Alberto Gallego

Alberto Gallego

About me: I make software, write, and take photos.

Notes

This is a list that a friend asked me a while ago of places in Spain (in the northern area) that were neither Madrid nor Barcelona.

This was the list I gave him: Ordesa and Monte Perdido National Park and Jaca, Girona, Las Bardenas Reales, Navarre (Pamplona and the Irati area), Biarritz and then travel down through Guéthary and Hondarribia, San Sebastían, Zarautz and Zumaia, San Juan de Gaztelugatxe (Biscay) and Bilbao, Cantabria (Laredo, Santoña, Santander, Natural Monument of the Sequoias of Monte Cabezón, Soplao Cave, Hermida Gorge, Santa Catalina Viewpoint, Bejes, Mogrovejo, Fuente De Cable Car, Cabezón de la Sal, Bárcena Mayor, Santillana del Mar, Castro Urdiales), Asturias (Oviedo, Cangas de Onís, Covadonga Lakes, Llanes, Ribadesella, Lastres, Cudillero, Cabo Vidio, Luarca), Galicia (Santiago de Compostela, Muros, Pico de Trémulo, Historic Noia, Lariño Beach, Puerto del Son, Castro de Baroña, Praia das Furnas, Monte Taúme Viewpoint, Corrubedo Dunes, Arousa Island, San Vicente de O Grove, Carreirón Natural Park, Combarro, Sanxenxo).

If you are planning to go to Rome, here are a list with my recommendations.

He is nowhere who is everywhere. This is what happens to those who spend their lives travelling: they have many homes and no friends. The same thing must happen to those who do not apply themselves to the familiar treatment of any ingenuity, but who deal with everything in a hurried and hasty manner.

The body does not use or assimilate the food it expels as soon as it is ingested; nothing hinders healing so much as frequent changes of remedies; the wound on which medicines are tested does not heal; the plant that is often moved from place to place does not take root; there is nothing so useful that I can use by changing. Dispel the multitude of books; therefore, if you cannot read as many as you have at hand, it is enough to have as many as you can read. “But,” you will argue, “first I want to look at this book, and then at that one.

It is characteristic of an over-fed stomach that it tastes many delicacies, which, if they are too varied, cause indigestion and are not nourishing. Therefore, always read the same authors, and if at any time you wish to turn to others, return to the first. Find for yourself every day some remedy against poverty, some against death, no less than against other calamities, and when you have examined many, choose one to meditate on that day. This is what I do myself; of the many passages I have read, I appropriate some.

Today I discovered this in Epicurus, for I usually go into the enemy’s camp not as a traitor, but as an explorer: “Poverty is an honest thing to be borne with joy.” It is not poverty that is joyful. Those who have little are not poor, but those who want more. What does it matter how much wealth he locks up in his coffers, how much in his barns, how many cattle he grazes or how many loans he takes out, if he covets what belongs to others, if he calculates not what he has acquired but what he still has to acquire? Do you ask what is the proper limit of wealth? First have what you need, then have enough.

Seneca. Letters to Lucilius

I think a lot about this phrase that I came across while in Lisbon last year.

“Have a mission, plan ahead, question everything, assume nothing. Roll up your sleeves, study the past, take risks, dream higher, welcome change, han have an amazing haircut, laugh, be curious. Paye pay attention to details, make mistaeks mistakes, think sideways, do things with passion, don’t forget to play, take it to the edge. Breathe.

Creativity takes courage”

I am spending August in Timișoara. A small town, boring for some, but for me, a haven of peace.

I am enjoying August, with maximum temperatures of 30 degrees, which, for someone used to a 45-degree August, feels mild.

I like the city. It’s small, walkable, and has lots of parks. It’s a beautiful place that was one of the first cities in Europe to have artificial light (one of the many curiosities you find on Wikipedia).

Without further ado, August is going well for me.

I want people in my life who challenge me, who make me uncomfortable.

I want people in my life who are free, who think independently. Who make me doubt what is right and what is wrong.

I want people who are spontaneous, who know how to love sincerely. Who know how to love in the way you are able to tell the truth to the face.

I want people who are ambitious, who want to build a life as close as possible to their idea of perfect happiness. I want people who know how to take the right path, even if it is the most complicated one.

I want people who are afraid, but who do not hold back. I want them to be an example to overcome my own fears, to be brave.

I want people who do not need external validation. Who know how to think for themselves, and who know how to see the world in their own way, without fear of living and with the desire to squeeze this wonderful experience that is to be alive.