Day #134

Ah, it fees so good to use a shower that has more than a 30 second allowance of water at a time without pushing a dumb button!

Postcards postcards... (Meaning I bought them a long time ago and am just finding a post office now oops) 

I walked along the beach and it was absolutely breathtaking, as all of the beaches in Spain have been thus far. The sunshine, the water, the sand... Man, I think this might be paradise or something. Maybe heaven?

I grabbed some zucchini and potatoes to boil for dinner (quick easy and delicious!) and watched Northanger Abbey to round out the day.

Just look how sassy Henry Tilney is, and tell me he's not the greatest ever:

He understands muslin, which means he must be dabomb.com.

Day #133

Another day, another bus ride.

My bus left Alicante at 11:30 and arrived in Valencia around 2. Notable events include:

1. Figuring out how to plug my ear phones into the bus so I could try to figure out which movie they were playing in Spanish on the tv halfway up the bus; my best guess is Jack and the Beanstalk.

2. Drinking an entire (large) bottle of chocolate milk while pulling out of the bus station and then figuring out that the bus bathroom was broken.

3. Falling asleep.

Safely in Valencia, I attempted to use the metro to get to my hostel, which (mostly) worked, after a few hiccups here and there. In the 70° weather. HOW IS THAT EVEN POSSIBLE

The hostel is nice and clean and the wifi works (mostly), so I settled in and surveyed the area. Dinner was at a kind of sketchy but altogether delicious and harmless cafe, and then I discovered the supermarket! Yay fruit and cereal! And since I've been asking everyone...

Depressing or funny if I buy this for my birthday in 2 days and eat it all by myself? It's chocolate and peanut butter truffle ice cream cake........

I'll let all you readers decide.

Day #132

Nooooo my Australian friend left this morning :( it was a sad goodbye, but it will motivate me to get a job during my senior year (EEP SENIOR YEAR WHAT) so that I can visit her in Australia! (Also because I'll be super broke and need to actually survive!)

I gathered up all my dirty laundry in my backpack (which, by this point, was getting rather ridiculous) and left for the day. I got a bus ticket to Valencia (which happened to be discounted for some reason I didn't understand but the woman assured me it was good so I'm trusting her), then headed to the laundromat, which was right next to that awesome market from yesterday! I got some fruit and green beans (VEGETABLES) for dinner tonight (totaling a whopping €1.80).

Oh and also it was 68° today WHAT

I trekked back to the hostel with clean clothes and yummy fruit. Back at the wifi, I booked my Valencia hostel and realized with terror that my 21st birthday is exactly three days away. When I first realized I'd be not only abroad (where your 21st birthday doesn't actually matter) and would be alone for my birthday, I was a little upset. However, since the dumb Super Bowl (I don't care how sacrilegious it is to call this Super Bowl "dumb" when I come from Patriots territory) is on my birthday this year, I am so incredibly happy to be abroad. Having the Super Bowl on your birthday is the worst ever. This is coming from experience. I am so sorry for everyone who has their birthdays on actual real holidays. Unless you love having your birthday on an actual real holiday, in which case YAY!

And with my dinner of green beans and fruit salad (to contrast the billion fried tapas and churros I've been eating), I bid you goodnight!

Day #131

Alicante certainly is beautiful. And warm. And delicious.

We headed out to a market in the middle of Alicante and OH MAN THE FOOD. They had more fresh fruit than I've seen probably in all my time abroad so far. I invested in some strawberries, clementines, and dried fruit trail mix. All for under €4. Yum to the max.

There's this absolutely gorgeous beach right around the corner from our hostel, so we borrowed awful magazines from reception and took them to the beach and sat sipping our wine as we leisurely watched the waves roll into the sandy shore. Not a bad way to spend the day after the northeast had a huge snowstorm, eh?

On our way back from the market, we'd seen signs for a Star Wars exhibition at the Santa Barbara castle on the hill. We're talking a massive hill. But Luke had he massive task of saving the entire galaxy (which, granted, he messed up quite a bit), so in relation to that the mountain didn't seem so insanely large. Just regular large.

