Portugal

Portugal has been another slice of beach meets partying and great food. First we hit up Lisbon, where to be honest we were slightly concerned when we entered the train station to get to our hostel. However, after the initial concern and a few jabs at Chelsea for booking what we thought was going to be a crappy 3 nights we the found this to be the best hostel we had ever stayed in, with an awesome common area and big communal kitchen. Our room was a 6 bedder so we had that to ourselves, that is Jen, myself, Holly, Chels, Kate and Giselle. The boys were, by chance, staying in the same hostel and in the room next door. Destination hostel was only €20 a night and well worth every penny, if not more.  Lisbon was nice and we enjoyed the sights, the parks, the flea markets, and a big Portuguese dinner consisting mostly of seafood. We were expecting the beach to be a little bit more accessible than it was but that was the only downside. Drinks were cheap and we were able to cook some cheap dinners too in the well equipped kitchen. We were also lucky enough to find the place that serves the original portuguese tarts which hit the spot well for afternoon tea.  After three nights in Lisbon we made our way to Lagos, where we stayed 4 nights. There has been little to see in terms general tourism, but the beaches are stunning lined with dramatic cliffs and rocks that stand freely in the sea.  This would be the last time we saw the boys on our travels as they head north for Germany and Belgium. As such, a couple of good dinners with them and a resulting big night following, we have certainly enjoyed what Lagos has to offer. The highlight apart from the beaches has been a place called Nah Nah Bah where they have one of the top 50 burgers in the world. I'm not sure how they assess this but naturally curiosity got the better of me. It was bloody good.  We had planned on going kayaking around the grottos but we were cancelled on two days running with conditions too rough to navigate through rocky waters. Oh well, back home for lunch and another trip to the beach will have to suffice.   I would certainly recommend coming to portugal, Lagos in particular. Food and drink are cheap and good, with the accommodation being amongst the best priced and styled in Europe. Obrigada Portugal!

Barca!

OK so unfortunately I don't have many photos from Barcelona. This is because we had three fabulous days of great food, nice wine and good company!

We were lucky enough to meet up with Nicole on our first night who is a veteran of where to eat and party in Barca. So we hit the food market (picture below) for breakfast (that day and everyone following) then after an architecture tour from resident architect Giselle we enjoyed the most delicious Tapas the city has to offer at 'Catalana' restaurant. 

As it was Graces birthday we headed to a bar around the corner called 'Chupitus Espit' which served nothing but 2 euro shots! I excitedly ordered the HARRY POTTER shot!!! which is bright green and they spray the whole bar with tequila and light it and the shot on fire and throw flecks of cinnamon in the flames so it sparks and the shot is supposed to taste like citrus and toasted cinnamon. It was horrible! But exciting! Oscar ordered the SNOOPY shot which had nothing on my Harry Potter. Needless to stay Barca has good night-life and restaurants and the next two days were spent exploring them by night and at the beach by day!

 Our Market and Oscar's Panoramic skills again.

 Gaudi Apartment.

Chels and I in front of the Sagrada Familia. Enormous!

San Sebastian touristing and Paella

 At this stage Oscar has discovered the 'Panoramic' setting on the camera. This is from the top of the headland/mountain that overlooks the town of San Sebastian. There is a massive statue of Jesus (very like the Rio Statue) on the top and so we named the hill 'Jesus Mountain'. It was not until the last day that we found the energy to clime Jesus Mountain but the views were totally worth it!

 Guess Who?

 Those that braved the heat; Osc, Tom, Me, Chels and Dan. I also discovered some colour enhancing settings on the camera (we had to fill our time before we had cooled down enough to take photos).

 The Van Clan enjoying a hearty Paella by the sea! (not as good as the one from my 21st though mum hehe)

Beautiful San Seb by Sunset. A really pretty little city that i look forward to returning to asap.

San Sebastian and Pamplona - RUNNING WITH THE BULLS!!!

 Sunset on the Esplanade at San Sebastian.

 The members of Van number 2! (Matt, Nat, Oscar, Me and Chels)

 Meeting up with the girls and enjoying 3 litres of Sangria!!!

