Goodwood Festival of Speed

11 - 16 July 2013

Day 1: Not much
Today was a planning day but as my cousin was going to the gym, I decided to join him. We couldn't play the "free pass for my friend" card so I had to pay 10 pound (or a tenner in local speak) for a single pass, ouch! After we decided to offset all the good that was done and have dinner at the local pub; piri piri chicken :D

Day 2: Get the van
I went into London and picked up my camper van. The drive back out of central London wasn't anywhere near as bad as what I expected because traffic flowed pretty well. The streets are all super tight though so there were a few scary moments of squeezing between traffic and parked cars but it all went smoothly.

The drive down to Goodwood was pretty nice thanks to the highways everywhere. The weather was great and all I had to do was follow the GPS. When I got into Goodwood I had to find somewhere to park the van and there really wasn't much choice because all the roads are bordered on both sides by big bushes and there's just farms behind them. After a bit of looking I found a national park, where I stopped to cook dinner. I was thinking of staying there but I was worried I'd get locked in or raped and killed so I headed back toward the track to find somewhere else. I was really lucky because I got the last spot on a grassy oval that the local pub turned into a campsite. The other bonus was I could walk to the track from here.

Day 3: Festival of Speed
The weather was a fantastic 32 degrees, which is much better than some previous years where apparently the festival got rained out. I really hadn't done much homework on how the festival worked but it turns out that they have the plan of what they'll do and they do it once in the morning and again in the afternoon and then the same deal each day. If I had've known this then I'd've (yes, I'm using that) probably only gone for one day but because I had a lazy start on both days I could be more casual and get a chance to see everything over two days.

The first thing I saw was the motorbike and Formula 1 display where they take bikes of all ages and F1 cars from the previous few years for a blast up the track, which is actually the driveway of Goodwood House. I walked all around the hill climb track and the rally track to get a feel for the size of the place; it's huge! During the course of the day I saw all sorts:

• A Nascar
• Vulcan delta wing, which is an old plane but still looks super modern. Apparently it's the only working (flying) one left in the world.
• A drag bike named "Pure Hell"
• A Jaguar XJ220 powered Ford Transit van. The only thing that betrayed it were the XJ220 wheels but otherwise it looked like a tradie van.
• Volkswagon's electric prototype car
• Various rally cars tearing around the dirt circuit at the top of the hill
• Motocross and ATV ride experiences by Honda
• Range Rover Evoque rides where they take you for a blast around a short dirt course
• Porsche Cayanne rides where they basically do one huge, sustained drift around a muddy paddock. It's good to see a soft-roader getting dirty
• A fireworks display... during the day (WTF)
• Lots of motorbikes
• Formula 1 cars
• The GAS (Goodwood Action Sports) show with Freestyle Motocross, BMX and trials bikes (both pushies and motorbikes)

It was a great day of watching so many different things from so many different eras and despite being cooked by the sun and covered in dirt, I was feeling pretty great. All that was left was a walk back along the narrow, footpathless road to the campsite/pub, a freezing cold outdoor shower and dinner.

Day 4: More FOS
Now I knew that today would be roughly the same as yesterday, I decided cancel the next night of the campsite, pack up the camper and drive to the Festival so I could head off elsewhere after. It was sort of a dumb move because I think I had to walk further from the carpark than I did from the pub.

I spent the day seeing the things I missed the previous day and watched the whole midday GAS show again; geez I can't wait to get back on my motocross bike :D Something unique to the Sunday was a fighter jet fly over, which is always good fun.

Stonehenge
I left the Festival around lunch and headed off towards Stonehenge. You get a pretty decent view of the site as you drive past on the highway so when I got round to the car park and saw the size of the line at the entrance and the fact it cost 8 pound, I decided to follow some of the other cheapos (and sheep that live there) and walk round the corner and have a look through the fence. It wasn't spectacular but I am interested in the history of it so at least I've seen it with my own eyes now and that might help when I read about it.

