In one of my visits to Strasbourg, we visited the Ligne Maginot. This is a line of hidden fortifications, that France built after the World War I in order to protect the country from a potential attack from Germany, especially in what referred to Lorraine and Alsace, two regions that have changed nationality several times in the history.

This defines line was made up of 45 main forts, and 97 smaller ones, and pursued several specific goals: serve as early alarm, hide the mobilisation of the French army, and protect the country in case of an attack through that border.

The mentioned forts consisted of underground bunkers, where the soldiers lived, waiting for an attack. Its construction employed a 25% of the whole country budget, between 1930 and 1935, and was made of the highest quality, with plenty of electrical appliances.

We visited one of these forts, and could imagine the life there. 580 men, called themselves, crew, as life in those forts was more similar to a submarine than a “regular” fort. This fort had 6 towers on the surface to attack (with guns) and to surveil, and more than 500 meters of underground tunnels. Other forts had several km of tunnels, though.

In the end, this line did not prevent the invasion of France, as Germany took the “long way” through the Netherlands and Belgium, and France could not check the effectiveness of such a large investment.

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La salida náutica de mediados de mayo empieza a ser un ritual y esta vez, repitiendo base (Alicante), salimos hacia el “desconocido” Sur de la Isla de Tabarca. El plan era llegar al Mar Menor del tirón el primer día y volver tranquilamente en dos. Esto es muy útil para los tripulantes no iniciados: si sobreviven al primer día, aguantan todo.

La predicción reforzó nuestra idea inicial: el fuerte viento de poniente empujaría al Malta Blue hacia el Sur rápidamente. Así que cogimos todos los rizos que pudimos, repartimos Biodramina, y emprendimos el camino del Sur lo más separados de la costa que podíamos para minimizar las rachas de viento que se cuelan por los valles.

El fuerte viento por la tarde se convirtió en muy fuerte, con rachas de 25-30 nudos, y unas cuantas horas con el barco muy escorado. Así, llegamos a los diques del Canal del Estacio, donde esperamos la hora en la que se abriría el puente levadizo que esperábamos nos condujera al Mar Menor, donde disfrutaríamos de un fondeo tranquilo…o no.

En cuanto llegamos al Mar Menor, cambiamos de idea. La combinación fuerte viento y el bajo fondo del Mar Menor había convertido nuestro soñado fondeo relajado en una suerte de río bravo que nos hizo conocer el mayor puerto deportivo de España: el Tomás Maestre (A).

Al día siguiente, navegamos un poco por la mañana por el Mar Menor, nos dimos un baño en mitad del mismo, y enfilamos de nuevo el Canal del Estacio en dirección al Mar Mayor. Este nuevo cruce fue bastante espectacular: nos colocamos en la “pole” de una flota de 15 o 20 barcos que lentamente cruzamos hacia el Mediterráneo… Ir avanzando por el canal esperando que el puente se abra antes de que tú llegues es ligeramente emocionante.

Ya en el Mar Mayor, con una meteorología mucho más apacible, pero que todavía nos permitía la navegación a vela, nos dirigimos a Cabo Roig (B). Aquí pasamos un agradable fondeo a mediodía, para acabar navegando por la tarde a la Marina de las Dunas de Guardamar (C), en la desembocadura del río Segura. Si estás leyendo esto: ojo con el canal de entrada y su baja sonda…

El último día, vuelta al puerto de Alicante, con la parada de rigor en Tabarca (D) para comernos un buen arroz en Gloria. Con todo los imprescindibles completos, vuelta al puerto de Alicante a tiempo de repostar, y coger el tren de vuelta a Madrid… antes de la siguiente salida.

Photos by Sara.

Con el reciente cambio de legislación, los Patrones de Embarcación de Recreo, podemos “cruzar” a las Baleares desde la Península. Hacer esto, que ya había hecho un par de veces de tripulante, como patrón, era un objetivo para 2016, y la primera semana de junio parecía perfecta para cumplirlo.

La elección de la fecha estaba condicionada porque mi amigo Javi iba a hacer dicha travesía desde Denia, y mi primera vez quería que fuera con alguien de confianza cerca, por si las moscas la mente flaqueaba y necesitaba algo de apoyo. Así que el momento estaba fijado: miércoles por la noche ida, y domingo por la mañana, vuelta. Sólo quedaba elegir puerto de salida (Alicante), y fijar un tiempo antes y después para llegar a las cercanías del Cabo de la Nao para que nuestras rutas fueran similares.

Así, partimos de Alicante el martes por la mañana, con rumbo a la bahía de Altea. Navegación tranquila hasta la cala de la Mina (A), donde las boyas allí instaladas nos dieron un buen cobijo para la esa noche. Primera vez que todos los de la tripulación pasaban fuera de puerto, con todo lo que ello implica.

El miércoles por la mañana fuimos a Moraira (B) donde pasamos el resto del día tranquilamente en El Portet, aprovechando para hacer unas compras, y repostar agua y gasolina en el Puerto. Al anochecer, empezaron a llegar las primeras olas como consecuencia del viento sur que llevaba soplando todo el día, y que nos ayudaría en la travesía a las Pitusas, y levantamos el fondeo, para dirigirnos al norte, y a la altura del cabo de la Nao, emprender rumbo 90 en dirección a la playa de Ses Illetes, con picos de 8 nudos de velocidad gracias al viento de través constante

Como en casi cualquier travesía, en esta tampoco faltaron las anécdotas.
En primer lugar, descubrimos que a nuestro barco no le funcionaba la luz de alcance, así que la suplimos con la de fondeo, que aunque no reglamentaria, sí permitiría a los otros barcos vernos si venían por detrás.

