Barcelona, Spain 12/14 - 12/20

I caught a cheap, quick flight from Madrid, where it was snowing, and landed in Barcelona on a Monday afternoon, where the weather was slightly better. I dropped my pack at the hostel, got downloaded with some info (Monday is one of the biggest party nights in the city) and scoped out the city for the rest of the afternoon and evening. I decided that I would partake in the Monday night festivities, so I made my way back to the hostel to catch a few hours of sleep. The city had a great vibe going and my goal was to keep it that way! Monday night/Tuesday morning, haha, was a complete blast and a great way to start off my last stop on my Euro trip experiment. I met some great people that night that I continued to hang out with for the rest of my stay in Barcelona.  Over the next 6 days I kept the good times roll'n and got a great taste for what Barcelona has to offer. The city is comprised of great Antoni Gaudi architecture, which you can spend days looking at and walking through, great pedestrian streets where you can buy and see anything, and great places to eat or quench your thirst at. I took a bike tour of the city and got a great guide that really opened my eyes 

up to some places that were "off the beaten path".

Since I am a fan of and appreciate nice architecture, I definitely

 spent a good amount of time checking out the Antoni Gaudi architecture around the city, which included Park Guell and many of his unique buildings. One of the buildings that sticks out the most is La Sagrada Familia, a church Gaudi designed and oversaw the construction of until he died. The building is still under construction and is scheduled to be so for another 30 years! There are self guided tours through the church which let you see the on going construction which started in 1882 as well as what is finished. Its a fascinating building and ranks up there with the Al Hambra in Grenada, Spain.

There are so many great places and interesting things to see in Barcelona! A walk down La Rambla street will open your eyes and keep them open with all

the performers and vendors, but be sure to make a stop at the market, called "La Boqueria." It has everything from fresh chocolates to cow testicles ready for you to purchase! I was also lucky enough to catch

 the "Magic Fountains", which only operated on Friday nights in the colder months, 

but every evening in the summer months. Its a great water fountain show that is choreographed to music, definitely worth checking out.

Barcelona easily ranks up there with the top places I visited on my three month trip around Europe, its a great city with endless 

amounts of things to see and do. It was a great way to round out my trip.
I maxed out my stay in Barcelona, but allowed about two days to get back to Paris where my return flight to the Chicago was scheduled. I found a pretty decently priced flight instead of taking a night train and good thing I did, because the colder weather played some mean tricks on the trains causing massive delays. I will do one more blog for my two days in Paris and call it a wrap from there.
The top right pic is a mosaic chameleon at Gaudi's Park Guell.  A pic from a booth at La Boqueria  is the middle right and below that is a picture of La Sagrada Familia.  Top left is Gaudi's fascinating Casa Mila and the bottom left is from inside La Sagrada Familia, one of the finished walls.

Madrid, Spain 12/12 - 12/13

I had heard mixed reviews of Madrid from other travelers, but decided I should hold off on any judgment until I experience it for myself. I caught a night train from Lisbon, which dropped me off in Madrid, not as well rested as I thought, at around 8am. I checked into my hostel, caught a quick nap and hit the city. After walking around for a few hours and stopping to eat some tapas along the way, I came to the conclusion that Madrid was nice, but nothing super special. It had only been a few hours, but I was not really feeling the vibe. I decided to spend some time in a real nice city park, watch some rec soccer being played and enjoy the rather mild weather. I wondered through some pretty nice pedestrian streets on the way back towards the hostel, enjoying the Christmas lights and festivities going on in the various squares along the way.
I decided that I would take a bus to Toledo, a historic town about 45 minutes outside of Madrid the next day. Toledo had been highly recommended to me by a bunch of people, so I decided to go check it out. When I arrived in Toledo, I could immediately tell what the attraction to this town was. Its an old world town perched upon a hill with a river winding around the town's permimeter. I spent a whole day here exploring the city through its narrow, winding streets between the old stone buildings stopping along the way to check out the great views from the cliff side parks. It was great to check out a town where the original buildings and landscape has not been changed since the day it was constructed. It helped you imagine how people lived in a time where things were much simpler.
I caught a late evening bus back to Madrid that night and got my back pack ready for my final and much anticipated destination of Barcelona.

The top left picture is looking at the Tagus river from a cliff side park in Toledo.  The bottom left is a shot of a street from underneath a covered walk way.  The top right pic is a shot from a city square filled with people in Madrid.  The bottom right pic is a shot of the sunset in Toledo, check out the crazy clouds!

