Our brief few days in Scotland

We'll its been a busy few days since we last posted. We left Lisbon and landed in Glasgow on the 3rd. We were greeted by a familiar face as Kimilla's Mum, Pam had come to meet us at the airport with Brett an old kiwi friend living in Scotland with his family.

On Friday Morning we got up at a leisurely hour and organised tickets for the local hop-on-hop-off bus. Janet (Brett's wife - an even older friend than Brett) is a Glaswegian who showed us all around. It was a pretty big day but importantly we stopped off at Glasgow Cathedral and St Mungo's Museum of Religious Life and Art (Uncle Doug - we thought of you while at St Mungo's). The tour was really interesting and with the characteristic Scottish self-deprecating humor, gave us a little insight into what life here in the city is like.

Sights from the hop-on-hop-off bus

Glasgow Cathedral

That evening Brett and Janet informed us that it was absolutely mandatory for us to all try haggis while in Scotland. Graciously, they treated us to a meal at a nearby restaurant which happened to serve haggis in some really interesting forms (haggis burger anyone). Despite our reservations the haggis was really delicious. It’s fairly far removed from the horror stories you hear – and while I don’t doubt that it’s made from the less desirable parts of the animal it’s probably no worse than a Pak’n’Save sausage. I had these little haggis nugget things that were cooked in an Indian style seasoning that came with various dressings. It was really good, but I probably won’t add it to the list of things to cook for guests. Unfortunately for Kimilla, it was around dinner time that she started feeling a little unwell. By the time we were heading to bed she was in the midst of a full blown stomach bug which very strongly resembled what I experienced in the Sahara. It was a really rough night for the poor girl and effectively wrote her off for the following day. Which was a real tragedy as Brett and Janet had a huge day planned for us.

Pam and Janet at the Haggis Restaurant

I think you would probably call these Haggis Nuggets - they were really really good though.

So on Saturday, I left my poor wife at home (on her orders) and joined Pam, Brett and Janet on a trip to Edinburgh.  The drive from Glasgow to Edinburgh was only an hour, so before we knew it we were in the heart of this really stunning city. We parked up right at the base of the hill that leads up to Edinburgh Castle and I just couldn't believe that the whole city centers around this giant structure. We made our way from the carpark, through some street markets through the gardens and up the hill to the Royal Mile. The whole place was like it was from a story book (well a very touristy story book). The buildings, the bag pipes, the tartan and all the people. It was so much fun. We checked out a few shops and I managed to find a few bits and pieces about the Drummond Clan.

Edinburgh Castle

While, I really don’t know a lot about the Drummond Clan and the Drummond’s of Motueka tie into it historically, it is something that I have grown up with and it was kind of fun to see kilts and ties with the Drummond Tartan on it – but more on that later. We spent a couple of hours exploring around and stopped for a quiet lunch. It was really a shame that we had such a short amount of time there, I really don’t feel like we did much of the city any justice at all (least of all without Kimilla being there). 

Brett, Pam and Janet heading up to the Royal Mile

The House of John Knox

We left Edinburg and headed North West for another hour or so – over Number Four Bridge towards Muthill. We cheekily stopped off at the Gleneagles Golf course and had a nosey look around the hotel there – I mean what’s the worst that can happen, they ask us to leave? We strutted inside as if we were supposed to be there and took advantage of their bathrooms, which I might add were to a very high standard.

After our quick break we were off again towards Muthill where you can find the Drummond Castle and Gardens. For me the Drummond Castle is rather mythical. There were pictures of it at our house when I was growing up and we had distant relatives who we would occasionally visit who would wear tartan and talk about it. So as a sentimental person, this place had a surreal quality and it didn’t really seem real that I was visiting there. The Castle itself is really not remarkable, you cannot even go inside but the gardens are really quite stunning. You drive from the main road for about a mile (look at me with working with the local measurement system), through a narrow driveway surrounded by trees. When you get to the Castle you go through a low archway out to the back of the property and you are greeted with sites like the photos that follow. I did my best to get a discounted entry based on my last name but rather than saving money I was sold a family tree (of the paper variety not of the garden variety). We spent an hour or so looking around the gardens (which were actually a bit of a revelation to Brett and Janet, who hadn’t known about them) before we drove about 45 minutes back to Glasgow.

