GRANADA and BIRTHDAY FUN

A popular phrase in Spanish, "Sí nos has visto Granada, nos has visto nada" (If you haven't seen Granada, you haven't seen anything), was a big motivator for my birthday weekend trip to Granada.  As I would prefer to see everything rather than see nothing, I was very excited to go!  But, before we get to Granada, here's a little about my 23rd birthday!

On Wednesday night, my friends came over and we had a tapas potluck with lots of delicious food!  My friend Haley even brought pigs in a blanket, which cracked me up!  We had a nice "tranquila" time, which was good because I've been feeling under the weather, and they surprised me with a GUITAR! WOW! I was not expecting that!  Needless to say, I was VERY VERY excited about Raul (that is the guitar's name), and about having my lovely friends over to celebrate with me!

tapas from friends!

The next day, I relaxed a ton, had coffee with my neighbors, and then Krista and I headed to Albacete to hang out with our friend David before taking a 2:30 am train to Granada.  Albacete was so fun! We got some cañas and tapas and had a blast, and then headed back to the RENFE station to catch our train.

I would be lying if I said it was the best train ride I'd ever had, but it got us there, and we explored for a little while until Helen, Jaclyn, and Natira joined us! Before they came though, we walked over to the Cathedral area surrounded with orange trees, markets, spices--Granada is just very unique in my opinion! I really liked the feel there. Very cool. After the other ladies arrived, we went out to get some cañas and tapas and then went back to the hostel and played BS--that was a throwback for sure! Haven't played that game in ages, but it was super funny and we had a great time.  We had a really late dinner, but I left early because unfortunately I wasn't feeling well.  The next day I felt a lot better, all recharged and ready for the ALHAMBRA!

I definitely needed all my energy because it was a LONG walk through the Alhambra.  Totally amazing and worth it, but we were there for about 5 hours.  It's huge people, be warned.  Huge, yet one of the coolest things you will ever see.  I will let the pictures do the talking here.

Needless to say, I loved it.  Also, I ran through the Generalife gardens pretending like I was competing in the tri-wizard tournament.  And you wonder why the rest of the world hates America.... haha :) Seriously though, it was lovely and I am excited to go back again when Jackie comes!

We also got a nice view of the Alhambra from a high point of the Albaycin neighborhood, and then headed back to the hostel to get ready for dinner (after a Kebab snack, of course).

Helen and her great researching skills found a nice Moroccan restaurant that was a lot closer to our hostel than we realized.  After all of us piled into taxi cabs for literally a two minute drive and got lost walking everywhere, we finally found the restaurant, Arrayales, and had a delicious meal with the best house special lemonade I have ever tasted!  It was so nice to celebrate my birthday with these lovely ladies is such a cool place.  I know there is still so much to see, so in May, I'll see even more I am hoping!

I would like to thank my beautiful friends Helen, Jaclyn, Natira, Corinna and Krista for joining me on this great weekend.  Natira gets extra props for sympathizing with my illness and telling me to drink "a crap ton" of water.  Also, a big thanks to HELEN for the YORKSHIRE tea and my new special mug, haha :), and to all who gifted me Raul, my new Spanish guitar, whom I am sure will help me relieve stress and relax! I am very lucky to have such great friends and to have these travel opportunities. So, year 23 started out in Spain...let's see where it takes me next!

besos!

Mary

La Lagunas de Ruidera

One of the "must-see" sights in LA MANCHA that everyone has mentioned since I've been here are the Lagunas de Ruidera.  You have to go by a car though, so I was just playing the waiting game seeing when I would be able to hitch a ride over there.  This weekend the time came, as my amazing friends here suddenly said on Saturday night (Sunday morning) "Oye, manana vamos a las lagunas de ruidera, vale?" Si! Vale! I was so excited.

I woke up on Sunday and raised the garage door blinds that we have (they totally block out any sunlight--it's awesome when you want to sleep!), and stepped out onto my balcony only to realize that it was BEAUTIFUL outside and very very warm!  Like a foreigner, I sat out on the balcony with a tank top on to take in the sun.  It was awesome.  After a call from my friend Jose that they would be by to pick Krista and me up at 3:30, I got dressed and ready for the day!

Las lagunas de Ruidera are three beautiful lagoons in the middle of LA MANCHA, Spain!  They are especially beautiful on a sunny day, and even better when you have great friends with you. :)

Me, Krista, Esther, Mariajo, Silvia, Ana Rosa, Jose, Bernardo, Tara, and Ashly had a very lovely day and it has given me smiles within the week too!!

My friend, Esther, and I by a little waterfall!

The water looks like glass! so beautiful!

Ashly, Krista, me, and Tara!  Las Americanas (and Bermudian!)

haha, I just really like this picture!

Needless to say, it was a wonderful time and I am very much looking forward to my next Castilla La Mancha outing!! But first, Granada this weekend with my favorite travelling auxliar group!! So excited!

Besos, 

Mary

An Ode to Villarrobledo

I know I have been travelling a lot, but amongst all this travelling, I have come to grow very fond feelings for Villarrobledo--the place that I am temporarily calling home!  There really isn't a whole lot to it at first glance--it's a medium-sized town where you can get pretty much anywhere by walking.  It would probably take half an hour to walk from one side of the town to the other, but everyone drives anyway :).

