When the East meets the West!

17.10.05

Arrived in Cadiz like 3 in the afternoon. The first thing I noticed was the heat! Geez, if I thought Seville was cooking, Càdiz was boiling baby! It was at least 32 degrees, sunny and humid! I was taking my chances by not booking my accommodation ahead of time and I must have still been in Lady Luck’s good grace as I managed to secure a 4 mixed dorm accommodation for the night. After checking in, I was further elated to discover that I had the whole room to myself! What did I do first thing after dropping off that turtle shell? No points for guessing, that’s right, checking out that beach!!

This is going to sound shocking, rather than just walking on the beach like most tourists, this sports bunny had to go and overdo things hadn’t she. I'm sticking to the excuse that I needed to stretch my legs after the bus ride, hence the jog. As it was considered to be “cold” autumn season, there was hardly anyone on the beach except for me, a few seagulls and a few broad shouldered hunky surf babes. Of course as I was running past them, I did my best Baywatch impression, running and tossing my hair etc. It had the desired effect on the boys until, also living up to my famous reputation, I stepped on some soft sand and stumbled rather ungracefully and disgracefully, didn't fall though..but perhaps I should have, then I could have buried my head in the sand in shame! *grumble* The sands were not like white powder, but nevertheless, a welcome change to the city scene of Seville.

That night, I met up with some of the others staying at the hostel. The bunch of them were playing a card game called “dumbass” and they invited me to join in, (was I really that obvious?!) We had lots of fun that night since most of them already started drinking since 2pm. Everyone had problems with names, so soon, any attempts at recalling names were abandoned and instead, we dubbed each other by our countries of origin and so I was “Kiwi”, and there were “Aussie”, “Iowa”, “Cath” and “Kim”, “Miss Ireland” and “Guiness” (couple of really mad Irish ppl!) It’s quite rare I think when you have such a big group of people, each with their own distinctive personalities, coming from different countries and yet all able to become best of friends in one single night..really rewarding to feel like you are meeting old friends, rather than new. The night of merry making was not without its ill effect though, resulting in the birth of a hairless panda bear (black ring around the eyes) the next morning.

18.10.05

So this hairless panda bear trotted off to see Cadiz through half closed eyes, which of course looked completely shut for those not specially trained in detecting Chinese half closed eyes. Being more famous for its summer fiestas and beach paradise retreat, it came as no surprise for me that there would only be two places of special interest in the town itself, the local Cathedral and the Plaza de la Mina and Plaza Espana. The cathedral, built after the Christian’s reconquest of Spain in the 14th century, its special features include having a dome clad with gilded tiles and its majestic interior adorned with marble and coloured jaspers. Also climbed up the tower (surprise, surprise) and took great pictures of the city.

Plaza de la Mina and Plaza Espana are located side by side near the town’s port. Plaza Espana has the Monument of the Parliament, erected in early 19th century to commemorate Cadiz being the cradle of Spain’s liberal movement, first established here in 1812. Plaza de la Mina is a beautiful small garden, with hundreds of years old ficus trees providing much welcomed shade from the sun and this plaza is also home to Cadiz prodigal son, the famous composer, Manuel de Falla, and his tomb could be found in the crypt of the Cathedral. Believe it or not, only after such short tour of the city, I was already drenched in perspiration, so rushed back to the hostel for a quick shower, grabbed my turtle shell and off to the next destination, Granada!

The Cathedral, nestled in the heart of this sleepy town, surrounded by lazily swaying palm trees...ahhh paradise.

View of the Mediterranean from the top of the Cathedral.

View of the coast hugging town from the top.

The monument at Plaza de la Mina.

AO Rating of Càdiz: Although I only stayed one night, I saw what I wanted and it’s one of those sleepy costal towns where if all you want to do is catch some waves, chill read a book and collect the Miss Dumbass title (oh wait, that was just me), then Càdiz will be your ideal getaway!

19.10.05

I arrived late the night before from Càdiz and so nothing much to report except that I checked in safely into the hostel. It was interesting (and scary to a degree) to walk around trying to find your hostel and realised that it was on a very dark dingy looking street. As you knocked on the bare wooden door, wondering whether it would collapse with each knock, you would also ponder as to what kind of rat hole have you got yourself into this time booking an accommodation such as this. Then when the door’s opened, you would be blown away by the modernly designed courtyard welcoming you into this establishment. You would be further astonished by the cleanliness and the freshly painted interior of the hostel. Yes ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Spain. I’m however going to contradict myself now by saying this. By this stage also, I had come to realise that Spanish people take a lot of pride in their image, i.e it is important for them to present their best to the others, at least on the surface anyway. As such, everything must always look good externally. Fresh paint, bright colours on the buildings, on people, bold coloured and expensive clothing, perfect make up and leather shoes with shiny belt buckles.

Granada is probably famous for lots of things but once again, I was only spending two nights there and my main interest in visiting Granada would have to experience viewing Spain’s most famous Moorish fortress, the Alhambra! (All-harm-bra). If not the grandest, it was certainly the largest of them all. Not only was it the royal Palace to the Nasrid Sultans during the 13th century, it was also an Alcazaba (military stronghold), Medina (inner city) and the Generalife (royal agricultural estate), all rolled into one. In terms of actual size area, it was larger than the Versailles in France and my 6 hours walk and over 100 photos would be proof of what was required to truly appreciate this historical grandeur! It was such a popular tourist attraction that the authorities have to limit the number of visitors per day to 6,000. This meant that people are often advised to book their tickets at least 2 days in advance to be able to frequent this historical site. Ironically, I took my chance and simply walked up to the fortress half expecting to be turned away but to my delight, I was able to get in without being trapped in one of the many horror 8 hour queue stories you hear about with places such as this. Let me give you a brief guided tour with some of the pictures I have taken. Exhausted after my titanic excursion for the day, I spent a quiet evening relaxing at the Britz Hostel after another night of delicious tapas and checking of emails.

