Day 1- When Mom arrived in Salamanca last Sunday an hour earlier than scheduled (though 24 hours late due to bad weather in the east coast), I practically ran down to their hotel to meet her. Having not seem my mother since September 21st, it was the longest I had gone not seeing here, other than video chatting on Skype. Which so isn't the same. So needless to say, I spent all my free time hanging out with the fam and showing them around Salamanca. We toured the Cathedral, saw San Esteban's, ate tapas in the Plaza Mayor, and walked around the streets I now call home. It was surreal, seeing my family walk by all the shops and buildings that I see everyday.
Just by chance we bumped into a group of my friends sitting in the Plaza Mayor, enjoying the sunshine, so everyone was introduced. That's why I love Salamanca; I am always bumping into people I know without trying, because the city is so small, and everybody is so friendly!
Their first night in Spain included a homemade Spanish meal prepared by my host mom, Montse. While it was a tiring night of translating between my mother and host family, I loved seeing my two families meet. The food was delicious, and Montse did a great job cooking, again. Despite attempts at communicating in broken Spanish, my mother and grandmother were better off speaking in English. The whole trip they tried ordering food and asking for directions in Spanish---how embarrassing!
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| Caleb, Felix, Me, Mom, Montse |
Day 3- Tuesday we rented a car and headed off to Ávila. I was sad saying goodbye to Salamanca---I always hate leaving my friends and missing out! Plus it can be stressful missing class...but my stresses eased as we started driving. Seeing the Spanish countryside from the windows of a car was surprisingly more enjoyable than I thought it would be; we could pull off from the highway (aka AP=autopista) and explore where we wanted, plus there were hardly any other cars on the roads. Once outside of city centers, there is practically nothing in the countryside here. The emptiness is beautiful, but also strange and so different than America, where suburban sprawl is hard to escape, and strip malls, highways, and development have eaten up most of the countryside.
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| Ávila, from afar |
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| Caleb and I, enjoying the views |
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| The Parador hotel we stayed at |
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| Tapas for lunch |
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| Views from the fortress |
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| Posing in front of the ancient city walls |
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| Goodbye sun! |
For lunch, I ordered everybody "cochinillo," the delicacy of Segovia, which is roasted baby pig. And much to our surprise, it was delicious! Gram, having read up on Spain before visiting, ordered "tinto de verano," a drink that is made up of red wine and lemon soda. Another drink we all loved, and from then on, that was the drink of choice for lunchtime outings!
After a 2 hour drive back to Madrid, we dropped the car off at the airport, took and cab to the Atocha train station and caught a high speed train to Sevilla. I was PUMPED to ride on one again. Traveling on a budget, I always opt for the cheapest option, which is bus or normal-speed trains. What is normally a 7-8 hour bus ride was instead an smooth 3 hour gliding through the Spanish countryside. AWESOME.
Spanish castle....Disney castle. Sweet!
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| Taken from: http://www.visitingdc.com/images/magic-kingdom-address.jpg |
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| Gram, our fearless leader, finding the bus |
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See the little pig hoof? Kinda sad...but still yummy :) |
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Gram, the navigator! |
Day 5- We woke up early, ate breakfast in our hotel (which, I should mention, was right across from the main Cathedral, aka "Catedral de Santa Maria de la Sede"), and set off! In the morning we went to the Flamenco museum, followed by a bit of shopping. For lunch, we ate under the big mushroom dome, Metropol Parasol, or "Las Setas," a giant, 4 story wooden structure that just looks awesome. I failed at finding a place to eat Paella, so we settled on some small bar, which actually turned out to be one of our favorite meals of the week. Guess it just shows that when traveling, you should never have expectations or a strict agenda, because it's when you're lost and wandering that is when you find the best places!
Afterwards, I said goodbye to Mom and Caleb and Gram while they toured the Cathedral. When it came to the cathedrals, Moms enthusiasm didn't quite match that of Dads (from when he was here in January), so she only needed a couple hours to see the building that Dad had spent literally HOURS studying. But, in her defense we did see all the important landmarks, like the Alcazar, which Dad missed. While they were seeing the cathedral, I met up with a friend from elementary school, Nicole, who is studying abroad in Sevilla for the semester. We walked around, went across the river to Triana, checked out the view from the bridge, ate ice cream, and exchanged our study abroad experiences so far. We hadn't seen each other in...years! So that was fun, catching up and seeing each other in Spain.
For dinner, we had churros con chocolate at Valor (my favorite!), then made our way to the neighborhood of Santa Cruz, the old Jewish quarter of the city where we saw a flamenco show. Because I liked it so much, I bought us tickets to the same place, La Casa de La Memoria, where Dad and Melissa and I saw a show back in January. It was beautiful; I was lost in thought, enchanted with the guitar music (unlike anything I have ever heard before) and trying to follow the dancers every move.
