The Road Trip Saga: Do You Know Scooter? (Malaga)

Yup, it's your boy back at it again with them sick blog posts... I'll stop. 
What's up, guys? Another week, another couple hundred meltdowns from exam stress, social obligations and probably an unhealthy sleep pattern but hey, it's all about having fun in university, right?... Here's to a good study period and good luck with any exams or presentations.

So this is the second part of the Road Trip diary on what we did and where we went on the 6 day Road Trip in the Andalusian area of Spain. In the previous installment, you would have read about things like; Turning a normal Skoda into a dope trap car full of bangers, the different cat-related restaurants and the relaxing experience looking at the Alhambra.
With Granada now behind us, let's move on to the next stop and the amazing experience that is... Malaga!
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As the last part ended, we just finished eating in 4Gatos and picked up Olli and Frans, the two Finnish guys that joined us in Granada. After picking them up, our plan was to take the really coastal road to Malaga so that we could get a good look out at the sea and have some really nice views. As we were just leaving the city of Granada, a semi-coastal and not nearly as winding road was offered up as an alternative route. We would still get the views and get to see some mountains and lakes. Trusting the direction of Olli and Frans, we took their route towards Malaga. 
This route was in the direction of Motril. We followed the directions and we weren't disappointed. This route for sure gave us some of the best views I think I have seen in a really long time. The sun was beating down hard but the sunshine was just perfect as we came towards the coast. As we drove, on the right were sights like the Embalse de Béznar, the Sierra Nevada mountain range and other bodies of water that was just a treat for the eyes.
There were no stops on the way to Malaga, as it was just a 2 hour drive. We left Granada at around 2:30 and were in Malaga at around 4:30 in the afternoon. When we got to Malaga, the sun was still high. As we were in separate groups

with two cars, the others were already ahead of us and we all had to wait a while before we were able to get the keys and enter our Airbnb. The others were in Malaga and having lunch somewhere by the time we arrived in the city so we parked up our car and decided to walk around the city for a while.
The idea to walk around was somewhat squashed by the fact that we had our luggage and were also just tired and as soon as the word "beer" was mentioned, it was the priority. We left our car parked in some unmarked parking area that still had an attendant, or maybe he was just there wearing a visibility vest... He still took a euro from us but hey, the car was parked straight so no complaints. We walked around the corner and up the street to the nearest cafeteria. The place was kind like the typical cafeteria/bar places you'd see nestled beside an alimentacion or something. However, we went in and ordered a beer each and decided we'd have a look at the fruit machines they had.
Man vs Machine. That's the best way I can describe what happened at the fruit machines. "Everything on red" at the roulette games just wasn't working for us. Our money and game credits were like sand in our hands. If anyone could fish out 50 cents, then were betting all on red and still losing 😂 We watched the locals and how they were just constantly winning. I took a chance at the fruit machine with absolutely no clue whatsoever but still managed to turn 50 cent into €3.20, so not bad but... it immediately went on all red and I lost it as quickly as I won it. Frans was the only other one of us successful on the games. But the Man vs Machine was not about the game but the battle to get a container of snus (tobacco powder for your upper lip) out of the cup holder of the fruit machine. After admitting it was a bad idea to do so but persuaded to do it anyway, Max slipped the container into the holder. It was pure comedic gold to watch him get it out 😆
Before getting into the apartment, we walked towards the street of our

apartment and decided to grab a bite to eat. Across the street from our apartment was a cafeteria called "Cafe Vicente" on the Plaza de Capuchinos. There, we got ourselves bocadillos and beers. The bocadillos were actually quite good and it was the most chill place. The bartender smoking inside. Everyone just relaxed with a beer. It was a mixture of different things, I guess. As we finished up, the others came to us to tell us that the Airbnb was ready and we could head over there. So we let them go ahead as we finished up and followed them over. 
The apartment we booked was a pretty cool place. The place we got was a loft apartment with ability to host 9 people. One bathroom, two rooms and a lot of beds. The bed I got was sharing the sofa bed. It was one of those pull out beds. But we didn't do anything with it as we were all looking to get out and take a look around the marina. We left the apartment and walked towards the town center. The town was full of people celebrating and there were large processions of people in their celebratory garb for the Santa Semana. It was

even bigger than that of Granada. Each side of the street was full of people, so it made it difficult to walk.
 Eventually making it into open space, we made our way down and reached the Paseo España, a nice walkway parallel to the marina. We stayed there for around 10 to 15 minutes, looking out at the marina as the sun was setting. It was really perfect actually and it was really beautiful to watch. But soon, the beauty of the marina and the sunset was soon overshadowed by the hunger that was creeping up on us and also the Barcelona v Juventus match that was soon to start. So realizing we were all hungry, we left towards the boardwalk area of the Marina where the restaurants were. We didn't really had to walk terribly far because as soon as we came onto the boardwalk, we spotted The Good

Burger. After quick inspection, we found out they were showing the match. So, this was our place for the evening. 
Two burgers, a couple of beers and 90 minutes later, we were full and happy with the 3-0 win from Juventus. The girls sat outside during the match, which was a nice place to sit with the marina just beside them. So after a quick chat, it was decided that we would continue on to find a bar and have a couple of drinks before going back home to bed. Walking through the streets now loaded with people, it was hard to find a place. Passing by Irish bars (breaking my heart), we eventually found a place that had seats outside. The bar was called "Baraboo Gin y Copas" and one of the main draws is that the place had Finnish Gin, Napue Gin or the best Gin in the world. We sat at the Baraboo bar, ordered a round of drinks and shisha. Perfect setting to chat and let Olli and Frans get to know those of us they didn't know. As we drank, the Santa Semana celebrations continued behind us. We smoked the shisha and had our drinks. Maybe getting a bit of the buzz. The Napue Gin, I have to say

