‘Siesta-ing’ in Seville

It’s finally reached December and we’ve been listening to all the Christmas songs on our mp3 players. Unfortunately the list isn’t long enough so we’ve been getting quite a few repeats. The other good news is that the Christmas lights are finally on in all the towns we’re visiting and it really makes the nights beautiful.

Arriving in Seville

It had been a long break between laundry stops – since there weren’t the helpful African washing ladies to do all my work – and the clothes situation was getting quite dire. We cranked up the heating in our Seville apartment (final washing place before Australia) and with some fantastic help got through all the washing. We couldn’t hang any clothes on the balconies (since we were in such a prime location) so the house looked like a walk-in wardrobe.  

While the washing was finalising had a very Spanish siesta – then to complete the Spanish cultural experience went out to (by Australian standards) a late dinner. It would be a shock if we weren’t the first people in a restaurant! We even wait till after 9pm and they’re still empty.

Sleep in

We had the full day in Seville and didn’t set a wake-up time. Big mistake. I glanced over at my watch and saw it was 11am. The most surprising thing was due to our fantastic location just near the cathedral it was massively noisy and I’d actually slept. Every morning at 9am the cathedral bells rang for about 20 minutes – this was the biggest complaint on tripadvisor about the apartment. Had brunch and headed out into the city for some more sightseeing.

Seville Sightseeing

Since we were so very close to this cathedral– certainly had to visit. Thought we were only going to have to walk about 20 metres to the door but of course we were on the wrong side. Finally found the right entrance we went into another massive religious complex. Again it had amazing artwork and massive ceilings. For some strange reason there were some student protestors camped inside the main cathedral – but since it was so large they were taking up only a tiny percentage of the whole space. At least they were quiet – some complaint about them not having work or something. Don’t know why protesting to the tourists was going to help them but at least they were in a visible place.

Another cool tomb – just amazing how history lessons come rushing back…

(Tomb of Columbus)

We climbed up another tower – this one with ramps rather than stairs which was a nice change. Great view over the city and being up in the clock tower while the bells were ringing was certainly a noisy experience. One poor kid nearly jumped out of his skin.

Our next place to visit was the famous gardens and palace. However we were stopped from actually entering the grounds since the Spanish head of state was visiting. Don’t know who that is but our bet was they were there to watch the Davis Cup Final against Argentina.  After circumnavigating the gardens and trying to find an entrance with no luck we ended up back at our apartment for a late lunch.

Lunch on Terrace

Our accommodation was typical for this trip so far – central and high quality. Quite a step up from African camping. We made our own lunch and got to eat it with this view from our own terrace – pretty special…

(View from Terrace towards Cathedral)

Had time for another siesta – loved it.

Flamenco Concert

We got to experience another cultural delight – going to a Flamenco concert in the Seville Cultural Centre. Had an amazing guitar player with a male singer who had the weirdest facial expressions I’d ever seen. There were a couple of young kids who struggled to keep a straight face through his performances – some of the adults had to stifle a laugh as well.

The first guy dancer was amazing – his legs flew and feet stomped while his chest stayed so still. Had amazing posture and a very serious look. The lady dancer was more of what I was expecting and she didn’t disappoint. Was a fantastic night’s entertainment and short enough to leave you wanting more. They even had time at the end where you could take photos but the light (or lack thereof) ruined all my photos.

Christmas Lights

Headed out to wander the streets and admire the lights. Was going really well until they all switched off around 10pm. Was a bit strange and we walked past some council workers fiddling with some lights up some ladders. Think they may have broken some or were madly trying to fix them – very disappointing. Managed to get some photos on our walk to the river and back.

(Tower and Lights)

We slept badly that night (boy the Spanish can make some noise – partygoers then the cleaners early in the morning) and packed our bags in the morning to leave Spain.

Lisbon with a Local

As mentioned previously there was a friend from the African trip who comes from Lisbon. She had imparted a massive amount of wisdom about what to see and do in Portugal and we had organised to meet her for dinner on our 2^nd evening in Lisbon. Even more impressively, she had somehow convinced a friend of hers who was also on holidays to be our guide for the day in Lisbon. We had unfortunately not completely organised the meet-up; with our infrequent access to internet it was all a bit haphazard. 

