Sunday, September 09, 2007

I'm in Spain and Portugal...

Haven't updated my blog for quite a while already now... but latests developments have myself travelling to Portugal and Spain for a highly anticipated vacation. I just got to Barcelona today after touring Madrid, Lisbon and some other smaller attractions along the way. Spain is a very cultural city, and unlike all those fancy lights, glamour, excessive vanity, commercial aspects that one would see if other famous cities like Paris, New York, Tokyo, Toronto, Shanghai, etc... (not saying they're bad, just another style).
Spain boosts a country true to its roots, featuring buildings that one wouldn't find in other parts of Europe; interesting attitude (don't-care style), laid back lifestyle, and very historical architectures that can only be built by geniuses of middle age. The Moorish influence is also very evident and it would take a long time to really understand the historical changes that shaped this city starting with Islamic, Christianity clashes and the start of Crusaders. I couldn't believe how rich in background and relics that this place is... to an extent to more than other parts of Europe that I had toured earlier (England, Germany, Italy, Greece...)
It really got myself thinking once again, sometimes we choose our current paths since we have to; we balanced everything out and compare all the opportunity costs to arrive at our current stage in life. However, is this really what we want? What if I quit my job as a Sr.Design Engineer position; stay in Madrid for 6 months hopping between cities in Spain washing dishes yet learning about all of mankind's history of where a lot of cultures and civilizations originated? Just a thought....

5 comments:

可可 said...

Yea. I wish I could just quit my job and go to Europe and just hop around. Spain was definitely one of the more enjoyable countries to visit. Can't wait to see more pics!

Cuckoo said...

Oh I could never visit these two countries till now... always on my list...both for different reasons.

:)

AJEYA RAO said...

Wow.....spain and portugal? vacation? i have a wish to go to spain too....may be some day i will....any more pics?

bunnip said...

you mean you don't wash dishes at amd!? i didn't know that! remember dun steal my mop jobs. :D

Edmlee said...

@ Coconut, Yeah! esp Sangada familia which we talked and i'm going to blog about it later... that was really worth the trip.

@ Cuckoo, how come? Hope that you will want to visit Spain, it really is something else as compared to other EU countries :)

@ Ajeya, Yeah...! finally my highly anticipated vacation has came... and gosh; did time fly by fast as I just landed back in Toronto 3 days ago. More pics and more posts along the way!

@ Phooly: Yes yes, i remember to wash my microwavable dish @ work... but dang, those mopping and shutting lights job (from CG1) are definately my style! ha ha