Mostly spent traveling. Took forever to get to the airport. I definitely learned to first of all bring a backpack for these trips! Way too many stairs and everybody seems to live on the fourth floor... and second of all, to stay in city centers so there is no need to take long bus rides or to try to catch the metro before it closes.
Spain was good to me. I loved traveling alone and meeting so many interesting and fun people. I loved the country - every city was different and I liked exploring and getting to know each one. It was a memorable adventure and I will for sure be back... maybe for a while ;)
Thursday, December 29, 2011
Madrid walking marathon
Today, a native Madrileño named Christina posted in the CS group that she can show any tourists around the city, so of course I signed up. Another couple of people, both originally Filipino, came along as well. Some little tidbits Christina told us were really interesting, as we walked through the old post office and the huge Retiro park, but man it was a looong walk. I was kind of glad it's the last touristy day of my trip because my legs so needed the rest by this point.
I had one last night of tapas at El Tigre, a bar that gives you a ton of food when you buy a beer, followed by some more dancing. (El Tigre had creepy animal heads mounted way too low on the wall so it was possible to kiss them if you wished - pictured below!!!)
Anyway, I'm definitely coming back to Madrid. I feel like I can really breathe in that city.
I had one last night of tapas at El Tigre, a bar that gives you a ton of food when you buy a beer, followed by some more dancing. (El Tigre had creepy animal heads mounted way too low on the wall so it was possible to kiss them if you wished - pictured below!!!)
Anyway, I'm definitely coming back to Madrid. I feel like I can really breathe in that city.
Viva Madrid!
I needed to rest from the traveling and late night, so I just let myself sleep until 1! All I really accomplished that day was the Prado museum, with it's large collection of Goya and Velazquez and Spanish medieval art. It was a zoo, but it was nice to get a museum visit in since I haven't done that on this trip yet.
After, I met up with a group of couch surfers that were having some drinks at a bar called Umami. (I don't think they have burgers there.) I had a lot of fun with this group, good, interesting conversation. I've learned so many things on this trip and had so many experiences that it's felt like a two-month long trip rather than two weeks.
People in the CS community are also very outgoing and open-minded, so I've gotten to meet a lot of like-minded people.
The night continued until after the metro was already open again at 6am with dancing at a couple different clubs. A lot of our music, but enough Latin and Spanish music to make me happy too. I should also mention that I finally tried the beers they sell on the streets. It's not legal, but that's not enforced, so there are a bunch of people that just walk around with six packs and sell beers for 1euro.
This day was not documented on the iPhone, so I'll have to update with pics once I upload them.
After, I met up with a group of couch surfers that were having some drinks at a bar called Umami. (I don't think they have burgers there.) I had a lot of fun with this group, good, interesting conversation. I've learned so many things on this trip and had so many experiences that it's felt like a two-month long trip rather than two weeks.
People in the CS community are also very outgoing and open-minded, so I've gotten to meet a lot of like-minded people.
The night continued until after the metro was already open again at 6am with dancing at a couple different clubs. A lot of our music, but enough Latin and Spanish music to make me happy too. I should also mention that I finally tried the beers they sell on the streets. It's not legal, but that's not enforced, so there are a bunch of people that just walk around with six packs and sell beers for 1euro.
This day was not documented on the iPhone, so I'll have to update with pics once I upload them.
Toledo
I saw on the couch surfing Madrid group that people were organizing a trip to Toledo, an old town (Goya's home) about an hr outside of Madrid. So I got to Madrid and then left the next day lol. Just for the day though.
Toledo was magical. I had never been to a medieval city like that, so it was a novelty for me. Apparently the Lord of the Rings swords were made there, sooo they could actually go to battle with those weapons. All the stores were selling swords and masks like in those movies. I considered it, but thought I might have trouble getting through security! And I have to say the whole place kind of looked like a fake town. Too many theme parks for me I think.
The group was myself, a Spanish girl, an Australian guy, and a Puerto Rican guy, so it was a fun mix of cultures. Had some good food, walked a ton, took lots of pretty pics (most on the camera, will be uploaded later).
