El final de mis vacacciones! [The end of my vacations!]

Bienvenidos otra vez!  So far we're up to Sunday, April 8th on my 2 week adventures!  Let's finish this trip up!

We left Arrecife on Sunday evening, and we sailed that night and the following day, Monday.  On Tuesday, April 10th, we arrived back into mainland, Spain to our last and final port city, Málaga.  Málaga is located in southern Spain on the coast of the Mediterranean.  But instead of staying in Málaga that day, we drove to Granada and visited the Alhambra and the Generalife gardens.  Here's a fun fact: more people visit the Alhambra every year than any other tourist destination in Spain, including the Sagrada Familia in Barcelona!  

The drive between Málaga and Granada was incredible – we drove through the Sierra Nevada mountains and the whole countryside was dotted with olive groves.

We arrived into Granada after about an hour and 40 minute drive through the mountains, and we began our tour of the Generalife gardens.  This is a photo of the Alhambra from the gardens.  You can see the old fortress walls, as well as the majority of the buildings.   

We spent all day touring the Arabic palaces (Alhambra) and the gardens (Generalife) that were built in the years around 1000AD.  Here's a little brief history lesson of the influence the Arabic culture had on Spain: The moors invaded southern Spain in the year 711AD, and they stayed in Spain until the Catholic Monarchs, Fernando and Isabella, kicked them out, with the war ending in 1492 with the conquest of Granada.  The photo to the right is a picture of a patio in the Generalife gardens, on the top most level.  Water was a very vital symbol to the Moorish people, and because of that, they had fountains on all levels of the gardens that were interconnected.  The Koran also prohibited the use of animals or human decorations, so they used a lot of vegetation, Arabic writings, and tilings to decorate the palace.  

 

The majesty of these buildings lies in the age and detail of the artwork.  It’s true that it’s not an impressive building size wise (there’s no comparison between the Alhambra and the Sagrada Familia) but the design and artwork that went into making this such an influential Arabic palace is obvious.  The details on the walls, which include a lot of Arabic writings, and geometric shapes, are unrivaled by anything I’ve seen.  Of course, since it was built it has been restored several times, but the age of the buildings themselves is quite impressive.  

One of the facades in the Alhambra palace

After spending about 2 hours for free time in the city (we got some delicious pasta for lunch) we hopped back on our tour bus and headed back to Málaga that evening, and got there in time before our cruise set sail to return to Barcelona.

  

We sailed the next day, Wednesday, April 11^th, and arrived back into Barcelona on the 12^th.  After spending the day in Barcelona, we left for Madrid that afternoon on another train.  Once we got into Madrid, we headed to our hotel (it was close to the airport) and stayed there until the next morning.  On Friday the 13th of April, my parents and I packed up our stuff, and headed to the airport really early!  I was to catch a bus to San Sebastian at 7:45am, in northern Spain, and they were to fly out back to the states around 10am.  It had been a wonderful 2 weeks with them, and I’m so happy I was able to show them the country that has captured my heart once again.  (Don’t worry mom and dad, I’m not moving here..).  We parted ways at the airport (my bus from Terminal 4, and their flight from Terminal 1).  

Thank you guys for spending 2 wonderful weeks with me in Spain!  :)  I loved every minute of it!

The city of San Sebastian from Mount Orgull

The small old fortress on top of the Mountain I found!

And now, I had one more weekend planned in San Sebastian with my ever faithful travel buddy, Sarah Vowels.  From the airport, I hopped on my bus to San Sebastian.  I was planning on arriving there Friday afternoon, and staying until Sunday night (April 13-15).  I was going to get home Monday morning, pretty early.  I arrived Friday afternoon, and it was pouring.  Good thing I had brought my umbrella!  I walked to my hostel, and to my dismay, it was the worst hostel I have ever stayed in.  It was terrible.  I don’t even want to waste my time telling you all about it...but from here on out, I have learned to spend the extra 5 or 6 euros for a private room, rather than staying in a "dorm room" type hostel.  I left the hostel and headed out to see the city, but there wasn’t much to do since it was still raining.  I climbed the mountain near the city (more like a steep hill) to get some great views of the city.  I walked around and eventually ran to the grocery store and grabbed some Jamón flavored chips for dinner.  I slept in the hostel Friday night (on top of the bed…) and met Sarah, my friend when her train got in Saturday at 1pm.  Honestly, the first thing I did when I woke up Saturday morning was check what times the trains were leaving Sunday to change my ticket to an earlier time.  Sarah was okay with changing tickets too, so we took care of that while we were there.  We checked her into the hostel, and we headed out to see the city.  