We also got to witness another beautiful sunset, of which I took roughly a billion more pictures that are almost all the same:

We asked some lady who told us the Star Wars exhibition was closed, and we were devastated. But, thanks to our keen eyes and presumably also The Force, WE FOUND THE EXHIBITION!! It was basically a collection of a million different types of Star Wars paraphernalia, from long-lost videos to every type of figurine to a tauntaun sleeping bag! Ugh, so clever.

Of course, I took some pictures with friends

"I love you." "I know."

My heaven.

We indulged in a few more €0.60 tapas and a chocolate & fruit crepe (MY BODY WAS NOT READY IT WAS SO DELICIOUS) before heading back to the hostel. My Australian friend starts her journey back home tomorrow after 6 months of traveling (crying everywhere, I'll miss her so much and see her again in the land of kangaroos and beaches), so we spent our last night watching (what else?) Pride and Prejudice! It gets me every time.

 

Day #130

Today's post will be short and sweet (JUST LIKE MY AWESOME NEW HAIRCUT, pictures to follow) because I need them zzzzzzzzzz's

Starting off the day with €12 haircuts? Yes, please!

 Lunch in the sun with a glass of red wine? I guess that's okay or whatever

Catch a bus to Alicante and listen to lots of great podcasts is super duper with a super duper sunset

Arrive at hostel and get €0.60 tapas like what is real life because that's so close to being free food

See the fam on skype because MOM WILL BE HERE SOON YAYAYAYAY

GOODNIGHT LOVELY PEOPLE OF THE WORLD

Day #129

Ah, how I love leisurely starts to the day. And 55° weather! I hear there's a giant snow storm coming to the east coast or something.....?

Guess what we finally got today? CHURROS CON CHOCOLATE OH YEAH

Don't you just want to swim in that chocolate. But not get sticky. And also save some to eat. Okay so maybe I don't want to swim in it but it tasted super awesome delicious! The best part was (lol that's a lie, it was all the best part), the very kind sir behind the counter gave us two small extra (FREE) sweets after we finished our churros! And we all know how I feel about free food.

After wandering around for a wee bit in the gorgeous sunshine, we went to the event of the day: our Arabic baths and massages. Get ready, people. 

But first things first: we got to scrub up to go into the changing room! Brings me right back to Nicaragua...

So we got into our swim suits and were taken back in time and space to this magical land with 6 rooms and a heated floor made out of beautifully crafted ceramic tiles and flickering tea lights and vaulted ceilings with stone ornamentation and soothingly soft music. 

Room #1) the cold bath. I didn't spend much time in here, though it was rather refreshing!

Room #2) the tea and scrumptious smelling oils used for the massage. You could smell all 4 (pomegranate, rose, amber, and lavender) and then decide which you wanted for your massage. I chose pomegranate (apparently it's native to Granada!)

Room #3) the hot bath. I spent a lot of time in this room.

Room #4) the warm bath. I also spent a lot of time in here.

Room #5) the sauna. They used this cool mint mist thing that cleared my sinuses right up spectacularly!

Room #5) the most magical room: the massage room.

A 15 minute massage and 1.5 hours in heaven later, I was the most relaxed I think I have ever been in my entire life.

We grabbed some tapas and a delectable Brie and jam sandwich to round off the evening. Life is most definitely good.

Day #128

I'm constantly at war with myself over whether I'll have amazing legs from walking/hiking everywhere while I'm in Europe, or if I'll have about 500 pounds of happiness weight thanks to all the food I'm eating. Maybe both?

We booked our tickets for the Arabic baths and a massage tomorrow (student discount price yayayay!!), soon extremely excited for my first (albeit, short) professional massage!

After, we headed to this secret little place someone from my Seville hostel role me about- apparently at the Monastery de San Bernando, you find a turntable in a slightly sketchily lit room. You press a button and hear a voice behind the turntable. That voice belongs to a nun. The turntable turns, and you get NUN COOKIES. Then you put your money on the turntable and you're blessed for all eternity! Or something like that!

These cookies are incredible. Also some are shaped like hearts.

Cookies in hand, we hiked up the big hill to the Alhombra, which is this giant castle  thing that's like the Arabic version of Versailles, complete with super ornamentation and rolling grounds. Unlike Versailles, the Alhombra is on an enormous mountain, so when you climb to the top of towers or even to the edge of the gardens (which are on the sides of the mountain), the views just get more and more breathtaking.

(This is the cover to my next mixtape, in case anyone was wondering)

I just... Wow. Just wow. That will be all.

