Canary Wharf Winter Lights Festival 2018 (Things to do in London)

Now in my first full time job (which sadly isn’t full-time blogging…yet), I’ve realised the importance of occasionally making sure to ‘do something’ to avoid my life becoming wholly consumed by work. That’s why, whenever there’s something of interest occurring in the delightful city of London, be that a concert or something else of interest, you can bet I’ll be there.

My latest excursion came in the form of Canary Wharfs Winter Lights Festival – interesting because Canary Wharf is an area I know and love, puts on good events (you can read my experience of the Nashville Meets London festival here), and who doesn’t love a good light show? We chose to head in a weeknight – undoubtedly less busy than a weekend, and a good excuse to get up to something after work.

The lights greeted us as soon as we left the station, with a large display of moving triangles bobbing up and down right outside the exit in a piece called Abstract, with some suitably eerie music playing in the background. However strange the exhibits, they’re no better way to brighten up a cold January evening than with glorious light. 

We continued on to Jubilee Park and Intrude, or 3 humongous luminescent rabbits sprawling themselves across the small city park. Heading directly into the shopping centre, we found two more installations inside, Colour Me Beautiful, where participants where projected onto the wall with CCTV type images, but bathed in bright colours, and Sunlight Graffiti.

Now this was one that I particularly enjoyed. After queuing up for a short while, we were ushered into a dark box and handed a ‘Little Sun’ solar lamp. Through long exposure, you could draw shapes in the air with your light and see it all come together in a finished photograph. I thought this was great, not only because it left you with something to remember it by, but also because of its focus on environmental sustainability, allowing us to hold the power of the Sun in our hands.

Some exhibits were a bit more difficult to find with some installations easy to walk past as simple window displays. Nevertheless, with a handy map and helpful volunteers to point you in the right direction it was easy enough to tick each one off as you went along.

Coming out of the underground again, we poked the Sonic Light Bubble which looked remarkably like a giant plasma globe. Next up was Bit.Fall, again, far more intelligent than I’d like to give it credit, as illuminated sheets of water spelled out a never-ending cascade of words plucked from a live newsfeed on The Times website. This one requires you to be quick in order to catch the words before they fell, and was great fun to pass a few minutes chanting the words out as quickly as possible.

We wandered on down to The Cube, a box of light which aimed to ‘symbiotically bond’ with the pedestrian bridge it hovered around, and Halo, which looked as it sounds, beautifully suspended over the pond in Cabot Square.

The furthest installation was found in Westferry Circus – Apparatus Florius – which was a series of strings illuminated by various coloured lights. For once, I felt that I understood its meaning as art, as it really was reminiscent of the expanse of plants and gave a somewhat jungle feel to this very urban location. This was followed by the very cool Urban Patterns, again comprised of string but this time lit with UV lights so they seemed to glow with vibrant neon, and some permanently illuminated Lightbenches in case all the walking had you tired.

Another beautiful structure was the aptly named Dazzling Dodecahedron which was as the name would suggest a glorious jewel-like piece of art that you could even step inside if you so desired. Like this, most of the installations encouraged interactivity, and the next installation was no different where you could play with brightly coloured Pixels that shifted colour depending on which way you turned them.

This led us into Crossrail Place which had light pieces outside, including 500 illuminated acrylic rods called We Can Meet and the hugely fun Flora, where a touchpad allowed passers by to control complex and delicate shapes projected onto a wall below. I had immense enjoyment out of flinging the dials in opposite directions and watching the lights dance crazily below me.

Up on the roof garden, we found Luma Paint Light Graffiti, where again you could draw with light and project photos onto a wall with some very cool results, and the not at all intuitive Helios, meant to represent the Sun emerging out of an eclipse and into full bloom (maybe you just have to get it…)

On the middle level of Crossrail Place was a vast collection of installations, ranging from abstract illuminated clocks in the form of Tempus, glow in the dark dot paintings in Clones (very beautiful), raindrop like bubbles of foil which bobbed up and down as if by magic (again, very cool), to the broken glass like feature of Fracture, similar to something you might see in a normal gallery.

However, the real pull of this section was On Your Wavelength, an interactive light sculpture and music composition apparently controlled by your mind. Participants would put on an EEG headset and then as your thought patterns changed, the music and light would change. We watched two, very different, turns – one who clearly had a lot of brain activity going on with fast music and vibrant lights, and one who seemed to struggle to push the light up the illuminated tunnel. Fascinating. 

What a wonderful evening! Fantastic installations and all within a small enough area to walk around for a couple of hours. Unlike London’s Lumiere, spread across vast swathes of the city, this one was just the right size and a wonderful way to spend an evening. Likewise, the installations were of excellent calibre and I loved the interactivity of them – no doubt I’ll be back next year. Canary Wharf, keep doing what you’re doing!

I hope you enjoyed reading about my experiences at the Winter Lights Festival! Interested in hearing more about my adventures in London, and across the globe? Drop me a follow on Twitter and Instagram @CiarasCountry for more content like this! 

    

TRAVEL: Amsterdam, Leiden, Groningen - Murphy's Law confirmed!

Some people enjoy spending their weekends at home, relaxing and rejuvenating themselves for another week at work. I am not some people, and my idea of a perfect weekend is getting as far away from home as possible. This time, it was to the Netherlands, a country I’d visited briefly a few years ago and been impressed by its excellent rail network, interesting cities, and beautiful canals.

This trip was slightly different in that it had something of a purpose, whereas most of my trips are just adventures and opportunities to discover new places and cultures. This time, however, we were in search of the Netherlands most habitable places as my parents are due to be moving there at some point soon. Lucky for us, it’s just a quick plane ride from London City airport to Schipol.

