Limoges

What can I say about Limoges? Well, I know I didn't really give it much of a chance to prove itself but even so... My hotel looked good on the internet but when I got there it was a slightly different story. They didn't have my Bombay Sapphire gin which I have managed to live without when necessary, but they also did not have tonic water, or food come to that. So I went for a wander to see what I could see and the result was: NOT MUCH! I think I must have been in a somewhat dodgy part of town because everything looked run down and closed. Even the supermarket had closed down. I eventually found a small bar who could sell me a G & T but wouldn't sell me a bottle of tonic to go with my own gin. Feeling somewhat disgruntled, I headed back to where I thought my hotel had been and happened upon a strange pizza place where I got some chicken wings and salad and a coke. Then I took some time to find my hotel again and had my dinner in the 'dining room' which was of course, deserted. There were a couple of pluses: they had a garage to put the car in; the bed was comfortable and the man on reception was friendly and as helpful as the limited resources allowed. I was relieved to be leaving early the next morning.

I headed towards Paris following Tom's instructions once I got there to the letter but I kept ending up in Central Paris. This would have been fine if that was where I had intended to go but I thought I was aiming for the Charles de Gaulle airport area. Having driven round La Place de la Concorde a couple of times, and up the Champs Elysee a couple of times, I figured I must have given Tom the wrong address so I eventually found a place where I could stop the car and regroup. Of course I was the one at fault - Tom never makes mistakes, so after reprogramming him, we headed out to CDG and found the hotel I had booked for the night so that I wouldn't miss meeting Lyss' & Joe's flight which arrived early the next morning.

What a crock - this hotel was a bit unloved as well and was in desperate need of some TLC to brighten it up a bit. However, there was a bar and a restaurant which was just as well because there weren't any alternatives in the vicinity. To top it off, they took full advantage of this status and charged horrendous prices for any food or drink so I felt somewhat ripped off. I wasn't really too concerned because I knew it was only for 1 night and I was looking forward to seeing Lyss and Joe, and spending time in Paris with them. I thought I might have a good breakfast in the morning as it was included in the cost of the room but when I went down the next morning, it was even more basic than a standard continental breakfast and no sign of the 'full American breakfast' promised on the website and interestingly enough, no staff in the dining room to ask or complain to about that so I packed my car up and headed off to CDG to meet Lyss.

Barcelona

I had been feeling really ambivalent about coming to Barcelona. On the one hand, it is a really important part of Spain and supposedly a fabulous city, while on the other it is rumoured to have a huge criminal population. I had visions of walking down the street and having someone whipping past on a bike and flogging my handbag on the way. So, I arrived here about mid afternoon yesterday and immediately emptied my more important personal belongings (credit cards, drivers licence, car keys, passport etc) into the room safe. Then I decided that I needed a swim so I spent an hour lounging around in the pool, cooling down a bit, although it is a bit cooler here - only 29degrees and great air conditioning!

Taking only the bare minimum with me, I went for a stroll up Gran Via Corts Catalanes up to the Placa d'Espagna which was not too far away and a very pleasant stroll. On the way back, I stopped at a sidewalk cafe for a G & T and something to eat (I've taken quite a liking to the Tortilla des patatas and anchovies in vinegar) As I was ordering, (in pidgin Spanglish) a solo father from Leeds at the next table realised I also spoke English so we had a drink and dinner together with his 10year old son before each going our own ways. I am relieved to advise that no random cyclists raced past me trying to pinch my bag.

