So I decided to put the pictures I took in Valencia up on a page in photobucket, so the link below should take you there so you can check them out if you want to!
Enjoy!
Sunday, September 26, 2010
Valencia Pictures!
September 26, Valencia to Madrid
Not too much exciting today. We got up in the morning and everything was closed as usual on Sundays at 8:30 in the morning. Almost nothing is open on Sundays in general in Spain anyway. We had a not very exciting breakfast at Café y Té a chain restaurant in Spain, then went to the bus stop to catch the bus to the bus station for our bus to Madrid.
We had waited for at least 15 minutes and the bus never came around, so we finally decided to just take a taxi. Splitting taxis among 3 or 4 people ended up being barely more expensive than the bus, and we got there a lot faster and knew that we were going to be there on time.
I slept for the first 2 hours of the 4 hour bus ride, and the combination of the warm sun coming in the window, the extremely comfortable big seat, and the vibrations of the bus along the road made it heavenly. We stopped half way where most people got out and bought snacks or stretched their legs and then had the final 2 hours to Madrid.
I attempted to do homework in that last 2 hours, but it was too difficult to read my extremely scholarly chapters about anthropology in Spanish while people were talking around me and I didn’t have the resources to look up some of the words I didn’t know. I gave up only about 20 minutes out and looked out the windows.
It is weird that I am living in a very different country and culture, but as I was getting off the metro to head back to my room and host family here, I had a bit of the sense that I was going home. Or at least as close to home as I’m going to get here.
This evening I went for an hour run through the busy streets and some parts of parks in Madrid. It is so nice to be running on a cool evening with the streetlights illuminating the roads and people walking around everywhere since this city stays, or becomes, more alive into the late evening and early night.
Tomorrow morning I have my interview for where I will probably be doing my internship in a hospital. The short write up I have about it says that I will be visiting with patients and their families, or more likely people who don’t have anyone there with them. I guess there are lots of different parts of the hospital and opportunities and I’ll be given a route each day I go in. One thing I also really like is that it is a well established program and they have things for volunteers to do and I won’t just go in and have no idea where to go or what to do.
It also said that I will have to speak Spanish, and I’m really glad about that because a big part of this for me is getting to speak the language more and practice. Other people in their placements are teaching English or in a publish company editing books that have been translated into English but that just feels like doing more English and not getting immersed into the language and culture as much.
Saturday September 25, Valencia
We started off today pretty early in order to fit in as much as we could. At 8:15 we went out to try and find coffee and pastries or something for breakfast, and almost nothing was open. It took quite a while to find somewhere that was a little place for locals before work, and most people just ordered coffee to wake them up and hold them until we could find somewhere else.
Then we headed off to the City of Arts and Sciences since it was too dark for good pictures the night before. It didn’t open until 10 am, and the 30 euro ($40) price tag and limited time in the city lead to a group consensus of seeing the outside of the buildings but not paying that much to go in.
We found a pastry place after that and then grabbed our stuff and hopped on a bus to head to the hostel for the second night. We were able to drop our bags off in a room and then just take what we needed for the day. Our first stop was the cathedral there. Everything is very built up all around it, but the insides and outsides are still very elaborately decorated. The front had a lot of gold, and there were a lot of figures carved into the outside.
One of the highlights of the church was a small room off to the right that had the holy grail in it. The room was a bit smoky even though I didn’t see any lit candles, and the light coming in through the one window at the top had beautiful rays illuminated. I realized on this trip that I have a different way of traveling than a lot of students my age with me wanting to see the art and the church more (along with a famous art museum here) but everyone else wants to do other things.
holy grail
Next stop was the Mercado Central which was a large building with glass decorated walls and filled with little stalls inside selling fruits, vegetables, hams, fish, and all sorts of other things including different spices. We all split some figs and they were ripe juicy and delicious!
