Mirela has been living in Madrid for the last 4-5 months and this has been my first chance to go and visit her and Enrique. I’m planning to return again a little closer to summer so I guess I wasn’t so much focused on this trip on the touristy side of Madrid more than catching up and spending time with Mirela (whose Spanish seemed to have improved dramatically since she moved to Madrid. Although many people say she seems to speak it with an Italian accent to me her Spanish seemed practically fluent.) Having said that we did some quick trips around town to see some highlights. In particular when we saw that the weather was so good (when all the weather predictions had said it was going to be heavy rain ALL weekend!) It was even warm enough for me on the first couple of days to go without a jacket. If I’d stayed out long enough in the sun I’m sure I would have even managed a nice tan!

Photos, Photos, Photos.

The Experience

I always find that visiting a city when you’re visiting locals always gives you a different experience to when you’re visiting as a tourist outright. On the one hand you get to have a more genuine experience of what its like living in the city (including homecooked meals), and on the other hand you’re less likely to spend as much time hitting all the tourist sites. Therefore it will be interesting to see what I missed when I come back again for a shorter visit in June! Enrique says that Madrid is totally different in summer to what it is in winter – mainly because in winter it is usually super-cold so most people are indoors but when summer comes its like a whole new city with lots of open air cafes and just a general good mood. Oh, we also met up with Fabrizio and a couple of his Italian mates whilst we were in Madrid which was good timing!

So, some of the highlights of my weekend trip include:

What I didn’t get around to doing was hit any of the major museums and galleries. Of late I haven’t really been into such culturally significant attractions but Madrid does have some of the most important pieces of art in its museums, including Picasso’s Guernica, which I’m planning to hit next time.

Eats-wise, because I had a few home-cooked meals I didn’t get to eat out as much I had expected however I made sure to have some tapas, including some tasty potato bravas, but also having some paella and jamon. Jamon is certainly an interesting cured ham that is produced only in Spain. Mirela says that to slice it, because its all done manually, is a very important skill and that often people are employed just to do so!

I had a great time in Madrid so was very sad be leaving my friend Mirela. Can’t wait to come back again in four month’s time!

Most of my trips overseas are generally planned fairly way in advance so I was surprised when I decided at the last minute to accept Rita’s invite to do a quick weekend away to Belgium to visit the Christmas Markets. I figured that since I wasn’t really doing much else anyway so might as well spend the weekend away! We decided on a tour package that would include travel/accommodation/tour guide so the weekend started at before the crack of dawn on Saturday morning and would involve a more than seven hour bus/ferry/bus ride via Dover to Brussels, where we would spend a few hours, before getting on the bus for nearly another couple of hours to get to Bruges, where we would spend the evening and most of Sunday before departing Bruges late afternoon for another seven hour plus bus/ferry/bus ride back to Victoria! Fair to say we spent more time traveling than actually in Belgium but hey ho!

Photos, Photos, Photos.

The Experience

Brussels

I’ve actually been to Brussels before, way back in 2003, for an afternoon and in all honesty it was more than enough time to spend n the city though having said back then that we didn’t explore much more than the Grand-Place and hunting down the Manneken-Pis statue and his little sister. It wasn’t much different to this visit except we also had the Christmas Markets to explore and Rita had her purse stolen so we also got a tour of the police station! To be fair to Brussels I think it is entitled to at least a weekend to allow you to visit all the museums that you like but also to travel a bit further afar than the area around the Grand-Place and visit such attractions as the Atomium and Mini-Europe. For next time maybe.

So the main purpose of this trip was to visit the Christmas Markets. Our tour guide basically gave us a 10 minute introduction and then left us to our own devices. There were a couple of Christmas markets dotted around the Grant-Place but they were nothing compared to German and Austrian Christmas markets I’ve been to before. The Grand-Place is a beautiful square with many of the buildings plated in gold paint. It felt very Christmasy however with the lovely Christmas decorations dotted around and the Grand-Place even having a special light/visual/sound show:

The Grand-Place and surrounding areas were absolutely chockers with people and with the rain it made moving around pretty difficult. Its no wonder that Rita somehow got her purse snatched! We spent probably half the time in Brussels backtracking to see if she’d dropped or left her purse somewhere and then looking and waiting at the police station (even though we got nowhere because we ran out of time.) I felt so bad for her! We had to run from the police station to catch our bus to Bruges so it was a very brief visit indeed to Brussels!

Bruges

Bruge is known as the “Venice of the North” for its large number of lovely canals, pedestrianised cobbled streets, and marvel at the magnificently preserved medieval buildings.

We arrived in Bruges fairly late in the evening and after checking in to the hostel it was almost 10pm by the time we made it into Bruges city centre. It was kind of strange but other than having some Burger King at Dover at about 9.30 am in the morning through all the excitement with losing Rita’s purse etc. I hadn’t been hungry all day. Quite unusual for me! But I was interesting in looking for something to snack on at least but we had a few things to do first before eating!

Our hostel was about a 15-20 minute walk from the city centre so our tour guide took us in whilst giving us a bit of a spiel on various buildings/cathedrals etc. that we walked by. Interestingly the map at our hostel pointed out various “Places to Kiss” … not that it was particularly relevant for us on this trip!

As we didn’t get around to filing a police report in Brussels we still needed to do one for insurance purposes so Rita and I needed to find the police station in Bruges to do so. Our tour guide was nice enough to bring us to the police station and even sit with us whilst we waited to be seen. Strangely it must have been quite a busy crime night in Bruges because even though we got to the police station at nearly 11pm there was still apparently at least an hour’s wait to be seen! After waiting about 45 minutes we gave up and decided to come back the next day.

By then it was nearing midnight! I wouldn’t say the night life of Bruges is particularly huge but there were a few bars to go into. But our first stop was to the little frites stalls at the base of the Bell Tower in the main square. Apparently leases for the stalls are auctioned off every few years and competition is fierce. The frites there were totally awesome, especially when smothered in special sauce.

Bellies fairly full we then headed to one of the bars which had music pumping so loud we could hear it outside. Walking in I felt like I’d walked into a club for teenagers. I swear the average age of everyone inside was something like 16 and it was crowded. No room to even stand around and drink our cherry beer (delicious by the way …) I got a bit bored of the place afterwards so we left and just ended up walking around the city centre for a while before heading back to the hostel for an appreciated sleep.

Waking up Sunday morning was difficult but we had to get up early to go to the police station (yet again!) This time we weren’t leaving until Rita had filed her police report. The day dawned bright and beautiful and we took a nice leisurely stroll the police station. An hour and a half later we were finally free to explore the sights of Bruge. We started off with a mid-morning snack of waffles and ice-cream from Haagen-Dazs which overlooked the square and the Christmas markets.

It was quite a rich snack so our next stop was the Bell Tower to climb 366 (one for every day of the year 🙂 ) steps to reach the top for sweeping views across Bruges. A nice work out though I don’t imagine we worked off to many of our the calories from our waffles. Heh heh.

