Back in London

Back in London now, so good to just chill out for a little bit and not do anything. Only plan for me this week was to find somewhere to live, which is have, and to wake up in time to go and watch the Geelong vs Collingwood AFL Grand Final at the local pub, and thanks to the time difference, kick off is around about 5am. But thats fine by me, I'm so excited for it, i just can not wait. It is going to be such a great day tomorrow, especially if the boys win. Im expecting the atmosphere down at the pub to be pretty electric, thanks to the million or so Australians living in London. Shame i didn't end up bringing my Geelong guernsey over here with me, oh well. I can always have one sent over next year when we make the Grand Final again in 2012. Other news, i am moving into my room in a flat in Maidstone, which is also pretty exciting. Managed to find a great place in town, right on a bus stop, close to parks and not too far from the town centre for a pretty good price! We also have sky television, meaning i will not miss a piece of the Football action over here either! All i need now is a job, and my life will regain a little sense or normality.

Oktoberfest 2011

Oktoberfest was by far the perfect way to round out my trip through Europe. Mat, Ole and myself spent an entire week there being traditional Germans; which was easy for Ole, who is a German himself. It was great to have Ole with us to help translate and help us find the Pork Knuckle’s on the menus, order beers and teach us enough German to help us get along really well in Munich. A little bit about Oktoberfest, it is a three-week period which is a celebration of the people of Bavaria for the marriage of the Prince around 200 years ago. Once it was just a small fair and has now transformed into one of the biggest parties in the world. Ole was lucky enough to stay with a friend of his in Munich, Mat and I managed to find a camping ground around 10 minutes from the festival grounds. Turns out that the day before we arrived, it had bucketed down rain and a lot of the sites had flooded, but with our arrival came the sun and blue skies. By the end of the week that we had been in Munich, we had sampled a beer from every tent. Paulaner and Augustiner were stand out favourites of mine, but once you are onto your third 1 liter stein, they begin to taste very similar.

The law regarding brewing beer in Munich requires the recipe to contain only four ingredients, Barley, Hops, Water and what every the ‘secret’ ingredient that the master brewer decides to add to his beer. The incredible thing about the beers is that regardless on the amount that you have in a night, you do not get a hang over. You might wake up suffering some fatigue from lack of sleep, or hypothermia from spending a night in a tent, but certainly no headaches. I would hate to speculate as to how many beers I would have had over the week, but I would most certainly be pushing just over the 50 mark, but I had heard rumours of a few people who have managed over 100 during a festival. Munich itself is an absolutely gorgeous city, the buildings are amazing, the people are some of the most pleasant I have ever come across and the food and the beers are top notch. I met a lovely girl at the campsite named Jenna, and with her and two of her friends I spent a load of time when ever I lost track of Mat, after a night of gallivanting. One whole week there, may have been a little bit much, we blew all of our budgets, but at almost ten Euros for a pint, it’s a very easy thing to do, looking back though, I wouldn’t have done it any other way. Partly relieved about being back in London, but I will be back to Oktoberfest again someday.

Drinking the Night Train out of Booze

A sleeper cabin in a night train is a very affordable way of travelling; you save a night on a hostel and the tickets are generally a few euro more expensive then getting a seated cabin. We decided that this would be an opportunity to have a much needed night off in preperation for Oktoberfest, within minutes on the train, that went out the window. We met a few ‘like-minded’ commuters who were in search of a bar on the train, we managed to find a small area which we could buy beers. One beer, two beers, three beers, more, we were well on our way to having a cracker night on this train. The train pulled up at the station in Champagne and we were told that there would be a ‘slight’ delay of three hours, we were told that there would be enough beer to keep us going through the stoppage. They were wrong. Between the group of ten of us that we rounded up, we drank through all the beers that they had in all three bars on the train, so we moved on to the mini-bar liquers and spirits until they were gone. Finally the train took off again, and the only thing left of us to have were the mini bottles of champagne…. As terrible as they were, just on principle, we drank all of those too and managed to dry out the entire train of alcohol. Safe to say, I slept like an angel.