I like Schipol, because to me it seems like a gateway to the rest of the world, and as we walked through the airport I caught myself glimpsing at the screens and browsing destinations. If this weren’t my final destination, where could I go? Cartagena, New York, Cape Town? No doubt future trips will have me passing through this airport time and time again.

We picked up our hire car from the little Avis booth in the carpark and set off on our way. Our first quasi-destination was Haarlem, a delightful town criss-crossed, of course, by a variety of canals. The houses here were beautiful, with large windows interestingly with no net curtains, with made for pleasant entertainment as you could see the Christmas trees in peoples living rooms. Rumour has it such large open windows date back to Calvinist thought, with the opinion that people should be able to see into your house to ensure no wrong-doing is taking place!

We continued on to the wonderfully named Zandvoort, purely to admire the coast and watch the waves roll in along the shore. Waves however means wind, and we were soon forced back into the car to avoid the biting breeze. We moved on through Aerdenhoot which looked to be like the Hamptons of the Netherlands with huge houses and lovely tree-lined avenues – somewhere I’m sure we’d be more than happy to move too, but perhaps quite a way out of our budget!

Lunch was taken slightly further down the coast in Noordwijk, the seafront of which was filled with fancy riverside restaurants and hotels with hundreds of rooms facing out to sea. I can imagine that in the height of summer, this place is absolutely packed. We opted to head into the centre of the village, a pedestrianised road lined with small shops and Christmas lights hanging overhead. Far and away the busiest eatery was de Smakmaaker, so of course this is where we chose to have lunch. Hey, if the locals like it, it must be good! Whilst the parents decided on apfelstrudel, I went for an Oudekasse baguette – literally translating to Old Cheese. Pretty good I must say.

Without a doubt, the most helpful tool we used in the restaurant and throughout the whole trip was the Google Translate app. Whilst the waiting staff often speak good English, the menus were almost always in Dutch. However, this handy app allows you to simply point your phone camera at the writing for an instantaneous translation. Very clever, and very helpful!

Hunger satiated, we stood for a minute on the beach with the driving wind beating out faces, just to say we had; before winding our way away from the coast to the outskirts of Amsterdam. Here, the streets became a bit narrower and the houses taller and thinner each fighting for a space overlooking the canals. And the bikes – oh my goodness, the bikes. If there are 9 million bicycles in Beijing I’d bet that’s followed closely by the Netherlands. Everyone has a bike. They’re everywhere, you simply can’t avert your eyes away from them, be they being ridden on the excellent bike lanes that span all the roads, leant up against the sides of houses, or in hordes chained up whilst their owners are at work. I’m astounded (and happy) with the dedication Dutch people have to their cycling – if only other countries would follow suit.

As the light began to fade, we made haste for our hotel, the Holiday Inn Express in Amsterdam South. I quite like chain hotels like this – always clean and you know exactly what to expect when you walk in – a perfectly fine hotel with everything you need. Once checked in, we bundled up and headed out into the Arctic chill for a twenty minute walk to dinner. Surprisingly, the restaurant was nestled in the middle of an office estate, pretty far from anything similar around. Nonetheless, Kronenburg had good reviews on TripAdvisor so was worth a try.

The menu was quite pricey with the waitress advising us that each item was ‘somewhere between a starter and a main’ and we should therefore order two per person. However, judging by the price and what I deemed to be ‘main course price’ I decided to just have the Flammkuchen, a very thin pizza like dish topped with aubergine, cheese, cashews and olives – and yes, it was more than enough for me! Very nice too, and something I knew I’d struggle to find back home.

The next morning I peeled back the curtains to reveal a white blanket of snow – fairly thin at this point but with more due to arrive later in the day. We headed down for breakfast, a sensible cold buffet with, importantly, Dutch delicacies. As well as the usual cold meats, cheeses, and pastries, we also had the chance to try hagelslag – chocolate sprinkles which you eat with buttered bread. I am a big fan of sweet breakfasts and this was no exception.

Keen to get a move on before the snow began to settle, we hopped in the car and headed closer to Amsterdam. Without heading directly into the centre, we scooted around the outskirts in towns like Oud Zuid, with pleasant apartments overlooking the canals rolling through the city. Having got as close to Amsterdam as we were going to get this time, we turned the car around and headed for Leiden as the snow got heavier.

Just over an hour later we arrived at the van der Valk hotel, a very pleasant hotel with a gorgeous lobby decked with Christmas trees and a roaring fire. Whilst our intent to avoid the snowy roads had meant we had arrived close to 11am and thus far too early to check in, we were able to drop our bags and chose to brave the wintery weather outside.

By this point, the snow had done a fairly good job of settling and was still driving into our faces so we made sure to cover up as best we could. Not having expected such weather, I’d only brought jeans which swiftly got soaked but nonetheless, I was enjoying the Winter Wonderland as it’s not often we get that kind of weather!

After a longer than expected walk we arrived in the centre of Leiden which looked very pretty blanketed in snow with quaint bridges stretching over the canal every so often. Our destination was Bakker van Maaren, a bakery with some of the most delicious cakes I’ve ever tried. We sampled the cheesecake, carrot cake and apple cake and each was as delicious as the next. Plus, every coffee came with a mini brownie, which was equally as yummy. Probably the best cakes I’ve ever had! On our way out, I spotted that they sold homemade chocolate, so of course had to invest in three bars – stroopwaffel; caramel; and pistachio, coconut and pineapple, all of which I’m very excited to eat!

With the driving snow having died down a bit, we were able to admire the village more on our way back, and it really did look like it should inhabit the inside of a snowglobe. Gorgeous. However, a member of our party had painful new walking boots on so walking back wasn’t an option, and we decided instead to try to catch the bus. I say ‘try’ because it wasn’t particularly successful… From the centre, we caught a bus a few stops to the central station, where we expected another bus which would take us straight to the hotel to arrive imminently. Instead, the automated system counted down the minutes until its arrival, announced the bus was here (with no stop number of course) and then promptly disappeared completely. This happened to three buses we were waiting for, and led to us waiting outside the station for close to an hour. Bearing in mind it was very very cold and I’m sure you can understand this wasn’t particularly pleasant!

