A few pictures.

i - View from Cerbere Train Station, probably not a great picture, but it looked good at the time
ii - Me in the Valencian bullring
iii - Sagrada Familia, Barcelona. The scale of it was staggering and it seemed almost alien
iv - Another shot
v - You can just about see it here, in the centre, if you squint / zoom in (my camera is shitty poo for distant landscapes
vi - Guadi lizard, Barcelona. This was a brief moment someone wasn't sat on it


I'll post more when I can figure out why the pictures aren't showing up!

Barcelona

This should probably be before the Baden-Baden post, but nevermind...

Barcelona was good. I was there for 3 nights - 2 in a god-awful, but nicely located Hostelling International Hostel (INOut Hostel) and for the other night; one close to Placa Catalunya, which was infinitely better (HostelOne Sants).

I wasted most of my first day pretty much, as I developed a bout of hayfever at some point on the journey there. It was something of a miracle that I found my way out of the train station at all, giving that every minute or 2 I was sneezing. I think maybe people thought I had Swine Flu (sorry pig farmers, H1n1 virus?) so they may well have cleared a path for me as I staggered toward them.

At the first hostel, I met the shortish Scottish guy, Nick, after getting off the tram, just I was wondering how the heck I was going to get to the other side of the gate.

He lived inbetween Edinburgh and Glasgow. He was well into his 'fitbah' and I could understand a total of 3 words he said. He was nice enough though, and showed me a decent shortcut upto the hostel, which is bang next to a National Park, cutting out half of the distance of the hill we had to climb.

After a healthy late afternoon kip my hayfever had pretty much cleared up. So after talking to a couple of Australian girls, who were in my dorm, and apologising for the eye-bleeding stench coming from my shoes and socks, I reared my head.

I had some of the food on offer from the restaurant, owned by the hostel. It tasted like microwaved swill, but it filled a hole. I had a pretend Paella followed by some soggy burgers, lacking any kind of flavour for a reasonable-but-not-that-reasonable 6,50.

It was pretty late by the time I'd finished and was pretty dark, so I read a little and went to sleep. That was until the larger of the 2 Australian girls began to shake the room with her snoring.


On my second day I took the plunge and went on one of those double-decker tourist buses (Barcelona Turistica). I got the 2-day pass (hop on and off as many times as you want) for 28Euro, when the 1-day pass was 21. I was up at 8ish, had a designated plate of food from the Hostel kitchen (a dried up croissant, some bread, jam and foul coffee) then headed to Placa Catalunya.

The bus-tour was pretty good, informative and interesting. The English voice sounded like someone familiar, a Keith Floyd-type or one of those famous TV historians. I was glad to have got on the bus once it got going, as the sights in Barcelona are quite sparsely spread out, so I would've done myself an injury if I attempted to walk all of the distance.

On the bus, I was once again beginning to wonder why people would take pictures of every single thing, seemingly without processing what they were seeing. I was happy to let the passing sights sink in on my first run, and paid attention to the history being pumped into my ear.

I was on the buses for most of the day. Even got a little bit of sunburn, as usually I am walking and hopping from shade to shade, but on the bus I was pretty exposed. I can just hear my Mother tutting.

If you have heard anything about the pickpocketing in Barcelona, it is absolutely true. I was fortunate in that I haven't lost anything.. yet, but I certainly noticed some dodginess. There were a couple of potential situtions (that sounds official) or maybe I was just being overly-paranoid.

Both times, I was in the Metro, so be sure to be alert when/if you head there. The first time, it was a group of kids (always kids, as far as i could tell), maybe 5, on bicycles. They started to circle me a bit as I was starting to look a little lost... again, probably nothing, probably just my mind playing tricks. I got out of that one by going down some stairs - imagine that!

The second time, it was more obvious. I was walking down one of those tight tunnels they have in the Metro and a group were walking towards me. Both my hands were full with shopping bags at this point. As I was walking towards them, the guy on my side casually lowers his hand to his side and tried to check my side pocket. I was quite aware of this as it happened, and wanted to smack the guy afterwards, but as I say... I wasn't 100% whether it happened or not!

