The Rain in Spain

Just got back from a trip to Benalmádena, Spain. Finland gets so dark and dreary this time of year that it's nice to visit the sunlit lands once in a while. 

The ocean at dawn. Beautiful.

We had my niece and nephew along, so we did a lot of kid-friendly activities, like the Sealife aquarium. Here are some photogenic jellyfish. 

Cacti at the Parque de la Paloma. Some people had carved their names on the leaves. 

And a few of the paloma. A multitude of roosters, chickens, peacocks, and bunnies not pictured. 

We also checked out the local Barbie museum. It was actually pretty cool. Star Trek Barbies! As a bonus, the museum was located in the back of an awesome science fiction collectibles shop. I got a Jack Skellington doll with interchangeable heads and some H. R. Giger prints. Score!

Then we rode the cable cars up to Mount Calamorro and caught their birds of prey show. I've never seen hawking, so this was really interesting. The owl on the right is Olga, and my nephew got to pet her. Apparently it's considered lucky in Spain. Gotta buy him a lottery ticket, just in case. 

The view wasn't bad, either. The cable car made me a bit nervous at first, but it was fun after I got used to it. 

We also visited the Benalmádena Butterfly Park, a huge building where hundreds of butterflies flew free. Mostly they were beautiful, but that huge mothy one below kind of creeped me out.  

Here are a few more shots of the beach. Goodbye, sun, I'll miss you. 

Oh, and there actually was a bit of rain, but only on the first day.

Iceland: Part 2

Here we go: more adventures in Iceland, as promised. These are the Dverghamrar, Dwarf Stones, which were formed when lava cooled in seawater. This place gave me a strong Labyrinth vibe for some reason.

Here's a glacier (Vatnajokull?) up close and personal. 

You have to respect the glacier. Here's what can happen if you don't. (Sorry about the bad pic.)

I think it looks like a huge block of liquorice ice cream. 

Loved the black sand. It's really something. 

You can't really see it in the pictures, but the sand sparkles in the sunlight like there's bits of gold mixed in it. 

Jokulsarlon glacial lagoon was amazing, too. 

You can see the glacier in the distance. That's where the icebergs come from.

Here are some of the beautiful Icelandic horses. I've only ridden a horse once, but I'd love to go horseback riding with these guys. They were so friendly. 

This is Dettifoss, the waterfall that appeared in the movie Prometheus. (The best thing about the movie, frankly.) They filmed it from the other side, so it looks quite different here.

This is Namaskard. I could only handle the stench for five minutes. Interesting, but you'd need a gas mask to enjoy it. 

A crater lake.

This was my very favourite place on the tour: the Dimmuborgir, "dark castles."

The lighting was bad that day, but these are really something. It looks like a natural citadel full of caves and crevices for nasty things to hide. I was half expecting orcs to come pouring out of the caves at any moment. 

I'll leave you with Godafoss, another beautiful waterfall. The name means "Waterfall of the Gods," and the story goes that when Iceland converted to Christianity, the people threw the statues of the old Norse gods in the waterfall to show their commitment to the new faith.

Iceland is a beautiful, magical country. If you like outdoorsy activities, you'll love it, but you can see it comfortably from a tour bus too. Just wear warm clothes and respect the environment, and you'll have the trip of a lifetime. 

Iceland part 1

I just got back from a trip to Iceland, and it was amazing. Volcanoes, glaciers, hot springs; it's truly the land of ice and fire. 

We did the Iceland Complete circle tour because we were nervous about driving in a foreign country, but you can also rent a car and do the tour on your own instead of joining a tour group. Some of the roads were a bit rough but not too scary, so next time I think we'll rent a car. (Yes, next time. I'm already dreaming of going back...)  

This tour gives you a little bit of everything, which is nice, but a lot of the time you could have stayed at a place for a lot longer and not run out of things to do. 

At the start of our visit we took a special bus from Keflavik airport to the Blue Lagoon, a geothermal bath and spa. It's very popular (for obvious reasons), so it's good to book ahead. They store your luggage while you bathe, and you can rent towels, bathrobes, flip-flops, and even a swimsuit there.

We lucked out with the weather, as you can see. The water is really warm, like a hot bath, but even in the summer, Icelandic weather is quite cold, so it wasn't a problem. When you're finished bathing, the same bus company has buses going to Reykjavik, so you don't have to go back to the airport. 

The surrounding area is quite barren, with lava fields all around. My friend said it looks like Mordor, and I think she's right. A lot of the scenery felt like it could have been straight out of The Lord of the Rings movies. Did you know they also filmed Game of Thrones in Iceland, the scenes that happened beyond the Wall, I think.

When our tour officially started, we got to see geysers at the Geysir geothermal field. The water's boiling, so you have to be very careful walking around. The guide said that the ground shifts and if you go off the path it can suddenly give way and you'll be up to your ankle in boiling water. Ouch!

So many beautiful waterfalls! This one is Gullfoss, the golden waterfall. 

Seljalandsfoss. 

You could walk behind the waterfall!

