France, Spain and Morocco

April - May 2016

A 42-day adventure by Sheryl Read more

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Sheryl Burgess France, Spain and Morocco
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- Apr 9, 2016, 5:00pm
- ⛅ 28 °C
- Altitude: 7 m
- Australia Queensland Townsville South Townsville Magazine Island -19.26098, 146.834419°15’40” S 146°50’4” E
Day 1
Townsvville, Australia
April 9, 2016 in Australia ⋅ ⛅ 28 °C
Leaving home for our 6 week trip
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Sheryl Burgess France, Spain and Morocco
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- Apr 9, 2016, 9:00pm
- 🌙 23 °C
- Altitude: 6 m
- Australia Queensland Brisbane Newstead Montpelier -27.45021, 153.0443327°27’1” S 153°2’40” E
Day 1
Brisbane, Australia
April 9, 2016 in Australia ⋅ 🌙 23 °C
Leaving Australia to fly to Dubay then Nice
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Sheryl Burgess France, Spain and Morocco
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- Apr 10, 2016, 5:00am
- 🌙 22 °C
- Altitude: Sea level
- The Gulf 25.25827, 55.2215625°15’30” N 55°13’18” E
Day 2
Dubai, United Arab Emirates
April 10, 2016 ⋅ 🌙 22 °C
A couple of hours stopover before heading to Nice
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Sheryl Burgess France, Spain and Morocco
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- Apr 10, 2016, 2:00pm
- ⛅ 20 °C
- Altitude: 12 m
- France Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Nice Place Masséna 43.69793, 7.2720843°41’53” N 7°16’19” E
Day 2
Nice, France
April 10, 2016 in France ⋅ ⛅ 20 °C
Bonjour...
Started our journey after 30 hours in transit. Checked bags in at Townsville airport and picked them up in Nice. Dubai was our 3hr transit point.
Checked in at Grand Hotel Aston (Aston La Scala). Great location. Nice and handy.
Weather has been amazing. A beautiful 15/17 deg during the day.
We remember what we love about France. It is the crossants and their amazing tasting butter.
Got on la grand Nice tour bus (hop on hop off). It was good but it could have been so much better if we could have found the pick up points easier and if they had better commentary on the bus.
The water at the beach was just amazing blue and so inviting. A far cry from our water at home. The place is really busy with people but has a really laid back atmosphere.

