Barcelona - Tenerife 4 July 2009

4 July Barcelona to Tenerife

Early start - had to leave the guest house by around 7am in order to get to the airport by 8 and catch the flight by 9.20. Easy travelling of course as we still don't have any major luggage although the additional clothes are starting to weigh us down - as well as the goggles as snorkels for the kids.

Get to the underground to find that actually the tickets don't operate on a 24 hour basis but on a daily basis. It means that we have to work out how to buy tickets on the underground and then on the train to the airport. All well there. We travel Clickair (which is part of Iberia) directly to Tenerife and arrive there at around 3pm (1 hour time difference).

Tenerife is a lot bigger than I had anticipated. I had imagined something slightly bigger than the Greek islands, but while the island is small in size, it has a major highway circling it and the captial is a large city. We are told to take the 103 bus which we do and after half an hour or so we end up at the bus terminal (looking at my friend Neil Tweddle who just happens to be in the ad campaign for the bus company!) After a while we work out that we have taken the bus in the wrong direction, so we take another one (102) to Puerto De La Cruz. We manage to get off at the right stop and Club Casablanca is not too far away.

Its typical resort with a large pool in the middle but our apartment has a small balcony with a bit of a view of the sea. The resort is at the top of a cliff / steep hill that leads down to the main town - around 15 minutes walk there and 30 back!

We relax for a bit and then head down to the black beach and buy some supplies at the large supermarket (at the bottom of the hill) on the way back. Its an at home night - we can now produce our own food which provides some savings (although the costs are still high)

Barcelona 3 July 2009

Barcelona - Day 2


We wake at around 9am to a full continental breakfast at Ally's Guest house and feeling a bit more as if we want to actually see the sights! The children are in better moods but it will still take a couple of days to recover from the initial trip.

We set out using the very efficient underground system (we are using two day card bought yesterday from the information place at the airport). I say efficient - the city is well covered by underground stations, but when you want to change from one to another there is invariably a long (and I mean around 500m) passage way that you have to walk along. Its as if the second station was invariably an after thought!.

First stop was a cathedral nearby and while we did not actually go in (entrance 12 Euro for Adults and 6 for kids - 11 and over), Guy did get to buy his spanish soccer shirt from the surrounding sales people

We arrive a the Ramlas area and make our way to the Picasso Museum / gallery.

I have previously visited the Van Gough museum in Amsterdam and this gallery is reminiscent of that visit. I find it fascinating to see how an artist develops from his early works to where he finally ends up. Picasso started off going to the relevant schools and learning about painting but you can see that as he gets to around 18, he paintings start to become less ordinary / real with non standard colours being experimented with and less replication.

I am still not convinced that in the long run, a lot of his paintings were not produced so much for love of art but more for generating income, but being a mere engineer, I's sure I'd meet with a lot of opposition!

Anyway the museum took up most of the morning and we then headed to the Gaudi park. Again it was necessary to make one of the long distance changes and the first underground was the most crowded we have experienced. As we reached the end of the passage, I realized that my wallet was no longer. I went back along the passage to check dust bins but tno avail. It was a hard lesson on top of what we'd already been through. No credit cards, and no drivers license and the trip has only just begun!

The Gaudi park is impressive. Basically he had been asked to design it for the rich and famous but the rich and famous had run out of money. Unlike today's developments, he had started with the main building first and built two houses. The circular designs are fascinating with no corners and windey staircases. The view of the city from the top of the park is amazing. The main building (which was to be the local market) is designed with numerous pillars and now has musicians busking to the huge turn out of tourists.

We took the underground to the general vicsinitiy and then had to walk up a steep hill to get to the top of the park where there is an impressive view of the city. (Fiona and Guy decided to miss the last part as the walk to the park had been pretty hectic and stress levels were up after the loss of my wallet)

We spent a couple of hours there and then headed back to the Ramblas area to buy some more clothes - it was now fairly clear that our back packs were not going to arrive any time soon! Only got to the Ramblas by around 8.30 and the shops were starting to close by the time we found the correct area but in the end we still found a few things to keep us going.

Then back to a restaurant that had been recommended to us for supper. Unfortunately the place was packes so we walked the 2 Kms or so back to the one we had gone to the night before. Exhausted and stressed, the walk wasn't what the kids were looking to do so tempers were up although the tapas calmed things down.

Barcelona 2 July 2009

Barcelona

That familiar feeling of exhaustion persists, but we only have 1 1/2 days in Barcelona. We leave the kids to sleep at around 3pm and head out into the local area to buy some essentials. Of course we would prefer to be sleeping as well! The prices in the are are high - R100 or so for two pairs of underpants for me and even more frightening prices for Fiona and Lauren. Still, we did get some money back from Iberia so we aren't too careful.


This said, it was amazing how the expenses mounted and in retrospect in the first few days we blew around R6000 without really trying!

At about 6pm we get going and visited the Ramblas area of Barcelona walking through the narrow streets. What was interesting is the way that the old area and the new shops were all intermingled - unlike Greece where it was all pretty separate. We visited a church / cathedral and a fascinating market but eventually we decide to head home as the stress and the exhaustion and stess of the last few days was starting to show.

Freshen up at the guest house and then off for our first taste of tapas. Find a local restaurant with great food and a local atmosphere not too far from the guest house and then back (late of course as the sun only goes down around 9 pm) for a good nights sleep!

