Nov 2005

29.10.2005

After what was a truly relaxing and well needed pit-stop, I bid both Almeria and Robert goodbye before boarding the train that would take me to Malaga before switching to a night train to Barcelona.

I sat down at my designated seat opposite this guy who looked suddenly elated at the prospect of my joining him. This ought to have been a sound warning for me to change seats as there weren't that many seats taken. Anyhow, sitting down, I quickly buried myself in my Harry Potter book before I was interrupted by the guy. He introduced himself and within a minute, he began to fill in me on his tragic love life and how he was just a normal guy seeking love and affection and how he had so much to offer if only there is a woman out there who would give him a chance. He then looked at me enquiringly and I of course without missing a beat looked back blankly as if not understanding his meaning. Already I was contemplating different excuses to offer him for my untimely escape from his company but he proceeeded to regale me with further details of his love life despite my silent protest and look of fear. Eventually, sensing that I was nevver going to propose to be his girlfriend, he outrightly suggested that perhaps we should get together, this is despite the fact that we were going different places that night, so which meant he expected that I would just completely forget my trip in order to be with this Mr Don Quiote. I quickly muttered something along the lines of not looking for love but just wanted to travel and he eventually (after I repeated this statement at least 5 times) and finally the guy conceded that I would never be dancing the flamenco with him anytime soon or be sharing many a siesta with him!

As soon as the train pulled up at the station that I was meant to get off, I couldn't get out of my seat any quicker. Bidding Mr Valentine a quick goodbye, I thankfully disembarked before continuing my journey onwards to Barcelona!

30.10.2005

I arrived nice and early and headed straight to my hostel, which I understood from the hostel's email instruction that it was in the 'heart of the city' only a few metro stops away. Heart of the city my ass! It was at least 6 metro stops away, lasting a good 25 to 30 minutes ride and in the metro, that's not a brief travel time. I was also a bit annoyed to discover terms like "upon exiting the metro, our hostel is just a few minutes away from the metro" turned out to be a good 15 minutes walk uphill on a street. So by the time I dislodge my turtle shell, my mood did not match the sunshine that greeted me that morning. Anyhow, I made my 6 metro stop rides back into the heart of the city, excitingly anticipating my visit to the city's Cathedral. I was also informed given that it was Sunday, there was a free show of Barcelona's traditional community folk dance being held at the square outside the Cathedral. As you can see from the photo, the locals took this event quite seriously, dressing appropriatekly for it and moving with the grace that would have made Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers proud. It is hard to describe the dance, except to say they all held hands forming a huge circle and pretty much moving to the music,, converging forward and back and side stepping skillfully.

Ole, ole, ole, ole, feeling hot hot hot! OK, the oldie folk dancers didn't exactly perform to this music but it's my blog and I'll make it up if I want to..

So, after being treated to a pleasant exposure to folk dancing Barcelona style, I decided to drop by at the Cathedral. I was disappointed to discover that like many historical and significant buildings in Europe, the Cathedral was under restoration and therefore it's maginificent architecture was marred by the ugly scaffolding built around it. Luckily, I got around this problem by taking the picture of the church from the back. Whilst it was a hot sunny day, I was glad that I didn't resort to dressing cooly, meaning I would have been turned away by the church fashion police who reminded the crowd to respect the church dress code of covering yourself appropriately. We certainly do not want to tempt the priests do we?

Just outside the back of the church with one of the many monuments

The church as viewed from the back.

As I was still finding my bearings, I decided to simply walk around just to get a feel for what the city is like. It is certainly a very busy city but somehow, unlike the forboding feeling of chaos and "impurity" that I felt about Madrid, my vibes on Barcelona was more promising. Even though the atmosphere was that of a loud hustle and bustle, yet people seem to scurry around not so much in impatient haste, but more as if they could not wait to celebrate life, a rush to enjoy their day as much as they can. From the many buskers performing on Barcelona's main pedestrian street of Le Rambla, down to the police officers directing the busy afternoon traffic, everyone was good natured in going around their business, smiling, shouting in greeting or lounging chatting with friends while having a coffee at many of the outdoor cafes spread sproadically around town.

Unsurprisingly, during my walk, I made several wrong turns here and there when looking for a particular street and during one of these faux pas, it turned out to be one that was worth making as I came across an interesting graffiti with a even more interesting website address. Have a look!

