Welcome Back! Or should I say, "Bienvenido"!
After parting from the family in Portugal, Adam and I continued on our journey by bus to Madrid. We got to watch a few old movies overdubbed in Spanish, suffered every 20 minutes when the "air freshener" behind us would overwhelm the bus with a pungent smell, and had an interesting lunch stop with the UGLIEST turkeys roaming freely around the outside seating area. All in all, the 8 hour trip was mostly painless, with views of the arid lands between Lisboa and Madrid.
As it often happens, time moves quickly and suddenly it has been years since you have seen a good friend. So it was with us and our dear friend, Julio. Five years ago, we had all been relishing in delicious Korean food and drink, playing lots of music and staying up many nights til dawn together in the small town of Gyeong Ju, South Korea. Now we were to finally reunite after the long dry spell in Madrid!!! Fortunate for us, Julio is self-employed as a translator and had decided to take a holiday while we were in town! We couldn't have asked for a better tour guide and it was even better that Julio was a good mate!
Julio saved us right away by meeting us at the bus terminal in Madrid. (I hadn't studied or spoken Spanish in over 8 years...let alone "Spain" Spanish - which can be quite different to that of South America or Mexico, as I learned from my many South American students!) We went straight to Julio's friend's flat to dump our gear and hopped on the "metro" (subway) back into the city center area of Calloa. There we wandered about the busy streets and had our first real TAPAS experience. It was the trend to stop into a bar for a few "cañas" (small glasses of beer), which would be served with some free tapas (small portions of food - quite similar to the concept of dim sum, actually!) and then move on to the next bar! We quickly learned to say, "dos cañas y un vino tinto, por favor" (two beers and a glass of red wine, please) and we three musketeers drank and fed well on Spain's famous tapas. We were surprised to see how most people are happy to simply stand for hours while drinking, eating and talking - and it was common place to throw your garbage on the floor, especially along the bar! We had to get used to this way of "going out", as well as being surrounded by smoke, having been spoiled by Canadian smoking bans for so many years! The wonderful food and drink (and the company) made it all worth it and we filled ourselves with good times.
**I have to mention here that there is a particularly awesome bar that has a cider drink that you must pour from as far up as you can into a glass (we watched a few people attempt this, bemusedly) and they serve this amazing blue cheese whipped with said cider on baguette for a tapa...to die for! (If you ever make it to Madrid, ask me for the name of this bar and I will get it from Julio.)**
Our first night in Spain lasted until the "Woo hours" of the night, with lots of laughs and reminiscing. The next day, we began our site seeing and explored a bit more of Madrid. (Thanks for being so patient...there WILL be heaps of pictures, I promise!)
One of our first stops was at the Royal Palace, a rather large and impressive building. It never ceases to amaze us how GRAND the architecture can be in Europe. So many of these massive and detailed structures were made centuries ago, all without the aid of modern technology and equipment! In this picture, Julio and Adam are standing at one end of the palace.
Here is another side of the same palace.
Facing the palace, there is a beautiful cathedral called, Madrid la Almudena. The light was hiding behind the top of the cathedral and gave off this incredible aura.
Site seeing and walking around can certainly bring about a great thirst, as I am sure you all know...so we made our way to "La Latina" quarter and relaxed on a terrace top with a few refreshments!
We were to meet up with my old student, Melissa for dinner and drinks but as it is traditional to eat rather late in the evening, we snacked along the way. I was treated to lots of seafood and even tried a new kind of shellfish called "navaja", that were cooked in lemon and butter...scrumptious!!!
We got to slurp up the salty goodness!
Next, we moved on back to the city center area of Lavapies, where we had a few drinks while we waited anxiously for 9pm to arrive. Melissa joined us, happily, and we made our way to "El Melos" restaurant - for its famous "Zabatilla" sandwiches ("zabatilla" meaning sandal...because these GIANT sandwiches made with thick buttered and grilled bread, filled with "lacon y queso"...ham and cheese were certainly big enough to be a shoe!) one of which was enough between four of us, and its "pimientos de padron" (small green peppers fried with oil and salt that are "unos pican y otros non"...sometimes spicy, sometimes not!). El Melos was crammed full and we were starving so unfortunately, there is no picture of the famous sandal sandwich. However, if you look closely, you can see the peppers dish in this picture with Adam, Melissa and Julio!
The following day, we were invited for lunch to Julio's friend, Fernando's place, who happens to be a chef and made us homemade pasta! We spent all afternoon gabbing, eating (Fernando also made fresh tiramisu!) and having lovely Spanish wine. A few more of Julio's mates came along so we had a whole crew to laugh and chat with AND we learned a bit more "useful" Spanish phrases...our favourite being, "No me toques los cojones!", loosely translated as "don't mess with me"! On our way there, we had a bit of a walk and went past the "Plaza de Toros", the giant bullfighting ring.
