April 12 we set off for Madrid Spain. First we flew to Atlanta and made our connection and then we went from Atlanta to Madrid. We had a few hitches along the way. Hydraulic issues there were some hydraul issues on the plane and we had to make an emergency landing in New York. We finally got an a plane to Madrid and we made it. Going through customs was absolutely the craziest thing I’ve ever seen. The line was long and people kept cutting in we waited about 90 minutes or more in the customs line. Our hotel in Madrid was very very nice. We rested \240up and got up on the 14th to head towards Toledo. The breakfast in the hotel was amazing it was a great deal for $10. We got to Toledo. Toledo is a very unique old town. It dates back to Roman times. The streets are very narrow and cobblestone. We didn’t have a lot of time or we would’ve taken a tour but this will be on our bucket list for next time we get to Spain. We had a chocolate and churro in a cute little café and now we’re on the road to Ciudad Real. \240

In Ciudad Real. \240A beautiful little city. We walked around the city and had lunch on the plaza with some cheese and fruit that we bought. Jose didn’t realize it but when he cleaned out the refrigerator in Madrid he brought all of the stuff that was in there so now we have some expensive snacks to eat.

Stopped in Ciudad Real. \240Had lunch On the plaza with cheese bread and fruit that we bought in Madrid. Jose took all the food out of the fridge and didn’t realize he was taking the food that was already there at the hotel. Now we have some premium snacks from the hotel in Madrid. On our way to Cordova.

In Córdoba today. \240We We’re lucky to get tickets to see the Mesquite mask. Most of them were sold out online but I finally found one. The Mesquite mosque is extremely impressive. The dates back to 12th century Romans time is. We also saw the Jewish quarter. Because it was a holiday

These are pictures of the Mezquite mosque in Cordoba. \240It dates back to the 12th century Roman times.

After a little rest saying I decided to go into Cordoba. He wanted to see the fort but it turns out that is closed because the workers on strike. We ended up going on a horse ride that took us through the whole town of Cordoba. It was really nice.

Stopped in Carmona today on my way to Seville. Had a good breakfast at the hotel before we left. Parking in Carmona is increasingly difficult. We drove around for about 45 minutes and finally got lucky and found a parking spot. We are now eating lunch in a quaint little café that we found.

Some towns in Carmona have very narrow streets. Google sent us to the street that was absolutely impossible to turn. Jose had to back the car up. Also it sent us to a point where the road had a chain across it. I took the chain off and let Jose through.

In Sevilla we started to be text savvy and order some tickets online. We ordered a ticket to the Alcázar to the Cathedral into the Alcázar some beautiful gardens. We also decided on a whim that we would order some talk tickets to the Real Madrid soccer match against two against Sevilla. \240 We will have a lot of trouble trying to confirm our soccer tickets and get them printed. This was consuming all our time so we left late to go to the Alcázar. Gea we thought it was going to be a guided tour so we ran through the town like we were on the amazing race run into the plaza trying to get there. When we got there we were told that it was actually covered tour and the tour had already left.

you’re right so he made an exception and gave us some tickets to go in on our own. So we made that by the hair of my chinny chin Chin. Next we decided to go to that we would go to the cathedral. And we did not you cannot open up we cannot open up you cannot open up that we could not open up the ticket so they looked it up names yes in our names were there late but we were late so he decided to let us go in on our own. I did it was getting late we were really exhausted. We went \240to the bell tower we also decided to go 35 stories up to the top of the bell tower and the cathedral. We were huffing and puffing but we made it to the top with a beautiful scenic view. By this time it was getting late and we had to run home and somehow try to figure out our soccer tickets. It was really a comedy of errors. I couldn’t open my yahoo and Jose couldn’t open up my yahoo and they wouldn’t print the tickets unless we could get in there and we spent at least 45 minutes with no luck trying different passwords and every which way to get in and we couldn’t do it. By the end we just were so exhausted we said forget this. We had \240already paid for the game but we were too tired to even care.

Today was a good day. I slept until 11 o’clock. I guess I was really tired after seeing the flamenco dancers \240late last night. I barely made it to the breakfast bye when they were closing at 11. Today we went to the Alcazar and the cathedral in the bell tower. The gardens in the Alcázar museum were just absolutely stunning. The bell tower was 35 stories high. Jose and I were huffing and puffing to get up but we finally made it.

We are here at the arco de La Frontera. This is a lovely little white town with a Moroccan influence. When we got in as usual and this little towns there was very limited parking in the streets are narrow. We unloaded our luggage and found a hotel. It’s a very nice bed-and-breakfast hotel. We had to park about three blocks away. The hotel does not open until two. They were celebrating last night for Semana Santa and they had to close a hotel. We went shopping and Jose found three pairs of leather shoes that fit him perfectly for $69. Was a great bargain. Today we are eating at a Moroccan restaurant that’s very very lovely. We are ordering a variety of things such as lamb hummus and couscous with sangria and wine. \240We also found out from the hotel owner that Saturday and Sunday they had the running of the bulls. Glad I’m glad that we didn’t get there because Jose would probably want to do it. I don’t think I would’ve wanted him to. The only way I would do running with the bulls is if I watched it from the balcony.

