Granada, Spain

Onto the most beautiful city, in my opinion, Granada.


16/11 - Day 7 - Afternoon
From Seville, we took renfe train towards Granada. The renfe station at Granada worked differently from other stations we had taken.

1. No security check to scan our bags
2. No ticket counter to verify our tickets - we just hopped on.

Oh well, anyways we got onto the train, plugged into our iPads for movies. Then a few stops later, one ticketing officer came by and asked for our tickets, on the train. Which was like...way too late to be checking our tickets? Lol.

Anyways, he continued with his ticket checks, and we continued with our movies.

Then the one thing happened. Announcement began, and was first in Spanish before being in English. Then, everyone was starting to talk during the English announcement and I couldn't hear anything said. :p. When alas I could finally hear the announcement in English, it was too slightly complicated for me to understand. Everyone then had grabbed their bags and both of us had a really big question mark. O.o?

Plucking up my courage to speak up in espanol...(Hopefully someone replies)

Me: "Hola"?
One guy: "Si?"
Me: "El tren, vamos Granada?" - ok, very broken spanish hahaha

Can't remember what was said exactly, but the guy who answered me seems to know I don't speak much Spanish, and phrased his reply in the easiest way to understand. Very much thankful to him. What happened was, there were constructions going on from one of the stations onwards to Granada. So, the arrangement was to drop off at the next stop, take the shuttle bus provided to move on to the next station.

So, that was kinda unpredicted and sis was nearly bent on sitting on train until "Granada" if we hadn't asked. So we got off train, followed the crowd, and found the buses waiting. I wouldn't dare run for a toilet break cause it didn't feel like they will wait for us. Seems like the bus were there just to pick up passengers from this train.

The journey was about 1.5 hours long. Lol, A German sat opposite us in the next rows of sit. Throughout the journey, we had a small conversation going on. :) Was a pleasant journey.

Finally reached Granada, and it was the coldest city we had set foot onto yet. We walked up towards the taxi stand, as it was looking very dark to be wandering by ourselves on the first day. I initially planned to take a bus, and then walked up the long straight road to our Airbnb apartment. But better not.

And I have to say the taxi drivers here in Spain were very very helpful. This is Case 1. Lol. Didn't expect him to help us carry our luggage and put them into the trunk. (anyways my last account with a taxi in Singapore, the driver just waited in his car for us to load luggage ourselves P). And our luggage, were heavy. Lol after I gave a wide-eye-jaw-drop in appreciation of him helping us with the luggage, I said "Fuerte!",  meaning "Strong!" xD.

Somehow his fellow colleagues/friends standing around heard me and started to joke in Spanish. They said that he was strong cause he eats a lot of Iberico Jamon! Wahahaha, one way to promote the Iberico products in Spain. Some laughter here and there and we were definitely amused. Teehee~!

From train to Sacromonte area (where our AirBnb apartment was at), it was roughly 7 euros. So, lol, feeling that it ain't that expensive. ^-^ After we got off, and was looking confused at where was the street that our host said to go to, the driver was really nice to get off his taxi, and direct us to the street.

You know the S-shape? He waved that as the direction. Our apartment...oh my, a super long climb. Whats more, the road up there...wonderfully paved by stones that were about palm size big. Lol, My sis and I began dragging our luggage up. Lots of whining and groaning happened and I half-thought we were gonna let go of our luggage accidentally then it will go tumbling down the S-shaped path. Lol. Later I heard from my sis that she hit herself with a cactus during the climb up xD.

After much ordeal, like 30mins (maybe exaggerated) passed, we finally found ourselves in front of the gate as directed by our host. So...in the dark night, I stuck and turned the key left-and-right left-and-right, after what seemed like 10mins, the gate finally spared us and opened. What happened next was all the more funny:

I thought finally we found our home! Just right in front! We rushed there, and stuck the other key in. Some how, it just don't opened! I can't even turn it. All in my mind was going like, oh shit I don't want to go down the stoney S-path with my luggage and find a hotel in the night ;.;.

Then the door opened.

I thought it was the host.

They were another guests. xD!

You know those scary movies, where you were the ones inside the house and then suddenly the door knob started shaking like someone/some-ghost-or-monster was trying to open from the other side, basically we were that "someone" on the other side. xD.

Much apologies happened xD, and they told us, our apartment might be the ones up the stairs.

The stairs. O.O

Omg.. so much more ... climbing. And those stairs were steep, and very skinny. We had to work together to bring up one luggage at a time because it was very steep and the railing nearly didn't exist. ;_;.

Finally, we found ourselves with another door that refused to open up to us. :( So much ordeal that day. Ok, anyways we finally did find ourselves with yet another door that finally opened and looked as advertised. Finally...big relax. Lol.

One of the weak night-shot from my camera from the balcony inside. 

We decided to cancel the Zambra show we booked for that night, which was conveniently located right beneath the S-path. We were just too tired, worn-out from the climb. Lol. I called and cancelled, but was lucky to be informed that their show was cancelled too. Sadly, this was the only planned Zambra/flamenco show for Spain, and we missed it :( And too, we decided to cancel dining out. Haha. Ok, lets just find whatever expendable souvenir we had bought...the marzapans! Lol - which was badly crumpled up. :( Anyways if you were planning to bring some goodies back, theres a chance they may serve goodies in a paper bag which seems like the common practice in Spain, bring some hard plastic box. :P.

Funny, we each prepared 2 cup noodles for Spain. all were gone in during Madrid. Lol, Anyways, after we finally settled down (bathed, unpacked essentials) we finally get to take in the apartment itself - which fancied the Moorish-tiles design. We have a small terrace right in front of our beds, where you can opened up the wooden windows, if you welcome the cooling breeze. There was also an upstairs, which is an open-air terrace. You get to hang your laundry up there, and there was a BBQ pit there too. o.O

We started to hunt for the washer, but couldn't get it to work. Very confusing o.O. And there were 2 very cute cats, which keeps following us and wanting to be let inside. They were very scary at the stairs though, darting up and down while I was trying hard to grab the walls so I wouldn't fall.

So, in all excitement for the sun rise moment the next day (this is a perfect flat to see either sun-rise/set as it was rather high up on a hilly area, and with Alhambra as part of the scenery it would be totally amazing right??), I set my alarm for 6 am. Which rang.

And there was no sun rise. All was dark.

I think I got my directions wrong lol, Later in the day I realised there was huge mountain which was blocking it.

17/11 - Day 7

One of the shots from our terrace again! In the morning. The Alhambra sit grandly on the left, while the right-side is the Sacromonte (where we were). It is really super cold that morning too, can you "see" it??

Walking to Alhambra Guided Tour Meet-Up Point

Our official day one here begins with Alhambra (shall refer to it collectively for Generalife, Alhambra, Nasrid Palace), which we had booked a tour. Left with no Milo, both of us were quite hungry and cold, after we dropped off at the wrong bus stop, which leads us into a very different district, the Albaicin). Had to backtrace, and find ourselves in a bar that was opened, and got 2 hot chocolate and mineral water.

Woohoo, then walked on. The klutz in me argues with sis that we should take the longer route, around the Generalife and Alhambra compound when a shorter road appears (a big U-shape path). I didn't wanna risk getting stuck in the dead-end and had to do more back-tracing. Anyways, I think I was wrong later on...

Panicking as we haven't reached our designated meetup point, frantically called the tour and was informed that I was very early - my tour begins at 10.15am. My voucher stated 9.30-10am. x__x

Finally reached the meet-up point, GranaVision, which also has a cafe. Weehee, Ordered a sandwich each and they provided us with 2 different Pate to try. ^-^.

Oh yes, Pâté, should try and get some from Spain. It is something alike canned tuna paste spread that goes with bread. I prefer my bread to be slightly thicker, preferably toasted (like baguette) before spreading the Pâté

Generalife, Alhambra and Nasrid Palace

Finally our tour began. We first visited Generalife. It was huge, gorgeous, and smells veryyyy lovely! The last description, seriously, I have to emphasize it. Many of the garden we visited smells a little fishy where there were fountains - like the water hadn't been changed. But not here, Generalife was beyond looks, and it totally gives you a fresher mind after a few hours of stay. The garden was very well-maintained, we saw the gardeners trimming off the trees. And here, no plants looks dead - all flowers were vibrant with colors, and really superbly beautiful.

I took some photos using my iPad, a weak 2MP camera and I had to say, the photographic scenes itself just make the 2MP camera awesome.

Oh on that day I forgot my portable battery, had to save my phone's battery which seems to run out rather quickly in Spain, as I was the guide (between me and sis) for Granada. I had to use my iPad to take photos instead.

We then visited Alhambra, and the Nasrid Palace. To be honest, I can't remember which part belongs to which, so I am just putting them together.

The ceilings, doorways, pillars, were beautifully decorated with Arabic carving patterns. I seriously wonder how did they get it up on ceiling and such. And there were inscriptions which says something along, "There is no conqueror greater than Allah".

