Granada is such an easy city to spoil yourself in. In fact I am beginning to think this is true of Spain in general. Sensually it is a veritable smorgasbourg of sights, sounds, and tastes. Tonight I went upstairs to find a delicious mix of red rice, blue-shelled oysters, and other colors simmering happily in a pan. This is paella, and is to Spain what the McBurger is to America, but much classier. There are many different types of sherry that the restaurants try to push on you, along with the yummy sangria... mmm... yummy sangria.
Today I met up with two girls from the Oviedo program, and we toured Christian Granada, visiting the Royal Chapel where Ferdinand and Isabella are buried, along with the second biggest Cathedral in Spain. The Cathedral has high, vaulted ceilings, which are very nice if you like that sort of thing, but they also amplify noise to godly proportions. As those closest to me know, I have a problem with burping. It is nothing I can help, so I have come to accept it. It is my gift and my curse. Unfortunately, what they forget to tell you in Burping 101 for Babies is that burping in a Cathedral is so loud that even God will answer your prayer just to shut you up. I figured this out the hard way.
Later in the evening, I went to the Hammum Abab Bath House, which re-creates the Arab bath experience. The place was dimly-lit, and the insides were like a mini Alhambra. A very mini-mini-mini- Alhambra. There were three bath pools (cold, hot, and tepid), along with a tea room and a spa. Massage therapists (you like that? only cause I don't know how to spell "massoost..masuste..massuste"?) called us back one by one for our 15-minute massage after the soak. I was close to last, which meant my massage was shortest, and my body the pruniest. Still, it was quite the luxury, and and sitting back I thought that it would be pretty nice being a sultan.
So after a wonderful day of walking around the city, it has easily slipped into first place as my favorite in Spain. I know I have only been to two so far, but who's counting? Tomorrow, I'm headed back to Madrid, but will be spending Saturday in Toledo. Hope everyone back west is doing well! I miss you all, and hope life is good. Hasta luego!
Thursday, July 31, 2008
Give him a penny, woman, cause there is nothing worse than being blind in Granada!
This is really true. Granada in general, and the Alhambra in particular, have an old world charm that is partly caused by its layering of civilization. From the ground up, we have a Roman ruins followed by the Alcazaba, the old tower and fort that once defended the Muslims against those reconquesting Christians, the Palacios Narazies, the Sultan's quarters during the Moorish reign of Al-Andalus (Spain), and Charles V's palace, which he built over the Muslim palace after they were conquered. And connecting these parts, are the Generalife (he-ne-ral-eef-ay) Gardens, which put the Oregon Gardens to shame.
Ok, that was a lot of unnecessary history to tell you that the ALHAMBRA COMPLETELY ROCKED!!!! It was such an elegant, simple beauty with the main architectural features being marble, plaster stalactites, open courtyards, and water, which was upheld as the closest thing to heaven (and in a desert, believe you me, it is). By simple, I do not mean it was any less grand. It just had a more refined grandoisity to it compared to, for instance, the Royal Palace in Madrid, which is all showy and barroque. (And I always say: If it's not barroque, don't fix it!... ha ha..ha) I spent several hours wandering around like a pez dispenser and snapping about a million photos. Seeing the Alhambra was the single motivating factor in coming to Granada, as it is for most people. I was fascinated by the palace, and how it has survived over the years.
I spent the rest of the day walking and busing around the Old Moorish Quarters, dodging Roma women (or Gypsies, in colloquial terms) who kept accosting me with sprigs of rosemary and trying to seize me hands to read a fortune and get some cizash. Ana the Aussie said that she thought they were all nuns outside of churches who were collecting for the poor, and thus gave to them generously. Oddly enough, seeing the Alhambra today actually made me quite sad because it was so beautiful and there was no one to share it with.