Gardens at Drummond Castle

Me, laying claim to my heritage

We checked in with Kimilla who was feeling much better after a day resting – so I left again. This time Brett and I headed around to his son David’s house to what 80 minutes of what must be the finest rugby match that I have ever seen. New Zealand and South Africa are fierce rival’s at the best of times but this game just fantastic. The game was so good, that I think that even if New Zealand had lost the match I would still be raving about how good it was, both teams performed so well and I really don’t think the final score quite reflects how exciting and narrow the game really was.

On Sunday Morning we went to Church with Brett and Janet before having their whole family around for lunch. Brett made a really tasty pizza using some fennel bulbs that he found at the market in Ediburgh. It was really nice to meet there family and there little grandchildren as well. Again, this made us both just a little regretful that we weren't spending longer in Scotland. Oh well, hopefully we will see them all in the southern hemisphere in the next few years.

In the afternoon we all split up and did a few different things – the girls went to Loc Lomond for a poke around some of the little shops and to see the scenery. While David (Brett’s son-in-law, not his son – confusing I know) and I went to the Glengoyne Distillery to learn a bit about how they make single malt scotch. The tour was really interesting the guide was a very dry humored Scotsman and while some of the facts were a little dubious we had a great time and learned a lot. I now understand why its so expensive for some of the bottles – they had a 50 year old scotch that was selling for nearly 4,000 pounds. We had a few samples of the 12 year and 18 year and moved on our way to meet the girls and to head back to Glasgow.

Loc Lomond 

Pam, Janet, Kirsty and Max (who went with the Girls rather than to the distillary)

In the evening we went to a church concert at the City Conference Center. The service was complete with a rock band, full orchestra and a large choir. They played a mixture of contemporary music and traditional hymns. It was actually well done and a lot of fun. On our way home we went on a fox hunt as Pam is yet to see a fox. Unfortunately, they were not obliging despite some of our best efforts and shaking bushes and honking horns so we went home and called it a night. Perhaps another time Pam.

As I write this we are on our way down south to London where we will check into the first stop on our Tour. We are booked on a three week tour of London and mainland Europe, so this marks the start of the next leg of our trip which we are now over half way though.

A little rain never hurt anyone... Lisbon, Portugal

So we have been having fun in Lisbon but the weather has been an absolute disaster. We had imagined our time in Lisbon to be spent largely at the beach - which is not unreasonable at this time of year but sadly we struck a bad week, like literally all week.

However, a little rain never hurt anyone so we are getting out and making the most of our time here. On Sunday morning we made our way back to Belém. Not solely just to enjoy the pastries but rather to explore the Berardo Museum of Modern Art. It was really more Sam's thing than mine but it was interesting none the less. The gallery which has a permanent exhibition showcased a range of works from many different -isms. Trip advisor says that the Berardo Collection " is made up of modern en contemporary art, with major art movements like abstract expressionism, Abstraction-Création, action painting, body Art, constructivism, cubism, De Stijl, digital art, experimental art, geometric abstraction, kinetic art, minimal art, neo-expressionism, neo-plasticism, neo-Realism, op art, photography, photorealism, pop art, realism, suprematism, surrealism". It all sounds a little overwhelming, especially because modern art can leave you scratching your head sometimes - but it was a cool way to spend a day. The exhibit itself was interesting and told an interesting story as you went through the different trends.

An example of Modern Art (yes, that was slightly sarcastic)

I spent the afternoon looking around the shops downtown, while Sam did a little work in a cafe nearby.

