La Primera Sonrisa // Design Hotel, Café and a Grand Idea

When I first met the two owners of La Primera Sonrisa at the opening of their café & bar, I ended up standing behind the counter and pressing fresh lemons into the iced water for their curious new customers. People were standing lines on their first open day and I was more than keen to offer my help switching from customer to a bartender. The thing is, after two months of me living in a sleepy little village it was like an iced water splash into my face to see two young lively people with dreams, ideas and certainty in their eyes doing their own thing. Their magnetic energy kinda reached my good vibe locators and so a friendship was born.

Here are some facts. Koen and Ivo are two of those, who actually did quit their well payed jobs in Holland and decided to turn their paths into a more sunny, tropical kind of life under the Andalusian sky. Just a couple of months ago, they did what many thought was impossible - they opened a café & bar followed by a two room design hotel on a site where there's not one shop nor office nor market. But a grand view.

It's the village called Polopos in the very south of Spain, white and old like Spanish little villages are, with narrow crooked streets, big bloomy flowerbeds, clean air, a view of dry mountains and the Mediterranean sea, and countless possibilities for outdoor hiking adventures. It's very tranquil and what some might call boring, for many - me included - it's the way to unplug from a noisy city life, get relief and reconnect with the simple joys, sensations or even the own breathing rhythm. On a calm sunset hike you start feeling like a prince of the world, watching endless Mediterranean below the feet, snowy peaks of the Sierra Nevada in the north and sometimes even another continent in the far South. It's a village with a huge potential of a tranquil kind.

The hotel offers two rooms with a unique design. It's a personal business matter for the two entrepreneurs and you feel it when you enter the rooms - vintage carpets, fossil accessories, upcycled furniture and found attributes from around the globe meet together in a hotel room with aview. In the mornings they cook you breakfast and in the afternoon there's a set of creatively homemade tapas to every refreshing drink till after the sun sets.

To book a getaway holiday at La Primera Sonrisa you can contact Ivo and Koen directly or book on the common booking websites. Otherwise, take a sneak peek on their homepage, instagram or facebook to get yourself convinced.

Good to know: best airport to land is in Malaga (120km away); rent a car with a slightly bigger engine for serpentine uphill rides; go in autumn, spring or around the Christmas period - it's good for hikes (if you are fine with melting in the sun - July and August are also great!).

By the way, the café and the hotel are the stepping stones for a further grand idea: in the following months an off the grid eco resort is in planning. A kickstarter alike project will be launched soon to collect the needed resources for this vision to come alive: you will be able to make a contribution of 500€ in exchange for a two-person ten-day accommodation in one of their Valle del Eden Tiendas that will be built on a mountain side land property surrounded only by nature. So stay tuned for more details on their media channels.

Hello Spain, I like to hike you!

It's been two weeks since i came to Spain and I have no return ticket to anywhere. I got here with two bags full of clothes to wear for every different season, same with shoes, my trekking backpack, my sleeping bag and a backpack full of technical devices - I don't know where I might end up after this exciting period of time! And I have quite a few ideas. Now what has happened? Helgoland became a place too far away from some people I care about, in this case my english dad Alex, with whom I wanted to spend more quality time as long as I'm less bound to responsibilities. It so happened to be that he lives in sunny Andalusia in Spain. To be more precise - in a mountain village around 750 m above the sea level, which quite often ends up to be caught in a layer of clouds. The mediterranean sea is seen for my eyes delight just outside the bedroom window. And on a clear terrace evenings Morocco is saying good night at the far end of the horizon. It is an off-beat location, but as long as I can take a hike around the Andalusian Sierra Nevada - I'm more then happy with that. So I tend to call this time as 'My Life in the Cloud'.

What's next - I can't tell yet. But if you need me at least as a photographer for any kind of memory or have a suggestion for any creative activity - hint me a message. In the meantime I'll be watching some TED talks and looking for the next trail to day-hike.

My first long hike around the 'hood' was a week ago. I asked a wonderful lady from New Zealand called Amanda if I can join her on her hiking day up along Mount Lújar. It was a warmer day than expected, vitamin D could float all over my bare leg and arm skin and made me overall happy after months of sunless german winter. In combination with my new favourite activity hiking and lots of fresh air - hallelujah! Bless the active holiday feeling and ecotherapy! We started at Amanda's place just a couple kilometres away from Castell de Ferro hiking the red rocky path along a bed river, flourishing with moisten greenery down on the left side of the path and occasional rock caves on the right side. Up in the village Lújar we had a little stop for sin-alc cervecita with tapas on a bar terrace. Out of the village the path became much more steep, narrow and at times not really seaming like a path at all. But I was surprised to see how good the trail markers where located - almost everywhere at the doubtful trail turns. I need to note here that the hiking world is new to me - I have so little experience, that every white-yellow trail marker is a very much of a happiness reminder that I am actually doing this.

Getting towards Mount Lújar we saw a deer family of around ten animals climbing up towards the peek probably after seeing us coming their way, even though we could hardly see them. The Landscape around the village right now is pretty bare, there's not too much green yet. In July 2015 a violent fire has burnt down many trees and partly peoples properties along the valleys. Even though some bush and grass had grown out again, most of the trees - almond, cork oak, olive - are still cole black. But when we reached our highest point to cross the mountain pass to the other side of the valley for a further hike to the village Lago a completely new scenery opened up. Green bushed with all colours of wild mountain flowers flourishing at their best, herbs and blossoms with wonderful scent. Luckily the fire did not reach anything on that side of the mountain.

