The weekend before Semana Santa (translated as “Saint week” AKA Spring Break AKA a name that horrifies politically correct Americans), I decided it would be a good idea to stay in Madrid, especially because Natalie’s friends from Kansas were visiting! Having visitors gives me an excuse to be a tourist in my own city, which positively NEVER gets old.
Since Natalie and I missed out on the IceBar in Barcelona (IceBARcelona), something I am still pissed about, we decided to give the one in Madrid a try. It cost 15 euros to get and entrance comes with a free cocktail with the entrance. I should also mention that they give you a zip up fleece and a poncho to use inside, being that everything is made of ice, they need to keep the room at about O°C. It was actually not as cold as I was expecting nor was the mojito as good as I expected. The experience was fun, but it is questionable whether or not it was worth 15 Euros. Problem: my monetarily-controlled mind is slowly taking over everything I attempt to do for fun. The status of my bank account might have something to do with this as well... #abroadproblems.
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| Natalie and her Kansas friends! |
We also had an excuse to revisit some old-favorite restaurants and try a new one. Natalie and I brought her friends to Casa de Granada, a super-secret (and I mean super; it is INCREDIBLY sketchy to reach this place) restaurante that I like to think is a Madrid institution. Note the lady hear playing cards with her table-mates. It is true what they say, Spaniards can take up to 3 hours at dinner... and this is one reason why.
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| The guy outside was good looking AND thought I was funny. This made me happy. We also went to La Bardemcilla, a restaurant owned by Javier Bardem's sister, who herself is a model and actress, but I think looks too much to like her famous sibling to be considered an attractive female. This place claims to have the best croquetas de jamón (basically a potato puree, cheese, and high quality ham mixture quickly battered and fried- they are the spanish version of our mozzarella sticks) in the city, but Estado Puro, a bar at la Plaza de Neptuno, definitely gives them a run for their dinero. Sunday of that weekend, my home-stay family invited me to their apartment in El Escorial, a town about 50km away from Madrid (and also the name of a huge palace there built by Phillip II in the 16th century). I had already been to the monastery and palace complex before with the BU program, but it was nice to walk around with my host mom, dad and brother in the hills around the city and relax at their apartment over-looking the mountains. Being with this new host family has been SO AMAZING and the only thing that upsets me about the move is that I didn´t realize earlier that it was possible. |
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| A view of El Monasterio del Escorial and the town |
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| Every 6-year-old in every country is the same. |
Thursday (14 April 2011)
· Go to class, spend all day thinking about Greece
Friday
· 12 noon: Depart Madrid Barajas Airport
· 2:30 pm: Arrive Rome Airport (6 hour layover ensures)
· 8:30pm: Depart Rome
· 10:00PM: Arrive in Athens!!!
Saturday
· 2:00AM: Sleep finally happens
· 9:00AM- Painful morning wake-up time
· 10:00AM- Make the long climb up to the Acropolis (Parthenon, Theatre of Dionyses, etc.)
o Realize that because I am a Spanish Resident and Student, I am and “EU student” and get into all the major sites in Athens for free!!
o Theatre of Herrod Atticus was SO COOL and Theatre of Dionyses (birth place of Drama) was a bit of a disappointment
o Parthenon was awesome, but had a lot of construction, detracting from said awesomeness
· 1pm: Head to Piraeus Port to buy ferry tickets and spend a lot more than we planned. Sad times.
· 2pm: Travel to the island of Hydra (pronounced Ee-dra) for a day
o Enjoy a truly quiet atmosphere because there are NO cars/motorcycles/mopeds
o Eat a delicious lunch of lamb sausage
o Decide that EVERYONE MUST GO TO HYDRA BECAUSE IT IS BEAUTIFUL AND AMAZING
o 9pm: Return to Athens
o 11:30PM: Sleep-time
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| Theatre of Herrod Atticus, built in 161 AD and seats 5,000 people. The greeks really knew their stuff. |
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| Natalie and I in front of the Parthenon at the Acropolis! |
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| Doing the Freddy with a freddo (Greek iced coffee) in hand. Whoever gets the reference gets a piece of Spanish ham. |
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| Cats EVERYWHERE on Hydra |
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| In the top 5 most beautiful places that I have seen since September |
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| Amazing. |
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| Again with the cats |
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| ...and again. |
Sunday
o 10AM: Wake up-time
o 11AM: Visit the major disappointment that was The Roman Forum
o 12 noon: Agora (what used to be “town” for the Greeks)
o 1PM: Temple of Olympian Zeus
o 2PM: Acropolis Museum (so awesome!), built over excavated ruins
o 3PM: Greek Parliament and Tomb of the Unknown Soldier
o 4PM: Failed attempt to visit Benaki Museum (because it closed at 3PM) after an hour search
o 5PM: Get home-made and personally fitted leather sandals (for 28Euro!)
