Spain/Portugal Road Trip...

Pamplona had ended, everyone was bugged and we just had to keep on moving. My plan from here was to do some travelling around Spain for 2 weeks. Josh didnt know what he was up to so we both decided that we'd do Spain together. After about 5mins with our noses stuck in our lonely planet guides we has made a decision to head to the north of Spain, to Santander.

After a couple of buses and some much needed sleep we arrived in Santander. With no accomodation booked and no idea where to start we began to wander the streets. Before long we had stumbled across a semi-cheap hotel which we decided would be the best option considering the circumstances. First things first, we clean ourselves up with a much needed shower then made our way out for some dinner. We eventually found a place not too expensive which had the added bonus of a "pour your own beer at your table" system, we were sold! After being filled with good food and good beer we decided to makes plans for the coming week. The plan was to hire a car and drive from northern Spain to southern Spain/Portugal. Then zzz zzz zzz...

Morning came and so did our pesky little rental car. Lucky it was only the 2 of us travelling and sleeping in it! After driving around Santander like a granny for half an hour trying to get used to driving on the other side of the road it was time to make tracks to Santander. Along the way we stopped off at a Macca's for some lunch. Before long I was trying to order myself a meal using the limited Spanish I had picked up along the way. I thought I'd done well until I ended up with half the menu on my tray... Luckily I was hungry, they must have listened to my stomach not my words?

We stopped off in Segovia for a few hours to check out a few of the sights, mainly the massive aquaduct that slices through the city. It was a pretty impressive structure, especially because it was built using no mortar. The rest of the city was really nice also, small cobbled streets lined with old houses and shops, it was great! Very Spanish... We were on a tight schedule so we left before long, next stop Madrid for the night.

Firstly, driving in Madrid is insane! There are hardly any lanes, massive round-a-bout's with people driving wherever they want its amazing we didn't have an accident. We arrived at night and was only going to stay for 1 night in the car so we quickly found a spot to park the car and took off on our self guided "Madrid by Night" city tour. After a couple of hours we were pooped and had seen pretty much everything we wanted to so we jumped in the car for some sleep.

Morning came and we hit the road once again, next stop Toledo, just south of Madrid. We had heard good things about this very small, old town and decided to stop off for a few hours to check it out. Again, this town was very Spanish and had some really old churches and castles which were pretty unique all of which were surrounded by a wall around the city, maybe to keep out the enemys back in the day. There were plenty of really small winding streets here which you could very easily get lost in and every different alleyway you go down is different to the next. Again time was not on our side so we had to get going again, next stop Lagos, Portugal.

After a very long drive from Toledo we eventually arrived in Lagos. Josh wasn't too keen on sleeping in the car again so he decided to pay for a camp site for the night. So we set up our tents and away we went to the beautiful beaches of South Portugal. And yes, they are very very beautiful, explaining them doesnt do them justice but picture and nice white sandy beach amongst the 12 Apostles. The town here is almost as equally nice as the beaches, colourful buildings line the small windy alleys that zig zag their way through the town. After an afternoon of swimming Josh and I grabbed a MASSIVE pizza and a bunch of beers and ate and drank down by the beach, chillaxing... The next day was pretty much the same, relaxing and chilling out down by the beach before heading off to our next destination, Malaga, Spain.

Malaga wasn't as nice as the rest of the places we'd been through but the warmth of the Mediterranean. We stayed one night here and just chilled by the beach again. It was really great just to be able to laze about and not worry about anything. Very much needed... Thats about it for Malaga... Next stop, Valencia.

We arrived in Valencia at night and Josh had to go to hospital to get checked up on something, I waiting there for hours and decided to head back to the car to get some sleep. Everything was fine in the morning and we jumped on a hop on hop off bus to get a quick tour of the city. Valencia was pretty nice but we were limited to what we saw on the bus, some pretty old building and beautiful architecture. The beach was pretty good too, warm, Med sea water. I finally got to taste some Paella in Spain and unfortunately wasnt very good. Joe, yours is the best I've had sofar! We stayed here for a night and next stop was to be Barcelona.

I was to meet up with Mikaila in Barcelona and after driving around for hours trying to find her we finally did, not after almost getting a fine from the Spanish Polizia! I dropped off the car and that marked the end of the Spanish Road Trip with Josh. What a great time!


Next blog will be up soon too. Im heading to Athens tomorrow for the Greek Islands if anyones wondering, so got a few blogs to catch up on!

Thanks for reading.