After exploring the Christmas markets, snacking on some snails (gee they looked oh so appetising – not!) for me and prawns for Rita, seeing a LOT of chocolate in store and out, sampling chocolate liqueuers, and doing more walking around Bruges it was time for lunch – there was no way I was leaving Belgium without sampling some mussels!

It was clear that I was still decidedly full from our snacking in the morning as even though Rita and I shared a pot of mussels and some stew I must have gone into some sort of food coma trying to finish it all – I was more than ready for bed at that stage! LOL.

But we still had some sight-seeing to do before hoping on the bus back to Calais and this included stops to see Michelangelo’s marble Madonna and Child lies within the Onze Lieve Vrouwekerk (Church of Our Lady) and to see the curious blood of Christ in the Basilica of the Holy Blood. The Madonna and Child were okay but I was more interested in the beautiful Church of Our Lady and we didn’t get to see the blood of Christ which was apparently hidden in some back panel.

Finally, I did some last minute shopping for chocolate before Rita and I had to make a run for the bus!

It was a very long journey back to London but it was a nice weekend away. Good food, good company, something a bit different (visits to two police stations for one!), great chocolate – what’s not to love.

I’m starting to think that if I ever move to Europe for work that Germany is one of the countries that would appear top of the list. Every visit I’ve had to Germany I’ve enjoyed immensely – the German people (extremely friendly and not too bad on the eyes), the German food (ahh … meat!) and the German efficiency (what’s not to love!) – all fab. Munich is
Germany’s third biggest city by population and every September for two weeks this population of more than 1.3 million swells by another nearly 6 million as visitors pour in for the annual Oktoberfest – an over a fortnight of celebration which constitutes the worlds largest fair.

There was a good-sized group of us who came to Munich with Pauline, James, Sarah, Erin (though we didn’t really see her all weekend) and I sharing a room. We also met up with Caroline who, crazyily, braved a 24 hour bus from London with a bunch of aussie yobos to get to Munich and then camped it the whole weekend. Brave girl.

Photos here.

When?	Mid Sept 2008 (not October as one would imagine …)
Why Go?	Munich is a beautiful city. Going there at the same time as Oktoberfest? Great atmosphere!
Weather	A touch on the cold side. In 2007 same time this year it was 28 degrees! So who know!
Hint	– If going during Oktoberfest book accommodation as early as you can and wait until you get to Munich to buy great outfits for the festival. Being in the right dress will let you fit in get in the right mood. Also considering pre-booking a table in the popular beer tents for the afternoon if possible. On opening weekend Oktoberfest gets very busy and sometimes beer halls stay shut once full.
	– Visit with up to five of you – public transport have partner tickets good for covering up to five of you
Regrets	Not getting dressed up in a genuine Bavarian wench outfit – the Dirndl 🙂

We deliberately flew in on Thursday night to give us a couple of days sight-seeing in Munich. We spent Friday and Monday sight-seeing but the weather was so rubbish on Monday that we just didn’t have the heart. I hadn’t really had much time to think about what I wanted to see but I knew Dachau was on top of the list. Dachau was the first concentration camp opened in Germany which served as a model for all other concentration camps following it. It was also the only one to last through the whole war. Many atrocities were committed there but you wouldn’t know it today. When Sarah and I visited it was amazing weather with beautiful blue skies and the surrounds of Dachau itself was quite pretty with many grown trees and beautifully maintained landscape. This made my kind of uncomfortable as Dachau felt so clean and sanitised and so it made me feel almost guilty for visiting on such a day. There is a lot of information in Dachau and though most of it has been destroyed they have a museum which takes you through its history in-depth. A lot of heavy reading and definitely worth a visit. The greatest turn-off was the great groups of pushy tourists who were jostling each other to get a look into the re-built rooms. Its not like it was extremely busy so that they were pushing me and each other around was a puzzle to me.

Sight-seeing wise that was about it for our trip to Munich. The rest of the time we walked around just taking snaps of notable areas such as the City Centre including Marienplatz square (which admittedly is where most tourists hang out) and its Glockenspiel and the English Gardens, and sitting in beer halls!

We spent Friday afternoon into early evening at the Hofbräuhaus am Platzl. Hugely popular we were lucky to get a table for lunch. The beer hall is probably the most famous in Munich and hence attracts its fair share of tourists. Its got a great food menu at reasonable prices (I took the opportunity to get my pork knuckle) and I had my first pint since New York courtesy of a married guy who wanted to … shall we say … be more than friends! Ha ha. Just a lot of harmless flirting really. The beer wasn’t actually too bad tasting though I did have my usual allergic reaction to it.

The atmosphere in the Hofbräuhaus is great with bavarian music being blasted by the band every now and then. Apparently there are a number of tables which are “subscribed” to by local germans who in return for paying a hefty price for the table for the year get the privilege of the use of the table whenever they want, a special stein glass to drink it from (these steins are kept locked up in cute little lockers when not in use) and free beer. One of these guys were sitting next to us and he apparently was the Hofbräuhaus’ longest running subscriber.

Saturday was opening day at the Oktoberfest. We got there for just after 9am but by then the queues to get into the beer halls were already massive. Its clearly one of the most popular days with many people keen to get into the beer halls for the opening tap at noon. Erin met up with her friends at 8am to get into the Hofbräuhaus tent. This tent last year had the worst reputation for general drunken We went into several tents looking for a table including Ochsenbraterei tent (room for 5,900), Augustiner-Festhalle (6,000), and Löwenbräu-Festhalle (5,700) – not one table free at 9.30am! Everyone was in great spirits considering no alcohol was going to be flowing for another few hours. We ended up sitting in the Löwenbräu beer garden next to Caroline’s lot. It was a great atmosphere but the aussies were in a crazy mood. By the time noon rolled around they were more than ready for their steins. Unfortunately our table seemed to have the slowest waitress and by the time we got our first steins other tables were on to their second! We did get to see one of the most beautiful people I’ve ever seen in my life – the guy selling us snacks was gorgeous!

The waitresses are amazing – each stein is 1-litre and the glass themselves must weigh at least that much and these ladies can carry 12 steins at once – without any apparent effort and with greater dexterity moving through the crowds than I could managed. Apparently these positions are very hard to come by and are often passed down in the family. The people working at Oktoberfest (admittedly 12 hours a day for 16 days straight) can make more than three month’s wages in just two weeks so they are very coveted positions and are worth the sacrifice of two week’s holiday. If you go to Oktoberfest and are in any vicinity of an Australian or Kiwi be prepared to wear a lot of beer. They are quite “energetic” in their cheering and once they get up on the seats and tables there is no turning back. Thankfully the beer seems to dry quite quickly!

For those who aren’t the biggest fan of beer you also have the shandy option – though its handy to know the German word for it as not all waitresses speak English. Its Radler for those who are interested and this word became my number one favourite German word all weekend.

I don’t know if it’s the drink or just general party atmosphere at Oktoberfest but anyone will talk to you anywhere. I was waiting in line for the ladies and this Danish girl just turned around and started speaking to me and telling me her life story. It was great and sure passed the time whilst in line.