Yesterday the weather seemed to get even worse. However, we are determined not to let it stop us. We caught the train 40 minutes North West to Sintra. It's an incredible place, kinda like the train transports you through time... well not really but there is a cool Moorish Castle there. We got there on the train, had a quick coffee and a sweet treat (as motivation to go exploring in the rain) and made our way a good kilometer up a hill through these really neat cobble stone paths. We were the only ones there and moss growing on the stones in conjunction with the overgrown forest made if feel like we were walking through one of Sam's Wizard books. We got to the Castle and paid to get inside before exploring all the different alcoves and keeps. The wall's were really high and the fog made it feel like we were in Game of Thrones. It was actually really cool and the weather seemed to add to the whole experience. However, to dwell on the negative for just a quick second, we couldn't help but wonder what the view from here would have been like on a sunny day.

One of the Wall's on the Moorish Castle looking up at the Keep

Playing in one of Sam's Wizard Books

We came down off the hill and explored the Sintra Village, which was pretty and nestled into the hill with its cobble stone streets. We explored some of the ceramic tile stores and took the best photo's we could given the weather. It was actually pretty fun despite feeling like drowned rats. 

A cute street in Sintra Village

We eventually made our way back to the apartment and dried off. We decided to go out for dinner that night and had some fun exploring the Portuguese cuisine. We have been making a pretty good go of the pastries and coffee but hadn't really tasted much of the main meals. For the most part the dishes are made of fish - cod specifically, which we found out is actually imported. I had some tasty meat kebab's, while Sam had a mixed fish dish with eggs and onions. It was good, but probably not the most interesting food that we have had on our travels - Spanish and Moroccan are hard acts to follow. None the less, we love the pastries.

After dinner the rain let up and we managed to get out for a walk around the downtown area. We went for an explore through some places that we hadn't really seen in the daylight, just enjoying the energy and the busy streets. We tried some more Ginjinha (the cherry liquor) only this time we had it in chocolate cups - which naturally you get to eat afterwards.

Today we got up a little later than normal. Its getting hard to stay motivated and to find things to do when the weather is so bad. Unless you really really love art galleries and museums Lisbon really is made for the sunny weather. So we decided to go checkout one of the beach villages. Cascais is directly west of Lisbon by train. It is another historical town so there were a few things to see other than the beach (although not too many). The weather this morning is probably the worst it has been all week but it was nice to see what the beaches look like and its always fun to find a new cafe.

I finally made it to the beach!!!

We walked around the streets taking in the sights. It really is a lovely little place and despite the weather there were still quite a few people out. Possibly locals who live there. We took in as many of the sights as we could before things really did get shut down by the rain...

 The Beach at Cascais

At which point we found the cafe with the largest sweet treats we could find and settled in for a bit. Sam continued to explore his love of the custard tarts while I decided to tackle the biggest, chocolatiest donut I have ever seen. So you can see how exciting our day has been and we have been reduced to talking about sweet treats. Anyway, we made our way back home later in the afternoon and walked in the rain back to our apartment, where it really was nice to get warm and dry.

Tomorrow is our last full day in Lisbon and we have a couple of things left to explore before we head off to Scotland to meet up with Mum, who seem's to have become quite the world traveller over the last couple of days.

This bad boy actually sweeted me out - that is a chocolate donut

Lisbon in the Rain

We really enjoyed Morocco on the whole. We spent the last day of our time there at the Palace as neither of us really felt up to leaving except for a brief trip to get some fresh air.

We arrived in Lisbon, Portugal on Thursday at about 2pm. We were greeted by warm but overcast weather - which seems to have set the tone for the entire week we are here. We are forecasted for thunderstorms and rain for the whole week - so its unlikely that we will be spending any time at the beach (sorry Mil). 

Lisbon is a rather interesting city. Our first impressions as we drove in were of big beautiful building in dire need of repair, sporadically decorated in graffiti (sometimes very good and other time very not good). You sort of wonder what you have gotten yourself into but of all the places that we have been I feel like Lisbon has the most soul. 

We spent the first afternoon and evening getting sorted into our apartment (which we share with people who live here full time and two other airbnb travellers who we haven't seen yet) and getting our groceries.

