Eurotrip: Murcia

There’s a city in Spain called Murcia It’s my home away from home. What makes me sad is most people have never heard of it so when I explain my travels I have to simply say it’s in southern Spain. You see this city is really fantastic because my Spanish sister lives there and I get to visit. I’ve only been twice but I wish I could live there. It’s always warm and I think the part that makes me love it most is that I stay with Ana and her family and when I walk in the house it’s like I’ve been adopted. I always get fed the best food and always get to see the city in the best way.

It’s hard to really describe how much I’m in love with this city. Most of it has to do with Ana. Actually yeah she’s really the one to blame. I visited her for the first time last fall and ever since I’ve been in love with Spain. She ruined my life really… she made me fall in love with travelling. The reason I backpacked Spain last fall on my own was because she invited our Irish group to visit her in Murcia. I could hardly be leaving France to see only one city. So that’s why I planned more trips and then Ana invited me back to stay with her for a few days at the end of my trip. Originally I was really afraid to go back because I didn’t feel like I knew Ana enough to intrude on her life again to stay a few days more. I even dragged my feet a bit and stayed in Cordoba an extra night before going back to her house. Turns out that was the best decision of my life. I found my sister when I went back. So what does this little rant have to do with Murcia? Well Murcia is Ana’s home town, so when I go visit she’s always got the best places to visit. 

This time we went to the museum that houses the floats for Holy Week. Now these are made by Salzillo and they are really extravagant. And just down right gorgeous.

^This is one of the smaller ones, San Juan.^

^This is the last supper^
During the procession they actually lay out food on the table and all around the base there are flowers. Now on the bottom picture there you see the ginger on the right there? That’s Judas. He’s a ginger. Why? Well it’s a well known fact Gingers are evil. Lol. But really the superstition of the times went something like that so Salzillo made Judas a red head.

^During Holy Week this float has a real olive tree and a rock on it! In case I forgot to say these things weigh a whole lot when they are all prepared for procession. Also the angel on this was made so that depending on which side you looked it could be make or female since Salzillo didn’t associate a gender with angels he made it both.

^On this one Jesus’s hair is real. Girls donate their hair every year so that the floats for procession will have real hair on them.

After the museum it was time to stroll about the city and time for me to take lots of pictures.

Also while I was at Ana’s we went to the Real Casino of Murcia. The Casino dates from 1847 when the Royal Casino of Murcia Society was founded. The society first started in the mansion of Marqués del Vado, later other buildings were acquired to form the present layout. Today it’s a private club but for the first floor. Between 2006 and 2009 the building was refurbished and King Don Juan Carlos I of Spain granted the Casion the title Real (or as we Americans would call it Royal).

The Galería Central was originally an indoor street that joined the different buildings.

Biblioteca Inglesa was built in 1913 from the plans of a British firm. I would love to have a library like this some day….

The Congresillo room was a sitting room where important people of the upper class would meet.

Salón de Baile is the most important and lavish room in the Casino. It was built between 1870 and 1875. Fun fact the floor is the only thing in the room that hasn’t been changed in the many redecorations of the ballroom.

Antesala leads from the ballroom to the Pompeyano Patio. To me it was a odd room…. It’s missing a wall…. But alas it was still cool since I do love marble. 

Tocador de Señors (The ladies Room) up until the refurbishments this room was still in use. There were a ton of mirrors and it was rather hard to take a picture without being in it which was nifty.

Salón de Armas, this room used to be the frencing room and alter used as a chess room among other things. The paintings hung here were originally hung in the billard room. They were painted in 1928 and were in the Fine Arts museum of Murcia for 81 years till they were transferred back to the Casino for the reopening in 2009

And just a few more pictures that aren’t from any certain room.

After the Casino it was time for the Three Wiseman’s Day parade. Before those pictures let me point out a few things. In America we celebrate Christmas. In Spain they celebrate Three Wise Man’s Day. It’s their day of presents and family time and yummy treats. They have a few traditions that go along with the holiday. Like the night before there is a parade in town, usually it’s a little kid’s thing, but Ana took me anyway.

It was a very dangerous affair though. You see they throw candy from the floats and as we were taller then the majority of the attendees we got nailed a number of times. Even ducking we still got candy rained upon us. 

