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Scott PrenticeScott Prentice
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s’est rendu dans 8 pays. En savoir plus
  • Voyageur2023 European Adventure
    Jour 18

    DAY 17 - Berlin (tourist thing)

    8 septembre 2023, Allemagne ⋅ ☀️ 29 °C

    We had a quick breakfast at the bakery around the corner. Unfortunately, Meg couldn't make it (still feeling unwell).

    Meg decided she was going to spend the first part of the day in bed to recover, given she has seen most of the key tourist sites in Berlin before. The rest of us started our walk from the apartment, first passing the East Wall. The artwork was a mixture of fascinating, moving and downright weird. We continued towards Alexanderplatz and walked past many impressive sites (including the Berliner Fernsehturm (a spire) and grabbed a currywurst for lunch from one of the restaurants underneath. After lunch, we ventured up the Berliner Fernsehturm for 360° views of the city. It was impressive, but there was certainly no way any of us were reading all of the information plaques. We sat down on the steps at Alexanderplatz and enjoyed a cold drink (perhaps partially, given it was a radler) while we planned the rest of our sightseeing. We walked to Checkpoint Charlie, where Meg rejoined the group. Checkpoint Charlie was frankly very underwhelming. It included a reconstructed box checkpoint (similar to what a security guard would sit in at a car park) and some faux sandbags. The next stop on a sightseeing adventure was the Jewish Memorial, but not before we finally got out Bratwurst. This memorial was incredibly moving and saddening, with pillars representing different queues into the camps. The Bradenburg Gate was our next stop. The shear size of it is incredible on its own. After a very short walk in the Tiergarten, we jumped in a Bolt and headed to Tempelhof Airport (an abandoned airport) to sit around and watch the sunset. It wasn't as good as Florence, but sitting around with good friends and a few beers certainly made it one to remember.

    We grabbed some Sudanese food from Sahara. It was just what we needed and was absolutely delicious. The peanut sauce was to die for.

    On Matt's recommendation (seemed to be his local favs), we went to two bars. The first was pretty relaxed with plenty of vintage furniture and a decent cocktail menu. Here, we met up with one of Matt's friends and were treated to two local shots. I can't remember the first, but it had a medicine/listorine taste. Neither of us particularly loved it, but Meg may have bordered on hating it. The second was a Mexicana, each pub has their own take on this. Think of it as a spicy, bloody mary. Scott loved it, Meg not so much.

    The second bar had a slightly weirder, perhaps grungy (but not really) feel to it. Matt effectively described the place as a TAB during the day and a bar/club after 11pm. Matt had a chat with a few guys in there in relation to the pool table. We honestly thought there was about to be a fight. A smile and laugh later, Scott and Jez were on the pool table for doubles (The Germans certainly have a different way of communicating). Not sure whether it was the beers, horrible cues, or the weird rules, but Scott and Jez lost a game they well and truly should have won, missing a few simple shots to seal the game. We took this a sign to head home for the night. Thankfully, we can have a bit of a sleep in before Niki's B'day lunch.    En savoir plus

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  • Voyageur2023 European Adventure
    Jour 17

    DAY 16 - Berlin (more canel crusing)

    7 septembre 2023, Allemagne ⋅ ⛅ 30 °C

    Scott went for a quick run this morning thinking Jez had gone out without him (turns out he was still in bed). Everyone except Meg (still feeling unwell) grabbed some breakfast at a cafe around the corner from our accom.

    We went back to the apartment to grab Meg before ordering a Bolt to Beluchi's Bar, an international sports bar in Midde. We arrived in time for the Collingwood v Melbourne qualifying final at 11:20am. There were quite a few other Australians who had the same idea. Downstairs was predominately pies supporters and upstairs dees (aka MCC). We sat downstairs despite Sean and Meg both supporting Melbourne. After the game, we got another Bolt to Alexanderplatz and walked past many tourist sites (including the Berliner Fernsehturm (a spire) and St. Mary's Church) on our way to the ferry. Jez separated from the group for bit of shopping time, leaving the rest of us to our ferry trip (yes, we got another ferry). The ferry travelled along the Spree River passing among other things the Reichstag (German parliament), Schloss Bellevue (Bellevue Palace) and Berliner Dom (Berlin Cathedral). Afterwards, we grabbed a quick bite and a couple drinks and headed back to our accom.

    We crossed the canel (reunited with Jez) in search of a dinner spot. We settled on Korean, which was a great choice as the food was delicious. Matt joined us towards the end of dinner.

