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| Carrie, Becky, Ben and I in front of a stained glass window Sagrada Familia (Gaudi Church) Barcelona |
Barcelona Spain, Madrid Spain, Lisbon Portugal
Travel Companions: Carrie, Becky and Ben
A trip vivid with color and history. A country canvassed with beauty, marble, tile and interesting people. What did we bring with us? Our laughter, our smiles and our love of travel. It all started off with an airport dance party and ended with a fancy limo-van to accommodate our jet-lag.
Upon the arrival into Barcelona the four of us settled into our hotel, Barcelona Princess. I immediately took note that the woman checking us in looked like Marion Cotillard. Then we were on our way to venture into the city to find the Chocolate Museum and the Museo de Picasso. We found neither one. What we did find were side alleys, cupcake chocolates, the Arc de Triomph, street vendors and an adventure. We got lost on purpose, visited the mall and took the metro.
The second day in Barcelona proved to be another great one. We headed over to Sagrada Familia where I purchased a Pinocchio puppet. The church, which is also known as Gaudi Church for the designer Gaudi who created and built it was beautiful. it was intricate in details and looked like a mud castle, the kind where you let the mud trickle through your fingers creating an interesting castle. Before we went in, we walked around the nearest park followed by a nice rest in the nearby starbucks.
Inside was absolutely stunning. The colors created by the sun peeking through the multiple stained glass windows created a mosaic of blues, oranges and reds. The stained glass windows in and of themselves were a sight to behold and the ceiling was breathtaking as well.
That night we were back at the Barcelona airport to take a flight to our next stop- Lisbon, Portugal.
Our first full day in Lisbon (Lisboa) was eventful. Thanks to Auntie Shirley and my Mom we had the privilege of spending the day with Pedro, our tour guide. He took us all around Lisbon, showing us the many different sides of the city. We saw a bridge that is the same as the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco; if you look at it in pictures you would swear it was San Francisco if you didn't know better. We were able to go up to the top of Cristo Rei, a Portugal landmark and see all of Lisbon. He took us to New Lisbon and to so many more places.
We went to the Mosteiro dos Jeronimo, which is the Monastary in the neighborhood of Belem. After spending a good amount of time there we walked to Pasteis de Belem, a famous bakery most well known for their pasteis de nata pastries. We ate delicious food for lunch and for the dessert we ate the pasteis de nata...which there is a good reason they are famous for them! They were mouth watering delicous; a custard in a puffed pastry.
The rest of the day led to more sigh seeing and ended with a goodbye to our new friend Pedro. The following day we traveled around the city on our own, eating lunch at the oldest restaurant in Lisbon, going down to the water and enjoying our time in this beautiful city.
Madrid was next on our stop. It was also the last stop on our trip. We ate lunch at a place near our hotel and the sauce from my lunch with bread dipped into it was the most delicious thing I have ever tasted (besides the pasteis de nata). We walked around, saw some sights, took many pictures and then that night decided to spend our Thanksgiving by seeing Catching Fire in the local movie theater, which luckily was in english with spanish subtitles.
Following the movie, Becky, Ben and I went out for a drink (which turned into four). The sangria was delicious so obviously I had to have more. We went to a bar afterwards where I had my mother talk to the bartender, who laughed and seemed cool with it but i'm sure in her mind she was probably thinking 'oh these obnoxious americans'. :)
The next day we slept in, did some more sight seeing and saw Catching Fire again! Then it was time to leave. We spent some time in the airport and had a very pleasant flight back to the states. I watched The Conjuring, Stuck in Love, 2 & 1/2 episodes of The L Word, 1 & 1/2 episodes of The Mentalist and read.
We had a wonderful time. A beautiful time. A happy time. It was filled with laughter and exhaustion, and gorgeous sights. I would definitely travel back to Barcelona to try to find that Picasso Museum. I would 100% go back to Lisbon - it was my favorite part of the trip. Madrid, I think I'm okay with not going back. It was pretty, but I saw enough of it.
If you, my readers, ever have the need to travel I highly recommend going to Spain & Portugal.
Gracias!
Obrigada!
Thank you!
