing for the move…

©Lifecruiser Love Travel
 

There were Tortilla, Patatas Bravas with Aioli, Albondigas (meatballs in tomato sauce), Serrano ham, different kind of sausages,Feferoni’s, mix of olives, Feta cheese, cherry tomatoes, garlic cloves with herbs and so on…

To go with the Tapas dishes we had prepared a mix of partly bought ready-Sangria which we improved with some more Spanish wine plus cognac. You could say that we all were a bit tired yesterday after the Tapas party…. Ha ha…

©Lifecruiser Love Tapas
 

It was definitely worth the trouble! The interior is light, fresh and modern with suitable art on the walls, the staff and service great and the food excellent – to a very reasonable price too.

We ordered 3 Tapas plates each, for 125 SEK (approx $18 or €15) per person, plus some different choices of drinks (Me: Sangria!) and desserts which of course made it cost a bit more. Still reasonable though to be a restaurant in Stockholm.

I also loved that they have Cava Nights (Yay!), Catering, Live Music and Afterwork. Smart of them. I’d love to go again, both at the Cava Nights and the Live music – another time.

You find more info at: sanleandrotapas.com.

©Lifecruiser Love Tapas

Another Tapas related post by Lifecruiser:

Blogger Meetup Tapas Eve
Dinner left overs
 

How fun they had, it’s such a pleasure watching kids having fun, don’t you think? Sometimes I really envy them, but on the other hand: what is really stopping me from doing it myself…?

©Lifecruiser Love Fuerteventura

Other Fuerteventura-related posts by Lifecruiser:

The Lizard Peek-a-Boo Road
Drinks Round the World: The Rolls Royce of Sangrias
PhotoHunt See Skinny Tree
On The Road In Fuerteventura
 

Here are five of the best all-inclusive European Resorts for you to enjoy:

1.) ClubHotel Riu Guarana, Portugal

This incredible four-star all-inclusive resort provides luxury amenities on the coast of Portugal. The resort also includes many great recreational opportunities including golf, tennis, volleyball, a full gymnasium and fitness center as well as amazing swimming pools and jacuzzis. The resort also includes on-site restaurants like the Yasumi Asian restaurant, a lounge bar and terrace, swim-up bar, a poolside restaurant and poolside bar.

2.) ClubHotel Riu Oliva Beach Resort, Spain

The Spanish Resort is set right on the white sandy beaches of Spain and includes amazing scenery and an all-inclusive environment. Whether you like windsurfing or relaxing in a jacuzzi, the resort has many activities for you to enjoy.

3.) Cargese Resort, France

Experience an amazing all-inclusive resort vacation on the Mediterranean coast of France when you visit Cargese. This incredible resort provides relaxing bungalows, nearby nature parks and easy access to the beaches on the Mediterranean Sea. There are many recreational activities at the resort as well as lessons for beginners in archery, windsurfing and more.

4.) Gregolimano Resort, Greece

Relax on the coast of Greece when you visit the all-inclusive resort in Gregolimano, Greece. You will be given a choice of deluxe luxury rooms or suites facing the coastline or the forest of pine trees that back up against the resort. The resort has a mini club Med feel and provides recreational activities for all ages.

5.) Napitia Resort, Italy

If you enjoy the Italian Coast, check out the resort at Napitia. This incredible destination provides an all-inclusive setting with a hotel swimming pool and jacuzzi, shuttles from the resort to nearby shopping venues and many great recreational activities.

If you are ready to get away and experience a soothing and refreshing all-inclusive resort, there are many choices waiting for you. For more options, check out AllInclusive.co. You are sure to find a resort that will meet your vacation needs.

Lifecruiser Love European Resorts
 

In Sweden they have become more and more common since the 70′s. We have had a pigeon couple trying to make a nest outside our window for several years, not succeeding at all. Not one single year. Meaning no pigeon babies either, despite having a lot of love-making outside our window (lol).

Last year, the pigeon wife died under brutal circumstances, we saw a lot of feathers spread all around – could have been the neighbors cat. Normally, Woodpigeon’s stay with each other for their whole life – quite an achievement, which not many humans succeed with. The pigeon were left sadly alone. He traveled solo to the south before the winter and who knows – maybe all the way to the north of Africa? He came back solo this spring too.

Therefor we were so happy when we finally saw this week that he got a new wife suddenly. Yay! And now they are obviously looking for a new house for them, maybe he will succeed with his new wife…? We’re so curious!

We too want to migrate to the south in the winter and stay away during the winter. I have said it before, but next winter, we will do it. If not being able too (read: if our Europe trip drain our wallet too much!), we will try to at least get 2 long-stays somewhere. One around November and one around January-Mars something.

We will see where too. Spain is always an alternative we love, but if we find any other better opportunity or deal, we are going with that. It depends of lots of things as what’s in the surroundings to do, are there any golf courses etc.

Any suggestions for us? Have any long term rentals tips? Let us know in the comments.

©Lifecruiser Love Winter Escapes
 

Old posts where the pigeon’s is mentioned earlier:

Cool tools not for fools
This animal life is tough
 

I would love to go to Ibiza one day, it’s rather high up on our travel wish to go, so it’s a possibility that it won’t be too long before we do….

©Lifecruiser Love Vintage Images