La Ultima Parte de Semana Santa: "Vale"

Deciding we deserved a few horas extras a dormir, we took a lazy morning before starting our day at Palacio Real and Catedral Almudena. We decided to opt out of the palace tour, seeing as the line was forever long and I had already been in with Nana, but did get the opportunity to go inside the cathedral, which was beautifully decorated for Semana Santa. Dad especially loved touring the cathedral, as that had been his one of his requests for el viaje. We started tener hambre, so we made our way to the bakery of the nuns on the way to el Mercado de San Miguel for lunch. Once we got to the market, all three of us were blown away by how crowded it was but with a little bit of teamwork, managed to grab one of las mesas and made some new Mexican friends, a family that was visiting Spain for las vacaciones. Mom worked some magic and got us some jamón ibérico, while Dad was in charge of las brochetas and I found las croquetas. It all paid off as we enjoyed a delicious meal, taking in all the people and giving Mom and Dad the opportunity to explore one of mis sitios favoritos de Madrid! We spent the rest of the afternoon walking around, letting Mom and Dad see Plaza Mayor and mi universidad! Having heard so many good things about it from both myself and the trusty guide books, Mom and Dad were excited to try some paella, so we went to Arroceria Gala for dinner and had a great dinner – now we can’t wait to attempt to make it at home!

Mom & Dad at Palacio Real

Croquetas stand

After going back and forth between whether or not we should visit El Escorial or use our time to explore Madrid more, we made a last minute decision and took the bus Saturday morning to El Escorial, which was built by Felipe II in the 1500s. We opted for the audio guide tour and spent the rest of the morning wandering around Escorial and taking in all the magnificent views it had to offer. As we headed back to the bus, we realized we’d made the right call coming that morning because la cola was the longest we’d seen yet! Once we got back to Madrid, we headed to Sol for almuerzo relajado a Cien Montaditos before taking advantage of the incoming lluvia and taking a lovely siesta. We woke up to a beautiful evening and took advantage of the good weather with another paseo before dinner at Lateral, round 2!

El Escorial (the background of my blog!)

Domingo ~ Feliz Pascual de Madrid! As if I wasn’t lucky enough already to have my parents visiting me in Madrid on Easter, I woke up to an incredible desayuno americano of scrambled eggs, OJ, and bacon that Dad had made us! After a relaxing breakfast, we made our way to Iglesia Anglicana de San Jorge for an Easter service. It was a beautiful little church with a happy congregation, perfect for our Easter Sunday! Afterwards, we grabbed lunch on the way to el museo del Prado where we spent the next hour or two in awe of las pinturas increíbles followed by a stroll through el parque Retiro and some down time of people-watching and sipping on our Coca-Colas y Coca-Lights en el sol. Unfortunately it was time to head back to the apartment to do a little packing before our dinner at Midnight Rose in Plaza de Santa Ana. It was the perfect meal to finish off a wonderful trip! Mom and Dad left early Monday morning and después de algunas horas mas of sleep, I headed back to Cristina’s to start on the final papers and projects I have left. I can’t believe I have less than tres semanas left in Madrid – time has just flown by! Let the countdown begin – 17 days, 2 papers, 1 presentation, and 1 viaje a Ibiza con mis amigos!!

Mom & Dad at Retiro on Easter!

