DAY 75 – BARCELONA 03/03/2009
Our day started with a pretty painless trip to the bus station to buy tickets to tonight's bus to Bilbao. Strangely, you can't buy tickets for the other bus (San Sebastian to Paris) from here, but if San Sebastian's office is as easy as this then it shouldn't be a problem. We then proceeded to walk back to La Rambla, got distracted in the market again and bought some real, fresh juices. Keeley had a strawberry and banana concoction and I experimented with kiwifruit, coconut and mango. Both were excellent purchases. Our real aim for the morning was to walk up to the top of a hill to the west of the city centre that apparently had some pretty good views of the city. We weren't disappointed, and we did get a really good appreciation for the size of the city from there. It was pretty good, with the only downside being the buildings immediately adjacent to the hill being probably one storey too tall to see the waterfront properly. There are also a number of stadia from Barcelona's Olympics still standing on the hill, so it was interesting to see them as well. The Olympics were important for the city as it was the reason it is so nice now – sand was shipped in from Egypt to make the beaches, palms were hired from Hawaii, paving was done throughout the city and it was generally smartened up to the pretty cool place it is today.
Following our walk, we dropped once more into the market to buy food for tea, picking up a lot of steak for only €3, and some vegetables. The staff at our hostel were good enough to let us use the kitchen and everything even after we'd checked out, so that was good. Our final excursion in Barcelona was to the Sagrada Familia church, Casa Mila and Casa Battlo, all by the famous architect, Antonio Gaudi. The man's style is unrivalled, and more than anything you are just amazed at what he had the tenacity to do with stone. Undulating, almost biological facades are somehow even more impressive when you think that no stone in them would be the same and they stand out against the rest of Barcelona's otherwise relatively unimpressive architecture. It was great to see them 'in the flesh', and Sagrada Familia particularly will be absolutely amazing when it is finally finished in around 30 years (it was started in the late 19th Century).
The night ended relatively quietly, watching a movie and relaxing in our hostel before another couple of no doubt uncomfortable bus rides.
DAY 76 – BILBAO/SAN SEBASTIAN 04/03/2009
Our overnight bus was another saga, and another late service from our friends at Alsa; only twenty-five minutes this time though. The thing that annoyed us both was the lack of information available on the boards. The bus was at least comfortable – we stole the back seat and spread out, so that helped. We arrived in Bilbao, a little disorientated (the bus driver's heavy accent meant we were caught off guard and didn't realise where we were until we stopped. In the confusion Keeley lost her prize Italian scarf, this loss being the more painful for the loss of her Scottish hat only a couple of days ago. The weather did little to brighten her spirits – it was raining. We decided the rain wasn't heavy enough to be uncomfortable so we walked through it. This turned out to be a bad idea, as we were so early that finding a supermarket that was open (to buy milk for breakfast) turned out to be a long, arduous walk. On the upside, we did get to explore Bilbao pretty thoroughly and see some of the amazing, modern buildings in the city. The Guggenheim museum, as impressive as it is, is only the start of this city. It's really turning around its industrial heritage with some pretty edgy modern architecture, sculpture and urban space. It's a pity the weather was so miserable, because it would have been good to explore it more. In comparison to Barcelona, where I feel comfortable that I explored it enough, I felt that we barely scratched the surface of Bilbao. I guess you can't control the weather though, and it was still pretty good to visit.
