Blog Posts, Europe Blog Posts

Week 15: Andorra to Malaga

This week has passed by quickly, probably because I was rushing to get here in Malaga to start my carnet application. I left Andorra headed for Barcelona and stayed with my first couch surfing host here in Spain, a French guy living in a coastal town north of Barcelona, called Blanes. I stayed there for a couple of nights, visiting Barcelona by train. I wasn’t too fond of Barcelona, but I think that is due to the general dislike of large cities that I am developing.

Europe Trip

From Barcelona I drove down to Valencia, I have visited Valencia before and I really like the place. I stayed with a Venezuelan guy and his house mates, one Columbian girl, an Italian guy and an Austrian girl. In the evening we went to a couch surfing meeting, then to a club which was having an Erasmus night. It was a really fun night and we didn’t get back till late, I slept while two in the afternoon. After walking around Valencia and eating some ice cream I headed further south to Alicante.

Europe Trip

I arrived in Alicante late in the evening but still had time to have a Chinese meal, some beers and a talk with my couch surfing host Arthur. The next day I met him and some of his work mates for some lunch, more beer and more talking. They were really friendly and entertaining, I really enjoyed my time there. From Alicante I headed to Granada to stay with a girl I did my teacher training with, She lives in the beautiful old part of the city, up on the hill behind the Alhambra.

After spending a couple of days exploring the city I headed here to Malaga, to stay with a friend who has been living and working here for a couple of years. I now finally have my replacements for the documents that I lost in the Netherlands and can start applying for the Carnet de Passage, which I need to pass borders as I go through Africa.

Blog Posts, Europe Blog Posts

Week 14: Italy to Andorra

Week 14 of my journey has come to an end and I find myself in Andorra, a country I hadn’t heard much about but it is great. After my last post I travelled from Verona to Aosta in north-west Italy, the journey took a lot longer than google maps suggested, around 6 hours. Luckily the route was nice, especially after entering the Alps. I couch surfed in Aosta for one night before heading into Switzerland, the road I had chosen was closed so I had to take the tunnel.

Europe Trip

Unfortunately I took a wrong turn in Switzerland and ended up miles in the wrong direction, this meant I couldn’t explore the mountains as I had planned and instead I headed to Lake Geneva, circling around the northern shore and ending up in Geneva itself. While Geneva is a nice city it didn’t strike me as being anything special, maybe I have been spoiled recently… The next day I left Switzerland and headed through the south of France to Montpelier, I checked into a hostel, showered and headed out into the city. I’m not sure why, but I really like being in France, the language and accent make me smile, so after a night of wandering around through the many squares and smiling, I headed back to the hostel. Which brings us to today, I set off through France into the Pyrenees. I really like these mountains, maybe because it was a little warmer than the Alps.

Europe Trip

I entered Andorra and couldn’t help feeling impressed, every road is surrounded by beautiful scenery. The hostel I am in is probably the best hostel I have ever visited, it is also a sports center, there is an indoor climbing wall, football, basketball, volleyball and lots of mountain treks.

Europe Trip

The only bad thing is I’ve broken my laptop keyboard. I spilled some beer on it so turned off the power and tried to dry it using the hand drier in the toilets. This worked, but it also melted some of the keys and they fell off… oops. Guess I’ll have to pick up some spares. Tomorrow I’m heading into Spain, Barcelona to be exact, should be good!