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2015
  • Rachel Britton

2015

Un’avventura di 365 giorni di Rachel Leggi altro
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  • Rachel Britton2015Viaggiatore

    A night stop in Thessaloniki

    26 luglio 2015, Grecia ⋅ ☀️ 34 °C

    I flew into Thessaloniki this morning as it's the best way to reach Skopje. I haven't really enjoyed being here and wouldn't recommend coming back to be honest. It was a Sunday, but there didn't seem too much happening. The town look quite run down and there didn't seem to be that many Greeks around.

    My hostel wasn't that accommodating and then I decided on some very poor Thai food that tasted terrible, like it was just poured out of a packet. I did have a kebab to make up for it which was nice and my left over mosaiko. I'm so glad I found this dessert, it is amazing!

    Otherwise, I just chilled in my room for a bit. I did take a walk around the city, so there are some pics of my visit.

    Where I stayed
    RentRooms Thessaloniki - 9 Melenikou Konstadinou, Thessaloniki, Greece

    Location - really nice spot, they run a cafe out the back that backs onto a park. Lovely area to sit in. Close to city centre. Beds - comfy, lots of space between bunks. Breakfast - I wasn't here for it, but you got to chose off their cafe breakfast menu. There were about 6 options I think Just points I didn't prefer, but you might like. Lockers - none. Kitchen - I don't think you can actually use it and you can't take your food into the lounge area, so I'm not sure where you were supposed to eat Common area - they also close the kitchen and common area between 12am - 8am. Reception - no staff between 12am - 8am    Leggi altro

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  • Rachel Britton2015Viaggiatore

    Country No. 21

    27 luglio 2015, Macedonia del Nord ⋅ ☀️ 34 °C

    Just a quick post to make note that tomorrow I will be entering my 20th country! That's 20 countries in 18 months, not bad for someone who'd never left Australia before now. And no I don't have a favourite. They are all amazing and awesome in their own ways :D

    1. UEA
    2. Austria
    3. Poland
    4. Norway
    5. England
    6. France
    7. Switzerland
    8. Spain
    9. Monaco
    10. Italy
    11. Vatican
    12. Germany
    13. Czech Republic
    14. Holland
    15. Wales
    16. Ireland
    17. Turkey
    18. Northern Ireland
    19. Hungary
    20. Greece
    21. Macedonia - Monday 27 July 2015

    Let's see if I can make it 25 countries for my 25th year!    Leggi altro

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  • Rachel Britton2015Viaggiatore

    Skopje, Macedonia

    27 luglio 2015, Macedonia del Nord ⋅ ☀️ 34 °C

    Visiting Macedonia was never on my list. I jokingly said to dad a few weeks ago that during my free fortnight maybe I'd visit there, or Montenegro, or Serbia, who knew! It was an exciting thought.

    Last Thursday I found myself in a panic. I had no accommodation after Saturday night, I had no idea where to go, but two weeks to fill before arriving in Budapest on the 9th of August. Getting out of Greece over land through the north is difficult. The Greek government shut down all international trains back in 2012 and buses aren’t always reliable.

    I looked at flying into Ljubljana, Slovenia, it was too expensive, another option was flying into Budapest and then bussing it over. But not one to enjoy wasting money, I didn’t want to do this either. I’ve already been to Budapest and I’m going back, I didn’t want to use it as an over night base.

    Budapest is the closest I could fly to from Greece, there are no other flights for the in between countries. Oh! And this dilemma is how I found myself looking into Macedonia. My guidebook kept mentioning all the great wine there, and after spending a fortnight in Greece with shabby wine I was looking forward to a good drop.

    But getting into Macedonia isn’t that easy. For starters the Greeks aren’t happy with the use of the word Macedonia, they feel that they own it for the area called Macedonia in their country. You can only access Macedonia via a bus from Thessaloniki to Skopje, a bus leaves twice a day. And Skopje isn’t even the main tourist area.

    So, with wine on my mind and me looking for a cheap country Macedonia it was. I booked a flight into Thessaloniki for Sunday morning, I found a hostel for Sunday night and showed up at the bus station in Macedonia asking how to buy a ticket for Skopje.

    And it has been a fantastic decision! My bus left at 8:30am on Monday and we arrived into Skopje at 11:30am, with me gaining an hour. A bonus discovery is that Macedonia doesn’t count as part of the Schengra Visa – woohoo! It means I have more days in November to come back to Europe.

    For the first time ever on a bus, for me, we were stopped at the border. All of our passports were collected, reviewed and stamped. We stopped off to visit the duty free shop, before heading further and being stopped again, so that another officer could view our passports and see our luggage area. Then it was straight on threw.

    My hostel, had given great instructions and I found them very quickly after arriving and getting Wi-Fi in Skopje. The taxi drives surround the bus depot like flies to dead meat. Everyone asks you for a taxi, but my hostel had emailed earlier with clear instructions to not use anyone of them at all, but to call them in I needed help.

    I find the hostel with ease, it appears to be an old house renovated as a hostel. The gate is opened automatically and Marjan, the guy on reception today, comes out, hand outstretched introducing himself. I feel so welcomed and at ease straight away. I get a tour of the place and told there is free tea/ coffee and juice all day, and there are oils and spices in the cupboard for my use.

    At this point it’s nearing 1pm and the hottest part of the day. I’m used to all of the siestas in Greece. So I pull up a spot on my bed, turn on the AC and update myself on the world, it’s been a while since I had decent wifi.

    Tonight I plan on visiting a restaurant Marjan has recommended and to visit a grocery store. This is quite possibly my favourite thing to do in each country / town, I love visiting grocery stores.

    Ah Macedonia, you have been the right choice for my 21st country.

    Where I stayed
    Shanti Hostel - str. Rade Jovcevski Korcagin 11, Skopje, Republic of Macedonia

    A fantastic place to stay. The stay are so beautiful and nice. You are immediately welcomed in as if you were a long lost friend. There is a full equipped kitchen, with oils and spices to use, plus free tea, coffee, juice throughout the day. There is an outdoor garden and the rooms are quite comfortable. There is ac and it's relatively close to everything. Highly recommended!    Leggi altro

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  • Rachel Britton2015Viaggiatore

    Skopje : Walking Tours

    29 luglio 2015, Macedonia del Nord ⋅ 38 °C

    After missing the walking tour yesterday by 10 mins today I was 10 mins early and ready to go! I love walking tours, I think they are the best way to learn about a city, both in a historical, cultural and navigational perspective.

    This walking tour turned out to be 4 hours long! But it was incredibly and would rate second behind the Berlin walking tour I did last year.

    We began our tour at the Mother Theresa memorial house. From here we walked up to the National museum, back to the Mother Theresa memorial house for a tour, down the back of the house to see the oldest tower, up the pedestrian street to see the Alexander the Great statue and water fountain, across to the Arc of triumph, past Parliament House and a garden of statues representing war and peace.

    We walked down the river admiring some new buildings and bridges, we crossed the bridge and heard a story of the stone bridge and started into Old Town and the Bazar area. From here we had a break and stopped in at our guide's local restaurant to participate in some local rakti and sausage.

    Loaded up we headed up to the castle, across to the mosque and down into the real bazar, finishing outside on old Turkish bath.

    Throughout the tour we learnt all about the history of Skopje, stories behind the monuments, buildings, 2014 project and lots of little jokes our guide shared.

    our guide jokes that the mayor likes to copy and paste cultural relics. When he visits other countries he sees things they have and immediately wants them in Skopje. And that is exactly what is happening, called the 2014 project (it was meant to be finished in 2014) the city has been building all of these Neo-classical buildings and statues that one is accustomed to seeing in Western Europe. For example, the arc de triophme in Paris, a bull outside the finance building, bridges with statues and so on. There doesn't seem to be any fluidity as to where they lay out things, it's all jammed in. They are even covering current standing building in a neo-classical design. And the statues! You should see them lined up all over bridges and buildings.

    Some funny notes our guide mentions:
    - Macedonia has never won any battles, so the arc of triumph shows cultural and sporting achievement
    - parliament is shared by a number of governments, including visiting ones
    - bull, which is often seen outside the stock exchange in economically stronger nations, is seen outside a shoe shop in Skopje. As the guide points out they don't have a strong economy, he jokes they should have a chicken haha
    - near the stone bridge you can hear a high pitched noise. It's supposed to only be heard by dogs to keep them away. Some dogs are used to it now and keep coming back, other times it keeps the humans away because they can hear it
    - so many statues!

    It's just bizarre. You travel to Western Europe to see all of these buildings because they are old. They were built hundreds of years ago and carry with them a historical story of our past. The buildings in Skopje are two to three years old, they mean nothing. It's almost mis-leading in some instances. And as our guide points out, their history and designs is that of the Ottoman Empire and should reflect that, if they are doing any buildings at all.

    We end the tour at an old Turkish baths. Afterwards two of the others and I go back to the guides recommended restaurant and share a meal. We try three different types of meats, plus cheese with bread (amazing!) and beers.    Leggi altro

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  • Rachel Britton2015Viaggiatore

    A week in Skpoje

    30 luglio 2015, Macedonia del Nord ⋅ ☀️ 37 °C

    Just a quick reflection on my week here. It has been wonderful. The hostel could not have been more perfect! The average temperature all week has been over 40 degrees. However, I haven't found it that muggy, so not too bad really. I've had some interesting roommates and a really annoying Australian.

    It would appear that most people here are heading onto the Sunnylake Hostel in Ohrid this weekend. So I'm looking forward to that as I like most of the people here. I've made some awesome Kiwi dudes, who are the nicest blokes around, and love drinking haha.

    On Tuesday after we missed the walking tour I did a bus tour to try and make up for it. It sucked. So I had a leisurely lunch, filled with Macedonia style food, before heading back to the hostel, where I intended to have a rest.

    However, when I returned I found my Kiwi friends there and they were just headed up to the big mountain to take the cable cart to see the giant cross. So I decided to join them. Unfortunately when we got there everything we shut, apparently every Monday and the last Tuesday of the month the cable car is closed. Guess what day it was?! Haha

    So after an ice-block we headed back down to the city for some food.

    On Wednesday I made the walking tour and on Thursday I took the bus out to the canyon for the day. Tomorrow I'm taking the 8:30am bus to Ohrid, I’m ready to go. Skopje and it’s addiction to creating a fake past it a little weird haha.    Leggi altro

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  • Rachel Britton2015Viaggiatore

    Skopje: Last day so I went to a canyon

    30 luglio 2015, Macedonia del Nord ⋅ ☀️ 37 °C

    Today is my last day in Skopje, so I've decided to head out to the ... Canyon as recommended by the hostel.

