Just to start out of sync straight away I have seen two protest marches since I have been in San Sebastian. The first was a silent march that I think was commemerating the deaths that have occurred due to the Basque conflict (think ETA terrorist group and you will understand) and the second they were chanting something but since my Spanish is non-existent I have no idea what it involved. Makes me want to learn the language but since I only have less than a week to go I will struggle on regardless.

Upon arrival in San Sebastian it was 7am (and I didn´t get a snorer by the way) and I knew I couldn´t drop my bag off until at least 9am so I had to sit around in the dark waiting because there was nothing open since it was a public holiday here. After dumping my bag I asked the pension I was staying at what time could I get into the room since I was feeling particularly tired and was told 11am. I promptly wandered around and found a place for brekkie and after nearly falling asleep at the table gave up and found an internet cafe to pass the time until 11. Once I got in the room I was soooo cold it took me forever to warm up and I didn´t get much sleep anyway. Finally got off my butt and wandered around the town for about three hours (it isn´t that big and I was strolling around not power walking). Ended up going out for some pinxtas (Basque equivalent to tapas and very yummy) with a girl I was sharing the room with.

Back on track yesterday I found my favourite place in Spain so far. It is the Guggenheim art gallery in Bilbao. The architecture of the building has to be seen to be fully understood and the art in the building is again very different to the usual that you get through Europe. The Guggenhiem Bilbao doesn´t have much by way of permanent exhibits so this one had a retrospective on American art over the last three hundred years on two of the floors while the remaining floor displayed local artists. I loved it all and would recommend anyone go and see it just for the architecture alone. To give you an idea on how much I loved it I spent about four hours wandering around (my usual is a maximum of 2.5 hours) and still feel I could have gone back and seen it all again. Now its definitely on my list that I go and visit the other Guggenheim museums but the kicker is that I found that there was one in Berlin and for some reason I didn´t get there. Since Berlin is my favourite city in Europe (so far) it could be an incentive to go back.

Today has been somewhat of a bludge day. I took my time getting ready to check out since I knew I wasn´t getting a shower tonight (am on the overnight train to Barcelona) and I knew from looking out the window that the weather was awful. Finally checked out about ten minutes before the deadline and wandered down to the tourist information office to ask them for suggestions on what to do today. I had already missed the bus to take me to Pamplona (as in running of the bulls) and the next one wasn´t for another 2.5 hours so they suggested Hondarribia instead. I took myself there and wandered around for about three hours and found it to be a lovely little village. I even sat down and watched the surfers ride this tiny little break that took them into a break wall for a good while. That shows dedication that even I would not give to a sport.

Since the village wasn´t big I headed back to San Sebastian and after wandering a bit more found a movie theater. I crossed my fingers and after lining up found out that they were all dubbed in Spanish - was hoping for at least one Spanish sub-titled movie to while away the time since I don´t have to be at the pension to pick up my bag until 9pm. Found a bar after this and had some pinxtas for a late lunch along with a few glasses of red wine. Which brings me to here now updating my blog. I figured I still have another few hours to go so may as well do this and check out a few more new things on my email, facebook, youtube, news sites and so on before I go and have another couple of red wines before going to the train station. Its raining outside so I am not in any hurry to go anywhere.

Hope all is good with everyone.

Toni
xxoo

The next day I decided to go to Toledo for the day. I got to the train station in plenty of time but in true Spanish style the lines were huge. I figured that there should be automatic ticket dispensers so after asking the American couple behind me to save my place I went over to the machines. Surprisingly enough there wasn´t another language option but I still took a guess and managed to figure it out - by this time the American couple had also joined me and we bought three tickets in one go. The kicker here though was that we now only had five minutes to get to the train. We got to the gate in time but they wouldn´t let us on so we had to wait for another two hours to get on the next train and had had to pay extra to get our tickets reissued to us for that train - was feeling cheezed off about that.

