A taste of Spain

After looking forward to Spain for so long it had finally arrived for us. We enjoyed speaking some Spanish again as we arrived in San Sebastián. We came with high expectations of glorious weather but it was not to be in San Seb. Wind, rain and a temperature gauge along the foreshore indicating 10 degrees was a bit of a rude shock, the beach was practically deserted, but we made it our goal to make the most of it.

Wind blown, a chilly 10 degrees in San Seb.

We explored town, had some long, cold, wind blown walks and runs along the beach and we visited the ridiculous number of Pinxos (tapas) bars in town, the last was the highlight for us in San Seb. Tapas bars open from early in the morning to the wee hours of the night churning out delicious snacks with drinks all day for the regular customers and the curious tourists. It was certainly the norm for a lot of locals to wake up, head to a bar for a coffee and maybe a small snack, head back to the bar at midday for some tapas and probably a sneaky beer or two followed by some lunch at home then a siesta then back to the bar in evening for some more tapas and a beer/ vino or seven then home to dinner and then back to the bar. I think perhaps that tapas bars and siestas are one of the reasons for the struggling Spanish economy.

Typical Tapas bar in San Seb.

Cheesecake and Sherry, such an amazing combination, La Vin, San Seb.

They certainly do it well though I do admit that, the tapas creations are amazing.We  sampled the gastronomic delights of the tapas bars in San Seb and even went out for Pinxos Porti, every Thursday night there are lots of bars offering a tapas and drink costs you 2 euro, needless to say it was a big night once we got away from the guy offering for us to take us to all of the bars when in fact he had a hidden agenda to take us to his mates crappy sushi bar, we bailed on that quick smart and had a good night out from then on.

Check out the rabit face on top of the rabit tapas, how do they do it?

A day trip to Bilbao to visit the Guggenheim Museum was very worthwhile. An incredible building design and very interesting exhibits particularly an exhibition showcasing French art during World War 2 and art by victims of the holocaust. An interesting part was when we learnt that prior to the start of WW2 the French Government protect their prized art by packing it all into crates and sending it to Southern France to be hidden away in French Chalets and out of harms way of the rampant Nazi forces.

The amazing Goggenheim, this one won't rust, titanium alloy.

We moved on to Madrid we were amazed by the number of buskers and beggars in the streets, it is definitely the place we most noticed the economic troubles in Spain. We were told unemployment was a massive 40% in Spain overall and the scary one 49% of people under 30 years are unemployed, I think the figures vary depending on where you read this information but Spain is going through tough times. In saying that, we loved exploring Madrid and had an great time at our hostel which served us churros (Spanish fried donuts) for breakfast and free Paella one night while we watched the champions league final.

Typical busker in Madrid, tricky stuff.

Beautiful and popular park in Madrid

Madrid is home to the largest bull ring in Spain and we visited during a festival with bull fights every day. We plucked up enough courage to go and purchased the cheap tickets which were funnily enough the only undercover seats with the prices being much higher to sit in the sun closer to the action, of course it rained and the people in the expensive seats got wet while we remained dry. The bullfight was a full on experience and a one off for us. We witnessed a very unusual occurrence of the matador being on the receiving end of the sharp bull horn during the first of six fights, the matador collapsed in the ring after getting away from the bull and was quickly rushed out of the arena for medical attention, he was said to be in a critical condition in hospital, the crowd clapped for him and the spectacle continued which was sometimes very entertaining and heart retching with the crowd erupting in a standing ovation waving handkerchiefs and he matador getting to do a lap of honor. At other times the fight was long, bloody and gruesome and we wondered how the show is still allowed in our modern day society.

One matador down, one bull down and 5 to go.

An impressive bullfight gets the crowd up and about.

