Alba in bookland: Travel

For the last couple of years, I've shared the perfect books to travel the world from your own couch (check out my other Top Holidays Reads here) so today I am bringing you a brand new list with 10 stories set all around the world. Get ready to discover some amazing new places!

If you also love travelling through books, don't miss our route. There's a book for everyone:

Somewhere Beyond the Sea: St Ives, Cornwall (UK).

Miranda Dickinson's latest book is a gorgeous story about love, family and hope. But it is also a love letter to St Ives and its beautiful beaches. This story really reminded me how to appreciate the little things and the joy they bring and let me discover a part of the UK that I haven't had the pleasure of visiting yet (stress on the YET).

Read my 5 stars review here | Get it now!

Five Years From Now: Cornwall (UK) & Australia.

Another absolutely stunning story by Paige Toon, we meet Nell and Van when they are only 5 and living in Cornwall. After a few years, Van moves to Australia and we then follow their lives by checking on them every five years. Thanks to their beautiful story, we get to discover some really cool places both in the UK and down under.

Read my 5 stars review here | Get it now!

The Temptation of Gracie: Tuscany, Italy.

Santa Montefiore's new book is set in a stunning castle in Tuscany. With its dual time line, you get to discover this magical place both nowadays and the sixties and it is impossible not to fall in love with it. The descriptions of the stunning scenery and delicious food are generous and detailed and you can easily picture the castle and the village next to it in your mind perfectly.

Read my 4 stars review here | Get it now!

You Me Everything: the South of France.

This story by Catherine Isaac is one of my favorite books of the year so far. I loved the plot, I loved the characters and I loved the setting. Well, I loved everything. The story is about single mum Jess and her ten-year-old son William and their summer in France, where William's father has renovated a castle as a holiday resort. It's easy get lost in the stunning scenery of Château de Roussignol. A beautiful story about love, about family, about friendship, about life...

Read my 5 stars review here | Get it now!

The Hideaway: Valencia, Spain.

In her latest book, Sheila O'Flanagan takes us to Spain. Main character, Juno, is grieving the loss of a very important person for her so she decides to take some time off and stay at the family villa of a friend in Valencia. Villa Naranja is not in the coast but a bit inland and has its own swimming pool and orange grove. The highlight of this story was the setting for me. Juno got to discover the local festivities and enjoy the Spanish way of live.

Get it now!

One Thousand Stars and You: Sri Lanka.

I couldn't do a holiday reads list without including one of Isabelle Broom's amazing stories. In her latest book, she takes us on a stunning tour of Sri Lanka. Full of magical moments, heart-melting romance and intense emotions, One Thousand Stars and You is unmissable. I felt completely in love with this story and its characters and I am now 100 % obsessed with Sri Lanka and its food.

Read my 5 stars review here | Get it now!

Chasing the Sun: Great Ocean Road & Sydney, Australia

This is the fourth book in The Lonely Hearts Travel Club Series and after loving Georgia's adventures all around the globe, I was really looking forwards to joining her in her new trip down under. From the worst hostel ever and a certain big Willy in her road trip to the crazy wedding in Sydney, Georgia is definitely in for the adventure of a life time.

Get it now!

The Summer of Impossible Things: New York

Rowan Coleman makes us believe that the impossible is possible and takes us in a journey like no other. We follow Luna and her sister to Brooklyn after their mother's death. For some inexplicable reason, Luna discovers that she is able to travel to 1977, the year that changed their mother's life forever. I loved discovering the seventies through her eyes. I could easily picture a disco obsessed Brooklyn getting ready for the release of Saturday Night Fever. A truly magical novel.

Read my 5 stars review here | Get it now!

Still Me: New York

And if you enjoyed discovering Brooklyn with The Summer of Impossible Things, then you will love discovering Manhattan with Jojo Moyes' latest addition to the Me Before You Series. Louisa Clark arrives in New York ready to start a new life, thanks to her job with a superrich family, she begins to mix in New York high society. I loved discovering this more glamorous part of the city and the story was full of heart. Louisa is always there to remind us to live boldly.

Get it now!

