Tag Archives: landscape

Exploring outside of Seville

Over the past couple of weeks, I have not only been able to enjoy Seville but see other parts of Spain as well! My study abroad program planned several trips over the past couple weekends including daytrips, overnight trips and weekend long trips. Between all the bus rides, planes and walking, I was able to see some beautiful parts of Spain.

Side note: I am having problems uploading photos from my camera so I only have a couple photos that my friends took and sent me. I am trying to solve the camera issue asap so I can share some of the great things I have seen and experienced!

 Aracena

We did a daytrip to this little town called Aracena. It is located in the mountains, about an hour away from Seville. The first thing I noticed was that all the houses were white! They were all stucco and of very much the same design and I think it made the little town just charming. I t also caused me to wonder how do the houses stay so white? I guess because they don’t experience a change of seasons here.  The white houses and buildings with the hot sun cast upon them just seemed to portay “Summer”.

We visited the church in Aracena and it was on a hill and therefore at the highest point of the town. It gave a breathtaking view of the little town and the surrounding countryside and mountains. It used to be a castle and then it was converted to a Catholic church ( similar to many things here in Spain that have changed or developed overtime due to  Spain’s complex history involving the change of powers and religion).  It was relatively small in size but the various details in the church made up for the size. It had beautiful arches, ceramic/tiled walls and a tall ceiling. It just amazes me how much detail is in one little church and that it is was probably all constructed, painted, and designed by hand. There were no machines or trucks or factories to produce the building materials or manufacture the tiles.

After visiting church we walked through the little town and stopped at a bakery. There are lots of bakeries in all the towns we visit and throughout Seville-and I just love it!  At this particular “panaderia” I got a coconut macaroon and an mini apple pastry. The coconut macaroon was so delicious, one of the best that I have had. It was soft and on the inside and nicely toasted on the outside. We had lunch at Pena de Arias Montano which was a little park/lookout point located in the mountains close to Aracena. There was a nice breeze as we enjoyed our “bocadillo”. Bocadillos are the Spainsh name for sandwich or packed lunch.

View from the church in Aracena

Sitting with some friends outside the church in Aracena!  ( I am sitting on the far right)

 

Cadiz, Jerez, and Bolonia

Vamos a la playa! ( We are going to the beach)

This trip was on a weekend to the beaches of Cadiz and  Bolonia as well as the famous little wine making town called Jerez.

Saturday we spent in Cadiz which is the oldest city in Western Europe, founded around 1100 b.C. ! We did a walking tour and saw the momument that commerated the constitution of Cadiz. Cadiz’s constitution called “la Pepa”, was the first Spanish constition ever drafted.There is an “old” and “new” part of Cadiz. The old part is the original city that was present many many years ago and parts of the original city walls still remain. The newer city is an expansion of the town that was necessary as the population grew. Cadiz is well know for its beach “playa de la Caleta”.  We spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing. We  also walked out on a very long pier/Jetty that led to an old castle. It gave a great view of the coast of Cadiz.

That night we drove to Jerez which is located midway between the sea and the mountains. It is most well known for the type of wine called Sherry. I don’t know much about wine  so I had never heard of Sherry before. But I learned that the authentic Spanish Sherry is a chilled, very dry, white wine.  Jerez is also really well known for horse breeding and there were several horse sculptures throughout the town. For dinner I ordered a couple of different “tapas” which are the Spanish version of appetizers but they are smaller and way cheaper than a typical appetizer in the U.S.  I think my favorite tapa was marinated beef liver. It was my first time having beef liver and I thought it was very rich in flavor and delicious with the marinated flavors. It was served cold and I didn’t really like that but besides that, I enjoyed the dish ( I also had to avoid thinking about the fact that I was eating liver, beef liver).

That night in Jerez the town was full of activity because there was a procession for the Corpus Christi celebration and preparation for festivities the next day. This “Corpus Christi” celebration is a Catholic tradition that involves processions (which are like a parade) with special floats/monuments that are carried through the streets and accompanied by many people, music, and sometimes animals. Corpus Christi celebrates the body of Christ which is called the Eucharist for Catholics. I actually saw a couple processions while in Seville but for this particular one, it was considered a holiday for most people where there was no school, work, and most places were closed. So back to Jerez, they were preparing for the celebration of Corpus Christi by making murals on the streets. These murals were created with colored pieces of salt on the ground. It was similar to chalk art but with colored salt. I am not sure how it was organized but it appeared that families or groups of people were assigned a certain part of the street to create a salt mural. People of all ages were making the murals including young kids. It was fun to watch and then when we finished dinner, a lot of the murals were complete and we got to see the finished product!

