In between exploring Madrid, Rachel and I left for a few days to explore some other cities in Spain. I have a long time friend, Ellen, who has lived in Malaga (aka by the beach) for two years. (PS. By long time friend, I mean we have known each other since we were 4!). So after staying up all night on Friday night, we ventured to the bus station to take a 6 hour night bus ride to Malaga.
After wondering the streets and finding Ellen's apartment and a short nap we were off to the BEACH! That is right, THE BEACH! It was a perfect day outside. We sat in the sun for 7 hours! It was GLORIOUS and ended with a few uneven sunburns. Ellen lives with a few people from the area who speak very little (no) English. Ellen did a lot of translating, but I was pleasantly surprised by how much I could understand of their conversation.
After our wonderful beach day, we explored the city on Monday. It is a really cute city. It was
Semana Santa (Holy Week) so there were people everywhere and several parades throughout the day. It was an interesting to watch their celebrations and traditional attire. These robes came in all sorts of colors, including white. It was slightly creepy. These men and children were dressed and walked down the street followed by a large statue of the Virgin Mary. We found this in Malaga, Sevilla, and Toledo, however the rain put a bit of a damper (pun intended) on the festivities after Monday.
While wondering the city, I spotted legitimate frozen yogurt! The rainy week had begun and this made up for it! There are two things I miss a lot from home, (food-wise), frozen yogurt (tart with strawberries) and Mexican food. Spain succeeded in giving me both. It was GLORIOUS.
After Malaga, we took a morning bus to Sevilla, where we explored the city. I highly recommend this city as well. It was an adorable city situated on a river (as most European cities are). The Cathedral looked massive from the outside, but since there were so many festivities, we couldn't go inside.
We did explore the Palace and took some obligatory jumping pictures (in the rain). It was a very pretty area. You could even rent a boat and go around in the water in the center of the bug square. Due to rain we abstained.
Between Italy and Spain, I just keep finding my name written everywhere. I have also decided that taking constant pictures of these moments is also necessary!
The Cathedral. After lunch and finding some food for the bus ride back we headed back to Madrid because it was POURING! This was the rest of Spain, however, I still loved the country. Considering my dislike for any weather other than hot and sunny, this says a lot!