Julito (our term of endearment for Julio) decided he wanted to show us some other places outside of Madrid so we opted for a little road trip to the town of TOLEDO!!! On very little sleep, we picked up Melissa and we headed off. Although it was a bit rainy that day, it actually added to the medieval effect of the town. Rich in religious and historical heritage, Toledo has several churches, basilicas, synagogues, cathedrals, monasteries, forts, museums and monuments - you name it, Toledo has it.
The giant monastery fooled us into thinking it was a cathedral at first, although we should have realized that shackles are not often found on the outer wall of a cathedral...
We wandered the twisting, narrow streets after a difficult feat of finding parking - good work, Julito! We had no map and kept it that way, taking our time to check out any little street or path we liked.
After a filling lunch at a "local" restaurant (we tried hard to escape the frenzy of tourists and the overpriced meals set for them), we made our way to THE CATHEDRAL. If I remember correctly, it is simply known as "Catedral". With its Gothic spiky spirals towering over the city, the Catedral can be seen from any part of Toledo. This massive cathedral took over 250 years to build and was not completed until 1493.
It is obviously inevitable that ancient monuments and buildings need constant restoration, but it seems that scaffolding follows us no matter where we go. Many of the other famous sites of Toledo were mostly to completely covered in horrendous scaffolding and canvas (and hence, not worth taking pictures of them to share).
We had a marvelous day together and returned to Madrid to have a wine and cheese and cured meats dinner together - followed by another fun night of laughs and catching up!
We decided to leave the capital city for a bit more comfort and quiet - to be found in the smaller town of Palencia, where Julito currently resides. Palencia is about 2 to 3 hours north of Madrid so we made a few stops on the way there. First, we went to Escorial to see "El Palacio de El Escorial" and ended up spending quite a while there exploring the grounds of this beautiful palace.
As it turned out, we spent so much time taking pictures and wandering around the gardens, we ran out of time to even check the palace out inside! It happened to be a bit of an overcast day so there were not many people remaining outside and we had the courtyard mostly to ourselves.
We couldn't resist a bit of fun - even though we got a few funny looks from other tourists! Besides, palaces and castles are SUPPOSE to have gargoyles, non? Keeps the bad spirits away!
The light fading and our stomachs grumbling eventually told us it was time to leave and we hurried on to the next stop of Segovia! Some of you will have heard of this famous city - it has MANY important historical and impressive structures to visit!
When we arrived, one of the first monuments we saw was a statue of Remus and Romulus being suckled by a wolf. These twins' names might be familiar to you as the founders of the great city of Rome!
The legend of Remus and Romulus
In ancient times, Numitor, the rightful king of Alba Longa was dethroned by his brother Amulius. Fearing vengeance by his niece's offspring, Amulius forced his niece, Rhea Silvia, to become a Vestal Virgin - a priestess sworn to abstinence. Legend has it that the god of war, Mars (known to the Greeks as Ares) was smitten by Rhea Silvia and bore her two sons (circa 770 B.C.). Amulius ordered the twin boys, Remus and Romulus, and their mother to be killed - some say by exposure, others claim they were to be thrown into the river Tiber.
Unable to kill the beautiful, innocent twins, the servant placed them in a basket along the riverbank and eventually, the flood waters carried them away. They were later found by a "Lupa", a she-wolf, who nursed them with her own milk. Years later, the shepherd, Faustulus discovered the young boys and took them home to raise them with his wife.
Remus and Romulus became strong and powerful men and having learned of their true heritage, gathered their own army and overthrew Amulius. They then founded the great city of Roma, named after Romulus, the first king of Rome. (Remus was killed by his brother over a dispute.) The legend continues on about Romulus and his reign, but that is a whole other story!
Appropriately, these founders of the great Roman Empire had quite an influence on the city of Segovia, when eventually the Romans came along and built the still standing giant Aqueducts. They tower over everything, at almost 29 meters in height at its tallest point, including 6 meters of foundation! The water source for the aqueduct bridge, as it is more precisely known, comes from Spring Fuenfria located in the nearby mountains of La Acebeda, about 17kms from the city. So as you can imagine, the Aqueduct is truly immense and expands many a kilometer!
It is hard to imagine these huge ancient 167 arches being built by hand, let alone actually working. A true ingenious feat of over 2000 years ago.
We re-energized with a great meal and moved on to find Alcazar Castle. It is said that Walt Disney was inspired by this castle when designing Cinderella's Castle, along with the famous one in Germany, of course. You can be the judge.