Finally! Being appreciated and receiving a way overdue accolade!

The fragrance of freshly plucked flowers mingled with recently brewed spanish grounded coffee punctured the air pleasantly as I made my way further down Le Rambla and heading east towards the Parc de Ciutedad (city park of course).

As it was a Sunday, there were quite a people sauntering around, mostly young families pushing strollers through the park, a few young kids chasing one another around and several joggers taking full advtantage of the beautiful day. Who could blame them? I happilly joined them, walking through one of the many entrances into the park. I first came to a large rotunda in the middle of the park where several guys were playing some music while at the center, a young man was gyrating away, obviously practising his flamenco moves while a small group of people encircled him, happily absorbing the festive atmosphere plus a free flamenco show. After a few minutes, I reluctantly tore myself away to enjoy the rest of my walk through the park.

I eventually arrived at this most magnificent centerpiece located at the heart of park. It is hard to describe what it is. It's not exactly a monument, nor is it a fountain, but I suppose the closest description I can come up with is that it seems to resemble an elaborate and majestically well decorated man made pond. I guess another one where the picture speaks louder than the words.

See? Told you it's easier to show than tell! Beautiful no though?

Yours truly travelling incognito...

As many of you probably know that I love observing people, that is, in a objective, "trying to figure them out in the development and understanding of the human psychology" kind of way and not in a scary, freaky and spooky kind <cue Twilight Zone music>.

So, the City Park was an optimal venue for my lil hobby as I patrolled and gazed, strolled and was amazed, by how the Spanish truly give meaning to the word, Leisure. Siesta is one thing, but it was difficult not to smile appreciatively and be entertained by the people of all ages going about their daily relaxing ritual ranging from the hyperactive precocious kids, screaming and laughing as they chased one another around the park to young couples walking hand in hand, the girls with dreamy looks and the boys with mischevious twinkles in their eyes that did not bother to hide the anticipation and promises of frivolous fun they were going to have. Then there were the older couples who were equally happy and content to simply sitting on oak wooden benches, watching and living vicariously through the younger park goers as they go about enjoying the remaining sunshine of the day.

So it was with this feel-good and relaxed feeling that I eventually left the park and made my way back to the city, stopping by a hostel that was actually located in the central city and booked my accomodation for the remaining of my stay in Barcelona. Already I was excited at the prospect of the next few days in this city, oh yes, the vibe is certainly good.

b]25th October[/b]

Ok, before I start this entry, please let me clear up something for you. As you can see there's 2 dates on all my entries. The first one (which is always the later date of the two) is the date of when I wrote the entry and the second one is the date of the time I was actually in the place I was writing about. Sorry for the unnecessary headaches for those who are anal about chronology and sequence of events like moi..hehe

In my last entry, I mentioned lost of driver's license. I actually did not even realise it was gone until an hour before boarding the bus, that's how terrible I am with things like that..I mean, sure, passport I'm super careful..but driver's license is something I just keep in my money belt and hardly ever look at it except to use it as a security deposit when renting audio guides from the museums and before you enquire, no, I didn't leave it at any museum either! Anyway, I am about to find out how efficient the NZ embassy is overseas.

Right, now getting back to the blog..so not sure if you guys remember my meeting with Robert Kaasmacher during my stay in Seville. Robert, a German psychologist residing in Almeria convinced me (I'm sure he used hypnotism!) that Almeria is worth visiting because a) It is a coastal town facing the Mediterranean (aka, more beach time) and b) they have the Alcazaba, a city fortress only second to the Alhambra (see my Granada entry) and c) In the midst of the winter, the coldest temperature on average there was over 30 degrees!!! What was a historian geeky and beach loving and sun worshipping girl to do?!! I also needed another pit stop from all the travel hectic schedule and so I boarded the night bus from Valencia for Almeria, thinking this new experience (been on night train before but not on bus) would add another perspective to my travel experience but I think I definitely got more than what I bargained for...

The bus I planned to board was scheduled to depart at 23:48 (see, I'm already telling time like an European) but since it's to a small town like Almeria and it was so late, I did not bother reserving a seat..oh why, why does Murphy's Law mock me so! So as you can guess by now, I was informed that this bus was full and instead I had to take the next one, leaving at 02:30..I was like great, what the heck am I going to do for the next few hours, as all the shops in the bus station has already closed down for the day and it's half an hour's bus back into the city, so I decided to hang around, quietly ignoring that uneasy feeling that was slowly rising from the bottom of my stomache..(maybe it was no more sinister than my hunger..)

