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Saturday, September 09, 2006

Hola amigos!

I´m in Cordoba right now and it is a good 40 degrees outside... well its 35 degrees now that its 6pm. So hot! But at least it is quite dry. Spain is definitely the hottest part of the trip so far.
I had a great time in Barcelona. Nita was stayed longer in Italy so I was on my own there. But not for long really, because after just a morning by myself I met a great bunch of people who I spent time with over the next 5 days. The girl sleeping beneath me on the bunk ended up becoming my good mate and we travelled to Madrid and then onto Seville together as well. Shilly has now gone onto Lagos. It was great meeting some more cool people, and I found travelling on my own quite easy.
Barcelona is an amazing city - there is so much to do there and the night life is just huge! I didn´t get home before 4am 4 nights in a row. As a consequence by the time I got to Madrid I was coming down with a bad cold.... Which I still have now - runny nose, cough and all that. Nita met me in Madrid just fine. I hate being sick on holidays, so I´ve been trying to push through, by going on tapas tours the couple of nights in Seville which have been awesome fun. The tapas was so amazing!
Some highlights have been:
- everything Gaudi in Barcelona. The buildings he created are like something out of a fantasy book, they are just incredible. I loved how much of his work was inspired by nature.
- the Prado in Madrid had an excellent collection of art and an amazing Picasso exhibition. I was so impressed. Madrid was a nice big city, with great food and parks to wander through.
- the Alcazar in Seville was just beautiful. It was a moorish palace that was turned into a christian palace, and had amazing tiling decorations on the walls and beautiful gardens complete with peacocks.
- The mesquita in Cordoba is very beautiful, and I would say the most gorgeous church I´ve been to. It used to be a mosque and was turned into a chruch in the 1400´s. good on them for not destroying something so beautiful. It is filled with amazing archways.
- speaking spanish.. I am so glad I know some spanish because you really need to use it here in Spain! I would say out of all the countries I´ve been to on my trip Spain is the place where it is most useful to know some of the language. I´m great on menus and directions (thanks Jesùs!). I really want to learn more of the language now, it is fun to speak it.
- and of course the major highlight has been the people that I´ve met along the way, there are just so many awesome people that I´ve met on my trip now. The great thing about email is how easy it is to keep in touch with people from all over the world. Even after travelling with someone for a few days you get to know them so well, it can be hard to say goodbye.
I wish I could add some photos to this email but alas, no way of connecting my camera.
Next stop is Granada and then I´m off to London and then home! It is really hard to believe that I will be sitting at home on the Gold Coast in 11 days... It is very hard to imagine right now, here in very hot Cordoba, surrounded by people drinking sangria and cervercas and eating tapas....
I´m off for a siesta....