Winter (Spain/Portugal) 2014

It's back to the travels, starting with winter.

I've left this too late and I regret it. When asked what I did in winter nowadays I can't rmb much, even though I know I definitely enjoyed (most of) it. Had no feel/mood to blog for quite a while now (due in part to the deadlines and in part to other negative stuff), but there are still photos and snippets worth sharing from my winter trip. So here's a "short" post on the highlights, captioned and elaborated to the best of my memory.

Getting there
On 21st Dec 2014 I flew alone into Barcelona to meet up with my grandma, gujie, and gujeong on the following day. And thus started my 13 day winter holiday in Spain + Portugal.

First time flying alone, so great that things went smoothly. I think the exceptionally high number of flights I took in 2014 really helped me ease into the procedure. The trouble came after that when I got a bit lost trying to find my hostel (there wasn't so much as a sign, just a small paper with the name written on it on the door frame). I'd reached earlier than what I indicated in the booking and... the reception was closed. I called the "emergency number" and got let in, but by then I was feeling quite unsafe. The look of the place didn't help one bit and I actually considered going back to the airport to stay that one night. But eventually, I settled my stuff and went out to explore Placa de Catalunya.

The place(s)!
The trip went like this: Barcelona - Valencia - Granada - Seville - Lisbon - Fatima - Porto - Segovia - Madrid - Toledo, as koped from the tour website [yes my parents paid for my travels, but before you start judging, I fully intend to return the favour and more when I'm capable]. Ain't gonna talk about everything coz I don't have the time/not everything was interesting/I couldn't get good photos in the first place HAHA.

For continuity's sake - I was in Placa de Catalunya i.e. Orchard Road, or maybe Orchard Square, where I did some window shopping. And the next day I finally met my family members again!

22/12 - Valencia. This was one of the places I distinctly rmb wishing I'd had more time and freedom to explore. The thing about being a student is that you tend to walk everywhere to see everything coz walking is free. Yea sure it's tiring, but the intimacy of this way of travel cannot be gotten from inside a moving bus, craning the neck for a crappy view of smth that would've been beautiful were it not viewed from behind slightly grimy glass. On the other hand, there's no way to run all of those places on foot/train in 12 days, so moving on.

City of Arts and Science, Valencia.

Palm trees everywhere~ When I first landed, I thought I could be in Malaysia. Aside from the mild cold, it was sunny and the land was wide open with fields of palm trees spread far and beyond.

Just the City of Arts and Sciences would've taken a whole day to explore! We didn't get to go in - more of just take photos from the outside and move on, except for the pathway through the mini garden. [I did get one of my best shots from the trip though.] Other than this, it would've been nice to simply walk along the river Turia. And... I unfortunately can't rmb much beyond this...

23/12 - Granada

Part of Alhambra, an Islamic palace in Granada.

View from the palace.

24/12 - Cordoba. On this day I retired my trusty S3. Welcome S5! Hello to more awesome-looking photos and Whatsapp grouses.

Tested my new phone camera at a random rest stop. Wider screen + noticeable improvement in reaction and quality. Who says iPhone camera better hahaha.

25/12 - Seville, where oranges are aplenty. I learnt how to tell a bitter orange from its leaves (there's a smaller segment at the stem so the leaf has a rough '8' shape) and that Seville oranges are too common to be a special thing - but foreigners who buy them outside of Spain don't know this xD.

The Gardens of Murillo, Seville.

Plaza de España (Seville), featuring random horse.

Plaza de España (Seville), featuring random rainbow!

26/12 - Lisbon. On Christmas evening we crossed over into Lisbon, one of the places I especially rmb. Where to start - the four pictures I've chosen to represent the 1.5 days there are drastically different in location and feel. But overall, Lisbon struck me as a beautiful place - the presence of open water and panoramic postcard views might have helped.

Eduardo VII Park, Lisbon.

Living in London means being pretty inland, and same goes for many parts of large countries. Not like in Sg where you're never really far from the sea, esp for this Pasir Ris girl who simply has to take a 10 min cycle to reach the water. I rmb now how I felt this day going around Lisbon - this calm sense of freedom. First up was Belém, on the banks of the River Tagus. It was a windy day, and the sun was shining (as I'd come to love about the trip), and this was where I took a single, random selfie that would become my fb profile pic.

Padrão dos Descobrimentos (Monument to the Discoveries), on the bank of the Tagus River in Lisbon.

