San Sebastián, Pamplona and an extra surprise!

Sorry about not being able to post yesterday!  It seems the internet was being a bit shady.

To talk a little bit about what we did yesterday, we had the amazing chance to go to the beautiful summer beach city, San Sebastián.  This town is so beautiful that it was considered the official vacation spot for the Royal family during the summer when it was too hot for them in Madrid.  We took a lovely tour of the city and while it was definitely a bit windy, we were still able to enjoy the sand and the beach.  The water was an amazing combination of blues and greens and purples it's hard to find pictures that really replicate it well.

We've been having a great time so far just hanging out us 3.  We get along with the other groups, but it's difficult to maneuver a group of 30-40 people much more so at least than 3.  Yesterday we had a fun moment when we were sitting in the plaza park of Sam Sebastián and eating frozen yogurt and just talking about things that make us laugh and silly puns.  I feel so grateful that I've had a chance to connect with these girls this way.

So a little bit about today.  Today was an insane day in the sense that we spent many hours on the bus and Salima and I both suffer from a bit of motion sickness. To help break the all together 7-8 hour trip up we made a couple stops along the way.

First we stopped in Pamplona!  Yes the famous city that we hear about every summer for the running of the bulls!  Don't worry though- the parties don't start until the 7th of July, so really we came at a perfect time to see them setting up, yet not have to deal with insane crowds.  It was very fun!

Before I continue talking about the day, first I have to backtrack a bit to two nights ago, when I talked to Alberto, our Tour Guide, about our big bus trip day (today).  We noticed that Zaragoza, a beautiful Spanish city, would be en route to Barcelona.  Now since it wasn't officially mentioned in the tour, Alberto couldn't guarantee me anything, but I'm the end we were able to work it out with Antonio, the bus driver, to stop for lunch in Zaragoza!  What a treat!  Although rushed, we were able to get a glimpse of the beautiful an historical Basilica of the Pilar for lunch! (See below)

Now, we have finally arrived in Barcelona and have a few busy days ahead of us.  It's nice to think we have 4 straight days in 1 hotel now too!  Tomorrow we get to see why this city is so popular!

~Señorita Beheler

Segovia, Burgos and Bilbao

We have had a few busy and exciting days here as we move up north along our path.  In Burgos we didn't have any internet access, so I was unable to post anything, but to summarize ill mention some of the main things we did:

We started out by waking up early and leaving lovely Madrid to head for Burgos. Halfway to Burgos, we stopped in Segovia, which is famous for its Roman aqueduct and alcázar that inspired Cinderella's (cenicienta) castle by Disney! We spent a good amount of time here and I absolutely love returning to Seovia every time I go.

We then proceeded to Burgos where we visited la Catedral de Burgos, a very unique cathedral that has many centuries of architecture incorporated into it.  Additionally, it just so happened that we had arrived on a special day for Burgos as they were celebrating their "Sampedros".  We were able to go back out after dinner to see giant paper mâché heads on stilts and even hear a great band, Anaconda, play near the plaza mayor.  They even played about 25 minutes worth of fireworks!

Then, this morning we headed to Bilbao. Bilbao was once a very industrial city that made most of it's money from producing steel.  When Spain entered the European Union, the Basque Country greatly suffered as it couldn't compete with the steel machinery in Germany, France and England.  Rapidly, Bilbao changed to a trendy city with lots of different types of buildings where they would let architects design whatever they felt was est.  We saw this evidently with the Guggenheim museum.

After a busy day at the museum, we had a tour show us the city from a mountain, but as we started to walk through the city, it started raining a lot!  We headed back to the hotel to wait out the rain. 

 In the meantime, we visited the local mall and walked around eating Spanish candy.  We then returned to the hotel for dinner where we watched the Brasil vs Chile game.  After dinner, we went to the movies to watch "Ocho apellidos vascos" a Spanish film that talks a lot about the differences between modern cultures in te south of Spain, Andalucía, and Basque Country, where we are now.  It was a romantic comedy and even though they spoke really fast, we were able to get the main idea.