Today, I spent the morning doing more washing - with all this heat, I find I am changing 2 or 3 times a day. Fortunately this hotel has a self service laundromat so I only had to go along the hall this time. Having done that, I spent another hour in the pool before heading off to catch the Bus Turistica. I made the mistake of sitting on the top deck (get the best views up there) and despite a large sunhat and many layers of sunscreen, I managed to OD on sun. These buses are great for getting a sense of the lay out of a city so after going round once, I went halfway round again to La Rambla - a huge open air promenade/market sort of place. There were all sorts there - check out the photos. I stopped in at the fruit/vegetable/meat & fish markets and was completely stunned to see such variety in all of these things - lots of stuff I had no idea how to identify (my phrase book being somewhat lacking in a complete foodstuffs dictionary!) Nevertheless I tried many of the odd looking fruits and didn't find one that I didn't like. Obviously some were tastier than others but all were acceptable while some were truly divine and I will never know what they were!

I had an early dinner on La Rambla and then walked back to the hotel. Looking on the map, it didn't look too far but it turned out to be miles away and I was just becoming worried that I had turned the wrong way up Gran Via (which as it's name suggests, is grand (read LONG) when I came upon Placa d'Espagna from a different angle and all of a sudden I knew where I was. It was quite a relief because my feet were beginning to protest and I was just thinking I might have to stop for another refreshment stop in order to re-investigate the map. So, in the end I made it without the need for this and am now sitting with my poor sore feet up, giving them the rest they so richly deserve.
I have changed my mind about Barcelona - it is a fabulous city and I have enjoyed my brief time here. What's more, I am still in possession of everything I arrived with. I am a bit disappointed that I haven't got a little more time here but tomorrow it is off to Limoges whose main saving graces are that it is in France (so I will be able to understand more and be understood more) and it is more than half way to Paris where I meet up with Lyss and Joe on Saturday morning. I'll be in touch soon.

Valencia

Finally a part of Spain that I love. Again, I left Murcia before it got too hot and had a nice drive across to Valencia. When I got here, I was given a map of the city, a bus pass and detailed information and advice about what I should do while I was here. (Very helpful concierge!) I gave him a bit of a surprise/challenge when asked him where I could find a laundromat. It completely floored him. I explained that I resented paying 2euros to get a pair of knickers washed by a hotel and regularly used laundromats in my travels. Anyway, he did his best and located something he thought would do the job. Sadly, it turned out to be a drycleaners so I went online and found the only laundromat in Valencia, located in the old town which is some distance away from the hotel. So I packed up my dirty laundry and caught the tram to the old river (which is no more) and headed into the old town. I found the laundromat which turned out to be a great place. It is called 'The Laundry Shop' (Baja, 6) and is very small - only 3 washers and 3 dryers but it also has 6 computers for internet access. You can get coffee and there is plenty of good reading matter there, even if a lot of it is in Spanish. A very pleasant way to while away a couple of hours. I have found that Valencia is very easy to navigate round and despite the heat wave is a lovely part of the world.
On Saturday, I decided to spend the day in the old town to see what it had to offer. I wanted to check out the Mercado Central and the Plaza Rondo amongst other things. So I hopped on the metro and bus and eventually found myself right in amongst it. It is quite a pretty city too compared to some I have seen since I have been here. I went wandering (I've done a lot of that) and found all sorts of things. I found the bullring and discovered that there was a bullfight on that night so I bought a ticket - not that I am particularly in favour of bullfights but I thought I should expeeience one so I had something to go on. It was an interesting experience - one that gave me a few frights but I now have a much clearer picture of how it works. I won't need to do it again.
On Sunday, I spent the day at the Cuidad de Artes y Ciencies. It is a truly magnificent structure and includes the Palau de Musica, the Oceanografico, the Umbracle, the Hemisferic and the Museu de Ciencies. I was particularly interested in the aquarium which was huge and definitely worth a trip. I enjoyed all the exhibits and even enjoyed the dolphin show - about 10 dolphins and 6 trainers. The dolphins really seemed to enjoy themselves playing with the trainers, although I can't really explain what it was about the show that gave me that impression. I boarded the Titanic and spent a couple of hours listening to stories about the voyage and seeing many artefacts dredged up from the seabed. Finally I spent a couple of hours in the Museu de Ciencies playing on all the scientific gadgets/experiments. It had taken me all day so I was ready to head back to the hotel. On the way back, I saw a parade getting ready to start so I hopped off the bus and went and watched that for an hour or so. I found barbecued corn on the cob so had to have some of that. All in all, a very long day. The tram was very overcrowded on the way home, a very tight fit but we made it and I was relieved to finally get back to the hotel about 9.30pm.
I tried to go to the beach on Monday, which was supposed to be a bit cooler and overcast. I have to say, the weatherman lies over here too! Not only was it not overcast, it was also much hotter - 38 - 39 degrees and windy. It might only sound like a couple of degrees but 35 - 38 is huge in terms of manageability! I got down to the beach but I couldn't handle the heat and the wind meant that I ate quite a bit of sand so I headed back to town in search of a few air conditioned buildings. (I couldn't even handle the hotel swimming pool because what little shade there was, was being used up by other people). I have a very good understanding about why people die in heat waves now. I've said it before and I'll say it again:- how do people live here and actually do anything?!?!
So Tuesday rolled around and it was time to leave Valencia - a sad farewell - and move on to Barcelona. I was a bit worried about this because I have heard some awful stories about Barcelona being the crime capital of Spain but I'll let you know how I get on.
Til next time....

