Selina here to tell you all about my trip to Spain.

First, for a little bit of background. My family used to go to Spain almost every summer when I was younger but the last time I had been there was eight years ago so, I was so excited to go back and to show Tommy, my husband, all the things I love about it. My mom was also around during most of the vacation.

Our destination was Marbella, a beautiful little town on the Costa del Sol. It’s an amazing beach town with great beaches, wonderful food, and an entertaining beach pedestrian only promenade with lots of restaurants, bars, and clubs.

First, let me show you the view from our balcony.

So, as you can imagine, this is what I did most of the time.

I know…what a rough vacation.

We also did A LOT of eating.  As you will see, a great deal of this post will be dedicated to food which is appropriate for a pants post (and because I love food). The food in Spain is so delicious and I had some of my favorite things.

For example, I really love lasagna in Spain. It’s made with bechamel sauce and baked in little individual clay dishes in the oven so it comes out hot and bubbly. Amazing!

Don’t you just want to eat that?!

Another thing that I have many lovely memories of is the ice-cream in Spain. It’s just so delicious. It’s not as rich and decadent as say Amy’s ice-cream, which to me is a good thing. They have wonderful flavors like nougat, cream, dulce de leche, and my favorite, green apple. It’s smooth and creamy, not too tart, and amazingly refreshing on a warm summer night.

Here I am enjoying my favorite flavor at the best ice-cream parlor (note that others agree, check out the line going out the door!). This place is always so crowded they had to implement a number system like at a deli!

Another yummy dessert that people in Spain eat a lot is called churros y chocolate. Churros are basically deep-fried dough sprinkled with sugar. The chocolate is basically a thick hot chocolate which you use to dip the churros in. Oh man, I want some right now!

Another interesting dessert is called the Gofre. I say it’s interesting because it’s basically a waffle with or without toppings. I know Americans eat waffles for breakfast but I agree with Spaniards in thinking that waffles should be for dessert.

Messy and delicious!

Ok, but seriously…here is another awesome dessert that I always have to have in Spain: Strawberry tarts!

Look at this deliciousness! It’s like pure perfection: fresh and juicy strawberries and a crisp and buttery crust.

Oooh Oooh another dessert..yes, there is more! We had to have a few crepes cuz they are so yummy.

Banana and chocolate with vanilla ice-cream

here is one with apples and sugar

and strawberries and sugar

Ok, let’s take a small break from the food (don’t worry, it will be back real soon). We did do a few other things besides eat, but really in Marbella it was mostly hang at the beach, walk around, and eat. It was pretty amazing. I also got to see some of my friends I used to hang out with. One person I saw was my friend Heather who is from Ireland and comes to Marbella for vacation. Thankfully, we reconnected via facebook and we got to see each other!

Yay for facebook!

One thing that is always a tradition for us is to go to the market. The markets in Spain travel from city to city on different days and the market in Marbella is on a Monday. There you can walk around and buy so many things from fresh fruit to CDs to clothes to pottery. It’s amazing! The nickname for the market is El Barato but unfortunately due to the Euro and other factors, it’s really not that cheap anymore.

A fun thing about being in Marbella is there are lots of charming towns to visit nearby. For example, we went to a town called Mijas in the mountains. It has amazing views and a lovely park…

and a really cool little church built out of rock

and charming people like this cute couple who has been making doughnuts here ever since I was a little girl.

Another town we visited is Benalmadena. We took a teleferico or cable car up the mountain to see some more amazing views.

We were very lucky and excited to be in Spain for the world cup finals! It was amazing to be a part of this historic moment.

We went to a port called Puerto Banus where all the rich people park their crazy yachts. We went there because someone said they were going to be showing it there on a big screen but no such luck. We still had fun watching it at an outdoor pub.

The atmosphere was very lively and festive

It was such a tense game but when they finally scored that goal and won, it was an outburst of emotion.

People were all over the streets chanting and dancing.

We took a break from Marbella and traveled to Barcelona for 4 days. Me and Tommy were very excited to go since we had never been north of Madrid. It’s an amazing city with the most unique and interesting architecture I have ever seen. Barcelona is also different in that they speak Catalan in addition to Spanish so it took us a while to figure out some of the different words they use for things. For example, for salad they say Amanida instead of Ensalada. The first morning we got there starving for breakfast, we were confused when the waitress said they had pasta with chocolate for breakfast. She obviously meant pastry and not the pasta that you and I know but it took us a second to figure out.

