Tuesday 26-08 - Into and out of Valencia

Our early train to Valencia was already filled with Australian and other English speaking tourists. Everyone was flocking towards Valencia and the other towns that circled Buñol. In a few days 40,000 people would be in that tiny town pelting each other with over ripe tomatoes. I had been so excited about La Tomatina when I booked our accommodation 12 months prior. Even back then it was near impossible to find three people together for the three days around the festival.

Boarding the early train and leaving it, we ran into a pair that had been on the gothic walking tour with us. A guy and a girl from London. Together we looked for a tourist info place to get a map and directions. We found it eventually. Then onto the metro.

Our hotel was in the outer zones. I think strictly speaking it was an adjunct town of the Valencia region. 30 minutes on the metro and we were in the middle of nowhere. We called the hotel. They had very poor English and but managed to tell us that we were in fact at the closest station. But that it was still a taxi ride or a 40 minute walk away. Where the hell had we booked?

A nice English speaking local lady was passing by with her kid. we showed her the address. She helped us hail a cab and talked to the driver for us in Spanish. She was a god send. The taxi only cost 7 euro and before we knew it we had arrived at this strange 3 star hotel. we weren´t the only foreign young people with backpacks around.

Our room was huge. Each bed was a double and there was room for 3 more. Our bathroom was larger than our room in Barcelona. At least it was luxurious. And cheap. we washed up and got a bus timetable. Then to the supermarket one street over to get rolls and fillings for lunch. Then walking around lost. We gave up, sitting on a random bus stop to eat before retracing our steps. We eventually found the right bus stop. We waited almost an hour in the burning heat for the bus to arrive. Then a 30 minute bus ride to Valencia.

Once we were there it was ok. We spent the afternoon finding cheap shoes and clothes for the fight. We didn´t expect that anything we wore would be salvageable. Dani and I found gold plastic sneakers for cheap. Then some small tops. We had been told to layer because people try to rip the clothes off you. I found everything I needed except for the shorts.

All that walking around and shopping made us thirsty, so we stopped at a cafe for caramel iced coffee. I started to see it everywhere. Australians. Everywhere you went there were Australians. The accent penetrated the air like a think smoke. Australians had already been getting on my nerves this trip. Now Valencia had been covered with them. and they all seemed to be wearing the same shirts. yellow shirts a version of the Hienz logo on the front. everywhere I turned I saw yellow shirts.



Next we were to meet some friends from Perth / London who were also there for the festival. We went to the central macDonalds and waited for them. While we did we watched yellow shirted Australians. Everywhere we looked there were loud Australians. Drunk and all under 20 years old. Shouting into loud speakers and knocking over bins. Being generally annoying. Australians can make me so ashamed sometimes. We met ours friends. They agreed with us about the ozzies. They were also on the yellow shirt tour. However they had the good sense not to wear the shirts out, which is why we got served at the bar.

We all talked about travelling and our plans for the day ahead. The drink was nice, but the last bus back to nowhere left at 9-30 so we had to leave. We said farewell and wished each other luck.We walked all the way down to the bus stop. It wasn´t the right one. We looked and looked and walked everywhere but we couldn´t find it. So we went to the nearest metro station. The train took us again to the middle of nowhere.

We decided to try walking but after many blocks we needed a taxi. Calling the hotel just got us laughed at. The number we got from the nice ady on the first day had a rapid spanish voice on the other end. I tried my best to understand what he was saying, but it was just too hard. I was exhausted and completely overwhelmed by everything. So we kept walking.

Taxi found us. Showing him the address (la Eliana, Valencia), he kept shaking his head and talking about San Antonio. He drove around strange places. We were already tired and started freaking out. The others were depending on me to know what was going on ut it was too fast complicated for me. After a stressful taxi ride we found the hotel. We gave him more than he asked and ran to bed.

Monday 25-08 - wrong day

We got up early, very early. We packed all our things in the dark of the dorm room. I was just about done when Josh called "stop packing". He showed us the hostel booking sheet. We were only booked into Valencia from the Tuesday. We were very confused. We went down to the reception and then realised what had happened.

