Travel Tips: My Ten Favourite Castles and Palaces!

I'm in the middle of an unexpectedly quiet week at work, so I've decided to use some of my extra time to write a new Travel Tips article. It seems like an especially good idea given that it will be a little while before my next blog post, because I'm actually going to be away for most of next week, travelling for the first time since March! 

Okay, so I have done plenty of travelling around my local area over the last few months, but nothing longer than day trips. I'm quite excited to get to finally start packing a bag again, which is something I'd never thought I'd say during my years at university and the Year Abroad!

Today I've chosen to write about my favourite castles and palaces, a subject I am slightly obsessed with. My interest in them is perhaps a bit odd, given that I'm actually very strongly anti-monarchy and anti-aristocracy. However, I love everything to do with Disney and fairytales, and I find that visiting castles and palaces is one of the best forms of escapism, making you feel like you've stepped into a book or movie.

I've been lucky enough to visit many castles over the years, and some have really stuck in my mind. Others not so much! (I think many British kids have been through the disappointment of being taken to a "castle" by their parents, only to find a small pile of stones on a hill!) But I've managed to make a list of just ten of the ones that are most memorable for me. In no particular order, here they are...

Castillo Wullf, Viña del Mar, Chile

In general, Europe is the continent best known for castles, whereas South America doesn't have very many at all. However, the city of Viña del Mar in the Valparaíso region of central Chile is an exception to this rule. Several of the buildings there have been inspired by European architecture. Castillo Brunet, which was built in a French style using stone imported from France, is a very impressive castle to look at. However, Castillo Wullf, a German-style castle overlooking the Pacific Ocean, has to be my favourite.

Read more here and here!

Casa Rosada, Buenos Aires, Argentina

Casa Rosada, the Argentinian presidential palace, is an iconic building and symbol of the nation of Argentina. Located in the famous Plaza de Mayo, it is close to several other important buildings, such as Buenos Aires Metropolitan Cathedral. The palace is just one of many incredible sights to see in BA, and I would LOVE to be back there now!

Read more here and here!

Bled Castle, Slovenia

Here is a castle I visited before my blogging days started and before I had a phone with a decent camera! But even from my photo it's still possible to see just how beautiful Lake Bled in Slovenia is. In the middle of the lake, there's a little island with a church, and on a precipice overlooking the water, you can see Bled Castle, a medieval building with a museum inside. The whole area is so picturesque - it's like a fairytale brought to life. Slovenia is not one of the best known countries in Europe, but I would highly recommend it as a travel destination for its amazing landscapes such as this one.

Bratislava Castle, Slovakia

Another underrated country in Eastern Europe is Slovakia (often confused with Slovenia!). I went on a day trip to Bratislava, the capital city, during my Year Abroad and really enjoyed exploring there. My favourite part had to be the castle, which overlooks the rest of the city and the Danube river from the top of a hill. But there are plenty of other castles to visit throughout the country, because in fact, Slovakia holds the title of the country with the most castles per capita in the world!

Read more here!

Belvedere Palace, Vienna, Austria

Just a short distance away from Bratislava, you can find the Austrian capital, Vienna. Vienna is famous for its beautiful architecture and features three famous palaces: Schönbrunn, Hofburg and Belvedere. My personal favourite was the Belvedere Palace. The exterior is magnificent, and inside there's an art gallery where you can view many famous paintings, including The Kiss by Gustav Klimt. Interestingly, I actually visited the Belvedere on the same day that I visited Bratislava Castle! Days like that were one of the things I really loved about doing a Year Abroad.

Read more here!

Vaduz Castle, Liechtenstein

Another amazing castle I saw on my Year Abroad was Vaduz Castle in the capital city of Liechtenstein. Liechtenstein is such a tiny country, but it's a great place to visit. Even though the castle itself isn't open to the public, there are plenty of interesting sights to see and museums to look around in Vaduz. 

On the bus ride in to Vaduz from Sargans in Switzerland, I saw another beautiful castle: Gutenberg Castle in the town of Balzers. That one is actually open to the public, so I would love to go back and visit it in the future.