    After dinner, we walked to a nearby bar to catch up with Matt over a few drinks. As time got on and a day of sightseeing tomorrow we decided to head back to the accom to get some sleep.    En savoir plus

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  • Voyageur2023 European Adventure
    Jour 16

    DAY 15 - Lekeitio to Berlin

    6 septembre 2023, Espagne ⋅ ☀️ 29 °C

    We drove Jez, Sean and Zoe to Bilbao Airport to make their late morning flight. The car trip was slightly uncomfortable for most (pretty much everyone except the driver; Scott). We packed as much luggage as possible in the boot, with three of the hiking bags finding a home on our laps. We got the others to the airport in time and still had a few hours to burn before needing to return our hire car. We decieded to use this time to check out Bilbao CBD.

    As we pulled into town, Meg was feeling unwell and Scott hungry. So needless to say, we needed to find somewhere to park. With street parks near impossible to find, anything would do. We found a garage park, which had as both on the edge of our seats as we drove down the skinny curved driveway. Despite the lack of English, we managed to book a spot in the garage for a couple of hours.

    We walked to the Guggenheim to have a look at the fascinating architecture and large Rose Puppy out the front. If we had a little more time and felt a little more human after the last few days, we would have spent the time to go inside. Instead, we decided to indulge in something equally cultured. Finding the closest Maccas! We ordered far more food than we needed, but the air con and free wifi were very much welcomed.

    We had a slightly long wait at the airport with another minor delay to our stop over flight to Amsterdam. At this point, all we needed was a bed. Thankfully, our stopover was short, and we were in Berlin in no time.

    Our Bolt (ride share) driver dropped us off at our air bnb that we were sharing with Sean, Zoe and Jez. To get to our apartment, we walked a very odd and somewhat creepy shared path within the complex. The apartment was much the same (fair to say they were very particular with what they took photos of). Meg and I ended up with a bed that was very close to the roof and sat above the lounge room. Not to worry, tomorrow is a new day.    En savoir plus

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  • Voyageur2023 European Adventure
    Jour 15

    DAY 14 - Lekeitio (Goose Day)

    5 septembre 2023, Espagne ⋅ ⛅ 29 °C

    We started the day a little late, walking up to Gal's for some breaky. Today was very clearly the main festival day, everyone wore navy and a sailors scarf other than the main competitors who wore white. Gal sourced clothes for us to join in on Goose Day. We went to a bar that had set up an outside bar for the day (It seemed that most places did this, probably to keep people on the street). The streets were full of people dancing, singing, drinking, and spraying water pistols. After a small lunch, we made our way down to the harbour for the main event.

    Without being there, it's hard to understand the chaos of the event. The competition involves a boat rowing up to the fake goose suspended by ropes running across the harbour. The crew member in white grabs the goose by it's neck and attempts to hold on until the neck comes off. They are flung in and out of the water by a small team of guys pulling the rope from the side of the harbour. It was an experience unlike any we have ever had. During the 2.5hrs event, we stood around the harbour, enjoying a few too many drinks, including some basque liquors. At some point we grew a little tired of the heat and decided to go for a quick dip at the beach (meg and zoe decided to stick to the shade and mind the clothes). After a quick shower it was back to the street partying, which we topped off with a delicious roll. We're certainly not looking forward to the early start tomorrow.    En savoir plus

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  • Voyageur2023 European Adventure
    Jour 14

    DAY 13 - Lekeitio (Beach Day)

    4 septembre 2023, Espagne ⋅ ☀️ 30 °C

    We had a sleep in this morning, followed by a small breakfast at Gal's (thanks Matt and Gal). We then put on our finest beach clothes and headed down for Matt and Gal's faux wedding by the beach. Once we got the obligatory wedding photos, we parked up at the beach for the day. It wasn't long before most of us were in the water, doing our best to body surf (rather successfully for the best part). Our beach day comprised of drinking on the beach and a short break to grab lunch (rotisserie chicken, calamari and of course more bread).

    On our walk back from the beach we ran into Gal's sister, who reminded Gal that there was a surprise in line for us tonight at 9pm and that we needed to wear long pants and long sleeved shirts (this had us all thinking).

    Once showered and refreshed we caught up with everyone at a bar along the harbour while we waiting for our "surprise". Just before 9pm a thunderstorm decided to roll through. The storm cleared just before 10pm, at this time we were told to rush to the square for our surprise.

    The surprised turned out to be a group of people running through the streets in devilish looking costumes swinging fire sticks around (more like fireworks - check out the video). We were told that partaking (running under as they spun it above their head) was entirely optional. It didn't turn out this way, as they ran at us up the stairs spining the firework sticks above our heads. Scott and Sean both got a little bit on their heads, but managed to avoid matching bald spots.

    It was a bit difficult with all the people in town to get a table for dinner, so we decided to grab takeaway pizza. Quite unbelievably, this took almost 2hrs to come. Lucky we had a great bunch of people to enjoy a few drinks with to past the time.

