My friend and I are still here in Tarragona in July. I am testing the waters of being an au pair and my friend commutes every day to Barcelona to work with small children in an English summer camp. Safe to say we needed a break from children and explore more of Spain. He suggested we see the city of Peñíscola in the Valencia region of Spain, one of the Pueblos Más Bonitos (Most Beautiful Towns/Villages) in Spain. Although I had trouble pronouncing the name (my American mind kept thinking “Pensacola”), I agreed. There is too much of Spain I still haven’t seen.
My Whirlwind Basque Country Tour
At the end of April, I had a three day weekend because of the “May Day” (Worker’s Day) holiday. A friend and I decided we wanted to see another part of Spain that we had never been to before. We decided to travel up north to the Basque region of Spain. We went to Pamplona, Vitoria, and Logroño. We also made a stop in a small village before heading to Logroño. The Basque region definitely has a different vibe than what I am used to in Catalunya so it was something good to experience.
Forty-Eight Hours in Florence
I’ve been incredibly lazy here. I wrote about my time in Venice with the intention of completing the rest of my Italian journey soon after, but it’s now been more than two months since I’ve been in Italy and I’m still trying to motivate myself to write. Alas, let’s see how long it takes me to finish this post!
Florence is a very art-y city. Italy was the site of the Renaissance and you can see much of the art from that period there. It is also home of the beautiful Duomo Cathedral, which is the place you usually see the skyline views over Florence from. We packed the entire Florence experience into two days there, but it was an experience of a lifetime.
Venetian Days
My first stop on our Italian tour was to the breathtakingly beautiful city of Venice. It’s an intricate, small, city with so much history and adventure. I’m lucky to have had my friend as my travel companion who could read a map and navigate around the city with ease. Venice can be a bit like a maze because the canals chop up the streets, meaning you’re always having to turn in some different direction.
Budapest: Always on the Wrong Side
My third and final leg of my Eastern European adventure was to Budapest in Hungary. I was excited, but also a little intimidated to go to Budapest. After becoming someone accustomed to the strange Slavic language, I was not thrown into one of the hardest languages to learn: Hungarian. It is not a Slavic language, but rather a cousin of the Finnish language in the Uralic family. Nevertheless, the city was still beautiful. And what made it even more beautiful …
SNOW!
Warsaw: Rising from the Ashes
On New Year’s, I caught a flight from Prague, Czech Republic to Warsaw, Poland. I was not ready for what was about to happen. No one ever warned me that Warsaw in winter is comparable to the ice planet of Hoth – it was about 12°F every day, sometimes colder.
Being Bohemian: A Prague Adventure
After Christmas 2015, I had the wonderful opportunity to visit Prague in the Czech Republic. Prague always seemed like such a mysterious and exotic place to me. We learn about it briefly in history when it was referred to as Bohemia, but we never really know much more about it. In reality, we are exposed to Prague more often than we know. Prague is the backdrop for many movies and TV shows, but it is often disguised as another country. The TV shows Outlander and The Musketeers both recently shot in Prague with the setting in Paris in the 1700s and 1600s, respectively. The most recent version of Casino Royale was also shot in Prague, with the airport and a casino disguised as Miami and the National Museum disguised as James Bond’s hotel in Italy. Sneaky sneaky!
Brussels: The Dividing City
One of my favorite things about Europe is the ease and cost of high-speed train travel. After our rainy experience in Luxembourg, we boarded a train to Brussels, Belgium. The train tickets only cost €21 because we are under 26. Yay youth discounts! Two hours later, we were walking the streets of sunny Brussels.