Granada

Day 1:

We arrived in Granada around 3pm and immediately took a city bus to Central Granada. The weather was beautiful and warm (yay for no rain!). On the bus we met an Aussie who was traveling by herself and was in the same boat as to where to get off. We got off at the Cathedral stop (however you couldn’t see the Cathedral from Gran Via) and made the long trek up the cobblestone streets of the Albaycin. The Albaycin is the old part of town, where there are many Arabic shops and Teterias (tea shops) along the way up on Caldereria Nueva. In order to get to our hostel (Makuto) we had to go through the narrow uphill streets which was very tiring (which made me, Michelle, want to leave half of my clothes and toiletries right there in the street). Once we got there we relaxed for a couple hours in their tree house and on their hammocks! Makuto has a great, chill/hippy-esque atmosphere and I could understand why others have spent countless hours in the hostel instead of venturing elsewhere. Our room was basically in a cave, or on the bottom floor and we shared a room with 2 other girls (for the first night) who were from Minnesota. Before we went to dinner, we stopped by Plaza de Saint Nicholas (a look out point a few streets up from our hostel) to see the breathtaking view of the Alhambra and surrounding areas. It was beautiful! We (or Michelle) chatted with some locals while enjoying the view. Then we went to a tapas bar that night for dinner called Bodega Antigua where they had amazing sangria and mojitos and the drinks came with a tapa- bocadillo and fries (in fact this is what Granada is known for - free tapas with any drink ordered…score). Afterwards, we tagged along with some other people from the hostel to see a flamenco show and this one only cost 5 Euros! The style of flamenco was a little bit different then the one we saw in Sevilla but it was equally as good. However, this time the performance was done in the corner of the bar so it was hard to see sometimes since the place was packed. The male singer was much better than the one in Sevilla.

Day 2:

We woke up early, had breakfast and made our way to the Alhambra! The walk to the ticket office was a beautiful hike beneath a canopy of trees glittering with what appeared to be heavenly beams of light breaking through scattered breaks in the canopy. As I, Michelle, walked along taking in this beauty, my musing was abruptly interrupted by a rather elderly gypsy in the bushes that caught my attention. It took a minute before I noticed that she was actually taking a squat… peeing on the side of this gorgeous scene without effort through her jean skirt…cute. I started to feel bad for her as she moaned “Aye mi barriga.” But shortly after did I notice that she was all the while holding a bouquet of greenery that she immediately after began handing to people in return for euros… not the most sanitary. I now have a new respect for the warnings I had been given regarding taking gifts from gypsies…Here is a picture of the gypsy "cleaning" her plants...

Getting our tickets was a breeze because we reserved it online and there wasn’t much of a line for reserved tickets. We first went through the Generalife where there was a beautiful garden and then through Charles V Palace, the Fort (where there was an amazing view of Granada) and then at 1:30pm Palacio Nazario. While waiting in line for the Palace, we ended up chatting with this guy from Madrid (who use to work for E&Y) and was on holiday with his family. The Alhambra overall was amazing. I, Rachel, just love the Moorish architecture, the view, and the history of it all. I would definitely recommend it over the Alcazaba in Sevilla. We bought and shared a falafel afterwards (Which was delicious) and hung around the hostel until we decided to have dinner. We were suppose to meet up with our friends from Germany that we met in Sevilla however we couldn’t find each other. We were waiting at different places near the cathedral…oh well. Michelle and I then decided that we didn’t want tapas so we found Chinese restaurant! It was somewhat hard knowing what was what on the menu so I just decided to talk/order in Chinese (Michelle finally got a taste of how Rachel has been feeling the whole trip in Spain, not knowing the language). The food wasn’t the best, but it was a good and welcomed change from the Spanish food we were eating everyday. The server was nice and gave us a complimentary shot of this wine from China. I was kind of skeptical at first, but it was actually sweet and easy to drink. And of course we had to get dessert, so we went to one of the Morrocian/Arabic dessert places and I had the baklavah and Michelle had a tarte/pie that was very nutty.

Later that night we decided to look for a discoteca and found one that played funk music. It was an interesting scene, Rachel at first was uncomfortable with the change from her hip hop music preference but eventually warmed up to it and had a great time. That night we met a Spaniard from Granada who lived in London, and his friend from Italy who was also living in London and, like us, was checking out the Granada scene. They were very nice and little did we know we would randomly see them again the following night at a tapas bar. Small town! I (Rachel) am still amazed how late the Spainards start their night. They don’t start going out till 2am which is usually when nightlife venues in the states close! We were only able to stay up that late due to the fact that we took naps after dinner and we had café cortado (Rachel) and café con leche (Michelle) and at a café nearby just before hand (this coffee break was only because we left at 1am and realized we were too early! Imagine that.)

