Braving Europe´s Bitter 5°C Winter... A Snapshot of the Inevitable December Chill

Bilbao

Just When You Thought You´d Seen It All

And here comes the twist...

Fuego Negro, the pinxtos bar (Basque word for tapas) specializes in its creative presentations, each plate costing around €3/€3,50. Here is just a sample of what we had..

The Dead Dove

Cappucino and biscuits? Or soup and shnitzel?

Lo Mejor de España: Sevilla, Córdoba, San Sebastian y Bilbao

Figured it was time for probably a more dry yet important post about what i´ve been up to...

Sevilla!

Yep, this is yet another addition to my list of ´places-i-want-to-live-before-i-die´: AKA the medievil city with awesome food. It has a pretty cool student vibe - lots of awesome art galleries, alternative and interesting cafes and beautiful plazas.. Just watch out for those damn bike snatchers.

The Arabic baths!!!!!!! This was pretty much the only photo i was permitted/could be bothered taking. A massage, sauna, 4 pools with varying temperatures and a relaxation room with tea and a heated floor all for €35 ... what more could you want?

Córdoba

Honestly, there isn´t much to do here apart from visit this gorgeous Mosque and eat a fantastic ´tortilla de españa´ at Bar Santos next door, both of which were a lot of fun actually.

San Sebastian

I imagine this to be the perfect destination for summer... gorgeous beach, beautiful cobble streets, THE BEST FOOD IN SPAIN... the works.

My biggest problem? It rained every day.

Parte Viejo

El Piene de los Vientos - sculptures on the shore by famous Spanish artist, Eduardo Chillida

Making a sand castle?

Urban Hostel house parties

Bilbao

With a huge transformation over the past 20 years, Bilbao has done pretty well for itself in terms of resuscitating what used to be a run-down, fairly dangerous wasteland into the beautiful and very architecturally-modern city that it is today. Plus they have the Guggenheim, which has a serious contemporary art collection.

Basque Country At Its Finest

Wanted

I´ve said it once and i´ll say it again, just for record´s sake...

To the mindless bozo in Seville who took it upon himself to rob my bike: Not only do i hope that your ride home was a particularly unpleasant one considering the seat you kindly left as a souvenir. I also hope that the video cameras outside the (amazing) second-hand music store will identify you as the crook that you are. And finally, i hope the insurance will cover this €100 mountain bike, because if not, then my trip will be greatly shortened. Idiot.

© http://lingue.altervista.org/vocabulary_pictures_jobs.htm

Granada #2

Had a coffee with Mia today, who´s been keeping me company for the last 3 days. Seeing someone from home has surprisingly felt very comforting..

Also today, i went to La Alhambra for a few hours to check out the Arab palaces. It was pretty friggin´ beautiful, although the cool weather made it difficult to want to hang around for long.

Granada

This is dangerous. Having free access to a computer at the hostel means i spend most of my time, when i would otherwise be sleeping, on the net surfing like i´ve never surfed before. Understandably, i´ve had pretty limited internet access since i´ve been in Europe, so i´ve been making the most of it. HAVE TO CONTROL MYSELF.

Speaking of bad habits, it´s suddenly occurred to me that i´ve been travelling so long now that i´ve come to notice even the smallest of details in a hostel. This of course concerns what shelving or storage space is offered, what size the lockers are, is breakfast included, and if so how good is it ?(yep, Oasis have pancakes), what tours are offered, is there free internet access, what type of backpacker´s come here, is it a party or a relaxing hostel, and most importantly.... is there an oven for baking?

I am happy to say i am more than satisfied with my sleeping arrangements in the Granada hostel i´m staying at, ´Oasis´; there is a shelf that runs alongside the bunk, a bedside light, warm blankets, an ensuite and lots of coathangers. But what´s the best part, you ask? A private 8-man dorm, occupied solely by me and all my stuff. Not a bad deal, for €12 a night.

Look! Nobody there..

Well, just me. And my perfect shelf, perfect lamp and perfect blanket... What bliss.


In other more noteworthy news, arrived in Granada a few days ago - probably the most beautiful city in the whole of Europe. I hate to exaggerate, but it really is incredible; the city used to be encolsed by a large wall, and has since expanded past this area. Consequently, you´ve got lots of narrow cobble streets with the original terracotta roofing and white-painted exterior, maintaining a uniform across the whole city. The buildings are situated on the mountain, the area now known as the trendy Albaicin - there are even still remnants of the wall today, found on the right side of the neighbourhood. Then at the bottom you´ve got a high street-equivalent, followed by a flat district of laneways and gardens. It´s friggin´gorgeous: see for yourself if you don´t believe me...

Mirador de Sant Nicholas, i.e. good place to go for a view of La Alhambra which is now Europe´s most paid tourist attraction

Outdoor gymnasium... cool!

Arab baths we visited as part of a free walking tour, organised through the hostel

Big hippy festival I discovered in passing, with interpretive dance, a bunch of crazy dogs, clown performances, dozens of different music gigs and a lot of marijuana. But the highlight was definitely the very tasty, middle-eastern €1 lunch, which was satisfactory to say the least

Another free walking tour organised through the hostel: a hike to catch sunset views of the city