Ok so this trip I did actually come a day early on PURPOSE! It was so much cheaper to fly in on Wednesday that it justified the extra night in the hostel. After a bit of misunderstanding I booked into the Ole Hostel, originally planned to be in the Pop where the others would be arriving the next day but Ole is run by the same company and is down the road so I survived!

I'm glad that I ended up in the Ole [review] because I met some great people there. The place was Little Sydney, I swear after about 5 minutes I stopped asking where people were from and just assumed they were Aussie! It was great to share stories with people from home and bond (and drink) with familiar voices. I also met Steph, a crazy Canadian on the ass end of her Europe trip.

I got into town around 7pm (longest metro ride ever! I am interested to know how many other major cities have a metro station at the airport?) so after doing that thing where you get out of the station, pick a direction and then walk in a circle for 45 minutes until you realise it was the street directly on the OTHER SIDE. Anyway, after chatting with Steph and some others I went off in search of some dinner and we agreed to meet back at 10pm to hang out in the common room.

I was originally in search of some touristy Spanish cuisine but got hungry so I settled for Mexican. So one mohijto and a chicken wrap later, I walked back to the Ole. Steph invited me to share a bottle of Sangria, and who says no to that? So a bunch of us sat around until the common areas closed at midnight. Obviously a bunch of Aussies a Canadian and some Americans full of Sangria aren't going to call it quits just yet. We headed out or course! First stop: Molly's Irish Pub, great atmosphere and the cave downstairs has a cute little dance floor. It wasn't that packed but I mentioned it was a Wednesday right?

Somebody decided we should look for this rock bar, which granted I was in the mood for and it really did seem like a good idea at the time. Well after about an hour of walking, checking, asking for directions, walking, and sometimes singing, we found it! .... Closed. Well it was a Wednesday and to be fair the sign on the entry indicated that it SHOULD have been open. Oh well, right? We surely could find a nice bar with some cold beer. Well, I'm not sure who it was but we were directed around in another suspiciously elliptical route to Tribunal Square.

There, we were told, is a mega club called Paacha that will surely have alcohol and music and dancing etc. Well, it had booze. At 12E a pop for beer and wine, I sure as hell didn't drink though. Also, it was completely empty. Apart from a few other groups of equally embarrased-looking tourists, it was D-E-A-D as in flatline, quiet as a church. A word to the wise: Paacha may be pumping on other nights but the drinks are second-rate and expensive and on a Wednesday, it SUCKS. There's a reason why they give you free entry.

So we ended up back at Molly's, after all that! We should have just stayed at the bar 50m from our hostel! And I read later that Molly's is actually quite famous and really quality. Ah well c'est la vie, and now you know where NOT to go which is just as helpful!

To be fair most of the noise was made by us TBs but I can guarantee that it wasn't Bondy on the jackhammer at 9am right outside. The roadworks looked pretty minimal though, I don't think it's a long term hangover hazard. The rooms were clean and even had aircon but we alternatively froze or boiled. The location is good, down the road from an Aussie bar and walking distance from Pueto del Sol. Kitchen was average and you had to be quick for the breakfast included. Still reccomend it though, theres an internet cafe and grocers right next door.

The guys on reception are friendly and helpful, the beds and showers are clean and the common room is full of aussies and canadians bonding over Sangria. AND there is NO check out time or curfew! Loved it!

... Did I mention Sunny??

My foremost reason for coming to Madrid was my strong need to see my closest TB pals before we all go on big and small trips over the next few months, it was awesome to catch up with old friends and meet new (sliiiightly crazy) ones too! However, only Bondy was arriving at midday, the rest were due to get in around 9.30pm that night.

In the morning I HAD planned on doing the Free Tour offered by the hostel, which actully heaps of people said was good so do get around to it if you're going: www.neweuropetours.eu but even though it left at the reasonable hour of 11, do you think I made it? Nadachance. So Steph and I, having bonded over last night's shall we say adventure? Decided to do a walking tour of our own.

We walked down the Paseo de Castellana which runs into the Paseo de Recoletos which is where most of the touristy buildings such as the Banco Espana and Palacio des Communicaciones are. They really are pretty amazing in terms of that really (correct me here please) intricate Baroque decoration that the Catholic Spanish rulers and architects embraced.

