Geneva, Switzerland & Chamonix, French Alps

From Paris we caught the train to meet Kirsty in Geneva.  I liked what I saw in Switzerland.  It was a clean city, and there were no sleezy men - unlike most of the other cities we have visited so far.

We were in Geneva for one full day, so we wandered around the small town, and went to the Lake Geneva where we saw the Jet d'Eau.  I bought a swiss army knife :-D

The next day we caught the train to Chaminox.  This is in the French Alps.  Chaminox is quite a skiers town in the winter, but there are still plenty of people around in the summer too.

The next day we went up the mountain to Aiguille du Midi.  We went up so high that we got a touch of altitude sickness.  We all felt a bit light headed and Tash was dizzy.  Once you relaxed, you then felt tired - while we were up there, I sat down and managed to fall asleep for a second.  We all felt shattered, yet it was still early in the day and we hadn't done that much.  It was also cold up there - it was snowing.  So we had to dress warmly.  Such a contrast to the hot weather we have had lately, and even further down the mountain it was hot as.The view from up there was amazing though.  From there we caught a gondola half way down, and then had to walk to our next stop - Mer de Glace.  This was meant to be a 2 hour, however it turned out to be 3 hours.  And what they told us was an easy walk, turned out to be quite challenging!  The sun was hot too, no snow down there, luckily I had both warm and cool clothes.

Finally we made it to the glacier.  It is the second largest glacier in the alps, apparently 14kms long, 1800m wide and 400m deep.  It has melted quite a bit though, the height of the glacier has dropped dramatically over the years, maybe due to global warming?  Each year they carve out ice caves for the tourists to explore - Grotte de la Mer de Glace.  We went in to see that, it was quite cool!  We were shattered after that day with all that walking!

From Chamonix we caught the train to Genoa in Italy.

Paris, France

From Barcelona we took an evening flight to Paris.  I had preconceptions that the French were arrogant and refused to speak English.  However when we arrived, they were really helpful and told us which bus to catch to get to our hostel.  We tried to speak French to them too - however they usually replied to us in English (we must have had shocking french I guess!).

Our hostel was a big and happening hostel.  We really enjoyed our stay there.  They provided breakfast for us - baguettes, and we usually took extra for lunch too.  We lived off baguettes for a week, I'm quite over them now!

Our next day we slept in and then went to check out some local markets.  That evening we went to the Eiffel tower.  This was one of the highlights of my trip so far.  We sat in the park below - Jardins du Trocadero, and had a picnic dinner - including Paris's famous crepes -Banana and Nutella (man they are yummy!!).  It was a warm summers night.  After our picnic we went up the Eiffel Tower.  We had booked tickets this time!  So didn't need to wait in the long ticket line.  We caught the lift all the way to the top and got some amazing sunset photos.  The view from up there is amazing, you can see right out over the city.  Then we went back down and back to the park, where we had some champagne and watched the tower light up - it did a light show each hour on the hour.

The next day we did a walking tour of Paris.  This took about 3 hours, and covered all the main historical attractions of the city.  The tour guide pointed out some scammers on the street.  They pretend to be deaf, working on behalf of the deaf organisation, collecting money for the charity.  Really they are just gypsys scamming tourists for money.  That afternoon after the tour, we went back to a cafe and tried escargot - otherwise known as snails.  They surprisingly tasted ok.  They season them so much with garlic and other spices that they end up tasting good!

That evening we decided to check out the local clubs, and got talking to some people at the hostel who took us to a club - Queen, on the upper class av des Champs Elysees.  It was quite expensive in there - a vodka red bull drink cost 18 euro!! ( that's about $27 NZD!).

The next day was a slow one, but in the evening we did a river cruise down the River Seine.

The next day we went to the Musee du Louvre to see the Mona Lisa.  The painting was quite small, although I had heard that it was like that, so wasn't that surprised.  Before that we came across the gypsys again pretending to work for the deaf foundation.  Tash shadowed one for a while, chasing off the tourists as they tried to approach them, and telling everyone that they were scammers.  That evening we went to the Montmartre and saw the Basilique du Sacre Coeur.  The view from up there is amazing.  After that we sat on the steps with everyone else and listened to a busker sing some familiar English songs.  After that we went to check out the area where the Moulin Rouge is.  There we meet some Kiwis and had a drink with them.  NZ is such a small country.  It is quite cool to find some kiwis when you are so far from home.

