Who wants some Spanish omelette??

Don’t think I forgot about you guys, once again I'm really sorry for disappearing but hey I'm back.

So as I was saying after Paris we took a night train to Madrid, Spain. This journey wasn't going to be as smooth as the previous one because we had to change trains after the boarder. We didn't know what to expect because it was the only train we could find, so fingers crossed.

The first half of the ride was alright, nothing special really. We reached the border, we got to our next train and oh no, it wasn't a night train anymore with cabins and a nice place to sleep. No, no, it was a normal train with seat, extremely uncomfortable ones. Usually it was me taking care of the papers, the passports, checking directions and making sure we got wherever we were going. But that night my Aunt Silvia was holding everything because when they asked to check our tickets I was sleeping.

So yeah we finally arrived to Madrid, got off the train and, as usual, I double check that we had everything before leaving the station. I realised that we didn't have our passports or train tickets, then my aunt remembered she left it in the pocket that you've got on the seat in front of you. She rushed in the train, check what she thought were our seats and couldn't find them, so she got really nervous and she came out freaking out saying that they weren't there anymore. So I went in, staring at her, walked to our REAL seats and find the missing documents. What my aunt forgot was that we couldn't get off from our wagon, so we had to get off the one behind it.

To be completely honest, I don’t remember much of Madrid. It is a big city, a capital, which remind me a lot of Buenos Aires. We were only there for a day and a half so there’s not much for me to tell.

But then we took a day trip to one of my favourite places, Toledo. An amazing town with medieval architecture, small streets and a beautiful Cathedral. You can also go visit the castle, of course there is a castle what medieval city wouldn't have one, I LOVE castles. We spent a day here, just walking around and enjoying the view. It was just so beautiful, everywhere we looked it was unbelievable. Definitely a city that I want to revisit and keep searching for new things to see.

After Toledo we went to our last destination, Barcelona. We stayed with my cousins, well they are not actually my cousins they are my cousin’s cousins but we grow up together, so you get what I mean.

We finally had a nice comfy bed, a great bathroom and homemade food.  During this last week of our trip we enjoyed car trips to nearby towns and a nice tour around a great city like Barcelona.

You've got a lot of things to go see here. We went to the Park Güell, Palau Güell and the Sagrada Familia Cathedral (one of the biggest icons of the city), all designed by the architecture Antoni Gaudí. They are all weird looking, some kind of modern architecture with ceramic and stained glass. It’s cool, I would totally recommend it.

 

We walked down the Rambla, went shopping and I also went to the Aquarium with my cousin, Agustina. We saw a dancing water show in the Magic Foutain of Montjuic, which is a very interesting thing to go see.

They took us to Sitges, a town just 35km away from Barcelona. It’s known for its Film Festival and Carnival. We spent a day walking around on the beach. But, as I said before, it was winter so we couldn't enjoy the sea because it was too cold. But we did have a coffee while we enjoyed the view.

In Barcelona I also have one of my oldest friend, Candela. We used to go to school together but after Argentina’s economic crisis in 2001 her mum Marisa decided that the best thing was to relocate to Spain. So this was my turn to go see her, back then she visited Argentina once a year.

So we arranged to meet and Candela and her then boyfriend, now husband, Sebas picked me up and showed me some new places. We first went to Montserrat, a multi-peaked mountain. Here there is an abbey that hosts the Virgin of Montserrat Sanctuary. The view was amazing and there also was a little market with local food, I just remember having some delicious goat cheese.

After that they took me in the car and showed me some vineyards. Sebas is an oenologist, he studies viticulture, the whole process of the wine making from the vineyards to the selling of it. So we were driving around the hills and we stopped in a small restaurant, very local, very simple and just awesome. The menu was in Catalan so I didn't know what to choose so I told them to decide for me.

For a starter I had calçotada, which is some kind of grilled green onion and that you then dip it in romesco sauce, a nut and red pepper sauce. I even had to wear a bib to eat it, which is fun. For main course we had some sort of sausage that I don’t remember. For dessert we had crema catalana, a custard base dessert with cinnamon and citrus peel, similar to the crème brulée. Of course we had wine, and the specialist was the one picking one, so we had some nice rosé.

After almost an entire day out, we went to Candela’s house. I saw her mum, Marisa and her brother, Ramiro. We haven’t seen each other for 3 years, so it was really nice. They were really welcoming, as usual, they had a table with a lot of food, lots of different cheeses and different types of sausages and some pa amb tomàquet (my favourite thing ever), which is bread with olive oil brushed with a tomato mixture, which is amazing. We enjoyed a great evening together with Paco, Marisa’s husband, and they told me more about the Catalan situation and about trying to be independent. A lovely family which I care a lot about.

I couldn't thank enough to the Devoto family for being so welcoming and caring. I had an amazing time and I loved every second of it. Luis, my uncle, used to work at the port so we had a lot of fresh sea food, lots of bread and Spanish omelette. But the trip had to come to an end so we took a flight back to Rome just for a day.