Ten minutes into my waiting, I was approached by a Morrocan man trying to chat me up...despite polite subtle hints that I rather be alone which was of course not so subtly ignored by the guy, I decided on a more crafty approach (I always believe that rudeness should be avoided at all cost if possible). Summoning my Oscar winning performance, I pretended to call someone on my mobile and proceed to chat away (which of course gave me a good excuse to dismiss the guy). He of course waited for me to finish my call but I was having the most animated and interesting conversation with myself and refused to hang up (maybe that german psychologist's expertise would come in handy later). Finally, he left me alone and I decided to go to a more brightly lit place, so made my way downstairs where there was a cafeteria.

My initial relief turned into anxiety again as I was about to enter the cafeteria, there were like these 4 men already sitting inside who looked like all their Christmases have just arrived all at once upon noticing my arrival. They started calling out for me to come and join them...arrrrgh! My respite has turned into another lion's cage! Murphy mocked me further when I saw the Morrocan guy approaching as well...Talking about feeling trapped in a corner like a poor lil wee wabbit that I was...

As I was contemplating what would hurt less, the "fire" or the "frying pan", I saw the bus that I orginally wanted to take pulling up and instinctively I walked towards it and decided that perhaps the safest thing to do was to see if they have an empty seat by chance so I could leave on this bus instead of waiting for another couple of hours. I shuddered at the thought of having to fend off these predators for that period of time. I guess to be honest, this would be the first time since I commenced my travels that I really wished I wasn't alone. Where is the knight in shining in armour when you need one (tune of "I need a Hero" playing in the background). Anyhow, through my very limited and broken Spanish and lots and lots of wild gesticulation, I managed to convey my request to the bus driver and to my great relief, he nodded and ushered me into the bus.

You know how I earlier contemplated the "fire" and the "frying pan", well, I just escaped both only to walk into a lion's den. I know then what it was like to be a piece of fresh meat. There were many predators in the bus and I could feel their eyes on me and even though the darkly lit bus meant I couldn't possibly see their faces, I could certainly feel them metaphorically licking their lips in anticipation. There were several seats free and unfortunately, they were all beside "hungry" predators. I walked all the way back looking once again for the least painful path of death and ended up sitting beside a man in his 50's in a bright red jacket who turned out to be quite cordial. I really can't describe it but the atmosphere inside the bus was just eerie for me. I was like a cat with all its hairs standing when danger is near or a dog with a slow menacing growl upon feeling threatened..

While Papa Smurf didn't look like he was going to attack me, I had other problems to contend with. The bus' toilet wasn't exactly pleasant and there was a lady blowing her nose and constantly coughing just behind me. It was going to be a long night..surely nothing else could be worst?! Murphy strikes again! A baby started this high pitch wailing and for a split second, I contemplated wailing myself, in misery! These combining factors made me moved a few seats to the front, risking sitting beside this middle aged guy who after several attempts at trying to be "friendly" with me, in the end, decided to leave me alone. However, there were 2 younger guys sitting in front of me, who kept turning back and smiling and staring at me. Forget white knight, a paperbag would have suffice as well at that moment! I thought right, I'll just ignore them and try to sleep. I closed my eyes for not more than a minute when I heard a clicking sound of a digital camera. I was shocked to discover upon opening my eyes that one of the guys sitting in front of me just took a picture of me with his phone camera. Ohmygosh! I'm on the highway not to Almeria but to hell! This has certainly been the worst night travel experiences I have ever had.

I arrived in Almeria, weary and drained but still too wound up and tensed at the same time. I was so glad though to make it in one piece and awfully glad to see a familiar face. Robert was of course apologetic for my experience but of course it wasn't his fault. Oh, I forgot to say that Robert has kindly offered to let me stay at his place while I was in Almeria. He lives about 25 minutes by car in Almerimar (yes, they really need to work on their originality in name of places) and only 15 minutes walk from the beach. But right then, all I wanted to do was sleep and that was what I got..a good solid 10 hours worth to cure the exhaustion!

Later, Robert took me to a nearby town, El Hida for some lunch and we just caught up on news. He then showed me a nearby fortress by the beach of Almerimar. It was once used by the Moorish empire to guard the Spanish water in the 11th century. Today the Spanish custom uses it to guard the same water from Morrocans trying to enter the country illegally.

