A few comments on Spain in general:
1. I´m getting really tired of spending my euros on water. Since you can´t drink the tap water, you have to buy water at every restaraunt (and refills aren´t free!). I always specify ägua sin gas,¨otherwise I´ll get stuck with some nasty seltzer water. So we´ve been making attempts to buy big bottles and jugs of water at grocery stores. Today I purchased 1.5 liters for .37 euros (about 50 cents).
2. There are dogs and cats everywhere! Literally, I´ve seen atleast 100 dogs. Sometimes they´re on leashes, and sometimes not. Most of the time the cats are roaming around and digging in the trash. You can even bring your pets in public places. Oh yeah, they also poop right in the middle of the streets as well, so you´d better be careful not to cut your foot!
3. Apparently tight jeans and neon orange and lime green business suits are in. I don´t really know what to say to that.
4. PDA in excess! Ick. Even on the streets, there are just people standing around making out, no exaggeration here.
5. I guess it´s hard for me to comprehend smoking in public places since in Columbus we don´t have smoking anywhere. All restaraunts are smoking, and all the monuments we went to yesterday have little white buckets strategically placed around the exhibit so people can throw their butts in it. In the airport in Madrid, there are designated smoking areas. However, the smoking areas are made by three walls put together (like a cubicle with 1 side open), which are about 5 feet high. If these Spaniards knew anything about diffusion they would realize it doesn´t matter!
6. Service is horrible. I guess this is common throughout Europe. Once you order the food you´ll get it quickly, but if you don´t flag down a waiter for a menu or the check, you´ll easily be sitting there for 2+ hours. I guess that just demonstrates the crazy American way of hurrying through everything, but I still find it annoying.
I still can´t believe I´m in another country. I mean, it does seem foreign to me, but when I look at a map or a globe, it´s hard for me to comprehend that I´m äll the way over there!¨ But it has been fun so far, and I´m already feeling more confident in my Spanish.
I´d better head back to the hostal, where the others are waiting for me to go see the ancient church. Tomorrow we head to Seville, where we are spending 3 days, so hopefully I´ll be able to find another ¨cafe de internet¨when we get there.
Hope everyone is doing well--look for postcards! :)
Monday, February 26, 2007
Feb 25-26
GRANADA:
So we finally found our way to Granada (ps: road signs in Spain are terrible), and headed into the Alhambra for our appointment at 2. Luckily, Dan had purchased tickets online beforehand, which saved us a buttload of time.
When you get there, you have to go in at your designated time, into the Palacio de Nazaries, which is the big palace where the Muslim sultans lived and worshipped while they reigned in the area. Granada was the last big stronghold of the Muslims before they were pushed back by the Christians in 1492 (a good year for Spain, apparently). After seeing the palace, you then head into the Alcazaba and the palace of Carlos V, who was the Spanish ruler at the time and had built these items for himself after Granada was reclaimed. In the middle of the palace of Carlos, there is a huge colloseum-looking structure; apparently it´s supposed to represent bringing the country together...whatever. After that we checked out the Gardenlife, which is a huge garden/terrace area that Carlos also made. There are actually some pretty cool plants there, with TONS of orange trees (not sure if it´s legal, but Jamie and I knocked one down with a brick and made everyone in the car try it...unfortunately, it was terrifically sour, making one member of our group open the car door and spit it out, while Jamie swore that her left tonsil was swelling up because of it. ) Then you can head up to the highest point of the Alhambra, the fortress tower. A great view of the city, including many cave-dwelling people and their dogs on the hillsides.
Oh, I have to insert this here. The highlight of the trip to the Alhambra was seeing not only a mullet, but a ¨double dread rat tail.¨ We actually got it on camera it was so fantastic. Apparently rat tails and mullets are making a come-back, because we´ve seen several more since then. Seriously, that DDRT made my week.
After 4 hours at the Alhambra, we hopped back in the car and struggled to find out hostal once again. This hostal is not as nice, but the owner is still very friendly and the water-pressure is good. We are also right in the downtown, so we´re closed to a major tourist plaza and an apparently very famous church, which we are about to go see.
