Ok, that’s a bit corny but it’s also appropriate, as very soon we’ll be heading off on our first trip to Europe for three decades! Can you believe it? We can’t … but there you go, time flies without your really being aware of it sometimes. Of course, we haven’t been standing still. We’ve been to the US a few times, Canada, Mexico briefly, Japan a few times, Hong Kong – and have explored quite a bit of Australia.
Still, it’s exciting to be going to Europe again – to places new and places seen before. If you would like to receive email notification of new posts on this blog – we hope to post regularly but technology and/or tiredness are likely to prevent daily posting – you can subscribe using the Email Subscription box in the blog sidebar. Alternatively, if this is all too narcissistic for you, please ignore it. We’ll never know.
You are welcome to check our itinerary (which is on the Menu Bar). If you have have any advice or “must do” suggestions, we’d love you to leave us a message via our Contact Page. (It’s also on the Menu Bar!). If, on the other hand, you have complaints, we’re happy for you to keep them to yourselves!
Finally, we’d love you to comment, whenever you feel like it. You can do that using the Comment box at the bottom of each post. Note our comment moderation means that the first time you comment, it won’t appear immediately, but once we’ve approved it your future comments should display as soon as you submit them. We’ll try to reply every now and then … particularly if you ask us a question … but if we don’t, it will be because we are out there having fun!
She trudged on, and came to a door, flush with the street, that swung noiselessly back. There was fragrance and gilt: a seraglio or a church. Laura turned a corner and before her, like a vision, a flight of shallow steps led to an archway surmounted by a bell. She knew that she was lost. She knew that she loved this place. (Young Aussie Laura arrives in Naples, Questions of travel, by Michelle de Kretser)
Ah, travel …
Happy travelling. Keep us posted.
Thanks, we’ll do our best.
Have a wonderful time you 2, lovely time to be travelling; hopefully a bit cooler and less busy.
Thanks Kate … will do … cooler (though not cold) we hope, less busy would be nice but may not be so. Will report!
You’ve chosen the best time of the year to travel, the weather is mild and the crowds will be thinning out. I look forward to seeing your adventures…
Have a great trip:)
Lisa xo
PS As a ‘veteran’ of the travel blog, I offer a tip: when you’re too tired or busy to write, just upload a few pictures and turn them into a slideshow.
Thanks Lisa … I had been planning all week to email you and say that a week or so ago I reread your Spain/Portugal travel blog (which as you know I read when you were doing your trip). It was great reading all over again, and I’ve noted a few hints. We have pre booked Prado admission, and we’ve booked a “jump-the-queue” tour for La Sagrada Familia. I’m not overly keen on tours of sites but this one lets us in on schedule and allows us to potter around as we like when the tour is over.
Thanks for the hint re travel blogging! I’ll remember that … Len is the main slideshow person and I’m the text person so that sounds like a good plan!!
That’s great – do take photos inside the cathedral (I know you will!) because when we went they were frantically finishing things off for the Pope’s impending visit and there was plaster flying around everywhere which made for spotty photos. I’m not a fan of The Tour either, in general, but our guide was really great at pointing out aspects of the exterior carvings which we would never have been able to find even if we had had a guide book about them. BTW take a bottle of water with you, because even with a scheduled tour there’s a bit of a wait outside and it can get quite warm even in October.
Re the Prado, if I had my time again, I would start on the top floor. I remember only too vividly – having spent almost the whole day there – standing at the bottom of the next flight of stairs to see the last galleries and pondering whether the energy could be mustered to climb them. We did, because we knew it was unlikely we could ever come back, but the smart thing to do is to get the stairs out of the way at the beginning, and work your way down!
Thanks Lisa … I’ll try to remember that re the Prado. I remember your talking about the Pope’s visit and being glad you hadn’t planned to go the next day.
PPS WordPress will turn your photos into a slideshow for you. Just upload your images in the usual way and then select Create Gallery. You need to click on all the images that you want to be in the slideshow and then click on the blue Create Gallery button on the RHS. After you’ve done that you get a new screen on the RHS where you should ignore everything except the 4th drop down menu – choose slideshow and then insert it into your post – voila!
If you lose these instructions, I’m sure that WordPress has a support page, but really, except for the clicking on each image to select it, it’s intuitive.
The only other thing I would suggest is using something to compress the photos for web pages, before you upload them. I use MS Office Picture Manager to do this batch-by-batch but there must be something similar for macs. You need to do this for 2 reasons: firstly because internet access in Spain and France can be slow (not to mention expensive) and big files take too long to upload to your blog, and secondly because people back here in Australia who only have dialup or live in places with poor internet access will get time-out errors and not be able to load them at all.
Thanks Lisa. I’d only just noticed that gallery option recently … It looks good. And thanks re images sizes. Len had decided we’d need to do that for those reasons you give, so I’m hoping he has a plan! I think he’s going to do the slides a different way because he’s set up this blog as self-hosted and has some sort of plig-in. The more I see this self-hosted process, the happier I am that Whispering Gums uses the free host option!
How wonderful! Bon voyage Sue and Len! We shall be following our travels with envy and great interest. Travel well! I hope you have that Kindle well and truly loaded. All the best! xx
Thanks Steph … I’ll be thinking of you and hoping you feel better and better over the coming weeks. (I may not get to pop into Facebook a lot but I’ll do my best to keep up).
Yes, the kindle is stacked and rarin’ to go. I’m enjoying a wonderful sense of lightness of being – well physical lightness anyhow!