I don't remember which wise king was which... 

but these next three are the best pics i got of them

After the parade the real tradition part comes in. We met up with Ana’s friends and went back to have hot chocolate and roscon. What is roscon? It’s delicious cake. And in the cake is baked presents and a bean. Whoever gets the bean has to pay for the roscon, or so the tradition goes. Funny fact the first piece that was cut was given to me I got a prize and a bean. But the prizes were really fun to find. Ana’s one friend was so desperate for a “cool” prize that she started stabbing the cake to find a prize. It was really funny. And the chocolate we drank/ate was soooo good. It had the consistency of hot pudding before it sets and it was amazing and extra good when you dipped the roscon in it. 

^This is a picture i nabbed from Ana's facebook of the roscon the next day while we were eating it for breakfast!^

Now I’m not doing a very good job of explaining what Three Wise Mans Day is and what fun it was… but I’m hoping to coerce my sister into helping me out. But first I’ll need to finish all my Europe blogging. Sooo stay tuned  for this perhaps. 

But back to Spain and how much I was in love with the weather. It was crazy warm. Like one day it was 20’C (68‘F)! Here’s a picture Ana took of me being a tourist in her backyard enjoying the warmth. Why yes that is sangria I'm drinking 

 And I should point out that she was bundled up like it was winter… well for her it was. She’s rather spoiled that way to think that 20 is cold! I was in love with the weather. 

One night I offhandedly pointed out I had wanted to see the Hobbit before leaving since it would be out of theatres by the time I got home. To my surprise Ana suggested we go see it. So on the evening of Three Wise Mans day we went to the movies and saw the Hobbit in 3D HD!!! It was on a HUGE screen and it was amazing and in Spanish. It was a good thing I’d listened to the book on tape so I knew what was happening. The best part of the night was hearing Golum. Since it was dubbed all the voices were different and boy was it funny to hear them. In order to sort of grasp the hilarity of it all here’s Golum in English…..

And now in Spanish…

See totally funny!!!! I laughed really hard when I first head Golum. And fun fact in English Glum calls the ring his precious in Spanish he calls it his treasure. Interesting right? Bilbo’s voice was really funny too, and Gandalfs, and well everyone really. I can’t wait to see it in English in a few months when it comes out on DVD so I can laugh at how normal they all sound. Another funny point, the scene where they were throwing the flaming pinecones in 3D one flies right at you and Ana and I jumped so bad and then laughed because we both saw each other jumping. I legit thought it was coming for my face and forgot it was just a movie…. Oopsie. 

The 7th was my last day with Ana. I had to catch my flight to Barcelona to visit Lenka. But before I left we went shopping!!!!! Thank god I had extra room and a few kilos to spare. And there were sales!! So needless to say I went crazy! But damn did I get awesome clothes. Now that I’m home I don’t want to wear anything else. Me getting dressed for school goes something like this. “Well I wore this shirt to class Monday and today is Thursday and a different set of classes so it’s okay to wear this again because I look so awesome in it!” yup that’s me. It’s a good thing I work so much and don’t go out at night because there’s no need for me to get dressed nicely most days, if there was I would be at a severe lack of clothing because I don’t want to wear my American clothes now. Damn you Ana!! You’ve made me fashionable now! The only remedy to my small clothes choice is to go back to Spain… hmm… summer sounds good. I’ve experienced their fall and winter now to see how hot it really gets in the summer. 

So to sum up Murcia… I’m in love with the city. But I think that’s due to the fact that every time I go I make new memories with my sister and we do cool things and see cool things and just talk. I can’t wait to go back. Next time though my goal is to know Spanish so I won’t be quite as awkward. 

And here are some other pictures from my stay in Murcia

^Lemon trees somewhere near Ana's house!

^Me and my favourite food HAM!!!! and the leg of ham in Ana's house, i wanted to marry it.... is that weird?^

In America we keep poinsettias in vases or as house plants. but check it out in Spain they really plant them!!!!

Cheers,

Eurotrip: Caravaca

When I was planning my Eurotrip Murcia was a must have stop since Ana lives there and as she’s my Spanish sister I couldn’t be in Europe without seeing her. It was also my longest stop of my trip. I spent 5 days with Ana and it didn’t seem like enough time. 

