Madrid, La Capitol of Spain

CEA planned a trip for us to go to Madrid over the weekend by train. We took the high speed renfe and it took us just about 2 hours to get to Madrid, the capitol of Spain. When we got there we took a bus to our 4 star hotels that CEA set us up with– classy. Daniel met up with us right away and started our tour around Madrid, since he's abroad there. We went to lunch at Cafe Oriental, in a square looking over the government buildings and the Opera. Madrid is one of the oldest cities ever built, so just being in the atmosphere of all the Roman stone buildings and monuments was an experience within itself. Madrid is certainly the New York City of Spain if you can refer to Barcelona as Miami. Enormous buildings in a city that makes you feel small as Alice in Wonderland, with tons of cool restaurants, bars, and shopping of course.

The first day we walked around the park and all throughout the city after lunch

The second day we went to the Botanical Gardens after we visited the Prado Museum– the most famous museum in Madrid that holds European art from the 12th-19th centuries. I got to see Diego Velazquez's iconic Las Meninas painting and a ton of Christian and Byzantine art.

In the Botanical Gardens... the arches are usually filled with grape vines that alternate green, red, and purple grapes down the path in the spring and summer. 

Ate lunch at Mercado San Miguel, the oldest market in Madrid. Kind of reminds me of the Boqueria in Barcelona, except this market is indoors and covered with glass doors. 

Walked to the Royal Palace– La Palacio del Real, Madrid and overlooked the view of the city

Late night churros and chocolate ("chocolat con churritas") at Madrid's famous chocolataria. Ok, the chocolate LITERALLY tasted like melted Nutella– heaven.

Roma, Roma!

The weather wasn't ideal (as you can see we had to tour around the city with umbrellas) but we were on a mission to get these sights out of the way. Here are some of the things we accomplished...

The Spanish Steps– very cute area with great shopping and restaurants

The Gelato..

The Trevi Fountain– the largest Baroque fountain in Italy

The boys took us to see the Colosseum– the largest amphitheater ever built in the Roman Empire

Inside the Colosseum

La Sagrada Familia

We went to visit Gaudi's La Sagrada Familia "Church of the Holy Family," during the day. The Roman Catholic Church is one of Barcelona's most famous tourist attractions. We took the tiny lift to the top of the construction, and took a few photos of the view, then walked down some of the spiral steps. The details in the building are insane– so many geometrical designs and the facade is completely covered with architectural sculpture. It's no wonder Gaudi devoted the last 15 years of his life to complete this project, which is still under construction today.

At the top of La Sagrada Familia

View of Barcelona from the top

The BIGGEST vending machine EVER

Interlaken, Switzerland

Two train rides from Interlaken to Geneva, a hour and a half flight from Geneva to Barcelona, a bus ride, two metro stops, a two block walk, and were back in Barcelona from Switzerland. Never thought I would be so happy to be in 55 degree weather, I was sweating after being in 10 degree weather in Switzerland. Interlaken was a small town and we really went in for the experience. About 200 abroad kids travelled there this weekend and stayed in Balmer's hostel so it was a pretty social event. Staying in a room with six girls– three bunk beds and communal coed showers– was definitely a first for me.

Balmers, our raging hostel 

There isn't too much to do in Interlaken but extreme snow sports, skydiving, and skiing. We decided to try night sledding since I don't really know where else I would ever consider doing this. We got in late in the afternoon so we unpacked, went out to dinner, and went to Balmer's at night (everyone staying in the hostel goes down to this basement bar/club to rip shots in the cold, party for a few hours, and retreat back to our "dorm rooms." The next day we walked around the town, had lunch in a hotel famous for their restaurant on the 18th floor that looks over all of Interlaken. Breathtaking.

Me and Ari overlooking the view in Interlaken

Geared up for nightsledding

That night we went nightsledding. Ok, I never expected to have this much fun. We gathered our crew of 20 kids, they took us out to a dinner at the top of the mountain with tons of beer and fondu (obviously Switzerland is famous for their cheese and chocolate), handed us sleds with string handles, took us up a gondola ride in the pitch black and yes we were scared, then we waited for everyone to get to the top. There we got green glow sticks and got on our sleds in the dead of night and headed down the mountain literally 50 mph and it was like live mario cart. Paving through the snow, we stopped at a waterfall that was frozen over to take pictures, then continued down the mountain racing. The whole sled down took about 45 minutes, and we all thought even that was too short. Time really does fly when you're having fun.

At a chocolate shop in Switzerland. Sidenote- Lindt chocolate was created there.

Montserrat-Calcotada-Stiges

Went on a day trip to Montserrat with CEA. It was about an hour bus ride from Barcelona, 30 minutes climbing up a mountain in the bus with the most gorgeous scenic view of Spain. At the top was a monastery, which we were allowed to walk into to watch the congregation. After Montserrat we took a bus down to have a traditional 'calcotada' lunch in another small part of Spain– maybe the weirdest thing I've ever experience but it was quite grimey and fun. Basically, we went to the now famous restaurant called El Bulli (literally a farmhouse). First we were dressed in bibbs, fed burn leek-like onions which they teach you how to peel and eat with romesco sauce (they're famous for this and I don't know how it was even invented). Then they brought out HUGE pieces of sourdough to spread garlic aoli (yum!) and rub tomato on it, a huge Spanish staple. Then came enormous french fries, pork sausages the size of my entire arm, roasted eggplants and red peppers, and more and more sourdough bread. Then to top it all off, they started passing out vanilla ice cream cones topped with chocolate syrup and nuts. Stuffed as can be, you couldn't not eat it. Not sure how many more farmhouse feasts I can handle. 

A view from the top of the mountain

Local farmers selling cheeses, date and nut desserts, and cheesecake. As you pass by, each one offers you a taste of their cheese- obviously delicious, even when you're not the biggest cheese fan.

Inside the monastery in Montserrat

       

After lunch we went down by the coast to a town called Stiges– I could LIVE here. It was like a classy beachy town with villas and nice cars everywhere. So quite and simple you wanted to walk into every little cafe, restaurant, ice cream shop, and bar you saw just to scope out the scene. Everyone there seemed like they were so careless and retired to just live life and be in love. We spotted an adorable couple cuddling and leaning over the balcony of one of the apartments looking over the beach in the middle of the day when most people would be stressing in the office. Guess I can see why people here work to live and don't live to work– leisure here is the biggest blessing. Sidenote, everything in this town was tax free so don't think I didn't go shopping walking through the cute little alleyways filled with shops and cafes. Snatched the cutest scarf I now own.

Shopping in Stiges