was really good. I'll for sure drink it again if I get the chance, it was really nice. Full bodied and nice flavor to it. We drank up and then decided to have a nightcap back at the house before our day at the beach. 
We got home, cracked open some beers and played some bangers. Two different conversations happening, all while Teemu prepared himself for a job interview the following morning. Some of us were talking about different music. Speaking about German music, the musician Scooter came up in conversation, prompting me to ask an open question "Do you know Scooter?" followed by me playing one of his tracks. Long story short, my right to play bangers was revoked... After this, it was kind of a blur as we all headed to bed.
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The next day we woke at around 10-ish. The girls were already up and out, going to see some sights around the city before they headed to the beach. We all got ourselves ready as Teemu took his phone interview. Realizing I didn't pack any swim shorts, I had to borrow some sport shorts as a substitute from Teemu (Thanks man 😊). Lathering myself with sun cream because I easily burn with my pale, Irish skin and packing a duffel bag, we were all set to go.
On our way to the beach, we decided to stop not far away from our apartment for some breakfast. Not too far away and on our way to the beach was a little corner place called "Cafe Baena". Immediately when we walked in, we were greeted by the cook, a British lady. Their advertised English breakfast now got me excited, knowing a British person was cooking. Most of us ordered the English breakfast with coffee, juice and toast. The juice was fresh, coffee was helpful in perking us up but the breakfast itself was kind of a let down. There was a lot of space on the plate they gave us as the portion was actually just quite small, I thought. It was like... half an English breakfast but I wasn't 100%

satisfied.

After this, we walked down towards the beach, looking for a place in which we could purchase some beach equipment. Coming to the Marina, we came to a beach side alimentacion, just off of the beach. We went and bought a beach ball and bought matching hats. Cause you know. All gangs need to have a thing. Sun lotion and hats is ours. I wasn't complaining about the hat, it was quite helpful when you wanted to relax. 
We got to the beach and to the place where the girls had rented sun loungers under the sun. We set out our beach towels, got ourselves covered up in sun lotion and laid in the sun for a little while before making it to the water. The sand was hot, the water was initially cold. The run to the bathroom was difficult with the skin burning on the bottom of your feet. Playing in the water with the ball was difficult, being blinded by salt water made it quite hard indeed. But the coolest thing we saw however was when we were just laying out, noticing a helicopter circling the beach. We thought they were searching for something but people came parachuting out of the helicopters, which was really cool! We watched as they landed not too far up the beach from us.
At around 4 was when hunger struck. Behind us was a beach restaurant called "El Cachalote" where we had to make a reservation 30 minutes before eating. We waited with beers, Max, Jan and I as they got our table ready. We eventually sat, next to the girls who were eating here also. At this place, they were serving grilled fish which attracted a lot of attention. Teemu and I ordered the grilled chicken while the others grilled fish, I want to say Seabass. Half of our fries

were still cold but the chicken was actually quite good. And the fish was said to be good but just small, as they were still kind of hungry afterwards.
As we went back to relax, coming towards us were the people we were waiting for. Morten, Stephan, Sascha and François. The boys from Madrid on a road trip themselves. They laid out beside us before a game of football started up. Finland v Others. Jan, the girls and I laid spectating at the comical sight. But when the game was coming to an end, so did our time at the beach. The girls already left, as we had a dinner reservation in the evening. We weren't long following them back. We arrived back and got ready for dinner. 
We made the reservation for the restaurant on TripAdvisor. So with this, we got a 30% discount on our final bill. The place we reserved dinner was a restaurant called "Sabor a Fuego" on Paseo de Sancha. A bit of a walk from our place but it was a nice walk. At was on the next street from the beach, so we were quite close. We got there at 9:30, in time for our reservation.
Probably the nicest meal we had on the trip. The waiter was really attentive to our table. Telling us the best offers and combinations of things to get, personal recommendations with the food and with the wine. The food. I ordered the Beef Milanese. A breaded cut of beef with a side of butternut squash pureé and mashed potato. It was amazing. The beef was well done and exactly how I like

it. The word from the others who ordered things like the beef entrecote and the steak was that it was really good. With our offer, we all got desserts afterwards, some going for the Espresso martini's or the Cava Ice-cream. I had just the

typical ice-cream with chocolate sauce. Aw it was heaven. It was perfect, just after the main course and with red wine. It left us full and happy.
After dinner, it was drinking time. Deciding what to do was the hard part. Not wanting to go all the way back to our place but with no where else to go, buying from an alimentacion and going to a park was just the answer we needed. It was hilarious there. Conversations ranged from: Favourite Superhero to If we should save the pigeon that a cat is chasing... As we got drunker, the pigeon definitely needed to be saved. So, before leaving. Lotta and I almost went into the bushes to find either the cat or the pigeon... Yup. Almost IN the bushes. 
"I'm loving angels instead..." We sang walking from the park near the marina to the center of town. Our destination, Sala Gold Night Club. Did I bring my ID? No I did not. I had to walk all the way back to the apartment to get my ID while the others went in, which ended up in me taking a wrong turn and what was supposed to be a 20 minute venture for my ID, ended up being an hour. But when I got to the club, it was pretty awesome! The boys were still on the dancefloor. I joined them, ordering my drinks and dancing a bit. When we noticed the girls in the VIP area, our mission then was to join them. A guy offered the girls to come into the VIP section, who then managed to get us into the area also, which I give good credit for because the bouncer was a hard-faced man.
The guy whose table we kinda crashed, had 2 big bottles of gin (Bombey Sapphire and Beefeater), two shisha and a lot of glasses. The only conversations he seemed to want was to just tell us to drink up. Good chat. I didn't disagree with what he said, nor did the rest of us. 
Two bottles of gin and two bottles of champagne later, it was 7:30 already and we had to be up in a few hours to be out of the apartment. We left the club and went straight for kebab. A place in the center was still open, so we bought our kebabs and made our way home. On the way home. I'd say two meters of police tape just laid on the ground. So, being a good person, I picked it all up and took it into the apartment. Someone could have tripped on that on the street...
Going to sleep was a blur. But waking up 2 hours later with the landlady of the Airbnb at the door was also not the best sight. And for her, seeing all of us

