The great thing about being in Europe over the summer is the abundance of festivals you can enjoy. The next key festival on my agenda was La Tomatina (the tomato festival). It is considered the world’s largest food fight, with truckloads of tomatoes being distributed along a narrow enclosed street in the center Bunol, Spain. It is also along the typical Australia festival circuit, so I ran into a few of my Aussie friends I had met earlier in the trip.
The festival was definitely an experience. It was an early start, to get to a supersaturated street (of mostly young travelers), and then waiting in the scorching heat for the fight to begin. Luckily the other tradition of the festival is the locals standing on their balconies tossing buckets of water or spraying hoses on the sweaty, awaiting patrons below. Once the tomatoes arrived, I found that location was the key, and mine was not great. We were not close enough to the truck route to get the surplus of tomatoes. Our little square did mostly watching and threw around the straw mushy remains that made it out of the main battle zone. Trying to move closer to the action was nearly impossible as you were shoulder-to-shoulder in this sardine can town center. But when it was over I was rather glad I was not covered in the tomato soup for the trip back to Valencia. I am sure there were people that could not get the smell off for days. But at least their hair was strong and clean.
Wednesday, August 25, 2010
Wednesday, August 18, 2010
The King should spend on infrastructure
El Chorro was the rock climbers heaven that had been promised. Literally hundreds of routes scattered on multiple crags throughout the gorge and surrounding area. The only downfall was that it was so hot that the amount of climbing had to be limited.
But the primary purpose for going was the El Caminito del Rey (King's Pathway) hike. It was fantastic. It is officially off-limits, so the authorities removed the walkway from the beginning section. So you have to traverse along the cliffside right off the bat. And the anxiety continues down the whole walkway. Although it was interesting that the walk back was much faster and less cautious, as the body becomes accustomed to the tightrope act and gaping holes in the pathway.
To add to the enjoyment, the lodge was run by a nice british family, there were fun other guests, great company, a relaxing pool, and a day spent at the lake. It was exactly what I was hoping for.
But the primary purpose for going was the El Caminito del Rey (King's Pathway) hike. It was fantastic. It is officially off-limits, so the authorities removed the walkway from the beginning section. So you have to traverse along the cliffside right off the bat. And the anxiety continues down the whole walkway. Although it was interesting that the walk back was much faster and less cautious, as the body becomes accustomed to the tightrope act and gaping holes in the pathway.
To add to the enjoyment, the lodge was run by a nice british family, there were fun other guests, great company, a relaxing pool, and a day spent at the lake. It was exactly what I was hoping for.
Saturday, August 14, 2010
The tides have changed
While my time in Rovinj, Croatia was fantastic, trying to move on to the next location started a series of travel woes that nearly took the wind out of my sails. My plan was to continue west into Bosnia, where there was a town across the border with a river that had amazing white-water rafting. It was Friday morning when I packed up to catch the bus out of Rovinj. But when I got to the bus station, it was a mess. The line to the single window was all around the sidewalk. The lady in the window was one of the worst I have ever seen. So people were standing in the non-moving line for 30-45 minutes and watching the buses they wanted to take leave half full because no one could get tickets. I finally gave up and decided this might be a good time to experience a true piece of backpacking through Europe…..hitch-hiking. It was only an hour ride to the next main town where I needed to catch a bus transfer to get out of Croatia. The area was full of vacationers, so it shouldn’t be too hard to catch a ride, right. Wrong. I walked and thumbed for nearly five hours beside the busy road out of town with absolutely no luck. Finally, after enduring a small rain pour and starting to wonder where I could pitch my tent in this countryside, I young lady stopped and gave me a ride. She was also amazed that I had been disregarded for so long.
Once at the next bus station, things did not turn around. I spent the whole night trying to figure out how to get where I wanted to go, only to be given many different answers, which continually turned out to be incorrect. By mid-Sat morning, I was so disgusted and exhausted I decided to just head back to Spain a few days early. So I changed all my attention and tried to head west. It was awhile until the next bus to Venice, so I sat in the bus station for more time. Got to Venice just in time to miss the afternoon flight to Barcelona, so sat in the airport for six hours until the nighttime flight. So I left Rovinj on Friday morning and didn’t get to an actual destination until Sunday morning.
