Portugal: PortuGREAT.

I decided to break up my Fall break posts into countries, as to not compose a single novel of a post! So here we go!


After 6 days in Spain, Katie, Christian and I met up with Katie and Christian's other housemate David in Lisbon Portugal for a few days! As soon as we got off the plane and stepped into the warm sunshine, we knew we were going to love this incredible place! Now for a summary of Lisbon through observations :)

• Our hostel was one of the greatest I've ever been in, Alfama Patio Hostel, located in the Alfama disstrict of Lisbon, the oldest within the city.  The staff was incredible, and had events for us within the city every night, along with free breakfast with crepes EVERY morning! It has a modern eclectic feel, and truly felt like home. If anyone is ever in Lisbon, you MUST check it out: Alfama Patio Hostel
• There was SO much history and culture crammed into the tiny winding streets of Alfama, and Lisbon in general, it was breathtaking and beautiful. 
• Our first night there, we checked out some Fado clubs with our hostel group. Fado is a Portuguese style of Flamenco like music that has so much feeling and beauty, it's incredible. If you get a chance, check out some Fado on Youtube, it's a beautiful thing.
• Boys vs. Girls: Friday, Katie and I had a beach day, our vacation within a vacation if you will, complete with a pitcher of white sangria, seafood, checking out some beautiful surfers, oh and getting our tan on :) all while the boys, Christian & David, went on some sort of hiking/castle exploring adventure on the outskirts of Lisbon. 
• Our second night we went out again with our hostel group to a bar/club with live music.  The band playing was unlike anything I've ever heard, they cover TV and movie themes like Ren & Stimpy, The Godfather, Life of Bryan, & The Muppet Movie! SO much fun!! AND the singer also played the hand saw. Yes, a hand saw, with a bow.
• There was graffiti and urban art all over the city, I found it strangely beautiful, I think because for the most part, it wasn't mindless gang names and tags, but political statements or works of art.  Although sometime it kind of ruined the architectural beauty of some of the older buildings.
• The Modern Art Museum in Lisbon was incredible, and had an Andy Warhol exhibit which I absolutely adored, made it all worth it being the only museum I went to the entire trip!

Now: Lisbon, in pictures!

Beautiful Archway

Alfama <3

Beach day!

White Sangria... By the pitcher!

Posing with the graffiti about Belgium of course!

View from the Hostel Terrace!

Breakfast on the Terrace!

David and a guard on the way to the Modern Art Museum

Lisbon from a church on the hill, and their bridge that's a splitting image of the Golden Gate!

Portugal is another country on my list that I'd love to explore in more detail, so much history and culture!

So I Bought Me a Ticket, Hopped on a Plane to Spain.

So It's been a crazy crazy week since I've returned from fall break in Spain & Portugal, and haven't had the time to update, but NOW the moment you've all been waiting for.

Our adventure begins on the afternoon of Saturday, October 30th when Katie, Christian & I hopped on a plane to Barcelona. When we finally arrived in Barcelona around midnight, gotten lost when we got on a train instead of a metro, miraculously found a metro station in the outskirts of Barcelona, and made it to the hostel, we had little energy to do anything except find a restaurant and grab a Bocadillo Tortilla Espanola and a pitcher of Sangria, which you will see, was a re occuring theme on our trip.
 I realize that even if I tried to summarize my time in Barcelona, and Spain in general, I'd still have written a novel. So, with that said, I will revert to my style of stating various observations I mad during my time in Spain, begining with

BARCELONA:

• Catalan- mixture of Spanish and French spoken in the northern region of Spain, threw me off a bit. BUT having the opportunity to speak Spanish again was phenomenal. 
• Our hostel was awesome, clean, fun, and an awesome location! Not to mention we had some crazy Greek men as our roommates who were huge fans of Katie and I, but Christian, not so much hahah.
• Halloween in a country other than the US was an adventure, we ended up going to a club on the beach called Opium that was having a Halloween theme. Pretty sure 3/4 of the people there were Americans. Still fun none the less!
• The Gaudi architecture around the city of Barcelona was breathtaking, and has now become an obsession of mine. Christian and I decided we could wander around the park he designed for days at a time, like a secret garden of sorts. The man was a genius.
• La Rambla: The main street in Barcelona, where you can find anything and everything. TONS of shopping, and it's always busy. Tons of vendor stalls selling everything from flowers and newspapers, to pets, like birds, turtles, bunnies, and even chipmunks!
• The huge open air market was unlike anything I've ever seen, like a farmers market on steroids, more fruit, produce, nuts, seafood, meat, and other goods than you could ever imagine!

Now for a photo montage of Barcelona:

Some sort of parade we stumbled across!

View of Barcelona from the Gaudi park :)

One of Gaudi's gorgeous creations.

Some delicious fruit at the open air market.

Got my fruit fix :)

Next up: MADRID!

• First off, no where near enough time in this beautiful city.
• SO much history, so little time to absorb it all, which is why a 3 hour walking tour was a phenomenal way to get a taste of the city. And our enthusiastic British Tour guide had a sweet mustache going on. 
• The shops there had more Big Lebowski shirts than I've seen anywhere else.. The Dude abides.
• I'm now a HUGE supporter of free walking tours. 
• Madrid night life is off the chain, I had SO much fun!
• Tapas could very well be one of God's greatest gift to man, right behind Sangria and Tortilla Espanola. 
• I could very well spend eternity in Madrid, and I'm SO sad I didn't make it to any of the museums!

Madrid in photos:

Christian pretending to be inbred King Carlos on our tour with our fun tour guide with an outrageous moustache!

Katie Christian and I in front of a statue of a bear eating berries off of a tree that make it drunk, also on the flag of Spain.

Christian & I in Plaza Mayor!

So, this post does not even come CLOSE to conveying my love and fascination with the beautifuly amazing country of Spain. I will be back later in life to explore more of the country for a longer period of time, who knows, maybe even teach a little English for a year or so so I can live there :)