Prague

Our next destination was Prague, Czech Republic.

At first sight, I fell in love with the city's architecture. Walking down the streets felt as if we were walking in a dollhouse. The most banal buildings seemed to be historical monuments, and I could feel that the city was really, really old.

The feeling of stepping onto the ageing slabs made me realize how lucky I was to visit such a historical place. Even if the first feeling I had of the city was a gloomy one (I arrived late at night), I quickly changed my mind when I saw the city under the rays of a returning spring sun. So, it is definitely a city to visit to experience its historical richness and architectural beauty. 

As we were experiencing the Couchsurfing way of travelling, we got the chance to meet some people who brought us to have some typical czech food and drinks. As I'm neither a meat lover, nor a beer drinker, I wasn't much appealed by the food. But my friends actually loved it! 

Heading to Amsterdam now :-)

See? A real open-air dollhouse!

The medieval astronomical clock : 

The famous St. Vitus Cathedral, located inside the Prague Castle complex :

Spotted :

The John Lennon's Wall, symbol of a revolted youth willing to spread ideals as love and peace at the time of the communism regime :

Little escapade to Istanbul

"I talk about the color of cypress, the forest in the valleys, the wooden houses abandoned, the rusty boats in a poor condition, about the poetry of the ships and about the villas on the Straits that only those who have spent their lives on the shores can understand."

... according to the words of Turkish writer and literature Nobel prize Ohran Pamuk in his famous book Istanbul, describing his hometown with great intensity.

I love Istanbul. When I went there 4 years ago, I fell in love with the contrasts between the occidental and oriental worlds. Seeing the blue blue mosque while walking down an european-style street is one of the little things that make this city so unique. 

I went there about two weeks ago for a whole week. The purpose of my stay wasn't much to visit the famous spots of the city (I already did that once in 2010), but to live a different experience of the Turkish way of life. I've been brought to some amazing beautiful places as the Prince's islands, where we biked in the mountains and enjoyed the outstanding sea view, and some other unknown treasures as a secret little village where we could enjoy a typical Turkish brunch (cheese, olives, sliced tomatoes and cucumber, jam/honey and chai tea) and contemplate the sea side from some kind of abandoned Ottoman ruins. My week was amazing, and I left the city with a heart full of love and gratefulness to experience such a beautiful country. 

I'm now back to Copenhagen, and am really eager to travel to some other places in Europe in a few weeks. Berlin, Prague and Amsterdam, I'm coming!

On my way to the Prince's islands :-)

Here it is, an adorable typical village :

The secret place far from the city center :

Another typical thing to do, eat a fish sandwich (balik ekmek) by the Galata bridge! I'm not a fan though, but everyone loves it ;-)