Yesterday, as you may or may not have noticed, did not get a post. This is mostly because it was a horrible day. I'll give you the reader's digest version, becuase I don't want to rehash every gritty detail of the horrible nightmare. Let's just be vague and mysterious and say that I carried heavy luggage around for four hours, saw boring sights, almost got stranded and a random city until I ran after the bus and flagged it down, wandered the streets of Granada for hours...alone...at night...trying to find the impossible hostel (or should I say hostile) that no one had ever heard of because it was in a FREAKING ABANDONED ALLEY... Well, I am alive and happy, and learned a few lessons that day... such as: Don't follow directions from people who clearly don't know what they are talking about!
The hostel, upon second review, turns out to be wonderful. It is called the "Funky Backpacker's Hostel," and it is full of English-speaking travelers who came to Granada from all over for the same reasons I did. I met some very cool people that quickly brought me out of my loneliness. One fellow Adrien the Aussie (apparently all of my friends here are destined to be Australian) and I decided to see a flamenco performance at the Alhambra last night. It was quite an expensive performance, but the idea was to blend flamenco with more contemporary dance styles such as STOMP from New York. Although it was very good, it wasn't quite the traditional flamenco we were looking for, even though it did have elements of cante jondo or the "deep song" Roma roots to flamenco that is very pretty. Adrien is graduated and does "computer animation," which he described as making short movie clips "like Pixar." He kept comparing it to Pixar and then saying "but not Pixar" when I would get very excited that he did their short movies. Anyway, he just finished a project and is in month two of a TEN MONTH tour of Europe... and I thought a week alone was tough... We sat next to a Professor from Northwestern University and his nosy wife who managed to extract my entire life story in a few short minutes including the age-old question dreaded by all college students: "So what are your plans after college?" *Shudder*
It has been a wonderful day, mostly because I discovered the panacea for loneliness: making friends with strangers. Pictures will come soon, but I haven't uploaded from my camera yet.
Ok, that was a lot of unnecessary history to tell you that the ALHAMBRA COMPLETELY ROCKED!!!! It was such an elegant, simple beauty with the main architectural features being marble, plaster stalactites, open courtyards, and water, which was upheld as the closest thing to heaven (and in a desert, believe you me, it is). By simple, I do not mean it was any less grand. It just had a more refined grandoisity to it compared to, for instance, the Royal Palace in Madrid, which is all showy and barroque. (And I always say: If it's not barroque, don't fix it!... ha ha..ha) I spent several hours wandering around like a pez dispenser and snapping about a million photos. Seeing the Alhambra was the single motivating factor in coming to Granada, as it is for most people. I was fascinated by the palace, and how it has survived over the years.
I spent the rest of the day walking and busing around the Old Moorish Quarters, dodging Roma women (or Gypsies, in colloquial terms) who kept accosting me with sprigs of rosemary and trying to seize me hands to read a fortune and get some cizash. Ana the Aussie said that she thought they were all nuns outside of churches who were collecting for the poor, and thus gave to them generously. Oddly enough, seeing the Alhambra today actually made me quite sad because it was so beautiful and there was no one to share it with.
Yesterday, as you may or may not have noticed, did not get a post. This is mostly because it was a horrible day. I'll give you the reader's digest version, becuase I don't want to rehash every gritty detail of the horrible nightmare. Let's just be vague and mysterious and say that I carried heavy luggage around for four hours, saw boring sights, almost got stranded and a random city until I ran after the bus and flagged it down, wandered the streets of Granada for hours...alone...at night...trying to find the impossible hostel (or should I say hostile) that no one had ever heard of because it was in a FREAKING ABANDONED ALLEY... Well, I am alive and happy, and learned a few lessons that day... such as: Don't follow directions from people who clearly don't know what they are talking about!
