Barcelona

Barcelona is probably one of the main destinations for tourists in Spain.  Many people you speak to will tell you it was one of their favorite cities to visit.  Almost all will tell you that they liked it better than Madrid.  For me, the difference between Madrid and Barcelona is minor.  Sure if you like the sea, Barcelona might win.  But, who wants to swim at a beach in a major city.  The fact is that there is a lot of ship traffic coming in and out of the port, and the water is bound to be dirtier than beaches elsewhere.  Many people note that Barcelona is more interesting because of the hip culture in the Barrio Gotico.  You can get a similar scene in Madrid too though, that scene just happens to be outside the most touristic part of the city, where in Barcelona it is the touristic part.  It's just more obvious in Barcelona than in Madrid.




Barcelona has some very interesting sights.  You have the works of Gaudi, which of course are grotesque in their lavishness.  The beach, although I would rather swim elsewhere, has quite a nice boardwalk.  There are nice parks, and you can watch the friquis down on La Rambla.  For young people this is a pretty awesome place to visit, because the Barrio Gotico has plenty of enticing aromas filtrating out from balconies and windows.  For many, it is a fun city.

I personally don't love Barcelona.  My time there was not the most enjoyable - we go there to visit Javier's eye doctor.  If I were to spend time as a tourist in Spain, I would much rather spend time in Cordoba, Granada, Sevilla, and at the beach in the south.  (Of course I would make the same argument for Madrid.  There are just more interesting places than these two big cities.)

Navarra and Pamplona

Javi's mother and father live in Navarra just north of Pamplona, so we have spent quite some time there.  The hills rising up to the Pyrenees are beautiful and green in the spring and summer.  We spent most of our time in a tiny village called Zubiri.

In Zubiri, there is not very much to do except hike.  So, almost everyday, we would head to the mountains.  We would take the narrow road up into the hills past other villages.  We would watch the sheep in the pastures next to the road.  It was always so quiet; like there was nobody else in the world.

On our hikes I would always be happy to check out the plants and trees.  In the lower areas there were beech trees (left) and up higher were the European larch (right).  On one of the paths we would take, the pines had an extreme infestation by some insects (below).  Almost all the trees had these nests hanging from their limbs.

One of my favorite walks was to this little village 5km from Zubiri.  We would never see anybody there.  It seemed almost deserted.

Back in Pamplona, there plenty to do.  You can go to one of the main squares and see the hotel where Hemmingway stayed so long ago, you can take a walk along a portion of El Camino de Santiago, or you can just go get some tapas and relax.  The city itself is nice.  With its winding roads that the bulls of San Fermin try to navigate.  Pamplona is famous for its San Fermin Festivities - also called the running of the bulls - but we will get to that later.

San Sebastian - Tapas, tapas, tapas!!

If you like tapas, then San Sebastian in the Basque country is the place for you.  This beautiful little coastal town has some very fine dining.  You can spend a whole afternoon hopping from bar to bar, eating seafood, embutidos, cheeses, and drinking fine wines.  We spent an afternoon doing just that, and by the end we were absolutely satiated.  The city is nice in itself.  It has the same feel as any coastal resort for kings.  Grand facades on all the buildings and an immense boardwalk.

Madrid

Madrid, the capital of Spain.  Many people who travel to Spain don't like Madrid, but I absolutely love it.  It is a wonderful city to walk around in.  You can walk around the city center.  The main plaza is called Sol.  The Plaza del Sol is made famous by its epic New Years Eve celebrations that rival those of Times Square in New York City.  From Sol there is plenty to see.  There is the Plaza Mayor, an old square that is hidden within the surrounding buildings.  You can walk down to Parque del Retiro, a beautiful park where you can rent paddle boats or just laze in the sun.

My favorite walk is to a poorer neighborhood south of Sol - Lavapies.  Lavapies is always full of life.  There is music being played in the streets, and great smells wafting out of the restaurants.  This is also the location of our favorite tapas bar.  El Boqueron is a small tapas bar - standing room only - where you can get the freshest and most delicious seafood in the city.  Anytime I have the opportunity to go, I will. 

One of the ponds in Parque del Retiro.

                  
                           Parque del Retiro                                                                  Gran Via

Plaza de Oriente

 

Casa de Campo: an enormous park on the western end of Madrid

 Puerta del Sol

But, really the best thing about Madrid is that you can very easily visit some very cool places nearby.  Trains and buses will take you to Toledo (the former capital), Segovia (with its huge Roman aqueduct and its beautiful castle), and finally, Avila.

Our arrival to Europe!

