Bistrot Aki

Although it is world wide famous due to its Leaning Tower, the city of Pisa also has many other great attractions and amazing characteristics to offer. Pisa is one of the most important historic Italian areas and one of the most visited year around as well. This city allows tourists to meet buildings which conjugate many different ?poques and artistic currents, such as, for example, Romanesque and Gothic among many others.

Pisa is located towards the western area of Tuscany, and its origins date from as long as 3.000 years ago. During that time, a settlement started being built up at the seaside and gave origin to what today is one of the most famous cities of the world. This way, the historical richness of Pisa is amazing due to its great amount of years and this can be observed in the buildings which have remained through the pass of time and which show the different ?poques through which the city has passed.

Another one of Pisa’s main characteristics is its university, established in the first years of 1340 and world wide known due to its excellence. This way, Pisa is a city which gives main importance to knowledge, science and arts, being up to the date with modern life as well as maintaining some of the characteristics which gave it shape through the pass of time.

The Leaning Tower is located in the northwest area of Pisa, sharing one same area with other important buildings. At this area, known as Campo dei Miracoli, next to the famous Leaning Tower, there are other three great and unique buildings: the Camposanto or Holy Field; the amazing Duomo or Cathedral of Pisa of 1000 years; and the Baptistery or Battisterio of circular shape.

There are several other buildings and interesting areas for visitors to meet in Pisa besides the Campo dei Miracoli. Towards the south side of the city, tourists can visit two interesting museums: the Museo delle Sinopie and the Museo dell’Opera, offering the chance to observe original paintings and sculptures of famous artists from many centuries ago

There are many people who have a particular place in mind that they would want to go to someday. Maybe just for a trip, or perhaps for good, whatever the reasons are, most people would strive hard to get it. If your dream land is Sweden, then you must be planning to start off in Stockholm. It is a beautiful place where the fresh water of Lake M?laren meets the salt water of the Baltic Sea. You can ride on boats and experience the lake and the Baltic Sea first hand.

Most of Sweden package tour would have Stockholm as one of places to see. Some would also include the city of Gothenburg. Its architecture has many evidences of Dutch influence and they have a really old house which is now turned into a museum. The botanical garden that they have can boast at least 3000 species of Alpine plants. Just like other countries, Sweden also has attractions sights that we can see in its towns. They have the town of Halland which has a serene landscape and is extraordinarily rich in long-stretched coastlines. This makes playing in the sand possible for both a small group and a large group of tourists.

However, if your interest lies in the history of places and things, you would surely find a trip to Bohusl?n an exciting and engrossing one. This is because this town in the North of Sweden actually has the most extensive amount of archeological artifacts and relics from the early Swedes. This is why it is such a delightful tourist spot. They have theater plays that reenact the festivities of the olden times. Some of the relics here are known to date as far as the Viking era.

The northernmost province of Sweden is Sk?ne. It offers meadows and fertile fields where fresh air and peace and quiet is available. The people around here were long ruled by Danes and the accents of these people prove of such influence. This region is mostly famous for their food, but because of its trees and field, the attraction to this place was increased. The golf courses in this place are a sight to behold and, there is enough room for cycling tours.

Sweden tour package would sometimes include a tour to Malm?. It is the third largest city of Sweden which has many restaurants, parks, and gardens. In this place, the museum is known for their remarkable art collections. Sm?land is one of the neighbors of Sk?ne is the home of the glass making industry of Sweden. In your Sweden package tour, if you want an island excursion, you can always try Gotland and ?land. These are the largest islands of Sweden. Because of its warm climate, it is the favorite summer spot for most Swedes and also the tourists. This is why the beaches here are pretty crowded during the summer time. So if you plan to go there during the summer, your reservations must be made a few months before.

You can truly experience many things in a Sweden package tour. This will allow you not only to see the beauty of this country, but also experience it as it is.

There’s so much to see in Barcelona, from Gaudi’s great buildings to the city’s beaches, that it’s all too easy to miss some of the world’s finest cultural attractions. Barcelona may not have a museum as famous as Madrid’s Prado or the Louvre in Paris, but there’s an amazing variety of museums in the city. Be careful, however, which day you set aside for a little culture on your city break in Barcelona – most museums are closed on Mondays.

