Puglia (8/19-8/27)

I visited Valerio in Puglia, where he lives in Southern Italy. It is absolutely gorgeous there and it reminded me of Greece. This first picture is of Vieste, a city about an hour north of his town of Manfredonia. The city is very tiny, but really pretty with a lot of Grecian accents. Another picture of Vieste is the one of the two of us that I somehow managed to create 2 of on this page...at least you won't forget what he looks like :)
This second picture is of the church of Padre Pio in the San Giovanni Rotondo. This is one of the biggest places to pay homage to i the Catholic world. It's only second to the church in Lourdes.
The next picture is of the grotto in Mattinata, a beach close by Manfredonia. We went inside and I took a picture a picture there too. It really reminded me of that scene from the last Harry Potter movie where Dumbledore takes Harry to the cave by the sea to find another horcrux...I'm a nerd.
I have to say the food outdoes anyother reason to visit Puglia. I thought that since I lived near the capital of the food world (Bologna) that I'd already tasted the best...heck no. Valerio's mother made some of the best food I've ever tasted. Puglia is known for it's olive oil and maybe that was the difference. Everything I tasted was a lot better and probably because it was cooked in the olive oil...hence the picture of the olive trees at the bottom.

Barcelona (8/13-8/18)

So, I went to Barcelona for five days in August and it was amazing. I had no idea how big the city was. I first day we pretty much just wandered until we found the metro and got off at a random spot, which happened to be the marina. This is a picture of the boats and it really reminded me of Charleston. The water was a little more transparent, but the heat, humidity, and amount of seagulls was exactly the same :)
We also went to the beach there...the water was beautiful and clear, but the women were topless..so that was kind of a shocker.
The picture on the top left is of "La Rambla" which is the most popular street in Barcelona and where you can shop, eat, drink, and watch people do random things, like juggle or sing haha.
The picture at the very top is of just a little part of the Sagrada Familia. This is the biggest church I've ever seen built by Gaudi. It resembles a huge drippy sand castle you make at the beach.
We also saw some amazing parks all over the city as well as tons of architecture by Gaudi.
I reccommend using a scooter for transportation :). We didn't figure that one out till the last day and that's when we saw the most stuff. All in all it was a great trip and I can't wait to go back!!