But first I had to get to Murcia. Now I was planning on taking an early bus around noon. When I went to buy my ticket they were sold out. I freaked out a bit since I had to take a bus two hours alter then I wanted and since I was travelling without a phone I had no way to tell Ana I was going to be late. I bought my ticket, it was twice the price as the original one I wanted  but I had to get to Murcia and I didn’t want to wait 4 hours and arrive at midnight. So I bit the bullet and bought the ticket. Then I had to figure out how to get in touch with Ana. Turns out there was an internet café in the bus station so I was able to get in touch with Ana. All I had to do was wait for my bus.

When I got on my bus I was pleasantly surprised. You see I was riding Alsa Supra. I was unaware there was a difference from a normal Alsa bus…. Turns out there is a HUGE difference. First off let me point out there were leather seats. Yup and they were huge! I had my backpack and extra bag in the seat with me and wasn’t the least bit cramped. Also there was a TV screen thingy like on the planes. Now there wasn’t too much in English but I managed. Here’s a sort of picture I took of the bus…

Pretty legit right?
Now I was perfectly happy with my big seat and TV and music to occupy my trip. Nope clearly that wasn’t enough. I got fed! First snacks….

Then dinner…

And you got drinks with it. I only knew how to ask for a Coke so I had Coke both times. I also got yummy candies too. Over all it was a lovely surprise for me and I ended up enjoying the 5 hours immensely.

I should have know then that my stay with Ana was going to be amazing! Well let’s see where to start….hmmmm….. Well it was an insane 5 days to say the least. Filled with fun and talking and loud Spanish people and ham! 

The day after I got there we took an afternoon bus to Caravaca. It roughly translates to cow head, but funny thing was I saw no cows there. But that’s beside the point. The real point is that it’s a cool little town. Ana has class mates that live there so they were nice and showed us around. 

We started the tour of the little town off at the Cathedral. 

Building began in 1617 and was completed in 1703. Now there’s a cross there, it’s a tiny thing really maybe a foot high. This cross has a legend that goes with it. I’ll start with the fact that I think this story is from when the Muslims were conquering Spain…. But I‘m not sure I remember it quite right. You see the Muslim conqueror come to Caravaca and the basilica there. And the Muslims leader has the priest brought to him and tells him to do mass so he can see what it is the Christians do. The priest says he can’t because there were no more crosses in the city and he needed one for the mass. No sooner does he say this then angels descend from the heavens and bring a cross to Caravaca. This miracle converted the Muslims on the spot. 

The original cross was lost in the Spanish Civil War, so the one I saw was a replica of that. Now even though this cross is really small it’s got some bling! Here’s a picture from google

Cute right? 

After that we walked through some of the old town. I just love seeing old towns! I like the tiny streets and the stone buildings.

Then we went to have lunch at the country house of Ana’s friend. I was in heaven because there was lots of Spanish food. I don’t remember what the main dish was called , damn Spanish, but it was super good and there was of course ham. After eating and chatting for a bit we went to the park and had a walk about. 

There’s a tower there and it’s said to have Templar connections. Also it’s supposed to have a secret passageway that connects it to the basilica but it’s never been found.

The park was really pretty….

After that we had time for a hot chocolate before catching the bus… lol not. The bus we wanted to take home wasn’t running so we had to take the last bus back to Murcia. 

Over all I thought Caravaca was such an adorable town. I’d love to live there. I’m always jealous of people who live in towns with really cool cathedrals or basilicas. It just give the town more character when it has something like that with such history. 

Cheers,

Eurotrip: Madrid

My adventure started on the 30th of December when I headed to the Newark Airport. My best friend Kelly drove me. It was out last chance to hang out as she was leaving to uni in North Carolina and would be gone before I got back. So off we went to the airport. 

I got there two hours early, waited in line and checked in. No checked baggage for me as I had my pack and a bag of presents for my Spanish sister, Ana. So after doing the shoes off, electronics out, empty pocket dance through security I found a nice seat by my gate and hunkered down for an hour and a half wait. I started reading A Game of Thrones. Then it was time to board my flight at 19h30. After dinner on board it was sleep time!

And when I woke up it was snack and coffee time before our final decent into Madrid. I arrived around 9h45 and I couldn’t meet up with my host till some time after noon. So I started doing a bit of wandering about in the city. I took a few photos…

Then headed to Dimitri’s place. After a quick shower we headed out to lunch. After walking around a bit we headed back to his place. He had just gotten back from Brussels (his home town) that afternoon from Christmas break. So since we were both tired it was nap time.


