Euro Trip: Spain pt. II

Thursday, December 19, 2013

It was another early rise for traveling, this time to Barcelona. We packed up our stuff, ate a quick breakfast left out for us by the hostel staff (so nice), and wheeled our luggage down the cobbled street in the morning darkness. We took the bus to the airport and waited in the tiny terminal. When we boarded, I was thrilled to find our seats on an exit row. That was a luxury I had never experienced before! The flight was short to Barcelona, only was an hour and a half. We landed and took the metro to our airbnb place located a few miles from the city center. Silva, our airbnb host, showed us around our place. It was a nice, modern apartment with a few bedrooms, kitchen, living area, and a small terrace. It was nice to have the place to ourselves.

We were tired from staying up late and waking early, so we took a quick nap after eating shwarma. Since we were only in Barcelona for a couple days, we visited the a few Antoni Gaudi designed buildings, starting with Sagrada Familia first. This was a huge, oddly constructed church that got many of its design aspects from the shapes of nature, plants, animals, etc. It is notoriously unfinished, with construction occurring even as we visited. After that, we strolled through the rain to Casa Bastllo, another Gaudi building. This time, we took an audio tour of the building. I thought I wouldn't really like his style which had no straight lines and symmetry, but I found his nature-inspired ideas to be not only be appealing but also functional. He thought out of the box, especially for his time.  We made a quick stop by our apt and then went out for tapas at a restaurant recommended by Silvia. It was packed, but the food was just alright. Strangely, steak fries are really common here as tapas. I'm not really a fan (esp. the topping of mayonnaise...gross). We strolled back to our apt and got ready for bed. Travel days are always long and tiring.

Friday, December 20, 2013

We (actually, just me) were tired of eating out every meal, so we made toast and tea for breakfast. Our day starting with a short visit to the Picasso Meuseum. It was interesting to see the progression of his style throughout his life. We then walked down La Rambla, the main street of Barcelona that leads to the peer. It was touristy, but still very different than home. Barcelona had the most European/Western style to it, more than Madrid and Granada. The peer was huge, and even had an entire mall on it. We sat on the huge deck and watched to bustling activity. People watching in foreign places is so interesting. There was also a massive spire with a Colombus statue on it. I have a feeling that would not fly in America. We walked back down La Rambla and stopped at a street side place for lunch. The food was decent and fairly priced, but the Tinto de Verano was disgusting and coated as much ad our entire meal. We were totally tourist-scammed. We stopped again to get a Nutella crêpe which was absolutely delicious. We walked the streets more. I was nice to have clear weather.

We took the metro to Park Güell, yet another site designed by Gaudi. I accidentally took us through the back entrance with trails. It ended up working put because the front entrance recently started making you pay. We didn't get access to the Gaudi part, but the park was still nice. Spain is bascislly broke, so they try and find and excuse to charge money for anything.

I wasn't really in the mood to eat tapas again, so we bought ingredient to make a salad. Finally, a meal that wasn't all carbs. We also made our own tinto de verano that was wayyy better. Since our apt wasn't situated any city sites, we just walked around the streets which was fun. The little shops are so tiny but jammed packed with items. Our stay in Barcelona was short, but I feel like I experienced the city well.

Euro trip: Spain pt. I

Friday, December 13, 2013

My final exams have ended for the semester, and I am in need of a break. Julie and I have been saving and planning for this trip for a long time. I'm so thrilled to go to Europe. I've never been before, though I consider myself to be fairly traveled. Julie has actually traveled many more countries than I have.

We caught our noon flight from Memphis to Atlanta, but then had a 5 hour layover. We sat in the international terminal people-watching and killing time. We finally boarded our 7pm flight bound for Madrid, Spain. The flight was long and uncomfortable. Typically drinks were served, with complimentary wine and beer (surprise), and a wide array of personal movies were offered via the personal screen on the seat-back in front of me. The 7 hour flight was exhausting. 

Saturday, December 14, 2013

When we arrived in Madrid, the sun was was coming through the fog across the airport runway. We saw one day end and another begin wihout any sleep. We gathered our things and made our way across the airport to the metro. Via the directions of the Terrell's, we found our way to their apartment. It was nice to see a friendly face, and I could tell they were thankful for seeing old friends from back home (Olivia and Andrew work for Mission to the World, they live in Spain, and they are currently on year 1 of a 3 year commitment). We settled in at their apartment in the guest room.