The fortress of Almerimar.

As you can see from the picture, the weather was indeed as pleasant as Robert described. It was super hot and humid too! We then walked around the beach for a bit before heading home. Robert's place is a nice 2 bedroom apartment with a great view of the sea and it comes also with a tennis court! Excellent! Poor Robert didn't know what hit him when I suggested a game of tennis. I "accidentally" forgot to mention my level of fitness to him. Oops, also left out that I used to play tennis at school. It was also sometime ago since I was able to do any sports or go running. This and all that added tension in the bus made me just want to go out there and blast the balls all over the court...poor Robert but despite my best imitation of Serena Williams, he did considerably well to return the balls despite the fact that he only played tennis like twice in his life...doh! :P

Coincidentally, Robert's family was also visiting from Germany at the same time, so he went and spend time with them that night and left me at home with his satelite tv of over 150 channels. So after leaving my aggression on court, I was able to transform into a couch potato for that night.

26th October

Robert had to work and so he dropped me off at the bus station to catch a bus into Almeria town centre so I can do some sightseeing. It was a nice pleasant bus ride for a change, with views of the mountains on one side and the sea on the other, almost all the way into town.

Almeria, like most Andalusian towns were of course once under Christian rule before the Moorish conquered this region for 700 years, only to then be reconquered once more by the Christians. This rich tapestry of history was proudly displayed all over Andulusia. Similarly, Almeria has its fair share of mosques that were then converted into churches, this was evident from the Moorish styled domes in most of the religious architectures. However, there was no grandeur sight than the Alcazaba, Almeria's fortress located at the top of the hill overlooking this port city.

In 955, Adb al-Rahman, the first caliph of Al-Andalus granted the status of madina to the nucleus of Almeria, ordering the construction of the Alcazaba to act as a fortress as well as the main administration centre for the Moorish to control Andalusia. After the Christian's reconquest, they extended the fortress including building a Watch Tower and a church with a bell tower known as Santa Maria la Mayor in 1763, under the reign of Charles III. Bell was used to warn the inhabitants of the incursions of pirates (think Johny Depp in Pirates of the Carribean *drool*)

As you can see from the pictures below how stunning this fortress was and imagine how much more glorified it would have been during its heydays!

View on one of the admistrative buildings in the fort.

View of the eastern wall

One corner of the wall and a great view of the city below.

Another beautiful view of this sunny port city from the Tower of the Gunpowder.

Another view of the port and the city.

Sitting on the Tower of the Watermill, Princess Al-Delina waiting for her pirate JD to rescue her! Blasted wind!!

The southern wall leading to a monument built apparently by one of the Knight Templars after the Catholic reconquest of Andalusia and this fortress.

After a good tour of the fortress, I caught up with Robert for lunch before heading back to Almerimar.

The rest of the days spent here in Almeria while was Godsent and great for me in terms of recharging the batteries, unfortunately, they are not inspiring to write about. I basically played more tennis, went for runs, sunbathing or simply reading and relaxing. Then on the 29th, I caught the evening train to Barcelona, and this is where I found another Spanish gem!

AO rating of Almeria: Like Bratislava, it wasn't exactly a historical or overly exciting place to be, but at the same time, it is such a delight to be able to take a holiday from your holiday so to speak and actually have no planned itinerary for the day or worry about which museum to visit first. So besides the stressful bus ride initially, Almeria was a good distraction! Right, Barcelona next!

24.10.2005

Hostel Room 3 was bustling with vibrant energies of its two excited inhabitants who couldn't wait to soak up the warm sunrays and to feel the cool soft white sands tickling their toes..that's right. Today is Beach Day, Hooray! Playa de la Mavarrosa, here we come!!

While waiting for "Miss" Andrea to get ready, Gill and I decided to check out the local Mercardo and get ourselves some cooked breakfast! Gill wanted to make her world famous omelette and I was in charge of hunting down chocolate croissants (oh woe is me!) It was fun walking around the wet market that also housed cafeterias, bakeries and Tabaccas (like a tobacco shop but with newspapers, sweets etc). After completing our shopping list, we headed home to cook up a storm. Andrea of course came out of his room well groomed just in time for breakfast. Gill and I exchanged looks of "Oh, he's soooo doing the dishes". The mushroom and capsicum omelette was delicious and everyone was pleased with my choice of choc croissants, scorring a resounding 9.9 from both the US and Italian judges.

