At the beginning of the month, we had an extended weekend to celebrate May Day. Figuring this would be the last long weekend we'd have, Nikki, Jessica, Andy and I decided we'd better take advantage of the time off and travel. We agreed Barcelona would be a great place to go since it was close and, more importantly, a great place! We tried to find CouchSurfing hosts for the weekend, but it seems most travellers think alike in that most of the folks we contacted were also going to be travelling that weekend. Luckily Jessica found a small apartment on Craigslist that could be rented for the exact dates we were going to be in town! And it ended up being cheaper than many of the hostels we looked at! The flight only took about half an hour, which gave us plenty of time to get settled and start exploring. We found our apartment which was right on Las Ramblas, one of the main roads/ attractions in Barcelona. It was down a rather sketchy looking street, with seemingly endless shifts of flys guarding our door, but the apartment itself was fantastic. It was split level and entirely open, the only door in the place being for the bathroom. It had a small TV, and a surprisingly nice stereo. We explored our immediate area, a bohemian area full of international restaurants, bars and tourists (but I guess you could classify ALL of Barcelona like that too...). After that, we decided to venture farther out, just wandering around. We walked until our bellies got the better of us and we headed back. But, we had wandered so far that it took us forever to get back, making us hungrier (and more vocal) with each minute we weren't eating. Finally, we made it back to our neighborhood and found an nice restaurant were we enjoyed great food, sangria, and cava, which is beer mixed with lemonade (which is actually delicious, believe it or not). Stuffed, we decided to save our energies for exploring the next day, so we stopped at a local store, bought some necesities (breakfast and snack food. And beer.) and went back to the apartment to relax.
The next day was full of adventure. We first went to Mercado Sant Josep, an enormous open air market. We enjoyed 100% natural fruit smoothies and coffee. Everything was so fresh and noisy and...alive. It reminded me of some of the markets here, but times ten. We bought food for a picnic and made our way to Parque Güell (pronounced "park-ay gway"), the giant park designed by Gaudí. After descending the biggest hill in the world (it had escalators installed at points) we ate in the sun, people watching, enjoying the sun and the music and the handmade crafts. Not to mention the Dr. Seuss-like architecture of one of the world's most famous parks. We also went to the Gaudí designed Sagrada Familia cathedral. The building has still not been completed, and the styles of architecture are entirely different, even though it's the same building. One side looks like a giant drip sand castle, curvy and layered and the other is modern and angular. It was really neat. We didn't go inside though because the line was serpenteened and it was a little expensive. Later, Nikki and I spent a good portion of the day wandering around with no real destination or rush (as usual when we travel). We visited another Gaudí building (in case you haven't noticed, Barcelona and Gaudí kind of go hand-in-hand), but the price of entrance was even more outrageous than the cathedral. We enjoyed ice cream, and lemonade, talked to a vendor in Plaza Catalunya who warned us to keep an eye on our belongings. I asked him about a flag that I had seen flying all over the city. It was divided into four equal squares. The top left and bottom right sections had a red cross on a white background, the flag of Saint George (which is the English flag). The top right and bottom left sections had the red and yellow stripes of the Catalan senyera. It turns out that it is the flag of Barcelona. I asked why it had the English flag on it, and it turns out that Saint George, or as they say here, Sant Jordi, is also the patron saint of Catalunya and Barcelona. I thought I was missing out on some historical alliance between Barcelona and England, when in actuality they just share the same saint.
Later that day our friends Dan and Priscilla met us. They took a train from a neighboring city to visit us on our trip. We wandered with them a bit until it was time to go to the bar, for that night was the Copa del Rey, the King's Cup, between Barcelona and Real Madrid, the two top teams in the Spanish soccer league, and more importantly, bitter rivals. We arrived half an hour before the game started and almost couldn't get in. We finally found enough space in the back of one of the rooms. We ordered tapas and beer and reveled in the intensity of Spanish fútbol. Madrid scored first, but after that Barcelona unleashed a barrage of soccer carnage that did not relent until the final whistle. Every goal sent the crowd deeper into chaos, screaming, singing, standing on tables. When it was revealed that we had travelled from Mallorca "just to watch this game" we were given free drinks from everyone around us. The final score ended up being Madrid 1 to Barcelona 6. SIX!! It was unbelievable, and perhaps one of my favorite experiences since being in Spain.
