Blogging for the new year

It has been so long since my last blog entry that I cannot be sure if I still have a fan base/if I ever had a fan base. But I'll recount my recent travels for anyone lucky enough to happen upon my blog while surfing the world wide web.

It was about the 20th of December at 12:03 pm when we(Aaron(yes, there were two of us), Jen, Natasha, Sonya, and I) boarded a bus from Granada headed towards Sevilla/e. we arrived 2 hours and 36 minutes later and proceeded to check into our hostel. It happened that all 5 of us were from California, and more that we were all UCSC students. We ended up spending 6 days in Sevilla during which we spent most of the time in our hostel as everything was closed on Christmas eve, Christmas, and the day after Christmas.

Here I'm pictured with the two non Spanish speakers of the group, Natasha and Sonya.

Trying to keep ourselves entertained by playing Columbus discovers America right in the very city where he set off some 500 odd years ago.

Before the jump(literally).

Jumping(again literally).

Trying to fit in by drinking fine wine with tapas on the balcony of our hostel.

White men can jump.

Some dining we enjoyed at one of the only "vegetarian" restaurants in Sevilla. Seafood and Chicken are not considered animals by the standards of many Spanish, and as a result "vegetarian" dished often include one or the other.

Stewed chicken with rice.

Potatoes with some mystery sauce.

Spinach and Garbanzo beans.

Seeing as 3 out of 5 of us were Jewish, we decided to have a secret Santa in order to passively spread christian values and beliefs upon our fellow travelers.


Then, Natasha had to fly home and Aaron had to go to Lisboa/n to meet his parents. Jen, Sonya, and I, in a fit a unrationalized taveler deportment decided to rent a car and make our way from Sevilla to Lisboa and then back to Granada. Jen and I didn't know how to drive stick, so it was left to Sonya to drive and me to conduct. Looking to be as economic as possible, we opted for the cheapest model.

Psyche!! I wish that was our car. here's the real deal. Fiat Panda.

From Sevilla, we drove to Tavirna, Portugal where we stayed for a night in a deserted 4 star hotel run by a slew of Russians for about 15 Euro each.

The castle ruins were about the only thing to see in the so called "Venice" of Portugal.

Then we drove through Faro and saw this wall.

After which we stayed for two nights in the deserted town of Évora.

Me, on the set of Harry Potter.

Old man taking a nap at the local hot spot cafe.

On the 29th, on our way to Lisboa, we stopped at the stone henge of Portugal.

This is the Album cover for the debut release of our band, Portuguese Panda.

Instead of hugging trees as we normally do back in Santa Cruz, we decided to hug a giant phallic rock.

Making our way into Lisboa, we drove across the Portuguese Golden Gate bridge.

Castle ruins in the city center overlooking the bay/city.

Some Pictures of Lisboa.

Botanical Gardens of Lisboa.
We met back up with Aaron in Lisboa after he tired of his parents, and spent our New Years there. On NYE: we drank free beer at our hostel, followed by a bottle of cheap wine, ate way too much food at an all you can eat Sushi restaurant while being stared at by the entire Japanese staff, watched the fire work show, walked along a highway for an hour, tried to go to a club until we were told the cover fee was 36 Euro each, watched some drunken fools try to sing along to Bob Marley songs, and didn't make any New Year's resolutions.

The menu of a restaurant in Sintra where their only cooking appliance was a microwave.

El Palacio de Pena or The Palace of Sorrow in Sintra.

It was raining/cold/wet/windy.

And then this hapenned

But I still managed to get some photos for my blog.

The end...