Monaco

Monaco was a really beautiful place, the bus runs from Nice every twenty minutes and it’s only a Euro for a ticket. Just as I expected, we seen Mercedes, Ferrari, Maserati, Bentleys’ and a trillion Porches. That in itself was really cool. Wandered around in envy looking at all of the Yatchs in the harbour some of them were absolutely monsterous. While we were there, we walked along parts of the racetrack, up and down hills, some of the scenery was amazing. Green parks, fountains and statues everywhere and all of the buildings were astounding.

The photograph in this blog is the Maritime Museum, which is on top of a cliff which faces out over the ocean, as you can see the weather was perfect, the water is beautifully blue and I consider it to be one of the best pictures I have taken all trip. We went into the Monte Carlo Casino, which is stunning and seen the royal palace, just wandering about was awesome, it was a day well spent.

I Love Nice, France

Sorry I have been so slack with the blog lately, I have been flat out having the time of my life in Nice, France. This is probably one of my favourite places in the world, and I recommend everyone to visit it if given a chance. There isn’t an awful lot to see there, but its just been great to be in a place where I can unwind and just relax for a bit. Being right on the beach, it was awesome to be able to go to the beach most days, the weather was perfect every day that I was there. Its proximity to Monaco & Cannes make for excellent day trips, although I didn’t get the chance to travel to Cannes, we did visit Monaco, which was beautiful. I will talk about it in the next blog.

Most nights were spent down in the hostel’s common room where most of the guests would hang out and socialize. I think this is one of the most important parts in running a good hostel. I will give the hostel a bit of a plug here too, we stayed at Saint Exupery’s Villa Hostel, it was the best place I have ever stayed in, the rooms are large, everything is clean, they have free wireless internet throughout the whole building, run day trips and tours around the city they have a great bar with 1 Euro beers and another thing which I found to be awesome, you can buy dinner there. Every night the chef comes down and whips up a meal, last night I had chicken breast and a risotto & the night before grilled salmon and tabouli. These were great changed from the canned tuna and tinned beans I had been eating for the rest of the trip. The meals were delicious and very cheap, seven Euros for a huge feed was irresistible, but over the past few days I have managed to live pretty cheap, which has been good. It’s pretty difficult to blow a lot of money when going to the beach and sightseeing around the city are free and the beers are only one Euro. But Nice won me over and we opted to stay there for a couple extra nights, I almost wish I was staying for another few, but Paris is calling, so I’d better get myself to the train station.

Extending Our Stay In Nice

Loving Nice so much that we have decided to stay for an extra two nights, so we changed our train tickets and booked in another couple of night at the hostel, which has been absolutely amazing to us so far. Yesterday Ole and I split up, we ventured to the beach with one of the guys from the hostel and i opted to go for a long walk. I walked along the main beach to a large hill which overlooks the entire city and from there it gives you a great view of the surrounding mountains and miles of coastline. It was a bit of a trek to get to the top, but certainly worth it, as you can see in the photo.

The top of the hill was once home to a castle, which was built in the 1100's, but was destroyed and removed centuries ago, there are still some remains of the old steps and some walls, but unless there wasn't signage, you wouldn't know that there once was a castle there. On my descent, i walked down the opposite site of the hill towards the harbour and looked on enviously at some of the boats which are housed there. As it is only 10 miles from Cannes and Monaco/ Monte Carlo, there are plenty of massive ships there, also a couple of cruise liners moored in the harbour. Will wander down to the beach a little later, as it is a gorgeous day. I think Ole and I will wake up early tomorrow and catch a train to Cannes, which is about 10-15 miles from Nice, it is where the International Film Festival is held, which is one of the biggest of the year. The following day we will venture to Monte Carlo, which surprisingly is only 1 Euro by bus. That will be amazing.