We grabbed some comida del día, and I sampled the seafood paella. It was a good choice.

After soaking up some sweet wifi, we headed to a flamenco show! Although I saw one in Seville, everyone has been telling me that Seville and Granada flamenco are very different styles, and they're right. This one was in much closer quarters, and I actually think I preferred this one, though they were both excellent (based on my admittedly limited knowledge of flamenco). The Seville flamenco seemed more sad while the Granada flamenco seemed more angry and fiery.

We stopped for dessert on the way home, and thank god we did. Take a long look at these sweets we devoured, and try not to be the most jealous you've ever been:

Spoiler alert: that chocolate thing was filled with gooey chocolate sauce, and the pie-shaped piece of heaven had jam and cream and happiness layered with joy and chocolate.

To top off a perfect day, I got an adorable snap chat from my mom. How cute is my family?

Answer: the cutest. Lo siento, no lo siento.

Day #127

Well. If I don't have super duper awesome strong legs by the time I leave Spain, I'll be a monkey's uncle. Or, you know, someone with regular legs. 

We started off the morning with a free Granada walking tour (I'm becoming a big fan of those), which brought us all along the cliffs with a spectacular view of the Alhombra, houses in the valley, and the snow-capped mountains surrounding the city. Take a gander:

Oh yeah, and some cactus plants. Lots of them, actually.

We got to this beautiful view overlooking absolutely everything and did a short photo shoot after eating deliciously inexpensive tapas and deserts, including snails. That's right, readers, I tried snails. And I took a picture to prove it.

We trekked back to the hostel for a bit before heading out on our second free walking tour. This one was a tour of the Granada caves. So get this- there are these caves that were built into the side of these mountains and people (hippies) dug them out and live in them. Most are solar powered. We got to go into one- I was picturing dirt everything and maybe a sleeping bag, but it actually had a stove and a big bed and chimney and a window! 

We hiked up to the very very tippy top of the mountain to watch the sunset (even though we had to move a few times because some people were trying to shoot a movie or something). I took 35 pictures of the same thing, but the sunset really was incredible.

To get some noms, we went to this place called La Bella y el Beatio (beauty and the beast!) before heading back to the hostel one last time to rest our feet. 

These houses dug into the side of the mountain were incredible for a ton of reasons, not least of which is the fact that the vegetation is all enormous as well, so you felt like a hobbit walking through the Shire. The hippie part of the Shire, though. 

I also drank from the fountain of good luck at the top of the mountain and saw a children's prison, also at the top of the mountain. It was a very interesting day all around.

Day #126

Oops again, no #125 on this blog...

But double the fun with #124 x 2!

I woke up to a gorgeous day and a hot shower, which are really the only two things you need. My Australian friend and I explored the roof with a fun hat and beautiful views

We ventured out to get this incredible map that someone at my last hostel told me about for Granada with lots of inside tips and tricks. On our way back to the hostel, we grabbed some empanadillas, fed some pigeons, and I learned how to drive in Europe

#determined.

We met back up with our other friend from the last hostel (in case you're losing track, I made friends at the last hostel in Seville, and now me and two of the friends are at this hostel in Granada!) and enjoyed some wine (made in Granada) on the rooftop overlooking the city.

More grilled cheese and some eggs later, we ventured out for tapas around 9pm with the other people who had moved into our room. I'm still not used to this eating super late thing, but maybe I will be after my full month here... At any rate, I do enjoy eating more food!

Day #124

Well folks, it been quite the day. I had my last breakfast in my wonderful Seville hostel (La Banda Rooftop, if anyone's interested), and easily made it to my bus at noon. I was sad to say goodbye to Seville, but excited to sleep on my 3 hour bus ride!

The Spanish countryside is absolutely GORGEOUS, by the way. In case anyone was wondering.

I arrived in Granada and took a very cheap taxi to my hostel since the city bus route directions were confusing and convoluted. On the way I picked my taxi driver's brain for things to do in my extremely broken Spanish. But he understood everything I was saying, even though I only used about 3 verbs, all in present tense!

I don't know how, but I keep getting hostels with incredible views from the roof:

Like, this is a real place. It exists in real life. Real people live in these real houses. It's real. 

