Oh no!
Our last blog and we barely have enough money...we had to make a decision: a decent meal or blog post. You should be so lucky that we went this route. Now we're hungry. Feel good about that, blog readers.
Now that we've wasted two minutes, let us say goodbye to Europe. We are leaving in 16 hours and just as the sun has left Madrid, we, too, will be leaving this fine city. It's raining.
The last few days have been interesting. We spent 3 days in Sevilla, enjoying the beautiful parks and exploring the city. We also had a great time melting in 90 degree weather. Thanks, Sevilla. It was a gorgeous city with a mix of old and new. The city felt young, lush, and vibrant. Sevilla also had one of the most picturesque cathedrals ever. We were planning on spending another night couchsurfing, but once we found out the bus to Madrid would take 9 hours, we made a spontaneous decision to hop a night bus. However, nothing went according to plan - theme of this trip. The bus actually would only take 6 hours and would leave from 11pm and arrive at 5am. What? Alex caught swine flu (not really)/a stomach bug and spent the last day suffering through her upset stomach. We sought out a pharmacy, looking for the good American solution of Pepto-Bismal. Yeah right, Spain. Instead, the pharmacy had nothing to offer us. Nothing for upset stomachs. What kind of pharmacy doesn't have medicine for that? Oh yeah, we're in Spain. Without any medicine and still feeling ill, we embarked on our trip. Although Alex almost puked on the bus and on an elderly couple, she managed to make it to the rest stop bathroom to take care of business in the trash can.
Feeling better but with bus sleep (and we all know how great that is), we arrived in Madrid at 5am. We originally planned on getting to the hostel to drop off our luggage and finding who knows what to do at 5am. But when we found the hostel, it wasn't open until we woke up the jefe of the hostel and forced him to let us enter (after an hour of sitting outside, looking like homeless people, and buzzing the doorbell). He informed us that we wouldn't be able to check-in until 1pm but we were able to leave our bags. Faced with 5 hours to kill and fighting sleep deprivation, we went with the familiar: STARBUCKS! We bought some coffee, found some comfy-ish chairs, and settled in for a morning of rest. We slept there for 5 hours. Literally, slept in chairs in the entrance to Starbucks, our sleeping faces greeting all who entered. Why we didn't get kicked out will forever remain a mystery. The barista laughed and waved knowingly when we finally stumbled out. He probably could tell that we were miserable.
After our full day of laying around, doing nothing, we spent the next day seeking out La Plaza de Torros. We were bound and determined to not leave Spain without having seen a bull fight. The bull fight was....just that...a bull fight. There were 6 participating bulls who bravely fought los matadores. As we learned, each bull fight is divided into 3 rounds. In the first round, the "lancing round", the bull would enter the ring and be challenged by 5-6 men with capes who would pretty much just distract the bull until the blindfolded horses came out. Yeah, there are blindfolded horses in a bull fight. The horsemen, called "lancers", would take their gigantic spear and stab the bull in the shoulder muscles. Cue bloodloss. The bulls would get pissed and ram the horses, but don't worry, the horses wore mattress-like padding. In the next round, other men would enter the ring with barbed spears to throw in the bull's shoulders. At this point, the bull is mad. Way mad. Then, the matador enters. Fittingly called the "third of death", the matador kind of toyed with the bull by drawing it closer with the red cape, nearly getting gored himself. The matador gets a big sword and shoves it into its back. At this point, the bull is in rough shape and eventually just falls. The best/worst part (depending on your animal-rights passions), a chariot of horses comes out to drag the bull carcass around the ring to the delight of some people. We saw this happen 4 times before deciding we had enough bull-death for one day.
That's about all the excitement we've had in the last few days. We went to the Prado, but like other art musuems, it wasn't that exciting. You may remember our blog about the Picasso museum and how we had no clue what we were looking at. Well, it was like that but with more crucifiction paintings and odd renditions of Christ. By the way, the lady at the Picasso musuem in Barcelona was wrong: Guernica isn't at the Prado. It's down the road, elsewhere. We never did see Guernica. We bet it was lovely though...
So now here we are. Sick of walking everywhere and excited for vehicles with wheels. It's the small things that we have come to appreciate...free refills, endless amounts of ketchup and ranch, Cap´n Crunch, dollar bills, and English. But we're not Europe-haters. There are plenty of things that we have grown to love...cafe con leche, gelato, cobblestone streets, cheap beer and wine, tapas, amazingly old and gorgeous architecture & cathedrals (America has nothing on Catholic Europe), meeting other travelers and swapping tales of grand adventures, the freedom to do whatever we want aka no jobs, Euro fashion, football - VIVA BARÇA! - seeing world-famous sites, and Italian men. We recognize how lucky and blessed we were to be able to take this kind of trip and have this experience to remember forever. One day, we'll be able to show our kids and grandkids photos of this trip and they can see how cool and young we once were.
