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Pils' on TourPils' Tour of Canadia & the rest of the world! January 23 Ahhh ... the settled life!Hello again!
I do apologise - it has been far too long since my last post! Pretty sure no one is checking this anymore as a result, so if you are please leave a comment!
Well, I haven't travelled since my last post, but a hell of a lot of stuff has happened, so here are the highlights from London:
1) Meeting a cousin (well 2nd) that I never knew I had. 2) Getting a contract job for three months, then being offered a better full time job on my first day. 3) Moving into a place and getting my own room! 4) Partying 5) Making heaps of new friends 6) Weekend away to Stonehenge & Bath (oops, guess I did travel!) 7) Partying 8) Seeing Powderfinger live 9) Going to 'The Church' ... 10) Partying
So where to begin? Well first off, I found out shortly after arriving in London that I had a 2nd cousin who had also just moved to London from Melbourne. Casey & I quickly became friends and have been to see Powderfinger together, to the infamous 'Church' (that's the one where Joey Johns got done for possessing prohibited narcotics of some description), and we are going to Gallipoli for ANZAC Day. So that has been a great and totally unexpected revelation from living in London.
I have a great job at Barclaycard (cards arm of Barclays). I am a 'Senior Value Analyst' (cool title huh?) in the predictive modelling area (marketing propensity models). It was quite a mission getting this job however, as I had to travel up to Northampton (where the BC head office is), about 1 hour outside of central London, for a three hour interview! It was like going through the whole graduate recruitment phase again, complete with case studies and all! I was absolutely exhausted afterwards, but in the end it was well worth the hassle. The funny thing is that while I was waiting to hear from them, I got offered another job at a stockbroking firm in London, for 3 months. It was good money, but the work was mundane (mainly cutting and pasting in MS Excel), and at lunchtime on my first day I got offered the BC job I wanted, and it was permanent. 30 days annual leave sealed the deal, and I was out of there three weeks later (BC took their sweet time running background checks, getting credit reports, confirming I wasn't a convict sent to Oz on the first fleet...). However I was lucky that I was able to hang around in the mean time at the stockbroking firm, so it wasn't all-bad. In that office, I worked with maybe 6 or 7 other people in their finance department. It was quite funny, because they were all accountants, and the days had a certain structure and repetitiveness to them. The biggest controversy and cause of gossip in the small office was who's turn it was to get the 'tea's'. The bloody English and their tea's! It was quite political. God forbid you ever got to the kitchen and not bring back 6 other cups of hot beverages with just the right amount of sugar and milk for each individual. Get it wrong and the consequences were dire! It was funny though, and in all fairness they were nice people, especially to let me keep working there after I had another job lined up, and for reminding me why I never went into accounting at university!
I have moved into a nice 3-bedroom townhouse in Ealing, West London. I live with a South African (Alan) and a Frenchman (Thomas). I love the house, and the guys are great. Ealing is a lovely part of London - very green, and lot's of parks. I go running quite often around the area, even at night, as it feels quite safe (there is a bit of a media beat-up over here at the moment about the 'bad streets' of olde London town. Mainly this seems to be due to the increasing frequency of stabbing related deaths occurring in and around the city. But Ealing feels quite removed from all that business. The main street is really nice, and has every type of shop you would ever need, so you never have to go far to get what you are looking for.
Another point of interest is all the dress-up or themed parties that have been going on. Since I have been here, I have been to four. First there was ‘Halloween’, then ‘Naughty or Nice’, the ‘movies’ (work Christmas party) and finally Burlesque on New Years Eve. Well, at least I thought New Years Eve was dress up. Turned out it was just themed. I went along wearing a white top hat, tux, bow tie, monocle, white gloves and holding a cane. Luckily I was too drunk to care (I had had a few ‘pre-drinks’ as you do on New Years of course!) when I realised I was the only one dressed up. Also it was a great way to meet people – everyone wanted to wear the hat! Also, my kiwi friend Brenton from Banff was in town for New Years, so he came along as well. Was good to catch up and reminisce about the old Spaghetti Factory days.
