I started my trip from here, Simferopol by train to the capital of Ukraine, Kiev. 4 of us took the night train and we reached Kiev the next morning around 11am.

We took a cab from the train station to the center of the city, had our lunch within an hour and continue our journey to the Borispol Airpot. Our flight was supposed to depart at 5.25 pm but it got delayed due to technical errors. We flew at around 9pm by KLM. They was kind enough to give every of us a 5 euro voucher to spend at the cafe bar in the airport. We had coffee and some buns and used the remaining credit to buy chocoloates for the trip later on.


Trapped in the airport

We reached Amsterdam around 11 something, and went thru the immigration counters. Very suprisingly, we didn't face any problems unlike the fellow ukrainians who were behind us. Lucky to hold a malaysian passport... We were given a small bag which contain toiletries and also a coupon for the hotel check in.


All the chocolates we exchanged with the vouchers, the toiletry bag and our hotel card

When we reached the hotel, all the flight delay 'victims' were served dinner and after that we got our room cards. I was shocked when I entered the room as I was expecting just a normal room, after all it's free. Inside the room, a 40" or maybe smaller LCD TV was hanging on the wall.. Initially we wanted to go out to the town center for small brownies but canceled our plan because we were too tired and didn't want to miss our flight the next morning.

The next morning, after a sumptous breakfast, we left for the aiport and broaded our connecting flight to Madrid.


Schiphol Airport, Amsterdam

We landed in Madrid Barajas aiport 2 something in the afternoon. I'm not going to write much about Madrid because it was just a brief stopover for us. It took some time for us to figure out the whole metro ( LRT in msia ) as it was too complicated. For us to get out of the aiport to the city center, we had to chang into 3 different lines. They had a total of 9 different metro lines, each leading to a direction.

We went to the bus station to purchase our tickets to Barcelona after we managed to figure out how to get there by metro. The ticket cost us 26 euros, we picked the night bus (11.59pm) because the whole journey from madrid-barcelona would take 7 hours, and we didn't want to waste our time on the bus during the day therefore the night bus.

After buying our ticket we went to the city center for our dinner and then had a stroll around one of the most happening city in the world. The amount of ppl in the crowd at night was just so huge, I think it's comparable to the crowd in Tokyo. Not going to post any pics of madrid for now, as I ady mentioned the duration was too short and I didn't take any nice pics also.

We reached Barcelona the next morning around 7.30am, got out of the bus station, again took a few minutes to figure out a complicated multiple lined metro. We got to our hostel after quite some time, as we had to ask for directions along the way. It wasn't easy to find when you don't have enough sleep in the bus and when you have to walk around with a heavy sling bag.

After getting our room, we bathed, changed into a new set of clothes and went out for a walk. Our hostel was pretty near to the center of Barcelona, La Ramblas. Basically it's a very very long walkway which leads to the seaport. As usual, it's flooded by ppl. We decided to spent the whole day at that place as the 3 of us wanted to take pics of the seaport during sunset time and there was not much time left till sunset. We had paela (traditional spanish dish) for late lunch/early dinner, which cost us around 7 euros each ( RM30 ) I was too hungry to do any pic taking

After our dinner we headed to the seaport, it was ady around 6pm that time. We took some pics and headed back to the hostel after that.


Barcelona port view I


Barcelona port view II

We planned to go to some local pubs later at night but in the end I went to bed because I was too tired. The others slept too. The next morning, after a simple breakfast we went to La Sagrada Familia, one of the most famous cathedrals in Spain, and also in the world, and the construction started way back in 1882, continued by Gaudi, one of the famous architects in the world. Words can't really describe how I feel when I first saw the cathedral.



We spent quite some time ther, appreciating Gaudi's masterpiece and looking for strategic spots to take photographs. After that we continued our journey into the city. We saw another cathedral which I really like. In european countries, churches and cathedral are normally toursist spots because the buildings are just so magnificent.


Another spanish cathedral

We went to the market after that, and I really like this stall which sells different types of candy. Have a look at the picture below and you'll know why I like that stall so much


Colorful boxes of candies

On our last day in Barcelona we went to the Barcelona FC stadium, Camp Nou. Saw a lot of football fans wating outside for their stars. We were there for just a while, I went into their megastore to have a look at their football products. Man, it's really expensive, around RM300-400 for a simple jersey.


