Terrace: Music

Lovely relaxing afternoon on Eli's terrace playing guitar, accordion, recorder and ukelele in the sun.

Basquing around Bilbao

8.30 in Barcelona and by mid-afternoon we were whizzing through the northern Spanish countryside towards Bilbao. We were going to stay with Elena, a friend of a friend and to be tourists in the Basque country. Elena was waiting for us as we got off the fast speed train as she took us back to her apartment to leave our stuff there before going exploring!!

The first thing we did was to go to the Guggenheim museum, which was interesting. The puppy with made of flowers outside and the architecture of the building were probably my favourite parts of the museum. Among my least favourite exhibits was the collection of paintings which were famous paintings painted inside a museum gallery with naked women standing looking at them. Strange art.

We had lots of time to explore Bilbao, walking along the river and in the old town. We met up with some of Sam's friends for lunch one day which was really lovely too!

San Sebastian

Today we spent the day in San Sebastian. We got up early and after an hour on the coach from San Mamés bus station in Bilbao we arrived in San Sebastian and found a coffee shop with a terrace looking up to a beautiful church/cathedral whose architecture reminded me of oxford. 

An hour later we were at the beach where got offered free ice cream on the promenade by a small ice cream stand which was doing a promotion. I went for a swim and then, after the beach we headed out to the other side of the bay: to the paine del viento, some iron statues/sculptures which are attached to the rocks and are famous, apparently. 

We had lunch with views over the beaches and the port, and then we went for a walk. There were small boat trips across to an island so we decided to get on a boat and go! After the boat we went and had some traditional basque pintxos (small tapas/plates of food) in a couple of bars and looked around the old part of the city. One man made me my own veggie pintxo for 2€!

A Day in Majorca

Last Friday Sam and I went to Mallorca for the day. We were on the plane at 7 and after the 30 minute flight and quick bus journey into the centre, by 8:30 we having breakfast in Palma, the capital of Mallorca. Coffee and traditional ensaimades woke us up among the locals before we headed off for a walk along the Rambla.

Sam had planned the whole day, including all the main sights such as the cathedral, the plaza mayor and ramble down the Rambla. For lunch we went to a delicious vegetarian restaurant, stopping off in parks and gardens and little majorcan shops and markets which we found along the way. It was a lovely warm day, about 30 degrees, so in the afternoon we walked along the beach and around by the port, along pretty streets and through peaceful squares until we got the bus back to the airport for our 11pm flight back to Barcelona.

I love the fact it was close enough to go to for just one day!!

Photos © Rachael Berry 2013

Czeching Prague Out.

Last weekend I went to visit my friend Íngrid in Prague. It was such a lovely weekend and a perfect time to disconnect from the uni before the last week of classes. Lovely gardens, bridges, cobbled streets and squares welcomed us as we got the tram into town for our first day of sightseeing. We had lots of coffees in cute coffee shops to warm us up and did lots of touristy things too, such as looking at the little shops on Charles Bridge, visiting the John Lennon wall, the Castle and a trip to the national ballet (1 euro per ticket!!) to see a beautiful performance of "Cravate".

On my second day, we were walking around the centre and we found a little farmer's market. One of the stalls was selling vegetarian sweets, so we walked over and the man started speaking in Spanish straight away asking where we were from. Íngrid said Barcelona, so he changed language and told us he spoke a "miqueta" (little bit) of Catalan as he'd lived there himself, and then he helped us decide which sweet to buy by recommending his favourite. Far from the stereotype that Czech people are quite closed, this man was extremely helpful and open, and even invited us to a free lecture on vegetarianism at his vegetarian restaurant.

On my last night we went to the vegetarian restaurant for supper and as he welcomed us he asked us where we were from, and then he told us he spoke a little bit of Catalan... He obviously didn't recognise us at all, despite our long conversation the previous day, so we had a giggle before sitting down in the indian style room. He took our drinks orders, but told us he'd bring the food as it was a menu. A couple of minutes later we were presented with a soup, rice, vegetables, a small salad and a pudding each and we were told that if we were still hungry we could get refills... And all this for the less than 4 euros!! Full up, we went to pay and he gave us a short summary of his knowledge of Catalan history. We saw the sweets again by the till and decided to buy a one more each... Our dear friend said "I bet you can't guess which is my favourite".

To his surprise, we could.

Typical Czech pastry with chocolate in the middle to warm us up from the rain outside!!

Tea, Coffee, Chocolate..... 

A Bride and Groom at the Lennon wall

After the Storm... [Castelldefels]

Roadtrip: Aragon

Exams aren't too far away now, so I jumped at the opportunity when my friend Giselle invited me on a weekend away to Aragon to study. At 6pm on Friday afternoon, a minibus full of tennis racquets, food, suitcases and 7 girls set off, out of the neatly ordered grid system of Barcelona's Eixample and out onto the motorway. 3 hours later, having driven from the east to the west of Catalonia, we crossed the border into in Aragon and started driving up windy roads into the little town of Torreciudad to find the house we were going to stay in for the next couple of days. 

The main reason we went was to study, and we definitely did study! On Saturday we got up at 8am for breakfast and then did 5 hours of study before lunch. In the afternoon we headed over to the "santuario de Torreciudad" and we went on a small walk to a small church on a cliff from where we enjoyed stunning views of the lakes and the pyrenees in the distance. The beautiful colours of the water below us, the blues and turquoises reminded me of pirates of the caribbean or of Peter Pan. I'm sure the water would have been cold, but the warm blue colours of the lake made me want to jump in.