Rome with Steve

Hola,

Soon to come, as suggested by Steve, is Steve and Monica’s Survival Guide to Rome and Florence.  Get excited for that ha. First stop from the Malaga Airport was Madrid and then a few minutes later we were on our way to Rome!

We were very intimidated by Rome at first because we could not figure out the airport.  We ended up at abandoned turnstiles when trying to find Steve’s checked baggage.  This lead to us having to ask multiple people for directions with me speaking Spanish and them responding in Italian.  We found his baggage about an hour of struggling later.   We then had to figure out how to get to our hostel from the airport, which was also confusing.  We ended taking a van through the train service booth? Still not sure how that all happened but we got there safe and the van ended up being great because we got to drive through room at night and see the coliseum all lit up.

We stayed at a hostel called “Cristina’s Place” and if anyone plans on traveling to Rome I HIGHLY recommend it. The owner, Fidel, is so nice and so helpful.  He’s originally from Nigeria and speaks perfect English, which was extremely helpful to us, especially the first night.  On the first night he gave us a map of Rome and circled all the important sites, nearest restaurants, and what areas were the est for going out at night.  That night we got some pasta for dinner, and realized how expensive it is to eat in Italy.  Although, we figured out some tricks to save a few euros here and there and luckily Florence was a little cheaper.

We spent our first day in Rome primarily in Vatican City.  We went to St. Peter’s Square and the Vatican Museum mainly.  At St. Peter’s we went up to the top of the basilica's dome first.  There we over looked all of Rome.  The city is so massive with so many important monuments and sites and we could see almost all of them from that one viewpoint which was pretty awesome.  After we went into the church and then began the search for our Palm Sunday tickets, which we ended up not finding until we left the Vatican Museum. 

We went into the Vatican Museum expecting some sculptures here and there and then the Sistine Chapel…Man were we wrong!  The museum was gorgeous and is basically a collection of all the treasures, paintings, and sculptures given to each pope throughout history.  There was so much and it was so gorgeous that by the time you saw the Sistine Chapel at the end we were just kind of like “it’s nice”.  It was beautiful, don’t get me wrong, but there were prettier murals and ceilings that we saw along the way.  We also got a kick out of the security guards in the chapel that stoop on platforms and barked “silenceeeee” “noo photos”.  Couldn’t help but laugh and it just furthered tempted you to take photos.

After the Vatican Museum and lunch at a sandwich shop we finally found the “bronze doors” where we were suppose to grab the tickets we had reserved for the Palm Sunday with the Pope.  At the door was one of the Swiss Guards.  Their uniforms are hilarious making it hard to take the seriously.  Please google image it for a good laugh.

Once the tickets were in hand we visited the Pantheon and the Trevy Fountain and few other plazas on our way back.  We had to walk back and forth from our hostel to Vatican City (about an hour walk) because the metro workers were on strike that day.  But we saw so much more of the city by walking and loved exploring the little side streets so we ended up walking everyday except to go out at night and to see the Pope Sunday morning.

Side note is that my camera officially stopped working Friday afternoon as we were making our way through different plazas on our way back home.  Luckily, Steve brought his point and shoot digital camera on the trip along with his fancy one.  He’s letting me borrow his point and shoot for the rest of my semester so that I don’t have to buy a new camera while here.

On Saturday, we toured the coliseum, forum, and palatine hill.  Its one ticket to see all three and after getting my budget stubborn self to agree we put extra money into the coliseum so that we could get a guided tour which included also going to the basement and the third level of the coliseum.   It was so worth because for the extra money we paid we left understanding so much about the coliseum’s history and got to see so much more than we would have with the general ticket.

The forum and palatine hill are both in one entrance and we were there until close still trying to fit some last minute pictures in, especially because the sun was starting to set giving us perfect photo ops.  And by us I really mean Steve with his fancy camera.  His photos are the ones to see.

