utherstadt Wittenburg - Leipzig - Dresden
Gutentag!
Yeah I know I wrote a long email 2 days ago, but I'm now in Prague, Czech Rep, so heres the rest of Germany:
The east of Germany is of stark contrast to the other places I have been to in Germany. Gone are the medieval towns and pretty baroque villages - What we have instead are desolate towns with broken down houses, damaged walls/streets, construction work everywhere and bleak looking buildings. The countryside is also quite flat and filled with grass fields rather than hilly forest mountains and valleys that I’m used to seeing..
But East Germany is a cultural and fascinating place!
Lutherstadt Wittenburg is the town where Martin Luther did most of his work starting the Reformation and the Protestant movement, after nailing his 95 theses to the monetary door. The 95 Theses was basically criticising the Pope and cohorts for "selling indulgences" that is, people can commit sins but be forgiven if they give the Church money.
Apparently there is a movie coming about Luther, starring oddly enough, Ralph Fiennes, who looks nothing like him (Luther is big and blonde, Ralph is scrawny and has a goatee)!
Met a German guy at the hostel with two guitars and sheet music. So somehow we ended up playing/singing duets to the kids that were in the hostel all evening! It was quite fun!
Leipzig has a very Melbourne feel to it, with its beautiful arcades, gardens surrounding the city, the cultural book and music influences, and the big bar and cafe culture within. Which is why I felt quite at home in the place. Though there was construction work everywhere, I still managed to enjoy a string quartet performance in front of the church where Bach is buried, and see the famous settings for Goethe's "Faust"
Left Leipzig with a German girl called Natasch via a car hitching service (which cost us 5 euros whereas train would have cost 16 euros). Got picked up by a nice German couple who drove us through the scenic route to Dresden, which wasn’t terribly exciting because it was all grass fields. On arrival, me and Natasch bought some dinner, beers from the supermarket, rented bikes, and rode down into the old town of Dresden to see the sunset over the famous Augustbrucke bridge, Elbe river and the old beautiful buildings of Dresden illuminated with the street lamps from the grass river bank opposite with our beers.
A stunning panorama! Augustus the Strong, who was the Saxon King, had a love for architecture and made Dresden a marvel to behold! Murals of porcelain adorn buildings of baroque and neoclassical design, many pitch black with dirt over time, sculptures of marble and gold, and green bronze domes decorate the skyline.
Dresden is described as "Florence of the North", but I think of it more as "Paris of the East"!
Germany in a Nutshell
Germany is a wonderful country, with varied countryside and towns ranging from colourful medieval half timbered houses on cobbled streets amongst mountainous terrain, dense cool forests and river valleys; to sprawled out cities with large pedestrian malls, to communist era style bleak or war damaged buildings and streets on flat grassy plans... Germany is an outdoor country, that is, there are so many places to hike and wander around the countryside discovering hidden towns amid romantic settings. However one does need a car to fully explore Germany as many places, despite Germany's modern up to date society, are not easily accessible by public transport.
German people are stereotyped as serious efficient people. Efficient is correct, as everything they make they base on common sense (train system, BMWs, Mercedes, Protestantism, etc). As for being serious, it is actually quite the opposite - Germans are generally cheerful friendly optimistic people always willing to lend a hand if they can understand you. Which most can, as a high percentage of Germans speak English. Germans also feel a sense of shame for the actions of their countryfolk in the past during the wars, and worry that foreigners judge them unfairly because of it, thinking of Germans as "close minded" Nothing is further from the truth.
Germany is known for its beers, but less known for its great coffee and bread rolls (brotchen) which are often sprinkled with different seeds. Germany is also known for the numerous types of sausages they have, some of them raw (yuk!), but most of them tasty and filling, served with mustard and often with bread, fries or potato salad. And a beer. Of course.
Germans have a fondness for Eis Cafes, (ice cream cafes) which are found in practically every main street or markt in Germany, particularly the small towns. Really nice ice creams too! But never understood why they have something called Spagetti Eis, which is ice cream shaped to look like Spagetti with tomato sauce. It's not wrong, it's just different!
Annoying thing about Germany is their stupid church bells, which ring not once, or twice, but ring for 5 minutes non-stop, which can drive you insane!
Beautiful country, friendly people, delicious food and beer, Germany is definitely a country I could see myself settle down in the future!
Favourite places: Berlin, Celle, Wernigode, Hildesheim, Hameln, Dresden... the list goes on
Worst places: Bad Karlshafen
Best building/monument: Neuschwanstein Castle
Overrated tourist attractions: Goslar, Rudesheim
Underrated Gems: Bacarach, Wernigode, Charlotte...
Cool people met:
-Lynn (my "CEBIT coffee gal" - CEBIT)
-Giulia (German girl - CEBIT)
-Gunter (German guy - Berlin, CEBIT)
-Charlotte (German girl - Germersheim and CEBIT)
-Grace (American Phillipino girl - Nuremberg YHA)
-Scott and Margot (German couple - Hildesheim)
-Scott, Mat and Christine (Americans - Wernigode YHA)
-German guy with guitar - never got his name (Lutherstadt Wittenburg YHA)
-Natasch (German girl - Leipzig & Dresden)
Memorable/Funny moments:
-Octoberfest (which I can't remember too much of - Munich)
-Getting lost in Hanover at night with Geoff and Guilia after trying to take a shortcut which ended up in a field an hour later! (CEBIT Hanover)
-Partying with German, Swedish and Australians at Beer Hall at CEBIT (CEBIT Hanover)
-Trying to "seduce" Loreley instead of the other way around (St Goar)
-Being in a car driving on the bicycle path towards oncoming highway traffic at night! (Heidelberg)
-Cooking with Grace at 3am with leftover free food from the backpacker’s pantry and fridge. Still don't know what was in it but IT WAS GOOD! (Nuremberg)
-Playing/Singing guitar duets with German guy for kids at YHA (Lutherstadt Wittenburg)
-Watching sunset and the city lighting up with Natasch and beer by the riverside (Dresden)
Foods tried: All kinds of sausages, kartoffosalat, saurakraut...
Beverages tried: All kinds of beer, from the Bavarian Weissbeer, to Colognes Kolsch, to Berlins Pilsners!
Cultural experiences: Bavarian Beer Halls
Best thing about Germany: People, Food, Countryside
Worst thing about Germany: Expensive inconveniently located Youth Hostels.
TIP: Stay at Backpacker hostels instead!
Wednesday, July 28, 2004
Thursday, July 22, 2004
Central Germany
Fussen - Hohenschwangau - Neuschwanstein - Nuremberg - Bamberg - Wurzberg -Gottigen - Hameln - Hanover - Hildesheim - Goslar - Wernigode - Lutherstadt Wittenburg
Gutentag!
I'll try to keep this short...
Fussen is a pretty baroque little town south of Germany near the Austrian border, a pleasant town that people usually go to because they want to see the Neuschwanstein and Hohenschwangau castles in the mountains nearby. And with good reason to, as the castles are extraordinarily beautiful - Neuschwanstein being the castle that is the inspiration for the castle for Disney.
The fairytale castles are designed by the insane King Ludwig II (which explains why it is so brilliant). Neuschwanstein is the most beautiful castle I’ve seen, and its interior is just as stunning as the exterior - romantic renaissance styled wall paintings and murals, carved hardwood furniture and adornments... the throne room itself designed like a golden basilica with astronomical motifs on the done symbolising heaven, mosaics of plants and animals on the floor representing the earth, and a enormous gold and coloured glass chandelier in the form of a crown representing the king being in between! And the view from the marienbrucke over the waterfall and gorge overlooking the castles on top of the mountain is a sight to behold!
Nuremberg is a beautiful city, with old stone and wooden romantic bridges over the river, the hauptmarkt, the square where the famous Christmas market is held (I’d love to come back when its on with the snow and the lights and people bustling about). It's amazing how almost the whole city has been reconstructed lovingly to almost it's original state before WWII bombed it to rubble only 60 years ago. Nuremberg is also full of history - the site of massive Nazi propaganda and rallies were held there, as well as the foundation of the first International Court of Human Rights, trialing Nazi war criminals for crimes against humanity after the war.
Bamberg is also a beautiful town filled with stone and wooden bridges and baroque buildings. The monetary on top of the hill has a dome which is covered with, oddly enough, paintings of 110 types of herbs!
Wurzburg boasts its stone fortress on top of a hill with amazing views of the vineyards and the town below. The Baroque cathedral is amazing!
Gottigen is a small university town that has a famous fountain of a bronze girl, apparently the most kissed girl in the world because every doctor who graduates there has to give her a kiss on the cheek! Got into a sculling competition with some graduates. I lost (of course)!
Hameln is famous for the Pied Piper legend/fairytale, where a colourful character with a pipe leads the rats in the town to drown in the river, and then leads the children of the town out to a place where they are never discovered again. There is historical evidence that there was the strange sudden disappearance of 130 children in the area, which is creepy. Anyway the town itself is stunning with colourful baroque and medieval buildings and references to the fairytale everywhere.
Hanover was nice to revisit. It was the first town I visited travelling solo, and my impression of it is of stark contrast to what I thought originally; what was a large confusing city has become a small comfortable city, which shows I’ve gone a long way from when I started as a lost confused inexperienced traveller. I even discovered the old town which I never knew existed, with the red brick cathedral and architecturally unusual rathaus (town hall).
Was planning to meet up with Lynn (who I met at CEBIT) but I couldn’t get in touch with her, so I went to plan B, which was going to Hildesheim.
I fell in love with Hildesheim, the people there are the friendliest people I have ever met in my travels.
I got a lift from a family from the train station to the youth hostel (which was very far away), then walking back I got lost and asked an old couple who walked me halfway to the city centre, then having dinner in the beautiful markt watching with everyone else two musicians playing blues, a couple joined me and ended up paying for my meal and driving me back home! The town itself is pleasant, with churches of varying styles dotted around the pedestrian shopping malls and the reconstructed historical centre (unnecessarily bombed at the end of the war) which is stunning!
