Europa Wrap-Up

Hey Guys,

Sorry I've been MIA (again). I returned home to a whirlwind of activity that included trips to LA, SF, and Austin so I have finally managed to sit down and provide a final perspective on my two and half months in Europe.

My final day in Amsterdam did not lack for activity - we made a homemade Dutch pancake breakfast, wandered the shopping streets in the Dam, stopped Eva's roof from caving in from the torrents of rain washing over the building, and watched a circuit breaker explode creating a huge fire just outside her apartment. What a way to finish the trip! I did manage to make it to the airport without mishap and spent the ten hours flying home engrossed in the final Game of Thrones book.

Looking back on my trip I've learned a lot about myself and travel in general. People often say that traveling is all about the destination; the cathedrals, the ruins, the paintings. But this trip has taught me that traveling isn't about that at all. It's about drinking so much Turkish tea with the locals that your stomach might explode. It's about riding on an ATV along the coast of Greece your mouth tightly closed for fear of a bug breakfast. It's about getting lost in a Spanish neighborhood and finding a bar of people who have gathered together to celebrate their favorite band in the most unusual way. It's about passing out on a hot Portuguese beach with your best friend, your sweaty shirt stuck to your back, sleeping off yesterday's late night. It's about watching the sunrise for the fourth time because you just couldn't stop dancing to Tiesto. And it's about sitting across from someone you've just met, sipping ice cold Belgian beer on a humid day, drilling them with questions about their lives, their dreams, their next stop in life.

I won't remember which paintings I saw in the Prado or how many tons a German chandelier weighs but I will remember the excitement radiating from my mother after buying an antique Turkish rug, the kiss of the sunset on my boyfriend's face as it set into Grecian waters, and the conspiratorial giggles with my best friends after a night we only half remember. And I won't soon forget the people I met along the way who shopped me terrible screenplays, introduced me to new music, and shared a bottle of tequila on a plane flight to Ibiza.

Thank you to all who have followed my blog these past few months; it's as if you were there with me. And thanks to all of you who inspired me in these pages by becoming friends that I hope to have for many years to come.

Whirlwinding through Spain

July 26, 2011

So sad to be leaving Portugal! Here is a quick synopsis on Portugal like what I did for Greece.

I'm fine with having gone to Porto and Coimbra but I could've lived without seeing them and if I were to redo the trip I would've spent more time in Lisbon and the south of Portugal instead of going to these two towns. Then again hindsight is 20/20. Hostel-wise, the Porto Downtown was the worst hostel I've stayed in on the trip but by hostel standards it was fine. I give it the absolute average of 5/10. The Sofia Chill House in Coimbra was very cute and probably more of a 7/10. The people that worked there were super nice.

As for Lisbon and Lagos I loved both of them. Definitely both major highlights of my Europe trip thus far. Lisbon Calling hostel in Lisbon is the most amazing hostel I've stayed in. The style, the people, the rooms, the lockers - everything was awesome. I could live there. The Rising Cock Hostel in Lagos wasn't necessarily the nicest hostel but it suited its purpose - party. The people who worked there were the best staff ever and Mama made me feel at home. I give a 10/10 to Lisbon Calling and an 8/10 to Rising Cock. Travellers House on the return trip to Lisbon was fine probably about a 7/10 also. The staff there was nice too.

Both Lisbon and Lagos as places were amazing. I wish I'd had more time in both. I would for sure return to Lisbon, it ranks as a top city in all my travels with so much to do and see, a great nightlife, and good food. I had an amazing time in Lagos and am glad I went while I was young to experience the craziness. Do I need to go back? Probably not :-)

So that's Portugal in a nutshell. This morning we left our hostel via the Aerobus (3 Euro per person) to the airport for our flight to Seville, Spain. Quick note for travelers that Terminal One is for international flights. We ate breakfast at Harrods where I had a pretty good ham sandwich for relatively cheap. I woke up feeling pretty awful. My sinuses have been bothering me since Lagos.

Once in Seville, we took the airport bus to the second to last stop which is just down the street from our hostel, Samay Hostel. This was one of the hostels I was most excited about but overall it was pretty average. Clean, nice, great deck on the top of the hostel but the staff is pretty lame and so are the people staying there. The rooms and common areas don't have any personality for a hostel that is relatively expensive compared to the others we've stayed at. They did give me a free towel though so that earned some points!


I was feeling seriously sick at this point so we walked down the street for tapas which were only okay and then went to bed.


July 27, 2011

We woke up late this morning (it felt really good to get a full night sleep) and wandered through Barrio Santa Cruz (the old Jewish quarter) to the Alcazar.


Along the way we stopped at Corral del Aqua restauranat at Callejon del Agua, 8, for breakfast. We had scrambled eggs with asparagus and ham. It was a little too salty and hammy for me (where are all the eggs?) but the restaurant is adorable. You walk into a little patio area that is painted pink with a ceiling of grape leaves. Very romantic! Too bad we both felt like shit and it was 100 degrees outside.


From there we wandered to the Alcazar where we found out that you had to be under 25 with a student card to get the student discount (2 Euro) otherwise it was 8.50 Euro per person. I tried to be sneaky and use my card without my I.D. but she didn't go for it. The castle didn't really seem worth the money so we went to the Cathedral instead (next door). The Cathedral was 8 Euro (couldn't get away with student discount) but was absolutely gigantic so it felt worth the money. Plus like all good cathedrals it came with a tower for me to climb. The view from the top was pretty good but not that great. I think I'm just over churches at this point.


Next we wandered down to the river and crossed San Telmo bridge to the other side to walk along the water. The views of the city from the river are beautiful and very relaxing. We stopped at a restaurant, Kiosco de las Flores, with a view for beers and fried fish. I pointed on the menu to the dish we wanted but they must have thought I pointed at the dish above because they accidentally gave us the same dish but with baby prawns fried into the cake instead of cod. I was about to swallow when I looked down and saw a little face peeking up at me from the patty. Close fucking call!