The Wonder of Us: Eurotrip

If you don't have time to read all the books above to do some couch-traveling, then I highly recommend you pick Kim Culbertson's new book. Riya and Abby travel all around Europe to discover its hidden wonder. With stops at Milan, Zurich, Berlin, Edinburgh, Reykjavik and London, The Wonder of Us is a fun coming of age tale that will make you want to pack your suitcases and join these two in their euroadventures.

Get it now!

This past month of October, I had one of the most magical experiences ever: riding the Hogwarts Express. Although the journey didn't end at Hogwarts, it was a LOT of fun. Given that we went on a last minute trip to Scotland for a long weekend and we didn't have much time, we decided to take a tour with Discover Scotland.

Their minibuses leave from Glasgow and take you on a scenery route to Mallaig, following the full length of Loch Lomond, stopping at both Glencoe, where you can already see some of the locations from the movies, and of course, Glenfinan, where you get a glimpse of the famous viaduct.

Once you arrive at Mallaig, you have time for a walk in this quaint little coast town and for a quick lunch. We opted for fish and chips to take away and we sat at the harbour, enjoying the beautiful views.

And then it's train time! At Mallaig train station, you board the Jacobite, the actual steam train used in the movies as the Hogwarts Express. Not only that, the Jacobite follows the West Highland Railway Line, a journey described by many as one of the great railway journeys of the world.

During the journey, that lasts about 2 hours, you have time to sit and enjoy the stunning scenery, take as many pictures as you want and basically get ready for the most magical moment. The train crosses the Glenfinnan Viaduct, known not only for its remarkable engineering BUT as the way to the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

As you cross the viaduct, the atmosphere inside the train is crazy. Everyone is trying to get the best pics, squealing and basically having a great time. I have to say though that I had to fight for a good spot to capture this moment on camera. But given that the viaduct is quite long, I think everyone had enough time to get their own memento.

Once you arrive at Fort William, you can still get a couple more pics with the engine. From there, we continued our tour to go back to Glasgow, stopping at Drovers Inn, which is said to be “haunted” and there are many tales and sightings of ghouls and ghosts wandering around this ancient Scottish Inn. For us, it was the perfect place to enjoy some evening refreshments by a roaring log fire.

All in all, a magical and steamy day! I had never taken a steam train before and just enjoying its sounds and smells was already a treat. Definitely an experience I recommend to any Harry Potter fan looking for something a bit different. If you have more time, you can buy return tickets and follow the whole journey from Fort William to Mallaig and back. But if you are tight on time, taking a tour like ours is a great idea.

Husband and I moved to Munich in January and since then we've been slowly exploring this city and the area around it. We've been to little medieval towns with a lot of charm, to beautiful lakes, to beer festivals and to huge markets and flea markets. So I've decided to share our little adventures with you all.

Salzburg is only a couple of hours away from Munich, so we decided to spend a weekend in this part of Austria and on Saturday, we visited this beautiful town. Salzburg is basically famous for being Mozart's birthplace and because the iconic The Sound of Music was filmed here. But once you're in Salzburg, you soon discover it has so much more to offer! The architecture is stunning and there are many green areas where you can just sit and relax.

We arrived by car and parked it next to the train station. This area is not very nice but it's close to the city centre and its attractions. After a ten minutes walk, we arrived at the beautiful Mirabell Palace and its gardens. It was built in 1606 and its name actually means "admirable" anb "beautiful". The place has certainly earned that name. It's now the town hall and you can visit some areas during the week, but not on weekends.

The gardens surrounding the palace are divided in different sections. My favourite parts were the rose garden, with stunning views to the fortress and the collection of gnomes! After having a stroll around, we continued to the river. Still on this side of the river, there's one famous landmark: Mozart's Residence (the house where he lived is now a museum). Actually, make that two famous landmark, there's also the Sacher Hotel, where you can have the original Sacher Torte!

Once you've crossed the river, you are in the old quarter. Here, the streets are narrow and packed with shops (some really touristy ones, but others really nice). There are also street musicians and other artists, so it make for a really nice walk.

If you keep walking, you will soon end up in the Residence, a huge Baroque building where Medieval bishops used to live and that now holds a huge art collection. Next to the Residence, there's the Dom, one of the most ornate cathedral I've ever seen. You really feel small inside this mighty building.

