Spain part 1

Finally, finally the first reportaaaa about Spain you´ve all been dying to read! When I arrived in Sevilla, I was supposed to meet up with my couchsurfhost Maria, she sent me a message saying she had an unexpected meeting at her work and that she would come later and that her friend Carmen was more than willing to pick me up from the busstation. Well, how cool is that? Maria, the host didn´t even know me, let alone her friend, and still she was willing to pick me up and hang out with me until Maria showed up. An awesome and very hospitable start for my Spain trip! That night we did a bit of vegetarian cooking, I made some soy shoarma with garlic sauce in pita breads and salad for the ladies, we nommed it down and I went to sleep early because the next day I was catching an early bus te reunite with da granny and grandpy punx, Marit und bartie!

With Marit and Bart I spent some epic days, wolfing down 4 plates in a vegetarian buffet restaurant, they showed me around in the lovely Faro with the old and the new part, we took a daytrip to Tavira by train which had a gorgeous scenery, picknicked in a park and walked around and I took a daytrip to Olhao by myself and attended a hardcoreshow in Faro which was fucking epic. I spent the last night in a hostel in Faro, the owner being my only gezelschap but you wont hear me complaining having a complete dorm, kitchen and two bathrooms just for me :)

Back in Sevilla, Maria took me to see the Alcazar which is a big, beautiful andalusian castle with epic gardens with peacocks and orange trees, the next day we went for a walk to torre del oro, along the river and up to the cathedral which gave stunning views to entire Sevilla. The next day I went for a skate in parque maria luisa falling too many times and went for some tapas with another dude I met through couchsurfing. On the last day in Sevilla I went to a vegan bakery called Veganitessen. Seriously, to all my veg friends, if you are ever in Sevilla go to that place. It was fucking delicious and cheap! Then hopped on to a bus to Cadiz.

Cadiz is a really really old city and I went for a long walk along the coastline visiting some castles and reading a bit about the history. Again I was alone in the hostel (it really is the lowseason) so I wanted to hang out with peoplez. Luckily an awesomely epic girl called Rocio was willing to host me in Granada which was my next destination. We immediately clicked really well, she was also a vegan, the first night we went for some vegan tapas and there was a live band playing which turned into more and more random people from the crowd joining in, also playing songs, the night ending with the guy behind the bar also playing some and everyone singin along like a bunch of loud Spaniards, well which is what they are ;)
Rocio and me cooked lots of yummy meals together, we walked up to some streets right outside granada to have an amazing, amazing view of the city and of the la alhambra, the next day we went to the alhambra which is also an amazing old fort to visit. On the last day in Granada I went to another vegan restaurant called Hicuri, had some vegan lasagna which was nice but the portion was so small and well, since my name is Caitlin Chandler I also went for a falafel right after this "meal." ;)
That night there was a flamenco night in an old cave bar, at first I didn´t really want to go alone but I was so happy I did because the guitar, vocals and dance was absolutely amazing to watch, absolutely breathtaking and ended up spending my night with a bunch of malaysians who had way too much money and a tiny bit too much red whine, all in all a great night!
It was weird saying goodbye to Rocio, it really felt I made a new good friend. Onee day you just met, four days later you become quite close friends. That's what couchsurfing does and I must say it has made this trip much more in depth than others, when you are really connecting to people who are from the country where you are in and taking you to places you normally wouldn´t go and introducing you to their friends you normally wouldn´t have met.

The next destination was Cordoba, in Cordoba I was staying with another couchsurfhost called Gonzalo aka mr. Moreno Morales with whom I also immediately clicked in a way that we both just couldn´t stop talking about, well, everything. Gonzalo also took me to some really typical spanish tapasbars, watching a real madrid game on a screen in a bar in between really seriouslooking Spanish men who would their lungs out when a player scored. Haha, I had a blast! After visiting the mezquita, I made my way to Toledo, again staying with a couchsurfhost, an antifascist human rights activist who knew shitloads about the history of Toledo. Toledo has lots of old mosques, sinagogues and churches to visit and for those who don't know, the writer Miguel Cervantes who wrote don Quijote de la Mancha is from Toledo as well which gave me quite the girl book boner, if you know what I mean. The region is called Castillo and the locals have told me that's where the word castellano (aka Spanish) comes from, which is also commonly used in Latin America for example. They corrected me everytime I dared to use the word Español, they said "no, it's castellano." All right, whatevs babe.

Tomorrow I'm making my way to madrid to see my friend Marloes and another friend called Ana who is a madrileña and who I hosted last summer in my home in Utrecht. Quite unplanned this trip has turned into a couchsurfing and blablacar-trip, not only did this save me money but I got to know way more locals than I normally would have done! If you ask me, I think it's epicly awesome. After madrid I will meet up with my longboard homeboys and girls and the Tenerife. I'm having a blast, I'll be back soon in nederlandje!
Miss you all!

Catalina