HostelOne Sants, for my final night's stay in Barcelona was really good. It was also remarkably easy to find from the Metro stop. I wasn't there much on my 3rd day, as I was busy using my last day on the bus tour, but on check-out day I hung around until 3pm-ish.

The guy on reception was cool, as were the other guests floating around. I played a guy's guitar and he gave me ideas for improvising in alternate tunings. I'm also thinking of buying an acoustic guitar for when I head to Australia, come October, as I will be there for so long.

At first, I thought of going to Marseilles, but ended up going towards Cerbere. I arrived there at 8pm, then, looking at the Departures board, I decided to head to Paris d'Austerlitz, just because I couldn't be bothered looking for accommodation.

From Paris I headed to Baden-Baden.

Just a quick one..

Well...

Since Valencia there was 3 days in Barcelona, 1 night in Baden-Baden, Germany (next to / in the Black Forest). After that it was Berlin for 2 nights, then Warsaw, Poland... then Krakov for 2 nights.

I've discovered that the 3 months I was going to spend in Western Europe, was actually far too much time and that I was eager for some uncharted territory, so begun my meandering to Central Europe.

Baden-Baden was a quaint little town, surround by trees and lots of expensive hotels. It was a Wednesday evening when I arrived, so there was little opportunity / energy to do much.

As I was arriving without prior accommodation plans and the Tourist Information Office was just closed, I headed towards the signs with pictures of beds on them. Eventually it became apparent that I was getting lost, so I asked the first guy to pass for directions.

This turned out to be Euger (Yooger), the old building restorer with the carefully crafted handlebar moustache, that was thick in the middle, and spiralled into thinner extremities at either end. He was really considerate and a great start insofar as my meeting of a German local.

So we went to his car, where he had a map, and he found that the nearest Youth Hostel was at the other end of town, so low and behold he tells me to get in the car and he gives me a lift! Awesome luck! I could tell straight away he wasn't the stabbing / axe-murderer type, just by the way he giggled to himself when he'd say something in English.

So he was nice enough to take me to the hostel, which, even though a Hostelling International Hostel, I was gladly willing to settle for - it was comfortable enough and I'd been travelling all day pretty much. I put my stuff away, attempted a cold-water shave and went off for a couple of beers.

That evening I got to know my sole roomate, Bob, a bit, and the next morning I let him drive me around a bit. We eventually got to a castle on the hill and then he drove me to the train station.

He was the youngest 47 year old I'd ever met, from Colorado. He had been laid off from IBM and was working freelance for computer / administration companies (at least I think he was, may have just forgotten and be making stuff up).

Earlier in the morning he showed me some fascinating, yet incomprehendable pictures of the 3rd fastest computer in the world from his webspace, after I'd booked a hostel bed in Berlin and found out train times. It also turned out he was friends with a few members from some Metal bands I know, which was cool.


I've spent 8hours or so on trains today to get to Prague and just had a nice meal in a little, local place around the corner from my hostel. Unfortunately I'm quite tired now, so going to cut this post a little short, but don't worry! There will be another not too far away!

Valencia

2 posts in one day shock.

This city (3rd biggest in Spain, apparently) is pretty damn nice. Kinda regretting booking a hostel in Barcelona for tomorrow now..

I´ve been doing my usual walking until I can barely stand again today. I didn´t quite manage to get a glimpse of the apparent ´real´ Holy Grail, but certainly saw plenty of other things.

For one there was the Mercado Central (central market). You can discount all previous statements made about bustling markets... this one tops them all. The place is a permanent fixture by the look of it, looks like an old church - pictures to follow at some point.

There was everything imaginable (maybe more) under that roof, anything that walked or flew over the ground or grew in it. Quite an overwhelming place and another thing I would´ve taken more advantage of if i were staying here longer. As you walked in one entrance it was a challenge to find it again, without going out of another door, walking around the building, and going in again.

Another place I took a look around was Valencia´s bullring, right next to the train station. As I missed the last opportunity to see a genuine bullfight in Seville by a day, I was taking what I could get. What I got was a free tour of the bullring, with just 2 other people. It was ok, a little underwhelming as you´d imagine.. was missing a big four-legged animal with huge horns..., but it killed a few minutes.

