I can't hear the music...or maybe I just can't hear

Like I mentioned last time, I still need to catch you guys up on 2 weekends ago…when I went to Baena. Now for those of you who don’t know Baena (most, I’m sure), it’s a small town in the Province of Cordoba (about an hour SE of the Cordoba the capital). I have some friends living there and I wanted to go visit them. I particularly chose that weekend because… there was a festival that weekend! San Jose! I have no idea WHAT this holiday celebrates but I do know HOW it’s celebrated- with lots and lots of drumming. 

  

What goes down is on Friday the whole town celebrates by walking around town beating on drums. I should say the *men* do this because the women go off and do other things (I was told that the “tradition” is for the women to have parties with strippers…). The majority of guys start the drumming in the early evening, although we saw people all day long. They are supposed to leave their house drumming and return drumming, so this can go on ALL day. And when I say all day I mean from about noon on Friday until 6, 7 or 8 in the morning the next day… 

Would you like to drum?

My friends and I went out around 9 on Friday night and got back around 4am…the entire time around guys drumming…and drinking. There’s a main street where everyone goes to and that’s really where all the action is. They have street vendors with food… but mostly drinks. I think it’s necessary to be able to withstand that many hours of drumming. These guys drum seriously drum so long that their hands are bleeding by the end of the night. By the end of the night I was exhausted and just had to get out of there “early” (4am) lol. The next morning I was even woken up by people drumming, at 9am!  The night was just utterly crazy but really fun…and a little noisy haha

what talent!

 I should also mention that the actual holiday is the Saturday. No one could really tell us why they instead celebrate it on Friday instead but I suppose they just decided to use that day for rest, much needed rest. We also had the opportunity to see the "Baena" version of what happened Easter week put on my people in the town.

The rest of the weekend was basically just full of rest and relaxation since I’ve been traveling like a mad woman…and I’m not about to stop. This next weekend I’m headed to a pueblo near Malaga! You guys will here all about it soon. In the mean time have a wonderful April Fool’s Day, which by the way, I’m saved from because they already celebrated it on December 28^th with “el Dia de los Santos Inocentes “ (Day of the Innocent Saints).

*Just to let you know- I added another recipe to my Cooking Page

Pomegranate- te amo

Just got back from another crazy weekend in Granada…and I am exhausted! I also lost my voice while I was there so I’ve been sounding like a man all weekend- fun times. The plans to go there were super last minute but since I love Granada so much I had no problem with that! This was all decided the night before (Thursday) when my friends and I were out for out weekly tapa night. This week though, one of the bars in town was having Paella night so we stopped by there, along with almost everyone I know in Lucena!

Now getting back to Granada: I was lucky enough to have some friends, from Lucena, also going so I caught a ride with them Friday night for a weekend of staying out late, dancing with foreign students, eating amazingly delicious tapas and wandering around the city enjoying sunshine. The first night we met up with my Erasmus friends (study abroad students) for a trivia party, then stopped by the shot bar “Chupiteria 69,” and ended the night Vogue (a cheesy club full of smelly people…of course no one bothered to tell me this before we got there). I should tell you about the shot bar though- its super cute. They have it set up where each shot is 1euro and there are about 120 different ones to choose from and they’re separated into 3 different categories: strong, medium and weak. They also give you a point card for every shot and you can “cash” them in for souvenirs like lighters, hats, t-shirts, etc. I’m thinking we need to start a bar like this in the states…or at least in Seattle because I’ve never seen one like it there.

some of my crazy friends

Well we ended up getting home around 6am or so and that was only to be trumped the next night. Before going out Sat night, we did some shopping on the main shopping strip and had some wonderful tapas (I don’t remember the name of the place though! sorry). So that night we basically did the same as the night before (and this time I was able to get a little souvenir from the Chupiteria 69) but instead ended the night in my favorite club- Camborio. I told yall about this before when I went to Granada the first time- the place looks out to the Alhambra and is always full of Erasmus people, therefore always crazy and fun. When we went on Saturday night though the place was PACKED…sardines in a can packed and we had even arrived “early” (early meaning 2:30am). We finally got home at 8am and we all just passed out- I’m going to need a long nap today to recover.
 

