Barcelona

Spent a fun 5 days traipsing around Barcelona with Karina and Annnah, my ex-workmates. I'll definitely go back again. It is such a vibrant, exciting city with eclectic architecture and style, great food (i'm Singaporean after all) and of course a great nightlife :-)


Casa Batllo - one of several surreal creations by Gaudi in Barcelona - pure genius! I'll definitely be back for more.



Even mannequins need raincoats. A rainy spell has arrived, a much welcome respite for me, if not for the rest of the city. I have had enough of steamy hot weather. Time for some cold and crisp fresh air please!!!

Sunday is bullfight day in Spain. Posters like these are plastered all over town and the Plaza del Toros. It is also shown live on TV and any bar worth its salt will be screening it because the local men are all glued to the adrenaline and excitement of the bullfight!

Spaniards definitely have a sense of humour. Notice the pair of white legs sticking out on the left side.

Trainscapes

Cows and shrubs on the way from Madrid to Zaragoza

Glorious sunshine and fantastic beach near Taragona, on route to Barcelona.

Toledo -ancient Roman outpost just outside of Madrid. It was taken from a toy train! (see below)

Killing the night in Madrid

The atmosphere is definitely different here in the capital - a lot more buzz and excitement. Having had my fill of cathedrals and fortresses in Andalucia, i decided to explore a different part of Spain - the art musuems and nightlife! I should have said "museum" instead.. because i only made it to one - the Museo del Prado. The musuems have only limited opening hours on sunday and i didn´t quite make it there... as seen from the evidence below from saturday night /sunday am..

Madrilenos live for the night, as i found out from Mariska - a Dutchie who has been living in Madrid for the past 5 years. They are always up for a party! Clubs don´t really get going until 3am -which is about the same time where clubs in Singapore are winding down. Closing time here is a bright and chirpy 7am. After that, if you are still feeling in want for more, you can proceed to an after-hours bar until about 11am. We started at midnight, with a delicious dinner that her friend Cecilia had prepared for us.


After a few drinks at the bar, we proceeded to Palacio Gaviria. Spain has so many palaces to spare they converted one into a club, complete with grandiose statues, ornate carved ceilings and such. Not that i was looking at the ceiling much. This one has some live er, entertainment.. [dad, i swear i wasn´t in a dodgy club ;-)]

Some random Mexican guy Miguel puckering up. He thought he was going to get lucky with Mariska and Roos.

With Mariska and Roos at El Mondo. The club is still absolutely packed at 6am. This happens on weeknights too.

Looking a little ghostly (and ghastly?) in the elevator.. i am blaming it all on the fluorescent lighting.

Back in Mariska´s apartment at 7.30am, in time for breakfast before bed. It will be another 24 hours before i fully recover.

Andalucia II

With Shaheen at the Real Alcazar in Sevilla. I got to know her in uni where we were hostel mates and i borrowed her vacuum cleaner one day. She then started frequently invited me over to hers for masala tea and the rest, as they say is history. We´ve had lots of fun over the past week travelling together and catching up . Don´t mess with this pocket-sized dynamo -she packs alot of punch -all 4 ft 10" of her -as i found out ; -) She also makes a mean pasta!

Seen in the supermarket... i wonder if your IQ drops by a couple of points with each slice.

Froddo-lookalike statue bearing the remains of Cristobal Colon (thats Christopher Coloumbus for us folks) at the Sevilla Cathedral.

Andalucia roundup

View of Sevilla centro and cathedral from the top of the La Giralda tower.


Beautiful gardens (this is just a small section) in the Real Alcazar in Cordoba.
This is a trademark of Andalucia - lush greenery and water features everywhere.

The Al- Hambra in Grenada -13th century palace/fortress -the showcase of moorish architecture in southern Spain.

Where´s the rain in Spain..

Currently melting in the city of Cordoba in southern Spain, where temperatures reached a scorching 47 deg (thats Celcius) when Shaheen and I arrived from Granada yesterday evening. It feels like someone is blowing a hairdryer in my face. Ice-cream shops are doing a roaring business here, right up until midnight.

This is my 5th day in Spain and i´m trying to immerse myself in the Spanish culture... For a start, Spaniards have their meals really late - lunch is about 2 or 3pm and dinner is about 10pm. In between, they have some tapas and beer. Suits me fine! There are more people out on the streets strolling, eating and drinking at midnight than at 2 in the afternoon.
I also watched a bullfight on TV last saturday. Very gory. Not sure i want to watch it live now...

The Spanish language classes i took last year proved to be quite useful (its all coming back to me now..slowly) in asking for directions and paying at shops/ restaurants but verb conjugation still stumps me.

I´m giving up the picture loading for now -the computers here are dead slow. And ironically, there were more internet cafes available in Laos than in Spain!