En mitad del canal, además de tener que maniobrar para esquivar un carguero (algo más o menos normal, y hasta previsto), también nos encontramos con una flota de barcos pesqueros, justo en nuestra trayectoria.

Gracias al AIS, confirmamos que estaban parados, por lo que podíamos acercarnos tranquilamente y pasarles por la proa, para evitar sus redes. Por si acaso no lo teníamos claro, cuando estábamos a un par de millas, nos llamaron por radio, para preguntarnos nuestras intenciones. La conversación fue tal que así: “Buenos días. ¿Nos habéis visto?” “Sí” “¿Y a mis compañeros que están a mi proa y a mi popa?” “Sí” “Ah, pues pasadnos por nuestra proa, eh?” “Sí” Aún así no debió de quedarse muy tranquilo y nos apuntó con una linterna cuando le pasamos. Unas millas más adelante, volvimos a repetir la operación, nuevamente nos llamaron, nuevamente les tratamos de tranquilizar, y nuevamente les esquivamos sin apenas variar nuestro rumbo. En esta segunda maniobra, desde nuestro barco amigo, también nos llamaron preocupados (en el radar parecía una colisión).

Parecía que todo lo difícil había acabado, y dejé a los dos tripulantes que estaban de guardia solos en cubierta con una premisa clara: “vuelvo en unos minutos -cosas de la naturaleza-, si veis algo raro, bajad la potencia del motor (el viento había caído mucho), y ya subiré”. Al minuto de haber bajado, oigo como baja la potencia del motor (extraño, no había nada hace un minuto), y al segundo minuto habían bajado a por mí: “Nacho, hay algo raro por proa”. Cuando subí, la visión era realmente espeluznante, de poner los pelos de punta: una gran bola naranja… con forma de media luna. Parece que la vigilia les empezaba a hacer mella y en lo que era una luna en cuarto creciente saliendo por el horizonte, ellos estaban viendo una especie de vela de un barco fantasma o similar.
Además, a mitad de la travesía, empezamos a ver unos destellos luminosos que salían de debajo del barco y se quedaban atrás, y que concluimos que eran medusas a las que asustábamos con nuestro avance.

Al par de horas empezó a amanecer, y llegamos a la hora del desayuno a Ses Illetes (C), en Formentera, donde una hora más tarde llegaba el otro barco, que había ido a unas 8-10 millas de nosotros todo el camino.

Bañito reponedor, comentarios sobre la travesía, primeros pasitos con la Zodiac (dos días después seríamos íntimos con ella, pero ese primer día no fue precisamente un camino de rosas), paseo por la playa, fotos de postureo, cerveza, comida a bordo y rumbo a Cala D’Hort (D) en Ibiza.

La parada en Cala D’Hort venía un poco obligada por la necesidad de que una tripulante cogiera un avión de vuelta (no estaba asustada, no, pero tenía una boda en la Península). De paso aprovechamos para tomar algo con mis amigos ibicencos.

Al día siguiente, tras desembarcar a Sofía, nos dirigimos de vuelta hacia Formentera, con una parada en Ses Salines (E), incluyendo chiringuito ibicenco, y presenciando una inspección de la policía de Aduanas a uno de los catamaranes vecinos, que duró una hora larga…

De ahí nos dirigimos a Cala Saona (F), una de esas calas que te hace preguntarte por qué la gente irá al Caribe en busca de playas. Aquí pasamos una noche plácidamente fondeados. A la mañana siguiente, nos dimos un paseo por los acantilados, y emprendimos ruta de navegación hacia Espalmador (G), uno de los sitios más impresionantes del archipiélago, en cuyo campo de boyas pasamos nuestra última tarde y noche en las Pitiusas.

A la mañana siguiente, al amanecer, salimos de vuelta hacia la Península, con un rumbo ligeramente Sur para llegar a Calpe (H), y de nuevo tuvimos suerte con la meteorología, ya que el viento empezó a soplar a unos 8-10 nudos con componente norte, lo cual hizo la travesía amena y rápida.

En Calpe nos quedamos en el puerto, para reponernos de las penurias de no haber tocado puerto en 4 días, y el último día, lunes, volvimos a Alicante en un día excesivamente tranquilo (para mi gusto). Esa tranquilidad, no obstante, permitió la toma de sol tranquila con el suave mecer de las olas, como colofón a una gran semana de vacaciones en la primera semana de calor de la temporada. Plan perfecto.

During the traditional summer BBQ organised by my friend Javi, we agreed that the time for a new visit to Toulouse had arrived. This time it would include a new ingredient that the previous ones did not have: flying with him as a pilot. I like Toulouse, I like its food, several friends are also there, and flying for the first time in a small aircraft added an extra dose of adrenaline to the cocktail.

The adventure started a few days before my arrival to Toulouse. Javier sent me an e-mail with some options, with a message: “You will need to choose what to fly over, if the meteo allows it”. Inside, several options with pros and cons. We finally decided to go for a route he already made several times: flying to Auch, where we would have lunch, and then flying back. The main drivers for selecting this was obviously that taking a plane to go for lunch is quite a cool statement, plus it included the possibility to fly over Toulouse-Blagnac airport, and at least two take-offs and landings. It is important to remind here that Toulouse is home of the Headquarters of Airbus, as well, as the Final Assembly Line (FAL) of several of their models…

First thing we had to do (although that was done already for the previous time) was the Flight Plan. (Note this post uses the plural as a literary resource… the truth is that most of the “we” should be Javi, i.e. the pilot). That is, tracing the route you want to follow on the chart, plus writing the different tracks in a sheet of paper for the pilot’s convenience.