Home or camp
I started heading back toward London but with the intention of finding somewhere to stop and camp. It was a total failure because I couldn't find anywhere to stay. I detoured off the A-road a few times to have a poke around and had a look in some car parks but there weren't any spaces to get off the roads and the car parks all had 2hr time limits so I just kept heading back "home" to drop the van off.

Day 5: Planning day
Just more planning and spacing out on the couch watching House MD.

Day 6: Flying to Greece
I had an overnight flight coming and knew I needed to have a nap but it just didn't happen; there was planning and blogging to be done and it was hot and still daylight. The flight was pretty good, I spent the whole time chatting to the two girls next to me and they served a really good red Thai curry for dinner.

Hanging out with the sheep that look at Stonehenge every day

The "free candy" camper van I hired

Some flying Porsches to celebrate 50 years of the 911

The first corner of the rally track

Proof I was there

The GAS arena with freestyle Motocross jumps and BMX jumps

I'm in love with this KTM street fighter

My view of Stonehenge

Some bikes and sidecars coming back down the track

Madrid Day 1-5

6 - 10 July 2013

Day 1: Arrival
Another fast and punctual train took me to Madrid; have I mentioned how much I love the trains here? Men in Black 3 was playing on the train too but it was dubbed in Spanish with Spanish subtitles so I watched Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter on my tablet instead. Once at my hostel, Las Musas, the first item on the to-do list was a siesta so I could be ready to go out...

A night out
..and it's lucky I did because the people in my room were heading out. We started the night at the bar in the Cat's Hostel, a party hostel around the corner, where we enjoyed 3 euro half litre beers then joined a pub crawl. I can't remember the names of the places we went but they were all pretty good, although small, except the last one which was big but had indoor smoking; something I don't miss at all. In Spanish style we didn't head out until 12:30 and we got home at 5:30, an early night.

Day 2: A day in the Park
After an exceptionally slow start to the day, I went for a walk to the big park in Madrid: Parque de el Retiro (no it's not a park for retirees). I wandered around all the paths, spaced out in the sun for a bit and had a look at the sculptures, monuments and buildings that are hidden around the place.

Bull fight
I was a bit apprehensive about this but I thought I might as well see it once while I'm here to see what it's about. We got the cheapo seats which were right at the top of the arena, and you had to climb over people to get a seat, but at least we were in the shade. Basically, I wasn't a fan of the fight. I spent the whole time hoping a matador (or two) would get gored to death. On a more positive note, the arena is really impressive, both the architecture and how well it's maintained.

Dinner
This hostel has a really well equipped kitchen, which my Serbian/Canadian friend and I used to cook dinner made from a random mix of whatever looked good at the mini-mart down the street. We ended up with an omelette, sausages, meatballs and some pasta that some other people had left over.

Day 3: Toledo
The hostel ran day trips to Toledo and after realising that Madrid is actually quite small, it seemed like a good plan. We stopped at a point outside the city, to take some photos and get a feel for the layout of the town, before being dropped near the big palace in the centre of the old town. This town had the same offerings as other medieval villages: a church, a castle and a palace but instead we decided to walk around the streets, looking at the many swords and knives on sale, and take the walking track around the edge of the city and past the castle. We also stopped at a supermarket, possibly the only one in town, where the helpful shopkeeper cut up our bread, fritz type meat and local Toledo made cheese.

Drinking games
The hostel was running free drinking games (with sangria from milk-wine containers) so naturally all the cheapo backpackers, including me, were there. It was a modified version of 4-kings and then at the end there was a competition where you have to stick a napkin on your tongue and when they say go, get it all in your mouth the fastest without using your hands; it's really good fun. Afterwards they have a pub crawl so I headed off on that too and had a blast.

Day 4: Walking tour
My favourite walking tour company operates in Madrid so after another casual start, I did that in the afternoon. I met a Wisconsinite and a Georgian on the tour and we did our own tour after to see the gardens of the palace, the Egyptian monument on the nearby hill and the Plaza de Toros bull fighting ring.

