Photo TR: Julie and Kevin go to Spain! The Non-Coastery bits

[Erik Johnson]

I read it!!!! Must post more broken glass and peeing in the hedge type pictures.

[okinawaboy11]

 

AHH! Not you Julie, that plane!!! I would never get on that thing. I only like to fly the nice big ones

[onemorenightwithyou]

Your Photo TR is awesome.

[CoasterCrazy]

Julie your Photo TR is great!

 

I have been reading it, I just haven't responded.

[USRoadTripper]

Ok, I've decided that I am just going to keep the text parts of these reports short and sweet, since that is by far the most time consuming thing about posting this TR. Not many people read them anyway, I'm sure, so I will write longer text parts later as time permits.

 

 

May 15th, 2006

Monday

 

This was the day that we were travelling from Tarifa to Granada. We got up around 7:30am, and found nothing in the entire city open for breakfast! We wandered a bit, then packed up and headed to the bus stop. There was a gas station next door where we both ended up picking up some snack stuff for breakfast.

The train to Granada was very enjoyable. We passed some of the most beautiful countryside I have ever seen! There were mountains, valleys, rivers, tunnels and little towns dotting the entire four hour train ride.

When we arrived in Granada, we took a cab to our hotel, which was on the street that leads up to the Alhambra. Our room was small but sufficient, and had an Alhambra view! The first order of business was to get a bite to eat so we both stopped at the Pans and Company next door for a bite to eat.

After lunch, we walked up Paseo de los Tristes (Walk of the Sad Ones), which is a street that was used for funeral processions leading to and from Sacramonte in the past. The walk was uphill, so it was fairly tiring, but was well worth every step! At the top of Sacramonte, we were treated to a GORGEOUS view of the Alhambra! At the time, I thought it was one of the nicest views I'd ever seen, but that was only because I hadn't been inside the Alhambra yet!

We decided to get off the beaten path and stroll back down the mountain through the Albaycin, or Moorish Quarter. The houses were lined up with these little cobblestone paths between them, with most balconies having flowers cascading from them. Wow, it was so picturesque that I wish I could post every picture I took since they all came out great!

Back at the bottom, we popped back into the hotel, where I showered and Kevin grabbed another bite to eat. We'd decided on a flamenco show that night, so when I was done, we hailed a cab and rode up to the top of Sacramonte again, and found the cave in which the show was set.

The show we'd decided on was a Zambra flamenco show, which is a type of flamenco done by gypsies. We arrived a bit late since the times the tourist office gave us were wrong, but we were greated warmly with a glass of wine and shown to our seats. To say that I enjoyed the show is the biggest understatement I have ever made! I was truly captivated by this show! The clapping, stomping, singing, snapping and click of the castanets was almost deafeningly loud, but had me absolutely mesmerized. I really can find no easy way to describe it...being in a tiny, hot cave with dozens of other people, watching gypsies dance at blurring speeds while drinking wine, clapping along and trying desperately to soak every second of it in...it's something that I will remember for the rest of my life.

After the show, we rode the minibus back down the mountain, and tried to find something to eat. Being a picky eater reared it's ugly head when I couldn't find anything for dinner. Any place that was open didn't have anything I'd eat, and any place that had something I'd eat was closed. So I ended up with a cookies and cream ice cream cone for dinner. Then we headed back to our icy cold room (the only room of the trip with air conditioning, and it was set at about 60 degrees!) and went to bed.

 

-Julie

This was our room. It wasn't a bad size, but the beds were much shorter and uncomfortable than any others on the trip. Too bad since this location was prime.

This was the view from our hotel balcony. The brown building way up at the top behind the trees is the Alhambra!

Hostal Austria, like all our other hotels, is very picturesque.

Hostal Austria, our home for the night.

We also saw plenty of these "bullboards" dotting the countryside. "What country am I in again? Bull! I'm still in Spain!"

Isabella, a little German girl, ended up being the in-train entertainment for most of the trip!

We both enjoyed the view greatly, and spent a lot of time switching sides of the train to get the best pictures.

Kevin enjoys the view.

Somewhere in the Spanish countryside between Tarifa and Granada.

Leaving Tarfia, we took a bus for a half hour to get to Algeciras, where we'd catch our train. This was about the nicest thing I saw in Algeciras to take a picture of! It was pretty gross.