In the town of Grazalema. \240

In the town of Ronda. \240More fantastic views.

Left Ronda this morning. \240Stopped in Antequera. \240It Was raining and cold. We stopped at a restaurant with a tent that had a heater it was still cold. Then we went across the street to go inside he let us stay inside. But then some trucks came by and said that we were parked where cargo was supposed to go. We couldn’t even finish our food because we had to run out and get the car so we decided just to head on to Malaga. We are touring the cathedral in Malaga Castle and the castle. We are eating at a Moroccan restaurant for the second time. Having hummus falafel and lamb shish kebabs. We might even try a dessert later on. Tomorrow we are heading to Granada. Tomorrow is going to be a big day because we have lots of little towns to stop in before we get to Granada. After that onto Madrid.

In Malaga. We spent the day at the Picasso museum and visiting the Roman ruins. \240

Left Malaga this morning. Frigiliana today. Frigilanas a beautiful white Village town.

Went to see the Cueva de Nerja. \240

In Granada today. \240We wanted to go to the Alhambra. We got there at 12. We called them and they said they had delayed until two. They had sent me an email but I guess I didn’t understand it so we had two hours to kill until we came back at two. When we got there at two that asked me for my passport.

On our way to Madrid. This is our last stop. We will be in Madrid for two days and then head home to Houston. Parking is ridiculously difficult on this trip. Here’s a story of how Jose went to get our parked car to pick us up in Grenada with our luggage waiting in the hotel. I just talk into the microphone on my watch I can’t so I walked to the parking lot where my car is I didn’t see any pedestrians entryway so I went down the nearest street where the cars go by hoping that car wouldn’t come and hit me and then I find my car and then I got to the exit so I can pay the parking ticket and there’s no way we can pay it so I press the talking button they tell me that I got to go back to the first floor and I’m paying one of the machines Sar I got out parallel park the car again it’s not an easy thing to do so I got to the first floor I couldn’t find it I came back I had asked some locals where the papers were they told me where I went and paid it so it’s paid and I go back to the car and I SAR state coming out of that exit is very very steep so I stayed going very cautiously going up and then it will start spinning so I realize I didn’t have enough impulse that I needed to come back with a lot of more momentum so I back up and as a back up the arm comes down crashing on the car so now I can’t go anywhere I’m stuck so I get out of the car press the button talking about NASA help move the arm came down on my car because I have to back off and I didn’t have enough info so you need to get it up so they got it up I am backed up and then it was very tricky so I had to go a lot faster but it was sonar on both sides that I can once I would hit the wall on the other side I would hate to We stopped at this restaurant on the way to Madrid from Granada. This is one of my pet peeves at almost all restaurants. I really feel like if they give you a meal it should include aside some type of vegetable and a main dish. All we got was the meatballs and they’re pretty pricey about $14 for the meatballs. We asked if they came with anything in the picture showed some carrots in there and there was nothing in there. We were going to order some rice but it was gonna take 20 minutes so we decided just forget it. We went out to our car and do a surprise we could not find a car. Jose and I were both really freaking out we looked and looked and looked and we thought oh my gosh that was still our car or got towed. We are about to go call the police and tell them to find a car but we decided to retrace our steps one more time to go back and look we found our car thank God Jose and I both had our passports thank God because that would be a real nightmare if your car got stolen with your passport in it.

On our way back to Madrid. The highways are really nice and it’s pretty much a straight shot to Madrid. Stopping at a little restaurant along the way. The food is good but we got meatballs and no rice or anything to go with it no sides.

We are eating in this little small deli near our hotel in Madrid. This is the second time we’ve been here since we stopped here on our first round as we came into Madrid. Jose and I are eating a sandwich made for a giant. Jose is having a strawberry banana smoothie and I’m having an avocado kale spinach and kale smoothie and they are really good. Smoothie

Yesterday we went to Madrid to explore the city. We decided to go on the hop on hop off buses. We had to wait about an hour for the bus because it was some type of marathon going on but we finally got a bus around four in the afternoon. We took both lines. The subway system here in Madrid is very good from our hotel we took three subways to get to sort of the center of the city where all the classes are. We had a luncheon is all you can eat place for only 10 bucks it was a very good lunch we had chicken soup pizza salad chicken ribs and even ice cream for 10 bucks what a deal.

This is our last day of Madrid. Tomorrow we will leave for Houston. We have seen how they celebrate Semana Santa and saw the processions of the cross march to the cities, we have seen the white Hill villages with \240spectacular scenery. We saw flamingo dancers, and a baroque guitar concert. Of course we had some amazing Spanish cuisine.

