| | The Se, Santiago De Compostella, Spain |
| | Santiago streets on a rainy night, Spain |
| | 1st beach of the trip, La Coruna, Spain |
| | TRAM! La Coruna, Spain |
| | These pointy-hooded guys in the Easter parade made scary noises, Santiago, Spain |
| | At the bottom of 800 stairs, Bom Jesus, Braga, Portugal |
| | Tiles and more tiles, guaranteed sight in Portugal |
| | Porto by night, looking towards the Port district, Portugal |
| | Porto by day, Portugal |
| | Rob exploring the back streets of Porto, Portugal |
| | Lisboa, Portugal |
| | Quinta da Regaleria, Sintra, Portugal - awesome gardens |
| | "I'm the King of the Palacio", Sintra, Portugal |
| | Castelo dos Mouros, Sintra, Portugal |
| | "Who stole my ear", Belem, Portugal |
| | Elevador, Lisboa, Portugal |
| | Praca do Comercio at night, Lisboa, Portugal |
| | Roman ruins, Evora, Portugal |
| | Bugalugs in Monseraz, Portugal |
| | Beware of guard dog, Monseraz, Portugal |
| | The church at the end of town, Monseraz, Portugal |
| | Roman ruins at dusk, Evora, Portugal |
| | Our personal train dropping us off in Funky town, Funcheria, Portugal |
| | Esplana Plaza, Sevilla, Spain |
| | Horse jam, Seville, Spain |
| | We loved what they'd done with the place, Alcazar, Sevilla, Spain |
| | Alcazar gardens, Sevilla, Spain |
| | Christopher Colombus’s (apparent) tomb, Sevilla Cathedral, Spain |
| | Sevilla Cathedral, Spain |
| | Prancing bull, Sevilla, Spain |
| | Ole! Sevilla, Spain |
| | Looking down the Gorge, Ronda, Spain |
| | Hmm, there's a cliff, let's build on the edge of it. What could possibly go wrong? Ronda, Spain |
| | Pretty in pink, Ronda, Spain |
| | On the train again… just can't wait to get back on the train again… Ronda to Granada, Spain |
| | Granada Cathedral, Spain |
| | Alhambra gardens, Granada, Spain |
| | Moor Moorish Arches, Alhambra, Grenada, Spain |
| | One flag wasn't good enough for them, Alhambra, Granada, Spain |
| | We spudded for the top bunk on the train and Lou lost. Leaving Granada, Spain. |
| | "No thank you, we've already got one!" Holy grail, Valencia, Spain. |
| | Oh what a feeling! Convention centre, Valencia, Spain |
| | NZ's America's Cup Yacht, Valencia, Spain. |
| | The ocean view from our room was nice. Muro beach, Majorca, Spain. |
| | Now that's a sunrise! Muro beach, Majorca, Spain. |
| | Our bike track, Port d'Alcudia, Majorca, Spain |
| | Sangria anyone? Muro Beach, Mallorca |
| | Fornalutx, Mallorca |
| | Port Soller, Majorca, Spain |
| | Some pointy bits on top of the Sagrada Familiar, Barcelona, Spain |
| | Got Llama, will travel. Shop roller-door, Barcelona, Spain |
| | Barcelona Cathedral, Spain |
| | Olympic park had another giant cocktail stick, Barcelona, Spain |
| | Montserrat was Rockin! Spain |
| | The boss, Montserrat, Spain |
| | More unconventional real estate, Montserrat, Spain |
| | Foix castle, France |
| | View of Villefranche de Conflent from Fort Liberia, France |
| | The streets of Villefranche de Conflent, France |
| | What a Nice city! France |
| | Lou and unorthodox Rob, Nice, France |
| | Eze Village, France |
| | What a prick! Cacti garden, Eze Village, France |
| | Rob's best frog imitation, Villefranche Sur Med, France |
| | Rob scoping out his next beach house, Villefrance Sur Med, France |
| | Check out the size of the shnoz! Cannes, France |
| | Monaco style jalopy, I wouldn't be caught dead driving that around. |
| | Monaco, Monte Carlo - or is it Monte Carlo, Monaco? |
| | Time for some more chocolate gelati! Old Town, Monaco |
| | Monaco Church |
| | Russian orthodox church, Nice, France |
| | Riomaggiore at sunset, Italy |
| | Monterosso, Cinque Terra, Italy |
| | Hiking Cinque Terra, Italy |
| | Fishing boats, Vernazza, Italy |
| | Corniglia, Cinque Terra, Italy |
| | Looks like some lemon-aid is required. Sorry. Monterosso, Italy |
| | Gelati time…. Again…. so Yummy! Monterosso, Italy |
| | Rickety path a couple of hundred feet above the ocean, Cinque Terra, Italy |
| | Looking East from Cinque Terra, Italy |
| | Godzilla-sized Lou goes on a rampage. Tokyo, Japan |
| | Climbing the leaning tower, Pisa, Italy |
| | River reflections, Florence, Italy |
| | El grande canal, Italia |
| | Venice is beautiful, Italy |
| | Pizza and calzone! Doesn't stand a chance. Venice, Italy |
| | Venice by night, Italy |
| | St Marks Piazza, Venice, Italy |
|
MED 2007 - PORTUGAL, SPAIN, FRANCE, ITALY
We started our trip on Monday 2nd April 2007 taking off from London Stansted to Santiago de Compostela in Northern Spain. Our intentions for this trip were to get as far as possible along the Med coast within our set time limit, travelling by train and generally playing things by ear. Here's what we got to see.
