Anniversary in Zaragoza!

Today I am writing my 50th entry online....what a nerd. Last night I arrived in Zaragoza at 9pm to find that all the hostels were booked out and that the only means of sleeping on a bed was by paying 80 euro for a hotel. So I trudged out of the city and lay down behind some bushes in a paddock and dozed off. Leading up to this point; for the last couple of days I have been in Madrid, which is where I decided to go after wanting to leave Valencia. Madrid is a vast metropolis of old blended with new. It´s prices are particularly high so I decided to get out after only two days of staying there. During the first night I met a Dutch man named Jella and we had a few beers together and chilled out in the hostel. Later we went out for a beer and we met a group of ladies who told us that we could stay at there house the next night. So the next morning, Jella and myself packed up and shipped out of the hostel to meet the ladies from the night before. They took us back to their place and we had wine, played crazy Spanish card games and had homemade Tapas for dinner. It was a great experience and a good laugh trying to discuss topics for my Spanish is not very sharp.....as blunt as it gets to be honest. Well the next day I jumped on a bus to Zaragoza in hopes of eluding the instense prices in Madrid and now I find myself fed up on toast at 11am after watching an old bitter man order and polish off his beer this morning in a nice little cafe in the city centre. Today I think I will trudge around Zaragoza and then jump on a bus back to Barcelona. I have decided not to trek Morocco and to stick to my original plan......if only the euros would stay a little longer in my pocket.

Tales from the Crypt!

Yesterday I bid farewell to Luigi and his Aunt and Grandmother on the streets of Castello. For a 19 year old he was very mature and he told me that he couldn´t wait until he finished school so that he could go travelling and do what I am doing which was a privelage to hear. I boarded the bus and ended up at the Castello train station. It turned out that for the four nights beforehand, there had been a four day festival in Castello and so for the two hour train ride to Valencia, we were packed in like fat kids in a candy store. Hot, sticky, irritable, reeking and uncomfortable are a few words that can sum that journey up. On arrival in Valencia I managed to grab a bed next to the Lonja (Church/Castle) in a hostel called Rincon (corner in spanish) for 13 euro a night. I dumped my pack and headed onto the streets to do a little exploring. I met a 46 year old lady in a cafe who helped me order as it took me 3 minutes to order a lemonade let alone food. She told me her life story and why she was living in Valencia....in a word; heartache! After my lunch I hit the road for the most famous Cathedral in Spain known as the Saint Mary of Valencia Cathedral (Santa Maria). I went inside and paid 4 euro for entry which also included an audio guide which to my surprise was actually very helpful and interesting. As I journed around the massive gothic structure I gazed upon ancient bones and skulls of saints, a petrified intact arm of an ancient saint and of course, one of the chalices from which Jesus supposedly drank from during the last supper, aka the Holy Grail. After being quite distinctly humbled after imagining that the cup in front of me was infact the Holy Grail , I hit the streets again down to the Jardines del Turia (Turia Gardens) which is a dried up river bed that has been converted into a park. After relaxing in the sun I headed to a cafe which enables people to exchange languages on Monday. I then spent the remainder of the night teaching English, learning basic Spanish and meeting interesting people. One person I met was Roberto. Roberto is a brave, adventurous Italian woman who travels the globe by herself. She wants to travel to Morocco but doesn´t feel comfortable going by herself due to her having bad previous experiences with Muslim men. She asked whether or not I would be keen to go and I said that I would seriously consider it, after all it is only a two hour ferry ride from the bottom of Spain. We shall see where the weather takes me.......

Leaving a friend; gaining a friend!

