Boyfriend Visit!!

Madrid

So a very tired Corinne picked up a very tired Jake at the airport on Saturday morning, and we managed to find our hotel in the city without too much trouble!
From there, we decided to explore the city, given that we had very little time in Madrid. We went to see the Puerta del Sol, Plaza Mayor, and the Cathedral of Madrid. Puerta del Sol and Plaza Mayor were insanely crowded, given that it was Saturday during the holiday shopping season. The Plaza Mayor also had a Christmas market set up, where they were selling everything from Nativity scene characters (they have really complex nativity scenes here…) to bubble guns. Because of this, it seemed like roughly half the population of Madrid was in this square. Extremely overwhelming.



To get away from the epic mass of people, we went to visit the Catedral de Madrid, and to see the Palacio Real. Unfortunately, the Palacio Real was closed for tours by the time we got there, but we did get to see the cathedral, one of my favorite parts of the city!



On our way back to the hotel after the cathedral, we spotted a Wyoming Cowboys sticker on one of the cars!!

That night was a bit of a trip. First, we both slept only two hours and felt like it was the whole night, and then I kept waking up every two hours… because I'd gotten food poisoning from either the terrible sandwich I ate earlier or the raspberries I'd bought afterwards to make up for the terrible sandwich. In any case, poor Jake's first night in Spain involved taking care of his sick girlfriend. Slightly unfortunate!

Toledo

Toledo unfortunately began with a missed train and a very grumpy Corinne. Not a good deal for Jake. Plus, I was still sick and Jake was jet-lagged. Not good conditions to travel in, not at all! I literally have no pictures of this day… Sorry team. I was pretty miserable. But we at least got to see some cool landmarks in Toledo, and had a pretty decent lunch in the city.

Salamanca

Sunday night we headed back to Salamanca, since I still had classes and finals during the week. I wasn't sure where to go for dinner after our bus finally got to town (I barely eat out because María cooks so well!), so we went to get kebabs at a restaurant called Isatis, where my friends and I go a lot when we're out in Salamanca. It's basically a gyro, for those of you who are wondering. But it's simple and only 4 euros, so we were happy.
It was also at this point that Jake started feeling sick… and we eventually decided (based on the ever-reliable internet) that he had strep throat. But because Jake's insurance doesn't carry internationally, we tried to get by on over-the-counter medicines for a few days. On Thursday we finally bit the bullet and went to the doctor's office, and she gave us an antibiotic for strep throat, after we'd navigated the maze of the Spanish medical system.
Before that though, he spent most of the days sleeping–which was a slight blessing for me because I still had finals to do (one of which was a surprise my professor dropped on me on Monday! SO much fun!). And I was a frazzled mess trying to get it all done, so at least Jake wasn't impatiently waiting for me to finish… Even if that did mean he was sick. Plus, he's now the only person from home who's seen where I have classes–that's cool, right?
We did make it to the big things in Salamanca though. The old university facade, the cathedrals (and towers), and the plaza of course. He also got to meet María, which was quite the experience! She's just so full of energy and he was still feeling sick… nothing like that mix of energy levels to make a visit interesting!

Segovia

OK, this is actually a good part of the trip, I promise! Jake was finally not sick, I was done with my finals and didn't have food poisoning, no one missed a train, and we got good food! There was a short chunk of time at the beginning where there was a chance of Jake getting sick on the bus… that's what I get for forgetting my boyfriend gets carsick. But we made it there without incident, and the hotel was right next to the bus station!
We made to all the big tourist spots in Segovia, those being the Alcazar, the aqueduct, and the plaza mayor. It's a small town. But I think this one was Jake's favorite.
The aqueduct was pretty simple–walk down the street and find the giant stone thing. Woo!





The Alcazar was really cool to see again. I didn't quite remember everything I'd learned on my tour (it was in October, after all) but I remembered just enough to make it a little more interesting! If y'all remember my previous post on Segovia, there's a painting in the palace of Isabella leaving the church after her coronation in Segovia, and in this mural no one actually has eyes, which makes it a little creepy. When Jake and I saw this painting, it was sunset and the castle was essentially empty, which made it a whole lot creepier. Two rooms later, in the king's bedroom, we saw a girl who looked just like Isabella from the painting, with similar hair and wardrobe. We're pretty sure we saw Isabella's ghost. (She did turn out to be a real person… but it was a freaky moment!)

In any case, the place was pretty great. We climbed the tower, which was a lot easier this time, I think because the weather wasn't swelteringly hot outside!
Plus, I got to have a little square of ponche segoviano in the Plaza Mayor again. I still don't know what's in this dessert, but I'm pretty sure it's magic. And possibly a whole pound of butter and sugar… But if you come back from study abroad rich and skinny, you did it wrong. So I'm going to eat my ponche!

