A New Year and a New Set of Plans

I know I have been quite slow with the blogs lately... I have been moving around a bit more in recent weeks and my internet access has been a little bit more limited. For now I will just give a update on what I have done and my plans...

I left for Granada traveling alone again. I had booked two nights in the beautiful city. I believe it was the last Moorish holdout in Spain before the Christian conquest was complete. I enjoyed visiting the huge Moorish complex of Alhambra and wandering the small maze like cobble stone streets. However, perhaps my best day in the city was when I climbed the hill of maze like streets and made my way to the old city wall. Afterwards I went around the backside of the wall and rested on a quiet hill away from all of the tourists. From here on one side I had a wonderful view overlooking Alhambra and the city of Granada. On the other side I could watch and listen to the gypsies go about their business in their little community of cave like dwellings.

While in Madrid I had planned to go to Sevilla to spend the New Year. I decided to hold out on the booking until I actually got to Granada. I am so glad I decided to do so. At the last moment I was offered to go Couchsurfing with a wonderful family in a small town in the Sierra Nevada Mountains for the New Year. I will not divulge further details at this time as I am going to make a whole post on my stay there. However, I will say that those few days will most certainly be one of the highlights of my trip!

From here I booked two nights in Cordoba (the funny thing about this city is that the main tourist site is an old part Muslim and part Christian religious building, that is located in the old Jewish neighborhood) and was still planning on making my way around southern Spain and then to Morocco.. That was just a few days ago.... Then I got a message from my Aunt Carol that my Uncle Erik's family will be at a house they have in Oslo, Norway for a few weeks. So I decided to book a flight to Norway... So instead of going to nice and hot and very cheap Morocco, I am instead going to very cold and very expensive Norway. I made this decision for several reasons... First off the rising Mideast tensions had my mother quite worried about me visiting Morocco, and for good measure Norway was ranked as the most peaceful country in the world last year. So in part I decided to go for my mothers sake. Otherwise Norway seems like a wonderful country that I would have probably not visited due to the very high prices. However the chance to be with welcoming hosts offering a free place to stay is very nice, even if it is a "terrible" time of the year to go (I was even laughed at by a girl from northern Germany for deciding to go to cold Norway now). Plus the flight was surprisingly cheap to Norway. I am very excited for my new plans and I just hope I do not turn into one 5 foot and 10 inches tall ice cube.

Currently I am in a city called Sevilla where for 10 euro a night I get a nice hostel with unlimited internet, hot chocolate, a roof terrace, a free Flaminco show, and a lot more. Tomorrow night I head on an overnight bus to Lisbon, Portugal... another place I did not plan on visiting. I will spend a few nights there in a hostel that was actually voted as the best hostel in the world last month. I will then fly from a city called Faro, Portugal to Oslo, Norway on the 10th of January.

Otherwise yesterday (the 4th) marked two months since I have left home. I am almost positive that I have spent a few hundred under $2000 in total on my trip so far, including everything and with the terrible exchange rate. The number one cost has been transportation and that has been kept at a relatively low price considering I book everything last minute. I have slept on a couple of overnight buses and one very cold bus station. I have eaten endless amounts of food, but have probably lost weight because of all of the walking I am doing. I like to think I have become a bit of an expert of maximizing my money with my visit. I am still very happy with my traveling and I still do not have any idea of when I will be returning home. Thank you to everyone who has constantly commented and sent me emails. I love to receive them and keep them coming!