Kevin tried out the ham chips. So did I actually, and yes, they tasted exactly like ham!

One at the bus stop, I perused the gas station next door, and decided to have a "triangle filled with cream" for breakfast. That's also the bracelet I got in Morocco for five euros.

8:00am on a Monday morning, and we can't find a single restaurant in Tarifa that's open! I'm beginning to like the Spanish lifestyle more and more.

Before leaving our hotel in Tarifa, we indulged in a bit of Bob Esponja.

[Nrthwnd]

That's why I put a week+ onto the TPR UK Tour - just to have visiting 'options' open, altho I did tend to stick close to my hosts' homes etc.

 

Nice TR Julie. All that architecture..... Mmmmmm.

 

Segways looked like fun, too!

 

[USRoadTripper]

Ugh, my power blinked after I had this entire segment of the report done, so I lost it all. Here I go again.

A shot of the decoration in the cave. The ceiling was so low that I could have touched it. I also understand that the families with these types of shows live in the same cave they perform in.

All the men of the family

Quite possibly the two most beautiful people in all of Spain, though they don't look it in this photo!

This girl was amazing. Simply amazing.

Through my broken Spanish, I understood these two ladies to be sisters.

The youngest family member, at only 8 or 9 years old. She did a great job!

The matriarch of the family with the lady who danced so fast that her feet blurred.

We ended the night at a Maria La Canastera Zambra Flamenco show.

I love this photo

We also encountered this wall, with barbed wire and glass cemented into it to prevent people from climbing over the wall.

I could stand to wake up to that view every morning!

We found the local Disney fan!

Narrow cobblestone pathways between two homes, with the Alhambra in the distance.

A home in the Albaycin

The journey back down the mountain led us through the Albaycin, or Moorish Quarter of the city.

Me with the Alhambra. We spent the better part of half an hour here just enjoying the view.

Kevin enjoys the view that he has travelled so far to see.

Next time I'm in Granada, I'm all about the Burro Taxi!

As we walked up Paseo de los Tristes, a large portion of it followed the River Darro, a river that runs under the city.

[USRoadTripper]

May 16th, 2006

Tuesday

 

This day, the only thing on the agenda was our tour of the Alhambra at 5:00. Kevin had spotted an add for an English speaking walking tour of the city, so we decided to do that. Before the tour started, we both grabbed a bite at Pans and Company again.

The tour was decently interesting, though I wish we had covered more ground than we did. We did a lot of "walk a block, stop for 10 minutes, walk two blocks, stop for 10 minutes." At one point, we went into a cathedral, and having already decided that I don't like religious buildings as tourist sites, I was hesitant to go in. But I did, and was completely apalled when someone said "Look! A nun's over there praying!" and everyone proceeded to take her picture. What a truly disgusting display of disrespect.

Once the tour was over, Kevin said he wanted to go into the main cathedral in town, where Ferdinand and Isabella are burried. I thought about going, but ultimately decided not to, so he did that while I did some shopping. My quest to find a ring with a bull on it turned out unsuccessful.

When the tour was done, we had lunch at McDonalds, then got online for a bit so we could cool off inside.

At about 3:00, we were able to get into two parts of the Alhambra, so we caught the minibus up there. We wandered through the Generalife Gardens and the Alcazaba, which were both gorgeous and offered breathatking views of the entire city. The only downside was that we were absolutely roasting in the Spanish sun, and had to keep stopping in the shade to cool down.

At 5:00 we entered the Nazarid Palaces, and again they were gorgeous. We took our time wandering around, taking pictures and listening to our audioguides. All told, we spent four hours in the Alhambra! And aside from the blazing heat, it was one of the highlights of the trip!

We stopped at a restaurant for dinner, but even after telling the waiter exactly when we needed to leave (just as Rick Steves says) the service was too slow. He hadn't even taken our orders 15 minutes before we had to leave! So we ended up back at Pans and Company for dinner.

We caught another cab back to the train station, and found our "Trenhotel" that we'd be sleeping on that night. Our couchette was small but reasonably comfortable. In order to have more room, Kevin stowed the upper bunk, and folded up the lower bunk to reveal two train seats. But when he tried to lower the top bunk back down, he couldn't. So when an employee came by, we asked how we were supposed to let the top bunk back down. She just kinda smirked and said "Normalmente, people don't do that" and walked away!! hahahaha We were pretty much laughing hysterical for a while after that! Eventually, Kevin figured out how to lower the bed back, and we both went to bed. It wasn't a very restful night of sleep, but it was definitely better than sitting up in a regular train seat!

