Viva Espana!

I've been meaning to write this post about my trip to Spain for the last two weeks, but true to form, I've just not had the time. But my day today has worked out quieter than planned so I thought I'd take the time to regale you all about the wonderfulness of my holiday, whilst I sit here watching The Jungle Book; a film I'd forgotten how much I loved. Might watch Dumbo next..but, I digress. 

Sometime last year my best friend Jo and I decided we'd like to do a roadtrip of Europe in 2013. We looked at the places we'd like to go and did a bit of planning. But, a few things changed and we realised that it wasn't feasible. Jo's parents have a villa on the Costa Blanca with relatively easy access to Valencia and Granada, both places Jo and I wanted to see. So, back in January we decided that we'd take ten days, hire a car, and do a mini road trip around the south west of Spain. We sorted flights etc and an itinerary of where we'd go, Granada and The Alhambra being an absolute must see. Admittedly more on Jo's part than mine but I was happy enough to go, having heard a little about it. But I'll get to that later. 

Jo and I have been best friends since a fateful night at college when we worked a shift together at the Presidents Ball in our first year (May 2001). I won't go into details but we bonded over something and have pretty much been inseparable since. Having said that, we don't see each other too often. I live in Dublin, she lives in Dubai, and has lived in Bermuda previously. We talk over email or text almost every day though, so even though we might not have seen each other since Aug last year, when we met up in Alicante airport it was as if we'd only seen each other 2 days previously. 

I was looking forward to the holiday for a number of reasons;
1: I love spending time with Jo. It's always hilarious and we're so alike that spending lengths of time together is very easy. 
2: We both desperately needed a break from various things. 
3: I'd never been to any of the places we were going to so it was all new and exciting.
4: I love sunshine (who doesn't!), and although I don't deal well with heat I needed some top up on my freckles!
5: Jo and I going on holiday together has become a bit of a tradition ever since our trip to Egypt in 2007. 

After meeting in the airport, we collected the car and with a bit of a slight detour (no sat nav with the car, thank god for Google Maps on my phone!) we made it to the villa, just outside Torrevieja and so started our ten days of awesomeness. I'm not going to tell you every little detail, but I will run down the highlights of our visits. 

Valencia:
Valencia is about 2 hours north of where we were staying, but again, we took a bit of a detour and ended up driving up the coast, past Benidorm. No biggie, it was a lovely drive and we were in no rush. We found our hotel and headed out to explore after checking in. We were staying right in the centre, close to the Silk Exchange and the Cathedral. I'd not read much about Valencia, and Jo knew more than I did. But, we did the touristy thing and bought a hop on hop off bus ticket. We were both significantly more interested in the older history of the city rather than the newer stuff (a theme with us!), and had picked out some museums we wanted to see. We had a wander round the Silk Exchange, a lovely building, and then headed for the tourist bus. 

Valencia Silk Exchange

What Jo and I didn't factor in was that we'd arrived on a Sunday, and the museum we wanted to see was closed on a Sunday. But, we didn't realise this until we'd gotten off the bus. So we had a 20 min wait for the next bus, before we headed back to the centre and took a wander round the Cathedral. I'm not a religious person, but I quite like visiting churches etc in different parts of the world. Coupled with the fact that The Holy Grail is reportedly housed in Valencia we were eager to take a look. We failed to locate it in the Cathedral, although Jo did find a severed arm! Later that night we headed to one of the big squares to see the Super Moon, but were thwarted by clouds; what are the chances?!
As we headed for the bus the next morning we took a different route and pretty much fell across this little chapel behind the main cathedral. We decided to take a peek inside and discovered it was the Chapel of the Holy Grail! There was a service going on though so we didn't feel comfortable being all touristy with cameras. Decided to head off on the bus and come back later. Bus tour continued...but, we couldn't find one of the museums we wanted and with the same museum we'd tried to visit on Sunday also being closed on Monday, we were losing patience! Topping this off was our return to the Chapel of the Holy Grail only to discover it was also closed. Valencia it seemed, was against us. 
There was nothing else we wanted to do so we collected the car and drove back to the villa. 
Valencia is a beautiful city, with some stunning architecture and some real character. I was slightly disappointed we didn't get to see all the stuff we wanted to. But, it was enjoyable nonetheless. 
We had one day back in the villa before heading to Granada on Tuesday. 

