3UROTRIP 2024, part 1: Lisboa, Faro, Sevilla, Granada

 After the 1st eurotrip in 2019 (with montage) visiting Italy, France, Spain, Vatican, Monaco, came the Eurotrip #2 2022 visiting Paris, Brussels, Amsterdam, Berlin, before touring with my orchestra YPSO in Leipzig, Prague, and Austria. At this point I've visited 10 countries in Europe, and I didn't know that I'd be back within just two years.

So with the THIRD ITERATION of EUROTRIP, we are rebranding to 3UROTRIP:

OVERVIEW

2019 // 5 Unique Countries (Italy, Vatican City, Monaco, France, Spain)

Part 1: "Italy" Venice, Florence, Rome, Vatican City

Part 2: "Cruise" Pompeii, Monte Carlo (Monaco), Cannes, Palma de Mallorca

Part 3: "Spain" Barcelona, Madrid

2022 // 6 Unique Countries (France, Belgium, Netherlands, Germany, Czech Republic, Austria)

Part 1: "Western/Central Europe" 

 - Paris, France (4 days)

 - Brussels, Belgium (1 day)

 - Amsterdam, Netherlands (3 days)

 - Berlin, Germany (2 days)

Part 2: "YPSO Celebration of Music Tour"

 - Leipzig, Germany (2 days)

 - Prague, Czech Republic (2 days)

 - Vienna, Austria (3 days)

2024: 3UROTRIP // 3 Unique Countries (Portugal, Spain, Morocco)

Part 1: "With family

 - Lisboa, Portugal (2.5 nights)

 - Faro, Portugal (1 night)

 - Sevilla, Spain (2 nights)

 - Granada, Spain (1.5 nights)

Part 2: "Cultures of Southern Spain: Study Abroad"

 - Granada, Spain (3 weeks)

          - excursions to Cordoba, Sevilla

 - Morocco (1 week)

          - Malaga, Spain

          - Tarifa, Spain

          - Tangiers, Morocco

          - Tetouan, Morocco

          - Chefchaquen, Morocco

          - Rabat, Morocco

That is the rough overview.

Part 1

So here I am a week after I departed my family writing this post. I've been here in Granada for my study abroad program for a week, and I've finally settled in and I'm working on writing this post. Because of this I'll just be writing my impressions and takeaways, I probably forgot some stuff since it's been a week ago.

Lisboa, Portugal - photo album

Very cool city I rememebr the first thing I did when we uber'd from the airport to our airbnb I was like wow it is hilly but like I remember seeing that Portuguese crossing sign and freaking out like ITS REAL THE BELT ON IT. This was my first time coming to europe Post-geoguessr and I knew this trip would be so different cause of that.

Lisbon is cool, during the second day we took a train west to Sintra where there's a ton of castles and stuff and we looked at like 3 of them and did a ton of walking and hiking through the mountains, overall a very fun experience. Also got so many insane shots from up there that you'll see in the photo album. Other than that the other free day we just walked around and stuff lmao I forgot all of it but the egg tarts are really good and they're only like 1.50 euros. It's actually kinda funny how I forgot what else we did that free day, we definitely did stuff lmao but uh yea 😀

Faro, Portugal - photo album

Had a very fun time in this beach city, we took a bus south here and we visited the beach and the famous district and the mall which exceeded my expectations. The faro mall was pretty good, it was super big and also very unique just the whole construction and layout. There's also a big supermarket within the mall where my mom bought like 6 pieces of bread for like less than 2 euros or something, everything in this city was really cheap which was so nice. The egg tarts were like 1.30 euros. 

Other than that we also watched the Portugal game in the Euros where there was a big watch party, definitely lots of energy and super fun especially when Portugal scored off of an own goal. A smaller city here but like the vibes a lot.

Sevilla, Spain - photo album

After a night in Faro we then bus'd to Sevilla Spain, which is the 4th most populated city in Spain with a pop of 688k. And it was definitely super big, there were tons of like churches and like famous cathedrals along with a super big tram road that was bustling with pedestrians. It's easy to get lost in the heart of the city while walking around and then there's the river and the bridges that you can explore too. Not to mention the main attraction of the Plaza de Espana and the surrounding areas. There was a huge festival going on so we couldn't go in but the park beside it was so cool with all the different duck breeds and baby ducklings everywhere, along with swans, pidgeys, and cool green birds on the fountain. Really enjoyed that park because of all those baby ducklings just floating out in the open, you don't see that very often and I feel like I'm being so spoiled man those babies are so cute.

We spent two days where the first one we went to the big cathedral or something i forgot what its called but its big with a big garden and theres a ton of peacocks and history, then the second day we explored the rest of the city including the areas i mentioned above. Overall a nice city, big city here with lots of things to do, my family and i enjoyed it.

Granada, Spain - photo album

And then we took a train to cordoba and then switched to head to Granada where I would be starting my study aroad in 2 days. The first day here in Granada we mainly just walked around and explored stuff, visited a viewpoint, and watched a flamenco show. Our air bnb location was right next to the river and very close to the alhambra which is the famous palace on the mountain and main attraction. I'm saying this because my study abroad homestay was in the heart of the city which is quite far from our air bnb which was located near the edge. ANyway the flamenco show was pretty cool, it was a show with a guitarist, singer, and two dancers that with clicking shoes or tapdancing whatever you call it. Percussion was grounded on clapping and then enhanced with the tapdancing, and the guitarist was pretty good, theres lots of fast sections. I noticed the tapdancing had quite a lot of triplets along with dramatic releasepoints. It was a cool show.

Then the second day in the morning my mom went to visit the alhambra with her tour group because there was only one ticket available, so me and my sister just explored the parts that aren't gated. Then we ate lunch and stuff I think my mom cooked instant noodles with vegetables in the airbnb which was very good. But something worth mentioning is that like in Granada and in Sevilla we started chilling in the airbnb during 1pm - 4pm or something because it was just so hot and sunny. It turned out to be a great move because Spanish siesta culture works like that where most business close during 2-5 or 2-6 pm and then reopen. People eat lunch very late and people eat dinner very late, ppl often eat dinner at like 10pm. Being like 1+ week into Granada and my study abroad program, there's not much need to be going out during 2-5 pm because of this, so yea i didnt know that until i realized.

OK anyway at around 6pm then I packed up everything and walked to the homestay at 6pm, and that's where part 1 of this trip wraps up! I said goodbye to my family and met my homestay family and soon began my study abroad adventure with UCSC, not knowing what to expect.

Conclusion

Had a lot of fun with my family and traveling out of the north america for the first time in 2 years. Didn't expect Portugal to be fairly cheap but it kidna makes sense, and I've been craving chipotle ever since I flew in to this trip, so please pray for me because I still hvae like 3 weeks to go. I'll see you guys in part 2!

Lyric(s) of the Post: 

Zedd - Out Of Time (feat. Bea Miller)