the BBC

I have some fantastic news that nobody told me about in Melbourne in Southbank... there's a second Belgian Beer Cafe... yay!!! Something for me to look forward to!

http://www.belgianbeercafemelbourne.com

Europe Extravaganza

Rimma, my oldest friend visited me in London and we decided to conquer Belgium, Spain and Paris on a trip through Europe.

My favourite way to travel is by the Eurostar (can i have a discount???) and we arrived on my birthday in Brussels Central Station. We stayed in the lovely small town of Hoeilaart which is a 20 min train ride from Brussels.

In Belgium we went to Brussels, Leuven and Brugge and drank lots of beer along the way! In Leuven we found a lovely little bar where Sven (below) helped me out with choosing beers!

Me and Sven

I tried Blond Triple Karmeliet beer which was really quite tasty and different to most blonde beers.

In Brugge we found the main square and drank the evening away until I found a place to eat. There was a live orchestra in the main square!

And then it was off to Spain!! I had no interest in Spain but I'm open to new things so I decided to give it a go. Well as you probably read earlier I had problems with food but other than that it was a nice trip. We began in Barcelona where we managed to arrive at Barcelona (Girona) airport which was actually 92 km away from Barcelona. So we had to get a bus and we were late arriving but all was good! We saw Gaudi's Sagrada Familia Cathedral as well as the town and a walk through the gothic district.

Gaude's cathedral

We found a tiny little bar tucked at the back of a shop and had a nice afternoon siesta there and drank more beer!

Then it was off to Madrid through Zaragoza where we was the Basilica de Nuestra Senora del Pilar. In Madrid we saw the Royal Palace and the Valley of the Fallen (below). This was an amazing site which commemorated those that had died under Franco's reign. The architecture was impressive.

On the way to Cordoba we stopped off at Toledo. Toledo is a very small town that is quite religeous and they make a lot of their money by producing swords! We arrived 30 mins before the beginning of one of the biggest fiestas in Spain; Corpus Cristie. There was a procession for 2 hours and amazing music and costumes.

Seville ... the palace.

In Seville we also had a dinner at a flamenco dancing evening show which was really fantastic, the music and dancing was excellent!

We had a short stop in Gibraltar on the way to Granada so I was in England for about 2 hours! It is part of England and the United Kingdom and had all the same shops too and they use Gibraltar pound stirling as currency. We only had enough time to go on a taxi tour up the mountain and quickly eat some lunch then we were on our way to Granada. Aaah! It was good to be home!!!

Travelling east through the Sierra Nevada mountains to the town of Granada which is steeped in Moorish history.

In Granadawe saw the former residence of the Moorish Kings; the Alhambra Palace. We also saw the historic Albaicin district of this city.



The Alcaza palace with arabian architecture...

Then it was off to Ibiza! We boarded a very big ferry and make our way there.

We went the the club Prestige which I thought was pretty good but others didn't think so!!

Cafe Del Mar sunset....

The onto our final leg to Paris... Place de l'hotel de ville

Marco and I at the Louvre...

Paris was nice, we went up the Eiffel tour but i was ill so I took the lift this time!! We stayed in Peace and Love Hostel which was cramped but friendly, i'll give it that! In all we had a fun time on our Europe Extravaganza!

Food

vegans beware!!! spain is not vegan friendly...
:(

Land of Siestas and Fiestas

Just letting you know that i´ve just safely arrived in madrid. Barcelona was interesting but there was a public holiday there so nothing was really open except for tourist shops which were quite tacky.

Belgium was really good though. And so was the beer... of course! I got by with mostly French and the Flemish was very strange! We traelled to Louvaine, a cool university town where we found a lovely bar and a cute bartender who helped us find good beers! Brugs is the Hoegaarden copy which was pretty good!!

And Brugge was nice too but we only spent the afternoon-evening there. A long train ride back to Groenendaal but we got to accidently use the metro in Brussels!

Tomorrow we are off on a guided tour of the grand palace and also the historic part of the town but anyway i´ll keep it short and say bye!!