Travel Guidelines

I'm getting sick of traveling.

Ok, not really, just the airports and their security measures. If I could take a train for all my travels, well, I'd never get sick of traveling! Meanwhile, I still managed to take the long flight across the pond to end up home once again (don't think train travel will be happening with that one)! But before then, I got to spend some time in Mallorca - one of the islands of Spain.

My Rule #5 in traveling is that I'm only going on trips that are easy to plan - no more long trips from the airport to the city (unless its ridiculously cheap, beggars can't be choosey and I'm unemployed ;-)) and Rule #4 is that I'm choosing places that are different, not the same old castles and cathedrals. Don't get me wrong, I love castles and cathedrals but after seeing lots, they all blend in and usually, I enjoy their exterior architecture more than their dark interiors.
Hence, Palma de Mallorca - the capital of the island - an easy trip, within my budget and a bit exotic because it's an island! I only saw one cathedral, where I went to mass on Sunday, and I had learned about it in my Cultural Images class which brings me to Rule #3 - knowing something about what you see makes it MUCH more interesting. Palma's cathedral is a Gothic cathedral, but is very different from the majority of the peninsula's Gothic cathedrals because its Mediterranean style.

We also spent two days on the beach - my second time at a beach in Europe and always a treat for an avid people watcher like me, with the large usage of speedos only by men over 60 and the topless women of all ages. I don't know if I'm envious or repulsed by this absolutely non Protestant, non Anglo-Saxon acceptance of their bodies...Rule #2, gawk at something that makes you incredulous because it would NEVER happen where you're from.And now my new Rule #1 when I travel is to see nature, spend time in it, soak it up. I have come to realize that once again, cities are great, I'm totally a city girl, but they aren't as magnificent as nature. Therefore, we headed out hiking one day from a small town, Soller to an even smaller one, Deià and saw olive trees and cool rocks and even huge mansions (lots of famous people, like Charley Sheen have vacation houses in Mallorca). And the city of Deià was adorable with little streets and old houses made of rocks - I'd rather own one of these houses than the mansions on the hiking route. At the end of the trail, we stopped for fresh lemonade - lemon trees were everywhere on the trail - and some olives and bread which I have to add as a last Rule, stopping at a café and resting is never wasted money in my book.And maybe one more Rule, don't see everything because then you have to go back.

Winter Break: Part 3

Is it wrong for me to say that I like Portugal more than Spain?
Don't get me wrong, Madrid is great and I don't think I'd want to live in Portugal, but it is just so cute and quaint and friendly! We flew to Porto on our first stop and then went to a tiny town called Nazaré and finished up with Lisbon and a small city outside of Lisbon called Sintra.

Our first day was in Porto, a very charming city with a great view from across the river where we did a Port wine tour and tasting, after 10 plus years and lots of sugar, it was delicious but a bit sweet for my taste buds. The only hitch was when we woke up to no showers because of a broken city pipe and discovered we were an hour early, thus missed an hour of precious sleep, for our 7 am bus because of the time change between Spain and Portugal....a small detail...but the next city TOTALLY made up for it.

My favorite city by far was Nazaré, its a tiny town on the beach with traditional everything. When we arrived an older lady, dressed in the traditional dress of tons of petticoat skirts and a knitted shawl across her shoulders, greeted us saying, "Two beds? You look, if you like, you stay; if not, no problem." So we went and checked out a really nice apartment about two minutes from the beach with three beds and a kitchen and when she said "35 euros", we took it! Basically, the nicest part of Nazaré was how calm it was and the cute quaint streets and the gorgeous view from Sitio, the city just above you get to by funicular.After our relaxing beach day we headed to adorable Lisbon with tiled houses and old street trolleys. This is the main street Rua Augusta where our hostel was.My favorite part was the traditional fado music we got to listen to while sipping a cherry liqueur. Although I didn't understand it, they tell me that they usually are about love and betrayals...big surprise...Finally, we did a day trip to Sintra, a town about an hour outside of Lisbon that has three castles and lots of gardens and beautiful grounds in the mountains. And yummy, yummy pastries.Basically, I would LOVE to head back to Portugal and probably most of all to relax during the summer on the beaches at Nazaré and wander more in the adorable streets in Lisbon where you feel like you've gone back a century in time!

Winter Break: Part 2

I may sound like a real snob when I say, I was not that fond of Barcelona...sorry! I'm guessing its because it wasn't summer, and it would certainly be awesome to be at the beach tanning, but as massive cities go, I'd rather be in calmer, cleaner Madrid, with so many less tourists...but that's just my opinion...that said, Barcelona's amazing architectural sites from Gaudí are pretty amazing and you won't find them in Madrid. Here are his crazy, but oh, so cool houses:

And then there's Park Güell which, once again, is just weird, but in an awesome way...And we must not forget the Sagrada Familia which has been under construction since, oh, around 1882!!!
Again, unbelievable sites that you have to see in Barcelona, and then get yourself away from the crazy tourists crowding every square block of the place! Kidding, kidding, really you should head to a tapas bar because you won't be seeing any of the amazing tapas they make there in just about any other place I've been to!