The sun is shining

Sunday, March 1, 2009

Portugal

Yes, I just hoped over to Portugal for the weekend. Its pretty crazy, I was excited to go to another country and see what it was like. Portugal was so much fun. It's definitely different from Spain, in good ways and in bad ways. The people were so nice and open, in Spain people mostly keep to themselves and can even be a little rude at times. I have grown accustomed to it not bothering me that no one will talk to us, but it was nice to go to a place where you feel welcome. At the same time though, no one would leave you alone. There were people who would sell either fake Armani sunglasses or drugs and once you made eye contact they would not give up. The men with the sunglasses would almost force them on your face saying how good they would look on you. We had to be a little firm to get them to finally go away. It is such a diverse place too, there was a ton of people from India and Africa. Way more diverse than Madrid. We actually ate really good Indian food at this authentic restaurant, we were on a streak of good food this trip, which usually never happens to us. We arrived at 3:30 to a nice sunny day. We explored the city, after checking into our hostel. Our hostel by the way was so nice, there were several lounges with big bean bags, computers with internet, clean showers and a big kitchen where everyone ate breakfast together in the morning. We met some really interesting people from all over the world. Some have been backpacking for months, I don't know how they do it. Walking around the city we found this elevator that you ride up above the skyline. The view was so pretty and we got some great pictures. The night we got some dinner and just played games in our room, it was nice to relax with everyone. The next day we got an a train to Sintra, a beautiful town where there are three famous castles. The train ride was so nice, we got to see so much of the country, its so green, we have not seen that many trees in a long time. Once there we took a bus up these huge hills and switchbacks until finally reaching Palace de Pena. This was not like all the other castles we have seen. It was amazing! It was so colorful and massive. It looked Arabian and we explored it for hours. The view from the top was so beautiful, pictures do not do it justice. The country really is gorgeous. We headed back to Lisbon and ate lunch at a little place where I had the best salad I have had in three months. Everything was so fresh and I was way more excited about it than anyone else would have been, but food for me that is good is hard to come by here. Everyone was legitimately happy that I enjoyed my food, everyone always feels so bad to eat pasta and bread while I watch. We sat by the water later that night by a bridge that was made after the Golden Gate bridge. We never did get to a beach but feeling the ocean air was nice enough. Our last day we tried to take a ferry out to a giant Christus statue on this island close to Lisbon, but somehow we got on the wrong boat, taking us past the statue to another city that was basically the ghetto. Extremely disappointed we got back on another ferry hoping it would take us back to where we came from. Being in Portugal made me appreciate what I know in Spanish. We literally understood nothing anyone was saying. I have never felt so out of it in my life. I know now that no matter how little Spanish I think I know, I know enough to make it through daily life and that is fine by me. Feeling like you can't even ask for directions is a stressful thing. Because of this we got into a lot of situations where we had to laugh to keep from being so angry that nothing was working out. We decided to go to a famous flea market about 20 minutes away, it was supposed to be really good. We had been waiting the whole weekend for this one flea market, hoping to find cool souvenirs to take home. This was a giant disappointment! Basically it was a huge garage sale, with the most random things possible being sold for barely anything. Old radios, keys, books, phones, silverware. Pretty much anything you could think of that you wouldn't want anymore. Some of it was interesting, but nothing worth buying. We did find one section that seemed to be new and not used, but what we though was going to be the most exciting thing to do ended up being just another funny memory. The trip was amazing, but it definitely had its moments that made me miss Spain. Over the past couple months I have grown used to the life here and seeing something else made me love it here that much more. Portugal was amazing, and I would love to have been able to explore more of the country. But just the fact that I got to go there and experience life there for a few days was unbelievable. Im so lucky that I get to be having all these adventures. I will be ready though in the next five weeks to go back home to the states and get into my old routine again. Traveling for this long is exhausting. At some point no matter how exciting any country is, you just realize that you love your home.

Only new things at the flea market

Bridge that was modeled after the Golden Gate

Lisbon coast

Mark and Jess feeding the birds

The flea market

Sintra

The girls.... Lauren, Ali, Me and Jessie

Palace Pena

The palace

The first big trees we have seen in months

View of Lisbon

Me, Mark, Jessie and Lauren the plaza

The elevator that took us above the city

The computer room in our hostel, really cool art everywhere

The Lisbon lounge

Saturday, February 14, 2009

Segovia

This past Saturday we went on a day trip to Segovia. It is only an hour an a half northwest of Madrid. It was a cute little city, there was not a lot to do, but they had really interesting sites to see. First off, the palace, the palace in Segovia looks like the castle at Disneyland. Its exactly what you would imagine a castle to look like. We climbed to the top of the tower up a spiral staircase with like 200 steps that were over a foot high. Going up those steps showed me just how out of shape I am here, I could barely stand once we got to the top, my legs were burning. It was worth it though, the view was gorgeous. The second important site is the aqueduct built by the Romans. It goes right through the middle of the city and it is crazy to see and think about the fact that people were building these huge structures thousands of years ago. Segovia has so much history, and going with our history professor, we get quizzed the whole time. For some reason he kept calling on me to give the answers in front of the whole group. He likes to give me a hard time constantly, I like him though, him and his wife are hilarious. I enjoyed our little day trip, I was not ready to go on another week long excursion yet. We are all still recovering from it. The travel just really wears you down, everyone gets sick and just needs rest. Today we had a Saturday to just relax, we went to a park and played soccer and threw a frisbee around. We packed a lunch and just enjoyed being outside. Luckily it was a really nice day. Im hoping the weather continues to get warmer, its been good to us lately. I think it may have realized we have had enough winter. Its times like today that make me enjoy being in Spain, watching thousands of families and couples walk through the park today makes me remember the simple pleasures in life. At home I am so caught up in so many other things, and have so many distractions its hard to remember to just sit and soak up the beauty around me. Every once in a while everyone needs a little break from reality.

