Who is this young woman in Frejus-St Raphael on the French Riviera? We spent two days in these twin cities sandwiched between St Tropez and Cannes taking in plenty of sun, sand and glitz! It gets very crowded here from July onwards and it is visited mainly by the French themselves followed by the Italians. We had 32deg days and the water was 22deg!
Marseille (pop 800,000) is our least favourite city so far! It is overcrowded, dirty (rubbish everwhere), full of traffic and one way streets.
What a pity it has not made more use of its Meditteranean location. The photo was taken at the Basilica de Notre Dame De La Garde, 150m above the city. You can also see the Isles D'Endoume (French version of Alcatraz), 2km off the coast where "The Count Of Monte Cristo" was based. The city also has a 4th century church and crypt called Abbaye St Victor.
Marseille has a predominantly immigrant population from North and West Africa with sites, smells and fabric stores to boot!
Ancient Roman ruins dominate the south of France. What a formula these Romans had - conquer a place, build an amphitheatre, install a forum, surround everything with a wall and then flog it off to a fat senator or tired general!!!
On our way from Toulouse to Marseille, we stopped at (pictures top to bottom): Arles, Carcassonne, Nimes and Pont Du Gard. They all contain ancient Roman artifacts. Arles is where we celebrated Paul's 41st only 25m from the 20,000 seat, AD70 Roman amphitheatre! Carcassonne (pop 46,000) is a UNESCO protected, 12th century, 3km walled medieval city with 52 towers and a million tourists. Nimes (pop 130,000) has the best preserved 24,000 seat, AD139 amphitheatre, a 15BC temple and a 20AD tower. Pont Du Gard is what is left (275m) of a 50km, 90AD aqueduct that took 1,000 men, 10 years to build with 100,000 huge stone blocks and no mortar!!! No need to visit Italy by the end of this day! Distance travelled so far: 7,986km.
Toulouse (pop 390,000) is an organised hi-tech city happily co-existing with the redish-pink tinge of its classic older buildings. The city features the longest Romanesque church in the world (115m) built in 1096. Toulouse is the final resting place of St Thomas Aquinas and the home of the largest aircraft in the world - the Airbus A380.
Visiting the Airbus factory was definately a highlight of the trip so far. We saw the first customer A380 (Singapore Airlines in photo). We saw live footage of the first ever A380 test flight on 27 April 2005 followed by a visit inside the huge assembly line (20 football fields containing four A380s: 3 for Singapore & 1 for Qantas which was hidden). So far a total of 13 of 159 A380s have been built. The A380 is built in pieces in England, Germany, Spain and France - the pieces are shipped, flown and semi-trailered to Toulouse where they are assembled like a model in just one week (we saw time-lapse of this process)! The list price of an A380 is 300m euro (one third of this is engines, another third is the cabin fitout) so we settled for a model instead! The largest customer is Emirates with 43 and Qantas has ordered 10. Two thousand people work on the A380 and 4 are built every month. The A380 is trully spectacular! Distance travelled so far 7,525km.
Today was our last day in Spain. We travelled from Barcelona, Spain to France to Spain to Andorra and to Toulouse, France. Three countries, five cities and 602km - all in one day. This is Europe for you. The beach in the background of the top photo is the site (Empuries, 160km north of Barcelona) where the ancient Greeks first reached the Iberian Peninsula back around 500BC and the place where Irene Pappas (famous Greek actress) handed the Olympic flame from a boat to the Spanish for the 1992 Olympics.
The other photo is the city of Andorra La Vella (pop 23,000), capital of the country Andorra (pop 71,000), a small independent principality in the Pyrénées Mountains which border France and Spain. Mountains and ski resorts everywhere, reaching heights to 2,942m over a 20 by 20km area.
Our last stop in Spain before Andorra was the Salvador Dali musuem and grave in Figueres (pop 35,000). Dali lived 1904-1989 and was very eccentric.
Adios Espana. Some observations as we look back: not much freshly squeezed orange juice (so much is exported), people do not speak much English or do not like doing so, pedestrian crossings "chirp" like a bird, very cheap strawberries, shorts are not widely worn until 24 June when summer officially starts, metro in Madrid comes every 3min, city underground car parks are automated (green lights show you available spots, how many and where) and the big fact: Spain is under re-construction: there are roadworks, buildings and other major works in every city, no matter the size! Total distance so far: 7,479km. See you back in France, starting in Toulouse with the A380!
Barcelona (pop 3.5m & capital of Catalunya), is our favourite city in all of the Espana. It is our favourite because it has wide main Parisian style boulevards, takes full advantage of its Meditteranean Sea location with Darling Harbour style marinas, shops and breezes and contains awesome architecture by Gaudi, Montana and Gadafach (modernists).
We were also lucky to stay with Josep (work friend of John´s), Merce and their two girls, Ariadna and Júlia who stayed with John in Sydney in 1999. This made the stay even better because we got the candid story of Barcelona and the ongoing rivalry between Catalunya and Basque (north). Headlines: Catalunya voted for more autonomy on Sunday 18 June, many young people want a republic and everyone wants to live in Barcelona!
Highlights of our visit: Casa Batllo (top photo, house by Gaudi for rich textile merchant in 1904), Park Guell (middle photo, longest park bench in the world), La Sagrada Familia (bottom photo, church begun by Gaudi in 1882, 50% complete, Gaudi died in 1926 and still no roof), Le Pedrera (apartment block by Gaudi), cable car ride to Montjuic (hill with castle & 1992 Olympic Stadium & complex), La Rambla (main street), Mercat De La Boqueria (huge market place). There were several other places including beaches and the marina that were very sophisticated, well layed out and world class. Distance travelled so far: 6,877km.