Christmas over here was a blast. I went down and stayed with my uncle Brian and his partner Mark. We were treated to a fantastic, out-of-this-world Christmas lunch. Five courses, including; white truffle oil and Jerusalem artichoke soup, peach salad, Turkey breast wrapped in prosciutto served with homemade cranberry sauce and deep fried sage, vodka and lemon sorbet and Christmas pudding with brandy butter. MMMMmmmmm! Mark is a fantastic cook! All accompanied with Champagne/Wine/dessert wine/port of course! Another interesting point it that on Christmas Eve Mark and I went for a pint with their neighbours from across the street, Linda and David. Now I found out that there surname was Beckham – so I was having a drink on Christmas Eve with David Beckham! Had to SMS my mates to tell them this! But better was yet to come. After we finished up our five-course bliss on Chrissie day, we headed over to David and Linda’s for a drink (what else, naturally?). Now David’s brother and his wife were over. David’s brother’s name is Paul, and his wife’s name – yep you guessed it – Victoria. So now I had spent Christmas night David and Victoria Beckham! Just keeps getting better and better!
Last weekend, Rhino hired a car and he, Yas, Diggsy (Rhino’s mate from high school) and I drove out to Bath via Stonehenge. Cool trip. After pulling off the highway for a Macca’s breakfast, at the world’s-hardest-to-find-maccas-after-you-have-followed-the-signs, we pressed on through the fog and rain, to see Stonehenge appear over the crest of the hill. The rain and mist made for quite a surreal setting, and it was quite eerie. I have heard a lot of people rubbish Stonehenge, and say it’s boring, and that you should be able to touch it, etc. but I found it mesmerising. Typical whinging poms – trust them to moan about their own cultural treasures! Bath was cool – we arrived at about 1pm and adjourned straight to the nearest pub. Bath has some quite cool architecture, courtesy of it’s Roman heritage I suppose. After a huge night out on the cans, and visiting almost every single pub the predominantly student run town of Bath had to offer, we headed to the Roman Bath’s. They were kinda cool, but sort of run down, which I guess you expect after such a long period of time. The highlight for me though was the Audio tour (a mobile phone like device they give you that plays recorded messages of what you’re looking at when you key in the appropriate number). It was so unbelievably bad, but they had special markers with Bill Bryson commentary. Now I have been reading a fair bit of his work since I left Australia (over a year ago now – wow it has gone quick!) but his commentary was, well, interesting. He starts off by mentioning things of historical importance, but quickly takes to examining the faces of all the statues that adorn the structure(s). He then rates them on how ‘likeable they are’, and if he would go for a pint with them at the local pub! But he also mentions how he doesn’t like the Roman depiction of Women – they look ‘cold’ and ‘mean’ and ‘unfriendly’ – but not like the handsome men – ‘who are rather likeable fellows’. Sure that you didn’t want to take them to the local patisserie for some quiche Bill???
Well that’s about it from here. I am off to France this weekend to go skiing (leaving on Australia Day) for a week at the resort of Val D’Isere. Rhino and Deo (mate from Westpac) are coming along as well. Then I have a raft of travel planned this year;
Easter: Scotland (Edinburgh, St Andrews, Loch Ness, Highlands and Isle of Skye) ANZAC Day: Turkey Tour – incl. Gallipoli (just booked today! Yay!) First May Bank Holiday weekend: Amsterdam Second May Bank Holiday weekend: Prague July-August: Ireland (details sketchy at this early stage) September-October: Egypt (free trip I got by booking the ANZAC tour!).
As you can see, I have a big 2008 planned, but I want to travel while I am here. It’s the reason I came – certainly not for the weather!
So now you are up to date. I have posted a bunch of photos (apologies to those on facebook, you may have seen a lot of these already) to accompany this blog, so please have a look!
Cheers, would love to hear from you!
