It’s mornings like today that I know Hostels are not for me…I had a tour booked at 8:15 which required me to be at the meeting spot at 7:45… Now at home that might seem a sensible time…in Italy when nothing happens before 10 and people trying to sleep in, I am sure they didn’t appreciate me packing my bag from about 6:00 am…
Not to mention I still have a blown fuse and don’t have a mechanism for navigating back to the Vatican museum…
I managed o pack and got everything back in the car and somehow made my way to the Vatican using my iPhone. When I got there I rang the car rental company emergency number and they were adamant they should tow the car away…It took me 5 minutes to say NO, I just need assistance to get someone to replace the fuse… and not tow the car as I have my luggage there…
Message finally got through and they directed me to an alternate office where they can attend to “my problem”.
Now the Vatican tour was rubbish, for starters the tour guide had an axe to grind with the Vatican and was very bitter where she basically bad mouthed everything about the Vatican, the pope, the church…somewhere in there was someone requiring therapy to get over her anger situation… She was extremely knowledgeable and far too efficient…we literally zoomed past the whole museum and the Sistine chapel in less than 1hr racing past everything. Then no one wanted to hang around her for the Basilica tour (not surprisingly) and so it ended.
http://mv.vatican.va/3_EN/pages/CSN/CSN_Main.html
I drove back to Terminali and was about to get the car replaced when they figured it’s easier to replace the fuse…Big mistake that I let them do that as the fuse blew again 100 kms into the next leg to Florence.
There is one lesson I learned from my wild youth not to drive when I am tired and as I was starting to nod off, I pulled over in a rest area and slept for 45 mins, which somehow made me feel worse.
I got to Florence and thanks to a tip from Alex was to find my next accommodation (the Hostel he described was full) but the hotel next door had a vacancy and so I plonked my butt there.
http://www.lonelyplanet.com/italy/florence
I started walking around town fairly swiftly and it didn’t take long to discover the river and witness that amazing Tuscan sunset. I am completely in love with Florence and in hindsight should have spent an extra night there as it was flawless…The street musicians/performers were grand (to the point I bought their CDs) The museum was open til midnight and at that time of night you had t all to yourself (pretty much) The bars were all full and lively and I guess that was the reason that I walked around for 8 hours again before I made it back to the Hotel and I was worn out.
The next decision was should I or shouldn’t I head to Cinque Terre it was over 100 kms in the wrong direction to Venice and probably a bad move considering how worn out I am starting to feel.
Tuesday, May 17, 2011
Day 21 8th May 2011
Woke up in a full room…don’t recall if it was that way when I entered last night but there were four full beds…I had only met the grump the day before, now I also have Alex (Canadian/English/Italian) who is also heading to Melbourne and Paula who is currently residing in Dublin from Brazil and she is studying to be a naturopath.
After last night I thought bugger this I will head out on my own…so it was a quick hello and moving on… It is mother’s day today, so I called me mum and funnily enough this is the first mothers day in 5 years that I don’t have the boys…I spoke to IJ & MM but couldn’t get through to Nan to speak to Zachy… had a little tear but in a week I will be home.
Got dressed and went to brekky and sat with Alex, and Paula and what do you know we decided we will go and check the sites out…starting with the Vatican…which incidentally the museum is closed on Sunday…those Catholics welcome to the 21st century open 7 days ;-)
No matter mass was on and the pope wasn’t there but to the rest that didn’t matter, banners were flying high and the cheering non stop and the heathens continued to shoot photos. It’s hard not to be consumed by religious frenzy when you are in a place like this.
Loads of photos and then we started proceeding to the next site and the next site and I have to say Alex & Paula moved with ease and we just kept going from one site to the next and its probably different walking in the day than at night but we walked for 5 plus hours and it was grand we had time to shop, make phone calls and take many snaps. We didn’t make it back to the Colosseum but I thought I would do that tomorrow after my booked Vatican tour.
We did get a little lost but thankfully Alex and Paula got us back to the car and we ran into Joao and Pedro from last night so we were going to head back to the hostel. As soon as we got in the car and attempted to turn the Sat Nav it all went dead and our phones were flat and it was hilarious to be sitting in the car hopeless not knowing what direction…Paula had given Joao and Pedro a hard time telling them they jinxed us (I don’t think it was them) I think the lighter fuse had been overloaded and that was it… We made it to the Hostel with Alex navigating on his iPhone and all in all a good day.
New room mates with Alex moving out and two other Brazilians moving in…except they looked German or Swedes and the were of German ancestory and both were studying in Germany (one was working on a 3-D printing machine which sounded amazing but we never finished the conversation as everyone was in a rush to get to Dinner…incidentally dinner was pizza dough and that was basically it…I decided to skip it…my stomach complained and rather went to the corner shop and bought Pizza…
For the evening we decided we would go clubbing or see what the hell night life is there…we mad it to the clubs district and there was one club that had the same beef jerkies standing outside letting the women in and making the blokes wait and then their mates or those showing bills to em in… If there is Karma in the next life these poof heads will be turned into mice for the next life… needless to say Paula went in easily and us four blokes stood out there…Needless to say my patience wears thin for that shit and we moved on next door to a place called Musica…They had a band playing live (their name is the Camomile Factory) they gave us their CD after whooping our arses in foosball (that was the highlight of the night) and not to be too harsh but they sounded awful and I am yet to listen to their CD but hope it sounds better.
