Spring Break & Family

It's been awhile since I've blogged and as my time in Spain is coming to an end, I thought I should write again (before I'm buried in books for finals). Since I've last written I have been on my spring break trip with my roommate Anna, all around Portugal and Spain, seen my family and turned 21!

SPRING BREAK
on our trip we went to:
Lisbon
Lagos (Portugal)
Cadiz
Alicante
Valencia
Barcelona
San Sebastian
Granada


I had an amazing time! Anna and I both were amazed by Portugal. It is now one of my favorite places in the world. The people in Portugal are amazing friendly, speak English (almost never met someone who didn't speak English) and the country is beautiful! Lisbon was my favorite stop on the whole trip. We toured the entire city seeing, Belen, the castle, barrio alto, and everything else there is to see.

Our Second stop Lagos had some of the most beautiful beaches. We went on a boat with a fisherman where he took us all around the caves and arches that surround the beach. It was fantastic!

As for our Spanish stops, San Sebastian was my favorite. It is a BEAUTIFUL town in northern Spain with the best tapas! It combines mountains covered with trees and sheep with the beautiful bay.

I enjoyed Barcelona, but felt overwhelmed, and wished I had more time to explore and get to know the city. In addition, everything was very expensive, and Spanish was rarely spoken around me.

Alicante is a cute beach town with a fortress you can climb too. Which of course we did! Cadiz is somewhat similar, and the major site is a church with a yellow dome. Valencia is the old capital of Spain, and is where paella (the famous Spanish rice dish) was invented. Traditional Valencian paella is rabbit and chicken. We ordered some and it was BY FAR the most amazing paella I've had in my life. Completely worth the trip!

Granada of course has the famous Alhambra, which is where the Moors used to rule Spain from. It is an old Arab palace, and one of the most amazing sites you can see in Spain! I also enjoyed having a taste of Arab food, and ate Kebabs every day! haha


FAMILY & BIRTHDAY
It was great to have my family in Spain. Not only did I get to see them! But they also were able to see where I had been living, and why I love Spain so much. They visited Toledo and Madrid without me, and then joined me in Salamanca. I was really glad to show them around and introduce them to my city. On my birthday we went to Zamora, a city close by where my host mom is from. It had a beautiful church and a nice plaza. The next day we drove to Caceres, which seemed to be having a silly festival that included fighting dragons! It definitely made that stop memorable. The old buildings there were also amazing, and very interesting.

After that we drove on to Sevilla (city with way too many one-way tiny streets!) I was very glad that my parents had selected Sevilla (Seville in English) as one of the stops, because Sevilla is the capital of Spanish culture, flamenco, the 3rd largest cathedral in the world, the alcazar (an old Spanish palace), and great food. I really enjoyed showing them around the city and trying the typical Sevillian food.

The next city was Merida. Merida has some of the most amazing Roman ruins that I have ever seen. What makes some of it so amazing is that houses, and buildings are constructed around some if it! We saw an amphitheater, race track, and theater. They were all spectacular. *We also found a restaurant that had 100 types of tiny tapa sandwiches that were delicious! And of course the Parador, and old monastery, was our hotel and it made Merida extra special!