The Paseo de Prado had heaps of outdoor cafes and beer gardens and was very pleasant, after that we took advantage of the weather to explore the Parc del Retiro which is pretty much Madrid's answer to Hyde Park. There was a good mix of locals and tourists so we didn't feel like it was totally contrived. You can understand why they get into parks and shady a la carte eating. The weather was beautiful but how are you supposed to work in that heat? Come to think of it I haven't seen very many Spanish people working.... hahah they have the right attitude I guess.

Bondy interrupted our reverie to announce that he had indeed arrived ("the British are coming!!") and to meet him at the Tribunal tube tation when we were ready. So we decided to walk it. On the way we passed through the Pueto del Sol, the tourist and historical hub of Madrid; which is currently full of roadworks and therefore not that imposing or awe-inspiring. It's kind of a mess actually. We made our way through to Tribunal and (shock horror) Bondy wasn't there. Now I won't go into detail about how he spent half an hour looking for the hostel and actually spent some time standing right outside the door... oh wait...

Steph and I had some sandwiches and Bondy managed to find us (damn). So after some deliberation we returned to Ole for me to pack my stuff and haul ass down to Pop for us to check in. Then we spent an enjoyable few hours dividing our time between a conveniently located pub and our hostel room (my roomies this time- LESS FUN. No offence but if you stay in a hostel, BE SOCIABLE) and managed to pick up another lonely traveller, whose name escapes me, Dan? Anyway, he was actually a really cool guy and I hope someone got his email.

When the others did arrive, yes Lori pretty sure I heard you from down the hall, it was general merriment all around! They got settled in and then we all went out for some light refreshment. Note: the Aussie bar full of Spanish people that didn't sell Fosters; and the other bar that we were preeety sure was a gay club. All in the name of fun!

Today was a day of travel, to say the least.  Awaking at 4 am to see off my UofHawaii homegirls - they are off to other parts of Eastern Europe, I then packed up shop and put myself on a train to Vienna.  Why Vienna?  Simple, the only way to travel light is to ditch your gear.  Our hotel in Vienna was kind enough to store my luggage while I travel around so I figured I´d stop in and drop off some more stuff for them.  So that was Budapest to Vienna.  From there, I needed to catch my flight.  Well, that just so happened to be in Bratislava, Slovakia.  So, again, off I go.  Another train to a bus to an airport.  From there it was off to Barcelona!  The flight was smooth and I had good company throughout.  Then it was a bus for an hour´s long ride to Barcelona.  Unfortunately, being a tired traveler with no map and no money in a country you are not familiar with at midnight when the metro is about to close is not a recipe for success.  Luckily, through the guidance and help of strangers, I caught the last metro towards my hostel.  Then, of course, an hour of searching the streets with no map until a kind lady at a hostel gave me a map and circled where I had to go.  Long story short, it was an interesting day.  No complaints, it was just interesting in a way that I have not experienced yet on this trip.  Thus far, the ïnteresting things always involve amazing architecture or people.  This time, it was coordinating travel , trusting your gut and making things happen.  Luckily all worked out for the best...

With no set schedule I am not sure what tomorrow brings.  Sightseeing?  Beaches?  Both?  We´ll see, it will, of course, be interesting.

-Jon

It is the biggest cave I've ever been in and it was only discovered in 1959. Having even a natural concert amphitheatre inside, it is the home of world's biggest column measuring over 13 m at the base and standing 32 m high(according to the Guinness Book of Record)

After looking forward to the TB roadtrip, organised by the fantabulous Lauro, the time had finally come for us to fly to Madrid! Lori, Ruby and I got to Gatwick to meet Ben (Smeeb) for our flight to Madrid. Ben was soo excited, it was to be his first in many of his travels and I wish I could have had the energy to be as excited as him. The long que to check in though didnt excite me much.

Once we'd checked in, we were hungry so we rushed to get a quick feed (Maccas) before boarding. As we sat down to eat we found out our flight had been delayed by two hours! Not impressed. We hung around, bored as hell til we finally found out our gate number and boarded our flight. It was only 1 hour to Madrid and we were all pretty excited to get there. Apart from, Lori, Ruby, Ben and myself, our other travel companions were Alex and Lauro - the grand organiser. I'd never met these two TBs so I was interested to meet them and curious to know how I'd go travelling with 5 other people for the next 10 days.