Marky-Mark
October 25 London via Stockholm (via London ...)Hey all
So I am in London now. Officially time to stop travelling, settle down, find a job, place to live, and all other things fun. It's sad to think that tomorrow that I won't be waking up in a different town/city/state/country/continent/hemisphere. It feels like I have been doing that for so long now. And the truth is I'm tired. Tired of squeezing everything into my already over-stuffed backpack. Tired of sleeping in a different bed every night. Tired of spending endless hours on busses, trains and planes - and worse still - spending endless hours waiting in terminals. Tired of trying to talk in Spanish/Portuguese. Tired of travelling.
That's not to say it hasn't been fun. It's been the trip of a lifetime. I have met some really amazing people, gotten to know my friends a lot better, seem some truly unbelievable sights and had some amazing experiences - namely I gazed in awe for four months at the size and power of the Canadian Rocky mountains, learned to ski, checked out NYC, drank tequila in Mexico, hiked the Inca trail, braved the Magellan straight to the southern tip of South America, partied in Buenos Aires and Rio, spent summer in Spain, learned (read 'tried') to surf in France, soaked up Moroccan culture and sipped Port in Portugal - just to mention a few. I couldn't have asked for anything more. It has been the stuff of dreams. So it is with some sadness that I must admit it is over. For now anyway. But, as I alluded to above, there are some things I am looking forward to. Having my own room for one. And a regular income. So while the travel is over for now, I will rest and rejuvenate. One of the main reasons I wanted to live in London is it's proximity to Europe, and endless travel possibilities. So I'm sure it won't be long until there are more adventures to write of. But I do still need to mention a small detour I made en-route to London. I went via Stockholm (I know, not exactly on the way from Madrid, but that's what happens when you have to lock in a round the world ticket 12 months in advance).
My Swedish dalliance started with some apprehension. I tried to book accommodation a couple of weeks in advance, but couldn't find a hostel. Not even a budget motel. Not even a mildly expensive one. The weekend I was there didn't coincide with any major event in Stockholm that I knew of, so I was slightly puzzled. So just when it seemed like it was over before it had started, I received an email from my uncle and aunt in Melbourne. They had heard I was heading to Stockholm and put me in touch with a friend of theirs who had moved to Stockholm. So after a few emails back and forth, I had arranged to stay with their mate Michael, and his girlfriend Em for a few days, and soak up some Swedish culture. So to really push my luck even further, I turned up at Michael's place at around 2am, which I always find is the best time to make a first impression on someone you have never met. And you think it would stop there. But no. I also turned up in Stockholm wearing a t-shirt and jeans while it was 8 degrees and raining outside, carrying only a lap top computer. No backpack. No day back. No jumper. No jacket. Nothing sensible at all. Now it's not that I hadn't thought to bring anything with me, but unfortunately while I rushed to make my connection at Heathrow, my bags didn't really feel up to it, and decided to stay in London. Remember when I left Madrid it was around 30 degrees and sunny, so I was not exactly 'conditioned' for the Scandinavian climate either. So there I am, knocking on a complete strangers door at 2am, freezing, wet, no bags and looking like a homeless person who has just managed to steal some poor souls laptop. I would have completely understood if Michael had have answered the door and said 'Ahhh ... No thanks' - actually I was expecting it. I think I was just lucky that I was staying with the two of the kindest people on Earth. They lent me clothes, cooked me meals, gave me travel tickets, took me around town - and best of all, let me pay with their dogs. Em is a guide dog trainer, and as such they have four labs. Now, I am a self confessed dog person, and I have been missing that companionship quite a bit. So it was great to meet Essa (my favourite), Ian, Moly and Nicky. Apparently I had stolen their room for my stay, but they didn't seem to mind. I don't think ...