Anyway, Villa has quite a lovely Plaza and Ayuntamiento.  The Church is very old too, and BEAUTIFUL on the inside and out!  I may have posted this before, but here is a picture of la Iglesia de San Blas y la Plaza:

There are some other gems in Villarrobledo as well, like El Desvan, my friends and my favorite bar/hang out place, Quo - another hang out place right on the Avenida we live on, Esther Comestibles, the best place to go for bread when mercadona is closed!! Ganesha, Pisoton and Picari, my favorite clothing and accesories boutiques...I could go on and on!  It's not a very commercial town, we don't have a lot of brand name stores, or big companies, but I like it that way.  It's a smaller town feel, and I'm really enjoying it!

I think that what I am enjoy most though, are the people that I am meeting!  People here have been so welcoming and generous!  If anyone ever tells you that Spaniards are not the warmest people, ignore everything that comes out of their mouth because it's just not true!  Well okay, maybe in Madrid or some annoying big city, but that's anywhere really.  Here are some lovely people that have made my time here in Villa so special:

Maria Jose and Leo, my neighbors!

Anna, Daniel, Me, and Krista at Quo!  This is such a silly picture, I love it!

My friends and I hanging out for Reyes (Jan 5th. On Jan 6th, the 3 Wise Men come and bring presents to children in Spain!  If you are not a child...then you go out the night before with your friends!)
Here we have...Mary, Mariajo, Tara, Daniel, Merxe, Esther, Ashly, Ana Rosa, and Silvia!

I would like to upload more picture, but the library connection is super slow and it is taking forever (although I am thankful for the free internet and movies to rent!).  Right now, it is time for comida, so I'm going to go home and make myself some 2:30 pm lunch.

More on Villa later...Have a lovely day!

Valencia Weekend!

Yesterday I returned from a weekend in beautiful Valencia! I really enjoyed it, it wasn't that warm, but it was beautiful nonetheless!  Krista and I arrived in Valencia on Friday morning and hung around for a little while until the rest of the girls arrived.  We had a great time catching up on holiday stories and enjoying some early afternoon sangria, tapas and lunch before taking a much needed nap!! Traveling tires you out, man!


Valencia is just a beautiful part of Spain.  On the train ride there, I saw countless orange groves and palm trees, and once we got there, I noticed that every building, even the train station, has it's own little bit of flair.  It's a very decorated city.   I usually judge whether or not I like a place by the atmosphere that it gives me.  For example:  Madrid's atmosphere, to me at least, is pretty commercial.  There's a ton of great shopping, a lot of tourists, and a lot of really good places to eat.  It feels pretty rushed and busy though, so although it is the capital, it's not my favorite city.  It's nice for a day trip though!  Barcelona, on the other hand, has a real chill and laid back atmosphere.  It seemed really artsy and it is on the ocean, I loved it!  Valencia was somewhere in the middle of that, I think, but more towards the relaxed end of the spectrum.  I loved being there and am hoping to go back when it is a little warmer!

I just thought this was cool!

An interesting fountain

Cathedral in one of the main plazas.

La Lonja.  We weren't exactly sure what La Lonja was...but it was pretty neat anyway!

Inside of La Lonja.

The Valencia Aquarium

Anyway, after exploring, eating, and napping, we decided to get dressed and eat some more! Before going out to enjoy the Valencia night life.  We had a great night and got up in the morning all ready for the Valencia Aquarium--the largest in Europe! It was AWESOME!  

It was so fun to see all of the sea animals, I really enjoyed it a lot!  My favorites were the beulga whales and the dolphins.  We even got to see a dolphin show, which was really cool!  Here are some pictures from that:

After the Aquarium, some of the girls went shopping while Corinna and I went back to the hostel to take a nap.  Apparently I was ridiculously tired because I fell asleep about a minute after arriving there!  When the rest of the girls got back, we all got ready to go out to dinner.  Our goal was a to have Paella, so we went to this restaurant that had been recommended to us called El Rall.  When we got there, we found out that all of the tables inside were full.  Because we are so very smart, we said "Well, we can sit outside!", so they turned on the outdoor heaters and we had a nice Paella dinner outside :).  It wasn't too cold, and it definitely made for a memorable night! 

Me, Jaclyn, and Krista enjoying Paella

Paella Valenciano -- Chicken and Rabbit!

Well, that's about it!  I had a great weekend in Valencia and am looking forward to lots more little trips and whatnot :).  I also am looking forward to spending more time in Villa!! woohooo!  

He regresado...

Happy New Year, or Feliz Ano, as the Spanish say :).  I had such a lovely time in Holland with Nicki, and had a great time in Barcelona ringing in the New Year as well!  Krista and I met up at our hostel in Barcelona on the 30th, and then next night we were shoving grapes into our mouths as it chimed midnight on Jan 1, 2011, and enjoying the adventures that the Barcelona night life offers.  It really is a beautiful city, and we got to see some of the famous sites that Gaudi designed, like Park Guell and Sagrada Familia, which is now a church!

I've been back in Villarrobledo enjoying doing nothing and stealing my friend's internet (ours is STILL broken!  apparently things here take an eternity to fix).  I've been really enjoying this doing nothing thing...and hoping that the rest of today and tomorrow don't go too quickly ;).  It will be nice to see everyone at school again though!

This is going to be a very short blog entry because I'm feeling rather apathetic today and want to get back to my doing nothing before that changes on Monday ;).

In sum, good Christmas, good New Years, good friends, good break.  Later!

M