Last night a thunderstorm hit Cambrils which is where we were still camping. Fortunately for us, there was a neat brick arched bridge near our camp which was dry. We carried our belongings under the bridge and lit a fire whilst polishing off donuts and a beer. We laid our 2 euro mats on the rocks under the bridge and prepared for sleep. With the fire emanating across the arched ceiling, lightening streaking across the purple sky and silohettes of trees against the backdrop, it felt like a scene from an old epic adventure movie. The next day on awakening Shawn and I bid farewell to our camp, as well as thanking it for keeping us safe. We hit the road back to Salou in order to catch the train to Valencia. On finding the train fully booked we headed over to the bus station and waited during siesta for it to open. During this time Shawn decided that he wanted to stay close to Barcelona as his funds were drying up, so he decided to go to Zaragoza which is closer to Barcelona. I still wanted to go to Valencia, so came the time when two trusted allies had to bid farewell. After a beer and then waving off Shawn as he headed out, I boarded my bus with Valencia written on the top of it as the sun started to set across the mountain range behind Salou. On the bus I met a 19 year old German, Spanish, Italian named Luigi. He lives in Germany, his Mum is Spanish and his Dad is Italian. After brief chatter, he invited me to spend the night at his place with his aunt and grandmother in Castello. I accepted the invitation and here I find myself sitting on an exceptionally soft bed, fully fed and smelling like roses after a shower which was five days overdue. I am beginning to fall in love with Spain.

Shawn!

During my time in Spain so far, I have had the pleasure of a fine companion named Shawn. Shawn is a 26 year old who is originally from Toronto in Canada but who is currently living in London with his girlfriend. He is an aspiring journalist who is planning to write the piece of literature that will boost him into his career. He travels very light with only a small canvas backpack that is mostly full of little notebooks into which he records details of his travels. he records streetnames, restaurants, food names, drinks, areas and of course his thoughts and opinions. He described to me why he does this. He said "anyone can tell a story, but a story with details is a story well told" Interestingly enough I think I entirely agree with him. He is only travelling for two weeks but it shall be a fine two weeks of camping, fishing and chilling on the beaches and eastern coastline of Spain.

Bush, bats, fish and campfires!

The next day we awoke on the beach with people building sandcastles and swimming in the Mediterranean. We slowly got sorted and headed for food. After a baguette, Carmen got on the bus and headed back to Barcelona as she was catching a flight to Madrid the next day. Shawn and I picked some mountains in the distance and started walking towards them. After a couple of hours of walking out of Salou and into Cambrils along the highway, we found a neat little national park in which we set up camp. With ample shelter, great sights and it only being 20 minutes from the coast we had found gold. We made a fire and cooked some pasta and chick peas and then headed to the beach to watch the sun set on the horizon. What we found was a deserted beach with a great fishing spot, so instead of returning to camp for the night we slept on the beach in silence. On waking, learning some spanish over an espresso, Shawn headed into town and I went fishing. I caught a fish that I think is called a bream and I gutted it, returned to camp and wrapped it in tinfoil after stuffing it with lemon in hopes that it would marinate. We chucked it on the fire and it turned out to be the best fish that I have had in three years. We settled down for the night and watched the bats dance in the sky whilst avoiding being caught by eagles before falling asleep.

Salou, Salou...where are you?

After a two and a half hour bus ride which normally takes one hour, we arrived in Tarragona on the coast. We guessed that Tarragona would probably not be a good spot to sleep on the beach as it´s quite a big city and we would most likely get caught. With this in mind we jumped on a city bus and headed out of Tarragona. After 15 minutes the bus stopped in a city known as Salou. We got of the bus and were stoked to see nice quiet calm streets of a little coastal city. We rounded the corner and were met with tourists as far as the eye could see and neons. Holy crap! Turns out Salou is the holiday destination of other Europeans. We headed to the beach and decided to hoof it out of the city following the shore. After 8km of carrying packs we gave up walking and did some karaoke in a beachfront bar. We then crashed on the beach as men with John Deere tractors circled us smoothing the sand for tomorrow. As these men circled with their disapproving looks we eventually lost consciousness and fell asleep to the sound of waves and tractor engines.

Barcelona round 2!

