Putting the Port in Portugal

Here in Porto, about 300km north of Lisbon, we are staying in the Grande Hotel Porto and it probably once was! The breakfast room/restaurant has a self playing grand piano and large ornate chandeliers. It also has proper French pastries- yummo! The hotel foyer is grandiose with floor length mirrors and long hallways. The bedrooms however are fairly basic, the shower leaks and the floors rumble and shake whenever someone walks in the corridor or next room. We are situated in the centre of the main pedestrianised shopping area which is a bit of a challenge! The parking building however was a piece of cake compared to Lisbon!!

With just two nights and one full day we filled every minute of it! We took a tourist bus and covered the whole city and the riverside beaches. Porto is an interesting city full of tiny narrow steep laneways, zigzag paths leading to nowhere, houses on the tumble down hillsides, soaring bell towers, buildings piled on top of one another, baroque churches and so many photo opportunities that my camera batteries ran out twice as I tried to capture the moments. Our bus tour took us through the old and newer parts of the city on both sides of the river.

In the morning we also visited the Majestic Cafe - plush and amazing but definitely overpriced for pretty average coffee and juice! We also stared in amazement inside the train station where the walls are covered in tiles telling stories of the history of Porto in pictures. We visited the fruit markets and were surprised at the brightly coloured "artificial" flowers on display for sale.

We spent an hour on a tour of the port wine cellars in Gaia (on the other side of the river) including sampling of course, and later enjoyed port on the rocks as we basked in the late afternoon sun and watched the tiny boats in the harbour beside the tumbling cliffs.There's nothing quite like drinking port in Portugal! Later we walked over the bridge and up the steep cobbled streets back to the hotel - a much needed workout before dinner!

Lisbon in five days!

Our first impression of Lisbon was its size. It seemed huge so we were surprised to read that it only has a population of 580,000. We crossed a really long bridge to arrive at our hotel where we stayed five nights. This included breakfast and very lumpy pillows!

Thursday 16th was Mr B's birthday and we decided to thoroughly explore the city. We went for a short run before brekkie up the street and into a nearby park where again we had to climb uphill. To make it easier both on the uphill and the downhill on the other side we ran across the path in zigzags which made it seem less steep. What we lacked in distance we made up for in degree of difficulty!

After brekkie we caught the underground train into town and headed for the No 28 tram. This goes to the suburb of Alfama - up a very very steep street. The views were picturesque and the ride was very exciting as we wound round the steep very narrow street so close to the edge that you could reach out and touch the walls of the shops as we rode past. The tram itself was very old, probably built in the early part of the 20th century, tiny and creaky but such fun. We rode on lots of trams that day stopping to admire the amazing views at the top of the world and peeking in cute little souvenir shops and marketplaces. We stopped for pastel de natas and found an elevator (Santa Justa) in the oddest place which took us straight up to another amazing lookout. Oh, so many photo opportunities!

We found a cafe recommended in our guide book, aptly named Cafe Vertigo. Here we enjoyed a lovely lunch and had fun watching people walk up, up, up the steep cobbled street outside. The cafe itself was fabulous with wooden panels, walls covered with old photos and a steep vertical staircase leading down to who knows where, although I saw a couple of staff disappear down there! Here in Lisbon there are cobbled pavements everywhere and you have to watch your footing as both of us have nearly tripped a few times on the uneven cobbles.I wonder how many people have fallen flat on their faces as some of the high heels that are worn look a little precarious and we have seen a few near misses (no pun intended)!

In the evening we found a delightful local restaurant for Mr B's birthday dinner. The service was fantastic and we thoroughly enjoyed the recommended fish and pork dishes and of course the vino!

On Friday we headed for Estoril to spend time at the beach. The wind blew and the breakers were big with a strong undertow but it was sheltered lying on the sand and fun to cool off in the ocean. It was a lovely way to spend some relaxing time today. However parking the car back in the hotel carpark was another story. With me directing and Mr B maneouvering - backwards, forwards, sideways and phew, finally success with a squeeze! Now we know why there are so many 'Smart' cars driving round Spain and Portugal (way to go speedyMiranda)! We do have narrow tight carpark buildings in some hotels in Oz but this carpark is simply ridiculous. No wonder they offered to park our car for us when we arrived! Since that experience we have stuck with the trains and trams!

In fact over the weekend that is exactly what we have been doing - exploring every part of Lisbon by every means of transport available. We even included another short steep run. We have discovered a green ticket available at the station which covers all travel on buses, trams, trains, elevators and cable cars for 24 hours. We had such fun catching trams to the end of the line, catching all the cable cars straight up the steep, narrow streets and down again. We found an elevator in the middle of the city that shot us straight up to an amazing lookout at the top. We found 'miradouro' (lookouts) in the most interesting places, had daily indulgences in pastries, freshly squeezed juice and coffee (not often up to much but a dash of sugar helps the bitter strong taste). We also caught one of those 'on and off' tourist buses to cover all the sights in more detail.

One of the highlights was our visit to Castelo de Sao Jorge which towers dramatically above Lisbon. The bus took us to the hill nearby and we walked up the steep cobbled streets to the castle. Every tower involved steep (and I do mean steep) narrow steps to reach the narrow edge around the turret. I have an unadulterated fear of heights but I determinedly plodded up those steps, gripping on to the sides of the walls with heart in mouth, to be rewarded by breathtaking views at the top - so worth the beating heart!

The visit was made complete when we returned to the bottom of the castle to find a full orchestral band singing and playing Fado music - it was amazing.

On Saturday we decided to sample Lisbon's exciting night life. We took the train to the city at about 10.30pm and went into the centre of the city where it was all happening! Every night club was buzzing and the narrow streets were wall to wall people. There was music, loud laughter, singing and bright lights everywhere. We found a very quaint cafe/bar to have a drink where the walls were covered in vintage art decor. It was fun to experience such a fun city at night. However, when we caught the train back to the hotel just before 1am the station was quiet and there were few party animals heading home that early!