Murcia

I was glad to leave Malaga and head to Murcia. I got there pretty early having left Malaga around 9.00am. It was only a 3 hour drive and when I left it was still a pretty cool 27degrees so it was quite a pleasant trip. However as soon as I opened the car door and got out of the car, I discovered just how hot it was - 37degrees. I could feel the heat coming up from the pavement through my jandals. It stayed like this for the whole time I was in Murcia, so I spent 3 days seeking shade, air conditioned buildings or water. I found a busstop right outside the hotel and a city circular bus that stopped there so I hopped on it and went to explore. Fortunately, the buses are all air conditioned too so quite comfortable. What I have learnt is that the Spaniards are not silly - the siesta is a very necessary part of life, you simply can't function during the hottest part of the day (Actually, I haven't worked out how to function after about 9.00am and before about 8.00pm but that is just me). Everything closes down at about 1.30 - 2.00pm and doesn't open again until 4.30 - 5.00pm. Banks don't bother re-opening at all after 2.30pm - what a life!
Murcia is a big city with a few religious monuments and a reasonable commercial centre but really doesn't have much to recommend it. I did meet an English couple - Paul and Sammy at the pool. He's like your archetypal car salesman although he sells foreign real estate developments to English suckers. Sounded a bit like holidayshare developments and a bit dodgy if you ask me. She's the traditional dumb blonde type, but nice. We had a pleasant evening, drinking lots and eating although Sammy had a very restricted palate and Paul and I had to eat her gazpacho (she didn't know it was cold soup) and I had to swap my roast vegetable salad for her tuna salad when it turned up because it had raw tuna in it. Even my vegetable salad didn't really meet with her approval but at least it didn't have raw tuna in it. She ate lots of bread. Actually, I really like the fact that meals are so much later here. Breakfast is usually about 9.00am, lunch is about 2.00pm and dinner starts around 9.15pm. Many of the restaurants I have seen don't open until 8.00pm and children are very much a part of the evening dining ritual. (I wonder what time school starts?) It is a very relaxed lifestyle of which I heartily approve, although the temperature could be a couple of degrees cooler!