As we were about to head off, a couple of "green turtles" (our nickname for newbies that just arrived to the hostel the night before, you can often tell by their disorientated and timid looks)walked in and asked if they could join us at the beach. Christina and Jenna were from the States but currently studying in England and were in Valencia for their semester break. So 5 of us set of to Mavarrosa beach in the highest of spirits and skimpiest of bikinis. Boys, if you're now scrolling straight to the pictures, you would already discovered to your disappointment that I wouldn't be dumb enough to put them here, would I?! I mean, they are going to be my drawcards in making all of you sit through hours and hours of travel slideshows :P (I am still working on the girls' ones!)

As you can see from the picture of the beach, it's incredibly beautiful. Calm fine day without a single cloud in the sky. As it was considered autumn and thus too cold to be on the beach for the locals, we pretty much had the entire mile stretch of the beach to ourselves. It was heaven with sand. The funny thing was initially, after all that early hype, I think everyone was kind of exhausted and so, everyone actually had a nice lil nap. The whole group was very in sync with one another. We all woke up around the same time, started talking, biting on munchies..Gill brought her guitar, so she was plucking some tunes while we all softly sang along, each displaying reserved enthusiasm, perhaps due to personal insecurities with singing in tunes. Still, we had a ball! As there was hardly anyone on the beach, the bold and daring Gill declared she would be damned if she was getting tan lines and proceed to go topless. Andrea's jaw dropped and stay hung open for a good 5 minutes I think. The rest of us girls kinda giggled with slight shy embarassment. Yes, I know you want to know whether I also threw caution (and bra) into the wind and went topless as well...Remembering my profession, all I am going to say is that this information is confidential and classified. I guess you will just have to wait and see for yourself whether I have a tan line or not when you see me..*smirk*

Can you spot that mysterious topless woman?

After a good period of the morning and early afternoon spent basking in the glory that is another beautiful Valencian day, we bid the Mediterranean sea adiòs and reluctantly returning to the city, but without Andrea who decided he was going to remain at the beach to collect his thoughts. We really could have spent all day at the beach ourselves but Gill wanted to catch a train to Barcelona that evening and I was to catch a bus to Almeria later that night myself. On our way back, Gill told us about this delicious Spanish afternoon tea except that you actually have cofee instead of tea and scones are replaced with what's called "chirios". I should have taken pictures. Hard to describe except to say it's donut dough made into small breadsticks and you dip them in this bowl of rich, thick dark chocolate sauce (like choc fondue). Second time that day, we were in heaven! Here's the pic of the 4 "cats that just finished their creams".

From left to right, Jenna, Gillian, Christina and Adelina, all tanned and happy! Oh yeah, you can see the chirio on Jenna's plate!

As I've described the gorgeous Gillian before, she's a lovely girl but way too laid back. What was her originally planned departure time of 4pm, then became 5pm, then it was 6 because she wanted to follow me to the top of the cathedral tower to take pictures of the city. (She's too proud I think to admit that perhaps she didn't really want to go because we were having such a blast and I certainly was in no hurry to see her go either!) Anyway, we made our way to the top of the tower and took lots of photos and as the sun was setting, we were able to even take great sunset photos.

The majestic baroque styled Catedral de la Valencia!

View of Plaza Reial (Royal Square that's just outside the Cathedral) from the tower.

The sun about to set on Valencia and Gill and my time together, but I can see the sun just rising over our newfound friendship!

I think Gill would have kept delaying her departure but as I really didn't want her to miss her LAST train, I determinedly pushed her along and finally we gave each other an enormous bearhug and said "hasta luego" (until we meet again), trying unsuccessfully to hold back tears. This is indeed another friendship formed in a day but will last for life.

AO Rating of Valencia: Without a doubt, my favourite place so far in all the European places I have been. For you in NZ, Valencia to me is like Christchurch, not a big city, but big enough for all the conveniences you need but it also has character and many different geographical and historical richness that really welcomes you and make you feel one of its own. A home away from home. Madrid, of course would be Wellington, cold, morbid and lacking in vibrancy. No points for guessing what NZ city Barcelona is likened to..you'll have to wait till I get there. For now, I dedicate this page and one of my best times had so far to the city which I had upon my departure, left a piece of my heart and soul and oh yeah, my drivers license! More later..

