Tag: Europe
-
Paris
We just wrapped up about a week in Paris. Danielle has a friend who is also a writer she met at last year’s Bread Loaf conference. She was generous enough to provide us with free accommodation in her parent’s apartment in the 20th Arrondissement for the week. We were in a part of Paris home…
-
The Flysch
Our last few nights in Spain were spent in a camper cabin in the Basque Coast Geopark, a region spanning the coast between the cities of Mutriku and Zumaia that features unique geology. There are 94 such parks Europe (inclusive of Turkey and Russia) and it’s another locally-administered, independently managed, UNESCO joints like the Urdaibai…
-
Birds and Bilbao: Basque Country
Yesterday, we left Urdaibai Bird Center extremely glad we prioritized this stop. The Urdaibai Biosphere Preserve’s status reminds me a bit of the Adirondacks Park in New York. It’s not a national park, neither is it entirely or even mostly government-owned land. Still, it’s a specific region packed full of recreational opportunity and science and…
-
Urdaibai Bird Center
We’re not the kind of travelers who stick to the big cities and famous sights. I mean, obviously: We structured two days in Madrid around trees, one (admittedly very famous) painting, and a promise to go back to one specific playground. Now, we’re spending a couple of days looking at birds. I’m only kind of…
-
Un bosque urbano
We would be reasonably confused if we left Madrid after Wednesday and assumed it was Europe’s most forested capital city. That title belongs to Oslo, for the record. Madrid does have a large tree canopy, especially compared to American cities of comparable size. About 38% of the city has a canopy of “urban woody features.”…