My Road Trip Through Spain

Hola!

I know you all must think I am crazy, but yes...I did rent a car with three of my friends and drove along the East coast of Spain for spring break. For those of you who know me as the nervous type--yes, my anxiety was at its highest. Even though my pulse never quite returned to normal for a week--it was the best spring break I think I have ever had, and a great learning experience. Nothing can scare me now!!

On Thursday, March 22nd, we flew to Barcelona to begin our journey. After getting off the plane we hopped in our rented Opel minivan and drove to our first hostel. A drive that should have taken maybe 20 minutes turned into two hours. Street signs are not very clear in foreign countries...and hostels are not clearly marked with huge thousand dollar fluorescent signs above them. Needless to say, we finally made it in time to crash in our beds in the wee hours of the night. We got about three hours of sleep before it was time to go again.

We were out the door by 6am Friday morning on our way to Sevilla, Spain. People at the gas stations we stopped at thought we were crazy when we told them how far we were driving. Luckily, it only took us 45 minutes to get out of Barcelona and we were on our way. Yes, the drive was long but I saw the most beautiful countryside I have ever seen and the most majestic views of the ocean from our car. It was a really long day but our lovely driver Tim took it like a champ and got us there safe. Again, we faced an hour drive around the city looking for our hostel. When we finally did find the hostel it was around 11pm and we still hadn't eaten dinner. We were in our sweats, with no makeup on, and nonetheless were invited into a fancy restaurant by a very friendly Spanish waiter. We refused a pitcher of Sangria due to cost, but he made us one anyway--insisting we try it. It was a great meal and we were treated like royalty.

Later that night Amanda Pope and I met up with our mutual friend Kasey and went out with her friends. I wore flip flops out that night because it was so nice and started to notice the stares. Kasey told me that not many people wear flip flops in Spain...gasp!! It was fun standing out for a night though, I'm just glad they didn't think I had been hit by a truck or something. I looked like a zombie and felt like one too, but I wasn't about to let the tiredness get to me!!

The next day we woke up and Kasey took us around Sevilla, which to me looked like the Spanish version of Prague. It was a beautiful day and we relished the sunlight and warm temperatures. We walked all through the city and saw the beautiful architecture and fun shopping areas. We stopped for lunch around the siesta time of 2-5 as the town shut down. Good thing the restaurants were still open!! After that we continued our walk through what still remained open and found some great outdoor markets selling jewellery and other fun stuff.

That night we made our way to a huge fairgrounds where they were having a festival of some sort. Never really got the full story on it--but it ended up being a great time. We casually referred to it as a hippie festival. Everyone was out enjoying the nice weather and we even got a chance to throw a football around. Again came the stares...Spanish people don't see one of those very often. We also perused the booths of handmade jewellery and watched some Spanish tribal dancing and drumming.

After the festival we made our way to a tapas restaurant where they basically serve small appetizer portions of things. It was really yummy food but it wasn't long before we had to retire to bed. It was going to be another early morning the next day.

On Sunday morning we got up really early to begin our drive to the port town of Algeciras in southern Spain. We saw a beautiful sunrise that morning. We parked our car at the port four hours later and hopped on a two and half hour ferry ride to Tanger, Morocco (northern Africa!!). It was a really pretty ride and we took the time to nap and regain our strength. When we disembarked the ferry we were greeted by a large hillside of white adobe buildings and gorgeous water. We made our way to the hotel and settled in before our driving tour of Tanger. No, we didn't bring the car here...we had a tour guide named Mustafa drive us around town. He took us immediately to the rich part of Tanger to show us the massive houses owned by kings from other countries. I had never felt so American until that point. He assumed we would only want to see the nice parts of town. It was a little irritating.

As the tour continued we saw some beautiful caves, rode a camel and went to the Medina (outdoor market). At one point we were escorted to the top of a shop just in time for one of the daily Islamic prayers. All of a sudden the town lit up in prayer over loud speakers. It was really interesting to get a taste of that religion. We finished our tour of the Medina without buying anything. We were hassled and stared at the entire time. Again, I had never felt so American.