After a long day and a nap on the bus, we were ready for a night out. Me and the two guys went around and had lots of tapas and beers. At one point we had to satisfy the Australian's Guiness craving, which is how I ended up with the pics below.
I had fun exploring the tapas bars, but conversation was a little difficult. I've been in so many different groups on this trip that I guess sometimes you're bound to get a group that doesn't have the most dynamic vibe. That's one part of traveling alone that's exciting but sometimes difficult - the groups are unpredictable.
We missed the metro by 20min (it closes at 2 there), so I had to take a long bus ride home. All part of the experience.
Toledo was magical. I had never been to a medieval city like that, so it was a novelty for me. Apparently the Lord of the Rings swords were made there, sooo they could actually go to battle with those weapons. All the stores were selling swords and masks like in those movies. I considered it, but thought I might have trouble getting through security! And I have to say the whole place kind of looked like a fake town. Too many theme parks for me I think.
The group was myself, a Spanish girl, an Australian guy, and a Puerto Rican guy, so it was a fun mix of cultures. Had some good food, walked a ton, took lots of pretty pics (most on the camera, will be uploaded later).
After a long day and a nap on the bus, we were ready for a night out. Me and the two guys went around and had lots of tapas and beers. At one point we had to satisfy the Australian's Guiness craving, which is how I ended up with the pics below.
I had fun exploring the tapas bars, but conversation was a little difficult. I've been in so many different groups on this trip that I guess sometimes you're bound to get a group that doesn't have the most dynamic vibe. That's one part of traveling alone that's exciting but sometimes difficult - the groups are unpredictable.
We missed the metro by 20min (it closes at 2 there), so I had to take a long bus ride home. All part of the experience.
A Madrid
Left the hostel today and took the train to Madrid - the last stop (pics from train below). Can't believe the trip is almost coming to an end. Did a lot of reflecting on the train. It's funny how different of a perspective people have on travel in Europe. Traveling on your own, hosteling, couch surfing, it's all part of the norm. One person asked me how else would a young person do it when I said people back home were surprised I was traveling this way. It's been such an expanding, eye opening experience for me. Funny though, I recently heard that 80% of your lived experience is from information that already exists in your mind, and the rest is up to external events. So I can claim that I created 80% of what I got out of this trip. Seems like a lot, but I believe it. If you want to hear, you listen, if you want to learn, you pay attention.
The lady I'm staying with in Madrid is a super hippy, India-loving person, so we got along immediately. We had a nice long chat using broken English and Spanish over a vegetarian Indian dinner. I like this place already. And her cats have crazy light blue eyes (attached).
The lady I'm staying with in Madrid is a super hippy, India-loving person, so we got along immediately. We had a nice long chat using broken English and Spanish over a vegetarian Indian dinner. I like this place already. And her cats have crazy light blue eyes (attached).
Wednesday, December 28, 2011
Christmas
Actually Christmas eve, but that's when they really celebrate in Spain. They have Xmas eve dinner with their families and open presents then. We decided at the hostel to do one all together since we were all away from home. Since most things were closed that day, all I really accomplished is the flamenco museum (below pics), tapas, and buying some food for dinner. Oh and I went back to Plaza de Espana, which we went to on the tour, and just sat there for a while, imagining what it would be like to live in Spain and have all this history around me.
I like Sevilla. It's similar to Granada in its southern feel, but is more of a city. The streets are all curvy and disorganized, and it's impossible not to get lost even while having a map in front of you the whole time. I did a few circles during my time there. But then, you end up finding so many little plazas and tons of people walking around. It felt especially festive this day - people were walking around with their families and ducking in and out of shops to buy their xmas eve dinner stuff. There was a pretty cool xmas light show I watched in one of the plazas.
Dinner was really fun, we cooked up a bunch of food...actually I didn't cook at all, just mostly ate! :) There were a few new people, among them a guy that's biking around Europe from Sweden. He was already 3 months into it and had a nice beard and tan going. I had some great conversations that evening and went to bed happy with Sevilla and ready to move onto Madrid. I was getting pretty tired by this point with so much walking and lack of sleep. I'm so glad I didn't pack more cities into the trip, since most mornings I've been taking my time to get out of the house and it's been really nice.
