OKAYYYY, this is the last one on Spain, but I promise it’ll be worth it to read and there is a surprise at the end… well as much as a surprise can be for a blog.
I kept the last day in Spain low-key, and also, I was still not well rested, was still in shock with the whole phone stealing thing. My last big stop in Barcelona was Sagrada Familia, if you’re unfamiliar with it, construction began in 1882, and as of 2024 it is still unfinished, an estimated finish time is set for 2034, so it’s been in construction for 142 years, and if it is completed by that time, that means 150 years in construction. That was one of the places on my bucket list, and pictures do not do it justice, but I’ll try. So let’s start with the outside. As you can see, the towers are unfinished, there are cranes, and nets around them. As you can see, there is a lot of detail on the outside, that was part of Gaudi’s (the architect) plan, at the time of his death, the Basilica was less than a fourth of the way completed. It is very busy on the outside, but they tell a story, and there are three façades, one facing east, west and south, there is a Nativity, Passion and Glory Façade, respectively.
When you walk in you’re met with this view, it is breathtaking. Like I said, this stupid camera, shitty resolution but also –you had to be there…
I think I got a better shot of the ceiling. As you can see, the columns resemble tree branches, and as opposed to the busy outside, the inside is relatively un-busy.
Next stop in my Toledo tour was The Primate Cathedral of Saint Mary of Toledo. Like I’ve said before, I love going to Cathedrals, I love vaulted ceilings, which places like this have enough of, they also have stained glass. And pipe organs. But look at all that art, all the details (in gold and marble looks like).
That night was my birthday eve and I went to a bar crawl, I was having a lot of fun, visited several bars, it was about 2AM, I had enough, and decided to go home. I get an Uber, and as I’m waiting for it, I stop at a nearby food place, and in a crowded street, a guy starts harassing me, I tell him no, move away from him, but he walks into me, I push him away, I thought that was the end of it, when I realize I don’t have my phone, I had just used it to pay for the food, so I go back to the food place to check I didn’t leave it, it’s not there, then I realize I had to have put it on my coat pocket and the guy stole it. I tried to see if I saw him and he was gone. I started freaking out, wasn’t sure how I’d go back to the Airbnb, because, my cards were also attached to my phone. A guy on the street told me to calm down but I couldn’t, I was in a foreign city, far from my airbnb, with no knowledge on how I’d get back. So I did the only thing I could think of, which was go back to the bar and try to find the group I was with so I could try to get in touch with my dad, so he could block my phone. The bar crawl guide wasn’t super helpful apart from letting me borrow his phone to talk to my dad (didn’t help me getting back to my airbnb) but three people I met two hours before offered help, one guy even told me to log into my apple account from his phone so we could track mine, and he’d go to get my phone, but in the stress of it I couldn’t remember my password. The girl helped me breathe, told me that everyone’s gone through that, to which I responded I hadn’t, so she said “well, now you have”, which wasn’t funny then, but it is now. After using her phone to get in touch with my dad, he blocked my phone, and deletes everything from it. I always use my GPS to get around a foreign city, I don’t usually remember the address of where I am staying, for some reason, I remembered the address of this Airbnb, I don’t know how, but the why was so I could get back. The third guy got cash and paid for a cab for me to get back. I get back to my Airbnb, and from my watch I text a friend of mine that has an iPhone, he helps me with communication between me and my dad, since my dad doesn’t have an iPhone I can’t call him through the watch. At the Airbnb, and as I’m talking to my friend about what happened, I started having an anxiety attack. I didn’t even eat my food until it was cold. By then I had lost all appetite. I was going to attempt to get my iPhone replaced in Madrid, that morning I was meant to check out, so my friend sends me the address of the closest Apple Store, I walk there that morning with all my shit. I am on high alert and on edge, so much that I snapped at a lady on the street trying to sell me flowers, she got too close and it triggered me. I got to the Apple Store but unfortunately I couldn’t change my phone there as it was from another country (Apple might have changed that policy now), so I went to a phone store nearby and got a new phone, oh, remember I said he stole my cards too? Thankfully I had ONE on me, I never use debit cards on international trips so he just stole my credit cards, which was unfortunate, but I had a debit card, which I used for the remainder of this trip. The fucking phone cost me more than an iPhone replacement and it is the single most shitty phone ever. It was literally easier to open instagram, take a picture, download it than opening the phone app. I swear. Also the quality of pictures was shitty so bear with me the rest of the trip’s pics.
