Things You Should Do In Spain: Hike Atxular's Eye

Located in Parque Natural de Gorbeia, the Itxina massif is full of features to ignite your imagination. With over 500 caves, jagged limestone cliffs and labyrinths, beech forests, and stone huts - it's hard not to create stories of some mysterious world high in the mountains of Basque Country. In fact, one of the caves inside this limestone world is said to be one of the regular homes of the Basque goddess, Mari. To make spark your curiosity even more in terms of the history of the area, remains of a Neanderthal were found in yet another cave.

Following Lonely Planet's Hiking in Spain guide book, we hiked the Atxular's Eye route into and through the Itxina. At about 10km, it's a great but not too challenging day hike into a magical place. However, route finding once you get into the Itxina can be a bit of a challenge if you're unprepared - at the very least bring a compass, a map or guide book, and a sense of adventure.

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Things To Do In Spain: Explore Mount Urgull

When someone tells me they're traveling to Spain and looking for recommendations; San Sebastian (Donostia, in Basque) is my first thought for city destinations in the northern part of the country. It's charming, beautiful, and steeped with history. Mount Urgull, the hill that stands on the right side of the bay, epitomizes all those characteristics in one easy to explore package.

Mount Urgull is an easy walk from anywhere along the Promenade and you can either walk up from Parte Vieja or walk around the by the aquarium and the point to see views of the Bay of Viscay. I'll recommend that you start with the second way and on your way back down, drop right into Parte Vieja. That way you get the best of both.

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Things You Should Do In Alberta, Canada: Hike Johnston Canyon

While it's one of the most popular hikes in Banff National Park it's also one of the most beautiful places I've been - the scenes are simply striking.

Johnston Canyon was never on our must hike list for Banff, like the Plain of Six Glaciers, but after sleeping in a bit too late to do our planned hike in an alpine valley we went for a drive to look for something else. Along the Bow Valley Parkway we spotted signs for a hike with waterfalls, looked it up in our guidebook, and decided to give it a go!

The full hike is about 11.6 km (7.2 miles) round trip, but you can choose to do as little or as much as you would like - with three different rewards to keep you going. We opted to end our hike at the Upper Falls, about 3.6 km one way. 

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Things To Do In Iceland: Visit the Blue Lagoon

You've probably seen images of the Blue Lagoon all over Pinterest and in travel ads - in Seattle you'll see Iceland Air advertisements on the sides of buses and on big billboards. Those ads are why we scheduled our 20 hour layover adventure in Iceland and planned the Blue Lagoon as our final stop.

While your actual experience in the pool won't be exactly like the photo above - it's pretty darn representative of how I felt about my experience there - FANTASTIC! This photo is taken outside the complex where you can walk around these gorgeous pools and view the pretty colors without any people in them. If you're at all into photographing pretty things, it's a must do either before or after your visit.

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How To Spend 20 Hours In Iceland

So when I mentioned that I was going to Iceland on the way to my longer adventure in Europe - I don't think I included it would be a whirlwind stop of about only 20 hours! 

 It was an amazing adventure and quite possibly one of my favorite days (certainly the longest one!) of our entire trip. Even though we only saw a small portion of the island - I was amazed by the dramatic natural beauty and open space that Iceland has to offer. I very much hope that someday I get the chance to return and see more. So without further adieu, here's how we spent 20 hours in Iceland...

After arriving at Keflavik International Airport a little after 7AM, we headed straight into Reykjavik to grab some coffee and tea before setting out on the rest of our adventure. It's about a 45 minute drive, so if you can't wait that long for your morning beverage, there is a nice coffee shop right next to the rental car counters. We made a mandatory stop at the Sun Voyager, in Icelandic Solfar, sculpture to admire some of the first gorgeous views we'd see throughout our day.

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