Saturday night was when we decided to hit up the nightlife.  We went to the plaza that Fidel suggested Campi de Fiori.  During the day the plaza is all open markets but at night its filled with hundreds of people bouncing from bar to bar.  There are no open container laws in Italy so most of the places would put your drinks in plastic cups so that you could leave after you paid to go hang in the plaza with the masses or bounce to another bar.  We did a little of both, but we had to be smart about because drinks in Italy were so expensive, especially compared to Spain.  In Spain you can get a beer for 2 euros or less and it comes with tapas (food), in Rome Steve’s beer cost him 6 euros :O  We ended our night out with some delicious and alcoholic crepes.  Who would’ve thought that existed?

A few hours later we woke up to see the Pope… ha woooops.  We didn’t get there early enough to have seats but we were in the standing room area and when the Pope came by in his jeep at the end we were less than 10 feet away! We even saw him kiss a baby #classic.  Being in St.Peter’s square for the service was crazy because it felt as though the whole world was there.  There were so many different flags (We sadly didn’t think to bring an American flag and didn’t see anyone else with one while we were there) and we heard so many languages.  The service was all in Italian so we didn’t understand it, but we clapped when everyone else clapped.  The craziest part was that they offer communion to the entire audience which was crazy.  We stepped back so that people who really wanted it (people were trying to climb over each other to get ot it) could.

To end our time in Rome we went to Campi de Fiori during the day to check out the open market.  There we got some really fresh fruit cups and enjoyed live music and people watching.  That afternoon we left the perfect weather in Rome to visit the gorgeous city, Florence, with its not so perfect weather.

Alhambra, Festival Primavera, and Madrid and Granada with Steve

Hola,

I've been slacking on the blog a bit so now its catch up time! I'll write multiple posts today so that it's not one huge post (break it up a little for ya)

Alhambra/Festival Primavera

On Thursday, March 14th I finally got to go inside the Alhambra.  The Alhambra is an old islamic palace that is the main attraction of Granada.  It's part of what makes this city so beautiful as you can see it from most places in Granada.  We got to go inside the palace and to the gardens of the General-Life, which is another part of the Alhambra complex.  The complex that is the Alhambra is so big that it takes up a section of the city on the map.  Not only are the gardens and the palace gorgeous, but from the Alhambra you get the best views of Granada because its so high up (its a steep uphill walk to get there).

The next day was Festival Primavera in Spain, which basically marks when the all the boletones (public drinking areas) open up in each city.  Granada's happens to be down the street from me.  I went during the day and it was CRAZY with thousands of people packed into one giant parking lot.  I couldn't stay out at night because I had to go to a Tango performance with one of my classes and then go pick up Ranger Steve! :) Actually it wasn't that easy.  I went to the Tango show until about 11, walked with my friend to her house because she lives much closer than me to the the bus station, and then later walked to from her house to the bus station to catch my 2 am bus (Saturday).  It was then a 5 1/2 hour bus ride to the Madrid Airport where I met Steve an hour later.  Was definitely worth it, because traveling with him has been the highlight of my semester.

Madrid

On Saturday the poor jet lagged kid had no time to rest.  We went to the Prado Museum, Palacio Real, and a Real Madrid game his first day in Europe...  Not too shabby.  It was my second time to the Prado and the palace but my first time to a Real game.  The Prado is one of my favorite museums and Steve really enjoyed it too.  We spent about half the day there and then headed to palace.  The inside of the palace is gorgeous and giant, my house would probably fit in its dining room ha.  And we also visited the royal armory as a part of our palace ticket.  It's crazy the amount of detail that was put into the designs on the armor, the weapons, and the ceilings of each room of the palace.  In each museum and palace we visited the murals on the ceilings were always my favorite.  I feel like I walked through all of them with my head strait up.

After three trips to Spain I finally made it to a Real Madrid game and was finally in the same vicinity as Cristiano Ronaldo <3  It was against Mallorca and should have been a blow out by Madrid but it ended up being a really good game.  Mallorca lead for the majority of the first half and then Madrid tied it up going into halftime.  After the half Madrid scored two goals right off the bat and then lead from there.  The final score was 5-2.The next day, we spent the morning in an open market in La Latina (a section of Madrid) and then headed back to Granada that afternoon.

