Rose Bowl Bound

The Ducks are in the Rose Bowl and I refused to miss the big game! Although, this mini road trip may not be nearly as cool as, lets say Spain, I felt the need to contribute something new to my blog. Its been way too long...

I woke up bright and early the day tickets went on sale...and that was a huge waste of time. I don't think I know a single person who got tickets through Ticketmaster. Luckily someone was able to get me tickets though! (Luke is my new hero)!!

I hit the open road tomorrow to head to Pasadena, via Sylmar, CA where my cousin Dan and his family live. Should be an exhilarating drive, by myself, down I-5. I have a million things to do tonight, and I want to do is sleep so I can kick this cold, which will seriously put a damper on my fun if it doesn't go away. Oil Change, Cleaning out the Car, Laundry, Packing, and iPod Updating are all on the list of things that must get done.

Can't wait to see so many college friends! Hopefully I will be able to meet up with most of them! Might be tough, but it needs to happen :)

GO DUCKS!!!

Mini Pub Crawl

Kelly and I had a great night out on the town in Madrid on Friday night. Kelly keeps a list of places she wants to check out and I had a few recommendations of bars to visit, so we were ready to check some places off the list. It turned out to be a night of entertainment and various forms of live music.

We started at Cuevas de Sesamo which is a Sangria bar in a cave-like bar with quotes written on the walls. I was told this was a "bomb sangria bar" so of course we ordered a pitcher of sangria to start the night out. We exchanged office gossip while listening to a little old man play the piano.

(Photos: The bar, the piano player, the sangria...before and after)

Our next stop was a place on Kelly's list that was a typical Spanish bar. We were hoping to get some food but it was very crowded, so we just had a beer and moved on to the next spot.


Good thing the that bar was too crowded to order food because well fell upon a pot of gold when we walked into a fairly empty bar. There were two men inside performing. They both played the guitar and sang flamenco!! The real treat was their groupie...a woman sitting at the table right next to where they were singing that was convinced she was part of their musical group. She clapped along and even busted into song a few times! She took it all very seriously. Oh, and she also would wave to people standing outside to come into the bar. The other woman at the table, that we like to think was her daughter, was also enjoying the music. She got up a few times to dance. She had a friend with bright red hair and in a red outfit that she would dance with...not sure if they knew each other previously or if they just bonded over their love for the music. I started questioning why we even paid to see a flamenco show just a few nights before.
We ordered some food and beers while we watched "the show." I was kinda sad to leave that place, but it was time to move onto the next bar...Populart.

Above: The Groupie
Below: The Red-Headed Dancer

Me saying "OLE"

Populart was another recommendation I got before I came to Madrid. Its a Jazz bar, although I think on this particular night it was Blues music according to their website. I am pretty sure the band was from the States and Kelly and I were the only ones who understood what the singer was saying.










Our night ended here so we could get a ride back to the burbs, but that was ok by me since I had plenty of beer and sangria in me at this point. Grad school killed my tolerance! All those weekends sitting at home writing papers turned me into a lightweight!

Good times! Good times!

Molinos!

Day 6: Thursday, June 4th
Stops: Bull on the Side of the Road & Consuegra

Yay for Spain!

Our next and last stop was to see the Molinos (windmills) in Consuegra. First we stopped to eat at a restaurant that Kelly and Pablo call "the twilight zone." It is a random place in Consuegra that is set up to look like a midevil castle (unsuccessfully). Both times they have visited "the twilight zone" they have been the only people in the place.

Then it was up the hill to see the molinas. They were pretty and we took lots of pictures:









Finally it was time to get back to Madrid. Awesome road trip!!!

Arcos & Cordoba

Day 5: Wednesday, June 5th
Stops: Arco de Frontera & Cordoba

We hit the road again on Wednesday morning and starting heading towards Cordoba with a stop in Arco de Frontera.

Arcos de Frontera

Arcos is a white town in southern Spain. Just about all the buildings in the town are white, which is pretty neat. There are a bunch of towns like this in the south. Acros has some very narrow streets. There were a few times I had to close my eyes, jump in a doorway, and hope for the best as car went flying down the hill.
































After exploring the narrow roads of Arcos we made our way back to the car and headed to Cordoba. We arrived, parked the car, and walked across a cool bridge to get to the old part of the city. We found a hotel rather quickly, then Kelly and I set out to look around. Kelly had been here in October, so she already knew where a lot of the sites were. Cordoba is an adorable city. There is a contest each year to decorate your patio/windows with flowers, so it made for a very picturesque experience.
Next we walked over to the Alcazar. We lucked out because it is free on Wednesdays. The builing was pretty cool, although not that unlike the other Alcazars we had visited. The one notable feature of this Alcazar is the mosaics on the walls that have been preserved. The Alacazar had BEAUTIFUL gardens. I loved them! We wandered around looking at all the pretty flowers and water features, then found a bench in the shade to sit and soak it all in. I decided that if I were a rich queen, I would have gardens like this at my castle.