Later on, we went to a few tapas bars, which Dan and Mia had researched. At a lot of places you get free tapas when you order drinks, so their mission was to order many drinks, as the tapas get better as you go along. Well, I don´t drink, so that left me with no tapas, and an empty stomach. So mcuh stomach rumbling and grouchiness from me, we headed to a different bar with actual food, where I ordered an hamberguesa; however, this was no cow! Instead, it was some sort of sausage, and the fries that were guaranteed in the picture were instead those little fried potato sticks. We actually saw another dude with an entire plate of real french fries, so we think the bar ran out and gave us the sticks from the can instead.
After that, we found a club which Dan wanted to go to, called Granada 10, which is a re-done opera house, which didn´t open until 12:30. He insisted that everyone would come ¨decked out.¨ So, we got all ready and went over there in the hopes of doing some Spanish dancing. However, ¨no hay gente,¨mostly because it was a Sunday night. They were playing some interesting music though, including Ï like to move it move it,¨and lots of people were making out on sparkly gold pleather couches.
This morning we decided not to set our alarms, so I woke up to the sound of people yelling in las calles, at approximately 11 am. Woo hoo! That was awesome. We had a leisurely breakfast at a cafe, where the waiter was ridiculously rude, and then headed off to the bank, grocery store, and post office (sounds like what I do at home on my days off). Then I ducked out to finally find the internet cafe. I´ve been using my Spanish a lot though!
So we finally found our way to Granada (ps: road signs in Spain are terrible), and headed into the Alhambra for our appointment at 2. Luckily, Dan had purchased tickets online beforehand, which saved us a buttload of time.
When you get there, you have to go in at your designated time, into the Palacio de Nazaries, which is the big palace where the Muslim sultans lived and worshipped while they reigned in the area. Granada was the last big stronghold of the Muslims before they were pushed back by the Christians in 1492 (a good year for Spain, apparently). After seeing the palace, you then head into the Alcazaba and the palace of Carlos V, who was the Spanish ruler at the time and had built these items for himself after Granada was reclaimed. In the middle of the palace of Carlos, there is a huge colloseum-looking structure; apparently it´s supposed to represent bringing the country together...whatever. After that we checked out the Gardenlife, which is a huge garden/terrace area that Carlos also made. There are actually some pretty cool plants there, with TONS of orange trees (not sure if it´s legal, but Jamie and I knocked one down with a brick and made everyone in the car try it...unfortunately, it was terrifically sour, making one member of our group open the car door and spit it out, while Jamie swore that her left tonsil was swelling up because of it. ) Then you can head up to the highest point of the Alhambra, the fortress tower. A great view of the city, including many cave-dwelling people and their dogs on the hillsides.
Oh, I have to insert this here. The highlight of the trip to the Alhambra was seeing not only a mullet, but a ¨double dread rat tail.¨ We actually got it on camera it was so fantastic. Apparently rat tails and mullets are making a come-back, because we´ve seen several more since then. Seriously, that DDRT made my week.
After 4 hours at the Alhambra, we hopped back in the car and struggled to find out hostal once again. This hostal is not as nice, but the owner is still very friendly and the water-pressure is good. We are also right in the downtown, so we´re closed to a major tourist plaza and an apparently very famous church, which we are about to go see.
Later on, we went to a few tapas bars, which Dan and Mia had researched. At a lot of places you get free tapas when you order drinks, so their mission was to order many drinks, as the tapas get better as you go along. Well, I don´t drink, so that left me with no tapas, and an empty stomach. So mcuh stomach rumbling and grouchiness from me, we headed to a different bar with actual food, where I ordered an hamberguesa; however, this was no cow! Instead, it was some sort of sausage, and the fries that were guaranteed in the picture were instead those little fried potato sticks. We actually saw another dude with an entire plate of real french fries, so we think the bar ran out and gave us the sticks from the can instead.
After that, we found a club which Dan wanted to go to, called Granada 10, which is a re-done opera house, which didn´t open until 12:30. He insisted that everyone would come ¨decked out.¨ So, we got all ready and went over there in the hopes of doing some Spanish dancing. However, ¨no hay gente,¨mostly because it was a Sunday night. They were playing some interesting music though, including Ï like to move it move it,¨and lots of people were making out on sparkly gold pleather couches.
This morning we decided not to set our alarms, so I woke up to the sound of people yelling in las calles, at approximately 11 am. Woo hoo! That was awesome. We had a leisurely breakfast at a cafe, where the waiter was ridiculously rude, and then headed off to the bank, grocery store, and post office (sounds like what I do at home on my days off). Then I ducked out to finally find the internet cafe. I´ve been using my Spanish a lot though!