    We with Sean, Zoe and Jez tried heading out for a few drinks later on, thinking this would be no problem since every other night had gone past 6am. It turns out the only place open was a very crumby dive bar that we had no time for. We guess that Goose Day is going to be a big day - better get some sleep.    En savoir plus

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  • Voyageur2023 European Adventure
    Jour 13

    DAY 12 - Lekeitio (Car trip)

    3 septembre 2023, Espagne ⋅ ☁️ 24 °C

    Scott and Jez decided to go for an early morning run to the lighthouse and back. The humidity and steps were quite challenging, but the post pool and spa more than made up for this. We (Car 1 - Gal, Matt, Sean and Zoe, Car 2 - Scott, Meg and Jez) got on the road shortly after for our 1.5hr drive to Hondarribia. It was an absolute mission to find a car park as their local festival was running (it turns out most of the Basque coastal towns have their festivals over the same week). Both cars entered a car park on the hill where we spotted a few parks, within a few moments we realised why these were free. Gal was sliding through the mud and somehow managed to avoid hitting any other cars. Scott began to slide but thought better and decided to try his luck parking elsewhere. Thankfully someone pulled out of their park, which Scott quickly snapped up. Hondarribia itself is an old, wealthy and beautiful beach town bordering France. We sat down in the square for a drink before walking down the main street through the festivities. We eventually made it to the beach where we planted ourselves for the next few hours. We enjoyed a swim in the ocean water with a view of Château d'Abbadie in France. Sean, Jez and Scott decided to swim out to one of the bouys roughly 80m out from shore (thankfully everyone could swim, as the Spanish lifeguards didn't look particularly observant). We then went down to the main street for some lunch, which turned out to be quite difficult with all the people. Gal somehow managed to find us a table. On our walk back to our cars we noticed a large crowd and even larger ramp for what appeared to be some sort of motorbike show. We decided to stick around for the start and were happy that we did (apparently one of the riders is the current 6 time world champion, as translated by Gal). Our next stop was the better known and picturesque San Sebastion. Whilst here, we walked around town (including the beach) and grabbed some dinner. We ate a handful of tapas before grabbing a traditionally Basque cheesecake from the shop that invented it, which we ate down by the sea wall. After our lovely day, we arrived back in Lekeitio with bed on our mind. We have nothing other than a day at the beach planned for tomorrow - we're excited for some quality rest and relaxation.En savoir plus

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  • Voyageur2023 European Adventure
    Jour 12

    DAY 11 - Lekeitio (time to relax)

    2 septembre 2023, Espagne ⋅ ☁️ 22 °C

    After a sleep in, we headed down for our paid buffet breakfast. Much to our surprise, the buffet was over (apparently, this ends at 11 am despite the concierge saying 12). This was no issue as the hotel we able to prepare breakfast for us. We sat down lking out over the harbour and ate our breaky with Laura before having a dip in the hotel pool and spa. The three of us met up with the Sean, Zoe, Jeremy, Matt, and Gal for calamari and patatas bravas (cubed potatos cooked in oil with hot sauce poured over it). Matt then took us for a walk around town. We didn't quite make the lighthouse, largely due to humidity making us feel like we had just jumped out the shower (minus the feeling of refreshment). We bar hopped for a little before heading to the pizzeria to grab dinner. Meg decided to unburden herself her loose change by playing the pokie machine inside the pizzeria (turns out Meg's luck is no better here). Meanwhile, Scott avoided using the sink as there was water leaking from the light fixture above the sink. We went back to Gal's to enjoy our pizza and leftovers before heading back to the square for another round of bumper cars. We grabbed some sub-par churros before heading back to the hotel for a swim. Unfortunately the hotel facilities were closed, so we called it a night. We're back on the road tomorrow for a day trip to check a bit more of Basque Country.En savoir plus

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  • Voyageur2023 European Adventure
    Jour 11

    DAY 10 - Lekeitio (mildly inappropriate)

    1 septembre 2023, Espagne ⋅ ⛅ 24 °C

    We met up with the others, plus Matt and Gal at Gal's family home a few minutes from our hotel for breakfast. Afterwards we went for a walk along the picturesque beach, to the island (we dubbed lizard island) and along the harbour. The people on the streets were starting to build, not to mention the offensive costumes (which is somewhat the theme of the day). We walked around town drinks in hand and embraced the Basque culture. Meg enjoyed some vodka with freshly squeezed orange juice and Scott a traditional basque Calimocho (a mixture of red wine and coke, which was surprisingly tasty). Gal put on a lovely lunch for us and a few of his friends. We then put on our costume (Meg a nun and Scott a monk) and headed out into the streets. There were people everywhere and the streets were electric. We went to join the parade, but after standing around for 15mins for the parade to start, we decided to head down to the square. There is a weird tradition where a mannequin travels along a cable from the church to the town hall to kick off the festival (even Gal doesn't know what this is meant to symbolise). Without going into too much detail, the festivities were more than we ever expected and certainly not something you would see back home. Later in the night, we took a spin at the bumper cars, which was an absolute laugh. Before finishing our night of wandering the streets, dancing and drinking, we grabbed a delicious sandwich and headed back to the hotel. We are looking forward to a bit more of a relaxed day tomorrow (we will certainly need it).En savoir plus

