11 Days 9 Nights Spain And Portugal Trip 2008 Part 1

After few days of packing our bags, last-minute buying of stuff, we are finally heading to the KLIA on the 4th Dec 2008. We departed from home at round 10.00pm, reached the airport at around 11.00pm then checked in our luggages at around 12am(5th Dec 2008). Met up with our tour guide and the other group members. The procedure as usual was boring + it was late and most of the shops were closed that day..We boarded the plane at 1.30am. After 7 hours of flight, we finally reached the transit point, Doha International Airport. It is way smaller than ours and I have been there before, so, have got nothing to see.. We did nothing, sat there and waited for 8 hours.. and finally, on board to Madrid, another 7 hours.. It was around 8pm local time, so we transfered to the hotel for check in on arrival.

On the next day, 6th Dec, we departed from Madrid to Zaragoza. At Zaragoza, we went to The Plaza del Pilar, the public square at the heart of Zaragoza. The square was full of people as it was their local holiday. Youths formed a simple and and sang at the centre of the square while everyone present danced along. There was also a group of youths (choir) singing in front of the church. then, the entire band + choir formed a parade and went around the square, singing and dancing. We visited the Basilica Of Our Lady Of The Pilar, The Roman Catholic Church. Well, this is the first time that I see people crying/kneeling in front of the confession box doing their confessions. As we were still tired from the flight, we only viewed the Cathedral of the Savior from a far(quite far if we wanted to walk). Then, we headed for Barcelona. It was late, so after dinner, we checked in.

7th Dec, met up with the local tour guide at 9am, headed for the Sagrada Familia Cathedral. It is a private church, therefore they do not have enough money to finish their construction at one go. The entire church is still under construction since 1882. The entire construction is estimated to finish in 20-28 more years. The church is really pretty, the sculpture, the carvings and everything. There were turtles(sculpture) at the entrance. it is said to represent the long live of the church. there were also pillars dedicated to Jesus's apostles. On both side of the church, there were fruit craftings. If I am not mistaken, they represent the friuts of the summer and another season which I forgot what. The entire walls of the church is crafted based on the story of the life of Jesus. Christmas season.. So, they set up temporary Christmas stalls right opposite the church.

We visited the Olympic Stadium next. If I am right, the Olympics was held here in Barcelona in the year 1992. There were many pillars built in the compund. The stadium is big and amazingly built(well, can't compare to the recent one of course, it's so many years back). Then, we visited the Columbus Square. The 60m high Columbus Monument stands tall at the center of the Square of the Gate of Peace. We passed by the CataluniaSquare. Did not stopped because of the traffic. After lunch, we went to the Quil Park. This park is designed by a weird but creative Spainish Artist. His design is so wierd that nobody wanted to buy it. The park was dedicated to the town council which later opens it as a site for visitations. Later, we went for a cruize. The cruize took us around 40 minutes. It was supposed to be one where we can sit and relax. But, it was just sooo cold and there was this young Spanish girl who keep trying to "entertain" me. How peaceful..

In the evening, we visited the famous La Ramblas pedestrian street. It is a nice street to walk on only if we did not have to be so alarmed that we might be the pick pockets. La Ramblas street is famous for its branded goods, at the same time, its pick pockets too. lol. We got to some shops and bought some souvenirs. We noticed that besides this street, it is hard to find souvenir shops else where. We had Spanish dinner that night. Nice but I did not have the chance to try out their wine(parents didn't allow). After dinner, watched their famous Flamenco show. The show(I would rather say dance) was interesting. The only musical instrument they used were the guitars with 1 or 2 singers. There were 4 main dancers who danced with their legs stamping on the floor(fast and rythemic) and their hands clapping. Quite cool, the way their hands and legs synchronized. their costumes are very pretty.

8th Dec, Departed to Valencia. Heard of the Valencia oranges? well, along the highway from Barcelona to Valencia, there were countless orange trees planted. And the Valencia orange is just SOUR. Urgh. We viewed the Lonja de la Seda from the coach. it was a late Gothic stle civil builind which is now recognized by the UNESCO as one of the world heritage site. Besides that, we also saw the Valencia Town Hall and the Bull Ring. The design of the Arts and Science Complex Center is....cool. The entire Center takes up 4 buildings. the 4th one is still under construction. We managed to get down to take some photos here. We got down the couch at the city centre. walking on the streets in Spain feels very different from walking other Europe Streets. I just dunno why. We saw the Senators and the Quart Towers. Didn't see much as it was raining. Proceed to Alicante.

We did not do any visitations at Alicante as it is only a point for us to "rest one night before continuing the journey".