Travel

Madrid, Spain

I passed a lovely few days in Madrid. It's not necessarily the most exciting city, but it is kind of lovely: clean, well-run, very lush and green, beautiful architecture, good museums, and parks everywhere. I really enjoyed my time there. I did a huge amount of walking and exploring and getting a little lost in the winding streets.
 
My hostel was in a quiet neighbourhood that felt peaceful, away from the hustle and bustle of the touristy downtown areas. The mornings were on the cool side, so I was able to explore the city a bit more by going for runs most of the mornings I was there.
 
Madrid is home to some awesome things. I particularly loved all their green spaces: the botanical gardens with its tropical greenhouse, the Parc de Retiro with its beautiful pond and “Crystal Palace” (which looks like a giant greenhouse minus the plants), and the main train station which literally is an enormous greenhouse full of tropical plants and home to a bunch of turtles! The city is also awesome about making their museums accessible to everyone: they are usually free in the evenings for the last few opening hours. I was able to see major works of art at the Prado museum and the entire Salvador Dali exhibit at the Reine Sofia for free, which is wonderful.
 
I had some cool food experiences in Madrid as well. It was my first time trying chocolate and churros, and we went to the most famous place in Madrid which happily is not even touristy. They are so generous with their servings – 6 huge churros and a big cup of dark, thick chocolate per order – and it's all so delicious, not too sweet, just perfect. I also tried paella for the first time and it won't be the last, I loved the texture. We also sought out a bar that is still serving tapas the old fashioned way: when you order a drink, you get a free (and generous I might add) plate of tapas, usually fries and little sandwiches with meat or cheese. For 5 euros, I got two delicious glasses of cider and enough to eat for dinner! Best deal going. On my last day in Madrid, I took a trip to Toledo, and we found a bar that did the same thing there as well. Score!
 
Toledo was very, very hot but a beautiful old town as well. We saw the huge, impressive cathedral, had a long lunch and wandered through the old streets. It was a good little day trip.
 
Favourites:
  • El Estragon Vegetariano: a sweet and delicious little vegetarian place in a quiet, pretty neighbourhood. I had the lunch menu which included a starter, main, dessert, bread and water for 12 euros and it felt almost wrong because the food was so incredible and so generous. I had a salad whose dressing I would do anything to acquire the recipe for, a delicious rice bowl with fried eggs, and poached pears in dark chocolate sauce. It was amazing, I had a long lunch, read my book, and was happy.
  • El Tigre: the tapas bar I was raving about that serves cheap drinks with free tapas. It's a bit of a madhouse inside, and there are no seats, but it's such a fun local atmosphere.

 

Lisbon, Portugal

Everywhere you look in Lisbon, it's drop-dead gorgeous: all pastel-coloured houses and flower boxes and mosaic-tiled roads and old fashioned trams. Every time I turned a corner, I wanted to capture the view with my camera. The city is built on seven hills, so there are lots of nooks and crannies hidden among the ups and downs of the city, lots of lookouts over the red rooftops and the water, and lots of pretty views.

That being said, Lisbon wasn't my favourite city so far. I stayed in an amazing hostel, and met a bunch of nice people, but I still didn't love it. I think I found it to be a more inaccessible city, as in, it felt like you needed a local to tell you exactly where to go, since the only main area in Lisbon is full of expensive, sub-par restaurants and shopping. It's very pretty, yes, but I found it hard to navigate as a solo traveller – not logistically (it's pretty straightforward) but in terms of finding unique, local places. I also felt uncomfortable in Lisbon compared to other cities I've visited, even in broad daylight. It could just be all in my head, but compared to Paris and Madrid, I felt that in Lisbon I was really stared at and catcalled as I passed, even in the middle of the afternoon. That hasn't really happened in other cities. Plus I was there probably a day longer than I really needed (there's not a ton to do in terms of tourist attractions), so by the time I moved on I was more than ready.

None of that stopped me from having a good time, though! I still made some great memories in Lisbon. I loved the communal dinners that my hostel hosted, it was an awesome way to get in some greens (finally) and eat healthy home cooked food, and to meet new people. I made some Australian and American friends and we spent the next day together wandering around. We took the historic tram 28 up to a great lookout, and another tram to the area of Belem to get the famous special secret-ingredient Portuguese egg tarts, which we ate in the park. Afterwards we sat on the pier and looked at jellyfish and crabs in the shallows. That night, we had a massive picnic in the big square in downtown Lisbon, with cheap but great bottles of wine, loads of cheese and fruit, and watched the tail end of the sunset.

