Day 25 - Barcelona to Nimes

Last day in Spain, left the room late because the checkout wasn't until 11. Dropped the bags and went for a walk along the beach. Lots of people out enjoying the weather, probably around 22C and sunny. Picked up the bags then caught the metro to the city.

Song and I have split up and gone our separate ways - we haven't had a row, she has to go to China to visit some factories, and I have to spend a few days in the South of France. It's a tough life. She took the train to the airport, I stopped off for a coffee and headed to the train station. We meet up again in Hong Kong in about a week.

Got to the station, train to Nimes, took about 3 hours, read and watched some tv. The hotel is right next to the station so didn't need to get any other transport. There's nothing in particular I wanted to see in Nimes, but I fancied some more time in France and it was warmer down south.

Walked 5 minutes into the town, past a roman colliseum, there weren't many people around which seemed strange after Madrid and Barcelona. Went for dinner in the first reasonable looking place that had people in it. Had the set menu; pasta salad with chicken and roast vegetables (nice), steak (ok) and creme caramel with pears for dessert (very nice). It cost 18 euro, more expensive than Spain.

Will explore the town tomorrow.

Day 24 - Barcelona

Out at 09:30, breakfast at the patisserie again, 6 pastries and a coffee for 4.2 euro (3 pastries for 1.5 euro). Weather was sunny but pretty chilly, just about got away with t shirts. Took the metro to Parc Guell and Gaudi's house museum. The park was originally supposed to be a housing development by Gaudi but in the end only 2 houses were built. The park was designed by Gaudi, and features lots of ceramics and curvy bits.

It was a bit of a walk from the metro station to the park, and when we got there it was already packed. Couldn't take any photos without lots of bloody tourists in the way. The park was OK, would have been better if there hadn't been so many people. The weather was perfect, it was sunny and had warmed up a lot. We've been really lucky with the weather this trip.

Walked back to the metro and took the train to the Casa Batllo, yet another Gaudi house but probably the best example. Wasn't cheap to get in, over 20 euro each, but worth it I think. I've always liked art deco, but after seeing some furniture in the Louvre, I think I prefer art nouveau. This house is very art noveau. Lots of curves and arches. Well worth the visit.

Walked away from the touristy bits to look for somewhere to get lunch, but after 20 minutes couldn't find anything so went back and just went to the first reasonable place we saw. Song had pizza, I had a burger. Pretty good but hardly traditional Spanish fare.

Went back down the main shopping street and Song went into Zara and bought another handbag. Not having bought one for a couple of weeks I think she was having withdrawal symptoms.

We were going to go looking for another Gaudi house but decided enough was enough and we both felt really tired so just caught the metro back to the room and crashed.

Day 23 - Barcelona

Got up at 08:00 but didn't leave the room till about 10:00. Walked to a patisserie near the metro and had a coffee and 4 pastries for 3.45 euro.

Took the metro to the Sagrada Familia, the cathedral designed by Gaudi. It is still being built, and there are cranes and construction workers every where. What you can see of the cathedral is impressive - the entrance (one of them) looks natural, like stalactites. The towers are topped with a small cross but they are slightly bent at an angle. And there is something that looks like a Christmas tree. Quite weird for a church. We queued for about 40 minutes but it moved quite quickly. Where we entered was the other side to where we started to queue, and this entrance was different - very angular and with statues that were cubist in style.

We've been to lots of churches and cathedrals over the years in Europe, including some of the most famous - Notre Dame, Albi, St Paul's. But this one was amazing. He's kept the grandeur of a medieval gothic cathedral and updated it. The interior is different to the outside - clean lines, geometric shapes, light, colourful and breathtaking. Even though it's incomplete (not due to finish until 2020), with a lot of the windows plain glass, it's stunning. The best thing I've seen on this trip. I'll have to come back when it's finished.

Not completely done with Gaudi we walked to a couple of his other buildings, stopping for lunch on the way. We had tapas - sausages in tomato sauce, olives, spicy chourizo sausage and pig's ear (guess who ordered that one). Good sized servings, and quite nice but not great. I tried some of the pig's ear, wasn't impressed.

Walked to the first house, the Casa Mila. Looked like something out of the 1960s. Not far is the Casa Batllo, probably the most famous. We decided to go in tomorrow. Took some photos, then walked down the street, the Passieg de Gracia, where the shops like Gucci, Loius Vuitton, Hermes etc live. Didn't go into these, but Song looked at every handbag in Zara and the department stores.

Wandered more and realised there was another Gaudi house, Guell Palace, took more photos. We've got more Gaudi to see tomorrow, visiting the park and his house.