Once we arrived to the aerodrome, there were a number of checklists to be completed by all pilots to ensure everything is as it should be before the next step. There is a checklist before jumping into the plane, one before starting the motor, another one before entering into the runway… These checklists were followed by Javi to the word, and it is done today in every single flight too. Safety first is more than a nice thing to say when talking about machines that fly.

After refuelling, and the several checklist had been completed, we finally took off from Lasbordes Aerodrome (1) in F-GTPK, DR44. I must admit the first couple of minutes were not easy for me. I believe the adrenaline was not flowing enough to cope with the feelings with the first turn… But these took just a three minutes, then we started navigating which was fun (and I started the GPS tracker!). We requested permission to the controllers to cross the airport… which they denied, as there was commercial traffic at that moment, so we took a detour around Toulouse to be able to arrive to Such. This was a challenging part as we had to find a new checkpoint following the controllers indications and alter the original route.

Navigation up there is quite an interesting topic. These aircrafts do not have a visual GPS software to help the pilot, but quite sophisticated, but analog instruments plus a key tool: your eyes… That is why the pilot is entitled to fly “visual”. Navigation is all about having a chart in paper, and recognising the different elements (a town, a road, a mountain, a river, …) on the ground… once you find one of them, you trace a line to your destination, decide the heading and use some analog devices to follow the desired track. This is a challenging task. It is not easy to confirm that certain small town is indeed the one you are looking for, and it takes some time flying over an area to recognise them at first sight those points.

You can imagine how useful controllers are in these situations. They can help you find your way if you do not manage to do it yourself, and they provide traffic information in your route to make it a more pleasant journey. In the end, you are moving at 200 km/h and flying for a few minutes in the wrong direction can lead to a messy situation. Controllers are in charge of different zones, and when you cross from one to another, you shall change your radio to the new station, say hi, and they normally give you a code to tune your transponder. Now they can “see” you in the radar…

Once we managed to find the new route, it did not take us long to arrive to Auch aerodrome (A). This aerodrome has no control tower, so you have to do everything by yourself… like identifying which is the most appropriate pathway to use by checking the predominant wind direction or announcing by radio our intentions. Landing was softer than I expected (although adrenaline was also there landing with us), we parked the plane, and had lunch at Jean-Philippe’s restaurant with views to the aerodrome and our plane.

After lunch, it was time to continue our route through the Gers region to sight some castles. In this case, we had a particular goal to find Lupiac (D), also known as D’Artagnan’s town, as it hosts the two castles where the real D’Artagnan was born (Castelmore) and lived (La Plagne). We succeeded thanks to Javi’s previous work in Google Maps, and in the field (he had been in Lupiac before), and started our route back to Toulouse, with the only surprise of a couple of gliding aircrafts flying at the same altitude than us. When we arrived to Toulouse-Blagned, we were denied crossing it again, this time due to some photo shooting taking place, so we surrounded it, and landed in Lasbordes again… safely.

El pasado puente de Todos los Santos (1 de noviembre), nos volvimos a embarcar camino de Ibiza, en lo que sería el cierre de la temporada náutica de 2016. Esta travesía totalmente “fuera de temporada” tiene sus ventajas y sus inconvenientes.

La ventaja está clara: la cantidad de embarcaciones en las calas de Ibiza es infinitamente menor, por lo que se puede disfrutar de la isla en su plenitud. Además, el tiempo, que era un riesgo importante, nos respetó dándonos los últimos 4 días de calor tal que permitiera bañarnos.

La desventaja, en cambio, son las pocas horas de luz, que nos hicieron modificar los planes, especialmente las travesías, ya que no hay horas de luz suficientes para hacer Alicante-Ibiza, así que optamos por travesías nocturnas. Es curioso también que, de forma natural, la falta de luz fuera (y las bajas temperaturas nocturnas), nos hacía recluirnos dentro y acabábamos teniendo horarios bastante alineados con la luz solar. Una vida bastante “slow” para lo que suele ser habitual.

El viernes noche, una vez llegó toda la tripulación, fijamos los pertinentes turnos de guardia, y partimos del Puerto de Alicante con un rumbo paralelo a la Costa Blanca para minimizar las horas en las que estaríamos lejos de la costa, virando a la altura de Calpe hacia Cala Saona, en Formentera. La travesía fue bastante apacible, reseñando sólo un par de cargueros que pasan por el Separador de Tráfico que hubo que librar adecuadamente.

Llegamos a Cala Saona justos para comer, darnos un baño, y confirmar que teníamos la isla prácticamente para nosotros solos. La última vez (junio) que estuve en Cala Saona había cerca de 40 barcos y, esta vez, sólo 4.

Por la tarde, enfilamos hacia la Isla de Espalmador, donde pasaríamos la noche fondeados en una boya. En este trayecto contamos con un poco de viento de través que nos permitió incluso quitar el motor un rato. Por la mañana pudimos hacer una pequeña excursión a tierra para ver si había algún resquicio del incendio del verano, y donde fuimos atacados por mosquitos hasta la saciedad.

De Espalmador, partimos hacia Tagomago en un día con total ausencia de viento, por lo que desayunamos en travesía. Toda la costa desde Ibiza hasta Tagomago era una zona totalmente nueva para mí y la cala SW de Tagomago fue todo un descubrimiento porque el fondeo es muy agradable (al menos en estas fechas!). Además, en su cercanía hay siempre delfines, y pudimos ver unos cuantos nadando muy cerca de nuestro barco. Los delfines siempre es una buena forma de redondear una salida náutica.

