Pete met me at the airport. It was so exciting finally being here with him, something we had both looked forward to the entire semester. We lugged my HUGE suitcase from the airport to our hostel in central Madrid. Because I had to pack everything up in my flat before I left for Spain, I decided to take the suitcase with all the clothes, shoes and toiletries to Spain and leave the other one locked up in a spare flat in London until I can pick it up before I fly out of London to the US. The other one is full of souvenirs and winter clothes, but the one I brought is still ridiculously heavy. There was no way of getting around it unfortunately. Pete was amazing in handling it for me. I don’t know what I’d do without him.
Our hostel in Madrid was in an extremely old building, circa 1400s, I think. No air conditioning, big windows, balconies overlooking the narrow city streets, high ceilings, crown molding—perfect. After checking in, Pete and I headed out to explore the city, walking through some of the hot bar and restaurant areas en route to El Parque del Buen Retiro. It is absolutely gorgeous, which of course was even enhanced by the perfect weather—mid 70’s. For the first time since November, I could walk around comfortably in a t-shirt. For the first time since October, I could comfortably wear a skirt. We spent a while walking around the park and Paseo del Prado a main road near the big art museums in town.
Pete and I in Parque del Buen Retiro.
We went back to rest and siesta before going out to a late dinner. In Spain, people don’t eat dinner until 10 or 11 at night, and don’t really start going out to party until 1 or so in the morning. It’s a total time difference for me, but it’s fun to be experiencing something so culturally different from what I’ve experienced thus far from someone like Pete who’s lived here and understands the culture. We ate some amazing paella, which is this delicious Spanish dish of rice and in our case, veggies, sausage and chicken. Afterwards, we hit up a nearby bar for some cañas (beer) before calling it a quasi-early night.
Saturday we started our day with the famous café con leche (coffee with milk) at a nearby cafetería. Yeah, it’s just coffee, milk and sugar in an espresso-sized cup, but I like to think the taste was totally enhanced by just being in Madrid. We then walked around a bit, exploring the major spots in town, from Plaza del Sol to Gran Vía, the main road cutting through the city. Pete loved reliving his experiences that he had with his friends when he traveled here about 4 years ago. We wound up at a Parque del Oeste, where there was an Egyptian temple dating from 200 B.C. given to Spain in as a gift in return for Spanish architects working to save some of its other temples. The park also offered great views of Madrid and the nearby Spanish palace.
Looking out on Palacio Real.
Me and the Templo de Debod.
Around mid-day, we stopped at a café for some cañas and tapas. Tapas are small, appetizer-sized dishes that Spanish bars have sitting out on the counters and customers buy the piece. People often will have a couple for a meal. We then met Pete’s friends from Pamplona, Angela and Ernesto, who came to Madrid for the night. Angela is another MU student studying abroad and Pete has told me tons of stories about both, so it was great finally meeting them. We all went out to Plaza Mayor, a huge and beautiful area in town where Angela and Ernesto had some paella. Pete and I shared another small tapa and some of the famous Spanish sangria.
Afterwards, we went to the Prado museum, one of, if not the largest museums of purely paintings in the world. We saw some famous works by Velasquez and a wonderful whole exhibit of Goya’s work. To any art buffs, I recommend you Google both.
Pete and I continued on to La Reina Sofia, the other huge art museum in Madrid just down the road from the Prado. It consists of more modern pieces, and Pete and I were particularly there to see the Salvador Dali’s and Picasso’s. I was absolutely floored by being in the presence of the Dali works—I’ve been a fan of his art for years. It’s so trippy and there are many things about the works that I have yet to really comprehend (as I’m sure few have), but it’s still so interesting to view. The Picassos were all in a huge exhibit, which was slightly overwhelming, but cool to see such a large collection.
Enigma by Dali was at the La Reina Sophia.
After our museum afternoon, we spent early evening in the Parque del Buen Retiro, hanging out and enjoying the once again beautiful weather. We met up with Angela and Ernesto later in the evening to out for dinner and drinks. Dinner was at Cocina del Desierto, an amazing middle-eastern place in the college area of Madrid. It was such a chill atmosphere, with people sitting on pillows and eating off of big gold trays. Hummus and falafels, my new craving, were on the menu for me, as well as some great Spanish wine. We walked around town drinking and ducking into a few bars here and there before calling it a late night. Of course, Madrid was still very much alive at the time, but I guess I’m not that immersed into Spanish culture that I can stay out until 7 in the morning. Not yet anyway.
