Costa Rica- Tortuguero

Last Thanksgiving, Hector and I decided that it was time to escape and go somewhere really cool! We decided on Costa Rica and it was amazing! I wish we had had more time to be there but maybe we can go back someday. There are three parts to this post. Part 2- La Fortuna is here and Part 3-Manuel Antonio is here.

What You're Missing in Croatia: Part 1

Our last hurrah in Europe! Well, hopefully not forever, but for the time being. We had some time so we escaped for a week to do a tour of Croatia. We flew into Dubrovnik and rented a car to drive up the coast, and then flew out of Zagreb. This is only part 1, so be sure to keep an eye out for part 2 and part 3!

Our first view of Dubrovnik, on the way in from the airport.

It's Istanbul, Not Constantinople...

For our spring break this year, Hector and I decided to head off to the biggest city in Europe....can you guess which city that is? Actually I think I've already given it away, but it's Istanbul!

Giving Barcelona a Second Chance

This Semana Santa, or Holy Week (spring break) I decided I wanted to try Barcelona again. I've been before, two years ago, but it was a whirlwind fast trip as we passed through on our way to Italy. This time we had plans to stay for five days and I wanted to see EVERYTHING!!

Dear Rome, I miss you!

Today I have another reminiscing post for you! I've been dreaming of Rome lately, so I decided it was time to break out the pictures from when I actually went. It was so long ago I barely remember anything. I do remember the pizza though. This trip was part of a crazy spring break trip in 2012 where we went to Barcelona, Rome, Florence, Pisa, and Venice all in ten days! In the end I was able to check all those cities off the list, but I left so much behind that I wanted to see in every city, so I don't know if I would do another trip like that again.

Reminiscing about Paris

I've got a bit of a travel bug lately. I miss going somewhere new and discovering new foods and exploring back roads. But this year, I've decided to go visit my family, and I can't afford to explore new places and buy a plane ticket home! So, to try and tackle my travel bug, I'm going to write some posts reminiscing about trips I've taken that I haven't written about yet. So to start off this series, I'm going to tell you about my trip to Paris!

Prague in "Summer"

This summer my brother's girlfriend was doing a study abroad program in Prague. So of course, since she was in Europe, I had to go on a quick trip to visit her. My brother was visiting her also, so it was all four of us and we had a great time, even though we could only be there for a few days. Unfortunately, we hit a bit of bad weather-it rained almost the whole time! Even so, it was a great excuse to stay indoors and enjoy ridiculously cheap beer, and lots of meat and cabbage.

K and I enjoying some delicious beer! 

Let it Snow...

The cold is just now arriving to Spain. Up until a couple of days ago it has still felt like summer to me, but it is finally winter! We heard that it was going to snow up in the higher altitudes this weekend, so without hesitation we decided to head up to the mountains for some play time in the snow. And we weren't disappointed!

We started out in a very small town called Lumbreras headed towards another small town; Villoslada. We didn't make it quite that far though! 

Ghent, Brussels, Bruges and more food!!

Now that I have given you all of the information I possibly can on Antwerp--or I guess, detailed all the food that I ate--I'm going to do it for every other city we visited in Belgium! Yay!! Luckily Belgium is small and has a great train system, so it's fairly easy to travel around inside the country. We spent one day in each Ghent, Brussels, and Bruges.

Ghent

This was my favorite city behind Antwerp. It has a rich history but it's not over touristy like other cities in Belgium. (cough, cough, Bruges!) There is a little walk around the historical center which encompasses most of the scenic points.

To the end of the Earth and back

Back before Christopher Columbus set sail for the new world and proved that world was in fact round, people thought that the world was flat. They made pilgrimages out to the end of the earth, and when they arrived, they would burn all of their clothes to signify a new beginning. To this day pilgrims still struggle out to this spot to gaze over the sea in the same place where hundreds of pilgrims have stood for hundreds of years.

Last weekend, I went to the End of the Earth, or in Gallego, Fisterre, or in Spanish, Finisterre. (It comes from Latin: Finis-terrae) It's the westernmost cape in Galicia that was thought for hundreds of years to be the end of the Earth. (Galicia an autonomous community in Spain that is right above Portugal.)