Was yacking away to the bar girl who has a friend in Australia that wanted to stay in Oz and “she just got married”…wow…bride visas in Oz…SCARY…
The trip back to the hostel was as eventful as trying to get a cab in Sydney at 3:00 am during X-mas…scum bag cabbies wanted to charge you more to get you there and even then they didn’t drop you off where you wanted them to… we got there and it was another night.
After last night I thought bugger this I will head out on my own…so it was a quick hello and moving on… It is mother’s day today, so I called me mum and funnily enough this is the first mothers day in 5 years that I don’t have the boys…I spoke to IJ & MM but couldn’t get through to Nan to speak to Zachy… had a little tear but in a week I will be home.
Got dressed and went to brekky and sat with Alex, and Paula and what do you know we decided we will go and check the sites out…starting with the Vatican…which incidentally the museum is closed on Sunday…those Catholics welcome to the 21st century open 7 days ;-)
No matter mass was on and the pope wasn’t there but to the rest that didn’t matter, banners were flying high and the cheering non stop and the heathens continued to shoot photos. It’s hard not to be consumed by religious frenzy when you are in a place like this.
Loads of photos and then we started proceeding to the next site and the next site and I have to say Alex & Paula moved with ease and we just kept going from one site to the next and its probably different walking in the day than at night but we walked for 5 plus hours and it was grand we had time to shop, make phone calls and take many snaps. We didn’t make it back to the Colosseum but I thought I would do that tomorrow after my booked Vatican tour.
We did get a little lost but thankfully Alex and Paula got us back to the car and we ran into Joao and Pedro from last night so we were going to head back to the hostel. As soon as we got in the car and attempted to turn the Sat Nav it all went dead and our phones were flat and it was hilarious to be sitting in the car hopeless not knowing what direction…Paula had given Joao and Pedro a hard time telling them they jinxed us (I don’t think it was them) I think the lighter fuse had been overloaded and that was it… We made it to the Hostel with Alex navigating on his iPhone and all in all a good day.
New room mates with Alex moving out and two other Brazilians moving in…except they looked German or Swedes and the were of German ancestory and both were studying in Germany (one was working on a 3-D printing machine which sounded amazing but we never finished the conversation as everyone was in a rush to get to Dinner…incidentally dinner was pizza dough and that was basically it…I decided to skip it…my stomach complained and rather went to the corner shop and bought Pizza…
For the evening we decided we would go clubbing or see what the hell night life is there…we mad it to the clubs district and there was one club that had the same beef jerkies standing outside letting the women in and making the blokes wait and then their mates or those showing bills to em in… If there is Karma in the next life these poof heads will be turned into mice for the next life… needless to say Paula went in easily and us four blokes stood out there…Needless to say my patience wears thin for that shit and we moved on next door to a place called Musica…They had a band playing live (their name is the Camomile Factory) they gave us their CD after whooping our arses in foosball (that was the highlight of the night) and not to be too harsh but they sounded awful and I am yet to listen to their CD but hope it sounds better.
Was yacking away to the bar girl who has a friend in Australia that wanted to stay in Oz and “she just got married”…wow…bride visas in Oz…SCARY…
The trip back to the hostel was as eventful as trying to get a cab in Sydney at 3:00 am during X-mas…scum bag cabbies wanted to charge you more to get you there and even then they didn’t drop you off where you wanted them to… we got there and it was another night.
Friday, May 13, 2011
Day 20 7th May 2011
The day probably started much earlier but I will start it from the time I left the Hostel…The Portuguese/Lisbon airport was shambles and the only people I felt sorry for were the counter staff a s the schmucks that were on the airport floor could not organise a piss up in a brewery…word of warning if you are flying out of Lisbon allow at least 3 hours as two hours are never enough …oh and the automatic checking booth…is totally shite…
With that rant out of the way…It was interesting when I handed the car back to Hertz, they wanted to charge me for damage that was already there…thankfully, I pulled my trusty IPhone and showed them the picture from the airport at Barcelona, otherwise they would have charged me…in saying that I had to pay an extra 470 euros for dropping the car across the border… Mental note next time buy a car…its cheaper or better still use the trains and half the bag size.