The city lies on a river, with about 6 different bridges!

This is a picture of the city with the Basque flag.

We explored around for a while, but we shortly ran out of things to do.  So, we decided to go to a movie.  We bought tickets for an 8:15pm showing of Todos los dias de mi vida (The Vow).  We explored some delicious tasting tapas that night before the movie (probably the  highlight of this last weekend).  After the movie we went to bed.  We left at 9am Sunday April 15^th, because quite frankly after two weeks of travelling, we were both just ready to go back to Valladolid. 

So..that concludes my 2 week spring break traveling with my parents to the Canary Islands!  I hope you enjoyed reading about it, because it was a phenomenal part of my semester!  I’m so thrilled to have my parents to share in the beauty of traveling and learning about a new culture.  <3  Thank you guys for coming to Spain!  I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did!

I hope you all enjoyed reading my entries from my 2 week spring break!  I know I sure enjoyed traveling around Spain and taking the 2 weeks off of school!  It was definitely a welcomed break!  

Stay tuned for some more adventures before the semester comes to a close!  

besos y abrazos,

Erin  

Puerto - Ciudad #3: Arrecife, Lanzarote [Port City #3: Arrecife, Lanzarote!]

Hello there!  Now that we've been to 2 of our port cities, we are coming in on the home stretch of our cruise.  

On Sunday, April 8^th (Easter Sunday) we arrived in our 3^rd port city, called Arrecife, on the island of Lanzarote.  This too is located in the Canary islands, west of Africa.  This port we didn't have an excursion, so we got to sleep in a little bit, and we headed off the ship to get on some transfer buses to head into the city.  From the ship, we could tell it was a relatively small city, but it had a great feeling to it once we got there!  The photo to the right is the town with a ton of fishing boats - the first time we walked past, it was low tide, and the boats were sitting on land but the second time we walked past it must have been higher tide, and some of them were floating!  It was really neat to see! 

We spent the morning bumming around town, heading to a few tourist shops, and getting some nice drinks at an outdoor café.  As we were walking along the ocean, we saw a group of men racing motorized small sailboats!  It was a really interesting race to watch!  At the cafe we stopped at, we were serenaded by a group of guys that played wonderful music.  Arrecife is a small area, but that doesn’t mean anything, because it held so much culture and beauty. 

 

We went to a church (we were late for Easter mass) but we walked around it, and it’s truly what I expected a Spanish church to look like.  After mass was let out, we were able to walk inside and just take a peek.  It wasn’t a large cathedral, rather a very small catholic church, but inside, it was decorated in such an unmistakable Spanish tone that it couldn’t help but take your breath away.  After doing some investigation, I've learned that it was built at the end of the 16th century!   

 These are photos from the inside of the church - you can see some of the typical Spanish Catholic decorations, including statues of the Virgin Mary, and the color red.  Red and gold are two very typical colors used in Spanish decorations, and this church was no exception!  Enjoy!

After our really relaxing day in Arrecife, Lanzarote, we headed back to the ship to board and start sailing back towards mainland Spain.   

Stay tuned for the next entry on our last port city and the last few days of my 2 week spring break trip! 

besos y abrazos,

Erin

Puerto - Ciudad #2: Santa Cruz de Tenerife [Port City #2: Santa Cruz de Tenerife!]

Well hello yet again!

