Europe 2010
You know what they say… you gotta start somewhere! This entire blog and the hours I spent learning how to use wordpress to my liking was inspired by this trip. I’ve always wanted to have my own photoblog and kept putting it off. But now that I’m a family man, I wanted to get in the habit of not only shooting pictures but chronicling them for memories sake as well.
With that intro out of the way, I can now tell you what this trip was all about. The original email list for this summer trip started out with over 15 people. By the time we boarded the plane from Houston, there were just four of us: Jason, Christina, baby and myself. Our plan called for 4 cities and adjoining places: Lisbon, Madrid, Ibiza, and Barcelona. Despite having to making flight changes both ways, we managed to hit up all the places on our plan without any hiccups.
First Stop: Lisbon, Portugal – May 21-23
Lisbon was an interesting place and we spent the majority of the time between Belem Tower, Jeronimos Monastery, and Cristo Rei. For future visitors, I would advise you to try to push it and see all you need to see in Lisbon in one full day. Another potentially interesting place within stone’s throw of the city of Lisbon is Alfama. Its a shame we didn’t reach that potential. We kept going around in circles in this old fishing town without seeing the sights. I managed to get a few good shots of the area, so I can’t complain too much!
The next day we spent in a beautiful mountainous region called Sintra, which is about an one train ride from Lisbon. We got to see the Monserrate and Pena Castles, the Moorish Castle (fort) and drove to see the western most point of mainland Europe: Cabo de Roca. In a desperate effort to avoid sleeping and missing our early morning flight the next day, we decided to hit the casino by the airport … needless to say all of us lost all our money that we went in with.
Second Stop: Madrid, Spain – May 24-25
After getting off to good start to our vacation with our maiden stop in Lisbon, we hopped on a plane and landed in Madrid and spent two days there. During our first day there we visited the Palaçio Real – the official residence of the King of Spain. We also got to witness (with horror at times) a bull-fight and checked out a few plaças, which are these gigantic squares that serve as a gathering place for everyone.
The better part of our second day was spent at the world famous Prado Museum, which highlighted a lot of Goya’s pieces. After Prado, we made a quick stop at Los Jeronimos cathedral followed by lunch at a restaurant with the biggest ice-bar in town. After lunch, we stepped into the Royal Botanical Gardens (money not worth spending). Finally, we visited the Debod Temple – an ancient egyptian temple that was rebuilt in Madrid and called it a night after grabbing dinner.
Third Stop: Ibiza, Spain – May 26
Our vacation plan called for only one full day in Ibiza; what a mistake that was for many reasons! For those who are not familiar with Ibiza, it is a tiny island in the Mediterranean sea about 60 miles off the coast of Spain and is a huge party town. To be fair, there are also a lot of historical sites of interest in this island. We would have gladly given up a day in Lisbon or Madrid had we known what we know now.
After landing into town and checking into the hotel, we rented a couple of scooters to roam around town. First we hit, Dalt Vila, an ancient fortress built in 654 BC by Phoenicians, which is in the center of the island and a truly astonishing place as you can see from the photos. We had lunch at Dalt Vila and had the best Paella during our entire trip while we were there. Next, we went to Telamanca Beach where clothing of any kind is optional! Sorry fellas, no pictures of the more interesting ‘specimens’ sunning at the beach in this post. This is a G-rated blog afterall! But, the beach itself was really nice sight in and of itself.
From there, we decided to hit San Antonio, which is on the western edge of the island, to watch the sunset. On the way, in one of my not-so-smart moments, took a turn too slowly on the scooter and low-sided it. Given that we were probably traveling at less than 5 mph at the time of the fall, we got away unscathed. A couple of minutes after the fall we were back on the scooter on our way to San Antonio! We watched the most beautiful sunset by the water in San Antonio and walked around the town a bit to see the sights.