The next day we went to the Picasso Museum, ate at an affordable vegetarian restaurant (I know!) and I took a siesta while the others went to the beach. It was Sunday, so we just relaxed, enjoyed the day, the company, the new surroundings.
Nikki and I went back to Parque Güell, since we felt like we hadn't seen enough of it on our earlier visit. We stopped at a nice little cafe near the top of the hill and then spent a little more time roaming around. I'm very glad we went back because we did miss some of the main attractions of the park earlier, like the mosaic dragon. We didn't have time for much else since our flight was later that afternoon, so Nikki and I packed it up and met Jessica and Andy at the airport and made the skip back over to Palma.
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
Friday, May 15, 2009
Spring Break and Updates!
Sorry for the lack of updates, it's easy to get distracted here!! Newest update is that our return flight has been changed slightly and we will now be returning on June 8th at 7:10 pm. Can't wait to see all of you soon!
Now, our spring break:
It was fantastic! Both Istanbul and Athens were amazing!
We started our trip by flying from Palma to London (because for some reason we have to fly west to London to catch a connecting flight East to Turkey). But we had an 8 hour layover, so we slept at the airport (with my big uncomfy cast). It's finally time to check into our next flight, and they won't let me on because I don't have a doctors note for my cast. No it doesn't matter that I already flew to get here, no they can't just call my doctor, no there is no way around it, I have to have a doctors note. So I take a taxi to the nearest hospital, spend almost 2 hours in the emergency waiting room (because people are seen based on need, and we'll getting a note isn't a very high priority). I finally see a doctor, he asks me a few questions writes me up a note and sends me on my way (free of charge by the way, yay socialized medicine!) I get back to the airport just in time to miss our flight. The airline company is at least nice enough to book us on the next days flight, with no fees, and gives us a list of local hotels. We find a hotel, do some shopping, order pizza and watch TV in English! After all the doctor stress, it ended up being kind of relaxing. We make it to Istanbul without any more problems. Turkey is awesome. The people are great, the food is great, and everything is SUPER cheap. We spent hours in the Grand Bazaar (one of the largest covered markets in the world and has been in use since 1455) went inside the Blue Mosque, the Hagia Sophia, and the underground palace.
Our couch surfing host was super nice and even took us out to a traditional Turkish dinner, yum! Oh, and we found this cute little bakery near our house where we stopped every morning for breakfast. They have this yummy pastry filled with cheese and potato and they put powdered sugar on top. Mmmm..... Oh and they eat A LOT of corn, which is fine by me, I love corn. I saw at least 3 different chains that sell just cups of boiled corn kernels. And there are tons of stands where you can by corn on the cob (grilled or boiled)! And I went to a sweet shop there and bought some real Turkish Delights! Besides some strange flavors (like ginger) they were really good! Turkish is very difficult, but luckily most everybody spoke English, so it wasn't a real problem. And the people are so nice, and trusting! When you get on a bus, if you get on at the back, you can just pass your money up to the front, and then they will pass your change back. No one would ever think to take the money!
We had originally planned to take a ferry from Istanbul to Athens, but apparently the company that use to offer that route, no longer does. So the next best option was the train, which was suppose to take 18 hours, but after all of the delays, took closer to 24. It was definitely an interesting experience.
We finally made it to Athens, and had a great time there as well! We got to see all of the historic stuff, the Parthenon, the Acropolis, Hadrian's Arch, and the Temple of Zeus. All of which were super fantastic of course. Athens was a bit more expensive, but we still got to see a lot of things and eat a lot of great food. Unfortunately a lot of things were closed because it was Orthodox Easter while we were there, but this did make for some interesting parades. We had fun wandering down all of the old little streets, realizing that everything there is so much older than our country.
I thought Turkish was hard, until I tried Greek. I now have a much greater appreciation for the phrase "It's all Greek to me." It sounds vaguely familiar, like I should be able to understand it, but I don't. And there is no hope reading it. Luckily (again) most people spoke english, except this really sweet old Greek couple that sat across from us on the train (that shared their snacks with us.) They kept trying to speak Greek to us, I think (with the help of our phrase book) all we managed to get out was "Thank you."
