Blogs from Spain, Europe - page 1196

Oh Granada . . . Of the four Spanish cities we visited, this is the one I had been looking forward to the most. I had only heard wonderful things about Granada - home to the Alhambra, one of Europe's most visited sites. However, this is also the city that seemed to pass by in haze. After getting a mediocre night's sleep on our bus from Valencia (I was amazed to actually nab a broken 4 or 5 hours) we arrived at the Granada bus station around 6 am. We hopped a local bus as dictated by our hostel's directions, navigated the streets in the dark (since it gets light surprisingly late), dropped off our bags at the Oasis Backpacker's Hostel, and rushed up to the Alhambra. Before we arrived in Spain we hadn't realized ... read more

Here we are, 3 months later At last, a Wi FI internet connection and a chance to send a blog. Knowing we would have limited internet access I have been writing blog notes as we travel, as from experience, I knew I would not remember what we had done or what to include. So at the risk of boring those of you we met up with in Jan I have left the content of the blog as it is, covering events from our return. With our now perfected expert timing our return to the UK was arranged only a week before our flight, on 23rd Dec. I thought Christmas had arrived early when I got 4 seats on the plane. Although, this was not just by chance but hard earned. Having noted prior to take ... read more

We made it to Barcelona eventually after an epic time in Amsterdam Airport. A short stay not a good stay at the airport thanks to Leon still being drunk from the night before and almost missing the flight. The hostel was great, free breakie AND dinner! Bonus. So of course we headed down for some dinner with the plan to just get some rest after. During dinner we talked to Rebecca and Ariel - some American guests at the hostel, who convinced us (twist the rubber arm) that sleep is overrated and to come out on a pub crawl. Before I knew it I was participating in a frantic ritual of 1hour all you can drink. We hit the first bar and I was nominated to represent NZ for a pint skull. 5seconds later, see ... read more

No point rushing things. Over 50 and usually travelling with mates. Love riding bikes and watching motorcycle racing, plus a bit of wobbling ponderously around race tracks on occasions; just overtaking practice for everyone else you understand... This summer the gang and I are headed on the bikes to a lovely chateau in western France. Been there several times and usually come, more or less, straight home again; which is what my mates are doing this year. I noticed that the Catalunya MotoGP is on a few days after we leave the chateau so I'm going to potter off down there on my lonesome, see the racing and head north again. Nothing too special for most guys on here but it's still 'pushing the envelope' to a new experience, which is the whole point isn't ... read more

4/2/07 Barcelona--Valencia After checking out, Sudie and I took our bags to the train station where we stored them in a locker. From there we headed to the market for the last time where we met up with the others. We stocked up on the cheap fruit, said goodbye (Sudie and I are going to meet up with Jenny again after Morocco), and then walked around for a bit before heading back to the train station. It took us a while to figure out how to get to our train since no one knew good enough English to help us (and we didn’t know enough Spanish to understand). Eventually though we got it. I spent the majority of the ride watching a movie that was entirely in Spanish. Granted I had no real idea what is ... read more