My travels continued to be agonizing for nearly two weeks after that, but I will not go into all of the details.
Once at the next bus station, things did not turn around. I spent the whole night trying to figure out how to get where I wanted to go, only to be given many different answers, which continually turned out to be incorrect. By mid-Sat morning, I was so disgusted and exhausted I decided to just head back to Spain a few days early. So I changed all my attention and tried to head west. It was awhile until the next bus to Venice, so I sat in the bus station for more time. Got to Venice just in time to miss the afternoon flight to Barcelona, so sat in the airport for six hours until the nighttime flight. So I left Rovinj on Friday morning and didn’t get to an actual destination until Sunday morning.
My travels continued to be agonizing for nearly two weeks after that, but I will not go into all of the details.
Tuesday, August 10, 2010
Chance or Fate ??
Since you are reading this post, then I obviously made it somewhere safe at the end of my adventurous bus trip. But it turns out the bus ride was only the beginning of this story.
I am not sure if I believe in the concept of fate, or the philosophy that life is a collection of random acts. But I don't think it really matters. Either things happen merely by chance, or each roadbump is an elaborate scheme to place you where you are supposed to be at the right time. Either way I look at it, I have been unbelievably lucky each step of this trip, regardless of whether I realize it at the time or not.
The bus trip finally ended when we got to a stop in Croatia at 11pm (not 7 pm, when we were scheduled to arrive in Pula, Croatia). The bus driver and assistant were absolutely of no help. They only spoke in Italian, and were very unwilling to take the time to talk with anyone that was not Italian. We had made stops at several small bus stops along the way, and one time I almost got off because they impatiently shouted back 'Bola', which sounds just like 'Pula' when said in such a heavy accent. But since it looked like the middle of nowhere, and only 3 people got off, I decided to ride it out. Finally when we got to the main bus stop, everyone got up to get off; so I followed the crowd.
Immediately off the bus I walked up to three young ladies that also had backpacks. You always have better luck with other such travelers. They were from Holland and spoke english. They said they were staying at a campsite just a short cab ride away; I was all for that. We shared a cab and I had no problems getting a site. And it was cheap, only about $10 per day. But it wasn't until the next morning that I found out it was just across the street from the Mediterranean coast. But it got even better. Upon my first walk down their rocky beaches, I found a scuba diving center just a few hundred meters from the campsite. They had availability, and I will have completed all 4 of my required Open Water Dives by tomorrow. Even more, there are some nice rock climbing cliffs at the end of the peninsula, places for sea kayak and bike rentals, I saw a sign for sky diving, the Old Town is traditional and beautiful, the food is great, and there is tons of street music and activities during the evenings. And to top it all off; it is by far the cheapest place I have been in Europe.
Needless to say, I am loving my choice to come to Croatia. The fateful joke of it is....I am not in the city I thought I was or planned to be. It took me over a day to finally realize I did not get off the bus in Pula, where my ticket was purchased for. I got off a stop early in Rovinja. Just goes to show, sometimes you get to the best things in life by accident(or fate).
I am not sure if I believe in the concept of fate, or the philosophy that life is a collection of random acts. But I don't think it really matters. Either things happen merely by chance, or each roadbump is an elaborate scheme to place you where you are supposed to be at the right time. Either way I look at it, I have been unbelievably lucky each step of this trip, regardless of whether I realize it at the time or not.
The bus trip finally ended when we got to a stop in Croatia at 11pm (not 7 pm, when we were scheduled to arrive in Pula, Croatia). The bus driver and assistant were absolutely of no help. They only spoke in Italian, and were very unwilling to take the time to talk with anyone that was not Italian. We had made stops at several small bus stops along the way, and one time I almost got off because they impatiently shouted back 'Bola', which sounds just like 'Pula' when said in such a heavy accent. But since it looked like the middle of nowhere, and only 3 people got off, I decided to ride it out. Finally when we got to the main bus stop, everyone got up to get off; so I followed the crowd.
