Barcelona: Everything from beach to Museums

This month, August, I was lucky enough to get to travel to Barcelona! Fantastic city. Amazing beach. Lovely culture. We went to a lot of museums, but I also loved just walking around in the older parts of the city. - Basically it is that kind of city you pack away your town-map for the day and go get lost.

We stayed at the Paraiso Travellers Hostel. It was a lovely place, with an amazing staff that went above and beyond expectation for us. The hostel is relatively central considering the different sites. However, that do depend on what you expect. If your holiday to Barcelona is beach-related, this is still an ok hostel, where you can take a bus to the beach. But it is relevant to maybe check out other possibilities closer to the beach.

Considering the sights, this city is full of possibilities. You can go all artist-crazy and see all the amazing art museums, all of Gaudi's buildings and even pay to go inside the Gaudi Park (not cheap though and possible to see his buildings from the outside. But this park is relevant to book from home!). I would suggest taking one of the free walking tours, potentially pay for a Gaudi-tour if that is of interest and go see the Museums. The Museums are on some days, and within some hours, free e - so it is definitely a good idea to check them out on forehand.

A must see in Barcelona is the Sagrada Familia - Gaudi's amazing work which is said to be finished in 2028. It is an amazingly odd church, and if you are interested it is possible to participate in the service under the church: It is open for every one, but do remember that it is a service and people do attend to worship. If you want to skip the line, then order the tickets from home. It safes you a lot of waiting time!

The Gluten Free Travel
To stay gluten free and milkfree is not that big of a deal in this city. If you ask "sin gluten" (without gluten) or "sin leche" (without milk) in spanish most people understand. There is supermarkeds that sell soya milk and glutenfree products, but I only found the gluten free products in "Mercadona". It is a larger supermarked and not like the smaller supermarkets that is spread all over town. In Mercadona there is a lot more glutenfree and milkfree possibilities. It is worth the effort to find one of these and shop for breakfast, as it is difficult to find anything else than eggs and bacon for breakfast. Most important of all: They do have soya milk for the coffee. So just ask! Huzzah for that trending!

I do suggest that you before finding any supermarket, go find the bakery: Forn Boix. They have a lot of possibilities for the glutenfree and they have made sure that it is completely glutenfree and does not have traces of gluten. They sell bread and different cakes in sealed plastic boxes you can buy.

Next, when in the area of Sagrada Familia anyway, go visit the Cafe: Gaudi Bakery, on Sardenya no. 298. They serve the most delicious glutenfree sandwiches and are fully informed on the tolerance vs allergy dilemma!

When it came to dinner and lunch it was a bit more difficult and some times I wasn't as strict as I would be at home. But I found that restaurants and cafés do have alternatives and knows the possibilities, and if anything fails you can always go to McD or drink Sangria and eat a lot of Paella!

All in all, this is not the last time I will go to Barcelona - and no I have no intention of visiting the stadium or watch football. A glass of sangria, the culture, the vibe and the beach is good enough for me! :)

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Dreaming of ... Madrid

Every year my siblings and I celebrate my late fathers birthday by doing something special in the weekend before or after the date of his birthday and last year we decided to go to Madrid. Unfortunately, my brother couldn't join my sister and I. However, thinking back on the trip with my sister, I am reminded of a lot of "hygge" as we say in Danish. Tons of girl talk, getting closer to one another, and bonding. All in all a fantastic time with my beautiful sister.

I was told by someone who was quit familiar with the city to just "get lost", so we mostly did. Sometimes the best way to enjoy a different city is to just walk around and see what happens. Among the many experiences getting lost led to, a street market was my personal favourite. Sometimes the best jewellery is bought everywhere else but at home.

Madrid is in my opinion the master city in 'dress up'. Every where we went, every where we looked, there was always someone dressed up as something or someone specific. We became friends with Mr Bean and Spongebob Squarepants (Personal favourite as he reminded me of a particularly, annoyingly awesome ringtone I once woke everyone up with in a dorm room). Also a rather hilarious version of a not so fit Spiderman ruled the streets with his rather funny looks and moves!

Madrid also has a lot of different art museums and other "must see's". We did go to see the palace (a little overpriced compared to what we actually experienced within the palace). A personal favourite was all the modern art we experienced at one of the many museums. It is always amazing to see what other artists can do with heels from shoes, plastic and frames.  I am a sucker for these kinds of things and can spend hours in places like these.

