The Spain Chronicles - Day 10

Apologies for the massive delay in finishing this travelogue! Now that I’ve made a commitment to write about every day of the trip, I want to finish writing about every day of this trip.

Thursday was a very iffy day in our trip. We had wanted to go to the beach that day, but the weather report was showing rain so we knew that wouldn’t be any fun. When we saw the night before that it would rain, our original plan was to rent a car to visit Portugal. (Vigo is not that far from the border of Portugal.)

Renting a car proved to be a bit difficult. On the way home from Santiago, we stopped at a number of rental car places. The main difficulty was that we would need an automatic car, as neither Justin nor I can drive a standard and Enrique can’t drive at all. Enrique’s mother and sister were also busy, so we couldn’t ask them to drive us. Anyway, the rental car places didn’t have any cars, automatic or otherwise, as it was the beginning of the heavy vacation season in Spain. So we decided to put off the Portugal trip and go to Baiona instead.

Before that, though, the boys claimed that they desperately needed haircuts. We went to Enrique’s favorite hairdresser, and the boys convinced me to get my hair cut as well. I’m not incredibly thrilled with the result, primarily because I’m not very good with haircutting vocabulary in Spanish. Girls need to worry about things like layers and roots and hydrating conditioners, while boys for the most part only want it shorter. So the boys got the haircuts they wanted (shorter) and mine took twice as long, cost three times as much (€27 compared to their €10) and looks like a cross between a mullet and Jennifer Beals’ hair in Flashdance. Oh well.

After haircuts, we took a taxi back to Enrique’s house, since it was pouring and we didn’t have umbrellas. We had planned on taking the bus to Baiona, but the taxi was fairly reasonably priced when divided three ways, so we decided to have the taxi take us all the way there.

We got to Baiona a bit early for lunch, so we walked around for a bit before heading to the restaurant to eat. Enrique’s mother booked us a reservation at this place called “O Pote” (“the Pot”) and even placed a food order for us: tuna empanadas, razorback clams, and lobster with rice. A M A Z I N G ! ! ! I think it was one of the best meals I had during my time in Spain. Justin and I decided to treat Enrique for this meal, since he had been such a gracious host and tour guide thus far.

In addition to being the place where Enrique spent many childhood summers (and where his siblings now take their kids), Baiona is the home of two cool sites: it has a huge parador (government inn), and it is the first place that heard about Columbus discovering the New World (the Pinta made its way back there after their journey to America).

We wandered around some winding roads and then made our way to the Hotel Conde de Gondomar, a famous parador built in an old fortress (with canons and everything!). We walked all around the outside, which had the most amazing views. While we were exploring the parador, Enrique received a phone call with some exciting news – he got a London job! So, we left him to call everyone he knew while we took mountains of pictures.

I don’t know enough about the inn to explain it, so I’ll let some lovely photos do the talking:




After we made the loop, we stopped for a quick drink at the hotel’s restaurant, then made our way to the bus stop to head back to Vigo.

That night, Enrique cooked for us, Justin went for a run and we had an early night.

Next up: The Cíes Islands.

The Spain Chronicles - Day 9

The rest of our week’s schedule was pretty flexible, but we had one thing secure on the docket right away: a trip to Santiago de Compostela, a famous destination for pilgrimages and also where María lives and where Enrique went to uni. before coming to Oxford. Even though we had a late night the night before, we all managed to get up pretty early. I think it’s never too easy to sleep in a new bed for the first time (even though this was Enrique’s house, he was sleeping on a mattress on the floor). We were out the door not long after 9, and went out to breakfast so that Justin could experience churros and chocolate. After that, we hopped on a train to Santiago, getting in around 11:30ish.

We met up with the lovely María and headed towards the cathedral, in hopes of getting in before the end of the mass. We hoped to see the famous Botafumeiro, but they were not using it that day. (I think it is only for holy days.) Anyway, after mass we walked around and saw the various chapels and kissed statues and viewed Santiago’s tomb. After the mass we went outside and sat in the plaza for a bit while Enrique told us the story of how Santiago ended up being buried there.

From there we walked through the Plaza de Cervantes, which features a fountain with a bust of Cervantes on top. Local students often tell tourists and new students that they’re supposed to look for Cervantes’ feet at the bottom of the fountain, and when the newbies/tourists get close, they splash them or dunk them in. Justin and I were roped into this (although I was a bit suspicious), and were thoroughly soaked by Enrique and María. After a bit more ambling we ended up at O Dezaseis for lunch. We had all the traditional Galician dishes, including delicious empanadas and boiled octopus. After stuffing ourselves and having a few glasses of wine, we headed up to a field that was once a cemetery for a nice siesta.