Immediately off the bus I walked up to three young ladies that also had backpacks. You always have better luck with other such travelers. They were from Holland and spoke english. They said they were staying at a campsite just a short cab ride away; I was all for that. We shared a cab and I had no problems getting a site. And it was cheap, only about $10 per day. But it wasn't until the next morning that I found out it was just across the street from the Mediterranean coast. But it got even better. Upon my first walk down their rocky beaches, I found a scuba diving center just a few hundred meters from the campsite. They had availability, and I will have completed all 4 of my required Open Water Dives by tomorrow. Even more, there are some nice rock climbing cliffs at the end of the peninsula, places for sea kayak and bike rentals, I saw a sign for sky diving, the Old Town is traditional and beautiful, the food is great, and there is tons of street music and activities during the evenings. And to top it all off; it is by far the cheapest place I have been in Europe.
Needless to say, I am loving my choice to come to Croatia. The fateful joke of it is....I am not in the city I thought I was or planned to be. It took me over a day to finally realize I did not get off the bus in Pula, where my ticket was purchased for. I got off a stop early in Rovinja. Just goes to show, sometimes you get to the best things in life by accident(or fate).
Saturday, August 7, 2010
No coasting on the coasts
After several days of enjoying the relaxing pace of my Florence schedule, I thought it would be only fitting to try to squeeze several cities and activities into as small a window as possible. I got up early Friday morning to catch an 8:30 train out of Florence. I was going to spend the day in Cinque Terre, but figured I could stop in Pisa on the way. An hour train ride to Pisa, 15 minute walk through the city, 30 minutes taking pictures of some tower that just doesn’t seem to be standing up straight, then back to the train station to continue on.
By noon I was arriving in the Cinque Terre region. It is a stretch of 5 little fishing villages that cling to the cliffs on the northwest coast of Italy (just south of Genova). All I have to say is…this is one of the ‘must visit’ places if you are ever in Italy or eastern France. The pictures just don’t capture its wonder. I hiked the several kilometer trail that connects all five towns. However, I read on wikitravel that it was a pretty easy hiking trail. They lied. I consider myself in pretty good shape (let’s hope so if I am going to make it up Kilimanjaro), and there were a few long ascents that made my legs burn and my heart race. But it was well worth it. The views are breath-taking, even before the strenuous climb, and the towns are uniquely amazing. There are little shops, restaurants, B&Bs, swimming and sunbathing spots, and plenty of gelaterias to make you smile all day long. And they call the nature trail the Romance Walk (but I would only say that between the first 3 towns). Overall, it is definitely someplace I will go back to and enjoy for multiple days with someone special (hopefully :-D ). For this, I deem Cinque Terre the ‘Top Naturally Beautiful Community’ (as Edinburgh is the ‘Top Architecturally Beautiful City’ and the Cliffs of Moher is the ‘Top Natural Marvel’, but there isn’t much else there to do).
And on a side note, I finally found a spot to get in my first DWS (Deep Water Solo) climb. It was more like glorified bouldering, as it was only 10-12 meters high, but I enjoyed it all the same. The danger of falling wasn’t too great though, since I jumped off into the ocean after I topped out. Although the biggest challenge was timing the difficult riding of the waves in to actually get on the wall. . That was an adventure in-and-of-itself. The high waves liked to throw you against the rock, then wash you back off when you try to grab on. And bare-foot climbing semi-jagged rock added to the fun; as well making the last hour of the hike more interesting with a few small cuts on the bottom of my feet.
But I digress back to the topic of the jam packed schedule. After 7 hours of hiking, climbing and swimming, I was back on a train. This time to take an over night train across to the other coast of Italy, to Venice. However, it turned into an all night adventure. After booking the train, I realized it was not one long overnight train where I could sleep the whole way. No, it was three different trains that gave me just a few small 1-2 hours blocks to sleep. To make things even more interesting, I slept through one of my stops (since signs and communication on the trains in Italy is non-exsistent). So it was an entire night of travel nightmares and very little sleep. But I arrived in Venice on Saturday morning just the same, and only an hour later than planned. I only spent half a day in Venice, as several travelers that just came from there said would be sufficient.
