Gaudi-out!

Well after 3 and a bit days in Barcelona we are officially GAUDI out!!!! After arriving from San Sebastian on an interesting overnight first class train we got into Barcelona just before 11am, found out hostel easily and hit the streets! We made a beeline for La Rambla and the surrounding areas before stumbling across our first (of many) Gaudi buildings, the Palace Guell. Free entry saw us join the long line for a sticky beak at the building, despite being informed we would have restricted access. Once inside we were annoyed at how restricted it turned out to be.... we were entitled to see the basement, foyer and facade! Afterwards we headed to yet another Gaudi creation, the Casa Bastllo, which was much more impressive with its aquarium like feeling and rooftop terrace. To finish out our first day we headed to Barcelona beach and were shocked at the colour of the sand, a deep brown. Nevertheless we took advantage of the sun on our shoulders and wound down the remaining light hours of the day before heading to a local seafood restaurant for the BEST paella we have had all trip! No exaggerations!

The second day was a busy one, we made a beeline for the Sagrada Familia bright and early to avoid the crowds. We bought tickets quickly and entered with our audio guides, the weather had become overcast and we were sure it would keep the crowds at bay. Unfortunately this was not the case and we still spent an hour in line to catch the lift up the oldest of all the towers. The view from the top was amazing but after some debate J and I agreed there was NO way it will be finished by 2020!! We had a great time exploring the North and South facades and climbing down the famous shell like staircase! Afterwards and about 100 happy snaps later we headed to Park Guell for lunch (and a bizillion mor happy snaps). By then the sun had begun to shine and the day looked to improve. We played a quick game of hide and seek before Bec was set straight by an attendant. We finished our sightseeing for the day with a visit to La Pedara, formally the Casa Mila. This was for bec the hightlight of the day, the roof was like something out of a fairy tale, Dr Suess meets Barcelona. But the best was that from the rooftop we could the Sagrada in its full glory, towering over the city. We ended the day we a dinner on La Rambla of paella and sangria, for the third day in a row!

The third day was spent sourcing the supermarket for lunch and chilling out by the Olympic Statidum pool on Montjuic , we were both adequately fried by the sun by about 7pm and headed into town for yet another dinner on La Rambla and a Flamenco show!

Today we woke up late, wandered down for one last peak at La Rambla and its street performers before coming back to the hostel to update our fanclub via the blog. This afternoon we head to Ibiza by plane and tonight (oh the excitement!) we head to Eden for Wonderland, translates roughly to Groove Armada performing in a club with Peter Tong of the world famous Pacha!!!!!!! Cant wait!!!

but enough of us.... how are you all?

Us on La Rambla.

Bec on the rooftop of Casa Bastllo.

In the famous shell staircase of the Sagrada Familia.

On the mozaic seats at Park Guell.

Pintxo Paradise

Well its official, we´re not coming home.

San Sebastian has proved to be too good to be true. We can sleep in til 10, beach til 3pm, eat an amazing lunch, siesta and then party and crawl our way through Pintxo (tapas) until the wee hours of the morning. Then do it all again the next day. And not feel slightly guilty!

Whilst in San Sebastian there has been the annual nagusia festival, AKA the BIG week! Basically the week consists of street performers on every corner, marching bands competing through the streets, large cartoon men with inflated heads that WHACK the children with sausage looking balloons and concluding with fireworks each night. Which kinda explains why booking accommodation had originally proved to be such a nightmare, and expense! On top of this we spent plenty of time relaxing on the beach, eating loads of REALLY good tapas and enjoying some quiet time.

Today we checked out of our hotel early and have spent the day catching up on the much neglected sightseeing including the Cathedral, Mount Urgull and a large statue of Christ, cause he goes off at night! Tonight we are on an overnight first class train to Barcelona and will get in around 9am.

One of our favourites, mainly because of the flare in service from behind the bar.

At Cocha Beach.

Up Mount Urgell... Overlooking Cocha beach.

Mañana is good enough for me...

Well it´s been 3 cities, 4 paellas, loads of tapas, a new theme song and a while since you´ve heard from us. But rest assured its not cause we dont love you we are just having a wicked time.

So, without further adue (in order of appearance) we give you the low down on our Spain trip, thus far:

Granada

Well after arriving from Seville into Granada we were very happy with our choice of hostel. High about the hill within the Medina walls, very close to the Alhambra and complete with swimming pool. All for the bargin price of 12 euros a night!!! The first afternoon we made value out of the pool and watched the sunset eating an assortment of Spainish deli cuisine, such as Chorrizo Sausage, sun-dried capiscum and Alhambra beer! Day 2 saw Bec ´take one for the team´and rise bright and early to purchase tickets for the Alhambra, which we spent most of the day looking at. That afternoon we joined two fellow Australians as they had given us ´no way out´ for a Tapas crawl in downtown Granada. Day 3 saw us explore the city by foot, taking in an amazing walking tour and eating a fantastic Paella!

Our deli feast!!!

Inside the Palacio Nazaries at the Alhambra

At the lookout point, Alhambra behind us!