The next day we went to see the Les Catacombes.  Unfortunately we arrived late, and the que was right around the block!  The wait time was about 3 hours.  We didnt have time for that, so unfortunately had to give it a miss.

In the afternoon we wandered down the av des Champs Elysees, and passed all the big branded stores such as Gucci, Abercrombie and Fitch, Prada and all the amazing cars in the european car showrooms.  At the end of this street is the Arc de Triomphe.  This is in the middle of apparently the world's largest traffic roundabout.  So many roads meet there, there are no marked lanes, cars everywhere.  Chaos really.  We wanted to get to the middle to see the Arc de Triomphe, and we could see people were already there, we couldnt see a pedestrian corssing and could see a few brave ones crossing anyway, so we decided to run across also!  Once we were in the middle safely, we realised there was actually a pedestrian underpass.  Opps.  Under the Arc de Triomphe there is the a 'eternal flame' there.  Our tour guide from the day before said that some drunk Australians a few years back went there and cooked some food on it:
"In October 1997 French police arrest an Australian man for using the eternal flame at the Arc de Triomphe in Paris to cook an egg".


Also that afternoon we went to see the Notre Dame.  Then we headed to the Pont des Arts, otherwise known as lovers bridge.  It is heavily decorated with padlocks, which you lock to the bridge with your lover, and throw away the key into the river, as you will be together for life.  Tash and I decided to put a padlock there and threw the keys in the river.  How romantic.

The next day Tash and I hired a car and drove out to Normandy.  I wasn't game enough to drive on the opposite side of the road so Tash did the driving.  It took us a while to leave the parking lot, as Tash kept stalling the car.  Turns out she was trying to start it in third gear - Reverse was in the 1st gear place, but we didn't realise that that place is also for first gear, there is a switch you have to use to change between the two.  Then once out on the road, we couldn't get the Navman to work properly!  Turns out we had it in demo mode.  After those teething issues and getting used to driving on the other side of the road, we were on our way!  It took a bit of getting used to driving on the motorway too, since the speed limit is 130 kms!

Our first stop was Rouen - a old Medieval town.  We checked out the Cathedrale Notre Dame.  It was stunning. Because less tourists go there, you can get up close and personal, unlike the more popular Basilique du Sacre Coeur or the Notre Dame where certain areas are closed off.

After that we headed to Mont St Michel.  The view from here was totally amazing.  It is the best view I have ever seen -it looked like a perfect picture of the horizon, like a photo that had been taken and then enhanced. Except I was seeing this all with my naked eyes.

Once we were done here, it was the evening, and we were low on gas.  We couldn't find a gas station open anywhere.  We could only find ones that were self service, and none of them seemed to take my credit card!  We were starting to get a bit stressed (thought we might be spending the night in Normandy!), but after asking around, we found a gas station that was open!  Once this difficulty was over, we headed out quickly to one of the D-Day beaches - Juno beach.  It was getting dark at this stage, so we didn't get around all the D-Day beaches like we had hoped.  Instead we did the long drive back to Paris - this took about 3 hours.  We didn't get back till the early hours of the morning, and again, couldn't find a gas station open (we were supposed to return the car with a full tank of gas!).

The next day we caught a train to Geneva to meet up with Kirsty again.  While at the train station the deaf scammers came around looking for money.  This time I pretended to also be deaf, and I did some sign language to him.  He said he didn't understand, and then promptly took off.  I then looked for him, because I was going to tell security, however he was no where to be found.  Funny that.

Barcelona, Spain

From Ibiza we caught a flight to Barcelona.  Here we met my cousin Tash.

We made our way to our new hostel, and again, were not impressed with it.  It was well under equipped for the 40 odd beds it had there.

That afternoon Kirsty and I decided to go and check out the local beach there.  We somehow ended up at the nude-gay part of the beach.  That was a bit of an eye opener!  We didn't partake and soon left the beach.  That evening Tash and I went for a walk and saw the La Pedrera.

The next day we did a walking tour of the old gothic city.  It was an interesting tour, with these tours you tend to learn about things you would not have otherwise known, doing the same walk on your own.  Our tour guide was an Australian who had been living in Spain for years.  After our walking tour we went up the San Sebastia tower and caught the cable car to Mount Montjuic.