We got to Madrid airport about 2am and met up with Alex and Lauro, only to find out that due to our flight delay, we'd missed the last metro train into the city centre and would therefore have to bum in the airport til 6.30am when the next metro began. Bloody hell, I thought. It was going to be a looong night!!!  We sat around on the pavement like homeless bums, listening to Alex's Ipod. Alex is a fellow aussie so I was pretty stoked to hear some decent aussie tunes!!! We moved inside into the cafe at around 4am as it was cooling off a bit. We sat around chatting, trying to think of ways to amuse ourselves. By 6am I was feeling rather delirious and a little stoopid. But it was finally time to catch our train to central Madrid, where we would then catch a bus to our first destination - Cedeira, via La Coruna & Ferrol!!!

When we got to the Madrid bus station we all bought our tickets to La Coruna at 57euro each! Bit steap I thought but nevermind. Well, turns out we caught the Supra bus, which happens to be 1st class! We were watered, fed, entertained with English movies in Spanish and some good classic music (thankfully in English). I was seated next to Alex.. mistake. I managed to fall asleep at one point but he soon woke me up as he was bored. Bloody aussie! We sang-along to the good tunes and attempted to guess what the movies in Spanish were about. After awhile the music got shit so we listened to his Ipod. Bring on some British India!!! It was an 8 hour bus ride to La Coruna, where there we had a 30minute bus ride to Ferrol to meet our TB host, Pablo!!!!

We came from 'porto' by bus to 'santiago de compostela.' At least that was the plan. We calld 'Pablo' to say that we would take the bus around 3 pm and he suggestd to pick us up in 'santiago de compostela' to see 'cedeira.' So we are at the place where we should take the bus and they say the bus do not leav until 6 pm and arrivs around 10.30 pm. I send a messag to 'Pablo', but did not get answer to find out that I can't send him messags. He already left and was on his way to 'santiago de compostela' when I calld him. I felt so bad, so I told him to go back to 'cedeira', becaus I did not wantd him to wait for hours. This was so sad, becaus I realy wantd to see 'cedeira' and defintly meet the guy who calls me 'rubia' the whol time.

So we went to sit by the river and waitd for hours to take the bus, since there 'Porto' was not so good for us. We finaly took the bus around 6 pm and I think around 9 pm, we arrivd in 'pontevedra.' We were suppos to get to 'sanxexo' and I remembr that 'pontevedra' was so close. Since we were not going to 'santiago de compostela', we decided to get of in 'pontevedra', because we would be closr to 'sanxexo.' It was late and we found a hotel, but there was no room. They suggestd a hotel in 'Poio', which is 10 minuts from 'pontevedra' and closr to 'sanxexo.' It is a cheap hotel, where there are not so many tourists. There is not much to do in this city, but we thought it would be so good for one night.

The next day, we were expectng to go to 'sanxexo', but did not hear, from the person who livs there. We stayd in and went to visit the city a littl. Not so much to see and you hav to go quite far to find a place where you can buy cigarts. There is realy nothng to do here.

The day we were suppos to go to 'sanxexo', we still did not hear, any thing. We decidd to stay one more night, sinc we normaly had to check out. We find out that the hotel has a place where you can swim, haha. After walkng so much, we got our selvs a so lazie, day where we could get tannd.

The next day, we did not hear from the person who livs in 'sanxexo.' Haha, we were going so mad in this town. So we decided to stay anothr day at the hotel and get tannd, anothr so lazie day.

One night, turnd in to 4 nights.

There is a pleasure in the patless woods,

There is a rapture on the shores,

There is society, where non intrudes,

By the deep sea and music in its roar,

I lov, not man the less, but nature more.

Flew from Brunswick Maine to Rota, Spain. It was a little less than 13 hours on a C-130. Can't hear, talk and can barely sleep! Spain is hot. Arrived about 9am.

Last day to sleep in and relax...first we went to see the part of the city where Barcelona was foundet, there is a very old cathedreal which is very impressiv...we had a lovely lunch in a lil restaurant just outside the church and then went back to la ramble...

Becauuuuse...it was THE day...tina was getting her tattoo and i was having my lip pirced:P!
It was the idea of the first day..:P i wanted to have this pircing since ever but first wanted to ask at work if it was okey...i didnt ask in the end:P!