Malaga

I left Monte Gordo a week ago and went to Malaga which may or may not have had much to recommend it. I arrived on Saturday feeling very hot and bothered and drove past my hotel twice before realising it was there, which may give you some idea of the size and quality of it. After checking in I decided that I would just have dinner and then head to bed which I did. The next day I woke up with a very nasty head cold/sinusitis and felt pretty miserable. I tried to get moving by catching the Malaga Tour bus but the heat on top of the temperature I already had made it pretty awful so I went back to bed for a couple of days and missed most of Malaga. On the day before I was due to leave I eventually got up and headed to the beach. I asked the man on reception which bus to catch to get there and he told me I could walk it - it was only 15 minute walk but I simply couldn't be bothered so I caught the number 11 to El Palo beach. It turns out that El Palo is not the best beach in Malaga (in fact it is so far from being the best beach in Malaga it was hard to accept the tourist blurb about Malaga being famous for its beaches) so I thought I would walk back to the main beach - Malagueta to see if that was any better. When I started out, I didn't realise it was about 7 kilometres back and that I would have been quicker walking directly from my hotel to Malagueta but it was a learning experience. As I walked along the promenade, I saw many beach barbecues set up opposite beachfront restaurants. They looked like little dinghys on a stand in front of a small open sided shed - no walls just palm tree leaf roofs on stalks, each one with its own icecream-type fridge. The dinghys were actually metal or concrete and filled with sand on which was placed the fire. They all looked pretty grubby and despite it being close to midday, not one of the restaurants was actually open.

Another thing I noticed that surprised me was the number of people who took their exercise really seriously in Malaga. Lots of people were out running (not sure how they managed this in the heat - I was just walking and it nearly did me in). I passed a free outdoor gym area on a rotunda like Oriental Bay, where you could do your 'cross training' or use the rowing machine or weights machine looking out over the sea. If it wasn't so hot, it would have been a great idea but all the equipment was in use so maybe once you become acclimatised to this heat, you can actually do these things.

I eventually (1.5hrs later) got to the main beach and found a cafe open. It was a relief to sit in the shade with a bottle of water, a huge coke on ice and a tortilla de patatas. Having revived myself somewhat, I organised a sunlounger with umbrella and spent the afternoon reading and swimming. The water was lovely but the sun's heat made sunbathing impossible.

I thought that I would walk back to the hotel since I had been told it was only a 15 minute walk but I must have taken the long route because it took me 45 minutes. I did enjoy the gardens that I walked through though - particularly enjoyed the shade provided by large trees.

Overall impression of Malaga - old, past it's best tourist centre. Not a highlight of the trip but that may be partly tinged by the fact that I wasn't feeling great.

