Sevilla & La Tomatina

I had planned to go to Salamanca from Rota to couchsurf with some students there, but stopped in Sevilla for a night. I didn't finish getting checked into my hostel until about 4:30pm and set out on a whirlwind tour of the city for three or four hours. I went to the Palace of Alcazar, which dates back to the year 913. Hmmm... I wish I had grown up on a farm so I could estimate the acreage of the garden, but it was huge! These pictures only show a fraction.




My favorite thing in Sevilla was the Plaza de Espana. Even though it was under construction, I was still able to enjoy the tile mosaics. There is a tiled alcove representing each of the provinces of Spain. (If I had to guess, I'd say there are about 40.)



My hostel is Sevilla is part of the same group that my Greek hostel is in: "World Famous Hostels". After exploring the city, I went back to the hostel for Paella night. It was really good and now the only other major thing I need to find is authentic gazpahcho! I saw it in the store today, but I want to hold out for the real deal. I had an 11:30 train to Madrid the next morning, so I woke up and was the first one at the cathedral. It is the world's largest gothic cathedral and contains the tomb of Christopher Columbus. It also has a tower that you can go up and see the city from. I had the platform to myself because I was so early.




Some of the people I was hanging out with at the hostel mentioned that they were going to La Tomatina, the tomato fight in Buñol. I had completely forgotten about it! So I changed my plans and went from Sevilla to Madrid to Valencia. When I got there, it quickly became clear that there would be nowhere to stay. I knew people partied the whole night before the festival in Buñol, so I just headed there and met some people along the way. The outdoor clubs, etc the night before were fun, but I was really tired the next day. The actually fight doesn't start until after they blow a horn at 11 and squeeze five (European-sized) semi trucks into already jam-packed streets. I am glad I was able to experience and I can say I did it, but between being sleep-deprived, dehydrated, and not having goggles to protect my eyes, I ended up not enjoying it all that much. I kind of got stuck in the middle of the crowd and people are literally compressing from all sides for hours... to the point that it was hard to breathe.





I was so tired that I decided I didn't want to move around too much more and just wanted to go to Barcelona to see my friend Ashley from undergrad. So, long story short, I am here and it feels fantastic to have clean clothes and not have to lock my bag. Plus, I definitely took a "Hollywood shower" this morning... it was like 20 minutes. I finally feel clean after a few too many days of dirty clothes and sparse showers!

Spain

Wine tasting in Bordeaux ended up consisting of staying there one night, buying a couple bottles at a convenience store and taking a train to Spain to enjoy the wine there. Fine by us.

When we arrived in San Sebastian last Saturday, we were pleasantly surprised to find out that it was the first day of "semana grande". We're still not really sure why they have a celebratory week, but enjoyed world-class fireworks every night (from distances not considered safe in the US... it was cool to be so close). Every night, another country or region of Spain put on 20 minutes of gran finale quality fireworks and at the end of the week local judges choose a winner. They also had evening parades of about eight 30-ft tall figures being carried by single people who danced and twirled around. They also had 15 people dressed up in costumes wearing masks that were like over-sized bobbleheads. They went around hitting children with balloons on ropes and parents tried to steer their children to get hit... I really want to find out the reasoning for this! Everyone was laughing and having a good time though.




We took a week of intensive Spanish classes and now have one week to practice as we travel before heading to Barcelona where they speak a different dialect. Jeff went hiking with a buddy from his class and went to the Gugenheim in Bilbao and I went to the southern coast to couchsurf with an American who is a naval officer at the base here in Rota. His apartment is approximately 10 feet from the beach promenade. We went out to tapas the night I got here and tried sherry from this region (very raisiny). Yesterday, I went to the beach for a couple hours and then came back and read part of a biography of Teddy Roosevelt (it felt great to have access to an English book again!) from his balcony that overlooks the beach. Last night, we met up with two friends of his who live on the naval base and went to town for dinner.



Now, I'm heading to Sevilla for a day and then to couchsurf and practice Spanish in Salamanca for a few days. Not really sure when I will meet back up with Jeff?

I fly to Seattle September 10th and will be in Portland September 12th or 13th!

Maybe There's More to France Than Baguettes

I've been slacking on my blog updates because I feel like I'm simply not funny enough to make them interesting without pictures! :)

It was quite a struggle to meet back up with Dad and Jeff, but it was obviously really comforting when we finally did connect. I rode the ferry from Greece to Italy with three Spanish guys and they taught me how to play a Spanish card game. Spain uses a different deck with different suits (e.g. sticks) and numbers 1-7 and 10-12. Their face cards are different too (a 10 is a "girl"). At least they kept me entertained before we set up camp on the floor of the ferry restaurant.