South Africa To Spain 30 June - 1 July 2009

The Background 

 

We - or rather I - operate a Guest House called Marlinspike Guest Lodge in Hout Bay.  A few years ago when we started a man arrived on the doorstep from RCI and said that if we gave them some rooms (mostly in the off season) we could get points - and thus 'free' holidays. Well the holidays aren't exactly free as there is a bookng fee but generally its turned out to be a good deal.  He didn't specifically mention it - but I did suspect - that the points expire.  For this year I have around 15 000 points about the expire.  We wanted to go overseas, so the first place I looked was to a place where there was RCI accommodation.  To be honest, that's how the trip was initially planned.

 

The Trip

 

 The Basic Itinerary was :

 

30 June 2009 -  1600 - Leave Cape Town for Johannesburg

30 June 2009 -  1930 - Leave Johannesburg for Barcelona via Madrid (arrive around 10.30am)

2 July 2009 - 10.00 - Barcelona to Tenerife to stay at the Club Casablanca in Puerto De La Cruz

10 July 2009 ? Overnight Ferry to Gran Canaria

18 July 2009 Ferry back to Tenerife, Flight to Barcelona, Flight to Johannesburg (via Madrid) Iberia,

19 July 2009 Johannesburg to  Cape Town BA. 

 

Sounds so easy doesn't it!

 

Everything was set, timing was just right.  Housesitter arrives at 1.30 and Les to pick us up at 2pm.  11am I get a call from a client to install an ADSL line.  Phone MWeb, fax info through, go to client to make sure line is in - panic stations at home as now its 1pm and I'm not back - but made it in time although the last minute packing was very last minute.

 

Les and the housesitter arrived on time (Thanks Les!!!) and we were off to the airport.  Uneventful flight to Joburg (arr 6pm) and quick walk to Iberia check in.  First signs of trouble -'Sir, would you like to earn some money by delaying your flight to Thurday?' (now Tuesday)

 

Not bloody likely - been planning this trip for months.

 

'Sorry but we have no place for you on this flight'.   An official looking man now appears who rushes off leaving us at the counter wondering what next.  After around half an hour he returns. 

 

'We can get you on to Air France to Charles de Gaul and then on to Madrid - plane leaves in 30 minutes - check in is about to close'

 

Rush off to Air France.  The man says to the check in lady

 

'Don't check in the bags, we need to check something'

 

5 minutes, 10 minutes - someone drops by to tell the lady that its time to close check in.  So she checks in the bags.  As the last one disappears up the ramp the man returns.  'We don't have a flight for you from Paris to Barcelona until Thursday.  Please take your bags to our counter.  Problem - bags have gone.  Frantic phone calls to some distant baggage handler.  Everything sorted.

 

There is a counter at the back for Iberia with a lot of people milling around.  A family of 4 is trying for a flight via Portugal tomorrow and there are a couple of Swedes with back packs.  Of course this is what happens when we have the Confederations Cup.  Beware the World Cup!!.  The man appears.  'We can get you on to BA leaving at 8.30!'.

 

Off we rush - no bags this time - they're somewhere in the ether.  BA woman books us all on to the plane.  Booking through to Barcelona - and we've been given some money vouchers - its all going to work out!

 

'Passports please'.  Fiona has British - no problem.  The kids and I are South African.  Her face drops. 

 

'Do you have transit visas?' 

'No, but we don't plan to go to the UK and we do have Schenken visas.'

'But you need a transit visa if you go through the UK as of 1 July - that's 12 pm tonight'

Desparate 'But we don't plan to stop there!'

'Toughski Shitski'  She didn't actually say that but that's what she meant.

 

Back to the Iberia Counter.  Eventually she gets us a flight via Berlin the following evening.

 

'There is a bus to your hotel leaving every 15 minutes'  Her assistant takes us down to the bus station and says to wait for a white bus with the name of the hotel on the side.  Then she disappears to handle some other crisis.

 

Its now 10pm we're tired and just a bit pissed off!  10.15 - 10.30 no bus.  Finally we find the number and phone the place.  The bus is every hour at 10 past.  We didn't see any bus at 10 past. 

 

10.45 - 11pm .  Finally at 11.10 the bus arrives with 'Safaris in South Africa' on the side the name of the hotel in small letters on the trailer.  We have a snack supper - of as much as possible on the menu and go to bed.

 

Wednesday 1 July

 

Hotel's OK but its somewhere in the back of Boksburg  We spend the day relaxing and take a few hours in East Rand Mall (what a thrill!)  Make the most of the Breakfast and Lunch (included)

 

Finally take the bus to the Airport and successfully get the flight to Berlin and then to Barcelona.

 

The baggage rack goes round and round.  I anticipate problems and go the the baggage retrieval office (at the far end of a very long terminal) 'There is a note for Fiona Herrmann's bag in CDG Paris - but this may be old. Check the two other baggage ramps (at either end of the terminal).  

 

An hour passes and no baggage.  We return to the lost baggage man (who is very helpful) and fill out the relevant forms.  We  exit in to Barcelona (finally!!).  Pick up from Ally's guest house not there - time to learn about the transport system.  Fortunately its pretty efficient - we ge the train in to Barcelona and the undergound to the relevant station and finally find the guest house. 

 

Small, but comfortable room.  We sleep for a couple of hours!