Granada

Carmen let Steve live and eat was us for his three days in Granada in exchange for an alex and ani bracelet.  They aren't popular in Europe yet and she loves the two I have (He brought her a matching UConn one).  We got to Carmen's around 9 had some of her amazing food for dinner and then met everyone at Hannigans for some St. Patty's day fun.

For the three days Steve was here and I had classes and midterms, but we were still able to fit a lot in before leaving for Italy.  His first full day here was my birthday (March 18) and we spent the afternoon at the Alhambra.  They were sold out of palace tickets but we were able to go into the gardens and up Alcazaba which the tower and highest point of the Alhambra.  We got some great pictures there (all on Steve's camera)  In general it was a great day for the Alhambra because we had picture perfect weather, unlike the following day.  That night we went out with my friend Greg to Cafe Futbol for some birthday churros, cakes, sangria, and Alhambra Especial (a beer brewed in Granada).

The next day was cloudy all morning and then it down poured all afternoon and night.  I love Granada but since we walk everywhere it really stinks when it rains.  It was suppose to be our hiking day and we were able to fit one in before the down pour.  We hiked up to Sacromonte which looks over all of Granada including the Alhambra.  We then explored some of the paths that break off from there.  We made it back down as it was starting to down pour.  We went to Burger King for lunch only so that we could have beers with our burgers.  Yes, all the fast food places in Europe serve beer :)  We then sadly took advantage of the washed out day by me studying for my midterms that were the following day, Steve working on his wildlife project (due the day he left Europe to go back home) and taking breaks to plan Rome.  I was also able to to show him different parts of the city during the small breaks in the rain.

For Steve's final day in Rome we spent the afternoon at the Arab Bathes.
http://granada.hammamalandalus.com/
It was so relaxing! There were three different baths (warm, hot, and cold) and a sauna, along with tea and massages.  It was the first time either of us had been in a spa time place and the first time either of us had received professional massages.  We loved it!  That night after dinner we went with the rest of the UConn group to a flamenco version of the Passion of the Christ, which ended up being much better than we had expected.

Strait from the performance we all went to tapas and then to Granada10.  This was the highlight of Steve being in Granada because we never have the opportunity to go out and dance back home between our two work schedules.  It was great to dance all night :) What was a little less fun was waking up three hours later to catch our bus to the Malaga Airport, which started our trip to Italy!!

My weekend in Cordoba, Merida, and Sevilla

Hola!

This past weekend (Thursday night - Friday night) I traveled with the entire UConn in Granada group to Cordoba, Merida, and Sevilla with our director Gustavo and Spanish Lit teacher, Maricarmen.  It was definitely a busy weekend trying to squeeze all three cities in.  I would have loved more time in Sevilla so I am hoping to do a weekend trip there at the end of April.  For each city we woke up early to have breakfast, had a full morning of sight seeing, a multiple course lunch (Gustavo wants us to try all types of different foods in Spain so this is how he accomplishes that), some more sight seeing, and then travel to the next city that night.  For dinners Gustavo gave each of money... and when I say Gustavo I mean UConn... and when I say UConn I mean they money we payed for the trip.  For this reason we all got really cheap dinners so we could pocket as much as possible.  I guess that's a definite sign of being on a college student budget while trying to travel all over Europe.  As always be sure to check out my facebook pictures that go along with this past weekend :)

Cordoba

Apart from its tourist sights, Cordoba is known for its jewelry and olive oil products (shampoos, chap sticks, lotions, ect...)  We did not have free time to look at or buy any of the jewelry, but we were able to buy olive oil products from the restaurant we ate at on Thursday night.  I bought body lotion, and it works so well! People said the same about the shampoo; the olive oil products moisturize so well making everything so much softer.  I wish I had bought smaller lotions to bring back for family and friends, but since I didn't have room in my weekend backpack to do so I definitely plan on sharing when i get home.  My friend and I started off our day in Cordoba with a run as we are both training for the Madrid half in April, that race will definitely be a struggle.  In Cordoba we visited some ruins and the Catedral de Cordoba.  

