During the holiday break, I took a trip to the regions of Catalunya (Catalonia) and Aragón to interview Michelle and Matt Norman, and meet up with my Austrian friend and overall hero, Stefanie. Stef and I have only been together on the same continent three times in our lives, so it was especially good to catch up and bring in the New Year in the city of Zaragoza.

The Spanish have a tradition of eating 12 grapes on New Year’s Eve, popping one in their mouth for every stroke of the countdown to midnight. If you make it to the new year and don’t choke, you’re supposed to be especially lucky. A girl from Huesca told me that you’re also supposed to wear red underwear, but she used to work at a lingerie store so I think she might’ve been conditioned to say that. 😛

Since all the grocery stores were closed for the holiday, Stef and were unable to find grapes so we drank what we hope was the equivalent in wine instead. We stood in the square of the cathedral in Zaragoza, counted down with everyone in Spanish and watched a fireworks show.

We spent the first day of the new year traveling to the city of Girona where we stayed with a sweet couple and their daughter. The next few days we explored Girona and took a day trip to do some hiking in Olot.

Olot is surrounded by several extinct volcanoes and is part of the Parque Natural de la Zona Volcánica de la Garrocha (natural park in a volcanic zone.) We climbed two of the volcanoes and took advantage of the Spanish sunshine which was a change of pace for Stef who was coming from snowy Vienna. It was awesome seeing Stefanie and a good first holiday away from home.

This is a quick overview of my trip with Stef to Zaragoza, Girona and Olot. I’ll highlight my trips to Barcelona and Granada in the next posts. Thanks for reading!