11 posts from April 2007

Andalusia. The word has always held, for me, a promise of allure and beauty which I think stemmed from my Madrina’s assertion that our ancestors dwelled here. As I stepped on the train for my first Andalusian city, I was immediately drawn to the view out of my window. Rolling fields and smatterings of mountains dotted the olive-tree

filled landscape, and the sun even seemed to shine brighter than before.

I arrived in Granada and had the rest of the afternoon to explore. Sadly, I didn’t realize there was a bus I could take to get me to my hostel and decided to hoof it. Twenty minutes later I arrived panting and covered in sweat. I am going to be SO STRONG when I get back. Thankfully I had an ensuite bathroom (a HUGE luxury) so I doused myself and got ready to continue. I explored the city a bit that night and got myself some dinner. I was thwarted for several hours as the ENTIRE city closed down for siesta. These people take their siesta very seriously. No joking around. I don't think there was a single place open besides the tourist shops. But the thing that struck me most was how many students there are. The city is home to the University of Granada which also hosts thousands of foreign exchange students. Just sitting in the plaza I think I counted six different languages pass me by. All in all the city gave me a very nice feeling and it has been the first time that I have felt comfortable in a city on the Iberian peninsula.

When I got back I was able to meet my roommates. The first a woman from Montreal who was trekking across all of Spain (starting the next day) as a treat to herself on her 45th birthday. So cool. The other was Silvia, a hilarious and fun girl from Mexico City who was doing her own trip through Europe.

The next day, Sarah arrived and we did a bit more exploring of the city. For dinner, Sarah, Silvia and I headed out for tapas and drinks.  It was there that the three of us met Bec, a girl from Australia. The three of us had just poured ourselves the wine at our table when we noticed a girl sitting on her own with a Lonely Planet guidebook in English! Almost at the same moment we all decided we should go over and invite her to eat with us.  We did, and suddenly our

group of three independent woman traveling alone through Europe became four.  As it turns out, Bec was staying at the same hostel, and was also planning on visiting the Alhambra the next morning.

Our hostel was affiliated with Hosteling International which is this huge organization that kind of oversees these enormous hostels all over the world with 100-300 beds in them. Now. It's a very institutional feel, and the thing with that is that you get a lot of student groups traveling together - ie. elementary schools visiting a city, much like the one that was in Granada when we were there. They were still yelling and singing and shrieking at midnight when we had to be up at 6am. And to make matters that much more fun, I woke up the next morning with mysterious bites all over my body. Yes, that's right folks. Bedbugs. Bedbug bites EVERWHERE and I'm still covered in them. Good times.

Anyway, because we had all heard about what a mess the Alhambra is on Saturdays, and since they only give out 2,000 tickets on the day of, we knew we had to head out early. We decided to get into a cab at 6:30am so that we could be among the first to arrive. Renato, a dentist from Brazil who I had met in the lobby of our hostel joined us as well as Bec’s roommate Bossia from Poland.  We thought we were the smartest people ever until we arrived at the Alhambra and saw that the line was ALREADY several hundred people long. Luckily, right after we got on line, another 40-50 people arrived behind us. An hour later the line had snaked all the way around three times!

After waiting for a bit, we sat around and cracked open our bread, fruit, and nutella for breakfast. All of a sudden

Renato whips out these strange seeded sticks to much on. He takes the first one out of the box, and Bec notes that they look a bit like the treats you hang for parakeets in a birdcage. We look at the box while Renato takes a bite and realize that there is in fact a picture of a bird on the box. Yup, Renato was happily eating birdseed! Once he realized what was going on he freaked out and starting spitting all over the place. After several minutes of all of us finding this absolutely hilarious, the line started to move and we were finally on our way in.

The Alhambra itself is currently in the running to become one of the new Wonders of the World, so you can imagine it must be pretty impressive. What it is is basically just a huge complex that served as the last seat of the Nazarin Moorish Empire in Southern Spain. The king lived here with his court and his harem in a complicated maze of palaces, forts and lavish homes. What remains is much of the beautiful Palace, and the lush gardens surrounding them. The fort remains largely in tact and serves as an impressive vantage point for the rest of the city. We spent eight hours looking around, and words just can’t do the place justice. It was breathtaking. The photos are as close as I can come from sharing it with all of you.