Lap of honor for the impressive matador

We headed to Southern Spain to embark on a week long adventure of of the area with my cousin Jules and Eloy (her Spanish boy). We visited Seville followed by a road trip along the coast visiting the beach town of Cadiz, fish and chips in Gibraltar, beach paradise of Costa Del Sol and finishing up in Granada. So much sun and I have never seen so many olive trees. The Islamic architecture in this part of the world is very beautiful, we loved visiting Alcazar in Seville and especially the incredible Alhambra in Granada. The Tapas scene in Granada is very famous, you get a free tapas with a drink which is a very cheap way to eat. We were lucky to be in Granada for a big festival and visited the carnival site where we boogied and went on some dodgy rides which was pretty fun.

Plaza de Espania in Seville, astonishing Islamic architecture.

Watching a typical Flamenco show.

At the beautiful Alcazar

Sunset over the rooftops in Cadiz.

Sunrise over Costa Del Sol, wish we could have stayed longer here in the vineyards and on the coast.

The celebration festival in Granada, so much fun.

Waiting for entry to the palace in Alhambra, Granada.

Beautifully decorated courtyard at the Alhambra palace.

Huge Tapas for 5 people, free with 5 drinks of course in Granada.

View of Alhambra and the Sierra Navada snow  capped mountains in the background.

We said goodbye to Jules and Eloy and railed to Barcelona. What a terrific place it is! It was a pleasure it was to tour the incredible Sagrada Familia church designed and partly built by Antonio Gaudi, a remarkable and ongoing story. Our mouths were watering to visit the famous Boqueria Market and it definitely lived up to its reputation, we visited every day to buy delicious jamon, cheeses, dried fruits, exotic fruits, chocolates etc, I am sure this would have to be the best or at least one of the best markets in the world. We had a very intimate cooking lesson with just one other guest and a wonderful chef, the lesson included a visit to our favorite market where we asked ridiculous amounts of questions and then it was into the kitchen to cook up a storm of Spanish cuisine including anchovies, dips, soup, paella and cheesecake. Of course a trip to Barcelona would not be complete without hitting pretty impressive shopping strips, luckily we still have a little money left for the rest of our trip.

We shall definitely return to Spain!!

Outside the Sagrada Familia nativity facade, slow progress, due for completion in approximately 2028, just over 100 years after the death of the master architect Antonio Gaudi, the poor man was hit by a tram while admiring his Sagrada Familia from a distance, he looked like a bum and it took days for someone to lift him off the streets and into a poor mans hospital, he could have lived on with treatment in a better hospital however decided that he would stay with his people in the dodgy hospital and died soon after, very sad story to cut short the life of one of the greatest architects of all time.

For the engineers, a proportionally weighted upside down model of the Sagrada Familia, a method invented by the genius Antonio Gaudi, who needs Spacegass.  

Inside the Sagrada Familia, has to be seen to be believed.

Cooking lesson in Barcelona, can cook a paella.

The amazing La Boqueria Market in Barcelona, food lovers paradise.

An egg stall in La Boqueria Market, selling all sorts of, you guessed it, EGGS.

The riches of France

We settled into a cosy apartment in the third quarter of Paris after a very painless journey via one of the 7 wonders of the modern world, the brilliant high speed train connecting central London and Paris in under 3 hours.

We were staying in a young Parisian's studio apartment through while he holidayed in Barcelona for the week, very affordable option for pricey Paris ( thanks airbnb).

We got ourselves a museum pass for the week and set of in search of the finest museums in the world. We ticked all the big boxes Louve, Musee D Orsay, Eiffel Tower, Champs d'elysee, Notre Dame etc.

Outside Notre Dame Cathedral

City of lights. It would be more appropriately called the city of lines due to everyone having to line up outside every museum.