Day 3:

Today was the day that Rachel, our new friend from the hostel, Henry, and I went to explore the caves. We had heard interesting things about the caves in Granada - places that were free to live for anyone who found one vacant. Because of this property tax haven the caves are inhabited with the otherwise homeless and gypsies for the most part. We got directions from our hostel and headed on our way. It was a fun hike just outside the city walls. As we were exploring the area (and I know this might sound dangerous but I assure you tourists go there often) we were greeted by one friendly cave dweller whose cave was exquisite! Nothing like the holes in the mountain that you would typically think of. This particular cave dweller had constructed an entire façade in the front of his cave complete with a beautiful chimney decorated with glass bottles. The man allowed us a peek into his cave/home where it turns out is his vacation home. He is from Germany originally and so hit it off with our German friend, Henry. He completely reconstructed the inside and the cave reminded me of an episode I had seen on the travel channel where people seek to purchase homes in other countries. One episode dealt with caves that sold for upwards of 200,000 Euro and they looked like this one that the guy found for free!! Nuts. Except they get no running water (obviously) so they have to trek up the hill to the nearby church for water each day. I don’t think I’d want to live in a cave…

Anyway the caveman (*snicker*) told us about a festival that just happened to be going on at that church. So we thought we would check it out. It was so great to be able to witness this church come together and celebrate its Saint. There were women decked out in Flamenco dresses, horses, ponies, free food, a band, and merriment all around. After visiting for a while we headed back down the hill to our hostel walking through the charming city streets and taking in the quaint cobblestone streets, gorgeous architecture, and creative graffiti along the way.

We chilled at the hostel for a while that night before heading out again to see the city Cathedral and, in the words of Prof. Mock, peruse the downtown area. One thing I love about Granada is that there are so many different neighborhoods within a small area and each has its own unique character and feel. This gives the visitor the feeling of visiting several different cities in one!

That night we had dinner at a tapas bar that we noticed was playing a futbol game. As watching a futbol game at a sports bar was one of my, Michelle’s, goals of the trip we went in immediately and noticed it was actually Real Madrid vs. Sevilla! A very exciting game for the residents of the area. We rooted for Sevilla as we were in Andalusia and felt it only appropriate. Good thing too because they won!! There was where we ran into our friends from the night before very randomly. We agreed to meet up with them after Rachel and I got some tea at a Moroccan place as we wanted to experience the ambiance that was typical of the Albaycin. Our new friends wanted to show us Granada Flamenco but since we had been there done that we went to check out the view of the Alhambra lit up at night time. We took some awesome pictures and then called it a night. After all it was off to Malaga in the morning!

Sevilla

Our very first welcome to Sevilla was by a friendly professional flamenco dancer who decided to strike up conversation with us at the airport from Barcelona to Sevilla. He was from Andalucía and an avid fan of the area. I will tell you what else he was a fan of…. Rachel! Hehe. This man could not stop asking Rachel questions in Spanish - clearly intrigued by her Asian roots. Do to her lack of understanding of the Spanish language, yours truly ended up as a translator for this 30 minute conversation. A splendid exercise of my Spanish skills but an even more entertaining overall situation. Did I mention this man was about 75 years old? :-] He also wanted to whisk the two of us off to his exotic home near Cadiz. Charming….

Day 1

Once we landed we took a city bus for the 20 minute journey to our hostel. This hostel was such a haven fully equipped with a roof top terrace upon which Rachel and I would enjoy several nights of tranquility, great company, and the preparation and enjoyment of a giant paella that the Hostel would serve us our second night. But lets not get ahead of ourselves…

The first night we met up with our dear friend Brent Fellows (another fellow MST student from Cal Poly who is studying here in Sevilla and has been in Spain for 2 months in language school). He showed us a bit of the town, including the Cathedral which was beautifully lit that evening. Then we met up with his family and friend for some extremely yummy tapas (probably the best we have had our entire time in Spain) that included patatas aouli, solomillo de vino dulce, fried calamari, a dish with fried brie dipped in raspberry sauce, and we drank tinto de verano. The waitress was another story - probably the rudest person we have encountered on our whole trip but, hey the tapas were worth her attitude J. We finished the night with some “gelati” (as our Aussie friends call it) and witnessed a fight break out among a large group of college students near by - and immediately after…their make up. Very heartwarming really.