dressed in our party clothes in bed, with police tape on the floor and also me sleeping on a mattress on the floor, must not have been ideal. Hence why we all have the memory of her walking in with "Hola. Get out". I laugh every time. So I would say in 30 minutes, we were up, packed and sitting outside the door. The plan for the rest of the day? Breakfast and sleep on the beach.
Jan, Erika, Lotta and I drove to the beach where we parked at an underground car park and then went to eat at a place called "La Canasta". It was nice but the breakfast was hard to digest and we all just felt bad from, I wanna say the night before but it was just a few hours before. As we ate, Frans walked past us on his way to the bus station as he was leaving for Granada. Hugs and handshakes goodbye as he went his way, we paid and left for the beach. 
On the beach, Teemu, Olli, Max, Frank and Morten were there and we all just went under the palm trees and slept for two hours I would say. After the nap on the beach it was a case of dine and dash to get to the next city. So, back to The Good Burger for some road food. It was good food for the stomach. We ate, and then Erika, Jan, Lotta and I were out and hit the road.

Malaga was awesome. The memories from Malaga are just comical. Between the VIP area, Max's Snus/Fruit machine situation, hunting for wildlife with Lotta... It was all pretty amazing in Malaga. 
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Stay tuned for the next installment where we eat, drink and laugh even more!
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And remember to hit us up on our social media!
Max: immonenmax
Me: DavidCandyKeane
Erika: erikaojala

And my snapchat: Dave_Keane

The Road Trip Saga: Granada

Hey guys! What a month it's been! A couple of midterm exams, a presentation or two and this road trip has been and gone. Santa Semana just finished also. Santa Semana is the Easter Week of Spain, which I think could be a bigger celebration that what I have experienced in Ireland. I hope you all, Erasmus or otherwise are getting ready for the final exams and remember, live the last few weeks of Erasmus to the absolute max! 

But what Road Trip did I mean? I'm talking about the 5/6 Day Road Trip I just completed with my friends down the South of Spain on the Costa del Sol in three incredible cities! That road trip of course! It's been hard to not upload all the picture I took of the incredible places on The Poor Student Traveller facebook page, which if you haven't, be sure to give a like! https://www.facebook.com/ThePoorStudentTraveller/
So on to the road trip itself! I'm excited to share the experience with you all! I guess lets begin with the set-up for the trip and the first destination!

The Set-Up

Around a month or so before we actually departed Madrid to go anywhere, my friends and I were discussing the possibility of doing something on Easter Week. Most of us were not really interested in heading home just for a few days when we have an amazing country that we haven't discovered much of. So with the concept of at least traveling on Easter Week, my friends Max (who has been mentioned in one or two posts before), Erika, Lotta, Jan and I met up in Madrid one evening to discuss the possibilities and the different things we would need for a road trip. We discussed everything, Locations, transport, people and what we would do and see at these places.
One of the biggest factors for the trip had to be BEACH! Living in Madrid and with the temperatures reaching around 24->30 degrees celsius, as much as I like the city, it sucks being here without a body of water or no beach to chill at. After a lengthy discussion, we finally came to the conclusion that the places we wanted to visit were: Granada, Malaga and Sevilla. We would rent cars, depending on the amount of people going and rent AirBnB apartments! After this discussion, up until the week before the trip was spent getting numbers on how many were going and making sure all accommodation and transportation was sorted out! After that... We were ready to go!

Granada

To begin with the first destination, Max, my friend Teemu and I left Madrid at around 10:30 after an hour spent in the office of Hertz/Thrifty, the company we were renting on of the cars from. At the Thrifty office, we were there with the attendant of the office discussing the different prices and different insurance packages we could get with the car we were renting. In total, the whole car altogether cost close to 473€. Within this mount included theft and damage insurance, which we took due to the fact that it was Santa Semana, as well as the car itself. Initially. we were supposed to be getting a Seat Ibiza, but were upgraded to a Skoda Superback. A car perfect for our trip, with enough room, The almost 500€ price was maybe 100 or 150 euro over what we estimated but with an upgraded car, it wasn't the worst price. 

From there it took around 4 hours to get to Granada. We carried water, peanuts, bananas, croissants and chips with us for the journey, you know, essential road trip snacks. Not satisfying our growing hunger, we stopped at a little roadside restaurant about one 45 minutes to an hour outside of Madrid where we sat, had a coffee to refresh ourselves and ate some bocadillos before hitting the road. The drive was quite nice with Max and Teemu. The car was rocking from a mixture of Big Sean, Drake, 21 Savage, Black Eyed Peas and my

favourite... JVG from Finland!

We arrived in the city of Granada at around 3:30 or 4pm, with the sun still shining and it was still quite warm. As we came into the city of Granada, the first thing we could see was the Sierra Nevada mountains, The snow covered peaks could be seen and it made for a spectacular view as we drove and made our way into the city. We drove around the city of Granada for about 20 minutes both trying to find our Airbnb location and also a good parking spot that would be close enough to our apartment and easily accessible. Eventually, we managed to find a spot just off the Camino de Ronda, the street in Granada with a phenomenal view of the Sierra Nevada peaks. Our parking spot was a 3 to 5 minute walk away from our Airbnb. We parked up, took our bags and made our way to the Airbnb where the remainder of our road trip group, Jan, Erika, Lotta and Laura were waiting for us to arrive. 

The other group took their car promptly from Centurion Car rental from the San Fernando area of Madrid which is quite close to the airport and is adjacent to the AC Hotel in that area. They took a Fiat 500L, which provided both room and comfort for even five people as well as luggage.

