Day 7

Day 7 and the final day we would be in Spain! Well the end of our trip was near but that did not mean that we didn't have a full day of stuff to do. We took a drive down to Toledo to do some more siteseeing. We had some breakfast then we traveled the streets and took a tour of some of the other churchs that were there. Sad to say the church we went to in Toledo we were unable to take any pictures but it was a beautiful church. We had half a day to walk around and enjoy our last day in spain. Once we finished our tours it was time to go on the bus and bring us on top of this mountain to this place where for once we were going to be doing our own cooking for once. I did not know what to expect walking into this place considering I was never really the best of cooks. I am a nasty pasta maker but then again who isn't. When we got there this place was located on the side of a mountain so when we looked out the window we saw the entire town. It was ncredible. The food we got to make was alot of fun. I really enjoyed dressing up like a chef for the first time in my life. That was the best dinner we have had on the trip because of how interactive it was. We got to eat the food that each other made which made it taste better as well. After we made our food it was time to head back to the hotel. Everyone was free to do what they wanted. Derek,Danny, Flo, Jon and I went out to go see the greatest football stadium in the history of mankind, Real Madrid. I was so happy that Danny wanted to go to the stadium because I have never seen a stadium so amazing. There was so much history within this stadium, not to mention how large it was. It was five stories tall which is almost unheard of for a stadium. At the end of the day alot of people went back to the rooms to get ready to come home. Not me, a bunch of us decided we wanted to party some more so we went out for our last night on the town. Boy that would turn out to be the most memorable time on the trip. I enjoyed ever last second we had spent in Spain, it was something that I would never forget for the rest of my life.

Day 6

Day 6 was my favorite day of the vacation to Spain. We woke up earlier again. We headed out and began our hike up to the bull farm but before that we stopped off at what was once a professonal bull arena. We got a chance to take pictures an it was alot of fun. Once we stopped off there we began our hike up to the bull arena. It took us over an hour to get up there because we traveled through the country side to get there.

Once we got there its this small ranch up high in the mountain side. We took a small tour then they had prepared us a nice homemade lunch before all the fun started. Once we finished our awesome lunch then all boarded this tractor and it took us through all the land with the wild bulls roaming on it. It was really different being on a tractor while there are wild bulls all around us. Once we finished then it was time for the show to begin. We all got to sit on top of the arena and watched them bring a baby bull into the arena. The bull was just a baby but it was so full of energy and was scary to see that a baby bull can do such damage, I couldn't imagine what a full size bull could do to someone. Once we watched the bull do her thing it was time to head back out on the bus and head back into Madrid. While we were at the bull fight I talked to Nancy and we wanted to take a wine tasting tour. She set one up for us so once we got back to Madrid the bus dropped us off and he took the subway over to the tasting. We took the tour which was tons of fun. I learned alot of about wine which I thought I knew already but in all actuality was not even close. They served us a red wine and a few white wines. I am a giant fan of red wines so the first one we tired was alot better than the whites. After we finished our tasting we all decided to go out for drinks but before that happened we could not decid where we wanted to get them. Our final choice we wound up going to T.G.I Fridays. That was very original of us to choose an American resturaurnt in Spain. Only good thing was it was right across the street from our hotel so we got to have some drinks then go back to the hotel room to hang out and relax and get ready to spend our last day in Spain.

Day 5

Once again Day 5 started off like day four where we wake up and head up to get some breakfast. After breakfast we took an hour or so hike over to Cordova.

This place was really awesome, just like Granada had small streets but was once again not crowded. We went inside one of the towns gothic cathedrals. This was the first church we got to go inside and walk around. The inside of the church was extremely intresting once again there was a ton of history in this church. Many and many of cardinals had past away and left there hats left to hang. They said that if one of the hats fell that their soul would finally have moved on. The ceilings and the walls had magnificant structures. There was more details on the ceilings than there are on the walls of the church. After some exploring and some time to learn the history we ended the tour and got once again more time for ourselves to go grab a bite to eat and site see on our own. I grabbed a sandwich with Jake and a drink then it was once again back on the bus for some more traveling. We stopped off in another small town to take a pitstop. I grabbed a beer and some people got some food for refueling.

Then it was off to our final stop in Madrid. We had around three hours of traveling to do before we finally got to Madrid so most of us fell asleep so we were ready to go out in Madrid. Once we arrived our hotel was right in the middle of the city. The room was the largest out of all the rooms we stayed in so far. We headed out to eat at an Argentinian resturaunt. The food was extremely good even though it was chicken once again. Once dinner was finished we all went out for a tour of what Madrid had to offer. We walked by the capital building and saw some other interesting things before we headed back to the room for some sleep.

Day 4

In the morning of day 4 we got woke up by our tour guide Nancy saying that were almost in Granada. We opened our shade in the train room and we just looked outside and it just looked like we were in the middle of the desert. We all just looked at each other thinking oh my god where did we take the wrong turn. It was incredible just looked at how much different Granada was from Barcelona. Granada has just amazing scenery, just tons of wide open fields. There are tons and tons of olive trees that are just spread all over the country side. One hour later we finally stopped and got off the train and boarded the bus to take us to our to our hotel room in Granada. As we traveled through the streets of Granada I noticed that a few hours traveling from Barcelona down to Granada how much different everything was. I know Barcelona is a city but the difference was insane. Granada's streets are so amazingly tight but everyone is much more calm. People are very friendly and are very relaxed. The graffie there also is much different because they actually have beautiful pictures strayed across the buildings but it really does make them look awesome.

