El último día en Madrid, echo de menos la ciudad.

The morning started off great with a delicious breakfast at the hotel. Fresh squeezed orange juice, coffee, cereal (that I have not had the whole time I have been in Spain), and toast covered with orange marmalade. After we were filled to our hearts´ desire, we headed out to find the famous flea market, or mercadillo, that was supposedly not to far from where we stayed. We uncovered one of the less tourist and more local environment of Madrid, and I was glad that we headed that way.

For all you hat enthusiasts out there, this stand is for you!

Two euro scarves, the mercadillo proved to be dangerous for everybody! I have not seen prices this low anywhere in Spain.

Police, shopping? Otra vez, cuando está en España.

Without spending too much money, we were satisfied with our purchases and continued to our next tourist site, Plaza Mayor. This plaza has been functioning since the 1600s, but the current version of it was finished in 1790. It was here that many events happened throughout history. Bullfights, football matches, public executions, and "autos de fe", which was trials against people who did not have faith who were condemned to death in a public ceremony. I have learned about this in my Historia de España (Edad Moderna) class, and this is the picture my professor displayed to get a better image in our mind:

If you click on the image, you can get more detailed view of this painting.

Of course, that occurred hundreds of years ago, and it has a new feel now. The principle use of the plaza is for certain festivals throughout the year, and this environment is supported by having many restaurants all around the perimeter. 

Giant entrance to the grandeur of Plaza Mayor

Holiday decorations, although not ready since there is no "official" mark to start the season, except the first day of December.

King Phillip III, a very important figure in Spanish monarchical history. 

Paintings? Yes, there was a facade that was covered with paintings. They were very beautiful. 

Today in class, I watched a movie that had a scene based in Plaza Mayor, and I got was very happy that I had been to such a recognizable and historical spot of Spain.

While one of our group members was obtaining a better map of Madrid, I spotted Spongebob Squarepants, and I thought that a photo opportunity had arisen. As most of you know, I love the simplest, yet quirkiest little things such as this.

In my History of Spain during the Modern Age class, I have learned about King Philip II, and recently discovered that I took a picture of a statue that has some relation to what I am learning in class! Don Álvaro de Bazán, was a navy admiral during that time, and he was born in Granada. Who knew that I would live in such a interconnected history and culture!

The great thing about Madrid was that all the main tourist sites were sometimes not too far from another, and we only walked a bit from Plaza Mayor to get to the Almudena Cathedral and the Palacio Real. The construction of the cathedral started in the late 1800s, but was not finished nor consecrated until 1993 by Pope John Paul II. In recent years, the Prince of Asturias, Felipe, got married to the current Princess of Asturias, Letizia. The other side is Palacio Real, the royal palace that is massive, but more used for social gatherings than the actual residence of the Royal Family. Still, quite a spectacle for the eyes, as it was the first time that I have ever seen a "palace".

Being fans of Spanish literature, we set out to find the Cervantes monument in the Plaza de España. The plaza itself was nothing as great as the other plazas I have been to, but the statues, in my opinion, make up for it. The main characters of Don Quijote de La Mancha, himself and his buddy Sancho, are featured. 

Cervantes, in the background, with Don Quijote riding Rocinante to the left and Sancho on top of his mule on the right.

We are so clever

Another place of interest not too far away was the Temple of Debod, which is actually an ancient Egyptian temple. Wait a minute, how does that make any sense? After all, I am in Spain, very far away from Egypt. Well, when Egypt was constructing the Great Aswan Dam, there were several historical monuments that were  in this zone that the government wanted to preserve, so they gave Spain this monument as a gift of gratitude for helping them.

Just some hieroglyphics, I accidentally took it with flash and feared repercussions since the security guards were very particular with enforcing rules. Luckily, I did not get in trouble. 

Walking to all these sites made us very hungry, and we remembered passing a food market, called Mercado de San Miguel. This seemed like the best plan, and we discovered that it was filled with all kinds of delicious food stands and picked what we wanted to eat. Right after we ate, it started to rain and we decided it would be best to start heading to the bus station to take the bus back to Granada.

Very crowded, but this is normal of Spain. Personal space does not bother people here as much as in the United States. 

I got a mini-pizza and an empanada de carne for only three euro.

I also have returned from visiting Córdoba and Sevilla, but I´m backlogged with homework and other things at the moment. For now, be patient, and the blogs will be put up in the near future.

Madrid, el primer día de la ciudad inmensa

I have decided that in order to recount all the wonderful aspects of Madrid, I will divide my blogs up into the two days visiting the city.

