Tossa - wonderful beach and cristaline water. What can be better for summer holidays.

Tossa de Mar or Tossa, is a coast on Costa Brava. This town it is one of the most touristy places in summer. It is about 100 km north of Barcelona, so it easy to get there for us. We have never stoped there for holidays, but we think of it. We were in Tossa last year for the weekend, and it remains in our hearts and as a place to get back and spent some holidays there.

Water is colder there than in Barcelona, but this fact doesn´t make that children to play in water and bath there. Apart of it´s beautiful beaches, you choose some water activities like diving and discover marine life as it is full of wonderful plants and fishes. We wait our kid to get older and to dive with him. I hope this activity will attract him as much as it attracts us.

As Damian was 1 year only, he mainly sit in a stroller, so we enjoyed the fortress and other beautiful streets of this outstanding town. I urge you to come to see this wonderful place of Costa Brava.

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10 tips for parents who travel by plane with kids.

Ahh, yes, we talk over and over again about holidays, vacations, getaways and great time with family. I am an agent travel, loving mother and just a person who lives abroad with her family. We go twice a year, this year just once, to see my parents who live far away from us and as well our far-flung relatives. On our first 2 years we flew a lot, and got some experience.

Our first flight was with our 2 months baby, and it was something simmilar to... whaaa whaaa whaa... all flight. All this tantrum, was due to pression and because our baby didn´t want to take the pacifier to calm down. I just literally woke up and took my baby in the arms and stayed with him almost half an hour or an hour, till he got tranquil. Hmmm, you would say, what a crazy mum will go with a 2 month baby on a plane,.. yeah.... me... totally crazy mum.

During his growth, nothing changed, apart of our experience and we understood which things he likes and which one doesn´t. What things to take with us, and which once not. It is true that in an 1 hour flight was quite easier to keep busy our kid than in 3 or 4 hours flight, but nothing is impossible if you follow some of our tips, that I would like somebody have told me before.

1. When you book your flight, choose your flight hours, choose the hours when your baby has to sleep - ALWAYS! First time when we flew with our baby, my flight time was just after his sleep hour at midday. Now I take flights or right at the midday, or late in the evening. If you manage to get your baby tired before entering the plane, you can choose any hour you want. Your baby will get asleep, and won´t notice the pressure the same way as when he is awake. You will have time to relax and sometimes to read anything.

2. Your handbag, DO NOT bring all sort of things that can be packed in a luggage with you in the plane. It is useless, and if you do not prepare properly your handbag, you will find difficult and annoying to get that pacifier or bottle, while baby has his tantrum. Pack the handbag just with the most important things, and all to be arranged in the way you can get all things with just one touch of your bag.

3. Pacifier, or a bottle with water or milk, candies, chew gums, anything to suck, depends on the age of your kid. I used pacifier till 1 year, now we use the bottle with milk, I have heard that a lot of mums use candies. This help your kid do not feel discomfort of the pressure during takeoff and landing.

4. Diapers - change diaper before you enter the plane, because even if your next seat is empty and nobody is sitting, it is not permitted to change him there. And in the toilet, depending on the flight, in little ones it is very uncomfortable to change a diaper. I think that in most cases you will be lucky enough to change the diaper before and after getting into the plane.

5. ALWAYS bring an extra pair of clothing for your kid and you. You do not want to be pissed on or covered in vomit. Lucky us, we didn´t have such experience, but we always have one more pair of clothing with us.

6. Toys, not a lot of them, as you will have additional work in the plane, as babies like to throw them away if they get nervous. From my experience the best things are big ones: a plush toy, a book (with a lot of images and very colorful), plastic cups and straws (you can ask for them in the plane). DO NOT take little things like crayons, little toys or puzzle, you will get crazy in the plane.

7. Food, even if your flight is not a lowcost, you have to bring some food with you. Avoid all foods that are sticky, messy or crumby. Make sure all the food is in little boxes and are easy to use. We use to take croissants that are packed one by one, a sandwich or some candies.

8. Bring with you napkins, sanitizers, and plastic bags for trash, A LOT OF THEM, in the plane you will use more than usual.

9. Let people help you, sometimes you just need somebody to tell you that you have left something on a seat.

10. Once you land, make sure almost all the passangers left the plane. Make sure you have everything with you.

I wish you will have a wonderful flight with your kids. And remember, if your kid is crying do not let this to stress you, other people will understand and won´t bother you.