A three hour nap was just what I needed. I got up and got my glam on for New Years eve.  Dimitri had found a secret party on couch surfing that we were going to that night. I say secret because we had to give a password to get in. The password was “Gato llama Gata”. A funny password but it turned out to be a pretty cool place. It was an old house and was really cool looking, I would have lived there.

When midnight rolled around it was time to eat the grapes! You have 12 grapes you’re supposed to eat one with each stroke of midnight. Now let me tell you, as an American I’m used to our genetically modified seedless grapes so when I bit into my first one and ran into a big crunchy seed I almost gagged. But there was no time for gagging as I had to eat another one and so on… I failed miserably at eating them. I got them all in my mouth but it took a few minutes after midnight to clear my mouth and wish everyone a happy new years. Thank goodness I wasn’t the only dork who hadn’t mastered the grapes, a few other guests were struggling to finish them. 

Over all it was a pretty kick ass New years. I got to party and eat the grapes and for one night pretend like I was Spanish.

The next day we were up a bit late… er… sleeping off the night before. Plus we were out till 5h00 so I think a sleep in was called for. When we finally made it out for breakfast it was around 14h00 and we had sandwiches and wine for breakfast. Then Dimitri was nice enough to walk me around the city and I took a few photos. 

I didn’t take as many photos as I tend to because I knew I’d have one more day in Madrid at the end of my trip to be a real tourist and take a zillion pictures. This time I was just enjoying chatting with Dimitri about all things European. 

We Started by stopping by the Atocha train station…. 

There are palm trees inside! INSIDE!!

 AND TURTLES!!!

We walked around most of the day, took a turn through Parque De El Retiro. Last time I was in Madrid I couldn’t find the Crystal Palace in the park and I gave up because I was getting rained on and I wasn’t a happy camper because I didn’t have my rain jacket, silly me. This time though Dimitri took us right too it. Turns out last time I was in the park I was spitting distance from it.

My last day I slept in, since I was catching an afternoon bus to Murcia. So I packed up my stuff then headed off to the bus station! Next stop my sister’s house!!!!

But first I had to stand a 5 hour bus ride.. And that turned out to be a lot of fun actually…. But that’s next.

Cheers,

Back!!

Well here I am alive and back from my Euro Trip. What a grand time it was…. I have 2,478 pictures to sort through, 9 cities to blog about, and 22 days worth of stories to share with you. For now I will start with a bit of this and that. 

Like the fact that Couchsurfing comes highly recommended. You see I originally decided to surf this past trip because I didn’t fancy staying in a Hostel every city. Don’t get me wrong I love Hostels but I was going to be gone for nearly a month and I enjoy meeting people but sometimes it’s hard to do in Hostels. So I had heard about couch surfing from someone and I decided to look into it. I had planned on going half hostels half couches. But when I got into looking for hosts and everything then I was like oh my gosh I want to surf every city. So I started looking in the middle of November for all my couches. To those who want an easy accommodation set up, couchsurfing is not for you. It took a lot of messages and talking and planning to set up where I was staying. It was a challenge but I’m really happy I did it. My hosts were fantastic, except one, but that’s a different post. Couchsurfing turned travelling into something else. Before I just stayed at the Hostels, I was there by sun down and went to bed early to wake up early to see the city. Having a host that knew the city was always a bonus. They can steer you in the right direction for travel cards, places to eat, and hidden sites. Surfing made my trip into something else, something cooler then how I had travelled before.

So where exactly did I go you ask?

New Years in Madrid

Then to visit Ana in Murcia

And Barcelona to see Lenka

Then Budapest

And Brussels

Pisa

Florence

Lucca

And lastly Rome!

Boy was it a blast but damn was I tired when I got home. There’s something about travelling that takes it out of you. I’m happy to be home now though. I had one day to rest before heading back to work. My jetlag is currently working in my favour as I work at 6h00 everyday and have a 15 minute drive the whole my body wakes my up around 4h30 isn’t such a devastating thing now. I rather enjoy it, so thank you jetlag for working in my favour. 
Now strap yourselves in and prepare for some epic blog posts on all things Europe and travel!
Cheers,