After Hildesheim I went to Goslar, a tourist town for its mining history and the surrounding Hartz mountains. The medieval city is beautiful, but not as beautiful as Wernigode, where all the houses are colourful medieval houses with a fairytale out of this world rathaus, and a romantic stone castle on top of a forested hill with great views below...
Eastern Germany I’ll write about soon, then I will go to Czech rep, Poland, Slovakia and Hungary!
Gutentag!
I'll try to keep this short...
Fussen is a pretty baroque little town south of Germany near the Austrian border, a pleasant town that people usually go to because they want to see the Neuschwanstein and Hohenschwangau castles in the mountains nearby. And with good reason to, as the castles are extraordinarily beautiful - Neuschwanstein being the castle that is the inspiration for the castle for Disney.
The fairytale castles are designed by the insane King Ludwig II (which explains why it is so brilliant). Neuschwanstein is the most beautiful castle I’ve seen, and its interior is just as stunning as the exterior - romantic renaissance styled wall paintings and murals, carved hardwood furniture and adornments... the throne room itself designed like a golden basilica with astronomical motifs on the done symbolising heaven, mosaics of plants and animals on the floor representing the earth, and a enormous gold and coloured glass chandelier in the form of a crown representing the king being in between! And the view from the marienbrucke over the waterfall and gorge overlooking the castles on top of the mountain is a sight to behold!
Nuremberg is a beautiful city, with old stone and wooden romantic bridges over the river, the hauptmarkt, the square where the famous Christmas market is held (I’d love to come back when its on with the snow and the lights and people bustling about). It's amazing how almost the whole city has been reconstructed lovingly to almost it's original state before WWII bombed it to rubble only 60 years ago. Nuremberg is also full of history - the site of massive Nazi propaganda and rallies were held there, as well as the foundation of the first International Court of Human Rights, trialing Nazi war criminals for crimes against humanity after the war.
Bamberg is also a beautiful town filled with stone and wooden bridges and baroque buildings. The monetary on top of the hill has a dome which is covered with, oddly enough, paintings of 110 types of herbs!
Wurzburg boasts its stone fortress on top of a hill with amazing views of the vineyards and the town below. The Baroque cathedral is amazing!
Gottigen is a small university town that has a famous fountain of a bronze girl, apparently the most kissed girl in the world because every doctor who graduates there has to give her a kiss on the cheek! Got into a sculling competition with some graduates. I lost (of course)!
Hameln is famous for the Pied Piper legend/fairytale, where a colourful character with a pipe leads the rats in the town to drown in the river, and then leads the children of the town out to a place where they are never discovered again. There is historical evidence that there was the strange sudden disappearance of 130 children in the area, which is creepy. Anyway the town itself is stunning with colourful baroque and medieval buildings and references to the fairytale everywhere.
Hanover was nice to revisit. It was the first town I visited travelling solo, and my impression of it is of stark contrast to what I thought originally; what was a large confusing city has become a small comfortable city, which shows I’ve gone a long way from when I started as a lost confused inexperienced traveller. I even discovered the old town which I never knew existed, with the red brick cathedral and architecturally unusual rathaus (town hall).
Was planning to meet up with Lynn (who I met at CEBIT) but I couldn’t get in touch with her, so I went to plan B, which was going to Hildesheim.
I fell in love with Hildesheim, the people there are the friendliest people I have ever met in my travels.
I got a lift from a family from the train station to the youth hostel (which was very far away), then walking back I got lost and asked an old couple who walked me halfway to the city centre, then having dinner in the beautiful markt watching with everyone else two musicians playing blues, a couple joined me and ended up paying for my meal and driving me back home! The town itself is pleasant, with churches of varying styles dotted around the pedestrian shopping malls and the reconstructed historical centre (unnecessarily bombed at the end of the war) which is stunning!
After Hildesheim I went to Goslar, a tourist town for its mining history and the surrounding Hartz mountains. The medieval city is beautiful, but not as beautiful as Wernigode, where all the houses are colourful medieval houses with a fairytale out of this world rathaus, and a romantic stone castle on top of a forested hill with great views below...
Eastern Germany I’ll write about soon, then I will go to Czech rep, Poland, Slovakia and Hungary!
Friday, July 2, 2004
Germany - Rhine and Black Forest
Cologne - Koblenz - St Goar - Bacarach - Rudensheim - Wiesbaden - Mainz - Germersheim - Speyer - Heidelberg - Freudenstadt - Freiberg - Constance - Meersburg - Lindau
GutenTag Alles!
Before I start I must answer a few things that people keep asking me. Firstly, No, I am not fat after eating my way through Belgium!
Secondly, yes I would love to do travel writing (thankyou for your compliments), but don’t know any publishers or editors. So if anyone knows of any let me know!
Anyway, left Brussels and arrived in Cologne, which has an excessively large gothic cathedral, Romanesque churches, and a very impressive outdoor shopping mall filled with gallerias, clothing stores, cafes and restaurants. A shopper’s paradise it seems (though Dusseldorf nearby apparently has more fashionable/expensive shops).
Went to Koblenz next where I was to start my Rhine river cruise. (The Rhine by the way is apparently toxic so swimming and fishing is not recommended, which is a real shame)
The Rhine river cruise was a lot of fun, passing by beautiful cliffs, picturesque medieval houses and romantic castle ruins along the way. There are also lots of vineyards, which I have no idea how they manage to grow on what looks like infertile rock faces on very steep inclines facing the river.
The cruise took me from Koblenz to Rudensheim, passing through and hopping on and off several riverside towns such as St Goar and Bacarach.
Portugal is full of walled towns, Spain has cathedrals, France has arrogant people - I mean Chateaux’s, Belgium has colourful Flemish architecture.....and Germany has its medieval painted wooden villages! These riverside towns were all medieval in character, filled with wooden houses and cobbled streets and vineyards. Bacarach is extremely beautiful and a real surprise as its not visited as much as the other tourist towns of St Goar, and Rudensheim - known for its famous narrow cafe/restaurant lined street which really is quite ordinary (I saw a nicer version in Brussels).
The odds of having "Waltzing Matilda" being sung/played to you by a Slovakian duo who is famous for playing Austrian folk music in Japan in a pub in Rudensheim is usually very remote. But it happened!
Anyway, also passed by the Loreley rock, which is well...a rock. Actually more a cliff face. The Loreley is a siren, a mythical woman who used to sing and seduce sailors to their deaths by drawing them in with her enchanting voice and having them crash into the rocky cliffs to drown.
Every year the area nominates the prettiest girl in the area to act as the Loreley, and with her minstrel, they are supposed to board the ferries and sing and dance to tourists. Anyway I thought it would be funny to try and seduce Loreley (instead of the other way around). Her minstrel was not impressed (I think he harboured a secret attraction to her). Anyway, turns out she is actually from the Czech Republic, as are all the Loreley girls in the past! Must be due to cheaper labour, because there certainly is no shortage of pretty girls in the region (particularly south in Wiesbaden/Mainz which is where I went to next.)
Wiesbaden and Mainz are two cities divided by the Rhine river, both equally pleasant towns with a large red cathedral in each (the one in Mainz full of skeleton statues and scenes of death which I found quite odd.)
Germersheim was next, to meet up with Charlotte, a pretty German girl who I met earlier this year when working at the CEBIT exhibition in Hanover. Charlotte also became my girlfriend during my stay in Germersheim, who I am still crazy about and was very reluctant to leave behind!
Germersheim is a small university town full of single nice girls and not many men. Which I had no problem with! Germersheim also boasts a fortress built “recently” to defend itself against no one (because who in their right mind would want to take over Germersheim?).
Charlotte took me to Speyer, which has a famous cathedral (why that is I don't know) with a copper dome roof that had turned jade green in the rain. We had fun making up silly translations for the murals on the walls that were in Latin...
Was taken to a university party in Heidelberg with her and 3 other girls (lucky me!), and somehow we got lost and ended up driving on a bicycle path towards oncoming traffic on the highway!
Heidelberg (which I had been to before) is a very beautiful town nestled in a valley with pretty houses dotting the landscape. The romantic ruined reddish castle sits up high overlooking an old stone bridge which me and Charlotte crossed to get onto the famous Philosophers Path, which is a series of winding steep stairs and pathways through overhanging trees and vines that philosophers of old walked about pondering the philosophical thoughts etc. It is also a glorious vantage point overlooking the town below.
Left for the Black Forest next. Or at least tried to. I've discovered to make the most of Germany's countryside you really need a car and a lot of time, both of which I do not have! So I think I will have to return to Germany at some later stage and drive around preferably with a friend, to do the Black Forest, Romantic, Castle and Fairytale roads...
Anyway, caught a train into the Black Forest region to Freudenstadt (meaning city of joy) which should really be called Leerstadt (empty city) as there was hardly any life in the area, in fact I was 1 of 4 people staying in the hostel! Freudenstadt boasts the largest market square in Germany and that’s about it. Caught another train to Freiberg. The train trips allowed me to go through the Black Forest so I did get to see some nice hilly, forested countryside and houses....
Freiberg is a beautiful town, with a bit of a Swiss feel and oddly Flemish architecture within. There are also little canal gullies in the streets where water would gush from some unknown source into some unknown destination, the likes I’ve never seen before.
Went to Lake Constance next, which is a huge turquoise coloured lake bordering Germany, Austria and Switzerland. Was planning to stay at Constance but the youth hostel was full, so caught a ferry to Lindau*, stopping off at Meersburg.
*The YHA in Lindau was also full so stayed in a pension. The problem I’m facing at the moment is getting cheap accommodation as it is the peak tourist season and all the cheap hostels are booked solidly with loud students and annoying kids!
Anyway, didn't really explore Constance but it seemed like a nice place. Meersburg is a photographer’s delight, all the medieval houses up a steep cobbled road to the two castles of different architectural styles (one old medieval, one new baroque) overlooking the lake itself!
I am still in Lindau Island at the moment, which sits in the Lake itself with beautiful views around and cool crystal blue water which I have spent the day with my feet in the water with some ducks reading a book and relaxing before I head of for Fussen tomorrow....
