Thursday, December 25, 2008

My Spain & Portugal Family Trip (Part 1) / Merry Christmas Everyone and Happy Birthday Rashad!

It was a bright Christmas morning where I just landed at the Singapore Changi airport, having returned from my long holiday trip to Spain and Portugal. It was a pretty long flight from there and back, at an estimate of about 13 to 14 hours total. It was such an unforgettable experience in my first trip to Europe, with a lot of exotic locations and different cultures of people.

Well, what more can I say, this holiday trip was an awesome one for my family and I! Spain was a beautiful, glorious country with a lot of tourist attractions such as the museums, shopping centres and so much more! The My family scarcely visited Portugal for the sole purpose of visiting my great-uncle who has been living there for decades. Now, I will elaborate on what we have done during our trip.

Note before reading: This post will only encompass the first 6 days of my family trip, the next 6 days will be posted very soon.

Day 1(Dec 12, 2008): Well, first day was actually nothing much really, LOL. All my family did was just checked in at the airport, boarded our plane at about midnight, and we were in a flash headed off for our trip to Spain.


Day 2(Dec 13, 2008): Finally, we reached Barcelona airport at Barcelona after 13 long hours of flying. After landing and checking in at the airport, we had some hot drinks at the airport cafe, following which we hitched a taxi ride from Barcelona airport to our rental apartment, but not before we obtained our apartment keys from the reception building. To my discovery, the temperature in Spain is at quite an extreme low, hitting about 5 degrees celsius to the minimum. I almost felt like freezing to death upon experiencing temperatures this low. Our rental apartment was quite comfortable to stay in and it was nothing like I thought a usual apartment would be. There was a kitchen for my mum to cook for us meals, and there was a large living room. What I noticed about the TV in the living room is that all of the channels featured in the TV are in Spanish and none were in English. Nonetheless, I still appreciated it and got used to it. Following which, in the afternoon, my dad and I went to a nearby McDonalds outlet to get some meals for lunch, and since the meat made here is not halal, we instead ordered fishburger meals. What surprised me was that I noticed that beer is even sold at McDonalds outlets in Spain. LOL. But never mind about that, it's part of their sales in Europe that every European McDonalds outlet sells beer. Anyway, after having lunch in our apartment, we went to the Underground Metro Station to see the sights of Montjuic, a mountainous attraction in Barcelona. The Metro Station system in Spain is somewhat similar to that of the MRT station system we have here in Singapore, except that the Spanish Metro system is a little more intricate. After having reached the station we were to stop at, we took a cable car to the summit of Montjuic, where we saw a large castle and experienced the sights of Barcelona from higher ground. The view was amazing from the summit of the hill, and I gazed in awe at the sight of the city from the summit. There were also quite several war relics surrounding the castle, such as cannons and other artillery equipment. It must have been a very long time since any army have inhabited this castle, and I noticed it has somewhat turned into a restaurant. Anyway, this spectacle is an amazing one for me, as I get to experience the medieval times of Spain. After experiencing the summit of Montjuic, we walked down the hill to reach Fundacio Joan Miro to see some of the famous works by the famous Catalan painter Joan Miro. His works were one of the creme de la cremes of Barcelona, and his paintings were very exquisite. This made me view Miro as a genius of art as I gazed in awe at some of the works displayed at the museum. It was a really amazing spectacle there at Miro's art museum. Later in the evening, after we had dinner back at our apartment, we went to see the magic fountain of Montjuic. It was yet another amazing spectacle as we saw how the fountain's water flows changed patterns and colours, in synchronisation with various classic songs being played, ranging from Disney animated film songs to movie themes and even a song called Barcelona sung by Freddie Mercury and Montserrat Caballe.

Day 3(Dec 14, 2008): Today, we went to take a walk down La Rambla somewhere in Place de Catalunya, where along the way we saw quite a number of flamboyant street performers and street painters, in which at the end we saw the massive monument of Columbus, the famous Spanish voyager who founded America. The murals surrounding the monument appeared to be depicting a story of Columbus' voyage, as evidently seen. It was also quite a pretty tall monument standing at about 50 feet tall or more. Following which, we went on a one and a half hour boat trip on Les Golondrines. It was amazing that we get to see the coast and the sights of the city of Barcelona from the boat, despite the chilly climate we experienced on the boat. Nonetheless, we still had a good time on the boat ride. Following that, we had lunch at a Turkish kebab restaurant in one of the La Rambla alleys, and what more can I say? The food there was delicious and finally, I get to consume some meat after a whole day of just seafood and vegetarian meals. Anyway, sometime in the evening, we went to visit the Aquarium, which was yet another spectacular sight, as we saw the various exhibits of sea creatures on display at the Aquarium, and other interactive stuff like gift shops etc.

Day 4(Dec 15, 2008): Today, we went to walk around Passeig De Gracia to explore the various shops, and went by metro train to Sagrada Familia, the landmark building of Barcelona. It is actually kind of a large church with a chapel and various exhibits relating to Catholicism, and we had an audio guide to guide us through the building. There were also quite several statues around the building depicting Jesus Christ, which actually all tell stories of his life. This was yet another great experience as we get to visit the landmark building of Barcelona. Following our visit to Sagrada Familia, we visited Casa Mila, a building designed by famous Spanish architect Antoni Gaudi. It was very interesting with a beautiful facade and a lot of various designs inside the museum itself. Later, in the evening, we went back to our apartment to pack up and prepare for our flight to Seville the following morning. This flight is part of our journey to the residence of my great-uncle and great-aunt who are living in the Portuguese town of Lagos. This visit to them was part of our trip and it is considered a display of respect by the family to do so. My great-uncle and great-aunt have been coming from Portugal to our home once a month every year, and we thought that if he had done it, then by all means we have to do it for him this time.

Day 5(Dec 16, 2008): Today, we left our Barcelona apartment and headed for the airport for our flight to Seville. After reaching Seville airport and checking in at the airport customs, we met my great-uncle and great-aunt, both of whom took us for a drive across Seville and we crossed the Spanish-Portuguese border to their hometown of Lagos. We arrived at their house and for a brief moment I had a wee bit of a sense of deja vu when I saw their house. It reminded me of when I went to Perth way back in June 2000, where I visited one of my aunts who was living there as an expatriate for a short period of time. Their house was huge with several rooms and it was very nice. Following that, we went out for lunch at a nearby seafood restaurant, and then we took a walk on the docks situated next to the restaurant, following which we just took a small drive around the town to see the sights, took a walk on the nice beaches, and finally we ended the drive for the day with a small shopping gig at a nearby shopping centre.


Day 6(Dec 17, 2008): Today was nothing much for me to say, really. We just took another drive around Lagos and Faro to see the shores and high cliffs by the seaside. The cliffs were really very high, and I nearly felt as if I was about to fall down by just taking one small peek down. Following that, we took another drive around the mountains of Lagos, which led us to having lunch somewhere in a restaurant situated in the mountains. Once again, we had a nice meal of seafood for lunch, LOL. Anyway, after lunch, we went back to my great uncle's house to settle in for the night once again.

Well, this is what I can elaborate for this post at the moment, I'll elaborate the second part of my Spain and Portugal trip very soon. To be continued...

Additionally, it so happens that today is my younger brother Rashad's 5th birthday. Nice to be a Christmas baby huh, Rashad? LOL! Happy birthday to you Rashad! Hope you will enjoy it!

P.S.: I would love to wish everyone out there a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! Hope all of you enjoyed the holiday! :)

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