We rocked up to Salamanca and got stuck on these one way streets which seemed to usher us round in circles. Cars were bumper to bumper driving round looking for parks and so were we.
Quick note to self: Avoid driving round Spainish towns when they are in the middle of a festival.
We finally got over the whole driving and traffic thing and parked the car just out of the city centre, got out and walked. Wise move. The city centre wasn't that big anyway and it was quite easy to get from one side to the other, further out and it just becomes horrible suburbia like any other city.
The city seemed to be build around this huge square plaza, quite awesome, this huge square which is surrounded by this 4-5 story building. We got a table and had a coke and looked at the local accomodation book. The coke was at tourist prices and it cost like $5 - $7 AUD or something crazy like that... No tip for you!
Another thing to note to self about going to a town where there is a festival on... book the accomodation in advance!!! We started calling everyone in the book and the story was the same, all booked out, and they were saying that everyone else in town was booked out too! As we were resigning to the fact that we might have to drive on to Madrid we luckily managed to call some a place that had a 3 bed room which was booked but the ppl hadn't arrived yet. We were told if we got there before they did, the room was ours... We took off and made it there, feeling slightly guilty for taking someones room and totally relieved that we had found a place to stay.
Sunday, October 22, 2006
Bye bye Portugal, Hello Spain
A decision was made that we had done our dash in Portugal and Spain was beckoning. So we got out the map and planned our journey over the border. We decided on a place called Salamanca, we had been given a reccomendation from some Kiwi tourists we met in Obidos, they said there was some festival going on. According to the map it looked like it would take 7 - 9 hours to get there, so we decided to leave at 6 the next morning so we could get there and have some time to find accomodation.
Well we did leave early, early the next morning and due to a slight map reading error it only took us about 4 or so hours. We had been using the wrong distance thingy and had over estimated the distance, could have been worse.
The drive was nice, mainly big open freeways. There was no one on the border to check passports or stamp our leaving pass, so I guess they thing I'm still there.
The land in Spain seemed dryer and flatter.
Well we did leave early, early the next morning and due to a slight map reading error it only took us about 4 or so hours. We had been using the wrong distance thingy and had over estimated the distance, could have been worse.
The drive was nice, mainly big open freeways. There was no one on the border to check passports or stamp our leaving pass, so I guess they thing I'm still there.
The land in Spain seemed dryer and flatter.
Port
Portugal, Oporto, Port... It makes sense that Port comes from Oporto in Portugal.
Along time ago in a country on the opposite side of the world from Oceania, the Prime Minister of Portugal did what hadn't been done anywhere else at that time. He regionalised the country and stated that only certain areas could grow certain grapes and only produce certain types of wines. In Portugal wines are classified by region rather than the shiraz, merlot etc that I was used to in NZ and OZ.
The area's surrounding the Douro were slated as Port producing region. Due to the fact that the ground was made up of solid rock, which would get heat from the sun during the day and then keep the roots of the vines warm at night, thus creating a stable temperature, which was ideal for port grape producing vines.
I'm doing this all from over month old memories so there might be some sligh in accuracies.
The Port process starts the same as wine, but after 3-4 days into the fermentation process, brandy/cognac is introduced to stop the fermentation.
This is where the memories are starting to get flakey, I'll have to come back and fix this up one day...
But there are two differnt types of maturation, one happens to the port when it is stored in wodden casks and the happens whilst in the bottle. There are two names for this...
Special reserve Port is matured in casks, and is only given that name when apporved by some Port board. The ports that aren't given that title are then used to create blends.
We went to the south bank of the Douro and visited several of the caves, did their tour and tasted free port... Offley Forrester is only label (I want to say vineyard) which is locally owned, although originally (like most) started off by the British.
I deffinitely had a greater appreciation for port after doing a couple of tours... and tastings :)
Along time ago in a country on the opposite side of the world from Oceania, the Prime Minister of Portugal did what hadn't been done anywhere else at that time. He regionalised the country and stated that only certain areas could grow certain grapes and only produce certain types of wines. In Portugal wines are classified by region rather than the shiraz, merlot etc that I was used to in NZ and OZ.
The area's surrounding the Douro were slated as Port producing region. Due to the fact that the ground was made up of solid rock, which would get heat from the sun during the day and then keep the roots of the vines warm at night, thus creating a stable temperature, which was ideal for port grape producing vines.
I'm doing this all from over month old memories so there might be some sligh in accuracies.
The Port process starts the same as wine, but after 3-4 days into the fermentation process, brandy/cognac is introduced to stop the fermentation.
This is where the memories are starting to get flakey, I'll have to come back and fix this up one day...
But there are two differnt types of maturation, one happens to the port when it is stored in wodden casks and the happens whilst in the bottle. There are two names for this...
Special reserve Port is matured in casks, and is only given that name when apporved by some Port board. The ports that aren't given that title are then used to create blends.
We went to the south bank of the Douro and visited several of the caves, did their tour and tasted free port... Offley Forrester is only label (I want to say vineyard) which is locally owned, although originally (like most) started off by the British.
I deffinitely had a greater appreciation for port after doing a couple of tours... and tastings :)
Saturday, October 21, 2006
Bazaar
I've got some time on my hands so I thought I'd better catch on my blog, as the memories are getting hazier... It's nearly been a month since I got back from Europe! Time travels way to fast!
Well once we had our accomodation sorted we go information from the check in chick on where to go in Oporto and what to see.
Oporto is situated at the end of the Douro river, which starts in Spain and heads west through Portugal and ends at the Atlantic. Oporto is actually quite a bit above sea level and has massive bridges which span the river. The Port caves are located on the southern bank of the river, the name is very misleading as there are no actual 'caves', they are warehouses where the Port is stored to mature. You can imagine how crazy we must have appeared to the locals trying to find 'caves'. Along the Northern and city back of the river are located restaurants, cafe's etc.