View of the Alhambra walls in the midst of green hills.

What was left of the castle's residential housing plan.

View of the Cathedral from one of the towers in Alhambra.

Alhambra's famous monument of the 5 dogs and the Moorish styled castle roofs. You'll have to wait until I get home for the rest of the stupendous photos!

20.10.05

Goodness me, today marked exactly one month since I have departed the shores of New Zealand to explore the treasures of Europe, past and present. Time indeed flew when one was having fun! As I had a long bus ride ahead of me to Madrid, the little time in the morning I had, I spent exploring the city’s Cathedral. Shamefully its history and information I omit due to the rush (ok,ok so I lost the pamphlet on the church, can’t hide anything from you guys!). But hopefully a case of picture speaks louder than words…

Ok, since you've already seen the outside of the church, here's the inside. This is a very elaboratedly gilded pew located at the main altar.

AO Rating: If there is anything you can’t miss when visiting Granada, certainly that would be the Alhambra, Indeed the fortress is so impressive it would cause all sorts of harm to not only your bras, but guarantee to get your knickers into a knot!

16.11.05

I was waiting at the Carmona central bus stop (not station, it’s a village remember?) waiting for the bus that would take me to Seville, which of course was my original first port of call in Spain. However, after being accidentally distracted by Carmona for 2 days, which then left me with only staying one night in Seville, which meant making the most of today.

So I arrived nice and early at the bust stop, around 9:30am but unfortunately, after waiting for almost an hour, the familiar city to village bus was still out of sight. As I was fighting my nagging worry that perhaps the bus driver decided on an early siesta, a lady arrived at the bus stop. She started talking to me in Spanish only of course to get blank and confused looks from me which did not in whatsoever way act as a deterrent to her enthusiastic and constant flow of chatters. Not long after she arrived, an older man, white hair, white beard and sunglasses ala Chips tv movie style appeared out of nowhere and began asking the lady something. She nodded fervently before turning to look enquiringly at me. I continue to perfect my blank confused looks at the two and eventually with lots of gesticulations and broken English from the man, I gathered he was offering to drive me and the lady to Seville for some money. Yes, like you, at this point, my spider sense was tingling all over with huge sirens ringing in my head..quick, say no my head commanded! Instead, I asked how much it would cost, the reply was same as what I would pay on the bus. In my defence, I want to say I did debate within myself for at least a full minute (ok, ok, 30 seconds..but ..that’s my final offer!) whether to accept his offer. On one hand, I reasoned that this lady and the guy could be scheming together in some secret Asian kidnapping syndicate, planning to sell me to the highest bidder in the black market. On the other hand, I was desperate to get to Seville to start my sightseeing, it was getting late and my faith in the public transportation in this part of Spain already diminished to an all time low..what was I to do?!

In the end, seeing another couple with a child nearby also waiting for us to join them made the decision for me. Nodding to the old guy, I put my bag in his ‘taxi’ (one of those 7 ppl movers) and soon to my relief, we sped off to Seville. My taking this high risk paid off as we got into Seville only 15 minutes later than when my originally intended bus was suppose to arrive. As you can see so far, things as I have planned could suddenly change at a drop of a hat, often requiring me to make a new plan or decision to accommodate the new circumstances of my travel and I must confess to be privately pleased about how I have been able to take these sudden changes of directions in my strides and managing to ‘go with the flow’, which I can assure you, is no small feat for control freak like me...SING IT..”donja wish your friends are tanned like me….donja wish your friends are freaks like me….donja…….dum da dum dad um…donja…” Sorry, I digress..

It took a bit of adjusting to getting back into the thick of a city scene after serenely strolling at a casually pace in Carmona. The first interesting sight that greeted me was when I was crossing the pedestrian crossing at a busy intersection in town. They have the usual ‘green man’ walking sign flashing when you’re suppose to cross..but in Seville, the greenman was also the action man, due to the timer placed on how long you have remaining before the man turns red. 15 seconds before the redman appeared, you see the green man starting to walk faster and by 10 seconds to go, he was slowly running but during the last 5 seconds countdown, you see Mr. Greenie doing a full sprint! Very entertaining..

I managed (this time) to book myself into a hostel gobsmackingly right in the centre of the city. A simple single room with a view of the busy street below. Interesting that even though the hostel was advertised in English and as an international hostel, none of the hostel staff speak any English, so once again, back to the good ol pointing, grunting and various facial expressions…I found muscles on my face I didn’t even know I could make twitch…ooooh, new party trick awaits you upon my return. Once the turtle shell had been dislodged, I was off to see my first Moorish influenced gothic church in Spain, the Catedral de Sevilla.

The Catedral was built by the Christians upon their reclaiming of Spain from the Moors in the 15th century and the old mosque was demolished and this church built. While politically defeated, the Moorish architectural influence remained potent as you can see from the pictures below. This cathedral definitely received my wow vote not only for its unique building style, but also for the granting of access to the top of its the skyscraping tower.

The insides of the church was equally impressive with the predominantly gothic style architecture and extensive use of gold gilding, high quality marbles and smooth and finely designed sculptures. To illustrate the gigantic size of this church, get this..there were at least 22 chapels not including the main altar and each of this chapel was at least a size of an average living room with high ceiling!

The piece de resistance of course was the long 428 step climb to the top of the tower, aka the 360 degree lookout point. Windy and long but certainly worth the effort as the view from the top simply picturesque and panoramic. Word of caution for those prone to stair-sickness. We advise you take caution (as well as a plastic bag) when ascending and descending.

The Cathedral de Sevilla and the magnificent Tower. Note the Moorish influence in its architecture.