In addition to drinking at Oktoberfest there are some great food options at the fair including the roasting half chickens, the half meter long bratwurst, currywurst, etc. all of which fell victim to my appetite. I only managed to down one stein all day but I was quite proud of finishing off even that litre. When things got a bit messy in the Löwenbräu beer garden, and the weather a little bit colder, we thought it was time to leave and try and get into a beer tent somewhere. No luck! All were either shut or still too full.

So James and I decided to partake in some carnie activities including shooting a rifle and cross-bow and riding the Olympic Ring roller-coaster (this was almost a fatal error as we rode the ride just after I’d downed the stein – lucky for James I managed to hold on to my beer but it was a very close thing!)

Day 2 at Oktoberfest dawned a little more civilised. There were noticeably less people at the fair in the morning when we arrived at the Hippodrome. Erin had arranged us tickets inside the beer hall for the morning which turned out quite well. I don’t know if it happens at all beer tents but when we arrived there were these giant platters of food on the table – comprised mainly of radish, plus bread (including a delicious though heart-stopping lard and fried onion topped bread) and cold meat. We thought it was complimentary only to find out it was a stunning Euro 11 each for the platter! And we barely at any of it! Never mind.

The morning in the beer hall was fairly civilised to be honest. I guess its family time – we even saw a table of kids with their small beers – not sure if they were alcoholic but it was funny to see them indulge in the practice anyway.

Erin and her lot wore some dirndl outfits that they bought in the UK. As they were more costume then genuine outfits they were a little, shall we say, short and showy. It definitely caught the eye of everyone who saw them. Erin definitely got her fair share of stares and hushed whispers and snickers. I felt for her but I’m sure she didn’t regret wearing her outfit.

We were all looking forward to our half chickens for lunch. We almost couldn’t wait as we saw half chicken after half chicken parading before us and being delivered to all the other tables. It was delicious. The stein I had over lunch seemed to go down much quicker than yesterday’s!

After lunch we were kicked off our table so had to go search for accommodation in another beer tent. It was mad crazy when we got out. Once again all the beer tents were quite full and many had their doors shut to us. We tried the Schottenham tent (6,000) which actually seemed like a happening place with great music and good-natured partying on the tables, and we tried the Löwenbräu tent again because Sarah had some friends on the inside. Unfortunately this place was only letting people in a trickle at a time and though Sarah, James and I managed to push our way in Pauline got pushed out and never made it in. It was probably good we didn’t stay there anyway as it seemed that the fanatics had taken over the tent – all around the band was a sea of their tell-tale yellow-shirts. It was messy. It was so bard that steins were actually being smashed against each other and breaking – not an easy feat!

We lost Sarah inside the Löwenbräu and Pauline outside somewhere so James and I went over to the Schützen-Festhalle beer garden where some of his friends were. We’d actually met these guys on our first day in Munich but I didn’t really speak to them. Here I made the mistake of having and quickly downing my second stein. This was to prove a fatal error in my getting sick later!

Finally we decided to try and get into a beer tent again and somehow made it into the Hofbräu-Festzelt. Do not go near the pig pen in this tent or you will accidentally find yourself without underwear! We ended up near a bunch of Kiwis and although it was all fairly good-natured there were some very drunk people around us.

One guy was lying in his sick, a few people around us got escorted outside they were so drunk, many people up on the tables kept falling off the tables and taking people down with them. It was very messy. I even saw some blood on the tables. And finally all sorts of people were getting it on. The Germans have a specific word for those over drunk people: Bierleichen – Beer Corpses. 🙂

Good atmosphere though and the band were rocking. We also met up with Caroline in the tent and somehow she kept scoring free steins! It was really funny. Here I had my walk of shame – throwing up! Thankfully I made it to the toilets though Caroline was doing her best to get me to do it into a stein or under our table – ha ha!

The evening and my Oktoberfest experience ended with Caroline and I riding three of the bigger rides at Oktoberfest. I guess that’s the great thing about the fair – its not just about the beer, its also about the great entertainment and food.

We rode three rides Cyber Space (this ride which twirls all over the place, tips you upside down and drops you to the ground), the Star Flyer (a basic swing ride about 50 metres up in the air – this started me on the path to nausea) and finally the Hollenblitz (a crazy Space-Mountain like roller coaster) which had me running urgently to the toilet. The fact that there was a hat on the ground at its exit full of sick shows just how nauseating this ride was! Great end to the evening.

But the funniest end to the evening – getting to the hotel room and finding everyone in there watching German porn (ha ha – not really but Sarah was getting full teasing for accidentally switching it on) and a random German guy accidentally trying to get into our room. He was pretty cute – I wouldn’t have said no if he’d insisted 😉

The main reason we were in Spain for bank holiday weekend was to partake in La Tomatina – the fabled tomato throwing festival held in Valencia. Flying between Ibiza and Spain our group was split into two with James C, Caroline and I having to take one of the smaller Iberia planes with the funny propellers and Pauline and Erin taking the later bigger plane. Poor Pauline had come down with a stomach bug so wasn’t feeling 100% so I can’t imagine how she handled the flight to Valencia.

Lots and lots more photos here.

Day 1 in Valencia

The plane we were in could fit 40 passengers into it max. Luckily the plane wasn’t very full and we were able to stretch out on the seats at the back. To our amusement we also had two very talkative (and might I say very attractive) air stewardesses giving us advice on where to go in Valencia including the best night clubs and where to stand at La Tomatina! Ha ha. I laughed when one of them said that I especially would be targeted at La Tomatina because I was Chinese!

Arriving in Valencia it was just nearing lunch time so Caroline, Erin and I headed off into the centre of town to explore and get some lunch. After a long weekend of elaborate buffet eating I wanted nothing more to eat than a Cheeseburger from McDonalds. Funny how cravings are! I was surprised to find out that Valencia is actually Spain’s third biggest city so it shouldn’t have been a surprise to see how built up it is. Having said that it retains the charm of european architecture. The city centre was very pretty especially the bull ring and the train station area.

It felt like we walked around for ages and by the time we got back to our hotel I was ready to collapse. Unfortunately we had to then go on a massive hunt for bandanas as, after a quick meet and greet with our tour leaders, we were told this would be the best way to keep the tomatoes out of our hair and we girls really didn’t fancy spending hours cleaning the messy things from our hair the next day. The search was, unfortunately, fruitless and we soon had to head back to the hotel again for a quick shower before our de-brief and then the Wine and Water Festival in Requena which was about an hour’s bus drive away from Valencia.

Many people have said that this Wine and Water Festival is the highlight of their visit to Valencia, even better than La Tomatina! Well, it was certainly something to experience that’s for sure. This festival is one of the oldest in Spain celebrating the harvesting of grapes for the season. The event that we went to on our first night in Valencia, Noche de la Zurra, basically involves going around the streets of Requena following the parade of musicians shouting out “aqua” at the houses along the way and then waiting for water to be thrown down at you via buckets, hoses or whatever method possible. Additionally, there are large trucks filled with wine where you take an empty drinking vessel to for a free fill up!