When we got back to the hostel that night we noticed our room contained an odor that triggered our gag reflexes. We dismissed this, opening all windows, assuming one of our bunk mates might have some terribly fungus infected feet or BO and we would have to deal. The next morning we got to the bottom of it, and as it turns out, a past guest had left spoiled milk on the shelf! G-r-o-s-s! Once we cleared that out things started to smell a bit rosier J. Our roommates were very grateful for our discovery as well.

Day 2

That day we went on a walking tour of the city with our hostel tour guide, Dario - a quirky Italian who has fallen in love with Spanish life. We got to see much of the city and learn a great deal of its rich/often tragic history. Later that day decided to tour the Alcazar - a beautiful Moorish palace that was conquered by the Spanish and converted into a palace for the Spanish ruler. The building, like many of those in Sevilla and Andalucia, is a gorgeous marriage between Moorish and Catholic architectural influence and symbolism. After this we took some time to relax at the hostel and get to know some hostel mates. At night we went on a pub crawl with our new friends (one French who moved to Sevilla to learn Flamenco, another girl from Montreal who moved to Sevilla to teach English, 2 from Oregon, 1 from our very own Santa Cruz!). The pub crawl was hosted by our by now beloved Dario.

Day 3

The following day we decided to tour Cathedral de Sevilla, which was GEORGEOUS!! It is the 3rd largest Cathedral in the world - just behind the Vatican and St. Paul’s Cathedral! We spent a great deal of time there exploring each room and we even climbed up the bell tower for views of the whole city. We had montaditos (very small sandwiches) at a cervercia nearby for 1 Euro each. That night we enjoyed paella on the rooftop terrace of our hostel (my personal favorite (and Rachel’s too) of the two paellas we have had on this trip) and immediately following that we went to watch a Flamenco show!! The dancer was soo graceful and elegant in her movements but the dance was far different from what I expected - it was mainly like intense tap dance with Spanish flare.

Day 4

Our last day in Sevilla was a relaxing day consisting of wandering the city streets, desserts, and shopping! We went shopping with our Canadian friend Nadia and her madre and stopped at a gelati place. The gofre’s there weren’t as good as the one in Barca but I (Rachel) loved their dark chocolate gelati. Once we were back at the hostel we decided to make pasta (delicious) and baked beans and devoured it on the terrace watching the sunset. We ended up chatting with these Spanish bomberos (firemen) from Barca (or at least Michelle did) and one of them kept lecturing me (Rachel) how I should be trying to speak in Spanish. Nevertheless, we enjoyed their company. Thanks to our ridiculous sweet tooths (don’t deny you don’t have one anymore Rachel this next outing was your idea) we went to get more dessert! I got some Spanish candy and Rachel got a pastry. (Good thing we walk a lot or we would not fit on the plane on the way home!) When picking out the pastry we asked the guy what type of fruit it had. His reply (in Spanish of course “its jam“. We asked what the difference between the two were and he said “one is darker and the other is lighter,” cool - Spaniards are not very attentive to detail I suppose. Knowing that it was our last night in Sevilla, we didn’t want to stay in so we went to look for an Irish pub to see if there was a futbol game playing. Unfortunately there wasn’t but we ran into Dario again and he tried convincing us to go on the pub crawl but we passed. Our French friend then led us to Almadea de Hercules (where all the locals hang out) where we grabbed a drink before we called it a night.

We checked out the next morning around 11am and headed to the bus station. When we were purchasing our tickets we assumed that all buses were the same. However, the 11am and noon buses were express buses that cost 7 Euros more (25 Euros). We were somewhat reluctant but I (Rachel) was ready to leave Sevilla and what would we do for 3 hours with our luggage? However, the bus was a nicer bus with leather seats and they gave us snacks and bottled water. Michelle said it was one of the more comfortable means of transportation thus far (probably because she was able to sleep moreso then the other occasions).

Until next time…in Granada!

Barcelona Day 2-5

Day 2

Thursday we started the day with a show in one of the plazas of the city with four other friends of ours from the Hostel (all Aussies). There five teams competed to form “Human Castles,” or stacks of people up to about 8 people high with a cherry - I mean child on top. It was thoroughly entertaining particularly when the “castles” would fall (is that wrong to say? I mean come on…you have to agree just a little.) There was a crowd of probably a thousand people in this plaza watching the Human Castles Competition….pretty amazing to see in person (this is an event normally televised but was much more enthralling to live it). BUUUUT it was ridiculously hot, so sadly we actually left before the competition was over so as not to die of heat exhaustion. After refreshing ourselves with some ice cold water, we took a stroll through Parc de la Ciutadella where in (fun fact) lies a fountain that was featured as the backdrop for a photo shoot on America's Next Top Model!

