SPAIN

SPAIN: 

San Sebastian- Donostia/ Pamplona, Basque Country, Spain.

Day Six:

After a huge day of traveling the day before we woke up late, did some much needed washing then set off to explore San Sebastian. We didn’t have a host at our accommodation to ask questions, nor wifi access to find the answers ourselves so we were pretty lost, we actually walked the complete opposite way of the beach to begin with. We spent most of the day at the beach relaxing after a full-on 5 days of sight-seeing in London. We grocery shopped as our accommodation had a kitchen and we are aiming to save money everywhere we can by cooking ourselves! We returned home to meet our new roomies. Didn’t know we were going to have roomies so of course I had hung all my undies out all over the house to dry. Awkward. They were a lovely couple from New Zealand, Carrie and Chris, who were on a 6month trip together through Europe.

Day Seven:  

Today was another relaxing day, just spent time at the beach and wandering through San Sebastian, we walked to the end of Playa de la Zurriolla, located at the opposite end of the San Sebastian to where we were staying and around the giant Christ statue that is built on-top of a hill. There’s really not a lot to do in San Sebastian and whilst the beach is beautiful, Australian beaches are better so we wouldn’t say it’s a MUST.

Day Eight:

Today tried to book a bus to Pamplona for San Fermin. After not being able to get a solid wifi connection, we opted for a travel agent only the one we picked only spoke Spanish and French. Google translate proved itself to be more valuable than ever! We then spent the afternoon at the beach, where Trent made me swim out to a pontoon in the middle of the bay. This little adventure only solidified how terribly unfit I am as a swimmer. I honestly almost drowned 20 times and the water was flat. 

Day Nine:

Today started at around 3.30am. We got the bus to Pamplona at 5 to be there by 6 so Trent could meet up with the boys from Newcastle (Australia) that we met on the plane over  and so Trent could walk the track. SO. MUCH. RUBBISH. EVERYWHERE. And so many passed-out bodies dressed in red and white from the night before! We found the start line but couldn’t find the boys from Newcastle so Trent ended up running with some friends he went to high school with. I watched the run from the arena where it ends. Our agreement was ‘run and don’t try to be a hero’, but in true Trent form, there he was up-close and personal with every last bull that was released into the arena for what was kind of like a giant game of super dangerous/ super stupid tips. I’ve never felt more relieved when the woman next to me told me it was over. We set off in search of a bar that was showing the State Of Origin(didn’t find one). In the afternoon some friends of Trent’s were going to the bull fight, and after a few drinks, in spite of being warned, we joined them. I would never advise anyone to go and watch one. It’s 1000 times worse than what you expect it to be. On our way home on the bus we met a group of people from New Zealand and went for drinks with them.

Day Ten:

We spent most of the morning trying to book bus tickets to Barcelona for the following day and after finally succeeding we had the day to explore the last pieces of San Sebastian we hadn’t gotten to. We walked throught the Old Town then we hiked to the top of the Christ statue to have panoramic views of the entire city. 100% worth it. Then spent the afternoon at the beach.

Day 11:

Today we’re spent 8.5hours on a bus to get to Barcelona. We were so happy with our AirBnB experience that we decided to continue to use it and booked a room in the centre of Barcelona. Our hosts in Barceloa were the sweetest couple, Diego and Gouthio, we had a drink with them before going out for 1euro pintxos at Pincho J. Definitely recommend.

Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. 

Day 12: Today we wandered from our accommodation through the Harbour to the beach. It was really hot so we spent most of the day at the beach. There are people EVERYWHERE trying to sell you things! Worse than anything either of us have experienced anywhere else in the world… all you hear it ‘Mojito, Sangria, cold water, beer’ 24/7 in an Indian Accent. There are also people offering massages, clothes, sarongs, and they're all trying to make sure you buy from them. So annoying. It’s illegal and whenever the police would come they would all go running in every different direction. One lady giving someone a massage in-front of us on the beach laid down and pretended to be sun baking with the lady. We had dinner and drinks with the boys from Newcastle. 

Day 13: Another hot day spent at the beach. In the afternoon we lined up to go to Museu Picasso as it was free on a Sunday afternoon; however the wait for tickets was 1.5hours then we had to wait another 2 hours after that to even enter. We weren’t that desperate to go so decided to head home. Gouthio, one of our hosts(who only spoke Italian and Spanish) offered for us to have dinner with him. He made an amazing traditional Cuban dinner.

Day 14: Today we walked through the centre of the city to get to the beach rather than walking around and through the harbour and found Mercat de la Boqueria. There was so much amazing food and we had intended to come back to eat here but never got around to it. We had planned to hire bikes today but forgot our ID’s so instead we caught a cable car from one side of the harbor to the other. The view was really nice however they cram a lot of people into each carriage and we only got a good view on the way back. I probably wouldn't recommend it, we waited for ages and it was a bit meh. As always, we spent the afternoon at the beach.

