Day 30 -Final Day Missions

After my blowout the previous day of having spent the majority of it feeling revolting and barely being able to get out of bed, it meant that my last day in Spain was to be manic fitting in all the last things I wanted to see. This meant I had to set off fairly early to a.) beat the heat and b.) have enough time to squeeze my two days worth of sight seeing into just one day.

First stop on my mission was Casa Batlló (House of Bones). The building was owned by Josep Batlló Casanovas and he originally commissioned Gaudi to demolish the building and construct a new one but he changed his mind, instead asking Gaudi to refurbish the existing structure that had been built in 1875-77. The rounded edges, glittering colours and delicate facade detailing makes for an impressive sight - although the trees on the footpath outside don't make for an impressive photograph of it unfortunately.

Next stop about 20mins walk on is the infamous La Sagrada Familia is probably Gaudi's most famous work on show in Barcelona. Gaudi worked on the enormous Roman Catholic church for 40 years, the last 15 years of his life completely dedicated to it, and it still isn't finished to this day. The cranes working on the amazing stone structure are a permanent fixture, at least until 2026, the date of its scheduled completion.

Nico and Kelly had recommended I check out the hospital just up the hill from the Familia so I headed up to Hospital de Sant Pau and it was certainly well worth it. The hospital was designed by the Catalan architect Lluís Domènech i Montaner and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Definitely the most amazing hospital I've ever seen and probably will ever see!

The final Gaudi mission of my day was to visit Park Güell where Gaudi has really outdone himself by creating a huge garden complex boasting incredible stone structures, beautiful mosaic tiling pieces and interesting buildings. Due to my time constraints I did speed around the gardens a bit (despite the killer heat) but was I was in complete awe of the place the whole time. The thing that surprised me the most was how people don't recommend the park anywhere near as going to see Sagrada Familia where I felt the gardens were something so incredibly different and amazing they are certainly a must see in Bareclona and I was glad I'd managed to make my way there despite my previous days efforts.

After a morning of traipsing around the city in the intense heat it was time to head down to the beach to meet Nico and Kelly for a last tan top up and a last frolic in the sea before waving goodbye to Spain. Our afternoon was very enjoyable and we had one last fill of olives and cheese and tomato baguettes before we had to drag ourselves away from the sunshine and head off in order to make our flight.

Our last hours spent in Barcelona were spent sitting in the airport cheering for our new comrades as Spain thrashed Russia in the euro2008 quarter finals, enabling us to end what had been a fabulous holiday on a high even if we knew we were having to head back to London.

Day 29 - Sick as a Dog

I awoke feeling ok and got straight up to get ready since we'd planned to get a reasonably early start to enable us to see all Gaudi had to offer in Barcelona. Well things started to go downhill pretty quickly for me once I reached the bathroom and started getting changed. I started getting the sweats and was feeling pretty dizzy so got out of the confined toilet space thinking I'd feel better in a bit of fresher air. This was not the case unfortunately, just making it out into the corridor before I collapsed in a heap on the floor just as one of the Spanish guys from the previous night was coming past. I couldn't see for a few moment and was feeling like I could be sick meanwhile the Spanish guy is trying to get me to get up and go to our dorm room (and kindly picked up my underwear from the floor that I'd managed to drop while I was having my slight episode). I eventually managed to gather up enough strength to make it back into our dorm and that is about all I could manage for most of the day.

I sent Nico and Kelly off to go and see the sights without me but every hour or so I'd feel like I was feeling better so get up to go check the net or get a water and each time the effort was so much that I'd have to head back to our dorm after a few minutes so I could collapse back into bed. It was not a fun day I can tell you, and the strangest thing was it wasn't even like it was a hangover as a.) I don't really get hangovers and b.) I hadn't drunk THAT much the previous night to warrant me feeling so horrific.

Eventually at about 5pm I managed to suck it up enough to head outside and meet up with Nico and Kelly for a bite to eat and a few drinks before we made our way back to the hostel to watch the Euro quarter finals between Germany and Russia. I was feeling much better and managed to hoe into a bottle of wine in preparation for our second night of fiesta with the Spanish boys.

Our fiesta ended up being heading down the Playa Barceloneta and drinking on the beach while the boys had wrestling matches, swims, kisses with 15 year old girls and other such shenanigans. It was a good laugh and I was glad I'd managed to perk up enough to make it out for our last night in Spain.

Day 28 - Free Tours & Funny Times

We'd decided that a good way to see the sights of Barcelona was to do a free walking tour of the Gothic quarter of Barcelona. The tour included seeing on of Gaudi's first commissioned pieces, two candelabras (lampposts) placed in the Plaça Reial, a building with gun holes chipped out of it thanks to it once being an execution wall, the impressive La Seu cathedral and the area in which the Jews were built into in order to "keep them from spreading the Plague" despite them being cleaner than a lot of the Spaniards who would only wash twice in their lifetime, at baptism and when they died so that people could identify who they were by washing the grime from their faces! The tour was very valuable in learning some interesting facts about the city and we were more than happy to tip our guide at the end of it, which he then returned the favour by buying everyone in our group a round of drinks. While enjoying our beers we noticed that they had €2 dinner that night at the bar so we made a mental note to return there since our wallets were getting a bit light having neared the end of our trip.

We bypassed the markets on our way back to the hostel so we could get some usual lunch goodies and once we'd eaten Nico and Kelly went into a bit of a food coma but I wasn't having any of this lazing about business so I went on my own mission up to the top of a hill near our hostel which had nice gardens and a good view out across the city. I was a little dodged out by some of the characters lurking about around the place though so didn't spend too long wandering the paths, but I did make a stop off at a skate park on my way back so I could take some snaps of some awesome graffiti art decorating the concrete jungle. I'm slightly obsessed with graffiti art it seems.

After my walk it was about time to head to back to the pub for our €2 dinner. The place absolutely heaving with backpackers, unsurprisingly when a cheap dinner is on offer. We managed to find ourselves a spot at the bar to enjoy the buzzing atmosphere of the place while downing a few jugs of sangria. The dinner wasn't anything amazing but it was an interesting evening spent watching the dynamics of the bar staff and backpackers that filled the place.

Kelly was starting to feel a bit wobbly on her stool so we headed back to the hostel all ready to call it a night but then before I knew it I was being invited out with some Spanish guys from our dorm room which I was quite pleased about as those jugs of sangria's were making me want to keep going, not get ready for bed. So off I went with the boys and had a very funny night trying to converse with them in broken Spanish and English. I even got bought red roses by one of the guys and then somehow we ended up climbing on top of a bronze cat and having a bit of a photo shoot. It was certainly the kind of nights out I'd imagine I'd have in Spain but hadn't really experienced until then, so I was pleased to have found myself some crazy Spanish friends and we made plans to go out for an even bigger fiesta the following night.

Day 27 - Market Goodies

Having barely had any sleep throughout our overnight ferry ride we weren't exactly all that keen to explore Barcelona upon arriving. I think the fact that we were coming to the end of our trip didn't help either as our enthusiasm was waning somewhat. We did however manage to summon up enough energy to do a bit of a wander up the infamous Las Ramblas which was buzzing with countless tourists, performers and stalls. Amongst the chaos we stumbled upon yet another amazing market, this one having endless fruit stalls selling ready to eat fruit salad and juices. My idea of a perfect breakfast!