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&client=safari&rls=en&biw=1276&bih=621&tbm=isch&sa=1&q=rome&aq=f&aqi=g10&aql=&oq=
After last night in Lisbon I was renewed with hope for Hostels and decided to go again… as I landed in the airport at Rome…I was handed the keys to a car and it was not an Alfa as promised…it was a Lancia…and might I add a shit-box of a car…probably, karma and wouldn’t be a bad thing for me to drive a slower car…especially, all the stories I heard about Italian highway patrols…
I got to Hotel Alessandro and it was pretty good…I was initially by myself in the room then got a grouch then I was out with some new friends, Portuguese, Turkish and Mexican…yes, Roma is a multicultural society too…especially in Hostels, after dinner, I decided I will drive to some sites and see them by night…
Got to the colosseum (and never made it back again ☹) and then headed into town and walked around 3 hours seeing the sites…now that was an hour and a half seeing the sites…40 minutes getting back to where we parked the car and 45 minutes lost in a three block radius with two GPSs and about as many maps and thank fk that none of us were on board with Christopher Columbus or Captain Cook for that matter…we would have been lost and perished at sea long before sunrise or even the first day is over… we finally made it and as enjoyable as the sites were the stress of finding the car and the constant nag swore not to do this again…next time I am heading out on my own…
One mental note, this day proclaims the start of Pizza and Ice cream diet almost everyday from here on. Yes I am staking on the kilos in Italy…
With that rant out of the way…It was interesting when I handed the car back to Hertz, they wanted to charge me for damage that was already there…thankfully, I pulled my trusty IPhone and showed them the picture from the airport at Barcelona, otherwise they would have charged me…in saying that I had to pay an extra 470 euros for dropping the car across the border… Mental note next time buy a car…its cheaper or better still use the trains and half the bag size.
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&client=safari&rls=en&biw=1276&bih=621&tbm=isch&sa=1&q=rome&aq=f&aqi=g10&aql=&oq=
After last night in Lisbon I was renewed with hope for Hostels and decided to go again… as I landed in the airport at Rome…I was handed the keys to a car and it was not an Alfa as promised…it was a Lancia…and might I add a shit-box of a car…probably, karma and wouldn’t be a bad thing for me to drive a slower car…especially, all the stories I heard about Italian highway patrols…
I got to Hotel Alessandro and it was pretty good…I was initially by myself in the room then got a grouch then I was out with some new friends, Portuguese, Turkish and Mexican…yes, Roma is a multicultural society too…especially in Hostels, after dinner, I decided I will drive to some sites and see them by night…
Got to the colosseum (and never made it back again ☹) and then headed into town and walked around 3 hours seeing the sites…now that was an hour and a half seeing the sites…40 minutes getting back to where we parked the car and 45 minutes lost in a three block radius with two GPSs and about as many maps and thank fk that none of us were on board with Christopher Columbus or Captain Cook for that matter…we would have been lost and perished at sea long before sunrise or even the first day is over… we finally made it and as enjoyable as the sites were the stress of finding the car and the constant nag swore not to do this again…next time I am heading out on my own…
One mental note, this day proclaims the start of Pizza and Ice cream diet almost everyday from here on. Yes I am staking on the kilos in Italy…
Day 19 6th May 2011
Another day another adventure, and I don’t mean this lightly…
The day started about 5:00 am when one of the room boarders waltzed in with a bang…clearly he had a good night…but that was not the reason he gets a mention…about 40 minutes later…there was this choking shriek noise coming from our latest boarder that freaked the hell out of everyone in the room…Abrish almost jump off his top bunk and by then any hope of sleep was quickly dissipated.
True to form Janice and Mandy were ready by 7ish and we hit the road for what will be a 24 hours in Portugal (well for me anyway). I will come to regret the decision of not staying there longer.
Dropped the ladies off in Tevinia and headed towards Lisbon…I guess I didn’t realise how tired I was but about an hour into the trip I was nodding off at the wheel so decided on a stop over at the service centre and that was an hour’s nap… and that was the last bit of sleep I got in Portugal.
When I got in town first thing I realised is I must have been asleep as I got through the toll gates without collecting a ticket and that was a 40 euro fee…
I also hadn’t booked any accommodation and I don’t know why I picked up an Oasis brochure as we were leaving Seville…but that was the start of a huge chain reaction… I couldn’t make one end of town to the next so I typed the address from the brochure into the GPS…as I kept driving, I sensed perhaps Hostel stays are not for me…I was in a rough neighbourhood…the street the hostel was allegedly on was a one lane and when I got up there…what do you know there is no Hostel…and its one way up and have to reverse back…fairdinkum, I thought I would be ambushed reversing out it was like a scene from “City of God” but I think that was more the lack of sleep…and I started driving again towards the other street name… And viola I got to Oasis…after a bit of driving and walking.