There were a huge lots of stuff to see, and our tour, roughly 4 hours (including Generalife) wasn't enough. The tour itself basically provides itself as an informative tour, and with the tickets, we could still go back to Generalife and Alhambra. Nasrid Palace is slightly more complicated with the entrance, and it is stated by your ticket.

I got a little itchy-hand in one of the rooms, cause I just had to touch and see how did they do the Arabic patterns. Touch touch here and there. Then one of the guards, ever-most discreetly said "Hola" to me.

He: Waves the finger left-right-left-right.
Me: nod-nod

He was the most polite guard I had ever encountered in my entire Spain trip xD. In other places, they will be Hola-ing you loudly, and the entire room of people will be looking at you, and then telling you No-this-No-that.

The next time I come back to Spain, I am definitely revisiting this spot, and I will be planning three-quarter day in it. But I shall be fully prepared with all the readings (I didn't do any :X other than reading that it should be the first itinerary in Spain).

This a must must must must must!

And don't worry about toilet break. There is a building of toilets, as named by our guide haha, located within the main compound just before the places where you need to present your tickets to other parts of the Alhambra..

On our way out, I kept hearing a vague "hello!", "hello!" Didn't react until this kid was right in front of me and "HELLO!"

Kid: "Where are you from?"
Me: "Singapore"
Kid, jaw-drop: "Woah!"
Kid: "My first one!"
Me: ???

xD Not sure what about the first one, probably collecting countries? Hahaha, but damn cute xD

So we head down the long path to the main square, it was like 2pm when we finally headed out of Alhambra, and along the way there were many souvenir shops. Many offering handmade items, and I got myself some of those wooden coasters. The shop owner was very nice, and he was doing some of the handmade items while we looked around. Was very tempted to bring some of the bulkier item back...but thinking about my heavy luggage...

Finally we reached the main square at 3pm after dawdling at the souvenir shops. Teehee, we hadn't had lunch.

Lunch - La Riviera
This one! Go! Super value in Spain. Lol, we were looking at the menu and wanted to order 2 mains, aand some tapas to share. Something about small plates in Singapore keeps getting to us, we always wanna order mains and sides to share. Lol. Halfway through ordering, the lady tell us,

"Stop! Too much!" o.O;
"One drink, one free tapa - choose (gesture to menu)".

Lol! Ok, so we rearrange our orders...

They gave us a starter tapa which we didn't order, and it was delicious (free too!) something alike a potato salad.

Then we were served our drinks, and 2 tapas.

I can't really remember what did we ordered, I ended up with like 2 big platters that looks like main courses: A plate of hugely grilled squid, and a plate full of fried stuff and kebab o.O;

The food here had a certain taste to it I can't quite put to. We didn't manage to finish everything as we were too full! Had to skip dinner and save my stomach Lol.

Catedral
If I remembered correctly, the Catedral offers free audio guide? :D
After we exited, we found some seller selling preserved fruits and teas located outside the Catedral (we sighted them while trying to find the Royal Chapel). They were very friendly, and the first thing that caught my eyes were the preserved aloe vera. I wanted something to chew on while walking. :D Walking in Spain gets you easily tired, and eating/sugar keeps you high!

The looming grand exterior:

After buying some fruits, we found their tea selection very interesting. It is alike flower teas, and each have a different names, and indication as to what purpose the tea were for. Like sore throat, asthma/bronchitis, blah blah.

Sis bought 100gram for 2 bags, and they were huge. O.O Of course, tea were light.

Lol a funny incident occurred to me yet again haha.

I wanted this "Malva" so I told the seller, "Malvia, 100 gram!"

Seller: "Malva!"
Me (somehow I keep repeating it since I was excited?) -chants-: "Malvia, malvia, malvia"
Sis: "Malva la...He said it as Malva, how come you keep saying Malvia"
Me -recognition- : "Ohhhh!! Malva!"
Seller: "Yes, Malva!"
Me -got a little high- : "MALVA!"
Seller: "MALVA -laughs-"

xD

Palacio de la Madraza
Lol couldn't find the Chapel after circling Catedral quite a number of times, and getting lost, couldn't find a specific bakery as well. The night was getting darker, and we finally saw this item on our itinerary.

It was very worth it. For a 2 euro, this place comes with a free tour that lasted about 20mins. Tour was very well paced, and very informative. The guide spoke good and clear English and other languages.

And...we finally saw the Chapel (which was close then) which is nearby the Palacio de la Madraza. Lol, use that as a guide!

Mini Shopping and Mini Dinner
Finally we found our Chapel which was directly across Madraza, and it was closed. As such, begins our mini late night shopping. ^^

We were probably in the main touristy areas and a number of shops were pretty expensive. We found a shop that sells Toledo stuff - ie damasquinado necklace, swords, beautifully carved watches. Sis was very tempted xD.

So we were just randomly walking about, and we pop in one of the shop to have some churros and wine for me to gather some heat as well. Lol, they didn't have a menu, so oh well, since were still pretty much full from our gigantic lunch.

I then realised that the skin on my knuckles was hurting, red and bruised, from the cold wind. o.O; I did feel the pain since Alhambra but didn't pay any attention thinking that I accidentally knock into a wall or something. Lol, in cold days, please bring a pair of gloves. :P

After which, was just small shopping again before taking the bus home z.z.

Did I mentioned, that the people in Granada were cute (as remarked by sis). When they hopped on bus, they greet with "Hola" to the bus full of people ^-^

Canceled item on that day: Basilica San Juan de Dios
Lol, kinda regret cancelling it. Trip Advisor ranked it higher than Catedral and Chapel oh sheesh. Didn't do enough homework. It was just slightly further away from the main areas.

2nd try at Night Shot Again!

18/11 - Day 8

This is our last day at Granada :(. Had initially planned to begin earlier, but we decided to do some packing instead. After which, we begin our first itinerary.

Sacromonte Cave Museum
Well, we were actually in the Sacromonte district, so  most of the "walls" here have the cave-y look. But we didn't get to see the insides of the caves, so going to the museum to look-see was definitely on our list.

It was a longer climb up from where our flat was. Long long long stoney walk. We finally reached like 20mins later, paid for our entrance and started the visit.

One of the cave exhibit

Trying a "longer" panorama

The museum itself is actually smaller than expected, probably only need about 30mins to finish every thing. It showcased the interesting cave habitats, that definitely felt warmer than our Airbnb flat despite no heater or air conditioning. The fresh air probably comes in from the doorway.

Oh for a more unique staying experience in Granada, try booking a Sacromonte Cave from the Airbnb. We didn't have luck though we ended up in the district haha.

And! Going back down from the museum, lots of mini viewpoint that offers a generous beautiful scenery of Alhambra and the Sacromonte, Albaicin region. That itself probably took about 30mins of our time while we were happily snapping photos here and there.

My favourite shot! Took this while climbing down from the museum. The focus sadly wasn't on Alhambra, but I thought it was one of my best shot (ididn'tdoanythingtoit!)

Carrera del Darro
Finally, we were back at the main street beneath our flat. We decided to walk towards Carrera del Darro since the bus C2 goes towards Albaicin. But the really magical/weird thing is, we somehow, missed the turn to go towards Carrera del Darro and found ourselves winding up in the road towards Albaicin again! That was seriously wonked up. Lol!

Anyways along the way we found another breakfast spot. Hop in for a cup of latte and a sandwich each. Teehee.

Backtrace again, and finally found Carrera del Darro. This is one of the beautiful street in Granada. A small river, beautiful backdrop with Alhambra almighty perching above it, as well as the autumn trees turning reddish-yellow. Definitely photo-worthy in every spot, and a very nice place for people-watching if you had the time.

I am quite fail trying to take a good picture of the river. Ended up with nothing. X_X Shall see if my sis had any good.

This is one of the shot at the surrounding street. ^^ Another of my favourite

We stayed for about 20 mins and walked onto ...

El Banuelo
This is a very well preserved historical Arab Bath site. Lol, oh and I realised that the tourist center is just at the entrance and can offer a lot of good deals and information about visits to other touristy sites in Granada. Some were also free of charge too. Could stop by if you need more information. Anyways it was already our last day...

The Banuelo is an interesting place with a very starry ceiling. You'd realise that every or most Arabic ceilings were all very uniquely with all the geometrical shapes, or starry shapes. The one in Banuelo had those stars shape extracted from and the light comes in. Super nice!

This is probably another short visit lasting less than 30mins. But well, talk about cam-whoring (no one else to photobomb :D), take another 20mins.

Mirador de San Nicolas
Then now, begins the walk in the Albaicin district and towards the view point Mirador de San Nicolas. Read about reviews on Albaicin saying that it was a very magical district. But weird, we didn't see much shops while we were there, and the endless turns and climbs was getting into our heads.

