MURCIA-SPAIN

Murcia was not exactly a planned vacation spot for us-husband and I, it was actually a business trip. But after going there and seeing how beautiful it is, it definitely is a place I’d like to revisit for a longer period of time.

Murcia, pronounced as Murthia is a little village close to Alicante and Andalusia. To digress a little bit, we used to sing a song called Andalusia in primary school-“now neathe the silver moon, ocean is blowing etc” I never knew Andalusia was actually the name of a place.

There are two airports that are close to Murthia, we flew to San Javier (pronounced as havier). I remember that we arrived very late at night and couldn’t take in much of the scenery especially as it was quite a drive from the airport to Murthia and for me I always enjoy long car rides because I can sleep. I think it has something to do with the wind and the movement of the car that makes me feel drowsy. (Husband always says yeah right to this as he dislikes driving).

We arrived at our magnificent resort well into the early hours of the morning-the resort is called mar menor golf and spa resort, went to bed almost immediately and the pictures below give you an idea of the views we saw FROM OUR WINDOW the next morning whe we woke up and opened the windows.




































A typical spanish building in the city centre-i just love the colours.













Luckily we had a guide who showed us where to eat and treated us to typical spanish food which i daresay i wouldny have picked on my own-but with his influence, we ate all sorts.Outside one of the restaurants.












































Who wouldnt want to wake up to views like this everyday????





Apparently, Murthia is very well known for its golf and spa-now why didn’t it click, I mean even our resort is called mar menor golf and spa. We watched many retired folk playing golf-now that’s another thing, the population of 50 and above is more than the younger generation.
I have never understood that game called golf. Hit a ball into a hole, then someone else strolls to pick the ball or the owners drive to collect all the balls, something like that, its like there is no energy involved. Perhaps there is something I have missed about this game, especially as Mr. Woods is earning a living from it. I just don’t get it. Someone help explain the game to a novice.

I havent got much to write about Murthia except that it is such a tranquil and lovely looking place with very few and friendly people and DEFINITELY worth visiting especially if you need to a vacation that gives you the opportunity to rest and be spoilt.



more views of the city on the way to the airport(returning)








As usual if you need more information, give me a shout and i'll help in whatever way i can.
cheers and happy new year

where have i been?

I have not written for such a long time.Have i stopped travelling-no.am i tired of writing-no, its just the effort to write and upload pictures that is the problem besides the day to day grind.Or maybe i am just getting slower as i add one more year to my age.big grin.To add to that i also feel a lot less pretty than i used to be, sigh.maybe its something about the weather.
Hopefully, i will write one or two more stories and see how it goes from there.Please share your stories with me also, travelling is always fun.
yemisi

BARCELONA

BARCELONA

Barcelona, what a beautiful country! Barcelona is a tourist heaven because of its beauty, but most especially because it hosted the Olympic Games in its spectacular stadium.

THE JOURNEY


I remember clearly that Barcelona seemed so far from everywhere and the tickets were quite expensive too, all the same husband and I were determined to make this trip, I believe he was more interested in seeing the stadium that hosted the games,( men and football, roll eyes)

Note; this was one trip where we decided to take the bull by the horns and not learn a word of the language before going.

ABOUT THE LANGUAGE



There appears to be a little controversy about the language spoken in Barcelona, I naturally assumed that it would be Spanish, since it is in Spain, but the natives speak both Spanish and Cataluña-which sounds just like Spanish to me (what do I know!).

AIRPORT


We arrived at the Barcelona International Airport (El Pratt), and were overwhelmed by the amount of Spanish that we heard; in fact all the signs were in Spanish with a little English tucked at the side sometimes for the gullible tourists. Words like Entrada, Partida, Venida, Escalera etc, are just the introduction to your first Spanish language course. For those that paid attention while watching the famous TV programme; Sesame Street, what you learned there will definitely help.

We successfully left the airport and decided to go on a little adventure by taking the bus to our hotel instead of a taxi. We found the bus easily and the adventure began.



Being in the bus was fun. I watched the natives chatter and banter; there was never a dull moment. I also picked up some more words I heard often from conversations; poco, autobus, libre and so on. I got the impression that the Spaniards are a very warm and endearing people.