We went for a ride in the rowboats

The row boats on the lake

The lady in the park who walks her cat on a leash and treats it like her child, we see her every time we go here

This is how we act pretty much all the time....

Valley below the palace

Aqueduct

Some of the girls

Top of the tower

View of Segovia

Palace

Cathedral in Segovia

Monday, February 9, 2009

Journey through Southern Spain

This past week my group traveled to three different cities in Southern Spain in an area called Andalusia. It was an exhausting trip, full of a lot of driving, a lot of walking and very little sleep. The weather was terrible majority of the time we were there, of course it couldn't warm up or stay dry when we have to walk everywhere all day. We have grown accustomed to being cold and wet but still can't wait for the day when it will get warmer and actually stay that way. There was so much we did that I can't even remember, the week seemed so long. But I will try my best...

Granada

On our 4 hour bus ride to Granada we drove through really beautiful big fields and farmland. The country is so different in so many places and its nice to travel around and see every side of it. We stopped at these giant windmills that Spain is famous for from the book Don Quixote, they were so cool. At the top of the hill where the windmills were, it was so windy, I can honestly say I have never been in wind that strong. We would jump in the air and you could stay there for a few seconds. The stop was short because no one could handle the freezing cold wind. We arrived in Granada and were welcomed by the rain. We got into our hotel and then had free time that night. A few of us walked around the city and just explored, it was a cool city, not my most favorite but pretty. The Alhambra is in Granada, its an Arabic palace from when they ruled the city before it was conuered by spanish King Ferdinand. It was actually really cool, all of the Muslim architecture and gardens, it was a huge. The view of the city from up high made me think more highly of Granada.

Cordoba

We left Granada after the Alhambra and got back on our bus and drove a couple hours to Cordoba. That drive was beautiful. There was hill after hill of the greenest grass I have ever seen. It was nice and sunny all the way there and once we stepped off the bus a huge cloud covered us. It started pouring on our 15 minute walk to our hotel. Carrying our suitcases and getting drenched was a perfect way to start our visit to Cordoba. Everything in my bag was wet and had to be laid out all night, I was just hoping I would have something to wear the rest of the week. We dried up as much as we could and headed to a mosque that was turned into a cathedral after the Christians conquered it. If you haven't noticed there was a lot of religious and racial turmoil in Spain between the Christians, Muslims and Jews. Everything in the culture today is a little mixture of all three. Later that night we went out to dinner with our group, and then a few of us went out. We went to a bar that had live music and watched a bunch of guys play Spanish guitar and sing. We stood out so bad and everyone kept looking at us the entire time, we stick out a lot worse when there is more of us. But after a while the stares stopped and we were having fun. That night we played in the rain running through the cobblestone streets and running through the waterfalls that fell off the cathedral. It is just simple times like that that I love most about Spain.

Sevilla

By far my favorite city that I have been to. Luckily we got to stay in Sevilla longer than anywhere else. It was so tiring going from hotel to hotel and driving for so long. The city just has such an awesome feel to it. It was big but not too overwhelming, there was so much to do and see. Everyone rode bikes around. I loved it. We visited the biggest cathedral in the world where Christopher Columbus is buried. We climbed to the top of the bell tower and saw the huge bells and the whole city. Its painful to be up there when the bells ring, we had to run back down when a few started going off. My favorite moment was sitting in the Plaza de Espana on the one nice day of the whole trip and just relaxing. It was a beautiful building in a semi circle that was built for one of the World's Fairs. There were bridges over water that were covered in colorful ceramic and a giant fountain in the middle. This is my new "happy place", I can honestly say it felt like a dreamland. Everyone just kept saying how it didn't even feel real. We attended a Flemenco show twice, one was a professional show and the other was just one they do at a bar every night. It was nice to see both and see how they were different but both were amazing. I can't even describe it really, its kind of intimidating to watch as the performers tend to all have intense stares. I was glad I got to experience that. We all try to go out at night, Spain is famous for its discotecas, or clubs but we never seem to make it, we are always so tired. Our professor keeps making fun of us because we are all back to the hotel by 12, he says we are going to bed when the Spaniards are just getting started. If you can't tell he is a pretty laid back guy. Him and his wife lived in Spain twice and they showed us their old house in Sevilla and their old neighborhood. Its nice to have a guide who knows so much about the city.

After a seven hour bus ride home we finally arrived back in Alcala, its starting to feel more and more like home after we have been gone a long time. Mostly its just nice to get back to a normal schedule. Or as normal as we can get here....

Plaza de Espana