Granada:
Granada was the biggest thing we were doing on the trip and we'd planned it well. We'd booked the tickets for the Alhambra for the Weds morning and wanted to explore the city on the Tues afternoon/evening.  It was a fair drive from the villa, 3.5 hours so we knew we'd have to leave earlyish to make sure we had enough time to do what we wanted. The drive was a long one but it was stunning, genuinely stunning. Driving through 2 national parks, one being Sierra Nevada, I was continually aghast at the scenery and taking lots of pics from the car as Jo drove. 

Sierra Nevada mountains (excuse the bug spatters on the windscreen!)

Arriving in Granada we tracked down our hotel (which I'd highly recommend by the way! http://www.hotelzaguan.com/indexingles.html), and went a-wandering. We'd booked a walking tour in the evening at 8pm and figured we'd do the bus tour and have a wander round the Cathedral. 

I came to Granada knowing very very little about the history, so when Jo  and I entered a little chapel and she let out a little squeal of excitement on reading the pamplet, I wondered what was going on. In very hushed and excited tones she told me that the chapel we were in was the final resting place of Ferdinand and Isabella. I admit I looked at her blankly but she explained who they were and I realised her excitement. Although not as excited myself I could understand why she was excited and there was a certain atmosphere in the chapel which I found rather emotive. The chapel itself is simple enough but quite beautiful at the same time. We weren't allowed to take pics so I have none to show you. 

After doing the bus tour we realised we only had 40 minutes before we had to be on the walking tour. It was a free tour and would have been 3 hours. But, we didn't fancy rushing dinner and decided to forego the walking tour and continue to wander at our own leisure before finding food. Directly opposite the royal chapel was a small entrance to something, we didn't know what, but we paid €2 each and wandered in. We were pleasantly surprised to find two utterly beautiful rooms in a stately home, shown to us by a local guide. The first room was very Arabian in its decoration and I was amazed at the intricacies of the decoration. The second room was now a lecture room used by the University but it had the most spectacular wooden ceiling. The photos of both these rooms do not do them justice. Jo and I both said that the viewing of that house alone made missing the walking tour worthwhile. 

Arabian decoration

Amazing wooden ceiling, it smelt incredible!

After sourcing some food and some utterly delicious churros, we headed to bed, knowing we'd have to be up bright and early for our trip up the Alhambra. We were leaving at 7.15am so needed rest. 

Churros!

I knew very little about the Alhambra, apart from the fact it was a Moorish fortress and had Catholic parts to it. I'd never even seen pictures of it, Jo had offered to show me some but I wanted to see it first hand. We collected our tickets and after waiting a bit were allowed into the complex. It was 8.15am when we walked through the gate and the temperature was just starting to rise. Although most of the complex is free for you to roam around, one part, the most restored part, the Nasrid Palaces, only allows a certain number of people so you have to go at your allocated time. Our time was 9am, so we strolled down and hung around before we entered the palaces. 

It's difficult to describe the utter beauty of the Nasrid palaces. Arabian in their decoration, the intricacy really has to be seen to be believed. Water is a common theme throughout, having been Muslim places of worship. I took a multitude of photographs and although you get the general gist from them, I recommend a visit. It's simply breathtaking. 

The rest of the Alhambra complex consists of the Alcazabar, the top of which offers gorgeous panoramic views of Granada and the Sierra Nevada mountains. And the Generalife Gardens and Palace. The Generalife palace is beautiful but in a very different way to the Nasrid palaces. It's Catholic in origin so very differently decorated but offers stunning views across to the Nasrid palaces and over the valley. 

Generalife Palace

View from the top of the Alcazabar

After 3 hours of wandering we headed back to the city centre on the bus. We'd been told to go up to Mirador San Nicolas by the lady in our hotel, as it offered amazing views of The Alhambra from the other side of the valley. So we got on another bus and headed up the other side of the valley. At the risk of sounding repetitive, oh my word, the views were stunning!! Standing in this little square, looking across the valley and seeing the entire Alhambra, where we'd been only 30mins before was rather emotive, helped also by the snow capped Sierra Nevada mountains in the background. Truly fabulous and a wonderful way to finish off our Granadian visit. 