Después del baño y la comida, emprendimos la vuelta hacia el puerto de Ibiza, que era nuestra única noche en puerto. Siempre está bien tener un día de asueto, tomarse algo en tierra, y en mi caso, aprovechar para visitar a Paloma y Laia, su recién nacida hija. Además, aprovechamos para visitar Dalt Vila, la parte alta de Ibiza, y la más interesante turísticamente, ya que buena parte de la tripulación no la conocía. La marina que elegimos para atracar fue Ibiza Magna, cuya ubicación es perfecta, porque estás ya en el propio casco antiguo, pero que también tuvo inconvenientes: las duchas estaban en obras (i.e.: no había) y los ferries movían bastante el barco. El Puerto de Ibiza no estaba tan animado como en verano, pero pudimos ver el Prince Abdullaziz, el barco de la familia real saudí, que pasa los veranos en Ibiza junto a sus propietarios y su séquito.

Tras Ibiza, el objetivo era emplear el día (el último en las Islas), para navegar en dirección Este. Así cruzamos el Freu Petit (el día era muy tranquilo), navegamos por Ses Salines, donde pudimos ver un barco cargando sal, y proseguimos a Cala Jondal, famosa por albergar el famoso Blue Marlin. Sacamos la auxiliar, y nos acercamos a tierra a tomarnos una cerveza Isleña, cuya botella es, en sí misma, un souvenir ibicenco. Tras el baño, la comida, y una ronda de cócteles, nos dirigimos a Cala D’Horts, para ver uno de los atardeceres más espectaculares de Ibiza, y para descansar un poco antes de emprender la travesía de regreso a la península.

Tras el atardecer a las 6, decidimos zarpar hacia la península las 8, para poder aprovechar un poco del día siguiente. Así, una vez libramos Es Vedrà, pusimos rumbo directo a Tabarca. Nuevamente hicimos turnos, y precisamente cuando me desperté, había tenido lugar una de las anécdotas del viaje. Antes de subir a cubierta, miré el GPS, y vi que estábamos navegando en dirección Norte. En el mapa, de hecho, se puede ver ese cambio de rumbo. ¿La razón? Parece que habían maniobrado para dejar pasar a una embarcación de recreo… de 500 pies, que navegaba en dirección Sur. Al recuperar cobertura de móvil, comprobamos que el barco en cuestión era el Eclipse, el segundo barco de recreo más grande del mundo, propiedad de Abramovich, y dotado incluso con misiles.

Con la llegada a Tabarca, un último baño, y rumbo directo al Puerto de Alicante. Se acabó lo que se daba. 5 islas (Formentera, Espalmador, Tagomago, Ibiza, y Tabarca) en 4 días, y baños todos los días. Sólo habríamos pedido un poco más de viento, pero tampoco hay que abusar.

India is synonym of chaos. Although they manage to keep the airport calm by not letting in anyone not travelling, once you get out of there, your survival instinct makes you observe of all details of the intense and diverse traffic.

There are old and new cars, decorated trucks, thousands of motorbikes (some of them with up to 4 people), the tuk-tuk’s or rickshaws which will soon become your favorite mean of transportation, the tough cycle rickshaw… You realize soon there is more life than pedestrians and vehicles…

Animals are also all around: not only dogs and cats, but also cows, goats, donkeys and porks are present in the streets, playing their role in this organised chaos. This diversity is in constant movement in flexible paths, where right, left, forward and backward become elastic concepts, as lanes are just recommendations. After a few days, you will not remember, that your first minutes you were constantly wondering why everybody is using their horn all the time.

Your focus will also turn towards those animals that walk free: pigs, dogs and even monkeys can be found in any corner of a city like Delhi. You see goats carried on rickshaws and motorbikes by their owners, and sacred cows with a not very healthy aspect, anywhere you can think of.

You even see cows walking on the railroad in a train station.

The sacred condition of the cows make them especially popular in the streets, and vehicles respect them completely, and you think that would not happen back home. A driver will explain you why they are seldom crashed by a vehicle: in such a case, driver would have to pay for any damage, and as it is an important sin, he would need to go to the Ganges to get purified, he would need to pay the brahmins (priests) for some prays, and most importantly: your family would belong from that moment to the lowest caste. Too high price.

Caste system is still present and alive in India, and it does not seem about to change in the short term. This makes some extreme poverty be present, especially in big cities. There are people begging in the streets, and the health standards are way below those you are lucky enough to have at home. The presence of animals living freely in the streets, garbage in any unexpected place, water not being potable makes the living conditions not the most adequate ones. Development is not equal throughout the country, and rural areas still show women walking several kilometres to the nearest source of water, to carry it back home.

Once you start getting used to the chaos, you will look at the people and find out the interesting mix in way of dressing that you find, mainly driven by the several religions present in India. Most of them belong to the Hinduism, muslims follow them (although the most muslim areas in the region are now independent from India -Bangladesh and Pakistan), and then the sikhs with their colourful turbans make them very visible.

When you start getting hungry, you start the challenging task of identifying in the menu, those dishes that you will like the most. A wrong choice can make your mouth be on fire for hours, as they like veggie and specially spicyfood. You take special care with the drinks, always choosing something bottled, and decide not to pay attention to the non observance of some hygiene procedures that are standard at home.

Prices will make you remember why India is one of the main manufacturing countries in the world: they are lower than anywhere else that you have been before. In any case, they recognise the tourists easily and offer them higher prices -still affordable-, and even the government has “prices for foreigners”. You will soon realize that you are an easy target for all kind of scams, even if you try to your eyes wide open: the most popular one is that any transport you take will make you stop in a shop/restaurant where they get a certain commission from any spend you have.

