Amsterdam is an amazing City

I think - one of the best things about travel is spontaneity. And Amsterdam for me represented just that. This was an add on after meeting some fantastic Dutch people in Madrid.

I fell in love with this city very quickly. I arrived at night (grumpy and tired after delayed flights ) and sorry about the blurry pic above) but the canals look majestic of an evening.

I was quickly getting lost in the magic of this city.




(just as my friend Victor form Madrid says - No plans Daniel) . I think I have learnt something while I am away for sure

Adventures on the road

Apart from Torgeir and Kjetil cooking fantastic food for the stay here - we did get out and about.

Pete and I tried the local shops. We all tried somre of the local bars around town. We also went for a drive one day up north of Benidorm into the mountains to an old castle and town. There was a lake a most perfect aqua colour.

Kjetil, torgeir and Peter are pictured trying on silly hats .. Emily is that you ?? (for the little britain fans out there).

Much of the coastline in this part of Spain makes for a spectacular drive.

No trip to Spain is complete without a visit to the Hipermercado - think Bunnings + Coles + Kmart
all in one . I was impressed !!!

Torrivieja - The view from my friend's place

It was fantastic to arrive and see my mate Kjetil from Norway. I met Kjetil when he was studying in Sydney many years ago. His folks have had a holiday place in Torrevieja (south of Alicante) on the coast for about 10 years or so. I've included some pics of/from the villa.

I think I had had too much sun in Sitges so i rested the first two days here.

The coastline here is great. I loved the beach.

But i cant honestly recommend Torrevieja as a tourist destination. The bulk of young people we met were visiting their folks or their holiday homes - yet when you wander through the sea of new villas - many sit idle most of the year. When we went down the street in the main town - I got the feeling like the place used to be more popular in say the 70's and 80's- and is now a bit of a ghost town - mostly due to there being so many holiday villas and many retirees.

More to Sitges than the beach

Well it appears that the answer is yes - Thanks to some French guys I met here in sitges - Chris and Eric - I went one afternoon to where they were saying in a villa styled hotel perched in the hills above sitges - It was an amazing location to sit around the pool and have a few quiet drinks.

This was my first time venturing beyond the beachside locations here. Something to consider for my next holiday here :-)

Sitges - A holiday from travelling

Well this was definitely my holiday from my traveling. The combination of sun, surf, sand, pumping house music , good food and drink meant I had an amazing week here.

Sitges(only 25 mins from Barcelona) is a mediterranean resort town where everything you need is in walking distance. The hotel Subur had been done up since my last visit too. So the accommodation was better than I had planned too !

Whilst the beach is great - it is also a very sociable place. I met many people from all around Europe including Alberto (Italy) and his mate Pablo (spain) above – but also ran into Aussie friends such as Drew who was there with his friends matt and Peter.

This is my favourite holiday destination.

Onwards to Barcelona

To finish off the intrepid trip was two days in Barcelona - still my favourite international city.

We ate so well - the El born/ La Ribera area east of Las Ramblas - is home to so many great restaurants. I will recommend one called origen - a catalonian restaurant. But so much more there too.

One of the days i saw a wedding near where we stayed - With the big puppets one could be confused with being back on the set of "IT's a knockout - a fantastic aussie show from the 1980's" . But everyone seemed interested. Is bigger better ??? hmmmm i leave that with the readers..

I wandered with our cool tour leader Monica one day through El Raval - and ate lunch at the fresh food markets.

And another day I just hung out at the Beach. This city continues to get better and better - and the weather perfect.

Above is a group shot - sad to see everyone go.. but I was also exhausted and so in need of a rest. The pace of the two past weeks had been hectic.

Where better to head than the beachside resort of Sitges.

Not enought time in Valencia

The only down side to the tour was that it tried to fit too much in - so after an overnight train ride (with seats too uncomfortable to sleep) we were all exhausted and very OT (over tired).

We trekked around the streets and markets of valencia - smell some terrible smells too!! (long story)

Note to others - do not stay at the Expo hotel in Valencia - so very bad service.

Kate(from Chicage) was on fire all day ! She was so funny ! Everyone was so OT that many silly pictures were taken this day and night.

Valencia is a beautiful city - but I just couldnt get to enough of it in one day. We did have paella - but it was not the best here (poor choice on our part) - even though it is the home of the dish!!!