Krysti's Big Adventure!: France & Spain!

Well I had almost completed writing this blog two weeks ago but I didn't get a chance to post it due to lack of internet- and alas for some reason what I wrote didn't save. SO guttered! As I had to re-write it all I just really quickly went over my time there, because now I have already been in Greece for a week so I'm a bit behind.

Hello France!

So... hola amigos! Oh my goodness I love Spain. So my first Contiki trip went pretty fast and although I enjoyed the destinations and the places I saw, overall the trip wasn't exactly my cup of tea. I thought it would be good for me being with people after being on my own for so long but no, I am a lone wolf apparently! I still made friends of course, but I think I would have preferred doing it myself, but oh well it's all a learning experience.
Over half of my group of 50 people were Australians! That was a shock to the system after being away from that for so long haha. They were mostly all very young and loud and so after a week of being in a bus most of the time travelling and then cramped into tiny hostels with them I was certainly glad to be on my own for a couple of days before embarking on my second Contiki...

A quick look back- it started very early in London at 6 am and we drove to the bottom of England, saw the white cliffs of Dover and got the ferry over to France. From Calais we drove to Paris and arrived at 5 pm. I'm so surprised it took all day- I'm used to the Eurostar which only takes 1.5 hours! That evening we had a 3 course French dinner including onion soup (no snails for me thank you), duck l'orange and a chocolate tart thing. There was also cheese and bread and all the wine you could drink. So that was a great meal followed by a cabaret show which was surprisingly really good. The dancers were all very talented and it was quite an entertaining show (the bottle of champagne may have also helped). We then all went out for drinks and partied in Paris until the wee smalls of the morning.

The next day was a free day so I decided to go up the Eiffel Tower again early in the morning to beat the crowds, and I then went to the big fountain in front of it which I hadn't been to before. So stunning! I randomly decided to take a river cruise which was very nice, followed by a nice crepe at the Palace of Luxembourg gardens and then pretty much just walked around exploring new parts I hadn't seen before, so it was a very enjoyable day.

The day after that was another full day drive to Bordeaux near the South of France. That was pretty much just a quick stop-over night on the way to Spain. We had a few hours of free time around the city so we got cheese and meat platters and of course wine. Apparently that is pretty much all there is to do there. Next day we were off to Spain, but first we stopped at Pilat- the largest sand dune in Europe and then we had a couple of hours for lunch at this gorgeous French sea side town called Saint Jean de Lux. I had mussels for the first time in ages which was awesome. I then explored the town a bit and came across a New Zealand All Blacks shop which was so random I went in and talked to the owner! They weren't from New Zealand or anything- just big fans.
I spent the rest of the time on the beach which was nice. Then we crossed the border into Spain and arrived in San Sebastian.

Saint Jean de Lux beach

That night we went out for pintxos (little tapas) and many a sangria and it was a lot of fun and such a beautiful city right on the coast. I can see why it's such a popular holiday destination.
The next day was a free day to explore but unfortunately I got pretty sick- a tummy bug I think as I didn't know we weren't supposed to drink the water there so I got pretty ill from it. I still went out in the morning, I climbed the big hill to the top with the big famous Jesus statue for amazing views over the city. But then after lunch I had to head back to the hostel and sleep for a few hours as I felt terrible.

I was a bit better the next day which was good as it was another long day on the coach to Barcelona. We stopped in the town of Zaragoza for lunch. Even though we weren't in each place for long I liked that we at least got to see these small and interesting towns along the way. Barcelona really blew me away! The city was huge and crazy and the Spanish have such a relaxed lifestyle so it was cool to experience their different culture. I ate a lot of paella and enjoyed siesta time!

Sagrada Familia

After the Contiki ended I had an extra 2 nights by myself in my own place (which was wonderful) so I had quite a decent amount of time there to explore. I loved the Gothic quarter, the water front was beautiful and the architecture of the buildings was insane. I loved Gaudi's work and on my last day there my friend and I who had also stayed behind went and saw la Sagrada Familia which is by far the coolest cathedral I've ever been to inside and out.

Barcelona had so many cool things to see and do, there was a huge bull ring turned into a shopping mall, I went to a fountain light show, did a bit of shopping etc. So it was very enjoyable and good to relax a bit as well before I ventured to Greece for my next 2 weeks of adventures there. Tell you all about that in my next post- Adiós! Pics below :)