Lisbon, Portugal 12/6 - 12/11

Lisbon, Portugal has it all, beaches, mountains, nightlife, art, pedestrian streets, friendly people, great pastries, etc... and a great hostel.  I spent 5 great days in Lisbon and all of them at the Traveller's House Hostel, which was a great place to start off your day with a hot, home cooked breakfast and a great place to relax after a long day of trekking around the city (end of advertisement, haha).  

After being highly advised by some friends I met along the way, I signed up for a tour of Sintra, a small town outside of Lisbon, for my first day.  The tour was provided by the hostel

 and was a day filled with great sites including the Pena Palace and its fantastic gardens, Quinta da Regaleira and its both fascinating and eerie grottoes and mystic well, a sunset at Cabo de Roca, the most westerly point of main land Europe and finally to Cascais, a beach town near Lisbon, for a day capping drink before heading back to the hostel for a 

traditional Portuguese meal.  I arrived to Portugal pretty beat after 75 days of travel, so I crashed out the rest of the night and watched a movie.  All this on my first day.  

The rest of my time in Lisbon was spent exploring the different parts of the city, which still used old time electric cable trolleys as a main source of transportation around the rather hilly city.  There are many neighborhoods or districts and I did my best to get a good feel for as many of them as I could.  I got some great views of the city from the Alfama district, which survived the great earthquake of 1755 that reshaped much of the city.

Belem, another district is home to museums, monuments and nice parks where I spend some time resting on the park benches after I ate too many "pastel's de nada", a tart pastry most famously made at Pasteis de Belem, a pastry shop that has been around since the early 1800's.

I toured the Jeronimos Monestary, then went back and ate some more pastries before catching the tram back to the hostel. 

I spent the last day or so wondering around the Bairro Alto neighborhood, which is full of just about anything you can imagine.  I stumbled up a street art exhibition, called VSP or Visual Street Performance that was pretty amazing.  This group of artists was given an old school building for a set amount of time, which they transformed into a live art studio putting on performances of all kinds, pretty awesome!  I had a great time in Lisbon!  The time in my trip was going fast so I decided to move on and head back into Spain towards Madrid via a night train.

I am now back in the USA, where I arrived on December 22, just in time to celebrate Christmas with my family.  It is nice to be home, getting some rest and home cooked meals, but reality has now caught up with me...

The first pic on the left is the sun set at Cabo de Roca, the middle left is me at the top of the gardens with the Pena Palace behind Me.  The bottom left is a cable car that has just been parked for the night.  The top right is the unique way to enter the grottos at Quinta da Regaleira, the middle right is the entrance to Pasteis de Belem, home of one of the best stomach aches I have ever had!  The bottom right is part of the VSP street art exhibition in the Bairro Alto neighborhood.  Peace!

Lagos, Portugal 12/2 - 12/6

I arrived late in the evening to Lagos, a destination that I chose last minute from the advice of another traveler since everything was closed up for the season in Tarifa, the very southern tip of Spain.  Lagos is a beach town in the heart of the Algarve, that has a great mix of rock cliffs, called "grottos" because of their rock formations and beaches right on the Atlantic Ocean.  Lagos has a strange attraction to it and a lot of other people feel the same way about it.  Many people come here as a vacation destination and never leave.  The laid back atmosphere, great year round weather and affordable economy make it a nice place to set up shop  for a few days or maybe a few years.  Lagos is very much a party place in the summer months.  I spend about 4 days here and became very relaxed while walking around the narrow, mostly pedestrian filled streets and cliff side paths along the Atlantic.  

About forty minutes away by bus is Sagres, the most southwesterly point in Europe.  I was told it was once thought to be the end of the Earth a few centuries back.  I spent a day in Sagres,

a well known surfer's destination, but luck would have it that the ocean was like glass that day.  There was plenty of fishing going on though, it was real interesting to see people fishing right off the cliffs, probably about 300 feet above the ocean.  The fish were biting pretty good, definitely quantity over quality though, as the fish were pretty small.  

From Lagos, I boarded a bus for a five hour sunday drive north to Lisbon, Portugal.  Unfortunately I left the sunshine and jacketless weather behind.  

The top left pic is of a street in Lagos.  The upper right pic is a shot from a cliff side path of a beach in a cove.  The middle right pic is the sun setting on Sagres Point, the most southwesterly point in Europe.  The bottom right pic is a shot of some of the "grottos" in Lagos from a distance.