While Nico and Kelly lazed about for the afternoon I did a bit of job hunting in preparation for heading back to London and once I'd got bored of that I made a trip back to the markets in search of some goodies for lunch. Unfortunately I was a bit late so missed out on all the pre prepared pasta salads that we had admired earlier, instead having to settle for our usual baguettes with cheese and tomato and I got some ingredients to create our own version of the pasta dishes for dinner instead.

As you can see the main focus of our day turned out to be food as we didn't really achieve much else but eat all our market goodies. After such a pitiful day sightseeing wise we were all pumped for a day of exploring in the morning.

Before bed however, Nico and I were determined to squeeze some sort of achievement and being the night before Sant Joan meant Barcelona was alive with fireworks. We'd been invited to join the fiesta down at the beach but after a few minutes of wandering the streets the both of us became quite uncomfortable with the atmosphere as young kids were everywhere throwing double happies and other similar fireworks at one another and anyone that happened to be walking by. It meant that it wasn't much of a relaxing walk about town as we were constantly on edge watching out for any incoming explosions, especially after one hit Nico on the side of the head, thankfully not injuring him. We discovered once we got back to the hostel that some had not been so lucky with quite a few people getting burnt from the fireworks. You can see why double happies and the like are banned in NZ!

Day 26 - Exploring the Island

Being our last day on Ibiza we'd decided to hire a car to enable us to explore the island a bit in hope of finding some beautiful beaches that I'd been promised Ibiza had. We certainly weren't disappointed as it delivered not one beautiful beach but numerous stunners and even inland was amazing too.

The first cove was only fairly small with quite a rocky beach but the crystal clear waters and lack of houses surrounding it is what made it special and the fact that there were barely any people there helped too! Beach number two, Cala San Vicente, was where we chose to stop for lunch and it was just the kind of beach we'd been looking for with stretching golden dunes, clear blue water, nice and sheltered and it even ha a few waves crashing on the shore to make it a bit exciting. It was probably a good thing it was our last day on the island or we would have been wishing we were staying there rather than in our crappy area. I'd definitely say to anyone who was going to Ibiza to stay there as it doesn't seem to be somewhere that would get to packed out and the town isn't too tacky, also it is within a reasonable taxi fares distance to the clubs which means you get the best of both worlds. The third beach, Cala Llonga we didn't find as nice as it was a lot busier and there was a bit of a wind blowing but I imagine take away those two factors and it'd be just as stunning as San Vicente. We did however manage to put those downers aside and manage to fit in a siesta on the sand without too much trouble.

We pushed on through the beautiful countryside of the island which is very dry with a lot of pine trees, whitewashed houses and olive groves. Last stop was out on a peninsula which is home to the lighthouse and had views across to the Ibiza old town where the sun was lowering over the hill giving it a golden halo. All in all, our car hire day was well worth it as we got to see the Ibiza that I'd heard the good things about which is worlds apart from the tacky tourist areas that most people who visit Ibiza only see. I was glad that I could head away from the island knowing that there are beautiful parts to it that I would even consider visiting again when I have more time to explore.

We only had time to quickly find something to take on the ferry for dinner before the gates closed on us which turned out to be a bit of a bummer as we didn't get to explore the old town at all or prepare for the overnight journey on the ferry. Crucial! We positioned ourselves on the lounger chairs on the partially open deck, even though the engine noise was a little deafening but we thought at least we'd have somewhere to lye as we attempted to get some winks later in the evening.

It turned out to be an interesting evening all in all as we had a reggae dj play a set next to us, we watched a group of boys play football on the deck of the boat in pretty much complete darkness and finally we froze ourselves as we attempted to sleep away the hours. Not a very pleasant nights sleep by any stretch of the imagination, in fact it made the train journey into Portugal seem like heaven in comparison.

Day 25 - Doing Not Much

After our late night out we weren't really keen for much of an action packed day, although I did manage to drag myself out of bed in time to go and join Nico for the last half of the All Blacks vs England game being shown at a pub down the road. That was about all the excitement for the day though as we just opted for another day of lazing in the pool on lilos. Best way ever to spend the day recovering after a night out!

We did manage to get ourselves together in the evening and go out for a meal at a Chinese restaurant on our strip. I decided to go for a green curry and this turned out to be not such a wise idea as it wasn't so much as a Thai green curry but a lovely fluro green coloured curry type thing, not very appetising looking believe me. It was made bearable by the fact that we had a nice setting on a balcony that looked out to sea and we were able to watch as the sun set across the water. Aww.

Day 24 - Pacha Time

The unfortunate thing about Ibiza is that to get to any of the decent beaches you pretty much need to hire a car. Since we'd decided to leave the car hiring till our last day we had to settle for soaking up the sun on San Antoni beach. The 'beach' consists of a man made strip of sand with knee deep water netted in before the marina starts behind it. The worst part though is the hoards of hungover brits lining the beach talking about how wasted they were the previous night and competing as to who got home the latest. The one positive was that the promotion girls and guys doing the laps of the beach seemed to avoid us and we deduced that this could be due to the fact that we actually had tans, setting us apart from the rest of the beach and therefore possibly making us look like we were semi local.

Eventually we'd had enough, instead opting to ferry back across to the hotel and try out the pool although not before we'd been and purchased our tickets for Pacha that night. €37 later we headed back across and spent the afternoon by the pool which turned out be quite a nice way to waste away the afternoon, floating about on lilos and listening to music from the hotel's sound system before sprucing ourselves up and hitting the vodka redbulls in preparation for our big night out.

Pacha was pretty impressive I have to say with its numerous rooms and levels of dancefloors and the standard of dress from everyone far surpassed what expected with no bikinis or shirts off. Our first stop was the Funk Room where we thought we'd get a drink before things started to warm up on the main d floor. Our one and only drink it turned out since they were a whopping €15 each. The night was an interesting and enjoyable one as we danced away to Freddie Le Grand on the decks and will.i.am on the mike till the small we hours. We'd stationed ourselves next to the VIP area which became filled with models and their entourage shortly after and this provided us with much of the entertainment for the evening as we witnessed them go downhill very quickly, starting off looking like respectful girls, soon to be making fools of themselves the more Veuve Clicquot they skulled from their endless supply of bottles. When they reached the point of grinding one another on couches Kelly and I had reached our threshold as to what we could bare to witness anymore and decided to move away from our spot in order to not have to witness their antics anymore.

Not having alcohol to fuel us through the evening meant by 4:30 or so we'd or more precisely our feet had had enough and we hobbled out to one of the hundreds of taxis waiting to take the partygoers home. Although the club was impressive in its size and layout I don't think it was as amazing night out as what you'd expect for on of the party capitals of the world!

Day 23 - We're Going to Ibiza, Yeah!

We only had the morning left in Valencia so didn't have time for much but Kelly had been told about the markets so we decided to go and check them out before heading to the airport. Another impressive market to assault all our senses with the pungent smell of fish, the bright colours of the fruit stalls and the hustle and bustle of the shoppers requesting their purchases. We opted for some wraps and hummus to accompany our leftover couscous from the night before which we prepared in the garden at the airport while waiting for our plane to Ibiza. It was delish too!

