Eurotrip II

Here we continue from itally...

Bologna: I had the fortune to have met a very special friend in Uppsala. This Latin-American raised Italian hosted me in this beautiful and monumental city that holds good pride on the tradition of coffee, delicious food and open air lifestyle but in a more organized way than the rest of Italy (Alice plz don’t get mad). I was stroked by finding out that Bologna harbored the oldest University of Europe. This majestic city was also hit by WW1 and one could see that by visiting the old university.

My friend treated me like a king, fed me tons of incredible food and got me drunk with the best possible wine. Cooked for me several times and spoiled me with fancy antipestos of delicious hams and cheese, it was so good that I didn’t want to leave the place. I’m in great debt pal, I’m waiting the opportunity to pay back!

Having the privileged to stay there, we went for the nightlife. The Italians are very much into fashion but in a relax way I liked that. One can notice that strive to look good and seduction and “cortejo” is a key there. In Sweden, I missed this beautiful and enjoyable game. Things there are just about looking good and being in the right place. Colombia shares a lot with the Italians, I’ll call it the art of seduction that arises another dimensionality to just getting around with someone for the night, it gives the situation a true meaning. I learnt to distinguish the different kinds with every zip of gorgeous coffee I tried. I enjoyed tortellini, prosciutto, salami, Bolognese spaghetti (I’ve forgotten the name Jacopo, sorry) and real quality pizza. The next day we went to Parma and enjoyed the view from two different castles and witnessed a beautiful medieval-like wedding.

Firenze: Trying to get closer to France I went to this religious icon full of monuments. The presence of the monumental cathedral there stunned me. Enjoyed the walks through the narrow streets not without always bumping into a special and great place at the end of it. Regretting not staying longer in this country I made my way out to France. I felt embraced when got closer to Geneva; going advancing from the Italian coasts, there was an air of Cartagena that fulfilled me from inside. Long coasts full of tourists, from the window I let the nostalgy of my land to take over myself. I had to change trains in several towns to get to my destination. That night I went to Niece and the next day I would return to Monaco, as I had to check it out! When traveling languages become at first a limitation. I haven’t felt any struggle at all until I arrived in France. Italians got really easy Spanish the same happens with Portuguese, but definitely not with French.

Nice: Changing trains I met a French girl from Paris taking a summer job in Niece for it has great reputation as a dynamic night life city and the coast is just fantastic. I arrived there at 21:00 and knew it wasn’t worthy to pay a hostel, so I invited her a few drinks and had a chilled chat. The conversation was really limited and it evolved slowly, but it was really helpful that she knew Italian, not English though, allowing my Spanish speech to come out and play! After that I continued walking admiring the city.

Monaco: As soon as the first train to Monaco was set on the screen I made my way to the tiny country. I got disappointed when realising that this city was not planned for pedestrians like me but for millionaires with fancy cars. It took me a rather long time to climb to a nice spot where to take pictures and got a bit lost when returning to the starting point. The city was luxurious, no doubt about that. Full of casinos and restaurants ready to take your money off you. Even though it was early one could daydream of having a little of the vast selection of cars and Yates shown.

Cannes: A beautiful and marvelous sea path. It looked to me more relaxed that takes a great advantage of the summer time. Tourists all around with ice cream and showered in sun cream. The beached stood as the best attraction and I regretted not having much time to take the most of it. I fancied a traditional French breakfast and discovered hidden in an almost invisible corner a coffee shop with a bakery. The ham and cheese pie was something else and the sandwiches covered by cheese and put to the oven mmmm … so good.

So far I saw the effort in combining the old and antique look with fresh and modern architecture. Always playing with the illumination and non-traditional colors.

Avignon: I took a high-speed train to the city, now I realised I was surrounded just by French’s, the feeling was scary to be honest. I have always grown fond of the language and every word uttered in French sounds to me like as a passionate whisper of love. I don’t see this people having arguments or heated discussions as for me it would only sound like two people flirting with each other. Avignon looked very posh and antique. They were hosting a theatre festival for it was packed with young people enjoying the town. Then I started to distinguish the different sorts of fashion displayed by the French compared to the rest of the Western Europe. The French appeared very elegant and pretentious. I met there my old Belgium friend who I met in England. We had a very nice afternoon walking through the old town and catching up. She knows plenty about good beer because of her roots and enlightened me with some insights about the good golden beverage (she had darker though).

Later on she learnt all the details of my trip and wanted me to try some French cousin as she was very fond of it and loved France all her life. We went for a really good dish of beef and Roquefort cheese sauce and as an antipasto we tried the widely known garlic snails! Yeah baby I was man enough to put them in my mouth and enjoy them! They were neat. She took me in that night and we spend such a great time remembering the old times in England and both agreed that it is without any doubt a great country. We went for the local sightseeing the day after and got to a beautiful medieval village where we stopped and chilled for pics. She showed me the surroundings and remarkable landscapes. I hope I can host her here in Sweden should she decide to come as such a great job was done there hosting me. Tack så mycket!