The Alhambra from Mirador San Nicolas. Pic does not do it justice.

Because the trip back to the villa was a fair way, we'd arranged a stop off about half way, in a little coastal town called Almeria. Not much to see, it's a little off the beaten track and isn't known for tourists, but it allowed us to get a well needed rest after a fabulous but exhausting morning in Granada. I think we were both in bed by 9pm that night, and we slept until 9am the next morning. 

We took a trip up the Almeria Alcazabar, which offered lovely views over the town and was a mix of the restored gardens, the existing fortress and an archaeological site for the yet to be uncovered stuff. 

Almeria Alcazabar

Arriving back at the villa we had planned to take a trip to nearby Cartagena on the Friday for a trip to the Roman ruins but we were both so exhausted from the trip to Granada, and the knock on tiredness from Valencia that we sacked Cartagena off and spent 3 days resting by the pool and drinking in the local pub in the evening. A great way to end of the holiday, allowing us both to wind down and enjoy some quality relaxation time before we went our separate ways and traveled home. 

I loved every second of the holiday. It was great to see Jo and spend some time together and the sights we saw together just topped it off. 

I'd highly recommend Granada to anyone, it's full of character and the Alhambra really is breathtaking. 

As for upcoming plans, I'm home next weekend for a family dinner for Sarah's 40th, then I'm with college friends in Romford, then I'm seeing another very good friend, her baby, another close friend and my godson...then I have a friends wedding in Co Wicklow. 

All super exciting events coming up. Although I sometimes despair at the busyness of my social life, I love that I have it at the same time. 

So, until next time folks, stay happy, enjoy the summer, don't forget the suncream and don't do anything I wouldn't. 

Much love. 

Sandra. 

xx

How I came to be in Dublin and a gushing about friends!

I’m just back from a 4 day visit to the UK to see friends and family. Had a great time.  Managed to catch up with some people I’ve not seen in ages, meet friend’s new babies, play the exotic visitor with the elder kids and have some good old clean grown up fun with the adults.

I’ve lived in Ireland for just over 6 years, wasn’t supposed to pan out like that. In Sept 2006 I broke up with my boyfriend. We’d been together for 4 years and I was a bit adrift. Although it was a mutual decision to split and very amicable, you know the way. I was 24, still young, wasn’t prepared to move back home and was very grateful to a then work colleague, Andy, for providing me with a cheap place to stay for 3 months while I decided where I’d go next.  I’d heard talk in work of a project implementing in Ireland, and previously this hadn’t been an option for me. But, things had changed. My current project was coming to an end so I figured that I’d put myself forward. It was a 6 month stint based in Dublin, which seemed perfect. It would give me a chance to expand a bit in work; working with new people in a new location, on a very high profile project, but aside from all this, it was a clean break. 6 months would give me the time I needed to clear my head and decide my next step.

So on 11^th Dec 2006 I set off for Dublin with my new team. I knew one girl, Emma, from my previous project and we got on great, the others seemed grand enough. I look back and laugh. I didn’t have a clue what was about to take place. We rocked up, as the 4 new dudes, into a group of about 60 people already over there from the UK, all with well established relationships/nuances etc.  Not a massive problem, we were all from similar stock and just got on with things.  What was more difficult was trying to get our phase of the project up and running during the implementation of the previous project. But, I’m not going to get into that.