I put the time to good use and organised my overnight couchette train ticket to San Sebastian - took about an hour waiting in the ticket office before my number was called but I thought I may as well. When I finally did get to Toledo I met up with a Kiwi girl and Canadian guy doing the same thing as me i.e. backpacking and doing a day trip from Madrid to Toledo. We ended up sticking together for the day and between us agreed we probably wouldn´t have seen as much just by ourselves.

Because I wasn´t sure what time I was going to come home I hadn´t booked a return ticket when I went to buy one I found that the train was already booked out so I wandered to the bus station and jumped on the bus back to Madrid - took a bit longer but it was fine.

When I got back I decided to get off the metro one stop further and check out Gran Via a bit. I grabbed some Maccas there as well as I was feeling a bit peckish by then (it was about 8.30pm) and after wandering around the Gran Via for a bit took the street that connects the Gran Via with Puerta del Sol which is where I am. Although not far the kicker here is that I had never been down this street and didn´t realise that it is known for prostitutes and at that time of night they were out in force. There was plenty of people around so it wasn´t that I didn´t feel safe - just thrown because I wasn´t expecting it.

Next day was Tuesday and I went to the Thyssen art galley. Out of the big three in Madrid this one was definitely my favourite. I wandered around for a good while and as a mark of knowing if I liked the place or not I bought a lot of postcards (I have been collecting and plan to frame a few good ones when I get home). I didn´t feel up to much more so again just wandered around and explored and finally went back to the hostel and curled up on the couch and read my book for awhile. Eventually I made a move though as I was due to meet the people from Toledo for dinner at 6 and after some v. ordinary paella we went to the movies and saw Lions for Lambs - not a bad flick and it was a good night out.

As an idea on how run down I was and am feeling I laid in bed for ages yesterday (Wednesday) before finally getting up. When I did all I managed to do was go visit the Palicio Real (Royal Palace) which I found to be not that good and then went and got something to eat and found a park to sit in for awhile and read a bit then thought bugger it and went back to the hostel and surfed the web and did stuff all. This again carried on for the rest of the night.

Today though was different - I had to get up early anyway because I had to get my gear out of the room since I am not staying at the hostel tonight (am taking the overnight train to San Sebastian) and since I was up decided I better go and buy my ticket from San Sebastian to Barcelona (its a extra long weekend here in Madrid so I wanted to be sure I could get to Barcelona). Thankfully this time I only had to wait about 15 minutes. After that i went to the big public park here and walked around for awhile then eventually picked out a possie and read the last 40 or so pages of my book. From there I wandered a bit more and got some food then picked another possie and wrote some postcards. After posting them I wandered up Gran Via again and checked out the few shops that are open on a public holiday then came back here to the hostel to have a shower and get ready to go to the train tonight. Fingers crossed I don´t get a snorer in my room.

Toni
xxoo

Today ha

Remember how I was saying that art is supposed to invoke some sort of emotion well today I copped boredom. I went to Museo del Prado which is supposedly one of the worlds best art galleries. I dutifully lined up for about 45-60 minutes before being allowed into its hallowed halls on the proviso that on Sunday its free to get in but I still managed to get charged €6. Despite my questions all the rude lady on the ticket desk could say was €6. In the end I just handed over the money since I had lined up and I wasn´t about to waste anymore time. By this time I REALLY needed to find a loo since it was cold outside and I had been drinking my water but of course I had to firstly get my bag scanned then checked then I had to go through a metal detector. A group of Russian exchange students were in the way on the bag scanner as they were discussing what they were allowed to take into the museum with the cloak room staff so in the end I pushed through (I really was desparate) and argued with the cloak room that my bag should not go in the shopping trolley with the Russian bags. After quickly getting through the metal dectector (thank god) I raced over to the sign saying toilets this way and overshot the mark and had to double back to find them again. I always do this when I need to find something quickly.