Tomorrow we will head to the precious San Sebastián, that everyone, including myself, has been raving about!

Here's a picture of Salima and Taira playing in the arcade at the mall in Bilbao!

 

~Señorita Beheler

Free day in Madrid

So today is unfortunately our last day in Madrid :(!  We wanted to make sure we really were able to do everything we wanted to.

We started off the day by taking a 30 minute walk to Parque del retiro, a famous park here in Madrid.  We rented a boat and went out to the center of the lake and were able to see such fun views of the park.  We then continued down until we found El Palacio de cristal, a beautiful glass building that was showcasing an author.  Afterwards, we walked around and saw some statues and eventually were able to visit the indoor forest at Atocha train station.  After we saw what time it was, we decided to go back to Sol to meet up with Paula and Natalia, former English students of mine from last year when I was teaching English in Spain.

Paula and Natalia are from Alcalá de Henares, a suburb of Madrid, and birthplace of famous author Miguel de Cervantes.  We met them and went to eat Tostas for lunch where we tried tostas of jamón y queso, queso de cabra, foie and solomillo.  While we were eating, some people were recording for a Spanish TV show about restaurants in Madrid and told us we would be in the background of one of their episodes!

Afterwards we got some souvenir shopping done, and Salima got an authentic Real Madrid jersey for Bale for this upcoming season!! Looks great, but we questioned why Real Madrid would have hot pink has their team away colors...? Haha

Later, it started to rain so we came inside the hotel and talked about school, music, differences between the states and Spain, family and customs with Paula and Natalia.

As soon as it starts raining we will head out again to watch the USA vs Germany game and possibly get to see the Royal Palace.  Then we will meet up with our Tour director for dinner!

Here's a picture of all of us. It was really great being able to see my students that I missed so much from Spain and having them meet my new students from the states!

 

~Señorita Beheler

What a day!!

Today we had the most amazing day jam-packed full of events!

We started the day off with a continental breakfast at our hotel, Hotel Mayorazgo, where they had all kinda of breakfast options: American and Spanish.  You could have American scrambled eggs and toast with jam, and cereal, or Spanish tortilla, pan con tomate and jamón.

We then met downstairs to start our day off at 9:20am.  It was nice being able to sleep in that much after such a tiring day yesterday.  We then proceeded to our bus city tour of Madrid.  Our guide was very knowledgable and even talking about la plaza de toros in Spanish!  We also got to see the Royal Palace from the outside where it just so happened a ceremonial military march was going on for the new king of Spain (Felipe).  Juan Carlos abdicated last week!

We then got a chance to visit the Reina Sofía Museum of modern art.  It was there where we got to see in person the Guernica by Picasso and other works by Dalí and Miró.  As Dalí and Miró were both from Cataluña, we'll see more of their works later in Barcelona.

Next, we had lunch with our group that consisted of lentil soup, lomo and patata.

To continue our day, we were then able to visit the lovely city of Toledo, about an hour south of Madrid that was a major inspiration for el Greco We were able to see "El entierro de señor Orgaz", his most famous painting.

 Toledo was once the former capital of Spain and you can really see how Muslamic, Christian and Jewish religions were all able to live harmoniously.  We visited the sinagogue that showed this.  Here's a picture of us at a lookout point in Toledo!

After, we were able to have tapas, as recommended by Alberto, and live music by Tuna, a group of university students who play requested songs.  All of this for a special dinner.  Afterwards we went to the famous Chocolatería de San Ginés for typical Churros con chocolate.  They weren't quite what we expected, but they were enjoyable nonetheless!

Finally, we ended the day with a real Flamenco show where we were able to shout things like "¡olé!" And "¡venga, guapa!" And "Eso es!" What an experience!

We had a crazy day but it was definitely worth it! Onto tomorrow!

~Señorita Beheler

We made it!

We made it to Madrid safe and sound!!

We had absolutely no problems with flights or luggage!  The food on the KLM flight to Amsterdam was surprisingly good for airplane food, by the way!  As of today, we have gotten into our hotel rooms and have an hour or so until we have to meet up again with the group.  There are other groups from Cecil County, York PA and San Antonio.  All the other groups are also small so I think we'll have a lot of chances to make new friends.