Behind the Dom, you can find the access to the Hohensalzburg Fortress, probably Salzburg's most famous landmark. The fortress is over 900 years old and was originally built to guarantee the safety of the archbishops. It can be easily reached on foot using the path up the mountain or by cable car. The ticket includes entrance to three museums. We didn't really find the museums that interesting. It was cool to see the fortress inside but I was not that interested and in the history of weapons and who owned what during the few centuries in the cities.

I have to admit though that just for the views it was really worth the visit. There's a panorama terrace in the highest point of the main tower you can really appreciate how beautiful this city is from there. It was also interesting to see the other side of the city, as it is surrounded by the Alps and it makes for a really impressing view.

After our visit to the fortress, we recharged batteries with a great burger (not the most Austrian dish, but it was delicious) and then wandered a bit more. We even decided to cross the river again and go up the hill on the other side of the river and check the views from the Capuchin Monastery (on the photo above, it is the brown/yellow building you see on the right, on a hill).

After that, we were exhausted, so we decided to say goodbye to Salzburg and take the car to Werfen, a small village in the Alps where we had our hotel for the night. I'll tell you all about our day in the mountains on my next travel post!

I'm sure you've heard about Neuschswanstein Schloss, or at least, you've seen it in pictures. It's probably so famous because it served as inspiration for Disneyland's Sleeping Beauty Castle. This makes it one of the most visited attractions in the whole Germany, with more than 1,3 million people visiting every year, especially in summer. We visited it on August, and I can tell you that it was packed with tourists. But both the castle and its surroundings are stunning, so totally worth a visit.

Neuschwanstein Castle is located in the village of Hohenschwangau, about two hours away from Munich. What you probably don't know is that in this village there's another castle called Hohenschwangau. It was King Ludwig II of Bavaria's childhood residence and apparently he fell in love with the area, especially the waterfalls, and because he was quite reclusive, he decided to build himself a personal refuge on the mountains. He also built himself a replica of the Palace of Versailles, you can read about it here.

When you arrive at the village of Hohenschwangau, you can already see both castles, Hohenschwangau is just a 5 minute walk up the hill and Neuschwanstein is up the mountain. There's a bus that takes you up there but it's quite an easy hike and most people, us included, opt for walking.

Also, in the village there's a gorgeous lake where you can swim if it's warm enough or take a little paddle boat. Before going to the castles, and if you want to get inside, you need to go to the ticket office in the village. When we were there, we arrived at around 11 am and they were selling tickets for 6pm already. So we decided to just have an outdoors day and come back in winter when there're less people and discover the interior then.

So after having a walk around Hohenschwangau Castle and its gardens, we started walking towards Neuschwanstein. It takes around 40 minutes to get there but as I said, it's not a challenging walk at all. Another option is going up with a horse and carriage ride. This seemed to be the preferred option for children and it looked quite fun. I guess that's how Ludwig himself must have done it.

As soon as you get to the top, the views are amazing. Not only of the castle itself but of the landscape, with two huge lakes on the other side of the mountain. I must have taken a hundred pictures. Without a ticket to go inside, you can still get into the castle and see the patio. Which is spectacular, but now I'm really curious to see how opulent and elegant it must be inside.

After visiting the castle, we decided to do another small hike to Marienbrücke, a bridge over the Pollät Gorge (the amazing waterfalls the King fell in love with). The bridge is the perfect viewing point for the castle. It was quite crowded when we were there but there were castle personnel controlling a bit the entrance so we could enjoy the view perfectly. We even decided to keep climbing the mountain at the other part of the bridge for an even more impressive view of the castle.

On the way to the bridge, you can also enjoy an amazing view of the other castle and the village. With two more lakes in the background. After our little hike, we were quite hungry so we decided to stop at the brewery located just underneath Neuschwanstein. I was surprised to see that the prices were not high at all (considering it was such a touristy place) and we enjoyed a delicious meal.

All in all, we had a fantastic day in Hohenschwangau. As I said, the area is just stunning and I can't wait to be back this winter to see it as a winter wonderland and discover a bit more about this reclusive King who decided to build himself a fairy tale castle (when he already had 3 castles). Bye Neuschwanstein, see you next time!