It is an understatement to say that after a week in Paris we had seen our fair share of art and museums and had a mild case of museum fatigue. You know the feeling, you start off super enthusiastic and stopping at every painting with an audio guide number so that a curator can explain why a certain painting is worth hundreds of millions of dollars and can be recognised by the majority of the planets 7 billion inhabitants. A few hours later you find yourself prioritising the works that are a must see and quickly walking past and scanning the rest while occasionally glancing at a paintings nameplate and saying with a little to much confidence after listening to the audioguide "oh I thought it looked like a [insert famous painters name eg Renoir, Monet, Picasso] ". After this it doesn't take long for the dreaded "museum fatigue" to kick in, you find yourself slumping on those central couches that are conveniently positioned in the middle of most rooms in a gallery whenever you get the chance and staring at what is in front of you trying to guess why a seemingly plain looking painting has been given the honour of being hung in this grand gallery and is being viewed by 3 million people every day. At this point it is time to weave your way through the labyrinth of passage ways to the nearest exit, retrieve the pocket knife you hid in the garden outside so that it wouldn't be confiscated by museum security scanners upon entry to the museum and go find yourself a little cafe to sip a nice cafe au lait, eat an delicious almond croissant and watch people walking by in the streets.

Listening careful to my Nintendo DS 3D audioguide at the Louve. I think this was in the enthusiastic stage of our visit.

I am being a little cynical, the museums, galleries and buildings are truly amazing and we loved the experiences of Paris.

Wise monkeys

We went on a day trip to Epernay ( the home of Champagne) to sample the best of this fine beverage and tour the famous tunnels under the Avenue of Champagne where over 12 million bottles are sitting waiting to one day be popped open and consumed on any given worldwide celebration. After visiting Moët and Chandon and Mercier Champagne houses we found some lunch and went into a nearby wine shop selling and giving out free samples of a little know champagne label, after the effervescent goodness of the previous tastings this sample was as I disclosed to Caitlin afterwards "brutal and like a punch to the face". Happy and slightly tipsy after a few more nice tastings on the Avenue we headed back to Paris.

In the labrynth of caves under Avenue of Champagne

Finally the best part of the tour

Another day trip from Paris was to Versailles, Louis XIV Royal Chateau in the countryside. The expansive and beautiful gardens and lavish palace almost sent the treasury broke at the time of building and you can understand why the people were disgusted with the lavish lifestyle the aristocrats had and French Revolutions followed to restore the balance of power and distribution of wealth.

Lining up outside Chateaux Versaille, all of these people were in the same lineup, it was worth the wait.

In a small garden of Chateau Versaille

Walking in the Versaille garden and pretending to have a kick of a footy

We enjoyed sampling the local produce and enjoyed several picnics in the gardens around Paris. It was hard to believe you could walk out of a supermarket with a baguette, wheel of cheese, portion of Jamon, olives, pâté ( or some other delicious dip) and a bottle of good red wine for under 10 euros. There is no need for "down down prices are down" ads here, feed a family for $10, Curtis Stone I challenge you to do better than this.

Sampling a delicious gluten friendly rasberry and cream filled macaron

Picnic in the park

We nervously picked up a hire car from central Paris and negotiated the avenues, roundabouts and freeways 600kms down to Bordeaux, our next destination. An Australian on the wrong side of the road travelling 130km/hr on a freeway is a bit of a scary thought but we survived and I gave myself a little pat on the back.

A week staying in a B&B in the Bordeaux countryside followed. We toured the region with our little car visiting chateaus, medieval villages, climbing sand dunes and again sampling delicious wines and local produce from a town farmers markets.

The extensive vineyards near St Emilion

Overlooking the medieval town of St Emilion and protecting my prized box of red wine

Stopped on the side of the road to pick some poppies in a field of canola, Claude Monet must be around here somewhere

Cruising near a Chateau

Caity with our tiny car at a nice picnic spot on the side of a road

Climbed Dune De Pyla near Arcachon, stunning.

Life doesn't get much better than this, the accommodation was rather luxurious, we had a view of the rolling hills and vineyards from our bedroom window and our hosts were lovely. We managed to communicate with them quite well and enjoyed several dinners with lots of wine here.