I was wary from the start about going to Ibiza with its name for being a tacky party island with ridiculous priced transport to and from the island. I had however heard good reviews about it too but upon arriving there it was pretty much as I had feared so was left feeling a bit disappointed as I was desperately hoping for the good reviews to be correct. The hostel we'd booked into turned out to be overbooked so they ended up putting us in a hotel in a particularly tacky area of the island but for £13 a night we couldn't really complain too much.

Having spent the majority of the day in transit dinner time snuck up on us before we knew it and after trying to pick out a place to eat along the tacky strip along from our hotel we probably ended up at one of the tackiest of them all with Bee Gees blasting on the sound system, an English menu, English waiters and we were surround by English people. Yuck. I felt like I was back in Phuket!

After having seen what our area of the island had to offer I was crossing my fingers and toes that we would be able to escape the hell of the tourist trap the next day in search of something a little more authentic. Who'd have thought we'd actually be missing the Spanish signage!

Day 22 - City of Arts and Sciences

I was originally going to give the aquarium a miss in order to save myself some money but I decided at the last moment I decided I didn't want to miss out so got myself a ticket too.

The walk to the L'Oceanografic (Aquarium) is almost part of the experience as you walk along past the Ciudad de las Artes y las Ciencias (City of Arts and Sciences) on your way. No amount of photos or tv viewings of the buildings prior to visiting can actually prepare you for their impressiveness when you're seeing them in the flesh. We were lucky enough to see them on a day when they'd just cleaned the pools surrounding them making the bright blue pools picture perfect against the stark white fish shaped El Palau de les Arts Reina Sofía (Queen Sofia Palace of the Arts), the L'Hemisferic— Imax Cinema and finally the El Museu de les Ciències Príncipe Felipe (the Museum of Sciences). The 'city' was designed by Valencian architect Santiago Calatrava with the help of Felix Candela. Construction began in July 1996 and is now a great example of contemporary architecture.

I ended up being very pleased with my decision to go along to the L'Oceanografic as the complex was extremely impressive being divided into 10 different areas, each reflecting different habitats and the water species that live within these habitats. The highlight for me would have to be the Beluga Whale, its stark whiteness looking so unnatural for a living creature. I could have stood watching its famously expressive face for hours. The other highlight was the dolphin show where they did the usual amazing tricks, throwing their instructors about the pool all the while keeping their smiles permanently plastered across their adorable faces. It is astounding to watch them able to perform such tricks and we kept wondering just how on earth they manage to learn such intricate displays. They are certainly another creature that I could watch for hours on end.

The aquarium took it out of us a bit, especially since it had been ANOTHER roasting hot day so we opted for a lazy night in at the hostel making the most of the generously sized kitchen and dining area while looking back through our photos of the day out.

Day 21 - Traffic Jams

Our last day with the car was not a very enjoyable one as we spent most of the day caught up in traffic jams as we made our way to Valencia. What should have been a 2 to 3 hour journey turned into about 5 hours and to make it worse it was another blue dome day making it a long and frustrating hot drive. Thank god for aircon. We finally made it to the airport with no extra charge for being late and headed into town to our hostel, the Red Nest, somewhere I'd highly recommend as we were immediately impressed with the feel of it and its awesome location.

We were all a bit jaded from our draining car journey so some delicious tapas after a wander around the city was about all we could muster up for the afternoon. Valencia did however look like it had to offer with its gorgeous architecture (what's new for Spain!) and delicious looking eateries tempting us in every which direction.

Day 20 - Failed Adventure

I'd decided instead of driving with Nico and Kelly to the beach we were headed for the day, that I'd walk instead which meant having to get up nice and early and get a head start of them being a 4 hour walk compared to a 20 minute drive. It was well worth the early start as I got to see the sunrise from our apartment balcony which is always a good start to the day.

The first part of my walk went well with it not being too hot and getting stunning views back along the coast and down into the next cove which was populated with hippie huts and paths leading in every which direction to either huts or stone constructions they'd erected for reasons that weren't always obvious. Anyway, the paths lead to some confusion as to which was the way to go meaning I went round in circles for a while before I thought I'd finally found the right one. Unfortunately it didn't work out that way, after an hour or more of scrabbling my way over rocks around a headland I realised the path I was following in fact lead to a hut in a cave and not around to the next bay. Despite all my determination to not admit defeat, I reasoned that the extra hour or more of walking I'd have added to my walk meant me doing the full walk wasn't really a smart move so I had to turn back and settle for joining Nico and Kelly on the drive around instead. I did end up doing about 3 hours of walking so it wasn't a bad effort after all and the sunrise and views made it worth the effort. I'm just determined to complete it when we go back there next time!

The beach was another "top 10" and you could certainly see its potential but unfortunately there was a nasty wind blowing along the beach which meant sunbathing wasn't all that enjoyable as you'd get pelted with a cloud of sand every 30 seconds or so. We stuck it out for a few hours but in the end gave up, mainly because we knew we had a swimming pool waiting for us at the B&B we'd booked for the night.

Our B&B was in a wee town a few k's out of Las Palas, and when I say a wee town there were about half a dozen houses in it. We were certainly happy to have a pool as it felt like we were in the middle of the desert with swarms of flies and all.

Trying to find somewhere to eat in a neighbouring 'big' town proved to be near impossible and we ended up being dreaded English tourists and going to a restaurant run by English expats. We did have an enjoyable evening however, enjoying suitably English things like cider and sticky date pudding.

Day 19 - Best Place Ever

We waved goodbye to our luxury accommodation and set off in search of somewhere to stay in Las Negras, a small beach town with another "top 10" beach nearby. Arriving in the town it was immediately apparent we wanted to stay there but we were disappointed to discover the hostel listed in Lonely Planet was closed and the camp ground being too expensive. We decided to wing it and have lunch and then hit the beach in hope of the hostel being reopen post siesta.

We stumbled across a crepery to dine at and I thought it wouldn't hurt to ask the friendly waiter and chef if they knew of anywhere to stay - well, they very kindly tried calling a guy to no avail but said to go in search of the "fat man selling tomatoes at the Supermercado", but being siesta we had no other option to head to the beach and cross our fingers and toes that something would come through later.

Playa del Playazo certainly turned out to be worthy of being amongst the "top 10", primarily because of its crystal clear waters. The way out from the beach to deeper water was quite rocky making it hard going but once out on the sand it was well worth it, especially when we broke out my 10c goggles from Thailand and were able to make the most of the clear water, taking in all the fish swimming about below.

Before we knew it 6pm rolled around and we figured we'd better go in search of a bed for the evening and boy did we score! The hostel was still closed but this turned out to be a blessing in disguise as we went to find the "fat man selling tomatoes" and he had an apartment for a meager €60 if we wanted it. Although we were unsure of the what the quality of the place would be like we didn't really have a choice so decided to go for it. We definitely made the right choice as we ended up with not only a bed but a fully furnished apartment with sea views and all (all for the same price that we'd been paying for 12 bedroom dorms!). We pretty much instantly decided we'd be coming back for a weekend getaway at such a steal.