That night Sarah and I decided to check out a free Flamenco show in one of the restaurants in the Albaycin. Bossia met up with us a little later after a bit of a mixup involving Sarah and I walking all the way to the other side of the city and back again like idiots. I took a ton of photos during the Flamenco part and was planning on just choosing the best but instead I've left them all there for you all to see. I think if you scroll through them you can start to get a sense of the dance. It was intoxicating. All the stomping and clapping and movement was like being trapped in someone's angry rant/seduction aimed towards their lover and I absolutely adored it. After some well-timed Italian gelato we headed home.

There is a saying here in Granada. “If you haven’t seen the Alhambra, you haven’t lived.” Well, I guess I can check that puppy off the list. Next stop, Malaga!

 
 

Yesterday Sarah and I decided to check out the medieval city of Toledo, a 30 minute train ride outside of Madrid. The

city is perched on a hilltop surrounded by a river on three sides. The small and twisting streets are characterized by the sandy red stones of the area used to build the many churches, mosques and synagogues that provide a sampling of the multicultural and diverse community having populated the city over the millennia. First the Romans, then the Visigoths, and then the Moors, followed by the Spanish…Toledo certainly has seen its share of action over the years.

We arrived in the central square and started our day with a quick bite in a café bar. We then decided to follow the walking tour laid out in my guidebook (a first for me, I rarely follow the advice in my books), which was a fabulous plan. The entire walk took us about four hours and we were able to see everything we wanted to. We started with a museum that laid out the history of Toledo. It was a multimedia experience, and we were thoroughly entertained by the Telenovela-esque acting in the movie we watched. Classic.

Next we enjoyed the views from the Alhambra, and were lucky enough to catch a training exercise at the military academy across the river. We then walked around for a while trying to find a fairly well-hidden mosque (it was on the second floor of a random building!) which ended up being closed after all of our efforts. We then tried to convince the people at the ticket office for the cathedral to give us a discount because we’re poor students but our efforts were in vain. It ended up being worth checking out the largest cathedral in Spain, which was for a very long time the seat of the Catholic church in Spain.

After a very messy lunch of Nutella on bread (without utensils), we meandered down the hill to one of the only remaining synagogues in the city. Apparently under the reign of Fernando and Isabel (of Christopher Columbus fame), the city forced all of the Jews and Muslims living in the city to convert or flee. Most chose the latter option.

Toledo was a wonderful day trip and I’m so glad I had the chance to see it. Beautiful isn’t even a good enough word to describe the magical aura that envelops the city. It’s more of a feeling to be soaked up than a bunch of sights to see. I would love to go back one day!

Pictures below! And now I’m off to enjoy my final day in Madrid. I leave for Granada tomorrow morning.

After a rough start involving a crazy Portuguese lady with a recent thigh operation and a hilariously loud method of communicating, I made it to Madrid. Our overnight train from Lisbon was the stuff of legend. Basically I had no idea what I was doing and booked a second class seat on a ten hour train. Thankfully for me, RENFE, the Spanish train operators, had messed up and instead of adding one regular car added one more sleeper car to the train. To my initial chagrin however, they did not give us access to the keys which would bring the beds down from their cubby holes so I thought we would be stuck sitting face to face the entire time. Thankfully, two resourceful young Portuguese architects en route to Madrid for an important business meeting figured out how to shimmy the lock of the beds (with the girl’s house keys no less) to make the beds pop out for our use. It was just the three of us for a few hours when all of a sudden our peaceful reverie was irrevocably broken by the aforementioned crazy lady.

She infiltrated our peaceful little kingdom and our lives were never the same. First she proceeded to outline – in detail – the specifics of her recent leg operation. Then, after initially freaking out about sleeping in the bed (she was convinced she’d fall out and die – that part I understood), she passed out and proceeded to snore like a drowning horse. Good times, really. Anyway, I tried to look at the bright side – I did get a bed on a sleeper train for free! And also, I would like to shake the hand of the person that invented earplugs.

