Eight cities, five countries, two sisters, countless tears, endless laughs.
My older sister Hannah moved to Spain after graduating from college. Since we can never be apart for long, I decided to spend my college winter break visiting her in her new home and exploring Europe.
I had never been to Europe before and my bucket list of places I wanted to go and things I wanted to see was pretty long. After a few weeks of planning, we decided that I would fly to Spain to stay with her and then we would meet up with some friends in Italy. After Italy we'd venture to Greece, Poland, and Iceland.
SPAIN: Daimiel, Madrid & Barcelona
I flew into Madrid and took a train to the small town of Daimiel, where Hannah lives. After much stress of not having a working phone and almost having to hitch a ride in a stranger's van (sorry dad), I met up with Hannah and she showed me her town square, which gave off some serious Stars Hollow vibes (Gilmore Girl fans - IYKYK). After a few days we went back to Madrid and saw The Royal Palace and Plaza de Mayor. We ate some churros and went on our way to Barcelona, where we took an audio tour of La Sagrada Familia (12/10 recommend). We also went to Park Güell and saw the runway where CariDee out-walked Melrose on ANTM Cycle 7! Mission accomplished.
ITALY: FLORENCE & ROME
"Two weeks. Two weeks is all it took for me to fall in love with you." Only I'm not talking about Dear John, and it only took me eight days. If you want to have the most wonderful time in Italy, visit Florence around Christmas. We spent our days eating gelato, pastas & raviolis, and of course– pizza. We visited the Duomo (waited in line to climb those narrow stairs all the way to the tippity top, too) and Piazzale Michelangelo. We walked the pretty cobblestone streets all lit up with Christmas lights and stopped to watch a light show on Ponte Vecchio. Then we traveled to Rome for a quick visit to The Colosseum. A word to the wise: You can totally save yourself a few hours and skip The Dungeon tour. We learned that the hard (and boring) way. Finally, we had our Lizzy McGuire moment and threw our spare change into the Trevi Fountain and called it a night.
GREECE: ATHENS
Unfortunately our time in Greece was short and I would love to go back to visit the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants picturesque islands one day. We took Greece's version of the T to see The Parthenon and walked all the way to the top of the hill, only to find out it was closed. Happy New Years to us, I guess! We still snapped our photos and enjoyed the view. The next day we took the bus to Cape Sounion to see Temple of Poseidon, which was definitely a highlight of our trip.
POLAND: KRAKOW & OSWIECIM
In Krakow we spent most of our time in The Main Square shopping and eating Pierogis. We took a bus to Oswiecim to visit The Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial and Museum, where we had an emotional tour through the concentration camp. We entered the infamous gate with a sign that translates to "Work sets you free." We saw piles of the most precious belongings prisoners had taken with them that were confiscated by Nazis: wedding rings, shoes, hair brushes and other items. We saw the piles of hair that was shaved off of each person's head, and we walked through the gas chambers where over one million people were killed. It was a heart-wrenching tour, but it was educational and informative and we highly recommend it.
ICELAND: REYKJAVIK
Some may say we saved the best for last, but lemme tell ya: Iceland is EXPENSIVE. At this point on our adventure, we were already pinching pennies and Iceland was not good to us in that regard. Never mind that the sun didn't rise until 11am and set at 4pm, but a breakfast sandwich cost $13! Hannah and I ended up buying a loaf of bread, peanut butter, and fluff so we could make sandwiches for every meal. Aside from going broke, Iceland was truly breathtaking. We visited Gullfoss waterfall and Hallgrimskirkja, swam in a lagoon, and saw a glimpse (although very faint) of the Northern Lights!
Despite a few bumps in the road, our sister adventure was a success. Although we were missing our oldest sister, we were able to create new memories and check off some boxes on our bucket list.