Read more here!

Château de Dieppe, France

France is a country famous for its castles and palaces, and le Château de Dieppe in Normandy has to be my favourite out of the ones I've visited. Not only does it look like something out of a fairytale, it also has amazing views over the sea and the town of Dieppe, and there's a very interesting art gallery and museum inside. I think it's great how so many of the castles and palaces in France are open to the public rather than belonging to "royal" families or "lords". The country receives more tourists than anywhere else in the world, so clearly it's a strategy that works. Definitely something Britain could learn from!

Read more here!

Wawel Castle, Kraków, Poland

When I volunteered with the Angloville programme in Poland, I had the opportunity to explore the beautiful city of Kraków. One of the most famous parts of the city is Wawel Hill, an architectural complex that includes a cathedral and an impressive castle. The castle was the royal residence of Poland, before the country moved with the times and became a republic. I would definitely recommend visiting the hill as well as the entire city. It's one of the most picturesque places I've ever been to.

Read more here!

Castelo de São Jorge, Lisbon, Portugal

Lisbon, the capital of Portugal, is an incredible city to visit with many sights to see. But I would have to say that Castelo de São Jorge was the highlight of my trip there. The building dates back to the first century BC and is a fantastic place to explore. While I was there, I met two lovely cats and some peacocks! The castle is also the best place in Lisbon for amazing panoramic views across the entirety of the colourful city.

Read more here!

Cardiff Castle, Wales, UK

I'm finishing off the list with a castle that's a little closer to home. Cardiff Castle in the capital of Wales is a great place to visit, featuring brilliant panoramic views from the top of the keep, an interesting museum, and of course a Welsh dragon! While England is better known for its stately homes, Wales is famous for its many ancient castles. In fact, it's the country with the most castles per square mile!

Read more here and here!

These are just ten of the best castles and palaces I've been to, whittled down from a shortlist twice the size! Honourable mentions include Blenheim Palace, Cirencester Castle and the Dower House in the UK; Mirabell Palace, Hohensalzburg Castle, Schloss Velden, Burg Hochosterwitz and Burg Landskron in Austria; and Palais des Papes and Luxembourg Palace in France.

In the future, I would especially love to visit le Château de Chenonceau in France, the Apostolic Palace in the Vatican City, Neuschwanstein Castle in Germany, the Winter Palace in Russia and the Taj Mahal in India!

Next week, I'll actually be visiting a castle when I'm up in the Lake District, which should be exciting. I look forward to blogging about it when I get back!

Check out the rest of my Travel Tips here!

Neigh Bridge Lake

This week we managed to squeeze in a quick outing to Neigh Bridge Lake, a beautiful nearby lake. I wrote a tiny bit about it in my post about the Cotswold Water Park, but I'd only ever taken one photo of it previously, using my old Nokia! Today I had the chance to take some better quality pictures, and they came out pretty well because the weather today was actually quite sunny. Though to be fair, I think the lake looks very nice in all types of weather and every season of the year. I'd like to go back again in the autumn, when the leaves are all different colours.

We used to go to Neigh Bridge all the time when I was younger, but it had been quite a while since the previous time I went there, because a few years ago a £1 parking charge was implemented, so it's now no longer free to visit, which is a bit of a shame.

But it was great to finally go back again and see all the old places I remember from years ago. Not much has been changed in the park, except for the fact that some parts have been fenced off. Another thing that differed from my previous visits was the fact that there were no birds on the lake. That was a little disappointing, as I always loved seeing all the swans, ducks and moorhens there!

However, it was still a very scenic and peaceful place to walk around.

There seemed to be a little treasure hunt going on round the park, as there were several painted pebbles hidden in various places. Pictures on the stones included animals, power rangers and, er, poop emojis!

Next to the lake, you can find another body of water: the River Thames! Its source can be found fairly close to Neigh Bridge, near the village of Kemble. Round here, the river is quite small, and obviously it gets a lot bigger as it travels towards London. In the winter it's very deep, but in the summer it's nearly completely dry. I used to stand in the "river" in the summer when I was younger, but the part I used to stand in has been fenced off now!

