ESPAÑA, ESPAÑA: What a lovely place to be!

Españaaaa!! Españaaaa!!

Since the first day I came to Alzira until my last day here, I have enjoyed travelling a lot. You learn more about the country when you visit not only the capital city but also small, beautiful cities that are for many tourists unknown. I was having a great time here in Spain. I can really say that I travelled from north to south. I just did not make it to the west! Hahaha. Here I just picked some of the cities that left a huge mark in my heart.

Canfranc/Jaca

My first official visit was in Canfranc during my arrival training. It was so much fun to visit a village with only 50 people (with the rest of a volunteers we doubled the population for a week ). I visited Jaca, a city with a castle from the 11th century and the Canfranc estacion- an abandoned train station- the most important railway junction with tons of rumours about “German gold”.

Xàtiva

Xàtiva is only 15 minutes away from Alzira, but still few people have time to visit it. In my opinion to walk up to the castle was the best decision ever, because you can discover a different flora there. To walk around the castle and see its secrets took me around 3 hours. I did this in December and I can say, that the sun was shining so much that it did not feel like winter. If you have spare time definitely check this beautiful castle out.

Malaga

My busy feet took me to Malaga. The weather was nice; better than in Slovakia this time of year, and the company was even better. Malaga was really heart-warming and people surprised me with different attitudes and humour. I had my intermediate training here, where I met huge amounts of interesting people and explored the city centre with them.

Madrid

The city that I visited the most. Not only because I needed to arrange my travel back to Slovakia, or because of visits to embassies because of my lost ID, but simply because it is a capital city- the biggest city- the city with incredible history. I remember as I was standing in Plaza Mayor and could not find my way and was coursing in Slovak language- just a miracle happened and some Czech guy came to the rescue of me- thanks again Petr. I recommend you visit barrio de Escritores- a district where the most famous writers had their moments- the beer was fantastic too!

Barcelona

Barcelona, the city of many faces- from exquisite city centre to Barceloneta, the beach, a mixture of work and relaxation at the same time. Here I met up with my friends that I have not seen for almost 4 months and this added a different sentiment to the city. Gaudi´s mark was felt in every corner of this gigantic city. If I got lost in Alzira, imagine me in Barcelona. Dancing on La Rambla, walking from the city centre at 10pm to see Mirador Montjuic and get lost (and then having to walk 2 hours back to the city centre) and much more. Barcelona is definitely more than just a three-day-visit and I can definitely see myself there again in the future.

València

The third biggest city in Spain is only 30 minutes away from Alzira and I should not have visited it? I took every opportunity I had to go visit this city. Language exchanges, bike rides and a lot more, a lot of coffee being drunk here- which to me sounds incredible. Every time I was there I found something new, something different. In one moment you are in the high class restaurant having dinner with friends and in another moment you are dancing in the silent disco like a lunatic. A cinema, where you can dance and sing along to Grease- and not be embarrassed- can be found only in València. As well as a lot of memories that cannot be published here in this blog, happened in València.

If I have not already mentioned, Spain caught me. Got me really hard and I fell in love. I found my inner peace here, finally learnt how to relax and that everything does not have to go your way; it does not matter. I wish I could spend more time here, these 9 months passed so quickly that it feels like the whole experience almost was just but a dream.

Many thanks to everyone that made my journey unforgettable! I hope that one day I will come back. You will be missed, dear Spain.

Lots of love,

Lenka