Thoughts on This and That

This little trip was almost two months ago now, but a few problems with blogger meant I wasn’t able to write it up - so here we go….

My first piece of advice to anyone visiting Dublin is not to be tight like me, and go for the local bus into town rather than the airport express one, unless you have a lot of time on your hands. The express bus takes 25-30 minutes, whereas I was stuck on this one in heavy traffic for an hour without even making the centre, and this was a Sunday afternoon in December, hardly peak time I’d have thought, but there you go.

As well as exasperation with the bus the reason I disembarked before making it into the centre was seeing that we were near Croke Park, the home of the GAA and one of the largest sports stadiums in Europe, I thought it might be worth a look round and that it was, although I couldn’t get in I had a walk around the perimeter and, if nothing else, it is impressive in sheer scale. With the traffic not seeming to abate much I walked the rest of the way into the centre, and seemed to be better off for doing that rather than sitting on another bus.

On the first evening I was there I met up with a couple of girls I met travelling, in Amsterdam, way back in 2005. We went round a few studenty bars in the vicinity of Trinity College which had a good atmosphere and were lively, though I was soon cursing the cost of drinking in this part of the world, how the students could afford it I don’t know, but there were plenty of them about.

After a fairly late night I didn’t exactly make an early start to my one full day in the city but I did still manage to take a look at most of the sights I wanted to see, Trinity College itself is an impressive institution and was well worth the tour, the book of Kells was a little bit underwhelming as an experience, and a bit overpriced for me, but still interesting in its own way I guess, if you like that sort of thing. To say I was only there for a couple of days I seemed to spend an inordinate amount of time strolling around shopping streets, Grafton Street itself was very busy and had a bit of life about it, street entertainers, carol singers and the like fought it out for space with the Christmas shoppers but, in all honesty, it could just have been a high street in any large-ish British city (except Bradford obviously), then again what did I really expect? Dublin castle must be one of the most unimpressive anywhere (worse even than Bratislava), though the exhibitions in the Chester Beatty library were fairly interesting, until we all got turfed out because of a fire alarm.

The one sight that did impress me was the Christ Church Cathedral, which was a fairly impressive and a little unique in design and after that I walked through the nearby Temple Bar area, the so-called cultural quarter, which was a little bit too “fake” for my liking - especially given it’s supposed status as being “Bohemian”. I was in a hostel right in the middle of Temple Bar and ended up going out for dinner (ridiculously priced, but not very good fish and chips) with a group of Finnish psychiatric nurses who were staying there, much overpriced lager was drunk as we made our way around a few pubs into the evening, before finally settling on one with a bit of live music, maybe it’s due to the time I went and it was a Monday night, but this so-called “craic” Dublin is famous for wasn’t really presenting itself to me, I could have been anywhere.

I did manage to drag myself out of bed on the Tuesday and had a fairly pleasant day checking out a couple of parks and the National Art Gallery, where I had the privilege of being mistaken for both a Spaniard and an Ulsterman within about 20 minutes of each other (the guy at reception thought I looked Spanish, the woman in the cloakroom detected an Ulster “twang” to my voice!!), before checking out the parliament building and the, admittedly impressive, Dublin City Hall.

Before heading to the airport I decided to sample a pint of Guinness in an out of the way pub, but found it no different to the experience at home, although I was fairly underwhelmed with the place, and feeling very out of pocket, it was a nice little break and it does have it’s attractions but it’s definitely a case of “been there, done that” for me, I can’t see myself rushing back.

Well a new year has brought a new blog, but not dampened my desire to travel, and so it was down to Malaga for a weekend to get some sun, and soak up a little more Spanish culture.

The least said about the flight there the better, when you board a Jet2 from Leeds Bradford to the Costa del Sol you pretty much know what you are going to get in terms of fellow travellers, and the collection of orange middle aged people going to holiday homes, and yobs going down to the Costa to get wrecked and have a ruck didn’t surprise me in the slightest. Luckily I got seated next to a nice couple, who at least had some grasp of the world to prove that not everyone on there was an obnoxious ****, however it’s true to say that most people on there don’t have the slightest idea that Andalucía is probably one of the most interesting parts of the world, they are just happy that they can get pissed up, lie on a beach, and get their full English breakfast every morning, not that I’m a travel snob or anything!

On leaving the airport most were heading west down the coast, whereas I was going East into Malaga itself, after the rainy, grey skies of Northern England it was nice to get some sun and see some blue sky, and I didn’t mind that I’d just missed a train so had to sit outside for half an hour.

