Pisa

The Leaning Tower of Pisa is the bell tower of the Catherdral that stands right next to the tower. The surrounding area is quite nice beacuse there is grass all around. The buildings area great because they are made of white stone which makes the buildings stunning in the bright sunshine. The tower has been there for almost 900 years and would be quite an impressive building even if it wasnt leaning. Talk about touristy though. There are dozens and dozens of souvenir stores nearby. Most of them selling cheap junk. Worth going to see though. Nice opportunity for some trick photography aswell.

Oh yeah...if you ever go to Italy you have to try the spagetti with clams. Oooh yumm.

Italia

The Riviera is a very populat area. We made it to the Cinque Terre which means "5 lands". Its a group of 5 small towns on the coast of Northern Italy. From the top, Monterosso, Vernazza, Corniglia, Manarola and Riomaggiorre. You can catch boats that take you from town to town or catch a train or there are a heap of walking tracks that you can do. If it wasnt for all the tourists around, it would feel pretty isolated because they are completely surrounded by hills and mountains. Whatever space they had had been built upon. Its a very rocky coast so the beaches arent the greatest. Pebbly and rocky beaches. The sun and area was great though so we went for a swim a few times anyway. We hired kayaks and explored around some of the rocky points which was cool. The towns are quite small, only having a few thousand residents
and you could walk the few kilometres between each town in one day of you wanted to.

One evening we managed to find a pub that was showing the Australia V Croatia game. There mustve been about 30 Australians there which was pretty amazing considering we were half way across the world in a small country in a very small town in a pub. Theyre everywhere! Heaps of American tourists here too.

Money, Money, Money

We said goodbye to Javier and Michael and made our way towards Italy. We stopped along the way along the Cote D'Azur or the French Riviera. I havent figured out why its called the Riviera yet...but I digress.... Armani, Gucci, Hugo Boss, Pierre Cardin, it doesnt end. Expensive shops, HUGE luxury yachts, expensive restaurants, Royal families...

Here we were looking like bums in our shorts and t-shirts while you could feel the money being thrown around all around you on all forms of luxury. Cannes, know most famously for its film festival is known as a sister city to Beverley Hills in California. The main strip along the beach is lined with expensive hotels and stores that we didnt even think of going into. Much of this area is a play ground for the rich and the famous with a splattering of tourists who come to bask in the wealth of other people.

We spent a day in Monaco by catching the train from Nice. Very quick and cheap to do so. It only cost us $5 for a return ticket and took only 25 mins to get there. We took a mini train tour that took you around the sights of Monaco: The Casino, Musee de Oceanographic, the Cathedral, the Royal Palace, it even took the path of the Formula 1 race track. Its amazing how they transform this busy city into a race track. In terms of population, the city only has 40000 residents. ABout 7000 Monacans and the rest are made up of 40% French and 15% British. At any given time however, there would be thousands more toursists and people that work in the city. The Grimaldi family seized control of this area 700 years ago by sending troops disguised as monks. About 200 years later they took full control of the area and made it a principality ruled by the Princes of Monaco. We found a few nice cars too :) Too bad we couldnt take any ride. The photo above is an Astin Martin we found....parked next to a Porche Carrera....parked next to a Bentley....parked next to a Mercedes......

Barcelona

Barcelona is a city of about 5 million people and is quite a nice looking city. In terms of architecture the city skyline is dominated by the Sagrada Familia. "The Sacred Family." It is a giant cathedral that is already about 90 metres high and it isnt completed yet. When it is completed it will reach about 170 metres. We went out to a lookout nearby and it already dwarfs everything else in the city. It is the project that the famous architect Gaudi spent a great deal of his life on. It has been in construction for well over a hundred years and its only half finished. Gaudi liked to used many natural forms in his work and this is reflected in the many different nature-inspired structures in his buildings around Barcelona. The inside of the Catherdral contains columns that branch out like a tree would and forms a canopy over the main halls of the cathedral. We met some more of Javiers friends and had a great time looking around Barcelona. Didnt make it to the Nou Camp though. (Darn it).

