Erasmus Changes Minds - One last post

Hey guys,

everything good has to come to an end, unfortunately. I really enjoyed the previous 5 months in Spain. Because of the amazing people I got to meet, Barcelona really enriched my life, in terms of culture, experiences and in the way of thinking. I am lucky enough to now call people my friends from all around the world .

As a great memorial: The Catalan flag with wishes and quotes from friends

Although this experience of Erasmus is over for me, I know that I will return some day to the place where I have lived through such great experiences. Now I want to encourage YOU to GO ABROAD and SEE the world!!!

In case you accidentally happen to be in Barcelona, trying the following places for food or drinks is almost a must:

The food market La Boqueria

Located in the center of the famous (or infamous?) La Rambla, it is the greatest food market I have ever seen. If you like seafood, you will be in heaven, if not, you will also find great pieces of Spanish and international cruisine, starting from coated nuts in caramel, fresh and fruity juices for 1€ (I had kiwi+ginger, sooo tasty!!) to classic paella. 

Insolita Gea

Probably the best place for eating tapas and drinking sangria de cava (made of champagne instead of red wine. I prefer that taste). Also it provides an astonishing view to the Hospital de Sant Pau and it is quite affordable (15-18€ for tapas, including a small cortado - espresso with a bit of milk - and cava)

El Rey de Gamba

In the center of the tourist area at the beach Barceloneta, there are two restaurants, El rey the gamba I & II, both providing outstanding and surprisingly affordable seafood. Paella for 12€ and a huge pot of mejillones (mussels) for less than 7€.

The Lime House

Last but not least, The Lime House, where you probably get the best and cheapest `(3.50€) Mojitos in whole Barcelona. Situated in the neighborhood of El Born, it is the perfect place to meet some friends for some chit-chat or just to meet before going out.

OK, that's all about my Erasmus experience. I really had a great time and I hope I was capable to at least somehow express in this blog, how much I enjoyed being in Barcelona. If you ever get the chance to go abroad, if during your studies, after school or when you are working, I cannot recommend more doing so. It changes your life, your point of view and also the way you think about other cultures and lifestyles. I guess that is a good way to end here :-)

Hasta luego!

Madrid - Holiday in the Capital

Hola gente guapa,

after spending a reasonable amount of time in Catalonia and visiting the surrounding cities of Barcelona, like Terragona and Girona, I was eager to finally travel to the capital of Spain, namely Madrid.
This time, after usually travelling with friends, and due to the awesome scheduling of my final exams, I decided to travel on my own instead.

After meeting a lot of people from all over Spain, including Madrileneans, I experienced this existing competition between Barcelona and Madrid, and usually one city is favoured over the other by most people I got to know. Therefore I wanted to experience the differences by myself.

Tapas
Madrid has a even greater Tapas culture than Barcelona. On every corner you will find tapas bars like El Tigre, where you can have something to drink and some tapas for an rediculously cheap price (below 3€ for drink+tapa). In Madrid there is also an unofficial law, which says that to every drink, a free tapa has to be served. This can be olives, patatas pravas or some sausages - whatever there is in the kitchen.
In general I would say, that the tapas and restaurant culture in Madrid is even more distinct than in Barcelona, due to the immense amount of places all over the city.

Motto

Fui sobre agua edificada,

mis muros de fuego son.

The city's motto can be translated into something like: "On water I was built, my walls are made of fire". Instead of most other capital cities in Europe, Madrid is not located on a river. Instead there was only a small creek running down the ancient street Segovia. Nevertheless, people found a huge underground source of water, such that the water supply for the population was secured.
The second part refers to the walls created with flint stone, which were built to protect the Arabs who used to lived there in Medieval times. To get to know more about the history of Madrid, I can highly recommend taking a tour by Sandeman's. I have taken their free tours in several cities in Europe now, and they were always more than entertaining.

Picture time

Out on a pub crawl :-)

Next to the Kilometre Zero - at La Puerta del Sol -, the center of Spain, where all the streets
 to Barcelona, Toledo etc. started in the past.