    It's a 40 minute bus ride, by public transport, to the canyon. Where the bus drops us off reminds me a little of the rolling stone area at home. Except there is a much bigger stream. But there are people up and down both sides, settling in with their picnics and togs. Kids are jumping off bridges and rocks all up the water.

    There are little shops set up selling ice cream and a couple of restaurants too. As I walk further up the canyon we pass a water pump or control and then reach a little bay of sorts. There are boats here taking people up the river and a fancy type restaurant.

    The main thing to do is to take a boat ride up the river and visit an underground cave. When I arrive there wasn't any boats docked, so I took a walk along the cliff face for a while and headed back when I could see the boats returning.

    It's a little dingy we are in, 400 MKD. We ride up the river until we reach the caves and we climb out of the boat and down into the cave.

    Caves really aren't my thing, but this one had a cool light spray happening. It has a constant temp of 15 degrees all year round. So it was a nice change from the 41 degrees outside.

    Apparently the water was 12 degrees and do clean you can drink it straight from the river. Some people did too.

    We headed back to the shore and I walked bank to where we were meant to meet the bus. I then realised that I never got a return time :/

    A family who has been on the bus earlier said it has just left and wound be back in an hour. So I headed up and had lunch. Kebab, schopa salad and bread. Warm, seemly fresh, bread with a salty topping. Yummy!

    About an hour and a half later the bus showed up and off we went back to town. Another day in Skopje done.    Leggi altro

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  • Rachel Britton2015Viaggiatore

    Arrival in Ohrid

    2 agosto 2015, Macedonia del Nord ⋅ ⛅ 26 °C

    So this weekend I'm spending it in Ohrid, a UNESCO heritage listed town and the more famous and touristy area of Macedonia. I have stumbled upon the best weekend really as its a long weekend celebrating Macedonian independence and many celebrations are taking place.

    After arriving on my bus and fighting a dude for my seat all the way, I decided that I could walk to my hostel. This is probably the worst part of my travelling day. I have a rough idea of where I’m supposed to be going, but I have no wifi to confirm that I’m headed in the right direction, everyone around you are 'sharks’ and you have to keep particular attention to your belongings.

    So off I went the direction I hoped was correct. After a couple of nice girls helping me along the way I found myself, right in the centre of Old Town and up a giant hill towards my hostel.

    The town is flowing with people. Aside from the national celebrations this weekend, there is also the summer festival, consisting of plays, concerts and music festivals, which are taking place along the beaches around the lake. Needless to say the town is jam-packed.

    I find my hostel, which I am less then impressed with, but grow to enjoy. It’s three storeys with a lounge area downstairs and a backyard. My floor has the kitchen and a balcony, which looks out over the lake. Two brothers, who seem to be doing everything by the seat of their pants, run the place.

    They also seem to be seeing dollar signs this weekend and are charging people to sleep in the hammock outside, or to pitch up their tents in the back yard. I thought someone said it was €7 a night. But people are desperate to be here, so they are paying it. I have a comfortable bed upstairs, with two lockers.

    The highlight is that practically everyone from the Shanti Hostel is here! I walk in to greet welcoming faces and old friends. It’s such a wonderful feeling. My love for Macedonia grows.

    On Friday afternoon I went on my own tour of the town. I walked down the main pedestrian area, all along the coastal front and pass the famous pop up summer restaurants / swimming areas and up to a very old church. It has fantastic views over the lake. I then walked further up hill and then back down going past another church that had a pop up theatre out the back, for the summer festival.

    Tonight I hang out with my Kiwi mates and all the new faces here, drinking a lovely bottle of Macedonia red, whilst the others downed cheap €3, 3L bottles of red. Someone is going to have a nasty hangover in the morning. After a pizza and more red we head out to see the Ohrid nightlife. We make our way to a popular nightclub, which has a woman playing a really cool violin alongside the DJ. We dance for a bit and a notice that loads of people are smoking inside the club. After two songs I’m done. Nightclubs aren’t my thing haha. And I head back to the safety of the hostel for a good night’s sleep.    Leggi altro

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  • Rachel Britton2015Viaggiatore

    Ohrid: a weekend

    3 agosto 2015, Macedonia del Nord ⋅ ⛅ 27 °C

    On Saturday I had breakfast with an American who lives in NZ now. I asked for the pancakes, which are crepes, and order the honey and nut one. Basically it's like baklava in crepe form, the crepe is soaking in honey – yummy!

    Stephanie (NZ friend) has decided to join me in attending a musical performance tonight. A famous Serbian violinist is performing in this old amphitheatre with a piano, singer and another instrument. So we buy tickets and agree to meet later on.

    I have a wander around town, as later on this afternoon I’m going on a boat tour. The old town is a beautiful mixture of the country's history. The buildings have paint peeling off them, old red tiles scattered and wood stacked around. My pictures do a better justice I hope. Pebble roads are the majority.

    My hostel organises boat tours everyday for up to 6 people at a time. For 400 dinar you get a two hour boat road across the lake, a couple of swims, beers and fruit. There were only three of us from the hostel today, so a couple of the hostel owners friends joined us. It seems a bit of a dodgy business deal really, but we had a good time.

    The water was beautiful and fresh, very unlike the incredibly salty water in Greece. The boat is this beat up little dingy and we all have to balance carefully getting in and out of the boat to ensure we don’t tip. We place music and pull up around one of the small beaches for a swim as well.

    But rain clouds are drawing in so we head back in time to reach for cover because a thunderstorm unleashes across the town early in the evening. Which is perfect when you have an outdoor event to attend.

    We arrived to the ancient theatre and were delayed a little bit as the organised quickly raced around drying seats and putting down cushions. The event was titled 'Tango Compass’ and Stefan Milenkovic was the famous violinist. A piano, accordionist, cello player and singer for certain numbers accompanied him. It was just brilliant! A very special event to attend.

    On Sunday I had chicken and chips and sat down along the beachfront having dinner. It felt a bit like a Friday night on the strand. It was humid and there were people everywhere. On Monday I walked down to the beaches were some of the celebrations were happening last night. I also went and had a pedicure, because why not.

    For my final meal in Ohrid an American joined me for dinner at one of the cheap streets we’d found. She was a very interested person to meet, as she currently works for ESPN assisting in the broadcasts for the tennis Grand Slams. She was currently kicking back after Wimbledon and waiting for the US Open to start! Jealous haha.

    And with that my time in Ohrid and in Macedonia came to an end. I’ve had a wonderful time here, making new friends, exploring a new culture and eating lots of barbequed meats.

    Food in Macedonia:

    http://www.buzzfeed.com/jovcov/delicious-macedo…

    I loved the Burek, wine, Mekici (!), shopska salata, BBQ meats, bread and cheese

    Performance I saw:

    http://meta.mk/odlichen-nastap-na-stefan-milenk…    Leggi altro

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  • Rachel Britton2015Viaggiatore

    Belgrade Walking Tour

    5 agosto 2015, Serbia ⋅ 34 °C

    On Wednesday I did the walking tour and pub-crawl, as I thought it would be easier whilst staying in the city. As per usual, the walking tour was great.

    We started in the main square and were told about the different monuments and buildings and how the National Museum had been closed for renovations for 12 years. It now has a clock on the front of it counting down until it will open, apparently September 2016. We wait in anticipation!

    The main square is a central meeting point for the locals, who refer to the area as 'let's meet at the horse’. This is because there is a giant horse statue in the middle of the square. We talked about a few of the different statues in the square, although the guide failed to mention the four quite random art statues that looked like transformers haha.

    From the square we headed to Skadarlika where we learnt to do a traditional Serbian dance. Our guide told us that back in the day this was the area where the gypses used to live. As the city got bigger and more commercial, it was decided that the area should be persevered. And so it has.

    Along this road is Dura Jakšić’s house; he is a famous Serbia poet, painter and writer. He has a statue of himself out front and apparently during the summer young poets stand beside him and conduct readings.

    We pasted a famous green market and walked through some of the streets I passed last night, looking into the cute little cafes and bars as we made our way towards the castle.

    Today was a day of national mourning to remember a number of soldiers who had died on this day in Croatia during a war in the last 15 years.

    As the bells signalled out at midday we paused for reflection. She then began to tell us the history about the most recent wars and her experiences with the NATO bombings. She was child living in Belgrade at the time.

    Her version of the events did not particularly match up to those in my guidebook. I wasn’t the only one who noticed, as later on at the pub crawl a couple of the others asked me if I thought her story was quite biased to Serbia’s innocence in the process … haha oh well. That’s why we travel, to see and hear all perspectives and make a decision for ourselves.

    From here we went into the castle grounds and took in view over the Save and Danube rivers, the floating nightclubs and the other side of Belgrade. We wandered through the big park area, down past some government buildings and to our final stop.

    I waved goodbye and headed to a small restaurant I had heard about for lunch, before wandering back through the city taking in the sights and smells and returning to my hostel.

    PUB CRAWL
    Nightlife doesn’t kick off in Belgrade till late, so our guide didn’t pick us for the pub-crawl until 9:30pm. I almost considering going to bed, but I got talking to two American Turkish guys and decided to go along. As it was a national day of mourning no music could be played, so at each venue we want to, aside from the two floating night clubs which illegally played music, there was no music anywhere. It was rather dull.

    But luckily the conversation wasn’t. I met some really interesting Europeans. We stopped off at two bars and two floating nightclubs. We received shot at each and got to taste the local, lethal spirit. I didn’t really enjoy the floating nightclubs, mainly cause the music sucked and it was so far away from everything else. So the guide took me back to my hostel. Overall a very good night indeed!    Leggi altro

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  • Rachel Britton2015Viaggiatore

    Bedbugs

    7 agosto 2015, Serbia ⋅ ⛅ 35 °C

    This saga all came about because I made a decision when I was annoyed, made a decision on the spot and had other people's opinions influencing my decisions. Three things that I try never ever do. And it has literally came back to bite me on the arse L

    When I arrived in Belgrade I came to my hostel, which to be fair was a good hostel. It is located right in the city, it was very modern, clean, open, but it just didn’t have an character or feel to it. Maybe because I’d spent almost 10 days with the same people in Macedonia, in hostels that had a homey feel, and I was missing it.

