Hola,
I'm presently on a long day of travel from Barcelona to Pamplona, taking a couple buses (any way to save a few euro). Boy did I love Barcelona. We spent 4 nights in this amazing city and could have spent much more.
For me this was a city of beautiful sights. Beautiul beaches, beautiul architecture, and beautiful people. After all my travels I can consider it my expert opinion that Spain has the largest population of beautiful women in the world. Someday I hope to even talk to one :-P. The beaches were great and since this would be our only city with such an attaction, we made a point to spend a good amount of time there while we could. The first day was just a relaxing visit swimming and sunbathing and the second day we played some rummy with cards on our towels. Which we've been playing whenever we have down time and were keeping a running total going and the winner will finally be announced once we land in the US again. And after after the beautiful beaches and women, they have the architecure too.
This is the city of my favorite sight I've ever laid eyes upon. Nothing can compare to the monument that is Sangrada Familia. This is Gaudi's incomplete cathedral. Gaudi's apartments, which we saw first, were cool, different, very flowy and unqiue. But they did not hold a candle to what we saw after. This cathedral is the most unique structure I've seen to date. It reminds me of what we thought the future would be in the 40's-50's. It is the greatest mish mash of modernist art. Much of it planned out by Gaudi originally, is very centered around borrowing many facets from nature in it's architectural forms, as well as mathematical equations and shapes. I will post pictures later because my words can not describe it's beauty and forms, and those are even flawed in expressing it's grandeur. If u ever get to see this go for it. They've been workin on it since 1880's but were disrupted by the Spanish civil war which destroyed many original structures and models, but it's back in full swing and should be finished in 20 years. It's already massive and when it's finished the final structure will dwarf the present height. The highest tower will top out at 178 meters. It'll be the first thing you see when coming from see to Barcelona. I can't wait to see it then. We never got to see the Gaudi park, yet another reason to return. But we did make it to the Plaza Espana for a very large light and music fountain show. I'll post the pics and videos soon. Very unique in it's location and surroundings.
This was not a city of wonderful food for us. I know wonderful food does exist in the city, especially if you get off of the tourist streets, but we were not able to enjoy it this time. We've all recently taken a view at our bank accounts and decided we ate a lil too well in Italy. So we went to a large market and bought bread, meat and spreads to use for the week. Cheap and great for our backpacking needs. When we ate out we mostly had kebabs, which for those not blessed to have had a kebab, are basically the Turkish equivalent to a chipotle burito. They're quick, greasy, cheap, and delicious. Obviously no one in their right mind would have more than one a week, but you gotta do what ya gotta do. We ate at subway thinking it'd be a cheap, filling meal but like every other US fast food import it actually ended up being like 10 euro! So American fast food is not the way to go.
This city, above all, was a city of friends. The hostel we stayed in was called the Alternative Creative Youth Home. And in it's reviews it said it was supposed to be the quite hostel in Barcelona. Us and all our friends decided to challenge such a stereotype. We met some great great people while living there. Majority people living there were Australian (which by the way are always the majority of backpackers). One friend from Denmark, another was German and the others Canadian, and we all had a blast in our nights out. The 14-17 of us would find a bar and make their night with amount of people we'd bring in. It was quite a feat herding that many people around but if you were ever seperated you were to find the Steve Beacon in the distance (me). We usually ended up in the basement of this Irish Pub we all enjoyed. It was a lot of fun bashing nationalities and hearing some really diverse opinions on issues all of us have at this point in our lives. It was a shame to leave em behind but that's how this works in every city. This is definitely a turning point in the trip for me. I hope to reach out much more to the people in the hostels we'll be staying in. It makes for much better nights and better atmosphere.
So now I made it safely out of Barcelona (with a decent tan) and all my belongings (Barcelona is highly known for it's quality of pickpockets and thieves). And we've been traveling by bus since 930 and were supposed to get to Pamplona in 2.5 hrs (19:00). Right in time for the championship of the World Cup. SPAIN vs Holland. We were in Barcelona the night they won the semifinal match against Germany and the place went absolutely nuts. There were lots of people hangin off cars and scooters with horns blazing and flags waving. Very loud fireworks were bein thrown everywhere and people danced in the streets and fountains - all night. And funny thing is that they don't consider Barcelona to be too patriotic as many who live there wish Catalyuna to be a seperate conutry. So I can't wait to see how Pamplona lights up tonight if we're blessed to be here for a Spanish victory (knock on wood).
