Well, I think that most of you might have realized in the meantime, that we are more than just ‘interested’ in visiting Portugal: to be honest – its variety, natural variety, culture and people always keep us fascinated and it seems to be more and more.

In that sense we undertook using our second Spanish holiday slot for a wonderful camping (…first time with kids…) trip following the whole coastline of Portugal up to the frontier and entrying again Spanish territory, more precisely Galicia with its impressing coastline influenced by the strong sea and the rocky cliffs.

It was one of these trips that we love: discovering a lot of small details, which make the places that we visited so unique: Sintras (castles and the Cabo de roca – most westly site of continental Europe), Nazaré (sea village with mainly local tourism), Aveiro (Portugal’s Venecia), Porto, Rio de Minho, etc. etc. And sharing it with all members of our family gang

Check out some pics of the journey upwards towards Galicia:

Sintras                     Nazaré

Nazaré                                                   Aveiro

Porto                                                      Villa Nueva de Cerveiro (Rio Minho)

On our way back we were then very impressed by Salamanca (one of the most famous universities of Spain) and Caceres, two old cities, with historic centers, which are just unique and greatly restored.

Salamanca                                              Caceres

Well, dear friends, these pics just as some insights for you about some the venues we have seen on this great holiday trip.

Dear friends, take care!

Nadine & Marc

Well, last blog entry was done on the 13th of July - as you might guess perfectly in the meantime we have been on a holiday…quite true! We have been two weeks in Switzerland, where we could participate in my brother’s wedding, my father’s in law birthday party and also a wonderful small birthdayparty for our son Mauro with his godmother and godfather….and besides these highlight we also spent - again - some days in our beloved city of Berne. It is already quite a tradition of our homeleave to stay for at least 3 days in this relaxed and always interesting city, whith its unique mixture of history, culture, great (especially relaxed) restaurants, but also the closeness to the countryside…just perfect for a family holiday.

Check out some pics:

 Family:

Yours, Nadine & Marc

One of the main topics that has moved Spain during the last two weeks was of course the success story of the Spanish football team with its coach de los Bosques…and what for a success: the passion for its team here was especially lightened when Spain won against a strong Germany with its wonderful and creative football, that we have seen already in the European championship. It was for Spain the first time to participate in a final of the worldcup, so you can imagine that this created an atmosphere of joy, passion and happiness for ‘La Roja’, as they call the Spanish team here. For us the most wonderful experience within all these movements has been to feel the sincere joy of the people for its team and share it as well with our friends. And unforgettable experience for our familiy.

Spain - winner of the world cup 2010! Viva la Roja!

 Check out some of the pictures:

Friends, now it is time to go back to reality, but with a great memory of some crazy days all over Spain

Lately we had the pleasure to stay one week with close Swiss friends in their 2nd family home in the Tuscany. Well, ,for us it was going back to the past, but accompanied by our future, Mauro & Til. The Tuscany we travelled especially before having kids: romantic holidays with tent, summer feeling and just the two of us (for sure always a great romantic song….just the two of us…).

Well, travelling now againg through this know beautiful area was also an interesting experiencing after having lived 2.5 years now in southern Spain. Perspectives changes and with a new view we enjoyed watching Italian people in their daily life. Bertrand and Fraenzi also showed us some ‘insider-places’, all these small hidden villages, where you can still feel the breath of true Tuscany….just, just great. Well, the food: primo piato: pasta, segundo piato: pizza

Well, as you can see there are also the blessed places:

And here check out two more pics of a trip up to Montecantini Alto and of Lucca:

Italy, sorry for the football….at least in Spain we go on with the worldcup

Nadine & Marc

Well, the southern part of Portugal we have visited until now quite a lot, but it seems that we are more and more getting moving towards this part for our weekends. The Algarva is a place of contrasts, especially the southern coast with touristic ‘hot points’ (well, not so much for us…) as Albufeira and small villages, which until now have escaped the big mass tourism industry. Then you can move more towards the weastern coast, where we met the beaches that we trully love: strong sea, cliffs, sandy beaches, small villages with its small bars and just the peace of good old nature. And then lately we also travelled more towards inland Algarve, where you can see very well that the tourism industry money is not directed to these places, but still have a good infrastructure - for example Monchique. A small village in the mountain area of the Algarve. Check out the pictures and if you are interested two good links.