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| "Las Setas" |
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| Nicole and I on the bridge to Triana |
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| Yum, churros for dinner! |
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| At Casa de la Memoria |
Day 6- Woke up, grabbed breakfast at the cafe around the corner, did some more shopping (it's just so good in Sevilla!), picked up Gram from the General Archive of the Indies museum, and went to the Alcazar of Sevilla, similar, in a sense, to the Alhambra. With an old Roman wall encompassing the old castle, it is unmistakably a historic building that has housed many kings and rulers of this old city. We saw the old, complex gardens, and tried to imagine the royal families that must have enjoyed living here. The tiles decorating the walls were unmistakable similar in style to the Alhambra, a symbol of the Arab influence in this southern city.
Next activity: "Aire de Sevilla." Here, we enjoyed two hours of traditional Roman baths, quite similar to what I did in Granada last November. However..this one was quite a bit fancier and more complex, with more baths and different rooms. My favorite was the steam room. Exploring as soon as I arrived, I pushed open the glass door and stood there for a second, confused because I couldn't see anything, and it hurt to breath in the steam, which smelled like strong mint gum. Once I got accustomed to the air, I sat on the tile benches and just relaxed, letting my mind wander and worries evaporate like the steam around me. Oh, how I would give anything to be back there right now! Of course, I also enjoyed the multiple temperature pools, hot tea, and 15 minute massage that was included. It was hard to say goodbye....but when the ladies walked around ringing the bells, we knew our time was up.
My family couldn't come all the way to Sevilla and NOT see Plaza de Espana, so we hailed a cab and made a quick trip to the old, decorative plaza, which now houses government offices. It was a quick tour, and it was onto the next adventure, because we had a 7pm train to catch to Granada! A relaxing, beautiful three hour train ride landed us in Granada, where we hailed a cab and rode up the hill to our hotel, Hotel America, where we stayed inside the Alhambra walls. That's right, we stayed inside the Alhambra!!!! I couldn't get over it! Having already toured La Alhambra two times, I was thrilled at staying right there. We had a late night dinner at the Parador hotel next door (again, another beautiful, old building), and passed out as soon as we made it back to the hotel, exhausted from all our traveling.
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| Inside the Alcazar |
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| The beautiful gardens |
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| Plaza de Espana! |
Day 7- Woke up in Hotel America up to a cloudy, cool morning in the Alhambra. Kind of a disappointment since we couldn't see the beautiful views, but we still enjoyed our typical Spanish breakfast of cafe con leche, a piece of fruit, some bread, and for me, yogurt. Caleb and I went off and got our pre-bought tickets down at the entrance, then picked up Mom and Gram. We started off touring the gardens at Generlife, which was once a palace and is now an intricate garden that overlooks the Alhambra.
Our tour of the scheduled tour of Palacios Nazaries was at 11:30, so of course being with Gram who is notoriously on time, we were there 15 minutes early and waited in line. Having already seen it two times before, nothing had changed, but the court of the lions was finally open! Not as exciting as I thought it would be....although having learned about it in all of my culture classes this semester and last semester, it was cool to actually see the famous fountain, with lions representing the 12 tribes of Israel (according to the story). Each one is different, and they have been under reconstruction for the past year.
When we met up at the end, we decided to get a taxi and ride up to Mirador de San Nicolas, where there is an amazing view of the Alhambra and is a great place to enjoy the sunshine, which had decided to come out, finally! If you go, this is a must see!!! For lunch it was warm enough that we could sit outside on a patio, overlooking the Alhambra. Again...surreal, especially with the snow-capped Sierra Nevada's behind them. Mom tried buying jewelry from the gypsies that hang out and sell their handicrafts. I shouldn't say she tried buying anything, because she did walk away with quite a few things. As far as her bartering skills go? Maybe she should keep on practicing...
Afterwards, we split up, Caleb and I agreeing to meet Mom and Gram at the train station 15 minutes before our train left, with all our suitcases. We promised we would go back to the hotel, call a taxi, and bring everyone's luggage so that Mom and Gram could spend the afternoon shopping without having to worry. Sounded simple enough. I pointed them in the right direction (they needed to buy more tile, because Dad, who fell in LOVE with the colors and shapes on the tile, hadn't bought enough, and was insistent that Mom come back with more!). Side note, my family is so weird!
Well, Caleb and I did a bit of shopping ourselves. I bought shoes (turned out they're too small! UGH), and we bought some presents. Before we knew it, it was already 5pm, 45 minutes before we had to be at the train station. "Plenty of time," I figured. We casually strolled to the plaza to catch a cab and went back up to our hotel at the Alhambra to get the suit cases. When I told our cab driver that we needed to be at the train station for a 6 pm train (it was 5:20 by that point) he looked at me like I was a crazy person, and in Spanish, told me "I'll try my hardest, but I seriously doubt you will make that train!"