My Spanish is slowly comin back, although I really have forgotten a lot. But anything helps. Lookin forward to postin more photos and vids soon hopefully.
Ps - this hostel did laundry for 3,50 euro! Woot! Clean clothes again!
Adios
Esteban Diebez
Present Rummy Scores:
Aaron - 335
Steve - 300
Teddy - 345
"The world is a book and those who do not travel read only one page.” – St. Augustine
Monday, July 12, 2010
Saturday, July 10, 2010
Wednesday, July 7, 2010
Venezia
Buon Giorno,
Well we just wrapped up our tour of Italy. Rome, Florence, Cinque
Terre, and we are presently about to leave Venice after a nice 3 night
stay.
And after spending so much time here in Venice I can honestly say I
enjoyed myself, but definitely see how there really is no need to stay
past 2 days here. I'm sure years and years ago this place was much
more diverse and lively but now tourism has taken over. And now each
cafe, shop, and restaurant are jus catering toward the cheap wants of
tourists. Never knew slushies and over-priced bad pizza were Venetian
delicacies but it seems that way now.
That being said, it was an absolutely beautiful experience. The views
were always as unique as a city floating on water. The super tight
streets packed in with unmappable chaos were always an adventure to
traverse. When looking online there was one tip I saw that I can not
emphasize enough about Venice. Once you find the major spots like the
Rialto markets and San Marco Square, just pocket that map and wander.
When you see tourists, go the opposite way and that's when we found
the most interesting little stores, neighborhoods, and craftsmen. We
actually went about Venice this exact way until the last day when we
finally went through the beautifully mosaiced interior of the onion-
topped San Marco Basillica.
So we did lots and lots of wandering. I think Teddy's favorite part
was feeding the pidgeons in the main square as the swarm in from all
sides, pretty hilarious, especially when seeds were cast upon an
unsuspecting girlfriend or mother, and the birds swarm as she shrills.
Haha.
My favorite part was finding all the different craftsmen shops like
the many mask shops, but not the traditional touristy ones; the ones
where they've really turned each mask into art. I also had a blast one
night in the (limited) Venetian night life. There's only really one
square containing all the youthful bars, Campo San Margherita. We were
on our way when we found "the only Venetian disco". It wasn't open
yet, to our dismay, as well of the two australian girls who found it
roughly at the same time. So we all went to Campo Margherita till it
was open. We had a great time comparing the american and australian
cultures. The bar was a great choice, we made friends with the
bartender, Marco, as he gave us a few of his fav shots, all for free.
It was good to finally be in the company of females, which I'm sure
free drinks happen to all the time. Us males are usually not as lucky.
So after the bar we went to the disco, paid to get in; and there was
NO ONE in there except for a couple blatantly makin out on the dance
floor. And an old heavy-set italian woman, who was most likely the
landlord, serving drinks. We got our "free" first drink and left
quickly. It was late so we walked the girls back to their hotel which
took probably 1.5 hours longer than it should have. And then we
wandered home as well. We could have used maps but we decided to jus
see if we could wander home without em. It was a blast going through
very dark, very creepy, and deserted alleys and streets. We had a lot
of fun joking around the whole way home. We finally found the major
bridge across from our hotel just as the sun was starting to break
over the horizon. It was a beautiul photo.
Aarons favorite was probably our celebrity encounter. Every where you
walk there are men in striped shirts and straw hats offering rides on
black and gold decorated gondolas (for a hefty hefty fee). And in one
of these gondolas, while we passed over a bridge, held the prince of
darkness himself, Ozzy Osbourne and his wife Sharon. Aaron reckognized
them jus as they went around the corner away from us. He darts off the
bridge, back thru some alley and we find ourselves on the edge of the
canal as the gondola passes again and this time we got plenty of
photos and waved to them as they did back. Quite a fun lil surprise.
