Left Croatia for Spain on Monday the 23rd August. Was a 5pm ferry but it didnt take off till 6. Bloody Italians are useless. The ferry was taking us back to the familiar territory of Ancona, where we had to get to the train station by 1am, to catch a two and a half hour train to Bologna Airport, from where our 7am flight would take us to Valencia. Sounds hard enough but it was made even harder when we turned up at Ancona train station to find that the next 3 trains to Bologna were sold out. The next available train would have got us to the airport after our flight. Serves us right for not booking in advance i guess..

Lewis and I talked through our options over a kebab in some fast food place. We were only ever going to one thing though. Apparently there were buses running to the airport but it appeared a pretty unreliable source of transport. Jumping the train it was. When we got on it was a pretty full house (as most sell outs are) so we found a place for our bags then layed down/faked dead in the aisle way hoping noone would come round checking tickets. We got there in the end. No ticket booths at Bologna station either. Too easy. Didnt have to use my backup ´i got mugged´ story that I had practiced in my head for most of the way there. We saved 12 euro too so we were both pretty stoked about that.

Taxied it to the Airport and got there with plenty of time to spare. Both our bags were pushing Ryanairs tightarse weight restrictions so we had to fiddle around in the weights room for a while. After the worst flight of my life, we finally made it to Valencia. Customs at the airport didnt rate checking us, we must have looked Spanish.

We checked into our hotel mid-morning. It was nice, definitely nicer then what we needed or could afford but its all that was available. We were right in the heart of Valencia. I think from there we went to maccas to watch lewis eat a couple of big macs for breakfast. We strolled around the city for a bit, was really heating up though and we were both b*****ed from the journey in, so we went back to our lush hotel for rest. Didnt really get up to much that night either.. for tomorrow was la tomatina.

Being a last minute decision to hit la tomatina, meant we were pretty unorganised. Most people had organised buses to take them out to Bunol, which was about an hour out of town. It was the train for us though. There was a pretty hectic que for our transfer train, but we got there and just in time as well.

La Tomatina is pretty much 20 thousand people and 150 thousand tomatoes. Its the world biggest food fight. It was crazy. The combination of sweat and stewed tomatoes wasnt the most amazing smell but it was awesome fun nonetheless. Definitely glad we did it. After the fighting stopped the locals hosed us down and we got out of there, via the tree where i stashed my thongs and singlet (to find them not there), and back into the city for a siesta.

That night we went out and caught up with some friends from contiki (Foxy, Casey, Abby, Sarah, Kirby, Pasha, Zoe) was pretty much a mini reunion. We drank in this little bar for ages and therefore not many of us made it out to a club, I tried but apparently singlet and shorts doesnt fly in Valencia. I dont remember alot to be honest but I´m sure it was a good night.

The next day involved alot of sleeping and doing nothing. I went out to roam the city for a bit, but was finding it pretty tough in the heat. Lewis went out early that night to catch up with a friend near the beach. My plan was to follow him in when I got out of bed and got my life sorted.

Unfortunately my phone credit had ran out so when I finally got to the beach I was stranded. I decided to walk the beach anyway, there were pretty cool markets and stuff but not alot of nightlife. Went back to the hotel to call it a night before Lewis called and dragged me back into the city for a bit longer before we both decided thats enough.

So that was Valencia (or Vienna, as Lewis continued to call it and still does - idiot), was a short stint but well worth the trip.

The day we left Valencia for Barcelona was recorded as the hottest day of the year. It reached 44 degrees before we left, I´m not sure what it got to in the end. We got to the train station and opted for a first class ticket to Barcelona. All the 2nd class were sold out. The whole failing to book in advance was really taking its toll on us this week. Fortunately it wasnt too much more expensive.

We got to Barca around 5 or 6pm. Still stinking hot. We checked into our apartment which was located about 100 metres off the main strip, La Rambla. It was a pretty cool little pad, which we were going to be living out of for the next 3 nights. Lewis made Spag Bol for us that night (as he would for the next 2 nights as well) before we crashed and burned. We wanted to go out but we were too exhausted.

To be continued..