Whirlwind Tour of Lisbon

We had a meeting place in the city (near a McDonalds – the universal meeting place around the world) and a time but no idea what he looked like. (and as we found out later – he had no idea what we looked like…) The only clue was he was going to wear some distinctive socks. Was a bit awkward staring at random people trying to find the ‘friend of a friend’ – some people were sure they knew where he’d gone and took off in the wrong direction. Then out of the corner of my eye I saw a guy stop, lift up his socks (which were the correct red and white strips) and then walk towards us. After the somewhat awkward swapping of names we realised later how lucky we were to have such a fantastic guide to help us for the day. There was no way we would have learnt so much, seen so many different things and enjoyed the day as much if it wasn’t for him.

In a very basic sense, Lisbon is situated on a massive river between two hills. To get up the first one we caught this elevator to the old town. Situated right in the middle of the low section between the hills it saved quite a lot of huffing and puffing and had a fantastic view from the top.

(Lisbon elevator)

We wandered to quite a few squares – including one of the main ones involved in Portugal’s Carnation Revolution. The Portuguese overthrew a dictator without a shot being fired. Some fantastic photos floating around of demonstrators placing flowers in the barrels of the soldier’s guns. Headed to a couple of fantastic viewing areas over the town as well as going to oldest Bookshop in the world according to Guinness Book of Records.  Bought an English book from there as a souvenir. 

(view towards castle over Lisbon)

Our first food/drink stop was an old-school café with a statue of a famous Portuguese poet out the front pondering the actions of the crowd. Had to get the tacky tourist photo…

(Pessoa – Portuguese poet)

We managed to use nearly every kind of transport available in Lisbon in the one day (I counted 5 at least). Unfortunately we didn’t catch the ferry across the river but we did catch the funicular towards the aptly named downtown. Crossing the valley between the hills we stopped for lunch at only a place the locals would know about. It was hidden down a corridor off the main touristy bits but we had an amazing fish dish. The Portuguese certainly like their olive oil and so glad we had our friend to order for us. The chocolate mousse was also the best I’ve had so far this trip – so rich and incredible.  

After this huge meal we caught a tram (another mode of transport) up the other hill to the castle. My balance isn’t that great at the best of times and after too much fish and dessert I was feeling a bit bloated. The tram wasn’t the most stable platform to stand on and I was grimly holding the handrail as we shuddered our way up the mountain. It was going well enough until an old man wanted to walk past me and I had to let go of my hand grip. At that exact moment the tram lurched and I went flying towards the back.

The tram was reasonably full and I launched towards a young teenager who was blissfully listening to his ipod. To avoid a painful incident I somehow twisted in mid-air so I smashed my hip into the railing between people instead of getting up close and personal with that poor guy. Obviously I made a fool of myself, and my so-called friends stood there laughing hysterically. I think the teenager thought I was on drugs or something… 

We finally reached the castle without any further incidents and enjoyed another Portuguese castle with limited barriers. Had an amazing view but the camera struggled a bit with the direct sunset.

(view from castle towards ‘Golden Gate’ Bridge)

It had been a fairly gruelling day so we retired to our hotel to refresh before meeting up my Portuguese friend for dinner. We’ve been slowly getting used to how late everyone eats around here and Portugal is nearly worse than Spain. We arrived at the restaurant a bit before 9pm and we were the first group there. Another great meal (but desserts weren’t my favourite – they like their eggs) and so easy when you had locals ordering.

As is usual for this part of the world – we finished dinner very late and went back to a look-out to see Lisbon all lit up. Another beautiful city which just lights up at night. Our local friends then took us to a Fado concert. Fado is a very Portuguese style of music and is very serious. It’s unlike anything I’ve heard and was very moving – even not understanding the lyrics. The performance was in an intimate restaurant and one of the female singers was just fantastic. A superb experience only made possible with the help of our friends.  

Drive to Albufeira

Our 2^nd and final stop in Portugal was a beachside town of Albufeira. My Portuguese friend holidays here over summer but warned that it might be a bit dead near winter.

We’d unfortunately run out of time on our Lisbon day so had to fit in the monastery as we left Lisbon. Nothing too amazing about the monastery but it did have the tomb of da Gama – one of Portugal’s amazing explorers (pretty sure he was the first to go around the Cape of Good Hope.)

(tomb of Vasco da Gama)

By the river near the monastery was another famous landmark called the tower of Belem. A fortress to protect the town from invasion from the direction of the river it was built just before a major earthquake. When the earthquake hit the river was diverted so it’s now lapping up against the edge of the tower, rather than being a bit of distance from it. It was also a public holiday so we were able to enter the tower for free.

