My Favourite Market

Is located in Barcelona.

Seriously I can't stop looking at the fruits, candies and the ever so colourful stuff sold here.

And we stumbled upon this by accident while walking along La Rambla.

Sagrada Familia, Barcelona

I believe the building itself worth a blogpost. I won't go on explaining the history and stuff about it but all I can say that, the building was constructed since 1882 and still under construction up until today, masterpiece by Antoni Gaudi.  Although my trip to Barcelona was 4 years ago, this building remained the most memorable one, as it was expensive to get in and I can just stare at the interior and exterior of the building all day and night.

If anyone tells you that it's not worth paying the euros to get in, ignore him/her. Pay the money, get into the queue and get in. Go back at night and see the night view.

Fairytale Castles Around the World

Bran castle, Translyvania Romania (the famous Dracula castle)

Peles castle, Sinaia Romania

What makes castle so intriguing to most people?

Perhaps, it is always associated with prince and princess living happily ever after in fairytales.

Perhaps, it is the grandeur.

Or perhaps, it is the symbol for most ancient cities.

Of all the castle I have visited before, Neuschwanstein remains my favourite and the most fairytale like castle. No wonder even Disney 'borrowed' the idea of their theme parks castle from this one.

Some of the famous castles from the places I visited so far..

Hmm.. I shall write another one of palaces next time.

Linlithgow castle, Scotland (birthplace of Queen of Mary Scots)

Edinburgh castle, Scotland

Alnwick castle, England (one of the famous Hogwarts filming location)

Kronborg castle, Denmark (the setting for Hamlet)

Frederiksberg castle, Copenhagen Denmark

Segovia alcazar, Spain (one of the Disney's castle inspiration)

Cordoba alcazar, Spain

Seville alcazar, Spain

Palais of Pena, Portugal (not exactly a castle)

Prague castle, Prague

Neuschwanstein castle, Germany (the famous castle of them all)

Wawel castle, Krakow Poland

Reflection

One of my favourite 'must shoot' scenary would be reflections.

Reflections could be from the water (which are most of my photos), glass, mirrors, etc.

What so special of photographing a mirror image of a subject? Just check out the photos and see.

The photo which started it all
Florence, Italy 2008

And also from this
Zaans Schans, Holland 2008


Versallies Palace, France 2008


Stockholm, Sweden 2009


Nile river sunrise, Egypt 2009


The Parliament at Bern, Swiss 2009


townhall at Basel, Swiss 2009


Pamukkale, Turkey 2009


Copenhagen, Denmark 2009


View of the Frederiskborg Castle, Denmark 2009


Nyhavn at Copenhagen, Denmark 2009


Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia 2010


Inside the Alcazar garden
Seville, Spain 2009


Alhambra, Granada Spain 2009


And of course my most famous picture
Lake Titicaca, Peru 2009


Yosemite National Park, USA 2007


During the highland tour, Scotland 2008


View from my safari lodge
Kruger Park, South Africa 2010


Kruger Safari, South Africa 2010


Swaziland 2010


View from the cable car
Lantau Island, Hong Kong 2010


Wan Chai harbour, Hong Kong 2010


Storm, my cousin's dog
CNY 2011

Seville, Spain (22-23 May 2009)

Finally the last bit on Spain. Sevilla is the capital of Andalucia and one of the largest city down south. It was in Sevilla that we watch our first and only Flamenco dance which cost us a bomb, 70 euros with two free Sangrias per person. But the Sangria had higher alcohol than the one I tasted in Edinburgh and this is the famous Flamenco in whole Seville.

Seville Cathederal

Since I was down with flu the day before, we decided to take a nap before heading out to the Seville town. My travelmate was actually quite panicked as she is scared that I was down with H1N1. The hostel that we booked were quite far away from the old town and we had to cross a few bridge to reach there. We had booked our long awaited most expensive and arguably the best Flamenco in town. We head first to the gothic cathedral and it was said that the cathederal was the volumest church in the world and third largest in the world after Vatican and London's St Paul. I was lucky to actually visited two of the three.

inside the Alcazar


the islamic carvings

more islamic inscriptions








me posing :P

La Giralda tower bell ringing




Seville bullring

After visiting the Alcazar (it's free, so must go) and the cathedral (no pics taken as they are having some ceremony inside) we headed to the bullring in Seville. After that we head on to our Flamenco dance.

Flamenco was famous in Spain especially in the Andalucia region. There are a few settings for the Flamenco, the first and most traditional is the juerga an informal, spontaneous gypsy gathering (rather like a jazz "jam session"). This can include dancing, singing, palmas (hand clapping), or simply pounding in rhythm on an old orange crate or a table. Flamenco, in this context, is organic and dynamic: it adapts to the local talent, instrumentation, and mood of the audience. One tradition remains firmly in place: the cantaores(singers) are the heart and soul of the performance. In the more professional setting , only one singer with one guitar player. (Credits to Wikipedia)

Flamenco in action

After flamenco we went for dinner and can only afford McD EUR1 burger after having a few days of lavish Spanish food. Took some night photos of the tower along the way back and retired back to the hostel. Had two German girls for roommates and manage to physcho them to go for Cordoba since they are touring the whole Andalucia and planning to skip Cordoba.

Torre de Oro

Plaza de Espana

me posing again

NEXT STOP : PORTUGAL