We returned to the hostel (it was getting late) and decided we had to go out (because we make terrible decisions). Up on the roof we met two girls from SF and two guys from Christchurch who now live in England named Jack and Jeremy. They said that they were from the Isle of Men but I still don't know where that is or if it indeed exists. Regardless they were hilarious with the one liners which they dutifully provided throughout the night to come.

It had been decided that we would pay 10 Euro per person to go on the hostel pub crawl (we usually avoid these) but it was a good deal and not too much that if it sucked we could just leave and do our own thing. What do you know? It SUCKED. The first two bars were terrible, the free drinks we got tasted so bad I almost poured one in the toilet and other than the two Kiwis everyone was really lame.

So I spent the evening being entertained by Jack and Jeremy. Once they found out that I did work for Disney and Pixar back in L.A. they decided to pitch me a movie idea. They mentioned that they weren't sure if it should be animated or live action but they would leave that up to my expertise. The movie would be called "Chumans" and would be about a male chimpanzee who falls in love with a human girl. They felt that it was an extremely original premise. I brought up Planet of the Apes to which they replied that chimpanzees are not apes and its a MALE monkey. They were interested in the idea of having Mark Walberg be the voice of the chimp though (If you haven't noticed yet this is all said with a thick sauce of sarcasm).

While waiting to get to the bars in the first place (we had to pick up people from some other hostels) Jeremy had commented that "man's not a camel" aka "I need a drink." This was hilarious. Once we got to the club (the night's finale) they also explained their rating system to us for girls. It is made up of three numbers - face, shag, body. Face and body go from 1-9 and shag is yes/no so 0/1. So a girl with a nice face that shaggable but has an average body would be a 8/1/6. We spent the next few hours smoking shisha, rating girls that walked by and dancing. I also spent this time avoiding "The Silver Fox" who was a guy from Australia I'd been talking to on the walk to the club. I tried numerous times to tell him I had a boyfriend and wasn't interested but he never really understood until I was down right rude to him.

One other hilarity from the night was when I ordered a beer at the first bar and the guy next to me offered me his card. In confusion I took the card (it's not like I'd been talking to the guy) and read it. It provided his name and his occupation - personal trainer. He then pointed at my stomach and made a motion with his hand to say "Call me when you get fat from all the beer you are drinking." WOW. Not the best way to attract the ladies. Best part was that from the look of him he could use some training himself.

Back at the club we actually ended up having a pretty amazing time dancing. We each gave ourselves names based on the actors/actresses we looked like. Ben didn't look like anyone so he was nameless but Jack was Leo, Jeremy was Ewan McGregor, and I was Jenny from Forrest Gump. It was a great club. It's all outdoors with an island bar, tables you can stand at to shisha, and a giant dance floor with good music. The burgers outside the club are awful but I was too drunk to care. Pretty sure the name of the club was Alfonso but I couldn't remember.


July 28, 2011

We slept in again and took a taxi to the Santa Justa rail station to pick up our rental car for the drive to Marbella on the southern coast of Spain near Malaga. Coming out of the hostel we ran into Jack and Jeremy again who convinced us to come get gelato from Heladeria Villar just down the street on Losilla Parrilla S.L. The owner and his wife, Cecilia, are adorable and take pictures of customers they like. Jack and Jeremy had returned to take their picture. We got in on the action. Yet another funny story from Jeremy - the first time they'd gone to the shop he had asked for a "cone-yo" (coño) instead of a "co-no" (cono). Uh, I'll let you look up what coño means :-)


The rental car was with Europcar and it went sooo smoothly. We upgraded to an Audi A3 for only 18 Euro for three days and I drove 150km to Cadiz for the afternoon. The beach there was covered in young people (not all of whom were wearing tops!) and we spent a good few hours there. There was also a fun park with dinosaur statutes and a seesaw that we wandered through.


For lunch we ate at Rosa del los Vientos at Corralon de los Carros, 55. I had "carrillada iberico" which was so good (meat stew) and my friend had a ham omlette which was also quite good. The chef spoke surprisingly good English and was adorable. It was actually one of the best meals of the trip thus far and so unexpected!


Late afternoon we continued the drive to Marbella. The drive through southern Spain is the most beautiful drive I've been on I think. You pass through these shockingly green valleys surrounded by massive rocky mountains. Occasionally you come around a corner to see a sparkling lake off the freeway or a glimpse of sandy white beach. If you are going to go to Marbella PLEASE drive. It is sooo worth it. The only annoyance are the THREE tolls you hit (6.10 Euro, 2.95 Euro, 4.75 Euro). You also have to pay them both ways.

We arrived late and spent an hour looking for parking. That's the only downside of Marbella. There is NOWHERE to park. We finally had to make a parking spot by parking on the sidewalk on a random side street. No way were we paying 20 Euro a night for the underground legit parking. Finally we made it to our hostel, Hostal Berlin, which was sparse but clean. The lady at the front desk was very sweet and the beds here were extremely comfortable. This place felt a little more private like a hotel.


We didn't make any friends and I was very sick at this point so we just wandered down to the water for a late dinner at La Venencia. We had cheap good wine, meatballs with salsa, and rabbit. You can find the restaurant on Avenue Miguel Cano, 15. Time to pass out!


July 29, 2011

Another day to sleep in. Not sure either of us would've even woke up if my friend hadn't set his alarm. We wandered down to the beach where I managed to explain to a lady at the beach bar who to make the frappe coffee drink I've been looking for since Greece. She made it perfectly and it was SO good. I asked her to write the recipe down in Spanish so that I could show it to other restaurants. Here is what she wrote - "helada combinacion de chocolate y cafe con nato montada y hielo pile." I think that pretty much says ice cream with chocolate sauce and cafe mixed with shaved ice.