So commenced 6 months of, well, carnage, if I’m honest. The best way to describe it was that it was like being at college, but with money. We were all living in the same apartment complex, and it was like college halls with regards to the atmosphere. We were all working tremendously hard, but boy, we played hard too. Quite a few of the guys went home on a weekend, so our playtime as a working group was mid week...something that was alien to me! Yeah I was 24, but I’d been in a relationship with a pseudo step son for the last 4 years, I wasn’t accustomed to cocktails mid week and staying up until the wee hours with work the next morning. But that soon changed. I formed some great friendships in this time, to the point that when I was asked if I’d like to stick around for another 3 months to offer BAU support I accepted. This 3 month piece then led to a further 6 month piece before I was finally faced with the reality of returning to the UK. It wasn’t until that point that I realised just how much I loved being in Ireland. Sounds mad given that I’d been there for 15 months, but I’d just been going with the flow. Enjoying the work, having fun, making friends and building on those new friendships. Yes, I was going home a fair bit to see sisters, parents etc but I was spending the majority of my time in Dublin.

I needed to make a decision: return to my role in Halifax, find somewhere to live and pick up where I’d pressed ‘pause’ 15 months earlier, or, leave the company, stay in Dublin, find a new job, find somewhere to live, someone to live with and continue the new life I’d already pretty much started.

I had a window of about 6 weeks within which to make this decision. I spoke to my sisters, my friends (both in the UK and Ireland) and I was still torn with what I was going to do. Sure, moving back to the UK would be easy, I had a great friend base, I could live in Halifax, and it’d all be hunky dory. But, I wasn’t sure this was what I wanted. What I also wasn’t sure of was whether I was looking at Dublin through rose tinted glasses. Would I find a job elsewhere, would I find somewhere to live, would I find someone to live with? There seemed to be too many unknowns and I was wavering.

Until, one night, after work, I went for a few drinks with a friend. I jumped in a taxi home about 9pm, wasn’t drunk, was still very lucid. As we were heading up Baggot St, I was looking out of the window of the car when I had a bit of an epiphany. I sat there and I thought “If I have to leave this city in 4 weeks I’ll be devastated. I don’t want to go. I want to stay. If I don’t try this I’ll never know”. That was it for me, decision made. I handed in my resignation, Claire and I decided we’d move in together, we found somewhere to live, I left the company….and then fecked off to Egypt on holiday for 2 weeks with Jo. Looking back I was somewhat foolish and should really have looked for a job before I left for my holier. But I didn’t, and it still worked out ok. Within a week of being back from holiday I’d secured a job and the rest is history really.

That was back in April 2008 and a number of times I was asked whether it was a permanent move. I always said I’d give it 5 years, then reassess where I was and what I wanted to do. That time is now. Where am I? Well, I’m still living in the same apartment with Claire and that all works wonderfully. I am incredibly lucky that she and I get on so well; we have a similar circle of friends, we spend a lot of time together and it works. I’m sure I do stuff that pisses her off, but I don’t believe it’s anything major. I’m confident she’d have told me…Claire, now is your chance!!

I’m in a job I enjoy. I contracted for a while after leaving the bank and have been in a permie position since Sept 2011. Yeah, sure, I have moments of pure frustration with the company and the job, but in the grand scheme of things I enjoy it and feel supported, required etc.

I have a truly fabulous set of friends here. They’re my girls and they’re just epic. I love them all and they keep me sane (or totally indulge my craziness!).

So in short, I’m happy and am sticking around on the Emerald Isle.

Of course, I miss my family and friends that aren’t here. It was thinking about the fact that it’d been over 12 months since I’d seen three of the people I saw at home over the weekend that got the creative juices flowing re this post actually. 2 of these people have had significant events happen in their lives since I last saw them, all of which I’ve been aware of as they happened.  These were mainly good events, but one particularly horrible one; and it was important to me that I made time for them this weekend. The nice ones are great to have a reminisce about, but the horrible one, well, I was just glad the outcome is a (so far) positive one, that they remain a part of my life and that I was able to see them and properly reconnect. Yes, I’m being deliberately evasive. You know who you are.

It’s times like these that I really appreciate the friends I have. Yes I have a close circle of friends here in Dublin. But, I also have a good number of friends elsewhere in the world who I don’t see very often. We make time for each other when we can but whether the gap between seeing each other is 3 months or 15 months, it doesn’t matter. We keep in contact, we fully appreciate the demands within each of our lives that might prevent us from reconnecting as often as we’d like and of course we appreciate the geography. The distance or the time lag doesn’t matter; we remain friends and we remain supportive of one another. So I might not divulge every single detail of my life to every different friend, neither do they with me. That’s half the fun of a catch up. You know the key bits, the real important bits, the rest is wine or tea fodder!

