We continued our Berlin adventures and then headed to Prague.

Sights

• We went and explored Berlin Mall, we had some fun shopping and even discovered that one of the floors had a slide instead of an elevator to get you to the bottom.
• We had some scooter fun, they are everywhere here and you download and app and then just pick one up off the side of the street and go and drop it off where you finish, Germans seem to be able to manage this kind of system a bit better than when the same system was trialed for bikes in Sydney. We flew around Berlin’s Tiergarten (on two wheels) and saw some cool buildings. We rode them to a really big Christmas market
• We went to one of Berlin’s biggest Christmas markets which was great fun. We even got to do some ice-skating which was special. There was a big circle ice rink around a fountain with Christmas tunes playing.
• We checked out the TV tower and did a little bit of Christmas shopping then it we settled in for some lovely Vietnamese food we had been craving before calling it a day
• The next morning was slow and steady (one last trip to our bakery and Nathan went for a run), before we drove to Prague.

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The Dresden Debacle

We decided to try and find a cute little town on the way to have a little stop in and get some food. Dresden was the chosen destination. We are sure that Dresden is in fact a cute town/city but we got our bearings wrong and never found the main part or any food (not helped by the fact it was Christmas eve and nearly everything was closed). Instead it was a 90 minute walk around a worn down industrial area. It was labelled the ‘Dresden Debacle’ or the ‘Dresden Disaster’ depending on which you prefer.

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Prague saves the Day

We arrived in Prague and the Dresden Debacle was quickly forgotten, it was meant to rain all evening but stopped by the time we got out from dinner which was great. The city was amazing and all lit up and we found some markets that blew us away (and being our 24th market, there is a high bar), we got to hear a Prague orchestra play at the markets. We also enjoyed a delicious Indian meal to cap it all off. A perfect way to spend Christmas Eve.

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Music of the day

Orchestra and singers at the markets, lovely! Check it out: https://vimeo.com/user105822180/review/381682937/c76ecf61ae

After arriving late the night before (thanks Ryan Air for the 2 hour delay!) we had a slow start to the morning.

Stop 1: Bakery! (Back Galerie) A couple doors down for Brekky. We enjoyed ogling all the German treats (neither of us having been here before). We got the breakfast deal that came with 2 fried eggs, salami, cheese, cucumber, a bread roll, chocolate croissant and a coffee all for the low low price of 5 euro.

Stop 2: We started making our way to the Brandenburg Gate but walked past Hillsong Berlin on the way so popped in and caught the second half of the service.

Stop 3: Back on the way to Brandenburg but this time distracted by a Christmas market (number 18 of our trip), this was a cute small one with lots of decorations and schnitzels.

Stop 4: Made it Brandenburg Gate, very nice.

Stop 5: Memorial of the murdered Jews of Europe. This is the main holocaust memorial in Germany and it was devastating reading about the atrocities. It is very well put together with a museum type layout with stories and images and then concrete blocks above ground. It definitely helps you to understand more about the evil that went on.

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Stop 6: Walked through the park of Tiergarten which was beautiful and headed onto Charlottenburg Palace (after getting lost on the way) for number 19 Christmas markets. The palace was beautiful and really well lit up, huge markets with lots of great stalls- a bit crowded though being a Sunday.

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Stop 7: Christmas market number 20- Weihnachtszauber at the Gendarmenmarkt. This is a very traditional Christmas market and it was beautiful, lots of star lights, in a historical square with a big stage with dancers and pantomime plays. We enjoyed a delicious chicken schnitzel with homemade fries.

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We stayed in the beautiful Lake Como for two nights, unfortunately it rained the whole time so we didn’t get to enjoy it in all its glory.

Sights of the stay

Lake Como really is a stunning area, it’s a place we definitely want to come back to and wish we had more nights there. We were staying in Menaggio and so we explored around the town, we also explored the neighbour towns Varenna and Bellagio via ferry. They were all amazing and were worth exploring in spite of the rain. There was a fog over the Lake while we were there but as we were leaving it lifted and we got to see a bit more. Lake Como combines the beauty of Swiss snow capped mountains (very close by- a lot of people live around the lake and drive to Switzerland for work each day) and Italian colourful houses and landscape.

