Tag: spain

Catching up with Mick and Candice in Ibiza

A photo of the main dance floor in Amnesia, Ibiza

PVD @ Amnesia

So I went to Ibiza to catch up with Mick and Candice. Mick has been a good friend of mine for some time from the hockey days and Candice is his girlfriend.

Our first night was at Amnesia where Paul Van Dyk was to play a 6 hour set. He played a pretty good mix and dropped in a few classics along the way e.g. Iio – Rapture and one of my top favs: Andain – Beautiful Things. A great night was had but the humidity, heat and general way too packed club stopped it from being as good as it could be.

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Madrid

Park Retiro

Park Retiro
Madrid at Night

Madrid
at Night

Our hostel was located pretty much in the centre of Madrid so there were lots of places to eat and drink around us. The street our hostel was on is also the local hangout for prostitutes so it was interesting to watch them, they were mostly VERY unattractive! A lot of them were quite young as well which is a bit sad. We saw a few old men go up to them and negotiate a price and then walk towards an alley!

We were told by our guide on the bus on the way to Madrid that we had to go to dinner at this place close to the hostel that looked really expensive but was heaps cheap and the food was great. So we decided to check it out on our first night and it was great! It was so good we went there every night! Because it was pretty cheap we were able to get entree and mains and every night we left so full that we had to go for a walk so we didn’t feel so full.

Park Retiro

Park Retiro
Fountain
Park Retiro

Park Retiro
Pond

Our second day we checked out a park called Retiro it was really nice with a huge pond in the middle that you could hire boats to sail around. It was so hot that day about 30 degrees plus with what felt like 100% humidity so we just sat down under a tree for awhile. That night we were trying to find an internet place and stumbled across this square filled with people sitting down in front of this huge screen so we decided to sit down and check out what they were watching. We figured out that they were showing the international photography festival finalists which was pretty cool to watch. They showed photos from different photographers from all over the world.

Apart from the park we didn’t check out any other sights (cos they were mostly museums) we just walked around the city lots. We walked down this street called Grand Via which is apparently equivalent to one of the biggest streets in Manhattan, New York. It was filled with lots of shops, restaurants, cinemas etc.

Ibiza, the magic white isle

Airplane

Jet Over Apartment

Woo hoo! We finally made it to Ibiza. Flying in over and around Ibiza is a magnificent sight all by itself. The water is so blue and you get a good view of all the huge resorts and areas that make up the island.

On Friday we stayed in the area known as Ibiza town. This area is known for its many cafes, bars, restaurants and fashion stores on every street corner. Of course it’s also known for its night life. We were still a little tired from our night in Barcelona so we didn’t do much on our first day. We weren’t worried cause we knew what was ahead of us over the next couple days. We went for a short walk around Ibiza town at lunch and it seemed very quiet and not exactly what I expected. I assume this is because we didn’t walk around enough. We went for another walk around after dinner and this freezing wind came in quickly and knocked any motivation out of us. So unfortunately we didn’t get to experience what Ibiza town had to offer.

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Valencia

Valencia was always really going to be a stop over on route to Ibiza. We never planned on any sight seeing. We didn’t have much time either. On arrival into Valencia on our first night, we were hung over and tired from the previous night out in Barcelona with my sister and boyfriend. We didn’t get home till after 3 am then our alarm went off at 6 am to get ready for the bus. Neither of us were feeling too great so as soon as we got to Valencia we just slept. We had dinner slept again and before you know it we were off to sunny Ibiza the next morning.

So that’s it for our first night in Valencia. Valencia seems like a nice place to live. It has about 700,000 people living there and is famous for it’s Valencia oranges. Yes that’s where the name Valencia orange juice comes from. Next time you see a bottle with it written on the label, then it should of come from Valencia, Spain.

Valencia is also famous for its annual tomato throwing festival. Approximately 30,000 people come to the tomato fight, and 110,000 kilos of tomatoes are used.

Barcelona

Group Shot

Group Shot
Park Guell

What a great place. Barcelona would have to be the coolest place we’ve visited so far. To sum it up really quickly it’s because of the night life, the atmosphere and all of Antonio Gaudi’s works.

Now for the longer version. You better get a drink because this is a long one. I really hope the length of this doesn’t deter you, but please read on 🙂 We liked Barcelona so much that no doubt Rach and I will both return again. The streets of Barcelona are always bustling with people and there a city life atmosphere in the air. The main streets are lined with restaurants, bars and more. All with table and chairs facing the road or walk ways. Most people don’t eat till after 9pm. Some restaurants even continue to serve dinner past 11:30pm! It’s definitely a party city with loads of places to sit and chill for a drink or have a large one.

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