Click on any of the photos to view larger versions. Or don't.
Spain – Part 1
Apart from the fact that we were travelling for such a long period of time, we were also excited about visiting some countries neither of us had been to previously. Spain happened to be one of those countries. We started off by flying into Santiago de Compostela in northern Spain. Santiago is one of the Christian world’s most important pilgrimage sites and at the end of the Camino de Santiago; a nice leisurely 780km afternoon stroll. Santiago has a massive cathedral and some pretty gardens. The centre of town is pedestrian only and a pleasure to explore. The highlight from day one was stumbling across (and out of) one of the most beautiful beer gardens we have seen. It was such a great city and start to the trip. Funny that the first real Spanish word we learnt was ‘Cervaza’ meaning BEER! Although in Spain the ‘v’ is pronounced as a ‘b’ making it even more fun to say and order. From Santiago we used our train pass for the first time to visit the coastal town of La Coruna. Some beautiful beaches here however we were a little disappointed. They didn’t seem to be making the best use of them quite like us Aussies do. There were no beach side cafes or pubs to enjoy the wonderful views. La Coruna is home to the world’s oldest in-use lighthouse named ‘Hercules’ which we took delight in climbing. There are also heaps of little trams that made getting around so much more fun than walking.
Being such a Christian town and being the week before Easter we experienced our first Holy Week parade back in Santiago. It was a little spooky. The colourful hooded figures looked straight out of the Ku Klux Klan. The whole procession beat drums, chanted, and made other unusual and scary noises.
We then departed Spain for our first taste of Portugal.
Portugal
After the first 2.5 days of the trip being in Spain there was much excitement as we ventured on the bus into Portugal. One look at the phrase book had Lou nominating Rob as the Portuguese language speaker (Rob ended up being in charge of the Spanish and Portuguese, Lou handled the French and Italian). Braga was the first town on the itinerary and after being deposited at what passed for a bus stop we were a little intimidated. Not one sign, nothing in Portuguese (or English) indicating the exit from the bus stop or the direction to the town. Was this to be a sign of things to come? If so the next week or so was going to be very interesting. Somehow we managed to find our hotel with little effort, nothing to it!
Braga was once one of the most famous of Catholic destinations (Fatima is now more popular) in the world. One of its most famous and impressive cathedrals is the hilltop pilgrimage destination of Bom Jesus. There are over 800 stairs that zigzag up the hillside to the top where the cathedral is located with many small chapels and grottos near the bottom and some stunning gardens closer to the top. Hard core pilgrims climb the stairs on their knees. We are not hard core pilgrims and took the easy option of walking up them. Do we get extra points for also walking down? The top offers spectacular views of the surrounding countryside and was well worth the climb.
Given it was Holy Week (the week before Easter) we were expecting something special from the Easter Parade in Braga but to no avail. Very disappointing given the scary hooded parade we had seen the previous night in Santiago.
