Valencia

On to Spain city numero dos: Valencia! We left Barcelona early, so we could make use of the day in Valencia. We arrived right around lunch time, and the train we took to get there wasn't too long either. The first we wanted to do, once we had successfully checked into the hostel, was EAT! (Notice a trend here?) Valencia is known for their paella, so we had paella round two while soaking in the sunshine. It was tasty, but no where NEAR the deliciousness of the paella we devoured in Barcelona. It did the job though, and we headed back to the hostel to change into more appropriate clothes (it was warmer than we had anticpated) and also check out our hostel's rooftop terrace! Although very cool, the view was a bit obscured by fence, though the sun shining down on us was wonderful.

We started off the day's adventure by going back to the square/plaza where we had lunch. The plaza is home to the Catedral and Migulete, which is the bell tower attached to the Catedral. We grabbed some ice cream (see above right) while we walked around snapping photos. We then walked over to the Plaze de la Reina, which had some beautiful buildings and a very cool fountain (see left). Off to the side of the Plaza was this little garden, which we were delighted to discover was FULL of orange trees! They were too high to grab (we did try) but their blossoms smelled FANTASTIC! If they made an orange blossom perfume, I would buy it. We sat on benches in this little garden for quite some time, taking in the wonderful aroma, and finishing our ice cream. It was truly heaven (see right)!

With our noses full of the wonders of orange blossoms, we pressed on. We went down to the Mercado Central, or Central Market. Sadly, it wasn't open. This was due to it being Easter! This was about the time we realized that it WAS Easter, and that lots of things may not be open. After a bit of souvenir shopping, we walked further into the city. I was so impressed with the architecture in Valencia, though similar to the other Spanish cities, it just seemed to have it's own flair (see right). All the buildings had the beautiful scalloped edges and were different shades of pastels. I could have walked around for quite some time, just taking in the buildings! But, that did get dull after awhile, so we headed in the direction of the Jardín del Turia, which go along the middle of the city, like a river would (it actually used to be a river, back in the day). We had a few pit-stops (see left) on the way...climbed a few trees...played on some playground equipment, and I took a few dog pictures...as I like to do. We made it eventually...took in the view...found a good spot on the grass...and proceeded to take siestas. What a great tradition that is! I'm FOR it! After our little respite, we wandered through the garden further and happened upon a game of fútbol (soccer to those of us in the US). We watched for a bit before walking to the Jardines del Real (Royal Gardens), which were close by. These were MUCH more pretty than the area we had napped in, and were also FILLED with the wondrous orange trees (see right)! This time, we REALLY wanted to pick one. I being the shortest, was not the optimal choice for orange picker...Carolyn ended up going for one. She was successful! We each tried a slice and found out that we don't like the way oranges from these trees tasted, just how they smelled. We donated the remainder of the orange to the local birds. Speaking of birds, there were cages full of them in the middle of the Jardines del Real, and we took plenty of pictures of them! It was now time for our sangria break, which we enjoyed along with some tapas of fried potatoes. Afterward our liquid consumption came to an end, we wandered more throughout the gardens before heading back towards central Valencia. The Catedral was open now, which it wasn't this morning, so we were able to look around inside and even take in Easter Mass, in Spanish (see right)! Also, REALLY cool side note, this church is the supposed home to the Holy Grail! We weren't able to SEE the 'Holy Chalice' but still, being IN the church that houses it, ON Easter...that was pretty cool. Kind of gave me goosebumps! We even climbed to the top of the Miguelete bell tower (LOTS of stairs...LOTS) to see the sun set and catch the bells tolling. Took some GREAT pictures (see below) before we started the decent down. Dinner time arrived and we found a perfect spot. Carolyn had tried 'bocaditos' while in Madrid, and recommended them to the rest of us. These are little sandwiches (see left), a euro or so each, and you order multiple - each can be different. It was fun to try different sandwich toppings, and we all ooh'd and aah'd over them as we consumed each one. We washed it all down with some lemon beer, or the Spanish version of Summer Shandy! (Thought of Doug - who is INVOLVED with Summer Shandy, he likes it so much.) We hit the sack to prepare for Day #2 in Valencia...

