"If adventures do not befall a young lady in her own village, she must seek them abroad" — Jane Austen
Monday, October 29, 2012
The end.
I kept thinking that leaving Valencia would be easier than it was. I think once I could start counting down the days left I had on my 2 hands it really started to hit me. This is the last time I'm going to take the bus to the university. This is the last time I'll walk through this park. This is the last time I'll eat at this restaurant. This is the last time I'll walk to my apartment. Things that didn't seem like a big deal really became a big deal to me. I wanted to make sure to see and experience as much as possible. Almost just like my first week in Valencia. I wanted to remember every single little detail.
My last week in Valencia was not as eventful as I had planned. I had planned to do so many things, but I had found out while vacationing with my parents that I had not passed a class the first time I took the exam for it, so I figured I'd better take the exam again during the second exam period. I talked to my professor and he was going to let me take it at the end of the week since I would not be in Spain still for when the exam was scheduled. So for the majority of the week I spent my time slaving away and studying. I met up with Natacha a few times and we would go buy a lunch at Mercadona and then eat and study at the library. Sometimes it was nice to get out of my room. Ana and I did a few more things together. I wish we had been able to do more while I was there, but it was hard for us because she was extremely busy finishing up her law degree. Ana, Natalia and I went to a little restaurant near our flat called "El Gato" one night. It was a bit expensive, but had really nice, traditional tapas. Natacha and I finally went to the Arab/Middle Ages Valencian restaurant I had wanted to go to for forever. (Restaurante Balansiya) It was super traditional and the owner had made all of the decor and plates and music traditional from Valencia in the Middle Ages. We had received a deal online for a 12 course meal split by 2 people with drinks, tea, and dessert included, was 15 Euros. Do you understand how cheap that is??!!? Oh my gosh it was such good food. It was far away. Near my old apartment, but it was so worth it. It's kinda hidden, I think that's why not many people know about it. You name the middle eastern food, we got it. hummus, falafel, tagine, salad, pita bread, kebab, etc. so freaking good. I wish I had known about it the whole time I was in Valencia!!
Natacha and I also went to a little carnival they had in the Turia. We decided to ride the huge ferris wheel, but immediately regretted it when we got sick! I bought some cotton candy and I was so excited, but it literally MELTED before I could eat it because the weather was so humid and hot in Valencia. So sad :( we also made sure to go to Umbracle and Las Animas as well. Her friend Jose from Puerto Rico paid for us to get in! how nice! so we chilled with him and his friends.
It really was the hardest thing saying goodbye to people you saw on a daily or weekly basis. People you almost don't realize. The guy who worked at the bike shop next to my place, or the waitress at my favorite restaurant, or the guy who owned the fruit/vegetable stand I always went to, and the lady who worked at the nearest Mercadona to my apartment. I had some fond little memories about those people and it was hard thinking I wouldn't see them again. The guy at the fruit/vegetable store always remembered that I was the foreign girl and insisted on calling me "chiquita" he even gave me free produce sometimes or would just charge me a flat amount. He was a nice guy. And the bike shop guy helped me with my garbage once, which Ana said he would never do for her or Natalia. He also always had his dog hanging out in our alleyway he was so cute. I it was necessary to be sure to say goodbye to all those people.
The final for the Eurocup was on the 1 of July. We went to a bar/cafe to watch it, Silje, Karla, Jenna, Natacha, and I. It was so packed and so crazy. The people went nuts whenever they thought it was possible to cheer. Whenever Spain made a goal against Italy, the crowd went insane. I had never seen anything like it. The Superbowl doesn't even compare with how insane the fans are when it come to Futbol in Spain. And lo and behold, Spain lived up to their infamous title of being some of the best soccer players in the world, beating Italy 4-0. :) What a way to end my time in Spain, by going out and watching an epic game with the locals.
Jonas and I spent a whole day just chilling. He was leaving before I was and we ended up trying to go shopping for trinkets and gifts for family. We seriously went to just about every shop in the city center that day. We ate at Cien Montaditos since it's super cheap and the olives are divine. Then it got so hot we went to an ice cream shop he knew about and got shakes and sat next to the Xátiva metro station entrance and drank them. We then walked around for a while until all the shops were closed and then sat and talked at a little Plaza off Calle Caballeros. And I went and bought a whole jar of olives for myself from a Chinese store that was still open at 11 at night. That was the last time I saw Jonas until I was going up to see him in Denmark!
I became obsessed with two things before leaving. Green olives and horchata. Oh my gosh. I would go to Mercadona and buy a liter of horchata and drink it all within a day. I think it was mostly because I knew I wouldn't be able to get that kind of delicious stuff once I got back to the U.S.
I went to my favorite restaurant 2 times that week, La Rentaora. I went with Ana and her friends before I met up with Natacha to ride our Valenbicis to the Carnival and on my last night there with Ana, Natacha, Silje, and Talitha.
On my last day, I wanted to see everything. I did. I woke up early and went to eat breakfast with Ana at a little place right around the corner from our place next to the Torres de Serrano, I went shopping for any extra trinkets, and then got a ride from Ana to the university to use their internet to print out things, I then rode a bus to pick up a bus ticket for later down to Alicante once I got back from Paris, and then walked back home along the Turia. I wish I had gone down there more. It is so nice. I wish every city had one. I then decided to be touristy and climb up the micalet tower to see Valencia from above. It was amazing, and I was so glad I did it even if it was by myself in the end. I then got back to my apartment and took a short nap, only to wake up and go to the beach with my friend Silje from Norway. :) I waited for her at las Arenas and made sure to find a horchata stand. Obsessed with that stuff! I wish I had figured out my passion for it months before. When she arrived, we found a nice spot by the water but because of all the fires going on in Spain, the ocean was very dirty with lots of debris and soot. She gave me a coin from Norway so I could wear it on a necklace to remember Norway and to have a little piece of it with me all the time. I wish we could have gotten to know each other a little better before, I really liked Silje and felt like we got along really well. We'll have to meet up sometime in the future and going on a traveling adventure or something. :)
I got home and had to change to get ready to go eat at La Rentaora. We all got ready and waited for a bit under the Torres for Silje and Talitha because they were late, which was fine, we just had to get to the restaurant in time to eat dinner. I had a lot of clothes that I had to throw away because I didn't have any room in my backpack, so we grabbed them and Ana and I were going to go donate them at the homeless shelter, but it wasn't even open, so, we chose the next best option. That was to put them near a dumpster and have people raid it and take what they wanted. We ate the brie with violet jam and bread, chorizo, salad of tomatoes and mozarella, pate on bread, and a chocolate lava cake. Delicious.
