Spain - Tarifa to Morocco - Tangier

For our journey to Morocco we decided to catch a ferry from Tarifa to Tangier. Tarifa is a really surf orientated town, with surf shops (same as in NZ) and not much else. We were told it was nice, but we arrived in the afternoon and left early in the morning.

Everyone told us how awful it is ariving in Tangiers with touts trying to hassle you, and being really pushy, but it was nothing. There were like 3 people that offered us taxis, and that was it. When we got to Tangier there wasnt a bus going where we wanted so we changed the order of our trip around a bit and went to Chefchauen.

It was interesting to see that must of the vehicles in Morocco are huge big Mercedes, or other big European cars. They are all in terrible condition, and look like they could fall apart in a strong wind.

Spain - Granada

Granada was our last big stop in Spain. We were there 4 nights, and really enjoyed the hostel that we were staying at. There were 2 communal meals while we were there, they were really filling, and contained vegetables (a good change from the meaty cheesy diet of most of Spain).

Granada is a pretty cool city with a big sprawling old town that is easy to get lost in. The district that we were in winds its way up a hill, and at the top there is an old gypsy settlement. We went for a walk through it, there are just doors in the hillside like hobbit holes and people have carved out dwellings within.

Around our hostel there were loads of little shops selling north african stuff. It looked like a little Moroccan market, and we got to see some of the things we can expect from Morocco. We didnt buy anything as we assume itll be much cheaper in Morocco.

We managed to do 2 of the main Spanish 'things' in Granada. The first was a really cool Flamenco show that we went to. It was in this tiny room, off a small bar. It was under ground and had about 40 people packed in despite only holding about 20. There were three performers, a guy playing the guitar, a woman singing and another woman dancing. They were very serious about their performance, and it made a really impressive show.

The second 'thing' was tapas. After a very long time we finally went out for a drink and tapa. Its much cheaper in Granada than anywhere else in Spain, because when you order a drink you get a free tapa.

The main sight in Granada is the Alhambra. Its a huge palace, fort, gardens, complex, thing, up on the hill overlooking Granada. The Palace is Moorish, and quite well restored. We really enjoyed the 4hrs we spent there.

After talking to people who had been to Morocco we decided to stay there for 5 weeks instead of 3. After all its cheaper than the UK.

Spain - Sevilla

After our early morning escape from Lagos we crossed the border into Spain, and onto Sevilla. This was our first southern Spanish town, and it really does feel a bit different to the north.

We decided to walk from the bus station to the hostel, which was a 15min walk in little streets with orange trees along the sides. Its amazing to see such lush looking citrus trees right in a city. We´d seen some in Evora (Portugal), but there the oranges were terribly bitter.

Two cool things about Spanish fashion are the boots and the coats. There is such a huge range of really cool leather boots, lots of flat boots which is hard to find in NZ. A shoe shopping spree here would be amazing. And the coats! It is fashionable here for wealthy women to wear long real fur coats. They are extremley glamourous but you don´t want to think about the number of animal skins that go into each one!

The hostel we were staying in was very nice. We were in a dorm again, but this one was much more considerate, and we managed to get some good sleep. They also ran some free activities. We had a dinner there on the first night. It was 6 euro for three courses, and sangria (thats a good price). It was a really good way to meet some of the people staying there.

The cook then took us all out to see some flamenco (at his favourite bar). Other people who had been to the flamenco on other nights said that it was pretty touristy in a big place, but we were taken to a tiny bar where there was a guy in his late 20s and a 10 year old singing, and another guy playing guitar. It wasnt really a "flamenco show" but was probably more authentic. The singing was really good, and there was a lot of emotion going into it.

There were a couple of sights to see in Sevilla, but we decided to just do the cathedral, because we were going to see similar stuff to the other sights in Granada. It is one of the biggest cathedrals in the world, and from the outside it looked like it. Inside parts of it were under repair (as every tourist attraction in the world is). The main interior area was still huge, it wasnt as cluttered with stuff as Westminster, and as a result you could really get a feel for the size of it.

We also got to go up the bell tower, from where you can look out over the city. The view were pretty impresive. Luckily we weren´t up there when the bells rang, as they were loud enough from the ground.

We had a good time in Sevilla and as a treat (and because it didnt cost much more than the bus) we got a train over to Granada.