Day #2 started off with some traditional Catalonia (the region we were in, in Spain) Easter fare for breakfast (a day late, we did realize). They call it 'mona' (see right) and it's cake that can be shaped in festive ways with a hard boiled egg in the middle of it. I enjoyed mine quite a bit, and even ate the entire hard boiled egg (of which I'm not a HUGE fan of usually.) We ate our breakfast in a plaza outside a small hidden church. We HAD to explore the church afterward, and I was surprised by how big it was inside! It also had a beautiful rose window, one of my favorite architecture pieces in churches. After church exploration had ceased, we walked in search of the train station, where were going to secure our tickets for the following day to Seville. We found out our train ride was going to be 8 hours, joy. Oh well, we still our day in Valencia - we could worry about the train the next day, when we were ON it!

Our plan for the day was to rent bikes (see left) and explore the areas of the city that were a bit on the outskirts. We found the bike rental place successfully, grabbed the bikes, and were off! We even had little baskets, which was handy with how heavy our purses were (I can cart an impressive amount of crap in there...ask anyone). We biked along the Jardín del Turia, heading towards the Mediterranean (our end destination). We found a much prettier part of the gardens that we didn't get a chance to see the day before. Beautiful fountains everywhere (see left)...which meant lots of pictures! We eventually made our way into the Ciudad de las Artes y last Ciencias (City of Arts and Sciences) where there are many different museums to tour (see below). We wanted to go into L' Oceanografic one, which was a huge aquarium. We grabbed lunch after we made it inside, mine was a tasty tortilla espanola sandwich (potato omelette on bread basically...TASTY!). We then proceeded to watch lots of fish, penguins, sharks, rays, birds, flamingoes, jelly fish and even dolphins at the park's daily dolpin show (see below left). I really enjoyed the jellyfish tank, as the jellyfish were all lit up against the deep blue water, which made for fun viewing. Also, I have no idea why, but penguins are very entertaining to watch...as the waddle around and flop into the water and swim about. Enjoyed those as well! Full of knowledge about creatures of the sea, we grabbed the bikes and headed off in search of the Mediterranean! We had some difficulty, did a little off-roading, but eventually found the pier! We made a quick pit stop at the musuem dedicated to the American Cup (a BIG sailing race, that Carolyn had to explain to the three non-sailors) before grabbing some daily sangria and snack. We sat right along the beach, and were a bit sad as the sun had disappeared, and the air had gotten quite chilly. We still tested out the water anyway, with only our feet though. Frolicked in the sand for a bit, took LOTS of photos (see below) and hopped about in the waves. Before long, the cold air got the best of us though.

We headed back to return our bikes and find a place to eat some dinner. We decided that the bocaditos were SO good the previous night, that we'd be alright consuming them again - and we did! More lemon beer too!! We started to come up with games to be played during our day-long train trip the next day...coming up with a solid 32 options. (Many of which made the Top Ten!) Ice cream was dessert (and it was SO good, mango and strawberry - see right), and we proceeded to walk around town for the next hour, window shopping, chatting about life, and consuming our ice cream. We had intended to go out that night, but it ended up being only our walk and then bed for us that evening. We stayed up chatting more, about all sorts of random things (by the end of the trip, we knew WAY too much about everyone) before hitting the pillow.

Valencia was wonderful, and we had such a great time on both of our days there. I took WAY too many pictures, ate WAY too much great food and even added to my freckle collection! I would love to go back to Valencia to wander more throughout the city, licking another fantastic ice cream cone and feeling the sun on my face. :)

Barcelooonnnnaaaa!!!