My last stop in Madrid was my dear Santiago Bernabeu, the home of Real Madrid. It was under construction, but it was still pretty majestic.
I got to see the stadium where a lot of my favorite stars had played at, where football history has been made. Unfortunately for me, they we playing away games when I was in Madrid, so I couldn’t see them, I think they had played as locals the week before and they’d be playing there the following week, so in short, bad timing.
That afternoon I took a train to Barcelona, another fast train, a 385 mile trip, roughly 6hrs driving took around 3hrs aboard the train, and it’s weird? It’s going really fast but you barely notice it, even as they travel around 186mph. I don’t have pictures of the interim because all the down time I had waiting at the train station, and on the train I spent setting the fucking phone, and calling credit card companies to cancel my cards, calling Apple to report the phone as stolen, which fun fact, when you’re calling from a Spanish number, it redirects you to a the Spanish brand EVEN if you’re calling the US number, so I had to get them to redirect me several times. All that process was SUPER fun. I think I slept some on the train but not much and even if I had slept the whole way it wasn’t a long trip. Anyway, I get to my Barcelona Airbnb, late, around 9 or 10pm, I think, tired as fuck. I shower and fall asleep as soon as I can, I was supposed to go to a bar crawl in Barcelona that night (birthday night), however I skipped it because, well, hadn’t slept for over 24hrs. And because I’m a masochist bitch, I had scheduled a tour of the Camp Nou the following morning at like 10AM, so I didn’t have lots of time to sleep if I went out.
For my football fans, specially those familiar with Real Madrid’s and Barcelona’s rivalry, I know, okay, I know, however, I was in Barcelona, there was no way I’d miss the stadium, and unlike Santiago Bernabeu they weren’t under construction and had a very thorough museum. If I took a photo of the stadium it’s lost in the shitty android Spanish phone (very sad). They had replicas of Messi’s Ballon D’or, several of them in fact, and I think he donated one of them so it was the real thing. If you keep scrolling, you can see the stadium, in several views, the entrance the players use to enter the field, and there’s a chapel in that tunnel as well.
I stopped at the Barça café and had a little coffee, which, cute.
So okay, this is the key of the Airbnb I stayed at, I had to be taught how to use it because I could lock anyone inside if I locked it a certain way, so essentially when I walked out, I’d just close the door and it was locked.
I asked the Airbnb person for a spot to watch the game Barça was playing that day –I had figured if I couldn’t watch Real Madrid, at least I could see FCB in person, but because I have shit luck, they were also playing an away game… so I figured the next best thing was to go watch them play at a bar, with locals, and indeed was the best thing. I got a mojito, mozzarella sticks, but that wasn’t even the best thing. You know how as an English speaker, the English or Australian accent is hot? Well Spanish accent is that for my ears, you see the girl in front of me, the guy she was with did the most Spanish thing ever and said something along the lines “joder tío” (roughly translated to “fuck dude”), when a player missed a goal, I swear I almost squealed. Barcelona lost that game against Almeria, 1-0, so the fans were not happy. It was unfortunate but regardless the atmosphere was on-point.
Part II consisted of days three and four, so I will finish this trip on a third blog as to not make it overly long and bore you to death. But for your information, the last leg of the trip was excellent it’s soooooo worth it to stay tuned.
One of my bucket list countries was Spain, the possibility presented itself for my 29th birthday in 2023. I wanted to see as much as possible, so I planned for an arrival in Madrid, I’d go around for 3-4 days, make a day trip to Toledo and I’d take a train to Barcelona, and fly back from there.