Ok this blog is too long so I’ll stop here! Tschuess!
GutenTag Alles!
Before I start I must answer a few things that people keep asking me. Firstly, No, I am not fat after eating my way through Belgium!
Secondly, yes I would love to do travel writing (thankyou for your compliments), but don’t know any publishers or editors. So if anyone knows of any let me know!
Anyway, left Brussels and arrived in Cologne, which has an excessively large gothic cathedral, Romanesque churches, and a very impressive outdoor shopping mall filled with gallerias, clothing stores, cafes and restaurants. A shopper’s paradise it seems (though Dusseldorf nearby apparently has more fashionable/expensive shops).
Went to Koblenz next where I was to start my Rhine river cruise. (The Rhine by the way is apparently toxic so swimming and fishing is not recommended, which is a real shame)
The Rhine river cruise was a lot of fun, passing by beautiful cliffs, picturesque medieval houses and romantic castle ruins along the way. There are also lots of vineyards, which I have no idea how they manage to grow on what looks like infertile rock faces on very steep inclines facing the river.
The cruise took me from Koblenz to Rudensheim, passing through and hopping on and off several riverside towns such as St Goar and Bacarach.
Portugal is full of walled towns, Spain has cathedrals, France has arrogant people - I mean Chateaux’s, Belgium has colourful Flemish architecture.....and Germany has its medieval painted wooden villages! These riverside towns were all medieval in character, filled with wooden houses and cobbled streets and vineyards. Bacarach is extremely beautiful and a real surprise as its not visited as much as the other tourist towns of St Goar, and Rudensheim - known for its famous narrow cafe/restaurant lined street which really is quite ordinary (I saw a nicer version in Brussels).
The odds of having "Waltzing Matilda" being sung/played to you by a Slovakian duo who is famous for playing Austrian folk music in Japan in a pub in Rudensheim is usually very remote. But it happened!
Anyway, also passed by the Loreley rock, which is well...a rock. Actually more a cliff face. The Loreley is a siren, a mythical woman who used to sing and seduce sailors to their deaths by drawing them in with her enchanting voice and having them crash into the rocky cliffs to drown.
Every year the area nominates the prettiest girl in the area to act as the Loreley, and with her minstrel, they are supposed to board the ferries and sing and dance to tourists. Anyway I thought it would be funny to try and seduce Loreley (instead of the other way around). Her minstrel was not impressed (I think he harboured a secret attraction to her). Anyway, turns out she is actually from the Czech Republic, as are all the Loreley girls in the past! Must be due to cheaper labour, because there certainly is no shortage of pretty girls in the region (particularly south in Wiesbaden/Mainz which is where I went to next.)
Wiesbaden and Mainz are two cities divided by the Rhine river, both equally pleasant towns with a large red cathedral in each (the one in Mainz full of skeleton statues and scenes of death which I found quite odd.)
Germersheim was next, to meet up with Charlotte, a pretty German girl who I met earlier this year when working at the CEBIT exhibition in Hanover. Charlotte also became my girlfriend during my stay in Germersheim, who I am still crazy about and was very reluctant to leave behind!
Germersheim is a small university town full of single nice girls and not many men. Which I had no problem with! Germersheim also boasts a fortress built “recently” to defend itself against no one (because who in their right mind would want to take over Germersheim?).
Charlotte took me to Speyer, which has a famous cathedral (why that is I don't know) with a copper dome roof that had turned jade green in the rain. We had fun making up silly translations for the murals on the walls that were in Latin...
Was taken to a university party in Heidelberg with her and 3 other girls (lucky me!), and somehow we got lost and ended up driving on a bicycle path towards oncoming traffic on the highway!
Heidelberg (which I had been to before) is a very beautiful town nestled in a valley with pretty houses dotting the landscape. The romantic ruined reddish castle sits up high overlooking an old stone bridge which me and Charlotte crossed to get onto the famous Philosophers Path, which is a series of winding steep stairs and pathways through overhanging trees and vines that philosophers of old walked about pondering the philosophical thoughts etc. It is also a glorious vantage point overlooking the town below.
Left for the Black Forest next. Or at least tried to. I've discovered to make the most of Germany's countryside you really need a car and a lot of time, both of which I do not have! So I think I will have to return to Germany at some later stage and drive around preferably with a friend, to do the Black Forest, Romantic, Castle and Fairytale roads...
Anyway, caught a train into the Black Forest region to Freudenstadt (meaning city of joy) which should really be called Leerstadt (empty city) as there was hardly any life in the area, in fact I was 1 of 4 people staying in the hostel! Freudenstadt boasts the largest market square in Germany and that’s about it. Caught another train to Freiberg. The train trips allowed me to go through the Black Forest so I did get to see some nice hilly, forested countryside and houses....
Freiberg is a beautiful town, with a bit of a Swiss feel and oddly Flemish architecture within. There are also little canal gullies in the streets where water would gush from some unknown source into some unknown destination, the likes I’ve never seen before.
Went to Lake Constance next, which is a huge turquoise coloured lake bordering Germany, Austria and Switzerland. Was planning to stay at Constance but the youth hostel was full, so caught a ferry to Lindau*, stopping off at Meersburg.
*The YHA in Lindau was also full so stayed in a pension. The problem I’m facing at the moment is getting cheap accommodation as it is the peak tourist season and all the cheap hostels are booked solidly with loud students and annoying kids!
Anyway, didn't really explore Constance but it seemed like a nice place. Meersburg is a photographer’s delight, all the medieval houses up a steep cobbled road to the two castles of different architectural styles (one old medieval, one new baroque) overlooking the lake itself!
I am still in Lindau Island at the moment, which sits in the Lake itself with beautiful views around and cool crystal blue water which I have spent the day with my feet in the water with some ducks reading a book and relaxing before I head of for Fussen tomorrow....
Ok this blog is too long so I’ll stop here! Tschuess!
Tuesday, June 22, 2004
(How I ate my way through) Belgium
Bruges - Ghent - Antwerp - Brussels
I'm currently eating my way through Belgium.
Left France to enter Bruges, a beautiful town, which is pretty much an open-air museum with all the old lavishly ornate Flemish style buildings with step ladder like roofs and sculptured decorated facades to the minutest detail to the point that even park benches look cool!
By a stroke of luck and timing I ended up meeting up with Arwen, a good friend back from Melbourne, who happened to have just started working at the famous Bauhaus hostel I ended up staying at!
Was offered a job to work at the hostel there myself (free food, beer, accommodation, small pay) which I would have accepted if I didn't have to go home in October for my brothers wedding.... oh well, no reason why I can't come back next year....
Anyway we ended up walking and catching up around the cobbled town seeing the sights, somehow avoiding being run over by bicycles and horse drawn carriages, and eating. In one afternoon we had strawberries, a tub of ice cream and Belgium chocolates in the park, then went back to the hostel and had fries, pizza and beer (stopping on the way home for some yummy sausages in a kiosk in the main square).
Enjoyed some Belgium waffles covered with bananas and melted chocolate. Yum.
We did a day trip to Ghent, which is a more realistic city than Bruges, a student town with lots of Flemish architecture, castle, and the cathedral containing the famous Flemish painting "Adoration of the Mystic Lamb" (which sounds like an ideal smashing pumpkins song title). And yes we ate some more.
Reluctantly I left Bruges after 3 days to go to Antwerp.
Had some moules met frites (Mussels with Fries), which was a very large serving (took me over an hour to eat it all), very delicious, and very expensive.
Looked at the diamond shops in Antwerp around the Jewish quarter where the streets are full of Jewish people dressed with their black coats, hats and hairstyles. The weather in Antwerp is strange as it would rain one minute, then be sunny the next, then both at once. Actually that sounds like Melbourne....
Went to Brussels next.
Do you know the famous Australian "Land Down Under" song by "Men at Work"?
"Buying bread from a man from Brussels,
He was 6 foot tall and full of muscles
I said 'do ya speaka my language?'
He just smiled and gave me a vegemite sandwich, and he said
'I come from the land down under....'"
Well I tried to replicate the same thing, and the closest I got to it was this result:
"Buying waffles from a girl from Brussels,
She was quite petite with too much makeup,
I said 'Spreek U Engels?' (Flemish for "Do you speak English?")
She just stared and then gave me a confused look, and she said
'Non, Francais!'"*
It seems that only the north of Belgium speak English and Flemish, and the south of Belgium speak English and French. (Which was annoying because I finally learnt the word for "please" in Flemish (alstublieft))
Anyway, Brussels, like Antwerp, has a nice Grotte Markt (Main Square) of beautiful Flemish guild hall buildings of gold and lavish decorations. Also saw the Manniken Pis, which is the famous statue of a boy peeing and is apparently the best-dressed statue in the world with over 700 costumes made for it. Obviously the Belgiums have too much time in their hands...
Stayed with Francesca, a Canadian girl with an Irish accent (who I met travelling in Blois France), in an attic flat with a terrace that you get to by climbing through the window. Anyway on my last night in Belgium yesterday I went with her and her friends to a party that went on all night and as a result I am writing this in a sleep-deprived state (in Cologne, Germany). So apologies if this email seems a little surreal...
Anyway...
Belgium in a Nutshell
Belgium, like Portugal, is one of those countries that no one thinks of visiting but is an absolute gem! Most people in fact pass through it on route from Amsterdam to Paris which is a real shame because they will be missing a country with beautiful colourful Flemish architecture, cathedrals that all chime musical pieces, friendly people and 1,000+ types of beers (700+ breweries), chocolates, waffles and large servings of frites with mayonnaise! Belgium people love their frites, a slow pleasurably way towards heart disease I’m sure...
Belgium is a country where you can just sit around all day doing nothing, and if you blink you'll find yourself having spent a couple of days in one place without having actually seen anything around the town. Mainly because the towns and sights are pretty small and you think that "oh I’ll just hang around the hostel sleeping and relaxing because surely it won't take too long to see everything" and then the next time you look at your watch it says 4pm and you've seemed to have skipped lunch. Not that I’ve been having proper meals, I’ve pretty much been snacking all the time here....
