Category: travel

Birthday Trip in Sevilla

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So, I went back to Andalucía end of last month to see the city of Sevilla. Last time I was in that region, I stayed only in the mountains in Alajar for my Botanical Skincare and Art Retreat. Well, this time, I went to see the famous city for some sight-seeing and some artistic workshops – Mosaic Tile Making and the Flamenco Dance tutorial in the video below. 😀

This was the first time I went on a birthday trip without really much planning. I just wanted to take it easy this time. And also, no going to too many fancy restaurants that explain too much about the food and all that. Just simple, fresh and good quality food with some nice ambience. 🙂

We stayed at an AirBNB in a quiet location right next to the Market along Calle Feria. We had a lovely two-storey apartment at the top floor, with a big terasse overlooking the neighborhood and the gorgeous bell tower of the Parroquia Omnium Sanctorum, a nice small church right next to our place. Having a good view, is always a requirement for me when picking a place to stay. This is probably one of the nicest views I have ever had in an AirBNB (except for those overlooking the sea). I enjoyed taking my breakfast, snacks and apéro in this private terasse, just outside our bedroom. It was the first thing I see upon waking in the morning. And so, it was almost impossible for me to not paint this view. And I had to use my new Fabriano watercolor pencils, I chanced upon at the Fabriano shop at the airport in Munich from our last summer trip. These pencils are fantastic! I love them!

We wanted to go to Real Alcazar on our first day but the tickets were already sold out when we got there. We tried again the next day, earlier this time, but still sold out! We decided to just go to Plaza de España instead. I am not about to start queuing at 6AM and wait for three hours to enter! I was not really sure if Real Alcazar was worth it anyway since the garden was closed due to the flooding the day before we arrived. Also, it must be very crowded inside. And I don’t do well with overcrowded places. Meanwhile, Plaza de España did not disappoint. I also later found out that this was used as a filming location in “Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones.” It was so grand and so gorgeous in every corner! I was surprised to find out it was only built in the previous century!

The next day, my daughter and I tried our hand at Mosaic tile making at Triana Market. It was a bit tedious but quite a nice bonding experience. I found out that this market used to be a prison, and it was also right next to the dreaded Spanish Inquisition. I remember that from history classes. Not a very good core memory. We also checked out the tile shops right next to the market, where they sell just too many tiles. I got myself a nice small and cute souvenir in the form of hand-painted ceramic earrings.

We did a lot strolling around the area of our AirBNB, the market there was very nice, along with the shops and the restaurants. Also, the crowds were more local. The food, more authentic and cheaper. But still so very near to a lot of places of interest. One of the more quiet places that I liked so much was Palacio de las Dueñas, just a 10-minute walk from where we were staying. Lovely architecture, lovely garden, and lots of quiet corners.

I had the loveliest time in Seville, I highly recommend passing by it if you get a chance to visit Spain. Oh, and those orange trees everywhere !!! I just love them!

Botanical Skincare and Art Retreat

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I was recently at a Botanical Skincare and Art Retreat in Andalucia, Spain. I spent a full week with wonderful individuals. We were all together in a house on a hill at a place called, La Encina in El Collado, a village close to Alajar, a few hours from Sevilla.

We made organic and botanical skincare products from plants that we harvested ourselves. We also painted and printed plants on cloth and paper. We enjoyed a private Flamenco concert in a cozy pizza place. We visited a farm with sustainable, ecological products to make soap. We enjoyed good food every lunchtime and dinner time cooked by a private chef, who is always laughing, singing and dancing all the time.

It was one of the loveliest memories I will always cherish. It was so much fun, and such a beautiful experience in such a wonderful place. 🙂

Thanks for watching my video. Love and light – Rio

Back in Bicolandia Two Decades Later

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Spent the new year traveling from Manila to Legazpi City to Donsol, Sorsogon to see the famous whale sharks. Unfortunately, it had been raining quite a lot the weeks before we got there, we didn’t see any whale sharks, or butandings, as the locals call them. Although, twenty years ago, I was there with a group of eco-tourists to see them. And there were so many! You wouldn’t even need to get off the boat to see them. They actually surface and swim alongside the boat. Such playful and gentle creatures. So adorable. I so wanted to show them to my family, but it was not meant to be. It only means, we’ll have to go back! 😀

By the way, please DO NOT, by any means go to Oslob in Cebu to see the whale sharks. You will see them there all year round, for sure, because they are kept in captivity! Please do not contribute to this act of disrespect. In Donsol, they even respect the mating season. During these times, they do not conduct boat trips. Please do your share and contribute to the humane treatments of these magical creatures. 🙂

By the way, the butandings are not the only magical creatures that you can find in Donsol. You can also see the fireflies. I remember the very first time I saw them. It was on this very small paddle boat, without a motor. Everything was so quiet and dark. There was only the light of the moon and the fireflies. And they were everywhere. I even managed to touch them. One of the most memorable trips of my entire single life, when I was still living in the Philippines.