The next morning we went to Bolonia which is a beach and home to the Roman Ruins of Baelo Claudia. There obviously isn’t much left, since its “ruins”, but it was interesting to see how the old city used to be set up and imagine what life was like hundreds of years ago. I liked the structural design of the city which included the  planning that the temple was located at the highest point of the little city- as a symbol of their religion being the most important. Some highlights included the “salazones” and this is where they stored/preserved fish with salt or “sal” (they are basically big square holes in the ground but I had learned about them in my class so it was neat to see) . It was also interesting to see their bathrooms which were community bathrooms for the city. The showering or bathing rooms were kind of like big tubs that were heated by hot bricks below. That might be hard to visualize/ not make sense but to think that they had a way of creating hot water before electricity shows they were advanced and had technology for their time.

After the ruins visit we went down to the Playa de Bolonia. It was a nice beach with almost pure white sand (which turned out to not be our friend). It was a little cloudy/hazy but you could still make out the tip of Africa just across the ocean. Africa is really close to where we were in Spain (on the strait of gibraltar), I think only 20km across the ocean. There is a huge sand dune on the beach and I hiked that with my friends. From the top there was a gorgeous view of the beach, the skyline, and the surrounding hillside. But, it was sooo windy on the beach that day that the sand was pelting us and blowing everywhere. So that made it hard to really lay down on the beach and enjoy it, but it was still a beautiful sight to see and refreshing to be by the ocean.

Standing on some rocks at playa de Bolonia

Standing on some rocks at playa de Bolonia

Playa de Bolonia

Our attempt to take a picture at Bolonia admist all the wind and sand blowing everywhere

A  fun, little story about when I got home—there was so much sand in my bag from the windy Bolonia beach. I decided to shake it out over the ledge of my window in my room and I accidently dropped my bag below. Turns out my host mom didn’t have the key to the enclosed patio below so  I was caught with no current solution, but I needed my bag for school and other things. So then I came across the idea to go fishing for my bag which was sitting two stories below. I devised a device with my belt, purse strap, fanny pack, hanger,  and other things. It worked well enough because I actually retrieved my bag!

 


Location: Southern Spain

From The City To The Sea

Seeing as it has been about two weeks since arriving in Wellington, and I have not yet ventured to any part of the surrounding landscape that enticed me to come to New Zealand in the first place, I figured that the first days of from my lectures was a good enough place to start exploring. And so, armed with a digital camera, some muesli bars (granola, for you American types) and shoes I would later find out are not, and never claimed to be, waterproof, my international friends and I set out on Wellington’s City to Sea Walkway. The title is a bit misleading, as you primarily stay on the hills surrounding New Zealand’s capital, with the only “city” aspect coming in the form of the bus ride home. Nevertheless, if you like walking (and who doesn’t like a good walk?), this is not a terrible way to spend your day.

We began at 10am, in Wellington’s Botanical Gardens. The trail begins near what the locals refer to as the “Trippy Tree”: an enormous topiary clipped in a circular shape, where the local kids engage in the occasional cigarette or other debaucherous activity. Climbing its thick branches gives one a particularly spectacular view of the city.

TrippyTreePan.JPG

The trail snakes around Victoria University’s Kelburn campus, which sits perched on one of the many hills encircling the capital. Despite being only a few minutes walk from the political center of New Zealand, the density of the foliage in the area (locals would call it “the bush”) is curious and amazing. The trail twists in and out of civilization, with some stretches of the path becoming completely encapsulated in what one might mistake for the Amazon. Most of the bush looks fairly comparable to the deciduous forests of central Pennsylvania, however the mixture of lush tropical plants and thicker canopies make for an entirely unique outdoor experience.

After about an hour or so of trekking through the bush, the trail spills out into the beginning of a relentless expanse of hills (While I use the term “hills” throughout, do not be mistaken about their size. At their best, they can reach some of the low-flying clouds commonly found in the valley). Virtually any spot on these landscapes are perfect for picture taking, and I did not take these opportunities for granted.

012.JPG

Once we left the quiet shade of the forest, we became victims to Wellington’s primary adversary: wind. The breezes that roll in from the sea are strong enough to knock you off balance, which is particularly frustrating when you are attempting to climb a staircase with no handrails. Nevertheless, venturing to the top of each hill is, in itself, its own reward.

032.JPG

It was here where we stopped for a quick lunch. If you ever plan to complete the City to Sea trail, you had better bring some sort of meal with you. There are no caf�s or dairies on the way, and believe me when I say you will need the energy.