Coming into port in Tenerife, Canary Islands

Our next port city was the very next day in the Canary Islands - Saturday morning, April 7^th, when we arrived into Santa Cruz de Tenerife.  This island is in the Canary islands, just off the western coast of Africa (yet they belong to Spain).  The Canary islands are a group of 7 islands of volcanic origin about 100km west of the border between Morocco and the Western Sahara.  Legally, the canary islands are regarded as a nationality of Spain, but are geographically considered part of the African continent.  Which means, this semester, I successfully made it to the African continent!  :)  

This stop was on the largest island, Tenerife.  Santa Cruz de Tenerife is the capital of the island, but we didn't stay in the city for long!  This is because Tenerife is home to one of the world's most visited National Parks: Teide National Park.  The park is centered around Mount Teide, which is regarde as the highest peak in Spain and the Atlantic Islands, as well as the 3rd highest volcano in the world, with 3,718m (or 12,198 ft).      

We took another excursion to visit the national park as well as Mount Teide.  The drive was quite long from the port because Teide is located centrally on the island, but it was definitely worth it.  We drove so high, we were above the clouds, and because of that, when looking out, you could see a vast sea of white, cotton-ball clouds with green pine trees.

There’s was something really touching about being there, because these were all natural creations that we were seeing.  It's been a while since I've been completely surrounded by nature...and it sure felt good to get out of cement city and back into some greenery for a bit! 

Since Mount Teide is a volcano, within the national park we were able to see the lava flows from previous eruptions and where they stopped.  It was a really neat area, since I have never seen a volcano before, I was completely amazed at the characteristics of the area - from the vegetation, to the coloring of the rocks, to the cold temperatures.  I learned that since we were so high up, there were 2 observatories built on the side of Mount Teide (okay, so we weren't completely out of man made creations).  Which makes sense, being so high we were away from light pollution and closer to the atmosphere levels, giving astronomers a better look at the stars!   

What a sight that would be! 

Also, since we were so high up, there was hardly any vegetation, as you can see in the photos - but there are several types of flowers that are unique to the Canary Islands.  One of them is called the Teide Violet, and this flower can survive with such low amounts of oxygen that you can find it all the way up to the summit of the volcano, making it the highest flowering plant in Spain.

Anyway, our bus stopped at this great little place where we could use the restroom, get some fun souvenirs, and get some coffee.  It was still early in the morning (well, early being around 11am) so I was grateful for the coffee stop!  The morning weather was phenomenal for our visit to Teide National Park, though, since it was so high up, it was a bit chilly.  We stopped at a few more areas to take some breathtaking photos of the national park and Mount Teide, which included a stop where we were able to climb around on some rock formations - this is where we could see the dried up lava flows from previous explosions.  It was incredible!   

After we finished monkeying around on the rocks, our tour bus headed back once again to the ship.  We had spent a wonderful day driving through a beautiful national park, and it was time to head back to the port so we could set sail for our 3rd port city, Arrecife!  

With that, I'll wrap up the day of April 7th!  I hope you've enjoyed the photos so far!  

besos y abrazos, 

Erin   

Puerto - Ciudad #1: Funchal, Madeira! [Port City #1: Funchal, Madeira!]

Hello there again!  Let's get this cruise under way!  I'm going to attempt to write an entry for each cruise port, so that I can share as many pictures as I possibly can...and because if I tried to write about all of them, it would get too long! 

I had never been on a cruise before this, so I was really excited to see the ship and to have this wonderful experience.  We boarded  the cruise ship, the Norwegian Jade the afternoon of April 3rd, around 2pm, and then we set sail from Barcelona at 6pm, leaving the sun behind us and heading into open waters.  We sailed Tuesday night, all day Wednesday, and all day Thursday.  During those two and half days, we found plenty of things to do on the ship, from swing and merengue dance lessons, to “name that tune” trivia.  With Geo, our cruise director; Marni, my German dancing partner; and Tomas, our fantastic animal making housekeeper, we were set to have a wonderful experience!  While we were on the ship, we had ample opportunities to eat and meet many people from all over Europe.  We were in the minority on the ship, being all the way from the states.  