Pablo met up for us and we went for a drink at a cute terrace cafe, then walked around some more. We wanted to find a patio/garden type restaurant for dinner, which are pretty common in Cordoba. We found one that was cute enough since we were really hungry at this point. It turned out to be a pretty disappointing meal, but we still had a nice time.

In the morning we woke up early to go into the Mezquita, which is the cathedral in the town. Now, this was one cathedral that was really different from all the others. It was a mosque prior to the Christians taking over, and they kept much of the mosque in tact; they just added on to it. Very impressive and unique!



After visiting the Mezquita and having some breakfast, it was time to start heading back to Madrid. We had a couple on stops line up on the way though...

OLE! Flamenco!

On Tuesday night we headed out to Jerez de la Frontera for a night of Flamenco! Flamenco is said to have originated in Jerez, so this was the spot to see it!

Before the show we wandered around the non-touristy part of Jerez and found a place for dinner. Then it was off to the Taberna de Flamenca to see our show. I was really looking forward to it. Luckily it wasn't too crowded and I got a seat RIGHT in front (see photo...lol). There were about 9 performers total: 3 dancers (two men and one woman), 3 singers, and 3 guitarists.


I am attaching a couple of videos of the show, but they really do it no justice! The intensity and energy don't shine through in the video. It was a great time and a very memorable experience!



Another video is coming soon, but it takes hours for them to upload! boo.

Ouch! Sunburn!

Days 3 & 4: Monday, June 1 and Tuesday, June 2
Stops: Puerto de Santa Maria & Cadiz

Puerto de Santa Maria

Monday morning we left Seville and traveled further south to Puerto de Santa Maria. This is a small port town. We found a great hotel and checked in for two nights.

Moday was set to be our beach day. After unloading our stuff at the hotel and suiting up, we went in search of the beach. It wasn't anything glamorous, but it had sand and an ocean, so we were set. I spent most of the day in my own little world...Ipod on and head in a magazine or eyes closed for a rest. It was a relaxing day, but I got back to the hotel to discover that my front side was burnt to a crisp! I had sunscreen on, but I guess it was hotter than it felt because the wind was blowing most of the day. Days later, I am still feeling the pain, but it is definitely getting better.

That night we took a walk around town. We discovered the bull ring and took some photos outside. I was having a pasta craving, so we found a pizza place that had pasta as well. After dinner, I went back to the hotel to nurse my sunburn while Kelly and Pablo stayed out for a bit to enjoy some vino.

Cadiz

Cadiz is a beach town in southern Spain. It is said to be the first inhabited city in Europe.

We followed a walking tour in one of my travel books that took us through the city (we added a few stops of our own too)! We also stopped for a big seafood lunch...well, i had chicken, but the purpose of lunch was seafood since we were on the coast. Here is a slide show of our day...

Smells like horse poop...

...must be Seville! There are horses with carriages everywhere you turn in Seville, therefore, lots of horse poop. Despite the odor, Seville might very well be my favorite place in Spain thus far.

Days 2: Sunday, May 31
Location: Seville, Spain
Weather: Overcast in the morning, clearing up later in the day

We arrived to Seville around sundown on Saturday, May 30th. I almost immediate fell in love with the city when I saw all the buildings lit up. It was just what I had imagined Spain to look like! We found a hotel without too much trouble and checked in for 2 nights. That night we walked around a bit and satisfied our craving for pizza at Dominos. lol. We were all a bit drained from being in the sun that day and decided to call it a night.


The next morning we set out to see all the sites in Seville. We started at the Torre del Oro (Tower of Gold).













Then we took a nice long walk to get to the Plaza de España via the Parque de Maria Luisa. The park was beautiful!

























The Plaza de España was very cool! There were bridges with porcelian railings and each state or major city had its own alcove in the main building. There was also some cool art on display in the plaza and lots of vendors trying to suck in the tourists.


































After a lot of wandering around the park and the plaza, it was time for a nice big lunch.

We spent the later part of the afternoon at the cathedral. This cathedral is the largest gothic structure ever constructed. I was really impressed with the amount of detail in this building! wow! We climbing the 35 ramps to get to the top of the bell tower. It was quite a hike, but there were beautiful views along the way and from the top!

Then we went back to the hotel to get some rest. When we came back out, there were tons of people gathered in the streets. We had no idea what was going on, but we figured it had to be something good if so many people were waiting. We joined the crowd. It was all very drawn out, but it seemed to be a procession to the cathedral. Pablo seemed to think it might be to recognize a certain saint. We still aren't sure, but it was exciting to be part of the action.

We ended the night by grabbing a quick dinner and taking some nighttime photos around the cathedral.























In the morning it was time to continue our road trip south. Next stop...Puerto de Santa Maria...