Spain
We went to Spain for vacation in July. The reason for this trip was Alex and Cristina's wedding in Barcelona and therefore a very convenient justification of why we absolutely had to go. I had never been to Spain and since it is Mike's favorite (European) country, I was really excited. Plus we were traveling with friends-Katie and Vijay. The plan Katie and I devised with the help of Spanish friends at work was to spend the first two nights in L'Escala, a beautiful, not touristy (well, at least not American tourists [lots of French and Spanish tourists]) beach town in the Costa Brava region. Then we were off to Girona for three nights with an agenda to travel to Olot for hiking in Garrotxa Volcanic Nature Reserve and one day biking on the Vias Verde greenway trail for 40km to San Felíu de Guixols for some more beach time. The plan was to then go to Barcelona for 4 days, with Alex's wedding on Saturday night.
Since we were all taking different flights, it was quite nice that none of our planes were delayed and made it really easy to meet up at Barcelona airport. Once we got into Barcelona, we met up with Alex to exchange luggage and for lunch. It was great to see him again (though it had only been 2 weeks since he left the lab, he was my partner in crime and I really felt the absence of his presence in lab!). We all headed to the bus station to catch the bus to L'Escala and en route, we noticed a ton of advertisements for a musician named Juanes and something called the Havana Club. Not knowing what either of these were, I told Alex that I wanted to see Juanes at the Havana Club. He immediately told me not to be ridiculous since the Havana Club is not a place but a brand of rum and that one cannot easily get tickets to see Juanes. Who is Juanes anyway? Well, Alex nearly fell over when he heard that none of us had heard of Juanes. Who is Juanes and why is his name Juanes and not Juan? He proceeded to try to play us a song he sings with Nelly Furtado and while doing so, Mike asked him if Juanes opens for Nelly Furtado.
Alex: What!? Nelly Furtado is so lucky to be performing with Juanes. Don't talk to me anymore.
And that became a theme in our trip. Juanes. What can be a better start to your vacation?
L'Escala was beautiful and was worth every excruciating moment on that 3hour bus (it was hot, I was wearing long pants, getting bus sick, getting sick from the ambient BO) and being told upon arrival that we had no reservations. Not only that, but that all of L'Escala was booked.
Thank goodness Vijay speaks French (which most people in this region do), because despite what this woman said, she was not fluent in French (you can't be fluent if you don't know the difference between Juin and Juillet). Anyway, things turned out for the best because she found us a hotel outside of town, but by the best beaches. Hotel Reina was not only clean and friendly, but also quiet, a short walk into the center of town and by the most beautiful beaches. Awesome.
We spent the next two and a half days laying on the beach, going to the bars on the beach, sleeping on the beach, swimming, drinking, just relaxing. Mike and Vijay would sneak off while Katie and I were sleeping on the beach and get beer. Mike also broke the chair at the bar (his butt literally went through the seat) and like the responsible adults we are, I instructed everyone to "run around the bend" so they can't find us, which is what we did. What can I say? Drinking and a day in the sun does things to one's logic.
The food was amazing-pulpo, anchovies, rabbit, jamon, tons of sangria. AND all of it was really well priced even when taking the horrible currency conversion into account.
I think L'Escala was the highlight of the vacation (other than Alex's wedding which was a most unique and amazing affair). And so to keep this blog brief (yeah, I know, it's so long already), I will give only clips of Girona and Barcelona.
Girona
It is a beautiful city. We had rented an apt in Girona in the Old City, which was the best thing to do. Olot was fine (the bus ride was not [the WORST BO and most HUMID, HOT bus conditions I have EVER experienced in my life-I thought I was going to DIE]), we hiked around, saw a strange yogurt farm in the middle of the park, ate at a restaurant we came across and while there we tried to find a way to get to the bus station without having to hike the way back (we were not going to make the bus since hiking would take too long). The server/owner offered to drive us to the bus station once lunch was over. Fantastic! She was so nice and the sausage and beans at this place was soooo good. I chose poorly by only having a salad. It was funny to see her lock up the restaurant while we walked out to her car. Of course we made the bus with plenty of time!
