Round the World

Went to mthe cathedral yesterday and it is truly massive. In the night had tapas, cold sherry and old port that was as smooth as water! On tourist bus today!

Arrived in Valencia yesterday from Tortosa. An altogether more exiciting propsect. Hotel is just next to the modernista El Norde station and the colleseum like bull ring. City is easy to walk around and has stunning castles & museums. Also has a great nightlife. Walked around a few bars & then ended up in a bar called Johnny Maracas. It is a great bar where all of the best looking women go to dance to nothing but salsa tunes spun by the DJ. Now this sort of music is not normally my scene but with all ages, shapes & sizes, of varying degrees of drunkeness, swaying to the latin beats the music eventually gets you. What gets you going also is the maracas & bongos that they had out to people to have a go on and all of the bar staff play along to the music behind the bar! I also tried out my broken Spanish on some senoritas to a not altogether negative audience. Although by the end of the night I only had the set of bongos for company. In fact I wouldn´t be suprised if I was barred as I was banging the bongos in the bar all night to the rythyms of the music. But so were many of the other patrons of the bar. Seriously though had a great night, made a few friends & probably back there tonight. Although at first sight of me they will probably say hide the bongos that nutters back! Still another day & night in Valencia for tomorrow. I have visited the ciudad de las artes y las ciencias - an amazing building complex. I have some great photos of this totally modern building & will probably go back there again tomorrow. Monday in Alicante. Further postings to follow. Hasta leugo!

Visited the Nou Camp yesterday and had photo taken with Ronaldinho on the pitch - or at least his cardboard cut out - I know sad! Also visited Sagrada Famillia, Parc Guell and other famous Barcelona sights. Went to Monjuic cable car ride to take photos of the whole of Barcelona city skyline only for a rainstorm to happen halfway up in the cable car - oh well not very good photo! In the evening, after stepping over many drunks on a backstreet of Barca got to one of the oldest bars in Barcelona - Bar Marsella - going from 1820. The decor inside proves its age as it looks like it has been untouched since then. And certainly not cleaned since then! Domesticies out of the way, the drink that they are famous for is abysinthe or absenta in Spanish. It is a sort of anaseed spirit. They serve you the drink with a small fork, a sugar cube and a small bottle of water. The local practice is then to balance the fork over the glass, place the sugar cube on the fork and then pour some water slowly over the cube until it melts into the glass. What difference this actually makes to the taste is probably miniscule but it changes the drink from a clear straw colour to a grapefruit looking yellow. It is suggested that this drink is mildly narcotic - certainly after one or two of these it is much more difficult to balance the fork over the glass - let alone yourself on the barstool! Still getting by with my broken Spanish & meeting loads of people. One thing that you notice about Barcelona that not even the Spanish speak Spanish - they all speak English. One woman at a cafe actually thanked me for speaking Spanish she says that no tourists bother in Barca. Barcelona is a great city, it never closes & it is hard to fit all of it in in the four days I have been here but it has been fun trying. Off to Valencia tomorrow which should be another good trip. Hasta luego for now!

Another week, another city. I am now in Espana. Yesterday not very interesting day, but relaxing on beach & deciding which place to eat in the evening. Will have to go to the main tourist resort to watch England crush Estonia (I wish!) on Wednesday. It is hot here & my Spanish is getting me by - so far! However, I do not start my real travelling until 24 Junio then off to Barcelona, then Pamplona for San Fermin or ´The Running of The Bulls´ (remember the start of City Slickers!). Then to Zaragoza, Madrid, Cordoba, Seville por flamenco. Enough of mi muy malo Espanol! Hasta luego y will update soon after I am done chilling in South Catalunia the real travels will begin in Spain after June 24th more updates to follow then!