After that we went in search of La Lonja which was the original market before it was too small, and then after that was a place for silk trading. It had a gothic façade and the inside was a large room with chandeliers and columns that had twisting designs going up them. A small garden accompanied it on the side too.
Walking into town we had passed what looked like a very authentic horchateria. Horchata is a very traditional drink from the area made from tiger nuts and served chilled or with crushed ice. It was sweet and tasted really good, and there was a lot of the traditional ceramics decorating the doorway and walls.
From there we headed to the Plaza de Ayuntamiento where we saw the outside of the bullring and checked out the ceramics and decorations in the train station. Valencia is also famous for its ceramics, but I didn’t see that much of them there.
Lunch was quite difficult with a group of 7 with some people wanting to head back to the beach for lunch, but as it got later people got hungry and cranky, and then some people just wanted to find a place to sit while others wanted to try arroz negra (which we had seen a lot of earlier but were having trouble finding at that point) which uses black squid ink for coloring and flavor. We finally made our way back to a place we had seen before with arroz negra. Almost all of us got paella again and I’m pretty sure that everyone was very happy with the final decision. I was really happy that I got to try arroz negra since it is one of their other specialties.
We also tried Agua de Valencia with lunch today. It is a specialty of the area that we had seen yesterday with the paella but was a lot more expensive than we wanted to pay. It is a cocktail made from fresh orange juice, sparkling wine and a splash of liqueur. It was good, but not as good to me as the price a lot of people pay for it.
Post lunch we headed back to the hostel, the Red Nest Hostel, and checked in. The location of our first hotel was really nice being close to the beach, and the location of the hostel was really nice being in the middle of town. I’m really happy with how lucky I got in the locations since I wasn’t specifically looking for them in those places- just cheap and not in the outskirts of town!
We changed and headed back to the beach to relax and play in the surf since it was such a beautiful day! It was so nice to be able to lie on the beach and relax then go play in the ocean that only seemed cold for less than a minute. The beach there is very large and extremely nice with very fine sand and just a slight breeze.
Emma had been walking around town instead of going to the beach with the rest of us, so after a few hours there we headed back to meet up with her. After showers and getting ready, we shared a little cheap wine in the eating area of the hostel where we met a really nice guy from Belgium.
The hostel is a really neat place. We are in a room with 12 bunk beds and take up just over half the room. Some people were a little worried about staying in a hostel for the first time, but it was a lot of fun and an adventure to me. There are individual rooms along with rooms for 4, 6 or 12 people, and all the walls are extremely brightly colored with some swirly designs on some.
Then we headed out for dinner, ending up at a pizza place. It was really good and I ended up splitting a pizza with Lauren while everyone else completely ate one on their own. The waiter was also really nice, and at the end, he told us that it is actually cheaper (6.50 euros) to get a drink too instead of just the pizza by itself (7.55 euros). Not something that would happen in the US both with the restaurant doing that and a waiter working for tips.
On the way there Audrey and I had a very fun and excited conversation because she was really good friends in high school with Kirk who goes to Reed, and he was in my dorm freshman year along with being my chemistry lab partner and going running with me most mornings first semester.
We had coupons for free drinks at Purple Nest Hostel, the sister hostel to the one we were staying in, so we headed over there after dinner. It wasn’t too exciting because we didn’t want to be the huge group of Americans who intruded on people in their little groups and took over but hung out there for a little bit. There is an area, Barrio Carmen, which is the really good area for bars and going out, but most of the group was just wanting to go back to the hostel so we ended up doing that.
Even though it was a room for 12 people and all the beds were claimed, we were the only ones in the room so after we all got ready for bed we stayed up for at least an hour talking, playing games and hanging out. At one point the guy who had the bed under Kevin (who was a complete slob and we had been making fun of before even though we had never seen him) came in, changed his shirt, sprayed really strong cologne, and then good night to all of us in some sort of an accent as he left. That kept us laughing for a while.
the road our hostel is on with the tower next to the church in the background
It was a long day where we packed in a lot of stuff, but I think we are all extremely happy with how this trip is turning out.
