Scuba Sven

From San Francisco, embarking on 2 month europe trip. Tenative plans are Eastern europe for 12 days or so. Then Sienna for a horse race for a couple days. Then Southern Spain and Portugal for 3 weeks or so. Lastly meet a friend in Germany for Oktoberfest and then fly out of Budapest. Inbetween Germany and Spain I might want to see Switzerland, do know yet- not sure if I'll have enough time.

Things I would like to do;
- In Kiev, visit Chernobyl, shoot an RPG and machine gun and drive a tank
- Siena: Go to Palio dell'Assunta
- Spain: Go to tomatina
- Portugal: visit Porto, and Lagos
- Germany: Oktoberfest
- Switzerland: lucerne
- France: fly over sword, utah and juno beaches (normandy D-day) in a small plane (probably wont happen on this trip)
- Hungary: Go to a bath or 2 in budapest
- Austria: go schnap tasting in salzeberg

La tomatina

Europe » Spain » Valencian Community » Valencia October 30th 2011

Scuba Sven

La Tomatina I had a long rough night the night before, but I get back to my hotel and ask for a 6am wake up call, then decide to have a backup wakeup call at 7am (thank god). I get my 6am wakeup call and know I need another hour so I hang up and go back to sleep. Well I did not put the phone back correctly in my 4 hour sleep stupor, so I get a personal wakeup call from the bellhop banging my door and opening it. Thank goodness for him otherwise I would have missed out on the largest food fight in the world. I throw on my bathing suit, some house shoes and a towel for my shirt (I cut a hole in middle and made it a poncho) I proceed ... read more

Packaging is a little different in Vienna

Europe » Austria » Vienna September 14th 2011

Scuba Sven

Packaging is a little different in Vienna I went to the grocery store looking for some water. While there I saw 3 things that were odd; - Redbull being sold in a glass bottle - Coke being sold in a .5 litter can, looks like a 22 oz - 2 litter of beer being sold in a plastic container, like a big bottle of water. And it was cheap beer only $1.75 for the 2 litters.... read more

I got into Porto Late

Europe » Portugal » Northern » Porto September 8th 2011

Scuba Sven

I got into Porto late. With a Reservation? Nope I get into Porto late, hungry and no idea where to stay or where to go. I take the metro from the airport to what I think is the right way. 45 mins later I get off on a random stop in what I can best guess is the city center. 2 other backpackers get off and ask me if I have a place to stay. One of them does, the other does not. So we wander around for over 10 minutes trying to find a place that was only 4 blocks away. Turns out it was full but they let me use there wifi to find a place for myself. There was a place open with a vacancy another 4 blocks away and this trip took ... read more

Seville part 2… Seville is ssspecial

Europe » Spain » Andalusia » Seville September 7th 2011

Scuba Sven

Seville part 2… Seville is ssspecial 1st off, many (not all) of the people in Seville have a lisp. My tour guide for the day had one when only speaking Spanish but not English. The story goes that there was a king that lived in Seville many years ago who had a lisp, so people around him started to adopt one to be fashionable. Years later it stuck and supposedly you can tell who was raised in Seville by hearing this. It sounds like a loony toons episode with Sylvester the cat being dubbed in Spanish. It was funny to hear our guide order “dos cervesas.” (that’s 4 “s” sounds) My walking tour was great, learned a lot about the city. Flamingo dancing is very popular here and a lot of the stores sell flamingo dresses. ... read more

Mess with the bulls and you are going to get the horns

Europe » Spain » District of Madrid » Madrid September 4th 2011

Scuba Sven

Mess with the bulls and you are going to get the horns I wake up Sunday in Madrid with the plan to head off on a 1 hour bus ride to Seguila for a few hours and then get back in time to Madrid for the Sunday night bull fight. Seguila is known to have one of the top two remaining roman aqueducts in Europe. It did not disappoint. It is in a gorge and the city decide to build all around it. You could wake up in the morning to a view everyday of an ancient aqueduct just feet from your bedroom window. But really, there was nothing else to do here, so I was in and out of this city in an 90 mins, and that included lunch. Get back to Madrid, buy a ... read more

The rain in Spain stays mainly in the plain

Europe » Spain » District of Madrid » Madrid September 2nd 2011

Scuba Sven

The rain in Spain stays mainly in the plain The key word is “mainly.” At other times it rains in Madrid on the day you plan on spending the day in the park taking siestas and walking around. Oh well. I sat in my hostel for a good part of the day to write. The hostel is a couple hundred year old mansion with an Islamic/ Turkish enclosed courtyard with a stain glass roof and a water feature in the middle. It is beautiful on the inside and I can’t believe someone decided to turn it into a hostel, otherwise I don’t know what else this would be considered besides a mansion. Later in the night there is a guided tour to go on a tapas crawl. It is just like a pub crawl but we ... read more

my 1st oktoberfest for 2011

Europe » Spain » Valencian Community » Valencia September 1st 2011

Scuba Sven

I wake up in Valencia and have little idea where I am going to spend the night. Ibiza? Madrid? Or Toledo? I am not worried about it. I sleep in, check out of my hotel, leave my bag with the bell hop and make my way to the beach, with a 2 hour self guided walking tour of the city with no map in the heat. There is a large green belt around much of the city that was a river, but about 60 years ago the river flooded and the city decided to divert it away. Politicians wanted to make the new dry river bed into a large highway but the people got their way and it is one HUGE park with soccer fields, museums, running and biking trails small ponds all from what had ... read more

My thoughts on topless beaches in Spain

Europe » Spain September 1st 2011

Scuba Sven

My thoughts on topless beaches in Spain and Europe I love them ... read more

Sevilla part 1 (i hope

Europe » Spain » Andalusia » Seville August 27th 2011

Scuba Sven

Sevilla part 1 (I hope) Sevilla was quick and easy. I was only using it as a pit stop on my way to Valencia. As usual I got in late, and had no where to stay. I go to a café use their WIFI and book a place. Walk around the town for 1-2 hours, shower and crash. The city was nice, the shopping district reminded me of Rodeho drive in Beverly Hills just more natural and not as fake-ly developed. When looking up in the shopping neighborhood I stared at the sky and it was pitch black. It felt like I was in a Las Vegas casino. Which makes me think, there is every other themed hotel in Las Vegas, but not a Spanish one. Vegas needs a place for tapas and hot Spanish woman ... read more

Lagos is Loose

Europe » Portugal » Algarve » Lagos August 25th 2011

Scuba Sven

Lagos is loose As an Aussie told me earlier in my trip, I could not pass up Lagos because it is loose. There must be a travel show in Australia that spits out this advice because the entire city is Australian with a kiwi or 2 thrown in. I don’t think I need to go to Australia anymore because I have already been there in southern Portugal. The Aussie was right, Lagos was loose- it was a great time. It was a small fishing town with great beaches and a really fun bar and club scene. It reminded me a lot of cabo san lucas minus the large resorts, perhaps Cabo in the 1970’s before anyone ever went on a “90 minute” time share presentation. I had a nice little routine in Lagos. Go to the ... read more

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