This place was cheap, it was 20 euro for the night…I knew I wasn’t there long so didn’t bother unpacking and just took a small bag out of the car. I knew I was hardly going to need anything other than my camera… Boy was I right…
First person I met was Serena who was having lunch and looking at a map of the city…speaking of lunch…I only had coffees and red bulls so far that day...and Serena had a monstrous plate of pasta…I thought she cooked for everyone in the Hostel but no she just ate it all by herself… Incidentally, Serena has graduated with a molecular biology degree…so if she wanted to kill you and hide the evidence, she probably could…but thankfully, she is nice and not ready to kill anyone…even after partnering me in seeing Lisbon in 5 hours straight…
Sarena introduced me to Aussie Blake, man all I gotta say is it was good to hear that Aussie twang and seeing a happy face and someone who knows Lisbon…Blake my man you are a star, and I so wished when I was younger I lived to travel as you are…Keep flying the flag buddy and hope to catch ya for a beer in old Sydney Town…Blake gave me all the spots to see in about 5 minutes flat and had a good yarn as well…
Not before too long we were on our way out and Serena and I headed for the trams…In case you have missed it I love trams (I typed initially as “I have a tram fetish”…but I know some of the people that will read this the wrong way…dirty, dirty, dirty)
Lunch on the run buying, toast, salami and cheese at the super market while waiting for the tram…then it was Lisbon in 5 hours flat…then dinner and back to the hostel for what was the likely and unlikely mayhem…Who would have thought that a game of celebrity head could be so much fun…even without drinking…well ok clarify I was not drinking but was having a great old time…others were and they were also having a great old time…Why did I ever leave Lisbon?
Well, the night just got crazier as it progressed…by 1:00 am celebrity head was over and we were heading out to what looked like the party quarters of the Universe… what scared me the most with a 1000 people crammed In a few laneways and cops everywhere and damn street vendors and Blake’s reassurance and apology that this is a quite night…I so didn’t want to leave Lisbon… the humungous cocktails and I mean they were lethal and I didn’t even finish one as I had to drive in a few hours. Dana on the other hand thought she was going to drink all of us under the table…Let’s just say that didn’t happen… the night’s shenanigans took more twist and turns than a CSI investigation and Dana & I were separated from the group and by 5:00 am were back at the Hostel and decided against sleeping so I can get to the airport on time not to mention that Dana had passed out long ago.
I think this night was by far my craziest night and this beat the wedding (which included 10 hours of drinking solid) and last night in Majorca where we had lots of drinking and lots of people until 4:00 am…hard to believe but true…Those who were there will vouch for that… ☺
And all the roads lead to Rome!
The day started about 5:00 am when one of the room boarders waltzed in with a bang…clearly he had a good night…but that was not the reason he gets a mention…about 40 minutes later…there was this choking shriek noise coming from our latest boarder that freaked the hell out of everyone in the room…Abrish almost jump off his top bunk and by then any hope of sleep was quickly dissipated.
True to form Janice and Mandy were ready by 7ish and we hit the road for what will be a 24 hours in Portugal (well for me anyway). I will come to regret the decision of not staying there longer.
Dropped the ladies off in Tevinia and headed towards Lisbon…I guess I didn’t realise how tired I was but about an hour into the trip I was nodding off at the wheel so decided on a stop over at the service centre and that was an hour’s nap… and that was the last bit of sleep I got in Portugal.
When I got in town first thing I realised is I must have been asleep as I got through the toll gates without collecting a ticket and that was a 40 euro fee…
I also hadn’t booked any accommodation and I don’t know why I picked up an Oasis brochure as we were leaving Seville…but that was the start of a huge chain reaction… I couldn’t make one end of town to the next so I typed the address from the brochure into the GPS…as I kept driving, I sensed perhaps Hostel stays are not for me…I was in a rough neighbourhood…the street the hostel was allegedly on was a one lane and when I got up there…what do you know there is no Hostel…and its one way up and have to reverse back…fairdinkum, I thought I would be ambushed reversing out it was like a scene from “City of God” but I think that was more the lack of sleep…and I started driving again towards the other street name… And viola I got to Oasis…after a bit of driving and walking.
This place was cheap, it was 20 euro for the night…I knew I wasn’t there long so didn’t bother unpacking and just took a small bag out of the car. I knew I was hardly going to need anything other than my camera… Boy was I right…
First person I met was Serena who was having lunch and looking at a map of the city…speaking of lunch…I only had coffees and red bulls so far that day...and Serena had a monstrous plate of pasta…I thought she cooked for everyone in the Hostel but no she just ate it all by herself… Incidentally, Serena has graduated with a molecular biology degree…so if she wanted to kill you and hide the evidence, she probably could…but thankfully, she is nice and not ready to kill anyone…even after partnering me in seeing Lisbon in 5 hours straight…
Sarena introduced me to Aussie Blake, man all I gotta say is it was good to hear that Aussie twang and seeing a happy face and someone who knows Lisbon…Blake my man you are a star, and I so wished when I was younger I lived to travel as you are…Keep flying the flag buddy and hope to catch ya for a beer in old Sydney Town…Blake gave me all the spots to see in about 5 minutes flat and had a good yarn as well…
Not before too long we were on our way out and Serena and I headed for the trams…In case you have missed it I love trams (I typed initially as “I have a tram fetish”…but I know some of the people that will read this the wrong way…dirty, dirty, dirty)
Lunch on the run buying, toast, salami and cheese at the super market while waiting for the tram…then it was Lisbon in 5 hours flat…then dinner and back to the hostel for what was the likely and unlikely mayhem…Who would have thought that a game of celebrity head could be so much fun…even without drinking…well ok clarify I was not drinking but was having a great old time…others were and they were also having a great old time…Why did I ever leave Lisbon?