Our hotel has an amazing location- right in the city center of Madrid!  Everything is walking distance!  From all y years of living here, I never stayed so close before!

Now, we are a bit tired, but that'll fade.  For today we will go to the Prado museum and have a walking tour of the city and then have dinner!

My Spanish phone is on and working as well so for emergencies you can contact me there.

¡Hala Madrid!

~Señorita Beheler

1 DAY!!

Tomorrow we leave for España!!!  Remember to get to the airport no later than 3 hours early!!!  Also the beltway can be pretty unpredictable so plan for the worst traffic!

Lastly, in between packing clothes, toiletries, cords, etc., it can be very easy to forget your PASSPORT!!!! So make sure you have it!!

See you soon!

~Señorita Beheler

T-4 days

Just a few days until we arrive in Madrid!  

Since school has ended, I've had some time to really think about the trip and I wanted to mention a few things again before you start packing this weekend for our trip.

My main concern for packing is the size and weight of the luggage that you're bringing.  Pack light!  There are not bellboys or assistants to help you carry your luggage and bus/train space is very limited.  I strongly suggest one backpack and one compact suitcase (with a lock).  Bring clothing appropriate for various weather conditions, comfortable walking shoes, a watch and alarm clock, and not much more.  

As far as money is concerned, to reiterate: bring your Euros, and a credit and/or debit card.  There are plenty of ATM's available.  You should know your pin number and know how to use the card before we go.  Also remember to let your banks know ahead of time the dates that the card will be overseas; I just let my bank know now and was able to do everything online.

Traveler's checks aren't a good idea.  The banks in Europe generally don't accept them and if they do, the commission that is charged is exorbitant. 

I have some maps of Madrid that I'll give you on Monday but if you want to print and share maps of the downtown areas of the other cities we are visiting, it might be nice to have.  That would be Toledo, Segovia, Burgos, Bilbao, San Sebastián, Pamplona, Barcelona and Figueres.

Lastly, I'm also attaching an picture of our Tour Directo, Alberto, so that we can recognize him at the airport in Madrid!  I've been talking to him and he sent me a list of 10 pre-tour golden rules.  I've copy and pasted them below.

1. Pack layers.  The weather can be changeable in Europe so it’s best to wear layers. Also pack a rain jacket or umbrella, we spend quite a lot of time outside so it’s best to be prepared for the rain!

2. Pack light in a small suitcase. European buses, hotel rooms and elevators are much smaller than in the US and Canada so a big suitcase will not fit. The group has to carry their own suitcases to and from the bus, hotel room, train, etc there is no porter service, so please make sure you can pick up and move your luggage without problems, sometimes you may have to carry your suitcase up and down stairs. 

3. Pack comfortable shoes for walking. We do a lot of walking on EF tours so you need shoes that are comfortable enough to last a whole day sightseeing on your feet.

4. Bring european electricity convertors, adapters and plug extensions. If you need to bring electrical devices you must have a convertor to convert the power to European 220V, plus an adapter for European 2 pin sockets (3 pin in the UK), make sure the adapter is deep enough to fit in European sockets as they can be deep set in the wall.

5. Bring ATM cards with PIN number. Traveller cheques are increasingly hard and expensive to change, it is best to bring an ATM card to withdrawal Euros or Pounds from ATMs, you must have a PIN number and inform your bank in advance of the countries you are traveling to so they allow withdrawals and payments, if not informed they will block the card.

6. Bring money belt, security poaches, etc. It is advisable to carry money, credit cards, passport etc in a security belt, pouch, etc, bag, etc. Pickpocketing in Europe is widespread and can happen so quickly that you are not aware they have taken your valuables.

7. Bring telephone cards. If you need to phone home it is easier with an EF or ATT telephone card, or to buy local telephone calling cards once you arrive in Europe, though a telephone card bought in a country can only be used in that country, for example you can not use a French card in Spain. For the cards bought in the US or Canada you must have LOCAL ACCESS CODES  which sometimes you have to pay for the local connection, we pay for local calls in Europe.