Portugal here I come

On Friday, I left Madrid having done none of the touristy things that I wanted to do but looking forward to getting to Monte Gordo in Portugal. It was another long drive and the temperature as I drove down rose to 40 degrees. I had been trying to avoid using the air conditioning in the car as it does affect fuel economy but on this part of the trip, I couldn’t live without it. I arrived in Monte Gordo by late afternoon and checked into my hotel, only to discover that I had again been fooled by the internet description only this time, I actually let them know how angry I was. The hotel is actually very nice but their notion of service is non existent - for example, I have been here for a couple of days now and still no-one has come up to fix the tv which I reported as not receiving a signal shortly after I arrived. And there is no internet. There is an internet in the lobby but it is unreliable at best and expensive. Getting served in the pool bar means waiting for nearly 30 minutes if you have the patience and the hotel food is not great.
On the plus side, and it is actually a big side, the weather is great (still high 30’s), the beach is great - Joe you would love this one - sand and body surfing waves. And they hire out jet skis although I am not sure I am so game to do it on my own, with large breakers making it difficult to take off - I know, I’ve watched several punters come to grief already and I’m not really keen. I think I will wait for a beach like Alicante which is a bit easier to get off.
There isn’t much to Monte Gordo apart from the beach and lots of places to eat. There is a huge camping ground just along the road from my hotel which is very busy and there are visitors from all over the world here. I am really disappointed in myself because although I can sort of keep up in French and Italian, Spanish has entirely eluded me, despite the regular consultation with my phrase book and now that I have hit Portugal, I am completely lost. I have found it impossible to recognise any words. I have understood some things simply because I have checked them out: I can tell the difference between the Gents and the Ladies for instance. I think the only word I have got sorted is ‘obrigado’ - thank you! Fortunately, there are plenty of people here who speak English as well so I haven’t been entirely stuck.
I have another 5 days here before I think I will follow the coast towards Valencia, making stops along the way, so I will update again later.
Monday 9th July
I decided I would just have to try and ignore the heat and do something other than lie idly round a pool or on the beach so I got up relatively early before the sun had got too high and headed off to Faro for a quick look round. Like much of this part of the world, it is dusty and old but I spent a very pleasant few hours strolling round the main streets of the city centre. There is a nice beach here too (where isn’t there round here) I notice that there are a lot of older, very weatherbeaten folk who seem to do nothing but sit in the shade watching the world go by. I can sympathise - it really is too hot for much activity. I had a very light lunch before heading back to Monte Gordo and the pleasures of the pool.
Tuesday 10th July
This morning, I got up really early - 6.30am! I meant to get up a bit earlier actually because I was being collected at 6.40am to go to Gibralter but I set the alarm incorrectly so I only had 10 minutes to get showered and dressed and downstairs for the bus. I made it though with minutes to spare even. I had been given a picnic by the hotel in place of breakfast (as I was leaving too early for that - not that I had partaken of breakfast in the hotel anyway) and I was glad to have something to eat when we made our first stop about 1 hour out of Seville. It took us about 3.5hours to get to Gibralter and I was surprised to discover that here was a border crossing where we actually had to show our papers. We were also told that the ‘export’ of goods out of Gibralter was a very tightly regulated business - each person could take 200 cigarettes, 1 litre of alcohol and 170pounds worth of shopping of any sort on top of the cigs and alcohol (and yes receipts had to be shown). Still, I really liked Gibralter. I did a tour of the rock, where I visited St Michael’s caves, looked across to Africa (or at least to where Africa would have been if the heat haze hadn’t got in the way), and met the monkeys. They made the whole trip even more worthwhile. I was surprised to find how friendly and tame some of the monkeys are - you can see how well I got on with one of them in the photos. After the rock tour, we were free to do what we wanted for 3.5 hours before we had to get back to the border for our bus back to Monte Gordo. Gibralter really is a little piece of England stuck on the edge of Spain. I found Marks and Spencer, Top Shop, and Next among other English gems. I had a lovely late lunch sitting in the town square and was disappointed that 3.5hours could disappear quite so quickly.
The drive back was notable for 3 reasons - it was much quieter than the trip out; the temperature as we passed through Seville was 47degrees; and we passed storks sitting (or rather standing) on nests on the tops of power pylons. The photos I managed to take are a little blurry unfortunately but will remind me of what I saw. The other thing I have noticed is that Oleanders are planted down the middle of all the motorways in Spain that I have travelled and there are vast fields of sunflowers, many past their best, dotting the landscape in amongst the dry, dusty hills. It was a long day, we didn’t get back to Monte Gordo until 9.15pm, but I am thrilled that I did it.
Thursday 12th July
Today I thought I might take in a theme park and what better theme than Aqualand, half way between Albufeira and Portimao. Unfortunately there are no visual records of this trip because I wanted to prove to the unbelievers that I did do the Rapids on a tube, and several slides of varying heights, as well as the wave pool, and the Magic Carpet ride. Never mind, you’ll just have to take my word for it. Suffice to say that although I did actually motivate myself to move from the side of the hotel pool for the day, I still managed to keep cool in other pools.

