Hey cool, I'm spontaneous

Trip planning is stressful.
I know, I know, I get to travel through Europe for 5 months.  My life is so hard.
Really though, booking flights, finding hostels with the most conflicting reviews ever, and making sight seeing plans can get overwhelming.

You wanna know what's less overwhelming?
Packing a bag, including both a sweater and a swimsuit, showing up at the train station, and picking a place on the departure list.

And that is exactly what I did.

Some tips about spontaneous traveling:
-Be prepared for any type of weather
-Pack light
-Go straight to the tourist office when you arrive at your destination
-Do not arrive after the tourist office is closed

Here's why:

We decided on Sevilla based on the raving reviews of the city from some people I know who studied abroad there and the advice of some people at the train station.  After about 2 1/2 hours on the train, we stepped off the train into the Sevilla sunshine and found the tourist office.  Best decision ever.  She booked us a hostel, circled top locations on the map, and told us which bus to take.  We ended up in the hostel next door somehow, but it worked out well.  It was the afternoon by then, so we just walked around and explored.  There's no metro in Sevilla, but the city is completely accessible on foot.  We passed several big tourist spots that were closed, and made a note to go back the next day.  The main thing that struck me about the city though was certainly its beauty--the more I saw, the more beautiful it became.  My pictures do not do it justice by any means.
That night, we had a delicious tapas dinner (I know you're shocked) and found a rooftop bar at a hotel looking over the lit up Cathedral in the center of the city.  Hello dreamworld.  Then we met up with my friend from Cal (and New Jew and Kadima), Simone, who is studying abroad in Sevilla for the semester.  She took us around to some fun student spots and gave us a middle of the night, impressively thorough tour of the Jewish quarter; I would expect nothing less.  It continues to amaze me how few Jews there can be in a country with so much Jewish history.  After a long day, we headed back to the hostel to rest up for another.

Sevilla day 2 was some of the most efficient and best sight seeing I've ever experienced.  We crossed the river (is it dumb that I didn't know Sevilla had a river?) and watched some crew teams for a bit.  Then we headed over to Plaza España---literally one of the most breathtakingly gorgeous places I've ever seen.  The tile, the park, the fountain, the river.  I couldn't get enough.  We had to tear ourselves away from the beauty to go to the next stop.  We quickly grabbed a starbucks drink (yes, they're global) and encountered a huge rally/strike/manifestación.  There have been Spain-wide demonstrations going on to protest the economic situation.  I've been learning a bit about their political system and it's interesting because by American standards, the "right wing" party, which is considered center-right here, is pretty center left and the "left wing party" is socialist but really just left with a welfare state.  I feel like there shouldn't be that much to fight about.  Nevertheless, the economy is bad and the unemployment rate is high.  Moral of the story, occupy everywhere.
Ok back to sight seeing.  we made our way through the crowd to the Alcazar, an Islamic and Gothic style palace that dates back to the Middle Ages.  To go with the Sevilla theme, it was beautiful.  It was so amazing that you can still see the teals and reds on the walls.  The place felt endless, filled with rooms and gardens, and a beautiful location to sit an eat lunch in.  We decided the people who work there probably never tire of the beauty.
Last big stop of the day was the Cathedral, the third largest in the World.  I really hate to admit this, but as spectacular as this place is, all Cathedrals are starting to mesh together in my head.  There was a style (namely, Jesus) and people stuck to it.  Of course, it was great though.  The best and most unique part of this one was the tower.  After climbing up 36 (odd?) floors, we arrived at the top and were greeted by an absolutely fantastic (running out of synonyms for beautiful) view of the city.  A lit bit of souvenir shopping, and an "hasta luego" took us back to the train station.

To Madrid?  Hmm...we could go to Madrid.  Or we could go to the beach in Malaga.  Hmm...

Yup, Malaga won.  It was worth it for several reasons:

1. I am declaring here and now Malaga has some of the nicest people in the world.  We arrived after the tourist office closed (again, I advise against it) with no clue where to go.  Oops.  Luckily, a woman in a shop was soooo helpful.  She literally took 20+ minutes to tell us where to go and what to see.  As if that wasn't enough, she told us to call the store if we need anything.  I swear, if we had called crying she would've invited us to her home.  Once in the center of the city, we had some trouble finding a hostel.  Malaga's police force to the rescue.  We asked two officers for help, which quickly turned into 4 on their phones looking up places and giving us directions.  There must be no crime in Malaga.  After 2 hours, we ended up in a hotel with the best receptionist ever.  The next day, the bus driver gave us a thumbs up when it was our stop to go to the beach.
2. We got to lay on the beach in beautiful weather.  Need I say more?
3. Some some Picasso artwork in the birthplace of Picasso.
(4. I could understand the Spanish movie on the train, which really is just a personal accomplishment thing)

Overall, the spontaneous weekend trip was a raving success.  Do this at least once in your life.  I just might do it again.

Also: http://www.globaljewishvoice.com/author/rebeccapowell/