Andalucía & Almería (Part 2)

Once we finished our tour of La Alhambra, Ashley, Regi and I grabbed lunch and then went back to the hotel to get our bags and left for the bus to take us to the long-trip bus station. On our way to the bus, Brittani called Regi to tell us that she, Josh, Eric, Kendal, Fatema, & Bryce missed their train to Morocco because they had just sold the last ticket before Josh was about to buy his. :( So they decided to come with us to Almeria! Luckily, Hostal Mirabel had enough open rooms, and they were able to take the train to Almeria. The bus ride was only 2 hours long and I got to see pretty scenery! They were all very sad/disappointed because they had already paid for hotels, flights, etc. that are non-refunable, but we still had a great time all together in Almeria! We got to Almeria in the early evening, so we decided to stay in and plan our Saturday since that was the only full day we had there. We finally decided (after lots of research and questioning of Juan at the front desk) to take the hour long bus ride to the beautiful beach called Cabo de Gata. There were city beaches nearby our hostel, but we really wanted to see the most beautiful beaches that the area had to offer. Once we figured this out, Regi, Ash, Fati and I went to Dia--the grocery store located conveniently down the street from Hostel Mirabel--for dinner! Ha. We wanted to spend as little money as possible, and we also got food for lunch at the beach.

Cabo de Gata/aka Cabo:
So since it was a Saturday, there were only a few buses running at certain hours of the day. We left for the beach at 11am (got there around 12pm) and the only one back was at 8pm. So we were there for 8 hours, and planned accordingly. We stocked up on sandwiches, snacks, water, etc. We were set! The beach was amazing! The Mediterranean was so calm, blue and clear! It was a beach with pebbles instead of seashells, but that's OK. It was a perfect day out and there were very few people. We basically had the whole beach to ourselves! On the far side of the beach, there were a lot of wind-surfers, which I thought was pretty cool. Needless to say, we ate, tanned, got in the cold water and had a great time. Regi, Fati, and I stayed back and tanned/napped while the rest of the group (6 out of the 9 of us) went to eat lunch at the nearby seafood restaurant. Reg was basically passed out with her headphones on, and Fati and I weren't very hungry, so we didn't go. They ordered paella and literally stuffed themselves with paella de mariscos. They came back feeling sick, they were so full! Around 6pm it started getting cooler outside. It had been a little windy all day, but by this time, the sun was starting to set and we were a little chilly. We too pretty pictures of the sun setting on the water and by 7:20pm packed up so that we wouldn't miss our bus and have to sleep on the beach. When we finally got home, we all showered and re-grouped. We were hungry, so we ordered pizza from Telepizza across the street at 11pm. Then all 9 of us decided to cram on Bryce's bed (2 twin beds Our random American friend that we met at the hostel popped in for a bit, but then peaced out. We were all so cramped and squished that once the movie finally ended, we ALL jumped up immediately to go to bed. It was pretty funny, actually. On Sunday, we had to check out by 12pm, so we got up at 10am, packed up, and made everyone travel sandwiches (marmelade or nutella sandwiches were our options, haha). We didn't do much on Sunday, but after we checked out, we found a cafe-restaurant to grab a coffee. Luckily, the hostel said they'd hold our bags b/c our train didn't leave until 4:30. The train ride was 7 hours. Yes, 7 hours back to Madrid on the slow train. It was a looooooooonggggg ride, but the scenery was, again, beautiful, with mountains, valleys, etc. Loved it! and had such a great trip! Pictyas:

Andalucía: Córdoba, Sevilla, Granada (Part 1)

A few weeks ago SMU visited Andalucia for the week. What a great trip! On this trip, we travelled to 3 different cities: first Cordoba (just for a day), then Sevilla for two days, and finally Granada. I will tell you about each city.