Well, the night just got crazier as it progressed…by 1:00 am celebrity head was over and we were heading out to what looked like the party quarters of the Universe… what scared me the most with a 1000 people crammed In a few laneways and cops everywhere and damn street vendors and Blake’s reassurance and apology that this is a quite night…I so didn’t want to leave Lisbon… the humungous cocktails and I mean they were lethal and I didn’t even finish one as I had to drive in a few hours. Dana on the other hand thought she was going to drink all of us under the table…Let’s just say that didn’t happen… the night’s shenanigans took more twist and turns than a CSI investigation and Dana & I were separated from the group and by 5:00 am were back at the Hostel and decided against sleeping so I can get to the airport on time not to mention that Dana had passed out long ago.
I think this night was by far my craziest night and this beat the wedding (which included 10 hours of drinking solid) and last night in Majorca where we had lots of drinking and lots of people until 4:00 am…hard to believe but true…Those who were there will vouch for that… ☺
And all the roads lead to Rome!
Day 18 5th May 2011
After last night’s shenanigans and the BS from the bed saga…I was ready to leave pronto…so I got up about 6:00 and by seven decided I am going for a run because I felt I need one and come back, pack my bags and go to Portugal… The run did one thing (other than the benefits of going fast run on a 5 kms slog), it cleared my head to not be a princess and I came back and decided I might stay if I can get accommodation and if the girls wanted a lift to the next town, I’ll do that but we must leave really early as I am running out of time to see anything in Portugal not even Lisbon at this rate.
In hindsight, that was the best decision I had ever made on this trip… we had a “Hostel breakfast” basically eating on a napkin as you have to wash your own dishes and I made my own coffee and yeah, welcome to living a normal life during a holiday…secretly, I am starting to enjoy it a little…we went for the sight seeing tour of Seville…we knew what we wanted to see but I think this was also the beginning of me realising I have zero survival skills (without gadgets)…much on that later on…
We did the Cathedral and Alcatraz (or what I thought was Alcatraz) and had a great lunch and then dropped J off to have a rest as her allergies were really bad and she had been popping allergy tablets to help her get by.
I wanted to go and see the Macarena Cathedral and Mandy & Martin decided to join…when we got there we had realised that the wall was our very first stop. The church was another spectacular sight and we walked and took our photos and then decided to walk back to the car and get ready for the night outing where we will start with a Flamenco Show then dinner then we will see where this town really party before 10 pm???
As we were heading back, there was a hole in the wall o a pub that Mandy stood there for a minute mesmerised, there was dancing and singing coming out of it and she asked if we can go in…well, I know I don’t get asked twice to stop over for a drink so I went along and Martin joined us…
The net two or so hours will live with me forever, the place had all these ladies dressed in a their Flamenco’s finest, singing and dancing and just having a great time…it was like having our very own private Flamenco dance, they were very accommodating, and OMG the look on Mandy’s face alone was worth a million dollars. Her face lit up with excitement and the fact they allowed us to take photos was brilliant, one of the chaps had actually been to Australia the year before and the vibe was electric, hell it was 10000 volts…then they were telling us about Freia (not sure of the spelling) and Martin used his Spanish to actually get an address…When I asked I think Jorge what Freia is, he said coming to Saville and asking that is like him coming to Sydney and saying what is the Sydney Harbour bridge… Lesson learnt, I am culturally ignorant and will be doing allot more reading before my next planned travel.
Unfortunately, we had to leave them and rushed back to get changed and make our show reservation…Janice was there waiting and I had to check in for another night…but being on a high from the afternoon (well almost literally ☺ ) we got dressed and I decided to drive to the show as it was getting late and no cabs were out…I think it was another good decision.
We made the show albeit 5 minutes late and although I have seen a few in Sydney’s Liverpool street and another at Manly Wharf…sorry, but this show was nothing short of magnificent and OMG those dancers were awesome and the singers as well… Good choice Janice, definitely worth every dime we spent on this show and for anyone in Seville do it…
Now I was tired, and we didn’t know what to do, do we try to find this Freia or do we get dinner first or do we call it a night…Thankfully, Martin’s enthusiasm is infectious and we decided to see if we can follow his instructions of just go there and I mean he was pointing on a map on my iphone and we put that street name in the GPS… and we drove there…OMG I think Paris in Peak hour traffic had less cars…
http://www.google.com/search?q=Feria+Sevilla&hl=en&client=safari&rls=en&prmd=ivnsm&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=-SHOTeWuMIXs-gaZ5f3rCQ&ved=0CCQQsAQ&biw=1276&bih=621
Somehow again, we got parking and we had dinner and found out that Freia is larger than life…It was bloody massive party…I think bigger than any I have ever been to…think of Hyde park in the UK filled with people everywhere and then double that again…
I think I snapped about 500 shots and couldn’t have walked 10% of that place, after allot of walking we didn’t know if we should stop for a drink and it looked like the tents were all jam packed…we decided we would see if we can stopover somewhere for a drink and I asked someone at a relatively tamed tent if we can come in and buy a drink at the bar…the guy at the door said yes and just as we walked in Janice refused, and her claim, rightly r wrongly was that the person I asked has no right as this is a family cultural affair and she refused to get in… And that was the downer of the day so we headed to the car and drove back to the Hostel… Not sure if it was the tiredness of the long day, the allergies, my cultural ignorance to the Seville Tradition or what it was but it was tense to say the least and I just went quite as I tend to… so when Janice poked me again when we were walking back, we went off at and decided it…its ok, whatever if she had her k in a knot and I asked and her response was if I chose to not go should not p me off and god almighty reminded me of many arguments I have had in the past…so we decided to call it a night and get ready as I need to be in Portugal ASAP the next day.