This week I’m going to try to also get in a post about one of my other weekend adventures from 1 or 2 weekends ago. Keep your eyes open for the next one! 

P.S. The word "granada" is spanish for pomegranate hence the title :)

Now I can rest

I´m almost done telling you about the adventures with my parents here in Spain! Finally we will be up to date soon! Let go ahead and start off where we left off…

After spending a relaxing day in Lucena (well they did, I had to work a few hours) we had a wonderful lunch with Teresa and Rafa. Then my parents headed to the bus station so they could get down to Malaga while I stayed behind for work… And the next morning my dad caught an early flight back to Seattle. That day my mom stayed in Nerja and Frijiliana while I worked, then we met back up that evening. We had one more day of relaxation in Lucena before we were off and running again. This weekend we were headed to Seville and Cadiz.

part of the cathedral in Seville

We headed to Seville EARLY (I mean why change the habit) on Friday morning and arrived there only a few hours later. We got there and of course it was raining-what fun! Now they say “la lluvia en Sevilla es una maravilla” and it sounds better in Spanish because it rhymes but basically it means “the rain in Seville is a wonder/amazement.” Why do they say that? Because it NEVER rains there. My mom likes to say that Spain was crying because she was leaving…I´m thinking they were trying to acclimatize her back into Seattle weather :)

Now I can´t complain too much because it didn´t rain the WHOLE time we were there. We actually only spent about a day and a half there but it was enough to see a few things and great place to end the trip. While we were there we made it to the Cathedral, the Plaza de España, Reales Alcázares, the river and walked around the old neighbourhood. Luckily we were staying at a nice hotel that was near everything (Hotel Murillo) so it made our lives a million times easier. I think my favorite things in Seville were the Plaza (which they just finish constructing not too long ago), the cathedral (known to be one of the best in Spain), the tower in the cathedral (I recommend NOT wearing heals when visiting this), and the Reales Alcázares. Unfortunately we only had about an hour and a half to visit the Reales Alcázares so we only saw a portion of it…that’s why I´m planning on visiting again because it was just beautiful. It’s actually really similar to the Alhambra but you can actually see the colors and designs better. Definitely need at least half a day there though and probably more when it’s not raining and you can take a walk through the gardens.

 

So apart from all the normal touristy stuff we did in Seville we also managed to head down to Cadiz…during CARNAVAL. If you don´t know about the carnival in Cadiz there are three main points you need to be aware of, 1. Everyone is drunk, 2. People dress in all types of costumes (like Halloween in the states), 3. If you go- bring a costume and lots of alcohol. Now my mom and I went during the day so it was much less crazy…that and we went on the second Saturday which is supposedly less busy than the first (Carnaval is celebrated for 10 days…yes ALL 10 days). We were only staying from about 1pm until 9pm so we didn´t wear costumes nor do BOYB though we did grab a few beers when we got there. We actually spent a big chunk of time walking around the town, hanging out by the beach and enjoying a lovely meal of calamari and seafood paella YUM. 

 

We also stumbled upon a performance in a big tent behind the train station where we spent a little bit of time watching different young individuals and groups perform different Spanish dances. Very fun to watch-I mean these 10 yr old children were dancing better than any 10 yr old I know...then again I don’t know many 10 yr olds... 

(the kids shown in the video below are about 14 but still...they're awesome)

After all our exploring is when we began to head into town and join the festivities. The first street we found ourselves on was packed with people all listening to the “chirigotas”, which are made up songs and what Cadiz is known for during Carnaval…besides drunk people. There are floats, tugged around by tractors and other large vehicles, full of people all dressed in coordinating costumes who sing these chirigotas for everyone to hear and laugh at. Of course the songs are at times even difficult for native speakers to understand so my understanding was...well, minimal. We continued to wander the streets and encountered many different “acts” along the way. The best thing about the carnaval I thought were the costumes- and my favorite of all: Handibags (a brand of garbage bags). Absolutely fantastic, although there were quite a few other creative costumes as well.