Valencia to Barcelona has lots of hidden gems. One is Peniscola (photo) which is on a cape with a castle on the tip and beaches on either side (one is 4km long). Lots of tourists but also lots of charm.
Another gem is Sitges which is only 40km south of Barcelona. It is much smaller and charming. What is Paul looking for? Submit your suggestions now and win a bottle of wine when we get back to Australia!!!
Most of us know that Valencia (Spain´s third largest city, pop 747,000) is famous for its Oranges but did you know that its Cathedral holds a golden grail identified by the Vatican as the true cup of Christ used at the Last Supper! The photo shows it. Click on the image and see for yourself. This 13th century Cathedral also holds the un-decomposed hand of St Vincent (patron Saint of the city).
Alicante's claim to fame (pop 306,000) is the right hook turn into a street on the left - exactly the opposite of Melbourne!
Alicante is set against the azure Meditteranean and has a fabulous marina and sea-side boulevard. Elderly locals gossip away on wooden actor's chairs provided by the council along this boulevard. The city is vey congested and has many apartment buildings caught in a sixties and seventies time warp. The photo shows the marina and Boulevard between our famous heads!!!
Mount Mulhacen is at the top of Spain - it is the highest peak at 3,482m. The top picture shows us at 2,510m enjoying the peak over coffee above the town of Sierra Nevada, 34km from Granada.
The other picture shows houses built into the sides of canyons (or caves) just like the hobbits in Lord of the Ring. This strange town is Guadix, approx 50km east of Granada. Note the chimneys sticking out of the hillsides. We also stopped at Murcia on our way from Granada to Alicante.
Granada (pop 238,000) has a time machine. It is called "La Alhambra", a well preserved fortified palatial city that dates back to 1238, purched on top of a strategic hilltop overlooking the city. It contains several important buildings within its fortified walls: The Nasrid Palace, The Alcazaba (fortress), The Medina (markets), Carlos V Palace and The Generalife (retreat). Spain was occupied by North African moslems from 711 to 1492 and they chose Granada as their capital. The Alhambra was built between 1300 and 1500. There is also an Arab quarter in the town below called the "Albaicin" district which contains steps, narrow alleyways and houses that are well preserved. The photos show the view of the Alhambra from Albaicin and the main courtyard of the Nasrid Palace within the Alhambra.
Granada also features the Capilla Real, a chapel next to the main Cathedral containing the remains of Spain´s most well known royal couple, King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella who spent 25% of the royal budget building the chapel between 1504 and 1521 but happened to liberate Spain from the Moslems.
The city has a distinctly Arab influence with bath houses, tea rooms, backgammon and pipe smoking. Granada is nestled at the foot of the 3,500m high Sierra Nevadas which makes for some spectacular viewing. Distance travelled so far: 5,735km.
Here we are enjoying a coffee in surprising Malaga (pop 200,000) in a pleasant plaza in front of the "One Armed Lady" cathedral, so named because only one of the two bell towers were finished!
Malaga is also the birthplace of Pablo Picasso and features a dedicated musuem with 205 of his works.
Malaga has an Alcazaba (fortress) which overlooks the city and Mediterranean. This was a surprising place, laid out well for easy walking.
These are photos of Paul and John in Tangier, Morocco, Africa. Yes you read correctly - AFRICA!!! In-search-of-Eurotrash 2006 just added another continent and country to its repetoire!
This is "Punta de Tarifa". It is the most southern point of mainland Europe. It is located at the Spanish town of Tarifa near Gibralta. It is also where the Meditteranean and Atlantic meet. In fact, if you look at the photo, the ocean to the left of the lighthouse is the Atlantic and the sea to the right is the Meditteranean!!!
This is the magnificent Catedral Y Sevilla. It is the third largest church in the world after St Peter´s in Rome and St Paul´s in London. It is officially the largest Gothic edifice in the world (we saw the Guiness Book of World records certificate inside). It has 44 chapels and features the tomb of Christopher Columbus.
Portugal has been our favourite country so far! Why? Because English is widely used, it is much cheaper than Spain (a beer or coffee is $AUD1.10), most of the country is against the Atlantic (making it bearable) and it reminds us more of the Greek villages. Other high points are that the countryside is greener, lots of olive trees and wine and the Portguese can pay their household bills using any ATM!!! The Portguese language is not like Spanish, it has many guteral and "sh" sounds reminding you of Dutch or even one of the Slavic languages. "Thank You Portugal!"
For all of those who keep asking "where are the women?" - meet Liz-Boa or Lizzie from Lisboa!!!
On 13 May 1917, three children, Lucia (10), Fransicso (9) and Jacinta (7) saw a lady in brilliant white light, which turned out to be the Virgin Mary, in a little town called Fatima approx 130km North of Lisbon, the capital of Portugal. The Virgin appeared three more times culminating in a miracle on 13 November 1917, witnessed by 70,000 locals who saw the sun "descend down upon them" and could look at it directly.
A white pillar with a statue of the Virgin marks the spot where the children saw her. All three children are buried in the Basilica you see in the photo. Fransicso and Jacinta died in 1919/1920 and Lucia in 2003 at age 96. Fatima has a population of 7,000 locals, with hotels that can sleep another 10,000 and they get 4 million visitors a year. The children where beatified by Pope John Paul II in 2000 but have not yet been canonised. Paul and I also visited the house that Fransicso and Jacinta lived in, which has been preserved.
On the way from Oporto to Lisbon, Paul and I also stopped by Coimbra before visting Fatima. This is a medieval town built around a 13th century university and a 12th century church contains the remains of the first two kings of Portugal. Distance travelled to date: 4,265km.