Armed with this info we jumped into the car and headed out to explore Oporto. What we didn't think about was the time, it was around 5pm and as with any city, it was the beginning of peak hour traffic... We spent the first 45 minutes driving around the city centre trying to get out, but through bad luck or expert navigation we kept getting caught in one way streets which ushered us back to the same spot.
Finally we made it out of the city and after another 45 minutes of being lost in the suburbs we called it quits and decided to return to the hotel, get changed and go out. No sooner had we decided that when we pulled up to the mouth of the Douro river, our intended destination. Fate ha?
We drove around the side of the river looking for somewhere to eat or have a coffee... It was fairly uneventful, except for me accidentally driving 1km the wrong way down a one way street... I was beginning to think there were no road rules so this kind of behaviour was acceptable... It's amazing how I can talk myself into believing some things :) The liesurely drive by the river ended in a horrendus traffic jam. Not wanting to wait we back tracked looking for somewhere to have coffee, drinks etc. Drinks were low on the list as we/I were still suffering from a hang over fromthe previous night.
Wayne spotted this interesting pier looking area, which looked like it has some cafes, so we headed over to check it out.
We got there and tried to find some where that was open, Wayne dissappeared into this one unassuming place, then popped his head out and said 'You are going to love this place, not quite sure it's my cup of tea though...
I was intrigued.
Bazaar
This would have to be one of the coolest, funkyest bar's I've ever been into.
The bar was designed by 3 Architechs and each room/level is themed differently. During the day it also doubles as a bar with a designey clothing and arts shops/boutiques operating out of various rooms.
Check out the link to see photos, my description would go for pages and still not do the place justice!
The place looked like it would draw a beautiful crown.
We met Hugo who was working the bar and the manager on duty. He turned out to be one of the nicest people we met in Portugal. After a couple of drinks we went to this fish and chip like shop just round the corner and had dinner with Hugo and some of the bar staff which were about to start the night shift. On Hugo's reccomendation we tried some of the traditional local food... There was this sausage which was made up of 3 meats! Chicken, beef and maybe fish... We also had chicken gibblets which were tender and tasty (I liked them!) and a fish dish.
After dinner we went back to Bazaar as Hugo had invited us down for a drink. The place started filling up... I was right it draw a beautiful crowd, I'd say 75% well dressed gay boys with 20% beautiful girls and 5% straight males.
I loved it!
When we left, much later than anticipated that night, we found a road that took us from the river straight to where we were staying... all that driving around and we had missed the most direct route... Oh, well we now know another city :)
Well once we had our accomodation sorted we go information from the check in chick on where to go in Oporto and what to see.
Oporto is situated at the end of the Douro river, which starts in Spain and heads west through Portugal and ends at the Atlantic. Oporto is actually quite a bit above sea level and has massive bridges which span the river. The Port caves are located on the southern bank of the river, the name is very misleading as there are no actual 'caves', they are warehouses where the Port is stored to mature. You can imagine how crazy we must have appeared to the locals trying to find 'caves'. Along the Northern and city back of the river are located restaurants, cafe's etc.
Armed with this info we jumped into the car and headed out to explore Oporto. What we didn't think about was the time, it was around 5pm and as with any city, it was the beginning of peak hour traffic... We spent the first 45 minutes driving around the city centre trying to get out, but through bad luck or expert navigation we kept getting caught in one way streets which ushered us back to the same spot.
Finally we made it out of the city and after another 45 minutes of being lost in the suburbs we called it quits and decided to return to the hotel, get changed and go out. No sooner had we decided that when we pulled up to the mouth of the Douro river, our intended destination. Fate ha?
We drove around the side of the river looking for somewhere to eat or have a coffee... It was fairly uneventful, except for me accidentally driving 1km the wrong way down a one way street... I was beginning to think there were no road rules so this kind of behaviour was acceptable... It's amazing how I can talk myself into believing some things :) The liesurely drive by the river ended in a horrendus traffic jam. Not wanting to wait we back tracked looking for somewhere to have coffee, drinks etc. Drinks were low on the list as we/I were still suffering from a hang over fromthe previous night.
Wayne spotted this interesting pier looking area, which looked like it has some cafes, so we headed over to check it out.
We got there and tried to find some where that was open, Wayne dissappeared into this one unassuming place, then popped his head out and said 'You are going to love this place, not quite sure it's my cup of tea though...
I was intrigued.
Bazaar
This would have to be one of the coolest, funkyest bar's I've ever been into.
The bar was designed by 3 Architechs and each room/level is themed differently. During the day it also doubles as a bar with a designey clothing and arts shops/boutiques operating out of various rooms.
Check out the link to see photos, my description would go for pages and still not do the place justice!
The place looked like it would draw a beautiful crown.
We met Hugo who was working the bar and the manager on duty. He turned out to be one of the nicest people we met in Portugal. After a couple of drinks we went to this fish and chip like shop just round the corner and had dinner with Hugo and some of the bar staff which were about to start the night shift. On Hugo's reccomendation we tried some of the traditional local food... There was this sausage which was made up of 3 meats! Chicken, beef and maybe fish... We also had chicken gibblets which were tender and tasty (I liked them!) and a fish dish.
After dinner we went back to Bazaar as Hugo had invited us down for a drink. The place started filling up... I was right it draw a beautiful crowd, I'd say 75% well dressed gay boys with 20% beautiful girls and 5% straight males.
I loved it!
When we left, much later than anticipated that night, we found a road that took us from the river straight to where we were staying... all that driving around and we had missed the most direct route... Oh, well we now know another city :)
Wednesday, September 20, 2006
Oporto
A great thing about Portugal is that it is about 700KM from top to bottom, this means that it is shorter than the North Island of New Zealand. I have been told that Portugal has the most varied landscapes per sq meter of any country. This fact makes it a great place to do a driving tour as it never really takes long to get to your next destination.