Sevilla

Sevilla was a great town. We didnt get much time in there but there was so much to see. Theres so many impressive buildings to see in this place. Its very hot though. It felt like it was 30 during the night. Sevilla is a little bit inland so theres no sea breezes to cool things down. If you ever come to Sevilla make sure you spend a couple of days here. Theres lots to see and do. Spanish people love staying up late aswell so theres lots to do at night. Just watch out for the thieves!
You can see why people here eat so late and stay up so late though. The sun only fully goes down at 10pm so when its dark its already late. It just doesnt seem so late.

The photos are from the Plaza de Espana in Sevilla. It was built for the world fair about 80 years ago.

For a bit of trivia: If it looks familiar to you, you may also know it as Naboo. They used this place to film some scenes in Star Wars: Episode 2 - The Attack of the Clones. The bit where Anakin and Padme arrive in Naboo and walk over those bridges in the coart yard.

Spain was Yummy

We travelled further down into Huelva and met some great people there through Javier and Michael. They took us around to see lot of Andalucia and we even made it into Portugal for a day at the beach. There was a cool place in Tavira where you would catch a boat to an island where there is a really nice beach. The food is great in Spain. Cheap and the variety is awesome. Paella and Tortillas in Spain is fantastic. We went to some great restaurants in Spain. Theyre not the expensive ones either, theyre the little ones you see in side streets away from the busy most attractive areas.
Theres nothing like nice weather, beach and great food. Yumm. Have to say though, Australia has some of the nicest beaches in the world though. Some of the beaches in Europe were great but some were a bit rocky and pebbly.

"Victory at all costs!"

We managed to make it down to Gibraltar. A giant rock that belongs to Britain at the bottom end of Spain. It is one HUGE rock. It was a pretty important fort for the British in WWII. It was a gift to the Queen of England from Spain. Theyve got pretty tight security to get in unlike most European borders. People here speak half English and half Spanish. If you look at the photo you can even see African in the distance. Morroco is not very far at all. There area heaps of Monkeys around here aswell. Theyre pretty accustomed to humans and will come up to you looking for food. Theyll even jump into your car if youve got your windows open.

More Moors

The next day we went to Huesca in the province of Granada. We went to check out an old Moorish castle called Alhambra. It was used as a summer residence by the Moors and its pretty huge. Some of the buildings aswell are quite stunning. Especially when it comes to the detail in the arches and hallways in the buildings. Its impressive how much detail the Moors put into their buildings. Entire walls would be covered in decorative writing and patterns that really make interesting viewing. There are acually a number of big buildings/castles in the area, so you could easily make a day of it.

Feels a bit Moorish

Tarragonna was a big city when the Moors conquered Spain in the 700s. Theres heaps of ruins in the city that range from Ancient Roman ampitheatres to Moorish walls. In the ampitheatre by the beach, you can see the layers of different civilisations putting their mark on the building. In the ampitheatre where they used to kill Christians in the 1st Century, they later on built a chapel to honour those that died in this place, and then later on it was used an a monastery and a prison aswell. You can even see the cross shaped chapel in the middle. Spain is full of castles and arches and bridges and walls that stem from the Romans and the Moors of Africa.

On the road again...

We drove from Bilbao to Tarragonna about an hour south of Barcelona. We met up with Javier and Michael there at Javiers place in Vallmoll.

In line with the Spanish theme we kept seeing all these huge billboard type bulls along the road. Our car collected quite a lot of souvenirs as well. By the time we got to our destination there was a rainbow of bright colours that were made up of different insects wed smashed along the way. There was one particular one that splashed bright yellow over a sizable portion of the front windscreen. Rest in peace.

Javier lives in a small village 30 minutes outside of Tarragonna. Theres a chapel in the middle and when we got there at night it was all lit up. Pretty cool with the moon in the background.

Also in europe, the sun doesnt go down until about 10:30pm which is great for eager eyed tourists like us :) But then of course it goes down earlier in winter.