We got to the apartment. The apartment we rented from Airbnb was only 44€/night. As we stayed only one night, it was perfect. The apartment consisted of 4 bedrooms and 7 beds, enough for the seven of us, comfortably. The apartment was also fitted with two terraces, one with a perfect view of the Alhambra, 2 bathrooms and an appropriately sized kitchen. It was perfect!

After gathering our surroundings, we left the apartment in search of a place to eat and also get a good look at the city. As it was Semana Santa, it made it quite difficult to move around the streets as the pilgrims and devotees, some dressed in their Santa Semana costumes, filled the streets. We found ourselves at a restaurant not too far away from the Cathedral of Granada. The place was called Meson de Mar. Here, my friends Max, Teemu and I ordered the grilled chicken breast with fries. Lotta and Laura ordered the potato, prawn and asparagus. Out of all the places we ate at during the whole 5 day trip, I think the general consensus leads to believe that the Meson de Mar was not the best restaurant we visited on the trip. The portions were really small and the service was not that good, they forgot our requests quite often. I didn't even take a

picture of the food, it was quite disappointing. And you know how important food is for me...
After dinner, we made our way through the small streets of Granada, going through the crowds of celebrations until we came out on one of the main streets and almost immediately, we made the first pitstop at Massimo Dutti, the clothing retailer where Max was eager to find and buy a new shirt. After a comical 15/2o minutes at the store, we left empty handed with Max not finding what he wanted. We then moved forward towards the base of the climb towards the Alhambra where we looked in awe and also mild fright at the procession of people in the Santa Semana festivities. We watched and waited for two Finnish friends to meet us. The two friends, Olli and Frans met us and then decided to guide us up the climb to the Alhambra viewpoint. The walk up was really cool. We passed through the really interesting Arabic market area which had really cool smells and the products all looked really interesting. 
We kept climbing and eventually came to the viewpoint with our beers. We all took our touristy pictures, had our beers and had nice chats as the sun hit our faces. After maybe 20 or 30 minutes just chilling at this viewpoint, we

wondered about going higher to get an even better view of the Alhambra as the sunset. We climbed and climbed higher until we came to a nice resting area. This place was so beautiful with the Alhambra being lit up by the sun on its back. From my friends, you could feel the relaxation and from myself also. It was peaceful. 
Our stomachs were mostly the reason for leaving the high viewpoint of the Alhambra. We were getting hungry, and not surprising after the lunch we had 😂. Olli and Frans, our Finnish friends, suggested and accompanied us to a restaurant. Back down to the main streets of Granada, the two boys led us to the restaurant, "7Gatos" or "7Cats". The place had a good atmosphere, and had our reservation ready for us. We freshened up and took our seats. A big push came from Olli and Frans to take the burrito, their recommendation. A majority of the group ordered the burrito, I ordered the cheddar calzone (I hadn't had a calzone since my time in Italy). Max and Frans ordered the hamburgers. We got our beers. The Alhambra beer in Granada is really nice, I would recommend trying it! We were given mini burritos on a bed of couscous as an appetizer before our food, and my god... if it was an indicator for the food to come, then we were in for a treat because they were delicious. I just couldn't stop eating the couscous.
We got our food in what felt like no time at all. The burritos all looked really really tasty. I was internally jealous but I received my cheddar calzone which looked just so good. We all chowed down and conversed about Granada, what we did in the day etc. The drinks went down well and so did the food. I don't think there wasn't an empty plate! We finished up, paid and left. The plan for then was to just chill for the night, after a long day.
We went to an alimentacion, bought some drinks, went back to our apartment and just had a really nice and relaxing evening.
The next morning, after a little lie in, we packed up our cars, left the Airbnb and went for breakfast. The place we went was on the climb up to the Alhambra. The girls already left before us so

they were already there. The place where we ate was called "4Gatos". No idea about the fascination with cats in Andalusia, but oh well! 4Gatos was so good. It was a small-ish place but the food was really really good! I ordered the granola with banana and some toast and coffee. Max and Teemu ordered the Omega 3 salmon toast and Jan ordered the muesli with cinnemon.  The food was so delicious with fresh orange juice and really good coffee, but also at a reasonable price. If anyone is going to Granada, I recommend eating in 4Gatos!
After breakfast, we were back down and into the cars, picked up Olli and Frans to bring to Malaga with us and away we were onto the next city!

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Next will be the post about Malaga! Stay tuned for that!

Thanks to Erika for use of some of her Granada pictures! 
Be sure to follow on Instagram: erikaojala 
And to Max for his advice also. Check him on insta: immonenmax
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And be sure to check up with my 'gram!: Dave_Keane

Erasmus: Aranjuez and Barcelona

Hola people! Hope you're all well and happy! As with many of my posts whilst here on Erasmus, I have been busy traveling, studying and living the Erasmus life to find time to blog more frequently and also I decided to spend more time doing stuff to come up with content for you guys! So all exciting times!

St. Patrick's Day is coming up this Friday! I'm looking forward to that and to experience St. Patrick's Day here in Madrid and to show the Spaniards how us Irish party on Paddy's Day. I hope you'll all find a way to at least have a Guinness!
And now on to the fun stuff!
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Aranjuez

