Road trip for 53 days How did we decide that it was a 53 day road trip to explore Spain and Portugal and not a 20 days or a 70 days? We started by looking at pictures of scenic destinations…
Week 3: Maui
Summary Our best experience in Maui was on Mount Haleakala Summit. We were practically “standing” on clouds. The sunset experience above the clouds was also a lifetime wish came true. We also had our first encounter with Hawaiian green sea…
Week 2: Kauai
Summary We arrived in Kauai on the 4th of August just after 12 noon and left on the 11th of August very early in the morning. We had about 7.5 days to explore the island which was sufficient enough for…
Week 1: Oahu
Summary Week 1 in Hawaii was spent on Oahu Island. We had 7 full days to explore this lovely island. The island was not very big so 7 days was enough for us. Our accommodations were all located near Waikiki…
Day 52 & 53: Going Home
Summary We were on the final leg of our road trip. Wow! It was 53 days ago when we first picked up our Citroen car at Tolouse and soon it was about time to return the car to the same…
Day 51: Montserrat
Summary Our last destination in Spain was Montserrat (saw tooth mountain) and the famous abbey that sat on it. It was a short drive from Barcelona to the mountain. We stayed for a night in a hotel next to the…
Day 48, 49 & 50: Barcelona
SUMMary We had three days in Barcelona. Barcelona was our last Spanish city and it seemed pretty big with many attractions so we gave ourselves three days instead of the usual two. We stayed in a hotel just outside the…
Day 46 & 47: Valencia
Summary We had two days to explore Valencia. It was a lovely place and one of the places in our itinerary we were looking forward to visit was the “grand old market”, which was not the typical modern supermarket. “The…
Day 45: Monasterio de Piedra Natural Park
Summary We drove a long way to visit Monasterio de Piedra Natural Park. It was a tedious 3 hour 15 minute drive over 266 km. This Natural Park was so out of way and we were not sure how to…
Day 44: El Escorial & Segovia
Summary We drove from Madrid to San Lorenzo El Escorial and stopped there to visit its famous Monastery. It was a monastery that looked more like a fortress and a palace. After visiting the monastery we drove to Segovia where…
Day 42 & 43: Madrid
Summary We had two nights in Madrid and we stayed in an apartment in Madrid Centro. From Toledo to Madrid was an hour drive. We knew that Madrid Centro had restricted entry non-resident cars so we were very carefull not…
Day 41: Toledo
Summary We visited Toledo a beautiful ancient city just an hour drive from Consuegra. It was definitely a city that deserved a one night stay, staying a night gave us the opportunities to experience the old city in both daylight…
Day 40: Consuegra
Summary We drove from Cordoba to Daimiel Tablas wetland, unfortunately the weather was horribly hot so we did not get out of our air-conditioned car to explore the wetland. We drove on to Consuegra to see the amazing windmills. The…
Day 39: Cordoba
Summary We went from Granada to Cordoba. At Cordoba our main focus was Mezquita-Catedral de Cordoba (Mosque Cathedral of Cordoba), this building looked magnificent from the outside but it was its interior that took our breath away. It was so…
Day 38: Granada
Summary We had one night in Granada. We started our journey from Colomares Castle and drove 187 km to Granada. Midway we stop at Frigiliana a beautiful white Spanish Village for coffee break. We reached Granada at about 3 pm…
Day 37: Caminito Del Rey & Colomares Castle
Summary We drove north east to visit Caminito de Rey and then south east to Colomare Monument. At Caminito de Rey we joined a 8 km guided walk through an incredible beautiful gorge of the Desfiladero de los Gaitanes, where…
Day 35 & 36: Ronda & Setenil
Summary We stayed for two nights in Ronda, a famous Spanish White Village with a awesome bridge, Puente Nuevo. On the first day we drove for about 130 km from Seville to Ronda, near the last part of the journey…
Day 33 & 34: Seville
Summary We had two nights in Seville, on the first evening we went to a local tavern to see the “Flamenco” (spanish dance). After the dance we visited Las Setasvisited de Sevilla a magnificent modern architecture. The next day was…
Day 32 & 33: Algarve
Summary We left Arrifana at about about noon driving towards the western tip of Algarve. We decided not to stop at Bordeira’s beach as it would be similar to Arrifana beach we drove ahead to the “Lighthouse of Cabo de…
Day 31: Lisbon to Algarve
Summary We had two and a half days for Algarve which was a southern most region of Portugal. The first day was focused on getting to Algarve. We drove about 250 km from Lisbon to a small town on the…
Day 29 & 30: Azores
Summary We arrived at Ponta Delgada of São Miguel in the middle of the night. São Miguel was the largest and most populous island in the Azores group of islands. The group had nine volcanic islands located in the North…