Feb 24-25
NERJA:
Nerja is a small fishing and sherry-making town on the Mediterranean, a frequent vacation spot for the rest of Europe, including Spain. And we found out why. This has been our favorite place so far--the town is quaint, safe, near the ocean, and everyone is very friendly! The pictures are awesome.
We stayed at a hostal called Hostal Miguel, run by a British bloke and his wife. They were super friendly and gave us a great deal. It also had great location, so later in the night we went down to ¨Balcon de Europa¨where there are a bunch of restaraunts and little bars, the ocean, and some historical churches and the like. It was so peaceful! Dan and Jamie are seriously considering living there in the future, and I wouldn´t blame then one bit.
Unfortunately, we had to head out pretty early in the morning to get to the Alhambra at our designated time. But we woke up around 9 and ate breakfast at a little cafe overlooking the ocean; I had warm zumno de naranja and agua sin gas (see later post) to drink. Then we hopped in the mini-minivan that we rented and headed out to Granada...
Nerja is a small fishing and sherry-making town on the Mediterranean, a frequent vacation spot for the rest of Europe, including Spain. And we found out why. This has been our favorite place so far--the town is quaint, safe, near the ocean, and everyone is very friendly! The pictures are awesome.
We stayed at a hostal called Hostal Miguel, run by a British bloke and his wife. They were super friendly and gave us a great deal. It also had great location, so later in the night we went down to ¨Balcon de Europa¨where there are a bunch of restaraunts and little bars, the ocean, and some historical churches and the like. It was so peaceful! Dan and Jamie are seriously considering living there in the future, and I wouldn´t blame then one bit.
Unfortunately, we had to head out pretty early in the morning to get to the Alhambra at our designated time. But we woke up around 9 and ate breakfast at a little cafe overlooking the ocean; I had warm zumno de naranja and agua sin gas (see later post) to drink. Then we hopped in the mini-minivan that we rented and headed out to Granada...
February 24, 2007
MALAGA:
So after arriving in the airport in Malaga, we were able to successfully navigate to the train station, where we purchased tickets to go Malaga central, only 1,25 euros. Got off the train and headed into the city, where it took us about an hour to finally find the Museo Picasso Malaga. We actually got a fifty percent discount at the museum for being estudiantes, so it only cost us 3 euros, which pretty much rocked my world. The museum was chock-full of pieces of art that Picasso had made, and most of them were from his friends and family--what they call his ¨personal collection,¨ rather than his most famous pieces of work. We were going to try to go to the birthplace of Picasso (as in, his house until the age of 10) but we didn´t think we would have time until we were supposed to meet up with Dan and Jamie. So, we found a restaraunt called Cafeteria Lepanto, where we ended up sitting for almost 2 hours (so, in the end, we would have had time). The service was horrible, but the food was tasty.
Finally Dan and Jamie met up with us, after which we headed to the car and drove onward to Nerja...
So after arriving in the airport in Malaga, we were able to successfully navigate to the train station, where we purchased tickets to go Malaga central, only 1,25 euros. Got off the train and headed into the city, where it took us about an hour to finally find the Museo Picasso Malaga. We actually got a fifty percent discount at the museum for being estudiantes, so it only cost us 3 euros, which pretty much rocked my world. The museum was chock-full of pieces of art that Picasso had made, and most of them were from his friends and family--what they call his ¨personal collection,¨ rather than his most famous pieces of work. We were going to try to go to the birthplace of Picasso (as in, his house until the age of 10) but we didn´t think we would have time until we were supposed to meet up with Dan and Jamie. So, we found a restaraunt called Cafeteria Lepanto, where we ended up sitting for almost 2 hours (so, in the end, we would have had time). The service was horrible, but the food was tasty.
Finally Dan and Jamie met up with us, after which we headed to the car and drove onward to Nerja...
I´m alive!
Howdy friends! I´m here in Spain, it´s true. This is the first open ¨cafe de internet¨ that I have found, so I´ll do separate entries for each city.
Disclaimer: I´m typing this from a Spanish keyboard, so it may get botched just a little, so bear with me!
