What a great week in Spain! This past week for Spring break I went with my group to Toledo, Segovia, then to Madrid! It was soooo much fun. Summary: On Tuesday we went to Toledo, which was a gorgeous city. Wednesday, I took the train into Madrid to meet up with a friend, her dad, and my high school Spanish teacher who were all in Madrid for their spring break with a group from my high school. we then went to Segovia, one of my favorite cities so far. I got to visit the castle there, from which the Walt Disney castle was modeled and saw a first-century Roman aqueduct that is still standing. Then we went to the valley of the fallen, which is a church built into the side of a mountain and a really tall cross to commemorate those who lost their lives during the Spanish Civil War. From there, we visited the palace of El Escorial. It was huge and really cool to see. After that, we met back up with our group from Tech. Being that it was also St. Patty’s day, me and my friend went to an Irish pub and drank a guiness and met a guy from Iceland named Raggy.
Thursday, our group went to La Granja, which is another Spanish palace about an hour outside of Madrid. After seeing that, we went to Segovia (the city I had gone to the previous day with the other group). I got to see the Cathedral there and try their famous suckling pig dish. Friday we went to the Prado in Madrid, where I got to see tons of cool art including Diego Velasquez’ “Las Meninas.” After that, we went to the Hard Rock Café where I had a cheeseburger, guacamole, and ice tea. It really hit the spot to eat good American food. The rest of that day was filled with walking around Madrid shopping and enjoying the city. Saturday we visited the Royal Palace in Madrid, which was yet another beautiful palace of Spain. We ate at a Cuban restaurant for lunch, then I saw a Monet exhibit. That night, me and a friend went to go see Star Wars in Concert!!!! It was so amazing; the London Philharmonic Orchestra was spectacular, and the whole thing was narrated by Anthony Daniels, aka C3PO. Sunday morning we visited the Reina Sophia museum where I saw Picasso’s “Guernica” and a few paintings by Dali and Magritte. Then we boarded the train and home to Seville!
So that’s a basic recap of my great week in Spain. Now I’m going to write more detail about each, more for myself so I can try to remember it all than for anyone’s leisure reading. So read it if you want or if you’re interested, if not, you can just look at facebook pictures which I hope to have up soon!! That’s it for now.
Calatrava: On Tuesday after getting on the bus at 6:30am, we headed off for Toledo. About 4 hours later, we arrived at the old Spanish fortress of Calatrava. It is basically a castle built of stone that used to protect Spain. It was really cool to see, built entirely out of stone.
Almagro: After Calatrava, we went to the city of Almagro for lunch. There we visited the theater that the famous Spanish playwright Lope de Vega wrote and performed many of his plays. Almagro is famous for their handmade lace, although I didn’t buy any. After Almagro, we visited the windmills of La Mancha, where the famous scene from Don Quijote takes place.
Toledo: City about an hour outside of Madrid. It was really hilly, but beautiful. It’s known for its blades, they were making steel before they knew what it was. I got to see replicas of Lord of the Rings swords, although I only bought a mini one. We ate dinner at an outdoor café, then returned to the hotel because we were so tired.
Meeting Friends: On Wednesday, Julie Hartsfield and I rode the train into Madrid and met up with a group from our high school led by our Spanish teacher. Her sister was in the group, as was my friend Maddie Stockwell and her dad. So I got the spend the day with them going around on their bus.
Segovia: A small town about an hour away from Madrid. It has a first-century aqueduct built by the romans that is still functional today, although it’s not being used. It was gorgeous to see, and really cool to know that it was built without any cement: it’s just rocks. Then we walked by the Cathedral, which was so cold inside because of all the stones. It was brighter than the Cathedral at Seville and had more side chapels. Then I tried a pastry from Segovia, which was sticky but delicious. We got to tour the Castle of Segovia, for which Walt Disney’s Snow White castle was based. It was really like a medieval castle, complete with moat. We even got to go up on the high tower, up the steep winding staircase. It was such a beautiful view of Segovia. When I visited Segovia again the next day with my group, we tried the famous suckling pig dish. It’s basically a baby pig cooked to where it’s so tender, they don’t cut it with a knife, they just use the plate. It was very delicious. I drank a white wine with the meal that I liked so much I bought a bottle of. It’s actually made in Segovia, which I thought was fun.
Valle de los Caidos: Valley of the fallen. Up in the mountains around Segovia there’s a church carved into one of the mountains with a huge cross built on top. It is basically a monument built to honor those who died in the Spanish Civil War, and is also the resting place of the king who commissioned the work done. It also had a great view of the landscape around that area, along with the snow on the snow topped mountains surrounding it.
El Escorial: Spanish Palace about an hour and a half outside of Madrid. It is a massive building with thousands of rooms used as the summer palace for the royal family. I wasn’t allowed to take pictures, but it was beautiful. My favorite parts were the marble floors and the German inlaid wooden doorframes. We also got to go down into the crypts, where most of the royals are buried. Each of the kings along with the mother of the next king are buried there, with only enough open spaces for the remaining king. There is also one women buried among the kings, because she was the ruler. Therefore, her husband is buried on the side with all the women. I find that funny. There are also hundreds more tombs down there, most made of beautiful marble. I got to see Don Juan, who apparently was a very handsome noble of the Austrian line who won over many ladies. There was also a special crypt shaped like a wedding cake where they buried all the royal children who died before the age of 8. The good thing is, it’s not full. So not that many children died, although the infant mortality rate was really high. After seeing the palace, we walked around the city a bit, where our tour guide took us to a place to try the locally made almond liqueur and hold a locally made rosary made out of rose pedals. It made your hands smell nice too.