Back at the hostel
I had a siesta in case anyone was going out but everyone was too tired so we just chatted in the street for a bit before going to bed.

Day 5: Last day
After checking out I cooked myself a steak for lunch, something I've missed while travelling. I went for a walk to see Caxia Forum but it was swarming with cops and they weren't letting anyone in, no idea why, but because there wasn't much else I wanted to see in Madrid, I headed back to the hostel to catch up on the blog and upload some photos. I had kebab for dinner from a local shop but it doesn't measure up to the others so that's all I'll say on that matter.

Madrid Metro
I bought a 10 pass ticket when I first got to Madrid because I expected it to be like all the other cities but it's so small that you really don't need it unless you're super lazy. The metro didn't impress me when I was leaving either because they decided to close the four stations near me, which had been open for the rest of the time I'd been there, so I had to walk for a bit with all my crap. Then, they charge you a premium when you catch the metro to the airport, wtf! It's not that big of a deal but at the time, I wasn't impressed.

Thoughts on Madrid:
-It's hot! Barcelona was too but being near the beach saved it a bit plus you could go for a swim.
-It's small! Well, at least the touristy bit is so don't bother with a 10 trip metro pass, you can walk everywhere.
-It's a bit dirty. I guess most major cities are but I seemed to notice it more here.

Paths in the park

Looking like a weirdo taking selfies of myself in the park

Apparently the only (or one of the few at least) statues of Lucifer. It's built at 666m above sea level.

Some monument in the park.

Cooking dinner at the hostel.

The lookout point before we got into Toledo

Eating lunch in Toledo

Having a break near the bridge between the castle and the town, Toledo

Looking back at Toledo from next to the castle. The palace is the most obvious building.

The Toledo walking trail

Heading back up to Toledo town from the walking trail

A sizeable bridge in Madrid, apparently it used to be
popular for suicide before they added extra fences.

The bull fighting ring in Madrid, the biggest in the world I think

My Georgian and Wisconsinite friends in front of the Madrid Palace gardens

Looking away from Toledo on the walking track

Toledo from the lookout spot

Churros for brekky

Flower garden in the park, Madrid

Our view in Plaza de Toros, the bull fighting ring in Madrid. We were right at the top.

Toledo from the lookout point

The view of the country side from the Toledo walking trail

Barcelona Day 1-6

1 - 6 July 2013

Day 1: Arrival
This is actually a continuation of day 7 of Nice, tricky eh? Not much happened today, I just navigated the metro and found my hostel, which took longer than it should've because no maps ever have a rose on them. I chatted to a few people and watched a movie; taking it easy so I'm ready for tomorrow.

Day 2: Beach
The consensus was to hit the beach, which was fine with me because it was hot as. We didn't go to the popular, man-made Barceloneta beach because we heard it's always packed and swarming with hawkers so instead we went to a quieter beach. Turns out it was a nude beach and not the type with lots of pretty girls (there were a few) :( Still, it wasn't that busy and we were feeling lazy so we stayed there although we didn't embrace the nude spirit. This beach was so much better than Nice's; it was bigger, the water was perfect and it had SAND!

Exploring
After the beach we hit up a supermarket for lunch supplies and then headed on to Le Rambla, one of the main streets of the city. We also had a look in the market where all the fruit looked so good. I grabbed a banana and strawberry juice, made from real fruit, and wandered around the rest of the market sipping it like a kid.

Home cooked dinner
This hostel had a kitchen, the supermarkets were cheap and there were enough of us to eat all the food; a perfect combination to make something ourselves. We made burritos and it was so good to have something home cooked rather than take away.

Razzmatazz
I've met a few Aussies on my travels, as you'd expect but this hostel definitely had a concentration of them. We rounded up a group of 8 people to go clubbing and 7 of them were Aussies. We went to a club called Razzmatazz and apparently this place is huge (lots of stages) but we ended up in an upstairs RnB room for the night. The music was good and there was a decent crowd but it was so hot.