Later that day we went to watch “The Magical Fountain of Montjuic.” Ok they definitely could have chosen a more original name for this…but I will give it to them, it was quite magical. It is a fountain located in front of the National Museum of Art of Catalunya (Which looks like a castle almost) near Plaza Espanya. The fountain is lit with colors and cued to move in an array of shapes and arrangements set to music. Think Bellagio in Las Vegas. Pretty much just like that but way cooler. I an convinced Bellagio ripped off the idea from this fountain. There is no way to describe this other than it was so beautiful it was completely mesmerizing. Probably my (Michelle’s) favorite site in all of Barcelona. That’s saying a lot…

After the Magical Fountain business and after I was snapped out of my trance, we went to check out the fireworks. There was a fireworks show every night from Thursday through Sunday - all the work of a different country each day. The locals of Barcelona were asked to vote on which fireworks show was the best and there would be a winner…. we were not interested enough to find out who won but my vote was for the French.

Day 3

Friday we had the pleasure of being graced with the presence of my (Michelle’s) friend, Jordan who flew out from Monaco to spend the day with us in Barcelona! What a guy, right? The day was great minus all the ridiculous hills we walked up. By the way, this whole trip Michelle has had a messed up knee. But Jordan, the gentleman that he is, brought Michelle a knee patch-type thing with medicine which I can only equate to icy hot (But this was from Italy so it made it all the more exotic). It was amazing and I think it was made by fairies because it worked miracles - of course after taking the brunt of all the grandma jokes that day. Aaaaanyway, we hiked through some gardens ….with not a lot of greenery actually… to see the Olympic Stadium built for the 1992 Olympics, and then we hiked to Montjuic Castle. The views from the top of this Castle were pretty remarkable. After this we got lazy/Michelle’s leg might have fallen off, so we took a sky-taxi or whatever you want to call it (I call it a gondola but clearly that is the wrong terminology) anyway it’s a pod you sit in and it hangs from a cable and you can see the whole city below. Beautiful! When we got back we stopped for some churros con chocolate (Mmmm). Then we went back to the hostel hung out for a while and Jordan and I got to pray together which was such a blessing!! After Jord had to go, Rachel and I met up with our friends from our first hostel to go to a fancy shmancy dinner by the pier. Rachel enjoyed some duck, the boys all got paella and I dimwittedly got pasta (the wrong choice) but it was a fabulous evening. We then got some gelato before watching the fireworks again - round 2.

Day 4

Saturday we went to see Gaudi’s Casa Mila - aka “Las Pedreras.” This is one of those places you just have to see to believe (kind of like Sagrada de la Familia). Its places like this that really make me wonder what it would have been like to have Gaudi’s mind. Must have been a trip. After seeing that we did some shopping. I bought a memory card for my camera because I had ran out of room and didn’t want to delete any pictures for fear something happened to my computer. The point of telling you all of this is because I definitely got a work out on my Spanish language skills as I had to talk to the sales people find the right card which then didn’t work later and I had to go back and explain what had gone wrong with the crap they originally sold me. ;) Jk it wasn’t their fault just an old camera…. K you are right, that story was pointless but I already typed it so just smile and nod…

Theeen, later that night, after stopping at La Boqueria (open air market) for some fruit, we went to see something known as “The Fire Run” this is a tradition to the festival - La Merce. This was by far the most fun/dangerous/ridiculous events of the festival. It consisted of an array of people dressed as devils carrying tridents that spewed fireworks in the most reckless fashion. The sparks from these tridents and crazy dragon floats, which also spewed fire and sparks in all directions, consistently flew into the crowd, peoples faces, into children, the whole nine yards. Another way to describe this event, aside from riot or anarchy, is “a lawsuit waiting to happen” in the US that is. Here it is perfectly legit and we could not be more grateful because it was a blast!! (Pun intended). I have posted videos on my (Michelle’s) facebook if anyone is interested… And of course, we had dessert afterwards. We went to Giovanni, which is well known in Rome and Michelle had the gelato while I(Rachel) had a gofre- waffle drenched in chocolate and condensed milk. It was pure decadence. I am definitely putting on some pounds while we´re here.

Day 5

Sunday Rachel and I took the liberty of sleeping in. We had leftovers from dinner the night before which we made in the hostel (pasta with mushrooms), and then headed to the beach! It was a beautiful day about 85 degrees but with a nice breeze. When we got to the beach it was like national geographic. Topless women everywhere. We definitely are not in the US - this was no Pirates Cove. Not to mention you could not lie on the beach 5 mins without hearing Vietnamese women calling “Ok Massageeeee, ya, quieres massageeee reina?” Why thank you for calling me your queen and all, but no I do not randomly want a message in the middle of the beach, thanks. It was quite entertaining though to watch them approach people and start giving random unsolicited messages and then watching the people freak out, I will give them that.

