Carnaval! Mi primer vuelo a Barcelona y Sitges! [Carnival! My first flight to Barcelona and Sitges].

Hello again friends and family!

I hope you're ready to read about a weekend filled with fun and sightseeing!  On February 18th, my roommate Rochelle and I, along with two more of our friends, Katie and Brenna hopped on a flight from Valladolid and flew to Barcelona!  We had been planning this weekend for a long time (since we originally got here in Spain) and since we had the following Monday and Tuesday off of classes, we decided we would take that time and go see a great city!

Well...our weekend started off a little rough.  The Valladolid airport is actually located in Villanubla, which is a small village about 20 - 25 minutes outside of Valladolid.  There is a bus however, that runs between the airport and several stops within the city of Valladolid.  Our flight left at 3:30, and the four of us had planned on taking the 1:15pm bus to the airport!  Well, Rochelle and I were walking to the bus stop near the train station (a little late, as usual) when we found out from Katie and Brenna that the bus came and left at 1:05pm!  We knew the bus would be making another stop at the bus station around 1:30pm, so we hauled ourselves over to the bus station and made it there by 1:25pm.  After a phone call to the bus company to see if the bus had already left, we watched it pull away from the bus station, without us on it.  Well, that answered that question!  The four of us decided to take a taxi to the airport, which ended up being 6 euro a person.  It wasn't the end of the world, and we all made it in time for our flight...but I guess I won't rely on the airport buses to be on time anymore!

The flight from Valladolid to Barcelona didn't last an hour!  It was maybe 40 minutes, tops.  So we landed in Barcelona, and from there we found the train station, bought our tickets to Sitges, and we were on our way!  I don't think I have ever had a more beautiful commute.  The train ride was a 20 minute train ride along the cost of the Mediterranean Sea. We just happened to be arriving in to Sitges as the sun was setting, and we could watch it sink lower in the sky as our train weaved in and out of the mountains.  I was speechless at the beauty we were experiencing.

 Here's a panoramic photo I took of the sunset along the beach in Sitges.  It's a small fishing town just south of Barcelona, but it's absolutely beautiful!  I wish this photo could do it justice, but unfortunately, it cannot.

 Here's another photo of the beach that night, along side the Mediterranean Sea.  The sunset was absolutely gorgeous!

  And finally, they had all of these "street performers" on the beach, and here was a man who was making gigantic bubbles!  Behind him you can see a sand pyramid.  There were a ton of really intricate castles and stuff lining the sidewalk by the beach!

That night we went to the grocery store, got us some food for the weekend and decided to go back into Barcelona the following day (Sunday).  Sunday morning we woke up, and took the train back into Barcelona, and spent the whole day there.  Before I start telling you about Barcelona, you should know two things we learned.  1.)  Barcelona has Subway. And you betcha, we all got a sub. It tasted great.  And 2.) Barcelona is a really unique city.  It's located in the Autonomous Region of Cataluña, and because of that, they have their own official language called Catalán. However, it's also in close proximity to France, and because of that, we found people who spoke French, English, Catalán, as well as Castellano (which is the Spanish language I speak).  It was neat in that there was this unique mixture of European cultures I haven't experienced before, but at the same time it was confusing, because I never knew what to speak to people.  Apparently though, if you speak Castellano to someon who speaks Catalán, you should be fine.  They're both dialects of Spanish, and for the most part, they'll understand you (Catalán is actually more of a mixture between French and Spanish - for example the word for Exit in French is "sortie", in Castellan it's "salida" and in Catalán, it's "sortida".

Anyway, you could say it was a day of architecture, because we basically walked through the city admiring works by the famous Spanish architect, Anton Gaudí.  We started at Casa Batlló, which looks like this:

It's got amazing architecture, with really vibrant colors on the sides of the walls.  The day we were there it was overcast for a while so the first time we saw it it wasn't as colorful, but we walked past it later in the day, and this is what it looked like then!












After finding this place, we walked around until we happened upon the Sagrada Familia.  Construction on the Sagrada Familia commenced in 1882, however, Gaudí did not take over until a year later, in 1883.  Gaudi died in 1926, with the cathedral not finished. As of today, 2012, construction is still not complete (which explains all of the cranes in my photos).  Construction passed the mid point in 2010, and the projected completion year is 2026, on the centennial of Gaudi's death.  An art critic said, "it is probably impossible to find a church building anything like it [Sagrada Familia] in the entire history of art", and it has been called, "the most extraordinary personal interpretation of Gothic architecture since the Middle Ages".

