Barcelona and Madrid

Hey yall, I'm back! I know its been forever since I've posted  on my blog but I've been really busy traveling the world from Madrid to Barcelona to Morocco to Madrid again...and now back to Granada. Believe it or not I didn't LOVE Barcelona as many are accustomed to say/think they will be....it wasn't the great beautiful place as I imagined. The building weren't as ancient and old as I thought it would be...and I know Barcelona is the land for Modernisma art and architecture but since many of the building were built so long ago, I thought it would be a different experience...unfortunately many of the buildings were redone and renovated..so they lost their ancient flare...that I really had been expecting. I loved Madrid though...we met an amazing amount of people from Australians, to Germans, Czech Republicans?, Polish, and many more. Madrid also had a great amount of beautiful architecture and art, which is why I had to go there for a second time...I enjoyed seeing the Reina Sophia Museum the most...and also loved Parque Buen Retiro...where we paddle boated the day away... Carry on for a gist of the past weeks. 

Fideua Paella served with Garlic Mayo... this had the normal seafood as regular Paella..such as shrimp, scallops, mussels, but instead of rice it had the Fideua noodles...a "Catalunyan" delicacy

Living Barcelona 1825-

 A restaurant based on the Jazz Age..having pictures of Caberet dancers...really reminded me of Chicago :)

Casa Batllo

Txapela
This place had menu of 60 tapas to choose from...all cooked fresh right there for you...though they were little...after you ate five or so...you were stuffed

Inside of Casa Batllo

Inside of the Mercat Boqueria in Las Ramblas
Barcelona, Spain

Fresh Hand-Dipped Chocolate..Yum

Park Guell

Park Guell....

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NO CAPTION NEEDED
aka La Sagrada Familia

First Meal in Barcelona..and yes thats squid with its head on...and I actually tried it... not recommended if you dont like a sandy taste in your mouth...haha but a first time for everything is definitely worth the story!

More of the Sagrada Familia..under construction

Inside of the Sagrada Familia

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First fancy meal in Barcelona...Istanbul food...best Middle Eastern food I have tried so far :)

On the Bus to Madrid

Puerta del Sol

Tapas at Mercado De San Miguel

Madrid, Spain

Puerta del Sol

Some of the best deserts I have tried in Spain by far...

On the right--->chocolate moose and whip cream in the middle :)

2nd day in Morocco

We just left asilah... Today we're going to fes and Meknes. Morrocco so far is nice.. Clearly very different from Spain...not many women in the streets...but there are some and even some without headdress which is very different than probably other Arab countries. Yest we got to asilah from tangier around 5 or 6 pm. We got to our hotel...were greeted with pastries and moroccan treats and we took a tour of the city later...exchanged a bit of our money for dhirams. I exchanged 30 euros into 331 dhirams. Every euro is worth 11 dhirams...wierd I know. I also was a bit carsick yest because of the cruise ship and the bus we took but I am better today and getting use to being in vehicles and forms of transportation for long periods of time. Haha Oh ya the cruise ship was so cool...they called it ferry but it's actually called the 'tarifa to tangier jet'.I thought 'ferry' meant a type of bus so when I saw it wasn't , I was soooo excited...my first jet/ship ride( well except prom....that was when we were floating in the middle of the lake instead of cruising in the ocean)! It was awesome..:great seating..like really classy spacious seating...they also had a bar and a restaurant within it...pretty chulo! Also we got to go on the deck and see the waves or the water pressure from the boat due to the engine moving...it was awesome! I really wnt to come back to morocco again...I wnt to do some volunteering here... I think I want to help in la CD...something 'darna' which is a women's shelter for women who were mistreated.. By domestic violence and what not that live there and get to live somewhat better lives. We went to one yest and they served us couscous couscous...not a fan of it :/ Ok carsick again...more later