Lageografiademicamino - LaGeografíaDeMiCamino

Pics from magical Sintra! 

Still got so much of Bologna memories! 

Saviez-vous que.. /Did you know that.. ?

Canada is a federal parliamentary democracy and a constitutional monarchy, with Queen Elizabeth II as its head of state.

Canada is the coldest country in the world.

The USA has invaded Canada twice, failing both times. 

There are 53 aboriginal languages spoken by 612 bands in Canada.

Ottawa was chosen to be the capital of Canada by Queen Victoria in 1857 as a compromise between the anglophones and francophones. Previous capitals were Kingston, Montréal and Toronto. 

Ottawa is the third cleanest city in the world. 

In province of Ontario there are several namesakes for English towns like London, Whitby and Scarborough.

Toronto was known as the city of York untill 1834. 

Younge street in Toronto being 1,896 km long is the longest street in the world.

Ottawa

The name Québec comes from the Alconquin (native Canadian inhabitants) word “Kébec” - where the river narrows. Today Québec is also known as the “Belle Province” – The beautiful province.

Québec, three times of a size of Spain, is the largest province of the country.

There are 37 National Parks in Canada which 24 are in Québec.

Québec is the biggest producer of Mapel Syrup in the world.

Québec’s “fleurdelise” was the first provincial flag officially adopted in Canada in 1948. The white cross comes from the ancient royal flags of France when the fleur-de-ils stands for a symbol of purity.

Tourism is the 5th largest industry in Québec and the province welcomes over 3 million tourists annually. Most of them from the US and France.

The capital of the province is Québec City, 230km from Mtl.

Québec City holds the biggest Winter Carnival annually. 

Québecois motto: “Je me souviens” – I remember.

Québec City, founded in 1608, is not only the oldest city in Canada but one of the oldest European settlements in North America.

The city of MTL is an island.

MTL is the 2nd biggest French city in the western world after Paris.

Montréal is told to have more festivals/events than any other North American city. 

MTL was originally called Ville-Marie but was renamed after the “mountain” Mount Royal.

The Mount Royal Parc was designed by Frederick Law Olmsted who also designed New York’s Central Park. Don’t still be mistaken to imagine that Montréal’s parc is a copy of New York’s one.

Bixie (bicycle sharing system) which can now be found in several metropolitan cities of the world, was developed in Montréal.

The oldest brewery of Canada, Molson was founded in Montréal in 1786

Château Frontenac in Québec City is said to be the world’s photographed hotel.

(Château Frontenac, Québec City)

Olympic Stadium, also known as “The Big Owe” is one of the costliest one in the world with 1,61 billion dollar expenses.

Mtl is a popular location, especially the old town, to shoot movies. For example movies like X-Men: Days of Future Past, Catch me if you can and many others have been filmed partly in the city. 

Cursing in québecois includes several religious expressions such as tabarnac (tabernacle), criss (Christ), sacrament etc.

With 6 universities and 12 junior colleges Mtl has the highest number of post-secondary students in North America.

Mtl is one of the gay friendliest cities in the world. 

Sources: LonelyPlanet, Wikipedia

Any canadian/québecois readers correct me, if I'm wrong in anything :)

EUROVISION!!! THIS SATURDAY! 

Discovered the coast of Cascais this weekend! Unfortunately my settings weren’t correct so my shots weren’t that good but oh well..here they are! Gonna do another visit there one of these weeks.. 

More! 

Top 10 reasons why Turin is the best Italian city to host Eurovision 2022

The Eurovision 2022 is officially open as any song released since September 2021 can be considered to compete in Eurovision next year. Usually this has been accompanied by the news of the location and exaxt dates and possibly to go with the logo, theme of the upcoming contest. However this year the wait was fashionably late as customed in Italy- the winning country of Eurovision 2021. 

17 Italian cities competed to host world’s most watched TV contest for example the Italian capital Rome, fashion and business hub Milan, culinary and musical center Bologna and of course the city where Eurovision itself origins : San Remo. Turin made it’s way to number one spot and Eurovision Executive Supervisor Martin Österdahl describes it is the perfect host city!

Here are my top 10 reasons why Turin, this dark but festive city is the best choice to host Eurovision 2022! 

1. Turin is the capital of Piedmonte and significant cultural and business center in Northen Italy. All together 2,2 million people live in the city’s metropolitan area. 

2. Turin is no stranger to great international events and is best known for hosting Winter Olympics of 2006. Actually the venue is the very same PalaOlimpico (13 000 capacity). 

3. The city has an excellent location up North close to the French and Swiss borders and other major Italian metropol Milan. Besides city has it’s own iternational airport 16 km from the city with direct connections from Paris, London, Amsterdam, Munich, Barcelona for example. 

4. Italian espresso, TV, automobile industry and telecommunications have all their origins in Turin. 

5. RAI - the Italian broadcaster has significant amount of production in the city which eases the steps to organize the event. Turin has been mentioned frequently as a potential host city in Italy over the years whenever Italian artist (almost every year) has come up close to winning. 

6. Turin was the first capital of Italy. 

7. Turin is popular among Italian and international tourists and it’s famous of its multiple museums such as National Museum of the Italian Risorgimento, National Cinema Museum and National Car Museum. 

8. Turin is known by a nick name “Little Paris” or “The Paris of Italy” for its natural beauty.  

9. Besides Eurovision you can also squeeze a day trip or two to the Alps! 

10. Mole Antonelliana - the iconic tower from Italian two cent coins is in Torino!. 

Turin is definitely on my travel to do list! Do you agree with my choices and with the selection of the ESC host city 2022? 

A month ago did a day trip to Berlengas Islands, 10-15km off Portuguese Coast and the city of Peniche (90km from Lisboa). Only one of them big enough to have a harbor is habitable. The paradise for sun bathing, scuba diving, seagulls.. There were tourists but it wasn’t covered with them which was super nice. The island has a hostel in the old fort but not so many proper restaurants. A small boat trip about the caves was super interesting. Such a paradise!  Took like 1000 photos in one day, here comes the first part

Less known Lisboa. Monsanto park and Marvila. Worth stepping out of your normal path. 

I find her amazing... #giannamood