the streets were paved with gold

BARCELONA, SPAIN

• It was 3am by the time I got to my hostel after three flights and two days on the road. I didn't sleep at all that night, too excited and restless to finally begin the month-long trip I planned with my best friend with three weeks notice. This was something we'd talked about doing for years and years until one day at the end of May we finally booked one-way flights to Barcelona and turned dreams into reality.
• The 1€ guanabana juice from La Boqueria was absolutely delicious. 
• I love art museums, and I spent the morning of my first solo day wandering Museu d'Art Contemporani de Barcelona after a morning cappuccino and before the sleepless night/jet lag finally hit around 2pm. Memorable exhibits that reflect politics as art: Krzysztof Wodiczko's If You See Something and Adrian Melis' Surplus Production Line.
• If you're thinking about getting the churros con chocolate at the top of Mount Tibidabo: don't. They taste like stale sadness and regret. In fact, they were so laughably bad, other tourists saw Yvana and I cracking up at the limp pieces covered in chocolate syrup and said "are those churros? We should get some too!" and mistakenly thought it was because we enjoyed them and it haunts me to this day that they actually got them too. Now I'm telling you to just trust me on this one: don't do it. 
• Park Güell started charging an entrance fee for the Monumental Zone (the central part of the park with the famous mosaics and terraces) and tickets were all sold out by the time we got there, but you can and should still wander the rest of the park. 
• The Nit de Sant Joan is fun...if you're with a group of friends. Go to the beach with speakers, firecrackers, drinks (especially cava), and a plan to stay out all night. Public transportation is limited so if you plan on tucking in before dawn, be prepared to walk the streets and maybe pop into a convenience store for a bottle of Fanta límon on your way home. 
• The day after the Nit de Sant Joan is a holiday. Most places are either closed or have special holiday hours. We didn't know this and spent a lot of that Saturday wandering between places that closed early before finally ending up at a speakeasy. 
• La Sagrada Familia is so so so worth it. Please go. Please book tickets online in advance. You really need to be there to witness the magic of sunlight streaming through Gaudi's basilica in person.
• On day four, my phone blacked out and wouldn't turn back on approximately 15 minutes after my film camera spontaneously rewound itself on a day I didn't have any other rolls of film on hand. For someone who talks a lot about wanting proof of things' existence, I was really upset at the prospect of not being able to take photos for the rest of the trip. Even though I figured out how to hard restart my phone and remembered to always carry spare film in the days to come, I think I needed the reminder to be flexible when things don't always go my way.

MADRID, SPAIN

• Spanish summers are for staying out all night, every night. We flew from Barcelona to Madrid and got to town in the middle of the afternoon siesta, and after eating two dinners (one early dinner at a stylish Mexican restaurant next door to our hostel, and one late dinner for tapas at a Michelin star restaurant on the other side of town) met up with Judy and her friends at the club after midnight. 
• There's something universal about stepping into a dark room where the floors are sticky with spilt vodka sodas and strangers ask you to dance to the latest pop songs blaring from speakers at the front of the room; there's something beautiful about finding solace in a group of girls who stick together through the night even though you only just met.
• Ready for some really good churros con chocolate? Head to Chocolatería San Ginés; we went twice in two days. 
• El Parque del Retiro was beautiful, not that my photos seem to reflect that because the lens wasn't focusing. Visit either before or after wandering the Prado, home to one of the finest collections of European art.
• Separation of church and state? What's that like? The Almudena Catedral is right next to el Palacio Real, so plan on seeing both while you're in the neighborhood. I couldn't help but think about how the staggering wealth of gold and art and finery represented within the palace walls goes hand in hand with the legacy of Spanish colonialism, but oh, how resplendent it all was.
• We met Charlotte at our hostel in the morning and made plans to meet up later that night. We went to El Tigre for the free tapas and 6€ mojitos in glasses the size of my face, another dinner after that for paella (Yvana and I are very serious about eating), and stayed up until 4am laughing at memes, eating awful convenience store gelato, playing pool, and doing laundry. 
• My favorite part about traveling are nights like this, really: anyone can tell you to go somewhere and see a thing and expect it to be magnificent, but it's the memories you make in unexpectedly ordinary circumstances that remind you that you can make happy memories doing anything when you're with best friends and new friends alike. 

