Winter Trip

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Assalamualaikum,

Last December I went to Portugal and Spain during my Christmas Holiday, that was my first Europe trip since I came here. Indeed, I was thrilled till I could not slept, spending too much time to prepare the Itinerary. I have to admit that planning a trip is not that easy, it is really really time and energy consuming, especially when you have budget trip in mind. hehehe All of us 6 person in total who are aime, myself, yati, fatin, noely and her husband. Well, let me show my itinerary for this trip.

PORTUGAL-SPAIN TRIP (11 DAYS)

MANCHESTER -> FARO AIRPORT, PORTUGAL                                                                      

17/12     19:20 DEPART                                                                                                                   

               22:20 ARRIVE

We traversed by Ryanair to Faro Airport.Upon our arriving to Faro, we just performed Isya at the airport and ate our 'nasi goreng' and 'che mek molek' homemade by noely. Btw, this was my first flight with Ryanair too and I found it quite cheap similar to Airasia. Their officers are quite strict, some of us had to leave our belongings at the airport. huhu Lucky that we arrived quite early since we get stucked almost an hour for the whole damn inspection procedure. Haiyoo.. We took taxi from airport to the bus station to go to Lisbon. Tips: We bought our online bus ticket early to get the cheapest price. Redebus if I'm not mistaken.

FARO AIRPORT->  LISBON

18/12    1:30 DEPART BUS STATION FARO                                                                               

                5:30 ARRIVE

So the plan was sleeping in the bus, help us saved from booking a hotel that night. ;) 
Disadvantages: tomorrow morning, no bath for all of us. Haha

Since we just has a whole day to visit Lisbon, or portugal people called Lisboa. We spent this day as most as possible.We took a bus from Lisboa Sete Rios bus station to Cabo de Roca which my friend informed to us that it is the edge of Europe. 

Cabo de Roca has a lighthouse, and as usual every light house has this kind of ravishing look. I enjoyed it so much. The feeling was like when I close my eyes, I felt the fresh light breeze, I smelt the grass of the hill and I heard the sound of singing waves. It was amazing. 

After that, we went to Alcazar at Resthoudras and explored the Resthaudras town. I bought postcard, snow globes and fridge magnet here. We met a friendly old man who knows a little bit of English and voluntarily explained to us about the city and showed the direction toward the Alcazar (the castle). From my understanding, he was trying to said to us there was a castle have turned to Mall in that city. We also tried the famous egg tart from portugal, it was very tasty and has custard inside the puff. 

Yummy!!!

Then, at 8pm we went back to the bus station to resume our trip to Seville,Spain. We rode Alsa Bus. Tips: buy online ticket earlier. Alsa bus is the international euro bus which it could transport us within European country. And, yeah again sleeping in the bus. 

LISBON -> SEVILLE, SPAIN

18/12     21:30 DEPART    LISBOA SETE RIOS                                                     

19/12     5: 45 ARRIVE      PLAZA DE ARMAS  

After a very 'comfy' night in the bus (I slept late because this bus had wifi, so I was buzying myself online), we just refreshed ourselves at washroom at bus station Plaza de Armas, almost similar like Pudu. In spain, we rented a car from europecar. The driver seat is on the left side, but noely's hubby getting used to that car after an hour he drove it. We explored Seville in just a day by walking mostly. For me, Seville is a nice city to visit, we spent our day very very efficiently till I can felt my leg was incredibly hurt. huhu I visited almost all the attractions in Seville such as Plaza de Espana (even it was raining), Alcazar of Seville, Seville Cathedral,Teatro de la Maestranza and Torre del Oro. In Spain,they have many orange trees along the road. But the oranges was bitterly sour. A local told us that those oranges is not supposed to be eaten due to the pollution in the city.

Tips: We booked 3 room at www.hostelbookers.com, we chose Pension Nuevo Pino hotel. It is clean and tidy. Disadvantage: private room with bathroom information is only a big basin in the room. The floor has no carpet, I seriously think that I should had brought bedroom slippers. My feet got frosty every time I step on the floor.

         

Plaza de Espana

Torre del Oro

SEVILLE -> CORDOBA

20/12      9:00 DEPART      SEVILLE                

11:00 ARRIVE     CORDOBA

18:00 DEPART TO GRANADA

Next destination was Cordoba.We explored this city just a day too. Our intention is to see Andalucia city in Cordoba. There were muslim and jews in Cordoba. I would described Cordoba in three words, miserable, romantic and exquisite. Miserable because I think it was sad to see the glorious muslim city turned to non-muslim city. It was depressing to witness the mosque become a cathedral. It was painful to glimpse most of muslim in Cordoba become the pauper,begging tourist for money. Romantic because of when there was a sunset fall, the whole city become orange and the scenery was really amazing. Exquisite because the building architecture in Cordoba simply stunning. However, Cordoba is the most expensive town I went so far. For every place that I went I got to pay for entrance fees. huhu Attractions that we went in Cordoba: Mezquita of Cathedral, Roman Bridge of Cordoba, Alcazar de los Reyes Christianos,Calleja delas Flores and Andalucia villages.