We finally arrived at our hotel which was right on a hillside over looking Granada. It had a fantastic view overlooking the mountain the the city below. When we got to the hotel the rooms were not ready yet so we had two rooms which we put all of our bags in and then we had an hour to go upstairs and get some breakfast which was in a really nice looking room which had a great view out the window. Once we finished our breakfast it was back on our tour bus to take us into the city. We parked the bus and we started walking through this city. Everything was so much different from what I was used to. The streets were so tight and had so many blind sided turns. Once we made it into the center of the town we got to go exploring down there crowded and tight city streets. All the shops were down there tiny alleyways with shops on both sides. Unlike anything again I have ever experienced. Later on the day we took a trip up to this place called the Red Fortress. I did some research on this place before we went there but when I finally got a chance to see what it was really like. The image that I had in my head to what I acutally got to see was one million times different. We walked around this fortress for over an hour just looking at all the structures and monuments that are located in this area. There was alot of certain spots that just overlooked the entire hillside with nothing but small homes that were wrapped around this hillside. Each spot we walked through had its own beauty to it. Later on that night we left the Red Fortress and we walked through the small streets of Granada and got ready for our Flaminca dance which I really was not overly excited to do. I am not a real giant fan of dancing and especially not trying to do a new dance infront of other people. After our interesting dance lessons it was about time to have some dinner. Our dinner was at this place that looked like a small house that was built into the mountain side. It was very interesting once we walked into it and how much different this was from any other resturaurnt we had eaten at so far. After dinner we got back on the bus and went back to get a good night rest which we all needed after all of the traveling we did in Day 4!

Day 3

Day 3 started off just like day two did where our whole room wakes up late and goes down for a quick breakfast and we take off. Since our whole group went out the night before and had a blast alot of us weren't feeling very well at all. A small group of us decided to go back to the beach and get some breakfast since this was going to be our last day in Barcelona. We ate at this one resturaunt with this funny guy trying to seat us. Thats pretty much the only reason we ate there was because he was very interesting and funny. I decided to have a pasta dish and a beer for breakfast which was probably not the greatest idea but I was on vacation so I figured I would enjoy myself. For the first time in 3 days I finally saw one of Spains most famous meals. Since I was pretty filled up from my pasta dish I didn't get to eat alot of it but believe me from what I had it was so tasty. Once we finished breakfast we broke off into even small groups and we headed over to the beach to relax and the other group headed back to pack there backs and get ready to the over night train to Granada. Billy, Bern and myself walked down to the beach and it was such a nice day out we just sat down in the sand and relaxed. After a little while went by we had to head back to the hotel and pack ourselves. We took a taxi back to the hotel packed up our bags and we left to do some more site seeing before we left Barcelona. Once we made it back to our hotel we all packed up our bags and we boarded the bus and we set out for some sightseeing. We passed some more buildings that were designed by Gaudi which once again are amazing, nothing ever like you would see in the States. Now you will never see anything like this in the States and if you did, it would be one of the most remarkable structures that stood on our soil. Once we finished seeing some of the buildings we parked the bus and walked to another gothic church which was not a large as Sangrada Familia but once again was something that you had to see for yourself. Once we were done with our tour. We had a small scavanger hunt set up for us. This scavanger hunt had us walk around through the town and identify certain buildings and streets and specific historial sites. Once we finished our scavanger hunt we just hung out and took more photo's and shopped for a little bit. Later on that night we walked over to the place where we were going to get our dinner. This was most likely the worst dinner we could of had cause some of the people were allergic to seafood and thats exactly what we had for dinner. I enjoyed the food very much which does not say much because I pretty much enjoy all foods. After dinner we all headed back and boarded the bus and set off for the train station for our decent to Granada. Once we arrived at the train station, the rules are pretty much the same as they are in an airport and this I did not realize. I had a few beers in my baggage that I wanted to drink on the train. This did not work very well cause I had to leave both of my beers behind at the station. Once we were on board, I never in a million years thought the train would be that small. First of all, it was four people to a room and this was not just any room. This was the smallest room known to mankind. Our room was also going to be holding the four tallest guys on the trip. After we got all our baggage into the room a few of us got some food and I had some beer and wine before we headed to bed. I figured if I would be stuck in a small room as might as well be a little tipsy to help me fall asleep quicker.