Yeah Kev, normalmente people don't dump their Pringles all over the floor either!

Kevin: "How do I get the bed back down? I just stowed it so we would have more room!"

Lady: "Normalmente, people don't do that!"

For my first overnight train ride, we chose the TrenHotel!

So yeah, when I saw the random baby laughing and giggling at the random cat, I thought it would make a randomly good photo!

I have entitled this photo "Cat with Albaycin"

Three archway windows in the palace

Another shot of the Albaycin

Kevin got a little uneasy with the heights a couple of times!

Two windows in the palace

An arch in the Nazarid Palaces

But when you can get photos that look like this, why *not* photograph it! This is my favorite picture from the whole trip.

Finally we enter the Nazarid Palaces. This is the most photographed area of the Alhambra...El Corte de los Leones (The Court of the Lions).

Kevin at the bottom of one of the towers

The Alcazaba

Kevin enjoys the sweeping views from the Alhambra's lookout tower.

Wow. Now *that* is the best view I've ever seen! This view went on for miles and miles t oyour right and left. I couldn't even get 1/10th of it in a photo.

Time to leave the gardens and head to the Alcazaba.

A hedge arch in the gardens. Another one of my favorite photos from the trip.

The water staircase...my favorite thing in the Alhambra. This was like ice water. It was so cold that you could barely keep your hand in it. Felt perfect when roasting in the sun.

Sacramonte

Kevin's backside in the gardens

An arch, with Sacramonte

An arch, with the Albaycin

The Nazarid Palaces as seen from the gardens

When we arrived at the Alhambra, our first stop was the Generalife Gardens.

Me with the man I was happiest to see in all of Granada!

Time for lunch. Finally I can get a meal without pork, bleu cheese or squid!

Shops in the Alcaiceria (silk market)

A home in the Alcaiceria in Granada

[USRoadTripper]

This is the last set of photos for my trip to Spain. Thanks to everyone for looking, and if you have any questions or comments, I'd like to hear them!

 

Wednesday, May 17th

 

Wednesday was the last full day of the trip. We'd taken the overnight train from Granada to just shy of Barcelona, which didn't cause me to get a very restful night of sleep. The train rocked quite a bit more than I thought it would, but at least I got more sleep than if I was sitting up in a regular seat.

Once we arrived in Tarragona, we had to wait a while, but soon we'd caught a train to Port Aventura, and spent about 6 hours there.

 

To read my PortAventura TR, click here!

 

When we left the park, we hopped on the next train that arrived and stayed on all the way into the main train and subway hub in Barcelona. When we left, my plan was to find the hotel and shower since I hadn't gotten to take a shower on the train. But knowing that I only had a few hours in Barcelona, I decided to just forgo the shower and see as much of the area as I could before I left.

 

We walked down the Ramblas, stopping to ascend the Christopher Columbus monument, then headed into Mare Magnum, the mall that Rick Steves describes as "soulless." We wandered, then stopped at Starbucks for another frappuccino de crema. We sat for quite a while just enjoying the view of the harbor, and as sun started to set, we ventured back towards the Ramblas.

 

We walked all the way from the harbor to the Placa de Catalunya, and while there, made our last stop in an El Corte Ingles. It was right about that time that it started to hit me that I was gonna have to go home in a few hours, but I tried not to think about it.

 

We stopped for dinner at Genove 1911, where we both had excellent meals! Kevin also ordered a liter of beer! We knew that the European Futbol championships were going on during dinner since we'd seen so many people watching TVs on the streets, and we could hear people cheering when they made goals. But about halfway through dinner, the streets absolutely erupted, and we knew that Barcelona had won!!!

 

From that point on, the city was a free-for-all...there were hundreds of thousands of people singing, chanting, playing drums, running with flares...it was the party in Sevilla times ten!! After Kevin's beer magically refilled ittself after their win, he downed as much as he could, then we let ourselves get swept into the crowd headed towards the plaza. We made it about halfway before deciding that there were just too many people to go any further!

 

I posted a small video clip of the evening on YouTube, so have a look! The video describes the night *way* better than words or pictures ever could!

