The sight of Pen goose stepping through Croatia would have had the elderly heading for their bomb shelters.
I quite liked Madrid. It was different to just about any other major city I've been to as there's no river/coastline, and no real central focal point that I could establish. It seems to have a very distinctive feel and smell, but that might have been the heat.
I'll have a think but I don't remember doing much other than the regular 'sights'.
Wasn't feeling too well yesterday so swam a bit in the pool and slept a lot. Owner of the apartment brought round some pig that his butcher Dad had cooked in a baker's oven with potatoes which was amazing.
Had to leave at 10 so went to Cava beach for the day. It's stunning but shit due to pebbles but that's a problem across Croatia. Expensive as fuck for sun beds though.
I'm going to miss Croatia.
Our AirBnB doesn't have fucking WiFi. Wonder if anywhere is doing an election night lock in
Bosnia has been great and people have been really open about the war stuff, which has been somewhat of a surprise (might be because Sweden took in a lotbof Bosnian refugees and they see us almost as a line for like for Swedes). I think I preferred Sarajevo to Mostar, but I really have no complaints.
@dino if it's still alive, Ojala was a nice restaurant back in 2011. Malasana and Chueca in general were pretty great for food and drink. Check spottedbylocals if you wwnt some more recent suggestions.
And it really is a shame that the snake incident wasn't caught on camera (because the missus is dead afraid of snakes) but I'll try to get a photo up of the snake so you all know how heroic I was.
I fucked my legs up, well the inside of them.
Was working on my laptop for a bit in the beach restaurant and they had to close all the umbrellas due to wind. I didn't think to put any sun cream on them and they're raw as fuck. I can barely move them and the flight home was hellish as they were burning up.
Absolutely fucking loved Croatia - Dubrovnik and Split were ace and Skradin was beautiful.
I'm in Japan atm. Penultimate day sadly, five days in Tokyo, two in Fuji, three in Osaka/Kyoto/Nara, back in Tokyo now waking up to the election result.
Has been incredible - on the surface, was less different/mad to what I expected, but the nuances really make it feel alien at times.
That is almost the exact itinerary to what I'm doing next week.
Did you get a good look at Fuji? Apparently it's closed season, so no climbing?
Yeah, we saw it pretty well - clouds lifted enough for a few mins over the two days to see it. The trails will be closed until late-July, iirc. We went to 5th Station, the highest point you can get to by bus.
Top tip though, just by the bus stop, there is a little set of stairs that lead up to something called the Uchodo Trail. It slowly winds down from 5th Station (2,300m) to some of the lower bus stops and lower trails. Best thing you can do if you can't climb. We meandered down and got some great views of the summit and the landscape.
Give me a shout if you want any more info or ideas.
Back home.
Is your whole perspective of life changed?
Only in the sense that everything seems shit now.
Oh well, only 80 more years to go.
If I live till 99 I'll be a don anyways.
My great-grandfather was born in Sicily, and if I can get Italian citizenship I'll basically be set for life. Aren't you moving to France soon as well?
Still not decided. Most likely unless Tronald gives us a job.
See you at the TTH ex-pat meet then.
I'm in Utah for the next two months though, if you ever decide you're man enough to bike up an actual mountain.
Basque food. Oh my fuck. I'm never leaving.
That's so true. Probs the best cuisine in the world.
What is it? Because Spanish food is tomatoey shit.
Mixture of all sorts as they were heavily influenced by trade withs Asia etc., but definitely a big Spanish influence.
Lol so it cost me €75 to see a doctor and €7 for my antibiotics meaning I can't drink for the remainder of the holiday.
That €100 investment on booze isn't looking so clever now...
I thought we got free treatment in the EU?
http://europa.eu/youreurope/citizens...s/index_en.htm
I'm guessing he didn't have the European Health Card.
Nah it was private as the public one was shut today. Needed to start asap so I don't feel shit for the rest of the holiday so took the plunge.
Excess is €60 so can claim £20 or so back.
I bust my toe fuck knows how the other day. All bruised and shit. And now my crown/bridge has fallen out so here goes a probably expensive trip to the dentist.
What a holiday.
Lol even dental hospitals don't do emergency appointments. May as well be in Sudan tbh.
Must be hard for them to keep up with your body breaking down.
Found one at 4pm today so that's ruined the plans. Write this one off, lost 2 days to the heatwave, 1 in bed from tonsilitis and one because of an awkward dentist appointment.
SHIT.
That's riduculously unlucky. Hope you get to enjoy at least a few days before you head back.
Went to Ibiza for 5 days with 21 of my mates a couple of weeks ago which was awesome. My body can't handle that sort of abuse anymore though. Took me a full week to recover.
In August I'm going to Bradford for a week and a half, first weekend we are there for a wedding and the second is for some little music festival.
Then in November I'm taking the missus to Maya Riviera in Mexico for her 30th. Can't wait for that trip. The food will be insane.
Well you've certainly covered all tastes there.
Algarve.
You been there before?
LOL I got a trainee who put way too much cement on and got it all over my fucking teeth. It hardened and he spent an hour dry drilling some of it off. It was one of the most unpleasant trips to the dentist ever. He had to go and get the boss in the end to resolve it, which he did in 5 minutes.
€30.
Would be $50,000 over here.
This is sounding like the greatest holiday ever.
at least Gerry and Kate could go out for a nice meal while they were there.
I guess it's not hugely distinct as a cuisine. Bars serve 'pintxos' which are one or two bites of food, so you generally eat one or two with every drink. Lots of grilled meat and fish. Many of the best dishes I've ever eaten have been these in the last week or so. If you're into food I can't imagine there being many better eating destinations in the world.