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!

Blogger is not my friend

Well I just wrote you a nice long post about my trip to Barcelona and Madrid and what did blogspot.com just do??? Erase it. I pressed my right click key twice and somehow its magically all gone...freakin fantastic. I will have to get back to you on my trip when I somehow find another 2 free hours to write my post again.