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Kirsten receives cooking masterclass

The rain didn’t ruin the stay as it enabled us to spend some more time with our hosts Antonietta and Andrea. They were so friendly and had us into their home for dinner both nights we were there. Kirsten received an Italian cooking masterclass from Antonietta, Kirsten mastered Risotto and Lasagna (from scratch including making the pasta) during our stay. Antonietta also whipped up some ‘typical’ Italian entrees which were awesome (lots eggplant, cheese, croquettes and bread). We loved spending time with our hosts and felt we got a very authentic Italian experience. Andrea whipped out the Italian- English dictionary many times throughout our meals and we had lots of laughs together.

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Living with George Clooney

We were excited to find out that we were living in the same region as George Clooney. He has a villa nearby and his favourite golf course was only 800m from where we were staying. Antonietta bragged about seeing George twice over the last few years (on his Harley Davidson). We searched and searched for him but unfortunately there were no sightings of Mr. Clooney. See below a drawing of George’s house by a talented local.

Following the marathon we stayed for 4 nights in Vernazza in the Cinque Terre in Italy, it is a very beautiful place.

Top experiences

• Our Airbnb was up not 1 but 2 spiral staircases so that was a challenge getting our bags up! Thankfully we were rewarded with a lovely view and terrace at the end
• Hiking- even though Nathan was in a lot of pain he was a trooper and we did a 1.5 hour hike between towns each day. Cliff tops, blue water and colourful buildings and excellent views. While it was forecast to rain all 3 days we gratefully only ended up with one afternoon of rain.
• Pesto making competition! The only way to find out whose PESTO is the BESTO. We visited Monterosso (one town over) the day before and saw they had a pesto making competition- it is the speciality of this region and we have enjoyed pesto pizza and fresh pesto pasta. We arrived the next day to watch the competition and it was a community event so the friendly town members encouraged us to enter. Everyone was extremely friendly, starting off with kicking out two other town members from their places at the front so we could be closer to the demonstrator. We then had about 5 town members crowding around us giving us tips in a mix of English and Italian and adding in ingredients for us while we pounded it in the mortar and pestle. While Kirsten is generally considered the best cook out of the two of us, Nathan was given all the compliments for his technique pounding the ingredients, words like ‘strong’ and ‘very powerful’ were thrown around. You must read to the end to be rewarded by finding out if we won or not!*
• Relaxing time- beautiful views, Christmas decorations, delicious food (wood fired pizza a highlight) and time to read and sleep in

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Kirsty’s Observations

• Shops in the Cinque Terra seem to enjoy the siesta that Spain, not Italy is usually known for. The shops that haven’t taken the winter off tend to open about 10am- 1pm and then don’t open again until 4:45-7pm, they don’t seem to mind missing the business from tourists in the meantime
• Gelato is a welcome treat even in the winter, we enjoyed grabbing one on one occasion when starting a hike. There are approx 5 Gelatorias in each town with one open for winter.
• Church bells are not musical instruments. Church bells ring frequently throughout the day in Vernazza (we think someone must have been doing it manually as it was often early or late by a few minutes). They had a go at doing a Christmas song each day, it was nice to get into the festive spirit but the bell sounds seem to run into each other a lot
• At home we often comment on the efficiency and cost of Europe’s train system, sadly that does not apply to Italy. Their relaxed vibe seems to also apply to their train system and pretty much every train we have caught has been late. Oh well, they make great food.

*We did not win, travesty. Apparently a bit too much salt, we thought ours tasted great!

Today was the big day for Nathan, his marathon debut, and where better to make the debut than Pisa! (Kirsten calls it the butt of Italy!)

Race Recap

• We got there half an hour early and got to have some photos with the leaning tower (not the best ones you have ever seen!).
• We wished each other well and we split up, Nathan to line up for the marathon and Kirsten to line up for the 7km fun run
• Kirsten whipped through her 7km like it was nothing.
• Nathan had a harder time, he was having fun for the first 20km or so even chatting to a fellow Aussie for a few kilometres along the way, but with about 18km to go he started cramping in his calves, he had to stop every couple of kilometres until about the 30km mark when both his calves and both his hamstrings started cramping and from there he had to stretch every kilometre or so. Nathan eventually got back in a time of 3:03:35. ‘It was a painful but cool experience’ said the bleeding and broken Nathan at the end.