I arrived in Madrid a bit frazzled, and missing the friends I had made in Lisbon. I was hoping that I would have similar luck in Spain. What I found, however, was nothing of the sort. My hostal (which, by the way is NOT the same thing as a youth hostel…it’s a room in someone’s house…a lot like staying with your grandparents…no common areas just a very plain room to yourself…no kitchen or anything…and forget about internet access…are you nuts?) was centrally located but I was given a dark hobbit hole instead of an actual room so things didn’t start out too well. After two days of solitary wandering around the city I decided to check out of the hostal and into a hostel for young people. Very social, lots of common space, a roof deck, a gym (!!), a kitchen and free internet. Sweet.  And just to bring the whole experience full circle, as I walked around trying to find a supermarket, I ran into someone on the street. Yup, that’s right. I ran into the crazy Portuguese lady sitting on a bench eating a pineapple (Who eats a pineapple without cutting it up first? I told you she was crazy).

Going to the new hostel ended up being a great decision because within minutes I met a fun group of people from Canada who are studying in the Netherlands and also met Sarah, another Canadian who was assigned to my room. It turns out she’s traveling alone too and the two of us are going to meet up a few times in the next few weeks as I continue my voyage through southern Spain. Serendipitous, indeed.

Anyway on to the travel stuff.  Madrid is beautiful, and I have been here for about five days now. The first day I basically just walked around to try and orient myself, which ended up being a lot harder than I originally thought it would be. The city is massive!  I then headed over to the Parque del Buen Retiro, which is a sprawling complex of gardens, greenery and humanity. Tons of people pour out of every possible nook and cranny, and the vibe is very fun.  I watched people rowing boats on the manmade lake and amused myself watching the teenagers flirt with each other while pretending to flip their boats. Ahhh, puberty.

The next day I spent some time at the Museo Reina Sofia which houses all kinds of modern art including Picasso’s Guernica. First of all, I knew it was big but WOW! It was enormous, and I stood in front of it mesmerized until a German dude stepped on my foot and snapped me out of my trance. There was also a plethora of Dali’s paintings, which left me a bit disoriented, but entertained nonetheless. After that I checked out the Real Jardim Botanico (Royal Botanical Gardens) and lost myself among the smells and sights of beautiful flowers, trees and herbs.  Since it was Saturday I decided to head back to the Parque since it was right there, and I ended up people watching and reading my book for hours with all the Madrilenos. I was starting to get a little lonely so it was fortuitous that the next day I moved to the hostel. That next morning I was able to check out the Prado museum, which is another sprawling

structure. I took this photo of Goya’s Maja, one of the most famous paintings in the museum, which I totally wasn’t supposed to do. I ended up strategically positioning my camera under an unsuspecting tourist’s arm and snapping away without a flash. I am such a secret agent.

That night I met all those people in the hostel and we went out in true Madrid fashion. We didn’t actually get going until 1am (which was on the early side, apparently) and we went to a super fun bar that played a lot of old American songs. YMCA, Great Balls of Fire, Pour Some Sugar on Me…Hilarious, yet awesome.  The next day, a few of us checked out the Palacio Real (Royal Palace) and the cathedral attached to the massive structure. We almost got lost amidst all the ridiculous decorations. This is only my second palace (I don’t even remember at this point), but I can definitely see how all the grandeur would get a little old after a while. It’s like, “Yes, great. You all paid for this unnecessary splendor via the money your people paid in taxes and the colonial havoc you continue to inflict upon the world. Well done.” But pardon me, I digress.

So I have one more day in Madrid (we went to Toledo today), but I may opt to do another day trip tomorrow.  Check out the photos and let me know what you all think!

Ladies and Gentlemen, I have arrived in Europe. At least, the Europe I had been imagining. Street cafes, bright colors, loud people, the sparkling light of the Mediterranean - it's all here in Lisbon. The beauty of the city is literally breathtaking. I've rarely seen anything so exciting in my life. And things are of course made even better by the fact that my hostel is fabulous. It's bright, airy, and filled with wonderful people who I become friends with instantly. See the photos for proof.

The first day I got lost among the wandering streets of Alfama, the Moorish neighborhood on the hill overlooking the city, to try and find the Castle. When I arrived, I almost had a heart attack. HOW is it so beautiful!? There was a huge patio overlooking the City of Seven Hills and the sea, and I lost track of time there among the cyprus trees and the sun.