On Sunday, a few of us spent the morning at the big flea market where I got a couple little (tiny!) treasures. The market was huge and amazing, selling anything you could imagine. That afternoon we took a minibus tour (run by our hostel) to Sintra, a town nearby Lisbon that houses all the castles that were the summer homes of the monarchy, back in the day. We stopped at a little shop to try a bunch of kinds of port, as well as a delicious almond liqueur and jams made from port and champagne. Then it was on to the Quinta da Regaleira, a huge fantastical, mystical adventure land of a castle, complete with caves and grottoes and big empty wells. There were lush plants everywhere and it was so fun to run around and get caught up on the mystery of the place. At one point, climbing the circular staircase that twists around a well, I felt like I was living in a combination of Harry Potter and The Dark Knight Rises. Very cool.

On one of my last days, I took a little adventure to a highly recommended (by the great cook that made my vegetarian dinner at the hostel one night) vegetarian restaurant for lunch. I sat on the shady terrace, drank pineapple juice, and delighted in all the fresh, delicious food. It was a buffet, so I went back for seconds of (not even kidding) fried eggplant and roasted potatoes. I know! I don't even like eggplant! But everything was so leafy green and seasoned perfectly. I ate like a queen, and finished my book on the patio. I'm starting to get the hang of long, long solo lunches, and am making it a point to seek out great vegetarian restaurants!

I even stumbled onto an outdoor music festival one night, where the DJ was playing seemingly all my favourite songs! It was nice to lounge on the grass, enjoy the dusk, and eat a piled-sky-high vegetarian hot dog. Totally amazing.

All in all, Lisbon was a good time. When I look back and appreciate all the special things I did when I was there, I am grateful for and happy about my time in Lisbon.

Favourites:

  • Terra Vegetarian Buffet: amazing service, great terrace, and completely delicious food (huge selection too!). The location is great, sort of tucked away in a corner of a beautiful street, right near a park.
  • Yes! Hostel: top rated hostel in the world on Hostelworld.com! It was great. Some of the staff learned my name and used it throughout my stay, it has all the facilities you could want, and they were so friendly and helpful. Free shots at 11:30 pm, great big dinners for 10 euros, and a really great location.
  • Pasteis de Belem: you'll probably read this one on any list of things to do in Lisbon, but I want to add my two cents and say it's completely worth the tram ride, and believe it or not, completely better than other egg tarts. There's the secret ingredient for one, the pastry is just much crispier, and they come with a big packet each of cinnamon and powdered sugar. Amazing.

San Sebastián, Spain

Okay, I'm going to try not to get carried away here, but I absolutely adored San Sebastián. It's charming, friendly, clean, completely idyllic and gorgeous, and oh by the way, it's one of the premier destinations on earth for food. So yeah, basically it is perfect, at least for a foodie like me.

I wish I'd planned a couple more nights, because I so thoroughly enjoyed my time there and didn't want to leave. The guy working at the hostel said that happens all the time, that in fact most people plan to come as a stopover before heading to Madrid or Barcelona, but wind up staying weeks – or in his case, getting a job there and staying indefinitely! I had train tickets pre booked, otherwise I would have stayed who knows how long. I still had innumerable pintxos bars to try, for heavens sake!

There isn't a lot to do in San Sebastián in terms of cultural monuments or museums (although there are some!), so the major activities consist of going to the beach during the day to swim/surf/boogie board, and doing pintxos-bar-hopping at night. “Pintxo” is the Basque word for the Spanish word “tapas”, which is a little plate. In San Sebastián, pintxos bars are everywhere, the entire bar counter lined with platters of little snacks, mainly toasts with anything imaginable on top (omelet, fish, marinated veggies, etc). Every pintxos bar has its own specialty too, something made fresh to order. One bar was known for its “gambas”: shrimp on toast with garlicky salsa on top, another for its mushroom risotto. The fanciest pintxos bar in San Sebastián (where I'm told chefs come from all over the world to apprentice), the specialty was a smoked cod (I didn't try, just watched in utter amazement, photo above!) where they bring it to you steaming and bubbling, like some serious molecular gastronomy business!

One night I went to a boisterous fast-food style bar that only had bar counters, no stools, so everyone was standing and eating. The staff didn't speak much English, but they were friendly and chatted with me in between taking and yelling orders to the back. I got a huge glass of sangria, a patatas bravas (a local specialty involving potatoes, creamy sauce and spicy sauce: sounds weird but SO good), and a big portion of calamari: all completely delicious, all for about $10 Canadian. Plus afterward I got to emerge into the glowing sunset and watch the world from the beautiful pier.

I don't have very many stories from San Sebastián, only wonderful memories. We climbed to the top of one of the hills to see the Jesus statue up close. I renewed my tan after a few weeks without beaches. I swam in the utterly gorgeous water, both on the calm beach and on the surf beach where you can swim out past where the waves break and just float over them as they come in. I stayed in the most laid back, friendly hostel, literally a two minute walk to the beach, where the windows were always open and you could hear the bustle of the street, one of the cafes on which serves the most famous tortilla in San Sebastián (I tried it, and it was outstanding. Could eat that for breakfast every single day – keep in mind this is IN Spain, so the locals don't say “Spanish tortilla”, but that's what it is, an omelet with potatoes, like a frittata). I made friends from Germany, Australia, and believe it or not, Montreal! We went swimming off the docks and did some pier-jumping, which was really fun. I ate good food and drank my weight in sangria and felt so relaxed and calm and happy.