Venice is one of those places that I originally had high hopes for due to the Hollywood portrayal, but then dropped my expectations drastically after other feedback and my experience in some other Italian cities. But I ended up enjoying my time there. The canal streets and thin walking streets are quite captivating. Although the only negative I have to say is that the local so-called information service providers are the most useless and unaccommodating as any place I have been so far. In two train stations, three bus information booths, one water taxi stand, and one actual bus attendant everyone seemed bothered to answer your questions and most of them had no idea or gave incorrect information. But oh well.
So to end my 48-hour city hop, I jumped on a bus headed toward the small city of Pula, Croatia. It was scheduled to get in at 7 pm on Saturday night. As fate has been messing with my schedule the entire trip, we have been sitting in a traffic jam just outside of Venice for the last 4 hours. Who knows where I will actually end up, or when. But the positive side is, it has given me a large block of time to catch up on transferring pictures to my computer and writing this blog. Now I just have to get online sometime to load it all to the web.
By noon I was arriving in the Cinque Terre region. It is a stretch of 5 little fishing villages that cling to the cliffs on the northwest coast of Italy (just south of Genova). All I have to say is…this is one of the ‘must visit’ places if you are ever in Italy or eastern France. The pictures just don’t capture its wonder. I hiked the several kilometer trail that connects all five towns. However, I read on wikitravel that it was a pretty easy hiking trail. They lied. I consider myself in pretty good shape (let’s hope so if I am going to make it up Kilimanjaro), and there were a few long ascents that made my legs burn and my heart race. But it was well worth it. The views are breath-taking, even before the strenuous climb, and the towns are uniquely amazing. There are little shops, restaurants, B&Bs, swimming and sunbathing spots, and plenty of gelaterias to make you smile all day long. And they call the nature trail the Romance Walk (but I would only say that between the first 3 towns). Overall, it is definitely someplace I will go back to and enjoy for multiple days with someone special (hopefully :-D ). For this, I deem Cinque Terre the ‘Top Naturally Beautiful Community’ (as Edinburgh is the ‘Top Architecturally Beautiful City’ and the Cliffs of Moher is the ‘Top Natural Marvel’, but there isn’t much else there to do).
And on a side note, I finally found a spot to get in my first DWS (Deep Water Solo) climb. It was more like glorified bouldering, as it was only 10-12 meters high, but I enjoyed it all the same. The danger of falling wasn’t too great though, since I jumped off into the ocean after I topped out. Although the biggest challenge was timing the difficult riding of the waves in to actually get on the wall. . That was an adventure in-and-of-itself. The high waves liked to throw you against the rock, then wash you back off when you try to grab on. And bare-foot climbing semi-jagged rock added to the fun; as well making the last hour of the hike more interesting with a few small cuts on the bottom of my feet.
But I digress back to the topic of the jam packed schedule. After 7 hours of hiking, climbing and swimming, I was back on a train. This time to take an over night train across to the other coast of Italy, to Venice. However, it turned into an all night adventure. After booking the train, I realized it was not one long overnight train where I could sleep the whole way. No, it was three different trains that gave me just a few small 1-2 hours blocks to sleep. To make things even more interesting, I slept through one of my stops (since signs and communication on the trains in Italy is non-exsistent). So it was an entire night of travel nightmares and very little sleep. But I arrived in Venice on Saturday morning just the same, and only an hour later than planned. I only spent half a day in Venice, as several travelers that just came from there said would be sufficient.
Venice is one of those places that I originally had high hopes for due to the Hollywood portrayal, but then dropped my expectations drastically after other feedback and my experience in some other Italian cities. But I ended up enjoying my time there. The canal streets and thin walking streets are quite captivating. Although the only negative I have to say is that the local so-called information service providers are the most useless and unaccommodating as any place I have been so far. In two train stations, three bus information booths, one water taxi stand, and one actual bus attendant everyone seemed bothered to answer your questions and most of them had no idea or gave incorrect information. But oh well.
So to end my 48-hour city hop, I jumped on a bus headed toward the small city of Pula, Croatia. It was scheduled to get in at 7 pm on Saturday night. As fate has been messing with my schedule the entire trip, we have been sitting in a traffic jam just outside of Venice for the last 4 hours. Who knows where I will actually end up, or when. But the positive side is, it has given me a large block of time to catch up on transferring pictures to my computer and writing this blog. Now I just have to get online sometime to load it all to the web.
