Barcelona: It`s rockin Europe

Where do you begin with one of the most amazing cities of Europe, very comparable to Buenos Aires in Argentina, this place basically rocked my world! We did happen to be there during the La Mecre festival which was a bunch of outside music stages with groups playing that ranged from Ojos de Brujos to small wicked Morocan Ska to dude's from the White Stripes new Get Up. The street art throughout the city is outrageous,


and the whole city is just full of squatters, living a squat life

and fighting for freedom!

I rocked in from san Sebastian and headed to Gothic Point where my old mate from Bolivia, Loic, had sorted me out with some cheap accomo. Half asleep and almost moneyless still not being able to withdraw from cash machines, I spent the morning updating my blog, grabbing some breakfast and a well strong coffee and basically roamed the gothic streets as I waited for my, as per usual, late Amigo from Melbourne ; Dickie. We eventually rocked in with Dave's old amigas whom I have heard bucketloads about, but never actually met; Helen & Linda. We cruised the streets for some time before meeting up with Dickie's girlfriend; Emma & her Mum; Jill who happen to be travelling around Spain at the same time, however on a slightly healthier budget - 5 staring it all the way! We grabbed a bite and then hit a nice stretch of green grass for a bottle of champagne to celebrate the magnificance of being in Barcelona.

This 1 bottle eventually turned into 12 as the many hours drifted by. We finally peeled ourselves away at about 11:30 and headed back to Emma's & Jill's Hotel Rooftop Bar for some Mojitos and many laughs and perhaps even a few debates on the current political situation in Colombia.

The next day we spent by the pool back in the 5 star, grabbing some food at a local veggie restaurant (these god damn vegetarians made me) before heading out for the first night of shenanigans for the festival. The next morning as I walked past this Gaudi building

I was inspired to go and check out the Gaudi Park which is a massive park that he designed and built and actually lived there throughout the construction of it. The entrance felt like walking through a Ginger Bread house get-up.

The park is very diverse, moving through stone tunnels

with wicked carved coloumns

as well as a great plaza sitting atop cool hand made seating over looking the city!

We headed past Helen's squat house where I admired there dorrbell set-up which apparently illumintes

before heading back to the center and and chilling before heading out for another night of festival, where we found some great music and this guy

The next day we headed to the beach before taking this massive cart thing over city for some great views,

before preparing ourselves for another night of music. Unfortunately the bands were cancelled due to rain so we headed to the other side of town for some dance tent action.

Seeing as most sights had been seen I am pretty sure we just spent Sunday feeling sorry for ourselves and lying in the sun in the park relaxing and taking in the city's vibe. It was a rather large night on Sunday though as Dickie turned 24 at midnight, we headed North to a new stage to see some cool Ska band with members from all over the world, before heading back to a guys house that we met at the party for a few more drinks and onto the main stage where we rocked on, celebrated the b day, had hot dogs stolen from us because they thought that we stole them and then smash into each other on the dodgem cars!

Dragged Dickie out of bed to check out La Sagrada Familia, a church that Gaudi started to build over 100 years ago, but got killed as he stood back to admire, wiped out by a tram. Took some photos but a lot of construction going on still so hard to get a good shot, supposed to be finished within 14 years - but I doubt it! Dickie still feeling shitty returned to bed, so I hung at the hostel for a while before we headed out for tapas, a few wines and some cards - teaching Dickie and some Slovenians the game that Dave, John & I are the co-founders of, it's basically a crazier shithead.

The next morning due to the incorrect setting of my alarm (thanks Dickie) I missed my flight to Granada so ended up on a 13 hour bus ride instead, finally getting into Granada about 12 hours after my expected arrival time. I did happen to check in as the Tapas tour was heading off though, so instead of resting like I planned I ended up out with a cool group of guys - Tapering and Discoteching afterwards. Granada has a very large Morrocan influence, it being so close, so we headed back to the bar for some sheesha before bedtime. Going to try and by a hooka (waterpipe) to take back to the UK with me, they are cheap and really good! Lazy day today but off tomorrow to see the ALHAMBRA, an old Arabic castle that is supposedly fantastic! Apparently the second most visited site in Europe - does anyone know the first?

