Just got back to Sevilla last night and unpacked and started washing all the dirty clothes from our trip. I'm having lunch in a cafe and I'm going to try and recap the amazing 8 day trip that I just finished with 3 great friends. A while ago we (Kelsey, Ally, Chuck and I) started our trip with a flight to Barcelona. We had to get up pretty early to make it to the airport. We saw the sunrise as we were taking off from Sevilla.
We arrived in Barcelona and checked into our hostel (Equity Point Centric) which has locations all over Spain and some in the States. The hostel was great and had an amazing feel. There were plenty of young kids traveling the world and it was grab to meet new people and hear their stories about where they are coming from and where they are heading.
We met two girls named Kelty and Jessica who joined us on our walk through Barcelona. It was amazing getting to know them for a few days but ultimately upsetting having to say goodbye because we didn't know if we would ever see them again. I certainly hope we can meet up and exchange our stories from the rest of our travels.
Ally getting creative with an archway in Barcelona.
Kelsey the amazing photographer, getting the perfect picture.
After walking through some parks and down through the peaceful areas of Barcelona we made our way back to where our hostel was. Our teachers had been warning us about a general strike that has been held on March 29 for a few years in a row. The strike protests some labor reforms that made it easier for corporations to fire their employees. We were advised that getting to school would be difficult and maybe to avoid large crowds in Sevilla. Kelsey and I knew we would be traveling out of Sevilla so we didn't know what to expect in Barcelona. We were in for a surprise.
This picture was taken in front of a Corte Ingles (like a spanish Wal-Mart). Police blockaded the doors as protesters gathered in front of the store and set off loud explosions.
More armored officers guarding a Barcelona bank
On our walk back to the hostel we ran into a crowd of protesters. Nothing dangerous, just some people skipping work to show that they don't appreciate the new labor reforms.
This was one of the more violent things we saw while in Barcelona. A lot of graffiti calling companies thieves and terrorists covered the Barcelona streets.
Lots of trash cans were flipped and lit on fire. We made sure to steer clear of the worst action but little groups of protesters were rallying on almost every corner.
We made it up to the terrace of our hostel and watched the rest of the marching from there.
As we were relaxing in the hostel we heard some more banging explosions (M-80 fireworks) and saw a fire was lit right under our building. If you saw the news of the protests then you saw that there were much worse things going on than this at night.
We spent the next day walking more around the city and we saw the Sagrada Familia cathedral. It was designed by Gaudi and is an amazing representation of Spanish devotion to Christianity.
This is Parque Guell and was a great addition to our trip to Barcelona. We were only there for an hour and a half and saw about 1/4 of the park. I would recommend treating a trip to this park like a trip to the beach, take the whole day, bring some snacks and dress accordingly. It got pretty hot in the afternoon.
We left Barcelona that night and headed to Zaragoza on a bus. Chuck and I had a lot of leg room because for some reason the seat in front of was non-existent. Kelsey tried to position her legs in a comfortable way but wasn't so lucky. We were all excited to be moving on to another city but there was so much that we left undone in Barcelona. I just keep thinking about how much there is to see in each of these cities and we only scraped the surface.
Kelsey trying to get comfortable on our bus and Ally with her judge face on
This was our room in Zaragoza. Kelsey and I shared this one while Chuck and Ally had a similar one next door. After a good night's sleep in our hostel we woke up and got a nice breakfast downstairs. We then checked out the Zaragoza 2008 expo that had some amazing architectural designs and then went to a local market to buy food to make lunch. The expo pictures aren't working right now but here is what we made for lunch.
We bought a kilo of chicken breast, some fresh red peppers, peanuts, onions and snap peas. Everyone helped with something in the kitchen and we ended up with an amazingly flavorful stir fry. We each got a plate and a half of our great meal and we couldn't have been happier.
So the following pictures are the ones from the Zaragoza 2008 Expo. This place was just a huge park with amazing architecture around every corner. We couldn't help but get on this jungle gym and snap a quick group picture though.
Throughout the whole trip we also took a lot of pictures posing as statues. As you'll see later exact details were thought out as we tried to copy the statues as best as we could.
If you can't see it right away this piece is a man sitting down holding his legs into his chest and he is made of metal letters. I have no idea what he represents or if he is just a great work of art but he was impressive nevertheless.
Again, meticulous details were taken into account as we tried to depict these statues in human form. This time Kelsey and Ally took a shot at it with the help of Kelsey's bag too. After Zaragoza we got on another bus and made our way to Pamplona. The city famous for the Running of the Bulls was beautiful and full of life. Chuck and Ally started the day with a representation of a sculpture of the running of the bulls.
The 4 of us also found a great spot to take a picture that reminded us of an American prom picture. We then named this leg of our trip "Promplona 2012"
More acting from our group. This was the start of the bull run and we took the rest of the day to walk the path of the run all the way to the stadium where the bullfights take place after the running.
This was our sleeping arrangement for our night in Pamplona and was more than sufficient. The 4 of us had to share a bathroom but we're all friends and there was no complaining between us.
After settling in we grabbed dinner at a place known for its Nacho plates. Recommended by Isabel who checked us in to our rooms. Thanks Isabel, awesome choice.
The next day we enjoyed an amazing walk through the Citidel Park and happened upon a "surprise zoo" as Kelsey put it. There were deer, ducks, chickens and peacocks eating and grazing in the grass of this park and it was a great stop for a few hours.
We then made our way back to the city center and heard some commotion from around a street. It sounded like a parade was coming with a full band and everything. When we made it down the street we found this guy who was playing about 15 instruments at once.
After a long day of walking we got on our bus to San Sebastian. The bus only cost 7 euros and you know we were excited about that.
We got to San Sebastian and checked into our hostel around 10pm. We got some quick dinner and then went to bed as soon as we could. The trip had been taking its toll on all of us and sleep started to become a priceless treasure, along with clean socks.
The next morning we got up and had a quick breakfast. After wondering around the city for a bit we made our way into a pintxos bar (pronounced pinchos). Pintxos are the northern part of Spain's version of tapas and they are displayed right at the bar. Proper pintxos etiquette requires you to get a plate, grab whatever food you want with your hands and sit at your table to eat. The food was amazing and the atmosphere was great with everyone standing at the bar, eating what they wanted for only a euro or 2 per dish.
After lunch we went to the beach and enjoyed the amazing view that San Sebastian had to show us.
We satisfied our cravings for some ice cream in the city center and talked about all the fun we've been having. Dark chocolate and coffee ice cream if you were wondering. Highly recommended by yours truly.
This was an interesting piece of art at the end of the San Sebastian beach. They were called "Wind Combs" and were supposed to comb the wind as it came into the city. Sounds weird to me but they looked really cool.
You could say we really enjoyed the beach and this whole trip in general. I'm so glad I could do all of this with Kelsey.
Kelsey got pretty creative at the beach. She decided to sculpt a cruise ship out of the sand after seeing one in the water earlier.
We took a trolly thing called the Funicular up to the top of a mountain that overlooked the San Sebastian beach. It was a great ride and an even better view from the top.
After San Sebastian we traveled to Santander and spent a day and a half there. I've got to go right now and can't add those pictures right away but I will do that ASAP. Our trip was amazing and Kelsey, Chuck, Ally and I had a wonderful time. The traveling was stressful to say the least but we definitely kept our cool. Problem solving was a great trait that our group had and we had plenty of opportunities to practice solving all the little problems that traveling with no plans involves.
Semana Santa has already started and we will be going to the midnight processions tonight in Sevilla. I'll be sure to take some pictures tonight and finish the Santander part of this post tomorrow. Hope you enjoy everything. Adios!
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