04/03/2013

Madrid, Toledo, Segovia! 

And the musical entertainment: "Y Viva Espana" by Los Paquitos. Viva Espana! Viva!

Toro! Toro! Nothing says roadtrip through Spain like the giant  bull silhouettes along the highway. 5 hours to Madrid from Granada. . . so many olive trees, so little leg room on the bus.

Starbucks!!! I hadn't realized how much I really did miss my massive American-size chai until we saw that wonderful green logo in Madrid. Not sure what happened with my name, but mmmmmmm. 

Museo del Prado. Home to the masterpieces of El Greco,  Goya, Velazquez, Caravaggio, etc. SO much art. My favorite would have to be El Greco; the colors and the sheer size of his paintings was a sight to behold. We had about 3-4 hours to wander through the Prado and we honestly probably only saw about half of its contents. It's MASSIVE, you could spend days in there. As you can tell from the picture, we were a little museum-ed out by the time we got through. And this was only the first day and the first museum haha. . . 

Our next museum was La Reina Sofia, housing more modern Spanish artists such as Picasso, Dali, Miro, etc.  Their huge claim to fame is of course Guernica, depicting the aftermath of the bombing of Guernica by the Germans for "target practice". Definitely not supposed to photograph this one, but I couldn't resist a sneaky photo just to give a scale of the size of it. . . I never realized from pictures how big it was! Picasso was born about an hour from Granada, so I may have to sneak down for a weekend and check out the museum in Malaga.

Apparently we have been secretly housing a work of art worthy of La Reina Sofia in our barn this whole time. . .  

"Tri-unicorn". HAHA 

Don Quijote y Sancho en Madrid

Parque Felipe Pio (Phillip the Pious), Madrid. The park has a history of violence and death, from the Fusilamientos del 3 de Mayo- the execution of the citizens of  Madrid who rebelled against Napoleon's troops when they invaded Spain  (the subject of one of my favorite paintings in the Prado by Goya http://6bsociynatu.wordpress.com/2011/05/04/fusilamientos-del-3-de-mayo/ ) and then later as the site of fighting during the Civil War.  This sculpture is a memorial to all those whose blood was shed on the site.

With hopes of a happier, more peaceful future for the park Egypt gave the city of Madrid a genuine Egyptian temple.

This building. .  . had something to do with mines. . . . oh no. . . .  this blog post is really failing at the historical/descriptive side of things. In my defense: this walk through Madrid was absolutely miserable. It was raining/snowing/windy and freezing cold. It was hard to focus on what our guide was saying because we were all shivering and soaked.

La Catedral de Santa Maria la Real de la Almudena. Across the street from the Palacio Real and the official seat of the Archdiocese of Madrid

Monument and church in memory of the victims of a bombing at the wedding of the Spanish monarchs in 1906. Spain has experienced every type of terrorism throughout it's history, the most recent being the train bombings in Madrid and the ETA

Puerta del Sol- the most well known central plaza of Madrid

Plaza Mayor

Puerta del Sol at night. Madrid is a city of the night with all it's flashing neon signboards, theater signs and discotecas. 

Santiago Bernebau, home stadium of Real Madrid! Spain is divided by a fierce rivalry between Real Madrid and FC Barcelona. We were fortunate enough to be in Madrid for the Clasico, the game between the two teams so a group of us decided to take the bus over to the stadium to experience the atmosphere and excitement. One of the girls' boyfriend back home is a huge Barca fan, so she bought a scarf and we posed with it. Unfortunately, we grossly underestimated how seriously Spain takes it's futbol. Within 5 minutes the scarf had to be hidden underneath a jacket because of all the heckling she got from Madrid fans. Some guys from our program who are also Barcelona fans wore jerseys to the stadium and were attacked by a group of drunk Madrid fans. Luckily the only injuries were some bruises and a bloody lip, but they left quickly to avoid further problems, and we decided to be Madrid fans for the rest of the day at least. . .

