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.

Pamplona, Spain - San Fermin Running of the Bulls

On the 11th July, we flew to Spain to Pamplona for the celebrations of San Fermin, Running of the Bulls.  We meet Brigid there, a friend of ours, who has been living in the UK for the past year, but wanted to join us for our travels.

We flew in very late at night, and tried to get a taxi to our hostel.  The particular taxi driver we got got really angry because we could not speak Spanish, and instead asked him if he could speak English.  We couldn´t tell what he was trying to say, so decided to wait at the taxi stand until he left, and then we would try another cab driver, but he walked down the line of cabs and warned the others!  So we had to wait for the whole bunch of them to leave, and then we found another cab - This time I had my Spanish phrase book out, so tried to speak to him in Spanish - he seemed to understand me :-D

We soon realised that they really don´t speak English in Spain, you need to be able to speak to them in Spanish.  We learnt a few key phrases which got us along.  Thank god we had the phrase book!  And we each had a giggle when someone in our group had to deal with a spanish person!

After our frist night, we went to stay with a friend of a friend - Caldo, who lives in Pamplona, who we had already organised to stay with.  Catching a bus to his house was a nightmare, we knew what number bus to catch - but we didnt know what stop to get off at.  I told the driver in Spanish the address we wanted to go to, and he replied with this big explanation in Spanish, which I obviously didn´t understand!  So we sat on the bus, and then when he made some noise, we got off.  But we still didnt know where we were, and the locals were not able to tell us which way to go.  We gave Caldo a text, and he eventually found us and picked us up.

His apartment was really nice, it was good to stay in someone´s home for a change, to let your guard down, instead of staying in hostels.  In Pamplona the weather was really hot.  I can see why the locals siesta every afternoon (most shops and  places are closed between 1 and 3pm in Spain) because it is just too hot to do anything else.  Instead they work later into the night.

The first night we caught the bus into town to get amongst the celebrations of San Fermin.  This ran for two weeks, but we just went along to see what it was like, for a few nights.  The night always started at 11pm, with a massive fireworks display.  It was bigger than any display we have in NZ, and it was every night of the week - for two weeks!!  We took along some beers and bottles of Sangria (which was only a euro!  Alcohol is so cheap over here!).  You are allowed to drink in public here.  So we were not sure how an evening of San Fermin went, so we just wandered around with the crowd, drinking our Sangria, and came accross a concert happening.  We joined and watched and danced.  And then got talking to a Spanish family who were there.  We ended up spending the whole night with them.  They were lots of fun, and included us in all the things they were doing -dancing along to certain spanish songs, and they gave us all drinks from their bota bag!!  We had such a fun night!

The next night we decided we would stay up the whole night partying, and then watch the bulls run through the town at 8am the next day.  We all got dressed up in white, and each had a red scarf and red belt.  There were heaps of celebrations happening on the streets, so we just drank our drinks and wandered around, joining in here and there.  Then at 5am, we lined  up to get a good view for the bull running.  We waited 3 hours, I think we were all quite tired by then, and finally at 8am, the crowds came running past, chasing a couple of bulls.  We didn´t actually run with the bulls, I heard it´s too dangerous.  But it was an experience watching the whole thing, as well as simply being there for all they celebrations they have for this festival.

Amsterdam

On the 6th July Kirsty flew from NZ to meet us in Amsterdam.  Celene and I flew over from London.


Once we had Kirsty we made our way to our hostel..  We were staying at a camping ground in a cabin, half an hour out of town.  Accommodation was scarce that weekend as there was the Madonna concert on as well as a big dance party -Sensation White.  The camp site we stayed as was nice, it had big fat bunnies that would hang around on the lawn, they were not scared of people.  And then our cabin smelled of weed - Think it had been hotboxed one too many times. lol.


The first night we went did some of the usual things you do in Amsterdam - went to the Sex Museum (which was kind of boring I dont rate it) and checked out a coffee shop - these new laws dont seem to have been enforced yet, there is still weed sold everywhere.  We also tried some dutch pancakes - I really love them!!!  They are thick and they put chopped fruit and things in them.  YUMMY!