When we had booked the Barcelona hostel we realised we had one night spare between then and Valencia, so we added another night to the end. We had forgotten and gotten mixed up. We still had one more night there. We felt a little silly and annoyed at having gotten up so early. But on the bright side we were out of the hostel before midday. It meant that we could finally catch the free walking tour of the gothic area that we missed every morning despite the best intentions.

So after a quick breakfast we trained to a bar called the Travel Bar. It was kind of like the Walkabout in London. Only english spoken there, mostly Australian. Only enhlish TV played above the head of the travellers. I tried not to frequent these places if I could help it. I would much rather try out a local bar where I didn´t speak the language. We hung around the bar until the tour started.

We were out into the group led by a loud blonde Californian guy. He started by taking us to the plaza reale to give us a quick history lesson about the city. It was kind of interesting. We learnt that growing pot and public nudity are both legal there. We mostly went to the area with the roman ruins and places were Colombus visited.

We spent a lot of the time in the old Jewish quarter. It was a forced ghetto until the expulsion from Spain. It seemed like everywhere we went in Europe, there were sad Jew related stories. I thought I was done with that once we finished Isreal and Poland and Prague. And then Italy. And then France. And then Amsterdam. But everywhere we go we get reminded of it. I just wanted to find a country with a happy story.

I smiled as I thought about Monty Python, Spanish Inquisition.

Other things we found out about Barcelona. It only got beaches and running water in 1992 for the olympics. 1992! I couldn´t believe it. I had always pictured Spain as a modern thriving country.

The tour ended back at the Travel Bar, where we all got free middies of beer. It was decent as a tour, although not as good as those in Amsterdam. We were starved by then but didnt want to eat at the bar. We walked La Rambla and tried a pasta place. The prices looked decent. Until we were served 5 largish shells of tortellini in a flower pattern. It was ridiculous in the way that you just had to laugh about it.

We left and made our way to the train station to book the next day´s tickets. The queue was huge and took forever to get through. we took our number and waited for it to come up on the screen. Josh and I wanted an early train rather than one in the afternoon. I like just getting the travel bit of the day over with. We booked for 8.

Back at the hostel. I sat on the cough by the reception and slowly made my way through the Spanish comic I picked up on the first day. It was relaxed. None of us felt like going out.

Sunday 24-08 - Smurfville

We slept in again, but this time it seemed like we had reason. I was happy to try and recuperate. It was, after all it was our last day there. We got out and walked around the local area.

Then to the gothic area,where we walked around more. We found some old roman ruins and modernisme style architecture. Then some how found ourselves at Maremagnum shopping centre again. We saw they had a Ben and Jerrys. So we had ice cream. The rest of the afternoon was quiet.

In the evening we were recuperated and looking for something to do. We had picked the wrong night to stay in. Saturday was huge and Sunday was very sleepy. Most of the clubs or bars we wanted to try out were closed. We searched the internet for a while. We found a maybe bar that seemed merely ok. Luckily we were staying at a hostel that cares for the party times of its guests. There are always things happening if Barcelona if you know who to ask. We asked the receptionist / evening activities coordinator Tom from Brazil. He told us there was a huge street party a mere 10 minutes walk away. We waited in the lobby until we had gathered a crowd of hostellers willing to give it a go.

We started the night in the basement recreation area. We drank champs and then the cheap sangria. We watched Oceans Eleven on the hostel system and met a bunch of new Americans and Australians. It was past midnight by the time were ready to go out. We were quite buzzed by then.

We all headed out towards the party. Tom had printed some maps for us and said he would meet up with us to party when his shift ended at 2am. He said the party would be going to 4. We followed his map but no one could get the directions quite right so we went the very long way around. We did find it eventually.

The first street we came across was baby themed. At the entrance stood a giant crib with a giant baby inside. Beyond the infant gate keeper was a packed street. Mexican music came flowing from the band. A stall sold mojitos. Above us hung a canopy of baby clothes stretching as far the eye could see.





We walked around and through the crowd, taking in the spectacle. There were oversized play pens and high chairs.



