Budapest
Sunday July 2, 2017
We arrived in Budapest quite late on Friday, so really all we did was have dinner at a nearby night market and drinks at one of the city's famous ruin bars. Theo and I were feeling a bit under the weather, I think we've come down with a cold, so we stayed for a drink and headed back to the hostel.
Yesterday, we took a hop on/hop off bus around the city's major sights, like Hero Square, the Citadella and the Palace. It's definitely not as scenic as the other places we've been to on this tour but there were still some gorgeous buildings and bridges down by the river. We took lots of photos to commemorate our last day as a Busabout group together, and went our separate ways after lunch.
The Red Bull Air Race was on, and that was pretty special to watch. These small stunt planes would roar through the sky, flying down low to the Danube River and sometimes passing under the bridge, then dodging obstacles placed on the water before screaming back up into the sky and looping victoriously over the city as the crowd looked on. We got some great views of the show from the palace, and spent the afternoon admiring the city from our vantage point.
Theo and I opted to do a boat cruise down the Danube instead of going to a spa party (a "sparty") with the rest of the group. We had a buffet dinner on the boat and floated up and down the river as the sun dipped over the horizon and the lights of the city began to flicker on. We were still suffering from our colds so we headed back to the hostel, only to find the whole group in our room preloading for the sparty! Secretly I was happy to see everyone one last time, but you could see on my face that I was too tired to be sociable. They did ask for one last rendition of Let it Go, and I was happy to oblige, though that is going to be the final memory the group has of me.
This morning, Theo and I are at the bus terminal, heading back to Vienna for a few nights. It's been such a good week, meeting all these people and hanging out with them. Another fun Busabout tour!
Posted by Jeremy at 6:58am on Sunday July 2, 2017 :: 0 comments :: 
Vienna I
Friday June 30, 2017
Vienna has been awesome (every city I've been to is awesome!) We took a walking tour around town to all the major sights of the city, visiting some grand palaces and buildings along the way, as well as some great places to grab some of the city's best cuisine. We ended the day having some classic Austrian schnitzel.
We had an early start the next day to get out to the Wachau Valley, which sits on the Danube River some 70km from Vienna. We rode 24km over the day, biking to various wineries around the area and enjoying the beautiful Austrian countryside. We visited the ruins of a castle where King Richard III of England was held captive, and admired the views of the river and Valley from our vantage point. It was a warm but windy day, but so good to get out and exercise, and I didn't get too drunk and crash either.
We came back to Vienna and had a massive seafood dinner at the Naschtmarkt near our hostel. Theo and I needed to do our laundry so we called it off for the rest of the night while the others continued on to a local bar for a few drinks.
We had some free time this morning, which we spent having some of the famous Viennese coffee and a sachertorte, a chocolate cake with a layer of apricot marmalade. Theo and I also picked up a bunch of antipasti from the Naschtmarkt to takeaway for later, for a very reasonable price.
We're back here by ourselves in a few days, so we weren't too concerned with missing out on things this round. There's a couple of interesting buildings I'd like to revisit and I've got a friend to catch up with as well. Farewell for now Vienna!
Posted by Jeremy at 2:56pm on Friday June 30, 2017 :: 0 comments ::
Krakow
Wednesday June 28, 2017
We're on the move again, leaving the beautiful city of Krakow and heading towards Austria. Again, I wouldn't have imagined what an amazing city Krakow is; the city centre is bustling with life and great atmosphere, there's some stunning buildings around and the riverside is super scenic.
We arrived in the late afternoon on Sunday and after dinner, we hit the town, Polish style, with the Krakow Pub Krawl. Our first bar was underground and we stocked up heavily on vodka oranges and beers, but we were too greedy and ended up having to leave some behind because we were off to the second bar.
