For some reason or another, I thought it would be a really great idea to backpack through Spain and Italy for 16 days!! Although it was not the luxury I would have hoped for, it was absolutely the time of my life.
On April 12th I packed up my backpack which weighed almost more than me (that may be an exaggeration.... but regardless, was so heavy.) We set off to the tube station that would take us to the train station, that would take us to our airport! When we got to the train station, Kristen realized she forgot her glasses, so she had to run back and get those, which set us back about 45 minutes (luckily we left REALLY early.) Finally, we made it to the train station and realized that we had about 50 minutes to get to our flight. The problem is, it took 50 minutes to get to the airport on the train, which wasn't set to leave for another half hour. Thank GOD the nice train station man found us some weird train that took us to a different station, but would get us to the airport in half hour. So, with our HUGE backpacks we RAN (literally) through the train station. We BARELY (literally the door closed in on Robin's backpack) made the this train but made it to the airport with plenty of time to spare!!
April 12th-13th
Once we got onto the plane we were off to BARCELONA!
We made it to Barcelona at about 10 pm, which is kind of scary because Barcelona doesn't have the best reputation at night.... or at all. We were warned A LOT to keep our bags close and eyes open! Because it was so late, we decided to just split a cab to our hostel just to be safe. We made it to the hostel pretty quickly and got checked into our room, which we shared with 2 very strange Australian boys, who were 17 and very drunk most of the day. They were very entertaining though! That night we went to bed and woke up really early the next morning to go explore.
That morning, we went and saw a HUGE market, got some stuff to make lunch, and went to see Gaudi's Parc Guell, which was beautiful! There were so many pretty trees and flowers and stones, there were also places to sit and eat and enjoy the most amazing view of the city! After that we headed back down to see Guadi's church! Which was also absolutely amazing! (I will add captions to my facebook photos so everyone knows what these things look like). That night we went and found some food and sangria at a cheap little place. Everyone was pretty exhausted from running around all day so we went back to bed and woke up early to go to the beach! Unfortunately, when we woke up the next morning it was cloudy, so a tan was out of the question. The beach was still fun to go see and when it started raining we went shopping! That night we had to take an over night train to Granada so we just found ways to keep ourselves busy until then.
14th-16th
The over night train went surprisingly well and we made it to Granada on Thursday morning really early. We found our hostel and got some breakfast at the coffee shop down the road. One thing I liked about was that every building and store was SO PRETTY! The town was one of the coolest places ever! My pictures don't do it justice. After breakfast we made the trek up a mountain (yes, a real mountain... I think, maybe I'm just being dramatic but it looked like a mountain) to the Alhambra! The Alhambra is famous for the different types of architecture and the gardens it has. Unfortunately it was sold out. So, we decided to go to this place (I can't remember the name) but it is on top of a DIFFERENT mountain that gives you the best view of the Alhambra and the city. That was definitely worth the hike because the view was breathtaking! We relaxed on that mountain for a while and then headed down to get ready for dinner. We decided to go to a Tapas bar. In Spain... and ESPECIALLY Granada Tapas was very popular. Tapas is like a mini appetizer type thing. You are meant to get a few of them and have them as your meal. I love appetizers, so I loved Tapas!
The next morning, Kristen, Lauren and I (Robin didn't feel well) headed back up the huge mountain to see if we could get tickets to the Alhambra. Yet again, they were sold out. We decided to take a tour of the gardens, which was so worth it, and buy tickets to see the night tour of the Alhambra. The night tour was great! Everything was lit up and it was very fun to see all of the cool architecture!
After the night tour we went and got some Tapas for dinner and went to a club called "Granada 10) It was fun, except nobody goes out until 2 am so it turned out to be a long night!
The morning we had an 10 am train to Madrid we had to catch, on 2 hours of sleep.
April 17th - 18th
We made it to Madrid with no issues, but were exhausted! Our hostel was pretty nice but since it was pretty late in the evening we decided to go to Hard Rock- Madrid for dinner! YUM! We went to bed pretty early that night but the next morning we saw the city and many museums, including the Praudo (I may have spelled that wrong but it was cool)!
We went and saw a really cool market (apparantly the biggest market in Spain) and found lots of cool local shops to see!
Overall, Spain was awesome! It was a culture that I have never experienced before and I am so glad that I have! The food, the people and the cities were amazing! After Madrid, we flew out to ROMA... (which will be discussed in the next blog). We got extremely lucky and the Volcano in Iceland didn't affect any of our flights!