First tina had her tattoo done which took about 20min and then it was my turn:P i was a bit scared that it would damn hurt..but surprise surprise...it didnt hurt at all!!:O It was a thing of 2 mins;)! goood i love this pricing:P!

My parents didnt like it when i came home and everyone else was just surprised cause noone knew about it:P

Phuuu so now the holidays were perfect and all we now wanted was a nice dinner at a nice italian restaurant;)..near the cathedral we were in the afternoon was a cozy little restautant and the food was just perfect!! even i had a lil trubble eating with this thingy it was super:P!

A lovely last night on the balcony...

Now that we were all happy again being together we wanted to make the next day a cozy relaxing day at the beach;)

Buuuut i didnt wanne see the beach of barcelona again! i really didnt find it relaxing there...so once again we read the travelguide and we found a little town 20mins by train with a beautiful beach!

After our usual baguette for breakfast we packed our beachstuff and left to the trainstation.
Finding the right ticketdesk wasnt that easy but 10mins later we had 4 return ticket to the beach:P!

The place we went to is called Sitges...the trainride was really only 20mins and we got of the train. Now we only had find the beach:P...we just followed the ppl going into one direction;)
We stopped at a little shop and i got myself a sunumbrella:P

Finally we found the beach and it was beautiful!!!!!!!

We enjoyed a hole afternoon sunbathing and swimming before going back to Barca=)!

Back home we had a shower and then went for dinner down at Mall d'Espanya!
Tired and not in a mood for going clubbing we just sat on the balcony till early in the morning;)

Sleeping in and then go for a big shopping trip...that was the plan for this day!;)

We went up and down the shoppingmiles and bought far too much but it was so much fun we couldnt stop:P!
Hungry we had a nice lunch at a chineese restaurant cause we talked about fried rice for absolute ages:P!

Jeah so there is not much to tell about this day...just that we had a lot of fun!!!

Back home Tina and i sat in our room and started drinking our lovely Bacardi Razz...it was a 2 liter bottle but it was nearly empty by 9pm (we started at 7pm:P) and we were fucking drunk!!! We had a fight with the other two and didnt speak with them the hole day...so now it was the worst fight we ever had...we wanted to go out for dinner and then clubbing but tina wanted to talk to them first...thats where all the shouting and crying started;P..i sat ourside the door waiting for her when they started talking about me...pretty angry i went to our room and shut the door! hours later when i talked to tina i went back out....but look look..its all fine again now and really sorted out!

Going out wasnt a plan anymore since my head was hurting, my eyes looked awfully red, my make up was shit and i felt as drunk as never before and all i wanted was going to bed!!!;)

When i woke up at 6am i still had my clothes on:P and it was soooo hot in that room that i had to get out there! i went to get something to drink and a pice of bread and then sat on the balcony....jeeez i had a full hour to eat that little pice of bread:P:P:P!!
At 7am i was freezing and went back to bed and slept again till 10 or so:P!

http://www.lafinca-ibiza.com/

when pablo and me started to get to know each other - he asked me - what is my mom's surname. and i told him, and he researched for it and finally found where my roots are in spain - just near his home.... in the cliffs, in the stormy seas, in the tempestous weather.

as we are driving around - the weather changed from sunny to dark grey. this is the kind of weather that i like... strong gusts of wind - rain splats..... high waves... melancholic.. lonely..

i think thats why even if i live and grew up in the philippines, i never felt at home in the tropical weather and tropical beaches.. i prefer rocky, lonely beaches.. not to swim but just to stand there, being there.

of all my travel inside spain and portugal - this is the best moment i have felt in my entire journey.

it was a strange feeling, it's like i had been here before. i felt so beautiful standing in the cliffs - winds and rain in my face and the free horizon beyond me.

like a magical child.

in that wild stretch of land
such a sad place to be
when the night comes heavy down
and the sands turn to sea
many saints have lost their love
many a pilgrim died unseen
in that wild stretch of land
in that fire to be free

patrick wolf

This is not a particulary good hotel but it is very well located. It is at the Canido beach and it has an excellent view over the "Islas Cies" which are spectacular! Very close from it you have very good restaurants to have some cheap seafood. The service is good and the place quite clean. Does not have too much to offer and there is no breakfast included. By the way, some of the rooms do not have bathroom so you have to go to a shared one in your floor. The bathroom was quite tiny, but it was ok. The rate for a single room was 40 euros and 62 for a double room.