And oh my goodness, the second bar had karaoke. I was so down. I was so excited. I chugged three tequila shots and like a boss, I Let it Go to a cheering crowd who weren't expecting that from me. It was such a buzz, everyone was belting it out with me at the end, and whether you like Frozen or not, it's such a fun song to sing. We managed to sing Lose Yourself and I Just Had Sex before we were moved to the next bar. People started dropping out here, it was past midnight. I went home around 1am, a very respectable time for an unexpectedly great night.
The next day, we had a bike tour of Krakow, with only two of our eleven-strong group failing to make it due to bad decisions from the night before. The bike tour took us to the old city wall, mostly demolished, but the moat that had protected the city has been turned into a garden, and you can see the green band of the old moat if you look at a Google map of Krakow. We continued to the university, where Nicolaus Copernicus had been a student, then to the riverside where we learned about the legend of the Krakow dragon. Further down, we visited the Jewish quarter and Schindler's factory, which helped saved thousands of Jewish lives in the Second World War.
We were all pretty tired after the bike tour so we just chilled out in the afternoon and went for dinner at a Jewish restaurant with amazing hummus. We visited a One Euro bar to cap off the night - the next day was going to be intense.
Nothing really prepares you for the horrors of Auschwitz. You've heard what happened and the number of deaths and the statistics but to see the actual buildings where these atrocities were committed, to see their belongings, the hair extracted from the bodies to make carpets and textiles, the gas chambers where Zyklon B was poured in, the railroad where the prisoners were brought in, the gates where they were sorted, the deception that the Nazis used - it's all so emotional, so raw, so disgusting. I finally understand just how bad the Holocaust is and why we must never forget these stories; we must never allow this to happen again.
One of the most poignant moments during this trip was when a mate of mine on the tour placed a piece of pounamu on one of the Jewish memorials at Auschwitz II. He had planned this since leaving his hometown in New Zealand, some 17,600km away, and unbeknownst to him, it is a Jewish custom to place rocks on graves of the deceased - hence how gravestones came to be - and this incredible gesture just brought together Maori and Jewish culture in the most beautiful way imaginable.
In the afternoon, we visited the salt mines, some 65m below ground. A massive network of tunnels through rock salt, the salt mines were a major source of income for Krakow for hundreds of years. In addition to the tunnels to extract the salt, there were also chapels and cathedrals carved into the massive caverns inside, and beautiful chandeliers made from the translucent rocks adorning the churches.
I could see myself visiting Krakow again; the food is fantastic and so affordable. My dinner last night was only $13.50NZD; drinks are also cheap. I will remember my experience at Auschwitz forever and I will never let their stories die.
Posted by Jeremy at 7:10am on Wednesday June 28, 2017 :: 0 comments ::
Prague
Sunday June 25, 2017
I'm on my second Busabout tour now and we've just left Prague. What a stunning city! It truly is one of those gems that lives up to the hype; it's a beautiful city with lots of character and amazing buildings, and plenty of great food and a bustling nightlife.
We arrived into Prague on Friday morning on our overnight bus from Zurich via Munich. We spent a few hours at the bus station having breakfast before checking into our hostel. Though I managed to get a decent sleep on the bus, I was still quite tired, so while Theo went out to do laundry, I took a nap.
Around 2pm, we set out for a walk around town. We had lunch at a pancake place that Jordan had recommended, and conveniently it was in Old Town, so on the way to many of the sights we wanted to see. We saw the amazing Astronomical Clock of Prague, as well as the accompanying most disappointing hourly clock animation in Europe. We went up the tower of St Nicholas's Church for some stunning views of the city - orange roofs and green copper domes and spires covered the city. We continued to the Prague Palace and then came back down to Lennon Wall, and had dinner near Charles Bridge. As we were walking home, we randomly stumbled upon an amazing outdoor concert, which had a band and choir singing classical Christmas songs in Czech.
We relocated hostels the next day as part of the Busabout itinerary. We had a bit of time to kill before our walking tour, so we decided to do something we hadn't done in a long time - go to the gym.
