Santiago de Compostela

Santiago de compostela

If it is possible it seems that Spain just gets better. We had a stop off at A on the way for breakfast and a gander at the local Church that gaudi designed, complete with moat. It also happened that on the way out of Leon I was pulled over by an over zealous local cop for a very minor but possibly slightly dangerous manouver. Once it became apparent that I had no idea what he was saying and he of me, we parted in good company with Karen the nav woman copping the total blame.

we had fantastic tapas (again, still) last night and staggered slightly drunkenly home after visiting a few bars/restaurants along the way.

our hotel - despite being half the price of our most expensive one (cordoba, disappointing) - is 5 star and gorgeous - and also quiet compared to Madrid - or anywhere, really.

being a pilgrim destination S de C has an interesting atmosphere. we saw quite a few pilgrims walking as we drove here yesterday - 2010 is a special year so even more than the usual 70 000 do the walk. and, it became apparent on arrival, lots of cyclists do it as well. although the complete route is much longer, you have to walk a minimum of 100km or cycle 200km to qualify for the compostela (half your time off purgatory in normal years, the whole thing on a religious year such as 2010). if you are less concerned about the purgatory part you can claim a certificate rather than a compostela...

we are hungry for breakfast now so more later

an extra post please also see the other one previous

sometimes when i post twice - like now - it seems like no one responds to the first post - but maybe that's just blog exhaustion - we're feeling it a bit - although not holiday exhaustion - although there are moments when it feels like work

although i know that it's not ok to say that, when you're all freezing and trying not to become submerged in the rain. there were a few showers in madrid yesterday, causing us concern as we'd left the brollies in the hotel. luckily by the time we emerged from the thyssen museu - which is an absolutely ripping art gallery - it was warm and sunny again (still).

however, it was a wee bit cool tonight in Leon and Geoff insisted that we eat indoors as he'd left his warm top behind and was only in shirt sleeves and shorts. yes, how we suffer.

we've seen a few frazzled teachers shepherding groups of spanish teens around various cultural sites as we've tripped around. they gave us pause - and we've been sparing a thought for the STCA negotiations (about which i know nothing) - and also for union solidarity generally, thanks to witnessing a spirited protest (they had whistles) at the madrid train station yesterday... we think it was either train mechanics, or the spanish branch of service and food workers YAY

it's great to hear what's happening at home - even when it involves broken bones, floods and flu... if you can't comment for whatever reason you can still find us at geoffchilds@xtra.co.nz and we hope this finds all of you that don't have broken bones, etc, well and happy - and that those of you who are currently indisposed will soon be on the mend.

Julia - don't worry about the house being like a fridge (it will serve us right) - andnwe're confident we can warm it up quick smart when we get back - and also it involves pilot lights and fiddling about...

I have also caught Geoff checking his work emails which we both agreed would be a no go area on the holiday - so am sticking to my side of the bargain (one of the few occasions i have found moral high ground so i'm well and truly occupying it)... just in case the moral high ground proves ineffective, i have other plans (less moral, but possibly more effective).

anyhoo... it's late, we're kind of tired, and there is a high chance of sleep tonight - so i'll close - we can hear cicadas, or their local equivalents, compared with street cleaners, drunken revellers and discos (in Madrid - ok, Fuenlabrada) - plus we have twin beds at this establishment...

nighty night...

Madrid boil-up

the proper name for this dish (on the right) is cocido a la madrilena. but as far as we could tell it's a pretty flash boil up... no, make that a pretty flash, delicious, boil up.

you start with the soup - in the tureen at the right of the picture, which was chicken-y and with tiny pasta bits in it.

then we got the plate of chickpeas and assorted veges (to the back of the table, towards me) including carrot, spuds and savoy cabbage.

finally, the plate of meat - on Geoff's side of the table - which included chicken, black pudding, brisket and pork belly, oh, and a wee bit of marrow and a couple of bits of chorizo.

well, the pork belly (yes, mostly fat) was a revelation. to me, it didn't have the cloying porky taste i associate with, well, pork. it was delicious... the whole thing seemed to be made with love.

the staff were also fabulous - and gave us complimentary liqueurs and cake afterwards - which almost led to a mr creosote incident, but we coped.

