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vita


29 Blog Entries
2 Trips
75 Photos

Trips:

MP goes to Europe
vita's Travel Blog

Shorthand link:

http://blogabond.com/vita


Vita, Jeremy and Sashas' travels through Spain, Portugal and Turkey!


oporto

Porto, Portugal


Porto has been a city of contrasts for us. It is striking from a distance – high banks of the river, castle like city walls, overhanging bridges. But upclose you can’t help but see the disrepair of the buildings and the dog poop on all the streets. It’s the same with the food – even though there are amazing pastries and good coffee, their dinners have been very disappointing. And port – we haven’t had much, but had some really bad, and some pretty good (never even new there was white port, yummy).


permalink written by  vita on August 16, 2009 from Porto, Portugal
from the travel blog: MP goes to Europe
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bird market

Porto, Portugal


it is always surprising to me to actually see a bird market. May be I am just used to America where you can go to Petsmart and get any animal you want... But the number of birds and other small animals was just amazing. And really kind of sad to see all of them caged. But Sasha, who is just learning the words for fish and bird, just loved it.


permalink written by  vita on August 16, 2009 from Porto, Portugal
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porto parks

Porto, Portugal


While the city of Porto is impressively dirty, local parks are just stunning!



permalink written by  vita on August 14, 2009 from Porto, Portugal
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hike

Santiago de Compostela, Spain


Jeremy and I went on a hike yesterday. Ok, since we’ve done some driving here now we realize that Spaniards are not big on street signs. But I didn’t realize that the same goes for trail markers. So in addition to going through beautiful forest and by a peaceful creek (things you will see in the pictures), there were some things we didn’t photograph – asphalt road under the scorching sun, burned down ladder we climbed on, angry dogs Barking at us, Jeremy hiking in wet shoes for 3 Miles because he fell into a creek… With all that said, laying in the sun on a large rock in the middle of a mountain creek was the most relaxing couple hours I have ever had.

permalink written by  vita on August 10, 2009 from Santiago de Compostela, Spain
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Santiago de Compostella

Santiago de Compostela, Spain


We took a half day trip to Spain/Santiago-de-Compostela– a gorgeous little town, but completely overrun by pilgrims. It was interesting to learn that it is believed that James, one of the 12 apostles, was buried here. Hence all the craziness...


permalink written by  vita on August 10, 2009 from Santiago de Compostela, Spain
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the beach

Santiago de Compostela, Spain


Today we discovered an amazing beach. About 20 min away from us, right on the coast of the Atlantic Ocean, is the Sand Dunes National Park. And the beach has the most pristine sand I have ever seen. Although the water is a bit cold, Sasha absolutely loved it. She pretty much ran around naked except for a sun hat, squealing with delight.

I know she will kill us for this picture when she is older, but we couldn't resist...


permalink written by  vita on August 10, 2009 from Santiago de Compostela, Spain
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Northern Spain

Santiago de Compostela, Spain


We are now in Green Spain - the North West portion of the country, where the climate is somewhat similar to our Pacific Northwest. It rains a lot of the time here, so everything is Green, hence the name. The capital, and the biggest attraction, is Santiago de Compostela - it's a final destination of a 500 km piligrimage to honor St James.

We are staying in a tiny little town about an hour away, on the Atlantic Coast, just a block away from the main beach and a board walk. It's just gorgeous. It's been sweater weather here, which is such a welcome relief. The wind didn't stop us from hanging out on the beach - Sasha loved all the shells, and I loved that she didn't try to eat them. She must get enough Calcium, as well she should with all the cheese she eats. At first she ignored the water, but soon she got curious. She has never seen the waves before, so she thought it was a game and didn't hesitate just to walk straight in. Shoes and pants and all. She got mad when I wouldn't let her sit in the water, but all in all, she loved it. Afterwards she kept licking her hands with surprise, probably tasting the salt.