There are also things that go on during the night before the parade starts including fireworks and, if you’re lucky, bull fighting in the bull ring. For the first hour or so we entertained ourselves at the fun fair that was at one end of town. We rode this wicked Pirate Ship that seemed at some points to go past the horizontal but also you could stand in big cages. Great fun. We also took the bumper cars for a spin. Those Spanish kids sure are aggressive – we all took some massive hits and my back really was aching afterwards. Caroline won us a mascot on the darts which was very cool. (Unfortunately Erin left the mascot in Valencia …. How sad)

Then things got a bit quiet until just before midnight when we decided to check out what was happening at the top end of town. Here we found the bull ring and somehow managed to sneak in! Couldn’t believe it – there was a giant line of people trying to get in and we got in through the side entrance!! The coolest thing about it was that the whole arena was filled with Spanish people and school bands and colours everywhere. Made for a great atmosphere. Then the bulls came on. We saw about 5 bull “fights” and to be honest – I didn’t like it. I felt so sorry for these bulls which were made to chase the men and the men were all rather chicken and would leap over the wall to safety. This was fine but it was when they then turned around and teased the bull into running into the wall – now that was just cruel. There was one incident for the night where one guy actually got hit. No gore but his arm sure looked well broken!

Soon after we left the bull ring the parade started. It reminded me a bit of Carnival – big band music, lots of horns, lots of dancing. Great atmosphere. Then the wine started and the water. Can’t believe the townsfolk year after year partake in this. You couldn’t tell who enjoyed chucking water down on us more – the adults or the kids! The whole thing was a lot of fun for a little bit but then walking through the town got really tiring!

Oh boy. We must have walked for about two hours non-stop. Not a fast walk and sure it was broken up by lots of wine and water but we were so very happy to see the bus at 3.30am! We finally got home at just after 4.30 before having to get again two hours later for the big event – La Tomatina!

Day 2 The Tomato Festival

6.30am came too soon on Day 2. Feeling like we’d just gone to bed the wake up call on the morning of La Tomatina was a bit of a rude shock. It took me about 10 minutes to get Caroline to wake up too – ha ha! Getting on to the bus to travel to Bunol (a 40km drive from Valencia) you could tell who had been to the Wine and Water Festival the night before cause we were the ones still basically asleep on our feet with no energy to talk! The closer we got to Bunol, however, the higher the anticipation in the bus got.

There were so many tour buses already parked by the time we got to Bunol that we couldn’t really get very close to the centre of town (Plaza del Pueblo) where the action was going to happen. Having said that we got to Bunol in plenty of time to make our way to the town centre. It was probably better to park a bit further away … as it was we got stuck in a massive traffic jam getting out of there at the end of the festival anyway.

It was a very long walk to where the tomato throwing was going to happen and the only indication that we’d reached the square was the sudden standstill that we came to. Erin wanted to make sure she wasn’t going to get crushed like she and Pauline did at Pamplona when they went to the bull fighting so we made sure to stand in the square, which is the widest part of the street and also where our air stewardesses advised us to stand, and near a wall. Somehow we ended up standing next to a bunch of young boys who basically proceeded, for the next couple of hours before the tomatoes came out, to run a gauntlet. Anyone entering would get their t-shirts ripped off – whether male or female. Even any walking by got dragged into the gauntlet. Thankfully they didn’t turn on us. Many good-naturedly let their shirts get ripped off which was fine and took seconds but if any started fighting back – that was a whole ‘nother story. It was very entertaining – one of the boys actually had a tooth knocked out from a particularly aggressive “victim” – a victim who was a woman too!

Some people in the crowd started to get antsy waiting for the tomatoes to come out – I don’t know how it started, probably with a t-shirt thrown up into a house, but at one point an all in war started between one particular house and the crowd below. We even saw picnic chairs and a picnic table thrown down into the crowd. Ridiculous.

Supposedly the festival starts as soon as someone has climbed the very tall (two-stories high) greased wooden pole to reach the ham at the top. We could barely see the ham so we’re not sure if anyone actually managed to reach it. All I know is that there was suddenly firing of giant water hoses closely followed by slow-moving trucks coming through the streets and tomatoes spilling forth. For those who haven’t already realised La Tomatina is a tomato throwing event that is held on the last Wednesday of August each year and is part of a week-long festival. They say that on average 20,000+ people come to pack the one narrow street to partake in this. So imagine a narrow street barely wide enough to fit a truck, in this narrow street are thousands of people packed in like sardines and THEN the truck comes through leaving just about half a meter on each side of the truck. All I can say is I’m glad we found a spot in the square!

I would advise that anyone concerned with not getting tomato in their hair (and it is a real b!tch to get it out apparently) to wear a bandana or some sort of head covering. We were able to finally pick up bandanas at the festival so thankfully our hair was protected. You are also advised to wear goggles as the acidity of the tomatoes hitting you in the eyes can really sting. At first I was reluctant to wear the goggles worried that I’d get a black eye instead but I’m sure glad I had them to protect from most of the yuckiness. You’re supposed to squish the tomatoes before throwing them but I know that there were many unsquished tomatoes. There was heaps of anticipation when the first truck of tomatoes came through – before we knew it the fight had started and we were getting pelted left, right and centre. Caroline managed to score a few good ones right in my face from point-blank range. Thankfully she was kind enough to scoop out the soft bits in the tomato to throw at us first so it didn’t hurt but it sure was gross! 🙂 The tomatoes surprisingly got used up very quickly and then the scary time started – throwing wet t-shirts. If you’ve never been hit with a wet t-shirt before it is like getting hit with a giant bullet. I swear I still have a bruise on my arm from the first t-shirt that hit me. Worse than the t-shirt throwing was the t-shirt whipping – I’ve never seen a crowd move so fast to get away from the whippers. Thankfully the trucks soon came along again and we could safely go back to throwing tomatoes at each other.

The fight takes exactly one hour at the end of which large cannons go off signalling the end. The trucks came through about 6-7 times and more and more often the people on the trucks became targets more than the people on the ground! We decided to leave the fight a few minutes from the end so we could start to get cleaned up. The day, though not as hot as the previous day, was still pretty darn warm and the tomatoes were starting to sm-ell so we couldn’t wait to get out of there and the tomatoes off us! As you make your way back to wherever you came from the local residents stand around with hoses ready to hose you down. They say that often it will be the, um, dirtier old men who are there to look at the young ladies in bikinis with the hoses but to be honest there were all sorts ready to hose us down. The kids seemed to take the most glee in getting us washed down. Having all my layers worked well to keep most of the tomato off me. Just be warned that anything you wear to the fight – whether it’s your shoes, your socks, your shirts or your shorts – is unlikely to see the light of day again. In fact as we were leaving you could see everyone’s belongings just left behind on the street. Apparently a group comes along to salvage what they can for charity so its not a total waste.

The bus ride back to Valencia was tortuous mainly because we sat in the parking lot for what felt like ages. It wouldn’t have been too bad cause as we could have just kicked back and slept on the bus (by then it was about 2pm and we were knackered) but for the smell of the tomatoes which was just disgusting and sickening on the hot bus.