Belgium people have a very laid back attitude to life. For example in customer service they will act as if you're not there, doing their own thing until you actually speak to them, and then suddenly you exist! They are also extremely complacent; for example if litter flies from their table onto the floor they'll leave it there - if a person rides a bike into a wall they'll look and then go on their merry way...
Gotta love Belgium.
Favourite place: Bruges
Worst place: Brussels (only because I have to choose a worst place)
Best meal: Moules met Frites (Antwerp)
Worst meal: Stale Falafel sandwich (Antwerp)
Best nightlife: Brussels
Best building/monument: Bruges is a open air museum of its own
Overrated tourist attractions: Manniken Pis
Underrated Gems: Ghent
Cool people met:
-Arwen (But I already know her from home)
-Staff from Bauhaus Youth Hostel (Bruges)
-Staff from Boomerang Youth Hostel (Antwerp)
-Francesca, Jess, Patrick, Chris (Brussels)
Foods tried: Frites, waffles, Frites, Monsieur Croquets, frites, sausages, frites, mussels with frites, Frites, chocolate, frites, frites, frites!
Beverages tried: Too many types of beers (Duvel, Hoegaarden, Jupiler, Westmalle, Leffe, De Koninck, Palm, to name a few)
Cultural experiences: Beer drinking, waffle eating, frite eating, being lazy...
Best thing about Belgium: The food and beer!
Worst thing about Belgium: The frequently changing weather!
Anyway, next destination is through Germany, through the Rhine to the Black Forest Road to Romantic Road to Fairy Tale Road to Dresden then into the Czech Republic!
Tschuess!
I'm currently eating my way through Belgium.
Left France to enter Bruges, a beautiful town, which is pretty much an open-air museum with all the old lavishly ornate Flemish style buildings with step ladder like roofs and sculptured decorated facades to the minutest detail to the point that even park benches look cool!
By a stroke of luck and timing I ended up meeting up with Arwen, a good friend back from Melbourne, who happened to have just started working at the famous Bauhaus hostel I ended up staying at!
Was offered a job to work at the hostel there myself (free food, beer, accommodation, small pay) which I would have accepted if I didn't have to go home in October for my brothers wedding.... oh well, no reason why I can't come back next year....
Anyway we ended up walking and catching up around the cobbled town seeing the sights, somehow avoiding being run over by bicycles and horse drawn carriages, and eating. In one afternoon we had strawberries, a tub of ice cream and Belgium chocolates in the park, then went back to the hostel and had fries, pizza and beer (stopping on the way home for some yummy sausages in a kiosk in the main square).
Enjoyed some Belgium waffles covered with bananas and melted chocolate. Yum.
We did a day trip to Ghent, which is a more realistic city than Bruges, a student town with lots of Flemish architecture, castle, and the cathedral containing the famous Flemish painting "Adoration of the Mystic Lamb" (which sounds like an ideal smashing pumpkins song title). And yes we ate some more.
Reluctantly I left Bruges after 3 days to go to Antwerp.
Had some moules met frites (Mussels with Fries), which was a very large serving (took me over an hour to eat it all), very delicious, and very expensive.
Looked at the diamond shops in Antwerp around the Jewish quarter where the streets are full of Jewish people dressed with their black coats, hats and hairstyles. The weather in Antwerp is strange as it would rain one minute, then be sunny the next, then both at once. Actually that sounds like Melbourne....
Went to Brussels next.
Do you know the famous Australian "Land Down Under" song by "Men at Work"?
"Buying bread from a man from Brussels,
He was 6 foot tall and full of muscles
I said 'do ya speaka my language?'
He just smiled and gave me a vegemite sandwich, and he said
'I come from the land down under....'"
Well I tried to replicate the same thing, and the closest I got to it was this result:
"Buying waffles from a girl from Brussels,
She was quite petite with too much makeup,
I said 'Spreek U Engels?' (Flemish for "Do you speak English?")
She just stared and then gave me a confused look, and she said
'Non, Francais!'"*
It seems that only the north of Belgium speak English and Flemish, and the south of Belgium speak English and French. (Which was annoying because I finally learnt the word for "please" in Flemish (alstublieft))
Anyway, Brussels, like Antwerp, has a nice Grotte Markt (Main Square) of beautiful Flemish guild hall buildings of gold and lavish decorations. Also saw the Manniken Pis, which is the famous statue of a boy peeing and is apparently the best-dressed statue in the world with over 700 costumes made for it. Obviously the Belgiums have too much time in their hands...
Stayed with Francesca, a Canadian girl with an Irish accent (who I met travelling in Blois France), in an attic flat with a terrace that you get to by climbing through the window. Anyway on my last night in Belgium yesterday I went with her and her friends to a party that went on all night and as a result I am writing this in a sleep-deprived state (in Cologne, Germany). So apologies if this email seems a little surreal...
Anyway...
Belgium in a Nutshell
Belgium, like Portugal, is one of those countries that no one thinks of visiting but is an absolute gem! Most people in fact pass through it on route from Amsterdam to Paris which is a real shame because they will be missing a country with beautiful colourful Flemish architecture, cathedrals that all chime musical pieces, friendly people and 1,000+ types of beers (700+ breweries), chocolates, waffles and large servings of frites with mayonnaise! Belgium people love their frites, a slow pleasurably way towards heart disease I’m sure...
Belgium is a country where you can just sit around all day doing nothing, and if you blink you'll find yourself having spent a couple of days in one place without having actually seen anything around the town. Mainly because the towns and sights are pretty small and you think that "oh I’ll just hang around the hostel sleeping and relaxing because surely it won't take too long to see everything" and then the next time you look at your watch it says 4pm and you've seemed to have skipped lunch. Not that I’ve been having proper meals, I’ve pretty much been snacking all the time here....
Belgium people have a very laid back attitude to life. For example in customer service they will act as if you're not there, doing their own thing until you actually speak to them, and then suddenly you exist! They are also extremely complacent; for example if litter flies from their table onto the floor they'll leave it there - if a person rides a bike into a wall they'll look and then go on their merry way...
Gotta love Belgium.
Favourite place: Bruges
Worst place: Brussels (only because I have to choose a worst place)
Best meal: Moules met Frites (Antwerp)
Worst meal: Stale Falafel sandwich (Antwerp)
Best nightlife: Brussels
Best building/monument: Bruges is a open air museum of its own
Overrated tourist attractions: Manniken Pis
Underrated Gems: Ghent
Cool people met:
-Arwen (But I already know her from home)
-Staff from Bauhaus Youth Hostel (Bruges)
-Staff from Boomerang Youth Hostel (Antwerp)
-Francesca, Jess, Patrick, Chris (Brussels)
Foods tried: Frites, waffles, Frites, Monsieur Croquets, frites, sausages, frites, mussels with frites, Frites, chocolate, frites, frites, frites!
Beverages tried: Too many types of beers (Duvel, Hoegaarden, Jupiler, Westmalle, Leffe, De Koninck, Palm, to name a few)
Cultural experiences: Beer drinking, waffle eating, frite eating, being lazy...
Best thing about Belgium: The food and beer!
Worst thing about Belgium: The frequently changing weather!
Anyway, next destination is through Germany, through the Rhine to the Black Forest Road to Romantic Road to Fairy Tale Road to Dresden then into the Czech Republic!
Tschuess!
Wednesday, June 9, 2004
North France
Paris - Blois - Chambord - Cheverny - Le Manns - Rennes - St Malo - Mount St Michel - Dol - Bayeux - Arromanches - Longues Sur Mer - Omaha Beach - Lille
Salut!
I’m using a stupid Belgium/French keyboard so forgive my poor rushed writing...
Paris was my next destination from Lyon, which I’ve been to before. But I wanted to spend a couple of days there doing things I didn't get to do the first time I was there, such as see the catacombs where the bones of millions of Parisians were piled, the Pere Lachaise cemetery where the graves of Jim Morrison and Oscar Wilde are buried, the Moulin Rouge, the Louvre to see Mona Lisa and the Venus de Milo... I find Paris is very much like Berlin, in that it has just as many sights and is just as big, but is missing a certain "je ne sais pas" about it, and it is way too touristy! Therefore Berlin remains my favourite city in Europe (Annecy my favourite town)...but so many cities yet to visit...
I was lucky to see the Olympic relay torch runner run right past me, as I was just wandering aimlessly around outside the Louvre looking at my map when all of a sudden people started forming a line around me and the next thing I knew this French guy with the Olympic torch comes running past a few feet away from me cheering!
Anyway, spent a day in Versailles, with its grand chateaux and the impressive gardens where I was lucky (again, I must be blessed) to arrive in time to see the fountains turned on and music playing, which only happens for two hours on the weekends!
Went to Blois next. In Blois everyone is nice and the town a little backward even though it's a tourist place, there is one bus to the youth hostel every day at 6pm but several coming from it. Go figure! Blois is a pretty small town in comparison to its neighbour - Tours. Blois also has a chateaux and a really tacky house of magic - I recall seeing a dodgy gold dragon head coming out of the top story window and looking about with sinister music playing - which was enough to convince me not to go in.
Went to see two famous Loire Valley Chateaux’s close to Blois, Chambord and Cheverny. Chambord was quite impressive outside with its many terraces, shires and gardens, but the interior was quite plain. It also has a double helix staircase apparently designed by Leonardo Da Vinci, which consists of two stairways twisting around each other, which is pretty cool. Cherverny on the other hand was ordinary on the outside but lavishly decorated on the inside.
Chateaued out, I left Blois for Saint Malo, which is a nice walled port town with great beaches and peaceful atmosphere. On route to Saint Malo I stopped in the towns Dol, Le Manns and Rennes, both quite pretty in its Bretagne province style medieval houses and streets. I wish I had more time to go through the rural towns of Bretagne...
Went to Mount Saint Michel, which is a hill island connected to the mainland by a causeway, with a huge abbey on top and walled ramparts circling up the hill reminiscent of Minas Tirith from Lord of the Rings! The island itself is surrounded by water only at high tide - at low tide it is surrounded by sand and in some places, quicksand! It was quite scary walking around the island trying not to step in quicksand.