This morning we managed to wriggle our car out of the carpark building without scraping any walls and drive about three hours north to Porto where we are staying a couple of nights. This is the second largest city in Portugal and after an explore we have noted that there are more very old trams here - what fun! Life continues to be an adventure.

Sad to leave Seductive Seville!

The flamenco dancing last Sunday night (13th) was truly amazing. The small room was full upstairs and down. We sat on chairs and were provided with a free drink as we watched (sangria for us - surprise, surprise)! There were two guitarists and three singers - all male, taking turns so that there were three on the stage at a time. They played and sang soulful music as a dancer came down the stairs and began to dance. We couldn't understand a word but the general gist ofi it seemed mournful and probably about unrequited love. There were two male dancers and four female. My favourites were one of the men, in a black suit and bright red shirt, who was absolutely amazing as he swirled round and round in dizzying circles and a woman performer who wore a white flamenco dress (maybe she was a bride) and a purple shawl with which she performed fantastic moves. She also seemed happier than the others! As a finale all the dancers, guitarists and singers came on the stage to perform together - fabulous!
Later we drank cava with yet another wonderful meal followed by an icecream at one of the many heladios.

Monday 14th was our last day in Seville and we went for a very long walk trying to cram in anything we might have missed seeing before. We also caught the tram to the end of the line and back again - a long bendy tram. It was fun. We had tapas and red wine for lunch and tapas and sangria for dinner! We find that if we choose three tapas each we get a good selection and for dessert we usually indulge in one scoop of icecream at the icecream shop!

On Tuesday morning Mr B collected our hired car, an Opel Astra, and we said a sad farewell to Seville, definitely our favourite place so far. We really loved its narrow winding cobbled paths, outdoor cafes, low flying bats (yes, bats flying so low we sometimes had to duck), delightful restaurants and little boutiques.

We headed for Faro in the Algarve in Portugal just after lunchtime. Wow, this was another gem. What a stunning place. The houses on the hillsides were whitewashed with orange roofs until we reached a new little area of condomoniums which were all different pastel colours - so pretty amongst all the white ones. We went for an explore and discovered a little cafe where I finally had a good coffee - wowee! The hotel where we stayed for one night was not quite up to the standard of the others and my sleep was not good with a lumpy pillow and airconditioning that was either too hot or too cold. However, breakfast was supplied and the delightful surroundings more than made up for it.

We have also discovered pastel de natas (Portuguese tarts) - oh wow, they are just to-die-for - melt-in-the mouth morsels of egg custard in very flaky pastry with a crispy top - divine! Before leaving Faro we walked through the marketplace to check out all the different varieties of seafood, fruit and veges etc. After packing up we headed for Praia da Gale, a fantastic beach near Albufeira. Here we both had a swim in the Atlantic Ocean. It was cool and refreshing and just lovely to find such a beautiful spot for a break on the drive to Lisbon, where we are staying for the next five nights.

Sunny Seville - it doesn't get better than this!

Have I died and gone to heaven? We arrived in Seville at about 4pm on Friday and checked into yet another amazing hotel. Every place we have stayed has been fantastic and very reasonably priced. This hotel doesn't include breakfast so we went to the nearest Supermercado to stock up on fresh strawberries, bananas and yoghurts which is our usual brekkie in Spain. In the late morning we often buy a pastry and I keep on trying coffee in the desperate hope that one day I will find a good one!! It hasn't happened yet unfortunately but at least the milk has been real since leaving Barcelona.

We walked through the busy shops and narrow streets and totally fell in love with Seville. It is pretty, quaint and full of atmosphere. There are even trams here and a band was playing as the musicians walked along the streets all dressed in white. We managed to become quite lost as we wound in and out through a maze of narrow streets, each one confusing us more, especially when the signs back to the hotel pointed straight ahead but the directions stopped when we faced a choice of several more narrow streets going in a number of different directions - all part of the experience and eventually we found our way.

There are cafes everywhere and the shop windows are amazing. We chose a restaurant to eat outside at 10pm. It was still light and people were still arriving to eat. We chose a selection of tapas and had a great meal with a very palatable bottle of white. We seem to have quickly become accustomed to eating lunch at about 2pm and dinner after 9.30pm just like the locals. We go to bed very late at night and sleep well. It is definitely a different lifestyle which we enjoy while on holiday. Oh and I made a discovery after dinner tonight. I ordered my coffee with Baileys and have decided that this must be the only way to enjoy my coffee. It went down very easily indeed!

The temperature in Seville is several degrees warmer than where we have been up to now and we will have to rise early in order to run before it is too hot.

Saturday 11 June
Rising early didn't happen today and after brekkie we headed out to explore the local area and peruse the absoutely gorgeous shops including a limitless supply of shoe shops. We love the fact that the shops all face the streets and we can be outside instead of enclosed in a mall. The sun was hot and we wore as little as was decent. We found the flamenco venue recommended in our guide book and have booked tickets for tomorrow night. We also found the "shoe street" of Seville and just couldn't believe the amazing window displays everywhere. When everything closed for siesta we headed to an outdoor cafe for a light lunch as we soaked in the atmosphere. This is a wonderful part of Spain.

In the early evening we continued to explore the delightful little alleyways, sometimes managing to peep behind grilled gates to the tree-lined courtyards beyond. As we walked past the town hall we found we were in the middle of a demonstration. We assume that it was regarding unemployment which is currently at 22% in Spain and everywhere we have been there have been tents erected and banners requesting improvements of conditions in Spain. This demonstration could have been a celebration of a footy win. There was loud singing and cheering and chanting. There were police everywhere and banners and lots and lots of people of all ages. It was quite exciting but we did stay to the edge so as not to be drawn into the crazy crowd.

We ate at a local restaurant after 10pm and had a fantastic meal. Mine included the most beautiful grilled veges with large flat mushrooms, zucchinis, green asaparagus this time and tomatoes. We chose a bottle of cava (sparkling light white wine) with our meal and it was beautiful. Dave had oxtails which are a speciality here. It was well after midnight when we wandered back to the hotel. It doesn't even become dark until nearly 10pm here.

