Naughty Trip to Amsterdam: Quick City Travel Guide

Dear readers (if there are any),

I'm not going to apologise anymore for not writing a blog post after "a few" months. There are times in life in which I'm just not able to write. Sometimes I lose myself and I'm wondering who the hell I am. Then I always get lost in thoughts, question how people see me, what they think of me...And I always come to the conclusion, that there is no point to think about such things. I cannot convince people to look at me differently anyway. And I don't have to care about their opinion on me, so what am I even talking about? Sometimes people, who are trying to drag me down, appear and then I feel like I'm the worst person in the world. You know what? I don't care anymore. I cannot blame myself for everything that happens around me. I just wanted to get this of my chest. I am not a perfect human being, let's be honest here. I'd rather be imperfect than a perfect robot.

Now let's move on to my Amsterdam trip, which was awesome. Thanks to my amazing friend who gave me shelter, food and a tour around this wonderful city. I have left Brno during the exam period, so I felt extremley guilty, but I don't regret it. I definitely needed to escape "my" city. I felt the urge to travel for months and this was the perfect opportunity to kill two birds with one stone. First, visit my bestie who was there for her Erasmus and second: explore this city I heard many people ranting about.

I can tell you we had a lot of *lols* and coffee...and food...guilty as charged. Now I want to share with you all of the places I liked. Some are good, some even better.

Let me start with Bocca, which is also a roastery. This is definitely a place go to for a good cup of coffee and even more delicious brownie (I can assure you - it's a definition of food porn). I'm talking to you coffee lovers out there! If you want, you can buy coffee beans as a souvenir from Amsterdam and then have delicious coffee at home. You can ask them for an advice, if you feel a bit lost, while deciding what type of coffee is better for french press and what is better for moca kettle. (Yes, I'm talking about my issues, but maybe you have the same thoughts. I'm still an amateur when it comes to coffee...). Everybody from the stuff was super helpful nice and helpful.The interior offers dark corners with comfy sofas if your day sucked and you just want to escape from the world around (or lovers haha) , but on the other hand you find there huge tables for more people or friendly gatherings.

Back to Black is another café we visited - a cute little place on the corner of the street, very close to museums. They also have their own cat, which I didn't know, while I was there, but I follow their Instagram (which is a feast for the eyes), so now I know. Better late than never. As the place has enormous windows, eve during the cloudy day you can find a lot of light trying to get inside. (And I can tell you, there're many cloudy days in January in Amsterdam.) By the way, this is also a roastery, so you can take a package of coffee beans home too AND beautiful cotton bag, which I regret not buying.

Now let's start with brunching. Yes, you're reading right. Me and my friend love to brunch! First we went to this kind of insta-famous place called Coffee & Coconuts. And yes, they have coffee and coconuts too. What a surprise! In the end we both had spelt coconut pancakes with coconut cream (which I'm gonna dream about for a long, long time). To top everything off, I got turmeric latté, one of my favourite beverages, and it was heaven.

The interior felt very hipster, indie and Hawaii inspired. Despite the fact that the space is enormous and very airy (it had been once an cinema after all), I felt very cosy. You can snuggle into bean bags, sit on the floor or choose the "safe" table with chairs.

If you want to have the best brunch experience, Dignita (I've only been to Hoftuin) is a place to go. The food is heaven, staff very helpful and because it literally stands in the middle of the garden, it has windows all around, so you get as much light as possible. Also, when the weather is good, you can sit outside. In the picture below you can see the "Smashed Avo" I got and my friend's delish pancakes.

For lunch, the perfect spot would probably be Lavinia Good Food. Unfortunately we had already after lunch, when we bumped into this place. 

Amsterdam is also full of markets. You can find there basically everything you need - from beautiful flowers to all kinds of food - and for a good price. 

If you want to experience nightlife in Amsterdam, you have many bars and pubs to choose from. We only went to one: Skek. It's a little nice place with typical Dutch food (Bitterballen f.e.).

Interested in shops? I have a few for you, which you do not want to miss out, when you're in Amsterdam. Uncover Lab will provide you many options of souvenirs that you can bring home or your friends & relatives. 

