Day 23 - Going home!

We had to wake up early today at 8:30, and caught a taxi to the airport, said goodbye to Eduardo and his family and flew to Madrid! At Madrid we were held up at the check in counter due to the fact to STA Travel woman booked the flight under a misspelled name, but eventually we made it to the flight.

The flight was 7 hours long and not too horrible, got through two movies and multiple TV shows. We arrived in Dubai and had to wait for only an hour or so, hence we had something to eat as we were starving. 

Next we finally boarded our flight to Perth and it was too long- just over 10 hours and overnight so quite dragged out. I then arrived home! It had been awhile and an amazing trip. Such a great experience! 

Day 22 – Last day!

Today was our last full day of our trip! We woke up and had to wait a while whilst Eduardo found out some uni information. We went out and Ash got some coffee and after we did some shopping for presents and for ourselves for lunch. We returned to the apartment for lunch, the famous Spanish dish Paella, which was very good. Then after this we headed out to the hill overlooking all of La Coruna, and had a drink up there and enjoyed the view. We slowly walked home where we decided what to do next. We then left again to get some coffee and see the streets of La Coruna for the last time, we are leaving tomorrow morning! We returned for dinner, then got ready to leave tomorrow!

Day 21 – Relaxing day

Today after waking up, very late, we went to meet Eduardo’s La Coruna friends, and caught a bus to a shopping mall. We ate at an Asian buffet, it was 9 euros for all you can eat it was great! After this we just hung around as a group, two of them spoke English which was helpful.  We then roamed the streets for a while and got some Tapas and drinks. After this we walked around the boardwalk some more and then returned to the apartment for a while, then just Ash, Eduardo and I headed out for another drink and some more Tapas, before returning home to sleep.

Day 20 – Back to La Coruna

We woke up and immediately headed back to La Coruna by car. When we arrived, we rested for a while and then went to the port for a nice lunch, including the desert ‘fried milk’, which was actually alright. We decided to head to the largest shopping centre in Spain, and third largest in Europe! And it sure was large. We walked around and looked at different shops, and had afternoon tea there as well. We then caught the bus back to the apartment where we met one of Eduardo’s friends, and then walked around and had some tapas to eat. After dinner we returned to the apartment and then relaxed before going to bed.

Day 19 - Relaxing

 Today was a lazy day, woke up at 11ish and had breakfast. Then we walked into town so Eduardo could run an errand, and walked around for a while. We then returned to have lunch and then went out again to watch eduardos friends play some street football.

After the football we went to a cafe and had something to drink with Eduardos friends for a couple of hours, before returning home for dinner. There was a 3 vs 3 football tournament on tonight so Ash, Eduardo and I, and his friends went to watch it. It was quite entertaining. After this we returned home around 12am and went to sleep!

Day 18 - Foz

Today we went to Eduardo's family's home town of 6000 people, Foz. We left at about 12, Jose driving us, and it is an hour and a half drive. When we arrived we were involved in the weekly Sunday Fernandez family lunch, with grandparents, two uncles and parents. It really was a great lunch, ribs!

After lunch we played some football and basketball. Then we walked along the coast and went to the beach, where we met Eduardo's friends, which a few spoke some English. We left the beach at 7:30pm and went to meet some more of his friends and had something to drink. This friend spoke very good English so we could talk to her! We then walked around with them until about 10:15pm, when we returned for some dinner.

Day 17 - Bus Tour


Today we had to check out, so by 11 we were on the tour bus and heading on the busiest line, the red line. We saw the Plaza de España and got off there, and there was a motor bike convention going on! Despite that we still did some sightseeing and saw the spectacular museum behind the plaza, which also gave panoramic views of Barcelona.


After this we got back on the tour bus and saw the many, many sights as we went past, including the wharf and the history museum, and then stopped off at the Colombus statue to get something for lunch. We then  continued around on the bus and saw the modern torpedo tower, and the various beaches. We then stopped for something to drink on a terrace and got to sit and admire the Casa Battlo again. We then walked the streets and made our way to the hotel to get our luggage and headed to the metro and then the train to make it to the airport by 8pm. Our flight was delayed but we had something for dinner, and were in the air by 10:45ish and at somewhere around 12:10am we landed and by 12:30 were back at Eduardo's apartment, where we went straight sleep!

Day 16 -  Park Guell/Camp Nou/La Rambla/Old Town/Casa Batlle

Today we woke up earlier at 9:30 to do some extreme sightseeing. So many things to do in two days. First we caught the tourist bus to Park Guell, an amazingly abstract park which was really interesting. Gaudi is the famous artist or Barcelona, designing the Sagrada Familia, Park Guell and the Casa Batlle, and in all of his art he uses many curves and mosaics, it is very interesting. Nothing normal with him. Then we moved on to my personal favourite, the Camp Nou, home of FC Barcelona. It was stunning and meant a lot to me! I was very excited indeed. It is a 100,000 seated stadium so it is very large.