    But the door on our dorm wasn’t shutting and it let light in and people who wanted to drink had nowhere to sit and be loud, so it was all inside and the noise radiated. Very annoying!

    I made the decision when I arrived in Belgrade to cancel my trip to Slovenia as it was much cheaper here, not being on the Euro and I wanted more time out of the schengen Visa.

    But where to stay, where to stay. Having had a number of conversations in Macedonia with different people bragging that they didn’t stay in hostels because they wanted the local feel and generally made me feel like I was missing out, I decided to look into Airbnb. I’d had a great experience when I was in Lyon and thought it might be similar.

    And I’d only selected that hostel because guys in Macedonia recommended it to me, so I didn’t look too hard as it appeared that all of Belgrade was pretty booked out anyway. Wrong decision. Always do you own research and then make your decision.

    I found someone who had great reviews and decided that it would be ok to pay a little bit more to have my own room and bathroom. It was cheaper then what I would’ve paid for a 3 bed dorm in Slovenia.

    But then the hostel started to warm on me, the people weren’t that bad, I got used to the kitchen and made some good friends on the walking tour and pub crawl. But I couldn’t get out of the Airbnb booking, so I packed up my belongings on Thursday morning and headed to the suburbs.

    It was not a 10 min bus ride as per the listing it was 30 mins and I had to pay for public transport, something I’d over looked as in my booking. I wasn’t paying for when I stayed right in the city, so this was an additional cost I hadn’t accounted for.

    When I got to the place and lugged my bag up 3 flights of stairs. The house was modern and clean, the owners smoked in the house – a point I didn’t notice properly in my haste to book – and my room was up another flight of stairs.

    There wasn’t a welcoming feel that I’d had in Lyon. It was weird. And for two days all the owners did was sit on the couch, smoke and watch TV. These people were young, why they didn’t have jobs or a social life was beyond me.

    So I sooked most of the day regretting my decision to come out to the suburbs and watched back to back episodes of season 4 of The Great British Bake Off – fav new show!!

    I bought some groceries to prevent additional money spending, and cooked up a storm in the kitchen. All the while the owners sat behind me smoking and watching TV. Not very social at all.

    On Friday morning I woke up with renewed energy. I was going to see the Tesla Museum today and head into the city to look for a few cool bars I had looked up. But then I started to itch and I realised that I had lots of little welts over my legs, and as the day progressed they got bigger and more appeared and they were more itchy.

    I raised it with the owner who said it was mosquitos because of the heat. Mozzies don’t come out at the heat mate, they come out when it’s rained and it’s muggy and they have all these little waterholes to live in. And I hadn’t seen one mozzie here at all. It hadn’t rained and it wasn’t even muggy!

    Unconvinced I decided to sleep on the couch in my room, but no longer had I had 2 hours sleep and I was awake with more bites. So at 2am I packed up my bags and watched Bake Off whilst sitting on the floor and I eventually slept on the floor.

    I had breakfast in the morning, wrote a response to the host – who wasn’t even in the country at the time – that I was leaving because of the bites and could I have a refund for the night I wasn’t staying there and left.

    Having found a hostel at 2 in the morning for E7 I headed there. It was near my first hostel and I was immediately very happy to be back in the centre. I got a message from the host apologising and assuring me it wasn’t bedbugs, even though I saw a chemist the day before who said it probably was.

    She agreed to give me a refund for the Friday night, so I had to go back to the house and get the money, which was fine.

    My hostel on the other hand was not that fine. The bathrooms was soaking, the doors were so waterlogged on the shower that you couldn’t shut the door properly, which is not helpful when guys and girls all share the same shower room. There wasn’t enough lockers in my room for all the people, 12 beds, 10 lockers and the kitchen was just a microwave with a very cool kettle that was dirty as.

    On top of all that I feel like I have now wasted my time in Belgrade. Even though I probably would’ve been bored by the Saturday if I’d stayed in the city and spent the time wishing I’d done the Airbnb.

    So now, I’m itchy, I’ve a cream that isn’t really working and my ankle feels like it’s swelling. And I’m worried that because I haven’t had time to wash my clothes that the bugs might be in my bag.

    The irony of the whole thing is that I decided to stay in Serbia because it was cheaper. But between the Airbnb room, public transport, and creams for my leg I’ve probably spent the same amount if I’d gone to Slovenia as planned. So much for a cheap stay.

    Lesson of the day, don’t listen to other people, don’t make decisions when you’re annoyed and don’t make them on the spot. If I have to, draw up a very comprehensive pros and cons list – argh!!!!!

    The other thing I learnt is that if you don’t have a good host, it ends up being nothing more then a room to rent. All my questions about transport, things to see, what to do that I throw at all the hostels didn’t appear to be appropriate, which in the end is the whole point of staying with a local to get that inside knowledge. Sigh.    Leggi altro

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  • Rachel Britton2015Viaggiatore

    Sometime in Belgrade

    8 agosto 2015, Serbia ⋅ 33 °C

    Apart from the crap time with accommodation situation I have had a really good time in Belgrade and would happily recommend it to anyone visiting the Balkans. It has a great nightlife, great food and lots of interesting history to learn about.

    I arrived on Tuesday afternoon and after striking up a conversation with a lady on the bus shuttle she walked me to my hostel. I think she was very excited to meet someone travelling really. She told me all about Belgrade, places to visit, where to buy a bus pass from if I wanted to travel around and food to eat.

    After checking in to my hostel I headed out looking for dinner and to get a feel of the town. There is a huge pedestrian area in the city with loads of restaurants and shops everywhere. Outside of the pedestrian area are lots of little bars and cafes. It reminds me of Melbourne.

    There is a famous street and area known as the old bohemian quarter, it's called Skadarlika. My guidebook says it's referred to as the Montmartre of Belgrade. It was a beautiful cobbled stone street, full of restaurants with character with live music and local food. After dinner I walked around for a bit before heading back to the hostel.

    On Wednesday I was up early to do the walking tour of the city and then planned to do the pub crawl tonight as it would be easier to get back to my hostel while I was based in the city instead of the suburbs.

    Thursday and Friday I was at the Airbnb place. It was out in the suburbs, but had great views from my room over the city. After spending most of the day chilling in my room I headed out to visit the Tesla museum. I walked from the house around the streets passing some lovely cafes, shops and a great green market.

    The Tesla Museum is quite small. There is a guided tour every hour in English. In the rooms are Tesla’s stuff, a story of his life, magazine articles and photographs of him, his equipment and his ashes.

    Some of the cool things I learnt were:

    - In the first Star Wars movie they used a Tesla coil to light up the light sabers

    - He was OCD and needed everything to be in 3, he even stayed in places that had something to do with it

    - He wanted to create free electricity, which is why JP Morgan pulled all funding from his project, he wanted to make money

    - He had papers destroyed in an accident & scientists today still can't work out what he was trying to do

    We also got to test out the coils. There was a really big one in which 500,000 volts go through and a small one with 100,000. For the first experiment 4 of us stood near the coil with light blubs. When the machine was turned on we were used as conducts as the bulbs light up!

    For the second experiment you could feel 100,000 volts go through you. There was a tall rod and when you hovered your hand over the top a line of electricity would jump out at you and stay consistent. It was awesome!

    The third experiment saw us use two guys as conductors for electricity. One held their hand over the rod, and the other held onto a light blub. When both of them held hands and turned the rod on, the electricity when through both boys and lit up the light.

    I really, really liked visiting here and would like to learn more about Mr Tesla. What a very interesting man.

    I continued my walk into town and passed by some Government buildings that looked as if they belonged in wartime. Which is exactly where they are from. After the latest wars in Serbia, it was decided to leave these buildings standing in their destroyed form, as a reminded of what war does. It was quite impressive.

    On Saturday I moved back to the city and into a new hostel. I took a bus ride out to Zemun, an area across the river, but it didn’t look that appealing so I just did the round trip and headed back to my hostel.

    Tonight I’m shouting myself a nice dinner. It’s European style food and there was supposed to be a live opera style thing happening, but as per most other cultural things, this doesn’t appear to take place over the summer.

    After dinner I walked around for a bit taking some last minute photos of the area, before finding myself at a cool bar I spotted in Skadarlika earlier in the week. I had a G&T and sat back and watched the evening disappear. A wonderful way to end my time in Belgrade.

    When in Belgrade:
    Opera restaurant - http://www.littlebay.rs/about.html
    Some cool photos - http://www.buzzfeed.com/sofijazz/42-reasons-you…
    Tesla Museum: http://www.tesla-museum.org/
    Walking Tour: https://www.facebook.com/FREEBELGRADEWALKINGTOURS    Leggi altro

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  • Rachel Britton2015Viaggiatore

    A train journey to Budapest

    9 agosto 2015, Serbia ⋅ 33 °C

    Travelling via train in the Balkans is not really a recommended transport option. It is notoriously slow, rundown and just generally has a bad rap. When considered my options to getting from Belgrade to Budapest the only bus option was leaving at 9pm and arriving at 4am – not ideal.

    The whole reason I was travelling overland was so I could see the countryside. This would not be possible at night, nor by air. So I bought a train ticket.

    We left Belgrade at 11:10am. We were a small team of only 3 carriages I think and it was packed. We had a number of random stops for periods of time, but I just considered it all a part of the journey. I had a packed lunch, so it was fine.

    One of the things I have really wanted to see this summer is a field of sunflowers. Guess what? I got my wish! Sort of. All the way from Belgrade up to the Hungarian border were sunflower fields - thousands of them! It was awesome. Except that it was end of season and they were all looking down.

    Also I really wanted to stand in the fields, but oh well. It was pretty awesome. We made two border stops. One leaving Serbia and one entering Hungary. There was at least a hours time difference I reckon. Border control came on board and checked all of our documents.

    After the Hungarian check we got an announcement to say that we would be waiting at this stop for an hour. Why? No reason given.

    It was now 6pm and we were going to be 2 hours delayed getting into Budapest. So I jumped off the train, along with a few others and wandered into this sleepy little town looking for somewhere that might be open for food. It was Sunday evening, the chances were slim.

    However, after finding a couple of drinking holes we did find a random little shack that was serving pizza. And after having to use Google translate The Germans, Hungarian waitress and myself all had hot pizzas and drinks.