We stayed overnight at Vik. These are the Troll Stones. There's a legend that trolls were trying to drag a ship ashore, but then dawn came and they turned to stone, and that's how the stones were formed. (I don't know why the ship turned to stone, too, but you can't be nitpicky about mythology.)

Countryside around Vik. They had some nice hiking paths on the hills we'll definitely try next time. 

I have so many photos that they didn't fit into one post, so stay tuned for part 2 next week!

A Strange and Curious Guide to Stockholm

Have you ever visited Stockholm? I went last weekend. Hubby and I go about once a year, because Stockholm is awesome and it's one of the few places you can fly to straight from Turku airport. A lot of people take the ferry over, but that takes forever and I don't enjoy the drinking and shopping parts of the cruise that much. I never get a good night's sleep on the boat, so then I'm tired and groggy the next day, which kind of ruins the trip for me. The flight is about forty-five minutes and Arlanda Express will get you straight to the heart of the city from the airport in only twenty minutes. There's a number of nice hotels within a few minutes' walk from the station. (I like Radisson Blue Waterfront. It's a bit on the pricy side, but it's practically on top of Centralen: you go up an escalator and there you are. Gamla Stan (Old Town) is only a ten minute walk away, as is Sergels Torg.) There are lots of cool designer hotels in Stockholm, too, if you like that kind of thing.

                             

After we dropped off our bags on Thursday night, we headed over to the Ardbeg Embassy whiskey bar in Old Town. Hubby is a whiskey aficionado, and they have a great selection. They also serve lots of local microbrews. "Cellar Troll" has to be one of the coolest beer names ever.

                                         

                               

Stockholm Old Town is one of my favourite places in the whole world. Going there is like stepping back in time, and the fog on Thursday night made it even more atmospheric. They also do ghost walks in Old Town a few times a week. Here's a link to the itinerary for the ones in English. 

                                

                                       Check out the Monty Pythonesque fish-hand sign!

                              

          If you like antiques and steampunk, Old Town is the place to be. I loved these cool lamps.

                             

                                  This antique shop was straight out of Harry Potter. 

                            

                                              An old phone booth. Remember those?

On Saturday we visited Pharmarium, an old pharmacy turned cocktail bar. The decor was steampunk meets 1800s opium den with a dash of the gothic, and the drinks were amazing. They also serve light bites to go with the drinks. Booking a table is a good idea; the place was packed. 

                          

                                                      The drinks menu.

                         

This one was my favourite. It's called dark matter, and it tasted sweet and fresh and mysterious. 

                           

                                        The Swedish Parliament, wreathed in fog.

                        

For you all you steampunk lovers out there, the Vasa is worth checking out. The warship was built in the 1600s, but sank on her maiden voyage. The Swedes raised her from the ocean floor in 1961 and you can visit her at the Vasa Museum. It's about a forty-five minute walk from the town centre, but the same island houses many different museums. The gift shop is also worth a look: you can buy ship's biscuits, steampunk shot glasses, or even a real cannonball there.  

                             

On Friday we attended a lunch concert at the Royal Opera. The building itself is well worth seeing (you can take a tour in English if you like), but the lunch concert made the experience even more special. I highly recommend it. Here's the schedule for spring. 

                           

Next we visited the Army museum. A fascinating place, and entrance is free. The info is in Swedish and English, so you can get the full experience even if you don't speak Swedish. 

                       

The history of Swedish warfare pretty much ends in the 1800s, but there's a section on modern warfare, too. 

               This field kitchen felt very steampunk. (Yeah, I like steampunk, if you haven't noticed.)

                                    What about eating? Okay, I have a few tips for you. 

                           

                 Afternoon tea, Swedish style, at the Wienercafeet. I think the picture says it all.

                        

We had lunch at Nytorget 6, which is about half an hour's walk from the city centre, but pretty close to Fotografiska (a museum that features photography exhibitions and video art. Right now they're showing  Eric Johansson's weird and wonderful photographs that bend reality in strange and magical ways.). 

Nytorget 6 has delicious food, great service, and wonderfully dramatic decor. Definitely go if you're in the neighbourhood.

                        

Stockholm is a great city for shopping. You have an abundance of vintage stores and flea markets for the thrifty magpies, quirky and cool new design for the trendsetters, and gourmet shops for the foodies, but this store is geek heaven: the Science Fiction Bokhandeln. It's located in Old Town and has a huge selection of manga, comics, boardgames, memorabilia, and books, of course, in English and in Swedish. 

                                                   See the alien hanging from the roof?

  

                              

                   

Here's the obligatory loot photo. Most of this is from the SF Bookhandeln, but the dinosaur puppets and the book of Eric Johansson's photographs are from Fotografiska and the steampunk confectionary is from a gourmet shop. The fun belt with the hands is a flea market find.

On Sunday we took a tour of the city hall, where they hold the Nobel banquets. Very cool.

                        

An amazing weekend. Hope you had a good one, too. If you have any strange and curious travel tips to contribute, comment away!