Well, here she is, folks:  (This is for you, Aunt Kathy!)

This photo was taken a few blocks away from the church - it's absolutely monstrous.  The cranes and scaffolding are representative of the work left to be done on it.  It's breathtaking, awe inspiring, and absolutely phenomenal all at once.  I've heard the inside of it is a 'must see' but I chose to admire the outside for this trip.  I'll be in Barcelona 2 more times before I'm done with my semester here, so I'm sure at some point I will visit the inside of it.

    And here's a photo of (left to right) Katie, Rochelle, Me, and Brenna in front of the Sagrada Familia.

There were so many people around it, it was insane!  But it's a must see if you go to Barcelona.  Heck, even if you're not looking for it specifically, you're sure to find it, as it sticks high above the rest of the buildings in the area.

After visiting the Sagrada Familia, we decided to make the hike up to Park Güell.  This is a park that contains many sculptures and buildings also created by Gaudi. I thought the coolest part of this park was that you can climb and climb and climb, and soon you're on top of the city of Barcelona.  It kind of feels like for a moment you're on top of the world.

This is the famous tile lizard that's in the Park.  It was really neat to see, but there were SO many people around it taking photos, it was insane!  

  After that, we walked back down to where the train station was and hopped a train back to Sitges for the night.  We knew that on Sunday night there was a huge parade in the streets of Sitges to celebrate their Carnaval (similar to Mardis Gras) so we wanted to go back for that.

Here is an example of the dancers that were walking through the streets - there was music playing everywhere, people in costumes all over, and a ton of dancing going on! 

Here's another example of a float from the parade!  Like I said in one of my earlier entries - Spaniards sure know how to throw a parade!  They've out done any parade I've ever seen!









The following day, Monday, we decided just to bum around Sitges and spend the day there.  It's a really small village, but it's beautiful nonetheless.  We spent most of the day near the Mediterranean Sea, enjoying the sun.

 



All in all, our Carnaval weekend turned out to be a success!  We had a lot of fun in Sitges, and got to see the city of Barcelona, too!

I'm really looking forward to spending some more time in Barcelona with Chase and with my parents soon!  I cannot wait!

I hope you enjoyed my pictures from this adventure - I'm sure there will be more to come!  :)




Besos y abrazos,

Erin!  :) 

Sonrisas y Lágrimas [The Sound of Music].

So this is going to be a relatively short entry, BUT it doesn't mean it is any less important!  In fact, it was one of my favorite memories of Spain!

On February 16th, my friend and I went to go see Sonrisas y Lagrimas, which we all know as The Sound of Music.  It was a musical that the Spanish Broadway was bringing to Valladolid, and my friend Gretchen and I decided to go!  We both knew and loved The Sound of Music, and it would have been the first time I've ever seen it live, so I figured why not see it live, and in Spanish?!  It would be even better!

We went early the day of and bought our tickets, and then enjoyed the show that evening!  It was such a wonderful experience!  The theatre here is really old (as everything is) and the inside is very gorgeous.  We sat pretty high up, but we decided there probably isn't a bad seat in the whole theatre.




It was such a phenomenal experience - the singers were all so very talented, and the scenery was phenomenal!  I think my favorite part was knowing the translations between Spanish and English and translating them in my head.  For example, instead of "these are a few of my favorite things!" the direct translation from the Spanish version is "the simplest things that make me happy". Close enough, right?  The song Climb Every Mountain moved Gretchen and I to tears.  Maybe more so at the end of the musical with the Von Trapp family climbing the mountain and the nuns all singing.  Either way, it was a phenomenal show!  I'm so glad I decided to see it here in Valladolid!

Here are just a few photos of the inside of the theatre for you all to enjoy!

Anyway, that's basically it, but I wanted to share that with everybody because it was absolutely amazing.  A few nights later, my host mom went to go see it with her sister, and she too said it was incredible!  We both decided that the woman who played Mother Abbess stole the show from Maria, her voice was marvelous!

