Montmartre is the real Paris

The Moulin Rouge, the Pigalle, and the Church of the Sacred Heart are the main attractions of the district of Montmartre, where we spend most of the day. Truly, it is the most beautiful and representative part of Paris, the one I liked the most. The Sacre Coeur is situated on a hill, from which you can see almost the entire city and during the Christmas season it is surrounded by the little wooden houses of the Christmas markets. It is forbidden to take pictures or shoot videos inside the church, but there's only a disconsolate guardian to enforce that rule, and she has to run after everybody, so while she goes to reprimand someone else .... hihihihi

We walk around the neighborhood following a precise route, we discover the place where Modigliani and Picasso used to get drunk and party with some chicks, the "Lapin Agile", a sort of local cabaret. We also discover the old residence of Renoir.

2011 © Giovanna Puccia. All rights reserved

The Church of the Sacred Heart.
2011 © Giovanna Puccia. All rights reserved

Do you wanna see all pics taken in Paris? Then CLICK HERE

We walk around the neighborhood following a precise route, we discover the place where Modigliani and Picasso used to get drunk and party with some chicks, the "Lapin Agile", a sort of local cabaret. We also discover the old residence of Renoir.

There’s still some time before it gets dark and following the advice of my friend Romina, we want to go to see the Defense, the business district of Paris whose builders were inspired by  the giants of Mahnattan. Actually, we don’t find it very interesting, so just the time to take a couple of pictures and to have a quick ride to yet some other Christmas Markets, and we are back on the Champs Elysees to go up on Arc de Triomphe, as we decided the night before.

The arch’s entrance is located underground, obviously following the pedestrian tunnel that leads to the center of the square. We spend a short time in line and then with 10 euros we go up (by feet) and reach  the top of the arc. On the inside, there are a shop, an info point and restrooms. The view from up there’s spectacular: on one side, you can see up to the big Ferris wheel, and on the other side, your sight can extend along the 5-km-avenue that leads to the Defense.

Champs Elisees. 2011 © Giovanna Puccia. All rights reserved

Champs Elisees. 2011 © Giovanna Puccia. All rights reserved

After the scam of a dinner the previous night, we decide to go back to our Moroccan friends who had treated us so well. This time, I taste some kebabs served with mixed vegetables, Sebastiano orders the couscous chicken, which is very delicious. We ask several times for the mint tea of the desert, that they use to serve with a lot of sugar, and that we love so much. Even the bill doesn’t disappoint us at all, as we spend about 26 euros in total (for the two of us). I would like to point out that this restaurant, being Muslim, doesn’t mention wine on the menu, but if you want drink it, you can go to the mini-market next door and buy a bottle that you can bring with you and keep on the table without problem: and the guys even brought us the only two wine glasses that they held in their local! They are definitely one step ahead!

December 11, 2011
Beautiful things come to an end immediately. So we get to the last day of our stay. Our flight is in the late afternoon, so we can use the whole morning to visit the cemetery of Père-Lachaise, where Jim Morrison, Chopin, and Oscar Wilde are buried, along with a considerable number of other famous people. They say that in order to "revive" the image of this cemetery that wasn’t being considered by anyone, they began to bury famous people there.
Pay attention when you exit the metro Père-Lachaise, cause you’ll immediately find a kiosk that sells the maps of the cemetery: it’s not illegal, but be aware that at the entrance of the cemetery, the management provides free maps in different languages! Learn to understand the difference between the number of the tomb’s position and that of "area" in which that is located. I was looking for Oscar Wilde and I stumbled upon the grave of Jim Morrison!
Speaking about Jim, if you're expecting to find a huge space dedicated to him, with many flowers, many people, and much of everything... you'll be amazed. His tomb is located in a quite hidden position (let’s say, in the second row), it’s not very big and it doesn’t stand apart from the ones close to it. So, when he died, he was considered a person like many others. And it sounds right.

