Almost the end and a small announcement!

Almost the end and a small announcement!

Last 3 days of my trip were spent in Malaga. I know many people do exactly the opposite, starting in Malaga then moving on but from my experience I can congratulate myself for starting in Seville and ending in Malaga.

I enjoyed Malaga but I loved Seville, i enjoyed the port and the Cathedral but I loved the Alcazar of Seville and Plaza de Espana.

For me Seville meant more than Barcelona. I know I will return one day to Barcelona for the fourth time to see again the city I fell in love with since 2008 but Seville is something special.

Malaga is nice, it is a nice place with lovely people, big streets, beautiful places to see but it did not impressed me as much as Seville did.

One thing I loved in Malaga was the food I tried in one restaurant which I will review on a later post, a restaurant that matched my favorite meals from Seville.

In New York I started writing right there, in the airport. During my 5/6 hours in the airport I finished almost all my articles and only corrected them when I got home.

Here things moved a bit differently. Almost two months have passed since I returned and I’m still writing articles.

It is not liking one trip more than the other but rather experiencing and trying to let some time pass and the memories to settle before writing everything.

Even though I spent 15 days in Andalucia I let some places for another trip. Yes I could have killed myself, ran even more on this trip, see 5/6 more places but in my opinion this would be exactly the opposite of what Andalucia stands for. Calm, joy, unwinding, experiencing new things, new tastes, taking time to really get to know the land and its people.

People asked me upon my return if it wasn’t too much so I will try to answer this question here because in a way it is the way I think about travelling and life in general.

Yes, maybe I could have arranged the trip differently, maybe I could have spent less days in Malaga, Ronda and Seville. I could have made day trips to Ronda and Setenil instead of spending time there.

But I would have missed on a lot of things. And for me rushing, trying to see as much as I can is not something that satisfies me.

This world is huge. Even with modern technologies, fast cars, fast planes, trains, buses the modern man faces a bigger obstacle now than before. The lack of time. I won’t even dwelve on the money aspect but rather focus on time.

You see, there are people and I know that because I have seen them with my eyes who just skim thru places. I have seen people stopping only to take a picture in Sicily for example outside the Duomo in Catania and leave towards the next sight on their lists.

And if they are happy with that kind of visiting then good for them.

I am not like that. I have accepted that it is highly impossible to see the entire world, having a desk job, and I focus more on the quality of my trips.

I never rush. Yes I walk 20-25 kilometers each day but you would never feel rushed. And that is because I love taking pictures, I love looking at places from all angles, I like resting on a bench or a rock and see people move by. I like taking my time and eating a delicious traditional meal or getting lost on mazes of streets.

You see, when you visit Rome for example you don’t just run from sight to sight but rather enjoy thousands of years of history. History you can see, touch with your own hands in every corner of the city.

Just to make one thing clear. I’m not talking here about weekend trips or short 3-4 days trips. I am talking about 10-15 days of travel thru a foreign country.

I am not saying my way is the right way. I’m just saying that this is how I do things. That’s why on this blog you will never see articles about how to see Andalucia in 7 days. Yes, you can see anything in 7 days but that’s besides my point.

If I would have listened to people I would have stayed in Seville for just one day. Instead I spent four and it felt amazing. It tasted amazing too as you know from my article about eating tapas there.

My point is simple. While seeing new things is amazing don’t let it burn you. Take your time, relax and really soak in what you are seeing.

I could have stayed a few hours in Cordoba but I would have missed the Night Show at the Alcazar. I could have spent a few hours in Ronda but I would have missed seeing the magnificent bridge at night and I would have missed the solemn Semana Santa procession that took place there. Totally different from what I have witnessed in Seville and Cordoba.

Last year after spending 7-8 days in Puglia upon my return home I noticed on a site a beautiful cliff with amazing views to rock formations in the sea not very far from a place I visited on a day there. I missed it. And guess what? It didn’t upset me.  Even though the view was stunning I had my share of memories, my share of pictures, of great food, of amazing places I saw. And it was more than OK.

So upon my return from this 15 day trip in Andalucia all I can say is that I was fortunate that I was able to experience so many things. The time spent there really doesn’t matter. All it matters are the memories, the experiences, the things that stick with you for a lifetime.

Even though this article is called almost the end a couple more articles will follow.

I will post an article detailing my itinerary, methods of transport, prices, info about various sights entrances or spectacles and some of the things that I consider to be a must when visiting this part of Spain.

I will also write three more articles about my accommodation in Malaga and my reviews of places where I ate in Malaga and Nerja.

And after that we can call it an end and focus on other series, some old and some new.

In the end I want to tell you that I have started a small project on my site, a photo blog. Here I will post pictures from my trips with just a few words of text and maybe link them to my articles or to other sites on the internet.

The reason for this is simple. One, people enjoy photos. I am sure that many people just like to browse thru my Instagram account or skip the text and see the pictures.

Second reason is the fact that I am not a business. I don’t sell anything (when I will sell, if i do that, i will inform you of it) and it upsets me to see that even if I have a number of followers on Facebook and Instagram only 20-25% of them actually get to see my pictures.

Since I don’t make money out of it it would be stupid for me to pay ads so that the people in my lists(from which many are friends, family, etc) can see my pictures.

So I decided to focus more on my blog since here people can see all my posts and pictures and not get caught up in algorithm battles and pay for ads services.

People who like my writings and pics can subscribe or check my blog, people who don’t…I need not worry about that.

Don’t think I haven’t experimented with paid ads on Instagram and Facebook. I have done that, I have budgeted sums and worked on more strategies so that my pictures will reach people.

When I drew the line I noticed just one thing. I needed to pour more and more money just to make sure my actual friends and followers see my pictures and posts. Can’t even talk about reaching new people since you constantly need more and more cash.

So without boring you more, in the next weeks I hope to populate the photo blog with all my pictures that I have on Instagram and start uploading more here than there.

As usual thank you so much for reading and see you soon with the next post.