I said my goodbyes to Silje and Talitha and went back to finish packing. I gave Ana a pack of the glow sticks Mom had sent me and she had never seen them before!!!! I didn't know that was possible!!! wow. So we took pictures with them and talked for a while. It was around 3 and she went to bed. It was hard saying goodbye to Ana. She was always there for me, and I saw her every day. She is such a sweet girl and has so much going for her. I hope to see her again soon. I decided it wasn't a good idea to sleep at all since I had to leave about an hour after Ana fell asleep. When the time finally came, I said goodbye to my room and my house that I'll never see again and went off to the metro station. I walked to Plaza de la Reina until I could find a Valenbisi and rode to Xativa. My last Valenbisi ride. :( I waited for the metro for a little while.and then met up with Natacha on it to go to the airport to leave for our trip to Paris.
Once we were up in the air, I looked down at the city I had called home for the past 6 months. I was almost sick to my stomach thinking about not coming back. I took a picture of the city from the air with my crappy iPod. If anyone else looked at the picture I took, they wouldn't know what they were looking at. But I can look at that photo, and tell you exactly where I lived and the places I walked past everyday. And that is what matters most to me. I want to remember that connection I have with Valencia for the rest of my life.
I'm in Barcelona!
So things are going to go a little out of order. I went to Barcelona with my parents as well. Eh. what the heck. I'll just talk about it all right now.
Barcelona. First day was a chill day. We layed around for a good portion of the morning in Montserrat on June 21 (Thursday). Then we went to go see the monastery in the mountains there. You have to drive up a windy road to get there. It was neat, there was a lot of things up there to see. It didn't seem as old as I thought it would be. Still neat. We just hung out there and waited until later on to watch the boys choir sing. So we sat there and all the monks came out and sang too. It was strange being in their big cathedral while it was all going on. I had no idea what to do. But it was neat. My dad absolutely enjoyed it. He said it was the highlight of the whole trip. We then got back to the hostel and ate dinner there. It was pretty tasty for the price it was. Pasta and sausages and such.
Next day, we woke up suuuuuper early to go into Barcelona and see all the sights. We got up and left by 6 to catch the train into town. Holy crap. So we first went to La Sagrada Familia, the huge cathedral that is the most iconic part of Barcelona. Gaudi, the guy who created the whole thing, left specific instructions for it's completion. Specific patterns for the stained glass windows and everything in there. It was amazing. Probably my favorite cathedral of any I've ever seen and been into. It's so unique. So modern and unlike anything ever created before. It has so many things modeled on nature, with lizard and frog gargoyles to the inside looking like a forest of trees as the pillars. So neat. Definitely worth the money to get into. It'll take another 20 years or so to be fully finished. After that, we went to see some of the other buildings that Gaudi created. Pretty neat, but we didn't want to pay the ridiculous price to go inside...so we walked down to the street called "las Ramblas" there are lots of little booths to buy souvenirs and one of their main markets is in the center to go get food. We then walked down to the port and ate a hot dog. I didn't feel like dealing with eating tapas. So Mom and I had one and a lemon slush while looking at the water and boats. After that we went to the Picasso museum. It doesn't have many of his really famous works there, but there are hundreds of his early work and sketches and lots of prime examples of the evolution of his art. Pretty neat. We thought we would need a lot more time in Barcelona to see everything, but we then went and ate dinner on Las Ramblas and then took a taxi back to the train station. Mom and Dad seemed amazed at the ease I had taking the train back. They were worried we weren't on the right train. Oh mother. ;) So then we got back and crashed because we had to get up for another early day.
We had to get the car back on Saturday in Valencia by 11 a.m. so we got up early and left. Got the car back in time and then took a taxi to my apartment. It was nice to be home. for a week. We didn't spend a long time hanging out though. We packed some of my stuff then headed out to shop a little before going to see the formula 1 race cars Dad was so excited to see. After trying to see the cars for Dad down by the port, we took a taxi to the Ciudad de las Artes y Ciencia and explored around there for a little while. The taxi driver back to my apartment was so friendly and nice. I like being able to speak with the locals, that's where the real heart of Valencia is. Once we got back to my apartment, we went to eat. We went to Cien Montaditos and got some little sandwiches and olives. That's the only place I feel like you can get a decently huge size drink for your money's worth. We went shopping for presents after that and then did some packing. That night we went to La Rentaora to eat since it's my absolute favorite restaurant. Also, since not many people know about it, it's tucked away close to my apartment and usually you can find a table there. Ana and Natalia came later so we chatted with them for a while. We planned to go to el dia de San Juan later that night. It was a huge bonfire on the beach and at midnight you were suppose to run into the water and jump over 3 waves and make a wish. Mom and Dad had to leave early the next morning, so they opted to sleep and I went with Ana and Natalia to the beach. We were late, but got there and had some fun chatting and everything with friends. I met Natacha there so we could chill since I hadn't seen her in weeks! It took at least a half hour to get the tram to leave after though because there was so much traffic.