Went into Normandy to Bayeux to see the D-Day Beaches that I’ve always wanted to see!
Typically not much can be seen today of the remains of WWII, just a few bunkers at Omaha beach (Sorry Tim, couldn’t find you any bullet souvenirs on the beach), the American cemetery, huge gun batteries at Longues and parts of an artificial port at Arromanches. Rode an old French push bike (that sounded like a rusty tank) there with some American friends Brendan and Anna and after riding uphill 50km the whole day against the strong wind and some rain I never want to ride a bike again, for at least a while! We were so exhausted that we ended up catching a taxi back once we got to Omaha beach, which cost 57 euros! But it was still fun and well worth it, and cheaper than any of the guided tours on offer; plus we got to see some cool Normandy countryside!
Bayeux is the only town in Normandy not to have been destroyed by bombs during WWII so it is in preserved original condition. The cathedral is quite pretty, and I also got to see the famous Bayeux tapestry which is 70m long and 1,000 years old, depicting the story of William the Conqueror and demonstrating why if people break their promises they will get bad karma. Or something like that.
Went to Lille next, which is quite pretty, with a bit of a Flemish feel to it. With it’s three main plazas next to each other it is like one big plaza full of activity, especially stunning at night when the lights go on and you get to wander the streets or sit under the upside down trees in one of the plazas (yes that’s right, upside down, suspended in mid air!).
Now I am in Bruges in Belgium, having by a great stroke of luck and timing just met up with Arwen, a dear old friend from Melbourne. But I’ll write about Belgium next email...
France in a Nutshell
France is surprisingly cosmopolitan with a large Asian and African population, mainly due to the French colonies of Indochina and some African countries. As a result, Chinese restaurants and Kebab places abound. As stated before, two facets of France exist in contradictory harmony: pleasant affluent classy areas full of snobby people, and seedy areas mainly inhabited by immigrants, all in the same clean wide streets and leafy boulevards, old city quarters and grand plazas full of outdoor cafes where people sit facing the middle of the road or plaza watching and judging people.
The stereotype of snobby French people reigns true; but then if you are stuck with having to eat frogs legs and snails instead of say, paella, sangria and tapas, I’d be bad tempered too! Also, calling French people "frogs" makes some sense when you listen to the way they speak French in a throaty croaky kind of way!
If Spain is the place to party, France is the place to chill out the day after.
Favourite place: Annecy
Worst place: Toulouse
Places with best views: Carcassone, Grenoble, Annecy
Best meal: The food at the Marseille Youth Hostel
Worst meal: Ham and Camembert Sandwiches that got warm in the hot weather in Toulouse
Best nightlife: Lyon
Best beach: Marseilles
Best building/monument: Annecy in general
Overrated tourist attractions: Paris, Toulouse
Underrated Gems: Annecy, Lyon
Cool people met:
- Bruno (French guy with gift of drawing Manga comics (he drew me one) - Bordeaux YHA)
- Flannigan (American girl I spent till 3am in the dark talking to - Bordeaux YHA)
- Karla and Ali (Mexican twins - Marseilles YHA)
- Emma (Eccentric English girl - Marseilles YHA)
- Owen (Crazy Irish guy - Marseilles YHA)
- Kay (English girl - Marseilles YHA)
- The staff at Grenoble YHA
- Marta (German girl - Annecy)
- Sheryl and Nadia (Australian girls - Lyon YHA)
- Francesca and Mina (Canadian girls - Blois YHA)
- Anna and Brendon (Americans - Bayeux YHA)
Funniest moments:
- Owen when drunk
- Scheming with Emma on how we could con an expensive restaurant into thinking we were international food critics (it sounded like a good idea at the time as we had too much to drink)
- The night in Marseilles with Owen and Kay that ended up with us hitch hiking, walking around seedy areas and sleeping on pavement outside YHA at 5am
- Karla’s reaction to a local speciality biscuit tasting in Marseilles (She spat it out and asked the chef if they liked it cause she found it awful. Oddly enough the chef agreed)
- Being unable to find the 50km sized lake in Annecy despite Annecy being such a small town and being led by Marta, getting lost in the wilderness instead.
-The "great" bike ride through Normandy D-Day sights
Foods tried: Snails, baguettes, paninis, glaces, 10 out of 366 cheeses in existence in France...
Beverages tried: Too many wines, 1664 and Kronenberg beer
Cultural experiences: Cafe sitting, wine drinking, riding dodgy bike through countryside...
Best thing about France: The buildings, streets, boulevards, chateaux’s, wine...
Worst thing about France: The people
Anyway, gotta go, Eurocup final on tonight (Portugal vs. Greece). Go Portugal!
Salut!
I’m using a stupid Belgium/French keyboard so forgive my poor rushed writing...
Paris was my next destination from Lyon, which I’ve been to before. But I wanted to spend a couple of days there doing things I didn't get to do the first time I was there, such as see the catacombs where the bones of millions of Parisians were piled, the Pere Lachaise cemetery where the graves of Jim Morrison and Oscar Wilde are buried, the Moulin Rouge, the Louvre to see Mona Lisa and the Venus de Milo... I find Paris is very much like Berlin, in that it has just as many sights and is just as big, but is missing a certain "je ne sais pas" about it, and it is way too touristy! Therefore Berlin remains my favourite city in Europe (Annecy my favourite town)...but so many cities yet to visit...
I was lucky to see the Olympic relay torch runner run right past me, as I was just wandering aimlessly around outside the Louvre looking at my map when all of a sudden people started forming a line around me and the next thing I knew this French guy with the Olympic torch comes running past a few feet away from me cheering!
Anyway, spent a day in Versailles, with its grand chateaux and the impressive gardens where I was lucky (again, I must be blessed) to arrive in time to see the fountains turned on and music playing, which only happens for two hours on the weekends!
Went to Blois next. In Blois everyone is nice and the town a little backward even though it's a tourist place, there is one bus to the youth hostel every day at 6pm but several coming from it. Go figure! Blois is a pretty small town in comparison to its neighbour - Tours. Blois also has a chateaux and a really tacky house of magic - I recall seeing a dodgy gold dragon head coming out of the top story window and looking about with sinister music playing - which was enough to convince me not to go in.
Went to see two famous Loire Valley Chateaux’s close to Blois, Chambord and Cheverny. Chambord was quite impressive outside with its many terraces, shires and gardens, but the interior was quite plain. It also has a double helix staircase apparently designed by Leonardo Da Vinci, which consists of two stairways twisting around each other, which is pretty cool. Cherverny on the other hand was ordinary on the outside but lavishly decorated on the inside.
Chateaued out, I left Blois for Saint Malo, which is a nice walled port town with great beaches and peaceful atmosphere. On route to Saint Malo I stopped in the towns Dol, Le Manns and Rennes, both quite pretty in its Bretagne province style medieval houses and streets. I wish I had more time to go through the rural towns of Bretagne...
Went to Mount Saint Michel, which is a hill island connected to the mainland by a causeway, with a huge abbey on top and walled ramparts circling up the hill reminiscent of Minas Tirith from Lord of the Rings! The island itself is surrounded by water only at high tide - at low tide it is surrounded by sand and in some places, quicksand! It was quite scary walking around the island trying not to step in quicksand.
Went into Normandy to Bayeux to see the D-Day Beaches that I’ve always wanted to see!
Typically not much can be seen today of the remains of WWII, just a few bunkers at Omaha beach (Sorry Tim, couldn’t find you any bullet souvenirs on the beach), the American cemetery, huge gun batteries at Longues and parts of an artificial port at Arromanches. Rode an old French push bike (that sounded like a rusty tank) there with some American friends Brendan and Anna and after riding uphill 50km the whole day against the strong wind and some rain I never want to ride a bike again, for at least a while! We were so exhausted that we ended up catching a taxi back once we got to Omaha beach, which cost 57 euros! But it was still fun and well worth it, and cheaper than any of the guided tours on offer; plus we got to see some cool Normandy countryside!
Bayeux is the only town in Normandy not to have been destroyed by bombs during WWII so it is in preserved original condition. The cathedral is quite pretty, and I also got to see the famous Bayeux tapestry which is 70m long and 1,000 years old, depicting the story of William the Conqueror and demonstrating why if people break their promises they will get bad karma. Or something like that.
Went to Lille next, which is quite pretty, with a bit of a Flemish feel to it. With it’s three main plazas next to each other it is like one big plaza full of activity, especially stunning at night when the lights go on and you get to wander the streets or sit under the upside down trees in one of the plazas (yes that’s right, upside down, suspended in mid air!).
Now I am in Bruges in Belgium, having by a great stroke of luck and timing just met up with Arwen, a dear old friend from Melbourne. But I’ll write about Belgium next email...
France in a Nutshell
France is surprisingly cosmopolitan with a large Asian and African population, mainly due to the French colonies of Indochina and some African countries. As a result, Chinese restaurants and Kebab places abound. As stated before, two facets of France exist in contradictory harmony: pleasant affluent classy areas full of snobby people, and seedy areas mainly inhabited by immigrants, all in the same clean wide streets and leafy boulevards, old city quarters and grand plazas full of outdoor cafes where people sit facing the middle of the road or plaza watching and judging people.
The stereotype of snobby French people reigns true; but then if you are stuck with having to eat frogs legs and snails instead of say, paella, sangria and tapas, I’d be bad tempered too! Also, calling French people "frogs" makes some sense when you listen to the way they speak French in a throaty croaky kind of way!
If Spain is the place to party, France is the place to chill out the day after.