View of the church from the tower's lookout point.

Enjoy the view of the city, just don't ask me to name that building with the beautiful dome.

Err, forgot to rotate this, so please rotate your head instead. This is one of the gilded altars in the church.

To date, I have met tens of Australians and only one Kiwi and while I was reflecting how there were fewer Kiwis travelling than I expected, I suddenly heard my name called which of course took me by surprise. I turned around and was even more flabbergasted to discover that it was Natalie and Ian, two friends I met 10 years ago in Christchurch when I first arrived in NZ and had not seen for literally 9 years, when they left Christchurch to go to London to do their Overseas Experience! Talking about a blast from the past! So there we were, 3 kiwis, shouting and screaming, group hugging one another and believe me, we were very very short of performing an impromptu haka! What an unbelievably small world, to meet friends you have lost touch with for the past 9 years, not in NZ but on a tower in Spain! Crazy!!

After spending a good amount of time catching up with my friends, I said my goodbyes to them and the church and head off to the next destination. Next to the Cathedral was the Garden of Murilo which is a big recreation park located at the heart of this city. It was a relaxing afternoon stroll through series of palm and timber trees, strategically planted to create a garden reminiscence of the Moorish Sultan’s palace garden of the 12th century. Soon after, I arrived at another of this city’s well known landmark, the Plaza Espana. I must concede my ignorance as to information regarding this beautiful square as I arrived there late in the evening where everything was shut and I was leaving the next morning, so I did not have much of a chance to find out what it was, but as you can see from the pictures taken, it is truly an impressive Moorish architecture with detailed and well selected use of ceramic tiles for the exterior of the walls of the building. Truly amazing.

Garden of Murilo with its colourful ceramic tiled seats

Tada!! Plaza de Espana!

On the bridge at the front of the main building.

One of the building's Moorish design towers, simply stunning!

During my stay in Seville, I met Robert Kaesmacher, a German psychologist based in Almeria (another southern coastal town of Spain) who was also on holiday in Seville. His surname meant Cheesemaker, while he may or may not have inherited his ancestor’s trade, he definitely was a charming man and with his help in Spanish, I manage to learn a lot more about the city and how ask for important things in Spain, like “Donde Asseo?” and “Uno café con leche perfavor!”, respectively “where’s the toilet” and “a cup of coffee (with milk) please!” Also helpful to learn is the phrase “Luciento!” which is sorry and believe me, it gets you out of every imaginable miscommunication problem with the locals!

Robert took me to a typical café the next morning to sample a typical Spanish breakfast which incidentally, he explained, are not big breakfast eaters. So often it’s a steaming cup of coffee with either sweet pastries like chocolate croissants or a plain bun or a bun with cheese and ham for the Latinos and Latinas with bigger appetites. Then we said goodbyes and I hopped on the bus to experience my first coastal Spanish town, Càdiz!

AO Rating of Seville: A pity I only had one night in Seville but certainly impressed with what I saw of this capital of Andulusia. Best thing, the hot humid weather (in late autumn!). Worst thing: Perhaps lack of tourist friendly signs and descriptions on monuments, places and things. Hasta pronto! (See you soon!)

14.10.2005

600 years after Columbus sailed to China to visit my ancestors, I decided to return the favour. A bit of background history on Spain is necessary I think in order for one to appreciate the beauty of the country and the culture of its proud citizens. Around 400AD, Romanic Hispania was overrun by German tribes before the the Moors (Muslims from North Africa) conquered Spain in 700AD and for the next 700 years under their rule, Islamic Spain (known then as Al-Andalus) prospered in the arts and science. The Christians laid seige on the country again by end of 14th century and under Queen Isabel and King Fernando who united spain under a catholic rule (the Spanish Inquisition revived), they laid the foundation for Spain´s golden age of world exploration, discovery of new colonies and spreading of imperialism in the guise of religious salvation.

To see all of Spain, I would probably need a month, which unfortunately is a luxury I cannot afford. As we´re heading into winter in Europe, I decided the best region of Spain to visit this time of the year would be the south, known as the Andulusia, where sun worshippers continue to soak up the rays right to December, where they could possibly catch the chill, after all, it can be as cold as 25 degrees! Your eyes are not playing tricks on you and it´s no typo on my behalf. I was about to discover just how potent the influence that the Moorish had over Spain.

Carmona

Car-whaa?! Exactly my response too when I first discovered that the hostel I´ve booked when googling under ´hostel in Seville (original destination)´ turned out to be located in this small Spanish town 25km northwest of Seville. As it is customary with all hostel bookings via the internet, if you simply don´t show up on the night booked, they reserved the right to charge you at least one night´s accomodation. As you can imagine what foul mood I was in when I discovered that in addition to having to spend a night so far away from the city I originally wanted to see, I also had to spend at least an hour and a half´s travel over two different busses to get there.

Upon disembarking from the plane, my first impression of Spain is it was hot!! I mean it was 5 in the evening and it would have easily been 32 degrees with 110% humidity! The weather made it that much easier for me to sit seething with fury in the bus all the way to Carmona, carefully planning all the nasty things I was going to say to the hostel staff for their underhand manipulation of the sacred google search in dragging me into their town! Of course I realised there would be a 99% guarantee that none of them would be able to understand a word I said as unlike most of its neighbours, Spanish people only speak Spanish, not because they refuse too (like the French) but because they really didn´t know a single word in English, even in most frequented tourist places like airports, train stations, hostels and restaurants. Understand me or not, I was going to make sure that they would be made aware that despite my booking of 2 nights accomodation with them, I would leave as early as possible after a night to go back to Seville where I originally intended to go.

