When it rains in Valencia...

When we got to Valencia it was overcast and I looked like a bit of a berk walking around in a short-sleeved dress when everyone else was mooching around in coats and scarves... I guess the English weather has caught up with us. I insisted on going to the beach regardless of the weather and we spent an hour shivering on the sand before giving up. To be fair, it was a nice beach and would have been awesome if it was a tad warmer - but as it was about 14 degrees it just felt like I was at Skeg.

It turns out there's not a great deal to do in Valencia when it's chucking it down, which is exactly what it started to do on day 2 of our visit. Everything of interest: the parks, the buildings,  etc are all geared up for nice weather, and even the cafes are packed out inside as no one wants to sit out in the rain. We still managed to have a good mosey about and take it all in, just would be nice for a bit of sunshine. This afternoon we've given up to get on with the blog and pack for tomorrow. I didn't realise that everything would be closed on a Sunday - the markets, the supermarkets and a lot of the restaurants I had my eye on to go out for lunch/dinner. I've managed to get some slightly battered fruit from a stall to eat, so will have to get up early to nip to the shops before we start our 6 hour journey to Figueres tomorrow. Determined to find Tapas for tonight as don't want to starve.

Our hosts are architects and both really cool. Last night we ended up accidentally eating together as our cooking coincided. They invited us out with some of their mates for some drinks and tapas afterwards - was totally awesome. The conversation kept switching from Spanish to English for our benefit and we had a good laugh, felt totally cool to be out with people who actually live here. We talked about money including what we earn and the cost of renting places etc in the UK - stuff which wouldn't be asked at home. Was a really awesome night and totally made up for the soggy day. We talked about Valencia as well as the places we are going and the places that we've been.

They also have two gorgeous cats who've been keeping me entertained seeing as outside is a bit of a no-man's land.

Really hoping Figueres turns out to be warmer...

Madrid is brilliant.

Madrid is brilliant...

We slept a little better this time on the sleeper from Lisbon, and got some nice views over the countryside on the way into the city (this time I was awake enough to take pictures).

The train got in at Chamatin, the station in the north. We needed to be at the south station, Atocha, where our host lives. Transferring between the two was easy, using the underground commuter line that connects the two stations taking ten minutes. My first thoughts here were how easy it was, I was expecting a load of hassle.

turtles at atocha...

We left our luggage in the stations lockers, where we had to put them through security scanners. We had to do this at a few other locations in Madrid, as well as when boarding our train to Valencia. I was initially surprised at the heightened security compared with previous parts of my trip, but then it was Atocha station that was targeted in the 2004 bomb attacks and apparently the terrorism threat here is quite high.

Next, we went to the Prado museum to kill some time before we could check-in at 2. It was no where near as faffy as the Louvre, and was a nice way to spend a few hours checking out Bosch and Goya.

Our accommodation was awesome. We stayed with Lucia, a really sweet web designer who lives in the coolest apartment ever. I'm always a little apprehensive getting to a new place, but she swooped down on us and made us feel really welcome, was bril. We were on one of the main streets near Atocha, Paseo de las Delicias which was handy for the station and the really lovely el Ritiro park, where we spent a lot of our time.

We ran into some protests on our way to the cultural centre. I asked inside and the girl there told me there's been a lot of anti-austerity protests, with this one being an union of doctors protesting against the privatization of the national healthcare. When we left the cultural centre, the area had been slightly  barricaded so we had to exit via the big crowd - but it was fun, everyone seemed to be having a good time... was tempted to pinch a flag and join in.

For dinner, we went out for Tapas to this awesome little place near the centre. Each dish was only about 2-3 euros and we had a couple each, costing us about a tenner each including drinks - nice one. Everyone seems to eat really late in Spain, it was dead when we walked in at half 8 and they were turning people away cos it was full at 10.

