Granada

This past weekend I was able to visit the beautiful city of Granada in the southern part of France. It has a rich history with a significant Muslim influence. It was my first time in the state of Andalucia which takes up a majority of the southern coast of Spain. I will be going back next weekend for Seville, and I had a great time in Granada.

The first night, my friends and I were able to find a great affordable Chinese restaurant. I was surprised to find decent Chinese food in Spain, but it is possible. After our dinner, we boys went adventuring through parts of Granada. We just walked up a road and it brought us to an awesome fountain. There were a bunch of younger people drinking their typical calimocha (red wine and coca cola) with random dogs just running around. We ended up being there for a good hour, and then left for the first mountain we could find.

Walking up through random streets ended up working out, and we found this great open area with a view of the city. We enjoyed the view, tried to see free flamenco but were not allowed in. So we decided to walk through random areas again, and we found some interesting sites like a bunch of guys carrying a huge bed frame. We figured it had to be some ritual thing, and it was interesting to walk past. We ended our adventure once we got a little scared of our location, and it was easy to get back to the hotel.

Saturday was our only full day in Granada, but it rocked! We spent our morning and early afternoon at the famous Alhambra. The Alhambra was built by the Muslims on the top of a mountain overlooking the city. It includes a beautiful palace, gardens, entertainment areas, fortress and other small buildings in a fortified wall. Its architecture is unlike any other in the world, and I would recommend you all to see it. Remember to make reservations, and for an extra perk, it is a making a run for being voted as one of the wonders of the world.

After our tour, we split off from the group to adventure and find a good cheap place to eat. We found a great falafel and pita restaurant, and chilled out next to a fountain while we enjoyed our food. We ended up finding another area to relax next to the river (more like a stream), and we got out the Frisbee. We spent a good two hours listening to street musicians, throwing the Frisbee or making fun of each other while enjoying the weather. My friend Mark ended up falling in love with an Australian street musician, and bought her CD; we tourists are so easy to fool.

We then walked up through the streets into the Albaicin neighborhood of the city. We heard about this great view point where the gypsies and younger crowd enjoy their Saturday afternoons. We ended up finding the spot and spent another two hours in the area. We once again enjoyed the street musicians, the crafts being sold by gypsies, the great view of the Alhambra and talking to other English/Spanish speaking people. My friend Dan kicked a Spaniard’s ass in chess.

We left to find the best view of the sun setting in Granada, and were once again successful. We ended up in one of the highest spots of the city, and enjoyed the sunset listening to the techno music of other Spaniards. It was pretty awesome and while walking back down into the city, we found the coolest thing ever!

Just like the 60s and 70s in America, there are Spaniards that have built homes in the caves of the mountain. It was amazing to see how they managed to create homes out of complete junk, but it was a beautiful art. The word on the street though is that the mayor wants to build a hotel and kick out all these cave people! It is sad to hear but the town is trying to make the most money possible out of tourism.

After this great adventure, we back down into Albaicin and enjoyed the vibe of the city. We walked for a good hour or two throughout the city until finding a good spot for the dinner. It was an all you can eat buffet with a great selection of veggies for my friend. We ended up spending three hours laughing and making fun of each other. We of course got our moneys worth of the 10 euro we paid for the buffet.

We had to leave for the airport by noon on Sunday and of course we did not wake up until the latest time possible. But we did have a lot of time at the airport, so we started a great game of ultimate Frisbee. My team lost unfortunately but it was all in good fun … it always a tie at the YMCA! It was not actually inside the airport but in a grassy area outside. It was by far the best way to end our trip!

If you are ever in Spain, you need to visit this beautiful city! You can find cheap flights through Vueling or Ryan Air, and there is a 3 Euro shuttle into the city. Know your hotel name because that is the only way to know where your bus stop is! I will have pictures up more into the week, but look for my blog after my adventure into Seville!

Paris



So I adventured into the city of love this past weekend. No not Las Vegas, but Paris! It was my first trip alone on this trip, and even better I was sick for half of the adventure. I had a monster headache and a stomach that you could not tame; it almost prevented me from getting on the flight. But, almost is only important in horseshoes and hand grenades.

I was lucky enough to spend my Wednesday night slash Thursday morning in the luxurious Barajas Madrid Airport. I was surprised how many other people had the same problem with the metro not running from two to six in the morning. The place had a good crowd!

My first night I spent at the Caulaincourt Hostel and some other Americans/Aussies invited me to journey Paris with them. We walked to the Eiffel Tower from a far off metro stop and I could not believe the beauty of Paris. The Seine River has amazing buildings along it, the streets having great avenues and it is so easy to just walk all day in the city. Two girls got me to see a Cabaret the first night, and even with a headache I enjoyed it!

I was able to meet up with up two friends from Silver Bay who actually live right outside of Paris. I could not believe how kind they were to me! Sophie and Audrey walked me all throughout the city during my three days visiting. They even offered me housing with free phone calls to the US for my final two nights. I felt like I was staying at the Hotel de Ville in Paris. Because of these two girls, I felt like I was living in France and I loved it all.

