Barcelona

The travel group got changed up a little bit the next weekend as Elise was traveling around with her sister. Robert and I found ourselves with a great opportunity to travel east to the Mediterranean coast to Barcelona.

Barcelona hosted the 1992 summer Olympics and reminds me of the Chicago to Madrid's New York. I'm not sure how accurate that is (and frankly, I've never been to Chicago), but it does seem to be Spain's second city. Not wanting to waste much time (or money), Bob and I went to the bus station in Madrid at midnight and took an 8-hour, overnight bus to Barcelona. I slept more than I thought (probably about 5 hours or so), but I was still antsy by the time we pulled up to the station. Another city brought us to yet another language (I know, me too. I thought everyone in Spain spoke Spanish...but Barcelona is in a region that speaks Catalan). Yet again, it sounded nothing like Spanish, but that was also sort of refreshing after only hearing Spanish for several weeks.

Significantly cooler than the mid-70s temperatures that we've had in Madrid, Barcelona looks pretty similar to the capital city that we've been living in. Getting off the Metro, we walked down Las Ramblas (a tree-lined street that seems to be Barcelona's Main Street) toward our hostel. We dropped our bags there, headed for breakfast and to see the Cathedral. Fortunately, it was a gorgeous cathedral, but unfortunately, I had hit a point that many European travelers hit -- Toomanycathedralsintoolittletime-osis. On our walk from there, we passed Barcelona's Arc de Triomphe and went to the Picasso Museum. I don't know much about Picasso other than he's famous for cubism, so it was fun to see his earlier works and his development over the years. Bob and I ate lunch at one of the piers (Barcelona is right on the sea...gorgeous beach) and then headed for a walk in the sand. The weather had warmed up, so we took full advantage of some sun on our shoulders and the opportunity to get some sand between our toes. After a nap at the hostel, we then hiked up a hill to a castle that overlooks the city. Gorgeous view followed by some Turkish food and a solid conversation and it was soon bedtime.

Saturday morning, we woke up to breakfast in the hostel and immediately headed to the sole reason I wanted to visit Barcelona -- La Sagrada Familia (Church of the Sacred Family). Designed by Antonin Gaudi, construction begun in the late 1800s and it is nowhere near being finished. It is the most bizarre building I have ever seen, but also has a very unique beauty to it. The tallest tower is just being begun, there are two facades done (the Passion and the Nativity), the inside is designed to look like you are seated in the shade of a forest. It is a marvel of design, architecture, and engineering. One of the coolest things I've ever seen...if you ever have the chance, do it! From there, we went on a long uphill walk to more of Gaudi's crazy architecture...we found another great overlook of the city and what looked like a Disney-inspired funpark by Gaudi. Crazy, but very cool. After that, we went to see a several hundred year-old church and walked in on a wedding! Check out the picture, but as soon as we walked up to the door of the church, it swung open and out popped the bride and groom. I shouted and cheered for them as I was busy snapping pictures and being pelted with rice and flowers from the wedding crowd (I had to dump rice out of my shoes afterwards!). From there, we hung out one more time around the yachts on the water (I've realized this semester how much I love being near water...lakes, ponds, oceans, fountains...it all works) and then headed to a Pakistani dinner to remind Robert of where he spent his summer and everything he ate.

Early to bed for a very early flight back to Madrid, then airport, and right on back to our beds for a much-needed nap! It was a blast to go to Barcelona (and I'd highly recommend it if you're in Europe), but I think I picked the right Spanish city for this semester!

Thanks again for reading this. Feel free to subscribe to the blog (free) and leave a comment please! I'd love to hear from you.

Lisbon, Portugal

Wow...another major delay in between posts. The only excuse for this one is that I just finished midterms. Thankfully, not much has happened...other than trips to Lisbon and Barcelona...and a fun couple of weeks in Madrid!

