Oof. My program has ended and I am severely behind on my blogs. I am writing this from my computer in a small cafe in Jaca, Spain. So much has happened! To start, I’ll recap some of the travel I’ve had the pleasure of experiencing in the past two months.
Morgan and I flew to Paris to celebrate Talissa’s birthday on April 23rd (although I came a day late so I didn’t fail my Spanish class.) The highlight of Paris was seeing Talissa truly in her element. Her closet, obviously overflowing with new Parisian thrifts was a blast to shop around in although difficult to navigate. She personalized her room so perfectly it reminded me of our home together in Berkeley. She knew just enough french to not be pinned as an annoying American tourist like Morgan and I were. Her parents were also visiting at the same time and took us out to an Italian place called “Pink Mama,” and mama miaaaa the spinach gnocchi was the best pasta I have tasted in my life. I still think about it when I go to sleep.
While exploring the city, I learned that Notre Dame Cathedral is not in fact green like the cartoon had me believe. Paris nightclubs are as exclusive as Berlin’s so we had to adjust our plans a couple times. We went to the Dior museum where I saw dresses that I had never even dreamed of— they were ethereal and perfectly crafted.
My favorite nightlife experience of Paris was going Sumo Wrestling. Each of us paid five euros to suit up and sumo wrestle in a foggy underground basement. I was the champion.
The following weekend I met up with some sorority friends in Ibiza, finally completing the trip I regretted not doing while abroad in Barcelona.
I will say I found that Ibiza is overhyped. Maybe that just means I am not as much of a party girl as I had formerly thought. On the first day I got a raging sunburn, possibly the worst of my life. It made moving around at clubs quite painful. I also got a tattoo of a bull to both commemorate my time in Spain and also remind me of my hometown: Bull City (Durham.)
Drinks were absurdly expensive so I didn’t drink much while out. The coolest part of the clubbing experience for me was that at Hï the bathroom was literally a rave. I walked out of my stall to a crowd of people bumping to the bathroom DJ (I know right.)
After Ibiza, I was exhausted. Luckily I had almost a full two weeks before my next trip: Malta and Budapest. Morgan and I locked in to finish out our classes before embarking on our next journey away from Madrid. Unfortunately a few days before Malta my phone was stolen. Knowing my mom was meeting us in Budapest, I decided to disconnect and go to Malta phone-less. I made the mistake of shortening our trip to Malta because I wanted one last full weekend in Madrid and didn’t think there would be five days worth of stuff to do in Malta. I couldn’t have been more wrong. Malta is a whole new world. The blue lagoons, beaches, thrifting, architecture and, my god, the food were all spectacular.
While looking for dinner our first night, we stumbled upon a Michelin star restaurant called Aaron’s Kitchen one minute before they opened. Our timing was impeccable: we got one of the only walk-in tables for the night. Morgan and I split the mushroom risotto and pumpkin gnocchi. They were delectable. Later that evening we succumbed to a waiter (or so we thought) reeling us in to his bar for drinks. Morgan wanted to go home soon after to study so we decided to just get one round and head home…two hours and twelve piña coladas on-the-house later we found out our waiter was actually the owner of the bar. I ended up working the bar for about 10 minutes that night, until Morgan complained that her gin and tonic had no tonic, and I was subsequently fired from that position. We got home around 3am that night and unfortunately Morgan did not have the bandwidth to study for her final that night.
We met up with my Mom in Budapest, who I hadn’t seen since I departed Durham in January. It was lovely. We did a boat tour on the Danube then a 45 minute walk back to our Airbnb (I was outnumbered two to one on walking vs taxi.)
It worked out though because we stumbled upon an adorable bar with live music and a very nice server who got the bartender to make us off-the-menu unicum cocktails. Unicum is a traditional Hungarian liquor that my Mom loved almost as much as I love Jaeger. The next morning we did a bike tour of the city and learned more about all the beautiful buildings and parks we’d seen on the boat tour. We also went to the Szechenyi baths and the “Splash” circus which were conveniently right across from each other. Both were a blast.
On our last day we went to the Hospital Caves across the river in Buda. They were so cool, especially considering the history from WWII and the later uprising against Soviet power intertwined with the underground hospital. Oh! I almost forgot, I had some of the best mushroom soup of my life (only second to my Dad’s) at a traditional Hungarian restaurant complete with live piano music: Pilvax Kávéház és Étterem. When we told our wonderful server that we’d come for their soup and found it to be amazing, the chef came out and beamed. He wouldn’t, though, share his recipe.
Another really cool part of our time in Budapest was the Ruins Bar: one giant hybrid in/outdoor facility equipped with 6-8 different bars and grungy wall art created from what used to be literal ruins in the city. Man I wish Berkeley had something like them.
My Mom then returned to Madrid with Morgan and I and I had a grand old time showing her the Royal Palace and Cathedral, Taberna Malaspina, Takos al Pastor, and Cafe Four.
We did a day trip to Toledo and I got to eat my favorite Kebab from Marrakesh Restaurant and finally go zip lining across the Tagus River, next to an ancient bridge.
She then left to meet up with her good friend Helen in Girona for some hiking while Morgan and I soaked up our last days in Madrid.
