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Seville

Sevilla, Spain




permalink written by  Brigid Jelsma on June 2, 2011 from Sevilla, Spain
from the travel blog: Walk a little further to another plan
tagged Spain

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Granada

Granada, Spain


Probably the most beautiful place I have ever seen!




permalink written by  Brigid Jelsma on June 5, 2011 from Granada, Spain
from the travel blog: Walk a little further to another plan
tagged Spain

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Valencia

Valencia, Spain


My stay with Jaume was amazing!! He was one of the best hosts I could possibly have imagined. He is a musician, a really talented one, and he even took on the daunting challenge of teaching me some notes on the piano and guitar. :D

He also took me everywhere, showed me his favourite restaurants and clubs, took me for a delicious meal with his brother and then we went for a wonderful walk along the coast. It was beautiful!

The worst bit was saying goodbye. I hated that.

permalink written by  Brigid Jelsma on June 7, 2011 from Valencia, Spain
from the travel blog: Walk a little further to another plan
tagged Spain

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Zaragoza

Zaragoza, Spain




permalink written by  Brigid Jelsma on June 8, 2011 from Zaragoza, Spain
from the travel blog: Walk a little further to another plan
tagged Spain

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Basking in Barcelona

Barcelona, Spain


Barcelona was an experience. I arrived a day earlier owing to a pretty depressing stay in Zaragoza (leaving Jaume in Valencia and arriving to an empty hostel, finding it impossible to meet people there and spontaneously booking a hostel in Barcelona. The hostel, however, was quite far from the city centre, but it was cheap - my main deciding factor - and there were actually other people staying there as well!

I was fortunate enough to arrive a few hours before a free walking tour, so I made my way to the meeting point (getting lost a few times) and waited by the fountain, eying a particularly extravagant lamp post.

A few moments later I was approached by a man, who had been standing just opposite me. "Gaudi's work really is extraordinary, isn't it?"

Gaudi? Hmmm. That name did sound familiar and the man seemed to say it like one would Raphael or Da Vinci, so I nodded, did my whole goofy smile thing, and mumbled, "Yeah. It really is."

Thankfully the man then launched into all the details of his work - actually teaching art, so Gaudi's work was particularly special to him. I felt a bit of an ignoramus, by anyway.

My tour started pretty soon after that, and I got chatting to a German girl, Melly, who is doing ERASMAS in Barcelona. And then I met two guys, SOUTH AFRICAN GUYS!!! And it took me ages to realise they were from home, but then I saw his Springbok hat!

I nearly died.

Anyway, the tour was fantastic. An overload of information, but at least I learnt who Gaudi was. We were also saw a mansion in which a king died of viagra overdose (actually herbs given to him to induce *ahem* gave him stomach problems, but a viagra overdose is much more amusing).

That night I went to a couchsurfing event - meeting in a tiny pub in the backstreets of Barcelona, and I met loads of people, including a British guy, Nick. He was only there for a day (on a business trip, actually), but we ended up trawling through the streets in the middle of the night.

Then I realised the metro in Barcelona shuts at midnight on Thursdays.... Remember how I mentioned how far out of the centre my hostel was? Yup. SCREWED.

I ended up staying out all night (thank Jungle Bars that pubs and clubs actually stay open all that time), and I think Nick was hungover for his business meeting, but anyway. I arrived at my hostel feeling shattered, the guy there (luckily one I'd been chatting to earlier) burst out laughing and, even though I was meant to check out, led me to a bed downstairs that the staff use.

I collapsed.

Four in the afternoon I stumbled out, managed to find another hostel, make my way there and collapse again.

Then Rob called.

Oh, and it was pouring with rain by then.

I managed to drag myself out of bed, throw some clothes on, and make my way to Barceloneta tube stop. And there was Rob, with NO UMBRELLA, standing outside a off license alcohol store - typical. :D

We decided to risk the rain and make our way to Sagrada Familia - Gaudi's masterpiece of a basilica.

