Trippin thru Europe

So Milan was nice or so the train ride through was. A couple hours later that night our train stopped suddenly and some police came through ordering everyone to get off the train. We were sooo close about only 20 minutes from our destination with still no place to stay so we were in a bit of a hurry as it was about 9:30pm. We got off and started talking to a woman who was living in our destination city, Venice. She was a retired german lady who spent half her years in Venice and the other in Germany. She was so helpful and said that once we got to Vencie she would take us to her island where she could show us a few spots where we would maybe get a place. We would definitly find a place, the problem was that Venice is known to be the most expenisve city in italy. So we arrived very late and it was hard to see a lot but we could tell that this was going to be an enitrely different world. We got out of the train station and arrived at the bus station, or harbour as we saw it and took our cute little ferry bus to the island.We arrived at her island which was very well located, right across from the main island San Marco by a minute boat ride. The first place we stopped at we went for just because we were lazy and tired. It was the biggest room we have stayed in yet as normally it is dorm rooms for the surronding schools. The island was completly shut down and quiet but soo beautiful with the waterway streets and peoples boats parked outside their houses. The next morning we went and got breakfast from a grocery store and sat on the edge of the water for a while. Venice is really a beautiful place. I hasd heard so many bad things aboout it but we really had a good time here. The water doesnt smell, mavžybe in the summer, it is expensive but you just have to watch yourself. We went over to San Marco and went looking at all the tourist places. In through the windy streets looking at all the wonderful shops where I would love to spend my money. So what we have been doing throughout our trip is finding really great souvineers that are significant of the places we have been. So Josh decided he wanted carnival masks. In venice they are everywhere and the most skilled of people have shops here with spectacular masks decorating every inch of the space. In one shop we met the man behind all mask making in movies such as Eyes Wide Shut. So we spent a good couple of hours finding the perfect masks for ourselves. The markets here are really famous and busy. I was in heaven over all jewllery and clothes. After spending lots we had to find a place to stay this night so we called a few places out of our lonely planet book and found one for much cheaper than the other place so we went got our stuff and moved to the new location which was about 30 seconds away from all the markets and shopping!!! We had gotten bus(boat) passes for the day so we took the number 1 and went for a ride on the grand canal and the outskirts of the city. Venice is a city with sooo much character all the buildings are very old and original and most look like the need tons of work but that is the charm of the buildings and it really is beautiful. On every block there is construction on one or more of the buildings due to the sinking of Venice. Just by looking at the buildings slightly you can see many that are leaning badly to one side or one of the walls in leaning inwards or outwards. Its a sad thought to think this city that is one of a kind might not be around some day soon. But I can tell you they are doing there best to save them. The rest of the night we spent getting lost in the streets of venice and then went to eat. We thought we were being thrifty and watched what we ordered and then came the bill which was much more expensive then we imagined because the tiny pop and water that we ordered were more than five dollars each, thats were we werent careful but its ok becase we are in Venice. The next day we were up early to go do more exploring. The city is much larger than I imagined. It has a population of almost 300,000 spread out over many islands. So we stayed on the main ones and stuck with some of the more popular places. One of my absolute favorite souvineers that I found was the calender of hot priests in Venice. I mean what kind of city puts there priests on a calender. Unfortunatly I decided this was one of those souvineers that I probably did not need I did get some pictures though. The gondola rides looked wonderful how ever they are extremly expenisve so we never did take one but there was a calender for all the gondola operators just in case I felt left out.
The next day we went to a few churches and packed our stuff up for our last trip down the grand canal.

