Flower Hound and Fairy Dungeon

Greetings from good old America. This is my very last post! (Well, last post until I go back to Spain, that is. And that could be soon since Spain seems to have quite a magnetic pull.)

So after some more super sad goodbyes in Cáceres (especially to Caroline!), I took a night bus to get one last, two-day dose of my beloved Granada. Antonio took me around to do typical, touristy things (hike in the mountains and swinging bridges in Monachil, sip Arabic tea in a tetería, admire the cathedral, meander through el Parque de García Lorca, go to el Mirador de San Nicolas and gape at la Alhambra illuminated at night, etc.) I took all the same pictures I'd taken a million times while living there since it's hard to resist wanting to capture a city that photogenic. Saying goodbye was horrible, both to Antonio and the city, but since we got to the train station literally the minute my train was supposed to leave, at least the goodbye wasn't too prolonged.

The Alhambra seen from Mirador de San Nicolas. I'll never get sick of this view.

After an overnight train next to a very chatty woman (some older, Spanish ladies aren't the keenest with social cues), I arrived bright and early in Barcelona and set out to explore Palau Guell, one of Gaudí's architectural masterpieces. Then I couldn't help but take an extreme nap until Phyllis and her brother, Max, flew in that night from Rome. They enjoyed their first Spanish tapas, and then Max flew home bright and early the next day.

Following Max's departure, Phyllis and I hunted for mythical churros (our Airbnb host recommended a place that had "mythical" churros) but they were so mythical we couldn't find them. We settled for a less mythical churro place, where the churros were small but delicious nonetheless. (For those of you who are out of the churro loop, they're one of Spain's specialties. They're basically donuts except crispier and way better.) I went to the Picasso Museum for the third time--each time there's more to learn about the genius--and then we headed to Parque Guell, an almost Dr. Suessical park, also featuring Gaudí's architecture. The final touch to the day were the Magic Fountains, which are basically fireworks except made of water. They shoot up in crazy colors and patterns to the rhythm of classical music. Quite surreal.

On of the Gingerbread-like Houses at Parque Guell

The next two days were spent in San Sebastian, probably the most famous city in northern Spain. The beaches are astounding at every time of day and in every light, but one beach is filled with mysterious bugs that congregate in the sand and pop up on to crawl all over unknowing tourists, such as Phyllis and myself. Therefore, the beaches are really better when viewed from afar, such as when you take the funicular up Mount Igueldo. San Sebastian is known for its small plates of food, called pintxos. Some are quite gourmet and go for 3 or 4 euros, tiny as they are. For example, we shared a 3-euro artichoke that appeared to be coated in gold dust.

One of the Beaches in San Sebastian

Granada and San Sebastian are very different cities, Granada being the epitome of traditional Spain and San Sebastian being the heart of the Basque Country which wants nothing to do with Spain. But in both cities, there were huge demonstrations in support of ending the monarchy. Unfortunately, these protests were to no avail, as on Thursday Felipe VI took over his father's position as king. So a country in crisis will continue to pay for a monarchy.

Anyways, following San Sebastian, we spent an afternoon in Bilbao, mostly just to see the Gugghenheim. The museum is guarded by a Jeff Koons dog made of flowers, which stands as tall as the building itself and is kind of hilarious. I got to go in a glass maze that led to a telephone, which Yoko Ono calls twice a day at random. She unfortunately did not call while I was in the maze, but at least I beat the other two maze-goers to the phone, and the old ladies watching gave me a big applause and called me "campeón" (champion). The highlight was seeing an amusing yet powerful video piece called The Visitors by Ragnar Kjartansson, which was filmed at Rokeby farm, which happens to be right by Bard (my college)! Being in Bilbao and seeing this very familiar part of upstate New York made my world feel quite small.

The Great Beast

 We made a short stop in Madrid, just long enough to see Goya, El Greco, and Velazquez in el Prado Museum, frolic around Plaza Mayor (a huge, dramatic plaza that glows pink at sunset), and go to a brand-new and quite delicious restaurant called Metro Bistro. If you ever go there, try the celery mojito!

After rambling through Spain, we had a week to spend in the Azores, which are an archipelago of nine volcanic islands off Portugal. Even though everywhere you look you're bound to encounter something breathtaking, somehow no one has heard of these islands. I can't leave out the fact that there are twice as many cows as people on the whole archipelago. I'll leave you to imagine the abundance of rolling hills and grazing mammals and the lack of human contamination. Traveling between the islands is a little tricky, so we only went to two of the nine, but I'm happy with our choices.

The Blue Water was Unreal. This Picture is Not Edited at All.

We landed in Sao Miguel and stayed in the town of Furnas for a few nights. It's called Furnas because it has volcanic-heated hot springs (called Furnas), which are the perfect stress-reliever when you're about to set off into the real world and have no jobs or even ideas for jobs lined up. And, once you're overheated, you can sit on the benches surrounding the furnas and people-watch. Phyllis and I were entertained for at least a half hour observing how ridiculously couples behave when on vacation together. There's an amazing garden by the the furnas that has crazy, sprawling plants I'd never seen before in my life, as well as some black swans, which we ran away from when one started emitting an odd hiss.

Gorgeous Garden in Furnas

We then stayed on the island of Terceira for a few days, in the town of Angra do Heroísmo, meaning "Bay of Heroism" because it's where Portugal beat Spain to gain independence. The beaches had the same radiantly blue water as they did at Sao Miguel. Apparently the black, volcanic sand causes the water to look bluer. Phyllis was unfortunately sick and missed out on a great whale watch (I saw tons of leaping dolphins and three huge fin whales) but she joined me the following day to explore some caves. One of the caves we went inside had an opening facing the sky and you go inside by descending a long staircase that spirals around its interior. It was caused by a lava bubble, and is absolutely enormous, with stalactites towards the bottom and moss towards the top. I felt like a was in a fairy dungeon. Apparently concerts, masses, and even weddings are held in the cave because of the awesome acoustics, but it's very dark and damp, so this is hard for me to imagine.

Many Beaches were Surrounded by this Volcanic Rock, which was Formed by the Lava's Interaction with the Ocean

Pictures Don't Even Begin to Capture the Craziness of this Cave

 Our plane to Boston left from Ponta Delgada back in Sao Miguel, so we spent two days there, doing virtually nothing (as there's nothing much to do there) but doing nothing isn't always a bad thing. It's a beautiful, little city with white buildings, unusual patterns in the cobblestones, and fun graffiti. But there just isn't much to do. And then, before we knew it, it was time for our flight back. I met my mom, Myles, and grandparents in Framingham, which is completely and utterly the opposite of the Azores. I tried not compare my view of Home Depot from the window of the restaurant with the views of jagged cliffs and sparkling seas I'd grown accustomed to. But at least the restaurant we went to was Indian, and I hadn't had that in ages, so I couldn't really complain. Now I get to enjoy home for a while and stop rapidly going through the last of my savings. Until next time, España!