 Turism web page of Monchique: http://www.monchiqueuncovered.com/

Link to a wonderful relaxed Spa-Hotel close to monchique: no trafic, few people, relaxing SPA, good food

http://www.monchiquetermas.com/index1.php

Friends, to wind things up - it might be true that our frequent moves are more than just a love affair with this diverse territory

Yours, Nadine & Marc

Well, quite a while since we posted last time something on our blogsite! Well, we had some lovely visitors, which kept us busy quite a while, the great ‘Feria de abril’ and we have also been on a short holiday trip to beautiful Alvarve, Portugal. Speaking of Algarve - While Nadine and Mauro are currently on a familiy wedding in Switzerland, Til and I used the oportunity for our first real and pure boys tour!

Well, we had of course to pick a place of honour…so we went again to the Algarve, but a part of it that we have not know well until now…was just great. As you can see we joined (honestly by coincidence) the heavy boys and girls of an international Harley Davidson meeting there…well, very relaxed people and we had great fun there…Music: Finest Chicago blues….bikers with style I would say

 Friends, whereever you are, whatever you are doing now - we wish you all the best, Til & Marc

One of our favourite spots in Andalucía is the so called “Sierra de Grazalama”, a mountain area close to the sea, better said: close to Cádiz. It is not only the pure nature and the quietness that we enjoy there, it offers also with all its well prepared hiking trails a great outdoor activity area. Especially spring time is very nice for that, as everything is very green, temperature are nice and especially our two boys are now independent enough to walk  on their own…at least until they see the next interesting stone, flower or insect

Friends, enjoy the energetic spring time!

Yours, Nadine and Marc

P.S. This week we are going to have here the famous ‘Feria de abril’…..a wonderful cultural event in Sevilla with a lot of fiesta as well A bailar y cantar!

Well, some of you might have seen already the cooking blog of Nadine ‘micocina.ch’! If not then it is now the time to visit it as on your Easter holiday we suggest you to treat you well: relax, read a good book, spend time with friends, go for sports and important for the physical and psychologigal wellness: eat something delicious and combine it with a good glass of red wine for example

Well, in that sense check out the following recipe ‘Pizza bread’, which is a very easy going and one of our favourites for a picknick or a relaxed informal snack at home:

This recipe is also available in Spanish.

Friends, we wish you a wonderful Easter time!

Nadine & Marc

P.S. We have just bought us a wonderful original Italian Pasta Machine….so family production: let´s get started and then enjoy (hopefully) a delicious meal at lunch

Well, it has taken now quite a while to get back to our Andalucían blog, but you can see that as a sign that we are not getting bored here The last weeks have been quite busy, especially also with some visitis of Swiss familiy and friends. Wow, but we had a great time with all of them. First of all Aenny, Nadine’s mother’ was with us and we dedicated this weekend with her especially to all about Flamenco in Sevilla, this visit was then followed by Marc’s parents, who during her stay here also went to Granada and Cordóba, two other cultural highlights of Analducía. The highlight of their visit was for sure the common private visit of a local Bodega in Jérez de la frontera…more about that in another blog entry…it was quite impressive. Well, and then L-Viz and Patricia, some of our closest Swiss friends also visited us and we enjoyed the opportunitiy to show them some delights of Sevilla’s tapa eating traditions. Unfortunately one of our visits, Jeannette Rueesch, had to pospone her visit on short notice…well, surely another time

Although we know this zone quite well, still we discover details about Sevilla and surrounding while showing our friends and familiy around. It is as with a good book or a good movie: Always worth to look at it a second, third or fourth time

Well, in January we undertook a wonderful day trip to ‘El Pórtil’, close to Huelva, where our kids enjoyed the beaches a lot:

Yours, Nadine & Marc

Well, quite a while since we posted last time a note on our family-blog. January was for all of us a very busy month: Nadine’s literature projects had to be finished, some new profesional challenges in Spain were initiated and our wonderful kids kept us also quite busy. Til’s running capacity has improved a lot and Mauro is getting quite fast on his bike, so speed is currently not missing in our lifes

 Well, on weekends we still enjoy discovering better Andalucía with all its treasures. Therefore we went - postponed several times - to Córdoba a wonderful city in the hills of the Sierra. Well, Cordoba hosts the most famous Mezquita, former muslim temple and later on converted to a catholic cathedral, bu still maintaining the islamic roots. Córdoba was once the heart of the Iberian peninsula, during the period of the Islamic governing. The Caliphate of Córdoba (Arabic: خلافة قرطبة Khilāfat Qurṭuba) ruled the Iberian peninsula (Al-Andalus) and North Africa from the city of Córdoba, from 929 to 1031. This period was characterized by remarkable success in trade and culture; many of the masterpieces of Islamic culture in Spain were created at this time.

So, dear friends, enjoy the pics!

http://www.von-wartburg.ch/wordpress/wp-content/plugins/fgallery/fim_photos.php?album=cordoba

 Yours, Nadine & Marc