The castle aslo had a large Camera Obscura in one of the towers, and we had a great time getting a real-time tour of the city using the complicated contraption of mirrors and lenses.

When I was done touring the Castelo, I sat at a beautiful cafe and watched the trolleys pass by. Just as in San Francisco, Lisbon uses trolleys to navigate the steep and narrow streets of the Alfama and the Bairro Alto, on the other side of the city.

The city was literally sparkling, and I started to understand why the great Masters used to come to cities like this one to take advantage of the Mediterranean Light.

On Saturday, Naomi and I journeyed to Oxford for a day trip. we hopped on a coach and got there in time for lunch on what ended up being another gorgeously sunny day. Blue skies and warm weather greeted us as we stepped out among the gold colored stones of the many university buildings.

We walked around all of the colleges (none of which actually let us inside their hallowed walls), and sat down to watch students punting gondola-style boats down the canal. Of course there was one boat full of giggly girls who weren't even trying and kept blocking traffic and finding it hilarious. Naomi and I were not amused. Finally one of their boyfriends was embarrassed enough to stand up and straighten them out. Of course we were rooting for a watery crash the entire time. See exhibit A for proof:

Before I start talking about London itself I just have to show some of the pictures from the train ride down - WOW! I had no idea that my train would snake along the coast! Look at that scenery!

So I arrived in London late Tuesday night, and the next day I met Naomi for lunch in 'the city', where her office is. After meeting her I decided to walk around the city a bit and pick up some food for dinner. After a leisurely cappuccino and a stroll, I headed down to the Borough Market where Alisha's famous brownie stand was open even though it wasn't Saturday! What luck! I picked up some grub and some brownies and headed home for dinner.

The next day I decided to head to the Tate Modern and the British Museum, both of which did not disappoint. I was especially amused by the defensive tone the British Museum took to all the looted Greek, Assyrian and Egyptian art it now holds.

Everywhere you look there were huge posters explaining why it was so important that the art was there. Whatever your positions on who is right, the beauty and importance of the pieces can't be argued. And the nerd in me almost had a meltdown when I saw the Rosetta Stone...I mean come on, people! This was an enormous breakthrough, and to see it face to face was awe-inspiring.

Though Viv, after seeing the Acropolis with you I couldn't help feeling a pang of anger when I saw one of the women that was supposed to be on the Temple of Nike just hanging out there in London. She seemed so out of place now that I had seen her sisters in their rightful homes.

After the museum tour I met up with Naomi and Carolyn Horst for drinks and dinner. We had drinks in Covent Garden and then headed out to Islington for DELICIOUS Turkish food at this little place near Carolyn's flat (it just doesn't sound right to call it an apartment).

On Friday I headed out to Hampstead Heath, which is a beautiful and very secluded public park on the outskirts of the city. It's overgrown and somewhat wild, and it was highly recommended to me by several people. I traipsed out to the Heath and to my utter delight not only was it a warm and sunny day, but the park turned out to be glorious.

Fragrant and bursting with color, the park felt like a different world. I followed the recommendation of my Let's Go guidebook and found a secluded secret garden called the Hill Garden which had formerly been a part of Lord Lever's (of the soap empire) mansion. It was AMAZING, and I didn't want to leave. Check out the pictures if you have a few minutes to spare, you won't be disappointed.

After a fun lunch at the Spaniard Inn (one of the oldest buildings in Hampstead), I took my time getting back to the tube station and back to the sights and sounds of the city. What a wonderful day.

Check out the photos here:

 

Glasgow was my first official day and night on my own, and it was a very strange experience. First of all, Glasgow isn't really a "tourist's" city. There are sights to be seen, for sure, but it's not like Edinburgh where there is a litany of things that all visitors should see and do before they leave. I decided to take the advice of several people who mentioned the Necropolis as one of the most "creepy and awesome" places they've ever visited.

Little did I know that they were right, and that those feelings would be enhanced greatly by being there alone. Holy mama that was an experience. Check out these photos to prove my point.

Creeeeeeeepy. Actually, now that I'm sitting here comfortably in Naomi's apartment I'm wondering how I did this alone. Yeesh.

