On the road again...

Europe » Spain
March 25th 2006

Published: April 13th 2006

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Anushka Lakdawala

Friends in Toulouse (France)

Jean-Michel and his girlfriend Yunie in their apartment in Toulouse. I met Jean-Michel at conference in the Bahamas...it was great to see him again!

Many weeks have transpired since our last written entry. Trying to cover as much ground as possible to see as much as we can has whipped us 'round, leaping from city to city--Europe has become our playground.

First stop, Toulouse, France. Anu and I stayed with a friend, sharing stories and playing games for two days. We were treated to a traditional dish of the area, chicken marinated and cooked in a special mixture of je ne sais quois, served with mashed potatoes, and after we were offered Camembert, a very special French cheese with a very special odor. As for Toulouse itself, It is said that Toulouse is the city of "pink" buildings and, well, it's true. The colours of the bricks out of which many of the buildings there are contructed sets Toulouse apart from other major areas in France. It's quite a nice place.

So we went to Barcelona, Spain. Barcelona, it can be said with confidence, is a rather large city. It is home to about 1.5 million people and it is the Catalonian capital, something which became quite obvious to us as we listened to the announcements on the train. You see, Anu and

Relaxing in Park Guell in Barcelona

I studied Spanish for five years in high school. Now, I'm not saying our Spanish is flawless (it is, though, you know), but Catalan is a language quite set apart from Spanish, and even in this particular region of Spain the people who do speak Spanish, if not Catalan, speak Castillian Spanish (Spanish with a romantic lisp). So we spoke English.

We walked around quite a bit of Barcelona, admiring the range of architecture from the coast to the inland. Our first day of exploration took us to Parque Güell, a rather large park set upon a hill, at the top of which the entire city of Barcelona can be seen. The park was born as a small garden suburb, an artistic endeavor to capture the spirit of Catalonia idealized by Count Eusebi Güell and designed by Antonio Gaudi, but its full design was never realized and it was transformed into a public park in 1922. Besides being a great place to relax and breath in the fresh brown air floating above the city, it has one feature Anu and I found most surprising: outdoor escalators which seamlessly hoisted us up to one of the entrances of the park.

Park Guell

The park is actually quite magnificent, and I could try to describe it, but I'm not gonna.

Also in Barcelona, Anu and I met a Hungarian fellow traveling all by his lonesome. We spent a whole day walking about with him, chatting over cappucinos, resting on seaside benches, and walking great lengths to a grand flea market that was closed. Our Hungarian friend was quite pleasant, and shortly after Anu and I departed from Barcelona he returned to his family in Ireland. Maybe one day we'll meet him again in Hungary.

Traveling to Barcelona first was my idea. Anu and I had discussed traveling to Barcelona last and actually traveling to Madrid first, but in the confusion of trying to figure out where we were going, well, Barcelona was just closer to Toulouse. So, next we went to Madrid, Spain.

Before I actually talk about Madrid, I just have to say that the metro in Barcelona was quite pleasing. The metro in Madrid, like Barcelona, was also quite nice. In fact, the whole public transit in Madrid was quite nice. What I'm saying is that if you should ever find yourself in either Madrid or Barcelona, make

Chris and Ishtav

We met Ishtav (a Hugarian living in Ireland, visiting Barcelona) at our youth hostel. We spent our last day in Barcelona walking around the city, chatting and sipping on cappucino with him.

sure you experience their metros--they're rather well organized and I dare say they are also quite clean.

So, Madrid was lovely. When we first arrived we were weary from travel, and we couldn't wait to get to our hostel to drop off our bags and rest for a spell. Our chosen hostel, however, had a sort of midday intermission during which all visitors must be somewhere other than in the hostel, or at least somewhere other than in their rooms. This is wonderful, we thought, because why would we actually want to sleep when it was such a beautiful day? We searched for a grocery store, purchased some croissants, cheese, and meat all for about 2 euros, then laid down on the grass in a nearby park where we consumed our gourmet sandwiches, and fell asleep for some undetermined time.

After our nap we ventured off to another park--the weather was gourgeous, by the way--where we discovered a recreated Egyption edifice (I never did quite understand why this particular structure was recreated in this location, as it was my understanding that it was initially constructed in Egypt. Someday, perhaps, I'll find out.) which was closed until 4pm, so

Turtle in Madrid Train Station

When we arrived in Madrid we walking around the train station searching for tourist information. We walking into this enclosed area full of tropical plants and a little pond with dozens of turtles.

we decided to explore some more and return for a looksee when it was open. So, we found ourselves in a large royal park quite awe struck by some large royal peacocks. They were quite alive, I can assure you, and it would seem they were also quite fond of having their pictures taken as they lifted and stretched out their colourful tale feathers whenever they saw our camera and rotated in place slowly so we could take in their obvious beauty. The peacock show was followed by aimless wandering along the meandering paths admiring the ongoing construction and "no entry" tape. We eventually returned to the Egyption structure and were pleased to find it open. It was free so we had a look around, read some stuff about the process undergone to recreate the structure, then we decided it was more fun to view the structure from the outside.