It was about 20mins of walking and we finally reached the view point. It was about 12pm right then, and despite the hot sun we sat there for roughly 30mins. The scenery there was beautiful and totally looked just like a picture on your computer. Lol.


The best part of this place, there was a singer with a few other buddies, strumming guitar, clapping, and singing. Made up the super nice ambience I was getting drown in. I nearly didn't wanna go. Had to get a CD from them, and show a little support for the musicians on street!

Helado de San Nicolas
Sighted an ice cream shop just beneath the Mirador, and we headed over there. Some of the more unique flavours were very flowery - ie. Lavendar ice cream, Rose ice cream. waha!

We had 2 scoops of ice cream each and slowly savored it. Cold day, cold ice cream, super shiok! The ice cream guy also kindly gave us a free postcard each ^-^

So rather funny, now we are on our way to search for lunch while we had our dessert first.

Carmela Restaurant
I found this restaurant based on reviews, and again, I forgot to check my notes to see that there might be a menu del dia. We had our priciest meal in Europe yet, totaled up to 42 euros. Seafood / fish were supposed to be their specialty.

We had a rose wine each, a russian salad to share, and a main course each. I chose the grilled fish - which only came slightly warmer than my palm itself. :P The fish itself was nice though despite the lack of heat it in haha. For the pricing, there are definitely better places elsewhere in Granada.

Royal Chapel
The visit was alike other Catedral in Spain. There more interesting parts were about the tombs that resides there.

Own-Time-Own-Target
Left with quite a bit of time, we tried looking for the Bakery Street, Pan y Dulces, which seems to be hiding from us.

The plaza it was supposed to be at was seemingly frustrating to find and we found ourselves in the wrong direction multiple times. X__X finally we found it and it wasn't opened. Opened only from 5pm...

We dropped by some of the more touristy-looking shops to look for souvenirs. Particularly we ended up in Alcaiceria, as recommended by many online resources. Rather than silk, I think we saw quite a lot more figurines for decorations there. Some of the more beautiful exquisite glasses pieces for smoking pipes, arabic hookah(?), glass piecies that looks like a vial for perfume? Very interesting stuff! I found myself 2 additional crystals bracelet in one of those shops.

Before heading back, supposedly we might be missing our dinner and we went in search for something to take out. Pizzas, breads or what not. In the end, we ended up in yet another bakery shop.

I got the chocolate muffin (awesome!), a cookie, a bread(?) Can't remember.

It was roughly 5pm, and we started to head back to our flat. We were to take a domestic flight towards Barcelona at 9pm. But lol, sis was all-the-more rushy and wanna chiong to airport right then.

Anyways, when we finally reached our apartment, packed up stuff, and began dragging our luggage downwards to the main street. Made a phone call to a recommended driver (it was quite quite pricey), and she came. She, alone, lugged our luggage into the trunk herself. Kudos!!! Must really be the iberico!

Our driver was quite entertaining as well, sharing some of her experience and chatting with us. Teehee, we learned quite a bit of stuff from her, haha, but all for the next trip as we were parting Granada. Finally reached airport and the cost was 55 euros (big expensive!). It was about 6.30pm, and we couldn't check in yet.

The airport was very small, nothing much to shop. :P. Sheesh, I could have more time to shop ;P.


Canceled Items:
Monasterio de la Cartuja:
- Read that this was very worth it if there were time as it was slightly further away from the main areas. ;P Decided to cancel it as we might not have the time.

La Botilleria
- This was one of the restaurants I found from Trip Advisor and I was veryyyyy bent on going there before coming to Spain. But my knees...So decided not to go. It is further down from the main region, in Realjo where there were many graffiti work arts. Should be a nice scene if we had the time and were less painful in the knees. Boohoo, one of my big regrets to have missed it :(

Goodbye Granada, was a super pleasant stay. I find it very magical somehow and couldn't quite explain it. And weirdly, I was reading up on Granada after returning to Singapore and that was very much the sentiment decided for Granada. I will definitely be back in Granada for the next big Spain trip. It shall have 5 of my travel days! For one, we could also find the time to visit Sierra Nevada, the mountainous region which our driver said it would be an awesome photo taking place. ^-^

Seville, Spain

14/11 - Day 5 - Evening

After our train to Seville, we finally reached around 4.30pm. And lucky lucky, the hotel was just about 15mins walk from the station, no need to take any metro, gave us much more comfort in pulling our luggage.

We check into Arye Hotel, and that time I ask my sis, what did she planned for our day 1 in Seville, and she said,

"Just eat only"

xD!

Oki, seriously, we was eating and shopping. And that 14/11 was a Saturday.

Seville is one of the place where not many of the people speaks English. Maybe at most very very little of it. Was a nice place to practise teehee~

Plaza del Duque
We took a bus, and headed to the Plaza del Duque where we found loads of shopping, and small pop up market alike our pasar malam. So, we joined the crowd and did some shopping ourselves.

It was a Saturday. There were huge crowds, EVERYWHERE!!!!!

Once we walked into a boutique shop, all people. People everywhere. All over the place. x___x I thought the scariest was Stradivarius which was a rather tiny outlet. There was so much people I wanted to get out real fast. lolol

Anyways, we finally stop shopping and head on to dinner.

Casa Poco
We found Casa Poco after what seemed like 30mins walk from where we were.

Our dinner was gooood! We had pig trotter, omelette, and salad, and some wine each.

La Alameda
From our dinner, we went onto La Alameda, a small square in Seville, which was our dining place was just nearby. There were 2 tall roman statues, Hercules and Julius Caesar. We stood there and try to take the photo. Lol it was kinda funny because I kept saying my sis photograph doesn't seem straight.

So I took over, took aim and I thought it look perfect. Then we compared our photos.

Both, doesn't look quite straight rofl. There some kinda illusion thingie due to the bottom of the one of the statue that keeps making me feel the photo wasn't straight, haha don't let it get to you ;P

From then La Alameda, we were just randomly hopping into shops and so on. We saw a few flamenco theater but we didn't go, since we did planned a Zambra show in Granada.

15/11 - Day 6 - Seville morning!

Today was gonna be a rather long day, quite a lot of attractions to take away our time. Do note that that day was a Sunday, and on a Sunday, many shops were closed. Including the El Cortes Ingles. :/

Along the way to Alcazar, we sighted this...university??? Can it look even more awesome?!

Sorry about the tree there, no matter which angle, it is just there stubbornly. 

More nice spots along the way...

Seville's Alcazar
On our way to the Alcazar was a rather busy street, full of tourist. We also noticed that a race was going on, where the participants wore a number and were running about while referring to a piece of paper. Sounds like a treasure hunt?

On the long road, there was a a touristy tram moving about, and many horse carriages and people  beckoning you to come take a ride (not for free of course).

Finally Alcazar!
My sis mentioned that it was used to film some scenes in Game of Throne. Not sure which ones since I didn't watch.

Which was rather big, and full of gardens. We had the audio guide and I was navigating us both through the palace and garden, while sis focus on taking photos.

Once we heard something that sounded like a cat wailing or  something. The culprit was a peacock. xD. They roamed freely in the palace though, just quite surprising haha.

Most of the tourist were hanging by the big fountain in the alcazar, and that was one of the picturesque place in the Alcazar. Another unique place to check out would be the Arab bath area, which was located quite near the fountain. There were some ladies who would repeatedly keep coming back to take picture...sheesh haha, my sis couldn't even take time to shoot the place nicely ;P

And some of the really nice geometrical design we saw:

• The leftmost was on the ceiling, and it was incredibly hard to take the full shape - you really need DSLR with an ultra-zoom-out lens. The ceilings in Spain are really super super amazing!
• The middle onee is a really nice door. 
• The last one on the right is yet another one on their ceiling. Intricate design!

:D Theres so much more but I guess, this heavy picture loading ... shall leave it for the next round.

Anyways, one last one! We exited the Alcazar at an really nice noon, and the crowd was starting to gather.

Musicians everywhere too! Love the ambiance they created

Lunch - Bodequita Romero
This is definitely one of my favourite place to eat! The chef-looking-guy who served us was very nice, friendly, and cheerful!

The recommended Pringa, was really really delicious! Ask for a few more of those dishes!

(Ok I forgot to take a picture of that Pringa. But here is one for Chorizo!)

Italica
Then, we took a bus and head to Italica...that was the most disappointing part of our trip to Seville. We reached there roughly 3.05pm, and the ticket counter was closed. The security guard would not let us in, indicating that the placed closed at 3.30pm, ticketing counter close 30 mins at 3.00pm.

And do take note that, I think the TripAdvisor or where-else mentioned it was until 5pm :P don't get the wrong information guys. :P,

3.30pm, Sunday, on Autumn-Winter period - Closed. Can't rmb other timing, but I think sis took a picture of it.

x____x :( The Roman Ruins, there goes my visit :(

We had to sit around and wait for the next bus which starts at the next hour.

Catedral
Since there were sufficient time left before the night, we headed by to the main plaza, and went for the visit to Catedral.