On the weekend of the 18th of February, so about three weeks ago, as one of our weekly things to do, my friends and I came up with a plan to check out another town within the autonomous region of Madrid. We had already gone to Alcala de Henares (see previous post) and been to Toledo and Segovia on the first few weeks so, we checked online on TripAdvisor and came to the conclusion that Aranjuez was the place to go.
We met up at Atocha Renfe train station at 11:30, all of us. A nice multinational group of Finnish, German, Swedish, French, Mexican and Irish. At Atocha Renfe, you move towards Via 7, I remember and from there, you take the train heading towards Parla, which stops in Aranjuez on the C3 line. The train journey from Atocha Renfe cercanías to Aranjuez takes around 45 to 50 minutes but the train journeys to these places really don't feel like they're so long, especially with friends and with the great view of firstly industrial but primarily agricultural Madrid with fields and pastures on each side. 
We arrived in Aranjuez at around 12:30 or shortly thereafter. Hunger overcame a majority of us, so the plan was to initally find food and then continue sight-seeing around Aranjuez and make our way to the Royal Palace. Leaving the Aranjuez train station, we made our way up the Carr. de Toledo,

the main street off of the station and then through the winding streets of residential Aranjuez until we came to the Aranjuez street market. The market was just like what I remember the markets to be like in places like Walthamstow, London or the Torrevieja market in Alicante. As a group, we moved our way through, looking at the different items being sold and bargained left and right. None of us really had a fancy to buy any items until a mobile vendor selling candied coconut lollipop balls came to us with different colored coconut treats. They looked so good and for just €1, we couldn't really say no. We almost sold him out, I believe. The coconut balls, however sweet, were awesome and we were all really impressed with them. The only downside was that it just made us more hungry!
We moved on, using TripAdvisor onto the Carr. de Andalusia, one of the main

streets, I reckon for boulangeries and other small eateries and now matter h

ow many we passed, we were inclined to find the number one restaurant on TripAdvisor- Casa José. We walked up the street and came to the Casa José. I completely understand why it was considered number one on the app, the waiters were in full tuxedos. We, however, were with backpacks, sweatshirts, baseball caps and just not dressed for fine dining that would be associated with the place. It looked amazing, however! Across the street to our luck, there was the Mercado de Abastos on the same street as Casa José. The Mercado de Abastos is quite similar to the Mercado de San Miguel. You could get ham, bread, drinks and the further you moved in, is where the eating areas were located. The different restaurants all offered something unique. Italian food, seafood, paella etc. We walked around and came to the decision that Italian food just suits everyone! 

The place we ate at was a place called "diVino". It seemed like a nice place, with a nice menu and it was just convenient for everyone. Most of the people ordered their pizza, which just looked amazing! Their Caesar Salad also looked delicious. I ordered the spaghetti pesto, and pesto is one of my favorite things to eat. Pesto is just... heaven. I could eat pasta pesto forever, so I was super excited to try this one and soothe my hunger. We sat and talked, they gave us big 2 liter bottles of water. My friend ordered the Paella from the vendor next to diVino. The paella looked and smelled great and according to my friend, Diego, it was really delicious seafood. We received our food. My friend's bolognese looked good but mine, didn't look or really taste as good as I was expecting. The pesto was way too oily to the point where my spaghetti were drowning. I ate it anyway because I was starving 😂

After lunch, it was then time to go up and make our way to the Royal Palace of Aranjuez. Just around the corner from the Mercado was the Iglesia de San Antonio de Padua. Normal touristy pictures were taken quickly, the building was quire impressive. We kept going and just basked in the sunshine of the Plaza de San Antonio. A cool little plaza which was basically the walkway to the Royal Palace. Not many people were here but it was nice to just feel the sun while we walked. We entered the entrance gardens of the Palace. The place was laced with fountains everywhere, which made the gardens look really beautiful. We took group photos around the fountain

and then looked around the riverside. We did that slow walk thing through the gardens, taking in all the nature and awesome fountains and statues littered around the massive gardens.  To the right of the Palace, we entered the bigger Jardin de la Isla. Magnificent arches of shrubs and plants with cool areas to sit and chill out as well as great places to take photos. We posed for some funny photos, tried to catch some animals and chat. We relaxed there for a good 20 minutes before walking the perimeter of the Palace. As we came to the opposite side of the palace, we decided to enter the Palace. It cost about €4 for students to enter, which wasn't so bad. We entered and let me tell you, the place is very grand indeed. A huge staircase is the first thing to see as soon as you enter. You walk up them and you do a loop of the whole building, taking in all the different rooms of the Spanish Royal Family. A shisha smoking room,

a waiting room in front of most rooms, a load of art and candelabras everywhere. The place was lavish. Gold trimmings. Great views. You get a sense of what it's like to be Royal, which kind of made us wish we were rich... Which gave us thoughts about how much we would get if we flogged everything in the Palace, but we didn't do it 😂. We finished walking around and saw all the stuff that made the Royal's tick in their time. 
Apres Palace, we decided it was maybe time to head back to Madrid and make our way to the Plaza Mayor 400 Celebrations! We arrived back in Madrid at around 5:30 or 6. 
Aranjuez- ✅
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Barcelona

Now here's the really fun story! 
Last weekend, from the 9th until the 12th, my friends and I booked and traveled to Barcelona with ESN, the Erasmus Social Network. The trip was called the "Barcelona Experience" and considering I had never been before, it seemed like a perfect opportunity to see the city for a couple of days!
The trip began early on Thursday evening when a few of the guys and I met up in at the Puerta del Sol in the center of Madrid, as a meeting place. We met early so we could look for things that we needed for Barcelona and also chill out together for a while in Madrid. We spent most of the time in O'Neill's Irish Bar, chilling with a beer.
The scheduled time to leave was 1 am so we could travel through the night and be there for 9 am. We left Madrid around 1:30 am and traveled our way through the night, making a pitstop in a service station where we were able to snack and hydrate before continuing onto Barca. The trip itself was kind of tough as 8 hours on a bus can be quite uncomfortable for the legs. We brought our neck pillows so that helped somehow.
At 9:30, the bus stopped in Barcelona to let us out and we, as a group of about 60, made our way to our hostel. Our hostel was Yeah Hostel on Carrer de

