Sorry...

Life in Spain! So I've been more than terrible with my updates of what's going on, but I do have somewhat of a reason. 1. Jack was keeping a log and it was a little nice to take a break from teh bast 8 weeks or so and 2. The internet connections we did have were ok, but not really good enough to be able to upload pictures. SORRY! I'm working on it. And I will put up some pictures as I can, but until then (from the perspective of Jack) these have been some of the more recent travels of my brother and I:

Thurs, June 25
I woke up early and wasn’t able to fall back to sleep because I was a bit stressed about finishing packing for the trip as well as the mess of boxes in Jules and my new apartment. Corby and I walked Jules to the bus stop, swung by Dunkin Donuts and then returned to the apartment to finish packing.

It took me about an hour trip total riding the blue line to O’Hare. Shortly before my plane was supposed to board they announced that there was a mechanical problem with the plane. After I realized that I was going to miss my connection in Miami I got on the phone with American Airlines. It took 30 minutes of talking, but the airline gods graced me. I was bumped to Business Class on Iberia a late afternoon flight direct from O’Hare into Madrid – perfect.

The plane had nice fold flat seats, though the TVs were out dated and the service…well Spanish. It took 2 hours to get through dinner and though I enjoyed the wine, helado, and a rum night cap, it only left a few hours to sleep since the flight was only 7.5 hours.

Fri, June 26
My flight arrived into Madrid about 45 minutes late, but still earlier than the flight from Miami would have arrived. I slept well but it was only for 3 or 4 hours. It was a breeze to get through customs and pickup my ticket to Alicante; however, the airport monitor did not have a gate for my flight, only the terminal. In the meantime I headed to a electronics store where I was able to get a staple to open my iPhone and fix it. About 30 minutes before my plane was supposed to board the message board showed my flight in another terminal so I had to hop the train and ride out there. Upon arriving my flight was still not listed. Eventually it did get listed and I boarded the flight only to discover that my seat did not exist on the plane!

I passed out on the flight to Alicante and arrived just before landing an hour later. I wandered around and eventually found an ATM and got a hold of Marisa on the phone. Rather than fuss with trying to figure out the bus from the airport into the city, I grabbed a cab to the bus station and arrived 5 minutes before the next bus to Alcoy, which worked out perfect.

It was a bit confusing as to when to get off the bus, but I ended up riding it until the last stop in Alcoy and Marisa and her RA Pau were there to pick me up. He drove us to a Tapas place for a late lunch. From there we went back to Marisa’s residence to drop off my bags and take a quick shower. Pau met back up with us and we went to a museum that while very cheesy, provided me a good overview of Alcoy.

Pau showed us around the Valencia Polytechnic University in Alcoy where Marisa had been studying and then we walked over to the Plaza de Dina for some ice cream. I went crazy and ordered something usual “After Eight” (mint choclate chip). Marisa’s other RA, Rocío, met up with us just as we were leaving and suggested a few place for us to eat. I took a quick nap and caught up on email back at Marisa’s residence before we headed out for dinner, which almost proved to be disasterous. We struggled to find anywhere to eat but eventually ended up back at the Plaza de Dina where we found a place to have some bocadillas, drinks, and dessert. When we got back to the residencia I emailed a few hotels in Pamplona before heading to bed.

Sat, June 27
Happy Birthday to me – 2nd time in two years celebrating my birthday in Spain! Marisa and I went to a little market and bought a ham and cheese and chocolate croissant, which we split for breakfast on our way to meet up with Rocío. She showed us to the base of the hike to the Alcoy Cross where we parted ways. The hike was somewhat strenuous, but nothing too bad and we made it to the top in about 40 minutes. We enjoyed the view, took pictures, climbed up to the cross and then decided to start hiking towards the St. George’s gap. Unfortunately we decided there wasn’t enough time to make it so we headed back into town. After a quick stop at the pharmacy and a little confusion on directions in the city we made it back to the hostal, took showers, and got ready to leave. Shortly before we were supposed to catch a cab the lady at the front desk called and told us our cab wasn’t coming. We scrambled and were not sure if we could make it to the bus stop in time with all of Marisa’s stuff. Thankfully she was able to find another cab for us and with some bocadillas in hand, we headed off to the bus station.

The bus took about 1.5 hours and Juan, our 2nd cousin, picked us up and walked us to his sister-in-law’s apartment where we were staying for the next two nights. An hour or so later we met back up and had met up with the rest of the family over some some horchata, ice cream (para los ninos!), y cafe para otros. Carmita, Grandma Luby’s sister, and her daughters Anita, Carmela, and their familes were there.

We parted ways once again and met back up around 11PM to go see fireworks. On our way we walked through a large medevial fair and then watched the fireworks over the ocean which reminded me of Chicago with all the boats lined up off shore. A little early for the 4th of July, but at least we got to see fireworks. On the walk back we stopped for a drink and returned to the apartment around 2AM.

Sun, June 28
Juan met us at the apartment around 11:30 with Lucía and his wife Rosa picked us up in the car. We headed north to a small beach town, which we explored a bit, but unfortunately the boardwalk was pretty torn up for construction.

