Cirt's Adventure in Spain!

[Cirt 612]

Hey guys :> So I'm back from Spain - well, I have been, since Sunday, but I thought I'd let you guys know how my trip went!

We left on Good Friday at 6:00 PM from the Atlanta airport on an Air France flight. The flight to Paris was about 8 hours, and they are about 6 hours ahead of us anyway. So, we arrived in the Charles de Gaulle (sp?) airport at 8 AM their time, but was only 2 AM our time. No worries, though, I got plenty of sleep on the flight and didn't feel too tired. From there, we had a two hour layover and then had a flight to Madrid that was about an hour and a half.

Saturday's weather was pretty icky - it was chilly and damp and really just not a great day to be out and about. It was strange walking around right after we left the airpot - for one thing, the entire airport was deserted (turns out that Madrid's airport is not busy at all, quite the opposite of Atlanta) and even when we arrived at our hotel the city was deserted. Our group (consisted of 49 people, including students and adults) were pretty confused. Our guide for the whole trip, Jesus, informed us later that we weren't downtown and that the outer part of Madrid was never busy. After we dropped off our bags we went for a walking tour of downtown. We had to take the Metro (something we would get used to later on in the trip, we used it a lot) and went to the Prado museum, but the line was insane and we decided to go back later on in the week when we were back in Madrid. Then we went out to a restaurant, had our first taste of spanish food, then went to the Plaza Mayor, and went back to the hotel.

Day two was another day in Madrid - much better weather, sunny, though cool, and it would be like this for the rest of the week. We had a bus tour of Madrid for a little while, then we went to the Royal Palace for another tour. It was beautiful - we couldn't take pictures, though, and I had left my camera in the locker anyway. Then we headed to the Puerta del Sol (basically the center of the city) and did some shopping for a while. As long as were in groups of 4, we didn't need a chaperone, so we got to explore the city and have fun. The Spaniards (maybe just europeans in general) are very into their looks. The girls mostly wore skinny jeans with long boots that went up to their knees, and lots of jackets and scarves, even if it was warmer outside. Needless to say, they would definitely give my best friend Laura and I a weird look with our rolled up jeans and Chocos.. xD

The following day we headed to Toledo, which is about an hour bus ride from Madrid. Toledo is beautiful in its own way - it's one of the oldest cities in Spain. We had a tour of the older city which included the gorgeous cathedral there. Then we went to the sword factory there, where you could buy a unique Toledan sword or other gold work. After about half the day, we left Toledo for Granada, which was about a 4 hour ride. On the way we stopped at the "molinos de viento" or windmills, that were in Miguel Cervantes' masterpiece Don Quixote. I remember watching the movie in 10th grade and now I was actually seeing them in real life. It was incredible - and super windy, it was pretty obvious why they would put windmills there. The windmills are outdated, though, but they are still standing. Then we drove on to Granada. We went "gypsy cave dancing" - basically, we were in the narrow, almost underground room in which gypsy flamenco dancers would come in and put on a show. It was very entertaining and they were very talented. Later, we went to view La Alhambra (Granada's palace) at night. Most of the cities we visited had some kind of palace, by the way.

Day four was a day in Granada - which turned out to be my favorite Spanish city. La Alhambra and the Generalife gardens (not "General Life," like you would say in English, but "hen-er-all-ee-fay" - the Spanish pronunciation) we absolutely gorgeous and they were the perfect mix of cultures - Muslim, Christian, and Jewish influences. The entire city was surrounded by mountains (apparently Spain in the second most mountainous country in Europe) so it was very vista-like as we saw in Toledo, but also had the very urban touch of Madrid. But better than Madrid, because it was hardly Americanized (no starbucks' coffee or Mcdonald's here!) . Plus, the locals were just much friendlier in general and enjoyed talking to us instead of being annoyed. Then, we went to the gypsy bazaar and did some shopping - it was almost sketchy, those hookahs for only 9 euros, but it was so bright and happy there that my friends and I really enjoyed ourselves in Granada.

The next morning we headed to Costa del Sol, to the city of Malaga. Malaga is a very tourist-y place, being on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea. Jesus said he didn't care for the city very much, since the tourism touch was so cheesy, and we just told him to go to a beach town in Florida and the cheesy effect multiplied by a hundred. Since we got to Malaga later in the day (the bus ride was long) we only had a little time to head down to the beach and touch our feet into the water. It was freezing, of course, but a few brave souls from our trip actually went in head under. The next morning we were going to have to wake up early - we were going to Morocco!