My trip started on February 22, 2023, I wanted to be IN Spain during my birthday and not traveling so I left a few days early. One thing I do to avoid jet lag, specially when crossing the pond, is to take a late flight, arrive to my destination in the morning, and just survive through the day and sleep at the appropriate destination time. This particular flight departed at 6:30pm from Pittsburgh international airport, had a stop in Philadelphia and then on to Madrid. One thing to note about me is I HATE flying. I know, I know, for someone that hates flying I fly a lot. I like getting to a destination, but not the how. I get air sick, I get dizzy, it’s very very uncomfortable, my body very much hates flying. It’s not even that I’m big for the seats —I have actually lost enough fat that I fit pretty comfortably in the seat, it’s that I’m fucking tall, doesn’t matter what, my knees are almost always hitting the front seat. And I’m too cheap to pay for an upgraded seat. So I just take it. I’m a masochist, I know.
It was like a six hour flight from Philadelphia, it was 8pm by the time we flew out, so I got my plane snacks and slept. I don’t sleep very well on flights (read everything in the previous paragraph as to why haha), but I’m also a nervous flyer, and that reflects on food with me, so I’ll always eat so. Fucking. Much. I’d just be hungry the entire time. It’s fucking insane. Anyway, I arrived at 9am in Madrid.
First thing I did was find food. I arrived at this little cafe close to where my Airbnb was, ordered a tomato toast (bear with me). It’s puréed tomato, you spread it on the bread and pour in some olive oil and put a dash of salt. I was skeptical, but omg. To this day I make my version of this and fucking hell, it’s great.
But I couldn’t have my toast with a little cafecito, could I?
I finally got my hotel at around 12pm, I recouped, and went out, I had a quick lunch because that toast was not enough food. This Reuben was sooo good, I mean honestly, I didn’t eat anything that wasn’t good.
After lunch, the next stop was the Royal Palace of Madrid, it was open in 1751, so it has been open for 273 years at this point, it is the official residence of the Spanish Royal Family, but they just use it for state ceremonies now.
There was so much art inside, it is a huge a building and I am a sucker for old buildings. I don’t have a lot of pictures, I’m pretty sure we weren’t able to take pictures at some spots.
But let me tell you that the view from the Palace… was mesmerizing, it was also super breezy. And there’s me, living my best life, looking pretty good and on no sleep.
Next to the Palace, there is the Almudena Cathedral and the Plaza de Armería which is a very nice walkable area between the Palace and Cathedral. I don’t really practice religion but I love cathedrals, so I visit them everywhere I go.
I couldn’t leave Madrid without seeing the place where my dear football team celebrates, the lady Cybele, the Cibeles Fountain and Palace.
My next stop was the Prado Museum and I did not take any pictures except this fit check (RIP to the phone… more on that later).
More food because Spain you know?! I love croquettes and I don’t eat them nearly enough, like very time I have a layover in Miami airport I am VERY excited because there is a Cuban restaurant there and their ham croquettes are excellent. These Spanish ones were very good as well.
Talking about Cuba… it reads “Motherland and life, down with dictatorship” and it’s a beautiful country I’d like to visit one day. Spain colonized a lot of countries in Latin America, Puerto Rico being one of them, they killed and maimed people and civilizations, they enslaved people from African countries, brought them to the west, far from their families and everything they’ve known. I go into some detail about Spain and Puerto Rico (and the subsequent sale to the US), you can read more about it here.
More coffee because, you know.
They make this omelette with potatoes inside let me tell youuuuuu (I showed it twice because it was that good). Okay more food because food is life. Iberian Ham, bread, crushed tomatoes and churros. I fucking love churros.
Okay, enough about food (for now), my next stop was Toledo, to get to there, a train is your best bet, these are high speed trains mind you, the trip the drive is about an hour, in train that is around 36 minutes.