Our destination after Salamanca was Porto. You should pick it up out of the name but if you hadn't, this is the home of Port, so we were looking forward to sampling the local fare.
We arrived in town and started our customary search for the town centre and a tourismo. Porto is alot bigger than the previous towns we had explored so we spent considerably more time driving around in circles and circles and circles... We eventually found the town centre and a tourismo, so we parked the car in an underground car park, where we narrowly avoided slamming the car into the wall, this caused hysterical laughter for quite sometime.
After an exhausting search we finally found some accomodation which over looked the centre town square.
Our destination after Salamanca was Porto. You should pick it up out of the name but if you hadn't, this is the home of Port, so we were looking forward to sampling the local fare.
We arrived in town and started our customary search for the town centre and a tourismo. Porto is alot bigger than the previous towns we had explored so we spent considerably more time driving around in circles and circles and circles... We eventually found the town centre and a tourismo, so we parked the car in an underground car park, where we narrowly avoided slamming the car into the wall, this caused hysterical laughter for quite sometime.
After an exhausting search we finally found some accomodation which over looked the centre town square.
Going out in Coimbra
Well after going on a wild goose chase, we thought we would give the other area a go. So we trudged up the hill towards the uni and inevitably the uni pubs!!!
After consuming too many litres of beer, James headed back to the room and Wayne and I took off to find some more nightlife.
We found this club, whose name escapes me and entered. It is common in Portugese clubs to get a card when you enter that your drinks get listed on and then when you leave you go to the cashier and pay for them. Novel...
We experienced dancing with a very drunk hen and her party. I met some really nice people who I attempted to converse with and I met the standard student types, reminded me a lot of being out in Palmerston North (NZ Uni town).... hmmmm yuk....
After consuming too many litres of beer, James headed back to the room and Wayne and I took off to find some more nightlife.
We found this club, whose name escapes me and entered. It is common in Portugese clubs to get a card when you enter that your drinks get listed on and then when you leave you go to the cashier and pay for them. Novel...
We experienced dancing with a very drunk hen and her party. I met some really nice people who I attempted to converse with and I met the standard student types, reminded me a lot of being out in Palmerston North (NZ Uni town).... hmmmm yuk....
You can't always trust the turismo!
After our peaceful afternoon in Obidos, we headed to Comimbra... The town of the first university and can you guess what that means? Yep, a uni town, didn't really think of that before hand.
We arrived in Coimbra and spent the first hour or so driving around in circles trying to work out the one way roads and find the tourismo.
We found the turismo, and headed inside to find accomodation and nightlife details. We were directed to a place to stay the night in a great location near the middle of town and by the river. The bee-arch at the tourismo also pointed out the hotspots in town. One was near the university and the other was by the river, she told us that at this time of the year people would hang out at cafe/bars by the river and ever so helpfully marked it out on the map for us.
We left the tourismo and headed for the place we were staying, we missed a turnoff due to the crappy nature and lack of detail in our maps and I ended up driving us down this very narrow street. Was deffinitely one of those things you had to be there to see, but it was very humourous...
Anyway, we got ready and headed out to the cafe/bar area by the river where we thought we would have dinner and then start socialising... We headed to the river and started walking towards the area we had been directed towards. We walked and walked and walked... And walked and walked and walked until we were over walking and got out the map and tried to work out if we had missed it or hadn't made it there yet. After back tracking someway and consulting the map frequently we worked out that the bird from the tourismo had sent us on a wild goose chase and the area she had sent us to was wild bush land... By this stage we had been walking for over an hour and were very hungry!!!
Everything eventually works out, we were wondering around the town centre looking for somewhere to eat to eat when I saw a cute local who we aproached and tried to ask if he knew of a good place to eat. It just so happened that he worked at a restaurant! He lead us down a few back streets and took us to this authentic place with lots of locals hanging round. The food was the usual over dose of meat with fries and lettuce, which we were noticing seemed to be standard fare.
We arrived in Coimbra and spent the first hour or so driving around in circles trying to work out the one way roads and find the tourismo.
We found the turismo, and headed inside to find accomodation and nightlife details. We were directed to a place to stay the night in a great location near the middle of town and by the river. The bee-arch at the tourismo also pointed out the hotspots in town. One was near the university and the other was by the river, she told us that at this time of the year people would hang out at cafe/bars by the river and ever so helpfully marked it out on the map for us.
We left the tourismo and headed for the place we were staying, we missed a turnoff due to the crappy nature and lack of detail in our maps and I ended up driving us down this very narrow street. Was deffinitely one of those things you had to be there to see, but it was very humourous...
Anyway, we got ready and headed out to the cafe/bar area by the river where we thought we would have dinner and then start socialising... We headed to the river and started walking towards the area we had been directed towards. We walked and walked and walked... And walked and walked and walked until we were over walking and got out the map and tried to work out if we had missed it or hadn't made it there yet. After back tracking someway and consulting the map frequently we worked out that the bird from the tourismo had sent us on a wild goose chase and the area she had sent us to was wild bush land... By this stage we had been walking for over an hour and were very hungry!!!
Everything eventually works out, we were wondering around the town centre looking for somewhere to eat to eat when I saw a cute local who we aproached and tried to ask if he knew of a good place to eat. It just so happened that he worked at a restaurant! He lead us down a few back streets and took us to this authentic place with lots of locals hanging round. The food was the usual over dose of meat with fries and lettuce, which we were noticing seemed to be standard fare.
All aboard for Obidos
We headed out for Obidos, it was given a 5 star must see rating.
Obidos is a city which has been built inside the walls of a castle on the top of a hill. The place was another ancient and amazing Portugese sight, it was given by Dom Dinis one of Portugal's Kings to his bride Dona Isabel as a wedding gift in 1228.