With Olivia and Andrew as our guide, and meandered through the old city streets, got a quick meal of tortilla de patata, and visited the city plazas decorated in Christmas fair. We ate a small lunch at El Corte Ingles, and my lack of sleep caught up with me as we sat in the sun. The city was unusually crowded, even to the surprise of the Terrells. That night, Julie and I explored the city by ourselves and wondered to a huge palace lit up amongst the fountains and cityscape. We found our way to a street known for its tappas bars, but the shear amount of people out, even at 8pm (which is very early for the Spaniards), was shocking. We got a quick drink and made our way back to the apartment. The Terrell's had a few visitors over the might for church, so we when to bed. I fell asleep faster than I can remember, and we never heard a peep for the party hosted by the Terrell's at their apartment. 

Sunday, December 15, 2013

The next day in Madrid, our first full day, we ate breakfast at the Terrell's apartment and explored the city a bit. We did a bit of shopping, and then walked to a beautiful park with a small lake with paddle boats. The weather was amazing with blue skies. We ate at a small German burger place (I know...not Spanish), but the food was quite different than anything in the state. All the native food here is straight carbs with no veggies or fresh ingredients. The coffee however is delicious... café con leche. That night, Julie and I hard a nicer dinner at Olé Lola, a great tappas bar. We couldn't communicate well with our server, but our meal was delicious. Back at the Terrell's apartment, we stayed up late talking and laughing.

Monday, December 16, 2013

The next morning, we walked to a small cafe for breakfast: pan con tomate, fresh OJ, coffee, and a muffin. Afterward, we strolled to Olivia's jewelry workshop and saw how she makes her stuff. It was really fascinating. We were catching a bus to Granada that afternoon, so we back up our things and said our goodbyes. Staying with the Terrells was a real treat, and we had a great time seeing the city from a " local's" perspective. We got on the metro and quickly realized that we were cutting it very close to the bus station. We were those people running through the station trying to figure out where to go. However, our attempt to make the 2:00pm bus failed, and the next available ride was 5:30 that evening. We stowed our luggage in a locker and explored the streets around the bus station. We stopped for pizza, which ended up being a language lesson trying to read the menu. The server was so helpful and nice.
While walking back to the car, we saw a guy peeing by the sidewalk next to his car. Maybe that's a Europe thing, but I seriously doubt it.

We boarded the bus and left Barcelona as the sun was setting. I listened to music and read while Julie watched a movie and slept. It was actually a fairly comfortable bus ride, far more than the flight over from the US. We made a quick stop about half way through the 5 hour trip. We arrived in Granada at 10:30pm, and finally made it to Casa Bimbo after some difficulty. A couple from the bus was helpful in giving directions. We rolled our luggage up the steep cobblestoned streets. Casa Bombo, a relatively newer hostel, was situated in the older part of the city. It had the classic Spanish look and seemed ancient, yet clean. The view across the valley of the Alhambra was breathtaking. We were shown our room, grabbed a shwarma from down the street for dinner, and went to bed.

Tuesday, December 17, 2013

For some reason, I was wide awake at 6:00am. Julie slept while I checked various school things on my tablet. By 8, we both went upstairs to the lounge for a hostel breakfast of coffee, cereal, and toast. I got to see my first daylight view of the Alhambra across the valley which was beautiful. At 10am, we walked up through the city streets to the Alhambra for a walking tour. The gardens were beautiful, even in winter. The Alhambra itself was massive, and it seemed like a great place to live in ancient days. The view from above looking down to the city below was spectacular. Granada is a beautiful city with lots of charm. The Sierra Nevada Mountains could be seen to the east with their gradual snowy peaks.

After the Alhambra, we walked the streets to Julie's school when she studied aboard. We even ran into on of her teachers! We stopped at the Restaurant Europa where I had a cerveza and not so great sandwich. We walked the plazas, stopped in stores, and experienced the city. After stopping by a "Chino" for cheap wine and lemon Fanta (to make tinto de verano), we hiked up to a higher point in there city to watch the sunset. It was spectacular with a view of the Alhambra, the mountains, and the entire city below. Later that night we ate Spanish tapas at a small bar called La Bella y La Bestia, and then we went to a flamenco show. It was in a tiny shotgun style venue/cave, and the music was classic Spanish. I was so tired that I dosed off during the first slow songs, but when the dancer came out and the music picked up, it was a great show. We met a guy from Munich who offered some advice on NYE, so I emailed him later that night. We left during intermission because we were exhauated (and we couldnt understand anything). We slept well that night.