22.10.2005

Amazing how constrasting the vibrations of the two cities can be, like those of Madrid and Valencia. As soon as the bus pulled into the Valencia bus station, "I feeeel goood....I know that I should" Hmmms, maybe I should call this Adelina's Travel Musical!.

Everything just went smoothly..my shoulders thanked me as I found my hostel in no time, rooming with 2 others, Gillian, an American who coincidentally spent 6 months working in NZ previously and called it her 2nd home, and Ian, the Irish guy (yes girls, with killer accent). After he introduced himself, I think he was explaining that he was cycling through Spain, but with that amazing singsong melodic accent, he might as well have been reciting all the different parts of a bicycle to me and still I would be equally enchanted. Once again, the vibrations felt right about this hostel and its inhabitants and little did I know then that Valencia was about to become my favourite place in Spain!

23.10.2005

Irishboy Ian was sleeping in on his last day in Spain (Kev, I see now that sleeping is a revered institution in Ireland, I apologise for my giving you heaps earlier on this). So Gillian and I decided to go sighseeing together. To make up the Travelling Trio was Andrea (Italian for Andrew). He was also staying at the hostel and was in Valencia for a filming assignment (working for an Italian television company). You know how we girls often get hassled for taking forever to get ready to go out? Well, it's about time the tables are turned! Gill and I had to wait forever for Andrea! We should have known as soon as told he us he was going for a "quick shower", carrying 2 make-up bags (which I later discovered contained his shower stuff in one bag and his "body enhancement" items in the other). After a quick breakfast, we were off!!

Valencia is the 3rd largest city in Spain with a population of 3 million people. Located also at the southern coast of Spain, it is situated between Seville and Barcelona and just like its other southern cousins, it was blessed with the amazingly beautiful sunny hot weather, 33 degrees today, pheew! Melllltttting!

As today was Sunday where entries to all museums are free, we decided to take a stroll down the "dried up" riverbed and along the way, visit Valencia's Modern Arts Museum (only going because the other two wanted to go). Previously, there used to be a river that run across Valencia. In the 1950's the Valencian City Council decided to revert the part of the river in the city elsewhere in order to expand the city's perimeter. God knows why couldn't they just build a bridge across the river to enlarge the city! Annnnyway, as a result of this, the old river was dried up and it was turned into a gigantic park containing fountains, monuments, playgrounds, soccer fields amongst some of the things. The size of this riverbed isn't small either. The Length probably would have been a good 8 to 10km and the width would probably be 2 soccer fields side by side at an estimate. It was really a pleasant walk since it was so hot. As there were quite a lot to see along the way plus getting to know my two new friends, I didn't realise that we had walked the entire dried up river bed, all 3 hours of walking!

Gillian is best described as a free spirit. She graduated and then decided that the only responsibilities she was prepared to handle at that point in her life was to decide what place to travel to next. She was the closest to a laidback Kiwi as I have come across so far on my trip. We got along as well as two opposites can be. I was the kick in the butt she needed once a while to get going and she's the one that would slap me a few times to calm me down when I'm running around like a headless chook.

Andrea made both Gillian and I laughed out loud and snorting in an unladylike manner when he first started talking about himself. His first line was "Not sure if you guys noticed but I am not like how you would imagine an Italian man would be." It was so funny because what he said couldn't have been further from the truth. With his naturally curly thick hair smoothed by lots of greasy gel and tied at the back into a small ponytail, his tight black body hugging t-shirt and the lazy casual charm which he had in abundance and no shame or qualms in throwing around..who was he really kidding??!! His English was really limited but we did learnt that he was here training with some film crew on movie making. Another reason why he was SOOOoooOOO an Italian was that this man puts the "tense" in Intense!! He made me look like a pot smoking, chilled out Jamaican!He also possessed amazing musical talent..not just in singing, but more so in creating drum beats with various parts of his body. Seriously, he was a walking drumkit, able to mimick various bass and keyboard sounds with his mouth. All the way walking from the city to the dried up river bed, we caught everyone's attention, singing, humming or speaking in a wild mix of English, Spanish and broken Italian (mine). I think we would have been less obvious singing "Doe a deer" wearing mismatched curtain cut-outs!

The fountain at the centre of the riverbed.

Cute signs located all over the riverbed.

One that guides the bridge at the riverbed..reminds you of Gotham City?