Back at our hostel we met a lost and lonely Canadian chap who gave me the impression of a wandering puppy. We guided him to the market we discovered earlier and left him to his eats to go back out for another spell of exploration. We discovered rain and

Templo de Debod

The Egyptian Temple was donated to Spain. It's pretty cool because it sits in the middle of a park. We went inside at saw some or the carvings in the walls of the temple from when it was originally located in Egypt. http://www.travelinginspain.com/egypti.html

then discovered our beds.

The following day it was also raining, but after killing some time we made our way to one of the principle squares of Madrid where we found ourselves dining at Hardrock Cafe! To think, we were going to spend our money on genuine Spanish cuisine at a ritzy restaurant, but instead we chose Hardrock Cafe across the square which, we were sure, probably cost us about the same as dinner would have at the ritzy restaurant. I'm not complaining, though, because dinner was delicious, the waiter was highstrung but enjoyable, and, as if this really needs any explaining, it's Hardrock Cafe! It was also Anu's first time ever in any Hardrock, so that just made this experience even better. Post eatum, we walked back to our hostel beneath a drizzly sky.

At some point while we were sitting around in our hostel we saw a programme on the tele about magnfiicent places to experience in Spain. Two nearby places were displayed before us, Guadalajara and Tolédo, covered in dreamy green hills and mystical castles, so of course our next destinations were Guadalajara and Tolédo.

Before going to Guadalajara, you have to make sure

Peacock in Royal Palace in Madrid

While we were walking around the Royal Palace gardens we came across about four peacocks wandering around the Palace grounds.

you know how to say it, because it can be quite tricky and if you don't say it correctly you can be stricken from passing onto the train. You see, it's not "Guadalahara" with a soft "ha", it's actually more of a strong "kha." Make sure you remember this because repeating Guadalajara with the soft "ha" over and over won't make it any clearer to the nitpicky ticketmaster.

Once I mastered the pronounciation, we were on our way. Immediately after landing in Guadalajara city, we found a bus station, spoke in half-Spanish, half-Englsih to a lady in the information office, then hopped on the next bus to Molina de Aràgon, a cute little town surrounded by gorgeous hills that just begged us to walk through them. The next day that's just what we did. We walked... a lot. A quiet desparation came over me at one point, realizing, after so much walking, that I was very, very far from Molina, and the only way to get back was by the grace of my own two feet. Molina was even more beautiful after returning from eight hours of walking.

Tolèdo, a city that appears to be surrounded by a

Bridge in Toldeo

Toledo was a cool little city. The center of the city sits on a hill surround by water.

river as a castle is surrounded by a mote, was quite elegant. The architecture was a pleasure to take in and the surrounding areas were even more enjoyable to explore. We walked on the hills along the river and crossed bridges designed to exist in aesthetic harmony with the terrain. No quiet desperation here.

What was to be our next destination? We heard about a great thing called Al Hambra located in Granada, but what it was we knew not. There was also the glorious site of Sevilla, but we had a lot of places left to see and not much time to see them. So we went to Nerja, as per the suggestion of Anu's lovely sister.

I can honestly say that Nerja is one of my favorite places. Why we left so soon I shall never know, but I do believe that the short time we spent there was just right. It allowed us to absorb just enough of it to leave it forged in perfection in our minds. It's a small town located immediately to the east of Malaga along the coast. It was the pinnacle of Mediteranean towns, replete with mini-beaches situated far below

Ruins in Toldeo

I walked around the city center and decided that I wanted to walk next to the water. It took me a while to find a way down but when I did I came across some ruins, an added bonus to my waterside walk.

tall rock-faced plateaus upon which the white buildings of Nerja rest. Off in the distance along a bending shore from a vantage point overlooking the crystal blue Miditeranean Sea we could see white houses and hotels cascading up a mountain side, each one with red, curvey shingles and welcoming balconies with a view of the sea. And of course I would be remiss to neglect mentioning the palm trees, because there is no paradise without palm trees, right?

On we traveled to Granada where we toured Al Hambra with our large backpacks (my idea), then off to Valencia via overnight train where we planned on staying, but during the quiet hours of 5am we wandered down the main road of the city and decided to head to Marseille.

Marseille is quite large. Anu and I stayed in a hostel far out of the way of the main city area, but we enjoyed a walk along the coast and a lengthy bus ride into the city where we met with a friend of mine who I've not seen in many years. We didn't really see a whole lot of Marseille, or if we did we didn't really notice it

Overlooking the city of Toledo

View of the Toledo on my way back to the train station.

because we were trudging along with our heavy backpacks--this seems to diminish the grandeur of things a bit--but I do remember the train station, and it was most alluring. Unfortunately, when we arrived at the train station ready to set off on a long journey to Greece by a series of trains and a ferry ride, we discovered there were no trains leaving in the direction we were headed until morning and the station closed for about five hours from midnight to 5am. My friend had plans for the night so we were unable to crash at her place which meant we had three options: sleep on the stairs just outside the station (there were many to choose from), return to our hostel a million miles away on Mars, or find a hotel. We sluggedly went from hotel to hotel searching for a decent price--bargain hunting is a little difficult when you're tired and a little desperate--and we found a less than mediocre hotel for €30. Pleased as punch to be paying so little at the last minute, we didn't care about quality. We slept like rocks for 5 hours, headed to the station, and began our long journey to