San Sebastian (Little Melbourne): A magical Place

Proving to get out of the airport in Barcelona seemed to be a little more difficult than expected. Even though i have been travelling now for close to 9 months and have not had an issue anywhere that I have been, for some reason Spanish ATM's do not like standard issue ANZ cards. My ANZ visa card was cancelled because of fraud occuring in Greece not long ago and my Virgin CC is pinless, well it's not but I don't know it and when I rang Virgin, using my CC, they told me that they couldn't give me my pin over the phone but they would be more than happy to send me a new card and pin, not that that was going to help me in Spain.

I thought that at least if I could get to the Train Station (last train leaving at 12:30, lunchtime, flight landed at 10, plenty of time to sort something out) I would be able to buy my ticket to San Sebastian on Credit and sort it out when I got there, but because Virgin Credit Cards are missing the corner for stylish reasons, the train station's machine where I had to purchase my ticket to get to the long distance train station would not accept my card! getting a little frustrated I thought that perhaps taxis might take cards, well apparently some do so as I waited for 1 to rock up that did (which I soon learnt was about 1 in 500), some yanky wanka pushed in front of me and took the cab before i even had a chance to scrtach myself, having waited for that cab for over half an hour, checking with all banks and ATM Machines in the airport and looking for an answer for over 2 1/2 hours, I got fed up with the airport and went and rented a car, on credit of course!

Finally relieved to be out of the airport, i hit the AutoPista and headed straight for San Sebastian, yay! I arrived in at about 5, but had neither any idea where the hostel was or where to park, so i found the closest car park and went for a wander around town, stumbling across the Urban House with much relief before being shocked by realising that almost everybody working and staying there were from Melbourne, after 9 months of hardly meeting any Aussies! So I decided to leave the car where it was for the night, grab my stuff, take a much needed shower and a beer! Hooked up with this cool Kiwi guy who leant me some money and we hit the Tapas. had a pretty big night in the end, but with my body clock still being in NY mode, I actually really got to bed at like 11pm.

Next day with my car still by my side (I had to pay an extra 30 Euro for 2 more days), I headed west along the coast solo, checking out some beautiful amazing little towns and coastal drives. I headed back to SS around dinner time and found a bargain supermercado that took credit cards, where I stocked up on Food, Beer & Wine. Out for a few more 241's at Zibbobo before home to crash, slowly re-adjusting the body clock. On Sunday we took a drive to France for some French cuisine and wine (SS is like 10 minutes from the border), we checked out some beautiful towns and great surf breaks before once again heading SS bound for a much quiter night and early bed time.

With the car returned it was time to actually start checking out SS itself, I walked up mountains and along beaches taking some awesome snaps before bumping into my old friend Felipe with whom I travelled with in Argentina 8 months ago and hung out with in Sao Paulo. The last email I had received from him stated that he was making his way to Spain, but I had no idea that we would be in SS at the same time. Spent the evening with him and a crew of about 8 from the hostel (most who are also now on their way to Barcelona, so we are all going to hook up) before spending yesterday working the tan on the beach before some more great SS Tapas last night along with a few glasses of Red Wine before jumping on my midnight bus through to the Big B where I arrived some 2 hours ago, which I have spent waiting for Dickie (friend from Melbourne now living in London whom I have not seen in 12 months) and crew finally catching up on Blog action.

I am also catching up with a guy called Loic whom Lil & I travelled with in Bolivia this afternoon, he works in the hostel where i am staying, so it looks like we are going to have a pretty decent crew to get the La Merce festival shennanigans underway here in Barcelona, will let you know how things go!

San Sebastian at night - this is my first stop in Europe and it has definitley exceeded my expectations

Felipe: My trusted Brasilian friend with whom I travelled in Argentina, is still getting into trouble around the world

The sunset from the Christ Monument

The three troopers who climbed to Christ to watch the sunset

Beautiful architecture just lines both sides of the bay!

Who doesn't want to live in a house like this!

The San Sebastian main Bay

Doesn't get much better than this

The view from the top of the Funicular

San Sebastian really is a wanderful place!