We also checked out the Red Light District.  Celene wanted to take a picture of the atomosphere, not anyone in particular, but she caught the eye of some prostitute, who got all angry and started yelling and swearing at her because she thought she was trying to take a picture of her.  Later on in our travels, we meet another friend of ours - she also said she had a similar incident, and it sounds like it was the same prostitute.  Funny!


The next evening we went to the dance party - Sensation White.  It was a big event at the stadium, 40,000 people attended.  On our way in, we were busting to use the toilet (toilets are hard to find in Europe when you are busting!) so we passed this building which had it´s back door open, and snuck in there to use their toilet.  When we were in there, we had to wait in line with the others, we got talking to them, turns out we had snuck into a party - the Madonna after party.  She had just done her concert somewhere nearby, and the after party was there. haha, we couldnt believe it!  The set at Sensation White was AMAZING.  We danced the night away till 7am, then caught the train back to our hostel in the morning. 


The next evening I went to meet Paula a relative of mine who lives in Canada, but who just so happened to be in Amsterdam with her sister at the same time.  It was nice to see her again, I haden´t seen Paula since she last came to New Zealand.  And was good to meet Mary Beth. 


The next day we went to check out the famous markets in Amsterdam.  I bought quite a few different kinds of food, and celene bought a few clothes.


The next day we caught a train out to Rotterdam, and hired bikes, and cycled around that city, seeing the weird and wonderful building they have there.


The day after that we went we went to the Heniken Brewery.  We had so much fun going here, we went on a tour through the brewery, and then at the end we had a few beers (which turned into a few more) and then went on a river cruise.  We had intended to go to the Anne Frank house in the afternoon, but we ended up spending more time in the Heineken brewery than expected, so ran out of time. lol


That evening we flew to Spain to make our way to Pamplona for San Fermin (Running of the Bulls).

Got this little guy today to be our trip mascot.. He's gonna go on some mad adventures lol

London

Well I arrived in London a week ago now.  I spent the first week up in Birmingham, and then this week headed back down to stay in London for the week.  I am staying with three girls I went to school with, its so good to see them again, they have lived in London for over a year now.  Celene arrived yesterday.  I went to Heathrow to meet her.  Together we made our way home on the infamous Tube.  Today we went to see the changing of the guards at Buckingham Palace.  Then we noticed across the road was the Hardrock Cafe.  I try to visit the Hardrock Cafe's when I travel, so we went there for lunch.  It was pretty cool, downstairs they had a vault that you could look inside - it had many items, including one of Madonna's costumes from the 1990's, as well as Kirk Cobain's guitar.  In the afternoon we went to go on the London Eye.  The que was sooo long, and when we got to the front, they bag searched us - I happened to have a couple of cans of Pimms in my bag - they got confiscated. That was a bit embarassing!   The London Eye was nice though, it had a good view of the river and Big Ben.  We then caught the Tube to Camden Town, and checked out the markets.  The people in Camden Town are quite.. alternative? Hmm.  Its nice to just have a drink and people watch there.  My first thoughts of England - the buildings and houses are quite old, they are all brick (England must have more bricks than any other country!).  Nothing modern like we have in NZ.  And the houses are so close together!!  Its rare to have a detached house, and if you have, its only about a metre from the next building.  People are not as helpful or approachable here.  Whenever I travel overseas, when people hear I am from NZ, they usually say how friendly kiwi's are - I am beginning to see what they mean.  When you go on a escalator you must keep right!! 


The next day we went to Madame Tussauds.  We really enjoyed it here, having our photos will all the wax celebrities.  They had the pop celebrities, the royal family, bollywood stars, sports celebs - even Jonah Lomu!!  They also had a spookers like of area.  That was a bit scary. lol


That evening we meet the girls we had been staying with for a drink.  Then since they had work the next day, Celene and I found a pub crawl which we joined.  We had a great night - didnt feel so great the next day though. lol.  On our last night we had a meal at the pub with the girls and a jug of Pimms - it was great, I think I will drink a lot of that when I get back here to live. ;-)