I see posts on Facebook all the time about ‘true friends’ etc. Some are overly sentimental and piss me off, but in the main, they ring true. But, it’s rare that I share them. Maybe I should more, but I’d like to think that those close to me know their importance to me and don’t need reminding all the time. They know they can call on me whenever they need to and I’ll be there, day or night, for whatever reason.

Someone said to me this weekend “I have friends who need effort to maintain, and those who don’t”. I think that’s true of most people, but being genuinely honest, I don’t think I have any ‘high maintenance’ friends. Sure, I have friends who are high maintenance women, but in friends terms they aren’t. I don’t think I’m a high maintenance friend, and I’m certainly not a high maintenance woman!

I think it’s important to surround ourselves with people we care about and appreciate, and who care about and appreciate us in the same way. As we get older we realise the really important things, and I certainly know my top things at 31 are massively different to what they were when I was 21.

I don't mean any of this to sound flippant in any way, or cast aspersions on others friends choices. As always with these posts, I talk from a personal point of view. I just know that I've had high maintenance friends and we've never lasted. I look at my friends now and I can't imagine never being friends with any of them. That's not to say I won't gain new friends, I'd like to think I will. But I also hope I never lose this lot.

On that note, it's Paula's hen do this weekend. That's a different type of carnage...stay tuned!

Until next time.

Much love.

S. x

Birthday memories.

Earlier this week I turned the grand old age of 31. Waaaaaahhhhh! I’m old, I’m past it, I’m on the shelf, MY LIFE IS OVER! Sod that for a game of soldiers, getting older doesn’t bother me. Admittedly I did have a bit of a “31, seriously? 31??!!!” moment about 2 weeks before my birthday, but that soon passed. Apart from anything else, I’m one of the youngest out of my circle of friends, so any moaning about me feeling old is met with comments along the lines of “Oh shut up, I’m xx years older than you!”

Although I spent my actual birthday in work it was a lovely day. My friends at work bought me a lovely present, we went  out to lunch and there was cake, candles and singing (although it was very hushed and whispered singing as there were conference calls going on around us!). I went for a drink after work (and it really was just one drink, turns out I am capable of it!), and headed home to open all my cards and speak to my family. The joy of Facebook also meant that throughout the day I was pinged with messages of birthday wishes, which is always nice. Makes a person feel warm and fuzzy inside to receive a multitude of good wishes from their friends.

I know some people think that Facebook is the work of the devil and that it impersonalises relationships but I don’t buy this. I live in a different country to a lot of my friends, Facebook is a wonderful way for me to keep in contact with these people, and it’s helped me to re-connect with old school friends and old college friends. People who I lost contact with for various reasons, but am genuinely glad to be back in contact with again. But I digress, this post isn’t about the merits of Facebook.

I love birthdays, always have. I’ll fully monopolise on the fact that it’s a day all about ME! And this year I was a bit nostalgic thinking of the birthdays I remember from years gone by, which then prompted me to write this post.

I only really remember one birthday I had as a child, I think it was my 7^th birthday. And the memory I have is only of about a 20 second window. The party was at my house, which was unusual in itself from what I can remember. We were playing a game that involved dancing. My young competitive & bossy self (nothing’s changed) was desperate to win this so I remember pretty much flinging my partner round like a ragdoll. I don’t remember if I won or not! I remember my sisters supervising the game, and I think I remember Sophie laughing at me, but then there’s nothing new there...

I don’t actually remember my 18^th birthday, am sure I should! Or is it a good sign that I don’t remember it?!!

All the birthdays I had at college were great. My 19^th was rather clandestine in some ways. I was seeing an older guy and a few weeks after my birthday he took me to Brussels for the weekend. I don’t think my family knew I was seeing him at the time of the trip, I vaguely remember Sarah phoning me when we were driving to the airport and asking me if I was in a car. I told her I wasn’t…she must have known I was lying, but didn’t challenge me on it!

