The Roadtrip Saga: The Assassin (Sevilla)

Hey there! Hope you're all doing good and well and are enjoying your summer! Yeah, it's been quite a while since my last post and some of you have been asking when the next installment of this roadtrip saga was gonna be posted. With exams, social obligations, traveling and other activities over the past two months, it wasn't the right time to be posting content if I didn't have enough time to commit to good content writing.
But enough with the excuses. I'M BACK. And over the next few days I'm gonna have a few things to post!
I'm back in Ireland now. No longer living in Spain and have gone on another really cool trip that will be discussed in one of the next posts. So to finish what I started, here is the third and final installment of The Roadtrip Saga!
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The drive to Sevilla was a fun one. We were driving from Malaga, and it can be debated whether or not any of us were in a fit state to travel or not. But after napping on the beach I think we were on the border of okay and not okay. The car ride, with Lotta, Erika, Jan and myself was a good one that consisted primarily of conversations regarding the night before and how the whole night came to be.
The drive from Malaga to Sevilla took around 2 hours. It was a fairly smooth drive. We chatted most of the way or were singing along to the music on the radio, or attempting to. Spanish/Reggaeton music is great music to listen to in the car, let me tell you!
Our group was the first group to make it to Sevilla, as Erika was the one to use her account to book AirBnB. We arrived in the evening time, shortly around sundown. The first port of call was to stop in the center, to drop off Lotta, who would meet with us again later. The three of us that were left, with the help of google maps, made our way to the Airbnb. Eventually, but with not much difficulty, we found the apartment and the owner waiting for us. The accommodation we rented in Sevilla, was again rented from Airbnb, as it could fit all 9 of us. The owner met us outside the apartment and immediately gave us a guided tour of the apartment. 

To say that the apartment was nice, is an understatement. Rooftop apartment with enough space for 9 or 10 people I would say. Fitted kitchen, two bathrooms, big living area and of course, the crowning item... The big rooftop terrace that looked out towards the city of Sevilla. Being the first three there, we had the privilege of picking our own beds first before the others got there. And also have a little snoop at the apartment. Just as we were getting to the good stuff, the others from the other car came arrived.
As we all got ourselves settled, it became a matter of figuring out the plans of the evening. Stay home and order food at the apartment or go out and meet with some friends we knew were in Sevilla also and eat while we're out. All the pro's and con's were weighed out. Cost. Driving. Parking. Time. But the most prominent topic thrown around was hunger. Everyone was hungry. Eventually it was decided that we would just head into the center and get ourselves food and then decide how we feel about drinking.

We drove to the center, bearing in mind that it was the final days of Semana Santa and the traffic would probably be mental. But we chanced it! We made it to the center and found a parking space quite easily. Looking for a place to eat was the next task. It wasn't until someone asked that we realized that is was midnight. So standing in the middle of the street, we were debating what to do and where to go. Turning up a side street, our answer came in the form of a badly lit and slightly sketchy looking Chinese restaurant, simply called "Restaurante Chino,it was now past midnight, none of us argued with Chinese food. The door legit opened with a creak. I can say, it was the probably the weirdest decorated places I've been to. The table decor was just simple. But surrounded on the walls were loads of motorbike helmets. What was weirder was people coming and leaving, as they did, they left or picked up a motorbike helmet.
The decor is besides the point. We ordered our food. I ordered the sweet and sour chicken with chicken fried rice. Others ordered similar sweet and sour dishes or some beef dishes. The food itself was actually quite tasty. There wasn't many other people in the restaurant, so it did give me initial sketchy vibes and a sign of lower quality but I can say that my sweet and sour chicken and chicken fried rice was actually quite tasty and filling. I think its safe to say that all of us couldn't complain with our food, especially considering the time of night that it was.
After dinner, the plan was to walk towards town and find the girls. So we did just that. We used our trusted google maps and went on to the main street which also doubled as the strip of Sevilla. After looking in the terrace areas of one or two bars we eventually found Lotta, Lorena and some of their friends. It was nice to have other people in Sevilla that we knew! Francois, Morten and I decided to let the Finnish conversations flow and have a beer. We went, bought our beers and chatted amongst ourselves. The girls we met then tried their best to persuade us to go to the Nightclub. Tired and grumpy from the night before, we decided against that idea, finished our beers, said goodbye and headed home!
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The next day was a late start. Funnily enough, with two bathrooms, it was still hard to get an opportunity to shower. Then again, we were 9 people... So we showered and got ourselves ready.
The plan for the day was discussed. As it was our last city on the trip, it was definitely time to just do something mildly cultural but also to do something relaxing. The first port of call was breakfast.
Splitting into two groups, one taking a taxi to the center and the group I was in driving to the center, we split up for breakfast.
With Jan driving, we made our way to the city center. Being Good Friday, the