Weather was pretty good, hot as hell, except for some surprise storms
which jus gave us an excuse to break for the night and watch some
movies.
They say Venice is known for having bad food. But we did decently.
Most times we'd just try to find cheap good pizza for our budget.
Although one night we got Chinese, which surprise surprise, wasn't too
great. And another night, where we found a cheap but absolutely
delicious seafood place. Tons of fish, squid, octopus, shrimp, and
crawfish, all for good price. Great find away from the touristy part
of the city.
So now to Barcelona and I think I'm ready. Sorry to say but I think
I've had my fill of Italy for now, and so have the others. Lookin
forward to trading my Italian speach skills for Spanish and hopefully
I'll be able to speak pretty well. Lookin forward to the test. Hope
all is well with all of you. I've had a lack of Internet past week or
so but hopefully that'll get better soon and I can skype with everyone.
Ciao,
Stefano Diebriano
Well we just wrapped up our tour of Italy. Rome, Florence, Cinque
Terre, and we are presently about to leave Venice after a nice 3 night
stay.
And after spending so much time here in Venice I can honestly say I
enjoyed myself, but definitely see how there really is no need to stay
past 2 days here. I'm sure years and years ago this place was much
more diverse and lively but now tourism has taken over. And now each
cafe, shop, and restaurant are jus catering toward the cheap wants of
tourists. Never knew slushies and over-priced bad pizza were Venetian
delicacies but it seems that way now.
That being said, it was an absolutely beautiful experience. The views
were always as unique as a city floating on water. The super tight
streets packed in with unmappable chaos were always an adventure to
traverse. When looking online there was one tip I saw that I can not
emphasize enough about Venice. Once you find the major spots like the
Rialto markets and San Marco Square, just pocket that map and wander.
When you see tourists, go the opposite way and that's when we found
the most interesting little stores, neighborhoods, and craftsmen. We
actually went about Venice this exact way until the last day when we
finally went through the beautifully mosaiced interior of the onion-
topped San Marco Basillica.
So we did lots and lots of wandering. I think Teddy's favorite part
was feeding the pidgeons in the main square as the swarm in from all
sides, pretty hilarious, especially when seeds were cast upon an
unsuspecting girlfriend or mother, and the birds swarm as she shrills.
Haha.
My favorite part was finding all the different craftsmen shops like
the many mask shops, but not the traditional touristy ones; the ones
where they've really turned each mask into art. I also had a blast one
night in the (limited) Venetian night life. There's only really one
square containing all the youthful bars, Campo San Margherita. We were
on our way when we found "the only Venetian disco". It wasn't open
yet, to our dismay, as well of the two australian girls who found it
roughly at the same time. So we all went to Campo Margherita till it
was open. We had a great time comparing the american and australian
cultures. The bar was a great choice, we made friends with the
bartender, Marco, as he gave us a few of his fav shots, all for free.
It was good to finally be in the company of females, which I'm sure
free drinks happen to all the time. Us males are usually not as lucky.
So after the bar we went to the disco, paid to get in; and there was
NO ONE in there except for a couple blatantly makin out on the dance
floor. And an old heavy-set italian woman, who was most likely the
landlord, serving drinks. We got our "free" first drink and left
quickly. It was late so we walked the girls back to their hotel which
took probably 1.5 hours longer than it should have. And then we
wandered home as well. We could have used maps but we decided to jus
see if we could wander home without em. It was a blast going through
very dark, very creepy, and deserted alleys and streets. We had a lot
of fun joking around the whole way home. We finally found the major
bridge across from our hotel just as the sun was starting to break
over the horizon. It was a beautiul photo.
Aarons favorite was probably our celebrity encounter. Every where you
walk there are men in striped shirts and straw hats offering rides on
black and gold decorated gondolas (for a hefty hefty fee). And in one
of these gondolas, while we passed over a bridge, held the prince of
darkness himself, Ozzy Osbourne and his wife Sharon. Aaron reckognized
them jus as they went around the corner away from us. He darts off the
bridge, back thru some alley and we find ourselves on the edge of the
canal as the gondola passes again and this time we got plenty of
photos and waved to them as they did back. Quite a fun lil surprise.
