Sintra the fairytale

I blame facebook for making me wanting to visit this place for so long. I saw photos of my friend being at Pena Palace and they were superbly beautiful architecture on top of the hill.

We hired a private tour which brought us around Sintra and Cascais to visit 5 places for €25 per head. The driver, Joao waiter for us outside the attraction places and let us wondering around as long as we wanted.

Moorish Castle is located at the very top of the hill and has amazing view. However, since the dark came early during winter time, we did not really have much time to spent here.

So, we visited Pena Palace instead. The entrance fee is €11 and the transfer is €2. The weather was so breezy and slightly rainy. Every single part of the palace is built with precision, the colours of the wall are attractive and bright that makes the palace the second beautiful after Neuschwanstein Palace in Bavaria, Germany.

Cascais is the most western point of Europe. The wind was so strong that I could not take a picture while standing. People were scared that the wind would blow me away as I was too light. The point is facing the Atlantic Ocean. I wonder if I could ever see America from there. LOL.

We also visited a cliff with houses  in Sintra. During summer time, the water stagnant in a natural pool is used for swimming by the visitors. The view was breathtaking thought it was dark when we arrived at that place.

My second round of Barcelona

Winter 2012 and 2013 are filled with my usual hobby i.e. Travelling. Guess what my destonation is? It is somewhere you can learn about architechture, history, as well as nature no one could ever deny who The Creator is. I'm travelling to Barcelona (Yes, Barcelona for the second time), Lisbon, and Faro. My travel buddy now is Kak Rozi and family; including her husband Abang Shah and her sweet clever daughter, Balqish and a cheeky boy who melts everyone's heart, Arryan, and Ainul. We, together form a group of 4 adults, 1 children and an infant. Why do I stress about the group age? It is because the expenses are different between ages, hence their necessities.

I'm currently in Barcelona whilst writing this and hoping everything will be as smooth as I wish. InsyaAllah...

We started our day at half past 9 in the morning by taking metro to Sagrada Familia. Sagrada Familia is one of the must-go-places in Barcelona. It is built over 100 years and still not yet finished due to less public funds. Basically it is an on-going built of church designed by Antonio Gaudi. The architecture is simply amazing as it involves a highly complicated art. But, obviously as an engineer like me, does not really appreciate anything without practicality. As long as the building has significant function and use to humans, then I have no objection on its building process.

Soon after that, we took the metro to  Collblanc for  Barcelona Stadium tour. I barely made a decision for not going for the tour as I was so clueless about football arena. My ignorance to take part in this men's world thing made me a noob in the tour. Though I had once been for Anfield tour, I did not even remember who and what so ever to be honest. I only took pictures and posed while being photographed as typical Asian girl would always be. I went into the stadium with Abang Shah as the rests did not want to go in. The ticket  (€17) was pretty expensive even after student discount. What made it even more worst was that the tour had no tour guide, except you had to add €5 more for a walkie talkie, which we would not opt. So, Abang Shah was the one who gave a brief explanation to me while touring.

Apparently I just knew Messi and his golden achievement in the career. That was the least I know now. Haha.

Parc Guell was way up on the hill and luckily we were aided by three escalators near to the top. From the monumental area, we could see the city of Barcelona nicely. The price we had to pay for the park was €8. Again, this park is designed by Gaudi in early 1900. He used colourful tiles to enhance the beauty of his architecture including the lizard. I was so excited that I finally went to this place because in my previous trip last year, we did not have the chance to stop by because of an incident.

The tummy was empty. Everyone was less energised. We made a stop for dinner at a restaurant near Lesseps metro station and had seafood paella for €9.50 and seafood pasta for €5.70. The menu was simply delicious and it was obviously due to the great cook and recipes and also our hungriness. I got a red love lollipop as a thank you sweet at the end of the meal which made my day bright.

Say you have a great sense of art, what would you do? Gaudi built two buildings with similar sense of designs. We stopped at Lesseps metro station to go to Casa Battlo, and walked about 6-10 minutes to Casa Mila. The wall of these buildings is not flat. He must be so immensed in wave function that he built such wall. (i'm curious).

So we finished all top 4 Gaudi's architectures in Barcelona. We took the metro to Catalunya to go to Hard Rock Cafe. To be honest, I am not the fan of the collection. (Apa orang kata? Dah ada kehendak, kita turutkan je la). Balqish asked why are we here? I just answered because your parents want to do some shopping.

The last attraction we covered today was Agbar Tower. It is a tower that has colorful lights on it. The tower glows brightly to add the beauty of Barcelona. (Kalah i-city Shah Alam, okey?).

