15th of April '11: Alicante, Spain.
The bus ride to Alicante took 7 hours and it wasn't the best bus ride at all but it wasn't the worst as well. Finding the hostel as soon as my roommate Dani and I came was easy. The hostel was close to the center and the beach. Walking to the beach the next day took about 10 minutes or probably less. The beach was really pretty but the water was still cold so we couldn't swim. We just laid there for about an hour to soak up the sun then walked by the shore to take some pictures (I will post them here later). Later that day we met up with Holly who is a friend of mine from UIC that is also studying here in Spain. She is studying in San Vicente, which is a city near Alicante. I met two of her friends, Ester and Jess, and we climbed up the Castillo de Santa Barbara. From the shore where we were earlier that day, Dani and I thought that climbing the castle was not so much of a great idea because it looked so steep and getting there would be a bit tiring. I really have no clue why we would think about the steepness of the way to the castle when three times a week or so we go up the Alhambra and the Albaicin. Anyway, we made it to the top, with several stops of course, and just stayed there for a while. It was funny because once we got there, I started flapping my arms. YES. I was flapping my arms... Ahem, excuse my vulgarity here... flapping my arms in order to fan my pits. It was a very warm day and climbing a steep hill made us sweat buckets so, please understand our sweaty pits... Haha! After that wonderful climb up the hill of Castillo de Santa Barbara, we had a wonderful climb DOWN while casually slipping gracefully here and there. Nonetheless, it was a fun up and down hill adventure. Once we were on flat land, we decided to go to El Corte Ingles (major shopping chain here for 'American' brands) for Ester's quest for a black bikini and Holly's quest for a white one. ALAS. We found none that tickled their fancy... LOL. So, after the unsuccessful trip to El Corte, we went to lash out on tapas at this cool place where they charge you in terms of how many toothpicks you have on your plate and their shapes. Those toothpicks were stuck on top of each tapa for the ease of the bartender. Anyway... the tapas there were delish! If I go back to Alicante I will eat there again! The next day Dani and I woke up early to get to the airport for our flight to Prague. =)
17th - 20th of April '11: Prague, Czech Republic.
We came to Brno, Czech Rep on a Sunday and took a two and a half hour bus to Prague. Getting there, I had so much expectations of what I've seen in movies and I thought it looked quite different. When we got to the bus station, our little adventure of getting lost here and there started. We walked around to find which bus to take to our hostel that little did we know that it was just less than 20 minutes by foot! But we got on a bus and did not have to pay... simply because we were too confused to pay and that the driver did not bother asking as for korunas (Czech monetary unit). They looked like galleons (Harry Potter stuff), by the way! So, we made it to our hostel called Blindeye Hostel, which was at some shady looking place in Prague. Don't let your eyes deceive you though! It was by far THE BEST hostel I have ever been and the owner, Noah, was the coolest person ever! They just opened their hostel on January of this year so everything is new. They were very hospitable and funny. Whoever is reading this right now, if you plan to go to Prague, stay at this hostel because it just feels like home. Noah just had a new baby girl on Thursday, btw. CONGRATULATIONS NOAH!!! Okay.. let's get back to the story line here... On the first day we just chilled and met a couple of new people including this bubbly lady from Barcelona. Her name was Dalia and for almost all the time I've known here, I called her TALIA. She never corrected me because she though it was funny. =_= Poor me... Well, it did not impede or little adventure at the walking tour though. We took amazing pictures of the Old Town Square during the day and the night as well. I think I have about hundreds of pictures of the same places with the only difference being was the time of the day. The walking tour that we went to was really cool. Our tour guide Kate knew her stuff well and I learned a lot. It might have been too much to remember in a crash course on Prague's history but I will try to share some here later. We also went to Wenceslas Square, Prague Castle and saw John Lennon's Wall where I wrote my name and my three bestfriend's names. AWESOME . Boy, oh boy, I think I walked for 7 hours non-stop that day just for the tours itself. Sure thing I thought I deserved to eat sausage after that! I am not sure about this but eating sausage at Old Town Square was so satisfying I could live on eating sausage everyday (maybe). It was very cheap too! For good food like that... I don't mind spending more but I did not have to! Oh, we also had good pizza near the Powder Tower with Dani's friend, Isaac. We met Isaac that morning and through him I rode on a tram for the FIRST TIME in my life. It was nothing special except that I have never taken a tram before! Lmao.. total lie... I was ecstatic to ride that tram! BAM! I saved all my tram tickets because of that so I can put them on my scrapbook once I get back to Chicago. Just to let you know, Prague was big compared to Granada but getting around town isn't hard by foot either. However, it depends on the type of shoes you are wearing. Unfortunately, for me, I was wearing my ankle boots and by the time we got to Old Town Square, my footsies were throbbing with so much pain so I had to a buy an immaculately white pair of sneakers. At the end of the trip I stopped hating them and then became my friends although they weren't the only new friends I met during my little vacay in Prague. I also met wonderful people that I will be seeing in the near future.