After the loo I went to the information desk to get a map of the place and started to wander. I honestly thought something would grab my attention throughout the two or so hours I was there but frankly all I felt was boredom and felt I had to go to all the rooms because there was obviously something I had missed. I even spent some serious time checking out the Goya paintings which Lonely Planet had gone on about and it still did nothing for me. I have chalked this one up to ´I have done it´ and the only emotion I got out the art work of it was boredom. Over the last year I have seen so many paintings of the nativity scene, Jesus on the cross, Saint this and that and Spainish noblewoman circa 1840 I don´t think I can take it anymore!! I must be a philistine but so be it.

Anyway now that I have got that out of my system I will mention dinner last night. In my last post I said I was going to go for a wander and get some dinner. I didn´t end up wandering very far because the hostel I am staying in is right in the middle of the city and they turned the Christmas lights on last night so most of Madrid came into town on the Saturday night to check out the lights. I gave up and went into a restaurant close to the hostel on the recommendation from the staff that all I need do is order a beer in any of the restaurants on the hostels street and I would get some free tapas as part of the deal. I went in and asked for a beer and tapas. The woman was chewing gum and had an attitude but handed over the beer no worries. After ten minutes I asked if I could get some tapas and was told that they didn´t do tapas. I told the owner that I had asked for this when I ordered the beer and nothing was said then. He gave me the menu and said just order something so I picked out prawns in garlic sauce but the price was €7 so I thought it would be a decent size. When they bought it out there was about 10-12 prawns and huge chunk of bread. I assumed that they had given me a tapas size since they were v.v.v. small prawns and even then they weren´t that good but I was hungry so I ate them. When I went to pay I handed over some money and expected a lot back but they had charged me the €7 for the meal. I had had enough by this stage and told the manager that their service was poor and the food was disgusting. He looked a bit miffed but by this stage I didn´t care and chances are they will think I am a rude American tourist.

This morning after phaffing about I took off to see the El Rastro markets. I knew that they were big and somewhat of a flea market done every Sunday in Madrid. I needed a new jacket because its getting too cold just for my fleece. Along the way I was asked directions since I was checking out my map and it turned out to be an Aussie couple. We checked out the markets together - I bought my jacket and a few small pressies then we went our opposite ways. It was quite funny actually when wandering around the market because the shop owners kept telling me that I needed to be careful of pickpockets. I only ever have about €30 in my wallet at anytime and the rest is in my money belt which is well and truly tucked away. It was nice that they were concerned though.

After this I headed off to the Museo del Prado into my boredom phase of the day. I couldn´t face anything else after this as the boredom had sucked the puff out of me and headed back to the hostel which is only about ten minutes walk away and ended up spending the afternoon talking to another Aussie girl and an English guy who are staying at the hostel. That my lovely readers has been my day. Action packed with highs and lows, tears and laughs and an overall desperate need to find a toilet! Who knows what tomorrow may bring - stay tuned.

Toni
xxoo

Had a real bludge day in the end yesterday. I hung around the hostel until about 11 chatting with people then finally went out and wandered around the shops, bought a few things and then sat in the sun and had lunch at a cafe (three courses for €9 - hard to beat). After lunch I couldn´t be bothered anymore and went back to the hostel for a siesta. I went up to the roof and laid on the deck chair in the sun for a few hours then, when it started to get cool, went downstairs to the room and laid in bed and read for awhile. Finally got up and had a shower and went downstairs and hung out in the kitchen and had a chat with whoever was there. Dinner was put on by the hostel for €5 a head and was yummy so had my share and then went to bed for an early night since i had to get up early this morning to catch the bus (by early I mean 7.30 but in Spain that is early - especially when you usually don´t eat dinner until around 9pm).

Got to the bus station fine and went to get my ticket to Madrid for the 9am bus but found that it was full already so had to hang around for another hour before I could jump on the 10am bus. This is the first time I have ever had allocated seats on a bus and the people were a bit cranky with me until I figured out what was my allocated seat. The trip itself was boring and I quickly found the hostel (big shock for me since I seem to be doing the opposite of late) and because I had actually pre read my Lonely Planet before arriving I knew one of the museums was free after 2.30pm on a Saturday so I dumped my bag and went down the road to check it out.

