If you go to London read González

Choosing a book to read is one of the hardest decisions you have to make in your life. There are so many and so good books that it is very difficult. Honestly, I think it is impossible to read everything you would like because there isn’t enough time. One of the problems is when you start reading a bad book and you feel that you are wasting your time. Fortunately, I have been lucky with my last choice. I was wishing to read it. Furthermore, the other I decided to go in the tube to read some chapters.

I don’t remember how or where but I found out that Enric González a Spanish journalist who now works for El Mundo had a book about London. As you know, England’s capital is one of my favourite cities and I like to consume anything linked to the city. I have to say that I already read a book of González about Rome that I really enjoyed.

I start reading ‘Historias de Londres’ and soon realized that I had made a great decision. It is a short book but it has many different stories about the city. González explains us things related to the history of the town, deeps in the royal family or he tackles two topics which I am very interested in: press and football. 

It is really fascinating how he explains the different newspapers that you can find in London and some curious stories about them. You can go back in time and imagine when Fleet Street was the capital of journalism. Something similar happens when he writes about football: all the main teams you can find in the city and a few ideas of them so you don’t hesitate who to support.

‘Historias de Londres’ is a book that you read fast because it is very interesting and also because Enric González writes great. He is able to build easy paragraphs with short sentences and usual words. Is a very simple style but really good; I think it is one of the keys of the book. He has the ability to be funny without really trying. I have enjoyed a lot this book for two reasons: the stories are really good and interesting and the author has a lovely style. It is a shame that you can only read it in Spanish but it is really worth it.

Prague: nice city

I know it has been a long time since I last updated my blog but summer it is a difficult time because all the work we have. I have a lot of things to write about but I will start explaining my holidays in Prague, a beautiful city that you should visit sometime in your life if you can afford it.

We arrived early in the morning and went to the hotel that was really nice. Only ten minutes walking from the city centre, we started visiting the Prague Astronomic clock, one of the city’s famous buildings. Afterwards, we decided to do the guided tour in the city Sandemans New Europe with Carlos who explained us a lot of interesting things. I strongly recommend you to do it because you receive a lot of information and you start knowing the city.

Everybody says that is a great city and I did like it. Charles’ bridge, the castle, St Vithus Cathedral, the city centre, Wenceslao’s square… a lot of interesting places to visit and spend some time enjoying them. We also visited different churches, the Jewish cemetery and the different synagogues or Loreto palace. A lot of places that are worth it and that you will like for sure. The only important place we didn’t get to visit was the Clementinum, an excuse to get back in the future.

As we had some time over we decided to visit Kutná Hora; a very nice city known because of a little chapel made of human bones, but that also had few other interesting monuments.

However, a lot of people say that is a cheap city and we didn’t found that cheap. It is not expensive but the prices were not very different from the ones here in Barcelona.

Prague was one of the cities I wanted to visit and I can delete it from my list. It is a small city where everything is in walking distance and that has a lot of nice things to see and a very interesting history. I think that is worth it to walk around the streets, the different squares and neighbourhoods and learn some of its history. A great trip to one of the most historical cities in Europe!

Nice city and great guide!

This past weekend I discovered a new city: Dublin. Jéssica and I went with another couple to visit Marta, a friend of my wife who has been living there the last two ages years. It was a trip that I was looking forward to because everybody spoke well of Dublin. I have to say that it was worth it!

Our trip to Dublin has a lot of anecdotes. After we bought the flights, we started looking for a hotel. For a reason we don’t understand yet all of them were very expensive. Therefore, we decided to rent an apartment. We found one in the city centre very cheap and well connected, and we decided to book it. Everything looked all right until one morning that Laura told us that the woman had cancelled our reservation. Drama! We started looking again for somewhere to sleep and it was impossible to find anything. All the apartments, guesthouses and bed and breakfast were full and the hotels left were too expensive for a weekend. After a hard search we booked two rooms in the Ibis Hotel (30 minutes away from the city centre) with breakfast.

The Spire

We hadn’t started our trip and we already had many a lot of inconvenience problems. A few days later, we read that in Barcelona’s airport there was a strike and we also find found out that the tram that took us from the hotel to the main street of Dublin was affected on Sunday due to maintenance works. Hopefully, nothing affected us and we didn’t have any other inconvenience.

St. Patrick's Cathedral

One of the best things of going to visit someone is that they explain you a lot of things. Marta took us to the see the Spire, Dublin’s General Post Office where the Republic of Ireland was proclaimed in 1916, St Patrick Cathedral, the Old Library in Trinity College where the Book of Kells is kept. We also crossed the Ha'penny Bridge and went to see the Temple Bar, one of Dublin famous pubs. Marta took us to some of the nicest parks, we walked around the main streets full of life and we also met the Prime Minister. We saw one of Oscar Wilde’s houses and had time to go to a few pubs and walk around Dun Laoghai. Marta, who answered all of my questions, became a great tourist guide.

Temple Bar

Everything in Dublin is in walking distance and we had plenty of time to see the main attractions. Obviously, we couldn’t visit any of the museums but we had to prioritize. We finished tired because we walked a lot and we didn’t stop much but it was worth it. It was great to practice my English and enjoy a new country. After visiting Ireland, I only have Northern Ireland left as I have been in Scotland and Wales before. Maybe someday I will fly to Belfast to complete the five countries.

Ha'penny Bridge

It is not a big city but it inspires good vibrations and I think it is a good destination for a weekend, specially, if you find someone like Marta.