After the beach, and recognizing that I got the weirdest tan ever from my bathing suit tie, we took showers and then headed to the Cathedral around 6pm. I honestly could write a book about all the thoughts the flooded my mind as we were in the Cathedral de Barcelona. But I will give you the cliff notes version: The architecture was like nothing I had ever seen before (granted I haven’t done much traveling) but this place took my breath away. I was humbled by the ornate adornments that surrounded the image of Christ on the cross at the church center. It portrayed the closest thing I have ever seen to the glory, honor, power, and passion of Christ if any of those things could ever be portrayed in the slightest at all to human eyes. I was so humbled. We inadvertently made it just in time for 7pm Mass. Which was phenomenal timing and we stayed to experience the beauty of it all. Again I can go on for days here…but I will leave you with that…

Once we left the Cathedral we headed to dinner in a neighboring plaza. The name of the restaurant was La Crema Canela. This was the most delicious meal I think either of us had in Barcelona. Rachel ordered a dish with various meats over thai noodles and I ordered chicken curry. We toped the meal off with a dessert that was to die for - I would equate it with Tres Leche Cake but with Toffee… ohhhh man. Mmmmm.

After dinner we booked it to Montjuic to see the finale fireworks show set to music! There was a crowd of thousands and we randomly ran into our hostel mates in the middle of the crowd! What are the chances? We all watched the show and were wowed together. A fantastic end to our time in Barcelona.

Next stop Seville!!

Barcelona Day 1

Barcelona

Wowie! Barcelona was definitely an experience. Never have I (Michelle) visited a city so rich in culture yet so paradoxical - religious focused yet secular, large city yet still slow paced, amiable and helpful people yet the number one pick pocket prone city in the world. Oh Barcelona… we spent 5 days in the city and those 5 where no where near enough….
Day 1

Michelle and I arrived into barcelona on the overnight bus at around 730am into Barcelona Nord. From there we took the metro from the red line to the green line and bought a 10 ticket metro pass (7.70 Euros). We didn´t get too lost getting to Saint Jordis Arago, and we were allowed to rest and take showers before checking into our rooms. When we did, we took a nap till about 12 and got up to eat. Our room was a pretty roomy room for 7 and I felt the bunk beds had more space inbetween the top and bottom bunk compared to the other hostels we stayed at. There are only 4 rooms in this hostel with at most 25 people. It´s a nice sized hostel to meet people without feeling overwhelmed. Another person in our room just checked in as well and tagged along with us for food and siteseeing. We found this cafe near our hostel called cafe 7? I had the tortilla with tuna on a baguette with cafe con leche and michelle had the ham and cheese tortilla on a baguette with an oj. The portions were really big for the price (around 3.5 Euros) and I was able to eat the other half for dinner.

We then when on an adventure and went up to Parc Guell, where you can see a 360 view of Barcelona. We took the metro to Vallecarca and then we were suppose to walk up the hill (comparable to a SF hill). But, we were lazy and they just installed an escalator most of the way up. It was probably good that we took the escalator because we walked ALOT that day (I do not think I’d be going out on a limb to say that they probably installed the escalator for the lazy American tourists). At the top, there was this shady guy who sold Mojitos for 5 Euros and our hostelmate actually bought one. We ventured around the park to the surrounding attractions which consisted of a series of buildings which looked like something straight out of the smurfs as well as a series of benches finished with a mosaic of tile.

Afterwards, we decided to walk to Sagrada Familia. Right before we entered, we decided to get some cash since we were low. When Michelle tried to get cash out, the machine took her card! What a nightmare. But at least I have my ATM card so it was okay. (Mom don’t freak out I immediate called and cancelled my card). When we went into Sagrada Familia (which cost 11 Euros, 9 if you have a student ID) we also got the audio guide (4 Euro) and it was way worth it. There were things that I wouldn´t have thought of or looked closely at if we didn´t have the audio guide. We continued our walking journey to Plaza Catalunya to try to find a La Merce guide of all the shows that were going on the next couple of days. We also went to the supermarket so we could buy some food and snacks for the next two days. After only being able to rest for an hour, we went out again with some of the people in our hostel (10 in total) to see The Opening Procession in Placa de Sant Jaume. It was a parade with music that had huge figures of all different people, including Michael Jackson! There were also people walking with these figures and tossing confetti at the audience whenever we took pictures The group that we were with consisted of mainly Aussies, two from Wales, and one other guy from Chicago. One of the Aussies, Paul, decided to be our tour guide for the evening so we would occasionally stop and he would tell a story. Most of the time, he was totally lying but it was funny experience. He even ended up buying a Spain flag to be more tour guide-like and he got looks because in Barcelona, the Cataluyns don´t like being associated with Spain so Paul quickly tied up his flag to look like the Catalan flag! After that, we went to Chupitos (at the end of Las Ramblas) and it was so random but I saw my friend Lily from Cal Poly there! We knew we would be in Spain at the same time, but we weren´t in Madrid at the same time and I didn´t know she was still in Barcelona. She was leaving for Madrid the next day! Such a small world/coincidence!!