I realize this is a long time coming...but the goal is to be all caught up with trip blogs by the end of the weekend. We'll see if I can do it!!

Alright - so the epic Spain adventure started off in Barcelona. Carolyn finished exams early and frolicked around Madrid while the rest of us stressed over exams. We (Ryan (from Canada), Theresia and myself) met up with her in Barcelona post-exams. The three of us were all on a combined total of 5 hours of sleep going into the trip...due to exams we all were behind in packing, laundry etc. We looked like zombies at the airport! Anytime we sat down, all three of us would have our eyelids slide shut...which I'm sure was amusing to those around us. We did successfully make it to Barcelona, and all caught about 2-3 hours of naptime in the process! YES!

We checked into the hostel and found our fourth traveler. Food was on the mind of the three zombies...so we found the first spot we could, a little Italian pasta place on Las Ramblas. No joke here, my pasta was gone in less than five minutes. Not sure if that's something to be proud of or not. But, at least we were all energized, so off we went to explore the city of Barcelona!

We walked down Las Ramblas (picture to the left), taking in the sun, all the people out shopping, the street performers and the gorgeous view of palm trees. We walked towards the Mediterranean and then headed in the direction of a large hill, that promised a spectacular view from the top as well as a palace we wanted to explore. The climb wasn't bad, and the view was very cool from the top! (See picture at the top!) All the buildings were so close together, and it was amazing to see how far the city stretched out. We were all feeling the need for some liquids, and started what became a daily tradition for our group - sangria!! We sat on a patio overlooking the city while we sipped our drinks - that's when I FINALLY felt like we were on vacation. :)

After the sangria pitcher was empty (sad) we wandered off in search of what else was on this 'hill' (which I now know is called Montjuïc, which is Catalan for 'Hill of the Jews'). We found some gardens to explore, instead of the presumed palace (though I'm sure it was up there somewhere) and commenced picture taking again. We walked through the gardens and on to the old Olympic stadium, from the 1992 Olympic games that Barcelona hosted. We were able to go inside and take a peek...though I was pretty surprised by how small it seemed to be. We didn't learn much about the stadium, but I'm guessing it wasn't for the Opening Ceremonies, it just seemed toosmall! We grabbed some snacks and then pressed on. We came upon the National Palace, which was a stunning building! It was originally created for the 1929 International Exhibition, but is now an museum. We didn't go inside but did take plenty of pictures of the outside and the gorgeous water-fountain/waterfall in the front! (See right) We also caught our first glimpse of the Magic Fountain: a HUGE fountain that spurts water in time with music. Each 'show' lasts about 25 min, and a new show starts every half hour starting at 7:00 pm. We saw about 3.5 'shows', each with different music. I took videos of all of them!! Our favorite was the last show, the water was now colorfully lit up (as the sun was going down) and the music was this epic opera/pop music featuring the city of Barcelona in the lyrics (hence the reason for the title of this post with the drawn out last syllable!). For those on Facebook - check out the video! Our rendition of the song was sung throughout the rest of the trip, usually started by Ryan. After we had seen enough of the Magic Fountain (see below right), we went in search of some authentic Spanish food for dinner. Wow, did we find it! We found a little tapas place, or so we thought, and ended up having the most delicious Paella ever made! We ate early (9:00) for the Spanish, so it was us and one other group in the restaurant. Our waiter was quite the jokster and helped us make our paella selections. I had never taken a liking before to mussels or shellfish, but that night - I officially became a fan. WOW! I ate it all, and was oh so proud. I even had to tear apart my little shrimps (they came with their heads and legs still attached)! Exhausted and full we went to catch some MUCH NEEDED sleep.


