Just Bought My Passes

Phew!

Just bought my renfe passes today. I bought the passes for Valencia, and then to travel to Madrid.

I got all of them for really early in the morning. I hope that I am super disciplined and can get up early enough in the morning to make those trains. My train to Valencia leaves the Sants station at 7am. I checked the metro schedule for Barcelona, and it looks like they start running at 5am. They stop running at midnight. I will definitely need to take the metro to the Sants station because I am staying near Placa Catalyna, at the Itaca Hostel Barcelona. I chose this location  because it is close to the pick up for my Pyrenees tour.

If you look at a map, the Sants station is so far away form the center of Barcelona. The good thing about Barcelona is that it looks like there are an endless amount of Metro stations. And it looks like ticket are about 2 Euros each. Which is not too bad.

Like I mentioned earlier, I'm staying at the Itaca Hostel. I hope they serve breakfast early enough for it to be worth choosing this hostel. They're location looks great however, and they have laundry facilities. They are right in the center of the Gothic Neighborhood.

I still have to buy my tourist bus pass... I'm still not sold on this idea though. I'm not sure that from 1pm on that I will have enough time to see everything, when the bus take 120 minutes to go through just one route. Plus, if I want to stop and see something, I would have to wait a while for the bus to come back through. Also, to be entirely realistic, I am not going to be able to see any museums. I would rather see cool buildings and markets though. I kind of want to shop while I'm there as well.

Renfe

Since I'm leaving Barcelona at 6am, I will get to Madrid by 9am. This is sufficient time to see the Prado (I hope, I think that its probably huge). I also want to just walk around and explore the streets. Again, maybe buy something cool or some type of souvenir. The big issue is that I will have to have my big backpack with me the whole time! Which will be awful. I want to see if they have any type of locker system in Madrid, like they have in Barcelona, like the Barcelona Lockers. Maybe they will have something like that near the airport. I will have to do further research. I have wanted to see El Escorial and Valle de los Caidos, but I really am not sure that I will be able to do this before I have to meet everyone from my group. The last person arrives at 3pm.

So Excited!!!

I just got my keyboard in the mail for my iPad mini. It works so well. This will make it so much easier to post on my travel blog while I'm out and about. The only thing is that it is such a little keyboard it is kind of uncomfortable to use I'm sure I will get used to it soon though.

It also has a few cool features on it that help me to use my ipad. For instance there's a feature that allows me to go to the main screen, and an easy cut and paste option.

Toledo

La Puerta del Sol

At the end of my trip, I would really like to see Toledo. I fly out of Madrid, so I think that this should definitely be do-able, since Toledo is so close to Madrid.

Toledo seems really interesting to me because it has to much Jewish influence. It seems like all of Spain you can say that there is a Catholic and Muslim presence. Probably Cordoba also has a strong Jewish presence as well. But I feel like in Toledo there is a clear emphasis on the synagogues and "Jewish quarters" when you research the city.

The historical importance is also a big factor. Toledo used to be the capital of Spain, until King Felipe II moved to the capital to Madrid. It was easier to expand in Madrid, and that is where he built the famous El Escorial, so that he could see the cathedral from his bedroom. El Escorial interests me greatly, but I am not sure I will get the chance to it. I also would like to see Valle de los Caidos, the famous mausoleum in the mountains that Franco created, but I'm not sure that will be possible either. Anyway, back to Toledo. Toledo is surrounded by the Tagus river, so it was impossible to expand the city.

Another thing that really makes me want to visit Toledo is the influence this city had on El Greco. El Greco is one of the most famous painters, and he features the city of Toledo in many of his works of art. I want to see the El Greco museum, supposedly its in his house. But many people online have said that its not his real house and that the paintings inside are fake....

Below are some photos of Toledo, places I would like to see:

Catedral de Toledo

Bridge of San Martin

View of Toledo  by El Greco

Iglesia de San Ildefonso

Exhibit inside El Transito Synagogue

El Transito Synagogue

There are a ton of cool museums I would like to visit, but I just do not think I will have the time. There's one on the history of magic in Spain, which looks really cool. I think I would enjoy that one. Below is a link the website. 

http://paseostoledomagico.es/museo-de-la-espana-magica/

I think what I will enjoy the most about Toledo is just the architecture itself. It seems like it will be like taking a walk back in time through history, seeing all the different kinds of people that have lived in this one area.

