Almeria

After I got back to the Tourism School from my field trip, I headed to the bus station and bought a one-way ticket to Almeria.

One of my best friends from State, Bobby (Nighthawk), is studying abroad there and I finally got to visit!

Yesterday, Nighthawk showed me around the city. Our first stop was the fanciest Mercadona, the same grocery store I frequent in Murcia, but this one was built inside an old train station so it was two stories tall!

We bought just enough food to last us through Tuesday morning when I go home to Murcia--plus some Spanish Edition M&Ms because I couldn't resist.

They have the coolest trees in Almeria--they're all groomed to be circular!

And thus, they have cool shadows.

It's been so windy here that it's almost hard to walk!

 We put on some warm clothes and set out to brave a windy day in Almeria. We found a cool photography museum and spent some time learning about Spanish history. We found an interesting bar and vintage store (they were attached) that Bobby had been looking for since the beginning. We meant to order some tea and coffee, but their machine was broken.

Inside the vintage bar; intersting Medusa-esque painting

Inside the photography museum

Tiles on the ground outside the photography museum

I enjoyed the interesting landscaping, pretty architecture, and lots of roses! Nighthawk thought I was weird for taking so many pictures of the flowers--I decided that some men just don't understand the beauty and wonderfulness of flowers (also, Ricky).

Nope, not beautiful at all

Eww, what a nasty rose!

This is Almeria's symbol. NH said it has something to do with a hieroglyph found in a cave.

Lots of shops along this street. Here's another view of the cool trees!

Painting outside the Russian shop; you can see the Almeria guy poking out.

At night, we met up with a few of Bobby's friends for tapas at Tio Tom's. If you bought a drink, it came with a free tapa. The tapas were like full meals! I got two glasses of rose wine, so it came with two tapas. The first one was a huge, loaded baked potato. The second was "Superpollo" a slab of chicken, a fried egg, bread, and a mini-salad.

Believe it or not, Almeria is actually a beach town! It's just been freezing and windy every day..

Thought this was cute: "I am an orange, planted by...Carmen Loipez Ruiz" in front of an orange tree!

Yup, that's a marijuana grow shop...No worries, it was closed!

Nighthawk in front of the City Museum

Me with Bobby's friend Katie as we explored Almeria's nightlife scene

Just me and my sunburnt BFF

Semana Santa en Murcia

My parents are here! Yesterday I took them through some of the typical, nice areas of Murcia. While the plan was to visit Cafe Ficciones for some coffee, the plan never goes as planned with my parents!

The streets were full of people, so it was a great time for my parents to visit. Everyone was out and about, getting ready for Semana Santa's opening parade! On our way to the Cafe, we saw people lining up and noticed that the parade was about to start. We were in the perfect spot, right in front of the Cathedral!

It was a very somber parade--black gowns with pointy hats, black candles, dirge-like music, and huge, sad-looking religious floats. Though the whole parade seemed like a medieval funeral procession, the sermon (I guess you would call it) was very sweet. It was directed toward the Virgin Mary and contained both praise as well as asking her to watch over the "town" of Murcia.

By the time we were actually ready to leave the parade (about an hour later), we no longer wanted coffee. We skipped Cafe Ficciones and ran to the Mercadonna because Dad wanted to find some wine and other Spanish goodies...ham and cheese.

Around 10pm, Spanish dinner time, we finally made it out to a restaurant. We went to a taverna restaurant that I had never been to but I had noticed because it looks charming from the outside. We enjoyed people/couple watching and talking about all of the cultural differences between here and home. My parents really seem to be enjoying Murcia, and being in Europe in general. We love how the streets are full of people hanging out, socializing, having a drink or a bite to eat. We discussed how hard it would be to implement this sort of cultural change into the US. How would you get everyone to stay up so late and be outside so much? Here is the delicious food we had to eat!

Bull meat and potatoes? Let's do this.

I'm so glad my parents are here--I'm ready for a fun two weeks :D

Last day with Hunky :(

Such a nice day!

"Stunna shades"

Feria Gallega del Marisco

For Ricky and my last day together, we decided to go for a little chill exploring around Murcia. We headed toward the river but some ridiculously loud bagpipe music lead us inside the Plaza de Toros. They were having a seafood festival! Although it looked interesting, seafood isn't quite my cup of tea, so we marched on toward el Rio Segura. 

Rio Segura

 There wasn't a whole lot going on alongside the river, but we kept walking because I had never explored in this direction and was curious. Walking west leads toward the Tourism School and the center of town.

After we returned home and I consulted the map to see where we had conquered, I discover that we had traveled off the map. Perhaps that's why there was not much action!

Eventually we happened upon a line of fisherman from across the river. We specualted if they were homeless people or actually legit fisherman.

My Hunk.

At the end of our walk, we found a McDonalds and a grocery store/mall. We each got a kid's meal and an ice cream--definitely enough to fill me up; it comes with so much food! 

Kit Kat McFlurry--OM NOM NOM

Watching the ducklings

Momma & da babies

On our way back, walking along the other side, we discovered that they were actual, hard-core fisherman! That had intense equipment and poles that practically reached halfway across the river! Some of them had lunches, leading me to believe that they sit there all day.







Ricky's attention was caught by a mother duck and her fuzzy, yellow ducklings. We stood there and waited for them to jump in the water for, like, twenty minutes. Luckily, they eventually did. (Ricky may have threw some sticks to convince them).

Legit fisherman!

After plenty of walking, we returned home for a much-needed siesta. I bought some bread and a doughnut for Ricky on the way! He took a nap and I got a little studying and blogging done.

Pulpo=octopus

A few hours later, we went out to El Togo, the delicious tapas restaurant that I went to during one of my first weeks in Murcia. Ricky treated us to a Tinto de Verano, and three tapas: pulpo (octupus), mini hamburguesas (you might guess), and dátiles con bacon (dates with ham). It was super yummy! We came home and head Magnum almond ice cream bars, Ricky's favorite. 

Miniburgs

I already have a pulpo pic, but I just
thought he was too darn cute

Dátiles con bacon!

12:30AM rolled around so we headed to the bus station. We got there nearly forty minutes early, but the machine kept screwing up so the time worked in our favor. We had to get change from a restaurant because it wouldn't accept our credit cards or take more than 20-euro bills.

It was very sad seeing Ricky off :( Now we have four months until we see each other again, even if he can come back in June. I'm already ready for him to come back!