Crossing the Border: Cerbere to Barcelona
Cerbere
On the east coast of France, dipping its feet in the mediterranean ocean, lies Cerbere, a small french seaside town on the france and spain border. We arrived on the saturday, only to find all accomodation 'booked out' due to a festival on that week. Trying their luck, mum and dad walked up to a hotel, sitting on the edge of a cliff. Fortunately they had one room left, with a balcony and a milliondollar view.
The first plan was to hit the beach - the hotel had its own path down to a private beach. We spent the afternoon sunbathing. Come 4pm we wandered down the road to the centre where the festival was starting up with some traditional dancing and singing. It turned out to be a choral festival. The dancing was hilarious, it reminded me of the folk dancing we used to do at primary school. For dinner we had pizza on the beach - and observed backpackers trying to find accomodation for theirselves. There was a choral concert in the evening that we watched. Fun at first, but after 3hrs I was definetly over it.I had a sore bottom, and was cold and restless.
On sunday we slept in, then spent the majority of the day just relazxing on the beach..sunbathing, reading, eating, drinking and swimming. Its a dream come true to be swimming in the mediterranean. There was a cool raft to swim out to, and the water was very warm and very bouyant. Its hard to believe that Im over here getting sunburnt and swimming in the ocean in the middle of june, while its winter back in New Zealand.
Barcelona
On monday we left the hotel very early and took a train over the border into spain. We stopped at Port Bou for an hour, then continued onwards to Barcelona. The train trip started out incredibly boring, but then we striked up some conversation with two american girls in the seats next to us. Arriving in Barcelona was just as I had imagined it. Its a beautiful city, but very busy!And hot! We rested in a park, the missioned to find our hotel - which turned out to be in a great location- close to both the city and the beaches.It was only a 10 minute walk to the beach, we had to weave our way through the masses of teenagers coming back from the beach. There are 7 or so beaches going down the coast. The beaches are very european - lots of beach umbrellas, deckchairs and topless sunbathers! We walked down the beachside then made our way up past the zoo, then through the Parc de la Ciutadella, and through downtown - peeping in the windows of some amazing clothing shops. We headed towards La Rambla (the main street) looking for somewhere to eat a meal. La Rambla is very busy with lots of entertainers - breakdancers and human statues. We finally ended up somewhere back near the hotel for another 3 course meal.
On tuesday morning, we headed down to the food market on La Rambla. The market was amazing, jam packed with everything edible - lollies, nuts, fruit, veges, meat, cheese, bread, and living seafood! Some people were giving away free drinks which was nice. We bought some food and found a nice park to eat it in. I was by now very over the bread and cheese diet. On the way we had passed Gaudis gothic cathedral, but we were not allowed inside because mum and I were wearing inappropriate clothing. We walked up to La Sagrada Familia - Gaudis famous (huge) cathedral which was never completed - and I doubt if it will ever be completed. I got a ticket to enter and take a look around. There was really unusual architechture. The funnest part was climbing to the top of the spires for a fantastic panoramic view of the city. For dinner we had the worst doner kebabs on the beach - they nearly gave me food poisoning.
Today was a very uneventful day that im not even going to bother writing about it. We spent the majority of the day in the internet cafe because mum and dad were trying to find accomodation for next week. Tomorrow Im leaving the parents to head back to Holland for a few days before flying back to New Zealand. It is sad, yet a relief to be leaving the parents. Ive had such a fun time going around france and spain with them, but It will be nice to be more independant again. So Ill say goodbye to Barcelona. Ive really enjoyed Barcelona, I definetly think Ill be back here one day.
On the east coast of France, dipping its feet in the mediterranean ocean, lies Cerbere, a small french seaside town on the france and spain border. We arrived on the saturday, only to find all accomodation 'booked out' due to a festival on that week. Trying their luck, mum and dad walked up to a hotel, sitting on the edge of a cliff. Fortunately they had one room left, with a balcony and a milliondollar view.
The first plan was to hit the beach - the hotel had its own path down to a private beach. We spent the afternoon sunbathing. Come 4pm we wandered down the road to the centre where the festival was starting up with some traditional dancing and singing. It turned out to be a choral festival. The dancing was hilarious, it reminded me of the folk dancing we used to do at primary school. For dinner we had pizza on the beach - and observed backpackers trying to find accomodation for theirselves. There was a choral concert in the evening that we watched. Fun at first, but after 3hrs I was definetly over it.I had a sore bottom, and was cold and restless.
On sunday we slept in, then spent the majority of the day just relazxing on the beach..sunbathing, reading, eating, drinking and swimming. Its a dream come true to be swimming in the mediterranean. There was a cool raft to swim out to, and the water was very warm and very bouyant. Its hard to believe that Im over here getting sunburnt and swimming in the ocean in the middle of june, while its winter back in New Zealand.
Barcelona
On monday we left the hotel very early and took a train over the border into spain. We stopped at Port Bou for an hour, then continued onwards to Barcelona. The train trip started out incredibly boring, but then we striked up some conversation with two american girls in the seats next to us. Arriving in Barcelona was just as I had imagined it. Its a beautiful city, but very busy!And hot! We rested in a park, the missioned to find our hotel - which turned out to be in a great location- close to both the city and the beaches.It was only a 10 minute walk to the beach, we had to weave our way through the masses of teenagers coming back from the beach. There are 7 or so beaches going down the coast. The beaches are very european - lots of beach umbrellas, deckchairs and topless sunbathers! We walked down the beachside then made our way up past the zoo, then through the Parc de la Ciutadella, and through downtown - peeping in the windows of some amazing clothing shops. We headed towards La Rambla (the main street) looking for somewhere to eat a meal. La Rambla is very busy with lots of entertainers - breakdancers and human statues. We finally ended up somewhere back near the hotel for another 3 course meal.
On tuesday morning, we headed down to the food market on La Rambla. The market was amazing, jam packed with everything edible - lollies, nuts, fruit, veges, meat, cheese, bread, and living seafood! Some people were giving away free drinks which was nice. We bought some food and found a nice park to eat it in. I was by now very over the bread and cheese diet. On the way we had passed Gaudis gothic cathedral, but we were not allowed inside because mum and I were wearing inappropriate clothing. We walked up to La Sagrada Familia - Gaudis famous (huge) cathedral which was never completed - and I doubt if it will ever be completed. I got a ticket to enter and take a look around. There was really unusual architechture. The funnest part was climbing to the top of the spires for a fantastic panoramic view of the city. For dinner we had the worst doner kebabs on the beach - they nearly gave me food poisoning.
Today was a very uneventful day that im not even going to bother writing about it. We spent the majority of the day in the internet cafe because mum and dad were trying to find accomodation for next week. Tomorrow Im leaving the parents to head back to Holland for a few days before flying back to New Zealand. It is sad, yet a relief to be leaving the parents. Ive had such a fun time going around france and spain with them, but It will be nice to be more independant again. So Ill say goodbye to Barcelona. Ive really enjoyed Barcelona, I definetly think Ill be back here one day.
posted by simone marie at 10:59 PM
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