San Sebastian

Where do we start???

San Sebastian might be one of our favorite cities in Spain. The bus ride from Bilbao to San Sebastian only took about an hr and a half (and only 9.55 Euro) in a clean well maintained bus (this detail is for our mother's ease). Our hostel sort of deceived us in how long it would take from the bus station, and therefore we ended up taking a city bus after walking for about 20 mins along the river. However, once we got to the hostel, we were welcomed with open arms. Our hostel, Ocean View is literally 30 meters away from the beach! From the common room, you can see the beach and the consistant perfect surf. The hostel was an apartment on the 2nd floor that had 5 rooms and had a very cozy homey feeling to it - but that feeling was amplified by the unparalleled company. The place is owned and run by a man by the name of Sebastian (from Argentina), Gabby (the mother figure who is also from Argentina) and Naeski (dont know if I spelled his name right but he´s from San Sebastian). Right away we met some of the guys who live there on a long term basis because they are currently attending the uni in San Sebastian(SS). They were from from Italy, Germany, France, and Rhode Island (I suddenly have a desire to pursue a degree in engineering in SS...Mom, what do you think? =]) We really enjoyed our stay and they made us feel like family.

Ok so we guess we should talk alittle about what we did there. The weather wasn´t so great when we first arrived. It was raining on and off so we just walked around Centro, Parte Vieja, and all along La Concha beach. It is a pretty beautiful beach, not as big as I (Rachel) thought it would be but still nice. If only the weather was better we could have laid out. At night, I went with a couple of the other hostelers to get pinxtos. Michelle didn´t come along because she wasn´t feeling too well and it was probably better that she rested (Swine Flu). We went to this tapas bar called Gandarias.They had amazing pintxos. I had a pintxo with patete and shrimp and a lil bit of caviore and mayo. There was another one that had like a mixed crab or lobster with mayo and a piece of salmon on top. I also had the salted cod, and this delicious small piece of steak called solomillo. Of course it was paired with red wine (Side note: you can get a 1.5 liter bottle of Sangria at the supermarket for 1.09 Euro, that´s dirt cheap!) Afterwards, we went back to the hostel to round up other people to go down to the bar called On Darra on the corner to just hang out. It was also where Jennifer Logue, our new friend and soon to be famous indie artist was having a show on Tuesday night (this girl has some pipes!).

On our second day, the weather was a little iffy but we got up, went to the Lidl (supermarket) and bought some fruit and vegetables and gazpacho because we decided we needed to eat something besides bread and cheese. After we had lunch, we went to the beach and it was actually not that cold! It was nice just taking in the ocean breeze and relaxing (our student roommates would give us a play by play on the status of the weather "Oh we have about 30 mins then it will likely rain...they were always spot on!).

SS is also known for their International Film Festival. I'd like to say we planned it but we were lucky enough to experience the festival atmosphere - which takes over this tiny town. There were movies in Spanish, English, French, and German. Brad Pitt was there a couple of days before we got there for his movie Inglorious Basterds. We also heard that Dustin Hoffman was there too. Too bad we missed them! We tried to buy tickets to one of the movies that was playing- Los Secretos de sus Ojos but they were sold out =/. But, when we were deciding on what to watch, this lady came up to us and gave us a ticket for a movie she couldn't see anymore. So sweet of her! It was a movie about the chinese and japanese and what happened during the Rapings of Nanjing, but there was a guy in our hostel who wanted to see it far more than we did so we gave the ticket to him and he came back saying that it was depressing. I´m so glad we didn´t see it then!

So back the truck up, when we are on our way back to the hostel after trying to buy tickets, we are strolling along minding our own business and out of NO where this guy about 22 years old - walking to some phat beats playing on his ipod - who clearly had never seen an asian before, saw Rachel and I believe got SO curious he just had to reach out and ....POKE HER IN THE NECK. Really? C'mon. Who does that? A simple "hello" would suffice... geepers....