Another bus, another city as we arrived in San Sebastian to more rain. Keeley was getting pretty grumpy by this point, and I had no intention of lugging our big backpacks around all day so we dropped into the café of a swanky looking hotel just near the bus station. It was a good move in the end, as not only did we get coffee and a map, but it let Keeley dry off a bit while I walked the 20mins into the city centre to find the tourist information. Fortunately it dried up a fair bit by then, and the sun was even peeking through for fleeting moments. The walk was actually pretty pleasant, and when I gathered my info and found Keeley again we dropped our bags at a local internet café and started exploring. The city is very pretty, even on such a gloomy day, with a lot of nice squares and boulevards. We sampled some tapas, traditional Spanish food where there are lots of small 'tasters' of things and you eat one of everything, before getting on a bus to the science museum. The view over the city is pretty good from the road as you drive up the hill, looking over a couple of big sports stadia and toward the bay. The science museum itself is very impressive, rivalling the London science museum for quality. Literally everything was interactive, covering all the regular bases of mass, electricity, light, communications and environment. It easily occupied two-and-a-half hours of our time, and by the time we left we had missed another torrential downpour. We explored the city a bit more, looking in some shops, making some pita bread and steak sandwiches for tea and generally just checking the place out before everything shut up shop. We are now in McDonald's, planning our next few days in Paris and waiting for our midnight bus. San Sebastian is another gem of Spain, and in some better weather I can imagine being able to spend a few days here.
Overall, it was a pretty enjoyable day apart from the rain. Both places are definite must-sees for my eventual return to Europe, that's for sure.
DAY 77 – PARIS 05/03/2009
I really don't like buses. They are uncomfortable to sleep in and you end up too close to other people. For example, on last night's bus two guys had a huge argument in different languages about one of them reclining his seat too close to the other one. Also, Keeley had to contend with a rather oversized bum taking up most of the seat next to her. We did get some sleep, fortunately, probably owing as much to tiredness as anything. When we arrived in Paris (finally, after contending with heaps of traffic at 10:30am!) we found the metro system almost as good as London's. There was a cool board, admittedly a bit of a relic of the 20th Century, that lit up all the stations you would go through to get to anywhere in Paris from the bus station. For example, Keeley just pressed the button for our station and it showed the quickest route, including changes and everything. It was nothing a touchscreen computer couldn't have done, but it was cute.
Our hostel is literally across the road from the metro station. We had heard some pretty terrible stories about it, and braced ourselves for the worst, but it's not too bad. There are some odd things, like each room only has one key for everyone to share and the eating area is outside in the courtyard under a shade sail, but other than that it's actually alright. We do have to fight through a few street cigarette and jewelry salesmen to get anywhere, but they're not scary in any way, just annoying.
We tried to get something out of our day here, so we rushed down to the Notre Dame cathedral hoping to catch the 12pm English tour we read about in Lonely Planet. Unfortunately, the tour wasn't until 2pm and we didn't really feel like waiting around, so we checked out the cathedral and moved on, just exploring the streets. We did come across Norman Foster's Pompidou Centre, which is very cool to see in person. The idea behind it is a building being turned inside out, with all the circulation, plumbing, ductwork, etc on the outside and free, open plan space inside. It was pretty impressive. We also walked down to the Moulin Rouge, read a little about the history of it and saw the exorbitant prices – one for the next visit when we're rich we think. We did some supermarket shopping, made a mess of the meat sauce for tonight (a combination of too much chilli and frozen mince) but in the end had some good nachos and spent the night chatting to some guys from the hostel. All in all, it was a surprisingly pleasant day considering how tired we are. Early night tonight to allow us to tackle a walking tour and the Eiffel Tower tomorrow.
DAY 78 – PARIS 06/03/2009
We headed for the New Europe walking tour of Paris today. Our guide was a loud Kiwi with a speech impairment, but he was entertaining enough. From the fountain of St Michel (the leader of God's army and the angel who banished Lucifer to Hell) we heard how the original crown of thorns worn by Christ is held in Notre Dame after being bought by a French king for the equivalent of €300 million, saw the bulletholes in the police building, the only scars of WWII in the whole city, then walked along the Seine and saw the Pont Neuf, which is adorned with over three hundred sculpted heads. The legend goes that King Henri IV held a big party, got everyone drunk and had their drunken likenesses recorded so they could be used to decorate the bridge. We also saw a couple of very nice palaces, including the one and only Palais de Louvre, saw the obelisk outside it (they put a giant condom on it for World AIDS Day one year) and walked up one of the main axes of Paris towards the Arc de Triomphe to end at the Grand Palais and Petit Palais, two famous art museums. The tour was quite good, giving us a pretty good overview of the city.
