Salt & Chocolate discoveries in Anglesey

This week I spent a day on the Isle of Anglesey in Wales learning about the process of making new Green & Black's thin dark sea salt chocolate bars.

We woke up early in the morning to go for a quick walk around the town of Beaumaris where we were staying. 

Beaumaris Castle

We've started our tour of Halen Mon, the Anglesey sea salt company looking at the pipe that brings the water from the sea. That water comes already naturally filtered by a mussel bed and a sandbank.

The salt water is then gently heated in a vacuum so it boils at low temperature.

Crystallisation tanks

When the crystals are formed, they are rinsed and harvested by hand.

After seeing the whole process of salt production, we moved to a chocolate workshop with Brandt Maybury, Green & Black's taste specialist.

Later in the afternoon we returned back to Beaumaris to visit a colurful Green & Black's van that is curently travelling around the country.

We finished with a chocolate and wine pairing session that really helped to enjoy the different flavours of the chocolate. Hope I will have a chance to go back to Anglesey to explore more!

A short trip to Bath

For me Bath is one of the most beautiful cities in England. The name of the city comes from Roman-build baths which were constructed in the first century. Locally sourced golden-coloured Bash Stone is used in most of the buildings. The color of the stone contrasts with green hills and trees making city look light, charming and peaceful.

I am being asked on Instagram where I took Bath panoramic pictures. I have taken them from the top of the Bath Abbey. The Abbey is free to walk inside but if you want to go up, you have to pay for the tower tour which can only be taken with the guide. The view is truly amazing but if you are afraid of heights or narrow spaces - don't go. There are 212 steps to the top of the Tower arranged in two narrow spiral staircases. On Saturdays tours start every half an hour but on Sunday the Tower is closed.

View over Roman baths from Bath Abbey.

During Tower tours you will also learn about the history of the Abbey and have a chance to see its bells and the clock from inside (pictured above).

Pulteney bridge over river Avon (below) is one of the four bridges in the world to have shops across its full span on both sides.

Faces of Amposta

Last week I spent a few days in Terres de l'Ebre in Catalonia, Spain. During the trip I had a chance to visit local Mercat a la Placa fest (Market in the square) in Amposta.

This year it is the 8th time the festival is being held. This time it's dedicated to a steamboat 'Anita' that was used as a normal type of transport between 1915 and 1929, as well as to a celebration of 100 years of the Music school La Lira. During the weekend all Amposta and it's inhabitants go back in time to the beginning of the 20th century.

I really enjoyed capturing portraits of the people of Amposta and all the traditional dresses just added more character to the shots.

Claude Monet's House and Garden in Giverny

Visiting Claude Monet's house in Giverny is like stepping into one of his paintings. 

Monet himself has chosen all the colours for the house and plants for the garden. He has decided to paint the walls pink and the shutters green.

The Gardens are divided into two different parts: a flower garden called Clos Normand in front of the house and a Japanese inspired water garden on the other side of the road.

The Clos-Normand was modeled after Monet's own artistic vision. He spent years transforming the garden into a living en plein air painting, planting thousands of flowers in straight-lined patterns. Depending on the time of the year you visit Monet's house you will see different flowers and plants in bloom. In 2016 the house and garden are open everyday from the 25th March to the 1st November.

All the rooms in the house are filled with lots of light and offer great views of the garden. 

Monet's first studio, that later became his smoking room where the painter welcomed his visitors, art dealers, critics and collectors.

Blue sitting room

Yellow dining room

Second part of the garden - the water garden shows Monet's fascination for Japan, with it's green Japanese bridge covered with wisteria, other smaller bridges, bamboo and above all the famous waterlilies that unfortunately were not in full bloom when I visited but should be in bloom all summer long. 

Those ladies looked like they've just stepped from Monet's paintings