Having a fully equipped kitchen meant I couldn't resist cooking us up a risotto which we were able to enjoy on our balcony with sangrias and pink setting skies. Bliss! A moonlit beach stroll was the perfect way to finish what had been a fabulous day on all accounts.

Day 18 - The Glorious Mediterranean

After our long night the previous night we weren't really up for rising at 7am to go queue for the Alhambra Palace, instead savouring a bit of a sleep in and hitting the road in order to hopefully get an afternoon at the beach. It turned out to be a good decision as the coast from Granada to Almeria is absolutely amazing, the Mediterranean sea sparkling like a turquoise gem along the cliffy Andalusian coast. That cliffy coast is also quite a sight, having literally thousands of glasshouses perched on them and the surrounding area a juxtaposition which makes for a bizarre but fascinating sight which was almost surreal.

Some of the top 10 Andalusian beaches, according to Lonely Planet, were calling us just past Almeria where we'd booked in for the night so we kept on trucking in search of the golden sands that we were craving. We ended up stopping short of one of the 'top 10' but we were more than happy wallowing in the shallow warm waters that Playa de los Genoveses had on offer. Nico and I were still determined to discover one of the 'top 10' though so after we'd enjoyed Genoveses long enough we continued round to Playa del Playazo which was darker sands with a huge volcanic rock perched on the beach but this still wasn't it, Nico and I having to scale a sand dune of four to get a peek at the illusive bays of Calas del Barronal. We got a few peeks at some boobs and bums too, the bays turning out to be predominantly nudist, something Lonely Planet had omitted from its description. Not to worry, Nico and I were just happy to have had a successful mission, our reward being able to view a beach that reminded me very much of one of my fav NZ beaches, the beautifully rugged Piha.

We'd decided to live in a bit of luxury that night, staying in a 2 star hotel for the night, although it turned out not to be so luxurious for me, getting a rollaway bed for the night so was a bit of a stepdown from the usual hostel bunks. It is a treat to have our own rooms though so I wasn't complaining really. Being in a hotel does however mean no kitchen facilities which meant we had to drag ourselves out for some drinks and tapas instead. Oh the hardship! Especially when it turned out that Almeria is one of the few spots left in Spain that have stuck to the tradition of giving you a free tapa with every drink you buy. Bonus! A very pleasant evening was had having a few more drinks than usual in order to get our fill of tapas, like I said, what a hardship huh?

Day 17 - Impressive Sights

We decided to flag the sights of Malaga as we'd seen a fair bit of it driving around finding out hostel the previous evening, instead we opted to get straight on with the itinerary Nico had planned out for us.

We had a bit of a slow start to the drive, taking a few wrong roads out of the city but we eventually got ourselves heading in the right direction and what a road it was! The countryside was classic Spain with tiny villages of whitewashed housed dotted throughout the rocky, dry hill, some precariously perched on edges of cliffs in what looks like it would be impossible to access by foot let alone car! We were certainly pleased we'd chosen to do the car thing, enabling us to get deep into the heart of Spain and not just be trodding the usual tourist trail.

Our first stop for the day was El Chorro which is known for its El Camino del Rey (King's Path) which is a crumbling concrete pathway with no hand rails which is pinned to the cliffs of the 10m wide limestone gorge, some areas of the path missing altogether. The walk is now closed as a tourist died while walking it a few years ago and you can certianly see why when you visit it, or you can go here and watch a madman charging along it with a video camera going. Mental I tell ya! Once we'd gaped at the gorge and dam that runs through the 200m high cliffs we headed around the corner and up a mountain to get nearly 360 degree views of the surrounding countryside. Spectacular! Along with the views there is a dam up the top of the mountain, not something you expec to see up at such a height!

On the drive back down Nico and I battled the heat and walked to the ruins of Bobastro, a 10th century Mozaribic chruch carved out of the surrounding rockface. It was a very impressive sight as you could stillmake out where arch and doorways had been and there were perfectly circular windows still intact that had been chiseled out all that time ago.


Our last item on the agenda was to visit Lagunilla Corta in Campillos which is a wetlands reserve which is home to some 3,000 pink flamingos. Unfortunately for us there weren't any in the swaps with walkways nearby but the binoculars enabled us to see across the wetlands to where they were all hanging out. Another extrmely impressive sight for the day!

That afternoon we discovered the major downfall of having a car in Spain and that is trying to locate hostels situation in the old town of a city. What a nightmare we had driving around and around Grandada trying to get near enough to our hostel to first of all just locate it and then hopefully find a park nearby. This went on for a number of hours due to all the one way streets or bus and taxi only lanes in what seemed every corner we turned. What a nightmare! Only after Kelly and I abondoned the car and set out on foot did we discover it and also discovered it was on a pedestrian only street anyway so all our driving about had been in vain. Not to worry, we can laugh about these things later but at the time we weren't up for much laughing, just dinner at the first place we could find and then straight to bed to rest our weary eyes from all the impressive sights and then straining to see street signs well into the night.

Day 16 - Back to Great Britain

Lonely Planet had recommended a place that did good breakfasts in Cadiz so we thought we'd treat ourselves and give it a go. Kelly and I were feeling like we needed some fresh fruit so got the fruit salad with muesli and yoghurt. Well, when it came out it truly was a piece of art with the fruit sliced and arranged beautifully on top of the muesli and it all tasted great too! So, once again a good recommendation on Lonely Planet's part.

Our agenda for the day was to go and check out Gibraltar for the day which meant having to show our passports to get into as it is a British Overseas Territory. The way into Gibraltar is across their airport runway and just before we went to cross the tarmac they closed off the gates in order to let a plane take off so we got to then witness at close proximity a plane take off, making for an exhilarating start to our visit. Once we'd made it part the runway we wandered through the town, taking in all the English signage which was a refreshing change, although I'll confess hadn't missed the English accent at all.

Not wanting to fork out the steep admission for the cable car up the iconic limestone cliffs which are home to the only monkeys in Europe, instead taking the other steep option, the steps! It was sweltering and there was no sign of any monkeys so we had to make do with the view of the city and across the sea to Morocco instead.

supermarket to buy some familiar foods but it turned out to be quite disappointing as it was poorly stocked due to the fuel strikes going on in Spain. We did manage to find our usual baguette, cheese, pesto and tomato to satisfy us though, but we may as well have got it from Spain who do all those ingredients far better! After over two weeks in Spain we were quite excited to be able to go to a Morrison's.

We'd managed to use up our three hours parking fairly easily so we had to head off to Malaga where we'd booked in for the night. The hostel turned out to be a bit of a hippie congregation, dog included. There was awesome common areas playing chilled reggae , UB40 and the like so it was all to easy to waste away the evening with our beers and sangria's in the warm heat of the sun that seems to last until well after 9 at night. Mmm, just the way it should be!

Day 15 - Taking to the Road

Mine and Nico's for the morning was to walk to the car rental place across town and then navigate ourselves back through the streets of Seville to the hostel to pick up our bags and of course Kelly.