Saturday, September 25, 2010
Friday, September 24, Valencia
So this weekend we took a trip to Valencia. I was the one who initiated it and planned it including getting people together in a group, finding the buses to take, and hotels for both the first and second night. Parts of it were really hard to plan because we had 6 people that changed to 7 at the last minute, and we kept going back and forth between either one or two days and almost the whole group would decide and then someone would change it and turn it all around.
But it all worked out and was a wonderful trip! I learned a lot, especially at the very beginning. I’ve never really had to think about it much before because most of my travels have been with my parents and they just take care of absolutely everything and I just go along with it. This time I ended up in charge and responsible for everything without realizing it the night before. Some very important things that I learned for next time:
1. write down the names of the hotels
2. write down the confirmation numbers
3. write down the phone numbers of the hotels
4. write down the addresses of the hotels
5. look up how to get to the hotels before we get there
However, Audrey was awesome and bought a map and got us there on the bus. The first hotel was Abba Acetón. It was a 4 star hotel that is usually a lot more expensive but we got 2 triples for a lot cheaper because they had a special to try and fill their rooms. It was a nice hotel and a good location for the first day being close to the beach and City of Arts and Sciences.
After getting there we changed into our swimsuits and headed out to the beach for paella. Valencia is famous for its paella and it was something we all agreed we could splurge on to have great authentic paella. The guide books told us that all the best places were along one part of the beach, so that’s where we went. La Pepica was recommended in 4 or 5 different sources and a favorite of Hemmingway so when we saw it decided to go there.
Paella is a rice dish with saffron and a mix of different meats vegetables and seafood cooked in it. Good paella should be made and cooked individually for each table and take 30-40 minutes to make. For us they made one huge mixed paella that we all shared. It was brought to the table in the same flat dish it was cooked in and was absolutely delicious. There was chicken, vegetables, and a few legumes along with mussels, shrimp and little lobsters. The final price was less than we were expecting too at about 13 euros a person.
Post 3:30 lunch we headed out to the beach. The sun was shining and warm, the sand was fine and not too hot, and the ocean was blue with gentle crashing waves that were fun to watch. We set up our towels and relaxing in the sun hanging out and enjoying what felt like summer weather. Near the end about half our group jumped in the ocean for a little bit and then we headed out as it started to cool down. We stopped for gelato at the edge of the beach before our walk back and it was delicious.
We stopped and bought two bottles of wine on the way back to the hotel and then took showers and hung out for a while. Later we headed out and walked the few blocks to the City of Arts and Sciences. It is a combination off different museums, but is most well known for its architecture. Multiple people told me that it is the number one thing we have to go to while we are there. It has an aquarium that is the larges in Europe with 110,000 square meters and 42 million liters of water. About the equivalent to 18 olympic sized swimming pools I think. It closed much earlier than when we got there, but we mostly went to look at the outsides of the buildings and take pictures.
The City of Arts and Sciences
Thursday, September 23, 2010
Weekend plans
Tomorrow morning bright and early I will be off to Valencia, Spain for the weekend with 6 friends from school!
Monday, September 20, 2010
September 18, El Escorial
Today (Saturday) I headed out to El Escorial with a big group of friends from school. I was able to walk to the train station from my house, and met up with them at noon for a 12:30 train. The train took about an hour to get there leaving from sunny warm Madrid and getting a little bit colder and darker at each stop. By the time we got there, there was just a little bit of rain.
El Escorial is a palace, monastery and a basilica. We entered first at the palace and I was one of the few people who got an audio guide for extra information (in Spanish of course). The tour started out with two different museums, one of architecture and another of paintings that had been in the castle at some point. The architecture part didn’t really interest me that much because it was showing the progression of designs to get to the final idea, and a display of the 20 different types of nails used to hold the building together just isn’t my idea of what I go to a museum to see. There was a model of the whole building though, and I liked being able to see what the whole building looked like in a cross with four courtyards.