Montpellier: AS a break to the long journey on train to Barcelona I decided to stop at this elegant city where the French were showing off their particular style at a top level. On the contrary from the other days, I had a rather simple meal: a Baguette sandwich with chicken and tartara sauce. It was easy to appreciate the quality of the baguette, as it was crunchy! I had to get connected to Barcelona via Perpignan and Portbou.

Barcelona: My arrival to the capital of Cataluña was pretty straightforward, but in Perpignan I had a traditional creppé, needless to say it was quite a fancy meal. The journey continued along Costa Brava and the landscape was inspiring. Having arrived to Barcelona Sants I went for a traditional Spanish meal consisting of paella and crème brullete (or crema catalana as they claim). I met my friend Diego and he offered shelter the next couple of days. He had things to do so I borrowed his rollerblades and went for skating along La Barceloneta. The experience was great. Sunny with clear skies with the Mediterranean Sea just by my side. The presence of the teenagers makes you forget I’m getting older and gives you youth. Afterwards we went for the sightseeing to the old town, the Gaudi Park as I discovered by my lovely friend Valeria that I hadn’t gone in my first visit to Barcelona and also we visited the market at the principal rambla.

That night we went for salsa and received lessons from a talented Turkish instructor, not too bad though! Plenty people from everywhere and quite good dancers too. I even learnt from a lovely and impressive Canadian dancer that the salsa feeling in Montreal is awesome.

Zaragoza: When the train was leaving Barcelona away one could see how the window showed a more desertic nature. The soil was dry and the vegetation almost extinct. Zaragoza gave me the impression of a modern city located in the middle of nowhere. Apparently there took place a very important political event as they have “el paseo de la independencia” and have a monument called ”Los tres poderes”. The old city was fairly modest although there was a huge monument dedicated to “La virgin Maria” named “El pilar”. I rounded my walk off by eating some traditional seafood for what Spain has gained good popularity.

Pamplona: Earlier I mentioned how three Spanish cuties persuaded me to go to this city. Well sad enough I got there just after one of the most important and craziest festivities ever “San Fermín” and it is about being chased by angry bulls and if you are lucky enough to live to tell the story.

I felt like the foolest ass in the world, everyone was Hanover and wanted to chill out, on the contrary I wanted to party. The city was cosy and cute and showed off a very well conserved old town with elegant architecture and fancy plazas.

So after sightseeing for a while I managed to have fun as sleeping wasn’t on my plans … I danced at the best  latinamerican style if you know what I mean!

Burgos: When getting there we crossed two chains of mountains making it a quite lovely view. It is significantly apparent to me how this northern part enjoys of great nature. One could realise as well the change in architecture tendencies. I started my walk from the castle as due to the introduction of new train station because of the high-speed trains in Spain, most of the rail stations have been moved to the suburbs of the cities. I had little time to spend in Burgos and rushed as much as possible, too bad! I got really good advises from a local and learnt about Morcilla and goat cheese that was spectacular. I started from up the hill where the castle stands and made my way down registering with my camera this beautiful city. The cathedral was in a gothic style, detailed in perfection. Surrounding the huge religious spot there were an infinitely number of allyes. Here I discovered a new face of Spain hidden to me by the commercial Andaluz sold façade advertised everywhere, it look so different, posh and great, so luxurious and organised. It changes my impression of the colonizers. There was a delightful pedestrian path along the river that I enjoyed plenty full of gardens of fantasy maintained to the detail; it was full of painters depicting their artistic impression of this majestic city. The cathedral was out of this world, huge and monumental, beautiful from everywhere seen.

Leon:  I almost made the usual mistake when arrived to this city. I don’t know the reason for it but before having seen the city I got the idea that it wont be as good as the other ones visited before. So there I was expecting too little from Leon. It appeared to me as an old city consumed by modern tendencies. They had built new structures attached to the old walls and the architecture register was mixed. There was a connection of big main road ending in great circular fonts and round abouts. Although the river wasn’t anything else than regular, the walk paths were nice. The entrance to the old town was amazing and gave me the feeling they were expecting my arrival. Antique buildings full of flower in its balconies gave it a colourful touch full of vitality. Not having to walk much on would hit the huge and magnificent cathedral. It had the most beautiful vitrales I have seen and those filtered the light coming from outside giving the atmosphere a celestial feeling, colourful rays coming straight from heaven to illuminate you in your prays, what an experience. Making my way to “la plaza de toros” I met an old guy from whom I learnt plenty about the city. He recommended me a place where one could get really good pinchos for free after buying drinks. I ate several different pinchos while getting tipsy on the way. After being in Castilla, I got a whole new perspective of Spain. I know now that Spain offers much more that what seen in Andalucía and that its diversity is great. Finally there I had to try “Empanadas” so I ate a big one made of chorizo and left another made of fish for the ride to Galicia.

