Barcelona

My first impression of Barcelona was ‘get me the hell out of this city!’. The first 12 hours were freaking horrible! The metro system is impossible to understand, hence it took about 2 hours to make it from the airport to our ‘hostel’. Then, on our way up the stairs of the metro when we thought all our troubles were over, some idiot squirted paint all over our backpacks, up my legs and shorts! Not happy Jan!! 

Finally, to top it all off, we rocked up at our ‘hostel’ (and I use this word very loosely) at 11.30pm, to check in at the bar downstairs, before being directed upstairs to the hostel. Let’s just say this is by far the most horrible, depressing and derelict place I have ever stepped foot in! Was more like a brothel/war zone than a hostel! I actually thought I was going to fall straight through the top bunk and kill Kim during the night because the beds were so flimsy and old. We woke up the next morning to something suss being smoked in the hallway, and a ‘breakfast’ that consisted of cheap arsed muffins straight out of a packet. No hot water, not even a kettle or microwave that worked! Ridiculous. After hot footing it and getting our butts out of there in record time, we headed out to Barcelona’s main strip ‘La Rambla’, where there were some funky markets and a cool vibe. Our luck changed when we met our couchsurfing host, Rob from Alabama. Rob is a very well travelled guy, who has previously been working in London and is now in Barcelona, and has done some pretty amazing hiking all over the world. The view from the terrace of his top floor apartment is absolutely stunning, overlooking the Tibidabo (a huge cathedral on the top of the hill out the back of the city which you can see in the below photo), and much of the city of Barcelona.

In our rush to get out of the hostel that morning, Kim had locked her bag and forgot to write down the combination, so at Rob’s we had to do a break and enter into her backpack. Sorry for breaking the lock Kimmie! The next morning we headed to an area of Barcelona where some Gaudi architecture stood. 

The buildings were like something from Lord of the Rings, although the sheer number of tourists was a bit disheartening. So we did an early morning trip back the following morning so Kim could capture the buildings without all the tourists! That day we headed up the hill to Tibidabo (the cathedral). We didn’t have a detailed map, and weren’t entirely sure where we were headed, but knew that if we continued to go up the hill, we would eventually get there. After maybe 2 hours of walking, we popped out onto a road which we followed the rest of the way to the cathedral. The hike up the hill was well worth the effort, with views overlooking the entire city, from the Mediterranean to the mountains surrounding the city. 

We decided that walking up the hill merited us a ride down the hill on the cable car, my feet still have the blisters to prove the hike! Our Lonely Planet guide directed us to a food market just off La Rambla, to find chocolates, nuts, fresh fruit, a huge fresh fish market, meat and yummy fruit juices. I tried the mango and coconut (and the next day the kiwi and coconut) and Kim had banana and coconut & the mango and coconut (a big hit!). Somer, you would have loved this place!

Whilst we were in Barcelona, there was a huge protest in the main square, with hippies and dogs sleeping in the streets and banners hung all over. Rob said that there were elections whilst we were in Barcelona and the Government had been easily defeated. Apparently the hippies were protesting for the Government to do something about the unemployment rate, which is currently around 50% for people under 30. As part of the protests, every night at 9pm people go out onto their balconies and bang pots and pans for 15 minutes. We heard this from Rob’s terrace one night, the sound was echoing up the hill. Rob also took us out for tapas at this cool, cozy little Moroccan inspired restaurant, with tiny child size chairs and such good tapas. We had tortilla with spinach, amazing patatas bravas (these were much better than the ones in Ibiza), meatballs, the patty of a hamburger with rocket and cheese and something else too (can’t remember but all super yummy!). On our last day in Barcelona, we hired bikes and rode all the way along the coast, stopping at some exercise equipment which is perched on the sidewalk, where all the oldies were working out. At one point there was a slight hill, so I decided I was going to take my bike up the escalator’s. It was tougher than it looked, and after 2 escalator’s I had to carry my bike up some more stairs anyway. Defiantly took the hard road! 

For lunch we decided to treat ourselves to a traditional dish of seafood Payella, at a restaurant suggested by Rob. It was a good sign when we couldn’t get a table outside, meaning the food was quality! And it defiantly was! 

The day we left Barcelona, Rob had to catch an early flight back to the U.S., so after closing the door behind us, we headed off to the train station for one of the most broken train trips in history! Going from Barcelona to Nice, we ended up having to change trains at Figures, Montpellier (with a 2 hour stop over) and Marseille. Then to top it all off, we got off at the wrong stop wasted and hour and a half wandering the city carrying 20kg’s of luggage each, before finding the right train stop. We headed down to the beach to a fancy restaurant asking for directions to our next couch surfing hosts home, and had the manager and the boss pulling out a map and the phone, calling our host and getting him come and pick us up! It is amazing how nice and generous people are! So that gets us to Nice….