Day #2 in Barcelona started with the Sagrada Familia - one of the most famous things in the city. It's been under construction since 1892, and isn't projected to be finished until 2026. Antoni Gaudi is the architect, and his designs can be found throughout the city. The church is covered in sculptures and ridiculous amounts of detail, and it's no wonder it's been worked on for 100 years already. We took as many pictures as we could (trying to not get the cranes and construction work in the pictures) before wandering off in search of a bull-fighting stadium. Ryan was the one who wanted to see it, and I'm glad we went! No bull fights going on, but we were able to walk around the stadium and even on the ground in the stadium. We took lots of amusing photos and even played a few games (sword-fighting to be exact...will be discussed in the Top Ten) at which I was the epic loser. :) We even went through a small museum that was attached and learned about the history of bullfighting, the interesting (and very TIGHT I might add) outfits the matadors have worn since the 'sport' started. Full of knowledge about bullfighting...we left in search of 'Parc Güell', and park that was designed by Gaudi as well. The process to reach the park (which is NOT obvious on the map) is that you must climb uphill a WAYS. Thankfully at the top there were escalators! Halfway up we grabbed lunch and some AMAZING smoothies (all made with fresh fruit and we even watched this sweet little machine juice the oranges...I now officially want a juicer). Parc Güell was worth the climb, offering a spectacular view of Barcelona (from the opposite side that we saw it from the day before). The park had lots of elements featuring the smooth and rippled lines of Gaudi's architecture...we took photos like mad and even found time to take siestas.

We headed back into central Barcelona, on the way consuming ice cream and the view! (More to be explained in the Top Ten, but we walk rather strangely, and little jumps occur every now and then, exemplified by Carolyn and Theresia at the left.) Next on the docket was the 'Catedral' (which was undergoing a renovation at the time so we couldn't go inside, BOO) and the Picasso museum. The museum was very interesting, and I was VERY surprised to find out what Picasso's early work looked like. His style when he was young was truly that of a seasoned adult, and ironically, as he aged, his art became very much child-like. I MUCH prefer his early work, which is more realistic and not at all like his later, cubism-influenced work. Interesting to see nonetheless. In need of some increased blood sugar after the walk through the museum, we found some cheap tapas to munch on. Next, we hit up Las Ramblas, again, this time in search of things to buy! There were many stalls set up, each selling souvenirs of all sorts, my favorite being the jewelry! I found lots of wonderful things to bring home to certain people, as well as some fun things for me, including a scarf that I wore throughout the remainder of the trip! (See right!) The sun started to hide around this time, as we checked out the pier area as well as the Rambla del Mar, - a big bridge that you cross to get to the boats and shopping area. (In the background of the picture at right) We just walked around at this point, killing time until we felt like we could eat dinner. We decided, what better way to kill time than sangria?!?! We enjoyed our little ritual in a bar/restaurant that was playing this very odd movie, in Spanish of course. The movie featured a small boy that sang at quite a piercing level every five minutes. The volume was up VERY high and we giggled as we drank our sangria at the ridiculousness of the movie and the horrible pitch of the boy's voice. We reenacted his crazy voice throughout the rest of the trip...which started to morph with the Magic Fountain's 'Barcelona' song, which ended up to be this obnoxious high-pitched warble. We found it amusing though those around us were probably QUITE annoyed. Gotta love playing the part of a tourist! Once the sangria was gone we went off in search of a different place to eat that lacked background singing...and found the Sailor Restaurant! It was across from the water, and we even sat outside. We all enjoyed more tapas, multiple carafes of wine and great conversation. I had eaten the majority of what I THOUGHT were fried green beans when Carolyn asked me if I was eating the little heads or not. I was confused until she revealed I had been consuming anchovies!!! WHAT?!?! Yes, I had been eating the heads...the bodies and tails too! (By default of course). That stopped the anchovy consumption and started the wine consumption. We had a late night, full of great laughs and interesting stories before we headed back to the hostel to catch some Zzz's before we left for Valencia the next day! Barcelona was a wonderful city to explore, we lucked out with some great weather, and it also supplied me with a lot of hilarious Top Ten material. Get excited!