Our B&B bedroom view

Having a very nice dinner with our lovely B&B hosts Alain and Catherine

Beach bums in Brazil

Following Iguazu Falls, we arrived in Paraty, a former colonial port town south of Rio De Janeiro. With a hostel overlooking the beach, things were looking up, until I was wiped out for three days with what seemed to be a mild case of of Dengue Fever ( according to Dr Cheshire). I was feeling very average to say the least, which was very disappointing because we were surrounded by stunning beaches waiting for us to explore.

Feeling very crook in Paraty

If only I had of known that I would be spending the next three weeks exploring some of the most beautiful beaches I have ever seen, drinking many cheap and delicious caprinhas (pretty similar to a mohito without the mint), singing & dancing the night away in Samba nightclubs, I would have had a smile on my face while I cowered under the blankets of that hostel bed in Paraty.

After a few days I plucked up enough courage and energy to venture out of my hostel cave and visited a nice beach and explored the cobblestone streets of Paraty. I found it dumbfounding that a very large portion of the town flooded during high tide, locals had to wade through water to get to their front doors! The following day enjoyed a boat ride out to some islands and beaches with a bunch of locals to swim & snorkel around the boat and explore the beaches, it was a day to remember.

Paraty flooded during high tide

We moved on after four days in Paraty (by bus and ferry) to Ilha Grande, where we spend the following week exploring and relaxing on the large and beautiful tropical island. Our hostel was right on the waterfront (again) and 5 minutes walk along the beach to the main town. Most days we hiked through the jungle to visit some of the isolated beaches and waterfalls on the island (although now waterfalls seem a little boring after Iguazu falls). We caught a boat ride one day to explore the more remote beaches of the island which included more snorkelling and our guide leading us around in her g-string bikini and backpack ( it looked like she was naked from behind) which i found highly amusing. At night we enjoyed visiting some of the restaurants in the small town and along the beachfront. Sitting at one particular restaurant with waves washing under our table and crabs running around on the sand was very memorable. One of the very fun parts of the week which became almost a daily routine was what we called "dessert trolley", we discovered a man selling desserts in the street from a trolley with a glass cabinet full of delicious home made desserts for a very low price, there were two dessert trolleys in town and our favourite one was a mother & son team with the mother doing the cooking and the son the selling, lucky we were getting plenty of walking in throughout the day to justify this Tasty treat. We had torrential downpours which knocked out the power on our street for a few days and the beaches were closed due to horrible beach conditions but the island was not far off a paradise and we loved our time on Ilha Grande.

Indulging in a dessert trolley treat in Ilha Grande

Lopes Mendes Beach

Jumping off the boat in a secluded bay near Paraty

The Brazilian beach experience continued when we moved on to Buzios, north of Rio, where the rich and famous of Brazil hang out on their holidays. Buzios is a place you would love to have to yourself but unfortunately Bridget Bardot fell in love with the place in the 1960s and made the place famous. Again we found ourselves at a magnificent hostel sandwiched between a beautiful beach and the main shopping and restaurant strip, it was an ideal position for all of our day and night activities. Buzios was packed with people because we had arrived on a long weekend. The beaches, restaurants, bars and nightclubs were heaving. Everything happened later in Buzios, the shops only opened after midday and streets were still full even after midnight with people shopping and eating and the clubs were only starting to liven up well after midnight. I was particularly proud of myself for encouraging Caity to samba dance with a waiter and waitress at one of the restaurants we visited that had live music, it was daunting considering how increadible easy the brazilian lady made the Samba look. We ventured out to a big nightclub and were amazed that everyone was rocking along to English hits. A strange part of clubbing in Brazil is that many places have drink cards and make you pay on the way out, it saves a lot of waiting at the bar but is pretty annoying when you have had a few too many and want to go straight home, also losing you drink card is a bit of an issue (lucky we didn't do that).