    But making a random stop always had the high-risk possibility of someone being left behind. As time was nearing for us to leave the teenage boy of the German family went to find a bin to put their pizza boxes in. He was off the train merely minutes and we started moving. The look of the parents' faces was quite funny.

    After a few tense minutes going back and forth, trying to get into 1<sup>st</sup> class – the door was locked, and the train speeding up, we eventually stopped. And then the lad appeared. He had scrambled onto the first class carriage as we were pulling away, I assume. I’m not sure how he got through the door to us, but he did and his mother was very, very relieved.

    When he returned our cabin let our cheers and claps. He looked quite relieved to be there. Nothing like being left behind in a random Hungarian town where no one speaks English. With our entertainment over, I watched the sun set and watched a movie. Ah train journeys in the Balkans are definitely an interesting affair.    Leggi altro

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  • Rachel Britton2015Viaggiatore

    Szgiet Festival

    11 agosto 2015, Ungheria ⋅ ⛅ 36 °C

    The day had finally come Sziget festival 2015 - the island of freedom! And boy was it worth it. Listed as the Glastonbury of Europe and crowned Europe's best festival in 2014 Sziget had a lot going for it when I discovered that Florence + machine would be playing there.

    I'd wanted to visit Budapest again as is only seen the Pest side in January, so this seemed like the perfect trip.

    Sziget goes for 7 days, but for some weird government reason (or so my hostel tells me) they aren't allowed to consider the first 2 days as part of the festival. So they are referred to as day -1 and day 0 and not everything is open on these 2 days.

    Unfortunately I was attending on day 0 so the blues / jazz tent and dance / drama tents were not open for performances. But everything else was great!

    Also Sziget is held on an island in the Danbue, hence island of freedom. But let me return to the start.

    I attended on Tuesday the 11th of August - mum's birthday. I was going to see Florence * Machine and as they were the headline act for the night, taking the stage at 9:30pm, giving me plenty of time to explore the island.

    I headed out at about 6pm to avoid the heat. Most festivals don't kick off till about 4-5 and roll in through till 3am.

    First up was getting the PayPass card. It was the only way to pay for everything on the island. And at the end of the night you got everything you didn't spend back - brilliant!! I almost think for this reason solely makes Sziget the best. I hate being forced to hand over money because festivals are chasing the £€$!!!

    It was like this amazing village with music stages, entertainment, art work & exhibitions, drinks and good areas and camping all mixing together.

    Ps I was glad I wasn't camping. It was so hot and the camping wasn't sectioned off it mixed in with everything. Not interested, plus the gear and apparently you only get 2 hours of no music all day.

    Anyway below are done of the awesome things around to do:

    I walked around to see everything, had some gins, took pictures, got stamps in my Sziget passport, has the must aewsomest sausage snd bread cone concept ever for dinner and then waited for Florence.

    The toilets were interesting. They all had lights and there was a cleaner in hand giving each one a quick clean ever few minutes - yeah!! But there was no toilet paper. I think you had to buy it. I don't know because I just walked in and used my tissues. Oh the hide of them if that's what they were doing. Talk about encouraging people to use the garden.

    When Flo came on the crowd just compacted. And after seeing aerial shuts I can see why, it was crazy! Ps they had a drone flying overhead. It was the best hour and a hand! She is an amazing performer. I must've been yelling so hard because I lost my voice for 2 days afterwards.

    The highlight was when she asked everyone to get high with them and get in people's shoulders (nice pun Flo). That's when I spotted my NZ friends! They were only about 5 people away, but I just couldn't reach them. At the end of the set, I squeezed pass the dispersing crowd and found them. It was a great reunion!

    I went with them and their gathering group of friends to sit in the UN area. We rested, are and drank. As it reached 1am they were headed off to the colosseum and I for home.

    For my final festival for the summer Sziget was great. Be prepared for the people because there are so many!!

    Until next time!

    Sziget Festival
    szigetfestival.com

    Official photos from the week - the birds eye view one is from Florence
    http://szigetfestival.com/_/explore/best_photos…    Leggi altro

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  • Rachel Britton2015Viaggiatore

    A week in Budapest

    14 agosto 2015, Ungheria ⋅ ☀️ 36 °C

    This week I've been given an unique opportunity in that I have spent sometime in the same town in both winter and summer.

    I was in Budapest for a few days in January, when the weather was, at best, -3. I fondly remember finishing my walking tour, feeling quite frozen and having my weather guide tell me that it felt like -8, lovely.

    So to come back in summer has been great. I re-visited a lot of the places I visited in January so I could see the difference in nature, weather and people.

    This time I did the Budapest walking tour, I did the communist tour last time. We walked all through old town in Pest and then across the bridge into Buda to see the castle district and all its glory.

    Apparently Budapest has had some great inventors in its time. Inventions from the area include:
    Ballpoint pen
    Computer
    Rubix cube
    Safety matches
    Helicopter
    Phone exchange
    Prezi
    Beatle (car) design
    Vitamin c - noble prize

    We rubbed bellies of statues for good luck, observed the lions with missing tongues (or not, depending on where you stand), through the shopping areas, and lots more.

    Budapest was having a heatwave while I was there, with most days reaching 37 degrees consistently. One water company was doing a great promotion. They placed stands on a number of busy corners and handed out bags of water - it was very refreshing!

    One afternoon I visited the central market and toured around all the food stands. One butchers had all these tongues lined up for sale and another had rolls of fat. There were lots of stands selling paprika as well.

    Wednesday night saw me down at a jazz bar. It was free entry night and I sat up the bar in a small restaurant style setting, drinking a local red wine and enjoying the music.

    Lucky for me they sang mainly western songs, so I understood some of it, just not the banter in between. There was a singer, pianist and drummer. They were awesome!!

    On Thursday night, after bailing on the pub crawl, cause it was a ripoff, I went in search of the Jewish ruin bars myself. I found a really cool area with lots of bars and nightlife and had a gin.

    Friday evening I aimed to explore Margaret island. Unfortunately I left it a bit too late and it was getting quite dark to explore. So instead I watched the cool hourly water, music and light show that happened near the start of the island.

    At that was my time in Budapest. I ate, I drank, I attended sziget and loved the town all over again.

    Thanks Budapest, until till next time.

    Where I stayed
    Maverick Hostel - Ferenciek tere 2, Budapest, Hungary

    Fab place! It felt like we were staying in what used to be giant apartments. I was on the 2nd floor, we had a great kitchen, a few bathrooms, a living space, plus 4 rooms. My room was massive, for 10 ppl, it had an upstairs bit and our own bathroom. Free tea and coffee. Big kitchen downstairs to use and the location is awesome. No a/c though    Leggi altro

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  • Rachel Britton2015Viaggiatore

    Spain, I'm here!

    15 agosto 2015, Spagna ⋅ ⛅ 25 °C

    Next week I am taking the bus to Valencia to carry out a dream I've held for almost 10 years - to attend La Tomatina! But I begin my Spanish adventure in Madrid, the capital of this wonderful country.

    Arriving at 10am on Saturday morning I found my hostel and headed off to the San Miguel tapas market for lunch and then on to the walking tour first, followed by the pub-crawl at night. When in Spain!

    The walking tour was fab, it was with Sandman who seem to do a pretty good tour and in a number of different countries. On our tour today we covered, Plaza Major, the oldest restaurant in the world, Royal palace, Opera House, Spanish Inquisition, the origins of tapas, Spanish civil war, Spanish empire, Austrian empire, plaza de la villa, and plaza de puerta cerrada.

    We were also told about nun cookies! It's this incredible hunt you can do here. So a quick story the Cloistered nuns are Catholic nuns who live their whole lives living in a convent and see no one from the outside. In order to make money the nuns in Madrid make cookies.

    The whole process is really why you do it. So first up you have to find the door of the convent, then ring the bell and say that you're there for cookies. You go down a passageway to a window, where you put your money on the lazy Susan. You can't see the person on the other side and they can't see you. The lazy Susan spins around and there are your cookies, with change if need by.

    As per usual, the nuns were on holidays in August and I was unable to taste the cookies. But my Spanish housemate, who is from Madrid, sent me a very good guide for future reference: http://bit.ly/1UmjFDJ

    At the end of the walking tour I headed back to the hostel to check-in and have a nap. My hostel recommended a tapas for dinner in the opposite direction I was to meet the pub crawl, so I quickly scurried over there for tortilla and wine before meeting the gang. This pub crawl was not very good. But I met some lovely people. We visited 3 bars and a nightclub, it was mainly just us in bars and our free shots was basically fruit juice. There was no atmosphere and one pub crawler tried to lecturer me on not being a vegan - eh!

    But the couple from Holland and the girl from Norway were awesome and we had a great night anyway. I waved goodbye to the guys at the taco stand as they were headed for another nightclub and I was headed for bed.

    Welcome to Madrid!    Leggi altro

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  • Rachel Britton2015Viaggiatore

    Two days in Toledo

    21 agosto 2015, Spagna ⋅ 35 °C

    Tomorrow I go back to Madrid after spending two days in Toledo. A UNESCO listed city, the town was the centre point of Spain until the royal places moved to Madrid in 15xx.

    I arrived yesterday on the bus from Madrid. It takes 75mins and costs €5 one way. My hostel is located in the centre of the town, which is up a giant hill. It's a strenuous 20 minute walk. The whole time I was hoping my wheels wouldn't give way haha.

    After arriving I laid down for a nap. I had a headache and was tired. I woke late in the afternoon and went on a little walk around the town to find a grocery store.

    With supplies in tow I went back to the hostel. The kitchen and lounge room area is on the top of the hostel and opens out into a rooftop terrace. It has spectacular views over Toledo! And the sunset was beyond words.

    For a moment I couldn't quite believe where I was. Standing on top of this old city, watching the pinks and oranges of the sun set over the rooftops below. It was lovely. It was quiet and I could see the outskirts of town very easily.

    It apparently takes around 45 mins to walk across town. The little cobbled streets, ancient buildings and lack of tourists at night make it feel like your stepping back in time.

    This morning I was up early - for Spanish time, thanks to a truck snorer in my room. I sat upstairs and watched the sun rise over the sky whilst having breakfast and fixing my iPad.

    As I'd missed the free walking tour yesterday - they happen mon to thurs at 5pm, I went on my own tour of the town today. I walked to a main square to find a pastry shop which makes the local sweet of marzipan.