Gothic facade and again, another amazing ceiling to gaze at!

One of my nightmare began when...

I saw this Tower Tour and there was a slightly barricaded route to a loomy door way. Lol, feeling really excited, although in my mind was saying "don't do it...cause your kneecap doesnt feel good".

I went on and climb. It was rather easy as there were no stairs. It was elevated using ramps. The tower itself you can think of it as rather long cube so there were 4 walls, and 4 ramps to walk before you get to the next level?

Every wall you see, there is a number, which is some sort of indication of the level. So I believe I saw the number 36, which would leave the building at least 9 stories high. While climbing halfway, I quickly called my sis and told her to start climbing the tower!

Yes beautiful (Actually on second thoughts, I find it ok. The most interesting views I find were while you were climbing and some of those walls there were small windows. Do take the chance to peek out ^^) view from the top, and 4 different sides gives you 4 different view from the top of Seville. But lol, the human crowd there was huge, I had to keep waiting at a spot for people to climb down and lemme take a look from one point. At one point, the bells suddenly rang and many were startled. xD

Then, the scary part began for me. My kneecap was hurting badly remember? I even bought a kneeguard. My ailment is such that, I have no problem climbing up, I only have problem moving downwards. My kneecap feels the pain when it has to be lowered downwards, doesn't matter if there were stairs or just a ramp, its feels the pain.

Halfway down the tower, my kneecaps were burning and a very tight sensation on it. It does not feel right and I got really worried and started thinking what if I lost my legs to the tower ;__; that was such a depressing thought. I met my sis halfway down as I decided to wait for her and take a rest.

And looks like I wasn't the only one facing the same pain - saw another lady taking really tiny steps and holding on to the stair ledge for her life. 

Then ushered my sis to continue her journey, and I rested a while longer. Finally continued down the last 10 numbers down the tower...

Upon our exit from the Catedral, I spotted a nice location to be photographed while sis was looking for toilet. She says she gonna look for it, and I continue to take my photo. Didn't realise that she had not exited the Catedral and I made an exit passed the gates and the security guard. Lol.

Then I got a phone call from her.

Thinking about what to do, I went up to the guard and tried to ask if I could go in. After I had time to think about what I did that time, I probably looked worried, and with my broken spanish, lol~ the guard probably think I might had lost a little sister in the bathroom. xD

One last image while at Catedral!

La Abuela, "The Grandmother"
We had ice cream here! On a cold cold day, the ice cream is super welcome lol not sure how that was logical, but the ice cream was super yummy. The shop was super crowded and had like 15 people trying to make their order while there was only one lady serving the ice cream. My sis then said, "Only this shop was opened."

And of course, maybe thats it haha, cos it was a Sunday, and no other shops was opened. But anyways, the ice cream here was awesome! We got one a turron flavor and that one was gooooood!

Dinner - La Sacristia
We went into this bar that was just right beside Alvaro Peregil, our planned itinerary. Alvaro Peregil only offers standing table and only seats on the outside. As there were so much smoke outside and we were feeling super tired on our feet, we pop into La Sacristia instead.

In here, we had mainly tapas. The guy who served us was nice and fun :)

I finally got to try Gazpacho, the local special tomato based cold soup. Lol, it came in a wine glass haha. So I had to take sips from it lol~ I then later realize that they don't  serve Gazpacho in the colder seasons, it was supposedly a warmer season dish.

My sis ordered a jar of Sangria. And she had it all. Lol! This time we also ordered some grilled mushrooms. Before here, usually when we saw a platter of mushroom they were always about 8-15 euros. Kinda pricey. This time, we ordered! Can't remember the price. Those mushroom were heavenly - very flavourful and juicy! Totally totally loved it!

We saw the couple beside us ordered 2 sets of the 7 tapas special. It came nicely displayed but a set itself was huge. Lol o.o;

Seriously, try not to over-order.

Head home~!

16/11 - Day 7 - Seville morning tour
The days were flying, and that day, we made our way to Triana, a neighbourhood in Seville that was slightly further away from our Hotel.

We walked along a nice bridge, on the warm/cool morning, then hit our first and last planned stop:

Mercado de Triana
This a a local market for grocery, and maybe some local produce that you might wanna bring home. We found some sweets, bought some chorizon to share and eat for our breakfast.

We also stopped by this coffee area, and got our orders. We wanted mocha, but there was some kind of misunderstanding and we got Americano haha. But nevermind, the guy was quite funny.

But we are no fans for black coffee, haha, so I use google translate a short phrase into spanish, and ask him if he could give us some milk for coffee haha. xD.

He swept up his hot milk jar, zoom by our table, and poured some for us. And finally ending with "Tu espanol es muy bien~!" @ me Wahaha xD

Shopping
Then we headed for some shopping in the neighbourhood. Found a small Lefties outlet, and tons of shoes shop!

If you want some nice leather shoes from Spain, I recommended to get them here. It is much cheaper than other cities and places we had been to. And the price of the shoes for leather, they were totally worth it! And note that the shoes made in Spain were generally quite large, you might go 1-2 size smaller if you were getting a gift.

For ladies, I recommend the shoe shop: MaryPaz! Totally love their leather boots, and they were priced just right and they looked chic. But anyways I shopped mine at Toledo. Was super tempted, but phew, cut that temptation cause my luggage was already heavy enough.

My sis got a pair boots from MaryPaz and I am eyeing her boots o.o with envy.

Lunch - Taberna Miami!
Afterwards, we headed for lunch, again, I can't remember the bar/resto name. And seriously this was one of my most favourite place in the entire trip.

The guy who served us was seriously reallllly nice! We asked him for his recommendation for some tapas, and he told us to try the Secreto Iberico. That was a good find! On a cold weather, the nicely grilled iberico was awesome to taste and we had to have another serving. Oh just ditch the pork fillet if you were tempted to order it, have the Secreto!

Secreto Iberico literary translate to "iberian secret". 

Just after we paid our bill, the guy served us 2 small shots of wine on the house. Awwwwwww xD And it was really flavorful sweet wine and also kept me warm on the cold day. I have to say, dump the Sangria! We need real wine like this!

Very very much thankful for our experience to our special guy from the bar/resto. Just lemme find the photo, and I will update the resto name.

After that, we had to go onto our 4th city, Granada.

Seville in summary
I find that I like the people here much much more, and much of the really pleasant experience came from the crews at the restaurant and food they served. They seem very passionate with their food and drinks they served. If you would ask for a lot more detail, they would gladly share the information with you despite the language barrier.

Shopping here is definitely much cheaper too teehee~

Quick Post on Spain

12 days tour, inclusive of flying for 27 hours.

It was awesomely awesome!

I had fun speaking Spanish, with what little grammar and vocabs I know. We had helped from the locals from time to time, including lugging about heavy luggage, as well as asking for directions.

Once, we thought someone wanted to know where we got our map, in actual fact he thought we looked lost and wanted to help us with direction x.x.

We visited a total of 5 cities, and the ones I loved most was Granada. Granada has this really special feeling to it I can't really quite grab, but I find some of the stuff were much more interesting as compared to bigger cities like Madrid and Barcelona. Arab teas, beautiful Alhambra. Oh Alhambra, this is a palace I would definitely come back again. Beautiful palace, beautiful garden that actually smells super lovely! Next time, I would definitely spend an entire day there.

Granada and Seville were part of the Andalucia region, and I definitely like Andalucia more than others.

So the 3rd in place was Toledo, a very medieval city. Swords, castles, very tall loomy walls, and very stoney-rocky streets, but you get the feel if you like these kind of thing, which was me.

Barcelona is more of appreciating Gaudi's work, and seriously, Sagrada Familia was superb. But you must have a tour guide to introduce to you Gaudi's work. Everything was well-thought out and everything had a reason to be in its place. The building itself was still incomplete, but it gives a feast to your eyes even so. I would totally return just for the architecture itself.

Madrid is very much city, but I find that, hmmm I like the shopping there? Haha, cause the Gran Via was seriously very easy to shop.

Things were slightly more expensive in Barcelona and Madrid, as compared to Granada, Seville, and Toledo. To be fair, I was considering only the food and shoes that we saw and we prolly hanged out in too touristy areas.

Spain, or Europe were known for their Catedrals, but I think to me/sis were pretty much wasted if we didn't had an audio guide or if we didn't first read up the history. Mostly we just glanced through and woo/wah at the grandiose chapels, but we didn't have enough history to really appreciate the stuff. :/

So next time!
- Read up on history
- Get audio guides, keep your cameras! It much more worth it!
- Packed lighter luggage (lol, in fact, just bring many pairs of leggings, many camisole, a few tops and a few skirts, which should lighten your baggage way way way much)

Spainnnnn!!! I SHALL BE BACK!