I really enjoyed our trip to Neigh Bridge and will definitely go back soon.

Although I have a real love for the ocean, I also really like lakes like this one. I find walking around them very relaxing and great for my mental health. Back when I was living in Nottingham, I used to regularly walk around the lakes at Highfields Park and Wollaton Park, which I think helped me get through my degree to some extent!

This outing was actually kind of a replacement for a couple of "bigger" trips I'd had planned. We were meant to be going to a country garden with rescue animals this Thursday and to London next Thursday, but for various reasons, both of those trips were cancelled. I was slightly disappointed about the London trip, because I absolutely love going there, but the good news is that I'll definitely be going in October.

The other good news is that in a week's time, my parents and I will be going on a proper holiday! We'll be seeing some more lakes, as we're going to be visiting the Lake District in the north of England. I've never been there before and I've heard it's a beautiful part of the world, so it should be an exciting trip!

Bristol: Part One

Yesterday was my first trip to a city since the start of lockdown!

It was quite exciting to go to Bristol after five months of only visiting towns, villages and countryside areas. I've been there many times before, as it's the nearest big city, and I have family there. But I'd never gone and properly seen the sights up until now, even though it's a place with many attractions.

Bristol isn't known for being a beautiful city like Bath or Oxford, but it's certainly a very interesting city with a long history. Sadly, it is known for its links to the slave trade. However, now it's a very diverse and progressive place, and it was recently in the news for the historic moment when anti-racism protesters pushed the statue of a slave trader into the harbour, during the Black Lives Matter protests.  

Bristol is also renown for its green credentials, having been consistently voted as the most sustainable city in Britain and among the most environmentally friendly in Europe. 

And of course, it's famous for its street art, being the home of the mysterious Banksy as well as many other artists.

Bristol covers a very big area, and it's pretty much impossible to see all its sights in just one visit. So I plan to go back soon, hopefully during my boyfriend's visit to England, and explore more then. For this reason, I've called this post "Bristol: Part One", like I've done with my London posts.

The main attraction my parents and I visited yesterday was Christmas Steps, a quaint, historic street. I guess it's kind of the Bristolian equivalent of The Shambles street in York, but a lot less crowded! It must look really nice at night in the winter, when the fairy lights are lit up.

Near to Christmas Steps, we found Foster's Almshouses and the Chapel of the Three Kings of Cologne. A lot of the building was covered with scaffolding, but it was still a very nice place to look at.

We all needed to get some shopping done, so afterwards we went to Cabot Circus, a very big and modern shopping mall that was opened in 2008. It reminded me a lot of the Parque Arauco mall in the Las Condes area of Santiago.

Both yesterday and on other occasions when we've been driving around Bristol , I've seen some interesting places from the car, such as the iconic Clifton Suspension Bridge...

...and the SS Great Britain.

The M32 is also a surprisingly great place for sightseeing! I've always loved seeing Shal Jahal Jame Mosque, which reminds me of the palace from Aladdin.

Another building I love seeing is The Dower House, better known as The Yellow Castle! My parents and I would like to stop there someday for a walk.

Yesterday evening I showed the pictures to my boyfriend, and he said he'd love to visit Bristol with me! The photos reminded him of Germany, the United States, Chile, India, and of course England. That's one of the things I like most about Bristol; it has so many different places and attractions that are inspired by or are reminiscent of other places from all over the world. It's truly a global city, and I'm really looking forward to going back!

Read about Bristol: Part Two here!

Pinterest + My Blogging Future

Since I restarted travel blogging back in May, I've been using some of the extra time I've had at home to try out new ways of promoting Charlotte's Travel Adventures.