An hour after we would have arrived back at the hotel if we’d have walked, an elusive bus finally arrived, and I attempted to warm my frozen fingers up by sitting on my hands. It was nice to get back to the hotel and jump straight into a (much needed) boiling shower. Once warmed up, we headed for dinner in the hotel restaurant, predominantly because the snow and cold stopped us from going out to eat! But the food itself was very pleasant – I had a veggie burger, whilst my parents tried the trio of game and pork shoulder. Perhaps the best part was the numerous sides we were served – fries, roast potatoes and red cabbage, with seconds if you wanted. Delicious, especially with homemade mayonnaise – the true way to eat fries in the Netherlands.

A pleasant sleep was abruptly ruined with the worst news a traveller can receive: our flight was cancelled. As a result, a stressful breakfast was followed with frenzied calls to Flybe to see what our options were. Whilst no flights were available from Schipol, they offered to book us on a flight leaving from Groningen, about two and a half hours North, to Southend. We’ll take it, we said, and jumped into the car to begin our journey, extinguishing all plans we had for the day in the hope we’d still make it home that evening.

Whilst not an ideal situation, I enjoyed driving across the country and admire its flat landscape which meant you could see for miles in every direction. We were able to drop the car off at an Avis petrol station in Groningen, and then took the worlds most expensive taxi (in my opinion) to the airport. It was completely deserted at this point – I considered filming an episode of Cribs in jest because who would be there to stop me? Upon realising that no one was going to show up for a few more hours, we made our way to the airports sole restaurant for a bite to eat. I of course had fries with mayonnaise, and watched as the snow continued to fall.

Half a book read and a full movie watched later, we headed to check in, made our way through security and sat waiting for our plane. I have a handy app called Flightradar24 (a must for any traveller) which lets you follow flights, so we watched the plane take off from Southend and make its way over to Groningen. As it reached the airport, it began circling…and circling…and circling…before diverting away to Munich due to the heavy snow. The knowledge that it had been so near yet so far was heartbreaking, as was the realisation that we weren’t going to make it home that evening.

As soon as the announcement came that the flight was cancelled, we made our way back through security and to the service desk where they processed all the passengers from the cancelled flight. Whilst first in the queue, we then had to wait two hours whilst the other passengers were processed before being told we would be put up in a hotel for the night and booked onto the flight the following day. Taxis would be arriving shortly, we were told. However, the weather meant that there were only two taxis in action in the whole of Groningen, and we were near to last on the list to be collected so it was another uncomfortable wait until it arrived.

Tired and cold, we made it to the Hampshire Plaza hotel and headed straight for the restaurant – maybe fries for lunch hadn’t been the best decision on my part, but another veggie burger (the only vegetarian thing on offer) made up for it, and very yummy it was at that.

With a day in Groningen ahead of us, we allowed ourselves a lie-in before grabbing some breakfast (hagelslag for me of course) and deciding we might as well make the most of our time here. Figuring out the bus schedule, we hopped on the number 5 into town and spent a pleasant few hours there. First, we explored the centre of the university town, before doing a loop of the canal, with central Groningen being pretty much an island surrounded by water. This was a good way to circumnavigate the city, and I enjoyed walking past the houseboats that sat on the water covered in a thick layer of snow.

Feeling like we’d ‘done’ Groningen, we stopped for a pick-me-up at PS koffie with cakes all round – spekulaas cake for me, banana bread and carrot cake, and a slice of Dutch delicacy seven-layer cake to go in case we got peckish at the airport. All too soon we were watching the clock to make sure we were back in time for our taxi pickup, and fully aware of the issues with the buses earlier in the weekend, gave ourselves plenty of time.

Our journey ended worse that it had begun, as whilst the flight did land and take off on this day, arrival at Southend revealed that all trains to London had been cancelled. This led to a rail replacement bus which stopped at every stop on the line and was significantly slower, so certainly not ideal. Ever the optimist though, I took the opportunity to admire Christmas lights on peoples houses, whenever the heavy condensation would allow me too. Finally, arriving in London, we were not pleased to find that our usual train home was not running so we had to take a much longer route, but eventually we made it.

I’ll be honest, whilst things certainly didn’t go as planned, I had a really fun weekend. I am glad to have seen a city (Groningen) that I probably otherwise would never have visited, and whilst the snow did change our plans, they didn’t make them bad (with the exception of the most part of two days being spent in an airport). Ever trip is an adventure and this one was no different.

Tips for trips: Whilst I don’t feel like I can give you tips for Amsterdam or the Netherlands at this point, I think I can for dealing with when things don’t go to plan. My main advice is to take everything as it comes, and try to enjoy it when life doesn’t go your way. I think everything happens for a reason, and in this case I had great fun in spite of our travel disasters. Of course, I don’t know what the trip would have been like if it had gone to plan, but who’s to say that I’d have got to taste the best cakes in the world? Or ever visit Groningen? Or admire Christmas lights across Essex and London? Silver linings all round!

TRAVEL: Sofia, Bulgaria - an undiscovered Eastern European gem

“Oh really?” was the response I tended to get from people when I told them that my next planned trip was to Sofia, Bulgaria. Bulgaria, and much of Eastern Europe remains a destination not top of people’s bucket lists, but after reading this blog post I hope you’ll see why you should add it to yours.

Admittedly, one of my key motivations for visiting Sofia was because it was somewhere exciting I could get to relatively cheaply, an important factor for someone who has just started her first job and therefore has little disposable income to spend on holidays. Instead, I managed to secure return flights on Wizz Air for just over £30 – not bad at all when you consider that Bulgaria is pretty close to Asia and I don’t think you could get £30 flights there!

