Valle de los Caidos

One of my favorite places in Spain is the Valley of the Fallen. This is the place where Francisco Franco built a giant cross on top of a mountain that can be seen for miles. Underneath the cross is a huge basilica built into the mountain. Franco is buried here along with thousands of soldiers who died in the Civil War. It's an amazing place full of history - sorry I don't have pictures of the inside. I guess you'll just have to visit yourself.

The Capital

Madrid is a beautiful city. It's full of history and culture and it feels sort of regal. Here you can find the famous Prado museum, Parque Retiro and La Plaza Del Sol. It's worth visiting if you're ever in Spain - especially if you like art.

Favorite Memory: My favorite memory has to be our stop at the restaurant called Maos. As college students in a dorm, it's our job to complain about the food. So when we're out in the "real" world, we like to enjoy the food. Maos is a cheap, vegetarian restaurant with free refills. It's like a dream come true. It's quite the experience and we truly enjoyed eating there.

Segovia & La Granja

Segovia: One of my favorite small tourist towns in Spain is Segovia. The Roman Aqueduct there is beautiful and in amazing condition. Segovia also has an amazing castle - it's an ACTUAL castle, not a fortress of some kind.

Favorite Memory: One of the best things you get to do on trips is eat picnic food. My favorite memory of Segovia was walking through the streets and buying food in the grocery store.

La Granja: La Granja is a beautiful palace not far from Segovia. Spain was at one time ruled by a French King who, coming from all the craziness of Frence, missed his home and decided to build a mini Versailles. And that is exactly what La Granja is.

Favorite
Memory: My favorite memory here is easy - the weather. As we neared the end of our visit, it began to hail. These were big pieces of hail and we were stuck outside in the middle of it! Very exciting!!

Toledo

It's rather sad how far behind I am. It's been over a month since I left with the school on our last school trip to Castilla. O well, the memories are still good even if they're a month old...

First stop: Toledo. I'm sure the first thing that pops into your mind when you hear the word Toledo is a sword. Well it's true, they have a LOT of swords there but that's not the only thing. Toledo is a city full of history and the most amazing thing about it is that it's in incredible shape after hundreds of years. It's probably even worth your time to google it.

Best Memory: One of the best moments was when a few of us were walking up the hill to meet the rest of the group and the man behind us was pushing a stroller - chocking the entire time (I mean the ENTIRE 5 minute walk up the hill). It's difficult to describe the sound he was making but let's just say it was something between a scream of horror and chocking on a pencil. I will never forget it.

The Stairs

The View

The Swords

The Cathedral

The Violence

Rhyme & Reason

The very last place on our trip
Is not the first place you think of
But the beaches and sun will make you flip
I'm sure it's a place you'll come to love

Santander is full of shopping, boats, and endless delights
And don't forget you can always take a nap by the sea (like me!)
The parks and gardens, the beautiful nights
You can even get someone else to do your laundry!

So whenever you get the chance, take a trip to Santander!

Bilbao

Third stop on my tour of the north...

Best part of Bilbao - Cirque du Soleil
Is there anything better than a free magic show?
Lot's of rain. Sadly we had to fight the rain the whole time
Building - Can you guess which building is the Guggenheim museum?
Amazing food! Look at the picture!
Opportunity of a lifetime. You never know when you're going to have an adventure

TouristVille

My second stop on my tour of the north is the very touristy own of San Sebastian. As soon as you get there you can see why all the tourists go there, it's beautiful. There are beautiful beaches, the most famous being La Concha (The shell), lots of shopping, and beautiful hills to climb. Although we had to fight the evil rainy weather the entire time, we did get a few moments of sun and joy.

To The North!

Once again I'm on the road, this time to the north of Spain. My friend Caitlin, who is studying in Italy, came with me and Cassy, a friend from here in Spain. We had a FABulous time.


Zaragoza Our first stop was Zaragoza. A nice town and you can see all the important stuff in about half a day. - it has a beautiful old Arab palace and a large Basilica. It also was home to the Expo last year. That's the reason for all the frog pictures - they have them all over the place.
Semana Santa Just in case you didn't already know, Spain is a very Catholic country and this week was Semana Santa - Holy Week. Everywhere we went, we saw signs of the holiday. Almost every town had large processions every night to celebrate. It's all very interesting - check it out online.

Fallas!!

Every year, the Community of Valencia has a crazy, insane and super fun festival called Fallas. Fallas is really all about noise and fire. This past week I spent my spring break getting to know Valencia and experiencing Fallas. Here are some important terms that you should know about Fallas (everything else you may want to know can be found on the internet):

La Mascleta: Everyday at 2:00, large fire crackers and every form of noise makers are set off. REALLY loud!!

Los Ninots: Small, wooden dolls that are judged in the previous weeks and then burned the last night. Only the winner is not burned.

Las Fallas: The BIG ninots that are set up in the street. Again, all but one are burned.

La Nit del Foc: 18th of March. Huge fireworks show - very pretty.

La Crema: The last night of Fallas. The Fallas are doused with gasoline and firecrackers and fireworks set the structures aflame. Super fun!

Churros!: The most delicious sort of dessert sprinkled in sugar and dipped in chocolate.

FALLAS!!!!