Madrid & Toledo, Spain

Full account on trip to Madrid & Toledo, Spain

This is gonna be a huge post because it is essentially a 12 days trip (including 27 hours of flight to-and-back)

Will try to put up some pictures otherwise it gets very wordy...When I am not too lazy :X

The currency mentioned from hereon shall be in Euros unless otherwise stated.

Here the brief version of our trip.

-Touched down at Barcelona via plane, and will then transit to Madrid via Renfe Train.

-Madrid about 3.5 days. Including a day trip to Toledo,

-Seville about 2 days

-Granada about 2 days

-Barcelona about 3.5 days, our final stop.

10/11  - Day 1 - Singapore's Night Time

And the day of boarding our plane out of Singapore, I packed everything nice and quick. Then..I forgot my IPad. Sheesh. I actually can't do anything smart without writing myself a note that says "bring this, bring that". So mummy had to actually cab to airport and pass it to me :X so uber sorry for making her rush out. Lol :X

We were on plane for about 14 hours (including the 1 hour for landing at Milan, in which we just stayed on the plane and wait for it to get recharged or something. 

And I have to say, SQ fed us nice and fat. Lol, we had like 3 meals (1 lunch, 1 dinner, 1 breakfast, about 2 snacks in between). And of course, once after lunch everyone was running for the toilet. The 13 hours of flight seriously was killing my butt and my legs (didn't stretch enough). X__X I would really love to get a first class ticket...

And its kinda funny that the plane emptied the moment we stop at Milan. Only a few were going onwards to Spain.

11/11 - Day 2 - Morning

We reached Barcelona around 8am+ and sis was starting to munch snacks. Fetched our luggage and looked around the airport for SIM card retailer. We found Lebara, which offered us quite good prepaid plans and at least within our budget. But funny, the guy just sold us the plan that has 2GB of data while we wanted only 1 GB. Anyways we bought 2 sim card so that we could contact each other. Think it was about $15 each.

- Includes 2 GB data

- Voice call / SMS within Spain and some other countries as well (Singapore included!)

We then moved on to an aerobus shuttle that bring us to the renfe train station. Had to wait for quite a few hours before we board our train @ 12pm towards Madrid.

Note, somehow the personnels only opened up the gates to the train about 15mins before boarding. And they are dead on time with the train departing. You only get a less than a minute if no one helps to flag it down when you were only slightly late (based on our day trip to Toledo experience)

> 3 hours train ride to Madrid.

Finally when we reached Madrid, that is when our first mini-nightmare started. 

1. They don't endorse escalator in 2 direction in the city's metro station. Ie. You only get a one-direction escalator.

2. If you need to change between 2 lines of the metro, they bring you to loop here and there, up and down many different flight of stairs. This is super confusing and bring you much stress with carrying/dragging your luggage.

Imagine us 2 girls, mind you we brought 2 big luggage, dragging that luggage everywhere. Lool.

We either, struggle to bring the luggage up the stairs, or struggle to drag it down the stairs with all the "bing-bang". 

Ok, finally we managed to tow out the luggage next is finding the street. Lucky enough we actually got ourselves an easy-to-locate AirBnb apartment although when we first reached it was just slightly confusing to find since the street itself skipped a few numbers before we found it.

We arrived later than as promised to the owner, and had to him because we couldn't find the place. and opps, it was actually lunch hour (reached around 3.50pm) and I think I kinda made him rushed his lunch and rush back here. :X.

*stomach grumbling*

Pietro, (the owner) was very warm and nice, and gave us a 30 mins guide to the apartment on using the facilities. Then the best part, he draw up a map and gave us an introduction to Madrid main areas, and made some recommendations.

The main areas were simply divided into 4 area as shared by Pietro:

-Top Left: Malasana - said to be the best shopping area where you buy clothes by kilos (!?)

-Top Right: Gran Via/Chueca, main area. And Chueca is a gay street.

-Bottom Right: A place with a lot of museum

-Bottom Left: A place with a lot of sculpture.

Soon after we wash up (ate cup noodles) and then we were off to our first sightseeing:

- Fountain of Cibeles

- Palacio de Cibeles 

(sadly we didn't enter, since we were behind time)

- Retiro Park

At then while at Retiro Park, the sun was setting fast and I couldn't complete half the itinerary which would be a huge waste because No Sun = No Scenery. :(.

Had to make a quick change and decided to revisit Retiro Park the next morning.

Carrying on with the night time, we sped up a few items, from Retiro Park, we exit, and charge through the following:

- Prados Park 

Oh well, at nighttime didn't see much just some really nicely lighted sculptures)

- Fountain of Neptuno

We accidentally saw this as it wasn't on our planned itinerary. But nevertheless, this is super pretty at night!

- Puerta del Sol

This is one of the main squares in Madrid and theres quite a lot going on at night. Some demonstration, lots of people, and quite a lot of food and shops around.

Here we stopped by La Malloquina, a bakery which is super super busy. You really have to squeeze in front of the pastries display to get some one to notice you and help you do your order. Just a heads up, the pastries here in Spain are quite quite sweet.

La Mallorquina pastries for breakfast the next day!

Stopped by a turron shop as well - which my sis said it is selling one of the well-known turrons brand - Vicens. I was scratching my head and linking up turrons as rock-hard nougats. Me no like hard candies, so I watch my sis picking up some of these candies here and there. Anyways I did learn that there were softer version in the latter cities.

- Plaza Mayor

One of the main squares as well. Hmm well, less busier than I thought it would be. But the red buildings should totally rock in the daylight. Anyways, we started looking around for food and finally found Emma Cocina, our first ever Tapas stop!

Tapas is small dish in Spain that usually people order to go with their drinks (eg. beer or anything alcoholic). It is not a specific dish, it is all different types/kind of dishes. Usually you see bread/potato kinda dishes, with a few other toppings, some may be pork, iberico and many other more.
In some cities like Granada (I am not sure if other cities still uphold this culture), if you order a drink they would serve you free tapas for it. If you were lucky, you might get to choose your tapas! Soz, this culture of "tapas-hopping" is usually heard or read online (I read...), that the locals usually go to different bars and order a drink around a standing table, drink and eat and chit-chat. Its an inexpensive way to fill your stomach up. Sounds like an awesome lifestyle?

Since it was our first order in Spain, and we couldn't understand completely which-and-what food. Mind you, no pictures on the menu itself haha.- so lol, we just ordered anything that sounds good. 

After which, walked all the way up to Gran Via street and then walked by to our apartment. Teehee, we spotted quite a lot of our regular shopping stops: Zara, Stradivarius, etc etc. Some of the local big high-street fashion which we regretfully didn't manage to stop by throughout our stay in Madrid:

- Primark

- Lefties

12/11 - Day 3

Supposedly to be a short day since we readjust and covered much of our itinerary on Day 2.

- Retiro Park

Revisited this place to take better photos and the morning breeze and yummy sunlight felt soooo good. :D

Basically I took a recommended route of the internet and we just walked our way through it:

- Puerta de Alcala.

Very nice gate in the middle of the road haha. Trying to take a good photo without those vehicles is gonna be a challenge. 

 - Estanque Lake

A huge lake where King Alfonso XII monument were at the very far end of the lake. You can rent a canoe if you were interested

- Palacio de Cristal

This was the place that got us to revise our plans, because at night, there is nothing magical to see! This is a gem for your eyes in the morning! Its is a glass pavilion and it is very beautiful to see in the morning.

We trekked a bit around the trees and surrounding it and it made the areas look very magical. Like in a fairy tale.

Along the way, we ran into a young lady from korea, whom we helped to take a photo for her. It would seem that koreans are very daring with a solo-trip. o.o

- La Rosaleda

A very pretty garden, definitely for the ladies who loves roses.

- Fallen Angel Status (Lucifer)

Soon after we followed the way out and to the metro to make for our next stop:

- Plaza Espana

Yet another park that is full of monuments.

A tip here, if you need a toilet break, and there is no toilet in sight, run for any nearby museums!

- Templo de Debod

Egypt ruins and it actually looks really really exotic. xD "whatswiththewordexotic". One of my favourite visit in Madrid.

Theres an interesting location around the ruins, where you can see the back of the royal palace (if I remember correctly) from that location, and its quite a beautiful scenery

- Market of San Miguel 

We walked down along the Royal Palace and Catedral de Almudena to reach this market where we shall have our lunch stop. Lol along the way if you see any one dressed funny and beckons you to take a photo with him...you better not unless you want to part with some cash. 

He only told us, 5 euros after we each took a photo, and funny, when I couldn't find change for 10 euros, he then say, 5 each (me and sis) so 10 euros is right. Pfft...

Anyways, back to Market. This is a super fun and busy place. Anyways we found ourselves a few tapas (yet again), and a cup of wine each. The food were yummy!

- Chocolate San Gines

We went to have this churros at this well known restaurant that opens for 24 hours (not many in Spain does that). And the crews were funny when I ordered this "Irish Coffee"

He: "This one got whisky in it"

Me: "Ok sure"

He: "Oooo good!" -thumbs up- xD 

Sis had the chocolate with churros. And mind you, the chocolate drink they serve in Spain were seriously THICK! THICK CHOCOLATE! Dabbed those churros in the chocolates! Nom! Sip my coffee!