    Now I'm told this is a difference recipe to the famous one. This is made of typical almond sweets. And has a lovely filling. The little dumpling and fish I had were great. Not too sweet.

    I walked down along the river passing ... And up to the cathedral. I sat in the square here for a little while wishing for someone to talk to, then the heavens opened. So I stood up a roof whilst the tour groups scuttled for shelter.

    After the rain has stopped I went back to the hostel for lunch, before venturing off later in the afternoon to do some more walking around. A storm looked like it was approaching, so I stopped for a gin tonic, as they call them here.

    This evening I explored the Jewish district, a bridge with rope ride, some old cathedrals and in general the old medieval town without the tourists.

    You get to see the locals. Who remind me of Tully. I was even lucky enough to see a wedding party exit the church and pose for photos outside the church. There was confetti and rice everywhere.

    Tonight my hostel host has recommended a bar where his mate is playing a gig at. It looks fancy, up high over looking the city. So that's where I'm off to now. Enjoy!


    Toledo
    http://www.toledo-turismo.com/en    Leggi altro

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  • Rachel Britton2015Viaggiatore

    A week in Madrid

    23 agosto 2015, Spagna ⋅ ☀️ 23 °C

    It's been an awesome week in Madrid, including a two-day adventure to Toledo. I’ve visited museums, spent lunchtimes in parks, tried tapas, explored the gin section, took a night time stroll and watched the sun set and ventured into the markets. All in all a great time!

    Museums in Madrid

    While in Madrid I visited both the Museo del Prado and Reina Sofia Museum. On Sunday afternoons at the Sofia you can visit for free between 1:30pm and 7pm. During the week you can visit the Prado for free between 6pm – 8pm.

    So that’s exactly what I did, except because I showed up late to the Sofia and there was a massive queue to get into the Prada I had about 1.5 hours in each. It was an awesome way to see a museum! There wasn’t any time for lagging about. I was on a mission to see and read and learn about as much of the artwork and history inside as possible.

    I saw all the greats! Picasso, Dali (or as my hostel said Dar-LI! Haha), Goya, Bosch

    Gris, Rembrandt and Titian. And the end of the session everyone piled out of both museums and sat on the steps surrounding the place, thinking over all of the art they’ve just seen. Or rolling down the grassy hill for the kids. It was awesome!

    Train station in the tropics

    There is a tropical rainforest located in the middle of a major train station in Madrid. It houses everything you can think of and has little chairs all around it so you can sit and imagine for a moment that you’re in a tropical environment. It was a fun 5 minutes.

    Park time

    El Retiro Park is massive and beautiful! You can visit all types of gardens and designed areas in here and see all sorts of flowers and plants. I stumbled across this on Monday afternoon after visiting the Prado and came back for lunch on Tuesday. I walked around for a while before taking sometime on a park bench.

    There was an area were you could paddle in boats, forest areas, rose gardens, a Japanese garden, statues telling a story, and so on. Beautiful.

    El Rastro

    El Rastro is a famous flea market that takes place every Sunday. I missed it on my first Sunday here, but made it on the second. It seemed to stretch for ages! With all sorts of stalls selling all sorts of items. A good place to loose things I would suspect.

    A local delicacy

    After seeing the local items for sale at El Rastro I made my way to the little food outlets surrounding Plaza Major. My housemate, Miguel had recommended that I try a local delicacy called bocadillo de calamares, which is basically a baguette with fried calamri on the inside. This is quite odd given that Madrid is land locked and not really thought of for seafood.

    Well I must say, with a beer in hand this thing goes down a treat! Yummy! And as they do in Spain I stood at the counter – ensuring no one else could get through to order, and enjoyed my sandwich and beer, whilst observing the room.

    Another great spot for tapas is the Museo del Jamon. These are everywhere, so I suspect a chain and usually have people spilling out of them. Their big draw card is that can you usually order a beer and get a small place of salami or Jamon on the side. Beers are €1 and you can get a decent baguette with jamon for €1 as well!

    Gin and cake

    On a website called spotted by locals – this is a great site for finding cool cafes, bars, things to do etc with a local touch, I came across a restaurant / bar that apparently did gin and cake deals on a Sunday afternoon.

    They didn’t seem to have any deals, which was disappointing. But by this point I was now sold on the gin and cake combo, so I ordered a deconstructed oreo cake and a gin and tonic made with a Swedish gin. It was a great way to spend a Sunday arvo.

    Real Madrid

    Also on Sunday was the start of the football season here and Real Madrid were playing Sunday night away. I think great! What an experience this will be, I’ll find a pub with the match and join in with the locals. When the guy on reception at the hostel told me he wasn’t really into football and didn’t know where to go, that should’ve been my first warning.

    The only places where there were a number of people, max 10 I reckon, watching the match was in the betting shops. Most places I could find didn’t have the match playing, nor many people watching.

    Eventually I found myself in a small tapas place and I got to sit right under the TV. I had tapas, a couple of beers and watched on with the owner who didn’t speak any English. After 90 mins the full time buzzer went and no one had scored. I really don’t see the point in this game haha. Oh well.

    Spotted by locals
    www.spottedbylocals.com/madrid/    Leggi altro

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  • Rachel Britton2015Viaggiatore

    Walking Tour Valencia

    25 agosto 2015, Spagna ⋅ ☀️ 28 °C

    Lucky for me a company called Tour Me Out, had a good think about their target market and host a walking tour at 12pm each day. Aiming for, I think, everyone who doesn't get out of bed early enough for the 10:30am tour. Which was good because there was loads of tours at 10:30am and they sort of took away from the town.

    So I had breakfast / lunch in the Old Town before meeting the group for the walking tour. It was great! I learnt a lot about Valencia and the Spanish history.

    Things we covered and learnt in the walking tour:

    - The catholic cathedral in the square has a giant star of David on the front of it. Apparently this is because the Catholics ran out of money when building their Cathedral and asked the Jews for help. The Jews said no probs, but could you put the Star of David on it so that for years to come everyone will remember this partnership. It looks really cool too.

    - There are two tall towers in the centre of town that are near each other. The story goes that way back in the day there was a priest and a nun who fell in love, but both were devoted to God, so decided to not pursue their love in faith that they would be together for eternity in the after life. But other priests found out about it and decided to kill her, they couldn’t have them both alive. But the guy said no, he didn’t want to live in a world where he lady love wasn’t there, so to kill him instead. The others said fine and did. Afterwards, apparently they realised how wrong it was what they did, so they built a tower in his honour. But the guy’s worst fear was realise, he was standing alone in the town without his ladylove. So when she did they built a tower for her, so now they both stand tall together, forever.

    - We tried a milky drink that is made out of tiger beans. Apparently it’s had for breakfast with doughnuts and was a really big thing back in the day. It was considered for luxury. I tried it and threw it out I didn’t think it was that nice.

    - The river in in Valencia doesn’t really exist. It used to be full and would overflow when it rained too much, flooding the town. When old mate dictator was alive he wanted to turn the river into a highway, but the people of Valencia fought back and after he died, the decision to turn the 11kms into a dry creek and parks, soccer fields, playgrounds etc. It’s really beautiful.

    - The biggest thing I learnt was that Spain will still in a dictatorship up until 1975. And the only reason they are not in one is because the guy died and the person he left in charge, the King of Spain, just pretended to go along with him when the dictator was teaching him the ways of fascism. When the guy died the King declared that Spain would be a democratic country and is has been the same ever since.

    It always blows my mind to see the Europe has really only kicked started into this great global community in the last 20 – 30 years. From the Berlin Wall, through to the Spanish dictator and rebuilding for WWII. It feels like it’s been like this for a long time. I suppose that’s why they deserved to win the Nobel Peace Prize several years ago. All of these people, culture and races living so closely and peacefully. It’s a beautiful thing.

    - There is a fountain in Plaza de Vergin. It has a giant sea king in the middle and 8 water maidens pouring water out of jugs. Each maiden represents one of the 8 irrigation lines in Valencia and one person is responsible for each one. Every Thursday at 12pm all of the persons responsible would be at their maiden and people who use their lines could come with their problems at receive a solution. Now days, with modern technology, it’s mainly for show then anything else, but it’s still something to see.

    - The castle…

    - We visited the Central market, which is a giant green market. Unlike in some other markets I’ve been to the food looked really good. Everything from fruit, vegetables, fresh seafood (some of it was still alive), and all of the cured meats you could think of. We got to sample some thanks to a partnership our guide has with one of the market stalls.    Leggi altro

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  • Rachel Britton2015Viaggiatore

    La Tomatina

    26 agosto 2015, Spagna ⋅ ☀️ 27 °C

    So the day finally arrived. After many, many years of waiting and wanting to go to La Tomatina, after narrowly missing out on attending last year I am finally here!!

    I've chosen to attend La Tomatina with the Fanatics crew. There are 20,000 people descended upon the small streets on Bunol today and it was awesome.

    We’re up early, which did not bode well for those who drank too much at the pre-festival party last night. The buses leave for Bunol at 6:30am. It’s about a 1 hour drive there, so we sleep for the first half and then receive maps, wristbands and information about the day.

    It’s a short pilgrimage through the town to reach the start of the fight. We pass buy many locals trying to sell us waterproof cameras, goggles, money belts etc, plus stalls selling sangria and sandwiches.

    We go through two gates, but security isn’t that tight, also we’re carrying next to nothing but a camera or two. Being 3 hours early means that we had the opportunity to roam around the street of the fight. It is much longer then I anticipated and winds up a hill. There is a small square at the top, which is the biggest area.

    Tarps line the storefronts of the street and locals lean over their balconies throwing water over the revellers below. As 9am approaches there are enough people in the street that the enthusiastic and brave ones decided to try to climb the greasy pole for the legendary ham. The pole is probably like 3 inches thick with lard, and it gets flung out across the crowds. You have to duck every time you see a piece coming.

    And I mean brave, because this bit is brutal. Those climbing up the pole stand on anything below including, heads, shoulders, and backs. A human ladder / pile begins to grow until gravity takes over and they all slide down the greasy pole in this mass. It’s so funny!

    The cheers get louder as someone gets closer to the top. Guys and girls were going at it trying to reach the top, sometimes as a team, other times it was all for one. The funniest would’ve been a man who showed up naked with only a bum bag on. He first up gave us a willy dance before trying to climb the pole hahaha. He appeared more the once.

