drunkenfool
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Registered: 7th Feb 03
Location: Hereford Drives: Audi R8 V8
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Got back today from my trip to Spain and I had a fucking awesome time!! Flew from Birmingham to Almeria right on the south coast where I met my mate Ros from my Spanish class last year at uni (shes on year out there while im repeating, long story). Anyway, we went to Granada for 3 days then I went off to La Coruña on the North West Coast on my lonesome to check out the town cos i think im gonna move there im September for 10 months to do my year out in Spain, probably as a visiting student doing a language course. Id never been travelling on my own before but had an amazing time, doing lots of touristy things, plus I didn't speak a word of English for 4 days, I properly got into Spanish mode and loved every minute of it, can't wait to move there now! Here's a few of my pics from my mini adventure... 
View from Ros' apartement window in a town called Adra, about an hour west of Almeria by bus (right on the south coast).
Bathroom Window
My mate Ros on the left and her Norweigan flatmate Christine on the right, even though we all speak English we spoke in Spanish half the time anyway
We then got the Bus to Granada, about 2 1/2 hours north west (inland a bit) of Adra, and spent 2 days there...
View from Hostel window
The next day we went to a proper African tea bar type place (for those who don't know, Spain was ruled by the Moors (africans) for about 700 years until 1492 when the Christians reconquered the country forcing the Moors out again), then we went to go and see the Alhambra in the afternoon which was the last Moorish stronghold in Spain, both a castle and palace, and it was absolutely amazing. The amount of labour that must have gone into making it is incredible!
Tea Bar
Alhambra
We got really drunk that night with a few of their spanish mates till about 5am so didn;t do that much the next day, but we all went for Sushi in a proper Japanese Sushi bar (id only ever had the stuff in trays that you can get from tesco before  ), it was well nice
Then me and Ros went to a live flamenco night in a back steeet taberna after asking one of the local barmen where the best non touristy place was to go see an authentic flamenco show. We ended up in this little bar called El Mercantíl, and I had one of the best nights of my life there, absolutely loved every second of it! It's a way of life for the dancers, singers etc, and its so emotionally charged its unbelieveable. Only got one decent pic but got a few videos too.
I then flew off on my own from Granada to Madrid, spent an hour in Madrid airport then flew off to La Coruña on the North West coast of Spain just above Portugal, in the region of Spain called Galicia. Ros had to go back to work, so instead of going home I figured id stay in the country and go explore the city where im thinking about moving to in september for my year out  I wasnt quite sure what to do when I got there cos it was already about 6pm, but I was sitting outside a café having a beer watching the world go by when I heard a marching band, shortly followed by horses, people dressed in full 19th Century battle uniforms, gunfire and then cannon fire (SOOOOO loud!). Turns out it was the annual festival thing remembering the battle of Elviña which happened in La Courña 198 years ago, a battle between the English and the French, and the Spanish fought on the English side to expel the French.
The next day, I decided to do El Paseo Marítimo (the maritime walk) which is about 8km around all of La Courña's coast, taking in most of the tourist attractions en route. It's a busy shipping port town too, so I had to go see the harbour too
One of the tourist attractions there is El Torre De Hércules, the oldest working lighthouse in the world, originally dating from 200BC.
The old Roman foundations inside
View from top
I then carried on walking to the aquarium and got some pics from there. First two were pics on display for the wildlife photographer of the year, but I thought they were cool
In the aquarium
Any Hi-Fi buffs will recognise this, the Nautilus shell. Bowers & Wilkins designed their flagship speakers on the shell as it naturally avoids standing waves and produces a better sound :geek:
I couldnt see this fish in there, but he looks like such a badass
This made me laugh but I was trying hard not to in public cos I was alone and mighta looked quite weird Almeja is spanish for clam, but colloquially is means fanny (for obvious reasons ) so the sign "Giant fanny" was quite amusing
Downstairs in the aquarium they had a MASSIVE panoramic tank with the viewing bit in the middle, with sharks etc too, this was the walkway towards it
Couldnt get a good pic of shark, but a couple of other random ones
I then walked onto the museum of the human body, not anywhere near as interesting as the aquarium but id paid so i went
DNA Double helix made of books
Walked back to Plaza de María Pita by my hostel, got a couple of pics of the Town Hall then went back to my hostel room where I had a glass (carton ) of sangria, and some Jamón Serrano, how Spanish
The next day (yesterday) I went for another walk around the City, went to the harbour and walked the 1km out to the end of the pier and back again, underneath the control tower which you can see from a lot of the city.
Then it was off for more of a wander around, and i found the Military Museum which I thought was gonna be a bit shit but i found really interesting, I got talking to the spanish guard in there about wars generally and the history of the region, he really made the visit worthwhile. OJC woulda loved it
The machinery from the old clock tower from the 1700's
Finally, I went for a walk around the old city and the gardens there and got a couple more pics before heading back to the hostel
I got up at 6am today (5am UK time) an hour before I had to get the bus to Santiago De Compostela (to get the plane home) to take some pics, but it was still really dark 
Anyway, bit of an essay but in case anyone read till the end then cheers for the interest Adios
PS if anyone is interested in history, I got two links off wikipedia about el alhambra and el torre de hercules
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alhambra
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Torre_de_Hercules
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Whittie
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Registered: 11th Aug 06
Location: North Wales Drives: BMW, Corsa & Fiat
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Jesus, that week has flown by 
Now I'll read the post
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tom_simes
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Registered: 12th Jan 05
Location: Undy, Newport Drives: Skoda Octavia vRS estate
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Looks like it was a good trip mate, and some bloody good photos there as well
That lighthouse looks amazing, and how great is that massive compass?