I realize that this delay in posts from me must have been agonizing for everyone so we apoligize for any trobules it may have caused and we will be spending all night catching everyone up on our journey. So josh and I have been extremly busy, more so than ever and we have lots to tell. That last post I left we had dropped off lots of stuff at the post office and hopefully it will eventually arrive in Canada, we relly have no idea what we were supposed to do besides write the one address we know. Our plan was to leave Marbella this day and arrive in Malaga a couple hours later, where we would catch an overnight train to Valencia where we would catch our plane to ...... a few days later. I am not disclosing the name of where we are going because I think its time I added suspense to my posts. Anyways as usual it was easier said than done and when we arrived in Malaga we went to the train station to find that the first train availble was on the 22nd, which was two days after our flight was booked for. So any other route we planned for was booked days after our flight was leaving. And the reason being, of corse it was still Easter week. So we resorted to a long overnight deathly bus ride to Alicante, see what I did there I added a personal touch of drama, brilliant. So it was about 12pm when we bought our tickets and our bus ride would leave later that night at 12:30am. So I did my usual bus waiting routine and read my trashy british/UK gossip magazines and newspaper. I really enjoy the newspapers they write, they are almost as bad as the magazines and somehow they still believe they are writing legitimate/serious news. So we caught our bus and arrived very unbeautifully the next moring in Alicante at 7:30am. We had previously booked a hotel so we took a cab and arrived there quickly after. I love the reactions we get from hotel reception. Most times (especially after dealthy bus rides) we arrive at our lovely hotels looking not so healthy so i think they almost always think we are coming to beg for money. So of course we took a much needed nap. We later on took a stoll down to the harbour where we assumed we were staying in another large resort area, due to the plethera of massive yaghts parked in the harbour. The next moring we woke up semi-early to go exploring, keep in mind this city was an accidental stop and we had no plans for it. Good thing the main attratction was hard to miss. The city has a humungous, massive, gigantic incredibly large fortress overlooking the entire city. So we opted out on the five hour climb up there and took the 4Euro, 3 minute elevator ride up to the top. We got a magnificent view of the city which was very beautiful and explored the area. The really great thing about the fortress was inside some of the old tunnels art exibits we being held. The was a really creepy one held in a tunnel which was completly sealed off until someone entered than which a guard would seal it off right after. Horror movie music was played and tiny deranged figurines of animals spun slowly on a moving circle. At the far wall a black and white shadow movie of people dressed in animal costumes doing strage things such as blowing up ballons was being played. The walls in the next room were decorated with scratches of again, deranged animals. By the five minutes I had spent in there were up I was ready to scream and hurt something, that music was insane, I felt quite bad for the grandpaly security guard who had to watch over the exibit. I did notice some rage in his eyes when we first arrived... So we left and did stuff, the next morning we got up early and booked it down to the harbour and caught a ferry to a little island called Tabarca, and when I say small i mean population of 100, and 3km long and 1/2km at its widest. The reason for our tip there being that we heard there was some snokeling here. So we arrived and quickly found out that the book we read most likely meant in the summer when the island was actually alive. There was no businesses, just a few souvineers shops and a tiny grocery store. We knew there had to be something good because as we arrived in the harbour you could see a photo shoot taking place off to the side of the island. As well as soon as we got close to the island the water turned into the most beautiful thing I have seen yet. The water was the clearest, purest and greenest I have ever seen, even more beautiful than spain or portugal. I guess this would be the mediterranean. So maybe it would be ok here. We arrived when it was overcast but when the sun came out 20 minutes later I could see why we and the boat loads of other people were coming here. The beach was terribly rocky and there were wood shavings instead of sand. But the water was the most incredible site I`ve seen. Here there were reefs and turquoise blue waters meeting the dark water. The sun was soo hot that day that nothing was better than that freezing beautiful water. We went exploring over the rest of the island and walked out into the reefs. So that was our day and went back to Alicante explored, packed and got ready to leave for Valencia where we would catch our flight to somewhere. So extremly early the next day we left for the bus station late, as for some reason neither of our credit cards would go through and we had no cash, good thing Josh is a quick sprinter. We took our bus ride to Valenica the trip was nice but once we got to the city we were glad we hadent been able to get to the city when we first had tried. There is just something about large Spainish cites, they are cluttered, dirty, and unwelcoming as opposed to the smaller cities that are the most beautiful places that we have ever seen. So hours later we arrived at the Valencia airport to catch our plane ride to ............ Milan, Italy!!! Against our original plans and iteneray we decided to go to italy, just beacause it was soo close so we thought we would just pop on over. So we flew a short while until we reached the Milan airport. One funny custom that me and Josh always laugh at is when the plane lands everyone arupts into loud clapping and cheering, were they expecting a different outcome??? We caught a bus into the city center and went immediatly to an internet cafe because we had no place to stay. Obiously we havent learnt anything from our pervious escapades. The stupid things with these internet booking sites is that you are unable to book for the day that it currently is and no one could call for us because they are not allowed to use the phones for customer use. So we went on the suggestion of our lonely planet book and decided that we did not need to stay in the city and the we would move on. Apparently besides being the capital of fashion which is a HUGE thing there is nothing much to see in Milan. I think it would have killed me to go see the shops where I could afford only a sock.

