Whirlwind Tour of Spain

Our stay in Granada was great, but quick. Sheila flew in on Wednesday with her friend Erin, and we all shared a room at Hostal Nevada. The old Spanish man at the front desk was wearing a shamrock tie that he got in Ireland and told us that we were ¨muy guapas¨(very pretty girls) every time we left. Needless to say, we liked it there.

On Wednesday we walked around the city, ate ice cream, drank sangria, and introduced the girls to Spanish nightlife. A typical night out in Granada usually starts with tapas around 10pm (tapas are free mini-meals that come with each drink you order), bars at midnight, and then a discoteca from 2 until sunrise. We got back to the hostel around 6am and spent most of the next day laying in the sun, sleeping off the previous night.

Erin and I had to catch an early bus to Alicante on Friday. We opted for the 2am bus so we wouldn´t have to pay for a hostel that night. Six hours later, we pulled into the Alicante bus station where our friend Visa was waiting. We met Visa in Galway back in February. He was living at Kinlay Hostel at the same time as us and taught us how to make tortilla española. He drove us to his house in Benissa, a small town outside of Alicante. His apartment is really cool, and we each had our own bed in his guest room! He took us all over Benissa and the surrounding towns. We saw a ton of beaches, some with sand others with stones. Visa showed us some of his favorite places- beaches where he and his friends make paella, listen to music, and even sleep under the stars!

That night, we went out for a very spanish dinner- all kinds of seafood, pelotas (bread and pork wrapped in cabbage and boiled), tortilla española, bread with anchovies, a big plate of roasted vegetables for me, sweet wine, and espresso. After dinner, we met about 15 of Visa´s friends at a nearby bar. The beauty of a small town is that everywhere you go, you´ll find friends! We got a lot of practice speaking Spanish.

On Saturday, we drove to a pueblecito (little town) in the mountains called Guadalest. There were beautiful views of the mountains and a museum of miniature art- intricate paintings on grains of rice and sand, seashells, pieces of hair, etc. You had to look at everything through a magnifying glass!

We were all pretty tired from the night before and from all the walking we had done in Guadelest, so we opted for a drive-in movie instead of a bar. First, we saw a Spanish movie called ¨Al final del camino¨(To the End of the Road) and then ¨Angeles y Demonios¨(Angels and Demons).

Today, Visa drove us to Valencia, the capital city of the Valencian community. We walked all over the city, saw a ton of cathedrals and ate mini-sandwiches for lunch. He just dropped us off at our hostel and headed back to Benissa. The worst part of travelling is all the good-byes!

Tomorrow, we take a bus to Barcelona and then a plane to Milan on Tuesday. My friend Giovanni, who studied at U of I as an exchange student, lives outside of Milan. He´s going to meet up with us in the afternoon and hopefully show us around a little. We´ve been looking forward to gelato for weeks now, so we´ll definitely have to work some gelaterias into the schedule!

¡Hasta pronto!

Besos,
Katie