My first full day in Stockholm was a bitterly cold and overcast Saturday. Michael took me around the city and showed me the sights. We checked out the historic Gamalstan, the suave looking waterfront and some cool (if not practical) ikea-like shops. All of the above took about 5 minutes before we retired to the pub for a hard earned beer. We went to a pub in the middle of town known as Virstroms. Michael had worked at this pub before and knew the staff, so we managed to swing some discounts. It was essentially an ex-pat bar for the English speakers living in Stockholm. And it was a lot of fun. We ran into some real characters.
Devon from Australia, who to pay off his bar tab, was building cabinets to go with the booth he had built downstairs at the pub. To do this he naturally needed a few refreshing brews along the way, so we frequently saw him pop into our booth to down a pint and check the rugby score before retiring back to make his cabinets.
Smitty from the states - this guy was a dead ringer for Kevin Spacey. Spent half his time in Stockholm and half in LA with work. Random, but a nice guy.
Percy from the states - officially the BIGGEST TOOL I have ever met. I can't really remember exactly why I think this, my recollection of the night is what I would call 'non-existent' at best, but I definitely know this guy was douche bag. He was a lead singer in a band, and a total knob to boot.
Two random Swedes - think these girls just wanted to practice their English (not that they need to - most Swedes I met spoke better English than I do).
The Irish bartender - who more or less just stayed at our table all night ferrying pint glasses to and from the table.
The English bartender - who no one wanted to talk to - apparently a messy drunk. Plus he was whinging soap dodger.
Well it was quite a night to say the least. Michael left, but Devon convinced me to hang around for a few more. I ended up getting a cab back to Michaels at around 3am after showing the cabbie his address I had written down. When I got to his door I realised I had no keys. So for the second time in two nights I rang their doorbell at a completely unreasonable hour. I am a great guest aren't I ???
Well the Sunday was much of the same weather wise. However I woke to find only a slight hangover thankfully, and also to find my bags had arrived. Finally! Unfortunately Michael wasn't feeling as good as I was this day, so he stayed home, but I managed to navigate my way to Skansen, the world's largest outdoor museum. Not sure what exactly qualifies as an 'outdoor museum' but it was somewhat of a cross between a zoo and a replicate of an old village. Actually, that's exactly what it was. Skansen is on an island in the middle of Stockholm, and is huge. I was quite impressed with the animals they had there, and especially with the way they were so active in the cold weather. There were probably more than half a dozen bears running around their large enclosure - and I mean running. They were doing laps of their pen - jumping in their pool of water, climbing trees, chasing birds, etc. It was memorising to watch. Also saw some Elk, Moose, Wolverines, Boars, Fox, and some other stuff. Also the provincial Swedish buildings on display were sweet too. The odd stranger walking around in traditional dress would have been a nice touch if I had realised they were employees of the park and not raging lunatics speaking some freaky kind of Germanic language.
I was reminded of how small a world we live in (or perhaps just how small Stockholm is?) when I randomly ran into someone I had met in Virstroms the night before. Then again some hours later it happened again. Quite bizarre actually now that I think about it. I ran into ‘Smitty’ getting off the ferry to Skansen, and Devon when I got on the subway to go home (ok this wasn’t that bizarre as it quite near the pub).
Monday was my last day in Stockholm as I was flying out on Tuesday morning. And what a day it was. The sun was out. It warm enough to not wear a jacket outside.. Michael and I had planned to go to a museum and see some more of Stockholm. But since it was such a lovely day, we took the four dogs for a walk first. Their was a park quite near their house, and it was great fun to play with the labs. I had a blast.
Heading off for the museum in the afternoon, Michael and I couldn't help but stop off for a refreshment along the way, after our tiring effort with the dogs. After sampling a few Belgium beers at Virstroms again, the world was looking distinctly sideways when we walked out, and realised we had probably missed the museum, a fact that was confirmed by the museum guard half an hour later when we found the place. Still we had a nice walk around the city and it looked decidedly different in the sun. Stockholm is a beautiful, charming city. It has a distinctly old-world feel, with gothic buildings and cobbled streets. There is so much water around the city, which is due to the fact that Stockholm is built on a series of lakes. It is also quite green, safe and very, very clean. Overall it is a magnificent city, that backs up its impressive aesthetics with a wonderful character.