You have an overall idea of India. Ready to live it?

• Day 1: Arrival to Delhi
• Day 2: Delhi
• Day 3: Early Flight Delhi-Varanasi. Varanasi
• Day 4: Varanasi
• Night Train Varanasi-Khajuraho
• Day 5: Khajuraho
• Day 6: Khajuraho-Orchaa-Jhanshi (by car). Jhanshi-Agra Train
• Day 7: Agra
• Day 8: Taj Mahal. Agra-Jaipur (by car)
• Day 9: Jaipur
• Night Train Jaipur-Udaipur
• Day 10: Udaipur
• Day 11: Udaipur. Flight Udaipur-Delhi. Delhi
• Day 12: Departure from Delhi

The first impression of Delhi, the capital of India, when you arrive is that it is a hectic city with almost 10 million people continuously moving, provoking constant traffic jams in the main roads. When you arrive there, you may be prone to get immersed into the city, and decide to walk to the closest spot from your hotel. We did that too, and those were the worst 2 km that I have walked in a long time. My first recommendation would be to avoid doing that: Delhi (and in general, India) is not thought to have people walking long distances. Instead, take its wonderful subway, you will be pleased with its modern network, and its tidiness.

If you happen to stay near the diplomatic area, your first stop is the Gate of India. It reminded me to the Puerta de Alcalá, but in a nicer promenade made to emphasise the presence of the Parliament. If you are there after the sunset, you will find a hectic environment: local tourists taking themselves selfies with the monument (hard with the light conditions), and some others offering all kind of services (pictures, water selling, sweets, …). The building might not impress you much, but the leisure atmosphere is a nice beginning.

From there, you can would head to Connaught Place, another particular spot of the city: well known brand (and expensive) shops, tons of restaurants and bars, bazaars in the street, and mostly young people make it the top destination for evenings out, and some decent -but expensive- shopping.

The real visit to Delhi starts with Old Delhi, and there the main attraction is the Red Fort: the first fort in India was also one of the biggest in the country, and if you started your trip now, you will enjoy this kind of palaces (after a few more, you may be looking for something else): a fort is a sort of palace with military defences. Forts are a good way to understand the aesthetic taste at different ages in the history of India, and you can imagine the rulers having their receptions or living there, walking like we can do now in their vast and well preserved gardens.

When you go out of the fort, crossing a busy bazaar, you will arrive the the Jama Masjid, an impressive mosque, able to host up to 25000 people. If like me, you find mosques captivating with their vast open spaces, you can enjoy its atmosphere of retreat, so needed even if it is only the first day in Delhi. You might be luckier than we were, and have a successful visit to the nearby bazaar and the spice market… We did not enjoy it much. Either we did not go to the right place, or my expectations were not the right ones. Bazaar and spice markets bring me to two places in this world: Istanbul and Marrakech, and that was not what we saw there.

To complete the day, you can visit two wonderful monuments; both of them are memorials of different rulers. The first one is the Safdarjang’s Tomb, and as it is not in the centre, it is not crowded, and its visit becomes a relaxing experience, where you can even take a short siesta to recover from the jetlag. The second one was the Humayan’s tomb, which is almost as crowded as the Fort. This memorial inspired the Taj Mahal in Agra, and it is a huge red marble building with several tombs inside. Taj Mahal is a clear must, but visiting Humayan’s tomb boosts the appetite to arrive to Agra.

Before the sunset, you can still be convinced by a crazy tuk tuk driver to go to the Lotus Temple, a modern building in the outskirts of Delhi, which hosts the Bahai House of Worship, aiming to close the gap between different religions… Not that interesting inside (a few minutes to reflect, pray, etc.), but really nice from the outside.

A great farewell from Delhi can be the Loddhi Park and buy some curry and tea. The park atmosphere was very similar to the one you can see in any big park in the world: my dear Retiro park in Madrid, Englischer Garten in München, Central Park in New York, with only minor differences (like the remains of a mosque inside): people jogging, couples, friends, and even BBQ’s… Life in megacities are the same in any place in the world: we are not that different in the end.

Khajuraho is a small town at a night-train distance from Varanasi, and it is the perfect stop after the intense and touching Varanasi: no traffic, less people, and a relaxing atmosphere… but that is not why we go there. We go there because of the 22 temples older than 1000 years, and which were built by the Chandela Dynasty. The legend of the birth of this dynasty is closely linked to the temples: the most beautiful lady in town (legendary stories do not happen with regular people, remember) is taking a bath in one of the nearby lake, when Chandra, the Moon God, sees her, and decides to come down to Earth in the form of an attractive gentleman (again, only attractive men have such an effectiveness) and she falls in love. After that night, the Moon God disappear, and she later gives birth to a child, who later became the founder of this Dynasty.

With such background, it is not surprising that the temples walls are covered by fine figures picturing the main activities at that time and the most important values for the dynasty: war and erotism. War figures are quite basic, but the latter covers all possible spectrum in the most specific way. Some guidebooks say this is the origin of the famous Kamasutra book, but it is actually not linked to it.

These figures represent the union of the masculine and feminine energies, which signify the magical protection needed to guarantee the successful life of the temple. Apart from these details, the temples are kept very nicely, and their perfect alignment to East, put into the perspective of the time of building, is breathtaking.