you can see from the picture that the walls were elaborately tiled and decorated with slightly pornographic illustrations. all in all it added up - along with the bottle of rioja - to an extremely decadent and satisfying lunch and a great way to end our time in madrid.

today we came to Leon, via Segovia and its amazing aqueduct (everything is starting to sound like a circus act), which has become my second favourite place after Granada. Leon is fantastic and the cathedral really does have windows worth visiting.

we also saw pilgrims and pilgrim signs all over the place as Leon is one of the stops on the camino de santiago. tomorrow we expect even more of this as we are off to Santiago de Compostela. it's very gratifying to discover places that are as amazing as you hoped they'd be.

Toledo

yesterday (27th) we went to Toledo on the fast train. it was a wonderful trip, although it necessitated a c. one-hour wait to buy a ticket on the 26th. even that was kind of fun cos it was one of those "take a ticket with your number on it and run to the counter when it pops up" sort of things. i hadn't encountered that before and novelty is always good. We got A190 and it was about A160 when we arrived. Not to mention the B numbers that were also running and up to 5 counter staff. anyway, it was ok and some good advice from the rough guide to buy the ticket before the day!

Toledo itself is an amazing town, with all these buildings packed onto the outcrop that just pops out of a huge plain. We jumped on a tour bus (which we don't usually do) and got a view of the town from the outside, looking down over the river and the walls. it was worth it, as it was an open-topped double decker, with an english commentary, so it gave us a good start to our time there.

The woman at the information office helpfully placed crosses on the map showing the two places we MOST wanted to visit - the El Greco museum and the alcazar. Off we went with barely a pause for a visit to the surviving templar hostel (and dungeon) and to sample the local marzipan.

Anyway, turns out the helpful crosses signalled the fact that both El Greco and the Alcazar are closed for repairs. funny.

Toledo is the most monk-y, nun-y, priest-y place we've been so far. The highlight was the strict nun at the church where el greco is buried - well - his coffin is in the basement - who helpfully pointed out the glass viewing tile that you can use to see el greco. she also sold us some marzipan products at the end of our visit. very cool.

i need to work out how to place pictures better - anyway, you've got toledo and geoff queuing to buy tickets for toledo. more later as my voucher is expiring and we're off into madrid again.

hasta la vista!

zona deportiva, el ferial

Spaniards seem to like festivals. just down the road from us at Fuenlabrada is an open space with signs saying "zona deportiva" which i hope means place to disport yourselves. anyway, it's where they are currently having a Fiesta Mariscos Gallegos. Basically that means there are big tents and lots of NW spanish seafood dishes, wine (white only) and beer, which you buy, then sit down and eat, along with lots of other locals, and enjoy a spot of Gallego food and culture.

at the one we found in seville, which was really pumping, there was flamenco dancing and other live music. this one was quieter, with only taped music, including bagpipes, which are a specialty of that part of spain. they seem to have a blue and white flag, whereas (I think) andalucia is green and white, and catalunya is lots of red and yellow stripes. haven't worked out castille yet.

anyway, we duly disported ourselves last night and even brought some cake home - kind of like a cheese cake thing - which made a good breakfast this morning. we travelled light last night so no pics, unless we go back again later today (which is possible).

Toledo and pics in the next (last?) post...

Q and A

are you all ok? not washed away in the floods?

secondary question - is our house still clinging to the hill?

Hamish, what ails you? i had the flu jab and no side effects at all... are you sure about that analysis?

Broken wrist?? yuck. bad news, sorry to hear that

John i don't suppose there was time for rescue pictures? that sounds very dramatic. does the flood damage signal working bees yet to come at takapu? also, how are the cows?

we had rain forecast yesterday but none came - it was a relatively chilly 21 degrees when we sat down for dinner last night, about which... next post.

also, Lynette, are you still there? how's everything? :)

more pictures

you'll find these at the sagrada familia, along with quite a few cranes, diggers and construction workers... bring on 2016 which is the current proposed completion date




this is the picture from the cover of our (borrowed) rough guide to spain - how cool to find that they actually exist at odd points around the countryside - this was taken from a moving vehicle... at speed... of course!