 

Handibags

 After hours and hours of wandering and people watching we headed back to the bus and were back on our way to Seville. We had one more night of relaxing in Seville, a few hours in the morning to explore and then we headed straight down to Malaga...for my mom’s flight. I’m sure you can figure the rest out- well besides the part of me missing my bus, the LAST bus to my town, calling everyone in my phonebook to see if anyone was still in Malaga to drive me back up, then finally going to the train station and catching the last train to a town nearby and having a friend pick me up from there- you know, the usual. From there I went home and SLEPT. I had so much fun with my parents and we visited so many places although I think next time a few more rest days will be in order :) Thanks for a great few weeks!

the three of us in Granada (overlooking the Albaicin)

OMG I found a lephrechaun!

I hope you all have enjoyed St. Patty's day! I thought I would get a post in about it before I forget all that happened...

I'm not sure if you know this but St. Patrick's day is NOT celebrated in Spain...at all. This means no one wears green, except by coincidence; you can't pinch anyone; and people look at you funny if you carry a clover around. Now, even though the leprechaun filled day isn't celebrated by the Spanish, there are a ton of foreigners here and people learning English. AND one of the great things about having so many people learning English here is that they also get to learn about all the festivals and traditions that come with the different English speaking countries. So what am I getting at? The official language school here in Lucena put on a great even at our ONE Irish pub in town! And it had quiet a turn out! They even had made an Irish stew (made with beef and Guiness) with potatoes and were giving it out for everyone to try...it was DE-LISH. Now just to hunt down that recipe...

Another cool thing they had going on was if you purchased 2 pints of beer (they also discounted the pints!) they gave you a very festive hat. I really wanted one of the hats so headed straight to the bar and ordered my two pints. Those hats were so popular, as well as the beer, that they even ran out of Guinness before 11pm. I guess everyone wanted those hats haha

The rest of the night was filled with taking lots of crazy pictures and giving out chocolate gold coins (thanks for bringing those over Mom!). My night didn't even end until 4am...but thats becoming a relatively normal time for me now.

I hope everyone had a wonderful and green filled St. Patty's Day! Now for a quick history lesson before I go:

-St. Patrick's Day is celebrated on March 17th every year, the anniversary of his death (in the 5th century)
-St. Patrick is the patron saint of Ireland
-He was taken prisoner, at the age of 16, and during his captivity became deeply religious. After more than six years he escaped and became a missionary. He then went on to become a priest where he had a dual mission: to minister to Christians already living in Ireland and to begin to convert the Irish.
-It is said that he taught the Holy Trinity with three-leaf clovers (although how true that is, I don't know)
-The first St. Patty's Day parade was celebrated in New York City in 1762

Hope you feel smarter :)

Side note- view my pics

I have made it easier for you to view my pics:

Now you can just go the the links on the right hand side (underneath the "About Me" section) and click on whatever album you want to view. It will take you to the Picasa link and you can see all the photos for that album. ALL my pics are on the albums...so go take a look!

And here we go again

I guess I should tell you “briefly” about the rest of the travels with my parents. We so far you´ve been updated on that first weekend. From there my parents stayed an extra day in Toledo and I headed back to Lucena to work. 2 days later we were back to traveling…

First stop- Granada- my favorite city in ALL of Spain. Usually when I visit there´s a lot of crazy nights that end at 5am but this time it was a little different since we were waking up at 8am every day! On this trip we went to a ton of places and this time I even got to see the Alhambra for the first time! Amazing! 

From this I've learned you are small, then big, stay big, then die...very informative

Let me get this story in order though...after catching a 8am bus from Lucena, we arrived in Granada and headed straight to the hotel to drop our luggage off…fast forward a little bit and we met up with my Spanish brother, Carlos, who kindly brainstormed some ideas for us to do with our two days there. The first attraction to see was the Park of Sciences. That place is actually super fun, but probably better on a day that’s not pouring down rain. After we brushed up on our knowledge of how the planet works, the human body and the cycle of life (where we also learned how babies are made-including a video of a baby birth), butterflies species and famous towers, we then headed back into town.

Who's who???