Girona. A tired, grumpy-ish group, we left our bags at the hostel and immediately made our way to the Sagrada Familia, the most famous Cathedral in Barcelona. The building was amazing to behold. Eight tall towers touched

the skyline and the sandy color of the building made for a cool exterior. We lined up to go through the security. It was the first time I had ever seen security this intense at a church. We managed to get our tickets free, thanks to ESN and were quickly moved through the line and received our headphones. Immediately huddled in a group, we were given a tour of the Sagrada Familia in English. The tour guide started from the exterior of the building, explaining the different imaged depicted across the walls and the meanings of the different statues and it was very interesting to see and hear about all of these religious artifacts.
We moved into the building. The stained glass windows and the different religious ornaments made for very unique and interesting interior design, which I found quite impressive. The security on hand to make sure we removed

our hats and so on. We didn't stay too long at the church as we had more to do in the day. We exited the church and were immediately starving. Only cure? Maxi bucket at KFC! We came back to our group with 20 pieces of chicken and a 2 liter bottle of Pepsi, looking like animals shoving it in our faces but we didn't care!
After the food and the Sagrada Familia, we walked, looking at the different building designed by Antoni Gaudi, the same man who designed the Cathedral. It was really hot outside too. The ESN coordinators then said we could do what we wanted for a while, so we decided that it was time to skip the walking tour and head to the beach! So we walked towards Las Ramblas, the most famous market street in Barcelona to make our way to the waterfront. Las Ramblas wasn't as crowded as I had expected but it was still pretty neat to see! We walked quite a while and eventually came to the Columbus Monument! And then we saw the water. It's

awesome when it's sunny out to be near the water. The heat and the water just makes it feel like summer. We walked on the promenade, bought some drinks and ice-cream and just chilled there for a little bit before it was time to head back to the hostel. When we arrived back, we opted out of the ESN activity. Instead, we discovered what was inside the hostel and came across a perfect rooftop terrace where we sat out and chatted for a while until we got hungry again. We used TripAdvisor again and used to find our place for late lunch. Close to us, and the place we ate in was called La Vietnamita which was a Vietnamese street food restaurant. It was quaint but smelled lovely. We went in and were immediately greeted, the service was good. I ordered the Vietnamese chicken curry. Now, if you like the taste of lemongrass, or citrus

flavor, this is for you. The food was quickly served but for me, it was too bitter. It wasn't horrible but just a bit too strong tasting for me. 
After late lunch, we stopped in a small bakery for some churros and made our way back to the hostel, which was at about 5:30 or 6 pm. We were given our bedrooms. My friends and I were all in one room, which was awesome. The rooms were amazing. Great furniture, awesome bathroom and a small balcony, it was great.
 And from then until 11pm or so, we were given free time which consisted of mostly drinking alcohol before the night of partying. We ordered pizza to our room from Telepizza, which was awesome as it was like a cool, tight house party. That night, ESN got us free entrance into Razzmatazz Night club, one of the better know clubs in Barcelona. It was an animal themed night so I drew my face with some sort of whiskers! We partied until the wee hours. The club itself was good. The music was good, it had three floors and a roof terrace. So I would recommend visiting Razzmatazz if you're passing through Barcelona

The next day consisted of breakfast at the hostel early enough, at around 9:30 am. And from then, we got ready and instead of joining with ESN on their walking tour, we decided to spend the day just doing our own tour of Barcelona. We traveled to the Sants Estacio metro station which is where the Venetian towers are. Our main goal was to get to the Palau Nacional. Around

the corner from the Venetian Towers, which were cool to see was exactly what we were looking for, the Palau Nacional. The parade up to the palace was quite nice with the palace looming over us. The surrounding buildings were nice to see on the way to the palace but its not denying that the palace out did them all, We walked the gardens a bit before our stomachs started growling at us. It was then our mission to make our way back to the beach area and find a place to eat.
We walked the way behind the palace and firstly stumbled onto Estadi Olimpic, one of the stadiums for the 1992 Olympics. The place was awesome with great views but

again, it was a place we didn't wait long at because we wanted food! We walked on for about 3 kilometers until the sea was in sight and food was almost in our belly. We managed to finally make it down to the coast and back to the statue of Columbus. From there, we used TripAdvisor again to find a place to eat and this time, it really paid off. We found this Italian restaurant not too far from the beach called "Tucco" (Carrer dels Còdols 27). We went in and were greeted by an English speaking waitress who was quick to tell us the different offers and menus they had to offer. All of it sounded good, I won't lie. Three lasagnas, ravioli, spaghetti carbonara and a sandwich is what we all ordered as well as cheesecake for dessert. We were not waiting too long for the food, which was great as the place was quite busy. The food. Oh wow. The food was amazing. We were all quick to finish the food and then sit back and talk about how good it was. The cheesecake was delicious. The carbonara was great. I couldn't really fault it. The only thing I fault is that I haven't tasted Italian food like that in Madrid!
After food we came back to the hostel, first taking the metro and then a cab. Luckily the cabs in Barcelona are actually quite cheap! We came back just in time for us all to go on a trip to Park Guell and the Bunker. The bunker was our

first stop. The bunker is a mountain-top like area where you can get a 360 degree panoramic view of Barcelona. You could see all the big buildings, even through the dense smog. We watched the sunset there, which was pretty amazing and got some cool photos with friends. After that, my friends and I trekked through some forest area on our own mission to get to Park Guell. A few wrong turns and stumbling across a soccer match, but we eventually got there. Unfortunately, we didn't wait too long there until we were ushered back to the hostel. When we arrived back, we decided that we should have a sit down meal in the hostel. The hostel offered starters, main course and dessert with an open bar for only €10! Now we couldn't really say no to that. So we sat for about 3 hours just eating, drinking and eating. The barman, Tiago, always on hand to offer more drinks. The food was really good and fresh. The chef was out serving and was able to tell you what was in the food, so it was a really nice experience. The rest of the night after dinner consisted of getting ready to party in formal wear and heading to Shoko nightclub. I've been

to Shoko nightclub in Madrid before but never one this size. We got to Shoko at around 1:30 am. It's a beachfront club, so it was really cool. But it was full. Boy was it crowded. I've never been in such a crowded place. If it weren't for my friends, I would have hated the place but they made it fun! So after a few hours there, we went outside onto the beach and just chilled there for a good hour or so before deciding it was way too cold and we had to head home at around 5:30 am.

