Tag: worldheritage

Porto, Portugal

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Porto is a coastal city in northwest Portugal known for its stately bridges and port wine production. Here are my recommendations:

  1. Livraria Lello – The Guardian and travel website Lonely Planet picked this as the world’s third most beautiful bookstore. More than a century old, Lello is an art nouveau pearl with gothic details, stained glass and a fabulous red staircase, said to have inspired the one in Hogwarts (JK Rowling once lived in Porto). You have to pay to enter but you also get that money back if you purchase a book.
  2. Sao Bento Railway station – you can see the changes in modes of transport from one end of the ceiling, looping back around (horse carriage to train) IMG_5305
  3. Ponte de D. Luis 1 Iconic Metal Bridge (walk on the top and the bottom!) and take in the beautiful colorful buildings of Porto
  4. All the port brands are across the bridge on Gaia side where you will also see traditional boats along the way. They are now used as decoration and advertises the differenr brands but in the past, it was how the transported the barrels of port.
  5. Sao Francisco church IMG_5518
  6. Torre dos Clerigos bell tower which you can climb for sky high views – It was opened in 1763 and is blessed with a beautiful barrage of Baroque motifs thanks to its Italian designer Nicolau Nasoni. Given its prominent position, you can get some amazing 360° views of the city from the top, but you’ll have to climb 225 steps to get there.IMG_5292
  7. Lion fountain and the two nearby churches, one with pretty blue walls. You could never guess that between the church is the smallest house in Porto! I initially looks like one big church till you observe the architectural differences more closely.

     

  8. McDonald’s Imperial – super grand McD!
  9. Duoro Valley Day trip
  10. Old town for narrow cobbled streets, ancient houses and bags of character, and consider a Riverside biking tour (they provide electric bikes for the uphills)
  11. Majestic Cafe
  12. Brasao or Bulha are fancier restaurants to check out
  13. Francesinha is their famous dish – basically a meat sandwich with cheese and drenched in tomato like sauce
  14. Visit the beach by taking Linha 1 tram line, the most scenic route that follows the banks of the Douro River to the Foz district.
  15. Eat natas all day for only 1 euro. They tend to eat their nata’s cold other than at ” the world needs nata”
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Accom: Stayed at Feel Porto Apartment downtown town house – amazing Airbnb

Athens, Greece

On By touristnat2 Comments

Athens is the capital of Greece. It was also at the heart of Ancient Greece, a powerful civilization and empire. The city is still dominated by 5th-century BC landmarks, including the Acropolis, a hilltop citadel topped with ancient buildings like the colonnaded Parthenon temple.

You could do a free walking tour to learn more about what you will end up seeing (because it all just looks like a pile of ruins if you don’t have any background info) and the tour will help you catch the changing of the guards which takes place every hour.  The free walking tours do not enter any of the sites so just use it as a source of direct information making your Greek experience more interesting and educational! Definitely by the 30euro package deal which gives you access to 7 sites (Acropolis, archeological museum, temple of Zeus, museum of ancient agora, roman agora, lyceum and Hadrian’s library) . Of if you are an EU student, show you student card and gain access to all sites FREE. You can walk everywhere apart from the Archeological museum which is a bit further out (bargain with a taxi driver and it should cost around 5euros only). Of course if you visit when it isn’t so hot, I’m sure you can easily walk it too.

It’s really beautiful walking around the alleyways of Athens. It’s surrounded by well decorated restaurants and buildings. That was the part I loved most about Athens actually, the varied alleyways.

 

Note: Taxi’s don’t use their meters, make sure you negotiate a price beforehand. Bus X95 goes straight from the airport to Syntagma square and is only 6 Euros, taking around 45mins depending on traffic. We kept getting warned about pick pockets so be aware. Finally, Summer gets really hot so be prepped!

  1. Parliament for the changing of the guards162E116A-BBB4-4581-9C53-E84BB2CE3404
  2. Hadrian’s Arch and Temple of Zeus (they are next to each other) 

  3. Panathenaic stadium
  4. Parthenon The Acropolis and Theatre of Dionysos 

  5. Acropolis museum4A56C101-C959-419D-97DC-3B0CD7DA6847
  6. Museum of Ancient Agora – I think you get one of the best views from here on the way to the temple of Hephaestus, still in this same ticketed area. DCE21354-1755-4CCF-84E1-D0ED8749DD23
  7. Hadrian’s library 72F8C881-8A27-432D-8661-CFCFEA29F737
  8. Roman Agora 

  9. The best bubble tea I have ever had was from some random Chinese restaurant just outside the airport bus ticket office in the city. I wish I noted the name down but if you are ever in Athens, try it! I wish I took down the name but you’ll just have to trust me on this one.