Wednesday night we sailed through the Straight of Gibraltar (7.7 nautical miles between Europe and Northern Africa), and it was absolutely beautiful.  I wish we would have sailed through it during the day at one point, because on our way back we also sailed through it at night…but either way it was an interesting experience.  On one side of the ship you could see the lights from Morocco, Africa, and on the other side loomed the dark outline of the rock of Gibraltar, surrounded by the lights of the city.  At one instance, we were looking at three different countries…Spain, Great Britain (they still own Gibraltar as a colony), and Morocco.  This is the best photo I could take of Gibraltar's city lights and the rock...it's pretty difficult to make out, but if you stare at it long enough, you can see it! 

Friday morning, April 6^th arrived soon enough and with the sunrise, we were able to see the city lights of Funchal, Portugal.  Funchal is located in the Portuguese archipelago named Madeira that lies in the North Atlantic Ocean, in the most outermost part of the European Union.  The archipelago is made up of 4 islands/groups of islands.  Madeira is not only the name of the whole archipelago, but also the name of the largest island, which is were Funchal is located.  

We arrived around 7am to the island now a part of Portugal.  Here's the proof that 1) I was up before sunrise and 2) I was functioning enough to take photos.  This, folks, is a very, rare occurrence.  But here is the city of Funchal, just before daybreak, with the city's night lights lighting up the sky.  This photo was taken off of our room's balcony, along with the next photo of the peach colored sky peeking around the edge of the mountain off in the distance.  I was so excited to get off the ship and start exploring - this would be the FIRST time being in a country other than Spain this semester!   

That morning we had an excursion to go see some beautiful areas of the island as well as taste some Portuguese wine and cheeses.  It was quite the island.  Madeira is hilly, green, and beautiful.  Houses are built into the sides of the hills, and fishing villages dot the coast.  Banana farms stretch as far as your eye can see, and beyond that, the ocean loomed in the distance.  We stopped first at Pico Dos Barcelos which was a look out over the city of Funchal.

   

This is a panoramic from Pico Dos Barcelos in Funchal, Portugal.  You can see from the hillside to the sea, and it's a perfect example of the houses built right into the hillside! 

You can see the beauty that captured my heart in this photo.  Being here felt incredible, and we passed a few people selling some embroidered items such as kitchen towels, shirts, and sweaters on our way to the lookout.  Funchal, and Madeira in general is known for their incredible handiwork in embroidery.  After picking out some kitchen towels, we headed up to the lookout for some great picture taking opportunities.  

After a brief stop at Pico Dos Barcelos, we continued on our excursion to Cámara de Lobos, which is a small picturesque fishing village about 20 minutes away.  Cámara de Lobos translates to "chamber of the wolves" in Portuguese.  Winston Churchill immortalized the beauty in this village in many of his paintings during the 1950s.  It's said that he returned several times just to create paintings so not to forget the beauty he saw here.  That basically sums up Cámara de Lobos' claim to fame!

There were brightly colored boats that dotted the beach, while fish were hung drying out in the sunshine.  It was like nothing I've ever seen before.  These are the fish that were hanging up to dry - at first I wasn't sure they were fish, but my sense of smell soon assured me that they were indeed, some sort of fish, sitting right in front of me, drying in the sunshine.

We also stopped at Estreito de Cámara de Lobos (a small parish outside of the fishing village) to taste wine, cheese, and garlic bread from Portugal - this little township is known for it's cultivation of grapes to produce Madeira Wine.  The drives throughout the entire island, and especially this stretch were incredible.  There were banana farms as far as your eye could see, cut into terraces on the sides of the hills.  From where we tasted the wine, you could see ships out in the ocean, and look out over the city of Funchal.  It was an absolutely beautiful island.  At that instance, I think I fell in love with Portugal.

 
After the wine, cheese, and bread tasting, we then headed to Cabo Giráo, Europe’s second largest sea cliff.  Unfortunately, our tour guide told us that the cliff is the second highest in Europe, but after I got home and did some research, I found at least 5 other sea cliffs that were higher...but tomato, tomahto.  It was still a spectacular sight I had the privilege to see.  The cliff is located between two river valleys that empties out into the Atlantic Ocean, and is approximately 1,932 feet above sea level. The blue of the ocean was reminiscent of a blue raspberry icee, it was so vibrant!

