On our second to last day of 2015, we woke up ready to see more of Madrid and Real Madrid!  We set out early to explore Buen Retiro Park, which up until the early 19th century belonged to the Spanish Monastery. The park was really beautiful- hence it’s translated meaning “Park of the pleasant retreat”.

The park has a really cool crystal palace with huge fossils inside!

After a few hours at the park we had to start heading towards the Real Madrid soccer stadium. We were all ready with our new fan shirts and scarves!

The Santiago Bernabeu Stadium is spectacular and seats over 81,000. Security at the stadium was very tight- they searched everyone’s bag prior to entering. We had amazing seats near the field! We were so close to Christiano Ronaldo–sigh! 😉

We had so much fun at the game! I can honestly say this may have been the first sporting event that I have been to where I watched every play!

We really enjoyed our time in Madrid! Such an awesome city, and often referred to as “the most passionate city in Europe”.

New Years Eve we travelled to Barcelona- our last stop on this amazing trip! The high speed train got us there in less than 3 hours!

Barcelona was originally founded as a Roman city in the middle ages. Barcelona was part of the ancient territory of Catalonia, and many people still speak Catalan and follow the traditions.

We arrived at the Hilton Barcelona where we were upgraded thanks to my hubs Hilton honors. We had booked NYE celebration tickets for a place called Shoko, on the beach, where we would meet our new friend from the Madrid tapas tour- Mark. Gianna and Dave (from the tapas tour) were also in Barcelona, and were going to meet us as well, but Dave unfortunately got food poisoning!

We had just enough time before the celebration to do some shopping- and lucky for us the Hilton is in the shopping district! John found a great deal on some designer jeans he has been wanting, and I got a new purse and coat!

Our New Years party began at 10, so around 9:15 we set out to find taxi, which was not easy. Eventually we were able to get one and arrived at the busy beach area where many nightclubs and restaurants were hopping!

We were greeted at the entrance with roses by girls dressed as geishas, and led into a beautiful lounge area. There was so much sushi and wine everywhere- 2 of my favorite things!

We found our friend Mark and had a blast ringing in 2016! There were amazing dancers and performers throughout the night!

Lots of wine later we ended up spending half of New Years day in bed. We have learned in our 30’s, we definitely feel late nights way more than we did in our 20’s. It was nice to relax and sleep in though!

That afternoon we headed to check out Casa Batllo, a modernist house designed by the famous Gaudi. We would be seeing lots of Gaudi architecture throughout Barcelona. He is known as the “architect for God”. We both love his work and were mesmerized by our first encounter at the Casa Batllo. It was like being in a giant fun house!

The roof was really amazing and had fabulous views!

After a couple hours of enjoying the Casa , we set out to explore more of Barcelona and had a great Tapas dinner!

The next day we had tickets to see the famous Park Guell, another amazing place designed by Gaudi. Before the park we hiked up a very, very steep hill for the best views of Barcelona. The hike up the hill was literally straight up for 25 minutes. Imagine putting a treadmill on the highest incline possible- not easy, but oh so worth it!

Turo de la Rovira

After enjoying the beautiful views, we journeyed to the fascinating Park Guell! Guadi designed this park for a man named Guell, with the intentions of it being a high-end area with estates for wealthy families. The park was built between 1900-1914 and is a UNESCO world heritage site.

I really love Gaudi’s use of vibrant colors and non-traditional shapes. He often recycled glass and other materials to form the tiles he used throughout his work.

We had the most delicious paella for lunch! I have never had a paella this yummy!

We rested a bit and later that night met Scott and Kelly (more new friends from Madrid tapas tour) for dinner! We had a great time chatting and eating pintxos.

In northern Spain you often won’t find “tapas” but instead “pintxos” which are bread with different things on top. Tapas, traditionally are small servings of food, not on bread. John and I were getting a little tired of all the bread, so we would eat the stuff off and leave the bread. Many pinxto bars in Barcelona are set up to where you just grab the dishes you want, and keep the toothpick in each dish to keep track of how many you ate. At the end you are charged based on your number of toothpicks, so it is kind of an honor system in a way.

Sagardi Pinxtos

 

Even after dinner we stood outside chatting for awhile with Scott and Kelly. Such nice people! They live in Philly and we promised to stay in touch!

The next day we had booked tickets for renowned Sagrada Familia, a huge Roman catholic church, designed by -guess who? Yep- Gaudi! The remarkable place is another UNESCO world heritage site. Tickets book out, so it is definitely advisable to order tickets in advance. As we arrived for our scheduled ticket time, we were given audio guides and maps. A couple hours is definitely needed to fully embrace the Sagrada Familia.

The gorgeous stained glass windows create the most beautiful monochromatic color schemes.

Coincidently, Mark was also doing the tour that morning and we ran into him!

The church is made of 3 grand facades- the nativity facade, the passion facade, and the glory facade. The nativity facade is dedicated to the birth of Jesus, and the passion facade dedicated to the crucifixion. Guadi was unable to complete the entire church, and the glory facade is still under construction. It represents the road to God- judgement, death, glory. The entire church is so intricately detailed. The roof is outrageous! I couldn’t get a good picture but here is one I found-

Guadi’s tomb in the church

We had a set time where we could go up in the glorious towers of the Sagrada. It was really cool climbing through the towers – and of course the views were amazing!

