The mountain range rises 1,236 metres above the Catalan lowlands, 50 km northwest of Barcelona. Montserrat means “serrated mountain” and the shape is unmistakable: a jagged ridge of grey conglomerate rock that looks like a saw blade against the sky. The Benedictine monastery, Santa Maria de Montserrat, has been here since 1025. The mountain holds […]
Categories: Nature, Sights, Spain, Wellness, Relax & Sports
Coto de Doñana is not a park you visit casually. It is a UNESCO World heritage Site and a Biosphere Reserve covering 54,252 hectares where the Guadalquivir River meets the Atlantic Ocean. The landscape shifts from marshland to dunes to Mediterranean forest in the space of a single walk. The wildlife is extraordinary: the Iberian […]
Categories: National Parks, Nature, Nature, Spain, Wellness, Relax & Sports
El Torcal de Antequera is a limestone karst landscape in the hills of Málaga province, and it looks as though a city of stone towers was abandoned before it was finished. The rock formations, carved by wind and water over 150 million years, rise in layered blocks that resemble the ruins of some ancient civilization. […]
Categories: Nature, Nature, Nature Reserves, Spain, Wellness, Relax & Sports
The Grande Cascade de Gavarnie is the highest waterfall in France at 422 metres, and it falls in three stages from the Cirque de Gavarnie, a natural amphitheatre in the Pyrenees carved by glaciers. The waterfall is not a thin stream. It is a broad curtain of water, fed by the meltwater of the Gavarnie […]
Categories: France, Nature, Nature, Waterfalls
The largest of the Balearic Islands sits in the Mediterranean with a mountain range running down its western flank and beaches tracing its coastline. Majorca has been a sun-seeking destination for decades, and the island delivers reliably on its promise of warmth. Beyond the resort strips of Magaluf and Palma Nova, the Tramuntana mountains offer […]
Categories: Islands, Nature, Nature, Spain, Wellness, Relax & Sports
Three hundred days of sunshine each year is a statistic that sells itself. The Costa del Sol stretches along Andalusia’s Mediterranean coast from Nerja to Manilva, a ribbon of beach towns, golf courses, and resort hotels backed by the mountains of the Sierra Blanca and Sierra de Mijas. Marbella offers luxury. Torremolinos offers package holidays. […]
Categories: Nature, Spain, Wellness, Relax & Sports
The birthplace of Pablo Picasso carries his creative spirit through every sun-drenched street. Malaga greets you with the scent of fried fish drifting from chiringuitos along the palm-lined promenade, the Mediterranean glittering just beyond. The Alcazaba fortress sits above the city, its Moorish arches framing views of the cathedral locals call La Manquita for its […]
Categories: Sights, Spain, Virtual Travel, Wellness, Relax & Sports
Rushing water echoes between towering limestone walls as you enter the Torrent de Pareis Gorge on Mallorca’s rugged coast. This dramatic canyon, carved by a torrent over millions of years, narrows to a passage where the sky becomes a sliver of brilliant blue high above. Smooth pebbles crunch beneath your feet as you follow the […]
Categories: Islands, Nature, Nature, Spain, Wellness, Relax & Sports
The scent of damp stone and incense lingers along the cobbled lanes that converge on the Plaza del Obradoiro. Pilgrims arrive on foot, their boots worn thin, their eyes fixed on the towering baroque facade of the cathedral. Inside, the botafumeiro swings overhead, trailing clouds of fragrant smoke across the vast nave. The scallop shell, […]
Categories: Cities, Sights, Sights, Spain, Virtual Travel, Wellness, Relax & Sports
Helmond Castle is a rare medieval water castle that still stands in the centre of a modern Dutch city. Built in the 14th century, it is surrounded by a wide moat that reflects its sturdy brick walls. The castle has never been destroyed or rebuilt. It remains exactly as its original builders intended. Today it […]
Categories: Netherlands, Sights, Virtual Travel