When standing on top of the cliff, you can either look straight out into the sea, which is what this picture shows you - the bright blue of the Atlantic, and the blue of the sky, melding together as if it were a puddle of rainwater on a rainy day... 

 OR, you can choose to look straight down, and you'll see a peculiar sight...I thought at first it was just some grassy open areas along the coast, but after further investigation, I found out they are actually vineyards at the foot of the sea cliff, right along the Atlantic Ocean!  You can see them in the photo on the left. 

After stopping at Cabo Giráo, we headed back on the bus to the ship in port, and spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing in the sunshine.  It had been a wonderful day filled with some incredible times spent with my parents, and I was tired, but oh so very content with life.  I will move onto our second port in my next entry...Santa Cruz de Tenerife in the Canary Islands!  But for now, I will leave you with this incredible photo I snapped of the island from atop of Cabo Giráo.  I hope you all enjoyed this short tour of Funchal, Madeira!

besos y abrazos, 

Erin 

Mis padres también vinieron a España, parte 1! [My parents also came to Spain, part 1!]

Hello friends!  I'm back again!  This time, my parents came to visit me in Spain during our two week spring break from March 31st to April 15th.  We had a phenomenal time touring Spain for 2 weeks, and I'm so thrilled the came over to Europe to visit!  Anyway...where did I leave off?  Oh, yes... 

We’re back to that Friday afternoon…March 30^th.  I packed a duffel bag to let my parents take full of my winter clothes, as well as my backpack and a small purple bag for our 2 week romp through Spain.  I left at 6:00am the following morning to meet my parents at Madrid’s airport, so I made sure to go to bed nice and early that night.  This is where the fun starts already…

I woke up on time Saturday morning (that’s a first..).  I had showered the night before to allow my hair to dry overnight, and I straightened it in the morning before I caught my bus to Madrid.  Well, here’s where the fun starts.  I had originally planned to leave our house around 5:30am, because it’s a solid 20 minute walk to the bus station from where I live, and with me carrying three bags, I knew I’d need a bit more time.  I hadn’t put my watch on yet that morning while I was getting ready in my room, and as I headed to the kitchen to heat up my milk and toast, I saw on Maria’s clock that I was running extremely late.  I was eating breakfast at 5:30am…which means by the time I gathered my stuff, called the elevator, gotten down to the lobby, went back upstairs to get something I nearly forgot, ran back downstairs to get the rest of my stuff, and headed out of my building, it was close to 5:45am.  My bus left promptly at 6:00am, and I knew there was absolutely no way I would make it to the station on time…so I knew I could grab a taxi at the taxi stop near my house – there are always plenty of available taxis sitting there.  Well, this morning there wasn’t…so as I was booking it to get to the station, I found an available taxi sitting at a red light.  I hopped in his cab and told him I had to get to the bus station immediately.  Long story short, I made it with a few minutes to spare, and it turns out I was sitting next to another girl on the study abroad trip for the bus ride.   Phew.  If this was how my spring break was starting, I couldn’t WAIT for my next adventure!