The bar in Lago was open so we could have some icy cokes and tapas to cheer up the body after an up and down trail of 7,5 miles. After that we turned around and went all the way back up and down to Amanda's, a slightly different route. It was deep dark when we reached home and the stars were seen brightly in the rural countryside with almost none light pollution.

Challenge of the day: 15 Miles, around 25 Km, of a pretty rocky and steep hike. I slept very well that night and was overall happy to feel my lower leg muscles hurting for two days again.

So what's next expected on the blog? Hikes, sunny Spain and Andalusia impressions an a few abandoned photoshoots from the past year that haven't been aired yet.

Write me if you want to join me for a hike around, follow my blog/ photographers facebook page (readers support mean so much to every blogger!) and stay tuned ♥

Walking the St.James Way Part 1/3

it so happened to be that i only found out about the Saint James Way a several years ago while i was still studying in Bochum. with my rather narrow nature travel imagination i could imagine how the way would look like. but after a dusty straight on way and a hill alongside, the arise of pictures in my head had stopped. i simply couldn't imagine more - i had never been hiking, rarely camping (i can actually count it up right now: twice on church trips in my puberty, and a few times while on music festivals), this habit wasn't in my family and i didn't have 'that kind of friends' i guess, or so i thought. during years my curiosity grew into a passive will to discover whats it like to just be walking for hours, for days, for nights, lets even think wilder - to sleep on a random beach after walking all day long. no hotels, now suitcases, no comfort zone. my curiosity and imagination was starting to go that far already. yet still no friends of 'that kind' around. then i heard more about this St. James Way a.k.a. Jakobsweg (germ.) - a very popular path between german people. In fact, statistically seen the germans are after the spanish in second place to most frequently walk the Way. and every one knows what this Way is, or has walked a certain distance, or at least has always wanted to get on her or hist way. after a very passive research, meaning that i simply let the information about the Way reach my ear somehow, my arising will to go hiking and explore nature didn't really correlate with what i've heard about it - it seemed too overcrowded, too popular and in general - too much of a drunken party. but once i actually said it out loud "i would never want to walk the St. James Way" the coin has flipped and i started to actively be researching for stories, blogs or documentaries.

i'll be honest here - i simply wanted to go hiking, be closer to nature, cross forests and meditatively linger on costal cliffs. the more i thought the more practical the St. James Way appeared to be perfect for my purpose. it is marked, there are maps, there's a guarantee for an affordable accommodation possibility all along the path. moreover all of a sudden i appeared to have 'those friends' who actually had been walking the Way and gave me some advisable instruction. it all just happened within a few months time. moreover - i found out that there are alternative and not that frequently chosen routes, which led me to choosing a little part in the middle of the North Path, a walk with an ocean view.

to sum up: i simply wanted a good kick off for a start-up-hiker, to lay my focus on the fact that i am actually walking and doing this for a week on my own for the first time in my life, preferred the infrastructure to be taken care of. this is why i chose the St. James Way to be my first hiker trekker experience of my life. and instantly it happened - i got hooked.

This is it - a photo story of the first day and night, Bilbao, Castro Urdiales, getting out of the cities and starting the week of walk.

the journey began with the first stamp in the Credencial stamp book at the Bilbao Central Hostel.

my first day of walking was rain and fog. oh great, i thought.. welcome. but all next days were filled with unusual sunshine and t-shirt temperatures, very unusual for a north Spain November. next day i left to Germany, it started raining again. how lucky i was!

first night in an albergue - i was the only person sleeping there. for a first time experience thats a weird start. not even the host was there. natural swimming pools along the way - i love. i'll come back and swim when it's summer time warm again. oh my boots, pretty much beloved accessory for my every day life before and after the trip. it just reminds me of how many more paths there are to walk yet.. keeps me imagining and secretly planing in my head. sometimes before going to sleep i look up for future routes in my guide and there's one in head already that i'm intending to walk, this time far more than one week. we'll see.

A little side note: all photos were taken with my new Fuji x-t1 and a Fujinon 18 mm f2 lens. i wanted something light and durably built, prepared for any weather surprises along the north spain paths. I'm still figuring out, how the heck to edit the raw files, it's very different from what i'm used from Nikon. Any advice? please let me know!

I will write more about my thoughts on the way and advice for those who intend to walk it in the next two posts.

Boys from the North

last week something nice happened. as a result of wind knots, opening hours and the speed of taken steps it meant to happen. two boys with their little sailing boat from the Norway fiords had to make a stop in Helgoland till the wind and storm passes the island. they got stuck in here for a week which led to some nice dinners, funny talks and sunset watching. now listen to this while you keep on reading and scroll down for a little iphone and camera photo mix.

here's a little fact. in Norway, or at least some parts, people actually say 'Helgoland!' as a gentle creative replacement for their word 'Helveta' which means hell. as it is a swearword the elderly ones try to protect the children like that, of course. i find it simply bizarre - the name of this one tiny one kilometre small island to be used somewhere in Scandinavia all the time for this noble (well..) reason. b i z a r r e .

* moon over the ocean *

now i'm following these two on their journey down to the Mediterranean Sea for another few months on facebook. just to add a little personal pinch to all this story - sometimes some things happen at the most needed moment, this was the case for me. dearest boys from the north - thank you so much for your company! you both reminded me of dear things for my heart.