I just returned a few days ago from an 8 day adventure in Spain for "winter" break (since it's such an early break, it is called winter instead of spring haha). I don't think the trip could have gone much better...
BARCELONA (Days 1-3)
We began our trip with an early morning flight to Barcelona last Saturday. Everyone slept over at my apartment so that a shuttle could pick us up at 3:35am to get to the airport in time--so I guess I should say, everyone napped at my apartment haha. It ended up being more than worth it to get up early. We all just slept on the plain, and arrive in Barcelona around 9am with a full day still ahead of us!
We grabbed some breakfast tapas once we got into town, and then headed to our hostel. This trip was my first experience with hostels, and I think I have been spoiled. Our first was very clean and quiet. We had our own room, an adorable garden/patio, and a workable kitchen. After dropping our bags, we met up with my friend, Mohit, who was already in Barcelona the day before.
For the next three days, the five of us conquered Barcelona. We did all the touristy/food things possible. We hiked up to the top of Parc Güell the first morning.
The park, like really all of Barcelona, highlights the architecture of Antoni Gaudí, which I absolutely loved. It is so playful and fun, while still being absolutely beautiful!
We had tapas and sangria (DELICIOUS) for a late lunch, and continued exploring the Gothic District, Las Ramblas, and other parts of Barcelona.
Afterward, we went to a free fountain light show outside the art museum, best part was definitely when they had a Disney themed segment, with the songs in Spanish. Definitely had fun making a fool of ourselves and singing along :) That night, we ended up taking advantage of the hostel kitchen and cooking some pasta.
The second morning, we got up fairly early, determine to arrive at Sagrada Família when it opened, since the day before the lines to get in were absolutely ridiculous. This is a Gaudí Cathedral that is actually still under construction, the ticket you purchase actually helps pay for the work to complete it.
We also paid a couple extra euros to take a lift for the view at the top, which was definitely worth it!
The plan to get there early was definitely smart, we were in and out within 1.5 hours and still had the entire day ahead of us! Next on the agenda was the Montjuïc Castle which required another hike, slightly more intense then the day before. Great view from the top of the ocean and the city! We then hiked down the hill back towards the modern art museum through some really lovely and random parks.
We then put our focus on a mission of great importance: paella. We were determined to have it, but shockingly it wasn't that easy to find a place that was good and actually affordable. Just when I thought we were never going to eat, we ended up settling on a place and got our paella...and it was good.
You may or may not know, but I have really only begun eating fish in the last year and a half or so, it was definitely an intimidating dish for me! However, I was very proud when I actually enjoyed all the random assortment of seafood withing including crawfish, squid, scallops, mussels, and shrimp and also didn't squirm while ripping off the legs and cutting of the heads haha.
Since Mohit was heading back to Germany soon, our next mission also dealt with food: chocolate covered churros. We were told by a local about an obscure location that was suppose to have good, non-touristy, chocolate churros. After quite a bit of walking, we finally found the place which was pretty much literally in the middle of nowhere.
BUT it was, of course, super good AND, since it wasn't touristy, super cheap. I liked the Spanish churros, but they lack the cinnamon and texture of the churros I am use to back home. THOSE in chocolate, is something I'm now desperate to try :)
Mohit then left us to catch his flight and we headed to the Picasso Museum. Picasso grew up in Barcelona, and the museum, despite not having many significant works, was really interesting since it documented his progress as an artist year by year and had a bunch of random sketches and drawings from his early work. I think it was one of my favorite museums yet actually, it really made him more human and accessible to me.
Our last day in Barcelona was much more relaxed, mainly because we had conquered so much of the city in the first two days! We went to a market in the morning I had read about online to grab some breakfast, and then headed down to spend a little time on the beach. The beach in Barcelona isn't the most impressive part of the city, but I'm still glad we went. After, we went to look at a couple cathedrals that are open to the public and really impressive.
We still had a few more Gaudí houses to see, so we took the metro to the top of the city so we could walk downhill and make our way around :)
I'm so glad we did so, because I really enjoyed being out of the center of Barcelona. Barcelona is a great city, but it is full of tourists, even in off season I felt like I didn't I saw reallll locals around. But up north, there was much more Spanish life and we found an awesome three course lunch restaurant for under ten euros.
Food was delicious: wine, Spanish bread, asparagus soup, veal with garbanzo beans, and a chocolate cake for dessert.
After, we walked down the hill, saw the rest of the Gaudí houses, grabbed something to take with us to the train station for dinner, and went back to our hostel to grab our things.
We then departed for an 11 hour, overnight, train ride to Granada.
GRANADA (Days 4 & 5)
The train ride was ROUGH. Non-reclining uncomfortable seats, cold, stops the whole way with people coming on and off---oi! BUT it was a good deal, and that is what good deals get you haha. I was SO happy when we finally got to Granada and instantly felt better when we got to our second, and my favorite hostel. Just the cutest place ever, with free breakfast, and awesome staff. My new goal in life is to one day work there and just live in Granada...definitely my favorite city on the trip.
Granada has an Arab/Muslim influence and is unlike anything I have seen in Europe as of yet. After relaxing a bit in the hostel, I think we all needed some food and recovery time after the train ride, we hike to the top of the city to a point sacromonte, which is where the gypsy's live.
The houses, views, and people on our way up the hill were simply beautiful. We stopped for some pastries on the way and I had this guy...
