September 4th, Monday: Day 6

We woke up early in the morning to catch our train ride

The inside of the train station

to Seville. Everybody was in a bright mood because most of us had never been on a train before (Estacio del Nord is the train station we took, pictured to the left). We got up, packed our bags, showered, and were about to head out the door until we realized something was off. We were missing someone. Tyler and I bolted back into our room to see Mason still under the covers, sound asleep. If we didn't hurry up, we were going to miss our train ride! We screeched at Mason to get him up, and we were out the door in seconds. After our

The beautiful view from our hotel room!

little fiasco and breakfast at the hotel, we checked out and drove to the station, Estacio del Nord. We had shown our tickets, and were on the train right on time. The ride would take 2 and a half hours, so we tried occupying ourselves. I glanced towards the window and I saw Tyler, looking for a new pair of Asics after his old pair got tormented by La Tomatina. After a seemingly endless ride, we had finally arrived at the Seville-Santa Justa railway station in Seville. We then went to pick up our rental car, and some lunch for the drive to our hotel. All of us were tired for the constant travel and having to wake up so early. We got to our new hotel, Hotel Madrid Sevilla, which was in the heart of Seville. Before we left, we decided to take a quick nap and admire the gorgeous view from our hotel room. After we refueled with some lunch, we were out the door and on our way to our first attraction, Torre del Oro (Tower of Gold). This tower dates

The view of Torre del Oro from over the canal!

all the way back to the 13th century, and once served as a prison in the Middle Ages. It is also believed to have once been filled with gold. As we walked up to the tower, we were all in awe as we admired the tower's immense size. We entered through the large door and saw many historical items in glass cages. We slowly patrolled through the tower, seeing many things such as scuba gear, model ships, and many cannons. After a few hours of admiring, we went down to the riverside of Canal de Alfonso XIII to check out the water. The water was a beautiful blue-green color, and we could see our reflections peering back at us as we stuck our heads over the water. The Weather was breezy and at around 60°, but the sun provided us with some more warmth. It was just after midday, meaning the air would slowly get cooler in preparation for night. We would soon recede to indoor attractions for warmth. As we looked down the canal, we saw many fishing boats and ferry boats traveling along the canal. I found some spare food in our bags and threw a bit into the water. Soon, beautiful turtles emerged and took

The beautiful turtles we saw at Canal de Alfonso.

the food. I glanced around and noticed we were missing someone. Tyler was sitting on a bench far from the shore. We immediately new he did not want to ruin another pair of Asics after spending so much time cleaning them. After, we headed to Restaurante Abades Triana for lunch, then back to our hotel room. We decided to have a quick nap before heading out once again. Our next destination would be the Plaza de Espana. After a couple hours, at around 

Tyler showing us his next pair of Asics.

evening, we hopped in the car and started the drive to the Plaza. Plaza de Espana is a large semi-circle building that is surrounded by a moat, and in the center of the Plaza, there is a large fountain. This Plaza attracts many people per year because of it's beauty, especially at sunset, and we were about to see it. The drive was very impressive with all the Gothic buildings and beautiful nature, except when looking for a parking spot. It seemed as if we would never be able to find since we were aimlessly circling the Plaza. We decided to park at a nearby restaurant and get some dinner before we view the sunset. It was called Restaurante La Raza which was almost directly across from the plaza. The service was not the best and we could all tell that Chris was getting annoyed. He exclaimed his annoyance with us and threatened to throw his chair if there wasn't any service. That got the waiter's attention fast. Mason also didn't help the cause after he was laughing and dropped a heavy glass on my foot. We had a pretty eventful dinner. 

-Around 8:30 PM-

The Plaza just before sunset.

