Zaragosa, Spain and Barcelona, Spain

Day Four: Zaragoza, Spain and Barcelona, Spain

I figure I will just make a stop at one of the major cities on the way to Barcelona...one of which is Zaragoza. I get in at 2 pm and have 5 hours to explore. At this point I have to carry around my giant backpack the whole time (ugh). At first glance Zaragoza is not much at least it didn’t look like it to me. Then I continued to walk around and gradually things became more interesting...I got to the historic district and saw a lot of really nice things. So after hours of walking I get back to the train station and I realize that I missed the train I was supposed to get and I am stuck with the express. The problem being with the normal train I would arrive in Barcelona at 9 am (i.e. I would not have to pay for a hostel) but with the express I arrived at 10 pm and was forced to sleep in the airport or get a hostel. I chose the latter. First I explore what I can of the city and am already very impressed. I get to the hostel get as comfortable as I can then crash. I got four days in Barcelona no need to rush.....


Days Five - Seven: Barcelona, Spain

Barcelona was a lot of fun. It is a huge city with a million things to do and a million places to go. And there are people here from every corner of the world it seems like. There are way too many museums to count, green areas, ports, beaches, and everything you could ever hope to do. The nightlife is equally as diverse with all options that you could want, with plenty of options for the immense number of tourists (hard-pressed to find an area with actual Barcelon-ians). Even the Spanish people are most likely tourists from another part of Spain.

Bilbao, Spain and Biarritz, France

Day Two: Biarritz, France and Bilbao, Spain

Well we went a little off of the original plan...but that's because things never work out as planned. SO there are only two buses daily to get to Biarritz...one that leaves at 9 am and the other which leaves at 2:30 pm. The original plan was to get up at 8 am and catch the 9 am...but as we got to sleep a little late the night before it just didn't work. So, instead there was more exploring of San Sebastian until we got ready to leave. The travel was really beautiful because it was right along the coast the whole time and you always had a view of the sea. When we got o Biarritz we were told that there were no buses leaving the next day (when we wanted to go to Bilbao to see the Guggenheim) and the only bus remaining left in 3 hours. So the 3 hours I spent in Biarritz, France was really nice....anything along the coast was just breathtaking o see. By the time we arrived in Biarritz it was about 10pm and we had no hostel (place to sleep). We spent the next 2 hours running around the city trying to find somewhere to sleep while it seemed to be getting colder by the minute. As we were doing this we are right in the middle of Carnival...a grand party all around Europe where everyone dresses up in costumes and parties all night. Despite the cold people were wearing every kind of costume from surfer to Buzz Lightyear. It was pretty interesting. By the time we found food and were inside its already 1:30. Maybe time to rest up for tomorrow....

Day Three: Bilbao continued...

This is one of my great days of culture. First thing first, I had to find another hostel for the night. Once that was done off to the Guggenheim which, truth be told, was not as impressive as I would have thought. Outside it is very elegant and looks huge but it seemed like there weren’t really that many exhibits (and add in the fact that the 3rd floor was closed for renovation. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed it. there were a lot of interesting pieces but when I thought of the Guggenheim I thought it was more. After this we explored Bilbao...the thing abut Bilbao is it has personality but its not the kind of city you´ would show to your friends. Especially in comparison to Biarritz and San Sebastian it is kind of on the other side of the spectrum. Its rich in culture as there are tons of museums an places to eat but as for sight-seeing this is really not the place. We ended up going to another museum (because it was raining heavily and he only thing that was open) but were pleasantly surprised because it was pretty good. (Museum of Fine Arts). Next Paulo had to catch a bus back to Valencia (classes start now) and I went back to the hostel. AT this point I have figure that I have seen enough of Bilbao and start planning my next leg of the trip.

Nueva Aventura (New Adventure)

Ok, It has been a while since my last blog so here is a very quick recap. The holidays have passed here , I have spent the time with friends but of course missed my friends and family. During the holidays I also participated in a volunteer camp where I was able to meet a lot of really great people and got to help out as well. January was filled with administrative troubles, I was wrestling with problems with my visa and also had some exams and projects to submit (January here is the time for final exams and project submissions). At the end of it all although I had originally planned to stay here in Valencia for a complete year I will only be staying until the end of February. Of course there are good and bad parts to this new direction. I will be ecstatic to come back to my friends and family but at the same time I will definitely miss Spain and my friends here. Also there is the shame that up until now I have not traveled very much, and it is for that reason that I have decided to spend my last month here in Spain traveling so I can get to se more of this culturally rich country...and here I am....


Day 1: San Sebastian, Spain (Feb 1, 2008)

San Sebastian is a very beautiful city in the north of Spain in what is known as Vasco Country. The cost of living here is actually the highest in all of Spain. For that reason this a place where people of upper class live. I left Valencia at 11:00 pm on Jan 30th and arrived here at 6:30 am in the morning. I am traveling with an Italian friend Paulo. When we got here the temperature was about 35 degrees (in comparison with 0 in Valencia) so we were cold. We came upon one location that was open so early and it was very good. Walking around the city we had to wait until about 9 until anything was open. During this time we spent a lot of time looking at the sea (Bay of Biscaye) which is really a sight to see. The waves are very strong here so all of those who like to surf this is the perfect place for you. After it didn't take long to find a really nice hostel which way a great relief because I did not have to carry my giant backpack anymore. After dropping off our things we did a walking tour of the beach (Shell Beach) ad got to see some great monuments, (Mount Orgull y Egeldo)two mountains which have a spectacular view of the entire city. Each view to me was breathtaking so as you can imagine I have a huge collection of pictures. The city has so much history and the architecture is very nice. After walking all day sight seeing we decided to eat and take a nap. A short nap turned into 4 hours and when we woke to the sound of music in the streets. Today is actually a very important festival day in San Sebastian where everyone dresses in costumes and there is music and dancing in the streets. Unfortunately soon after it started to rain which did not put a damper on the celebration but did make it so we didn't want to stay outside. The thing about this city is we found a hard time to come upon other young people...it is probably due to the high cost of living. We will probably go out again and see what we se, but we have to rest because tomorrow we go to France...