this is a serpent, or maybe a conger eel, on the floor of a former roman residence at Merida.


more later, amigos xx

happy list

1. seeing paintings by El Greco... who knew? - obviously not me (or G for that matter)
2. picasso, picasso, picasso... guernica anyone?
3. tapas and cerveza (that's beer) - although the sangria's not bad either
4. the upside down elephant sculpture outside a bank opposite the prado
5. oh, duh, the prado
6. geocaching is still good - and still taking us slightly odd places compared with the other tourist hordes
7. NH hotels - they are bonza
8. even when our legs get rather tired and a bit sore it doesn't seem a bad way to pass a day -you know, wandering around looking at stuff and occasionally pausing for more food and drink
9. spanish bars -no one blinks if you roll a cigarette, order a boozy coffee and play some pokies at 10am (to be fair we haven't done any of those things so far, but we have more time)
10. driving in the taxi and bus only lane for approximately 3kms as we left seville and getting away with it - thanks navman, the driver's best friend :)

from Seville to Madrid

it was a big day, today...

we left Seville slightly later than we'd intended and headed for Merida - the home of Spain's largest roman remains. OMG! they were amazing. the scale and quality of the remnants was something else. you will see in the picture showing geoff standing on the stage at the teatro romana how vast they are...

also, alone of anywhere we've been to date, Merida was quiet, with an off-season feel and in some places we almost had the place to ourselves! alas, also in the traditional spanish way, most places closed between 2 and 4pm. having only arrived around 12 this put us under some pressure - as we had another 300km to Madrid.

the roads here are really good and you can make really rapid progress. we arrived in Fuenlabrada (possibly the porirua of madrid?!) just after 6pm. we're not doing much tonight. neither of us had much sleep last night due to noise, heat and goodness knows what other reasons and we shared driving today (not to mention vigorous tourist work at Merida) so we're pretty much knackered.

the second picture is a view just north of Seville as we launched into today's drive - you can see one of the viaducts we drove over in the distance.

planning on visiting the big 3 galleries in madrid tomorrow, starting with the prado. the metro station is about 2 mins from our hotel, so the plan is to leave the car firmly parked downstairs for the next 4 days...

Geoff eschews processed meat!

whoever thought this could happen? but it's true - the wealth of processed meats in Spain has caused Geoff to review his philosophy of food...

even tonight he shook his head and ordered a prawn thing, with bacalao, rolled in zucchini, in preference to the house's special jamon...

seriously, the ham is amazing, but a few nights ago even G got more than he'd bargained for, and has somewhat backed off since. the locals see no harm at all in downing a whole plate of cured meat, perhaps some bread go with it, but then again perhaps not...

to finish, another illustration of our trip... this time the feria in Cordoba - note the dresses and the horses...

picture fest, or, what you've been missing!

here are some examples of things we wanted to post, but couldn't...

the alhambra is this beautiful and more...

geoff is peddling hard as we traverse the quadalquivir river (or something)

more later - have just discovered we are about 350m from a geocache :)

sarah and geoff go to the beach... and the dept store

once upon a time it was a hot day in seville. also, it was monday so all the sites were closed.

sarah and geoff got into the car and drove to the beach. dios! so hot already at 10 in the morning. sarah was so keen she popped her bikini on under her temple shirt and scintilla skirt... ready to go.

the thing was, as they drove and drove (about 70km to the atlantic) the temperature dropped and dropped. by the time they arrived at the ocean, it was a tepid 20 degrees, with a solid on shore breeze.

sarah and geoff paddled in the atlantic. the bikini stayed firmly under the temple shirt and the scintilla skirt.

still, in the last week, we've touched both the mediterranean and atlantic seas. and that's not something you get to do every day!

what do you mean... the dept store? well, there is a lovely chain here called el corte ingles, with very obliging staff who are happy to sell stupid foreigners a netbook that will speak english.

yes, we have a netbook and free wifi access from our hotel rooms and can geocache and blog as much as we like (or even more...) YAY!