Awesome trip. Awesome family. Awesome friends. Awesome times. :) Definitely and unforgettable trip.
Barcelona. First day was a chill day. We layed around for a good portion of the morning in Montserrat on June 21 (Thursday). Then we went to go see the monastery in the mountains there. You have to drive up a windy road to get there. It was neat, there was a lot of things up there to see. It didn't seem as old as I thought it would be. Still neat. We just hung out there and waited until later on to watch the boys choir sing. So we sat there and all the monks came out and sang too. It was strange being in their big cathedral while it was all going on. I had no idea what to do. But it was neat. My dad absolutely enjoyed it. He said it was the highlight of the whole trip. We then got back to the hostel and ate dinner there. It was pretty tasty for the price it was. Pasta and sausages and such.
Next day, we woke up suuuuuper early to go into Barcelona and see all the sights. We got up and left by 6 to catch the train into town. Holy crap. So we first went to La Sagrada Familia, the huge cathedral that is the most iconic part of Barcelona. Gaudi, the guy who created the whole thing, left specific instructions for it's completion. Specific patterns for the stained glass windows and everything in there. It was amazing. Probably my favorite cathedral of any I've ever seen and been into. It's so unique. So modern and unlike anything ever created before. It has so many things modeled on nature, with lizard and frog gargoyles to the inside looking like a forest of trees as the pillars. So neat. Definitely worth the money to get into. It'll take another 20 years or so to be fully finished. After that, we went to see some of the other buildings that Gaudi created. Pretty neat, but we didn't want to pay the ridiculous price to go inside...so we walked down to the street called "las Ramblas" there are lots of little booths to buy souvenirs and one of their main markets is in the center to go get food. We then walked down to the port and ate a hot dog. I didn't feel like dealing with eating tapas. So Mom and I had one and a lemon slush while looking at the water and boats. After that we went to the Picasso museum. It doesn't have many of his really famous works there, but there are hundreds of his early work and sketches and lots of prime examples of the evolution of his art. Pretty neat. We thought we would need a lot more time in Barcelona to see everything, but we then went and ate dinner on Las Ramblas and then took a taxi back to the train station. Mom and Dad seemed amazed at the ease I had taking the train back. They were worried we weren't on the right train. Oh mother. ;) So then we got back and crashed because we had to get up for another early day.
We had to get the car back on Saturday in Valencia by 11 a.m. so we got up early and left. Got the car back in time and then took a taxi to my apartment. It was nice to be home. for a week. We didn't spend a long time hanging out though. We packed some of my stuff then headed out to shop a little before going to see the formula 1 race cars Dad was so excited to see. After trying to see the cars for Dad down by the port, we took a taxi to the Ciudad de las Artes y Ciencia and explored around there for a little while. The taxi driver back to my apartment was so friendly and nice. I like being able to speak with the locals, that's where the real heart of Valencia is. Once we got back to my apartment, we went to eat. We went to Cien Montaditos and got some little sandwiches and olives. That's the only place I feel like you can get a decently huge size drink for your money's worth. We went shopping for presents after that and then did some packing. That night we went to La Rentaora to eat since it's my absolute favorite restaurant. Also, since not many people know about it, it's tucked away close to my apartment and usually you can find a table there. Ana and Natalia came later so we chatted with them for a while. We planned to go to el dia de San Juan later that night. It was a huge bonfire on the beach and at midnight you were suppose to run into the water and jump over 3 waves and make a wish. Mom and Dad had to leave early the next morning, so they opted to sleep and I went with Ana and Natalia to the beach. We were late, but got there and had some fun chatting and everything with friends. I met Natacha there so we could chill since I hadn't seen her in weeks! It took at least a half hour to get the tram to leave after though because there was so much traffic.
Awesome trip. Awesome family. Awesome friends. Awesome times. :) Definitely and unforgettable trip.
Saturday, June 30, 2012
Slacking. On to France.
So. Last time I wrote, it was about getting into France! No border patrol really. Of course not. This is Europe! So I slept in on Tuesday, June 20, 2012. Mom and Dad went and got some divine baked goods and got our lunch as well. By the chocolate place I had a picture of! Off to drive then! We had a 4 hour drive up to Albi, France, so we hit the road. Once thing Mom noticed, of course, was that there were actually rest areas in France, and they were nice ones! Thank heaven. I swear. There are none on the highways in Spain. Seriously. One we stopped at had a nice little tribute to a part of the Tour de France. It was nice. We also got to snack on homemade butter with sausage and bread. And as a special treat....MACAROONS. Amazing.
Couldn't find parking! I think trying to find parking is the most stressful thing of traveling by car. Never know where to park the thing. Once, we did, we walked up to visit the Albi cathedral. It is the world's largest brick building. Pretty impressive if I do say so myself. The inside was really nice, with a big choir room that was behind the main worshiping part of the cathedral, with a very intricate ceiling. It was nice to have the audioguide to interpret what we were looking at. All of the walls and everything were painted instead of adorned with as many statues. It was unique in that way from all the other cathedrals I have been in. It was nice to see something different. Cathedrals start looking alike after the first 3 or so. We also toured the museum next to the cathedral with some interesting paintings in it. We almost got locked in, haha the guards were speaking to us in French and we had no idea what they were saying but they thought we knew.