Plant lover like me? Wildernis it is!

We also visited the Anne Frank Museum. Walking through the same house she lived in was sad, but also very empowering. I still have reading her diary on my to-do list. I hope that this summer I'm finally going to get to reading it.

We also went to the Stedelijk Museum (museum of modern art). If you're in Amsterdam I really recommend going there. I had the best time exploring 3 floors of very remarkable expositions. I'm not even talking about the wonderful job of the architect!!

And now if you want to see more of the famous architecture...

Love,

Lucy

❤

Wonders of Valencia: Spain - Day 3 + 4

I have to admit, these pictures from Valencia are my favourite from the whole trip. This city has charmed me. Maybe because of the mesmerizing balcony and its view, thanks to which I felt like a girl from cliché and very romantic Hollywood films or the market (Mercat Central de Vàlencia) with amazing food...I cannot express how much I miss paella with artichokes and sweet horchata. And imagine this: The beginning of April and you don't even need to wear a jacket! Despite that, the sea was still super cold, so no swimming for us. We didn't mind actually, we were just excited to be near the sea again. We only quickly wetted our feet in that freezing cold water and took some pictures.

The next day we went on a free walking tour. Our tour guide Miguel was one of the best tour guides in the world - I mean it. You have to love the person, who showes you, where to get food for free.

In Valencia you can find a lot of signs in front of the restaurants which say: "Agua de Valencia" Every time we saw it we thought: "What the hell is so special about the water here?" Well, during the tour we found out. It is no surprise that the alcohol is involved. The drink consists of vodka and fresh orange juice, so nothing new. Good old vodka&juice. However, you need to be careful and find a place, where they are using freshly squeezed orange juice and not the one, which you can buy in the supermarkets.

Love,
Lucy

❤

Chasing the Viewpoints Of Barcelona: Spain - Day 2

Could it take me less than half a year to post this article? I don't think so. It's kinda funny that everytime I feel a bit lost and not myself, I always come back here. I have to admit it's comforting to listen to autumnal songs and hit the keyboard with the tips of my fingers. I like the sound of it. It's like playing on some musical instrument. Maybe that's why I like it so much. 

Ok, now, a huge shift to totally different place (geographically wise). Barcelona. Day 2. Tiredness was real. Excitement too and it was bigger than our exhausted bodies. Back to the place, where we first got off the bus the previous day - Plaça d'Espanya. This time we went by metro. It is better than hour and a half of walking to be honest. The place we thought was still used as arena was a shopping mall (Arenas). Better for us, at least we could have had coffee on this cloudy and rainy morning.

Then it was time to explore the city, not only the coffee shops. We wanted to see the view from the Palau Nacional. There are escalators, so you don't have to climb the hill, which saves a lot of time. The view was incredible. We had to wait some time to take the perfect picture and selfie, because in Barcelona, there are too many turists everywhere, but in the end we managed to do it.

After that we wanted to see the castle. Instead of paying for the cableway, we decided to go by foot to the top. And I can tell you, we almost got lost, but what we got was beautiful! On the way we came across some magnificent flower gardens. The view from the Montjuïc castle was even better than from the Palau Nacional. On one side blue sea and on the other the sea of buildings.

And of course we couldn't leave Barcelona without seeing the very impressing Gaudí's city - the very famous Parc Guell. I can tell you, everywhere you go, you pay a lot in Barcelona. Everything that used to be for free is super expensive now. As a poor student, I don't want to spend 20€ on these beautiful gardens, which I can see from the not very distance anyway. But if you have the money, go for it! However, the gardens are beautiful, I'm bowing in front of Gaudí's work. I loved every part of it. You can also climb to the top of the hill and you can find another incredible viewpoint! Me and girls - we were pretty proud that we found this place and managed to climb all the way up.

Hungry? In Barcelona there are many 100 Montaditos with Euromanía on every Wednesday and Sunday. Only two days for Barcelona are not enough in my opinion. There is so much to see and I hope that one day I'm gonna be back.

Love,
Lucy
❤