There is enough time to explore the surrounding areas, and we followed the advice of the people in our hotel (by the way, quite more easy-going than the ones in other places), and we let our tuk-tuk driver bring us to the Panna Tiger Reserve. The 45 minutes ride was the most rural part of the whole trip, and was worth it to see closer the massive nature, and the rural life… The real differences with our home countries became clear, as women had to walk long distances for water, food and life seemed to be slower for those sitting on the curb looking at any vehicle that crossed the road. The destination offered us some fanciful formations that water and limestone has created, with impressive waterfalls up to 30 meters.

From Khajuraho, we took a car (with driver) to go to Orcha’a, another small town with even less activity than Khajuraho, but blessed with a river. There we visited their two forts, Raj Mahal and Jehangir Mahal, massive buildings, empty of any furniture, with many rooms and a big open-air halls, as many others we had seen. The feeling here was a bit different as these complexes were on a hill in a big green valley governing a vast territory. Apart from the forts, Orchha’a also hosts a complex of chaatris, at the riverside, which are memorial buildings, acting as tombs of former kings.

After Orchha’a, we went to Jhanshi, which is a bigger city nearby, with a bigger train station, and where we took our train to Agra, home of the Taj Mahal.

After the oasis in Khajuraho and Orchha’a, Agra meant going back to the India we had known a few days before: big city, traffic, and noise. Agra was the capital of the Mogul empire for a century, and the heritage of that time makes them be a popular destination for travellers all around the world: the Taj Mahal. One of the non-argued Wonders in the world, and which can be a reason on itself to put India as your next destination.

The Taj Mahal is considered one of the most expensive and beautiful (from a material perspective) proofs of love in the history of Humankind. It was ordered to be built by the Emperor Shah Jahan as a memorial for his wife. A colossal white marble building that can be seen from several spots in Agra, and which looks fascinating from all of them. If you see the video, you can see one of the most hair-raising moments of the trip, when you cross a gate and the Taj Mahal appears in front of you… It is hard not to immerse into the picture-taking hysteria around you. When getting closer to the building itself, you are jealous of not being able to take the same famous picture as Lady Di with an empty complex, although we did a homage to it.

As this was one of the main drivers to come to India, we carefully planned our stay in Agra around Taj Mahal. We stayed just 1 km away from the least crowded gate in a hotel with a swimming pool with views to the Wonder, we made sure not to be the day it closes, and we were before the daybreak to make sure we could avoid the hordes of visitors, and if possible, we could see the magic building change its look minute by minute, as the sun lights it from different angle. Some piece of advice for you regarding this: if the day is foggy (quite frequent), there will be no such thing as those changes, and it may not be worth to get up that early. Moreover, instead of queuing to be the first ones, you can easily be there 30 minutes after they open the complex, and you will avoid queues… If you are not a morning person, don’t thank me for this advice.

The century of ruling the Empire from Agra left the city a few more stimulating spots apart from the Taj Mahal. Its fort is one of the most refined ones in our stay, as it incorporated styles and tastes from different dynasties, which combined the red and the white stones with a noteworthy result. Also, if it was not for the proximity of the Taj Mahal, the known as Baby Taj would be a major highlight in Agra.

Before leaving to Jaipur, also by car, we asked the driver to stop in the Fatehpur Sikri complex, which is in the outskirts of Agra. This complex lies in a high hill, and it is formed by a fort (yet another one!), and a mosque. The fort is a concatenation of buildings and vast halls, with very few people inside. If I were more into art or architecture, I may have discovered the subtle differences with the other forts in India… but it is not the case. On the other hand, the mosque was a terrific choice. Its entrance, facing a vast valley, and steep steps gives you the feeling of entering a rural major mosque, full of tourists, and probably because of that, full of activity.

A pleasant way to finish our visit to Agra, home of the Taj Mahal, which we will for sure remember regardless of how many years go by. A more than justified Wonder of the World.

Jaipur is the market of India. The main streets in the city form a huge bazaar: shops after shops, making your life easy to buy anything you think of. As a tourist it has a couple of spots within the city border, but the main reason to come here is the Fort Amber (what else) a few kilometres away.

I have observed a phenomenon in many parts of the world, and Jaipur was not an exception: similar businesses tend to concentrate in closer areas. You can find a street where you can only buy fabrics, another one full of shoes, some others full of kitchen accessories… There must be a good reason for all this, but theoretically, as my friend Luis says when promoting his website: you do not want to have your direct competitor so easily reachable by your customer, do you?

While wandering around the streets behind the bazaars we stumbled with the Maharaja’s Palace, which had a big poster announcing the 18th birthday of the Maharaja. Some research on the topic showed us that although the Maharajas in India have no more political power, they still have influence, respect, and especially wealth. Near this palace, we found the Hawa Mahal, a beautiful building with significantly colourful windows, facing a main street in Jaipur. The purpose of this building was no other than allowing the women from the Court enjoy the life and processions in the city without being seen. Things change for good.

The actual main attraction in Jaipur is the Fort Amber, probably the most remarkable fort in India, not only for its location, but also for the decorations inside. You can reach the fort entrance either by walking, or riding an elephant (although there are a lot of voices against the treat that have these animals), or even by some jeeps… We went for a walk and was not that tough.

Jaipur is not a must in India, but a needed and welcome stop in such a long trip. This happened in several places (we had plenty of time to rest), and hotels with nice rooftops are always a safe bet to recover energy before our next and last destination in India…

We could not stop looking to the elderly couple sitting in front of us in our hotel in Udaipur during our first breakfast there. We do not consider India as an easy destination for grown-up but young people as us, and were surprised of their presence there. Of course, we started talking to them, and they told us they were staying in Udaipur for a few weeks in their several months long trip in India. We did not know what was more surprising: them staying for a few months in India, or more than 3 days in a small city as is.

