Kobi & Brian: Europe 2013-2014: Spain

Hola!

Our Spanish adventure began in Ibiza, party capital of the world! Maybe also sunburnt Pom capital of the world too - but when the sunscreen costs €18 per bottle I'd be inclined to go without too. Luckily we bought ours elsewhere.

We spent the first couple of days in Ibiza relaxing after Contiki, strolling around the streets buying fresh juices and checking out all the little beaches. Then some of the people from our Croatian Contiki arrived and we decided to test out one of the world famous clubs Ibiza is renowned for.

Things we've loved about Ibiza:

Sampling our first jug of sangria and pan of paella.

Finding little beaches and coves and people watching on the beach

Heading out to Ushuaia Club for the Departurres gig which featured two of the three guys from Swedish House Mafia. I was a bit apprehensive about the clubs (€40 to get in and €18 per drink!) but it was absolutely awesome. About 10,000 were dancing in this outdoor club, with the DJs up on one of the biggest stages I've ever seen. We had the best time dancing with our friends, not even me falling down the stairs (again!) and re-spraining my ankle could dampen the mood. I know you all must be thinking I do this too often, but truthfully it always happens when I'm over excited and it's really dark and I'm not paying attention to where I'm going. As Brian can attest to, I trip on things regularly and fall down curbs even when I'm not drinking. The amount of times I've run over my own toes with my suitcase is ridiculous.

From Ibiza we flew to Valencia and caught the train to Gandia for Tomo and Pamela's wedding. But first was the long awaited arrival of the Ognenis's! It was so, so exciting to see them - even though we couldn't actually hug them for about half an hour as Brian and I managed to lock ourselves out on the balcony of our apartment and had to ask complete strangers for a phone to call the real estate agent. No easy feat when no one in Gandia speaks English!

Things we've loved about Gandia:

Having Tim, Meg and Jakey with us!

Going to the greeting drinks the night before the wedding and seeing all of Tomos family, and meeting Pamela's family and friends.

Being guests at their amazing wedding. This wedding was incredible - San Jeronimos Monastery looks like it is straight out of a movie. They both looked so happy, and the celebrations went all night. The food was out of this world; there was a huge paella pan set up, as well as lots of other Spanish fare. Then there was an Australian station set up serving BBQ'd kangaroo. The Spanish were lining up to try the roo! It was such a perfect night and we were so happy to be part of it all.

Then it was on to Barcelona for three days. I didn't know much about Barcelona other than what other travellers had told us - which was that it was the worst place for pick pocketing. But we were pleasantly surprised; it's really beautiful. Long, long streets with trees all the way down the middle of them, and beautiful old apartments with flowers overflowing from the balconies.

Things we've loved about Barcelona:

Catching up with Dan and Jess from Contiki for dinner, before going out dancing til 3am.

Catching up with a friend we met in our Berlin hostel.

Ordering sangria from the beach bar down at the harbour.

Our walking tour with Juan Carlos to see the Barcelona Cathedral, Picasso's public art and hangout spots, D'Avinyo Street and the Kings Quarters.

Making our own sangria with Tim and Meg.

Exploring Barcelona's shopping streets (Zara stocktake sales = me breathing into a paper bag)

The awesome dog sight seeing, including the worlds fattest and droopiest Bassett Hound.

Our next stop was meant to be San Sebastián, but ended up being Bilbao as the weather was so bad we couldn't land in San Sebastián. So after an hour long bus ride, we finally got to our accommodation. We stayed in a really cute pension hotel, it was over 400 years old and was one of the only buildings that survived a huge fire that wiped out San Sebastián 200 years ago. So it's very old, and has the wonkiest old staircase.

San Sebastián is definitely in our top three places so far. The streets are beautiful, and are surrounded by balconies with flowers spilling from them. The beaches are incredible and deserve their fame. The stretch of beach along La Concha (the shell shaped beach) is also the most expensive real estate in Spain. On top of everything to look at, San Sebastián is foodie heaven. It has more Michelin Star rated restaurants than any other city in the world. But the best part is the pintxos. I thought it was just tapas, but we learnt that tapas is just the plain old free nibbles you get in Spain when you order a drink. Pintxos is a work of art, in a small portion size. The pintxos bars in San Sebastián are legendary, so we set out to try a few. Oh. My. God. It was the best food we've ever eaten.

Things we loved about San Sebastián:

Pintxos bars! The beef cheek, pigs ear, mushroom risotto, stuffed peppers, foie gras - it was all amazing! And only about €3 per serve, so you could easily afford to try half of the menu. We went back our two favourite places a few times, the food was just so good.

Lying on the beach with one million other people, most of them topless. No one cares what they look like at the beach in Europe. It's kind of refreshing - it's hard to care about wobbly thighs when there's a 70 year old lady next to you letting it all hang out!

Catching the funicular to the highest point in San Sebastián for the best view of the city. It was so so beautiful! There's also an ancient little theme park at the top, and we went on a roller coaster on the top of the cliff that was so old it was manually operated by an old guy who sat behind our carriage.

Going to the aquarium and having a shark swim straight at me. Mum would've died.

The late night eating/drinking culture here. You go out for a drink at 8, nibble on pintxos til 10, then wander the streets and try other little bars until 1:30am. Then you sleep in - genius!

Adding our lock with our names on it to the railing around the ocean. You lock it on with your loved one, and throw the key in the ocean so your love lasts forever.

San Sebastián is a place we could live in. Everything is so laid back, and everyone is so friendly here. They're passionate about their food, and want you to try everything. Everyone is always out on the streets, whether its for Sunday brunch or a Tuesday night cocktail. We love it!

Onto Nice next to rejoin Tim, Meg and Jake

Adios amigos!

Kobi & Brian

Xxx