Onto where we were staying for the night! I felt like Dad was taking us to the middle of nowhere, cause the GPS seemed to have a really hard time finding it. I thought maybe he had surprised us with camping for the last night in France since it pointed to an open field. Oh was I so wrong. Once we arrived at the real place, it was the complete opposite. We, ladies and gentlemen, were sleeping in a castle for the night. Yes, a small one, but, a castle is a castle people!!!!! It was gorgeous! Dad couldn't find the entrance. haha "But....how do you get into the castle?" The owner, Bridgette, was a really tall, kind, French lady. She showed us to our room, and it was just like I had stepped into Pride and Prejudice. A canopy, large mirrors, a mannequin with an antique dress and bonnet, old photographs, with a beautiful little key to open and close our door. Seriously. Has to be one of the coolest places I've ever been. It had a little hedge maze in the back, a pool, swings, and an old building where they use to keep birds? There was even a tower on our castle. Sweet! There were also old books, and music placed around the house. Very nice feel to the place. We decided to finish off the contents of our lunch for dinner, so we just brought it out and ate it on a table on the outside of the house. We didn't use knives, plates, or anything. We used the paper the bread and things were wrapped in before for our place mats, ate olives out of a packet, Dad was sitting with his shoes off and resting on an empty chair, and we were using our hands. Mind you, Bridgette came to ask us why we hadn't brought out plates or anything. Totally forgot, that in France, they are SUPER uptight about manners and eating with utensils and everything for meals. She probably thought we were the most disgusting people ever. I'm sorry America for shaming your name with such "slobs." Oh well, it tasted so good and that's all that I really cared about in the end. So we soaked it all in for the evening while it lightly rained, then went to sleep.
Wednesday June 21, 2012
Woke up, even slept in, and went to eat breakfast of croissants and intricate jellies. Yes I just described it like that. I guess Dad and Mom had a tour of the castle, I wanted to at least read a little bit out of my Pride and Prejudice book before leaving the castle. After leaving the castle, we were going to see ANOTHER castle. A bigger castle. The one used in Robin Hood, Prince of Thieves with Kevin Costner in it. The Carcassonne Castle. Btw. We went past Toulouse, France, and found out later that day that there was a bank there where 8 hostages were taken and not released for most of the day! Scary! Anyways, we took some less trodden roads to Carcassonne through the French forest roads. It was really pretty. It felt almost like we were jsut driving around Scout Mountain or something. The castle in Carcassonne was pretty touristy, set up with many a shop and restaurant inside and overly priced carriage rides. But it was such the typical castle, you had to be impressed. Lots of towers with a cathedral as well of course. There was a really neat group of men that sang in the church. I was stupid enough not to put my memory card back in my camera before going, I kept thinking I had dropped it! Or someone somehow stole it for some odd reason as passing me by.
After exploring the castle, we set off for Barcelona. Long ways. And along the way, Dad wanted to go past some more archaic, castle ruins in the French country. Well. That was quite the drive. Windy and took us a long time. How I explained it to my brother Lane. "so we were going down this random country road in France today, and there's this huge tank in the middle of nowhere, like an army tank, so Dad is like, hmm. let's drive up this road and take pictures of it! It must be some sort of war memorial!!! so we drive, take pictures, and drive down the road some more and it ends up to be a freaking military base. And Dad is just la-dee-da-ing while there are men dressed in military uniforms on base. I was like Dad, make a U-turn IMMEDIATELY. I don't want to die because we were stupid tourists. They'll probably think we are spies! He took forever to finally decide to turn around. Wow. just wow."
Couldn't find parking! I think trying to find parking is the most stressful thing of traveling by car. Never know where to park the thing. Once, we did, we walked up to visit the Albi cathedral. It is the world's largest brick building. Pretty impressive if I do say so myself. The inside was really nice, with a big choir room that was behind the main worshiping part of the cathedral, with a very intricate ceiling. It was nice to have the audioguide to interpret what we were looking at. All of the walls and everything were painted instead of adorned with as many statues. It was unique in that way from all the other cathedrals I have been in. It was nice to see something different. Cathedrals start looking alike after the first 3 or so. We also toured the museum next to the cathedral with some interesting paintings in it. We almost got locked in, haha the guards were speaking to us in French and we had no idea what they were saying but they thought we knew.
BRICKS
Such talent
Onto where we were staying for the night! I felt like Dad was taking us to the middle of nowhere, cause the GPS seemed to have a really hard time finding it. I thought maybe he had surprised us with camping for the last night in France since it pointed to an open field. Oh was I so wrong. Once we arrived at the real place, it was the complete opposite. We, ladies and gentlemen, were sleeping in a castle for the night. Yes, a small one, but, a castle is a castle people!!!!! It was gorgeous! Dad couldn't find the entrance. haha "But....how do you get into the castle?" The owner, Bridgette, was a really tall, kind, French lady. She showed us to our room, and it was just like I had stepped into Pride and Prejudice. A canopy, large mirrors, a mannequin with an antique dress and bonnet, old photographs, with a beautiful little key to open and close our door. Seriously. Has to be one of the coolest places I've ever been. It had a little hedge maze in the back, a pool, swings, and an old building where they use to keep birds? There was even a tower on our castle. Sweet! There were also old books, and music placed around the house. Very nice feel to the place. We decided to finish off the contents of our lunch for dinner, so we just brought it out and ate it on a table on the outside of the house. We didn't use knives, plates, or anything. We used the paper the bread and things were wrapped in before for our place mats, ate olives out of a packet, Dad was sitting with his shoes off and resting on an empty chair, and we were using our hands. Mind you, Bridgette came to ask us why we hadn't brought out plates or anything. Totally forgot, that in France, they are SUPER uptight about manners and eating with utensils and everything for meals. She probably thought we were the most disgusting people ever. I'm sorry America for shaming your name with such "slobs." Oh well, it tasted so good and that's all that I really cared about in the end. So we soaked it all in for the evening while it lightly rained, then went to sleep.