The grave of Jim Morrison.
2011 © Giovanna Puccia. All rights reserved

Do you wanna see all pics taken in Paris? Then CLICK HERE

Oscar Wilde’s grave, instead, is protected by a large plexiglass box, because some time ago an idiot broke the statue’s intimate parts on the tombstone ... No comment!
After visiting the cemetery, we move quickly to the center to find the Sorbonne. After a quick lunch with a sandwich, we get back to the hotel to collect our luggage.
To get to Charles de Gaulle airport, we take the underground to Gare du Nord, then the RER (French commuter trains) B line that leads straight to our destination. I don’t know if we have done something wrong, but with only 1 euro (an underground ticket) we’re able to arrive at the airport without any problems. Oh well, c'est la vie!

Christmas Markets in Paris

Due to the bad weather we decide to take refuge in the most famous big store of France: Galeries La Fayette. We don’t like it at all, so we leave it immediately. We walk through the whole shopping area till we reach Place de la Concorde. We want to visit the famous Christmas markets on the Champs Elysees. To be honest, we find them very expensive and the people in those cute little wooden houses that come one after the other up to the Arc du Triomphe, sell more or less the same things. We only buy the mint of the desert tea, the one that we tasted the night before at the Moroccan restaurant near our hotel.
When we arrive to at the arc du triumphe, we discover that it is possible to get on its top to admire the view, but we think that it would be better to do that in the evening, to enjoy the Christmas lights on the avenue. So we decide to come back later when it’s dark.

Markets Trocadero 2011 © Giovanna Puccia. All rights reserved.

Arc du Triomphe
2011 © Giovanna Puccia. All rights reserved.

Do you wanna see all pics taken in Paris? Then CLICK HERE

We spend the afternoon visiting the Louvre; a full day wouldn’t be enough to appreciate it all. Once again, I find myself in front of the Mona Lisa, the most admired stamp in the world! So it was nothing new to me to find it so small. I will not dwell on the Louvre museum for too long but I can tell you that, in order to avoid the line of people that crowds around the pyramid, you can directly enter the museum from the subway exit: you follow the signs, get the ticket at the automatic machines (10 euro) and you find yourself right in the vast hall of the museum, where you can find info points, wardrobe, bars, shops, bathrooms, etc...
When we leave the museum is already dark, we dwell taking pictures and then retrace the Champs Elysees in the opposite side this morning to look at the stalls that we were missing. This brings us again to the bow but it's already past 8 pm, we’re destroyed and hungry and we didn’t want to do anything, not even to climb the Arc du Triomphe. So we decide to go back to the hotel and go out to eat at a French restaurant just nearby. The kitchen doesn’t satisfy us fully, tomorrow we’ll return at the Moroccan restaurant.  

Louvre2011 © Giovanna Puccia. All rights reserved.

Champs Elisée
2011 © Giovanna Puccia. All rights reserved.

  Do you wanna see all pics taken in Paris? Then CLICK HERE

Keep reading... Keep reading.... My travel story continues in the next post!

"Immaculate" Paris!

After over 14 years, I’m back in Paris. Even in this occasion, I’m with someone special but different.

Paris never disappoints expectations; it’s always beautiful in every season of the year. I visited it in the summer; now winter is almost here, the Christmas atmosphere makes everything more surreal, the lights, though not abundant (I guess that also French people have to deal with the crisis), are always special, carefully designed.
Paris is expensive throughout the year, especially in December, so you need to be mentally prepared to spend a lot of money; otherwise, you can do just like me: search, search, and search until you find the best deal.
I had been dreaming about going back there for a while, and opportunity makes the thief (275 euro for a Milan–Paris Charles de Gaulle flight departing on Wednesday at 21.10 and coming back on Sunday at 18.05, for 2 people).
Here’s the summary of the 4 intense days of the Immaculate Conception’s long weekend.