Nice is Nice

Arrived safe and sound in Nice and after just one night, the place has won my heart. Not only is the Hostel we are staying at the BEST one i have ever stayed at, but the city itself is gorgeous. I will start with the hostel. The blokes who greeted us yesterday upon arrival were friendly and informative got us checked in without any fuss and told us all about the hostel. They run a great breakfast in the morning which is totally free, their kitchen serves dinner, which is quite cheap and delicious. They have a bar, which is open until 1:30am which is handy in case i want to sneak down for a cheeky midnight beer. They have a huge common area with a big screen TV which has all of the fox and sky channels, the rooms are huge and quiet, the place is spotlessly clean and best of all, last night they had a bloke in playing cover songs on a guitar. This hostel is the best place i have stayed for my entire trip. I do not have a single negative thing to say about this place. The nightlife is great too, all of the backpackers, everywhere you go are all itching for a night out on the town, whether it be Saturday night or Monday night. Last night just happened to be Monday and we were out until about 4:00am with our new mates from the hostel, dancing up and absolute storm on the tables in this pub just down the road. I love travelling.

Casa Batllo, Barcelona

While we were in Barcelona, we visited Casa Batllo, which is a apartment block which was designed by Antoni Gaudi. It was built in the 1870's as a home for middle class families and situated in one of the more affluent areas in Barcelona but four decades after its construction, it was placed in the hands if the famous architect and remodelled to become one of the most famous buildings in all of Barcelona. It was fairly expensive to do the tour, but certainly worth it. Jane, a girl that I met in the hostel was very interested in seeing the building and joined Ole and I. The rooftop is particularly interesting, the view from up there is a spectacle. Much of the facade is decorated with a mosaic made of broken ceramic tiles and some intricate iron work which makes the Casa Batllo such an interesting and popular attraction for tourists. The entire bottom floor of the apartment block has no straight lines in it, meaning the staircase, the roof and walls were all curved, and the paint and lead lighting are designed to give the effect of being underwater which is very impressive. It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and probably would have to be one of the most interesting buildings i have ever been in. Our Hostel; after having some doubts about its cleanliness turned out to be not a bad hostel after all, thanks mostly to the people we met there. Sleeping in such a large city and so close to one of the popular night life districts is difficult as there are cars and trucks zooming past at all hours and people often wandering the streets. That coupled with the fact it was often too warm in the rooms and we had no control over the air-conditioning was a bit of a down side too, but as i said, it was a really friendly atmosphere and the staff were very helpful.

In the evening, a group of us went down to the Magic Fountain to watch a show, which was really cool, thousands people head down there to watch the water display and have dinner, drinks and a good chill out by the fountain, which was exactly what i needed after such a long day of wandering the city. Off to Nice, France tomorrow. The train ride is around about 12 hours. Fun!

Sagrada Familia, Barcelona

Today was our tourist day, we woke up early and departed for a long day of sightseeing. Jane and Christian joined us today for our expedition around the town. We purchased 10-trip passes to ride Barcelona's underground system, which is quite a large set-up, it is also very simple and cheap to utilise. Jane recommended that we visit the Church of the Sacred Family (Templo Expiatorio de la Sagrada Familia), the church is by far one of the most interesting and breath taking buildings i have ever seen, not only from the outside, but the inside as well. Just as with many of the monuments and larger buildings in not only Barcelona, but all across Spain, it was designed by the architect Antoni Gaudi, who is revered for his works during his lifetime.

The designs of the building are so spectacular, that building is still taking place and isn't expected to be finish for another 15-20 years. I thought it was a monstrous building, but the grand plan is to add a 170m tall tower in the middle of it. I would be very interested to see the finished product. It is also interesting to see some of the changes in styles across the building, the outside, which is over 100 years old is extremely intricate in its details, from the bunches of fruits on top of all of the spires, down to every last piece of work done on the statues of the holy men. This is in quite a contrast to the interior, which looks very modern, and open in its design, i am unsure as to whether the interior had been designed by Gaudi, it was spectacular, none the less.

Nights Out and a Day at the Beach

Barcelona is one of the most beautiful cities i have been in since i begun my travelling. All of the buildings are really beautiful and the beach in amazing. We have been on a few big walks around the city, seen some pretty cool buildings and what not, and we have done our bit to experience the night life in the couple nights that we have had. Ill tell you about our Friday night; we went to a really ritzy nightclub on the beach called CDLC, walking inside, it looked like the kind of place where celebrities would go and hang out, the decor was amazing and the bar and drinks were really cool, although they were about 10 Euro each. Ole, myself and two Austrian girls we met in our hostel were dancing about when an American bloke tapped us on the shoulder, introduced himself and took us over to his group.