We finally made it to the beach we were looking for (recommended by the hostel). The beach itself is actually Playa de Casablanca and the hotel is Marbella Club. We had thought we were looking for a beach called Marbella Club. Either way we found it and it truly was the prettiest beach on the trip thus far. Yes I know I keep saying that but they keep getting better! I made friends with the Marbella Club security guard, Lucas, who allowed me to walk out on their private pier to take pictures. He even offered to take a few of me!


Back at the hostel, we took a much needed nap. At this point I have some type of gooey eye infection, a sore throat, a cough, a massive bruise on the inside of my leg from the booze cruise and a blister on the bottom of my right foot. Let's just say this has been the worst day so far sickness wise.

For dinner we wandered down to Avenue Ricardo Soriano which is a fun street with restaurants and bars and had dinner at Medium Rare Steakhouse. Seemed a little touristy but I was totally in the mood for a steak. Turns out the steak was like 22 Euro which was a little pricey for me so I went with the 10 Euro lasagne. It was literally the best I've ever had, or at least remember ever having. It was softer than American lasagne and came in an earthenware pot that kept it hot the whole time. As a side note in Spain they charge you for the bread they bring to the table automatically. You have to ask to have it removed from the bill if you don't eat the bread. Kind of annoying. The guy gave us attitude about it which made me angry but he took it off nonetheless.


From there we walked down the street to a little Irish bar called Maggy's(?) It's owned by a German guy who has lived in Marbella for about six years. He came outside and had a beer with us. At one point he turned around to cheers us and our beers were already empty so I made a joke of saying "I can't cheers! No beer left!" He then said he'd get us free beers if I could guess how many fingers he was holding up. I said "two" and was right!

While sitting at the bar we saw a ton of young people stream by going towards the water so we eventually join the melee. I was pretty reticent to party tonight because I didn't feel well but it was technically my friend's last night in Europe AND we just happened to walk by the bus stop when the bus to Puerto Banus rolled up. My friend somehow managed to get me on the bus (2 Euro per person) and next thing I know I'm on my way to P.B. with about thirty drunk 17-year-olds.

Once we arrived in P.B. I realized why all the kids on the bus were wasted. It is like 6.50 Euro for a beer here! That's nuts! So of course we buy two of them and sit outside watching the ridiculousness. There was an awesome Mercedes parked out front that was blue matte and definitely drawing a bunch of looks. My friend was obsessed.


From there we walked to Mumbai bar on Muelle Ribera (the strip of bars and clubs on the harbor) which had great people watching. We sat on the upper floor and watched people for awhile before continuing on down the street to News Cafe. Along the way we came across a random girl dancing in front of a car in the street so I joined her just for fun. Yeah I'm a weirdo.


News Cafe is more of a club and it had GREAT music. The DJ literally transitioned from an Oasis song to JayZ so smoothly it sounded perfectly natural to mix those two songs. We had an awesome time dancing although there was a circle of B-Men on the prowl.

To end the night we took a taxi to Funky Buddha which is a massive club on the way back to Marbella. A taxi from P.B. to Marbella center is supposed to be about 13 Euro but the taxi just to that club was 10 Euro so we knew we were getting screwed by the taxi driver but there's not a lot we could do about it. The club was gigantic, packed, and really really fun. It was also extremely expensive with a Heineken being about 9 Euro. Luckily, we swooped in the front door when the bouncer wasn't looking so we got in without a cover.


We danced until we collapsed and then taxied home.


July 30, 2011

By all rights I should feel way worse today then I do. We woke up and were out of the hostel by 11:30am and started our drive back to Seville. Along the way we randomly pulled over at the first town we saw. We took a wrong turn and accidentally ended up in this tiny little mountain town called Alcala de los Gazules so we went with it and ate at a restaurant called La Parada for lunch. It was absolutely hectic. There were a couple large Spanish families having lunch with their children racing around on plastic toy cars but it felt very authentic which was cool. The customary old men smoking were there too.


For lunch everything was definitely only in Spanish so I just pointed and guessed. I ended up ordering carne de salsa, pollo de roquefort, and picimentos relleno bacaldo. They were all delicious. We needed to get the car back by 5pm in Seville so we left shortly after we finished eating. Note - start looking for a gas station to fill up your car when you are about 30 km from Seville. You might catch the very last one before the city.

We dropped the car off back at Santa Justa rail station without a problem and I also booked my train ticket to Granada since we were already there. That went surprisingly smoothly!

We checked back into Samay and went to go grab our last dinner together in Barrio Santa Cruz which is the Jewish quarter. We wandered until we found a little restaurant called Bodeguita La Parihuela, with open seating outside (the whole area was pretty crowded). We had this queso tapa that was goat cheese with some type of marmalade on little toast crackers. It was spectacular. The rest of the tapas were fine but nothing to write home about. My overall assessment is that Spanish food is fine but not anything I'd go searching for.


From there we headed back to the hostel for an early night as my friend flies home tomorrow. Sad!!

July 31, 2011

My friend left early this morning and I took advantage of the noon check out to catch up on sleep. I need to kick this sickness before I get to Granada tomorrow and meet up with my other friend. Grr. I changed rooms to a four person dorm which is also nice although there are no lockers which really bothers me and the bottom bunk has ZERO head room so I know I'm going to end up smashing my head in the middle of the night. I'd rather sleep on the couch downstairs. Again not my favorite hostel. I'd rather have a shitty bed and be able to fit in it.


I spent today wandering around shopping for all the stuff I've run out of - shampoo, band-aids, etc. Unfortunately, everything is closed in Seville on Sundays. Literally EVERYTHING. So there went buying any new clothes (I can't stand the ones I have because I wear one of three outfits everyday)! I did manage to find a grocery where I got credit for my phone (Vodafone was closed) and a 24 hour pharmacy (go over the San Telmo bridge to Plaza de Cuba and ask someone).