From Braga we travelled by train to Porto. Porto is world famous for its Port and at Ferreira (just one of about 100 cellars you could visit) we sampled a tawny, white and a red. We didn’t even realise white port was produced but it proved tasty! Porto was the surprise of the trip. To be honest we hadn’t really expected much and it was a little scary at first with everyone telling us how much theft happens but overall it was a very contradictory (think slums meets modern) but beautiful city.
Lisboa was our next major destination and is the capital city of Portugal. Lisboa failed to make a great impression to us especially after we had enjoyed Porto so much. That said we may have enjoyed the city a lot more if we had been stoned off our heads the whole time we were there. It seemed every second person we passed on the street was convinced we wanted to buy some hash off them. Maybe we just looked dodgy, don’t stress Mums and Dads - no purchases were made!
The best thing about Lisboa is its location to Sintra. Sintra was a definite highlight of our trip with its numerous castles, palaces and ruins to explore. We struggled to fit them all in with just one day. First there was Quinta da Regaleria (gardens and grottos galore), second was viewing Palacio de Pena (a weird multi-coloured castle with turrets-a-go-go) and finally Castelo dos Mouros (8th century Moorish ruins with amazing views from the explorable ramparts). Lisboa was also close to Belem, a 6km tram ride to the best custard tarts in the world. Very, very yummy!
From Lisboa it was away from the coast and inland towards Evora. Evora is a small little town with very old city walls. Evora was lovely for a few hours exploration with roman ruins, aqueducts and a big cathedral. Our hotel for the night actually contained in the reception area some of the original city wall and a stair case dating back to the 16th century. Another quirky tourist site was the Capela dos Ossos or Chapel of bones in the Igreja de São Francisco (fancy name for church). The church walls were completely made of the bones of monks belonging to the order of St Francis, very eerie! Though we both enjoyed Evora, like Lisboa, one of the best things about it was its close proximity to another town – Monseraz!
Monseraz was THE highlight of the trip. It was absolutely beautiful. Breathtaking! We have rated it as one of the most beautiful towns we have ever visited and well worth the trip from Evora. It is a very peaceful and quiet medieval hilltop village with stunning views of the surrounding country. The town is surrounded by an old town wall with a bull ring at one end and a small church at the other and looked like it hadn’t changed in hundreds of years. White washed walls are everywhere. Other tourists were non-existent and it was fabulous to have free rein of the town including the bullring. The trip out there from Evora was made to seem difficult by most guide books however we managed to do it all in an afternoon with a couple of random bus routes (including a school bus) . It was a gorgeous surprise and hats off to Rob who first read about it and pushed us to go out there. WOW!
Back to Evora for the night before our following day adventure to the Algarve area and the city of Faro before heading back into Spain. We call this day an adventure due to a little misunderstanding we had in the smallest of train stations. We were due to change trains about 3 times this day and our last change was in Funcheria where we had a 5 to 10 minute wait for the train going to Faro.
“When we first got on the train we initially thought that people were sitting on our seats. As Rob wandered up the carriage to look for somewhere else to sit I started to wonder if we were on the right train. I don’t know why I thought this. Right station, train was on time. A quick ‘Faro’ enquiry to fellow passengers resulting in the response of ‘No Lisboa’ was not what I wanted to hear, not with Rob dawdling up and down the carriage looking for seats. Quick is the only way to describe how I went about getting our gear to safety and onto the platform before going searching for Rob. I really don’t know what would of happened if the train happened to have taken off at the point, probably would’ve cried, but nevertheless I managed to get Rob’s attention and thankfully he believed me when I told him we were on the wrong train. It was a pretty close call. An hour later I was still thanking fuck we got off that train!” Lou
Who would believe that at 15.30 each day one of the smallest train stations in Portugal and one of the smallest we were to see on our travels has trains in both directions pull up travelling the Faro – Lisboa journey?
Not much to report in Faro. It was mere stop for the night. Though mention must be made to the wonderful ladies at the Laundromat who did our clothes (wash and dry) in record time. Saviours!
The next morning it was a 7.30 am bus ride back into Spain.
Spain – Part 2
Given the time difference between Portugal and Spain it felt like we were on the bus for longer than we were. Several hours after leaving Faro we finally arrived in Sevilla.