On our final day there seemed to be a more noticeable police presence, with a lot of riot vans parked in the streets and helicopter noise overhead. There was a great deal of noise that night and a quick twitter search told me more anti-austerity protests had been organised and arrests had been made - apparently an anarchistic group had planned to blow up a bank...

On Friday we headed to Valencia. I love how much leg room you get on the train, and how swanky these Spanish trains seem to be. You even get a film to watch. It took two hours to travel 350 km.

Lisbon

We arrived in Lisbon on Friday morning after the 12 or so hours on the misleadingly named 'Sleeper' train. The train itself was very comfy and fancy with a nice wake-up call and breakfast with views over the epic countryside, but the ride was bumpy throughout the night and neither of us got much shut-eye. When we got to our host's place, we crashed out til the afternoon, then spent the rest of the day sat people watching in Sao Sebastiao park. 

The Gorgeous Santa Apolonia Station:

Views from the train

On Saturday we visited the Alfama district which is one of the old parts that survived the earthquake of 1755. It was made up of winding narrow streets, which were fab to get lost in. Many of the houses were tiled on the outside and the area was very sweet, even if the hills were a pain in the arse. 

Alfama

On Sunday we visited the much more modern Baxia area. It had some cool monuments and was clean and spacious but I just didn't get a nice vibe. There were a lot of pesterers here too: blokes trying to sell knock-off sunglasses and even some guys approaching us offering weed - probably part of some scam were a fake copper turns up to 'fine' you on the spot. Ha. To make up for this slight crappiness, we stumbled upon a botanical garden which turned out to be a nice haven for a couple of hours. 


On Monday we had time to kill waiting for our Madrid night train, so went back to Alfama for some Portuguese tapas and then headed home to pack. 

Pros:

Prices: A nice drop from Paris. Supermarkets here were really cheap and we were feeding ourselves on about 4 euros each a day. 

Spaces: Lisbon has some great parks and a lot of the city is very pretty - particularly Alfama. 

Metro: Another thing I noticed was how clean and modern the metro was - spaced out and open, with background music and lights along the edge of the platform that lit up when the train was arriving. A nice change from the cramped and manky Paris Metro. Lisbon's not yet outgrown itself.

Cons: 

I noticed a few beggers about in Lisbon, including people on the streets and a few people on the metro - including a blind chap with a stick walking up and down the carriage. Similarly, the streets were a little dirty with dog dirt and litter - particularly the part we were staying which was more residential - it all felt safe though.

Paris

I'm currently sat in our 2-berth compartment on our night train to Lisbon, writing out my blogpost on WordPad (no wifi...)

So far...

Paris

Monday: Arrived at about 7 and chilled out at the Sacré-Cœur
Tuesday: Spent day in the gardens at the Louvre, then went to Eiffel Tower
Weds: Most of day in Louvre, then went home to pack.

I liked Paris, and I really, really, really thought I wouldn't. I got warned about it being rough and teeming with pick-pockets but didn't have any issues, although there were quite a few people begging - on the tube and at the train station which was awkward. We also casually seemed to wander into the red-light district when going to a pizza place (which was awesome, even if it did look like the interior of Topkapi) and saw several ladies in their 40s wearing small items made of latex standing on the street corner. I did also get a feeling that Paris seems quite dirty, dog crap on the paths and rubbish spilling out of bins. 

We rented an attic room near the Sacré-Cœur in this awesome old-fashioned Parisian building. We stayed with a local girl, Larisa, who was really sweet and the area was chilled out compared with the rest of Paris. It was like 23 degrees too which was nice and a nice break from the arctic weather we've had at home. We watched the sunset from the Sacré-Cœur  and chilled out on the steps where everyone was picnicking and drinking, and some guys were selling some questionable beer they probably brewed up in a bathtub to the tourists.

Things that wound me up in Paris: faffing and queueing. Faffing about at the Eiffel tower working out which line we needed to be in (could just be because we are stupid)... Queueing for tickets, queueing for security, queueing to get the top which is pointless as it's so packed out you can't see until you queue some more for someone to move. Then there was the half an hour queue to get down off the damn thing. Wonder if any suicides of the top of the tower were just people who were sick of the faff and wanted a shortcut.