We had never realized how much time passed! The sun was starting to dip down over the horizon, so we bolted to the Plaza. We made it just as the sun was setting. The Plaza had us in awe because of it's immense size - just larger than 9 football fields. We strolled through the Plaza, admiring the architecture and the water which turned orange because of the sun. Everything almost seemed to have turned gold, but the view wasn't long-lasted. Eventually, the sun had completely disappeared and we couldn't see anything. Rohan turned hysterical and started running around like a maniac. We were all laughing at the hilarious sight until we heard a police man's voice. Our fun ended there. We were escorted back to our car and were given a stern warning. We acknowledged it, then sped on back to our hotel after an eventful day. In the hotel room, Rohan was frightened that we were going to get arrested, but we told him that the cops would only be looking for Mason after he had injured my foot with his glass. That gave us a good laugh for the night. 

History: Torre Del Oro
The Torre del Oro is a dodecagonal tower constructed in the 13th century next to the Canal de Alfonso XIII. It was originally constructed to watch over and control the canal and was a prison in the middle ages. The English translation for Torre del Oro is Tower of Gold, and there are different speculations from where the name came from. Some people say it may have been from the shine that the tower reflected in the river (composed of mortar, lime, and pressed hay). It is also believed that the tower may once have been filled with gold.

Culture: Plaza de Espana
Plaza de Espana reflects culture because of the architectural theme. It follows a Regionalism Architecture which means having an original style while also mixing historical styles into it. Many old Spanish buildings have been built like this, especially the Plaza. The Plaza was also used in exposition to showcase Spain, as well as their industry (another example of culture). Lastly, Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones was filmed here, reflecting entertainment in the country.

September 3rd, Sunday: Day 5

Our breakfast this morning, it was delicious!

We woke up at our hotel early this morning because someone dropped a bowl next door to our room. Andre was very upset at this as it was way too early for him, as he normally liked to sleep in. We all just got up anyways and headed downstairs for our hot complimentary breakfast, walking down the stairs very slowly as we were all still tired. As we ate, Rohan filled us in on the History: Temple of Debod, our first historical attraction stop for the day. He explained that it was a temple based off of the shrines built by the Meroe king Adijalamani meant to honor the goddess Isis and the god Amun. As we sat and ate our breakfast at the table, we all wondered what the temple would actually be like. Tyler pulled up a picture on his phone and started building a replica of the giant Egyptian monument out of some toast that he found lying on the floor! It was hilarious! We finished up our food and headed up back to our room to get dressed for the great adventure that was in store for today. We drove for a long time, to the heart of Madrid, to arrive at the Temple of Debod. We saw a lot of tall skyscrapers as we drove through the city, trying to get to our destination. The temple was on the water, a shallow pool that reflected the stone structures. As we got out of our car, we noticed that there weren't a lot of people there. It was weird, but we continued along the path up to the ancient buildings. We walked onto the large path of cement that was the foundation for the shrine, and we started to take some photos.

This was our view of the Temple of Debod as we walked towards it.

 A man was there telling the few people that were the story of the shrine, saying that the shrine wasn't actually built in Madrid, and rather it was built very close to a place called Aswan in upper Egypt. He also said that Roman rulers actually helped complete the building after they annexed Egypt. After a few hours at the Temple, we got in our car and headed to a nearby place for lunch. As we were waiting for our food to be served, we decided to look through a brochure. As looking through, Chris pointed out the Royal Palace, we did not have any plans to visit there before but thought it would be really cool to see. So after lunch, we went to the palace, unfortunately, the line for people without online tickets was long, making our wait about 30 minutes. Once we were able to purchase our tickets (€11/each) we were led into the very open courtyard.

The courtyard of the Royal Palace

After taking many pictures we headed inside where we started our adventure. It started by going into one room where we could view the beautiful features of the palace (similar to a museum) then one room would lead to another and so on, but we were not allowed to visit them all. But the only problem that we encountered was that they did not allow any photography when inside. I really wanted to get pictures, so I whipped out my phone, and pretended that I was looking stuff up, instead taking pictures. The whole time that I was doing that, I was praying that a security guard would not catch me.