Alcazar Reyes christiano

Scary!! Mezquita of Cathedral

CORDOBA -> GRANADA

BY CAR

20/12     18:00     DEPART FROM CORDOBA

                22:00     ARRIVE AT GRANADA

In Granada, Spain, we visited Alhambra, main attraction of Granada. Alhambra located on the hill of Granada. It is sooo huge. There are mostly the kingdom of Sultan Mohammed Al-Ahmar. "The Alhambra's Islamic palaces were built for the last Muslim emirs in Spain and its court of the Nasrid dynasty. After the Reconquista by theReyes Católicos ("Catholic Monarchs") in 1492, some portions were used by Christian rulers. The Palace of Charles V, built by Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor in 1527, was inserted in the Alhambra within the Nasrid fortifications" source from wikipedia. hehe 

When I was in Alhambra, I feel grateful to see one of this Andalucia glory, even though it is practically destroyed, but there was a proof that Muslim could achieve those greatest thing. I, myself hardly to believe that I stepped my foot on the land that was being told in my textbook. Alhamdulillah. The most beautiful palace here is Nasrid Palace, which the palace of Sultan Mohammed's wives to take bath and have a hangout or if they want to see the entire kingdom through their gorgeous balcony. The detail in Islamic craft on the whole wall that make this palace beautiful. I could see Arabic word crafted on the wall. And the lion fountain which being the myth believed to protect the queens. Then, we explored Granada City and bought souvenirs at Marrakesh Market. A lot of halal foods there. You could also found a delicious chicken curry (which taste like butter chicken).

Tips: Please wear a pair of comfort shoes. It is massive there. Seriously my feet was very painful, and I spent about 10 euro to get painkiller in pharmacy. Hurmm We stayed at Duquesa Plaza, the room and bathroom are perfect. Free breakfast, you could eat as many as you want. I even packed muffin for our journey from hostel hihi.

GRANADA-> GIBRALTAR

22/12      12:00 DEPART   GRANADA          

14:45 ARRIVE     GIBRALTAR

After spending a couple of nights at Granada, we had to say goodbye to this historical place, our journey continues to Gibraltar. And this quite a long journey, for the first time ever we actually ran into so many tolls in Spain. I think about 3 to 4 tolls that we've met. Quite pricey. However, we had a good time at Gibraltar. After non-stop walking in Granada, thank god that everyone decided to just hired a tourist guide here. LOL We paid £25 each to Mr. Neil Clinton (He said never related to Bill Clinton) hehe Gibraltar is a British Territory, we felt homey here as we can speak in English. Neil (tourist guide) has a very good English, and we knew a lot of history from him. Well, the place that highlighted in here is Jabal Tariq, this is the hill that muslim commander Tariq Bin Ziyad conquered before Islam in Andalucia. There is a King Fahad mosque here as the only mosque in Gibraltar. Many monkeys.. and cannon inside the hill. When you are at the top of the hill. MasyaAllah, the view is very breathtaking. Weather is just nice, not too cold, not too hot. I like it. Oh ya, there is one of the most dangerous airport here. It has been classified as dangerous because there is pedestrian path exactly in the middle of the airport. I walked on it too. :)

Gibraltar Airport

Jabal Tariq and King Fahad Mosque

GIBRALTAR-> MALAGA 

22/12      21:00 DEPART   GIBRALTAR        

 22:35 ARRIVE    MALAGA

After spending a day in Gibraltar, we proceed to our last destination which is Malaga!! hehe I was actually kind of looked forward to see this place. Most importantly, the sandy sea that make me felt very relaxing. This time we just wanted to get easy, so to the cruise we shipped rounded at Malaga beach. Exploring Malaga by cruise had given us such a lovely experience. We also having seafood feast here, having revenge for lacking of food for the past few days. LOL 

Tips: The weather might seems balmy, but its windy so you might want to put your jacket on. Try Romero Cafe and its Malaga Seafood Special, you definitely could share a plate for two. It is quite stuffy. We stayed at Hotel Moscatel, booked online from hostelbookers, it is definitely nice!!

Finally, our journey completed. Malaga was the last stop in Spain before we headed back to England. I am so grateful that I finally be a traveller, being welcomed by the place that indifference to me. You will hardly found English menu for your lunch and little chances to meet Spanish that able to speak English. You experienced the 'ayam and itik' conversation. I spoke Malay, they replied Spanish. The place that I used my body language a lot. LOL Because of that, now I knew what is the meaning of Sanaturias and WC. The important word that I learnt from there. I took an opportunity to send a postcard to Malaysia from Spain. And I learnt this word. 

"Como Estas Espana!! Jo te quero Muncho. Hasta que nos encontremos de nuevo Espana!! Adious"

Meaning: How are you Spain? I like you so much. Till we meet again Spain. Good Bye.