We got back in the car and drove to another cousin, Moncho, and his wife’s place which was in the countryside near Altea. Their house was a large ranch style house, with a large old bread oven, as well as orange, lemon, and olive trees in the yard.

Marisa, Juan, Moncho, and I left after a drink and went to nearby restaurant where we waited to pickup the paella. While waiting the bartender gave us some [name of dried tuna] which tasted similar to hamón serrano. Lunch also included salad, bread, wine, muscles, and other food. We finished with watermelon and ice cream, an amazing feast. We walked a bit of it off by hiking up a small hill nearby which provided great views of Altea and the surrounding area. We hung out for a whlle longer, picked some oranges, and lemons and said our goodbyes.

On the way back we stopped in Altea to walk around and see the cathedral and the views. The beach looked gorgeous and it was clear that there were many tourists in town for the weather. We poked our heads into a few shops including one where we saw candles being made and then headed for home. Despite napping in the car we were pretty beat and decided to just hang out in the apartment when we returned.

Mon, June 29
Marisa and I caught up on sleep and woke up after 11AM. We had breakfast at the apartment and then headed out to walk around a bit. We walked along the beach and then took an elevator up to the Sant Barbara Castilla (castle). The views of the city were breathtaking even though the castle was a bit run down and under construction.

We walked down and explored some gardens that Marisa knew about and passed some neat fountains. Alicante’s cathedral was near by, but unfortunately closed so we began making our way back to the apartment with a quick stop at Pan and Company for lunch. We ran into Juan at the grocery store and then cleaned up at the apartment and took off for the train. We loaded up on candy and then boarded for the ride to Cordoba via Ciudad – Real. Unfortunately our seats were behind a group of HS boys who were loud and working quite hard at flirting with a group of girls on the train.
We arriving in Cordoba and taking a cab to the Hotel it was 11:30PM so we decided to call it a night and just get an early start the next morning. The Hotel Mezquita proved to be quite nice with art on the wall and an awesome view of the Cathedral from our hallway window.

Tue, June 30
We woke up early and walked…across the street and into the Mezquita. If you enter before 9:30 (morning mass), entrance is free. The Mezquita is a Mosque that was built in 9???. 120 years after the Christians conquered Cordoba they ripped out the center of the Mosqure and built a Cathedral. The building was very impressive, with hundreds of thin pillars holding up the mosqure and then a large cathedral rising out of the center of the building. Definitely worth the visit.

After leaving the Mezquita it was starting to get hot and we strolled down towards the Roman Arch and the bridge across the river. Unfortunately when we looked back at the Mezquita the picturesque view was partially obstructed by a construction crane.

Alcazar, Jewish Neighborhood, Homeboy, Synagogue, Old Wall, Came back

Burger King

Booked stuff

Short nap

Walked around again, Homeboy 2, weird people in fountain, 40 degress shade, 44 degress sun, Sant Marina, walked back down to the water to see water wheel, but construction blocking, stopped at some stores and headed back to hotel.

Showered, dinner at El Churassco, wild boar, 5 pepper meat, bottle of tinto, brownie, ice cream along way home

Wed, July 1
Woke up early, cab to train station, booked a few train rides, not enough time to book all, no time for food, time for coke,

Arrived Sevilla and took a cab to Husa Los Seises

Dropped off bags and headed to check out cathedral, sat down for bocadillas and sangria, met Concepcion for Cathedral tour, wandered ourselves, tower

Went to see if we could get food from Nuns, napped for 1hr, rick steeves tour of Sant Barbara, then Lonely Planet walking tour of city through the shopping district, along water, past tower day oro, and back to hotel

Quick dip in pool and looked at cathedral from pool, showered, decided for a relaxing night and went to San Miquel? Pizzaría, pitcher sangria, walked to free internet spot, booked hostel for Segovia and emailed San Sebastian, grabbed 40 of beer on way back to hotel, relaxed

Thurs, July 2
Got breakfast at spot that’s been around for since 1300’s
Tried to get cookies from Nuns
Went to meet with Concepcion for cultural tour, she was late b/c of hospital
Walked along shopping district, city hall, and she started to faint, layed down, said she was fine but by cathedral it was clear she was not
Abondoned tour, went to lunch at same place as yesterday, booked flamenco for the evening, cookies from nuns, came back and did alcazar tour with her partner, very good, walked around gardens
bocadillas and sangria, Walked over to plaza espana, got VERY hot
2 hour nap back at hotel
Went to city hall to get free WiFi and continue booking hotels
Tried to get tapas at a palce listed in the book, looked authentic, but not sit down place, tired so went back to Square and had tapas at a place we’d passed a number of times
Went to Los Gallos Flamenco show at 10:30, it was a smaller venue than the one I had gone to in Barcelona. Trade off of guy girl, then finally of group, probably could have been 30 minutes shorter, but good overcall

Fri, July 3
KTmack in Sevilla, but the timing didn’t really workout to meat up. MTG and I took a taxi to the Las Armas Bus Station and then took the bus to Italica to see the Roman ruins. The ruins were alright, but the real winner was the forum which reportedly could have set somewhere between 20-30,000 people and was one of the largest in the roman empire.