After getting into the city my first impression was that, for Spain, it was remarkably quiet. The traffic was still there but there was something a little more peaceful that any of the other big Spanish cities that I’ve been to, a quick cortado and a tapa in a bar quickly got me in the Spanish mood though, but my lamentable Spanish came back to haunt me. A guy in the bar started to talk to me, and I could understand pretty much everything he asked me, but I was unable to reply with much more than “sí” or “no” - I really must start to make more of an effort if I want more rewarding experiences when I’m in the country.

In terms of sights Malaga itself isn’t overly blessed, the historic centre is nice enough to walk around and, despite the proximity of the Costa resorts and the presence of lots of bewildered Northern European daytrippers, quite Spanish. My first port of call was the Picasso museum, only recently opened to cash in on the daytrip crowd, I quite like some of his work. but it was a fairly underwhelming experience, you get herded through rooms full of paintings but with little supporting information and, to be honest, most of his best work is elsewhere. If anything the most interesting part of the museum is the archaeological section in the basements, showcasing where remnants of Roman structures were found during preparation for the building.

After grabbing some lunch I headed to the hostel I’d booked, which turned out to be a bit of a disappointment, recently voted one of the best hostels in the world it seemed to have attracted a clientele not typical of a hostel, with a block booking of older Germans in the city for a festival of theatre omnipresent, so I decided to head out and see what else I could see. I wandered down a pleasant, tree-lined street which led down to the waterfront and ended up at the city’s bullring. Noticing an open door I headed inside and into the seating, and saw what looked to be matador training taking place, no bulls were present but there were around 10 “trainees” who seemed to be being instructed on how to flourish their muletas and, in a way, sitting watching that for five minutes made me appreciate the artistic side of the spectacle a lot more than actually attending a fight itself did.

After heading back to the hostel, to find most of my fellow guests watching a DVD, I luckily managed to get chatting to another new arrival who was looking to experience the city and we headed out for some tapas and a few drinks, eventually settling on a bar “Pepa y Pepe” where we worked our way through the menu, while watching the staff and customers in action. It was one of the traditional Andalusian tapas bars where the staff are rushed off their feet constantly, but the food and drink still manages to come thick and fast, and tasted great. A couple more bars were tried and tested before we headed home, I needed a clear head and the ability to get up at a reasonable time the next morning!

Ronda was my destination on Saturday morning, and I made the choice to take the slowest bus option to get there, due to the scenery that route offered, driving along the coastal road Africa could be seen on the horizon, and the route inland up to Ronda itself offered spectacular views on its passage through the sierra.

Ronda is a wonderful small town, split by a gorge, El Tajo, which was been bridged by the Romans and Moors at various points in the past, most spectacularly with the Puente Nuevo, which bridges a 90 metre drop. The town itself is full of remnants of Roman and Moorish rule, and more landmarks from the Catholic Monarchs to re-assert themselves after the reconquest. The old town is full of narrow streets that demand to be walked, investigated and explored and you couldn’t move for a few minutes without coming across another place of interest, landmark or interesting building. The town is surrounded by unspoilt countryside, and various stunning views are offered along with possibility of lots of trails that can be followed to your hearts content, with more gems to uncover.

I was in the town for six hours, just wandering around and losing myself in the place, and it could have been much longer. After eating in another busy tapas bar I visited Ronda’s bullring, one of the oldest in Spain, which is where the rules of modern bullfighting were first established. The ring itself was an atmospheric arena, even without anything taking place, and the museum and gallery of art contained within were extremely interesting and worth the visit. The town itself has at least 7 other museums, and it’s a place I could see myself re-visiting - though maybe not in the summer months, when I can imagine the hideous levels of tourists that must pass through.

After taking the direct route back to Malaga, and heading back to the hostel, I again met up with Jan and we headed out to eat and do some bar-hoping, eventually ending up in the place we were the previous night. Other highlights of the evening were a Russian bar, where the owner handed us out lots of free vodka shots because I identified the football scarf behind the bar as being that of Zenit St Petersburg, and having to have a mint tea in a Morrocan style tea-room, which we mistakenly entered thinking was a bar!

The next morning I was again up fairly early as I was heading to Madrid for “El Derbi” (separate blog to come on that), but I wanted to see the Alcazar in Malaga before I left. It was an impressive place but, after seeing the Alhambra in Granada, any other can only leave you a little underwhelmed, still it was nice to wander around the gardens for an hour or so, further up the hill the Castillo was, again, not much to write home about - though it did offer superb views over the city and meant even I could take a couple of decent photos!

