Porto, Prostitutes and Paella

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OLE!

Sorry for the long delay between blogs! We've been far too busy/lazy to get it done, but finally here it is....

As we write this episode we are sitting on a Calmac ferry to Rome. As normal, more about Rome next time.

We last spoke to you when we arrived, quite randomly in Portugal. This came about from us leaving it too late to book accommodation in Madrid, so we headed to the nearest place we had heard of and that had a hostel available. This dogleg of the journey took us to the Black & White hostel in Portugals second city; Porto. A picturesque city situated on the banks of the River Douro, Porto proved to be a relaxing place before hitting the craziness of Madrid. The highlight of Porto was finally managing to tick surfing off our list of things to do this tour. After a tip-off from some Belgian surfers staying in our hostel, we headed down to the nearby beach to arrange some lessons. Harry, the surf school dude sorted us out with an instructor and after a quick demo and even quicker warm up we headed out to catch our 1st Atlantic waves. The conditions weren't perfect but we surfed for 2 hours and caught some pretty good waves.

The hostel in our next city of Madrid provided us with an excellent city centre location (despite the whore-ds of prostitutes outside) to see the sights and sample Madrid's famous nightlife. Meeting up with Neil & Simon, two doctors from Manchester & some token Aussies we celebrated Jamie's birthday in true Madrid style.
Our one and only busking story to share with you came on our last night in Madrid. After getting moved on by the worst kind of busker, a local who claimed we had stolen his pitch we moved down to Kilometer zero; Madrid's centre point. Needless to say we had the last laugh by getting a wedding offer and someone dropping €20 into the hat. What goes around, comes around!

Quote of the week

Setting: Las Horas bar, Madrid
Conversation: A discussion about the length of the Skye bridge

Neil: "How long is the Skye bridge?"
Jamie: "Not sure, about a kilometer?"
Neil: "I think its nearer a mile."
Dr Simon: "Can you see the end of it?"
Neil: "Yeah"
Dr Simon: "Well it can't be a mile, you can't see a mile!"

THIS IS THE FUTURE OF THE NHS!!

After the party vibe of Madrid we needed Barcalona to chill again. We sampled Gaudi's stunning Sagrada Familia & Parc Guell, and also went out for our first Paella of the tour. On our last night in Barca, Niamh meet up with us & the next day we headed down the coast to a small seaside town to meet up with the rest of the Emery clan. We managed to cram alot into our 24 hours in Hospitalet including beach time, smimming, body surfing, paella, live salsa and massive cocktails!
A huge thank you to Norma & Liam for thier Hospitalet hospitality, really appreciated!

Muchos Gracias to Harry, Neil & Simon, Shaun the shuffler, Billy from neighbours & Simon's sheila, Niamh, Norma & Liam

Much less Gracias to Porto Roddy, Marco, the HI hostel night porter and the Madrid busker!

We continue.......

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