We departed Central America for Europe from Panama City.  After a long night of waiting for the bus to take us to the airport, we arrived to learn that we had to wait a few hours to enter the terminal.  Javier still could not see anything, so we were understandably happy when we boarded our first flight.  Our first layover was in Bogota, Columbia.  This was not too long, but Javier was feeling worse after our first flight.  It was a big relief to finally be on our flight to Madrid.  Javier's eyes were in a lot of pain during our final flight, but there was nothing we could do to relieve them.  We just had to wait.

When we finally arrived in Spain, we both were able to rush through customs because of Javier's condition.  His sister picked us up at the airport and drove us immediately to the hospital.  While our arrival to Europe was not ideal, we were very happy to be there.

Puntarenas and The Beach: Short and Blind

The beach at Puntarenas is a very nice beach.  Although it is on the Pacific Ocean, this beach is sheltered and the waters are fairly tranquil.  Our time on this beach were not the best.  Days earlier while visiting Monteverde Cloud Reserve, Javier had contracted a very serious eye infection.  Javier was completely blind, so we could not do very much.  It was good that our flight back to Spain was only a few days away, because we feared for the health of Javier's eyes.

Lake Arenal

Costa Rica!  Okay, it's beautiful, but lets be reasonable.  If Guatemala is the misbehaving spoiled child of Central America, Costa Rica is the well behaved spoiled child.  Costa Rica is extremely touristic.  This country is much more developed than its neighbors, but the development is rather superficial and only focused around touristic centers.  Being developed allows for greater comfort while traveling, but it also makes for much more expensive traveling.  Which of course we detest.

Despite the cost of visiting Costa Rica, it is an absolutely beautiful and wonderful place to visit.  The first place we visited was Arenal Lake.  This lake is surrounded by beautiful lush forest and explosive volcanoes.  If you like the touristic side of travel, this is a perfect place for you.  There are plenty of activities to keep you busy there.


Our time at Arenal Lake was spent walking in the forest and hiking around.  The forest is so thick and moist.  We walked to the La Fortuna River from the town to have breakfast there.

Later, we entered a preserve so we could hike to some waterfalls.  The trail was an adventure in itsel.  We climbed up and down steep switchbacks and crossed massive suspension bridges.  When we finally arrived at the waterfall, what we saw was actually less impressive than the path we had taken to get there!

Pino Blanco waterfall.

Granada

Granada, on the edge of lake Nicaragua, is a beautiful colonial city.  While in Granada, we stayed with a very comical Spanish woman at her club.  She warned us when we arrived that it would be very loud at night.  At first we did not believe this.  The club was empty when we went to bed, and the music was low.  Of course, later in the night we awoke to an unpleasant surprise.  Loud, banging beats of club music vibrated the whole room.  We didn't sleep much after that.

 

The city was wonderful to walk around in.  We visited the old fort and climbed the tower of one of the churches.  The city itself is colorful and alive.  The main street going to the lake is always filled with people having food or coffee.  This main part of town feels fairly developed, but in this same city not more than a couple kilometers away was the most disgusting market place I have ever seen.  The floor of the outdoor market was piled with food scraps and garbage.  The meat vendors kept their items out on tables; unrefrigerated and stinking.  It was truly a sight.

Outside of Granada is an old volcanic crater that is now a lake: Apoyo.  You can take a short bus ride to Catarina and walk up the hill to the overlook.  From there you can look down over the crater lake Apoyo.

Leon

Leon, in the north of Nicaragua, is yet another beautiful Central American colonial town.  This town has a simple and dirty feel to it, but it is still a nice place to visit.  We stayed in an old house which was renting rooms to tourists.  It was not the nicest, but it still felt more welcoming than other places we had stayed. 

While staying in this house, we had an interesting encounter with the cleaning woman.  One day, when coming back to our room from a walk, we became engaged in conversation with her.  The main topic: my blonde hair.  She gently stroked my golden locks and asked in Spanish, "Are you German".  She had fallen in love with me for my hair. For many weeks later, it was our favorite joke.

Of course, the main reason tourists come to Leon, is for the volcano.  Not to visit the volcano for its beauty, but to sled down the volcano.  That's right, people pay to get completely decked-out in full body armor, and sled down the volcanic rock.

Ruta de las Flores

El Salvador is one of our favorite countries in Central America.  Warnings of danger were all wrong.  The country is friendly, cheap, and free of tourists.  You can literally take a bus ride halfway across the country for a few dimes (they use U.S. dollars there).  While in El Salvador we saw only a few foreigners, and mostly in the capital.  Our time in El Salvador was short, but well worth it.

In the southwest of El Salvador, is a wonderful travel route called La Ruta de las Flores (The route of flowers).  This route features cute little towns and breathtaking natural areas.  We did not visit all of the attractions on this route, but the ones we did visit were lovely.

Ataco:

Apanera:

The view from Laguna de las ninfas.

Juayua:

The cascades at Chorros de la Calera outside Juayua.  These cascades are part of a series of hydroelectric  facilities.