By now we were really hungry and had heard of this place called ‘Bambuddha’ that is apparently not a place to be missed when visiting Ibiza. After a quick shower and change of clothes, we hailed a cab that took us to Bambuddha. Unfortunately, the kitchen had closed by the time we arrived. But, the host managed to reopen the kitchen just for us and we got to grab some snacks. Before leaving the restaurant we befriended the bartender who gave us shots of the local specialty: Hierbas Mari Mayans followed by Absinthe drinks, which got us in the mood to go out! We left Bambuddha for the world-famous Pacha nightclub at nearly midnight and partied it up till nearly 5am!
Final Stop: Barcelona, Spain – May 27-30
We planned to spend the biggest chunk of our vacation in Barcelona based on feedback from people who’ve been there before. I must say I’m very glad we took their advice! After landing into Barcelona late in the morning, we quickly checked into our apartment and hit the streets. Starting at Las Ramblas, the main artery of the city, we had a so-so lunch at one of the many outdoor eateries that offer Paella and made the 5 mile trek to catch the cable-car that would take us to Olympic Park making stops along the way to take pictures. Unfortunately, by the time we got there the last cable-car ride out to the park was already on its way up. So, we just crossed the street and spent some time on the beach. It was no Telamanca beach (damn!), but it was clean.
By now, we were really hungry and decided to try and find some Indian food. I managed to find a grocery store owner who was Indian and he gladly showed us the way to an Indian restaurant nearby. The food was spicy and pretty damn good considering all the other food we had all week. As a quick aside folks, don’t go to Western Europe expecting to indulge in culinary delights; simply expect to enrich your sense of culture, and history: not your taste palate! During our dinner, we discussed everything from the existence of God to keeping things in backpockets. We spent the rest of the evening roaming up and down Las Ramblas and buying some supplies. The highlight of the night though was Marsella Bar. The oldest bar in Barcelona (open since 1820), this is the place to be if you want to have some absinthe. Local legend has it that this was the favorite watering hole for Gaudi, Dali, Hemingway, and Picasso. I can’t see why it wouldn’t be: all of us had a real good buzz going by the time we left. I had such a good time that I passed out on the toilet after we got back to the apartment that night!
Our second day at Barcelona was jam-packed with Gaudi: The world-famous La Sagrada Familia church, Casa Mila, Casa Batlló, Parc Guell, and Parc la Ciutadella. I was so Gaudied out by the end of this day. The other non-Gaudi inspired places we hit during the day was the Gothic cathedral and the Arc d’ Triomf. We got to see a flamenco show before grabbing a bite to eat at Placa Real. After dinner and a few sangrias later, we decided to party it up at ‘Boulevard’ club. As expected they were playing some whack techno junk but eventually started mixing up a few better hip-hop tracks after we got there.
Given that we were up till late, we woke up a bit later than we had planned for. However, we had a lot of places to hit before the end of our vacation. So, we hit Las Ramblas once again to check out St. Joseph’s Market. This was a great place with shopping, dining, and entertainment all under one roof. Our next stop was Mt. Tibidabo and Olympic Park. We walked a loooot this day and hardly ate anything to make up for lost time. By the evening, all of us (especially me) was really tired and hungry. We called a night relatively early because we had to catch a bus to hit some wineries.
Our final full day of vacation was spent outside of the city limits of Barcelona. We made a quick stop to see Montserrat Mountains and got a transfer to Freixenet, which was a quaint town that looked quiet since it was a Sunday. We got into a wine tour at the Freixenet winery that took us deep into the bowels of the earth where the cava is fermented and stored. We ‘tasted’ a few bottles of cava and followed it up with a stop at a bar, which happened to be in existence for exactly one year the day we were there. The owner was a cool guy and put up with our American debauchery and even gave us commemorative T-shirts. By this time it was late afternoon, and we had to cut our drunken shenanigans short to head back to the apartment to pack for our trip back home.
JJ, these links are all blank, where are the pictures?
Monay Sunilay… The pictures should be fine. Let me know if you still can’t see them.