Falling down hiking trails and Climbing Castles

This weekend (March 15th and 16th) I have spent going on small excursions! On Friday I went hiking with my sports interest group! When I arrived at the morning bus I realized our group was also going with another interest group! I was happy to see my friend Mackenzie, who goes to Elon, was in the other interest group so I had a friend to hang out with all day! I had already been hiking once, but this hike was much steeper! It was amazing to be able to breathe some fresh air after being cooped up studying for midterms and hiding from the rain! Right before the end of the hike I tripped and fell down the trail and tumbled a few feet! Luckily I just scraped my knee a little and wasn't badly injured! I am truly the world's most clumsy, injury person in the world...! At the end of the hike we got to stop in a little pueblo and split some pastries and ice cream to reward ourselves for a long day's hike!

Plaza where we stopped to eat lunch

Mackenzie and me

Hiking trails (the flat part)

Then on Saturday, March 16th, I woke up bright and early to go on a medieval castle tour! My friend Jillian and I met up with our friend Lindsey at the bus! Normally we go on huge coach buses, but today was a small tour and we got on a mini bus! We first went to a small pueblo right outside of Sevilla called Alcalá de Guadaria! We saw the church there, the staple of every European town, and then we went to the big castle! It was fun running around and taking pictures of the beautiful castle and views from the castle! After the first castle we went to a second little town where we saw a church called Inglesia de San Sebastian and then Inglesia Santa Maria! We got to stop to try the famous pastries in the town (they were absolutely delicious) before going to the second castle! This castle was smaller, but still had fantastic views from the top!

The delicious pastry!

View from the top!!

Sitting on the castle... with cool European pants!

Lindsey, Me, Jillian

At the top of the second castle

Castle!!

Can I have some more tea please? Granada, Spain

This past weekend I went to Granada, Spain, home to the famous Alhambra, Moroccan tea, and the burial place of Queen Isabel and King Fernando (not bad huh?). We left Saturday (March 9th) morning. The trip started off by the bus breaking down before we even left and we had to kill a little time before we got on the 3 hour bus! When we got to Granada we checked into our hotel and had a lunch buffet! I was so relieved to be able to choose my own food, I ate a salad, paella, bread, pudding, fruit! It was delicious! After lunch we went for a stroll through barrio del albaicin, a cute neighborhood with decorated houses. Then we went to the Capilla Real, the burial place of Queen Isabel and King Fernando! It was absolutely awesome to see where these royals, who we have learned about since first grade, were buried! I also went to a few look out places to see beautiful views and we also bought dulces (sweets) from a convent!

Burial place

pretty ceramic decorations

Decorated houses

street performer

city view

convent where we bought sweets

Me with the Alhambra in the background

After all the tours, we had free time which I spent wandering the streets of Granada and hiding from the rain in a tetería, a tea shop! The tea shop had incenses and the teas were delicious. I drank a tea called Pakistani - which had tea mixed with milk and spices! I also had a tea called mil flores. The worker in the shop ordered these teas for us because we had no clue what to order! For dinner we went to a tapas bar where we ordered sangria and received free tapas!

My friend Caroline and me at the tea shop

Tapas

Cute tea pots

cute streets

The second day we woke up, ate a breakfast buffet, and then went on a tour of the monastería de cartuja. It was really amazing to see how these monks lived. We took a quick pit stop in another tea shop (we just couldn't get enough) and then we had a buffet lunch and finally went on the tour of the Alhambra. The Alhambra was the last Muslam territory in Granada before Bobdil gave the keys over to Queen Isabel and King Fernando. We went to the palaces, gardens, and towers of the Alhambra and enjoyed the beautiful views!! Granada was a truly beautiful place and if you ever find yourself there I highly suggest spending your day tea shop hopping!!

Meghan and I in the Alhambra

Highest tower

On top of the highest tower

Gardens in the Alhambra

Famous picture shot

Living a fairytale - Lisbon and Sintra, Portugal (cool video included)

This past weekend I traveled to Lisbon, Portugal with my friend Megan. Our trip began at the bus station February the 28th, Wednesday around 11. We arrived at the bus station about 45 minutes early, yet somehow only 5 minutes before the bus was supposed to leave we were told we needed to check in. We waited in line for 30 minutes, freaking out that we were going to miss the bus, but luckily finally got our check in numbers and boarded the bus. We were told the bus would last 7.5 hours, but we arrived in Portugal Thursday morning at 5am after only 6 hours. The bus ride was not too bad because I was able to sleep almost the whole time.

The first day in Lisbon went by in a blur due to our exhaustion. We waited at the bus station for about an hour until the metro opened and then we took 2 metros to find out hostel. As it was still very early in the morning we could not get into the hostel so we café hopped for a while. The pastries in Portugal were delicious, but at one café I locked myself in the bathroom and had to ring a bell to be saved. We then dropped our luggage at the hostel and began to explore Portugal. We bought a tram pass (it was 24 hours, but ended up working all weekend - qué bueno suerte (what good luck!)) We took a tram tour around town and then grabbed grilled cheese for lunch, which was absolutely delicious! All day we had been looking for this castle - Castillo de San Jorge. Finally we found it (after realizing we had passed the entrance 3 times already). We loved running around and pretending to be princesses in the castle! Thursday night we walked forever before finding a place to eat (other than pastry restaurants). We finally ate italian pasta and pizza and crashed in our beds around 8pm. We couldn't stay standing a single second longer!

Megan and I on the trolley

Castle chilling

Delicious grilled cheese

Lisbon skyline view

I'm a princess

Trolley tour

In a gazebo in the park

Lisbon skyline

Castle de San Jorge

Flags on the castle

Castle!!!

On Friday we went to Sintra, Portugal. Sintra is possibly my favorite place I have ever been to! It is a small town about 30 minutes train ride away from Lisbon. Sintra is full of castles and palaces tucked away in the mountain sides of Portugal! We toured el Palacio de Pena and the Monserrat Palace (we also ate more grilled cheese)! At the Palacio de Pena, we ran around taking pictures. I was actually skipping I was so happy! The Monserrat Palace was beautiful as well and we saw ruins of a cathedral and a waterfall while hiking to the Palace! Friday night we went to Barrio Alto, a downtown area of Portugal, for dinner. We had to take the elevator tram to get there. We ate at this restaurant where we listened to Fado music, the popular music of Portugal. While I can say I'm not a fan of the music, I am glad we got the opportunity to hear it!

Can't wipe the smiles off our faces!!

Pena Palace

Sintra

Signs to the palaces

Sitting in a window, in a palace, in a spiral staircase

PRINCESSES

Cathedral ruins

Monserrat Palace

On Saturday we went to a flee market in Portugal. I bought a really cool pair of earrings and an awesome pair of European pants that I can't wait to wear! We then went to a free wine tasting (how cool is that?!?). I felt so old and mature! We spent the rest of the afternoon wandering through the streets! Finally we made our way back to the bus station where surprisingly we left on time! This bus ride was more painful because it was sweltering hot, but we finally made it safely back to Sevilla and were relieved to fall back asleep in our apartments here! It was truly a magical trip!

Cool earrings I bought at flee market

Free wine tasting

Here is a video I made of Megan and I pretending to be princesses (the song is super romantic, but the point is the 4 words "Today was a fairytale" Those words described our lives perfectly the past weekend

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uMcAM_Ugy6w&feature=youtu.be