I met a lot of amazing people on the trip to Madrid,
including those two girls from Singapore.

mmmmh churros con chocolat again....<3

The world's oldest restaurant, opened in 1725

Officially confirmed by the Guinness World Records

On every street sign, a small picture is painted which showes
 the place in an historical context.

In front of the stadium Santiago Bernabeu

Cristina, a Spanish friend I haven't seen in a long time. Thank you for the warm welcome!!

At the Plaza Mayor

Catedral de la Santa Maria de Almudena

The Royal Palace

El Templo de Debod, a temple build in Egyptian style

Finally maybe for some the most important question: Do I prefer Barcelona or Madrid?
Honestly I can't answer this question without being unfair, since the time I have spent in Barcelone exceeds that 3-day trip to Madrid by far. All in all Madrid seems to be an amazing place to live and I incredibly enjoy that typical café-culture there. Nevertheless I think I might miss living next to the sea and having the possibility to spend some time at the beach all day :-)

Ending with that, hasta luego!

Barca's CL Celebration and the Camp Nou

Hey guys,

BARCA, BARCA, BAAARCA!! This year the fabled FC Barcelona including Lionel Messi won the UEFA Champions League, again. Not only it is their 5th title (including one in the former Cup Winner's Cup), but Barca is also the first team ever to win the triple twice (League, National Cup, Champions League). Of course this had to be celebrated!

The magic place where supporters of the FCB celebrate their victories is the El Fuente de Canaletes, or the Canaletes Fountain, located at the end of La Rambla. The legend also says, that if you drink the water you will fall in love with the city and will always come back. Personally, I have already fallen deeply in love with the open-minded and possitive Spanish people and their culture, therefore there is no need for me to drink that water. Anyway, if the water at the fountain has the same quality as Spanish tub water, I would recommend not to drink it :-)

Fuente de Canaletes during the day

La Rambla and Plaza Catalunya during the celebration of the CL win

The next day, after a short night for us - and surely as well for the players - the city organized a huge parade through the entire city to celebrate the victory and to pay respect to the players. Some of them seemed to be a bit hungover, tho :D

The Camp Nou

Even if you are only partly interested in football, you should visit the stadium of the FC Barcelona, the famous Camp Nou. The best way to do is of course during a game of Barca. An alternative, if you don't want to spend as much money, you can enter the Camp Nou Museum and enjoy an amazing round view at the top of the stadium, as well as enter the Holy Grass. The following pictures should give you an impression.

That is it about football in Barcelona. See you next time.
Hasta pronto!

Paris, the city of love and the story of Picasso's napkin

Bonjour les gens,

in the last post I told you that consequently I will write a French version of my blog. And by that, I didn't mean that I have mastered another language - of course not :-) - but I got the chance so spend some days and travel to the well-known French city of love and fashion, Paris!!

Megabus has recently expanded its supply to Spain and therefore offered trips from Barcelona to Paris with a special discount. So it was possible to go to Paris back and forth by only 30€ (!) (a friend of mine was even luckier, she paid 2€  - what an insance price). And the 14-hour trip was easily shortened by some good movies

Montmartre
Once arrived in Paris, I got my AirBnB in Montmartre in the norther part of Paris (thanks Céline for making the stay so comfortable and for all the recommendations for good restaurants!!).
Montmartre typifies all the things quintessentially Parisean, from terrace cafés to street artists and night clubs. It is also known for its famous red-light district and its queen, the Moulin Rouge.

In front of the Moulin Rouge

Basilica Sacré Coeur - the highest point of Paris

The last existing windmill in Paris

The Castle Versailles

Originally a hunting residence, Versailles used to be the main residence for the French kings until the French Revolution. Nowadays it is used as a huge museum and famous for its impressive Hall of Mirrors.

