Madrid y OneRepublic!! 11/20-11/23

In November, I took a trip to Madrid with five friends for a wonderful weekend of food, nightlife, sights and of course the OneRepublic concert. We did an epic tour of the city mastering the subway and walking miles. We took a 4 hour train ride form Murcia and arrived in Madrid on the evening of the 20th and hit the ground running. We saw almost all of the major tourist sites in Madrid -Museo Nacional del Prado,  Plaza Mayor, Puerta de Alcalá, Gran Via, Parque del Buen Retiro, Almudena Cathedral , Palacio Real de Madrid, and SO MUCH MORE.

BEST CONCERT EVER! OneRepublic in Madrid. The Concert was way more than I had ever expected. Since it is an american band they are not as huge in Spain so the concert was really small and it felt so much more personal. We ended up about 20 feet from the stage and didn't even have to worry about getting pushed and shoved. They put on one forever memorable show.

This the Puerta del sol which is considered the center of Spain. The plaza was full of people and decorated for Christmas.

One of the most famous Chocolateria's in Madrid. It is located near Puerta del Sol. We stopped in for some churros and chocolate and they were the best we have had yet. the place was busy and it was worth the wait for a seat. 

Mercado San Miguel and indoor market in Madrid. Serving drinks, tapas and other fresh fruits and food items. 

Oldest Building in Madrid. Casa de Cisneros at number 4, Plaza de la Villa, built in 1537.

Catedral de la Almudena circa 1883 which is the Cathedral of Madrid. 

Inside the Catedral de la Almudena where King Felipe IV was married.

Inside the Catedral de la Almudena

Catedral de la Almudena seen from Palacio Real de Madrid.

This is the Palacio Real de Madrid, the official residence of the Royal Family of King Felipe IV.

We toured the Palacio Real de Madrid Sadly you could not take pictures in 90% of the Palace :(

Over looking the Jardines de Sabatini From the Palacio  Real.

Plaza de Oriente across from the Palacio Real, beautiful with fall colors. 

Some cute cafes in the Plaza de Oriente. I was a little obsessed with seeing fall colors for the first time in Spain.. Murcia lacks a large amount of colorful trees... 

Palacio de Cibeles (City Hall)

Monument to Alfonso XII in Parque del Buen Retiro

we spent a lot of time walking through the park. this park is where both tourists and locals go to do their thing. It was always full of people. Parque del Buen Retiro

Parque del Buen Retiro

Natalie and I rowing a boat in front of Monument to Alfonso XII in Parque del Buen Retiro

Puerta de Alcalá in Plaza Independencia

We heavily utilized the metro system. I am now Queen of the underground in Barcelona and Madrid.  Paris and London will be the real test. 

Templo de Debod is an ancient Egyptian temple that was donated to Spain(yeah, apparently temple donations are a thing?)

Taco Bell in Spain > Taco Bell in The State... They have happy hour and serve beer. 

Next up... London and Paris

Oh, The Places we go.

Thanksgiving and other things...

I apologize for taking a month off from my blog. I have been rather busy the past few weeks finishing midterms and organizing myself to prepare for final exams. I am expected to be done with exams the week before Christmas, but as of now, we do not have my exam dates finalized. I am both dreading the end of the term because it means my time here is almost up but I am excited at the same time.

 Just some updates - I have changed my return flight to Portland to January 27^th.  I will be traveling over Christmas break to London and Paris with my roommate. Since, I do not have to return to school in January I decided to better use my time to travel. I will be back in Murcia for new years and will be in Murcia until I return to Portland.  (AKA - I am procrastinating from finding a real life job).

THANKSGIVING!

Well, Last Thursday Fiona and I hosted a small thanksgiving at our house. We made a Midget Turkey (large chicken) sweet potatoes, broccoli, stuffing, wine, mimosas and ended with some tasty desserts including homemade apple crisp. We invited a few guests to join in our festivities – Natalie from Germany, Jose from Murcia, Ana from Brazil and Matt from England.   Here are some pictures J

Nope, I do not know how to carve a chicken/turkey

The whole group.

The man of the house cutting the turkey. 

Great people, great food and a great night. :)

Almeria/ Cabo de Gata 10/23-26

Sunset from Cabo de Gata, Ameria, Spain.

Our most recent adventure took us to the to the south of Spain. We staying in a City called Almeria which is a smaller city that is mostly a port town. 

Almeria  has a Moorish castle, the Alcazaba. This is the second largest Muslim fortress after the Alhambra in Ganada. 

One of the ponds in the Alcazaba

Another water feature running through the fortress. 

View from the top of the fortress looking over Almeria

View from the north side of the Alcazaba at the old fortress wall.

more of the Alcazaba

And more

Chester the cat. 

He loved me

and Fiona 

The Cathedral of Almeria

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These are the cats of Almeria, there were CATS EVERYWHERE.  I was just way too happy. there were big cats and tiny kittens. 

Evening walk in Almeria

Our Saturday adventure took us miles down a beach. We walked forever. The final destination was that hill in the distance. mind you, this picture was taken when we were half way there. 

Miles and miles..... well... 7.4 km to be exact. 

The church of La Salinas

Fiona did not want to walk with me on the road so she made her own path. 

we made some stops along  the way to take some awesome awkward pictures. 

we walked up a one way street up a hill in 98 degree weather. but the view made every step worth it. 

This was the view from around the corner. We wanted to go to the light house but we had come so far already and the street wasn't exactly the safest to walk along. Also, we had no idea how far away it was. 

But we still got some beautiful views from where we did go.

PORTLANDDDDDDDD!!!!!! had to stalk this guy and get a picture. Random small town in the south of Spain and here comes a Blazers fan... Okay, so Fernandez is from Spain, but still.