Sevilla was another highlight of the trip. There just seemed to be so much to do. Eat tapas, Flamenco dancing, bullfighting (we particapted in eating tapas but were only witnesses to the dancing and the bulls). There was also Esplana Plaza, the Moorish palace ‘Alcazar’ and Europe’s biggest Cathedral which is home to Christopher Columbus’s apparent tomb (apparently as they are not sure whether it is him or one of his sons in it). And all this in a really beautiful tourist friendly city with some truly gorgeous gardens!
From Sevilla it was to our namesake Ronda. For the past year or so we have been named Team Ronda. Our wireless network even shares the same name. If you know Lou’s actual name hopefully you can figure it out (hint: it’s not Lou). Anyway we were quite keen to get there and check it out. In short Ronda is a great town to explore perched on top of a cliff with a huge bridge (New Bridge) connecting both sides of the gorge. All made very beautiful come sunset.
The next destination was Granada. Leaving Ronda we were a little uncertain about whether we would get to see Granada’s main attraction, the Alhambra as we had tried on the internet, on the phone and all our guide books had said how much of a demand there was and to pre-book tickets. The receptionist at the hotel was an absolute gem. Not only did she get us tickets but also entertained with the best “G’day Mate” she could muster up once she had realised we were from Australia. The Alhambra including Nasrid Palaces, the Generalife, Alcazaba and the gardens (all within the Alhambra) was a good afternoon of exploring. Within Granada we also checked out the Cathedral and the Royal Chapel. One day would have been sufficient for Granada however we unfortunately could not get reservations on the train we wanted so we got to spend an additional day here allowing us plenty of time for chores, a good sleep in, and a couple more power-showers (thanks Nik and Paul!).
On the train again, just can’t wait to get on the train again. This time it was a fancy Tren-Hotel train (overnight sleeper) to Valencia. Valencia was a pretty city currently hosting the 32nd America’s Cup. Its cathedral also houses the only Holy Grail (being a chalice) recognised by the Vatican. From Valencia we jumped on a big boat for our eight hour overnight ferry ride to the island of Mallorca.
On Mallorca we stayed at Muro Beach in some of the best accommodation we had on the trip. Beach and pool views, breakfast and dinner included was exactly what we needed – especially after 2 nights of sleeping on transport and 2 full days in the heat. We tried to see a bit of the island which was made easier with our hire car and some bikes. Port Soller was a nice day trip through some amazing scenery, spectacular jagged mountain peaks unlike any we’d seen before, beaches and some quaint little towns. It was also great to take it easy with drinks each afternoon down near the water. Pina colada anyone? The sunrise here also deserves a mention as does Rob who got up each morning to get photos. Brilliant blood red, amazing stuff!
Rather than 8 hours return to the mainland we opted for a fast 4 hour catamaran service to Barcelona. Barcelona is an amazing city with so much to do however it was an absolute nightmare for accommodation and we would highly recommend getting some months in advance of getting there. Highlights of Barcelona for us included the cathedral, the (still under construction) Sagrada Familia one of Gaudi’s many buildings around the city and his biggest and most brilliant. We also enjoyed the stroll along the beach front promenade. Considering the size of the city and the location of the port they have made amazing use of the beachfronts which are cleaned nightly and had first class facilities. At the end of the beach we caught the cable car checking out the Olympic Park (1992 Olympics).
Using Barcelona as base camp, we made our way out to Montserrat. Montserrat is a monastery perched high on some mountains about an hours train ride out of Barcelona. The place is famous as many years ago the Virgin Mary made a cameo appearance to some monks in a small grotto. There is plenty to do here. We checked out the Basilica and some smaller churches, spent numerous hours hiking around the place and took several funiculars up and down the surrounding mountains. The views were incredible.
We would have enjoyed one more day in Barcelona however the thought of changing hotels a second time was something we weren’t keen on so instead we took off, destination France.
France
Our first stop in France was a little town by the name of Foix. The town itself is not anywhere near the coast and quite an adventure to get to from Barcelona however Rob had spotted some caves he wanted to check out that the town is famous for. The first cave, Labouiche is Europe’s longest underground navigable river (the guided tour is all in a dinghy) and was a delight especially with the effort our tour guide went to explaining in English for us. The second Lombrives is unbelievably massive however we lost a lot of information in not being able to understand the French language which was a disappointment. From Foix we ventured to Perpignan with a short stop on the way in the small village of Villefranche-de-Conflent towered over by impressive Fort Liberia. We had limited time and explored the fort first, with us being the sole tourists. The fort is accessible from the town by over 800 underground steps. We were thankful to be travelling down rather than up. Perpignan was our final destination of the day and just a stopover for the night however we were both happy with the cleanliness and friendliness of the city.