The reason to stay long in Udaipur became clear to us after we explored it. It is a nice and modern town, which gives more space to the tourist to decide (space in the most physical and straightforward meaning of the word), and with beautiful surroundings, while having a stress-free time. A good holiday destination, and perfect rest place for this couple who live in Canada, but were originally French and German, and who have been all around the Globe.

Leaving the hotel, we went down through the street which was a ghat, a street leading to the water of the lake. Surprisingly enough, we found a group of around 200 people, dressed up with their colourful dresses in what seemed to be a religious celebration. People were happy, and the children asked us to take pictures of them (and also with them).

All this happened near the Pichola lake next to which lies Udaipur, and which has several palaces around and in the middle of it. One of them is one of the most expensive hotels in the world, and it is literally in the middle of the lake: the only way to access it is by boat. A boat similar to the one we took to see Udaipur from the water, and see what else had the lake to offer (not much after all).

The evening was the most entertaining one in the whole trip. Thanks to our friends from Canada, we booked a traditional dance spectacle and it did exceed our expectations. The dancers danced with huge pots on their heads, with rhythmic and precise movements while juggling with their hands. Apart from the dance, we also enjoyed a small theater play, and a puppet show. The theater plot was about one of the Hinduism Gods, Shiva, and is one of the ways, Hinduism traditions were made popular to everyone. After the spectacle, we spoilt ourselves with a nice dinner in an amazing rooftop restaurant at the lakeside.

There are many ways to visit and live India, and there are many Indias. Delhi is not Varanasi, Varanasi is not Agra, and Agra is by no means Udaipur. It is now up to you to decide what to see. At least, you can decide.

Salir a navegar por la Costa Blanca tiene sus ventajas. La mayor de ellas: el tiempo, generalmente (toco madera), es bueno en casi cualquier época del año, y la fecha elegida para la primera salida de la temporada, el segundo fin de semana de abril, no decepcionó. El mar como un plato, sol, buena temperatura, y hasta un poco de viento para poder disfrutar de la navegación a vela.

La tripulación en esta ocasión estaba formada por unos cuantos compañeros de trabajo y el gran Jaime que vino desde Sevilla para la ocasión. Como viene siendo habitual, salimos del puerto de Alicante, y el viernes por la noche nos adentramos en las deliciosas tapas de la gastronomía alicantina.

El sábado por la mañana, tras un desayuno bajo las faldas del monte Benacantil, zarpamos en dirección a Tabarca. Sin prácticamente viento, llegamos al fondeadero Sur de Tabarca, enfrente de la playa, que se encontraba más vacío de lo que yo esperaba teniendo en cuenta el tiempo que hacía, y que era el sábado anterior a Semana Santa… Allí fondeamos sin problemas, y algún valiente pudo darse un baño, antes de que nos recogieran para llevarnos a tierra a comer un arroz “del senyoret” y explorar un poco la isla, llegando a la zona de la antigua cárcel.

Por la tarde, emprendimos el camino de La Vila, que era el puerto donde pretendíamos pasar la noche. Aunque hacía viento, no daba suficientes garantías de que nos permitiera llegar con luz a puerto, y optamos por la combinación de velas desplegadas y motor. En esta travesía, que fue aprovechada por buena parte de la tripulación para descansar de la dura semana, lo único destacable fue encontrarnos de frente con una patrullera de Aduanas que no debió ver nada sospechoso a bordo.

El domingo zarpamos del puerto de La Vila nuevamente con el mar como un plato, y poco viento y decidimos rodear la isla de Benidorm antes de volver tranquilamente costeando hacia el puerto de Alicante. Tanto el viento como el mar nos entraba por la la aleta de babor, por lo que la navegación fue placentera y a buen ritmo, dejando de utilizar el motor totalmente a media mañana. Comimos en travesía, saludamos a la familia en la distancia a la altura de Campello, y una vez librado el Cabo Huertas, como todavía teníamos tiempo, nos dedicamos a hacer unos cuantos virajes para desentumecer los músculos y que la tripulación no experimentada tomara conciencia de lo divertido que puede ser la navegación a vela. Tras esto, llegada a puerto, repostaje y atraque (en segundo intento).

En resumen, la primera salida náutica de la temporada fue un éxito, y ahora toca preparar las siguientes, que tienen un poco más de enjundia.

When taxi is not even an option to get to your accommodation from the airport, you already know you are in a very special place. This is the case for Venice, a city occupying completely over 100 islands, where cars have no access, and transportation looks to the water: private boats, vaporettos (the Venice equivalente to buses), water taxis, or romantic gondolas.

As the agenda for the weekend looks quite busy with little time for sightseeing, I decide to get up early and explore the city for a couple of hours before breakfast, and a couple of early bird colleagues join me. This happens to be a great decision, as this city of 60,000 inhabitants hosts an average of 100,000 daily visitors, which remove part of its charm, and none of them are there before breakfast. The city is almost ours.

In the early morning, Venice is an empty city. The narrow streets are only populated by some young people who come back from crazy party nights out, runners seizing the few hours without intense heat, some people unloading boats with goods for the bars and restaurants, and photographers looking for the best light for their postcard pictures. They are not the only photographers you see, as the still calm Piazza San Marco hosts a number of brides and grooms photo sessions, especially Asian ones.

When we arrive to the Gran Canal, an image strikes us: a huge cruise is being towed by two tugboats through the canal. Later we will see several posters announcing a referendum for limiting the access of those huge boats to Venice canale. Our local colleague explains us that Venice is considering limiting also the number of tourists a day, by asking for an access fee.