We really loved the Sagrada Familia experience. That afternoon we were on a hunt to find the best churros with chocolate. This is one of those things they say one must do in Barcelona. We looked up one of the best rated places and found it in the Gothic quarter. There was a line to get in but it moved pretty quickly. John and I each ordered churros and a swiss chocolate and spanish chocolate to share. Yum! You dip the churros in the chocolate and cream and it is delish!

We walked around some more exploring the fun Gothic quarter, where there are many shops and cafes.

Casa Mila- also by Guadi

We had a drink at a cute cafe and people watched. John googled the best restaurants in Barcelona and decided on Viana. The small restaurant was pretty full but we were able to grab 2 of the last seats at the bar. The bartender was a funny Polish guy. He was really friendly and fun to chat with. We had an absolutely delicious dinner of octopus tempura, prawns and veggie rolls with chili sauce and beef cheeks. We were too full for dessert, but the bartender gave us complimentary sweet liquor drinks that tasted like baileys.

Beef cheeks

After dinner Mark invited us to meet him at a sports bar to watch American football. We had a fun time and made some more new friends! Sophie is a doll, and from London. She lives in Spain and does bridal makeup most months of the year, and then spends a few months each year in Vietnam. Her boyfriend Adam is one of the owners of a popular club in Ibiza. He works during peak season and then off season travels and has fun.

After another fun night in Barcelona, we needed another morning to sleep in. It was our last day of our amazing trip and both John and I were feeling really sad. We were so happy to have had the adventures, but it is always depressing when a trip comes to an end. The anticipation and planning is part of the fun!

We spent our last afternoon walking along Barcelona beach area.

 

That night as we sadly packed up our stuff, we decided we had to start planning our next trip- Greece and ??? — Peru, India and Australia are also tops on our list- as is Myanmar and the Philipines- oh and South Africa! Ok, I guess we really want to go everywhere!

We had a pretty long 20 hour travel day back home. We flew from Spain to London, and then had a layover and delay for 6 hours, before our 8 hour flight home. I watched 4 movies in a row. Something I have never done- “Ricki & the Flash”, “The Intern”, “Hector” and “Paper Towns”. I was trying to not sleep so that I would be able to sleep through the night when we got home.

Arriving in Baltimore, we were pretty tired. The customs officer grilled us on what we did during our time in Morocco. John said, ” take lots of pictures” and he smiled. She didn’t think that was funny and sternly said, “I need more specifics”. I replied, “rode camels, toured the cities, ate good food”. She wanted more and more information.  Then we got sent to agriculture check because I had a sandwich for John from the plane in my bag. The police dog sniffed it so we were searched. We shared a taxi home with another girl. It was nice to sleep in our own bed and see our sweet kitties. We had missed them so very much!

A wonderful adventure comes to end, but the memories last a lifetime!

In summary, it was really neat to venture through two completely different countries, with two completely different cultures.

Morocco has such a distinct culture with amazing food, traditions, beautiful scenery and very faithful people. The Moroccans are hard workers. The many hagglers annoyed us at times, but as I mentioned in a previous post, this is common in many other countries. The Sahara desert experience was definitely one of the coolest things we have ever done! Morocco is very affordable. There is delicious mint tea everywhere, but wine/beer is hard to find, especially in the medinas. Parts of Morocco make you feel as though you have gone back in time. There is the lovely smell of argan oils everywhere (unless you’re in a tannery where it smells like pigeon poop). Speaking of pigeons- that was the best new thing we ate in Morocco! The mosques are amazing, but since we aren’t Muslim, we weren’t allowed to enter. Many Moroccans speak multiple languages- French, English, Arabic, Spanish and some Berber.We never felt like we would be physically harmed in Morocco. The Moroccan government and military are very prevalent. Cats are also prevalent. They are literally everywhere in Morocco! Moroccans love pastries and different breads. Tajine is the most popular dish in Moroccan, as it is served everywhere.

Spain, also a country with rich culture and history. The Spaniards are not overly hard workers. Now yes, I am generalizing. Of course there are some very hard workers in Spain, but as a whole the people are more lax. They seem like a very happy, social society. Walk down any street in Spain and people are sitting at the outside cafes. They are laughing, drinking wine, singing, holding hands, kissing. Other places where we noticed the same type of general “happiness”were on the islands of Thailand, and Siem Reap- yes Cambodia. The poorest country in Asia, but the happiest people.

Spaniards do everything later. They wake up later, eat meals later. They take 3 hour siestas in the afternoon. The Spain diet has a lot of bread, wine and meat. Not a lot of green veggies from what we saw. Both Morocco and Spain have olives everywhere! Unlike the Muslim Mosques, the Spanish Catholic churches let everyone enter, even during mass. Many Spaniards know little to no English. Spain is also very affordable compared to US prices. Both Morocco and Spain have beautiful landscape and scenery throughout! Both countries have very good train systems, which make it easy to get from city to city. Both Spaniards and Moroccans seem vested in their families and religions. Muslims make up 99% of the Moroccan population, and Catholics are close to 70% of the Spanish population. There is no haggling in Spain. There are many homeless asking for handouts, but not hagglers like in Morocco.

I am fascinated by different cultures and societies. While there are so many differences, there are also many similarities across all. People for the most part are kind. I love the below quote-

“Repetition does not make memories; new experiences make memories”.

I think travel truly does make one richer- more tolerant and understanding of others, more patient and more knowledgable about the world.  Travel does not have to be to another country or even another city. Travel to see a new park near where you live. Travel does not have to be expensive. With research and points programs it can be affordable for most! If there is somewhere you want to go, make it happen! Make a plan and do it! YOLO!!!