Pisa

Andai di Malaysia, kita ada Menara Condong Teluk Intan, di Itali, kita ada The Leaning Tower Pisa. Ironically, I've been to Pisa which is thousands kilometers far away from my hometown, instead of the one in Perak. Orang kata, jauh perjalanan luas pengetahuan, kan? Mengharap aku yang tak berapa nak tahu asal usul menara condong ni, peribahasa tu agak tak boleh guna kat aku la. Apa yang aku tahu, Pisa Leaning Tower ni pernah menjadi salah satu of seven wonders in the world. Kononnya, walaupun struktur bangunan ni dah lama, keunikannya i.e. kecondongannya tetap utuh dan tak pulak nak roboh saban tahun. Tunggu lah sampai saat nya nanti. Bila dah tersungkur ke bumi, baru la ada orang sibuk nak kaji kenapa, kan...? 

Ada spekulasi yang aku dengar suatu masa di bangku sekolah dulu. Menara condong ini sebenarnya tidak dibina condong. Tapi sebab keadaan tanah di kawasan bangunan itu didirikan, menara ini menyondong sedikit demi sedikit. Hakikat disebalik spekulasi tersebut hanya Yang Maha Mengetahui Allah dan para pengkaji struktur, i.e. arkitek, geologist, peminat/pencinta dan inquirer etc. sahaja yang tau kot. 

Nak dijadikan cerita, pengalaman kitorang menjejakkan kaki di Pisa ini adalah sangat sedikit. Boleh dikatakan, kurang daripada satu jam. Tengok kawasan leaning tower tu pon tak sampai 15 minit. Sebab?

1. Flight yang bawa bagasi kitorang yang dihilangkan syarikat penerbangan rasmi Itali, Alitalia tu delay selama 20 minit. Suppose sampai pukul 1020 pagi. Tapi, tengok-tengok dekat pukul 11 jugak la baru flight tu landing. Dengan nak check ada masalah ke tidak dengan bag (which memang ada di pihak Ammar. Toiletries dia abes semua tumpah and pecah), tunggu bas shuttle airport-city kat Florence etc. Semuanya took time. 
2. Dah la lambat bertolak dari Florence, bas tak de plak on the spot depan Pisa Central, so kitorang terpaksa berjalan mengikut naluri masing-masing ke Pisa Tower tu. Perjalanan dengan 'bas no. 11' ni mengambil masa kira-kira setengah jam di bawah sinaran matahari yang hening. 
3. Terpaksa berkejar ke airport for the next flight to Paris. Dah la tertinggal bag, baru dapat, tak kan nak tertinggal flight pulak kan? So, kitorang pon sekejapan je la kat sini.

Selesai bergambar, kitorang naik je teksi yang memang parking sebelah leaning tower tu and head to the airport. Hanya Tuhan je yang tau betapa kitorang lega dapat bag. Sinar kegembiraan terpancar di muka masing-masing. Semua excited untuk ke Disneyland, nak main hotel pe benda ntah. Tuptup tengok notice board, FLIGHT CANCELLED. Bila tanya kat kaunter pertanyaan, there will be no flight to France for 3 days. Muka berubah. Kita merancang, Allah menentukan, kan?

We tried to find other alternative, i.e. by train. Masa tu, semua tak fikir berapa kena spend more. Nak guna internet pon berbayar. 5 euro for half an hour and kena register guna passport. Macam haram je leceh dia. Memang time tu, segala segi dan elemen emosi teruji la. Tiket train ada, bila nak beli TAK BOLEH BELI. Macam dush!!!! Apparently, tiket habis ke system down, tak ingat. Tapi, memang tak boleh nak proceed checkout la. 

Tak kan nak tersadai 3 hari macam orang bodoh plak kat Pisa tu. So, akhirnya aku pon cakap

Ammar, ada satu je lagi jalan. Itu pon kalau kau mampu la

Apa dia?

You HAVE to drive.

So, aku, Atikah and Ammar pon g kat car hire offices untuk cari kereta sewa. Semua companies tak bagi hire car melepasi sempadan. Kalau boleh pon, ridiculous gila price dia, sampai mencecah ribuan euro kot. Survey punya survey, dalam kelam kelibut tu, Avis berjaya mencari penyelesaian kepada masalah kitorang. Bagaimana? Ni apa yang minah kaunter Avis tu cakap

Drive ke Turin, beli tiket train ke Paris from Turin. Train ke Paris dijangka berlepas pada pukul 11 malam. Letak kunci kat post box office Avis berhampiran station keretapi Turin.

