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