Cordoba and Seville

still in the land of crappy networks, so still no pictures. on the bright side, andalucia is gorgeous.

yesterday, in cordoba, we witnessed a feria in progress, involving lots and lots of women in flamenco-like dresses, horses, carriages, dancing and much eating and drinking.

there was also a wedding in progress in one of the chapels at the mezquita, complete with choir.

so that was all very impressive. it´s really hot here, too, for spring - with temperatures hitting the low 30s in the afternoon.

we went pedal boating on the guadalquivir today, after a great lunch overlooking the river.

tomorrow we plan to go to the beach and to visit huelva, on the atlantic coast - we might as well see the countryside as most things will be closed (being monday).

after that it´s the long haul to madrid, via merida - which is supposed to be one of the more impressive sites of the roman occupation.

geoff nearly got stuck on the metro today - some kind staff eventually let him through - so he has learned to be more fleet of foot through the turnstiles. he made me a lovely birthday card, tho, so i don´t know why the universe trapped him?!

on another expensive connection thru the hotel, so that´s all for now :)

stupid networks and no pictures

have many great pics but stupid networks still not co-operating.

am aware that the pictures are the better part, so will do my best to oblige soonest.

especially as geoff got a rippingly good haircut in Murcia and is now looking pretty damn good!

cheers, S

mc hammer pants

oops, got so tied up in the glories of the andalucian landscape that i forgot the mc hammer part of the last entry.

basically i have fallen for the whole hippy chic (?) thing and bought this really awesome black and grey pair of, well, mc hammer pants. they are cool - as in breezy - voluminous and comfortable and i´m sure i´ll be able to lounge in them at home (if not be actually seen in public)

i´m currently tossing up whether i can wear them to the alhambra tomorrow ( i think they´ll be a winner with crocs) or whether i need to wear my nikes in which case i´m not sure we have a winning partnership. i´m sure you´ll all (both of you???) be waiting with baited breath to learn the outcome, but you will have to... wait!

just off a couple of sangrias, next to the fountain, in a square. bliss.

however, to keep us honest, there was a very large group of spanish teens, clearly on a trip, with teachers, waiting to be moved to their next destination (Possibly a bus or train?) anyway, it gave us pause and we thought about collective negotiations, the cold weather in NZ, and hoped fervently that all is well and we can still afford this brilliant trip :)

car elevators and mc hammer pants

yes, our car went in an elevator today... after driving along streets so narrow one might question their suitability for pedestrians, let alone cars, we arrived at our hotel in granada, to discover that the carpark is upstairs... and they park it for you - which we thought was a good thing!

happy to report that car issues seem to be over - in general travel around spain, by car, with navman, is good.

the transition from catalunya to andalucia has been fairly spectacular - snow covered mountains (possibly sierra nevadas) and arid landscapes with patches of cultivation - and the appearance of houses built into the hillsides, along with the expected white buildings and tiled rooves.

it really is gorgeous here...

A small ode to...

rice pudding
arroz con leche
you are magnificent
te quiero

Murcia

things we love about Murcia... the sangria, the buildings and squares, the weather (it was 30 but is now merely the low 20s, being evening), the tapas, the friendly people, the fact that it's in Spain...

the only downside is that we're in a photo-upload free zone - thanks movistar network - typical telecom, partnering with the not-so-good networks.

tomorrow we're off to granada, but tonight we're in the rincon pepe hotel, with pink marble floors and a lot more fun to be had when we venture out for dinner this evening...

hasta la vista :)

why I don´t like mondays...

yesterday was a day to forget - except that we haven´t quite yet...

it all started after a trouble-free trip from Barcelona... i stupidly (so stupidly) suggested we take the car into Valencia. very bad idea.

somehow between me and the navman i got us to the outskirts of Valencia where i thought there was an arts centre (there was not). there was an events centre (no events tho). then i thought we´d solve the problem by parking there and taking a tram into the centre of town. it took ages.

then we found that, basically, spain is closed on mondays. To be fair, it was our first monday afternoon in spain, so we weren´t really to know - and the helpful staff at the hotel forgot to tell us.

being closed, there was nowhere for dinner. being parked miles out of town we took ages to get back to the car. then, being tired, stressed (well, holiday stressed, anyway) and scratchy, we missed three exits in a row trying to get back to the hotel. one minute we were 7kms from our destination; before we knew it we were 17! madre de dios how we laughed (not).

