Viaje a Valencia (Trip to Valenica)

We arrived at the train station in Valencia around 8:30 and got a taxi to our hostel, Innsa. Teresa, the owner, then checked us in, showed us our room, and explained how things worked in the hostel. After she left us, there was a small procession for Saint Carmen outside our windows because it was her feast day or something like that. 

 We settled in and then headed to dinner. Everywhere we walked, there was someone trying to get us to go to our restaurant and we finally chose Mavala. They had an upstairs loft and we sat up there. They had a deal where you could get two entrees and a desert for €12 and so we got pollo en agridulce (chicken in balsamic vinegar) and a four cheese pasta. 

 We really enjoyed the pollo (one of my friends even got a second helping) but the pasta wasn't as good. We then got desert, tiramisu, which was fantastic. After that, we headed back to our hostel and went to sleep.

The next morning, we got up, got dressed, and headed down to breakfast. It was a simple breakfast, with toast, muffins, or croissants along with coffee, tea, or water. We then headed to the beach, called Malvarrosa. We took the metro line, which, unlike the other cities I've visited in Spain, is above ground. We took line 4 to the beach (although we started off on the train going in the opposite direction) and made it there around 11. 

It was really pretty and the water was so clear, you could see your feet even if the water was all the way up to your chin. It was also much saltier too. 

NOTE: If you are pale or if you burn easily or even if there is a possibility that you might burn, wear tons of sunscreen! I applied sunscreen twice in the 4 hours I was there (which is a lot because I was in the shade of the umbrella for half the time) and I still got slightly burned. Apply a lot and apply it frequently. 

We ate lunch at a nearby Pans&Company and then we headed back to our hostel on the metro line.  We all took showers and relaxed until dinner time in the cute little lounge area they had at Innsa. We then headed to dinner at La Catalina, where we got lagrimas de pollo (literally chicken tears but basically just small fried pieces of chicken) and paella de pollo (chicken paella). The lagrimas were good but none of us really enjoyed the paella. With the price of the meal that we didn't really enjoy, we decided not to go back. 

We then headed to the hostel and went to bed. 

The next morning, we got up and headed to the Mercat Central or in Spanish El Mercado Central (the central market). It's one of the oldest and largest markets in Spain and it was really cool to see all of the fruit, meat, and vegetable stands. 

 On the way to the bus station to go to the Ciudad de Artes y Ciencias (the city of arts and sciences) where the Oceanográfic (aquarium) is located, I got hit on by a very drunk man. Everything was fine, with one friend pulling away and the other pulling me away, but that was a very interesting encounter. He basically asked me if my hair color was natural. I didn't really understand what he was saying (as he was invading my personal space and I was trying to get away from him) but my friends translated what he said later. 

We finally made it to the bus station and took that all the way to the aquarium, although we missed our stop and had to walk back to it. We bought our tickets (around €23 for just the aquarium) and then entered the aquarium. 

They divided the aquarium into different sections based on where the fish came from and we started with the tropics because it was closest. 

We got to see a dolphin show, which was really cool. They had some child volunteers, but to pick these volunteers they actually made them answer questions or picked the child whose parent danced the worst (that was extremely funny to see). During the show, the Dolphins did extremely high and complicated flips. I hadn't realized that they were that talented and so it was really cool. 

After that, we headed to the area with the sharks and I took this really funny picture. 

I found it really funny that they had an exhibit for ducks. 

 We then headed back to the hostel to change and relax, because we had spent at least 4 hours at the aquarium. After a little bit, one of my friends and I headed to see the Cathredal but along the way we found a little medieval market, where they sold leather goods along with food, jewelry, and soaps. 

We then made it to the cathedral, which was extremely pretty. We didn't go it but we did end up walking around La Plaza de La Reina (Queen's Plaza) and it actually rained (first time I've seen rain here)! They had some really cute shops and after looking in those, we headed back to the hostel to pick up our other friend for dinner, 

 We went back to Mavala because we had loved it so much the first night. We once again go pollo en agridulce. 

