Hot springs, not so hot…..

I don’t think a description of this night would do it justice, so lets just say that the hot springs, resembled more of a steaming hot pile of mierda, or even mud with a sewer-like stench. As we were with some other people from the hostel, we willingly said “when in Spain” and climbed in. Looking back, after a few lost shoes and dignity, I think we may have paid to swim in shit. Good times. Anyway, for additional details please inquire.
The following day we woke up at the crack of dawn to stand on an unpleasantly long line for tickets to the Alhambra, which has 3 distinct parts to it, the Generalife (most amazing gardens), the Alcazaba (fortress-esq) and the Palacio (palace). 3 hours later, we felt like great tourists and it was still early in the day. Granada also offers an awesome Bazaar where you can prepare perfectly for a middle eastern (:memorial day:) party, and so we did so, shopping our way about town. Enjoying some more local tapas, paella and hookah at a teteria (tea house), we journeyed on for a night back in Madrid, to be followed by a early flight to Lisbon. Saying goodbye to Jamie for a repeat of the long haul of transportation we mentioned before. Portugal here we come!

“In April, In Granada, we go to the beach”…. Not us!

3 subways, 1 hr flight, 1 hr bus ride, another 1 ½ hr bus ride and a taxi cab later, we arrived in Granada, bypassing Malaga, because it was simply not beach weather/ it looked like Asbury Park circa when we used to go to concerts there. Granada is worth the trip though, a very cool mix of modern and old school, where the big Moores were rollin in. The Albaycen was the Moore-ish looking area moore or less, basically lots of hills, ie. workin off the churros, stray cats and some moore hills. After seeing a beautiful view of the much talked about Alhambra (which we think is a fortress/ palace) we put on our Tapas Crawl ’09 t’s and hit Calle Navas- a street known for giving out free food with the purchase of drinks. An un-named amount of stops later, we were happy, full and on to quite an adventure! Our hostel seemed to advertise for ‘thermal hot spring baths’ that we couldn’t miss… now, knowing that the area was meant to have some well known Arab baths, we thought, “Sure! That sounds like fun!” Heres the pitch, “Enjoy the hot springs tonight, under the stars, the mineral water will make your skin feel incredible, highly recommended by other tourists…” you get the drift…. I think you know where this is going…

Madrid, Mas o Menos…

Having seen mostly all of Madrid in a jam packed day, our tastebuds took us to the oldest restaurant en el MUNDO, “El Botin”! It wasn’t that good but we enjoyed it especially after some wine, which was enjoyed before, during and after dinner. On to the Flamenco show, which seemed to put us in a trance rather than putting us into a dance… also not our style, but a fun night. After a treat of a hint of sunshine in Madrid it turns out that the Rain in Spain does NOT stay mainly on the plain, but rather on our vaccacion. Darn! So a day of shopping was in order, which is never a bad thing, followed by a continuation of eating our way through Spain, at “Casa de Abuelo” followed by a free glass of wine at what seemed to resemble the spainsh version of throwing peanuts on the floor- but substitute peanuts with shrimp heads and garbage. Yum. Erica and Jamie had to leave due to the ‘unbearable stench’ as they thought they might toss their tapas…. However Jackie and Dara stayed for their vino gratis, well deserved! Dessert was enjoyed by all at the Chocolateria as we dipped warm oily churros into thick delicious glasses of melted chocolate- que delicioso!!! Off to bed for an early day of travel to Malaga/ Granada. The journey continues.

BAAAAAARRRRCelona + Madrid

Hola! Quick update, we landed in barcelona a-ok after a lonnng trek and met up with Jackie just fine. All very excited and plenty to explore. Weather has been a little spotty with on/ off rain but we had just enough sunshine to see everything that we wanted to and today (now in Madrid) we even were able to lay out and get some color which was a treat.

Barcelona is beautiful- the architecture is outstanding and really different filled with tree-lined streets, high end stores and funky shaped buildings. We have been eating plenty of tapas, paella, sangria and trying lots of new and interesting things. 3 days was plenty of time to see all of the plazas, gothic area, churches, las ramblas, etc. The hostels aren't bad either, so good overall.

Last night we took an overnight train to Madrid, so we got in early this morning and had a great start in the sunshine. We have been taking sooo many pictures thanks to jamie and will bore you with all of them when we get back. I think we saw most of Madrid today between palacio real and el retiro and walking tons in between.

Thats all for now- off to Granada on Weds, so more then. Love and miss you all!

The Route!

Here's the itinerary, so you can follow us on our travels..... departing Thurs, April 9th at night.

10th-12th Barcelona
13th-15th Madrid
15th -17th Malaga & Granada
18th-21st Lisbon
22nd back in NY

Wish we could take you all with us! More posts to follow xx

Doesn't quite have the same ring....

But we are going to Spain! So, i wanted to kick off the blogging as we are T-2 weeks out from our long awaited vaca. Hope you check back in with our travels. Just an update- only half of the trip is currently fully booked!!! im sure it will all come together, or something. Also, Jamie keeps talking about eating lots of paella- but really just learned what it is the other day.