http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/tanglefish/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from tanglefish en-us Sat, 05 Dec 2009 16:17:47 +0000 Sat, 05 Dec 2009 16:17:47 +0000 Lisbon September 1617We travelled by train to Lisbon which was quite different from what I had expected. I think Irsquod seen a Sean Connery movie years ago that showed the colourful buildings set into the hill overlooking what I took to be the sea. However what the water actually was is an really large estuary. The town of Lisbon is much less pristine than the towns I had visited in Spain http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Portugal/Lisbon-and-Tagus-Valley/Lisbon/blog-442297.html Coimbra September 1415From Salamanca we caught another bus to Portugal where we were staying in the Portugese university town of Coimbra. Our accommodation had a terrace on the roof that looked out over Coimbra affording great views of the houses and university that was built into hillside. The streets were hilly in parts but this is the norm in so many towns that I think I will miss my daily http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Portugal/Central/Coimbra/blog-442295.html Salamanca September 13The following day we made the journey to Salamanca first by metro and then by coach. Salamanca is a university town and is known for speaking the purist Spanish and therefore gets language students from around the world. We arrived there during their week long festivities for their Saints day. There were food stalls and bands playing in the square that created a lively a http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Spain/Castile---Leon/Salamanca/blog-442292.html Madrid September 1012 After 2 brief nights in Barcelona I took the metro to the main train station Barcelona Sants planning to just buy my ticket there as I hadnrsquot figured out a better option previously. Upon arrival I saw that there were hourly trains to Madrid but the signs indicated many had sold out or were restricted to VIP passengers. I got to the ticket window and asked for my http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Spain/District-of-Madrid/Madrid/blog-442291.html Barcelona take two September 89I had an early start to head to Barcelona from Bled a taxi picked me up at 645 to take me to the train station. The hotel breakfast didnrsquot open until 7 so they kindly packed me a breakfast for on the way. At the station I purchased a ticket for Zagreb I wasnrsquot really dressed for the cooler weather and the girl wondered if I was cold. I said no but http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Spain/Catalonia/Barcelona/blog-442290.html Bled day 1416 September 57We had the luxury of a private transfer two cars to take us to our final stop in Bled Slovenia. It was a pleasant journey on good freeways. Our driver was a young guy who had a rafting and other adventure sport business was a taxicarhire person as well as being a policman. Very hard working We had a long wait in a queue to cross the boarder into Slovenia an http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Slovenia/Upper-Carniola/Bled/blog-442289.html Rovinj Day 13 September 4It was an early start 6 am to catch the Catamaran ferry to Rijecka which was the largest town wersquod seen in Croatia. From here we caught a bus to Pula where we elected to spend a couple of hours on the way to Rovinj so we could see the Roman Colosseum here. It was about a 10 minute walk from the bus station where we had stored our luggage. As we rounded a corne http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Croatia/Istria/Rovinj/blog-442097.html Rab Days 1012 September 13We reversed our local bus trip back to the bus station and boarder our coach for the journey to Rab I managed to stop in the bakery to get some burek zeljanica for breakfast they were fresh from the oven. Even more amazing coastline for this stretch of the journery. Visible from the mainland were long thin islands that were denuded of trees due to a wind that came http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Croatia/Dalmatia/blog-436245.html Zadar Day 9 August 31Bus travel again but this afforded more great views of the Croatian coastline. From the bus station on the outskirts of the town we took a local bus to the harbour and old town. Ilsquom sure the locals just love it when a group of travellers with back packs cram onto their buses. This one was packed and most of our luggage was piled in the centre trapping one lady in http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Croatia/Dalmatia/Zadar/blog-436242.html Split Day 68 2830 AugustWe left Korcula at 545am taking a Catamaran Ferry for a few hours journey to Split. Split is a larger town on the Dalmatian mainland but it too has an old town or more correctly a palace compound. We stayed right in the heart of it. The palace was of the Roman Emperor Diocletian who loved Split for itrsquos beautry and therapuetic thermal spas. He built himself a