Onto Montpellier. Bloody hell the train station in Nice was an experiance. Not very helpful and not signed well. The dude at information was not full of information but he was full of attitude. Finaly we managed to work it out. Luckely we arrived early. By the time we landed on the platform and found the carriage we had to get on and which train, it left 10 min later. Now we just have to get off at the right stop and change trains in Avignon and then onto Montpellier.Read more
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Sheryl Burgess France, Spain and Morocco
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- Apr 12, 2016, 3:48pm
- ⛅ 15 °C
- Altitude: 32 m
- France Occitania Montpellier Place de la Comédie 43.6076, 3.8792543°36’27” N 3°52’45” E
Day 4
Montpellier, France
April 12, 2016 in France ⋅ ⛅ 15 °C
Just arrived in Montpellier. What a cool place this is. The hotel we are staying in is Grand Hotel De MIDI. It is really nice and handy. 5 minutes walk from the train station if you walk the right way around the block and real close to the city centre. The hotel staff thus far are really nice to and speak very good english. Acually one of the fellas is English. The weather is overcast at the moment. Hopefully it will be kind to us so we can get out and explore.
Day 2. Another great day. Spent the day walking around the city. The shops don't open until 10am so we set off just before that. We went to place de la comedie, les 3 graces, les operas, ancien ampitheatre, saint - come, tour de la babote, eglise et quartier saint roch, quartier saint anne, palais de justice, arc de triomphe replica of the original that is in Paris, place royale du peyrou, aqueduc saint - clement, chateau d' eau, cathedral saint - piere, la faculte de medecine, jardin des plantes, tour des pins, chapelle saint charles, esplanade charles de qaulle, Maison des relations internationales (Nelson Mandala) garden.
It rained in the afternoon but the sun came out beautiful again.Read more
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Sheryl Burgess France, Spain and Morocco
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- Apr 15, 2016, 5:00am
- 🌙 12 °C
- Altitude: 36 m
- Spain Catalonia Barcelona Eixample Universitat de Barcelona 41.38626, 2.1654641°23’11” N 2°9’56” E
Day 7
Barcelona, Spain
April 15, 2016 in Spain ⋅ 🌙 12 °C
Staying at the HGL Citypark Paleyo. Not real flash. They are renovating and the room and hallway smells very badly of glue fumes. The room has a lot of street noise to and the window does not shut properly either. The room is very small with no where to put anything. No tea and coffee making facilities either :( , Apart from that the location isn't too bad.
Had a dinner and show at the Tablo Cordobes located on the Rambler. That was really good. The food was very good and the wait staff excellant. The show was very good to.
The journey to Barcelona was interesting. We traveled on remfe train and they had double booked our seats. I ended up finding a spair seat but Clint had to stand the last hour and a half in the entry exit point of the train and wait until we landed at Barcelona station. This was also afer we were fined 50 euro for not writing the date on our rail pass today. My lord. and the train was a half hour late to boot.
The day started out and continued to be testing but the night at the Cordobes turned this around. Hopefully tomorrow will be much better allround. The weather is fantastic to. Now theres another positive amongst the list of intersting events.
An excellant day 2 in Barcelona on the hop on hop off bus. There were two routes green and orange. Both take about 2.5hrs in duration for a full round trip each. What a great way to see Barcelona in such a short time. Weather is amazing again. The hotel still ordinary. The tapas in Barcelona is amazing.
Day 3 in Barcelona has been a great day to. The weather perfect again. Walked and walked today and went back to some of the sites we passed on the bus yesterday. Stopped at a small resturant in some square and had tapas again. Love tapas. Doing a tapas tour this evening at 5 different venues apparently. We will see what that is like.1qa.
Tapas tour tonight with Urban Adventures. Great tour. Seen some more of the city with an English speaking guide and ate way too much.
Have decided if we get back to Barcelona that we should spend a week here to see all the stuff we want to see. We haven't even scratched the surface of what we could see here. Also, very busy time of year between March and October. People everywhere.Read more
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Sheryl Burgess France, Spain and Morocco
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- Apr 19, 2016, 12:09am
- ⛅ 14 °C
- Altitude: 24 m
- Spain Valencia Eixample Pont del Mar 39.469, -0.3651739°28’8” N 0°21’55” W
Day 11
Valencia, Spain
April 19, 2016 in Spain ⋅ ⛅ 14 °C
Had a great trip from Barcelona on the Remfe train. Heaps of space to move around. Better than the Montpellier to Barcelona trip and no rude French conductors tyring to fine you.
The weather is amazing again for us.
We are staying at the Dimar hotel, it is amazing. Love this hotel and it is a far cry from the crap we stayed in in Barcelona. Little bit of road noise but nothing compaired to Barcelona hotel.
Walked around the old city on the first afternoon and got lost. Walked for hours. Lovely old city and has a great vibe to it. More relaxed though addmitadly it is Sunday and nothing much open. Ate too much again of course. Paela and potos bravos.
Next day in Valencia we did a bike tour. What a fantastic way to see the city. The guide was fantastic. This was booked through Viator (Valencia bike tour). It went for 3 hours at a good pace and mostly used the park land which is so peaceful and beutiful. Visited a few places of interest as well and out guide even minded the bikes while we went into the barcilica. It was not much to look at from the front but the inside was spectacular. The wind was up today so it was quite cool and needed a jacket otherwise we would not have needed one. The weather is sunny though they were predicting rain. Doesn't even look like rain. Nice to see the weather people can't get it right here either. They are consistant all over the world. Paela agian for lunch with salad and the nicest olives I have ever tasted.Read more
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Sheryl Burgess France, Spain and Morocco
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- Apr 19, 2016, 8:59pm
- ⛅ 11 °C
- Altitude: 675 m
- Spain Madrid Madrid City Center Plaza de Callao 40.42014, -3.7056140°25’13” N 3°42’20” W
Day 11
Madrid, Spain
April 19, 2016 in Spain ⋅ ⛅ 11 °C
Arrived in Madrid at around 11am. Fast train it was doing up to 301kms /hr . The hotel Regente we are staying at is ok. Does not have breaky included and no free wifi so we are using Starbucks free wifi around the corner. Serves a dual purpose though. We like the tea and coffe at Starbucks. It is raining in Madrid. I think we will have to buy and unmbrella.
The weather is cold and wet in Madrid today (20th April 2016). Hop on hop off bus was ok. The afternoon trip we got on (because Clint got us lost trying to navigate the map). 11degs all day today. Wet socks to.Read more
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Sheryl Burgess France, Spain and Morocco
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- Apr 21, 2016, 8:51pm
- ⛅ 19 °C
- Altitude: 17 m
- Spain Andalusia Seville Triana Plaza de la Encarnacion 37.3925, -5.9869337°23’33” N 5°59’13” W
Day 13
Seville, Spain
April 21, 2016 in Spain ⋅ ⛅ 19 °C
Hotel Don Paco. Interesting place. Has free wifi and the room comes with breakfast. The bathroom is small but we will manage it.
The weather is a cool 20 deg and overcast but the sun is shining.
Went on the river boat cruise this afternoon. Not bad., very enjoyable and tranquil.
Dinner and show at Tabloa El Arenal. Great dinner and great show.