I got to the Madrid airport at 9am, and I was dropped at Terminal 4.  I didn’t know what terminal my parents were flying in on, so I once again ran around like a chicken with its head cut off until I discovered they were in Terminal 1.  I made it over there, and waited outside of the arrivals area.  Here I also found another girl on our trip waiting for her boyfriend who was on the same flight as my parents!  Almost everyone else came out of the room, except my parents.  I waited, and waited, and waited…and I was starting to worry if they were on the flight, if they got stuck in New York, or what not when they finally walked through the doors!  After lots of hugs, I found out their luggage was still in New York!!!  So they had to talk with the people working in baggage to set up a delivery to get our luggage on Sunday, April 1^st delivered to our hotel.  We took the metro to our hotel, checked in, and relaxed for a bit.  We headed out to see some of Madrid that evening…we saw Puerta del Sol (Madrid’s Time Square), Plaza Mayor, and we enjoyed a Flamenco show that night.  The show was incredible, with a few different female dancers and a male dancer as well.  There was a group of men playing guitars and a few singers as well.  This all made for quite the unique experience and everything was done very, very well.  There were a few different school groups from the USA there at the same time, and one of the women in the groups gave us her paella because she was too full and didn’t want it.  We also had some good tasting sangria!  After the show we headed to the Mercado de San Miguel, which is an indoor market full of stands with meats, cheeses, wines, martinis, appetizers…basically everything you can think of!  It reminded me of the Milwaukee Public Market, if you’ve ever been there.

Palacio Real in Madrid!

Our second day in Madrid, we decided to hop on one of those super awesome tourist buses that takes you around the city.  From there we were able to see a lot more of the city, including things like the Plaza Cibeles, Fuente de Neptuno, the soccer stadium, and the 2 art museums.  We spent some time at the art museums, but not too much…just enough to get a touch of the art that they both housed and to see some of the differences between contemporary art such as Picasso and Dali and classical art, with painters such as Velazquez and Goya.  It was really amazing to see the works of art after we had learned about them in art class!  It made for much more enjoyable visits to both museums.  This night, we headed to the Plaza Mayor to get some tapas for dinner.  We sat outside at a café, drank some wine from Valladolid, and ate tapas.  It was an incredible night.  We literally sat there for hours just chatting and drinking wine.  (Their luggage also came in today – no worries!)

This is from the market off of Las Ramblas

Mom and Dad at the Sagrada Familia

 

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The next morning we woke up quite early because our train left Madrid at 8am and arrived into Barcelona at 10:30am.  It was such a great experience, I love riding on trains.  They’re roomier than buses and airplanes, they’re smoother than anything else (they use electric trains here) and they’re incredibly efficient.  This train traveled at 300km/hr!!  We made it to Barcelona in about 2.5 hours.  After leaving the train station in Barcelona, we grabbed a taxi that took us to our hotel.  After checking in and putting our luggage in our room, we headed out to see la Sagrada Familia.  We spent a long time there, walking around and around, marveling the architectural genius that went into creating such a massive work of art.  We had wanted to go in, but the line was wrapped around the entire city block, so we decided against it.  Then we ate lunch (pizza!) and headed to Las Ramblas to see what the hoopla was all about.  We spent a while walking down to the port and then headed back towards the city ending in Plaza Cataluña.  We were exhausted, and weaving our way in and out of the crowds was getting a little tiring at this point.  We went back to our hotel, and relaxed for a while.  We got dinner in a cute little café near our hotel.  It was an absolutely incredible meal!  Everything was so delicious, and the owner was really nice (albeit asking my mother to dance with her daughter…).  He gave us free tortilla, bread, and olives.  After that we headed back to our hotel.  We decided to purchase tickets for the following morning to see the inside of the Sagrada Familia, because we could jump the line and go in if we had them purchased previously.  It was absolutely gorgeous.  There are no words in ANY language to describe the beauty and magnificence of this church.  To this day, I think being in the church was my favorite part of the entire two week vacation.  The stained glass windows  full of vibrant, eye catching colors, and the solemnity of the altar create a feeling that cannot be duplicated by anything else.  It brings tears to your eyes (even for those who aren’t religious).  After our morning spent in the Sagrada Familia, it was finally time to head to the port and board our cruise ship! 

  This sums up the first half of my entry for our trip!  I wanted to do it in two entries so that they were shorter trips.  The next entry will be about our cruise to the canary islands!  I hope you're enjoying the photos!  

 (I had to add more photos from the Sagrada Familia - because the two I had originally entered did no do it justice...unfortunately, none of them do it justice).

The colors of the stained glass windows were absolutely incredible, as well as the architectural mastery.  Enjoy the photos! 

besos y abrazos,

Erin

Mis amigos vinieron a España! [My friends came to Spain!]