Waking from a 3 hour doze due to my ignorant neighbours in the hostal, I packed up and shipped outside to meet Shawn. We then went and picked up Carmen and headed to the market place situated on Las Ramblas. Due to it being day and a sunshine day at that, the prostitutes had retreated to the shadows and we could let out guard relax. We left the market after oohing and aahing over the assorted ranges of food and headed for the Picaso Museum. After a breakfast, a bottle of wine on a corner in an alley and being stunned by Gaudi´s structures, we came to the idea of flagging the museum and jumping on a bus to start our coastal expedition and return to Barcelona at a later date. I purchased a billy, a fishing rod and a few beers that we drank together as we boarded the bus and proceeded to empty a bottle of wine. The sun outside began to disappear behind a range of mountains as the bus drove along the winding highway.

Beautiful Barcelona!

After arriving in Girona we jumped on an hour bus ride to Barcelona. We arrived at around 11pm and we began a steady journey towards Shawn´s hostel with me hoping that there would be room as I had decided to wing it and not book accomodation. During the bus ride we met a 25 year old tall Canadian girl named Carmen who had recently divorced her husband and had decided to spend her money that she recieved from her prenuptial on touring Europe. She came with us to the hostel which unfortunately didn´t have room for me. I eventually found a room which cost me 35 euro for the one night! Ouch! Anyway after dumping our bags and grabbing a drink we hit the main street called Las Ramblas and headed towards the Southern end which ends with a shorefront walk. After having my nipple tweaked by a prostitute as we walked and after having a beer and watching a man walk into a glass door we finally hit the sack at around 3am.

On the road to Spain

Well a couple of days ago I said goodbye to Mum and Dad and jumped on the train to Stansted airport. After a busy train ride I arrived at the airport, only to be confronted by a huge snake which turned out to be my check in line. With a heavy heart I joined the line. Whilst waiting for eternity to check in there were two lads in front of me talking about whether or not it was possible to sleep on the beaches along the coast of Spain. I took my chance and introduced myself and asked if they wanted some company. It turned out that it was only one guy named Shawn who was asking the question to a spanish lad. Shawn and I began chatting and in no time we landed in Girona airport with a new plan to travel the coast together, sleeping at will where we pleased.

Departure day!

Tomorrow I leave for Spain. I am currently packing and doing all of my washing for I know that it's going to be a while before I get to wash my clothes again. Today I went and exchanged my sterling into Euros and I bought a lonely planet guide to Europe which should come in handy especially in Spain seeing as I am going to be arriving in Barcelona at 22:55 tomorrow night. London has been great as always but after being here for a month I am well excited about heading out to see new things, meet new people and take on new dilemmas. At this point I will also be beginning the trip that eventually takes me back to New Zealand, so I am excited by this and indeed I am still reeling at how fast this time has snuck up on me! I should arrive back in London at some point to say goodbye to the parents and to head to Canada from there. In ending this particular entry I cannot wait for beaches, sunshine, fishing, speaking spanish and of course sampling the wide array of beverages that the spanish surely offer......maybe a bit of a stay in Ibiza as well.......

Plan of attack!

After a few weeks of dilly dallying around and catching up with people in my life in the big city of London I have finally come up with my plan of attack. I am leaving for Spain ( Barcelona) on Tuesday with a one way ticket. From there I plan to head around Spain ending up in Madrid. From there I will travel to the coast of Spain and work my way up the coast and into France, whilst fishing (A LOT). I will then meet up with my good friend Stephen in the South of France. Onwards I will head back to the coast and start skirting along until I enter Italy. Once in Italy I plan to head down to the south and catch the ferry across to Greece. From Greece I plan to island hop to Turkey before flying back to London and heading to Canada on a $100 dollar flight. Depending on funds and time I will then try a road trip into America, checking out NY before flying to LA and then home. With any luck I will arrive home in time for Christmas with the family and a beautiful New Zealand summer........as opposed to the dreary English summer which has more rain in it than a New Zealand winter. Right now I am working doing garden work for my Aunt which will give me some extra spending money. It all help right? I am also getting the thrill of spotting frogs and slashing my arms on cutty grass and wild blackberry bushes....great fun!