Lagos, Lagos, Lagos

mucking around with the GoPro.

Time to relax. Lagos, holiday central for so many Australians, New Zealanders, English, Canadians, Germans and French. In fact, I didn’t meet a Portuguese person until the hostel night shift worker sat down with us for a chat. We stayed at the Stumble Inn where our friend Sophie had worked a couple of years ago. A cool place where a few Aussies and Kiwis come over to work the summer. We met of course more Australians and this Swedish guy who told the most long-winded pointless stories. 

This beach is about half full compared to the others

The beaches are picturesque and filled with people. We walked up the coast along the cliff tops and peered down at the beaches filled with umbrellas and tan bodies or Kayak tours, boat tours or booze cruises out on the water. 

the coast walk had so many nice viewing spots.

so much ocean.

Beautiful little coves and beaches.

cliff walk

One of the beaches we swam at had this cool little cave that we could swim in. It was surprising how cold the water was compared to Valencia and Barcelona, coming in from the Atlantic ocean rather than the Mediterranean sea . It was funny watching the tide come in quickly because it caught some tourists unawares as it soaked their towels whilst they were napping or reading a book.

in the little cave

some dude jumping off the cliff

We dabbled in the famous nightlife of Lagos with a few cool places and some not so cool ones. The not so cool ones just weren’t our scene with too many young, rude drunk Australians being stupid and wasted in absolutely packed venues.

Off to the capital of Portugal next…Lisbon.

Arvi-         

Sevilla

Spain just loves their water fountains in the south.

So we left you at Sierra Neveda, ok. After a bus ride from Granada (awkward for Leah because there was no toilet and no breaks)  we arrived in Seville, the 4th largest city in Spain.

Seville used to be a dominant force in the world for gold trade after Christopher Columbus had discovered America. Many sailors made their way to find the gold and trade it through the largest river port in the world. After the port was moved to Cardez, majority of the population moved with it, leaving Sevilla without a major income for the city. Our tour guide was very opinionated and informed us a lot about Spain after World War II under the dictatorship rule of Franco or ‘little f*****’ as he called him. Although people generally didn't like him there are still a lot of people in Seville that support the work he did.  Spain went through a tough time during the civil war and are still recovering financially and as a country.

The Plaza de Toros de la Real Maestranza de Caballería de Sevilla is the oldest bullring in Spain.

Bullfighting originated in Seville and every year Seville holds the first fight to open the season nation wide. Many Spanish people don't go to bull fights and is only really kept running by tourists buying tickets wanting to see something quintessential to Spanish history. We weren't really keen to see a show. 

Torre del Oro or known as the gold tower

Plaza de España

The wind blew a fine mist of water from the fountain all over us.

a moat around the inside the Plaza de España to represent hugging arms to welcome all countries

Seville hosted the 1929 Ibero-American Exposition World's Fair

The Plaza de España was built in the 1920's to host the Ibero-American Expo to attract visitors and get Seville back on the map of important cities. They constructed buildings all around Seville for each of the different countries such as Peru, Bolivia, Argentina, Portugal etc. Sadly it didn't have the the desired effect as it was the start of the Great Depression. All of these building are now Museums of different topics like science, aquatic life etc. The Spanish building was a Casino and now a disco tech, how bizarre.

This is what they call the mushrooms

A German designer created this massive umbrella type sculpture for Sevilla. construction started in 2005 and finished in 2011. It looks really impressive,containing different viewing platforms and a restaurant and lights up beautifully at night. The spanish laugh a little at it because 1. It's made out of wood and Sevilla get a crazy hot 50 degrees in summer and chilling winters so the wooden structure bends, stretches and warps from all the elements and 2. It was ment to create shade but provides very little as the big gaps in the crosshatching let light through during the hottest time of the day being around midday.

Seville river (yukky water)

We visited the massive cathedral, I think 3rd biggest in the world and it looked awesome. All around the cathedral the façade is different because of the different times it was extended. Apparently all the gold inside is fake because they had to sell it all.

Back of the Cathedral 

one of the doors to the cathedral 

Different styles that make up the Cathedral

Door to the Alcázar

Really awesome buildings and all different. 

A look back over Seville and the Torre de Oro

We wanted a little slice of Southern Spanish culture so we went out in search of Flamenco. Flamenco originated in the Andalusia southern Spain. In Triana, located across the river from Seville city is where they claim Flamenco first invented. Triana is known as more of the fishing/market/slumy area that comes to life at night. We had some beers and listened to some live spanish Flamenco music. What we were really hoping for was some spontaneous dancing from some locals. Sure enough a few ladies started to do the traditional Flamenco dance of Seville and everyone was doing palmas  (hand clapping) along with the music. Very cool experience.