Ponche Segoviano in a bakery

Plaza Mayor lights

For dinner, we found a pretty good traditional-Spanish place, and got a pretty great meal. The town was all decorated for Christmas too, it was so pretty!

Madrid (again)

Saturday morning we headed back to Madrid to meet up with my familia! Our day with them was kind of a repeat of Jake's first day in Madrid… but with better food at least! For dinner we went to a place recommended by the hotel where we had some super classy food that Jake and I never would've had if we'd been on our own. Yay for family vacations!

And on Sunday morning, Jake went off on the Metro to catch his flight, and I began my family vacation!

Spanish adventures with the boyfriend! #segovia @rostan21

via Instagram http://instagr.am/p/Th7fvaoVVK/

3 Días en Córdoba: Saturday

So Saturday morning, we all miraculously were up and out of the hostel by 9:00 AM. Amazing. And well worth it, because even though I would've paid to go into the Mezquita, going early meant we also avoided the clusters of tourist groups that like to invade these places. And the mosque is amazing–there's nothing quite like realizing you're in a place you've seen photos of for years. It was a little strange because even though it is also a mosque, the Catholic influence was strong enough that it really felt like a church in a lot more ways. The central part of the mosque, in the middle of all those columns and arches, is designed to be a Catholice cathedral, where they were actually holding mass while we were visiting. Photos not permitted while in session. Luckily, I took mine before mass, when they were just playing the organ–a great addition to the ambiance while visiting.

Arabic arches

Catholic time

Combined religions

The bell tower–and the palm trees

So, roughly 50 photos later, we'd done a lap of the huge expanse that is the mezquita, and ventured into the courtyard. My favorite part of the courtyard was the irrigation system they'd put in place so the fountain would water the trees eventually. Today, they also use a hose to get the job done (something I referred to as the "modern marble of plumbing" in my early-morning, not-yet-eaten-breakfast state), but I loved the design of it.

Courtyard walls

When we were done taking photos, we decided it was breakfast time–the idea that we could survive the whole morning on apples was not our best one. Plus, we had to make an attack plan for the day, so we went to a cafe called Oh La Lá, where I had the best tostada con tomate y jamón, café con leche, and zumo de naranja. Also known as toast with tomato and ham, coffee with milk, and orange juice. Or also known as my absolute favorite Spanish breakfast food.

 

Our attack plan first took us to the Puente Romano–another thing every Spanish city seems to have. There is almost always a Cathedral, and if there's a river, there will be a Roman bridge. 

While at the bridge, we met a man who does impressionist paintings on little slides of glass with his fingers. And they're amazing, so we bought some, and picked out the ones that depicted the white walls of Córdoba with the flower pots that are on every single window.

Next, we were considering going to the hostel for a short rest before lunch… but then we ran into the Alcázar de los Reyes. I don't even know how to describe this place, except that we took about 150 photos of the towers and the gardens–see below.

This is Kristi trying to drink the water even though they put a sign up that it's not drinkable...

Mila & I

After the Alcázar, we went to lunch at a place called 5 Arcos–in honor of the million Arabic arches all over town. This food was not exactly a winner, but it was good enough for a pre-siesta snack.

Also pre-siesta, we wandered around town and found Calleja de los Flores (it has more flowers than your average street) and the itty bitty little skinny street that requires you to go single file through it.

After siesta, we went to a Moroccan place we'd seen the first day, which advertised belly dancing at 8:00 on Saturdays. We thought we'd have dinner there, but unfortunately they were only serving drinks and pastries. So we all drank tea or juice and ate a baklava and watched the belly dancer, and then promptly decided we wished we could do something like that. The girl has some real skills.

Then, it was really dinner time. We found a fantastic tapas place, Taberna de la Tapa, where the waiter was super nice, there was a fútbol game on, and the tapas were pretty much your typical Spanish fare. Also a great dinner find. The waiter even recognized us the next day when we were walking around town! Oh, and I tried blood pudding, Mom & Dad! (Ten years after I was supposed to in London… better late than never?) It wasn't quite as terrible as I'd imagined when I was 9, but still not my favorite. What was my favorite was queso ovejo, the cheese tapa we ordered, which was also on the tostada with tomato and jamón that we ate. Simply delicious.

Om nom nom, tapas.

We wandered around town for a while after dinner, took some silly photos, and ran into a totally random parade/procession of some kind that involved a marching band and a lot of religious-looking things that we don't understand. It was either a funeral or some kind of religious ritual, we just have no idea which. And may never actually find out.