Day 11: Time to Split for Split

On day eleven we got up insanely early once again to catch the one ferry to Split that day.  Split's a bit dirty and not as charming as the other cities in Croatia, but a fun place to spend a day nonetheless.

It poured shortly after we got settled and started walking around, our first and only confrontation with dark clouds and rain during the entire trip.  We just hung out in a cafe and then shopped underground until the rain cleared.

We climbed and climbed stairs in an alleyway and eventually got up to here, the entrance to a beautiful park where the zoo was, high above the city.

Some random old guy is on the other side of this tiny church bathing standing up (with clothes on).  We scared him away.

The Split people love their football team.  I don't think this was league sanctioned graffiti.

The sunset from the old town area was great, and the weather was perfect again.

So much old, cool-looking stuff in Eastern Europe.

Day 12: A Stop in Zagreb, Then Back to Barcelona

We left Split by plane to head back to Spain but had to stop in Zagreb for seven hours.

When we got to the bus station we kinda thought we'd be disappointed by Zagreb, though we had no idea what to expect.  This is Zagreb's Times Square.

We walked around for most of our five or six hours that we got to spend in the town and it gradually grew on us.

This church was pretty darn cool.

We stopped and took a break at a place that was a tribute to J.R.R. Tolkien.

We played cards there for a while and had some food and drink.  Then we continued our journey, somewhat sad to have such a short stay in such a charming city.

We made it back to Barcelona and checked in at our hotel.  Then we had our usual late dinner (past 9:00), this time at a Mexican place called Hola Manito.  There were super loud kids, a couple of whom were making out.  Also Alex felt like the room was spinning from all the traveling.  And the food wasn't very good, more American than Mexican.  It was an interesting experience though.

Day 13: Parc Guell, the Castle, and More (We Love This Town!)

On day thirteen we went to Parc Guell, a very cool park designed by Gaudi.

Gaudi liked lizards.

And crazy looking buildings.

Did we mention that we love Barcelona?

Across town is Montjuic, the area we went to before with all the Olympic stuff.  A castle at the top of a huge hill had some cannons.  There was a status there dedicated to Lluis Companys, the leader of Catalonia who was executed by Franco during the Spanish Civil War.  That's right, we learned a few things on this trip.

This was the symbol for the 1992 Olympics.  Or something like that.  Regardless, everybody should get to see the Olympic area in Barcelona, it's really quite awesome.

Day 14: Back to Madrid and the Reina Sofia

On day fourteen we took the train to Madrid.  We went to the Reina Sofia museum in the early afternoon.

We figured we wouldn't be there very long, but there was so much cool stuff.  There happened to be an awesome exhibit of Yayoi Kusama's works, which we both loved.  Plus we got see Guernica and tons of other amazing paintings.

This fountain was cool.  Madrid really grew on us.  It's so fun to to walk around at night and still be warm in t-shirts and shorts.

Day 15: Our Last Full Day of Vacation

On day fifteen we tried not to think about the fact that it was the last day of fun and sun. 

We headed to the royal palace area and got some great views of the city. 

We ended up at this piazza.  A chubby guy showed up in a Spider-man costume and people got their pictures taken with him.  Not us.

We finally had churros with chocolate.  That cup on the left is the chocolate, a delicious dip for some donut-like treats.  Churros that is.  Churrrrrrros.

We're not the best at taking pictures of ourselves.

This was the Temple of Debod, a very ancient temple that was basically transported from Egypt to Madrid.  It was definitely cool.  Also this dog liked to be in our pictures.

This was taken from the cable car that gave us an guided (automated, in English) overhead tour of Madrid.  Definitely worth it.

The sun setting on our amazing trip.

For the complete collection of photos from our trip, go here.