I previously thought France was one of my least favorite European countries, but I had only really been to Paris, Marseilles, and Nice. After four days of traveling, I was pretty delirious the first evening with Dad and Jeff, but I was taken aback by the beautiful views of nearby cliffs when I woke up the next morning. We stayed at a bed and breakfast outside of Annecy (a 2018 Olympic site candidate) on a cheese farm. Dad helped out on the farm (mostly in the garden) for four days before we got there to practice his French and the family liked him a lot. It was refreshing to meet some down-to-earth French people and they were extremely friendly and welcoming. We woke up every morning to a freshly-made tart, an array of specialty cheeses, fresh apple juice, homemade jam, straight-out-of-the-cow milk, and sometimes fresh yogurt.



They knew I was tired, so we skipped hiking on my first day and went to Chateau de Menthon, which was the castle of Saint Bernard (famous for his assistance to travelers, dog, and refuge). It is still inhabited by a descendant. The current inhabitant is a retired engineer (I appreciated that he worked even though he inherited a castle, etc.) and his father was in the French parliament and an advisor in WW1.



Now, I enjoy hiking, but maybe not quite to the level that Dad and Jeff do. It's just not a productive vacation day to Dad without a hike. He adjusted to a Jeff-and-Lisa itinerary to maximize his time with us though... that basically means putting in relaxing days of just hanging out in the city about every other day.

On my first trip to Europe, Julie, Mom and I coined the term "clike". It is a hike that is so steep that it is almost a climb. We developed this phrase while dragging roller suitcases (just carry-on, but still!) up a rooty incline to our former-castle hostel up a German mountainside. Dad and Jeff took me on numerous clikes, frequently unintentionally. I learned to not let the phrase, "Don't worry; it will just be a short two-hour hike..." get me too excited. Two hours? Ya right, maybe if you stay on the initially intended trail, but who would want to do that?!?!

"Oh I think if we take this other path just to the top of this hill, we'd have an even BETTER view... the paths probably meet back up anyway. "

Or my personal favorite, which led to 1.5 hours of climbing down a landslide-prone hill of rocks to get about 15 minutes farther down the path:
"Lets go up this way, it looks like it spreads out the incline over a longer span."

We really did have some awesome views both of and out from Mont Blanc, of a cirque with waterfalls, an intensely blue mountain lakes, multiple fauna (some antelope-type things were loving our path), and some beautiful rocky mountainsides.




Yesterday was rainy so we went indoor rock climbing. Jeff goes all the time at home, but I don't think I've ever done it. Jeff had to re-teach me to belay since it had been a while. He said I was pretty natural at it for being new to it (but maybe he was just saying that because he wants me to start up the hobby at home.) My forearms are super sore today since I haven't really done anything requiring arm strength for about three months!

We've also had some excellent food in the last week, including random concoctions by Jeff and me in our kitchen. Without recipes we made ratatouille-esqe vegetable/sausage soup, fresh ravioli with pesto and sausage, a parmesan-herb crusted white fish (although we don't know what kind of fish it was), fresh gnocchi with vegetables, and broccoli with herbed goat cheese a la my German friend Lisa. We went out to some casual restaurants and had things like honey-Reblechon pizza, Croque Madame (toast, ham, cheese, and egg), and mountain-refuge omelets. We also went to some fancy restaurants and had beignets (which were not at all like at home), shredded salad (which was excellent), escargot, garlic mussels, and raclette.

Jeff and I had both had raclette in Switzerland before, served as a dish of a melted cheese with onion, pickles, and meat. The menu said that the fondue and raclette had to be ordered by at least two people at the table for them to give it to you. Okay, weird. Well, it made sense as the waiter emerged from the kitchen. I wish I had a picture of the looks on our faces when he brought out a large plate of charceturie (an array of specialty sliced meats), onions, and pickles... and then there was the approximately two-pound wedge of cheese on a swinging metal platform next to a 8" charcoal cage. This contraption was conveniently placed on the open spot on my side of the table. I spent the next hour and a half perfecting the process of allowing an outer layer of cheese to melt, slicing us some, taking a few bites and then repeating it. It was entertaining to say the least. Jeff and I thought of the "...and you ate a whole wheel of cheese? I'm not even mad. I'm impressed" quote multiple times. Then we split the best creme brûlée I've ever had. :)




Today Jeff and I head to Bordeaux to do some wine tasting... although we've had quite a few different wines on our own at this point. Dad is heading to the Grenoble area to stay with a French penpal of his who is a retired school principal. Sunday Jeff and I are moving on to Spain to take intensive Spanish classes in San Sebastian, which is a beach town. Jeff is pretty good, but I took German, so I am excited to get my Español on!

I'm getting extremely excited to come home soon!