The hostel, upon second review, turns out to be wonderful. It is called the "Funky Backpacker's Hostel," and it is full of English-speaking travelers who came to Granada from all over for the same reasons I did. I met some very cool people that quickly brought me out of my loneliness. One fellow Adrien the Aussie (apparently all of my friends here are destined to be Australian) and I decided to see a flamenco performance at the Alhambra last night. It was quite an expensive performance, but the idea was to blend flamenco with more contemporary dance styles such as STOMP from New York. Although it was very good, it wasn't quite the traditional flamenco we were looking for, even though it did have elements of cante jondo or the "deep song" Roma roots to flamenco that is very pretty. Adrien is graduated and does "computer animation," which he described as making short movie clips "like Pixar." He kept comparing it to Pixar and then saying "but not Pixar" when I would get very excited that he did their short movies. Anyway, he just finished a project and is in month two of a TEN MONTH tour of Europe... and I thought a week alone was tough... We sat next to a Professor from Northwestern University and his nosy wife who managed to extract my entire life story in a few short minutes including the age-old question dreaded by all college students: "So what are your plans after college?" *Shudder*
It has been a wonderful day, mostly because I discovered the panacea for loneliness: making friends with strangers. Pictures will come soon, but I haven't uploaded from my camera yet.
Monday, July 28, 2008
Gotta Love the Ham
You know the madrilenos love their ham when you see it featured on every menu, legs of it hanging from random stores, and "El Museo de Jabon" (A Ham Museum!). I walked by this today and thought it was so funny I would go explore the deep connection between Spain and the dead pig. But, upon closer inspection of walls of raw meat, I moved on.
Today I set out hopefully for another day of "sight-seeing alone" when I stopped upon hearing a young Irish bloke giving a tour in English! I slyly slipped in and followed for a few blocks feeling secretly triumphant that I was freely getting information others had paid for, but it turns out this is a free tour service offered in many European cities. It was quite fun and engaging, since he had members of the audience come up to play the people of the royal family only to reveal embarrassing details about their lives. I made sure to steer clear of the roles of Juana la Loca and King Phillip V. We quickly saw quite a few things such as La Plaza Mayor, the place of bull-fighting, executions of the Inquisition, state receptions; the Royal Palace; the Cathedral; Police Station where Franco tortured victims of the Civil War; some Moorish ruins; and a lot of superlatives such as "oldest restaurant in the world" or "the oldest door in Spain." The kind of thing you go "ah" to and then never think about again. It was not very historically-savvy ("No one's heard of Cervantes? Then we'll skip that part."), but still fun to be among English-speaking people. We stopped for lunch at a Tapas Bar, and I sat with an English lady, a couple from Arizona (of which the boyfriend was very excited that I had climbed at Smith), and an Australian girl who became my friend and toured with me for the rest of the day. We all traded advice on traveling in Spain, and it was fun to eat with a like-minded bunch.
Ana, Australian friend, looks not much older than me and is a kindergarten teacher in Australia who works for a number of weeks and then gets several off to tour around the world. She had spent a month in Spain and did not speak a lick of Spanish, which delighted me because it meant that I could translate for her and resolve her issues with museum people, and look really good doing it. She was very fun to travel with, having the same excited mannerisms as me, but absolutely no sense of direction...it was fun. We went to the Royal Palace and the Cathedral together, and took tons of pictures and oo-ed and aw-ed over all the glory.
Royal Palace, btw, is the most elaborate thing I have ever seen, and one of the most elaborate things in Europe. It took 400 years to finish (more from laziness than anything else) and its builder Carlos III, who was profoundly influenced by the French, wanted it to be his own Versailles. His wife of Italian origin also carried a great influence in its building. Anyway, its rooms are baroque style with vaulted portrait ceilings, velvet and silk-tapestried walls, porcelain and gold-wrought decor, and low-hanging crystal chandeliers. Very cool. And I figured out why the Hapsburgs were so unsightly...they were all inbred!!!
After that I must have become over-confident of finding my way around Madrid, because I tried to find The Sophia Reina Museum to see Picasso's Guernica, and became horribly lost and had to hop a max over there, only to find that they closed in half an hour. This saddened me immensely because the museum is closed tomorrow which is my last day in Madrid. I brightened up shortly after when an old, not-creepy man helped me with directions; we had a lovely Spanish chat. I ended up walking all over, passing through the botanical gardens and laying on the grass a bit. I ended up at a place to have traditional churros and chocolate. Churros are a Spanish staple that are nothing like American churros because, although fried, they are not slathered in cinnamon. Instead, they dip them in "hot chocolate" with is also nothing like hot chocolate, but a melted milk chocolate. It was quite good, though rich, so I did not finish all of it.