Sunday, Pete, Angela and I hit up El Rastro, an absolutely HUGE outdoor market held every Sunday in the south central Madrid. My time in London made me a big fan of the markets, so I had fun finding some good deals and admiring the wide variety of stuff for sale. Everything from antique doors to shark jaws to hookahs were on sale.
Pete, Angela and I caught the 2 pm bus back to Pamplona. The ride was absolutely gorgeous, winding through semi-desert, through bright green fields, miles of hills and some forests. In retrospect, I wish I’d taken pictures, since it was some of the most beautiful scenery I’ve seen in Europe. I ended up falling asleep here and there, so unfortunately, I’m sure I missed the majority of the pretty ride. Once we hit Pamplona and got settled at Pete’s place, I was pretty much out for the count until the following morning.
Monday was a little cloudy and cold, but Pete still took me out on a great tour of Pamplona. We walked through Lo Viejo, the old part of the city, along the path where the bulls run during San Fermin in the summer. It’s a beautiful old city, full of colorful buildings and narrow streets. It’s so cool walking through the city that Hemingway made famous through his adventures and debauchery described in The Sun Also Rises. It brings it all to life actually seeing it in person. In homage to Hemingway, we ducked into the Café Bar Iruña, one of the main settings in the aforementioned novel. Pete treated me to some amazing churros con chocolate. Yes, that is churros dipped in a cup of chocolate. Yes, it was delicious and terribly unhealthy. We also found a statue of Hemingway there and staged a photo shoot.
Pete and Ernest.
Plaza del Toros, where the bulls end up after their run.
We spent the rest of the morning walking around before hitting up a bocadilla (sandwich) place for lunch, and then later meeting up with Angela so she and Pete could work on a class project. I got to walk them to class and see Univerisity of Navarre campus, which is nestled in a beautiful valley with the unnamed mountains in the background. It’s so pretty. While they were in class, I did some grocery shopping for Pete’s chili he was making for dinner that night and returned to his apartment. I met his roommates, Jesus, Enrique and David, all who are really nice. Unfortunately, I suck at Español, so my dialogue with them was pretty short. I felt so bad about it—I mean, I spoke a few sentences and did my best to understand, but there were a lot of “¿como?” (what?) parts in the sentence. I’ve told Pete that I want him to start helping me become better at Spanish. My college classes and books are a good base, but I want him to use his experiences to help me with conversational Spanish. Pete made a delicious half Tex-Mex, half Spanish chili complete with chorizo sausage for dinner, which I ate far too much of. We later met up with Ernesto for a couple of late-night cañas on the town before heading home.
I slept in today, enjoying the slow pace of Spain and finally capitalizing on my ability to take it equally slow with no work or class in my schedule. We arranged to meet Ernesto, Angela and Angela’s roommate, Christine at the La Ciudadela, an old fort turned park in the center of the city. It was a beautiful day, so we picnicked out there all afternoon with some sandwiches and sangria, just taking it all in. I had a great time talking with everyone. The only downside was a wretched sunburn on my arms in a really embarrassing pattern since I just used a sunscreen stick the size of glue stick for sun protection. No bueno. The great day was totally worth it though.
Tonight I’m going out to an international students party with Pete and everyone. It should be a fun night, getting to meet all the people Pete has told me about. And thank god I’ll be able to get by using minimal Spanish. The next couple days looks to be really fun. Tomorrow I’m exploring more of downtown, maybe go out for a run, while Pete’s in class. Thursday Pete and I are going out to San Sebastian, a town on the Atlantic known for its gorgeous beaches and mountains. We’re hopping on a bus again late Thursday night to take an all-night ride to Alicante for a weekend on the Mediterranean. So very beach-filled next couple of days. I’m very excited, to say the least. Stay tuned for further pictures and updates.
I leave you with a pretty sight and a link to my newest Facebook album.
Pellirojita does España: Parte Uno: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2255784&l=cda83&id=15921830
Looking out onto Lo Viejo from Pete's apartment.
1 comment:
Aw, Sam, I miss you so much! But I am so glad you are having an amazing time with Pete. Keep posting blogs and pictures so I can live vicariously through you! My love to Pete, I can't wait to see you in a few weeks! Loooooves!
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