Semana Santa

Disclaimer: long post ahead.  Prepare yourself.


Bonkers.  Semana Santa 2011 was just that - bonkers.

My first spring break started out with me almost missing my connecting flight to Athens, Greece in Barcelona (foreshadowing? - you'll see why later...)  On our flight from Barcelona to Athens, we met another American student who was actually studying abroad in Athens.  We got to talking and became friends really fast - maybe a little too fast.  After he found out that our flight was landing at 3:05am and we were planning on chilling in the airport until we could check into our hostel, he offered for us to stay in his apartment.  I (being the apprehensive one out of the two) immediately thought of the movie "Taken" and how the story started out exactly like this.  S, my travel buddy, thought we should do it since we were so tired and didn't want to start our Athens stay being exhausted.  Long story short - we put our faith in humanity and learned that there actually are good people in this world.  We stayed with our friend and had our own little couch-surfing experience.  In hindsight, it was a risky decision but was absolutely crucial to how our Athens stay ended up.  Our generous friend, Jeff, gave us recommendations of places to go, places to eat, what to eat and some Athens specific traveling tips - he even made us a travel itinerary of things we should do.  Everything we learned from him was dead on and our trip would have been completely different if we hadn't couch-surfed that first night.  After almost missing my flight and couch-surfing, I knew this would be a crazy trip, to say the least.

A is for ATHENS and Awesome

The amount of history in combination with the Greek mythology made Athens so interesting.  Here's what we saw on our (cleverly named by S) "It's All Greek to Me Tour":

• Acropolis which housed the Parthenon (monument dedicated to Princess Athena): these two sights are what some people call the most historical monuments in the world.  
• Parliament Building: complete with a procession in honor of "Day of Remembrance"
• The archeological museum: I'm not much of a museum person, but the museum was sweet - learned a lot about Greek mythology and the Greek Gods
• 2004 Olympic Stadium: even the official pool they swam the races in
• Old Olympic Stadium: from the 1890s
• The President's house
• Hadrian's Library
• National Gardens
• Tomb of the Unknown Soldier
• Folpappos Hill
• Temple of Olympean Zeus
• Hiked up another hill where we had a great view of the city
• Congress building which had a market inside

Athens after thoughts:

1. I am now very interested in Greek mythology
2. It's so sad how everything historical seems to be in ruins now
3. When America is old enough to have this much history, what are we going to have to show for it?  No Parthenon, no Temple of Zeus...but football fields?  Tall buildings?  Cool...
4. There are tons of stray dogs roaming Athens.  They are all so cute but look so sad. :(
5. Greek food = cheap and delicious
6. Kebabs are everywhere in Europe and I am not mad about it
7. We didn't have a map, which ultimately allowed us to see more things since we would roam around aimlessly
8. Aside from seeing all the touristic spots and monuments, it's the small memories that make the trip worthwhile (ie. our couch-surfing experience, meeting hostel-mates from all over the world).
9. Staying in hostels is awesome when your hostel-mates are cool. 

ISTANBUL = the land of mosques and kebab

After anxiously awaiting our trip to Turkey, we were greeted by Istanbul in a not-so-pleasant manner.  Here's why:

• Had to purchase an unexpected Turkish Visa in the airport,
• (What felt like) Freezing rain.  Definitely spoiled by the Sevilla weather,
• Couldn't find our hostel - walked around for a half hour with our heavy bags and were given wrong directions numerous times,
• Couldn't communicate as we don't speak Turkish and very few people spoke English,
• Hostel didn't have internet, maps in English nor directions to get to any of the monuments
• Couldn't find anywhere to exchange our currency to Turkish Lira
• We were laughed at/made fun of by so many people...Where is the Turkish hospitality?

Despite all the strikes against Istanbul, things got much better...

• Food is dirt cheap in Istanbul.  Thank you, God for creating 1 euro kebabs.
• Shopped in the biggest. market. ever.  (literally).  To get a sense of how big it is, a sign upon entering read, "Up until recently, the Grand Bazaar was home to 5 mosques, 1 school, 7 fountains, 10 wells, 1 water dispenser and 1 ablution fountain." Needless to say, we got lost many times trying to find our way out.
• Saw the Blue Mosque, the Burnt Column, Hagia Sophia, Topkapi Palace, Dolmabahce Palace, Spice Bazaar, Point Zero (believed to be the center of the universe)
• Experienced Turkish tea and coffee.  Turkish tea = delicious // Turkish coffee = strong and has a mud-like substance at the top and bottom.
• Enjoyed the beautiful view of the Marmara sea

At this point, the Istanbul experience was great.  Despite being thrown off our original plans numerous times and dealing with the curve balls Istanbul threw at us, I was content with my time in Turkey.  That was until we discovered there were 2 airports in Istanbul and we were at the wrong one trying to board our flight to Barcelona.  With no time to commute to the correct airport, we missed our flight and had to buy another one for 220 euros (refer back to the foreshadowing explained at the beginning of this post).  If that's not an epic fail, I'm not sure what is.  Ended our stay in Istanbul in the Ataturk airport eating Sbarro for dinner and sleeping in coffee shop chairs.

BARCELONA = Gaudi's Canvas

After arriving to Barcelona about 18 hours later than expected, we were determined to enjoy our last leg of the trip.  I can definitely say that we conquered Barcelona - in a short 50 some hours in Barcelona we...

• Saw an amazing view of the city from the roof of the Arena de Barcelona - a ginormous shopping center,
• Saw the Arc de Triumph, 
• Walked through Ciutadella Park, 
• Stumbled upon a mass in the Basilica de Santa Maria del Mar (beautiful)
• Stood in the same spot Christopher Columbus sailed into after discovering America (there's a monument dedicated to him there),
• Stumbled upon a Semana Santa procession - Sevilla is famous for it's Semana Santa celebration so I was bummed I was missing it.  Luckily we got to experience Semana Santa in Barcelona!  We saw the typical parade type celebration where men carry giant floats throughout the city accompanied by bands and other people dressed up in religious outfits,
• Went inside the 1992 Olympic Stadium,
• Visited Guell Park: huge garden with architectural monuments designed by Antonio Gaudi. Tyra even hosted a season finale of America's Next Top Model in this park :)
• Saw the Sagrada Familia: another famous (and unfinished) work of Antonio Gaudi and Europe's most unconventional Church (as described by my guidebook).  So amazing and definitely the coolest Church I have ever seen,
• Went to Easter mass inside the Sagrada Familia

I'm starting to believe that Spring Break is God's way of teaching us life lessons.  As was the case of my spring break 2009 in PCB (most of you probably know that story), I learned many life lessons on this trip:

• Being American has such a bad connotation in Europe,
• You don't know what you got till it's gone. Sevilla's humid 90 degree weather never seemed so pleasant until feeling the freezing rain (and ultimately getting sick) in Turkey,
• Having a set schedule/plan for everything is not always the best way to approach things.  Having everything deviate away from our original plans only made things that much better,
• Everything happens for a reason.  There IS a reason why we were forced to stay in Istanbul another night...there IS a reason why God did not want us in Barcelona until the next day,
• There really is no place like home.  Sevilla never felt so much like home until returning to it after ten days of traveling.  Makes me nervous to leave for good in a short 2.5 weeks.

FIN (END).