We continued to our trip with BARCELONA! It took about 4 hours to arrive there. First, we saw a house of Gaudi. It was gorgeous. After that, we saw Sagrada Familia, also made by Gaudi.

 

Gaudi's works:

Aguas de Barcelona:

In Barcelona, we saw many shops selling dolls. I had never seen such dolls, they really looked real, and they were so cute.

After Carcassonne, we went to Perpignan. We swam there. The sea was beautiful. Near the beach, there was a market-place, and many people were shopping. It was a nice place.

After Toulouse, we went to Carcassonne. Carcassonne is a fortified town. It is separated into the fortified Cité de Carcassonne and the more expansive lower city, the ville basse. We first walked around in the ville basse and then we went to Cité de Carcassonne. Cité de Carcassonne is a little like St. Michel, and is very beautiful.

Ville Basse:

Cité de Carcassonne:

The next day, we went to Toulouse. On the way, we visited Bordeaux. There, we went shopping and walked around.

Bordeaux:

Bordeaux wine:

In Toulouse, first we found a hotel, and then we went to the city. We were hungry and looked for a restaurant. It was so hard to find a restaurant, but at last we found one. Then we hanged around. I don't know why, but I didn't like Toulouse so much.

Toulouse:

We continued to La Rochelle. We arrived there in the evening, so we couldn't swim, but we saw the Atlantic Ocean :) The next day, we went to an island called Ile de Ré, in La Rochelle. We had planned to swim there, but the sea was dirty, it was kind of brown! We decided not to swim because of that, instead we walked around. Ile de Ré is famous for it's donkeys, we saw some and there were really cute. There were also many shops and fish restaurants. After seeing Ile de Ré, we came back to La Rochelle and decided to go to the city center. We walked for 15 minutes on a weird path, there was no one except us. Then, at the end of the path, we went through a gate, and we found us in the most amazing city in the world. People were dancing, singing and having fun on the streets. It was a really wonderful place. La Rochelle was one of the places that I liked most during the trip.

Ile de Ré:

The bridge from La Rochelle to Ile de Ré:

La Rochelle:

I'm sorry, I don't have many photos from La Rochelle. It got dark and I didn't have the camera with flash with me.

Last summer, my family and I made a trip to Europe. It took one month, and I saw seven different countries. Before we could start the trip by car, there were many formalities. Turkish citizens will know about which formalities I am talking about - the non-Turks will know when they read on!

First, we went to Greece, then to Venice, Italy, by ship. We continued with Austria, Germany, Belgium, France, and Spain, respectively. I hadn't seen these countries before - with exception of Germany and Greece; and so it was fun to discover  new places. I have always wanted to travel around the world, and this trip was the beginning of it. I am 16 now, and I am determined that I will travel much more, and see the world.

Some people might say, "Why on earth should I go on holidays and spend money, if I can stay at my sweet home and relax?" And others, now it is getting interesting for the non-Turks, may think: How can you afford that much time and money only to stay a few weeks abroad? Turkish people are required to have a visa when they want to visit a country. Without a passport you don't get a visa - and without guarantees like bankbooks and land registers, you won't get that visa. If you think that this is all you need, you are wrong: You need to buy a health-insurance - no insurance, no visa! All in all, my father said, we had to pay about 200 Euros each before even taking one single step out of Turkey. And I am not mentioning all the problems we had!

Now back to the people who would not understand all that trouble only to see some foreign countries. When we were planning our trip to Europe, I was one of them. I was thinking  "OK, maybe we will see nice new places, but we will spend a lot of money." So how has my opinion changed?

There' s always a difference between "before" and "after". And if you want to judge over some certain issue, you must consider this. If you haven't ever traveled abroad, and if you haven't ever seen lots of places, you can't really know how it feels to travel. Traveling around the world makes you a different person, and it also makes you happy. And honestly, you won't remember the money you have spent, and the trouble you had - but I do remember the places I go, I can share my memories with my friends, and I am even using them in my English class.

Seeing so many places, and meeting new cultures and people was a fantastic experience in my life. I only recommend to everyone to go on a trip like I did last summer. It's really a great experience. Seeing the world will make you happy as it made me happy. If you still don't believe me, you should just try and see.

From Carnac, we went to La Rochelle. On the way to La Rochelle we stopped in Nantes. In Nantes, we saw the Turkish consulate. Nantes is the sixth largest city in France.