SEVILLE, SPAIN

• We stayed at an Airbnb in Sevilla and our host recommended Otaola for some amazing paella. It's a popular spot among locals but the waiters don't speak English; pick your favorite and order a glass or two of tinto verano con límon while you're at it.
• There's a Polaroid of Yvana and I on the wall of fame at the Long Island Bar. It should really just be her up for completing the Route 66 challenge since I only contributed moral support/videography duty. 
• If you only have a day in Sevilla like we did, go to el Parque de Maria Luisa and wander the Plaza de España.
• El Catedral de Sevilla is the largest cathedral in the world and the third-largest church in the world. Go see the 42m tall altarpiece, stunning gothic architecture, priceless relics, and of course the Giralda, the bell tower that was originally built in the Moorish period. Get gelato (mango was my favorite) at La Abuela right outside the cathedral for a late afternoon snack. Maybe even get it twice like we did.
• We unfortunately didn't have time to go to the Alcazar but I heard it's beautiful. If you go, let me know how it is! 
• I bought my first postcards of the trip in Sevilla and posted on Instagram that I would write postcards from my trip to any of my friends who sent me their address; I sent a dozen of them by the time Yvana and I parted ways in Munich and even received two from friends traveling in other parts of the world, and I like the idea of scattering mementos from my trip across continents and letting people know I thought of them from the other side of the globe. 

MARREKECH, MOROCCO

• For the second leg of our trip, Yvana and I did a 5 day bus tour of Morocco that started and ended in southern Spain. We decided to do a bus tour because (1) we were two young female travelers and felt safer being in a group, (2) we wanted to see multiple cities, and (3) we were on a budget. If you're thinking about visiting Morocco, be sure to research the culture and read about or talk to other travelers for their experiences; traveling to Morocco was a very different experience for me than anywhere I've been in Europe or East Asia, and even though we didn't get to see or do as much through doing a tour (vs. organizing a trip on our own), it was the best option for us based on our concerns for safety and our time and budget constraints.
• Because we booked a tour with a large group, the itinerary was set so we didn't have much flexibility to do things on our own. On our first night in Casablanca, we asked our guide how he recommended we go out at night after checking into our hotel and he told us "you don't." It was a change of pace from traveling in Spain, but at least we got enough sleep each night.
• Hot Moroccan mint tea is good even on 100˚F days. Take it with or without sugar. We were offered it at some of the shops during our souk (marketplace) tours and they serve it at all the roadside cafes.
• Marrekech was my favorite city we visited in Morocco. It's sometimes called the "Red City" because a lot of the buildings are built with red sandstone which gives them the famed ochre color that's made even more beautiful beneath the hot desert sun.
• My favorite site was Palais Bahia, a palace built in the late 19th century by the Grand Vizier for his wives, concubines, and children. 
• We also wandered the Jemaa el-Fnaa square and had fresh squeezed juice while watching street performances before heading off to dinner.
• I don't really like eating lamb in general, but the lamb tajine I had in Morocco was amazing.

FES, MOROCCO

• "You're not going to write about the fascinating and fast-paced, heart-thumping adventure that was Rabat?" - Yvana, when I told her I only included Marrekech and Fes in this post. Although our tour destinations technically included Meknes and Rabat, they were given the "panoramic tour" treatment which in bus tour-speak is a drive through the city where the tour guide tells you to look to your left (of course only when you happen to be sitting on the right side of the bus) to catch a glimpse at something noteworthy without actually getting off to see it in person. 
• We did however spend a full day in Fes, the former capital and second-most populated city in Morocco. In the morning we took a guided tour through the Jewish quarter and the Fes el Bali medina. Fes is famous for being a hub for artisans, and even though I didn't buy anything, I loved wandering through the souk to look at all the bronze mirrors and leather goods made by artisans who have been mastering their craft for generations.
• I'm pretty sure we would've gotten lost here if we didn't have a guide. We never walked through the same alleyway twice.
• Even though we were sufficiently warned about the harassment and heckling a lot of single, foreign women experience at the hands of the local men in Morocco, it still takes an emotional toll to experience it firsthand. We were taken to a modern downtown shopping area in the afternoon and even though we only walked a couple of blocks, I've never been more acutely aware of all the eyes leering at me. As much as I loved Morocco for its culture and food and history, you need a thick skin if you visit as a young solo female traveler. 
• In spite of the fact that our tour was very much a "you get what you pay for" experience, I had an amazing time because I was traveling with my best friend. The bad became laughably bad and the good became memories that would last a lifetime, and I can't imagine having done this trip with anyone else.

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Part II (Prague, Budapest, Vienna, Salzburg, and Dublin) coming soon. 

xoxo, vivian

Photos shot on Fujifilm Superia 400, Kodak Portra 400, and iPhone 5s