Last Thursday, the whole group of us packed our bags and boarded the busses for our 10 day Travel Seminar around the country of Spain. We got to visit Barcelona, Valencia, Granada, Sevilla, Cordoba, and Toledo. It was such an amazing experience, and we got to see so many absolutely incredible and beautiful sights. They were very long days though, with many hours spent traveling- so I'm definitely glad to be off of that bus.
BARCELONA
Okay, so I definitely would have to say that Barcelona was my favorite place that we visited. It might have a lot to do with the fact that it is a coastal city, and with growing up in Huntington Beach and going to school in San Diego, I am definitely a beach girl. But it wasn't just the beach- the whole city was just unbelievable.
This was our view from the hotel room- just one angle of it. We could see the entire city..it was amazing!
What we did/memorable things:
- Night Life! Okay so everything you hear about the night life in Barcelona, Spain is completely true. It was so much fun. SO different from the US. It's pretty amazing that you can leave around midnight, and not get somewhere until 1ish and there's still people out everywhere. All the bars and clubs are right on the beach- so afterwards you can go hang out on the sand, or go down to the water- at like 3 in the morning! That would never happen in California- with all of our beaches closing at 10 pm, its like a ghostown down there. Anyways, we went to the Ice Bar the first night, where you go into this room completely made out of ice, even your drink cups and the bar are made out of ice (they provide you with free jackets and gloves) and you just hang out with everyone for as long as you can last haha- usually no more than 45 minutes before you're freezing! Then the next night we went to a club- had to experience the Barcelona club life. The club was called Razzmatazz- it was huge, there was a big dance floor and bars on the first floor, then smaller rooms with bars and couches on the second floor, then a whole outside area, then more on the third floor...it was like a maze. Definitely worth going to- you'd never find something like that at home! Here's a picture of the group at the Ice Bar, and the beach area with all of the night life.
- Guell Park- This was one of the first places we visited when we got to Barcelona. It was so beautiful- Antoni Gaudi created the entire thing- the cathedral, the park area, all the detailed designs on the tiles and everything. You can't see it all in this picture, but it was pretty amazing to see all the work that went into it. While we were there, it was SO hot- Courtney and I bought some fans from one of the street vendors as our first souvenir- they definitely came in handy for the rest of the trip.
- La Sagrada Familia- This is a famous cathedral in Barcelona, also built by Antoni Gaudi, that is known for its magnificent architecture. It is still being worked on today- and the constant changes draw millions of tourists from around the world to visit. Its difficult to capture just how magnificent this place was- I'm glad we were able to see it in person. Walking around through the cathedral was definitely something to remember. I had so many pictures, it was difficult to choose, but these 2 really capture the intricate designs and greatness of both the inside and the outside.
- Downtown Barcelona- Of course we had to check out the main plaza and downtown area of the city...what would a trip to Barcelona be without that. We spent a good amount of time there, some touring with the group, and then some time on our own eating at the little cafes, shopping, and just admiring everything. I really liked the vibe of the main city area- I don't even know what I would compare it to in America. I guess it was kind of like a huge outdoor mall, except 100 times more beautiful and without all the rush and crazy hurried feeling that Americans always have. We had our first tapas experience at a little cafe here, 6 of us went and split sangria (a staple to every meal here now), and like 6-7 different little tapas dishes. Tapas are a really popular thing to eat here- they are small dishes kind of like appetizers, things like croquettes (usually some meat and cheese covered in like a breaded/fried topping), calamari, other seafood, spanish omelette, small rolls of ham or other meat...anything you can imagine.
VALENCIA
Valencia was definitely very different than I had imagined. I found it to be a very interesting city, because there are so many varying parts to it. It was quite the change to go to right after Barcelona.
- Modern Valencia- When we first arrived, we went to the newest part of Valencia, which looks so modern and futuristic, its a completely different feel from all of the historic landmarks and places we had been visiting. Here, there is an aquarium, a science museum, a planetarium...maybe a couple other things. The architecture was incredible- looked like something out of a movie. Here's a couple pictures to capture the unique-ness of these buildings.
- Downtown Valencia- So of course we went on a tour of the main downtown area- it was completely opposite from the modern area that I just talked about. As you can see from the pictures, this was much more historical- a cute town with cafes, shops, cathedrals, plazas, statues- really fun to learn about and walk around. Court and I found a cute little pizzeria near our hotel one night that we went to for dinner- we ordered our food, which was excellent, and our usual sangria- but this sangria was different. As we watched them make it, they added freshly squeezed (like right in front of us) orange juice to the drink. I guess Valencia is known for their oranges, so this was some pretty incredible sangria. Then, after we finished eating, we were sitting there talking for awhile, and our waiter brought us over what looked like a shot of some type of pink liquid. It turned out to be some type of strawberries and cream alcohol- we said thank you and thought it was so nice for them to give us a complimentary shot. Then, as we continued to sit there, our waiter proceeded to bring over one after another- of these different fancy-looking shots. We ended up with 6 different ones, one with whipped cream and chocolate shavings on it, a couple fruity ones, a mint one, one with sorbet in it...it was pretty fun. And we didn't have to pay for them! Not bad :)
- Valenciaport/Class- During our couple days in Valencia, we had our first actual class. I know right, we actually have to take class here?? haha. We had a guest speaker come in to talk to us about the port of Valencia, and its importance to Spain as well as other countries from an economic and business aspect. Then we got to take a bus and actually go visit the port. It is the largest port in Spain, and the 5th busiest in all of Europe. Also, the port employs half the entire working population of the country. So, as you can probably guess, its a pretty important place. It was neat to learn about and then see the mass amounts of containers going in and out of the port, the huge ships carrying them all, and the massive machinery used to lift and transport all the containers.
- Paella on the Beach! Along with oranges, Valencia is also known for some of the best paella in Spain, so of course one night we decided to go down to the beach to one of the recommended restaurants that has the delicious homemade paella. There was a group of 7 of us, and we headed out to take the metro there around 10. Now, the ride should not have been more than about 20-30 minutes max to get to the beach from our hotel. However, when you have 7 girls who do not know the metro system in Valencia at all- or where to go once off the metro...(no maps of course..) it takes much longer than that. We thought we had it down- we had talked to our professors and they told us where to go, but we ended up getting on the metro going the opposite direction, so then, once we realized it, we had to get off, get back on the one going the other way, then get off, transfer to another line, then we couldn't remember where to get off, so we got off where we thought, and decided we could take the train to the beach, so we waited about 20 minutes for the train, then got off at the first stop, and walked to the beach/restaurants. Now after this whole process was done and we finally found the restaurant we wanted, it was 11:30. And...the restaurant was closed. At this point we were starving and tired and we were so sad that we missed the paella. Luckily, we walked a little ways and found this nice place that was still open- so we ended up eating there and getting our long awaited paella. And yes, it was delicious and well worth the wait. Afterwards, we went out to some low-key outdoor clubs, and just had a fun night dancing and enjoying the city of Valencia.
So I guess I have a lot more to talk about from the travel seminar than I thought...so I think I'm going to split this up. There's 2 more main cities to cover, so I will create another post later today when I have some time about those cities and the rest of the trip. Hope you're enjoying reading!! I'm sure there's so much I forgot to mention, but I'm trying to get everything I can!
I'm having the time of my life- and feel so lucky and blessed to be here. I'll post again later about the rest of the trip! Thanks for reading!
*FIESTAS Y SIESTAS*
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