Portugal - Lagos

Party capital of the south of Portugal, Lagos has fantastic beaches, and a rather tourist orientated city. We spent 2 nights here, as the last part of our Portugal trip.

The coast off Lagos was quite different to the coast of Vila Nova de Milfontes. The water was a brilliant clear blue, calm, and noticably warmer (the little contact we had with it). On our first afternoon there were people were sunbathing and playing in the sand. We hung out on the beach and went for a big walk all along the cliffs, it was pretty high and the loop walk took about 1.5 hrs, so lots of cliff. And amazing views.

We planned to spend the entire next day in the sun on the beach but it was overcast! pretty much our first bad day in Portugal which was a shame. But we still spent a few hours reading and walking on the beaches.

Since being in Portugal we had wanted to try the so called common dish of roast chicken with piri piri sauce, but hadn't seen any. There was a place just down the road from our hostel in Lagos so we finally got to have some and it was very tasty.

We didn't like our hostel. Over half the people there were long term tourists, been there a few months and were really close knit, so not very friendly. But the worst thing was our room, it had one set of bunks but they were double bed bunks. So they put us in a room with these two tourists who were having a holiday romance and did not appreciate room mates. So they were rude and complaining about us being in there all the time, we had to put up with their slamming doors at all hours and walking in on them naked, etc... Not dorm behaviour! On our second night we only got a couple of hours sleep as our room was right by the lounge and there was really loud movies till about 3am.

The next day we got a 6.30am bus to Seville in Spain. It was a 5.5 hr trip so we wanted to get there in time to spend the afternoon doing stuff, and more importantly we wanted to get away from the hostel! The good thing in these situations is that we will never have to see those people again. On the trip we mainly slept as we were pretty tired from the night before. But in between naps we saw all these storks up on top of the power poles, standing on their big nests. It was really cool to see.

Portugal - Vila Nova de Milfontes

Its a town on the Atlantic coast half way down from Lisbon. We arrived late last night. Its quite a small town and we were unsure about finding somewhere to stay. But we had the number and address of a hostel, and we managed to find it without hassle. Its a pretty nice place, a bit cold, but we think it would be fantastic in summer. Were the only ones staying in a seperate area. Its got a kitchen, courtyard,rooftop balconies, hammocks and rooms around the edge.

Today we went down to the beach, there was lots of fishing going on and some surfing. The surf is pretty big, from our room we can just hear it pounding away.

We were only here for one day really and had a pretty relaxing one. Our room was really nice and we slept quite a bit. We also cooked a few nice meals in the batch style kitchen (boil your own water if you want it hot!).It was nice to spend a day in a small portugese town, towmorrow morning we are off to Lagos on the south coast.

Portugal - Evora

We decided to go to Evora because the entire town in a world heritage sight so we thought it would be cool. It is a very old city, with a wall around it. There are about 40,000 people living there, with 2/3 living within the walls. So pretty tightly packed.

We found a pensao, which is like a guesthouse, and stayed two nights. We had no kitchen but it was great to have our own room and the first time we have had a double bed since England. We went out for a meal down the road at a local restaurant. We fell into the trap of not wanting to spend much, so not getting a very good meal...

The best thing about Evora was just walking around the tiny cobbled streets. There were so many winding alleys, and lots of churches to see on the way, and stone walls with citrus trees hanging over them.

We went to this one church called the bone chapel. The entire interior walls were made of human bones and skulls, about 5000 skulls and thousands of arm and leg bones. There was also two whole skeletons that still had dried muscle and skin hanging off them. Despite this, it wasn´t as gross as it sounds. And not nearing as disturbing as the skulls at the killing fields in Cambodia. The bones here were dug up from around the graveyards of all the town churches near the end of the 16th century. The reason this chapel was made was to remind the church goers of the mortality of man.

Portugal - Lisbon

We arrived in Lisbon on 30 Dec with no where to stay for the next couple of nights. We trudged around and tried a few places, all full and saying there was no chance we would find a hostel so close to new years (we had been trying to find one for a couple of weeks online). But luckily we tried one that had said it was busy online, but happened to have two free beds in a dorm. It was such a great find. The location couldn't be better, its really clean, new, cosy, friendly and has all the perks like good kitchen, dvd room, lounge and dining room. The owners are really nice too and make an effort to get to know everyone. Very cool place. We ended up cancelling our other booked accomodation for 1 and 2 Jan and stayed here for 5 days.