 

We met back up with Carlos and decided to give a little tour of the Albaicín. Carlos and I had actually been on a tour about the water systems in Granada and its history so we attempted to give my parents a re-enactment. Next time I´m charging haha. We made our way up to the look-out point called the “Mirador de San Nicolas” where you can see a beautiful view of the Alhambra. It’s absolutely beautiful to see, especially at night. I´ve already been there a few times myself and love it every time I go. After admiring the beautiful view we headed down to a nearby restaurant and put in reservations for dinner and flamenco dancing that night. We had some time to kill so we did some more wandering over the “cave neighborhood,” which is also apparently considered dangerous although I´ve never had any problem. Anyhow we just strolled through the area and then headed back up to watch some flamenco dancing and music. I think we went on a great night because there with us was a bachlorette party all dressed up…and then even took part in the show. We got a few pics but they don´t really do the show much justice. After dinner we were exhausted and headed back to the hotel for some much needed rest!

The next morning started early…again. We had to get to the Alhambra by 9:30am. We spent a decent chunk of the day there, strolling around the grounds and taking lots of pics of the random cats that have now claimed the place as their stomping grounds. The Alhambra is beautiful and full of rich history which we learned about thanks to Carlos. 

By about 2pm we were hungry so we headed out to grab some lunch. We had been getting used to eating HUGE lunches and were all feeling a bit heavy from that so we headed to a famous tapas bar right at the bottom of the hill from the Alhambra. The food there is amazing I have to say…one reason there is NEVER room to sit (unless you´re lucky like us).After a few beers we headed up to a tea shop with wonderful views. 

EVERYTIME I go to Granada I always visit this place so I had to keep the tradition going. Getting to the place is a little difficult because it’s up some serious hills, BUT on the upside- we burned off a few calories! We, luckily, had great timing and scored a table with the best view. There we all enjoyed some tea and crepes while looking out over the entire Albaicín…beautiful. Walking back down from the tea shop we stopped into a few Moorish style markets as well. We followed that up with a stop by the…

CATHEDRAL! We entered into both the cathedral and also where Fernando and Isabella were buried. All incredible, I have to also mention that I think Granada has one of the best cathedrals in Spain…maybe that’s influenced by the fact that we found a sponge bob balloon floating at the top of the ceiling though…hmmm. Either way- it’s well worth a visit.

Can you find the Sponge Bob?

 After all that activity though we were exhausted and headed back for a much needed siesta. About an hour later we were up and moving again…we met up with Carlos…for tapas! We headed over to a cute plaza area with lots of tapas bars and stopped in the one with the most people- almost always the best way to choose a restaurant here. Yet again, Granada didn´t fail to delight us with its tapas. We only stayed out for a little bit that night because the next morning we had to wake up extra early…once AGAIN. We said our goodbye´s to Carlos and headed back…the next morning we were headed to Ronda.

If you´re not familiar it, Ronda is a small tradition white hill town of Spain but it is, in most people´s opinions, very different from other typical hill towns. It´s located about an hour and a half west of Malaga (and just an hour north of Marbella). The town is mostly known for their deep gorge and the bridge across it. Just like any other small tourist town they have many other attractions as well which include the bullring, outlook points from steep drop offs, the museum…and I´m sure people could tell you about 20 other things to see there as well. The day that we went it happened to be kinda a gross day so it was really foggy there. 

This, at first, clouded our views but after the fog began to clear it made for some beautiful photos. The best part I found was the path that went along the cliff. It was just a really long lookout point and it was gorgeous. We only spent a day there so we just did a few things there like cross the bridge, visit the cathedral and museum and walk by the bullring (but its pricey so we didn´t go inside). After all that we had some lunch and headed back to the train station. From there we caught a train to Cordoba and from there grabbed the bus to Lucena…just to have a nights rest at home.

The next morning we headed back up to Cordoba. Luckily it was really nice out so we didn´t have to hide under our ONE umbrella all day long like in Ronda. I´ve been to Cordoba a few times before although most of my time as you should remember was spent at the police station trying to get my ID. I have seen a few important things so I was able to be a half-helpful tour guide to my parents. We wandered around while I showed my parents different areas of the city, stopped in a few cute shops, and then made our way to the Mezquita. Maybe I´ve just seen too many photos of the Mezquita and just had too many people talk it up but when we first walked in I was not very excited. I mean it was just like the pictures, but it was just that, it had nothing new…UNTIL we walked a little further inside. 