After a few more hours of traversing the hills, we ended up, rather abruptly, in a quaint neighborhood. It was here that I first got a good look at the architecture that one might consider a bit eccentric. The homes are not expansive in any way, nor do they look particularly expensive. But, unlike the Pleastantvillian, cut-and-paste style housing so pervasive in American suburbia, New Zealand’s architecture seems to be mostly individual. Most had a 70s style split-level or ranch style to them, but every so often there would be a Victorian tower sticking out of an otherwise modern home. There was no sense of standardization among buildings, which was a refreshing change from the uniformity of my hometown.

The neighborhoods led almost to the edge of the island, where treacherous-looking rocks meet the ocean. In the distance, the South Island is barely visible, almost as if it was a drawing on a movie backdrop. In fact, almost every landscape we witnessed on the trail seemed unreal. Perhaps the reason for this is that I have never been in a place so naturally beautiful before, unless it has been through the medium of the silver screen. Sitting on the sea’s edge, and later, thanks to the tides, in the caf� by the sea’s edge, was a perfect ending to an exhausting but wholly worthwhile day.

052.JPGShortly after taking the picture above, Poseidon decided he preferred my lower half to be a bit damper than it already was.

In the usual fashion, here are a few tips if you feel like walking around New Zealand (or more accurately, when you have to walk around New Zealand. You can’t get out of it.):

1. Shoes. For the love of all that is holy, bring hiking shoes. Ones that are comfortable. I made the 14km walk from the city to the sea in about 3 hours with decent shoes, and a day later, my feet are still sore. It is much more economical to bring shoes to New Zealand instead of buying them here, as any decent pair is going to cost you upwards of $150NZ. I got mine at DSW for $40US. Just bring them yourself.
2. A decent camera. If you have an older one that you’ve been meaning to upgrade, go for it. The landscapes of New Zealand are some of the most breathtaking you will ever see, and a high quality camera will do them justice. Mine is a Sony Cybershot DSC-W570, which takes incredible panoramic shots and HD video, not to mention some of the best image stabilization I’ve seen on a budget point-and-shoot. It was only about $150 as well, and is the perfect tool for making an amateur photographer’s shots look exceptional.
3. A comfortable backpack with plenty of pouches. A bulky, amorphous bag can ruin even the shortest of walks, and not having one is definitely a mistake. My bag is small and loose, so most of my food and things were all mashed together. A light bag with compartments for a water bottle, food, natural souvenirs (I spent a good hour searching both the bush and the shore for shells, fossils, leaves, and all other assortments of special finds) will prevent everything from getting everything else dirty. If you want a lot of hydration for a long hike (or if you want to inconspicuously get drunk in a public place), a camelback would not be a terrible purchase.
4. A light, well insulated jacket. Many of my friends brought winter jackets, which seems a bit like overkill. They’re bulky, stuffy and a hassle to store when not being worn. I unfortunately did not bring any jacket (mine got ruined a few days before I had to leave), instead opting for a few pullovers. These work alright, but a small zippered jacket would be much more convenient.

Goodbye for now!


Location: Wellington, New Zealand

My neighbor, Babbo Natale

After almost 24 hours of straight traveling from New York to Zurich to Rome, I finally arrived in Perugia, Italy on Friday night.  Even though I had a red eye flight, sleeping on the plane was impossible; no amount of airline blankets, pillows, or snack mix would make that happen.  When our bus got in it was already after dark, but after a 4-course meal at the hotel (which was absolutely amazing) I walked up to the piazza.   The Fontana Maggiore was lit up in a bluish light, and Christmas lights hung across Corsa Vannucci, the main street in Perugia.  At that moment it began to hit me that I was actually in Italy.


IMG_1034.JPG

Saturday morning we moved into our apartment on Via Pinturicchio, named after the artist Bernardino Pinturicchio who studied under Pietro Vannucci (who also taught Raphael).  The building is four stories high, and we’re on the top floor.  Four American girls struggling to carry our luggage up the stairs drew the attention of one of our neighbors on the second floor.  This little old Italian lady poked her head out of the door to see what all the noise was about, gave us a huge smile and a friendly “Ciao!” as we passed by.  For the four of us there are two bedrooms and two bathrooms both with bidets (which I can guarantee will never be used the whole semester), and a little kitchen, which is a bright shade of orange.  We have a beautiful view of the outskirts of Perugia and the surrounding areas from our kitchen window.  I had another realization that I was actually in Italy when I looked out.


IMG_1014.JPG

There is one other apartment on the floor, and is home to one Babbo Natale, or Santa Claus as they call him in English.  Babbo Natale is meant to live at the North Pole, and that’s what our apartment felt like the first night.  I slept in covered in Under Armor from head to toe, with a sweatshirt and sweatpants on top.  We thought the apartment was freezing because we’re only allowed 7 hrs of heat a day. Turns out it was never on.  Whoops. Thankfully today we got one of the Umbra staff members, Mauro, to help us out and teach us that the picture of the snowflake actually means heat, and the sun means AC. 