I arrived early Friday afternoon to one of the smallest airports I’ve visited – which is saying a lot having flown out of airports in the middle of jungles and the like that are little more than an airstrip. I had agreed to meet my travel companions at the first restaurant after Baggage Claim, which turned out to be unnecessary given that there was only one restaurant in the whole terminal which actually turned out to be closed. Makes finding one another easier though!

Once we’d found each other, we caught a taxi to our abode for the next few days, the Earth and People hotel. Again, another great deal as I paid close to £60 for three nights for a room shared with one other person, not bad at all if you ask me. The hotel was frankly quite lovely, with large clean rooms and most importantly, a fantastic breakfast of cereals, cold meats and cheeses, hot breakfast items, baked good and Bulgarian specialties. Perhaps the only downside to this otherwise lovely hotel was its location, about 20 minutes drive away from central Sofia which did mean that we ended up spending money on taxis which could of course have been saved had we been in a more central location. Still, it did the job and I would thoroughly recommend the hotel to anyone who doesn’t mind the ‘commute’.

Once we were settled in we ordered a taxi to take us to the Vodenitzata restaurant somewhere deep in the woods at the recommendation of one of my companions Bulgarian friends. And my, did this restaurant suit its surroundings… Walking in, it appeared as if you’d just walked into a log cabin hidden amongst the trees, the inside filled with large fireplaces, stuffed animals and traditional Bulgarian clothing hung on the walls as well as sported by all the servers. It was either really authentic or really touristy, but difficult to draw the line.

This being our first taste of Bulgarian food, a feast was ordered, including moussaka, lamb stew in an earthen jug, a pork grill plate, stuffed peppers, and the national delicacy of shopska salad comprised of tomatoes, cucumbers and a huge pile of cheese. Being vegetarian I didn’t indulge in all of these, but what I did try was delicious and I’m assured the rest was too. As if this wasn’t enough, we also decided to order desserts including baked pumpkin (‘twas the season) and a delicious layered cake which I wouldn’t have a clue how to pronounce. However, I think that whatever you ordered, you’d be in for a treat as everything we had was truly scrumptious.

After our indulgence, we called a taxi to come and collect us with perhaps the most road-ragey driver I’ve ever had the pleasure of travelling with. The journey didn’t start well as we were immediately shouted at for slamming the doors, and his anger didn’t stop at his passengers, as at one point he also stopped the car to yell at another driver for a good 2 minutes, causing us to miss another set of very slow traffic lights. The traffic in Sofia is indeed bad so bear this in mind if you have places to be – we ended up getting out of the taxi to walk the final ten minutes to save us some money on the meter, although were reluctant to do so at the fear of enduring the taxi driver’s wrath!

However, this gave us the opportunity to wander around the city a bit more, admiring the beautiful architecture of some of the old buildings, and walking along the famed yellow bricks that line some of the streets. I was actually surprised at how modern the city was – in my head, it was very ‘Soviet’ style but instead, shopping malls sprang up on every side with all the shops you’d find back home and it wasn’t too different to what one might find somewhere like Paris.

Our wanderings brought us in search of theatres which might have shows to entertain us for the rest of the evening, but finding nothing in English, we just took the city in our stride. Whilst cold outside, I stopped for ice cream due to the fascinating flavours like Kit Kat and Caramac bars which I’d never seen elsewhere. You certainly eat well in Bulgaria. Sofia is a city I was happy to get lost in, walking around with no clear direction in mind and just enjoying all of the things we passed en route.

As the night wore on, we made the executive decision to seek out a speakeasy bar we’d heard of. I’d never been to a speakeasy but had heard tales of places where you have to walk through fridges or other ordinary items to reach them so was highly intrigued. The 5L bar we were in search of too had an exciting entrance, as you walked down the steps to a non-assuming apartment block door, to enter a small room with bookcases on every wall and no obvious door. A hook with a vast number of keys dangling off it was the only clue – I won’t spoil how you get in in case you’d like to visit, but I will say that we were glad some other visitors were ahead of us who opened the door instead!

Inside was a very cool vibe with low seats surrounding small tables and friendly staff who came to talk us through the very extensive cocktail menu where we were encouraged to try drinks make with local rakia spirits. You sure wouldn’t be bored with the vast array of flavours and drink styles, so I think a lovely way to top off a good first day and wind down for the night.

The following morning after a wonderful breakfast to fill us up for the day, we caught taxis again to the Palace of Justice, from where we had planned to take part in a free walking tour of the city, which if you’ve read any of my other travel blogs you’ll know I’m a big fan of! However, this one was very different to what I was used to – I kid you not, but there were over 200 like-minded visitors wanting to join, a big change from the 10-20 on most of the other tours I’ve been on. The crowd was so big that the tour guides themselves commented that it was the largest group they’d seen, and we had to be split into 3 groups to become somewhat manageable.

For the next two hours, we toured the city with our exuberant guide Dino (who unsurprisingly was training to be an actor and included jazz hands in almost every sentence), passing by and learning about various religious buildings such as an Orthodox Church, Catholic Cathedral, Mosque and Synagogue all within viewing distance of one another; the large golden statue of Sofia; the old Baths from which you could drink the distinctly eggy-tasting mineral water (apparently it’s good for you); various Communist buildings; multiple lion statues; and ending up between St Sophia’s Basilica and St Alexander Nevsky Cathedral. A great way to learn and see a lot in a short period of time.

Alexander Nevsky Cathedral is famous for its gold plated roof and is an utterly stunning building, so of course we had to look inside. The building was filled with many religious folk who walked around the room placing coins on various icons and kissing them, or lighting candles in prayer. I could have happily stayed there for a while watching people come and go and revelling in the grandeur of the church.