Welcome back to Barcelona!!  :)

Hello again!  It has been quite a while since I have been able to update you all, so there’s going to be a whirlwind of entries soon!  I’ve been doing a lot of traveling lately, and I’m really excited to share with you all my photos and experiences!  First off, let’s go back exactly a month from today.  My boyfriend, Chase, came to Spain during his spring break along with two of his good friends.  I flew in to Barcelona on Friday, March 23^rd, and met one of his friends, Jenna and her boyfriend Dane at the Barcelona El Prat airport.  From there we headed to the apartment after a nice stroll on the beach.  The apartment turned out to be wonderful – it was spacious, had some awesome artwork, and the BEST shower I have had while I’ve been in Spain!  It was also in a nice area of town, near the beach and a metro stop.  

Chase and his other friend, Nikki flew into Barcelona on March 24^th, so I picked them up at the airport Saturday evening.  That was QUITE the ordeal.  I wanted to take the metro to the airport, because on the metro map showed the grey line going all the way out to the airport.  Fantastic.  So I hopped on the yellow line near our apartment, made a transfer to the red line, and was planning on making a transfer to the grey line in Plaza Cataluña.  Here is where things get interesting.  I realized after looking at some paperwork, the flight was getting in at 7:30pm, and they had originally told me 8:00pm.  It was 7:20pm when I arrived in Plaza Cataluña, so I knew I was going to be late…but I also knew neither Chase nor Nikki spoke Spanish, so I wanted to get to the airport as soon as possible so they didn’t get lost.  I got off the metro planning on changing to the grey line, when I noticed that there were absolutely ZERO signs for the grey line.  I asked someone, and he politely told me it didn’t exist.  Shoot.  So I headed above ground, and saw a bus that said, “Airport Transfers” on it.  Yes!!  I talked to the bus driver and he kindly informed me that yes, he could take me to the airport, but it was a 20 minute ride and he needed to take a smoke break first…so he wasn’t going to leave until 7:45pm.  Well…that wasn’t going to work for me!  So finally, I bit the bullet and just hopped in a cab that was open.  The cab driver was one of the nicest men I have met while I was here in Spain.  He told me that the “grey” line is actually a train that you have to catch, rather than a metro, and that it was out of order that day going to the airport.  He also informed of some of the things to go to in Barcelona with my friends.  When he realized that I was going to be late, he promised he would get me there on time and proceeded to run three red lights…that’s when I closed my eyes and started praying.  Anyway, after that ordeal, I arrived at the airport about 2 minutes before Chase and Nikki came out from the arrivals area.  Perfect timing!!  That night when we finally got back to the airport, we went out to dinner and came back and slept.  It had been a long day for all of us!

This is a photo of the Roman Amphitheater in Tarragona

And the beach (we were in the city looking down on it)

On Sunday we got up nice and early because we had a tour scheduled to visit a few cities south of Barcelona on the Mediterranean coast.  We spent the first half of the day in a city called Tarragona.  It was a really important city when the Romans lived in Spain, so there are ruins of an amphitheater and a circo (where they raced the horse carts).  Of course, there is a cathedral there as well.  We found this wonderful outdoor market in which we stumbled upon some really interesting people selling old records, money from Franco’s era, books, and really interesting antiques.  The city of Tarragona is built upon a hill of sorts, so that when you go to see the seaside, you’re actually well above the beach.  It’s really interesting to look down and see all the ships in the Mediterranean sea!  The afternoon we spent in Sitges (yup! I went there again, it’s so wonderful!) and basically walked around, got some great lunch on the beach, and enjoyed the sandcastles.  There’s a really beautiful cathedral near the beach, and we saw a cool palace that was decorated with blue and white tiles.  It made it really have a sort of Greek/Mediterranean feel to it (well, I suppose, since we WERE on the Mediterranean sea!).  That evening, once we returned to Barcelona and made our way back to our apartment, we just bummed around and stayed in that night. 

