Day 232 - BsAs: City of book shops

After a sweet breakfast where M filled up on medialuna (basically croissants with a sweet glaze), alfahores (shortbread with sweet caramel filling, sometimes coated with chocolate), and coffee, we headed out for the day. Another overcast rainy day, but this time we were prepared, even with the rain it is much better walking and sight seeing weather than the heat of Sunday.

First stop was El Ateneo, a famous bookshop that was originally an old theatre. It is a beautiful building and very interesting with the balconies all being used to house books. K bought 3 novels in Spanish for $30, a bargain compared to books back home. BA has bookshops everywhere, very noticeable since they are so thin on the ground in Australia. We wandered around the famous Florida Street and had lunch by the river (some Argentinean delicacies - K had an empanada, M had ice cream!).

Dinner that evening was steak once more - we'll see how many steaks we can eat in a row before we need a change (not many Indian or Thai restaurants here), at the moment we're pretty happy with the national dishes of this country!

Day 231 - "Free" walking tour day

Buenos Aires - Icaro Suites

After enjoying the free walking tours in Europe, this morning we joined a large group to learn more about the history of Buenos Aires. The city of Monday was nothing like the Sunday city, incredibly noisy, lots of traffic and bustling with people. The weather had also changed, we had expected another very warm day and dressed accordingly, but instead the rain came down. This is the rainy season so hopefully we have learnt our lesson and won't venture out without an umbrella again. The walking tour was ok, maybe not the best we have been on, but still worth going on. We toured the central area of the city, visiting the various squares, monuments and other places of interest, getting a feel for Argentinian history and culture along the way.

At 5pm we joined the afternoon tour. As they explained it we would call it an evening tour but they do things differently in Argentina!. This tour covered an area on the edge of the city centre, starting near the Falklands War Memorial and then through some of the more affluent areas of the city with its old palaces, grand houses and embassies. On this tour the guide was excellent, she explained lots of political history and information about BsAs and its people, she was very informative and entertaining, a tour well worth taking. They work on a tips only basis and it is a good way to learn about the city you are visiting.

This evening we were up for a nice big Argentinean steak, we had plenty of restaurants to choose from close to our hotel.

Day 230 - Hop on, hop off, hop on, hop off

Buenos Aires - Icaro Suites

We woke up to a hot Sunday in Buenos Aires and decided to do something that in all our travels we had never done before - take one of those hop on, hop off double decker tourist buses. We first disembarked at Caminito in La Boca, the well known brightly painted section of town. It is quite a small area of only a couple of blocks and obviously all about the tourists. It was full of tourist shops, restaurants with tango dancers out the front and tourist stalls. It didn't take us long to decide we had seen enough and time to jump on the bus again, M tried to persuade K to demonstrate her tango skills but without success.

Next stop was the Puerto Madero which was a very new area quite like our Docklands in Melbourne - new buildings, expensive restaurants, and very quiet. After lunch and a long wait for the next bus we headed to Recoleta for our next stop. It was very busy with a weekend crafts market and by now the temperature had soared. After taking in the second oldest church in Buenos Aires we found the famous Recoleta cemetery - there aren't many cities in the world where the number one tourist attraction is the local cemetery! However this isn't any normal cemetery, as well as being the place where Eva Peron is buried it is a still working cemetery with amazing, massive, ornate mausoleums.

Then back on the bus to complete the circuit, this managed to take up the whole day. As it was Sunday the city was very quiet all day, nearly everything was closed and there was hardly any traffic. We had read that no one goes out for dinner before 8.30pm so we headed back to the hotel for a while, however jet lag caught up with us and the next thing we knew it was morning, that Argentinian steak will have to wait another night!

Day 229 - To a new continent

Dubai to Buenos Aires - Icaro Suites

The only thing that can be said about today is it is a very long trip! Getting out of bed at 4.30am in Dubai and reaching our hotel in Buenos Aires at 10.30pm equals 26 hours of traveling. Breaking the trip in Dubai was a good idea, it would have been tough traveling straight through without a stopover.

A side note regarding the map - we've only included destinations that are part of our holiday, so even though the map shows us going from Paris to Dubai, we really went Paris to home (via Abu Dhabi) to Dubai.