On my walk back I decided to stop by the Plaza de Espana because the two German girls in my new room recommended it to me. It's a beautiful building in the midst of the park with a little waterway where you can rent boats and skim around the little manmade river. Very peaceful place.


From there I decided to go visit Casa de Pilatos since the only things open on Sunday are tourist attractions. How convenient! You can either choose to pay 6 Euro to see the bottom floor (audio guide included) or pay 8 Euro to include the top floor which is a guided private tour (you have no choice). I went with the 8 Euro because hey why not?

Basically the house is an Andalusian which served as the permanent residence of the Dukes of Medinaceli. The bottom floor was used as the summer palace and the top floor as the winter palace. They are replicate floor layouts but with the humidity the top floor was too hot in the summer so they lived downstairs and then vice a versa in the winter.

There were three phases of building the first being a primitive castle started in the early 1500s by Pedro Enriquez de Quinones (the mayor). Then Pedro's son Fadrique (first Marquis of Tarifa) went on a pilgrimage to the holy land, saw a bunch of sweet Italian architecture and returned in the late 1500s to add to the palace. He also gave the place its current name, "Pilate's House," because he determined that the distance between the original home of Pontius Pilate and the Golgotha is the same distance as his house and a temple just outside Seville city gates. This coincidence resulted in him naming the palace after Pilate. Random.

The rooms of the palace have 16th-19th century paintings from many greats like Pacheco, Goya, and Giordano and many 2nd century Roman busts. The coolest part was that one of the owners of the house was obsessed with the Apotheosis of Hercules because Hercules was the only mortal to join the Gods. Obviously a good example to follow right?

Outside of all of this, the Case de Pilatos was extremely beautiful and well worth the money. The downstairs is surrounded by two gardens and all the walls are done in the tiny mosaic tiling. The ceilings are wooden wonders of intricate carving as are the ivory facades above and around each of the doors. There was hardly anyone there when I visited so it was super quiet and peaceful to walk around. I liked it a lot!


From there I returned to the hostel to drop off my supplies and walked down to Levies, a tapas restaurant recommended by the hostel staff. I ordered fried spinach, fried chicken, chicken curry and fried Camembert cheese. They were all pretty good though nothing too special. The crazy thing was the plates were HUGE. I was not expecting that much food so I looked like a fat ass sitting there eating four giant plates of food. There were three guys sitting at the table next to me and they were splitting three plates! Oh well!

After dinner I headed back to the hostel to pack up since I'm headed via train to Granada tomorrow to meet up with my next travel buddy.

Stay tuned!

Hola from Espana!

July 12, 2011

I woke up at 5:30am this morning for my flight to Madrid, Spain. I had to say a sad goodbye to the BF as I would not see him again until Labor Day weekend at the earliest. My flight was on time and I reached Madrid Barajas airport without a problem. I was unable to find the metro (as advised by Wikitravel and my hostel) so I took the EMT Bus since I figured it would get me closer to downtown Madrid then the airport. The driver was super friendly and the ticket cost on 2 Euro versus 30 Euro if I'd taken a taxi. The EMT bus only has a few stops and I got off at Banco de Espana because it was the closest to Puerta de Sol and my hostel. Puerta del Sol is the main place that people meet up in Madrid. It was the original center of the city and still plays that part today.


I then spent the next 45 minutes getting slightly lost because I thought my hostel was on Calle Mayor (stupid Google Maps tricked me!) but instead it was on Carrera de San Jeronimo. I wasn't in any hurry though so I didn't really mind. I also greatly underestimated the five flights of stairs when I did find the hostel, Hostal Astoria, and arrived at the front desk sweaty. The girl working was super cute and very helpful. My room was sparse but clean and well-stocked with fresh towels. It even has air conditioning and a working safe which I was praying for.


I would say I spent the next few hours "resting" but really I was feeling lonely and a little terrified of being in a new city where no one speaks English. I felt a paralyzing fear that I tried to abate by reading for a little while. Finally I forced myself to set out to Vodafone in Puerta del Sol to get a phone.

Note to travelers, upon arrival at the Vodafone store make sure to grab a ticket at the kiosk near the door. Otherwise you won't be in the queue. The line was ridiculously long but I did make a friend, Elisha, who is doing a summer internship in Madrid. She's from Philly. She offered to meet up tomorrow night to go out since I'm not too keen on going clubbing by myself. It just doesn't seem fun ya know? Finally, I reached the front of the line only to find out that in order to purchase a phone I need my I.D. So back to the hostel I went, grabbed the I.D. and went back. At least I have a phone now though!

I returned to the hostel to charge it and then tried to send a test text message but received an error. When I asked the new lady at the front desk for help she was an absolute bitch! I was kind of shocked. She pretty much said, "No I will not help you" and I stared. To clarify she is the older, shorter woman with the dark brown hair if you ever stay here. After her brisk refusal I decided to sit down in the little lobby to peruse the internet to see what fun things I should do in Madrid (the internet connection in my room is awful). Naturally I started with pub crawls.

As I was researching a flustered girl around my age came by with a massive suitcase and asked me if I knew where the other stairway to the 4th floor was. I pointed and then told her she should come by and hang out after. I mean fuck it the only way I'm going to find someone to party with is by being extremely forward. I'm okay with that. And turns out she came back! Her name is Caroline and she is from Montreal, Canada. Apparently, her passport had expired and she hadn't noticed so they wouldn't let her out of the country and she was stuck in Madrid until Friday or so. "Bitchy" at the front desk was going to throw her out because she didn't have a passport to check in with. Finally she convinced Bitchy to let her stay because she would have a temp passport by tomorrow. We chatted for a few minutes and she offered to meet up in a couple hours once she'd settled in.

I decided to go scrounge around for food because it was close to 4pm at the point and I hadn't eaten anything all day. I ended up down the street at Caroline where I had a Kebab con pollo which was SO good. It was more like a toasted burrito filled with grilled chicken from the spit, tomato, lettuce and some delicious sauce. Feeling much better having had food I picked one of the streets that ends at Puerta de Sol and went in search of "going out shoes."