Day 1

The day finally came for me to head to Spain. I woke up and was so excited I was already packed and ready to go. My girlfriend and I went out and did some last second shopping then went out for my final lunch in the states for a week. I picked up two of my professors and one of the students from the campus and we left for the airport. As we arrived at the airport my heart was beating like a drum. I never have been so excited for something like this to happen.
We all checked our bags and we had around an hour and a half before the flight left so my friends and I decided to grab a few beers and some food before we left. By far was the most expensive beer I have ever paid for besides this specific time in Spain. After we all got on the plane and were ready to go....OUR PLANE DIES! How on earth does a plane which is going to be taking us to Spain die. I was not a bit nervous about it, I just kept saying to myself that I was never going to make it there. After about an hour on the plane that was extremely hot and had no air conditioning because the plane was dead, they finally got it fixed and once again we were ready for take off. The plane seemed like it was going to take forever to land and the longer and longer we were in the air the longer and more anxious I became. Only 8 hours of air travel we finally heard the captain say that we were going to be landing in a half hour.
Once we got off the plane I finally stepped foot on European soil. The only bad part about this was my phone was not good enough for me to call my girlfriend or my parents to let them know that we made it to Spain. At the airport we meet up with our tour guide Nancy who was going to be with us for the rest of the trip. We also waited for the two small groups from two different highschools. One was from Boston and the other one was from Mississippi. We packed our bagson the giant bus and began our travel to the hotel in Barcelona. It seemed so much different but at the same time so much the same, it was really difficult to believe if I was actually in Spain. I was snapping pictures of everything that I thought looked interesting which now I was alot of photos. After we arrived at our hotel in Barcelona we all got a chance to hang out in the lobby for a while before we got our room keys and could then go relax and settle in our rooms for an hour. Once we got our room keys Billy, Jon and I ran up to our room and once we opened the door it looked so big, until we walked into the room. One side was concrete and the side was brick. It was a very nice looking jail cell to be nice about it but we were in Spain so we did not care, we were in Spain. One hour later we went downstairs to the lobby and wwe were able to go out and explore. We finally were able to walk around and go out and have some fun. A small group of us branched off and went our for a place to get some food and that was a task in itself. It took us nearly forty five minutes to to find somewhere to eat and if it was not for Dan and Flo we would of had such a difficult time understanding the menu and actually just ordering the food. That lunch was by far the funniest time I have ever had at a dinner. Once we finished our lunch we left the resturant and a few people wanted to go back and rest but Derek and Dan and I decided to take the metro to see more of the town. There metro system is so much cleaner than the subway we have back in the states. We took it to go see Barcelona stadium. Once we arrived there, we did not have alot of time to the the tour of the stadium. After we left the stadium we went back to the hotel to get an hour shut eye before we all went out to dinner. I should of realized that when you set a phone that does not recognize that your in another country in a different time zone. When you set it to go off in an hour when it thinks your still in New Jersey there is no way that your going to wake up on time. The reason why our room made it to dinner that night was because Bern came up to our rooms to wake us up, Thanks Bern! From that point on I refused to use my phone for the rest of the trip. We all went to this one resturant and had the most American dinner I have ever had. It consisted of a piece of chicken and a very dry patch of rice. It was just funny that we were in Spain having a college student dinner. After that we went back to the rooms and just hung out and relaxed and went to bed and thought of what we were going to do tommarrow.

Day 2

The end of day 1 left us all thirsty for what was ahead of us for day 2. We all woke up collected ourself and went downstairs for some breakfast. Of course like always I was late and just caught the end of it but we filled our stomaches up with some food and we all went out with our tour guide Nancy and boarded the bus for the first adventure of the day. One we were on the bus Nancy took us to a park that was created by Gaudi which was one of the most intresting places I have ever been in entire life. This park was not like one were used to in the States. It was not spread out but in fact was made so you walk down specific pathways so you can take in all the architecture and beauty this park has to offer. It was incredible to see considering parks my house in my home town are just open spaces with a soccer field and trees and thats it. Once we left the park we boarded the bus once again and we took a small tour around Barcelona and after ten minutes of travel we looked through a set of buildings and we saw Sangrada Familia which stood out like a sore thumb. It was unbelieveable, I have never seem something in such size with the architecure from head to toe. We got off the bus and we had some time to walk around this structure. It was so tall and had so much detail in it that I really did not know where to start taking pictures. From the walls to the doors to the siding everything was filled with a story in history. We started to walk around the building and even the sides of the building were coved with symbols and more stories. The back of the church was just as amazing as the front was. The back of Sangrada Familia was the death part of the church. The back told stories about ancient history and lives that were ended in death. I keep saying this and its only day 2 but once again I've never seen anything like this in my life. After we walked and learned a bit about the church we did some shopping in some of the stores and we boarded back on the bus to go to take our bike tour. The best part about this almost everyone we went with has not been on a bike in a long time. The last time I was on a bike was at least three years ago so I was a bit rusty riding the bike. We took an hour bike tour which started in an alley way and we made it past the beach and into a park and we biked past a beautiful fountain which obviously was like anything I have every seen once again and we ended our bike tour near the beach which was fantastic. Everything was so beautiful, it was a nice day out and everything there is just so clean which makes it more enjoyable to be there. After an hour of the tour we had some time to go out and get some food and relax. Five of us decided to go to this one place that had homemade San Gria which was very good. After our lunch we headed out to the place where we learned to do some crafts using marble. Then we all went out and had some dinner and it was back to the hotel room to get some rest and prepare for day 3 in Spain.