Local Specialties

In our two days, we tried Galician wine, Tarta de Santiago, octopus, and queso de tetilla, named for its breast-like shape.

Fisterre

We arrived at the last town on the coast of death, which is of course the end of the earth. So he hiked the trail of San Guillermo because we were told this would be the best view. It was a much harder hike than anticipated. The mountain tried many forces of nature to expel us but we made it to the top.

Elaborate storage sheds?

Along the coast of death, almost every single little house had one of these beautiful old stone boxes on the side of their garden. Our guesses started with tombs or shines (because some have crosses) and then we thought hen houses but they’re on stilts. Storage shed seems to be the only logical option but they’re so ornate. Let me know if you have any ideas.

Costa de Morte

Saturday morning we traveled to the Coast of Death to visit the end of the world. We passed many little fishing towns and some Irish looking countryside but it definitely looked like the coast of death.

Sunset over Santiago

By the way, my camera is repaired but ever since it came back from the Cannon factory, all pictures without flash are sepia tone. But it takes pictures so I’m not complaining.

Triple Staircase Entrance

Museo de Pobo Galego

After the park we went to a Galician history museum inside an old convent. The coolest part of this museum was the spiral staircase. It’s hard to tell from this view but there are three separate staircases.

Alameda Park

We spent a little while wandering around a beautiful park on the edge of the old city and I enjoyed taking another Amelia and Lennox in Spain with purple flowers picture. A friendly old man told us the life story of one of the statues that was a poet…and lost his hand in a carnival…and dated twin sisters…who were students at the university? Galicia has their own dialect and most of it sounds familiar but sometimes it was a little shaky.

The Cathedral from a distance

Catedral de Apostol

This is the incredible cathedral where pilgrims journey to see the tomb of Saint James whose corpse was brought to Spain in a boat made of stone and rediscovered in the 800s by a religious hermit following a star.

Galicia, the Ireland of Spain

We arrived in Santiago Friday morning and spent the entire day exploring the city. Galicia is the Celtic region of Spain and therefore has lovely Celtic music playing in every street. These are two bagpipers around the corner from the Cathedral.

Clothing Throw Video

La Noche en Blanco!

Saturday night was La Noche en Blanco and we didn’t make it til the sun came up but we made it til 5 am. Nora and I started at the Real Madrid stadium at 9:00 to see the White Dancers. Then we trekked down to the Botanical Gardens where there were two events. The first was a sound and light show with random words and sounds being emitted from around the garden. But the second was incredible. It was an exhibit called Hard Rain and Bob Dylan’s song played over and over. There were photographs from around the world that perfectly illustrated each verse and each problem in the world. The exhibit ended asking you how you were going to fix the world and you had to write your answer on a little satin ribbon and tie it to an olive tree. It was beautiful.
From the Botanical Garden, we walked up Paseo de Prado and passed some interested things on our way to Cibeles where we saw the light show on the Banco de Espana. On the other side of Sol, we reached the exhibit from the Pompeii Archeology Museum of Naples. It was small but impactful to see the casts left of the people who died so suddenly and you can see the emotion in their faces and body position. In the courtyard outside this exhibit was a huge screen showing black and white animation with strange sound effects. Thankfully, we saw an entrance to an inner courtyard where the real fun was taking place. I have never before appreciated performance art but I just couldn’t find a single complaint with this. In this courtyard there were clothes flying in the air. It was like a massive party game. When you enter you put on an item of clothing. Then when an item of clothing lands on you, you have to take off the first piece of clothing, throw it in the air to someone else, and put on the new piece of clothing. At 3 am, this seemed like the best game for 1000 people anyone had ever made. After throwing clothes, we made our way to the Edificio de Espana and watched from Plaza de Espana as children’s drawing were represented in colored lights in each window. At that point we decided we had accomplished enough culture and for the final stage of the evening head to San Gines for their famous chocolate con churros. The perfect way to end an unforgettable evening.

Tiny Little Spiral Staircases

Castillo de los Mendoza

Manzanares El Real

Today I went with a few friends to Manzanares El Real to see the Castillo de los Mendoza. It was a classic medieval castle on the hillside above a beautiful lake and a tiny medieval town. We walked the entire town in about an hour and then had pine nut cookies while watching a puppet show in the main plaza. The castle tour was quick and afterwards we had a picnic lunch on rocks in a little stream. It was a lovely way to spend an afternoon.

El Escorial

Friday we had a group trip to El Escorial in the mountains outside of Madrid. It was built in the 1500s in the shape of a giant grill to commemorate the martyrdom of St. Lawrence. It contains a palace, basilica, library, monastery, and school. But I really loved the little town around the palace. It was rainy and cold but high enough in the mountains that the leaves had started to turn red and gold and it reminded me of a little New England town.

I miss Lennox

Valencia Day 2

It seems like all we did Sunday was climb things. We climbed the ridiculously narrow but very high bell tower of the cathedral and then we climbed los Torres de Serranos. It was a proud moment to reach the top level given Lennox's extreme fear of heights and it doesn't even look that high.

The Holy Grail

Legend has it that the Holy Grail is within this cathedral in Valencia.

Wisteria Tree

I made them take a picture of this tree because we don’t have them in Florida and we should.

Valencia Day 1

We arrived in Valencia around noon and met Lennox in La Plaza de la Virgen (pictures to come). After lunch at this incredible Brazilian café, we took the tram to the beach. It was beautiful and my first glimpse of the Mediterranean. They have a market along the beach and an oddly modern pier built for the America’s Cup.

Castle

Cathedral

Segovia

Today we visited Segovia, about an hour outside of Madrid. It was a strong hold of Ferdinand and Isabella and we even got to see the small chapel where Isabella was crowned queen. We first visited the Roman aqueducts, made without any mortar and still perfect after 2,000 years. We also saw the main cathedral, built in the late gothic style after the first one was burned in an uprising against King Charles. Lastly, we visited the castle for which Segovia is famous. It is rumored to be the castle that Disney’s Sleeping Beauty is based on and its really impressive on the outside but less so on the inside.

Tomorrow I’m off to Valencia to see Lennox!

Sheep!

Today was the annual day when the shepards bring their herds through the city across Calle Mayor. But for some reason other groups of people from around Spain walk behind them making it a weird cultural parade. One group was of African people holding signs saying "Camels are our livelihood". We weren't really sure if they were really from Spain. But check out the shoes on some of the shepards! They're kind of like those lawn irrigation sandals mom found.

Around the City

I was walking around Chueca with some friends and we found two really interesting buildings. The first is boarded up now but the roof is lined with penguins holding what look like beers. It makes you wonder what this used to be. The other building looked like it was sculpted to be part of a garden. It was built in 1902 as the home of a banker and is now the Society of Authors and Editors of Madrid.

Retiro Park

I went back to Retiro Park because supposedly its at its best Sunday mornings. In general, the parks of Madrid are more like gardens than parks in New York. Everything is pristine and manicured and green. I went there to meet up with some friends and we actually ran into two other students from our group along the way. And last night Lucia and I ran into our professor Alex in the street. I guess this is the difference between 3 and 9 million people.