The next day other Kiwi friends of our arrived at our hostel.  It was a fluke that we happened to be in the same city at the same time, and even in the same hostel!!  Small world.  It was nice to catch up with Ese in particular, because she went from New Zealand to Europe to do some sight seeing, and then from Europe to Canada where she will live to do her post grad in Vancouver.  I probably wont see her again for a while! (but then its an excuse to visit Canada sometime soon!).  That afternoon we wandered around Las Ramblas and the El Ravel (areas of Barcelona).

The next day we went to check out the Sagrada Familia.  We didn't realise that the line would be so long, it curled right around the block - waiting time was around 3 hours.  I wish we had known, we would have booked online otherwise (that way you don't have to wait in line with the others).  So we unfortunately had to give that a miss, and instead went to the Parc Guell instead.  This is one of Gaudi's projects also, it is a park. The park was way up a hill, with hundreds of steps.  Luckily there was an escalator!  It was far too hot to be walking up that many stairs! (even then, we still stopped for ice cream!).

That evening Tash, Celene and I flew to Paris.  Kirsty has already been to Paris, so she went to Geneva in Switzerland for the week instead.

Ibiza, Spain

From Madrid we stopped over in Valencia for a night, and then Brigid headed back to the UK and Kirsty Celene and I caught the ferry to Ibiza.

We arrived at Ibiza in the evening.  The first thing I noticed was that there were heaps of Brits everywhere.  Not the most attractive girls in the world with their orange spray tans and fake lashes.  They wore their little bikinis everywhere - togs togs undies much??  I guess in New Zealand we are a conservative bunch.  I wouldn't be seen dead doing or looking like that!  The island is filled with billboards selling beauty treatments and advertising the many parties happening at clubs around the island.

We caught the bus to our hotel and then headed to the beach for a few quiet drinks (you can drink in public in Spain).  We were staying at one of the quieter beaches, it was quite nice sitting there under the moonlight.

The next day we sunbathed at the beach and then that evening got ready for our big clubbing experience on the island - we were going to a gig called Creme at a club called Privilege.  This is one of the biggest clubs in the world, with a capacity of 10,000 people.  We had a few drinks at the hotel then headed there on the disco bus at midnight (which turned out to be just another regular bus, what a disappointment).  They had a number of big acts on that night - the type that NZ would get excited over months in advance.  They have big acts on this island on every night of the week.  We had a great night, and slept most of the next day. lol.

Our last day in Ibiza we spent over in Formentera.  We caught the ferry over and then decided to walk to the beach from there.  Turns out it was ages away, and we ended up having to walk in the heat for well over an hour.  When we finally got there, we had a drink (bliss!) and then lay on the beach and had a swim.  The water was blue and clear, it was so beautiful on that island, I wished we had more time there.  I hope to return there one day.

The next morning we caught an early flight to Barcelona.

Madrid

From Granada we headed to Madrid on the bus.  One of the girls Brigid was having a hard time.  She knocked over one of the beer bottles the night before and accidentally smashed it on the ground.  She cleaned it up, but managed to get glass in her foot in the process.  Then she kicked the bed leg during the night when it was dark, and hurt her toe (a week later she got it checked out, turns out it was broken).  Then during our travels the next day she managed to get a splinter in her hand.  And finally on the metro as we were making our way to our apartment in Madrid, she got pick pocketed and lost 20 euro.

When we arrived at our apartment, we were not impressed.  It was over 30 degrees, we were hot, and there was no air conditioning, not even a fan.  The place was very very small, the internet did not work properly.  The washing machine didn't work, and neither did the TV.  I called the owner and complained about the washing machine - he came and gave us a key to another apartment down the hall so we could use that washing machine.  And with the TV he came with a new decoder.  He did not look nor attempt to try and fix either - he knew they were not working and probably though we would not complain.  He said he would find us a fan - and then conveniently did not return.

The next day we caught the train to check out Toledo - an old medieval village in Spain. It is a UNESCO world heritage site as well.  That evening we went on a pub crawl in Madrid.  It was a Monday night so there was no pub crawl, so instead we just wandered around the bars and made our own pub crawl.

