Granada

I stayed in the Albacanz...something like that, neighborhood. I talked to an american that worked at trader joes in california the whole trip. Could instantly tell he was american, by his teeth. Orthodontia is a dead give away, we have the highest dental standards. Got lost on the bus going to the hostel and ended up being a couple of hours late arriving. I stayed in a very very old area. It was small and a little scary. When I arrived to the hostel no one answered the door. So after all my anxiety of being lost and not finding it I get there and am disappointed again. Its a little place, I have no where else to go with all my shit. I am sweating and thirsty. I just sat down on the stoop and waited. there was people outside of little bar/restraunts and they saw me and got word the the hostel guy and he came running up about 15 minutes later. A lady I talked to on the bus came by and chatted with me. The hostel was gross and scary. I did not want to stay there at all! but he ended up giving me my own room with a key so i could lock it. It wasn't as gross as the first night in Ireland, but it was scary. And da daa da no air conditioning and no fan. I put up my stuff and walked out. I ran into the hostel man in the street and he told me to be careful of my purse, didnt speak a word of english. and he told me a good places to go for a nice view. And boy was it very nice, dirty hippies and thieves hanging around there though, you shouldnt go a lone at night like I did.
Oh I am remembering the stress. I stopped at the little corner store and got water and some food and it was a little gourmet shop is was so so cute and very cheap. i ate at the restraunt in the square. When you order dinner in spain they give you a free tapa. I order roasted pork loin. I waited for my fanta and noticed every table aorund me was eating snails...eww. Yet not to be out grossed bye the tapa they brought me. It just looked like some salad. peppers and cucumber and tomatoe and cabage. I picked at it and ate plain chiabata bread, that was homemade and fresh, and im eating the veggies, dipping my bread in the sauce, i go to pick up some cabbage and guess what....ITS OCTOPUS! I did the whole body shiver, it was a cross section of a suction cup thingy....ewwwwww!

Seville

Its a little town. You need only 2 days. Lots of cool shopping. Lots of ceramic. Trolley for transportation and buses. There is a big canal that is nice for pictures and its a little cooler over there. The line for the bus tickets is really really long, but your next ticket at the city before. The lines are really bad. Also it is the most poorly organized bus station in the world. the ticket will say where your bus is supposed to come, but it will go anywhere but there. They are often late, so show up when it is just time to go and so you will only have to wait 30-60min. Hold on to your stuff too. The first thing you notice about the city when you go out...is its a desert, its so dry you feel all your moisture get sucked out. Then you see all the oranges growing on the trees and it's really cool. Go before summer, it was really so hot when I was there. Lots of stuff to walk around and see in Seville. Very old city with tiny narrow streets, keep an ear out for cars, you won't believe it but they do fit. Going to see the wall is pretty boring...its ugly, but whatever. There is a cool little park area buy it and I had to lay down on the bench and relax it was 110 degree and I was sunburned and like a 30min walk through skinny roads surrounded by buildings with no wind...there are ants in the grass though, beware. I remember being so so so hot. stopping for water like every few blocks. When in spain and out in the heat, drink Aquarius sports drink. Its made by coke. We should have it. It's way more delicious than gatorade and it really works. Blue is good and so is orange. Try not to buy food at the chinese stores, if its not expired it's close. Anything refrigerated, was not done so properly and it will go bad the day you open it. Lots of idiots at my hostel there. Everyone was 18. They were hiring a house keeper in exchange for free rent. I enquired and they wanted someone with an EU passport. Stupid. I went to starbucks and got a frapaccino. It was good, but they had the best air conditioning in the entire world! saw lots of old building, but I don't remember what they are called but I have pictures posted of them. Oh the saddest thing in the city was the horses. They have horse drawn carrages for tourists, tons and tons of them. I saw lots of horses with no water and foaming at the mouth...it was really gross and made me sad and angry. There was also an overwhelming amount of scooters. Whole parking lots just for scooters. some streets are too small for cars in the old part of the city and I didn't see many taxi's. Super good icecream stores and bakeries. Too granada!

