Spain and Portugal

These language switches are killing me.  Just when you figure out the essentials in a new country like "no/yes, how much, where is the toilet, don't touch me there" etc etc, you're off to a new country and you have to start all over again!  Luckily I already have the Spanish essentials mastered from my month in Central America, so I had a jump on Spain.  I landed in Barcelona from Athens and quickly jumped on a train headed for Valencia.  Why didn't I just stay in Barcelona you ask?  Great question....very astute of you.  However I was headed to Valencia to attend a festival that I've looked forward to since booking the trip.  None other...then La Tomantina!!!  For people unfamiliar with La Tomantina, this random YouTube clip sums it up nicely.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JzWWhqL0ruY&NR=1

Essentially thousands of people crowd the streets of Buñol (near Valencia) and wait for dump-trucks of tomatoes to be dropped at their feet, and then they throw them at eachother.  If you're shaking your head right now asking why would someone volunteer for this....you don't know me too well!  It was awesome!!!  However it was also one of the times that I cursed being taller them most people, as my head/face/mouth made for an excellent target.  The entire time you're half squinting (tomato juice in the eyes burns FYI) half laughing, and half yelling. You nail some guy in the back of the head in front of you, and then turn around to ask your buddy "dude did you see nail that guy?" as you're yelling that he smashes a tomato in your face!  It's an all out war!  The whole things lasts a few hours, and then you're tasked with trying to find a local to hose you off with water to get the excess tomato off!  At this point it's baking in your hair from the sun, and starting to smell pretty bad...so you're glad to rinse it off.  *Tip for girls, shave your head before attending....smashed tomato in long, thick hair just isn't cool so I'm told*.

The night before La Tomantina I attended the Water and Wine festival (part of the La Tomantina festivities) in a small town called Requena.  It's essentially the kick off of the new wine harvesting season (officially kicked off by the Mayor).  You parade down the narrow streets, drink the locals wine (who pour it out from large vats that they have in the back of trucks) and get doused by water thrown from balconies.  Awesome.  This went on until about 5am when we took a bus back into Valencia for 6am, and was promptly woken up at 7am to get on another bus bound for La Tomantina.  All and all an awesome few days to kick off Spain!

Other then the madness that is La Tomantina, I didn't do much else in Valencia except recover on the beach.  A buddy of mine took some pics of the festivities that hopefully he'll send over soon and I'll upload to the blog.

From Valencia I headed north to the beautiful city of Barcelona!

There’s something about Barcelona that screams appeal.  It’s a bustling city of over a million people, yet it maintains a clean, sophisticated and sexy image.  From the tapas and wine on the harbour to the Gaudi architecture, and bustling nightlife of La Ramblas I couldn’t get enough of this city. 

Columbus statue at the southern end of La Ramblas

“You know Fred if you hold your face like that it’ll get stuck...”

W hotel in the background

Some bird

I spent an afternoon on top of Montjuic mountain enjoying the views

On top there is Montjuic castle

"The Pigeon"

"Use caution when break dancing"

La Sagrada Familia

Tour Agbar -142m tall skyscraper covered in 60,000 pieces of coloured glass

One of the highlights of Barcelona was a visit to Gaudi’s La Sagrada Familia.  Gaudi died before finishing it (ran over by a tram).  They’ve been trying to finish it since his death in the 20's but due to its’ extremely unique and complex design apparently it won’t be finished until 2030 (I’m not kidding).  This thing was right out of a fairytale...Alice and Wonderland meets Willy Wonka

Fruit bowls on top of the spires....ya sure why not

My friend Hanna giving the turtle some lovin'

Inside was just as impressive

The pillars were designed to resemble trees in a forest

Food...such an important part of Spain and Barcelona

Squid Ink Seafood Paella...well, what's left of it after I was done!

Delicious tapas and wine, on a boat docked in Barcelona harbour

More seafood paella

Awesome city, I had an unforgettable time there ;)

After Barcelona I headed west along the French border to San Sebastian which is a nice little surfer town on the Bay of Biscay.  Now San Seb is in an area of Spain called Basque, and to my delight they had their own unique version of tapas called pintxos.  I would describe them as tapas to the extreme (including an extreme price L).  One example had crisp bread as a base, with an egg, anchovies, onion and a rich sauce drizzled over the entire thing....so good.  Yet each bite sized delight was between $1-2 euro’s so they add up quick.  I love the concept though as you essentially have all the types of tapas out on display and you help yourself and keep your plates on each round, so you know how much you’ve eaten.  It’s the honour system at its’ finest!

