Day 108: or The Day We Took A Ferry

Mornings are not my thing. So it’s great when the sun is nowhere near up and I’m able to trick myself into thinking it’s still night. Sarcasm. We made it out the door on time and caught the first bus we saw. I had no idea where we were going, and relying on other people for directions is not my forte. I do not like feeling lost and would prefer to have a map on me at all times. We made it to the port and had a little bit of walk until we found out ferry. We had splurge and extra 10 Euros for assigned seats and I was ever so thankful when I saw the mass of people camped out on the benches. An 8 hour ferry ride on a bench? No thank you.

We slept most of the way, getting up every once in a while to check out the view. It was a bleak morning for the first couple of hours and I don’t think I missed much. By lunch time the sun had come out and we were passing island after island. The water is so blue it’s kind of unbelievable. I know I’ve been in Texas too long when the water starts to look blue. It’s crazy blue. We got to the port a little after 3:00pm and grabbed a taxi to the apartment. Our landlord was waiting for us and showed us the place. We are staying in Perissa Beach, which is on the West side of the island. It looks like a typical beach town, but being the off season, it’s quite and has a lazy vibe. We walked 100 meters down the road to the beach road that has all of the restaurants and bars. We saw the black sand beach and felt the water. It wasn’t freezing, but it was about 20 degrees away from me swimming in it. We stopped at a restaurant at the end called Aquarius for lamb and stuffed vine leaves. The vine leaves were quite good, much better than I’ve had in the states. We walked through town a bit and my Dad bought a book. He has fairly bad jet lag so finding something to do at 3:00am was near the top of his list. We made it back to the room and called it an early night after a long day.

Day 107: or The Day I Went To Greece

Sad face. I woke up and got my stuff together, alone. The girls don’t leave for home until tomorrow, so they stayed at the hotel, while I trudged all the way out to the airport. I find that the first half of any trip is mixed with sadness and a little bit of frustration over all that travelling entails. But the closer you get to you r destination, the more excited you feel, and you start feeling like all the hassle is worth it, which it of course is. My hip, and when I say hip, I mean butt but will use hip because it’s more polite, is killing me. My fall from 2 nights ago has made sitting for too long fairly uncomfortable. Good thing I’m going to be travelling for over 10 hours.

The trek to the airport wasn’t all that bad and I made pretty good time. I managed to check my bag without incident but noticed a slight whole in Madrid airport security. They checked my I.D. when I gave them my bag but no one checked to see if my boarding pass matched my passport. I only had to show my boarding pass at security. Surely not. After all the hassle it takes to get into and out of the U.K., I’d assume they’d be a little more vigilante. Nope. I made it all the way to Greece, through a couple of different countries without anyone verifying that I was who I was.

My Giant Airport Beer

Happy face. I landed in Greece a little pass midnight and was my bag was the first one on the belt. I met my Dad outside and we grabbed the bus into the city. From there we grabbed a taxi which ended up dropping us off God knows where. The women we rented from had drawn him a map, which he proceeded to think was ridiculous. Little did he know that at 1:00am, he’d be lost 2 blocks from the apartment, and that map would get us home. We made it back, settled in for the night at a little after 2:00am, and set our alarms for 5:30. Did I mention we’re catching the 7:30am ferry to Santorini? Longest travel day ever.

Day 106: or The Day of Futbol

I woke up this morning to the sound of the buzzer announcing our landlady. We had set a 9:00am checkout since we needed to leave by 9:30. Obviously, we over slept. We through everything in our bags and said adios to Barcelona. We had a great time, but we had one more night in Madrid. We were all tired but knew we had to take advantage of what little time we had left. The train back was horrendous. I managed to sleep, but with a bum hip, it was near to impossible to get comfortable. I don’t think I slept more than 15 minutes at a time. The train to Barcelona had been quiet and peaceful. The train back to Madrid was unbelievably loud. Not only was everyone talking, they were talking in their outside voices. Honestly, the fidgety babies next to me were no problem compared to the 70 year old Spanish women yelling across the coach.