The next street had a canopy of red streamers. In the centre a platform held a man and his mac book. He programed almost metal music for the crowd below. By this time we were looking desperately for a bathroom. Only a few of the bars were open along the street. Finding a bathroom would be difficult.

The next street was my favourite. It was a smurf village. Giant glowing mushrooms next to wooden houses with smurfs of them. Smurf cut outs hanging above. People walking around, dressed as smurfs. It was great.





At this point Dani and I really needed the bathroom so we seperated from the others. By the time we found a place and got back they were gone. We spent the next 10 minutes looking for them, but there was no trace. It was about 2am by now, although we didnt have the map to know where to meet Tom. The party was finishing up a couple hours early. Everything was shutting down and the music was gone. So we made we way back to the hostel.



On the way we saw a pair of swings in a playground. We spent some time enjoying the swings. They really are one of life´s simple pleasures. Then to bed. After all, we were leaving early the next morning.

Saturday 23-08 - Police

Still half drunk, I was awoken by a sound. Standing at our bedroom door Was a policeman. Which was a bit confusing. The hostel guy next to him said that he needed to have a chat and would give 5 minutes to get ready. I quickly to on a shirt than was lying on my bed. Only then did I realise he was talking to the girl under me in the bunk, not the whole room. she ran out to him. I heard muttered words of "we didn´t know what happened to her at the end of the night". I fell back to sleep as if it were a dream.

The rest of the morning I spent nursing a killer hangover. When asked, no one was really talking about what had happened, other than to say things like "well I was with this other person". People came and went, bags got dragged into our room and changes of clothes were taken out. We walked around the area for a bit and got some snacks from a near by shop. On the way back we got a call from Karen, which cheered me up a lot. We came back to the hostel and relaxed for a while. All the while we chatted about the morning´s events. Dani, Josh and I speculated as to what had happened. We thought being caught with drugs or maybe a minor overdose.

In the evening we set off to have a nice dinner at a place called La Fonda. Both the hostel guy and the LP book had recommended the place. It was near where Sidecar had been, at Placa Real. There was line around the corner for the place. It was amazing. It was a proper restaurant, not some fast food joint with a high turnover of customers. I didn´t know how they would work through some a large queue at normal restaurant pace.

But somehow they did. We drank sangria ate a huge pan of vegetable paella. It was good and left me time to sleep afterwards. I really needed the sleep. When we got back, the group involved in the mystery incident were curled up in PJs on the hostel couch, sharing blankets. In my experience, that type of thing means it something quite serious.



I thought about it more, then climbed my bunk to sleep. We never found out what happened to her that night.

Friday 22-08 - The Zoo and the drunk

Another late start.

We decided today was the perfect day for the zoo. So we packed our bags with sangria in water bottles and Halloween themed potato snacks and off we went. Some of the other Australians said they might join us. We didn´t really expect them to follow through though.





It was over cast when we reached the zoo. I hoped that this wouldn´t be the one time it rained while we were in the city. The first animal we saw was the alpaca. We watched it for a while.



We saw a bunch of animals that were fun. We drank the sangria as we went. The rain started, at first only as a light shower. But we didn´t mind so much.



The selling point of the zoo was the dolphinarium with the live dolphin shows. It was strange seeing dolphins in the middle of the land locked grounds around the desert creatures.



I fell a bit in love with the sea lions. They barks like dogs and act like dogs, if dogs were made for swimming. Plus there was a pup. Adorable.





It started to rain. Really rain. We didn´t let that stop us. We bought popcorn and pints of beer (in a zoo!) and headed to the dolphin show. We huddled under umbrellas on the open seats in front of the pool.





I sat on my bag to save myself from the seats, which were as full of water as the pools were. Bad idea. After a mediocre dolphin show I realised that my bag had been soaked right through. Everything was drenched. I was tipsy from beer and spent 15 minutes drying my bag and sopping wet skirt under the bathroom hand dryer. The electronics were ok, but some of my cards were soaked through. The sun came out eventually.

We continued to do our round of animals. The reptile house and primates were all good, as were the tapirs and the albino wallaby. The penguins are always fun.