The only eventful thing that happened on the way home is that we managed to break EVERY SINGLE handle on my red suitcase. By the time we got home Joe was just carrying it. It was a good little bag, but I suppose I've been a bit rough on it :)
Although we had a super fantastic trip, it was nice to get home, and even nice to get my cast off!! Even though I only had the cast on for 3 weeks, my elbow had still lost a lot of its mobility, so I have to do 4 weeks of physical therapy. I'm still working on it, but it's getting better, slowly but surely.
We recently had a four day weekend and decided to take a mini-trip to Barcelona. More on that later. I'm tired of typing now. I hope everyone is well, I can't wait to see you guys soon!
Now, our spring break:
It was fantastic! Both Istanbul and Athens were amazing!
We started our trip by flying from Palma to London (because for some reason we have to fly west to London to catch a connecting flight East to Turkey). But we had an 8 hour layover, so we slept at the airport (with my big uncomfy cast). It's finally time to check into our next flight, and they won't let me on because I don't have a doctors note for my cast. No it doesn't matter that I already flew to get here, no they can't just call my doctor, no there is no way around it, I have to have a doctors note. So I take a taxi to the nearest hospital, spend almost 2 hours in the emergency waiting room (because people are seen based on need, and we'll getting a note isn't a very high priority). I finally see a doctor, he asks me a few questions writes me up a note and sends me on my way (free of charge by the way, yay socialized medicine!) I get back to the airport just in time to miss our flight. The airline company is at least nice enough to book us on the next days flight, with no fees, and gives us a list of local hotels. We find a hotel, do some shopping, order pizza and watch TV in English! After all the doctor stress, it ended up being kind of relaxing. We make it to Istanbul without any more problems. Turkey is awesome. The people are great, the food is great, and everything is SUPER cheap. We spent hours in the Grand Bazaar (one of the largest covered markets in the world and has been in use since 1455) went inside the Blue Mosque, the Hagia Sophia, and the underground palace.
Our couch surfing host was super nice and even took us out to a traditional Turkish dinner, yum! Oh, and we found this cute little bakery near our house where we stopped every morning for breakfast. They have this yummy pastry filled with cheese and potato and they put powdered sugar on top. Mmmm..... Oh and they eat A LOT of corn, which is fine by me, I love corn. I saw at least 3 different chains that sell just cups of boiled corn kernels. And there are tons of stands where you can by corn on the cob (grilled or boiled)! And I went to a sweet shop there and bought some real Turkish Delights! Besides some strange flavors (like ginger) they were really good! Turkish is very difficult, but luckily most everybody spoke English, so it wasn't a real problem. And the people are so nice, and trusting! When you get on a bus, if you get on at the back, you can just pass your money up to the front, and then they will pass your change back. No one would ever think to take the money!
We had originally planned to take a ferry from Istanbul to Athens, but apparently the company that use to offer that route, no longer does. So the next best option was the train, which was suppose to take 18 hours, but after all of the delays, took closer to 24. It was definitely an interesting experience.
We finally made it to Athens, and had a great time there as well! We got to see all of the historic stuff, the Parthenon, the Acropolis, Hadrian's Arch, and the Temple of Zeus. All of which were super fantastic of course. Athens was a bit more expensive, but we still got to see a lot of things and eat a lot of great food. Unfortunately a lot of things were closed because it was Orthodox Easter while we were there, but this did make for some interesting parades. We had fun wandering down all of the old little streets, realizing that everything there is so much older than our country.
I thought Turkish was hard, until I tried Greek. I now have a much greater appreciation for the phrase "It's all Greek to me." It sounds vaguely familiar, like I should be able to understand it, but I don't. And there is no hope reading it. Luckily (again) most people spoke english, except this really sweet old Greek couple that sat across from us on the train (that shared their snacks with us.) They kept trying to speak Greek to us, I think (with the help of our phrase book) all we managed to get out was "Thank you."
The only eventful thing that happened on the way home is that we managed to break EVERY SINGLE handle on my red suitcase. By the time we got home Joe was just carrying it. It was a good little bag, but I suppose I've been a bit rough on it :)
Although we had a super fantastic trip, it was nice to get home, and even nice to get my cast off!! Even though I only had the cast on for 3 weeks, my elbow had still lost a lot of its mobility, so I have to do 4 weeks of physical therapy. I'm still working on it, but it's getting better, slowly but surely.
We recently had a four day weekend and decided to take a mini-trip to Barcelona. More on that later. I'm tired of typing now. I hope everyone is well, I can't wait to see you guys soon!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)