I happened to end up on "Cheap Shoe Row" where you could buy poorly-made, ugly shoes or scantily-clad prostitutes (Calle de la Montera). Man, a hard choice of which is more worth the money. At the end of the street I came upon Gran Via which is one of the most famous streets in Madrid and the location of a convenient H&M. Apparently it was my lucky shopping day because H&M had a sale so big I thought they were going out of business. I bought heels, a dress and a skirt for 19 Euro. That's just silly but I was smiling like a Chestershire cat on my way back to the hostel.

Caroline stopped by about 30 minutes later and took me to a little tapas restaurant called Casa Alberto. The old, wizen man behind the counter was adorable and the "chef" was very friendly even though his pock-marked face was a little scary. I've clearly been reading too much Game of Thrones because I immediately thought of Tyrion. I'm just trying to be descriptive okay!? Caroline suggested we order the ham or "jamon" famous in the region called iberico. It was expensive (15 Euros for a plate) but sooo good. It's like proscuitto only softer and more red.


Apparently what makes it different than the "regular" ham is that the pig ate acorns right before it was butchered which adds a special flavor to the ham. I can't tell the difference. The old man literally sliced it from a pig's leg that still had the hoof attached. Madrid is not vegetarian friendly I guess!

After our little dinner, we wandered around Puerta del Sol and Plaza Mayor as the setting sun shot crazy colors of light into the sky. The sky here looks as fake as the ceiling of the Venetian in Las Vegas. I swear I was looking at a backdrop.

We stopped at a small shop to eat chocolate con churros. These aren't like the churros at Disneyland; they are thinner and you dip them in a cup of thick chocolate sauce. It was okay but not really my thing. Then again neither are Disneyland churros.


Caroline had to have an early night so that she could go back to the embassy early in the morning so rather than going out drinking we decided to hang out at a restaurant called, Villa Rosa, that had flamenco dancers. The show started at 11pm and as long as you sit at the "bar" you don't have to pay 6 Euro per person like the people sitting at the tables in the "restaurant." It's all the same view and I got an hour flamenco show for the 3.50 Euro price of one drink. This drink was tinto de verano which is apparently Sangria and soda mixed together. It really did taste like summer ("verano" means summer in Spanish).


We headed back to the hotel where I promptly fell asleep so that I could wake up to a full day of sightseeing tomorrow.


July 13, 2011

So I like this hostel minus Bitchy and the fact that the cleaning lady starts at like 7am so I have an automatic wake-up call! I guess it's good though because it got me up and moving. Turns out my phone isn't activated so I stopped at Vodafone to get that set up so know I finally have a working one! I then set off from Puerta del Sol up Calle de la Montera and then left onto Gran Via.


I wandered along Gran Via all the way to Plaza de Espana which appears on the left-hand side of the street. The Plaza is just a little park with a massive statue and water pool.


It was very relaxing to walk through the Plaza up the hill to the Templo de Debod. The Temple of Debod was originally built near Aswan, Egypt, in the 2nd century but was later gifted to Madrid by UNESCO in the 1960s because of threats to the historical monuments in Egypt at the time. It was pretty cool. I feel like I'd seen something really similar at the Met in New York but I don't know if they are related. The views from the hill were amazing too.


Next I attempted to walk down the street to Campo del Moro which on the map looks like a giant garden alongside the Palacio Real (where the King of Spain lives). It was a garden alright, a giant WALLED garden that I ended up walking all the way around to end up just a ways down from where I started. Note that the entrance to the palace and gardens is just south of Plaza de Espana right across from Plaza de Oriente. Hopefully this will save you an hour of unnecessary walking!

Because I went the wrong way I did end up passing the Cripta de Catedral Madrid. It was 2 Euro to enter and was actually the coolest building I went to in Madrid. All along the floor are stone tombs that most people were walking over but that freaked me out so I kept skirting around the edges. The vaulted ceilings were majestic and scary at the same time. It was really peaceful inside and I just sat for awhile in the pew soaking in the silence.


The Catedral de la Almudena is just south of the palace and is free to enter if you don't care about the museum. The Palace opens at 10am and is 10 Euro for adults and 5 Euro for students with a card. I hadn't brought mine along and there is was a long line so I decided that the palace would be my project first thing tomorrow morning. Instead I wandered down Calle Arrieta to Calle del Arenal past the Teatro Real. Calle del Arenal is a fun little street and I stopped at Pizza Shop for a 2 Euro slice of pizza for my 2pm breakfast.


From there it was a short jaunt through Calle Mayor to Puerta del Sol. In Plaza Mayor, a couple of foreign guys asked to take a picture with me. I swear to God I'd start charging for this but then I'd have to go join the ladies of Calle de la Montera!


It was around 1:30pm and I'd already seen so much that I decided to spend the remainder of the afternoon at the Museo del Prado. It took three hours but I saw everything! Prado must mean "Baby Jesus" in Spanish because the entire Level 1 was dedicated to Mary and him! I was bored of it almost immediately so I spent the majority of my time on Level 0. Here's a list of all the stuff I really liked:

1) "Dawn" by Jose de Madrazo
2) The Black Paintings and "Saturn" by Goya (my favorite)
3) "Saint George battles the Dragon" by Rubens
4) "Castle of Alcala de Guadaira" by David Roberts
5) "Nero and Seneca" by Gonzalez
6) The collection of paintings of dwarves and buffoons by Velazquez
7) "Retrato de desconocido" - this painting was of a woman that looked JUST like the evil old lady from Goonies. It must have inspired her character :-)
8) The sculptures of the "Muses of Cristina of Sweden"
9) "The Garden of Earthly Delights" by Bosch (obviously)
10) "The Rape of the Sabines" (I forgot to write down the artist)
11) "The Story of Nastagio degli Onesti" by Botticelli (another favorite)
12) "The Seven Liberal Arts" by Giovanni del Ponte

I was exhausted after the Prado so I returned to the hostel and took a 30 minute siesta before meeting up with Caroline for dinner. Elisha (the girl from Vodafone) had invited me out with her friends to go clubbing later so Caroline and I wandered the shopping streets looking for a purse so that I wouldn't have to take a massive bag. Caroline also informed me that people don't really dress up for clubs from her experience so far which was a bummer since I'd finally found those cheap heels! Oh well. I was supposed to meet Elisha in front of Vodafone at 10pm so Caroline and I decided to go to the Museo del Jamon for dinner.