I usually like all art - it may be weird, quirky or silly but I usually like it all in some way but this museum (Centro de Arte Reina Sofia - focuses on modern art) had a temporary exhibition featuring the artist Paula Rego. Some of her art was absolutely repulsive and I found it hard to stomach.

As for the rest of the museum it was all good. Had a lot of Picasso and Dali which is to be expected since they are Spanish. Have now come back to the hostel and am debating if I want to go out for dinner and a bit of a walk around to see the city centre. Not sure I can be bothered with the latter.

Boring blog I know but since I am not doing anything now I thought I best share.

Toni

Hola everyone. Well I did go up that hill (very slowly) and it was cold once I was up there but it was worth the view because we just sat up there and watched the sun set. Later that night was a paella night at the hostel so I just hung out with a few people I have met here after eating the yummy paella. We even went a bit wild and played a couple of games of Uno. Fun (and late) night though and for once I didn´t go to bed smelling of cigarettes (they smoke everywhere here in Spain).

Yesterday I had to decide if I wanted to go up to Madrid today or hang around Grenada for another day. I decided to stick around but when I went book in I had to wait until this morning but its all worked out OK. I have now booked in to my accommodation in Madrid for Saturday night and decide how long I want to stay once I get the lay of the land. From there I will head up to San Sebastian and then across to Barcelona. San Sebastian will be more of a veg out stop but its supposed to be quite lovely around there so will probably go for a few walks around the place and take a day trip to Balboa to see the Guggenheim museum there. Then its across to Barcelona for xxx number of days (yet to be determined) before I fly back to London then home. Yep I only have a bit over two weeks left then its back to Oz for me.

Anyway back to yesterday after umming and arghing about what I wanted to do I spoke to a a kiwi couple I had spoken to previously who were going to catch a local bus out to a town in the Sierra Nevada mountains. They were happy for me to tag along and in the end there were five of us. Got the directions from the hostel on where we needed to catch the bus and went down to the bus stop to catch the bus out to the main bus interchange. First hitch was that there was a demonstration going on in the main street that was blocking traffic and we couldn´t see them from our bus stop so we were waiting about fifteen minutes for this phantom bus that never arrived. Decided to walk to the bus interchange - was only 3km so no big deal - but once we got there we found out the bus we needed didn´t go from the bus interchange and we needed to catch another bus over across the other side of town (it turned out to be about 10 minutes walk from the hostel). Once we got off this bus we weren´t sure where our bus left from so we wandered around for another fifteen minutes asking people (actually the other two guys were Canadians who could speak Spanish so they were doing the asking). Finally found the bus stop and had to wait another 25 minutes for the bus and then we were finally on our way. Was funny in the end and once we got up there we were so hungry we headed straight for the bar and ordered a drink so we could get the free tapas. In the end we stayed there for a little while and went to another cafe and had a bigger meal and then caught the bus back.

You would think that this would have been enough of us goofing up where we needed to go but we saw a bus that we knew went past the hostel and thought lets jump on that - only problem was that it was going the wrong way so we got to the end of the line and the bus driver made us pay again to get back. As I said before it turns out we were only about ten minutes from the hostel so we could have walked it but none of us were sure where we were on the map. Very much an adventure yesterday but we had fun and saw alot more of Grenada that we probably would never have seen otherwise.

Last night was a tapas tour night but you had the option of going to see flamenco after the first tapas bar. I had already seen flamenco in Seville but went anyway. Glad I did because this one was much better and I was able to see a lot more. Buggered after this and went back to the hostel and went to bed.