From Perpignan our destination was the city of Nice on the French Riviera. Getting to Nice proved to be a little more difficult than we had first anticipated however we did get there eventually with some stops on the way. Montpellier had a lovely garden where we enjoyed lunch. Marseille has a very pretty harbour however our impressions of the rest of the town were like the smell - unfavourable.
Nice is not an easy town to find accommodation in but somehow we managed it. Lou’s 20 minute check in marathon did not go as smoothly as it should of and provided Rob with much entertainment. Needless to say our French still needs a bit of work. Four nights in Nice gave us plenty of opportunity to explore the city and neighbouring towns of Eze Village, Villefranche Sur Med, Cannes and Monaco.
Eze Village was a delightful town perched on top of a hill and is famous for its perfumeries one of which ‘Fragonard’ gave us a private tour. It was very interesting to find out how perfume is made and just how exceptional the work of the ‘nose’ is. The standout in our minds of Eze Village was the cacti gardens which were a pleasure to explore with amazing panoramas of the Cote d’Azur.
Villefranche Sur Med was located on the water in a quaint little cove. The lack of tourists and the peacefulness of the town made it a wonderful quiet afternoon of walking and exploring. Across the cove is home to celebrities with some of the villas being magnificent. The harbour here is the deepest in the area so each day we went past there were huge cruise liners parked.
For all the hype Cannes gets for its celebrities and the film festival we thought it was overrated. The boats in the harbour very impressive much like all the other towns that make up the Riviera. It was lovely to look around however we thought some of the other surrounding towns had much more to offer. It probably didn’t help that the day we visited was a public holiday and everything was shut, not that we would have been going into any of the shops. Rob’s gold Amex hasn’t arrived yet!
Monaco just oozes money. The boats, the cars, the beautiful people! We weren’t dressed appropriately to be admitted into the gaming section of the casino however we were allowed in for a little look at a photo exhibition of the royal family. The city is situation on a beautiful little harbour which contained some of the biggest boats we have ever seen. They were also setting up for the Grand Prix so many of our photos have scaffolding in them, very disappointing. The old town in Monaco and its gardens were the surprise of the city up near the palace. Lou didn’t realise there was an old town and she found it was very attractive to walk around – the chocolate gelati added to the experience.
Nice itself is an amazing city situated right on the water. The beaches made of pebble provided us with an afternoon of relaxation and deep tissue massage (read bruising). We also went for our first Mediterranean swim. The water very fresh (read freezing cold). Surprisingly we still had all our toes after our dip. There are castle ruins on top of the hill located right on the beach which give fabulous views of the coast looking one way up the beach of Nice and the other over the port.
From Nice we were off into Italy.
Italy
The Cinque Terre town of Riomaggiore was our first stop in Italy. Cinque Terre has been on our list of must see destinations for a long time now and apart from the rain and thunderstorms, when the sun was shining the area didn’t disappoint. Cinque Terre means ‘five lands’ in Italian and that’s exactly what this particular part of the Italian coast line is famous for - five towns to be precise dotted on some of the most spectacular coastline we have ever seen. There is a coastal pathway that connects each one of the five towns to the next. We stayed in the fifth town Riomaggiore and splurged with an apartment with terrace overlooking the town’s small harbour. Riomaggiore was a time for us to relax which we took delight in doing. Eating antipasto and drinking Italian beer also helped us wind down.
The first sunny afternoon we explored a little of Riomaggiore and jumped the first train to Monterosso before hiking to Vernazza and then onto Corniglia. The walk between the first two towns took up just over 1 ½ hours, the second leg of the path another 50 minutes. The following afternoon the sun again showed its face so we walked from Riomaggiore to Manarola. The path between Manarola and Corniglia unfortunately was closed due to the weather however from Manarola we could actually see Corniglia and we think we only missed about 300 metres of the path in total so we were quite happy especially given the rain and the fact that we didn’t actually think we were going to be able to walk any of the path due to it. That afternoon we also jumped on the boat for the rid up to Monterosso and back to Riomaggiore for another gelati and a different perspective of the coastline.
Having missed the small portion of path between Manarola and Corniglia we decided to trek a little further past Riomaggiore. This section doesn’t actually form part of the five town path and was a lot less populated. It provided us with some great views looking back towards Riomaggiore and over the other side of the headland. Given this bit of path was an after thought - something to kill the afternoon we were very impressed with it and ourselves! The views much like the Cinque Terre path were amazing, stunning and very beautiful. So hard to describe the natural beauty of the place!
From Riomaggiore we ventured down to Pisa for a few hours before heading to Florence. The obvious attraction in Pisa, is of course, the leaning tower. After securing our tickets (very expensive at 15 Euro each for the privilege of walking up it) we spent quite some time getting that perfect shot of the tower with each of us holding it up, leaning on it, kicking it and with Lou’s wonderful photography skills a shot of Rob and his perfect Ninja kick to it. We also had a quick look inside the cathedral (mass was on) and the Baptistery which even if it is the largest of it’s kind in the whole of Italy we thought was a complete tourist rip off. Despite looking impressive from the outside the inside was a big disappointment.
The tower itself came with the compulsory spiral stairs that we love so much. Mention must be given to the feeling of actually walking up these stairs. It was quite bizarre as you are walking up at an angle and whilst going up you sometimes felt like you were walking down and vice versa. The stairs were much worn in a sort of zigzag pattern the whole way up due to the lean. The views of Pisa from the top were fabulous. In the photos we took it was hard to show the actual lean and give some perspective of it. Standing on top is definitely not recommended for anyone who suffers from bad vertigo.
We arrived to a rainy Florence a little later that afternoon. Once the rain had stopped we had plenty of time to explore the area of town from the cathedral and down to the river. Rob had visited Florence previously and proved a very good guide. The following morning was very foggy however it eventually lifted in time for us to get up to Michelangelo’s square for some superb panoramas of the city. Another location for great views of the city was from the dome of the Duomo Cathedral which we climbed to the top of.
Our last train trip was from Florence to Venice for what was also the last city of our trip. We have both been to Venice previously and were quite excited to be returning and exploring it together. Venice didn’t disappoint with terrific weather the two days we were there. It was in Venice that we almost broke the budget of the trip with the most expensive beers we have ever paid anywhere. Two beers (one each) plus tip and service amounting to 22 Euro; can you believe 9.80 Euro for one bottled beer? The things you do on holiday! We also took a gondola ride around the area of the Rialto Bridge. Taking into account the cost for ½ hour ride it was probably a good thing Rob had a job to go back to in London. Another highlight for Venice was the boat ride to Murano where the world famous glass is produced. We had a look inside one of the bigger factories where they were in the process of making a chandelier and of course, purchases were made. Venice is such a splendid city and it was with disappointment that we had to leave to return home.
On 10th May 2007, thirty nine days after leaving the rain in London we returned to it. We had left a beautiful, sunny Venice returning to typical London weather - rain! So good to be home though!
The whole trip now comes with a Rob and Lou’s Highly Recommended Stamp of Approval for Being a Bonza Good Time TM!
Hmm, too many photos... keep scrolling!
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| | It was only several hours into the trip before we got stuck into some of the local cervaza, Santiago, Spain |
| | Se at night, Santiago, Spain |
| | It's either a giant cocktail stick or a millenium monument. La Coruna, Spain |
| | Hercules lighthouse, La Coruna, Spain |
| | Robolix! Braga, Portugal |
| | House decoration, Braga, Portugal |
| | Porto, Portugal |
| | One of the five bridges Porto is famous for, Portugal |
| | Ferreira Port Cellars, great tour in Porto the home of Port, very tasty! Portugal |
| | Convento Carmo (ruins), Lisboa, Portugal |
| | Torre de Belem, just outside Lisboa, Portugal |
| | Is he going to be fish food? Sintra, Portugal |
| | Lou at Castelo dos Mouros, Sintra, Portugal |
| | Discoveries Monument (famous Portuguese explorers, poets and painters), Belem, Portugal |
| | YUMMY! Custard tart goodness, Belem, Portugal |
| | Streets of Lisboa, Portugal |
| | Decorative stonework, Evora, Portugal |
| | Welcome to Monseraz, Portugal |
| | Rob doing his best bull impression, Monseraz bullring, Portugal |
| | Parking lot, Monseraz, Portugal |
| | Monseraz rooftops, Portugal |
| | Capela dos Ossos (Chapel of bones) in the Igreja de São Francisco, Evora, Portugal |
| | Faro (old town) by night, Portugal |
| | Flamenco! Sevilla, Spain |
| | I was a big fan of this! Mother of Pearl, Alcazar, Sevilla, Spain |
| | Amazing Moorish architecture, Alcazar, Sevilla, Spain |
| | Altar, Sevilla Cathedral, Spain |
| | Neigh! The Sevilla races, Spain |
| | The bull has taken offence to this Matador's outfit! Sevilla, Spain |
| | Ramming speed! Sevilla, Spain |
| | Team Ronda in Ronda, Spain |
| | Beer makes us smile! Ronda, Spain |
| | Sunset, Ronda, Spain |
| | A lovely floral arrangement, Ronda, Spain |
| | More views on the Train from Ronda to Granada, Spain |
| | High tea in the Kasbar, Granada, Spain |
| | Looking out over Granada from the Alhambra, Spain |
| | Springtime! Alhambra, Granada, Spain |
| | The Alhambra, Granada, Spain |
| | Straight out of Indiana Jones. The holy grail, Valencia, Spain. |
| | Valencia Cathedral, Spain |
| | I just couldn't eat this little fellow! Lunch, Valencia, Spain |
| | Beware of guard bull, Majorca, Spain |
| | The view from the beach was just as nice. Muro beach, Majorca, Spain. |
| | Nobody's sitting on the dock of this bay at sunrise, Muro beach, Majorca, Spain |
| | Extreme self-portrait! Biking Mallorca |
| | Party Lou living the high life at Muro Beach, Mallorca |
| | High speed catamaran (fits around 60 semi trailers on it), Mallorca to Barcelona |
| | The rear entrance of the Sagrada Familiar, Barcelona, Spain |
| | Half built Sagrada Familiar, Barcelona, Spain |
| | Got a light? Barcelona Cathedral, Spain |
| | Beachfront Barcelona, Spain |
| | The not-so-magical fountain, Barcelona, Spain |
| | Hiking at Montserrat, Spain |
| | Santa Cove grotto at Montserrat where the Virgin Mary appeared, Spain |
| | Flowers, from the train, Leaving Barcelona, Spain |
| | Roadside restaurant selling yummy burgers, outside Foix, France |
| | These 800 steps would have been so much better if they were spiral! At least these ones were downhill. Fort Liberia, France |
| | The nice bit of Marseille, France |
| | Toasty! Nice, France |
| | Firery tree, Eze Village, France |
| | Eze Village, 400 meters above Eze train station, France |
| | Villefranche Sur Med, France |
| | Boats in the harbour, Villefranche Sur Med, France |
| | Glamour - Lou on the red carpet in Cannes |
| | Lou with Lady Moura, the boat was the biggest we saw! Monaco |
| | Monaco |
| | Monte Carlo Casino |
| | Flower power, Monaco |
| | Monte Carlo Casino |
| | Cloudy sunset at Cinque Terra, Italy |
| | Riomaggiore harbour at night, Italy |
| | Taking 5, Cinque Terra, Italy |
| | Vernazza, Cinque Terra, Italy |
| | Be-autiful, Cinque Terra, Italy |
| | Mediterranean cliffs, Cinque Terra, Italy |
| | Flowers in Monterosso, Italy |
| | Riomaggiore, Italy |
| | Couldn't resist taking a pit stop at this bench. Wow. Cinque Terra, Italy |
| | Antipasto and beer on the terrace anyone? Riomaggiore, Italy |
| | Nobody can stop Ninja Rob. Manhattan, New York |
| | Amazing doors at the baptistry to the Cathedral, Florence, Italy |
| | Fa fa fa fa Florence, Italy |
| | The worlds 2 most expensive beers in St Marks Piazza. That'll be 22 euros please! Ouch!! Italy |
| | La grande canal, Venice, Italy |
| | Night lights, Venice, Italy |
| | Need we say more…, Venice, Italy |
| | Looks like Rob's been eating too many pizzas. Venice, Italy |
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