Well this update is waaaaaayyyy
overdue; even more so than any other that I have been tardy with before. So
much was going on this summer though, and then my laptop went in for repair
which took longer than expected (and silly Ren didn’t back-up this particular
document.) Anyhoo,I haven’t updated you guys yet on my trips to Madrid and
Barcelona. If I had been attending to
business as I should, then each would have their own postings. As it stands
I will just combine them so that I actually get it done. There is a
lot to tell regarding both trips, but I will attempt to condense.
So Madrid. It all started one day
when I looked in my planner and realized I had a relatively generous Easter
holiday from school approaching; perfect opportunity to get some travelling in.
At first the plan was just to pick up myself and go solo, but then a lightbulb
went off. I messaged my friend Davia (who I stayed with in Toulouse and who was
also in on the awesome Paris trip) something along the lines of “find a cheap
flight and meet me in Madrid nuh?” And so it began.
We met in the bus station in
Madrid and then it was off to find where we were staying. We were to be hosted
by Almudena and Santi; I found them through a site I discovered called airbnb
(check it out guys!!!). Essentially people rent out extra space they have in
their homes on a regular basis or when they go on vacation ect. I love the
concept. You can find anything from budget accommodation, to luxury villas in
exotic places. We stayed in Madrid for a
good while without accommodation costs breaking our budget. The couple we
stayed with were great. They were very accommodating and very willing to help
us out. They lived in an area that was one train (not metro) stop away from the
centre. It was a little further than I had originally anticipated, but once we
got our bearings, it was pretty easy to get around.
The first major touristy thing that we did was
to make it to the Plaza del Sol and from there to Plaza Mayor. There were lots
of people out and about and we were essentially in the centre of Madrid.I had
to say to Dav.. We’re having lunch and sipping Sangria in the Plaza Mayor of
Madrid!!! Can you believe it? How cool is that?! Paris a couple months before,
and now Madrid. We were on a roll. After , we set off walking and eventually
ended up by the Royal Palace. Very impressive. It was a bright and sunny yes, but
warm? Umm..no. Not to us anyway. We continued on and took a small break and had
a rest in the gardens adjacent to the palace. This was followed by more
exploration and taking in some of the major sights of the city.
Now the plan was for Davi and I both to head off
to Morocco for a North African adventure. However, thoseplans hit a snag when
we realized that Dav would have some visa issues that we didn’t realize before.
As it was Easter Sunday the day we got to Madrid, we knew that there was
nothing we could do about it immediately and so we put that aside just enjoyed
the day.
The next day however, definitely had its ups and
downs. We decided that first things first we would head to the Moroccan embassy
and try to get Davia’s situation sorted. To cut a long story short, it didn’t
work out. All that waiting in line and running around the consulate for
nothing. This of course threw a seemingly huge monkey wrench into our plans.
We were pretty dejected after that as you can
imagine. As we walked disconsolately away from the embassy, I realized that we were around the corner from Bernabeu Stadium!! Ok,
so here was a seemingly bright-ish spark right? After walking around for a bit,
we went inside THE official Real madrid store. I played around with the idea of
buying a jersey, with Ozil on the back most likely. That is until I saw the
price tag….. Did I want the jersey? Yes. Coud I afford the jersey? Not if I
wanted to eat for the rest of the month. Ok so maybe I’m exaggerating a little,
but I don’t love Real Madrid that much, my student budget needed to be
stretched elsewehere.To prevent regrets and second thoughts I just told myself
that I would only be putting money in Cristiano Ronaldo’s pocket. That worked
like a charm!!
So I’ll confess we broke an exploratory travel
rule and decided to resort to familiar, well-needed comfort food for lunch. So
TGI Friday’s it was. Ah the solace one can sometimes find in food! Never had a
rack of ribs been more welcomed. Well I must say we were able to recover our
spirits quite a bit after lunch.
During this whole time my mind was completely in
a flurry. I was trying to think of what to do next. Added to my stress was the
fact that my parents would NOT answer their phones for a consult, or call me
back for that matter!! (turns out they had been palavering in the garden at
home and were away from their phones; I
had suspected as much.)
After a few more stops around the city, we
eventually made our way to the Jardines del buen Retiro. Such a lovely public
space. I think that if were living in Madrid, this would be a hang-out spot. We even went rowing in
the lake there!Following our respite in the park, we were just out and about
wallking around the city. We actually ended up at Plaza Mayor again and decided
to try some tapas.
In the end we decided that I would still go to Morocco
(on a somewhat shortened version of the trip) and Davia would stay and chill out
in Madrid. Luckily, they family that she lived with in Toulose would actually
be visiting Madrid during that very period and so she would link up with them
also. We would then meet up again of course upon my return. If you read my
previous blog entry, then you know all the details about that adventure.
So picking up where the Morocco entry left off,
I got back to the house in the early hours of the morning, and pretty
exhausted. The plan was that we would go the the Sunday market at the Rastro.