We eventually reached our point of destination. As part of an international Science exhibition held not long ago in Valencia, the city built several state of the art modern buildings and a bridge and honestly, it was like walking onto the movie set of Star Wars. See for yourself!

The bridge over the riverbed.

The mothership has landed!

In a galaxy far far away...

Then we headed back into city and I took photos of some of the nice buildings in the city..

This is the "mercado", which is the city's wet market. Very impressive, you can find everything in there, from fresh vegetables, meat, fishes and fruits to coffee, croissants and stationery!

This is the Bullfight arena. Really impressive. It was closed that day so we couldn't go in but would have been great to see a bullfight, although not sure how they would respond to my red top, the bulls that is, not the Spanish men..

That reminds me..forgot to mention that when I was in Cadiz, you know how it was so hot? So I was walking around in shorts as you do in a summer like temperature..anyway, I caused 2 accidents! I was crossing this road and this guy on a scooter on the road I was crossing was turning onto the street I was walking on and he kept looking over at me and talking to me, wolfwhistling when he slammed right into the back of a small truck. Remarkably, his body suffered less injury than his ego I think. But what was worst, there was another guy on a scooter behind the first guy who did the same thing and so he slammed into the back of the first guy..so yeah...if you're a hot blooded Spanish male and you drive, you are likely to get killed on the road. I must say, Spain is definitely good for one's ego..being a novel asian in Spain or not, it is kinda flattering to walk by a group of really loud men jesting with one another and suddenly they all became quiet and just stared and stared until their eyes almost falling out of the sockets...so funny!

In the evening, the 3 musketeers, Gill, Andrea and I all went to have a typical Valencian Spanish meal, called Paella (pronounced Pahia). It's like Rissotto cooked with different range of spices and you can choose various toppings too, i.e with chicken or with salamis, with seafood and so on, very yummy! Another quiet night, Gillian reading her book and Andrea and I played chess. Starting to become like a Harry Potter movie..hmmms.

(To be continued...)

20.10.05

I knew I shouldn't have listened to the receptionist of my hostel in Granada who said I didn't have to book for my hostel in Madrid. She shrugged "After all, it's autumn and it's the capital..so many hostels to choose from." Capital Schmapital I say! I arrived and pretty much walked for 1.5 hours with the turtle shell breaking my back. You should have seen my shoulders where the straps of the bag made their impressions, I looked like I had been tortured by a medieval device. Don't get too excited now..

It's one thing being turned away from one hostel to another, but it's another thing when the hostel staff don't speak a word of English (and they work at international hostels, go figure), and, to top it off, it didn't help trying to find a hostel when you are in a strange city and getting lost while looking for a hostel, arrrgh.

Eventually, I marched up yet another street off the city centre, not particularly pleased to see the working girls already busy working. By that time though, I could have easily hired one of them just to get a room myself! Again, don't get too excited..

Eventually, I found not only a hostel with a room, but it was a single room at a very reasonable price and I said "SI, SI!" before the receptionist even came to asking that question. Then I was off in search of a Vodafone shop to top up my credit. Ok, please allow me to whinge a bit. When I first got to Europe, I thought it would be cheaper if I buy a basic phone here with an European SIM card so I could text or call people who I would be seeing or staying with in Europe. Of course, I then found out that Vodafone had a "passport" system where you can text and call people at a reduced rate for countries participating in this system. Guess what? NZ was one of them, which meant, I could have used my NZ phone and SIM card and still paid the same! Arrrgh! Having said that, it's not that cheap to text people. 75 Euro cents each text sent. I have easily spent at least 120 Euros just on topping up my credit to date, crazy!!

After that little errand, I was back at the hostel kicking back and it was nice to see things beginning to turn around in my favour. I discovered that the hostel organised some sort of evening activity each night and tonight, it was the Flamenco dancing night!! Excellent, been wanting to see one of those and I actually was getting one for free!

