Granada was terrific, but the next day it was time to move on to Barcelona. I had one afternoon there to see the city (and of course…more paella) as well as the morning before heading to the airport.
Dinner was fantastic! And then I spent the evening wandering around the city, saw the Sagrada Cathedral (some say one of the ugliest, but I thought it was quite pretty at night with the lights), and then in the morning wandered La Rambla looking at the shops as well as an excavation in the city.
Then it was time for the airport, a short flight to Amsterdam, and an overnight at the airport before flying home in the morning.
I’ve never been to Spain, and despite the power outage, I really enjoyed it. Good paella, and very friendly and welcoming people. Definitely a great trip!
By the next morning, the power was back on, and life was getting back to normal in Granada. So it was time to go out and see the city! Granada was beautiful (historic, oranges growing on all the trees along the city streets, and some fun shops in the old silk market). And my streak of paella at every stop in Spain continued…
I’ve been searching for a nice chess set for a long time, and I stumbled into a store where I found one that really jumped out at me. The family has been making these unique pieces since the early 1900’s by hand, and the designs were absolutely beautiful. The owner showed me the process of how the designs are inlaid; it was so incredibly detailed and time-consuming! Figuring out how to get it back home was a bit of a challenge, but I’m so glad that I got it!
The next day I headed out to Ronda. Ronda was supposed to just be a quick stop for some pictures, but the day turned strange soon after arriving. I walked into a shop only to notice that the lights were off. It didn’t completely register with me at first, but when I went to pay and the shopkeeper told me it was “cash only” I realized the power was out. Over the next half hour in town, I came to find out that it wasn’t just the town that was without power, but the whole country as well as Portugal and part of France.
Not only power, but also all communication. No cell phone service. No news about what was happening. And no way to know how long it would last. I found one restaurant that was still serving if you had cash, and got some paella (the first of many over the next few days…) and chatted with some people about what might be going on, but nobody really knew much.
I was fortunate to have a full tank of gas (gas stations could not pump gas with no power), offline Google Maps (PSA: ALWAYS download offline Google Maps when you travel, it saved my bacon this time), and a Rick Steves book with the name and address of a hotel in Grenada. So I plugged in the address of the hotel and set out for a two-hour drive to Grenada.
When I arrived in Grenada, it was a bit strange. Police were out in force directing traffic (because no traffic lights were operating), people were just out walking in the streets, and it was all a little chaotic. I found the hotel, and when I walked in, a woman was sitting in the dark in the lobby (it turned out that she was the owner, along with her mother, who was probably in her 90’s). My Spanish is questionable at best, and she didn’t speak much English. But she understood that I was looking for a room and said I could stay, but “cash only” (because nobody was taking credit cards). I asked if she knew what was going on with the power, and she said no, this had never happened before. She pointed her finger at me and said sternly, “You live here now, until this is over.” She was so sweet. Then she grabbed my hand and said that we were going to the market for groceries since there were no restaurants open.
After walking about 5 minutes, we arrived at the market only to find a surreal scene. The store had just about been emptied. It had only been 5 hours since the power went out, but people were panic buying, and it was slim pickings. I found enough to get me through a couple of days if needed, and back to the hotel we went.
Watching the town from the hotel balcony that night was fascinating. So quiet. With nothing open and only the occasional car driving around, it was oddly quiet. But with nothing to do, people just came out into the streets to hang out and socialize.
It’s past 5:00 in the evening here, but 12:33 is the moment that the power went out…
After a couple of days in Amsterdam, it was time to figure out where to go for the remaining part of my trip. I’ve never been to Spain, and driving up the southern coast toward Barcelona seemed like it would be a good way to see the country. So I caught a cheap flight to Madrid, rented a car, and headed out to Sevilla.
I only spent one night in Sevilla before moving on, but it was beautiful. The town doesn’t get going until very late. I’d been warned about this, but I didn’t really appreciate how late. I headed to dinner about 8 in search of tapas, only to be told that the kitchen wasn’t open yet. By about 9pm, things started to open up, but byh midnight the whole town was alive! It was a weeknight, and the streets were filled with people, including families taking their kids to the playground. It seems like the schedule is just shifted because at 9:00am the next morning, it felt like a ghost town.
One of the reasons I chose Amsterdam to begin my trip in was that at this time of year, the tulips are in bloom and the flower fields are supposed to be amazing. I started the morning by going about an hour south of Amsterdam to the Keukenhof gardens. The gardens were huge and took several hours to walk through. They did not disappoint!!! This alone would have been worth the trip. Then, after spending the morning at the gardens, I returned to Amsterdam for what turned out to be quite an experience.
As amazing as the gardens were, even better (and unexpected) turned out to be the King’s Day festivities in the city of Amsterdam. When I booked my hotel, I was surprised that it was much harder to find a place than I expected, considering it was not the peak of tourist season. But it all made sense when I realized that I’d be visiting on the day of the biggest party of the year in Amsterdam.
To celebrate the King’s Birthday, public drinking and noise rules are suspended, and people come out into the streets for a huge citywide party. Over a million people filled the streets along the canals, and the energy and excitement were unlike anything I’ve ever seen. The canals are full of partying boats, and every block has a different DJ playing music for dance parties in the streets. Everyone wears orange (the color of the King), and in some areas, the canals are completely gridlocked with boats. I was told that it’s a rite of passage for college students to cross the canal by stepping from one boat to another (taking a shot at each boat along the way, of course). I walked around for over 4 hours and only managed to see a fraction of the city’s celebration.
