Hello there…so, it has been nearly a month since I arrived home to my sunny Southern California! Toward the end of my stay in beautiful Salamanca I was very busy with school, traveling, and fully enjoying my last taste of paradise. Consequently, my blog was put on the back-burner. However, I have decided to return to it now to enter in my last few posts detailing my study abroad while it is still fresh in my memory. I left off with my unforgettable trip to Lisbon, Portugal.
I arrived back to Salamanca very late from Lisbon before going back to school the next day. That week, I simply tried to get back into school mode and catch up on some much-needed sleep. On Saturday, API took us on a day excursion to the pretty little city of Segovia, which is about a two hour bus ride from Salamanca. We were led on a guided tour around the town and visited the cathedral, Alcazar, and famous aqueduct. The cathedral was beautiful but it is extremely similar to the one in Salamanca, as they were both built during the Renaissance. It seems incredible to admit, but many of the students and I have agreed that we are “cathedraled-out.” We have now visited a ridiculous number of impressive churches and cathedrals in Spain, and I never thought I would say this, but after a while, they all sort of blend together! But seeing the Alcazar was really neat; it is a very historic castle and King Ferdinand and Queen Isabel I ruled the Kingdom of Spain from there. The royal palace looks a great deal like Sleeping Beauty’s romantic castle at Disneyland, complete with an original moat and gilded turrets. I loved the ornate ceilings, paintings, furniture, and armor that adorned the Alcazar, but seeing the view of the cathedral and city from the roof was by far my favorite! The Segovia aqueduct was built in Roman times and is in incredibly good condition…the absolutely amazing thing about it is that it was made of 20,000 granite stones WITHOUT MORTAR, and can still carry a stream of water! I mean, how can it even stay standing? – the answer – the perfect fit of the stones and the balance of the keystone located in the middle of each arch - truly mind-boggling!
Because of our API excursion, all the kids in the group stayed in the city for the weekend, which was quite rare with all the traveling everyone was doing. So with everyone together, we had such a fun time out and about in Salamanca that night! I always had a wonderful time with the group, bar-hopping and dancing to my heart’s content. Everyone knew I had had a few drinks when most of what I was said was something like “I just wanna dance” or “I don’t care where we go, as long as I can just dance” haha. I think I most definitely got the dancing bug from my parents, who can never resist the opportunity to get out on the dance floor, no matter if they’re exhausted or the only ones. We went to some of our favorite bars and clubs, such as Kandhavia, Irish Rover, Bisou, El Savor, Gatsby, Camelot, La Chupiteria, Molly Malone’s, Jacko’s, Ciao, People, Daniel’s, Peter’s, Medievo, Cum Laude, Cubic, Paniagua and La Perla Negra, just to name a few! Surprisingly, the music was mostly American or in English, with a few Spanish songs occasionally. I loved that they really didn’t play much rap and hip hop, but a lot of club music, classic rock, and some oldies once in a while, depending on the bar/club. Salamanca is such an amazing city to go out in because it’s very small but has a high concentration of fun places to go, and you constantly run into people you know. Additionally, there are no cover charges, drinks are pretty cheap, and no one has to worry about being the designated driver, driving home afterward, or getting an expensive taxi ride home because everything is within walking distance. It’s a pretty incredible place to enjoy Spain’s infamous nightlife, and I was so lucky to experience it while I’m young and with such nice new friends : )
The next weekend I stayed in the city again and had a few more great nights out. My friend, Cara, had met this bartender and planned to meet up with him and his friends one night, so I went along as her “wingwoman.” The friends turned out to be quite a bit older than we had thought, but they took us to this really neat bar/club that we had never heard of, bought us drinks, and were very nice. It was more of a local place off the main street, and was called La Posada de las Almas. We ended up having an awesome time, highlighted by our praise-worthy rendition of Aretha Franklin’s “Respect,” if I do say so myself. It was pretty funny, and oh, how I wish that I had videotaped!