HOTEL






barcelona Sants hotel at night





Our hotel was in the heart of the city near the metro and the bus station. Actually let me rephrase that, the hotel, Barcelona Sants, a lovely and well priced hotel; is located above the metro and guess what? not a single sound is heard from the hotel. The hotel location was perfect for us because it meant we could stroll to the station at our leisure.
After admiring the hotel and relaxing, we eagerly wanted to explore the sounds and sights of the city and also to look for typical Spanish food to eat.



FOOD



So map in hand, we set off. While digesting the beauty of Barcelona, we discovered a nice looking Spanish restaurant to eat and ordered one of the paella’s-a Spanish plate that consists of coloured rice and seafood. The good part about ordering food is that the pictures of the meals are on the wall, so you know exactly what you are ordering.

If per adventure you pick a restaurant that has no pictures describing the food (as we once did) then be sure that you are not very hungry at the time, because, all explanation will be given in Spanish and if the waiter notices that you do not understand it will be described again to you in louder Spanish.
There are also a nice range of restaurants to pick from like Lebanese, Chinese, Indian, Thai, and Spanish-of course, so one is spoilt for choice.

At this point, we were ready to fully explore the town and being an art lover we decided to explore the works of the famous artist Antonio Gaudi.


ART - ANTONIO GAUDI








La Sagrada Familial





Antonio Gaudi is a famous Spanish artist, whose works (in my opinion) are beautiful, marvelous and outstanding. Gaudi started the design of the famous church called La Sagrada Familial in 1882. He also has several works scattered around Barcelona
Here are some pictures of his works below.



















Inside la sagrada


















Exterior of La sagrada










Exterior of La Sagrada
















Exterior of La Sagrada







Barcelona has got a number of parks, shops, museums and some markets. Some of these places are close to one another. Let’s start from the market.



LAS RAMBLAS



MARKET



The market is in an area called Las Ramblas. It is very noisy, rowdy, lively and there are lots of performances from various acts such as clowns, dancers, and acrobats to fascinate one. We watched a Michael Jackson performance by one of the acts, who blatantly refused to perform until he had collected money from the crowd. It is very easy to get carried away and picpocketed in this gathering. Tourists are strongly advised not to take jewellery to Las Ramblas.


Market entrance








SHOPS



Various shops like Zara (my favourite) and Mango are here. I never seem to be able to pass a Zara shop without going in and shoe shops are my thing. I love shoes, for me, it’s like eating a meal. A friend of mine who had to go shoe shopping with me once asked me “were you barefooted in your former life?”
Anyway, there are lots of lovely shoe shops in Spain and the shoes are very creative too.




AROUND PARROQUIA SANTA MONICA



Parroquia Santa Monica is a church surrounded by lovely art and parks. It is a good place to rest aching feet or have a picnic, after walking through the shops and market. The air is cooler and it’s much quieter.







Santa Monica




































CITY VIEW



If you wish to have a better view of the city, there is a tower (don’t know what it’s called), where you can see Barcelona at its best.

We did go up the tower (you have to pay) and got a breath taking view of the city; it was this view that made us decide where next we would like to see. When we were ready to descend, a scary thing happened. We pressed the button of the lift and waited with the other tourists (none of whom could speak English), the lift did not arrive. After 20minutes, the lift still did not arrive. Now imagine a scenario, where you are trapped in a high tower, with very little space, hardly any air, no space to even sit down (yeah, that’s how tight it was) and guess what happened in my mind? I started to wonder if we had been held hostage (remember the movie with the French and American couple that got divorced and the wife was held hostage in a tower). Freaky right, but, it was scary .After a while some of the tourists started to bang the elevator door (like that would help).The lift eventually came about 45minutes after and some explanation was given, but it was in Spanish. Shrug. I got out after seeing enough of the city from above. So much for a view.








Arial view






























Arial view







Arial view






THE FOOT BRIDGE



From the view above, we saw a foot bridge with a sea front and decided to find it. This bridge is just another one of the wonderful things in Barcelona. You can sit down at the edge of the bridge and put your legs in the water. The pictures below fully explain.