Wednesday June 21, 2012
Woke up, even slept in, and went to eat breakfast of croissants and intricate jellies. Yes I just described it like that. I guess Dad and Mom had a tour of the castle, I wanted to at least read a little bit out of my Pride and Prejudice book before leaving the castle. After leaving the castle, we were going to see ANOTHER castle. A bigger castle. The one used in Robin Hood, Prince of Thieves with Kevin Costner in it. The Carcassonne Castle. Btw. We went past Toulouse, France, and found out later that day that there was a bank there where 8 hostages were taken and not released for most of the day! Scary! Anyways, we took some less trodden roads to Carcassonne through the French forest roads. It was really pretty. It felt almost like we were jsut driving around Scout Mountain or something. The castle in Carcassonne was pretty touristy, set up with many a shop and restaurant inside and overly priced carriage rides. But it was such the typical castle, you had to be impressed. Lots of towers with a cathedral as well of course. There was a really neat group of men that sang in the church. I was stupid enough not to put my memory card back in my camera before going, I kept thinking I had dropped it! Or someone somehow stole it for some odd reason as passing me by.
Aw. Mom and Dad
After exploring the castle, we set off for Barcelona. Long ways. And along the way, Dad wanted to go past some more archaic, castle ruins in the French country. Well. That was quite the drive. Windy and took us a long time. How I explained it to my brother Lane. "so we were going down this random country road in France today, and there's this huge tank in the middle of nowhere, like an army tank, so Dad is like, hmm. let's drive up this road and take pictures of it! It must be some sort of war memorial!!! so we drive, take pictures, and drive down the road some more and it ends up to be a freaking military base. And Dad is just la-dee-da-ing while there are men dressed in military uniforms on base. I was like Dad, make a U-turn IMMEDIATELY. I don't want to die because we were stupid tourists. They'll probably think we are spies! He took forever to finally decide to turn around. Wow. just wow."
That was quite the experience. Anyways, long story short, we ditched the whole idea of seeing the other castles. The GPS was not leading us to anywhere with inhabitants, not even close, and the roads were getting sketchier and sketchier and we were running out of gas. We took a bigger looking road back to start our journey over again in Carcassonne, and it seriously took us 10 minutes or 15 max, where it took us an hour to get where we decided to turn around at on the mountain roads. RIDICULOUS.
Drove to Montserrat, a little town outside of Barcelona, a much better alternative, where our hostel was for the next 3 nights. And passed out. Long days of traveling man.
Tuesday, June 26, 2012
The Basque Country
Saturday, June 16, 2012
Drove all day. Seriously. Left around 9 a.m. and got to Eskoriaza, a small town about an hour drive away from Bilbao, around 5 or 6 p.m. The drive. Was in short. Long. haha ironic word usage there. Pretty sure we only stopped for bathroom breaks and some diesel. It was really cool seeing the landscape change so drastically from desert in the south with ridiculously hot weather, to rolling mountains and forests in the north with cooler, rainier temperatures. The rain clouds just appeared out of nowhere when we went through the first mountain pass. We stayed at a house in the countryside. It was all brand new, the owners, Ani and Alex, had bought the house 10 years ago as an old, abandoned, caved-in house. They started from scratch and made it into a beautiful hotel. Super clean and everything was very tasteful. Ani had another job, so she was gone for a large part of the time. She spoke English, but Alex did not. So I acted as translator for him and my parents throughout our 3 day stay there. Good practice to say the least. haha. So we just hung out there for the night and Alex made us dinner. Salad, steak, olives, bread, etc. Yum! very good steak.
Sunday, June 17, 2012
Bilbao bound today! Had breakfast at the hotel with fresh squeezed orange juice. my favorite :) We drove on the million toll roads to get in there and found some parking. Our first stop was the Guggenheim museum. Suuuuper cool building if I do say so myself. The main artist they were displaying inside was really neat. His name is David Hockney and he's a famous painter from England. Some of the modern art was almost disturbing I wont lie, but there was a really neat piece of art made with gigantic pieces of iron called "the wave" I think. You got to explore the spirals and stacks the artist made in that piece because it was that big. There is also a really cool dog sculpture outside the museum covered in a variety of bright and bold colored flowers. It was really hot in Bilbao that day. Dad wanted to head over to the old part of the town next to see the cathedral, so we walked the few kilometers it was away. There was a bridge we went over that looked a lot like some of the modern ones in Valencia. There was a little international fair going on too. When we got to the cathedral we couldn't enter because it is closed to tourists on Sundays. So we walked around and got some bakery treats while waiting for a decent time to go get Pintxos :) They are like Spanish tapas (little servings of food, kind of like appetizers) but they are the Basque version with a slice of bread and toppings on top with toothpicks through them. They are all at the bar and you grab a plate, grab the ones you like, and then the waiter will charge you according to the number of toothpicks you have in total. We ate a few good ones and thought we would go to some other places, but ended up just heading back to the hotel. It had been a long day of exploring for sure.
Monday, June 18, 2012
Leisurely took our time to leave Eskoriatza. Had breakfast and talked with Alex about Idaho (We were the first Americans to stay at their place since they opened up in February) and he talked about Basque culture. After that, we headed off to San Sebastian. Yeee. My friend Alberto here told me that San Sebastian was his favorite place and that I had to make sure to go there. It only took us a few hours in the car and then we just picked a parking garage and walked down by the port to eat some lunch, aka more pintxos and tapas!! We stuffed ourselves at one place and had a thing called mosto, which is just grape juice with a fancy name haha. We also met a family there from Soda Springs that was vacationing there for a few days!! What a small world. My dad was wearing a Tetons shirt, so the lady asked where we were from. Crazy man.
Did a little shopping after we filled up on lunch, they had some pretty neat stores. We wandered over to the port and walked down to the beach. There were tons of fish you could see in the sea! It was only about 65 or 70 degrees our and really overcast, so it wasn't good weather to go swimming. Sad day. Got some sand for me and then walked back to some more stores to buy some stuff. We stopped and had churros with hot chocolate, since I had been raving and ranting to my mom how much more delicious their hot chocolate here is. Yum.