La Segunda Parte de Semana Santa: Granada y Sevilla

I woke up early en la mañana de Lunes to grab a cab and catch my flight back to Madrid to finally see my parents! I got into Madrid around 10 and waited for possibly the longest dos horas de mi vida for Mom and Dad to land almost two hours later. I’m sure you can guess, but it was a very happy hello, with a few tears of joy shed and plenty of hugs to go around! Over the moon to be conjuntos, we jumped on the metro and headed to Cristina’s apartment to get my bag of winter things to send back home and so Mom and Dad could meet Cristina! We got to my apartment building where first Mom and Dad got to meet Gregorio and his son David before heading up to meet Cristina. It was such a treat to have my parents meet Cristina because, obviously, she’s been a big part of my life for the past three and a half months! Mom and Dad loved having the opportunity to thank her for taking care of me and I think Cristina enjoyed meeting my parents since she usually doesn’t get to when parents come to visit during Semana Santa. We all enjoyed some ice cold water (quite the rarity in Spain) on la terraza and had a nice conversation, with some translation involved, about each other’s plans for Semana Santa and just getting to know one another. And of course I can’t forget Greta! She’s no Betty or Belle but I’ve loved having un perro to make things feel like home. It was finally time to go check in to nuestro apartamento off Gran Via which ended up being the perfect place for us to enjoy our time in Madrid, as well as store equipaje durante nuestro tiempo en Granada y Sevilla! We took a minute to just enjoy all being together and my dad surprised me with DIET DEWS, which he had carefully packed in his suitcase as a surprise for me! Tenemos hambre, so the three of us grabbed a quick bite to eat in the plaza near our apartment before mom and dad embraced la cultura Española and took a siesta while I ran to pick up some groceries from Corte Ingles. We spent the rest of the evening taking a paseo down Gran Vía and in Sol before a delicious dinner at Cornucopia!

After hitting snooze once or twice, we were all finally up and moving as we made our way to pick up our coche and start our Spanish road trip to Granada, Sevilla, and then back to Madrid! Once we made it to Granada (without a hitch, thanks to Dad’s European driving skills), we had to navigate the car through the little cobblestones streets of la ciudad in order to get to our incredible hotel, Casa Morisca. Pictures can’t even begin to relay how neat the hotel was, not to mention the incredible view of the city and La Alhambra that we had! Excited to explore the city, we walked towards Plaza Nueva and grabbed almuerzo at La Bella y La Bestia, which translates to Beauty and the Beast!

Mom and Dad at Casa Morisca

Lunch at La Bella y La Bestia

We spent the afternoon just taking in the city and enjoying its wonderful atmosphere before happening upon some las procesiones de Semana Santa! For anyone who didn’t know what to expect, it could have been a little unnerving at first but it was such a sight that I really don’t know how to put into words but hopefully los fotos y el video can help! I even made some new Spanish friends during the procession, who had precious kids and asked me to au pair! As nice as they were, I told them lo siento but Spartanburg was calling me!

The women in the Semana Santa procession

Cathedral where the procession ended

That evening we were wowed by la vista de la Alhambra at night and finished our night off with una cena increíble a la Mirador de Morayma, which we discovered later is one of Gwyneth Paltrow’s favorites! It was a lovely atmosphere, on the garden terrace that looked out towards the Alhambra! Stuffed from la comida deliciosa, we walked back to our hotel only to come upon a night-time procession, which seemed to have a more sacred and somber tone than the afternoon procession but was just as beautiful.

Granada at night

The Alhambra

La Mirador de Morayma

Night procession

Excited for our Miércoles and tour of la Alhambra y Generalife, we got an early start and made our way to Plaza Nueva to meet our tour guide. We started our tour in el Generalife, which are the gardens at the palace that were, no surprise, absolutely beautiful and gave us a great view of not only la ciudad de Alhambra, but also of the city of Granada. From there Carmen took us through the three palaces, all unique and incredible. It was quite the tour! Afterwards we walked back down to Plaza Nueva and grabbed lunch in Albaicín next to el Rio Darro before hopping in the car and heading towards Sevilla!

La ciudad de la Alhambra

Once we reached Sevilla, we checked into our hotel and took a paseo through el parque de Maria Luisa until we reached Plaza de España, where we took in the beautiful architecture before heading to el barrio de Santa Ana for una cena de tapas. Mom and Dad got a taste of the Spanish culture by eating dinner at 10pm and trying the croquetas and jamón ibérico. It was another wonderful evening, full of people watching and another procession! On our way back to the hotel, we made our way through the crowded plazas as everyone got ready to watch another procession before calling it a night. We woke up Thursday morning to lluvia but rather than letting it affect nuestros planes, we grabbed an umbrella and made our way towards the cathedral to enjoy un desayuno español with tostados con jamón ibérico and then touring the beautiful Gothic cathedral that had a special altar out for Semana Santa, as well as a hike to the top of the bell tower where you could take in the whole city. Deciding it was time to make our way back to Madrid, we grabbed Dad un café Americano from, yes, Starbucks, and drove back to Madrid in la tormenta. Once we made it back to our apartment and dried off from downpour, we hopped a cab to finally head to Lateral! The weather ended up working in our favor, as many people decided to stay in, so we were able to get a table and enjoy a delicious dinner of everything from brochetas de pollo y croquetas to ensaladas y jamón ibérico con brie fundido.