Day 3: Walking tour
I had a bit of a slow start to the day and missed everyone else so I headed out for a walking tour; a good way to see some of the city and make friends. I grabbed lunch before the tour started; what the Spanish (or maybe the Catalunyans) call a tortilla, which is an omelette with potato and some other bits in it and it was fantastic. The walking tour was alright; we cruised around the old town and saw various buildings and sites of importance. The funniest bit was the houses that got cut in half because the government literally taxed half of everything that people had.

Hanging out with a Montanan (someone from Montana)
I went with a girl I met on the tour to get a beer and tapas before tackling Montjuic (a hill) to go see the castle at the top. The hill wasn't that big but there wasn't really a walking path up there so we made our own trail for part of the way. The castle was free, yay, and had a decent view in all directions so we did the touristy thing and took a few photos. We also wandered over and had a look at the Olympic stadium, which was full of stray cats, but it was closed so we could only peek through the gates.

Durum time
Dinner was a Durum. It's what other places call a kebab but they also had a kebab and that was different. Anyway, this thing was fantastic! Definitely in my top 5 kebab experiences (along with the place opposite Le Mans train station and some joint in the Gold Coast). Needless to say (but I will), I went back for a few more of these during my stay.

Clubbing again
We decided to go out again but this time we had some German girls join us. We wanted to go somewhere different so we headed for a place called Apollo but we had ID troubles so we couldn't get in. The only safe move was to head back to what we knew: Razzmatazz. We went to a different stage this time where there was a DJ who looked like Rob Schneider playing all sorts and dancing behind the decks like he was in a 70s work out video, it was hilarious. It was just as hot as last night but totally worth it because it was a great night out.

Day 4: Sagrada Familia
I headed out with a New Yorker to see Sagrada Familia today. We booked online to avoid the huge queue but because I'm an idiot we had an extra hour and a half to kill that we hadn't planned on so, we went for a walk to see La Pedrera, which Gaudi also designed. We had the audio guide for Sagrada Fimilia and also a tower climb. We did the tower climb first and the view over Barcelona is amazing but the fun part is walking back down the seemingly endless spiral stairs to get back down; you definitely get dizzy spells part way down. Everything about this building is so detailed and well done. I'd definitely recommend going there and if you remember me raving about the Sheik Zayeed Grand Mosque in Abu Dhabi then I'd rate this right up there too. I won't ramble anymore but Gaudi was right to dedicate a big part of his life to this awesome building.

Drinking games
We didn't go out this time but instead played some drinking games with "milk wine", that's wine that comes in a 1L tetra pack, and went for a walk to the local park.

Day 5: Big Bus
I had a bit of a hangover today, that milk wine is dangerous, but once I got going I jumped on a big bus tour of the city because I didn't have any friends :( I did all three routes and jumped off at Park Guell, another of Gaudi's famous works, to have a look around. I found a great lookout point atop a pile of rocks but it was pretty packed so I didn't get any good photos. The park is really nice and because it's a decent way up a hill, it gives decent views out over the city. I had plans to go see Tibidabo and Barceloneta Beach but I was too tired so I headed back to the hostel where I played cards with my Irish friend who shared that evil milk wine with me the previous night.

Day 6: Off to Madrid
I didn't do much today except go buy a fluoro yellow hat (you'll see it in photos) and grab a last durum. Then I walked down to Sants train station and headed off to Madrid.

Thoughts on Barcelona
I love it! I've enjoyed all the other cities I've been to but I haven't wanted to go back to any of them however I could easily go back to Barcelona. I could even live there... maybe. It might be because it feels similar to Australia but I really like it there. It's cheap, it's big but doesn't feel crowded, the weather is awesome, the beach is awesome, I could get used to siestas and the public transport system rocks. You can't forget that I made some great friends too.