Weather was pretty good, hot as hell, except for some surprise storms
which jus gave us an excuse to break for the night and watch some
movies.
They say Venice is known for having bad food. But we did decently.
Most times we'd just try to find cheap good pizza for our budget.
Although one night we got Chinese, which surprise surprise, wasn't too
great. And another night, where we found a cheap but absolutely
delicious seafood place. Tons of fish, squid, octopus, shrimp, and
crawfish, all for good price. Great find away from the touristy part
of the city.
So now to Barcelona and I think I'm ready. Sorry to say but I think
I've had my fill of Italy for now, and so have the others. Lookin
forward to trading my Italian speach skills for Spanish and hopefully
I'll be able to speak pretty well. Lookin forward to the test. Hope
all is well with all of you. I've had a lack of Internet past week or
so but hopefully that'll get better soon and I can skype with everyone.
Ciao,
Stefano Diebriano
Monday, July 5, 2010
Florence
Ciao,
So So glad I got the chance to return to Mia Firenze. it was just like how I left it. I was just so happy to now share it with two of my best friends from back home. I wanted so badly to share my feelings toward this city with everyone back home the first time I was here. And I finally got the chance. I was just so happy to make that turn aroundthe corner and show them the grandeur of the Duomo. to share that with them was one of the best feelings of the trip thus far. I hope to show many more in my lifetime hopefully.
Well most notably of the 5 nights(!) we spent here was that we ate like kings. No where else will we 5 months of solid research on restaurants like we did here. I took them to almost every favorite panini, gelato, pizza, pasta, and kebab place in the city. We had gelato 1-2 times a day. Haha. We saw David, all the major churches, graves of michaelangelo, Galileo and Machiavelli, the boboli gardens begin pitti palace, sunsets from piazzale michaelangelo, and climbed to the top of the duomo to see the best 360 view of Florence.
We even took a lil adventure to a tiny city up in the hills north of the city. Just a lil lower of the more popular city Fiesole, lies one called Settignano. Home of the Enoteca la Sosta del Rossellino. I was here my second day of Florence a year ago. then I lead Aaron and Teddy to it's delisciousness. The chef is pretty highly revered. He's even the one who takes ur order and pours u wine; it's dencently small. The wine was a 5 yr old Chianti from the Tuscany region and it was definitely up there as one of the best of my life. But the main attraction was the gnocci with a parmesian and pepper cream sauce. They melted in your mouth. Delicious. The desert was a chocolate tort with a Ginger, orange, chocolate sauce. Probably best desert in Italy so far. So we ventured back home after enjoying the view of Florence from these hills while smoking some cigars we picked up earlier.
We definitely got our Italian fashion fix. We made sure to peruse the designer shops. Teddy even bought shoes to replace his 6 yr old clunkers he's been using. Very fashionable. I got myself a nice fashonabke baseball cap as well as I've needed a hat for all the sunny weather were havin. It's been 90's every day.
All this warm weather called for some beach time. We took a day trip to Cinque Terre, five coastal cities connected with hiking trails in the coastal hills. It was very hot but very beautiful. We even climbed down some smaller paths and went swimming off some rocks into the ocean and explored some minor water caves. Actually felt like a vacation. :-P
Nightlife has been pretty chill just because of how much sightseeing and walking we do during the day. We did get a chance to go to two clubs, Twice and Central Park. The latter was the huge outdoor club which is quite a sight. My reputation still precedes me as well as the doorman remembered me and got us to skip the whole line haha. Crazy. Teddy and Aaron were impressed ;-). The clubs would be so much more fun if every group of girls didnt huddle to eachother and took any male trying to dance with any of them as a hostile kidnapping. But we still had fun, Minus some confusion from Aaron somehow wandering out of the club and him payin cover twice. But good night. Dirt cheap Disarono before going out is always a beautiful thing.
