fifth stop: The Mediterranean

We were only going to 2 places in Spain. Our first stop was Girona. We took a high-speed train, that could go up to 200km per hour, to Girona. In Girona, we were meeting my best friend, Lola, and her family in our Airbnb which wasn’t that far from the station. When we got to the Airbnb, Lola and her parents were at the café just below our place, so we saw them straight away. Once we got settled, we went out to dinner, since there were 8 of us (Lola has 2 brothers), it was hard for us to find a place. We finally found a restaurant that could cater to 8 people. It was a Spanish restaurant – the perfect way to start our journey in Spain. The first full day we had in Spain we went to a part in Girona where a part of Game of Thrones was filmed. On the third day, we went to a ‘beach’ called Cadaques. I assumed it would be like our beaches in Sydney with soft sand and going into the water and feeling the white sand under your feet and between your toes. I was wrong. The sand wasn’t sand. It had little crushed shells instead and when you go into the water you have to wear shoes, so you don’t cut your feet.

Our last stop in Spain was the city of Barcelona. In Barcelona, we went to a cool church called Sagrada Familia. They started building the church in 1882 and have yet to finish it. The architect, Antoni Gaudi, was very famous, so they are hoping to finally finish the masterpiece in 2026 or 100 years after he died. The outside of the church was very big and castle-like, while the inside of the church was very extravagant. We had an audio guide, which is a guide that is recorded and given to you, that led us through the Basilica. When you look at it at first glance you wouldn’t know all the stories behind every statue, window and pillar.  The inside of the Basilica was lit with a kaleidoscope of colours. It was the masses of stained-glass windows that made this effect.

The next country we went to was Italy. We flew from Barcelona to Florence and took a taxi to our hotel. Once we got into our hotel we dropped off our bags and went for a walk around the city. Luckily, our hotel was in the centre of town. When you look down one side of the street you see a statue of Ferdinand De’Medici from the 1600s and with your back to the statue, you will see the Duomo, which is a huge Cathedral.  When you walk around the Duomo you will see lots of artists selling their paintings, or get your portrait or caricature done, around this amazing monument. Most people, when they think of Florence, think of the Statue of David sculpted by Michelangelo and finished in 1504. The Statue of David is a biblical figure from the old testament. The story is about a Shepard, David, who slays the Philistine giant, Goliath, with nothing but a slingshot and pebble. The statue captures David with the slingshot over his shoulder right before he slays Goliath.

The last place we went to in Florence was the Bert Hinkler crash site. If you don’t know who Bert Hinkler is let me enlighten you. Bert Hinkler designed and built early aircraft before being the first person to fly solo from England to Australia. When trying to beat his own record from London to Sydney he crashed in the mountains outside Florence during mid-Winter. His body wasn’t found until the snow melted which uncovered his body. The reason why we wanted to go to his crash site was that he was my great uncle. When we started the track, within the first 10 minutes dad made us get lost. When we finally found our way there was a big blob of icky mud. You know what we sang? You can’t go over it, you can’t go under it, you have to go through it. We just went around it. This happened a lot. When we finally got to the memorial we could sit down and reflect.

Our final stop around the Mediterranean was Rome. The first place we went to was the Vatican City, which is a country in another country, and where the Pope lives. When we got there, there was a big queue outside St Peter’s Basilica that would be out in the scorching sun for 2 hours but luckily we had prebooked tickets so we didn’t have to get a sunburn. This Basilica (a fancy word for a big ol’ church) was so big and everything in there felt very royal. We had another audio-guide for this place.

The next day we went to the colosseum. We had another audio-guide but instead of getting it there we had a podcast audio-guide. It’s insane to think that nearly 2000 years ago this place was used for gladiators. It was the Hunger Games in Rome. Right next to the colosseum was the Roman Forum, which used to be the centre of town in ancient Rome. Julius Caeser was the greatest roman general ever, so they built a temple in the Roman Forum, where he was cremated. We visited the ruins of the temple where people place offerings of flowers or coins. The temple of Vestal Virgins was where they kept a sacred flame that if it ever went out all of Ancient Rome would be ruined. The vestal virgins got special privileges such as special seats in the colosseum and also got to free anyone from prison. Next, we will be going to the UK for the transplant games. I’ll keep you posted.