This weekend was..just absolutely amazing. Words cannot completely describe the magic of Alquezar. On Friday, we took the bus at 8:30 and stopped in some very cute little town around 11 for a snack on the way to see cave paintings. When we got to the site, we had to hike down to the caves. They were barred off to the public but we had special guides and got to see the paintings up close! No pictures, though. None of us really wanted to get in trouble by the government of Aragon. They were very cool, but a little too much hiking for it. Wasn't really worth it for me, but I can still say I saw them!
Then we were on our way to Alquezar, the hostel, and lunch! The bus ride was a very horrifying experience. The bus was so close to the edge, just because of how narrow the road was for a double decker tour bus, that every corner we took I thought we were going to fall off. I was so freaked out, so I wasn't able to enjoy the view of the mountains and the valleys as much as everyone else. Alquezar is this beautiful pueblo city in the mountains in Aragon. First off, the food was absolutely AMAZING. I was in food heaven. Like seriously. After our two hour lunch, we got to explore! We went with our advisee groups and went to an iglesia and got a tour there. Then, we got to spend some time getting to know the people in our groups and then free time to explore the city! It was so beautiful and fun! We found grapes, almonds, figs, walnuts, and pomegranates. So much fun!! Then we got to have dinner, also soo good. And more free time after that. A group of us went down a little bit to explore and found this smaller valley where there was a rock we all laid on and watched the stars. It was so beautiful and peaceful. Something you only read about in books or see in movies. We all got back to the hostel around 11:00 and got ready for bed but our room of 12 people didn't really go to sleep until around 12:30. It wasn't nearly as horrible and uncomfortable as I thought it would be! After breakfast in the morning, we went on a two hour hike. It was a little rough but the outcome was SOOO worth it. We ended up at this beautiful pond and waterfall. The water was so gorgeous, it looked like the water in one of those ideal vacation spots in the Caribbean or out of National Geographic. So amazing. And so serene. I didn't bring my bathing suit just for lack of wanting to get wet during a hike, but still went on an adventure, hopping from rock to rock, and found a really great spot to sit on a huge rock with my feet in a stream and had a real moment to ponder life. But yes, I did end up falling in at one point so my jean shorts were a bit wet for the next 5 or so hours. It was so ideal, no one could have planned it any better. Some of the photos I took cannot even do a justice to how amazing and beautiful this place was.
After we hiked back up and left Alquezar, a sad moment for all, we ended up in a city called Huesca for lunch. We ate and had a lot of time to walk around and explore. We found a really cool mural on a wall right after a huge like open square. It was very cool to see the art and just walk freely around this also foreign city.
That concluded our weekend, but it was definitely time to get a nap in on the bus ride home and shower once back in Zaragoza. But definitely a weekend that was worth the trip!! And the shower was very rewarding too haha :)
No comments:
Post a Comment