Spain! Again!

Spain was the original motivator of our trip to Europe.  While in Colombia, we had tossed around the idea of doing a long hike, and the Camino De Santiago seemed like the most reasonable in terms of cost and planning (i.e. it required almost none).  We reasoned that since we would be going to Spain, why not tack on another month and five or six other countries and call it good.  So, while it took us a bit of time to get there, it was the most anticipated stop in our trip and also, you might have picked up, our favorite.

Before beginning the Camino, we had a few places we wanted to check out but no real plans.  Barcelona was a wonderful introduction to the country.  It was finally warm enough to be outside, there were inviting parks, and beautiful art.  Matt checked out the Sagrada Familia and here are a few of his pictures and thoughts:

This building is overwhelming. Almost every detail about it is staggering. It is tall, inside and out, it has been under construction since 1882, it was just full of other tourists. Despite (or perhaps because of) this, it was amazing. I have never been, and I think likely never will be, in a building like it. The audio tour said that Gaudi, the architect, intended the cathedral to be a chapel of light. I don't think the pictures I took from my phone do it much justice, but hopefully you can see that the building is indeed brilliantly lit, I think fulfilling his intention.

Towards the end of our trip in Barcelona, we headed to a train station to buy the cheapest ticket possible for any destination in Andalusia (this is literally what I told the ticket man).  Instead of buying two single cheap tickets, our fabulous negotiating skills landed us with a not-so-cheap rail pass that obliged us to visit 4 places within a month.

First stop, Cordoba, famous for being the capital of Roman Spain, the Mezquita, and if our enjoyment of it was any indication of fame, wine.  The Mezquita was originally a Roman Catholic church, then an Islamic Mosque, and later was retaken by Catholics and turned into a cathedral, leading to an intriguing mix of religious relics and styles.

Cordoba was gorgeous and we spent most of our time strolling through the city streets trying not to get too lost down tiny alleys.  Also, we're fairly certain it is secretly ruled by cats as they were everywhere!

From Cordoba, we were going to head to Granada but then realized that we don't actually like cities, so took a bus to a small town about an hour south around the mountains, called Orgiva.

 Orgiva was a strange mix of old Spanish Farmers and young, decidedly not Spanish hippy-anarchist hybrids.  It was a very interesting, and a bit unsettling, vibe.  But the location was gorgeous and we took a fantastic hike to a neighboring city, which turned out to be a highlight of the trip.

Our trail took us through olive groves, blossoming almond tress, and up a mountain from the top of which we were treated to views of the Mediterranean Sea (which you can also see if you look very very very closely at the middle picture in the above section).

From Orgiva we made our way to Madrid.  We loved Madrid, but most of our time was spent running from store to store trying to get last minute supplies for the hike.  (Most valuable purchase - walking sicks and some Mediterranean flavored canned tuna which introduced us our most frequent meal on the Camino).  When not running from Corte Ingles to Corte Ingles (a ubiquitous mall that has everything from supermarkets to travel agencies housed within it.  It is truly the stuff nightmares are made of) we visited a few parks, a modern art museum, and had possibly the best cooked meat of our lives, and unquestionably the best glass of wine at a tapas restaurant.  Also the people we stayed with had Matt's favorite cat of all time, Biggie, who made weird noises and also sat on laps.

We took a total of 17 pictures in Madrid.  All but five were of her.

For our final train trip, we took short ride to Zamora, a town 377 km from Santiago de Compostela, and our starting point on our hike.

A few of our favorite things. Or, possible conversation starters next time we see you.

After a truly incredible month in Spain! (guys, we love it there) we've made our way to Portugal - specifically to a lovely house outside a tiny town called Almocageme where we are writing this post from.  We've given up hope of creating blogs for the individual countries we've visited. So instead, we've compiled a greatest hits - if you will - of our first month in (mostly Central) Europe.

From London, we made it to Brussels, which tops the list with best beer (probably of our lives) and strangest museum.  It included priceless works of art and historical artifacts, mostly obtained as a boon from it's colonies.  Almost all of it was without curation or context.  These were a few of our favorite pieces: we call them Singing Monkey and Statue Made of Ivory.

Brussels also really impressed us with the most disorienting street layout.  Matt spent quite a lot of time like this, while I helpfully took pictures:

The Czech Republic wins for most incredible art exhibit, the Slav Epic by Alfonse Mucha.  Mucha painted 20 canvases detailing, with somewhat liberal application of facts, the history of Slavic people in Central Europe.  Hard to tell from the photos, but these pictures are huge, the largest of the canvases measured 6 by 8 meters.

In Prague we also had our best meal, (if we don't count Spain, which was a much more ham-laden, and therefore delicious experience all around).  The people we stayed with took us to a very traditional restaurant and helped us order, in their words, "grandpa food" - things that only the older generation make and eat - this included a jellied mix of meats served with raw onions and vinagre and a spread made of pure duck fat.

Just outside of Prague, we visited the most adorable make-believe/Disney village - Cesky Krumlov.

In Hungary we had the most welcoming couch surfing experience - a stay with Annamaria and her son, who kept us entertained with games, lots of gestures and weird noises (as we did not share a common language) and farts (universally hilarious).

Hungary also wins on best communist sculpture garden, which is a category I bet you never knew existed.  After the fall of communism, most of the sculptures not destroyed were taken to an empty space about an hour outside of town, which was then turned into a park/memorial/history center.

Of all the places we visited, Vienna was certainly the fanciest.

Imperial palaces around every bend, horse drawn carriages, art museums, and hands down, the nicest park at a psychiatric hospital/former tuberculosis sanatarium we've ever been to.

Fun fact about Vienna, every grocery store is closed on Sundays, but you can buy to-go beers from hot dog vendors.  Thank god.

Other notable experiences:

Hundertwasser!  His museum and city trash burning plant (pictured below) had to be one of the best experiences of the trip.

Hundertwasser's art, philosophy, and whimsy provided a colorful alternative in a city of white marble and straight lines.

The Gellert and Szechenyi Baths in Hungary.

 
Due to inclement weather and an incredibly lazy period in our lives, we spent almost our entire trip to Budapest in these two locations, forgoing things like Parliament, as well as any museums, castles, or churches.

And speaking of churches, you may not be aware but Europe is an old continent, with quite a few historic buildings, many of which are churches.  We visited a few of these.  Of the few that we visited, one in particular really stands out (again we're exempting Spain here, because Sagrada Familia, omg).  The Saint Vitus Cathedral at Prague Castle actually took our breath away, and highlighted the need for a new camera, one that could actually capture what we were seeing.

More on the second half of our trip, Spain! to come.