The banquet hall inside of the palace

After about 30 minutes of touring the rooms inside of the hot and stuffy palace, we made it out. All of us really enjoyed what we were able to see inside of the palace. We then headed back to our hotel as we wanted to get back for a siesta. I was excited for our next event in the evening as it was very fun to engage in the night life activities at Gran Via, a street with tons of shops and malls. Culture: We headed out right as it was getting dark because we were getting hungry and wanted to eat at Gran Via. When we got dropped off on the sidewalk, the street was bustling with life. There were beautiful lights and tall buildings, it was truly a sight to behold. We passed many different shops as we walked towards our restaurant, and on the corner, we saw a man with a violin playing a song for people as they passed by. I pulled out a coin and I tossed it into his hat that was on the ground, and as we walked to our restaurant, we could hear the sweet music fading into the distance.

Our view of Gran Via Avenue late at night.

 We ate our dinner there, and we walked off the meal by going and visiting different shops. There was even a shop there that had watches for extremely rich people. We walked in and there were cameras everywhere, but we got to see these great expensive gold and diamond encrusted watches. Chris got another hat for himself this time, with it saying in big letters 'Gran Via Avenue'. We got a ride back to our hotel and we called it a night. We had a great time today, so everyone slept very well that night.

History of Royal Palace:

The palace was built on the site of a 9th century Muslim fortress before it burnt down. And is the official place of stay for the Spanish Royal Family, but is only used for state ceremonies. King Alfonso XII was the last ruler to live in the palace during his rule. The palace is 1,450,000 sq ft with 3,418 rooms; making it the largest royal palace in Europe.

Royal Palace from an aerial view

September 2nd, Saturday: Day 4

We woke up in our hotel on a bright sunny Saturday morning. We enjoyed a complimentary continental breakfast at the hotel. Tyler was drinking some Danimals when Mason bumped into him and caused Tyler to spill his beverage on himself!

Tyler enjoying his Danimal's beverage

 After a quick change, we were all ready to go. We took the Metro to the Santiago Bernabeu stadium for €2 each. Sport:We were excited for the intense soccer match rivalry between Real Madrid and Barcelona! Andre and Rohan were staring eachother down because they liked opposing teams. Andre loved Cristiano Ronaldo so much, who was Real Madrid's star player. We were excited because the tickets were only €20. Once we arrived at the game, we found our seats in the nosebleed section. Almost 100,000 people were there, and everyone was wildly cheering for their team! 

Our view during the match.

White & gold Madrid flags and red & blue Barcelona flags were flying all around the arena! People had traveled from all over the world to see this intense match of two of the best teams in the league. It was a close match, filled with insane goals! At halftime, we enjoyed some traditional Spanish churros and burgers. Rohan fit a whole 3 chocolate churros in his mouth at once! The churros tasted very sweet and the burgers were chewy and savory. We visited the team apparel store as well, where I bought a Real Madrid hat for my brother. We then returned to our seats and spectated the rest of the game. The final score was 3-2. Messi of Barcelona scored 3 goals, a hat trick! Ronaldo and his team scored a total of 2, which was not enough to beat Barcelona. Fans from both sides were shouting, so we tried to leave before any fights broke out. You could feel the tense demeanor of the crowd when walking through the stadium. During the ride on the metro, Andre was very upset as we tormented him about his team's loss. We got off of the metro once we arrived at our hotel and took a siesta. Nature: When the sun went down, we walked to the Retiro Park, a beautiful garden and park area in the heart of Madrid.

The beautiful waterfront of the Retiro Park

Since the late 19th century, it has been public for everyone's enjoyment. Beautiful rose gardens, many stone structures, and even a crystal palace. We took a boat ride in the middle of the lake because we won free tickets from our travel app! We could see our reflections on the beautiful, pure blue lake. I even spotted a Spanish imperial eagle, Spain's national bird!

Spanish imperial eagle

After the boat ride, we explored the rose gardens. However, our adventure was cut short because Tyler got stung by a bee. We walked back to the hotel and treated Tyler's injury. After that, we visited a local Spanish restaurant called Restaurante La Mi Venta. We all ordered a serving of the Spanish ham croquettes with candied pepper sauce, for only €9 each.