And then we were off! To San Juan de Luz, just across the French border from San Sebastian. Got to our hotel, dude didn't speak much English. And. our hotel was above a restaurant! Ha! It was a really small town, and we were only 200 meters from the beach or less, Dad and I didn't feel too well, all that rich food had made our stomachs a little queasy, so we took a walk down to the beach and around the little downtown they had. Walked past an amazing chocolate store that had sculptures made of chocolate. Sweet! Mom saved me from walking into some dog crap. It was quite hilarious as she suddenly jerked me away from it. All the onlookers were laughing so much. I thought a car was going to hit me or something the way Mom reacted. hahaha. You guys probably didn't need to hear that, but it was freaking hilarious after the fact. Saw the sun set behind some clouds that made the sky light up in a pretty pink. Then we walked back to the hotel to get some shut eye.
Drove all day. Seriously. Left around 9 a.m. and got to Eskoriaza, a small town about an hour drive away from Bilbao, around 5 or 6 p.m. The drive. Was in short. Long. haha ironic word usage there. Pretty sure we only stopped for bathroom breaks and some diesel. It was really cool seeing the landscape change so drastically from desert in the south with ridiculously hot weather, to rolling mountains and forests in the north with cooler, rainier temperatures. The rain clouds just appeared out of nowhere when we went through the first mountain pass. We stayed at a house in the countryside. It was all brand new, the owners, Ani and Alex, had bought the house 10 years ago as an old, abandoned, caved-in house. They started from scratch and made it into a beautiful hotel. Super clean and everything was very tasteful. Ani had another job, so she was gone for a large part of the time. She spoke English, but Alex did not. So I acted as translator for him and my parents throughout our 3 day stay there. Good practice to say the least. haha. So we just hung out there for the night and Alex made us dinner. Salad, steak, olives, bread, etc. Yum! very good steak.
View from our room
Bilbao bound today! Had breakfast at the hotel with fresh squeezed orange juice. my favorite :) We drove on the million toll roads to get in there and found some parking. Our first stop was the Guggenheim museum. Suuuuper cool building if I do say so myself. The main artist they were displaying inside was really neat. His name is David Hockney and he's a famous painter from England. Some of the modern art was almost disturbing I wont lie, but there was a really neat piece of art made with gigantic pieces of iron called "the wave" I think. You got to explore the spirals and stacks the artist made in that piece because it was that big. There is also a really cool dog sculpture outside the museum covered in a variety of bright and bold colored flowers. It was really hot in Bilbao that day. Dad wanted to head over to the old part of the town next to see the cathedral, so we walked the few kilometers it was away. There was a bridge we went over that looked a lot like some of the modern ones in Valencia. There was a little international fair going on too. When we got to the cathedral we couldn't enter because it is closed to tourists on Sundays. So we walked around and got some bakery treats while waiting for a decent time to go get Pintxos :) They are like Spanish tapas (little servings of food, kind of like appetizers) but they are the Basque version with a slice of bread and toppings on top with toothpicks through them. They are all at the bar and you grab a plate, grab the ones you like, and then the waiter will charge you according to the number of toothpicks you have in total. We ate a few good ones and thought we would go to some other places, but ended up just heading back to the hotel. It had been a long day of exploring for sure.
Bubbles!
Puppy!!
(Photos for this day courtesy of my father, since I guess I forgot to upload mine on my laptop!)
Monday, June 18, 2012
Leisurely took our time to leave Eskoriatza. Had breakfast and talked with Alex about Idaho (We were the first Americans to stay at their place since they opened up in February) and he talked about Basque culture. After that, we headed off to San Sebastian. Yeee. My friend Alberto here told me that San Sebastian was his favorite place and that I had to make sure to go there. It only took us a few hours in the car and then we just picked a parking garage and walked down by the port to eat some lunch, aka more pintxos and tapas!! We stuffed ourselves at one place and had a thing called mosto, which is just grape juice with a fancy name haha. We also met a family there from Soda Springs that was vacationing there for a few days!! What a small world. My dad was wearing a Tetons shirt, so the lady asked where we were from. Crazy man.
Did a little shopping after we filled up on lunch, they had some pretty neat stores. We wandered over to the port and walked down to the beach. There were tons of fish you could see in the sea! It was only about 65 or 70 degrees our and really overcast, so it wasn't good weather to go swimming. Sad day. Got some sand for me and then walked back to some more stores to buy some stuff. We stopped and had churros with hot chocolate, since I had been raving and ranting to my mom how much more delicious their hot chocolate here is. Yum.
And then we were off! To San Juan de Luz, just across the French border from San Sebastian. Got to our hotel, dude didn't speak much English. And. our hotel was above a restaurant! Ha! It was a really small town, and we were only 200 meters from the beach or less, Dad and I didn't feel too well, all that rich food had made our stomachs a little queasy, so we took a walk down to the beach and around the little downtown they had. Walked past an amazing chocolate store that had sculptures made of chocolate. Sweet! Mom saved me from walking into some dog crap. It was quite hilarious as she suddenly jerked me away from it. All the onlookers were laughing so much. I thought a car was going to hit me or something the way Mom reacted. hahaha. You guys probably didn't need to hear that, but it was freaking hilarious after the fact. Saw the sun set behind some clouds that made the sky light up in a pretty pink. Then we walked back to the hotel to get some shut eye.
San Sebastian
San Juan de Luz
Chocolate!
Sunset :)
Sunday, June 17, 2012
Leaving Ronda...