As we headed away from Seville and into a desert area where as far as the eyes can see, there´s nothing but khaki coloured powder of dust. This of course did nothing but strengthen my resolve and opinion that I have been duped to spend an evening in the middle of no where and wasting a valuable travelling day. To make the day worst, of course I had no idea exactly where to get off the bus as I doubt very much there would be a huge sign up saying ´Welcome to Carmona, Paradise for Dumb Tourists´. So I had to rely on the good ol sign language in imploring on the assistance of the locals as to whether each stop we came to was the one I was meant to get off. Remarkably, the day´s saving grace so far was the friendliness and helpfulness of the local Spanish people who despite my frantic gesticulations and pathetic attempt at their language, were determined to help and their constant yelling NO at me each time the bus came to a stop and I looked like I was going to disembark paid off finally when we reached the town and they finally consented to my getting off, I smiled gratefully as I dragged my turtle shell and walked towards the town.

The first sight that greeted me was this imposing brick fortress, which I later learnt was the Fortress of the Gate to Seville. As you will see from the pictures later how impressive this building was. A few steps further I came across the Church of San Pedro, the town´s main worship centre. As I walked further, small Spanish kids chasing one another came to a sudden halt with a puzzled look on their faces as they came face to face with a ´China´with my enormous backpack, they probably thought I was a middleage mutant ninja turtle. Soon their faces of awe turned to that of warmth and friendliness as they called out shyly, giggling before resuming their game of ´cops and robbers´. A few more churches and old Moorish buildings went by before I arrived at the Palacio Marquess de la Torres (translate to Mansion of the Mayor of the Town), which it might have been hundreds of years ago but today, it was where I was about spend the night...and at that moment, I decided, the night after as well. Well, there were plenty to see obviously but also I had a travellers intuition that my education, experience and exposure to Spanish life and history couldn´t get off to a better start than to enter into the heart of Andulusia (what southern region of Spain is called )where you can clearly hear and feel the pulsating heartbeats of its people through the inhabitants of the small cosy Carmona.

By the time I found the Palacio, I was pretty much delighted with my 'accidental' visit to this town and was pretty much looking forward to my stay. This sentiment was further improved by being greeted by Sara, the hostel manager who speaks reasonably good English! She was so helpful as to settling me in and suggesting places to go for great Spanish food and where to visit etc. As she was a local, her suggestions and advice were truly appreciated. The hostel is very bright and sunny, clean and you can smell a mix of wonderful flowers growing in the garden and the pine wood which formed part of the foundation of the hostel. My room was actually a dorm of 4 beds but since it wasn't busy (can't imagine it ever being busy in Carmona), I had the entire dorm room to myself for a 20 Euros per night, excellent!

After settling in, I caught up with Sara explaining how I was getting hungry which she found surprising as the Spanish have lunch like 3pm after their afternoon siesta (nap) and often don't have dinner until like 9:30 or 10pm and it was only 7pm and Sarah was worried that many places may not be opened yet! Incredible..however, upon my indication to try the local food, she suggested a great cafe to sample the 'tapas' which is a form of Spanish ´dim sum´if you like, often made up of small dishes like potatoes in some sort of sauce or another, beef in tomato sauce or a plate of fried squid or fish, each only costing like 2 Euros. With prices like that, I was more than happy to sample this local cuisine and so I head off and to my delight, these small plates of food were as delicious (and affordable) as Sara suggested.

Another thing I found in Carmona (and confirmed in other parts of Spain later) that their ordinary cup of coffee here costing 1 Euro per cup is pretty much equivallent to the best coffee you can find anyhere in NZ. Serioiusly people, if you're a coffee lover, Spain is where you want to be. They make Starbucks coffee taste as exciting as mudwater, and at the price you pay there, why would you want to go there??!

Over a cup of this aromatic strong coffee and serenaded by the Spanish music (which you can easily recognise with the strong accompanying of feverish stringing of the guitar to a Spanish singer's crooning), I set down to plan my next day's journey in Carmona. Strolling home after dinner was interesting as it gave me a taste of what the Spanish are on the road..

It is hard to describe except to say, imagine this: Really small narrow roads (width of a car, literally!), with cars and small but annoyingly loud scooters) tearing down at neck breaking speed, threatening to run over anything in their ways, tooting and shouting obscenities or greetings to other fellow villagers, all very hectic and rather out of place really for a small quaint town such as Carmona where you almost expect everyone to be asleep by 10pm. Ahh but my friend, this is Spain...where the nightlife (even in small towns) do not begin until at least from midnight onwards. Anyhow, I would strongly advise anyone from investing in setting up a motor vehicle insurance company in Spain..you'll find yourself bankrupt almost as quickly you get run over on the street.

The other interesting thing I noticed during my evening walk was how the Spanish loved to dress up. Be it adults, teenagers or even children as young as 7 or 8, at night, they're in their best clothing, almost every girl is done up like they're trying to win the Prom Queen.

When I got back to the hostel, Sara was still there working away but was happy to stop for a quick break while we chatted and became quick friends. She's the loveliest person and like many Spanish women, possess the Latina beauty in abundance. As you can see from our pictures below, I'm but a sorry thorn beside this Hispanic rose.

Sarah & me in the garden of the Palacio.

15.10.2005

Under Sara's great guidance, I was able to see all the interesting parts of Carmona in one day. I'll let the pictures do the talking aye?

View of the Church of San Pedro. The tower is a replica of the beautiful tower of the Cathedral of Seville as I later discovered.

This is the famous Alcazar de la Puerta de Seville, the fortress that greeted me the first day I arrived in Carmona. This fortress initially built before the Romans conquered Spain was so difficult to penetrate that Alexander the Great even mentioned it in his war journals, describing its invincibility. Of course, they did eventually penetrate it and ruled it until they were defeated by the Moorish who then extended it to what it resemble today. Very impressive..