Tomorrow I head to Granada, home of the Alhambra!!!
Today I set out hopefully for another day of "sight-seeing alone" when I stopped upon hearing a young Irish bloke giving a tour in English! I slyly slipped in and followed for a few blocks feeling secretly triumphant that I was freely getting information others had paid for, but it turns out this is a free tour service offered in many European cities. It was quite fun and engaging, since he had members of the audience come up to play the people of the royal family only to reveal embarrassing details about their lives. I made sure to steer clear of the roles of Juana la Loca and King Phillip V. We quickly saw quite a few things such as La Plaza Mayor, the place of bull-fighting, executions of the Inquisition, state receptions; the Royal Palace; the Cathedral; Police Station where Franco tortured victims of the Civil War; some Moorish ruins; and a lot of superlatives such as "oldest restaurant in the world" or "the oldest door in Spain." The kind of thing you go "ah" to and then never think about again. It was not very historically-savvy ("No one's heard of Cervantes? Then we'll skip that part."), but still fun to be among English-speaking people. We stopped for lunch at a Tapas Bar, and I sat with an English lady, a couple from Arizona (of which the boyfriend was very excited that I had climbed at Smith), and an Australian girl who became my friend and toured with me for the rest of the day. We all traded advice on traveling in Spain, and it was fun to eat with a like-minded bunch.
Ana, Australian friend, looks not much older than me and is a kindergarten teacher in Australia who works for a number of weeks and then gets several off to tour around the world. She had spent a month in Spain and did not speak a lick of Spanish, which delighted me because it meant that I could translate for her and resolve her issues with museum people, and look really good doing it. She was very fun to travel with, having the same excited mannerisms as me, but absolutely no sense of direction...it was fun. We went to the Royal Palace and the Cathedral together, and took tons of pictures and oo-ed and aw-ed over all the glory.
Royal Palace, btw, is the most elaborate thing I have ever seen, and one of the most elaborate things in Europe. It took 400 years to finish (more from laziness than anything else) and its builder Carlos III, who was profoundly influenced by the French, wanted it to be his own Versailles. His wife of Italian origin also carried a great influence in its building. Anyway, its rooms are baroque style with vaulted portrait ceilings, velvet and silk-tapestried walls, porcelain and gold-wrought decor, and low-hanging crystal chandeliers. Very cool. And I figured out why the Hapsburgs were so unsightly...they were all inbred!!!
After that I must have become over-confident of finding my way around Madrid, because I tried to find The Sophia Reina Museum to see Picasso's Guernica, and became horribly lost and had to hop a max over there, only to find that they closed in half an hour. This saddened me immensely because the museum is closed tomorrow which is my last day in Madrid. I brightened up shortly after when an old, not-creepy man helped me with directions; we had a lovely Spanish chat. I ended up walking all over, passing through the botanical gardens and laying on the grass a bit. I ended up at a place to have traditional churros and chocolate. Churros are a Spanish staple that are nothing like American churros because, although fried, they are not slathered in cinnamon. Instead, they dip them in "hot chocolate" with is also nothing like hot chocolate, but a melted milk chocolate. It was quite good, though rich, so I did not finish all of it.
Tomorrow I head to Granada, home of the Alhambra!!!
Sunday, July 27, 2008
Hola from Madrid!!!!
After the long flight, I somehow managed to fall into this groove called "everything working out perfectly." Here are a few examples: I sailed through customs even though I do not have a visa and am staying for six months. I somehow took the 45 minute Metro ride with three transfers straight to my hostel, thereby saving on taxi fare. I walked directly to all my destinations without getting lost on the windy non-city-block streets...to name a few.