Here is the tourist map you can pick up which isn’t the most clear tbh

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Xiamen, China

On By touristnatLeave a comment

Xiamen is a port city on China’s southeast coast, across a strait from Taiwan. It encompasses 2 main islands and a region on the mainland. Formerly known as Amoy, it was a British-run treaty port from 1842 to 1912. Many Europeans and Japanese lived on Gulangyu, today a vehicle-free island with beaches and meandering streets lined with old colonial villas. I went straight to the countryside as part of my volunteer trip!

  1. Great for mountain biking as they have so much open land
  2. Teach at a local school, they could do with volunteers teaching English
  3. Stay in a traditional ‘Tu Lou’ protected by UNESCO World Heritage. A Tu Lou is usually circular in configuration, between three and fie stories high and housing up to 800 people. Smaller interior buildings are often enclosed by these huge peripheral walls which can contain halls, storehouses, wells and living areas, the whole structure resembling a small fortified city. There are several you can visit including Chuxi tulou group, Tianluokeng tulou cluster, Hekeng tulou cluster, Gaobei tulou cluster, Dadi tulou cluster, Hongkeng tulou cluster, Yangxian lou, Huiyuan lou, Zhengfu lou and Hegui lou
  4. Get a view from the top of the traditional houses
  5. Visit a tea plantation and pick tea leaves!

North Wales, United Kingdom

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What brought me to North Wales for the first time was my graduate Midnight Snowdon hike challenge in support of Alzheimer’s Society. sixteen graduates from GVA set off to conquer Mt Snowdon over night and succeeded in under 4.5 hours! I then extended my trip to tour around myself, first time traveling solo, and I loved it.

Note: Expect North Wales to rain and have grey skies. I was only lucky in Caernarfon!

Here are my recommendations:

  1. Visit Llanberis and climb Mount Snowdon, the highest mountain in Wales, at an elevation of 1,085 metres above sea level, and the highest point in the British Isles south of the Scottish Highlands. 

  2. Visit Anglesey, an island off the north-west coast of Wales. Specifically, visit Menai bridge on the way to Beaumaris famous for its castle, coast and pastel coloured houses. Also try Beau’s tea shop, it has such beautiful decor. 

     

  3. From Beaumaris, take a ferry to visit Puffin island and Trwyn Du light house, or Black Point which dates from 1838, and guided sailors through the passage between Penmon and Puffin Island.19397173_10156642004533849_8713041693481194888_n19247571_10156642002813849_3895077496144114257_n
  4. Visit Caernarfon Castle, a medieval fortress on the eastern shore of the Menai Strait, opposite the Isle of Anglesey19424495_10156642698848849_7503409698617401662_n19424194_10156642693573849_5561285517140394384_n
  5. Visit Llandudno a seaside resort, town and community. Make sure you catch the Great Orme tramway to visit the Great Orme, a prominent limestone headland on the north coast of Wales. You can even go further via a cable car but I didn’t have good enough weather to bother with this.19399300_10156646339803849_732351528926752664_n19430060_10156646339543849_8260118457623678123_n19400174_10156646339388849_4854750953815478246_nOther: I used Bangor as my base and stayed at a wonderful hotel called Bangor Garden hotel. This was above a cantonese restaurant,  family run so everyone was super friendly and helpful.

Bergen, Norway

On By touristnatLeave a comment

Bergen is surrounded by mountains and fjords, including Sognefjord, the country’s longest and deepest. It is therefore a great start or end point for you to visit Norway’s famous fjords. Here are my top 5 recommendations in Bergen:

  1. Bryggen features colorful wooden houses on the old wharf, once a centre of the Hanseatic League’s trading empire. It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and does look like it will fall apart soon!
  2. Visit museums. There is a three in one museum entry ticket option which will take you about 2 hours in total to complete. The Hanseatic museum (45mins), Schotstuene (15mins) and fisheries museum (1h). You cannot buy individual tickets unless it is 3:45pm or later. Your ticket includes a free shuttle transfer to get to the fisheries museum which is just slightly further out although still walkable in 25mins. My favourite museum was the Fisheries one where you learn about the history that has shaped modern Norway, learn about the ocean and be engaged with the interactive games.
  3. Eat at the fish market. All the seafood you want to eat and extremely fresh! You do end up paying quite a lot though so budget carefully. The fish market is right opposite the Hanseatic museum and 1 minute from Bryggen.
  4. Ride the Mount Floyen funicular. You could hike up in 25minutes or if you are short on time, ride the funicular which closes at 11pm. This photo was taken at 10:30pm believe it or not! 19105622_10156589363663849_3245967091743184229_n
  5. Make sure you try Skillingsbolle (cinnamon roll) @Godt Brod or any cafe really because they originated from Bergen.19059316_10156595557208849_5207553207433036603_n

Restaurant recommendation: Bryggeloftet & Stuene at Bryggen in one of the main wooden houses. The restaurant was super cozy, food was good and staff was very friendly.