Favourites:

  • Olga's Place Hostel: so wonderful. Everyone I met there was friendly and open, and we had such a fun time together. It's a great hostel, ideal location.
  • Bar Zabaleto: where you can get the famous and amazing tortilla.
  • Parts Vieja: the old part of San Sebastián is where you'll find all the pintxos bars and beautiful old buildings. I don't have any specific recommendations because we just walked into any one that looked good without caring about the name. Borda Berri is a famous one that lives up to its reputation for sure. But honestly? There doesn't seem to be any bad food in this part of town.
  • Playa Zurriola and La Concha: I mean, these go without saying, everyone goes to these beaches. Zurriola has more waves and more surfers, and La Concha is just stunning, with calmer water. I hit both up as much as possible. :)

Paris, France

I wound up having some truly amazing adventures in Paris, but I have to be honest and say that some of the days were hard, especially the very first one. After my trip, I'll write a post about my reflections on solo travel (for the most part, great so far) but I think these posts with all the pretty pictures tend to glamorize my travel a little bit. Which is not to say that I'm not having a really amazing time, most of the time, but I'll also try to be honest when it's not as easy as pie.

My first day in Paris was a toughie. Going from travelling with your best friend to travelling alone is HARD, man. It didn't help that Paris was sticky and very, very hot. Plus, lets not mince words: Paris, while beautiful, can also be very overwhelming. Luckily, Snapchat! Honestly, I can say that snap chatting with my friends and sisters was a lifesaver when I felt really lonely that first day, and other days since. But that first evening I dragged myself out to Sacre Coeur, the gorgeous cathedral on the hill with views of Paris spread out in front of you, and ate a horrible tourist sandwich (it had fake eggs in it, I'm not joking..) and drank Fanta (which I had never been fond of before Paris but which I drank an obscene amount of while there…so refreshing!) and felt a little better but still lonely. Then I stumbled onto an absolutely amazing soccer juggling and acrobatics street performance that I can hardly describe (see the second photo from the top) which I watched three times and inexplicably made me feel much better.

And not all my days in Paris were as hard. My French exchange student from high school lives in Paris now and we had a lovely evening drinking rosé and eating gazpacho and zucchini gratin in her tiny, adorable apartment. I caught the end of the Tour de France with a few Australians I met on a tour, which was busy and fun. I wandered around by myself and had the best fallafel, and then sat in a park and figured out the rest of my trip. I knew two coworkers from Montreal, and met up with both.. it was so lovely to see a friendly face both times. I got to get driven around in a car and see lots of different castles around the outskirts of Paris. I tried macarons from two different shops and a croissant from one. I had a lemonade at the cafe Les Deux Moulins from the film Amelie and it felt so cool! I got to (sort of..) learn how to dance West Coast style swing on the quais of the Seine. On another night I felt a bit lonely (ironically the night I got upgraded to a hotel room from a 12-bed dorm due to an administrative error..ironic because it was so cool at first! And then I felt isolated..) I did what I do best: sought out food. This time from a very popular food truck that serves, strangely. burgers and fries. I figured I'd eaten enough Camembert sandwiches and French picnics, plus I was in line among exclusively Parisians, it was not a tourist attraction in the slightest (so I must have been doing something right).

So I got to make a lot of really fantastic memories. I got to talk to real Parisians in French. I got to experience solo travel while I still had friends nearby. I slept in my first hostel, and in my first hotel room alone. I made friends. Even though there were lots of ups and downs, the general trajectory was up, and it was the perfect place to start my trip.

I am now in the absolutely stunning San Sebastián, Spain and loving it completely.

Favourites:

  • L'As du Fallafel: I don't even like fallafel normally, but this one was so good I went back the next day. So tasty, not expensive (for Paris), and tucked onto this adorable street in Le Marais neighbourhood. Can we talk about how their caramelized eggplant was the first eggplant I think I've ever enjoyed??
  • Pierre Hermé: I tried both this shop and Ladurée, and although I think I was more charmed by the actual shop of Ladurée, I think I liked the macaron from Pierre Hermé better. It was a close call though, so you'd better try both just in case.
  • Shakespeare and Company bookstore: an adorable English bookstore close to Notre Dame, it is so quaint and has such a rich history. Despite my tiny bag, I bought a souvenir. (I am officially much too much of a sucker for books..)
  • Place des Vosges: the perfect little park in Le Marais. It's clean and quiet with beautiful fountains and is the perfect place to eat some fruit and enjoy la belle vie.
  • Montmartre: the most charming area of Paris in my books. Just wandering down the streets or checking out the amazing street art, or exploring the big, old, beautiful, creepy cemetery, it's just wonderful.

 

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