Next we headed down/up winding roads to get to Cape Roca in Sintra, the westernmost point of Portugal and by extent, Europe. This time, there wasn't just a river, there was the Atlantic. I walked down this path on the cliff to take in the view, bearing the brunt of the winds and trying not to twist my ankle along the way. Sunset came really fast then, and we had to leave coz according to the tour guide, monsters swoop down after dark to catch unsuspecting tourists at the cliff.

Cape Roca, Sintra.

Just the sun melting away into the great divide.

27/12 - Fátima and Porto. Fátima is a really religious place. I'm not well-versed in these things, but apparitions of the Virgin Mary happened here, and the exact spot is marked by the Chapel of Apparitions. These are interesting stories to hear, but belief is up to the individual. I witnessed some devout followers kneeling their way across the sanctuary on the marble pathway that extends far far beyond the bottom right hand corner of the picture. Just wow. Outside the Sanctuary there were many (touristy) shops selling prayer candles shaped in whatever ailing body parts a person could have. So if one wants to buy boob-shaped candles, here's the place to go.

The Sanctuary of Fátima

Must be somewhere along the way to Porto. Using the photo dates and Wikipedia in trying to put a name to places.

In Porto, I mostly rmb nice views and the port wine cellar tour in Sandeman. Don't ask me to describe how the wine tastes coz I dunno how to other than it was sweet (both red and white). I just drink only lol.

On the banks of the Douro river, Porto.

28/12 - Segovia. Next up we were heading back to Spain for a student town high up and far inland. At 1000m above sea level it's definitely colder, even colder than London. In this place, old college walls would be vandalised with the names of top graduates (??) as a mark of victory. Haha, cool kids from the past.

30/12 - Madrid. Where I didn't manage to capture any good photos :(

31/12 - Barcelona. It was back to the starting point and where we welcomed the new year. I managed to eat 11 out of 12 grapes (one for each of stroke of midnight, a Spanish tradition), so hopefully my luck this year will be not bad HAHA. [Thus far it's been ok :)]

View of Barcelona.

Sagrada Familia, Barcelona.

The Sagrada Familia was one of my favourite places from the entire trip. Designed by the amazing Antoni Gaudi, construction began in 1882 and... is still ongoing. Completion is projected for 2028, but looking at the scale and the design, it wasn't difficult to justify the crazy long construction time. We visited many many cathedrals throughout the trip and all were majestic, but this one was different. Not just good looking, but also so well thought out it seems out of its time (at that time). But then again, this is characteristic of many of Gaudi's buildings - that genius.

While the outside was spectacular, the interior was even more amazing. In conventional structures, straight, evenly-spaced columns may be way to go. But here, the columns bend in a manner calculated to support the massive load. They are also designed with a "double twist" to resist twisting moments in both directions. True engineering man. And note that this was done in a time where computers didn't exist. So much respect. Nerdy stuff aside, it was also so pretty! The stained glass is arranged by colour so that the light is projected in a colour-coordinated spectrum. In general, the place felt more welcoming instead of giving this dark and creepy feeling that ancient places of worship tend to exude.

My phone camera does not do the interior justice.

The final bit of the trip involved taking the bus up the winding slopes of Montserrat. I can never get tired of these views.

View from Montserrat.

The food!
We ate many many things throughout the way, and drank much alcohol too xP. Paella, suckling pig, tomato rice, seafood... In general, I ate lots more than I usually do and gained some significant weight. I think after all is said, I still have Chinese taste buds lol. So even though I was being Asian and let my camera taste most of my food before I started, I only want to make two special mentions, coz I have distinct biases hahaha. From the looks of it, I'm a dessert person ;) [Maybe coz I usually have to force myself to finish the mains >.<]

Portuguese egg tarts. I honestly dun rmb when the last time I had any of these was (or if I'd even had them before). Loved the custardy, flaky goodness so much that I whacked two at once, and wished I had more xD.

Churros with chocolate. The chocolate is wayyy too gau to drink, so I made sure to fully utilise my churro in wiping it all up. Kinda like you tiao in chocolate sauce :P.

Ending off

Some people will have received one of these:

Physically writing essays after such a long time wasn't easy, I must say. Haha, as was the search for international stamps. I was told to go look for tobacco shops, but even after the entire trip, I have no idea what a Spanish tobacco shop looks like. In the end, I submitted these to the hotel front desk, and they helped me send them home.

Then, it was back to London to start a term that is now going to end.