Hola Espana

After traveling to Berlin, our class had the rest of the week of to travel.  Sarah, Allie, Amanda, and I found cheap flight to Barcelona from Berlin and decided it was the perfect time to hit up Spain.  So in a whirlwind trip we flew to Barcelona, and stayed in a hostel right off the Center Ramblas.  The first afternoon we were there we wasted no time in trying some real Sangria and Spanish Paella.  Unfortunately we experienced our first real incident since studying abroad in which Amanda had her phone stolen from a lady who came up to us at our outside table.  Good thing Amanda had her wits about her and was able to snatch it back.  After that we were very careful about our belongings and our purses.  That experience made me uneasy the rest of the time we were in Barcelona, just because there is so much theft all around.  After some food we decided to just get lost and walk to take in everything Barcelona has to offer.  This was our first experience outside of Germany and the architecture and culture are just so different.  Where else do you get a view like this.

 

 



 When the sun started to set we found ourselves at an Australian Pub and tried Spanish bear and tapas which were out of this world.  We soon learned as well that the Spanish never really sleep.  We wanted to go out dancing and soon found out from our waitress that clubs don't even open until one or two.  After a quick siesta we headed out to some local bars and then a club where we met some Chileans students who were studying abroad and learned to dance a little from them. 




The next day we did a bike tour of Barcelona.  On our way to the meeting spot we found this fantastic market with fruits and colors and candy galore.

Our bike tour lasted about four hours, but boy did we cover a lot of ground.  We saw all the different boroughs of Barcelona and well as the famous Goudi architecture, especially the Sagrada Familia.





The best part about the tour was the beach though.  We were able to take a little break on the beach of the Mediterranean and enjoy a sangria halfway through our tour.  Who would not want to just live with this view.....

After experiencing the beach we went straight back there after our tour and dipped our feet in the Sea and sat on the beach until the sun went down and we had to make our way back to the train station to catch our night train to Granda.

Our night train to Granada was so much fun.  We had our own little sleeping compartment with four beds and it was really like one big sleepover.  The next morning in Granada we met the best hostel owner ever.  He could tell we where tired and needed to shower and he switched rooms so we could check in right away.  After a shower the Alhambra was waiting for us.  We bought passes for the hop on hop off bus and rode it up to the palace.  The Alhambra is the largest Muslim palace and holds some of the most exquisite decorations and gardens.  The day pass was sold out so we bought afternoon passes to the gardens and night palace tickets.  No wonder so many people flock from around the world to see this.

 

For lunch we found the quaintest café on the grounds and enjoyed the birds and some classical music before going back out into the sun.  The rest of the day entailed some shopping, where we made great friends with some local vendors, and dinner in the square behind the cathedral.  That night we went back to the palace which was lit up and beyond gorgeous.  Early the next  morning we took a straight train to Seville and checked into a super cool hostel.

We again dropped our stuff and went exploring.  We came across the mushroom, which gives you a birds eye view of the whole city.

 

 



Other fantastic places we happened across was the Seville Cathedral which low behold the one and only Christopher Columbus is buried there......

We also saw the bull fighting arena.  They were preparing for a fight so we were right in the midst of all the commotion.  We decided to relax a little and took a boat tour down the river and saw some sights along the way and headed over to the naval tower once were down with that.  The last little magical piece of our Seville trip was at the end of our day.  We couldn't believe our luck when we found out that is was National Tourism Day and the major sights were free.  We ended our day at Alcazar Palace which none of us knew anything about.  It turned out to be like a Disney creation with out of this world gardens and architecture.

 



That night our hostel had free Sangria hour as well as homemade Paellas, which we had been waiting all day for, and boy was it worth the wait.  The next morning I headed out for a little journey by myself and went to the Plaza de Espana, which was massive and bursting with color.  I also went to the botanical gardens, hoping I would get a pretty view.  What I found was this......

 

 

 

The parked was nicknamed Los Parados and I could tell why.  It really was my own little piece of paradise and the best way to end our trip to Spain.

 

 

Auf Wiedersehen,

Chels