Madrid

After arriving into Madrid in the late afternoon, we had no time for siesta and headed straight to the Palaca and Royal Chapel. Determined to change Bec´s negative opinion of Madrid from her previous visit Jarratt rallied the troops and we spent a night eating a pretty ordinary Paella, drinking jugs of Sangria and dancing to bad music in an Irish pub.... needless to say it wasnt much of a success. Unrattled by the previous night Jarratt pushed on in showing Bec ´his´ Madrid and we made a beeline for the fantastic El Rastro flea market, which proved to be a great success since Bec was permitted to buy two EXTREMELY pretty spainish dresses!!! From there it was onward and upward as Jarratt let Bec slipped out of the oath to eat ONLY Spainish food and had Maccas, he instead ate what seems to have been his millionith Bocadilla. To close out an amazing day we bought pretty amazing seats to the Sunday evening Bull fight and continued onto the hostels pub crawl which commenced at the ridiculously late time of 12:30am!!! But it was a pretty fantastic night to which we lost most of the next day! Needless to say, Jarratt may have turned Bec´s opinion on its head!

At the Palace in Madrid.

Out and about partying in Spain!

Ole Torro!

Salamanca

The last two days have been spent in Salamanca, Spains famed university town. We have explored much of the city, had another great Paella, done some frog-spotting and spent much of our time Siesta-ing!

Yummo! Wow, right? Paella is AMAZING

Plaza Mayor, NOT John Mayer as J likes to call it!

Tomorrow we´re off to San Sebastian for some very expensive downtime!
Hasta luego Amigos!

Tapas Heaven!

Ola Amigos!

We come to you live from sweltering hot Sevilla! Yesterday we arrived into the bus terminal at around 6pm-ish and thought someone was having a laugh and left the heating on, but no no, in fact it was an amazing 42 degrees! We made our way quickly to our hostel. After checking in we headed out to Seville's beautiful bullring for a quick tour. We were taken into the arena and shown the varying details such as the purpose of each entrance, the kings seat and the bull hospital. Interestingly, the ring is not round like most others in Spain but in fact oval which was not a design element, but in fact a mistake! Later that night we did our own slightly inventive Tapas pub crawl, before ending up at a FREE flamenco show and sharing a jug of Sangria.

Today we rose late and headed to the Alcazar. The Alcazar is a building with has been built, rebuilt, remodelled and extended throughout the entirety of Spains history. It reflects the changes in religion, political opinion and monachs over the centuries. Therefore it is a little diverse in its make up, but spectatular nonetheless. It currently houses the royal monach of Spain and is free to students (no matter how old the card).

Afterwards we had a quick bite and continued on to the Cathedral. The cathedral houses Christopher Coloumbus´ tomb, the largest gothic alterpiece and a 90m bell tower that had originally been the minaret of the mosque which the Cathedral had been founded on. So similarly to the Alcazar, the Cathedral was a little from column a, and a little from column b. The afternoon has seen us book our tickets to Granada where we will spend the next three days and visiting the very gaudy looking Plaza de Espana and dancing around in its fountain. Tonight we plan to TapAs and revisit our free flamenco haunt in the hope of a new or at least repeat performance.

Love, Us. xoxo

At the bullring.

J at the Tapas bar, they kept our tally on the counter in chalk. Pretty cool huh?

Us at the Alcazar. Inner courtyard.

Plaza de Espana.

Life's a beach...

Well we have hit 'Becs' part of the trip and surprisingly enough Jarratt isnt hating it. We are waking up late, eating lots of seafood, drinking more (agua, of course ;)) and lapping up the sun on the beach. Therefore there isnt all that much to report. Despite one interesting option of kid stew that was avaliable on our local eateries menu.



The old town is beautiful and the water is crystal clear, almost everywhere you look is like a postcard. We had originally planned to stay only 2 nights, but have bumped out to 3 now... may have even been 4 if we hadnt already booked our bus trip to Seville tomorrow.



Cant chat long need to get more beach, food and sun into us!



Hope your all well! LOTS of love, US!

Fado, there you go!!!

Well despite beating up pickpockets, being offered pot on every corner and constantly exhausting ourselves in the heat and hill climbs, Lisbon has proved to be one fantastic little place in the world.

Wednesday saw us arrive by bus from Porto, a rather quick ride I must say. We promptly found our hostel which is amazing and definately made us SMILE. Then we dropped our bags and made a beeline for some lunch and the coast. After lunch we climbed to the top of the mountain to visit Castello de St George where Bec shocked herself at Portugal's lax approach to the safety of its tourist and an amazing camera which displayed Lisbon in 360º, very cool. We ended the day with dinner at a fado show in the Alfama district.

Thursday we headed out to Sintra by train. Sintra is a beautiful little town cut into the side of a mountain, kinda like Venice but without the water. When we left the train station, map in hand, we must have zigged when we were suppose to zag and ended up in a non intended location. But turned out to be a blessing in disguse as we were able to negotiate our way up the 529m hill easily. Whilst in Sintra we saw the Pena Palace and Park, the Moorish Castle and Sintra's national palace. All extremely pretty! We then headed back into town where we visited the national... independence.... discovery... something... monument and the Torre de Belem. Back at the hostel we cooked up some grub and drank cold portugese beer... whilst some friendly Canadians showed us the most amazing thing!!! GOOGLE EARTH!!!! You can find your location, your friends location, your home town!!! Its amazing... well, too me anyways.

Today is our final day in Lisbon, we're now off to loose three days on the beach! YAY!

But in the mean time... here are some happy snaps....

Us at the Castle

Fado Show.

Climb every mountain... atop the highest mountain in Sintra with Pena Palace.

J in Sintra's old town.