The trip there was uneventful, but once I got off the train… I got welcomed by a very beautiful station. I LOVE stained glass, which is a big reason of why I love going to churches, many of them in Europe have them. Toledo was under islamic rule at one point in time which explains why the station looks the way it does — particularly the inside.
But I hadn’t even gotten to the best part yet… This is close, but it gives you an idea of what Toledo looks like. It is a very old city, about two thousand years of history.
It is a bit of a walk from the station to the entrance of Toledo, but at the end of this bridge you’re met with this beautiful tower. And then when you take a look back, this (right image) the view you get.
This is the side view of the bridge, like I said, stunning every step I took. No regrets in going to Toledo. Except maybe that I should have 1. brought better shoes and 2. That I should have hired a tour guide to get the better views, specifically since this was just a day trip.
More of that islamic influence I mentioned before:
I LOVE walking, I end up getting 20k+ steps when I’m on trips like this. But Toledo, I was NOT prepared for. Not only it was a long walk from the station (~20mins) there was this… it’s a lot steeper than it looks like.
And it didn’t stop once I got to the top…
My first stop in Toledo was Santa Cruz museum, it is an art, archeology museum, and it includes works by El Greco, a famous greek painter of the Spanish Renaissance.
There was so much art here, I’ll compile a few of my favorite ones.
One thing that I love –if you haven’t noticed is architecture. This is the center of the museum, there is this huge sky light, I’m in love with ceilings like this one.
Something that you’ll see often in older Spanish buildings (and there are a few in Puerto Rico as well) is indoor gardens or patios. So the tour of the museum continued.
Next stop was Alcázar of Toledo, a fortification, which is in the highest spot of Toledo, it used to be a Roman palace (it even hosted Hernán Cortés after the Aztecs “conquest” aka genocide). It was very interesting and mind boggling to see all this new architecture carefully placed over the old one, and how it just worked.
More food because all this walking made me hungry asf. Chicken, eggs and French fries, good, whatever salad it was, good, coke (even Coke Zero) tastes better in a glass container, trust me, and I couldn’t leave without dessert, a marzipan cake and more coffee — are you surprised I got even more coffee?
My view from the fort.
I loved walking out and finding this huge Spanish flag. It felt surreal that I was in Spain after wanting to visit for so long.
This was day two (out of six) of my trip to Spain and this is longer than I was expecting but there are still soooo many other places I want to share with you guys that one post won’t be enough. Soooo, stay tuned for parts two (and maybe three?).
The circumstances that surrounded my trip to Iceland (my first international trip at that) were interesting. Well, maybe not so much. But it started with my professor telling me how cheap direct flights to Iceland were, so of course I had to check it out. And indeed, the roundtrips to Iceland were $300 from Pittsburgh. I had to try to make it there, even if it was by myself (but I went with a friend after all). It ended up being one of the best decisions I had ever made. Iceland in itself it’s expensive (hello, $6 per gallon of gas!) but I don’t regret it. I didn’t spend that much really, around $600 between flight, the room I stayed in and the rental car. Some $80 in gas, and about $30 per day on food and miscellaneous.
But let me tell you, getting there wasn’t that much fun. I hate flying, and a six hour flight is no easy feat. The flight was at 6 pm, and we would arrive there at 5 am, but because it was summer it looked like it was 10 am. And to be honest, it looked depressive as hell. All around the airport, not even a tree in sight. Scratch that, there wasn’t a sign of anything alive. And on top of that, the massive jet lag (yes, yes, it can be worse, it was just 6hr difference, but jet lag virgin here!)
This is what a lot of Iceland looks like. According to a museum I visited, the reason Iceland has no trees is due to the Vikings that cut them down so often they extinguished them (but there is a current effort trying to reforest Iceland, so yay!)
Our days were gonna be packed, since we were gonna be driving for hours to get to the places we wanted to see, and after half an hour or so, Iceland started to look amazing. First stop, Reynisfjara Beach or Black Sand beach. It was a 3 hour drive from the airport. We encountered many beautiful landscapes on the way, but this waterfall takes the cake.