Sunday 12 June
The goal was to wake early which I sort of did but then fell back to sleep as is easy to do in the darkened room. The only reason I woke before 9am was that the cleaners were rattling around in the corridor. This meant it was after 9am before we headed out for a run in the heat of the sun. In fact it was 28deg at that stage and the temperature has been climbing all day. We ran through the local park and across the road through the next park and over two bridges before heading back. It was hot but it felt so good to run. It took about 4km before the hammie loosened up but as long as I can run, at least a little, I am happy. I'm so lucky that Mr B leads the way as if I ran on my own I would undoubtedly become completely lost!

Total distance: 8km (it may have been a little further as my garmin had a mind of its own today and started off in miles!)

Later we headed off to have a look inside the enormous cathedral. It is the largest cathedral in Europe and work began on building it in 1401 taking just over a century to complete. Being Sunday there were some services taking place inside and we had limited access but we still saw a lot of the inside and it was truly magnificent and HUGE!

Next we decided to visit the Real Alcazar which is the royal residence, started in 1364! These dates boggle my mind! The Spanish royal family still use the upper levels when they are in residence today. We spent more than 3 hours being gobsmacked by this amazing place - the artwork, the gardens, the amazing ceilings and tiling, the ancient baths, the plasterwork, intricate designs on the archways and tiles - impossible to describe but just fabulous!

We ended up at a restaurant eating tapas for lunch at 4.15pm, absolutely starving! It's great having the opportunity to sample Spanish food this way - small portions, lots of variety, not too filling - perfect! We don't expect to be eating dinner until after 10pm again as we have the flamenco dancing to attend at 8pm - how exciting!

Madrid

I didn't think I could top the hotel where we stayed in Valencia but our hotel in Madrid was fabulous. The only thing missing was the bidet! Everything else was in plentiful supply even down to spare travel toothbrushes and razors each morning. Breakfast was included in the cost and it was amazing. It turns out that a handbag is a useful commodity to take to breakfast for collecting a few pastries, fruit and snacks for later in the day.

I did omit to mention earlier that our hotel in Valencia cost us the equivalent of Aust $75 a night, amazingly cheap. However, when we enquired what it would cost on the nights of the Spanish Grand Prix in late June we were quoted the equivalent of $750 a night - we may give that a miss!!

Wednesday 8 June
This morning we went for a short 5km run before brekkie. It was a question of weaving through traffic, demonstrations regarding unemployment and crowds of people, dogs and cyclists before finding the lovely gardens of the Parque del Retiro where running was pleasant, pretty and fun. After brekkie we walked and walked taking in all the sights, markets, churches, fabulous buildings and shops. We also included a visit to the Centro de Arte Reina Sofia. This is housed in what used to be the general hospital and diplays 20th century art including a lot of Picasso's very modern cubism etc - interesting, strange, not really my style, but well worth a visit.

Later we walked through an enormous food market where we sampled tapas at 1 euro each and enjoyed many interesting tastes. The food markets in Madrid feature more cooked foods and tapas than in Valencia although fresh fruit, veges, nuts, cheeses, meats and fish are still in plentiful supply. In the evening we enjoyed paella and sangria and soaked up the sights and sounds of the city.

Thursday 9 June
On Thursday morning we had an early start as we planned to fit in lots. After brekkie we caught the underground train to the Principe Pio which is a huge shopping complex. We only saw a fraction of the amazing shops before heading to the oldest restaurant in the world where we had booked for lunch. This is the Botin and is featured in the Guiness Book of Records. It was built in 1752 and still uses the original wood-burning oven to cook the specialities of roast suckling pig and roast lamb, the latter which I chose and it was just like a lamb shank and absoutely delicious.

For starters we had white asparagus with cheesy mayonnaise and giant mushrooms - absolutely divine. The asparagus looks like large white sausages and melts in the mouth. In fact it was all delicious and lived up to its reputation.

Later, after walking off our lunch (and visiting the occasional shop - tee hee), we lined up for the Prado Museum which has free entry after 6pm. There was only 2 hours til closing time and we only managed to cram in one floor of magnificent paintings. Now this is what I call art. The Prado houses the world's greatest collection of Spanish paintings from the 12th to 19th century and also has Dutch, German, Italian and French artwork. The light in some of the paintings was stunning. It's all truly fabulous but we definitely needed to allow more time to do it justice. With all the amazing food we are sampling I am definitely becoming Rubenesque!!

Friday 10 June
This morning we ran another short run on the other side of the park. Both runs start uphill and this time we ended up by a lake at the top of the park - a strange place to have a lake. It was pretty and we managed to run on a gravelly surface which felt good underfoot. Running back to the hotel was good as it was mainly downhill.
Total distance: 7km
After enjoying another lovely brekkie and ensuring we had enough for our long train journey ahead we checked out of the hotel and walked to the station to catch the fast train to Seville. The train was delayed 30mins and the journey took 3 hours but the time went quickly. There was a movie on the telly in English with Spanish subtitles (that was surprising) and the countryside was really quite pretty and green as we whizzed past heading for Seville.

A brief glimpse of Valencia

On Monday morning we started the day with a run from our hotel to the Jardines Del Rio Turio. This is a 10km strip of gardens which is actually a dried up river and is crossed by 19 bridges. It was a good place to run as we could see all the City of Arts and Sciences up close and personal. We ran 5km and turned back but on the return we found some dirt tracks and grass which was much easier on the legs than the concrete path we had run on the way out. The sun came out and it was a pleasant run.
Total distance: 10km
Time taken: 62mins!
After showering we took advantage of our 24hr tourist bus tickets and went into the city for a light lunch and browsed around the fabulous food markets where we bought delicious fresh fruit and yummy nuts. The bananas here are absolutely delicious and we are making the most of the great prices. We also discovered yet more outdoor markets before returning to our hotel on the bus just before the 24hrs ran out. From there we walked to the Oceanografic. This is a very modern aquarium where we walked through open tunnels and the fish, sharks etc swam around us. This is situated in the City of Arts and Sciences. It is a series of lagoons and pavillions linked by bridges and tunnels and is quite amazing.