Ibiza

Ibiza was an interesting place, although not what I expected. It is an island which revolves around the summer months, when tourists flock to nightclubs (I swear 90% of them are English!) and the transportation system nearly runs on time, (a huge accomplishment for the Spanish!). The island itself boasts both green scenery and sandy beaches. There was the option of taking the ferry for 7 and a half hours, or a quick 40 minute flight from Barcelona. We chose the later, picking up some cheepy airfares thanks to the European budget airline, Spanair! Gotta love the competition in the European skies! After two bus rides and only a rough idea where we were headed, we finally found our hostel in the town of Sant Antonio, a family run place with a local bar downstairs and a free tapa with every drink. Our welcome refreshment of sangria (on tap, no less) went down very well with the patatas bravías suggested by Tucker! Thanks mate! 

A walk around town that night took us down to the boardwalk, and along past The Buddha Bar and Café del Mar, where we had to stop for the best Liquor Coffee I have ever had!! 

That night was the first in a while where we had an entire room and bathroom to ourselves! What an unbelievable luxury. After a decent sleep (finally!) we headed up the ‘mountain’ (a tiny hill compared to our other adventures!) behind the town, to a view which overlooks the town and the sea. 

Along the boardwalk, there is rock jutting out from the path that you can walk along to get to two other beaches, with a couple of little caves tucked under the walkway . 

That night we decided to treat ourselves once more, and headed to The Buddha Bar to see what they offered. Unfortunately, their menu was severely lacking, so after a sneaky photo of the golden Buddha, we headed to a less well known but very cute place called Sun Sea Bar, where we were offered a great sunset, and rugs when it got chilly!

Our final full day in Ibiza took us to the actual town of Ibiza, were the water was very refreshing, but well worth the dip. 

We decided that on our final night In Ibiza, we had to sample the nightlife, considering it is meant to be the best and most craziest in the world. The opening season party for Es Paradis was on, and with free tickets worth 70 euros we couldn’t say no (you can pay anywhere between 35 and 70 euros each just for entry!). We had a siesta at 10pm, waking up at midnight to get ready and head out at 1ish. It just so happened that we met some local Spanish dudes in the bar downstairs just as we were heading out, so we went with them to a Spanish bar for pre-drinks before the club opened. It was right on the outskirts of the tourist nightlife, in an area called The West End (maybe named after all the English there I think!). The Spanish dudes that we were with insisted that we should go to another bar after for more drinks, but being that it was getting very late (or early??) Kim and I headed to Es Paradis. Big mistake! The line was a bazillion km’s long and people walking out were saying that it was like a can of sardines in there, so after 40 minutes and barely even getting half way, we gave our tickets to an Irish ladette from Dublin (whose accent was soooo thick I could hardly makes sense of it), and settled for a picture. 

It was a bit disappointing (more so for Kim than myself I think, being her taste in music and all), we thought that Ibiza was meant to have the most incredible nightlife and know how to throw amazing parties, but instead it was cold, rough….and I got hungry (surprise surprise!). Onwards and upwards though…Barcelona next!

Cadiz, Gibraltar & Malaga

After chatting to some local’s in Sevilla, we decided to take a trip down to the very south coast of Spain, staying 3 nights in Cadiz and one in Malaga. We arrived in the old town of Cadiz, one of the oldest town’s in Europe, boasting cute paved streets and beautiful beaches. Strolling around the town at sunset was the perfect setting for Kimmie to get some great shots, and to truly appreciate the city.

At the hostel, we asked one of the locals to point us in the direction of a great tapas place. A crazy but very cool chica Toni took us to a local place, which was absolutely deserted but had very yummy tapas of cannelloni, pasta, pork and croquettes. YUM! The next day we took the bus to the most southern town on the Spanish mainland, Tarifa. Tarifa is the gateway to Africa, with ferries continuously leaving to Morocco. From the beach we could actually see Morocco on the horizon, being that it was only a few km’s away! Not only is Tarifa the most southern town, but I also swear it is the windiest town!! Just lying on the beach was a massive chore, fighting one grain of sand at a time! The Spanish have used this natural resource to their advantage, with wind farms as far as the eye can see. 

That night we headed out with one of the dudes from the Hostel, an Argentinian guy who took us to a pub with a funky Moroccan theme and super cheap beer. Then we went around the corner to a Spanish club, with reggae music and zero people! Getting home at 3am (super super early in this country!) I went straight to bed in the hammocks we had hired for the night, on the terrace of the hostel. Although it was a little chilly, they were surprisingly comfy, and I even woke to the smell for freshly baked bread in the early morning from a bakery just around the corner! 

The next day was one of R & R, we hit the beach in the old town (the most sheltered seeing at it was a bit windy) which was surprisingly packed with families, and chica’s in bikini’s that I wouldn’t actually label clothing, more along the line of thread! 