He explained that he worked on the private yatch for a mega-rich american bloke and that the yatch was docked in Barcelona so it could be painted. At first i was a bit weary, thinking he was having me on, until i met the rest of the crew. All seventeen of them, who were all employed full time on this billionaires yatch. We spent the rest of the night with the group, and were lucky enough not to have to buy a single drink for the entire night. We cured our hangovers yesterday by all heading down to the beach, it was amazing. I have never seen a beach packed with so many people before. We found a great spot, settled our towels down on the sand and spent the whole day swimming and sun baking, i am literally about 10 shades darker now.

Final Days in Madrid

Spend most of the day in bed and lounging about the hostel, which was great. Its good to have a couple of chilled out days every now and then. Yesterday I think we may have left the hostel twice, once to go to the train station to book our ticket to Barcelona and another to go to the supermarket to pick up something to have for dinner. Meals are generally very simple and cheap, I certainly am not eating out half as much as I was while I was travelling through Asia, obviously because its so much more expensive here. Most of my meals consist of a tin of tuna and a simple salad. We often have pasta and ketchup, which Ole has pretty much mastered. These generally is suffice for dinner. We do well to get up in the mornings and make the most of our free breakfast. I would have to say that the best brekkies have been in Madrid. Croissants and fresh doughnuts, also a massive selection of cereals and toasts are served every morning.

I really don't have much bad to say about out hostel in Madrid, we were in a central location, there was plenty of information available in the common rooms, the place was brand new, so everything was clean and well maintained. I would say the only negative was the quality of sleep, particularly last night when there was a lot of noise coming into our room from the street below. Another bonus was for two of the three nights we were there, it was only myself, Ole and one Canadian girl sharing the 12-bed dorm, that was very cool. As you can see, we quickly made ourselves at home. This morning we got up early for breakfast, grabbed our bags and went for a walk to the main park in the city centre. It was great, kept us occupied for the couple hours we had to wait to get the train to Barcelona. The trains are quite good in Spain and we’re on one of the high speed ones, so we have been sitting on around 300kmp/h, for the last few hours. Looking forward to checking into the hostel and heading straight down to the beach to make the most of the last couple hours of sun light today.

Tour of Madrid

The weather in Madrid has been absolutely spectacular, i don't even think that i have seen a single cloud for the entire time i have been here. The temperature has been sitting around about 30-32 degrees Celsius throughout most of the day and its just been wonderful. The hostel we are staying at, which has been pretty amazing, runs a free walking tour of the near-by attractions every morning, so Ole and I tagged along yesterday morning to see what it was all about. Although we'd already been wandering around and had seen most of the stuff that we were being shown, It was great to have a guide to tell us a little more about what we were looking at. We went into the Santa Maria Cathedral, which was very interesting, to my understanding, construction began in 1879 and finally completed in 1993 after work was stopped during civil wars. Because it took over 100 years to construct, the different parts of the Cathedral have been designed using different styles of architecture and design.

You will also see pictured, the Sobrino de Botín, which is the oldest restaurant in the world. its a really charming little place in a quiet side street in the middle of the city. It has been operating since 1725, it is quite famous and the meals there are around the 20-30 Euro mark, which is not nearly as expensive as i was expecting. After our tour, we returned to the hostel, and with a couple of new mates we met on tour and we went to the pub for some much needed beers. What i didn't know is that they serve tapas with every beer they sell in the bars. After ordering our beers the bar tender offered us to choose a tapas plate from the glass case behind the bar, we had all sorts of tasty food, Croquetas were really nice, if you have the chance give them a go, but generally it is salty food, often served with chorizo or bacon. If their aim is to make you want to drink more, it certainly worked. After a siesta, Ole and I met with our new friends at the hostel down the road for a few more beers, this hostel and our own run a pub crawl, which takes place every evening. We got onto some excellent drinking games, 1 litre glasses of Sangria and had a blast, after we were warmed up, we went on to a couple nearby pubs and clubs. I had a great time, It was an excellent way to socialise and meet a load of new people.