The next day was a slow one, we slept in and then in the late afternoon -when it got a bit cooler, we did a bit of shopping.

From Madrid we headed to Valencia as a stopover en route to Ibiza.

Granada, Spain

From Algeciras we caught a 5 hour bus to Granada.  This was quite a pleasant ride as we drove along the coast past Marbella and Malaga.  This had some beautiful beaches, I definitely want to return there one day.

Once we arrived at Granada we had to find our hostel.  We caught a bus which took us to the main street near our hostel, but then we had to walk up the alleys ourselves.  It was all uphill and hundreds of stairs.  Poor Celene had her luggage on wheels, so that was a nightmare for her.  It was a tiring walk in the heat (again over 30 degrees there too).  Once we found our hostel we were pleasantly surprised. It was beautiful.  It had a nice sheltered outdoor area and a pool!!  We unpacked and then went for a much deserved swim.  Because we were staying quite high up, view from the hostel was amazing - the Alhambra (famous palace) was quite close too, you could see it from our hostel. Later on in the evening the hosts invited us up to the rooftop for a drink and to watch the sunset.  That was amazing.  Our hostel was located in the Albaicin.

The next day we decided to just hang out at the hostel.  We got some drinks and just chilled out in the shade all day and went swimming again.  That evening we went out to a Spanish restaurant for the infamous tapas (which are called pintxos here) and sangria.  Yummy!


The next day we went to see the famous Alhambra palace.  It was beautiful and meet my expectations that I had seem from the photos.  This palace is so popular that you have to book tickets (or que outside all day in the hot sun).  We bought tickets for a certain time, but didn't realise we had to enter a certain part of the palace (the Palacios Nazaries) at that time. We were late because we had just been wandering around the other areas, and the lady did not let us in.  She showed us where to buy new tickets.  We didn't want to have to do this, so pulled the English card - we had not been told we had to do that when we picked up our tickets, and our information booklet they gave us, was in Spanish, so we missed those important instructions.  The man who served us sympathized with us, so just issued us new tickets, free of charge.  Luckily!  The views out from the Alhambra over Granada are amazing.  We had a photo from the top tower, with our New Zealand flag with the view in the background.

That evening the hostel hosts took us all on a walking tour around Granada, we walked further up the hill and watched the sun set, then we walked around and back to our hostel.  We passed this area where squatters lived.  It was quite sad to see the conditions that they lived in.  Then we passed a bar where we all had a beer and some olives as a snack.  Then back to the hostel where they had cooked lasagne for us for dinner.  We had that with red wine.  Gracias!

The next day we caught the bus to Madrid.

Tangier, Morocco

From Seville we made our way to Algeciras where we caught a ferry over to Tangier, Morocco.  We missed the first ferry because we were waiting in the wrong boarding lounge.  It is hard when you don't speak the local language and you are relying on the locals or staff to tell you where to go.  Someone had lead us a stray.  So when we realised (which was when we tried to board the wrong ferry) then we found out where our particular ferry was departing from, and caught that.

Once we were on the ferry, we were getting looks from the locals, which were arabs, so we though we better make an effort to cover up.  Once we arrived in Tangier we were a little overwhelmed.  There were men everywhere and we didn't trust any of them.  We had been travelling all day and it was hot.  We were tired.  People were trying to help us but we were not sure who to trust, and who would take us for a ride.  We eventually found a taxi driver who spoke some english, so we got in his taxi and he took us to our hostel.  But a car couldn't take us to the door - we still had to decipher our way through the alleys.  The map didn't seem to be correct, it was a difficult task to do while being harassed by the locals in every direction trying to sell you things plus we had all our luggage.  We asked a few locals for directions and eventually found the place.  We were so relieved!

We hung aroung the hostel for a couple of hours to unwind, then in the evening went out to explore the area. Ramadan just so happened to be on while we were there, so after dusk, most people were at the mosque.  This was good for us as it made the streets a lot quieter, we were left to ourselves instead of being harassed.  However it was hard to find food, as most restaurants were closed during this period of the year.


The next day we woke up to a lovely breakfast served by the hostel.  It was traditional - feta cheese, olives, fresh fruit, bread rolls, juice and turkish pastries.  We then went out exploring again and had a look around the Kasbah - a palace.  It was nice and it was right on the coast, so the views from there were amazing.  We noticed there were more local woman out the next morning too, and we didn't get hassled by the street vendors so much, plus we knew now what to expect now, so the day was a lot nicer than the one before!