Phewwww. At least macam she gave us a new hope la. Kitorang diberi wifi pocket percuma, so kira boleh tengok jugak la train tiket macam mana kan... Kereta apa kitorang dapat? Black Fiat Punto.

Perjalanan ke Turin mengambil masa 5 jam bak kata mek Garmin. Scenery sepanjang perjalanan tu memang Subhanallah.... cantiknya. Dalam hati, though ada halangan, Allah bagi lebih peluang untuk tengok keindahan alam ciptaan Dia kan? Sempat jugak lah kitorang singgah tukar baju, makan and berehat sebentar bersama coklat Itali kat salah satu hentian rehat dan rawat.

Bila sampai kat Turin, kitorang terus pergi train station. Malangnya, kaunter tiket dah tutup. Bila kitorang tengok kat automatic ticket machine tu, tak de pon option untuk beli cross-border tiket. So, hampa sekejap. Apa yang kitorang lagi pelik, train yang berlepas pukul 11 malam tu tak de pon. Bila check notice board, train ke Paris adalah pada pukul 7.35 pagi on the next day. Kitorang sumpah tak tau nak fikir macam mana.

Semua buntu. Harapan berkecai ala-ala Pelamin Anganku Musnah punya lagu. Untuk tenangkan fikiran, kitorang cari masjid, hopefully boleh la stay kat situ sementara tunggu pagi. Ammar jumpa dengan Pak Imam masjid Turin tu, tapi pak imam kata masjid di kunci and memang lelaki je yang boleh masuk. Kalau tahap kekecewaan itu boleh diukur, walaupun dengar cerita kebab untuk hilangkan lapar pon belum tentu dapat naikkan tahap kegembiraan walaupun sedikit. So, memang super kecewa la. Lagi sekali, aku pon bersuara.

Korang, kita semua sedia maklum France tengah strike. Air traffic controller tak nak kerja,so flight tak boleh masuk France. SCNF train pon menggedik jugak join. So, though memang kebiasaannya ada train ke France setiap pagi, belum tentu lagi train tu ada esok. Kita tak tahu apa lagi yang akan jadi. So, aku suggest, kita batalkan je percutian ke Paris, and move to Como. Ammar pon memang nak g Como kan before ni?

Satu kereta sepi buat beberapa saat sebelum semua memberikah feedback. Aqiedah memang tak de perasaan pon kat Paris, Atikah la paling sedih sebab tak dapat nak pergi Disneyland. Ammar memang neutral je la sebab dia dah pernah sampai pon semua tempat tu. Aku? Gambaran istana Disneyland and Minnie mouse tu tetiba macam mengecil ke nanometer scale. Haaaa exaggerating tak? Over tau!

Untuk ke Como, perjalanan akan mengambil masa selama 5 jam lagi kot kalau tak silap. Bayangkan betapa lama lagi Ammar kena drive. Tempat aku dan Aqiedah bertukar. Now, Aqiedah jadi co-pilot. Aku, duduk belakang tidur. Hehe. Entah apa diorang borak kat depan, aku ngan Atikah tak kesah dah. Penat memikirkan hal dari siang tadi dah cukup memeningkan. Pukul 3 pagi rasanya kot time tu, Ammar berhenti di sebuah RnR. Sempat jugak lah aku test drive kat situ. First time bawak left hand side car, kan... Masuk gear pon tak lepas. Memang fail habis driving skill aku. Duhhh..

Sampai di Como, Ammar tidur tak ingat dunia. Kitorang keluar kereta, duduk ambil gambar tepi tasik, tunggu matahari terbit. Nak naik bot, macam mahal je. So, yang mampu adalah tidur dekat boat station. Nasib baik tak kena halau dengan pak cik kaunter tiket je. Macam-macam style kot semasing tidur. Dari terduduk sampai terbaring. Muka memang tebal je la. 

What happenend in Como? Baca next post lah ye.

Lumiere at Durham

Highlands, Scotland (Day 2)

Fort William

Blackrock Cottage

Blackrock

Kilchurn Castle

Stirling Castle

Scotland Highlands - Day 1

Urquhat Castle

Loch Ness Information Centre

Loch Ness

Autumn at Inverness

Mountain

Eilean Donan Castle

Fruit picking at Chester

There was one good day, bright and peaceful. We all woke up early to celebrate the joyfulness. Sharp at 11 am, we departed from Newcastle to Chester. According to the navigator, we expected to arrive at 2 pm which then gave us two and a half hours to pick and pose.