Spanish ham croquettes, a popular delicacy.

The waiter even complimented Tyler's exotic hair! After a delicious meal, we retired to our hotel and went to sleep. We looked forward to more fun on our last day in Madrid.

Indigenous Meal: Croquettes
Croquettes are small, breadcrumbed fried food roll usually containing, mashed potatoes/ground meat, shellfish, cheese, vegetables, and soaked with different sauces. There are many variations of croquettes that have developed over time. There has even been a variation with the cuttlefish which can be very, very poisonous if not cooked properly. They are the most popular tapas dishes in Spain! 

September 1st, Friday: Day 3

Journal Entry:

Today we had to wake up very early in order to check out of our hotel and catch our train to Madrid. It was a two hour ride on the train, and we ended up getting there at about 10 in the morning. We picked up our rental car then headed to the new hotel we would be staying at, Hotel Acta Madfor.

The view of the outside of our hotel from the front

We ran Dunkin' Donuts in Madrid for a quick breakfast. It took us about 20 minutes to drive from Dunkin' Donuts to the Zoo Aquarium de Madrid.
Zoo Aquarium (Natural, Cultural)
This is a combination of a zoo and an aquarium, and hosts lots of cool animals such as pandas, lemurs, zebras, gorillas, eagles, turtles, and sharks.

The opening sign to the Zoo Aquarium of Madrid

Our favorite exhibit was the African Penguins as it was hilarious to watch them eat their food.

The African Penguins in their habitat at the zoo

The aquarium was relatively small, but we all loved the sharks the most. The aquarium also hosted turtles and a giant grouper. This zoo also supports the Make a Wish foundation and the CBSG (Conservation Breeding Specialist Group). The zoo has exotic animals that you can't find in North Carolina such as mandrills, camels, yaks, and wildebeests. Mason tried to challenge one giraffe to a height competition , but the giraffe ended up winning in the end. Mason just couldn't keep with the giraffe's huge neck. This place was extremely fun and is an exciting tourist attraction. After the zoo, we were hungry for lunch. We decided to go to La Musa Latina, as it has a cheap menu and a good selection of tapas to eat. Tapas are small side dishes to eat with drinks, and can range from a chunk of tuna to a hot chorizo sausage. Tapas are important to Spaniards because they have a verb, "tapear", which literally means to go around to different bars and cafes trying tapas and drinks. This tapas was a lot better than the one we experienced the other day. After lunch, we visited historic Plaza Mayor.

The view of Plaza Mayor from where we were standing

Plaza Mayor (Historical)
This was a square built during Philip III's reign, and now it is a huge plaza surrounded by a 3-story residential building. Some lucky people still get to live in these beautiful buildings. The plaza was built and designed by Juan de Villanueva, and is now mostly occupied by the Casa de la Panadería (Bakery House), which today houses the Madrid Tourist Board and the Madrid Tourism Center. The Casa de la Panadería used to be a bakery for the town, providing bread for the poor, but now only the bottom floor and the cellar remain. Lots of people travel to see this vibrant, main square. This is located only a few blocks away from another famous plaza, Puerta del Sol. After a day of walking around and exploring the plaza, we went and ate dinner at a place called Bar Omaira. They serve Venezuelan food like arepas, empanadas, and cariada, all foods that let us experience the food and culture of Spain. After dinner, we went back to the hotel, and were so tired that we ended up crashing.

Indigenous Meal: Empanada

Beef and Potato Empanada

Empanadas are a Venezuelan and Latin American food, popular on both sides of the Atlantic. Similar to pastries or hot pockets, it consists of dough being folded over a stuffing like meat, cheese, or other ingredients. What you have left is a dish with dough completely surrounding the stuffing, similar to deep fried foods, but healthier and indigenous to Spain. Their origins trace back to the northwest region of Spain, Galicia. Average weather in Madrid, Spain:
During the late months of summer and early months of fall the average weather in the city of Madrid is about 22 degrees Celcius, which directly translates to 71.6 degrees fahrenheit.