We did so many amazing things in Barcelona in 4 days. We saw 7 museums in 3 days! We weren’t planning on it but we couldn’t pass up the Artticket deal. For 22 Euros you get access to 7 museums.

One of our first stops in Barcelona was La Rambla, a pedestrian mall with lots of tourists, street performers, and shops.

Presenting…Edward Scissorhands

Honestly, I thought it would be more interesting but I wasn’t that impressed. I did like La Boqueria, a market in the area with lots of bright colors, fruits, meats, etc.

Look at all the amazing and colorful fresh juices

and fruits from all over the world

As I mentioned, the architecture in Barcelona is amazing thanks in large part to Antoni Gaudi. One of his creations that we visited is a public park called Park Guell. It’s like being in a whimsical fairy tale!

We also visited La Pedrera or Casa Mila an amazing apartment complex Gaudi built. For some reason I forgot to take a picture of the exterior but check out the amazing roof.

This is the interior courtyard of the building

Here is the exterior of another cool Gaudi building

Probably one of the most famous sites in Barcelona and the most famous Gaudi work is the Sagrada Familia, an enormous and intriguing cathedral started in 1882 and that is not expected to be complete until 2026!

Here is a view of it from the roof of La Pedrera

We were able to take an elevator up towards the top where you could see all the towers and designs up close

It’s like a christmas tree, right?

I want to eat this because it looks like fruit baskets

We went to many museums as I mentioned like the Picasso museum, the modern art museum, and Joan Miro museum. One of the most spectacular art museums was the MNAC or Museu Nacional D’Art De Catalunya (National Museum of Catalan Art).

It is housed in this amazing building in a beautiful park

We saw amazing art by such historic artists as Picasso and Dali.

Here are a couple of my faves

Most days we were way too tired from walking and touring all over the city to go out at night but we made an exception to go see a movie outdoors projected on the wall of a castle!

We ate a yummy veggie dog (topped with little fries!) while waiting for the crowds to get there and for the movie to start

It was a great experience enjoying the outdoors with (mostly) local people although it was strange since it was a weird Swedish horror movie that we watched with Spanish subtitles.

We did of course have a few good meals while in Barcelona (yay back to food!). Our favorite lunch was at a restaurant called Anima. In Barcelona you can get really good deals for lunch by getting the menu of the day. Usually you get two or three courses for a reasonable price. At Anima you could get either first and second course or second and dessert and a drink for only 10 Euros.

For my first course, I had a cold carrot soup with an artichoke and vegetable ice-cream. It was sooo good!

For my second, I had a fancy hamburger

and Tommy had Salmon

For dessert we had a chocolate tort with raspberry sauce and balsamic vinegar ice-cream. Deeeelish!

We also tried an efficient Tapas place where any tourist can order. You will see what I mean when you look at their menu.

Who can resist mini little plates of food?! You can try lots of different things without spending too much money.

Like yummy chicken croquetas. It’s something like mashed potatoes, chicken, and milk encased in bread crumbs and fried.

We also had a mini steak and fries

After 4 wonderful but exhausting days, we headed back to Marbella to relax some more and to eat more food.

Like freshly made gnocchi

and lots of seafood

shrimp in olive oil

fish baked in salt

It’s just so nice to eat dinner right by the beach and to hear the waves while enjoying delicious food. You can see here how me and my mom are enjoying the scene.

Our time was sadly coming to a close but before we left we had to have some Paella, one of Spain’s most famous dishes. I opted for the vegetarian paella this time, crispy rice with all kinds of veggies.

It was time to go home. We had an amazing time and I was sad to go but hopefully I will get to go back again soon.

I hope you enjoyed traveling with me, and if you are in need of a vacation, just look at this and insert yourself here:

Adios til next time!

For a brief history, after Palestinians were kicked out of Palestine, many went to live in Jordan as did parts of my family. To give you an idea, between 60-70% of the population of Jordan is Palestinian.  It was good to be there. Luckily, my older brother goes to Jordan every year and has an apartment there so that’s where we stayed. It’s a really nice place with 3 bedrooms and 3 bathrooms. Oh and satellite TV (satellite programming in the Mideast is free. You just buy the dish then viola! All the channels you want!).

Many times, we would see shepherds walking along with their goats and sheep right outside the apartment!