So on Tuesday morning I departed from Stockholm bound for London, and quickly made my way south to Brighton. I stayed with my uncle Brian and his partner Mark. It was great to see family again, and enjoy all the niceties of a home. Although after my Stockholm experience I was getting used to home cooked meals and regular beds! So it was Brighton where I set myself up for a week or so to buy a suit, get a haircut (well trim at least), touch up my resume and apply for jobs. I went into London to meet Gill (Westpac) on my second day in the country, and it was great to catch up. Gill was on her way back to Sydney after having spent a few weeks in Italy and Ireland. Was great to get all the goss from the 'Palace' and hear what everyone is up to back home (hi to all at Westpac by the way, hope you are all well!).
Well that's about it for now. I have moved into a townhouse with a South African and a Frenchman and it's going great. The day I unpacked was a massive relief! I have started work but resigned after a week because I got a better offer. I got up at 4am to go watch Geelong pants Port Adelaide in the AFL grand final (yes I had to go to a Walkabout to watch it :-) ). I watched the Soap dodgers kick their way to a win over the Aussies in the Rugby world cup, only to see the sheep shaggers choke to France like their spritual brothers Port Adelaide a few days earlier.
All is going well here in London town.
Well thanks for reading. This post has been a long time coming, so thanks for checking up. Please drop me a line - would love ot hear form you.
Cheers
Mark
September 21 Portugal ... a little gemHey ya
Hi from Porto! Save the best till last!
From Seville we headed west in to Portugal, to Lagos. Lagos has a reputation as being a massive party town, and it certainly lived up to the hype. There were some sensational beaches there - reminiscent of the great ocean road and the twelve apostles in Victoria. There were also a shitload of Bogans there. The only accent you would ever here was Australian (with the ocasional whinging pom or sheep shaging kiwi thrown in for good measure). I had my birthday there on our second night and we went out for dinner and some drinks. We had some lovely tapas and god port as well. Also the hostel we stayed in (conspicously named 'The Rising Cock') served up crepes for breakfast until midday.
Needless to say it was fun for a couple of days, but started to feel a bit like schoolies week again. So I left, bound for Lisbon and some Portugese cuture. Ryan and Yas stayed in Lagos for some sun and relaxation on the beach before we all head to London. I arrived in Lisbon to find it a pretty agreeable city. Lots of pedestrian malls, small & steep streets, trams and plazas. Lisbon is built around a serious of hills so walking around for a while was definitely a work out.
I spent a day checking out Sintra which is about half an hour out of Lisbon. It is a town built (yep you guessed it) on a hill, although at the top there is a beautiful old Moorish castle and some palaces. The mountain is also completely forrested, and very green, adding a nice touch. I hikked up the hill (rateher than catch the tourist bus) to reach the Moorish castle (a feat which was in itself strenous as it was about 3-4km hikking up the hill). I arrived completely buggered but appreciative for the exercise too. I loved the Moorish castle - it felt like a set out of 'Lord of the Rings'. I spent at least an hour I think checking it all out - climbing the towers, walking the ramparts, taking a million self portrait photos ... Anyway, I found it very impressive.
Also noteworthy from Lisbon was the Portugese tarts (I know there's a double entendre joke coming here form someone). They are sensational. Little custard bundles of joy. The lonely planet claimed to know where the best ones in the whole entire galaxy where, so I went out to Belem to check it out. Didn't need the address as the queue made it abundantly clear exactly where said patisserie was. It was a huge cafe, so the lines moved fast. I sat down to enjoy two of the little treasures, and must say it was as good a culinary delight I have had on this trip ... maybe ever. Also the coffee here is great. The LP mentions it is 'still the best Europe - and not served with froth and cinnamon on top'. Again, their advice was genius, as I truly beleive the coffee here is as good as in Italy or France (maybe not quite up to Silks standard back home ...).