You can walk around the tops of the castle walls which are scarily high and there are no rails on the inside.. We spent a bit of time exploring the city and came across this bar area at the back of the village and at one of the highest points. It was a terraced area which had trees providing shade and a low wall with bench seats built into it. We sat there, had a beer and relaxed in the tranquility as we looked out over the village and surrounding areas from the top of the hill.
It was very dreamy, I felt like I could sit up there for a year, drinking and soaking up the silence. Even a call from work didn't disturb the peace, all I would need is a wireless internet connection there and I could sit there for a year!
Obidos is a city which has been built inside the walls of a castle on the top of a hill. The place was another ancient and amazing Portugese sight, it was given by Dom Dinis one of Portugal's Kings to his bride Dona Isabel as a wedding gift in 1228.
You can walk around the tops of the castle walls which are scarily high and there are no rails on the inside.. We spent a bit of time exploring the city and came across this bar area at the back of the village and at one of the highest points. It was a terraced area which had trees providing shade and a low wall with bench seats built into it. We sat there, had a beer and relaxed in the tranquility as we looked out over the village and surrounding areas from the top of the hill.
It was very dreamy, I felt like I could sit up there for a year, drinking and soaking up the silence. Even a call from work didn't disturb the peace, all I would need is a wireless internet connection there and I could sit there for a year!
Ola Portugal...
Armed with Duarte's list of things to do James, Wayne and I took off to see what Portugal had to offer.
We left Lisboa and headed north to a little fishing village set atop some ciffs called Ericeira. Ericeira is about 100km north of Lisboa and was a good fist stop as we had stuffed around all day hiring the car and were leaving the camping ground late in the day. Our first lesson that booking in advance is a good idea...
When we arrived in Ericeira we drove around for over half an hour trying to find a Tourismo (tourist info place) and the town centre. The town consisted of one main street with smaller streets coming off of it, we blamed the misleading signage for our less than perfect display of navigational prowess.
We found a hotel/hostel which was close to the town centre, the guy running the place reccomended a local seafood restaurant for dinner. We got to the restaurant around 9 - 10ish which is the normal dinner time in Portugal. We learned a very important lesson, a Kanacka is a 1/2 litre handle of Beer, this came in very handy for most meals.
With Waynes Mexi-Spanglish and my phrase book Portugese we met a local family sitting next to us in the restaurant who we had a very stilted conversation with. It ended up with them insisting on giving us the left over meat from their plates. With previous bad experiences trying to speak the local languages when overseas, James sat there and just read the subtitles.
The next morning, I took off to the markets to get some stuff for breakfast and lunch to have while we were on the road. It was my first chance to get out there by myself and inflict the locals with my version of Portugese. At this stage it was still a new experience and I was a little neverous and uncomfortable... Stage fright you might say, so my shopping experience involved alot of pointing and calling out numbers.
I had previously learned 1 - 30ish in Portuguese which then proved to be very helpful communicating with people and also impressing (fooling) them with my grasp of their language.
We left Lisboa and headed north to a little fishing village set atop some ciffs called Ericeira. Ericeira is about 100km north of Lisboa and was a good fist stop as we had stuffed around all day hiring the car and were leaving the camping ground late in the day. Our first lesson that booking in advance is a good idea...
When we arrived in Ericeira we drove around for over half an hour trying to find a Tourismo (tourist info place) and the town centre. The town consisted of one main street with smaller streets coming off of it, we blamed the misleading signage for our less than perfect display of navigational prowess.
We found a hotel/hostel which was close to the town centre, the guy running the place reccomended a local seafood restaurant for dinner. We got to the restaurant around 9 - 10ish which is the normal dinner time in Portugal. We learned a very important lesson, a Kanacka is a 1/2 litre handle of Beer, this came in very handy for most meals.
With Waynes Mexi-Spanglish and my phrase book Portugese we met a local family sitting next to us in the restaurant who we had a very stilted conversation with. It ended up with them insisting on giving us the left over meat from their plates. With previous bad experiences trying to speak the local languages when overseas, James sat there and just read the subtitles.
The next morning, I took off to the markets to get some stuff for breakfast and lunch to have while we were on the road. It was my first chance to get out there by myself and inflict the locals with my version of Portugese. At this stage it was still a new experience and I was a little neverous and uncomfortable... Stage fright you might say, so my shopping experience involved alot of pointing and calling out numbers.
I had previously learned 1 - 30ish in Portuguese which then proved to be very helpful communicating with people and also impressing (fooling) them with my grasp of their language.
Friday, September 15, 2006
Leaving Las Lisbon
The 5th of September was the day we had to leave the camping ground, so we headed to Cas Cais to try and hire a car. After a day of stuffing aournd we finally got a car online at a reasonable price... A nice little VW Polo. We rocked up to Avis to pick it up and the showed us to our nice little Hyundai!!! Jesus I wanted to drive a European car in Europe, not that piece of shit. Oh well, I got it up to 155 with out really trying so it wasn't too bad.
So this was my first time driving on the wrong side of the road, well doing it legally anyway. Didn't take too long to get the hang of it, round-a-bouts are the worse and the country is full of them.
The word I would use to describe the roads in Europe (well I can really only speak for Portugal and Spain) is Anarchy!!!
Some people would classify my driving as 'Agressive' however I would use the term 'Highly Assertive'. And by god, did I fit in or what. It was my dream driving conditions, narrow wind-y roads (just like Wellington), people cutting in front of each other, quick gear changes so you could take off and cut in front of the person in front of you. Reversing back down streets and into intersections because there is too much traffic ahead...
They are very patient, and don't often use the horn, which for a kiwi/melbournite is very strange, as we usually hit the horn before we hit the brakes.
Freeways: I had heard stories about the freeways over here and how people in the fast lane who want to pass you will leave their indicator on, signalling you to move over. Well the first time it happened it was a bit of a shock, then I got the hang of it and would do it to anyone I got the chance to... MOVE... the Hyudai is coming through.
