North by Northeast

Spring break means fun in the sun, right? Well, maybe for the majority of college students, but for us it meant enduring all of the elements of winter we had avoided while in sunny, warm Barcelona. Nevertheless, our trip to Berlin, Prague and Amsterdam was fantastic and despite the cold, rain, sleet and snow, we had a great time. Here's a brief synopsis of what we did:

Berlin
On the plane from Barcelona to Berlin I happened to sit next to two young Berlin women. They noticed I was reading a guidebook to western europe and were very nice to give me some tips. By far the most important bit of information the gave me was when they said, "You know there is a public transportation strike, right?" Well, of course, we had no idea. Due to the compact nature of most European cities, this could have been a non-issue. However, Berlin is NINE TIMES the size of Paris. But don't worry they said, everything starts running again on Monday...to bad that was the day we left. However, it didn't seem to bother us the whole time we were there. The only possible drawback we experienced as a result of the strike, was that we only saw the neighborhoods of Mitte, the old soviet sector, and Kreuzberg, the old american sector.

So once we got settled we went out to find bikes to solve our mobility issue. Problem was we weren't the only ones looking for a bike to battle the transportation strike. Several hours, attempted phone calls and meters of walking later, we finally found a store that had two bikes left, phew. The guy at the bike store was from Chicago and extremely nice. He even let us rent without our passports. He also gave us great advice on where to go and what to see. It was all thanks to him that we made it to the Potsdamer Platz. Despite missing out on the best metro system in the world, I think Berlin by bike is absolutely the best way to go. Even in the raining cold days for mid-March. There are specific bike lanes on almost every road and the city is completely flat. Just follow the lead of the locals, and you'll be fine. Also, one last note about getting around in Berlin, nobody jaywalks. I suppose its good practice, and quintessentially German, to follow the rules, but coming from Spain, where the locales literally take pride in not following their own rules, we found it unique.

Berlin had the best food for the best prices out of our whole trip. I don’t think we had a bad meal in the city. We ate mostly on the main street of Kreuzberg called something like BergmannstraBe. Every time I would try to say any street or monument names I would just pronounce the first syllable then start to trail off, because it is rather impossible to the untrained ear. Overall, Berlin is a very modern city, drenched in history. If that makes sense? The gray skies, Soviet-esque streets and other reminders of the melancholic past of the city serve as a backdrop to a bustling metropolis. I also felt least like a tourist in Berlin. Maybe it was because of the blonde hair, probably because it seemed the locals far outweighed the tourists. There was no place completed taken over by tourists like Plaza Catalunya in Barcelona, and I liked that about the city. I felt like I had an authentic experience.

Prague
On the train from Berlin to Prague the conductor came on and we all looked at each other and said, “that’s definitely not German?” It was at that moment when we knew we had crossed the border into the Czech Republic; we were officially in Eastern Europe. After exchanging some of our Euros for Koruna we took a cab to our hostel (we never quite figured out the exchange rate, but we knew that 100 Kourna was practically nothing). In my personal opinion, the worst hostel I have stayed in, but the location was great. We were a “block” away from Old Town square, or Staré Město. (I put block in quotes because the entire city is a labyrinth, there is not a single straight street, I swear).

While waiting to reunite with Julia and Emily, who had spent the weekend in Barcelona and flew into Prague, we explored the Old town square. The square was full with booths of souvenirs, delicacies, goats being born (see photo album for story) and music/dancing on the stage. I assumed Old Town Square was just always like this, but then someone told me it was for Holy Week. So I am glad we came during this week cause this square was my favorite part of Prague. We would come and buy bratwurst, chocolate covered fruit, hot wine, stroopwaffles and especially a Czech version of a cinnamon, sugar and almond pastry-donut, everyday.

The weather in Berlin had been poor, but the weather in Prague was just plain schizophrenic. It would go from clear and sunny, to blizzarding, to raining, to sleeting within one hour, then do it all again. It was really insane, even with several layers on. At one point Julia, my roommate from Miami who goes to school in Nashville, asked Kelsey and I how we deal with living in a place like this. We gave the usual response of “Well, I guess you get used to it” and she responded by saying, “So you get used to being miserable?!” Let’s just say her point was well taken. So our entire trip was spent taking freezing cold walks from one sight to the next trying to get inside as much as possible. While having an amazing time, of course!

Amsterdam

On the plane to Amsterdam I noticed a guy wearing a Syracuse sweatshirt. Then when we were waiting for our bags he sat next to me, so I had to ask. Turned out he was from Brazil, was a foreign exchange student at Whitney Point High School and now lives in Madrid. Crazy huh? Although, it seemed like one of these places was not like the other…I’ll give you one guess. Still, he epitomizes just how international the crowds of tourists were in Prague and Amsterdam. Part of this was probably due to holy week, which at least in Spain, Italy and Ireland, the entire population has a week off.