Beds are comfy and the pillows. Nice change from a few of the other places we have stayed.

Weather great today. Did the hop on hop off bus. Worth doing but better if you can get on the top. Take a while to go around.
Did a tour of the Plaza de toros. Good tour and only cost 7 euro each. Tour went for about 40 minutes. Worth a look. This bull ring is the second oldest in Spain. The oldest is in Malaga.
Ate tapas again today. Bloody beautiful. Love tapas and love the sizes of the plates of food. Wondered through the streets again and stopped for chevaza a couple of times. Had dinner at a great little place across the road from the hotel 'Catalinas', very good food and service.Read more
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Sheryl Burgess France, Spain and Morocco
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- Apr 24, 2016, 4:19am
- 🌙 11 °C
- Altitude: 685 m
- Spain Andalusia Granada Alcaicería de Granada la Universidad de Granada Botanical Garden 37.17619, -3.6012237°10’34” N 3°36’4” W
Day 16
Granada, Spain
April 24, 2016 in Spain ⋅ 🌙 11 °C
Arrived late this arvy to the Hotel La Casa De La Trinidad. The train line was not open all the way. They are doing works on the line so we had to get off at some place and be bussed here. Purchased our tickets to Algeciras for Monday (Anzac Day) which was a bit of a challenge. The fella spoke no English at all but we managed. Finaly got a cab to the hotel. Great hotel. Close to everything and the room is really good to. Breaky included as well as wifi.
Walked around a bit this afternoon. Stopped for a late lunch across the way and had seafood paela and chicken paela and a couple of cervacia estrella galicia. Nice beer. Cam across the biggest cathedral just up a bit from the hotel. wandered through the laneways and discoverd them filled with Moroccon stores and spices. What a segway into the next part of our trip.
Walking tour today was great. Well worth doing. Booked it through Viator. After tour we walked up the hill to a lookout that looked out over the city and castle and the snow covered mountains in the background. Breathtaking, particularly on such a beautiful day.
I think next time we travel we will book a tour guide/walking tour/bike ride tour in each place as it is the best way to see around the place and get information. You can also ask whatever questions you want and get answers to at the time. I also think next time we come here to Spain we will spend the same amount of time here but visit less places. More time in each place will give us oppotunities to see inside some of these places.Read more
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