This blog has seen some growth in visitor numbers over the last few months, which makes me really happy. Planning local outings and writing about them here once or twice every week has been a nice little project to work on, and it's made getting through the coronavirus situation a lot easier for me. And the fact that more people are reading what I write is just brilliant. It's possible that the consistent amount of posts I've been putting out has brought about this improvement, but I think a couple of new methods of promotion that I've tried lately have also helped.

Back in June, I was sent an email inviting me to join Firo, a new app designed for travellers and travel bloggers. Here you can publish "stories" about particular destinations, featuring your blog posts about said destinations, as well as your recommended itineraries. You can also read other people's stories to get travel inspiration. I've enjoyed using the app both to publish stories about my trips and to find ideas of places to visit on an upcoming trip. Unfortunately, it seems that the app hasn't been updated for several weeks, so I've stopped using it for the time being. But I hope it will be up and running again soon, as it's a great resource for anyone who loves travel!

I've also started using Pinterest for the first time in my life, as I've heard it's a great way of promoting blogs. At first I found it totally confusing and difficult to use, but now I find creating pins to be a very fun and satisfying activity! I've been making some pins on there featuring content from both this blog and my Year Abroad blog, but I've also been including content not seen before on either blog!

If you're interested in checking out my Pinterest, here's the link!

It's been really interesting to take a deeper delve into the world of blogging and to find new ways of working on my travel blog that don't include, er, actually travelling or blogging! I'm excited to see where my blog will take me in the future, both literally and figuratively. I know it won't be a career for me at least for a while yet, but then again, I don't really know if I want it to be. 

On the one hand, earning a living travelling the world and writing about it would be an absolute dream. But on the other hand, the fact that some people (especially so-called "influencers" who don't even blog) get paid to have amazing travel experiences really doesn't sit right with me. It definitely raises ethical issues, particularly at a time like this when many hardworking people with real jobs can't afford a holiday. Plus, I love my job (teaching English as a foreign language) and I don't see myself giving it up any time soon.

So I'm very happy to continue travelling and blogging alongside my teaching for the foreseeable future, and I'm looking forward to many more travel adventures!

Image by Pixabay from pexels.com

A Rainy Day in Cheltenham (Plus Colesbourne)

On Friday morning, my parents and I went on a shopping trip to Cheltenham, and I took the opportunity to do a bit of sightseeing there as well. It was the first time I was able to explore a big town/city since our trip to Oxford in March and I really enjoyed the experience. It feels like things are slowly returning to normal again.

Cheltenham is a place I've been to many times, but I'd never really explored it properly before. It's a big town (practically a city really) with grand Regency architecture and a very European feel. It even has a very scenic neighbourhood named after the amazing French city of Montpellier, and another named after the town of Tivoli in Italy.

Friday wasn't exactly the ideal morning for exploring, as it was pouring with rain. But that didn't stop me from seeing some sights!

When I was walking through the town, I noticed this building I liked called Alma House. Its architectural style is very typical of Cheltenham.

Probably the most impressive building in Cheltenham is the Town Hall. I remember going to the literature festival there a couple of times when I was younger, and meeting the famous authors Jacqueline Wilson and Lauren Child.

Next I went round the corner from the Town Hall to see an attraction I don't remember having seen before: The Neptune Fountain. It is said to have been inspired either by the Trevi Fountain in Rome or by the Fountain of Neptune in Florence. Whatever its inspiration, it's like a little piece of Italy in England, and it's certainly a beautiful fountain to look at.

The Neptune Fountain is at the end of The Promenade, the most famous street in Cheltenham, where you can find the Municipal Offices.

I had wanted to explore a little more of the town, but I had to admit defeat by this point, as I was absolutely soaked to the skin! My jeans were sopping wet, and I could barely see, because the combination of the rain and the steam from my face mask had completely fogged up my glasses. 

So I headed off to H&M to buy myself a change of clothes, and I spent the rest of my time in Cheltenham mostly indoors, looking round the shops. Who said that the life of a travel blogger was easy? 😁

One of the places I'd planned to look around was the Imperial Gardens behind the Town Hall. Luckily, we were able to see them from the car on our way back, and they were a really pretty sight. I'd like to go back and have a walk around them on a sunnier day!