Still on our feet, decided to walk a bit more around the Gothic area, lots of old narrow lanes, and ended up in a nice square with plam trees and restaurants around the edge. Kept going, up La Rambla, then into the market. Bought some fruit, then onto the metro and back to the room. Quite a busy day.

Tomorrow we go to Gaudi Park and his house.

Day 22 - Barcelona

Up at 05:45 to get the train to Barcelona, no problems. It was a new fast train that did 300 kmh and got there in 3 hours and a bit. Scenery was Ok, not too spectacular. Got the metro to the hotel, which is actually a 2 bedroom apartment overlooking the beach. It has a lounge with a kitchen. I told the girl who showed us up that the main bedroom was as big as our hotel room in Paris. I wasn't joking. It has a washing machine, dryer and dishwasher. It's nice to have the space, and it's not expensive.

The sun was shining but it was a few degrees cooler than Madrid, but still shirt weather. We walked up the main street to get some lunch. Had a set menu again - all the restaurants seem to do this. I had a chicken and apple salad and Song had a bean and fish soup (fish again). Both servings were quite large compared to what we had had before. I had a mixed grill for main, Song had elbow of pork (I didn't know pigs had elbows). Mine was Ok, Song said hers was nice. I had a chocolate cake for dessert, Song didn't feel like dessert.

Got the metro into the centre, took about 10 minutes, and walked around a bit. Came to the Catherdral, built by Gaudi (but not the famous one, we're seeing that tomorrow), then kept on wandering. Came upon the main street called La Rambla, then the Plaza de Cataluna. More wandering, but this time with a purpose, to visit the Picasso Museum.

Spent about an hour there, and I still don't get Picasso. I don't see in his work what others obviously do, so I think I'll just move on. Song wasn't impressed either.

Feeling hungry again (all we seem to do is walk and eat), popped into tapas place and had a load of canapes each.

Got on the metro to go back to the hotel, discovered we were going the wrong way so got off again, then headed in the right direction.

Thought about going for a walk along the beach, but tired from an early start so watched the sunset and then read until bed.

Day 21 - Madrid

Not a lot happened today. Late up, then a walk down Gran Via again and breakfast in a cafe, a few more photos. Fantastic weather again, 25C and sunny. I like Madrid; the buildings are very grand and well-maintained and clean. We have noticed a lot of police around, but don't feel intimidated. They seem to stand around the government buildings and banks, usually in groups of 4 or so with a van or car. They also tend to be at the tourist spots, I think it's to discourage pick pockets or beggars. Most of the time they are chatting with each other, smoking or on their phones. Not sure what they'd do if there was a real crime, probably tweet about it.

We met up with a friend of a friend for lunch - he's Spanish but lived in Melbourne and Perth for about 20 years. He was very big in the ballet world, director of the Western Australian Ballet for a while. Very nice guy, had a good chat. It was another set menu. I had croquettes to start, Song had fish (again). I had a chicken shnitzel with chips (I didn't realise that was what I'd ordered otherwise I would have chosen something else). Song had a lump of meat, ham I think. I had chocolate cake for dessert, Song had strawberry ice cream. Slightly better than average for this meal.

Said goodbye to our friend of a friend and walked back via the square we went to the other day, and it was virtually empty so got some decent photos. Also went to the market we went to the other day for a wander, not as crowded as before.

Got back to the hotel and relaxed, got to get up early tomorrow to catch the 07:30 train to Barcelona.

Day 20 - Madrid

Fell out of bed around 09:30. Song didn´t want to do much, so I popped out for a coffee, came back around 11:00 then we went out.

Just around the corner is an Egyptian temple so we went and had a look at that.

Next was a trip to a department store to have a look around, then we found a place from the Lonely Planet Guide for lunch which did a 3 course meal for 10.50 Euro, but unlike yesterday was nice. We both had a salad to start, it was mainly lettuce with some tomato, ham, carrot and a blue cheese dressing. Song had sea bass for main (again), I had veal and a cous cous salad. I had tiramasu for dessert, Song had some kind of strawberry cake. Quite nice, but small portions.

I´d found a cinema that showed films in English with Spanish subtitles, so went to see "Oblivion" and Song went out and about. The cost of admission was 6 Euro (are you reading this Village and Hoyts??). Went back to the hotel around 18:00, didn't bother with dinner.

Another day in Madrid tomorrow, there are still a couple of museums to see.

