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!