 Pre-Drinking in preparation for the street parties at Pamplona. All dressed in white with a touch of red :)

 The Bus ride in. Getting excited...

 Climbing massive statues of bulls with some crazy locals.

 Every street and square was packed with live music and chanting from the crowd.

 The following morning at 6.30 in the arena at Pamplona waiting for the 8am start of the running of the bulls!

 looking a little worse for wear from a big day and little sleep that night.

 After the bull run the runners are locked into the arena and some smaller bulls are released. The local Spaniards are amazing at taunting the bulls and we got to see some Aussie idiots get arrested for man handling a bulls tail. Was good fun!

OUCH! well done Mr Cow!

THE VAN - Bruges and La Rochelle

WELCOME TO THE VAN! 

We were a group of 10 travellers (Oscar and I plus Dan Long, Chelsea Owen, Sven Von Sperl, Matt Corcoran, Dan Twycross, Tom O'neil, Nat Goodall and Fiona Millest).

We have hired two "Wicked" campers and are driving from Amsterdam to Barcelona and stopping along the way. Here are the first two nights - Bruges and La Rochelle. Loved both cities!

 Beautiful canals and weather in Bruges.

 Busy Streets filled with Waffle's, Gelato and chocolate shops. Nice markets and cathedrals.

 The Group!

 Sailing Harbour at La Rochelle, complete with a nice 32 ft Catalina like boat for you mum :)

Sunset on the wall of our campsite at La Rochelle. Lovely afternoon walking around the town followed by the next morning spent shopping nice boutiques and buying buckets of raspberries in the fresh food markets.

I AMSTERDAM

 Chels, Nat and Oscar enjoying a coffee on the canal outside Anne Frank Museum.

 Anne Frank Museum and nice church in the background and our bikes that we rented for the day in front. There are more bikes in Amsterdam than people! there were a few close calls with cars, buses, trams, other bikes and people everywhere. I however was the only one to crash (slowly into a stationary pole. oops).

 The famous sign. Was so busy that day so we returned the next morning to get a group shot. But those are on Nat's camers :(

A good summary photo of what Amsterdam was about. We were relatively lucky with the weather and made the most of the park than backed onto our hostel.

Budapest Photos

 The Reunion! Was surprisingly nice to catch up with Chris after 16 months apart. So many travel stories shared over beers in some really funky bars around the city. This is part of the two hours total that we spent touristing... at the top of some basilica. Good views!

 Chris with the cash he received after closing his European bank account. He had a 500 euro note (which are called Bin Ladins as they are extremely hard to find).

 Castle in Budapest. Very pretty and great weather.

 Me and Chris in the Turkish baths! We alternated between the 38 and 34 degree pools outside in the sunshine. Left after 2 days with nice smooth skin. really loving Budapest!

 Baths and Beers!

Full or statues and local oldies playing intense games of chess :)

Budapest

Well what an experience Budapest was. We arrived after 17 hours on the overnight train from split to find that the street our hostel was on was covered in rubble, surrounded by police tape, and a hell of a lot of smoke. Great we thought, a bombing. It took about half an hour of wandering the surrounding streets to finally find a security guard to let us through, and to also discover that they were in fact filming the new die hard film. After finally finding our hostel amongst the polystyrene rubble, we sat on the window ledge and watched car chase after car chase for the remainder of the day.  We stayed a total of four nights in Budapest for only €40 in one of the nicest hostels I've ever stayed in, the hipster hostel.  Some highlights of Budapest include some really funky bars and pubs, one in particular called Simplah bar which was a warehouse filled with mismatched retro furniture. With the price of pints being only €1.70 you really couldn't complain. Another highlight was the baths, which Budapest is famous for. We spent two days at the baths relaxing and taking in local characters, mainly old men playing chess in the sun for hours upon hours. Little leather soldiers they were.  On the third night we headed to Buda where we met up with Fergus and J , and feasted on all you can eat Mongolian BBQ and all you can drink for only €17. Lastly, Budapest can be commended on its coffee, which was still some way off the quality found in Australia, but much more drinkable than that found elsewhere on our travels so far. We would truly recommend a trip to Budapest as your money goes a long way there, and given there is soo much to do in this historical city, its really a good situation to find yourself in.