city was starting to become more crowded. However crowded the city was at that stage in the day, around Midday, we were still able to find a parking space, relatively close to the center. With the help of a man who was apparently a parking assistant for the street, we got a good space to park... for €1. After parking, we made our way to Calle Adriano. We walked down the street, trying to find a place to eat. We looked in a few local cafeterias but they didn't have anything really along the lines of breakfast foods, mostly just serving sandwiches. After about a fifteen minute search, we made our decision and went to a place called the Hotel Adriano. The foyer/breakfast area was open to the grey sky which let a cool breeze in on us as we looked over the menu.
Croissants, toasties, coffee and orange juice. Mostly the same orders between the lot of us but it was sufficient enough to see us through the early afternoon anyway. The service for breakfast was good and the food did it's job on satisfying our hunger... for at least half an hour! We didn't actually wait in the place too long as the other group had already eaten and were probably sightseeing, so we were quickly on our way.
We walked to our final destination, which was to the Plaza de Espana of Sevilla where we were to meet the others. On our way, it was amazing to see the cool architecture and designs in Sevilla. The Royal Alcazar, the Doors of Pardon and Cathedral of Sevilla were some of the cool buildings and monuments that we saw on our way, so it made the walk quite entertaining with some of us talking

about if we had our hands on a lot of money, what we would buy and what we would do with such royalties. 

Walking into the grounds of the Plaza de Espana of Sevilla, we saw people riding around in a cart being pulled by both donkeys and horses, which was quite a nice way to get around the Plaza and take it all in. Opting not to do that, we walked in and looked for the other group of people. The Plaza had quite a few people there so we did what we always do. Look for Max. Tall, blonde and identifiable. So right away, we found them! 
We took around the exterior of the building, looking at the different mosaics, frescos and tiled Alcoves on the side of the building as well as being pestered by the street vendors. We entered the big central building where you could climb higher and get a good view of the square. So we climbed up to take a look. Taking group pictures, laughing and joking didn't take away from the view. Probably THE best view of architecture I've ever seen in my life. In pictures, you can see just how beautiful it is and how picturesque the Plaza is but in person and for your own eyes, the Plaza was extremely beautiful, I couldn't

believe it. 
We left the Central building to go and do something else and relax and maybe get a drink. We walked towards the riverside street of Paseo de la Delicias. Some were getting the rumblies so food was also on the agenda. We walked towards the bridge when we came to a McDonalds. Nobody really felt up to Maccies so next door was another restaurant. Not getting anything to eat, I just got myself a drink and sat outside while they ordered their meals. After food was relax time. So we crossed the street and sat down by the river. Shoes off. Tops off. We sat and relaxed as the sun bet down on us. As we chilled out, a guy directly under us was fishing, so he provided some entertainment as he whacked his catch off the wall. A mix of entertainment and relaxation went on for a good hour before the sun started getting to all us Northerners. We left in search of another place to drink and

luckily for us, on the way towards our unknown destination, we came across an outdoor bar/kiosk where we all indulged in Desperados in the shade. Refreshed.
We continued on swiftly to see some more weird and wonderful structures in the city. We walked through the performance area of the Semana Santa which had hundreds of seats. Moving past that we made out way to the Metropol Parasol. One of the weirdest building designs I had ever seen. We entered to find some sort of indoor market before we climbed to the first floor to get a good panoramic view. Literally walking in and walking out, we were not 10 minutes inside 😂.
After the visit we were bound for home. The plan for the evening. Cook at

home. Chill and have a nice evening. So we went to the supermarket to get the ingredients. Quick trip to the store complete and we were on the way home. 
Back at the apartment, before dinner prep started, it was up to me to show off my discoveries from the night before. So we dressed Frank up in all the gear we could. Hat, glasses, scarf and of course, guns. He came out to the others with the guns and a round of "I want to try" started. So for a good hour, we handed around the pellet guns using cans on a wall as good targets.
When the girls returned, dinner prep began and we were all rolling up our sleeves to help. Everyone doing something and drinking at the same time, in no time the fajitas were ready. We prepped the table outside (someone sitting on a suitcase due to lack of chairs), we laid the food out and sat out on the terrace for dinner. It was probably the nicest dinner as we were just in a state of relaxation surrounded by good food, friends and drinks. Dinner escalated to

drinking on the terrace which transitioned into card games inside with more drinks. 
Before we knew it, it was midnight. Plans to go to the club were being passed around and eventually taxis arrived, so we just headed out! Uthopia nightclub was our venue for the night and as much as I want to, I can't remember anything from that night... The last part I remember was the taxi home...

Waking up the next day was bittersweet. We had to leave and head back home but leaving the awesome roadtrip behind was the sickening part. We had ourselves packed up, cleaned and ready to leave and had to prepare ourselves for the four hour drive back to Madrid. Before hitting the road to Madrid, a quick stop to Maccies was on the cards and after what sounded like a crazy night... No one really complained. We ate, said some goodbyes and hit the road to be back in Madrid before the time in which we had to return our cars.

All in all, the roadtrip, as expensive and crazy as it was, it was WELL worth it. For any Erasmus students reading, I would highly recommend going on a roadtrip at some point on the Erasmus experience. Live more of the country you're in. Try new things. Meet new people and best of all, have an experience you'll remember for a long time. Lucky for my friends, they can just look at this blog and be reminded of the fun journey!

To cap off this roadtrip saga, I'll end it with the most powerful quote to come from the trip...

"Hola, Get Out!"

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Remember to check out my Facebook: The Poor Student Traveller

Instagram: DavidCandyKeane

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*All underlined are placed we went or street names.

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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