A couple of weekends ago, Elise and I caught a plane on a Friday from Madrid to Lisbon, Portugal. For those unfamiliar with the flight, it is pretty similar to the flight from Raleigh to Charlotte...the amazing thing was that it is an international flight! Upon our arrival, we found a bus to the city center and it pulled up right outside of the hotel the four of us would be staying in. Wait, four of us? Graham and Elise is four people? No way. We were meeting up with Elise's sister, Ashley, and Ashley's husband, Greg. They're in their mid- to late twenties...the four of us have a blast together, so it was bound to be a fun weekend. Greg was in Europe for business and Ashley came along, eventually taking a long trip through Spain with Elise. Ashley was still enduring a layover in London, so we met up with Greg at the hotel and grabbed some tea/coffee until Ashley got to Lisbon. We all freshened up a little bit and then Greg and I "led" the way to dinner. We got a recommendations for a great view and great restaurant...though we found ourselves to be mislocated (I misremember the claims of being "lost"). The four of us shared a bottle of wine, some nice bread and cheese, a fine meal, and most importantly, a great conversation. After a post-dinner ice cream (which the girls led us to), it was time for bed.

Saturday, we grabbed breakfast to start the day. It seems that it is a Portuguese tradition to offer food at a restaurant that seems to be for free. It is like how American restaurants put bread on the table...the problem in Portugal is that if you eat that bread, it is about a 5 Euro charge. Not fun..and we learned the hard way...a few times. Lisbon is surrounded by pretty good sized hills and is right on the coast. To me, it looked a lot like San Francisco (it even has a giant bridge that looks identical to the Golden Gate). We climbed up to the Catedral Se (by the way, Portuguese looks decently similar to Spanish, but sounds like complete gibberish), then hopped on a metro to Sintra. This was the point that Ashley's photography (she's a professional photographer...she didn't ask me to do this, but check out her site at ashleybuechele.com) really took off and Elise and I became the stars of the photo shoot.

Sintra was a fun little town about an hour's train ride from Lisbon. We witnessed the "cutest train station ever" according to Greg...we saw a precious dog, a funny little boy, and just all around cuteness. We took a bus to the top of a hill to see Palacio Pena and the gorgeous views of the water and surrounding wilderness (Portugal was very green). Next, we saw Quinta de Regaleira...it is a giant estate on a hillside, built by a rich man in the early 20th century...like the Portuguese version of Biltmore. There was a really cool well (the Initiation Well) that certainly didn't hold water, and we took a cave tunnel to find the entrance. Crazy place, but I'm glad we saw it. Back to Lisbon we went and we had dinner at Cafe Luso, where we had a fun dinner and watched a fado show. Fado is the traditional song/dance of Portugal...the music/singing sounds a bit like American soul music, but with a folk twist...and the dance is most definitely folky. For their grand finale, they even came to our table, but a giant arch in the hands of Elise and I and dragged us on stage to dance. If you know us, you know that we like to smile. Uncomfortable, mildly embarrassed, and overall just still in shock, there was a lot of smiling going on.

On Sunday, Ashley, Elise, and I got breakfast and then saw the Castle de St. Jorge...a very cool castle with one of the best views of the semester. We started exploring down the hill and found the Pantheon and further down to the water. We took a tram to the Monastery (by the way, the weather was absolutely gorgeous...we've had maybe 5 days of rough weather all semester) and saw some more of Lisbon's waterside area. We met up with Greg, got lunch, and took a train to Cascais, a beautiful little beach town about an hour outside of Lisbon. Finally taking time to slow down and relax, we stood in the cool water and chatted and got some sun for a few hours before I had to head back. Elise escorted me back to Lisbon via the train...even though my ticket was denied and I was nearly kicked off the train way before our stop. I tried to defend myself, but they wouldn't listen to me until Elise entered the discussion. Thankfully, she explained the situation and I just paid for the additional ticket when we got to Lisbon. Whew! Elise saved me!

A couple of hours and a flight back to Madrid later...and I still have a couple of trips to blog about! Please leave me a comment!