Favourite place: Annecy
Worst place: Toulouse
Places with best views: Carcassone, Grenoble, Annecy
Best meal: The food at the Marseille Youth Hostel
Worst meal: Ham and Camembert Sandwiches that got warm in the hot weather in Toulouse
Best nightlife: Lyon
Best beach: Marseilles
Best building/monument: Annecy in general
Overrated tourist attractions: Paris, Toulouse
Underrated Gems: Annecy, Lyon
Cool people met:
- Bruno (French guy with gift of drawing Manga comics (he drew me one) - Bordeaux YHA)
- Flannigan (American girl I spent till 3am in the dark talking to - Bordeaux YHA)
- Karla and Ali (Mexican twins - Marseilles YHA)
- Emma (Eccentric English girl - Marseilles YHA)
- Owen (Crazy Irish guy - Marseilles YHA)
- Kay (English girl - Marseilles YHA)
- The staff at Grenoble YHA
- Marta (German girl - Annecy)
- Sheryl and Nadia (Australian girls - Lyon YHA)
- Francesca and Mina (Canadian girls - Blois YHA)
- Anna and Brendon (Americans - Bayeux YHA)
Funniest moments:
- Owen when drunk
- Scheming with Emma on how we could con an expensive restaurant into thinking we were international food critics (it sounded like a good idea at the time as we had too much to drink)
- The night in Marseilles with Owen and Kay that ended up with us hitch hiking, walking around seedy areas and sleeping on pavement outside YHA at 5am
- Karla’s reaction to a local speciality biscuit tasting in Marseilles (She spat it out and asked the chef if they liked it cause she found it awful. Oddly enough the chef agreed)
- Being unable to find the 50km sized lake in Annecy despite Annecy being such a small town and being led by Marta, getting lost in the wilderness instead.
-The "great" bike ride through Normandy D-Day sights
Foods tried: Snails, baguettes, paninis, glaces, 10 out of 366 cheeses in existence in France...
Beverages tried: Too many wines, 1664 and Kronenberg beer
Cultural experiences: Cafe sitting, wine drinking, riding dodgy bike through countryside...
Best thing about France: The buildings, streets, boulevards, chateaux’s, wine...
Worst thing about France: The people
Anyway, gotta go, Eurocup final on tonight (Portugal vs. Greece). Go Portugal!
Sunday, May 30, 2004
South and Central France
Bordeaux - Toulouse - Carcassone - Montpellier - Marseille - Avignon - Grenoble - Annecy - Geneva - Lyon
Bonjour mon amis!
Sorry for not writing sooner, I’ve been quite busy gallivanting around and Internet access is also quite expensive...
Due to indecisiveness, most of my travels through France has been decided on a toss of a coin.
Anyway, from San Sebastian I flipped a coin, and ended up in Bordeaux.
Ah France, country of good wine, 366 types of cheese, arrogant rude French people, beautiful French women with ugly French boyfriends... France is also surprisingly full of Asians from Indochina, and Moroccan kebab shops.
I think France has two facets to it: the clean beautiful city centres with the arrogant beautiful snobby French people; and the ghetto urban African and Asian slums where hip-hop, skateboarding and seedy looking graffitied streets reside.
French people tend to also talk to themselves out loud all the time. And even when you tell them you don't understand French, they will still talk to you continuously in rapid French as if you do understand!
Speaking of talking to oneself out loud, I’ve noticed after travelling for so long and being on my own, that I’m doing the same thing, as well as getting slightly more eccentric. I have a tendency to think questions to myself in my head and then answer them out loud as if I’m talking to someone. For example, I would suddenly say out loud "Nah, I reckon I should head down that way instead" in the middle of the street.
Anyway, Bordeaux is a pleasant city, should really be called the City of Portals because of the number of beautiful huge archways and gateways into the city. Did the typical "sit-in-sidewalk-cafe-drinking-coffee-writing-in-journal-watching-people-go-by" thing that French people do, which I enjoy doing quite frequently for long hours everywhere I go now.
Did a winery tour of the St Emillion wine region near Bordeaux. Wasn't too bad, got to see a Bordeaux wine chateaux and try their wines...Also went to see the Medieval town of St Emillion itself with it's "monolithic" (the tour guide loved that word) church which is built underground carved from the limestone of the earth itself!
Flipped another coin and ended up in Toulouse, which wasn’t as nice as Bordeaux. It is called the "villa rose" because of the pink architecture within the city square. Though I think it looks more like apricot to me. But then the "villa abricot" doesn’t have the same ring to it doesn’t it?
If you want to go see a walled castle town, go to Carcassone! Carcassone has 87 towers, an inner and outer wall surrounding the town, all in preserved and complete condition. It really is quite impressive up on the hill, especially at night when the lights illuminate the walls. Thankfully there are no MacDonalds in the castle walls to ruin the effect (though they exist outside the walls).
Flipped a coin to Montpellier, a pleasant young student city, where everyone just seems to sit in the cafes in the main squares and drink, eat, and chill out. I've noticed that most sidewalk cafes tend to have their chairs facing the street, which means that if you are the only person walking in the middle of the main plaza you can feel everyone’s eyes looking at you, and more unnerving, judging you.
Another coin flipped and Marseilles I went. Marseilles in comparison to Montpellier is a large gritty city, but the best thing about Marseille was the best cheap good quality meals you can order in the youth hostel! In fact it’s the best food I’ve had in France surprisingly, and people who have stayed there can testify the same thing! What was also fun was buying a bottle of cheap French wine each after dinner from the grocery store, and drinking it on the beach down the road to the sound of people playing rhythmic bongo drums and skateboarders on the ramps.
Marseilles is renowned for being dangerous and seedy, but having managed to hitch hike, buy kebabs from a seedy area surrounded by prostitutes and drunk men, and sleep on the pavement outside the youth hostel all in the middle of the night, I don't think it was so bad (how I ended up doing all that is a long story).
Went to If Island to see the Chateaux d'If, which is the fortress turned prison island famous in the Count of Monte Cristo book. It was pretty overrated and boring.
Left Marseille (and just missed the famous Marseille International Skate Boarding Competition by a day ) to go to Avignon.
Avignon is a pretty walled town containing the former Vatican headquarters and the Avignon Bridge from that really famous annoying French song that I couldn’t get out of my head while I was there - "Sur le pont d'Avignon, l'on y danse l'on y danse..." Drove me insane.
Went to Grenoble next. Grenoble is an ugly city surrounded by beautiful French Alps. Went up this transparent bubble cable car to the fortress on top of the mountain for stunning views. The youth hostel was fun, got invited to a staff Moroccan theme party and all I know is that I'll never look at a carpet burn the same way again. Anyway, if I had more time I would consider working in a youth hostel because they can pay you in cash, you get free accommodation and food, and its a great way to learn a language and culture of a place.
Met a German girl called Marta on the train from Grenoble to Annecy, who was happy to me on a tour of Annecy. However because we got too distracted from talking that she accidentally led me out of the town into the middle of nowhere! But as an example of how things always seem to work out in the end, we actually found the youth hostel nearby which is where I needed to go anyways.
We almost had a fling except I knew she had a boyfriend back in Germany and I didn’t want to ruin it for her. Stupid morals!
Anyway, Annecy is my favourite place in France if not in Europe - it is gorgeous! It has a stunning blue lake with the Alps in the background, with a pretty river canal with flowers and beautiful houses and cafes lining it. There is not much to see besides that, but I could just sit in an outdoor cafe soaking it all in all day (which I did).
Went to Geneva in Switzerland next. Went to the UN headquarters which was pretty interesting, and also checked out CERN (Centre European of Research Nuclear) with the huge super conductor collider which basically is used to smash atomic particles at light speeds to replicate the big bang and learn about how the universe was created. Interesting only if you are a nerd like me.
Geneva, despite being in Switzerland, has more of a French feel to it. And it seems to be full of Irish pubs!
Popped back into France to Lyon. Lyon is a pretty cool lively place, reminiscent of a kind of mini Paris actually. It even has a stunted smaller version of the Eiffel tower there! There's also cool statues of painted lions all over the place, which probably explains the name of the town (Lyon = Lion?). Anyway, wanting to see the cultural nightlife of the place, guess where we ended up? An Australian pub! Oh well, that's the last time I let Canadians lead where to go. Tonight we might have a little more luck...
I'm meeting heaps of cool people, Canadians, Australians, Mexican twins, and English girls. It's kinda sad having to say goodbye to people you may never see again. As someone once told me, "in travel you make really strong short friendships with people that end as soon as you leave".
Anyway, Tomorrow I head for Paris, followed by Loire valley, Brittany, Normandy, then Belgium and then Germany!
A tout à l’heure !
Bonjour mon amis!
Sorry for not writing sooner, I’ve been quite busy gallivanting around and Internet access is also quite expensive...
Due to indecisiveness, most of my travels through France has been decided on a toss of a coin.
Anyway, from San Sebastian I flipped a coin, and ended up in Bordeaux.
Ah France, country of good wine, 366 types of cheese, arrogant rude French people, beautiful French women with ugly French boyfriends... France is also surprisingly full of Asians from Indochina, and Moroccan kebab shops.
I think France has two facets to it: the clean beautiful city centres with the arrogant beautiful snobby French people; and the ghetto urban African and Asian slums where hip-hop, skateboarding and seedy looking graffitied streets reside.
French people tend to also talk to themselves out loud all the time. And even when you tell them you don't understand French, they will still talk to you continuously in rapid French as if you do understand!
Speaking of talking to oneself out loud, I’ve noticed after travelling for so long and being on my own, that I’m doing the same thing, as well as getting slightly more eccentric. I have a tendency to think questions to myself in my head and then answer them out loud as if I’m talking to someone. For example, I would suddenly say out loud "Nah, I reckon I should head down that way instead" in the middle of the street.
Anyway, Bordeaux is a pleasant city, should really be called the City of Portals because of the number of beautiful huge archways and gateways into the city. Did the typical "sit-in-sidewalk-cafe-drinking-coffee-writing-in-journal-watching-people-go-by" thing that French people do, which I enjoy doing quite frequently for long hours everywhere I go now.
Did a winery tour of the St Emillion wine region near Bordeaux. Wasn't too bad, got to see a Bordeaux wine chateaux and try their wines...Also went to see the Medieval town of St Emillion itself with it's "monolithic" (the tour guide loved that word) church which is built underground carved from the limestone of the earth itself!
Flipped another coin and ended up in Toulouse, which wasn’t as nice as Bordeaux. It is called the "villa rose" because of the pink architecture within the city square. Though I think it looks more like apricot to me. But then the "villa abricot" doesn’t have the same ring to it doesn’t it?