By the time I got to Granada I was super hungry, so I stopped at literally the closest food place to the hostel, which happened to be Mexican food. My quesadilla was absolutely delicious. 

I chilled out with some pride and prejudice until my Australian friend from Seville got here! It was nice to see a familiar face, even when backpacking. Two other friends from the Seville hostel are going to meet us tomorrow! So many friends!

We got lots of fruit and some bread & cheese to make fruit salad (yummy yummy) and grilled cheese for dinner. It was the most fruit I've had in ages and my stomach was very happy.

That's all, folks!

Day #124

My last full day in Seville! The ultimate frowny face :(

BUT! I was able to secure a copy of Harry Potter y la Piedra filosofal (aka the philosopher's stone, aka the sorcerer's stone!) now I will definitely be able to learn Spanish!

Oh yeah and I finally found hair conditioner! For a while I was afraid that Spain might only have shampoo.

I cooked the rest of my lovely pasta with zucchini and meat sauce with a friend and ate on the rooftop in the sunlight. Doncha wish your winters were warm like Seville's?

A few friends and I read by the canal (I opted for my Spanish Harry Potter!) and watching a little more Lost in Austen... As much as would load, anyway. Even though it was interrupted by wifi being spotty, I still got to skype with one of my friends from home for a bit before my last dinner at this wonderful hostel. 

Packed and ready to go, I'm excited for Granada tomorrow! 

And free breakfast. That's always key.

Day #123

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO THIS GUY RIGHT HERE 

(He's eating a graham cracker)

15 years old, but he still feeds me and watches doctor who with me and sings Disney songs with me. Who could ask for more?

I woke up super early (not actually true- it was like 7:15) to watch the sunrise over the canal. Since the sun didn't come up until 8:37 this morning, I had plenty of time to savor dat beauty. None of the pictures of my phone do it any justice, but when do they ever?

Even though it was short because of a bad wifi connection, I got to skype with Kayla, who is still halfway across the world and killing it in Japan. But she's not actually killing anything. Where did that prase even come from? Like, I get it, but..... Too violent for my taste.

It rained some more today, but I ventured out to get some food to cook in the kitchen for lunch & dinner. More pasta and meat sauce with zucchini! 

One of the people I met here is a huge Jane Austen fan as well, and recommended a really cheesy play on Pride and Prejudice called Lost in Austen. She was right- it's super hoakey (is this a word? Mental note to look it up later), but I watched 2/4 episodes and ugh everything Jane Austen is wonderful even when it's actually pretty bad.

Day #122

Welp, apparently my last post didn't actually, you know, post. Oops.

Today one of my Australian friends from the hostel and I went out shopping to try to find toiletries etc, since I've been having to live off just a few for flights and the sake of a lighter backpack. We were relatively successful, and had 5 tapas and 2 drinks all together for less than €10 for lunch- an amazing deal! Also I learned how much she loves JANE AUSTEN (wow it's really strange that my phone autocorrects her name to all capital letters... Does that say something about my priorities?), so we talked for a long time and got along swimmingly.

Next a few friends and I headed to the Alcazar, and that thing is seriously beautiful. There's no way any picture cod capture how beautiful all of the intricate architecture and various colors and patterns were, but that doesn't mean I didn't try!

Like I said, seriously beautiful.

Dinner was, of course, amazing again. We had these delicious taco things with rice and salad on the side and I met more cool Australian people (they're everywhere!) who just came from Granada and gave me a ton of great tips. I'm going to attempt to wake up in time to see the sunrise (according to Google the sun rises at 8:35, so that's pretty late, right?), so it's bedtime for me!

 

Day #121

Though it was a rainy day today, my hostel friends and I still managed to get out to the Cathedral, which is free to all on Sunday's. It was weird to hear a catholic mass in Spanish, and even weirder to understand it!

Next: more tapas! Tapas are great. I can eat so many different kinds of food for so little money and be able to try EVERYTHING. Today I sampled breaded zucchini, patatas with sauce, some cool type of eggplant, strange sweet cheese, and lots of bread. I think everyone is convinced I'm a vegetarian, but it's really just that I don't know as many Spanish meat words as other food words... Oops.

Back at the hostel, we hid from the rain and played card games while drinking tea. I got to skype with my great friend Nitheesha for a while before the hostel dinner. And WOW, this dinner...