Night Train and Madrid

So the night train from Lisbon, Portugal to Madrid, Spain was not half as bad as i had expected. I was very surprised that i was able to sleep so easily. It may have been made quite easy by the fact Ole and I had a big day at the beach at Costa Da Caprica, or the fact i bored myself to sleep by getting stuck into Ole's Sudoku book. But the seats were rather comfortable and reclined enough so as to be fairly comfortable, even still, upon waking up in the morning, i still had quite a stiff neck and my back was aching a little. But what could i really complain about, i was in Madrid. We caught the underground from Charmartin to the station nearest to our hostel. The No Name City Hostel is quite nice, the girls at the reception were very friendly and helpful through our check in, they offered to look after our bags while we waited as we were a couple of hours too early to be able to go to our rooms.

Ole and I wandered around the streets near the hostel and to our surprise it was actually very close to a load of the main attractions in the city. The Royal Palace and its gardens were only a few hundred meters away and the main shopping district also, only a stones throw from the front door. I found myself a lot more comfortable being able to walk into a shop and being able to talk to the attendant as i learned a little english in Primary and High school in Adelaide, but it is what you would call 'traveller's spanish' as it is just enough to get you by but not enough to hold a good conversation. I was quite surprised to find that the Spanish and the Portuguese languages are quite different from on and other thanks to the pronunciations of some letters. But i was okay getting around Spain. I know that i will struggle quite a lot once i get to France. When we returned to the hostel to go to our rooms, i found out that it was only a new hostel and that some of the rooms were still being built, i am not sure how long it has been a hostel, but i would not suspect any longer then a month or two. It is very clean, everything is really quite spacious, secure and the common areas are set out in a way in which to promote interaction between the guests, which is very important. They are also closely affiliated with a couple other hostels in the area and between them run free walking tours of the city and tapas tours and pub crawls every night. There is definitely no pub crawl for me tonight, i am straight off to bed, as i am absolutely exhausted. Buenos Noches.

Sintra & Costa Da Caparica

On Sunday Ole and I met up with a couple of girls i knew from Adelaide, Katie and Ruby. I had absolutely no idea that they were travelling but it was great to hear that they were visiting Lisbon and there was no doubt that i was going to catch up with them. We joined them in the city centre and headed out to Sintra which is a small town a half an hour from Lisbon. The town is a UNESCO World Heritage Site on account of its 19th century Romantic architecture, it is home to a large castle and several palaces. The Castle and its surrounding walls, which are still intact were built sometime between the 9th and the 10th century. We walked for hours up and down hills, we were all absolutely exhausted, so we returned to the city found some food at a nice little Portuguese restaurant and said our farewells. We will see the girls in a couple of weeks in Munich during the Oktoberfest.

On Monday, we decided it would be a great chance to go to the Beach, we travelled by Ferry over to the opposite side of the river Tagus and caught a bus to Costa Da Caprica, The beach was amazing and was swarming with people. Ole and I got into our swim wear and dove into the water. It was a beautiful day, high twenties and clear blue skies. The waves were monstrous and we had a great time getting battered around by the swell. It was a load of fun. I may not get a chance to swim in the ocean for a few months, unless we find a beach somewhere near Barcelona. That is depressing. At the moment, were sitting in our hostel preparing ourselves for the dreaded overnight train to Madrid. Not really looking forward to the most uncomfortable night of sleep in my life, but we will see how we go, perhaps we will get the upgrade and have beds. That way we will be fresh and ready to go tomorrow morning when we arrive in Madrid. Wish me luck.

Nights out in Lisbon

This weekend has been pretty crazy, spending all day exploring the city and its surroundings and then spending all night submersed in Lisbon's incredible nightlife. On friday night, Ole, Myself and Nelson, who is one of the guys that work in our hostel went out to Barrio Alto. Barrio Alto was far out of this world, it is a maze of streets which are all filled with people drinking. It is almost as if no one drinks inside of the bars, they just buy a beer and walk out into the lane ways. It was tough getting through the crowds there, there were thousands and thousands of people there is was quite a sight. We wandered about for a few hours, had a few drinks and returned to the hostel.