Salamanca!

Last week, my Wednesday class got canceled and since Elise doesn't have classes on Wednesdays, we decided to take a day trip to a city near Madrid. So far, our group has done really well with traveling around Madrid and seeing some of the fun sights within an hour or two of the city, so this time we went a bit further and took a train 2.5 hours to the city of Salamanca.

We caught the train from Madrid at about 8:45 am and slept most of the way to Salamanca. When we got there, the temperature had dropped to the high 50's (fahrenheit) and it was pouring down rain. Elise and I looked at each other thinking the same thing - "Seriously? So this is the day we're going to have?" We huddled under an awning for about 25 minutes as the storm passed. Though it was terrible timing, we both enjoy a good thunderstorm and hard rain...still, we were none too thrilled to have this happen in our first few minutes in a really fun city. Finally, the storm passed and it looked like our day would be fine to continue our tour.

Salamanca is in western Spain and is best known for its University (rivaling the quality of Oxford and Cambridge...it is where Cervantes studied), its Plaza Mayor (city square), an ancient Roman bridge (that looks like new), and a giant, gorgeous Cathedral (split into Old and New). Sadly, after seeing several Spanish cities (particularly Madrid), the Plaza Mayor was really nice, but nothing too extraordinary so we flew through it pretty quickly. We were both hungry so we stopped for a gofre...one of the best creations known to mankind (or at least to this man). It is a waffle covered in ice cream and chocolate sauce (we got white chocolate sauce)....quite a treat. With our new energy, we soldiered on and saw the Cathedral. It is easily one of the most beautiful buildings I have ever seen. If you ever see Elise, ask her and her answer will be that at first, my jaw dropped, but then I just started rambling for about 10 minutes about how I've seen good churches, but that was the best. It's columns, bold and strong, climbed toward heaven and flowed into each other to produce gorgeous arches and some of the best ceilings I've seen. Great place...and the rainy day made it better.

From there, we walked to the University and peeked inside one of its older buildings. It is fun to compare it to Duke...our dorms are named after former university presidents (Few, Keohane) and they had one dorm named after Cervantes (no big deal, just the writer of Don Quixote and the most important Spanish writer ever). Then, we walked down to the river (finally an impressive river! Most in Spain are little dried up creeks.) and over to the ancient Roman bridge. Another great thing to see...lunch came next (typically good Spanish lunch), a little bit more walking around, and then we caught a 7 pm train back to Madrid. All in a day's work!

Granada

I apologize for the time between posts...no real excuse.

...but if I had to come up with a couple, I'd say that school is hitting midterm season and I have quite the burden to see as much of Europe as I possibly can. Don't worry, I'm doing alright. I know, I know, it's a tough gig. No Bojangles, sweet tea, bbq, country music, Duke football/basketball (okay all of those are legitimate hardships I'm enduring)...but I'll find a way to survive and make the best of my tough position as a student in Madrid.

All joking aside, I need to provide an update on several trips...the first being the second half of the NYU trip...Granada!

Granada is one of my favorite cities of the semester so far. We took a few hours bus trip from Cordoba (where we heard the news that Madrid had been eliminated from the race to host the 2016 Olympics...sad news here) and got to Granada at night. Granada is a much bigger city than I expected...it's in the hills/mountains of Andalusia (Southern Spain) and is home to about a quarter of a million people. Again, Andalusia was once Al-Andalus...during the Muslim reign of Spain (didn't quite stay mainly on the plains...oooooh good one, Graham.). NYU-Madrid hooked us up with a very nice hotel...I was rooming with Robert and we headed out to get kebab (I've fallen in love with this Turkish sandwich/burrito and they're everywhere) and then a drink and some tapas.