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  • Voyageur2023 European Adventure
    Jour 10

    DAY 9 - Porto to Lekeitio

    31 août 2023, Portugal ⋅ ☀️ 26 °C

    Scott started our last day in Porto with a 10km run along the Duoro River. The steps at the start and after the run were the hardest parts by far, but it was well worth it for the scenery. We left our bags at the apartment's office with Vítor, who was getting a start of his end of month paperwork with a packet of cigarettes and a fridge of beer. To fill our day before our flight, we walked along the river and up the hill to Jardins do Palácio de Cristal, a beautiful gardens that was home to several roaming peacocks (including some little chicks) and chickens. Scott wanted to head up here because of a large dome on the top of the hill, which looked like an observatory, which we then thought was a conservatory after finding out it was in the gardens, but later realised it was Super Bock Arena. There was a bookshow on at the time (not that many of the books were in English), and the views as we walked around the gardens were breathtaking. We decided to spend our last few hours in Porto taking in the view from Mosteiro da Serra do Pilar before laying down at Jardim do Morro (a hilltop in Gaia looking back towards Porto). Our flight to Bilbao, Spain, was delayed which sent us in panic stations as we were already on a tight deadline to pick up our hire car. Once we touched down, Meg ran to the car hire section of the airport, and Scott collected the bags. Thankfully, we made it just in time. The journey to Lekeitio took about an hour with more winding roads than you could imagine. We got there safely despite the weirdness Scott felt driving and sitting on the opposite side (thank goodness for lane assist). Once we arrived, Meg raided the mini fridge before heading to bed. We're excited for our first big day of festive partying.En savoir plus

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  • Voyageur2023 European Adventure
    Jour 9

    DAY 8 - Porto (bridges and canels)

    30 août 2023, Portugal ⋅ ☀️ 25 °C

    We're a few days behind on our FindPenguins, so this one may test the memory. We were up a little late and running out the door to make our next guided activity. We jumped into a van and drove through the Portuguese countryside to Arouca. It was a small and very cute town where we checked out the church and grabbed some breakfast. Scott somehow managed to order our breakfast from the lovely lady at the cafe who didn't speak a word of English. Shortly after, we were back on the road to the starting point of our hike, the Arouca 516 Footbridge. The bridge was built for purely tourism purposes, and the views were pretty incredible (even if it's no longer the longest pedestrian suspension bridge). We ventured on our hike without our guide crossing the bridge then being our decent down the Paiva Walkways. The almost 8km travelled down to then along the river and ended at the bar where we replenished ourselves with a well deserved ice cream. There were a few moments of concerns for Meg's knee but we made it! As far as wildlife is concerned we didn't see an Iberian lynx (much to Scott's disappointment) but we did manage to see a couple of turtles as a consolation prize. Once the group recouped, we headed back to Arouca for a traditional slow cooked veal, cooked in a clay pot, paired with some Green wine. This was an absolute treat even if Scott over ate and drank. We made a quick stop at the beautiful holiday destination, Costa Nova. The houses here were originally painted different colours to help fisherman find there own home after extened periods of time at sean, now its just for show. Our next stop was Averio, an old fishing town built around canels (it's slightly unfortunate for them that Europe already has Venice). Before arriving, our guide handed us all a ribbon to write a few words in relation to friendship. In Averio was went for a quick tour checking out the canels and salt flats. One of the bridges has been dubbed friendship bridge where we tied off our ribbons. This tradition was originally started by the uni students in the town and has really caught on. We then had a bit of free time, where we grabbed a quick drink. The owner offered us a job if we could identify the exotic fruits in the beer. Meg remains unemployed in Portugal, but Scott may have just found a new job after picking out the smell of passionfruit (unfortunately or perhaps fortunately, he was only offering beer as payment). We then jumped on traditional styled boat used to harvest seaweed and toured the canels. For dinner in Porto we went to one of the fancier restaurants recommended by our tour guide (fair to say Scott loves monkfish). After a long day we headed back to our apartment for an earlyish night. Tomorrow we back our bags and travel to Lekeitio (not too sure how we will go with driving in Spain).En savoir plus

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