Museu Nacional d’Art de Catalunya is one of Spain’s great museums housing medieval, 19th and 20th century art from Catalonia. Housed in the impressive Palau Nacional at the foot of Montjuic, its Romanesque collection is reckoned to be the world’s finest. There are several frescoes and Gothic works on the lives and deaths of saints – some are not for the fainthearted. It’s also noted for its Modernista collection.

In the same area as the Museu Nacional d’Art de Catalunya is Caixa Forum. Originally a factory built in the Art-Nouveau style, it has become one of Barcelona’s most lively cultural centres with exhibitions devoted to artists such as Dal?, Rodin, Freud, Turner, Fragonard, Hogarth and Cartier-Bresson. It also hosts concerts, lectures and literary events.

The CosmoCaixa science museum lifted the European Museum of the Year Award in 2006 and is packed with fascinating displays for children and adults, all designed to make science interesting and comprehensible. There’s fun to be had with interactive exhibits, particularly the Flooded Forest, an incredible recreation of a section of Amazonian rainforest, complete with frogs, turtles, snakes, fish and a steamy heat that is spookily realistic.

Artists who have lived and worked in Barcelona are now celebrated with their own museums, notably Pablo Picasso, Joan Miro and Antoni Tapies. The Museu Picasso is the number one Barcelona museum for his fans. Picasso arrived in Barcelona in 1894 when he was 14 and lived here until he was 23. He studied at the city’s art college where his father was a tutor. The museum includes much of his early work housed in five medieval palaces in the Barri Gotic.

Take the funicular up Montjuic and you soon find yourself outside the Fundacio Joan Miro, a splendid purpose-built museum dedicated to the artist. Mir? experimented with painting, sculpture, printing, ceramics, theatre and tapestry. Bemused visitors can learn about ‘drippism’ and the more sceptical may wonder in one gallery if some paintings are simply cracks in the wall. Do step outside where many of Miro’s amusing sculptures are on view.

The Fundacio Antoni Tapies is in Eixample in a Domenech, a Montaner-designed building featuring a sculpture on the roof. Tapies was born in Barcelona in 1923 and is probably the greatest Spanish artist to emerge since the 1950s. T?pies started as a surrealist painter but soon become an abstract expressionist, working in a style known as “Arte Povera”. In 1953 he began working in mixed media and was one of the first to create serious art in this way, adding clay and marble dust to his paint and incorporating waste paper, string, and rags in his works.

Keeping to contemporary art, the Barcelona Contemporary Art Museum (MACBA) can be found near the northern end of the Ramblas. MACBA focuses on art from 1945, with many temporary exhibitions. The huge, white building, designed by the American Richard Meier opened in 1995. While most museums in the city close on Mondays, MACBA is closed Tuesdays

There are several museums celebrating the history of the city and of Catalonia. The Museu d’Historia de la Ciutat is in the heart of the Barri Gotic. Its collection covers the city’s history from Roman times in a beautiful old mansion with central courtyard, the casa Clariana-Padellas. There is a fascinating underground tour along Roman roads, houses, bathrooms, sewers and the old city walls. You can also trace the evolution of Barcelona through plans, sketches and models.

The nearby Capella de Santa Agata offers views of the Barri Gotic from the Torre del Rey Marti while the neighbouring Museu Frederic Mares, just behind the Cathedral, has a massive collection of medieval sculpture housed in an ancient palace with large courtyards and soaring ceilings.

We finish this brief tour down by the port with two intriguing exhibitions. The Maritime Museum is housed in the Drassanes, the medieval shipyards at the seaward end of the Ramblas. Barcelona was one of the great maritime powers trading across the whole Mediterranean basin. There is a copy of a 16th century Royal Galley, old maps, charts and even a virtual dive in a submarine.

In the newly renovated port area of Port Vell is the Museu d’Historia de Catalunya. This excellent museum is in a converted warehouse and it covers Catalan history. The imaginative exhibits include The Birth of a Nation; Our Sea; On the Edge of the Empire; A Steam-powered Nation; The Electric Years; and Defeat and Recovery.

Much of this will be new to visitors from outside Catalonia, so when you step back outside, you will fully appreciate why Barcelona is one of the great cities of Europe.