Valencia, Seville, Granada and Cordoba

Well, my bragging finally caught up with me. It appears I pissed off Mother Nature. After a year of almost perfect weather...Mother Nature decided to have it ran on my parade in Valencia...a place known for it's year round sunshine.

I guess I can't complain too much...and no more bragging because walking in a downpour with your backpack isn't my idea of fun.



To make matters worse, I soon found out that Spanish maps are usually incomplete and as the rain fell, I soon found myself lost on the small, narrow, cobblestoned roads of Valencia and no idea where the hostel was. Luckily after about 20 minutes, I just happened upon the sister hostel I was trying to reach and they had room so in I went.






During a free walking tour of Valencia, I soon learned that not only are the Spanish maps not complete, but they give the Spanish road names...not the Catalonian (a second language spoke in Spain) name as they are written in Valencia.


So my map reading skills are still intact...how was I to know that the street signs are in Catalonian?




Rain followed me to Seville, the home of tapas. I gained more weight in the 3 weeks I spent in Spain then anywhere else during my travels.


In hindsight, the bottle of wine I drank almost every night probably didn't help either. How can you say 'no' when I never spent more than 4 euros for a bottle of wine. Come on...I had to!!



I also soon found that Spain spoke the least amount of English than any country I had been to so far. I had another one of those Greek bus trips...only this time in Spain...none of the stops were even spoken and the bus driver didn't speak any English anyway.


Luckily, my stop was the end of the line and basically he hand-gestured me to get off the bus. I really had no idea where I was and took about 10 minutes to get my bearings.



The pain in my leg was at the greatest in Seville, so as prescribed by Dr. Duncan...I increased my alcohol intake to compensate.

It was about 4 more days of fairly intense pain, but with the continued effort of drinking alcohol...the pain started to subside.


I would also like to thank my readership for all the great suggestions...most of which sounded like this...'Don't be a sissy!!!'



Granada is a beautiful place in southern Spain and one of the key sights is the Alhambra...which was once a Moorish palace. It's renowned for it's intricate tiling on the walls and ceilings.


However, when I first heard you had to line up to get in and it was up to an hour...I almost bailed, but now that I've been...you should probably go as well. But I still felt like a cow being herded through turnstiles.



You won't see any pictures of Alhambra as I forgot my camera that day, and Roddy the Scottish lad hasn't send me the pictures yet. He's a self confessed computer-phobe so I'm not holding my breath.


So if you go...send me some pictures. Thanks...



Most of you aren't going to believe this, but I've actually lost some faith in my ROCK...which I warmly refer to as McDonalds.


I know...I know...the world must be coming to an end! But while in Cordoba...of course I had a craving for McDonalds...so I followed the signs and they led me on a 4-5km scavenger hunt. When I finally saw the 'Golden Arches' in the far distance...I was too tired to take another step and hopped into a Spanish cafe.



I'm sure most of you are quite concerned about this revelation, but no worries...McDonalds and I have made up and are acting like newlyweds again...just not in Spain as the food is incredible here.


But enough about food...it's now on to Portugal and home of port...and port I had!

Barcelona

Is there a doctor in my readership right now? I hope Brad and Michelle are reading this. As many of you know...I let a little ailment linger longer than I should have, which seemed harmless at the time...but turned me into the Cdn leopard boy.

Now I have a very strong pain right behind my kneecap which I've been fighting for over a month now. Maybe 4-6 hours walking a day isn't helping? To add to my problems, my right hip is giving me problems after prolonged walking on uneven cobblestones and my teeth are starting to concern me.

So are these things I should take seriously? I really don't want to turn into 'JoeJoe' the one legged, one toothed leopard man from Canada. With the economy the way it is, I don't think a circus freak with no experience can find a job either.

Please give me your professional insight. Thanks...




The great looking family above are the ones I kidnapped and held at gun point as hostels were driving me crazy and I decided I wanted my own bedroom and bathroom for a change.

OK...maybe not, but Pablo (who I've only seen once since he was a foreign exchange student at WCI), his wife Vanessa and their amazing family did put me up for 4 nights which was amazing.



It was awesome to see Pablo again and having a local show you his city is the best. And Barcelona is a fantastic city. I will certainly return one day!

And do you know what gastronomy is? I figured I had enough ailments right now...I didn't need more, but soon found out that it basically means the 'creation and art of food' and Spain is a world leader. Sounds good to me...I like to eat!

But what caught me off guard was that during our 8-10 course meal, the staff actually told us...how we should eat the food...one bite...more than one bite; in what order we had to eat each morsel of food; what each morsel would do to our tastesbuds and then served the proper drink to go with each course.

I felt like a little kid again being spoon fed, but what an experience!!! McAuley...you would have died and gone to heaven.



Pablo will have to explain more, but we ate huge fancy mushrooms, sea bass, frog legs, oysters, very high end white truffles and much more. And to top it off, we were offered one of only 6 bottles of a prestigous wine that the restaurant had and in which only 250 litres are made a year. Not to be outdone... we were given samples of a wine/port of which there was only one bottle in all of Spain. Now that's what I call service!!

And what's with the alcohol company's advertising in front of a huge phallic symbol (picture above). I guess sex sells in every country.

The great weather continued to folllow me and I continued to walk for 4-6 hours a day on a bum leg. I took a bit of a break by hopping on the 'hop on-hop off buses' in Barcelona which was a nice change of pace.

I soon learned about tapas and bravas as well. This way of eating really needs to come to North America. Basically you are served a tapas, or very small plate of food, with each beer you buy. So if you're hungry...you just need to buy more beer...How cool is that? Now some tapas you actually pay for such as the bravas which are deep fried potatoes (the Spanish love their potatoes) smothered in a garlic mayonnaise type sauce. Not good for the chloresterol, but if I'm going to die...it might as well be in paradise...Spain.

Tapas take many forms from peanuts, bread and oil, anchovies, potato chips, octopus and everything in between.

If you love food...you better get to Spain. I'll even tell you a few more good food stops that you can't miss in a later blog.

I don't really have any funny or crazy stories this time. But I will tell you the 12 hour travelling day I had from Zurich to Barcelona was pretty intense when you start off in the morning listening and trying to make yourself understood in German...then French for the afternoon and then Spanish in the evening.

Talk about schizophrenia! I know it doesn't take much, but boy was I confused!!


And since I'm always about getting lost...I decided to make my way up into the hills overlooking Barcelona...take a few shots and then have a drink or two while I waited for Pablo to be done work. This might surprise you, but I didn't get lost.

The problem occurred when Pablo had to work late and asked if I could get to his place on my own. 'Of course I could' I texted using up almost the last of my battery power. But then I realized his street was off my map and then the bartender informed me that taxis wouldn't come this far out of the city and the one bus only went back down the hill.

Luckily, with the last bit of battery from my phone...I managed to tell Vanessa my predictament and she came to pick me up.

If my phone had died a few seconds earlier...I would have been spending the night outside (with Pablo and Vanessa in panic) and hanging out in front of Pablo's office in the morning waiting for him to arrive. Another close call averted. It's a good thing I have about 20 lives.

See you in southern Spain. And since my travelling is coming to an end before Christmas...I will try to pick up the pace and post once a week until I'm done. Adios...