So this was my first time driving on the wrong side of the road, well doing it legally anyway. Didn't take too long to get the hang of it, round-a-bouts are the worse and the country is full of them.
The word I would use to describe the roads in Europe (well I can really only speak for Portugal and Spain) is Anarchy!!!
Some people would classify my driving as 'Agressive' however I would use the term 'Highly Assertive'. And by god, did I fit in or what. It was my dream driving conditions, narrow wind-y roads (just like Wellington), people cutting in front of each other, quick gear changes so you could take off and cut in front of the person in front of you. Reversing back down streets and into intersections because there is too much traffic ahead...
They are very patient, and don't often use the horn, which for a kiwi/melbournite is very strange, as we usually hit the horn before we hit the brakes.
Freeways: I had heard stories about the freeways over here and how people in the fast lane who want to pass you will leave their indicator on, signalling you to move over. Well the first time it happened it was a bit of a shock, then I got the hang of it and would do it to anyone I got the chance to... MOVE... the Hyudai is coming through.
Sunday, September 10, 2006
Lisbon.
After the wedding there was enough time to explore Lisbon... Ange, Tim and I headed in, we ate and drank, for something new...
We caught a tram up the hill to visit this castle which was built about 1500 years ago. Took us 2 attempts to get there by tram as we went up the hill, and down the other side before we realised that we had missed our stop... d'oh...
Anyway the castle was pretty cool... Hopefully one of these day's I'll be able to get some photos uploaded... Apparently they used to dump their craps through these slits in the walls onto any invaders trying to scale the castle walls... er?
That night James, Wayne, Tibea, Vaughan and I headed into Lisbon to catch up with Matt and Filipa after they had been to the Pearl Jam concert.
We started off at some bar where there was this group of people doing a pub crawl. We chatted and then found out that they had to do tasks at each bar to earn points... Some how, Vaughan roped me into kissing this girl and getting a photo taken... I feel cheap and used ;) actually, after I did it I couldn't stop thinking about the number of people she had kissed that night and the diseases she could be carrying... James who is newly engaged, was lucky to escape...
Anyway, finding a place open in Lisbon on a monday night is not easy. We managed to find this bar which was playing some funky house stuff, so we were happy. Then we found out that you could get shooters for 3 Euros... Thats when it turned messy... Drinks were being tipped over, glasses were being smashed on the floor, there was lurid dancing on the dance floor. Sounds like a normal night out in Melbourne.
We caught a tram up the hill to visit this castle which was built about 1500 years ago. Took us 2 attempts to get there by tram as we went up the hill, and down the other side before we realised that we had missed our stop... d'oh...
Anyway the castle was pretty cool... Hopefully one of these day's I'll be able to get some photos uploaded... Apparently they used to dump their craps through these slits in the walls onto any invaders trying to scale the castle walls... er?
That night James, Wayne, Tibea, Vaughan and I headed into Lisbon to catch up with Matt and Filipa after they had been to the Pearl Jam concert.
We started off at some bar where there was this group of people doing a pub crawl. We chatted and then found out that they had to do tasks at each bar to earn points... Some how, Vaughan roped me into kissing this girl and getting a photo taken... I feel cheap and used ;) actually, after I did it I couldn't stop thinking about the number of people she had kissed that night and the diseases she could be carrying... James who is newly engaged, was lucky to escape...
Anyway, finding a place open in Lisbon on a monday night is not easy. We managed to find this bar which was playing some funky house stuff, so we were happy. Then we found out that you could get shooters for 3 Euros... Thats when it turned messy... Drinks were being tipped over, glasses were being smashed on the floor, there was lurid dancing on the dance floor. Sounds like a normal night out in Melbourne.
The wedding...
The wedding Tech.
I know it's not all about me, but this is my blog and this little bit is!
I think this was my 5th wedding that I helped out in some techie way, but it was the first one in a country where english is a foriegn language.
A PA (sound system) had been hired and a projector had been borrowed from the venue where the reception was to be held. A laptop was being used to play music before, during and after the reception with various videos being played as part of the speeches.
I got there in the end, but had to communicate with hand signals and my very bad Portugese. I loved every minute of it!!!
Back to the wedding...
The Ceremoney
It was another beautiful Portugese day, most of the grooms party that was staying at the camping ground were taken to the church, reception and returned in a hired bus. God knows how the driver managed to get the thing through those streets.. but we made it with out denting the thing once.
The ceremony was held in a church which looked like a bunker from the outside, but inside the place was filled with the most amazing (slightly garish) decor. Lots of gold, mary's and jesus' every where. The ceremoney started like most, with readings, sermons etc...
And as usual during these religous things, my eys glaze over and mind drifts... Until I heard the word 'prostitute'... Hang on a minute... is he talking in Portuguese? Next he started talking about sex for pleasure, then watching dogs and horses doing it... WHAT THE!!! By this stage, he had my full attention!!!
The sermon went on, the priest (who was the only one they could find that spoke english and portugese) wobbled fumbled and didn't say anything that he was meant to say, he basically had his own agenda... We thought that this was a normal portugese wedding but it ends up that it was lucky half of the portugese guests didn't understand what was going on.
Rumour has it that he reeked of jesus' blood (sacramental vino).
The Reception
The reception was held at this magnificent Palace up in Sintra. Amazing place.
Traditionally in Portugal, wedding receptions are just parties with lots of food, drinking and dancing. The kiwi touch was added with the introduction of speeches... which was a bit of a change for the locals, who didn't know what to make of it.
I was placed at a table with some kiwi's and some Portuguese... Ange, Tim, Jess (kiwi contingent) and we met some of Filipa's portugeuse friends: Duarte, Miguel, Theresa and Rochelle.
We picked their brains and got a list of places to see in our travels round Portugal.
Thanks for a great day Matt and Filipa. And best wishes for the future!!!
I know it's not all about me, but this is my blog and this little bit is!