Here is another guy (extra points for cute old man wearing traditional clothes):

Like usual, my family adopts kitties wherever we go so we also had to feed a mama cat and her kittens (which my sister in law didn’t love due to her allergies). In Jordan, Tommy got to meet a lot of my family members. He did a great job of practicing his Arabic and eating lots of food.  It was nice to see my cousins and aunts and uncles. The last time I was in Jordan was 6 years ago and a lot has changed since then.

We had some good times many of which included hookahs. You can get all kinds of flavors but our favorite was definitely lemon and mint.

Tommy and my cousin smoking a hookah:

My cousin Ammar has this really adorable child named Bassima. We had lots of fun playing with her. She loves Barney and would find a strainer, put it on her head, and sing-along.

cute kid alert

Since Tommy had the benefit of being with my family, he got to do non-touristy things like visit a local fruit market.

Check out these gorgeous specimens!

Tommy enjoyed trying all the yummy fuits

As you can see, one of the best things about being in Jordan is the fruit. Their fruit is so fresh and flavorful and you can get fresh squeezed juice everywhere! It’s too yummy. Look at this delicious fruit cocktail!

The awesome thing for me, since I don’t drink, is that there are always fun non-alcoholic drinks to be had.

We of course spent lots of time with family. My mom’s brother lives in a nice house with an amazing garden where they grow tons of fruits and vegetables. We even got to fly kites on their roof!

One benefit to staying with my brother was spending time with my adorable niece, Dunya.   Check her out!

And of course…there was another wedding. My cousin, Yasmin got married! In Palestinian tradition, we arrived at her house before the wedding to see her off.

My mom and her sister waiting with the bride (note the tears about to start)

The groom and his family arrived with the traditional (Syrian, since her groom was Syrian) performers. The wedding was lovely and lots of fun. As opposed to Egypt, this wedding started at 8:30 and dinner was served at 10:00 and the whole thing was over at 12:30! But their entrance was pretty cool…yes, there were fireworks!

The families meet up (along with the performers) in my uncle’s garden

woah! kids love weddings!

Another day, another cousin. Check out this cute family. The little boy seriously looks like a live cabbage patch kid when he smiles.

This cutie was so sweet and loved Tommy (he fell asleep in his lap!)

On to our last adventure…Palestine!! After some debating, we decided to brave the trek and go to Palestine from Jordan. My mom was staying in Jordan but we would meet my dad in Nablus (the town in Palestine my parents are from). The last and only time I was in Palestine was when I was 5 years old! I hadn’t seen a lot of my family members since then. It was always complicated and sometimes impossible to go there but I decided that now was the time. First, we had to deal with a horrific border crossing. We left Amman at 7:30am and drove to the border which took 45 minutes. We decided to go the VIP route to skip some of the lines which involves paying $100 each way and hoping for the best. Of course, the Jordanian side was totally crowded and chaotic. We finally made it through that area at 10:30am. We took a van to the Israeli side. That part was not so easy. We gave our passports to passport control. After a couple of questions, they gave Tommy his passport back. Mine, they decided to keep. They asked me to fill out a form and wait. Hours went by….we waited and waited. Finally, a guy came and took me to another room and asked me questions. Then he had me go back to where I was and wait and wait. Of course another group of Americans that arrived with us was immediately through. Before you wonder…I do have an American passport. Why would they treat me so differently?…well that’s a whole other lesson but basically because I am of Palestinian origin. Of course this was utterly frustrating and made for a tiring day. We left the Israeli border 4 hours later! This was with VIP service! If we hadn’t done that, we were told it would have taken more like 12 hours.

When we finally crossed the border, we got picked up and were taken to Nablus. There I saw a lot of my extended family and my dad of course. Now please consider, my father is one of 12 children (my mom is one of 6) so I have a whole LOT of cousins and aunts and uncles. We arrived at my uncle’s house in an apartment complex. It was pretty overwhelming for Tommy to pull up and be surrounding by so many people. Tommy also quickly realized that almost every apartment in that building housed some of my relatives! It’s pretty common there for relatives to live near each other or together.