Why Santiago de Compostela?

I first learned about Santiago de Compostela in Profe Compton's class. I'm not particularly interested in the religious aspect of the cathedral (Saint James' resurrection to help the Christians defeat the Moors), but just the architecture. It's so beautiful!

It seems like a smaller city, so I feel like it will be really easy to explore everything I want to see. There's a museum about the galician people (Museo do Pobo Galego), and lots of beautiful parks.

                                          

                                                          Map of the different caminos to Santiago de Compostela

Galicia also has a lot of interesting food. In an earlier post I mentioned the queimada (flaming drink). Galician cuisine seems to be very focused around seafood--not surprising considering its location on the Atlantic. 

The empanada gallega looks interesting. Kind of like a flaky pot pie. It traditionally has onions, bell peppers, tomatoes, tuna, and hardboiled eggs. 

 Polbo á feira is a dish with octopus! Traditionally it is eaten with potatoes and a "young" red wine (I think its strange that this was emphasized).

A big fan of stews and soups, I'm really excited to try Caldo Gallego.

More on Galician cuisine and Santiago de Compostela... Hopefully I will have a lot of good stuff to post when I actually go there!

Train or Bus?

So many people recommend that you take the train in Spain. 

However, it is not the convenient and cheap "hop-on-hop-off" version that many Americans associate with public transportation in Spain. You must purchase reservations ahead of time, and the regional website (Renfe) will not take american bank cards. Therefore, if I want to buy my tickets in advance, it looks like I will be booking through RailEurope. I don't mind this website, and it seems less confusing than the Renfe site. 

However, I found that it is not always the best option to take the train. I think on my trip to Santiago de Compostela, I will take the bus. This is because it takes about the same amount of time to get there (about an hour difference), and the Alsa ticket will be about 30 Euros, and the RailEurope ticket 50. For the return ticket, it will be even cheaper on Alsa (24 Euros) and more expensive on the train (57 Euros)!

I also considered buying a rail pass for Spain. But since I have my trip pretty much all mapped out, I find it would be more expensive to buy the pass, that limits you to the amount of "travel days" you take (every day that you take a train ride). And its limited to a certain time frame, for instance, within one month. Taking into consideration that I will not even be using the train for some trips, I find it would be really stupid to buy the pass.

All in all, I'm pretty pumped to get my tickets! I just don't know when I should buy them, in case I change my mind for some reason (like what happened with my flight).

~Side Note~

Speaking of my flight... I called the agency to see if I could extend my trip to the 5th (from the 2nd). It will end up costing another $116. I'm not sure if it will be really be worth it? I wanted to extend it to do a trip to Granada, but maybe I can fit that into one of the weekends, or maybe just not go. Granada seems really cool, with the Alhalmbra and all, but that's really the only thing I want to go for. It would save me money to just leave on Monday the 2nd. I will have had plenty of time to explore Toledo over the span of those few last days. Plus, it will get me back home in time to get my head back into the game before I have to start that class with Dr. Rebertus on the 6th (Friday). I don't think that 3 extra days will really give me that much. And plus I don't know if by then I will just want to go home. Maybe I will just be sick of being away from home, and away from Joe. This is going to be a long month for us. 

What to Bring?

One of the big things I've been concerned about is how much stuff to bring. In addition, in what kind of luggage? I've been known to be quite stingy when it comes to some things. So I plan to take a super big carry-on, and then a smaller backpack that will serve as my "personal item." I plan to just leave my big pack at my hostel, or at home when I arrive in Salamanca.

I found the Osprey Porter, which holds 46 liters (wow!) and is still carry on size.

The Porter 46 is not very good for doing rigorous outdoor activities, but is probably the best choice for me because it can hold so much stuff.

It can also act as a "pseudo" duffel

As I stated earlier, I also want to bring a smaller day pack. I would really like that this day pack has hip pockets to put my camera and phone. It would also be a big bonus if it is hydration enabled. However, since the Porter is about $100, I'm not sure how much I am willing to spend on this second pack.

The personal item "cannot exceed 36 inches( length+width+height)." So I am not super limited on what I can take. I mean, I already have a backpack I'm sure I could use, but its just a basic school backpack. Also, there are not a lot of pockets in the bag I have. 

The Patagonia Mass Sling might be a good choice. You can fit a laptop (13") in it, and its about $80. I like that it would be really easy to get to stuff, because all I would have to do is spin it around front. However, my laptop is way bigger than 13". But it would definitely hold my ipad mini. It seems like a good choice. A little on the pricey side. There's also anther pack by Patagonia, also a sling, called the Atom Pack.

The atom doesn't look as cool, but I really like that it has a pocket on the front strap. However, I do not know if its as big as I would like. These day packs should hold at least one pair of clothes, flip flops, my ipad and preferably my laptop.

Obviously I'm still undecided.

Also, I want some really comfortable shoes. I was thinking about some high quality hiking shoes. However, I think that might be a topic for a post of itself.

Alternate

I bought my plane ticket a while ago. However, now I want to stay for 3 more days. And I want to fly into Valencia instead of Barcelona. But to change my ticket, it will cost 350 dollars now. 350 dollars is a lot of money. I could buy a really good rail pass for that amount of money. It would help buy my shoes and gear I need. 350 is more than half my car insurance for 6 months. But it would save me so much time. An ave ride to Valencia from Barcelona is 3 hours, and is like 69 euros. So if I made it a "Valencia Day" on Thursday, I would be in the train for at least 6 hours! Is it worth it?

I really want to see Valencia. More for la lonja de seda, and paella, and agua valenciana. It looks so chill! Barcelona seems very busy and crazy and everyone says you'll get robbed. Plus it's so spread out. Valencia has a very small city center. You would only have to go far to see the ciudad de artes y ciencias. Which is really cool, but I probably would not make the trip to see it. I also really want to the cathedral, which is really close to the train station. I mean, I could do Valencia in one day, but it would really suck I think.

I would only be able to see Barcelona (everyone's favorite) on Wednesday. I arrive at 12, so I only have half the day to see it. Friday is dedicated almost entirely to the Pyrenees trip. And then maybe on Saturday I will be able to see a bit of Madrid? Shelbi doesn't get into Madrid until  like 3, so we wouldn't have to leave until then. I really wish I had the rest of that weekend to explore! I could have possibly knocked out Granada! 

I really want to see Santiago de Compostela (#1) and the Granada (#2) and possibly combine that with a day trip to morocco. I really want to see Basque Country, but I'm not sure I will be able to do so. It's just so isolated and far away. And there aren't really buildings I wanted to see there.

For my trip to Santiago de Compostela, I want to see the cathedral of course. But their museum also has some really cool excavations! And they have this flaming drink called queimada. And Santiago is such a small city, it will be really easy to see everything that I want. Although it doesn't seem like there is much in the city except the cathedral. See, I wish I could separate my time! Like, why can't I add those days to another trip I want to take!

Santander also seems really beautiful. A real beach town. There's also the caves of Asturias near Santander. 

Salamanca in itself seems crazy cool. So much to do in the city itself. I really hope that my family is cool. It's funny, I put on my request form to limit the amount of onions they use in their dishes.

La Lonja de Seda en Valencia

Paella

Agua Valenciana

Catedral de Valencia

Queimada

Santiago de Compostela

La Universidad de Salmanaca (estatua de Fray Luis)

Day One

I just got the email from Profe Arenillas that we need to start our blog for the trip. I did some research about blogging platforms, and I think that Blogger.com seems to be the best for me. I really like that it has a text editing program. However, it doesn't seem very easy to post photos and videos. We'll see how it goes. I'm still learning all of the features. I wonder if there is a way to set the autocorrect into Spanish?