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Italian’s know how to put on an event

• The race had a great expo where you collected your bibs and had the seedings of all the runners printed out on the wall. They were giving out free massages before and after the race and you also got a free shirt and goodies bag, a great deal! Kirsten only paid 3.5 euros and got a goodies bag, a metal, a free chocolate tart and fruit and also the joy of running. Lucky girl!

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Off to the Cinque Terre

• Where better to recover than the beautiful town of Vernazza? We hobbled our way to the station and caught the 2.5 hour train to the beautiful seaside town in the Cinque Terre. It is very beautiful here! The only problem … so so many stairs. Nathan had a very hard time negotiating those post marathon but worth it for the views!

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A very low key few days as Kirsten has a bit of a cold and Nathan was resting up for his marathon debut. We have enjoyed a slower paced couple of days especially as we stayed in a nice Airbnb apartment in Sevilla.

Sights

• Sevilla is a cute little city in which everything is within walking distance, so we walked and visited lots of amazing Cathedrals and beautiful orange trees.
• Sevilla has a lovely river running through it so we went for a walk along it one day and for a bike ride along it another day.
• Placa d’espanya was a highlight, an amazing building with a really massive park next to it. We still don’t know what its purpose is but we enjoyed exploring it.
• One night we enjoyed a flamenco show. We were very impressed by how skilled both the musicians (especially the guitarist) and the dancers were (they were so fast).
• The other night we enjoyed a special Sevilla light show with 8 giant angels being lit up to the tune of Feliz Navidad. When Kirsten came to Sevilla in 2012 with her family they had a similar light show which lit up a building. They really know how to celebrate Christmas here! They also had a free miniature Christmas village we stumbled onto one day.
• Today we left Sevilla and went to Pisa. Kirsten has said that if she had to be sick in any place it would be here as she isn’t a big fan.

Video of light show (not as good as the 2012 one but still fun!): https://vimeo.com/user105822180/review/379471500/be1b0407ca

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Tapas Galore

We can’t decide which region does the best tapas out of Barcelona, Granada and Sevilla. They were all too delicious to decide between. A highlight in Sevilla was the mustard chicken and stuffed eggplant. It’s like choosing your favourite child!

Aldi spreads joy all around the world

Surprisingly one of the highlights of the trip for Kirsten has been visiting all the different supermarkets and so she was delighted to see Sevilla had an Aldi within walking distance. We went there as soon as we arrived and Kirsten was as excited as a kid in a candy shop. Aldi brings happiness to people all over the globe. Sadly they didn’t have any Asian or Indian sauces, at all. Travesty.

We really enjoyed our time in Granada, its quieter pace and beautiful old buildings.

Sights

• Looking around Granada there was lovely busking, churches and old cobblestone streets
• Really nice river and plazas to sit in and some downtime making spanish omlettes in our apartment and reading.
• Giant bauble, three kings (they celebrate 3 kings bringing gifts ratehr than Santa) and Christmas markets (this is about Christmas market #15 for the trip so far)
• Full day skiing in the Sierra Nevada (45 min bus trip). So beautiful! Nathan had a morning of lessons with me and then killed it in the afternoon.
• The Alhambra! The main attraction in Granada, it is a palace and fortress complex. It is beautiful and huge, lots of big peaceful pools. You had to book a few months in advance to get in.

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Eats

Finally shared a Churros after eyeing them off for a few days, it is a no from Kirsten (too fried, chocolate sauce not chocolatey enough) and a 6.5/10 from Nathan.

Granada torte (typical to Granada) was delicious! Mix between a chocolate crepe and croissant. Disappointed that it is only typical to Granada…

Nathan has found his favourite treat, the Palmera- it gets a 10/10 from him. Note the look of love.

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Spanish customs we have adopted

While we are generally fairly early dinner eaters we have really enjoyed the late dinners of Spain. Everything is still open and happening and people are out. Most eat around 9pm ish.

While neither of us are big on alcohol we have loved the Sangria, in Granada you order a drink and get a free mystery tapas dish, it is very exciting! James and Fiona kindly shouted us dinner from Australia as a Christmas present so we have enjoyed lots of yummy tapas in Granada.

Next stop- Sevilla!