Foot Bridge.




ARTIFACTS



Upon leaving the foot bridge, we stumbled upon a small Mexican artifacts open air market where valuables are sold. I believe the traders are either pirates or gypsies. There was an Egyptian bronze head, looking really expensive for a give away price. No we didn’t buy it because it was too heavy to put in our suitcases. Yes I bought a pair of stone pendants and a few other things.






The artefacts market






THE COMMERCIAL STREET- AVINGUDA DIAGONAL



Avinguda diagonal is the commercial street in Barcelona. It is a very long street with more shopping malls and impressive buildings. There is nothing really special about it. It’s just good to say, I was there.






Avinguda Diagonal






BARCELONETA BEACH



The beach is in a semi circular shape. Take your sunshades and a mat to lie on and get ready to compete for space, because there are loads of people there trying to get a tan.
















FINAL NOTES

Barcelona has got so many attractions that it is almost impossible to see it all in one visit.
My two pennies worth of advice is to try not to overdo it and take a day at a time.
It’s good to follow the tourists sometimes it definitely will lead you to some other attraction you never knew existed.

Yemisi

VENICE- VENEZIA

VENICE-VENEZIA

I was so looking forward to this trip because I had heard so much about Venezia; the romantic city built on water.

















Venice


A LITTLE ABOUT VENEZIA

Venezia is in Northern Italy and I believe the only city built in the middle of the sea. Some of Venezia’s nicknames are Queen of the Adriatic “,” City of Water, City of Bridges and "The City of Light". It is well known for its art, music, museums and churches, fishing and used to be a major commercial hub at some point in history. The major means of transportation is by foot-walking and other by boat. The local language spoken is Italian and a smattering knowledge of the language would be handy so as not to be frustrated.


ARRIVAL-THE BUS BOAT

We arrived at the station and waited for the next bus boat to get into the heart of Venezia. The bus boat was very rowdy (like a Nigerian molue) with lots of tourists and suitcases and the sun was scorching hot. Prior to the arrival at each stop, a conductor will announce the stop amidst the noise (you need to listen real hard to hear) and passengers shuffle to the exit points where the boat docks and passengers disembark (more like hop off) from a very wobbly boat.
Our stop was at the Rialto Bridge (which seemed to be a popular stop) and we set of in search of our hotel.



















THE HOTEL

After walking around for over 30minutes we finally found our hotel on a narrow street that should best be described as a walkway. And as if it couldn’t be worse, our room was on the topmost floor and there was no elevator to get there.

So we dragged our big and heavy suitcases up three flights. The consolation however was that the room was really gorgeous, sadly though with no TV.

We got a good welcome from the couple that runs the hotel, with caution as well about what and what not to expect from Venezia. Some of the things we were told were: to carry our passports everywhere (example of why later on), where to get good Venetian food and wine, we were also told that the reason we had no TV in the room is to avoid hearing bad news from around the world. I was like duhh, tell me something different.



AROUND VENEZIA – BUILDINGS ET AL

San Marco

This town has got really old buildings (collapsible looking) all in water with narrow streets and canals/creeks.
The buildings are closely built to one another (have you been to Isale eko in Lagos state? that’s exactly how they look closely knit, but even older.) I saw some of the ugliest buildings in my life in Venezia. I guess that must add to its romance in some ironic way. Don’t ask me how, because I have no idea.

Venetian building

Venetian building.









And a very narrow passage


Also take a look at the myriads churches-predominantly catholic, museums and art galleries while there.

Italy is noted for its military/defense set up. This dates back to the time of the early Emperors. We saw a relic military cantonment in Venezia. We could not go in though for reasons we were not interested in investigating.


















Cantonement


















A view from across the river






SHOPPING


It also has lovely designer shops with Italian scarves, shoes and bags, mementos, clothes, sunglasses (can anyone please tell me why Italian sunglasses are so huge? I have never understood this), with extremely ridiculous prices and yet with tourists practically walking over one another window shopping of course.



















On display in a shop





PIAZZA SAN MARCO




















San Marco

For some reason, the reality that there is no means of transport besides walking/boat did not sink in, until we started touring the city.
From the hotel, we walked to Piazza San Marco which is St Marks Square in English.
This square is a must see when you are in Venezia.