Wednesday, December 18, 2013

I woke up early again, around 6am, for no reason. I let Julie rest while I drank coffee and ate breakfast overlooking the Alhambra. When Julie got ready, we walked downtown through Granada and walked through El Corte Ingles, the European (or Spanish) of a superstore. We walked through the city for a while, saw the shops, the trinket stores, etc. We got a salad at La Bella y La Bestia for lunch, then went back to the hostel for a bit to rest.

That afternoon, we went to the Arab bathes. The hostel accidentally messed up the reservations, so the bathes only had three people! It ended up working out for us though. The bathes were so tranquil and warm, such a relaxing environment. They were located in a cave-like structure with multiple room with different temperature pools. Delicious hot was served in the rooms as well. I checked out the steam room for a bit, but those things are just hot and miserable. Another room had a massage, which took up about 20 minutes of the 1.5 hour bath time. It was my first massage too. It was good, but it kinda felt weird too. We left the bathes, got a little lost, and ended up back at the lookout to watch the sunset. We shower and went out for tapas that night at Pöe. The bartender was England, so we had some good conversation with him for a while. It was a long day, so we when to bed early since we needed to get up early.

Colorado Fourteeners. One Week. Five Peaks.

I haven't blog in almost two years. I have fallen away from this online journal because the AT is over and there isn't much to write about, not publicly at least. I have decided to continue my blog as more of a trip journal. Maybe people will stumble across it, but it will mainly serve as a semi-private online trip journal. This trip: climbing Colorado's fourteen-thousand foot peaks.

We left on Saturday morning from Nashville. My dad, sister, her fiancé Miles, and I flew to Denver where we got our rental car, a Chevy Tahoe. Quite a bit better vehicle then our Dodge Nitro last time. We had some time to kill in Denver, so we (of course) visited REI, and a restaurant called "My Brother's Bar". Decent food, great beer. We then took a brewery tour at Breckenridge Brewery. It was a great craft beer experience with lots to choose from. We continued on our way to Buena Vista, Colorado which sits at the base of the Collegiate Peaks Wilderness.

We stayed at a small motel room, ate Mexican that night, and turned in for the night. We wanted to take it slow before we started approaching high altitudes, so staying in BV that night was probably smart. 

The next morning we hung out in town, walked downtown, and watched the kayakers surf the waves on the Arkansas River. It is always fun returning to that river because I guided rafts on it all summer in 2008. 

 Around midday we drove to the trailhead of Missouri Gulch, a large, beautiful valley surrounded my 14ers, all of which we were planning to climb. The trail up was steep with many switchbacks. After a mile or so of hiking, a storm rolled in a began dumping hail violently. It was an unexpected storm, as they usually are, so we scrambled to gather our rain gear. The hail pelted our exposed hands and stung, but it did not last long. After the storm passed, the ground glistened white with hail. Shortly after, we came upon the remains of an old miners cabin. This would be our campsite for the next two nights. The drizzling rain stopped, and we set up camp.

 The clouds never pulled parted, but the sky didn't yield anymore rain. 

The next morning, Tuesday, we rose about an hour before the sun and started up our first 14er, Mt. Belford. The approach through the valley was beautiful in twilight, but the trail quickly started straight up the northwest shoulder of Belford. The grassy switchbacks gave way to a rocky trail to the summit. The ascent took a few hours, but we made good time. The summit was a small rock pile topping out at 14,197 feet. 

Having another peak to conquer the same day, we started for Mt. Oxford, about 1.5 miles away. Miles' altitude sickness started to get more severe, so he stayed back to recuperate. The descent down the saddle to the east between Belford and Oxford was steep and tedious. A trail runner who had passed up going up Belford was now passing us going back after having summited Belford and Oxford. Quite an athlete. My sister, dad, and I made good time traversing the saddle and back up Oxford.

A storm was threatening our ascent, so we were up and down pretty quick. We retraced our steps back to Belford, then back down to our base camp. All in all, it was a great day with two peaks under our belts.

