From October 25th to November 2nd I got to adventure across Spain and Portugal. What an experience! Mom and Dad left the 25th and I hopped the train to Bologna to fly to Madrid. A few of my friends from Florence were already there so I was meeting up with them. So me and my one backpack (that I had to live out of for one week!) were on our way. I have gotten a lot more comfortable traveling alone and its crazy to think how terrified and lost I was when I first got here. I guess I am growing up! :)
The first night after seeing some of the sights of Madrid we went to a few of the bars to celebrate Zach’s 21st birthday. Free shots are great! The next day we checked out some of the famous sites of Madrid and did some shopping on Gran Via. My favorite was the Park of Madrid. We sat by the lake with a bottle of wine and some bread. It was so relaxing and a great way to kick off my week. Another highlight of Madrid were the restaurants we found. So good and super cheap! Yum!
The next day we woke up super early and took a taxi to the airport to catch our EARLY flight to Lisbon, Portugal. This trip has to be a record for the most flights in one week—5! Quite ridiculous! It’s the best way to travel quickly and relatively cheaply. Most of our flights were early morning flights so I have perfected the art of sleeping on planes. Lisbon was probably my favorite stop of the trip. Our hostel was the best hostel I have ever stayed at. If you are ever in Lisbon I recommend the Travelers House, super cute and homey, complete with scrambled eggs every morning! The first day we spent exploring Lisbon. I love wandering the streets of random towns. You never know what treasures you will discover, like churches over looking the bay. :)
Then that night the hostel had a wine tasting aka my new favorite hobby. We met some fun people and had a great time making friends with people from all over! It was an excellent day.
For day two in Lisbon we decided to do a road trip tour with the hostel to Sintra. So the 5 of us, 2 Australians and one crazy guy piled into a van for a grand adventure, complete with the oddest variety of music. I have good news! I found my future home! The Castelo da Pena is amazing and fully furnished with many bedrooms so you can all come stay with me. I plan to move in sometime after graduation. Hahaha! In case you haven’t noticed I love touring castles. J The next stop was another palace complete with the craziest “gardens” ever. It had tunnels and caves that would connect you to different parts of the gardens. We had way too much fun exploring the tunnels and defending our castles. It was like being in a fantasy world. We all turned it to kids for a few hours, complete with an acorn battle castle vs. castle. Then it was on to Capo da Roca, which is the farthest western point in Europe. I waved to all of you! Last but not least was the most gorgeous beach ever, where I got to watch the sunset. It was an amazing day and once again one of the best I have had here. The night ended with a keg at the hostel and a pub-crawl. Portugal=Awesome!
Then it was another flight back to Madrid for a quick overnight before another flight to Barcelona! Really we flew it Girona, which is about an hour outside Barcelona. We did some exploring before catching the train to Barcelona. Girona is a really neat town with lots of neat churches and winding streets. Barcelona is quite the place with lots to see and explore. After checking into the hostel we met up with Jeff’s friend Katie (also an Iowa Stater) who is studying in Barcelona and she gave us a great introductory tour of the city. We wandered Las Ramblas, Barcelona’s famous shopping street, and checked out all the stands, costumed street performers and an great fresh food market, the Boqueria Market. Then Katie took us to a super awesome fountain show complete with music and lights. It reminded me of something Disney would do. J After a few escalator rides we reached the top of Palace Nacional and enjoyed the lights of Barcelo
The next day was dedicated to the works of Gaudi. Examples of his modernist architecture and style are all over the city. Our first stop was Parc Guell which looks over the city. It was nice to be outside enjoying the nice weather and we took a break on Gaudi’s ergonomically correct bench. Very comfy!
Another stop was La Sagrada Familiga, a church designed by Gaudi that he left unfinished. It is still under construction, but very impressive and so different from all the other churches I have seen. This guy had some really unique ideas. Next we wandered to Parc de La Ciutadella. I love parks and this one is definitely near the top of my list. It offers I nice break from the busy streets of Barcelona and has a lot to offer including a great fountain, a lake with rowboats and a wooly mammoth statue.
After making a great dinner of Spaghetti at the hostel it was time to celebrate Halloween Barcelona style! What better way then to go to the largest club in all of Barcelona. Razzmatazz has five different rooms playing all types of music. We ended up hanging out in the biggest room with about 5,000 other people. It was crazy, but a lot of fun. The highlight of the night was a performance of the Thriller dance! Those Spanish know how to party; we were out till 5:30am! And that’s normal!
The final day of fall break was spent with a tour of the Picasso Museum, feeding some gimpy pigeons and souvenir shopping. Then it was a train ride back to Girona. I spent the remainder of the evening in the hostel feeling sick. Not the best way to end a great trip, but I was glad it wasn’t until the last day that I felt icky. The next morning we took an early morning flight back to Bologna and then a train to Florence completing our amazing fall break journey.
I never thought I would make it to Spain or Portugal and I got to do both! I am constantly thinking about how lucky I am to have had all of these amazing experiences. I have seen so much this semester! Study abroad has been so much better than I imagined and I cannot believe how fast it has gone!
glad you're having such a great experience! your pictures are gorgeous :) makes me want to go back to europe so badly!!
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