Plaza de Espana en Sevilla

Madrid!

Cathedral in Sevilla

La Primera Parte de Semana Santa: “Este es la razón que tomas un paseo.”

Margaret and I started our Semana Santa off with an extremely relaxing weekend in Valencia, one of Spain’s communities that lies on the Mediterranean coast. We left Madrid muy temprano en la manana de Viernes and hopped on a quick flight to Valencia, arriving by lunch time! I even happened to run into two of my Wofford amigas en el aeropuerto! For our long weekend on the coast, Margaret and I stayed at the Hilux Feet Up hostel, which was interesante to say the least! Every room had a different theme, ranging from Asian to Flamenco, but we definitely hit the jackpot with our safari-themed room! We settled in and enjoyed a siesta before taking a long paseo around the old part of the town the rest of the afternoon. We took in lots of sites like La Lonja, Los Torres (towers), and happened upon a beautiful church named after “San Juan del Hospital.” As Margaret and I continued to say for the rest of the weekend, “this is why you paseo.”  Recommended by our new mejor amigo Marco, Margaret and I enjoyed mi primero paella at El Forca. Paella originated in Valencia so we knew we couldn’t go wrong with Paella Valencia, which has arroz, pollo, pato y verduras.

Safari-themed room!

Los Torres

Famous for La Ciudad de las Ciencias y los Artes, it was easy to plan out our Saturday! We enjoyed breakfast at the hostel and then made our way over to the aquarium where we saw all sorts of animales, like whales, walruses, dolphins, sea lions, penguins, and even a few sharks! We felt like little kids because of how cool we thought it all was (don’t think we didn’t consider the “spend the night with the sharks” option…) and loved every minute! Deciding we needed a little Mexican food fix, we enjoyed almuerzo mexicano at La Mariacha near the aquarium and kept our fingers crossed that the sun would come out. (I feel like I should confess that Saturday was a bit overcast, but being the determined pale abroad girls we are, Margaret and I still wore our bathing suits and sundresses determined to go to the beach and get a tan after the aquarium.) Realizing it wasn’t our day for sol, we started un otro paseo back towards the old district where our hostel was when the sun finally came out! We spent the rest of the afternoon chatting and enjoying el buen tiempo en el Rio parque. We finished our evening with tapas y una copa de vino tinto at Divina and planned nuestro día a la playa for Sunday.

La Ciudad de las Ciencias y los Artes

Marge & I

Morsa (walrus)

We even ran into a protest! Luckily it was more a walk than anything.

Domingo: Finally our beach day! Enjoying an extra hour or two of sleep, we hopped out of bed and onto the bus headed to la playa, ready to bronceador! Realizing it may still be a little early (and that we should give the sun a few extra minutes to warm things up), we stopped for lunch at un café pequeno along the beachfront and then spent the rest of the day laying out. (Foreshadowing: Marco, who works at the hostel, warned us that Valencia is known for el viento a la playa that prevents you from realizing how much sun you’re actually getting.) It was a wonderful afternoon and mi primera visita al mar mediterráneo, which was surprisingly chilly but beautiful. After about 4 horas, mas o menos, on the beach, we proved to be examples A and B of what Marco said, being the slightly sunburned Americanas for the rest of the evening. If being blonde and taller than the majority of Spain wasn’t even to make a girl stand out, raccoon eyes from a bad sunglasses tan definitely does! Sunburned or not, Marge and I had a great girls’ weekend that was the perfect way to start our Semana Santa. Now, she’s off to las Islas Canarias and I’m going back to Madrid to finally see my parents!!!

La playa

Valencia