We were able to see the Arc De Triomphe, the Pantheon, Montmartre (artist district), outside of the Louvre Museum, the bridges of Paris, L’Obelisque(supposedly start of the most beautiful avenue in the world), the Bastille, many gardens/parks and I went on my own side trip to the cemetery of Pere Lachaise. This is a burial ground with many famous figures and my personal favorites were Jim Morrison and Oscar Wilde. There are more places I saw but I just don’t know their name, I just remember their beauty. My passion for walking around cities was perfect for Paris!

My last day, we met up with another Silver Bay friend, Alice, who took us through the Jewish neighborhood of Paris. It was great just to see all the architecture, the falafel restaurants and the different crowds in these neighborhoods. It was very popular and we were able to spend our Saturday night enjoying French crepes at Alice’s beautiful apartment. It was a great way to end my three day adventure in Paris: wine, crepes and good friends.

I learned a lot from traveling alone to France, and I want to share a few of them. Do not let illnesses keep you from traveling because they will go away eventually. You will always find a friend while traveling alone in a hostel. There are too many gypsies and beggars from Eastern Europe in France. Fourth off, I learned how interesting a Cabaret can be.

Enjoy these pictures and thank you to my Silver Bay friends for making this trip amazing!

One Month In

So it has been just more than a month over here in Spain for me, and I am still adjusting to life over here. It is different, but you know I just got to get used to it. I am certainly having a good time over here though ..

I am still trying to meet as many people as possible. I do have some core friends who are in my classes, but I am trying to meet more you know. The unfortunate part is that it is very difficult to make friends with Spaniards. In fact, the only spaniards I get to know are either my roommates or my friends roommates. Also, most Spaniards are still studying for their exams right now, and are not out as much. You can sense that a lot of the international students cling together. At the same time, spaniards may be less willing to talk to Americans at times. I am still making friends with as many people as possible, and experiencing other cultures.

I was able to have an amazing dinner with some Chinese students last Friday. I never had better Chinese food in my life, and the food was not what I expected. None of my meal would be served in an American Chinese Restaurante. They are either not as popular in the US or just typical in the US. I think it is the second one, because the Chinese restaurantes realized that they needed to adapt their food for Americans. Plus Americans like fried food more, and I did not have any fried Chinese food. It was realy nice to experience another culture, and my family would have been proud of my chop stick skills.

I am still traveling around as much as possible, when it comes to visiting cities and other countries. This upcoming weekend I will be in Paris, and I am still trying to make plans for Spring Break. I know that the weekend after Paris, there is a strong possibility that I will take a weekend off of traveling. That weekend is the festival of Carnaval, so you never know though. I am no longer uncomfortable about traveling in Spain, but going to a country where I speak none of their language scares me. Hopefully my Silver Bay friends in Paris will help me out this upcoming weekend.

I still though am not officially cultured into the Spain lifestyle. I am doing very well, I have started to drink coffee after classes with students while eating tapas. I walk around the streets of Alcala and visit local markets for foods, but the language is still coming. I make dinner and lunch with my roomates often, and that is my favorite part of the day. I try to cook as much as possible, so people please send me recipes if you have any. I am now only watching movies in Spanish, but I do need the subtitles. It is dificult to take in the accent at times. When I watch the spanish tv, I still am working to understand what is going on. They certainly watch just as much tv as americans over here, but their prgrams are a bit more liberal and free for network television.

well adios all, and I hope you all enjoy some more pictures from my second voyage through toledo. By the way, I thought the super bowl could have been better. It still was worth being up to 6 am in the morning because of my trip into madrid for the game.

Cuenca




So for this past weekend, I took a three hour train trip out of Madrid to the city of Cuenca. My Lonely Planet book recommended the spot and my roommate who lives there was constantly raving about it. Overall, the trip was nice because the city was small and not as touristy but still had some great vsites.

The city consists of two parts, the Old Town and New town. The two names definitely fit their names and you can easily tell which part of the city you are in. Unfortunately, we had no map when first arriving into the city and had no idea where to go. We eventually got our directions straight, and ended up in the beautiful old town. The older part is higher up on a hill with cobblestone paths like Toledo and Segovia.

My favorite part of the trip had to be walking along these cliffs that you will see in these pictures. I just found a path that was a great trail and scared the hell out of me. I walked for a good hour, and just had a great time. The next day I did some more walking, but unfortunately did not have enough time to get really adventurous. I separated from the girls I went with, and was a little scared by a begger along a street.

If you do make it to Spain, and you want a quiet but beautiful city to walk around in, I would recommend Cuenca. The train ticket is not too expensive, and you can find some great affordable hotels and restaurants. The people are friendly, but just get a map before you show up! I hope you enjoy the pictures that include some great views from the top of Old Town!