By the time we managed to get out of the house, people had begun packing up
(albeit a litlle early)
The one thing I really wanted to do in Madrid
that I wasn’t able to was to visit the Prado Museum (If you have been following
this blog, you may have picked up by now that I am a museum hopper). That was a bit disappointing, but on the
evening that we managed to make it there, they closed early for some reason. Ah
well, another time hopefully. At least we took pictures outside.
The last major thing we did during our stay was
our day trip to Toledo. We took the train and went out to explore our second
medieval town together.
When I saw this sign I had to laugh out loud. I
can’t recall ever visiting anywhere outside JA and seeing oxtail on offer. In
addition, notice that all the other signs are in Spanish, but this was in
English.
That night back at “home” we managed to order a
pizza ourselves (and it even had the right toppings. Yay us!!) , chilled and
watched a move. The next day unfortunatley, heralded the end to our little
jaunt and we went our separate ways. She to Toulouse, and I back to (at the
time) dreary, cold and rainy Bilbao.
Now onto Barca in a nutshell. My
aunt e-mailed me one day to say that she and her friend Suzanne were going to
be holidaying in Spain in May. Barcelona was their chosen destination. She had written
to find out if there was the possibility of us meeting up. I don’t even know
why that was a question. My aunt should know me well enough to know that I
wasn’t going to let an opportunity like that slip past. It took a quite a bit
of manoeuvring , and there were some nervous moments when it seemed I would be
foiled. In the end however, I got it together.
I had actually been “living” in
San Sebastian (yet again) for a few days because of a course we had at an
institute there. Instead of commuting between cities every day, it made
logistical (and economic) sense to stay over in San Sebastian for the duration.
We got really lucky, and the institute at which we had the course actually paid
for our accommodation at a lovely little hostel overlooking the city!
 |
| View from the hostel |
I managed to get to Barcelona in
time to meet up with Aunty and Suzanne for dinner. We went out to a
bull-fighting themed restaurant (well at least the décor suggested that) and
experimented with an array of tapas.
 |
| Yum right? :) |
The plan for the next morning was
to do some sight-seeing in Barca before picking up our rental car and heading
out to the Costa Brava.
As it turns out, I didn’t get to spend that much time
in Barcelona proper as I had hoped. I think it might be worth re-visiting.
After all, I actually didn’t get to visit Nou Camp ( FC Barcelona’s home
stadium), which was one of the things I had always wanted to do if I ever made
it to Barca.
In the afternoon , we picked up
our rental vehicle, and were off. Immediately, I took up my new position as
Navigator- in- Chief. I think I may state without reservation that there would
have been chaos if I wasn’t there to provide that particular service. Eventually
we arrived at our final destination of Begur; the charming town in which we
were staying. The name of our hotel was Hostal Sa Rascassa. Rolls right off the
tongue doesn’t it?
The plan for the next day was to
visit the medieval town (I’m getting around to them aren’t I? J ) of Besalu.
 |
| Besalu |
Afterwards we tried to head over to Figures to the Salvador Dali museum, but
unfortunately our research was a little off and we ended up getting there after
closing hours. However on the following day, we made it back over to Figueres
and were able to explore the museum. I’m so glad that we were able to do that.
I swear, that man’s mind was on a whole different level. His artwork was
fascinating. From his surrealist work
(ironically, his arguably most famous surrealist painting “The Persistence
of Memory” was not housed there, but as luck would have it, I had been able to
see it up close and personal at The MOMA New York, on a visit to the self-same
aunt with whom I was touring now), to his Jewellery collection. That was definitely
a highlight.
 |
| "The Living Flower" |
 |
| Replica of "The Persistence of Memory" |
The weather on the outside had not really been co-operating and it
poured and poured. In any event, we decided to try and make a run for Cadaques,
one of the more popular towns on the Costa Brava. The trip carried us up pretty
near to the French border in fact. Unfortunately the gloomy weather pursued us
to Cadaques and we didn’t manage to see much, but were able to have a nice
lunch despite all that. Cadaques had actually been on the list of potential
towns to saty in, but I’m really glad it wasn’t our base. The only way in and
out was a somewhat tedious, over-mountain route that did not offer much by way
of scenery.
That evening, the restaurant at
Sa Rascassa was closed, and so we had to venture out to find somewhere for
dinner. We drove casually around the area, in and out of several little coves nearby
until we stopped at one called Aiguafrieda at a restaurant by the sea. I would have really loved to see this place
in full sunlight; I’m sure it would be gorgeous.
Aunty and Suzanne still had a
couple days left, but unfortunately I had to return to the purpose for which I
was on that side of the world in the first place. School. So I had to grab a
coach bus in Begur and hustle back to Barca to catch my flight to Bilbao ( where
I was hoping to get back to in time before the last metro, otherwise I wasn’t
really sure how I’d have gotten home to my suburb in Getxo).
so niceee!!!
ReplyDelete