The following day we moved on to Malaga, with a short stop in Gibraltar. Gibraltar is a small piece of the UK in the south of Spain. The British government took over Gibraltar in the 1700’s (I think) and, like a child in a sandpit, never gave it back to Spain. The currency is the pound (what a pain in the butt!!), there are red phone booth’s and fish and chips sold at every second shop. 

Probably the biggest draw of Gib, is the wild monkeys which live on the top of the ‘rock’ (more like small mountain) that lines one side of the coast. We arrived in La Linea, the town on the Spanish side of the boarder and walked across the boarder through security. This was up with one of the weirdest boarder crossings I have ever done, challenging the Vietnam and Cambodian crossing, which is saying something!! Although you have to show your passport, no-one actually opens it or checks to see that it is in fact a passport. Just on the other side of the boarder, we met up with Eddy, a friend who we did the Sierra Nevada road trip with. From there we walked across a runway and into Gibraltar. 

The Gib airport only has flights to and from the UK, with the runway being the area which stamps the ‘separate’ sign in the sand between the two boarders. Not much love lost there! Eddy has a mate, Jan, from Germany who lives in Gib, and is a professional poker player. Jan said that the laws in Germany are a lot tighter than in Gibraltar about online poker, so it is not uncommon for people to move to Gib to live and work as professional players. Jan lives in a really nice apartment overlooking the marina, runway and La Linea. When we were there, one of the world’s biggest yacht’s was moored in the marina, and apparently the owner of the yacht is unknown, although there are rumours that it is owned by a Russian oil dude. 

That arvo we walked for up the ‘rock’, taking about 90 minutes, much of it steps. On the way we met a monkey who ‘stole’ Eddy’s banana (it is illegal to feed them). The was pretty happy with himself, until there was no banana left. He gave Kim the evil eye, then continued on his way! 

At the top of the rock was a great view over Gib, parts of the Spanish coast, and we were told that on a clear day you can also see Africa. When we were there, a massive black cloud hung over the city of Gib. Jan was saying that it could stay for weeks, because the rock stops any weather form passing over it! 

On the way down, we stopped to watch the feeding of the monkey’s, with the little ones jumping on the roof of the van, and two even jumped onto a ladies head and was hanging off her! Pretty funny! That night we headed on to Malaga. We didn’t realise but the trip from La Linea actually took about 2 and a half hours, so we arrived in Malaga on a Sunday night, with no map and absolutely no direction as to get to our couchsurfers house. After asking 3 different people, a really nice lady bundled us into her car and drove us literally around the corner to the right street! It was there we met Kevin, a dude from Michigan who was teaching English at a school just out of Malaga. He took us out with another couchsurfer to a bar where an Irish guy in his late 40’s who clearly hadn’t let go of the ACDC era was playing covers of some pretty decent songs; from Hotel California to Wonderwall. Having a shot of Scotch in between every song probably helped his confidence also! But he was really very good, and apparently very funny in between songs (he sang in English and spoke in Spanish). After a 4 hour nap, it was time to hit the road once again…

Sevilla, Sierra Nevada & Granada

The trip to Sevilla, Sierra Nevada (a mountain range in the south of Spain) and Granada was truly great. It all started when we met Hannes, a German dude living in Sevilla who offered not only his couch to sleep on, but also for us to go camping and hiking with him and two friends for a few nights. We couldn’t let such an opportunity pass! Hannes’ apartment is the 6^th floor, overlooking the river and much of the city, great view! 

 We hit the supermarket for supplies without a list, or any idea of what to buy. 

But we managed to leave with the essential camping supplies; beer, wine, bread, tomatoes, chocolate and pasta. Turns out we had arrived in Sevilla at the right time, the Feria was on, with women dressed in Flamenco style dresses. A section of the town was alive with dancing and drinking till all hours of the morning! That night we met the rest of our road trip family, Eddy from Germany and Pablo from the Canary Islands. The next day we packed into our tiny car, and headed off to the store to grab a cheapie tent. 

Then we were on our way. Kim and I discovered that getting sunflowers seeds (Pipas) out of their shells was an equivalent addiction to smoking, and had plenty of fun attempting to throw/spit the shells from the window of the car. Needless to say most of the shells ended up either back on us or stuck to the outside of the car window! We had a quick stop off on the way up into the Sierra Nevada to check out the incredible view. 

We arrived in Bubion, a cute small little town clinging to the sides of a mountain with amazing views. It was here that we did our first hike, only a small one that took a couple of hours, but with a huge incline! 

On our way down the boys decided to do some cross country hiking, and before we knew it we had jumped a fence into someone’s farm. There were goats with bells around their necks following us through the paddock, obviously thinking we had food. After we jumped another fence back onto a road, we noticed a sign stuck to the fence declaring there was a guard dog protecting the goats! Luckily we managed to miss it!