This is where you can see famous art works of renowned venetian artists such as Titian and Giorgio Barbarella, listen to beautiful music played in the open air by skilled musicians, play with the numerous pigeons and feed them, (the pigeons are as many as the tourists, more like 2pidgeons to one tourist), to have some wine, eat or to simply play around.

San Marco is beautifully lit at night with amazing string music from the violin, viola, cello and double bass. What a delightful way to spend a romantic evening and all for free too.

While there we joined some tourists who were singing and dancing in a circle. We also bought roses to crown the night.

Small eateries at San Marco

THE FOOD

Tourist food everywhere never gives you a true feeling of what the natives eat. As I mentioned above, the couple who run the hotel we stayed at, had already given us clues as to where to go to get real Venetian food.

Because Venezia is a “water town”, it is only natural that it has lots of seafood and of course pasta.

Venezia at night

We proceeded to El Botto, a small homely restaurant where the food is freshly done and reasonably priced (about 15euros per meal). The pasta was out of this world, with various types of sea food in it. I have tried several times to recreate this food at home but have not succeeded neither have i tasted anything like it also in other parts of Italy.
I noticed something while there; venetians eat and drink at several place in a day. They stop at one shop to have a glass of wine and move on to another restaurant for starters, coffee and so on, so typically in a day they may have visited four to five different bars or restaurants. One rule to follow is to know where they eat and you will never go wrong.

Another eatery

For reasons which I cannot recall, we decided to stop at a lovely looking restaurant beside the river. The waiter suggested a menu for us which he said was 15euros but at the end of the day claimed was 50euros.Roll eyes-Italians. It was such a small meal with a lot of attention to it-sizzling plate with fire, the waiter cutting open the fish for us with a lot of show. At the end of the day it was tasteless. Do watch out for the pronunciation of 15 and 50 when you are there. (I believe we paid for the razzmatazz rather than the meal) .

ICECREAM

Every tourists delight! DO NOT by all means by your ice cream near Rialto bridge or where the major attractions are because they are watered down and too expensive. Instead walk further into the residential area where you will get the original Italian flavors, found straciatelli to be really nice with real chocolate used.

THE GONDOLA

These are small boats (canoes) that take you on a 3km ride around the canals of Venezia on a romantic ride at dusk, dawn or whatever time you desire and at a 100euro per trip you had better enjoy every bit of it. Daylight robbery if you ask me, but then nothing comes cheap in Venezia.

Gondola

Gondola

QUICK word about passports

Remember earlier I said we were told to take our passports with us everywhere strange though but we had to produce our passports at a cyber café before we could buy internet time. Its part of procedure they say.

MUSIC

Venezia is popular for its classical music especially by Antonio Vivaldi because he was a native of Venezia.

How could we be in Vivaldi’s own city and not attend a concert? For those who would like to attend concerts but have no clue how to go about it, here are a few tips/decorum.
Buying tickets-you need to ask what the sitting arrangement is like and whether it’s elevated or same floor seating. If it is elevated like you have at the cinema then any seat is okay as you can view the performance from all angles, if however all the seats are on the same level, then you may need to buy tickets that are close to the front in the middle section. These seats are more expensive than the ones further behind.

Dressing is formal or semi formal.
Decorum - no cameras and absolute silence, until the end of each performance, after which clapping is permitted.

At half time (like a football match), the lights go on and small chops, sweets, beverages and wine are usually on display sometimes for free and sometimes need to be paid for. This is a good time to network.

At the end of the act, if the performance has been outstanding, the audience claps continually until the performers come out again to give another bow. If the clapping continues, then goodwill implies that the performers render another piece. That shows how much it has been appreciated.

Music

Entrance into music hall with grand clothes

Art

Music hall

Entrance to music hall

So much has been said about Venice in history, stories and films have also added to its popularity. Even Williams Shakespeare had a thing for Venice.
Did you ever read “The Merchant of Venice?
Take a trip to Venice and you just might be fortunate to meet William Shakespeare’s merchant.

Yemisi.