Day 15: Today we FINALLY got to hire bikes! It’s definitely the way to get around and we wish we had hired them for our entire time in Barcelona. We did A LOT of walking to get around and having bikes would have saved a lot of time and made getting around much easier. After returning our bikes we set of to try to find Sagrada Familia. We got lost(standard) and ended up having to catch a taxi. The line to get tickets was half an hour then you had to wait another four hours to get in so we just looked from the outside which is enough. It really is SO amazing. We will just come back when it's finished (sometime between 2020 and 2040 apparently). 

Day 16: Today was our last day in Barcelona. We had to check out of our accommodation at 11am but we weren't leaving until 11pm so we were lucky enough to be able to leave our bags at our accommodation. We'd been pretty lazy with our sight-seeing since leaving London(no one tells you how tiring travelling is!) so decided to jam the day full of all of the last things we hadn't seen. We visited La Pedrera, Casa Batllo, Montjuic and the 1992 Olympic village. We used the subway for the first time and wished we had made use of it earlier. It's really easy to understand and CLEAN! We had dinner at Ta Paxtxi. All you can eat for 14euros each! Muscles, curries, pastas, pintxos, salads- SO MUCH TO EAT! Definitely recommend! We got on our bus for Madrid at 11pm. 

Day 17: We booked an overnight bus to Madrid to try to save money on accommodation. No amount of money saved is worth such an uncomfortable half sleep. A combination of a sketchy character across the aisle from us and the bus constantly stopping and turning the lights on resulted in us hardly getting a wink of sleep. We arrived at 6.30am and caught a cab to our accommodation. We were only supposed to drop off our bags and leave because check-in wasn't until 4pm but we were so exhausted and asked whether we could just lay on the carpet for a few hours. Around 10am we got up and headed out. After not using the subway in Barcelona we decided we didn't want to make the same mistake and went straight to the train station, however we were a little bit too keen and didn't read the map thoroughly enough... we literally caught the subway from one side of the road to the other not knowing that where we needed to be was so close- whoops! We visited Parqye del Buen Retiro, Palacio Real and Plaza Mayor and you better believe we were on that door step at 4pm. Madrid is boring and WAY too hot!

Day 18: This morning didn't start so well. We had, had the WORST sleep in 40degree heat with no fan or air-conditioning(we soaked our towels in water and laid them on-top of us to try to sleep- it was not a good time in our lives) and then I electrocuted myself. We were tired and just wanted to get to Rome. We walked to the train station from our accommodation with our giant backpacks and 10,000 other bags. Took the train to the airport. Took a bus to our terminal. Caught our flight from Madrid to Rome. Took a bus from the airport to go to the Metro station. Took the metro to get to our accommodation. Took a taxi to our accommodation(which we finally got to after the cab driver got lost for 20minutes!). But we finally made it to Rome and so far it's the best yet! 

TIPS:

DON’T SEE A BULL FIGHT!

TRY YOUR BEST WITH THE LANGUAGE! Its surprising how much the locals appreciate you

trying to speak the local language. Note that in San Sebastian they speak Basque and Spanish. Basque is a completely different language to Spanish, it's not even Latin, no one knows where it came from, some suggest vikings but we're not the right people to ask about that. Also in Barcelona they speak Catalan, but most people are more relaxed and are happy to speak to you in Spanish. In San Sebastian we found a lotof people were very adamant about you knowing you were in Basque Country and NOT Spain, our friends from New Zealand were even asked whether they had visited ‘Spain’(The south of Spain is considered Spain). Weird. 

BOOK SOMEWHERE WITH WIFI! If your trip is already pre-booked its not an issue, because you know where you need to be and when, but when you’re booking accommodation and transport as you go, having ready access to wifi is invaluable. We would’ve spent a lot less time outside the Ford dealership

down the road if we had it at home.

EAT ALL THE PINTXOS: Just eat it, it's SO good! And CHEAP!

HIRE BIKES IN BARCELONA: Definitely the best way to get around. We found somewhere that was about 12euros/day. 

DON'T GO TO MADRID IN JULY! Unless you're particularly curious to see how much the human body can sweat... it's not worth it. We don't think it would be worth going any time of year, but definitely don't go in July. 

BUY A WATER BOTTLE WITH A FILTER! Could not advise this one more. We have water bottles from Kathmandu that I bought prior to us leaving and in the heat we experienced they're worth every penny! We can fill up at any tap and not be concerned about the water quality.