spain...
howdy! hmmm where to start - at the beginning i suppose ... We (my uncle, aunt, mum and I) had a cheap flight to barcelona - into Reus airport which turned out to be about 2hr bus ride from the actual city... - not too bad tho but I don´t think Auntie Lynne and Uncle Guy could believe they were catching the metro to the hotel, but that turned out ok too - the metro stn was literally across the road from the hotel... altho the hotel didnt have the a/c working the first night- and the temps have stayed in the 30s throughout the day, so it wasn´t terribly pleasant the 1st night but the breakfast was good!!
Neither mum or I were terribly impressed with barcelona - if it hadnt been for Gaudi we would´ve been pretty disappointed - he designed some amazing apartments & houses (with fantastic chimneys), the famous church and Park Guell - brilliant man!
Mum was really impressed with Valencia - it did have a nice feel to the place - and we have never seen so many nuns and priests - all getting ready for the pope´s arrival the next day - flowers were everywhere, roads getting cordoned off etc... we also managed to squeeze in a visit to the beach there as well...
Been great staying at hotels - all their little packets of shampoos, fancy dinners etc Best hotel so far was where mum and I stayed in Cuenca it was an old schoolhouse for choir boys built in the 17th century - had lots of little passeways etc right on the edge of one of the 2 gorges that the town was built upon - it had brilliant views! Cuenca is a little spanish town where apparently only 13% of the visitors are non-spanish - so of course not a lot of english was spoken (or understood) - but it was really pretty and the old town was brilliant. Lot sof the spanish houses are just those old cement pastel-coloured buildings with pretty doors and fancy balconies... and the bull rings we have seen (from the outside) look like mini-coloseums...
Today we made our way to madrid - and while i went to find where we could leave our luggage for our few hours before we went onto Valladolid where we were meeting my uncle and aunt - mum had her handbag stolen!!! - she had it resting on our other 2 overnight bags as she was giving her shoulder a rest and voompa off it went complete with passports (both UK and Oz), digital camera, purse etc etc... have reported it to the police but have to organise the replacement passport somehow now.
But anyway - Madrid wasnt too bad for a capital city - nice old buildings and we had a quick walk in Madrid´s park and saw the first ever statue built of the fallen angel/the devil. The temperature got up to 40 (luckily we were on our way to Valladolid in an a/c train) ... And that is about all the news for now ;)
Neither mum or I were terribly impressed with barcelona - if it hadnt been for Gaudi we would´ve been pretty disappointed - he designed some amazing apartments & houses (with fantastic chimneys), the famous church and Park Guell - brilliant man!
Mum was really impressed with Valencia - it did have a nice feel to the place - and we have never seen so many nuns and priests - all getting ready for the pope´s arrival the next day - flowers were everywhere, roads getting cordoned off etc... we also managed to squeeze in a visit to the beach there as well...
Been great staying at hotels - all their little packets of shampoos, fancy dinners etc Best hotel so far was where mum and I stayed in Cuenca it was an old schoolhouse for choir boys built in the 17th century - had lots of little passeways etc right on the edge of one of the 2 gorges that the town was built upon - it had brilliant views! Cuenca is a little spanish town where apparently only 13% of the visitors are non-spanish - so of course not a lot of english was spoken (or understood) - but it was really pretty and the old town was brilliant. Lot sof the spanish houses are just those old cement pastel-coloured buildings with pretty doors and fancy balconies... and the bull rings we have seen (from the outside) look like mini-coloseums...
Today we made our way to madrid - and while i went to find where we could leave our luggage for our few hours before we went onto Valladolid where we were meeting my uncle and aunt - mum had her handbag stolen!!! - she had it resting on our other 2 overnight bags as she was giving her shoulder a rest and voompa off it went complete with passports (both UK and Oz), digital camera, purse etc etc... have reported it to the police but have to organise the replacement passport somehow now.
But anyway - Madrid wasnt too bad for a capital city - nice old buildings and we had a quick walk in Madrid´s park and saw the first ever statue built of the fallen angel/the devil. The temperature got up to 40 (luckily we were on our way to Valladolid in an a/c train) ... And that is about all the news for now ;)