Friday, we left Ronda to head over to Sevilla. Dad and I went on a run before having a schmorgesborg of tasty Spanish food for breakfast. It's so pretty running in the countryside, and though my bed always sounds better than waking up and jogging, I never regret it. It's always so beautiful and refreshing. Dad filled up 3 plates. It was hilarious. Mom loved the olive oil we got with our bread the night before, she wanted to drink it. hahaha. We also smuggled some food for the drive later too. The owner seriously was the sweetest lady ever. She made sure to keep us as comfortable as possible. So we said goodbye and left the fairy-tale like farm in the country side to go see La Cueva de las Piletas, it's a cave that was found in the 1920s that has thousands of cave drawings from thousands of years ago. It was kinda scary, the little old man guiding the tour wouldn't let us use artificial light (i.e. flashlights, phones, etc.) and only gave us a few karosine lanterns every 3rd or 4th person to light our path up through the cave. After he dispersed the lanterns, he also locked us into the cave. If something would happen to him, we'd be dead meat. It was really slick, but I'm glad they had carved some steps in. There were some pictures of horses, goats, bows and arrows, a lunar calendar, and fish. There were animal bones found in the cave and also human bones found in the cave that the other humans had EATEN. Dad said, "It's foreshadowing of what's to come." Creeper. The cave ran really deep, surprising to thing these ancient people could make their way that far into the cave without lights or anything. They must have had that whole thing memorized by heart. Mom made some Swiss friends while we went in, she didn't want to go in. So after that we took off to Sevilla.
Long drive with lots of sunflower fields. Sevilla is a mess to drive through. My gosh. No parking and full of one way roads. We parked in a garage and found our hotel....hostel....smallest thing in the world. filled with many a young backpacker. We got the "special room up on the terrace." We had a bunk bed and a futon sort of thing and a shower. It was seriously probably half the size of my room back home, including the shower. And the bottom bunk was pretty much just on the ground. Hahahaha funny. Then we decided to go to the cathedral to see it. It's the biggest one in Europe, you can fit Notre Dame in it! But alas, it was closed when we got there :'( Sorry parents!!!! So we decided to try and find something to eat at 6 pm. Usually it's IMPOSSIBLE to find anything open at 6 pm serving dinner or any type of real food. But, we found one touristy place selling stuff. Yay! :) No more grumpy pants from any of us that were boiling in the heat. It's was so freaking hot. I don't know how we handled it. The old quarters closed too soon for us to go in their either. So we headed back in the direction we though we came from (a guide led us to the cathedral cause we were going to go on a long walking tour, but bagged it because it seemed like a long time walking 3 hours in the sun.) We made it though! Saw some cool shopping center with a huge Spanish flag on it. Then we dropped some stuff off to go to the flamenco show! Last time I came I was so impressed with it, with the theatre it was in, with the dancers, etc, that I knew that was one thing my parents shouldn't miss. So a guy guided us from our hostel to the place we were going to go see the show. It was NOTHING like the one I had gone to before.....It was in the back of a cafe/bar with fold up chairs all around the tiniest stage I had ever seen. I had no idea how even one dancer could fit on there! The singer, guitarist (made such funny faces and weird twitches he kinda looked retarded), and the dancers were all extremely talented, but it's hard to take seriously in such a place! We definitely went to the tiniest Flamenco dancing place in all of Sevilla. Seemed like this time around everything was much smaller. The hostels, the shows, the parking spaces....We led ourselves back to the hostel thanks to the help of Dad's GPS and went to sleep to get up to drive to Bilbao.
Long drive with lots of sunflower fields. Sevilla is a mess to drive through. My gosh. No parking and full of one way roads. We parked in a garage and found our hotel....hostel....smallest thing in the world. filled with many a young backpacker. We got the "special room up on the terrace." We had a bunk bed and a futon sort of thing and a shower. It was seriously probably half the size of my room back home, including the shower. And the bottom bunk was pretty much just on the ground. Hahahaha funny. Then we decided to go to the cathedral to see it. It's the biggest one in Europe, you can fit Notre Dame in it! But alas, it was closed when we got there :'( Sorry parents!!!! So we decided to try and find something to eat at 6 pm. Usually it's IMPOSSIBLE to find anything open at 6 pm serving dinner or any type of real food. But, we found one touristy place selling stuff. Yay! :) No more grumpy pants from any of us that were boiling in the heat. It's was so freaking hot. I don't know how we handled it. The old quarters closed too soon for us to go in their either. So we headed back in the direction we though we came from (a guide led us to the cathedral cause we were going to go on a long walking tour, but bagged it because it seemed like a long time walking 3 hours in the sun.) We made it though! Saw some cool shopping center with a huge Spanish flag on it. Then we dropped some stuff off to go to the flamenco show! Last time I came I was so impressed with it, with the theatre it was in, with the dancers, etc, that I knew that was one thing my parents shouldn't miss. So a guy guided us from our hostel to the place we were going to go see the show. It was NOTHING like the one I had gone to before.....It was in the back of a cafe/bar with fold up chairs all around the tiniest stage I had ever seen. I had no idea how even one dancer could fit on there! The singer, guitarist (made such funny faces and weird twitches he kinda looked retarded), and the dancers were all extremely talented, but it's hard to take seriously in such a place! We definitely went to the tiniest Flamenco dancing place in all of Sevilla. Seemed like this time around everything was much smaller. The hostels, the shows, the parking spaces....We led ourselves back to the hostel thanks to the help of Dad's GPS and went to sleep to get up to drive to Bilbao.
The Sevilla Cathedral. Christopher Columbus's remains are inside this place. (supposedly. The aren't exactly sure where his bones ended up with them switching it around all the time.)
España <3
Flamenco show......What??!
Saturday, June 16, 2012
And the road leads on.
Tuesday. Woohoo. Woke up and made crepes for breakfast for the fam and for Ana. We decided to take her with us in the rental car to her pueblo called Pego about an hour and a half south of Valencia since she was planning on going down there anyways that day and it was on our way out of Valencia.
