Adventure Accounting

With Lisbon as my base, I can explore another UNESCO World Heritage Site, just a 30-minute train ride from Rossio station. A train leaves every 20 minutes so I didn’t pre-book a ticket. My hostel was just 5 minutes away from the station. Had to purchase a separate train ticket for this one. The grounds of Sintra are vast. If you want to explore everything, it would take more than a day trip. But I didn’t have the luxury of long travel so I had to make the most out of a day trip. From the train station, I followed the signs until I reached the bus stop. Paid €5 for a round trip bus ride. Alternatively, you can reach the old Sintra castle by walking for 20 minutes – uphill. They said this is just around 1.5km. The hostel said you’ll pass by a shop selling some awesome pastries. If you are a slave to the sweets, it may be worth it – or so my hostelmates said. A full bus The hostel gave me great directions and tips how to reach Sintra. The girl was very enthusias...

I had a blast with the sunset tour and the morning-lunch tour . I was willing to give my money and time for the Flamenco show. Initially, I did not want to watch one because I felt that it was too touristy. Something like the Aspara show in Cambodia – something nice to do do but you can skip it. I learned that most of the people in the tour were thinking of joining so we kinda felt that we already did two tours together, why not do another one? Our tour guide gave the name and address of the bar. We showed up there are the required time and someone took us to the alleys of Seville to a small bar. The bar was pretty small and it kinda reeked of alcohol and smoke (well it was a bar, I reckon). There was a small stage and monobloc chairs was set-up for the audience. It took a long time before the performers arrived – we waited for an hour, I think. The flamenco originated from the Andalucia region of Spain, specifically in Seville – as I learned from the morning-lun...

Alhambra is a palace fortress located in the region of Andalusia, Spain. Alhambra is the reason why tourists flock Granada. I learned about Granada from one of the Europe threads in Pinoyexchange. Reading forums is one of my primary sources of adventure planning. I purchased tickets right after I was granted the Schengen visa by the Embassy of Spai n. I bought tickets using this website . There are two types of tickets: the day ticket and the night ticket. Due to the popularity of the Alhambra, I got both: The day ticket costs € 14.30 while the night ticket costs € 9.30.     Buying the Alhambra tickets requires you to plan your trip on the day of the visit. The Alhambra grounds are vast and it requires hours of walking to go around - you have to plan how to explore this. The most visited and “revered” part of the palace is the Nasrid Palce or Palacios Nazaries. Due to the volume of the tourists, the Nasrid Palace limits the entry of its visitors to 300 per ...

Jose Rizal, the Philippines’ national hero, introduced me to Madrid. Rizal studied at the Universidad Central de Madrid and took up medicine. Madrid is the capital and largest city of Spain. Aside from the touristic spots the city offers, it can also serve as a base to nearby cities suitable for daytrips, such as Toledo and Valencia.   Our train from Barcelona arrived at lunch time. We had to navigate the multi-level metro station of Madrid and find our way going to U Hostels in Calle Sagasta.  Madrid's super underground metro system Took us another hour to get there. Check-in was still at 3pm and we were famished. We asked for a recommended restaurant, better fuel the body first before exploring Madrid. We grabbed a map to mull over lunch.   Went back to the hostel to check-in first, refill our water bottles then started to conquer Madrid. The busy streets of Madrid. Not as picturesque as Barcelona though. Plaza Mayor was e...

Warning: This is gonna be a long picture-filled post. There’s so much to share - in words and in pictures- about Prague. But I don’t want to spoil your trip. So this is the condensed version of my Prague adventure.   For the itinerary, please check days 2-4 of my EU II Itinerary . DAY ACTIVITY Day 2 AM - Arrival in Prague. Explore Old Town Square, Charles Square and Wenceslas Square Day 3 Prague Castle. Watched music concert. Prague Food Festival outside Prague Castle Day 4 Petrin Hill and Jewish Quarters. Old Town Again. Souvenir Shopping. Fred and Ginger Dancing House. Getting Around The hostel is in Melounouva 3, one tram ride away from the hostel. Riding the tram was no hassle at all, it was very convenient. We bought the 72-hour pass upon arrival inRuzyne airport – CZK 310. It was a gloomy day. Prague’s weather wasn’t smiling with us. Practicing the smiles and poses We...

