Spain

Our time in Spain ended yesterday afternoon. It was an insanely full four days so I'll just jump right in from the beginning.

Jonathan and I woke up early on Wednesday morning expecting to watch the ship pull into port. We were surprised to look out the window, though, and see city lights. We were both so relieved to see land, and anxious to explore. I was speechless but Jonathan managed a simple “We're here!”
So we ate breakfast on the ship and watched the sun rise over Cádiz. It takes a long time to release everyone from the ship so I had a couple of hours to let the anticipation build before being set loose.

Historians say that Cádiz is probably the oldest town on the Iberian Peninsula (possibly as old as 1104 BC). It's small and quiet (“quaint” might be a good word). I spent the first few hours walking with a big group, amused by the skinny alleys streets and learning how to dodge traffic. We walked through a cool public park, saw some parrots, took a route by the bay. It didn't take long to realize that it's hard to keep a 20-person group together in a new city, so I broke off along with Jonathan, a guy called Tim (also from Chapman), and a girl called Cara (from San Francisco, who goes to UC Davis). We were hungry and now it's time for the food paragraph.

Spain has got it down, foodwise. Their approach and eating schedule is snack-centric and very cool. There is only one big meal per day (lunch) and Spaniards surround it with light meals and snacking sessions throughout the day. Snacks are called “tapas” and it's normal to go from restaurant to restaurant, ordering small plates of food. All the food we had during all four days was great, even if I just put my finger down on a menu and ordered blindly. Some of my favorites: croquetas (bullet shaped breaded snacks filled with potatoes and fish or pork), fantastic cheeses, a variety of great pastas, sandwiches, breads, chocolate con churros (a common breakfast item – churros with powdered sugar, dipped in rich melted chocolate), gelato, fancy cake, tomatoey meaty cheesy garlicy explosively yummy everything. Spain's bars are family-friendly and the waiters were pretty patient with us. I will miss it all.

Cádiz has a beautiful cathedral. It's about 70 meters tall and we took the stone spiral staircase to the top of one of the bell towers and looked down on the whole city. (I got some great photos and I can't wait to show them). Nearby the cathedral is an excavation site of Roman ruins, onto which they've built glass walkways.

We spent the rest of the first day exploring Cádiz's roads and beach area. Bob, the ship's audio/video guy, plays guitar fantastically and we heard him play with a jazz group in a bar in the evening. It was a simple day but it was exciting all the same.

Thursday was the beginning of our trip to Barcelona. It was a total fiasco every step of the way. A group of us (seven total) booked our flight and hostel together. We planned our departure for the airport  poorly and not everyone got the memo that our departure time had changed. So we stressed about finding everyone, hoping to not be late for the bus to the airport. Right when we finally got everyone together and found the right bus, it pulled away and no amount of waving and shouting would make it stop. We ended up piling into two taxis. We got to the airport with plenty of time to spare, but due to confusion with the online flight check-in, Taylor didn't make it on the flight. The worst part was that he was the last to try to board, so we didn't get a chance to talk to him about what he would do (since our seats were scattered throughout the flight, some of our group didn't even know he was missing until we arrived in Barcelona). I knew, and it was the worst flight ever. (Taylor ended up coming the next day, and he had a very positive attitude about the whole thing. Cool guy.) After we all got off the plane and freaked out about Taylor, we were faced with finding our hostel. After spending 40 minutes on a train which we weren't sure was the right one, we wandered around the Gothic portion of Barcelona for about 90 minutes. The hostel should have been a ten-minute walk from the train station, but we just kept on barely missing the right street. I think we asked a total of 7 people and a cop for directions but it turned out to be two French candy store owners who were able to really help.

Finally at the hostel, we dropped off our stuff and got in touch with Taylor by email. I was breathing a little easier at that point.

We spent the evening and night exploring the city and restaurant hopping. I really didn't know what to expect from Barcelona. It turns out to be a lot like New York City: busy, noisy, and awake all the time. It's funny how casually Spain seems to treat their ancient buildings. They build the modern urban stores and streets right up to their historical sites, as if a 17th century cathedral is an inconvenience that has to be accommodated. Barcelona was a little shocking after the previous day in quiet Cádiz. There was a 9-story store that puts our Wal-Marts to shame. We got back to the hostel at 12:30 a.m. after getting lost for an hour, even with a map.

Our second day in Barcelona was a lot less hectic. After breakfast at the hostel and a quick chocolate con churros, we spent some time in the Picasso museum, which was very inspiring and cool. It's one of his largest collections in the world, and along with displaying his finished works, also shows many of his sketches and sculptures. Afterwards, we took the underground metro to Park Güell, which was designed by Antoni Gaudí and is beautiful. It's worth Googling. Our time there was a very welcome breather. I recorded some audio and we finally got to just sit and take it easy for a little bit. We also met up with Taylor, who was a very welcome sight.

We took the metro to the 'Sagrada Familia', which is a breathtaking cathedral that is still under construction.  Gaudí worked on it for years until his death. His planning began in 1884, and it is scheduled to be completed in 2026. It's really impossible to describe...definitely look it up because it's magnificent.

The rest of the day was spent eating (the food is so, so good) and walking around the harbor area of town. We returned to the hostel for a quick siesta in the evening, and got to know our roommates (four English girls about our age). We traded slang words and tried to prove stereotypes wrong. We all left the hostel at around midnight, accidentally walked through a pretty sleazy part of town on the way back (I can tell you more about that in person), wandered into a nightclub on the pier, and got back to the hostel at 4:00 a.m. for a well-deserved two hours of sleep. Our train, plane, and taxis the next morning didn't give us any trouble on the way back to Cádiz. We spent our final few hours in Cádiz before boarding the ship. I actually grew really attached to Spain in only four days, and felt sad to leave. Overall, everyone there was very welcoming and gracious. Spain was probably the perfect country to visit first, because we learned a ton of lessons about traveling independently and our mistakes were without major consequences. The biggest lessons I learned were (1) partner up with a “buddy” who will look out for you and vice versa, (2) learn how to say “Excuse me” and “ship” in every language, (3) rely on people rather than maps and ticket machines to get around, and (4) heed all warnings about dangerous areas of cities, even if you've felt safe everywhere else.

Thanks for sticking with me through this massive post...I know it's a lot to take in at once, because it was a lot to take in throughout four days. Right now we're sitting in Gibraltar while the ship refuels, and planning our time in Morocco.

A side note: I feel pretty cut off from current events. If anyone has a moment, would you comment with the most important news headline you've read in the last week or so? That will help me feel like I still in touch and not too lost in this ship bubble. I'm especially interested in what Obama has been doing, whether Apple is surviving without Steve, and if anyone mentions LOST we will not be friends anymore.

Love to everyone!