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Tenerife - travel with kids and how to manage a 5 days holiday in this paradise

Holidays to Tenerife seem to be a great idea for everyone who haven't had its holidays yet. There you can go as a couple, as a family with toddlers, or family with kids. Always, you will find a good way to rest and enjoy your stay and as it is said Tenerife are sensations at every mile. Apart of its picturesque landscapes, there is all year round 22-25 C degrees, you just can imagine how great is to stay there at the beach everyday.

We had our holidays at the beginning of May, we opt to stay in an aparthothel than in one all inclusive hotel, as we had clearly known that we won't stay all day at the beach or near the hotel, to be on the specific hours to eat. We wanted a holiday, that we will go there and forth, and discover this beautiful island of Tenerife. We rented a car and baby car seat, a map, a good advice of our colleagues about the places to visit and we went to discover the beauty of this land. As well, here I would like to mention, if you come to visit just the beaches of Tenerife, it is better to take a hotel in the South and if you want to visit iconical places, then it is better to take one in the North. We took the aparthotel in the South, but we thought that in our case it would be better to combine, to take some days in the North and then in the South of Tenerife.

Day 1. Our plan was to visit, by car, Puerto de Santiago - Acantilado de los Gigantes - Masca - Buenavista del Norte - Garachico - Icod de los Vinos/Arbol del Dragon - Puerto de la Cruz .... quite too much you will think for a family with toddler, here I want to say that we have seen all of these, we just missed Puerto de la Cruz. In Masca we had our lunch in a great restaurant with marvelous views to the sea and mountains.

 Below you can see Puerto de Santiago beach, one of the natural beaches with black sand, that was made during centuries like a result of Teide's lava.

Puerto de Santiago

Los Gigantes

Masca

Buenavista

Garachico, here people bath and swim, even kids. I was afraid to stay there and as well we didn't stay too much here, as Damian likes to play in the water, to me appears to be quite dangerous place to swim.

Icod de los vinos/ Arbol del Dragon, the oldest tree of the island, has almost 1300 years.

This is the park near the oldest tree.

This tree is the same as previous one, but this one has just 800 years. You can clearly see in the images how people protect this kind of miracles.

Here our first day come to an end. It was a good day, full of positive emotions, Damian enjoyed I think, as he was tired from the previous day, when they flew to Tenerife. We managed to see a lot of places, to eat well, to play with our kid and to take a lot of pictures.

Day 2. Our plan was to visit: Vilaflor/Mirador del Pino Gordo - Parque Nacional del Teide - La Orotava - Santa Cruz de Tenerife. We have visited all of the mentioned places, but not in the manner we would like it to do. Our toddler all day was crying in the car, he wanted to run and to play and not to sit in the car seat. We tried to do this on our stopovers, but it was really windy at the Parque nacional del Teide, so we have made a lot of little stops, to take a rest and to offer our toddler the time for play and run, and to get tired.

Here we have very few images and in a low quality, so unfortunately it won't be possible to share these with you. 

El Teide

But I want to share with you some interesting facts as: if you leave a coin in the Pino Gordo and make a wish, it will come true. The second interesting fact is that only near the Teide, grows a flower, that grows almost 30 days and then die. Tenerifet is the only place where this flower grows, from this flower is made honey, very good for health. This year this kind of flower grew few times, and we couldn't find honey of this flower. The third fact is that Teide is an active volcano, currently is dormant, his last erruption occured in 1909. Nice facts to know. I think that if your kid is bigger than ours, you and he/she will enjoy more of these places than we did.

Day 3, 4 and 5. On these days we were deciding where to go to lay on the beach. The most popular are Las Americas and Los Cristianos, both of them are with the yellow sand, nothing special apart of the expectacular views of these beaches, and very clear water. Los Cristianos has as well grey sand. Puerto de Santiago as mentioned previously it has black sand, very clear water, but for Damian it wasn't the best beach we have stayed, as it was dangerous because of really big waves there. On the last day, before our departure we went to the Las Teresitas beach, yellow sand, clear water, perfect for a stay with kids. Here were a lot of children playing with the sand and water.

Playa de las Vistas

Playa de la Arena

On our way to the beach we have seen a lot of banana plantations.

As you can see, our holidays were full of places to visit, places to eat, places to lay at the beach and to enjoy the sun, and of course full of emotions. We are thinking of coming back within few years, as we didn't see Loro Parque and Siam Park, and other beautiful beaches.

