"Mediterranean at Dusk" is my crayon color of choice
I had a beautiful weekend. It was quite random with much time spent on buses, but I enjoyed it thoroughly. Laura and I traveled to Andalucia to meet up with my friend Carlos to go to a Feria in Jaen. We set out on Thursday night at 9:30 to catch a bus from Madrid to Malaga. Laura, being her usual self, got confused and made us take a later bus than we had intended to take. The result was that we had to run around the bus station in order to find our bus in time. I have decided that Laura is the best-worst travel companion ever. She is incapable of helping with any of the practical parts of traveling, so much so that we've decided that I'm pretty much traveling with a toddler; however, her company is so great that I love traveling with her despite her short comings. We have a blast together and are able to be as ridiculous as we feel like being.
Our night bus ended up being a rather horrible experience. We got on the one crazy bus in all of Europe that requires everyone to get off the bus when it stops during the middle of the night. Our plan was to rest on the bus so that we wouldn't have to get a hostel. Unfortunately, we were rudely awakened twice to climb off the bus into the cold to wait for twenty minutes. I even asked the Spaniards around us if this was normal procedure and they assured me that they'd never had this sort of problem before. We got into Malaga at 7:00 in the morning without any concrete plans for the day. We found a bus to the city center and started to explore. We headed up a hill toward the anciennt stone walls of the Alcazaba, and ended up by a castle on a hill. As we climbed, we watched the sunrise over the Mediteranean. We got to the castle right as it opened and got to explore its walls in peace. After the castle, we headed to the Alcazaba which is an ancient Moorish fortress in the middle of the city. On the side of the Alcazaba were the remains of a Roman theater. After walking around the cathedral and stopping in two free museums, we caught a bus to Nerja.
Nerja is a quaint little coastal city. I went swimming in the sea and slept on the beach for a bit. Later, Laura and I went to the caves outside the city which are home to the largest stalagtite known to man. The caves were awe-inspring, although filled with far too many tourists. When we returned from the caves, we explored the city and returned to the beach to enjoy the sea until the sun set. As we walked along the sea wall, I got to see the most amazing shade of blue as the color of the sea darkened with the growing shadows.
The next day I got myself up early to go swim in the sea once more, because I wasn't sure if I'm going to have another chance. I was very cold as I walked through the almost deserted streets, but the waves felt wonderful in spite of the chill. Afterwards, we had to rush once again to catch the only morning bus to Granada. We didn't have any time to explore Granada, because we immediatly needed to catch a bus to Jaen, where the feria was.
We met up with Carlos, his wife, and his business partner Vim at the entrance to the feria. Ferias in Spain are very similar to fairs in the USA, except that people are dancing the Sevillana in polka-dotted dresses and horses pass buy carrying individuals in traditional garb. Oh, and the food is way better. We ate paella that was prepared in giant pans. It was delicious but I still struggled to eat all of the seafood in it. After a bit of time at the Feria, we drove up to the castle and the cross up on the hill above the city. We stopped for a drink in the Parador which is part of the chain of historic buildings that the government turned into five star hotels.
Later, we drove back to Granada to explore for a bit. We stopped for drinks again, before stumbling across a medieval fair of sorts. We got accosted by these fake beggars in period garb who startled Carlos's wife so much that she actually yelped. It was very funny. I wished I'd had more time to explore the fair, but it was getting late so we soon headed back to Linares where our friends live. Since we couldn't find a hostel because of it being a long weekend, they offered to let us stay at their house. These people are some of the nicest, most interesting people that I've ever met. They wouldn't even let us pay for anything.We had great conversations about all the topics known to mankind. They all grew up in Holland, but have lived here in Spain for a year and a half. At one point, we got them to teach us a few phrases in Dutch which was very entertaining. After hearing them converse fluently in three different languages over the course of the weekend, I have decided that I really want to learn at least one more language at some point in my life.
The next morning we went out for chocolate con churros before heading to Ubeda. Ubeda is a adorable city with great churches and historical cites everywhere you look. Unfortunately, Laura and I had to catch a bus back to Madrid at 3, so we had to cut our visit pretty short. For a while, it looked like we weren't going to have a seat on the bus, but with some fanangling on Carlos's part we eventually got on. However, I had to sit in the front fold down seat that is usually reserved for bus employees. Thankfully, the bus driving was very nice although hard to understand.