We missed breakfast the next morning 😂 And were already on the bus back to Madrid by 12:30. A small pitstop was made at the Autonomous University of Barcelona where other ESN groups were meeting up, we were given a free lunch of bocadillos and juice and watched some people perform in the center of the courtyard. After that, all we really did was sit in a bus for hours on our way home. 
All in all, I'd give Barcelona a good thumbs up and I would definitely go back!
Barcelona- ✅

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Tips for Trips: Segovia and Alcalá de Henares

'Sup guys! Hope your February is going well and you're not too bogged down with work and assignments. I know my friends and I are trying to figure out a way to get the work done quickly and proficiently so we can spend our time traveling and enjoying our Erasmus. I mean, travel is the practical way to educate yourself, after all! Apologies also for the bit of a gap between the posts, it's a process to find time for all these things, getting inspiration for good content and making sure it's good enough to write about!
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As I wrote about in the previous blog post about Erasmus and tips for the first two weeks of your Erasmus experience in Madrid, one of the biggest things I recommend for any travellers or prospective Erasmus students to definitely do is participate in ESN activities and TRAVEL! Travel gives a person the kind of knowledge that can't be thought. Only by travelling, in my opinion, do you truly get life experiences.
Since participating this semester in some of the trips so far, whether it be with the Erasmus Network or with friends, each trip offered something different and of course, provided awesome memories. In this post, I will discuss two of the places I have traveled to. Segovia, with the Erasmus Student Network, and Alcala de Henares, with my friends. I'll also be providing some advice on these places, what I'd recommend to do and see.

SEGOVIA

First, let's start with a little background on Segovia, shall we. Segovia is a city in the region of Castile and Leon, inside the province of Segovia, the neighboring

province to Madrid and near the city of Valladolid. The history of Segovia is actually quite cool. Apparently, the first know settlers in Segovia were the Celtic people but then possession of the city switched to the Romans. After that, it is believed to have gone through an Islamic invasion. A lot of different religious influence has passed through Segovia over the centuries, with large Jewish and Christian influences also inhibiting the city. The many spheres of contrasting cultures can be seen throughout the city.

On the weekend of the 20th of January to the 22nd of January, my friends, 100 Erasmus students and myself traveled to a middle-of-nowhere type of place in Guadalajara as part of the Erasmus Integrational Weekend. That weekend consisted of partying, alcoholic beverages and Spanish-themed activities including paella and Sangria (Got us all the way turnt up). The weekend started on Friday and went on until Sunday. Sunday morning after breakfast, with all of us different shades of yellow and green due to hangover, slowly sipping water and orange juice. We made our way to the city of Segovia, which was a two hour bus journey. The journey was so rough. You could hear faint whispering of the same things "I'm dying" or "I'll never drink again".

We drove and arrived in Segovia. We disembarked the bus and the first thing
we saw was the aqueduct. The thing was huge! Huge but magnificent to see. The air was extremely fresh, which made me thankful for the scarf I brought. We walked slowly towards the aqueduct which was kind of like the border to enter the town part of the city. Being that we were still kind of lethargic from the previous nights, the first thing on our list was to get good, strong coffee. We walked a little bit down the Avenida Acueducto and came to a Dunkin' Coffee shop. The smell of coffee kind of yanked us in the door of the store. 

A sandwich and coffee later, it gave us a little bit more energy to continue to look around Segovia. We took the narrow path of Calle Cervantes and Calle

Juan Bravo which led us to the Plaza de Medina del Campo. A cool little pocket on the street with a street perfomer/puppeteer entertaining the passing crowd

. We stopped and looked around at the Iglesia de San Martin. The narrow streets gave a similar vibe to that of an Italian street, with high building lining the narrow street and the bustle of the locals too. Not spending too much time at that Plaza, we kept making our way down the street. Not long after leaving the Plaza de Medina, we came to the main plaza in Segovia, the Plaza Mayor. Similarly named to the Plaza Mayor in Madrid, it however was not

similar to it's Madrid counterpart. As we came out of the narrow street to the big square, to the left we noticed one of the more famous buildings in Segovia. The Catedral de Segovia stood tall with the sun shining down on it. The square was not overly packed with tourists either. We decided to spend more time in the Plaza on the way back, and continued on. 

We kept walking through more narrow streets. We thought we were stumbling into the residential area of Segovia but we were actually on the path to the most famous building in Segovia. The Alcazar Castle, or the "Disney Castle" as my friend said. The castle was pretty amazing. It is situated at the confluence of two rivers, which made the surrounding landscapes of the castle quite rocky. In the distance also you could see the Guardarrama mountains, which made the views quite cool too. The history of the castle is quite cool also. The Alcázar was originally built as a fortress but has served as a royal palace, a state prison, a Royal Artillery College and a military academy. It's now functioning as a museum.
We made our way back towards the Aqueduct. On our return, we stopped in the Plaza Mayor for a coffee and decided it was maybe an appropriate time to head back to the aqueduct and find a place to go for lunch. We took our time on the way back and went in search of a place to eat. We eventually came back to the aqueduct and found a quaint Italian pizzeria called "Trattoria" just near the massive arches. We ate and chatted before deciding to go to the top of the building adjacent to the aqueduct to get a birds eye view of Segovia. This concluded our day in Segovia, as not long afterwards, we were on our way back to Madrid.