If you want to go see a walled castle town, go to Carcassone! Carcassone has 87 towers, an inner and outer wall surrounding the town, all in preserved and complete condition. It really is quite impressive up on the hill, especially at night when the lights illuminate the walls. Thankfully there are no MacDonalds in the castle walls to ruin the effect (though they exist outside the walls).
Flipped a coin to Montpellier, a pleasant young student city, where everyone just seems to sit in the cafes in the main squares and drink, eat, and chill out. I've noticed that most sidewalk cafes tend to have their chairs facing the street, which means that if you are the only person walking in the middle of the main plaza you can feel everyone’s eyes looking at you, and more unnerving, judging you.
Another coin flipped and Marseilles I went. Marseilles in comparison to Montpellier is a large gritty city, but the best thing about Marseille was the best cheap good quality meals you can order in the youth hostel! In fact it’s the best food I’ve had in France surprisingly, and people who have stayed there can testify the same thing! What was also fun was buying a bottle of cheap French wine each after dinner from the grocery store, and drinking it on the beach down the road to the sound of people playing rhythmic bongo drums and skateboarders on the ramps.
Marseilles is renowned for being dangerous and seedy, but having managed to hitch hike, buy kebabs from a seedy area surrounded by prostitutes and drunk men, and sleep on the pavement outside the youth hostel all in the middle of the night, I don't think it was so bad (how I ended up doing all that is a long story).
Went to If Island to see the Chateaux d'If, which is the fortress turned prison island famous in the Count of Monte Cristo book. It was pretty overrated and boring.
Left Marseille (and just missed the famous Marseille International Skate Boarding Competition by a day ) to go to Avignon.
Avignon is a pretty walled town containing the former Vatican headquarters and the Avignon Bridge from that really famous annoying French song that I couldn’t get out of my head while I was there - "Sur le pont d'Avignon, l'on y danse l'on y danse..." Drove me insane.
Went to Grenoble next. Grenoble is an ugly city surrounded by beautiful French Alps. Went up this transparent bubble cable car to the fortress on top of the mountain for stunning views. The youth hostel was fun, got invited to a staff Moroccan theme party and all I know is that I'll never look at a carpet burn the same way again. Anyway, if I had more time I would consider working in a youth hostel because they can pay you in cash, you get free accommodation and food, and its a great way to learn a language and culture of a place.
Met a German girl called Marta on the train from Grenoble to Annecy, who was happy to me on a tour of Annecy. However because we got too distracted from talking that she accidentally led me out of the town into the middle of nowhere! But as an example of how things always seem to work out in the end, we actually found the youth hostel nearby which is where I needed to go anyways.
We almost had a fling except I knew she had a boyfriend back in Germany and I didn’t want to ruin it for her. Stupid morals!
Anyway, Annecy is my favourite place in France if not in Europe - it is gorgeous! It has a stunning blue lake with the Alps in the background, with a pretty river canal with flowers and beautiful houses and cafes lining it. There is not much to see besides that, but I could just sit in an outdoor cafe soaking it all in all day (which I did).
Went to Geneva in Switzerland next. Went to the UN headquarters which was pretty interesting, and also checked out CERN (Centre European of Research Nuclear) with the huge super conductor collider which basically is used to smash atomic particles at light speeds to replicate the big bang and learn about how the universe was created. Interesting only if you are a nerd like me.
Geneva, despite being in Switzerland, has more of a French feel to it. And it seems to be full of Irish pubs!
Popped back into France to Lyon. Lyon is a pretty cool lively place, reminiscent of a kind of mini Paris actually. It even has a stunted smaller version of the Eiffel tower there! There's also cool statues of painted lions all over the place, which probably explains the name of the town (Lyon = Lion?). Anyway, wanting to see the cultural nightlife of the place, guess where we ended up? An Australian pub! Oh well, that's the last time I let Canadians lead where to go. Tonight we might have a little more luck...
I'm meeting heaps of cool people, Canadians, Australians, Mexican twins, and English girls. It's kinda sad having to say goodbye to people you may never see again. As someone once told me, "in travel you make really strong short friendships with people that end as soon as you leave".
Anyway, Tomorrow I head for Paris, followed by Loire valley, Brittany, Normandy, then Belgium and then Germany!
A tout à l’heure !
Saturday, May 8, 2004
North Spain
Santiago de Compostella - Leon - Burgos - Bilbao - Pamplona - San Sebastian
Egumom (hello in Euskadi/Basque),
Santiago de Compostella (in Gallicia, north west of Spain) is the destination for people all over the world who do a pilgrimage to see the tomb of St James in the Cathedral situated there. Known as the "Camino de Santiago", People would walk, cycle or horse ride at least 100km from different trails across France, Spain and Portugal. Even George Bush’s daughter has just started the Camino, from a place called Astorgas (which I went through the day she left so I just missed her).
Anyway the mass in the cathedral is more like a show than a sermon. TV screens and speakers are located around the interior of the cathedral. At the end of the mass a huge incense burner called a botafumeria is lit and is hung on a big rope dangling from the domed ceiling. Acolytes would then swing the botafumeria back and forth over people’s heads spreading incense everywhere. Afterwards people would cheer and clap! Even the Bishop on stage took photographs while it was swinging!
Next place I ended up in was Leon. Leon has a cathedral and that’s about it. Though the streets are big and people are very friendly there. The cathedral itself is quite impressive too, with 1800sq metres of stained glass windows lighting up the place.
Went to Burgos next. Guess what is there? Yep. Another cathedral! Not as nice as Leon though, but I only went here because I couldn’t get to the Picos de Europa national park as I was planning to due to no public transport.
The weirdest thing happened in Burgos. I was at a cafe when a crazy looking old woman came up to the table next to me where a couple were sitting and she asked the guy to come with her somewhere. For some reason he obeyed, and ended up walking her to the end of the street and around the corner where he didn’t come back for about 5 minutes, in the meantime me and his girlfriend were exchanging bewildered and amused looks. Never did find out what that was about.
I was disappointed in Bilbao (sorry John), it is quite an ugly industrial city, its only salvation is the brilliantly designed Guggenheim museum, which is a metallic modern work of art cross between a fish and a ship.
Pamplona is famous for the San Fermin Festival, with the running of the bulls and the fiestas they have there. Pamplona otherwise is a nice little town with lots of bars and gardens. People from the Navarra area (Pamplona) are really friendly and pleasant to talk to, though they don’t look Spanish, more half Spanish half French.
San Sebastian is awesome! (Jenny you are so right!)
San Sebastian has some really great beaches, spectacular views in the mountains around it, and the nightlife - let’s just say my average time arriving back home from partying was 5am (for 4 nights in a row, despite my insistence that the next night will be "my short quiet night")! Bars next to bars next to bars, and the whole place parties on EVERY night of the week! Pinxos (Tapas) and Sangria are great quality but pricey.
Stayed in a place called "Pension Aussie". Met a lot of Canadians there.
My next destination is somewhere in France. Not quite sure where yet, I will decide once I cross the border where I want to go (either tomorrow or the day after). And this time I mean it when I say I will have a quite night in San Sebastian....
So, some things about Spain:
· I have to stop saying "oh my god" or "holy crap" when I see something cool in a cathedral/church.
· With all the siestas, fiestas and closed weekends, do Spanish people actually ever work? I wonder how they actually make money?
· When one person honks his or her car horn, everyone else decides to join in. Soon everyone in the street is holding his or her car horns down like a choir or orchestra warming up before a performance. Quite amusing actually.
· Some girls insist on wearing the ¨Michael Jackson 80s look¨ with the leather and metal studs, and 80s style makeup/hair. Scary.
· It’s cheaper to buy beer or wine than soft drinks.
· There is a Plaza de Espana in every major town in Spain.
· In Madrid there is a series of bars called ¨Museu de Jamon¨(museum of ham), with looks like a slaughterhouse with the number of hams hanging around the place.
· Spain has a thing called Plato Combinados, which are meals based on a selection of eggs, hams, chips, sausages, rice, salads, etc, for roughly 5-8 euros. Good stuff!
· Even better are the Menu de dias, (menu of the day) which consists of two full dishes of food, bread rolls, a desert, and a choice of a bottle of wine, soft drink or water. For 6-12 euros it is a bargain, and will fill you up for the rest of the day!
· Free tapas only seem to exist in Granada, though in places mainly north of Spain you can get a discounted price on a tapa if you order a drink with it (the price works almost like getting a free drink with a tapa). Very nice!
Spain in a Nutshell
Spain is what I would describe as "a feast for the senses" in that it has beautiful countryside of mountains, gorges, valleys etc, great music, exquisite variety of foods....And Spanish people know how to party! It is usual for them to start at midnight and go all the way to 7am!
However, Spanish people can tend to be rude when they can’t understand you so it’s essential to learn Spanish especially as most people in Spain can’t speak English. People from Basque and Catalunya are nicer than anywhere else in Spain.
