It's Siesta Time!

Madrid is a city that only siestas, it never sleeps.

Even on a Tuesday night the clubs and bars are buzzing with the flocks of people out to party. Last night Johnny and I hit a Cuban themed bar in Madrid with awesome live music, super strong mojitos and waitresses dressed in cute checked outfits. A Tuesday night, and all the seats were taken!

But it's not just the nightlife that keeps tourists flocking to Madrid. The galleries here are damned big. Yesterday we visited Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza which is a collection of art that really goes from alpha to omega, I think the only gallery I've seen so far which was bigger was the National Gallery in London. At the end of four exhausting hours Johnny and I only managed to make it out in one piece by using each other as crutches...

I haven´t said many good things about Johnny since he joined me on this trip but I must take a moment to commend his good driving in Europe. (Yes, I did say good) The streets in the cities in Europe were clearly built by people who have never, ever heard of a car let alone seen one. It is an intense rabbit warren of one way streets that people park any which way on (sometimes you have to do a three point turn just to get around the corners!) and the problem is exacerbated by the fact that parking inspectors don't work on weekends! :p Johnny has done very well to get as safely around Lisbon and Madrid, although I still have a snigger at him every time he stalls the manual car (which happens on average seven or eight times a day!)

Anyway, I'm now going to hit a museum and have a siesta before I head out to experience more of Madrid's crazy nightlife tonight! :p

Time is My Worst Enemy

It´s true. Two weeks is just not enough time to enjoy all that Spain and Portugal have to offer.

Portugal is such a beautiful country. It´s very similar to Australia in a lot of ways, gorgeous beaches, long scenic drives, there was even a moment today in the car between Lagos and Lisbon when I wound down the window and could actually smell the eucalypt... really, really homesick.

But I have to say, I have yet to find a beach in Australia that has a lick on these Portugese beaches. At Lagos, the beaches are framed by gorgeous rock formations so there is actually shade all over the beach. Plus heaps of people use the rocks are a natural diving board - it´s scary watching the people take the plunge but I swear, if I could swim, I would jump off a 30m high rock too. (I bet mum is glad that I can´t swim so I sit safely on the beach and look pretty). Another beach in Sinas was similarly beautiful - when the sun is shining on the water, the sand literally looks like gold. No I´m serious, it shines, I was tempted to grab a handful and take it home.

But now I have to sign off this very short entry, as I said, time IS my most horrible enemy and Johnny is nagging for a turn on the computer. :p

Crossing the Straits of Gibralter

Wow, what a difference a mere 15km strip of water makes.

Spain, despite its proximity to Morocco is as different from it as night is to day.
In what was really the blink of an eye (or for myself 30 minutes of severe motion sickness) all the houses changed from dusty red to Mediterrean white and instead of snake charmers you have spontaneous bursts of flamenco song!

Andalucia in the south of Spain really is the most stereotypically and quintessentially Spanish place in Spain (which is probably to say that it is the most Spanish place in the entire world). I love it here, the beautiful seaside towns where you can sit on a castle ruin, eat ice cream and see the coast of Africa (that´s Tarifa, the southernmost point of Europe), see the most beautiful Spanish valley with endless groves of grapes and olive trees from above (that´s Rondo, with it´s incredibly engineered bridge built of ye olde, no not in the 80´s like that Honkie buddah) and finally Seville that´s the most bizarre mix of opposites I will ever know.

The weird diametric oppositions in Seville is exemplified in its key attractions - the cathedral (the biggest in area in the world) and the Reales Alcazares palaces which are in part built by the Moors (so typically Islamic) but you turn a corner and it´s suddenly high Gothic or gorgeous little Spanish orange gardens. Decidedly weird but you really can´t help falling in love with it.

Oh and the best thing about Spain - hot showers, after four days of cold showers in Morocco, a long hot shower was just the ticket.

(And yes, I will put up photos soon mum, I promise, but these old computers don´t support my USB key.)

In the Great Red Land

I preface this entry by saying that I don't know if this is an Arabic or French keyboard but it's crazy. I will have to upload a photo of it sometime just to share the utter bizarreness of it all...