Bam, Bam, Bamm and that was another dramatic end of another night in Seville…Oh well, Shit happens.
In hindsight, that was the best decision I had ever made on this trip… we had a “Hostel breakfast” basically eating on a napkin as you have to wash your own dishes and I made my own coffee and yeah, welcome to living a normal life during a holiday…secretly, I am starting to enjoy it a little…we went for the sight seeing tour of Seville…we knew what we wanted to see but I think this was also the beginning of me realising I have zero survival skills (without gadgets)…much on that later on…
We did the Cathedral and Alcatraz (or what I thought was Alcatraz) and had a great lunch and then dropped J off to have a rest as her allergies were really bad and she had been popping allergy tablets to help her get by.
I wanted to go and see the Macarena Cathedral and Mandy & Martin decided to join…when we got there we had realised that the wall was our very first stop. The church was another spectacular sight and we walked and took our photos and then decided to walk back to the car and get ready for the night outing where we will start with a Flamenco Show then dinner then we will see where this town really party before 10 pm???
As we were heading back, there was a hole in the wall o a pub that Mandy stood there for a minute mesmerised, there was dancing and singing coming out of it and she asked if we can go in…well, I know I don’t get asked twice to stop over for a drink so I went along and Martin joined us…
The net two or so hours will live with me forever, the place had all these ladies dressed in a their Flamenco’s finest, singing and dancing and just having a great time…it was like having our very own private Flamenco dance, they were very accommodating, and OMG the look on Mandy’s face alone was worth a million dollars. Her face lit up with excitement and the fact they allowed us to take photos was brilliant, one of the chaps had actually been to Australia the year before and the vibe was electric, hell it was 10000 volts…then they were telling us about Freia (not sure of the spelling) and Martin used his Spanish to actually get an address…When I asked I think Jorge what Freia is, he said coming to Saville and asking that is like him coming to Sydney and saying what is the Sydney Harbour bridge… Lesson learnt, I am culturally ignorant and will be doing allot more reading before my next planned travel.
Unfortunately, we had to leave them and rushed back to get changed and make our show reservation…Janice was there waiting and I had to check in for another night…but being on a high from the afternoon (well almost literally ☺ ) we got dressed and I decided to drive to the show as it was getting late and no cabs were out…I think it was another good decision.
We made the show albeit 5 minutes late and although I have seen a few in Sydney’s Liverpool street and another at Manly Wharf…sorry, but this show was nothing short of magnificent and OMG those dancers were awesome and the singers as well… Good choice Janice, definitely worth every dime we spent on this show and for anyone in Seville do it…
Now I was tired, and we didn’t know what to do, do we try to find this Freia or do we get dinner first or do we call it a night…Thankfully, Martin’s enthusiasm is infectious and we decided to see if we can follow his instructions of just go there and I mean he was pointing on a map on my iphone and we put that street name in the GPS… and we drove there…OMG I think Paris in Peak hour traffic had less cars…
http://www.google.com/search?q=Feria+Sevilla&hl=en&client=safari&rls=en&prmd=ivnsm&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=-SHOTeWuMIXs-gaZ5f3rCQ&ved=0CCQQsAQ&biw=1276&bih=621
Somehow again, we got parking and we had dinner and found out that Freia is larger than life…It was bloody massive party…I think bigger than any I have ever been to…think of Hyde park in the UK filled with people everywhere and then double that again…
I think I snapped about 500 shots and couldn’t have walked 10% of that place, after allot of walking we didn’t know if we should stop for a drink and it looked like the tents were all jam packed…we decided we would see if we can stopover somewhere for a drink and I asked someone at a relatively tamed tent if we can come in and buy a drink at the bar…the guy at the door said yes and just as we walked in Janice refused, and her claim, rightly r wrongly was that the person I asked has no right as this is a family cultural affair and she refused to get in… And that was the downer of the day so we headed to the car and drove back to the Hostel… Not sure if it was the tiredness of the long day, the allergies, my cultural ignorance to the Seville Tradition or what it was but it was tense to say the least and I just went quite as I tend to… so when Janice poked me again when we were walking back, we went off at and decided it…its ok, whatever if she had her k in a knot and I asked and her response was if I chose to not go should not p me off and god almighty reminded me of many arguments I have had in the past…so we decided to call it a night and get ready as I need to be in Portugal ASAP the next day.
Bam, Bam, Bamm and that was another dramatic end of another night in Seville…Oh well, Shit happens.