Our flight lands at the main Paris airport in the evening, but I don’t understand why the public means of transport that I had previously studied to arrive at the hotel are not working tonight. They provide the passengers with shuttle buses that take them to an Underground stop; from there, we somehow end up on the RER train that takes us to the Gare du Nord. From here it's much easier to find our direction and take the right line to our destination. It’s here, in this station, that for the first and unique time in the whole trip I feel in danger: a black kid on the escalator stares at me and slows down, as if he’s going to wait for me at the top, but he realizes that I have caught him and he resumes his pace to reach his friends ahead. For the rest, we can say that as it happens in all the capitals, the more you move into the suburbs, the more the environment becomes less peaceful.
Our hotel, Timohtel, is located in the district of Charonne. I paid 250 euros for a double room for 4 nights, a fair price if we consider the period of the year, the city, and the proximity to the underground stop (line 2 Avron). Clean and simple, the reception is open 24 hours a day. The trip to downtown takes about 20 minutes.

Tour Eiffel. 2011 © Giovanna Puccia. All rights reserved.

 
December 8, 2011
The tour begins with a visit to Notre Dame. Maybe it’s because of the dreary weather, but the monument doesn’t look so amazing and it doesn’t impress us that much. We find out that even here in Paris there’s a facsimile of the Milvian Bridge in Rome with the locks of love ... the world is the same everywhere! The sun peeps out from behind the clouds and we continue our guided tour through the two islands of the city, which are typically Parisian and therefore very beautiful.
We stop to have lunch and then we decide to go to the Louvre but, I don’t know how, we get the wrong train and the wrong line and we magically find ourselves at the stop of ... the Eiffel Tower! Well, let's take advantage of this chance! Before heading to the tower, we take a ride in the area, we visit the Christmas markets of the Trocadero, we take plenty of pictures and then, as the sun sets down, we get in line to climb the tower. We don’t even have to stay in line for too long (about 30 minutes), we pay 13.50 euros to climb the tower through two elevators (9 euros if you take the stairs) and ..... spectacular! The view of the city is really breathtaking, every corner is visible from up here.
On the top of the tower, the wind blows so wildly that, it's hard to take pictures even with the tripod; plus, the  people keep pushing me to find the right location for their pictures, and they always end up where I am!
When we go back down, it's already past 8 pm, and we want to wait the stroke of the hour to fully enjoy the Christmas lighting of the Eiffel Tower. Unfortunately, the photos don’t do justice to the beauty of the place.

Do you wanna see all pics taken in Paris? Then CLICK HERE

Nôtre Dame. 2011 © Giovanna Puccia. All rights reserved.

2011 © Giovanna Puccia. All rights reserved.

2011 © Giovanna Puccia. All rights reserved.

2011 © Giovanna Puccia. All rights reserved.

  Do you wanna see all pics taken in Paris? Then CLICK HERE

Keep reading... Keep reading.... My travel story continues in the next post!

Just like being in Africa

A day at the Safari Park and everything comes back to my mind. I think about Africa, about the animals, about the safaris that went bad and those that were well managed, and I think, "Hell, if I had had a good camera reflex at that time, I would have taken a lot of wonderful photos."

Well, it takes very little, the solution is called Safari Park. Attention: we are not talking about a zoo: the animals are completely free to move, it’s the people who have to be very careful and follow the rules. It is absolutely forbidden to get out of the car or lower the windows.

So in this environment, I find the entire Africa, only the elephants were missing!

I let you judge the beauty of this place.

Do you wanna see all pics taken in Safari Park? Then click here 

2011 © Giovanna Puccia. All rights reserved.

2011 © Giovanna Puccia. All rights reserved.

2011 © Giovanna Puccia. All rights reserved.
For those who don't recognize it, this is the booty of a white rhino.

The Safari Park is located in Pombia (NO), about 1 hour away from Varese, and the cost of the ticket is 17 Euros; on the site www.safaripark.it there’s a downloadable discount that can reduce the price to 14 Euros.

Soon I will publish other formidable pictures, for the moment enjoy your visit.

Do you wanna see all pics taken in Safari Park? Then click here

Torremolinos: mass tourism

Discouraged by the weather situation, we're happy to take the first bus to Torremolinos. Tarifa’s station terminal is rather basic: the reception is closed, chairs are non-existent, and the terminal’s cleanness surely is not what you would go for. We get our ticket (about 10 euro) on the bus, we get in line and... goodnight everyone!