Day 26, 27 & 28: Lisboa
Summary We stayed in Lisbon for two nights. We left Sintra and arrived in Lishon in the late afternoon. We drove directly to our first destination, Tower of Belem. After the tower, we were off to our “stay” located in…
Day 25 & 26: Berlengas & Sintra
Summary In the morning we drove to Peniche, a major fishing port on the west side of Portugal. From there we took a boat ride to Berlenga islands which was about 16 km west of Peniche. We spent the entire…
Day 24: Batalha Monastery & Obidos
Summary Our next destinations for the rest of the day were Batalha Monastery and Obidos Town. We drove for about 173 km for close to 2 hour to reach Batalha Monastery. The Monastery were pretty large and grand and in…
Day 23 & 24: Serra da Estrela Natural Park
Summary Our next destination in Portugal was Serra da Estrela Natural Park. On the first day we explored Necropole de Sao Gens, Cabeca do Velho and Senhora da bao Estrela and along the way we stopped at two reservoirs/dams. We…
Day 22: Costa Nova & Aviero
Summary We did not travel far today. We visited two destinations, Costa Nova and Aveiro. Our stay for the night (one night) was at Aveiro. Both destinations were very scenic and unique in their own ways. Costa Nova It was…
Day 20 & 21: Porto
Summary From Folgosa (Douro River) we drove east to Porto (old town) which was about 161 km away. On the way we made a detour to explore “Shrine of Our Lady of Remedies”. In many ways this cathedral was similar…
Day 18 & 19: Douro River
Summary We had two days at Douro River on the Portugal side. We stayed two nights at a BnB in Folgosa (parish) that was sited by the bank of the Douro River. On the first day, on our way to…
Day 16 & 17: Roman Bridge, Granaries Soajo & Geres National Park
Summary Finally we drove into Portugal after already 15 days in Spain (northern). We had allocated 17 days for Portugal and would be travelling north to south and then would cross into Southern Spain before going north again via the…
Day 15: Hercules Tower & Cascada do Ezaro
Summary We visited Tower of Hercules and Cascada do Ezaro today. These two sightseeing destinations provided convenient stops as we moved from Spain to Portugal in a couple of days. Our destination in Portugal was Peneda-Gerês National Park and getting…
Day 13 & 14: Taramundi
Summary We had two days in Taramundi which was one of the two main towns in Turia Valley that was partly in Asturias (county) and partly in Gailcia County. It was a lovely two days of slow living in gorgeous…
Day 12: As Catedrais Beach
Summary In the morning after we left Covadonga we drove a long way (128 km) for about 2.5 – 3 hours to Someido Natural Park. On arrival we found that our car could not go all the way to our…
Day 10 & 11: Covadonga & Lake Ecrina
Summary Our next destination was Covadonga in Asturais (North West Spain) where a beautiful Basilica and a Holy Cave were located. We stayed two nights in a hotel practically next to the Basilica and Holy Cave and spent our days…
Day 8 & 9: Valles Pasiegos
Summary We spent two days at Valles Pasiegos. Valles Pasiegos was a region formed by the three adjacent valleys crossed by three rivers, Pas River, Miera River and Pisueña River. It was all about green countryside, local traditions and customs…
Day 6 & 7: Nervion Falls to Bilbao
Summary Our next destinations in Spain were Nervion Falls, Flysch cliffs and San Juan De Gaztelugatxe. To visit these three sights we stayed in Bilbao, an industrial port in Northern Spain, for two nights. From Bardenas Reales National Park to…
Day 4 & 5: Agüero to Bardenas Reales
Summary Our next destination in Spain was Bardenas Reale National Park, a semi desert which had been eroded by water and wind creating a very stunning and unique landscape. Driving from Torla Ordesa to Bardenas Reales would take about 3…
Day 2 & 3: Parque Nacional Ordesa Y Monte Perdido
Summary Our first destination in Spain was Parque Nacional Ordesa Y Monte Perdido (National Park Ordesa and Monte Perdido) which was famous for its great scenery. We stayed two days in Torla Ordesa, a town nearest to the National Park.…
Day 1 & 2: Toulouse to Montrejeau (on our way to Spain)
Summary We flew into Toulouse from Singapore transiting at London. We reached Toulouse International airport after a 13.5 hour first-leg-flight between Singapore and London, 2 hour transit stop in London and another 2 hour (2nd leg) flight to Toulouse. At…
Exotic Bangkok & Around (8 days) Summed up
The three of us had great fun during our 8-days-Bangkok-&-Around DIY trip. It was a great mixture if modern and ancient/traditional sightseeings with lots of authentic/fusion Thai food, Thai culture, high country lifestyle, crumbling ruins and uniquely Thai forms of…
Day 8: Floating Markets
Plan for the day The plan was to visit Damnoen Floating Market (the largest in Bangkok) in the morning and we had a whole day to explore the market. Our flight back to Singapore was at 11 pm so we…