"One art please..."

Theres not much to Bilbao but its most famous for the Guggenheim building in the city. Its probly the ugliest building ever concieved but it kinda looks interesting. We concluded the architect must have been smoking something at the time. Its covered completely in panels made of titanium that are only half a millimetre thick. They are supposed to last a hundred years. Theres also no flat surfaces in the building. Everything is curved. Inside is a modern art museum. I never really understood modern art but at least the giant puppy outside looks really cool. Its about 10 metres tall and covered in flowers. They had a Russian art exibition on. It was interesting to see the influence communism had had on art over the years. Very much controlled by the government but it seems artist gradually gained more confidence in expressing their creativity in bolder ways.

Yummy Spanish Food

San Sebastian was a great city. Its not a big city but a very nice one. Theres about 3 beaches along that line the northern coast of Spain. Its only a couple of hours from France. Theres also a great big statue of Jesus, kinda like in Rio but not as big on one hill on the coast. All the signs here are in Basque and in Castillian (Spanish). Most of the local speak mostly Basque and although they can all speak Castillian as well they vigourously try to preserve the Basque identity as well. If you like Sun and a nice calm beach this is the place.

We met Carlos through some friends and he said hed show us around San Sebastian. We were actually staying in Bilbao about an hour away so we drove over and went to have some pintxos (pronounced "pinchoes"). You just go into any of the many pubs in the area and eat these little snacky foods. And the food is great! You got dozens of things to choose from so you're bound to find something you like. You traditionally drink this alcoholic cider aswell. Its like apple cider but alcoholic. Very nice.

Gran Turismo

We checked in, in the morning and after a catch up nap we went out to see the sights of Bordeaux. This was only meant to be a stop over on the way to San Sebastian / Bilbao so we only stayed a day. The city was much like a smaller version of Paris. More monuments than you can poke a stick at. Old style buildings lining the river bank. Very nice. Not anything new though.

The next day we headed off to see the Dune du Pyla. A massive sand dune on the west coast of France. It stretches about a kilometre or a bit less and is surrounded by forest. Theres a staircase you can walk up on one side. The other side going down to the beack doesnt. Going down was great fun. But then we looked up and realised how far we had to walk back up. I think we been eating more than exercising anyway so it was a good work out.


Next up we were going in to Spain. When you enter Spain from France theres nothing much besides a small graffitied sign telling you that you've entered a new country. Infact theres nothing. No line, fences, check points, nada. You just stroll in. I guess that was a bit foreign to us living in Australia. You get a real flavour of Spain when you approach the border as well. Even in France you can really see a difference in style of houses to reflect more of the Basque country.

Going up....

If you ever go up the Eiffel Tower, make sure you have a jacket. Or youll be regretting it. ITS COLD UP THERE. Awesome views though of the city. You can pick out most of the famous landmarks in Paris from up there. You can also see how far your home city is and what direction it is from up there. Make sure you go early too. We went at about 10am and we still had to wait aaages to get up. During the day you might have to wait a couple of hours to get up.

We then picked up our beautiful Peugeot 307 Wagon and made our way to Bordeaux. The car has a sunroof that goes fromthe front of the car to almost the back of the back. Very comfy.

We got to Bordeaux very very very late. Late enough to not be able to check in to our accomodation. We had to sleep in the car. Never doing that again!

Where do they get this stuff...

Spent the last day in France in the Louvre. It would prbably take at least 3 days to see everything. They reckon if you spent one minute in front of every piece in the Louvre, it would take you about 4 months to see everything. We didnt have 4 months. We had to take the abbreviated tour of the Musee.

Your also not allowed to take photos of the Crown Jewels or the Mona Lisa for "the comfort of all the visitors". What ever that means. They got people whose job it is to tell people to not take photos. Kinda like the teachers on duty at lunch, busting the kids for fighting eachother or something. We tried to sneak in a couple of shot but coudnt get close enough with out getting caught.