In front of the castle

How to become Parisian in one Hour

One of the highlights of the trip was an evening play in the Théatre des Nouveautés. Oliver Giraud really knows how to entertain his audience and he knows how to make fun of local Parisians as well as tourists all around the world. In his play he compares the behaviour of locals and tourists in different situations, like ordering in a restaurant or dancing in a club, and gives advice to foreigners how to act like a REAL Parisian.

After the play: I'm not completely persuaded that this face will get me free
drinks in Paris clubs :D

Picasso's napkin story
And finally, there is a urban story about Picasso, which is the metaphorical basis for Picasso's napkin. It goes something like this...

Picasso is at the café "Au Lapin Agile" in Paris, when someone points to his used napkin and asks:

-”Can you draw an ear on this napkin?” Picasso complies.

-”Can you draw an eye somewhere on this napkin?” Picasso complies again.

-”How about a mouth?” Picasso obliges, again.

-”Now sign the napkin for me”.

Picasso says: “Sure. That’ll be $25,000!”

-”$25,000??? But, it only took you two minutes to draw them!” complains the fella.

-”Yes, but it took me 40 years to learn how to draw like this and 25 years for my signature to be worth something,” replies Picasso sheepishly.

 The cabaret "Au Lapin Agile", nowadays no café anymore

You can decide yourself if you see this story as a proof that things or products are paid for a high price mainly because of the name or signature written on it, or that the perfection of a talent should be valued accordingly, even though the total time might be less.

Nevertheless, au revoir and see you next time
Markus

Girona, Temps de Flors and the Dalí Museum

Hola gente guapa,

first of all I have to apologize for not writing for so long. During some time, I had some problems with my internet connection, which made it quite difficult to write something online :-)

Some time ago, I went to the north-east of Catalunya to visit one of the must-sees in Catalunya: the beautiful ancient city Girona.
Luckily during that weekend, la gente were celebrating a famous local event there, temps de flors, or time of flowers.

Funny group picture in Girona

The trip to Girona was my first trip organized by Barcelona Trips and I was surprised, in a positive way. Everything was well organized, but still there was more than enough time for yourself to explore the city on your own according to your preferences (Thanks Hemo!!!). So once we arrived in Girona, we where equipped with maps and we could decide where to go and what to see.

And there is a lot to see in this beautiful city.

Pretty tall, those flower girls

Some people might know this city because of its airport, since Ryanair is using this one instead of El Prat closer to Barcelona. But it would be insulting to reduce a city with as much history as Girona only to an airport for cheap airlines.

For instance the cathedral of Girona. It was started being build more than 700 years ago and finally finished 400 years later. Also the city has been the stage for famous battles, like when Napoleon captured it in 1809. Unfortunately during Franco´s regime parts of the city have been distroyed due to several battles during WW II.

La Catedral de Santa Maria

Els banys árabs - the Arabian Spa (built around 1200 AD)

Flowers, flowers everywhere

Afterwards we headed further to a little town about 20 minutes from Girona, called Figueres - the home of the world-renowned artist and painter Salvador Dalí. About 50 years ago, he converted the municipal theatre into a museum, where he exposed his own collection of art together with some of his own paintings and sculptures.

In front of the museum

The museum´s building from the outside

I really enjoy Dalí´s style of painting. Especially in his surrealistic creations, he hides an amazing amount of details - sometimes very confusing, because they do not seem to fit together at first glance. Although I am usually not that much into art, his style amazed me and I could spend hour after hour full of surprise and astonishment in front of his paintings

Soft Self Portrait with Grilled Bacon (best title ever!!)

Violetes Imperials by Dalí

The persistence of memory

A perspectivic "portrait" of Dalí´s wife Gala Éluard Dalí

Finally to finish our trip we stopped at a little Medieval town close by, Besalú. It characterizes the typical Spanish town, a Medieval place with a lot of narrow paths drawing through the town

Finally some typically Spanish dinner, with chorizo, patatas and a lot of my personal favorite, jamón ibérico

That´s it again for now. Next time I will write a French episode of my blog.

Hasta pronto!