That afternoon we caught the ferry back to Algeciras where we spent a night, before heading to Granada the next day.

Seville, Spain

From Lagos we caught a 7hr bus to Seville.  It was really hot in Serville, 30+ degree temperatures all week.   We wandered around the city, and soon realised that McDonalds sold beer - so we got ourselves a nice cold beer.  Plus some Haagen Dazs Ice Cream.  Yummy!!  That evening we wandered around the village and found ourselves a shisha cafe.  That was nice and relaxing.  Then Brigid and I were not ready to go back to the hostel, so we continued out for a drink, and found a street festival happening next to the river Rio Guadalquivir.  We had a few drinks and watched the live band.  Later in the evening some local kids did some flamingo dancing.  They were all dressed up, it was really cute, and they were really go at it too!  I didnt have my camera on me unfortunately :-(

The next day we went to check out the Alcazar.  This is a huge palace that rulers of Seville have occupied from the time of the Romans.  It was very well kept and beautiful.  They had big lawns and gardens too, so we say in one of them in the shade and had some lunch.  It was nice to escape from the hot sun.  Some peacocks came up to us for some food.  There was even a baby peacock with them - something I had never seen before.

That evening we got a horse and carriage to a Flamenco show that we had booked.  This was probably the highlight of our time in Serville.  We got dressed up and thoroughly enjoyed the show - the dancers were really skilled and had beautiful Spanish dresses.  The horse and carriage was a bit of an experience - because we rode along on the road, with all the cars and traffic.  I was a bit afraid the horse might spook, but it was fine and got us there safely!

Genoa!

We're in Genoa now - yay Italy!

Lagos - Portugal

From Lisbon we caught a bus to Lagos.  The bus ride was about 4 hours but was fine as it had wi-fi, so we all were surfing the internet and listening to music while we drove.

In Lagos we were staying in what we thought was a hostel.  But when we arrived, we realised it is an apartment, with a few rooms, that have bunk beds in them, they rent the rooms out, and then you have communal use of the kitchen/bathroom/lounge/deck.  When we arrived we were the only ones there, we thought we were on our own for the night, so spread our stuff out all over the apartment, and then started drinking and getting ready to head out to a bar.  Then another couple arrived later that night.  It was a bit awkward as we really had spread out and had not left much room for them. lol.

That evening we went to a bar and found a pub crawl happening.  So we joined that and had another great night out on the town.

The next day was a slow one, so we just headed to one of the beautiful beaches here and just sunbathed and swam for the afternoon.  The weather here is not too hot, not as hot as Lisbon at 38º!!

Tomorrow we will head to Serville.  That´s a 7 hour bus drive.  I hope there is an onboard toilet and wifi!!!

Lisbon - Portugal

On the 18th July we caught the overnight train to Lisbon.


Three of us had already booked our tickets for this back in NZ, but Brigid had decided to join us after this was done.  We went to check in for our train and get her an extra ticket, but the train was fully booked.  This was a bit of a shock, because she could not get on a train to Lisbon until a few days later.  So Brigid went back to the hostel for the night to find some other way of getting to Lisbon unfortunately, and we boarded our train.


It was a long train, 13 hours.  And the seats were not all that comfortable to sleep in.  But we tried to sleep best we could, and then the next day we arrived in Lisbon.  It was SUPER hot in Lisbon, 38º!!  We had all our luggage with us, and we had to try and find our hostel.  Not easy in those temperatures!  But we found it without too much hassle, and then unloaded our gear.  Brigid also got in touch, to say she was on a bus for Lisbon, which would arrive the next morning.  Luckily!  The hostel we were staying in was quite flash too, a nice change to the questionable ones we had stayed in in the past.  That afternoon, we went and checked out the old town of Lisbon -Alfama.  It is full of cute old alleys and the typical white houses with orange tiled roofs.  And then in the evening, we tried to go and see the big Jesus statue at one end of the 25 de Abril Bridge.  We saw it again during the day the next day.  The statue is massive and gives you an eary feeling, its kind of creepy, I think because of its size - it stands taller than any buildings surrounding it in Lisbon, plus its particular stance, with its arms held out wide.