Here our holiday come to an end, and another day begin. These 5 days made me realize how important are holidays in family, as all this time together you reach the thoughts and feelings of each other. Be yourself and love your family.

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Festa Major at Sagrada Familia an event that brings joy inside us

Yesterday we went for a really great event called Festa Major that took place at Sagrada Familia. Festa Major is an yearly celebration that is dedicated to a saint, and depending on each city can last from 1 to 9 days and can have a lot of activities in different parts of the city. We enjoyed watching human towers or Castells, how it is called in Catalan. It is very traditional Catalan event that I wanted to see from my first day here in Barcelona. The idea was that people of different ages form a tower of people and in this way they show the importance of a team and how they lean on each other. It is very important that people who participate in creating of these towers are well prepared to afford the weight of the persons who stay on theirs shoulders.

More about the history and the rules of creating these towers you can find here:
http://www.castellersdebarcelona.cat/international/what-exactly-are-castells-or-human-towers/

But meanwhile I will share with you, my own experience. So, it was amazing to watch all the preparations of the people, to see how much they care of theirs health and make this show not just beautiful, but safe too. Then I saw how children get prepared for the tower, even though at theirs age they understand the importance of team building and the importance to be prepared for this show. I had time to analize the preparations, while the show I had not time to watch as our toddler was running there and forth and I took some pictures very quickly. As I went mainly for my son there, I thought that if he is happy while he is running and not watching the show, I have to be happy as well. This event for sure brings joy in hearts of everybody as you can't stay and watch this beatifulness with indiference.

Enjoy some amazing pictures:

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Tibidabo - a place for everyone in Barcelona

Last month was a difficult one, as our little sunshine got a cold twice, then I followed him, this made us not very keen of doing a lot of activities inside nor outside... but, this don´t stop us to share the little things we´ve done together.
About outside activity, today I will share with you some older images in the post, as we have been there several times and I would like Damian to grow up to go there. As he would be able to enjoy from outside activities that offer this park of amusement.
Tibidabo is a great place for little once and for people who like to travel and are keen to see new places. The place represents a mountain that overlooks Barcelona, there you can afford spectacular views over the city and coastline. At Tibidabo you can enjoy your stay by going to the church, that took 60 years to construct and is topped by sculpture of Jesus, or more likely to enjoy the Amusement Park, near 7Ha big, that was opened on 1899. This amusement park is considered the oldest one in the world and that is still functioning.
Apart of the amusement park, there is a part that you can relax and stay on a picnic, enjoy great views with a cup of coffee at the bar or to take a walk within this magic place. As mentioned above this is a great place to visit for everyone. IhI really advice you to go there, as it is a place to visit for everyone.

Enjoy!

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Living in Barcelona you understand that beach is not the place where you go only in summer.

Here are 9 beaches in Barcelona, all of these were mostly created or renewed in 1992, for the Olympic Games and now are one of most touristy places in Barcelona in summer. Today I will talk about just 2 beaches, where we use to go with our little toddler, it is Mar Bella Beach and Bogatell Beach. These are situates on the coastline on north of the Olympic Port. Before 1992, here was an industrial zone and more than dirty sand you wouldn´t see anything. Now, it is a really clean sand, if compared with Barceloneta´s beach (which is most touristy beach in Barcelona) and the views are really spectacular. As well on the coastline of all beaches you will find a lot of people practicing sport, that´s why on every beach there is special place for most sportive people.

In summer all 9 beaches are full, and if you come little bit later you can see that it is really difficult to find a place in the front line of the sea. In winter there are fewer people who stay at sun to tan theirs skin, most of them are locals, you won´t find a foreigner to tan in February for example, but locals enjoy sunshine even in these months. But to be true, here in Barcelona are very few days without sunshine and really bad weather. We (me, my husband and our toddler) use to enjoy breakfast on Sundays here at the Mar Bella Beach, by the way really good outside activity, as well it is our Family moment when we can enjoy our stay together, play with our kid, and smell the sea breath.

As well here I would like to mention that on these 2 beaches there is plenty of hotels with sea view, if you want to enjoy your stay in Barcelona in a room with sea view, one of this will be a good choise. As well in summer, every beach opens bars right on the beach, called 'chiringuito'.

Below some images, taken in different weeks,and on different beaches.

Bogatell Beach

Mar Bella Beach

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