Yesterday my mom flew in from Denver, and it's been such a treat to have her. Sasha just loves her, and she is more than happy to hang out with her, take her for walks, and let Jeremy and I go out. It's been an amazing treat. J and I had tapas and wine on a deck overlooking the ocean last night. It was very romantic - would have been even more so if the music was not cheesy American 90s and we weren't eating Octopus. But I am not complaining, it was our first night out without the baby in almost a month, so no Octopus can ruin it!

The language barrier is a bit more of an issue here - since it's so rural not too many people speak English. In fact right now we are at a cafe, and Jeremy is drinking a non-alcoholic beer. He asked for dark, she named it, he said ok, and there you have it. 0% alcohol. Hee hee hee.

I'll upload some pictures soon, so stay tuned...

permalink written by  vita on August 7, 2009 from Santiago de Compostela, Spain
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Cordoba

Cordoba, Colombia


Jeremy and I took turns visiting Cordoba. I just got back yesterday - had a wonderful time. Took a high speed train, AVE, which was just amazing. First of all it looks sleek from the outside. Inside it's ridiculously spacious and comfortable. They show movies and give you headphones. There is a cafe. The ride is very smooth, you can barely feel you are moving. And it can go up to 180 mi/hr! It really was state of the art.

Cordoba itself is a gorgeous little town where through architecture you can really see history. As everything in this region of Spain, it was first Roman, then Muslim. In 10th and 11th century Cordoba apparently was the center of the cultural world in Europe - 3 times the size of Paris, it was a place where Christians, Muslims, and jews actually coexisted in piece and where art and science was valued. There is still one of the oldest Sinagouges in Spain the Jewish quarters.

permalink written by  vita on August 5, 2009 from Cordoba, Colombia
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Seville

Sevilla, Spain


We are now on our day #3 in Seville. It is a gorgeous town, the whole downtown is a pedestrian zone, so it's wonderful to just walk around and check out local shops and cafes. I took a great 2 hour walking tour of the town yesterday, so my head is full of random statistics and history. The architecture here is amazing - the city was first Roman, then moorish, then catholic. So it's an amazing mix of Roman columns, gorgeous blue and white tiles, and gold covered crosses. They are trying to build a metro here, but having a very hard time because they keep unearthing ancient sites. So the metro has been projecte to be completed in 1982, and there is still only one line.

So far it has been unbearably hot. I was glad to learn that they are in the middle of a heat wave, and today should be better, but I'll believe it when I see it. I think the heat explains the city's schedule - everything shuts down between 2 and 6, and no self respecting restaurant even opens till 8 pm - which is Spanish 8, more like 8:30 - 9. After 9 pm the city comes to life, and by 10 the streets are full and most of the tables in the outdoor cafes are taken. What really amazed us is that our neighborhood playground, empty most of the day, finally gets packed with happy children.

Unfortunately for us by 10 we are all exhausted and there is no way we can stay out with Sasha. So because all the interesting things here, such as outdoor concerts and Flamenco performances start so late here, we have really started to feel the strain of traveling with the baby. While it's easy to take turns going on a tour or to a museum, or occasionally have Sasha run around through a fortress while we are sightseeing, it is really no fun to go out at night by yourself. So no Flamenco for us - but we've gotten Twinkle Twinkle little star down!




permalink written by  vita on August 1, 2009 from Sevilla, Spain
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Seville

Sevilla, Spain


We arrived in Seville after a zoo in the airport. We took a local flight and the airport was mobbed. Sasha and everyone slept poorly last night do to teathing and we were all in a terrible mood. THis trip has done little to improve my Spanish and I am pretty sure that the lady in front of us was asking if we had ear plugs. Sasha is now asleep after we walked down to the main square and had some Sangria. We stopped to see if we could get some take out at the cafe down our street and we were informed that they opened in 10 minutes at 8:30 Pm. I feel very American or very much the father of a little girl!

The pictures are from another Gaudi building. This was a bourgiousie apartment building overlooking downtown Barcelona

permalink written by  vita on July 30, 2009 from Sevilla, Spain
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