Lots of Love from London!
Jill
On April 12th I packed up my backpack which weighed almost more than me (that may be an exaggeration.... but regardless, was so heavy.) We set off to the tube station that would take us to the train station, that would take us to our airport! When we got to the train station, Kristen realized she forgot her glasses, so she had to run back and get those, which set us back about 45 minutes (luckily we left REALLY early.) Finally, we made it to the train station and realized that we had about 50 minutes to get to our flight. The problem is, it took 50 minutes to get to the airport on the train, which wasn't set to leave for another half hour. Thank GOD the nice train station man found us some weird train that took us to a different station, but would get us to the airport in half hour. So, with our HUGE backpacks we RAN (literally) through the train station. We BARELY (literally the door closed in on Robin's backpack) made the this train but made it to the airport with plenty of time to spare!!
April 12th-13th
Once we got onto the plane we were off to BARCELONA!
We made it to Barcelona at about 10 pm, which is kind of scary because Barcelona doesn't have the best reputation at night.... or at all. We were warned A LOT to keep our bags close and eyes open! Because it was so late, we decided to just split a cab to our hostel just to be safe. We made it to the hostel pretty quickly and got checked into our room, which we shared with 2 very strange Australian boys, who were 17 and very drunk most of the day. They were very entertaining though! That night we went to bed and woke up really early the next morning to go explore.
That morning, we went and saw a HUGE market, got some stuff to make lunch, and went to see Gaudi's Parc Guell, which was beautiful! There were so many pretty trees and flowers and stones, there were also places to sit and eat and enjoy the most amazing view of the city! After that we headed back down to see Guadi's church! Which was also absolutely amazing! (I will add captions to my facebook photos so everyone knows what these things look like). That night we went and found some food and sangria at a cheap little place. Everyone was pretty exhausted from running around all day so we went back to bed and woke up early to go to the beach! Unfortunately, when we woke up the next morning it was cloudy, so a tan was out of the question. The beach was still fun to go see and when it started raining we went shopping! That night we had to take an over night train to Granada so we just found ways to keep ourselves busy until then.
14th-16th
The over night train went surprisingly well and we made it to Granada on Thursday morning really early. We found our hostel and got some breakfast at the coffee shop down the road. One thing I liked about was that every building and store was SO PRETTY! The town was one of the coolest places ever! My pictures don't do it justice. After breakfast we made the trek up a mountain (yes, a real mountain... I think, maybe I'm just being dramatic but it looked like a mountain) to the Alhambra! The Alhambra is famous for the different types of architecture and the gardens it has. Unfortunately it was sold out. So, we decided to go to this place (I can't remember the name) but it is on top of a DIFFERENT mountain that gives you the best view of the Alhambra and the city. That was definitely worth the hike because the view was breathtaking! We relaxed on that mountain for a while and then headed down to get ready for dinner. We decided to go to a Tapas bar. In Spain... and ESPECIALLY Granada Tapas was very popular. Tapas is like a mini appetizer type thing. You are meant to get a few of them and have them as your meal. I love appetizers, so I loved Tapas!
The next morning, Kristen, Lauren and I (Robin didn't feel well) headed back up the huge mountain to see if we could get tickets to the Alhambra. Yet again, they were sold out. We decided to take a tour of the gardens, which was so worth it, and buy tickets to see the night tour of the Alhambra. The night tour was great! Everything was lit up and it was very fun to see all of the cool architecture!
After the night tour we went and got some Tapas for dinner and went to a club called "Granada 10) It was fun, except nobody goes out until 2 am so it turned out to be a long night!
The morning we had an 10 am train to Madrid we had to catch, on 2 hours of sleep.
April 17th - 18th
We made it to Madrid with no issues, but were exhausted! Our hostel was pretty nice but since it was pretty late in the evening we decided to go to Hard Rock- Madrid for dinner! YUM! We went to bed pretty early that night but the next morning we saw the city and many museums, including the Praudo (I may have spelled that wrong but it was cool)!
We went and saw a really cool market (apparantly the biggest market in Spain) and found lots of cool local shops to see!
Overall, Spain was awesome! It was a culture that I have never experienced before and I am so glad that I have! The food, the people and the cities were amazing! After Madrid, we flew out to ROMA... (which will be discussed in the next blog). We got extremely lucky and the Volcano in Iceland didn't affect any of our flights!
Lots of Love from London!
Jill