The Lakes of Covadonga

Ever since moving to Asturias I have wanted to go visit the famous Covadonga because it played a very important part in Spanish history. (Quick language lesson- Covadonga comes from two words, cueva-cave and hondo-deep meaning "deep cave") Legend has it (loosely told) that in the year 722, Don Pelayo was living in the Asturian mountains with his army when the Moors came for them. In the cave now known as Covadonga, the virgin then showed herself to Pelayo and told him that she would protect him and he would win the war. When the Moors came, their arrows bounced off the mountains and Pelayo and his army were able to overcome them. The winning of this battle began the reconquest of Spain, and Don Pelayo is known as the First King of Spain.

Sleeping Dragons and Inland Beaches

Two weeks ago I discovered a hidden dragon lair in Asturias. 

Venice- the city otherwise known as a labrynth

Last year for spring break, two of my friends and I decided to go on a crazy, action packed vacation and visit Rome, Florence and Pisa, and Venice, plus Barcelona, in ten days. Needless to say, running around the Italian peninsula was exhausting, and a little expensive.

By the time we got to Venice, we were completely worn out, and dirt poor. Even so, Venice was still my favorite city that we visited on the whole vacation. Maybe that I've visited so far. It's just so unique.

Cabo de Peñas & Luarco- More hidden gems

A few months ago, my boyfriend came to visit and brought his car. Since we had the liberty of being able to visit several places in one day, we decided to do a lap around the villages close to Gijón and see what they had to offer.

abandoned buildings by the highway 

Lost in the Basque Country

When my family came to visit over Christmas in 2011, we spent a few days in the French Basque country. We rented a tiny little farm house in the middle of the countryside. From this area, we were able to drive around and visit several small towns right along the edge of the border between Spain and France.

Countryside!

Before we got to this little house, we had been visiting cities non-stop, from Madrid (plus a hundred museums there), to Toledo (more museums) to Burgos. We were wiped out, and getting tired of the city life. It was time to relax a little bit and get a taste of small town life in southern France.

Asturias's Hidden Gem: Cudillero

The center of Cudillero

A couple of weekends ago my boyfriend and I were in Asturias for the weekend with no plans. I've been wanting to go to this tiny fishing village called Cudillero for a long time, so we decided it was the perfect day to go! So the both of us and a friend of mine got up early and caught the train out to this coastal gem.

Boa Viagem- Lisbon

Last weekend was Carnival in Spain, which for me means puente! So my boyfriend and I decided to jet off to Lisbon, Portugal for a quick visit.

Praça do Rossio

My dad mentioned before I went that the city was like San Francisco...I can see a connection- the city is full of huge hills! It also has a red bridge, and trams to go up hills. Besides those things, it's got a charm of its own. I really enjoyed the visit and the city is beautiful! Here's my list of cool things to do here: 

Ringing in 2013- London Style!

For the first week in January this year, my boyfriend and I went to London! It's been on my list for a long time, also my dad told me he would disown me if I left Europe without visiting this age-old city, so I decided it was about time to go.


Everyone always told me "London is awesome!" and "You're going to love it there!" so I really didn't have high expectations going in...just kidding! The best part is that in the end it lived up to my dream-like expectations! These were my favorite things:

Home Sweet Home...Gijón Version

Hi everyone, I'm back!! I know it's been an incredibly long time since I've written anything, and I'm sure most of you forgot that I even had a blog! Lets just skip over all of my excuses and just say, I'm glad to be back. Also, I forgot how hard it is to keep something like this going. I've been gone so long that I'm not even sure how to begin! But let's begin with the most recent. 

This year I moved to a different city, this time on the northern coast- right on the beach! It's called Gijón, and it's in the region of Asturias. This map shows the region, not the city. (source)

Lessons Learned in Barcelona....

In Spain, Easter is quite the party. At my school, I had a two full week vacation! I spent the first part of my vacation relaxing in Logroño and then I headed out for the first leg of my vacation...in Barcelona! I've never been to Barcelona but we only had a couple of days to visit. (After that we headed out to Rome, Florence, Pisa, and Venice.) I'm going to have to go back sometime because it's such a big city and there's so much to see. But, we did see a lot for how long we were there. I also learned some very important lessons.