Spain

I'm back from Spain!! Anyone missed me? Anyone? At all? Fine!

Anyways, it was nice and sunny in Spain. A lil toooo sunny. It was 38 degrees in Seville!! I got burned on my shoulders, on my second day there. Ok, so where should i start? I flew to Barcelona and then took trains to Madrid, Seville and Valencia and then flew back to UK. My mission?
1. Zara
2. Mango
3. Drool at sexy Spanish guys
4. Nude beaches Get high on Sangria

I completed my mission, though the Sangria only gave me rashes. Always happens when i drink too much anyways. Ok, so here goes.

Barcelona

The day started early in the morning. Ok, so maybe not that early. We went to LeedsBradford Airport to catch our 2.00p.m. flight to Barcelona. It was a 2 hour flight, so we reached at 4.00p.m UK time but Spain is an hour faster so that makes it 5.00p.m. Upon reaching, we hopped on the metro and sped off to the city centre. We got a lil lost looking for our hotel, but what caught my eyes were Mango and Zara. 0_0

We were staying at Las Ramblas street, which was conveniently the MOST happening street in Barcelona. It was one long stretch of road until the waterfront. The street was lined with stalls selling from chickens to flowers, restaurants, and street artisans. At the waterfront there's a Christopher Columbus column, with him pointing to the sea.

Maybe he saw some mermaids or something.

The most common food we could find here were tapas (seafood, meant as a snack) and paella (something like fried rice with seafood). Oh, and the famous Spanish alcoholic drink, Sangria. Sangria comes in 2 versions, white and red wine. It's mixed with brandy and fruits. But it tasted like wine plus ice to me. This is the white wine version, the red wine version looks the same only in red la.


This is paella:

This is a type of tapa:


Nice leh. Jealous or not? Muahahha...

Ok, enough about food. When in Barcelona you must know this name 'Antoni Gaudi'. He's a designer, architect and an engineering genius here. He designed the famous Sagrada Familia. A must see before you die building, according to Lonely Planet la. He also designed Parc Guell and Casa Mila among other buildings.

The Sagrada Familia. Still under construction. Since 1882.

We mostly visited those places by Gaudi. Yeah, that's about it. Next stop, Madrid!

Madrid

Ok, i didn't find Madrid as fun as Barcelona. But i happen to come across something that was INTERESTING. will talk about it later.

It took us about 4 hours to Madrid by train. ( Note: If you wanna travel cheaper get inter-rail tickets. It let's u travel around Europe cheaper). We stayed in this hostel called Cat's Hostel. It's the nice place, a World Heritage building. It's cheaper to stay in hostels. This one had air-con in the rooms, free breakfast and free internet! And the people staying there were nice to hangout with. Made friends with those from US, Australia, Denmark and more. We stayed there for 2 nights. The second night there, the hostel was celebrating its 1st year anniversary. There was a flamenco dance performance and free paella. Forget about paella, it was FREE Flamenco Dance, baby! And i had a sit right in front!! I was called up by the guy to dance a few steps. Damn shy man, but heck, it was a nice experience.

Damn ganas rite? I have a few videos. Anyone interested?

In Madrid i didn't do much. I went to the Prado Museum. Yes, yet another museum. We were heading to the museum and guess what was happening on the street right in front of it? Gay Parade! Woohoo. Saw a lot of naked butts. Sorry, was looking at the guys ones only. But i saw some women walking with their tops of. Anyways, back to the guys. There was one dancing naked but holding a cloth to cover his privates. Teasing the crowd by moving the cloth around. Like wanna show, don't want to show like that. Haha. The whole street was filled with trucks and busses with gays and lesbians dancing on them. Damn happening. When we got there, it was just starting so we went into the museum first, but when we came out the whole street was jam packed with ppl!! And they were handing out freebies. Those rainbow flags, gay magazine, free facial/body products, etc. Here's one of the buses.

If you want more photos, contact me. :D All i can say is, why are gay men so damn leng chai!

That's all the memories i have of Madrid. We didn't go much places because we went to Toledo. A town 1 hour away from Madrid. It used to be the capital of Spain and it's one of the top countries that produces swords. It's a nice small town, surrounded by walls and it has old spanish buildings. Nice. Reminds me of Zorro. But it still has Zara, Lacoste and Mango there. :P

Seville

After 2 days in Madrid, we went to Seville. A small town at the south. Damn hot weather. 38 degrees. When we reached there, we went straight to visit the Cathedral and Alcazar. Free on that day. Muahahah. Ok, i'm beginning to make us sound like cheapos. But really, got to save all we can so we can spend more on Booze food.

The Cathedral is one of the biggest in the world. It was really damn huge! And next to it was the Alcazar which used to be the residence of Muslim & Christian royalty. It's also damn huge! It has nice decor and even had a small park inside the compound. We could hear lots of owls as well. Here's one, the security guard was carrying it around:

Cute lil bugger with big creepy eyes eh?

There were lots of Orange Trees around ( the fruit not the colour). If you plucked it, you supposedly could be arrested. Or so they say. My friend tried the orange and said it was too sour to be eaten.

Ok, that's it for Seville. Unless you want to here my shopping escapades? No? Really? Oklor..

Valencia

Last stop, Valencia. Travelled 8 hours from Seville. Boring ride. Half of the journey was spent trying to communicate with a Spanish woman who knew little English.

Valencia was quite cool. I mean the weather. A nice refreshing change from Seville. Valencia is the 3rd biggest city in Spain. We stayed in another hostel. Called 'Home Hostel'. It's also like the one we stayed in Madrid, just minus the air-con, free internet and breakfast. Bleh. But they had a kitchen we could use to cook and the ppl were nice.

Visited the Central Market, another museum, and the beach! No nudist though. It was a nice town, something like Barcelona with less ppl. We flew back to UK after that. Ppl were putting on their jackets upon reaching the airport! So that's it. My summary of Spain. Bought loads of postcards, a small sword, clothes, and Jamon ( a spanish type of pork, pronounce as Hamon). And i got to watch The Incredibles, Shark Tale, and Sky Captain.... in Spanish!

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Sorry can't write more. I'm in a hurry anway. My parents will be here tomorrow, so that means i can't blog. And then we're heading to Paris then head back for my graduation. Don't even know my results yet! *sweat sweat* Wish me luck!