August 31st, Thursday: Day 2

Today we started the morning off later than we planned for after the La Tomatina festival took us late into the night, but we were still hungry for breakfast that the hotel provided us. We wanted to start the day off by visiting the beautiful Valencia Cathedral. 

Artwork inside of Valencia Cathedral

We left for the Cathedral around 11am, planning on eating a late lunch that day. History: As we reached the Cathedral we were not disappointed at all by what we saw, the artwork and views at the top were magnificent. The artwork inside was mesmerizing, while the view of the city and plaza below was just as great. We purchased tickets for the entrance into the cathedral for 6 euros, or roughly $6.63. As we passed the booth, we looked up to see the beautiful stone statues of angels and all sorts of holy figures important to the Christian faith. As soon as we passed the giant solid wooden doors lined with solid iron, we were greeted by halls of sculpted stone and great paintings on the ceiling and surrounding walls. We progressed through the church and reached the hall containing the shrine that was the Holy Grail. It was a beautifully crafted small cup embellished with gold and gems, exactly what one would think of if they heard, "Holy Grail." As we were viewing the intricate paintings on the walls and the ceilings, I decided to whip out my Nikon 3200 camera and snap a flash photo of them. A friendly officer saw this and came over to us. He asked us to leave and escorted us out, seeing as the rule was no flash photography in order to protect the sensitive paint. Everyone was mad at me, so I apologized, and everyone seemed to forgive me. After getting kicked out after a few hours at the Cathedral, we decided to stop for a heavy lunch at a nearby place. Our next stop on our list was to visit Torres de Quart,

Front side of Torres de Quart

but we decided to take a siesta back at our hotel since we were reaching peak heat hours. History: Around five in the evening we decided to head out to Torres de Quart, as we did not want it to get too dark before we visited this historical site. Once there it is was mind blowing to see the building still standing from the early 15th century with damage to a cannon, which we heard from another tourist that it might have been caused by Napoleon! We wanted to go inside so Andre could get his Instagram picture that he has been insisting on ever since we arrived in Valencia, so we paid a cheap price of €2 or $2.20 per person. Once there the climb to the top was exhausting as we had not been prepared, but luckily the heat factor had died down a bit when we went. The top had amazing view on the city, but the inside was a bit disgusting on the inside from the fact that it was previously used as a prison. The towers were a great way to cap off our day of sightseeing. We then decided to stop at a local restaurant for tapas instead of a full dinner, as we had heard many great things about them before and were not as hungry after a heavy lunch. The tapas we ate was delicious, and would definitely recommend to others who visit Spain. And before we knew it the night came before us, and we decided to take a stroll along the streets to explore what would be around. If you ever visit Valencia, these places are must visit. 

Indigenous Meal (Tapas): Tapas are a specialty food to the country of Spain.

Some of available tapas options

It is found at almost every restaurant or bar, and is basically a wide range of appetizers/snacks. Unlike the United States that is not able to portion food, Spain gives just the right amount of an appetizer to fill you up. And they can be served hot or cold. So if you are ever looking for a small meal or a snack, just go to a nearby restaurant and other tapas to try a variety of foods. 

August 30th, Wednesday: Day 1

The gorgeous view from our plane, 33,000 ft above sea level!

The sound of a woman's voice on the loudspeaker woke me up from my slumber. Chris tapped me on the shoulder and told me we were just about to land. I looked out the window to the beautiful scenery of Valencia. We packed up our items for landing, and waited until it was okay to get up. We had landed in Valencia Airport. Valencia airport was incredibly beautiful and large. Looking around at the other people reuniting with their families made me a little homesick, but  helped me take my mind off it. We ate quickly, then headed to our rental car. As we drove out of the parking deck, sunlight flashed in our eyes as we took in the beautiful view around us. After our drive, we checked into our hotel, Hotel Expo, dropped of all of our luggage, then immediately hit the road to attend the La Tomatina Festival! The festival lasts all day, so of course we spent all day celebrating! We traveled to the small town of Bunol in Valencia, which took roughly around 35 minutes.