If you were to ask me my favorite part of Madrid (so far) my answer would be Museo del Jamon. It's like I died and went to heaven and it was made of ham. There's ham hanging from the walls, ham beneath the glass counters, people eating ham, people buying ham, ham, ham, ham. It's magical. I ordered a bocadillos de jamon which is a slice of ham in a baguette. It was yummy! And it only cost 1 Euro!! The beer only costs 1 Euro too! I also tried some "claras" which is beer mixed with lemonade. It's pretty good but I like tinto de verano better. As side note that the food isn't the best ever, it's more the place that is awesome. And the food isn't bad at all for only being 1 Euro. Finally I literally had to run back to the hostel to change and drop off my stuff to meet Elisha on time.

Elisha had brought about 12 people out with her most of whom are from the U. of Pittsburgh. The ones I mainly talked to were V, Jenna, Jordan, Sammy, and Jeremy. Everyone was very fun. We went to Cervecería 100 Montaditos to start because they had 1 Euro drinks and montaditos (tiny sandwiches). It took forever to get a table though. I found out that all of them were planning on going to the midnight showing of Harry Potter tomorrow night but I convinced Jordan that we should go to Black Eyed Peas instead.


From there we went to an assortment of clubs and bars (I think four total). In each one I'd have just ordered a drink when everyone would leave so I had to chug it down and run after them. Needless to say at that pace by Bar #4 I was accidentally plastered. We never did end up at a club as planned because most everyone left around 3am to go home because they all work. Oh well...Maybe this weekend. I said goodbye to Elisha and thanked her for taking me out and Jordan promised to get in touch tomorrow about the concert. Crossing my fingers that happens!


July 14, 2011

Ouch my head hurts... but I pulled through, downed a bottle of water and took off for the Palacio Real. I can't believe there is still a King of Spain... it's like Game of Thrones in real life! Luckily I brought my hugely expired student card with me and got in for five Euro instead of ten. The ticket gives you access to the main rooms, the armoury, and the pharmacia. I think Spain could take some notes from Turkish Sultans because their palace just wasn't as impressive. It was nice but felt almost like a hodgepodge of interior decorating thanks to countless frescoes, wallpapering, and styles of decoration. It was cool to see authentic paintings done by the great Spanish artists like Goya and Velazquez.


The King of Spain doesn't actually live there; it is primarily used now for tourism and special occasions of state. The location of the place once housed a fortress in the 9th century. The original castle was built in the 16th century but it burned down so King Philip V ordered a new palace to be built in the same spot. The last king who actually lived there was Alfonso XIII.

Next I ventured down the street to the Catedral de la Almudena. I'm definitely becoming immune to monuments because this cathedral is just like the last. It's free to go in but you have to pay four Euro to enter the museum and the dome. The museum is super lame but going up to the top of the dome does afford you with a pretty awesome view of the palace and Madrid. I love a good view so it was worth it for me although the exchange rate continues to make me cringe.


From there I walked south past the Basilica de San Francisco el Grande.


I refused to pay to go inside so I continued on to Plaza del Toledo which wasn't worth the walk.


If I could go back I would axe these two from the list although the walk itself was nice. I was getting exhausted (still hungover) so I tried out the metro for the first time. It's a Euro for a one-way anywhere in the city which is awesome! And it is super clean, on time, and sort of fun to ride.


I arrived in Puerto del Sol and stopped at the ever convenient Museo del Jamon for lunch. This time I tried the Pan Tomaca Museo which is a slice of toast with tomato paste and ham on it. If the toast had been a little less soggy and warmer it would've been perfect. As it was I still enjoyed it.


I was almost finished eating when Caroline randomly walks in, sees me, and starts laughing. She told me that she was at the hostel idly wondering where I was and thought she'd just pass by the Museo to see if I was there. And low and behold I was in the exact same spot from the night before. Shit I'm predictable!

We yet again chatted for too long making me late to meet up with Jordan and Jeremy near their work. We spent their lunch break touring around the Parque del Retiro which was the last major thing on my list of things to see. Jordan also confirmed that a group of us would be going to the Black Eyed Peas after party instead of the main concert... for FREE! AWESOME! The park is gigantic, peaceful and sunny. It's made up of secluded little lawns surrounded by bushes as opposed to open like a soccer field. Unfortunately, I left my picnic basket at home because that would've been the finishing touch. Instead I settled for a lemon Fanta and sat watching tourist paddle boats in the lake around the Monumento a Alfonso XII.


The boys had to head back to work so I continued on through the park. But not before Jordan told me about El Tigre, an awesome tapas bar in the gay district that is the best place to hit before a night out on the town. After cataloging this in my brain, I made my way to Palacio de Cristal, a palace made of, you guessed it, crystal. Instead of a strange, yet cool art installation that was fun to check out. It was actually like installation and Jordan's recommendation that sent me on through the rest of the park to the Centro de Arts Reina Sofia even though my legs felt like daggers.