http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Croatia/Dalmatia/Split/blog-436240.html Korcula day 45 2627 AugustWe took a local bus to the bus station to catch our coach to Korcula. It was a scenic ride along the coast to the small town Orebic where the bus got on the Ferry to take us to the island of Korcula after a few hours drive. We had private rooms again here which were right in the old town. Korcula is a very pretty place with clear and calm waters that invited you to http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Croatia/Dalmatia/Korcula/blog-436239.html Dubrovnik Day 13 August 2325Lovice was kind enough to get up at 530am to drive me to Dusseldorf airport in Germany as the trains wouldnrsquot get me there on time which is about the same distance as Amsterdam. We got there with me being a nominal navigator but it was fairly straight forward and of course no border checks as we were inside the Schengen zone. We had a final breakfast o http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Croatia/Dalmatia/Dubrovnik/blog-436238.html Week Three Including Amsterdam and NijmegenIn the final week in the Netherlands we did many of the usual daily things but also made the trek to Amsterdam and Nijmegen. Wijchen is about 2 hours by train to Amsterdam and so Lovice and I left Jos and kids behind for a day out. We left early expecting to catch 3 trains only to find that there were works on the line and our train had been replaced http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Netherlands/North-Holland/Amsterdam/blog-436228.html The NetherlandsIt was wonderful to arrive at an airport and have a friendly face to great you. The flight from Gatwick was uneventful and going through Dutch passport control fast despite the queues. No questions asked and I was soon out the door and enjoying a coffee with Lovice. It was about an hour and a halfs drive to reach Lovice's home in Wijchen toward the west of the Netherlands.It was wo http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Netherlands/Gelderland/Nijmegen/blog-433441.html London day 17 July 2531Arrived at Stansted airport in London and headed off to passport control. I was very happy that the queue was small and thought that this would be quick. How wrong could I be. The only place that actually asked me questions about my trip was London. The lady at the counter when she heard that I had left Australia in February began asking lots of questions. I showed that http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/United-Kingdom/England/Greater-London/London-City/blog-432309.html Barcelona day 14 July 24We were happy that the trip to Barcelona was by train after the long bus journey to Valencia. It is always more comfortable to be able to get up and move around. A short trip in yet another impressive European metro service to get to our hotel.We had an orientation walk around Barcelona taking us to La Rambla Barcelonarsquos famous street past several Gaudi buildings http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Spain/Catalonia/Barcelona/blog-428432.html Valencia day 1213 July 22 July 23It was a long day of travel to get to Valencia 9 hours by bus. The bus had a no eating or drinking policy and only planned one stop after about 4 hours. There was no toilet on board. However the reality was that the stop was after only 2 and a half hours and there were several 5 minute stops at bus stations along the way. The trip was less painful than antic http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Spain/Valencian-Community/Valencia/blog-428431.html Granada day 1011 July 20 July 21Another pleasant train trip on Spanish railrsquos comfortable and smooth trains with olive groves most of the way and craggy hills in the background. Granada is a bigger city with the famous Alhambra being the main attraction. We had a late afternoon orientation walk past some interesting graffiti art and of course up and down stairs and narrow cobbled str http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Spain/Andalusia/Granada/blog-428429.html Ronda day 89 July 18 July 19An easy start of 1030am to make the short bus ride to Algericas and then the 2 hour train trip through some lovely Spanish countryside with mountains and valleys orange and olive groves.Ronda is a small town one of the last of the Moorish towns to be taken over by the Catholics. It has Roman ruins as well as the old and new bridges the old from the 17th centu http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/blog-428426.html Tarifa and Gibraltar day 67 July 16 July 17We took taxis again to the bus station to avoid the peak hour on the local bus which Ilsquom sure the locals would agree was a good idea as 12 people with packs and wheelie bags take up a lot of room. It was then a comfortable three hour bus to Tarifa which is a beach side town within sight of Morocco. We dropped our luggage and then caught local http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Spain/Andalusia/Tarifa/blog-428400.html