Renato Gandia

Category: Travels

  • Tap water not included: notes from a parched tourist

    This isn’t my first trip to Europe. I’ve learned many things over the years: trains run on time, pastries are a legitimate breakfast, and museums will take your breath away. And I’ve also long known this unshakable truth: Europe does not like giving adults tap water.Not automatically. Not cheerfully. Not without a small emotional journey.…

  • Among Bruges’s bells and quiet corners

    Bruges welcomed us with cobblestones, winter light, and a moment that tested both my patience and my ability to behave. We had just arrived and wanted something simple: a warm place to sit and a cappuccino while waiting for our hotel room to be ready. We stepped into a café, expecting the usual café choreography—sit…

  • Among the padlocks and other confusions

    I noticed the padlocks even before we stepped foot in Cologne. As our train rolled across the Hohenzollern Bridge, they flashed past the window in a blur of colour—pink, brass, rust, red, an entire spectrum of declarations fused to metal. I didn’t know what to make of them then. Just an impression, a texture of…

  • A topography of returns

    We arrived in Berlin after an eight-hour train ride from Paris—legs stiff, stomachs growling, minds foggy with travel. It was already dark. The air was cold and wet enough to cling to our clothes. But then we stepped into a Christmas market near our hotel, and the whole city seemed to shimmer awake. Warm light…

  • The things the rain let me hear

    Paris in late November smells of rain, stone, and bread warm enough to thaw your fingers. That’s the air we stepped into on November 23, beginning a short visit that felt like both a return and a reawakening. This is our third time in the city, yet Paris refuses to become familiar. Each visit feels…