New day new journey. In order to get to Cinque Terre from Venice, we had to get to Milan and change the train to Monterosso. I was slightly disappointed that we could not include Milan into our third leg due to limited time. Nonetheless, we managed to caught a glimpse of the famous Duomo di Milano (I think that was the building) while the train was heading to Milan's train station.



The views from the train was nothing but gorgeous at every angle. Perhaps that was the main reason sometimes taking a train from one place to another was way more expensive compared to other means of transportation, even by flight! That being said, travelling by plane in the Europe was therefore comparably cheap as they can get as low as 10 Euros or even lower depending on the seasons and place.

Day1

Munich Airport


After I was done with my first medical elective in Middlesbrough, I was so stoked to embark on yet another adventure in Europe! This time we were tackling the central region of the Europe. We left Middlesbrough and travelled to London a day earlier just so that we could actually spend some time visiting UK. It was another hectic schedule but we were all excited to discover every unknown territory with a little bit mixture of fear and nervousness along the way.

Then we proceeded to board the Ryan Air straight to Munich. We were very much confused with the weather in European countries as one place might be warmer or colder than the other at the same time. Luckily the temperature was just right in Munich and we checked in at our Airbnb house before went out strolling.

Englischer Garten






Such irony as we just came from the UK and our first stop was actually, you guess it right, the English Garden. Being one of the largest urban parks in the world, the public park was located in the centre of Munich, Bavaria, stretching from the city centre to the northeastern city limits.
The interesting thing about this place was that there were a Greek temple, a Chinese pagoda as well as a Japanese tea house!

Taking the overnight ALSA coach from Madrid to Barcelona was quite an enjoyable ride. The seats were comfortable and there was even mini toilet attached to the bus (Mind you, there are no toilet attached to any of the busses in Malaysia). However, I realised something different about the highways in European countries compared to Malaysia. There were barely any street lights installed along the highway in Europe, making the journey slightly creepy and dark. After some seven hours of journey, we finally made it to the Barcelona's bus station.

Before I started my elective in the UK during last summer, I have spent two weeks travelling around in the Europe. It was indeed a very exciting adventure for me as this was my first ever trip to the European countries. I first landed in London, UK after flying for 13 hours from Malaysia. It was an enjoyable long haul flight via the Malaysian Airlines which was considerably cheap since I bought the tickets at a last minute that cost me MYR1250 (US$305) one way.

Ryan Air airline

A couple of friends (seven) and I began our Euro Trip by heading to Madrid through one of the European budget airlines, Ryan Air. Prior going for the trip, each of us was given tasks to do research on the country that was assigned to us and I was responsible for Spain's itinerary. Having said that, I had spent considerably huge amount of my leisure time getting to know all the attractions, navigation, cultures, not to mention planning the schedule for the days we spent there.

Honestly speaking, planning for a trip was really exhausting. Apart from making sure that the destinations and meals fitted everyone's preferences, I needed to become familiar with the roads in a country that was entirely new for me. In addition, I also had to learn some simple Spanish as I found out that not everyone in Spain spoke English, let alone Malay or Mandarin.

Day 1

We arrived at the Terminal 1 of Madrid Airport approximately 12 noon after four hours of journey in the plane from London Stansted Airport. The crowd was mental, especially for the foreigners as we went through strict inspection from the officers. It took us a good 30 minutes to pass through the security check. Then, in order to get to the Atocha Railway Station which was our first stop, we picked the most affordable way to get there.

The Atocha Railway Station

We got on to the free bus from Terminal 1 to Terminal 4 and then from Terminal 4 floor 1 we boarded Cercanias Line 1 C1 for 6 stops to the destination. All of that cost us only €2.6. The Atocha Railway Station was the first and largest railway station in Madrid that serves local commuters, intercity and inter-region travelers in Spain. It was located in the district of Prado which is situated near the center of Madrid. Within the station, there was a mini garden that was so mesmerising!

Potato cake and bun!

Lovely florist!

Before we went to the next place, we stopped by at the nearest market which was the Mercado Anton Martin to have a quick lunch. It was a beautiful market that offered a variety of local food and products. There were not many tourists when we were there and the food was sold at a quite affordable price.