MADRID
Upon arrival, I went immediately into panic mode, as I realized how NOT fluent I am in Spanish, how I had never been out of the country, and I know approximately zero people in the western hemisphere. I almost sat down and cried, but luckily I was able to pull myself together and find an information booth, where they told me I had to go through police control, up the escalator, outside, find a green bus, and take it to terminal 4. Now, I know a lot of airports have buses, but this was ridiculous. Terminal 4 was so far away, that the bus had to go on the highway to get there! I could no longer see Terminals 1-3 when we finally got there. Then the airport is stupid and doesn´t tell you what gate you´re at until 30 minutes beforehand, so I was pacing around trying to find gate ¨JHK¨ when really I should have just been sitting. But alas, I found the gate at 11:15, met up with Dan and Mia, and successfully boarded the plane for the 40 minute flight to Malaga.
See next post...
Disclaimer: I´m typing this from a Spanish keyboard, so it may get botched just a little, so bear with me!
MADRID
Upon arrival, I went immediately into panic mode, as I realized how NOT fluent I am in Spanish, how I had never been out of the country, and I know approximately zero people in the western hemisphere. I almost sat down and cried, but luckily I was able to pull myself together and find an information booth, where they told me I had to go through police control, up the escalator, outside, find a green bus, and take it to terminal 4. Now, I know a lot of airports have buses, but this was ridiculous. Terminal 4 was so far away, that the bus had to go on the highway to get there! I could no longer see Terminals 1-3 when we finally got there. Then the airport is stupid and doesn´t tell you what gate you´re at until 30 minutes beforehand, so I was pacing around trying to find gate ¨JHK¨ when really I should have just been sitting. But alas, I found the gate at 11:15, met up with Dan and Mia, and successfully boarded the plane for the 40 minute flight to Malaga.
See next post...
Thursday, February 22, 2007
T minus 15 hours
I'm not sure what I should put here, but I felt like I should type something since we are leaving tomorrow! I can't believe our trip is so soon! I fly out at 3:20 pm on Friday (2/23) and get there at 12:50 pm local time on Saturday. Then we'll let the fun begin! :)
Official Spain countdown: 15 hours
Official Spain countdown: 15 hours
Tuesday, February 13, 2007
Gettin' Dorked Out and Ready to Go
Ok, so I know this is pretty much the definition of super-dork tourist, but in all honesty, I honestly don't care. I'm embracing the tourist image, what can I say? All I know is, my valuables will be safe and sound in my little marsupial pouch. :)
Official Spain countdown: 10 days
Thursday, February 1, 2007
Heading toward the hostal circuit...
So, this might be a boring post, but I figured I'd better put something up! We're currently in the midst of planning our trip (and by that, I mean that Dan is in the midst of planning our trip). However, I'm not too concerned since he's lived in the area of Spain in which we'll be, and is fluent in Spanish.
I. Here's a rundown of where we're planning on staying; you can click on the links to check out the hostals and pictures of the scenery to be seen:
1. Nerja http://www.hostalmiguel.com/
2. Granada http://www.hostalpensionmeridiano.com/
3. Seville http://www.andalunet.com/azahardesevilla/
4. Malaga/Torremolinos
II. You can click here to check out map of our driving route!
III. A couple more people have been added to our group--Dan's friends, Dan and Mia, who are from Michigan (boo). So, as of right now, it's going to be Dan and Jamie, Dan and Mia, and me (the single one, whose dinner check doesn't get picked up, and who always gets set up by couple friends). Awesome.
IV. In any case, let the Spain Countdown begin! :)
Official Spain Countdown: 22 days
I. Here's a rundown of where we're planning on staying; you can click on the links to check out the hostals and pictures of the scenery to be seen:
1. Nerja http://www.hostalmiguel.com/
2. Granada http://www.hostalpensionmeridiano.com/
3. Seville http://www.andalunet.com/azahardesevilla/
4. Malaga/Torremolinos
II. You can click here to check out map of our driving route!
III. A couple more people have been added to our group--Dan's friends, Dan and Mia, who are from Michigan (boo). So, as of right now, it's going to be Dan and Jamie, Dan and Mia, and me (the single one, whose dinner check doesn't get picked up, and who always gets set up by couple friends). Awesome.
IV. In any case, let the Spain Countdown begin! :)
Official Spain Countdown: 22 days
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