Amsterdam was amazing because it felt like an enormous small town. Every street looks like a Main street, with quaint, tall, dutch houses on either side of a canal. I can only imagine how beautiful it would be on a sunny, warm summer's day (don't worry, I won't continue to complain about the weather, cause I know most of you reading this are probably thinking welcome to freakin' club!). Almost everyone in Berlin spoke English, and due to big tourism focus in Prague we were able to communicate fine, but in Amsterdam everyone speaks flawless English. It really is amazing. Also, the dutch are very friendly.

We hadn't realized it when we booked our trip, but we had the shortest time in Amsterdam because we arrived late at night and had to leave early in the morning. But we made the most of the two days we had. We saw the Van Gogh Museum, a interesting photography museum, and the outsides of a bunch of other museums, like the Anne Frank haus and the Rijsmuseum. We also walked through the red light district, visited a few coffee shops, and I personally fell in love with hot Belgium waffles with melted chocolate on top (dad, you HAVE to try them!). Since it was at the end of our ten-day long trip, it was nice to just be able to relax, which is what we mostly did.

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This trip marked the end of my euro-travels for the semester. I have a month left to soak up Barcelona, then back to the States (but we all refuse to think about that... yet). Seeing all the very diverse and unique cities was such a great opportunity. Although, there is no doubt in my mind that Barcelona was the best choice to spend a semester. It felt so nice coming back home. God, I love that the beautiful, sunny, warm, lively city of Barcelona is what I call home ::sigh of contentment::

Were not in Cataluña anymore...

Has it really been a month since I wrote a blog entry? Is it really the middle of march already!? They say your time abroad goes quickly, but wow. My roommates and I were writing up our itinerary for spring break (which we leave for this Friday!) when I realized I never posted an entry for my last two trips! Some of you may have noticed by looking at my albums, but I visited País Vasco (Basque country) during the last weekend in February and Granada in Andalusia during the first weekend in March. I want to say the delay is due to the fact that these trips coincided with midterms - even though I won't pretend the majority of my free time is not spent on school work ;) Anyway, I suppose I will go chronologically and start with the Basque country...

País Vasco

This trip absolutely blew my mind! What little expectation/impressions I had formed of the region were based on what I knew about the Basque language of Euskara (that is untraceable, unlike any other in the world, and thought to be the oldest in Europe) and ETA (the Basque independence terrorist group). Therefore, when I found a sophisticated, culture-rich, French-inspired city surrounded by a breathtaking, Ireland-esque landscape, my jaw never seemed to leave the ground. (This may explain why my País Vasco album has more than double the amount of pictures in any other album)

The majority of our trip was spent in the capital of the region of Gipuzkoa, San Sebastian. Our hotel was in Donostia, or the ancient city (as it is ironically called because it is actually the most modern part of the city). We were a minute walk from the beach and about a 15min walk down the elegant beach side boardwalk to downtown San Sebastian (our tour guide told us as long as you keep the ornate, white railing on your right hip and you will have no problem getting home at night, which was true). Apparently the Spanish queen during the last 1880s, Maria Christine, was particularly fond of the city and built royal vacation facilities all around the city. (Marissa thought this was very exciting because she lives on a street in Barcelona named after Maria Christine Husband's, Alfonso XII). Consequently, the nobility from Madrid built their own luxury accommodations in the city. These extremely beautiful and expensive mini palaces surrounded our hotel and are still privately owned today. This is where San Sebastian gained it reputation as a high class resort town.

But the city doesn't give off a museum aurora of look but don't touch. The people are very down to earth and welcoming. The typical nightlife involves pinxto bar hopping, for people ages 14-64. A pinxto is basque for a tapa, and the basque tapas are famous for being the best in Spain. The locals usually don't stay at one pinxto bar for much more than a half hour, but continue to move around, so we decided to do the same. We tried some of the local wine, Txakoli (pronounced like choco-leet), and all sorts of delicious mystery pinxtos. The whole town goes by the "honor system." This means when you walk into a bar you ask for a plate and grab all the pinxtos you want. When you have had your fill you just tell them what you ate. After a few bars, we meet a 25yr old American girl and her former Señora who ended up taking us around for the rest of the night. They showed us some great bars (at one point the old Señora was literally feeding us patatas bravas with toothpicks!) and talked to us about the region and studying abroad. Very fun.

Perhaps the most amazing thing about this trip, was just how much we jammed into one weekend. Besides the tours of San Sebastian, we also visited Hondarriba, Guernica, and Bilbao. Hondarriba is an old fishing village that is literally a 5min ferry ride away from France. We took the ferry over just to say we had lunch in France, but only ended up buying an ice cream and enjoying the beautifully sunny, 75 degree weather and the beach. While in France, I realized how hard it must have been for Kelsey during her first few days in Spain. Although I asked Kelsey over and over again how to say can I have an ice cream in French, Spanish was all that would come out, which didn't help in the slightest. On our last day we stopped by Guernica on the way to Bilbao. The town was the sight of the first mass bombing of unarmed civilians that occurred during the Spanish Civil War and the inspiration for Picasso masterpiece depicting the event. Essentially the town was used as target practice for the fascist forces of WWII. But the tour guide was adamant in portraying Guernica as a city that has been a symbol of peace for the Basques for centuries and now for the entire world. Once we reached Bilbao, we had a little over an hour to grab some final pinxtos and then headed to the Gugginhiem Museum. Although we were all pretty exhausted by this time, the museum was really impressive. Ironically, the main exhibit was American Art through the Ages. So essentially, we all traveled around 4,000 miles to see a portrait of George Washington. However, I hadn't seen the vast majority of the pieces, so it was still very interesting (especially the giant, walk-through, iron sculptures that play with your psyche).