One of the most beautiful beaches in Europe (or so I have been told) and just 2 minutes walk from the hostel

The beautiful cathedral in San sebastian

Being just 200km south of Bordeuax, I couldn't pass up a glass of Pinot, nor a 4 cheese crepe to go with it!

St Jean de Luiz: Another amazing spot, just 15 minutes down from Biarritz

Now that's a POT

Biarritz: Very Posh, but beautiful

The French Coast

Beautiful French Architecture

Biarritz: Home to the WTC (surfing comp) and our first stop in France

Another Spaish beautiful small coast town, just can't remember which one it was

Another small pretty coastal town, just forgotten which one it was

The cliff hugging roads that provide the beautiful views

the beautiful rugged Spanish coastline

The beast that got me from barcelona and carried me through all my little side trips - Go the Citroen C4

Zauratz: My first stop on my coastal road trip heading West from San Sebastian. Pretty little surfing town, cold water!

The Big, Big Apple

So how do I begin to explain 1 of the world's most famous, built up, awesome cities in the world!

After slugging it on a 6 hour flight from Cancun, without food or free alcohol (thanks again American Airlines), I rocked into JFK just before 7, it took me about an hour to handle customary procedures, I think that when they recruit these guys 1 of their interview questions must be 'can you be a complete arsehole for a atleast 8 hours per day?' Because that's pretty much all that I have encountered in the US so far, couldn't be arsed spending the next 2 hours on the train/subway so I opted for the very expensive $45 + tolls + tip (of course) taxi ride into Manhattan and onto the Upper West Side where I would be hanging with some cool couchsurfers named Alex and Elizabeth for a few nights.

On the drive into the city I could already feel the neck cramps coming along as my face was pointed nowhere but up, checking out the rows after rows of skyscrapers and other cool and interesting stuff. After a lecture from the taxi driver about how people in America tip well, I arrived in the Upper West Side which is more so a residential area of Manhattan, but looks like it has come straight out of a movie with fire escapes everywhere, canopies leading from front doors to the curb and doormen in every other building. Great spot the guys have got there though, 2 blocks from Central Park and in between 2 streets packed full of good restaurants, bars and cafes, just what I was looking for.

Now to start checking off Dave's 5 page list of things to do before time runs out.........

I showered up and headed out to meet Chana who had told me about this cool place called 'The Other Room' - funky little bar only selling wines and beers down in the Meat Packing District (old converted wharehouses and stuff), met up with her about midnight before doing a little pub crawl through Grenwich Village and the Lower East Side, finishing the night of with a Yiros & Sheesha in little Middle East. Home about 4 but up at 11 to stroll through Central park and just pretty much be blown away by the city time after time. I checked out JL's memorial in Strawberry fields before getting lost several times trying to find 'The Mall'. Headed from here south searching for a pie and a beer from a little Aussie run Tuck Shop, before cruisng through Time Square aka Billboard Central, and up 5th to check out the street stalls.

After a couple of kilometers under the feet, I jumped on the Metro and headed homeward bound for some R&R, headed out for dinner not so long after that (been a while since I have curried up) and headed back out for some more weekend shennanigans. Met up with Chana again and her friends at a Country Bar, where you throw all your peanut casings on the floor, met this jewish doctor (like 50% of most manhattians, well either that or a jewish lawyer) who offered to take us for a tour around in his convertible 67 Lincoln. We thought we were the bomb after everyone kept commenting on how cool we looked in the beast!

Headed back down to the lower east side to listen to some more 80's Disco beats (they love that stuff here - weird!), before heading home as soon as things started to quieten down. Spent the next day lunching with Alex, Elizabeth & crew before heading to Tribeca and SoHo to get some NYC shopping in, picked up some bargains and then headed China Town way to meet up with A&E for some rather excellent dumplings at the Excellent Dumpling House. Quiet night Sunday, just dumplings and bed, had to be prepared for the mammoth day I had planned for Monday - 5th anniversary of September 11.