Cordoba: here we saw the mosque-cathedral. We learned about this in our culture and civilization class. It was so beautiful. Originally, it was a mosque, obviously built under the Arab rule, but once the Christians came into power, they transformed it into a church. However, the Christians kept the beautiful architecture in tact because it was so elegant, and it honestly would have been a shame to destroy it or build a cathedral on top of it (which was very common). So, the Christians just added Christian decorations. We also got to see the Rio Guadilquivir, which is a very important river because, unlike any other river that runs through Spain, it is wide enough for ships to pass through. In Cordoba, and Andalucia in general, there was a Jewish neighborhood and a sinagogue. We went to go explore the sinagogue on our own but it was closed at that hour. Here's a picture of the mesquita-catedral:









Sevilla: we arrived in Sevilla at night time and a bunch of us in our SMU group got a fabulous dinner (menu del dia type of thing--house menu). I ordered something that was similar to a pork chop, a salad, and a DELICIOUS dessert of frozen chocolate trouffels (sp?) and cream. YUM! The next day, we toured the city. Our culture and civilization professor always goes on our trips because she explains the history and importance of each city and place. We saw a palace that's called an Alcazar (there are many Alcazares in Spain). This one belonged to King Alfonso X (I think?) and also Pedro I "The Cruel." It was actually a palace for their mistresses, but that's another story (as they like to say in Spain). Sevilla was a pretty city, but not my favorite. Once we finished our tour for the day, we all went to eat lunch as a group. The meal was HUGE! Marta, our profe told us about how in Andalucia they have Arab baths (similar to Turkish baths) where there are several different baths ("pools" in a sense) that vary in temperature from very hot to freezing cold. Fati (Fatema--who was also my roomie for the trip!) and Brent and Mary and I all went! Fati and I also decided to get massages. It was very nice and relaxing, and they also have hot and cold tea for you to drink! Later that night, the whole group went to see a professional Flamenco dance. We were pretty tired by this time, but we enjoyed it very much. The performance was only an hour long, so after, we all split up and went to dinner. A bunch of us (Fati, Ashley, Regi, Cassie, Josh, Eric, Bryce, and I) all went to this amazing Italian restaurant! Fati and I split a gorgonzola salad and pesto pasta al genovese (sp?). Anyways, it was to die for! And I tried Ash's pizza and it was also very delish!! Here are a few pictures:










Granada: we left for Granada very early the next day and arrived at Hotel Carmen (Carmen is our Spanish mom's name)!! Everything in Granada was called "carmen." Apparently it's original meaning is "garden." It's a very popular name in Spain in general, though. The hotel was very nice. The best one we've stayed at! Fati and I went and explored a bit during our free time before we had to reconvene with the group for our tour. We went in search of a place to drink Pakistani tea (which we never ended up finding...) and a place (actually a neighborhood) called Albyzin. We went into a few shops along the way and I bought some tea from a very nice and helpful Indian man (or Middle Eastern, I forget). He spoke English, Spanish, and another language and told us how to get to Albyzin and el Mirador de San Nicolas. We thanked him and went to go get lunch because I was starving! Fati and I went to a doner kebab restaurant (they're everywhere in Spain, which I LOVE). The kebab was out of this world delicious. I got another one the next day too... Anyways, we didn't have much time before we had to be back at the hotel, so we popped in a few shops, where I bought a nice journal that has a poem on the cover by Federico Garcia Lorca (a 19th c. Spanish prose fiction author). Then we went back to the hotel. On our group tour, we went to the Capilla Real where the imfamous Catholic Monarchs' tombs are--Queen Isabel I de Castilla and Rey Fernando I de Aragon. This church was built very quickly because Fernando was nearing his death and they needed a place to put his body. The church wasn't all that special, though, but it was really cool to see their tombs, and also the tombs of Juana I ("La Loca") and her hubby Felipe I "el hermoso." Then we were shown La Alcaiceria which is the arab-style market that's still used today. And that was the end of our tour...FREE TIME! So Fati and I stayed and shopped in the Alcaiceria for a bit, and then made our way to see the sun set at the lookout of San Nicolas. From this look-out, you have an amazing view of La Alhambra (which is a city-palace built by the arabs). The view from San Nicolas was absolutely breathtaking. Bryce, Josh, and Eric were also there, so we took pictures and then left because we had to be back at the hotel for dinner by 8:30. Dinner was an amazing buffet! I ate fish, calamari, rice, dessert, fruit, cheese, everything! Fati and I decided to go see a gypsy flamenco dance higher up on the mountain in a cave with another girl in our group. No one wanted to go because it was a little bit pricey, but our profs highly recommended it and said that it was very different from the one we'd seen the night before and worthwhile. So we thought it would be a great cultural experience. So at 9:30 we hopped on a bus with a bunch of old people, who we assumed were old French people. Basically it was all the old people and the 3 of us young Americans. Kind of awkward at first. Our tour guide showed us around the neighborhood for a bit and unfortunately for us, conducted the whole tour in French. Um, we don't speak French...we thought it would be in Spanish. Interestingly enough, I understood almost all of what Chus (our tourguide's name) was saying in French because of my knowledge of Spanish. As we walked from one location to the next, Chus gave us an overview of what she had just said in Spanish, but we were still kind of annoyed because no one told us that our tour would be in a language that we didn't know. I quickly found out that some of these folks spoke Spanish and so I asked one of the men how you say "motorcycle" in French because cars, buses, and motorcycles kept passing us on the street. He told me, and we attempted to speak in Spanish, but then said he spoke English! I learned that this group of people was actually from Belgium, not France! Yay! I like Belgians better. They were very friendly and Fati and I became friends with some of the ladies. The gypsy Flamenco dance was OK. It was def. different from the previous night. Not sure if it was worth the money, but at least we got a discount. The Belgians sadly had to pay full price.