If you are planning to go to Venice, take just one advice: avoid the tourists, even if you are one of them… it is worth it.

Switzerland was in my wishlist to visit since a couple of years ago. Some friends moved there and had invited me, and a Toastmasters Conference provided the perfect excuse to spend a few days visiting this beautiful, small and extremely expensive country. 10 days had to do it, starting in Zurich visiting Elena and Hendrick, and ending in Winterthur with the Toastmasters conference.

When I organized the days in between, I selected several cities to visit and only one mountain spot. After having seen them, I regret I had not put more mountain destinations in the agenda. Switzerland is really well organised for the travellers, and even solo travellers as me. Trains are expensive, but somehow affordable with some planning ahead, and you can get anywhere (even to the actual mountains) thanks to their dense network, which works like a Swiss clock.

When in Rome, do as the Romans do… and so we did as the Swiss do: we went hiking to a mountain. In this case, we started with Mount Pilatus in Luzern: which was my first experience with the Swiss Alps, where mountains welcomes thousands of visitors, especially from Asia, who want to get as high as possible, with the least effort… And they can do it: it is just a matter of money. Most mountains have a cablecar which takes you to the summit or to any intermediate stop, for a ridiculous amount of money. In the information office, you receive a map with all the possible routes, which are clearly marked on ground too.

We took the cablecar to an intermediate station and walked up to the next one. The main goal was not climbing to the summit, but getting to see the Lake Lucerne. We succeeded, and enjoyed lunch in a remote part of the track with amazing views. When we reached the upper station, we also had some fun riding the longest sommerroddelbahn (a dry toboggan, where you ride a wheeled cart) in Switzerland, before the rain took the scene and we had to go back by cablecar.

The day after, it was time to visit Zurich, although the day was not very pleasant (cloudy, cold and even rainy), and that did influence my perception of the city: just another German-like one, except for the huge lake (Zurichsee), which provides the city with an extra dose of charm. Our walk included Banhofstrasse, with all the extremely-expensive shops were lined up; walk up to Lindenhof to enjoy an interesting view of the city, and the mandatory visit to the main churches in the Fraumünster, Grössmünster and St.Peterskirche, which has the biggest clock in Europe (where else!?).

In the evening, we climbed Uetliberg, which is one of the mountains surrounding Zurich, with a good view over the city. Actually, we took a train to the summit, and we walked down back, climbing one mountain per weekend is already a lot.

After Zurich, I headed to Lausanne, a beautiful city by the Geneva lake. It has a nice city centre with plenty of slopes. It was a grey day and I devoted the morning to the Olympic museum, which I do recommend to everybody. During the afternoon, walking around the city, suddenly the sun found some space among the clouds, and locals started to enjoy every minute of sunshine as they could, like that girl who spontaneously sat on the grass with her coffee-to-go for a few minutes before resuming her way back to work or school.

Then, I took a train towards Interlaken, and this was probably the most beautiful train route from all the ones I saw. The tracks were on the upper part of a hill that started in the lake and that was full of vineyards, the sun was setting, and the local commuters had that face of tiredness and relax of those who finish a long working day.

Interlaken was the highlight of the week there: a small town between two lakes, and really close to the some of the highest mountains in Switzerland, and with all kind of activities to do (hiking, climbing, skiing, paragliding, …).

There are hundreds of hiking routes, so I decided to follow an advice I got in Zurich, and went for the Valley of the 52 Waterfalls: 6 km in a valley with the cliffs, typically formed by a glacier, and with waterfalls everywhere.

At the end of the valley, I took a cablecar to Schilthorn, a peak at almost 3000 metres where I could enjoy the breathtaking of three mountains over 4000 metres (Tiger, Münch and Jungfrau) emerging from a sea of clouds. This place happened to be under construction when a James Bond movie asked them to record part of it there, and the movie investment was the last boost it needed.

On my way back, I took a different path, stopped in Mürren and walked back on the upper part of the cliffs through the trees, in a route of 7 km with a significant slope down.

Before arriving to Winterthur, there was time for a stop in Lucerne, this time with a more city tourism approach. Lucerne is considered one of the most beautiful cities in Switzerland, and I do agree on this evaluation: difficult to compete with a medieval town in such a wonderful location, amid high mountains, and at the lakeside… Lucerne is an easy spot to visit, as the size is not very big, but its city centre, the Musseg Wall and the Chapel Bridge do deserve some time to wander and enjoy.

The last stop was Winterthur, which hosted the Toastmasters conference. Winterthur is a city north of Zurich, whose main highlights are some art and photo museums (which i could not visit as the only free day was Monday) and the revitalised Sulzer factory which is now home of offices and plenty of different businesses.

Although I had saved Monday to visit the city, we ended up in a small tour to two interesting spots near the German border: the Rheinfall, Europe’s largest plain waterfalls, and Stein am Rhein, a cozy and well-preserved medieval town near the Lake Constance, which made it a perfect climax for this interesting trip to a new country.

Two years ago, we went to Oxford as a friend had just moved there and organized a house warming. We had a great time there, and decided to establish a new tradition for that, the Biennal Oxford BBQ, where we would come every other year to this famous city to share quality time with friends around a BBQ.

Things move fast, and this year we came back for a second and probably last time as she is moving to another wonderful city in Europe, which we will soon be visiting, of course.

The good thing of coming back to a place you know is that you can slow down during your stay. Walk slowly, and enjoy every piece of the city a bit more. I come from a few weeks getting up early, and this weekend was not an exception, so I went for a long walk along the Thames River and into an empty Oxford, where most of these pictures were taken.