From Lisbon I jumped on a train up to Porto, about three hours due north. Porto, aka 'Oporto' (was very dissappointed to find no pirri pirri chicken burgers here) is the home of one of my favourite drinks - Port. I spent four awesome days here tasting the local speciality, wandering round in my own time (like Lisbon, Porto is built on a hill - go figure), cooking pasta in the hostel and meeting some really nice people. I must say that my time in Porto was sensational. I was in no rush, and was able to soak it up (figureatively & literally as the wineries all offered free [or very cheap] wine tastings and cellar tours). I now know, and can recite in my sleep, the difference between Tawny and Ruby Port, Vintage and Late-Bottled-Vintage (or LBV for short). Who said drinking couldn't be educational?
I stayed in a great hostel. Pretty much my idea of a perfect hostel. Great outdoor patio to socialise, nice kitchen, bean bags, etc. etc. My last night there coincided with the Portugal vs Serbia soccer match, in a qualifier for the Europen cup. The Portugese owners of the hostel had somewhat of a party with their mates. They cooked up some great food (rice cooked in Chicken blood I think) and shared it around along with some fizzy kind of red wine. They put the TV outside, and we all gathered around to watch. It was great. Needless to say we supported Portugal, only to be suprised that when Portugal scored the first goal and we all started cheering, that no one else joined in. They all sat very sielntly. We asked the owner why he wasn'y happy. He said that the Portugese side had a new "Brazillian" manager, and he didn't choose players from Porto - just Lisbon. So instead they cheered on Serbia, and were well pleased with the result.
Unfortunately the time to leave came around, and I had to farewell Porto. Oh well, it's not far from London - maybe a cheeky weekend getaway will be on the cards in the future ...
Cheers
Mark
PS My friend Jess is getting married in Brisbane on the weekend. Hope you have an awesome day girl and enjoy every minute of it! Can't wait to see the photos and hear all about it! Congratulations! September 09 Morocco - My first taste of Africa and Muslim cultureWell, where to begin. In summary Morocco was an experience. It was like nothing I have ever seen before - but the word "seen" doesn't do it justice. It is also the smells, sounds and tastes that contribute to the overall ambiance. From the Sahara Desert to the metropolis of Marrakesh, the winds of Essaouira to the mountains of Chefchaouen, the place was amazing. I will try to be biref about our experience, but it will be hard, as it has been a highlight oy my trip so far ...
Well we flew directly from Madrid to Marrakesh courtesy of a cheap easyjet flight. Marrakesh was amazing. The night time food stalls (with quality spruikers one might add - once they determined we were Aussies we were met with shouts of "A dingo ate my baby", "Harry Koooooool" and, my personal favourite, "Kimmy, look at moiii!") in Jam EL Fena were amazing. I am particuarly fond of Tagine I must add. And may I also say that not one other place we have travelled too has disehd up veggies like Morocco. In Canada all they know is meat and cheese - South America it's HAM and cheese - Spain CHORIZZO and cheese. But the Moroccans love their veggies, much to my delight (and Yas's dismay I should add!). Brochettes (meat skewers) and Couscus also deserve honorable mentions.
So after a couple of days in Marakesh we were talked into a desert trip into the Sahara by our friendly - entrepeneurial if nothing else - hotel owner. As it turns out he also runs a travel agency, 5 other hotels, an export business and countless other money spinning maneouvers. Three others from the hotel also joined us. First of all we had Simon - the midget loving, wise cracking, smart ass pom. We also had Chloe and El (also from mother England) - although thankfully they did not share Simons midget fetish.
To cut a long story short (or really long story just kinda long) we were on a three day Sahara tour of which we spent maybe 2.5 days in a minivan. And to make it worse we were subjected to the drivers choice of music. Unofrtunately "Bob" (as we affectionately named him) didn't realise the speakers in the van were in the back, not front. So he cranked his music full ball, much to our (well at least, my) horror. There are no words to describe his choice in music. We did realise he had a preference for track 2 of his 5 track CD, which sounded something like Fran Drescher on Ecstacy, as we heard it 64,000 times over 3 days.