Lions at the base of the Columbus monument, Barcelona

Sipping my banana and strawberry juice in La Rambla market

Flowers! at Montjuic, Barcelona

Pretty flowers at Montjuic Castle, Barcelona

Montjuic Castle, Barcelona

Light poles that're ribbed for their pleasure outside the Olympic Stadium, Barcelona

Sagrada Familia, Barcelona. I'm excited!

La Pedrera, Barcelona

My New Yorker friend on a balcony of a tower in Sagrada Familia

Me being responsible on a Sagrada Familia balcony

Nativity Facade of Sagrada Familia, Barcelona

What I'm carrying at the moment. The green thing is a pop up tent.

Looking out over Barcelona from Park Guell

Paris stopover and Nice: Day 1-7

24 June - 1 July 2013

Paris Stopover
Trains don't go from Le Mans to Nice directly and it was too much travelling for one day if I went via Paris so I decided to have a night in Paris to break it up. I chose a different hostel to before, the Aloha hostel. It was pretty good and it had a decent free breakfast so it had me sold. The strangest thing I saw there was a couple of parents travelling with about 10 kids, definitely not the usual hostel crowd.

Day 1: Paris to Nice
I must've booked my tickets for the train to Nice way too late because first class tickets were cheaper than second class and as if that wasn't enough, it was a 5.5hr trip which is definitely long enough to thoroughly enjoy first class. Naturally I got first class and it was AWESOME! Heaps of room, electric reclining chairs and super quiet. I could tell we were heading to a warmer climate because the scenery on the way started to look more and more like Adelaide; less trees, everything was brown rather than green and lots of large, rocky hills.

First night in Nice
The first thing was to find the hostel, which was super easy because it was right around the corner from the station. Next thing was to get dinner so I grabbed some food from an Asian shop and headed down to the beachfront. The food was terrible (and expensive) but the beach was really good; nice warm sun and lots going on (good for people-watching). Back at the hostel I enjoyed a beer and made friends with a Canadian and an American. Not a bad first night and I was definitely happy to be in a warmer climate.

Day 2: Big Bus
These hop on/hop off buses are in all the major cities and although they're super touristy, I like them because they're easy and it doesn't look weird when you do it on your own. I did a full lap of the circuit and then went back up to the top of one of the hills in Nice that has a bunch of museums, Cimez.

Museums
I went to the Archaeology Museum first where they had all sorts of old tools and building materials, which I wasn't that impressed by because I'd sort of seen that at the Louvre already. Downstairs they had an exhibit called "The Swimming Pool" and it was just terrible. It was a couple of blurry videos and some dodgy out of focus pictures. Outside the museum were the remains of some Roman baths and an amphitheatre, which were ok but not worth the entrance fee. I also went to the Matisse Museum and apparently it wasn't a display of his best work but I didn't enjoy it at all; none of the painting/pieces looked like they required any talent at all. I realise I'm coming off like someone who doesn't understand art and there's a very good reason for that, I don't ;) plus, it's my blog so too bad.

Scammed
Outside the museums I met an old Italian couple who spinned me a fairly long and detailed sob story about how they had no money, etc. due to travel mishaps. Naturally they were asking for money and claimed they'd pay me back the next day. I figured it'd be interesting to see what happened plus they'd put a lot of effort into selling the story so I gave them 15 euro. They didn't show up the next day to pay me back but they reckon they run a BnB in Savona, Italy and the dude's name is Massimo so if you see them, let them know they owe me!

Old Chateau
On the way back home I climbed up the hill between Nice's beach and its port which has the Old Chateau at its peak. There's actually not much to see of the chateau other than a pile of ruins but your reward is definitely the view out in all directions. Totally worth the couple hundred steps you need to climb.

Day 3: Bike Hire
Nice, and probably the rest of the Cote d'Azur, has a bike trail that follows the beach front so it makes for a perfect spot to have a pushy (bicycle). I hired one from Roller Station and rode from the Nice port down to Villeneuve-Loubet Plage (a beach), which is almost at Antibes, and then back in 4 hours. The scenery and weather was so nice and I'm surprised at how close all these cities are to each other.