After the three hour ride, we made it to Reynisfjara. The first thing we saw was a sign with a warning saying that “the beach is not suitable for bathers”, because the waves are really rough, and the weather varies so unexpectedly that they don’t even recommend standing too close to the shore, since there was an accident a few years back where a person stood too close and a wave came in and swept him.
As you can see, it is very beautiful. But it was also windy as hell, and the 50’s felt like 30’s. To the left of this beach there are these rocky stacks, called Reynisdrangar that are so famous they can be seen on Game of Thrones, Season 7 in the episode North of the Wall. They are as impressive as they look! Fun fact about this beach, according to the site Guide To Iceland, local folklore says that the columns were once trolls trying to pull boats to the shore, but they stayed out too late, and at dawn, the trolls turned into stone.
On our way back from Reykjavik we stopped at the renowned Blue Lagoon, we had seen the images and heard the buzz, so of course we had to visit. It is expensive as hell, but it is a must do (at least once in your life). The ticket prices vary per time, and increase as you get closer to the date. We loved it, in spite of it being an artificial thermal water lagoon (which is fed by a factory nearby). They ask that you bathe without a bathing suit, so that you don’t pass off chemicals to the water, and while they do have private showers for people like us in the U.S. that are not used to it, most of the showers were open and women were having conversations while showering, which to be honest we thought was weird. But as someone pointed out, it is weirder how bathroom stalls in the U.S. have huge gaps that you can see through.
They give you a free drink!
Like I said, while expensive, it is definitely worth visiting at least once. (P.S. that was at 10 pm.) We drove back to Reykjavik, where we were staying. When we got there, we were intrigued because the lady we rented the room from said that the front door should be open. Coming from a place where criminality is high, this was new for us. Once we found the house, it was indeed open, and so was our room, though she provided us with a key for the room door, something we appreciated. We found a grocery store where we bought breakfast for the following days. Initially, we were confused with the currency exchange, and thought we were paying some hundred dollars for five items, but nowhere is that expensive, I think. It was just some $12 (oops). Also, we were not thrilled by the fact that most places closed up by 6 pm (and they usually opened by 9 or 10 am) though, so most of the time we didn’t make it back in time to do more grocery shopping. Speaking of being out late, we walked around Reykjavik at midnight, and this is what it looked like.
Next day we headed to the northwestern town Ólafsvík and, oh my. That place was breathtaking. From the tiny waterfall in some people’s backyard, to the mountain view, the tiny house with a museum, the church (Ólafsvíkurkirkja) and even the hotdogs.
Waterfall in ÓlafsvíkBest hotdogs ever!Museum in ÓlafsvíkÓlafsvíkurkirkja
We had heard about the thermal natural pools, and of course we had to go! So we went to Snæfellsbær. It was an interesting experience. They told us that in order to go in, we had to shower without our bathing suit before we went in, so we wouldn’t contaminate the water with chemicals we had on, let it be deodorant, perfume, etc. To our surprise, the showers had no curtains… AT ALL. And there were around four of them. My friend and I decided to take showers separately, since the place was pretty empty. After the showers we walked out, and it was freezing cold, ok?! So we hesitated to go into the green water, though we knew it was due to the algae in it from the spring it fed off. There were three different ponds, all different temperatures.