Boy it hurt. I've lost so much strength and muscle, and it was so disappointing to be pushing weights far below what I used to be pushing six months ago. Theo looked like he was having the time of his life though. Good on him. It felt good to be using all those muscles again, but as you can imagine, the DOMS are well and truly present today.
I also had the food of my people while waiting for my load of laundry to finish. After sorting my life out, we met up with the rest of our Busabout group and walked to many of the places we visited the day before, but at least this time we got a sweet explanation of everything. We got some absinthe from the Absinthery and we had dinner (I got goulash!) at a place called Lokal, and got some trdelnik by Charles Bridge. The food here is very much winter food; rich and delicious and plenty of carbs. It was a good day to meet new people and have a few drinks, and I'm looking forward to the next week together!
Posted by Jeremy at 7:06am on Sunday June 25, 2017 :: 0 comments ::
Lisbon
Sunday June 4, 2017
My last stop in Portugal has been in Lisbon. I knew very little about the city driving in, but as we drove over the Ponte 25 de Abril, which looks remarkably like the Golden Gate Bridge, I was taken aback by the sheer beauty of the city - glistening blue water, pristine white houses reflecting in the sun, greenery everywhere, and a Christ the Redeemer-lookalike statue blessing the city from its south bank. As we continued, we saw the massive aqueduct stretching over one of the many valleys in the city.
We checked into the hostel and had lunch nearby, and then got driven to the waterfront to explore the city. We said our goodbyes to Alan and Miguel, our bus drivers, and wandered the streets of downtown Lisbon. Naturally, our first stop was a six pack of pasteis de nata, the Portuguese egg tarts. We got some overpriced sangria (that wasn't even alcoholic!) and met back at the Arco de Rua Augusta for a walking tour of Alfama.
It turns out Lisbon is the second oldest capital in the world after Athens. No wonder then that it has such a rich story to tell. We learned about the castle up on the hill, the earthquake and tsunami that destroyed much of the city, its split from Spain, the rise of the Portuguese empire, and the dictatorships and resulting revolution that made Lisbon - and Portugal - what it is today. Of course, no walking tour is complete without a few pub stops along the way. The month of June is a festive one for Portugal, as many holidays fall in this month, so the party was already beginning as we walked around - and it showed. The streets were alive with decorations and roadside stalls selling delicious barbequed foods. We got ourselves some sangria and beer for the walk, as well as the most delicious pork roll, and we were treated to ginja, very similar to port wine, except Lisbon doesn't like Porto very much, so they made their own.
We finished the tour at the Time Out Market, a massive warehouse of high quality food stalls, then we retired to the hostel, saying our final goodbyes to our Busabout group. I'll miss these guys. I've had such a good time touring the Iberian Coast with them, and couldn't have asked for a better group of people. After travelling for so long by myself, it was refreshing to have friends to dine with and explore with.
The next day, a couple of us headed to Belem, a suburb to the west of the city. We got some good views of the harbour from the tower, and wandering around the monastery for a bit, but for me, the main objective was visiting Pasteis de Belem, the first place to sell the Portuguese egg tart. Such incredible texture and flavour! I will remember this for years to come.
After splitting up, I went to the south bank to visit Cristo Rei, the Lisbon version of the Christ the Redeemer statue. The weather had started to cloud over and become very windy, but the view of the city was stunning. To the west I could see the Torre de Belem, where I had just been a few hours ago; to the east, the Vasco de Gama bridge, a 17km long cable bridge that is the longest bridge in Europe. The statue of Christ itself is something to marvel at, a 30m tall statue sitting at 100m elevation above sea level on an 80m pedestal.
Overnight, I learned of the tragedy that unfolded in London. How weird and unsettling it is to see all these familiar places in the news, except now they're devoid of people and filled with sirens and emergency vehicles. I hope everything calms down when I'm back in the UK. May those affected find peace and comfort.