Finally we got back to the hotel. The girls had a bit of a kip and I grabbed a bit of lunch (I starving more than I was sleepy) and I actually had planned on going for a walk to check out some more Valencia sights but in the end just ended up hanging out at the hotel. We didn’t have much time before we had to head out again for a cruise down Port America’s Cup – host to the 32nd America’s Cup.

First Festival, who were the tour group we opted to go with for our entire Valencia trip, had arranged for a nice giant catamaran to take us around the marina and out to see for a couple of hours in the evening. It was a perfect and relaxing way to finish our Valencia trip but I was a bit annoyed at First Festival’s organisational skills – or lack of. We got there for the time they specified and yet the tour leaders didn’t turn up until about 45 mins later. How annoying. We were then forced to take taxis to get to the catamaran’s launch in time.

On the catamaran we got to see the sun set which was beautiful. The cruise took us late into the evening and by this time we were well hungry for some paella. We looked for some spots along the marina but despite the fact many of the restaurants were still heaving with business many of them had taken last orders already by 9.30! At one of the restaurants I ran into one of the guys that I was talking to at es paradis in Ibiza – small world though I did know they were going to be in town for the tomato throwing. In the end we did find a restaurant and got our paella. Not the greatest I’ve had however. 🙁

After dinner I did contemplate heading out to one Valencia’s night clubs to see if we could meet up with one of our air stewardesses who said she would be going but the long days had caught up with me and sleep was my number one priority.

Day 3

I don’t know why but on our final day in Valencia (we were going to drive to Madrid to get our flight back to London) I decided to get up very early (7.30!) to take a long walk along to the Turia gardens to the City of Arts and Sciences which is an area at the end of the gardens which consists of a number of beautiful and amazing pieces of architecture including the Opera house and performing arts centre, L’Hemisfèric (Imax Cinema, Planetarium and Laserium), L’Umbracle (Walkway / Garden and the Science Museum.

For me seeing these beautiful buildings in the gorgeous morning light was worth missing the few hours of extra sleep.

After a bit of drama, at around lunch time we started our drive to Madrid. Or should I say Caroline started our drive. Madrid is literally a straight line out of the train station which made the drive easier. Its about a 5 hour drive to Madrid so along the way we stopped at a small village to grab some lunch. It felt like the entire village were in the one café we ended up in and the one street village reminded me of my time in Western Queensland when I was out there auditing some interesting clients. I can’t knock it though as I had the best lunch there ever with my hot chorizo baguette. Mmmm ….

Madrid airport is gigantic. Just driving there involved us driving around and around on highways – it very worrying as there were lots of road signs saying airport this way and that way – most often not in the direction we were heading. Got there in the end though so we were all happy.

The trip to Valencia sure felt like a whirlwind one – as it felt like we were either on a bus or on a tax on the way to one event or another. Still I had a few hours to explore the city and I must say I’m impressed. Its very pretty and appealing. Lots of trees and I love especially the Turia gardens which is a filled in river running through the city. The festivals (Wine and Water and La Tomatina) were a blast and something I’m sure you don’t get to be part of that often. Great times.

Ibiza was something else. You read all about the party island and think – no way – sounds totally over the top. An island can’t be party central practically 24 hours a day … but it is.

I’m getting way too old for something like this but to my surprise I had an fab-tastic time – thanks to great company and amazing weather. The doosh doosh music of the island even started to grow on me by the time we left! 🙂

Lots and lots more photos here.

The Experience

We had a fairly disastrous start to our trip to Ibiza. I guess the signs were there. At Gatwick the fire alarms went off in the food court which meant that the upper section of the airport, where all the restaurants and many shops were, was shut for about half an hour. I guess it could have been worse. It could have meant an evacuation of the whole airport and us missing our flight! But this minor hiccup was resolved and eventually we got our dinner and on to our plane.

I hate Easy Jet and Ryan Air simply because of the cattle rush to get on the plane. Normally with one or two of you its not too much of a problem and wouldn’t phase me but we had seven people (!) to seat together. Its unbelievable how rude some people can be about boarding too. Erin and Olli somehow managed to get on to the plane first to keep six seats free. Unfortunately I was lucky last on to the plane and had to sit by myself. Heh heh. Not that I minded … I soon found out that I was seated next to two Greeks! What are the chances?!! The two boys were quite funny actually and entertained me for most of the trip.

Finding accommodation, which was reasonably priced but not totally disgusting, in Ibiza for six people was pretty darn difficult. We ended up going with one of the Fiesta Group Hotels on the Playa d’en Bossa side of Ibiza called Fiesta Hotel d’en Bossa. Most of the flights to and from London to Ibiza seem to party flights – arriving just in time to go out and hit the clubs (1.30am) and departing around that time too. So, arriving at a hotel at 1.30am in the morning the last thing you want to hear is that your booking has been cancelled! Uh oh! We weren’t at all pleased. The hotel guy wasn’t all that helpful and I’m sure the Spanish/English barrier wasn’t helping matters any. He “called” some other hotels in the same chain of hotels but, surprise surprise, on a Friday bank holiday weekend there was no availability. All he could tell us was that the Director would walk in through the doors at 7am. Ridiculous. So I mentioned there were seven of us but we had accommodation for six only. That’s because Olli, James B’s friend, was a late minute addition – the boy had bought his flight but hadn’t arranged any accommodation. I think he was relying on us being nice enough to let him bunk in to one of our rooms. So, having this seventh person there also added to the confusion. At any rate we had no choice really but to start looking for accommodation – getting on to the internet, getting on to our mobiles. Really not what we wanted to be doing at that time of the night/morning. Finally, at 4am the hotel guy says by some miracle our booking has been “found” at Fiesta Club d’en Bossa – the hotel next door. Excuse me. Our booking has been found … at a hotel where we didn’t make a booking? Holy miracle indeed. Luckily for Olli the Club rooms are a lot bigger than the Hotel so he squeezed in with Caroline, James B and I. Pauline, Erin and James C were in the other room.

But I’ve spent way too much time talking about this disaster!

Day 1

Despite getting to bed at 4.30am we all, admittedly rather bleary-eyed, still managed to get up in time for our included breakfast a few hours later. It was tough but the promise of the hot buffet was irresistible on our first day in Ibiza. The buffet at the hotel wasn’t too bad with cereals, breads, English breakfast type food (eggs, sausages, bacon etc.), fruit and an area where you could get omelettes (the biggest omelettes I’ve ever been served by the way) and crepes freshly cooked. Plus juice and tea and coffee.

Getting a bit of food in our stomachs actually served to wake us up quite a bit and, with a bit of encouraging, most of us were ready to go explore Ibiza Town. Getting around Ibiza isn’t that easy without your own car (or moped or some form of transport) – sure there are buses but these proved to take way too long and didn’t really come all that often so other than our first day we ended up taking taxis for the rest of the trip. Not that we really did much travelling – just going to and from San Antonio which was another side of the island.