The day I toured around Carmona, was a Saturday which Sara informed me is the favourite day for the Spanish to get married, which probably explained why I came across like 6 weddings just in the village alone that day! This one held at the San Pedro church showed the wedding car with cactus tied at the end of the car. Sara said that this is typical of the Spanish to play some sort of crazy joke on a friend's wedding day. It could be worst I guess...

One of the many fortress gates that guard the city. This one is located in the south. Very beautifully reflected by the evening sun.

A typical architecture for a house in Spain, even in the colour white, which is used more prominently in the centre of town or villages. Sara was helpful to point out that this feature, together with the fact that most Spanish homes have two front doors, with the outer one constantly left open to let in the sun as the Spanish believe that it is a blessing to have the sun shine on, and into the house, hence the white colour exterior to reflect the brightness of the house and the opening of the outer front door. Another common feature in Spanish homes are elaborate looking courtyard, almost like NZ'ers and their gardens. Often there's a fountain in the centre and lots of plants adorning it..a place for rest and siesta I guess!

There were many photos I took which I will share with you back home. Suffice to say, it was a great day spent in the sun in Carmona. You will see while I'm in Spain, I'm getting more and more tanned under their beautiful sun. Already today it was something like 29 degrees! Oh, I wish I packed more shorts and singlets!

In the evening, I took another opportunity to walk around the city at night, enjoying the fiesta atmosphere of the locals. I found even when they don't understand a single word or gesture I threw at them and where this would frustrate even the most patient of locals, it did not in anyway hinder the very very friendly and helpful locals in trying to assist me or understand and fulfil my every needs. They really know how to make you feel welcomed. I am lucky that my first visit to Spain have been in Carmona.

It is rare enough even in large Spanish cities to spot Asians but in Carmona, I might as well be a 3 headed Alien that just landed from Venus and from my poor Spanish language skills, I could have very well been asking the locals to take me to their leaders when asking for a cup of coffee. So boy was I gawked and stared at but in a good way I guess. The Spanish men all thought I was this exotic creature as they chanted 'China chica!!' (Chinese babe) whenever I walked past, some tried to talk to me, others were just happy to wolfwhistle. Mind you, I can assure you that I don't think it's because I'm beautiful, but like I said, novelty can make even the plainest of birds seem like a peacock, no? I will admit though to being quite flattered by all this attention, except when I was walking past this small bar. One of the Spanish men in a group of about 12 shouted 'China Chica!' and all his mates turned around and they all started shouting and yelling for me to come join them. A few of them were even starting to approach me. Like the rabbit that I am, I scampered away quickly into the safety of the dark night.

AO Rating: They say that first impressions last..and Carmona while not originally part of my destinations have indeed proved to be a great introduction to what Spain is...the warmth, from the sun and also from the hospitality of its people, the boldness in terms of the colour of the city, the people and their clothing and the fact that I wished I have learnt at least some Spanish before coming here!

Next, I am off to Seville! Buenos noches! (Good night!)

11.10.2005

While Prague is famous for its 1001 castles, Vienna meanwhile certainly claims the title to the City of Museums with a modest number of 73 (and counting apparently). These museums range from history of Austria, to that of music, art, culture and even psychology. There's even museums of globes, horse carriages and silverware. This city was also the home of Mozart, Sigmund Freud and Johann Strauss!

Perhaps having such infamous residents prompted the city of Vienna to feel justified in charging the arms and legs for everything. Of course it is not as expensive as London and Paris, but then again, you don't expect Vienna to be in the same league as London and Paris right? Well, that's what I thought before I launched the Chino-Austrian Invasion...but my impression was about to change..

Originally, I couldn't find hostels (at prices that won't make me yell "daylight robbery!")in the city and was contemplating setting up base in good ol cheapo Bratislava and commuting by train each day to Vienna which only takes an hour each way. Interesting fact too about Vienna is that unlike the other cities I've visited so far, most of the hostels are not located within the inner city. The closest ones are like 25 minutes walk or so away. Luckily their metro service is super efficient (and free because they don't have a turn-stile for you to insert your metro tickets to access the train).

Gheri (Italian friend that I was hanging out with in Bratislava) came with me to check out Vienna before flying back to Milan. So we set out really early in the morning to catch the train. It was a bit of a rush, we had to run...of course I was accustomed to this chaos (cut out your knowing looks or I'll take you off my x'mas card list!) but poor Gheri had to run twice as fast to keep up with my long strides (I'm sure he'd taken me off his x'mas card list *sigh*)

We made it into the train with 3 minutes to spare, plenty of time from my perspective, which of course wasn´t shared by the panting Gheri judging from the many dagger looks he threw me.

We decided upon arrival at the train station that we would head straight into the heart of the city, where the city´s main cathedral (yes, there´s a few of them), St Stephen was located. Upon emerging from the underground metro station, we were greeted by men dressed in old costumes of the 17th century complete with the wigs resembling many faces of Mozart, tall and short, black and white, fat and thin..all interested only in one thing, to sell you tickets to concerts playing Mozart music in several famous venues in the city. ´Come and listen to Mozart music at zis famous opera house, rumoured to be Mozart´s most favourite venue because the hostess constantly wore dressesz zat are not able to contain her bossoms´ quipped the tall Mozart..´No,no, zis opera house zis better, definitely Mozart´s favourite because he spent many hours writing his music there after hours of lovemaking with ze hostess´ retorted the fat Mozart not to be outdone and so it went on..I wasn´t sure if I was more interested in Mozart´s music as much as I was as to how they came to be written!