- Catedral de Almudena

Walked back to the Catedral for our next stop. We didn't get the audio guides since we were already a bit way too far inside to remember we should get it. Anyways, we did some exploring and wandering about the Cathedral. I particularly like to watch the stained glass windows. Very beautiful.

- Royal Palace

Then we were here in the Royal Palace, Huge, grandiose. Especially the ceiling which were full of artworks.

We particularly lingered in the main courtyard and had to taken tons of photos there. We met some really nice tourists who would offered to help us take photos too :D

Lol one thing to highlight about this Singaporean traits that I didn't know exist in me...we always queue everything we see. Lol. We were hanging outside the gate into the palace having fun with selfies and finally decided to go inside. Saw the longest queue out there and thought we were too late and decided to join in, without checking out the signs that were wayyyyyy too in front. Then the security, obviously we look like non-europeans, approached us and ask "Where you from?"

- "That queue was for free-entry into the palace for europeans citizens" Waha. lol

- El Cortes Ingles

Didn't know how we ended up so late to finally left the Royal Palace that we just hopped into El Cortes Ingles, had a small dinner (the lunch that day was suppppper full). El Cortes Ingles is a gigantic departmental store in Spain. It is everywhere. We couldn't find a seat anywhere near the balcony - that was a popular view point to see the whole of Madrid from the 9th floor. :/

So we just took some random seats and rest out legs. Had some tapas again. lol. By then we were already very very exhausted, and all the smokey smell was tickling my throat badly. x_x I was sicked from flu that didn't manage to heal itself despite a very expensive TCM visit.

After the small dinner we headed back to our apartment. In which we stopped by Zara where sis picked up her leather bag, and Vesuvio, where we picked up our pizza.

- Vesuvio

Trust me when I say, "They only give a small size". "The pricing is for a slice". 

So we ordered 2 "slices".

We got 2 whole pizzas.

Lol, the servings are big here haha. And I didn't get the heads up even when we saw the chef by the window kneading the dough and making the pizza base. Lolol xD. And the pizzas were awesome (we had it for supper and breakfast lolol)

13/11 - Day 4 - Day Trip to Toledo!

This day, we head to Toledo. Toledo is a very...medieval city! You can find all sorts of swords sold here, and I was seriously tempted to get a miniature back...

We were slightly late for our Renfe train and had to run. The lady at the train help us to wave down the train which was about to move, opened the gate, and told us to "Run!"

30 mins later, we reached Toledo, where the confusion begins. I planned for us to take a walk to the medieval city so we could walk through the Puente de Alcantara. Lol, we got lost for like 30mins, until we saw a local and

Me: "Habla ingles?"

She: "No"

Then there on begin a bit of spanish conversation with a bit of gesturing to point out where is this medieval Toledo central city which I can't see!! Hahaha. But phew, we made it to her directions, half-understanding teehee.

The weather here was colder than Madrid, maybe more of because it was at a higher grounds too. We can totally see the carbon dioxide we breathed out.

- Puente de Alcantara

Saw the beauuuuutiful bridge. And we walked it!

Climb the torturous amount of stairs...I read on TripAdvisor to take the rightmost stairs where the magical escalator will appear and bring us to the Plaza Zocodover... Meh...I think it was the left stairs. We ended climbing all the way up. X_X

But anyways, the scenery up the climb was beautiful regardless of the tough climb. Haha.

- Plaza Zocodover

Slow swing into the main Plaza Zocodover. And we found Santo Tome, which was right across the street, well-known for their almond pastries, the Mazapan! 

- Santo Tome

A bit onto marzapan, and I read up all I could about these sweets. The best recommended ones are in Toledo, and Santo Tome is the recommended place to get it. We bought a few, which sells by the weight itself, and yup, it is still very sweet. Just don't take a big chomp into it.

And seriously, I think these sweets cured my sore throat which wouldn't go away for 2 weeks. Neither the antibiotic nor TCM completely kill the virus. After that day with a few marzapans, and maybe plus a few cups of honey with propolis bought in one of the mart in Madrid, my cough went poof.

Another plus point, these marzapans got my moms approval. It is serious hard to get her to say "This is good" for any type of pastries because she was a baker herself. And to get her approval - seriously this is a must! By the way, for marzapans, I recommend taking small bites to slowly savour it. Don't go into a rush and pop it in which will give you too much of a sweet tooth and you probably can't taste the awesomeness in it.

- Toledo's Catedral

We then make our way to the Toledo's Catedral. The audio guide here was free. :D

We followed the map on the provided leaflet to complete the tour in the catedral, and found ourselves short on 2-3 spots. We couldn't get in. The guard wouldn't let us in too, saying those were for people who want to pray in there only. But we saw other tourists in there too...

One of the tourist saw me asking the guard decided to let me on the secret into those spots.

- Exit the Catedral, and take a big detour to the back of the Catedral, which will have a door. Thats where to the entry to the spots were. Much thankful to the information, but in the end we decided to skip it. 

- Ludena

Exiting the Cathedral, we headed for lunch at Bar Ludena. 

They have a set meal of the day @ $14.50, for 2 course, a bread, a drink, and a dessert. Seriously a good deal right? We went for it, a set for each person.

And it was huge. Huge huge meal.

The 2 courses, were huge plates by themselves. 2 sets means a total of 4 big plates. And lol, it seriously look like it was for 4 person rofl. Besides that, there was the bread and bun. Then the drink, oh man...my sis order a wine. It came in a bottle. Loool~! Oki a small bottle that looks like 300ml. Lool.

Then finally the dessert. Because we were so full, we decided to only have one dessert. Lol. And the dessert was the most heavenly item I had ate in Spain. Some vanilla melted cream topped with a soften money-cookie. XD. Omgg....why you came out so late... :(

Ok, this bar was seriously worth it. Just becareful of the huge huge plates. Lol.

After the huge lunch, we started walking to the Toledo Alcazar. It was a long walk and along the way, my sis spotted a shoe shop and said to go in. I had been looking for shoes since the Day 1 in Spain. 

It was funny because when we walked inside the shop, there was no shoes displayed. Just a lot of people trying shoes. So we walked out, look at the display, snapped some photos, and went in and showed the photo to the owner(?). Haha.

While waiting for the shoe sizes, a korean family, mother and son, chatted with us. Hee, they were very nice and lol my sis suddenly forgot all her korean language xD. The son spoke English with us, and it was a really nice exchange. :)

I ddin't leave empty handed. 2 Pairs of shoes! The moment the owner said, "these were leathers", chop chop! But anyways they didn't come with the tags of leather. So...up to me to believe in.

-Toledo Alcazar

The Alcazar didn't house much things in it, and there was nothing much to see except for the Army Museum where you can see a long of military items eg canons and so on. This visit should only take less than an hour except for the time spent at the courtyard/terrace camwhoring. There was simply no one there to photobomb you. At times, we only see a maximum of 10 person within the Alcazar. 

A disappointing visit, but I read online that this museum was only a few years old...

- Mirador del Valle

This was the best view point in Toledo to see the whole landscape of Toledo. We took bus 71, and lol, funny enough - while the bus shows the stops, I think it skipped a stop thinking nobody wanna go there and we panicked, hit the bus button and got off at the wrong stop. o.o; And the bus stop looks super stranded haha.

Scratch that head and think about what to do. 

We followed the path up to the Parador of Toledo, a hotel which was said to show a good view point of Toledo as well. And we found it. Luckily we didn't have to order a drink just to get in to the viewpoint. 

Lol just a heads up, bus 71 frequency is every 1 hour. So once you get off a stop, the next bus comes in at 1 hour later. So we went back to the lonely looking bus stop and waited for about 30 mins. Hopped on the bus that came and zoom back down, and found the real Mirador del Valle. This viewpoint had a better view with lesser trees to occupy your photograph. Then we zoom back onto the next stop:

- Puente de San Martin

Yet another bridge into Toledo. It was around evening time, about 6pm + when we were there. The sun was setting real quick.

A funny thing we noted on the short ledges around the bridges, they had padlocks. And some padlocks got the phrase like "A <3 B" Haha. This this was like a mini version of the Paris bridge???

Wanting to stop by one of the churches which held the masterpiece of El Greco, we headed on to the Iglesia de Santo Tome - which was closed. :( Damn...

We walked about took some photos of the nearby, dropped in a leather shop and bought a wallet for mommy. We had the idea of walking back to Plaza Zocodover - which is possible, but very scary since it was totally dark. 

And note, Toledo's road isn't exactly super nice to walk with all the rocky and stoney path. And many times we wandered into the wrong sides which made us climb and climb. So lucky, we decided to head back to Puente de San Martin bus stop to wait for the bus.