8. Bring alarm clock and watch or something which tells the time. We have strict wake up times, some hotels don’t have a wake-up call service or if they do sometimes a room is missed or the telephone has been knocked off the cradle etc, this can cause delays as we wait for those who woke up late, so bring something which has an alarm clock. When we are out during the day the group very often will have free time and be told to meet back at a certain time, therefore it is imperative that everyone has a watch or something to tell the time (cell phone, iPod, etc)

9. Label your suitcase clearly. It is best to have your case labelled so everyone knows that is a case from our group, especially important if the group takes a train.

10. Bring a small day bag. Even if you bring the Ef back-pack bring a small day bag as well, most museums don’t allow backpacks in it and it can be more comfortable for you.

Feel free to email me or comment here about any questions you might have!!

Señorita Beheler

12 days until Spain!

I know you're excited as I am for our trip in 12 days!
 
I wanted to write a few tips for packing that help me make sure I remember everything when going on longer trips:

First, don't wait until Sunday night to pack!  I would start packing Saturday evening because you always remember something last minute.


When packing, I start with my clothes and plan out exactly what I will wear everyday.  That means I'll plan out for 12 outfits, two of which are comfortable for our traveling days on airplanes.  I'll also plan one extra outfit (just in case something happens) and one nicer outfit (for Flamenco evening).  Honestly, this is really good also because we're going to be busy during our stay and probably too tired in the morning to pick out what we're going to wear!

You should be asking yourself: Do I really need this?  Remember you will hauling your suitcases around with you for the entire trip, do you really want a bag you can hardly carry?  Although airlines will allow a 50 lb bag you should really not exceed 30 lbs.  Our hotels may or may not have elevators.  You may or may not be on the ground floor.  PACK LIGHT!  ONLY WHAT IS NECESSARY! :)


Do not plan on wearing flipflops.  Flipflops are not walking shoes!  Do you really want to be on a walking tour of Barcelona only to have your flipflop break (see above) and then only have one shoe for the rest of the day?

You should have one GOOD pair of walking shoes that you know will serve you well for the trip.  Buying new shoes and "breaking them in" on the trip is not a good idea- sometimes even the comfiest shoe starts off giving you blisters on your heels!  I wear TOMs, because they're light and match with most outfits, but you can wear sneakers or something similar as well.  DON'T bring heels!  Leave those at home!

Additionally, plan for all kinds of weather.  Be prepared to wear layers.  It might be 100 degrees outside mid-day but when you go into Prado museum, they might have the AC put at 65.  You want to be comfortable.  You want to be appropiate.

Lastly, remember that you are representing not only your country, but your school when abroad.  You might be one of the only Americans that someone meets, you want to represent yourself and your country well.  No booty shorts or tank tops!  No tube tops or halters!  You'll be walking on average 5-7 miles a day so make sure you're wearing something that will last.

Make sure you have a converter for Europe- if you've ever traveled to England, this is NOT the same plug.  It should look like this:

 Or this:

For easy communicating with people back home the two apps I recommended were:


-Whatsapp:  This is really great for texting back home and sending pictures when connected to wifi.  It's a really good app in general and I prefer it to iPhone's iMessage system because it seems to be organized.  The person you are messaging must have this app to talk with you.  I think this app is $1 on the appstore.

-Viber: This app is good for making calls for free over wifi.  Again, the person you're calling must have viber installed on their smartphone for it to work.  Also, the quality of the call depends a lot on the speed of the wifi you're connected to, which is why sometimes I just prefer WhastApp because you know the message will get sent and you don't have to worry about interference or bad connection issues.

 

 

I know we will have a great trip!  Stay posted for more tips that I might remember later.  Feel free to email me with any questions you might have as well.

 

 

Follow me on Instagram @ superbehele or #madridtobarcelona2014 #señoritabeheler to see pictures that I'll post throughout the trip.

 

 

 

 

~Señorita Beheler