We spent a long time siesta-ing, and it was a quality siesta as well – people forgot about their work and everything. After that, we went back into town for a Coke/coffee break in a nice pensión called Casa Felisa, which had a beautiful garden terrace with views of the town buildings peeking out the back. Thoroughly rested and ready to go, we headed back into town to look at some of the University buildings, including the hallowed halls of the History faculty, where Enrique got his undergraduate degree.

Enrique kept saying how weird it was for us to be there – I’m sure I’d agree if I were in his shoes. (In fact, Chrissie said the same thing when I was in San Francisco!) I guess when you have different “parts” of your life and different people you associate with them, it becomes weird to see those people in places you would not normally expect them. He also said it was weird to bring us to these places because it made him see things in a new way. We kept asking him and María to slow down so we could take pictures of things which were probably “everyday life” for them but very exciting for us!

After the History faculty we needed to up our tourist game a bit – Justin and I wanted to do some shopping. Justin bought a present for his girlfriend Darcy and a tshirt for himself (sporting the king’s famous slogan, “¿Por qué no te callas?”), and I bought a huge gaudy watch and a billion postcards. We also bought guidebooks to Galicia, as neither of us had one. Even Enrique did some shopping, finding a men’s store with a 50% off sale and buying lots of shirts. We did one last coffee stop before María had to head home.

When María left, Enrique took us back through a park (I think it was a “Plaza de Something-or-other” but I lost track by that point) so we could have a last good view of the city before we headed back for the train station. There was a carnival going on so it was a bit crowded, but the weather was perfect and the views were lovely.

We got back to the train station a bit early, so we grabbed some sandwiches and sat and caught up on our phone correspondence before heading home. By the time we got back, at about 11:30ish, we watched Casablanca and chatted a bit with Enrique’s mom. We had another late night, about 2 am.

Next up: Baiona, and group bonding by way of haircuts.

The Spain Chronicles – Day 8

Well, well, well. As you can see, I had no time to keep this blog updated during the Northern half of my trip. I prefer it that way, though – we had a fantastic time, and I didn’t want to waste my time writing in my blog when I could have been enjoying time with my friends. So I will make up for it here. I don’t know how detailed I can make this portion of the trip, mostly because I am not as familiar with Galicia and I’m not entirely confident with the names of places (especially since many things were in Galician and Portuguese!).

On Tuesday I did very little in Vigo. I slept late, had breakfast (toast and tea) and pretty much chilled while I waited for (a) my laundry to dry and (b) the boys to arrive. I actually needed to wait, because I didn’t have any clean clothes left! The days were so hot in Madrid that I was sweating all the time, so it wouldn’t have been good form to put anything on again without washing first.

Funny story about the washing: Enrique’s mom does not have a dryer (most people there don’t – I think it has to do with conserving energy), so we had to hang everything on a clothes line. When I was taking my stuff off the line, I *so* knew I was going to drop something…and I did. One of my shirts fell down and landed on the line of the floor below (we were on the 5^th floor). I tried to go down to the neighbors below and knock on the door, but no one was home. Flora (Enrique’s mom) was out, so I just decided to get dressed and go out and deal with it later. It turns out that they’re prepared for such things, and his mom was able to use a string with a hook attached to recover my shirt when she returned. :)

So, the going out part. Flora was going to the Corte Inglés, and drew me a map so I could go and meet up with her. Alas, I suck spectacularly at maps, so I misread it and went the wrong way. After not finding the Corte Inglés three streets later, I continued walking for a bit then decided to head back. I didn’t really need anything from the Corte Inglés and I wanted to chill for a bit before everyone got there.

Flora returned at 5:30ish, Maruxa (Enrique’s sister) came at 6ish and we all went to the airport to pick up the boys at 6:30ish. Justin and Enrique came in at 7 and we all went back to the house. Maruxa’s boyfriend Carlos joined us for dinner, which was a lot of fun. After dinner we spent a lot of time chatting and catching up, and I think we went to bed around 2 am.

Wow, I managed to say a lot about a day in which not very much happened! Next up: Santiago de Compostela.

Almost forgot

A bit of the tale that I missed from yesterday:

When I was in Spain 10 years ago, I (along with one of the families I was with) went up North to a place called Sanabria for the Holy Week. We stayed in a little town called Cernadilla, that was so small it only had one telephone for the ENTIRE TOWN.

This was my least favorite part of the trip. I didn't know this family as well as the main family I was staying with, so it was a little awkward. Also, I'm not into "roughing it" so I didn't really enjoy dirt roads and cold houses in the middle of nowhere. It was such a tiny backwater town that I thought I'd never see it again.

