5 Cities // 10 Days

Where do I begin? I only have 11 days left of my time here in Europe and I cannot believe how fast time has flown by.  Since the last time I posted (about 2 weeks ago, I know I’m slacking) I took a 10 day trip and explored 5 cities; Madrid, Barcelona, London, Cambridge, and Brighton.

The trip started at 3 am on June 30th with a bus trip to Milan to catch a flight to Madrid. I was traveling with two amazing friends, Gaby and Lorenzo. They’re both from Central America (El Salvador and Guatemala) which made communicating in Spain so much easier since they both speak fluent Spanish. I will forever be in debt to them for asking the most basic questions for me. Madrid, the capital of Spain, is easily one of the most beautiful cities I have ever seen.  We saw Estadio Santiago Bernabeu home of Real Madrid CF, The Royal Palace of Madrid, Temple Debod, the Cybele Palace, and so much more. 

Little did we know that the World Pride 2017 parade and festivities were being held in Madrid when we were there. It was a nice surprise, there were concerts and parades, and just so much love and acceptance for all. The parade alone lasted over 8 hours.

After spending 3 days in Madrid, we left on an 8 hour bus to Barcelona.  Which was easily the worst bus ride of my life.  I won’t go into detail but it was smelly, hot, and crowded.  Barcelona was definitely worth it though.

I was very surprised at how big Barcelona is.  The city is just massive.  I didn’t get to see everything but I did get to see a lot. The beaches are beautiful and crowded, the Mediterranean is colder than it looks.  Sagrada Familia is a huge Catholic church built by Antoni Gaudi in 1882 and is still under construction today. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to go inside, but the exterior is simply gorgeous.  Casa Mila, one of the many examples of Gaudi’s architecture in Barcelona.  Other sites I was able to see were Cathedral of Barcelona, Campo Nou the soccer stadium, Parque De La Ciutadella, and Parque Guell.

After my time in Barcelona was over, I made the trek up to the U.K.  London was beautiful and I wish I had more time to explore the city.  I did see the big sights; Big Ben, Tower of London, Tower Bridge, Buckingham Palace, the London Eye, St. James Park, etc.

After seeing a bit of London, we took a day trip to Cambridge to go punting in the River Cam.  A punt is a flat boat with a large pole used to propel the boat forward, similar to a gondola.  It was a lot more fun than I thought it would be and seeing Cambridge University was something I didn’t even know I wanted to do.

My last stop on the trip was to Brighton, a smaller beach town.  Just like a lot of beach towns it had a pier and an amusement park.  It was all really quaint and a nice way to end my trip.

Now I’m back in Verona taking a new class, Marketing in Travel and Tourism.  It’s only week 2 and we already have a midterm so it’s safe to say I’m pretty swamped.  This past weekend I went to Amsterdam to celebrate my friend Kelsey’s birthday, I will be posting about that next!

Ciao,

Meggie