Architecture - Santander

Walking around the city, one of the features I found most interesting was the architecture, not just looking at what was happening but looking at where.

From terraced houses,

 in hypnotic colours,

and notable buildings or plazas,

to clandestine churches,

and the famous cathedral,

or perhaps it's even the lack of architecture adds to the encanto santanderino.

Find in Santander

I walked past two of these shops when in Santander and immediately fell in love with their dresses. I adore Spanish summer style, with lots of white, delicate, flowing fabrics and lace.  What is more I was there when there were rebajas, couldn't ask for better luck!

If you're in Santander, definitely worth a look.

I looked up the name of the two shops, coincidentally named with the English 'Bus Stop', and found the brand, Belle Bohême. They have a shop online and a blog - that's one to follow!

This dress was a personal favourite.

Horizons - Santander

Again I'm posting some specially selected favourites from a trip. This one to Santander in Cantabria, northern Spain. I was there for a week, as the first official part to my year abroad, doing a course in Gestión Cultural at the Universidad Internacional Menendez Pelayo. At first a little anxious about being in a university course in a language that isn't my own, I soon realised that understanding every single word wasn't the object and that it was more about the actual experiencia to be had. I met a huge mixture of interesting people and learnt a lot while being able to explore the city in any free time I had.

It begins, an arrow pointing the right direction.

Puerto Chico is the harbour area where everyone goes for a walk, leading from the industrial port (where you can catch a ferry to England) to the yacht club and marina. It's where the society really come together in my opinion, the old snoozing on the benches at siesta time and the young (like me just below) precariously placed on the edge where it is worryingly easy to fall in.

As with the photo above of the Real Club Maritimo, Santander's very changeable weather made for some great 'photo ops'. Here are some of the ones that I took one morning when I accidently missed the bus to the uni. It was at 8am, you can't blame me and whatismore classes only started at 9am, but I did make the most of this hour when Santander was a ghost town to see the Península de la Magdalena and its views towards the horizon.

Most days I went to the beach both in the lunch hour and after class attempting to tan a little bit so as not to look so deathly pale next to the Spaniards. I love the colours you get with the seaside, building layers up until the horizon where the sky takes over.

At the end of the course we had an última cena at Caballerizas on the Península de la Magdalena. I would definitely recommend it if you find yourself in the city. Rabas (de calamar) are the best. The evening light was perfect for one last shot.

Vida de bar en bar

I cannot express how much I love the Spanish way of living outside, in the streets, plazas, from terrace to terrace, bar to bar. That will be my life next year and I am incredibly excited. This summer, Coca Cola's (in my opinion) very original advert focusses on this specific aspect of being Spanish.

I have an obsession with adverts, especially Spanish ones and the ones I like strangely all seem to involve drinks. I will post them in due course to the Inspiration section of the blog but for the moment, here are a couple more good Coca Cola ones.

My first inspiration post

We all love buzz feed for being able to look at our on lives and sometimes laugh a bit at our own ridiculousness like British problems or how life relates to Mean Girls. However, I found this buzz feed video and really like both its style and message.

I haven't done nearly enough of them, but those which I have - road trip, the Himalayas, camping and a last minute week in Paris last summer - were some of the best experiences of my life. I only turned twenty in February so I have just under ten years (and, of course, the rest of my life) to fill with holidays like this...

Life on water - Amsterdam

I went to Amsterdam a couple of weeks ago to stay with a friend from Oxford, Izzy. Often tourists take a trip to the city for the liberal outlook on drugs and its red light district but I thought I'd take the next most unoriginal approach to the city (probably joint with cycling) and take photos based on life around, on and through water.

This is the first photo I took on arrival, the world's only floating flower market (Bloemenmarkt) is on the right hand side of the canal.

Some more beautiful views incorporate the unique Dutch architecture and way of life between canals.

The modern is important to in a capital like Amsterdam and below you can see the view of Renzo Piano's science museum from the roof terrace of the enormous public library (definitely worth a visit should you find yourself here).

Water plays a fundamental role in life in Amsterdam in how it contributes to the wealth of greenery. Here are some photos Izzy and I took in the gardens of the Rijksmuseum making the most of the fountains.

To close I leave you with the view by night from the 'I amsterdam' sign.