 

Once we got back to the hotel, Kevin hit the bed, while I stayed up, showered, and sadly went to bed for the last sleep of the trip.

 

 

Thursday, May 18th

 

May 18th was the day I'd been dreading since we'd started planning the trip. We both woke up, I got all my stuff packed up, and we headed out to get me to the Barcelona airport. We stopped for breakfast at the McDonald's on Placa de Catalunya, where I had a Big Mac for breakfast. Kevin walked me over to the bus stop at the edge of the plaza, and I said a teary goodbye as he saw me off.

 

I made it through the airport just fine, with just enough time to spare to get a fountain drink (the self serve kind, so I filled the glass with ice!) The flight back home was *much* more comfortable than the first flight. Primarily, no one was in the seat beside me, so I could spread out a bit, and cross my legs comfortably. It was also cool enough that I needed a blanket for my legs, and the meal was great! I didn't sleep any on the way home since, honestly, I was too upset to do much of anything. I did manage to take in Big Momma's House 2, Fun with Dick and Jane, a Tom Hanks biography, a House Hunters episode as well as a couple of other things they showed.

 

When I arrived in Philadelphia, the plane was late, which left me with 30 minutes to get to my connecting flight.

 

[RANT] WHY WHY WHY do people wait until the second that the plane is unloading to shuffle around things in their bags?!?! This man in the front of the plane sat on that damn plane for NINE HOURS, yet decided to wait until everyone behind him needed out of the plane to start shuffling around papers in his carry on!!! It took us FOREVER to get off the plane because of that ignorant, selfish moron!!![/RANT]

 

So I finally make it off the plane, retrieve my luggage, make my way through the maze that is the international arrivals terminal in Philly, only to be stopped at another security checkpoint. By this time, my plane was taking off in 10 minutes, so I knew I was pretty much screwed and was just hoping for the best. Then, glory be to God, another moron decided to duck under a rope and cut in front of most of the security line. You guessed it. Security breach. Alarms go off, people have to back up, and everyone who just went through had to back up and be searched again. The overall delay was actually pretty minimal, but when you are already late, it seemed like forever. And of course, no one took their shoes of before getting up to the x-ray machine, which caused us to wait even more.

 

I finally get out of the security line, and am hoping against hope that my flight might be delayed, so I start booking it. It was only then that I realized that my arrival and departure gates were on exact opposite ends of the airport! There could not have been two gates that were further apart in the entire airport! Lucky me! At that point, I pretty much gave up, and decided to just take my time in getting there since my plane was already supposed to be airborne.

 

Once I arrived at my gate, I saw that my flight had been delayed!!! My plane wasn't even there yet! Yay! So the first thing I did was run for the bathroom, then grab a sandwich at a nearby counter. While the meal on the plane had been great, it didn't stay with me very long, so I was very glad to have time to get another meal.

 

After a little while, they announced that the flight was oversold by one, and that they needed someone to volunteer to be bumped to the next flight two hours later, and they would receive a free round trip ticket anywhere US Air flies. Without even thinking, I shoved my boarding pass into the hostess' hand and said that I wanted to be first on the list! And I was! Another half hour or so goes by, and once everyone is boarded, they concluded that they did want to bump me! The lady who was taking my seat was extatic to be getting to leave right then, and she kept saying "Thank you so much for being willing to wait!" I just told her "No, thank *you*! Now I don't have to pay for my trip to California this summer!!!"

 

Seeing that the next flight to Nashville was only two hours away, I thought I got the greatest deal ever! Sleep in the terminal for two hours and we'll give you a free flight. Ok! I felt like a living stereotype of the benefits of travelling light with just a carry on. Had I had to worry about my luggage, I wouldn't have considered volunteering to be bumped. But I had everything I was travelling with right there with me, so I didn't have to worry! I seriously doubt if I will ever travel with checked luggage again! The next flight was in the next terminal over, so I walked over there, then promptly sat on the floor, propped by back against my backpack and fell asleep.

 

The flight from Philadelphia to Nashville was pretty grueling since I was so tired, but couldn't get comfortable. Plus, I was on the left side of the plane, which I really dislike. I prefer the right side of the plane for whatever reason. I just wanted to be home at that point.

