When we last left off, I mentioned some of the awesome things I had experienced personally during the week. Well, the weekend continued to be a beautiful experience, with lots of things to do and see! Friday morning we took a class trip to a small pueblo about 15 minutes from Segovia. We hopped on a bus and made our way to the Palacio Real de la Granja de San Ildefonso. It is a palace that was built during the Golden Age of Spain, the 17th century. Why was this palace built? Well, "granja" in Spanish means "farm." So, as you can probably imagine, the palace is a very outdoorsy place, with lots of gardens, fountains, even a lake in the back of the grounds! It was quite the spectacle. We went with our art history professor, who also happens to work at the palace as an art restorer during the summer. So, the world continues to get smaller. There was so much there to see. My favorite part of the garden was the fountains, but because we were there in wintertime they weren't functioning and all of the trees were bare. They started to blossom, but I think I'm just going to have to come back again during the summertime. ;) We spent almost four hours there, but for a very good reason.
The outside of the Granja Palace (I couldn't get any pictures of the interior).
The garden directly across from the spot above (don't worry, there's a ton more gardens...this is just the first one we experienced).
The lake of the Granja. So beautiful.
The postcard shot of the palace. Too bad the green tarp is in front of it. But it's still majestic!
So yeah, that happened Friday. But what about the rest of the weekend? Well, friday afternoon and evening was just some chill time at home with the family, eating lunch, having some good times together, and of course, doing some work. As we have traveled so much this semester, our free time during the weekends haven't been spent working on things for school as much, so it was nice to spend some relaxed time working on things.
Saturday, however, early in the morning, a couple of friends and I packed our backpack full of stuff for an overnight trip to Madrid. We hopped on a bus early in the morning and made our way to the capital (hence the name for the title of this post). Now, you might be thinking, how on earth were we going to scale an entire capital city in a day and a half? Well, we had some help. During the weekend, my friend Jessie got in contact with a friend she met online a couple of years ago and she lives in Madrid! So, naturally, we connected and boom. Instant tour guide. Her name was Morgana, and she was born and raised in the city, so she knows all of the ins and outs and the tips and tricks of Madrid. With her we were able to visit all of the major sites, including:
The Temple of Debod...fun fact: it's an actual Egyptian temple. :)
The Plaza of Spain.
The Royal Palace of Madrid (aka the home to the King)
The Cathedral of Madrid. Fun fact: it's one of the most modernized cathedrals I've been in. And it was heated!!!
The Plaza Mayor, because...it's pretty much a requirement when you visit Madrid.
The major shopping center the Centro. It used to be a palace, but with the passing of time it has been converted.
The Puerta del Alcalá.
The Park of the Retiro Garden, or as I like to call it...the Central Park of Madrid. It's spectacular.
And finally, the rooftop of the Bellas Artes building. What a view!
That ended our trip around the city for the day. The weekend before, four of us scaled almost the entirety of the center of downtown London. This weekend, three of us from the same group once again scaled a major capital city on foot, this time in Spanish! So, needless to say, we were excited to take a rest from walking. So, we found our hostel (also in the city center!) and took some time to have a couple of drinks with some locals. So, we met up with some friends of our new friend and guide. And let me just say, it was a blast. We got to interact with quite a diverse and animated group! We used Spanish, tried some local wines, and relaxed. Always a win.
The next day was another day of excursions around the city of Madrid. As a group we had plans to visit the two main museums in the city: the Reina Sofia and the Prado. Fun fact: the Prado museum is the second most famous art museum in the world, right behind the Louvre. Both were fantastic! I may not be the best artist, but I always enjoy going to a good museum. There was all kinds of art to see...classic art of el Greco, Velazquez, and Goya, and modern arts from Picasso and Dali. It was quite exquisite. We couldn't really take any photos, so I don't have much to show, but I will do what I can.
Our group learning about surrealism a la Dalí. It was one of the few photos I could snag in the Reina Sofia.
This is the front of the Prado Museum. The statue is a sculpture of the classic Golden Age Spanish artist, Diego Velazquez. Fun fact: when we visited, we were in the middle of studying his work in art history. What timing!
In between we had some free time to explore the city some more. So, in my two hours of off time, I decided to take a trip to the Atocha Train Station. For those of you that don't know, Atocha (ten years ago) was the target of a major terrorist attack. On March 11th, a man boarded the train with a backpack that contained a bomb. Very shortly after, he got off and left the bag. It exploded in the middle of the terminal, killing hundreds and injuring thousands more. It will be a day that will not be forgotten. But in my time off I decided to take a trip to the terminal to see the memorial of those affected. Well...here's a couple of pictures to show you.
This is the outside of the station. I believe it's one of the biggest stations in the city. Hard to believe that ten years ago this place was half-destroyed.
This is the roof of the memorial room. It has proverbial phrases and statements from people in multiple languages from all over the world saying how they feel about the attack. They were really powerful messages. Things I read: "Soñaré con ese mundo, espero que este deseo se haga realidad. Pierdo algo, pero gano mucho, porque soy más fuerte y mucho más humano" (I dream with that world, I hope that this desire (peace) becomes reality. I lose something, but I gain a lot, because I am stronger and much more human.) and "Juntos lo superamos" (Together we will overcome).
I spent the remainder of my time in the famous Jardin del Retiro Park in the center of the city. I ate lunch, had a good read, watched some ducks play and fight with each other. It was so peaceful.
The view from my lunch spot. During my sit I saw many ducks, kids almost fall in the water trying to pet said ducks, and a black swan.
The last part of this post is probably one of the most interesting for me, because it was something that none of us really saw coming. So, Spain (as I'm starting to notice) is surprisingly very liberal. And, most liberal nations typically have a lot to say about certain issues. Well, this weekend there was a major protest in the city center. People from all over the country came to Madrid to march and protest over various topics that are big in the country at this time: republicanism, nationalism, abortion, all kinds of things. But, as many protests that start out peaceful, things got ugly as the night went on. The protest started as peaceful declaration of pride, but things didn't stay that way. And, our group got to experience it all. We weren't around during the night to see the violence in person, but we certainly saw the mobs during the day.
It was hard to fathom the number of people that we saw in the street. So many different groups and reasons for protest. I'm glad we got through and on our way. I couldn't imagine being a part of the mayhem.
Something I'm slowly realizing this semester is that Spain is a lot more complex of a country than I thought. If you could just be praying for the situation that is going on here, that would be greatly appreciated. As Spain has gone through a lot of its history, it's experienced a lot of trouble (Civil War, dictatorship, protests, corruption). And, it's all been very recent in history, and many people here still remember the effects and the feelings they have toward all of it are very strong. It's very interesting, but sometimes it's a bit...tense. But it's still cultural.
This weekend really taught me a lot. I was able to experience, in more ways than one, the heart of Spain. Madrid really is quite the city, and in many ways I really love it. It's stressful in ways, but it's beautiful in many others. There's a lot of history and sights packed into so much city. We spent two days exploring, but in reality, you could spend your entire life there and still not know it all. That's life in any big city, but I'm extremely thankful I was able to finally stop and look at the city that I spent so much time only passing through.
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