(I haven't talked about food in a while, can you tell I'm excited?)

Shepard's pie in individual dishes with bread, peas, and sautéed mushrooms. Coupled with the rainy day, that meal hit the spot.

My hostel friend was really excited about it too.

No rain in the forecast tomorrow YAY!

Day #120

Today I was initiated into the ranks or the SBG, code for the Sevilla Biker Gang. Stealthy, deadly, and fabulous, the SBG is an elite force that patrolls the streets of Seville in order to keep peace and tapas free from fear. 

(Aka I rented a bike)

I forgot how much I missed riding a bike over the summer- I rode up and down the entire length of the canal, crossed over a few bridges, and went through a few backstreets. I grabbed some lunch from a backstreet tapas vender, and rode out to eat my lunch in my decidedly new favorite spot on the banks of the canal. I read a little, watched lots of people doing crew, and rode around a little more before my rental was up.

OH AND I ORDERED LUNCH ALL IN SPANISH OH YEAH

When I got back to the hostel, I enjoyed the gorgeous view from the rooftop from where you can see Catedral de Sevilla.

Not too shabby, eh?

Later tonight I got to go to a flamenco show with a few people I met at the hostel! Wow, do they have a ton of energy and emotion. And leg strength. And everywhere else strength.

The costuming part of me was incredibly impressed with the woman's dresses. The rest of me was pretty impressed too.

I got dinner at the hostel again tonight and met more people, this time from various parts of Canada and Australia. Good dinner and good company. What more can you ask for?

Day #119

Well, Seville is absolutely gorgeous, even more so in the daytime! Breakfast is included at the hostel, so I partook in that and then also did the free walking tour! It was 2 1/2 hour of a very peppy and knowledgable guide WHO TOLD ME THAT THE LAND OF NABOO FROM STAR WARS WAS FILMED AT THE PLAZA DE ESPAÑA IN SEVILLE. 

LIKE WHAT.

I got some tapas with a girl on my tour, then walked along the canal. I'm gonna be honest, I literally just laid down on the cobblestone in the sun. Sun feels good. Yay for 50-60° weather!!

I went back to the hostel and then took part in the homemade dinner, which was a curry of peppers, beef, mushrooms, onions, courgettes, and other stuff on top of rice with some tortillas. Oh yeah, all of this happened on the roof, from which we have a GREAT view of the castle. Not too bad, eh?

I'm looking forward to doing that bike tour soon and sleeping some more! Also eating. Because tapas are delicious.

Day #118

Airports are the best and the worst places. You leave something behind while you go ahead to another Somewhere.

Unfortunately my lovely, wonderful travel companion Alice had to fly to England today and will be flying back home tomorrow. We took the metro and a bus to get to the airport and barely fit with all of our bags.

BUT SHE GETS TO STAY IN A REAL HOTEL ROOM so hopefully she is enjoying it for the both of us! Just imagine, not having to use a flashlight to get your pajamas/clothes out because you can just TURN ON THE ACTUAL LIGHT WITHOUT WAKING PEOPLE UP!!! That's crazy stuff right there.

I hopped on my plane from Prague to Barcelona, then had a short layover in the Barcelona airport before my next plane from Barcelona to Seville. After a slightly confusing bus ride from the Seville airport, I did get off at the right stop and... wow. It was very warm and beautiful. And not at all creepy, which was a relief since I got into Seville around 9pm!

The hostel is super cute, and the receptionist recommended bike rentals which i might actually do since its so warm here! YAY FOR IT BEING WARM ENOUGH FOR EXERCISE!

Day #117

It was another beautiful blue sky day today. Alice and I set off across the Charles Bridge once more and touched a statue for good luck. They gave the poor saint a statue after they threw him into the river to drown.

Afterwards, we found our way up to Prague's giant metronome at the top of the hill. Yes, you read correctly. Metronome. Like that thing you hated while learning to play piano in the second grade because you just couldn't reach high G with your right pinky finger so you were always off beat.

Well, in Prague, people hang their shoes from it.

Next we FINALLY found the Lennon Wall. Although he was blocking some of it, a man was singing Beatles songs next to the graffiti and honestly doing a great tribute to such an influential band.

While Alice went to get some souvenirs, I headed to the Kafka museum. And boy, was I in for a surprise.

