Holiday Blues

Hi guys,

There's no better day to go through holiday photos than on Monday... Manic Monday, after work, when you come home, open your computer and suddenly realize your life was once pretty :)). So I figured I would share some more of my memories with you and make you think about holidays, and plans, and travel, and sunny days, cause it's sure lots cheaper than therapy.

This being said, let us go further with the travel diary. We got up in the morning and arrived in Aix-en-Provence just in time for breakfast. A few croissants later, we were getting lost on the narrow streets, discovering small, fascinating squares at every pace, some more peaceful, others packed with tourists, brasseries and shops.

Casis was next on our list for the day. We had planned to take a boat to see "les Calanques", which we did! There are a few boat trip options, depending on how many "calanques" do you want to see and how much time you have in the area. When we arrived in Casis, the only available option was the 45 minutes trip which included 5 Calanques (which are some sort of inlets), so the decision was easy :P. I must say, it was a spectacular sightseeing trip: the cliffs, the small bays, the clear water, everything was beautiful and totally worth it!

Since we had gotten pretty near to Marseilles, we thought we would give it a chance, even-though it hadnt't made it to our list. When we were establishing the itinerary for the trip, we made quite the research, especially considering everything that had happened in France and throughout the world... Marseilles seemed a bit unsafe, and we just didn't want to spend our holiday looking over our shoulders.

We made the decision to pay a short visit though, but went directly to the Notre Dame de la Garde Cathedral. The symbol of the city, the cathedral is located on Marseilles highest point and  was build on the foundations of an ancient fort. It offers amazing views of the sea, of the city, the port, basically everything in the area. We are big fans of sites with panoramic views, we tend to search for them in every place we visit. It's really important, especially if you have little time to spend in that particular city. We really enjoyed the experience, and the views were among the most spectacular from the entire trip.

We left Marseilles in the evening and stopped for dinner in Salon de Provence, putting an end to yet another beautiful day in France and eating the heck out of their expensive food :)).

Oh, and since I mentioned itinerary, research, sightseeing tips, budget, food, etc, I promise I'll make a post about all that, with relevant information from our trips that hopefully you guys will find useful.

Now, I'll leave you with the photos.

Many hugs and an easy and beautiful week ahead!

Mamalina

Dress: Zara

Drink the wild air

Hi guys,

Are you over my holiday pics? I surely hope not, cause here I am, with another post :). As I previously mentioned, I don't follow a particular order, so today I'm showing you bits and pieces of Costa Brava, Spain. I must confess: when it comes to beaches, I didn't find a place that could beat Greece yet(I've only been to Europe, so you can understand my level of comparison). I liked Croatia, and it seems like I would have liked Costa Brava just as much, hadn't it been for the massive crowds: apparently, we weren't the only ones on holiday, the entire french and spanish population was there on the beach, with us. Other than that, the views were spectacular, the water was clear and the rocks made for a pretty good snorkeling place. We would basically sleep throughout the entire day and at sunset we would go for a walk and explore the surroundings.

On this particular day, before heading to our hotel in Figueres, we stopped to Girona to have dinner. We went to what was probably the best restaurant of the entire trip: Lleva Tapas. The food was amazing, the staff were very friendly and it proved to be one of the highlights of our holiday.

Hope you'll enjoy the photos! Many hugs!

Mamalina

Dress: H&M

Love on Top

Hi guys,

I'm back with new pictures from my recent holiday. On our first day in Provence, being a bit tired from the trip from Lyon to Avignon, we stopped for lunch in Orange. It was so hot that day... we were melting. We did our best to ignore the heat and visited the Roman Theater. I must say, it is really impressive and I would have loved to attend a concert in such a venue, but we hadn't booked in advance and somehow couldn't fit it into our schedule for the next days.

We left Orange and arrived in Avignon in the afternoon, left our luggage at the hotel and decided to go somewhere nearby, since we had less than half a day before sunset. We chose Baux-de-Provence, which was the perfect place to start our adventure in Provence. On our way there, we stopped by the Carrieres de Lumieres: this is a former quarry with images and painting projections on the walls, and incredible music that fits perfectly into the atmosphere. I've never seen something like this before, it was amazing and I would totally recommend going there if you happen to visit the area.

We then followed to road to Baux-De-Provence, which is just spectacular. First of all, it is located on a rocky outcrop and it has a ruined castle at its highest point, overlooking an amazing display of vineyards, plains, olive trees... it's simply a breathtaking view.

Inside the small town you can find lots of cozy restaurants, shops and narrow streets. But because we were eager to visit yet another village, we decided to have dinner in Saint Remi de Provence, another charming, very animated place that we absolutely adored!

I really hope you'll enjoy the photos, and I'll soon come back with more!

Have a wonderful week ahead!

Mamalina