Viva Espana!

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ESPAÑA...OLÉ OLÉ HOLA!!

Madrid -

Following my disappointment in NYC & Canada, I couldn’t wait to get to Spain/ Europe! This was yet again the end of an era – The America’s and the beginning of a new one – Europa!!!! I was super excited to see my friend Ange and explore the Mediterranean with her & my sister, Ola (who was by now the expert in the region :p).

flew into Madrid from NYC - Ola split up over there and took different flights that pretty much land at same time (supposedly!). I took Air Lingus (Irish line) which was fantastic and included a stop at Dublin airport, which made really wana go to Ireland - even more than before! Met a gorgeous and somewhat stereotypical older Irish woman on the flight which made time go by a lot faster and more entertaining(ly).... tried to buy a beer (Guiness of course) at the Dublin airport, but twas far too expensive and i couldnt understand a word the bar tender said to me... tho he continued to speak and joke w me for about half an hour... then I had to run to catch my connecting flight! Ahh, sweet sweet Ireland =)

I was the first to arrive in Madrid out of me, Ola and Ange who was flying from Greece to meet us there. I waited around 2hrs for Ola's delayed flight to get in... couldnt contact Ange - I had no money on my phone and she didnt know I was gonna be there.... Ola & I decided to surprise her ;p hihi...

After a long shitty wait, I finally caught up with Ola & together we found Ange who was quite happy to see me there and was quick to take a photo of me falling all over my luggage as I attempted to pick up my now stupidly heavy back pack!!!! :/ meh!

we timed our arrival in Madrid with the FIFA Mundial semi final win against Germany! The vibe in the city was amazing and we partied in the fountain (yes... IN the fountain with all the locals and all of Madrid really until about 3am... the best part of it was how drenched we got from the water and still dried up at 3am - Spain lives up to its "hot in summer" reputation!! =)

Madrid is quite a nice city, nothing too outstanding and perfectly enjoyable for the 2 days that we were there... we mostly walked around, drank great coffee again (phew!!!! nice change after Asia and America's); we enjoyed listening to and attempting to speak Spanish (a language I fast became more in love with and determined to learn).... damn that desire!! hahahaha...


Road trip to Valencia
the 3 of us made an executive decision to rent a car and drive across to Valencia, visiting some of the gorgeous beach towns on the way from there to Barcelona. it became a trend for us to arrive places during the well known Spanish siesta time (around 3-5pm give or take a few more hours, haha!) ... this meant that we constantly arrived in towns that looked (and in a sense were) absolutely deserted! it was so hard to find a hotel, a place to eat (we were often starving upon arrival) and generally anything to do...
Valencia is another beautiful little town.. the locals there were quite friendly (considering the Spaniards are not renowned for this). The food was average, tho i had an amazing minted lemon drink!

from Valencia we drove up the coast, stopping in cute little towns for a swim, food and in one case a hotel - can't remember where! hahaha... but it was close to Barcelona =) so far, a great (and quite safe) car/road trip....


Barcelona - FIFA Mundial final win!

initially, we only stopped in Barcelona for a short time just to see the Spaniards take the FIFA World Cup. Little did we know (Ange & I had no clue) that the Catalonians (region Barcelona is in) dont think their Spanish and dont want to be Spanish... so most of them couldn't care less about the win and were often angry if we tried to congratulate them on "their country's" success - in saying that, however, many of them were quick to point out that 7 of the 11 players in the national team were actually Catalonians from Barcelona FC... hmmmm.... ah the joys of national pride :p

after Spain's miraculous win over the Netherlands and the average celebration that followed in the reasonably unimpressed Barcelona, we got into our car to continue our (safe) road trip further north towards Figueres (Dali's town that Ola had always wanted to see).... again we stopped along the way at different beaches to eat, swim and sunbake, taking turns with the driving... after our last beach stop and with Ola driving (have to highlight this coz everyone is soooo quick to blame me!!! ...

anyway, we had just reached the town of Girona - I was peacefully sleeping in the backseat, completely unaware of anything, when I hear Ange yell out "we're gonna hit, we're gonna hit!" or something like that... and.... BAAAMMM!!! the car smashed into the vehicle in front of us and i'm woken to see smoke fill the inside of our car... so i start yelling out "get out of the car, get out of the car" as I sit up and see us slowly drifting (really slowly) across traffic to the other side of the road where we eventually (we really drifted sooo slowly) stopped at a ditch. luckily all traffic had stopped and the none of the numerous trucks on the road ran us over... 'luckily' it turned out that the smoke i was seeing came from the airbags which had 'exploded' on impact and kindly protected (slightly burnt Ola) and Ange.

bcoz our luck is great, it seems, we were right outside a mechanic's car yard and a fire truck was driving past in that moment... in fairness to Ola, the accident was caused by the world's dumbest traffic light which randomly turns red for 2seconds to warn cars to slow down - not stop! but ofcourse this is the main highway and is full of tourists the 2 cars ahead of us didnt know this and stopped suddenly, making the car in front of us do the same and consequently us... but we hit them! the car we hit was occupied by a lovely Moroccan family, who tho were very shaken by the incident, gave us their details and invited us over if ever we went to Morocco! hehe... go figure!

Ola being the most fluent in Spanish and French (language of the moroccans) got stuck translating for everyone between the fire brigade, the ambo's and the police (who had all arrived by now!) ... she also was the most hurt by the accident - tho nothing too serious - and was stuck in the back of the ambulance getting treated for a good length of time...

why is this significant? ...
... back to the fire truck that drove past soon after we collided... the world's best looking man came out of that truck!!! and what's more, he was in a fireman's outfit!!!! i'll say no more... but for sure Ange and I were very relieved that we didnt have to translate or get treatment (tho we did try to get the fireman to take a close look at our "injuries" haha) ... we had 2hrs just to talk to the hot fireman... hahahaha.... this may sound petty or whatever... but if anyone saw this guy they'd totally understand our being gaga over him! hehe
so to end this sweet story... noone got really hurt, we made moroccan friends, firefighting sexy friends, we had a great chat and laugh with the police who let us take photos in their uniform and drove us the 50m (literally) to the mechanic to sort out insurance etc... even funnier, they had to get a tow-truck to tow the car to the mechanic - a whole 50m!! but it was the only way coz it really wasnt driveable anymore:p haha

our insurance took care of everything, organised a hotel for us in Girona and a new car to pick the next morning... and Ola finally accepted the fact that she just wasnt meant to see Figueres (apparently she's tried in the past and something always stopped her)... hmmm...

BARCELONA WAS AMAZING!!! Gaudi’s architecture makes it sooo unique and is really worth seeing... plus the city just has the most awesome and exciting vibe... it's stylish and cool and relaxed and pretty but not snobby... its cultured and it hosts so many guests who just cant get away! We managed to find a nice Greek tavern there and had a great nite dancing and breaking plates before heading out to join the locals in their tradition of buying drinks from tiny bars and then drinking them in large groups outside in the streets =)

the only bad thing i hav to say about spain is - too much Jamon & Queso!!
just didnt love the food when i was there - despite the coffee being great and having one of the best ice-creams i ever tasted!

overall, had a wonderful time in Spain and was very sad to say goodbye... tho this did come in two stages:
stage 1: left B'lona to fly to the Balkans to meet Ange and her buddies there...
stage 2: flew back from B'lona for half a day... got my big pack (always depressing) and took the nite bus to Toulouse...
read on folks!

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