Friday morning we kicked of the day doing a free walking tour. So far we have done four, one in Dublin and two in Barcelona and I must say, I think this might have been the best one yet. Our guide Rafa was a true story teller, who not only gave us an excellent and humorous insight into Portugal's history and current socioeconomic climate but also gave a wonder tour through some really interesting parts of the city that we would not have seen otherwise. He deliberately avoided the low hanging tourist fruit telling us that its easy enough to see those things in our own time while focusing on interesting places that people from Lisbon really care about. The tour included sights such as the lottery man statue, the Carmo Convent, the Pessoa Memorial, the Alfama District (where we tried some Ginjinha - Cherry Liquor) and finished and an amazing panormaic view above the Castle Hill. 

A street in Lisbon

Apartments beside the Casa dos Bicos (the House of Spikes)

The Panoramic View above the Castle Hill in one of the few moments when it isn't overcast - See the Golden Gate Bridge in the Background

We spent the rest of the day exploring around the downtown area and just soaking in the energy of Lisbon. The people who live here genuinely love their city - although perhaps not the people who run it.

Today we got up at a reasonable hour (for a Saturday) and went for a run through the downtown area to the coast. It was too early for it to be busy and despite the overcast weather it was really nice. Once we were home, showered and breakfasted we headed back out to catch the tram to Belém with the soul objective of trying some of the famous Pastéis de Belém. These truely genuis custard tarts are sold at many places in the city under the name Pasteis de nata but only this single shop in Belém renouned for having the best recipe sells them under the name Pastéis de Belém. They are a treat and we spoiled ourselves with four of them. They would have been much better except up until this afternoon we have not be able to order ourselves a flat white or a Cafe Latte, turns out Portuguese is rather unforgiving on the names for coffees. We have been given various iterations of espresso shots and even a cup of straight melted chocolate, which just don't seem to go with a custard tart as nice as we were hoping. However, we found an english speaking coffee shop and got them to write down that we are actually looking for a meia de leite - a half of milk. So we should be good from now on.

After our sweet treats (and the were very good) we headed out to explore Belém. Which included sites like Belém Tower, the Belém Monument and the Jerónimos Monastery.

The Jerónimos Monastery

We were having a great time till the heavens opened and really made it impossible for us to sight see. So we got on the tram to come back in to Lisbon. We were not two minutes off the tram when the rain really got serious. Literally everyone in downtown Lisbon evacuated into alcoves or under the covers of the patio restaurants. It came down for a good 20 minutes before it let up.

Everyone one ducked for cover except poor Rufus here

By the time we got home and dried out we had a quick late afternoon tea/lunch before having a catch up with Zab on Skype.

Tomorrow we have plans to head back to Belém to see the Berardo Museum of Modern Art which is free on Sundays. More from us later.

Camel Pains

We had an early breakfast on Sunday in the Palace before meeting up with our tour guide's Abraham  and Mohammed. After some quick introductions we were on our way out of Fez towards the south. Mohammed gave us a bit of an overview history and politics in the area (well in a rather broken English - but I think we understood). He told us that Morocco is the safest place in the world and that it is now our second country - so there you have it Canada you have apparently been usurped.

Our first stop was at this beautiful lake - which despite getting Mohammed to write the name down in English we still do not know the name of. None, the less it was really beautiful in the sunlight and was framed with large cedar trees.

The lake we don't know the name of. We shall call it Nameless Lake.

Our drive south took us through Morocco's High Atlas. This is a cool mountainous area which is locally known as the Moroccan Switzerland as in the winter it snows there and is used as a ski resort. In fact, this area is the King's favorite area to visit as he is a fan of snow sports and he has one of his largest palaces there. It really odd to think that you can have a ski resort so close to the worlds largest desert - and it really does become a desert shortly afterward. We continued through the mountains one some back roads and found some wild monkeys - they weren't very friendly so we went back to the main roads and found some who know that people = peanuts and are happy to come and sit nearby and pose for photographs (sorry Meg, I'm sure its terrible to have monkeys dependent on people for food sources). 