After we got over the sock of the poking (which someone should mention to that kid does not translate the same in real life as it does on facebook), we walked by the convenience store right below our hostel and caught the aroma of a chocolate croissants fresh out of the oven and we couldn´t resist, so naturally we bought one. Yummy!

We were able to do our laundry at the hostel for 5 Euros for washer and dryer and Gabby, being the sweetheart that she is, even folded all of our clothes (underwear included...). That night we went to this bar called Tas Tas and it was "popping" up in there. I, Rachel, was surprised how crowded it was on a Monday night and they had pretty decent music. We barhopped to a couple of other bars before heading back to the hostel for bed.

On our last day, we had to check out by 11-12 but left our luggage in one of the lockers until we had to leave. A bunch of us climbed up to Monte Urgull (a.k.a. The massive Jesus statue) and it was breathtaking. We sat along one of the walls of the castle and had a complete 180 view of SS! We hung out up there for about an hr just taking it all in....gorgeous! If the weather was a bit nicer we could have stayed up there all day. On our way back down we stopped at Bershka so Michelle could buy a very cool and trendy jacket and we had dinner at a burger joint. Yes, I know what are we doing eat burgers in SS? Sometimes you just crave one and it was fairly good! Mine was a hamburger with scrambled eggs, bacon, and mushrooms. Michelle had a hamburger with red peppers. We also bought gelato, toffee caramelo..YUM (Ok seriously, this was the best gelato in the world)! We went to see Jen´s show at around 830/9 and let us say that she is one talented girl! We were actually somewhat sad when we left the hostel for the bus station. However, we are going to Barcelona, another city another adventure.

Bilbao

Buenos dias todos! Soo we are a little bit behind in our blog updates but here we are - back and ready to update you all on our exciting adventures! You can now take a break from sitting in front of your computers pressing the refresh button every 5 minutes... :) jk jk

Bilbao

There was a quaint small town vibe to Bilbao and yet it wasn’t a small town at all. We arrived at around noon but were both tired from the early train ride and the lack of a proper breakfast. Finding our way to the hostel was a challenge as well. The Bilbao-ians were all very nice. They tried to help us find our way through this spread out city and left us a very good first impression of this town. However, they all speak Basque (Vasque) and we couldn’t understand them at all. It came to a point where it was kind of frustrating because they know how to speak Spanish but refuse to. Once we got to the hostel we ate our baguette and cheese that we bought in Madrid and took a well needed siesta. When we were rejuvenated we began our way through Bilbao.

The architecture of the metro system is seriously amazing. Its probably one of the nicer, and well designed metro systems: underground tunnels and escalators and all. It was a piece of art. From our understanding the architects of the city have tried to design its other structures with a similar aesthetic flare as the Guggenheim, so as to match. We walked to the Guggenheim Museum built by Frank Gehry which was inspired by carp (Ya you read that right…a carp, as in the fish, as in the weird relationship Mr. Gehry had with carp which extended to even swimming with them in his own bathtub….odd but the result of this freaky relationship was a beautiful piece of architecture). It was a structure quite different than anything else I’ve seen before. There was also a giant spider structure next to the river and a modern rendition of the golden gate bridge that allowed you to cross over to the other side of the river. We continued to walk around the town, taking pictures of beautiful buildings gardens, and plazas.

For dinner, we decided to go to Old Town for Tapas with a hostel mate. We took the metro which was only a couple of stops away. We were pretty lucky that it didn’t rain during the day, but it did rain at night. We first went to a tapas bar called Santa Maria Bar and then one called Irrinitza. The tapas at the second place were way better. I had the salted cod (which they are known for) and it was pretty delicious. Michelle and I split an apple pie; you can never go wrong w/ dessert! We went around to the other bars for a little while longer and then called it quits around 130am. It was kind of awkward getting into our hostel room. The hallways were dark, and there was a couple making out in a corner on the way to the room. Also, we couldn’t see anything in the room so we had to turn on the lights which woke up the 3 other people that were sleeping. We felt so bad! We took our sweet time getting up the next day, ate breakfast, and then checked out and made our way to the bus station. Bilbao was a nice town with a lot of potential but unless you have an extensive amount of time in Spain or happen to be in the area, I wouldn’t stress too much about fitting Bilbao into the itinerary. Now we’re off to San Sebastian where we hope the weather is beautiful so I can get a much needed tan!

Last Days in Madrid

iQue tal amigos!

Currently we are on a train from Madrid to Bilbao (home of the Guggenheim). The train ride is beautiful as we get to enjoy the view of the country side… er at least I do (Michelle) because I again lack the ability to sleep on public transport, unlike Rachel who has mastered this skill artfully.