(Tower of Belem)

One of the final recommendations we’d received from our Lisbon experts was to try some Portuguese tarts at one of the oldest patisseries in this part of the world. The custard tarts were amazing and well worth lining up for. We drove down the coast to what we thought was the most western point of Europe but got mixed up and should have gone to one near Sintra a couple of days before. Still amazing coastline to look at.

After arriving at the hotel (where it felt like we were the only guests) we ventured out into the pretty dead town – need to come back here to experience during Summer. Not much to see at night and we left early since we desperately needed to get to Seville (where we had an apartment again) and do some washing. Was getting very low on the clean clothes front…

Circumnavigating the Iberian Peninsula

For the remainder of my time in Europe I’m going to be travelling through Spain and Portugal. After leaving France, we’re looping around the peninsula in an anti-clockwise direction, even going right down to Gibraltar. (And maybe cross back into Africa if we can get organised) 

Driving to Salamanca

Our first stop after France for lunch was Burgos. Famous for being the 3^rd largest cathedral in Spain we visited on the Sunday so parts were shut to us due to them holding mass.

(Burgos Cathedral)

Had a fairly unimpressive meal – restaurant had multiple language menus, photos of the dishes and was close to a major tourist landmark so wasn’t expecting much.  

 Studying Salamanca

We had two nights in Salamanca in a fantastic hotel which was a converted convent. Situated right in the old town we faced our first taste of true European winter. Even had to resort to using my scarf. Salamanca is one of the oldest university towns in the world with a really interesting old city to wander through.

We visited the old university (somehow snuck into it through a side door without paying an entrance fee) and a couple of old cathedrals. We went looking for the old chapel connected to the newer cathedral and accidentally ended up buying tickets to climb the tower. Bit of a shock to the group but were really lucky in that we got an amazing view from the balcony of a massive cathedral. Unfortunately in the morning there was plenty of fog so the photos of the skyline didn’t turn out fantastically well.

Had a siesta that afternoon before venturing out into the cold for dinner – late again as usual for around here. Don’t want to go anywhere for dinner before 8pm since it won’t be open…

(Plaza Mayor – Heart of Salamanca) 

Into Portugal

My 2^nd new country for this trip and one I was really looking forward to. First stop was the town of Bathala where we saw another cathedral… Had a monastery connected with a tomb of an unknown soldier. The tomb was guarded by two army men who were standing at attention. Wouldn’t have been the most exciting job.

(Bathala cathedral and statue)

Our 2^nd stop in Portugal was a drive through visit of Obidos – we were pushing to get to Sintra so didn’t spent long here. Had some fantastic castle walls but would have wasted too much of the short time we were able to spend in Portugal.

Sensational Sintra  

Our ultimate aim for the day was Sintra – one of the people on the African trip was from Portugal and she had said Sintra was a place you just couldn’t miss. Situated on massive hills (as all of Portugal is it seems) there are some amazing palaces and castles.

Our first stop was the Castel dos Mouros. One thing I really enjoyed in Portugal was the lack of OHS in their castles. You could climb all over the ramparts and there wasn’t a safety barrier in sight. Wouldn’t want to take some school kids on excursion here though – couldn’t imagine filling in the safety forms with all the possible dangers. It was a fairly large complex – still in ruins – and a decent climb to the highest point of the defences. The castle had amazing views and looked up towards another highlight of the trip so far.

(Ramparts and Portuguese flag)

The Palacio de Pena has turned into one of the fantasy-like castles – it has been fairly recently built on top of an old monastery. Painted with some bright colours and was fantastic for photo opportunities and interesting stories about the royalty of Portugal.

(Palacio de Pena)

The palace was situated at the highest point looking over Sintra towards the ocean. Wandered around the ramparts and got this great photo looking down to the castle we’d just climbed over. You can see how relaxed the Portuguese are with safety – quite a drop over the edge.

(photo from Pena looking over castelo)

Luckily there was a small bus which took us from the car park to the top of the mountain – another great 2 euros spent. It was also evident that it’s not peak season – having nearly the whole area to yourself is very nice.

We continued driving and reached Lisbon late at night. Had a weird elevator car-park which didn’t leave much room for our people mover to fit into. Would be terrible if you got stuck in that elevator or had any kind of claustrophobia.

Heading off to see as much of Lisbon as possible tomorrow – have hopefully organised a Portuguese guide for the day – should be fun!

Bordering on the Edge of the Pyrenees

It’s very interesting to see the differences between countries. Basic things like how much nicer the bread/baguettes in France are compared to Spain, but also how friendly Spanish people on average are compared to the French. It’s somewhat obvious how stereotypes appear when you’re travelling.