    As it reached 11am the crowds grew really thick and it was very compact. As the trucks, carrying the tomatoes and lucky people throwing tomatoes into the crowd, began their procession we were all pushed the sides to let them through. At one stage I was so packed in that I could left my legs off the ground and not move at all! All I could think of was how many people were involuntarily peeing right now haha.

    There were 7 trucks in total that took to the streets and about 150 tones of tomatoes. This all took place in the first half hour, the second half hour was 30 mins of tomoato soup being thrown everywhere. People swimming up stream on tomatoes, targeting people with the sloppy mess the tomatoes had become. And of course taking as many photos as possible.

    It was just brilliant! My goggles did not last very long. They got foggy first and then just smashed off as the tomatoes where thrown from the trucks. But that didn’t matter too much. I did cope one or two unsquished tomatoes to the head, but no permanent damage – phew!

    As the second canon fired, the first to announce the start of the fight, the second to announce the end, we slowly made our way through the slop to find some water and our meeting spot. I couldn’t see my feet once I stood in the street because the tomato juices were so high!

    Locals are out in the street trying to make a few euros by charging people to use their hose to wash off with. However, the ever frugal backpacker was not in for this, and a number of the crowd, including myself, found ourselves a local stream and washed off in there. To say I came out clean would be a massive understatement. It was one giant dirty bath with 50 people all washing their tomato juices off!

    Once sort of clean we walked up to the meeting point for half an hour. There were beers, sausages and pizzas for sale as we sat in the sun reliving what we’d just done. We made our way back through the streets and neighbours now selling BBQed meats to the buses, where we changed before climbing aboard for our journey home.

    Often I’ve had times on this trip when I’ve been looking forward to something for a long time and it’s been an underwhelming experience. Not this time though! Possibly because someone scared me about having my clothes torn off and it being a bit aggressive. It’s safe to say that I was in the busiest section, near the pole and it was fine. Only people I saw with no clothes had done that themselves.

    Overall, it was just awesome! Mainly its just tourists, so I can’t really say it was a legitimate Spanish festival, but it was fab. I highly recommend it, if you’re thinking about going.

    Thanks La Tomatina!

    P.S - It's Dan's birthday today, Happy Birthday bro!    Leggi altro

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  • Rachel Britton2015Viaggiatore

    Valencia, La Tomatina, Fanatics

    27 agosto 2015, Spagna ⋅ ☀️ 29 °C

    I'm currently sitting on a train to Barcelona after having quite possibly the greatest 3 days on my trip so far! I have had just a fantastic time and am so glad to have been able to a part of it. So, I’ll take us back to the start.

    I arrived in Valencia via bus from Madrid on Monday afternoon and headed out to my campsite by the sea. I’m going to the festival with an Australian Tour company, The Fanatics. It’s run by Aussies who are working in London and work for Fanatics over the summer aka don’t get paid but get all transfers, travel, accommodation, food, and entry covered.

    I’ve chosen the campsite and to stay in a tent. I have no sleeping bag, no mat, no anything really haha. But it was just awesome. I had a tent to myself. I was up the back away from most people, just in a corner with some people who became good friends. I had a tent to myself, hired a matt, used my picnic blanket as a blanket and piled up some clothes as a pillow. My never before used headlamp became a light at night.

    New Friends:

    Rose – NZ, lives in London
    Konrad – Aussie, lives in London
    Woody – Aussie, lives in London
    Scott – Aussie, travelling around
    Adam – Aussie, travelling around
    Blanka – Hungarian, travelling around

    Our campsite is a 20 min bus ride from the city of Valencia and a 5 min walk to the beach. We have a pool, a shop and bar that provides food on site. And we must be on a cycle route, because as we wait for the erratically serviced bus everyday, we watched as cyclist after cyclist peddled past us.

    Monday
    Once I finally settled down. I had some food and took a walk along the beach. The sun doesn’t set till about 9:30pm so at 7pm its still very light. Well wasn’t a greeted with an array of naked men everywhere. I don’t think I was on the nudist section cause there was loads of kids and women, who weren’t wearing tops, lying around too.

    The blokes were just chilling around in groups, smoking, having a laugh, all starkers hahaha. So funny. And nearly every person on site mentioned this when the returned for the beach. On Monday the sea was flat as could be and just beautiful.

    Tonight, Fanatics hosted a welcome party, there were deals on drinks and a small DJ set up. Lots of Australian music was played. It was great fun. Except for when one girl stole my G&T, I gave her the biggest stink eye every time I saw her afterwards. Bastard! How unaustralian!!

    Tuesday
    So that was Monday. I had all good intensions to get up earlish on Tuesday. Maybe go for a run, or a swim in the ocean before heading to town for breakfast and a 10:30am walking tour. After crawling out of bed a 9am and standing at the bus station at 10:10am I figured this plan hadn’t worked haha.

    But, a company called Tour Me Out, clearly thought this would happen enough to schedule a 12pm walking tour – woohoo! So I had breakfast / lunch in the Old Town before meeting the group for the walking tour. It was great! I learnt a lot about Valencia and the Spanish history.

    After the tour was over, I walked around for a bit, before heading back to the campsite for a swim in the ocean. It was really choppy today so there were lots of waves, which reminded me of home.

    Tonight all the Fanatics, the ones at the campsite and staying in the hostel in the city, were joining together at a bar in Valencia, so around 400 Australians were descending on Old Town.

    It was great fun! We all had to wear our Fanatic shirts, which were bright yellow. I went in with my tent neighbours and their friends who were staying in the dorms. What a great find! I spent the rest of my time hanging out with this group.

    I decided to go and find some dinner and wasn’t that mission. After getting lost for an hour and finally finding my way back to the group. I ran into some Fanatics who were about to sit down to some food. I asked if I could join them.

    So we sat there and decided on the daily menu, 1 entrée, 1 main and a drink each for E13. We were all keen on the paella given that apparently Valencia is the birth place of the dish. But we were messed around with. After ordering they took about 20 mins to come and say that they only had 3 chicken paellas and 4 seafood paellas left, one of us would need a different dish. One guy volunteered to take one for the team and opted for a new dish. All good. Then about another 20 mins later 2 of the 8 entrees appeared. 30 mins later the waitress returned saying that there was a mix up in the kitchen they thought that all had been served and now they had no croquettes left – all the remain entrees were croquettes. We decided on new entrees and waited again. They gave us free sangria at this point. After a while later 3 of the of 6 remaining entrees came out, more waiting 2 of the remaining 3 – even though they were the same dish appeared. Two and half hours later, after we watched all the people around us sit down, order, eat, pay and leave, we cancelled the mains, and made our way to the golden arches. After sitting down at 9:30pm we missed the first bus back to the campsite and still hadn’t eaten. It was rather funny, maybe that was all the sangria though haha. So back to the campsite, having missed out on most of the partying at the club waiting for food, and into bed to get ready for La Tomatina!!!

    Wednesday
    After returning from the festival and removing the gunk from my eyes, they did not appreciate all the tomato juices, I went to my oven tent, pulled out my picnic blanket and found a spot under a shady tree for some nap time.

    For dinner last night I went into town with Rose, Konrad and Woody, also known as Simon. We walked around for a while trying to find somewhere with paella. We selected what we thought was a good place, but had very bad paella. It was over cooked and not very tasty. Oh well, we had it. Then it was time for ice-cream before returning to the campsite for one last night.

    Thursday
    This morning we had to leave the camp at 10am. Rose, Konrad, Woodsy, Scott and I were joined by Gulia and Gabby and headed into town for some breakfast and wifi. We found, what we thought was going to be a dodgy joint, particularly when they told us that they didn’t have a menu what did we want haha. But it turned out to be fab! For E6 we each got this large baguette with Spanish tortilla (omelette) on the inside, a couple of teas / coffees and a slice of chocolate and pumpkin cake that tasted like lamington to share. It was awesome!

    All of us, except for Scott are headed to Barcelona today and tomorrow. Scott told us about a cooking class he did were you first visit a food market to buy the ingredients and then go to the kitchen to make paella and sangria. So I think Wood, Gulia, Gabby and I are going to do that on Saturday night. I’m looking forward to it!

    Fanatics are a great company to go with. They are a little too laid back, but they run a really good show and are pretty much always first to any festival I’ve seen them at, which means always a great spot!

    I have had a great time here. For once, something I have thought for a very long time has lived up to its hype 100%.

    Until next time …

    Where I stayed
    Camping Coll Vert - Playa de Pinedo, Valencian Country, Spain

    Great spot, really close to the beach. Bathrooms were very clean. Bar and well equipped shop on site.    Leggi altro

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  • Rachel Britton2015Viaggiatore

    A weekend in Barca with Alex

    31 agosto 2015, Spagna ⋅ ☀️ 28 °C

    I've had a wonderful weekend in Barcelona with Alex! I've rested, explored, eaten, drank, and soaked up the last of the heat I’ll experience before I go home.

    Originally I intended on only being here till Sunday, but it was Al’s birthday on Monday and she asked me to stay and celebrate, so I did. It was a great decision. Al lives near Casa Batllo and we can see a castle up on the hill from the balcony of her apartment. She lives with 4 others, although they are all on holidays and travellers are renting their spaces at present.

    Her apartment is cool. Is exactly what I think you see in the movies. It has this balcony that has wire metal designs on it, a small little trolley to put drinks on and you can smell weed everywhere. We look down onto a very busy street and it’s just awesome.

    It’s a bit like when you’re in Italy and up in an apartment block looking down into the street – so mediterian and all. Her apartment is also really old and weirdly feels heavy. But it’s nice and homely and made me realise how much space you actually get in a hostel.

    I arrived on Thursday evening, delayed, and at the wrong station, but I made it, and we enjoyed love Spanish tapas at her apartment, meeting her new holiday roommates.

    On Friday, while Al was at work I chilled on the couch at home. I made an attempt to find the local grocery store, got lost, so returned to the spar across the road haha. After camping for 4 days it was nice break. In the evening, I joined Alex in attending a leaving du for one of her old work colleagues.

    We started on the rooftop somewhere and finished in a divvy joint off the main shopping strip haha. In true Spanish style we didn't head about till around 11pm and didn’t leave until 4am. The Spanish life is not for me.

    On Saturday Alex went on some water sports adventure that she had already booked before I arrived. And having already visited Barcelona with Contiki and had done the major tourist things I was felt free to do explore at my own pace.