Galicia: I found myself very exited to go to Galicia as in London I met a very special person from Villa García Arousa. There is plenty I learnt from her about this region and having the opportunity to see all this with my own eyes made me feel pretty anxious.

On my way I noticed the change of nature, it got quite similar to the one seen in Sweden. Plenty oaks, hills and lakes all very green. Once in A coruña the skies became cloudy. I started my regular walk to the old city and hated walking the distance from the train station to the old town, how annoying and it was only in Spain they would put the train station as far away as possible from the touristic places!

My walk was long and full of memories. The sea there had the smell that tells me I’m home. No other European city so far visited offered that. The pedestrian paths were enjoyable down to the “Hercules tower” and visited the stones from the Paleolithic era. I had all night to spare so I took it easy making plenty of thinking while contemplating the beautiful and familiar sea. The old town wasn’t spectacular but had a big plaza with a very nicely illuminated “Ayuntamiento”. Late that night I met this waiter finishing his shift and gave me a broad image of the situation lived in Galicia regarding being part of Spain, when he was showing the old town in detail. After a very illustrative chat he offered shelter for me not to spend the night on a bench, it was very nice of him.

Santiago de Compostela: The day was foggy with a fairly familiar drizzle experienced for two years in Great Britain. This city was mainly about monks and monasteries. The cathedral and its surroundings were unique in style very antique and quite original. I thought of a region of my country called Boyaca when walking through the alleys, also remained me of Manizales due to the broken structure of the city; it was built on several hills. Overall, I like feeling cosy and this was what I felt in this city.

Villa García Arousa: I couldn’t skip this destination as it holds so many stories told by my friend. Galicia made me feel like being somewhere familiar to me. I got surprised and nostalgic when realizing that people’s accent sounded so close to hers, bringing hundreds of memories almost forgotten and hidden by time. I enjoyed the walk along the seacoast and had a nice meal of “Pulpo a la Gallega” and some traditional Spanish ham. One time I remember being told about some places in this city, she vividly showed in pictures her school and noticed then the magic behind its walls. I think I spotted the building and took a couple of pictures of it; it would be great if it turns out to be the one! In Galicia I experienced something I have been sensing in Sweden. People are very humble and diligent. The rest of Spain is characterised by this assertive and tough behavior that can be quite shocky sometimes, but not here for sure. I appreciate this much more after having internalised the Swedish manners, called by many “The Jante law”.

Vigo: This city offered great views and really good and inexpensive tapas. It was a bit crowded and gives the false impression of being big. It was refreshing to experience the kindness of its native people and liked that they were so keen on helping dumb and clumsy tourists like me. As a Colombian one feels a bit of reluctance from the Spaniards to address us. I blame the excessive immigration coming from Latin American countries to Spain. Anyhow none of this I experienced in Galicia where I was treated very gently, I loved the whole experience.

Porto: I remember being so excited about leaving Span from Portugal, a utterly amazing place not I wasn’t acquainted with was there awaiting. The journey was long and I was shattered for not sleeping the last two days. I dessperatedly needed a good night sleep. On the train I meet a couple of Danish girls whom I spotted when listening to a distorted version of the Swedish word “ingen”, I got closer and asked in Swedish where they came from and got an answer! Yeah my Swedish lessons are paying off! From there I learnt about this nice youth hostel and signed in for the night. On the contrary from my plans I enjoyed meeting an American guy who had travelled most of Central America along with a Swedish-Finnish who was quite experienced in backpacking.


The city got me completely amazed, it was an incredible experience, I can’t utter words to describe what felt up in the bridge contemplating the river and the beautiful messy city with this very Latin American appearance and wasted façades, feeling the warm and strong breeze empowered by the presence of the castle on the other side, such an overwhelming feeling. The buildings where attached to each other and were old like stroked by time, one could see the years running its course through them and dogging the narrow streets. The river walk was marvelous, it was sunny, humid I needed a beer so much and enjoyed at the same time I fell in love with the view, they had put a gigantic waving flag in order for you to know that feeling was Portugal and you couldn’t get confused. The food OMG I had this pork nicely cooked in spices that made the flavor unique, the meat was almost melting in my tongue, out of speech! In the hostel they advised me to go to Braha so I made my way to the medieval town.