Posted by Jeremy at 11:21am on Sunday June 4, 2017 :: 0 comments ::
Lagos
Friday June 2, 2017
Lagos is a pretty little town on the south coast of Portugal overlooking the Atlantic Ocean, near the mouth of the Mediterranean. We've been staying in a villa with a pool, and generally just relaxing around. We're almost at the end of our Busabout tour, and I'm going to miss some of these people, even if they are Australians!
Our first night was quite wild. We had dinner at Nah Nah Bah, known for its innuendo-laden menu and very highly rated for its burgers and garlic chips. And thus began our pub crawl. Lagos is party central. All the bars have happy hours and we basically hopped from happy hour to happy hour, enjoying cocktails, wines and beers for only a few euros. At one bar, there was a nine shot challenge which a few of the group participated in, and totally nailed. Someone pole danced at another. I was relatively controlled throughout the night, but I had heaps of fun.
We were up early the next day, despite all the hangovers, for a kayaking trip around the coast. So good to be back out on the water, soaking up the ocean spray and the glorious sunshine. The coast is full of rock formations, natural archways and caves that you can kayak through and into. The other group had to cut short their trip because they were seasick (and hungover) and on our way back, we met up with them at a nudist beach they had stopped on. There were definitely some nudists out in full force. Yep.
It was a quiet afternoon and I basically just slept until it was time to go for dinner. We had ice cream afterwards and then retired to the villa, many of us still exhausted from the previous night's shenanigans.
We're continuing to Lisbon today, for the final night together.
Posted by Jeremy at 8:13am on Friday June 2, 2017 :: 0 comments ::
Seville
Wednesday May 31, 2017
From Tangier, we took the ferry back to Tarifa and then sat on the bus until Seville. There's actually a lot to see here, but we were only here for a night. It was very quiet yesterday because it was a public holiday, but today was much more lively.
We had a walking tour of the city, covering the major landmarks as well as a brief history. After dinner, we headed up the Espacio Metropol Parasol, a large installation colloquially called the Mushroom. From there, we got a magnificent view of the city and the sunset, as well as a free drink of sangria.
Perhaps the highlight was seeing a pilgrimage procession this morning. Every year, various districts send a delegation of people towards Huelva and today, the district of Triana was up. It was amazing to see all the men and women in formals getting ready to go on their journey, some on horseback and others on foot. The atmosphere was jovial but respectful, and awesome to experience.
We covered the Real Alcazar as well; I did my queue cutting trick to skip the line since we were running low on time. This palace is famous for being featured in Game of Thrones as the location Dorne, which I had no idea about because I don't watch GoT. We didn't have time to cover the cathedral, but our last tourist stop in the city was the Plaza Espana, a beautiful building with a fountain and courtyard with murals representing all the provinces of Spain.
Now it's time to leave Spain and head to Portugal!
Posted by Jeremy at 12:00pm on Wednesday May 31, 2017 :: 0 comments ::
Tangier
Tuesday May 30, 2017
After leaving Granada, we made our way to Tarifa on the south coast of Spain. In fact, it's the southernmost point of Europe, and less than 50km to a completely different continent, Africa.
We explored the town for a bit; I went down to the Isle of Tarifa where to my left I could see the Atlantic Ocean, in front of me was Europe, to my rightwas the Mediterranean and behind me was Africa. It was quite exciting to me!
We took the ferry over to Tangier, Morocco - we saw some whales on the way! We explored some of the city streets with a deadpan humour guide called Ali and a driver called Mohammed. As we made our way around the various sectors of town, he showed us a row of eucalyptus trees ("we don't have koalas here because we ate all of them") - so good. At the central market area, there were tons of vendors selling leather goods, silver jewellery, and clothing, as well as amazing fresh produce and breads of all kinds. We saw a carton of oddly-coloured chicks too, which was probably not very compliant with animal rights.