The most amazing thing for me was how the Catholics had transformed this mosque into a cathedral. Inside the Moorish arches they had placed Christian statues and paintings. You could look to the left and see the arches from the mosque and look slightly to your right and see the huge monument the Christians had places in the dead center of the building. It kind of gives you some insight into exactly how things had gone down when they took over…

Seeing the old Muslim architecture was just remarkable and I can see why the Catholics didn’t want to destroy such beauty. Even parts like the stained glass were SO distinct from the Christian style and it was just stunning. Besides the amazing architecture and design of the building one of my other favorite parts to the visit was taking silly pictures with my dad…because, I mean, what else would you do when visiting historical and religious landmarks?

After our visit we made our way across the famous bridge and then back across on a not famous bridge for some lunch. The place we stopped by was incredibly good and just a few blocks away from the Mezquita. I’ll make sure I get pic of it up in my album so yall can go eat there the next time you drop by Cordoba ;)

how cute!

Beyond seeing the main attraction in Cordoba we didn’t see too much else, although I did give my parents a full tour of the Corte Ingles (basically a Macy’s but with literally everything…food, gardening supplies, school supplies, etc.). We headed back that night and finally were able to fully rest and have a peaceful night. The only thing we had to do the next day was get my dad packed (because he was leaving in 2 days) and have lunch with Teresa and Rafa (one of my replacement parents here in Spain).

By the way, something I just wanted to add. When writing this post Word kept editing some of my American English words into British English, like "favorite" to "favourite," so if you see that in my writing it's because Word has decided that I don't speak (or write) proper English...

Been around Spain and back

In the past 2 weeks my parents and I have pretty much seen all of Spain…we’ve been to Barcelona, Madrid, Granada, Ronda, Cordoba, Malaga, Seville and tomorrow we’re headed to Cadiz. I don’t know how we’ve managed to see all that but we did and I’ve still be working this whole time…I’m gonna go ahead and just start updating you on the first of our travels…

Last post (about 2 weeks ago) I mentioned that we were in Barcelona…and we have returned alive! We (my parents and I) spent a total of 3 days in Barҫa and then made our way over to Madrid for another 2 days. Just enough to fill up my 5 day long weekend :) By the end of the travels I needed another vacation from that just to rest haha. We had a great time so let me go ahead and get into some details about that…

Like I mentioned on my last post we flew over to Barcelona early Friday morning, arriving around 11am. We headed directly to the hostel and checked so we could fit in a quick nap (I was seriously lacking on sleep and my parents had had no time to catch up on the 9 hr time difference). We stayed at this nice hostel which was plenty comfortable and the staff was fabulous. Anyways, after some rest we headed out for some lunch at a place Rick Steve’s recommended (my mom is a fanatic lol) and we got to try some of the delicious food in Barcelona! Afterwards we just went exploring down Las Ramblas (a main street with lots of street vendors, performers, restaurants, etc).
I saw some of the most amazing bouquets of flowers along there as well- I almost just wanted to buy one but I’m not sure how well that would have gone over with Renfe when we went to go catch a train a few days later. We also got to check out their market along there- that place is beautiful! It was just FULL of colors and I seriously was tempted to buy pretty much everything in there…not a surprise I suppose haha.

Later we went and checked out a church in the famous old neighborhood (the Born district). Right next to the church was the plaza in dedication to the people who were murdered by the Bourbon King. It was a massacre of Catalan patriots and they were buried in a mass grave…where the plaza is located. They also have the “eternal flame” in honor of those patriots who were killed. It basically looks like a bucket-o-flame on a tall structure right in the plaza. After checking out that plaza we saw some more of the neighborhood’s cute shops, my favorite being “happy pills”- a candy store, and then went out for some pintxos (pronounced peen-chos) aka tapas- because what else do you do at 10pm in Spain?

The next morning- SAGRADA FAMILIA. It’s a church designed by Gaudi but he died during the construction so he never was able to finish it himself. On top of that, the plans for the building were burned and so another designer/artist had to come along and create the design of what he thought Gaudi would want….it’s a little controversial.