We stopped off on the way back in the village of Colesbourne in the heart of the Cotswolds, to have lunch at the Colesbourne Inn.                                   

(Okay, I admit I took that photo last year, when the weather was nicer!)

I was a bit disappointed that the inn didn't have any plant-based milk alternatives. I'd been craving a nice latte because of the cold weather, but had to settle for black tea instead.

However, the food was great. I had a vegan burger and a raspberry frangipane tart. 😋

I had a really nice time in both Cheltenham and Colesbourne, and I'd say it was one of my favourite trips out since the start of lockdown. I've always loved walking around cities and admiring their various attractions; it's something I've missed a lot over the last five months. It was great to finally have that kind of experience again.

Not sure exactly where we'll be going next, but I think we'll have another couple of local trips during August, before going on a proper holiday in a different part of England at the beginning of September. And of course in October and November, I'll be exploring various places in the UK and (hopefully) the rest of Europe with my boyfriend! After a rough few months, I can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel and the good times that lie ahead. 

I'm definitely going to have plenty of travel adventures to blog about throughout the rest of 2020!

Check out a more detailed post that I wrote about Cheltenham here!

Faringdon and Lechlade (Plus Some Very Exciting News!)

Earlier this week, we had a day out visiting two small towns in the south of England: Faringdon and Lechlade.

Firstly, we went to Faringdon in Oxfordshire in South East England, not far from the Uffington White Horse. The main reason we went there was because my parents wanted to see if it would be a good place to move to in the future, but I think they've pretty much ruled it out now.

Faringdon is not exactly a well-known tourist destination. However, there is an interesting folly on the outskirts of the town. We saw it from a distance, but we didn't have the time or the right shoes to walk to it! So we might go back again in the future to see it closer up. Here's a photo for reference:

I quite enjoyed seeing the town centre, especially the Roman-style Town Hall.

The town has several churches, including the All Saints' Anglican church, which has a particularly short tower, as it was damaged during the English Civil War.

In Faringdon, they have a strange custom of dyeing pigeons different colours, which was started by the eccentric Lord Berners, who lived at Faringdon House. Throughout the town, you can find several sculptures of colourful pigeons.

After looking around the town centre, we headed to Lechlade in Gloucestershire in South West England, which we'd previously explored back in June.

We had lunch at the Trout Inn, taking advantage of the Eat Out to Help Out government scheme, which allows you to get fifty percent off your meal from Monday to Wednesday throughout August. It was really nice to sit outside next to the river and enjoy the summer weather and the picturesque views. I especially liked seeing the huge willow tree on the other side of the river, as willows have always been my favourite kind of tree. I think it has something to do with my love for the film Pocahontas, which features a talking weeping willow!

I enjoyed the day out, but I have to admit that I've been feeling less enthusiastic about my local travels recently. This has mostly been because this coronavirus situation is just so relentless, and I've been gradually coming to the realisation that I'm going to be stuck here a long time before I'll be able to return to Chile and start my job there. I feel very powerless in regards to being able to change the circumstances of my life as they are now.

At times it seems like life has almost returned to normal for many people in this country; some are going on holiday, travelling abroad, seeing partners again, moving house, starting new jobs, etc. I don't want to complain, because lots of people are in far worse situations than I am in, but it does feel like the pandemic has stopped me from moving on with my life in a way that it hasn't done for others. I'm still living in my parents' house at nearly 25 years old and over a year after my graduation, which is certainly not what I envisaged.

But luckily, this week there has been a very very positive change in my life. My boyfriend has just booked tickets to travel from Chile to England to visit me very soon! It will be his first trip outside of South America, and I'm so excited to show him different places around the UK, and possibly other European countries if it's safe to visit them. This is just the best news I've had in ages, and I can't wait to see him again! 💕

Now I'm feeling much more enthusiastic about life in general, and I'm looking forward to my next outing with my parents later this week. We'll be going to a big town, practically a city really, which will be quite exciting after months in the countryside!