So it was a great homecoming. I love this city. It will forever be mine. And I liked the fact I still never needed a map. Can't waitto return and I think I showed a damn good time to my due amici (italian language came back pretty quickly as well).
On to Venice, the floating city. And with that, back to new cities for me. Were on a (maybe too nice/expensive) train ride there and I'll send my love from Venezia when I arrive.
Ps - I'm starting to learn that when backpacking, clean clothes are really just a suggestion. :-P
Tutti Mia Amore,
Stefano Dibolami
So So glad I got the chance to return to Mia Firenze. it was just like how I left it. I was just so happy to now share it with two of my best friends from back home. I wanted so badly to share my feelings toward this city with everyone back home the first time I was here. And I finally got the chance. I was just so happy to make that turn aroundthe corner and show them the grandeur of the Duomo. to share that with them was one of the best feelings of the trip thus far. I hope to show many more in my lifetime hopefully.
Well most notably of the 5 nights(!) we spent here was that we ate like kings. No where else will we 5 months of solid research on restaurants like we did here. I took them to almost every favorite panini, gelato, pizza, pasta, and kebab place in the city. We had gelato 1-2 times a day. Haha. We saw David, all the major churches, graves of michaelangelo, Galileo and Machiavelli, the boboli gardens begin pitti palace, sunsets from piazzale michaelangelo, and climbed to the top of the duomo to see the best 360 view of Florence.
We even took a lil adventure to a tiny city up in the hills north of the city. Just a lil lower of the more popular city Fiesole, lies one called Settignano. Home of the Enoteca la Sosta del Rossellino. I was here my second day of Florence a year ago. then I lead Aaron and Teddy to it's delisciousness. The chef is pretty highly revered. He's even the one who takes ur order and pours u wine; it's dencently small. The wine was a 5 yr old Chianti from the Tuscany region and it was definitely up there as one of the best of my life. But the main attraction was the gnocci with a parmesian and pepper cream sauce. They melted in your mouth. Delicious. The desert was a chocolate tort with a Ginger, orange, chocolate sauce. Probably best desert in Italy so far. So we ventured back home after enjoying the view of Florence from these hills while smoking some cigars we picked up earlier.
We definitely got our Italian fashion fix. We made sure to peruse the designer shops. Teddy even bought shoes to replace his 6 yr old clunkers he's been using. Very fashionable. I got myself a nice fashonabke baseball cap as well as I've needed a hat for all the sunny weather were havin. It's been 90's every day.
All this warm weather called for some beach time. We took a day trip to Cinque Terre, five coastal cities connected with hiking trails in the coastal hills. It was very hot but very beautiful. We even climbed down some smaller paths and went swimming off some rocks into the ocean and explored some minor water caves. Actually felt like a vacation. :-P
Nightlife has been pretty chill just because of how much sightseeing and walking we do during the day. We did get a chance to go to two clubs, Twice and Central Park. The latter was the huge outdoor club which is quite a sight. My reputation still precedes me as well as the doorman remembered me and got us to skip the whole line haha. Crazy. Teddy and Aaron were impressed ;-). The clubs would be so much more fun if every group of girls didnt huddle to eachother and took any male trying to dance with any of them as a hostile kidnapping. But we still had fun, Minus some confusion from Aaron somehow wandering out of the club and him payin cover twice. But good night. Dirt cheap Disarono before going out is always a beautiful thing.
So it was a great homecoming. I love this city. It will forever be mine. And I liked the fact I still never needed a map. Can't waitto return and I think I showed a damn good time to my due amici (italian language came back pretty quickly as well).
On to Venice, the floating city. And with that, back to new cities for me. Were on a (maybe too nice/expensive) train ride there and I'll send my love from Venezia when I arrive.
Ps - I'm starting to learn that when backpacking, clean clothes are really just a suggestion. :-P
Tutti Mia Amore,
Stefano Dibolami
Saturday, July 3, 2010
First Photos Posted
Some Ireland photos have finally been posted.
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2773883&id=1950065&l=c3b5136825
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