We then went to the Eiffel Tower, climbed the 668 steps to the second floor and caught the lift all the way to the top. The view was incredible – we were lucky to get an almost perfectly clear day. It's strange to look over the city and see the centre being quite low (less than five storeys) then suddenly skyscrapers appear further out. It's almost the opposite of a 'normal' city. You also get an appreciation for the huge boulevards and axes in Paris when you see it from so high up. The park at the base of the tower, Parc du Champs de Mars, is really nice and the tower itself is simply incredible. It really does look like something from another time, with its expressed riveted steel construction and simple brown paint. We also thought it was cool that they still let people climb it, especially since it's much cheaper to climb than catch the lift all the way.
To round off our already big day we went to the Louvre (which is free after 6pm on Fridays) and saw a mind-boggling collection of art, sculpture and artefacts. Apparently it would take you approximately sixty-five days to see everything in the Louvre if you spent 30 seconds at each item, and that is very believable. The place is indescribably massive, and we only scratched the surface. There are apparently 100,000 pieces in its collection, with only 35,000 on display. You could even see one of the storerooms at one point, with the pieces covered by various drapes. We did see the Mona Lisa, a small painting covered by a huge glass case, and a lot of very interesting Egyptian artefacts including a real mummy and sarcophagi. By this point we were pretty tired so we headed back to our hostel, satisfied that we had spent the day very successfully.
DAY 79 – PARIS 07/03/2009
We found it pretty difficult to get up this morning, but made it in the end and after much difficulty at the train station (the automatic ticket machines were very uncooperative) we were at the Palace of Versailles. This place redefines 'big'. The palace itself has several wings, extending in all directions. It is imposing from any angle, but the best view is from behind in the gardens, where the façade stretches out and has a really nice symmetry and consistency of decoration. The gardens themselves dwarf the palace, which is obviously no mean feat, including a couple of man-made lakes where you can hire boats to row around on. One particular Asian couple struggled with the rowing concept, attempting to row backwards. It was very funny to watch. They hire out golf buggies for the elderly so they can see the whole thing. Although some of the trees were sans leaves, owing to the winter, the forms of the gardens were clearly evident. Scattered throughout were heaps of little fountains and other places of interest, like a pretty cool stone amphitheatre thing. Perhaps the most impressive thing about them was the realisation of a completely planned garden on such a big scale – you really got a feel for the huge axes running through it and they had their full effect because of the scale. It was really cool to see.
Tired, we headed back to Paris and stopped at the supermarket and a small fruit and veg market to get food for tea. More importantly, however, we also went down the street towards Sacre Coeur so that Keeley could find a beret to replace her missing Scottish hat. We did find one in a souvenir shop eventually, but we also diverted to the church for a look. The location is stunning; the highest piece of real estate in Paris, and you can look out over the city. There is an impressive staircase leading up to the church itself where a few groups were busking. One pair were dancing, and were pretty impressive with their athleticism. The church is a place of perpetual prayer, meaning you are supposed to be completely silent inside, a fact lost on the tourist behind us. It is not the biggest, nor the grandest church we've seen, but it is very impressive. There is a large mural of Jesus on the dome over the altar complete with gold leaf. The side alcoves are also quite nice, as are the stained glass windows. There are hundreds of little candles almost completely encircling the congregation, giving the place a cool medieval lighting.
I am really pleased that we've managed to see most of the 'big' tourist sites already, leaving us with a couple of days up our sleeves to revisit anything or just explore the city. This is how Berlin should have been. Tomorrow we finish off our list of must-dos with the catacombs and Arc de Triomphe.
Explore the new Windows Live. Looking for a place to manage all your online stuff?
