Then to cheer me up, we went to my second hand bookshop in Madrid and I bought a few cheap books and felt better. I'll see my parents again in a few weeks anyway. But I still felt a bit sad, after spending a month with them travelling around Europe.
I think we had the most fun in Slovenia, which was as breath-taking as it was back in 2006, with the people still as open and friendly, and in Spain doing the Camino de Santiago (although Mum had a few problems with her knees). (Photo: Lake Bled, Slovenia, in a rowboat we hired)
Italy was definitely nowhere near as good as it's hyped up to be. I've been there three or four times now and I'm sorry to say every time it strikes me more as a country that's getting left behind. Yes, there's beautiful architecture, art, scenery and maybe twenty, thirty years ago, it was the best option on the country-to-visit list, but now that we can go to places not so accessible a few decades ago, with equally beautiful things to see and people more culturally interesting, why go there?
But then again, I've never been particularly interested in Italy and I've never really understood the people who are. I blame the Super Mario brothers who have cheapened the image of Italians to pizza-making moustachioed men that say 'Mamma mia!' with their over-exaggerated accent.
It's been a bit exhausting so much travelling. We hired a car in Italy, which made going around Tuscany a lot easier and also one in Spain so after arriving in Santiago, we popped over to Porto and
I learnt how to drive a manual car on the wrong side of the road. (Photo: Arriving in Santiago)
Bit stressful, driving in Spain. I killed the battery about five times on my first attempt to start the car and in the cities, I panicked a little with all the cars behind me and kept flicking on the windscreen wipers instead of the indicator lights.
In Porto, we went to the beach and I now know why beaches in Portugal are not famous. I've swum in cold oceans before, but here, after two minutes you really have to get out because it doesn't matter how fast you move, you still freeze.
We've had a lot of luck, travelling around in Spain. When we stopped over in Vigo, it was on the day they had som huge festival, with aerial displays and activities at the beach, so we had a look. My dad reminded me of a 5 year old boy, he was so mesmerised by the planes doing loop-the-loops. And when we stopped in Llanes, it was the day they brought their saint down from the hilltop so we got to see the procession and people dressed up in funny costumes. (Photo: Luther with a plate of snails in Llanes)
Now I'm just floating around Logroño, with nothing much to do. I've gone to the gym, I've looked at flats, I've eaten and drunk and read and slept. Been very relaxing. Fingers crossed, we'll be able to move in somewhere by the 1st August.