After an arrival back into Malaga at 2am I had a lie in on my last morning, before spending a few hours wandering about the city before heading to the airport, and home, I took in Malaga’s remaining big attraction, the cathedral, which was a superb feat of architecture, and I headed to the (distinctly average) beach to relax with a book for a bit, and have a seafood paella from one of the bars on the promenade. Knowing I was going back to the wind, rain and grind in a few hours it was a nice little piece of escapism!

I feel like I need a holiday, which isn’t surprising as I’ve only recently come back from one, and that’s the way I always feel after I’ve been away.

I’ve actually been back a couple of weeks now but, as I’m so busy, I’m only just getting round to writing about it - it won’t surprise anyone who reads this blog to find out that I went to Spain again, and it will surprise you even less to hear that I started and ended in Madrid again, I won’t write about that though, it was as fun as usual, I drank a lot, spent a lot of time in the Retiro, met up with old friends and made some new ones while having lot’s of fun - so just the standard trip to the city then!

Most of my trip was spent in a small town in Andalucia called Cazorla, the reason I ended up there as I did another Pueblo Inglés program, just like the one I did in La Alberca last year and, despite some reservations, and almost dropping out, I’m very glad I went as it was just as much fun the second time around, though it was very different.

The town itself was typical of small town in this part of the world, surrounded by olive grove after olive grove, with the usual surprises you unexpectedly seem to encounter in these parts, a seemingly unspectacular and little-known town just happened to have a castle and the ruins of what must have once been a large cathedral, back in the day.

It was a nice enough place to walk around, with a couple of nice shady squares and would be worth a day or so if only for the walking possibilities in the surrounding Sierra de Cazorla, and the national park - which we paid a visit to on an excursion from the course. Like all towns in this part of the world the threat of over-development for the needs of foreign second home-owners is hanging over the place, with newer buildings springing up around the centre but hopefully it won’t suffer for it like some places have.

A few pics I took of the town and the national park can be found here.

Long standing readers (why?) may have remembered a few rants about Northern Rail after all the time wasted commuting to Manchester, I didn’t expect to have to moan about the same thing after my first day at work in Leeds which, lets face it, is a little closer.

I got to the station at 745, for the 748 which should have got me to Leeds at about ten past 8 - it was cancelled, the 805 came a few minutes late, then sat outside Leeds station for an age before eventually crawling in at 5 to 9, causing me to have to leg it across town to try and avoid being late on my first day, I won’t even get started on the overcrowding.

I sense lots of fun ahead.

Well, I´ve had a nice relaxing week over here, unfortunately I have to fly home tomorrow, and the flat situation still hasn´t been sorted, so god knows what I´m going to do with myself for the next few days until it is (I can´t afford to stay here unfortunately).

First up was Valencia, the weather wasn´t great so I couldn´t sit on the beach for the weekend, so instead I became culturally active and filled in all the gaps I missed from my first visit here almost two years ago. I won´t bore you with the details of photography exhibitons, art galleries and the like, but you get the picture. Highlight of the weekend was probably taking in the Valencia v Sevilla game at the Mestalla. The stadium is ageing and looks a bit shabby, but it is a great place to watch a game and the atmosphere was superb, no doubt helped by the fact the hosts won 2-0.

On Monday I headed up to a small town in Eastern Spain, Teruel, it´s the least visited province in Spain which probably makes this town a bit of an undiscovered gem, it´s full of remnants from Roman and Moorish rule despite its small size, and it was well worth the few hours I spent there. I spent the night in a cheap pension in the town where I had a nice little balcony to myself with a fine view of the place which I used to sink a bottle of wine while doing a bit of reading and writing, which was nice.

I left there early Tuesday for Zaragoza, which is somewhere I´d always wanted to visit for the odd reason that I used to talk to a girl on yahoo messenger who was from there, how that came about I don´t know. It was a pleasurable enough city to walk around, but not overflowing with sights and, after failing to find anywhere cheap to stay, and being turned away from the HI hostel for not being a member (despite non-members rates being advertised on the wall) I decided I might as well head to Madrid in the evening and stay in a backpackers place there, rather than stay in an overpriced place in Zaragoza only to leave early, so thats what I did, arriving just in time to pop out with some folk from the hostel for hot chocolate and Churros at San Gines, which was nice!

So, Madrid yet again. I´d actually never been here on a Wednesday before (apart from a couple of times when I was leaving early) so I hadn´t visited the Royal Palace (Wednesdays being the free day), I thought I might as well take the opportunity to pay the place a visit, so I did, and very impressive it was too - actually one of the best of the many I have seen in the last couple of years. On a roll I then headed to Aranjuez, a town about 25 miles away, where they have an impressive palace of their own as well as some superb gardens where I whiled away a couple of hours before a short stroll around a pretty unmemorable town centre.

