Spain!!!!

November 8, 2006
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Journal- Spain

My itinerary:
Wednesday, October 25- Friday, October 27: Barcelona
Friday, October 27: bus to Granada (13 ½ hours!)
Monday, October 30: bus to Madrid
Friday, November 3: bus to Barcelona
Saturday, November 4: train to Carcassonne

So, ten days in Spain. It was wonderful! Two days with Michaela at the beginning in Barcelona, three days in Granada with Kate Friendly-Jones, Elyse Tishkoff, and Elyse's college friend Scott, four days in Madrid staying with Elyse and her boyfriend Antonio, and then one more day in Barcelona with Michaela. It was an amazing experience, being in three great Spanish cities, eating SO much good food, speaking some Spanish (and understanding a lot of it!), catching up with old friends and making new ones. I felt really happy and excited in Spain. I have to admit two things though: one, I did start to get homesick on this trip. I think it was being around childhood friends and talking about families, friends, Ashland, relationships, etc. Two, I was happy and relieved to be back in France where I could understand and be understood by everyone and everything. I got the basics down about survival in Spain: asking for coffee, beer, and tostadas, explaining myself (name, occupation, etc.), finding out information (where is the bus? How long is the ride? 13 ½ hours, are you freakin serious?!?!).
In Barcelona, we went all over the city: Las Ramblas, the Sagrada Familia, the Port Vell, The Park Guell, Montjuic, The Park Joan Miro, etc. There is so much going on all the time in Barcelona. Huge boulevards packed with shoppers, performers, tourists, pickpockets, kids, old people. Small winding streets with nothing but bars and restaurants. The city is huge, but with a metro pass and good shoes, you can see a lot in just a little time. The hostel was sterile, but functional. The first two nights we had a dorm with 7 guys, Mexican, French, Canadian, American, and that was interesting. One of the Mexican guys was saying that everywhere he went in Europe he had been stopped by police because of his look and skin color. This was the same guy that was trying to buy drugs on the street a few blocks from the hostel. I wonder if he thought there was a connection between his police contact and his touristic activities?
Granada might be the town I preferred of the three I saw. It is small, but lively. Beautiful, with a scenic placement right in front of the Sierra Nevada that is hard to beat, but it's a real place, kind of funky, with a great energy. The hostel I stayed at was cool too, with a roof-top terrace with a 360 view of the town. The staff were all foreigners, who didn't speak Spanish, but did speak French. The land around this area is so interesting. There are caves in the hills that are used as homes, bars, and flamenco clubs. Because I was there with Elyse, who had lived in Granada for a year, I got to see a lot of local things. Favorite restaurants, shops, viewpoints, etc. We went to a Flamenco show that featured the guitar...it was wonderful. The coolest part of the show was that it was in a theater, and behind the stage was a huge window looking out over the Alhambra all lit up at night. So the background to the dancers and musicians was the glowing Alhambra. It was so magical. On Sunday, Kate and I toured the Alhambra. I had no idea it would be so beautiful and so impressive, and so symbolically rich.
On Monday morning, Elyse, Scott, and I took the bus to Madrid. When we got to Elyse's house, Antonio, her boyfriend, had cooked lunch. Then Elyse and Antonio had to go to work, so Scott and I just hung out at the house and talked and worked on his bike. Scott is doing the Camino de Santiago on a mountain bike. He bought this bike at a pawn shop, and it needs a lot of work. So we talked bikes and changed nearly everything on the bike, and practiced Spanish and just hung out. It felt like I was at home, helping a boy with his bike... The next day, I went into town and met the other Scott, who is an assistant in a small town in France, but is from Portland. We walked around and got lost and just enjoyed the city. Madrid is an incredible city for walking. The architecture is like nothing I've ever seen. It's most definitely European, but so different from the buildings in France or Italy or Germany. The scale and attention to detail is unreal, and I was just in awe of the fantastic creativity and classicism that the buildings, the streets, the people displayed. There is so much style and design in Spain. Furniture and clothes and the use of line and color. I was in design heaven! Scott and I met the other Scott at the Prado and spent a couple of hours there, which was a good introduction and allowed us to see everything quickly, but that museum definitely warrants several more visits. There were pieces there that I have wanted to see my whole life, and it made me wish I had re-read all of my art history notes before this trip. The most spectacular was the Bosch “Garden of Delights”. This is a painting that has fascinated me (and everyone else) for so long, and it was incredible to stand before it and take a good long look at all the detailed insanity. I loved it!
After the Prado, we went back home and cooked dinner for Elyse and Antonio. The next day, we went into town and walked around, ate lunch, and went to the Retiro, which is the huge park in Madrid. It's lovely, and everyone was out taking a stroll. There are a few things that one must do in Madrid- the museums, a few touristic places, etc., but really the thing to do in this city is just to walk and look at the people and the life there. I really enjoyed Madrid. On Thursday I went to the Reina Sofia, which is the contemporary art museum. It was full of Picasso (including Guernica), Dali, Miro, etc. and was a delightful museum experience, but again, one that must be repeated. I met up with Elyse afterwards and went for tapas and some girl time. It was so fabulously wonderful to catch up with her and spend the week together. She's such a great girl, and we have so much in common. She's one of those friends who you can not see for years, and still have the same closeness and ease of connection that you always did.
On Friday, I took a bus (so many buses!) to Barcelona, met up with Michaela at the hostel, took another girl with us to the magic fountain show, which we missed, and ate dinner at an Indian restaurant, with the hugest mango lassi I've ever seen. Then we walked down the port, and when they went back to the hostel, I went for a little walk in the Barri Gotic. Saturday saw us just strolling around, going to the market, drinking Spanish hot chocolate (same taste, texture, and thickness as jello pudding), seeing a few more places, and then heading to the train station to go back to Carcassonne. We got in around midnight, and I slept until noon the next day.
That was my trip in Spain. It was sunny, warm, and beautiful. Full of friends, food, art, and energy! Remember to check out Flickr for pictures! Or just click on the photo to the right, and it will take you there.