The archeology site of the ruins was Madinat al-Zahra, and they were islamic ruins.  From there we had views of future bull fighting bulls grazing peacefully.  We were all excited to see the Catedral because we've been learning about it in our Islamic Culture class.  The Catedral has a mix of Islamic and Catholic characteristics as it went back and forth as being a mosque or cathedral based on inquisitions in Cordoba.  The Catedral is known for the rows of arches in side that support the building.  The part I found most interesting was that at one point a catholic king added an extension that was above the rest of the structure via a ramp to represent his belief that the Catholics were superior (above) the Muslims.  During lunch in Cordoba we enjoyed some Flamenco and we all got to participate! My favorite part was when they played the Macarena.   

Merida

Merida was my least favorite city out of the three.  It is known for its roman ruins and ham but not much else.  There, we visited a roman amphitheater and a museum full of roman artifacts.  Video to come, but we did the Harlem Shake in the amphitheater!  The lunch there was very good, especially the tortilla de patatas and the ham steaks that the restaurant was known for.  In general, I love the food in Spain and can't wait to make it on my own when I come back to the states.  As we were leaving Merida there was a rainbow which made for some great pictures.

Sevilla (The MOST beautiful city)

We got to Sevilla early enough Saturday night to browse the city and get some tapas which was great.  Sevilla also had the nicest hotel with an amazing breakfast, and was the only hotel where we had wifi.   After the amazing breakfast, we made our way over to the Plaza de Espana.  On the way to the plaza we cheered on runners because there was a 10k/half/and full marathon happening in the city.  It got me so excited for Madrid!  The race finish right next to the plaza so we were able to see some finishers come through.  The plaza is full of amazing mosaics and shrines for each major city in Spain.  There are also beautiful bridges and a fountain to represent the river that used to pass through the plaza.   It was absolutely breath taking.  

From there we went to.... STARBUCKS!!!! There are multiple Starbucks in Sevilla which is another reason why I love it because they are a rarity in Spain.  For the first time since finals I had an iced chai with soy milk and I was basically in heaven the whole time drinking it.  After Starbucks we visited a mosque called Reales Alcarares, which was designed to mimic the Alhambra in Granada that I am visiting on Thursday.  From there we went to lunch.  

Shout out to Mike Tedone if you're reading because this lunch should've been on the food network.  Everything was gourmet and plated like a food network plate.  Many of the appetizers had dairy so they made me my own plates/versions I could eat.  My favorite appetizer was the calamari rings.  The calamari was really thick, and when I get it at home they're usually thin, so you taste more of the fried batter than the actual squid.  I definitely like this more.  I chose fish as my main course and it had a delicious raspberry sauce and a grilled apricot, along with a tick balsamic dressing which I have fallen in love with while in Spain (still don't know its actually name).  Also, this was the first place that gave me a dessert besides a bowl of fruit.  I love fruit, but it soemtimes stinks to have that as your "dessert" when everyone around you is eating ice cream, pudding, flan, or cheesecake.  This restaurant served me a lemon sorbet with strawberries, and it was so good. 

The last place we went to in Sevilla was the Catedral de Sevilla.  Inside the cathedral was Christopher Columbus's tomb so we all made sure to take pictures of that.  The best part about it was climbing thirty plus flights of ramps up to the top of one of the cathedral's towers to see all of Sevilla from above.  When we got to the top there was a rainbow over the city, making Sevilla even more beautiful.  

I had an a really fun weekend, got closer to some of the kids on the trip, and got to try some more amazing food :)  This week for me is the anticipation week as I meet up with Ranger Steve this weekend! Hopefully the weather gets better because so far it's been nothing but rain.

Gracias por leyendo!

My Weekend in Morocco!

Hola!

This past weekend (Friday - Sunday) I traveled with a group of study abroad students to Morocco through a company called Discover Excursions.  I chose to book my trip through them as they pre arrange your transportation, hotels, food, and activities for a flat rate, and most importantly it meant I would be traveling in Morocco with a big organized group.

