Spain

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Arriving into Madrid we shed layers of clothes as we walked through the airport!! It was lovely to finally and suddenly be warm. Walking around at 10pm in our t-shirts and light clothes was a dream, as was our first meal of paella and a bottle of wine (2 euros! - we had heard that the wine was cheap). We came to the royal palace at the right time and we saw the changing of the guards which was so much more elaborate and spectacular than the London version.

We found out that the museum's had free times in the evenings so we whipped around the Museo Sofia Reina to take in Picasso's 'Guernica' and more Man Ray's and Dalis than you can shake a stick at, then a couple of nights later shot through the royal collection at Museo Del Prado where we saw a huge collection of Spanish art in particular heaps of Goya's.

We took a day trip to Sergovia where we saw the aquaduct that has stood in the town since Roman occupation, numerous beautiful churches and the castle.

Next we travelled to Sevilla, were the smell of the orange blossoms was everywhere. We rented a couple of bikes and toured the town in a day. We went to a restaurant for dinner and ordered our whole meal in Spanish! A major achievement, we felt very proud of ourselves. The next morning we took a bus to Granada.

Here we stayed in a beautiful small hostel complete with hammocks. We got the hang of tapas here in Granada. We found a little bar in the narrow street up to our hostel and would pop in there to enjoy a cheap drink and huge plate of food on our way to our next adventure. We saw a great flamenco show crammed in to a cavelike bar on our first night, then took in the sights - the gypsy village where houses are built in caves in the hill and opposite it, the sprawling Alhumbra castle. It was really beautiful here and we were reluctant to leave.

An overnight bus took us to Valencia were we spent a full day - after a chocoholic's breakfast of hot chocolate and chocolate filled croissants - finding the holy grail, going on a tour of the town, scouring the huge market for fresh veges and pastries and getting pooed on by a low flying pigeon (just Sophie, not both of us!).

Our next stop was Barcelona, we had a few nights here and we had to extend due to the Icelandic ash grounding all planes, and the trains were on strike. All buses were full for a few days. We saw most of Gaudi's magnificent buildings and we even survived a thunder storm on the roof of La Pedera. An awesome experience. The Sagrada Familia was undergoing renovations, which was disappointing but I have promised to take Sophie back when it is opened and finished. We spent an afternoon in the Picasso museum. I almost had my wallet stolen on a packed metro train but I felt the tugging in time, it was a wakeup call to see how easily the pickpocketer could have gotten away with our money. Even though our stay was extended we were busy every day taking in the sights. We spent our last afternoon wandering through the Olympic village.

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