Border Crossing Uno

After leaving Carcassonne we crossed the border into Spain (unfortunately not a new country for the count) and stopped for lunch at Girona. Again went and saw the local cathedral which had the widest Gothic nave in the world and only St Peter’s Basilica is wider in the whole world. Very impressive structure.

Barcelona Redux

Trusting our Nav-man 'Claude' in getting us to the hotel (after playing the Barcelona song as we drove in) we dropped our bags in another fantastic hotel and headed off in the afternoon by metro to the Sagrada Familia. A refresher course – this is Gaudi’s still unfinished cathedral which has been officially opened and classed as a basilica. I’d already been here on my previous visit to Barcelona but this time actually went inside – and I can’t recommend it enough for those sick of cathedrals. It’s totally different and light and airy.

(view along central aisle)

We didn’t have long so had to rush through the museum and unfortunately the lifts to the top had already closed but our hotel had a complete 360 degree view around Barcelona so didn’t feel too hard done by. Caught the metro back to the old city – visited Barcelona’s old cathedral for free (back to the usual architecture) and walked to our hotel.

We used tripadvisor to find a vegetarian restaurant since a few of our group were sick of fish from France and found this fantastic place. Had a degustation tasting menu with 8 or so courses and they were superb. It was so good we returned the next night where I made a bit of a mistake. For dessert I ordered a sweet potato, chocolate and nougat ice-cream. I assumed the ingredients would be mixed somehow into some type of ice-cream which would have had an interesting taste. However what came out was a cooked sweet potato, drizzled in chocolate with some tiny scoops of ice-cream on top. That’s my fault for misunderstanding the commas in the menu.

Our full day in Barcelona dawned with fantastic sunshine (think Barcelona is one of my Top 5 Cities in the World) and we caught the funicular up to the Olympic Hill with the Stadium. Again something I’d already done but it was great seeing the view again. We then trekked down the hill a bit and caught the cable-car over to the beach. Nearly caught the one that headed up to the castle but just managed to avoid the slightly expensive detour. The cable car was fantastic with a superb view over the city. Saw the beach (with some keen surfers all in wetsuits) and caught the bus back to La Ramblas for a late lunch.

I had to do some shopping since I only had one decent pair of long pants left after the African adventure. Ducked into a few shops and finally found some reasonably priced jeans and were beginning to find the right size when a helpful shop attendant came over to assist. With some halting English on his part and me not even trying my woeful Spanish we tried to work out what size I was. I said 32-34 (which I think is about right in Australia) but he was shocked. I was definitely at least a 42 according to him. Didn’t think I had put on that amount of weight even though I have been eating very well and not really exercising at all. Seems Europe measures something completely different and still don’t fully understand what they measure but after a fair amount of trial and error (and some jeans that wouldn’t have fit me since I was in Year 9) found some suitable attire for the rest of the trip.

We left Barcelona very early the next morning because we had to get to the west coast of France and we had a little bit of a detour on the way.

Andorra

To colour in another puzzle piece (albeit a very tiny one) of the world map we chose to head through Andorra as we crossed back into France. Had been watching the snow reports to make sure the passes were still open and we were still in luck with this very mild autumn/winter. Still some amazing horizons and again just totally different to my time in Africa.

(snow)

Border Crossing Trois

We arrived on the south-west coast of France in the dark at a place called St Jean de Luz. Another nice hotel with amazingly friendly staff. Must be the Basque blood in them. This village is very close to the Spanish border and also very close to Biarritz. Biarritz would be known to those who follow surfing as it’s the place where the serious French surfing competitions occur. We spent the morning basking in the sun around St Jean de Luz and walked around a promontory on the Atlantic Ocean. Was thinking about how many of the world’s oceans I have swum in? Don’t think I’ve actually swum in the Atlantic but it looked pretty cold and I’m not that committed…

(back towards Atlantic Ocean)

After a drive around the countryside (and finding a train to the top of a mountain being hit with curse of November) we arrived in Biarritz. Found a great place to watch the sunset with a lighthouse (which was duly climbed of course) and had to rug up due to the falling temperatures. It seems the cold of a European winter is finally reaching us. After wandering around in at most a lightweight jacket for the trip so far was a bit of a shock having to pull out the London winter jacket.

(Biarritz Coast Sunset)

Had a reasonably nice meal and thought we’d be lucky and hear a jazz band since they were setting up but after waiting for around 2 hours we only heard one song before they headed off somewhere… Spent the last night in France for who knows how long for me as we now head into Spain. (Which makes it Border Crossing Quatro)