So early the next morning we were off to Ronda, a small city that Josh was very excited to see and I was reluctant to go to. The city is situated on a huge gorge that divides the city into upper and lower parts. I am really glad we went because this was another one of my favorite cities. The valley that surronds the city was absolutly gorgeous and green with lots of rolling hills. Everyday we have had such good weather so I pretty much fall in love with every place that we go. The city architecture is also very amazing, very very old and detailed. So we arrived and took off to see the first amazing view when I met a little stray dog taht would follow us for a couple of hours. I have decided to carry a little bag of dog food with me so all the dogs will love me!!! The thing I hate most about this blog is the fact that I will see so much during one day but when it comes to writing about it how much can i write about how beautiful one place is. Take my word for it and do a search on Ronda, Spain. So we walked and looked at some very old mines which was little creepy and the million stairs back up was a nice little workout. I hadn´t been feeling well all day so Josh and I split up so I could go relax, in other words, shop. So the sad/wonderful things about all of these little beautiful towns is that since the European Union much more money has come into these places and all places are being broughten up to "European standards" so all these beautiful places are very touristy. There is incredible shopping everywhere which makes it very hard to control myself but I have not been buying much at all, just little souvineers here and there. So we met up later and had some cappchino which is mandatory in Europe and left for Marbella. That night we went back to the coast and had supper and had a bottle of wine, then another, and another on the beach, and one more on the beach before we went to sleep. So the next moring was easter when I finally woke up very painfully. I had mentioned to Josh how much I love easter because I love hunting for the candy. So he got me up and told me I had a bunch of stuff to find around the room, yess!!! I was so excited and still very inebriated from the night before so I went and began my hunt. I told him it was ok if he just wanted to hide Euros so he did, unfortunatly they were the chocolate kind as well as lots of lindor chocolate eggs, yumm. So we were supposed to leave that day but I was in soo much pain we booked for another night. So that was a big waste of a day, eventually I came alive and we went for supper and organized our trip. So this morning we woke up early and went to the post office. I have been trying to send stuff home since our days in Lagos, Portugal which was a least a week and a half ago so I have been carrying around this stupid postal box for days now because Spain shuts down for Easter as you should know by now. During this time I have collectd more stuff as well as I went through my belongings to send off what was not absolutly essential. So 86 Euros later and 24 pounds lighter I left the post office with a whole new type of backpacking the minimalistic kind.