On our walk to the castle, we passed the main square, "Plaza Mayor", where the stunning "Catedral" was to be found. Upon return to the town center, we found the cathedral lit up and it was even more impressive! This cathedral, affectionately known as "la dama de las catedrales", stands on the very spot that Isabella I was proclaimed as the Queen of Castile and is the last Gothic cathedral to be built in Spain. Taking over 200 years before being finished in 1768, it is well worth a visit.
As we still had Palencia to reach that night, we could not spend the evening taking in all the wonders of Segovia. However, we were fortunate enough to have a beautiful moon lighting our way back. It was a magical night and all the sites were absolutely incredible. We highly recommend going to Segovia if you get the chance!
We pushed on to our final destination for the night - the town of Palencia, capital of the province Palencia! Palencia has had quite a bit of history from being starved into submission by the Romans, to nearly being completely destroyed in war when the Visigoths took over, to finally being conquered by the Moors years later. Since we arrived well after dark, we could not see much of this quaint town and had to wait for the following day to take in some of its many historical sights.
Exhausted from a full day of touring and travelling, I was quickly rejuvenated by the sight of a full leg of jamon (cured ham), innocently sitting upon the kitchen counter. As most of you know, we love to eat...and I, in particular, LOVE to eat cured ham (sometimes known as "prosciutto", "jamon", "serrano", etc). Julio happened to have this unprotected full leg of jamon and was kind enough to share with us! Jamon is best served extremely thinly sliced, with bread or cracker, or simply placed upon the tongue to melt into salty goodness!
Now, there is a RIGHT way of doing things....
And a "LESS RIGHT" way....
During our week of rest, debauchery and play in Palencia, we met many of Julito's good friends, had many dinners and drinks, explored the town fully of its many eateries and took a million pictures. Julio happened to have the exact same camera as Adam but has had it much longer and was able to give many photography tips! We were not only blessed to have time with an old friend, but we had a personal Spanish teacher, translator and photography and computer instructor all in one! Good deal for us.
Seeing so many beautiful cathedrals, one can be quite laissez-faire about them after a while, but we were still rather intrigued by the very large Gothic cathedral in the Plaza de San Antolin. This cathedral, built between 1321 and the early 1500s, actually stands over a low vaulted Visigothic crypt from the 7th century. Catedral San Antolin is both impressive inside and out and one should take their time to take in all its detail.
We were told that when restoration is done on this cathedral, a "sign" of the era can be incorporated subtly into the building.
Facing this cathedral is a statue of the Virgin Mary. A friendly local old man pointed out to us the uniqueness of this Mary. Can you see it?
Another interesting religious sight found in Palencia are these two statues of "Nazarenos", members of a religious brotherhood that would dress up in hooded cloaks for processions during the Easter celebrations. I must admit, we were quite surprised by the garb and could not help thinking of a certain group of robed members of America...
Our quiet and fun week was topped off with a day out in the nearby Espiguete Mountains, or as Julio calls them, the Palencia Mountains. You can never get tired of being out in the fresh air, surrounded by natural beauty and tranquility. As I was the weak link of the trio and had been suffering from knee problems for weeks, we had to opt for an easy hike to a waterfall. Fortunately, there was no shortage of breathtaking views and scenic areas for everyone. Adam and Julio took full advantage of the sunny day and great lighting to take lots of nature shots and I even managed a few myself.
We made it to a lovely little waterfall without a hitch and plunked down for a snack and a splash of wine (see Gallery Photos below for Julio drinking said wine).
After having spicy chorizo and homemade sandwiches, we headed for a little hut on a different path. I felt like we were in a scene from the movie "Heidi", alone in the beautiful mountains with our little meager hut...truly quaint.
A perfect day was followed by a quiet drive home to Palencia, with a stop for ice cream and drinks and an evening of relaxing and packing...for the next adventure was about to begin. During our stay in Palencia, we decided to venture off to Morocco together for one last week of fun. We had to make our way back to Madrid the next day to catch our flight to Rabat. We were fortunately welcomed at Julio's mother's place for the night and even treated to a feast of traditional Spanish food! We ate ourselves silly and had a lovely visit with Josephine (Julito's mother).
So there you have the second part of our recent adventure. Thanks for taking the time to read and look at all the pictures (Don't forget to scroll down for the new ones in the Gallery!) and I hope you have enjoyed even a little bit of it!
I will plug away and get to work on the last portion, "Morocco and Barcelona" and hopefully have that ready in the near future.
I have to thank Julio for taking so much time off to be with us, showing us around and taking good care of us! We hope to be able to return the same hospitality some day, so please come visit us soon!
Miss you all and Happy New Year!!!
xoxo