All in all, we where quite lucky with the weather in Madrid. It was in March, and the temperature was warm enough to expose some skin and enjoyed the first beams of sun in the parks. Concluding, Madrid is a city I would enjoy travelling to again, but I must admit that there are several places I would love to experience before going here again. If you get the chance to experience Madrid, you should truly enjoy "getting lost", art, tons of tapas and a good glass of wine! My sister and I did most of it, despite the fact that I was a bit difficult with my gluten-allergy and such when it came to food. Luckily my amazing sister where patient with me and we had an amazing time! 

Ideas to the low-budget travel in Denmark

When traveling in any country there will always be tricks to make it a cheap and easy travel. I will share some of the tips and tricks here I have made use of several times.

1. DSB is one of the train services in Denmark with whom you can travel across the country, however can be expensive compared to the alternatives that do exist. However, it is the easiest way and the most convenient when traveling long distances in Denmark. Do order the so-called "Orange" tickets. They are the cheapest to find, but they have to be bought in advance and cannot be changed when bought. Find a Dane to help you find these tickets, because it is not easy to find them on the english version of DSB's webpage. 

2. Instead of DSB, I would recommend travelling with Abildskou.dk or rødbillet.dk. If you are lucky and early in the ticket hunt, you can even find tickets from 50 kr at Abildskou.dk!! I once travelled from Aarhus to Copenhagen on such a ticket! With rødbillet you get free coffee and they have a break on Fyn and both bus-companies offer free WiFi during your travel! 

3. When traveling within Copenhagen it can be an idea to buy a "rejsekort". You can travel with all busses within the city of Copenhagen as well as in Aarhus. It is not all cities in Denmark that have this card yet, but it is on the way. All you have to do before you travel with the card is to load money on it and then you check in when your travel begins and every time you change bus or train and check out when your travel has ended. There will be a fee if you forget to check out. So remember Read more here.

4. Concerning restaurants, food and such there is a lot of guides and reviews of such on aok.dk or aoa.dk. But the most exciting thing is that in Copenhagen (and from 2017 also in Aarhus) a new and supermarket have opened with an amazing concept. It is the first store in Denmark with surplus food - not in the sense that it has already been half eaten, but groceries that in the regular supermarkets cannot be sold because they either have a bump or something else. I find that the store and the uniqueness of its concept is worth a visit. Read more here (unfortunately only in Danish). It opens from monday to friday from 15-19 and the address is Amagerbrogade 151, 2300 Copenhagen.

5. If you want to know what restaurants and cafes serves glutenfree and diary free alternatives, then several websites do share this information. Foursquare lists 15 places in Copenhagen that are worth trying, but if you have a Danish friend who can translate for you, this blog offers lists of places to eat in different cities - an AMAZING blog. I have myself tried the cafe called Glad! and will have to try Cafe Ganefryd next time in Aarhus. In Copenhagen I am crazy about the cafe 42RAW and also Hard Rock Cafe!

Please, do share tips and tricks for an easy travel around in Denmark or any other country you have been in! :) 

Beautiful Jordan

In the summer of 2014 I spent 3 weeks in beautiful Jordan on a language adventure. I was in Jordan to advance my level of arabic, but what an experience.

I must admit at first being a little skeptical, however, the warmth of the people in Jordan grew on me. I fell in love with the beautiful land-scapes and the amazing tradition and culture in Jordan. It is definitely not the last time I'll spend some time in this beautiful country.

Walking in the massive and at times mysterious dessert, wandering what this hugh sandpit contains of secrets and mysterious guests.  Or the surprise it was to visit beautiful Dana, which was easier to get to than going from.

Dana is a little spot in Jordan with beautiful parks and primitive accommodations.
Despite it being primitive in most ways, it was a peaceful experience to sit on top of a roof eating breakfast and enjoying the view of the mountains crawling in on you.
Despite the difficulties getting away from this amazing place, it was worth a trip and I really advice everyone doing an effort to get to this little spot of heaven. Honestly, DO IT. I could have stayed there forever, just letting nature amaze me. Sometimes I am in awe of the amazing masterpiece God has created. God never ceases to amaze me.

When you spend time in another country so different from your own background your perspective broadens. My believes and my opinions is still the same after this trip, however, my perspective has  changed drastically during my stay here. God reminded me of that he loves all human beings, also the ones on the other side of the boarder of Israel. I met an amazing woman, my teacher, who kept telling us students at the language-school I attended, that "we're all just humans". Despite all the traumer she must have been through, she still held her head up high and came into the other side with a charitable worldview.

There is a lot of different, jet amazing people in the world, that just keeps amazing me. The jordanians are not the only ones.

Jordan - worth a trip. Just do it!