I like Sevilla. It's similar to Granada in its southern feel, but is more of a city. The streets are all curvy and disorganized, and it's impossible not to get lost even while having a map in front of you the whole time. I did a few circles during my time there. But then, you end up finding so many little plazas and tons of people walking around. It felt especially festive this day - people were walking around with their families and ducking in and out of shops to buy their xmas eve dinner stuff. There was a pretty cool xmas light show I watched in one of the plazas.
Dinner was really fun, we cooked up a bunch of food...actually I didn't cook at all, just mostly ate! :) There were a few new people, among them a guy that's biking around Europe from Sweden. He was already 3 months into it and had a nice beard and tan going. I had some great conversations that evening and went to bed happy with Sevilla and ready to move onto Madrid. I was getting pretty tired by this point with so much walking and lack of sleep. I'm so glad I didn't pack more cities into the trip, since most mornings I've been taking my time to get out of the house and it's been really nice.
Tuesday, December 27, 2011
Sevilla
Arriving at the hostel I already had a good impression because I sat and talked to the guy at the desk for a while about travel. He's been all over the place and most recently did the trans-siberian rail trip, which I want to do someday. The whole hostel experience felt very much like freshman year dorms, where you're full of anticipation and openness, meeting all kinds of people, all hanging out together, before cliques have had a chance to form.
I took the morning tour around the city the next morning, which was very interesting and covered most of the major sights. The one that stood out to me the most for some reason is the old tobacco factory. Beautiful building, now houses the humanities department of the university, but back in the day, there were thousands of workers there, all women, and their dramas were the basis for the opera Carmen. Now I need to see that one! (@Adrienne)
I went to the Alcazar with one of my new friends, a Chinese-Australian girl Ying, and it was fun to be able to ooo and aaa with someone else for once. We actually spent quite a bit of time together that day because later we decided to skip the flamenco show everyone was going to, and go find a more casual bar in an area we were told would have something like that called Triana.
At one of the tapas bars we squeezed into between some drunken business looking people, we were told about one such bar called Casa Anselma by a couple of these drunken people. We quickly escaped after getting the information we needed, and after some meandering around and a quick picture with a random group of more drunken people (attached), found the bar.
Anselma was one of my favorite experiences on this trip! It was a nice-size bar, packed with people, some standing around the bar, but most sitting in the rows of folding chairs, watching the flamenco musicians and random people that would get up to dance and sing. Also, Anselma herself, the very matronly owner of the bar, would get up and dance too. There were no costumes or any program, just people that like flamenco. The energy in the place was awesome, everyone would sing and clap along and shout out requests. It was really cool to get a peek into this culture and plus, I realized I really like flamenco music. See here for more detailed pictures of the bar: http://www.sevilla5.com/activities/flamenco/anselma.html
I took the morning tour around the city the next morning, which was very interesting and covered most of the major sights. The one that stood out to me the most for some reason is the old tobacco factory. Beautiful building, now houses the humanities department of the university, but back in the day, there were thousands of workers there, all women, and their dramas were the basis for the opera Carmen. Now I need to see that one! (@Adrienne)
I went to the Alcazar with one of my new friends, a Chinese-Australian girl Ying, and it was fun to be able to ooo and aaa with someone else for once. We actually spent quite a bit of time together that day because later we decided to skip the flamenco show everyone was going to, and go find a more casual bar in an area we were told would have something like that called Triana.
At one of the tapas bars we squeezed into between some drunken business looking people, we were told about one such bar called Casa Anselma by a couple of these drunken people. We quickly escaped after getting the information we needed, and after some meandering around and a quick picture with a random group of more drunken people (attached), found the bar.
Anselma was one of my favorite experiences on this trip! It was a nice-size bar, packed with people, some standing around the bar, but most sitting in the rows of folding chairs, watching the flamenco musicians and random people that would get up to dance and sing. Also, Anselma herself, the very matronly owner of the bar, would get up and dance too. There were no costumes or any program, just people that like flamenco. The energy in the place was awesome, everyone would sing and clap along and shout out requests. It was really cool to get a peek into this culture and plus, I realized I really like flamenco music. See here for more detailed pictures of the bar: http://www.sevilla5.com/activities/flamenco/anselma.html
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