Day 17 4th May 2011
Seville Bound, and my first passengers meet Mandy & Janice from USA… Mandy & Janie are work colleagues and travel companions, Mandy married, Janice studying and as travel partners well, I think it works…they are having their own European Adventure.
So we decided to head-out early (ok, truth is , I decided because I figured my schedule is out of whack with the Majorca unscheduled stopover) The morning started with a lesson…Janice thought she left her IPhone charger so just as we cleared Granada tight alleys we had to come back…Oh and after that she hadn’t forgotten it, it was in her bag…Well we could’ve left later but no matter…Janice was on first strike :P
The drive was great we stopped over a few times and managed to get lunch in a sweet town in the middle of nowhere and the girls survived me clicking on 200 km/h without complaints…that was good. We learnt a bit more about each other as you do on a road trip and I think we will be friends for a while…along the travels it was somehow decided that I will stay t the Hostel if I can find a park…well, I found a park (The fact is I made my own parking on the footpath and apparently it works)
In the Hostel, I get a room to share with 5 others but there is only one “Abrish” from Manchester and he is cool…he tells us that he is heading to watch a bull fight and randomly we agree we will too…we all get dressed, hop in a cab and heading for our bull fight…yay… well ok other than we only lasted to watch two out of 6 bulls being slain it was something to tick in the box and move on….The atmosphere is electric and people are all dressed up and its just and amazing town. We walked out and walked along the promenade and it really is a beautiful city… a few more photo opportunities (the start of many) and then we get a cab back after allot of walking so we can get ready for dinner and heading out. When we get back to the Hotel, M & J have a new roomy, Martin from San Fran a cool guy, and extremely eccentric to say the least… He is speaking Spanish well to the lame (such as myself) my first impression was he is speaking Spanish, later on I figure he knows a little Spanish and by the measure of all of us, he might as well speak for all of us…
We headed out for dinner and there was a pub crawl organised by the Hostel and after much deliberations we declined it and tried our own…We were informed that Seville is a lively town, but by what we have seen this night…not very lively, Inmus had told me about this great Flamenco Festival but we have seen no signs of it at all…
Meanwhile my hostel dramas were unfolding…early during the day someone decide dto move my stuff from the allocated bed (Yes, I felt like a prisoner being allocated a cell and a bed) no matter, so I took the next bed…when we came back at 2 am…I see a little angry Korean chap who is waving his ticket at me and telling me how he moved my stuff to the floor because I was in his bed…oh, by that stage I see red, I see red, I see red…
Thankfully the ladies are calmer and Martin is drunk and loud and we decided that there was a mattress underneath their bunks and that I can sleep on the floor…to be honest I just wanted to leave and decided there is no way I am going to do this ever again…the mattress was dusty and I think that would have contributed to Janice’s allergy going haywire…By now I just can’t wait till the morning to get the hell out of Seville sworn off all Hostels for life as the “Hostel experience was Hostile”
So we decided to head-out early (ok, truth is , I decided because I figured my schedule is out of whack with the Majorca unscheduled stopover) The morning started with a lesson…Janice thought she left her IPhone charger so just as we cleared Granada tight alleys we had to come back…Oh and after that she hadn’t forgotten it, it was in her bag…Well we could’ve left later but no matter…Janice was on first strike :P
The drive was great we stopped over a few times and managed to get lunch in a sweet town in the middle of nowhere and the girls survived me clicking on 200 km/h without complaints…that was good. We learnt a bit more about each other as you do on a road trip and I think we will be friends for a while…along the travels it was somehow decided that I will stay t the Hostel if I can find a park…well, I found a park (The fact is I made my own parking on the footpath and apparently it works)
In the Hostel, I get a room to share with 5 others but there is only one “Abrish” from Manchester and he is cool…he tells us that he is heading to watch a bull fight and randomly we agree we will too…we all get dressed, hop in a cab and heading for our bull fight…yay… well ok other than we only lasted to watch two out of 6 bulls being slain it was something to tick in the box and move on….The atmosphere is electric and people are all dressed up and its just and amazing town. We walked out and walked along the promenade and it really is a beautiful city… a few more photo opportunities (the start of many) and then we get a cab back after allot of walking so we can get ready for dinner and heading out. When we get back to the Hotel, M & J have a new roomy, Martin from San Fran a cool guy, and extremely eccentric to say the least… He is speaking Spanish well to the lame (such as myself) my first impression was he is speaking Spanish, later on I figure he knows a little Spanish and by the measure of all of us, he might as well speak for all of us…
We headed out for dinner and there was a pub crawl organised by the Hostel and after much deliberations we declined it and tried our own…We were informed that Seville is a lively town, but by what we have seen this night…not very lively, Inmus had told me about this great Flamenco Festival but we have seen no signs of it at all…
Meanwhile my hostel dramas were unfolding…early during the day someone decide dto move my stuff from the allocated bed (Yes, I felt like a prisoner being allocated a cell and a bed) no matter, so I took the next bed…when we came back at 2 am…I see a little angry Korean chap who is waving his ticket at me and telling me how he moved my stuff to the floor because I was in his bed…oh, by that stage I see red, I see red, I see red…
Thankfully the ladies are calmer and Martin is drunk and loud and we decided that there was a mattress underneath their bunks and that I can sleep on the floor…to be honest I just wanted to leave and decided there is no way I am going to do this ever again…the mattress was dusty and I think that would have contributed to Janice’s allergy going haywire…By now I just can’t wait till the morning to get the hell out of Seville sworn off all Hostels for life as the “Hostel experience was Hostile”
Day 16 3rd May 2011
Well, another day in the life of Hany…The rain persisted from last night so I was adamant to leave as soon as the miserable Alhambra tour was going to be over and find a sunny town. Boy was I wrong…Let’s just say that the trip took on new momentum from this day on and probably a whole new energy…
I drove and parked in Alhambra car park…to get me out as soon as possie…little did I know I was in for a long haul up steep hills but definitely a must for everyone to do…the facts are fascinating and its amazing that through out the ages how stupidity managed to wreck and luck managed to preserve… if anything I have truly to the profound realization that all those fight or argue in the name of religion are morons…and should be publicly flogged every hour.
