Spain and Portugal!

This is really hard...I have no idea how I am going to condense everything I did into a blog post. It's even harder because I've been on the road for 8 days and none of the days were even remotely similar to each other - there was no routine, no familiarity, and the whole thing was one big sensory overload. I guess I will just have to tell you things in person as I go through all the ticket stubs and receipts I've kept from each place. But here I'll just try to pull out some places and the highlights :)

First Stop: Granada
I really did not know what else to expect in Granada besides the Alhambra Palace with its labyrinth of gardens. But once I got there, I saw that it was full of life and history at every turn. I was really fortunate to have picked the hostel I did, as it was in district called Albayzin, which is a Unesco site. The whole place is very Moorish/Arabian inspired and I love just wandering in the many lanes and getting lost. Though the majestic Alhambra was the main highlight, I got to go off the beaten track on a walking tour organized free by my hostel and check out the famed Sacremento caves. Basically you get people who just find a spot along the hills, dig it out, put a door on the front and call it home. They don't pay for anything, but most also don't get water or electricity. Of course, some are better built and have official certification for safety etc and they have some facilities the others don't.
Granada was really fun also becuase of the really cheap Tapas bars! Buy a drink for SGD$3 and get free food! So for a total of SGD$14 I had 4 drinks and 4 really filling snacks =D


Stop 2: Sevilla
I didn't stay here for a night or anything but I had to take a bus here from Granada in the morning and then take an overnight bus out to Lisbon at midnight. One guy from the hostel -Ilya from St Peterburg- in Granada was going to Sevilla too that morning, but he was staying there for a few days before heading to Lisbon. So that 12 hours in Sevilla, I spent with him just checking out the famous cathedrals, castles and the Plaza Espana. Sevilla is really beautiful and there is so much to see there, I think 2 days would be a good amount of time to have spent there. The highlight though was when Ilya consulted his guidebook and found El Riconcillio, the oldest bar in Sevilla. We went there for cheap and delicious beer that was brewed there and excellent tapas...they didn't come free with the drinks but they were really cheap anyways.

Stop 3: Lisbon
This was what I was waiting for. Lisbon just sounded so much more exotic than Barcelona for some reason...I guess it's because I know many people who have been to Spain but no one who has been to Portugal. Lisbon is a MUST SEE okay people! I instantly fell head over heels in love with this city because it is beautiful, there is some historic thing to visit at every turn and the creative and artsy vibe of the city is so saturated you cannot escape it. I think Lisbon is the most culturally exciting place I've ever been too. The feel of the place got me more excited than the majestic castles and buildings if I was being honest. Plus the hostel was awesome, I met really cool people and during the down times I could watch DVDs and play Wii!

Stop 4: Sintra
This is one beautiful place. Super romantic though, so I don't suggest doing it alone. Hahah. Many many palaces to see, from mysterious and strange Quinta da Regaleira to the fun and Kitsch Palacio da Pena to the imposing Moorish Castle. But I would suggest that you start out to Sintra on the first train that day...probably 9-ish in the morning so that you can complete seeing the place by 2pm. That way you can take a bus out to Cabo Da Roca to see the western most point of continental europe - stunning views are a given. Then after that take the same bus out to Cascias, which is a town by a really nice bay. Apparently many exiled kings ran to Cascias for refuge back in the day.


Stop 5: Evorah
Pronounced "Ev-rah", this tiny town is not as touristy as Sintra, which I loved. There are not as many things to see here as there are in Sintra BUT the 2 hour bis ride form Lisbon is very very worth it. Evorah is so serene and feels like a place stuck in time. There are many windy roads to explore and the yellow and white houses are really pretty. You must go to the main Cathedral and climb up to the roof for an awesome view of the town and you should go to the bones chapel to get creeped out a bit. There are two bodies hanging there that are still not fully decomposed, and legend has it that they were cursed so as to never find rest.... If you have money to rent a car from Lisbon and drive to Evorah, you should do that because along the way to Evorah there are many cool places to stop, such as beaches amd this one place 15km away from Evorah in the direction towards Lisbon which as Portugal's answer to Stonehenge. Too bad I could not do that. But still, I had a really nice, chill, time there.
Stop 6: Barcelona
Barcelona baby! Oh yeah, La Ramblas and Gaudi! That is really all I wanted to go there for. But like Lisbon, the city is bursting with creativity and there is nothing run-of-the-mill or common about it. I checked out the Picaso museum which was AWESOME and then I just ran around the city looking for Gaudi's creations, the park dedicated to him and walked up and down the Las Ramblas a couple of times just to soak it in. Gaudi leaves me speechless and wanting more... he is genius and his works look like some surreal fantasy just plucked out of someone's wildest imagination and plonked onto the streets of this bustling city. At night, if you have company [and ONLY if yo have company, even if you are a guy] go to las ramblas again. Notice how int he day time it is fun, touristy and PG-13 and at night it transforms into a shady, far less crowded place with people hanging around pushing bar crawls, drugs and hitting on you. It was an experience all right.

That just about rounds it all up, after Barcelona I packed myself into a stockholm bound plane, which had an empty space in place of the seat I was assigned. So I had to hang out in the kitchen with a very very good looking air steward from Norway, until the plane filled out and I could pick a random empty seat I wanted. I got complimentary juice for my trouble - _ -

Thanks for reading and following my adventures! More pictures on Facebook and even more on my hard drive, hahah:)