We quickly sought refuge from these costumed predators by entering into the Cathedral. This grand church of course has amazing looking pipe organs, statues and gothic style gilded altars but this is where I have to confess something to you. In a continent like Europe where every city in every country while are very different in many ways, they are also similar in the sharing of history, architecture and design of the cities. What was initially impressive when viewing cathedrals, the murals, painting on the ceilings, monuments and statues and museums unfortunately, it has now failed to generate my ´WOW´factor due to the saturation and over exposure on a constant basis to what seemed like repeated pattern of sights and scenes. A case of easy come and easy go I guess. Similarly I am sure if Vienna was the first European city I visited, I would have been blown away by the St Stephen Cathedral. Yet, it is with great shame and pity that I admit to the feeling of nonchalance and indifference upon seeing the inside of this magnificent church. It´s like going to watch the movie Titanic..sure, you have heard how great it is and how grand the ship was..but eventually, you also know what to expect..that the shp would sink..so it is like that too walking into a cathedral..you come to expect to see huge pipe organs, paintings on the ceilings and stained glass windows, statutes and altars, and sure enough, that´s what you would see.

However, having said that, sometimes there could be a slight twist to the story that you didn´t expect, like access to the cathedral´s tower to view the city and as such, I was delighted to find my unexpected south tower of the St Stephen´s cathedral and to be rewarded with the magnificent view of the city.

St Stephen from the outside, not my best shot due to having stave off the many Mozarts shoving concert tickets at me.

view of the city from the Catherdral's tower. Mental note: Don't need help of sun to emphasise my squinty eyes.

After leaving the Cathedral, Gheri sensing that time was his enemy, suddenly turned into Mussolini as he grabbed the map and took charge of our sightseeing. With purposeful, albeit short quick strides, he directed us through some of the city´s famous landmarks as you can see from the photos below in warp speed.

Yours truly in front of one of the 4 quarters of the Museumquarter, a big complex housing cluster of museums!

Outside the Parliament house and yes, I'm sure this is Vienna and not Rome or Greece!

The picture does no justice to this amazingly huge city hall with its gothic design. It's at least the size of Notre Dame and West Minister abbey. You have to see it to believe it! By far the most impressive building in Vienna for me!

After Gheri´s departure, I launched my recon mission to investigate whether I would be able to stay in Vienna or be discovering the city in-exile from Bratislava. As mentioned earlier, the cloesest series of hostels are at least 25 mins walk from the city centre and so I walked quite a bit that day, especially when the first 5 hostels I visited announced that they were fully booked. You could understand my pessimism then when walking into the 6th expecting the same result but to my delight, not only did I manage to book my accomodation without having to declare bankruptcy, but it turned out to be the best hostel of the lot too, in terms of cleanliness (which is a must for me) and the friendly atmosphere.

With my accomodation sorted for the next few days, I happily called it a day and returned to Bratislava, trying hard to hide my smug smiles from the tired looking commuters in the train on the way back.

11.10.2005

Not sure if you remember the New Yorker guy I met in Prague, Ron (see my Prague story with pics), but he was also going to be in Vienna around the same time and we agreed that we would join forces to explore the city. We figured with his New Yorker attitude of wanting things done yesterday and his travel bible of the ´Top Ten Must-Sees´ checklist and my super planning and economically efficient skills (did you just call me a tight ass?!), Vienna wouldn´t stand a chance!

So this morning, after receiving top-secret communication from Agent Loud-mouth to rendezvous at 10:00 hours at the Nasch Markt for breakfast before making our way to the Schonbrunn Palace (both in the top ten checklists), I made my way there already planning on briefing Ron about the most efficient way of getting to the Palace and the best route to take for our sightseeing in order to maximise the time we had and what we could see and coordinating this with the opening times, lunch and toilet breaks. Told you I´m good! Yes, I have allocated a generous 5 minute discrepancy at each stop to allow for any unexpected delays, like another attack of the Mozart Army or unexpected obstacles in our planned routes, in the form of our familiar foes, the notorious...Japanese tourists, ta da dem!!

The Nasch Markt was like a Sunday market but operates on a daily basis, selling variety of things ranging from food, drinks to handbags, shoes, fruits and vegetables and touristic ornaments. Upon completion of briefing on tour de jour, and dangerously armed with a tummy full of pastries and coffee, we made our way by metro to the Schonbrunn Palace.

The Palace, once the summer residence to the Habsburg royal family (get off your lazy ass and go read on the history of Austria!) was indeed magnificent but once again, it did not procure my wow reaction due to my earlier visit to a more grandeur palaces, like the Versailles in France. The Schonbrunn was similar but smaller in size, stature and complexity, still a sight to enjoy indeed for its own unique history and symbolic representation to the city.

The ´twist´to this story was this ´galleria´located on a hill facing the southern part of the palace. It is simply a building acting as a lookout point from which you can view the palace and the city beyond it. Quite enchanting really.

After many hours of walking and proclaiming the day to be a victory for the Dynamic Duo, we celerated with having a simple dinner before we parted, Ron to go to one of the many Mozart concerts (sucker!!) and I, returning back to the hostel for a much needed rest. Spent the most entertaining evening mingling with my fellow travellers at the hostel. Unless you´re a backpacking traveller yourself, it is hard to explain the comarade that one shares with fellow backpackers. It is like nomads coming together and resting at an oasis after the end of a long day of travel, sitting by the camp fire, trading antidotes of one´s journey, giving of valuable travelling advice and helpful suggestions and tips on the many hidden gems and the roads not taken. Similarly for us, as the night aged and the stars burnt brighter, the laughters grew louder, the stories took wilder turns, and the pile of paper napkins with email addresses written got higher as bonds of friendship were formed, and for some, renewed. Oh what a night....