The day after our big trip to Africa we were still tired of Spain so we went to the UK for a little day trip. About an hour bus ride from Tarifa we arrived in a city that surronded a very large rock out on an island. The was the rock of Gilbraltor. So at the tip of southern Spain sits Gilbraltor which is home to about 30,000 people and is a UK territory. So here you can ride double-decker buses, drink in english pubs, and unfortunalty the currency is British pounds another way of saying EXTREMLY EXPENSIVE!!! This beautiful little piece of Britain is very famous for the hundreds of monkeys that live up at the top of the Upper Rock. When we arrived we found a little tour van that would show us everything we wanted to see so we took off up to the Upper Rock. First we stopped at the Pillars of Hercules. The Pillars of Hercules is the ancient name given to the promontories that flank the entrance to the Strait of Gibraltar. And in mythological times was believed to be the gateway to Hades. It was a foggy day so we could not see Africa but we got some great pictures, very surreal. Next we went St. Michaels Caves, the Cathedral Cave was long believed to be bottomless, probably giving birth to the story that Gibraltar was linked to Africa by a subterranean passage over 15 miles (24 Km) long under the Strait of Gibraltar. The cave consists of an Upper Hall with 5 connecting passages and rocks between 40ft (12.2m) and 150ft (45.7m) to a smaller hall. Beyond this, a series of narrow halls leads to a further succession of chambers, reaching depths of some 250ft (62.5m) below the entrance. Here we began to see some of the monkeys. They just hang around, swing onto cars, hunt for food, and mostly sit around and be cute. What is differnt about this place is there is no regulation of how the people or monkeys interact. I dont even think that someone works their regularly except to feed the monkeys. So you can touch them and play with them, just a note the older and the bigger ones are also the mean ones. Babies monkeys are really fun and sometimes they seem randomly on to people. So next stop was the Great Siege Tunnels, the labyrinth of tunnels inside the Rock of Gibraltar is arguably the most ingenious defense system ever devised. The tunnels were built during the Great Siege from July 1779 to February 1783. The Great Siege Tunnels, 8 square feet (2.4sq m)by 82 feet long (25m) were cut into the Rock by sheer hard work and guts. In just five weeks 18 men equipped with only simple hand tools and gunpowder, achieved this great task. Afterwards we we to the top of the rock to visit the Apes Den. This is where most monkeys can be found lazing around. They were really fun to vist and soo cute. We were up so high in the fog that looking over the edge you could only see white, good pictures soon! So at the end of the tour we were back down on the main street where we looked around at shops which were ridiculousy expensive and then went to a British pub for tea and scones, mom aren´t you proud!!! We went to Safeway so I could get my UK gossip magazines and we were off to Spain. Early nex morning we were off to our next stop, Marbella. This was just a small dot on the map and lonely planet said nothing about the city, but we had to stop somewhere because everywhere else was filled up due to Easter Week. Much to our surprise, Marbella has turned out to be one of the most beautiful cities we have been to. I am very surpised nothing was written about it but could be because it is a very popular resort town. The city is located in a amazingly beautiful valley full of greeness and surronded by sparkling blue waters. This area attracts money from all around the world and the houses here are spectacular as well as the many gorgeous golf resorts that populate the area. So when we arrived early in the morning almost everything was closed but we had a placed book because otherwise another Seville day could have happenend. We shelled out a bit more money than the last few placed and was well worth it. In Tarifa we had stayed in a boring plain room with nothing in it, but here was more like a hotel where everything is much more personal and clean! So this day we would not get our room until 12:30 so I updated the blog for a while and later we went exploring the beautiful coast of Marbella. This was a very relaxing day and did not do much but stroll and then off to sleep.

So this brings us up to April 12th. April 11th was a very important day, so Josh and I wish happy birthdays to two very important people. Happy birthday to Brenda Murphy (Josh´s mom) and happy birthday to Karl Murphy (my dad)!!!! Isnt that funny but in a really creepy way, no relation for your info. So anyways April 12th, Josh and I woke up and came to the conclusion we had had enough of Europe so we decided to go to Africa for the day. Tarifa is the gateway city of Spain to the Strait of Gilbraltor where the Atlantic Ocean meets the Mediterraen. So just a 35minute ferry ride away we can head to Morroco, Africa. There was no way we could pass this trip up. For a while we planned on touring ourselves but for 53 euro with much included we decided it was a better deal to go with a group. So we headed over to the ferry terminal and went through the most relaxed security ever, something like airport terminal sercurity but with an old man asleep who was supposed to watch scans of the bags. We arrived in Tanger, not Tangier that is the english version, much to my liking. The boat was very fast and very wavy. Our lonely planet guidebook suggests the first thing to do when you arrive in Tanger is to leave. This is due to all the swindlers and street salesman that fill the city. This I was really excited for, I wanted to see all their little tricks and scams they would try and pull over on us. So we boarded the tour bus and began a tour of newer Tanger. We stopped for a little camel ride, you will see me posing with my camel he was very happy to be on camera.

