My last week on the road has been spent traversing the nation of Spain. While I usually can dedicate an entire blog post to a single city, my time in Spain has whirl winded past and with no single city really leaving a significant enough mark: I’m going to a brief review of the entire nation in one post.

Barcelona:
Our first Spanish port of call was the port town of Barcelona. Barcelona feels somewhat like a stone wrought hedge maze, narrow roads lined with four or five storied tenements carve a thin line of sky above us to light our way. When not scurrying though the stone labyrinth, you will either find yourself on La Rambla, the busy open market place or the rather stylish Marina. The recently established Marina stands in contrast to the old city by being lined with fancy modern buildings and ultra-chic, somewhat bizarre modern art.

Barcelona carries a reputation of being one of Europe’s biggest party cities, located deep in the Mediterranean it’s hot and brimming with shops, pubs and clubs, spilling into the streets and staying open way into the wee’ hours of the morning. While such things bring the tourists over by the bucket load, Alyce and I dismissed most of this in favour chasing culture, cuisine and history. Thankfully Barcelona, has enough of these things to keep us occupied for a few days too. One unique piece of Barcelona was a bizarre parkland named Park Guell, designed by visionary (some might argue mad or over-rated) architect Gaudi. Another definite highlight of our stay was taking a Spanish cooking class where we prepared and ate plenty generous servings of Sangria, Tappas and Paella, much decadence occurred that night.

Valencia:
Next stop was the large but much quieter city of Valencia; The historic birthplace of Spain’s national dish: Paella. While our hostel was located quite near a traditional bull fighting ring (currently hosting an Oktoberfest event) and various old forts, city gates and churches, the heart of Valencia is surprisingly contemporary. Valencia once had a large river running through the middle, but generations ago it flooded, so the officials had it drained and in the space where the river ran, they have now inserted a beautiful green park. This huge streak of greenery cuts right through the centre of the city providing an excellent retreat from the everyday busyness. One of Valencia’s most spectacular sites is the museum district, down in the park. Stepping into the museum quarter feels like a step into a future depicted in comic books and science fiction movies: giant crisp white rings and obelisks dance around glass formed buildings as turquoise waters provide a Xen-like calm, seriously it’s like the space ship from Wall-E.

Madrid:
Finally we made our way to Spain’s capital city. Madrid, to me felt a bit like a busy version of Canberra, sure it’s an important place but it’s not really the most spectacular place in the country. Madrid has the same maze-like quality of Barcelona, broken up with a few large plazas, but with construction running rampant city wide and a much denser population, I found it very hard to relax in Madrid. Another point that irked me somewhat was everything costed a little more than I really wanted to pay in this city. Between the language barrier and some tricky business practices like surcharges per person, per item ordered, per table used and paying (and seeing prices) after you’ve finished, Madrid is loaded with nasty tourist traps.

However despite minor annoyances, we did have some fun in Madrid. The city is loaded with beautiful and ornate architecture and we eventually discovered the central park, which was thankfully very green and peaceful. While in the park we hired a row boat, paddled across the pond and chilled out in the sun listening to buskers. Eventually, however, Madrid’s lack of excitement drove us into a bout of boredom, so we hit the movies to see the new Tarintino flick, known here in Spain as Malditos Bastardos.

Nestled away in the Swiss Alps lies a quiet little town called Lauterbrunnen, which is probably the most visually spectacular place on Earth. Lauterbrunnen was our first destination after Paris and from the moment we crossed the border from France we could tell we where heading somewhere special. Rolling green hills, rising up to craggy, snow capped mountains defined the Swiss countryside. Our destination was further up these aforementioned Craggy mountains and after several long hours on a stuffy bus, it was long past time to breathe in the sweet, fresh (and thin) mountain air.

The entire town of Lautterbrunnen is buried in a high mountainous valley. On either side we where faced with tall stony cliffs with pine trees precariously balancing on the edges. Crisp clear glacial runoff pours down the Cliffside in a spectacular display, pumping the river that surges through the town. Our Hostel was actually a campsite, but our dorms where tucked away in an authentic wooden Swiss Chalet. The setting for Lautterbrunnen was a fantastic treat on the senses, everything looks, smells a feels serene. Our general impression of the place was amplified by brilliant weather, despite the fact we could see the snow on the tops of the mountains and could touch the glacial waters, the sun was shining and t-shirts where showing.

Activities included: Mountain hiking, cable car riding up to unreachable (by foot) peaks, visiting an in-mountain waterfall, white water rafting and drinking beer on a mountain peak.

Now that I‘m done with all this snow and mountains I’m heading to the French Riviera and Spain for some sun and beach chilling.

After leaving Disneyland, we had a few days stop in Paris: the City of Lights, the City of Love, Europe’s crown jewel… the place has one hell of a reputation to live up to and in my opinion met (if not exceeded) expectations with ease.

The French capital, despite being the home to over nine million people oozes an unusual atmosphere of peace and tranquillity. Wide pavements, tree lined boulevards and remarkably few cars on the road helps Paris attain a chilled out vibe, big European capitals like London or Berlin could only dream of. The River Seine decorates the city like a garden water feature, while the cities many landmarks stand on the horizon like a lighthouse guiding you to your next stop.

Our big day in Paris was motivated by a desire to cross off every major piece of Parisian iconography from our tourist checklist. Over the day we sought out all the major draws: Eiffel Tower, Notre Dame, The Louvre, Champs Elysees, Arc de Triumph as well as taking a free walking tour which pointed out some other interesting sights. Seeing all these world renown landmarks all on one beautifully sunny day, made our stay in Paris one to remember.

Being in Paris is not just about seeing the sights, the real beauty of this city is experiencing it’s mood and atmosphere.

After a summer of working, in Edinburgh, our batteries are re-charged, our bank accounts are looking healthier (sort of) and we are back on the path to adventure. What better place to resume our year long holiday than Disneyland Paris!

Upon stepping through the grand entrance plaza and into Disneyland’s main street, the park performs a miraculous transformation: turning two 20-something year olds, dealing with money and responsibility issues into starry eyed children high on life. I think this in a nutshell is Disneyland’s lasting appeal: The ability to unleash the inner six year old within all of us as we explore this highly imaginative fantasy world.

The decor and atmosphere in Disneyland is exceptional, five unique larger than life districts depicting the kind of places every kid dreams about exploring. A mysterious jungle land, the wild west frontier, a retro-futurist’s vision, a fantasy kingdom and a Victorian main street all rendered in painstaking detail. The immersion is amazing, while walking down the main street, horse drawn carriages ride past as you hear the train steam off into the background, however should I step into fantasyland, I’m on cobbled roads facing a giant castle. In other amusement parks or funfairs, the themed elements can lose their appeal as it can be easy to see behind the smoke and mirrors, however Disneyland is seamless, never at any point do you find yourself behind the scenery, realising this epic castle is actually a two dimensional set piece.

While the scenery is great, any theme park’s main draw lies in its rides and once again Disneyland hit’s the bullseye. The underlying theme of Disney’s rides is it’s seamless implementation with the fantasy, while a roller coaster may seem completely out of place in the wild west, a runaway train through a dangerous mine site is completely fitting. My favourite ride, space mountain, from the outside is a futuristic dome with a orbital cannon mounted on the side. Watching from the outside you see the riders fired out through the cannon, before disappearing at the top (apparently fired into space), but when riding It you are taken into this dome which contains an enormous roller coaster that is lit up like planetarium, creating the illusion of whizzing though space.

Disneyland has been a blast, but now it’s unfortunately time to leave the make-believe world behind, I’m off to Paris now for something… real and …educational.