Day 19 - Madrid

Up at 08:30, next door for breakfast. I´m just about getting used to the strong European coffee. Went up the main road (called the Gran Via which means "The Main Road"), and bought some shoes. Back to the hotel to drop them off, then back on the road. Today we decided to visit the Botanical Gardens and the Retiro Park. The weather was great again, we´ve been really lucky. Before we went into the park decided to get some lunch. Found a place that was full of locals, offered a 3 course meal for 11.90 Euro. Very average. I had vegetable soup, battered whiting and Creme Caramel, Song had French Bean Soup, Grilled Sea Bass and Creme Custard.

I enjoyed the Botanical Gardens, Song didn´t like it so much. They were laid out in an organised manner - herb garden in one block, tulips in another, cacti in another etc. Song didn´t like the regimentation. After about an hour and a half there, went next door to the Retiro Park. This is a huge park with a formal garden, lots of trees and grass, a boating lake, a museum and the Crystal Palace.

It was now around 18:30 and we decided to go to the Queen Sofia Museum because it has a famous Picasso work, Guernica. We found out that from 19:00 to 21:00 it´s free, so stopped for a coffee and then went in.

We´re not really fans of modern art, but open minds etc. We wandered about a bit, and my feeling is the same - I´m not a big fan of modern art. I was regarding a cubist stainless steel sculpture with a hole in the top, thinking how it represented the post-industrial world and the void within, but it turned out to be a rubbish bin.

We pushed through the crowd to look at Guernica and, well, meh. It was supposed to represent the horror of war and the destuction of the town of Guernica by the Luftwaffe, but all I saw was a deformed cow and horse. And some screaming women with their eyes on the side of their faces.

Left disappointed but glad we hadn´t paid for it and went to get some dinner. Found a place called Los Gatos, which was quite good. We had a selection of canapes.

Walked back to the hotel, decided to have a lazy day tomorrow.

Day 18 - Madrid

Changed our minds about Salamanca after finding out that it was a 6 hour round trip, so decided to visit some museums and galleries. It was a beautiful day, sunny and warm, around 25 so T shirts again. I was feeling a lot better, no more fever and not tired and aching.

Went to a cafe next door for breakfast, just a coffee and croissant, then walked 5 minutes round the corner to the palace and the cathedral.

Decided not to go in to these today, so took some photos and walked around to the Market and got some food. I had some toast which had mozarella cheese, spinach and ham on, and another with smoked salmon. I´ll post some pictures because the description doesn´t do it justice. Song had some shell fish.

Carried on walking, through the Plaza Mayor which was very impressive, and very busy. In fact Madrid was busy all day, really packed. The square, and other public places, was also full of street performers and they were very annoying. People dressed up as Disney characters, people pretending to be statues; they were everywhere and made the place look very tacky. Quite a few beggars as well.

We walked round the corner and found ourselves in the middle of an anti-monarchy demonstration. I sang a few bars of ¨God Save the Queen¨ then we carried onto the Prado museum. Song thought it was the Prada museum and was disappointed in the lack of handbags on display. Not really.

This is one of the top attractions in Madrid and is quite large, but it is mainly 17th century works. These are mostly religious imagery and in my opinion if you´ve seen one painting of Jesus on the cross you´ve seen them all.

There were lots of works by Goya (not surprising considering he´s Spanish), some Titian, quite a few Reubens, but nothing really special. We´re going to look for a place with Picasso and Dali over the next couple of days.

Spent about 3 hours there, then headed back to the hotel, stopping for food on the way, even though it was only about 17:00. We´ve noticed that the restaurants shut around 16:00 and open again around 21:00, but we managed to find a place. The menu looked really good. I ordered a burger with caramalised onions and goat´s cheese, and Song ordered a Tripe stew. Hers cost $12.50 and was an entree sized serving, so she was not happy. She said it tasted nice but the price was a rip-off. My burger was also on the small size but was good, although it also came with a small serving of chips. Nice food but not enough for the price, and to top it all they tried to charge us for bread which we didn´t get.

Walked about 30 minutes back to the hotel through some lovely side steets - such a change from Portugal; very little graffiti, the buildings well-maintained and clean. Weather was still fabulous, and lots of people out and about and in the parks enjoying it.

Haven´t anything planned for tomorrow yet.

Day 17 - Porto and Madrid

I was not well last night. I had a fever and alternated between being too hot and too cold, and hardly slept. Luckily I felt a bit better by the time we left the hotel and was OK to walk around.

Still had a few things to see so checked the map and headed off. Found the cathedral, and a few more churches - this God bloke is popular.

Porto is quite small, but very hilly, and the map doesn`t show that, so what we thought was a gentle stroll turned out to be pretty strenuous, especially the way I was feeling. After walking around for the last couple of days, we discovered that if we had turned right instead of going straight from the bus station when we arrived, we`d have got to the hotel in about 10 minutes, instead of the 40 minutes and 2 trains it originally took.

