Ancient Athens

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Reading recommendation... Jo Nesbo

If you love the Stieg Larsson trilogy series "Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" etc then you will love Jo Nesbo and his crime novels. Whilst I've been away I've managed to devour 10 books... which is not surprising for those who know me and 6 of these books have been by Jo Nesbo, a Norwegian writer whose crime series focus on the flawed detective Harry Hole. They're awesome, read them all... But start at the beginning with The Redbreast.


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Sailing the Adriatic high seas...

Ahhh Croatia... I'll be back!

Sailing around the Adriatic coastline of Croatia was a week of bliss! However if you're the type of person who likes to visit and tick off their list all the tourist and historical attractions this trip probably isn't for you, as you spend the majority of the days leisurely cruising and don't dock till late afternoon, leaving little time to do too much exploring.

But if the idea of chilling out for a week, swimming, sun bathing, reading, sleeping, eating, drinking and dancing sounds like your type of holiday then you will love sailing Croatia... I did!

Now the boat was definitely not luxurious in anyway shape or form, however it had a lot of character and most importantly it floated, which is always a good thing when you're on a boat ;)

My favourite ports were Split, Hvar and Dubrovnik... and I'd love to go back to each of these places to explore some more... And to eat more gelato that was less than AU1.30 a scoop! Yumm!!

ps I'm officially tanned now
pps No sunburn
ppps I didn't chuck up once








































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Strasbourg

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French Feast @ Restaurante Burger

Had a wonderful meal courtesy to Papa Burger & Claire... and I helped with the beans LOL! Escargot, pan fried Swordfish, bean and tomato salade and good smelly cheese to finish it off! Mmmmm, Mmmm, mmmmm!!





























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Snail V Snail

Mmmmm, Mmmm, mmmmmmm! Both were amazing!







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Aunty B's cheesecake...

was a big hit with the Frenchies! Also it was no mean feat, as I first had to conquer the French supermarket Minoprix, which I did all by myself and scored myself 100%!!





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Padlocks in Paris!

The first one sums up my thoughts exactly!





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Laduree love!

So it wasn't my first time tucking into these delicious sugary goodies, but being that I was eating Macarons from the institution of Macarons, Laduree, I couldn't help but get swept up in the experience again! Laduree is the prettiest tea house ever! I love every single one of their shops... and I heard a rumour from a real Parisian that a Laduree is going to be opening up in Sydney very soon! So excited when I heard this I could have peed myself!








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Borda Berri... San Seb

Another amazing Pintxos/Tapas bar in San Seb! In fact because it is a little bit cheaper than La Cuchara and not as busy but still seriously good food, I think it might be my favourite... I did manage to go to both bars twice and both times were awesome, I even went nigel no friends style one night because I didn't care that no one could go with me, I just had to eat here... again!

Borda Berri, located at Fermin Calbeton 12, San Sebastian (in the Old Town)












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Pamplona- Bull Run

Again you'll have to wait for the proper videos and photos... But here is a taste... Insane!









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Pamplona - San Fermin Festival

The Running with the Bulls festival is absolutely mental! But I'm loving it! Day #1 there were no bull runs, but at 12pm at the town hall they set off a firework/cracker to symbolise the beginning of the festival and to kick off the opening ceremony celebrations... Which involved myself and the other thousand or so people crammed into the square in front of the town hall create a giant mosh pit situation! Was manic! According the festival guide "small, short and not strong people" should avoid this area, which is of course why we were there!

At this point we were also supposed to start the Sangria/Food fight, but I strangely found my hands were of more use pushing people off me and trying to keep my head above the crowd... LOL now, but not do quietly I was crapping myself mega!

After escaping the crush, which was pure luck that the crowd surged us out of the area, the sangria fight began but we got more soaked with locals throwing what I hope was buckets of water... Ideally from a tap... Off there balconies and into the crowd. So we were only so so covered in Sangria as in the mosh only our heads saw the light of day, do our bottoms remained mostly dry...

Then we proceeded to a fountain in the town where guys climb up and dive off in a game of "trust" hoping the guys below will catch them... These fools all appeared to be Aussie (in fact i'm prepared to put it out there that over 50% of the crowds there were Aussie) and apparently it's a tradition, whether it's an Aussie introduced one (wouldn't be surprised) or not it is still insanely crazy... Stories from yesterday included one guy apparently dying (although now it appears he may be alive) and another breaking both legs... Idiots!

You'll have to wait for the videos and pics, but they are insane!

ps On a side note, my Fanatics neck scarf somehow over the course of the day got replaced with a Basque crested scarf and I had no idea how this happened... Odd!

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San Sebastian #1 & #2

I adore this town, it's so cruisy and of course there is the beaches... With sand! Nowhere near as awesome as our beaches back home, but still I can actually sit and relax on the beach for a few hours without getting sunburnt so that's always a plus!
























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