Nevertheless, hunger got the better of us and we made our way to Made In Blue, a modern Bulgarian restaurant which again, had the most wonderful food. A feast was once again ordered included a trio of hummus, crispy Pita, cauliflower risotto and chicken pate, and for a much lower price than you’d pay for the equivalent in London. A perhaps unknown fact is that Bulgaria is also famed for its wine, so this offered the perfect opportunity to try some of this instead. This time, we didn’t stop at two desserts either, but made room for four – banana cheesecake, a French province cake, chocolate tart and panna cotta. A well received meal.

Nicely full, we spent the remainder of the afternoon checking out the stores, which in retrospect I should have paid more attention to in finding that the prices of high street chains were in fact cheaper over there. Tired from walking (and probably eating) I headed back to take advantage of the hotel’s swimming pool – another perk of our very nice hotel.

A few hours later, we headed into town again for dinner at my recommendation – Skaptobara, which was rated #2 on TripAdvisor, and being a big advocate of TripAdvisor, somewhere I thought we should try. A small place, I practically had to beg the servers to let us in as they were so busy, and so we got sent upstairs to the ‘chill area’ which perhaps wasn’t the best place for eating as we sat on low benches and bean bags, but got us a space nonetheless.

We all ordered burgers as this was essentially a burger joint, and my friends got served theirs. After they were finished, I was still waiting for mine so went down to check out what the issue seemed to be and not feeling particularly hungry anymore having been waiting for an hour since ordering and being past the point of hunger at this stage. Apparently, the vegetarian burgers took significantly longer to cook, something we were not made aware of, and still I believe should not have taken as long as it did. Whilst the burger was fine, the fact that it took so long marred the experience for me and made me feel guilty for choosing this place and wasting time. One of the less successful meals that we had during the trip!

The following morning was an early start as we were to be collected from the hotel by a member of the Traventuria company for a day trip out of Sofia. Piling into a minivan along with two Italian visitors and an American, we drove for about 20 minutes out of Sofia to arrive at Boyana Church, a medium-sized church not too far off the highway but dating back hundreds of years. Having to pay more to head inside the church to see the frescos, we opted to hang around outside and admire it from this vantage point.

Then, the real trip began and we wove our way for another two hours through the mountains, along rivers and past stunning autumnal colours which completely covered the hillsides in what I can only describe as like autumn in New England. Absolutely stunning, and another reason to visit Sofia later in the year before the leaves fall.

Eventually, we arrived at our main destination, Rila Monastery, a beautiful intricately painted monastery nestled inside a small residential structure for monks, and high up in the hills. It truly is very beautiful and worth the four hour round trip, if you’d believe me. Whilst the rest of the party chose to look inside one of the museums, I made the most of my free time to wander around along, admiring the monastery’s vibrant colours, and meeting the ‘monastery guard’, a black cat called George.

However, the outside of the monastery was nothing compared to the inside. I had never been inside an Orthodox church before this point so didn’t realise it would be quite so different to what I was used to, but my gosh, was it! Every inch of the walls were covered in stunning frescos which ran up the sides of the building and into the ceiling arches. The colours were so vibrant with dashes of gold. It was quite unreal. In addition, icon paintings lined some of the walls, and visitors made their way round in an almost pilgrim-like fashion, praying in front of each icon and leaving donations as they went.

Once we had connected as a group again, it was time for my favourite activity – food! We had been recommended to try a restaurant just outside the monastery famed for its trout caught from the river which flowed right beside us. However, we were told that it wasn’t the quickest meal to cook up, so half of us hurried off to order whilst I went in search of a different delicacy – doughnuts! These were doughnuts unlike those I’d seen before, and mainly because of the location you could find them in, which was literally a hole in the wall. I only found it because there was a queue of people lining up outside but it would be very easy to miss! I joined the queue, and 20 minutes later found myself at the front, where from inside the gap in the brick wall stood a woman awaiting orders. 5 doughnuts and a yoghurt drink (another delicacy) later, and we headed to the restaurant to share our spoils.

As per usual, the group had ordered a feast of bean soup, rabbit, and a chicken fajita type dish without the tortillas. With five minutes to go before we were due back at the bus, the trout finally arrived which I was told was very nice, although general consensus said that the chicken dish was best, especially when washed down with some rakia. For dessert, we indulged in the doughnuts which reminded me of beignets as they weren’t particularly sweet with the exception of the mountain of icing sugar that you could choose to top them with if you so wished.

We returned to the van for our two hour return journey which had me wishing that I had the ability to sleep in transport as the rest of the crew slumbered peacefully, but I was more than happy to watch the world go by. Arriving back at the hotel close to 5pm, we took the time to relax after the busy day in the pool and jacuzzi with some of the group choosing to have massages which I quote, left them feeling as if they were ‘walking on clouds’.

As it was our last night in Sofia, we decided to splash out and head somewhere fancy for dinner – Sense Rooftop bar. As we took our table, we noticed an unoccupied table closer to the window which we asked to be moved to, and provided a wonderful view straight to the golden dome of the Alexander Nevsky. As with most places like this, you pay for the view but the food was still a lot, lot, lot cheaper than you’d be paying for somewhere like The Shard. And yes, it was delicious. We splurged on a huge starter platter, tuna tartare, various fish dishes, mushroom risotto and a plethora of fancy cocktails, including one which came in a Maoi head (see my Easter Island blog to share my love of these!) It was a great way to finish off a wonderful trip.

