Page 3 of tanglefish Travel Blog Posts


Europe » Netherlands » Gelderland » Nijmegen August 1st 2009

The Netherlands It 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 wonderful to know that I could unpack and just be in one place for a while. To eat home cooked meals and just get to see how Lovice and family lived here in the Netherlands. The first week I visited the local lake with Jeromy and saw his and Natajsha's school; went supermarket shopping and clothes shopping and got my hair cut etc. ... read more
Wall to wall, floor to ceiling, money boxes
Natasja and Jeromy at the Open Air Museum
Farmhouse at Klarenbeek

Europe » United Kingdom » England » Greater London » London City July 25th 2009

London day 1-7 (July 25-31) Arrived 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 I knew about the Shengen Visa rules (which UK is not even party to) and she very officiously wanted to see my itinerary. I said it was in my checked baggage and she said she trusted me, and let me go through to retrieve it (of course keeping my passport). The baggage of course took it's time (nearly an hour from landing ... read more
View of Thames and London Eye
Big Ben
Big Ben

Europe » Spain » Catalonia » Barcelona July 24th 2009

Barcelona day 14 (July 24) We 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 (Barcelona’s famous street), past several Gaudi buildings, the Cathedral and finishing at the Familia Sagrada. All the Gaudi buildings incluiding the Familia Sagrada were as impressive as they had seemed from photos. As I will be coming back I didn’t ascend the tower, saving that for the return journey. Final night dinner at a cosy local restaurant before an early start to the airport. I was really looking forward to a month ... read more
Gaudi building
Gaudi Lampost
Gaudi building

Europe » Spain » Valencian Community » Valencia July 22nd 2009

Valencia day 12-13 (July 22- July 23) It 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 anticipated, bus usually being not as comfortable as a train, but it was highways most of the way and having the ipod fully charged the hours passed quickly enough. The olive groves became less frequent as oranges became more prevalent. Toward the end the ground became more like slate and it was amazing how the oranges ... read more
Opera and Science complex
Buildings in Valencia
Market

Europe » Spain » Andalusia » Granada July 20th 2009

Granada day 10-11 (July 20- July 21) Another pleasant train trip on Spanish rail’s 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 streets. Dinner was on top of the hill with a wonderful view of the Alhambra and great food (gazpacho, potato and onion tortilla, crème brulee). My ticket for the Alhambra was for 1pm so I didn’t need to rush (they allow only a certain number through at any time). Again beautiful Moorish archways, tiles and porticos along with lovely gardens. It was a grander size than Seville but didn’t have ... read more
Building inside the Ahlambra
Street in Granada
Graffiti art in Granada

Europe July 18th 2009

Ronda day 8-9 (July 18- July 19) An easy start of 10:30am 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 century and the new the 18th. I had heard that the architect of the impressive new bridge had fallen to his death when he had lowered himself down to inscribe his signature on the arches of the bridge, and there were other stories that he had committed suicide on completion or fallen trying to grab his hat, but our ... read more
Ronda's most famous bridge
Cafe in Ronda
Building in Ronda

Europe » Spain » Andalusia » Tarifa July 16th 2009

Tarifa and Gibraltar day 6-7 (July 16- July 17) We took taxis again to the bus station to avoid the peak hour on the local bus, which I‘m 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 bus to Gibraltar. It was a walk to cross the border which was pretty straight forward, and then we walked to the town centre, crossing the airstrip on the way. We stopped to have an English pub late lunch (very fresh calamari). It was a hot day, so we decided to catch the cable car to the ... read more
View from the top of the rock
Barbary ape
The Rock

Europe » Spain » Andalusia » Córdoba July 13th 2009

Cordoba and Seville day 3-5 (July 13- July 15) Metro and Bus to Cordoba and then local bus to the hotel. The hotel was right near the old town. Another very hot day so we had a short orientation walk and then very glad to visit the beautiful Mesquita not the least because it was wonderfully cool inside. This was a Mosque that had a Catholic Church inside. The Moorish design, with arches and marble pillars, and decorative walls were all left in place with the Catholic church making use of alcoves along the side, and placing the church itself in the middle. While the church pieces were impressive they appeared opulent and somewhat over the top alongside the more elegant design of the Moorish building. Some late tapas for lunch and then a siesta before ... read more
Moorish interior of Mosque
Inside the Alcazar in Seville
Interior wall of mosque

Europe » Spain » District of Madrid » Madrid July 11th 2009

Madrid and Toledo day 1-2 (July 11- July 12) We hit a traffic jam on the way to the airport, three of us had close flights and so were sharing a taxi. Eventually we passed the roadworks that were the cause and got to the airport not too much later than we had planned. My flight was the busy one, I think Dubrovnik is popular with the Spanish, and it took a while to check in. It was a two and a half hour flight to Madrid. I had read up about the Madrid airport which is a large one, and I was coming into the satellite part of the new terminal 4. I knew that there was a shuttle train to get to terminal 4 itself, and so managed this no problems. The signage was ... read more
Street in Toledo
Brick work and Moorish door in Toledo
Church in Toledo

Europe » Montenegro » Kotor » Kotor July 9th 2009

Kotor and Dubrovnik day 12-13 (July 9- July 10) This time we had a private bus and travelled in style, complete with red and blue disco lights that came on through the tunnels. It was only a 45 minute journey to Kotor and I wondered why we didn’t just do it as a day trip, but on arrival I was glad we were to stay in this town. Kotor is set on the edge of a fjord with spectacular blue-green water. Our accommodation was the best we had stayed in and we scored a balcony that looked toward the mountains as well as the fjord. The walk into town was lovely, with restaurants along the edge and a small harbour with some truly luxury yachts and cruise boats. There was also a cruise ship docked so ... read more
View from the top
View from our Kotor Pension
Old town wall in Dubrovnik




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