Weekend

What a fun weekend!

On Saturday, I went to Córdoba with Carolina, Rory, and Susan’s friend, Encarna.

We took a train from Madrid to Córdoba, and arrived around noon.

Our first stop was a lovely and delicious café.

We spent most of the day in the historic district.

This is the view from the top of the Iglesia de Santa Marina de Aguas Santas. (Sorry it's not rotated! Anybody know how to fix that??)

The surrounding gardens were absolutely beautiful. The Jardines del Alcázar are full of citrus trees.

We stopped at a Tapas bar for lunch—so delicious!
This is salmorejo--a cold tomato soup, topped with ham and eggs. Very typical of Andalucia.

We went to the famous Mezquita (Mosque), and Encarna told us all about the history.

 

Once the Moors were expelled from Spain, the Christians decided to build a Cathedral inside the Mosque. The King was furious. Que tontos.  

In the afternoon, when we had some free time, we went for a walk, and bought some souvenirs, etc. I took this photo, overlooking the city, from the Puente Romano. It looks like it could be a jigsaw puzzle ;)

Our train ride back to Madrid was from 20.30-22.30H. I got home around midnight.

Carolina and Rory and I decided that we would meet again on Sunday morning, around 8.30 to go to El Rastro in La Latina, and then take a guided walking tour of Madrid. We had a really great time!

I got off on kind of a rocky start though...
My feet were freezing because I was wearing my converse, and it was cold. So that was kind of a problem.

We stopped at a McCafe (McDonalds) to get some breakfast. (McCafes in Spain are actually quite good quality, and not just fast food.) We were kind of in a hurry because we had to be at Plaza Mayor to start the tour within half an hour. All I wanted to get was a coffee and a muffin.
The first delay happened when the guy in line in front of us realized that he didn’t have his wallet to pay for his food. The waiter explained that while he (the customer) had been asleep in the corner, he was pick-pocketed. Some stranger came and stole his wallet right out of his pocket, and he hadn’t even noticed. The wait-staff tried to wake him up, but apparently he’d been sleeping too deeply to even notice. The customer was in disbelief, and the waiter was frustrated with his ignorance. I heard them repeat “it happened about half an hour ago. You were pick-pocketed. You didn’t wake up” about 20 times, in English and Spanish. Poor guy.

Then, finally, now running late but with a stomach satisfied by an apple/cinnamon muffin, I took a sip of my drink. IT FELT LIKE I DRANK FIRE. I BURNED MY TONGUE REALLY BAD AND SPILLED MY DRINK. Gross. And embarrassing. So, once that was taken care of, and we were happily on our way again to the tour, I could no longer enjoy my drink, because my tongue was too hot. But I couldn’t help thinking that despite the hassle and embarrassment of my hot coffee, I was still having a better day than the other guy.

The tour was great. Our tour guide was a funny guy from Israel who moved to Madrid several years ago to play guitar. Cool!

Along the way, we saw…

…the Oldest Restaurant in the World…

…the Suicide Bridge of Madrid…

...the Catedral...

…El Palacio Royal…

…the best Churro shop in the country, open 22/7…

etc. The whole trip only took about three hours. The tour was free, and the guides work for tips alone. Whew! They give tours in all major European cities, and in Madrid they also offer a Tapas Tour, and a Pub Crawl. (Who wants to COME VISIT and go on a Tapas Tour or Pup Crawl with me?! You know you want to… ;)

We got home on Sunday just in time for lunch. After that, my friend Jenna came over, and we worked on translating a menu for Translation class. (SO TEDIOUS. Did you know that many culinary words in English are taken from French or Italian, and therefore don’t have a direct translation from Spanish? How difficult! How am I supposed to write a menu in English, then, if I don’t know French or Italian? Haha.)

My next travels include:
Going to El Museo del Prado with Rory, Carolina, and Encarna on Sunday
Going to Paris to visit Michelle and family this weekend
Going to Granada with UEM USA students the following weekend
(Hopefully) Going to Valencia para Las Fallas with UEM friends from Mexico after that
Going to Venice, Austria and then Italy with Annie for Semana Santa!
Going to Sevilla para la Feria, when my grandparents are in town…

And I think that’s it for now. Some of those plans are still TBD, haha.
Love from Spain, ~Taylor