The night after the walking tour I was tired to go out and try the awesome pub crawl they had going. So, I just stayed in to check my email and sleep early but I met these cool people sitting behind me and just chillin' with their Gambrinus beer. Two of them were Martha and Maria who are both from Mexico but are studying at Gent in Belgium right now. The other two were Mike and Grant who are both from Canada but were in Prague to finish their degrees. We just passed time talking and drinking beer (Mom, don't worry, I did not even get to the half of my bottle cause I do not like beer). It was cool talking to all of them except that they all had to leave early for their next trips. I am gonna be seeing Martha and Maria in Gent this coming June though! And Mike, when things go as planned, will be coming to Chicago for Lollapallooza. Gaaaah... I cannot wait! Grant on the other hand will be back in Canada for his last remaining year, I believe. Kudos to his sister too because she is marrying a Filipino guy. =)
The last day in Prague, well, I spent it by walking around by myself just to reflect on the beauty of the place peacefully and without talking to anyone. I loved that I had my me time and enjoyed just sitting and taking pictures around Old Town and Wenceslas Square. I went up the Astronomical Tower and was able to take a picture with the trumpeter. Every hour on the hour the trumpeter sounds his trumpet. It's one of the highlights when going to Prague. You must see the Astronomical Tower and here the trumpet. It's also cheap to go up the tower so I recommend that you see it when you visit Prague. Also, that day I had the best bacon and was entirely satisfied for the day. Well, I ate sausage towards the afternoon... but eh. I am on break! I shall eat like I have never eaten for days. JK! Food was just really good and I failed at controlling myself.
The next day we made our way to the bus station by taking a tram and a train. We weren't really suppose to take any of those two but being such confused tourists, of course, we committed an honest mistake, which turned out to be honest mistakes (read for more of these so-called mistakes). We arrived at the bus station only to know that there were no more seats and that we have to take an alternative bus line. We took a Eurolines bus to Brno and pretended that the shaking of the back of the bus was massage. We did well on that but once we got to Brno, we got lost again. No one spoke enough English to help us and my little Czech words were of no help at all. We ran around looking for cabs for about half an hour and time was ticking. We were close to giving up until I found someone who spoke English and translated info for us. He pointed us where to take the bus and from there we waited for another half hour. There was no way in hell we would make it to our flight cause after all that we went thru, we took the right bus going the opposite direction. See what I said about honest mistake? Here's another one.. Well, we made it to the airport eventually but our flight was miraculously boarding still! It was 25 minutes delayed and by God's miracle we were let in. We boarded the flight to Milan and in an hour and half landed safe and sound. Life is good!
Old Town Square at night is lovely!
Zizkov TV Tower
Powder Tower
Love locks!
Wrote my bestfriends' names on John Lennon's Wall
ALL YOU NEED IS LOVE!
LÁSKA ♥
Some Czech words:Milacek- darling/ sweetheart
Neperliva- water without gas
Perliva- water with gas
No- means YES... yeah, it is confusing
Prosim-please
Zavolej mi- call me!
I think this is a good place to cut my entry. The next one will be a joint entry for Venice and Verona. Enjoy reading this one for now! ;)
Yay! You're back! I love the flapping your arms part, haha! So you. Miss you - keep writing, it's wonderful to travel with you!
ReplyDelete