No matter, I met some great folks today…Claire& her sis Sherry and her son Trey who is studying in Granada…and as an introvert I publicly introduced myself and as surely most who have met me would say that the first impression they got when they met me was I should be gagged… Some still share that on all subsequent meets… whatever…
Also met Mandy and Janice who have become my travel companions not to mention they opened my eyes to the joy of travelling alone yet with many people. Mandy and Janice have introduced me to the world of Hostels let that be forever known that I agreed to stay in a Hostel. Ok the Granada experience was an independent double room with my own bathroom…I was told that’s not really the same but it said Hostel.
Quote of the day at lunch was when Janice who ordered “Oh la la” and as we were all sharing tapas style and Janice turned to Trey “ want to sample my Oh la la” when suddenly everyone burst in laughter and Janice went red (and it wasn’t just the Sangria I spilt on her… in fairness Trey did politely decline and Sherry decided to advise him that “you will never get an offer like that again” well for Trey’s sake I hope that’s not true (In fact I am sure of it)
The next thing we did was dinner and drinks in an Irish pub… followed by an arab bath…Ok this thing was bizarre and if people haven’t tried it well don’t take my word for it and you may like it…but paying for someone to bath you with suds is ummm…how do I say this a very weird experience…and only the arabs could think of this…the west had just called it solicitation but the arabs called it a bath…it was something to chalk up and move on…
The rest of the night was even weirder with me catching up with Trey and his buddies which involved about 20 year olds who were so young that I either missed half the shit or wanted to…lets say that if I am in a room with those guys it would get ugly quickly…their collective maturity was 5 (in fact maybe less than 5). The exception were Trey and Brian and they were cool but I just felt out of place and probably way too old to have hung around as long as I have so headed back home about 3 am after all I have a big drive to Seville and Janice and Mandy will be joining me.
I drove and parked in Alhambra car park…to get me out as soon as possie…little did I know I was in for a long haul up steep hills but definitely a must for everyone to do…the facts are fascinating and its amazing that through out the ages how stupidity managed to wreck and luck managed to preserve… if anything I have truly to the profound realization that all those fight or argue in the name of religion are morons…and should be publicly flogged every hour.
No matter, I met some great folks today…Claire& her sis Sherry and her son Trey who is studying in Granada…and as an introvert I publicly introduced myself and as surely most who have met me would say that the first impression they got when they met me was I should be gagged… Some still share that on all subsequent meets… whatever…
Also met Mandy and Janice who have become my travel companions not to mention they opened my eyes to the joy of travelling alone yet with many people. Mandy and Janice have introduced me to the world of Hostels let that be forever known that I agreed to stay in a Hostel. Ok the Granada experience was an independent double room with my own bathroom…I was told that’s not really the same but it said Hostel.
Quote of the day at lunch was when Janice who ordered “Oh la la” and as we were all sharing tapas style and Janice turned to Trey “ want to sample my Oh la la” when suddenly everyone burst in laughter and Janice went red (and it wasn’t just the Sangria I spilt on her… in fairness Trey did politely decline and Sherry decided to advise him that “you will never get an offer like that again” well for Trey’s sake I hope that’s not true (In fact I am sure of it)
The next thing we did was dinner and drinks in an Irish pub… followed by an arab bath…Ok this thing was bizarre and if people haven’t tried it well don’t take my word for it and you may like it…but paying for someone to bath you with suds is ummm…how do I say this a very weird experience…and only the arabs could think of this…the west had just called it solicitation but the arabs called it a bath…it was something to chalk up and move on…
The rest of the night was even weirder with me catching up with Trey and his buddies which involved about 20 year olds who were so young that I either missed half the shit or wanted to…lets say that if I am in a room with those guys it would get ugly quickly…their collective maturity was 5 (in fact maybe less than 5). The exception were Trey and Brian and they were cool but I just felt out of place and probably way too old to have hung around as long as I have so headed back home about 3 am after all I have a big drive to Seville and Janice and Mandy will be joining me.
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