The Last Leg of the Journey
Oh the final stretch...the end is in sight as we get in the car and head from Granada to Seville. Julia and I will end our journey there, while the boys will head to Madrid to take a plane on to Morocco. As we leave Granada and head towards Seville, Julia and I are in agreement about many things. The list goes on, but to name a few:
1. Spain is the greatest place we have been thus far.
2. Of all the places in Spain, Barcelona is our least favorite, despite having heard multiple friends sing its praises.
3. Matt has probably never driven in a city before this trip.
4. Maps are a necessity on a road trip.
5. If Matt makes us visit one more cathedral instead of taking us to the beach, we're going to kill him.
6. We're tired, hungry, dirty, and sweaty.
7. Matt and Max might be trying to kill us slowly by depriving us of air conditioning.
As you can see from the list, our patience for the boys on our trip was wearing thin. Apparently, we all had very different goals for our trip and we should have ironed them out beforehand. Matt was trying to see every single tourist attraction in the entire country of Spain, while I just wanted to go to the nearest beach. Traveling by car is a great way to get to know someone and we all know each other better after this trip. We are happy to have had the car and appreciative to our driver, but let's just say no tears were shed by either party when it came time to split up in Seville.
To top off the end of the trip, we arrive at our so-called "hotel" in Seville to find that our reservation has been lost, the desk clerk speaks NO English and has trouble hearing, our room is shared with two other people, and there's no air conditioning. At this point in the trip, I literally thought Matt's head was going to explode. Julia and I, however, accepted the fact that this is part of the deal, so we decided to make the best of it. We spent our evening sitting on the terrace and watching Spanish television, trying to figure out what the shows were about. Eventually, everyone came around and we ended up sharing a lot of laughs, talking about all the things that had gone wrong over the course of the trip. It was nice to finally laugh about everything.
The next morning we checked out and had tapas together one last time. The food was delicious and it was a great way to spend our last hours together. The boys dropped Julia and I off somewhat near our hostel and were one their way.
Now my favorite part of the trip began. After spending three days with Matt the Nazi tourist, we were ready to do anything besides sight-see. We found our beautiful hostel and spent some time soaking up the sun on the roof-top terrace. After relaxing, we set out for a walk and actually ended up stumbling upon some of the sights and taking nice pictures. It was so nice to walk leisurely and just absorb the city. We ended our day on a floating dock on the river, drinking Rebujito and enjoying our girl time. On our way home, we stopped at a nice grocery store and bought supplies to make a lovely dinner of pasta with Spanish salami (solomillo), olives, and vegetables. We enjoyed this with a fine Sangria which cost 1.50 Euros for a two liter bottle. Later, we joined our hostel on a nightlife tour. What a great time!! We had our doubts at first when we showed up and there were only two other people. Luckily, we met up with six other hostels and had an amazing time. We ended up making friends and forming a little group with some solo travelers, two of which were from Montreal. We had such a great time with Linda that we have already planned to get together with her when we all return to Canada.
That brings me to today and what a nice day it was. This morning we slept in and took our time getting ready. Then we lingered over a tapa lunch and walked down to the river. It was SO hot! Literally, there was not one cloud in the sky and it was about 40 degrees C! Amazing! After seeing absolutely no sights, we sunbathed by the river until we couldn't bear the heat. Then we ducked into a shaded cafe for not one, but two iced teas. Thank god, the Spanish have mastered ice. I don't know why the Dutch have not realized the wonderful invention that is ice, but the Spanish have embraced it and we certainly appreciated it today. Upon finishing our teas, we tried to swim in the river but determined if we jumped in, we might not be able to lift ourselves back onto the dock. After a lot of convincing, I finally convinced Julia to sneak into a nearby hotel so that we could cool off in their pool and oh was it amazing! The water was perfectly refreshing and put the perfect end to our day. On the way home, we again bought supplies for a nice dinner of loaded baked potatoes and stir-fry complete with steak. Enjoyed on the terrace again, life couldn't be any better.
Now I sit outside my nice hostel bedroom shared with five other people, waiting to jump into my top bunk bed. I love this place and am so happy we have another day tomorrow. We are going to see the bull fighting ring and go inside the cathedral. I know I previously said no more cathedrals, but this one looks really cool from the outside and it's only two Euros for students. After our sights, more sun bathing will be in order, followed by more tapas and soaking up our last hours in Spain. Thursday morning, it's back to Amsterdam for three more weeks before coming home! Talking with my mom about my graduation party has made me really excited to get back and I'm more than ready to see those of you that I have been missing.
Te amo mucho mi familia y mis amigos. Estan en mi piensamientos y tienen un lugar especial en mi corazon.
De Espana con amor,
Meg
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