Hope you a load of fun there pal.
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Cosmo
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Registered: 29th Mar 01
Location: Im the real one!
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More pics of Ros 
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drunkenfool
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Registered: 7th Feb 03
Location: Hereford Drives: Audi R8 V8
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All the photos were taken on my phone too
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craigp
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Registered: 21st Jun 05
Location: Runcorn, Cheshire
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great pics mate
looked a cracking trip 
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Mistamist
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Registered: 16th Jul 03
Location: Gillingham, Kent
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Welcome back Matt, glad you had a good time, i do like spain have travelled through it many times, each time taking a different route from north to south and vice versa. usually stay in Jaen before travelling through Granada as my dad used to work there years back.
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mav
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Registered: 19th Jun 01
Location: Scotland
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Looks like a good time was had...Nice pics...
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Ojc
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Registered: 14th Nov 00
Location: Reading: Drives : Clio 197
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Fook about look at that armoury.
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Jas
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Registered: 13th Oct 04
Location: Mid Wales
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class photo's.. the light house is amazing considering its ago, i mean over 2200 years ago
oh and matt's holiday wasn't quite over either.. HE COMES HOME TO FIND A BRAND NEW N93 WAITING FOR HIM....
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drunkenfool
Member
Registered: 7th Feb 03
Location: Hereford Drives: Audi R8 V8
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This Is true :-) my mum got a new contract and managed to blag one for free instead of a hundred quid, and she's not fussed what phone she has so i swapped my n90 for her n93! My o2 pay as you go sim also worked in it straight away even though it's voda contract, so no need to pay to get it unlocked either, bonus :-) just wrote this message on it too lol
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ClaireF
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Registered: 1st Nov 05
Location: hurlford, scotland Drives: corsa again
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spain is great wish bk there
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Jas
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Registered: 13th Oct 04
Location: Mid Wales
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haha playing with your new toy 
noticed you're on msn with mobile device
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ClaireF
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Registered: 1st Nov 05
Location: hurlford, scotland Drives: corsa again
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who????
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Whittie
Member
Registered: 11th Aug 06
Location: North Wales Drives: BMW, Corsa & Fiat
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Drunkenfool Claire, not you.
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Jas
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Registered: 13th Oct 04
Location: Mid Wales
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quote:
Originally posted by ClaireF
who????
You may have just suggested that you have a new toy you're playing with
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Icy
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Registered: 31st Jan 01
Location: Edinburgh Drives: Mk3 Golf Gti
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quote:
Originally posted by Cosmo
More pics of Ros
concur!!!
nice pics, good read
can see how humid it was in the pics
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willay
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Organiser: South East, National Events
Premium Member
Registered: 10th Nov 02
Location: Roydon, Essex
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did you smash in ros' back door by any chance?
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jamied
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Registered: 27th Oct 03
Location: Marbella,Spain Drives: C63
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looks really good.
im movin to benalmadena anytime in the next month
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drunkenfool
Member
Registered: 7th Feb 03
Location: Hereford Drives: Audi R8 V8
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Nice mate, should be good weather that far south! You moving there permanently? I can't wait to finish my degree now, unless anything drastically changes in teh next 2 years then I'll be heading out there for a good few years at least I reckon, if not forever
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Toby
Premium Member
Registered: 29th Nov 05
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quote:
Originally posted by drunkenfool
Got back today from my trip to Spain and I had a fucking awesome time!! Flew from Birmingham to Almeria right on the south coast where I met my mate Ros from my Spanish class last year at uni (shes on year out there while im repeating, long story). Anyway, we went to Granada for 3 days then I went off to La Coruña on the North West Coast on my lonesome to check out the town cos i think im gonna move there im September for 10 months to do my year out in Spain, probably as a visiting student doing a language course. Id never been travelling on my own before but had an amazing time, doing lots of touristy things, plus I didn't speak a word of English for 4 days, I properly got into Spanish mode and loved every minute of it, can't wait to move there now! Here's a few of my pics from my mini adventure...
View from Ros' apartement window in a town called Adra, about an hour west of Almeria by bus (right on the south coast).
[My mate Ros on the left and her Norweigan flatmate Christine on the right, even though we all speak English we spoke in Spanish half the time anyway
cant see why you would want to move out there
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Doug
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Registered: 8th Oct 03
User status: Offline
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Looks like a fantastic trip mate!!!
Will have to grab a pint after the exams so you can tell me about it!
Im going to barcelona in march and looking forward to it!
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Superlite Ltd.
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Registered: 9th Jan 07
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Brilliant stuff matt, looks like you had a wicked time
glad your back though
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drunkenfool
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Registered: 7th Feb 03
Location: Hereford Drives: Audi R8 V8
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Just got back to Aberystwyth, exams start on Saturday morning which means I have to revise tomorrow Least I got a hell of a lot of practise in while I was out there, and brought back 3 copies of El País and 3 copies of El Mundo to read
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Doug
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Registered: 8th Oct 03
User status: Offline
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My last one is on sat
Going to be fairly pissed on monday night
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