Lisbon is cool too. We stayed on one of the main streets near a big square and the waterfront so there was always a lot going on. All the roads except the major ones are paved with cobblestones, and all the footpaths too. There is a lot of dog shit here though..

Tiling the outside of buildings is popular here to a cool effect. Some of the tiled buildings are really old but even some of the newer ones are still using the tradition. There was a huge earthquake and tsunami in Portugal in 1755 and a lot of the building (and people) got wiped out. As a result most of Lisbon was built in the same period. The public transport is great in the city with train, underground train, lightrail and cool old trams. There are a lot of african peopl living here, I guess Portugal is not far from Africa so a good place to emigrate to.

We are still yet to sample a meal bought at a cafe or restaurant here in Portugal. It was off to the supermarket for us straight away and we have cooked nice meals at a fraction of the price of eating out. We want to eat out though! and hope to treat ourselves soon. We found our old friends from Macau here in abundance - the local delicacy of egg tarts.

For one of our first activities in Lisbon we went to Castelo de Sao Jorge. It is set on a hill overlooking Lisbon and has great views over the whole city from all directions. It was built in the 5th century and has now been restored. You can walk around the grounds, castle and battlements.

New Years eve day we went out on the metro to this great museum. Being sunday there were quite a few museums for free and this was our first choice and a really good one we thought. It was called the Museu Gulbenkian and is the personal collection of a oil tycoon. There was egyptian figures, jewellery and coins, Greek and Roman busts and coins. Persian and Turkish rugs, illuminated manuscripts, tiles, ceramics and velvet hangings. Chinese ceramics and wood crafts. Portugese and French furniture and clocks. And then fantastic European art. Our highlight was an exhibition of Japanese woodblock prints. This was one of the best museums we have seen, such variety.

There was a new years eve party here at the hostel. They provided beer and nibbles. We hung out for most of the night with these two american girls from our dorm. We played darts, drank lots and picked at food. Just before midnight we went down to the square where there was a big concert and fireworks. There were thousands of people there, we couldn't get near where we could see the stage. At 12.00 everyone around us popped champagne and we got soaked, it was funny. The fireworks were really good.

After everyone heading back up the street, and I mean everyone. The crowd had to get through under an arch which was about 10m wide. You were just swept along. There was no choice. If you had of fallen you would have been trampled. The reason we left then was that one of the girls couldn't handle crowds, so this next experience didn't help...

Most people from the hostel came back and we hung out for another few hours. New years day was quiet, we watched movies and went for a nice big walk in the afternoon.

One of the highlights of Lisbon is said to be the winding streets of the Alfamo district. It was cool, just not quite as impressive after wandering so many old streets around Spain. We went through it on the way to a flea market one morning. Lisbon can be hard to navigate, as its on loads of hills, and the maps dont quite read how the roads look in real life. As a result we headed off in the wrong direction. We eventually found our way to the market, but the walking around was the most fun bit of the morning.

After a bit of lunch (cheese, meat, olives, bread, and a drop of port) we headed out to the suburb of Belem. Belem was very pretty, we walked along the river, and had a bit of a sit in the park. We looked around an old monastry, and bought some of the local egg tarts ( they're just so good ).

For our last day in Lisbon we went out on the train to a small town called Sintra. Sintra is a hilly wooded area, with lots of historic palaces, and an old moorish castle. theres a local tousist bus that you can pay for then get on and off when you like. this was great as it was pretty hilly, and we wouldnt have wanted to walk that much. We went up to the castle (but not in) and then walked back down through tree covered paths. we then went over to a house/palace built by an opera set designer. It was quite incredible, with ornate mosaics, intricate wooden ceilings, and excessive carved stonework.

The gardens were quite ... strange. Kind of like a fairy tale. They were huge. All built on the side of a hill, with winding paths, and themed areas. There were lots of carved stone towers, and walls. We stumbled upon a tunnel going in behind a fountain, and when we followed it (through pitch black) we came out halfway down a 30m initiation well. You walk down a nine tired spiral staircase. It is amazing to look up and down. There was another smaller one of these wells also. It was so fun to explore these gardens.