Until Next Time España

And so it came, my very last day in Spain. Half of which was spent completely exhausted and slightly hungover from the most epic night of my life and the other half trying to celebrate my last night with Elizabeth after such an amazing adventure together.

After a minor break down due to my debit card being eaten by a foreign ATM we found a cute little Peruvian restaurant for dinner and shared a delicious bottle of wine.

After dinner we took one last stroll around Madrid, stopped for one last scoop of Gelato, and took one last photo...

What a lovely trip! From start to finish I was completely blown away the history, culture, and mouthwatering food throughout Spain and Portugal. I can't wait to start planning my next big adventure. Where will my frolicking take me in 2013!?

Pamplona

Elizabeth and I left the last three days of our trip open for us to decide what to do with once we were in Spain. Once we realized we were in Spain at the same time the running of the bulls were happening in Pamplona we knew we just had to go! So off we went by train to Northern Spain for the craziest 24 hours of our lives.

As soon as we hopped off the train we grabbed some red and white running of the bulls gear and jumped right into all the festivities.

Crazy enough another friend of Elizabeth was also in Spain and met up with us in Pamplona for an epic night of dancing, drinking, street music and just all around unforgettable moments at this insane tradition.

People and booze were everywhere you looked. We literally ran into this parade that turned out to be one giant musical bar-hop where drinking in the streets very much encouraged. America get on Europe's level when it comes to alcohol.

The whole night was full of so much happiness, it could possibly be one of the best nights of life: great people, unforgettable memories, live music, dance-offs and dance-parties. We some how managed to stay up the whole night (to avoid needing to pay for any where to stay, ha!) and grabbed our front row spot for THE running of the bulls.

Everyone was extremely tired as we patiently awaited the running, which took about all of two minutes to watch. There are two sets of gates, the first being the actual barrier between the bulls and runners and the second being where people could start lining up to watch. The gap in between is used for press and emergency medics when the drunk runners get hurt..SMH

I nearly ran with the bulls myself but was convinced by a local that it was more than dangerous, it would be stupid to participate in the actual running. He himself had lived in Pamplona for over 35 years and never ran it because it's more than just the bulls you have to worry about, the biggest issue is avoiding all the drunk careless fools who are also running. No matter what it was an amazing night that I won't ever forget. Plus, it was the first all-nighter ever! Bucket List, Check Check

Comida en Madrid

With the exception of the first couple photos (which were all from our vegetarian with our host family) I feel like the food in Madrid is more traditional Spanish food than what we ate in Barcelona. I enjoyed trying new dishes (despite the widespread use of ham--no thank you!) and even had some more of those delicious padron peppers. 

Oh, and I don't understand how the Spanish population isn't a gazillion pounds that simultaneously suffers from diabetes; they eat gelato like it's their job, ha!

Musica en Madrid

If you know me at all you know I live for live music and I absolutely love to dance. While in Madrid Elizabeth and I were constantly coming across free live music. Between jazz clubs, outside orchestra concerts, and random street artists we were enjoying the perks of Madrid life everywhere we turned.

 Despite an obvious language barrier, we made friends with the "bouncer"

 Staying in the artisan district was a prime location for food, art and music; we started or ended every night at PopularArt some live jazz...too good!

I need to find myself a jazz club in Philadelphia as soon as possible!

El Parque del Retiro

Like most major cities, Madrid has a gorgeous (and extremely large) park right in the middle of the city that is perfect for a relaxing day laying in the sun or a intense run/bike around it's many trails.

 

 Black Swan!

The park was nearly endless in size yet calming everywhere you turned. I could have spent days exploring every inch of El Parque del Retiro but we had a lot of more of Madrid and Spain to explore so a couple hours had to suffice.