When we got to Madrid, we were staying at the same hotel so there were no complications. I called my Dad who I knew had landed in Spain, to make sure everything was set for my arrival. We talked on Skype with the girls listening in. My Dad has a very specific way of talking on the phone. All voicemails start and end the same way and all conversations invariably follow the same format. I was happy to have the girls over hear the things my Dad feels the need to discuss. Some necessary, some not so necessary. At one point he started to let me know what he would be wearing when he came to the airport to meet me. In case I forgot what he looks like? The man loves details. Believe me, I’m in no way making fun of someone else’s communication style. If anything, I’m pointing out that my talkative nature didn’t come out of the blue. After everyone checked in at home we walked to Plaza Mayor and watched the street performers and ate lunch. We fought off the post lunch lull by walking around the Palace and through the Gardens next to it. On our way back to the hotel, we found a chocolateria that Marisa has recommended. We grabbed chocolate y churros and ate until we were sick. No longer able to fight off the siesta, we headed upstairs for a couple of hours. I didn’t manage to actually sleep, between catching up on my blog and making sure everything was in order for my trip tomorrow. At around 9:30pm, we headed out to an Irish pub to catch the Real Madrid vs. FC Barcelona soccer game. We first stopped off at a pita restaurant for sustenance but the game was on there too. I think the game was on everywhere. When we got to the pub, there was a huge crowd, split down the middle between the two teams. We watched the game and it ended in a tie. I love soccer, but ties are lame. All that work, and there was no real winner. I understand that it still matters, but having a winner would have been nice. We headed back after the game and I prepared to leave once again.

Day 105: or The Day of Coconut Ice Cream

Being our last day in Barcelona, we wanted to make the most of it. However, since we woke up early the two previous days, we were a little slow starting. We decided to walk on the beach and we stopped and grabbed a bite. The beach was incredibly crowded with people selling beers out of plastic bags, massages, and henna tattoos. Every 2 minutes someone comes up to you trying to sell you something. We sat for a good while in the sand and then walked the rest of the beach. We saw some really cool restaurants right on the beach and a Japanese-Mediterranean one caught our eye. We all ordered the lunch special of different varieties. The girls are having a hard time with the lack of vegetables. If you do get veggies, they’re usually fried. I of course, haven’t noticed as much. I’m not saying I was totally unaware; it just didn’t bother me as much. The lunch ended with mango and coconut ice cream. So good. It was especially good because they gave Gabbie the wrong thing so I got to eat hers too. Yum.

We grabbed the Metro home for a siesta and tried to plan our last night. We ended up trying to find another restaurant which of course was no longer there. Linden has a good friend who lived in Barcelona who was nice enough to give us tips and advice. It just so happened that the places we decided to try were closed or moved. Luckily, the restaurant we picked was in a square she had recommended with multiple options. We picked a spot for tapas and people watching. It was very local and very fun. We had originally picked a bar in the area, but at the last minute I found a club near the apartment that would be easier to get home from. We took the Metro back, but it was still a bit too early for the club, around 12:20am. We noticed a bar a couple of doors down that seemed lively so we spent a couple of hours there. We met some Germans who were friendly and they came with us to the club. They were huge fans of “How I Met Your Mother”. I find that many Europeans love that show. At the club they played a mix of 80’s, 90’s and Spanish music. They even played the Greece soundtrack. It was an interesting place. We saw one of our bus tour guides and he seemed more than shocked to see us. Made us believe we had found a truly local place. When we showed up, prior to drinking, I managed to slip and fall at the top of a set of stairs. No one saw thank goodness, but I can honestly say it was the hardest fall I’ve ever taken. I feel like I broke my hip, my wrist, and my elbow. My ankle is scraped fairly badly too. I danced through the pain, and we ended up having a great night. We left late, around 5:30am, but we were happy to have at least one true night out.

Day 104: or The Day of Wine

Another early day, another bus tour outside of Barcelona. This tour was wine based however, and the drinking started at around 9:30am. The first winery we visited was Jean Leon and we were the only group there. It was small and beautiful. The guide was great and the wine was good. The girls and I hadn’t had a proper breakfast so I snuck a couple extra crackers to be on the safe side. We were on the tour with 6 other English speakers but were the only Americans. There were 3 Australians, 1 Canadian, and 2 English. We all got to talking at the second winery when we were blown away by the video they decided to show us. Blown away is not a good thing here. We were at the Torres winery and we were here to have lesson on pairing wine and certain foods. We were all just happy to get the chance to eat something but before we could do that, they took us a bit through the vineyards and cellar. In the “tram”, there was audio explaining a bit about the family and the history of the company. This would have been all well and good had we not just watched a similar video on the bus on the way to the vineyard. They also felt the need to add bird sounds randomly. They then drove us through a dark cellar in circles showing holographic images of monks. It was just bizarre but it was a bonding moment for the group because we couldn’t contain our laughter. When the "tour” was complete, we met with our guide who asked how we liked the ride. We all lied through our teeth and just hoped it would get better.