Day 228 - The final stretch begins

Dubai - Premier Inn

You may be wondering .... why hasn't this blog been updated for so long? (though we're sure you're not, after all only one person contacted us to find out why we stopped at Paris back in October!). Without going into too much detail, we unexpectedly had to head back home for a while, but we're now back into traveling mode to end our trip as originally planned by traveling to South America and the grand finale at Carnival in Rio.

We're going the long way round to and from Sth America via Dubai, with a short stopover to rest and do some sightseeing. We arrived in Dubai early Friday morning, had a few hours rest at our hotel then caught the metro in see the sights.

Dubai seems to be a city of malls - so that's where we headed first. First stop was Emirates Mall, a look around didn't reveal much of note - just another huge collections of shops really. The indoor skiing centre was interesting to look at from the outside, but we didn't think it was worth a visit inside.

We wanted to visit the beach and see the Burj Al Arab (the sail shaped building) so we left the mall and walked down towards the beach. It was another one of those deceptive map situations - it didn't look that far on the map, but ended up taking a while, fortunately it was a pleasant sunny day.

We made it to the entry gate of the building, but weren't allowed in as you need a reservation to eat there, so we walked further along to the public beach, where we saw a mix of girls in bikinis, and fully clothed people in muslim attire, quite a combination.

We caught a taxi from a nearby hotel back to the mall, hopped on the metro and headed to the Dubai Mall (site of the world's tallest building, the Burj Khalifa). We spent a little while there, then decided to head to our next destination before it got too late. Getting off at a nearby metro stop, we managed to find our way through the very Indian neighbourhood to reach the very quiet Bastakiya district. By this time it was dark, so although we were a little dubious about entering as it seemed deserted, we found some beautifully lit buildings amongst the few open restuarants and stalls.

Back to the Dubai Mall for dinner, after which we saw the entertaining fountain show in the outdoor waterfront area, with Burj Khalifi in the background. Back on a very crowded metro to our hotel, to get some sleep before our early flight the next morning.

Day 227 - Last day in Paris .....

Last day in Paris .... so it was our last chance to visit the Louvre. Arriving there around 9:30am we purchased our tickets and headed in. The Louvre is huge, and as we weren't planning to spend all day there we concentrated on the highlights - including of course the Mona Lisa (which was smaller, and not as impressive as we had expected), and Venus de Milo After our highlights tour we bid A&L a fond farewell (they were driving back home), and we visited a few more sections of the Louvre.

The rest of the afternoon was taken up by a walk back through the city and afternoon tea on the sidewalks of Le Marais, before jumping on the train to the airport for our trip out of Paris.

Day 226 - We knew it was closed, so why did we go there?

Paris - Hotel du 7e Art

We knew the Louvre was closed on Tuesdays - but for some reason this slipped our minds when we arranged with A&L to make it our first visit of the day. We finally realised our mistake when we saw that the ticket queue was empty ..... doh! We made the most of it though by continuing our walk along the Champs Elysees to the Arc De Triomphe, then to the Eiffel Tower via the Trocadero. There were huge queues to climb the tower, so we hopped on a Seine cruise where we continued our misadventures with French food. Tip - take your own lunch when you go on a river cruise.

After the cruise we headed back to the Eiffel Tower and walked up the equivalent of 42 flights of stairs to the second level, before taking the lift to the very top for the magnificant views of Paris. We didn't indulge in the champagne on offer .... 10 euros for 100mls seemed a little excessive, but it helped us work out why there were so many baggage checks when we entered!

After the tower we jumped on the Metro to visit Montmartre and the Basilica of the Sacré Cœur. After the church visit we had an afternoon tea of crepes and coffee, followed by some souvenir shopping, and a look at the Moulin Rouge, before going back to the hotel and out for dinner. We finally managed a very tasty French meal at a restaurant near our hotel, followed by a pleasant evening with A&L at a nearby bar.

Day 225 - Back to the mainland

Puerto De La Cruz (Spain) to Paris (France) - Hotel du 7e Art

We had to get an early taxi to the airport for our flight to Paris - this is the first time we've arrived at an airport to find it wasn't open yet! The day was a typical travelling day, the first flight to Madrid, then a change to get the next plane to Paris.