So I walked and walked to figure out how to go to Kinkakuji from Arashiyama . I got lost and lost because I thought Daikakuji was the Japanese translation of the Golden Pavilion. That epic realization came when I was walking around the streets going to Daikakuji... which was 30 minutes of walking according to the tourist information booth. Booooo. With empty streets and no helpful Japanese people in sight, I had to rely on the bus routes in the handy Kyoto Bus Guide. I was out of the JPY 500 zone, so I was expecting some additional fee riding a bus, but I didn’t have a choice anyway. In that area, waiting for a bus took quite as long as 20-25 minutes - the bus schedules are still posted and still followed in the bus stops. I headed to the transfer point to ride any bus that's going to Kinkakuji. Kyoto transfer point. An elderly man sat beside me during the bus ride. He had limited English. He said he will show me the way to Kinkakuji since he was getting off th...

Tokyo Imperial Palace is the sorta equivalent of our own Malacanang palace. This is the main residence of the Emperor of Japan. The Imperial Palace lies on the former site of the Edo Castle. If you are an avid fan of Rurouni Kenshin (aka Samurai X), you’ll probably be familiar with Aoshi Shinamori and Misao. Both served as defenders of the Edo Castle.   Aoshi and Misao. I used to have a poster of Aoshi-sama in my wall. From my home base in Asakusa, I navigated my way to Tokyo Station. I decided to get the Asakusa+Ginza Line day combination ticket with cost me ¥ 1,000. Although it was just Day 3, my Preloaded Pasmo card of ¥ 2,000 which I bought in Day 1 was already below ¥ 500. Even though I have a planned route, I still make some mistakes in getting off at the wrong station - sayang sa pamasahe. Mas type ko ride-all-you-can; no other charges if I make mistakes. The moat around the palace I think I got better reading the crazy metro map. And I was able to u...

My research lauds Bangkok as THE shopping heaven. My friend is a non-shopper and I am... let’s say a moderate buyer and an excessive window shopper. So shopping is not really THE Bangkok plan. Bangkok offers some more temples. So here we go: The Grand Palace Tour. Map of the Grand Palace and surrounding temples. From Sala Daeng station near our home base, we rode the train going to Saphan Taksin Station, where the Central Pier is. We followed the signs to get to the boat station. Destination: N9 Tha Chang, the jump-off point of the grand palace. A boat conductor collected fare for BHT 15. View from the boat I’ve read about some Grand Palace Tour scams and our hostel warned us of such. Some tuktuk drivers will tell you that the palace is closed, and he will take you to a special tour. True enough, when we got to the grand palace grounds, there were a bunch of touts shouting that the temple was closed. The speakers of the Palace boomed and warned us about t...

Our first stop is Gyeongbokgung Palace . SK  boasts five palaces: Deoksugung, Gyeongbokgung, Changdeokgung, Changgyeonggung or Gyeonghuigung (or Kyunghee) Palace. Those names are a mouthful. We chose to just visit the arguably the named best palace : Gyeongbokgung Palace. Armed with the map, and the friendly maps in the subway, we easily found out way, just before 10am. The maps are friendly, you just have to memorize the name of your line and stop. Just in time to watch the changing of the guards... which we soon realized was not the ceremony itself. It was rather just the “rehearsals”. We took pics nonetheless.

I learned about Chateau de Versailles before I learned how to multiply fractions. Not at school, but from this thick blue book entitled “How? Where? When? Why?”; I think it was a supplement book from of encyclopedias that we had.  Yeap, you read that word right – encyclopedia.There was the good ol' encyclopedia those days where you could lose your thoughts into. Probably what remained in my young mind when I read about Chateau de Versailles was that castles were real. The castles of the Disney cartoons were just...moving pictures. This picture in the book was real. In the far country of France in a continent called Europe, there lies Palace de Versailles. It didn't become my dream goal at that moment, but it was rather a pipe dream of sorts back then. Childhood and castles Today,Imma see a castle. Palace, castle, whatever, I'm gonna see it. I’ve seen Doge’s Palace in Venice and Palazzo de Vecchio in Florence but this is the one that palace that I was really...

Beside the Byzantine St. Mark’s Basilica is the gothic palace called Palazzo Ducale or Doge’s Palace. The palace is linked to a prison by the Bridge of Sighs. I didn’t book a ticket for this one. I spent around 30 minutes queuing to buy tickets. Not that bad considering that I was in line past 9am. I was more prepared for the sun this time. I splattered facial sunblock all over my face and I lathered sunblock in my arms. I got the Muve museum pass that will allow me to visit other museums in Venice – which cost me € 18. Again, I am not a fan of artwork. What drew me to Doge’s Palace was that...it was a palace. Save for the Coconut Palace that we have in the Philippines, I haven’t been into any palace. I was interested in looking at the structure and the room designs.  Again, there is an ongoing construction/restoration.