What made this feel so special was that, despite it being so huge, there was a real sense of community that you could feel. Businesses opened their doors not to sell anything, but just to provide access to restrooms and hand out water. There was no big police presence. And although there was lots of alcohol flowing freely, I didn’t see a single fight or anyone misbehaving the whole time. Just people of all ages enjoying each other.
What an incredible (and completely unexpected) experience!!!
A few weeks ago, I found a deal on a flight to Amsterdam that was just too good to resist, so I booked it with the idea of arriving in Amsterdam and then wandering Europe from there for a week without much of a plan.
After landing, I got right to seeing the sights. I’ve been to Amsterdam a few times, so I know the layout, but it’s always such a fun city to wander. And this time I was in for a treat…the next day was King’s Day (the biggest party of the year, but more about that tomorrow). I spent the first day biking around the city, visited an area with many working windmills (each has its own purpose, some grind flour, some mill lumber, etc), eating amazing food, and seeing the city from the water on a boat canal tour.
I’m a few weeks late posting pictures, but earlier this month Kenzie and I went to Minnesota for a long weekend. The goal of the trip was to see some of the history from the “Little House on the Prairie” series of books (and later TV show). The books by Laura Ingalls Wilder were based on her experiences growing up here in the late 1800’s, and seeing this seemed like as good a reason as any for a road trip through Minnesota.
We made a big loop around the state and along the way went to Walnut Grove (where the Little House museum was closed unfortunately), saw the property where the Ingals first homesteaded in Minnesota (along with “Plum Creek”, the little creek running through the property), saw an authentic “mud house” (the typical homesteader home of the time), Sleepy Eye, and also Mankato. Mankato was great. If you remember the stories, this is where the Ingalls would go to the “big city” to deliver and pick up supplies. As we drove into Mankato we stumbled upon the old train station, the same one they would have gone to for deliveries. None of these places were the least bit touristy, and you were free to wander around on your own. It was a lot of fun to see firsthand the places associated with so many of the stories from the series.
The highlight for Kenzie though was probably when we happened up on Minnesota’s Biggest Candy Store. It was in the middle of nowhere but stood out because of the huge yellow grain silo (which had been converted into part of the store). It took us more than an hour to get through it, and we spent a small fortune but it was totally worth it! Oh, and if you ever want to see the world’s largest jigsaw puzzle…they have it.
Where we were in town we had to check out The Mall Of America too. It took us 3 days (about 4 hours per day) to get through it all. It’s very impressive and includes an amusement park and aquarium. After 3 days we were ready to be done, but it was worth a visit.
Our last day in town happened to be Veterans Day, so we decided to visit a nearby veterans cemetery. We looked up some Kuhns and even found one with the same name as my father, so while we didn’t know the person, we went looking for the headstone. These cemeteries are just beautiful.
Minnesota is not necessarily the first place I think of to visit for a vacation, but I can’t recommend it enough if you’re up for a bit of adventure. We had a blast!
This was our last full day in Costa Rica, and it turned out to be the best one. We had several hours of driving to get back to the capital for our flight out the next day, but we had half a day with no plans. So we had asked our guide from the mangrove tour for suggestions the day before. He suggested a hike along our drive back. We had no idea what an amazing place he was sending us to.
Kenzie and I followed his directions, turned off the main road, and drove 30 minutes on a dirt road into the jungle. We were starting to wonder if we’d gotten lost again when we finally found the unassuming entrance to the park.
It was a 3-mile hike roundtrip, and over the several hours we were there, we only saw 5 other people.
The first half of the hike was up steep mountains and included a bunch of very high (and sketchy) hanging bridges crossing valleys and next to waterfalls. So beautiful!
The second half of the hike was even better. We worked our way back down to the river and followed it back. All of the waterfalls we’d seen on the way in drained into the river we followed back out. For a mile and a half, it was swimming hole after swimming hole fed by the waterfalls and river. We spent the next hour swimming in a few of them and taking lots of pictures.
This place is not anything we had read about or found in any guidebook, so we were so appreciative that one of the locals shared it with us. It turned out to be one of the highlights of the whole trip!
Day 6 was a trip through the mangroves. It was a completely different experience from yesterday, but still full of amazing wildlife. Lots of birds, snakes, and of course, MORE MONKEYS!!!
Our guide today was great and had lived in Costa Rica most of his life. His ability to spot animals in this thick jungle was incredible. I found even after he spotted something and told me exactly where it was, it sometimes took me another minute or two to find it.
The driver of our boat was also really interesting. He and his family lived on an island isolated out in the mangrove forest. He was born in the house he lives in, as were all of his kids, and he lives off of the land except for earning some extra money driving the boat on these tours. He took us by his place on the tour as we were looking for snakes, and mentioned that apparently crocodiles coming up on his beach and to the house are a real problem. So interesting!
We’d gotten pretty luck with the rain in general, but this day was a heavy one. And on the drive home it was clear looking at the roads just how much water they see during the rainy season.
Monkeys and sloths were high on our list of things we wanted to see on this trip to Costa Rica, and Manuel Antonio National Park was supposed to be a great place for this and other wildlife viewing. It did not disappoint! Hiring a guide was highly recommended, and I’m so glad that we did. Not only did we learn so much more about the forest, but his ability to spot animals was incredible and we’d have missed most of what we ended up seeing if we’d done it alone. During our time there we saw 8 sloths, howler and white face capuchin monkeys, reptiles, birds, and lots of interesting plants. Not to mention the beautiful beach at the edge of the park. An absolutely amazing experience and something I’ll never forget.
After our half day at the national park, Kenzie and I drove south just exploring the area. We wrapped up our day at a “soda” (a roadside cafe) to wait out the regular afternoon downpour.
It was a great day, and we definitely got to see all of the wildlife we were hoping for!
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