Torremolinos is just as I expected it to be: touristic, very touristic. It’s nice for a one-day stay, but nothing more. We chose it as the last stop of our Andalusia’s tour because the following day we would have departed from Malaga airport (approx. 10 km away) at 9 am and therefore, it was convenient. In fact, you can safely take the train (1 € approx.) that takes you directly to the airport.

As I said, since the town is very touristic, it doesn't stands out for its architectural beauty; on the opposite, you can see stretches of beachfront hotel tower blocks that litter a landscape, which is already not great.

Once we take possession of our room, we go to eat at the restaurant on the opposite side of the road: we don't even have all the money to pay the bill, as we’re missing about 70 cents, but with a little blink of eyelashes and an apology, we make it out of there :D

We spend the rest of the day at the beach, which is very crowded, with a slight sea. It’s almost impossible to swim, each wave pulls my bathing suit down... it’s better for me stop showing off!

In the evening, we take a beautiful paseo in the center, which is filled with shops, then we go for a walk along the beach, we do some last minute shopping, and then we head to bed. Our vacation's over.

Do you wanna see all pics taken in Torremolinos? Then click here

Total cost per person:

Easyjet flight round trip 240 € Milan Malpensa-Malaga

hotel approx. € 300 for 11 nights

buses and other public transport approx. 60 euro

trip to Tangier: 55 €

Lunches and dinners: average 25 euro per day

One day in Morocco (Tangier)

We bought the 55 euro tickets for the one-day tour to Tangier from an agency, but to tell the truth, we could have also used the do-it-yourself formula. In fact, we could have bought a ferry round trip ticket for € 32 and then visit the city center on our own: of course, we would have probably ended up lost in the narrow and crowded streets of Tangier, and also we would have certainly had some security issues, but at least we would have been spared all the demonstrations of carpets, essential oils, natural pharmacy etc. .... In the end, I wouldn’t know what to go for, well, probably security.

However, before visiting the city, we were put on a bus and taken to the suburbs to see a cave that has an opening shaped like Africa, and that carries its own traditional story, which, to tell you the truth, I didn’t even feel like hearing.

2011 © Giovanna Puccia. All rights reserverd. Moroccan coast near Tangier

Me in Morocco

2011 © Giovanna Puccia. All rights reserved. Shaped cave Africa ORIGINAL

2011 © Giovanna Puccia. All rights reserved. Shaped cave Africa RETOUCHING

Do you wanna see all pics taken in Morocco? Then click here

 

The second stop of our Moroccan tour was right in town. We reached the center all together, where we briefly assist to a public speech made by a local leader, surrounded by his group of supporters. In order to help us to not get lost, another Moroccan guy, beside our official tourist guide, closed the group and made sure that nobody got missing: of course, at the end of the day he would ask for a (lavish) tip for his valuable help. Then we passed through a myriad of narrow streets, to end up at the restaurant booked by the agency: a typical Moroccan place with a lot of traditional musicians. There’s a waiter so weird that he looked like someone who’s full of heroin… Our cous-cous based lunch, which I would say was very good, was consumed fairly quickly. Then it was the turn of the exhibitions… and that sucked! First, we stopped at the carpet exhibition with its attached shop, then we moved to the exhibition of pseudo-natural products for the body, face, hands, for the treatment of headache, toothache and just for the treatment of everything. Our third and final stop (thank God, or I would have made a mess!) was at a magnificent room with a panoramic terrace looking over the port of Tangier and that was it!

Agitators and supporters

2011 © Giovanna Puccia. All rights reserved. Tangier's Square

2011 © Giovanna Puccia. All rights reserved. At the market

 

When the boarding time arrived, we had a moment of semi-panic mixed with hilarity: on the ticket issued by the Moroccan transport, Sebastian’s last name was misspelled… but no worries, nobody noticed the difference apart from us!

Do you wanna see all pics taken in Morocco? Then click here

Keep reading... Keep reading.... My travel story continues in the next post!