Anyway, we were extremely lucky that we had decent bunch of people on the tour. It was great fun hanging out with this bunch, even if Simons midget jokes did get a bit tired. So we got to ride Camels on the second evening into our camp in the Sahara. The really cool thing though was that we got to sleep outside under the stars. It was really cool - actually the highlight of Morocco if you ask me. I have never seen such a clear nighttime sky or so many shooting stars. It was amazing. We awoke the next morning to a pretty decent sunrise, but also sore legs from our two hour camel ride. And guess what else greeted us at our 5 am get up - 2 more hours of camel loving fun! Well it wasn't as much fun as it was torture the second time round, but it's all part of the experience.
Once back in Marrakesh, I headed out an bought a copy of Bob's favourite CD. I took it to the main square, set it on fire and left. The world has been spared one more of those horrific noises. Nah not really, but I feel I still need to emphasise just how bad his music was (42 hours of Fran Drescher on repeat will do that to you...).
From Marrakesh we headed to Essaouira. It was about 3 hours due west of Marrakesh on the Atlantic coast. It is a wind surfing haven - and we soon found out why. It was extremely windy (well done Einstein I hear you say!). After a couple of days we headed off to our last Moroccan destination - Chefchaouen. And wow, what a journey. A 3 hour bus, 12 hour train and another 3 hour bus ride later I was ready to put on Bob's CD and get in the bath tub with CD player. But for mine it was worth it. I read somewhere on the internet someone had described Chefchaouen as an 'Underwater Hobbitville'. I think this is kinda fitting as the whole town is painted blue and white and feels like the seal enclosure at Taronga. Add to it all the tiny doors and walkways and it feels like it was made for little people with hairy feet (sorry, Simons probably getting turned on right about now if he's reading this ...). But this in itslef was unique and charming in a rural-rustic kind of way. The surrounding Rif mountains are a spectacular back drop to the city of blue and white. On one of our days there Ryan and I decided to trek up into the mountains. After checking out an abandoned mosque, we got bored of the trail and decided to take a shortcut. Well the little trail we followed turned out to be from mountain goats, so we got stuck after a couple of hours. Loose rock, massive rockslides and the chance of a fools death convinced us to trek back to town with our tails between our legs. But it was a hell of a lot of fun.
Upon leaving Chefchaouen we had planned and booked a way back to Spain that seemed flawless on paper (or on the internet I should say ...). In hindsight, our mistake was forgetting that we needed to cross an international border. A three hour bus ride out of Chefchaouen arrived roughly on time (it was the type of bus where it has a scheduled time but refuses to leave untill every seat - and I mean EVERY SINGLE seat - is full). And just as an a side, that formidabble last seat was always next to me. Some of the local people actually preferred to stand for the entire journey than sit next to me. Funny how the shoe is on the other foot in these places. It made me feel guilty for every time I saw someone in Australia weraing a headscarf and momentarilly - if even just for a fraction of a miniscule milli-split second - stared.
So we arrived in Tangier with a planned 35 minute ferry to Tarrifa in Spain where we would convenienty meet a bus to take us three hours north to Seville. Well, we missed our ferry, luckily got on the next one (only to find that the promised 35 minute trip was preceeded by a 65 minute long wait in a customs line were no one queued, another 65 minute wait while they finished loading cars onto the ferry and a another 15 minute wait for good measure. Byt the time we hit Spain I was extremely grateful. I loved my time in Morocco, but the day had taken it's toll on me. Needless to say we missed our bus, and thankfully made the last bus that day up to Seville. Finally good news awaited us - the hostel was fairly new, and had the grand openeing of their bar the night we arrived. We got two free drinks each and were delighted to find (after a fairly dry spell in Morocco) that pre bottled Sangria was again available cheaply from the corner store.