The next morning, our group went to the Alhambra -- the most visited tourist site in Spain. It was the palace/castle/fortification for the Moors while they ruled Spain. It is one of the coolest things I've seen this semester. It was interesting to learn about one room specifically. The sultan used it as his meeting room for foreigners...he sat against the wall, where he was completely in the shadows and the visitor would walk in and see his silhouette, bright stars on the ceiling, and writing on the high walls that announced that the sultan ruled with God's blessing. Very cool place and it allowed for some fun pictures and great views. After that visit, we ate a good lunch and a few of us guys walked around the old city, seeing more views of the Alhambra (on its hilltop) until going to a flamenco show that night. The flamenco was very impressive and it's always fun to get a taste of the local traditions...even if they seem to be very aimed at tourists. That's what we're here for.

Had a little bit of time on Sunday morning to explore the cathedral and the spot where King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella are buried (they sent Columbus westward). Absolutely gorgeous cathedral...the best I had ever seen until I got to Salamanca. After that we headed back to Madrid...five hours on a bus through some of the rockiest, driest, most uninviting terrain I've ever seen. Still, I'm enjoying Spain even more than I thought I would. I thought it would be a fun place, but better as a good launching pad to other countries....but each city has a great spin to the Spanish culture and lifestyle that is really growing on me in a seriously good way.

Thanks again for reading and please leave a comment if you have a second!

Cordoba (with an accent on that first "o"!)

Last Friday, Robert and I went with a big group from NYU (it's one of the NYU-sponsored excursions) to Cordoba and Granada in southern Spain. Southern Spain was controlled for 800 years (in the Middle Ages) by Muslims from Northern Africa and was called al-Andalus (now called Andalusia).

Very fun trip. We started with an early morning at NYU, a 5 hour bus ride, and our arrival in Cordoba. Personally, Cordoba was an important place to go, but I'm glad we didn't spend a ton of time there. La Mezquita (the Mosque) is the focal point of the city...by the way, Cordoba used to be the largest city in Europe and possibly the world. La Mezquita is a giant building that surrounds a courtyard of orange trees. The inside is beautifully dark with red and white stripes adorning countless arches. After the Muslims were expelled from Spain in 1492 (big year for Spain), the building was converted into a cathedral. By converted, I mean that a cathedral setting was place smack in the middle of this mosque and chapels were built all around. We got to walk around the city some, but La Mezquita was clearly the reason for going to Cordoba...and well worth it!

Cultural note...so far I'm loving Spanish food. They eat a good bit of food and it's all very tasty, but I finally found something I'm not very fond of. Tortilla espanola is like an omelette with potatoes...and it's great. However, a popular sandwich in Spain is a tortilla sandwich (egg on white bread). It may sound okay, but when it's been sitting around for hours, is cold soggy, and just not quite what you want (even though your host was so kind to fix it for you), well, let's just say I found one thing I won't be ordering!

Thank you for reading! Please leave me a comment to let me know what you think!

Dachau

After our tour of Munich on Sunday, we took another guided tour, but this one took us away from the city, to the notorious city of Dachau.

Our tour group took a train for about 45 minutes (I think) away from Munich to the small town and then a bus for about 15 minutes to the visitor's center. The entrance to the former concentration camp is very unassuming...you would think you were going to a park, a library, or just some other regular part of any town. There is no pomp or circumstance (and rightly so, I think), but we started the tour at the remains of the old SS (Hitler's secret police) offices and the railroad. Our first bit of trivia was that the people being shipped to Dachau were not dropped off at the front gate, but were paraded around town (locals were encouraged to physically and verbally harass them) on the way to the prison camp. That set the tone for what we were about to see -- the Nazis did everything they could to humiliate, de-humanize, hurt, and make "life" miserable for the people (Jews, homosexuals, gypsies, criminals, political prisoners, outcasts, etc.) imprisoned at Dachau during World War II.

