Week 17: Spain

Hola from Spain! We've been taking refuge from the sweltering heat (how do people come in summer?!?!) by indulging in siestas, drinking sangria and loving the beach-city culture. We began with a few days in Barcelona where the beaches are filled with runners, rollerbladers and cyclists moving between volleyball players and sunbathers. It seems to live in Barcelona being gorgeous is a prerequisite (we like it here ;) ) In the city we marveled at Gaudi's architecture, particularly his Gothic church that appears to be melting on one side, holding up giant bunches of coloured fruit on another, and housing bizarrely angled statues on another. The way the city of Barcelona suddenly turns into beach and wharf is great, giving plenty of atmosphere to both party on and relax at any time of the day.

O. M. G.

Matt particularly liked this church... (hint: look up)

 

On our last day in Barcelona we chanced upon a big market & expo. Here we found lots of entahusiastic buskers including a couple flying around inside a giant hoop and a troupe of 4 playing very catchy and animated tunes. The market sold lots of local produce including beer fermented from compost (or that's what we think the lady was trying to tell us in Spanish... it tasted pretty good anyway), local chocolates and handmade jewelry. Once we'd walked a length of market we found an expo encouraging locals to try all sorts of 'alternative' things. For example, the relatively common vegan lifestyles or adopting rescued greyhounds, to the more interesting 'energy cleansing' meditation (where you sit with you eyes shut while women do hand movements and blow on you). There were plenty of tents selling cheap massages and holding yoga sessions throughout the day and sooo many dogs (mostly greyhounds) everywhere. 

In the park around the expo every stretch of grass was filled with hippy families playing music, fire twirling and braiding hair. The atmosphere was so positive and we soaked it up while drinking our compost beer. Off to one side was a bandstand filled with people salsa dancing! Such a good find. Another win was the best coffee shop we've found in months, which we chanced upon when Ally said "lets take this left". Later we walked past 25 or so people of all ages with headphones in having a silent disco in the city centre before sitting down for sangria and tapas. Loving Barca!

Silent Disco

We made our way along the Spanish coast to Valencia. The afternoon we arrived we thought to check whether there were any local football games on and found Valencia was playing Granada at home in an hour, snavelled some tickets and set out. The vibe was awesome. One end of the ground were some seriously pumped up supporters who chanted continuously the entire game. Every person in the section knew the actions and bellowed loudly to encourage Valencia to their win (3-0).

Valencia is pretty, with impressive detail in many of the tall buildings. Sneaky back streets took us to numerous squares with churches of different sizes and shapes. Valencia was the first place we've been in a while where English isn't so widely spoken, but we found with a bit of encouragement and a few words of awkward Spanish conversation could eventually be achieved. We saw the bullring, a big foodmarket (closed for siesta ;) ) and hid from the sun in the shade. We also spent a lazy afternoon on a topless beach with a soccer ball and nearby found a bloomin' delicious paella. Note for future travelers: DONT eat paella on a main touristy street DO eat paella at a small local joint by the water.

The Food Market

Hmm, something isn't quite right here..

Our last stop in Spain was south in Sevilla. The local football team was playing Real Madrid at home (no tickets left :( ) and we got amongst it in our hostel to see Sevilla put up a good (but losing) fight. Here we had some serious heat with temperatures in the low 30's. This kept us enjoying the shady parks around the city and making us stop of regular sangria, beer and icecream breaks (oh no). A highlight for Ally was getting to a live Flamenco show, with 5 male and 5 females dancers showing how diverse, strong and passionate Spaniards can be. Sevilla has the one of the oldest and most important bull rings in the world. We didn't support a fight, but couldn't help but check out the ring. It was an impressive sight with its colours and history, loved how the pigment from the local agricultural soil used in the ring was used to paint the walls. 

Loved the tiled walls everywhere!

Seville oranges growing on the street

Modern costumes, the pale blue was donated in 2011

To visit the cathedral we were welcome to line up in the sun for an hour.. instead we admired the outside from the shade across the street...

The underside of balconies seen from the street!

A pair of donkeys!

Even though the temp got a bit much for our winter-adjusted bodies it was nice to know we're getting some real summer. And the Sangria certainly made up for it ;) 

We've now moved around the coast to Portugal.. more coming soon!