On arrival in Paris in mid-afternoon we negotiated the railway system and made it to our hotel without too much difficulty. We'd arranged with our English friends A&L to meet them in Paris, so while we waited for them to finish their drive from Bristol, we decided to get an early start to the sightseeing.

First off a visit to Notre Dame, then along the Seine to view the various bridges, ending up at the Louvre. We only walked around the outside of the Louvre, we were planning a proper visit for another day.

We arrived back at the hotel shortly after A&L arrived, and spent the evening catching up over a drink, followed by a slightly disappointing dinner (after having heard so much about French cuisine over the years!).

Day 217 to Day 224 - Back to School: The Sequel

Puerto De La Cruz - Best Semiramis Hotel

Day 217: A "rest day" before K goes back to school for more Spanish lessons, so we spent some time walking to town. The info we'd read about our hotel said there was an ocean pool, however when we went down to check it out it looked like it hadn't been used for ages .... false advertising? Town was a combination of a black rocky beach (with a surprisingly high number of people sunbaking - too uncomfortable for us!), a pool area nearby, and a mix of outdoor restaurants and locals selling necklaces and fake handbags. We finished the day with a nice paella - with enough food for four people.

Day 218: Just as you would with a child heading off to school for the first day, M escorted K into school, with a promise to meet her afterwards at 1pm. While K sat in her first class for the week, M walked around town to get a feel for the area. It was pretty quiet at 9am, few shops were open that early. After school we didn't do much, a walk back to our hotel, lazing by the pool for the afternoon, and dinner at one of the many German style restaurants in the area.

Day 219: We are really getting lazy, K has been at school in the mornings, but M really has no excuse! Today was very similar to yesterday, perhaps a little warmer, which was a good excuse for spending more time by the pool.

Day 220: A change of pace this afternoon - after K finished school we decided to visit Loro Park, a marine park in Puerto De La Cruz. We caught the free shuttle bus from town, and after avoiding the photo they try to get you to sit for on the way in (and pay for on the way out), we headed for the various animal shows and displays. The orca show was lots of fun, though a little on the cheesy side, while the emperor penguin display was very impressive with snow falling from the ceiling and penguins darting through the water in front of us. The gorilla display was a little depressing after having seen them in the wild back in Rwanda, and the bird show was just plain embarrassing. On the whole though it was definitely worth a visit.

Day 221: Back to lazy mode today. While K was in school, M arranged a rental car for the weekend (which took all of five minutes ....), and another afternoon was spent lazing by the pool.

Day 222: K's last day of school, so after farewelling her classmates we went for a drive to the centre of the island, intending to head up to the top of Mount Teide, the still active volcano that dominates the island. However as the afternoon progressed cloud gathered around the peak, and when combined with K's dislike of extremely steep and windy roads, we decided it would be best to turn back.

Day 223: Time to explore the rest of the island, so we drove around to the more popular south side of the island. Because of the volcano, it's easier to drive all the way around the outside rather than through the middle. We lunched at Los Cristianos, then spent some time walking along the beach. These were the first beaches we'd seen on the island with white sand, which apparently been imported from the Sahara. We took a whale watching cruise later in the afternoon, which guaranteed that we'd see some whales, with the chance of dolphins. We managed to see some pilot whales, which were a lot smaller than we expected. We weren't so lucky with the dolphins, though K did see one in the distance.

Day 224: Another theme park today, this time we went to Siam Park, a Thai themed (why?) water park on the south side of the island. The weather was overcast and a bit on the windy side, but as it turned out this wasn't an issue, in fact it kept the crowds down and the queues short. We had lots of fun on the various slides, finishing the day trying to catch a wave in the wave pool.
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Day 216 - Travelling with the drunks ....

Barcelona to Puerto De La Cruz (Tenerife) - Best Semiramis Hotel

We had to get to Barcelona airport pretty early this Saturday morning, so even though there were no "regular" travellers, we had to contend with groups of drunks fresh from the opening of La Merce as we made our way into town to get the airport bus. Unfortunately one of our last memories of Barcelona is loud drunks and the smell of urine ..... lovely!

We arrived in Tenerife just before lunch, took another bus to Puerto De La Cruz on the north side of the island, and spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing in our room with it's great view of the town, followed by a little bit of exploring.