Biking on the greenway was a little bit of a challenge since we had to first go to Salt, a neighboring town, to rent bikes. One on the greenway, the ride was lovely. 40km all the way to the beach. Katie had a biking accident and because of the speed we were riding, we knew that once we reached San Feliu, we would have to take the bus back to Girona. The bus was great-we loaded the bikes up, returned the bikes in Salt and got back to make dinner in our apt. That night Mike and Vijay discovered the vending machine where San Miguel beer was only 1euro. It was a San Miguel party. They emptied out the vending machine (ok, so there were only like 9 beers in the machine, but still, we were drinking wine too).
Barcelona
All of Spain so far as earned some serious points in my book. Barcelona is an amazing city. I loved Park Guell and Sagrada Familia. Even though I was so tired that I fell asleep standing up (once I fell into Vijay's arm pit, the other time I fell face forward into a stone wall while telling Mike and I wasn't sleepy anymore [Vijay and Mike kept saying we would get coffee later!]) I managed to get familia with it.
Our apt in Barcelona was amazing- two bedrooms with a huge terrace. It was in a residential area, a few blocks from Alex and Cristina's apt. The area was great and there was a fantastic neighborhood bar, Bar Corunya, just next door. We frequented this place while in Barcelona and it had a great menu del dia where for about 9 euros you get an appetizer, main course, dessert, and a drink. The codillo was so good.
We met up with the other Columbians in town for Alex's wedding and went dinner and a bar one evening. It was a bolsa, a stock market themed bar where drink prices are dictated by the buying power. Other highlights included hearing the Chikichiki song and learning the four step dance.
The wedding was unlike any other. The ceremony was in this beautiful and famous cathedral, Santa Maria del Mar. Needless to say, Alex and Cristina looked smashing. The reception was just outside of Barcelona and so a bus was hired to take a bunch of us to and from the reception. Good thing too, cause the reception went from 7pm to 4am! It was so much fun! We danced and drank all night. Another thing we learned about Spanish weddings is that it is customary to bring out cigarettes for all their guests after the meal! The servers bring around a tray of cigarettes and cigars for everyone. It's hysterical. The cake had fireworks coming out of it and Mike danced like it was nobody's business. Absolutely fantastic.
We spent Sunday recovering and flew out on Monday. I unfortunately got sick (which I have named Franco's revenge) the last day there and had a very precarious plane ride home. Unfortunately, the following Sunday was the NYC triathlon and given my....condition, I wasn't sure if I would make it through the race without an incident. Thankfully I recovered enough to feel confident about finishing the race, but Mike got sick and his situation was less positive than mine. But that story is for another post.
Picture. Beware...there are tons!
Since we were all taking different flights, it was quite nice that none of our planes were delayed and made it really easy to meet up at Barcelona airport. Once we got into Barcelona, we met up with Alex to exchange luggage and for lunch. It was great to see him again (though it had only been 2 weeks since he left the lab, he was my partner in crime and I really felt the absence of his presence in lab!). We all headed to the bus station to catch the bus to L'Escala and en route, we noticed a ton of advertisements for a musician named Juanes and something called the Havana Club. Not knowing what either of these were, I told Alex that I wanted to see Juanes at the Havana Club. He immediately told me not to be ridiculous since the Havana Club is not a place but a brand of rum and that one cannot easily get tickets to see Juanes. Who is Juanes anyway? Well, Alex nearly fell over when he heard that none of us had heard of Juanes. Who is Juanes and why is his name Juanes and not Juan? He proceeded to try to play us a song he sings with Nelly Furtado and while doing so, Mike asked him if Juanes opens for Nelly Furtado.
Alex: What!? Nelly Furtado is so lucky to be performing with Juanes. Don't talk to me anymore.
And that became a theme in our trip. Juanes. What can be a better start to your vacation?
L'Escala was beautiful and was worth every excruciating moment on that 3hour bus (it was hot, I was wearing long pants, getting bus sick, getting sick from the ambient BO) and being told upon arrival that we had no reservations. Not only that, but that all of L'Escala was booked.
Thank goodness Vijay speaks French (which most people in this region do), because despite what this woman said, she was not fluent in French (you can't be fluent if you don't know the difference between Juin and Juillet). Anyway, things turned out for the best because she found us a hotel outside of town, but by the best beaches. Hotel Reina was not only clean and friendly, but also quiet, a short walk into the center of town and by the most beautiful beaches. Awesome.