We watched the game at a bar a block from the stadium PACKED with people including a group of guys who let us pose with their Real Madrid flag. The atmosphere was great, full of drinking, singing, yelling, and chants of  "Christianooo Ronaldoooo!". Madrid fans aren't the politest, so a lot of the chants and yelling was pretty obscene/creative/death threats hahaha but it was definitely an experience. After the game the streets were packed with people celebrating.  

Tickets were around 1000 euros, but the stadium and surrounding streets were PACKED. 

We took a day trip to Segovia, about 1 1/2 hours northwest of Madrid, famous for its Roman aqueduct, Alcazar, and Cathedral. I loved Segovia- it's a small town with a completely different feel from the buzz and people of modern Madrid, it's like stepping back in time with it's cobblestone streets, stone buildings and towering cathedrals. I'd love to spend more time there.

Cathedrals cathedrals cathedrals. Spain has more than its fair share, but they're all magnificent.

View of the city from the tower of the Alcazar

The Alcazar! Segovia is on a hill surrounded by some of the most gorgeous Spanish countryside I have seen yet, all on the meseta, the high plains  (and yep, it did rain on the plain of Spain while were there ha) The Alcazar (castle) was built more for aesthetic appeal than for actual defensive purposes so it looked EXACTLY like a Disney castle. In fact, it is a Disney castle. The castle in Snow White was designed to look like the Alcazar of Segovia.

Surprise! More churches.

The Roman Aqueduct!! Built over 2000 years ago without any cement holding it together, just physics and some serious stoneworking skills, to transport water up the hill to the city of Segovia. It's incredibly tall (as you can tell from the people/cars in front of it) and so impressive to stand next to.

The Aqueduct is the subject of many local legends, including one that claims that the devil himself was tricked into building it in a bet with a local woman who promised him her soul if he could build it in one night. She prayed all night and God heard her and shortened the night by one hour so that the devil would fail at his task, Segovia would get an aqueduct, and the clever woman would keep her soul. I don't doubt it. Spanish women are a force to be reckoned with, the devil himself is no match for them.

Shout out to my mother and her fabulous crocheting skills which kept me warm the entire trip to Segovia and Madrid.

The city of Segovia from the edge of the city walls

El Escorial- the largest building in Spain, monastery/library/royal palace/pantheon/basilica/etc. of Felipe II

El Escorial from the courtyard. No pictures allowed inside the actual building. It was MASSIVE. It's official name is San Lorenzo del Escorial, dedicated to San Lorenzo because Felipe II won his first victory against France on San Lorenzo's feast day in August.  San Lorenzo was martyred for his faith by grilling (no joke) so the whole thing is designed to resemble the pattern of a grill. . . . We only toured a quarter of it and it still took 3 hours. My favorite part of what we saw was definitely the library, least favorite was El Panteon de los Reyes, the burial place of all the Spanish monarchs (minus Los Reyes Catolicos who are in Granada) . That place was, well . . . .tomb like. . . . it's a bit disturbing to be surrounded by so many deceased monarchs and family members (some of whom are recent enough to still be in the 'decomposing chamber' awaiting their final enterrment into their elaborately decorated coffins). It's even more unsettling to think of the living monarchs who had their bedrooms right over the tombs of all their ancestors. And of course, the modern addition of a gift shop right outside the chamber was a nice touch haha.

Toledo! About 2 hours south of Madrid, we hung out here for a day on our way back to Granada. The city is a medieval labyrinth, once the capital of Spain and still the religious and cultural capital. I really enjoyed Toledo as well, it has a very relaxed feel to it and the architecture and streets are so beautiful. It also is famous for its delicious marzipan. Yum!

Toledo= swords. SO many swords. For all those times you just need to duel someone medieval style.

The Cathedral of Segovia is a stunning giant of a gothic cathedral. Wow.

The whole ILACA group! All from the northwest-  about 12 from University of Portland, 10 from Willamette, 6 from Puget Sound, 7 from PLU, 3 from Gonzaga, and 3 from Seattle U! Plus our wonderful director, Mark and the visiting professor from Willamette and her adorable daughter who is attending school here and picking up Spanish at a rate that blows my mind. Great weekend!