I have yet to figure out what adventure I will get up to today but since its cold outside I may just do a bit of shopping. Who knows what will happen.

bye for now.
Toni
xxoo

Its me back again already. Just a quick update - went out for tapas again last night with the hostel. Had a ball but since it was 9.30pm before we left I was starving and already had had a few sangria´s to kick off proceedings. Once out we got free tapas if we ordered a drink. Some bars let you could choose while others you just got what they served up. Since it was so late before I ate I felt off once I actually put food in my stomach on top of that sangria.

Woke up this morning to the usual zippers and plastic bags as nearly everyone in my room was leaving. Funnily enough I have noticed that the guys tend to be quieter than the girls. Gave up and went down for some brekkie and then headed off to Alhumbra. This is a islamic palace at the top of the hill (and I mean the top) and it has some fantastic islamic wall plaster work along with patios that have beautiful fountains and gorgeous gardens. I broke my rule as well and actually hired the audio guide (normally I don't bother since they are usually a waste of money). This one though, while it probably was a waste of money, gave me a laugh because it gave new meaning to 'waxing poetic'. The person who 'discovered' Alhumbra again back around the 1850's was a guy named Washington Irving. He was a writer and painter (I think) but this audio guide took it as if it was him speaking so to say it was verbose is a bit of an understatement. In the end I found it quite funny if not necessarily informative.

I spent a good four hours looking around the Alhumbra but found initially it was quite stressful in the way they allocate the tickets. There is a certain Palace in the grounds you can only visit at times specified by the people allocating the tickets so I didn't get the chance to say I wanted it later. I only had time to get the audio guide and was told that the palace was at least a 20 minute walk away and I only had 30 minutes before I would be refused entry. Needless to say I got lost straight off but still made it there in plenty of time. The palace itself was great - a definite plus to visit there.

Anyway am off to climb another hill so I can see the sunset over Grenada - a few people have just asked me to join them so why not really!!

toni
xxoo

Hola everyone,

I have suddenly become bi-lingual (I wish). Apart from picking up some key words (not phrases) I have been mucking about trying to speak to the locals. Have managed a few conversations but its usually them understanding me rather than the other way around.

The tapas night turned out to be a blast. Met alot of people and after hitting a few tapas bars we went and saw some flamenco. Very interesting to watch and they really get into it. Finally got back to the hostel in the wee hours after going to a club afterwards and had the roommates from hell doing their usual zipper and plastic bag routine the next morning i.e. if there is a zipper on their bag they open and close it ten times and if they need to get anything out of their bag you can gaurantee that its in a plastic bag and they need to scratch around in it.

I gave up in the end and decided it would be better to join them and got up and went to see Alcazar which is like a palace/ mansion built about 500 years ago. Was very nice and spent about 30 minutes wandering around the formal gardens out the back. After this I wandered around the town for a couple of hours before heading back to the hostel to grab something before going out for a late lunch. Ran into a couple of the guys from the night before and we went to a few tapas bars for lunch.

That night was paella night at the hostel. €5 for as much as you could eat. Went a bit nuts but so be it - I love paella. Next morning I packed my gear and headed to the bus station since I was going to spend the night in Cordoba. The Mezquita Cathederal in Cordoba was the main reason for going and I was glad I did. The Cathederal was originally a mosque based on the main mosque in Damascus Syria. Its hard to explain but to see Jesus on the cross in the middle of what still looks very much like a mosque is a bit surreal. I thought it was great - Italy meets the middle east!! After checking around Cordoba I decided I was still a bit weary and headed back to the hotel (yes hotel - no real hostels to speak of in Cordoba) and grab a nap. Along the way I ran into one of the guys I had met in Seville and we decided to catch some dinner together later on. Which we did and it turned out we didn´t chose the best one - very ordinary food.

Got up this morning and did some further wandering around Cordoba and then went back collected my bag and headed to the bus station and jumped on the bus to Grenada. And so this brings me up to date on my blog.

Good for me.

catch you next time my loyal 2-3 readers.

Toni