Saturday night was a little bigger, we met a couple of lads in our hostel from Belgium, they were a load of fun, we had a few beers at the Hostel and caught the tram into town. We arrived and went into a really great little irish pub called O'Gilins. We walked in the door and there was a band playing traditional Irish folk songs and a couple of really cool covers of popular songs on their drums and violins. We wet our whistles and moved onto the next place, which was a club just down the road, they had a really cool mix of music and a great crowd. We were disappointed when it closed at 3:00am, so again we moved on to another night club called the Music Box. The Music Box was playing some more pop and dance songs, some in English and some in Portuguese. The best thing about it was that it had a 7:00am closing time, we were set for the rest of the night. Caught a cab home and managed to just make it to bed before the sun came up. We had an absolute blast in Lisbon, may have spent a little more then i had planned, but it was worth it. Lisbon has been amazing.

Getting Lost in Lisbon

Now that Ole' and I are together, we can start our sightseeing and exploring around Lisbon. But first things first, I had something very important to see to, the Geelong and Collingwood match was live on the radio at 10:30am Lisbon time, so i woke up and was fixed to the radio for a few hours before our day could begin. Which, i will add, was won by Geelong by 96 points. Great start to the day. We jumped on a bus which went past the hostel and into Lisbon city centre and to the International Railway station, we booked our ticket on the overnight train to Madrid on Monday evening, arriving early on Tuesday morning.

The picture in this blog is one taken from the top of one of the hills in Lisbon, as you can see, the houses are usually 3-4 storeys tall and were built almost as if they are fighting for a view of the water. It is beautiful, as everywhere you look, it is a very similar scene. I think what makes it particularly spectacular is the bright colours every building is painted, whether its light green, sky blue or yellow. We wandered from there across to the centre of town and around some of the main attractions. I showed Ole the Eiffel Elevator, we visited a monster of a cathedral atop one of the hills to the west of the city. We then wandered up and down the sloped streets, through the main thoroughfares in the middle of town which are homes to hundreds of cafes, restaurants and souvenir shops, until we found something that we liked...... A Portuguese Irish Pub. We had a cheeky pint, i had a Guinness, which was pretty tasty, then we were off again, back to the hostel for some food. Tonight was the first time since i left the United Kingdom that i have had to cook for myself, so Ole and I put our heads together and we made a monster serve of Spaghetti Bologese, and since then, we have been lounging around the common room watching television. We are waiting for one of our Hostel workers to knock off work, and he is going to take us, and a couple others into Barrio Alto for a night on the town, should be a great laugh, looking forward to a big night out in Portugal. Judging by the rate in which i am meeting people in and around the hostel, tonight wont be my last night out on the town in Lisbon. All the best.

Getting over the flu

This flu has been hanging around now for a few days, its been killing me, yesterday morning i woke up, i could barely breathe, i couldn't talk and even swallowing hurt, i spent the day drinking Camomile and Green Tea, and this morning to my surprise, i have woken up a lot better. Which is great because i am expecting Ole to arrive in the next couple of hours, and once he gets here i think we will visit Torre De Belém, or the Belém Tower, which is only a couple hundred meters from the hostel on the waterfront, and will go and explore the Jerónimos Monastery, which is literally a stones throw from the front door of our Hostel. They're both very interesting looking structures, I will be sure to load up plenty of photos. Not sure what the plan is for the next couple of days, but by the looks of the weather forecast, today and tomorrow there are chances of some poor weather, but into the weekend its going to be warm and dry, so i will take advantage of one of those and head over to the beach for certain! Looking forward to a bit of an adventure exploring the other side of the river. One of the highlights of my time here so far is having a Pastel de Nata, which is a sweet pastry tart, filled with custard. like a mini custard tart, but absolutely amazing, before i'd even arrived here, i was told it was a must have by two people, so i knew it was going to be good! Im also hoping that i will be able to find the Geelong vs Collingwood match somewhere in Lisbon, but im thinking i will be very hard-stretched to find that one anywhere, so i may have to settle on listening to it on the radio. Go Geelong. Anyways, ill leave you all with that, and i will get a post up for you all tomorrow.