Anyways like I said, it's a small surfer town so I decided just to kick it for a few days and not do a whole lot.  But I did manage to venture out and grab some pics.

Surfer's beach

As you can see, a very popular surfer's beach

JC watching over the town

Swimming beach on other side of town - awesome biking/jogging trails

A great little town with delicious food and awesome beaches.  After San Seb I decided to cut through the centre of Spain heading south to Granada, but not before stopping off in Madrid for a few days.  Madrid was nice, but it felt like another capital city with not a whole lot to offer.  It did have some solid shopping and a decent nightlife though but I was looking past Madrid and onto Granada.

I decided to make Granada my last city to see in Spain, as I’ve heard nothing but good things about it.  It has the Alhambra, a Moorish castle which overlooks the main part of this small city.  Also there is a strong Moroccan influence here, which is evident in the spice shops and shishah bars.  And you have gypsy’s living in hill side caves!  Quite the fun city to say the least.

The Alhambra seen from below, my hostel was just up the street!  Great location

Beautiful outdoor cafe culture here....tapas baby tapas

The Alhambra from a view point

Some of El Niño de las Pinturas' famous graffiti that is a popular tour in Granada

Spice shop...smelled amazing

Mom and dad they had a tea to cure everything, you guys would have loved this place

The gypsy caves were fascinating; essentially anybody can come and dig out a cave in the side of these mountain ranges and call it home, and since it’s on protected land, it's tax free!  Unfortunately because most of these people lack the skills to safely build a cave, there are often cave-ins and deaths.

Typical front yard for one of the caves

Gypsy land....you can see where some of the caves have collapsed

The caves might be small, but the view makes up for it!

Granada from uptop Gypsy hill

The Alhambra at night

Ah the Alhambra, what a marvel of Moorish and Christian architecture.  First built by Moorish rulers in the 1400's, it was later occupied by Christian rulers which gives it a unique blending of architecture.  It was then forgot about for nearly 500 years before being "discovered" and restorations started.

The gardens

Oooh so artistic

The view from the guard tower...I'm a sucker for cityscapes! 

Bell tower

Royal complex – the focal point of the castle grounds

Entire walls were covered in this intricate detail....just amazing

The level of details were just insane

I want this knocker on my door

And that wraps up Spain!  

Oh and for anybody who owns an airline who is reading this (haha), if you put touchscreen tv’s in the headrest of the seats BY THE BEARD OF ZEUS DO NOT INCLUDE CHILDRENS GAMES WHERE THE OBJECT OF THE GAME IS TO SEE HOW MANY TIMES YOU CAN TAP THE SCREEN IN 10 SECONDS.  ARE YOU KIDDING ME? 

Love,

Shawn

Portugal!

Ahhh the Algarve region of Portugal - amazing beaches, delicious seafood and great golf courses.  I headed to Albufeira (just east of Lagos) from Granada on a monster of a travel day, to spend 2 weeks relaxing with my parents, eating my mom’s home cooking and pretending to laugh at my dad’s jokes.  They backpacked Europe sometime ago (the 1800’s I believe) and have always wanted to go back to see Portugal.  And since their favourite son (eat it Ry) happened to be in Portugal, they made the flight over.  Having not seen my parents outside of the occasional Skype session in 5 months I was looking forward to this leg of my trip.  There wasn't much sight seeing to be had, so we just enjoyed being immersed in the Portuguese culture.

My amazing parents....always giving and never taking

View from the hotel room...a nice change of pace from hostel life

Is anybody else seeing the size of those prawns?  Or the mussels?  I swear I saw a group of prawns carrying off a small child.

My dad doing what he does best....when you find out what that is let me know

Get a room

We took a day trip at one point to Silvas to see some Moorish architecture

Moorish castle

Random street cat...I didn't even realize her/his collar matched the colours in the background

Any man who uses a piece of paper as a shield is worthy of a pic

Inside the castle

Some art festival was going on at the time we were there...hence the painted elephants and bears

My dad and I on top of Mount Foia, the highest point in the Algarve region of Portugal

Morning glory

Ya I know, I didn't go to Lisbon or Lagos....but at this point in the trip I just wanted to hang with my parents for a few weeks and turn off the backpacker.  But not for too long, as from Portugal I flew to Munich for Oktoberfest!  Stay tuned!

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