St. Patty’s Day: Since it was Saint Patrick’s day when we got back, my friend Ashley and I decided that we shouldn’t just stay in the hotel, so we went out and stopped at an irish-style pub. We ordered a pint of Guiness beer each, and because we did that we got a free hat. I didn’t like the Guiness all that much, but I’m not really a beer fan. I did finish the whole pint, however. Then we had a guy come up to us and start talking to us. Turns out, he’s from Iceland studied theater in Spain. He was really cool. He also introduced us to his friend from England Rose and a friend from Madrid Ruben. They invited us to go to a discoteca with them, but it was late already and we had an excursion the next morning. It was a really fun experience getting to meet new people from all over the world.
La Granja: On Thursday, we headed for La Granja, about a 20 minute bus ride from Madrid. It is a summer palace for the royal family. The palace was covered in marble floors, frescoed ceilings, and crystal chandeliers. Many of the chandeliers were made in La Granja in the crystal and galss-blowing factory that they had there. I didn’t’ have time to visit the factory, but it was fun seeing the crystal in the palace. It also had a nice clock collection from Charles V. The gardens were pretty, but I didn’t’ get to see much of them because of the little bit of rain we had that morning. The palace also had a lot of statues that were fun to look at. I also bought some Spanish chocolate, which I actually haven’t tried yet.
Walking in Madrid: On Thursday night I decided to go for a walk by myself in Madrid. I walked by the Palace and Cathedral, then just started walking. Because of the construction that was going on, I ended up getting a little lost. I finally found my way back to familiar streets. It was a fun experience.
The Prado Museum: Friday morning we went to check out the famous Prado Museum. We ended up staying there for about 4 hours looking at all the paintings. There was just so much to look at, I really enjoyed it. I got to see lots of Goya, El Greco, and Velazquez. I saw Velasquez’ “Las Meninas,” Bosche’s famous triptych, and Goya’s “2nd of May” and “3rd of May.” I also say some other paintings that I really liked, as well as some marble-inlaid tables. I wish I could have one of those, they were so beautiful.
Hard Rock Café Madrid: Yes, we couldn’t help ourselves, we went to Hard Rock café. It was really expensive, but I got to eat delicious American food: a cheeseburger with guacamole (that actually had a little something spicy in it) and ice tea. I even bought a t-shirt.
Discotecas: Friday night me, Josh, and Ashley tried out a few different wines. I loved josh’s white wine, and I bought a rose wine. Ashley didn’t drink much, so Josh and I pretty much drank the rest. I was feeling pretty good. Then Ashley and I decided to go try to find a discoteca in Madrid, and fun adventure. Turns out they were all charging 12 or 15 euros entry because it was the weekend, so we ended up just walking around Madrid and got some French fries at Burger King.
The Palace of Madrid: Saturday morning we woke up bright and early again and walked over to the Palace in Madrid. We waited in line then went inside for the tour. We got to walk through the old pharmacy, as well as other parts of the palace. Again, it was just another cool palace, but this one had a lot of embroidered walls, frescoed ceilings, more clocks, more marble, more chandeliers, and more beautiful woodwork. Each of the palaces all had at least one room decorated in an Asian style because the queen liked it. Outside in a little courtyard we saw a peacock, although it didn’t’ have its tail up.
Cathedral: We walked around inside the Cathedral for awhile. It seemed much newer and modern than the other cathedrals I’ve seen, but it was still similar. It was gothic style with high pillars, stained glass, and chapels all along the sides.
Cuban Food: We ate a Cuban restaurant recommended by our professor for lunch. We shared some fried plantains (which were basically fried bananas) which were Sooooooooooooooooooooooo delicious. I also had “typical cuban rice” (yes, that’s what it said on the menu) which was white rice with fried eggs and a tomato sauce. It was actually pretty good.
Monet Exhibit: That afternoon I went to a small museum near our hotel that was showing a Monet exhibit. I really like Monet, so I enjoyed getting to see some of his waterlily paintings and others. I even saw a painting of his called “Weeping Willow” that is usually housed in the art museum in Fort Worth.
Star Wars in Concert: We got to see Star Wars in Concert!!! It was so much fun. There were thousands of people in this giant Plaza de Deportes, and we had seats in the VERY top row. But it was still great, I LOVED hearing the London Philharmonic Orchestra play and have Anthony Daniels (aka C3PO) narrate the story in English (with Spanish subtitles). It was just so much fun. AND I bought a really expensive t-shirt, but it only had the dates of the European tour on it, so Lubbock isn’t written on it. But that’s ok. It was so worth it.
Reina Sophia Museum: This morning after taking my luggage to the Atocha Train station to put with the group luggage, we went to the museum of modern art called the Reina Sophia. I got to see “Guernica” by Picasso! I also say a few other Picasso paintings as well as a Magritte and a few Dali paintings. It was a cool experience, although the other pieces of “modern art” I didn’t understand and don’t know why they are in a museum at all.
Atocha Train Station: Sunday morning I walked from the Hotel to the train station (about a 30 minute walk for me). We went to the museum, then grabbed a snack and boarded the train. 2 and a half hours later I was getting off the train in Seville, where it was about 25⁰C (about 70⁰F). On board we watched “Surrogates” a movie with Bruce Willis. It wasn’t my favorite movie. Anyway, then I took a nap and we were home! (When I say home, I mean my Spanish home in Sevilla).
Anyway. That was my weekend in detail, although I know there are more details that I’ve already forgotten. But I have plenty of pictures to remind me of this trip. Hope you like them. :D
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