Was a fab weekend though, freezing cold but lovely. Lots of Godiva chocolates and wandering around. The Del Amitri song “Always the last to know” reminds me of being in an Irish bar on this trip…which is ironic given that the sentiment of that song is pretty much how that relationship ended up 8 months later.

My 20^th was a bit bittersweet. I’m not going to go into detail but I wasn’t on best terms with my parents and my dad forgot my birthday. I was gutted and very upset. But, my brilliant hall mates put on a brilliant spread for me and we did a treasure hunt. The theme of the night was a kids party, we had hats and jelly and all manner of fabulous things.  

My 20th birthday at college. I don’t look happy but I was, honest

As is traditional, I had a party for my 21^st, and I remember having a great time. My then boyfriends mother made me a lovely cake with elephants on it, which I was made up with! But, my main memory of this party is looking over to see my sisters sat together on a table, gazing at me. I asked them what was up and got the response “Our baby sister is 21!”. I got the same comment on my 30^th…but you’ll hear about that next!

My fab birthday cake

School friends and I on my 21st

My 30^th birthday has to be the best one I’ve had so far though. I was excited about being 30 and had made plans to spend the actual birthday in Dublin with my friends, then a few weeks later to have a family dinner and also a night out with my Yorkshire contingent of mates.

My actual birthday was on a Sunday, so I’d rounded up friends weeks in advance and said that I wanted to go for a meal on the Sat night then out for drinks and frivolities afterwards. This was planned, we were going to a lovely French restaurant (http://www.lgueuleton.com/) and then onwards to wherever we felt like.

We’d arranged to meet up for normal Friday drinks…it was Friday afterall, and the Friday of my birthday weekend, it’d have been rude not to kick things off then!

Sophie texted me on Friday afternoon to ask what the plan was for the weekend so I’d told her what we’d arranged.

I headed off from work on Friday evening and met the girls in the pub.  I was smoking at the time and so I decided to head outside for a cigarette.  My friends tried in vain to get me to stay inside (which I didn’t see as strange at all!) but I’m a stubborn bitch, so I didn’t listen to them and wandered outside

As I got to the door, I spotted my flatmate outside, but then realised  she was stood with two people, one of which looked remarkably like my sister Sophie. As my brain fully engaged and I realised it WAS Sophie I tried to get out the door, but I was trying to push the door when it was pull….I got all flustered and ended up ragging the door to try and open it for about 10 seconds before I finally made my way through it!

I burst outside to find Sophie & Sarah stood with my flatmate. There was a few seconds of bewildered silence before I exclaimed “What the fuck are you doing here?!”, they held the masks they were holding up to their faces, shouted “Surprise!” and I burst into tears…!

My stubbornness to go outside had ruined the surprise! They’d planned to put on these masks, come into the pub, sit down near me and do something to annoy me (sit REALLY close to me, or bang into me etc), to see if I’d realise who they were or just give out about the fact these inconsiderate sods were annoying me!

The masks!

They’d been planning it since the previous September with my flatmate and I’d had absolutely no idea they were coming over! Now, I am rather gullible so it’s no great surprised I didn’t twig but there was nothing to twig either. Why would I think they’d come over? I’d planned to see them in a few weeks in the UK. But, I was absolutely over the moon that they were here and we had the best weekend. They finally got to meet all my mates and see where I lived (Neither of them had been since I’d moved from my previous place). I still smile lots when I think about that weekend.

Me, Sophie and Sarah 

The do I had a few weeks later with my mates in Halifax was also wonderful. Copious amounts of champagne consumed and my jaw hurt from laughing that night. That was the night Whitney Houston died, I remember discovering the news about 3am in the club. Had an absolutely stonking hangover the next day but managed to make it to my mates to see her and her new baby. There was a moment when I didn’t think I’d make the journey across but thankfully I did. My mate would NOT have been happy if I’d have puked in his car!

Sums up my 30th celebration in Halifax!

This years birthday celebrations will also be lots of fun. We’re killing a few birds with one stone. My birthday, my friends birthday and the start of the 6 Nations. Rugby men…gooooood!! Massively looking forward to it, I may report back with stories, it all depends on what happens really!

Till next time, much love!

S

xx