Woke up relatively early for my much more than lazy behaviour of recent, and walked along the river, checking out New Jersey across the bay (a completely other state), up to 112th where I breakfasted in the famous Tom's Dinner, before shooting across to Brooklyn on the Metro (seems like a ghost town after the craziness of Manhattan) to walk back into town along the Brooklyn Bridge where great views were to be had of all Manhattan. I headed from there down to Ground Zero where the emotions were flowing like a busted fire hydrant, I did a lap of the block before i had to get out of there as my eyes started to swell and headed southbound for the freebie close up view of Ellis Island and The Statue of Liberty from the Staten island Ferry. Don't get to dock on the island but get close enough for a few photos, all you really need anyway. Headed back across the river after having visted my second borough other than Manhattan, both for less than 10 minutes, and walked up to Wall Street to see how people were taking care of business in the Financial District.

Stomach was started to swing so I hit up the Peanut Butter & Co sandwich joint where I got to experience fluff (spreadable marshmellow - won't be going back there again) but also got myself an awesome PB, Banana & Honey toasted sandwich, definitely worth checking out next time your in town. A quick check of dave's long list and I realised I still had to suss out out this off-Broadway show called Ave Q (basically an R rated, musical Sesame St, with puppets and all) so I made my way back to time square to see if I could win some $20, front row lottery tickets. Must have been my lucky day - realising that I only had 1 1/2 hours before the show started and I still had to move my stuff from A&E's to Chana's which is 2 blocks down from the Empire State Building in the East Side, I headed straight for the metro, chucked my shit together, said some rather rampant goodbyes and lugged my poorly packed everything down the street for a taxi. Chana was waiting with a beer and some food, so we threw that down and then headed out for a night of shits and giggles as Ave Q kept us entertained for the next few hours.

Tuesday I just spent a bit of time walking around my favourite areas, a bit more shop shop, before heading up to the Rockefeller center for some amazing views of the cement fortress and Central Park, no lines, just straight up and start snapping away, some more walking and checking out the schiz and grabbed a movie before making my way home. Chana and I headed down to Trader Joe's to pick up some stuff for dinner, before cooking up a storm and chilling out with some wine in front of the tube. So good not to have to share common areas with 50 other dudes in your hostel!

Wednesday I hit up Maven's Bagels before I finally found Yellow Rat Bastard and got my last of Dave's list checked off, as well as sorting through some vintage stores where the only cool stuff I could find was worth more than new T-shirts, so I headed to the famous Katz's Jewish deli for a corned beef sandwich the size of my head before grabbing a 1 last Coopers & Boag's Primo before back to Chana's to try and re-store some order in backpack, only lasted as long my next stop anyway.

Another quiet evening at home, making the most of non communal living before waking earliesh the next morning as the plan was to go for a ride through Central Park, but the rain soon put an end to that so I laid on the Sofa finishing my massive book which I did not want to take to my next destination considering I had been carrying it around with me since the worst hostel in the world in Flores, Guatemala. I took Finn, Chana's dog, for a walk before getting my final things together and making my way to the subway and airport bound. I wanted to get there early to see if I could cancel my conecting flight that went from Madrid to Barcelona, because the coastal town I decided to hit up in Spain is like 3 hours closer to Madrid, but for some reason if I was to do that, I would lose my flights from Madrid to Lisbon, Lisbon to London & London to Australia, such a crappy system, so I spent the next 3 hours at the airport wandering around like a lost sole - boring!

Once I finally boarded however, I was pretty surprised to find myself sitting next to Tom Williams (Australian Actor - Great Outdoors & Dancing with the Stars), we had a pretty good chat and dosed in and out of sleep (at least food & wine was served this time) until we touched down in Madrid some 7 hours later. Quickly transferred to make my connection to Barcelona and then that's when the fun began...........

Great views of 52nd street south (& north) from the Rockefeller Center, no queing here Dave

The Empire State Building

Central park really is a monster!

I do brother, just not your government

Standard issue Living in the Upper West Side: Alex & Elizabeth's Apartment

The view of Manhattan from the Staten Island Ferry

I went cheap and got the free ferry to Staten Island instead of the close up tour of the Statue of Liberty, but still snuck a few good peeps in

Typical NYC or what!?

The magnificent church at the end of wall street

Heart Shattering stuff on 9/11/06 - 5 years after the attacks

and the whackos together

The destruction remaining at Ground Zero