However, my trip wasn’t over just yet, and whilst my friends headed off to the airport in the early hours on the morning, I had yet another glorious day ahead of me. Hey, if I was going to take the day off work, might as well make the most of it, right? After my final wonderful breakfast, I headed down to the lobby to be collected for my day trip. I’d lucked out with the trip I think, having been keen to visit the town of Plovdiv, but finding that they were either not running on Mondays or had been booked out. My last hope came when I messaged a website called ‘Go To Bulgaria’ asking if they happened to be running a tour on the Monday. ‘We can!’ came the response. ‘For how many people?’ I was asked. No way would they run a tour just for one person, I thought, but thankfully I was wrong.

And so, at 8:30am on Monday I was collected from the hotel by Stancho and we began the long journey to Plovdiv. Stancho was full of knowledge and we passed the two hours quickly talking about everything Bulgarian, what the country is famous for, its long and extensive history and involvement in territorial disputes and more, and his time as a tour guide. I felt very lucky to have my own personal tour guide and planned to glean as much information as I could!

Our journey took us through the hills and across flat plains on what turned out to be a surprisingly foggy day but the landscape truly was vast, stretching for miles and miles around. We eventually arrived in Bulgaria’s second largest city, Plovdiv which on the outskirts looked like the Soviet city I had envisioned, with tall and quite ugly apartment blocks, which Stancho assured me where much nicer on the inside. Our destination, however, was the old city. The narrow cobbled streets were lined with glorious large houses, which now no longer affordable to be maintained by a family, most had been turned into museums highlighting what life used to be like – I assume the equivalent of stately homes back in the UK. I’m sure Plovdiv must have one of the highest concentrations of museums within a small area.

We wandered around the quiet streets, many of which appeared deserted (it was a Monday morning after all), stepping into the occasional stunning church completely covered in frescos and rich in so much history, or even buildings which had once been home to Turkish Dervish Whirlers. Perhaps most interestingly, and what I would never have guessed, is that Bulgaria has many links to the Roman Empire, the remnants of which can be found in cities like Plovdiv. For instance, we passed by a large amphitheatre that would not have looked out of place in Athens, and parts of a huge Colosseum, only small amounts of which have been excavated as so much still remains under the city streets and therefore impossible to get to without destroying all of the shops and houses on top.

Never will you find a better time to visit Plovdiv as it prepares to be the European Capital of Culture 2019 – no doubt more tourists will come flooding in after then. We spend our final hour in Plovdiv wandering around a small museum which once had been a Roman home, as evidenced by the mosaic tiles that lined the floor, still in very good condition. Along the walls were cabinets showcasing various intricate glassworks – how they had created this hundreds and hundreds of years ago without the technology we have now is beyond me, but I was glad to have seen it!

Back in the car, we wound our way through the gorgeous autumnal hills until we reached Bachkovo monastery. Like Rila, this was a monastery ensconced within a residential casing, but included not one, but three churches, each dating from different centuries. The first and most glamourous was a large church in the centre of the courtyard which was undergoing renovations to restore its frescos as years of candles burning had left them blackened and dull. What had been restored looked wonderful. This church also held a famed icon of the Virgin Mary said to result in miracles, and so the few people who visited the church on this cold Monday took their time to pray in front of her and leave an offering.

The second church was attached to the first, and surprisingly was an outdoor church, with no walls. However, they’d used this to their advantage as this was now the designated candle burning area in order to avoid the blackening that had occurred in the other church. Amusingly, our admiration of the frescos was accompanied by the bleating of a sheep which had been given to the monastery as an offering and was now a permanent inhabitant. The final church remains closed to the public but its exterior frescos, including vivid depictions of Heaven and Hell can still be admired.

After a few photos in front of the stunning autumnal hillside, we made our way back into town past a variety of small stalls selling ceramics, honey and homemade wine which I’m sure are swamped in the summer months. Handily, Stancho agreed to drop me straight to the airport and I couldn’t have asked for a better day trip to finish my time in Bulgaria. I felt like I had seen what I had come to see, and explored a beautiful and often underappreciated country.

My tips for visiting Bulgaria: Firstly, go! I hope this blog has convinced you that this really is a country worth visiting and there’s plenty to keep you occupied for a long weekend like I had. Secondly, take advantage of local knowledge – the Sofia walking tour and my day trip with Stancho were made all the more special because we were able to use the expertise of our local guides. I made sure to ask as many questions as I could and feel that I certainly got a lot more out of these experiences than I would have done with just a guidebook. Finally, if you’re a foodie or a cultural fiend, I can’t recommend some of the places I visited enough – Sofia has something for everyone and I hope you enjoy it as much as I did!

Did you enjoy today’s blog? I’d love to hear your thoughts – drop me a note on Twitter @CiarasCountry or in the comments section below. This is absolutely my suggestion for an undiscovered gem of a city, and I’d love to hear where you think is underrepresented and I should visit!

TRAVEL: Bilbao, San Sebastian and Northern Spain - architecture, aperitifs and afternoon jaunts

There is undoubtedly no better time to set sail for warmer climes than during England’s cold and long winters so that’s exactly what we did. After an early start (my mantra being that the only reason anyone should be up before the sun rises is if they have a flight to catch) and we caught a flight from London Heathrow to Bilbao.

Just over an hour later, and we had arrived in Spain, which was decidedly colder than we had anticipated. Our first stop – Avis car hire to pick up a snazzy Renault Kadjar which would be our mode of transport for the week. We headed for the city centre, with the road curving right beside Frank Gehry’s famously designed Guggenheim Museum – a striking building with sheets of metal appearing to stick out from here, there and everywhere.

Too early to check into our hotel and not wanting to confine the car to the hotel car park just yet, we decided to head for the coastal town of Getxo, the drive to which was impressive itself with mansions lining the road vying for the best sea view and reminiscent of Rhode Island’s magnificent stately homes. We took a quick wander along the pier, with the strong winds batting against our faces to the quaint white-painted lighthouse at the end.