The next day we toured La Alhambra, the arab city-palace. It's HUGE and BEAUTIFUL!!! There are many parts to it: the alcazaba, where the army lived and where the torre de vela (look out tower to guard the palace) was. Then there are the royal quarters, where the royal family lived, and a 3rd part, la Medina (I think) which was were the "peasants" lived, but is pretty much destroyed now. Then there's another part of the palace: the vast garden area called El Generalife. It's comprised of a palace and a garden. WOW. Arabs love beautiful, tranquil gardens because they evoke the 5 senses as well as a sense of eutopia. The architecture of La Alhambra was amazing (on the inside) and the views were magnificent. The gardens had many wild and exotic flowers and lovely fountains. Here are some pictures:

Porto, Porto, Porto...

The last weekend of September, Fati, Ashley, Regi and I all went to Porto, Portugal. It is the 2nd largest city in Portugal. As some of you may or may not know, our trip to Porto was unintentional. We (Fati and I) searched for a LONG LONG time trying to find the cheapest flights at the best times, etc. to Lisbon. We finally found one--or so we thought--and so we hurried and booked it before the price rose. We were so tired and frustrated that I guess we didn't realize that RyanAir doesn't fly to Lisbon. WHAT?!?! gah! So later when we were checking our confirmation email to see what time we needed to leave for the airport and other information, we realized that we were in fact going to Porto, not Lisbon. We were upset at first and annoyed with ourselves for making such a dumb mistake, but we did some research and found out all of the great things the city has to offer. We even talked to our culture/civilization prof and she said she much prefers Porto over Lisbon, so we stuck with it and were excited. I definitely want to go to Lisbon some day though...

So we left on Thursday evening and had a stressful time trying to make our flight, but we did! Once we arrived in Porto, we were sooooo excited to be in Portugal! We then headed to the metro to get to our hostel and a nice ticket man named Diogo helped us out. The ticket purchasing system is very confusing, if you ask me, and the whole metro system there is bad. It's only been running for 8 years and it is not efficient AT ALL, as we quickly discovered. But, we made it onto the metro and knew which direction to go, but we accidently got off at the wrong stop, so we had to ask for directions. We hopped onto another train and made it to the right stop. Once we got off, though, we had no idea where to go, so we asked for directions and finally made it to Eden House, our fabulous hostel!

Once we'd settled in our rooms and freshened up a bit, we decided we wanted to go out and explore and eat dinner. We met a German boy our age at the hostel and asked if he wanted to come with us. He said sure, and asked if he could invite this Polish girl, Paulina, who he met in his room to come too. So we all ventured towards the riviera and walked down the river walk, crossed the bridge, and looked at some of the ports. Pretty much everything was closed or closing because it was a bit late for dinner, but we finally found a place that was open. Ashley and I split a typical dish called a Franceshina (pronounced "frances-een-ya"). It was DELISH!! After, we decided to head back home because it was getting late and we were tired.