The next day was Monday, and we mainly bummed around Barcelona.  By the time we all got up and showered, we decided to head to Las Ramblas and do a little touristy stuff.  We headed towards the port and saw  the statue of Christopher Columbus, and then we started walking down the main tourist area in Barcelona.  It was full of tourists, shops, and people trying to sell us stuff.  Then we decided to head to the zoo!  It was the one of the greatest zoos I have ever been to.  You were able to get really close to the animals (don’t worry – within reason).  We saw animals like lions, tigers, bears, monkeys, rhinoceroses, hippos, you know..the basic animals.  But we happened to time it right before feeding time, so all the animals were going absolutely CRAZY.  Next time you go to a zoo, I suggest going around feeding time, because it was quite interesting!  That night, Chase and I went to the train station to get his train tickets to come to Valladolid later in the week, and after exploring the train station for a bit, we went out to dinner with the rest of the group at a really awesome bar/restaurant near our apartment.  That night, after dinner, we headed back to our apartment to get our sangria, and took it to the beach with us.  Nothing beats having some sangria on the beach of Barcelona. 

Chase and I on a bridge in a park in Barcelona

The next morning, Tuesday, I woke up, packed everything back into my backpack, and headed out to the airport one more time.  My flight to Valladolid left Barcelona at 1:30pm, so I was there around 12:30 to go through security and get ready for my flight.  Once again, I had a very nice cab driver (I was NOT going to try the metro/train again!) who brought me to the airport.  He was trying to guess where I was from, and he said he was 100% sure I was from a European country.  He guessed that I was German, Swiss, Austrian, British, Irish, and Polish all before he gave up.  J  Guess I’m starting to blend in more like I’m from Europe rather than the states now!  Anyway, I boarded my flight, and headed back to Valladolid. 

Chase came to Valladolid the next day, Wednesday and stayed until Friday morning.  He didn’t get in until Wednesday late at night, and he left Friday early morning, so he could get back to Barcelona and spend another day with his friends before they left Saturday evening.  He was supposed to get into Valladolid around 7:40pm, but his train was delayed 40 minutes, and he didn’t get in until well after 8pm.  Turns out, he had to switch trains in Zaragoza, but the train he needed was broken.  So Renfe, the train company, bussed them to the next train station along the route, and they got on a train there and finished their journey to Valladolid.  Needless to say, Chase doesn’t speak a lick of Spanish, and he had absolutely no idea what was going on.  I felt terrible that I wasn’t there to help him out but in the end he found someone who spoke English and who could help him out.  In the long run, everything went well.

Maria, my host mom, offered to have Chase spend the 2 nights he was in Valladolid with us in our house!  It was a very generous offer for her, and we took her up on it!  He slept in my bed, and I slept on the couch, because I still had to go to class and take a few exams while he was here.  Wednesday night we ate dinner with Maria and Rochelle, and then Chase and I went for a walk around the city and I showed him things at night.  We saw the Cathedral, La Antigua (another church), a few more important churches, Plaza Mayor, and the area where I live.  We came back home and then went to bed.  Thursday I headed to classes, and while I was gone, Chase slept in.  After we had lunch (Maria made spaghetti noodles with a cooked meat dish) Chase and I climbed the hill by our apartment to see the whole city from above.  From there we did some more walking around – we went to Campo Grande and watched the peacocks, we met some of my friends at a café, and we got churros at El Castillo. 

This is a photo from when we climbed to the top of the hill to see the whole city!

Friday morning, March 30th came too quickly and his train left at 7:15am.  We got up, ate breakfast and headed to the train station.  It had been a great week in Barcelona and Valladolid.  After he left, I went back to the apartment, and slept for a while longer since I didn’t have class until 9:30am that morning.  Chase leaving was the beginning of a whole new experience, because it signified that the next day, Saturday, March 31^st, my parents would be flying into Madrid’s airport to spend 2 weeks here with me in Spain. 

Left to right: Dane, Jenna, Nikki, Me, and Chase

That Friday afternoon I spent packing and repacking, and packing some more….

(to be continued) 

besos y abrazos,

Erin