My adventures over the last few weeks

I know it's been a while since I have posted! The last few weeks have been very busy with Mom & Dad's visit, then mid-terms, then John's visit. So I'll catch you up on the last few weeks now!

Barcelona with Mom & Dad
When my parents got into Spain, I met them in Barcelona for the weekend. We stayed at the very nice Hotel Arts on the beach in Port Olimpic. Our first afternoon we spent walking around the beach and Las Ramblas, then back through the Placa Catalunya and the center to our hotel.

On Saturday morning, we woke up to torrential rain, so we decided to use the hop-on, hop-off sightseeing bus to get around the city. Our first stops were to see some of Gaudi's residential works in L'Eixample.

Later we went to La Sagrada Familia, by far the most impressive church (and one of the most impressive buildings, period) that I have ever seen. I always knew the level of detail that it has on the outside, but I never knew how spectacular it is inside! The museum below the church was also really interesting.

Then we had lunch in the Boqueria market. The market itself is huge with loads of fresh fish, fruit, vegetables and meat. It would definitely be a good place to shop if you lived there. And the menu del dia for lunch was delicious!

On Sunday we headed to the opposite side of town to go to Parc Güell. We hiked around up there and saw some awesome views of the city out to the sea. It was a great way to end my weekend in Barcelona!

Mom & Dad's weekend in Sevilla

The next weekend my parents came to Sevilla and I showed them all of the sights - La Catedral, Real Alcazar, Plaza de España, etc. I left most of the photo-taking up to them, so I don't have many pictures to show for it.

We did do something that was new for me as well. We took a tour of the Plaza de Toros, the bullfighting arena of Sevilla. It was really interesting and we learned a lot about the history of bullfighting in Sevilla, which is one of the premier locations in the world for this. I'm hoping to see a fight once the season starts on Easter Sunday, even though I think it may be difficult to watch.

John's visit to Sevilla

This weekend, John came for a very brief but fun trip to Sevilla. Over the course of the weekend I also showed him all the major sights in Sevilla. On Friday afternoon, we took the train down to Cadiz and spent the day on the beach. There were some weird deja-vu moments from Carnival, but the city really is beautiful and I'm glad we went down there.

I had a great time having everyone in town, and I'm so glad that they were able to come and visit! It was great seeing everyone! This weekend I'm headed to the Canary Islands, so look for a post about that trip next week!

Cádiz Carnival

On Saturday I headed to Cádiz (a city on the coast about a 1 1/2 hour drive from Sevilla) for what is one of the world's largest Carnival celebrations.

My friends and I bought some wigs and face paint to be our costumes for the night. The costumes range from very well thought-out and intricate homemade ones, to typical store-bought outfits, to just face paint. Halloween isn't really celebrated much in Spain, so Carnival is their main opportunity to get all dressed up in costume.

We left for Cádiz around eight o'clock on Saturday and got back around 8:00 a.m. Sunday morning, so it was a long night, but I had an awesome time! Our bus dropped us off in one of the main plazas of the city, where hundreds of buses full of people from Sevilla, Granada, Malaga and other close cities come in for the night. The whole city shuts down to host the celebration, and it really is something cool to experience.

During the day there are parades and other events, and there is a stage with performances during the day and night. At night, the whole city becomes one big botellón, which pretty much just means drinking in the streets. We wandered around the city until we reached the main plaza of the celebration, near the catedral. We also took a little trip up to the beach, which was nice. I can't wait to come back to the beach in a few weeks and enjoy it!

Our night at Carnival in Cádiz was so much fun and it was definitely a night I will always remember! And I think I look pretty good with long purple hair!