The Louvre: I dragged Dan out of bed really early to get there for the opening at 9am (which it says on the website). We arrived at what I hoped was the sneaky side entrance to find a ridiculous queue all through the shopping centre. I had a word with the American behind me who had found out that the Louvre was casually opening an hour late that day, because (her words not mine) "They're French, they do what they like." So I queued some more and finally got in at 10:30. To be fair, the Louvre was awesome and pretty much worth the faffing. We decided to wing it round the Louvre and spent most of our time in the rather epic Ancient Egyptian section vaguely discussing the difference between grave robbing and archaeology... We stumbled across the Venus de Milo, the Sphinx and good old Mona Lisa - the big three everyone does. Then chilled on the grass in the park and recovered from our queueing trauma.



Onto Lisbon:

The trip to Lisbon is about 21 hours in duration (who's idea was this?). We went from Gare Montparness in Paris to Hendaye, then took a little local train to Irun, which was interesting as there are three 'Irun' stations so we had to wing it. We then got lost in Irun and wandered around trying to find the RENFE station for a good 40 mins, finally finding a huge but deserted station that doesn't suit a town the size of Lincoln. Anyway, somehow I've managed to get onto the right train heading overnight to Lisbon.

I think because I'm so used to all the security passport faffing at airports that I find it so strange to casually walk across from one country to another. Hendaye is the border with France and Irun is on the Spanish side, and because something to do with different track types there aren't direct trains from France, you have to cross the border yourself.

Night train:
Initial thoughts: this is so cool. We're in an admittedly minuscule compartment but it's just ours, with chairs that fold down into beds, a sink, mirror, pack of toiletries (including razor, toothbrush and sewing kit...) and a huuuge window to look at the awesome scenery in northern Spain/Portugal. The porter lady said she'd wake us in the morning, which is good because we keep having to change our clocks and I'm losing track...

  

***

Hello Lisbon:
I'm finally in Lisbon in a cute little apartment rented by Monica and her two cats. We've got the WIFI going so I can carry on my post.
"I'm sure I'll sleep really well on the night train" - ahaha OR NOT. The beds were amazing but the train was a noisy pain in the arse all night and I only got a few hours kip. I got woken up at dawn by the nice Spanish lady telling me I got free breakfast, which we ate in the restaurant car overlooking the sunrise and awesome scenery. Would have appreciated it more and took photos if not completely knackered.
Might get some rest or go wandering...

Introduction & Preparation

Dan: I've always wanted to go travelling so the idea to do some big, stupid trip has always been lingering in my head. After enjoying visits to a few places in Europe and the fact that it isn't very far away, it seemed like the ideal place to go. The vague idea quickly developed into a plan to plot specific places we wanted to see then get between them via train, since I'm not a huge fan of all the faff involved with flying and we could get a decent amount of discount with Interrail tickets. After a visit to the DIY shop and a hefty printing session we managed to bodge together a map complete with pins and string of where we wanted to go and a rough outline of the route we'd take.

The plan is to go for 3 months using trains for the majority of the journey, with a flight from Norway to the Netherlands. Places we'll be visiting: Paris, Lisbon, Madrid, Valencia, Figueres, Nimes, Lyon, Geneva, Florence, Rome, Verona, Padova, Venice, Bled, Ljubljana, Zagreb, Budapest, Bratislava, Vienna, Prague, Dresden, Berlin, Copenhagen, Stockholm, Trondheim, Bodo, Oslo, Rotterdam, Brugge. We planned our accommodation and booked most of it using AirBnB.

We're now pretty much set, with just things like odd bits of clothing to buy and some documents to print. It's not really sank in yet that we're doing this even though we've spent the last 3 months planning it and we set off in 9 days! The longest trip we've been on was a two week package holiday to Crete so it's quite a step up.