It was Nico's first time driving a left hand drive vehicle let alone driving on the right hand side of the road so it was ll a bit nerve wracking to begin with. It began with a laugh though when we first hopped into the car and Nico reached for the gearstick with his left hand to find himself grabbing thin air. A few laps around the carpark though and he was ready to hit the streets and I must say, we actually did pretty well managing to find our way back to the hostel, especially with there being no shortage of one way streets for us to navigate around. There was only one moment when I let out a squeal, when we were turning into the oncoming traffic at an intersection, well at least it felt that way but of course Nico had it all under control, turning into the correct lane and my natural instinct just getting the better of me.

Thankfully getting out of the city was a breeze thanks to there being directions almost immediately from the hostel pointing us in the direction of destination, Cadiz. Cadiz is situated on a peninsular with beaches stretching along most of one side and a port along the other. Like most of Spain's coastal towns it is known for its seafood and the Lonely Planet listed a fish and chip style eatery so we thought we had better give it a go. It definitely wasn't the sort of fish and chips we are used to but it was tasty nonetheless. Our brief stop off there was definitely worth the trip when we drove the perimeter of the peninsula and were able to admire the beautiful gardens and packs beaches that lined the city.

Nico had picked out our destination for the night so we kept moving but before reaching our final stop we managed to fit in a few amazing, possibly once in a lifetime sightings along the way. the first being that as we drove through the countryside we suddenly came across a huge windmill farm with literally hundreds of the beautiful huge white structures scattered all around us. We all kept just repeating WOW as more and more of them appeared as we continued along the road. Kelly and I couldn't stop snapping our cameras away trying to capture how amazing it looked but the photos didn't do the sheer scale of them justice at all unfortunately. The image of it will however be forever imprinted in my memory at least.

Our next wow factor came when we pulled off at a long stretching beach a few bays before our final stop, Tarifa, as we had spotted countless wind surfers out on the water so thought we'd get a bit closer to check it out. When we got down on the beach we weren't really prepared for just how many of them there were though. They were scattered absolutely everywhere along at least a km stretch of the beach and then even more of them were out on the water. It was like a whole other world down there, a world full of floating fluro half moons and tanned people. At one point we saw one girl on the sand get lifted up and dragged along the sand by her kite, swiping a few people as she got dragged along, this all making us even more of the people who would attempt such a sport. Once again the photos just didn't do it justice so instead we had to imprint it in our memories before eventually dragging ourselves away from the spectacular scene.

From Tarifa you can get views out across to Morocco on a clear day and were were lucky enough for it to be one of those days so I am now able to say I have seen Africa! The town itself is a fairly small place and is full of beach lovers giving it a lovely relaxed feel, making for a very enjoyable evening for the three of us as we devoured the usual tapas and drinks before a scrummy meal out. We were certainly all in agreeance that Nico had chosen our first nights destination well.

Day 14 - Sad to Say Goodbye

Reluctantly we had to say farewell to the lovely beaches and town that is Lagos, not to mention Portugal itself and bus back across the border, destination Seville.

What a beautiful town Seville is with its cute alleys, beautifully green plazas, horse and cart taxis, gardens and of course its impressive cathedral - Catedral de Santa María de la Sede which is the largest gothic and fourth largest Christian church in the world. We wandered about taking it all in and having worked up an appetite we stopped off at a Lonely Planet recommendation which we enjoyed so thought we'd go for another of their recommendations for our dinner. It was time for Kelly and I to give Paella another go and Nico to have his first taste, just this time we would know not to have three courses beforehand! It certainly meant we were able to enjoy it far more but I'm still keen to try it out in at least one other area of Spain to see if there are big differences between them.

Nico and I still didn't feel like we'd seen quite enough of the city so we thought an evening stroll enjoying gelato would be a good way to enjoy the city and that it was. There is something to be said for being able to wander aimlessly through a city with a sleeveless shirt on and be able to see the beautiful old buildings alight, accentuating their amazing gothic architecture all the more. The way the Spanish cities are alive at such a late hour completes the scene perfectly making for the kind of moment where you just stand and stare around you, letting out a big sigh thinking WOW, look at me, in this magical place that is Spain!

Day 13 - Seediness

Not surprisingly after my previous nights performance I wasn´t up for much in the morning, even walking to the beach was too much to stomach until about 2pm after a few earlier unsuccessful attempts.

It was another stunning day and our chosen grotto was as beautiful as ever so the afternoon was easily passed dozing on the sand with a few dips in the refreshing (or effin freezing) waters of the atlantic.

Nico and I were still queasy come dinner time so a home cooked dinner accompanied by some soft drink was about all we could handle for the evening. That will teach us!

Day 12 - Fish Bowls

It was a cracker day in Lagos with not a cloud in the sky all day and the temperature sitting at about 30 degrees from morning through till evening. So what better way to spend the day than lying on the beach! We found ourselves a less populated little grotto than the main beach and settled in for the day.

While down there we got chatting to some fellow kiwis who told us about a restaurant that did meals and unlimited drinks for one hour all for €10. We decided that was a bit of us so after we´d had enough sun (or even a bit too much) we headed to the place to give it our best shot.

Well, drinking in a short space of time became a bit of a theme for us that night, starting with the numerous wines and beers with dinner before heading to a bar with our new found kiwi friends from the beach who decided it would be a great idea to do some fishbowls as a NZ team, but the object of the game was that we had to beat downing the huge cocktail in 5 seconds as some british girls had done it in that time early supposedly. I swear it would have been impossible to do it in that time, the 6 of us slurping our hearts out on our metre long straws and taking a good few minutes! Still, that was probably about 20 minutes too fast, especially when we got roped into doing another one with some other new friends we´d made. Needless to say, from that stage on is a bit of a blur for me, my next memory is of me hugging the toilet bowl back at our hostel. Lovely.

Day 11 - Lisbon to Lagos

We were all a bit sad to have to leave our hostel so soon, especially since the owner´s son (who I´d largely based my decision that Portuguese are better looking than Spanairds on, along with Ronaldo of course) had ever so kindly offered for Nico to watch the All Blacks game on his computer and had watched the whole game with Nico, rooting for the AB´s the whole way. I´d managed to catch the last 10 minutes or so of the game and I have to say it was all fairly surreal watching an All Black game in a Portugal hostel and to top it off the guy from the hostel was playing Fat Freddies as we watched the game as he is a big fan of them. Who knew Fat Freddies would make it as far as Portugal huh!

We had the morning to kill before our bus so we decided to head up the hill toward the castle. In an effort to save some money I decided to flag paying to go inside the castle unlike Nico and Kelly so I just went on a hunt for some good views of the city that didn´t cost anything and I ended up being successful a number of times, getting good views out over a a few different areas of the city and also getting a close look at another impressive cathedral so I was happy with myself for deciding to save my money.

Lagos is a cute little beach town with whitewashed houses scattered around the bay. Unfortunately we were too late in the afternoon to hit the beach so we headed downstairs from our hostel to the bar to watch the Portugal vs Czech Republic football game while having dinner. We had to order fairly blindly not knowing much Portuguese and I ended up getting whole squids which I couldn´t quite stomach sadly. It was great being among the Portuguese though as they started to score goals against the Czechs which caused them to get more and more animated. I do love how passionate the Europeans are about their football and it seems to be in a far less arrogant way than the Brits and the Scots (in my limited experience that is) but as I´ve said before, you can´t help but get caught up in it all when you´re over here.

