Trip to Madrid, Segovia, and Toledo

End of February (Goodbye) and Beginning of March (Yay)
Wednesday Feb. 28

Day of Andalucia

After a long but not terrible bus ride from Granada, we (our program) made it to Madrid to see the Museo Reina Sofia. It was beautiful. Most of the paintings I understood and appreciated, others like the more modern ones, were a little more interesting. My favorite was Picasso’s Guernica. I had always wanted to see it in person and it was larger than I had imagined. We checked into our hotel and somehow Courtney, Laura, and I lucked out and got a room on the top floor with a large patio overlooking Madrid. We had two beds and a cot (I got the little cot, but it was not bad, I could at least put my feet on the floor when I got up in the morning). Then we went out to dinner at a restaurant. I love our trips with our program because everything is already paid for, planned, and we get to go out to eat at restaurants and try new food.

Thursday March 1

We headed to the Museo del Prado to see famous works by artists like El Greco, Picasso, Velazquez, Goya, and many others. The huge museum was slightly overwhelming at first and I had no idea where to begin. It was a lot of artwork in 2 days but I am so glad I got to see them all. After lunch (of course fish again) we took a walking tour of Madrid. After that a small group of us went to a park called Parque del Buen Retiro. I am always so happy to see real green grass and tall trees like back at home. There was a lake that you could row across and everything. That night we went out to Pan & Company for dinner and then went out to Puerta del Sol, which is apparently the cool place to be in Madrid. I met some really nice Spaniards, who later took my friend Whitney and I out on Saturday night too.

Friday March 2

After our breakfast of hostess like sweets, our program took the bus to a Spanish palace called El Escorial. It was the palace that the kings and queens of Spain lived in outside of the city. El Escorial also contains the tombs of many of the dead royalty of Spain. It was cool and creepy to see all of them. After our bocadillo (sandwich) lunch we drove to El Valle de los Caídos (Valley of the Fallen). El Valle de los Caídos is a monument in dedication to Franco. It is a very controversial site because Franco used political prisoners to build his own monument during his dictatorship. The monument is outside of Madrid on the mountainside. Not only is it a large edifice in remembrance of Franco and it contains his gravesite but it is also a Cathedral. Franco had the mountain dug out to construct the Cathedral inside it. The Cathedral is slightly smaller than St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome. El Valle de los Caídos had a weird feeling about it that I cannot describe. No one was there except our tour group and a few other people at this huge monument. Later that night, we went out to dinner at good old TGI Fridays (I know we are terrible, but we were craving American food), my friends Melissa, Whitney, and I met up with some more Spanish friends who showed us around the city.

Saturday March 3

Saturday was a very long day since Melissa, Whitney, and I did not sleep at all the night before. Our program went to Segovia, a small town just outside of Madrid for a walking tour and then free time. We saw a beautiful castle that Walt Disney used to create the castle in Sleeping Beauty. We also saw some really old Roman aqueducts. I don’t know how the Romans did it. Then Whitney and I walked around the city during our free time and found some nice benches in a park and took a siesta in the sun. That night we ate dinner at Pans & Company again, and then we saw a famous play by Federico Garcia Lorca called La Casa de Bernada Alba. I am happy that we were able to see it because I read the play before I came to Spain in one of my Spanish literature classes. Later a group of us went out because it was my friend’s birthday from the program, and then Whitney and I met up with our Spanish friends that we met on Thursday night.

Sunday March 4

We checked out of our hotel and drove to Toledo for another walking tour. We also saw the Cathedral of Toledo, which was beautiful. Toledo and Segovia were amazingly quaint towns and exactly what I imagined Spain to be like. After that our program got back on the tour bus and headed home to Granada for some well needed rest and relaxation.