The paintings were all very good though. A lot of them, especially at the beginning had very religious themes, and I liked looking at them trying to find parts that I wouldn’t have noticed at first glance or the different ways of painting. I’m getting more excited for my art history class the more I see here.
After that was a walk through for the rooms the king and royalty used when the palace was the residential area for them. At this point there weren’t many informational signs, and we had hit the large tour groups, so I was glad to have the audio guide to find out what the rooms actually were.
The most surprising part came after this. I was just following the route through the castle and then it separated for people with audio guides and tours with a different path for the other people. I went down some stairs and entered the Pantheon of Kings. It was a small very gilded and decorated room with the bodies of all the kings and queens from a certain time period in their little boxes stacked up on the walls. It was extremely surprising to me that they would keep their dead bodies quite close to where they were living.
One of my favorite parts was the library. I wasn’t expecting that much, but it was grand. A long hallway with extremely old and valuable books lining the walls, and then the ceiling was painted beautifully in bright colors filling every single available space.
The basilica was next, and didn’t seem that impressive to me at first, but then we all just sat down in the pews for a while and took it all in. After sitting there I was really impressed. It was huge, with very ornate decorations in the front and some along the walls. Everything seemed so precise and perfect that it was nice just to sit there and think and enjoy our time there.
On the train ride back we ran the last little bit in order to make the train and everyone got through the turnstile except for 3 of us because for some reason our tickets didn’t work. No one was around in the information or for security to help us, so we ducked under without having any other options. (We had paid for the tickets after all) We got up to the platform where the rest of our group was still waiting, and the doors of the train were still open, but they said it wasn’t our train because the name was different and about 15 seconds later the doors closed. Almost no one else was on the platform so someone asked a guy there if that was the train to Madrid- and it was, so we got to wait on the platform and play games for an hour until the next one came.
Friday, September 17, 2010
September 16, Art History Class
So every Thursday we have our art class in museums, a lot of the days, if not all in the Prado. I took the metro in and then met up with my class just outside the museum. After finally getting everyone together we headed in. The years for my class are prehistory to the baroque period, but today we started in just two rooms. The first was the recreated inside of a church and the paintings on the walls from the 12th century.
It was a small church with just one window and arched doorway, but the entire inside was covered in paintings. They were all two dimensional and all biblical. There is very little motion in any of the paintings and they are mostly just the figures. However there is one scene with Adam and Eve where it shows both the snake giving her the apple along with them covering themselves since there is limited space in the church. It was from a time when almost all people didn’t know how to read or write, so paintings were one of the main forms of communication.
The next room had paintings from another church from about the same time period, but these showed men hunting and other similar scenes. This is most likely because it was a church that was later converted to a hunting lodge. Some people have tried to argue at one point that these were actually truly only religious and that the hunters and animals represented Jesus and other biblical figures, but our teacher doesn’t buy it. Only a few paintings were there (other museums have some of the other paintings) compared to the room before that was the entire church recreated.
We looked at one more painting in the same room and then that was the end of our 1 ½ hour class. We have to listen to a foreign language about foreign material, write in a foreign language, and look very inquisitively at the art being talked about all at the same time. It’s hard at first but the professora says it will get better.
So I haven’t really talked much yet about my history of art class, but the teachers seem like they are going to be awesome. There is an older man and a younger than him woman. He is actually a painter and she is his agent, but they also teach and are really good at it. He will be teaching the Tuesday classes in class and she will be teaching the Thursday museum classes.
They are a lot of fun, and we even talked about the professora’s past job of castrating bulls in Argentina. She also really wants us to ask her all types of questions about Madrid and what we should do here along with our other travels in Spain and the rest of Europe.
In the Tuesday class we talked a little bit about some of the most ancient art from prehistory and the paintings in caves along with going over the plan and layout of the class in the two different parts. I've never taken an art class before so I hope to learn a lot!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)