Well guess what. As I was on the train to Vigo, we passed through Sanabria, the very backwater area I thought I'd never see again. I was surprised that it even had a train station (granted, a teeny one). I tried to call my mother to tell her about it, but the area had so many mountains and trees and tunnels that we kept losing the connection. Maybe that's why that town only had one phone - the connection is probably so bad that that was all they could manage! :)

The Spain Chronicles - Days 6 and 7

So the good thing about this post is that I am typing it from a Spanish computer, só Í cáñ úsé áccéñts wíth wíld ábáñdón (hehehe). The bad thing is that I can´t connect to the Internet from the computer where I am storing my photos, so I can´t illustrate this along the way. :(

Yesterday was my last full day in Madrid. The library was not open, so I didn´t waste any time trying to go there. Instead, I went to El Rastro, a huge flea market in a dodgier part of town. (I can´t find a good link about it in English, I´m afraid...) Anyway, this market had everything new and used, handmade and mass-produced. I bought a pair of leather sandals for €15, which they even custom cut to fit my feet. I don´t know how comfortable they´ll be (I had to sit on a teeny stool in the middle of a crowded street to try them on), but I´ll wear them twice and tell people I got them in Spain and will feel good about it all. :)

After I saw enough of the market I wanted to go to church, so I headed back towards the Prado to go to mass at the San Jerónimo Church. It´s a famous and beautiful church where royalty was crowned and all that, but unfortunately I missed the last mass of the afternoon. There was another mass at 8 pm, but the Prado/San Jerónimo area is not that conveniently located via Metro, so I wasn´t sure if I would come back for it. (I did get to see the inside of the church, but I didn´t take photos. No one else was taking photos, and besides one of the church workers was watching...)

From there, I decided to look for a restaurant I wanted to try from my guidebooks: the Casa Alberto, which was housed in a spot where Cervantes once lived. I hiked there from the church (and it was a bit of a hike, in the heat, uphill) - only to find that it was closed, because it was Sunday. This happened to be near the nonexistent Cervantes Museum I mentioned in my last post, so I´m wondering if there´s some sort of connection there... ;)

The nearest Metro station, Anton Martín, was not too far from Lavapies, a famous gypsy/ethnic neighborhood, so I decided to walk there. It was the only time I feared for my life in broad daylight - the area was smelly, dirty, and über-sketchy. When I got to Lavapies I couldn´t see any of the famous landmarks (apparently they have a very cool cinema), nor did I see any gypsies. Also, no one offered me any hash, which was disappointing. ;) I didn´t feel safe enough to "explore" Lavapies (i.e. either get myself lost or ask for directions), so I hopped on the Metro and headed back to the hotel for a bit.

Around 7:30ish I decided to head back to Sol, where I was earlier in the week. The Plaza Mayor is my favorite place in Madrid, and Sol also has some very cool shops. It´s also not far from Ópera, where the Royal Palace is. I spent about 3 hours wandering around there one last time. It was really nice because the weather wasn´t ridiculously hot then, nor was it extremely crowded. It was a great way to end the week. After that, I headed back to the hotel to pack for Galicia.

Today I got to the library early to get some last-minute work done. I found some good stuff, but the reading room I was in was extemely warm, so it made me very sleepy. I stayed for about 2 hours then went back to the hotel to get ready to leave.

I traveled to Vigo, in Galicia, by train from Chamartín in Madrid. It took about 7.5 hours, and it was one of the worst traveling experiences in my life. Don´t get me wrong - the view was amazing, with fields of sunflowers and trees and stuff (unfortunately I didn´t get any pics), but my car had four screaming kids in it who were loud the ENTIRE TIME. They were ridiculously spoiled and hyper and their parents/grandparents did almost nothing about it. I did, however, watch a bit of a good movie called "Mi mejor amigo" ("My best friend") which I will have to find and watch properly some day, because it was pretty cute.

I arrived in Galicia a bit before 10 pm. Enrique´s mother picked me up, and we walked back to their flat. Dear God, that was a workout - they don´t live far, but they live up a hill, and I had some weighty luggage with me. I was embarassed at how sweaty and hot I was by the end of it, but oh well. Enrique´s mom made me a nice dinner, we did my laundry, I took a shower and here I am now.

Enrique and Justin arrive tomorrow evening. I will probably just chill during the day until they arrive (mostly because my clothes are still drying), and then go with Enrique´s mom to pick them up at the airport.

We´ll be here until Saturday. I don´t know how much I´ll be able to update during this time, as the computer I am currently using is in the room where the boys will be sleeping. But I´ll do my best to keep you posted, hopefully with photos! I think there´s a lot planned for these next few days, including side trips to Santiago de Compostela and to Portugal, as well as to the beach.

Sorry for the lack of links too - am a bit tired and this Spanish keyboard is using up all my mental effort. Boas noites!