Seville, Spain 11/29 - 12/2

My last stop in the Andalusia region of Spain was Seville.  I had about 4 days here, one more day than I had planned, but I planned poorly, which was not that big of a deal, Seville is not a bad place to spend another day.  I was reaching my burn out point of visiting the Spanish cathedrals and palaces, but I decided to push my limits and visit the cathedral and bell tower known as Giralda.  I had read that the cathedral was free on Sundays, but that was not true, unless your are a Spanish citizen or unemployed...which I am but I had no way of proving it, damn it!  The cathedral was pretty unique and also houses the tomb of Christopher Columbus.  The Giralda had nice views of the city as well as some interesting displays on how the tower was built and added on to several times through out the decades.  I did not go into the Alcazar, the Moorish Palace, since I did not think it will be anything close to the Alhambra in Grenada. 

The tapas was not free like it was in Grenada, but I was introduced to a great little spot called "Bodega Santa Cruz" where I must have stopped by at least 3 or 4 times to eat some great food and wash

it down with some wine and or cerveza (beer) all at a very affordable price.  Socially, the bull fighting scene in Seville is a pretty big part of their culture, but like most things, the season is done until next year.  Futbol (soccer) on the other hand is still very much in season 
and paralyzes the city whenever a match is on.  I watched the Barcelona vs. Real Madrid match in a city square with many

other people, mostly in silence until there was a big play or goal.  

The first picture is of the cathedral and bell tower, Giralda.  Next to that is Plaza de Espana, to Star Wars fans, it was used as Naboo, in Episode II.  The bottom left is Christopher Columbus's tomb inside the cathedral.  The middle pic is of a worker at Bodega Santa Cruz carving up some presuto before the evening rush.  It appeared that he has had many years of practice at his trade.  The right picture is of a what I think I remember is a Magnolia tree, said to have been planted from a seed brought back by from the U.S. many moons ago.  

In the last post I said I was headed to Madrid the following night.  Well that changed, Lisbon was way too much fun to leave, although I am in Madrid for night #2 right now.  Ill be catching a flight to Barcelona tomorrow morning, it was cheaper and faster than the train.  I have 5 nights booked in Barcelona, I have heard only positive things from there.  If anyone has any questions or wants to learn more about the places I have blogged about, Wikipedia is a great place to begin, or you can always ask me.

Cordoba, Spain

Next stop on the Andalusia route was Cordoba, Spain.  I was not here for very long, about a day total, but I felt that was enough.  One of the main sites to see here is the Mezquita, which is a cathedral that was originally built as a mosque.  You cannot really tell from the outside, but once you enter the cathedral, it is very interesting to see how two religions were once in the same building, not at the same time though.  Cordoba is a nice little city, it is full of narrow, winding streets that you can easily get lost in while wondering around.  The weather was perfect the day I was there, but it was not expected to stay that way, so I decided to catch a bus to Sevilla, Spain the following day.    

I am writing right now from Lisbon, Portugal.  The weather is pretty mild, a t-shirt and light jacket is more than comfortable.  I have been traveling for 75 days and have 14 days remaining in my trip.  Ill head to Madrid, Spain via a night train on 12/9.  I hit a bit of a wall and have been taking it easy the last couple of days, regrouping for the last two weeks of the trip.

Granada, Spain 11/25 - 11/28

I decided to tour the Andalucian region of Spain, which is nice for many reasons, one being that you do not kill a whole day on a bus or train going from place to place.  Granada is unlike any place that I have been to or seen, it has everything from an elaborate palace, to people living in caves, to free tapas when you buy a beer and all of this is surrounded by the Sierra Nevada Mountains.  

One good thing about traveling in the off season is avoiding the lines.  There is usually a day or two wait to get tickets to the Alhambra, an amazing palace and the most visited monument in Spain, but I got my ticket by walking right up to the ticket booth.  Spending four hours in this palace does not take much effort at all.  There is no gold leaf or painted murals, everything in here was carved out of stone, pretty unbelievable.  It is easily one of the most fascinating buildings I have seen in Europe.

 Another unbelievable site is taking a walk into the Sacramonte area of the city, which is a community of people living in caves. 

 You have everything from fully furnished caves just like modern houses to people living in caves just like cavemen.  On top of all this on your way back to the center of town in the evening time you can walk into almost any bar, order a drink for around 1-2 euros and get a free plate of any variety of tapas (small plate of food) that bar is offering that day, its great!  Very economical as well.  Granada was a great!

I tried to post a variety of pictures.  The first one on the right is taken from Alhambra around sunset looking over the city into the Sierra Nevada's.  The first one on the left is of one of the many caves in Sacramonte, note the solar panels on the roof and dog.  There are stray dogs running rampant all over, very friendly though.  The night shot is looking at Alhambra from San Nicholas church.   The bottom left is an example of what inside Alhambra is like, all carved out of stone.  The bottom right picture is taken around sunset.  You can see the snow capped mountain if you look closely, the snow is very new.