My trip to Albany was very fun. It was nice to see my sister and to meet all her friends. We spent the 24th at Fernando’s house eating Ajiaco, drinking Aguardiente and dancing vallenatos, salsas and porros which made the night very colombian-style.
I forgot to bring my camera but my sister took some pictures.
As if going to Spain for two weeks wasn’t enough, my sister worked hard to convince me to visit her in Albany for the christmas weekend. I started by looking for tickets Austin-Albany and they were about $500 and I was not willing to pay that much. But then I looked for tickets between Austin and NYC and I found one for $300, but it was making 1 additional stop (Chicago) making the entire trip to last about 5-6 hours. Finally I found a JetBlue ticket that goes directly Austin-NYC (JFK) for $350 and I bought it.
I’ll be leaving on Sunday 24th at 7am and returning on Tuesday 26th at 8pm. The 25th and the 26th are holidays at work.
I still need to figure out the transportation from NYC to Albany but there are several options (trains and buses).
This is going to be the second christmas I’m going to spend with my sister. Last time was back in 2004 when we spend christmas eve at Eva’s house. I think I have NEVER spent a christmas without at least one family member. I must be very lucky!
I started posting a few comments from Spain during my trip, but then it became more difficult to find internet access. Now I’m back in Austin after a very loooong flight back home and I’m very pleased to say that my trip was fantastic. I think Spain is a beautiful country with very nice people, food, weather and things to do. I would love to come back again and see other places that I missed this time (San Sebastian, Bilbao, Sevilla, Córdoba, …).
Here is a summary of my trip:
November 16
Austin – Newark – Madrid – Barcelona
November 17 – Photos
Arrival to Barcelona
Caro’s Ajiaco for lunch!
Nap
Go to gallery / bar with Caro, Nati and Marco
Ultramarino Bar with Alejandra
November 18
Sagrada Familia
Paseo del Modernismo
Paseo de Gracia
Downtown Barcelona
Barrio Gótico
El Raval
Cathedral
Champañeria (1 bottle of champagne with cheese and ham for 7€!)
Latin Party
November 19 – Photos
Flight to Madrid
Mad Hostel
Meet with Idoia
November 20 – Photos
Bus to Toledo with Idoia
Back to Madrid
Chocolate with churros
November 21
Jardin Botánico
Museo del Prado (La Maja Desnuda – Goya & Las Meninas – Velásquez)
Su Majestad la Reina Doña SofÃa
Puerta de Alcalá
Plaza de las Cibeles
Palacio Real
Catedral (Almudena)
Noche de Flamenco en Casa Patas con Idoia, Monica y Vanesa
November 22
Museo Reina SofÃa
Parque el Retiro
Plaza de las Ventas
Lunch at Casa Alberto
Estadio Santiago Bernabeu (Real Madrid) – Photos
November 23 – Photos
Flight to Granada
Meet with Caro
Cathedral of Granada (graves of both Queen Isabel and King Fernando)
Walk around Granada
November 24
Walk around Granada
November 25
The Alhambra – Photos
Barcelona F.C 4 – 0 Villarreal – Photos
Lineup
FC Barcelona: Valdés; Zambrotta, Puyol, Thuram, Gio; Edmilson (Oleguer, m. 77), Deco, Iniesta, Giuly (Xavi, m. 67); Ronaldinho y Gudjohnsen (Ezquerro, m. 72).
Villarreal CF: Barbosa; Javi Venta, Fuentes, Cygan, Arruabarrena; Marcos Senna (Somoza, m. 88), Josico (Tacchinardi, m.45), Cani, Marcos GarcÃa; José Mari (Guille Franco, m. 45) y Forlán.
Goals
1-0, m. 34: Ronaldinho (PK)
2-0, m. 54: Gudjohnsen
3-0, m. 69: Iniesta
4-0, m. 87: Ronaldinho
November 27 – Photos
Parc Güell
Casa Batlló
November 28 – Photos
Figueras
Teatro Museo DalÃ
November 29
Museo Picasso y Sabartés
Puerto
Montjuïc
Fundación Joan Miró
Yesterday I went to Toledo with Idoia. You take the metro to the Mendez Alvaro station and from there you take a bus that takes you to Toledo in 1 hour. The city is amazing. Is a maze with streets facing all directions and with great buildings all around. There is a big cathedral, mosques and synagogues all over the place. In the street, you see lots of small stores that carry swords, armors and lots of crafts. For lunch I had a brocoli and shrimp soup, deer (probably the first time I tried), dessert (apple ice cream) and the most delicious olives I ever had.
