Albuferia Postcards! Part 1

Our summer holiday this year was in Portugal in the Algarve, in a town called Albuferia, which was about 45mins from Faro. We met up with my parents and also my sister Elena, her husband Mark and their kids Liam and Jamie. Alessio was really happy to get the chance to see his cousins as it doesn`t happen that often.

The hot weather which we had been having in Switzerland was also in Portugal so therefore some of us were suffering from the heat.

The boys all had a ball playing in the pool and in the ocean too, the hotel was situated about 20mins walk to the old part of the town. This usually proved to be effort to get there as we always ate earlish and it was still very hot to wonder down to the town.

We had a trip on a boat to see dolphins and the coastal area which I will post about later and that turned out to be a real blast. I still have more photos of the town so check out part 2 in the coming weeks!

Photo of the Week - Very Cute Library

On Sunday I was in Zermatt for the day, the main reason was that I had won 2 tickets to see The Matterhorn Story. So wondering around the town we saw the library, it looks so nice and cute that it would make me go and visit it.

Kyoto Temples

The Golden Pavilion

Inari Temple

Ginkakuji Temple

Our trip to Japan back in April also included a stop in Kyoto for 3 days. We took the Bullet train which was also an experience in itself and arrived in Kyoto rather quickly.

Whilst in the train station we visited the tourist office and asked what were the main sights to visit. The lady gave us a lowdown on basically the most popular ones. So after we checked into our hotel we set off to visit one of them, The Golden Pavilion. It was very serene and tranquil place, in spite of the fact it was very busy still even though it was closing soonish. We wondered around and it didn`t take so long to walk through the complex.

The next day we visited two more temples, Inari and Ginkakuji. Inari is a little out of Kyoto and on the base on a mountain or hill. We started the walk to the top but give up, but it is a very bright orange temple. Lastly Ginkakuji, which is a World Cultural Heritage Site, again you follow a defined path and there is no wondering around alone off the beaten path.

All three temples are easily reached by public transport and the system is very good, with English announcements too. Also Japanese people were always very helpful to us when we got lost and really tried to speak some English.

Photo of the Week - Cute Post Office

When we saw this Post Office in Kyoto we both thought it was so cute! Hope everyone is having a good week, already Thursday tomorrow! That means for me only one more working day!

Horgen Waterfall

Around the end of June we did a trip to a waterfall close to the town of Horgen with the kids from my work. It was quite a trek to get there, going up and down and over narrow bridges, but we made it there all safe and sound!

The waterfall was really lovely and it was in the shade, the kids were really excited to get into their swimwear and go into the water. It was fun to hear their screaming as they entered the water at first, but once in they splashed and played around.

We lit a fire and had our usual of pasta and sauce with veggies. Hardly anyone came by so we had the place to ourselves! We all had a great day and I enjoyed seeing something new for a change!

Santiago Bernabeu Stadium

While my sister Elena and I were in Madrid in May we visited the Real Madrid football stadium Santiago Bernabeu.

Saturday morning we made our way to the stadium, once there we finally found where to get tickets and made our way to the tour start. As you can imagine it was quite busy, to start the tour which is without a guide you go to the top and work your way downwards.

So at first you see the whole stadium which is quite awesome, from up top you can only imagine what it would be like to be there when it is full of spectators. We were able to sit in the seats and then inside you can see lots of memorabilia, the trophies they have won, old footballs, kits, books, shoes and much, much more.

You then walk around other areas, but the changing rooms were not opened to the public as if I remember correctly they were playing that evening.

There is a huge store to buy lots of Real Madrid stuff which we did not do, in fact we did visit a sport shop and my sister and I bought our kids a FC Barcelona t-shirt.

My whole family are in fact Barcelona supporters and hope to one day visit their stadium and even see them play! But it certainly was a great experience to see the Bernabeu stadium!