FIFTEEN EUROS. But worth every cent. Nature influenced all of Gaudi's work, and this is most visible inside. The massive pillars and curved ceiling makes it all congruent with what I imagine Elven architecture to be like. And the exterior is so detailed it would take forever to examine each figure - time we really didn't have while running around beneath an umbrella, dodging raindrops.

It's apparently only going to be finished in 2023. So that gives me another excuse to visit Barcelona again.

That night I went out with Rob and Charlie - Rob's housemate. Alcohol. So much alcohol. And I ended up crashing at their place (once again making my hostel stay redundant).

The next day, I just wandered around, down La Ramblas, along the beachfront, through the parks, before meeting up for a party on the beach.

And the water was so warm, even in the middle of the night!

So, all in all, Barcelona was a fantastic experience.

permalink written by  Brigid Jelsma on June 11, 2011 from Barcelona, Spain
from the travel blog: Walk a little further to another plan
tagged Spain

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Around Malaga

Malaga, Spain


\As we walk to the Alcazaba we saw this interesting Fountain and multiple horse drawn carriages passed us by.
Then we arrived at the Alcazaba, an ancient moorish palace from the 9th century. In front of the palace was a Roman theater shown in the picture. Here is a picture of my sister and I standing in one section of the castle and here is another picture of my sister fumbling with a no hands water Fountain.

Here's a picture of Daddy getting used to using a clothesline.


permalink written by  andres3009 on June 29, 2012 from Malaga, Spain
from the travel blog: Spain Trip 2012
tagged Castle, Spain, Fountain, Ancient, Horses and Alcazaba

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Inside The Alcazaba

Malaga, Spain


The Alcazaba is the remains of an ancient moorish palace erected in the 9th or 10th century when the Arabs began to lose their grip on Andalusia. Because it was constructed with softer sandstone it has been recronstructed. Ferdinand and Isabella stayed in this palace when they reconquered Malaga from the Arabs. Inside the Alcazaba we saw amazing Arab artwork and architecture as well as beautiful indoor gardens shown in the following pictures

In the following pictures there is an ancient kiln used by the moors and Gabi next to a bath tub Fountain that we found inside.


permalink written by  andres3009 on July 4, 2012 from Malaga, Spain
from the travel blog: Spain Trip 2012
tagged Spain, Fountain, Malaga and Alcazaba

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Grand Granada

Granada, Spain


The past few days we have been in Granada (which actually means pomegranate in spanish) in order to see the Alhambra and a couple of other places.

The next day we went to the Alhambra, a Moorish palace converted to a fort by the Spanish when they reconquered Spain. The Alhambra was the winter palace for the Moorish roaylty while the adjacent Generalife was occupied in the Summer.

Here is the Alhambra from the outside:

But the Interior was the neat part with numerous courtyards, and the spanish/moorish architecture used in many of the palaces we've visited. Here is one of the more famous sections of the Alhambra, el patio de los leonares, featuring a Fountain surronded by lions which spray water from their mouths.

We stayed at the site for a good 4 and a half hours and here are the pictures we took.

The Alhambra is the most popular tourist destination in Spain and it isn't hard to see why. It was easily the grandest palace we've visited and one of the overall coolest period.

On our final day in Granada we visited the poet and playwright Federico Garcia Lorca's House. He was a socialist and a homosexual during Franco's regime and he was assasinated for his ideals in 1936. We were not allowed to take pictures inside.

And that was it for Granada, a neat stop on our trip.

permalink written by  andres3009 on July 15, 2012 from Granada, Spain
from the travel blog: Spain Trip 2012
tagged Spain, Granada, Lorca and Alhambra

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Beach Dayz

Malaga, Spain


Hello everybody! For our last three day excursion we will be in Madrid! So I will not be posting anything for a short time. Until then I have decided to put up some pictures we took of the beach that we have been visiting, called La Malagueta, and there's a big sign on the beach and a picture of us standing in front of it. We'll see you soon!



permalink written by  andres3009 on July 17, 2012 from Malaga, Spain
from the travel blog: Spain Trip 2012
tagged Beach, Spain, Malaga and Malagueta

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