Next we stopped in on the main street, la Rambla and had some lunch. Next we walked to the Casa Batlle, another strange creation of Gaudi. Following La Ramble down to the port we strolled along watching the port, and then walked through Old Town and saw the older cathedral, also impressive. Continuing on Ash, Eduardo and I made it to the Arc de Triomph and the surrounding parks and explored there. We finally headed back to the hotel, after 8 hours of straight walking, made it back and relaxed!

Later we headed out to dinner and viewed the Sagrada Familia at night, unfortunately not many lights highlighted it! We then returned to the hotel and got ready to check out tomorrow!

Day 15 – Barcelona!

Today we woke up at 9:30am as we needed to head to the airport for a 1pm flight. We caught the bus to the airport at 10:30 and our plane was delayed, and finally 45 minutes late we were in the air. At 2:45 we landed and caught a bus and two trains to our hotel, emerging from the metro straight into the breathtaking sight of the Sagrada Familia, the unfinished basilica in Barcelona. This is a 3 minute walk from our house. The cathedral is just amazing. Stunning. We headed to our hotel and then walked to the Casa Milo, the famous ‘wavy’ building in Barcelona. Then Ash, Eduardo and I headed back to Sagrada Familia to enter the Basilica. I cant even write down what it was like. Just the best example of churches and architecture. So strange, and modern but yet old as well, just stunning. We were just stunned and sat in there looking for over an hour.

We made it back to the hotel and researched some things for tomorrow and what to do tonight. Later, we left at 9:30pm and got something to eat, then walked around until about 10:30, then came back to the hotel and slept!

Day  14 - Monaco

Today we woke up at around 10, to get some more croissant breakfast and get ready to head off to Monaco! We made it to the train station, which is only a two minute walk from our hotel, and caught the 12:25pm train to Monte Carlo. We arrived in Monaco and made our way to the port. It is a stunning city, buildings built up along the cliff all facing the port. After seeing some of the biggest boats we've ever seen, we headed in a certain direction, towards the Japanese gardens and the casino.

We walked along the waters edge and found the botanical gardens and the famous Monte Carlo casino, which was really great. After sitting in the gardens for a while, we went to get some lunch at a small cafe along the port, very nice. After sitting here for quite a while, we made it up to the palace via a very steep set of steps. The palace was spectacular, and the view from the top was breathtaking. There was also much to explore along the highest level, many shops and  churches, as well as the popular oceanographic museum. All very impressive. We slowly made our way back to the train station at around 5:30, and were back in Nice by 6.

At 6 we got back to the hotel, got ready and headed to the beach for the last time. The water still perfect at 6:30pm, so good. We sat on the beach and played cards as usual until 8pm. Then we headed back got ready and found a restaurant by 8:30. At 9:15 we finished dinner and made our way back to the hotel, planned how to get to the airport for tomorrow, and then went to sleep!

Day 13 – Exploring Nice

Today we left to get some breakfast at around 11:30am. To continue our Frenchness we had some amazing croissants for breakfast, and only 80 euro cents! We headed back to the apartment and decided which way to go exploring, then we left.

We headed for the main street in Nice, and walked down it, eventually making it to Mount Colline du Chateau, which after climbing many steps we reached the summit to give a simply stunning view of Nice. You could see the whole beach strip, all of the buildings and churches, so stunning. After climbing down the stairs agin we made it to a café on the main strip and had a good (avoiding any use of the word nice) lunch, before returning to the hotel through a different street. We headed out again to the beach, which was just stunning again. At 7:30pm we left the beach, returned to the hotel, got dressed and headed out to dinner. To be really French was had escargot, snails! Didn’t taste too bad either, much better than expected! Then by 9:30 we returned to the hotel to get ready to sleep.

Day 11 – Beach and the game!

Today we woke up at around 11 and had some breakfast. We went out for a walk around town before returning to have lunch with the Fernandez’ which was a late one, we finished at 4pm! But it was a great lunch, I ordered roasted lamb, very good. After this Eduardo, Ash and I went out to the beach! It was very nice, not too hot but good beach weather. We played cards and lay there as the water was too cold. At around 7:30pm we had something to drink at some tapas, before returning to the apartment to watch the Euro 2012 final, Spain vs Italy!

It was such a good game which ended Spain 4-0 Italy. It was also great to watch it with people who were really into it and afterwards people celebrated in the street! It was so great to be there in that atmosphere. We had to wake up at 5:30 tomorrow morning, as we are off to Nice and Barcelona! So after looking out at the celebrations we went to bed.

Day 10 – Santiago

Today we woke up at 11ish and had some breakfast. By 12pm we had left and started walking to the train station which was a 25 minute ride before we arrived in Santiago de Compostela. Santiago is one of the oldest towns in Spain, so there was a lot of history to observe. We went through the great park and headed for the cathedral. It was a stunning building, so detailed its ridiculous so it was really interesting. After that we saw what university Eduardo will most likely be attending this year and had some lunch in a nice restaurant.

We explored more for a few hours, bought some gifts and then sat down at a café. By 6:30 we headed back to the train station and had a lengthy wait until we finally arrived back in La Coruna by 8:30 pm. Back at the apartment, we started some of the dinner we had bought and by 9pm we ate. Eduardo, Ash and I then watched a movie until 12am when we went to sleep.