Why did I choose Spain? Because I fell in love with the language. It is just beautiful. No, I don’t understand the language. I did try to learn it but I am still in “Hola, como esta?” stage. I have not really improved from there. One goal I did bring back from my trip or say one more item added to my bucket list is to really learn Spanish in the coming year. A promise to myself that I need to keep.
I watched a video of Tomatina festival in Valencia few years ago and I new I wanted to participate in it. That was another reason I wanted to go to Spain. Well, I could not really make it to the festival but I got to see lot of other parts of the country.
Why I chose the three cities that I visited?
- Madrid: I wanted to go to Seville. So, it was cheaper to fly to Madrid and take a train from there to Seville
- Seville: This customer at my brother’s coffeeshop told me I must go to Seville, if I am ever in Spain. And I thought, why not?
- Barcelona: Nope, not for Gaudi. I did not realize everything in this city is Gaudi influenced until I got there. I went there simply because I love the name of the city
What I remember from these three cities?
- Loved the taste of my first tapas at Plaza de San Miguel
- Enjoyed the night eating gelato, watching people and listening to a guy singing a beautiful song at Plaza Mayor
- The early morning walk to Parque de El Retiro through those cobbled stones road
Seville
- The taste of an old city, the art, the history
- Getting lost everywhere. Especially the night when I had a plan to go see the Flamenco dance. I was litte buzzed and did not know which direction I was suppose to go. I was probably lost for few hours and unfortunately, missed the dance
- Uhmmm, getting lost for few horus trying to find the post office. You should never assume that every country will have a red building for Post Office. On top of that, it was not called “La Poste” as I assumed. Instead it was called “Correos”
- Numerous food order mishaps. Language was definitely a problem at restaurants
- Place D’espagne — Loved it
- Almost missing my flight due to irregular bus schedule. Luckily got acquainted with couple of people at the bus station and hailed a cab to the airport. Phewwwww
Barcelona
- Met some amazing people: Danny + his girlfriend from England; Lisa + her friend from Australia; Johnny, the English dude; John from San Francisco and Angel
- Shopping to make Spanish Omelete. Thanks Angel for teaching us!
- Bike tour around Barcelona. And ofcourse, falling off of bike not when I was riding it but when I was at the stop. Blood was flowing from my left knee and right shin. It ws not a pretty picture. Plus, there was no pharmacies around.
- Sagrada Familia — No matter how crowded it was and how busy it was, I still found it very peaceful, serene and beautiful
- Best food in Spain I have had
Musings & etc. 