Well I'm still unemployed so thought I'd finally send that Spain / Portugal update that I promised :)
All is going well over here, still waiting to hear back from Fallon (I'm up against a Senior Account Director! very flattered :) they're trying to figure out what level of person / position they need, should hear in the next few days). Have also seen a recruiter who's putting me forward for a few AM + Senior AM roles so fingers crossed.
No other updates really, have caught up with a few people and in a city of 12? million people I managed to run into a couple from the wedding as well. Caught up with Bel last week, James (Roest) yesterday, seeing Dave (Gibson) this week and other than that have been out with the girls and met a few more of their friends. It's all fun and games when you're unemployed! :) Anyway back to Spain + Portugal... I'll try keep this (relatively) brief and send through a separate link to pics as well, but in a nutshell the trip was awesome and I met heaps of really cool people. (FYI there are quite a few pics so I'd suggest a speedy slideshow when you get them - i couldn't cut down any more, I already ditched about 500 to keep it brief! :)
SPAIN
Started in Seville where I think I sent my first email from - gorgeous city and probably my favourite of the trip. Just really pretty, especially the Santa Cruz quarter with all its' tiny streets. Saw heaps, gorgeous cathedral / royal palace blew me away and the weather was pretty good so just spent heaps of time outside enjoying the sunshine! Caught up with some of the wedding crew (Bel + Jez obviously along with a few of their friends + fam) on the last night and had a great night out on the town. Lots of fun.
Then went to Osuna for a few days, little town with not much to see or do really other than just wander round the (again gorgeous) little streets full of white houses.. spent half a day meandering round town and checking out all the pretty churches before going to the wedding that afternoon.
The wedding itself was amazing.. the palace (yes palace) in which it was held was just stunning and had its' own little chapel / altar which was gorgeous. Saw all the people I'd met in Seville and met heaps more, all really really lovely and a few are also living in London so will hopefully see them again. Won't say too much more but it was a great night. Bel needless to say looked like a goddess.
Then Granada.. nobody warned me it could be cold in southern Spain?! it's right up near the Sierra Nevada mountains so was averaging I think about 8 degrees when I was there.. much too cold for a Sydney girl! But otherwise gorgeous. Much more of an Arabic influence in Granada than Seville so gorgeous shopping streets were full of Arabic-looking shops selling Arabic-looking goods. Really cute. Also heaps of Arabic tea houses, stopped into one on my last day with Amanda (one of the bridesmaids). Met a German girl and a group of Italians on my first night and ended up spending every day + night (+ early hours of the morning!) with them, lots of fun. Saw the Alhambra fortress/palace which is amazing and the biggest + best Granada attraction, but it's just a gorgeous city in itself worth wandering round and getting lost in. The Albaicin (spelling?) area is the Granada equivalent of Seville's Santa Cruz so again lots of gorgeous little streets. Very cool. then...
PORTUGAL!
In a nutshell - very very fun, had never travelled with a group of girls before so had heaps of laughs, interesting experiences (to say the least) and took way too many photos! Loved it.
Overnight bussed it to Lisbon from Seville, arrived very tired, met the girls (Kim, Nuals + Chris) at the airport in the morning when they landed. Picked up a car straight away and headed south. We drove for 10 mins (in crazy Lisbon, that was an experience in itself) before somebody told us we had a flat tyre so we had to drive back to the airport and complain and get the guys to change it!
Anyway back on the road... spent the first day driving south via numerous cute towns on our way to Lagos. Stopped in Sines (cute, simple town - had our first Portuguese tart of the trip), Vila Nova de Milfontes (cute tiny little coastal town), Oxeceihe (Oxy - another cute coastal town) as well as I think a few others but they were the main ones. Got to Lagos, had a quick wander round the (cute, big port) town and had the world's best ever seafood dinner.
Second day we drove east towards Spain stopping at Carvoeiro (the world's most gorgeous seaside town, I would love to go back there in summer - my favourite town in Lisbon), Albufeira (I'm getting confused with all the town names now but think this was the Monaco-like town, lots of 10-million star hotels) and Tavira (cute town on big river, saw lots of cute old men!). Think I may have missed a few towns here too but you get the drift.
Day three we walked along the Lagos coast - absolutely stunning, like the 12 Apostles (or however many there are left these days) in Victoria, but much better. Then drove back up to Lisbon via Sagres (simple port town) and Monchique (cute mountain town) and also drove up a mountain near Monchique for some pretty views.
First day in / around Lisbon we drove to Sintra which is a gorgeous suburb / town 45-mins ish away with beautiful old palaces and a gorgeous castle (my favourite castle of the trip). Pics will do this day justice so I'll let them do the explaining, really pretty, really fun.
Drove back to town to drop Billy (our car) off via Cristo Rei - aka Big Jesus like the one in Rio. Very cool, then had our first big night out in Lisbon which goes down as the weirdest (for both good and bad reasons) fun / entertaining night I've ever had out. High(or low)lights included: - going to restaurant (outside) for dinner, homeless guy being obnoxious (not being insensitive but this guy was just not right) to us and other people, waiter later gets a metal pole and beats him up.. in public.. including smashing a glass beer bottle near his face.. not cool. Needless to say we left, found another place for dinner and had another crazy (in a good way) waitor telling us where to go out and what to do. Went to a few awesome bars in the Bairro Alto district, met lots of randoms, went to one pub and enjoyed not getting hit on for a whole 5 mins before realising we were at a gay bar! Stayed there for a bit enjoying the peace and eating nuts before moving on... we wandered down the main cobbled street (packed with people) coining 'stuck-letto', where bending down meant having a photo taken of your backside, and where skirts were lifted up (!) not cool!! anyway think we found another place for a few drinks - had a good night overall but very bizarre!
Bit more general Lisbon sight-seeing in the last two days - cathedral, castle, monastery, Tower of Belem, etc. - and another very very big (but good, no wierd stuff) final night out, meeting heaps of people.
Very tired the next day for our final bit of sight-seeing, then got the plane home in the afternoon, all very depressed and feeling very sorry for ourselves.
Anyway sorry this is huge again (clearly I can't write concise emails) but you're up to speed!
So the moral of the story is when each of you comes to visit me, try fit some time in to see a bit of Spain + Portugal while you're at it :)
Better leave it there.. hope you're all good, thanks for the emails it's good to be up to speed on what's happening back home.
Miss you all!
x
Jas
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