Nearing lunchtime, we headed up to the Old Town for a quick walk along the cobbled streets in search of something to eat. This corner of the world is famous for pintxos, a bar snack often composed of a slice of crusty bread topped with some form of meat, which we tried for the first time at a popular spot called Tamarises. Like tapas, these are small enough to have a few each, and so my travel companions split some tuna, pork, anchovy, and croquette topped pintxos between the table to keep themselves going until dinner. Unfortunately, their only vegetarian option was an unexciting looking salad pintxo so I decided to wait until I could find something better. Thankfully, this came swiftly, surprisingly in the form of Lidl, which had a great selection of fresh-baked goods including an incredible goats cheese pastry.

Back in the car, we headed more into the centre of Getxo, although the one-way road system made for confusing twists and turns, and eventually we decided to head back to the main highways for fear of eternally being trapped in endless loops. We made our way back along the coast to Bilbao, stopping directly opposite the Guggenheim. This was where our hotel, the Gran Hotel Domine, was conveniently located, and I don’t think you’d be able to find a better location anywhere.

Our rooms were lovely, and it was the view that really made it looking straight across at the Guggenheim and the massive flowering dog structure, called Puppy, which guards its main entrance. After taking some time to rest we headed out as it began to get dark, walking along the river and Bilbao’s version of Oxford Street before ending up at La Vina de Ensanche restaurant for, you guessed it, more pintxos.

Whilst still relatively early (for Spanish time at least) at only 8pm, the place was completely packed. We were extremely lucky to grab a table that had just become free, but this didn’t stop a number of people coming over asking to take any spare stools they spotted whilst members of our party were up at the bar. Again, a pretty poor vegetarian selection so I opted for patatas bravas (spicy potatoes), followed by apple tiramisu – the cheese ice cream is a must. The rest of the group fared better, with slices of Iberian ham and steamed fish to fill them up.

The following morning we got to try what I always think is one of the most exciting parts of any trip – the hotel breakfast. We found the breakfast room up on the 7^th floor terrace, and whilst laid out like a buffet, it was the waiters and not the guests who served up the food. Our breakfast consisted of multiple courses ranging from fruit and yoghurts to eggs and meats, setting us up perfectly for the day.

We’d booked tickets today for the Guggenheim which was almost as interesting inside as it is outside. Whilst also learning about the architecture of the building itself, our audioguide talked us through the exhibitions, including Richard Serra’s huge metal spirals, Anni Albers weaving, 82 Portraits and 1 Still Life by David Hockney, and rooms filled with masterpieces from the collection, including one of Andy Warhol’s Marilyn Monroe prints.

Having had our fill of art (which I’m still not sure I fully understand, but was nice to appreciate nonetheless) we stopped for coffee and a delicious brownie in the museums café before checking out the building from the outside. Words cannot do the building justice aside from saying that it truly is an architectural wonder, and makes a visit to Bilbao worth it if only to see it (although hopefully this blog will highlight that there is plenty to see in addition!) Art is not confined to the walls of the museum either, and the public walkway behind the museum is home to a ‘Stranger Things’ looking spider sculpture, the flowering dog and a few other sculptures.

We made our way across the river for a better view of the Guggenheim, and then to the Funicular de Artxanda which took us up to a viewpoint from which you could see the whole city laid out before you. However, our admirations were cut short by some torrential hail and rain which had us running back to the Funicular after just a few photos. Not quite the sunny weather we’d been hoping for! Umbrellas unfurled, we continued our journey on foot back at the bottom of the hill to Akzuna Zentroa, a restored wine warehouse with some fascinating pillars all of different shapes and sizes. Around the central atrium were a number of boutique shops and a cinema, and looking up, we noticed a glass bottom swimming pool, although it’s not easy to spot!

We weren’t deterred by the heavy rain and continued our wandering through Bilbao’s Old Town, perhaps its most touristy district and therefore the perfect place to pick up a snowglobe for my collection. After a quick outfit change at the hotel, we were back out onto Bilbao’s slick streets for our dinner reservation at Las Cascanueces. They suggested that each plate would be enough for two people, and to try a variety. Again, not a lot of vegetarian choice so I opted for some Asian-inspired wok fried vegetables whilst the rest of the party had some decidedly more exciting plates of foie gras balls, monkfish, and steak all of which I hear were very acceptable.

The real star was the dessert, aptly named ‘The Steppes’ as it came out looking like a snowy landscape. Perhaps one of the most pretentious desserts I’ve had the pleasure of tasting, it included dulce de leche, coconut ice cream, a crushed cookie soil, white chocolate rocks and golden crispy chocolate pebbles. Bilbao is known for its Michelin-star worthy restaurants and I’d say this one came pretty close.

The next morning started with another delicious breakfast, before we hopped in the car to cruise down the coast (in the pouring rain), first stopping at Gorliz beach to watch some brave surfers taking on the waves, through Arminza, and for coffee at Lekeitio. I decided to take advantage of the public toilets after the long drive but soon regretted this after pressing a button I was sure was to lock the door, but turned out to turn on icy water jets presumably for cleaning the floor. Backing away from the jets and the door, I was caught unaware by one behind me which completely saturated my jeans. To think that I’d survived the heavy rain only to be caught out by rogue toilet sprays!

Our drive continued up into the mountains and past viewpoints I’m sure would have been stunning in summer, but now offered little to view as the sea and sky merged into one milky grey. After a few more hours, we made it to San Sebastian and to our beautiful hotel, the Maria Cristina, a large colonial style building bordering the river. The inside was stunning too, with the lobby decked out with glorious Christmas decorations, and lovely large rooms with beds that were turned down with tiny chocolates every evening.

