Sunday, March 25, 2012

hola, i just got home from spring break in spain!  i went with caroline and met up with a couple of my roommates, amie and kelly, in barcelona.  i had my first experience with ryanair, the low fare airline--we flew to barcelona for only 20 euros, had to pack everything for the entire week (including my purse and giant camera) in my tiny backpack, and fought for the best seats once on the plane since there are no assigned seats.  the take-off and landing were kinda rough, but when we landed an hour later ryanair played their victory song and everyone applauded for making it to spain.
in case of emergency: don't forget to hold your skirt down on the slide
it was weird getting to barcelona in the middle of the night on st. patrick's day.  it was dark and we saw the city for the first time at night, while people dressed as leprechauns stumbled down the streets.  we got pretty lucky with our hostel in barcelona though.  downtown paraiso happened to be located right off la rambla, one of the most well-known streets in the city, filled with little souvenir stands, street performers, and buildings that look like their straight from candy land.

in barcelona, we woke every day, bought fresh fruit and a warm loaf of bread at the corner supermarket, ate out by the fountain in the placa reial.  we went to the beach, saw a bunch of topless women and a couple of completely naked people.  we explored the city down by the water, learned how to use the subway system to go to guell park, a ginormous park filled with gardens and tons of cacti.  we went to the local travelbar for a free dinner and met lots of travelers from all over the world.  needless to say, barcelona was amazing.  the only problem was that apparently they don't speak spanish there.  i tried to prepare myself with the memories of high school spanish, only to find out everyone spoke catalan.
barcelona down by the beach
borat at the beach
one of the many beautiful fountains
hangin at the ice bar

breakfast spot
on wedenesday we headed to sevilla in southern spain, where spanish was a real thing.  our hostel wasn't as trendy as the one in barcelona, but nuevo suizo did have a rooftop garden and was in a really great location.  sevilla was beautiful and warm.  i couldn't stop feeling like i was in florida.  maybe it was because of the overwhelming amount of palm trees, oranges and old people.  the city was really small and reminded me a lot of florence.  we stayed in the city center, while the residential area was separated by a river.  we pretty much saw the whole city in a matter of hours--we went to the real alcazar, a royal palace/tropical garden filled with palm trees, orange trees, lemon trees, fountains, and peacocks.  we sat down by the river, got some sun at the beach, visited the plaza espana, and ate lots of churros con chocolate and tapas for dinner.

i have to say this was an amazing week.  i was loving the warm weather, the beautiful cities, the delicious food.  but there's no doubt, i'm so glad to be back to my little home in florence.

1 comment:

  1. another wonderful adventure for you - love to see you living life!!

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