Granada
Granada is the capital of Andalusia, which derives its name from Al Aldalus, the Arabic name given to the Iberian peninsula by the Islamic Empire. There is a prevalent Arabic influence in Spain due to the years of Moorish occupation. The city of Granada is where this influence is most prominent and well preserved. In fact, Granada is one of the most well preserved Arabic cities in the world. Unlike País Vasco, Granada was very much what I had pictured, and this wasn't in anyway a bad thing because my expectations were high.

As soon as we arrived in Granada we took a tour of the city. This included walking through the Zacatin shopping streets and seeing the Royal Chapel. Granada was the most important for the Reconquista, because it marked the final victory that expelled the Arabs from the peninsula. For this reason, Isabel & Ferdinand made Granada the capital of the newly consolidated Spain and built Christian monuments all over the city. Their tombs, along with their successors, are buried in the Royal Chapel, while all other Spanish Monarchs are buried in the Escorial in Madrid. I was particularly pleased to learn that all of the tributes to the Reyes Catolicos depict Isabel either in a higher place or with a heavier head than Ferdinand. This is due to the fact that it was well known and accepted that she was the brains of the operation, and was the true leader of Spain. So take that all those who say a woman can rule a country!

On the second day we saw the main attraction of the city, the Alhambra. The word translated from Arabic means the "red fortress," due to the surrounding red clay that coats the originally whitewashed walls. The fortress was also used as a palace by Arab kings until 1492, then by the Spanish Kings until 1700 when it was abandon. The fact that such an impressive building could just be abandon is astonishing. For about almost 200 years, locals and tourists ventured in and out freely until the Spanish government reclaimed it and made it the historical attraction it is today. (note: the walk up to the Alhambra is quite a steep hike, so bring walking shoes if you go) Our last tourist activity was a tour of the Albazin, the old Arabic quarter. The area is the most expensive place to live in the city, which is surprising because it would be such a pain to live there! The streets are the littlest, curviest, bumpiest that I have every seen. It was hard enough trying to walk around up there, but I can't imagine driving. Although the views of the Alhambra, the Sierra Nevada Mountains and downtown Granada were spectacular.

The biggest difference between this trip and the trip to País Vasco, was the amount of free time we had in Granada. At first we thought we would be disappointed by the minimal itinerary, but we got to see everything while still having a nice, relaxing weekend. The weather was spectacular the whole weekend, 75 and sunny. I even got a bunch of new freckles from walking around. Our free time during the day was spent having nice long lunches either in the sun by el Realejo, the old Jewish quarter, or in Plaza Nueva, the center of Downtown. We also walked through the shops, ate gelatos and realized just how much of a hippie town Granada is, very Ithaca-esque.

On the first night, Kelsey and I had a little date that consisted of tapas and a Flamenco show. We learned that in most of Spain tapas come free with a beer (apparently the Catalans make you pay since they resent having to give into to the typical Spanish cuisine for the sake of the tourists). So for less than 2 euros each we had a drink, mini chicken sandwich and potato chips. Delicious. The flamenco show was in a very small, intimate cave setting that our tour guide had recommended to us for an authentic experience. There were maybe 20 people in attendance. We really enjoyed the dramatic and exciting show, although Kelsey and I laughed a little at the dancer's constant olé s and vales while she was listening to the singer and guitarist. Kelsey and I also learned that the temperature in Granada drops A LOT at night. So for our walk home, we had to do a mini bar crawl for warmth. The second night was great because I got to know Kelsey's roommates, who happened to sign up for the same trip. We all went out for tapas in El Realejo, possibly the best I have had in Spain, and we discovered the best beer in Spain, Alhambra 1925 (or simply, milnovencientovienteycinco). After this we went to a Irish pub. Don't ask why we went to an Irish pub while in Granada, it just seemed like a good idea at the time. But it was here where we met a group of Granada University students who ended up showing us a couple of nicer bars and clubs.

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From living in Cataluña and visiting País Vasco and Granada, I feel like I now truly understand just how diverse of a country Spain is. Each of these regions have such a unique cultural heritage, despite their relative proximity. Although Granada was amazing, I felt like I saw most of what the city had to offer. However, I would love to go back to País Vasco to explore it more, and especially San Sebastian. I suppose if anything, these trips made me want to see even more parts of Spain. Maybe a trip to Madrid or Galicia will be in order for April? Who knows...

But first, I off to Berlin, Prague & Amsterdam for spring break!