Favourite places: Salamanca, Seville, Barcelona, Monserrat, San Sebastian
Worst places: Madrid, Bilbao
Places with best views: Monserrat, San Sebastian
Best meal: Large paella, roast chicken, chips, bread, bottle of wine, custard desert (Menu de dia) - for 7 euros! (Zaragoza)
Worst meal: Cannelloni that had been microwaved from frozen packet - for 5 euros! (Segovia)
Best nightlife: Madrid, Salamanca, San Sebastian
Best beach: San Sebastian
Best building/monument: Plaza de Espana (Seville)
Overrated tourist attraction: Toledo
Underrated Gem: Plaza de Espana (Seville)
Cool people met:
Christian and Ashton (Canadians met in Seville YHA)
Helena (Spanish girl from Pamplona on Barcelona-Zaragoza bus)
Xavier (French dude in Zaragoza YHA - Kleptomaniac and ex heroin addict, but nice guy)
Mike and Jamison (Canadians met in Madrid YHA)
Catharine (Fun Quebec girl met in Madrid YHA and Salamanca)
Carolina (Brazilian girl met in Madrid YHA)
Marie (Spanish girl from Pamplona on Pamplona-San Sebastian bus)
Simon and Georgie (Australians met in San Sebastian pub)
Inga (German girl from Cologne met in San Sebastian pub)
Christina (Canadian girl met in San Sebastian YHA, great fun and just as nerdy as me)
Erin (Canadian girl met in San Sebastian YHA)
Funniest moment(s):
-Badly coordinated group efforts to climb and steal oranges from trees in broad daylight (Seville)
-Me and Christian getting on Spanish TV by climbing a lamp post while drunk (Seville)
-Guy talking in sleep saying "si, si" and "por favor" - wonder what he was dreaming about? (Madrid)
-Defying the despots in Madrid YHA: "They say we have to all be back by 1:30am! We say, screw them, we all come back at 4am!" *Everyone cheers* (Madrid)
-Mixing drinks for people out of a plastic bag in middle of street (Salamanca)
-Catharine in general (especially when drunk)
-People clapping and cheering in church (Santiago de Compostella)
-Old woman walking off with someone’s boyfriend (Burgos)
-Learning Euskadi from the girls at the tourist info office (Pamplona)
-Me and Christina crashing a wedding afterparty and being the only people dancing on the dance floor (San Sebastian)
Foods tried: (I LOVE SPANISH FOOD) Paella, assorted Tapas, assorted Jamon (serrado, iberico, asado), Tortilla de patatas etc, assorted Bocadillos.
Beverages tried: Estrella Dam, San Miguel, Aguila & Amstel beers, Sangria, wines
Spanish Music: (I LOVE SPANISH MUSIC, its dorky and daggy and tacky but then so am I! - must download from internet when I get home)
"Dargostea din tei" - Ozone (actually Romanian but all the rage in Europe)
"Papi Chulo" – Lorna (actually Italian)
"Soy lo que me das" - Chenoa
"Lola" - Bebe
"Oye el Boom" - Dabid Bisbal
Other cultural experiences: Bull Fight (Madrid), Spontaneous flamenco (Seville), Spanish fiestas/festivals (Seville), late night partying
Best thing about Spain: Food, music, countryside, parties...
Worst thing about Spain: Siestas meaning everything is closed in the middle of the day and on sundays! Rude people.
Egumom (hello in Euskadi/Basque),
Santiago de Compostella (in Gallicia, north west of Spain) is the destination for people all over the world who do a pilgrimage to see the tomb of St James in the Cathedral situated there. Known as the "Camino de Santiago", People would walk, cycle or horse ride at least 100km from different trails across France, Spain and Portugal. Even George Bush’s daughter has just started the Camino, from a place called Astorgas (which I went through the day she left so I just missed her).
Anyway the mass in the cathedral is more like a show than a sermon. TV screens and speakers are located around the interior of the cathedral. At the end of the mass a huge incense burner called a botafumeria is lit and is hung on a big rope dangling from the domed ceiling. Acolytes would then swing the botafumeria back and forth over people’s heads spreading incense everywhere. Afterwards people would cheer and clap! Even the Bishop on stage took photographs while it was swinging!
Next place I ended up in was Leon. Leon has a cathedral and that’s about it. Though the streets are big and people are very friendly there. The cathedral itself is quite impressive too, with 1800sq metres of stained glass windows lighting up the place.
Went to Burgos next. Guess what is there? Yep. Another cathedral! Not as nice as Leon though, but I only went here because I couldn’t get to the Picos de Europa national park as I was planning to due to no public transport.
The weirdest thing happened in Burgos. I was at a cafe when a crazy looking old woman came up to the table next to me where a couple were sitting and she asked the guy to come with her somewhere. For some reason he obeyed, and ended up walking her to the end of the street and around the corner where he didn’t come back for about 5 minutes, in the meantime me and his girlfriend were exchanging bewildered and amused looks. Never did find out what that was about.
I was disappointed in Bilbao (sorry John), it is quite an ugly industrial city, its only salvation is the brilliantly designed Guggenheim museum, which is a metallic modern work of art cross between a fish and a ship.
Pamplona is famous for the San Fermin Festival, with the running of the bulls and the fiestas they have there. Pamplona otherwise is a nice little town with lots of bars and gardens. People from the Navarra area (Pamplona) are really friendly and pleasant to talk to, though they don’t look Spanish, more half Spanish half French.
San Sebastian is awesome! (Jenny you are so right!)
San Sebastian has some really great beaches, spectacular views in the mountains around it, and the nightlife - let’s just say my average time arriving back home from partying was 5am (for 4 nights in a row, despite my insistence that the next night will be "my short quiet night")! Bars next to bars next to bars, and the whole place parties on EVERY night of the week! Pinxos (Tapas) and Sangria are great quality but pricey.
Stayed in a place called "Pension Aussie". Met a lot of Canadians there.
My next destination is somewhere in France. Not quite sure where yet, I will decide once I cross the border where I want to go (either tomorrow or the day after). And this time I mean it when I say I will have a quite night in San Sebastian....
So, some things about Spain:
· I have to stop saying "oh my god" or "holy crap" when I see something cool in a cathedral/church.
· With all the siestas, fiestas and closed weekends, do Spanish people actually ever work? I wonder how they actually make money?
· When one person honks his or her car horn, everyone else decides to join in. Soon everyone in the street is holding his or her car horns down like a choir or orchestra warming up before a performance. Quite amusing actually.
· Some girls insist on wearing the ¨Michael Jackson 80s look¨ with the leather and metal studs, and 80s style makeup/hair. Scary.
· It’s cheaper to buy beer or wine than soft drinks.
· There is a Plaza de Espana in every major town in Spain.
· In Madrid there is a series of bars called ¨Museu de Jamon¨(museum of ham), with looks like a slaughterhouse with the number of hams hanging around the place.
· Spain has a thing called Plato Combinados, which are meals based on a selection of eggs, hams, chips, sausages, rice, salads, etc, for roughly 5-8 euros. Good stuff!
· Even better are the Menu de dias, (menu of the day) which consists of two full dishes of food, bread rolls, a desert, and a choice of a bottle of wine, soft drink or water. For 6-12 euros it is a bargain, and will fill you up for the rest of the day!
· Free tapas only seem to exist in Granada, though in places mainly north of Spain you can get a discounted price on a tapa if you order a drink with it (the price works almost like getting a free drink with a tapa). Very nice!
Spain in a Nutshell
Spain is what I would describe as "a feast for the senses" in that it has beautiful countryside of mountains, gorges, valleys etc, great music, exquisite variety of foods....And Spanish people know how to party! It is usual for them to start at midnight and go all the way to 7am!
However, Spanish people can tend to be rude when they can’t understand you so it’s essential to learn Spanish especially as most people in Spain can’t speak English. People from Basque and Catalunya are nicer than anywhere else in Spain.
Favourite places: Salamanca, Seville, Barcelona, Monserrat, San Sebastian
Worst places: Madrid, Bilbao
Places with best views: Monserrat, San Sebastian
Best meal: Large paella, roast chicken, chips, bread, bottle of wine, custard desert (Menu de dia) - for 7 euros! (Zaragoza)
Worst meal: Cannelloni that had been microwaved from frozen packet - for 5 euros! (Segovia)
Best nightlife: Madrid, Salamanca, San Sebastian
Best beach: San Sebastian
Best building/monument: Plaza de Espana (Seville)
Overrated tourist attraction: Toledo
Underrated Gem: Plaza de Espana (Seville)
Cool people met:
Christian and Ashton (Canadians met in Seville YHA)
Helena (Spanish girl from Pamplona on Barcelona-Zaragoza bus)
Xavier (French dude in Zaragoza YHA - Kleptomaniac and ex heroin addict, but nice guy)
Mike and Jamison (Canadians met in Madrid YHA)
Catharine (Fun Quebec girl met in Madrid YHA and Salamanca)
Carolina (Brazilian girl met in Madrid YHA)
Marie (Spanish girl from Pamplona on Pamplona-San Sebastian bus)
Simon and Georgie (Australians met in San Sebastian pub)
Inga (German girl from Cologne met in San Sebastian pub)
Christina (Canadian girl met in San Sebastian YHA, great fun and just as nerdy as me)
Erin (Canadian girl met in San Sebastian YHA)
Funniest moment(s):
-Badly coordinated group efforts to climb and steal oranges from trees in broad daylight (Seville)
-Me and Christian getting on Spanish TV by climbing a lamp post while drunk (Seville)
-Guy talking in sleep saying "si, si" and "por favor" - wonder what he was dreaming about? (Madrid)
-Defying the despots in Madrid YHA: "They say we have to all be back by 1:30am! We say, screw them, we all come back at 4am!" *Everyone cheers* (Madrid)
-Mixing drinks for people out of a plastic bag in middle of street (Salamanca)
-Catharine in general (especially when drunk)
-People clapping and cheering in church (Santiago de Compostella)
-Old woman walking off with someone’s boyfriend (Burgos)
-Learning Euskadi from the girls at the tourist info office (Pamplona)
-Me and Christina crashing a wedding afterparty and being the only people dancing on the dance floor (San Sebastian)
Foods tried: (I LOVE SPANISH FOOD) Paella, assorted Tapas, assorted Jamon (serrado, iberico, asado), Tortilla de patatas etc, assorted Bocadillos.
Beverages tried: Estrella Dam, San Miguel, Aguila & Amstel beers, Sangria, wines
Spanish Music: (I LOVE SPANISH MUSIC, its dorky and daggy and tacky but then so am I! - must download from internet when I get home)
"Dargostea din tei" - Ozone (actually Romanian but all the rage in Europe)
"Papi Chulo" – Lorna (actually Italian)
"Soy lo que me das" - Chenoa
"Lola" - Bebe
"Oye el Boom" - Dabid Bisbal
Other cultural experiences: Bull Fight (Madrid), Spontaneous flamenco (Seville), Spanish fiestas/festivals (Seville), late night partying
Best thing about Spain: Food, music, countryside, parties...
Worst thing about Spain: Siestas meaning everything is closed in the middle of the day and on sundays! Rude people.
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