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| Sitges to Malaga then north again to Portugal |
We loved it in Sitges and decided to stay longer. After 5 days in this chilled out yet lively town, we started to hitch again. At the service station, Miko picked us up. He was an interesting guy who speaks 5 languages and was on his way to court to translate a case at El Vendrell. He dropped us off at a petrol station and from there we got another ride with a couple of guys who were heading to Calafell beach. Calafell had a unique character, Emmanuel would describe the place as 'a time warp to the 70s', because it seemed like nothing had changed since then.
We stayed for one night and saw fireworks again marking a beginning of a festival which we didn't stay for. In the morning, we got up early to start hitching down south. In Spain, it's important to do long walks and standing in the sun early in the morning because around 12pm, you feel like you'll melt. I guess that's why Spanish has siesta around that time. Hitching in Spain has been impossible beside the road, so we have always been trying to hitch from service stations which gives us a chance to talk to people and because relying on 2 second physical judgement hasn't been working out well.
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| From left to right: Sitges beach; Santa Tecla festival during the Catalan independence anthem; Fireworks!!! Love it!!; Parade; The Spanish king and Queen and Moorish King and Queen; Me as close as possible to the fire crackers, love it!!; More parade in Sitges; Calafell beach; Old school transportation in Calafell; Calafell sunset |
We got a ride with a funny non English speaking middle age man to Lleida and basically relied on body language and mimes to communicate. Going towards inland of Spain seems like it was like going inland Australia, drier and hotter. Having lost interest with the atmosphere and environment, when we were dropped off at the petrol station in Lleida, we crossed to the east bound to hitch back to the east coast which was not easy to do because not many people passed through the area. We finally got a ride with a couple of Brittish girls who were heading to Barcelona. They dropped us off at the cross section of the north and south bound where we were persuaded by Fernando to visit Tarragona (which is where they were heading to) because it is bonito (beautiful) with Roman ruins and it is not a big city. Although we were targeting to head further south, we were totally sold by the idea!
We had a little tour around the city as we got there, then got dropped off at the entrance of the old town. We were glad to have been persuaded to go to Tarragona, it is a spectacular place and definitely bonito. We also found a place to camp which had an amazing view of the Roman castle, thanks to our "Commando extraordinaire", Emmanuel. The next day, we walked to the old town and found out that on that day every entrance to museums were free. Perfect timing! Again! Hitch hiking serendepity strikes again!!
The next day we tried to hitch out of Tarragona which was a little bit of a pain being a rather large scale city it turns out. After going back and forth due to some miscommunication, we ended up at the petrol station at the highway around Altafulla where we met a brittish couple and spent most of the night with them.
We started to hitch late morning the next day and having not much luck with Spanish drivers, we saw a French car drove in the station and our eyes lit up with full of excitement and hope. Sure enough, they picked us up and took us all the way to Valencia. We stopped at a petrol station and hitched from there. After an hour waiting, we finally got a ride with Tomas who is Polish and was with another hitch hiker, Floureyant. Luckily he had a big van, so he was able to take us as well and also it was a really long ride all the way to Benalmedina which is south of Malaga. Floureyant came along with us to look for a place to camp. It was11pm and was impossible to find a camp spot because the whole place was full of resorts and fences around every property, even public ones. The only upside of this place is that you don't have to look down constantly while walking looking out for dog shit.
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| From left to right: Beautiful sunrise as we woke up on Benalmedina beach; Relaxing and watching a stormy sunrise after a rough time; Picture with Picasso; Hostel in Malaga, love the grafitti; Roman theatre; Bull fight arena; View from castle after jammin with Spanish guitarist; Random live music for Malaga's lively weekend; Malaga beach; Odevalis, Portugal |
I was itching to get out of that crazy town and was definitely ready to leave Spain. So I went to Malaga where I was able to get a bus scheduled for the next day to Lisboa, Portugal. After what had happened the night before, I thought I should give myself a break and stay in a hostel. I had a really good deal and met really cool travelers who a few were on almost similar journeys with me.
Staying 2 days in Malaga was definitely worth it! I found out that it was the town where Picasso was raised and I visited his museum. On top of that, there were so many amazing sights to see as well. It was a really comfortable place to be in for a solo female traveler like myself being able to easily talk and make friends with people around. My favourite dude I randomly met was a spanish guitar player on top of the castle who I jammed with while resting after a long hilly hike. It totally made my day and changed how I felt about Spain! (Next mission, MUST GET A DARBUKA!!) At night, I left for Lisboa and got there at 7am Portugese time. It was an hour different to Spain. I had made an arrangement to stay at Luis and family of 7 for a few nights which was located in Odevilas, a couple of kms north of Lisboa. During my stay, I have been spoilt with really good homemade Portugese food and tour to the city and Mafra. After Lisboa, I will be doing my first solo hitch hiking trip which will be covered on the next chapter.. Excited and anxious at the same time!! Hope Potugal isn't as hard as Spain. Fingers crossed everyone!!
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| From left to right: My wonderful hosts in Lisboa; An old monestry in Odevalis; The toilet in Mafra palace used by the king back then, very fancy; The church in the Mafra Palace; Mafra Palace; Mafra Palace; Wild hogs head; Funny man with his dog on a bike in Lisboa; Lisboa city view; Gigantic pumpkin; Church in Lisboa |
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