At the Reina Sofia ticket office I was caught red-handed with my expired student card. The lady totally called me out and made me pay six Euro. Damnit! I literally limped my way through the Reina Sofia, which is much more my kind of museum then the Prado. It's a mixture of modern and older art and permanent and temporary exhibits. My favorite floors (there are four) was the 4th and 2nd floors. The 4th floor had a temporary exhibit by Lygia Pape called "Magnetized Space" that was really cool. This artist has a twisted mind but I like it. There was also a bunch of random stuff from Picasso and a bunch of other artists. Below are my favs:


The 2nd floor I have no photos from because it houses the great Guernica painting by Pablo Picasso which was truly magnificent. There were also a bunch of Salvador Dali paintings on this level most of which haven't been made into college dorm posters so they were refreshingly new for me to see.

The 3rd floor was kind of a bomb in my opinion. All I can remember of it was a bunch of Nazi stuff which is not in the least bit interesting to me. The 1st floor, however, was my favorite. The entire back section was dedicated to an exhibit by Yayoi Kusama who is a huge name in Japan. The exhibit has everything from amazing paintings to wacky floor installations to multiple full room installations that were inventive and interesting. It was my favorite part of the museum.


One other random story... when I first got to the museum I walked onto the 4th level and there was an art installation in the middle of the floor featuring bowls of colored paint arranged in a circle. One of the bowls of red paint was splattered and there was a bucket and mop leaning against the wall. It was kind of cool looking. Then when I left the 4th level I walked by it again and the mop was gone and the paint cleaned up. Haha totally thought that was part of the piece but really someone just accidentally knocked the bowl and spilled the paint. That's modern art for ya!


I hobbled my way back via metro to the hostel and snuck in an hour nap before Caroline came by to go to dinner. We went to El Tigre eager to see this place that Jordan had raved about. We got a little lost but finally found the street, Calle de las Infantas, and then the bar. It was PACKED. You barely have any room to stand but the energy is great. It's full of younger people laughing, drinking and sweating. We finally found a little corner and our waiter brought us giant glasses of tinto de verano and beer along with a massive plate of fried potato slices and cheese balls. The cheese balls were incredible - crispy on the outside and soft and hot on the inside. We devoured the plate and begged the waiter for another one which he kindly gave us for free.


This plate had ham on bread, seasoned chicken wings and cheese. The best part? It cost us 8.50 Euro total. Basically you pay for the booze and then get the tapas for free, which is how it become so popular. For being packed for of people I was also impressed with how quickly the waiter attended us and brought us food. I definitely recommend this place to anyone coming to Madrid.

Yet again I was running late to meet up with the crew at Elisha and Jordan's place to pre-game before going to the BEP afterparty. Caroline is the shit because not only did she walk with me to the ATM to get money but then took the metro and walked all the way to their place with me because I was uncomfortable (my outfit looked like it belonged on Hooker Row). Jordan, Andrew and Maxi were the three other people going in our group so we hurriedly drank and jumped in a cab. Jordan introduced me to Spotify.com which is a pretty sick music application that I will need to try out.

The club we went to was called Buddha and it was really classy for a club. So classy that one drink was 14 Euro. I had one. Maxi managed to drop hers (full) on the ground almost immediately. Sucks.

We spent the rest of the night dancing our asses off. The first DJ was some kid named Danny Avila who looked exactly like Justin Bieber and then Apl.De.Ap got up and DJed. The kid was really good; Apl.De.Ap was not. In fact he was terrible. Next thing we know Taboo and Fergie appear on stage with him (by stage I mean a raised platform five feet in front of me) and just start rapping their stuff. I can't believe they are doing this after playing an entire concert earlier that night. Pretty sure they were lip-syncing though.



Buddha also had a slightly separate area with hookah and some of us were totally down but the service was terrible and we couldn't get anyone to take our order. Three of the guys were about to pass out on the couch so we decided it was time to leave. The fact that it was 6am didn't even matter haha.


The cab back with 15 Euro but luckily we got a cabbie who was able to understand enough of my broken Spanish to get me to my hostel's front door which was amazing.


July 15, 2011

Today marks my one month travel anniversary! I have officially been traveling through Europe for one month and I am not remotely ready to go home. Although I do have to give a shoutout to my U.S. friends and family because I really miss all of you. I'd just prefer if you could all come here instead of me coming back :-)

Sometimes I worry that I'm going to turn out like the fucked up kids on the Real World. They spend six months living it up in an awesome city in an awesome house with cameras following them around and then they have to go back to the "real world" and be losers again. So many of them have had meltdowns. I hope that I don't come back from Europe feeling the same way. Although I doubt this blog is going to turn me into a celebrity :-)

For my one month anniversary I slept until 2pm. It was sooo nice not to set an alarm. Once I finally dragged myself out of bed I decided that I HAD to go to Toledo today. My friend gets here tomorrow so if I'm gonna do I gotta go today. I took the metro to the Atocha Renfe stop which is merged with the train station. It gets a little tricky because you have to go into this special area to book an out-of-city train, you can't use the red kiosks or the regular ticket counters. Once instead this area you pull a ticket from the machine to hold your place in line (they love their ticket machines in Spain) and then sit for 45 minutes waiting for your turn. This sounds like a long time but keep in mind this was midday Friday which is a huge travel day.

Finally it was my turn and the guy was super helpful. Twenty Euro later I had a round-trip ticket to Toledo leaving in 50 minutes (Depart Madrid at 3:50pm and then return trip at 9:30pm). I spent those 50 minutes spending eight Euro on a sandwich and a water which made my wallet angry. If you plan on going somewhere by train bring a lunch!

The train ride was smooth and peaceful. Not a lot to look at out the window but it's only 30 minutes so you don't have time to get bored. Once in Toledo you walk outside of the train station and turn right until you hit the bus stop. For one Euro you can take the 5, 22, 61 or 62 bus to Plaza de Zocodover in the center of the town.