Wasn't sure what to expect, but I had images of guitars, clarinets and lots of "Olè!", I got all that and more! A group of 4 appeared. The guitarist was easily recognisable together with the male and female flamenco dancers (unless their normal evening frocks often resemble the cast of Saturday Night Fever).The fourth person, a beautiful Latina's purpose was rather unknown until the lights were dimmed and the first string of the guitar was plucked. Suddenly, the most beautiful clear crisp voice filled the room as the mystery lady enchanted us all with her amazing voice, crooning a beautiful tragic Spanish lovesong. Before we could "return" from being blown away, we were swept further into this tidal wave of music and dance as the guitar came alive with a fast number and first the lady and then the man took to the dance floor exhibiting a harmonious marriage of strength and grace as they swirled, kicked, tapped and clapped to the upbeat flamenco song accompanied by the feverish strumming of the guitar. As the sweat trickled down the head of the guitar player, he would emerge from his strumming trance and chanted "Venga...Olé!" (like "Let's go!"), motivating the dancers to move faster, the clarinets clapped, the feet loudly tapped, Olé!! It was magical!

Venga!!! Vamos!! The flamenco dancers cheered on by the songbird.

21.10.2005

Today there was no smiling sun to greet me. It marked my first raining weather in Madrid. Oh well, guess the sunshine couldn't last forever *pout* I decided the best way to see such a big city would probably to catch one of those "hop on and hop off tour buses", like the one I took in London. It turned out to be a good idea as I managed to see a lot in the whole day plus my bus ticket entitled me to 3 museums as well. Just in case you think most of the time, I memorised all the name of places I've seen together with its history, I am sorry to burst your bubble by admitting that I often referred to the tourist information and map that I gathered for each place of my visit and as you would expect, if you know me well enough, sooner or later, something like this was going to happen..I lost my tourist info on Madrid and so I couldn't exactly tell you the name of places but I can kind of described them!

Ok, let's focus on something more positive..so this bus tour, it was not as fun as the London's one as there was no Live commentary from a local telling us naughty jokes about a monument of the city, instead we got one of those "If you want to listen to the commentary in English, press 2". However, to make up for it, we were treated to a big protest by the farmers federation,(probably sick of the sheepdogs' siestas). I had to laugh out loud when two of the tourists on the bus kept pushing the tape recorder and adjusting their headpiece, looking very much like they were expecting some sort of commentary on the protests and of course, they were outraged not to get any..I can only guess they're probably Australians.. *duck*. Here are some of the pics taken and I shall announce them in no particular order...(drumroll)

This is a building with pointy bits on top..(what?!!)

Ooh, I know this one..it's the National Library of Madrid!

This is a fountain displaying Neptune coming out of the water, fountain located at the square...the one near the garden..

This is by far the most impressive building for me, it's the city's old post office, with a strong gothic design.

Majestic sculpture of Dianna, Goddess of War, on the square just in front of the old post office.

After all that sight seeing, I went and have some lunch. Here's another thing interesting in Spain. For a country once ruled for 700 years by Muslims, you wouldn't expect to see a country so obssessed with pork meat. By obssessed, I mean you constantly come across restaurants with legs of ham dangling from the restaurant's ceiling. I'm serious! So instead of under a sky full of stars, your dining pleasure would be under hundreds of pig thighs hanging from the ceiling. They are coated with olive oil and just underneathe them, there's this cup that catches the oil that dripped from the meat. Thinking of becoming vegetarian today?! I see that Lonely Planet was not kidding when it described Spain as "Miss Piggy's nightmare!" In Madrid, they are slightly more civilised, hanging porkies in a more discreet manner, see picture, sorry, the blur was due to my giggling while taking the picture.

With a oink oink here, and an oink oink there..

The evening was spent checking out the museums. I won't bore you with the details but Madrid was more famous for its modern art and so I saw a lot of abstract and modern art which I must say, if they weren't free, wild horses wouldn't be able to drag me through them.

22.10.2005

I cannot pinpoint what exactly, but if you are like me, a firm believer in auras and vibrations, then I can tell you that Madrid gave me a very bad aura and vibration. Something about the place, just wrecked of unsavoury like feeling. The city isn't dirty, but at the same time, I constantly feel a sense of discomfort and unease, like I need to "wash" constantly..and I use this word metaphorically. There was something unpure about this place. I decided on this basis to leave Madrid for Valencia. I initially planned to spend my morning visiting the city's palace but ended up instead stuck at the hostel, searching the net for accomodation in Valencia. In the end, I only managed a quick glance of the palace from the outside and the cathedral opposite to it before leaving the city in the same mood that I arrived in, foul.

AO Rating: Combination of things made my stay in Madrid rather unpleasant, not all bad of course, the Flamenco dancing and bus tour was great but all in all, I would bid Madrid "Adiòs", rather than "Hasta luego".