San Fermin; Ruuuuuuuuuuun!

After barely making my train out of Barcelona, enjoyed a nice ride up through the mountains to San Sebastian, a very picturesque little town on the Spanish coast. Had a couple hours to kill but annoyingly couldn’t find anywhere to store my luggage. Still managed to do a fair bit of exploring along the river and through the winding streets of the old town, but it mostly consisted of walk 3 blocks, take bags off, wait to regain feeling in shoulders, take photo of pretty building, put bags back on and repeat. Eventually met up with a big group of fellow travellers and clambered aboard the shakiest minivan ever (I’m not kidding, he had to stop on a hill at one point and we all had to get off the bus as the brakes wouldn’t hold).

Arrived at our campsite above a tiny town I plan to go explore later today. The site is up on the top of a cliff overlooking mountains, the town and a beach.... which was the first stop after dumping our bags in the tents.  Had a great swim and then trekked back up the hill for dinner and general revelry. Had a few sangrias and chatted with the other campers, most getting tips for the run in the morning. Everyone clearly had plans of continuing the party throughout the night, but I decided to call it a night after the third guy in a row climbed on top of a van to treat us all to a naked ukulele solo.

Woken up at 4am for breakfast and we all got kitted out in our red and whites and jumped on the bus to Pamplona. Once there the runners headed off to find a good starting spot while the rest of us managed to get great seats 3 rows back from the arena where the run finishes. Had a long wait but were kept somewhat entertained by a marching band and the always present possibility of a Barcelona vs Madrid soccer riot breaking out amongst the crowd.

Finally we saw the firework go up and a few minutes later the first of the runners entered the arena (to be soundly booed by the crowd, apparently arriving before the bulls is not cool). The rest of the crowd and several bulls arrived shortly after and they closed off the arena to any other runner (though half the seated crowd jumped over the barricades and joined in). The next 20 minutes consisted of one bull at a time being let into the arena for the crowd to avoid, or not depending on their preference.

Saw some pretty impressive collisions but the greatest risk seemed to come from the other participants beating the hell out of anyone who tried to grab the bull by the horns (also not cool apparently), though there’s at least one person who probably wishes they hadn’t worn a backpack in after the last bull spent 5 minutes running around with the bag hanging off one of his horns. There was one major injury sustained by one of the campers in our group who turned up back at the bus a few hours later with a broken arm, but turns out that was less bull related and more fell off a fence related, so not too much carnage all up.

Had a few more hours to spare so followed the sea of white shirts and red bandanas around the old part of town where every available space was littered with revellers from the night before. Other than having to watch out for them, Pamplona is another nice little town with the usual cobblestone streets and winding alleyways. Headed back to the campsite for a siesta as will be joining the 4am wakeup group again tomorrow to get to my next flight. Yay. More pics to come when i get a better internet connection :)

waiting in the arena

Barcelona pt 2

After an hour of very little movement, I decided to celebrate my return to mobility by climbing the tallest hill I could find which was handily located right behind the hostel. Montjuic also happens to be the site of the 1992 Olympic stadiums so strolled past a few of them and up through a garden. I didn’t actually know what was at the top but there was a cable car going up there and I figured that if someone’s going to bother building one of them, there must at the very least be a pretty good view up there. As it turns out there was in fact a pretty spectacular view of the whole city. There was also a massive old fort that appears to be for sale, so if you know anyone in the market….”Finished the day with a nice stroll along the waterfront and a delightful shin bruise from the suitcase someone left in the middle of the dorm room (seriously all you could hear all night whenever someone walked in was THUD “ouch!*”

*language edited for parental viewing

Had a great start to the morning when one person in the dorm had their phone alarm go off every 5 minutes between 3 and 5am without once waking up or switching the phone off despite the repeated pleas and demands of everyone else in the room. Turns out it was the same person who injured us all with the suitcase so, yeah, very popular. Headed towards the big train station to reserve my seat to Pamplona but got held up for half an hour while every Harley in Europe thundered past. Made it to the station and 3 hours later left with my reservation (lets just say I am going to get a lot of Soduku before the end of this trip).

Headed back to the misguided Columbus monument where, after being temporarily used as free advertising for the walking tour, I joined 4 others on a bike tour. Picked up our bikes and started the tour with cans of beer on a beach made of imported Egyptian sand. Pretty fancy. Rode up past the bull ring to the spectacular Sagrada Familia, started by Gaudi in 1893 and still no end to the construction in site. Absolutely incredibly building. Had a few more beers while marvelling at its façade, and then rode on to see a few of Gaudi’s apartment buildings, including one owned by the Chuppa Chupp owners. Wound our way back down to the Arc de Triomph and the Par de la Ciutadella where I found out that the big fountain is actually Gauudi’s Fountain, though he didn’t really contribute to it as he was only an apprentice at the time.

Dropped off the bikes and headed back toStokes’s bar (now with the air conditioner fully installed) for a post tour beer and got a few battle tales from a bunch of Adelaide boys just returned from Pamplona.  Joined 2 of my fellow bike tourers for a bit of Tapas sampling and huge dinner and then back to the hostel to try and remember how I fit all my clothes in my bag in the first place. Off to Pamplona tomorrow!

at the top of Montjuic

bull ring...sorry couldn't rotate these ones

Sagrada Familia

the house that chuppa chupps built

tapas, nom nom nom

Barcelona part 1

  

2000 year old fountain

Having arrived in warm, sunny and warm Barcelona and deciding that I would defeat Jetlag by simply not going to sleep, I realised that I needed to find something to do to keep me awake for the next 7 or so hours. Luckily Europe abounds with excellent free walking tours which are great value as the tour guides are usually expats living off the tips they get from the tour groups so they work extra hard to keep everyone interested….unfortunately in the group I joined I was the only Adelaidean in a predominantly Sydney and Brisbane based group. Oh the hilarity of the ever original anti-Adelaide jokes.   