Some of my family members in Palestine

My dad’s oldest sister was super cute. She kept asking me to take her photo and wanted to see how she looked so in honor of her

Before I go any further, I have to tell you something super exciting! One of the reasons we decided to go is because we were there to witness the world’s largest kunafa! Kunafa is one of the most amazing desserts made out of shredded Filo and sweet cheese. Deelish! This was a big deal for the city of Nablus and was a part of a big celebration for the town. They were entering it into the guiness book of world records! My dad was invited to be a part of the event. My father writes poetry and wrote poems and songs about Nablus so he got to be a VIP. We had special access to the staging area the night before. Here is my dad being interviewed by the local media.

On the day of, we got to cross the barricades and check out the kunafa. It was amazing! It was over 75 meters long (about 246 feet)! I got to take lots of amazing photos.

We even got to try a piece of this yumminess. Ok you need a close up of this good stuff

My dad loved it. Isn’t he cute?

It was insanely crowded since people came by the busloads from other towns to see this. We tried to stay out of the chaos as much as possible.

So many people!

After we got to eat some, they opened the floodgates and people went nuts with eating. Man, I thought I was dedicated with my photo taking. Check out the guy in the tree!

After that, we were invited to a special lunch where Salam Fayyad, the prime minister, and American consul were in attendance. My dad got to read some of his poetry there.

My dad getting into the moment

He was super excited when Salam Fayyad sat our table later and asked for my dad to autograph his poetry books for him. After that excitement was over, in between my dad’s interviews, we got to tour the old city.

I enjoyed walking around and taking in the sights like these

There is lots of shopping and interesting markets. I love the fragrant spices

One night we stopped by a new mall which has a movie theatre.

Check this out! We love things in foreign countries with weird English.

We also got to check out a traditional olive oil soap factory. Nablus is famous for this kind of soap production. Unfortunately, there are now only 2 of these places left since many of the towns’ olive groves have been destroyed.

On our last day, my cousin insisted we visit his new house. It was very lovely

The craziest thing about his house? He has a pigeon coup (are they coups?). I went up there and took some photos although it made me a bit uncomfortable.

a (kinda freaky looking) baby pigeon (sorry its fuzzy just like the pigeon was

We also visit his sister and her kids. More cute kid photos for your viewing pleasure!

Alright before we leave, one more dessert photo. This is made out of pumpkin!

Its called Zalabia and its my mom’s favorite. She loves it so much that she made me carry two tubs back with me from Palestine for her.

Look at these giant pumpkins that they use to make Zalabia (weird that its not orange on the outside, right?)

After only 3 days, it was sadly time to go and say goodbye to my family.

Bye Nablus! It was lovely meeting you.

We went with a cousin of mine to Jerusalem where we spent one night and toured for half a day. There truly are some beautiful sights there. We got to see the Al Aqsa mosque (see below) which is amazing (for those of you who don’t know its one of the most important sites for Islam). We walked around the old city and saw the Via Dolorosa.

Here we are eating a yummy breakfast al fresco before touring

A view of Al Aqsa and Jerusalem

Al Aqsa

However, Jerusalem is not my favorite spot. True, I didn’t spend much time there but the tension was palpable. It did not help when an Israeli soldier interrogated my relative that I was walking with who is only 13 years old.

Tired and exhausted, we returned to Jordan for a few days before we had to head home. Overall, it was a great family trip. It was awesome to see all my relatives and for Tommy to meet everyone. We came back needing another vacation (this one without family)!!

Thanks for reading! I hope you all enjoyed traveling with me.

LINKS

Alright ya’ll. These links are more random than the last batch.

Ramadan starts tomorrow! That means I will attempt to fast from sunrise to sunset every day for a month. Darn August in TX! I look forward to making my favorite dessert for Ramadan. I will also look at these pictures to feel like a part of the big picture .

OMG! I really want to ride on this plane.

This song is so awesome! Gotta be the best song about facebook ever!

Interesting artwork in Rio done by a French artist.

ok, I love kitties but this lady is nuts!

First, I went to Damascus, Syria for work and fun. Let me just say that this really is a unique city. First of all, it’s incredibly beautiful and historic. I mean, it’s the oldest continually inhabited city in the world! After an insanely long trip, I was glad to be in my nice hotel room.

Yes, thank you very much for the executive room. We will ignore the fact that Arab hotels are crazy and usually your room will be like a disco on the weekends. There are always crazy parties or wedding in hotels and those halls are not sound proof!

I was lucky enough to see some amazing sites which was great.