 

When I arrived back in Nashville, I called my parents and they picked me up. We stopped at a Taco Bell on the way home, where I ordered the best meal I'd had in the last 10 days! hahaha I gave my parents their gifts from my trip, then I transferred all my pics from my camera to my computer. I was too tired to look through them all, so I just crashed.

These scarves, or bufandas, were everywhere! Everyone seemed to have one to support their favorite futbol club. I ended up with a Sevilla one, and Kevin got a Barcelona one.

El Corte Ingles credit #3 of the trip!

Hostal Opera, the last hotel of the trip.

A hotel on the Ramblas

Some of the street performers, like this tree woman, were really awesome! (She merited a much bigger tip than the Michael Jackson dude!)

A building and lamp post at dusk

A building in Barcelona with the Columbus monument in the background.

This one's for all the Mac lovers out there!

Ahhhh! The mirrors on the ceiling of the mall are trying to steal our souls!!!

Kevin visits the "soulless mall" MareMagnum.

I thought the lions were really cool.

A lion at the base of the Christopher Columbus monument at the harbor.

Here is a Michael Jackson impersonator we encountered on the Ramblas. Must be a 1980s MJ impersonator since this guy is actually black!

Las Ramblas in Barcelona, the location of the crazy final night of my trip!

[Rollerholden]

Wow that place looks beautiful!

You 2 take some great photographs too.

It looks quite different than a roller coaster vacation, but still quite fun.

[USRoadTripper]

The last of the photos

Here I am...exhausted but very happy that I got bumped from my flight and got a free round trip plane ticket! I guess good things really do come to those who wait!

Thinking of you, Wes. Gary Sinise made a brief appearance on my flight home!

Here is my meal from the flight home. Chicken, noodles and veggies in an alfredo type sauce, a croissant, some fruit, some chocolate mousse, some crackers and cheese and a mini Toblerone bar. Out of 10, I give this meal a 9.5!

*sigh* Kevin bidding me a sad farewell as I board the bus for the airport. This picture makes me so sad when I look at it

The Placa de Catalunya. You'd never guess that just 10 hours before, this area was packed shoulder to shoulder with flare weilding futbol fans!

The next morning, the city seemed back to it's normal grind. The only evidence of the party the night before was some graffiti (ok, quite a bit of graffiti!)

There was even more coverage of this party than in Sevilla! Luckily our hotel was away from the action, so we could sleep. I'm not sure how late the party lasted.

People were surfing on shopping carts...it was just nuts...go watch the video!!!

People were dancing around in their day-glo underwear...

Even death showed up to join the party!!

I wish the photos did this craziness justice. There were hundreds of thousands of people, and they just kept coming and coming! And everyone was cheering and singing.

After the win, Kevin's beer magically refilled ittself, and we ran out into the streets to join the celebration!

The big ball of flame there is in the Placa de Catalunya...probably a good half mile from where I was standing!!

But then...Barcelona won the championship! And holy cow, the people in the streets went ABSOLUTELY NUTS!!!

Kevin ordered a liter of beer during our fabulous dinner.

We knew that the European futbol championship was going on that night, and the town was stoked! People were crowded around TVs in the streets like people used to do in the 50s!

And finally, just for clarity's sake, here is a map of the Philadelphia airport with my arrival and departure gates labled. Thanks for reading!

[Rollerholden]

Umm those last pics from the street at night looked frightening!

 

 

Please do the monkey when entering or exiting the metro. Thank you.

 

Haha that made me laugh out loud!

[Tömmioh]

Lots of great photos Julie!

 

and Yeah, Alhambra is a really amazing 'castle' (visited it two years ago). that Mc Donald's photo somehow reminded me of a meal we ate in Granada, where my sister got anchovies in her pizza instead of mushroom.

Anyway, Nice memories, thanks for bringing them up!

 

It's good to hear that you got a free round ticket, to kind of compensate the wait.

This TR makes me want to get back to Spain.

[BiCoastal Kid]

JULIE! How dare you go to Barcelona and not see any Gaudi!

 

Otherwise, EXCELLENT pictures. Im so glad you finished off the non-coastery bits. I'm so jealous. Spain looks beautiful, and I may definitely look into going there even more!

[thomas2]

OMG you didn't see the Sagrada Familia!

Too bad 'cause that's a jewel.

But good TR. Really gives me flashbacks of my visit to Barcelona (when my dad's wallet was stolen the first half hour we were there )