Anyway, interstate rivalry aside, spent about 2 hours exploring the gothic district of the city and learning all sorts of interesting facts such as that its legal to walk around naked as long as you’ve got shoes on and why the statue of Columbus is pointing to Africa rather than America (basically it was put up in a hurry and nobody in the following 100 years could be bothered going up there to fix it).  Also visited the spot where Picasso lost his virginity so that was pretty rockin’. Ended the tour at the world’s tiniest bar for a beer, which was extra fun as they were in the process of installing an air conditioner that was at least as wide as the bar itself so every three minutes we all had to switch which side of the room we were standing on as they tried to work around us. Continued walking around on my own til I finally lost the ability to move or form coherent thoughts and returned to the hostel for a good 12 hour coma.

Enjoyed the hostel breakfast in the morning and set out for another day of walking. Lots and lots of walking. Strolled down La Rambla (the main tourist drag) before stumbling on the very cool Mercat de la Boqueria which was stuffed with enough fresh fruit, veggies, fish and of course ham to give the Central Markets a good run for their money. Ventured back into the Old Town to find the striking Gotic Cathedral. Really amazing both inside and out though covered in scaffolding as are most churches (apparently you don’t have to pay taxes for your church until its finished so most are perpetually “in progress”). The cloister hosts the crypt of martyr St Eulalia, one of Barcelona’s patron saints, and the 13 geese kept in her honour (one for every year of her life when she was killed). Also took the lift up to the roof to enjoy a pretty spectacular view over the city.

inside the Catedral

Spent the next few hours getting myself good and lost in the la Ribera district. Found another market, this one built over the ruins of a medieval cloister, part of which is preserved in a viewing gallery at one end of the markets. Stumbled upon the Arc de Triumph and the massive Parc de la Ciutadella. Went for a long walk around the park which featured an enormous fountain at its centre, and for some reason a sculpture of a woolly mammoth.  Walked straight past the Museum of Chocolate before realising and doing a pretty Pythonesque double take and heading in to check it out. Bought my  ticket (which was in fact made of chocolate) and explored the history of chocolate and numerous elaborate chocolate sculptures. Then found the Picasso museum (which had actually been my goal when I first left the Cathedral so I definitely took the scenic route) but there were about a hundred people in the queue so instead checked out a neighbouring gallery hosting a fascinating (if baffling) exhibit on society’s interactions with technology and collection of pieces from the wardrobe of Maria Brillas designed by Pedro Rodriguez. I don’t actually know who either of them are but they sure made a pretty amazing wardrobe between the two of them.

Suddenly found myself back amongst the tourist crowds right in front of another amazing church, Esglesia de Santa Maria del Mar. After finding a jamon y quesa boccadilo (ham and cheese baguette) and a nice shady spot for lunch. Returned to the Picasso Museum to find the line substantially reduced so spent a while enjoying the 3000+ pieces, mostly of his early work. By this point I’d been walking for about 7 hours and had started losing the feeling in my toes so decided to take advantage of siesta time and headed back to the hostel.

To be continued...



at the markets

tribute to George Orwell; a sculpture of the disease that killed him

Gothic Cathedral

Parc de la Ciutadella

Esglesia de Santa Maria del Mar











Adelaide to Europe...its a loooooooong way

Huzzah, finally in Europe! As the more attentive probably noticed, a last minute change meant that I am now doing the majority of the trip solo which primarily means that as usual, all my photos will be taken like this:



Waiting to depart from Adelaide



orchid Garden at Changi Airport

So enjoy. Had a pretty uneventful 30 something hours of travelling other than the crew asking if there was a doctor on board a few hours out of Singapore which had me convinced we were in a Flying High (Airplane) type situation…I mean there was fish for lunch so surely it was possibly. Cudos to Singapore for having the only airport I’ve ever been in for more than 4 hours without going mad from boredom. In fact by my third loop of the terminals I think I had seen all the orchid, fern, cactus and butterfly gardens; created a fantasy wish list of handbags to buy when I strike it rich and started composing a petition to the Dunkin Donuts people to puh-lease open up a few branches in Adelaide. Also walked further than I usually do in a week and enjoyed a free foot massage though I was a little concerned by the warning sign on the massage chair. I think they confused foot massage with bunjy jumping…

Don’t remember anything of the Munich airport other than the fact it was raining and there was free coffee….I had a lot of free coffee.  I do recall seeing a chick scooting around the airport in a cocktail dress and stillettos on a hot pink scooter but to be honest, there’s a good chance I was hallucinating by that point.

And now in beautiful sunny Barcelona trying to keep the evil jetlag zombie at bay. Wish me luck :P

Counting down....

Well with only 3 1/2 weeks until departure, I'm starting to get organised for my next adventure. For those that don't know, from July 7-Aug 17 I will be travelling around Europe with my travel buddy Sarah, trying to cram as much as we can into just over 5 weeks (and desperately hoping not to become hopelessly lost in the European rail networks along the way).

Our vague itinerary will be Barcelona, Pamplona, London, Amsterdam, Berlin, Venice, Rome, Naples, Nice and finishing in Madrid with a fun filled week at Pueblo Ingles and an 8 hour stopover in Hong Kong (cue Bev happy dance) on the way home. We're going to be travelling mostly by Eurail but with an occasional flight along the way and I'll keep you all updated about our adventures as we go so watch this space...but probably not for the next few weeks unless you're particularly interested in daily updates of what I've included on my list of things to pack (anyone wanting a copy of said list, probably needs a more exciting hobby )

Talk to y'all in a couple weeks :D