This ought to be a long post! What a wonderful weekend I had! I’m currently writing this on a train on my way to Valencia (but it was posted later since there isn’t wifi on trains here.
My friend Sydney’s parents were visiting Madrid this weekend too. On Friday we went out to tapas and drinks at night. Afterwards, I decided to hang out with a few other GW Madrid kids since I wasn’t going to see them most of the weekend.
Dad, Louisa & Jon arrived (very) early on Saturday morning. I met them at their hotel around 11, and it was great to see them. That afternoon it was pouring, so we decided to go for a walk through Puerta del Sol and Plaza Mayor. We also visited the Mercado de San Miguel – which is a wonderful market near the center that sells wine and some higher end foods. Unfortunately it was so crowded that we decided to get some food down in the Plaza Mayor. We later visited in the Prado (in one hour) and then returned to our respective beds for a siesta. For dinner, we went to La Gabinoteca, which I actually went to with two friends a few weeks ago. The food was yet again phenomenal.
Sunday we started at La Reina Sofia, which is a more modern art museum. It was my first time visiting on this trip to Spain, and it did not disappoint.
Funny story: while walking through an exhibit of Spanish Civil War photography, a VERY CLEARLY American girl, with a men’s baseball schedule t-shirt from a college I will refrain from naming said “Wow, living in Spain during World War II looked like it must have been really hard.” That is a direct quote.
After about two hours in the museum we decided it was time to go for a walk. The weather was significantly warmer and sunnier than the previous day. We walked through (and rested for a while in) el Parque Retiro, which is essentially the Central Park of Madrid. The leaves are starting to change, and it was so wonderful to finally see some color on the trees! On the other hand, there’s no comparison with a New England Autumn. We proceeded directly from our rest by the pond to Alboraya, my favorite spot for ice cream! While looking for lunch we stumbled upon a restaurant (Mediterráneo), which I had read was a great place to get paella! Of course, the food ended up being out of this world, and we retreated yet again for the siesta.
That night we decided to go to Plaza Santa Ana, which is a really hot spot to “tapear.” The food was amazing, and I definitely plan to go back down there more on my own. All of us went home somewhat early that night, since our train for Granada was leaving at 9AM!
My first European train ride was significantly better than the Acela ride that began this trip. Not that I could complain much about the Acela that day, this train was just as nice and had better service. We were given a breakfast, coffee, etc. while we rode through the Spanish countryside at about 125mph (although they do have faster train than this).
Granada is a beautiful, quaint city. Since we couldn’t pick up the rental car at the train station when we arrived, we decided to just take a cab to the hotel and walk back later. The hotel was beautiful! There was a spa, and the entire building had somewhat of a “zen” feel to it. Our rooms were beautifully decorated, and there were small balconies off of each room. After getting lunch at a small restaurant (and having Gazpacho in the traditional region of that dish), we walked to pick up the car. Ironically, it’s the exact same car that my Dad drives in the US!
With the car, we wanted to go explore Granada, and the area a little bit. Driving in Granada was a little bit scary, but the outskirts of the city were so beautiful. We drove around to the south, and then tried to sneak a peek of La Alhambra (since I was unable to get us tickets). We weren’t able to enter the parking lot without tickets, but we continued to drive up the mountain. We ended up taking the car up this dirt road for a while. We stopped a few times to take pictures of the (somewhat excessive) number of olive trees and finally found a place to take some photos near the top. I can’t even express in words how beautiful the view was, but hopefully I can show some pictures later. We had dinner at a small restaurant down the street from our hotel, grabbed some drinks at this other place near the hotel, and went to bed relatively early.
My train home left Granada at 9:45, and I met a sweet, older couple from Perth, Australia who has been travelling all around Spain and Portugal for six weeks! Imagine how amazing that must be! Once back at my home-stay, I enjoyed some wonderful Paella and discussed my trip with my host mother. On my way to siesta, I realized that I only had one class Thursday and no class on Friday. After hearing from my Dad how beautiful Valencia was, I chose to make a last minute (and very spontaneous) trip! After thinking about it for a while, I finally bought my tickets at 11:30pm after a rather confusing conversation with the train company, since my card wouldn’t work online. I’m on my way to Valencia right now, and tomorrow we’re going to be driving between Valencia and Barcelona. Then, I’ll be returning to Madrid on Friday night. Saturday morning, GW is taking us to Salamanca and Avila (old, medieval cities to the West of Madrid). Essentially, I won’t be in Madrid for more than 8 hours at a time until Monday. I feel like a world traveler finally!
Last night, Sydney’s parents were back in town for their flight back to New York. We got dinner at a wonderful Galician restaurant. We got a few appetizers: octopus in a little oil with some paprika, Galician pie (scallops, peppers, onions, all wrapped in dough), and some shrimp cooked in olive oil with garlic. For dinner, I had a hake fish “Galician-style.” This meant that it came with potatoes, peppers, and onions, while being cooked in a delicious sauce.
Classes today were somewhat of a drag (since my post-class plans were significantly more exciting), but I’m now on my way! I’ll be away most of the weekend, but I’ll try to keep things updated with my adventures!
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