Next I went over to the Cathedral, each Spanish town seems to have a few hundred each. This one had a huge display of the Virgin Mary inside though, almost a moving sight, were it not for my Religious (lack of) persuasion. Lots of the people sitting infront of it were drawing crosses on themselves and saying a quiet prayer. I didn´t take any pictures as I didn´t want to be disrespectful, it was clearly a very spiritually significant place.

Now after my all-day trundel who should be in the same dorm room as me, but my childhood friend, Jenny! Couldn´t believe the coincidence here. Was really good to see a face from home, and forced me to look back on my accomplishments so far. After my late notice attempt at a meeting in Madrid, this was really cool and unexpected. Going to go for Tapas later.

Train to Barcelona at 10 in the morning.



i - The Valencian bullring, bang next door to the train station. Complete with various stalls in the outer walls
ii - The Mercado Central, didn´t take any photos inside, would´ve felt a right apricot
iii - Impressive display on the wall of the Plaze de La Virgen. I´ve been told it´s made out of flowers or something?¿
iv - Sevillian train station view, about 8pmish
v - One of many views of the Granadian landscape
vi - A perfect example of the spiralling streets hugging onto the hills. Granada again.
vii - ix - Amazing graffiti along the river in Seville.
x - Some paella pans in Valencia, with an old man as a scale guide

One Month point

Hi hi

I arrived at Valencia this morning at a brutal 5:30 in the morning and have just settled into today´s hostel with some free coffee and free internet.

First off, Granada was probably the most beautiful place I´ve been to so far (Porto is trailing behind a bit now)... got some amazing pictures of the valley, the Alhambra, Sierra Nevada, etc, that I´ll upload in due course.

I stayed in a very quiet, very cheap hostel that was more like a guesthouse. There were two others there - Tzvi, the Israel-born Californian and Dennis the Australian dude, who´s lived in London for a year.

Very laid back and was just what I needed. Some awesome views were waiting for me from the square near the hostel as its right atop a hill, across from the Alhambra. Because of this it was a little touristey around the place - tour groups wandering around and such (one guide sounded like Borat "and here we see the Alhambra - is nice") and the Menu del Dias weren´t amazing. There were also good parts to this - the Gypsies playing Flamenco guitar at most points throughout the day in the square and selling handmade trinkets to people.

I´m now at the point where I definitely feel superior to these tour groups flocking past. Tzvi made a good point. He hasn´t brought a camera on his trip and thinks that you take your surroundings in as memories more if you don´t photograph everything. What the people in these tour groups tend to do is spend more time taking pictures, than letting it sink in. I think I´m in the middle somewhere, I´ve taken some 400ish photos so far - not bad I think, for 1 month´s travel.

Another point floating around, was that its best to enjoy the view (or whatever) first, then take a picture, rather than the other way around. The tendency can be to just walk upto something and snap away, rather than taking time to fully appreciate it first.

Well, my first day in Granada Tzvi, Dennis and Vlad (he was only there for that night) went for a walk up a hill and looked at some Gypsy caves and took loads of pictures of the landscape - was a laugh. I was even tempted to have a little hash, that Dennis had bought, that smelt of ass. We then wandered off for some Tapas.

Next day was the Alhambra. I didn´t manage to go the back way, as I couldn´t decipher the map enough. Still enjoyed it though... but I don´t know if I enjoyed the building more, or the views. Not that it matters.

Those 4 days went far too quickly anyway, but I was glad I found the hostel.

As for Valencia, I´m only just waking up now from the train journey... didn´t scrape together much sleep, so I´ve not seen much yet. Hell, its only just gone 9. Anywho I´ve read Paella is meant to be the very best around here. Also, that the Holy Grail is kept in a museum nearby, the only one recognised by the Vatican, will try and check that out. Aside from that I reckon I´m only going to stay here the one night, then head straight to Barcelona.

I´m now reading Catch-22, and am stuck lugging 2 books around...

No more pictures yet, folks.

Seville

Yo. At The Ole Hostel today, which, luckily enough, has internet that doesn´t time out every 3 seconds.

Seville is incredibly hot. The sun just relentlessly pounds into you. It caught me a little off guard at first and I was getting a little light headed, but then I was fine when I started to up my water intake. Yeah, I know.. rule #1 of hot weather.