We headed down into town for a wander and stumbled upon an impromptu parade of sorts in celebration of Portugal winning the game. There were cars, scooters and even a random beach buggy doing laps of the main street honking their horns and flying their Portugal flags about much to our delight. The town was alive after that so we couldn´t surpass having a few celebratory drinks on behalf of Portugal before heading home, ready for the beach first thing in the morn.

Day 10 - Portugal bus tour

Eventually our train journey came to an end after a fairly disruptive few hours of attempting to sleep. At one point we had our door thrown open and two very stern policemen demanded to see all of our passports (well we guessed that is what they wanted since we don´t know any Portuguese). They were so serious and official looking I imagined they were ready to haul us out of our compartment and throw us onto the tracks, especially me as they had more than a few looks between me and my photo - whose silly idea was it to change my hair cut and colour before travelling?! I get second and third looks when I hand over my passport every time which is always a bit nervewracking, but completely understandable on their part as I look like a completely different person to my photo. Anyway, thankfully the police eventually handed us back our passports and carried on their way storming through the rest of the train, leaving us to continue with our failing attempts at sleep.

After disembarking the train we hiked our way up and down the hilly streets of Lisbon to ourh ostel, which we found to be the best yet with immaculate kitchins, bathrooms, dorms and super friendly staff to top it off.

We decided the best way to see the city with our limited time there was to take the cheesy open deck bus tour. After my initial reservations I can definitely say we were all pleased we opted for this as it was absolutely sweltering and the amount of sights we got to see there was no way we could have covered the same ground on foot. The only downside was they didn´t really slow down for any of the sights so we had to frantically snap our cameras and hope for a decent clear shot without too many tram wires or trees in the way. The city was certianly impressive with numerous monuments, old buildings and gardens to see, much like most Spanish cities really!!

None of us were exactly a box of birds after our rough nights sleep (or lack of) so we opted for a home cooked dinner and cards at the hostel. Nico managed to clean me and Kelly out in blackjack but I then made a comeback by winning euchre. Nothing like a good game of cards to wind down after a long day!

Day 9 - Impromptu Concerts

Being a fairly small town and having seen all the sights the previous day meant we had nothing in particular to do but laze about and eat for the day. Thankfully the sun was shining so we found a pozzy on a grass slope and soaked up the rays, the only time I really moved being when I went on an iceblock mission. Living the hard life huh! Eventually I got restless and had a wander down to the old bridge running across to the new town which had impressive views back up to the old town with the cathedral being very prominent amongst the rooftops.

We´d seen a stage was being set up in Plaza Mayor and had found a program of the festival that was running in the town to see what was playing on the stage and when, discovering that it was some sort of band on at 10pm so we figured we may as well check it out, especially being free! It turned out to be a Spanish rock band and it was well worth the look as there was quite a crowd and it was good fun rocking away to a totally random concert and we were even able to sing along to some of the choruses as their lyrics were all in English.

We opted for another plaza meal once the concert was over since we´d been pleased with ours the night before and we then followed it with a drink back at a bar opposite where we had left our bags. Our hostel owner had very kindly let us leave our bags in our room until our train at 4am at no extra cost to our first nights accommodation, bless! Nico and Kelly started to fade about 2am despite the romantic couples waltzing around us and the barman bellowing out Spanish love songs, so they sloped back to the room for a quick nap.

I decided I would be better off staying awake until the train rather than napping so I spent the next hour or so wandering about the streets amongst all the students partying away. I even went into a pumping night club at one point but after being hit on by a 40 something guy I decided to give it a miss and continue my wandering about the streets instead. What an alive place at that hour, especially considering it was a weeknight, there was even one crowd playing jump-rope along to someone playing the guitar, which I was really tempted to jump in on but of course chickened out. I wad definitely pleased with choosing the not sleeping option as I loved taking in the Spanish party scene, something they certainly do well.

Eventually it was time to meet Kelly and Nico at our taxi to take us to the train station. We´d hoped for a nice flash train with decent seats to sleep the morning away but sadly we discovered upon boarding that it was not the case. Our carrriage already had three people asleep in it and the seats did not make for a comfy journey at all, the first hour or so being somewhat hellish even.

Day 8 - Thoughts of University

Avocado on toast made a perfect start to the day (even if we were without vogels bread) before making our way to Salamanca on our luxury bus. Salamanca is a beautiful university city which I immediately fell in love with, making me want to learn Spanish and go and study there with the many Americans and Spaniards that fill the uni´s roll call.

Arriving there fairly early in the day meant we were able to take in all the sights that the city had to offer in one afternoon due to its fairly small size. The Plaza Mayor is meant to be one of Spain´s most beautiful plaza´s and from what I have seen so far I would have to agree with that. Due to this we thought that what better place to have a cheesy plaza meal than there. We had to work up an appetite though so before our our legs were well and truly aching from our meandering we visited the stunning Catedral Vieja, the most breathtaking church I´ve ever set foot in and we of course had to see one of Salamanca´s compulsory sights as a tourist, the Universidad Civil with a beautiful entrance facade ornately engraved in sandstone but the compulsory part is that you have to spot the illusive frog sculpted into the facade. It is certainly tough to spot but after a few helpful hints from some American students nearby we were able to spot the wee fellow, supposedly giving ourselves endless good luck or they even say marriage within a year! Hmmm.

Our plaza drinks and meal may seem such a touristy thing to do but we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves tasting the local cuisine and beverages they had to offer, not feeling like we were being sucked into the tourist scene too much. It far surpassed our expectations and was even within budjet even so we were all more than pleased with our day and evening in the charming city of Salamanca.

Day 7 - Finishing off Madrid

Nico and I were needing our internet fix and Kelly was keen to relax so we went and did some uploading and catching up on things for a few hours. It always amazed me how easily a whole morning can be spent on the net after a period of time away from it. Especially when I have to type out this and have photos to upload and name!

Nico had discovered some markets during his wandering the day before so we went and got ourselves some veggies for lunch and dinner. I really adore markets and think that it is something NZ has a great lack of, especially considering the quality of our fresh produce. We were a bit late to get any fish before they all shut down for siesta so I´m writing this as we wait for it to reopen. I´m lying next to our wee balcony of our hostel´s room and there is warm sun shining onto me, a Spanaird across the alley is working on the refurbishment of the beautiful old apartments, I can hear a busker playing guitar in the Plaza up the street which is full of people sitting in the sun enjoying a vino and tapas, I can hear the click clack of heels on the paving stones a the Spanish women totter from store to store, I can hear the chatter and laughter of children and adults rushing by. What a combination of noises to make writing this such a pleasure. You could so easily just sit on our balcony and watch the goings on below for hours on end, especially in the evenings when even more buskers and people come out, making it that much more interesting to gaze at from above.