I think this was my 5th wedding that I helped out in some techie way, but it was the first one in a country where english is a foriegn language.
A PA (sound system) had been hired and a projector had been borrowed from the venue where the reception was to be held. A laptop was being used to play music before, during and after the reception with various videos being played as part of the speeches.
I got there in the end, but had to communicate with hand signals and my very bad Portugese. I loved every minute of it!!!
Back to the wedding...
The Ceremoney
It was another beautiful Portugese day, most of the grooms party that was staying at the camping ground were taken to the church, reception and returned in a hired bus. God knows how the driver managed to get the thing through those streets.. but we made it with out denting the thing once.
The ceremony was held in a church which looked like a bunker from the outside, but inside the place was filled with the most amazing (slightly garish) decor. Lots of gold, mary's and jesus' every where. The ceremoney started like most, with readings, sermons etc...
And as usual during these religous things, my eys glaze over and mind drifts... Until I heard the word 'prostitute'... Hang on a minute... is he talking in Portuguese? Next he started talking about sex for pleasure, then watching dogs and horses doing it... WHAT THE!!! By this stage, he had my full attention!!!
The sermon went on, the priest (who was the only one they could find that spoke english and portugese) wobbled fumbled and didn't say anything that he was meant to say, he basically had his own agenda... We thought that this was a normal portugese wedding but it ends up that it was lucky half of the portugese guests didn't understand what was going on.
Rumour has it that he reeked of jesus' blood (sacramental vino).
The Reception
The reception was held at this magnificent Palace up in Sintra. Amazing place.
Traditionally in Portugal, wedding receptions are just parties with lots of food, drinking and dancing. The kiwi touch was added with the introduction of speeches... which was a bit of a change for the locals, who didn't know what to make of it.
I was placed at a table with some kiwi's and some Portuguese... Ange, Tim, Jess (kiwi contingent) and we met some of Filipa's portugeuse friends: Duarte, Miguel, Theresa and Rochelle.
We picked their brains and got a list of places to see in our travels round Portugal.
Thanks for a great day Matt and Filipa. And best wishes for the future!!!
Friday, September 08, 2006
Guincho, Sintra, Cascais
Ola, Bon dia.
I was staying in a camping ground in Guincho, which also happened to be it's name, which was just outside the town of Cascais.
Most of the grooms friends and family (mostly kiwis with a few poms) ended up staying there, so there were about 40 of us in these bungalows. As always we showed the locals our hospitality and how to party :)
The beach there was the ice cold atlantic and it is usually always windy there.
I was staying in a bunglaow with friends Tim and Ange, so we got to explore the area while the bridal party went about the business of preparing for the wedding. This also gave me a chance to whip out the trusty Lonely Planet phrasebook I bought in London.
Sintra
The first place we got to explore was Sintra, again with the help of Rachael and Todd who had hired a car, we went to the historical village of Sintra. The place is pre-historic and dare I say it beautiful.
The roads are very narrow usually with buildings or high retaining walls on either side, which makes for fun driving. The roads and foot paths are also tiled with square pavers about 5cm square... to make it even more amazing, or worse if you had to lay them, they were usually layed in patterns and the foot paths were like mosaics. Apparently they had prisoners do all the work...
The place is over looked by this ancient Moorish castle. There are also palace's scattered around the hill, one of which the wedding reception was held at.
This is a must see if you come to Portugal.
Cascais
We ate there, caught the train to Lisbon from here, jumped in the ocean and practiced our Portugese on the poor unsuspecting locals.
I was staying in a camping ground in Guincho, which also happened to be it's name, which was just outside the town of Cascais.
Most of the grooms friends and family (mostly kiwis with a few poms) ended up staying there, so there were about 40 of us in these bungalows. As always we showed the locals our hospitality and how to party :)
The beach there was the ice cold atlantic and it is usually always windy there.
I was staying in a bunglaow with friends Tim and Ange, so we got to explore the area while the bridal party went about the business of preparing for the wedding. This also gave me a chance to whip out the trusty Lonely Planet phrasebook I bought in London.
Sintra
The first place we got to explore was Sintra, again with the help of Rachael and Todd who had hired a car, we went to the historical village of Sintra. The place is pre-historic and dare I say it beautiful.
The roads are very narrow usually with buildings or high retaining walls on either side, which makes for fun driving. The roads and foot paths are also tiled with square pavers about 5cm square... to make it even more amazing, or worse if you had to lay them, they were usually layed in patterns and the foot paths were like mosaics. Apparently they had prisoners do all the work...
The place is over looked by this ancient Moorish castle. There are also palace's scattered around the hill, one of which the wedding reception was held at.
This is a must see if you come to Portugal.
Cascais
We ate there, caught the train to Lisbon from here, jumped in the ocean and practiced our Portugese on the poor unsuspecting locals.
My ace day job, forget the night job.
http://www.abc.net.au/acedayjobs/
http://www.abc.net.au/acedayjobs/cooljobs/profiles/s1716440.htm
Hmmm, last year the ABC approached work and asked if they could do a piece on one of the job roles in the office... Some how they chose my role... any way the links above will take you to the site and my profile...
http://www.abc.net.au/acedayjobs/cooljobs/profiles/s1716440.htm
Hmmm, last year the ABC approached work and asked if they could do a piece on one of the job roles in the office... Some how they chose my role... any way the links above will take you to the site and my profile...
Bye bye London, Hello Portugal...
I got off to a bad start with an average flight and then I left 2 bottles of Absolut on the plane in my haste to get off of it... Thank god I didn´t buy the grey goose! There is a silver lining to most clouds...
Landing at Lisbon Airport the land around it looked very dry, reminded me of Australia.
But luck changed there and I bumped into Rachael and Todd (Matt's (the groom) sister and brother and law) at the airport. They then gave me a lift to the camping ground, which did save a bit of stuffing around. Thanks guys...