We also want to say THANK YOU for reading our blog posts, sending us messages of support, and showing interest in our crazy little adventure. You guys have been great! (Happy Mothers Day!)
We did it! Eurofest 2009 officially concludes here. Pics coming soon!
We send our love and we'll be seeing you very soon.
- Alex + Kirsty = time to beg for food
Editor´s Note: Kirsty will be leaving for Honduras in August. You can follow her travels at http://www.hondurasyear.blogspot.com/. Alex will be in TC - come visit her at the Cherry Stop!
Sunday, May 10, 2009
Sunday, May 3, 2009
We found the Entrance Stone... and it's not in Tangier.
It's hard to believe that it is our last day in Málaga, which means only 1 week left in Europe! Sorry we haven't written in so long but we have been pretty busy. Busy at the beach. Oh yeah, and busy exploring Spain and Africa.
We first went to Granada, which is famous for being the last Moorish city to fall to the Christians. It is also known for its tapas scene and its large university. Because of all these different influences, Granada is a young, vibrant hippie town with a funky Islamic vibe. We spent two days there, the first of which we spent exploring the Alhambra. Situated on a gigantic hill overlooking Granada, the Alhambra is a Moorish creation meant to represent paradise on Earth. It's hard to explain but it's pretty much an area with gardens, a fortress (complete with moat), a palace, and lots of reflection pools. It is also full of tourists. We wish everyone could see the hill/mountain that it is on so you could understand the trek we undertook to get there. But it was well worth it to see the intricate details of the Alhambra and the view from the top was exquisite!
Then, it was time for Africa...
We booked a weekend in Tangier, Morocco through a deal that provided us two nights in an amazing 3-star hotel. This detail is important for later in this story. The journey to get to Tangier proved the old addage "It's the journey, not the destination". Because it took FOREVER to get there. A 4-hour bus ride to Tarifa, Spain (which was only supposed to be 3hours, by the way), then a 2 hour ferry (again, only supposed to be 35 minutes), plus a shuttle to the hotel when we thought we were going to get taken. How do you describe Tangier? As soon as we got off the ferry, we were bombarded by this old man trying to get us to stay in his "hotel" and eat at his "restaurant". Yeah right, old man, we're not fooled that easily. Brian Cole taught us that. We narrowly escaped old-man Moroccan and were taken to our hotel. 3-stars in Morocco is very different than 3-stars in the US. It wasn't too bad since we had beds and a hot shower. But our pillows were so stiff they couldn't be folded in half, our toilet paper was pink and didn't flush, and our TV was probably a good 5 inches. There were also lots of flies. But whatever, we loved every minute of it. Except when we decided to walk the 2 miles from our hotel to the medina (the main market street in Tangier). We didn't love every minute then...
During this walk, we were subjected to a level of verbal assault that neither one of us had ever experienced before. It can be described as this: It was as if the city of Tangier provided a monetary reward for every man who made a female tourist feel threatened and scared. Besides the usual cat-calls and cars honking, we also experienced hissing, suggestive phrases (in Arabic, Spanish and English), a car following us down the street to pull over and yell at us, and a man who followed us around. Needless to say, it was an unpleasant situation and we were made to feel objectified and inferior to the men. We also observed that women were virtually nonexistent on the streets. But we learned that it was uncommon for women to leave the house without a companion, usually a man. We quickly learned to take cabs everywhere.
After we took cabs, the harassment lowered to a non-threatening level as we found that the city center was more touristy and welcoming. The medina was lined with colorful stores and cafes. We had the world´s best mint tea and even bartered with the shop owners. It was a unique experience to be in an Islamic country, both for its culture and religion. We heard the call to prayer sang from the mosque towers and saw the vast majority of women covered in veils. So we just consider Tangier a wonderful cultural experience, and are glad we went. Although, for those women thinking of going, we do recommend taking a man with you.
We made it back to Spain with a new appreciation for our liberties as women. The trek back was long but we made a new friend with the awesome name of Jackson Fellows. Shout out to Jax.
A few days later we ventured to Ronda, a little city nestled in the rolling hills of Spain. Ronda is in the book, 1000 Things to See Before You Die, and we saw it! Life WIN! It is in the book because it is one of the "pueblos blancos"/white towns for all you non-Spanish speakers. The houses and buildings are all white washed to keep the citizens cool in the cruel Andalusian summers. Ronda is also really cool because it's situated on two giant hills separated by a enormous ravine. To connect the town, the people of Ronda built a monsterous bridge that stems from the bottom of the ravine. Google it if you can't imagine what we're saying.
We've spent our last days in Málaga by tanning at the beach, watching plenty of soccer games (Viva Barça!), avoiding Mehdi and Mehdi, reading, and trying to speak Spanish. Tomorrow we go to Sevilla for 3 days, then Madrid for 4 days, and then AMERICA!!!!!!!! hell yeah.
We're super excited to be home and look forward to eating American breakfasts, using real condiments like ranch and ketchup, and speaking English to people besides each other. Don't take those things for granted, people.
