The Tour 2013

Photo +Gregor Matz

My friend Iñaki knows that one day I will be a star (hahaha!!) and he refers to my travelling plans as "The Tour" and to my trips as "gigs". He says that nothing can stop me once I start visiting places, I am always talking about the next stop, booking tickets, that party here, that city there... After the great time in Istanbul, I said in my previous entry that there was nothing in sight other than a weekend in Düsseldorf and a couple of days in Cologne. Well, with these trips I think I can officially inaugurate The Tour 2013. I am feeling good and I want to keep travelling.

The weekend in Düsseldorf for the Düssel Cup (the same basketball tournament that I played two years ago) was probably one of the most exhausting of my life but definitely a great one too, very intense in all aspects and enjoyable: the best company, great food, party at night, basketball, walks, laughter and more... I had such a great time from Friday to Monday that I even decided to go back the weekend after, taking a day of an already planned trip to Cologne for Easter (the two cities are very close). Things in Cologne went very well too and I even had the chance to have an unexpected afternoon meeting with my cousin, who lives in Spain but happened to be nearby. Hot chocolate, beer, walks and meals in hers and her partner's company: wonderful.

After these plans in North Rhine-Westphalia, the chance to spend a weekend in Amsterdam came up and I didn't say no. They were actually less than 48 hours visiting and an acquainted. I didn't have the time to see any museum and I preferred to enjoy the company and have a general first impression of the city; it is a place where I will certainly go back at some point soon. Instead, and given the fact that the weather was decent, we cycled up and down the city having a sight of the most important places. I must say that my guide knew everything about every building, it was very enriching. The weekend was also complete with some drinks out at night and good food.

But, as I said, The Tour 2013 has started and now I can't stop. My next gig will be London in May. I know, it doesn't sound like anything exciting since I visit it every year. This year I had planned not to travel to the UK at all actually... It would have been the first time since I moved there in 2007. You know, I want to visit more new places (like Istanbul or Amsterdam), but the reason to go back this time is something unique: the Basketball Euroleague's Final Four. It is an event that takes place in a different European city every season where the four best teams of Europe compete for the trophy. I have always wanted to attend a Final Four and the opportunity of seeing it in London was too good to let it pass. So, there I will be!!

After that, I will visit Vienna, very much looking forward too. I will spend 5 days, time enough for many things and hopefully for a day trip to Bratislava too. I have heard it is pretty easy to make it there by boat along the Danube. It would be very cool. I've also booked tickets to go briefly in August to Vitoria and meet my new nephew born last February. And between Vienna and Vitoria there is a big gap that I will probably fill with a visit to some German cities, we'll see if I can confirm some plans for June and July.