After a moderate night out last night with a couple of Germans I met in the hostel I spent today just lazing around and relaxing, though I did visit the City museum which was a little interesting. I´ve spent a couple of hours in the Retiro topping up my tan and doing some reading, and I´ve just got back from doing likewise in another quality Madrid park the Campo del Moro. My flight back to East Midlands departs at 630 tomorrow morning, so I´m going to hang around the hostel and catch the last Metro up there at 2 and try and get a bit of kip in the airport (how backpacker-y!) before flying home. Before then I´ll just head back out and catch a bit more Madrid sun.

It was only five and a bit weeks ago, but it actually seems like an age since I arrived in Istanbul but, oddly, it barely seems like two minutes since I was last sat in front of this PC the night before taking off.

In may ways it was a funny trip, 2 weeks into it I decided I had had enough and was all set to head home, I got over that feeling quite quickly but still felt happy enough when I booked my flight home, only after that did I start to regret it and, given I had a little more money, I now have the feeling that I came back a bit too soon - but it is done now so there is no point crying over it.

Despite the occassional feelings of travel-weariness I am really glad I made the trip, Eastern Europe is a fascinating place to travel through, especially given it’s context in recent world history and it was great to see some of the places I did and meet some of the people I met. One thing that really struck me was how more like us Brits the people are the further north you go, whether that be in the way they dress, behave or even the things that they sell in their supermarkets.

Without wanting to sound like a pretentious prick this trip has changed my outlook a little when it comes to travelling. Maybe it’s a short term thing but I have lost the (unrealistic) desire I have always had to go everywhere, and future plans are now focused on some specific destinations that I have a real interest in.

All good things do come to an end, but over the next couple of weeks I’ll be writing the trip up so at least I shall be able to relive it a little.

Well, here I am sat on my sofa in front of my computer. I can’t say I’m too glad that I’m here, but it could be worse.

Yesterday’s day trip to Helsinki proved more than worthwhile, it’s a great place and I definitely fancy going back sometime, a day really wasn’t enough to do it justice and the ferry ride back to Tallinn was an experience too. Over the next week or two I am going to fully blog my trip, and maybe even upload a few photos, so you can all get a lovely insight into what I’ve been up to.

Right now I’m off for a curry!

Well, after the drunkeness of Riga I have had two more relaxed days in Tallinn over the weekend, though watching the Estonia v Russia football game was hardly a relaxing experience, but one that was interesting and fun.

Of the three Baltic capitals I would say Tallinn is my favourite, more to come on the place later, it has it’s share of tourists, but is more relaxed than Riga, and there is more here than in Vilnius.

I won’t be blogging again before I get home, but the schedule isn’t getting less hectic. I have an early start tomorrow to catch a ferry over the Gulf of Finland to Helsinki where I will spend the day before getting the last ferry back as I fly out of Tallinn Tuesday morning, thats the plan anyway. As long as I don’t miss the ferry back things should work out fine!

Well I’ve been in Riga for a couple of days now and, like Krakow, I am glad I am getting out before the invasion of knobs from Britain on cheap flights really takes hold over the weekend.

Maybe I am being a little hypocritical, after all I have ended up pretty drunk on both nights here, but I guess the places I went wont see many tourists over the next few days, I certainly doubt few will take part in the Latvian folk music and dancing that we did, we had to be very persuasive even to get them to let a group of six foreigners in, then again I don’t blame them for that attitude.

Riga is certainly a nice place architectually but there isn’t a great deal here and I sort of get the impression I have seen it all before, the museums about the occupation by the Nazis and Soviets were and Latvia in war in general were interesting but three nights is probably one too many. I’ll be taking it easy tonight though, I need a little rest before hitting Tallinn then Helsinki and I don’t fancy being surrounded by pillocks from back home in shiny shoes and identical shirts anyway!!

Well the last couple of days have been a bit mad, and I now find myself in Vilnius in Lithuania. I never made it to the Ukraine due to not being able to sort out a Belarusian transit visa, but I am sure I will live without it.

Spent my birthday in Warsaw getting drunk with a group of French blokes and a couple of Aussie girls, actually had a good night, didn’t pay for anything and didn’t feel too bad once I had hit the shower Sunday morning so I guess I can’t complain. Warsaw itself isn’t the best winter destination in the world, but I did see a few things that made it worthwhile that I will blog about later.

I headed up here last night on an overnight bus, which was an experience, and to be honest I have pretty much seen all there is to offer (lots of hills and a nice old town). I fly home from Tallinn next Tuesday so I am going to head to Riga tomorrow before going there, I’m also looking into doing a day trip to Helsinki if I can get the ferry schedules to work out.