Just a few observations about Madrid. The people definitely go out into the street. The plazas are extremely crowded at least they were on Sunday. They have a lot of American stores here and the most popular restaurants seem to be Burger King McDonald’s and I even saw Kentucky fried chicken. Some of the women seem to be wearing at least a young girl seem to wearing some extremely short skirts and short shorts. I also noticed a lot of displays of public affection in public. Since today is our last day in Madrid we decided that we would go what’s an end that museum to the STHYSSEN museum. It was huge and had all kinds of paintings from the 1800s 1900s it was really an awesome exhibition. Next we went to the royal Gardens. The Royal botanical gardens that was absolutely fascinated and amazing. We took an Uber back

We are back from the trip today. Yesterday was a long day as we attempted to take a flight starting out in Madrid and then Atlanta and then home. The flight from Madrid to Atlanta wasn’t bad but it could’ve been better. Started out when there was three guys that sat right in front of us they were all tattooed loud and had pierced earrings everywhere. Down and soft and bother me because I don’t care really how many tattoos they have and what they wear as long as they’re respectful and quiet. The day started out when the stewardess saw that they were drinking beer. It is illegal to take alcohol onto the plane. She told him that they could finish their beers and then they had to throw them away. She told him to drink them quickly. Course I didn’t they took their time. Other students saw them and did not like the fact that they had beer and Fiegner the stewardess had to tell them I have to take your beers right now. They gave them their beer without an issue. But that stopped him from drinking know as soon as the alcoholic drinks came they started ordering more and more and more. The more they drink the louder they got. I wanted to sleep as I knew I would have jetlagged. I put on my mask and I tried to plug in the TV so that I couldn’t hear them but I could still hear them. I didn’t know this but Jose said that the male stewardess had to confront them several times about being loud and rude. Of all people that I got to sit behind it would have to be those three. So finally we got to Atlanta. No issues in Atlanta and we made it home. So now I want to talk in general a little bit about Madrid and my experiences in traveling. So let’s start from the beginning. First of all when you’re traveling one of the most important things is travel light. You never know when you’re going to have to carry your suitcases and carry in a lot of stuff becomes very burdensome. The weather in Spain was colder than I thought so I ended up wearing most of my long pants and none of my shorter ones. I bought my straightener and I didn’t even use it I just let my hair go curly and it was much easier that way. Driving was a great way to see the white villages. However it is not easy and not for the faint of heart. I was on Google duty. Spain has tons of roundabouts so I was always like take the third exit go go go go go turn take the second exit go go go turn now and if we didn’t do it right we would see that Google had rerouted us. To our credit we didn’t do it wrong for many times. The second issue with driving is that the streets are extremely extremely narrow. You would think that many of them would be one way but they’re not. Sometimes you have to play a game of chicken to see which car could go first. Google sent us F1 row that was extremely narrow and we couldn’t make the right turn so we had to slowly slowly slowly back the car down while others were waiting to make the turn. I told the guy that the street was too narrow to turn and he said it up not for me. Obviously I did it before and he knew he could turn. He had a much smaller vehicle. The third issue in this is a huge one is parking parking is like winning the lottery. You just have to ride around and pray that someone leaves so that you find a space. Parallel parking skills are critical if you’re gonna drive in Spain. We got in a very few tight tight spots and I don’t know how we did it. The other thing you have to realize is that once you get a parking spot obviously you’re gonna have to get out and that can become extremely difficult also. Onto the food. The food was good but not as good as expected and someways. The food was not very spicy. The best food we had actually was the Moroccan Mediterranean food. We had a lot of meats and cheese. The hotels all had free breakfast that was very very good. Now on to my digestive issues. Every time I go on a trip I almost always get constipated and this was no difference. I guess my body could not handle eating a lot of fatty cheese and meats. The bacon by the way was never fully cooked it was just kind of like real fatty and not crisp. I guess that’s the way they like it. Anyways there’s a difference between Jose and I. First of all we ate dinner really late at night. Stanley is 10 to eat dinner very late like around eight or even later 910. The stores don’t even open up until around 1030 or 11. So after eating a heavy dinner my body was still digesting the dinner and then we would put the breakfast on top of it. My body could not digest it all. Jose is the type that when he gets a free breakfast he’s going to make the most of it. So Jose would eat for example two or three eggs bacon sausage cheese toast 203 fruits and bread. That’s just a start then he will go back for seconds and also eat my leftovers. 10 minutes later he say oh I have to go to the bathroom. He’ll be gone 15 minutes. Me on the other hand I started out eating the meat and cheese and I realize that I wasn’t gonna agree with my stomach. I ended up eating just basically fruit and oatmeal and that’s about it. It still didn’t work with the digestion as I ended up only pooping about twice in 14 days. So I guess the lesson is if you’re going to trip just know your digestion issues. I thought about using a laxative but we were so busy I couldn’t wait around the hotel and I didn’t know when the laxative would start working. That’s another thing about Spain. Public bathrooms are almost nonexistent. If you wanna use the bathroom in Spanish cities you have to go in and buy something. I guess it’s to pay for the toilet paper or they don’t want a lot of people rushing in to use the public restrooms.