In case you'd like to hear a sample, here's a link with her singing Climb Every Mountain: (sorry it's in Spanish!)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xLc6rd8Q4f8

Enjoy, because I sure did!

Besos y abrazos!
 Erin 

Una experiencia increíble - Sevilla y Córdoba, parte 2 [an incredible experience - Sevilla and Córdoba, part 2].

Well, here is my second post about my trip to southern Spain!  After going to Córdoba, we spent a day in Sevilla.  In all reality, Sevilla is a much larger city and should normally be visited in 2 days, but we were really ambitious and did it all in one day!

We started the morning with a visit to the Cathedral, and then we realized it wasn't fully open because mass was going on.  So we decided to explore the city in the morning and then in the afternoon we would go back to the cathedral and tour it.

We ended up getting some breakfast (tortilla española on a sandwich) and then wandering the city for a bit until we came upon the Plaza de Toros, more commonly known as the bullfighting ring!  We enjoyed the sights of the Guadalquivir River.  It's one of the largest rivers in Spain, going through both Córdoba and Sevilla. 

 These are just some photos from walking around the city - it's a really beautiful city!  Lots of sun, palm trees, orange trees, and beauty all jam packed into one great city! 

 Here's some more Andalusian beauty! 













Here is one of the first views of the cathedral we had.  It holds two titles: the largest gothic style cathedral, as well as the 3rd largest Cathedral in the world.  It's home to Christopher Columbus' remains, as well as a thorn from Jesus' crown of thorns. 

 This is the beautiful stained glass located inside of the doors of the cathedral.  The sun was shining in the window just right to cast a glow on the wall from the stained glass!

 As I said before, we found the Plaza de Toros - here it is!  It's where countless bullfights have occurred.  It's the oldest bullring in Spain! 

 And here is the great river, the Guadalquivir!  It's one of the largest rivers in Spain, and in Sevilla there was a really beautiful park right next to the river.  At the end of the park, we found the following monument, called the Torre de Oro (Tower of Gold). 







This is the Torre de Oro, and it's so named because it used to have little flecks of gold all over it, so that when the sun was shining, ships out at sea could see the reflection and use it to navigate up the river.  The river was used as a major way to get silver from the newly discovered America back to Spain, and there were a lot of imports.  There used to be an identical tower across the river from this one, but this one is the only one remaining. 

 This is a photo of Christopher Columbus' tomb within the cathedral.  It's said that only a small part of his "remains" are here.  Once he died, his remains were shipped to Santo Domingo (now in the Dominican Republic).  As time went on, and as the island of Hispanola became less important to the Spanish Empire.  In 1795, Hispanola was ceded to the French as part of a peace treaty.  Not wanting the precious bones of Columbus to fall into French hands, they shipped the bones to Havana, Cuba.  In 1898, Spain was at war with the United States, and the remains were sent back to Spain, lest they fall into the hands of the Americans.  However, since then, in the Dominican Republic, a group of workers discovered a box of bones in the Cathedral inscribed with, "Illustrious and distinguished male, don Cristobal Colon".  The people of the Dominican Republic believe that in 1795, the Spaniards shipped the wrong body out of the Dominican Republic.  They believe that they now have the real remains of Christopher Columbus, meanwhile, Spain believes they have the real remains.  DNA testing was done on the bones of the body in Spain (which revealed a VERY similar match to Columbus' brother) but in the Dominican Republic, the people do not want a DNA test, as they don't want to find out that they don't have the right body.  So...nobody actually knows where the correct bones are of Christopher Columbus.   There's a fun story for you!

 Here's a photo of the cathedral as we were climbing up La Giralda.  (a muslim tower remaining outside of the patio at the cathedral - 36 ramps later, you get the most amazing views of the city.)

 Such as this one!  :)

 And this is the tower, La Giralda. 

  And finally, to conclude our trip to Sevilla, I will include what is supposed to be a thorn from Jesus' crown of thorns.  It's in the Cathedral in Sevilla. 

Do you believe it's an actual relic? 

:) 

Besos y abrazos! 
Erin

Una experiencia increíble: Córdoba y Sevilla - parte I [an unforgettable experience: Córdoba and Sevilla - part 1].