Last night we went out with a giant group from our hostel to check out the Madrid nightlife but came home relatively early in order to get enough sleep for our 6am wake up call to get on this train…our “early” bed time did not pan out quite as planned as we were awoken countless times by our joyful roomies as they stumbled home and soon after began snoring at unimaginable volumes. Did I mention one guy fell straight out of his TOP bunk? Yep. That happened. Haha. Right about now is when I desperately wish I had Rachel’s sleeping skills….(except she can’t seem to be able to have uninterrupted sleep at night so I guess it balances out the same)

Instead, let me tell you about our last couple of days in Madrid!

Thursday we went with another girl from our hostel named Anne-Marie (she is from Montreal) to check out some more museums and see the sights. We explored Plaza Mayor, Palacio Real, the Cathedral, The Basilica de San Francisco, the Arch de Toledo, and spent a couple hours in Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Renia Sofia (which holds Pablo Picasso’s Guernica). Needless to say we were pretty tired after all of that and we could barely feel our legs from walking all around the city. And yes, it was raining again but it didn’t stop us one bit. Our siesta was well embraced that day. For lunch, we ate at some cafeteria next to the Museo- Renia Sofia and Michelle had a Calamari baguette and I (Rachel now) had the Jamon Serrano baguette. I would have to say, proscuitto is way better but jamon is still delicious.

For dinner, we decided to hit up a popular tapas bar called Le Tigre. We ended up getting 4 other people in our room (one Canadian, one Aussie, one from Wisconsin, and an Irish) and 4 others (a Venezuelan, two Brits, and one from Chicago) from another room to join the fun. By the time we got there the place was PACKED. Le Tigre is this small bar with minimal bar tables and even fewer seats and heads of a boar and moose hung above your heads. Most people are standing around, shoulder to shoulder, (some butt to butt) while enjoying their drinks (Sangria, Mojitos, or Mahou-Spanish beer). The drinks were cheap and came with an array of tapas- croquets, tortilla, chorizo, patatas in some spicy sauce, and queso over bread - gratis. Le Tigre had a very fun atmosphere even with the mounds of second hand smoke that was being inhaled (a huge change from our highly regulated California air).

Friday we decided to take it a little bit easier. In the morning we got a cup of café con leche which almost makes Michelle want to start drinking coffee regularly, aaaalmost. Then we went to Plaza del Sol and did some shopping. Two observations: is it really necessary to have 5 of the same stores within the same 1 mile radius? I.e. H&M, Zara, Bershka, Lefties. Apparently so. Also…if you plan to visit Spain, beware of street vents. These things are not your typical small grate on the side of the roads like in the states. These are massive grates that blow large amounts of hot air upwards… note to travelers: avoid these vents if you are wearing a dress….enough said.

After some shopping we headed to Parque Retrio (a massive park located behind El Prado with large expanses of grass, lakes, trees, benches and walkways) since it did not rain…until we left... The park is gorgeous. We read there for a while and enjoyed siesta time under the trees and taking in the beauty of the area. We also had an extended siesta back at the hostel and then decided on having a good dinner on our last night in Madrid. We were recommended to try the Paella in this area about 5 mins away from our hostel. We ordered Seafood Paella, Patatas in Garlic Aouli Sauce, Fried Calamari, and Sangria. The food was delicious, however not cheap (12.5 Euro per person) and I (Rachel) have not had Paella before so we will have to wait till Sevilla to compare.

The train that we are taking to Bilbao is called the Renfe Alvia. It travels up to 150 km/hr and is fairly new actually. However, the transfer from the metro to the train station needs some work which could be easily fixed with a couple of signs or even a few more arrows (what Rachel means to say here is that we silly Americans got l-o-s-t).

Now..maybe it was due to the lack of sleep and the deliriousness of the past couple of days, but Michelle decided to use the end of an one-time use toothbrush to stir her yogurt once we were on the train because we didn’t have any utensils. She then proceeds to brush her teeth with the other end…with yogurt. I (Rachel) couldn’t stop laughing and the couple who were sitting directly in front of us (who probably thought we were odd tourists to begin with) were too because well, if you can’t see why then I guess you just had to be there to witness it. Later the same couple brought us, from another part of the train, 5 sporks, with a face that said “oh you silly tourists.”

Unfortunately we hear it will likely rain when we are up north in Bilbao and San Sebastian but lets pray the weather man is wrong! Funny… September traditionally has 6 days of rain a year. We happen to come for all 6. We can’t say it has put a “damper” on our trip in the slightest though. The beauty of this place is hard to mask, that’s for sure!

Until next time… adios todos!

<3 Rachel & Michelle