Sam and the monkey we named Joel

We continued south and saw some fantastic geomorphology (I don't think I've used that word since second year uni) the landscape changes so dramatically. One minute you are lush green mountains and the next minute you are in dry plains and the minute after that you are in different mountains where simply nothing grows its just rocks. What is really interesting is that nomadic people live all through all these areas in tents and caves, virtually where ever there is a water source. These people live entirely off the land and might make a little money from honey or there animals to pay for clothes. Most are completely illiterate and little knowledge of basic health care. 

A panoramic view 

We continued south ... okay we continued a long way south. I'm a bit of a fan of maps so here is the approximate route we took.

View Larger Map

We stopped off at a few different places along the way including the Valley of Ziz and at a Fossil Cooperative in Rissani and got to Merzouga at about 5pm. We didn't realize this when we planned the trip but we were booked to stay at a really nice hotel. It was made in the traditional style of the area but with all the luxuries (well many of the luxuries) of home. They boasted that they had recently had Hillary Clinton and Shakira stay. The hotel was right on the border of the Sanddunes and had fun running, playing taking photo's in all the sand. We took advantage of the pool, which I think we earned given that it was 44 degrees celsius and the car had no air conditioning. Turns out there is a limit to the heat that Kimilla can take - you just have to take her to the Sahara to do it, I think we blasted a couple of Edmonton winters out of her in just a couple of days. 

Sand Dunes in the Sahara

Mohammed and Abraham came and picked us up the next day and took us out exploring around the Merzouga region. It was kinda funny actually Mohammed (who could speak English fairly well) wasn't able to pronounce my name and preferred to call me Schmed, which I didn't correct him on - to Kimilla's delight. I got one back on her though when Abraham (who could barely speak any English) informed us that Kimilla in the local dialect literally mean's Camel. Our first stop was the local river - which was more of a dust plain than anything resembling a water body but there must have been some there cause they use it for gardening. They then took us through a small village and showed us how the local people grow food for themselves and how they water the gardens. It was fascinating, each plot is separated by small dirt mounts which form a small ditch which can be dammed at different points to flow water from the river to each of the plots. They grow fairly similar foods to what we would grow like carrots, tomato, peppers, cabbage, zucchini etc. The village is really small and everybody knew everybody so when we stopped upon a local man doing the gardening he was more than happy to give us a demonstration. His name was Mr Salm and he was delighted to inform us that he was "72 years old, with 10 children and I still do the vegetables myself". He was so happy and seemed so fit and active despite not even having shoes.

Mr Salm doing his vegetables

We continued on and one of things that became apparent was that the area really did survive on its own produce and whatever money it could get from tourism. It really did seem like the entire community was banded together to make everything work - as if there way of life depended on it. There were lots of nomads in this area and some of the children would make money by posing for photo's on the side of the road with desert foxes. 

Nomad Children with Desert Foxes.
Not everyone wanted to be in the photo.

There was also a community who were historically from Sudan who made money by performing music from there homeland for tourists. They played different types of guitars and drums and danced with little hand cymbals. It wasn't really our taste so we didn't buy the C.D. but was interesting to see.

Roots music from Sudan

Mohammed and Abraham took us to a few other scenic places before we stopped off for a traditional Berber meal. This was served to us at a nomadic house and we could see the border to Algeria from the front room.

Nomadic House where we had lunch

We were a little skeptical about the food practices but everything seemed kosher and they showed us how everything was prepared. The particular dish that they made for us is called "Berber Pizza", Berber being the ethnic group that all the people in the area identify with. The meal is a mixture of vegetables and cooked eggs baked into a loaf of bread. The trick is how they do it, rather than using an oven they make a fire on the ground and let it head the sand (which is already very hot from the sun), they then shift the embers and brush the area smooth before putting the break straight onto the ground. They then put a small lid over the break and put the embers on top so it gets cooked evenly on both sides. It was pretty tasty but might have had repercussions.

