Voyaging Valencia...: Alamansa, Spain----

Bus ticket: 15 E
Admission to Historic landmark: 2 E
Bread: .45 E
Chillin’ outside of a castle: priceless

So this weekend I went on a day trip to Almansa, Spain with some peeps. My neighbors- Julieta and Emily invited me, and Jenelle and Brian also came along for the journey. It started early in the morning, we had to be up at the crack of dawn to walk downtown to the bus station. So, five minutes before the bus left, we got there, got our ticket, found our bus and left. Haha.

On the bus I was seated in the middle, Brian in the front, and the other girls in the back. There was a guy in the back coughing and hacking up so much that we all were gagging and thought we were going to puke. It was ridiculous. Then next to me there were some smelly Russians? They weren’t speaking Spanish and they tried to talk to me in horrible English, and it was not good. I was trying to ignore them, but their eyes were burning holes through me (a feeling that I seem to have a lot over here… hmm.) Luckily Julieta saved me from the Russians and came up and sat by me, and then she didn’t have to sit right in front of the guy practically dying in the back of the bus.

On the bus, they played Evan Almighty. Brian seemed really into it… we kind of watched it, but were too far back to read the subtitles…
We eventually got to Almansa, and started walking around. Brian fell in a fountain… almost. (Janelle and I saved him). Then we went to “El Paso” and had some café. Watched some skiing—we think it was the Olympics? Idk.

Then we continued walking downtown. We stopped in a park, ate our sandwiches. Then finally we saw the castle on the top of the hill, and we made our way to the top. Unfortunately as everything over here does, it was closed down in the middle of the day. Siesta time.

Moment of thought: (How is it that everything can just shut down over here for a couple of hours and a whole country can just take a nap. Blows my mind sometimes… But we were talking about this while we were waiting for everything to open back up…. If Spain’s economy is not good, and there is a crisis for jobs, wouldn’t it just make sense to have everything be open through the day so they could have business? Idk. Just a random thought we were pondering…)

Anyways, back to our story. After we found out that the castle wouldn’t be open for a couple hours, we went to this mall.. they have a different name for it here, but it was a mall. There was one store open. A pastelería! So we bought some chocolatey goodness, ate that, and walked around looking at the windows of the closed stores. Window shopping, it does exist. (I thought Gilmore Girls was making that up.) I found a jacket that was 15 E in a window, and I needed to have it, so we sat outside of it on a bench staring at it. It was great. Then we discovered the best public restrooms I have yet seen in Europe. They were amazing. Just chilling out in this mall.

Since everything would be closed yet for awhile, we went to Mercadona (grocery store) and bought fresh bread and I got an orange Fanta. (Orange Fanta is quickly replacing my need for Cherry Coke.)

Thus with bread and soda, we trekked our way back to the castle. We sat on the steps, soaked in the sun, and shot the breeze. It was glorious.

Finally the castle was open, and we made our way in. It was sooo guay. Super guay. We were in heaven… or a castle. It was really windy though, and there were really tiny steps, and that kind freaked me out. I felt like I was going to trip and just fall off the edge or something. A few sweet things happened in this castle though:

1.It was a castle. And apparently it was part of a big battle between the moors and the catholics. Interesante. (I just like seeing things that have a history and story behind them….so that made me happy.)
2.There was a group of people- 2 couples together- that were walking around at the same time as us. When we got to the top, they took our picture. When we went down into the main hall, Janelle took their picture in front of some cardboard cutouts. It was the funniest thing ever!!
3.We met another group of 2 couples- this group a little older… They asked us where we are from, what we’re doing here… ect. Then they told us to come visit their city, and then gave us their number so they can show us around, have us over for dinner, and have us meet their children. ***Basically the coolest thing that has happened since we got here. So, next weekend we’re in Barcelona, but 2 weeks from now, we have our trip already lined up. Haha!!

After the awesomeness that occurred in the castle, we went to the mall. Waited a little bit longer for the store to open up- came across our first group of friends from the castle again. And then finally I bought my jacket! : )

Then it was getting late already, so we started walking back across town to where the bus was picking us up. It was really cold, so I was glad I had my coat and not just my fleece. We found a bar/café, and so we sat and had some coffee. It was super cute, because there were a ton of old men hanging out in this place, and they were playing dominos with each other. Loved it.

So we played 2 truths and a lie/2 lies and a truth--- which I am horrible at, because I really can’t lie… So I failed at that, but it was fun nonetheless, and we got to know each other a bit more.

Then we went outside in the bitter cold and waited for the bus to arrive. Janelle almost had her hand bitten off by a crazy dog, and then the bus finally came.
I sat with Emily on the ride back, and we chatted the whole way back to Valencia. When we got here, we took a cab home and split the cost—it was beyond freezing out and it was late.

So, that was my day in Almansa. Pretty epic. Most definitely my best day in Spain yet, and I can’t wait to see what’s next in store for me…