With my ISIC card, I got a free beer from the hostel. After a long flight and no sleep, I drank it promptly and took a 2 hour siesta. After the nap I decided to walk around the city. I walked to the Puerta del Sol (the main hub), then I continued on to the Prado Museum, which houses one of the top collections of European art. I was most interested in the Spanish Art, especially that of Fransisco Goya, Diego Velásquez, and "El Greco." I was so excited to see "Las Meninas," Velasquez' piece on the royal family of Felipe IV which completely refocuses the piece on the art rather than the subject. Goya's similar portrait of the family of Carlos IV was also a favorite. In addition to some cool, awesome paintings, there were also some weird, random paintings. One featured a statue of the Virgin Mary squiring real milk out of her breast onto a saint praying below, another had a representation from heaven taking a bite out of a soft, fleshy-looking baby, and several portraits were of midgets, which think held a similar role as the court jester, since they are oft painted together. There were several rooms that were dedicated to the Hapsburg family, and all I could think was that I felt sorry for Velásquez for having to paint such an ugly family. It reminded me of a Simpson's episode in which Mr. Burns commissions a ton of artists to paint him, but they all drastically improve his features to his own dissatisfaction, but then Marge does a statue of his true ugliness, and he likes it. I wonder if Vasquez was exaggerating their button-noses and giant lips. I remember learning in biology that those lips were a recessive trait, in which case I feel for those Hapsburgs as someone who suffers from attached earlobes.
After El Prado I walked around Retiro Park, which is the Washington Park of Madrid i.e. main city park. It used to be the "retiring" park for the royal family, but Alfonso XII opened it to the general public. It is very pretty, and could really be an Oregon Park with people lounging on the lawn and lots of performers.
First Impressions of Madrid: For so long Spain was considered "el pais atras" (the backwards country) among the European Nations, but from what I can tell (from one day that is) is that this city is very efficient, especially with transportation. I was told that people do not run here, and all they eat is ham, and fried foods. Well, I passed five runners in the park, and saw salads and grains at all the restaurants I passed, although they do love their ham. I had a ham n' Iberian cheese quesadilla to see what it was all about, and it was quite good. I also see a lot of similarities between Madrid and Portland, which perhaps is why I like it so much. I am having a great time, and am really liking this city.
With my ISIC card, I got a free beer from the hostel. After a long flight and no sleep, I drank it promptly and took a 2 hour siesta. After the nap I decided to walk around the city. I walked to the Puerta del Sol (the main hub), then I continued on to the Prado Museum, which houses one of the top collections of European art. I was most interested in the Spanish Art, especially that of Fransisco Goya, Diego Velásquez, and "El Greco." I was so excited to see "Las Meninas," Velasquez' piece on the royal family of Felipe IV which completely refocuses the piece on the art rather than the subject. Goya's similar portrait of the family of Carlos IV was also a favorite. In addition to some cool, awesome paintings, there were also some weird, random paintings. One featured a statue of the Virgin Mary squiring real milk out of her breast onto a saint praying below, another had a representation from heaven taking a bite out of a soft, fleshy-looking baby, and several portraits were of midgets, which think held a similar role as the court jester, since they are oft painted together. There were several rooms that were dedicated to the Hapsburg family, and all I could think was that I felt sorry for Velásquez for having to paint such an ugly family. It reminded me of a Simpson's episode in which Mr. Burns commissions a ton of artists to paint him, but they all drastically improve his features to his own dissatisfaction, but then Marge does a statue of his true ugliness, and he likes it. I wonder if Vasquez was exaggerating their button-noses and giant lips. I remember learning in biology that those lips were a recessive trait, in which case I feel for those Hapsburgs as someone who suffers from attached earlobes.
After El Prado I walked around Retiro Park, which is the Washington Park of Madrid i.e. main city park. It used to be the "retiring" park for the royal family, but Alfonso XII opened it to the general public. It is very pretty, and could really be an Oregon Park with people lounging on the lawn and lots of performers.