So we got to see some of the nicest neighbourhoods in Tager which were gorgeous huge palm tree yards with mansions that included tons of rooms, all complete with metal window guards and gun carrying soilders for security. The downtown was very sketchy, people weaving in and out of traffic, stopping at vehicles to ask for money. There was no real rule for the road you kind of drive where ever there is room. There was some very nice architecture but most was run down. I really love arabic writing and the language is funny, lots of spit. The people you could see were very weary of us and watched carefully as we did for them. It was a very busy city full of tradition such as the men and women in their full length dress and somewhat modern though much behind compared to our standards. So we got our first taste of Morrocan salesmen went we got off the bus for our camel ride. Out of nowhere about 13 men with all sorts of junk mostly bracelets and cheap hats were in our face showing off their merchandise. And they really would not leave you alone. First time you said no, they showed you more, second no it was a lower price, thrid time it was more for the same price, fourth no it was what price do you want, fifth no it was even more for a lower price, sixth no it was what price do you want, and literally they would not take no for an answer even if you walked away they would follow. A few times I quickwalked around through the group to loose the men. Most important rule NEVER make eye contact with the salesmen, you cant imagine how fast they can get to you for some baggering, second NEVER look at the merchandise, in 0.2 seconds they zip right over if you even take a teeny glimpse out in their direction. Once they had gone through most people they disappeared from where ever they came from and we were off again. We went down to some older areas of town, where we had a spectacular view of the sea. We wandered through a bit of the maze they call Tanger. Every so often we would hear the prayer call to remind everyone to pray, just imagine an elderly voice not saying much just a droaning mumble for minutes at a time. Every so often men would appear with crappy stuff to sell. At one point we had a drum and cobra snake dance, very cool. But always remember nothing here is for free and the performers turn on those who do not tip. So again we were off and went to our Morrocan lunch which was definitly the best meal we have had since we were here in Europe. It was a five course lunch, with soup, kabobs, cous cous and chicken, and some deep-fried pastry cookie slathered in some liquid sweetness and to follow the best morrocan mint tea, delicious!!! Meanwhile we had a traditionial Morrocan band play for us during lunch. Again, always tip or the old sweet men become not so nice. The fun really began as we took a tour of the town centre a big bazarr. Here we saw what looked like men selling faucets and pipes, electric cable, and used painting supplies, but what it really is the men are offering the skills as tradesmen. You talk to them, figure out a price and take them home with you. During this time we were of course attacked by salesmen, you cannot imagine their persistance as well as how aggressive they were. We went through an open market where everything is sold very fresh and right in front of you. Then we went to an very upscale morrocan carpet store. The owner went over the difference of these very fine carpets compared to others and showed us tons of beautiful carpets. Downstairs was where all the heavy goods were sold, including jewlery, leather work etc. Here the salesmen were also persistant but once you said you were just looking they usually backed off for a while. Inside we were safe but just taking a look out the side door 30 men and more had lined up holding goods and yelling "Senora" to catch your attention. If you dare looked they went crazy showing off their stuff and yelling. So all of us tour group stayed inside and then we were off again to a pharmacy. Here we all had a little seminar on the natural spices they carried and the uses etc. Josh bought some whole ginseng which if boiled for five minutes should be the same as drinking red bull all day. I bought some mascara which looks very primitive to put on, but this would be the same stuff indian women use and they always have gorgeous eye lashes. Besides I lost mine so I had to buy some more. After we were off the the Continental hotel for a short break before we were off to the ferry. I found some beautiful pillow covers made in Casablanca, Morroco which I will use in my own first place!! Then we were off to the ferry, harrassed by more salesmen. I stopped to ask a price on some painted plates at a stand. The guy followed me after I said no for 15euro, then he offerd 2 for same price, then three for same price and finally turned around after he had followed for 1km or more. They really never give up. We sadly left on our ferry back to Spain. I really enjoyed our trip to Tanger, it was very exciting and the people live a completly different way. I think if you are in a large group as we were you would definitly be attacked more. I watched others who were only in pairs and they were left alone for the most part. So I only regret not staying for the longer trip.