The next day, Torben (the German kid) left for Lisbon for the day, so he wasn't around. The four of us went to a beach and Paulina went off on her own. The beach was a bit foggy and not the prettiest, but we were still excited to lay out and relax. After a few hours, we decided to head back. While sitting at the metro stop waiting for the train, we noticed a manicure/pedicure place and so we got spontaneous pedicures! ha. Only Ash and Fati got them though. The pedicurist spoke a little English and so we asked her about the shops we wanted to go to, but she said they closed already, and it was only 3pm!! Strange! So she told us about this mall that she actually liked a lot better and it was still open. We thanked her, hopped on the metro and made it to the mall. It seems that most malls in Europe have supermarkets/food courts in them, so we stopped in to eat a snack before beginning our shopping spree. We were there for a few hours and I bought cute black shorts for only 10 euros at H&M! The weather here in Spain is still pretty hot and I didn't pack any shorts, so I was in dire need. Before we left, we hit up the grocery store again because we wanted to have some inexpensive snack foods on hand.

We got lost getting back to the metro and went in circles 3 times until we finally asked someone and got on the metro. Once we got back to our metro stop, Trindad, we exited a different place than usual, so we decided to ask the policemen standing outside for directions. Bad idea. They only spoke Portuguese, so we did our best to understand, but we got lost, per usual. It took us about 45 mins. to get home and we were still in our swim suits and carrying a bunch of heavy groceries. Finally, we made it home and found Paulina crying so we cheered her up and decided to have a girls night and went out to dinner and checked out Porto's nightlife. We went to this interesting club that had sand instead of a regular floor. We were pretty tired, though, so we didn't stay out late.

The next day, we went to Bulhao (sp?) which is a touristy shopping area. There was a restaurant called Cafe Majestic there that we went to and got coffee and cheesecake. It is supposededly a famous cafe in all of Europe. Once we had been in that area for a couple of hours, we made our way to beach #2. We had to take the metro to one stop and from there, take a 20 minute bus ride to the beach. Man! But this beach was WAY better than the previous one. It was the rockiest beach I've ever been too, but it was beautiful (this is the Atlantic Ocean, by the way). The water was freezing, but we laid out and got good tans. Paulina came with us this time too. After, we got dinner at a restaurant by the beach. To sum it up, it was the WORST and slowest service ever. Never again!!

Once we finally made it back to Trindad (the metro stop near our hostel), Fati and I wanted to hurry and run down to the port to see if we could make a boat tour/wine tasting before it closed. We practically ran down to the port, but found out it had closed an hour ago. We were sad, but made a plan for Sunday, our last day, and on our way back to the hostel, we bought adorable hand-made bracelets from a man with his little artisan stand on the ribiera. We ran into Ash and Regi on our way back (they wanted to change first before going to the boat tour, but Fati and I didn't want to take the time). Ash and Fati went to eat and karaoke while Fati and I went home. When we got back, Torben was home and the four of us, Fati, Paulina, Torben, and I all hung out and chatted. Gui, the guy that ran the hostel along with his wife Ana, came in and chatted with us too and Fati and I asked him about where to go on Sunday.

Our hostel was MUCH better than the one in Barcelona. It was clean, safe, and the people were very friendly! Gui and Ana had a precious baby girl named Ema and we loved playing with her! She was blonde with blue eyes and looked like she could have been mine! So cute!! We loved our little hostel family: Gui, Ana, Ema, Paulina, Torben and the 4 of us! That really made our stay in Porto a lot better!

On Sunday, we got up to go take the bus to a museum called Serralves, but the bus on Sundays ran very infrequently and we discovered that we'd have to change buses sever times to get to the museum. We just didn't have the time because we had to make it to the airport by 3ish. So we (the 4 of us and Torben) went down to the ribiera and got on a boat tour of the Rio do Duoro with a wine tasting at the end. YAY!!! It was so much fun and on our way back to the hostel we got delicious gelato--which Fati spilled all over herself 3 times! Then we ran back to the hostel, grabbed our stuff, and ran to the metro to get to the airport. We were running late...again. Torbs came with us because he had nothing else to do, and said goodbye. It was really sweet. We made it right on time, just as they were in line to board the plane and an hour later were back in beautiful Madrid.