Friday, August 6, 2010
Under the Tuscan Sun
Many times Hollywood glamorizes something in a way that is impossible to live up to the expectations people create for it. That is unless we could walk around with Hi-Def special effects glasses on, with a soft-spoken narrator and small orchestra in tow. But when I decided to take a day trip to explore the Chianti wine region south of Florence, I was pleasantly surprised at how well it lived up to the allure. It took only a cheap, 1 hour bus ride to Greve in Chianti, and 20 Euro to rent a scooter for the day, and I was wisping my way under the Tuscan sun, with my hair blowing in the wind. Well, maybe not exactly, since it was only a 50 cc scooter, it was mandatory to wear a helmet, and my hair is still pretty short. (It was the damn narrator in my ear telling me to write these things). Nonetheless, it was everything I had hoped it would be. Vineyards lining the roads as far as you could see, beautiful plush-green rolling hills, and those quaint little cobblestone houses really do exist. I stopped at two wineries for tastings, visited a medieval town, and went back with a bottle of wine for dinner.
Thursday, August 5, 2010
The Florentines still rule
There is a reason I had several people tell me I had to visit Florence if I was going to spend time in Italy; because it is a fabulous city. After visiting several other major cities in Italy, I could appreciate what each of them had to offer, but I just wasn’t thrilled by any of them. It felt like there was a lot of other negative vibes you had to try to overcome while absorbing the relaxation of vacation. Then I got to Florence and the negative vibes went away. The city was cleaner, the people were more pleasant, and the transportation was quick to figure out.
My last day in Rome didn’t go as expected, so I decided last minute to leave in the morning instead of the late afternoon. This meant that once again I headed into a new city on the train with absolutely no plan or accommodations once I got there. I keep telling myself I need to quite doing that…but it works out better as often as it leaves me frantic, so maybe I will keep playing the odds. But this time when I got off the train, walked into the street, and began to stare aimlessly in each direction trying to figure out where to start, I had several people come up to me and try to assist the obviously oblivious foreign backpacker. One of these people was a girl from Turkey/Canada (yeah, I was confused at first too). She pointed me in the direction of a hostel she had checked into a few hours before; and even gave me pointers on booking it online first to get a very reduced rate. After just a short period of time searching for an internet café and figuring out the busing layout, I was checked-in with plenty of time for a shower (with consistent hot water and good pressure, oh yeah!) before the in-house prepared dinner in the court yard. The place was great. I met several other cool people around the dinner table the couple of nights I ate there.
The low prices, free internet access (albeit a sporadic wifi signal), comforting feel of the city, and easy access to other travelers made it a quick decision to stay there for several days. In that time there was plenty to do. It had plenty of history and magnificent architecture. I visited the Uffizi Art Museum, which is one of the best in the world. And several of us from the hostel went to Piazza Michelangelo for a picnic dinner, with local Chianti wine, and watched the beautiful sunset over the city.
Plus, Florence is a great central location to take day trips in nearly every direction. I may have to put Florence atop the list for the best ‘all-around’ city I have visited so far. Although, it was not more structurally amazing than Edinburgh. So maybe I will just need to create ‘The Tops’ lists for different categories. Hey, it’s my blog, I can do whatever I want.
My last day in Rome didn’t go as expected, so I decided last minute to leave in the morning instead of the late afternoon. This meant that once again I headed into a new city on the train with absolutely no plan or accommodations once I got there. I keep telling myself I need to quite doing that…but it works out better as often as it leaves me frantic, so maybe I will keep playing the odds. But this time when I got off the train, walked into the street, and began to stare aimlessly in each direction trying to figure out where to start, I had several people come up to me and try to assist the obviously oblivious foreign backpacker. One of these people was a girl from Turkey/Canada (yeah, I was confused at first too). She pointed me in the direction of a hostel she had checked into a few hours before; and even gave me pointers on booking it online first to get a very reduced rate. After just a short period of time searching for an internet café and figuring out the busing layout, I was checked-in with plenty of time for a shower (with consistent hot water and good pressure, oh yeah!) before the in-house prepared dinner in the court yard. The place was great. I met several other cool people around the dinner table the couple of nights I ate there.