Song had a ham roll for lunch, I didn`t feel like eating. All I had for the day was a packet of peanuts on the plane. Picked up the bags from the hotel, then got the metro to the airport - a ticket from the city centre to the airport was 1.8 Euro each, about $2.20.

Waiting at the gate to board, there were only 20 or so other people. I thought the plane would be empty. I wasn´t to know the plane was a bit small - an Embraer ERJ 145.

The flight was only an hour, so not too big a deal. Got to the hotel only to find the wi-fi wasn`t working so I had to use the lobby PC with a Spanish keyboard, making typing this a bit of a chore.

We`re staying in Madrid for 5 nights, and we´ve decided to take a day trip to Salamanca tomorrow. Don`t know what`s there yet, we`ll find out tomorrow.

Day 16 - Oporto

Left the hotel around 10:00 and walked to the Majestic Cafe, a 1921 Art Noveau cafe. The map made it look as if it was a bit of a walk, but it was literally around the corner. We cancelled our plan to buy a daily metro ticket and decided to walk everywhere. In the cafe, I had coffee with whipped cream, and scones with jam and cream. Song had a tea.

Walking around, visited some impressive buildings (just from the outside), plus the inevitable church. Went to the riverfront and had a pretty awful lunch. The weather was a bit chilly and windy but not too bad.

I picked up a bug - started to feel tired, aching and got a headache, sounds like the flu is on the way.

We walked along the river to a bridge designed by Eiffel, he of the tower. Then walked back, a round trip of around 40 minutes.

Caught the funicular up the hill (the river is in a deep gorge).

Song thought my hair was getting long so decided I needed a cut. I usually get it cut by an attractive Vietnamese lady, but Song found an old guy who looked about 70 and wore the biggest glasses I'd seen since the 80s. Plus he didn't speak English, so I could have ended up looking like an escaped convict. He spent a good half hour, with me interrupting and saying "shorter", "longer on top" and he managed to do ok. When he picked up the cut-throat razor I could see Song thinking about whether we'd bought a big enough insurance policy. Not the worst haircut I've had, not the best.

Went round the corner and stopped for a coffee and the world's biggest vanilla slice (although we discovered what looked like cream was actually marshmallow, and it wasn't very nice).

Song wanted to do some shopping but I was feeling a bit iffy so we went back to the hotel, then she went out again.

Oporto is, in my opinion, a lot nicer than Lisbon. There are some abandonded buildings, but not as many as Lisbon. The streets are cleaner, and there is not as much graffiti.

Regarding Portugal as a whole, things I will remember are the cobbled streets everywhere, in every place we've been. They look nice, but are slippery when wet, plus not easy to drag the cases over. The Portugese like cakes - there are patisseries everywhere, probably more than Paris although not as good. They also like smoking; it's a toss-up between Portugal and Croatia on which one has the most smokers. The people are friendly and helpful, not like other places (I'm looking at you, Marrakech). A lot of the buildings have tiles on the facade which make them look colourful. Food is cheap - cafe food is around $5 each and decent restaurant meals are good value. The stuff in the supermarkets is also cheap.

Flying to Madrid tomorrow.

Day 15 - Lisbon to Oporto

Decided to cram in one more sight before leaving Lisbon despite the weather being miserable - overcast and drizzle. Had breakfast and caught the metro and then a tram to the monastery. Now, I didn't mention that on the bus from Granada to Seville was an old couple in front of us; we noticed the guy because he had a blue neck pillow and immediately reclined the seat so it made my seat uncomfortable. 2 days later, we get on the bus from Seville to Lagos, and the same couple get on and sit across from us, but get off at the stop before Lagos. So we're waiting for the tram to go to the monastery in Lisbon, and there they are again. Pretty weird coincidence.

Anyway, the monastery is quite interesting, and we pop into the church next door despite having seen one or two in our time, but I'm glad we did because it has the tomb of Vasco Da Gama. Having seen the tomb of Christopher Columbus in Seville I only need Ferdinand Magellan for the set.

Raining quite heavily, we got on a bus back to the hotel, then onto the coach station and onto Oporto, or Porto, I think it's interchangable. A 4 hour trip, but the coach was very comfortable, lots of room and wi-fi as well.

Managed to find our way to the hotel with the help of 2 locals, one spoke English, one didn't. The room is very cosy, which is hotel-speak for cramped. Anyway, we're not here for the hotels.

Didn't want to go far for dinner so found a place round the corner. We shared a whole baked sea bass (Song likes seafood), with potatoes and vegetables, and it was very good - second only to the French meal. We also had a glass of port - it was named after the place so why not.

Rolled back to the hotel, exploring Porto tomorrow.