Simple day today, bit of sightseeing with Jenny and Jaume followed by a train to Granada

Sights of the Day

• Jenny and Jaume took us to Montserrat, mountains outside of Barcelona, it was beautiful, the view was literally breathtaking as we had to climb a billion stairs to get to the top! But it was definitely worthwhile

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How fast can the speed train go?

We were very sad to farewell Jenny and Jaume as they had been such fun to travel around with and were amazing hosts. Then it was on to the speed train to Granada. We were both impressed by how fast the train could go as it cracked 300km/h multiple times. Very impressive!

SuperHost Domingo

We arrived to the friendly face of our AirBnB host Domingo, he was an absolute champion, very friendly and hospitable meeting us after 11pm and then taking a good half an hour to run us through the map of Grananda, telling us where to go and where not to go, but more importantly, where to eat and where not to eat. He earned a 5 star review from us.

Jenny and Jaume very kindly gave us an itinerary for our day exploring Barcelona today- it was great to have all the local tips. We have had amazing sunny weather since arriving in Spain and it has been a lot warmer than the previous two countries which has been nice.

Sights of the day

• First stop- Sagrada Familia Basilica. It is so intricate, feels more like a piece of art than a church.
• You thought the Arc De Triomf was only in Paris, there is one in Barcelona too and it is beautiful
• Indoor ruins of Barcelona, really interesting history and well preserved
• Next a walk to the coast line of La Barceloneta for lunch (paella of course!)
• Great view over Barcelona at Mirador de Colom
• Walk down La Rambla including a beautiful Cathedral where we watched the bridal party enter for a wedding along with a lot of tourists.
• Plaza Espanol where there is an old bull fighting ring

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Unique busker of the day

It seems in Europe (especially in Spain) there are many special talents waiting to be discovered to use for busking.

We couldn’t pick just one winner for today- it was a dead heat between the amazing sandcastle builder with fire inside or the man doing acrobatics with a giant ring.

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Sport of the day

Last minute spontaneous decision to get tickets to the Barcelona FC game after we saw it was on that night. It was Barcelona vs Mallorca and Barca won 5-2 which was exciting. Got to see 3 Lionel Messi goals!

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Today we were very fortunate to have our own tour guide and driver taking us around to some of the best sites in Catalonia. Jaume being our driver and Jenny being our tour guide, Jenny is one of Merryn’s close school friends and Jaume is her husband. We caught the train from Barcelona to Blanes (coastal town) and away we went.

Sights of the Day

• We started off by going to Besalu, a medieval city near the mountains. Here Jaume confessed that when he takes people on tours he makes up some of the facts ‘a lot of the time’. It was quickly decided that Jenny would be our tour guide for the day. The city was amazing and the surrounding mountains and the remaining autumn leaves made the visit even better. Also, this is one of the rare places Michael and Merryn have not been to. Very nice to get one up over those experienced travellers!
• We then went back to Blanes for lunch with Jenny’s son Roger and a tour with Jenny as Jaume had to go off to work.
• Jenny took us to a huge rock with a look out on the main beach of Blanes to show off the sights of their hometown, it was beautiful. The pine tress on the boulevard and the surrounding views were impressive. Jenny and Jaume both enjoyed pointing out throughout the day that Spanish beaches can give Sydney beaches a run for the money
• Jenny then took us to a castle right at the top of Blanes, we could see all the way back to Barcelona. It was an amazing view and enhanced by the fact that Jenny was showing us all the best places for photos and selfies.
• We then went to Tossa and explored around there, saw some Christmas markets and walked up to yet another castle. Spain really is an amazing country!

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Eats of the Day

• There is one standout today, that is Restaurant Kiku. I think Kirsten and I agreed that this was the best meal of the trip by far. Three courses of perfection, it was so good that we found ourselves enjoying seafood! Something neither of us could have ever expected. The entree platter of squid, calamari, mussels and salad was followed by the most delicious paella and fideua, the Catalan cream for dessert topped it off perfectly. Just delightful!

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Catalonians scoff at Sydney’s buildings

One of the repeated stories we heard from Jenny and Jaume was Michael showing Jaume the oldest building in Sydney which was 100 years old back in April when they visited. Jaume scoffed, ‘that’s a baby building in Catalonia’. When you have 1,000 year old buildings, apparently having a 100 year old building as your oldest is embarrassing.