    In the evening I was joining some of the friends I had made at La Tomatina for a Paella and Sangria cooking class, so I decided to join the Sandeman’s Walking tour in the afternoon. It was really interesting as Catalonia behaviours as if they are their own independent country, with their own cultures, flag, language, anthem and football team! And they seem to be forever trying to regain their freedom. Their history makes for a very interesting tour.

    Things we see: Barcelona Cathedral, The Gothic Quarter, King Martin’s Watch tower, The Generalitat, The Council of One Hundred, El Born District, Sanat Maria del mar, Roman Necropolis, Catalan national identity, the Olympic Legacy, Port Vell Historic harbour, Santa Maria del Pi, Fssar de les Moreres, Catalan Legends & Heroes, Picasso in Barcelona, Spanish Civil War, Roman Ruins, La Llotja and Plaça Nova.

    Although I’ve done mostly Sandeman tours its still nice to see that each of the guides in Spain are giving the same history and it reaffirms that they are telling you the truth haha. I’ve also found learning about Spain’s involvement in the world wars very interesting and how it all interconnected.

    But moving on, Once the tour was over, I wandered around for a bit ducking down little side alleyways and peering into bars, before heading to the meeting spot of the cooking class tonight. That’s my favourite part of travelling, is just exploring the side streets that tourists don’t walk in, stopping into the little independent shops to see what their selling or how they present their work. I walked past one bar that has this lady singing the most amazing opera type songs - it was great!

    Tonight’s cooking class was a last minute decision on Thursday as we were all departing from breakfast. Scotty was telling us about it and highly recommended it, so the five of us who were heading to Barcelona this weekend decided to join up and do it.

    The premise was that we’d start at the La Boqueria food market to gather our fresh ingredients and learn a bit about it all, then head back to the kitchen we were would be broken into groups of 3 – one for prep, one for the paella cooking and one for making the sangria. I thought it was going to be a bit more about each of us cooking, but it was more about us getting drunk and pretending to cook while a head chef did most of it haha. And that was fine too.

    The market was super busy and it was quite difficult to hear what was going on, but I chilled with Rose at the back and we looked at all the amazing food on offer. We also bought a lovely tasting juice, I think it reminded me of mango wesiz bars at home.

    Back at the kitchen we sat down to learn how to make Catalan tapas. There’s a special process. We had a section of meats, cheese, oils and breads on our table. The chef showed us how to layer it all correctly ...... And then we got to dig in, while the first group went into kitchen to start preparing the ingredients for paella - read cut up vegetables.

    When it was time to make the paella all of the groups came into the kitchen and my group got to put things in the pot and stir haha. But we had our chefs hats on and looked like pros. While we waited for our paella to simmer / brew / cook, we went to the bar to learn how to make sangria. Which is ironic given that all the tour guides tell you that only tourists drink it.

    Once our paella was ready to go we sat down to enjoy our cooking efforts and homemade sangria, which came with more then the recommended dosage of alcohol. It was really yummy and I had seconds, however I thought paellas took all day to cook, so I was slightly suspicious as to why our was 1 hour. But when in Rome!

    Afterwards the guys went out drinking at a hostel and I headed back to Alex's as late night drinking isn't really my thing.

    On Sunday Al and I chilled at her house as she wasn't feeling too well and in the evening we went to the magic fountain of Montjuïc's to watch a light show. It’s at the base of this castle looking thing and runs a light show in tune with famous music. It’s awesome! I actually think we saw this when I was here with Contiki, except we also stumbled across a major parade that had shut down the street, it was just a cool then.

    Monday was Al’s birthday, but she was still sick and home from work and insistent that I saw the beach before I left. So off I went on my own little adventure, winding my way through the small and major streets of Barca making my way to the beach.

    I stopped back in at La Boqueria to pick up some cheese and meats for lunch, I then sat along the coast eating that and enjoying the heat. I took a wander down the beach and then back up some side streets seeing different things on my return.

    Al told me about this bakery does that croughnuts (croissant and doughnut cross, it’s weird) so I stopped by to pick up some for her birthday cake. They were pretty good and really fancily decorated!

    In the evening the housemates and Al and I went out to her favourite Mexican for dinner and lovely way to spend my final evening. Happy Birthday Al!

    Cooking class
    http://www.travelbar.com/uk/activities-in-barce…

    Walking Tour
    http://www.newbarcelona-tours.com/daily-tours/f…

    Croughnuts
    http://chokbarcelona.com/    Leggi altro

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  • Rachel Britton2015Viaggiatore

    On my way to Brusselss

    1 settembre 2015, Belgio ⋅ ⛅ 17 °C

    Way back in June when I was visiting Louise at her workplace to get my remaining luggage we were having a chat about all the places I would be visiting on part 2 of my journey. She suggested that I visit her while she was back in Belgium for the summer holidays. I was a bit lost for plans after La Tomatina and decided that this would be a great idea!

    Fast-forward 2.5 months and here I am in Brussels, day 1 of my adventure in Belgium. Now Louise is currently in Italy till Sunday, so I am exploring the north part of Belgium and will visit the south next week with her.

    My itinerary this week goes as follows:

    Tuesday – Arrive in Brussels, stay in Brussels

    Wednesday – Overnight trip to Bruges

    Thursday – arrive back in Brussels in late arvo, stay with Louise's friend

    Friday – Brussels

    Saturday – Brussels

    Sunday – travel to Liege to meet Louise and her sister at 6pm

    I had intended on visiting Ghent on Saturday, but decided that it wasn’t worth the transport and that I would visit it next week.

    But I almost didn’t make it here! My journey to Belgium has not been smooth. I was taking the 6:15am RyanAir flight from Barcelona to Brussels. I had worked out the bus to catch with Alex and off I trod at 3am down to the bus stop. One good thing about the Spanish lifestyle is that there are always friendly people around in the wee hours of the morning.

    Barcelona airport is massive and to reach Terminal 2, I had to get dropped off a some weird location and then catch a shuttle bus for 10 mins. When I finally go inside I managed to once again pick the line that didn’t move. I umed and ahed about changing, but feared that once I made the move my line would process faster.

    Almost an hour I stood in that bloody queue to reach the front desk with 20 mins to spare before check-in closed to be told that I needed a Passport check – What!! There are no signs anywhere about this. So I quickly ran with all my luggage over to some random desk and waited a further 20 mins to have my passport checked.

    I went back to the lady only to be told that check-in had now closed and I had to run upstairs to the gate and hope that they would let me luggage on. WTF!! Ryanair, how was this now my problem!

    After leaving my ticket behind and having to run back, I ran up the stairs, pushed through security, loaded by 18kg checked baggage through the little vaerbelt, ran to what I thought was my gate, only to be told it was the next one along. I was one of the last people to get in the queue, the whole plane had practically boarded and I pleaded with the lady to let my bag go on.

    She was a bit bemused, wanting to know if I’d slept in and arrived late. I protested that my line had not moved and I’d been here for an hour and a half. Then I thought better of it and decided not to argue with the lady who might not let my bag on. But as per usual there were loads of people who had to put their carryon luggage down below. So the guys just picked mine up with theirs and off it went.

    Finally I was on and I got to see a beautiful sunrise over Barcelona as we took off. At least that is a great advantage to the early morning flight.

    The flight landed and I bought what I thought was a train ticket to the centre; it was in fact a bus ticket instead. The lady at the counter told me how to get on the bus and off I went. Except when I got on the bus the driver told me they were heading to Luxemburg…. What?

    She’d already stamped my ticket, so I sat down, thinking oh well if it only costs E4.50 to go to another country, I suppose that is fine. It’ll be an interesting day trip haha

    As it turns out, there is an area in Brussels called Brussels-Luxemburg. It’s at the centre of the EU Parliament. The bus literally ended its journey here, so I got off and stepped into the first café I found to have a bagel, some tea and some wifi.

    It was only 10am and already I’d been on some pretty epic adventures. My wifi said it was a 40 min walk to my hostel. I grabbed my bags and off I headed, walking the streets of Belgium, taking in the sights, and officially waving goodbye to winter. It was overcast, predicted to rain and 13 degrees. Hello Autumn.    Leggi altro

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  • Rachel Britton2015Viaggiatore

    Day 1 in Brussels

    1 settembre 2015, Belgio ⋅ ⛅ 17 °C

    After successfully arriving at my hostel and unable to check-in yet, I had a lay down on the couch killing time until the 2pm walking tour. Bored and looking a bit shabby sleeping in the hostel lounge, I took a walk about the Old Town, exploring the little streets and shops.

    There is a big area that is currently shut off to traffic, making a giant pedestrian zone in the centre of town. It's awesome! People rule the roads here, there are bands playing in the street and picnic tables set up for the public.

    My biggest gripe about London is that if feels like it’s very commercialised / chainy. You can’t walk down a street or pass a corner without finding a Boots, Pret, Eat, Starbucks, McDonalds, H&M or Primark. The small independent businesses and ideas seem to be very well hidden, if they exist at all.

    In Brussels, at least in the areas I saw, small independent businesses ruled. There was everything from record stores, assorted bookstores, galleries, a variety of cafes and eateries, waffle shops galore! Everywhere you turned there was something different to see. Maybe it was old, maybe it was new, but it was great.

    At 2pm I headed to the Grand Palace to meet for the Sandman walking tour. Sandman tours are usually pretty good, but today’s wasn’t the best, but it was a tough crowd and it rained most of the time. Anyway off we went, exploring and learning all about Brussels!

    According to the website we saw :- Grand Place, Town Hall, Masion du Roi, Comic Art Scene, The Stock Exchange, Manneken Pis, The Monnaie Opera, St Nicolas’ Church, River Senne, The Royal Square and Montn des Arts. We also saw the rene magritte museum, the museum of musical instruments and this giant garden looking down onto the city.

    Cool facts I learnt:
    Belgium holds the record for the longest period a country has gone without a government in power haha : 589 days! After a while the people had enough, so they took to the streets naked, just going about their daily business in order to force the parties to work together again

    The cathedral is not straight as so many people were working on different parts

    At the back of the Notre Dame you can see several different styles of architecture, that is because it was build over several centuries, due to no money

    In the market we saw Karl Marx's house, the Beer Union house, the museum were the Nazi's once lived. We learnt about a statue that the French soldiers knighted when they were in town back in the day. Now every time a French solider walks past they must sault it haha.

