Brett and Bernii

This update comes to you from the Carlsberg beer garden at the Barcelona airport. There’s been a bit of a delay in getting this blog posted. No excuses, it is what it is.

I joined Bernii in London on Thurday 24th of July. We were staying at the Ibis London City Shoreditch (AU$311 per night). The location of the hotel was really good – there were a few bars nearby and it was a short walk to the Tower Bridge and the River Thames. We spent a day wandering around the riverside before heading to Putney Bridge for a few beers at the Eight Bells pub, a pub that we have visited on previous trips to London.

The following afternoon we caught the tube to Camden Town where we had a few drinks at some cool bars before heading to Spiritual Bar, a small live music venue. They were hosting an original live music night and we listened to some amazing musicians including Jeremy Peter Allen – a very talented performer from Brisbane who moved to London over 10 years ago. We got to know him while he was the resident Sunday afternoon musician at the Royal Exchange hotel in Toowong.

The following evening we headed into Greenwich to the Trafalgar Tavern where we again caught up with Jeremy and watched him perform in a nice riverside pub.

After four nights in London, we headed to St Pancras Station to catch the Eurostar to Paris. We arrived in Paris in the mid afternoon and made our way to our accommodation at the Mercure Paris Notre-Dame Saint-Germain-des-Prés (AU$360 per night). We have visited Paris several times before so we skipped a lot of the tourist destinations (except for the Eiffel Tower) and spent most days sitting and reading in bistros while enjoying some beer or wine. We revisited some of our favourite restaurants – La Pie Noir and Le Bistro des Augustins.

We flew from Paris to Porto in Portugal. It was our first new country together in a few months and we were looking forward to some new experiences. We were booked in to the ibis Porto Centro Mercado Do Bolhão (AU$200 per night) for three nights. We spent the days exploring the old town and the Riberia district along the riverside. We did a tour and port tasting at Sandeman winemakers. Their white port was especially tasty and not something that we had tried before.

We also discovered a really cool bar with a big courtyard and relaxed vibe – Bar Aduela, where we had plenty of Super Bock and port. Their grilled chorizo was our favourite snack. We also frequented a nearby tapas bar, Soul Bites, which served some amazing platters.

Unfortunately we only had three nights in Porto before we caught the train to Lisbon. We would have loved to spend some more time enjoying the food and drinks, and we hope to return sometime next year.

Lisbon was a bit more spread out than Porto. We stayed at the ibis Styles Lisboa Centro Liberdade NE (AU$236 per night). It was a bit more difficult to find bars with good atmosphere. We did a self-guided walking tour of the city, which was good to see a lot of the attractions.

We also caught the train to Carcavelos and walked the short distance to the beach. It was very busy but we found a table at one of the beachside bars where I had a few Super Bocks while Bernii went for a swim. It was so nice that we returned on another afternoon to do it again.

We found a cafe near our hotel that made a really good bifana – an amazing pork roll that became out go-to breakfast meal.

On our last evening in Lisbon we found a nice bar not too far from where we were staying – Dona Piadina. We had piadinas for dinner and they were really tasty.

The following day it was time to say goodbye to Portugal (and Super Bock), and head to the airport for our flight to Seville, Spain.

The temperature in Seville was very hot – up to 43C during the afternoon, and usually not dropping below 30C at night. We stayed at the ibis Styles Sevilla City Santa Justa for three nights (AU$128 per night). The hotel had a rooftop pool, which was unfortunately filled with a lot of kids during our stay. Overall, we didn’t really enjoy our time in Seville, mostly due to the heat preventing us from exploring much during the day.

From Seville, we caught the train to Cordoba. Like Seville, the temperature in Cordoba was very hot, however we found a nice tapas bar, Bar Baron, which opened early and had a little shaded courtyard that sometimes got a breeze. We spent four nights at the Apartamentos Córdoba Atrium (AU$88 per night) which was fully self contained and a great location. There were fewer tourists in Cordoba and we found it to be a very pleasant visit, aside from the August heat.

We caught the train from Cordoba to Malaga, where we caught up with family. The Feria de Málaga was on during our stay, which meant there was a lot of people and a party atmosphere in the town. We really enjoyed visiting the central area and the market, as well as the bars and restaurants in the Teatinos-Universidad area. And of course, seeing our two nieces!

We then flew to Barcelona for five nights at the ibis Barcelona Centro near Sagrada Familia (AU$295 per night). We were looking forward to experiencing Barcelona as many people we had spoken to had recommended it to us. Unfortunatley we were a little underwhelmed by Barcelona. We are not particularly big on art and architecture, and everything was expensive compared to other places we had visited. Also there were tourists everywhere. We did however find a cool little bar, Cinemateca which we visited most days.

From Barcelona we fly back to Portugal (hello again Super Bock!) to spend a bit more time there before heading to Morocco.