Walked down by the train station where the rental place was and got our car! It was large in European standards. haha. It's a Leon Ibiza. So Ana was our guide out of the city to her house. It ended up being her beach house we were taking her to. Oh my goodness the beach she lives on is AMAZING. I'm planning on visiting at least once before I leave it's really cool. Her mom was thrilled to have visitors even if my parents didn't speak a hint of Spanish and she knew no words in English. She wanted to take us to lunch, so we headed off to a restaurant and had paella. Her mom made her brother tag along, don't know how thrilled he was at that, but he talked with my mom quite a bit about the business he and his dad own. We then set off to go on our own adventure. I think it'll be more fun to use pictures to illustrate our trip so far since I'm a bit behind in my writing, so for now I'm putting pictures up in chronological order so you can see the vast differences in landscapes inside Spain.
First stop. Granada. Last time I came here, it was stormy and windy and cold. This time proved to be much better and I ended up liking it a lot. We got to our hotel and didn't have time to do much else. So we went to a restaurant the owner Pepe suggested to us. The next day, Wednesday, we went to see the Granada cathedral and have an Arab bath. It had different pools with different temperatures, a steam room, and then we got a message as well. Sweet!! Then we found our way up to the Alhambra to see the gardens since we had decided to see the Palace at night. Gardens=So much better in the summer than in winter. We ate some tapas at the bottom of the hill of the Alhambra and then went and found the bus back to our hotel. The Palace at night was amazing! It had such a different atmosphere at night, less tousity or something. We tried going to the lookout point on the other hill of the Alhambra, but our GPS was trying to lead us through these tiny sidestreets and is just wasn't working out, so we just bagged it.
Walked down by the train station where the rental place was and got our car! It was large in European standards. haha. It's a Leon Ibiza. So Ana was our guide out of the city to her house. It ended up being her beach house we were taking her to. Oh my goodness the beach she lives on is AMAZING. I'm planning on visiting at least once before I leave it's really cool. Her mom was thrilled to have visitors even if my parents didn't speak a hint of Spanish and she knew no words in English. She wanted to take us to lunch, so we headed off to a restaurant and had paella. Her mom made her brother tag along, don't know how thrilled he was at that, but he talked with my mom quite a bit about the business he and his dad own. We then set off to go on our own adventure. I think it'll be more fun to use pictures to illustrate our trip so far since I'm a bit behind in my writing, so for now I'm putting pictures up in chronological order so you can see the vast differences in landscapes inside Spain.
First stop. Granada. Last time I came here, it was stormy and windy and cold. This time proved to be much better and I ended up liking it a lot. We got to our hotel and didn't have time to do much else. So we went to a restaurant the owner Pepe suggested to us. The next day, Wednesday, we went to see the Granada cathedral and have an Arab bath. It had different pools with different temperatures, a steam room, and then we got a message as well. Sweet!! Then we found our way up to the Alhambra to see the gardens since we had decided to see the Palace at night. Gardens=So much better in the summer than in winter. We ate some tapas at the bottom of the hill of the Alhambra and then went and found the bus back to our hotel. The Palace at night was amazing! It had such a different atmosphere at night, less tousity or something. We tried going to the lookout point on the other hill of the Alhambra, but our GPS was trying to lead us through these tiny sidestreets and is just wasn't working out, so we just bagged it.
We took off the next morning to head to Ronda, a city in the south of Spain that is a lot smaller than Granada or Valencia. We explored the city for a little while, toured the bull ring there, saw the amazing bridge it is known for where people got thrown off during the Spanish Civil War, and bought some little trinkets. We headed out to the country side to find out hotel for the night. It was a farm in the middle of nowhere that was SO beautiful. Huge room, pool, gardens, and a fancy dinner. The owner was extremely nice and told me that even though she lives so far away from Valencia, if I ever needed anything I could definitely write her a message and she would be glad to help.
Ronda Bull Ring
This is where the bulls would be let out to go into the ring.
Bridge in Ronda
Pretty pictures from the farm we stayed at in the country.
So beautiful. Soak it all in. That's what I did.
Sunflower fields and olive trees EVERYWHERE.
Friday, June 15, 2012
I'm trying to play catch up!
Monday.
Went to the beach. Dad and I went to swim and left Mom on the beach helpless when someone came to ask her to pay for the umbrella that we were sitting under. Sorry mom!! Mom and I went out to swim as well. It's so nice there are very small waves here, but when the "big" ones come in, that's when the fun begins! After getting all sandy and salty, we headed back to my house via tram. We went to Mercadona after so they could experience what I do when I go shopping for food. Mom loved the little cart/baskets you wheel behind you. Got some food for the trip starting on Tuesday, which we really didn't end up taking in the end. We waited for Ana to get done with her exam to take her to dinner with us. Josh came and met the parents and once he left for other dinner plans, we headed out. We decided to go get kebabs at the place I usually go to down on calle Caballeros. At least there is one decently priced restaurant in Valencia. I think both my parents and Ana really enjoyed meeting each other. Went home to catch some z's because we had to go pick up the rental car the next morning to head off on the next leg of our adventure!
Went to the beach. Dad and I went to swim and left Mom on the beach helpless when someone came to ask her to pay for the umbrella that we were sitting under. Sorry mom!! Mom and I went out to swim as well. It's so nice there are very small waves here, but when the "big" ones come in, that's when the fun begins! After getting all sandy and salty, we headed back to my house via tram. We went to Mercadona after so they could experience what I do when I go shopping for food. Mom loved the little cart/baskets you wheel behind you. Got some food for the trip starting on Tuesday, which we really didn't end up taking in the end. We waited for Ana to get done with her exam to take her to dinner with us. Josh came and met the parents and once he left for other dinner plans, we headed out. We decided to go get kebabs at the place I usually go to down on calle Caballeros. At least there is one decently priced restaurant in Valencia. I think both my parents and Ana really enjoyed meeting each other. Went home to catch some z's because we had to go pick up the rental car the next morning to head off on the next leg of our adventure!
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