There are a lot of fruits available at the farm. They are apples, pears, plums, and berries. The first row of plants we went was apple. There were a lot of apples, be it edible as raw or for cooking. We picked apples from the trees without hesitating. The apples were red and crunchy. We posed and jumped to take pictures. All were excited in photography rather than picking apples itself.

Finished with apples, we walked to berries field. There were a lot of berries and I could not remember which is which. The one that I know for sure, we picked blueberries, redcurrant, and raspberries. Only few berries were available at that autumn time as berries are good to harvest during summer.

Pears on the trees rather looked like golden bells on Christmas trees. With bright sunshine, the pears looked shiny and tempting. We plucked some from the trees and ate them fresh. They were sweet, crunchy,  and juicy.

We had not really seen plums as there were not a lot left on the trees. Same as damsons. When we arrived at the farm owner to pay for what we got, only then we saw damson. I took damson from the box and ate it just right in front of the uncle. He smiled to me and I dared not to say anything.

Finished with fruit picking, we went straight to Cheshire Oaks designer outlet for shopping time. I was too absorbed by the on going sale at every shop and boutique. What I had got were Verbena perfume and selected toiletries from Loccitaine, and an orange watch from Fossils. I wanted to see a lot but there were no time left as the shops closed at 7 pm and we were there at 5 pm and there are over 140 branded shops to browse.

I will definitely go shopping again!

8th June - Rome (2nd day) and the beginning of multiple chaotic events

Second day started with smiles and fresh. Walaupun Beautiful Hostel tu tak seindah mana, kami tetap tidur dengan nyenyak selepas keletihan merayau di separuh kota Rom. Apa yang akan dilawati hari ini? Struktur batu such as Colloseum, Roman Forum and Palatine Hill, and Treviso Fountain.

Palatine Hill area

Treviso Fountain

Scenic Colloseum

Nak masuk Colloseum and taman batu surrounding it, kena bayar 18 euros. We bought the tickets in advanced to avoid queuing. Tickets could be collected a day before visiting at Colloseum itself. Semalam dah tengok Colloseum waktu malam, today, masuk dalam Colloseum pulak. There are exhibitions in Colloseum showing artifacts found in that place. Dah selesai tengok barang-barang purba, tibalah sesi bergambar. For the first time in my life, aku keluar berjalan-jalan pakai skirt. Though kena nampak ayu, aku tetap kurang ayu sebab suka ambil gambar lompat. Tapi, bukan lah aku nak bagi free show kat orang kan.. Tetap lah pakai track bottom gak. Masa ambil gambar tu, ada seorang mak cik cakap "Aww nice hat you have. You look colourful". Haaa tersengih-sengih la aku senyum kat mak cik tu. First time dapat pujian dari foreigner tentang appearance kot. Dah la aku sebenarnya pakai colourful habis. Tak de fashion sense langsung.

That is colourful me!

Roman Forum and Palatine Hill tu adalah dua kawasan yang berbeza and besar belaka. Nak habiskan tour Palatine Hill pon sekian, apatah lagi Roman Forum. So, we ended up just rayau Palatine Hill sampai habis and tak pergi pon Roman Forum sebab dua-dua nya pon memang ada batu je. Masa tour tu, panas sangat. Air sejuk dalam botol dijual dengan harga yang berlipat kali ganda. Ammar yang berkulit sensitif memang dehydrated la. Sebotol air dibeli dengan harga 2 euro. At the exit of Palatine Hill, ada satu pili air. Orang dok membasahkan diri kat situ sebab panas. Kitorang plak tak kan nak ikut mandi gak kan... Refill air je la boleh. Tak de nak fikir air tu air pelik-pelik ke apa, memang telan je air sejuk tu tanpa syak wasangka. Lega.

Muka ketat Ammar tahan panas

Actually, Ammar pernah sampai kat Rome ni dengan his siblings last winter. So, he said we had to go to Treviso Fountain or as known as Fountain of Love. Kenapa dipanggil begitu? Jangan tanya. Aku pon tak tahu kenapa. Tapi, memang tersangatlah ramai orang melepak kat situ. Aku yang kecil ni memang biasa dah menyelit in crowded place. So, dengan skill tersebut, dapat jugak lah kitorang main-main air tepi fountain tu.