Since Miles was still feeling nauseous, he and my sister stayed back the next day while my dad and I went for the summit of Missouri Mountain. The inconspicuous peak was to the west of Belford and was comprised of mostly a ridge line to the summit. My dad and I rose extra early (3:30am) to be on the trial before 4:30am. We hiked with our headlamps on for the first half hour or so. The air was cold and many of the stream crossings were frozen. Marmots scampered away as we hiked through the Alps-like valley toward Missouri Mountain. The snowy ridge dominated our view to the south as the sun began to rise to our east.

We began climbing up Missouri's eastern face across several boulder fields.
 The ascent was exhausting, but we keep to it. After a few hours, we finally made it up to the ridge the occupied Missouri's northern ridge. Now, it was just another half mile of ridge walking. Much to our surprise, the snow and the steep angle made for a dangerous hike to the summit at 14,067 ft. We summited by 9:30 and had a fantastic view of the two peaks we had just climbed the day before.

Even better, we could see just about every fourteener within a 50 mile range. Mt. Harvard and Mt. Columbia to our southeast, Mt. Huron to our west, and far beyond, the famous Maroon Bells near Aspen. The Collegiate Range spread out further south and Mt. Elbert and La Plata Peak dominated to the view to the north. It was breathtaking, and we found ourselves not wanting to leave. 

After an hour, we began our descent down to the green valley below. The hike down was somewhat straining, but the ability to talk to each other made the foot pounding more bearable. With the sun high in the sky, the temperature rose dramatically. He hiked in shorts and T-shirt back to camp where Miles and Mary Chris had been waiting for us. We made it down to camp by 2:30pm. We gathered the rest of our overnight gear and began hiking back down. The way down seems longer than the hike up 2 days before, probably because I was tired. 

After reaching the car, we drove to Leadville for a dinner of pizza and Avalanche beer accompanied. Our hotel was quaint and relaxing. I got to talk to Julie a while which was great. The next day, we check out of our hotel and found a great little coffee shop in downtown Leadville, City on a Hill Coffee. We sat, ate breakfast, and talked for a while. It was one of my dad's favorites. With that day being our day off, we decided to drive to Aspen. The drive itself makes it worth it, over Independence Pass. 

We arrived in Aspen around mid morning, so we passed the time by walking around the shops. This town has some really amazing flowers too. They were everywhere. Since being there last, the town had a more uppity feel to it. Maybe I just noticed it more.

We ate a Mexican restaurant (again) and relaxed most of the day. We drove over Independence Pass again. We knew forest fires were going on throughout southern Colorado, but we noticed a large plume of gray smoke coming just south of Twin Lakes. It looked to large to be a brush or campfire. We pulled over to get a better look and noticed a helicopter hovering over the smoke. No flame were visible, but they were certainly there. Hopefully everything was extinguished before other tree caught fire. We continued on to our next climb and final climb for the trip, Mt. Greys and Mt. Torreys.

The dirt road to Greys and Torreys trailhead was literally right off of I-70. It was a steep rocky drive to the trailhead where we set up camp for the night. Mt. Grays was visible to the south and its craggy ridge surrounded us to the east. That night we sat around camp and talked until the sun went down, something we hadn't really done yet. It was nice to relax in the cool air on our last night in the woods. I slept well that night after reading a few chapters in of the WWII survival novel "Unbroken".

We started up the trail early the next morning. It was unlike any other 14er trailhead I had experienced before since the start was practially above treeline. However, the approach through the valley was still long. After a couple hours of hiking, a trail runner passed us running up the trail. We watched him ahead of us the whole way. Since these two peaks are fairly close to Denver and easily accessible, the trail began gathering people behind us. We could see other groups start up the trail far below us, many of them with dogs. Our first peaks was Mt. Grays, a featureless rounded peak at 14,270 ft. We continued up the switchbacks until we finally made it to the summit. James, the only other camper at the campsite with us the previous night was on top with his dog Gemma. We chatted with him for a while, took in the views, and visited the mountain goats. As other climbers began reaching the summit, we started down for the saddle to Mt. Torreys. The hike down to the saddle was steep, but not as bad as coming down from Mt. Belford three days before. I got a second wind and pushed it up the summit of Mt. Torreys, a much sharper peak with little room for more than 10 people to occupy. With a height of 14,167 ft, we could see for miles. Mount of the Holy Cross stood to our west with its snowy cross unmelted. Just like Mt. Grays, the peak got congested with hikers, dogs, and gear, so we decided to make the trek down.
 To be continued...