That's it for us! Hope you are enjoying the beautiful season of Spring and supporting the Red Wings in their quest to win another Stanley Cup (Alex) and/or supporting the Cavs in their quest to win anything for the state of Ohio (Kirsty).
We love you all! Steer clear of the swine flu!!
-Alex + Kirsty = the future Mrs. Guardiola and Mrs. Valdes.
We first went to Granada, which is famous for being the last Moorish city to fall to the Christians. It is also known for its tapas scene and its large university. Because of all these different influences, Granada is a young, vibrant hippie town with a funky Islamic vibe. We spent two days there, the first of which we spent exploring the Alhambra. Situated on a gigantic hill overlooking Granada, the Alhambra is a Moorish creation meant to represent paradise on Earth. It's hard to explain but it's pretty much an area with gardens, a fortress (complete with moat), a palace, and lots of reflection pools. It is also full of tourists. We wish everyone could see the hill/mountain that it is on so you could understand the trek we undertook to get there. But it was well worth it to see the intricate details of the Alhambra and the view from the top was exquisite!
Then, it was time for Africa...
We booked a weekend in Tangier, Morocco through a deal that provided us two nights in an amazing 3-star hotel. This detail is important for later in this story. The journey to get to Tangier proved the old addage "It's the journey, not the destination". Because it took FOREVER to get there. A 4-hour bus ride to Tarifa, Spain (which was only supposed to be 3hours, by the way), then a 2 hour ferry (again, only supposed to be 35 minutes), plus a shuttle to the hotel when we thought we were going to get taken. How do you describe Tangier? As soon as we got off the ferry, we were bombarded by this old man trying to get us to stay in his "hotel" and eat at his "restaurant". Yeah right, old man, we're not fooled that easily. Brian Cole taught us that. We narrowly escaped old-man Moroccan and were taken to our hotel. 3-stars in Morocco is very different than 3-stars in the US. It wasn't too bad since we had beds and a hot shower. But our pillows were so stiff they couldn't be folded in half, our toilet paper was pink and didn't flush, and our TV was probably a good 5 inches. There were also lots of flies. But whatever, we loved every minute of it. Except when we decided to walk the 2 miles from our hotel to the medina (the main market street in Tangier). We didn't love every minute then...
During this walk, we were subjected to a level of verbal assault that neither one of us had ever experienced before. It can be described as this: It was as if the city of Tangier provided a monetary reward for every man who made a female tourist feel threatened and scared. Besides the usual cat-calls and cars honking, we also experienced hissing, suggestive phrases (in Arabic, Spanish and English), a car following us down the street to pull over and yell at us, and a man who followed us around. Needless to say, it was an unpleasant situation and we were made to feel objectified and inferior to the men. We also observed that women were virtually nonexistent on the streets. But we learned that it was uncommon for women to leave the house without a companion, usually a man. We quickly learned to take cabs everywhere.
After we took cabs, the harassment lowered to a non-threatening level as we found that the city center was more touristy and welcoming. The medina was lined with colorful stores and cafes. We had the world´s best mint tea and even bartered with the shop owners. It was a unique experience to be in an Islamic country, both for its culture and religion. We heard the call to prayer sang from the mosque towers and saw the vast majority of women covered in veils. So we just consider Tangier a wonderful cultural experience, and are glad we went. Although, for those women thinking of going, we do recommend taking a man with you.
We made it back to Spain with a new appreciation for our liberties as women. The trek back was long but we made a new friend with the awesome name of Jackson Fellows. Shout out to Jax.
A few days later we ventured to Ronda, a little city nestled in the rolling hills of Spain. Ronda is in the book, 1000 Things to See Before You Die, and we saw it! Life WIN! It is in the book because it is one of the "pueblos blancos"/white towns for all you non-Spanish speakers. The houses and buildings are all white washed to keep the citizens cool in the cruel Andalusian summers. Ronda is also really cool because it's situated on two giant hills separated by a enormous ravine. To connect the town, the people of Ronda built a monsterous bridge that stems from the bottom of the ravine. Google it if you can't imagine what we're saying.
We've spent our last days in Málaga by tanning at the beach, watching plenty of soccer games (Viva Barça!), avoiding Mehdi and Mehdi, reading, and trying to speak Spanish. Tomorrow we go to Sevilla for 3 days, then Madrid for 4 days, and then AMERICA!!!!!!!! hell yeah.
We're super excited to be home and look forward to eating American breakfasts, using real condiments like ranch and ketchup, and speaking English to people besides each other. Don't take those things for granted, people.
That's it for us! Hope you are enjoying the beautiful season of Spring and supporting the Red Wings in their quest to win another Stanley Cup (Alex) and/or supporting the Cavs in their quest to win anything for the state of Ohio (Kirsty).
We love you all! Steer clear of the swine flu!!
-Alex + Kirsty = the future Mrs. Guardiola and Mrs. Valdes.
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