Then we walked into the town of Capileira. Where we headed to the info place to suss out possible hikes. Basically we were told that the hike we wanted to do wasn’t a good idea, because the next day was meant to be bad weather, and the track was still snowed and iced over. This didn’t stop the attempt however!

On the way up the hill we had scoped out a possible camp site, so we headed back in the car to set up camp for the night. After setting up the tents and getting the bonfire going, we cooked some pasta and tea. Just a few metres away was a small waterfall where we washed the dishes and did out teeth! Perrfect. The next morning we woke up to a thunderstorm, but managed to stay dry in our cheapie tents!

 We couldn’t get going till late morning because of the weather, but still managed to fit in a half day hike. At the base of the mountain where we left the car (around 1500m altitude I think….Hannes’ this could be wrong??) it was 6.5 degrees Celsius at noonish. So we rugged up and hit the trail. 

 The walk itself was pretty easy going, but offered incredible views! 

At a fork in the road we decided that the other 4 guys wanted to attempt to summit the mountain (remembering this is the one that is still covered in snow and ice!) so I bunkered down behind a rock channelling Bear Grylls. After a little while, it started lightly snowing. The others came back not long later, saying they had met a pair with all the proper hiking gear who had tried to summit earlier, but didn’t make it. Considering the weather was turning bad, we headed back towards the car. 

Turned out to be the best decision so far, for about 20 minutes of walking the storm came in, with horizontal snow which stung when it hit bear skin! The entire right hand side of our bodies were covered in snow. Thank god for the waterproof jackets we had bought earlier! 

 Getting back to the car after zero food for a few hours was a bit of a feeding frenzy, oranges and chocolate were drowned in a spilt second! That arvo we drove to the highest town in the Sierra Nevada, Trevelez. Doing a quick walk overlooking the surrounding farms we asked a local if he knew of a possible camping ground. 

 He suggested a patch of grass next to the local helipad, so we headed over for a look. There was no patch of grass next to the helipad, only grass in the rocks of the helipad! So we headed up into the mountains looking for the perfect camping spot. High in the mountain we came across some cows (again, with bells) who were pretty chilled. However, we headed back down as it was quite cold that far up! The boys spotted a track that offered possible camping grounds and went off to check it out. They managed to find one that even had a small river, perfect for cooling the beer! 

 

The next morning we packed up and headed back to the car for a breakie of scrambled eggs, thanks chef Eddy! Whilst we were waiting for the food to cook, we heard some bells ringing. A few minutes later an old man walked up the hill, followed by about 25 goats, all with bells around their necks! What a site! He said for us not to move anything, but to watch the food, the goats might eat it!

Passing us, the goats looked at us as if to say ‘what the hell are you doing?’ as if we were the odd ones out of this picture! Next we headed back to Trevelez for our biggest hike yet, 16km’s of the steepest terrain I have ever encountered I swear! After about 2km’s of struggle town, Hannes told the biggest lie of the day, ‘don’t worry, that was the hardest bit’. YEAH RIGHT!!!! Liar! Lol. We continued onwards and upwards, with Eddy leading and myself bringing up the rear….a long way back! Finally the terrain flattened out, but then we had another obstacle, crossing snow with a massive drop! I don’t have a great track record with snow, so it was a little daunting, but hey, this is what travelling is all about right??? After another few km’s, we stopped for a bit of a rest

 Again we keep going.

 Eddy and Hannes attempted the summit again (this time with much better weather), they didn’t quite get there but made it very close!

 The way down was much quicker, walking straight pass Bulls that didn’t even acknowledge you existed! The drive to Granada that night through the mountains was what roadtripping is all about. Pablo attempting to teach Kimmie and myself Spanish (Kimmie doing a much better job than myself!), but Kimmie had to teach me the basics of English first! We watched the sunset over the mountains, and finally reached the hostel in Granada where we smuggled a fifth person into the rooms. For a second night in a row, the boys would all share a bed. Lol. The following day was our only full day in Granada, in the ‘morning’ (aka from 11am onwards) we went down into the city, where we had Kebabs for breakfast and then went to Alhambra at 2.30. Walking the gardens was very beautiful, and provided views over Granada and the palace. We even met two of Hannes’ previous couchsurfers by coincidence! The palace itself was very beautiful, with incredible architecture and detailing.

For anyone who is visiting Granada, you will not forget a visit here! P.s. buy tickets a few months in advance. That night we cooked a dinner at the car, one way looking towards the city, and the other overlooking the snow covered mountains of the Sierra Nevada. Later, we walked to the other side of the city to catch a view of the palace by night. Sitting on a ledge overlook the entire city was incredible, even if it was very high!

 The next day was our last road tripping day. A final walk through the city provided yet another perfect day of sunshine.