Porto was definitely an adventure. There were parts we liked and dislike (like the horribly inefficient public tranportation system), but overall, it was an amazing adventure! We were glad to be back in Madrid, though!

Here are some pictures:

Barca Barca Barcelona!

So this post is a little overdue, but better late than never! Ashley, Regi and I went to Barcelona two weekends ago and it was a lot of fun! In Barca they speak a different dialect of Spanish called Catalan. So basically it was like being in a foreign country. Ha! But we figured out a lot of words, were able to read maps, and able to speak in Castillian Spanish (what we are taught in America) to others because that's Spain's national language.

We arrived in Barcelona around 9 am on Friday(the 2nd to last Friday in September). It was a short and easy flight. We hopped on a bus from the airport to Placa Espanya (no tildes) which is a beautiful plaza. We decided to take a walk around and take some pictures before hopping on the metro there to find our way to Sagrada Familia, a famous cathedral designed by the architect Gaudi. It has been under construction since the late 1800s! Gaudi died in ~1927 and his work was so detailed and constantly changing that it took so long to build (he was a perfectionist and architects are trying to decipher his plans for the cathedral). It's estimated completion date is somewhere around 2026!! Holy moly! Once we left Sagrada Familia, we took the metro to our hostel ("albergue" is the word for youth hostel in Spanish). The "concierge" showed us how to get to the beach and we went up to our room, changed, and were on our way! The beach was magnificent! I think we were on the Balearic Sea. The water was very blue and VERY clear, although a little cold. It was crowded, yet still relaxing.

Once it finally started getting late, we packed up and got gelato on the way home. Regi and I got a flaver called Kinder, which is made from a cholocate Kinder egg (I've never heard of it, but Reg was really excited, and it was delish)! On our way back there were also lots of vendors, so we shopped and took pictures for another hour or so until we headed back to the hostel.

For dinner we knew we wanted the following criteria: something cheap, something close by, and something traditional to Barcelona. When we asked the concierge if he could recommend such a restaurant to us, he joked that we were asking for a miracle. But he was very nice and suggested a GREAT restaurant called El Glop. Sounds kind of gross, right? Nope! Regi, Ash, and I split dinner: 1 house Glod salad, 1 sausage, 1 large piece of toast with cheese and something else melted on top, and for dessert, chocolate mousse. It was a delectable and filling meal!!

Afterwards, we didn't know what to do, because it was after midnight, so we decided to follow the hoardes (sp?) of young people on the metro to wherever they were going. I forgot to mention that we unknowingly picked one of the best weekends to visit Barca because it was the festival de la Merce (maybe an end of summer festival, I'm not entirely sure). Anyways, Barcelona was full of tourists and young people and there were concerts in the plaza and dances and artisan tents, etc. etc. The city was alive! Anyways, we found ourselves at a really cool techno/electronic music concert called Barcelona Accio Musical (BAM)! It was quite the experience, and the music was really fun!

The next day we went to Park Guell, which is a park designed by Gaudi. We didn't stay for too long, but it was pretty cool. Next we ate at this adorable cafe where they made fresh stone-oven pizza. Yum! After lunch, we headed to an area called La Rambla (it's basically a street with a bunch of shops and cool tourist stuff). It is in a very nice part of Barcelona, and it was beautiful! In that same area we also saw one of the houses designed by Gaudi, called a casa batllo. It was neatoooo!

Later that night we went to see the FC Barcelona stadium and we all bought matching socks to remember our time in Barca (hehe). After venturing out to teh statium, we went to see the fountain light show at a fountain called La Fuente Mágica de Montjuic. It was AMAZING!!! So glad we got to see it! Definitely worth seeing! And then we got to see a fireworks show! Barcelona was our first amazing adventure on our own and was most definitely a success!

Here are some pics: