It's been awhile.
I recently went on a fantastico adventure with my cousins to Spain and Greece. The idea sprouted from the fact that our cousin Haleigh was studying abroad in Seville and when the semester ended she had extra time to explore Europe. So our other cousin Alexandria, Amanda and I figured this was a perfect time to ditch the parents, aunts, uncles and grandparents, and take a trip of our own! We had such an amazing time together and we are already thinking about where to go to next. So sit back and enjoy the adventures of Grammy and Papa's offspring's offspring's trip to Spain and Greece!!
I decided to split this blog into two, because we just had so much fun that it's worth two blogs. (I posted a quick reference to the restaurants from each city at the end of the blog.)
Pirmero, ESPAÑAAAAAAA!
Madrid
Amanda and I figured out that the best way to avoid jet lag was to fly to Europe was on a red-eye from LAX -> London -> Madrid. And it worked. Only the first day I was wide awake at 7am. Which really isn't bad at all, except that Spaniards prefer to sleeeeeeep in. So after that, we took our sweet ass time waking up everyday since nothing was open very early.
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| Ready for our 10 hour flight! |
Day 1:
The first day in Madrid it was just us sisters. We walked around and checked out the sites. We didn't want to do tooooo much before the cousins joined us. My friends Roy and Tegan both lived in Madrid and were suuuuuper helpful with places to eat, see, drink and visit. We also had our good ol' friend Rick Steves. Shout out to the home boy Rick Steves for coming in clutch with the recommendations.
We started with the Buen Retiro Park.
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| Oh gorgeous darling |
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| The Palacio de Cristal inside the park |
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| Monumento a Alfonso inside the park as well. |
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| Gardens all around the park. Mi abuela would LAVEEEEE |
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| Maybe I would be better at the traffic circle in Long Beach if it looked like this. |
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| CaixaForum: The vertical garden wall. |
I highly recommend checking out the Parque (spanish for park, duh) if you plan on going to Madrid. My friend Tegan suggests renting a paddle boat and cruise around the the little lake.
Next, Amanda SOMEHOW TALKED ME INTO THIS CUISINE. PIG'S EARS.
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| Muy salty y muy cartilagey |
Pig's ears? Did you read that right? YES YOU DID. And they were... interesting. Very salty. And whyyyyyy did we pick there? BECAUSE Rick Steves said it was AUTHENTIC. We love to try new cuisines when we travel to new places. However, I'd skip the pig ears. They had some other good stuff though. Look at the fresh lil shrimpies.
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| Oreja de Oro has other options too if you aren't feelin the pigs ears. |
At one point Amanda called the non-english speaking waiter over and was like, "Ummmm could we get like two aguas, that would be great. Graciasssss."
I looked at her like
I KNOW YOU KNOW BASIC SPANISH. I KNOW YOU KNOW DOS MEANS TWO.
That evening our cousin Alexandria arrived! And the fun, food and drinks continued.
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One of the best wines I've ever had. Artífice Vidueños Blanco 2015. If I had to describe it briefly I would say its a dense, deep, fresh wine. Perfumed to the nose with prevailing aromas of white flowers on a volcanic background. (jk I found this description online).
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Day 2:
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| The Royal Palace of Madrid |
Yo recomiendo getting your tickets for the palace online beforehand so you don't have to wait in the long ass line. I also recommend that when you buy the non-refundable tickets online YOU SELECT THE CORRECT DATE. Don't you agree, Amanda????
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| Oh shit, dat fancy |
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| No Pictures!!! oops. |
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| That good good |
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| I asked the lady for a traditional Spanish dessert. Not sure what it was but the tag said its, "Milhoja Danesa". It was like a custard filled pastry. Not sure if it really is traditional. But I dug it. |
After the market we went home and took a weeee little
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| El Tigre recommended by mi amiga Tegan. Gracias Tegan. |
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| If you buy drinks, the tapas are freeeeeeeee |
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| We low key missed the actual sunset because we passed a boba shop and I had to get boba. |
After the sunset, we scurried home because Haleigh was about to arrive after taking a train up from Seville.
Barcelona
The next morning we woke up bright and early to take a train to Baaaaarrrrcelonnnnnaaaaa
We obviously played games the whole time because DUH, we are Dunk descendants.
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| Us cousins know how to have a WILD time. |
Some of you may be wondering, waittttt didn't you go to Barcelona August 25th-28th in 2015 with two girls you met in your dorm while studying abroad in Amsterdam??? The answer is YES! Great memory! If you would like a refresher, you can read it HERE.
So since I had been to Barce before, I became the official guide.
Our Airbnb wasn't quite in the city center so we had to metro in and out. Just a quick reminder that Amanda and I are metro queens and could navigate a metro with our eyes closed. We wouldn't. But we could. If there was braille. And if we could read braille. METRO QUEENSSSSSS.
I started off our afternoon with stroll through the Parc and over to the Arc before stuffing our faces with mas tapas.
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| Parc Ciutadella |
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| We waited in line behind all the kids so Haleigh and Alexandria could have their own Mammoth photoshoot. |
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| S'cute |
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| A lil behind the scenes action for ya guys. We walked to the top of the fountain and people were dancing! |
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| Fun fact: Grammy taught us each how to do the fishy faces as babies. |
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| Aren't we presh |
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| I love this picture. The Arc and bubbles and kids and palm trees and a clear blue sky. Just felt like it really captured the moment. Ya feel? |
and as we walked to dinner... we stumbled upon more dancing!
Like whhhaaa da fuhhh. Errybody was doing some dance for IDK what and IDK why. But we stopped to watch for a bit.
We went to Elche for dinner because I was ready for some darn paella.
Park Güell was our first stop!
I just love this place. It was my favorite from my last time and favorite this time too!
I believe I could replace Raven as the fourth new cheetah girl here.
We didn't feel like paying to see the inside of La Sagrada Famila...
...so we just looked at from the outside. I, being a lover of architecture, wasn't bothered that we didn't go inside because I went last time I was here. Buttttt I did make them go inside Casa Batlló the next day.
Day 2
Petit Pot was my favorite cafe I went to last time I was in Barcelona. I had no idea what it was called but I remembered sortaaaa where it was. But I found it! And it did not disappoint!
The rest of the day was spent exploring and shopping. We went down La Rambla Barcelona and over to Mercado de La Boqueria like all the tourists do. Walking down La Rambla is a little crazy so keep an eye on your belongings. I prefer wandering off onto the side streets off of La Rambla instead.
We had THE BEST dinner that night. I can't believe I don't have a single photo of it. But let me set the scene... We were four hungry travelers looking for a delicious final Spanish meal before we departed the next day for Athens. Amanda, being the most fantastico food finder in all of the land found Maitea Taverna credit: Andrew Zimmern. We walk into a completely empty restaurant. Confused. Bewildered.... Was it open? Yes, it was. We, being non-Spanish, were eating at 7pm and not the normal 10pm like the Spaniards do. We awkwardly sat along the bar and had all 5 servers serve us personally. But we didn't even need a server! At this place, you grab your desired tapas straight out of the display case! They count your tapas skewers at the end of the dinner and charge you by the stick! So, being the only ones there our tapas selection was LITTTT. We started gracefully stuffing our faces. It was so delightful. Best meal of Barcelona. Check out the TripAdvisor. Bookmark that shizzzzz.
That's the end of the Spain portion of our trip!! We took off the next morning for Athens, Greece. So stay tuned for the next episode of The Cousins Take Europe coming out..... whenever I find time to write it. K baiiiiiii!
Update: I've written the next part! Find HERE.
ADIOS
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Madrid Eats:
Matilda: Breakfast place. Homemade everything.
La Rollerie: Breakfast food. All over Madrid. Super hipster but cutal.
Oreja de Oro: Traditional Spanish food. Home of the pig ears.
El Tigre: If you buy a drink, the tapas are free. The mojitos were amazing.
TriCiclo: This place was DIVVVINEEEEEEE. And the waiter was hot.
MaestroChurrero: Yummy churros dipped in chocolate.
Barcelona Eats:
Petit Pot: My favorite breakfast place. I FRICKEN love it. The croissant sandwiches, fresh squeezed juice and the yogurt are all to die for.
Federal: A cute little breakfast cafe.
Federal: A cute little breakfast cafe.
Elche restaurant: A bit on the expensive side but it was on some top ten paella list.
La Fonda: A little touristy. But the name was my nickname in high school so I wanted to go.
Mate taberna: My favorite place! Highly recommend!