On our last day we went and took some more pictures but unfortunately when we were on the metro going back to the hostel, just hours before taking the plane, somebody stole my camera with most of the pictures of my last week. Sadly doesn't matter where in the world you are there’s always people like this. The police was friendly and helpful but they couldn't do much.

So we headed back to Argentina and as soon as we landed they there were, my parents were waiting for us. And that’s when I told my mum “Next time I'm going for longer”.

Spain is an incredible country with a lot of history and is very different depending on the region you are visiting, people are friendly and the food it’s just amazing. So if you haven’t been there yet, put it on your list because you are not going to regret it and to be honest it’s not even that expensive.

Next post is going to be about my latest trip. At the beginning of October I went to visit a new city, a new country. So hold on guys I swear it’s worth it =).

Molly's first hostel experience =)

I can't remember the first time I went to a hostel but I've always felt comfortable and I thought it was real fun. So today I'm going to tell you guys about my friend Molly's first hostel experience. She wanted to travel, so we went together to Berlin and of course I was going to stay in a hostel, a place that she'd never been before.

But before that, I want to talk about Berlin a little bit more. I've got a few more places that I would like to tell you guys about.


Something else that I liked from this city was that it gives you many options to go on a tour. Yes, you got the traditional bus tours, as well as the walking tours. But you also got a Segway tour, that seems pretty cool I have to admit. You also got the Trabi-safari tour, basically you drive your own Trabi but you go with a group of cars and you follow the guide, who is driving the first car and explaining the sightseeing by radio.

As I said before Berlin is weird, is a strange city (not in a bad way). I saw a guy, hmm how to explain this, skiing in the street. Went to Friedrichshain, the neighbourhood full with graffiti, lots of bars with happy hour until 3 a.m., and found a market where they were selling drawers (not a chest drawer, just single drawers), and family pictures, no idea who buys this things, but I've never seen anything like that. You got photo booths EVERYWHERE, and I think that's awesome =). And for you my vegan, vegetarian friends, there are healthy, organic restaurant wherever you look.

Another thing is the TV Tower, which is 368 meters high, it's a big tower with a kind of disco ball on it. It can be seen from almost everywhere in central Berlin. It was built during the Cold War by Walter Ulbricht, as a symbol of East Berlin. On that sphere you've got a restaurant with an amazing view.

The Neue Wache, Central Memorial of the Federal Republic of Germany for the Victims of War and Dictatorship, is a place you shouldn't miss. Inside of it you'll fin the sculpture of the Mother with Her Dead Son. It's placed under a hole in the roof, so it's affected by rain, snow and every kind of weather. This symbolizes the suffering of the people.

Ok, let's go back to Molly. So when I was checking for a hostel I had to take some things into account. I looked for a hostel with great reviews. One that looked clean and for a dorm with not too many beds (she didn't like the idea of both of us and 6 strangers, so we went for a 6 bed dorm). I wanted her to feel comfortable, so she could have a good first experience.

Molly. She didn't let me take many pictures of her

So we got there,  excellent location, very central. They gave us the key to the room, a really big room for a 6 bed dorm if you ask me. Kitchen was clean, bathrooms and toilets clean ( they clean them twice a day). And we were sharing the room with just one person, the rest of the beds were free. Everything was going great until we meet our roomie, Smokey George (that's the nickname we gave him), a 40 something year old man from Bulgaria that didn't speak English and smoked in the room. A nice guy but almost impossible to understand, he also tried to take pictures of us, creepy.

The next morning was shower time. Waking up, getting up,deciding what to wear in advance, queueing, choosing a shower, hanging everything, making sure nothing falls to the floor or gets wet because the shower curtain doesn't cover everything. This was a challenge, one that she didn't really expect, specially because she got the damaged shower with no pressure LOL.

But I think that wasn't the worst thing. I contacted the hostel before our trip to make sure they provided a blow dryer, and they said they had some. When I went to pick it up at the reception they gave me a toy-size one, that didn't blow anything. It took her AAAAGESSS to dry her hair, at least 30 minutes.
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The second night wasn't that bad, we had a new couple in the room, so Molly felt a little bit better having people her age. And we spent time in the common area playing games with people from all around the world.

By the last night, I think she appreciated it more. She was chatting with people, enjoying the whole hostel experience, with the young people and the older people that you get, with the hippy ones, the drinking ones, the couples and the weird ones of course.

So when we were at the airport I asked her "Did you like it?". she told me she still prefers the Hotel life, she like unpacking EVERYTHING in the room, and a shower where she can put things down without being scared that they are going to fall on a puddle or having to wear flip flops. But she enjoyed the experience of meeting new people and the idea of the common area where everybody hangs out.

So this feels like a win to me. I felt a lot of pressure, I wanted Molly to have a good time, feel comfortable and enjoy one of the things I love the most. I felt the responsibility of taking care of her and making sure everything went smoothly. Hostels are a big part of my trip, I travel on my own so here's where I meet the lovely people that I meet. If I go to a hotel I would feel really lonely and depressed, in hostels I meet people like me, travellers =).