o 6PM: Get some Greek salad and Souvlaki (Meat with tomatoes, onions & pita) on Souvlaki Row near Monasteraki Station
o 9PM: Board our overnight Ferry to Crete (realize we are in the Jack Dawson section of the boat)
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| A very common site in the side streets of Athens |
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| Agora! |
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| At "The Poet Sandal-maker" where Natalie and I got our custom-leather sandals! |
o 5:30AM: Arrive to Heraklion, Crete
o 8:30AM: Take the city bus to Knossos, the site of the Minoan Civilization from 7000 BC
o Kind of a disappointment (the only cool thing was how old the site was)
o Too many re-creations
o 11AM: Visit the Venetian Fortress… Venetian fortress is closed
o 12AM-4PM: Nap-time because everything is closed in Crete because we are there off-season
o 4PM: Start our 3-hour Heraklion walk. Arrive to Archaeological Museum… Archaeological Museum is closed
o 7PM: Dinner-time (Greek Salad time)
o 11PM: Bed-time
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| Hello, pretty- I mean Crete. |
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| Knossos, site of ancient Minoan civilization |
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| Venetian Fortress of Crete |
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| View from the balcony of our hotel in Fira, Santorini |
Tuesday
o 9AM: Wake-up time
o 10AM: Ferry to Santorini (very bumpy ferry-ride to Santorini. Barf bags were dispersed)
o 12 noon: Arrive to Fira, Santorini and get a r, ride to our hotel, Villa Manos, from the owner
o 1PM: Decide to rent a SmartCar for 24 hours (30Euro total is hard to pass up). Why not, right?
o 2PM-7PM: Drive to the red sand Beaches, black sand beaches, and Ia.
o 7PM: Watch the sunset in Ia, Natalie proposes marriage (see photo)
o 8PM: Eat dinner (chicken with capers and sundried tomatoes and eggplant with feta) at highly recommended Roka. Delicious.
o 10PM: return to hotel for bed-time
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| Ia, Santorini, quite possibly the most beautiful place I have ever seen. |
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| Note plaque between us. |
Wednesday
o 10AM-1PM: Burn the extra gas we bought (SmartCars use practically NO gas)
o 2PM-5PM: Embark on our 20Euro Volcano/Hot Spring tour
o Inexplicably angry when we had to pay 2 euro to climb the Sanotrini volcano
o The hot springs had to be reached by swimming through 60°F water and the “hot springs” were about 80°F (Basically we paid to do a polar bear swim and at one point, swam through what felt like one of those I-think-someone-peed-a-lot-right-here areas)
o I don’t know how they get away with advertising this is a hot spring tour
o 6PM: Make-your-own Greek Salad time in Natalie and Shelagh’s room of Hotel Villa Manos
o 7PM-11PM: Major chill-time because it was too cold to go out (Yes, too cold. In Greece. In April)
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| The lagoon of the Volcanic Island we visited and hiked |
Thursday
o 10AM: Walk into town like the married couple that we are
o 4PM: Embark on our 7 hour Ferry ride from Fira, Santorini to Athens
o Midnight: Arrive to our crappy hostel (Athens International Youth Hostel), which has one key for every room (note these are hostel dorm rooms)
Friday
o 9AM: Wake-up time
o 10AM: Check-in at Athens Airport and find out our first flight is delayed and we won’t make our connecting flight so they book us on a flight that makes our layover 3 hours longer. Natalie gets scary and mom-like.
o 9PM : Hello again, Madrid. I missed you… umm… be right back!
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| Ciao, Greece. |
Saturday
o 6AM: Wake-up time
o 8AM: Mi padre arrives to Madrid Barajas Airport for his first time in Europe!!
o 8AM-2PM: Drive to Granada, Spain
o TO BE CONTINUED
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