The next morning we meet Brigid and then caught a train to a town just out of Lisbon called Evora.  The main reason we came here was to see the Ossuary Chapel, which was is a chapel made out of human bones. To be honest though it was a bit of a dissapointment, because it was just one room within the church which was like that. Evora is a beautiful little town though, but it was hard for us to appreaciate, as it was just sooooooo hot. We found a tree and grassy area to sit under for a few hours, while we had a drink and cooled down.


The next day we went to a town just out of Lisbon called Sintra. We visited a place called the Quinta da Regaleira. It is a big property with a big old house and beautiful gardens surrounding it plus little grottos. Every corner was picturesque. We spend the whole afternoon here, we loved it. Then we caught the train back home to Lisbon. 


One the train ride back, we had earlier looked up that there was meant to be a Nandos restaurant there. So we went out and tried to find it. We got off at the particular station, and judging by the people there, we had got off in a not so safe area of town. Anyway we walked around trying to find this restaurant, but it turns out it was not the Nandos restaurant we had expected, it was something completely different! So we had also passed McDonalds when we were walking, so we grabbed some takeaways, and then went back to catch our train, before it got dark. Turns out although Nandos is a Portugese global restaurant chain, it is not offered in Portugal, it is something that is only offered overseas (the locals already have plenty of restaurants offering that type of food). Bummer! And then on our way home when we get off at the Lisbon train station, you scan your ticket and the gate will open for a second, to let one person through. Anyway a girl managed to get caught by her neck in the gate. It wouldn´t open, and people were surrounding her trying to force it open. There were no staff members around to release the gate, and there are no buttons (because people would instead push those and then not pay I guess). So that was a bit shocking. She got out in the end though. We have been caught by our backpacks before, but always managed to pull free, nothing like that though!!


That evening we spend just wandering around Lisbon city, since we had spent most of our time doing day trips outside of Lisbon CBD.


The next day we caught a bus to Lagos in Portugal.

San Sebastian, Spain

On the 15th July, we caught a bus from Pamplona to San Sebastian.  San Sebastian is a beach area up the top of Spain, a lot of tourists come here.

We had a bit of difficulty finding our hostel (often the directions are not that clear, there are no road signs, the hostel is not signed, no-one speaks English etc) but eventually we found it.  Then we discovered McDonalds was not far from us, so went there for lunch.  We had not had McDonalds in ages!!! (I always miss my familar western takeaways when I travel).

We went and checked out the beaches - they were beautiful - white sand, clear blue water.  It was so nice and sunny, plenty of people sun bathing on the sand and swimming in the sea.  We also caught a Funicular train up Monte Igueldo. The view of San Sebastian from up there was AMAZING! We took heaps of photos.

There were lots of people staying at our hostel - we have meet quite a lot of Australians (cant seem to escape them, even on the other side of the world!) and also Swedish people. One night we all drank at the hostel, and then decided to have a night out on the town. That was lots of fun, was nice to meet and socialise with some new people. Us girls though had far to much to drink, and eventually found our way back to the hostel. Everyone was laughing at me, because I got sick during the night, went out on the balcony for some ´fresh air´ and then went back inside, and got into the wrong bed - it was some random girl´s bed (we were sharing a room with others). The thing is, she didnt argue, and must have instead just checked out early the next day. Everyone woke up to find me in her bed. How embarassing. I was ultimately hung over the next day and so was Brigid, we all were infact. We went to McDonalds (the best food when you are hungover) and Brigid felt sick, so she ran for the bathroom, which was full, and instead there was a line of people waiting to go in there. She couldn´t hold it in, so threw up in the hand basin infront of everyone!!! So we both lost a bit of pride that night! I think San Sebastian was happy to see the back of us kiwis!! haha.

We tried a bit of the local food in San Sebastian too. Each bar has many plates on tapas on the counter, otherwise known as pintxos here.  You buy them by the piece, they are bitesized and so yummy.  They have all kinds of ingredients in them!!  We also tried Spanish cider called sidra.  We didnt like it though.  It tasted like a normal cider, with olive oil added to it.  Not that easy to drink. lol.

The next evening we caught a overnight train to Lisbon in Portugal.