Heading for the summer again - to Spain this time

Friday 29th June 2007


I was a mite concerned that I was going to have trouble getting down through England with all the floods in the middle of the country so I decided I had better leave Edinburgh on Friday to catch my EuroTunnel train on Saturday evening. Actually, I would have made good time since I didn’t encounter anything like rain or even evidence of previous rain all the way down. What got in my way were roadworks on the M6, congestion at Birmingham and finally as I reached the actual outskirts of London, Cricklewood was closed off by Police and we were redirected around the longest way, then the bomb scare in Central London further added to my woes meaning that I did not get to Mia’s until after 10.00pm.
The next day, after a really good night’s sleep and a very slow morning, I was treated to a delicious brunch courtesy of Kristen before I took off for the EuroTunnel. Today, the rains had hit and it took me about an hour and a half to get out of London. It rained all the way down to Folkestone and was still raining 35 minutes later when I hit Calais. I drove down to Rouen, about 3 hours away where I had booked a hotel for the night. Not the newest, flashest or cleanest, but nice view over a square and the night receptionist was lovely. After parking up and lugging my bag up to my room (no lift!) I went for a stroll and discovered that it was not in the best part of town either - I got propositioned (although I wasn’t quite quick enough to pick up how much I could have earned) which I very firmly turned down. I wasn’t even dressed in a way that might have given rise to any thoughts of that as my profession so I was somewhat taken aback. However, it was only my feelings that had been hurt so I moved on and back to the hotel.
The next morning, I took off pretty early towards Saint Malo. It wasn’t a long drive so I got there in time for lunch. I found myself on the waterfront, but it didn’t look right - the tide was out so the boats were lying on their sides and it was windswept and there were only 2 or 3 dodgy looking restaurants along the promenade. I got some lunch at one of them and then went to find my hotel, (Hotel Belem - very nice, lovely people, rubbish internet, way out of town). Then I went back into town and found the old town, within the walls which was wonderful. The hotel had recommended a restaurant called Le Brick for dinner so that was where I went and they were right.
By Monday, the weather had packed up here as well so I spent the day visiting the Grand Aquarium. It was magnificent, including the giant crabs, moray eels and some other pretty weird looking marine specimens. I also had a ride in a Nautibus, which is kind of like a submarine trip at a theme park, quite interesting. It was a real theme park kind of day - I finished it off with McDonalds for tea.
On Tuesday, I went down to Bordeaux as a stopover on my way down to Madrid so I didn’t get to have a look around, which is a shame but maybe later, on my way back up.
I left Bordeaux early as it was a long drive down to Madrid. The weather was still rubbish, although not so cold. As I passed into Spain, I discovered that if I was going to die anywhere on this trip, Spanish roads would be the place - Spanish drivers are dreadful. About an hour out of Madrid, the weather suddenly came right and I started to melt. By the time I eventually got to my hotel I was extremely hot, grumpy and tired. I wanted to have a swim but the pool in the picture didn’t exist, and there was no electricity until 7.00pm. I had to park under the hotel 2 floors down in pitch dark and lug the bag up to the first floor of the hotel (thank goodness I didn’t get a room any higher) The first thing I did was have a cold shower (don’t need electricity for that), mop up the bathroom floor which was flooded every time the shower was on, then went to get something cold to drink. I found a nice cafeteria across the road from the hotel and had a coke, a G & T, and something to eat before returning to the hotel for an early night. I discovered that the little fridge in the room did not keep things cold so all the food I had bought spoiled very quickly in the heat, around 31 degrees each day!
I slept well until about 10.00am despite the constant hum of a large generator all night, and no air conditioning. I decided that all I could do that day was find a pool and spend the day in it. I got instructions from the receptionist and navigated the Metro successfully to a pool which had changed from being a public pool on 30 June to a private pool on 1 July. I was very angry, mainly because I was so hot so I went back to the hotel and picked up the car and drove to another pool I had found on the internet. Parking was a bit of an issue but I made it and fell into the pool at about 2.30 and didn’t leave it until about 6.00. I got back to the hotel only to find that the power had gone down again and wouldn’t be back until 7.00. So I went back to my little cafeteria and had a couple of G & T with a light meal - couldn’t eat anything proper, it was just so hot. I’m not complaining because that was what I wanted and I am getting it in spades but I have yet to acclimatise.