After we came back from Toledo we went to a place to have churros with chocolate. Very yummy and unhealthy. Today Im going to Museo del Prado. The weather is supposed to be good, because tomorrow is going to rain 
Today I got to Madrid. The flight from Barcelona only takes hour and a half, but I spent 6 hours including trains, metros and airports. Finally I got to the Hostel in Madrid and I took a cold shower and then I called Idoia and met her and her friends (Monica and Vanessa) in the Callao metro station. Then we went to eat some bocadillos and had a couple of beers. I got back early to the Hostel and tomorrow I´m going to Toledo with Idoia. We are meeting at the Sol metro station at 10am. I hope I wake up on time since I don´t have an alarm clock. Alright, time to go to bed! I still haven´t been able to figure out how to post the pictures, but I´ll keep trying.
The flight to Spain was very loooooong, but everything work out very well. I arrived to Madrid at one of the old terminals and then had to take a bus to Terminal 4 which is new and works exclusively for Iberia. The terminal was very nice.
Carolina was waiting for me at Barcelona´s airport. We took the train to her apartment and had a yummy ajiaco which she prepared. Then I took a nap (I still have the jet lag) and then we went to a gallery – bar where we met with her friends Natalia and Marco and had a couple of beers. Later we went to another bar called Ultramarino and had more beers. We left the place around 3am and at that time the metro is closed, so we had to take a bus and then walk 15 blocks to get home.
Today we are going to the ´Sagrada Familia´ and downtown Barcelona.
I´m trying to upload some pictures but this internet connection sucks. But just in case check here.
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In case you wondered about how expensive is to go to Spain for 2 weeks, here is my expenses report so far:
- Plane tickets (Austin – Barcelona) $676
- Health insurance $30
- Plane ticket (one way Barcelona – Madrid) 47.9 €
- 1GB SD memory for my digital camera $24.99
- Refurbished iPod shuffle (present for Carolina my host in Barcelona) $35
- Bag (my previous bag was destoyed after my last trip) $50
- New shoes (my old shoes had holes in the sole) $50
Things I haven’t bought but I know that I will:
- Backpack ~ $80
- Peanut Butter ~ $5 (Caro is crazy about peanut butter)
- Haircut ~ $15
I also got my self a new American Express Blue credit card, because I heard that they give you the best conversion rates when you use it outside the US and I bought some Euros at Wells Fargo.
Itinerary version 1.0
This is my first attempt to define an itinerary for the trip.
Nov 17: Barcelona
Nov 19: Flight Barcelona – Madrid
Nov 22: Toledo
Nov 23: Granada (meet with Caro)
Nov 24: Cordoba
Nov 25: ?
Nov 26: Barcelona
Nov 27: San Sebastian (not sure about this)
Nov 29: Barcelona
Nov 30: Austin
[Update 11/09/2006]
Expenses update:
- REI Lookout Backpack $80
- Flight Madrid – Granada 10 €
- Flight Granada – Barcelona 72.90 €
- Hostel Rambutan Guesthouse 59.94 € (2 nights / 2 people)
Itinerary version 2.0
Nov 16: Austin – Barcelona
Nov 17: Barcelona
Nov 19: Flight Barcelona – Madrid (4pm)
Nov 22: Toledo
Nov 23: Flight Madrid – Granada (1:30pm) (meet with Caro in Granada)
Nov 24: Granada or Cordoba
Nov 25: Flight Granada – Barcelona (6:40pm)
Nov 30: Austin
I just got an email from my friend Idoia Irigaray, a girl from San Sebastian that I met in MedellÃn about 6 or 7 years ago because of CVX. Initially I wanted to go to San Sebastian to see her but the tickets from Barcelona are expensive (~200 €) and I don’t have much time, but the good news is that she is going to be in Madrid the same days as me, so we are going to see each other over there. Is going to be so much fun!