Back in Legazpi City, we rode an ATV to go to the Lava Wall, where you can do a zip line. This lava wall was formed during the last major eruption in 2016, according to the tour guide. We totally enjoyed this day of adventure, especially since the beauteous volcano was in clear visibility all morning. Mt Mayon is usually always hiding behind the clouds. But according to the locals, it only shows its magnificent self in full cloudless glory to people with good intentions. LOL. Although, the first time I saw it, was on a very clear, cloudless day. And the people in the trip told me, if it’s the first time you’re seeing it and it’s completely cloudless, it means you’re still a virgin. Haha!

You must also try the local dishes, if you are in Bicol. Especially if you love spicy food.

Watercolor Art Retreat, Lanzarote, Canary Islands

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As a loving treat to my wonderful self this year, I booked this relaxing Yoga and Watercolor Art Retreat in Lanzarote, Canary Islands in Spain. It was organized by Lucia of The Sun Collective. We had four days of very informative art classes by watercolor artist and Sennelier Ambassador, Catalina Rodriguez Villazon. I did not care so much about the yoga, though. It was too early for me to join, and I was always sleeping so late, or in the wee hours of the morning, for some reason. Probably because I was not used to the complete quiet, except for the howl of sea breeze at night.

The place was gorgeous, gorgeous, gorgeous! And I had the most beautiful room of all, with the beautiful view of the sea, and the surrounding volcanoes. It was a few steps to the dining / recreation area, with the huge orchard down below.

The food was wonderful, the service was exceptional, the place was magical! I had the most wonderful time with wonderful people, and it was one of the best experiences I will cherish most. 💖✨

Art Travel Diary – New York

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Last summer, my family and I headed to NYC, third time for me, first time for my daughter. We had so much fun showing her the Statue of Liberty, walking on the High Line, watching a basketball game at Barclay’s Center in Brooklyn between The NY Liberties and Connecticut Wise (NY lost but Susan Sarandon was there!), watching Wicked on Broadway, and enjoyed a full day at Coney Island.

As for me, I totally enjoyed the food, the shopping, and the artistic and painting opportunities. Speaking of which, I signed up for a sketching session with a small group at the Grand Central Terminal. It was quite fun, but also tiring having to stand up for hours.

On the way there, we flew Air France, as usual and had a blast on the Business Class cabin watching Dune and enjoying the meal, the wine, the champagne, the reclining seat and the huge leg room. The service was always very good.

We stayed at SIXTY LES, our favorite hotel in NYC and we got the nicest view of the Manhattan Skyline on the corner suite of the 17th floor. It was so nice to see this view first thing in the morning and last thing at night, especially when the Empire State Building twinkles every hour after dusk, like the Eiffel Tower. I don’t remember seeing this before in my previous visits.

Anyway, I had some nice painting opportunities from the view in our bedroom, and also did some shopping at Blick Art Materials in Soho. I was so happy to find a big discount on Daniel Smith and Holbein watercolor pigments, and that the watercolor paper I bought in SFO and very much liked was available there! Oh, and we also went to the MET. 🙂

More of the fun on my Youtube video:

Next time, I’ll be writing about my Yoga and Watercolor Art Retreat in Lanzarote, Canary Islands!

Thanks for dropping by! Keep shining! 🙂

Eat Paint Travel – Lago di Como and Piemonte, Italia

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I can’t believe I have totally forgotten to post about my Italian road trip with the family in the summer of 2023.

We started off in the French Riviera — Nice and stayed overnight in Menton. The next day, we headed off to Genova, and stayed at a tiny fishing village called Boccadasse, because we were avoiding the crowds in Cinque Terre. After a couple of days there, we headed towards Lake Como (Lago di Como) and visiting the famous villages around it — Bellano, Bellagio, etc. And finally we ended up in the beauteous and picturesque wine region of Piemonte (Piedmont), famous for its Nebbiolo vineyards for making Barolo wine.

It was a lot of driving, eating good Mediterranean food, vineyard visits, wine tasting, and my very first time to swim in a lake, coz I usually find them creepy. I still do, but Lake Como was gorgeous, gorgeous, gorgeous in every corner. We also visited Villa del Balbianelo, the famous site of Star Wars Episode 2 wedding scene of Padme and Anakin Skywalker. Oh, and did I mention, I did a lot of watercolor painting too?! 🙂

So here is a quick youtube video to show you how gloriously beautiful Italy is, which is why we keep coming back there with my family.

