The heat on the street - Madrid

We traveled to Madrid via the bullet train from Barcelona.  The train reached speeds of 300kph as it carved a path through the mostly barren rural spanish setting on the way.  The heat on arrival in Madrid was noticeably hotter than the seaside breezes of Barcelona, up around 30-35°. 

We continued our hunt for sangria and interesting food and joined in on a walking tour which gave us some insight into the Madrid and Spanish Culture. It covered the Spanish royal family (the Habsbergs), local food specialties i.e tapas, and some background on the history of bull fighting. We were regaled by a story of one particular matador by the name of 'Frasculeo' who had reportedly run with the bulls 1236 times and killed 3801 bulls!, incredible stats given the likelihood of injury.  Here are a few pics of Madrid.

Sewer cover showing the Madrid coat of arms, a bear reaching up to eat from a strawberry tree

Paella in the markets

Coffee hit

The Royal Palace Museum

Impressive artworks on a book retailer kiosk

This guy!

Crowded antiques markets on Sunday

Graffiti artworks

Backstreets of Madrid

Tapas, Sangria & Wow Factor Buildings - Barcelona

Barcelona comes highly recommended from pretty much everyone.  A mixture of interesting Gaudi Architecture, it's seaside location, the huge range of dining on offer and the Sagrada Familia makes for a pretty welcoming holiday spot!  A few pics below from our wanderings around the Spanish city below.

Tapas menu - lots of seafood like cuttlefish and squid

The yarn is that Tapas originated by decree from Spanish King Alfonso the 10th.  The field workers would break for lunch and would drink wine which was cheap and often safer than water.  In the afternoon these workers would return to the fields and the productivity would drop off completely as most were drunk! The King decreed that no wine is to be served unless accompanied by something to eat to counteract the effects of alcohol.

Tapas lunch 

Spanish omelette, tomato breads melted cheese with nutty coating on sticks with jam

Tasty

  

Gaudi Architecture - no straight lines on this building

La Rambla - busiest street in Barcelona, lots of street performers etc

Sagrada Familia (Cathedral) - it has been in construction for the past 200 years

Raise the roof - Construction ongoing on the Sagrada Familia 

Park Guell - mosaic seats.  A Gaudi residential project that never took off.  It's become quite a tourist attraction due to the unusual mosaic clad buildings and street furniture designs.

Entrance buildings to Park Guell. White mosaic roof tops

Barca football graffiiti

The magic fountain plays a 30 minute show in the evening from 10pm

And then we went to the beach... Antibes, Cannes, Saint Maxime and St Tropez

We spent a couple of days in Cannes, and St Tropez.  Time was spent mainly lazing around on the beach and taking a dive in the water when it got a bit hot. Cannes is well know for its film festival and generally regarded as a center of high fashion and affluence.  

St Tropez also has a common stereotype as the place where celebs spend their holidays, flying in on their G6, and partying offshore on their superyachts. Both these places lived up to the hype.  It was clear there was plenty of money around, in particular the cars and the boats stood out as markers.

We also spent a few days in Antibes and St Maxime which really were wildcard options.  Both places had amazing golden beaches, clear water and were generally less crowded. Which worked out well.  

Cannes main beach at sunset

Ferry across the St Tropez

Amazing sleek lines on this cruiser (on the christmas list)

St Tropez waterfront, lots of artwork for sale

Coupla famous faces, Paul B's idol Pitbull (4th right side from bottom)

This is how it happens

Classy bowler hats

Tuffaux hats, St Tropez

St Tropez clock tower

haha

Bustling Nice, France & the swank of Monaco

Summer holidays this year gave us a chance to load up the trusty ole Macpac pack once again to explore the French Riviera and Spain.  Flights from Edinburgh to Nice, France were ridiculously cheap £70 each one way ($140 NZD).  

The idea was to spend as much time at the beach as possible and just chill out after a lengthy northern hemisphere winter (albeit a novel one with snow and barely any rain or wind).  In between lounging on the beaches many of the towns we visited on the French Riviera had amazing old town areas, perfect for wandering around, and evening dining in the narrow streets.  

The glitz and glamour of Monaco was well worth a look. So many supercars rolling around the streets as locals went about their daily business. We visited the Jacques Cousteau's Oceanographic Museum, including an excellent aquarium - being a bit of a fisho myself this was quite a treat.

As per many of the previous blog updates we have tended to let the photos do the talking.

View at sunset from our hostel out over Nice

Cher Bro! No kinas or dough boys on this menu...

Crystal clear waters in the Riviera (one of the private beaches in Nice)

Villefranche (a little fishing village a few minutes outside Nice)

Backstreets of Villefranche

The Kat in the hat

 Macaroons

Macaroons

Nice nails

Dinner out in Nice old town, really really good street band in the background

Quality busking band

Monaco panorama

Kat in front of Casino Royal, Monaco

Monaco (harbor in background)

'Front Axel' painted on the road - pit area for the Monaco Grand Prix

Monaco Aquarium, Jacques Cousteau was a managing director at one stage

Cousteau's submarine 

I was mesmerized by this..  a gurnard walking.  Get those running traces out! 

Viewing window

Mean ass Lobster

Groper

Whimsical Jellyfish

Flying fish mosaic

Remember this guys - Sharks are responsible for less than 10 fatal attacks every year, compared to 50 fatal attacks from Jellyfish, and 2000 fatal attacks from crocs. Why are we scared of sharks?

Worlds first submarine

Explanation of how it works

History

Monaco Palace (more of a building)