Portugal

I got to borrow an adapter for my camera from the hostel in Lisbon. I ended up keeping it until I was at my last hostel in Amsterdam and then I donated it to them. I had a really cool roommate from Poland. The views were amazing. Lisbon was much cheaper than anywhere else I had been. But most of the stuff they were selling was crap. And clothes are still much cheaping in America, cause everything goes on sale. I never made it to the beach because the day I planned on going it stormed all day. I did see a great castle in the city and I saw a flea market at a church that was really big and cool. I never walked more in one day in my life. I don't know how much I walked but somehow it was all up hill. I rode a little trolly and of course got lost and ended up spending more that I needed to. I found the german super markets that are so popular in south america and spain and i guess even portugal. There was a party at the hostel for a girl who worked there and the food was amazing, but not better than the sangria. Portuguese food and wine is so so so so good. Worth it. The city is so beautiful and old and there are lots of great things to do outside the city. Good trains, subways, buses, and trollies. The only real issue is that not many people speak english, but they can understand spanish well. I stayed in and old old part of town. The directions to walk there involved turning left at the stop light. I laughed my ass off when I saw the stop light. It was about waist high pole sticking out of the ground with a red bulb and a green one, and there was just one in the 3 way intersection. I walk to that hostel was barbaric. It was climbing up up up with my 40+ pound backpack. I was so sweaty. Ah and to get to my room in the hostel I had to climb through a window. Seriously. The bathroom was so tiny. A toilet and a tiny shower stall and one square foot of floor space, literally and no fan. I really liked Lisbon and I would love to go back and visit more town on the south shore. When I took the bus to seville I passed the most gorgeous vacation towns and pretty beaches and fields of sunflowers....have you ever seen fields of sunflowers in 100+ degree weather. Its gorgeous and on the other side of me was the ocean shining bright blue with sailboats. It was the best bus ride. I should bring up, riding the bus is scary as shit, when you consider there are pretty much no signs anywhere so every time you stop you need to be worried if it's your stop and if you should get off. I would recommend finding out how long the bus ride should be to reduce your worry. Oh and drink maracuja flavor of fanta! Oh and get the cookies from the store in a package that are like cookie with a layer of cream and then chocolate on top....So good. Its not even funny. So Seville..

Madrid and Beyond

Well I was in Madrid, It was hot, hot, hot. But my hostel was ok. I stayed with mostly nice and keep to yourself kind of people. I walked around the city and spent a lot of time figuring out what I was going to do next. Apparently I didn't take any pictures in Madrid. I went to a wonderful wonderful museum called the Reina Sofia. They has tons and tons of Spanish artist and south American and from everywhere,loads of things. Dali and Picaso were the big big things. I saw lots of Spanish art from the 80's looked a lot like the 80s. I walked alot in Madrid..I know I took pictures...I don't know what the deal is. I must have gotten sick of taking pictures. I think maybe I was paranoid about someone stealing my camera cause I had so many pictures already and I didn't want anything to happen to them. Its a shame. Pamplona was gorgeous! It was a real mix of old and new. Hundreds of years old town with a new city built around it. And they have this Citadel that was built to protect the city for war and it is still in tact. It's HUGE. Then Madrid. I went to a park in the city and all the paths in it were white sand. There was an english garden with topiaries and I laid down on a bench and took a nap. There was lots of shopping and government stuff in Madrid. The outskirts of the city had an Ikea and lots of car dealerships. I don't think I met any locals in Madrid. It reminded me a lot of a big city that could be anywhere in the world. The guy that worked at the hostel was from Argentina, he drank Mate like a fish. I tried all over the city to find....Ah I just remembered why I have no pictures! My camera was dead and I could not find an adapter to buy anywhere! Stupid digital camera not taking real batteries. Such a shame to not have pictures for that reason. Well I couldn't find out until I got to Portugal which was my next stop after Madrid.

Last of my travels