- Puerta de Bisagra

Sadly, we had to missed this since we thought there were not enough time left. We can only see it while zooming by on the bus :/.

- Jacintha & Maria Chocolate

This shop was very near Plaza Zocodover, just head there and check out some chocolates to be bought home. I found Marzapan liquour lolol xD. Had to bring them back teehee :D

- Finally, board a bus back to train station, and take a Renfe train home.

It was from the trip to Toledo, that my left kneecap started to hurt a lot. Just a word of cautious, wear really really really good shoes, with super solid soles, and prepare some knee guards, yoko-yoko, medical balm for muscle/leg pain, salonpas, when going to Europe. 

14/11 - Day 5 - Half Shopping then onwards to Seville!

I changed our plans to visit Malasana instead of shopping, owing to the recommendation by Pietro. However, not sure about the hours of the Saturday, so many shops remained closed even around 10 am. x.x Guess different lifestyles eh?

So we just walk randomly pop into any any stores that were opened. Had a small coffee and cookie break, hopped into a pharmacy to get a knee guard, muscle gel pack, and some muscle pain sticker (like salonpas, but they don't got that brand there!!). 

Finally we zoom into Gran Via, the main shopping streets, and hit the reliable giant brands ie. Zara, SpringField. Didn't had time to go Lefties (this one was huge here and had a queue!!!) and Primark. :/ Sadly we didn't manage to get into Primark in the remaining of our stay in Spain. We did get into a smaller Lefties in Seville though...

So, then, we packed our luggage and then continue our journey to Seville. 

But before that, had to dragged our luggage up and down some stairs. Lol~ x.x

Spain!

Trip planned in November.

Meanwhile, I am trying to pick up some Spanish using Duolingo, and I am finding that while it helps to know a bit "here and there" of the the sentence structure, vocabs, and a little grammar..., I really need to learn how to listen to Spanish, so what to do?

Start by listening to songs!

I chanced upon this channel which posted quite a lot about Enrique Iglesias with nicely made MV with English and Spanish subtitles.

And the music produced by Enrique are seriously nice. :D Nice finding (for me!)

Back to listening for more...

Bandung a Second Time!

Been a week since I came back from a short trip to Bandung! Feels great for a short getaway after burying my head at work everyday.

So! Just to recap a bit so that I may come back and revisit my trip to Bandung, the second time! I had upped our itinerary using WishBeen (its a good planner in terms of the interface, and you get to download your itinerary for offline view! But the only thing that doesn't work so well is the offline map - which is actually, just an image. :/) Oh well, just download Maps.me app for your mobile, or use Google offline maps for overseas trip. :P Though you don't get your itinerary locations directly there, it still works better than having no map in a foreign country. :D

With that all packed, we set off!

Day 1 - 

We did a wrong booking, and landed ourselves in Jakarta airport instead of Bandung's airport. :p So no choice, we got ourselves tickets to Bandung via a mini bus. Guys please, don't try it. Lol, that bumpy ride in a small car, wee bit of aircon for 3-4 hours on a jammed-pack road between Jakarta-Bandung is seriously *sweats*. My butt aches. :P I don't blame the bus, but its not an exhilarating nor a comfortable ride. 4 hours...

And we were also famished. 

W nearly lost her purse on bus while napping on-and-off on the bus. Just in luck, YH, out of randomness got curious and asked her to calculate pool money during a small break on the road. Purse missing, and we searched. Luck is with us, found it.

So, long way ahead still, we peek out of the window hoping to see signs of "Bandung". Lol, the difference between Jakarta and Bandung on road seems to be the number of motorbikes??? Idk, but we didn't see much of the motorbikes in Jakarta. In Bandung, they are always swarming about. xD

Reached Bandung at 3pm (one hour later, many hours due for lunch)

Hurried into hotel room, dropped our bags and freshen up a little! Now, heading off to The Kiosk - which we didn't manage to find, and we found ourselves in Ci-Walk already. (Note, the Kiosk is actually in Ci-Walk :P, so much for the misleading map location).

We land ourselves in..."one of the cafe", can't remember which one but it was the one besides the "chinese-indo" restaurant selling dimsum which we hurried out after looking at the menu. xD. 

Big feast for us:

-3 Mee Goreng

-2 Tea (plus 1 super sweet tea that was abandoned)

-1 Avocado Juice (me! SUPPPPER REAL AVOCADO JUICE!!)

-Fried Fish (W & YH sososososo anticipated the crispy fried fish like our first trip at restaurant up near Kawah Putih) 

- Satay

- Popiah

- Fried Prawns on-stick

Lol...that was a huge meal, and at 3pm... and I was worried about my plan for D-Cost Seafood (read about the cheap cheap cheap seafood resto planned at 7pm...)

So, after the huge meal, we headed out on to Rumah Mode

- About 1 hour or so we were done - didn't manage to find much stuff like our first trip. I think I bought about 2 pieces of tee here.

Next, Fashion World which is just right beside.

- Was much looking forward to find some Banana Republic tops. Love their cotton knits stuff. But they didn't have much this time as well...still I managed to grab a blue Banana Republic. 

Hm, seems like we were done with this region...went for a small drink in the cafe back at Rumah Mode... Sigh..the drinks were sucky ;p. Ice-filled-small-cup-of-fruit-juice ;P

Next, it was supposedly time for dinner, but as we had our lunch late...we headed on to Tomodachi...and the stuff there were...awesomely-party-style-and-bloody-expensive. xD. Well over budget for our planned expense. You can find really expensive gowns, party dresses, pretty clothes, and branded stuff (seems pretty real) in the quiet boutique. But yes, expect the prices to be up SGD$200. We went there reading that you might find USD$15-20 stuff.. xD

Less than 15 mins, we were out. Now, our itinerary for the day was completed except for dinner...which the girls are actually still feeling too stuffed :/ AND SO MUCH FOR PLANNING FOR A SEAFOOD FEAST! lolol...we gave D'Cost Seafood the miss :/ - and took an angkok back to Ci-Walk.

On one of the angkok (we had to change angkok), we met a really nice girl. Cause the driver seems very busy driving and didn't answer our questions, this girl explained to us how to change and where to change to the other angkok. W was like <3333 for her! A really nice mei mei!

As our hotel is nearby Ci-Walk, we could almost walk there everyday and shop there everyday. Chill and stuff, which is why the our itinerary has Ci-walk as the ending everyday.

So, headed back to Ci-walk, did a small walk. And somehow, we went up and down many wrong ways and found ourselves the place to chill, The Kiosk! WOOHOO, one item down! Seriously, the service here sucks, but the food wasn't that bad. The style is very much like Pasar Cisanguy, there are many small stalls there. There are servers taking your order, sending order to the corresponding stores, and then they will serve your food when it is ready. Just to caution cause it seems like they don't seem to know when is the food ready. Or maybe it just too overly busy..We waited quite a while before we got a menu (and we were super thirsty) The menu is huge. Finally, made our orders. 

- The mango juice is nice! Like those man-guo-si-mi-lu kinda taste at Ah Chew's dessert

- Satay (again!) came with 2 dish of sauce - the dark brown sauce (only in Indonesia-Bandung they serve this! but we usually seen it swirled in the peanut sauce) and the peanut sauce. It got kinda overly saltish as we eat on.

- A small ice-kachang/chendol. Ain't too bad. 

Small walk in the supermarket - lol, the toiletries is seriously cheap. Wayyyyy cheaper than what you see in Singapore. I had half-a-mind to bring back some, but brought a too small luggage. :P. Yeah! W and YH were lugging some shampoos back xD.

-This ends our Day 1 :D

Day 2 -

...Free Breakfast at hotel. :D

Planned to make it to The Valley, which is actually a well-raved spot for nice ambiance, and scenic restaurant. Well, change of plans since we thought it will increase the spending on just booking a driver up half the mountains. Kind of a waste. So we skipped that!

Today! Is the day for Paris van Java! The spot we missed in our first trip.

Over here, its all those slightly costly fashion: Zara, Bershka, Stradivarius (WAHH THEY HAVE THIS TOO), Mango, Top Shop/Top Man, Miss Selfridge, New Look, and so on. It also have a very nice departmental store with nice clothes, quite unlike Singapore's Metro ;P  This took us to about 3pm or later. We didn't buy much here because, all these stores were higher priced than what we have in Singapore. :P. 

We had a small tea break at First Love Patisserie about 10am, in this cake shop. The shop is pretty, and we order 2 slice of crepe cakes to share. It was unexpectedly heavenly! Instead of just plain cream, it was ice-cream between the crepe layers, and the layers were thinnn! Unlike what I had in Paris Baguette, this was really good! Woahwoahwoahwoah!