We spent the next two and a half days laying on the beach, going to the bars on the beach, sleeping on the beach, swimming, drinking, just relaxing. Mike and Vijay would sneak off while Katie and I were sleeping on the beach and get beer. Mike also broke the chair at the bar (his butt literally went through the seat) and like the responsible adults we are, I instructed everyone to "run around the bend" so they can't find us, which is what we did. What can I say? Drinking and a day in the sun does things to one's logic.
The food was amazing-pulpo, anchovies, rabbit, jamon, tons of sangria. AND all of it was really well priced even when taking the horrible currency conversion into account.
I think L'Escala was the highlight of the vacation (other than Alex's wedding which was a most unique and amazing affair). And so to keep this blog brief (yeah, I know, it's so long already), I will give only clips of Girona and Barcelona.
Girona
It is a beautiful city. We had rented an apt in Girona in the Old City, which was the best thing to do. Olot was fine (the bus ride was not [the WORST BO and most HUMID, HOT bus conditions I have EVER experienced in my life-I thought I was going to DIE]), we hiked around, saw a strange yogurt farm in the middle of the park, ate at a restaurant we came across and while there we tried to find a way to get to the bus station without having to hike the way back (we were not going to make the bus since hiking would take too long). The server/owner offered to drive us to the bus station once lunch was over. Fantastic! She was so nice and the sausage and beans at this place was soooo good. I chose poorly by only having a salad. It was funny to see her lock up the restaurant while we walked out to her car. Of course we made the bus with plenty of time!
Biking on the greenway was a little bit of a challenge since we had to first go to Salt, a neighboring town, to rent bikes. One on the greenway, the ride was lovely. 40km all the way to the beach. Katie had a biking accident and because of the speed we were riding, we knew that once we reached San Feliu, we would have to take the bus back to Girona. The bus was great-we loaded the bikes up, returned the bikes in Salt and got back to make dinner in our apt. That night Mike and Vijay discovered the vending machine where San Miguel beer was only 1euro. It was a San Miguel party. They emptied out the vending machine (ok, so there were only like 9 beers in the machine, but still, we were drinking wine too).
Barcelona
All of Spain so far as earned some serious points in my book. Barcelona is an amazing city. I loved Park Guell and Sagrada Familia. Even though I was so tired that I fell asleep standing up (once I fell into Vijay's arm pit, the other time I fell face forward into a stone wall while telling Mike and I wasn't sleepy anymore [Vijay and Mike kept saying we would get coffee later!]) I managed to get familia with it.
Our apt in Barcelona was amazing- two bedrooms with a huge terrace. It was in a residential area, a few blocks from Alex and Cristina's apt. The area was great and there was a fantastic neighborhood bar, Bar Corunya, just next door. We frequented this place while in Barcelona and it had a great menu del dia where for about 9 euros you get an appetizer, main course, dessert, and a drink. The codillo was so good.
We met up with the other Columbians in town for Alex's wedding and went dinner and a bar one evening. It was a bolsa, a stock market themed bar where drink prices are dictated by the buying power. Other highlights included hearing the Chikichiki song and learning the four step dance.
The wedding was unlike any other. The ceremony was in this beautiful and famous cathedral, Santa Maria del Mar. Needless to say, Alex and Cristina looked smashing. The reception was just outside of Barcelona and so a bus was hired to take a bunch of us to and from the reception. Good thing too, cause the reception went from 7pm to 4am! It was so much fun! We danced and drank all night. Another thing we learned about Spanish weddings is that it is customary to bring out cigarettes for all their guests after the meal! The servers bring around a tray of cigarettes and cigars for everyone. It's hysterical. The cake had fireworks coming out of it and Mike danced like it was nobody's business. Absolutely fantastic.
We spent Sunday recovering and flew out on Monday. I unfortunately got sick (which I have named Franco's revenge) the last day there and had a very precarious plane ride home. Unfortunately, the following Sunday was the NYC triathlon and given my....condition, I wasn't sure if I would make it through the race without an incident. Thankfully I recovered enough to feel confident about finishing the race, but Mike got sick and his situation was less positive than mine. But that story is for another post.
Picture. Beware...there are tons!
posted by hkim at
6:09 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home