Landing at Lisbon Airport the land around it looked very dry, reminded me of Australia.
But luck changed there and I bumped into Rachael and Todd (Matt's (the groom) sister and brother and law) at the airport. They then gave me a lift to the camping ground, which did save a bit of stuffing around. Thanks guys...
Wednesday, August 30, 2006
I'm going down town...
Yesterday I spent the day wandering around the city, trying to get my bearings and just explore. Loved it...
I was catching the tube here and there (today it felt like I was playing scotland yard), doing a bit of shopping here and there... wandered round Soho which is pretty cool...
Drank coffee from cafe's where they use automatic coffee machines... not cool.
Hasn't been much of a culture shock here, seems quite a bit like Australia, although if I hear another screaming winging pommy kid... I'm sure you get the picture.
Well today I'm flying off to Portugal, looking forward to that, the sun, the beaches, the bronzed boys...
I was catching the tube here and there (today it felt like I was playing scotland yard), doing a bit of shopping here and there... wandered round Soho which is pretty cool...
Drank coffee from cafe's where they use automatic coffee machines... not cool.
Hasn't been much of a culture shock here, seems quite a bit like Australia, although if I hear another screaming winging pommy kid... I'm sure you get the picture.
Well today I'm flying off to Portugal, looking forward to that, the sun, the beaches, the bronzed boys...
Tuesday, August 29, 2006
Nottinghill Carnival
Went to this crazy celebration of coloured ppl, there was jamacan jerk chicken and pork, there was mee goering (not sure how that stall got there), there were people selling the use of their toilets for 1 pound, there was about 1 million pple there to see it...
I didn't see any knife fights, but as we were squeezing our way through the crowds, this guy walked past with this snake wrapped around his arm... crazy...
There were also these big trucks driving round pumping out reggae, and reggae house etc with these scantily clad (and often very large) girating people dressed up in colourful (word escapes me) things that they had made.... dancing along behind.
A sight for sore eyes and a sight that made eyes sore...
I didn't see any knife fights, but as we were squeezing our way through the crowds, this guy walked past with this snake wrapped around his arm... crazy...
There were also these big trucks driving round pumping out reggae, and reggae house etc with these scantily clad (and often very large) girating people dressed up in colourful (word escapes me) things that they had made.... dancing along behind.
A sight for sore eyes and a sight that made eyes sore...
First day in London.
Spent the first day in London doing all the touristy things, we got on an open top bus which took us to all the famous sites... And told us shit loads of facts and history about London... Quite a bit of which I have remembered and quite frequently I repeat in conversation.
Did you know that London was founded approx 2000 years ago...? And there is a shite load of history since then. Even though the place burned down in (forgot the exact year, but it ends in 66) all the buildings are like not modern... ancient and still standing, they look magnificent...
Crazy to think that now-a-days politicians and leaders of corporations have to sneak around to do dodgy things, but back then the king/queen could do what ever the fuck they liked and every one just obeyed... Hmmm I missed my calling.
Anther thing I have found weird is that there are heaps of palaces, chruches, houses of dukes etc and it's like... where do the peasants live...? There is some serious money in this town.
Did you know that London was founded approx 2000 years ago...? And there is a shite load of history since then. Even though the place burned down in (forgot the exact year, but it ends in 66) all the buildings are like not modern... ancient and still standing, they look magnificent...
Crazy to think that now-a-days politicians and leaders of corporations have to sneak around to do dodgy things, but back then the king/queen could do what ever the fuck they liked and every one just obeyed... Hmmm I missed my calling.
Anther thing I have found weird is that there are heaps of palaces, chruches, houses of dukes etc and it's like... where do the peasants live...? There is some serious money in this town.
First night in London.
Landed in London, got through customs okay, a breeze compared to NZ or Aust!
Realised that I had left all of Tim and Ambers details at home in the printer (I'm staying with Tim and Amber). Took me at least half an hour to find an internet cafe... crap airport from what I've experienced... I guess that will be re-inforced or (what ever the opposite word for that is) tomorrow when I got Portugal.
Made my way onto the tube and to Islington, got off at Angel station... I feel like I'm on a giant monopoly board...
For some reason I agreed to go out on the night I landed... sounded like a good idea at the time, thought I was hard enough to handle it... well I did handle it, but it was so uncomfortable, so I don't think I'll do it again...
We went to this awesome show see link below, amazing theatre/performance art thing, lots of cool visual effects and audience participation... I could describe it but my fingers will drop off, check out their site and look at the pictures.
http://www.fuerzabruta.net/
Realised that I had left all of Tim and Ambers details at home in the printer (I'm staying with Tim and Amber). Took me at least half an hour to find an internet cafe... crap airport from what I've experienced... I guess that will be re-inforced or (what ever the opposite word for that is) tomorrow when I got Portugal.
Made my way onto the tube and to Islington, got off at Angel station... I feel like I'm on a giant monopoly board...
For some reason I agreed to go out on the night I landed... sounded like a good idea at the time, thought I was hard enough to handle it... well I did handle it, but it was so uncomfortable, so I don't think I'll do it again...
We went to this awesome show see link below, amazing theatre/performance art thing, lots of cool visual effects and audience participation... I could describe it but my fingers will drop off, check out their site and look at the pictures.
http://www.fuerzabruta.net/
Singapore girl you are a great way to fly...
The leg from Singapore to London saw me sitting in the middle of the central block of 4 seats, you practically sit on top of the person next to you... Thank god they weren't the size of a house, there was a bit of competition for the arm rest but it wasn't like world war 3.
The saving grace for the flight was the on demand movies, I don't think I have ever sat of my arse for that long watching movies... I've seen most of the ones I want to see, so I hope they change them before the trip back otherwise it is going to be a looong flight.
One bad thing to say, we had the air stewardess running back and forth fetching us drinks and food, and then on one trip she exclaimed 'Is there anything else?'... Well honey, it's your job!