Morocco is an amazing country - every moment is an assault on every sense. The first I saw of this country was Marrakesh from the sky is an endless stretch of red, that orangey, pinky, utterly earthy red dotted with the dark green of olive groves, cactii and palms. The first thing I heard on getting to the Marrakesh medina square was the song of the snake charmers and the endless call of hundreds of vendors beckoning you to sample their wares. The first thing I tasted was the spicy dish called tagine (served in a oddly comical conical pot) all mopped up with the excellent bread here. And I can't even begin to describe the exotic mix of smells in Morocco - a hundred different spices frankinsence, myrhh and others I couldn't even begin to name. But the thing that completely overwhelms you is the endless desert heat beating down.

If you close your eyes and just try to cram every single stereotype the name 'Morocoo' evokes, add in a few thousand tourists and a few hundred locals ripping off the tourists then you've got a pretty damn good idea of what Marrakesh is like. It's definitely not Europe and I'n definitely not in Kansas anymore...

But I'm actually now in Casablanca which is more like a city sitting on the precipice of modernisation. It's pretty much what any relatively poor neighbourhood in Shanghai would look like but with mosques. Although it's not as quintessentially 'Moroccan' as Marrakesh I almost like it more as the people here are infinitely more charming. It's a treat simplyto have a chat to the locals at the hotel and the markets - although if one more person cajoles me with calls of 'Japan! Japan!'...

(Photos to come when I find an internet cafe with USB access...)

How Did Medieval Princesses Get to Their Castles?!?

No, that's not a rhetorical or hypothetical question.

You see for the past few days Johnny and I have been crusing up the Rhine between Koblenz and Mainz. It's really, really beautiful. And just to make it more interesting we have been staying at the German hostels (Deutscher Jugenherberge - see Timo, I am putting the German you taught me to good use, many a time has Wo ist die jugenherberge? come in handy!) which are dramatically situated in hilltop fortresses and cliffs. The view is absolutely AMAZING and getting to explore old fortresses and ruined castles at sunset is an absolute treat. However getting up to them is an absolute b***** (especially when you have giant packs!), which really for me, begs the question of how the princesses of ye olde days got to these great hunks of rock on top of the cliffs! My theory is that they were carried up by the knights in shining armour but alas, Johnny refuses to be my knight in shining armour! {Insert angry and tired expression here}

(And if you're reading this Shao, Lil - I did not see any Rhine maidens, very sad)

Before Germany we also went through Belgium and Luxembourg.

Belgium should really be called Beerdom - they have the most incredible selection of beers I have EVER seen ... the menu at the youth hostel along was 26 beers long. Apparently there is a place in Brussels that has a beer menu 7000 beers strong, but I'm not sure if that's just a fanciful rumour. I even finished THREE entire beers in one night in Bruges (which is much nicer than Brussels in my not so humble opinion) but I figure that doesn't really disturb my girly drink inclinings as they were peach, raspberry and cherry flavoured respectively... mmm... uber sweet beer that doesn't taste like beer...

Oh yes and I did get chocolates in Belgium. The photo is from St Hubert's gallery in Brussels which has some of the most amazing chocolate displays I have ever seen. The chocolates were yum :p

As for Luxembourgh, I really thought Luxembourg would be cool, but it's not, really. They have some interesting casemates (fort tunnels in the hill) but otherwise it's sufficient just to wave at it as you go past on the train. (Just don't blink at the crucial moment because you might miss it!)

(Oh and Meike don't worry, Johnny and I have eaten enough currywurst for you, Timo and everyone else at Fudan put together, we're thoroughly addicted!

Oh and Shuggles, yes it's true, I ate 3 boxes of Cini Minis in 2 weeks in Berlin :p I have been craving it since Beijing so had to overeat my fill when I got to Germany! :p We shop at Aldi for everything except the Cini Minis :p

I'm really going to suffer when I go back to Australia... must have more German food!)

PS: I'm sorry I've been slack with my entries but it's hard to upload photos and write entries when you're on the road, especially when I have to spend so much time looking after and arguing with Johnny :p I promise I will have lots more photos uploaded sometime (probably when I get back to Berlin) It's probably a good thing, I think the reason you guys had so much trouble accessing my album is because you exceeded all the bandwidth!