On the bus my first impression of Toledo was a giant medieval fortress that is the best preserved fortress I'd ever seen! On a side note there is a little shop in the train station that sells tourist maps for two Euros. It's a way better map then the free ones they give out at the station. I was happy to have an intricate map because Toledo is a fortress of maze-like streets that twist and wind and double-back. I spent the next two hours getting lost and found over and over and over again. I didn't actually pay to go into any of the monuments because it was more fun to just wander.


I did pay about eight Euro to take the tourist bus though. Unlike most places this tourist bus doesn't take you around the city, it takes you outside the city in a giant circle so that you can see the city as a whole. It's kind of expensive but well worth it in my opinion but I'm a sucker for a panoramic view.


Finally I'd worked up a healthy appetite after taking in the Cathedral, Alcazar, and the rest of the city so I wandered until I found a menu that wasn't atrociously expensive.


I ended up at La Abadia in Plaza de San Nicholas. Note that they do have an English menu if you ask inside. The place isn't anything special to look at but it had the best food I've had in Spain so far for extremely low prices. I was stuffed for only eight Euros and it was far more interesting food that El Tigre as much as I love that place.


I had a glass of La Specia (Castilla La Mancha) which was a syrah, tempranillo, cab blend and two tapas - Aubergine lasagne with peppers and goat cheese and Cod Croquette with ratatouille. The lasagne comes piping hot in a pan and eat bite melts in your mouth. The cod was more of a puree inside a fried crust. Combined with the ratatouille it was an explosion of different tastes in one. I haven't eaten that much on this trip so my little lunch left me very full. Spain has been pretty expensive thus far yet this was my best meal and the lasagne was 2.69, the cod was 2.87 and the FULL glass of wine was a whopping 1.39 Euro. I should just drink wine the rest of this trip!

There was about two hours left before my train even though two hours had been plenty for me. I wish I could've left earlier. I wandered around some more and stopped at Confiteria Santo Tome to buy some mazapan. Not to be confused with marzipan, mazapan is a little almond cake that is glazed and often covered in nuts. Santo Tome is debatably the most famous creator of mazapan in Spain so I had to give them a try. It was certainly good but not the most amazing thing I've ever had.


Finally, it was time to take the bus to the train station. I arrived an hour before my train so I went to the little bar instead the station for a drink. As I was walking in a guy told me I had awesome shoes (I was wearing my hot orange sneakers) and that his daughter has a hot pink pair just like them.


He calls them her "sharpies" (like the marker although I feel like "highlighter" would make more sense?). This snowballed into an hour long conversation with him and his wife over beers. He is originally from Cuba and his wife is from Philly and boy did they have crazy stories to tell me about Miami and the old days in Cuba when you could get your throat sliced in your sleep. It was a fascinating conversation and before we parted he recommended Botin as the best and oldest restaurant in Madrid that I had to try out. Maybe I will hit that up tomorrow for dinner!

I barely made it home around 11pm before passing out. My friend gets here tomorrow and he is going to want to party so I need to get sleep while I can! Ciao!


July 16, 2011

I woke up super late again today (gotta prepare myself for Ben's arrival and the imminent drinking that will occur after). He arrived around 3pm and we immediately set up to play his favorite travel game. It's simple. You have to walk to an area you haven't been yet and then stop at a bar for a small plate of food or a drink. Rinse and repeat until you are drunk and full. Seeing as how I've already been pretty much everywhere we headed north of Gran Via to Chueca, Madrid's gay district.

The first place we stopped at had an Irish feel to it and 2.50 Euro beers. It was standard. The next place we stopped we ordered the huevos which turned out to be a little tower of scrambled eggs, eggplant, red pepper, walnuts, etc, that was SO good. Judging from the salt and pepper shakers we were definitely in the gay district :-) It also turned out that this place was a vegetarian restaurant (Meg where were you on that one!?)


Next we ended up walking past this place called Blood Brothers so we clearly had to go in. Inside was a grunge rock bar with a bunch of older Spanish men wearing Iron Maiden T-shirts. It might be one of the weirdest things I've ever seen. Yes, of course I snagged a pic for you guys.


The final place on our trek was just down the street from El Tigre (I'd tried to take Ben there but it was closed!) This bar we got down to the business of really eating. We ordered Jamon Iberico, Solomillo con Brie and Chorizo a la Sidra. Basically ham, sirloin with brie and sausages in cider. They were all decent but not amazing.

It was getting close to 6pm so we went back to the hostel, slept for an hour and then headed out to Botin near Plaza Mayor. Botin restaurant was founded in 1725 and is listed in the Guinness Book of World Records as the oldest restaurant in the world. They are known for their roasted suckling pig and lamb that is cooked in a giant wood oven in the old Castilian method. The oven is as old as the restaurant. We obviously ordered the lamb and the pig and an appetizer of red pepper with cod. The cod was a little weird...and raw. The pig was okay and the lamb was pretty damn good. It's definitely more about the experience than the food in my opinion and it is quite expensive. Our meal was 80 Euro.


Before I forget! The reason we ended up there was because the couple from Toledo recommended it. The guy said that if we asked for the owner and showed his card that we might get a gift. I was pretty impressive when the owner himself arrived at our table and chatted with us for about ten minutes. He offered to let us tour the kitchen and at the very end of the night made a gift to me of a sangria jar. It was beautiful and hand-painted. Gonna have some trouble packing that bad boy.

The meal also took almost three hours so we had to run back to the hostel, drop our shit, throw back three beers at Museo de Jamon and take the subway to Atocha station to go to Kapital. If you don't get there before 1:30am the price of entry goes up. As it was it was already 15 Euro cover but in Puerta del Sol as we were headed to the metro a promoter gave me six drink tickets - sweet. Too bad we never made it there. The line was gigantic and we made friends with five Spanish kids who we later found out were eighteen. Damn I feel old. Instead we ended up at a club called FAME (Gaga would be so proud!) which was tons of fun.

We got home after 6am so it was officially my latest night out in Europe so far. Can't wait to beat my record when I get to Portugal tomorrow!