Konon nak giyomi depan fountain

On our way to Spanish Steps, we walked through Via Condotti which displays all Italian brand lavish goods such as Prada and Gucci. The smell of Gucci dari luar kedai dah bau dah. Masuk dalam kedai lagi harum. Haha. Kitorang pusing satu butik tu for window shopping. Nak beli tak mampu. Masuk Prada pulak, aku sempat try a few pair of shoes. Dulu, masa kat sekolah, ustazah aku ada cakap, kalau tak mampu nak beli, sarung pon jadi la. So, berbekalkan 'nasihat' berupa pesanan vogue tu, aku pon menyarungkan la kaki comel ku ke dalam kasut-kasut yang indah menawan tu... But, seriously, memang sepanjang jalan tu memand kedai mahal-mahal belaka. Baik korang masuk kalau berkenan. Nak datang banyak-banyak kali lagi tak mampu kan...

Polis kacak depan kedai mahal

Sampai di Spanish Steps, tersangatlah ramai orang duduk melepak kat situ. Sambil menunggu some people to vacate some seats, kitorang terserempak dengan abang polis yang kacak macam model. Orang Itali memang kacak belaka. So, we requested to take some photos with them. Selesai je bergambar, hilang dah polis tu. Takut orang kerumun diorang kot. Haha.

Haa nampak tak paper bag yang aku pegang tu? Apparently Ammar ada beli item dari butik apa Roma ntah, football club yang famous dekat Rom. Disebabkan terlampau penat berjalan, he fell asleep masa tunggu bas, and paper bag tu terletak kat bawah kaki. When we arrived at the airport, baru perasan dia tertinggal paper bag berisi his new collection of football scarf dekat bus station. Hurmmm, melepas... Tak de rezeki nak show off kat kengkawan.

At first, everything turned out well for everything. Things got chaotic when we did not have our boarding passes handy. Apparently, for Alitalia, boarding passes could only be printed online 24 hours prior to departure time. So, we only got to check in the night before and there was no printer to get the hard copy. So, we decided to board the bus slightly earlier than scheduled time to avoid inconveniences due to that matter at the airport.

Muka girang kembali selepas checked in luggage at Fumicino Airport

Allah bagi rukhsah untuk musafir dalam beribadat. Tapi, janganlah sampai mengabaikan solat terus kan? Kekalutan bermula di airport bila kitorang terpisah dari Ammar untuk bersolat. Lepas tu, we, the girls terus pergi kaunter untuk check in. Rupa-rupanya salah terminal... Meraban la pergi lari ke terminal yang sepatutnya. Nasib baik lah dekat. Tapi, we did not know whether Ammar would know it or not. Aku pon pergi la tunggu Ammar kat security checkpoint Terminal international 1, Aqiedah and Atikah terus check in kat Terminal domestic 3. Tunggu punya tunggu, Ammar tak sampai-sampai. Aku pon blah in a hope that he would realise the situation. Bila aku sampai kat Terminal 3, diorang plak cakap Ammar pergi cari kat Terminal 1. Adoi... Pening lalat dah semua orang.

Bayangkan semua flight ni delayed and cancelled...

Bila semua dalam keadaan stabil kembali, kitorang pon masuk security check point and menunggu flight di gate yang sepatutnya. Masa masuk tu kitorang pelik jugak kenapa ramai sangat orang dekat compensation counters. Bila check kat schedule board, banyak flight cancelled and delayed. Rupa-rupanya, there was an incident happened at the airport. Wizz Air terlajak masa landing. So, semua landasan ditutup sampai dapat pengesahan traffic controller. Insiden tersebut telah menjejaskan seluruh penerbangan domestic Itali, termasuklah penerbangan kami ke Venice.

Anjing comel yang turut terkesan dengan delayed flight 

Our flight delayed for 3 hours. They even changed the gate to depart. Dalam masa delay tu, we tried to compensate something from Alitalia, tetapi gagal. Mengamuk lah Ammar depan awek-awek Itali yang panggil kitorang bila kitorang hampir sampai kat compensation counter tu. Dah la tak bagi meal voucher ke apa, no manners betul la Alitalia ni. Nama je main carrier, tapi hampeh.

We boarded the flight dengan perasaan lega. At least, tak yah la terkocoh-kocoh nak tarik bag. Scenery kat luar tingkap flight pon sangat cantik sebab flight tu terbang rendah and laju. So, kitorang sampai 20 minutes awal dari normal scheduled time. And...disaster happened once again which akan diceritakan di Venice to jolly on 9th June 2013

Muka happy sampai Venice. Tengok, dah hilang dah skirt putih aku. Tak mampu nak cantik dah malam-malam ni.

Since