                                               

It did. The pairing lesson didn’t match the dramatics of the video and we left the winery a little bit later, having eaten a bit, and ready to try some Cava. We headed to the Freixenet factory/cellar. Cava is Spain’s sparkling white in case you didn’t know, and the girls and I had been enjoying it on our own. The tour was nice because they explained more about the process than the other wineries. They took us down into the cellar, which is a huge underground complex with more Cava than you can shake a stick at. But really, there’s a whole lot of booze down there. After the tour we sat down for cheese, pan con tomate, ham, and some almond cookie thing. And of course more wine. I don’t think I’ve mentioned pan con tomate. This tomato bread is everywhere and quite tasty. I don’t even really like raw tomatoes and I was always pleased when we’d get some. The girls on the other hand, loved it. Needless to say we rarely ate a meal without it.

After the Cava stop, we headed back to the city and back to our apartment. We accomplished our first siesta and were officially on Spanish time. We had planned on going to L’Eixample for dinner and then drinks. It’s the gay neighborhood of Barcelona and Gabbie had asked that we go check it out. The restaurant we had planned on going to could not be found at the address we were given, so we found a local place and gave it a try. We ordered tortillas patatas and some beer and then headed to a little Mexican restaurant I had found in a guide book. Yes, Mexican in Spain. The food was good and simple and after some Modelo Especial, we headed to the first stop of our Gay tour. We were of course early. Since Gabbie had dancing in mind, the club wasn’t exactly a right fit, so we left to try another one. Being a late night club, the second was also basically empty. Ten minutes later though and things started to pick up. We had a good time and after a while, we made it home and it was time to crash.

Day 103: or The Day of Dali

We had wanted to take a bus tour to an old Roman city and to the Dali museum in Figueres, but we never managed to find/buy tickets. We decided to just show up and see if we could pay there. The bus was leaving at 8:30, so we left with plenty of time and arrived at the meeting spot with 30 minutes to spare. After a minute or two without a plan, we managed to get ourselves onto the bus and headed north to the town of Girona.

We arrived in Girona and started the day off with a walking tour of the city. The city has a cathedral with the widest nave in Europe, except St. Peter’s I believe. It has Roman walls that they have kept in great shape and a Jewish Quarter with staircases for streets. The guide was entertaining and knowledgeable and we thought the tour was well done. Afterwards, we stopped at a café for sandwiches and patatas bravas. We had a little time before we had to get on the bus so we decided to tour the cathedral. It’s an impressive space. It’s a gothic cathedral and coming from Sagrada Familia, the different styles make it hard to believe they are used for the same purpose. It was dark and fairly simple except for the 15 or so chapels. Makes you appreciate Gaudi’s use of light.

We got back on the bus and made our way up to Figueres for the Dali museum. It was packed with class tours and the kids were beyond obnoxious. I’m not one to find kids annoying just because they’re kids. And I don’t entirely blame them. The museum isn’t exactly appropriate for middle school kids or even some high school boys. We could have spent more time going through it but we had to get out of there. I like some of Dali’s stuff and the museum was definitely impressive, but I don’t think I’d ever hang it in my own house. We grabbed gelato on the street and hopped on the bus back to Barcelona.

When we got back to town it was time for dinner so we decided to do a tapas bar crawl. We stopped at 4 different places and ate things we didn’t know the name of. I got to speak French to another lady who was questioning some of the menu items. Felt good to not feel totally lost by a foreign language, if only for a minute.

Day 102: or The Day We Went To The Picasso Museum

I woke up today and showered before waking the girls. I like that they aren’t on a European schedule yet because it makes me look responsible. After we all got ready, only 1 hour behind schedule, we headed to the metro on our way the Picasso Museum. The weather was great and the museum was interesting. It’s tucked away on a small street and almost hidden. It has all of his early work and a very small amount of cubism. It’s amazing to see what he was able to accomplish by the age of 15. Absolutely amazing.

We made our way up the hill to Park Guell, another Gaudi creation. I’ve decided that Gaudi may be one of my favorite artists/architects. His use of color and mosaic work is right up my alley. The park was beautiful we had a picnic of sandwiches. At the gate, it’s a bustling, busy, loud place. But once you get into the park, it’s quiet and peaceful. When we were sitting on a bench, I happened to see a bird land on a tree down the hill. I noticed it was different than the other pigeons flying around, so I went down to investigate. It was a green parrot, and it was pretty cool. After awhile, we headed down the hill and decided at the last minute to head to Gaudi’s Casa Milla.

The apartment building was beautiful, but the tour was a nowhere near as good as Sagrada Familia. We enjoyed the building, and all of us decided we would be happy to live in the building. We headed back to the apartment for ham, cheese, asparagus, grilled peppers and champagne. It was a great midday snack.

On the way home from the museums, we explored our little neighborhood a bit more. The street just out of view from our front door ended up having a bunch of cute patio restaurants. We stopped at the corner one and ended up having a great meal. I had a hamburger with caramelized onions and goat cheese. The house wine was great and less than 10 Euros a bottle. The girls are really appreciating European wine prices.