Day 4: Saint Paul de Vance
I only found out about this place in the morning and then decided to head out and check it out. The spiel is that it's a medieval town built on a hill and it certainly was but it's also surrounded by other hills, so not really that great of a view, and all the streets are full of super expensive restaurants and art galleries; not really my thing. I still enjoyed it but I much prefer Eze (still coming in this blog post).

Day 5: Monaco
I'm not sure why, but I really wanted to see Monaco. Once I was in Nice I quickly found out that it's so small that you can easily cover it all in a few hours and so that's exactly what we did today. We, that is my Korean friend and I, caught the train there, which took a massive 20 minutes. That's 20 minutes to go to another country :P

The first thing you notice when you leave the train station is the fact that the whole town is built on the side of a pretty significant hill. The train station is a fair way up so after a few touristy photos we wandered down the hill towards the old town. In the old town we had a look through the small alleyways, saw the changing of the guard, grabbed a bite to eat, bought a Monaco patch (yay!) and then jumped on the small tourist bus (looks like a train) and went for a cruise around the whole country (in 45 minutes).

Eze
We caught the bus back rather than the train because then we could get off at a place called Eze Village. This place had a similar spiel to Saint Paul de Vance except this was on a mountain and by the coast so it had (probably still does actually) a fantastic view. You have to pay 6 euros to get into the rooftop succulent garden and enjoy the views but it's totally worth it!

Political Party
We got word that there was a party happening at the Old Chateau so we bought some super classy 3.50 euro wine and went for a walk up to see what it was all about. It turns out that it was run by some political party who were spreading propaganda but because I don't understand French, I was blissfully unaware :D The place was packed and there was music going so we had a few drinks and enjoyed the views out over Nice at night.

Day 6: Beach
Today I went down to the beach to have another go at a pebble beach. Basically it wasn't that great because the water was pretty cold and as I've already complained about, the pebbles really aren't nice to walk on without shoes. Still, the sun was out and there were quite a few people embracing the nude European beach lifestyle (some who probably shouldn't) so it was a good day.

Political Party, again
There was meant to be another party tonight but this time with better music; dance, dubstep, techno, etc. We gathered a big bunch of people at the hostel but unfortunately got a bit carried away with pre-drinks so by the time we got up to the chateau, the party was over. Fear not though because we went back into the old town and visited Wayne's Bar (well known apparently) and a few others before they all closed.

Day 7: Off to Barcelona
Really not much to say here other than I had a few drinks, went to bed late, got up early and had to carry heavy bags on a crowded and stinking hot bus. I wouldn't recommend it. I flew from Nice airport to Barcelona and as a strange coincidence, the Korean girl in my room was on the same flight.

Thoughts on Nice
Nice is nice! Sorry, I couldn't resist. It's not too bad but I feel like it's aimed more at older (and richer) people rather than young party go-ers. I'm still really happy I went because the coast is so pretty, I met some great friends and the weather was so much better than what I'd had up to that point. Oh, and the pebble beaches suck!

Socca. A chickpea flour crepe, the local Nice specialty. It's a bit bland though, needs something else.

A war memorial carved into the Old Chateau mountain, Nice.

Cruising around Nice on a pushy

Looking back toward Nice airport from Cagnes-sur-mer

Nice beach from part way down the stairs of the Old Chateau

Nice from a viewing platform at the Old Chateau

Nice port from a viewing platform at the Old Chateau

The Old Chateau

A dude with a cube for a head, Nice.

This guy has horses for hair, Nice main square

First day in Nice at the beach front with SUNSHINE! I'm happy.

Nice beach at sunset

Nice port

Small streets in Saint Paul de Vance. People still actually live here!

A horse made of horseshoes

A wire chick

Saint Paul

Monaco

Got balls? at Monaco Palace

My Korean friend in a park in Monaco

The succulent garden at Eze

The view from Eze

My Korean friend at Eze