Into Portugal! We spent a few days in Porto, getting to grips with the Portuguese atmosphere, and checking out various museums, cafes/restaurants and parks/plazas. Central Porto is incredibly beautiful and scenic. On the first day we climbed up an old church spite called Torre dos Clérigos, which looked down onto the surrounding city, with the Atlantic Ocean off in the distance. We checked out the Portuguese Centre of Photography, which is a gallery and museum set in an old prison, and close by is a famous book store called Livraria Lello, and claims to be a source of inspiration for J. K. Rowling when writing Harry Potter. The Soares dos Reis National Museum featured classical paintings and sculptures by Portuguese artists, with a nice courtyard in the centre of the building. After spending the first part of the day there we went to the nearby Garden of the Crystal Palace, and checked out the Museo Romantico, a house museum formerly lived in by Carlos Alberto of Savoy, ...
Our journey through the Lao People's Democratic Republic has been short but sweet. Starting in the capital city of Vientiane, we ventured north to the scenic mountainscape of Vang Vieng, and then onwards to finish up in the former royal capital and UNESCO World Heritage Site Luang Prabang. Vientiane Chilling in the capital was fun, and aside from exploring the Night Market, the main attraction we visited was Buddha Park which was a bit touristy but still good value. Vang Vieng Things got a bit more exciting once we got on the road to Vang Vieng. The ride out there had its rough spots but the views were becoming more and more spectacular the closer we got. The biggest highlight here was a day trip out to the Vang Vieng Elephant Sanctuary, where we hand fed them bananas, walked with them through the shrubland and helped bathe them. Later that evening I went for a hike to find a good viewpoint to enjoy the ...
The final weeks in Spain were spent travelling through Andalucía, and after the intensity of Morocco arriving in Tarifa was relieving. We spent a couple of nights in Cádiz, one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in Europe. The archaeology museum there looked at the Phoenicians that settled there over 3000 years ago. Ronda turned out to be one of the most beautiful cities we visited. We arrived towards the end of their Ronda Romántica festival, which saw the streets packed every night with many of the locals participating in nightly parades celebrating some part of Ronda’s history. However the most incredible part of Ronda was the scenery... In Córdoba we went to the Mezquita-Catedral de Córdoba, a beautiful grand mosque which was converted into a cathedral after the reconquista. On the first day in Grenada we went to the Catedral de Granada and adjoining Capilla Real de Grenada (the resting place of Isabella and Ferdinand). And before leaving we al...
The airport looks nice and hope hostel is going well. -Mitchell
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