Blogs from Spain, Europe - page 1104

I’m in Madrid with my host family but I’ll get to that later. Time to play catch-up. I didn’t get to see much of Valencia. There was a really modern part of town that was created for the 1992 World Fair. It’s a must see! The buildings were so futuristic and it was an entire area of town so it worked out really well. We walked around that area for a bit before departing on a paella experience. Paella was invented in Valencia so it’s necessary to eat paella there regardless how little time you have in the city. Before we ate our paella we went out on a boat tour through the rice patties in Valencia. It was very cool. We spent a couple days in Barcelona but like Valencia, I didn’t feel like we ... read more

There is a bar in my hostel! Lovely. Pool tables and a sun deck. I´m actually just happy there is a bathroom in my room with a blow dryer. Haven´t seen one of those in awhile...hahaha. BTW, I still have a little bit of a cough but my runny nose and fever are definitely gone. I´m still drinking Airborne and popping those Vitamin C lozenges. I will overcome!!! Kerri and I walked over to Puerta Del Sol last night and took some cool nighttime pictures. We traversed around and then ate some "tortillas", which were actually omelettes at Zahara Cerveceria and Cafe off Gran Via. Nice to people watch again. The sangria tastes better here than in Barcelona. We then walked through Plaza Mayor. I liked that it was very chill at night. People just hanging ... read more

So, this past weekend was the festival of Barcelona´s patron saint, La Merce. It was absolutely crazy. It was basically a four day long celebration with tons of parades, fireworks, and about a million and one concerts of all different types of musicians. The city was so absolutely jam packed, there was barely any room to breathe. On Thursday I went, with my group, to the Magic Fountains which are right in front of the Palace, which used to house the king and queen. The Fountains are situated right down the road from Plaza de Espanya and a former bull fighting arena (which they are now making into a giant shopping mall...booo). Anyways, so, you get to Plaza de Espanya and there are two huge towers on both sides of the street and there are colossal ... read more

Since our last blog we have covered quite a lot of distance. So here goes... We left Bamberg and headed down the (yet another lamely named) Romantic Road where we popped into the almost ridiculously well preserved walled city of Rothenberg. Whilst fighting our way through hoards of grandparents I almost expected to see lepers begging on the streets and criminals hanging from the rafters. We then headed down to Munich and 2 very wet days. Luckily we stayed with German friends of Paul and Michaela´s, named Steffen and Susanna. They kindly let us hang out at their stylishly modern pad, showed us around the city, and fed us sausages and bretzels. The rain got a bit much after a while and we wound up watching a movie then hanging out in the beer halls. Our ... read more

Finally made it to another country...just when I was getting sick of baguettes and croissants. Spain is definitely a different world. Its history is pretty interesting. A lot of religious wars (esp. against the Moors), invasions and it's still pretty young as a democratic country. But I guess tourism is thriving here and its economy is growing because of it. I can see why. There's a lot to see and do and it feels different from the other parts of Europe that I saw. It's as if a lot of the culture has remained intact without as much "western" influence. It's hard to explain. I really wish I could've seen more of Spain, especially Madrid and Seville. Maybe next time. Traveled down Las Ramblas, Barcelona's main shopping strip. Lots of street performers here...and they're all very ... read more