The beautiful small town of Bunol in Valencia.

We were all dozing off when suddenly we heard the loud screech of burning rubber, and our car lurching forward abruptly. Large trucks filled to the brim with tomatoes whizzed by our car. Just the sight of them had our adrenaline pumping. As we arrived, we saw a mass of people swarming to the town center, so we joined the pack. Tyler was becoming very nervous at the fact that his new Asics might be ruined, but we warned him beforehand. Weather: The weather was also very nice since September had finally arrived, which meant the cooler air was now coming in. Valencia also has mild temperatures year-round, with lowest temperatures being around 50 degrees in winter. We were waiting in a crowd of people with crushed tomatoes in our hands (to prevent injuries), patiently waiting to hear the gunshot. I had my tomatoes trained on Chris and Rohan, ready to pelt them first. A countdown started as we all went into a defensive stance. Suddenly, the gunshot went off with a loud "bang!". Before I could even move, a tomato pelted me right in the face. I wiped it off and saw that it was Mason. Laughing, we spent the rest of the day pelting each other with tomatoes. I guess you could say we had a "smashing" day. The festival was extremely vibrant with people constantly pelting each other with tomatoes.

La Tomatina Festival in full-swing

It was nothing like I had ever seen before. It is believed that this holiday once started because a mob of angry people attacked a councilman with tomatoes. People enjoyed the feat so much that they decided to continue it, even to this day. The festival had completely worn us out, so we decided to stop at a nearby restaurant for food. We came across a soup called Gazpacho, a meal indigenous to Spain. The refreshing bowl of soup left us with lots of energy to complete the vibrant celebrations of La Tomatina. After a couple more hours of fighting, we again heard the loud "bang!", signaling the end of our battle. Soon enough, fire trucks came to hose down the streets. A kind resident of Bunol offered to wash us down, which we graciously accepted. Considered to be the "World's Largest Food Fight", with over 100 metric tons of over-ripe tomatoes, and 20,000 people waiting to fight, La Tomatina is definitely a festival you do not want to miss. Again worn out from all the festivity of the day, we decided to grab a quick bite for dinner, then head back to the hotel to finally get some rest. We all had a great time, maybe except for Tyler, whose new Asics had been drenched in tomato juice. That gave us a good laugh.

We are waiting for many more fun events to come!

History: La Tomatina

There is no one definitive version of how La Tomatina started,

but the tradition of a tomato fight has taken place in Bunol since at least 1944, although the festival was banned during much of the Franco years for having no religious significance - it was revived with gusto in the 1970s. Theories on why the first tomato fight took place include a food fight among friends, a juvenile class war between bare-footed Trotskyist macarras and upper class pijos from Madrid on summer vacation, a volley of tomatoes from bystanders at a carnival parade, the rubbishing of a bad musician, a democratic protest against the city council and the ensuing aftermath of an accidental truck spillage.

(From: Barcelona-Life.com)

Indigenous Meal: Gazpacho

Gazpacho has ancient roots.

Gazpacho

There are many theories of origin, including as a soup of bread, olive oil, water, and garlic that was introduced a long time ago. It dates all the way back to the Roman times in the Iberian Peninsula. Over time, it has become much more popular, and there have been many variations made. The recipe is listed below:

Roughly chop the cucumbers, bell peppers, tomatoes, and red onions into 1-inch cubes. Put each vegetable separately into a food processor fitted with a steel blade and pulse until it is coarsely chopped. Do not over process! After each vegetable is processed, combine them in a large bowl and add the garlic, tomato juice, vinegar, olive oil, salt, and pepper. Mix well before serving. The longer the gazpacho sits, the more the flavors develop.

(From FoodNetwork.com)

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