Hey everyone! My excuse for the tardiness of this post can be blamed entirely on my obsession with figuring out how to post a slideshow on this blog. Now that I have FINALLY figured it out, I am calm enough to write another post.

Allow me to share my highlands experience. (ha)

So I decided to do a tour with Haggis, which had been recommended to me by a few different people. It's basically a tour company of all young local guides who drive the buses themselves and do tours all over the UK and Ireland. We had three guides - Colin, Nic and Fergus (actually he was the driver), and they were fabulous. And hilarious. I sat right in the midst of a contingent of Romanians and ended up befriending two girls from Australia, and we went to Loch Ness and back in a day - 13 hours of fun.

Here are the highlights!

Well, it's official. I'm on my own. Marco has returned back to the states and It's just me. At least until I get to Naomi's place tomorrow night. (ha)

Ok, allow me to backtrack. We left Dublin at 6am on Ryanair (not half as bad as I was expecting) and arrived at Edinburgh at a sprightly 7:30am. I was nervous about staying in our first hostel, but again, I was pleasantly surprised. But nothing woke me up faster than the awe-inspiring view of Edinburgh castle as you make your way down Prince's Street as the sun rises. There are few words to describe the feeling. How about a photo instead?

Of course now that I look at the picture I'm realizing it's a poor substitute for the real thing. Anyway, we threw our stuff down at the hostel and headed straight for the castle. After huffing and puffing our way up the hill, we dove in. Armed with our super-informative (and super-nerdy) audio tours, walked the castle grounds and explored every nook and cranny we could. Wow. We were exhilarated.

We decided we wanted to power through the day and take in as much as we could.

We explored the Royal Mile and much of the old town. We visted the Kirk of St. Giles (the big Cathedral) and decided we'd stop in for the Easter services the next day. Next we walked to Calton Hill (more climbing) and got yet another panoramic view of the city.

Next we visted Holyrood park and the ancient castle of the Stuart royal family. In classic fashion, however, we decided not to pay the 8 pounds to actually go inside.

Instead, we decided to climb the Salisbury Crags and Arthur's Seat for the highest point in the city! The climb took us two hours. I can't even describe how gorgeous it was. Again, refer to the pictures for a small idea of the beauty.

It was a long and arduous journey but TOTALLY worth the trek to the top. I will never forget how wonderful that entire day was.

The next morning we went to Easter mass which was actually a great time. We sat next to an adorable old Scottish woman and tried to decipher the accent of the priest/pastor.

Then we spent the rest of the day at the Royal Museum, where they had a special exhibition on Pixar!

We were PSYCHED and spent over 4 hours there. If you don't mind me waxing poetic for a second, I was so impressed by the art involved in the creation of a Pixar film. Every aspect of the world is created regardless of whether it is incorporated into the movie. It also made me want to watch my two favorite Pixar movies again (Monster's Inc and the Incredibles). The sheer creativity involved. It's awe inspiring.

Unfortunately I wasn't allowed to take photos inside the exhibit. Too bad...the entire exhibition was one of the best I've ever seen.

Marco left the next morning. :(

And I've finally gotten it to work! Here's the slideshow from Edinburgh:

First things first, here's the entire album: http://www.flickr.com/photos/adrianadolgetta/

Dublin, Day 1

We arrived in Dublin early this morning, sans sleep and sanity. However we decided to pull through and enjoy the utterly fabulous weather by throwing our bags in the locker at the B&B and heading out. We walked down the street and found ourselves at Trinity College, where there were TONS of students lounging all over the lawns, taking advantage of the sun and warmth.

We actually were able to see the Book of Kells – which was absolutely beautiful. Especially when you take into account the lengths these monks had to go through to get the pigments to create all the beautiful colors.  Apparently, the Lapiz Lazuli used in the Book of Kells was at that point in the Middle Ages only accessible via one single mine in the Middle East. One mine! I could probably talk for hours about the history of that beautiful bible but I’ll spare you all.  Also, the Trinity Library houses one of the only remaining copies of the 1916 Proclamation marking the beginning of the 1916 uprising. Though that particular uprising was ultimately unsuccessful, the text gave me chills to read.