TIPS:
Here is some advice on what to do and see whilst in Segovia in January:

• Wrap Up! - When on top, looking over all of Segovia, it can get quite chilly up there. And also when you're walking around the gardens of the Alcázar, the breeze can be quite cold. A good jacket and a scarf is not a bad idea to carry with you when walking about in the city.
• Start with Caffeine: It's not a bad idea when traveling anywhere, not just Segovia, to start with a coffee, tea or something. Even if you're not hungover, it'll give you that added boost of energy to go on and discover wherever you are. And if it's a cold day, it'll warm you up! Two birds, one stone!
• Landmarks: Segovia is not a huge city. But to fit within the touristy agenda, I'd highly recommend the landmarks of Segovia i.e, The Alcázar, Catedral of Segovia and the Iglesia de San Martin. All of you architecture lovers out there, the wide variety of diverse architectual design is quite cool throughout the city and you get different cultural vibes too!
• Try the local cafés and restaurants: Dining in Segovia is great. Walking from the Aqueduct to the Alcázar, we came across many cool looking eateries. Places that serve spit-roast pork, authentic Spanish cuisine and of course, being that there is a strong Italian influence, there is some nice Italian places in Segovia. Trattoria, for example, their food was, out of 5, a solid 3. It was a small place that managed to accommodate a group of 7. Their salad wasn't great, my friend who ordered it rated the salad 1/5 but their pasta's were good. I recommend looking around Segovia for a place to eat. And be sure to check out TripAdvisor!
• Go with a group: One of the factors that made Segovia great, from a student perspective, was going with friends. Maybe being there hungover, I wouldn't recommend that. I was there and discovered the city with six of my friends. As a student, the city of Segovia is a very culture-rich place that's incredibly laced with history. My personal recommendation would be to go with other people and share the culture and history exploration together 😊

ALCALÁ DE HENARES

On Saturday just passed (11 February), after a night of burgers and beer, as a way to pass an afternoon, some of us decided to do some kind of guys trip. Not

really travelling too far, but taking inspiration from the ESN trip from a couple of weeks before hand, Alcalá de Henares was picked as the places we would go. 

Leaving the Atocha Renfe station by train at 11am, we traveled the 40 minutes from the center of Madrid to the town of Alcalá de Henares, to the northeast of Madrid. Taking the Cercanías line C2/C7, you can get to Alcalá for free with your Madrid transport card.

A little history about Alcalá de Henares, I guess! The city dates back to the Bronze Age and since then has had a roman influence since their acquisition in 1st Century BC. The city went through different faces, from Roman takeover, to the Moors arriving in 8th century. Conquered in the 12th Century under the Archbishop of Toledo. Interestingly, one of the first meetings between Christopher Columbus and King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella, happened in Alcalá de Henares in 1480. Just some fun historical facts 😄

Back to the story, we arrived in Alcalá and it was raining. Just our luck, it was

raining. We exited the train station and, under the impression that the city was the famed UNESCO World Heritage Site, were underwhelmed by the initial first impression of the place. However, we walked from the station, using google maps to take us to the center. We walked until we came to the Plaza de Cervantes. A plaza famed for it's dedication to Cervantes. We stopped for a moment to take the typical tourist picture of the plaza before deciding that we should probably take a coffee to start of, before walking around looking at the city.

We walked not too far down the Calle Mayor, just off of the Plaza de Cervantes.

Very discreetly hidden on the right is an alleyway which leads to the cafe in which we decided to get our caffeine fix. Café Hemisphero was the name of the place. It was a case of half and half at the cafe. Half of us ordering a coffee and other half ordering a hot chocolate to warm up after being in the drizzly rain. The coffee was quite good, but what was served as hot chocolate was more like a chocolate pudding. Thick and needed the use of a spoon, not exactly the hot chocolate we were expecting to see. It was good though, but sweet.

Post Coffee, we used TripAdvisor to figure out our next destination. We passed the number one must see attraction, the University of Alcalá, which was an

impressive building, but closed. So our next destination became the Cathedral of the Santos Niños. We entered to see that the seating area in the church to be enclosed and blocked by metal gates, an odd feature. We were met by a curator with who we paid €2 to just take a quick trip up to the bell tower of the church. However spectacular the view was, the €2 literally covered just the view and not entry into the rest of the church, which cost extra. After being told this, we left and decided that it was the socially acceptable time to get food. We walked to the Universidad de Alcalá where there was wifi access and used that to find where we were to eat. One thing I noticed about the city is that Heron birds were EVERYWHERE. On every rooftop. 

We walked through the streets until we stumbled upon a retro 50's diner called "Tommy Mel's". We were instantly greeted by an English-speaking waitress who organized a table of eight, which was great. The places was kinda quiet

though. We ordered. And although the sign on the wall said "served in 8 or 9 minutes" we were actually served in about 15 minutes. I ordered the pot roast. Tender beef served with potatoes. I will say, the portions were small but the food was good. I was still sort of hungry leaving but wasn't complaining.

After lunch, we took a walk around the town, a roundabout way making our way back to the train station. We were all deep in conversation to really notice anything from the town after that. After a 15-20 minute walk, we were back in the station, boarding the train back to Atocha.

TIPS:

• Bring an umbrella: Alcalá is cool to look around, but it was raining when we were there, so I recommend being weather-ready. Bring an umbrella or a hooded jacket.
• Research before going: Really look at what you want to see in Alcalá before going there. There is cool building and stuff to see around the place but it's advisable to have an idea about what you want to do and see, it'll save you from standing around using different apps and google maps to make a plan on what to do
• Go with a group: Alone, I am sure I would not have enjoyed Alcalá, from a student's point of view. As there was 8 of us, it made for a better day and better experience in Alcalá.

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That's it for this post! I hope you enjoy it and that these tips help if you're considering visiting these places!

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Thanks to my friends Teemu and Max for their help and feedback on Segovia and Alcalá! Be sure to check their Instagram's

Teemu: Timmyyk

Max: immonenmax

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And don't forget to check me out on my social media too!

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ThePoorStudentTraveller/

IG: Davidcandykeane

Twitter: Davidko49

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