After our relaxing afternoon waiting for the markets to reopen Nico and decided we needed to acheive (our mother coming out in us) something with our day so we figured we´d head out to one of the only major sights we hadn´t seen yet, the Plaza de Castilla which are two leaning towers that put the leaning tower of Pisa to shame, having a lean twice that of Pisa. We were definitely pleased with ouselves for making the effort to go out there as they were certainly impressive examples of architecture. While we were out there we thought we may as well take a peek a the Real Madrid statium, something I´d never have considered pre living in the UK but you can´t help but get into the football spirit while in the northerm hemisphere.

Having acheived someting for the day and pretty much exhausted all the Madrid sights we were then happy to call it a night, ready for our next leg of travelling in the morning.

Day 6 - Madrid Tour

We decided to save ourselves some euros and flag a bus tour, instead choosing to do one of the Lonely Planet walking tours, with Nico as our guide.

First off was the Plaza Mayor, a 17th century square originally used for bull fights and executions, now a very touristy spot with cafes, bars and restaurants lining the outer edge of the square. Nico took us part many of Madrid´s historic buildings and beautiful plazas before we got to the Catedral de la Almudera, which took over a century to complete. Next to this is the Placio Real, Madrid´s royal palace with a grand total of 2,800 rooms and it is only a quarter the size of the original plan of Filpe V´s who wanted to dwarf all his European counterparts´ palaces. The palace is no longer occupied by the royal family but is still used for state occasions.

We then moved on past more beautiful gardens and churces scattered throughout the city before reaching the Egyptian temple of Debod which was built in 2nd century BC and was recued from Egypt when the area flooded and the temple was shipped stone by stone to Spain, given to them as a tribute to the Spainish engineers involved in the project.

Our last historic stop on the tour was Plaza de Espana which was originally used for military barracks but is now one of Madrid´s most popular meeting places and has an impressive stone obelisk in the centre with a statue of famous Spainish author Cervantes and another statue of a famous Spanish hero Don Quixote riding a horse alongside his sweetheart. It is quite the popular spot for tourists to take photos though as I was unable to get a clear shot of it without someone hugging one of the horses legs.

After a solid three or so hours walking - and very enjoyable way to see Madrid I must say, thanks to Nico and Lonely Planet, it was definitely boccodillo and siesta time so off to the park again we went. Ahhh holidaying rules, especially when you can follow that with an evening of vino, limo chello, beer, mojitos and of course tapas. What a great way to wind down after such an eventful day

Day 5 - Garden life

After downing our croissant an juice we lugged our packs a street over to our new hostel and set out to explore the city. Being a Sunday we thought it would be a good idea to check out the Sunday markets which is one of the musts for Madrid. It was certainly a spectacular sight with streets every which way lined with stalls and the alleys jam packed with people. I couldn´t resist buying myself a lovely leather bag as a Spain keepsake, the only problem being it stinks of cow.

Following the market we ended up spending the majority of the remainder of our day wandering through the extensive Parque del Retiro which was originally used by the royal family but it was opened to the public in 1869 and is now one of Madrid´s most popular places to go and relax, particularly on Sundays where families make a day of wandering around admiring the various monuments, statues, gardens and water features, which is exactly what we did.

While wandering the hundreds of paths that snake through the lush trees, you certainly don´t feel as though you are in Spain´s capital city. It is definitely a place you could easily spend many an hour picnicing, reading and people watching.

We´d managed to work up an appetite after our meandering so while Nico watched our laundry Kelly and I were left to prepare us a home cooked meal in order to save some euros. A drink at a pub followed by gelato was the perfect way to finish off a pleasant (and safe) day in Madrid.

Day 4 - Scary Shit

Waking up to rain meant our plans of evening up our tans on our back were dashed so instead we enjoyed a lazy morning watching Family Guy at the hostel and prepared ourselves lunch to have on our hike along the river to the bus station. The 6 hour bus trip was a breeze but our relaxing few days came to an abrupt end when we boarded the metro after reuniting with Nico.

The train stopped at a station and we could see and hear that there was something going on on the platform and then before we knew it there were people screaming and running in every direction from some crazed young Spaniards brandishing machetes, knives and belts. Suddenly a bunch of them stormed onto our carriage in pursuit of their targets, obviously some sort of gang rivals or something similar and because we´d been standing next to the doorway of the carriage the fighting started breaking out right in front of us and we were thrown against the walls from people struggling to avoid being caught up in the brawling. One of the guys whole mouth was split open from one of the machetes and was awash with blood, some of it getting wiped across Nico´s arm at one point. During the kerfuffle on the carriage Kelly had disappeared from our sight and we both began frantically trying to locate her, not sure if she was on the platform or carriage. Eventually she called out to us from the other end of the carriage and waved us to get the hell off the train. In the mean the guys with the machetes were smashing the windows on the carriage and stabbing their weapons between carriages at people trying to get away from there. We managed to run down to another carriage away from the horrifying scene but did have a close encounter with the main machete guy as he came our way waving it about but thankfully a Spanish bystander was between us trying to calm him down. Eventually things calmed down enough for the train to be able to judge it safe to go onto the next station much to our relief. Welcome to Madrid!

No, I will say that since this incident it has become quite clear that this was an uncommon event as I have not felt uncertain about my safety around the centre of town but it was just extremely unfortunate that we had to witness such a horrible scene, something I hope I never have to see ever again.Not surprisingly after having encountered the scariest incident of our lives we weren´t up for much of a night out so we just had a few tapas at a bar and wandered the old town for a while before hitting the hay. What a day!!

Day 3 - Relaxation

After horrifying ourselves by sleeping in until midday due to the extremely effective shutters, we headed straight to the beach, loaded up with fresh fruit, for some much needed sunbathing. Once our sand pillows were built we were able to comfortably watch the numerous surfers in between our naps (as if we hadn´t had enough sleep already!!

Once we´d had a touch too much sun we thought we´d better do something productive with out day so we managed to drag ourselves up to Monte Urgull, the peak boasting a 12m statue of Christ (nowhere actually explaining the reason for it being there) and the ruined Castillo de Santa Cruz, a crumbling castle surround by its original cannons.

Since we´d actually achieved something for the day we figured we were deserving of some drink and food enjoyed with our new found hostel buddies. We´d arranged to go to the dinner at Olga´s (hostel owner) husbands restaurant for what was meant to be the best Paella in town. We´d been told we would be treated like royalty and they weren´t joking. We literally had a 5 course meal which was amazing although by the time the Paella came out we were so full from the mountains of food we´d already consumed so we couldn´t really enjoy the extremely rich Spanish specialty. Nest time it´s Paella and that is it! It was definitely an experience though.

After such a filling meal Kelly and I wanted to curl up then and there and go to sleep but once back at the hostel the others weren´t having any of that so managed to drag us out for one drink. Well, it was amusing I must say, as Kelly and I started to witness the other 6 people couple up, it did mean that we were able to slip out without much of a protest from them though which was handy as we were able to stick to our one drink easily.

Day 2 - Exploration of Bilbao

The reason Bilbao isn´t much of a tourist hot spot is probably due to it not having many things to visit or see. This however, did not stop us from filling our day easily, starting with making a visit to the largest undercover markets in Europe. It was certainly a sight to behold, especially the seafood section below, once you got past the smell that is! The row of pig heads was pretty errr, interesting shall I say.