Mr Nomad making the Berber Pizza

We spent the afternoon relaxing at our hotel and taking advantage of the pool. In the evening when it had started to cool a little we started on a camel trek that would take us two hours into the sand dunes to a camp where we would watch the sunset and stay the night. However, this was called off about half an hour into the trip when I (Schmed) came down with a particularly nasty case of nausea. At first I thought it was the camels as they aren't the most comfortable creatures to ride and I'm prone to motion sickness, so I got off and tried to walk for a little - but I don't think it was the camels. I didn't even have the strength to keep up with the camel on foot. We ended up having to be evacuated by 4x4 out of the dunes and I had a rather unpleasant night expelling anything my body had consumed for the last month. I guess we had to get sick at some point during our trip and it was most likely going to happen when we were in Africa, but it was so disappointing to miss out on what was going to be one of the best parts of the trip - oh well. Not much can be done about it now. However, Kimilla did manage to get some really stunning shots of the dunes and the camels.

Camel on a Camel

Add caption

After a really rough night we then had to endure a seven hour drive back to Fez on some traditional African roads while having our ears assaulted by Moroccan dance music (think techno with middle eastern groans scales - for seven hours). I don't know what the road rules are in Morocco but in the Desert it seems to be get there as fast as possible and make sure you hit every pot hole. It was miserable but we got back without any drama. 

We are back at the Palace now and will be here all day taking it easy - while staying in close proximity to the bathroom. We leave for Lisbon early tomorrow morning but have a bit of a layover in Casablanca so wont arrive in Portugal till the afternoon.

Morocco - A step back in time

So we arrived out our Moroccan Palace at about 1 am this morning. The trip from Barcelona was okay we had a bit of a layover in Casablanca which was like any other layover, with the exception of the background music. Just so the western world knows somebody has decided to cover the Beatles songs using middle eastern instruments and musical scales - it was odd and disconcerting to say the least. We got up this morning and got our first real glimpse of our Moroccan Palace - here is the view from our room looking down to the living room. It is so beautiful everything is tiled and open. Our host (thorough Airbnb) prepared us a traditional Moroccan breakfast with eggs, jams pastries and coffee which we had on the rooftop garden with Thomas and Grace - a couple who are also staying here (in the wing opposite us). 

Thomas and Grace had been here for a couple of days already and were a little more familiar with the geography and graciously let us tag along with them for the day. Once we had finished breakfast we headed out to the Medina. The Medina is a World Heritage site which feels like going back in time to somewhere completely untouched by the Western World. It is a labyrinth of buildings, shops and stalls in the heart of the oldest part of Fez, which dates back to the 9th Century. We had a amazing time exploring the ceramics, mosques (well from the outside at least), leather shops, tanneries, cafes and restaurants. The place is crazy, you can literally get run over by a donkey if you aren't paying attention and the roads are way to narrow to accommodate cars so they are the main form of shipping for heavy goods. 

A donkey - one of many we saw

Its a vibrant and overwhelming place which could easily get to be too much especially with some of the more... primal smells. You have to be careful when you pull out your map or if you start discussing where you would like to head next, if one of the locals hears you he will only be too happy to guide you free of charge - only its not free they expect a fairly good tip and delight in taking you in and out of side streets to make you feel like they have taken you a long way - when the truth is they have merely taken you around the corner from where you were. Fortunately, Thomas and Grace were quite savvy about how to deal with them, as they can get quite aggressive.

One of the many ceramic shops

One of the more interesting smelling places we visit today (and there were a few) was the old tannery. Much of the local leather is still made there - using bird shit as a source of ammonia for removing the skin and guts off the hide (nice huh). People literally dress in huge gumboots and gloves and get in the pools with the leather to manually work the process. It smelt terrible but it was really interesting to see, they make camel, cow, goat and sheep leather here.

The oldest tannery in Fez - still used to make much of the local leather

After we enjoyed a late lunch of grilled eggplant, tomato and zuchinni we left the Medina and headed to one the nearby parks to enjoy the shade. The park was stunning and a complete contrast to the medina. Where the Medina was excitingly dirty, smelling and bustling with people the park was clean and quiet. In fact the only noise came from the water features and the occasional guard blowing whistle at someone who threatened to disturb either the cleanliness or the peace. It was a nice break although the weather in the park was much hotter we had experienced earlier in the day.