Hello again!  It's me, from Spain!  I thought I would update my blog [even though it's a week late] on my trip I took recently!  3 of my friends and I took coach buses down to southern Spain and spent a weekend in two different cities, Córdoba and Sevilla.  We left Valladolid late Friday night and arrived in Córdoba early Saturday morning.  We spent all day and that night in Córdoba, and then Sunday morning we took a train to Sevilla.  We spent all day Sunday in Sevilla and returned to Valladolid on Monday morning on another overnight bus!  It was a weekend of fun, and exploration.  We were able to see a lot of really amazing architecture, and a lot of interesting things!  I wanted to share it with all of you.

Some people say it is best to go to Southern Spain during the Spring and Summer when there is a really nice tropical climate.  But for us, it was a perfect time to go in February.  We went February 3rd through the 5th, and it turns out we escaped Valladolid in just the right time.  In Valladolid that weekend, the weather was hitting an all time low in about 40 years, thanks to a cold from coming in from Siberia.  It was not exactly hot down south, but it was definitely better than the weather they were having back here! 

Anyway, the last time I was in Spain in 2006, we visited Sevilla, but we never went to Córdoba.  It had always been a city I was really interested in seeing, and two of the people with us had never seen either city, so we decided to do them both in one weekend, since they are relatively close to each other (it was only an hour and half train ride!)

I´ll start with the city of Córdoba.  We arrived and after some bumming around the city, we went to the mosque (it is the third largest Muslim mosque in the world) and we got to experience it during mass.  In the middle of the Muslim mosque there is a Catholic cathedral (all thanks to the Reconquista - when the Catholics took Spain over from the Muslim people that once inhabited the Iberian Peninsula).  Since we went in the morning during mass, the entrance fee was waved, and it was a really neat thing to experience!  This mosque is famous throughout the world for the amazing Muslim architecture and the red and white arches.  Every mosque has a patio with gardens outside of the main prayer building representing paradise.  Here, it truly felt like paradise.  There were palm trees and fountains all over.  Water is a very important thing to the Islamic nation, and because of that, they try and incorporate it whenever possible. 

 We just learned in our art class that every mosque built has a large tower outside of the main building and outside of the patio.  This is used to call the Muslims to prayer.  They pray five times a day.  It is no longer used as a mosque, so the bells don't still ring during the day, but it was interesting to see nonetheless.  

The Muslim culture was a really influential part of Spain's history - so much that many Spanish words come from Arabic origins.  Most words that start with the letters al- are Arabic in origin  (almohada = pillow, albacora = albacore, alfombra = carpet, alcázar = fortress/palace).  These are just a few examples.     

 This is my traveling buddy Sarah Vowels and I inside of the Mosque.  It was truly a breathtaking experience.  These photos you're seeing right now do not give the grandeur of the mosque justice.  It was absolutely beautiful, and to be standing inside of a building that was built in the first century was magnificent. (Construction began in 768.  It was converted into Catholicism in 1238) 

Arches, as you see to the left, are one of the most telltale Arabic architecture symbols.  The Muslims decorated the interior of the mosque with geometric shapes, writing, and vegetation, since the Koran prohibits the display of animal and human figures.  You can also see a lot of this decoration at the Alhambra Palace in Granada.  Hopefully we'll (my parents and I) get to go there while they visit in March/April! 

  Here is a photo of the Catholic altar that was built in the middle of the mosque.  It was very beautiful, with a lot of gold surrounding the paintings and sculptures.  I found it really interesting that the king at the time the cathedral was built (Carlos V) said [about the construction of the cathedral in the center of the mosque] that his clerics "destroyed something unique in the world to build something [they] could have put up anywhere."  It's interesting to hear that from the point of view of a Catholic king, especially one who was the grandson of the famous "Reyes Catolicos" (King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella are the royals who funded Columbus' expedition to the new world, who also fought a long war against the Muslims and started the Inquisition against those who weren't Christian.) 

Here are photos from the Alcazar de los Reyes Cristianos that we went to after the mosque.  It was built by Christian monarchs on a site that used to be a Moorish fortress.  The Alcazar (fortress) was a really interesting building alongside these beautiful gardens.  There were fish in the ponds and we fed them some bread!  (We also discovered they don't like bananas!)  Here we picked some lemons (which ended up being the best lemons I have ever eaten in my life) and we just enjoyed the beautiful scenery.  It was nice to have the change from the cold wintery north in Valladolid.











