Earlier I went to Sintra which is just under 40 minutes away from Lisbon via train. I’ve not yet had a proper chance to explore Lisbon as it has been constantly raining and there was a slight problem involving a flip flop and my ankle swelling, so hopefully tomorrow I’ll be able to explore the city.
To get to Madrid there was a 4.5 hour bus journey to face, which actually wasn’t as soul destroying as it may sound. The hostel was easy to find, I checked in and was given some recommendations for things to do and places to eat, so naturally, I went to get some food.
I found a nice tapas bar where I ordered grilled goats cheese and some salt cod fritters – both were delicious. I found it quite amusing that the waiter told me to order two dishes instead of three because it was too much. I listened to him and thought that it was cute that he thought that because he quite obviously underestimated how much I can eat especially when I was as hungry as I was. I skipped an artichoke dish, but I could’ve eaten it.
Today I took a day trip from Madrid to Toledo, 30 minutes or so via train. I had Googled last night directions to the center of the town to prevent an internal gps meltdown.
After a 3.5 hour journey over three different buses, I arrived in Granada on Thursday. It’s the first hostel I’ve stayed in on this trip that I haven’t gotten lost or had to turn around and go back somewhere, which I was amazed by as it’s been the one that’s been the biggest pain in the arse to get to.
On Sunday I arrived in Seville. I wasn’t in the best of moods as my sense of navigation wasn’t up to scratch, resulting in me carrying my backpack that weighs the same as a small child for an extra 20 minutes. Whilst I was checking in, I was notified that there was a free dinner at 9pm, but it couldn’t wait as the only thing I had eaten since breakfast was a kit kat, so I popped to burger king for my first dinner, then had a risotto for my second dinner. Continue reading
On Monday I had a 4am start to catch a flight to Málaga. I had not been out of bed before 8 in over three months but made it to the airport.
Once I arrived and checked into the hostel, I went for a walk up the Alcazaba which had a pretty good view from the top. I also had a look through the market which is quite impressive; the food does stand out a lot more than in English markets. To end the day I visited the Picasso museum, there were more paintings in there than I had expected and was quite interesting.
My final trip this year was Edinburgh, a 4.5 hour train ride from Kings Cross St. Pancras. I had a week before I start my new temporary job before I go to Europe early next year, so I thought it’d be silly not to take advantage and go somewhere.
Part two of my trip was Oslo. For the first, and probably last time, I managed to get front row seats on the flight. I didn’t notice until I looked on my ticket whilst I was getting on the plane, only to realise that the flight was three quarters full, so I had to put my bag in the luggage compartment in row 8 then make my way back to row 1, trying to get past a lot of unimpressed Scandanavians who were boarding the flight. That was not fun.
It’s fair to say that 2015 is the year I’ve decided to start travelling.
It started off last August, just before I started a new job when I booked myself a trip to New York. It’s fair to say I was far from in the best of moods, so I didn’t bother asking anyone if they wanted to join me. A few months later, I found out that I had been booked off work for a week at the end of January,so on a whim, I booked myself a trip to Berlin. A couple of weeks after that, I was talking to a friend about how we could do with a weekend away from work, and a trip to Amsterdam was booked.