This time though, we also got Pasta Carbonara which we liked a lot more. We got a torta (cake) for desert. It had different layers of caramel, chocolate, and I believe Nutella. It was really a good but we all agreed the tiramisu was better. 

We headed back to the hostel and went to bed once again. The next morning, we woke up and had breakfast before catching a taxi to the train station. 

One other thing I really like about Valencia, is that everywhere we explored in the area around our hostel, which I believe was the older city, had paintings and murals on the walls. I really enjoyed that. 

Viaje a Barcelona (trip to Barcelona)

We hopped on a bus to the train station at around 3:30 and got there around the time they were starting to load people onto the train platform, although the train hadn't arrive yet. We got on the train, which took us to the Madrid Charmartín station. From there we had to take the Cercanías train to the Madrid Atocha station, where we would take the high speed AVE train to Barcelona. We were unsure how to get the tickets for the Cercanías train and so the whole group sort of freaked out but we finally found the red ticket machine that said Cercanías, scanned our Barcelona tickets, and then headed to one of the trains that said Atocha. We were almost late for our train but we made it in time with some running and stressing out. We then had a 4 hour train trip to the Barcelona Sants station.

 After that, we walked to our hostel, Perre Tarres, where we checked into our rooms. My group was in room 211, which we shared with two backpackers (both girls) for the two nights we were there and then a guy the  second night. 

All of them were very nice. Some of the group went to the club that night but a few of us decided to stay in. 

The next morning, we woke up and headed downstairs for breakfast (which was included). We then decided to head to Sagrada Familia first after heading to the train station to get a couple of the girls return tickets to Segovia. Sadly, we couldn't get the tickets that day so we headed on to Sagrada Familia, which was also packed. The line was 4-6 hours long, so we decided to get tickets online for the next day. I managed to buy a really cool painting by a street artist before we left the though. We then walked to Gaudi's Park Guell ("gwey") (which is a 40 minute walk uphill. I would suggest taking the metro instead of walking), which holds a lot of his architectural pieces. Some of the group decided to stay and watch a high school soccer game while me and a girl named Liz decided to head to Park Guell. We took a detour by a very pretty wall that had gorgeous plants (a.k.a. We got a little lost) but we made it to Park Guell. We decided to tour the free parts instead of buying tickets to the popular part ( the popular part has a timed entrance). It was really pretty. 

After that, the group decided to go out to eat cause it was about 2 or 3 by that point. I got paella de carne (meat paella), which was really good. Half of the group then headed to Las Ramblas, where a covered market is located while the other half went to the popular part of the Park Guella. Las Ramblas was so cool. It was really neat to see all of be fruit and fish and other products in one place.

 I ended up buying a fruit juice drink made with papaya and mango and it was amazing! 

After that, we walked down to the habor. Along the way, we saw many artists selling their work as well as people dressed up as different characters, who you could take pictures with. 

We made it to the harbor, which was gorgeous 

and then headed back to the hostel for showers and dinner. We had been planning on going to the beach after dinner but after eating, we all decided that it probably wasn't the safest idea and so we sat in the park for a while before heading back to our hostel. A couple people stayed up playing cards but I headed to bed. The next morning, we got up early and checked out, leaving our bags in a room they had behind the main desk. We then headed to the Sagrada Familia, but we had to wait because we got there before our entrance time. They had a few little tents across the street and so we shopped over there for a while. I got two really pretty and gorgeous rainbow scarves, which I can't wait to wear in cooler climate. We then went to Sagrada Familia, which was gorgeous and simply stunning.

 Gaudi really knew how to design a church. Finally, we headed back to the hostel after picking some fruit up for dinner and got Mary. We headed out to eat at Pans and Company and then grabbed our bags before heading to the station to go home. 

Excursión a Toledo (excursion to Toledo)

We actually had our own bus for this and so we met at the aqueduct around 8 and took the bus to Toledo. Once again, most of us slept for this bus it took us about 2 hours to get there. When we got there, we met our tour guide, María, and drove to Los cigarrilles, or basically the houses in the hills around Toledo (which can cost around 2 million euros). From the hills we could see the city, which was stunning.