In a lot of ways, this weekend was more low-key than normal, which was very refreshing. Sitting casually with our Spanish friends just eating and conversing made me feel like I truly do live here. I will have more time in my life to do the crazy tourist thing, but who knows if I'll ever get another chance to experience living in another country.
Our night bus ended up being a rather horrible experience. We got on the one crazy bus in all of Europe that requires everyone to get off the bus when it stops during the middle of the night. Our plan was to rest on the bus so that we wouldn't have to get a hostel. Unfortunately, we were rudely awakened twice to climb off the bus into the cold to wait for twenty minutes. I even asked the Spaniards around us if this was normal procedure and they assured me that they'd never had this sort of problem before. We got into Malaga at 7:00 in the morning without any concrete plans for the day. We found a bus to the city center and started to explore. We headed up a hill toward the anciennt stone walls of the Alcazaba, and ended up by a castle on a hill. As we climbed, we watched the sunrise over the Mediteranean. We got to the castle right as it opened and got to explore its walls in peace. After the castle, we headed to the Alcazaba which is an ancient Moorish fortress in the middle of the city. On the side of the Alcazaba were the remains of a Roman theater. After walking around the cathedral and stopping in two free museums, we caught a bus to Nerja.
Nerja is a quaint little coastal city. I went swimming in the sea and slept on the beach for a bit. Later, Laura and I went to the caves outside the city which are home to the largest stalagtite known to man. The caves were awe-inspring, although filled with far too many tourists. When we returned from the caves, we explored the city and returned to the beach to enjoy the sea until the sun set. As we walked along the sea wall, I got to see the most amazing shade of blue as the color of the sea darkened with the growing shadows.
The next day I got myself up early to go swim in the sea once more, because I wasn't sure if I'm going to have another chance. I was very cold as I walked through the almost deserted streets, but the waves felt wonderful in spite of the chill. Afterwards, we had to rush once again to catch the only morning bus to Granada. We didn't have any time to explore Granada, because we immediatly needed to catch a bus to Jaen, where the feria was.
We met up with Carlos, his wife, and his business partner Vim at the entrance to the feria. Ferias in Spain are very similar to fairs in the USA, except that people are dancing the Sevillana in polka-dotted dresses and horses pass buy carrying individuals in traditional garb. Oh, and the food is way better. We ate paella that was prepared in giant pans. It was delicious but I still struggled to eat all of the seafood in it. After a bit of time at the Feria, we drove up to the castle and the cross up on the hill above the city. We stopped for a drink in the Parador which is part of the chain of historic buildings that the government turned into five star hotels.
Later, we drove back to Granada to explore for a bit. We stopped for drinks again, before stumbling across a medieval fair of sorts. We got accosted by these fake beggars in period garb who startled Carlos's wife so much that she actually yelped. It was very funny. I wished I'd had more time to explore the fair, but it was getting late so we soon headed back to Linares where our friends live. Since we couldn't find a hostel because of it being a long weekend, they offered to let us stay at their house. These people are some of the nicest, most interesting people that I've ever met. They wouldn't even let us pay for anything.We had great conversations about all the topics known to mankind. They all grew up in Holland, but have lived here in Spain for a year and a half. At one point, we got them to teach us a few phrases in Dutch which was very entertaining. After hearing them converse fluently in three different languages over the course of the weekend, I have decided that I really want to learn at least one more language at some point in my life.
The next morning we went out for chocolate con churros before heading to Ubeda. Ubeda is a adorable city with great churches and historical cites everywhere you look. Unfortunately, Laura and I had to catch a bus back to Madrid at 3, so we had to cut our visit pretty short. For a while, it looked like we weren't going to have a seat on the bus, but with some fanangling on Carlos's part we eventually got on. However, I had to sit in the front fold down seat that is usually reserved for bus employees. Thankfully, the bus driving was very nice although hard to understand.
In a lot of ways, this weekend was more low-key than normal, which was very refreshing. Sitting casually with our Spanish friends just eating and conversing made me feel like I truly do live here. I will have more time in my life to do the crazy tourist thing, but who knows if I'll ever get another chance to experience living in another country.