We took the bus back to the bus station, grabbed lunch across the street in what appeared to be an old railway station, before grabbing a cab to the train station. Booked tickets for the rest of the trip and moved on.
Relaxed in the hot station before boarding the Ave to Madrid, had to get to Chmaartin train station, turned out not to be free, but managed to get there all right, train station a bit crowded…but managed to get on train to Segovia

Arrived Segovia, boarded bus to downtown, wasn’t quite sure when to get off, but figured it out. Walked up to the top of the aqueduct with packs on, took picture continued though old town to main square and checked in to our hotel.

Showered, shaved, and walked to castle for sunset, returned to main square to look for a place to get dinner, finally settled on a place and mtg and I both had Italian. Walked around a bit more, grabbed some ice cream, and called it a night after trying to email / call mom / dad.

Sat, July 4
Segovia
Woke up, emailed mom, looked into some train info for Mom and MTG’s later. Got pastries at a shop rick steves had mentioned and then put bags in storage and checked out of hotel.

Saw cathedral, walked down to Alcazar, toured, walked back to Aqueduct, pictures, sandwiches, walked back to hotel, got in touch with mom, walked back to aqueduct and found bus. Bus almost rolled away! Boarded train for San Sebastian, train running late, saved guy from getting off at wrong stop, finally figured out that the trai was running ~35 minutes late
Walked from train to hotel
Arrived, had dinner on main square walked around a bit, to harbor, lots of HS aged kids drinking, kinda weird, explored as much as we felt comfortable, but eventually just called it a night

Sun, July 5
Still overcast in the morning, but headed out, explored the castle for most of the morning including museum, great views of the harbor and surrounding area

Walked down the long way and continued exploring
Walked along beach boardwalk, had lunch overlooking the harbor
Talked to Americans who were headed to Pamplona, word was that it was going to be a crowded bus, went to bus station and bought tickets

Returned to hotel, booked Madrid hotels, napped, went out on boardwalk and read for a bit

Came back to hotel, showered, headed to main square, tapas, beer, then went for a walk and got ice cream, saw an area of the city we hadn’t seen, walked around board walk back to hotel, came back, played on internet, called it a night


Mon, July 6
MTG and I woke up early and walked about 20 minutes to the Bus station
It was a zoo, difficult to figure out which bus was ours to Pamplona, but eventually figured it out after some pushing and shoving

1hr bus ride was noisy, particularly one loud spainard

Arrived and with a little difficulty found our hotel, nice, but A/C not working and right on the main strip of bars – loud
Headed out for 12:00 start of festivities, people already hammered, switched from linen shirt to one we just purchased, cheap 6 euro,

Sprayed with shaving cream, sangria, champagne, beer, mustard, etc as festivities began, big jumbo tron, thousands of people,

Finished off 1.5 liter bottle of sangria, wandered and found grocery store where we found supplies and made our selves sandwiches w/ little school boy cookies for dessert

Headed back to hotel, napped, I showered, checked email and headed back out

Wandered the route of the bulls, tried to find possible spots for watching, found running of bulls statue, got food watched big heads, street performers, etc found candy, popcorn and drinks, tried to go see bull fight

Headed back to hotel, watched wall-e, put on warmer clothes, went out and watched amazing fireworks, came back and attempted to sleep

Tue, July 7
Rough night of sleep, very loud, people partying all night, woke up at 5:40 to get ready to find a spot, grabbed some bocadillas at the candy place, and headed to find a spot.
Went through a few places before deciding on the far side of the course near the city call, MTG got a seat on the fence and I secured a spot at the post, waited 1.5 2 hours, people filled the middle area, getting ready to run, made friends with girls next to us, unfortunately they weren’t going to have as good of a spot, tthey talked to a drunk guy who they sort of blew off who ended up having a balcony overlooking it all!
Bulls went quickly, steer a minute or so later, then walked path behind everything. Walked around, saw a handful of people get carted off in ambulances, returned to hotel,
MTG, napped, I downloaded picts and took a quick nap, showered, gathered our stuff up and headed out to 10am San Fermin procession, big heads, clergy, and others. Stopped in at bakery, wanderd back to grocery store, but it was closed, not much else we wanted to see, gathered bags, hung out at hotel briefly and then headed to train to try to change tickets – expensive so we napped in park, but ultimately decided that we didn’t want to wait 6.5hrs for our train so we upgrade to preferente class and grabbed a burger
Turns our they serve food in 1st class trains, but probably not worth the extra cost
Arrived, took the metro to Plaza del Sol and found hotel, metup with mom
Took a nap and had dinner on Plaza Mayor, not great, but nice to have some sangria overlooking the plaza
Came back to the hotel and played on the internet looking up a few things

Wed, July 8
Breakfast chocolate and churros at Sin Grado We went to Prado, park, break, shopping, dinner in the square