Nice, cool run before the heat of the kicked in, only 21 degrees! 

 - Arvi

Wow Granada, what a mix of cultures

We thought we would be smart and get a rental car for the day from Valencia to skip the 9-hour bus ride to Granada and instead have a leisurely 5-6 hour drive. But getting side tracked by the towns in Southern Spain and getting caught in traffic made our little road trip about 12 hours long!  It was a long and exhausting day but we did see a lot more than we would have seen on the bus. We drove through Alicante, stopped in Murcia, checked out the beach in Almeria and got stick in traffic in Montril.

We called our red Fiat rental car Finando

Spainish bulls 

Some sites in Murcia

Square in Murcia

Beach in Almeria

By the time we got to Granada that night we were exhausted, delirious and so hungry we were about to eat our own limbs. So we headed out to ‘kebab lane’ a street packed full of kebab stores, a reflection of the Arabic influence on the city. We decided to return the rental car to the airport around 2am before we went to bed to save us getting up early in the morning. BIG mistake. Granada’s small airport was completely deserted at 2am, not a soul in sight, or a bus, or a taxi. After contemplating going to the highway and walking/hitch hiking our way back to town, we ended up going into a nearby restaurant and using sign language to ask the lady, who didn’t speak much English, to call us a cab. Turns out no cabs come out as far as the airport so we ended having to take a VERY expensive, afterhours one. Lesson learnt!

Packs still full, stomachs empty

Thank god that was our only disaster during our visit and we spent the rest of our time exploring the beautiful city. There is a mixture of people living in Granada; gypsies from Africa, people from Turkey and the Middle East and of course hippies from all over the word who think Granada is a great place to live.  Granada also has a massive Tapas culture, being one of the few cities where every time you order a drink at a bar, you get a free Tapa with it! You can imagine how excited we were to get free food!

View out over Albaicin and Granada

Alhambra at sunset

View back on to the Sacromonte mountains

We stayed in the Albaicin, which is slightly higher than the city centre. This meant we had to walk uphill every time we came home but it was well worth it for the beautiful views and atmosphere. We joined in on our hostels free evening tour, where we got to visit a cave community further up the mountain called Sacromonte. This area is mainly populated by gypsies, lots of whom migrated from Senegal. We were even invited into one of the caves, where the gypsies were making drums out of animal skins, listening to reggae and smoking pot. They were very welcoming and our guide translated for us how they ‘ live like kings’ with electricity, running water and satellite TV in their caves, without paying for anything! It was a great experience.

the Senegalese flag in the cave we visited

Walking through the streets

Cathedral 

New square

Down one of the twisty streets in the Albaicin. 

We also checked out Granada’s main attraction, the Alhambra. Situated on a hill, the Alhambra is an ancient fortress built in 889 and later converted into a royal palace in 1333. The Islamic Palaces were beautiful, decorated with ornate painted tiles and Arabic inscriptions. We spent our time walking around the Gardens and Palaces and enjoying the views.

 

Palacio Carlos V

Cool tiles.

Shinny tiles.

archway in the palace

Inside the palace Comares

Looking back out to where we were staying.

I really didn’t want to leave Granada without visiting the famous Sierra Nevada Mountains that surround the town. Even with the soaring temperatures around Granada the tops of some of the mountains still have snow on them. So we got up early on our last morning to take a bus up to a small village on the edge of the Sierra Nevada, Monachill. From there we got a little bit lost trying to find the track that the lady at the hostel had told us about. After walking steeply uphill along a road for about 1.5 hours we decided to turn around and walk back, eventually finding the track right at the start of the road. We had walked right passed it! Oh well, it was a good workout.

about 1 hour up the road

this is where we turned around.

Looking back and thinking that maybe we should be closer that way.

Once we were back on track we found ourselves surrounded in huge mountains, sheer cliff faces, caves and rivers. We watched some mountain climbers scaling the cliff face with what looked like very minimal ropes and equipment, scary!

one crevice that we could walk down. 

squeezing through huge boulders right next to the mountain rivers.

We ended our walk at a little family owned restaurant along the track with an ice cold, Alhambra beer and free tapas! Definitely one of my favourite cities so far!

- Leah