Of course we had to go and see the star tourist attraction of the city, the Guggenheim Museum. Well, it is certainly an amazing piece of architecture that is for sure. It is said to be designed like a ship or a flower (quite different descriptions aren´t they!) with a 3mm titanium facade and sits ` floating´ on a water garden beside the River Nervion. Having exhausted every outer inch of the museo and having our photo with the Puppy, a 13m high West Highland terrier that has a coat of flowers watered by an internal irrigation system, we headed up a 3 minute tram to check out the view of the city. The city sits within high, bare hills and only covers an area of about 16km which mean the lookout took in most of the terracotta roofed view easily.

Our final mission was to go back to the markets and all purchase goodies for our picnic in the park. What a feast we ended up with and a siesta in the warming sun was just what we needed before we headed off to our buses. Kelly and I farewelled Nico who was off to Madrid for his Electric Weekend concert and we headed off on our bus to San Sebastian for some beach time.

Once we´d settled into our hostel there we enjoyed a few relaxing vinos and leftover cheese and breads from our picnic before enjoying a beach sunset with some of the other travellers staying at Olga´s Hostel. Having acquainted ourselves with the other hostel goers we were invited to join them on a night out enjoying the bars San Sebastian had on offer. Kelly and I certainly enjoyed ourselves, dancing to Spanish music to the small wee hours.

San Sebastian certainly was making a good first impression on us, we just hoped that the rest of our stay would continue to impress as much as our first evening had.

Day 1 - Hello Spain!

Bilbao isn´t much of a popular tourist destination but after spending a fabulous evening and day there I have to say I´m surprised at this. Everything went pretty smoothly for us upon arrival despite it not being a particularly `tourist friendly´ airport and town, something I´ve not experienced before so was grateful to be in Nico and Kelly´s company as they´re a bit more travel savvy having travelled a bit of Europe already.

The town itself was beautiful and clean, the old town especially having loads of charm with all the narrow streets and cute apartments with garden boxes and wooden shutters lining the alleys. We managed to successfully order some tapas or as they call them in the Basque country, Pintxos. It wasn´t a particularly amazing bar but we were just pleased to be able to order food without feeling too intimidated by the staff or clientele, gesticulation certainly goes a long way. A bar hop elsewhere meant the discovery of a far superior looking spread of food across the bar and an english speaking bar tender but there is no challenge in there was to be no complaints about our original choice of bar.

Day 1 in Spain was certainly a pleasurable experience and we were all excited to see some more of Bilbao in daylight so home to our triple room we went.

Living in the Big H

After my 11 days in London I flew to Scotland and since then I've been living in a Scottish town called Haddington with my brother Nico and his girlfriend Kelly. The Royal Burgh of Haddington is about 30km out of Edinburgh and has a whopping population of 8,844 (8,845 now that I live here...!). It's actually a bit like being back home in Helensville as it has the same small town feel to it, although in all honesty it's probably caused me a few waves of homesickness as it has almost too much of a comfortable feeling to it.

Often since arriving here I'll be walking home after a days work and will be feeling like I'm back to being stuck in the daily working grind when I'll stop for a moment and just look around and wake up to the fact that here I am on the other side of the world in Scotland! Being here was something I had looked forward to for so long while back home but now that I'm settling in it becomes all to easy to forget just where I am and what I am doing here. All reasons for being here aside, getting back into work after backpacking for six weeks was still fairly difficult but the vision of Spain for a month at the end of May is making it manageable.. just.

Some highlights so far of Scotland have been:

• Reuniting with my brother and Kelly after having not seen them for a year
• Landing two weeks work at the local council where Kelly works which is 10 mins walk from home - and I am now on my fourth week there
• Going on a girls shopping trip to Glasgow for the day
• Walking about in the snow
• Girls weekend out in Edinburgh
• Getting back into baking, especially when I made my first ever batch of cupcakes
• Discovering the extensive walkways along the river and tunnels amongst the streets
• Having hot spiced cider at the local rugby 7's tournament, followed by Sangria
• Drinking out at the local pubs, especially Sunday sessions
• Meeting all the local Haddington RFC hooligans
• Cooking roasts and having yorkshire puddings for the first time

So all in all, I'm loving Scotland even if sometimes reminds me of home a bit too much for my liking and makes me miss everyone back there... But it really is a beautiful country with its rugged countryside, its gorgeous stone buildings everywhere and most importantly its hilarious and super friendly locals. A great place with great people equals great times. Great!

11 Days in London Town

Despite having had mixed reviews about London from various people, it didn't take long after arriving there for me to form my own opinion of the city and it was without doubt a positive one. I couldn't put my love for the city down to any one thing but the combination of amazing architecture, fantastic shopping, wide variety of people and the tube system are all major contributers toward me being so easily wooed by this city.

I spent 11 days in London after Thailand and I have to say I didn't actually do a lot aside from eat, shop, catch up with friends, shop and shop some more. I did manage to fit in a few of the sights like Trafalgar Square, Hyde Park, the London Tower and Tower Bridge but considering how long I was there it was quite a pitiful effort really, especially in comparison to the amount of time I spent shopping. It got to the point where I avoided leaving the house as every time I'd end up coming home with a new item of clothing. But hey, what could I do, it wasn't my fault my wardrobe needed to have some additions in order to protect me from the cold.

Over 300 languages are spoken within the city which makes it a rare occurrence to actually hear an English accent whilst wandering the bustling streets. With such a wide variety of people, it is a fantastic place to people watch and during my watching and shopping I realised why London is one of the fashion capitals of the world. A vast majority of Londoners are dressed fantastically and so they should be as there is no excuse to be dressed badly with the massive selection of clothing stores available to them.

The architecture is truly amazing. No matter how many photos or movies you see of the place prior to arriving, nothing can really prepare you for the magnificence of the city when you're standing amongst all the buildings. I think coming from such a "new" country like New Zealand makes it all the more amazing, with many of the buildings in London being older than our home country.

I made use of the tubes as soon as I stepped off the plane, getting the express into Paddington. Being from NZ, where the public transport is in all honesty, piss poor, going on the tube was a real novelty and it being so easy to use made it all the more fun. I loved blending into the crowds on the underground by being able to swipe my oyster card, keeping to the right of the escalators (or looking like I had somewhere important to be and racing up on the left!) and getting on at the front or back in order to avoid the hordes of tourists that jump on in the middle. What a loser I am.

Obviously catching up with friends was a major highlight of my time in London. I was lucky enough to be able to spread myself between three friends houses and was very grateful of my gracious hosts. As much as I love my month of solo travel, it was nice to be able to hang out with people who actually knew me so I didn't have to do the whole spell out my name thing or get the usual blank look when telling people I was a Loans Analyst or listen to any "I have an Aunty that lives in NZ" stories.

So all in all, I loved London and I'm really looking forward to moving there in a few months. Not that I'm wanting to rush my time in Scotland or Spain of course, but I do think I'm going to enjoy immersing myself into London life, provided I don't find it too difficult to find a perfectly romantic location for a flat, you know right by Hyde Park.. and of course a job that will sponsor so me I can stay in the UK for longer than my 2 year visa. Easy peasy, right?