Having settled in, we headed out for a walk (in the rain again), this time armed with dashing hotel umbrellas. Our jaunt took us along the sea where massive waves crashed against huge rocks, splashing unsuspecting passersby. We stopped in at favourite shop Lidl for snacks (I love regional snacks!) and headed back to the hotel to try and find somewhere to dinner. Sadly, nothing within TripAdvisor’s Top 50 appeared to be available for booking, so we decided to do a pintxo crawl. Our first stop was Sirimiri for some squid croquettes, before hopping across the road for warm Spanish tortilla (yum) and ‘solo mio’ steak pintxos. Our final stop was La Vina, famous for baked cheesecake, of which there were plenty lining the bar. Definitely one to recommend.

Breakfast was once again exceptional, this time predominantly because of the stunning breakfast room which was more like a ballroom, and the churros which I dipped into Nutella (definitely not the authentic way). I was glad we had breakfast included as part of our room rate as the a la carte menu revealed an omelette would otherwise have set us back 26 Euros!

As the rain had cleared by this point, we decided to venture back along the coast again, walking beside the sands to observe the paddle boarders and hundreds of dog walkers – my kind of town. It reminded me a lot of Nice, a city I’d loved and has a really chilled vibe to it that enables you to easily pass hours aimlessly wandering along the beach with nowhere much to be. We did however have a goal in mind, this time another funicular which actually turned out to be cheaper than the cost of walking up! This provided some of the best views and certainly was much prettier now the sun was out. The top of the hill was also home to a funfair which at this time of year was pretty much abandoned but I’m sure would be very popular in the height of the summer.

Saving more money, we walked back down the hill and along the boardwalk (more dogs!) to the hotel. Due to having ‘status’ with the hotel, we were entitled to 85 Euros free credit in the Dry bar and so treated ourselves to hideously expensive sandwiches (26 Euro club sandwiches don’t sound so bad when you’re not paying for it), a disappointing brownie and a pleasant virgin colada, which was honestly one of the nicest I’ve had.

Having exhausted San Sebastian, we hit the road in the early afternoon and headed off in the sunshine until we got near to Vitoria, where we would be staying in a Parador. This refers to a state run hotel, normally housed in old palaces and the like, so we had high expectations. Ours was less grand than anticipated and didn’t look too different from your average hotel, but at least we could say it was an experience at least.

Being in the middle of nowhere, there wasn’t much to do, so we set off for a walk in the countryside which, being a city girl, wasn’t necessarily my favourite activity, although it did provide a stunning sunset as we made our way back with pinks and oranges reflected against the endless sky. We were in for another late dinner (‘tis the Spanish way) and so at 8:30 we headed to the dining room for our included 3 course menu. Frankly not much to write home about, I tried a mushroom cake, followed by vegetarian lasagne (which was actually another starter as they had no vegetarian mains) and a traditional sponge cake.

Breakfast the next morning was more promising, consisting of your usual cold meats and cheeses, breads, and even some cakes – always a good way to start the morning. We headed off pretty swiftly thereafter to Mendixur lake just the other side of the highway, which provided a pleasant little loop to walk off our big breakfasts, and again was pretty much deserted.

Our drive took us through wine country, with thousands of bodegas spanning the roadsides – I’m sure you’d have no trouble finding somewhere to do a bit of wine tasting. Our destination was another of Gehry’s masterpieces, this time the Marques de Riscal hotel, a vision of purple-y twisted steel in the midst of a small sleepy town. We arrived at an unlucky time, with the next tour in English not for another 4 hours. Rather than risk an 1hr and a half tour in Spanish of which we would understand approximately 10%, we decided to find a loophole of how else to see the hotel, and figured this could be done by visiting the cafeteria.

Sure enough, they buzzed us in and we headed up to the gorgeous hotel, taking plenty of photos on the way. The food prices were not actually as extortionate as expected so I opted for patatas bravas (I’m seeing a theme here – I promise my diet isn’t entirely potato based) whilst other party members went for the cheese board, salmon, and chocolate cake. This was a great way to get up close and personal to the hotel and saved us a little bit of time and money rather than going for the organised tour (although you do get wine tasting at the end of it!).

Having filled my camera roll with more photos than I can count, we left the hotel and wandered through the neighbourly sleepy village of Elciego. Life certainly moves a lot slower here and the only inhabitants we saw were lazing about outside of the local bar enjoying a glass of wine. A lovely way to live but perhaps not something I could stick at for very long! However I can imagine how pleasant it would be to while away the hours soaking up the sunshine and a nice refreshing drink.

Our final leg of the journey was en route to the airport via a number of pleasant villages like Logrono, Briones and its historical architecture, and Haro at the heart of the Rioja trail. No doubt a better route than one along the highway. At the end of it, I do feel like I have seen a good chunk of Northern Spain, and undoubtedly spent some of the cold winter months in a far better location than back home. There’s plenty of culture to be found in this corner of the world, and no doubt I’ll be back to explore even more of it soon.

Tips for visiting Northern Spain: Check the weather forecast! This applies to any and every trip – whilst we had anticipated sunny climes, alas this was not the case so it is always good to be prepared with hats, gloves and umbrellas if the need calls for it. If you’re an avid reader of the blog, you’ll know we’ve been caught out by bad weather before in the Netherlands so this is always a key watch out for me! Secondly, embrace the local culture and cuisine. I may well have spent the whole time not knowing that such a thing as pintxos existed but what a great way to ‘do as the Romans do’. A pintxo bar crawl should definitely be on your list! Finally, travel around. Bilbao is a great city to entertain you for a few days but this stretch of Spain has so much to offer – make sure you see as much of it as you can!

 I hoped you enjoyed today's travel blog! I'm slowly but surely thinking of travel plans for 2018 but would of course love to hear any recommendations you may have, both near and far afield! What are your travel plans for this coming year? Drop me a message in the comments below or on Twitter @CiarasCountry and stay tuned for more upcoming travel blogs soon!