If you see both sides of the church you can see a HUGE difference in design between the two because it was created by two different people. Anyhow, I HIGHLY recommend you go check out the Sagrada Familia. It is one of my favorite landmarks and unlike ANYTHING I’ve ever seen. The building still isn’t complete either, in fact, is only half finished! They’re working on all the detail work inside so they have plenty more to do. We heard that this building is estimated to be finished in 2030ish…ya kno, no rush.



I do have to say that my favorite part of the church was the stained glass windows. They were absolutely beautiful and they’re so rich in color that is illuminates parts of the church in such a way that you just stand there in awe. I took tons of pics of everything so you all can live vicariously through me…until you decide to come visit that is ;) One other thing to note is that when visiting the church there are 2 different elevators to go up and see other parts of the church. There will be 4 in the future but right now there is just the Paradise façade (the entrance side) and the Nativity side. We did the Nativity side which took us outside and close to the top of the building (this thing is tall!). I loved it but next time I want to check out the other elevator because it gives you a chance to see the inside parts for the church from a distinct viewpoint…guess I’ll just have to come back!

Before leaving we checked out the small museum right below the church and then headed over to Park Guell, also designed by Gaudi. We caught the bus up to the top of the park and worked our way down, checking out the famous terrace, a spontaneous musical performance and the big, colorful lizard that needs some serious dental work. We were starving by the end of the visit so headed out for some food at La Rita- amazing place with gourmet-like food for great prices! The rest of our night was just spent wandering around Las Ramblas, snacking on some tapas and getting harassed by a homeless looking man make toilet paper art.

Our last day in Barҫa…

We woke up rather “early” to head over to the Cathedral and when we arrived they even had a service going on. The cathedral was beautiful itself but with the service also going on it made our visit even more memorable...and the acoustics in that place- wow!

After the visit inside we headed over to the cloisters (kinda like an addition to the church but with deep history like everything is Europe) where they had lots of alters and the geese! There are 13 geese (fenced inside a pond area) that represent the patron saint of Barcelona (Eulilia) who was tortured 13 times and then crucified by the Romans…all at the age of 13. Very sad. While walking around the cloisters I was able to get plenty of pics and apparently the geese got mad because they (well one in particular) decided to splash me with water.

After my anointing by the geese we headed over to City Hall, dad’s choice…Thinking of how boring a normal city hall is in the states I wasn’t all that thrilled but THIS place was incredible. There were beautiful paintings and designs everywhere in the building. After we got our fill of city hall we headed back over to the front of the cathedral to see some special dances (called Sardana dances) that ONLY are performed on Sundays after church. They consist of a group of people making a circle and joining hands, throwing their belongings in the middle so no one can steal anything, and chorographically moving their feet to create this famous circle dance. Anyone can participate but it’s better if you actually know the dance…

After that fun we headed over to Las Ramblas and saw some great street performers including 2 space cadets/robocops, the gold elephant man mysteriously floating in air, and a man creating techno music with a didgeridoo. We continued down Las Ramblas and checked out some street vendors where we found some cute gifts for friends and family. At the end of the Paseo we found a huge statue of Christopher Columbus…pointing east…you know, the direction of America (it’s the scenic route). After a few snap shots of Columbus we hopped across the street to the port (located on the Mediterranean Sea). We walked along the boardwalk over to the ONLY mall that I’ve seen in all of Spain…oh modern times! We also grabbed some lunch out there at a place called Tapas!Tapas! where my parents tried their first paella in Spain! Yay!
The only other thing we did that night was check out the Picasso museum there (its free on Sunday evenings…and therefore comes with a long, long line) but definitely worth checking out if his art appeals to you. That night was mellow because we then had to go back and pack our bags for our trip to Madrid the next morning…leaving the hostel at 6:30am uggh!

The next two days in Madrid were full of Museum hopping…we saw the Prado, Thyssen and Reina Sofia (and each one takes a minimum of 3-6hrs to explore…). Other things we saw on our visit included Plaza Mayor, the botanical gardens, the indoor tropical forest in the train station, the San Miguel Market and my favorite lunch place across the street from the Prado- La Plateria. After those short 2 days Spain’s capital I had to head back home for work the next day. This post is getting far too long and I’m getting far tooooo tired to continue so the next weekend stories will be left for a different post. Night night everyone!