The following school week I could barely concentrate because I was so anxious to go to Barcelona that weekend with the API group. It was also my birthday weekend, and I was super excited to be turning 21 in such a vibrant, cosmopolitan city! The first day we arrived, my friends and I enjoyed walking down Las Ramblas (Barcelona’s famous, lively pedestrian street and the most likely place in Europe to be pickpocketed). The street has many touristy stores, restaurants, cafes, outdoor vendors, an exotic bird store, and street performers. To me, it’s a less fashionable version of Paris’ Champs Elysees and an exhilarating place just to wander about. We also walked around the Old City of Barcelona, known as the Barri Gotic, and visited the cathedral. At the cathedral, I saw the tomb of Barcelona’s patron saint, Eulalia, who was a local girl tortured 13 times by the Romans for her faith before she was ultimately crucified. In memory of each of her tortures, 13 geese have been maintained for hundreds of years in the adjoining cloister as a kind of alarm system. Later, we had wine and tapas at an Art Deco-inspired café, and I worked up the nerve to try something totally new: Galician-style octopus. I’ve had calamari plenty of times, but this was simple boiled octopus tentacles-all purple with big suckers and just a splash of vinegar oil for taste. I was quite proud of myself for actually eating it, and it was so yummy! Traveling and living in Europe has also taught me to “decapitate” my fish platters without any hesitation whatsoever. I used to say that “I will eat anything, as long as it’s not looking at me.” Now I say “I will eat anything, as long as it’s not moving on my plate!” : )
API took us on a guided bus tour of the city, and we visited Montjuic (“Mount of the Jews”) viewpoint, Casa Mila (the famous Gaudi building that looks like melting ice cream), Parc Guell (beautiful Candyland-esque Gaudi park overlooking the city), and the grounds of the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona. Afterward, I saw the incredible Gaudi Catholic church known as La Sagrada Familia (“Holy Family”), and marveled in quiet bewilderment at the height and almost psychedelic architecture of the interior. The recent visit from the pope prompted many locals who had never seen the inside of the building to visit, and consequently, the queue took forever! (In Europe, people really don’t say the “line;” for some reason, they say “queue” and well, do what the Romans do, right?) Because the building is still under construction and the original architect died decades ago, other architects have left their individual marks on the church. One architect added a sculpture of a crucified Jesus without loincloth, sparking great controversy among conservatives. Some of the girls and I later went to this innovative buffet-style Japanese restaurant, where the food was prepared and sent around on a conveyor belt. We could take all we wanted, and after a full day of sight-seeing, we sure did!
Later on, my friends and I walked down Las Ramblas to La Boqueria, which is the MOST SPECTACULAR, COLORFUL OUTDOOR MARKET I HAVE EVER SEEN! What a feast for the senses! There was every kind of herb, cheese, fruit, vegetable, meat, seafood, nut, chocolate, and candy imaginable. I loved trying the fresh mixed fruit juices, sampling dark chocolates and rich cheeses, and savoring every bite of the fresh seafood. To be in Barcelona, Spain and visiting an outdoor market featuring huge octopus tentacles, pig heads, enormous pieces of meat, seafood such as lobsters, crabs, squid, open mouthed and with large teeth - it was probably one of the most foreign, cultural experiences I have had in my travels….and I absolutely, positively relished every minute of it. In fact, we went twice because it was so incredible! I also picked up one of my new favorite sayings there: “Save water, drink wine.” ; )
Afterward, we went on a wild goose chase trying to find El Museo Picasso in the Barri Gotic neightborhood. Once we found it, it was time to relax, breathe slowly, and enjoy the masterpieces around us. I don’t particularly care for modern art, but as I have learned more about the art itself and renowned artists such as Pablo Picasso, I have developed an appreciation for it. I so enjoyed seeing some of the pieces we had discussed in my Arte Espanola class and learning about Picasso’s life. He was born in Malaga, Spain, but lived his early life in Madrid and Barcelona before settling in the artist’s haven of Montmartre in Paris shortly after the Spanish Civil War. He was very anti-Franco and openly criticized his dictatorship, vowing not to return to Spain while Franco was in power. Picasso died in 1973 and Franco outlived him by just two years, so he was not able to return to his beloved homeland before death – what a sad tragedy….
The last day in Barcelona was my birthday, and low and behold, the sun came shining through! It was a lovely day and our last few hours in Barcelona were the best. Some of us went back to Parc Guell, feeling that we didn’t truly get to enjoy it the first time. We ended up getting wonderful photos of the city and of the amazing architecture in the park, and thus, ended our time in Barcelona on a sunny note : )
Overall, I enjoyed being in Barcelona, but it wasn’t my favorite city; actually, it reminded me of a Spanish Los Angeles. Sounds weird I know, but both cities are open to the ocean on one side and to the snow-capped mountains on the other, with the city sprawled out in between. They are also very modern, cosmopolitan, big cities that are popular with tourists. I would really love to return to Barcelona someday when the city is at its best, during the spring or summertime. I felt that the rain and gloomy fog over the city, as well as our lack of time there, definitely put a bit of a damper on what Barcelona is best known for: its beaches, vibrancy, and many sights. So it simply gives me another reason to come back someday and explore more of what I didn’t get to see!