María told us different facts about the city and then we had the bus drop us off near the escalators ( I believe there are two sets in Toledo), which took us near the plaza de Zocodover. From the plaza, we headed to the Cathedral in Toledo. The Catheddral was a mix of different styles, including Romanesque, baroque, and Rococo.

It was extremely huge and it felt like everything was decorated beautifully. My favorite part was the salon with the painting by Goya, not because of his painting, but because of the beautiful ceiling. I really loved that ceiling. 

One more interesting thing was hat above every cardinal's tomb, there was a hat. The legend is that if the hat drops, that means that the cardinal's soul has gone to heaven. 

I really enjoyed the Baroque masterpiece behind the altar. It was heavily decorated and the light shown perfectly on it. 

I also really liked the room with all of the pictures of the previos cardinals. The room was full of history and I really enjoyed that part. 

After that, we went to see the painting The Burial of the Count of Orgaz or in Spanish El encierro de la corde de Orgaz. I didn't realize that there was so much history behind this painting or that it is divided by the celestial (top) and terrestrial (bottom). Photos are not permitted so I was unable to get a picture of that. I do have a pictures of this thought. 

Finally, we headed to Santa Maria La Blanca which used to be a synogogue. It was really cool to see the combination of Jewish and Arabic designs and, although the design on the synogogue was simple, it was very beautiful. 

We then headed to the bridge to meet our bus. The bridge went over one of the rivers that surrounded Toledo and (if you didn't have limits because of your insurance) you could zip line across the river. One of our advisors decided to do this and I think that was one of the best parts of our day. 

After that we got back on the bus and ate lunch. We were then once again dropped off at the escalators and went our own way after that. My group decided to get marzipan first, which is a specialty of Toledo. It was extremely tasty and I probably would have eaten more if I could have. Sadly, it is freakishly expensive.

We then headed into different shops, most with swords or damasquinadas, which are basically little plates with gold leaf enbeded in them. In some stores, you could actually see people making them. There were also a lot of ceramic items and I ended up getting a little rainbow ceramic piece. (Fact: Toledo is where the swords for Lord of the Rings (or Señor de Los Anilllos) were made. You can buy tons of the merchandise there, including swords of many of the main characters.) after shopping, we decided to get smoothies and slushies, which were extremely good. We then met back up with the group and headed home. 

Excusión a Madrid (excursion to Madrid)

 We met extremely early in the morning at the bus station in Segovia. From there, we took a bus to the Moncloa station in Madrid. It took probably about an hour and fifteen minutes to get to the station. Most of us were asleep so none of us were sure how long it took. After that, we got off the bus and followed the signs to the metro connected to the bus station at Moncloa (all of this is under ground). The teachers had already bought metro tickets for us so we just swiped them and walked through. We got on the train (NOTE: hug your purse or backpack or whatever on the metro rides. This is one place where pickpockets can easily steal your stuff and then get off because you are packed in tight and there are many stops along the way.) and headed to the stop at the Plaza de España. From there, we walked to the Palacio Real, or the royal palace, where the kings and queens of Spain had lived for many centuries (now, they use it as a place to conduct meetings and business for government officials). 

We then headed to the Plaza del Sol, which was huge and had a lot of shops around it. We continued walking and saw the spot where all roads start. 

We headed to the Plaza Mayor de Madrid, which most of us agreed we liked less than the Plaza Mayor de Segovia. 

We decided into groups and then each of the professors took a group around the city, where we saw the house of Cervantes and of Lope de Vega. 

After about an hour, the teachers let us go off on our own. My group headed to El Prado after we ate lunch in one of the parks. 

El Prado has the older paintings, while the other museum in Madrid, la Reina Sofia, has the contemporary art.

I preferred el Prado, mostly cause I prefer the Renaissance and Classical art. We got to see Velazquez's Las Meninas and Guernica by Picasso, which I thought were really cool. We then walked around and shopped a little before heading back to the train station to head home.