As you walk around the place you are almost fighting for shade space with other walkers. Going from the sunlight to shade, seems like you´ve just taken off a winter coat. Its 34c consistently. I have no idea how I will cope when I get to the Australian fruit fields.

Earlier on in my Spanish expeditions I wasn´t too fussed about the need to siesta come 2-5´o clock, but since arriving in Seville yesterday its becoming more and more appealing. It is near impossible to do anything really, other than crawl around in the shade (if you´re full of energy) or just have a big kip.

Last night´s hostel was ok - it was in an old building in the middle of a bustling town centre, with original banisters and such and from the ground floor you could see through to the roof (up 3 floors). It was just a shame the facilities were a little dire - no kitchen, no common room, etc.

I went out for drinks with a group of people from the hostel. Some Australians, Irish, Canadians, and a South African too. We attempted to get to a flamenco night, but after circling around for about 45 mins we completely missed the show. In the end we just hung around another bar until it closed, which happened to have music - a guy on guitar and another clapping. There was also a guy in a pink shirt dancing around, it was fun to watch.


So today I managed to book 4 nights accommodation in Granada for 44€ and have booked a ticket to see the Alhambra on Monday evening for 13€, cant wait! I´m going to take Michael, the Irish guy´s advice, and approach it from behind via the river. His theory was that you will enjoy it much more if you leave the best part until last, and don´t go the same way as everyone else.

Aside from that, so far today I have done very little, but, as explained earlier, thats the way to go. I will get some food to cook with later on.

I´ve been taking advantage of the Menu del Dias (fixed menu of the day) too much recently... they´re just so good! Yesterday afternoon´s one was only 7€ aswell. I looked at the main place in my guidebook and it looked a little overpriced, so wandered around a bit and stumbled on the little bar / restaurant that must rarely see any kind of tourist.

There were just 3 people in the place. There was the guy leaning against the bar, the bartender and a man spending too much money on a slot machine, going back and forth to the bar to get more change. They didn´t seem to mind my intrusion though and didn´t feel the need to give the prolonged staring you sometimes get.

I had a fish paella (beautiful), another plate of some small, breadcrumbed fish that tasted a little of cod and some bread and wine. Just as I was finishing the second course the guy on the slot machine won and there was some brief, quiet joy. I got the impression this was just a typical day round here.

I finished For Whom the Bell Tolls (really great book, sad ending) and am now reading The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. It was quite a challenge to find a bookshop that had more than Danielle Steele books in English, but I eventually found one with Sam the Lahndaner in Madrid.

Some more pictures:



i - The cathedral in Seville, stunning
ii - Duff beer! Was actually pretty nice. Made in Spain.
iii - Some of the guys I camped with at the SWR festival, Barroselas, north of Porto (Nunu "Fish" at the back, "Fatal" infront of him, and Mendez in the bottom right). All safe as fuck.
iv - Pont Luis, Porto... I have far too many pictures of this bridge
v - This is along Alemeda de Hercules, Seville
vi - Another shot of the cathedral in Seville

Day 21

Well the festival was awesome. It was a quite low-key, underground affair.. around 1500 people, but still seemed v. organised. I half knew 2 bands, but loved pretty much all that i saw... i cannot recall them at this stage as much beer and absinthe was consumed throughout the 3 days.

I got to know 5 portuguese guys who i camped with (10€ tent which i gave to one of them at the end). They called me "English Man", which cracked me up more times than youd imagine and the drunker they got the more they wanted to test their "eengles".

Beer was ridiculously cheap aswell, just 1€ for slightly less than a pint, so i may well make a point of going again in a couple of years.


Moving on.. Ive been in Madrid for a couple of days now and Ill be heading to Seville tomorrow to use my last dayś travel.

I havent really explored much of Madrid, just around the Sol area. Even so Ive spent some time with people from the hostel and had a really good couple of days. It was my first time trying tapas - free plates of food with each beer, awesome.

Anyway, excuse the rush job on this post... ive got 3mins left and i have to pay for the internet in this hostel - bah. Ill see how the hostel in Seville is.