If you look up what there is “to do” in Ibiza the lists will be filled with nothing much outside of night clubs and beaches! One of the few non-club and beach items on the list is Ibiza Town (the capital of Ibiza and locally called Eivissa) which is very pretty with lots of
funky shops. It was strange seeing, as we travelled there, how Ibiza has developed. It hasn’t really! We’d drive past a nice area, and then there would be a whole or just a really run down bit, and then a nice area and then a run down bit. Quite strange. Ibiza Town, naturally, was one of the nicer areas. The obvious thing to head for when you get to Ibiza Town is in the cobbled streets of the old town – the walled old city D’Alt Vila which is a winding walk up to the peak of the hill and the Cathedral which sits majestically overlooking the port and the coast. Really great views from up there but it can be hard work. The two most re-known nightclubs, Pacha and El Divino, are also located in Ibiza Town but we didn’t see either of them during our stroll. Our walk to the top on a very hot day nearly did us in so when we came back down we decided to grab a light lunch before heading back to the hotel to spend the afternoon on the beach in front of our hotel. James B and Olli got into the water but before we knew it they came back because James B had gotten stung by jelly fish! Poor lad. The worst thing was that bar staff wouldn’t even give him any ice so he had to make do with ice cold drinks on the sting instead.

After the sun started going down we headed over to Bora Bora Beach bar for a few drinks. We got to there at just after 5 and it was still pumping. Bora Bora is reputed to be the best beach bar in the world. This open air club was definitely in party mode when we got there but I have to say there wasn’t anything that seemed to set it apart from any other beach bar except perhaps the atmosphere – something which is kind of a self-fulfilling prophecy anyway. Say its great and they will come. Ya know? In the middle of this I was also trying to arrange to meet up with Amelia who had come Ibiza with a bunch of her friends and were staying at a hotel next to us. Unfortunately they were heading out to Bora Bora just as we were heading back to our hotel for dinner. Also included in our hotel price! We arranged to meet instead the next day by our hotel pool.

At dinner I seriously overate. By the time I was done I was nearly ready for sleep! But there would be none of that as we were heading into San Antonio to go to es paradis. Before heading to the club we started with the West End – which is the main bar strip in San Antonio. Basically this area seemed to be lined with lots of cheesy bars with staff offering all sorts of cheap drinks deals for you to come in. We moved from bar to bar getting free shots, 2 for 1 drinks etc. which is a fun way to work your way up the strip. We finally settled on one 80s place where we got a whole bottle of alcohol for free! This meant a whole lot of shots that we could free pour ourselves. Very scary! Unfortunately, for one of the funniest moments of the night, I didn’t have my camera on me! There was this one girl at the club, a patron not an employee, who was dressed in what was essentially strips of cloth across her upper half and a mini skirt (think school girl) on her lower half. Okay this is Ibiza – fair enough. And then she started doing this whole exposing her tits and fingering her nipples thing for all the dirty men taking photos of her. So skanky I actually felt embarrassed for her. We were almost having too good a time at this bar where both Erin and Caroline were making requests of the DJ but we eventually moved on to es paradis.

On Saturday nights es paradise turns into a Water Party which in theory sounds good but which was very disappointing for us who couldn’t last past 5.30am! The website promised that in a 4,000 square meter garden a huge fountain with a central geyser suddenly lets loose with “80,000 litres of water, flooding the dance floor, turning it into an enormous pool in which you can dance, paddle and have fun with your friends till dawn.” There was even promise of jugglers and characters on stilts. Hmm … we lost James C and Pauline at about 2am as James could barely stand anymore, then Erin and Caroline at about 3.30am. Two hours later James B, Oli and I ended up leaving too. By then, at 5.30am, the only thing that had happened was a few sprinkles of water. I’m pretty sure if we’d hung around just another 15 mins or another half hour the promised water would have come but James B was wasted and couldn’t stand anymore! The club was actually a really nice club – really attractive inside and at first we were all psyched for a bit night out. We had exotic dancing girls dancing on a platform above us and relatively okay music but after a few hours of this it got boring real fast. The only thing that kept me there was talking some guys on the dance floor who I found out were also heading out to La Tomatina after Ibiza like us! Clubbing sure is hard work.

Day 2

Somehow everyone in my room managed to make it to breakfast and then I heard them
stumbling back into the room only for them to go back to sleep again. What a waste of sleep! For me it wasn’t worth getting up to eat only to go back to sleep so I just skipped it and savoured that extra half hour. Heh heh.

By about lunch time I was ready to tackle the day again. The other room and Caroline should have been okay since they got back to bed much earlier than James B, Olli and I did but I think they were more tired than us! However, by about 12 we had all dragged ourselves out to the pool. Amelia and her crew also met us there. We were lucky to get enough sun lounges on this day actually – seems that the practice is that you need to lay claim to the lounges very early in the day and I joked that after coming back from the clubs we should place our towels on the lounges. Sadly I think that’s exactly what we normally need to do to claim a lounge each!

It was an amazing afternoon pool-side. Day was fantastic and, despite the planes flying overhead (yes – someone thought it would be a great idea to have a flight path right over the top of the hotels), was very relaxing. The hotel also had “games” arranged for anyone interested in playing including beach volleyball, water polo and even a balloon throwing game which was actually quite funny. I’ve been too spoiled with my summer holidays this year!

After saying goodbye to Amelia’s lot (they were heading back to London) we headed off to dinner before getting ready for what was supposed to be our biggest night on the island at the biggest club – Space! It was We Love Space 08 for Sunday – in previous years this was a 22 hour party that started very early in the afternoon but this year could only start at 4.30pm. As we found out, unless you are on something, a few hours in the club is more than enough. At 55 euro a ticket we had huge expectations. As with other clubs, though, you need to start in a bar because with drinks being ridiculously expensive (a small 330ml bottle of water is 10 euro!) you need to get well liquored up on the outside! So, we started at a local bar which was offering 2-4-1 drinks on its cocktails.

At Space they had a who’s who list of DJs – none of whom I even recognised. Not a surprise since this kind of doosh doosh music is not my scene at all. (Olli the other hand was in DJ heaven!) You aren’t allowed any cameras in Space and upon entering you get quite a proper feel up as they search you for, ahem, illegal substances so even if you tried to smuggle a camera in I don’t know where you’d hide it (though somehow some people managed.) The search was more intense than any you normally get at the airport! We entered what seemed to be one of the main rooms and it was intense. Not an inch could we move and it was so hot I think Pauline was nearly going to pass out at one stage. The music was actually quite good when 2 Many DJ’s came on but after that it got rubbish and, to my ears, sounded like the same thing over and over. So boring! We took a wander through some of the other rooms but it was more of the same. By about 3 we’d all really had enough and headed back to our hotel, which was thankfully just across the road, for some much appreciated bed time. Oh – I forgot that Erin had some sort of stomach bug so couldn’t face coming to Space so she missed out unfortunately.