We took a bus to port in the very most southern part of the country ( forgot the name) and then took a ferry ride down to the Spanish territory in Africa. The ride down there wasn't that good - it was very rough and a number of people got seasick. But when we got off, we couldn't stop thinking - we're in AFRICA! It was so strange. We got on another bus, which took us through the border (we couldn't take pictures there, it was weird) and then started driving to the city of Tetouan. On the way we stopped for a quick camel ride. It was super touristy, costed a euro, but it was pretty fun anyway! In Tetouan, the world was completely different. The population is 99% Muslim - for a city of 70,000, that's a lot. We went to the older part of the city which dated before 1492. It was a labyrinth in there - there were so many alleyways and you had to stay with the group or else you were pretty much done for. Well that's a bit morbid. Our guide there joked that the little blonde kids running around were the kids of tourists that had gotten lost. Even though we actually didn't see any, haha. Everyone was actually very nice there, and when we went shopping we actually had the chance to bargain for stuff. Moroccans love tourists, and we have the chance to go there and spend money, so it's a win-win deal eh?

Day 7 began with a bus ride to Sevilla, which was almost like Granada except much more chill. Everything seemed to be a bit slower paced there. Not to mention pretty hot. We visited the bull fighting ring there (there wasn't a fight that day :/) and then went to the Alcazar (sp?) which, once again, was like the Alhambra except much newer inside. Then we went to the cathedral (2nd largest in the world?) and then hiked up the Giralda, this beautiful tower overlooking the cathedral and Sevilla. Later that night, we went out to experience the night life, which meant going to out and trying tapas and meeting people. However, that didn't go as planned. A lot of people ended up drinking (underage) including myself, though I didn't get drunk. Two girls did get very drunk though. We got in trouble the next day, but it was worth the laugh.

Friday sucked. I mean, getting in trouble for the previous night, yeah. Everyone got sick with a nasty cold. And everyone was getting very tired and tired of each other. We went to Cordoba, saw the mesquita, which was also very cool. One of those things you see in the Spanish textbooks, you know? Then, after that quick visit, we took the AVE, this train that went over 180 mph, back to Madrid. It was really lovely and easy to sleep on, unlike the plane or the buses. Anyway, back at Madrid, we went for even more shopping. But things started happening that night. For one thing, my best friend and her boyfriend (who was also on the trip) broke up, so that was tense. See, her boyfriend (well now ex) is my ex's best friend, so we had this cool really close friendship group going on. Maybe not so much now. Then, some girl got her wallet stolen while she was in the lobby of the hotel. Some homeless guy just walked in and took it. Later, we find out via facebook that a girl with cancer at our school had died. And even after that, one of my friends was asleep in her room when a drunk French guy got in, thinking it was his room, and touched her leg, trying to figure out what was in his bed. She woke up, screaming (I mean, when you're a girl and a drunken guys in his underwear is touching your leg, the first thing you think is rape) and was a bit traumatized. Needless to say, it was a long day.

The last day was another day in Madrid. We finally went to the Prado, and the Reina Sofia, and through the large park in Madrid. Everyone was dead tired. Especially with all that walking. Later in the evening, we out for dinner and then to a place to watch the Real Madrid vs. Barcelona futbol game. It was pretty fun, 'cause then we had to leave at 3:30 the next morning for the flight to Paris, then back to the ATL.

But yeah guys, that's it. I'll post some pictures.

What'd I miss? :>

[Ops 2]

pics

or it didn't happen.

[Cirt 612]

read the second to last line, kids.

PICTURES LATER

writing all that made me sleepy and plus I'm on the wrong computer, the uploaded stuff is on the pc.

[Linkprow 42]

Sounds like you had fun, you're lucky getting to go to Spain. Anyways welcome back.

[Cascade 741]

Wow, that's some holiday you've had! It sounds like it was really interesting and fun. Spain is quite the country C:

[Max 10]

Pics now, not later.

[randomfan 0]

You're lucky, Cirt! The trip sounds like so much fun! Now I wanna go...

[Max 10]

Pics or shit didn't go down.

[pheonix561 2080]

I think it would be cool if you like, drew pics, too.

Like on mspaint.

You should do that.

[Arcane 12]

Welcome back again. Sounds like a lot of fun!

Also,

What'd I miss? :>

I thought it was your job to tell us that haha

[Shadowknight 54]

Did you guys go with a company? By that, I mean that when I went to Italy not too long ago we went with EF Tours, and I was wondering if you did something similar.

Spain sounds like quite an adventure! Traveling the world is a fantastic adventure, for sure. Did you find yourself wishing you could have spent more time in one city or another?

[Kimmy 0]

-creeped on fb and found the trip pics-

[Cirt 612]

Did you guys go with a company? By that, I mean that when I went to Italy not too long ago we went with EF Tours, and I was wondering if you did something similar.

Spain sounds like quite an adventure! Traveling the world is a fantastic adventure, for sure. Did you find yourself wishing you could have spent more time in one city or another?

Dude, yeah! I went with EF tours. They are amazing.

And yes, I definitely would have loved to stay in Granada for a few days. It was so wonderful there. And I just found out recently that the college I'm going to has a study abroad program in Sevilla, which is a close second to Granada!

[AlexBrand 0]

No starbucks or mcdonalds? I'm torn between calling that good or bad. Probably good. I'll bet obesity isn't a big issue over there.

[Arcane 12]

Starbucks is fine I think even though I don't drink coffee. McDonald's is terrible.