anyway, nothing really bad actually happened. eg, no gypsies robbed us. weirdly, though, yesterday felt worse...

when we finally got back to the hotel, about 10.30pm, we had a picnic in our room. it tasted delicious...

and we´ve made up for it today as reported in the Paella blog. valencia is actually ok.

as i lay on the beach today, fretting about what kind of ozone hole they have here in spain, and whether i was feeling too sandy, all my troubles seemed, well, so far away - yesterday!

with apologies to the beatles :)

Paella

according to the lonely planet spanish food book, we had lunch at a very good place today - it was certainly lovely, with nice food, an enthusiastic waiter and a beautiful fountain in the square - i tried to upload a picture but the network is not good here (or something).

today has been really relaxed - we did a spot of geocaching - ate lunch - visited the cathedral of ham (really!) - and went to the beach. this proved fairly exhausting so we had a wee drink next to the beach afterwards, before pressing on to the cheap internet cafe.

we have sussed out the metro system in valencia now (it´s a bit different from barcelona´s) and also worked out how to get the bus from Sagunto, which is where we´re staying.

Tomorrow we´ll visit the castle ruins there - they are very large and should be pretty interesting - before setting off to Murcia, our next stop.

Day of great happiness

Look what we found round the corner from our hotel. We are at a local bar on our last night in Barca and loving it. The big footy match is underway and we are enjoying it at one remove. Went to parc Guell and picasso museum today. All great. Only downside was geoff's pocket being picked on the metro. Still have wallet and cards tho, so we'll cope. We think it was a pregnant gypsy who looked about 14. Looking forward to Valencia tomorrow. Tapas here now so have to go :-)

Food

Even McDs do good coffee here - on our fruitless search for a laundromat this morning we had a donut and cortado (both delicious) for one euro each.

everyone here knows that a coffee means, unless otherwise stated, a short black so, bliss.

this morning, also in the same mall on the fruitless laundromat hunt we found this place that specialises in jamon - like a deli but only meat and cheese on the menu. We had the most delicious open sandwhich, with olive oil, a smear of passata (I think) and cheese (me) or jamon (geoff). OMG - gorgeous! the counter guy was sad that he couldn't tempt me to a glass of wine. Responsible spaniards seem to start drinking quite promptly each day (we saw some police having a quiet beer about 11am). I have a very cool photo of some of the selection of hams for sale - hoof included :)

anyways, unsurprisingly, the food is amazing and we will probably return home even fatter than we left - probably more tapas tonight - sitting at a bar, pointing at gorgeous bits of food, drinking the verre tinto, and watching the world - things could certainly be worse!

have all kinds of cool pictures to upload when i get the chance - you can never be sure if it'll work or not and so i've lost many interesting anecdotes - each painstakingly tapped into my phone before the network rejects it and they disappear forever... very frustrating.

Also, had a courtesy note from Telecom saying that our roaming usage is higher than usual (?!) but when we rang (for free) as suggested, to check, they had no details to offer. So goodness knows what this small indulgence will have cost. Still, it's fun - albeit random - and we're really enjoying your comments, so thanks for all that...

more later xx sal and geoff

Drive, baby

We love our car, even tho everything is the wrong way round. It feels very odd to be sitting on the right, with nothing but dashboard in front. Even worse, on the left, with gear stick in the middle (we really should have gone for an automatic) to be used with the right hand...

Anyway, so far so good. We have both had turns as driver - geoff for first two days, me for next two.

So he got France, I got the trip into Spain. When you get to the toll booths (which we had decided to avoid, until we discovered travel OFF the tollways, so have re-evaluated) all the many road markings disappear and you just drive towards the toll booth you prefer, all the while feeling free to change you mind at the last moment. When you emerge from the other side you do the same in reverse - speeding across the great open expanse of asphalt until you re-emerge onto the motorway.

once there, you do your utmost to exceed the speed limit (if there is one) - so far, as observed earlier, 130 seems to be the preferred number in France, and 120 in Spain.