What a fantastic adventure, thanks for letting me know, I haven’t been to anywhere you’ve been and will be following your travels with great interest. Although I can’t quite believe that you’re not going to Paris!
LOL, THAT’s because you keep going to Paris … Though I notice you did branch out a little this year!
Espero tener buen viaje. Su itinerario es muy interesante. ¿Cómo es tu Español? Ahora, mi Español es no mal. Pero, practicar es importante.
Para mi, voy para Mexico en Octubre 1, para siete semanas.
Seven weeks in Mexico! That beats our four days in Baja I reckon!
BTW, my Spanish is as good as my poor French lets me!
In seven weeks, I’m not even covering the whole country. Not going to Baja, or in fact, anywhere north of Zacatecas, which is in the middle of the country.
There’s always another time I guess, eh? Any walks?
no walks, just lots of buses, this is a cultural trip, about time I did one.
Where are you staying in Madrid? Reason I ask, is you may want to get some Asian food in you before embarking on your trip and I can make some suggestions. I spent 5 nights in Madrid in March and didn’t eat Spanish once. Having a Fresc Co outlet near where I was staying helped, but you may not yet have the craving for vegetables that I had after 6 wks in Spain.
This may not be relevant to you, but this is a good chain of handmade chocolates in Spain – http://www.chocolatfactory.com/index.php?idioma=en. Actually, there are lots of chocolate stores in Spain and even in small towns, there are good ones. The quality is very good and it makes a great antidote to all the salt that is piled on the food. Also, the quality of Spanish wine is excellent, although I’m only familiar with the red variety (vino tinto).
That sounds great … The trip I mean. Are you reading Mexican authors?
Why is it good not to eat Spanish once in 5 days? I’m looking forward to Spanish … As long as I can avoid tomatoes, but I do like veggies.
We are staying at Gran Legazpi, Arganzuela, near Atocha Train Station. Does that help?
haven’t read any Mexican authors lately, although I did read one last year. Of course, I’ve read quite a bit of Carlos Fuentes, an author I like immensely. Finished a book by a Peruvian last week, but that doesn’t count.
Well, the challenge in Spain is to find good restaurants and when I wasn’t tied to a package, I did well. But, on the Camino, most nights I was locked into the Tourist Menu, which you may come across as I believe you’re in a group. This is an abomination which I suspect the Brits have inspired. Its 3 courses for the lowest price, usually around 10 Euros. The food is dominated by one flavour, salt. Well, not the dessert, but thats usually the best course. The Spanish are timid about spice so what you get on the Tourist Menu is bland food. So, I was sick of Spanish food after 6 wks and never wanted to see it again.
Near Atocha, there are plenty of restaurants (I was staying to the north of your location in a great area for restaurants). My advice is to not go for the Tourist Menu, but just order a la carte. If you want Spanish, you get your veggies in the 1st course. 2nd course, meat, usually only comes with chips. You can negotiate away from chips, but usually all they will offer is a green salad, generally, a pile of iceberg and some red bullets, which may answer the description of tomatoes, and perhaps onions.
In Barcelona, I found a great local restaurant, so had good meals there over many nights. So it is possible, but as you have till 9.00 pm to find a place, look around, examine the menus. My other advice is watch how you go on Tapas – they fill you up, but the bill might be a shock. However, wine is cheap and good, so there are compensations.
forgot to say, the wine on the tourist menu is terrible. For 10 Euros, they throw in a whole bottle of wine. Its muck you get for about 1 Euro in a supermarket (eg El Cortes Ingles). For a few Euros, you can get very good wine.
I stayed in Malasana (forgive the n, I don’t have a Spanish keyboard), which is north of Gran Via. If you ever get near Callao, where there is a large El Cortes Ingles, my apartment was a few blocks north.
For you, NW of Atocha, around Plaza de Santa Ana, there are lots of restaurants. Also between that Plaza and Sol. I think the area is called Huertas. You could walk NW from Centro de Arte Reina Sofia towards Sol and I’m sure you’ll do OK.
Thanks David … Will certainly take that on board … A small amount of good wine s the way to go I reckon.
Thanks for all this David … That explains your response. We are doing a tour for the Spain/Portugal part but meals aren’t included which was one of the attractions for us. I’m guessing they’ll recommend places and that people will often end up eating together but we have options. Also we ar in Madrid our own for three nights before the tour starts, and in Barcelona for three nights after the tour ends. Point taken re tapas.
I could give you some pointers on wine in Spain, but as I only had red wine in Spain, that may not be much use to you. On white wine, if you ever see a Torrontes from Argentina on the list, try it. Its not a common grape variety, but it makes for some good drinking.
I see you are in Barcelona on a Fri and a Sat, so here is a restaurant recommendation –
https://plus.google.com/115682956942083326197/about?gl=AU&hl=en-AU
http://www.santagula.es/
I don’t know if its anywhere near where you are staying, but its a charming place with great food and excellent wine. The chef is from Uruguay and the guy in charge of front of house is from Argentina. They only open for dinner on Fri and Sat nights (the rest of the time they do drinks and simple food such as pasta, more for a lunch crowd), from around 8.30 pm, reservations essential, as its small and frequented by locals who know the quality of the food and the pleasant ambiance.
Thanks David … We have a couple of recommendations for Barcelona so will add this to our list! I can feel my waistline expand as I write.
Wot! No shopping? Hannah will be wondering.