We almost ran to the big cats because the zoo was going to close soon. Then we meandered back via the slide of a children´s playground.



Back at the hostel. More drinking games. So much to drink. The on the metro with the group to a place that gave us free shots. Then someone bought a round of shots.





We took some of group and went to a bar called Sidecar that was supposed to have good tunes. Someone gave me some of their beer.



Entrance to the club came with a free beer. I think you know where all this is leading. I recall the strap of my bag finally breaking and almost passing out. I remember insulting one of our companions´ dance moves. But not much more than that.

Thursday 21-08 - The church

Again we slept in.

We went down to breakfast/lunch to find the rest of the group recovering from a long night. They were planning on hiring bikes and riding around the city. We thought this sounded like a great idea. We went with them to the bike place.

On the way one of the girls commented on how short I was. At the bike rental we put down deposits and paid the fees, then we were given the bikes. It was only then that I realised their bikes came in only 2 sizes: too big for Emma and too small for Emma. The bike was so tall I could hardly get on it. I wanted to go with them, but there was no way I could the monstrosity without falling over. I would have to be in constant motion the entire time. So the rest of group went off while the three of us got refunds. I felt a bit guilty. Dani had really wanted to bike around one city on our trip, but we hadn´t been able to.

We took out refund money and had a nice lunch instead. It started with sangria. Then tasty tuna belly salad with asparagus. We shares some tapas of patatas bravas and tortilla/tomato bread. I felt a whole lot better after the meal.







The Sagrada Familia. It really is a most outstanding church. Each little detail is magnificent. I love Gaudi´s attention to detail. I love his style. We were told by the hostel people not to bother buying a ticket to get inside. We trusted their advice so we walked all around the church before heading back.







We found the place to get the cheap sangria we had seen people drinking. One euro for a litre and a half of sangria is insane. We went up to the roof with the rest of the big Australian group. They were playing drinking games. They wanted us to join them. At first I said no and watched. Drinking games are not good for a person who can´t drink much.

Eventually I gave in and started playing with them. It probably wasn´t the best idea. It was a fun time though. Looking over at the other table on the roof, there were people we hadn´t met yet. They turned out to be some nice Canadians, Americans and an awesome Finnish guy. I sat with them for a while and we listened to Finnish guy tell us about the army service there.



After drinking we set for the shot bar. Every one had been talking about this bar with a huge shot menu and everything only cost 2 euro. It sounded too good to be true. We went down with everyone to this bar. Across the wall were boards packed with words and phrases. Every shot name one could possibly think of. We spent time staring at the wall, trying to decide what to get. I settled on a verano loco and a snoopy.





Dani, Josh and I had read about a club set up like a carnival. Bumper cars and fair rides at a bar. It sounded amazing and was only a few blocks from the shot bar. We took the Finnsh guy with us and went to find it. It was ok, nothing too spectacular. I think mostly because it was empty-ish. It would be great if it were packed with people. We only stayed a few minutes then headed back to the shot bar.



Well, we tried to, anyway. We got lost with our drunk directional skills. 20 or so minutes later we found the bar again. The rest of the group had already moved on to their next drinking spot. So we stayed a little longer and had a shot called banana (banana liqueur with a candy banana in it). I was getting really knocked out so we decided to head back. The four of us caught a taxi and made our way home.

Wednesday 20-08 - The mountain trail

We had planned to wake up by 9-30am and get out into Barcelona. Instead we woke up at midday. No really minded though, we desperately needed the catch up sleep. We lazily washed and dressed and then headed down to the kitchen for lunch. We had the most enjoyable meal I´ve had in a while. We had slices of Spanish Tortilla with salad and tuna. I had eaten nothing but hamburgers and hotdogs and chips in Belgium. The salad was a god send and the tortilla was delicious.

Then we set off to the mountain in the South West corner of the city. It is the place that houses an olympic area and a castle. We didnt really want to see either, but the mountain gardens and view seemed like a good idea.