We have both mostly grasped the need to indicate from the left - although with so much rain it doesn't hurt to operate the windscreen wiper!

had a chilling experience trying to navigate Figueres (home of Salvador Dali), find a park , find the Museu, find the park, get out of town... you get the idea. All in the rain, of course. As luck would have it we got back to the carpark moments before the attendant was about to disappear off with his lunch. God knows how long we'd have waited for release if we'd arrived only seconds later than we did!

The Dali museu was, suitably, weird, and chocka - we had to queue (in the rain) for a good 15 minutes or so, before entering and finding out that we both (still) don't really like Dali. Still it was sort of enriching and definitely memorable!

Getting to our Barcelona hotel on the motorway/s was similarly exciting and i'm not sure if we'd have coped without the navman - it has its quirks but, on the whole, is a toy to be treasured!

it rains in Spain... mainly

hello

am trying to write fast as this internet is so dear we've been toying with buying a netbook!

so far is has done almost nothing but rain heavily (if not torrentially) since we crawled across the border - yes, like Hannibal, we crossed some alps - the pyrenees, in fact.

we now have umbrellas, a detailed working knowledge of the trams and the underground - and have almost given up on the idea of the fat tire cycle tour - although if the sun comes out tomorrow it may happen...

Barcelona seems to be an amazing city - we had dinner (tapas, of course) on la Rambla last night - finally got home (drenched) due to tram holdups so we walked the last bit, after midnight - way past our usual bedtime!

today we bought a special clothes hanger (sits over the bath) and some detergent so we can do our own laundry - the hotel charges 4 euros just for a pair of undies!

Geoff is having a wee siesta - a custom he embraces - before we head back into the city for another bash...

Fort, Collioure

Having problems finding network so will write more from barcelona

Munich

Another lovely coffee cup for the collection! It was 6 degrees and cloudy this morning - and orderly! Geoff had to take his belt off at security! Will send a picture of the car soon. France is lovely and we are still having fun - some pilot/Navigator stress withstanding!

Salut!

None

Lamma island

Lovely day here today! Local rain wear $HK10; fun we're having: priceless! :-)

FIrst foreign Find!

Happy mother's day, Ma! we are having fun... went on a bit of a tour this morning - took in Victoria Peak, Stanley, Sampan tour on the harbour, that's about all there was to it...

had the best breakfast from a bakery round the corner - they make gorgeous pastries (all very healthly too, apparently). Today's effort cost us about NZ$5. Had dim sum lunch at Stanley, overlooking the harbour - also lovely.

then went back up Victoria PEak on the cable car - big queue to get on, possibly due to mother's day which is quite a big deal here, lots of women toting huge bouquets and family members - and wandered along the trail (the name of which i've forgotten and geoff never knew, beginning with L and i'll remember after i've published this i guess) and found our first foreign geocache. it was very exciting as we had to time it so the (many) people enjoying their stroll didn't see us. Triumphantly lodged our dragon geocoin inside - very fitting as it overlooks kowloon and which we now know means seven dragons.

also Hong kong means fragrant harbour - so we haven't just been lolling about drinking cheap beer (yes quite cheap) and yummy pastries (yes, very yummy) - we are being educated along the way!

Geoff has just read my mean comments above and commands that i delete them. i withdraw and apologise.

we've also been nervously watching the news reports about further airport closures in europe and are trying not to fret. but there is some fretting going on, to be honest.

this post is long because it's HK$30 for 1/2 on the internet and we don't want to waste it...
are loving the public transport - have ticked off double decker bus, harbour ferry, subway and cable car. (and sampan if that counts). i think the only form we've missed is the tram. could happen tomorrow, although we might go across to Lamma island - we'll decide in the morning.

good to know that the sun is shining and birds still singing in Karori and other parts of wellington
more later (hopefully from spain...) xx sal and geoff

Sampan

Out on the harbour amongst the house and fishing boats :-)

Made it hong kong :-)

None

Drinks of the world, part 2

For some reason i always win the prize for one free random search. This NZ bubbly might help...

Doubts

Rough guide says marseille too rough. What to do? Late change in plan and we're off to aix en provence - reputedly the paris of the south :-)

2 followers in 2 minutes!

wow - two followers in two minutes - i'm so impressed - this could become addictive...

2 more Sleeps!

Hopefully future posts will not be from NZ office :-)