Braha: A small city with a modest old town. As said before, it felt very Latin American if you take out the gothic cathedral. I can now differentiate the Portuguese from Spanish people, being the former less snobby to say my impressions. I loved from Portugal the fact that they were gentle with my wallet. The menu was an outstanding flavored pork cooked in white beans served in gigantic proportions, I asked for a quite bland vegetable soup also and a jar of beer for just 5 euros are you freaking kidding me? I fancied something sweet after the oily taste in my mouth so they recommended me a traditional strong liqueur served on the rocks and the price got up to 6 euros! Man if I felt like an imperialist bastard so I had to give 2 euros tip to feel contributing with the local economy. After fleeing out from Galicia the weather got so good as expected varying from 25 up to 35 Celsius. There Lisboan stood as my final destination traveling west meaning that after that I would be making my way back to Sweden.

Lisboan: As soon as got off the train I booked a hostel and went for the nightlife as I had been told that it was brilliant. I can’t deny it, lovely girls from everywhere though, nice weather, full of bars and pubs packed with crazy people following the savage call of human contact, everyone seemed acting crazy! We started a pub-crawl with some guys from the hostel and got acquainted with these shy Korean guys. I found them staring at this three smoking hot blondies sat with a guy and I suggested going there and have a chat. They stated that the girls were out of our league and wouldn’t expose themselves to rejection like that. So I bet a beer I could go and chat with them. Apparently it wasn’t so impressive so they challenged me to sit there at least 10 mins of non-stopping laugh and fun. You ought to get me right, yes I am Latin American, yes I can be quite talkative but bear in mind that I am a mathematician and a computer geek too huh! So don’t think it was easy, I had an Ace up my sleeve though, they looked clearly Scandinavians. So wearing my Casanova smile I made my entrance by calling the attention of one of them and asked “usekta mig, kan jag fråga, vad du talar för språk?” and she opened widely her pretty eyes and said something from what I got only that they were Norwegians. She chuckled gently and with this smile of satisfaction asked why someone with my looks in Lisboan would ask with good and posh Swedish accent about her origins. Had any doubts about my scopes? I’m getting there folks, it is amazing what one can achieve just by paraphrasing silly stuff in other languages. The Koreans bought me all night beer as I introduced them to the group, we were dancing and the old look of the club completed the experience.

Lisboan gave me the impression of a really messy city out of a swety, dirty and romantic movie filmed in the Caribbean. The sea walk path was poorly maintained and the streets along with the houses were dirty as hell. I was missing the Swedish order at that moment. I found myself in a complete chaos, less than Rome though but still unpleasant for a vacation. Albeit one can’t deny it has its charm, but this is more or less what found in my country so I’m quite tired of this to be honest. The city was imposing its style and the old center was monumental with the marble streets and huge entrance along the fancy plazas. One could get great views when walking around and the neighborhood near the castle was beautiful not varying the messy style though. I realized it had plenty to see and my time was wearing out. I took great pictures and tried always to overcome the fatigue accumulated after having hit European destinations in such a harsh conditions for 20 days. I had the feeling of victory, as I was able to travel such a great distance and felt the Atlantic Ocean with my bear hands. Thinking of my return makes me feel like a knight returning from one the crusades victorious. I was standing still in good condition motivated and willing to see much more. My feet hurt and my shoulders were sored after carrying my backpack. My skin has been burnt to black once more.

At the end I wanted to leave so badly waiting in the train station all swet and tired feeling humid and disgusting. I was so tired, in Lisboan the distances between monuments are great and I wanted to walk, but I know now I should have use public transport.

San Sebastian: On the night train I met very nice people. One Portuguese girl that was traveling to Spain and a very charming American that caught me talking about Cartagena. I don’t know why people haven’t heard from my city in Europe, in the whole Americas Cartagena is well know as such an incredible place number one in the tourists destinations. Anyway he knew about it and started a nice conversation sharing his experiences as he turned out to be quite a good traveler himself. He had a very witty sense of humor I loved that from the Americans and the English, they are always up for a chat and talking nonsense is always allowed. In Sweden things are way too serious and one feels the need to present a very argumented subject before daring to make any silly comment.

The city looked very posh, the trend in architecture was a bit of the one seen in Montpellier only that it look very well maintained and keeping this characteristic Spanish structure. I enjoyed the city having a nice walk path along its river that will convey to a small but cute beach where one will end up surrounded by surfers from everywhere. Everything look delicious when entering the bars so I caught myself having pinchos two different times as I succumbed to temptation by just looking to those very diverse beauties some made of seafood or ham. That day I went and tried Chinese for a change, I’m glad I did it tasted so good and it was cheap and cheerful. With that I waved gratefully my hat saying goodbye to the Iberic peninsula and felt like leaving a great country.

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