Our tour guide was great at setting the tone of respect for the lives lost at that camp. He asked for our respect and admired that our group took the time out of Oktoberfest to learn more about what terrors of which humanity is capable...all of this in hopes that it would never happen again. Dachau was the first Nazi concentration camp and originally set up in 1933 (and lasted until American liberation in 1945) for prisoners of the Nazi party (keeping opponents there helped Nazis run unopposed for whatever they wanted). Eventually, it became what we know now as a concentration camp...it was not a death camp, but a work camp. The prisoners were sent to different sites to do hard labor on Nazi projects, all the while they were mistreated, abused, and killed at the whim of the guards. Over 200,000 people were imprisoned there, with over 25,000 dying at camp and 10,000 at the work sites.

An example of the terrors at Dachau was the fact that all prisoners had to wear hats. If they were not wearing their hats, they were subject to beatings, torture, and probably death. Guards, whenever they wanted, would take a man's hat off and toss it into "no man's land". The prisoner had a choice...he/she could go get the hat and risk getting shot (it looks like an attempted escape), or take the punishment of not wearing a hat. The motto on the gates "Arbeit macht frei" (Work sets you free) turned into that punishment on a seemingly daily basis...an example of how this Nazi system dehumanized the people they took prisoner.

It was a moving tour, complete with a museum (following step by step what the new prisoners went through), a film, and a walk around the barracks, religious memorials, and finally, the crematorium and gas chamber. Officially, the gas chamber was never used, but several reports of it "working great" lead us to believe that individuals were killed in that room that was labeled "showers."

A very powerful experience. The motto is "never again", but unfortunately genocides and mass killings still happen (ex: Darfur). If you have an opportunity to go to a concentration camp or learn more about it, I'd highly recommend it. It's not a fun thing to learn or talk about, but it's important that we learn how things like that happen, so we can keep it from happening in the future.

Munich

After we finished at Oktoberfest, we brought our fun into a tour or two of the city of Munich. This was my first time in Germany and the first time I heard the language, my mind was blown! As culturally aware as I think I am, it's kind of hard not to laugh when you hear harsh, throaty German contrasted with the smooth, romantic Spanish that I've gotten used to over the last month.

Our group walked around a bit on our own, exploring Marienplatz (city center) and the surrounding areas, even climbing to the top of the Frauenkirche (big church). Worn out, we returned to our apartment Saturday evening, went grocery shopping, and had a good "The Big Chill"-esque night of cooking and eating dinner (although Liz and Robert did the cooking, we all enjoyed the food and had a blast sitting at the table together).

Sunday, we headed back to Marienplatz for a free tour. Yes, I said it -- a free tour of Munich. There is a company called Sandeman's New Europe Tours. The guides work completely on tips (there are some paid tours, but several European cities have free tours) and are young, fun, and very knowledgeable. If you're in Europe, find one of these! Anyway, we met up with our guide and group and walked around Marienplatz (where we saw the city hall and its famous Glockenspiel). We continued through other parts of the city, seeing the building from which Adolf Hitler ordered the destruction that occurred on Kristallnacht. Munich was a hub of Nazi Germany and it was fascinating (and terrifying) to learn of all that went on. On Kristallnacht (rioting and burning of Jewish businesses), most Jewish-owned businesses were destroyed. There are very minor memorials in present-day Munich...they don't call much attention to themselves, but one building has a plaque commemorating the perseverance of that family to restore its business over the years. There is also a great Jewish community center and memorial building that I wish we could have had more time for. I'll explain more in my post about Dachau, but Germany seems to be handling its past in a good way---acknowledging what happened and opening itself to show the world the capabilities of humanity gone wrong.

Our tour was great, then we went to Dachau (next post), but came back for dinner at the famed Hofbrau Haus (royal brewery). It is a giant beer hall, but the food was great too. We each got one beer, but I also got a roast pork loin with potatoes, all covered in gravy...and a pretzel on the side. Great meal (Germany food is very hearty).

At first, it seemed a little bit average, but I ended up really falling for Munich. It helps so much to get the history (even just a little bit) of a city to know why certain buildings and churches (which can start to run together in Europe) are unique and important. The tour really helped and I learned how interesting and fun Munich and Germany both are!