The low prices, free internet access (albeit a sporadic wifi signal), comforting feel of the city, and easy access to other travelers made it a quick decision to stay there for several days. In that time there was plenty to do. It had plenty of history and magnificent architecture. I visited the Uffizi Art Museum, which is one of the best in the world. And several of us from the hostel went to Piazza Michelangelo for a picnic dinner, with local Chianti wine, and watched the beautiful sunset over the city.
Plus, Florence is a great central location to take day trips in nearly every direction. I may have to put Florence atop the list for the best ‘all-around’ city I have visited so far. Although, it was not more structurally amazing than Edinburgh. So maybe I will just need to create ‘The Tops’ lists for different categories. Hey, it’s my blog, I can do whatever I want.
Wednesday, August 4, 2010
Italian interactions
I have found it very interesting to watch how Italians interact with one another. I am again reassured that stereotypes usually have a pretty solid base in reality, regardless of whether or not you agree with the acceptability of stereotyping.
I have seen countless Italians get very worked up and become very emphatic in their dialogue. They talk loud and quickly, wave their hands around and are very passionate about what they are saying. It is sort of like being in an entire country of Thompson's at a family reunion :-)
I have seen countless Italians get very worked up and become very emphatic in their dialogue. They talk loud and quickly, wave their hands around and are very passionate about what they are saying. It is sort of like being in an entire country of Thompson's at a family reunion :-)
Sunday, August 1, 2010
And still defending champion....
For pure beauty of a city, Edinburgh, Scotland is still leading. I just finished visiting Rome. It is without a doubt rich in history and fascinating sights, but they are in pockets throughout the city, with normal big city life intermixed. So I would still put Edinburgh as the leader, in my humble opinion.
While in Rome I did all the normal tourist sites; Coliseum, Roman Forum, Vatican City (Basilica, St Peter’s), Trevi Fountain, etc. They were all as to be expected…beautiful and historic. In these tourist areas you don’t get a real sense of the people of the city. I have found so far that in the major cities that are very touristy, when you wander into the ‘locals’ areas, you find attitudes that match the stereotypes for a culture. I encountered some of what I will call true Italians. They didn’t want to be bothered by a backpacker tourist. I couldn’t even get anyone to break me change to use the payphone. But it has given me a new perspective on how I view people that would bother me during my normal life. You know, the one’s that slow down at every intersection because they don’t know what street they are looking for, or that stand in the middle of the sidewalk and gaze around, blocking everyone that is scurrying through life.
I continue to be unsuccessful at trying to explore activities outside of the tourist norm. I have tried several times now to plan a scuba diving trip. But between the difficulty to quickly become knowledgeable of a new city, and then communication problems (internet, phone, and just language), it has eluded me so far. It looks like I will need to try to plan ahead more than a day and anticipate where I will be several days in advance to get something scheduled.
While in Rome I did all the normal tourist sites; Coliseum, Roman Forum, Vatican City (Basilica, St Peter’s), Trevi Fountain, etc. They were all as to be expected…beautiful and historic. In these tourist areas you don’t get a real sense of the people of the city. I have found so far that in the major cities that are very touristy, when you wander into the ‘locals’ areas, you find attitudes that match the stereotypes for a culture. I encountered some of what I will call true Italians. They didn’t want to be bothered by a backpacker tourist. I couldn’t even get anyone to break me change to use the payphone. But it has given me a new perspective on how I view people that would bother me during my normal life. You know, the one’s that slow down at every intersection because they don’t know what street they are looking for, or that stand in the middle of the sidewalk and gaze around, blocking everyone that is scurrying through life.
I continue to be unsuccessful at trying to explore activities outside of the tourist norm. I have tried several times now to plan a scuba diving trip. But between the difficulty to quickly become knowledgeable of a new city, and then communication problems (internet, phone, and just language), it has eluded me so far. It looks like I will need to try to plan ahead more than a day and anticipate where I will be several days in advance to get something scheduled.
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