Just A Taste.

Greece: The South Ionian.

My trip to Greece was like nothing I have ever experienced before.  Picture waking up on a 50 foot yacht in the Ionian Sea everyday and being able to sail wherever you wanted.  Sometimes we would anchor up at small port towns in one of the many Greek islands..but then sometimes we would just anchor in a bay of an island who's only inhabitants would be goats.  This was not he typical touristy Greece that most people go to see...this trip took us to the REAL Greece that the locals only really know about.  We saw ZERO tourists the entire trip, with the exception of ourselves.  I explored deserted islands and swam in aqua blue water for 8 days, this trip was amazing.  I am not going to go into any further detail as it would take me far too long to tell you all everything in this blog...so when you see me back home and you still want to know about my trip to Greece just ask and I will be happy to oblige.  

Barcelona.

If you ever get a chance to travel to Spain, while a plane is the obvious choice of travel, taking the train is well worth the time. Traveling through the Spanish country side reminded me of my visits to the Algarve in Portugal as a child with the hillside villas and small family farms scattered across the countryside. Without a high rise or corner store in sight, the dirt roads leading in no particular direction stretching through hills full of green, red, and brown almost made me forget that it is almost 2010. My train left at 730am and all I wanted to do on the ride was sleep, but the views from my window seat prevented this. As hard as it was to stay awake it was well worth it.
After arriving in Barcelona, Kara met me at the train station and we took the subway to our hotel to meet up with her friend from Florence who was also joining us on the trip. Our hotel room consisted of 3 beds in a row that took up about 90% of the floor space in the room, this proved a bit difficult to maneuver about but we managed. The girls made a thorough inspection of our sheets in search for bed bugs in which screams of bloody murder erupted over the sight of a piece of lint being blown around by the wind. After the dust settled we set off and began our tour of the city. We walked through parks, past gelato stands, and through ancient Spanish architecture of allsorts, although much of the best and most interesting architecture throughout the city was designed by a guy named Gaudi. I visited one of his churches that has been under construction for 100 years! Gaudi died during the middle of its construction and it is now being finished with 21st century materials and architects. This has allowed for a contrast between medieval and current architecture, although the initial design still remains constant. I also got the chance to visit the Picasso museum as well. This was not necessarily on the top of my list as my attention span for art is short, but I was able to discover the entire art history of an artist that I new close to nothing about. This alone made it worth it as a lot of Picasso’s art is pretty amazing.
My first experience with tapas was here in Barcelona…they are pretty good but I can do without them. I don’t appreciate the small servings that look as If they are made for a baby and how I had to order 4 to 5 orders of them to fill me up. That aside, the bars in Barcelona are crazy! There is more variety in the types and looks of bars throughout the city than in any other city I have been to, overseas or in the states. Some of the ones I visited included an ice bar right on the beach, a bar that had trees growing out of the ground and ivy covering the ceiling, and a bar by the unofficial name of “Popcorn Bar” where you made your own drinks and they gave you bowls of free popcorn.
Saturday, my second day in Barcelona was full of rain for most of the day which allowed for an interesting tour of another part of the city. It started out with walking through part of the old Olympic area from 1992 which was by the waterfront. Then this rapidly changed into a sprint as the rain started coming down and I tried to take as many pictures as I could while trying to remain as dry as possible as I ran up legendary Las Ramblas street looking for a decent place to eat and get out of the rain. Just a heads up, everyone in Spain takes a siesta for about 2 hours from 2-4pm no matter the day, no matter the time. So don’t try to shop or eat during this time of the day because most stores will be closed and your food selection will be limited at best.
My last day in Barcelona, I walked around the newer part of the city close to the train station and discovered that there were more basketball courts located in a small section of the city than in the entirety of Montpellier. The train ride home was just as beautiful as the ride there, but this time I used the 4 hour journey to my advantage and slept. Spain definitely warrants my return…