My friends and I woke up in the wee hours of the morning to get to the bus station, and it was so early that Granada´s bus lines were not running. For this, we had to take a cab, but it was rather cheap to split the cost among us. The lengthy bus ride to Madrid (about five hours) went smoothly, and I slept for the majority of the trip. When we arrived to Madrid, we took a bus line and the Metro to get to the hotel, which had the perfect location of being right outside the Puerta del Sol. This plaza is a great meeting place for friends and is almost always filled with people. After checking in, we headed out to grab a bite to eat, which we stumbled upon a Kebab restaurants, and since we adore the Kebab sandwiches, we decided this would be the most satisfying and economical choice for lunch. I have also been told that there are different varieties of Kebab all over Europe, let alone the world, and this time I got to try a different kind. It was on a toasted, crunchy slices of bread rather than a soft pita that I usually encounter in Granada. After eating, we headed to the Prado art museum filled with excitement, as for we have learned a lot about the artists who are featured inside the institute. Unfortunately, but as other art museums will do the same, pictures were prohibited. The main artists that we found most interesting were Diego Velázquez, Francisco de Goya, and El Greco. My favorite Spanish painter is Francisco de Goya, and not just because he is brilliant, but because he shows the agony of losing a loved one in the last works of his life. I recommend research on this man and the stages of his painting, for it is quite interesting.

The front of the Prado

Statue of Velázquez, who is very famous for his painting, Las meninas.

Excited to be in such an incredible place!

Also, because we are university students, we were able to obtain the entrance ticket without having to pay! Another interesting thing was that the day we visited, November 19th, was the anniversary of the Museum. 

Being in Madrid had an entire different feeling from being in Granada in the sense that the city "felt" more European, whereas Granada has a European feel with a strong Arab influence. For example, there was a larger presence of American food chains, including finding two Starbucks without a ten minute walk. My friends were thrilled and we stopped there, but I did not purchase anything because of the rough conversion rate between the Euro and the Dollar and the generally high price of their coffee. Perhaps it may be just the comfort of familiarity or a taste of home, but for some it is well worth the cost. 

We met up with another friend from school and decided to walk around and see the city at night, and it was absolutely gorgeous. Most places we came across were just anything that spotted our eye, and I was happy that we were following a loose plan and finding things by pure coincidence. Here are some pictures to enjoy from this walk:

After quite some time walking, we retired to our beds in the hotel and slept through the night with an exiting day ahead of us. 

El Reino de España

Sometimes I forget that I am technically living in a country that combines a parliamentary democracy and a constitutional monarchy. That being said, I basically live in a "Kingdom" with a royal family in rule, but it has its own democratic government, where leaders are elected. It is a strange feeling, but I guess it is only odd when I realize that I do not actually understand or feel the difference between the government here and the United States. I used to believe that the King and/or Queen had total control of the Kingdom (as I would imagine Queen Elizabeth the II of England). Essentially, the absolute power is there but essentially nothing is done that is apparent to Spanish society.

The current King of Spain, Juan Carlos I. He was appointed by Generalissimo Franco before his death, which ended the cruel dictatorship that endured for about 40 years, if I am recalling correctly. 

I do have to say that Juan Carlos I has done an impressive job in establishing a democracy after he was appointed. Had it not been for him, there would probably be no democratic constitution in Spain, and I am sure that the political climate would be extremely different. Perhaps I would not be here today if that was the case, but this is all just speculation.

For those who do not know about the history of Spain in the last hundred years, I would definitely recommend setting aside some time to research it. Some suggestions of events or themes that I have found that can help anyone understand include: the Spanish Civil War, Spain under Franco, Basque nationalism (ETA), and the federal government under Prime Minister Luis Rodríquez Zapatero and the Spanish Socialist Worker´s Party.

Anyways, I suppose this chain of thought was started by the fact that I will be visiting the capital of Spain tomorrow. Of course, I will probably not see any of the important figures of government there, but I enjoy the fact that I will be in a place of great significance. 

On a humorous note, I cannot help but to see the similarities between Prime Minister Zapatero and Rowan Atkinson (the man who portrays the often awkward, yet hilarious character of Mr. Bean)... maybe I´m just a little bit immature, but I am sure at least someone else in the world agrees (for I would not have found this comparison picture on the Internet)

¡Nos encanta el sabor de los churros con chocolate!

This past Wednesday, my study abroad program put together a night at the Café Fútbol for the Spanish version of churros con chocolate. Normally, these churros are supposed to be eaten for breakfast, but our program held this event at night. I have learned that the kind that we enjoyed is only typical of Southeast Spain, and is characterized by being a lighter dough and lack of having sugar sprinkled on it.  Also, the chocolate is very thick and rich, but not all too sweet. Overall, this is a very nice treat and I would recommend everyone to try this when they visit Andalucía (remember-this is the only region where you can get the same churros that I did)

Very, very thick! Look how it sticks to my spoon!

The churros (for a table of six people). Very different than the churros that you can get back at home, which usually are textured and covered with sugar. 

As a fair warning, my next few blogs might take a little while to get up, since the next couple weeks up to my departure from this wonderful country are going to be full of trips and studying (Yes, I do have school - hard to believe sometimes with all the adventures I have). This upcoming weekend I will be heading to Madrid, as I have previously mentioned and the weekend after next I will be having a Thanksgiving dinner held my my study abroad program along with a three day weekend trip to the cities of Córdoba and Sevilla (also known as Seville for English-speakers). Then, starting on December 2nd, I am going on a ten day long excursion to the United Kingdom and Ireland with six friends of mine. Destinations include London in England, Edinburgh in Scotland, and Dublin in Ireland. Following that week, I will be finishing my last days of class and taking finals to come home on December 21st to Chicago.