We caught the metro to the foot and of mountain and promptly got lost trying to get up, in the heat of the Spanish day. The path of stairs we saw when we found our way was canopied by trees. We were thankful for the shade. Up we went. Slowly at first, but Dani and I started to race. We ran as fast as we could up every flight. Panting, we were only a few steps from the top (I was winning) when Josh snuck in from behind to take the gold.

At the top of the stairs was a tuck shop so we bought strawberry and white chocolate magnums. They were amazing as we sat looking at the view.



All around us were gardens. We walked through the paths surrounded by green. I watched the other people around us as I went.





It was relaxing and cooler than before. This place seemed so different from the bustling city.



We were looking for a part of the mountain that was full of over 800 types of cactus. We found the place,but most it was fenced of for works.



So we looked around for a bit then started to make our way down the mountain. On the way we passed through more gardens, a restaurant and a hotel.



Down the mountain we found ourselves at the port. We walked by the busy port streets and past the tall coloum of Columbus. We walked down to the curvy bridge out a giant shopping centre. There we found a place by the water and sat for a while, watching the fish that swam beneath. It was really nice.





The book said this shopping centre had an H&M. Josh had lost his jacket in the haze of Madrid, so this was a good place to find a replacement. As we entered we saw a stall selling flat caramel things. We had to have one.



We found Josh a jacket and browsed the stores for a while. On the way out we found a chocolate shop with amazing looking delicacies. We had to have them.



From the port we strolled up La Rambla. La Rambla is the very big and very touristy walking street. It is the place you think of when someone says Barcelona. It is also the place you think of when someone says "watch your bag in Barcelona". Living statues line the sides of street like the hard candy of M&Ms. The chocolate centre is the tourists, packed in between the street performers. It was fun to walk though.

We side tracked into a food market with colourful stalls. I love the look of food markets. The candy stores and the fruit stores always look so full of colour and shapes and patterns.



We reached the part of La Rambla that I remembered. Back in 2001 when we went there with our parents, I recalled the kiosk along the street selling animals. Birds chirping loudly and turtles everywhere. I was looking for them this time around and finally there they were. Except now when I looked at them all I saw was appalling conditions and sad, sick looking animals. A few years can make such a difference.





Back at the hostel we had food and drinks and went out with the hostel group. The hostel had a guy whose job it was to take people out to bars and make sure they had a good time. We went with them to a bar that had a jazzy cover band. The place was cramped and most of the crowd spoke English. I wasn´t really into it. We stayed for a while and had some drinks but left after a while.

Tuesday 19-08 - A new day Barcelona

...The rising sun was our alarm clock. Drifting through sleep and consciousness we sat outside the station in Madrid through out the night, until it opened its doors near 6am. In a daze we picked up we things and headed for our train. We didnt really talk much, we just kept walking. On the 3 hour train to Barcelona I got some sleep, leaning on my hand.

We found our way via Metro to the hostel. Well, first we got lost by the poor directional skills of the tourism office girl. But we did get there and when we did I was most impressed. We stayed at the Sant Jardi Sans. A bit out of the central area but still in walking distance. It had all the modern conveniences and free sheets/kitchens of a large chain hostel. But was actually quite small. Small enough for the staff to know every guest´s name and personally show you around and point out the best sites on a map. They were friendly and truly seemed to care about your stay.

We showered (yay!) and then went to find some groceries. We sat for Spanish tortilla baguettes which were amazing. We then spent a lot of the day with a much needed blog and photo catch up. We did this until we couldn´t concentrate anymore. Then set out walking towards the centre of the city. It was nice. We walked through local streets with the warm air around us. We would stop every block or so to check out shops. We stopped into health food shops and bakeries for snacks. All very relaxing.



We found a giant chain book shop. There we bought a TimeOut guide to Barcelona. I was browsing the comics and saw the most amazing travel journal comic. It was covered in printed material and called Conejo de Viaje (Travel Rabbit). It was all in Spanish. I bought it anyway and planned to work through it as I got better at the language.

We sat for coffee at a slightly touristy place on Rambla de Catalunya. It had baileys and tasted heavenly. Turning around, we realised we were sitting right near a famous Gaudi house.






Metro back to the Hostel. Went to bed early.