Kinda like a tiramisu in that the cake is dipped, but also nothing like it haha. We then got deliciousss doner kebabs for lunch before heading back to our hostel to partake in siesta, which unlike in Barcelona, is followed religiously in Granada. Everything was shutting down as we made our way back to the hostel haha.
For dinner, we went tapas hopping, which is when I officially fell in love with Granada. At EVERY bar, when you order a drink, your tapas comes with it. So basically, I pay maybe 2euros at most and get a mini meal. It is incredible, and also just a lovely cultural tradition to partake it.
The next day, we had tickets for the main tourist attraction in Granada, the Alhambra. Another hike up the mountain took us to the palace, which was crazy intricate and also just really calming.
After the palace, we continue to walk around the expansive gardens.
We then had a lunch of mini meals including, for me, a spinich empanada, a beer with fried anchovies tapa, finished off with some random Spanish cake I wanted to try haha. After exploring the nieghborhood for a few more hours, and a small siesta, we finally went to a tetería, tea house. I had a delicious rose, cinnamon, black tea (Persian tea), and we all got amazing Maroccan pastries.
For dinner, went to my favorite tapas place (at least that we tried) at La Bella y La Bestia--of course the name helped win me over haha.
They just give you ridiculous amounts of food with your drink--ham and cheese sandwich, rice, and chips; kind of makes you feel like you're stealing.
MADRID (Days 6-8)
Took another train out of Granada the next morning and arrived in Spain around 1pm. The hostel here was definitely my least favorite, not so clean, kitchen not so great, and veryyy noisy (definitely a party hostel). But, we kind of new what we were getting into, and all wanted to have a more rough and real hostel experience on our trip. Joycerine took us on a lovely historical tour of Madrid where we stopped at the Palace to go inside.
This was my first palace experience in Europe, which almost made me cry--particularly when we saw the grand dining room. There are just some things that I have always wanted to see, and now that I am, it just feels a little surreal.
After, we grabbed chocolate churros again. However, they do chocolate churros a little differently in Madrid than Barcelona. Here they serve you churros with hot chocolate puddinglike deliciousness to dip them in.
For dinner, we made pasta in the hostel, which was definitely a challenge with the kitchen situation, but it worked haha. We ended up even using the toaster oven for a makeshift macaroni and cheese attempt with left over pasta and cheese--actually really good haha.
On suggestion from the hostel, we walked north in search of a bar, and found the perfect little place. It was a little bit hipster, complete with bookshelves, random decoration, and you artsy looking people. Cocktails were cheap, and good. I treated myself to a pina colada :)
The second day in Madrid began with the same place we had lunch when we got in the day before, Museo del Jamón. This place...is awesome. For only 1euro, you can order off a menu with a bunch of different sandwich choices. For me, I stuck with the croissant mixto (croissant with ham and cheese). Only took one to fill me up, I will NEVER find something that good and that cheap in Paris haha.
We went to a museum and further explored the queer/artsy/youth district in northern Madrid, same are we got drinks the night before. Definitely ended up being my favorite part of the city and actually had one place that served tapas like they do in Granada where we stopped for lunch :)
We finally had to retreat to the hostel because the rain was picking up. That evening, we went to the Prado Museum, which is simply massive. It has tons of really famous works, which, if I had more art history skills, I would begin naming off in an impressive way. However, I don't, and I am took lazy to look them up haha. That night, our hostel had a party which wassss good...except for the dirty bathrooms after. Definitely got to meet some fun people from random places.
Thankfully, the weather on our last day in Madrid was beautiful, which allowed us to explore the city more fully. I started the day with a Spanish pastry I wanted to try.
Its covered in candied fruit haha--healthy way to start the day I know :)
Our first destination on our last day was another major museum in Madrid, Reina Sofia, and afterward walked around the gigantic, 350 acre park.
After, Mark and I separated from the other two in our group while they went to a museum, and went jumping from plaza performance to plaza performance around Madrid haha.
The main plaza in Madrid,pictured above, is called Sol, but there are a bunch of other with tons of people and random and occasionally really impressive performers. My favorite part was this older women dancing with probably her daughter to a mariachi group...so precious.
We also found this random chocolate shop on our walk that had probably the best hot chocolate I have ever had, and a man who looked like he was straight out of the 1800s haha.
Our last night, we decided to avoid the hostel as much as possible. We grabbed delicious food from a random pizza shop we had seen again and again over the last couple days and really wanted to try. I had a really yummy veggie stromboli. We then spent more time in our favorite northern part of the city, and finally gave in and went back to the bar we had found a few nights before, this time I got an incredibly lemony margarita--you may or may not know, but I like my lemons haha.
After such a perfect trip, it was inevitable that something HAD to go wrong, but luckily it didn't happen until our return flight home which ended up getting delayed 5 hours. The plane we were suppose to take came in damaged and there wasn't another option until 3 pm. It was slightly painful since we were all pretty tired, but we made the best out of it. Lots of laughing, singing, and attempts at sleeping in the airport cafe.
I would have written this blog right when I got home had it not been for two presentations I had today (Wednesday). I definitely completely ignored my work over break, and I'm very glad I did. I don't think I could have had a better week off. I am also thankful for having an early break, because it made me realize I have been taking for granted being in Paris. Paris is an incredible city, but I think I have gotten too comfortable, and too caught up in school, that I haven't been taking advantage of where I am. New goal: start being touristy again, though it may have to wait until my midterm paper is turned in next week haha.
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