Molly didn't reject the hostel idea, so YAAAAYYYY. And guess what, I'm already planning a new adventure to take her  along ;). So sit tight, because they are more things to come. But guys if you've got any questions, or you want me to help you with anything, just leave a comment and I'll write back to you. See you soon.

Buddy Bears Berlin

Welcome back. As I said in my last post, last week I did a city break to Berlin for 4 days. I've never been to Germany before (country number 22) so, it was  a great experience.

Berlin is a city with a lot of history, WW1, WW2 and the cold war, plus amazing modern architecture, street art and crazy, weird, wild night life.

When I got there I didn't know what to expect. I heard so many people saying "Berlin is amazing, I love it", "Berlin is the city I want to live in", "Is the best place in the world", or "Is my favourite city". I needed to check by myself if it was true.

To be honest, at the beginning I didn't understand what the big deal was, for me it was just like any other big city,but everyday I found a new place, even more beautiful than the day before, and eventually I got what everybody was talking about.

Berlin is a weird city, with a lot of strange things happening. For example on my first day, I was at the park and I saw a guy, jogging, naked. Oh yeah, naked, just swearing trainers and something covering his genitals. Nice welcome Berlin.

You also have the United Buddy Bears, 140 painted bear sculptures that you can find all around the city. The best one that I've seen was in the U.S.A. Embassy, is a Statue of Liberty bear.

I saw some other interesting things. Like the conference bicycle, a 7 seat round bicycle, where one person steers and everybody pedals. Another one was Berlin Horizontal, a bike with a bed mounted on the rear side, so you can enjoy of this amazing place just lying down. How cool is that?

Something else that called my attention was the modern architecture, I was expecting old buildings, like in London or Paris, but what I didn't take into account was that Berlin had to be rebuilt after WW1, WW2 and after the Cold War. So if buildings is your thing you definitely have to come here.


But obviously I went to all the touristic sights. I went to the Brandenburg Gate, a symbol of Berlin, around it you've got a lot of actors dressed like soldier or even some fictional characters, like Luigi and Mario, with whom you can take a picture with.

I was staying close to Check Point Charlie, another MUST on a trip to this place, here you can get your passport stamped, this one was the last check point to fall after the fall of the wall. You always got some "soldiers" you can go take a picture with for the small price of €2.

I went to the East Side Gallery, a 1.3 km long section of the Berlin wall. On it, after the fall of the wall, 105 artists from all around the world painted their massages of freedom. This is probably one of the largest open air galleries on Earth. The sad thing is that they are moving parts of the wall so as to build new things. It was really beautiful, it makes you understand a little bit better what happened back then. It's bad that people didn't respect the artist and painted things on top.

Reichstag building, the Parliament House, is a place that I recommend. It has a dome with an amazing view, you just need to register online and you can get in for free, it also includes an audio guide that explains the buildings around, and as well as history.

There is something that I like doing when I travel. I like going on a tour, it makes me understand better the  places that I'm seeing and learn about the history of the place (I love history).  I usually go with this company, http://www.neweuropetours.eu/, they are in many cities. I've done tours with them in London and Edinburgh as well. Their tours are very informative and entertaining. They offer a free tour around the city, you just tipped them at the end, but I always end up paying for some of the other tours that they offer.


Another remarkable place is Bebelplatz, this is an important place because here is where the Nazis did the burning of the  books, a list of books and manuscripts that they felt were against the German spirit. The memorial of this event is a glass plate on the floor that gives us the view of the empty bookcase (big enough to hold the 20,000 books burnt). You can also find 4 plaques on this square, that read the same quote "Das war ein Vorspiel nur, dort wo man Bücher verbrennt, verbrennt man am Ende auch Menschen." (in English: "Where they burn books, they will in the end also burn people"). This phrase belongs to Heinrich Heine, a famous German poet, he wrote this in one of his texts in 1823 but you can see how can we easily related to WW2.

This Square is located in a really nice neighbourhood, the Mitte, and it also has many interesting buildings around. Like the State Opera building (rebuilt at least 4 times), the Humboldt University (there are 40 Nobel prize winners affiliated to it), and St. Hedwig's Cathedral (first Catholic church built in Prussia after the Reformation).

I also went to the zoo, I don't usually do this on my trips. The zoo here is one of the biggest in the world, it has species from all around the planet, I even found some animals from back home. I spent 5 hours there, and I didn't go to the Aquarium, so imagine how big it is. I don't usually like zoos, I don't like seeing animals in cages, but here it's different they are kept in like a small habitat, very green and open, but safe at the same time. No one wants a lion jumping on them.

By the end of my trip I started to like the city. There is so much more to Berlin that just a great place to go out (next time I go I'll fill you in with this info), with a wild night life and crazy weird bars and nightclubs. Is a place full of history, a place where they try to cover those horrible years but without forgetting about the victims (you've got memorials everywhere).A place with beautiful art everywhere you look. So next time you want to travel somewhere new and exciting with a little bit of everything, choose Berlin.