Day 3

Day 3 dawned bright so Pauline and I declared it beach day! Erin was still ill, Caroline was extremely tired and Olli wanted to sleep so James B, James C, Pauline and I were the only ones to make it to the beach. The two boys headed for a big walk up the beach so Pauline and I settled on to our sun lounges (6 euro per sun lounge and 6 euro per umbrellas) for most of the day. James C eventually came back to settle down with a book whilst James B took Olli into Ibiza Town for some shopping. We didn’t see Erin or Caroline until we headed out to dinner.

Its amazing how you can spend six hours on the beach and not even notice the time going by. We had a good session on the beach though I don’t think I added to my tan at all (not even my fried egg tan.) However I did indulge in what seems like a very Spanish thing to do – topless sunbathing! Ha ha.

On our last evening in Ibiza we decided to try and catch the sunset at Cafe Del Mar over at San Antonio. Unfortunately as we were too busy gorging ourselves on our last evening meal we just missed it – arriving in time to catch the last bits of it. Still it’s a very nice area down there by the bay. We caught up with a couple of Pauline’s friends before heading into the West End again. I wanted to check out Soul City for its R&B music and though I enjoyed the music I think the rest of them were pretty tired so we didn’t end up staying very long at all. So we started to head back to Playa at about midnight. Caroline and I just had to stop and ride this amusement ride though. I swear it that although it wasn’t scary it was downright sickening with its ups and downs. A fun thing to do on our last night in Ibiza and a nice memory before departing the island the following morning for Valencia.

Overall Ibiza was what I expected. A serious party island it is definitely for those hard core partiers (and also those with serious money to burn!) The thing that surprises me is that I actually want to go back and try out the rest of the clubs. I’ve heard that some of them offer some very interesting concepts which would be worth a look in such as Manumission’s Friday night Coney Island Revue. Check it out. Interesting no? 🙂

I’ve just come back from the most fabulous summer holiday in Athens – but not only did I come back with some wonderful memories and of course lots of photos I’ve come back with a KILLER tan. Mission Accomplished. Heh heh. I’m the brownest I’ve ever been though I’m sure with the anticipated lack of an English summer I’ll be back to my usual pale colour in a few weeks time. Best to take advantage of it whilst I can!

Its difficult to know where to start with the recap of the last week and a half. In summary the holiday consisted of going out (clubbing or cafe hoping) into the early hours of the morning or for the last half of the holiday until 7-8am every morning, sleeping in until what would normally be considered lunch time, going to the beach for the afternoon, having some “lunch”, having a nap, before finally starting the cycle again by going out to a beach cafe at about 10pm. Nice huh?

The Experience

Mirela made sure to plan an amazing time for me during my stay in Athens. Not only did she plan for where we’d spend our time for the 11/12 days (day and night) she also planned to have lots of family and friends around to keep us company. Pretty cool.

Day 1

Day 1 I guess technically started as soon as I stepped off of the plane Saturday morning at 1.30. Mirela was waiting for me looking very glam and summery in her linen white dress and she whisked us off straight away to a open air club by the beach called Babae. Although she said it wasn’t a favourite of hers (as its clients were mainly of the younger age – 16-17 (strangely there’s no age limit in the clubs in Greece)) she wanted me to check it out to show how different the clubs were in Athens compared with London. Also, Kostas and a heap of his uni friends were at the club waiting for us to join them.

I could see what she means about the quality of the clubs in Greece compared with London. In London they tend to be cramped and if not dirty not exactly welcoming. At Babae the roof top was open (and it was a gorgeous night), it was located by the water so the beach was right at our feet and it was very nicely decorated. We stayed there for a few hours before heading to another club about 5 minutes drive down the road called Güzel where we were hoping to see some more traditional Greek dancing. It definitely had Greek music but not many people were on the dancefloor so we left not too long after arriving. The drive back home was lovely in Mirela’s convertible – definitely taking advantage of the nice summery evening or should I say early morning.

After some shut eye later that afternoon we headed to Anavyssos for the beach. This coastal town was about an hour’s drive from Mirela’s house and apparently is where all the Athenians head when they can’t get away for a proper beach weekend hence it tends to be quite crowded on the weekend, as it was on Day 1 (a Saturday), but especially on a Sunday. The beach we went to had a nice beach bar and loads of sun beds. Unfortunately being as ram-packed as expected we couldn’t get any beds and had to settle for settling on the sand. Still, it was a very nice afternoon.

After the beach we headed to Mirela’s godparent’s house where we had dinner (at nearly midnight!) which consisted of fish caught fresh that day by their friends and cooked over their backyard barbecue. Yummy!

Day 2

Day 2 saw us visiting Mirela’s old workplace Hotel Poseidon which has its own rooftop pool. Thanks to Mirela we got free drinks and free use of the pool. It was very pleasant and had nice views along the Athenian coast line. The location of the hotel in Paleo Faliro is actually famous for its beaches and is Athen’s closest beach.

Dimitra, Mirela’s best friend, also met us at the hotel also to catch some rays. After a few of hours of intense sun and a dip or two in the pool we headed back home to refresh before heading to Flisvos Marina for a sunset coffee meeting up with Dimitra’s cousin.

Finally for the evening’s entertainment Mirela’s mum had organised some tickets to see a music concert at the Herodian Theatre which is located just south of the Acropolis. Its a gorgeous venue with very nice acoustics. The concert was of Nikos Portokaloglou and it seemed to be a kind of best of concert featuring at least eight artists with whom he has collaborated over the years. Even though all the singing was in Greek the music was still enjoyable.

Day 3

Day 3 was a fairly quiet day with us not doing too much but in the evening, after having a dinner to celebrate Mirela’s Mum’s name day, we headed to Mao Club where a friend of Mirela’s, Peny, was launching a new magazine 2morrow. There was all sorts of entertainment in including dancers from Greece’s version of So You Think You Can Dance, a whole host of C class celebs (dancers and singers), plus models strutting the catwalk in body paint. We were seated near some of the celebs including the winner of Miss Playboy in Greece. I swear her legs were longer than I was tall! … okay maybe the top of her legs came to my chest. I’m short yes but her legs were very long.

Days 4-6

Days 4-6 were spent at Methana which is a town/peninsula located in Piraeus in the eastern part of the Peloponnese peninsula and about a 2.5 hour ferry ride from Athens. Its also the home town of Kostas and Dimitra. Here I also met up with a few more of Mirela’s friends including meeting Poppy again (I met her when she came to London with Kostas) and more of Dimitra’s cousins (actually the brothers of Dimitras who I met on my first night at Babae!)

The population of the area is probably a few thousand so its fair to say that we pretty much had the beaches to ourselves! As soon as we got off the boat on our first day at Methana we headed straight to the beach Limniona. On weekends there is also a club on the the nearby cliffs though on a Tuesday it was very quiet and serene. It has the benefit of also having a small beach bar and nice sun beds.

On our second day in Methana we spent a bit of time on another side of the peninsula near Vathi. Here the beach was even more secluded and we were the only ones there. The water was so clear that you didn’t need goggles to see through the water. Mirela then treated Kostas and I to a nice seafood lunch. That evening we headed over to Poros which is a small Greek island about 3 minutes bus taxi from Methana. This is where the locals go, apparently, for the night life – the cafes were pretty busy actually though the bars seemed less busy. I guess it was the middle of the week and at midnight still relatively early for the Greeks to be out partying.