Thermal pool Showers
A few years ago, I met a girl while doing an internship in Pennsylvania and coincidentally she is doing her master’s in Iceland, so she, very nicely offered to guide us to our next destination: the Golden Circle. This area has a lot of sightseeing places, like Þingvellir National Park, a Geysir, a waterfall, thermal baths, a crater, a lagoon, among other places. It takes about six hours to go around it, and boy was it a trip! First stop, Þingvellir National Park, where we walked between a fault that until 1967 was used as a road. Next stop, Öxarárfoss waterfall (well, writing waterfall is redundant because the “foss” means waterfall in Icelandic). Then, the Þingvallavatn lake, and while it was beautiful, I had never seen so many bugs (and I am from a tropical place where we have a shit ton of bugs). Next we headed to the Kerid crater, before continuing to Friðheimar, where we had made a reservation. My friend suggested it for its tomato soup and bread (unlimited I might add). At twenty dollars it was pricy, but it was worth it. I was skeptical of tomato soup, but I was proven wrong, it was amazing! In this farm, they grow their own tomatoes and cucumbers inside a green house, and they even have horses (which we petted of course). Next to this restaurant a place was selling strawberries, and while expensive, they were so yummy. Pure perfection!
Lunch Tomatoes farm
After that amazing lunch, we had to keep sightseeing. Next stop was Faxi waterfall in Bláskógabyggð. You’d think we would be tired of waterfalls, but each time we saw a new one, it was bigger than the one before. We were standing so close to it at some point that we ended soaking wet.
I did say that every time we saw another waterfall, it was a bigger one right? Well, I present to you Gullfoss. My favorite thing was the permanent rainbow and the calm sound of the water falling. With the huge number of waterfalls and thermal pools, Geysir, etc., it is no surprise Iceland runs mostly on renewable energy (hydroelectric and geothermal), but on this particular waterfall, there was a sign that said that a woman fought for this waterfall to not be turned into a hydroelectric energy source, in order t preserve it as it was, and she won. (P.S. This day was particularly sunny and I believe it was the only one like that while we were there, most of the days were overcast.)
We proceeded to drive to the Geysir. This became one of my favorite places. But the place that took the cake was the Bruarfoss (another waterfall), as you can see, while it is not as big as the previous ones, in the middle it is deeper, which causes the lighter color. It was scary standing on the bridge that crossed it, as it was vibrating a lot from the water moving below it. But it truly became my favorite spot.
Soon it was time to return the car, walk around Reykjavik and learn its history. Over the next few days we visited museums and a public pool (which I have no pictures of as we were not allowed to have phones in the pool area).
I have a thing for chapels so whenever I visit a place where there’s one, I’m there.
Christ the King Cathedral
Remember I talked about a friend before? Well, she invited me to a picnic, she and some friends of them were having. To be honest, I hesitated a little bit, but I ended up saying yes, and it was the best choice I could have made. For one, I got to meet people from all over Europe, so it was hard to not “fangirl” since these were people from countries I wanted to visit, so I had a lot of questions for them. To my defense in the beginning, it was a bit overwhelming when I first met them, we were in their apartment, and it was a relative small space for the amount of people there were there (some 20 people). There were German, Dutch, Kenyan, American, Romanian, Colombian, Dominican and Mexican people (I’m sure there were more but I only talked to a handful of them). It was honestly one of the best things. We got to talk about Puerto Rico, its political status, how we’re dealing with the current U.S. President, and how it all looks like a freak show for the people across the pond. I was speechless, I had lived in the U.S. for a year, and no one was this well informed!
I saw most of them one last time before I left. It was a shame I met them at the end of my trip, and for such a short amount of time! But I am glad to have kept in touch with some of them. It really brings diversity to one’s life, and it broadens your mind and your knowledge.
Unfortunately, shortly after this, we departed. But not before walking one last time through Reykjavik, where we found a coffee shop that sold vinyls. Looking through them, I found a Julio Iglesias one, which really surprised me, I didn’t know they would know who he is, but apparently he’s a hit! So, of course I had to buy it and I’ve pretty much travelled with “him” ever since. In the airport, it made for an interesting conversation when a French lady talked to us about how much she liked him.
Julio Iglesias waiting for the busJ.I. at the airportJ.I. going through security J.I. on the airplane
Sadly, the trip came to an end, but I was left with the amazing memories. People, I urge you to travel, it’s the best thing you can do. You’ll make amazing memories and your mind will open. This was my first trip across the pond, and I loved it! Europe will definitely be seeing me soon again.