The proclamation is housed in a beautiful, long, wooden, musty room filled with rows and rows of books. The room must have been about 100 yards long, and narrow as a two lane highway. Light poured in, illuminating gold specks of dust and giving the place a magical feel. And the best part? It smelled like old books. It is a smell that is always going to be linked in my mind with happiness. Wes told me today that this library is used in some of the Harry Potter films – I’m not surprised.

After finishing our self-guided tour of Trinity College, and Marco was mistaken for a student by several other people, we decided to ramble down Grafton Street. The pedestrian-only area was chock full of shops and performers and we walked all the way down to the public gardens which were fragrant with blooming flowers.  Parts of it reminded me of the Boston public gardens for some reason.

At that point I was literally running on fumes and persuaded Marco that we should go back to the B&B so we could take a nap. Three hours later we were up and ready to go. We walked to Temple Bar (an area full of bars and restaurants, very fun, very loud) and decided to take in some Bar grub at the Vat House pub where we watched the entire Champion’s League match between AC Roma and Manchester United…I was in heaven (For anyone who cares, Roma won 2-0).

With a pint of Guinness and some food, we were set for the night. On the way home, the city could have been Rome itself what with all the Italians walking down the street, pouring out of clubs and generally being happy and loud. Who knew there were so many Italians in Ireland?

So now I’m hanging in the B&B while Marco reads. 13 Going on 30 is on TV (Liza, I bet you love this movie. It’s really cheesy), and I’m going to crash pretty soon.

More to come!

Day 2

We took our time waking up and meandered down to the free breakfast at our place. After a hearty meal of toast, eggs, cereal, tomatoes and juice, we headed out.

First we walked down O’Connell street (a wide swath of street shared by pedestrians and vehicles alike – apparently one of the widest in the world at one point) to the city center. We stopped for some Starbucks (Alisha Fernandez!) and then decided to visit the Dublin Castle. Instead of waiting 40 minutes for the guided tour, we decided to poke around behind the edifice. What we found was awesome; manicured gardens hidden behind stone walls and a green field with stone paths weaving in and among the blades of grass.

We found the Chester Beatty Library on one side of the gardens, and decided to check it out. We must have read 30 signs proclaiming it the best European Museum of 2002. As it turns out it was showcasing a great exhibition full of important documents and relics from Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, Confucianism and Hinduism.  We lost track of time while there but it was totally worth it to see some of the earliest Christian texts ever, barely legible on fraying shards of papyrus. And after seeing the Book of Kells yesterday, I could say without a doubt that some of the detailed, colorful, and geometric patterns featured in the Korans we saw today would give the book a run for its money.

After that we decided to stop for lunch, where we befriended a French Expat over fish and chips. Mmm, fried cod and Guinness. Sexy.

Speaking of Guinness, our next stop was the Guinness Storehouse, the site of Arthur Guinness’s infamous 9000 year lease on the building. We walked through the “self-guided tour” (which was just about the opposite of the Sam Adams Tour we took senior year), and amused ourselves looking at the manmade waterfalls, fake vines of hops, and enormous wooden barrels. At the end of the tour was the famed Gravity bar, a 360 degree view of Dublin complete with a complimentary Guinness for all who make it up the stairs.

Next we walked 600m (longer than it sounds!) to the Kilmainham Gaol (Jail) where many of the key players in the 1916 uprising were held, and then executed. The man who led us around was adorable, and you could tell he was really proud of all of his knowledge

about the jail.  Though I’m personally not that into stories about what people were subjected to in eighteenth century jails, I’m glad someone finds it all titillating.

Soon after we came back home, I went on a quest to find free wireless. When that didn’t happen, I decided I’d be content with wireless I could pay for. When the third internet café I went to informed me that their wireless was out, I decided to give up and just check my email and pay credit card bills. Hence the lateness of this post. Sorry about that.

Day 3

Today we ventured out of the city to get a small glimpse of the Irish countryside. We took a little bus tour that led us through the Wicklow mountains to Powerscourt House and gardens. Gorgeous, gorgeous, gorgeous.

I'll let the pictures speak for themselves. 

We just got back a few hours ago and I have finally found wireless (at Starbucks, no less! 5Euro for an hour though. Such a ripoff). We leave tomorrow morning for Edinburgh!