Like this:

And this:

Damascus has unique character as opposed to some other large cities in the Middle East because they do not have Western goods or chains. The skyline is not marred by images of Burger King and McDonalds (more on that later). They have these amazing restaurants in the old section of the city that used to be old homes that people actually lived in. Those people sure were lucky. I mean look at this:

Beit Jabri

My sister hooked me up with the mom of her good friend. This woman was amazing! She took me all over the place. I got to go to her fabulous villa on a sweet mountain.

The view from her villa:

We also went to this restaurant called Damascus Gate which they claim is the largest restaurant in the world!

I don’t know if that was true but their food was yummy. That green grain is called freekeh (cracked wheat). Trust me, its way better than it sounds. It is one of my absolute favorite things to eat. Yummy in my tummy.

and I got to take pictures of this sweet guy (he is dressed in traditional Syrian clothes and is pouring juice for people).

I totally want to be adopted into this family because you will not believe this, they own a chocolate company!!! Apparently the patriarch of the family was known for his sweets and then was the first to bring chocolate to Syria a long time ago. Amazing! I got to go to the chocolate shop and eat whatever I wanted! They also sweetly gave me a box of assorted chocolates to take home. She made me feel like a part of their family which was super sweet . (aHem pun intended).

Outside the chocolate shop:

Yummy chocolates:

After 5 days in Syria, it was off to Cairo, Egypt. Cairo is a crazy place. I think that when people call New York the city that never sleeps, they haven’t been to Cairo. Seriously, you will be in a serious traffic jam if you go out at 2am. There are over 7 million people living just in the city center (this does not include the outskirts) and the pollution and traffic are insane! I got to visit The American University in Cairo’s new campus which is super far away (long bus rides are not my forte) but beautiful.

My husband, Tommy, and my mom arrived in Cairo a couple of days after I did and the fun continued. One of the highlights of my trip was going to see a folkloric show at this little hole in the wall. It was really interesting to see a group in which the leaders are women.  We had a great time listening to traditional music from different regions in Egypt.

That women in the middle was such a bad mamma jamma. She could say so much with just the twinkle of her eye and the sway of her hands. Check her out:

I also really liked these guys. They wore this instrument called a mangour that is belt they wore around their hips made out of goat hooves. Then they shake it and make noise! Its quite a funny sight.

A wonderful part of our trip was getting to see some of my relatives. My mom’s sister and her kids spend their summers in Egypt. One of my cousins has the cutest kid! Evidence below:

My other cousin got married and we got to attend the wedding! Now, an Arab wedding is not like an American one. First, there is no ceremony. It’s only a party…but a big party!! Especially in Egypt! The wedding was outside of town at an amazing villa. It started at 10:30pm. The bride and groom make a dramatic entrance with performers who sing and dance.  There was lots of dancing on a crazy disco floor with changing lights. And yes there was a fog machine. For some reason at Arab weddings, the cake cutting is very dramatic. Usually they cut the cake with a long sword to some dramatic music like the Star Wars theme song. I don’t really get it. People…dinner was served at 2:30am!!! I am not kidding! We were seriously starving. I goofed by not taking photos of the food but it was an enormous buffet with lots of yumminess involved.

Their grand entrance

My cousins’ kids playing on the dance floor

me and Tommy dancing the night away

Unlike Damascus, Egypt (and our next stop Jordan) is filled with Western chains. And its not just things like McDonald’s. Don’t ask me why but there are tons of random chains like Chili’s, TGI Fridays, KFC, Applebees, Fuddruckers, etc. One night Tommy and I decided to go to a Hardeez (I reasoned that at least we don’t have Hardeez in TX). Check out this awesome photo of the play area (please note the kid on top talking on his cell phone).

Of course there was other yummy food to have like this.

Here we are on our last night eating dinner on the Nile with my cousin and her family.

Overall, I had a good time on this leg of the trip and it was great to see some family but I decided that Cairo is just too insane for me.

Next stop…Jordan!! Stay tune for part 2!

LINKS

Ok I tried to make these links related to my post:

Here is a fun example of modern Arab pop songs.

Check out the trailer for this exciting new movie called Amreeka. I can’t wait to see it!

I think this is hilarious. Video of a traditional male dance from the arab gulf mixed with smooth criminal

hilarious website with quotes from FOB (fresh off the boat) dads

For those of you who know me, you know I can’t resist kitties. gratuitous cute kitties!

Ok, I also like cute babies. Look at these twins!