What an adventure the past two weekends have been!
Two weekends ago, I went to Venice with Hannah, my friend from St. Rose School and co-worker from Jim Lupient Water Park. Hannah is studying in Salzburg, Austria this semester, so we decided to meet up in Venice for the weekend.
If you have been to Venice, you know that following directions is very difficult because all of the streets are so windy and small. I had quite the adventure finding our hostal, but after about an hour of wandering, I found it. I had walked right past it about 5 times, but the sign on the door was only about one inch tall by two inches wide.
Hannah met me at the hostal, and we spend the day wandering around the city! It was beautiful – quite the step up from good ol’ Jim Lupient Water Park. Of course, we had wonderful pizza and gelato for dinner.
On Saturday, we went on a boat trip to the islands of Murano, Burano, and Torcello. All three of the islands were beautiful and very unique. On Murano, we toured a glass factory and saw a glass vase and horse be made. The man making them worked so quickly; it was incredible! Burano was our next stop, a colorful little island with lots of cute shops and restaurants. Finally, we went to Torcello, which was very different than what we had seen in Venice so far. The island had lots of green grass and trees and was rather empty, with only a few restaurants and two churches. After the boat trip, we spend the rest of the day exploring Venice and eating pasta and gelato.
On our final day in Venice, we went to Mass in Italian. This was the sixth language I had gone to Mass in during study abroad (English, Spanish, German, French, Catalan, and now Italian)! We walked around a bit more and then both departed back to school. It was an incredible weekend with lots of beautiful scenery and good laughs.
This past weekend, I went to Granada, Spain with a group of ladies from school. We loved the 75-degree weather and the sunshine! My friend Maggie and I took a five-hour bus from Madrid to Granada on Friday morning and had a bit of a hike to the place we were staying – quite literally. The amount of stairs we had to climb with our bags was a bit ridiculous, but the view from the top was incredible! Maggie and I enjoyed exploring the area around our Airbnb for the afternoon. When Karin, Kira, Marissa, and Mary arrived in Granada, we went out for tapas at a bar called La Riviera. In Spain, especially southern Spain, it is very common to order drinks and have food (tapas) also brought to you for free!
On Saturday, we got up early and went to the Alhambra, the famous palace and fortress in Granada. It was originally built as a small fortress in 889 AD, but it was not rebuilt until the 13th century. It was mostly constructed during the Muslim rule of Spain, so there was a lot of Muslim influence in the architecture and art. The buildings were beautiful, but the gardens and the view from the top were my favorite part.
We spent the afternoon and evening exploring more of Granada, shopping, and eating to dinner at a restaurant recommended by our Airbnb host.
On Sunday morning, we went to mass at the beautiful Granada Cathedral, had breakfast right outside of the Cathedral, and then headed back home to Madrid.
Next up: Ireland with my dear friends Erin and Sarah – coming all the way from MN to visit me!
Katie's Adventures Abroad 