That night we went out to dinner and went to bed kind of early. We were a little rocked from the day and just wanted to get some rest. The next morning we woke up to pouring rain and took the day off. We decided to hang out in the hotel and regain some strength. That night we went out to a club for dinner and sat under a disco ball the size of an exercise ball. Again, we were treated like royalty and had a great meal.

The next morning we got up early to catch our ferry back to Spain. We were all a little relieved to be leaving Morocco. It was a great experience, but definitely a little uncomfortable. I wouldn't trade the experience for the world. We arrived back in Algeciras and made the two hour drive to Granada. At this point we were more seasoned drivers and found our hostel a little quicker. Tim managed to maneuver a manual transmission van into a car elevator at our hostel. That was quite an experience in itself! After resting for a bit we went out to a great restaurant. I had vegetable paella and it was delicious! We made our way to a tapas bar soon after where you get a free tapa with every drink you order. We stayed for one drink and then walked around the city for a while seeing some of the sites. We had to make our way to Barcelona the next morning so we had to make that night count!

The next morning we intended to wake up at 8, but guess who was the only one up?? Me!!(I know Shauna and Tara are laughing right now). I decided to go out on my own and walk around the city for a bit. It was nice to see Granada in the daylight. It was a really fun city and I definitely wish we had more time there. We had a late breakfast and hopped in the car headed north.

As expected, the drive back to Barcelona from Granada was amazing. We all decided that when we become rich (yeah right!) we would like to own houses in the Spanish countryside. We also drove through the Casa del Sol vacation area that resembles Santa Barbara, CA. The houses and condos were absolutely beautiful and fun to look at. It rained on and off throughout the day unfortunately, but the sun peaked its head out every once in a while.

We finally made it to Barcelona around 9pm and got rid of the car. We all breathed a sigh of relief to have it out of our hands. Then we grabbed a taxi and headed to our hostel. When we arrived at the Kabul Backpackers Hostel our mouths hung open for a moment. The hostel had a bar inside of it and people playing pool, hanging out on the computers and chatting the night away. It was a little overwhelming in our tired state. We checked in and what was supposed to be an 8 person room turned into a 25 person one. We smiled politely and walked upstairs to room 201. We walked in and were immediately greeted by a brother and sister duo from Canada who had taken 4 months off of their lives to travel around Europe. They told us the ins and outs of the hostel and we all felt much better. Tim unfortunately had been driven into insanity by us backseat drivers and was suffering from stomach pains. He was out for the night. We left him to die in his bed (kidding) and went out to dinner. We ended up at another tapas bar and I had a delicious spinach quiche tapa and a fried crab tapa. We then went back to the hostel and went to bed. It was hard to sleep listening to the 10,000 Englishmen in the city for a soccer game scream about their win. All things considered, I'm glad they ended up winning.

The next morning we got up early and did a full day tour of the city, mostly concentrating on Gaudi architecture. He was pretty much off his rocker when he designed these buildings and they were very fun to look at. My favorite was the Sagrada Familia church--his unfinished work. It is a very intricate church with a lot of character. He died before finishing it. It was a beautiful day and a great city.

That night we went out to a nice dinner at a quaint little Spanish restaurant. This time I had seafood paella, which was absolutely delicious. I may be obsessed now. After dinner we went to a free flamenco show by our hostel. After that we hung out in the bar at our hostel for a while and went to bed. The next day we flew home to Prague which was a very bittersweet trip. We were sad to leave beautiful Spain but so happy to come home to Prague--to our own beds and to a culture we have finally gotten used to.

So that was spring break! I survived and it was so much fun. An unforgettable trip deserves this long of a blog right?? I hope you enjoyed it.

A little more than a month until I get home! I can't wait to see you all. In the meantime, I am going to enjoy these last few weeks in my favorite city in Europe. Keep it real...

Adios!

Steph