                                                  

We found some neat Roman columns in the middle of the city.  The city of Córdoba was conquered by the Romans in 206 b.c. and under Caesar, Córdoba was the capital of the province in middle Spain. At the height of the Roman Empire, Spain was used to produce the food that was required by the rest of the vast empire, so it was a pretty important city.  

This is another photo I think you'll enjoy of the fountains and gardens at the Alcazar. 

  And this photo is a photo of the three other friends (and I) who came along on this weekend trip.  From left to right, it's Joe, Sarah, me, and Will.  We had a lot of fun together, so I had to include a photo of the four of us! 


Since this is such a long entry, I'll make a part 2 about the city of Sevilla.  Watch for that update soon!

besos y abrazos,
Erin

El 23 de enero - Burgos [January 23rd - Burgos].

Well, hello again friends, family and whomever else may have stumbled across this and are reading it!  Today is Febuary 6th, and I'm updating you guys with a day trip I took two weeks ago!  (Sorry!)  My camera had some issues getting pictures to upload so I was unable to get them onto my laptop and include them in my blog!  But today I got a package from my parents with a way to fix this problem! 

Anyway, on Monday, January 23rd, my classes were cancelled (as well as the classes of two of my friends) and we decided to take a short day trip to a city about an hour and a half north of Valladolid, called Burgos.  It's not a very "touristy" city, but it's still a really neat place.  It was the first time I ever rode on a train, and I loved it.  I think it's easier than flying, and more comfortable than buses!  We left at 7:15am and returned around 10:00pm.

(It's my first train ride!)

Burgos is the home to the body of a famous person we've been learning about in literature class, so it was really interesting to see the city.  His name is Rodrigo Diaz de Vivar, El Cid Campeador.  Also known as Mio Cid or Ruy Diaz.  The story written about him is one of the oldest stories from Spain, and it's called Cantar de Mio Cid. It actually wasn't written, with the first versions being translated from generation to generation orally.  El Cid (the real man) lived from 1048 to 1099.  He was a legendary and historical figure from the Reconquista, (fight against Muslim's in Spain that lasted from 722 to 1492).  He conquered the city of Valencia and gave it back to the Christians in the fight to eradicate the Arabs from the country.

Okay, that's enough history for now!  Here's a photo of his tomb and the statue devoted to El Cid.  

 We basically walked around Burgos all day.  We didn't know a lot about the city, but we had a wonderful time exploring it!  Burgos has a large catholic cathedral devoted to the Virgin Mary.  Construction began in 1221 with two renovations since then, in the 15th and 16th centuries.  There are a lot of rooms in the cathedral with some really old relics.  It also houses a lot of old important Spanish artwork, and a lot of really interesting sculptures.  We spent a few hours walking around the cathedral and looking at all of these things and taking it in.

Here's a photo of the front of the cathedral (and below that are several photos of other views of the cathedral).

 Here's an example of an old chalice from the 15th century.  It was really beautiful. 

This is Sarah and I in the hallway of stained glass windows.  It was some of the most beautiful stained glass I've ever seen.  (Though, Sarah did tell  me to wait until I get to the Sagrada Familia in Barcelona). 

 
This is one of my favorite photos from Spain so far.  It's some of the stained glass in the cathedral in Burgos, with the cathedral in the background.

We also went to the Plaza Mayor in Burgos.  It's irregularly shaped (rather than being a square, it's more like a trapezoid) and enjoyed the typical European views.  The vibrant colors of the buildings were really striking, even on a cloudy day like we had! 

After this, we climbed a hill that overlooked the entire city of Burgos.  There was also a small castle on the top, but it was closed for the winter.  But this is what we got to see when we got to the top of the hill:

It was very beautiful.  We were able to see the cathedral and several monasteries, along with some really interesting architecture!

To end the trip, I'll include a picture of all three of us who went to Burgos at the top of the hill.

  It was a day full of fun and exploring.  It was also really neat because it was the first trip we took without a tour guide and without our professors.  We were on our own, and we had a lot of fun, and a lot of success as well!

I hope you enjoyed your small tour of Burgos, Spain! 

besos y abrazos,
Erin