There was time for me to browse round the enormous shopping complex below our hotel before we went for dinner at 10pm at an "all you can eat" complex - big mistake!! We ate too much and drank another large jug of sangria to wash it down! I have been a bit conservative with running distances as my hamstring has been bothering me but if we are going to continue to consume all this amazing food the time has come to up the distances methinks!

Speaking of food (which I am, rather a lot) I forgot to mention that on Sunday night we ate the most amazing paella. We caught our tourist bus to the beach where we walked beside the sea and browsed in the little beach market stalls before finding a restaurant. The paella was absolutely superb, as was the sangria! That was one of my favourite meals so far.

Currently we are on the "very fast" train travelling to Madrid. The speed of the train, current temperature etc pop up on a rolling screen on this very modern train. We are whooshing along at 300kph and the countryside is flashing past. It's a very comfortable ride and we should reach our destination in 1.5hrs.

Adios Valencia, next stop Madrid!

Hola y Adios de Barcelona

We have encountered numerous problems connecting to the internet but finally on our last night in Valencia we have success!

We arrived safely in Barcelona on Tuesday morning after a very long flight from Canberra to Barcelona via Melbourne, Singapore and London. Since our arrival the weather has been decidedly inclement. We have had a few bursts of hot sunshine interspersed with cool, cloudy weather and rain. This morning we squeezed in our first run of 8km before the rain settled in for the rest of the day and the temperature dropped. Yesterday while the sun was out it was a pleasant 24deg.
We are loving Barcelona in spite of the weather. Our hotel is comfortable and we are about 5mins walk from the shops and restaurants, just far enough away to be in a quiet part of town and have relatively peaceful evenings which assists in a good night's sleep.
Here it is traditional to eat lunch about 1.30pm - 2pm and dinner at 10pm. Naturally inbetween one eats pastries or tapas and drinks sangria or cava. It's very civilized but also easy to pile on the weight when it is a lifestyle we are not accustomed to. Short runs and long walks are probably not enough to counteract the extra goodies we are sampling in quantity. One thing I have not found is good coffee. I have since discovered that one reason is that here in Barcelona and hopefully this will not apply everywhere in Spain, they use longlife milk rather than fresh milk and this definitely does not taste the same. Spain just cannot compete with Italy in the coffee stakes, at least not in Barcelona anyway.
On Tuesday night we fell asleep early while resting after a long explore around the local area and ended up sleeping 12hours and missing dinner - no harm done, we had been doing nothing but eat for the previous 24hours on the plane and in the Qantas club and with no exercise we definitely needed to miss a meal!
On Wed we made the most of our fresh legs. It was raining in the morning and we set off to explore. We had stocked up on yoghurts, fresh bananas (less than $3 a kilo here and absolutely delicious) and strawberries (also less than $3 a kilo) and used these for our breakfasts. During the previous afternoon we discovered the most amazing fresh food markets with gorgeous fruit, vegetables, seafoods etc attractively and temptingly displayed in mouth watering stands and stretching for miles. We also discovered many little patisseries and cafes and the plaza reial which is a large open square surrounded by cafes and hotels. Here we sat listening to music and enjoying sangria in the sunshine which had struggled through in the late afternoon. During the day we visited the Basilica of the Sagrada Familia. This was commenced in 1882 and designed by the architect Gaudi. It is still being built 129 years later. Examples of Gaudi's architecture are spread throughout Barcelona and we saw lots of them onour run today. It's so amazing to visit an unfinished modern cathedral in its mind boggling magnificence. We included the lift to the top tower in our visit. This took us up 65 metres and from here we walked up several narrow staircases and took in the fantastic views far below through the narrow windows of the top of the tower. Apparently there are still 300 people working on the cathedral and there are cranes and scaffolding around one side of the building and above the towers. As we descended the stairs back to the lift the bell in the tower (it is a bell tower) started to ring loudly and it was quite eery being part of it all. A lot of the work depends on donations and it has not been estimated how long it will take before the cathedral is finally finished. I wouldn't like to be commissioned to clean it! In the evening we walked quite a way to find a lovely restaurant for dinner. Here we tried some delicious tapas and salads and drank cava which is a light sparkling wine and very easy to consume!
Today we were very excited to be able to meet up with an ex-work colleague of mine from about 15 years ago. Paula and Brett have been living in a village just outside Barcelona for some years and both teach at the same international school. They caught a train in to meet us for lunch. It was wonderful to catch up with friends with local knowledge and they showed us a great place for a beautiful meal at a very reasonable cost. This time we tried the set price menu and I enjoyed vichyssoise, a bread roll, lightly grilled pork and potatoes and a form of layered cake with cream for dessert. Wine of the region was included and was really good. In fact the meal was lovely and we had a great time. Later Paula showed us where to find cafe Italiano and a fantastic shop where the brightly coloured clothes are produced in Barcelona. Both Mr B and I ended up spending money here and in fact I bought quite a lot of very different fun clothes. The only down side to today was when we stopped later this afternoon for a strawberry cheesecake for Mr B and plain cheesecake for me it must have been the straw that broke the camel's back as upon returning to our hotel Mr B suffered a bout of food poisoning or at least a strong reaction to his cheesecake. He was quite violently ill which prevented us from going out this evening except to the local supermarket to stock up on yoghurt for the morning. I guess one could say that Mr B got his "just desserts" that being all that he ate or did not eat as the case turned out to be!
Since our run this morning the rain has fallen steadily for most of the day. We ran from the hotel through the Arc del Triomf, past the zoo and on to the beach where we ran along the boulevard for a few kms before turning and running back a slightly different route although we did run past the zoo and through the lovely surrounding parkland. It was so good to just get out there and run again for the first time since Sunday.

Friday 3 June

On our last full day in Barcelona, after a long walk through the streets, we decided to have lunch before joining the queue to visit the Picasso Museum. We found a lovely little restaurant with a very reasonably priced menu. I ordered lamb done in the oven which turned out to be a 'melt in the mouth' lambshank and Mr B had tiny fried fish which were similar to whitebait fritters. For entree we had white asparagus wrapped in Spanish ham. Desert for Mr B was a baked apple and for me a creme caramel. The wine here is very light and easy to drink and also very cheap.
By the time we returned to the queue it was quite short and moved quickly. The museum was well worth a visit with samples of Picasso's works throughout his entire career including his very unusual modern art later in life. He started painting when he was in his early teens and died at aged 92 in 1973.
After our fascinating visit there we headed off to catch a train to Montjuic which sits 213m above the commercial port on the south side of the city. We caught the funicular to take us to the castle at the top of the hill and the views from the ride and the castle were really amazing. The moment we stepped off the funicular the sun came out. It was actually hot. We have experienced every season in the few days we have been in Barcelona often all in one day. The only answer is to wear layers and to always carry an umbrella. Montjuic has lots of museums and galleries and after exploring the turrets of the castle and viewing the port and all the cruise shops (one was carrying a friend of mine from Canberra and we sent each other a text message )we rode back down the funicular and explored the gorgeous Montjuic gardens and joined loads of tourists on the steps of the Museum of Catalunya Art. The sun was still warm well after 7pm and we enjoyed a glass of cava as we sat listening to the music of buskers and admired the magnificent views of the city below. It turned out to be a beautiful evening.
Saturday 4 June
We had a relatively early start this morning when we decided to run from our hotel before catching the train to Valencia. We ran a similar run to Thursday heading through the Arc del Triomf and on to Barceloneta to run beside the seafood restaurants and along the boardwalk beside the beach. We turned at 4km and ran back stopping at the 5km mark when Mr B decided to go for a quick dip in the sea. We had perfect running conditions today, overcast and cool although it was still hot enough to work up quite a sweat and Mr B enjoyed his very short invigorating swim.

Total distance: 8.5km (incl warm-up)
Time taken: 48mins (for 8km)
Average pace per km: 6mins

We caught a taxi in plenty of time for our mid-day journey. Unfortunately however Mr B had omitted to print our tickets off the internet and the printed receipt was not acceptable. Thus we ended up buying more tickets and this time first class ones which were only slightly more expensive. We did however have a 3 hour wait for the next train as the mix up meant we had to miss our original train.
The train journey takes 3 hours and gives me time to read my book and write this up in a word document to be saved to my blog later. I've just finished reading 'Born to Run' by Christopher McDougall and it's a fascinating book. I would recommend it to anyone interested in running. Now I'm reading a book Ewen gave me for my birthday - 'The Soloist' by Steve Lopez which was made into a movie. After only a few chapters into it, I can already tell I'm going to enjoy it.

Sunday 5 June
Our hotel in Valencia is amazing. It is situated above a very modern five level shopping centre and opposite the City of Arts and Sciences. This is the new modern part of the city and today we caught a taxi into the original part of the city where we had some lunch and caught a tourist on/off bus so that we could have a tour of the entire city (old and new) and the port and learn of the history. It was also a good way to glimpse all the amazing buildings, museums and churches.
On Sundays it appears that all the shops are shut for the entire day. However we discovered lots of outdoor markets selling all sorts interesting items. It was interesting just to wander along the narrow streets with the tall narrow buildings and apartments and browse through the market Today, for the first time in Spain, the weather was sunny and warm at 26deg. Later the wind picked up but on the whole it was a lovely day.
I tried the local drink of Horchata today which is a sweet, milky drink made from earth almonds. It's refreshing but probably not a drink I would normally choose. Last night we ate in a local restaurant in the huge shopping area below the hotel. As well as shops there are numerous interesting eating spots.

Waiting, waiting to fly to Barcelona!

I am currently at Canberra airport waiting for the flight to Melbourne which has been delayed twice due to fog in Melbourne. Fortunately Mr B has Qantas club membership and we have had a relaxing brekkie and there's still time for me to update my blog before the first leg of our long flight. We fly from Canberra to Melbourne, on to London and then Barcelona arriving about 10.15am tomorrow (Tuesday) if everything goes to plan! The predicted forecast for tomorrow is 22deg and raining - hmmm, glad I've packed my spray jacket and umbrella!

Yesterday I ran in the Vets' monthly handicap at West Stromlo. Mr B was on roster. We had to rush off straight afterwards but I still had an opportunity to catch up with a few people and it was lovely that Jen brought her baby Daniel out. The ground was a bit rough and there were a few undulations but it was good to be out there with so many familiar faces and I didn't stop and I managed to run all the course even if I was a bit slow. I was also a few seconds faster than Ewen who was caught walking on the hills!! He did have a good excuse however as he had raced the day before and was racing again in the afternoon.

Handicap Group: 23

Total distance: 7.5km

Time taken: 45:01

Average pace per km: 6mins

Finish place: 67th (out of 93 finishers)

I couldn't go to coffee afterwards as Mr B and I were joined by our entire family and drove to Collector to Grandma's Little Bakery at the Olive Farm, for a delightful family lunch celebrating birthdays, return from overseas and farewell to us. The girls had driven through from Sydney and we had a very special time together. I do love my family:)

In 20mins our flight should be called and we will be off. Having gone to bed at 2.30am and risen at 6.30am I'm hoping for some catch-up sleep on the plane (unlikely, but I can but hope)!

We are spending four days in Barcelona, then we travel by train to Valencia, Madrid and Seville staying a few days in each place. We will hire a car in Seville and drive on from there. Hopefully I will be able to blog on my way. Bye for now.:)

Birthday Week and too much food!

On Tuesday 24 May it was my birthday and I had a rest from running. This has been a week of eating starting with a birthday brekkie with a good friend. Mr B took me out for a delicious dinner in the evening. Oops, bad habits are forming before I leave for Spain. I have had celebratory lunches all week and tomorrow after the veterans' handicap run we are heading off for a family lunch in Collector where my daughter will drive through from Sydney to join us.
Wednesday
I took Teddy for a lovely long walk in the morning and at lunchtime CJ collected me and took me out for a really yummy lunch. The run in the evening was a bit of a struggle but it felt better than Monday's effort. I met Chris, Andy and Ewen and we ran from Parliament House anti-clockwise round Central Basin and along Constitution Ave.
Total distance: 8.5km
Time taken: 53:06
Average pace per km: 6:15
Thursday
I spent an hour at the gym in the morning doing chin ups, push ups, chest press, shoulder, triceps and biceps exercises and abs work. This was followed by a very busy day organising overseas money, lunching with yet another friend, hair appointment, nail appointment, optical appointment and shopping for last minute bits and pieces for my trip. I didn't make it to training, instead cooking a roast dinner and continuing with the packing.
Friday
First thing in the morning Teddy and I went for a run to make up for the one I missed last night and to make it up to Teddy who had missed out on his walk yesterday. We ran with minimum distractions for 8km.

Next it was off for a remedial massage in Kingston and after that a lovely lunch with Marg and Jeni, who was here for work on her fortnightly trip from the coast. In the evening we had our beautiful grandchildren overnight. They were so good and such fun and slept really well. I will miss them a lot when we are overseas.
Saturday
This morning, after organising the children, I drove to meet Ewen at the War Memorial at the civilized hour of 9.30am. The sun was out and it was a glorious day with no wind although it was icy cold and we both wore gloves. I wore a t-shirt and shorts and felt ok but never too hot. We just ran down to the lake and towards Molonglo Reach and back. It is taking me longer to recover from this half marathon than it usually does. I'm still a bit stiff and sore.
Total distance: 10km
Time taken: 64.29
Average pace per km: 6:27
Tomorrow's hilly run will be interesting and very slow! Only two more sleeps until Spain!

One Week to Go!

This morning I spent a couple of hours at the gym working on my shoulders, chest, triceps, biceps and abs. This was followed by an industrious afternoon of defrosting the freezer, ordering a replacement Garmin ant stick, sorting out paperwork and clothes and bits and pieces to take overseas.

Later I went to the speedy geese session at Parliament House. I met them on their return from the first warm up loop and joined them to run to the hills where they were sprinting hill repeats. I opted to run along the flat well lit area at the top of the hill and along the footpath opposite PH. My hamstring was really painful and I didn’t want to risk making it worse by pushing on the hills. Instead I ran very gently backwards and forwards until the others had finished their hills when I joined them on the final loop of PH back to the carpark. It took until about 5km before my hamstring started to feel a bit less painful.
Total distance: 7.6km
And now there are just 7 more sleeps until Spain and still a lot left on my list of things to do!

Worth Waking Up For!!

The forecast for today was "rain developing"! Fortunately it didn't develop during the half marathon and the conditions were perfect for the YMCA Canberra Runners' Club 42nd Half Marathon which started at Lennox Gardens, going round the square of the National Library, Portrait Gallery etc and then on round the undulating west basin of the lake. I was so happy it didn't rain. The first 5km felt hard, possibly due to the concrete underfoot but after we headed for the track round the lake I felt comfortable even on the hills. The bright blue strapping on my hamstring must have helped and I played CJ and Tori's game of passing the person in front of me whenever I could. It gave me a little burst of speed as I came closer each time making it fun. In the first few km I realised I had lost the little rubber stopper for my left earplug of my ipod so I ran with only one earplug and listened to all the interesting conversations and heavy breathing around me out of one ear!

At the half way mark I had run one hour exactly so I was very happy when I finished in under two hours giving me a negative split!

Time: 1hr 58:52 (official time)

Average pace per km: 5:38

Place overall: 223rd (out of 327)

Place in age group: 1st

Not only did everyone receive a medal for finishing but I received a medal for winning my age group plus a $25 voucher from the Runners' Shop. Then, I won a lucky barrel draw of another two $25 vouchers from the Runners' Shop. Woo hoo, I have $75 to spend. I may wait to browse through the shop on our return from Spain.

After the run a group of us headed for Dobinsons in the city for lunch and coffee and lots of good conversation. Unfortunately we had to split into two groups a long way from each other because it was so busy but it was still fun. Jen joined us with baby Daniel and he is just so adorable. I was so lucky to have lots of cuddles!

During the week just gone I ran with Teddy on Tuesday incorporating Fartlek of 5 x 2min surges with 2min easy run between. Teddy was puffing and running nicely after the 5th surge until he spotted two yappy dogs behind a fence then he just about pulled me over in his eagerness to get to them. That was definitely another surge!!

Total distance: 5km

On Wednesday I ran my usual course with Chris, Andy and Ewen from Parliament House and part of the lake. It felt comfortable and the lights in the darkness made the lake look just stunning and mirror still and the carillon glowed.

Total distance: 9.5km

Friday

I incorporated Thursday's 200m strides in my plan (as I couldn't get to training on Thursday) with Friday's easy run taking Teddy with me. It was just 6 x 200m strides with easy jogs between and a 3km easy run.

Total distance: 5km

I then had a physio appointment and lessons on putting on my super blue tape so Mr B can do this for me while we are running overseas. It does seem to help.

We have 8 more sleeps until we fly to Spain - woo hoo!

speedy geese hills

This morning I did a solid weights session at the gym followed by abs and stretches.

Tonight I arrived for training just as the other speedygeese were leaving for the warm up. Fortunately Chris started running with me and we met the others on their return round the loop of Parliament House. After the warm up we headed for the steep grassy bank leading up to the very top of PH. It has four levels and we ran right to the top the first time. After that we ran two levels (ie 100m) twenty times jogging down between each hill to repeat on the whistle. It was steep and hard work and 30mins of steady running. We finished with another loop around PH.

Total distance: approx 8km

It's all been happening!

I have to go by memory this week as I no longer have a Garmin stick to download my week’s runs. I had everything written in draft on my little laptop but unfortunately on Tuesday we had a break-in and our house was burgled. One of the losses was my lovely little laptop with my Garmin stick attached although they didn’t take my Garmin which was charging nearby. All the history of my runs and my photos are on that laptop which is very frustrating.

I think home invaders are the scum of the earth. The fear and loss of trust that has been installed in me is worse than the theft. I jump at every noise and no longer feel comfortable at home on my own. I guess I am very lucky that I have lived nearly 61 years and this is the first time we have been burgled. We are also lucky that nobody has been hurt and Teddy is still here, as the side fencing had been moved and he could easily have run away. Instead he remained as a faithful “watch” dog, no doubt happily “watching” as the burglers trashed our bedroom and removed anything of value that they could find! If only dogs could talk!

The most inconvenient part of all this is that we leave for Spain on 30 May and all our passports (five current ones between us) and relevant documentation was in a steel safe which has been pulled from the wall and removed. We are now in the process of having new passports organised and old ones cancelled - such a pain!

Anyway, back to what I can remember of the week just gone.

Saturday 7 May
Andy and I ran from the War Memorial at 8.45am and just ran for 15 minutes before returning to meet Ewen at 9am and from there running to the ferry terminal where we met Emma and a little later speedy Geoff. It was a cold crisp morning but the sun shone and it was a good run once we got into our stride. We ran through the ANU grounds, which are always interesting, and back to the War Memorial.
Total distance: 20km
We tried a new venue for coffee today at Wilburs by the Hackett Shops. It was quite a pleasant change except that it was very cold outside and we needed extra layers.

Sunday 8 May
I took Teddy with me on my run during a sunny part of the day.
Total distance: 8km
Time taken: 50mins

Monday 9 May
In the morning I went to the gym and spent a couple of hours doing upper body strength work. At 5.30pm I joined the speedy geese for our training session at Parliament House. After our warm up loops we headed for the hilly grassy bank opposite PH. Our main session consisted of 12 x 100m hill sprints on 90secs followed by attrition sprints won by Joel who was narrowly followed by Colin and Abby. We then ran a warm down loop in and out of the trails round PH.
Total distance: 8km

Tuesday 10 May
Due to the circumstances described at the start of this blog entry I didn’t manage a run today. The house was no longer secure as the door needed repairing and I even had to miss out on the speedygeese dinner that night which was very disappointing!

Wednesday 11 May
Fortunately the insurance company sent a builder to secure the door and although it still needed a replacement lock I was able to join Ewen at Parliament House for a warm up (?) run at 5.30pm before Chris and Andy joined us for our usual run. I have to say that it was great to get out but oh boy, it was a cold night. I wore leggings, gloves, long sleeved top and tee shirt and never felt it was too hot. I did remove the spray jacket that I had worn on the warm up. Gee, it was minus 2deg and it felt very cold indeed!
Total distance: 10.2km
Time taken: 63mins
Average pace per km: 6:16

Thursday 12 May
Tonight I arrived at the speedy geese session at Dickson Oval just a little late and missed the first warm up lap. I was greeted with lots of hugs and felt so loved. I do think it makes a huge difference to know that people are so caring. I have wonderful friends. Everyone has been so supportive and this does help so much.
After another warm up loop of the oval our main session was a pyramid type session round the track.

60secs fast/60 jog
50secs fast/50 jog
40secs fast/40 jog
30secs fast/30 jog
40secs fast/40 jog
50secs fast/50 jog
60secs fast/60 jog

This was repeated for 20minutes with speedycoach blowing the whistle at the appropriate changes of speed. It was tough but enjoyable. I was lucky to have the company of speedygosling Jeni for the entire run.
We finished with a warm down lap of the oval and didn’t wait around too long afterwards as the air was very cold indeed!
Total distance: 6.5km (a short session as I missed the long warm up at the start)

Friday 13 May
Today was my rest day but I did go to the gym at 6.15am for an intensive RPM/spin session. This was followed by a remedial massage and oh boy I have a lot of very sore touchy spots right now. Tomorrow is only a middle distance run, a week before the half marathon.

Saturday 14 May
Today only two of us left the War Memorial at 9am for my last longish run before the half marathon next Sunday. Ewen and I wore our long sleeved tops on a crisp but sunny morning of only 5deg as we ran along Anzac Parade to the lake, along Kings Ave, the south side of the lake past Lotus Bay, over Commonwealth Bridge and back to the War Memorial. It was relaxing and we enjoyed good conversation which continued when we were joined for coffee by Liz and CJ at the War Memorial café later.
Total distance: 15km
Time taken: 1:36:48
Average pace per km: 6:27

Sunday 15 May
This afternoon I took Teddy with me as it was a scheduled easy run. After a couple of early distractions he ran quite well veering off and pulling me with him when he spotted another dog to bark at but apart from that we enjoyed a good run. He’s improving!
Total distance: 8km
Time taken: 48:55 (Teddy will make the 6min per km mark yet!)

speedygeese at Dickson

Today was a gorgeous day after the initial very cold start to the morning. When I walked with Teddy round North Lyneham ridge it was t-shirt weather - gorgeous. However, by the time I ran with the speedygeese at Dickson Oval it was time for long sleeves and leggings. Brrr! After a couple of warm up loops of the full oval we ran our main session in relay teams of two. I was paired with Miranda and our session was as follows:

6 x 600m fast (1.5 laps of the oval) with approx 200m jog between while we waited for our partner to pass us the baton at the starting point.

We finished with another loop of the oval.
Total distance: 8.5km
Amazingly Miranda and I were not the last team home - woo hoo!

Happy Birthday Speedycoach!

I started writing this on Easter Sunday but was obviously side tracked in the interim. I just don't know how the days disappear so quickly! Easter Sunday was a stunning day. I met Andy (who had just returned from the UK) at the ferry terminal and we went for a gentle catch up run.
Total distance: 11.3km

Easter Monday
A public holiday and I took advantage of this by running in the morning while the weather was pleasant.
Total distance: 15km

Anzac Day
Yet another public holiday and and Mr B and I enjoyed the great outdoors by going for a very enjoyable cycle down to Lake Burley Griffin and round the bridges before heading home. I went for my run later in the afternoon and took Teddy dog with me. This is the furthest distance he has run and apart from a few distractions on the way he managed well.
Total distance: 10km

Wednesday 27 April
I returned to the gym in the morning and in the evening met up with Ewen, Andy and Chris to run our usual route from Parliament House.
Total distance: 10.3km
After the run Chris had choir practice but Andy, Ewen and I met up with Jen and bub at a lovely pizza restaurant. It was great that Richard could also join us. We haven't seen him for ages as he's been injured.

Thursday 28 April
Tonight was our first speedygeese session at Dickson Oval this season. It was a good turnout on a cool drizzly evening - 14 including a few new starters and some geese who we haven't seen since last year. It was great to catch up with everyone and meet new people too. We started with a large loop of the oval for a warm up and the main session was as follows:

12 x 200m fast with 100m recovery jogs between.

We were told to concentrate on our form running on toes and keeping tummies tucked. I found that eased the pain anyway although of course I was still last finished! It started to rain during the main part of the session - lightly, but we were all dripping wet by the end. We finished with a warm down of the small part of the full oval.
Total distance: 8.5km

Friday 29 April
Fridays are my rest day but this day I went to an RPM/spin class at the gym for the first time in several weeks. It was a really good work out.

Saturday 30 April
This morning I met Emma P at 8am for an early run of 9km before returning to the War Memorial and meeting Andy and Ewen to run further. We ran the short-cut to the Ainslie track staying on the trails to Campbell Pk, Duntroon, through the Wetlands and back along Anzac Pde.
Total distance: 24km
It was a pleasant run but unfortunately I couldn't wait for coffee afterwards as I had a prior commitment:(

Sunday 1 May
Once more I incorporated my run with Teddy's walk. He does enjoy being worn out running in between walking days. Today we just ran from home to the tunnel heading for Gungahlin and home again. He was better today as there weren't as many dogs out to distract him and he managed to run all the way after the first couple of kms of tugging towards trees!
Total distance: 8km

Monday 2 May
Morning - long strength session at gym
Evening - Back to speedygeese session at Parliament House. This time there were only a few of us running round PH. Next week I really must remember my spotlight as it is becoming dark much earlier now and difficult to negotiate the footing when we run around the hidden tracks.
After our warm up our main session was as follows:
6 x 680m on five minutes, using a couple of steep slopes as part of the loop.
The cool down afterwards brought the total distance to 8.5km

Tuesday 3 May
Having entered the ACT Half Marathon on 22 May I have been endeavouring to follow a program of sorts for the past few weeks. Today all I had to do was a short fartlek session as follows:
Warm up followed by:
6 x 2min surges with 2min easy run between.
Warm down
Total distance: 4km!

Wednesday 4 May
Today is speedygeoff's birthday and it really was a lovely sunny day - cool, but sunny with a slight breeze - a good day for a birthday.

I went to the gym in the morning.
6.50am - warm up on xtrainer
7am - 15mins abs session
7.20am - warm up on rower
7.30am - strength work and upper body weights
8.15am - brekkie at the gym
9am - rower followed by push ups, chin ups etc. It was great to meet up with Miranda who had come to do the Body Balance session which I had planned to do.
9.30am - Body Balance (what a civilized hour for a class)

11am - finally left gym and headed for a coffee!

After my daily walk with Teddy and catching up with this long overdue blog I headed for Parliament House to meet Ewen, Chris and Andy for a run. It was cool enough to wear 3/4 pants instead of shorts and a t-shirt instead of a singlet but it was pleasant running weather. We ran round the bridges, past the carillon and along Anzac Parade to the war memorial before heading back to PH. On the return trip Victoria caught up with us on her third lap of bridge to bridge. She was running 20km as she is training for the Gold Coast marathon in July.
Total distance: 11km

The Week in Review!

Monday 18 April
6.30am - 50mins upper body strength and abs work at the gym
5.30pm - speedygeese training at Parliament House
My hamstring was still sore and tight but I decided I needed to try a proper training session after a week of very easy running. We started with a warm-up loop of PH before heading for a grassy slope for some hill training. This consisted of 20 x 100m hill repeats and a jog back down to run the next one within 90secs. It was tough and I didn't push too hard but at least I managed every one which pleased me. This was followed by a warm down loop of PH.

There were only a few of us at training, probably a number were affected by the school holidays. However, a surprise visitor was Thea who ran the hills well. She also surprised us with the exciting news of her engagement, which actually happened in January. She is good at keeping secrets! Woo hoo - lovely news indeed:)
Total distance: 7.7km
I am looking after my 8 year old grandaughter Talia, for a few days in the school holidays and this morning we went to see Rio in 3D at the movies. It was lots of fun.

Tuesday 19 April
I just ran a short run of 6km this morning before collecting Talia for the day. It was not a comfortable run and my leg hurt far more than last night.
Talia and I met up with Jen and her boys at Questacon. We had a really fun time.

Wednesday 20 April
7am - 15mins abs class at the gym
7.15am - 45mins upper body strength work
Talia and I had a lovely day, spending some time in the morning buying craft materials and visiting the chocolate shop and the afternoon making Easter baskets and baking.
6pm - I ran from Parliament House with Ewen and Chris on a really pleasant evening. Earlier it had rained and I wasn't looking forward to the run. However, the evening was still and the rain had stopped. It was a lovely run.
Total distance: 9km

Thursday 21 April
Today I decided to kill two birds with one stone and took Teddy on my run with me. The first 2km were a struggle as he wanted to keep pulling over to stop and was easily distracted by dogs and interesting smells on the way. After that he found it easier just to run with me and was actually quite good. It was the furthest he had actually run with me without stopping.
Total distance: 8km

Saturday 23 April
None of my runs have been very long this week as I'm trying to keep my hamstring in one piece! This morning I ran from home and along the cycle track towards Gungahlin, just 5km out and 5km back listening to music. It was cold and crisp but later it turned into a beautiful sunny day.
Total distance: 10km
Time taken: 62mins
Average pace per km: 6:14
Calories burned: 589

Tomorrow I'm meeting Andy at the lake for another short run after his return from the UK. Next weekend I will pick up my distances hoping to be able to take part in the half marathon on 22 May.
Currently my daughters are in travel mode. They have both just left for overseas trips. One is in Vanuatu for a week and the other has just arrived in Paris. This is a good time to travel to warmer weather.

I wish you all a very happy and safe Easter weekend.