*Super long post recapping my travels throughout Europe after my stay in Siracusa*
**Only a year late-but hey, late is better than never, right!?**
I believe I left off a little over a year ago, still nestled in Siracusa in my precious little apartment. Like I mentioned in my first post on this blog, I had plans to travel with my two best friends throughout Europe after my had plans to travel with my two best friends throughout Europe after my stay in Sicily came to a close. We did indeed do that, and it was absolutely incredible. After a little
snafu at the airport-we overslept our night in Rome and missed our flight to Athens, but we got there eventually-we got to Athens, which was very hot, but beautiful in all its ancient wonders. We went on a walking tour of all the ancient architecture (picture of a gorgeous example of Greek architecture [left] [photo cred to T. Boo on this one], led by a British guide (to whom we couldn't help but speak to in British accents). We went out to the nightlife area of Athens, called Gazi (picture of us out in Gazi [right]), and got delicious honeydew daiquiris (I remember them over a year later, so you can imagine how good they were!!). It was great, but I think overall, it was my least favorite city of the trip.
After Athens, we continued on to Berlin, Germany. It was a cool, refreshing break from the heat that I had faced for nearly 2 months between my time in Sicily and continuing on in Greece. Berlin was also a stark change from Rome or Athens, as it was completely new architecture, due to a large majority of German cities being completely leveled during World War II. Our hostel was beautiful, with a set of large wooden bunk beds and a pull out couch, complete with a full kitchen (which we never used), and a HUGE bathroom. Absolute Heaven. Our first meal in the city was a little dive diner that we found close to our hostel. I got "currywurst" because I figured it'd be like a hotdog...God, was I wrong. It made me sooooo sick, but I quickly recovered for the rest of our short time in Berlin.
We went on a bike tour of the city, with Flat Tire Bike Tours, which I'd definitely recommend,
as its a quick way to see a whole city in a short period, so you do not feel like you're missing out on any aspect of a foreign city in a dash. We stopped at the Bier Garden, where we were introduced to our new favorite beer: Berliners. They added raspberry syrup to a fresh wheat beer from the tap and ended up with deliciousness. (my thoughts on currywurst [above center], Anna and Toni on their bikes [right])
We were only in Berlin for two days, so we barely got to submerse ourselves in their wonderfully refreshing culture, because before we even knew it, we were leaving the land of the harsh German language and heading for something much more musical (along with another warm climate!): ESPANA!
I had already been to Madrid on my way into Rome nearly two months earlier, but I barely had anytime to explore, and I was alone and so incredibly nervous. But by the time we hit Barcelona, I was completely ready for some Spanish air, and more importantly, some Spanish partying. Our hostel here was the nicest of them all (I didn't mention this earlier, but our hostel in Athens was gross!). Toni took some pictures of the room:
It's kinda hard to tell, but we had three nice beds and a nice bathroom (straight ahead of the TV pictured on the right). And there were closets and everything, which would have been perfect for travelers staying there more long-term. But it worked perfectly for us, and gave a us great spot to pregame to go out, with our bottle of wine costing only 2 Euros (which you can also see in the picture on the right in front of our TV-along with the Sunny-D we used to chase our awful bottle of lemon vodka we brought along with us from Germany :-p)
So in Barcelona, we first went to our hostel and then proceeded to search for the one food we all wanted here: TAPAS! We found a delightful little tapas bar about a block from our hostel (around the corner from our hostel was the grocery store that supplied our cheap wine!), and we devoured two rounds of the most delicious tapas I could imagine. My mouth still waters thinking about it.
After tapas, we really were ready to go out-this is when we discovered this cheap white wine I've been raving about for three paragraphs now. We got two bottles and split them among the three of us before heading out. We had no particular plans, but we headed out earlier than the normal crowd, because we were still on the American college kid schedule. Europeans do not typically eat dinner until between 8PM and 10PM, and then don't go out to the bars until after midnight. Well, by 11PM we were so ready to go out, so we caught some of the early bird specials. We found a bar called Mioh, thanks to an advertiser on the street, so we went in.
It was a blast, and luckily enough, it was the owner of the bar's birthday, and he liked us (how could you not with how good we looked [left]), so he bought all of our drinks. Needless to say, we ended up hammered, and felt it in the morning.
We decided in the morning to do another one of the Flat Tire Bike Tours, with the most handsome guide. His name was Peter and he had an Irish accent that could melt anyone. We were incredibly hungover, and I bet everyone else on the tour thought we were complete jokes. We stopped on the beach and had a pitcher of sangria and awesome nachos, and it rained halfway through the tour, which was so refreshing! It was a more difficult city to bike through than Berlin (perhaps because we were so hungover), but it was still great! After this bike tour, we went back to Mioh after dinner and getting ready, and tonight, there was no one to pick up our drink tab. That's when we finally realized how much money those guys had dropped on us the night before-when one drink cost around 7 Euros. So we of course didn't drink nearly as much, and we got a more restful night of sleep. We also explored the art of Antoni Gaudi in Parc Guell, which was really beautiful [below].
After these ridiculously busy and quick two weeks, we headed back to Pittsburgh, by way of Dublin and New York City. Dublin was cool; we had a ten-hour layover, but we didn't get to see much, as it was in the middle of the night. We slept in the Dublin airport's McDonalds, which did make us look as ridiculous as it sounds. The trip was great, and I wouldn't change it for anything. Best trip ever, with the best friends ever =)