Yikes. He drove as fast as he could up to the Alhambra, and after, I swear, hitting every single red light, we finally made it to the hotel. Caleb and I sprinted in, grabbed all our luggage (6+ bags) in one trip, said "Adios" to the confused hotel clerk, threw our stuff in the trunk of the cab, and we were off. It was a race against the clock. 5:28. It had taken us 2 minutes to get our bags. We had 32 minutes to make it to the station. "It's all the way on the other side of the city," the driver explained. "And there's so much traffic from all the people." I tried not to worry, but my heart was pounding, and I had the same kind of adrenaline rush I used to get in high school before track races. If we missed our train, Gram would kill us. After rolling our eyes all week at being early for everything, Caleb and I were ready to live life on the edge.
But not this close to the edge. This was too much. What happened if we missed our train? Would there be another train? Probably not. Was there a bus? Probably. But that would be horrible. 5 hours by bus to Madrid? Ugh. AND I would definitely have to pay for it with my own money, which I so did not want to do. 5:52. We had 8 minutes. I was biting my nails, and the cab driver was doing his best...but would that be enough?
We pulled into the station at 5:58, two minutes to spare. I shoved the money in his hands, kicked open my door, grabbed our bags and we sprinted into the station, where Mom was waiting for us, pacing. But we had made it. We made it! We hopped on the train, hearts still pounding, but relieved we had made it. We made it! Disaster averted. So off to Madrid we were, ready for city number 6.
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| Hotel America |
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| Caleb and Mom at Generalife |
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| At Mirador de San Nicolas |
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| Relaxing lunch, with views of the Alhambra |
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| Olive trees flying by and sunset skies from the train...which I am so relieved we didn't miss! |
Day 8- Woke up in Madrid, right around the corner from the Plaza Mayor (not to be confused with Salamanca's Plaza Mayor, of course). We spent the day seeing the Prado museum. Of course, not before we had afternoon cocktails at the Ritz at the instance of Gram. That certainly made for a relaxing, enjoyable trip to the museum! But, because I had missed a weeks worth of classes, I considered my afternoon as studying for my art history midterm, which was just a week away. In a desperate attempt understand the works of El Greco, I rented one of those plastic phones that tell you about the art you are seeing. Well, I saw all the paintings I wanted to see...but it didn't quite stick. When the next Wednesday rolled around, I had studied a bit more, but not enough. Let's just say...good thing I have two more tests before the final in May!
We enjoyed another churro dinner at Valor, then did a bit of shopping. Of course, I had to show Mom and Caleb Corte Ingles, the huge department store that is in Spain. Then we made our way to Desigual, designer label that comes from Spain; a brand that I didn't know existed until I came here. The clothes are fabulous and colorful---but way too expensive for me! Naturally we headed up to the 5th floor clearance rack, and managed to find a couple things to buy!
To end our vacation, Caleb and I saw a Real Madrid game together my last night in Madrid. We headed over to the stadium around 8pm, excited to get there and see all the crazy fans. When the doors finally opened, we made our way to gate 43, and began walking up to our seats. Well, we walked and walked and walked, until we were finally at the top of the building, 6 flights up! Walking into the stadium was exciting, seeing a real, professional soccer stadium, in real life, for the first time---I couldn't believe it! I kept pinching myself! So our seats weren't exactly up close and center, and we were 3 rows from the very last row, but it was still exciting. And even if Madrid did beat the other team 5-0, seeing Ronaldo and Kaka out there on the field was a high school soccer players dream come true!
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| Afternoon drinks at the Ritz---feeling fancy! |
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| Hanging out in Madrid's infamous Puerta del Sol |
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| Mom, rocking her new Desigual sweater |
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| Fans getting rowdy, even up in the nosebleeds |
Day 9- Another early morning. I woke up Mom and we ate our final breakfast together before I walked to the subway to Chamartin, then caught a train back to Salamanca. We both cried saying goodbye, knowing we wouldn't see each other again until mid May, when I will go back to Vermont. To be honest, while I was waiting for the train in the station, I dreaded going back to Salamanca: back to my small bedroom, back to boring classes, and back to the same old routine. Man, I hate transitions! By the time I had finally got used to being around family, I was already leaving them again! Sometimes I feel like that is how my life is defined, is through transitions and changes. It ain't easy...but it certainly makes for fun adventures and an unpredictable life!
To conclude, while it can sometimes be stressful traveling with family, especially in a foreign country, it was definitely worth it! I had such fun showing them all I knew about Spain. Plus I cannot complain about the hotels we stayed at and and restaurants we visited...it was quite the treat after having traveled on a tight budget! Thanks Mom and Gram, I had a blast!!
To conclude, while it can sometimes be stressful traveling with family, especially in a foreign country, it was definitely worth it! I had such fun showing them all I knew about Spain. Plus I cannot complain about the hotels we stayed at and and restaurants we visited...it was quite the treat after having traveled on a tight budget! Thanks Mom and Gram, I had a blast!!
Well folks, sorry for the very long, possibly over-detailed post! If you're read this far...you are probably family, right? If not, then cool! Basically this is a way for me to remember all that I saw and did, and this blog is an easy way for me to share it with my family and friends. Hope you enjoyed it :)
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