The Medina is right in the Center of the Town and stood between the park and our palace, so rather than heading home the way we had come we decided to walk around it to take in some of the city sites. It was incredible I really don't even know how to start describing it. We even ran into a rouge herd of goats that appeared out of an archway in the city walls and ran up the road - the three laned main road I might add. It was pretty fun and somewhat reinforced stereotypes about this part of the world. A little bit like New Zealand and its sheep.

Rogue goats

The old city walls, where the goats appeared from

After our walk back to the Palace we relaxed for half an hour or so before heading back into the Medina to find some dinner. We had a traditional meal with various salads and vegetables as a starter and a meat dish from a tarjine (see - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tajine). It was delicious and a great way to finish the day with Thomas and Grace. 

Exploring Barcelona

So today is our last day in Barcelona - we leave for the airport mid afternoon. Its been so much fun here, mixing it up between relaxing at the beach and seeing the sites. Wednesday morning we got up and caught the subway up to Guell Park. Guell Park was originally supposed to be a housing site but only two houses sold there and it is now a municipal garden. What is interesting about the park is that it contains a significant number of works by Gaudi which fuse his fascination with nature and religion. It a huge park and is really interesting to go have a look at. We went pretty early on in the morning and it was already packed with people. One of the interesting attractions is Gaudi's famous mosaic salamander, which we saw but couldn't really get a good photo of. The park is on the hill of El Carmel and at the top we were able to get some really awesome photo's looking out over the city to the ocean.

Looking towards the entrance of Guell Park

Looking over Barcelona to the Ocean

Terrace walls - The almost look naturally formed. Lots of buskers would sit inside these in the shade while people walk past.

After the park we caught transit down to the port and had a quick loaf of bread with some salami and cheese before heading to a cafe for a coffee. After we were fed and caffeinated we went to the beach to get a bit more sunshine in our system (I think we deserve it after the last couple of winters). The weather really was stunning and we were able to sit there all afternoon without getting the slightest bit burnt. The temperature was perfect and there was a nice cool breeze which meant you could literally sit there all day without getting too hot or too cold. Despite the crowds and European swimsuits I could definitely get used to a place like this I think.

Yesterday morning, just to make sure we didn't have a day here without seeing something architected by Gaudi we went back to the Sagrada Familia, but this time we went inside. The building is massive and absolutely stunning. While we think the outside is a little more impressive the inside is something to behold. This building as I mentioned in a previous entry is not yet complete nearly 100 years later and consumed the last part of Gaudi's life. Drawing inspiration again from nature and religion literally every facet of this building is remarkable. One of the really interesting aspects of the inside was how he overcame some engineering issues by designing the central columns based on trees which allow the load to be stabilized on top of smaller branches which join to a larger trunk. We spent a couple of hours looking around at the detail and exploring the museum and displays that they have there which included Gaudi's grave - as he is buried in the building.

A view of the columns (I think there maybe 16 of them in the building? some larger some smaller)

A view of stairs and windows beside the North Eastern Tower 

After our explore of the Cathedral we sat outside an treated ourselves to coffee and croissants. Despite the fact that it was 11.30 most Spanish people are literally only just sitting down to breakfast. I don't know how they do it. They eat breakfast at our lunchtime, then eat lunch at our afternoon tea time and have dinner around 10pm when we would normally be going to bed. Must be those siestas.

My new breakfast staple - chocolate croissants. You can see the Sagrada Familia in the background.

After the Sagrada Famila we headed down to another tourist staple - La Rambla. La Rambla is a main street in downtown which has a pedestrian only area in the middle of the road where there street vendors and restaurants. Around the side and in the surrounding streets are lots of cafes and shops of every kind. While it is one of those places that you really have to watch your wallet we didn't have any issues. Off to one side of the street we found a interesting food market with literally every kind of meat, cheese or bread you can think of. The meat came in various forms from barely dead and still in a living position (minus the skin) through to fully preserved. It was fun and we spent a few hours exploring around the area before walking back to our apartment for an afternoon siesta.