We spent two nights in Seville, and it seemed very cool. Nice buildings, lovely palaces and a beautiful bull fighting ring capped things off nicely.
From Seville we headed off into Portugal. Lagos was our first stop. Party town by the beach - what more could you want!
Well that's it for now. Thanks for reading this far. Hope to hear from you soon.
Cheers
Marky Mark
August 22 ValenciaHola
So we are in Morocco now. We landed in Marrakesh last night after scoring a cheap flight from Madrid. This is just a quick post to let you know about Valencia, and before I forget and fill my head with Moroccan adventures!
From Barcelona we hoped on a bus for about five hours and arrived in Spain's third largest city, Valencia. We arrived to find a similair climate to Barcelona - about 30 degrees and freakin' humid! However, I must say straight up, Valencia was gem. It has a cool old town with lots of small cobbled streets, cafes, bars and restaurants. Their is a charming square with a cathedral backdrop that everyone congregates to at night. It is the home of Paella, and its delicious! The orange juice was pretty good too ...
The main attraction here is the 'City of Art and Science'. It is a modern construction, build in a dried out river bed. It houses a science museum, aquarium and an I-max theatre amongst other things. The buildings stand out and look very futuristic - almost like something out of the Jetsons. We spent some time in the Science museum, and saw some crappy Titanic exhibition they had there (two hours of my life I would like back thanks - it was worse than the movie!).
We also checked out their cathedral, whose claim to fame is that they have the Holy Grail. Supposedly it is recognised by the Vatican as being ridgy-didge. The cathedral was impressive, but they make you take a tour so the last thing you see is the Holy Grail. It's kinda hard to see because it is set along way back from the viewing area, housed in a glass case with a very bright light behind it. But it was an impressive building nonetheless.
We ventured to Valencia's beach one afternoon as well, and found it was really windy but good for body surfing. We also now have taken a particular liking to Don Simon - premade Sangria availabe in supermarkets for about 1 Euro, for a litre and a half. MMMMmmm - tasty stuff. Also one hostel we stayed in there had a vending machine with three items, all essential for the globe-trotting backpacker.
1) Pasta.
2) Tomato Sauce for 1).
3) Cans of beer.
Now that's my kinda vending machine!
The other note worthy event from Valencia was bugs. Not sure what they were, but Ryan developed a shitload of bites on him one day. All over his arms and across his back. Later that evening Yas and I also painfully discovered that we too had been bitten, albeit not as baddly as Ryan. The next morning Yas found what looked like a tick in her bed in our dorm room. The dude who ran the hostel gave us a complete refund, bought Ryan some lotion and closed the dorm to have it sprayed. It was quite impressive I thought, and professional - but I guess it shouldn't have really happened in the first place. Now we never did discover what the mysterious bug was. Bed bugs possibly? No one else in the dorm had them, and the bug we found looked too big. Mozzies? Maybe, but we didnt see any, and seemed to be getting bitten in covered areas. Oh well, it's in the past now, no worries.
So, we jumped on a bus back to Madrid, spent a night there before flying into Marrakesh. While in Madrid I attempted to check out their two famous galleries which I missed last time - the Prado and Sofia. Unfortunately the later was closed on Tuesdays, so I will have to try and check it out when we go back before heading to the UK. The Prado was magnificent though. I spent about three hours there and thouroughly enjoyed it. My favourite work was the 'Garden of Earthly Delights' by Bosch. I also really enjoyed their Patinir exhibition and his works involving landscapes. I'm really looking foward to seeing Picaso's 'Guernica' when I (eventually - third time lucky) go to the Sofia.
So now we are in Marrakesh - WOW! What a town! It is an sensory feast of sights, smells and sounds. I will post a blog shortly and put some photos up, so stay tuned! I'm very excited!
Thanks again for reading, hope to hear from you soon!
Cheers
Mark
Mates page's
Books I have read on this trip
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