We were taken to a spices and oils pharmacy where we were told about the benefits of argane for hair and skin. It felt very much like an infomercial, but I ended up buying some saffron (for €8 a gram) and some Moroccan spice mix. I wasn't interested in the cosmetics at all.
We were taken to some souvenir shops to buy some goods but again I wasn't really interested. The vendors are very pushy here, the most forward I've ever encountered. They really go for the sale and will follow you around, even if you say no. I couldn't help but feel sorry for the girls in the group who seemed to be the target of most of these vendors.
We had dinner at a restaurant with some delicious meat skewers and couscous, but I wish there was more. There was also live entertainment in the background too. We had an early night at the hotel so we could take the ferry early the next day.
This morning, a vendor was trying to sell some amethyst to one of the guys in the group, and after being rejected, turned to me and asked "Japan? Korea?" I rolled my eyes so hard but just said "Yes. Korea." Too early in the morning for this!
Posted by Jeremy at 10:48am on Tuesday May 30, 2017 :: 0 comments ::
Granada
Monday May 29, 2017
I've joined a week long tour with a company called Bus About, travelling around southern Spain and even heading to Morocco (which is today!) There's a Brazilian, a few Canadians but mostly Australians. It's nice to finally get some solid social interaction after travelling by myself for so long.
We left Madrid and headed to the medieval town of Toledo, still enclosed in a city wall. There's not much else there; a cathedral, a few buildings and some cafes. We continued to Consuegra, famous for the windmills that inspired Don Quixote, and in the afternoon, we arrived in Granada.
We walked around the city centre a little bit but most of us were tired and just chilled until dinner. We went for a casual tapas where there was too much food and sangria, and then we went up the hill to San Nicolas for some great sights of the city and the Alhambra, a Moorish castle. Nearby was the suburb of Sacromonte, a gypsy area, where we were treated to some Flamenco!
There's something entrancing about Flamenco. The rhythm is so strong and driving, and the way the dancers move their feet is amazing. There's a lot of emotion in the music; it was based on the pain and struggles the gypsies endured when the Catholics took over Spain. Unfortunately many of us were so tired from such a long day (it was almost midnight at this point) that we had begun to nod off slightly! It was entertaining nonetheless, at one point in time, there was a heavy flick of sweat on the closest audience members!
We were up early to head to the Alhambra the next day. It's an incredible building that is pretty well preserved despite the history of the warring Moors and Catholics, and some of the architectural decorations are out of this world. There's so much rich symbolism in the facades and columns and art; they based a lot of their designs around geometrical and mathematical concepts. There's a beautiful symmetry and tessellation to many of the patterns, and a lot of allusions to the number 7, which represents completion or perfection. In total, we spent over three hours walking around, and that was probably the perfect amount of time.
In the afternoon, we went to a traditional hammam - herbal bath - for some relaxation in the water. It was an interesting experience, but probably not something I would do again. I feel like I would have enjoyed a swim in the pool (or the sea if we were near it) more.
After a chaotic dinner, we went for karaoke. I could not contain my excitement. I was over the moon and kept talking throughout the whole day about it. Hopefully I did not disappoint; I got to sing my favourite Let it Go, as well as a few others, but it was a public system and we had to share with the other patrons in the bar, who were all amazing (and all sang in Spanish, naturally.) One guy that was there had even participated on The Voice, and that was a treat to listen to. We had such a good time, singing Spice Girls, Backstreet Boys, Aerosmith and Whitney Houston, and we finished with the Australian national anthem, John Farnham's You're the Voice. There were so many more songs I wanted to sing but as more patrons started pouring in, the less frequent our songs became, so we left around 1am.
We're on our way to Tarifa to take the ferry over to Tangier, Morocco. I was secretly hoping it would be raining in Morocco so I could bless the rains down in Africa.
Posted by Jeremy at 8:49am on Monday May 29, 2017 :: 0 comments ::