First Impressions of Madrid: For so long Spain was considered "el pais atras" (the backwards country) among the European Nations, but from what I can tell (from one day that is) is that this city is very efficient, especially with transportation. I was told that people do not run here, and all they eat is ham, and fried foods. Well, I passed five runners in the park, and saw salads and grains at all the restaurants I passed, although they do love their ham. I had a ham n' Iberian cheese quesadilla to see what it was all about, and it was quite good. I also see a lot of similarities between Madrid and Portland, which perhaps is why I like it so much. I am having a great time, and am really liking this city.
Friday, July 25, 2008
I'm goin to Miami (aruriariami)
Hello honored guests. I am so pleased to find that you have read my first post. Unfortunately, there is not much to report, as I have been flying all day, except that I am alive and safely in Miami for the night. Tomorrow evening my flight leaves for Madrid, and I should arrive there (hopefullyyyyy) at 8:30 a.m. on Sunday just in time to make my way to the Puerto del Sol and visit El Prado Museum.
After some initial pre-flight jitters, I started reciting my self-inspired get-pumped-up mantra of "Now starts the adventure of a lifetime... You are a woman of the world... You will finally SEE the places you have read about and studied since forever..." And you know what? It actually worked...
I think it is heading into the unknown more than any self-doubt that causes these travel jitters. Somewhere in the back of my head there is a horrible short clip looping over and over of me stepping off the plane in Madrid with a deep sigh only to trip unceremoniously on the curb, lose my luggage, wander the streets naked and alone, forced to take drugs...blah blah blah. It sounds silly even as I write it. Sometimes you just have to tell that voice to SHUT THE HELL UP!!!
A short note on studying abroad, if I may, and then I am going to bed. I cannot pinpoint exactly why this has been so obvious a decision for me. In sooth, I have been saving since high school, and secretly planning since long before then. My grandma compares it to the "grand tour" that many European gentlemen would take at the turn of the century before settling down to their jobs as wealthy investors, and for me that is partly true (except for the wealthy landowner part). At this age and stage in my life, I am untethered by work schedules, insurance bills, PTA meetings, etc. I can see Europe on my terms, and guiltlessly blow what little money I have saved on...well...whatever I want. I guess that's one of the perks of STUDYING abroad: it provides justification for such a trip because I am a "student" who is "learning." Ha. I confess that the actual "studying" bit of this whole gig is furthest from my mind. I am looking to experience, life, and feel, and if I have to write a few papers in there to seal the deal, then so be it.
Gas in Miami is $4.09. Looks like I'm movin to Miami.
After some initial pre-flight jitters, I started reciting my self-inspired get-pumped-up mantra of "Now starts the adventure of a lifetime... You are a woman of the world... You will finally SEE the places you have read about and studied since forever..." And you know what? It actually worked...
I think it is heading into the unknown more than any self-doubt that causes these travel jitters. Somewhere in the back of my head there is a horrible short clip looping over and over of me stepping off the plane in Madrid with a deep sigh only to trip unceremoniously on the curb, lose my luggage, wander the streets naked and alone, forced to take drugs...blah blah blah. It sounds silly even as I write it. Sometimes you just have to tell that voice to SHUT THE HELL UP!!!
A short note on studying abroad, if I may, and then I am going to bed. I cannot pinpoint exactly why this has been so obvious a decision for me. In sooth, I have been saving since high school, and secretly planning since long before then. My grandma compares it to the "grand tour" that many European gentlemen would take at the turn of the century before settling down to their jobs as wealthy investors, and for me that is partly true (except for the wealthy landowner part). At this age and stage in my life, I am untethered by work schedules, insurance bills, PTA meetings, etc. I can see Europe on my terms, and guiltlessly blow what little money I have saved on...well...whatever I want. I guess that's one of the perks of STUDYING abroad: it provides justification for such a trip because I am a "student" who is "learning." Ha. I confess that the actual "studying" bit of this whole gig is furthest from my mind. I am looking to experience, life, and feel, and if I have to write a few papers in there to seal the deal, then so be it.
Gas in Miami is $4.09. Looks like I'm movin to Miami.
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