12.10.2005

Today´s mission as we laid it out over chocolate croissants (yes Kevin, it´s not French for donuts!) and several cups of coffee, were to invade the Belvadere Castle, former home to Austria´s most successful army general during the expansion of the Austrian empire, so successful was this guy who for the life of me, can't remember his name, (name schmame!) that he was made a duke. Also included in today´s itinerary was to see the Karlskir Museum (one of the many arts museum that´s not part of the Museumquarter), Wien Museum (History of Vienna museum) and a quick look at the Staatoper (State Opera house).

The Belvadere castle as you can see is quite pretty but it wasn´t for its architecture that held us spellbound but for what the treasures within the castle. Divided into upper and lower Belvadere, the former displayed Medieval paintings and most of the famous works by Klimt. I had to drag Ron out of that place in order to keep up with our schedule, I mean he already used up the 15 minutes discrepancy time by that stage due to his obsession with his favourite artist. The latter, the lower Belvadere, exhibited the impressive rooms of the castle together with exclusive paintings of its former famous resident and the Halsburg royal family.

In front of the Belvadere Castle. If you have not noticed yet by now, yes I have lost a bit of weight. Don't rush off to send food aid parcles just yet, trust me, my hurricane appetite still rivals that of the ones hitting Louisiana, but the weight loss was due more to the many hours spent walking..maybe I can bottle this as the next diet craze!

We then made our way to Karlskir musum which was more impressive to me in terms of how the building looked whereas Ron was more keen to see the art museum inside. So he went inside while I took pictures on the outside and decided to go to a nearby grocery store to buy some lunch. Here´s an interesting fact. Do you know that in most German supermarkets, you are expected to weigh all your fruit and vegetables, get a price printout and stick it to your items before presenting them at the counter. As this is different to how we buy our produce in NZ, you can understand my embarassment when I was told in German of course of my mistake. Luckilly, another shopper with bilingual expertise then came to my rescue and I returned later, with the price printout tag and a very red face.

The majestic Kalskir Museum..

The rest of the day went more smoothly with our visits to the Vien Museum and Staatopera. To further our culinary education on foreign food, Ron and I decided to give Brawhurst a go. This is an Austrian hot dog, but apparently, America is not the only place they do everything big. I mean this is no snack guys..it´s a meal and then some...the picture is not doing it justice, I dunno what Brawhurst translates to in English but as far as I´m concerned, the translation might as well be King of Sausages..won´t you say so if you are confronted with a 10 inch? I must say, I was very satisfied....referring to my hunger! Get your mind out of the gutter!

Mama Mia!!

Actually, let´s talk about sex baby..let´s talk about Vienna and me..during the evening, as I was walking back to my hostel, gallivanting through the infamous shopping street of Maria Heifstraße, a massive white building with bright coloured flashing neon lights grabbed my attention and in bold bright red lights, it flashed ´SEX SHOP´. Not sure if you share my sentiment, but I can assure you that this kind of shop isn´t exactly what I would normally have in mind when thinking of a shopping spree, especially in NZ, where such shops are tucked in some dodgy corner of a badly lit street and you can almost guarantee the seedy and secretive atmosphere that lingered inside such shops, making them another object of taboo. However, here in liberal Europe, a sex shop is no different to any other shops, viewed perhaps in a more healthy manner as a shop you would go buy all things associated with sex, as you would go to Mitre 10 if you want to look for tools associated with DIY´s and other house projects.

Similarly, the Europeans very much encourage one to visit such shops to assist in any DIY disasters of a more personal kind...ahem. Seriously, the openness in which you can browse through sex aids, dvds and battery powered oscilliating pulsating devices are amazing. They were boldly displayed in an orderly fashion as if they were nothing but a packet of biscuits. Indeed, they even provided small carrying baskets and trolleys for your shopping convenience. You can see couples walking around, looking through the items or shifty men shifting through the latest dvds as they chucked one after the other into the trolleys. I felt like I have learnt so much tonight and as I was leaving, I almost expected a bright neon sign of ´Thank you and come again´to flash at me.

13.10.2005

My last day in Vienna was dedicated to seeing the remaining of the top tens in Vienna. First stop was the Museumplatz (Museumquarter which I have already briefly saw from the outside the other day). Again, after the Louvre in France, I was hardly excited by the prospect of these museum complexes.

The next venue was more exciting, the Hofsburg Palace, which was once the winter residence of the Habsburgs. Now it has become museums showing, amongst many things, the former living quarters of the royal family.

The more interesting section of the Hofsburg Palace for me was the museum dedicated to the life of Empress Elizabeth ´Sisi´wife of Franz Joseph III, beloved monarch of the people (think Eva Peron of Argentina or Princess Di). As you guys know, I´m a sucker for romance and so you can imagine how much time I spent in this museum finding out that Empress Sisi who was born a free spirit and an independent woman of her time and as a teenager, she was about to venture off on her travels when fate intervened during her visit with her cousin girl to see Emperor Franz Joseph. Although Franz Joseph´s mother had intended for him to marry Sisi´s cousin, he instead fell in love with Sisi and was determined to marry her instead. Of course, who was she to say no and so they were married when she was just shy of her 17th birtday. It is safe to say she did not enjoy her married life as much as he did, choosing to spend most of her time abroad travelling before she was unceremoniously assassinated by an Italian anti-monarch figure. If you have not picked up the similarities yet, then I can confirm that I share Sisi´s sentiments and free sprits and I´m just glad that I´m not living in the days when a woman´s worth is measured by the loudness of her husband (or father´s) belch!

Interesting too to see how this woman was so dedicated to looking beautiful. We were shown how she would wear special leather masks dipped in cow's blood to sleep each night, apparently meant to rejuvenate her face. I think this is one beauty regime I would skip! She also had like gymnastics apparatus in her chamber so she could do all these exercises to stay trim, now that I can do!