I knew Kafka never felt like he belonged and had a love/hate relationship with Prague as both nurturing and stifling; I knew he had a strained relationship with his father and that he studied to be a lawyer and didn't want any of his manuscripts published at his death. But I didn't know to what extent he was really at war with himself, his feelings, sensations, and place in the world. Complete with disturbingly creepy sounds and distorted and reflected pictures along with dark rooms with long shadows, the first part of the museum told the story of his life and made me feel just as anxious and out of place as Kafka had.

The second part began with a glowing red staircase descending into a mirror- I didn't realize how freaked out and antsy I was until I saw my own distorted face illuminated by the red lights. I traveled very quickly through the maze of sleek, cramped, floor-to-ceiling file cabinets with resonating telephone rings and creeping shadows echoing through the empty passageways. 

This museum was incredibly well done, but not for the faint of heart. Also, definitely don't go alone.

I treated myself to a Czech pastry after. I deserved it. Delicious.

We chilled in the hostel for a bit while I did laundry and we packed. After dinner we ventured out on the ghost tour for a second time (because apparently I was all about the horror movie aesthetic today). It was cool to actually know where we were this time! 

Also, I snapped a picture of the castle at night. Thanks for the beautiful lights, Rolling Stones!

Day #116

Alice and I went on our first day trip today! It was with the same company that did our free walking tour. Unfortunately this one wasn't free, but it was more than worth it, and by far the least expensive day trip we've ever booked! 

Destinations: Kutná Hora and the Sedlec Ossuary, aka The Bone Church. You'll see why.

Our tour guide led us to the train station where we took two trains to the town of Kutná Hora, which used to be super important and wealthy because they had a lot of silver. Until they ran out. And there's your short history of Kutná Hora!

But look how pretty it is (and how beautiful a day!):

Have you ever seen a sky so blue?

I ate a delicious (and totally filling) local lunch of turkey, cabbage, and these dumpling-ish thing stuffed with jam before we headed to St. Barbara's Cathedral. Here's a quick story of St. Barbara:

Barb's dad locked her in a tower with two windows because she didn't want to marry. Since she was super bored up there, she read about Christianity and decided to convert. But since her dad was a pagan, he wasn't too keen on that. When dear Barb asked to add a third window to the tower (holy trinity stuff), her dad finally blew his lid and had her murdered. BUT SILVER LINING now she's a saint and has a cool cathedral! Kids, be thankful you live in this time period. For a lot of reasons. Including indoor plumbing.

Here's a nice picture I found on the wall that looks even cooler when you zoom all the way in.....

From there, we went to Sedlec Ossuar, aka the Bone Church. Here's that story:

A long time ago, these holy dudes from what is now the Czech Republic went to the holy land and brought back some holy dirt. They sprinkled it on the ground back home, and told people that Sedlec Ossuar was now also the holy land! Obviously a ton of people wanted to be buried there, so it filled up fast. To make more money, the holy dudes were like, "Game changer- your decomposing body actually doesn't need too long to soak up the holy from the ground, so we're just gonna take your bones out after the soak up the holy so then we can bury more people and make more money!"

What did they do with all of those bones?

In case you were wondering, yes, that is a chandelier made of bones. It includes every bone in the human body.

Family crest made out of real family.

After we got back, we ate dinner (mom, I bought a mango but definitely ate it wrong. How the heck do you eat those things?) and went to a classy jazz bar with real live jazz music! Hey Nolan, that sax player could be you one day.

Day #115

We're making hostel friends, yay!! We breakfasted this morning with some of our aforementioned hostel friends before heading out to see the sights, which included a toy store and delicious Czech goulash, pictured below:

I was more than a little bit impressed. 

Since we were all pretty tired, we went back to the hostel and I got to skype with Nolan for a bit (and a little with my dad!) since there was a snow day in Longmeadow. 

Then, it was the moment we'd been waiting for since we arrived- learning how to cook a traditional Czech meal! We made veggie and meat risotto with shredded cheese, and since I haven't been able to say this for a while, I am so extremely excited I tell you all that the meal was FREE WHICH IS MY FAVORITE PRICE! Look at how happy Alice and I were about the price and getting to help make it:

It had about ten billion spices and was so delicious. Does life really get any better than delicious free food?