Profile
Blog
Photos
Videos
Barcelona - somewhere I have always wanted to go since studying Spanish in school and having been super into the Olympics the year it was held there. I need to go back to check out a bit more as 2 nights in barca was not enough! We arrive in Barcelona on a hot afternoon and get straight into driving tour practices. Getting to jump out and stretch out legs after a long drive to check out the famous Gaudi cathedral, Segarda Familia. Incredible piece of architecture, so weird but so fascinating. Barcelona is stamped with the quirky architecture style of Gaudi which I would describe as being like a creepy Tim Burton version of Dr Seuss!
We had traditional spanish tapas for dinner and hit the books again, bed for a few hours before we were up exploring the city. That night we got to experience a Flamenco show which was very dramatic and intense, great performance and a VERY talented guitar player whose hand was moving so fast you could barely see it!
From Barcelona we unfortunately left Spain but headed on to the French Riviera where we spent a couple of nights checking out Nice and Monaco! Gorgeous waterfront boulevard in Nice and cool shops, markets and bars. This area grew in tourism after originally being home to many health resorts starting in the late 18th c. for sick Brits whose Drs orders were to get a spoon full of vitamin D in Côte d'Azur! (Blue coast) The place to be with its average of 300 days of sun per annum. Monaco was quite a site, super yachts galore, humongous cruise liners, luxury casinos and a sexy red Ferrari being as common as a Toyota corolla in NZ!
We also visited a couple of perfumeries where we had tours and were given samples of perfume which ingredients were grown in the area. The area is world renowned for its perfumes and the men did not miss out as they produce manfumes also ;)
Next stop the land that looks like a stiletto boot kicking a ball - ITALIA! The ball being the island of Sicily. First stop just for a couple of hours in Pisa to check out the leaning tower and practice our walking tour then onto the beautiful Florence. I love Florence, here we discovered the city and explored gelato stalls we had pasta at a restaurant, a few drinks and a spot of karaoke! On our way to Rome we stopped at this cool little walled town perched on the top of a hill called Orvieto. Beautiful old town known for its ceramics and also boar meat - didnt try any! Maybe next time :)
When in Rome... We did A LOT of roaming around, practicing the biggest walking tour we will give on a Topdeck trip. The longest but also definitely one of the best! I can definitely do it without a map now the amount of times we walked it in the 3 days we were there which also allowed us to fact find a lot of gelati, pizza and pasta bars. Also paid a visit to the smallest city in the world, the Vatican City. I love Rome, specially going off the beaten track into the cute smaller ally's and checking out the restaurants and shops there, filling your water bottle from the many fresh water fountains streaming from the ancient aqua ducts the Romans put in place and see sites that have existed since B.C - amazing!
From Rome we drove to the east coast of Italy to catch our overnight ferry to Greece. Using this time to chill a bit, study, sleep and catch some wifi's when the ships connection finally let us on! We went to the little village of Plateria which is where all sailing trips leave from, unfortunately we didnt get to try our hand at this but we checked out the yachts and met the local crew Topdeck work alongside before we hit the rough roads of Albania to our 1 night stop in Tirana. Thumbs up to the trainee driver who got driver of the day that day, he had to brave the pot holes, crazy drivers and donkeys! I found it hard enough not to be thrown out of the seat up the front while I was kneeling trying to spiel about Albania.
A slightly interesting, different and quirky country there are a few things to inform the passengers about. Firstly, this bumpy road is the way it is on purpose because of a paranoid communist dictator after WW2, Enver Hoja, who feared invasion, tore up the roads to hinder armies attempts to come in. He also had bunkers placed all over the place for the people to hide during invasion - never required and more commonly used as the place where over half of Albanian teenagers lost their virginity! Secondly, a VERY important point is shaking your head means yes and nodding means no! - highly confusing. Thirdly, while learning Albanian is quite hard if I do say so myself the language actually has 27 words for moustache and 30 words for eyebrows! Here I must have been feeling the stress and pressure of the training as somewhere in the middle of my 3hr sleep I sat bolt up right yelling out that we had to go, we had to move NOW! Portia, who I was sharing a room and big king bed with was ready to jump out of bed until she realised I was still asleep and calmed me down. I heard about this event in the morning.
Leaving Albania was quite exciting as we were headed to Croatia and I was really looking forward to it! We had a 1hr stop in Budva, a gorgeous coastal town in the little country of Montenegro nestled between Albania and Croatia. Then onto Dubrovnik. Seriously one of the most beautiful drives I have ever been on. Love Dubrovnik - the old town, city walls, orange terracotta roofs, blue skies and cliff face bars by the sparking water of the Adriatic sea! A walking tour enlightened me and really pulled the history off the paper and slapped me in the face at how recent the war was in this area. While I was skipping off to school, colouring in and picking my nose a Croatian the same age of myself couldn't even go to school because it was closed while family and friends were dying in war which ravaged the area in the early 90s. Wandering around under the moonlight I had an appreciation of the preservation of this old town.
Coming back the next day, I explored a bit more and went up on the city walls and walking right the way around enjoying the wicked views! "I'm coming back here" was my mantra for the day.
Though we were done with Dubrovnik we still had one more stop in Croatia, a smaller town named Zadar. This was a brief visit. A quick walking tour where we saw some roman ruins. Also in Zadar is this crazy cool Sea Organ. Basically in the side of the walkway where the the sea hits, there are a whole lot of pipes of different sizes and actually created music/tunes by the wind and waves. It gave me goosebumps! Next time I'm in Zadar I'm keen for picnic dinner by the sea organ at sunset.
After waking to pouring rain and flooding tents I said goodbye to a few of my country introductions I had written along the way as they got soaking wet and ripped. I also broke my 'getting ready for the day' record and it is set now at 3 minutes due to sleeping in and fear of being struck off the training if I was even a dot late. I am unsure what the record was before this but certainly 3minutes has never happened.
This day we headed to Slovenia but I have almost written a novel in this one blog so ciao for now and will write more soon! X
- comments
Chris Maydon Just amazing Emily, you must be having the time of your life. All the very best xxx
Rachael 3 minutes???? WOW ;-) Gutted that your country intros got wrecked tho :-(
Bob Barnes Another great read. Makes me feel like I was on the trip! Xxx