Lunch approximately after 12.30pm. We actually only wandered the resto first floor. And we picked a japanese resto for sushi. Sigh...sushi were nice but super expensive. We sorta over-exceed our budget - 400k rupiah. We were planning around 300k and lesser. :P. Wasn't a full meal, but oh well. We shall move on. Btw, those sushi listed as hot, were really hot. They nearly killed my throat (and I was still down with a sore throat and bad flu)

Paris van Java is still nice to shop. :D Don't have much people too for a nice stroll in the mall. Oh just one thing, people here seems to smoke everywhere - even in air-conditioned malls. Oh well.

Aftewards, we got ourselves a taxi to Kartika (not sure which one, our taxi-driver picked a nice location for us). Picked up bunch of local cookies and cashed out approximate SGD$50.

- 6 boxes of Almond Cookies. (favourite!) We shall eat eat eat

- 2 boxes of cheese sticks (nothing much)

- 1 box of toast bread - this is nice!

- 1 box of choco toast bread - just okok only

Only thing is...not all their stuff were displayed with price. And I forgot to estimate how much were the cookies in my basket worth xD. These were heavy too!

Cabbed back to hotel, dropped all the cookies, and finally head out back to the Ci-Walk for dinner. 

We went back to one of the restaurant where this really nice waiter was introducing his menu to us, yesterday night. He's really one of the most polite waiter I have ever seen: lots of smiles, very patient with orders and so on. :D. But right back at the food, we had...

- 1x Beef ribs on hot plate.

- 1x Nasi Goreng with Beef (mine!)

- Can't rmb what YH ordered

- Tom Yum  Mee for W. Lool she said it was yummy but its just instant noodles with tom yum MSG haha.

- 1 hot tea

- 1 Chocolate Banana (W said it was nice!)

- 1 Avocado Juice (Me!)

Awesome meal. 

Lols, we walked a little and try to locate YH's favourite Korean boutique. Found that it was gone, and we didn't get to do our 4D ride (store was closed?!). Walk on a little and finally found YH store was relocated. xD But she wasn't too happy with the stuff she saw. Prolly too big sizes left. We shop on for a little longer, and somehow, we went back to the one of our favourite restaurant in Ci-Walk. I like the staffs here too! They are all uber smiley :D and theres free WIFI,

We had been here before in our first trip and we always remembered our favourite dish, the Spinach Pasta! But nah, this is like small supper - wanted to order beer... but sold out.

So we had spritzer and idk, some fruit juice and tuna bruschettas, which W and YH didn't like. Lol, I had to eat them lol. We chilled here a little, and finally make our way back to hotel, and concludes our day 2. :D

We had 5 meals for today...such gluttons!

I think, we decided to take an angkok back the short walk from Ci-Walk to hotel...and the driver made us wait cause he wanted to ferry more people. That was about 15-20 mins of wait. Oh well, next time tsk tsk, lets just walk! But he was very nice and chatty. xD Of course we let W chat, since hehe W is the only one who could understand Java slightly :D

Day 3 -

Again we started with a hearty meal at our Hotel's buffet breakfast. The beehoon is nicenicenicenice!

Then we headed off to Nanny's Pavillion and The Black Market. Lools. We couldn't find The Black Market, but we found Nanny's Pavillion. Turns out that it had closed down already. :P. Since we were at N.P, which is a cafe...a pretty pretty cafe...looks like we shall settle for our lunch. Lawls, at approximately 10.30am. xD

<<snapsnap for photos>> xD

Head to Trans Studio...which was disappointing. We were looking forward for big brands - which were too big. The mall was very big, but not a lot of shops. Or rather, shops that we would like to shop in. :P. We were done in about 1 hour. The Trans Studio would be nice for a cheap rides but sheesh, W and YH were all very scared of those rides ><; I didn't get to play ;p Oh what fun is it with without someone to go screaming with :P. Pfft.

So in the end..we sat on a bench thinking about what to do for the rest of the day. Lets revisit some of the factory outlets in Jalan Riau! Lol some of those which we found nothing to buy in our first trip. I mean, well, its a day to spend and better than wasting it doing nothing! 

We were just entering some of these and other factory outlets on Jalan Riau. :D found a piece of Tee for my brother. I can't remember most outlets we were in... but yeah, lots of these places you really have to work your shopping to dig out nice stuff. They have it, you just need to find it.

We were about done with Riau, and since we were nearby Vio Hotel from our first trip, I made us all walked back to Pasar Cisangkuy to revisit the first eatery in our first trip. It was a nice long walk, and we saw many of our favourite restos. :D Approximately 15mins, we reached our destination amidst the crazy screaming on streets to run/cross the streets that were busy with cars. xD

This meal was satisfactory. But I feel that my first ever awesome-impression of it was somewhat...broken. :P. I don't think I will return here haha. But cheap food! Less than 200k rupiah!

Oh yeah, we removed the following from itinerary

- Paskal Food Market - a cabbie says it takes 30mins from wherever we were... the much-anticipated 1000 food items... was rejected by us all.

- Braga Citywalk - did a bit more research and it was said the mall have nothing much there. Though the streets are worth walking if you are into something historical about Bandunga

So we cab to Amanda Brownie @ Dago. :D bought 3 brownies (original - chocolate, tiramisu, and pandan flavour) but regrettably - please choose chocolate only next time.

Right at Dago, it was actually about 5-6pm. And the sky was turning dark. But we found some really nice outlets. We spent some time digging through stuff in those outlets. I came out with additional stuff for my brother and mummy. These outlets were not mentioned on many blogs, and sadly I couldn't remember the names. But hey, you really have to work your worth to find good stuff. I think YH got slightly frustrated without much clothes bought, and she was like "heyyy that one (outlet) looks nice to go!" and we just went into random shops. :D

Approximately 7-8pm, we reached Ci-Walk, again! This time, again, shop a bit, and landed ourselves right back at our favourite resto with the Spinach Pasta. Again, they are out of beer (why!!! My $2 beer...). And we had the Spinach Pasta, wedges. I got myself a cinnamon latte for me - and I couldn't sleep at night. :P

Much satisfied with a happy tummy, we walked back to our hotel. Haha, along the way, since it is our last night, and YH seems pretty reluctant to leave without having flipped through many and tons of clothes...we walk into some of the ulu shops along the street and flip the stuff to hunt for stuff haha. Surprisingly we found some nice stuff lurking about. A suspicious H&M/Zara item peeking out here and there. Lol xD. Spent small amount and the shops were beginning to close. 

We shall be back!

Day 4 - 

Again breakfast at hotel. Our flight is at 1.50pm. So we had some time before flying...we went back to outlet that was closing the night before. It was actually a huge store. Quiet, not much people. The staff were standing around watching us flip here and there haha.

And we stayed on for about 1 hour. Imagine in this one outlet - 1hour plus is actually quite an achievement lols. We each came out with something.

We found Espirit, some Armani, a Uniqlo item(!!!), some Indonesia brand which are really nice quality, Gap, and many more... xD Happy with our final purchases (SGD$300+10 extra spent and borrowed), we headed back to hotel, and began packing. :D

Took a cab to the airport...YH saw and repeated the words "Welcome to Bandung" in which the driver tried to start a conversation hahaha about Bandung being nice and stuff, the places to go. Teehee. xD But he got us confused about the cab fare. lols.

Reached airport, and yay! No more airport tax! We found ourselves 75000X3 richer, and this calls for a meal! 

This cafe was confusing in terms of bill and don't have everything available on the menu. We had chicken wings, which was tiny but I guess very real? Too skinny to look like it was injected with stuff, wedges, rendang with rice.

We ended our meal, and waited patiently for our flight. Looking at the Polo shop right in front of us...ehhh 199k for a Polo tee!? Cheap!? Oh well, I got no money left haha. Not much of a fan for Polo too. xD

Board and flew. Reached finally in Singapore.

I think some of the really nice memories

- We learn how to board angkok, and it is really the cheaper way to travel!

- During one of the angkok, a guy with a guitar, hopped on and sat at the door. Then he started strumming and singing "When you say nothing at all". Imagine, us only in an angkok, and then it was all quiet, listening to this really nice voice and guitar strumming to the chord. Woahhhhh romantic ride waha!! We were like "oooohwahhhgahhh<3" really nice voice...when it ends, he turns and said something along "....if you can gimme some money..." xD! Of course hahah what were we expecting. I couldn't find small changes lol and in the end W gave him 2000. Lawls xD. It was kinda funny, but haha a really nice and romantic atmosphere in a cheap bus ride. what we couldn't have more enjoyed.

- Some nice outlet we found :D nice digging into clothes. Oh though, I think lower our expectations to find more tees than dresses. You could be easily satisfied with the stuff you can find. :D

- Seriously nice and friendly people. The one waiter that got me ga-ga-ing over his really nice service attitude.

- The laid-back lifestyle and the traffic jam at night. The scary driveway where you have to walk and go running across with a hand up waving for safety

- Cheap food, as long as you don't over indulge in non-indonesian stuff.

I am still quite hopeful to return if any one wanna travel there (someone needs to speaks Java/Malay lol). 

If I can remember to return to update this blogpost with video (of the guy singing) and with food photos...