Thanks for dropping by, and have a good weekend!

Mini Art Haul and Porto Souvenirs

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Hi all! Thought I’d drop by to post this new Youtube video where I show some interesting finds in Porto, Portugal. I got some nice watercolor postcard paper from Fabriano and Winsor & Newton, and acrylic paper block also from Winsor & Newton. I also got some souvenir items that I thought would be interesting to share in my channel.

Thanks for dropping by, and have a good weekend!

Botanical Watercolor Art Retreat in Teyssode, France

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So, I just got back from a wondrous, week-long watercolor art retreat with Harriet de Winton here in the South of France.

I spent a full week interacting with a small group of lovely people from different parts of the world — mostly from North America, and the UK. And I got to meet and chat and learn first-hand, up-close and personal some watercolor tricks from Harriet herself, who stayed with us in the same location.

First of all, the venue, Domaine d’En Naudet was lovely. The hosts, Nicolas and Sophie, are a lovely couple who own the estate. My spacious room was kept clean every day (very unusual in these parts, except in hotels), has huge windows and is conveniently located directly in front of the hall where we hold our daily (almost) watercolor sessions with Harriet.

Each meal (lunch and dinner) was specially prepared by a British chef (forgot to get his name) but he said he works only with uptrek (the event organizer), and that he has a food truck somewhere in Teyssode or Albi. I should look him up. He was really good. As for the wine, and the wine trip and dégustation, I was not so crazy about it, and really quite disappointed. Although, I appreciate that they are trying to promote local wines.

All in all, I had the most enriching experience and wonderful time painting and relaxing and walking around the neighboring village of Albi, which I had not seen in ten years! It was worth revisiting.

Thanks for dropping by and have a lovely weekend!

Eat, paint, travel in San Sebastian, Spain

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In this youtube video, I take you to one of my favorite cities in the Basque Region — Donostia, San Sebastian, Spain. I was there a couple of weekends ago, to break the monotony of cold, gray, wintry weather in Toulouse. And also, to get some nice dose of Vitamin “Sea”. We were blessed with a superb sunny weather, and a lovely AirBnB apartment with a huge balcony overlooking the city center, which inspired me to paint plein air.

And so, I share with you a very quick and loose watercolor urban sketch of the view of San Sebastian’s rooftops in its city center, where you can also see the gigantic statue of the Virgin Mary, looking over the beautiful city. I also had some opportunity to visit a small art supplies shop called, La Casa del Artista.

I used my usual Silver Brush Black Velvet brush, and Da Vinci Casaneo brushes. And for pigments, I used Holbein Watercolors, and my trusty Portable Painter Micro to hold the pigments. For the sketch pad, I used my mini sketch pad from Moleskine.

Thanks for watching! 🙂

My online shop on Zazzle for shopping my original Filipino themed artworks

Nice restos in San Sebastian:

Muka

Xiri

My Birthday in Paris and Yoyo Ma Concert, etc.

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Last month, I celebrated my birthday in Paris with the hubs and some friends. We stayed at one of our friends’s very lovely apartment, which overlooks the Eiffel Tower. It was wonderful!!! I didn’t wanna leave the room with the view. 😀

We also saw Yoyo Ma at the Philharmonie de Paris. We booked the ticket early this year, and it was almost fully booked! We were still lucky to get seats third row from the stage, facing the front. Here is a video of some of snaps and video shorts I took during the mini-breaks in the concert.

The Philharmonie de Paris was majestic outside, but a bit disappointing inside. But I still had fun watching the concert. It was a birthday gift from my wonderful husband. We had a great time despite the noisy people in the audience violently coughing and sneezing all the time. It was so nerve-wrackingly distracting. I do not know how Yo-Yo Ma managed to keep his calm and cool throughout all the noise. And having said that, I think it will be the last time I will be watching him live. It was too distracting. But it was a real pleasure seeing him live in the flesh. Best birthday gift ever!

Lastly, a bit of update on the job hunt: before going on this trip, exactly a day before, actually, I received a very good news from one of the companies I have applied to. I started working two weeks after this trip. I was ecstatic!!! I have been on the job for two weeks now, and so far, I’m still not disappointed. It’s a great company, one of the biggest French IT Consulting companies, and my client is the biggest aviation company in Europe. Also, I’m working on their big data platform, doing Data Engineering until the end of this year. After that, I might go into another project, of which, I do not know yet. 🙂 I am quite happy. C’est fini, la tristesse.

Cheers, and have a good week ahead!