    I’m sure there were others, but I’ve forgotten

     At the end of the walking tour the sun finally showed it’s face, so I had a walk about town, making my way back to my hostel to check-in and secure a bed. On the way I stopped off for a waffle and French fries (they actually say that every time). After a short nap I headed out to find a restaurant called :

    Tonight I would be eating Belgium stew, which is like beef bourbinga, except made with beer instead of wine. And drinking the accompanying beer. It was a place recommended by the tour guide. It was delicious. Brussels, you go alright.    Leggi altro

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  • Rachel Britton2015Viaggiatore

    Brugge, West Flanders, Belgium

    3 settembre 2015, Belgio ⋅ ⛅ 16 °C

    Ever since I saw the movie In Bruges – awesome by the way, watch if you haven't seen it, I have wanted to visit Bruges And the more times I looked into it, the more awesome it looked.

    Cute little medieval town, canals galore, bikes ruling the paths, beer, chocolate, and a step back in time. And it housed one of the most sort after pieces from the Monuments Men book, I couldn’t wait.

    I took the early morning train to Bruges on Wednesday, its 1 hour from Brussels and then walked the 30 mins to my hostel. It was a beautiful walk past the canals and all the bikes, but I did put my bag on the line here as it was all cobblestones, but it survived! Just haha.

    My hostel is quite central and as a cool bar downstairs. The highlight was finding a set of maps I’ve only seen in a handful of towns. They are maps of the town, purposely designed for young travellers, by young towns people. The artistic design, language and images are so cool! I’ve been collecting them as I go. So I picked up one for every destination I intended on visiting in Belgium.

    Unfortunately I’m only here for about 24 hours, so I tried to fit in as much as possible. First up was the local walking tour.

    Things we saw or did – Markt, Belfot and Hallen, the Bsailica of the Holy Blood – it holds a phial of the blood of Christ, Gothic Hall, Onze Lieve Vrouwekerk – houses the marble statue of Madonna and Child by Michelangelo, St Jans Hopsital, Minne water – also known as the Lake of Love, it has all of the swans.

    Other things included the oldest brewery, where the lines runs under ground straight to the pub next door, fish market, scenes they filmed for In Bruges, the old red like district. We also walked through the Beguinage. It’s been a place for women since the middle ages, I think men could actually get arrested for trying to enter. It’s a beautiful area and was a safe haven for women I think. The nuns live there today. You can walk through it and in the middle is this beautiful garden with huge tall trees! I recommend it.

    When the tour had ended I went and got my discounted waffle – which was great and different to the waffles in Brussels. I then took a walk about the town stopping in at one of the halls for a free concert of a guy playing a harp and other string instruments.

    From here I walked the edge of the city centre, going out to see the windmills, a famous old boat, up past some cool pubs and back around to my hostel, following the canal all the way there. The afternoon cleared up into a beautiful sunny day, it was lovely.

    In the evening, I had dinner at the hostel and then took a walk around the town at night. It was quite and cold and a little christmasy. There were these beautiful cute shops spread everywhere in the old buildings, and a thriving night scene I would suspect on the weekends. The old tower clock struck on the dot and played a little song each time.

    There was also a cool art piece in the centre, where you could go instead and see out, that’s a poor description haha, see the pictures!

    Bruges has a reputation for being one of the most perfectly preserved medieval cities in Europe and unfortunately it brings the tourist buses in droves. In the day it’s just too much, you can’t walk anywhere, you bump into every tour group going left, right and centre. It’s annoying. The town is too small for it.

    So for this reason I got up early on Thursday morning to see the town and take photos of the icons without 100 heads in the way. And I was rewarded for the sun was out and it was a glorious hour, but it shortly disappeared around 8am.

    After checking out of my hostel I headed to the church with the Madonna and Child. I had read all about its theft and rescue mission in the Monuments Men book and was keen to see it. It was much smaller then I anticipated, but still cool.

    I also spent the morning visiting another church, which housed the viral of Christ’s blood, which was brought back from Jerusalem a long time ago. Apparently it freezes and unfreezes on the same date every year.

    It was then time for lunch, one last walk past the many and varied chocolate shops before heading back to Brussels. I had arranged to meet Catherine at 5pm, she’s a friend of Louise’s and I’m staying at her house this weekend.

    Writing this I think of all the cool shops, pubs, restaurants, and a movie theatre that I walked past tonight. It was just a beautiful evening. I followed my new map all around and see some wonderful sites. I would’ve loved to have stayed longer, but you can’t do it all I suppose. There is a great bike ride you can do from Brugges down the canals, it goes out into the countryside, next time.

    Thanks Bruges! You were fab, except for your tourists, although mum liks to remind me that’s exactly what I am haha. Nah mum I’m a traveller, totally different breed lol.

    ps. the spelling of Bruges varies, a lot

    Movie - In Bruges
    http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0780536/?ref_=nv_sr_1

    Walking Tour
    http://www.legendsofbruges.com/

    Madonna and Child
    http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/true-stor…    Leggi altro

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  • Rachel Britton2015Viaggiatore

    Brussels for the weekend

    6 settembre 2015, Belgio ⋅ ☀️ 15 °C

    Well after a quick trip to Bruges I am back in Brussels for the weekend and will be staying with Louise's friend, Catherine. Louise stayed here when she was studying at university. Catherine was such a wonderful host and had a beautiful house! It was luxury after staying in hostels for the last 3.5 months.

    I arrived on Thursday evening and she invited me to have dinner with herself, her friend and her sister. They were dining at home and watching the football. It was a wonderful feeling, to feel at home once more. We had chicken and vegetables and bread, all French style.

    After dinner I headed up to my room and received some exciting news! TMP offered me a 1-month contract with the possibility of an extension beginning the 14th of September. I then emailed Chloe to see if her room was still available and as luck would have it her friend had just pulled out of moving in, which means when I go back to London in a week I’ll have my own double bed and bathroom and a job to return to! Yeah!

    So with that great news I can relax a little bit more and enjoy the weekend.

    On Friday I took a walk from the house to the city. It was about a 40 minute walk and took me through Parc du Cinquantenaire-jubelpark – big park, past a comic strip festival, through the local streets and into the city centre. It was a beautiful walk, passing lots of patisseries and independent fashion shops.

    This morning I wanted to visit the visitor centre for the European Union parliament. As Brussels is recognised as the capital of Europe the EU parliament sits here, but also in Strasbourg, France. The secretarial offices are based in Luxembourg and Brussels.

    I was hoping to see an actual sitting, but unfortunately Parliament was meeting elsewhere Strasbourg in September so I settled for a tour of the visitor centre, and it was fabulous! I spent around 4 hours walking through the site, reading about Europe’s history and how the EU came together, the struggles and triumphs it has faced in reaching today’s group.

    It’s incredibly interactive and one of my highlights was the room set up to look like parliament. There was a huge circular table with chairs and at each one was an interactive board where you could see a previous agenda, run through who was who and initiatives that the EU was investigating. There was also a 306 degree projection going on the circular walls around us explain how parliament works and pretending you were sitting in a current session.

    I love the idea that all of these countries come together to build a powerful cohort. The visitor centre is a brilliant introduction and I highly recommend it.

    Afterwards I took a walk into the city and stumbled across the international beer festival that happened to be taking place in the market place this weekend! There were two tents set up, the major one in Grand Place and the other around the corner new the old stock exchange building. There were lots of beer stalls set up and people drinking and dancing, there was a dj radio playing music and lots of onlookers like me standing by watching.

    From here I made my way across the city towards the river looking for some shops and bars I had read about in my map. I found some and not others, but got to explore the wonderful city of Brussels. In the end I made my way back to Catherine’s house, she was away for the night. I stopped off at a local shop to pick up some cheese, bread, meat and wine and settled in for an enjoyable evening.

    Whilst I was on my walking tour last week we passed a museum that was dedicated to Rene Magritte, he was a Belgium Surrealist artist. I first became aware of Magritte through the movie the Thomas Crown Affair; he’s bowler hat guy was used repeatedly throughout the movie and was a big point in the ending scene, (PS watch the final scene where they return the painting its so good!)

    So on Saturday that is where I headed. Unfortunately, I didn’t realise until I got inside that the bowler hat painting, known as The Son of Man, is held in a private collection in America and is almost never seen by the public. But they did have a small collection of other paintings of his in the same style, which sufficed.

    The museum was just awesome. Magritte was such an interesting guy, not only was he an artist, at one point he started his own advertising firm and created lots of ads in order to have an income. He didn’t really follow the cultural norms of what his fellow artists were doing and he often got told off for it. For example, he chose to leave Paris and move to the countryside to be with his wife, it was not the lifestyle most others lead.

    I also realised that I had actually seen his work while I was at university, and got to see the real pieces of art that we had studied, which was cool. He was considered an artist of surrealism as his worked varied across multiple mediums, many of which were on display. I also really liked the video that had playing on the final floor. It went for about an hour and was an interesting look into the life of Rene Magritte. He seemed like this happy character that was also searching, always looking. But maybe that was just my take.

    I quickly looked into the other museums that my ticket allowed, E4 for 3 museums! And then headed down to the centre. I came across the _____ gardens which were just beautiful and looked down over the town of Brussels. I went and had some dinner and decided I’d go and try out the Beer Festival, however ticket sales had shut for the day. So instead I grab a beer from the local shop and stood in the street listening to the DJs and watching the other revellers. I had beer festival on a budget! It was awesome!

    Today is Sunday and my final day in Brussels, this evening I am heading to Liege to meet Louise and her sister. But first up I wished to visit the Sunday markets, which takes place at the Gare du Midi. These markets were massive, spread all around the train station and surrounding streets. The food area was my favourite and the fruit and vegetables looked so fresh and sweet!

    I wandered here for a while before heading back to the town. Brussels on a Sunday is quiet and I was lovely. I came across the midday beer festival parade through town by accident and it was pretty fun. I waved goodbye to the city before heading to Catherine’s to collect my things and take the train to see Louise!

    Places to visit
    Comic Strip Festival
    http://visitbrussels.be/bitc/BE_en/comics-festi…

    European Union
    http://www.europarl.europa.eu/visiting/en/index…

    Rene Magritte – Son of Man
    http://totallyhistory.com/the-son-of-man/

    Thomas Crown Affair – Returning the Painting
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V_mtGD0zJ54

    Rene Magritte Museum
    http://www.magrittemuseum.be/

    Belgium Beer Festival
    http://www.belgianbrewers.be/en/events/belgian-…    Leggi altro

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