IMG_1031.JPG

















Everyone says that the food in Italy is amazing, the best in the world, and I have to agree.  Everything is so fresh, and you can buy all of the fresh meats, cheese, bread and produce you could want in a covered market near the center of town. I’ve spoken a lot of Italian so far, mostly ordering food and coffee or asking for directions, but I can already tell that I’m improving and getting more comfortable with the language.   Some people are having a little more trouble. I’ve heard stories of people drinking applesauce thinking it was apple juice or ordering full trays of eggplant parmesan instead of individual portion sizes. Typical mistakes I’m sure.

We explored the town the day after move in, and I didn’t see a single Starbucks, McDonalds, or any other American store chain anywhere in town. I loved it.So far so good here in Perugia, and I can’t wait to find all that the small city in the heart of the Umbra region has to offer.

IMG_1028.JPG



Location: Perugia, Italy

On Beijing

It’s currently 11:30 AM here in Dalian.  We arrived on an overnight train early this morning and are taking a short break before heading out to tour the city.  While I have some downtime, I want to reflect on the trip so far and the crash course our class took through Beijing.

The approximately 13 hour flight from Newark to Beijing seemed pretty much as long as it sounds.  I had time to watch 4 movies, listen to about 3 full albums, and take a decent nap.  Our flight path took us within 60 miles of the North Pole, though I had an aisle seat so I did not get a chance to open the window and look at all the ice.  We arrived in Beijing and our passports were checked in one of the world’s largest terminals.  After dropping our bags at the hotel, we headed out for a hot pot dinner.  I had experienced a hot pot meal once before in the U.S., but never a hot pot meal where pig brain was an option.  Feeling slightly jet lagged and completely exhausted, I decided not to be adventurous and went with what I thought was beef, but later found out was lamb.

The following day marked the beginning of our adventures through Beijing, beginning with Tienanmen Square.  Mao Zedong, who is seen in the U.S. as a controversial former communist leader, is essentially worshiped here. 

CIMG0684.JPG

This is his mausoleum. The building is massive and citizens buy flowers to present as an offering before entering the viewing room.

Following Tienanmen Square, we visited China’s National Center for the Performing Arts. The building is the largest dome structure in the world, and contains multiple theaters. It seemed as though no expense was spared during the structure’s construction; everything was modern and clean.


CIMG0696.JPG


The following day we toured the Forbidden City. Even before entering, the massive walls guarding the city displayed just how powerful and wealthy the Chinese dynasties were. The Imperial garden was breathtaking. Some of the trees were over 300 years old, and I was amazed by the size of the rocks moved into the garden. Every building was painted with meticulous detail and used bright reds, blues, greens, and yellows to give the structures a very regal appearance. This style is seen in nearly all ancient Chinese architecture, but each building has its own purpose and meaning, and each structure really is its own work of art.

CIMG0779.JPG

I took a particular interest in the various sculptures seen throughout the ancient sites we visited. Most important buildings seemed to have a pair of sculptures or statues to the right and left of the entrances. The lion statues are the only animals which are noticeably different from one another. The lion on the right is female, which can be noted by the lion cub under its paw. The lion on the left is the male, and has a decorative ball under its paw rather than the cub. Although I believe most are for decoration some served as large incense burners during celebrations. I tried to get at least one photo of each of these statues.

The air in Beijing was far from clear. The smog began to dull vision at only a few hundred feet. This was most obvious when we visited the Great Wall. The wall itself was impressive, but the smog prevented us from observing the distant hills and mountains.


The olympic park was our next stop. The Bird’s Nest was extremely impressive and the its design is unlike any building I have seen. Although it looks absolutely massive from the outside, it seats fewer people than PSU’s Beaver Stadium.


CIMG0827.JPG

The following day we visited the Summer Palace. This massive garden contains a huge manmade lake and some extremely intricate structure design. One of my favorite pictures I’ve taken so far this trip is of the ceiling in a gazebo type structure located within the palace garden.


CIMG0903.JPG

We ended our stay in Beijing with a trip to the Temple of Heaven and a city street on which foods such as scorpion and centipede could be purchased.

All in all I really liked Beijing. I generally am not one to enjoy city life; I prefer open fields and trees to busy streets and skyscrapers, but Beijing is one of the coolest cities I’ve ever been to. Even though nearly 22 million people live there, the layout allows the sidewalks to be less crowded than sidewalks in New York City. Buildings aren’t jammed one right against another, they are spread over a huge area leaving space for sculptures and gardens to be scattered throughout the entire city. Although we only had a few days to spend in Beijing, it has become one of my favorite cities.


Location: Beijing, China