Caity bravely doing the Samba at a restaurant in Buzios

Out at a nightclub in Buzios

Paddle boarding in Buzios

We finally found our way to the heart of Brazil, Rio De Janeiro, we were both a little nervous because of Rios reputation for danger and crime. We followed a few common sense rules and were pleasantly surprised by how safe we felt and were not put in any danger. Rio proved to be the icing on the cake of our Brazil and South America experience. We stayed in a shared hostel room ( gasp!) and met a few Brazilian girls spending a few days in Rio to party for the weekend. We latched onto the local girls (and met a few other lovely travellers) and they we so helpful and fun. They give us all the best tips for what to do in Rio and we went out with them a couple of times in Lapa ( trendy night district) Samba clubs. Brazilians can certainly dance and know how to party and have a good time, we had an amazing time.

Out at a Samba club in Lapa, Rio

Ipanema beach provided hours of excellent people watching, as well as great swimming and surfing. It was amazing to watch lots of people playing volleyball with only their feet and body (soccer rules), it was very popular, required a lot of skill and was super competitive. There were many other great moments I will remember like staring in amazement at a very old fat leathery lady in the skimpiest bikini and g-string combo I have ever seen sunbaking, strutting, bathing and washing herself confidently everyday on the beach ( you could have used her as a landmark for meeting people on the beach haha), my other standout moments are a group of old retired men sunbaking, chatting, laughing loudly and drinking beers on the beach everyday obviously being kicked out of the house for the day by their wives, another hard to forget moment was watching on as a man walking a little fluffy white dog, scooping some dog poo and putting it in the bin like a good citizen would but then to my astonishment pull some white toilet paper out of his pocket, lift his prized dogs tail and wipe its backside clean....WTF, only in Ipanema could you see this.

Having a surf at Ipanema

Typical Ipanema with acia galati, people selling Globo biscuits and other snacks and very small bathers

We visited on of the all you can eat Chiriscarica BBQ restaurants and I can honestly say I have never had such beautifully cooked lamb in my life (sorry mum), their other meats were delicious also but Argentina is still the king of beef.

Chiriscaria bbq restaurant

A city tour allowed us to knock off several highlights quickly so we could spend more time lazing and people watching on the beach. Christ the Redeemer and Sugarloaf mountain provided great vantage points of the city. A Favela tour was also well worth it and very interesting, the government is "pacifying" the 1000+ Favelas (slum neighbourhoods) in preparation for the World Cup and Olympics, we felt quite safe with the tour guide, we enjoyed visiting a school (sponsored by the tour company). Although on the expensive side by global standards Rio and Brazil is a very happening place at the moment and well worth the visit.

The favela in Rio, everyone has satellite TV, but it is certainly not glamorous

View from Sugarloaf mountain at sunset

Our greatest memories of Brazil will be:

1) The many delicious and cheap Caprinhas cocktails we consumed, we were amazed that you could purchase a bottle of the lethal spirit making these cocktails for as little as AUD$3.

2) Lying on any given beach gawking at the Brazilian women on the beach in the skimpiest bikinis known to mankind, it seemed that it didn't matter if you were slim, curvy or very overweight everyone was entitled and willing to flaunt their assets on the beach. You had to take the good with the bad......Locals refer to what we would know as regular bikinis as "granny panties". So while we laugh at them, it seems they were laughing at the tourists just as hard.

3) Caity attempting to dance ( and doing an admirable job) the Samba with a waiter Pablo, followed by us hitting a local nightclub in the wee hours of the night.

4) Having two amazing nights out with three lovely Brazilian girls and other backpackers in Rio as we calves up the dancefloor in the Samba clubs of Lapa, Rio.

5) Not getting mugged, robbed or stabbed - Thankyou Brazil!

Caprinhas, so cheap and so so good

It is sad to be leaving South America after three mindblowing months of travel through Chile, Argentina, Bolivia, Peru and Brazil. It was a roller coaster ride. There is so much more to see and do here and I would love to come back someday, but for now it is off to explore Europe.

Sugarloaf at sunset