Another section of the palace has now been turned into a Spanish horse training school. Unfortunately for me (and for Kelly back home who wanted more pictures of horses), on the day of my visit, we just missed the morning training session and there were no horse shows. Don´t worry Kelly, Ron shares your bitter disappointment too. I did take some horsey pics for you as a consolation though, although of a different kind..

There ya go Kelly! This is outside the palace.

Outside the palace building, note the many statues..very nice!

One of the many group of statues adorning the sides of the palace.

Next, we visited the Maria Theresa twin buildings. She was one of the most powerful Empress of Austria during the empire´s expansion of power in the 18th and 19th century. The buildings are impressive as you can see and they are now museums as well. We spent a good one hour going through the Kunsthistor Museum, a mueum of natural history.

One of the twin buildings..

Gigantic statue of Empress Maria Theresa and lil ol me!

From there, we caught the metro to the West side of town to see the 'Hundertwasserhaus' buildings. A case of a picture is worth a 1000 words so I'll let one of them speak for itself..

It's a special design using various colours to display the unasymetrical breaks in the design..it's like that famous toilet in that small town in NZ..can't remember which town now but you know the one..

And with that last act, the curtain came down on my visit to Vienna as I would be catching the night train from here to Munich and then flying from there (on a cheap flight) into Seville, Spain.

AO Rating: A city of museums living up to its name for sure. While it did not secure as many wow factors as when I visited London or Paris, I believe this was more due to the order of my visit and the fading of the novelty factor as opposed to the finding the city lacking in what it has to offer. Vienna, where the hills are alive with the Sound of Music, also gives you the impression that its former glory is also very much still well and alive, perhaps the many Mozarts haunting the city streets may have something to do with that...¨So long...farewell, Auf Widersen...¨

Ok..before I start writing, I just want to grumble about the fact that it has taken me 8 tries to write this entry, 7 of them from a small town of Carmona, 25km from Seville, Spain where I was staying for the past two days. I'm currently attempting my 8th entry from Seville. The first 7 failures are due to the dodgy old computer advertised as 'free internet' on the travel brochure, one can now see why it's free *mutter*

Anyway...Bratislava, capital of Slovakia was certainly not part of the cities I planned to visit but once again, due to the flexibility (to a certain extent) of my itinerary, I was able to go there to catch up with my Italian friend and amateur journalist, Gheri who was taking pictures and reporting on the Slovak International Badminton tournament. This is a city famous for its cheap beers (hence, famous amongst the Europeans as Stag do capital of Europe) and Ladas...as common as Holden would be in NZ. As I was neither here to induldge in drunken frenzy or box car collectibles, I used this visit as a pit stop and to catch my breath after 3 weeks whirlwind of flights, sights, travels and castles...What I've done and learnt so far:

1. Spent 915€ (about 48.5€ per day which is still in accordance with my budget, so that's good)

2. Been to 6 cities in 6 countries. It gets to a point, where you are constantly struggling to remember the correct greetings, thank yous and excuse me..e.g even in simply saying yes.."ya...ya" in Amsterdam and Germany to "oui, d'accord" to "yes" in London, to "ya, ya" again in Prague and Bratislava (and now "si..si" in Spain).

3. Saw lots of "WC"..never sure what they stands for..perhaps "Wee Centre". The Toilet papers are not flash either and I have a bum rash to prove it!! *blush*

4. If I hear another "Konichiwa" from an European man trying to flirt me with me, I will be tempted to buy a samurai sword and perform a harakiri on their genitalias...For you kiwis, it's like someone mistaking you for an Aussies...sort of.

5. Pedestrian crossings mean absolutely nothing except marking of white stripe lines on the road. Constant health hazard walking around the cities in Europe I tell you! Also, for us who drive in the "CORRECT" side of the road, i.e left side, it's very disorientating to also have to remember to walk on the right hand side when in Europe or otherwise, you get glares and cyclists shouting obscenities at you!

6. Smokin Europe Batman!! If one thing I don't like about Europe is that it's hard to find a sniff of fresh air anywhere, especially when trying to enjoy your food in a restaurant. I mean I like my smoked salmon like anyone else, but reallllllllly!!! Also, if you book a non-smoking seat on a train to somewhere, that just means you'll be sitting like 3 seats away from the smoking session. What the hell??!

7. As you travel more towards the eastern side of Europe with a Malaysian passport which is as rarely seen in Europe as a non-smoking European, then be prepared to have your passport passed around amongst the borders policemen on trains etc.

8. Seen great t-shirts worn by tourists so far! The Top 2 has to be:
(a) "Life is Sexually Transmitted" and
(b) "People who are constipated don't give a shit"

9. Japanese tourists. Enough said. Oh and also, you see a LOT of Australians around too.."ya maaattte, the beer heeere so cheap maaate!"

10. You're suppose to pay for your subway tickets before getting on the trains but as there's no actual ticket machine for you to swipe your ticket through in order to get to the trains, i.e you can just walk through, no one really pays for their subway rides..except in France. They're too elegant to resolve to anything underhand like zees!

11. Never...Ever...get on a cab in Prague...not only ridiculously expensive and overcharged, but the fact that they are run by corrupted mafias..well, could indeed be the ride of your life or rather, the last ride of your life.

12. You constantly get paranoid when trying to speak to a local in his/her native tongue as you think they probably understand English but are secretly laughing at your pathetic attempt at their language.

13. Trust your map more than an a local giving you directions who would often tell you "right" or "left" without specifying that you actually need to take the 3rd right and then the 2nd left etc.

14. The coffee in cafes here taste sooo good that they make Starbucks coffee taste like mud water.

15. And I can now fully confirmed with 100% certainty that indeed on this side of the hemisphere, the water does flush to the opposite direction!

There's more but I'll save some for when I get back. I'll report on Vienna and Spain soon. Until then, hasta la uego (how it sounds, not spelled), meaning see you later.