The saving grace for the flight was the on demand movies, I don't think I have ever sat of my arse for that long watching movies... I've seen most of the ones I want to see, so I hope they change them before the trip back otherwise it is going to be a looong flight.
One bad thing to say, we had the air stewardess running back and forth fetching us drinks and food, and then on one trip she exclaimed 'Is there anything else?'... Well honey, it's your job!
Saturday, August 26, 2006
A word on security when using a public internet terminal
Jesus...
I'm using a free internet terminal in the airport and after my last post and after being logged into gmail, I just clicked on the logout button for the pc... Assuming that it would like reset the session and with it log me out of gmail and blogger...
Ah no!!!
I came back to send another email, logged in went to gmail and I was still logged in... Came to blogger and I was still logged in there too...
That was a relatively painless lesson... can't believe I was so stupid...
There was still stuff in the clip board that I had copied...
Mental note, Log out of everything and put garbage in the clip board if you copy...
I'm using a free internet terminal in the airport and after my last post and after being logged into gmail, I just clicked on the logout button for the pc... Assuming that it would like reset the session and with it log me out of gmail and blogger...
Ah no!!!
I came back to send another email, logged in went to gmail and I was still logged in... Came to blogger and I was still logged in there too...
That was a relatively painless lesson... can't believe I was so stupid...
There was still stuff in the clip board that I had copied...
Mental note, Log out of everything and put garbage in the clip board if you copy...
Kopi = Coffee
Apparently 80% of the blogs out there contain post by people stating how slack they are... so I'm not going to do it any more... Although I do have a theory why I haven't been blogging...
I'm currently in Singapore Airport, heading to London, got a 2 hours stop over... I'm by myself and haven't had any kind of substantial conversation (apart from with myself) in about 12 hours... and now I have this compulsion to write in this blog... hmmm go figure!
I've been wandering around here, look for something buy (sorry dad) and there is this coffee bar which looked like it had half the airport lined up at it, so I thought must be good... they sell kopi and premium toast... It was nice, I had the peanut toast, which was more like peanut and honey toast... hmmm I try not to think about the makeup of the ingredients... or how many people touched this key board that I'm typing on...
Shit, I wish that thought hadn't entered my head... Thanks Steve, I owe you for that one ;) x
Time is running up... bye...
I'm currently in Singapore Airport, heading to London, got a 2 hours stop over... I'm by myself and haven't had any kind of substantial conversation (apart from with myself) in about 12 hours... and now I have this compulsion to write in this blog... hmmm go figure!
I've been wandering around here, look for something buy (sorry dad) and there is this coffee bar which looked like it had half the airport lined up at it, so I thought must be good... they sell kopi and premium
Shit, I wish that thought hadn't entered my head... Thanks Steve, I owe you for that one ;) x
Time is running up... bye...
Monday, June 19, 2006
Ouch that hurt....
Today is the first time I've felt human for 5 days now, coming out of a horrible case of tonsillitus...
I think this is the second time I've ever had it and I hope it's the last.
I was either too hot or too cold, I couldn't sleep and when I did I was so uncomfortable I kept waking up and moving. It hurt too much to swallow but I had to keep drinking water.
I haven't had a proper meal since wednesday last week. Been having soup or stewed apple, the stewed apple was the best probably due to my taste buds being out of wack and every thing tasting yuck. Had my first real solid food last night :) some mushroom risotto, thanks for that Jess...
Sick sux.
I think this is the second time I've ever had it and I hope it's the last.
I was either too hot or too cold, I couldn't sleep and when I did I was so uncomfortable I kept waking up and moving. It hurt too much to swallow but I had to keep drinking water.
I haven't had a proper meal since wednesday last week. Been having soup or stewed apple, the stewed apple was the best probably due to my taste buds being out of wack and every thing tasting yuck. Had my first real solid food last night :) some mushroom risotto, thanks for that Jess...
Sick sux.
Saturday, June 10, 2006
Self flagilation
Okay... so I'm terrible at this whole blog thing...
Whats going on?
1. Trip to portugal. Well I'm organising the accomodation for my college friends and they are all scattered across a meriad of time zone's so it's all fun and games...
2. Work. We are expanding to other towns and countries so thats some fun... :) it's a work in progress so I'll wirte more when there is some progress...
3. I'm getting a bit more social and going out more... especially since I've caught up with Hayden, or should I say James, who I met through a friend at college (Melanie Palmer).
Life is great at the moment.
The rest of this long weekend is going to be spent with my friends Tim, Jen and William (William is the newly born baby...
Whats going on?
1. Trip to portugal. Well I'm organising the accomodation for my college friends and they are all scattered across a meriad of time zone's so it's all fun and games...
2. Work. We are expanding to other towns and countries so thats some fun... :) it's a work in progress so I'll wirte more when there is some progress...
3. I'm getting a bit more social and going out more... especially since I've caught up with Hayden, or should I say James, who I met through a friend at college (Melanie Palmer).
Life is great at the moment.
The rest of this long weekend is going to be spent with my friends Tim, Jen and William (William is the newly born baby...
Friday, May 12, 2006
Paid for the ticket...
I'm set... The ticket has been paid for. Wahoo...
Just have to save now for spending money :)
Just have to save now for spending money :)
Thursday, May 11, 2006
Going to Portugal
Just got my itinery from Carly the travel agent today, heading to Portugal for my friends, Matt and Filipa, wedding.
Flying to London for a couple of days, then heading to Lisbon. Twenty days later I've got a flight out of Bacelona to London, where I'll spend a couple of days. Then I head back to Melbourne.
Looking forward to it as it is my first time to Europe.
Flying to London for a couple of days, then heading to Lisbon. Twenty days later I've got a flight out of Bacelona to London, where I'll spend a couple of days. Then I head back to Melbourne.
Looking forward to it as it is my first time to Europe.
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