Morocco is unlike anywhere I have ever been.  For starters its in Africa and it was my first time on that continent.  Additionally, its an Islamic and a third world country and I have been to neither.  It was extremely eye opening and a much needed culture shock to make me further appreciate and be thankful for my ability to study abroad for a semester.

Friday was our day of travel, taking a bus for Granada to Sevilla then Sevilla to the port.  We then took a ferry from the port to Tanger, Morocco.  On the way, our ferry stopped to pick up more passengers at the Strait of Gibraltar.  If you look at my Facebook pictures the ones of the sunset is from me watching the sunset over the Strait of Gibraltar from the ferry.  The boarder of Spain and Morocco is actually in the ocean so our passports were checked on the boat, which I thought was interesting.  I am very proud to say that I now have stamps from Africa in my passport! (Side Note:  We learned in Paris that when traveling within the European Union our passports do not get stamped because we have student visas... we're all pretty bummed about that)

The hotel was about an hour and a half from the port in Tanger so dinner there was pretty late but delicious.  We had a very traditional Moroccan meal of cous cous and Tagines, with salad and bread.  Tangines are slow cooked stewed meats with vegetables (ours was chicken and beans) that top the cous cous.  The bread there was so good.  It was a flat and lose rise circular bread that tasted kind of like english muffin.  We had it with every meal.  Before eating we watched four men as they performed traditional dance and music of Morocco.  Some involved balancing candles but I was unable to get photos of that part.

We spent a lot of time traveling on the bus each day from town to town and back to our hotel, but I enjoyed the rides because we always had great views and it allowed us to see even more of the country that way.  Saturday we drove to Chefchouen.  This is the city in my pictures that has all the blue and white doors and walls.  These literally cover all the buildings in the city, making it appear to be on a cloud.  Also, all the doors of the houses are different sizes, shapes, and colors (mostly shades of blue).  Chefchouen is tucked in between the Rif mountains.  When you walk out of the center of the city you hit the valley with the sights of the mountains that we walked up a bit (see the pics!) and the river that comes from the mountains and is the source of water for the city.  Photos are up of the public washing area for the laundry of the people who live there.  Chefchouen was my favorite city of the trip and its where I first got to barter.  Spoiler alert to the fam bam! I barter for a blanket for most likely the secret room do the colors and I bartered from 25 euros to 13 :)  I also bartered for some other surprises that you'll see when I get back.

On Sunday we went to Tangiers and and Assilah.  First we went to a beach in Tangiers where we got to ride camels! The camel rides were only a few minutes each but that was more than fine, as there were also baby camels to pet and an amazing beach.  I still can not believe I road a camel.  They're beautiful animals and much bigger than horses (I pictured them smaller for some reason) and very calm (all though I do realize these particular camels are trained to give rides so they may not be the best representation).

After the camel rides and beach we drove to the point where the Atlantic Ocean and Mediterranean Sea meet.  If you look at my pictures its the one with a tan lighthouse that takes up the whole right side of the photo.  There a bartered for my shot glass, I've been trying to get one from every country I visit.  From there we went to the Caves of Hercules.  It's famous for its opening that looks like an upside outline of Africa.

Our final stop was the beach town Assilah.  We mostly just enjoyed the views of the coast and the murals, and some pastries while there.  The city is known for its murals and has a festival each year where artists come to decorate the city with new ones.  One of the murals is a relationship tree where people add there names.  I added Steve and I and one for my best friend Sara and I, ha, I couldn't resist.

The way back home led to the biggest culture shock and reminder of the trip that we were in a developing country.  Our ferry back to Spain was delayed over an hour because of immigrants trying to sneak into Spain by hiding in the trunks of buses and cars that were going over on the ferry.  There were even two young boys (about 15/16) who were caught in the water trying to swim onto the boat.  Spain's law is that if minors sneak into Spain without parents they become custody of Spain, so many families try to send their children over... it was pretty heartbreaking :(

I am so glad I went to Morocco and experienced Islamic culture and open my eyes to how many people in the world are living.  I feel even more fortunate, grateful, and blessed for my circumstances after going.

Thanks for reading and i'll be sure to post soon!