Ppl lining out to purchase tour tickets around the stadium

Our flight from Barcelona to Porto was 7pm so we left for the bus station around 3.30pm. We nearly missed our 4pm bus as we couldn't find the counter to purchase bus tickets. Luckily the bus driver was patient enough to wait for us to get our tickets.
It took around 1 hour for us to reached Girona airport. For your information there is 2 airports in Barcelona, Girona aiport is like our own LCCT, for low cost airlines. That's why it's situated pretty far from the city.

Due to the pic uploading limitation, I'll continue with the final part soon.

This post has been edited by kenlui: Mar 3 2008, 07:02 PM

keke......
all are nice especially the candies shot

I want i want

eh? u student simferopol ka? kenal balqis?

@0168257061

Thanks! Those candies are pretty expensive, costing up to 5 euros per 100g

@dgrebel

Sounds familiar to me.. Which year?

medic 4th year

wow...i love the colorful candies!! WIsh to have them all! =p

@dgrebel

Same year.. Should be in the other division if im not mistaken.

@mypurple

I think in msia they have the same thing for sale right?

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Added on March 4, 2008, 2:14 pmWe flew into Oporto airport from Barcelona's Girona airport. The flight took around 45 minutes. Slept like a pig throughout the whole flight as I was too tired. One thing to take note when taking cheap flight, we took Ryan Air. The seats are really terrible, can't be reclined. Reminds me of my trip to Sabah with Air Asia. Had to sit straight all the way, pretty tough when you want to take a short nap.

We touched down in Oporto airport around 8pm, spent almost 2 hours looking for our hostel. It was quite far from the airport. We took a bus out from the airport, before we broaded the bus, we told the bus driver to inform us where to get down as we had no idea where the hostel was situated. The bus came to a complete stop after around 45 minutes but when we got down, we were in the center of the city. We asked the bus driver again and he told us that his bus doesn't go to that area. :S He was kind enough to give us the directions but in the end we took a cab as we felt that we were lost.

After settling in the hostel, we had late dinner, went back and slept. The next day after having our breakfast, we bought a 'round the city' bus ticket for 10 euros. Waited for quite some time and the bus came finally. The 10 euros I paid for the bus ticket was the most worthwhile item that I spent thruout the whole trip.


Light house by the sea

The view of the ciry was really magnificient. All 4 of us was in awe with the beauty of the town. I told myself, I would definitely go back to this place one fine day, maybe even retire in this peaceful, breathtaking town.


Overview of the whole city by Duoro River

We got back to our hostel around 4.30pm as my friend's camera batt suddenly died on him. Had to charge the batt as we wanted to take sunset pictures. We left the hostel around 5.30pm walking downwards toward Duoro river. One of the most beautiful spots I've ever seen in my entire life. We waited till the sun started setting and we spent almost 3 hours there taking pictures. I'll let the pictures below do the talking.


Sunset I


Sunset II


Serenity


Bridge by Duoro river

We woke up early the next time as our flight back to Madrid was at 11am. Checked out from the hostel and then only we realised we were one hour earlier. Didn't set our watch to the correct time. So we had another extra hour to spend. I sat in the lobby for a while and then went out searching for a spot to take some sunriese pictures. I couldn't get any good picture as it was too cold and I don't want to take the risk to walk all the way down to the river again. This is what I managed to take during the short 30 mins walk.


Sunrise in Oporto

We reached Mardid around 2pm in the afternoon, went back to the center to take our lunch and slept in the airport that night as our flight back to Kiev was 6am the next morning. It was so difficult to fall asleep even though I was dead tired. The chairs are just so hard.

Reached Kiev the next morning at 1pm, ans was shocked to find out that it was snowing in Kiev. Oh my, I was just wearing a thin jacket and I was shievering all the way till we got a cab to the train station. We got a big locker and deposited our bags there, went back to the city center for our dinner and then back to the train station. Our train from Kiev-Simferopol was at 8.30pm. I slept soundly that night. Reached Simferpol the next morning around 11.30am.

This post has been edited by kenlui: Mar 4 2008, 02:14 PM