A view of the Market

 After our siesta we took advantage of the late afternoon weather and went for another walk (and yes by now our feet we very sore) to La Monumental. Bull fighting was made illegal in 2010 so this is set up as a concert venue and a memorial for the events held there since it was built in the early n 1900's.

La Monumental

In the evening after dinner we went out to explore the nightlife. We ended up at the Montjuïc Magic Fountain where there was a light show played to classical music. The were literally thousands of people and we had heaps of fun in the bustle - I think New Zealand really is going to seem very quiet having been in some of these places.

Today we are getting all packed up before heading out for some paella for lunch before heading to the airport to catch a flight to our next destination - Morocco.

Beaches, Gaudi, Gothic Architecture and Octopus

We arrived in late on Sunday night. After going through what might have been the fastest border security check in history we caught a bus to the Plaça d'Espanya which is a short walk from where we are staying. Funny story about where we are staying, halfway though booking our trip we stumbled upon a website called airbnb and subsequently we are actually being hosted by a local Spanish woman in her private apartment (coincidently with another couple from London who also booked on the site). We had a few issues getting access to the apartment when we arrived due to us not having a phone, the apartment not having a buzzer and the host not speaking English when we managed to phone her from a cyber cafe at 12am... but we managed and so far it has turned out great. Our host - Veronica is lovely and we managed to have our first real conversation with her tonight as our London housemates speech Spanish. 

Monument in the middle of Plaça d'Espanya

We got up a little late on Monday morning and did our basic administration (find a grocery store, get groceries, find an information booth, get a map, plan out our itinerary and organize transit etc). The weather was stunning and once we were all set for the day we went for a medium sized walk through downtown Barcelona to Barceloneta Beach. I think being Kiwi's and not having been to the beach since Easter was really getting to us, so it was the first thing on our list. While it is not the prettiest beach in Barcelona (in fact is man made) it was certainly the most accessible and did the trick. We spent most of Monday afternoon lying at the beach and had a quiet evening at the apartment with a homemade dinner, which I think we earned given how much touristing we did in Ireland - everyone deserves a day off.

Barceloneta Beach

Today the weather was odd to say the least. It was overcast and would sporadically rain for about 3min and then stop for half an hour. It was probably a good thing that today was poor weather as we had planned to do a couple of walking tours that we found online. Both tours were based on Barcelona's unique architecture the first focusing on the work of Antoni Gaudi and the second focusing on Gothic Architecture.

The Gaudi tour was really interesting his work really is remarkable and we only saw it from the outsite. Some of his buildings reflect sheer genius while others border on the crazy side. The discussed aspects of his whole life including his devotion to his work and his faith and weaved in interesting aspects of how this related to the details in the buildings he created. The tour took us to four buildings including Palau Güell, Casa Batllo, Casa Mila and epic Sagrada Familia. Which is currently still incomplete (with an estimated 20 years left) after being started in 1882.

Casa Batllo

The Sagrada Familia - one facade at least, with ongoing construction in the background

After a quick stop for a lunch of Salami and cheese on freshly baked bread we headed off to our second tour of the day, the Gothic Tour. Our Irish tour guide (no - not joking) was actually really interesting she was an art historian who did a fantastic job of telling the history of how a small Roman City became what is currently known as Barcelona in a country known as Spain. She also introduced us to Catalonian history and some of the current politics - who know's how much longer Barcelona will be part of Spain. Sounds like a history lecture - well it was. However, it was done using the Roman, Medieval and Gothic archituture in the Barri Gòtic. I found it really interesting to see how the architects refused to remove the previous buidings and would rather add on to them creating what our tour guide called a architectural lasagna.

A sample of Gothic Architecture

The Barcelona Cathedral - Complete with 13 Geese inside (not kidding).

After our tour ended we had dinner with some people we had met during the day (from Canada nonetheless). As we are in Spain we had the local specialty Tapa's and Sangria. So this evening we have eaten octopus, potato's with mayonnaise, deep fried artichoke and some sort of omlette-ish thing with onion and sausage. It's amazing what you order when you can't read the menu. However, it was really tasty - will have to do it again a few times before we leave.