The trip didn't start out on the greatest foot. I was all ready to go the night before and left early so as to not have to rush around in the metro to get to campus at 8 am. I've never had problems with the metro here, not once, and of course on that morning there were issues and it was announced it might not come for another 15 or 20 minutes. Then, the nervous person I am, call my friend Jill who was already there and told her there were issues and I would take a taxi even though at that point I would still probably be late. After spending 8 euro on the taxi ride I found out that they were waiting for everyone to get there because of the metro issues. I was so flustered and angry about wasting the money that I was ready to deem the trip a fail before we even left. Luckily things turned around and it turned out to be a beautiful trip.
The first stop, Merida, was full of Roman ruins which after going my freshman year of high school on my trip around Rome and Athens I felt like I could fully appreciate. We watched Gladiator on the bus right before we got there (Maximus the Spaniard is supposed to come from this town in the movie!) and it really helped set the tone to picture all the fights that went on there. I forgot my camera in my backpack which happened to be under the bus, so sorry to say no pictures from here.
We stayed in a small city called Caceres. There were storks all over the place clacking their beaks. We got a tour of all of the old quarter inside the castle walls with it's churches and royal homes. There was also a film festival going on, red carpeted street and all.
NYU really hooked us up with a nice hotel, big rooms, lovely bathrooms, and a GREAT breakfast. Jill who I was rooming with and I were still full from lunch and were so exhausted so we just had some snacks and went to bed at like 9:30.
Saturday we went to Portugal and saw two more castles. The one little town Castelo de Vide I loved mostly because of all the old men walking around with their newsies caps. They all had them, in lots of different colors and styles, and they all had canes. I'm not exaggerating, the town was just filled with groups of cute old men in their Caps for Sale caps (my parents better get that reference!) and their canes.
The Fearless Leaders
Marvao, the other Portuguese castle town was up high on a mountain, so as to not be attacked easily. The castle was beautiful and we had plenty of time to wander around and explore it. The views were amazing.
That night Jill and I had tapas in outside seating in the Plaza Mayor of Caceres looking at the lit-up castle, then had some delicous ice cream. I forgot to mention how beautiful the weather was the whole time and I got my first sunburn in the first week of March which has to be a record. Today it was in the upper 60's, sunny, and gorgeous. Yes, I know you are all jealous.
Today we went to this funky museum. It was all modern and hard to explain, and although I don't usually understand or like modern art, this stuff was pretty cool and in a gorgeous location in the middle of nowhere.
Then we had to go to one last castle. This one was pretty funny because there were some college aged kids dressed up in medieval outfits trying to make some sort of movie. The views here were also incredible. Lunch was a bit disappointing because I ordered the hamburguesa (hamburger) and they brought out just the patty, fries, and fried eggs. Not exactly what I had in mind.
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