Our final day in Methana was more time on the beach before we headed back to Athens on a 2.5 hour boat ride and then on to Mirela’s other village home at Lykoporia.

Days 7-10

Lykoporia is like the home of Mirela’s family – every second person I met seemed to be her cousin, or a cousin of a cousin, or a cousin of a cousin of a cousin! It must be great to have such an extended family – for so long in Australia it just seemed like my dad, mum and brothers. Not that I’m complaining too much – because my family are great and truth be told I never really missed not having cousins, aunts, uncles, and grandparents in my day to day life.

But moving on!

In Lykoporia the days were so idyllic. Every day, after we finally woke up, we’d spend a few hours on the beach which was directly across the road from the house. Then Mirela’s grandmother, who doesn’t speak a smidgen of English, would cook us up something deliciously Greek for a very late lunch (practically dinner) which along with Mirela’s salads would end up being quite a substantial meal and actually all that we’d really eat all day. Even though Mirela’s grandmother couldn’t speak English and I couldn’t speak Greek we strangely didn’t have too much difficulty communicating. She was great and made sure to always be looking out for me.

Dimitra and a friend of Dimitra’s from work Nora joined us also for a long weekend away from Athens which was great.

Our evenings were then spent experiencing the nightlife that the surrounding villages had to offer – the first night we headed over to Patra where we first stopped at Ammos for a small drink. Ammos is where Mirela has spent a lot of her summers since she was 18 both working and going out. Its funny with these small villages that the locals just never seem to leave – we even saw Mirela’s first boyfriend! After Ammos we spent the rest of the night and most of the next morning until sunrise at a club called Cosmic. It is definitely the most popular club in the area, even if the DJ was pretty rubbish, and actually both Dimitra and Mirela were friends with the owners. The great thing about going out with Mirela is that she attracts a lot of male attention – this meant, by extension, a lot of free drinks for me! ha ha. All the males of the village seem to be in love with her including one of the part-owners of the club, at least two bar men, and of course the local vicitors to the club. Stumbling in to bed at 7am was a bit rough at first but over the next couple of days this got later and later (latest was 8.30 am) and after that my body clock was used to it but very all over the place and confused with the sleeping pattern.

On our second evening one of Mirela’s childhood friends Geli joined us and took us to her local
area Xylokastro which is in the other direction to Patras. Its a very gorgeous area with stretches of beach covered by these beach cafes – great location. We had a drink or two at Rouviera cafe before we turned around and headed back to Patras first stopping in at Medusa where Gelly’s boyfriend was DJing and then finally finishing, of course, at Cosmic. It was a rather interesting evening with Dimitra having to spend time in jail with her boyfriend who had been imprisoned for the night because of the club being too noisy! We ended the morning with some Cheese Pies. I guess Greece’s version of the kebab!

On our final night we spent the whole evening in Xylokastro. We were supposed to meet up with Veni and Ilyas (whom we’d actually spent the day with on the beach) and we did see Ilyas briefly but in the end by about midnight they decided they wanted to go home to sleep! Instead, an old flame, and also cousin to Geli’s boyfriend, Nikos and his friend decided to take us on a tour of a couple of bars before we finally settled at club Flight for the night. Here the music was actually excellent so I ended up having a great time. When Flight closed for the night, or should I say morning, Nikos clearly still wanted the night out to continue (what can I say – he was really keen on Mirela even though he knew she had a boyfriend) that he dragged us into another club down the road, No Se-No Se Verano, where, even though they were also in the process of closing, he still managed to score us some free shots! Oh boy. Ironically outside one of the bouncers was wearing a shirt “Here We Go Again & Again, Again & Again, Again & Again”. Finally with the sun just starting to rise we ended up at a hot food stand where he, much to our amusement, ordered all our food and, the funniest bit was, he ordered us all different things. Here we ate, saw the sun rise properly, and chatted before finally Nikos consented to drive us home (mainly because I think his friend had to go to work after about 30 minutes!)

My final day in Lykoporia was mainly spent sleeping though with my body clock all over the place and with the heat and noise I couldn’t actually sleep much past noon so I spent as much of my time as I could on the beach before early evening when we packed up and headed back to Athens. It was my final evening in Greece and I had seen Mirela’s Dad for about 5 minutes on my first day. He had been on a sailing trip for the rest of the time so I was pleased to hear that we had a bit of time to spend with him once we got back to Athens.

That evening Mirela and I were supposed to grab some sushi and even though her friend had assured us the restaurant would be open he forgot to tell her it had moved about 45 minutes drive away! She was a bit miffed but in the end we ended up in Gazi, the gas district, which was where we were going to meet up with Nora and Dimitra anyway later that evening where we enjoyed some delicious Greek-style tapas food for my last evening.

Day 11

And that was my summer holiday in Athens. My final day in Athen was spending some quiet time with Mirela. As I said from the beginning of this post I really left with some great memories and a great tan. I met so many nice Greek people. It was difficult at times because although many spoke English it was clear it was a lot easier for them to speak in Greek so half the time I hadn’t a clue what was being said. So next time I will have to make sure to pick up some Greek to make my experience even greater if thats possible. Thanks to Mirela and her family and friends once again for hosting me but especially to Mirela really for organising and thinking of a great itinerary. No wonder her career path is taking her down the Event Planner route!

Its the Easter Bank Holiday weekend – what’s a girl to do?

I really really really dislike travelling at peak times like this when it feels like every man and his dog has decided to flee London clogging up public transport and the airports. But everyone kept telling me that I couldn’t waste the 4-day Easter Bank Holiday weekend by just hanging around in London. Coincidentally Mirela has been inviting me up to Birmingham for some time as her boyfriend lives there and with a whole three-bed house to himself its a good opportunity to visit and get free accommodation and a local tour guide. It just so happened that this weekend was his last weekend in the country so it seemed like divine timing to spend my weekend up there.

By going up on Saturday afternoon I thought I would have missed most of the travellers but when I got to Marylebone the station was still heaving and my train was packed .. until at least halfway into the journey up to Birmingham when I finally got a seat! Argh! Still, it wasn’t so bad I guess – at least the train was fairly nice.

Before I headed up to Birmingham I tried to see what I could do up there. There seemed to be a few things to see and do such as Museum of the Jewellery Quarter, the Tolkien Trail, Cadbury’s World, the Botanical Gardens, and the National Sea Life Centre. But in the end I didn’t do any of them. Instead I ended up spending a fairly relaxing weekend doing things I would probably do in London such as playing pool at the Sports Cafe, bowling, salsa dancing and clubbing! LOL. It was kind of a freezing cold weekend and that hampered my tourist activities a bit. The most touristy thing I did was visit the canals and the Bullring (a giant shopping centre.) We also went to visit Enrique’s (Mirela’s boyfriend) tennis club, Edgbaston Priory Club, which was very nice indeed – too bad it was soo very cold!

Next visit I will definitely have to try and check out a few of the more local sights!